Militia Respond to the Attack on Chestnut Neck

As discussed in prior articles, on October 5, 1778, a British flotilla with more than 1,000 men sailed into Little Egg Harbor (called Egg Harbor at the time). They sent a large raiding party up the Mullica River and razed the town of Chestnut Neck—New Jersey’s privateer boomtown. By October 8, the Chestnut Neck raiding party had returned to Egg Harbor and smaller parties were sent across the harbor, burning salt works and other buildings. Before dawn on October 15, a raiding party surprised Kasimir Pulaski’s Continentals and killed at least 50 men in a pre-dawn action that would become known as the Osborn Island Massacre.

George Washington had sent two Continental Army units—Kasimir Pulaski’s Legion (220 cavalry and infantry) and Thomas Proctor’s Artillery Regiment (200 infantry with a handful of cannon)—to defend Egg Harbor. Militia from the counties bordering Egg Harbor—Gloucester, Burlington, and Monmouth—also mustered and rushed to the area. Collectively, these forces were formidable, but they arrived at different times, from different directions, and coordination between the units was problematic.

The disparate American forces were less than the sum of their parts and the British routed the defenders at Chestnut Neck and Osborn Island. Blame needed to be assigned. The letters of Pulaski, the source materials used most often by historians, portray the New Jersey militia as unreliable, even cowardly. Below are just two of Pulaski’s harsh statements about the New Jersey militia:

• “Order the militia to be obedient, or take them away entirely, for they are so ill-inclined that they will only spoil our affairs.”

• “I expect no assistance from the militia, for they have abandoned me.”

Historians writing of the mini-campaign at Egg Harbor have generally taken Pulaski’s accounts as fact. But Pulaski wrote these letters under great duress—just after the Osborn Island Massacre and while skirmishing with Loyalist irregulars who harassed his Legion throughout a difficult march north. Under the circumstances, Pulaski was likely to look badly on militia who were not shoulder-to-shoulder with his suffering men.

Using other sources—particularly the accounts of the militiamen who defended Egg Harbor and nearby areas—it becomes apparent that the militia (at least the militia from Gloucester and Monmouth counties) was much more active in combatting the British-Loyalist raiding parties than Pulaski suggests. The activities of militia during the Egg Harbor campaign are discussed below.

New Jersey Militia during the Egg Harbor Campaign

By all accounts, the Gloucester County militia, specifically the 3rd Regiment under Colonel Richard Somers, did not heroically defend Chestnut Neck. They manned the earthen fort defending the town, but the fort was never completed and cannon were never put into the fort’s gun ports. When the British galleys came upriver and fired on the fort, the militia gave up the fort, and offered no credible resistance as the British burned the town and the eleven ships docked there. However, the raiding party, according to Captain Patrick Ferguson’s report, numbered 300 men with artillery. It is unlikely that the militia present at Chestnut Neck that day was even half that size, and they lacked cannon. The Gloucester militia had to give up the town.

One of the Gloucester County militiamen, Samuel Denike, recalled his service during the attack on Chestnut Neck and the following week. Denike recalled that, after losing Chestnut Neck, his militia company was "attached to and under the command of Col. Proctor, with the artillery.” They returned to Chestnut Neck after Ferguson’s raiders withdrew and went downriver to Egg Harbor. Denike’s company apparently skirmished with a raiding party a few days after Chestnut Neck was attacked. Denike recalled facing a raiding party near his father’s house on Egg Harbor: “The British had come into Egg Harbor and burnt the village in which all of my father's property was discharged, here we had a smart action and prevented their proceeding further into the country."

Most interesting is Denike’s account of coming to the aid of Pulaski’s Legion on October 15, when it was massacred by a British-Loyalist raiding party under Captain Ferguson:

We then marched to Tuckerton, here was met by the British and Refugees with whom we had a severe battle, we lost twelve men killed in our company, and Col. Sweetman was either killed or died a prisoner, as he never returned. In this action, Pulaski's Horse [cavalry] was engaged and severely cut up, as was the militia. I saved myself with twenty-five of my company by throwing myself into a swamp. The rest that were not killed were taken prisoner.

The willingness of the Gloucester militia to travel ten miles north and sustain considerable losses was not mentioned by Pulaski in his reports of the Osborn Island Massacre. It is probable that the Gloucester militia arrived too late to assist Pulaski, and they probably battled Ferguson’s raiders as the raiders were withdrawing to their boats. Ferguson makes a passing reference to meeting resistance on his retreat, though he clearly was unimpressed by it. He concluded that his men were able to board their boats “at our leisure.”

