Gen. Jacob Tritt

TRITT, JACOB Ancestor #: A116702 Service: PENNSYLVANIA Rank(s): PATRIOTIC SERVICE, CAPTAIN Birth: 1-10-1746 MASSACHUSETTS Death: 12-19-1818 YORK CO PENNSYLVANIA Service Source: HEITMAN, HIST REG OF OFFICERS OF THE CONT ARMY DURING THE WAR OF THE REV, P 204; NARA, M881, COMP MIL SERV RECS, ROLL #838 Service Description: 1) ALSO LT, SWOPE'S REGT; PRISONER OF WAR

Became General Tritt

Commissioned to Major General of the 5th Division composed of Adams and York Counties. Saturday June 6, 1807

Military Abstracts from Executive Minutes: Vols. 1-9 Inclusive. 1790-1817, p.758 ________________________________________________________________________________ Biographical Sketches History of York County from Its Erection to the Present Time, 1729-1834 By William C. Carter, Adam John Glossbrenner, Ammon Monroe Aurand, p. 192 "Captain in General Swope's battalion of the Pennsylvania Flying Camp, He was made prisoner at the taking of Fort Washington." "When the lines of the army were under attack of the enemy, before the Fort capture, Captain Dritt with a party of men chiefly of his own company was ordered in advance to oppose the landing of the British who came in boats across Haerlem Creek, below King's bridge. He defended his position with great bravery, until having lost a number of his men, and being nearly surrounded by Hession Riflemen on one side, and British Troops on the other, he retreated into the Fort with difficulty, and was there captured." "His death occured at 71 years of age when on December 19, 1817 he attempted to cross the Susquehenna River with a young man named Griffith, who lived with the General. He started about 10 am on the York shore, at the edge of the Dritt Plantation, with the intention of reaching Charleston on the opposite shore of where his son Col. John Dritt lived. Ice was in the water, and winds were high. They were both carried away." Another source said his son told him not to travel in the River- which led me to believe he left from his son's side of the river. (Joan Nathan)

Find a Grave:

Birth: Jan. 16, 1746 Cocalico Lancaster County Pennsylvania, USA Death: Dec. 19, 1817 Maryland, USA

Per the Pennsylvania Veterans Burial Cards, 1777–2012. Digital Images, 3–5. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Bureau of Archives and History. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, they have Jacob Dritt buried at the Dritt Family Cemetery at http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=77124120&CRid=241.... He is not buried there !

General Jacob Dritt, aka Jacob Tritt, Hans Jacob Tritt (birth name) Hans Jacob Dritt. He is not buried in the Dritt Cemetery. His Wife Maria Elizabeth Beyer Dritt, (Find A Grave Memorial# 77124120), is buried there and the only reference is that her grave stone says she is the wife of Gen Jacob Dritt. He was actually killed on 19 Dec 1817 crossing the Susquehanna River during winter. Several months later in April 1817 his body was found by Slaves working in a Maryland plantation and he was buried where he was found. The location of the Grave is unknown today.

Military Service:

"Designated Captain of the Third Company on 23 August 1776, First battalion of York County Militia, Commanded by Colonel Michael Swope."

"The Pennsylvania troops were called upon to help defend Fort Washington, located along the Harlem Creek, New York, from British attackers.... when British General Howe attacked the fort on 16 Nov. 1776. Captain Dritt and his men were stationed along the Harlem Creek, below King's Bridge. His orders were to prevent the landing of the British attempting to cross the river in boats. Dritt and his men fought with great bravery, but were overpowered by Hessian riflemen and British soldiers. They were forced to retreat inot the fort. The battle was lost and Fort Washington fell to the British. Over 3,000 men surrendered to the enemy. Jacob Dritt was among those who were forced to surrender."

"Captain Dritt was held in captivity for two years, first near New York City aboard a British prison ship in the Long Island Sound.,,, In August 1778, Jacob was still a prisoner in the Flatlands. ....Jacob was cited for bravery for his efforts to defend Fort Washington."

"After the end of the war, he was a Private in the First Battalion of the York County Militia in the Sixth Company commanded by Capt. Michael Kauffelt,n according to returns dated 1781 and 1782."

