Monmouth County Historical Association is a non-profit history museum, research library and archives with five historic houses throughout the county. Congratulations to the winners of the Monmouth County 250th Historical Scavenger Hunt! Lisa Ann Fanning Sarah Schultz Susan Showerman Winners will be notified via email The Monmouth County Historical Association DONATE Museum Hours Main Museum, 70 Court Street in Freehold : Storm of Revolution: Monmouth at War opens April 29th Wednesday-Friday 1-4, and the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturdays of the month from 1-4 Covenhoven House : Fridays 1-4, 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month from 1-4 Marlpit Hall and Taylor Butler House : Fri-Sun 1-4 Allen House is currently closed for renovations, reopening in 2027! Free audio tours for adults (and kids!) available here for Covenhoven, Marlpit Hall and the Allen House! Happening Now Save the Date: Farm to Fork 2026 Saturday, October 3rd Please mark your calendars for our 4th annual Farm to Fork dinner dance! Enjoy an evening of local food, spirits and dancing in your boots and jeans! Join us at The Barn at Laird on Saturday, October 3rd . New Exhibit Storm of Revolution: Monmouth at War Now open! 70 Court Street, Freehold NJ 07728 Wed-Friday from 1-4 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturdays of the month from 1-4 Using archival records and objects from our world class collection, this exhibit explores the drama, glory, and impact of the American Revolution in Monmouth County. New Virtual Presentation Revolution in Monmouth: July, 1776 Thursday, July 8th at 7 PM 250 years ago this month, as Americans declared their independence, Monmouth County descended into civil strife. Nearly two hundred Loyalists assembled under disaffected local leaders and marched off to join the British Army at Sandy Hook. Pennsylvania soldiers marched into the county to suppress Loyalist unrest. New York City Tories, facing harassment, fled the city and some resettled around Shrewsbury. Monmouth County slaves, capitalizing on the unrest, began escaping to Sandy Hook. And, amidst all of this, three companies of Monmouth militia volunteers left the county to protect Perth Amboy from a potential British attack. Read about all of these extraordinary events in articles #24-#30 in Michael Adelberg’s 250 for the 250th compendium. REGISTRATION required to be sent the link for the presentation... Register here ! New Exhibit Storm of Revolution: Monmouth at War Now open! 70 Court Street, Freehold NJ 07728 Wed-Friday from 1-4 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturdays of the month from 1-4 Using archival records and objects from our world class collection, this exhibit explores the drama, glory, and impact of the American Revolution in Monmouth County. Home of Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth Come see this masterpiece up close and personal, featured heavily in Ken Burns' popular miniseries The American Revolution . While the painting is a permanent fixture at MCHA, our exhibit On the Edge of War: Monmouth Before the Revolution will only be open through January 2026. Don't miss it! 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth In celebration of the 250th anniversary of our nation, MCHA is proud to announce the newest project by author and renowned historian Michael Adelberg. The incredible 250-article collection is the most complete history on this topic ever assembled! It is free and digitally accessible on our website - click here to visit or enter via the Learn tab above! The Allen House Restoration Project The Allen House needs you! Please consider helping MCHA save an important piece of American history by donating to the Allen House restoration project. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar. Thank you in advance for your generosity - we could not do everything we do without the care and dedication of the community! DONATE Support Our Community Events Gratitude for Sponsors A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2026 Garden Party fundraiser honoring the DeFelice Family. We appreciate our sponsors immensely! View Sponsors Explore Explore our museum collections, exhibits, educational materials, research library and historic houses Exhibits Explore Indvidual Exhibits Read More Research Library Open by Appointment Only Read More Historic Houses Visit One of Our Houses Today! Read More Education Digital and On-Site Programs Read More Join our email list for updates! Sign Up Thanks for submitting!

This 250-article collection by author and renowned historian, Michael Adelberg, is the most comprehensive history of the American Revolution in Monmouth County ever assembled. Learn about the bloody civil and coastal warfare in the territory, the amazing story of David Forman, Joshua Huddy, Colonel Tye, and others in this incredible compilation. 250 for the 250th Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution in Monmouth County by Historian and Author Michael Adelberg ©2025 Articles by Year About the Author Purchase Books Other Resources Subscribe Monmouth Courthouse, 1778 We now understand that the American Revolution was more complicated than a contest between the George Washington’s Continental Army and the red-coated British. In no locality are these complications more evident than Monmouth County, New Jersey, where Patriots and Loyalists clashed in brutal, localized civil warfare. This local war transformed the county in multiple ways. It ushered in a new set of leaders whose ambitions were previously blocked by British rule; i t sparked new industries such as privateering and salt-making that brought new people and capital to the shore region, and i t re-structured the county’s most important institutions, including its churches, annual elections, and courts. While some of the clashes and incidents that occurred in Monmouth County—such as the Battle of Monmouth and the hanging of Captain Joshua Huddy by vengeful Loyalists—are well-narrated, dozens more remain largely unnarrated. The 250th anniversary of the American Revolution is the ideal time to compile and narrate the most important events and activities that occurred in Revolutionary Monmouth County. Articles by Year Click the year to be taken to all articles for that year, then click the article title By Year 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1774 1774 1. April 1774 - Turning Away the Tea Ship, Nancy 2. June 1774 – Committees Form to Resist British Policies 1775 1775 3. January 1775 – Shrewsbury Township Resists Continental Movement 4. January - April 1775 – Committees Consider Three Loyalists 5. May 1775 -- Anglican Reverend Samuel Cooke Flees Shrewsbury 6. October 1775 – Shrewsbury Leaders Move Against Their Black Neighbors 7. October 1775 – Monmouth Countians Capture British Ship 8. December 1775 -- Monmouth Militia Takes Control of the Ship, Polly & Anne 1776 1776 9. January 1776 -- Elias Longstreet’s Continental Army Company 10. January 1776 – The Capture of the Blue Mountain Valley 11. March 1776 – Dysfunction in the Monmouth County Militia 12. March 1776 - The Mission to Disable the Sandy Hook Light House 13. April 1776 – British Navy Takes Sandy Hook 14. April 1776 -- British Burn the Sloop Endeavor at Tucker’s Island 15. April 1776 – First Skirmish at Sandy Hook 16. May 1776 – Salt Works Begin on the Monmouth Shore 17. May 1776 – Sandy Hook Becomes Haven for Loyalists 18. June 1776 – Monmouth County’s Petitions Against Independence 19. June 1776 – The Difficult Service of Forman’s Flying Camp 20. June 1776 – Captain Thomas Creigher Sails the Monmouth Coast 21. June 1776 – Lt. Colonel Tupper’s Continentals Attack on Sandy Hook 22. June 1776 – Upper Freehold’s First Loyalist Insurrection 23. June 1776 – George Taylor and Nathaniel Scudder Report the Arrival of British Army 24. July 1776 – Monmouth Loyalists Join British Army at Sandy Hook 25. July 1776 – Pennsylvania Continentals Travel Through Allentown 26. July 1776 – Dr. John Lawrence and the Crime of Having Loyalist Kin 27. July 1776 – Monmouth Militia March to Perth Amboy to Defend Against British Attack 28. July 1776—The Rise of Little Egg Harbor and the British Response 29. July 1776 – New York Tories Find Refuge in Shrewsbury 30. July 1776 – Monmouth Slaves Seek Freedom Behind British Lines 31. August 1776 – Shrewsbury Friends Move to End Slaveholding 32. August 1776 – The Discovery of Samuel Wright’s Loyalist Association 33. August 1776 – County Commissioners Inventory Loyalist Estates 34. October 1776 – First Moves Made to Stop Illegal Trade from Monmouth County 35. October 1776 – The Capture of the Betsy and Disappearance of Its Cargo 36. November 1776 – Colonel George Taylor Turns Loyalist 37. November 1776 – David Forman’s Campaign Against William Taylor’s Loyalists 38. November 1776 – The Capture of Richard Stockton and John Covenhoven 39. November 1776 – The Continental Navy on the Monmouth Shore 40. November 1776 – Defending the Pennsylvania Salt Works at Toms River 41. December 1776 – The “Tory Ascendancy” in Upper Freehold 42. December 1776 – The Freehold-Middletown Loyalist