Disaffection in the Monmouth Militia

As discussed in prior articles, the Monmouth County militia was rendered largely dysfunctional by disaffection in its ranks and among its leaders (including the defection of its most senior leader, Colonel George Taylor of Middletown). When Loyalists rose up in late 1776, it was regiments of soldiers (David Forman’s Flying Camp in November and Francis Gurney’s Pennsylvania regiment in January) who took the fight to the Loyalists. The county militia was notably absent from both campaigns.

Disaffection in the Monmouth County Militia

With the Pennsylvanians leaving the county on February 5 and Forman’s Additional Regiment stymied by slow recruiting, Monmouth County’s Whig leaders scrambled to re-assemble the county militia in early February 1777. But observers were skeptical of the value of a militia company that was largely disaffected. Thomas Savadge, the administrator of the Pennsylvania Salt Works at Toms River, offered an opinion that was echoed by others:

The militia in this part of the county is by no means calculated for the defense thereof; for more than half of them are Tories and the rest but little better. I am of the opinion that if this part of the county is to be defended it must be by Continental troops who know their duty, or militia of another State.

A similar opinion of the shore township militias was offered by Charles Pettit, a New Jersey legislator and quartermaster for the state of New Jersey: “I fear but little is to be expected, a baneful influence has spread among the people.”

Nonetheless, the 1st Regiment of the Monmouth County Militia (from Freehold and Middletown townships) assembled around February 1 and marched 140 men forward to the Navesink Highlands where they set up camp opposite the British base at Sandy Hook. They were promptly routed by British regulars at the Battle of Navesink. It appears that the 2nd and 3rd militia regiments remained largely non-mustered.

On February 21, Samuel Forman, Colonel of the 2nd Regiment, and Daniel Hendrickson, Colonel of the 3rd Regiment, with 19 other Monmouth militia officers, petitioned the New Jersey Legislature. They noted past troubles in the county: “the inhabitants of this County, being cut off from all communication with Continental forces & surrounded by those of the Enemy, were compelled to lay down arms and accept a protection after being disarmed.” The officers stated that earlier in the month “a considerable number of them, upon the first call of their officers, turned out & have been on duty since.”

The officers, then, frankly assessed the weakness of the Monmouth militia:

It is deplorably true that a large proportion both of the publick & private arms were taken away by the Tories, in consequence of which not more than half of our militiamen are to any effect until they shall be supplied with arms from abroad. –That a very considerable portion of the inhabitants, themselves, are notoriously disaffected, and stand ready not only to give the enemy, from every part of the coast, all possible intelligence, and also join them in arms, upon the very probability of success. – That parties of the enemy are daily watching for opportunities for making descents & carrying off all such they know to be well-affected. –That one of the largest guards of militia here… has lately been surprised and the greatest part of them either killed or carried off into captivity, which has exceedingly depressed the spirits of their friends.

The officers ended the petition with two requests: First, “this Country can never be protected unless a very considerable body of troops be introduced into it.” Second, they requested the appointment of David Forman as a General of the New Jersey militia with authority over the militias of neighboring counties: “No person whose knowledge of or attachment to the Country is as great as Coll. David Forman, and therefore pray he may have the appointment of a Brigadier.”

At roughly the same time, the officers appealed for troops to help General Israel Putnam, who led the Continental Army in central New Jersey. On February 26, Putnam turned down the request and wrote George Washington about the decision: “Frequent Applications have been made to me from Monmouth for Reinforcements and I have not a Man to spare them.” However, Putnam was sympathetic to sending men at some point in the future because of the disaffection of the Monmouth militia:

I am credibly informed many of those lately taken, engaged in our Service with a View to assist the Enemy by behaving ill—and that a constant Correspondence has been carried on between some of them and [Elisha] Lawrence of the New Jersey Volunteers].

A March 14 petition from several senior militia officers (including Samuel Forman, Elisha Lawrence (cousin of the Loyalist of the same name), Asher Holmes, Aucke Wikoff, and Thomas Henderson) also spoke of disaffection in the Monmouth militia:

As our affairs now stand, the disaffection is so general and great that even amongst the guards assembled there are some that have declared that they would not fire an alarm gun should they be on duty and see the enemy approach. In short, we are fully convinced that unless some very spirited and speedy measures are taken, we will fall to the enemy within our own bowels.

This was not an unfounded concern. The county militia’s dragoon company—theoretically, an elite unit——suffered a string of captures and resignations among its officers (see appendix). The company lost its first three captains in 1777 and 1778 (see appendix).

Along the shore, the residents of Toms River generally supported the Revolution. But the majority of residents in between the neighborhoods were disaffected. On May 18, the residents of Toms River petitioned the New Jersey legislature for a special guard to disrupt illegal trade with the enemy and protect the village:

Finding our strength insufficient, beg leave to inform your honors that the enemies of the United States, as well as the more secret ones within, do carry on a clandestine trade contrary to the laws of the State... and the inhabitants of Toms River, in said town, have been frequently threatened to be plundered and their houses razed.