"On 6 June 1807, the Governor appointed and commissioned Jacob Dritt to be Major General of the Fifth Division of the Militia of the Commonwealth, composed of York and Adams Counties"

Source: Tritt Family Research, http://www.tritt.org, Tritt Family History, Vol. 1, published by Tritt Family Research Inc.

Family links:

Spouse:

 Maria Elizabeth Beyer Dritt (1751 - 1826)

Children:

 Peter Dritt (1769 - 1798)*

 Mary Dritt Benson (1771 - 1838)*

 Christian Dritt (1776 - 1854)*

 Jacob Dritt (1783 - 1834)*

 Margaret Dritt Bonham (1794 - 1824)*

*Calculated relationship

Burial: Unknown

Created by: BCA3 Record added: Jan 22, 2016 Find A Grave Memorial# 157358963

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Drawing source:

http://www.ydr.com/story/news/history/blogs/universal-york/2016/09/...

Lewis Miller image of General Jacob Dritt discovered UNIVERSAL YORK june lloyd, YorkDailyRecord 7:46 p.m. ET Sept. 30, 2016 Chief Burgess Jacob Dritt (Courtesy of York County History Center)

1 CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN COMMENT EMAIL MORE ID=91352988 The staff of the John and Kathryn Zimmerman Center of Susquehanna Heritage recently discovered a photograph of a previously unknown drawing of General Jacob Dritt (d.1817). The drawing is unsigned, but it is so similar in style to the many hundreds of original drawings done by folk artist Lewis Miller that it can almost certainly be attributed to Miller. (Those drawings were published recently by the York County Heritage Trust, now York County History Center, in a volume entitled Lewis Miller’s People. The book, identifying over 700 York countians of 200 years ago, is available at the York County History Center book stores and through the YCHC website.)

The newly found image is on display at the Zimmerman Center, which was General Dritt’s residence 200 years ago. It is stamped on the reverse: “J.E. Jeffries New Photograph Gallery, No. 6 West Market St., York, Pa." According to York County History Center files and directories, Jeffries studio was at that address from about 1877 to 1886. The YCHC has a similar period photograph of a Lewis Miller drawing of James Smith, York County’s Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Once photography became practical, photographs of original art work was not uncommon in the days long before photocopiers and scanners.

Jacob Dritt is written in pencil at the bottom of the photo. Besides the photographer’s name stamp on the reverse, there is also, in pen and ink, “Jacob Drit, Great Grandfather, General in Revolutionary War,” and in pencil, “Grandfather Dosch’s sister was his wife.” The small photo was framed, and on the backing someone printed, “L. F. (Dick) Crouse’s Great, Great Grandfather, Col. Jacob Dritt--Rev. War.” As outlined below, Dritt did indeed participate in the Revolutionary War, but as a Captain. He attained the General title around 1800 for his Pennsylvania Militia duties. Those notations do sound like it was passed down through several generations and help to authenticate that the portrait is of Jacob Dritt.

does include a drawing of the Jacob Dritt who was Chief Burgess (similar to Mayor) of the Borough of York in the 1830s. That Jacob is very probably the son of General Dritt, as the elder Dritt was lost in the Susquehanna River in 1817. The recently acquired image might be the only know likeness of General Dritt.

About ten years ago, I did a good bit of research on General Jacob Dritt and wrote one of my regular York Sunday News columns on Dritt and his home at Long Level. The column, slightly updated, is below: The River Rolls On The mighty Susquehanna River embraces York County to the east and to the north and helps define who we are. The county historical societies of both Lancaster and York counties mounted major exhibits on Susquehanna River history in 2006.

Spectacular views of its curves are one of the prime appeals of the controversial Susquehanna Riverlands Park, a hot news topic a few years ago. The Susquehanna made news as America’s most endangered river in 2005 because of alarm over residential, agricultural, and industrial pollutants poured into the stream.

Settlers started using our section of the Susquehanna for transportation and commerce 275 years ago, Native Americans long before that. The river defies taming. Strong currents and a rocky, uneven riverbed defy navigation. Huge slabs of ice sometimes escape the banks and wipe away anything in their path. Much of the York County shore is the nearly inaccessible rugged steep bluffs of the river hills.