Insurrection 43. December 1776 – The “Tory Ascendancy” in Shrewsbury and Down the Shore 44. December 1776 – British and Continental Soldiers Pass Through Allentown 45. December 1776 – Monmouth Loyalists Jailed at Fredericktown, Maryland 1777 1777 46. January 1777 – The First Battle of Monmouth 47. January 1777 – Lt. Colonel Gurney’s Campaign against Monmouth Loyalists 48. January 1777 – Monmouth County’s Ill-Fated Loyalist Militia and the Fall of George Taylor 49. January 1777—Loyalist Refugees Go into British Lines 50. January 1777 – Raising David Forman’s Additional Continental Army Regiment 51. January 1777 - Captain Francis Wade at Allentown 52. February 1777 – Reconstructing Monmouth County’s Government 53. February 1777 – Disaffection in the Monmouth Militia 54. February 1777 – The Battle of the Navesink 55. February 1777 – Militia Family Suffering after the Battle of Navesink 56. February 1777 -- Daniel Van Mater and Monmouth Refugees in New York 57. March 1777 – Salt Work Laborers and Militia Exemptions 58. March 1777 – Monmouth Baptists Reset Their Congregations 59. March 1777 – David Forman’s Attack on Sandy Hook 60. March 1777 – The First Loyalist Raids against Monmouth County 61. March 1777 -- Captain John Walton Captures Loyalist Boat 62. March 1777 -- David Forman’s Drift into Martial Law and Scandal 63. April 1777 – Monmouth Loyalists Pardoned for Continental Army Service 64. April 1777 – The Disaffection of Edward Taylor 65. April 1777 – David Forman and the Continental Army Red Coats 66. April 1777 -- New Jersey Council of Safety Moves on Monmouth Loyalists 67. April 1777 – Lewis Bestedo Kills Loyalist and Exposes Loyalist Outlaws 68. April 1777 – The Trial of Joseph Leonard 69. May 1777 – Monmouth’s Presbyterians Lose Two Ministers in a Week, then Gain One 70. May 1777 – David Forman Seeks a Fort, Sends Intelligence, and Struggles with Militia 71. May 1777 – Competition for Continental Army Recruits in Monmouth County 72. May 1777 – The Difficult History of the 1st Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers 73. May 1777 – The Travails of Mary Leonard and Other Loyalist Women 74. June 1777 - Monmouth Militia Join Continental Army to Shadow British Retreat 75. June 1777 – The Confusing Case of Captain Benjamin Weatherby 76. June 1777 – Thomas Seabrook and Other Whigs Move Inland for Safety 77. June 1777 – David Forman’s Informants in and from New York 78. July 1777 – The Rental of Loyalist Estates 79. August 1777 – Forman’s Additional Regiment and Salt Works Scandal 80. August 1777 – The Capture of the William & Anne and Post-Capture Maneuvering 81. August 1777 – 1st Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers Routed on Staten Island 82. September 1777 -- The Hanging of Stephen Edwards 83. September 1777 – Monmouth Countians Fight at Battle of Germantown 84. October 1777 – Huddy’s Artillery Company 85. October 1777 – Monmouth Militia Defeated by New Jersey Volunteers near Sandy Hook 86. November 1777 -- The Demise and Sale of the Pennsylvania Salt Works at Toms River 87. November 1777 – New Jersey Legislature Voids Monmouth County Election 88. November 1777 – The Disaffection Rhoda Pew and Murder of James Pew 89. November 1777 – Nathaniel Scudder’s Service in the Continental Congress 1778 1778 90. January 1778 – The First Monmouth County Court of Oyer and Terminer 91. March 1778 – Forman’s Additional Regiment Merged into the New Jersey Line 92. April 1778 –The Continental Army Draft in Monmouth County 93. April 1778—British and Loyalist Attack Monmouth County Salt Works 94. May 1778 – State Troops Raised for the Defense of Monmouth County 95. May 1778 – Loyalists Raid Middletown Point and Keyport 96. June 1778 – William Marriner and John Schenck Raid Brooklyn, New York 97. June 1778 – Second Monmouth County Court of Oyer and Terminer 98. June 1778 – The British Army’s Unpleasant Stay at Allentown 99. June 1778 – British Plundering and Arson at Freehold 100. June 1778 – The Monmouth Militia during the Monmouth Campaign 101. June 1778 – The Second New Jersey Volunteers During the Monmouth Campaign 102. June 1778 – The Continental Army Camps at Englishtown and Manalapan 103. June 1778 – Local Leaders at Battle of Monmouth 104. June 1778 – Damages from the Battle of Monmouth 105. June 1778 – Burying the Dead and Recovering the Wounded after the Battle of Monmouth 106. June 1778 – Monmouth Countians Attack British Baggage Train 107. June 1778 – British Army Marches through Middletown to Navesink Highlands 108. July 1778 – Continental Army and Militia Shadow British Withdrawal 109. July 1778 - British Army Boards Ships via Sandy Hook 110. July 1778 – British Fortify Sandy Hook in Preparation for French Attack 111. July 1778 – French Fleet Threatens Sandy Hook 112. July 1778 – Local Pilots Advise French Fleet about Sandy Hook 113. July 1778 – Provisioning the French Fleet via Rumson 114. July 1778 – Admiralty Courts Held at Barton’s Tavern in Allentown 115. July 1778 – New Jersey Proprietors Sell Off Land on Monmouth Shore 116. August 1778 – The Irregularity John Morris and Court Martial of Jacob Wood 117. August 1778 – Major Richard Howell’s Continentals Camp at Black Point 118. September 1778—The Capture of the Venus by Two Privateers and Its Aftermath 119. September 1778 – The Privateering of Captain Yelverton Taylor on the Jersey Shore 120. September 1778 - Daniel Hendrickson and Other Militia Officers as Privateer Captains 121. September 1778 – The Re-Capture of the Love & Unity at Toms River 122. September 1778 – The Daring Escape of John Hewson from New York to Monmouth County 123. September 1778 – The Death of the Pine Robber, Jacob Fagan 124. October 1778 – Thomas Crowell and Regulating Loyalist Passage into New Jersey 125. October 1778 - Pulaski’s Legion and the Osborn Island Massacre 126. October 1778 – Pulaski’s Legion in Stafford Township 127. October 1778 – Militia Respond to the Attack on Chestnut Neck 128. October 1778 – The Pardons of Purgatory of Ezekiel Forman 129. October 1778 – John Lloyd and David Rhea Lead Purchasing for the Army 130. November 1778 – William Marriner’s Second Brooklyn Raid and Later Career 131. November 1778 – The Decision to Station Continental Troops in Monmouth County 132. December 1778 - The Capture of the Schooner Two Friends and Its Captain 133. December 1778 – The First American Raids Against Sandy Hook 1779 1779 134. January 1779 – Toms River Emerges as a Privateer Port 135. January 1779 – Shore Neighborhoods Support Loyalists 136. January 1779 -- Militia from Other Counties Ordered into Monmouth 137 January 1779 – Caleb North’s Continentals in Monmouth County 138. January 1779 – Grain Seizure Splits Whig Leadership 139. January 1779 – John Van Kirk Infiltrates Pine Robber Gang 140. February 1779 – Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee’s Dragoons in Monmouth County 141. February 1779 – Major John Burrowes and His Actions at Middletown Point 142. March 1779 – Mordecai Gist’s Continentals in Middletown 143. March 1779 – The Auction of Loyalist Estates 144. March 1779 – Scandals Mar the Sale of Loyalist Estates 145. April 1779 – Loyalist Kin Gain Pieces of Confiscated Estates 146. April 1779 – Alarm Beacons Constructed in Monmouth County 147. April 1779 – Benjamin Ford’s Maryland Continentals in Monmouth County 148. April 1779 – British-Loyalist Raid Tinton Falls and Shoal Harbor 149. May 1779 – Philip Freneau: Patriot, Poet, and Privateer 150. May 1779 – Loyalist Raids Increase in Frequency 151 May 1779 – Holmes v Walton as a London Trading Incident 152. May 1779 – Holmes v Walton as a Constitutional Watershed 153. June 1779 – State Troops Raised to Defend Monmouth County 154. June 1779 – The Loss of Tinton Falls 155. June 1779 – Refugee Women Listed in Monmouth County Militia Returns 156. June 1779 –New England Privateers Prey on Shipping at Sandy Hook 157. July 1779 – Monmouth Soldiers Participate in Campaign against Iroquois 158. July 1779 – Lewis Fenton, the Infamous Pine Robber 159. July 1779 –David Brearley Leaves Continental Army for the Supreme Court 160. August 1779 – Monmouth County’s 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer 161. September 1779 – The Fall of John Morris and His Loyalist Battalion 162. September 1779 – New Jersey Volunteers Drift into Other Loyalist Units 163. October 1779 – Monmouth County Prepares for Return of French Fleet 164. September 1779 – Yelverton Taylor Takes British Troop Transport 165. November 1779 – The Establishment of the Associated Loyalists 166. November 1779 -- Thomas Henderson Selected to Continental Congress 167. October 1779 – David Rhea Complains about Lee’s Continentals in Monmouth 168. December 1779 – The Capture of the Brigantine, Britannia 169. December 1779 -Continental Congress Seeks Blankets Via London Trade 1780 1780 170. January 1780 – Provisions Taken from Shore Residents for the Continental Army 171. January 1780 – Henry Lee’s Continentals Raid Sandy Hook 172. January 1780 – Winter Storms Drive Five Ships onto Monmouth Shore 173 February 1780 -- Samuel Lippincott, Man-Stealing, and Jailed Militiamen in New York 174. March 1780 – The Disaffected Officeholders of Dover