Norman Goos, who studied the 3rd Regiment of the Gloucester County Militia during the American Revolution, noted that the militia regiment incurred considerable losses in Tuckerton and elsewhere during the war. He wrote, “at a minimum, 8 were killed, 11 were wounded and 10 became prisoners-of-war” during the Revolution. Goos documents that at least one was wounded and two captured in skirmishing after the razing of Chestnut Neck.

Monmouth County militia also mustered and marched to the Egg Harbor area. Major Richard Howell, stationed in Shrewsbury, noted that on October 8, “Col. Samuel Forman march'd with a reinforcement of 300 to join Genl. Pulaski." This was the Upper Freehold militia commanded by Colonel Forman. They marched across the county to Toms River and then south to Egg Harbor—60 miles in total. It appears that Forman arrived too late to help Pulaski at Osborn Island.

One of the late-arriving militiamen, Walter Kerr, recalled that he volunteered “and marched down to Manahawkin in the southern end of the county of Monmouth in consequence of the slaughter of a body of militia at Egg Harbor by the British troops and Tories." It is interesting that Kerr recalled the deaths of Gloucester militia (referenced above) but not Pulaski’s men. Pulaski was initially impressed by the Upper Freehold militia, calling them “good Whigs” in one of his letters.

Local militia from the shore townships of Dover and Stafford under the command of Lt. Colonel Elisha Lawrence (cousin of the Loyalist Lt. Colonel of the same name) arrived before Forman. One of those shore militiamen, Aaron Bennett, recalled his service:

He was out under Col Lawrence with the militia when three British vessels entered Egg Harbor inlet and landed their Tories at Chestnut Neck in Egg Harbor town... and remained for two or three days burning their buildings, etc. They were finally driven off by the militia under Col. Lawrence.

Bennett was clearly exaggerating when he suggested that Monmouth militia drove Ferguson’s raiding party away from Chestnut Neck, but his account suggests that the militia engaged the enemy—likely marching close, taking shots, and pulling back when counter-attacked. Bennett was not in any battles during his time at Egg Harbor. He "was sent with an armed boat into the bay to watch the movements of the enemy in an armed boat and therefore had no part in the skirmishes.” But his mention of “the skirmishes” demonstrates that other Monmouth militia were skirmishing with raiding parties.

A third Monmouth militiaman, John G. Holmes, recalled that "the enemy came over to destroy our salt works - was taken with James Reed & [William] Gaskin & David Gaskin & others not recollected to Barnegat.” Here the militia deployed to protect a large salt works that David Forman, a colonel in the Continental Army, was building in order to supply the army with salt. Holmes noted that his militia company successfully protected those salt works:

The enemy destroyed the salt works at Egg Harbor & other places... we lay at Barnegat for four weeks, the enemy landed in small parties & burnt some houses but could not effect a landing to burn the salt works.

The Monmouth and Gloucester militias did not provide Pulaski with the help he wanted, and they did not prevent the larger British-Loyalist parties from doing great damage during the Egg Harbor mini-campaign. But the militia did limit the ability of smaller raiding parties to act with impunity. The Gloucester County militia marched ten miles, going outside their own besieged county, and then suffered considerable losses battling Ferguson’s raiders. The Monmouth militia marched 60 miles and then engaged in days of skirmishing that limited the activity of smaller raiding parties. It successfully protected the salt works at Barnegat. The Gloucester and Monmouth militias, within the realm of realistic expectations, conducted themselves reasonably well during the Egg Harbor campaign. It is unclear if the Burlington County militia was comparably active.

Related Historic Site: Stafford Township Historical Society

Sources: Franklin Kemp, A Nest of Rebel Pirates (Egg Harbor, NJ: Batsto Citizens Committee, 1966) pp 124-5; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Aaron Bennett, www.fold3.com/image/#12676787; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Aaron Bennett of New Jersey; Norman Goos, A Very Large British Military Investment for Very Little Practical Profit, (Port Republic, NJ: Col. Richard Somers Chapter, New Jersey Society - Sons of the American Revolution); John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 121-2, 126-7; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Walter Kerr of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#24017268; Private Correspondence: Jack Fulmer, Veteran's Pension Application of Samuel Denike of New Jersey; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John G.Holmes.