One lengthy stretch of open shore is Long Level in Lower Windsor Township. Old maps show that a major road led east from York to East Prospect (now PA 124), continuing down Bank Hill Road (now partly closed) to the river bank. From there travelers took the Blue Rock Ferry, established by Thomas Cresap around 1730, across the river to the road through Millersville to Lancaster. Cresap land was patented and the ferry chartered by Maryland, who claimed that their province extended to the 40th parallel, north of present-day York.

Pennsylvania settlers, anticipating the formal purchase of lands west of the Susquehanna “to the setting of the sun” from the Native Americans in 1736, claimed the same area. Hostilities broke out, culminating in the burning of Thomas Cresap’s house and his arrest and imprisonment in Philadelphia. Cresap sold the land soon after to John Moyer/Meyer and moved on to western Maryland. Meyer built a substantial stone mansion house around 1758. Surveyor George Stevenson drew up a plan in 1765, attesting that it was the same land as Cresap’s 1729 Maryland patent. Stevenson indicated buildings, including the mansion and the place “said to be” the location of Cresap’s burned house. The latter would have become part of the Tidewater Canal bed.

Meyer continued to operate the Blue Rock Ferry, as did Jacob Tritt/Dritt, who bought the property from the Meyer family. Jacob Dritt (1746-1817) was the son of Peter Tritt, of Swiss ancestry, who had emigrated from Alsace to this area. Dritt’s name is most prominently associated with the house and area today, probably because he was a Revolutionary War hero and a prosperous landowner and businessman. He also met with a newsworthy end.

During the Revolutionary War Jacob Dritt was commissioned a Captain in Colonel Michael Swope’s battalion under Brigadier General James Ewing. These York County forces went to assist General Washington at Fort Washington on the Hudson River at New York City. After valiant fighting, Dritt was taken prisoner, along with numerous other local soldiers on November 16, 1776, and remained captive for about two years. Captured officers, including Dritt, were eventually housed in private homes in the village of New Utrecht on the western end of Long Island. The British provided little for the prisoners, who survived by helping their oppressed hosts catch fish for food.

After his eventual release and return to York County, Dritt purchased the tract that included the mansion house, and outbuildings. He prospered there for nearly 40 years. Dritt’s landholdings reportedly totaled thousand of acres, including the river islands near the eastern bank. He operated the ferry, a saw mill, and mills that processed grain and flax. He reportedly dealt in wine and spirits and served as Justice of the Peace. Sometime after the Revolutionary War, Dritt was named a Major General in the Pennsylvania Militia.

On the 17th of December in 1817, 71-year-old Jacob Dritt ignored the concerns of his son, who lived at the Lancaster County terminus of the ferry. He attempted to cross the Susquehanna even though currents were running strong and high. The river was filled with large chunks of ice. His craft was swiftly swept downstream, capsizing off Turkey Hill. The York Gazette of March 19, 1818 carried the following item “General Dritt Found. The Baltimore Patriot mentions that a man supposed to be General Dritt, from papers found on him with a sum of money, was found on the Eastern Shore, Kent County, Maryland.”

In July 1818 the mansion house and land were transferred from Jacob Dritt’s estate to his daughter Margaret, wife of Judge Samuel Bonham. Later owners were Detwiler, Welsh, Marsh, Gnau, Leibhart, Wallick and Zimmerman. The Meyer/Dritt mansion house has been accurately restored in the past 20 years by John and Kathryn Zimmerman, and they presented the property in 2007 to the organization that is now Susquehanna Heritage. It sits proudly overlooking the broad Susquehanna, ready to witness the next chapter in the life of one of America’s premier rivers.

MORE FROM UNIVERSAL YORK

More art from Yorker Margaret Sarah Lewis _________________________

http://www.tritt.org/news2013.html THE JACOB DRITT POWDER HORN

Christian B. Keller, PhD., Carlisle, Pennsylvania

This article is dedicated to the memory of Wayne Tritt, whose research and dedication, in part, allowed me to recognize the historical significance of the Jacob Dritt horn.

General Jacob Dritt is probably one of the best documented of all the Tritt/Dritt early ancestors. Volume I of Tritt Family History includes a sizeable chapter devoted solely to this seminal figure in our family's history, and, thanks to the research of Richard and Wayne Tritt, among others, our knowledge of Jacob seems to increase by the year. Pennsylvania state and York County archival records have helped us piece together the history of his life and exploits to the point that we know a great deal about him, the house he bought, and the local area in which he lived.