and Stafford Townships 175. March 1780 – Loyalist Privateers Sail the Monmouth Shore 176. March 1780 – Monmouth Leaders Split as David Forman Re-Emerges 177. March 1780 – Asher Holmes Raises New Regiments of State Troops 178. March 1780 – Loyalist Raiding Party Murders John Russell 179. April 1780 – British Counter-Attack American Privateers Off Sandy Hook 180. May 1780 – Loyalist “Manstealing” Peaks and the Rise of Colonel Tye 181. May 1780 – Preparations Made for the Return of the French Fleet 182. May 1780 – The Capture of the Outlaws John and Robert Smith 183. June 1780 – Controversy Surrounds Local Prisoner Exchanges 184. June 1780 – Stephen Decatur: The Greatest Privateer of the Jersey Shore 185. May 1780 – The Battle of Conkaskunk 186. July 1780 – The Establishment of the Association for Retaliation 187 June 1780 – Joseph Murray Killed While Tending His Fields 188. June 1780 – Colonel Tye and the Black Brigade 189. June 1780 – David Forman Sends Intelligence Reports to George Washington 190. July 1780 – Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee Returns to Monmouth County 191. August 1780 – Crackdown on Militia Delinquents in Shrewsbury Township 192. August 1780 – Prominent Loyalists Captured and Scandal Ensues 193. August 1780 – Trevor Newland Pushed toward Disaffection 194. August 1780 – The Capture of William Marriner 195. August 1780 – Colonel Tye’s Final Raid 196. September 1780 – New Jersey Legislature Investigates the Retaliators 197. October 1780 – County Elections Marred by Violence and Voter Intimidation 198. October 1780 – Monmouth Loyalists Captured at King’s Mountain 199. October 1780 – Company of New Jersey Volunteers Taken in Route to Sandy Hook 200. October 1780 – New Jersey Assembly Struggles to Support State Troops 201. November 1780 – Monmouth Whigs Crack Down on London Traders 202. December 1780 – Lt. Joshua Studson Killed by John Bacon 1781 1781 203. January 1781 – Failed Prisoner Exchange Stokes Tensions between Whigs and Loyalists 204. January 1781 – The Capture of Lt. Col. Klein and Others Seeking to Go to New York 205. February 1781 – Monmouth County’s Jail and the Jailbreak of February 1781 206 March 1781 – Richard Lippincott Leads Raid against Monmouth Shore 207. April 1781 – Richard Lippincott as an Active Loyalist Partisan 208. April 1781 – The Bold Privateering of Adam Hyler 209. May 1781 – Loyalists Seek to Defend Waters Off Sandy Hook 210. May 1781 – The Monmouth County Whig Society 211. May 1781 –William Clark and the Raritan Bay Horse Thieves 212. June 1781 – The Battle of the 1500 at Middletown 213. July 1781 – Shrewsbury Friends Struggle to Stay Out of War 214. July 1781 – Monmouth County Intersects with the Yorktown Campaign 215. October 1781 – The London Trading Case of Elisha Walton v William Laird 216. October 1781 – Violence Again Mars Monmouth County Elections 217. October 1781 – The Vigilante Acts of the Association for Retaliation 218. October 1781 – Nathaniel Scudder Killed during Loyalist Raid 219. December 1781 – Pine Robbers Menace Dover and Stafford Townships 220. December 1781 – The Rise of John Bacon’s Pine Robber Gang 1782 1782 221. January 1782 -- Associated Loyalists Embrace Policy of Retaliation 222. January 1782 – Privateer Captain William Gray Clashes with London Traders 223. January 1782 – Joshua Huddy’s State Troops Stationed at Toms River 224. February 1782 – Loyalists Raid Pleasant Valley during Winter Storm 225. February 1782 – David Forman Seeks Passport for Mrs. Prevost 226. March 1782 – Associated Loyalists Raze Toms River 227. March 1782 – The Capture and Murder of Philip White 228. April 1782 – Richard Lippincott Hangs Joshua Huddy 229. April 1782 – The Local Response to the Hanging of Joshua Huddy 230. April 1782 – The Continental Response to Huddy Hanging 231. April 1782 – The Court Martial of Richard Lippincott 232. May 1782 – The Aftermath of the Huddy Hanging and Lippincott Acquittal 233. May 1782 – Loyalist Estate Confiscations Resume in Monmouth County 234. May 1782 – The Case of Caesar Tite and Other Litigation over Freedmen 235. May 1782 – Prosecution of Loyalists Intensifies in Monmouth County 236. May 1782 – Adam Hyler Captures Loyalist Regulars on Sandy Hook 237. June 1782 – Davenport’s Pine Robbers Routed at Forked River 238. June 1782 – Loyalists and American Prisoners Fish Off Sandy Hook 239. July 1782 – The Capture and Execution of Ezekiel Tilton 240. August 1782 – Monmouth Whigs Form New Associations 241. September 1782 – The Retaliators Outlast the War 242. September 1782 – Monmouth Loyalists Seek to Come Home 243. September 1782 – Monmouth Loyalists Emigrate to Canada 244. October 1782 – John Bacon Slaughters Gloucester Militia at Barnegat 245. November 1782 – The Secret London Trading of the Privateer Nathan Jackson 246. December 1782 – Pine Robbers Defeat Militia at Cedar Creek 1783 1783 247. January 1783 – Accidents and Humiliations Plague the British at Sandy Hook 248. February 1783 – Jonathan Forman’s Long Service in the Continental Army 249. March 1783 – The Death of John Bacon 250. April 1783 - Monmouth County’s Black Loyalists Emigrate to Canada Own the book inspired by these articles! Makes a great gift for the history lovers in your life! New Release! The American Revolution on the Jersey Shore Button The Razing of Tinton Falls: Voices from the American Revolution The American Revolution in Monmouth County: The Theatre of Spoil and Destruction Books About the Author About the Author Michael Adelberg has been researching the American Revolution in Monmouth County, New Jersey, for over thirty years. He is the author of the award-winning The American Revolution in Monmouth County, and three other books. His essays on the American Revolution have appeared in The Journal of Military of History , The Journal of the Early Republic , The Wilson Quarterly , and other scholarly journals. Adelberg’s research has been recognized by the New Jersey Historical Commission, the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance, the David Library of the American Revolution, the public television program NJ Today , and the government of Monmouth County. Other Resources Other Resources 250 for the 250th FAQs 1. How were topics selected for the articles in 250 for the 250th? Article topics were selected based on two criteria: 1.) the importance of the topic to the people who lived in Revolutionary Era Monmouth County; 2.) adequate source materials to draft the article. The Battle of Monmouth was the largest Revolutionary War event to occur in Monmouth County but it is not narrated in 250 for the 250th. That is because the Battle of Monmouth is already the subject of an excellent book, Fatal Sunday, by Mark Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone. However, several topics related to the battle and its impact on the people of Monmouth County are the subject of articles. 2. Are the articles in 250 for the 250th written about elsewhere? The articles in 250 for the 250th fall into one of three categories: a.) Discussed by modern historians, but not easily accessible. For example, David Fowler wrote an outstanding PhD dissertation about the Pine Robbers. The dissertation was written for a scholarly audience and never published as a book. Few people will read Fowler’s research. So, there are articles about the Pine Robbers in 250 for the 250th even though Fowler already well-covered this topic. b.) Discussed in local histories and antiquarian works. Several topics in 250 for the 250th are narrated in antiquarian sources or local histories. Some of these narratives are balanced and well-researched, some are not. Either way, Revolutionary War topics in these works hopscotch sources and are spread across dozens of older books. So, many topics covered in these histories are included in 250 for the 250th. c.) Original source materials. A number of topics in 250 for the 250th have never been narrated (for example, the raising of Monmouth County’s state troops). Shards of information exist across original documents and were pasted together for the first time in these articles. I enjoyed being the first historian to write on these topics. 3. How are antiquarian and genealogical materials used in 250 for the 250th? The articles in 250 for the 250th are built on source materials—those written by people who witnessed the American Revolution. If there are not source materials sufficient to write on a topic, that topic is not part of this collection. However, antiquarian and genealogical sources often add important details not contained in source materials. So many of the articles include supporting information from antiquarian and genealogical materials. 4. Modern historians discuss some aspects of the American Revolution in Monmouth County. How are these works used in 250 for the 250th? The articles in 250 for the 250th are ground in and written from source materials. In a number of articles, specific historians who contributed an original analysis or critique on the article’s topic are mentioned and their works are cited. 