Benjamin Ford's Maryland Continentals in Monmouth County

As discussed in prior articles, in an effort to improve the county’s security and check illegal trade, George Washington committed to stationing a regiment of troops in Monmouth County in January 1779. Caleb North’s Pennsylvanians served into March and then were replaced by a cobbled-together 250-man detachment led by Mordecai Gist of Maryland. Gist’s difficult tour included a troop mutiny and other irregularities. His detachment was soon replaced by the Maryland regiment of Colonel Benjamin Ford—who would fare no better.

Benjamin Ford Camps at Tinton Falls

Ford’s men arrived in Monmouth County on April 10. One of Gist’s officers, Captain Walter Finney, wrote: "Col. Ford and an equal detachment relieved us." Ford’s men set up headquarters at Tinton Falls,  as North and Gist had done. A Monmouth militiaman, Anthony Holmes, discussed being detached to Ford’s troops (probably as a guide). Holmes wrote that "in his services, he was detached to the regular troops." Other locals struggled to quarter Ford’s troops. Quaker shopkeeper Benjamin White recalled:

My brother was called a King's Man or Refugee and myself a rebel or friend of the Jersey troops. Col Ford and Maj Lee [the dragoons led by Henry Lee] came. We had to find quarters for the Army. The dwellings for some distance around were occupied by soldiers. We gave up our kitchens and cellars.

As Ford settled in, Monmouth County’s Forfeiture Commissioners held an auction at Shrewsbury to sell off the estates of thirty Loyalists who had joined the British. The sale of these estates, no doubt, enraged the Loyalists in New York and at Sandy Hook—and likely stirred them toward retaliation.

On the morning of April 26, Colonel Ford wrote George Washington. He reported that a large raiding party came off Sandy Hook at 4:30 am: "A body of the enemy effected a landing at Red Bank, about one mile from Shrewsbury, my patrol fired on them but being small did little or no execution." Ford sent a 30-man scout party “to observe their movements & retard them in their march towards Tinton Falls, a post of which I conceived would be their first object.” He reported that “the enemy pushed with great rapidity to the Falls” where Ford wrote that he “intended to have made a stand.”

However, Ford believed he was outnumbered “as near as I could judge three to one.” So, he “judged it expedient to retreat” to Colts Neck “till a body of militia could be collected, which I hoped would be done in a few hours.” Ford claimed his retreat “frustrated” the raiders who then “halted at Tinton Falls.” Ford then described the destruction of the village:

They burnt two dwelling houses belonging to officers of the militia, destroyed everything they could in others, not leaving a single pane of glass in any windows belonging to the people there, after committing every wanton act they could, plundered and destroying all the furniture they found, they retreated again to Red Bank to their boats, driving all the stock of horses, sheep and cattle they could collect before them.

Ford reported that his 30-man scout and militia provided modest resistance: “Capt Beale, with his party and a few of the militia, harassed them.” He noted that another raiding party landed at Shoal Harbor (present-day Leonardo) on the Middletown shore. Ford exaggerated the size of the raiding parties which included “1,000 men said to be commanded by Genl. Skinner [Courtland Skinner], and two British regiments.” In fact, the two raiding parties numbered about 750-men—roughly triple the size of Ford’s detachment. Skinner did not participate in the raid; the Shoal Harbor raiding party was led by Colonel West Hyde, a British officer.

Ford reported some loss: “my loss does not amount to more than a dozen men missing” and claimed that weak militia turnout prevented him from offering more resistance. He wrote, “The militia have by no means answered my hopes or wishes, not more than 150 if so many has collected or as yet joined us. Coll. Holmes [Asher Holmes] has collected a party and is hanging on their flanks.” Ford noted taking two deserters as prisoners and concluded: “my men are now refreshing themselves and I shall immediately march to Middletown and act as circumstances will permit."

George Washington's aide, Richard Kidder Meade, promptly wrote back that Ford should be careful in responding to the attack, "You will, with caution, give them all the annoyance you can" but not risk a general attack. The April 26 raid is the subject of the next article.

Ford returned to Tinton Falls after the raid. His next report to Washington is on May 5, when he noted the movement of a British fleet from Sandy Hook. He revised his losses to 25-men (about ten percent of his force). He wrote that “nothing material occurred after" the raid.