The petitioners continued, “the militia is not very numerous and hard to collect on any occasion… therefore we beg that an act be passed for forming a volunteer company to consist of about thirty men, properly officered & provisioned." Petition signers included Toms River’s leading militia officers: Major John Cook, Captain Samuel Bigelow, and Lieutenant Joshua Studson. Charles Pettit, at Little Egg Harbor (just south of Monmouth County), made a similar request on June 19.

Attempts to Improve the Monmouth County Militia

At least in Upper Freehold, Colonel Samuel Forman started moving against the disaffected men inside his regiment in March. On March 15, he directed Captain John Walton to “take charge of” seven men for “refusing to bear arms” and bring them to Haddonfield to stand before the New Jersey Council of Safety. Walton was also directed to take six other men “to Philadelphia & deliver them to the proper authorities” though the charges against these men were not stated.

On May 1, the Monmouth militia held a general muster in which all men were required to turn out. The muster roll for the 1st Regiment still exists and reveals that the militia was very much a work in progress: nearly 10% of the militia was listed as captured (primarily as a result of the defeat at the Battle of Navesink in February) and more than 20% of the militia was listed as absconded. The incomplete ranks were likely even larger in the 2nd and 3rd regiments which came from townships with higher rates of disaffection.

By summer, more officers were enforcing militia turnout. On July 21, Captain John Covenhoven (not the political leader of the same name) was ordered to:

Warn all men in your district to appear at Allentown on Tuesday morning at 8 o'clock, you're to admit no excuse, those that refuse, you're to bring by force of arms, you are likewise to collect what arms you can find in your district.

Other militia captains in the same regiment likely received the same orders. But Colonel Samuel Forman was doubtful that a majority of militia, even with the tougher policy, would turn out. “If we can get only 50, I shall well be pleased."

Two weeks later, on August 5, Colonel Daniel Hendrickson ordered the eight captains of the Shrewsbury regiment to "immediately advertise every delinquent that does not appear, and hear their excuses... every delinquent that does not have reasonable excuse, you are to return to be fined agreeable to the law; these orders order, I strictly enjoin to execute." Yet militia delinquency in Shrewsbury would not be significantly punished for another three years.

Gradually, the Monmouth militia improved. David Forman successfully raised a party of militia to march fifty miles to the Sourland Hills in order to join the Continental Army when the British Army went in motion in June 1777. In September 1777, when the British Army menaced Philadelphia, a large contingent of Monmouth militia under Asher Holmes (now the Colonel of the 1st Regiment) marched into Pennsylvania to assist the Continental Army. The organization and spirit necessary to take such an action was finally evident in at least some of the Monmouth militia.

Caption: Charles Pettit was one of New Jersey’s leading statesmen. He spent much of the war at Little Egg Harbor, just south of Monmouth County. He often wrote about affairs along the Jersey shore.

Related Historic Site: Seabrook-Wilson House

Appendix: The Monmouth County Militia’s Dragoon Company

The Monmouth County militia included a dragoon (cavalry) company in early 1777. Following the defeat at the Battle of the Navesink. It was raised mostly from Middletown for the purpose of observing and rapidly alerting local militia companies of threats. Private Hendrick Hendrickson recalled their duty was "scouting the shores" and alerting other militia of enemy threats. To serve in the company, the men had to provide their own "dress, horse and accoutrements" according to Lewis Covenhoven, one of the company’s privates.

An undated return of the company noted its officers were Captain Jacob Covenhoven, Lt. Barnes Smock (a second Barnes Smock served as a private), and Ensign John Forman (of Middletown Point). It had 25 privates, including Stephen Seabrook (who would soon be bayoneted inside his father’s home). Twelve men “did not attend” the muster during when the return was compiled.

Covenhoven was the company’s third captain; the first captain, Benjamin Randolph, was captured before the return was compiled. The second captain was Jacob Remsen, who promptly resigned. Jacob Covenhoven, its third captain, was captured during a raid of Middletown Point in May 1778 (and reportedly remained in prison until 1781). Lt. Barnes Smock was then elected captain, and Prvt. Barnes Smock promoted to an officer. Captain Barnes Smock was captured by Black raiders in 1780.

Sources: Thomas Savadge to Pennsylvania Council of Safety, Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 5, p 216; Israel Putnam to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 8, 6 January 1777 – 27 March 1777, ed. Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, p. 448; Asher Holmes, Militia Return, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 6, folder 7; Petition, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War Collection, Numbered Manuscripts #10336; Petition, National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Henderson of  of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23877637; Samuel Forman to John Walton, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #1062; Dover Township Petition, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 22, Document G; Charles Pettit to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War Documents, #40; Elisha Lawrence to John Covenhoven, National Archives, Misc. Numbered Records, 12: 4010; Daniel Hendrickson to Captains of Militia, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 10, Document E; Muster Roll, Capt Jacob Covenhoven's Company, undated, National Archives, Washington DC, RG 93, reel 64; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Barnes J. Smock; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Lewis Covenhoven; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Hendrick Hendrickson of NJ, National Archives, p10-15.