5. What is the likelihood that there are errors in the 250 for the 250th articles? The articles in this series are built on source materials and these materials offer the most reliable information about the Revolutionary era. But source materials reflect the bias of the author and sources sometimes disagree. For example, casualty counts in Continental and British narratives of the same event frequently disagree. Source materials are often imprecise with regard to specific dates, name spellings, and locations. In many articles, I make suppositions based on probability and context. Qualifying terms such as “likely” and “potentially” are used alert readers to suppositions. In any collection as large as 250 for the 250th there is inevitably a small amount of human error. If a reader believes an error might exist in an article, the reader is encouraged to bring it to my attention, and forward the source material that can correct the record. Readers can contact me at 250@monmouthhistory.org . 6. Were any edits made to source materials when transcribed into the articles in 250 for the 250th? In some articles, small edits were made to made to increase the readability of a particular document. 18th Century sentences were often extremely long and packed with qualifying language that can confuse a modern reader. So, some punctuation edits were made, archaic abbreviations are modernized, and some qualifying text is removed (replaced with “…”). In all cases, edits were minor and made only for the purpose of increasing the readability of the source. 7. Should there be more articles about poor people, women, and minorities in 250 for the 250th? The articles in 250 for the 250th are built on surviving sources and the body of surviving sources tilts heavily toward political and military leaders. When the body of surviving documents allows it, I selected topics that shed light on how the American Revolution impacted poor people, women, and minorities (particularly Africans-Americans in Monmouth County). Even when articles focus on political and military leaders, I seek to discuss the article topic’s impact on ordinary people. 8. Is 250 for the 250th the complete story of the American Revolution in Monmouth County? 250 for the 250th is the most complete account of the American Revolution in Monmouth County, but it is not the complete story. There are many important and interesting topics that lacked enough documentation to develop an article. Below are five examples of interesting topics that are not explored in 250 for the 250th due to lack of source materials: •Free African-American communities •The handfuls of American-Indians, Catholics, and Jews in Revolutionary Monmouth County •The Mattisonia Grammar School near Freehold and education in the county •Refugeetown on Sandy Hook (home to the Black Brigade and other Loyalist partisans) •Rebuilding villages razed by Loyalist raiding parties. Name Index For a name index throughout articles, the following searchable PDF is available. Tip : Use Crtl+F to find the names easily. Tables Here is the link to the tables page. Citations This entirety of this work is protected under US copyright . When using the information, please cite appropriately. This online citation generator offers various styles. Sample citation: Michael Adelberg, “[Article Title],” 250 for the 250th, Monmouth County Historical Association, 2025, [url]. Teacher Resource Click here for a guided classroom activity! Contact Information If you have a question for the author, please email 250@monmouthhistory.org . The author will return correspondence as time allows. Note : Mr. Adelberg is not a genealogist and is unable to help with genealogy questions. If you have a genealogy inquiry for our research librarian, please email Library@monmouthhistory.org . All in-depth genealogy questions will incur a standard research fee . The MCHA staff is unable to respond to emails or voicemails regarding this independent project. Thanks for understanding! Subscribe to get exclusive monthly updates on this collection Email* Join Our Mailing List Subscribe

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Militia Family Suffering After the Battle of Navesink by Michael Adelberg The Sugar House warehouse in New York was converted into a prison that held roughly 500 prisoners. Most of the militiamen captured at the Battle of Navesink were confined here. - February 1777 - By 1777, both the British and Continental governments were struggling to house and feed thousands of captured enemy combatants. The British Army in New York City was faced with the acute problem of holding 4,000 prisoners in a city that was already overcrowded with British troops and Loyalist refugees. Lacking alternatives, the British converted old warehouses and non-seaworthy ships into improvised prisons. These impromptu prisons were horrible places where hundreds died from inadequate food, shelter, and clothing. American prisoners had few beds and blankets. The skimpy twice-a-week prisoner rations (1/2 lb. of biscuit, 1/2 lb. pork, 1/2 pint of peas, cup of rice, 1/2 oz. butter) was rarely fully allotted. Following the defeat at the Battle of the Navesink , more than 70 Monmouth militiamen were put into these miserable jails. Monmouth Militiamen in British Prisons Historian Edward Raser studied 72 Monmouth militiamen captured at the Battle of Navesink. Five died in jail within two months and five others died in prison over the next year. At least seven of these men were married and at least four were fathers. Two of the prisoners were paroled from jail to become tailors for the British Army. The captured officers (Capt. Barnes Smock, Lt. Joseph Brown, Lt. Thomas Cook, Lt. James Whitlock, Ens. Tobias Polhemus) were eventually paroled to private homes on Long Island. Several of the captured militiamen discussed their time in prison in their postwar veteran’s pension applications after the war. Garrett Wikoff recalled his eighteen months of confinement: Together with about seventy other persons, were taken prisoner and carried on board a 64-gun ship then lying near Sandy Hook where he remained three days and three nights closely confined in her hatches. He was then taken, together with his comrades, to New York and imprisoned in the Old Sugar House, as it was then called. He remained there a prisoner to the enemy until the 8th of August 1778. Other Monmouth militiamen offer similar narratives. A few additional details are offered below: James Morris: “he was very sick with small pox, and looked very miserable, his hair was nearly all off his head." Cornelius Vanderhoff: "detained for 18 or 20 months until there was little number [left alive], for want of humane treatment” Matthias Hulse: “confined to the Old Sugar House… remained a prisoner there from the time he was taken, in close confinement, until the 12th day of May, when he was exchanged” Linton Doughty: “was confined for 19 months - for this time, on his return home received pay." Henry Vunck: “suffered while a prisoner great privations… in poor clothing and scanty & unwholesome provisions. Many of the prisoners died in consequence of this treatment.” Elisha Clayton may have had the most interesting recollection. He was “compelled to work at his trade in making clothes for the enemy; while thus employed he watched [for] his opportunity and made his escape, accompanied by a British soldier whom he induced to desert from the enemy.” Attempts to Support the Prisoners The Continental Commissary of Prisoners, Elias Boudinot, sought provisions for the prisoners of war. He engaged John Covenhoven, formerly Monmouth County’s leading delegate in the New Jersey Assembly prior to capture by a Loyalist party on November 30, 1776. Covenhoven signed British protection papers and, after that, he retired from public life. But raising provisions for prisoners of war at Boudinot’s request brought him back into a leadership role. Boudinot wrote Covenhoven on January 17, 1778: I must again beg that you will exert yourself on this occasion, and add a few quarters of beef (say 10 or 12) and 100 bushels of Indian corn -- I enclose two passports for the sloop, and most heartily wish she may go off on the first open weather. Boudinot promised to pay for the provisions that could be raised. Covenhoven’s response has not survived but it was apparently encouraging because Boudinot directed an associate, "I hope you will soon receive a boat load of flour from Middletown Point." Covenhoven further responded on January 30: I have purchased a quantity of wood which is this day setting out for New York with a few lbs. of flour; I have also engaged a quantity of wheat… will be ready when the boat returns. The beef you desired to be sent I have not got & will be difficult to be had; purchased between two & three hundred bushels of rye. Covenhoven noted delays with shipping these goods to the prisoners in the winter because "the boat was froze up" at Middletown Point. Paroled Officers and the Special Status of Capt. Barnes Smock and Lt. James Whitlock Consistent with the social class-focused attitudes of the day, special attention was given to the captured officers. Several were paroled from prison to private homes on Long Island. However, two of the officers, Captain Barnes