That same day, Robert Morris, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, visited Shrewsbury and Tinton Falls to rally the locals. He reported that Ford’s men retired all the way back to Van Mater's Hill in Colts Neck. Morris said that Ford "was unable to find any ground advantageous on every account than the hill where his men lay." Surely understating anger at Ford, Morris wrote, "Col Ford is censured by some of the inhabitants for his conduct."

Benjamin Ford’s Return to Tinton Falls

Ford sent reports on British naval activity at Sandy Hook on May 7, 9, May 13. On the 13th, he noted the arrival of the South Carolina brig Isaac, beached off Shrewsbury. The ship was bound for Boston with a cargo of rice. It had been taken off Long Island by a Loyalist privateer, but "was out on shore at this post yesterday." The vessel escaped capture while being towed into Sandy Hook.

The only other event of note during Ford’s time in Monmouth County was his capture of two Loyalists, Joseph Mount and a man named Allen. Ford first wrote of Mount on May 9:

Joseph Mount, a refugee from New York [Middletown before that] was apprehended at this place, several articles of merchandize was taken along with him which I conceive need not be condemned by a Magistrate as they were taken from an enemy who is out of the allegiance of the States. It has been practice, I am told, for the capturers to make what disposition they please of the goods.

Ford asked to be permitted to seize and sell the goods taken with the Loyalists and sent them forward to the Army’s Adjutant General. He became acquainted with a fickle associate of Mount who apparently was open to spying in New York: "Should your Excellency think it necessary, I believe a person might be sent into New York from this place, that would collect all the intelligence possible to collect.”

Ford’s letter apparently did not get a response, so he wrote again on May 24:

When Joseph Mount, a refugee from New York, was apprehended at this place, several articles of merchandize was taken with him which I conceived would not need to be condemned by the Magistrate as it was taken by an enemy who is out of allegiance with the State.

Ford alluded to disagreement with the local magistrate over this matter, which also occurred with other Continental officers in Monmouth County. He inferred that Goerge Washington might be entitled a share of the goods taken from Mount (including fabrics, sewing needles, pins, and sugar) if Ford was given title to it.

George Washington responded two days later with a mild rebuke for Ford. He wrote:

Should the goods which have been seized be condemned as legal prize by the laws of the state, in my opinion, it is most equitable to have the prize equally divided among the whole detachment. I am much obliged for your offer, but I do not want any of the articles.

Ford’s men stayed in Monmouth County only a few days longer. Captain William Beatty, serving under Ford, wrote that “the next day we took our posts again.” But they only stayed “until the last of May, then marched for Middlebrook."

Just ten days later, a party of sixty vengeful Loyalists gathered at Sandy Hook and launched a raid that would finish off the already-damaged village of Tinton Falls. While Ford’s men failed in providing security against a large raiding party, their presence probably would have deterred this smaller raiding party from attacking and razing Tinton Falls.

Related Historic Site: Old Mill Inn

Sources: Chester County Historical Society, Diary of Walter Finney; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 57, April 26, 1779; Richard Kidder Meade to Benjamin Ford, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 57, April 27, 1779; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mgw4&fileName=gwpage058.db&recNum=335&tempFile=./temp/~ammem_YHA1&filecode=mgw&next_filecode=mgw&prev_filecode=mgw&itemnum=8&ndocs=100; Morris, Robert, “Letters of Chief Justice Morris, 1777–1779,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 38 (1920), pp. 172-4; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 58, May 6, 1779; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 58, May 9 and 26, 1779; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 169, item 152, vol. 7, #295, 369-70; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mgw4&fileName=gwpage058.db&recNum=1102&tempFile=./temp/~ammem_YHA1&filecode=mgw&next_filecode=mgw&prev_filecode=mgw&itemnum=7&ndocs=100; George Washington to Benjamin Ford, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:1:./temp/~ammem_YHA1::; Judith M. Olsen, Lippincott, Five Generations of the Descendants of Richard and Abigail Lippincott (Woodbury, N.J.: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1982) pp. 159-61; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Anthony Holmes of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23390940; William Beatty, "Journal of Captain Wiliam Beatty of the Maryland Line, 1776-1781", Historical Magazine, 2nd Series, 1867, pp 117.