What has remained somewhat fuzzy up to this point is Jacob's role in the Revolutionary War. We know he served as captain in a battalion raised in York County in the summer of 1776 to answer George Washington's request for a "Flying Camp" of Militia. Flying Camps, organized throughout the war especially in the middle colonies, were like emergency militia units, raised by the states in response to a specific appeal for troops, and could be quickly dispatched to points of military crisis. Most of the Pennsylvania portion of this particular Flying Camp was captured in November 1776 at Fort Washington on the Hudson River (a post that guarded the approaches to New York City). Immediately imprisoned by the British, Jacob was fortunate to survive his captivity and was successfully exchanged. At this point his story becomes difficult to trace and our research leaves much open to conjecture. When exactly was he exchanged, and where did he go afterwards? What did he do for the rest of the war?

These are difficult questions to answer conclusively without meticulous research in state and local archives and the National Archives. Yet we have two general sets of clues, one group emanating from the powder horn itself and the other from some cursory research online. First, we know that subsequent Pennsylvania- and Maryland-based Flying Camps were created in the later years of the Revolutionary War. We also know that a "German Battalion," composed exclusively of German-speaking Marylanders and Pennsylvanians (four companies of each), was raised to be part of the original 1776 Flying Camp and existed as an autonomous unit under various larger commands until January 1781. Lastly, we know that Jacob was appointed after the war as a Major General of Pennsylvania Militia, a very significant and honorable post during a time in American history when militia membership was considered part of a man's civic duty. One would not rise to this post without some sort of substantial prior military service as well as an impeccable standing in local society.

The second group of clues are literally on the powder horn itself. The horn, which I discovered and bought in a Gettysburg antique shop in the fall of 2010, is clearly inscribed with the words, "Jacob Dritt- his horn." It also has various other etchings, presumably of a city (New York? Philadelphia? York?), a church, a Pennsylvania German "Distelfink" bird, and the words Brandywine, Valley Forge, and Yorktown." Are we to believe that Jacob participated in these famous campaigns, so integral to American victory in the War for Independence? Other decorated powder horns from the era also bear the names of the battles their owners fought in and most have been historically verified, so it is fair to presume that Jacob (or whoever inscribed the horn) was not attempting deliberate falsehood. Yet, based on the work conducted for Volume I of Tritt Family History, it is almost certain Jacob was released from captivity by the British sometime in 1777. The intriguing question is when, and upon that date, and further historical research, hinges our future understanding of Jacob Dritt's significance in the Revolutionary War. The battle of Brandywine occurred on September 11, 1777, the ordeal at Valley Forge lasted from the late fall of 1777 to the spring of 1778, and the Yorktown campaign was fought from late September through mid-October of 1781. It is therefore entirely possible, depending on Jacob's date of release and his physical condition, that he participated in the campaigns listed on the horn. The German Battalion definitely served in all three campaigns (at Yorktown it was formally absorbed into another unit but its constituent soldiers remained) and other Pennsylvania-based Flying Camps were present at two of them. Knowing that Jacob originally enlisted in the York County battalion of the first Flying Camp, it is likely he would have re-enlisted in a similar unit later on in the war rather than join a regular contingent of the Continental Army. However, regardless of the unit he fought under, that he continued to serve the cause of American independence is highly probable. How could he have achieved the lofty position he held in the postwar militia if he had only served for a very brief period in 1776 that ended in capture?

It appears likely that Jacob Dritt did indeed participate in these three climactic campaigns of the Revolutionary War, but further hard evidence drawn from the historical record is necessary to confirm this thesis. If proven true, then our ancestor was truly one of the leading early citizens not only of Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna River, but also of the early United States overall.

From the President / Meeting Dates & Events / Newsletter / Family Records Form / Special Offers Appeal for Patron Donors / Tritt Family History - Volume I / Tritt Family History - Volume II / Tritt Family History - Volume III Tritt Family History - Volumes IV & V / Tritt Items / Mailing Addresses

View pictures in article under MEDIA Picture of the horn

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