Smock and Lt. James of Whitlock, were denied this lenient treatment for several months because they had signed British protection papers during the Loyalist insurrections . The harsh treatment of Smock and Whitlock caught the attention of Elias Boudinot. In December 1777, Boudinot compiled a report to Congress titled, "State of Charges Against the Prisoners in the Provost of New-York.” It included this paragraph: Captain Smock and Whitlock discussed entering the service after taking oaths of Allegiance last winter to the King of Great Britain. They acknowledge the fact, declaring their faithful adhesion to their oaths as long as protected, but when the English left the Jerseys, they took the benefit of General Washington's proclamation. If this is a crime, it was equally so in the first instance, after submitting to our Government. Boudinot was not successful in negotiating parole for Smock and Whitlock. In March 1778, he wrote George Washington about Smock and Whitlock and a few other captured New Jersey officers who were denied parole on Long Island. “That having repeated my Applications for the relief of the seven remaining Officers in the Provoost, I could not succeed, and as the objections against the liberation of Smock, Whitlock and Skinner are rather trifling,” Boudinot called for a general prisoner exchange as the best way to help these men. The next month, April 1778, Boudinot and his British counterpart negotiated a "Draft of the Proposed Cartel for Prisoner of War Exchanges." That document lists eleven officers, including Smock and Whitock, who “remain yet unexchanged” as "the objects of particular exception” The cartel proposed to move these eleven men to the top of the list of men to be exchanged: We do hereby specially stipulate and declare, that the aforesaid officers shall be immediately exchanged on the terms of this cartel, for any officers of equal rank, or others by way of equivalent or composition; which have been or shall be delivered in lieu of them. The draft cartel was not immediately executed, but it appears to have helped Smock and Whitlock. A “List of Whig Officers on Parole on Long Island” compiled by Boudinot in August 1778 includes Smock and Whitlock as paroled in Brooklyn. Other documents related to the paroled officers corroborate this. The officers paroled to Long Island received vastly better treatment than the rank & file left in the British prisons, but parole was not without insults and dangers. Two Monmouth militia officers paroled on Long Island, Thomas Little and Tobias Polhemus, petitioned British general James Pattison on August 29, 1778, about “daily and repeated insults” from British troops: This treatment we bore with patience, but...they continued and their brutality [and] carried them so far as to beat us in a cruel manner. They openly declared that they came to our quarters with a formed design to perpetrate these violences and that they were determined to murder us. Attempts to win the exchange of these paroled officers failed more often than not. Lt Thomas Cook, a prisoner on Long Island, wrote to Nathaniel Scudder in August 1780: My brother informs that Lewis Thomson was sent here to effect an exchange, it has answered no valuable purpose to that end, the influence of such men is very little in this place. Had he been of my rank, it is possible it would have been done... I am at a loss to know the reasons why an exchange do not go on for me, the officers in general are in a very disagreeable circumstance [sic]; it is fifteen months since our bond was paid [permitting parole to Long Island] or the last Public supplies were sent to us. Edward Raser noted that the first five militiamen were exchanged in May 1777, probably due to serious illness. Most of the Monmouth prisoners came home as part of the general prisoner exchanges conducted in the summer of 1778. Once exchanged, Barnes Smock returned to the militia as captain of his Middletown company; he was captured again by Loyalist raiders in May 1780. James Whitlock was listed in a 1778 prisoner schedule as “broke parole.” For this offense, he was not exchanged until December 1780. He was probably very ill and died soon after this release. New Jersey Government Provides Relief to Families of Some Captured Militiamen New Jersey leaders sought to help the prisoners and their families. On September 20, 1777, David Forman petitioned the New Jersey Legislative Council for ongoing militia wages to the families of men captured at the Battle of the Navesink; the Council approved the petition on the same day, but apparently lacked the power to appropriate funds. So, in November 1777, Asher Holmes and Nathaniel Scudder petitioned the New Jersey Assembly "setting forth that a great number of militia of the county of Monmouth under their command have at different times been taken prisoner by the enemy, some of whom have perished in confinement, and other in their family are in great distress." They requested relief for the suffering families. It does not appear that the Assembly acted on the petition. However, in March 1778, the New Jersey Council of Safety, on which Scudder served, "Agreed, that there be paid to Col. Asher Holmes, the sum of £120 -- for use of the wives, widows and children, of such militia inhabitants of Monmouth County, who have either been taken prisoners by the enemy or killed in battle, & who appear objects of public charity, to be distributed among them at [his] discretion." Holmes received £120 for the relief of the following "suffering families": James Hibbetts, Peter Yateman, Samuel Hanzey, John Bowes, Abraham Marlat, Nathan Marion, Joseph Davis, William Norris, William Cole, Alexander Clark, Lambert Johnson, and Obadiah Stillwell. Why the families of these men merited relief while others did not was not stated. In June 1781, the New Jersey Assembly returned to the Battle of Navesink. On June 4, it voted 29-1 to give James Whitlock legal title to the estate of his brother, John Whitlock. The next day, the Assembly voted half-pay pensions (£2 S5 per month) to the wives of five men killed at the battle. They were: Isabella Hibbetts [widow of James Hibbetts], Mary Stillwell [widow of Obadiah Stillwell], Elizabeth Cole [widow of William Cole], Mary Winter [widow of James Winter], and Penelope Davis [widow of Joseph Davis]. Perspective By any measure, the Battle of the Navesink was the worst moment of the war for the Monmouth militia and many of the seventy-two men captured and their families suffered for years afterward. However, many other militiamen and their families suffered from militia service at other times for other reasons. A few examples are offered below based on postwar pension application narratives: Job Clayton : “His four older brothers were made prisoners by the refugees and confined many months in the Sugar House, at the City of New York.” William Johnson : "My father, a Whig, was robbed of between five and six pounds of hard money. I myself, was robbed of thirty pounds and my coat, vest and even my shoes.” Rachel Lake , regarding the service of her dead husband, John Smith: “She lost a child in his absence… They were robbed and plundered by a party of Tories one time during the war, and upon another occasion they were robbed of about twenty sheep, which were also driven off by the Tories." Rebecca Shepherd , wife of Captain Moses Shepherd (in the application of John Truax): "She was informed that the enemy intended to take her off, this information caused her to leave her home at night… the refugees took the slay [sic] & horses and brought them off to Sandy Hook." Altche Sutphin , regarding the service of her husband, Derrick Sutphin: “He was called out the same week as the wedding… when a fellow soldier by the name of William Thomson was killed on Middletown Highlands… The wedding party dared not remain overnight at the house, but dispersed early in the evening for fear of the Tories who would be upon them - that the bride remained at his house while the groom, the said Sutphin, was called out in the service." Mary Wall , regarding the service of her husband, James Wall: “She was sometimes left with small children and such assistance as could be secured in the affected state of the country exposed to the ravages of a cruel enemy without any male about the house… the enemy were always willing to make daring inroads into the county to capture those who were obnoxious to them or plunder their houses." Asa Woolley : "He suffered from the cold, his feet were frozen, his eyes much injured, so that he was not able to read for seven years. The injury arose from the flash of a gun when fighting the Enemy... he obtained a furlough from Captain [Richard] McKnight to visit his friends but in a few nights his comrades were taken prisoner, and carried to New York." Related Historic Site : The Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument (Brooklyn) Sources : Ammerman, Richard, “Treatment of American Prisoners during the Revolution.” New Jersey History, vol. 78 (1960), pp. 263-5; Edward Raser, "American Prisoners Taken at the Battle of the Navesink," Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, vol. 45, n 2, May 1970; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) p 321 note; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Cornelius Vanderhoff; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Job Clayton; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Linton Doughty; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Van Note of Ohio, S.11617; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Elihu Clayton; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Eldridge; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Matthias Hulce; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Garret Wikoff of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 28142503; Receipt, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, Coll. 91, p195; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1777) p111; John Fell's Journal, Brooklyn Historical Society, coll. 1974.225; Elias Boundinot to Congress, Library of Congress, Peter Force Collection, 7E, reel 3, Elias Boudinot Papers; Elias Boudinot to John Covenhoven, Elias Boudinot Letterbook, Wisconsin Historical Society, p63-6; Princeton University Library, CO230, Elias Boudinot to John Covenhoven; List of Officers, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3994; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 214; Elias Boudinot to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 14, 1 March 1778 – 30 April 1778, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004, pp. 16–24; Elias Boudinot, The Elias Boudinot Letterbook (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2002) p114; Draft Prisoner Cartel, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 1, 1768–1778, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 466–472; List of Prisoners, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3967; List of Prisoners, National Archives, Collection 881, R 593; Rufus Lincoln, The Papers of Captain Rufus Lincoln, ed. by James M. Lincoln. (Cambridge, MA 1903) p. 29-40; Samuel B. Webb, Correspondence and Journals of Samuel B. Webb (NY: Arno, 1969) v2, p123; List of Captured Officers, National Archives, Collection 881, R 593; Elias Boudinot, Accounts for Prisoners, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3976; Thomas Cook to Nathaniel Scudder, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 93, item 78, vol. 5, #499; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 14, 1780, p 258; Thomas Little and Tobias Polhemus, Memorial, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Irvine-Newbold Papers, box 77, folder 29; List of Suffering Families, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #1148; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 22, 1777, p 28; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 214; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, May 22 and June 4, 1781, p 8-32; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, June 5, 1781, p 34; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Asa Wooley; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Smith; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, James Wall of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 20365758; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Johnson; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Truax; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Derrick Sutphin. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Loyalist Privateers Sail the Monmouth Shore by Michael Adelberg Rowboats, often with a small sail and small cannon on a turret, were used by both sides for coastal privateering. Loyalist crews conducted daring voyages down the Jersey shore from 1780-1782. - March 1780 - Prior articles have discussed the rise of privateering along the Jersey shore, first in the summer of 1778 with small vessels operating out of Little Egg Harbor , and then surging in spring 1779 when several New England privateers began preying on British shipping just outside of Sandy Hook. This was enabled by a weakened British naval presence, as the British diverted ships away from America to defend other parts of their empire from a growing coalition of European naval enemies—France, Spain, and the Netherlands. American Loyalists in New York complained about British weakness; some responded by going on offense in their own privateers. There is scattered evidence of Loyalist privateers operating off Toms River and elsewhere in 1778. For example, the Royal Gazette of New York City published this report in August 1778: On Monday last, arrived the schooner Hammond, Capt. Bridger Goodrich. He sailed from hence some time ago, in company with the Jager, Capt. Buchanan, for Bermuda, and on his passage took four prizes, burnt one of them, and carried the other three into that port, whither he presently after sent a long pilot boat from Virginia, laden with one hundred and two hogsheads of tobacco; he then took a schooner with flour and tobacco, and last Saturday and Sunday, on his passage to this port, saw eight privateers from Toms River in East-Jersey, three of which he took, and has brought them in. Loyalist privateers returned in greater numbers in 1779. General Karl Bauermeister, based in New York, wrote of “freebooting” Loyalist privateers putting to sea in February 1779 : The homeless Loyalists who are still here are fitting out forty vessels to cruise under cover of six armed British ships and land anywhere between Rhode Island and Egg Harbor. They will keep all of their booty without exception, which has greatly encouraged them, for all of them had been well to do, but have lost everything. Bauermeister reported that Loyalist privateers had brought 46 prizes into New York since December. In April, he later reported that 32 Loyalist vessels were between New York and Delaware Bay. However, by June, Bauermeister was pessimistic: "Of the one hundred and twenty one New York privateers... sixty-one have been captured." He reported that 31 rebel vessels were “cruising between Sandy Hook and the Delaware." In early spring 1780, Loyalist privateers again went on offense along the Jersey shore. Below, are descriptions of successful small-vessel Loyalist privateer voyages along the Jersey shore from spring 1780. (Loyalist vessels scored additional wins along the Long Island and Connecticut shorelines, and larger Loyalist vessels scored some wins as far away as Charleston and the West Indies—but those voyages are beyond the scope of this article.) Loyalist Privateer Voyages in 1780 In March 1780, the New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury reported on "one of the most gallant privateering exploits performed by eleven determined refugee sailors." The Loyalists were motivated by "having been severely persecuted", "stripped of their property," and "reduced to circumstances detested by generous minds." So, they "resolved to balance accounts with the authors of their misfortune." They embarked in the whale boat, Lewistown Revenge , with only one swivel gun in the bow under a man named Wilby. Given its size, the boat must have stayed close to shore as it traversed the entire 70-mile Monmouth shoreline without incident. The newspaper reported: They passed Sandy Hook and proceeded to Egg Harbour [just south of Monmouth County] where they found three privateers ready for sea and a 12-gun schooner laden with lumber. Their number being inadequate for the force collected there, they pretended to be rebels and spent an evening with those who were really such in a most social manner. The Loyalists then proceeded to the Delaware Bay where "they captured a loaded vessel" and then another small vessel. The Loyalists captured and paroled "between fifty and sixty rebel prisoners." One of their prizes was lost at Cape May. The Loyalists, with their one remaining prize, then sailed the Monmouth shoreline again and nearly made it back to Sandy Hook. They lost their prize near Sandy Hook when a boat (likely Monmouth militia) chased them. One Loyalist was wounded during the journey. In June, the New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury , reported on another Loyalist whaleboat attack: The whaleboats, Fox, Capt. Urion, and Cock, Capt. Creppen, came in last Saturday after a five days cruize off Barnegat last Thursday. They fell in with two rebel whaleboats, with whom they engaged and took, killing one of their men without loss. It appears that those gentry intended to take our fishermen, and then plunder the inhabitants of Long Island or Staten Island. They belonged to Cape May and had a commission from Congress, eight men in each boat, well armed. Loyalist Privateers in Later Years of the War A year later, on August 25, 1781, the New York Gazette reported that "the whaleboat Surprise , Capt. Thomson, with a small boat in company" cruised between Barnegat and Manasquan where he "fell in with two large rebel gunboats" with three guns each. "They engaged, and after an hour of close combat were obliged to sheer off with the loss of one of the rebel commanders, and a number of men, four of whom were seen thrown overboard." Thomson "received a swivel gun [shot] in his groin" and two of his men were wounded. Thomson kept giving orders while "in a supine position from the wound." The report concluded that his actions "does him much credit and demands tribute and praise." An antiquarian account provides additional details. Captain William Thomson left New York City for Barnegat in a small vessel where he fell in with two privateers, one with a howitzer, and both with swivel guns. The antiquarian source continued: A very severe action was fought between the boat Surprise, Captain Thomson, and her consort, both crews consisting of twenty-four men and two rebel boats belonging to Philadelphia off Barnegat on the coast of New Jersey. The conflict lasted more than an hour within pistol shot in which Captain Thomson received a severe wound in the thigh notwithstanding which he continued the contest until the rebels took to their oars, first throwing over four of their dead, among the number was one of their Captains. Loyalist privateers continued to score occasional victories into late 1782. The last recorded prize taken off the Jersey shore was reported in the New York Gazette reported in October 1782: The galley, Boston Hero, Captain Read, from Boston, of 8 guns and 26 men was brought in here [New York] on Tuesday last, by the whaleboat Black Snake, Capt. Richardson, 12 men only. Capt. Read having sent 9 of his men ashore for water near Egg Harbor, the Black Snake's crew made prisoners of them in a farm house, then rowed on board the galley in the night and took her without firing a single shot. Capt. Richardson also brought in "the sloop Nancy , Capt. Dedrick, from Egg Harbor." This report suggests that the Loyalists were not opposed, and may have been supported, by the disaffected residents of Stafford Township —who surely could have assembled and protected the New Englanders against only twelve Loyalists. This and other incidents demonstrate that the Loyalist crews sailing the Monmouth shore often enjoyed some support from pockets of Jersey shore residents. The totality of evidence suggests that American privateers from Philadelphia (commonly based at Egg Harbor), New England, and small vessels manned by New Jersey militia took dozens more prizes than the Loyalist privateers operating out of New York. Besides a brief period of time in 1780 when the British navy was aggressive on the Jersey shore (the subject of another article), the British navy was not a consistent check against these privateers. But it is also true that a handful of small Loyalist vessels successfully sailed the New Jersey shoreline. Braving rebel privateers and militia boats, these Loyalists scored more than a few victories. This article, focusing only on their New Jersey shore voyages, remembers a fraction of these forgotten Loyalist victories. Related Historic Site : National Museum of the United States Navy Sources : New York Royal Gazette, August 12, 1778; New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, March 27, 1780; New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, June 19, 1780; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, etc. (London: Oxford University Press, 1876), 5th Series, vol. 5, p247. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Shrewsbury Leaders Move Against Their Black Neighbors by Michael Adelberg Many free African-Americans and slaves lived in small clusters of cabins removed from villages of best farmland. Colonial leaders often depicted these Black settlement areas as sources of trouble. - October 1775 - Approximately 10 percent of Monmouth County’s Revolutionary-era population was African American, split roughly evenly between slave and free. Free Blacks faced substantial discrimination—they could not vote or serve in the militia (though they would be permitted to serve in the Continental Army). According to Monmouth County’s tax lists, no African-American owned a large farm—the primary path to acquiring wealth. The large majority of free Blacks were “householders” or “single men” according to the tax lists—meaning they labored for others in order to make a living. Free Black men often lived segregated, in clusters of cabins outside of the county’s villages. Some slaves lived with the free Blacks in these segregated communities, others lived on the family farms of the men who owned them. Monmouth’s wealthy men frequently owned slaves. However, tax lists show that no Monmouth Countian owned more than ten slaves. Runaway slave advertisements from Monmouth County appeared in colonial newspapers a handful of times each year, including one for “Titus” in 1775. It is probable that Titus became a famous Loyalist partisan known as “Colonel Tye.” Anti-Black sentiment bubbled up periodically during the colonial period—court records document sporadic assaults and other crimes against African Americans. The immorality of slavery was frequently discussed during the Revolutionary period; colonists often referred to British policies “enslaving” the colonies. Quakers, particularly numerous in Shrewsbury Township, campaigned for the end of slavery and in 1776, started pressuring members to free their slaves. Steps Taken Against African Americans Predictably, all of this activity emboldened the Black community. In February 1774, residents of Shrewsbury and Middletown authored petitions to the New Jersey Assembly claiming that: There is a great number of Negro men, women and children being slaves, and are daily increasing in numbers & impudence, that we find them very troublesome by running about all times of night, stealing, taking & riding other people's horses & other mischief, in a great degree owing to having a correspondence and recourse to the Houses of them already freed. The 108 petitioners further worried over the “great number of petitions for the freeing of slaves” which were being sent to the Assembly. They called talk of freeing slaves “pernicious to the public” and urged the Assembly to assert that slavery would remain the law of New Jersey. Interestingly, the petitioners included several men who would become leading Loyalists—Rev. Samuel Cooke, Dr. James Boggs, Commissioner John Taylor, Col. George Taylor—and several others who would hold senior positions in the new Revolutionary government—Col. Daniel Hendrickson, Maj. Hendrick Van Brunt, Assemblyman James Mott, and Committee Chair John Burrowes. The militance of the county’s African Americans, particularly in Shrewsbury, prompted a backlash. On October 6, 1775, Shrewsbury’s Committee of Observation noted that “numerous and riotous meetings of Negroes at unlicensed houses is pernicious of itself and may be of pernicious consequences.” It ordered the militia Colonel (Samuel Breese), to report on such events and “to use his militia... to secure the Negroes, and give the names of the delinquents" to the Committee. Ten days later, the Committee went further, instructing Breese to “order parties of the militia to attend such suspected places to search for and apprehend all transgressors of the law." It is noteworthy that the first campaign of the Shrewsbury militia was not against the British, but against a segment of its own population agitating for greater freedom. The Shrewsbury Committee of Observation was not done cracking down on the local Black community. On February 16, 1776, it resolved to disarm all African Americans: “all arms in the hands of or at the disposal of Negroes, either slave or free, shall be taken and secured by the militia officers... until the present troubles are settled, and that such arms shall be lodged in the hands of the Colonel." Two weeks later, the Committee went even further: Resolved, that all slaves, either Negroes, mulattoes or others that shall be found off their master's premises any time of night, may be taken up by any person whatsoever and secured until a fine of ten schillings be paid... and in failure of payment of such fine, the slave shall be delivered to the Minute-men to be kept under guard until he shall receive lashes on the bare back. The actions of the Shrewsbury Committee occurred as events outside the county were causing waves within it. In November 1775, the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, declared that “all indentured servants, negroes or others” owned by rebels would be freed from their bonds if they sought British protection and supported the British war effort. Meanwhile, many New Jersey slaveholders were indeed freeing their slaves. Historian James Gigantino estimated that 17% of New Jersey’s slaveholders freed at least one slave in his/her will and others did not wait for their death to free one or more slaves. Contested manumissions led to complicated litigation during and immediately after the American Revolution. New Jersey was the last northern state to outlaw slavery. An 1804 law created a gradual emancipation process. Related Historical Sites : none Sources : New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 14, #17; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, pp. 191-2; Proclamation of Lord Dunmore, Nov 11, 1775, Africans in America, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part 2; Jim Gigantino: Slavery, Abolition, and African Americans in New Jersey’s American Revolution in James Gigantino, ed., The American Revolution in New Jersey: Where the Battlefront Meets the Homefront (New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2015), pp 52-5; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, pp. 191-3; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, pp. 192-3 . Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Local Pilots Advise French Fleet About Sandy Hook by Michael Adelberg This map shows the narrow channel that large ships needed to navigate to clear Sandy Hook. Local pilots advised the French that their ships sat too deep in the water to safely navigate the channel. - July 1778 - As noted in the prior article, a large French fleet anchored off Shrewsbury Inlet (which connected the Shrewsbury River to the ocean a few miles south of Sandy Hook) on July 11, 1778. The fleet’s admiral, Comte Charles Henri D’Estaing, knew he greatly outgunned the local British fleet, but he faced a problem. Crossing Sandy Hook to engage the British required navigating a narrow channel just north of the Hook. It was understood that the four largest French ships, each with more than 80 cannon—the same ones that gave them the firepower advantage to destroy the British fleet—would be unable to navigate the channel without local pilots who knew the waters. Sending Pilots to the French Fleet The Continental government knew the French needed pilots. Even before the French anchored on July 11, Samuel Cooper wrote of the first American pilot the fleet picked up (while in the Delaware Bay): A pilot taken from the Delaware had promised the Admiral that he would convey his Squadron into the middle of the harbour of Sandy Hook… But the doubts, the fears, the mistakes of the Pilot, before he had reached Sandy Hook, and finally his absolute refusal to perform what he had undertaken, threw the Count into an Embarrassment. Cooper further noted that local pilots living on the disaffected Shrewsbury shore did not come forward when the French anchored: “That part of the Jerseys has not the reputation of the greatest Zeal for the common cause.” Cooper concluded that “nothing presented itself to the squadron of our allies, unacquainted with our coasts, but an inaccessible Shore.” The first attempt to send a local pilot to the French was on July 12. Richard Westcott, a militia colonel at Egg Harbor, wrote Congress of receiving orders dated July 10. As a consequence of those orders, he "dispatched the Lexington privateer schooner, Capt. Cook [John Cook], with them." John Cook was a militia officer from Toms River who presumably knew the Monmouth shore and Sandy Hook well. George Washington, on receiving word of the French arrival, dispatched Colonel John Laurens to Shrewsbury to establish communications with the French and see to their needs. Washington asked Colonel David Forman, a Continental officer from Manalapan who had lost his command , to take “every measure in your power to facilitate Mr. Laurens getting on board the admiral's ship." Meanwhile, lacking pilots and provisions, D’Estaing took matters into his own hands. The Admiral landed inside Shrewsbury Inlet. He set up an outpost on Rumson Neck to procure provisions and establish contact with the Continental government. D’Estaing wrote Washington: The desire of communication speedily with your Excellency determines me to make a debarkation upon the coast of the Jersey in a village which, according to the map, is to the northwest of the river Shrewsbury. Washington received D’Estaing’s letter on July 14. He forwarded it to Congress, noting that "Count D'Estaing is off or near Sandy Hook, having already seized several fishing boats on the banks, in order to procure information and pilots." One of those pilots was apparently William Fundrum, a Loyalist, who would (likely correctly) counsel the French against attacking Sandy Hook. Washington sought pilots for the French and was led to Captain William Dobbs, living in New York state. Dobbs had been the resident pilot at Sandy Hook before the British took the Hook in April 1776. He wrote Dobbs on July 15: A considerable fleet of French men of War, chiefly Ships of the line, has just arrived at Sandy Hook, under the command of Admiral Count D'Estaing. As the Admiral is a Stranger to our Coast, and is come for the purpose of cooperating with us against the Enemy, it is absolutely necessary that he should be immediately provided with a number of skillful pilots, well acquainted with the Coast and Harbors and of firm attachment to our cause. Washington then asked Dobbs to immediately go to the French fleet: I would flatter myself you will not have the smallest objection to going on board the fleet on so essential and interesting an occasion. I will not at this time say anything of your pay, but I doubt not we shall readily agree on a sum that will not only be just but generous and if we should not, that your services will be liberally considered and rewarded by the States. Dobbs replied that he "should have immediately complied with the request - but that it met me on my sick bed." He suggested two other pilots. French officers with the Continental Army took note. Captain Choin was suspicious: “I am sorry to say… the pilot with the best reputation, under pretext of having a fever, he refused to board your ship." The Marquis de Lafayette was kinder, "regarding this pilot, he will try to get to your squadron as soon as his health will allow." Dobbs arrived in Shrewsbury on July 20. D'Estaing wrote Washington, "I thank you for the Captain... I will make use of him as soon as possible." Cook and other pilots were already on board. On July 16, Richard Henry Lee of the Continental Congress wrote D’Estaing about available fresh water and provisions at Toms River and Egg Harbor. Lee also noted that “the Pilots on board the fleet will conduct vessels sent for the purpose to either of these places.” Governor William Livingston was also seeking pilots. On July 16, he wrote Washington of his efforts “to forward pilots to the Hook to conduct the fleet.” Livingston noted that each French warship “ought at least to have one” pilot, but was doubtful he would find enough qualified pilots. He recommended three pilots living in New York to Washington Dobbs, Dennis McQuire, and Isaac Symondson. That same day, Alexander Hamilton, on behalf of George Washington, wrote to Captain Patrick Dennis of D’Estaing’s arrival and need for pilots: It is absolutely necessary that he should be attended by some Gentlemen of intelligence and who possess an accurate knowledge of the Coast and harbours. His Excellency General Washington from the information he has received is persuaded you answer this description in every part; and I am directed by him to request you in his name, if circumstances will permit, to go on board the Admiral as early as possible. For all the efforts, D’Estaing had only three pilots on July 18. He wrote Washington that the pilots were testing the entrance of the channel to see if it was deep enough for the largest French ships, "I have only three pilots yesterday; they have a need of recollecting their ideas and are at this time sounding the river." A disaffected fisherman, Samuel DeHart, informed the British about the pilots: "Captain Dobes [William Dobbs], Daniel Marlon, John Fise, Jeramia Tonkins are gone on board the French Fleet as Pilots.” DeHart was wrong about Dobbs—who had not yet arrived and he did not mention John Cook, who likely was piloting another French ship for provisions at Toms River or Egg Harbor at that time. The New York government was also seeking pilots. Jacobus Van Zandt wrote Governor George Clinton on July 19 on the need for pilots. Van Zandt was concerned by delays in sending Dobbs: “I beg your Excellency will send Maj. William Dobbs down to Black Point [Rumson]... Dobbs is a proper coasting and channel pilot." Van Zandt had been to Shrewsbury and delivered other pilots—”collected eight and delivered them.” He also had some harsh words about Shrewsbury and its residents, "I am much fatigued and almost burned up with hot sand in going through a villainous Tory country ." That same day, Captain Charles-René de Gras-Préville introduced eight newly-arrived pilots to Admiral D’Estaing. De Gras-Préville noted that General Washington and Governor Livingston had collected “as many Branch Pilots as Could be had in this State.” He described the experience of the pilots “four of which are the first Branch Pilots we had at New York before these Troubles, the other four are Men capable of carrying any Ship which draws less water than those under the Command of the Count.” All of the pilots “are Sufficiently acquainted to follow the largest Ships in the Channel.” By July 20, Alexander Hamilton was at Black Point. He wrote of establishing a chain of signal cannons that would fire to tell the Continental Army when the French started their attack. He also wrote that the French troops were sent to the area, so that a land attack could accompany the sea attack on the now fortified Sandy Hook peninsula. However, the French remained reliant on American pilots. Hamilton wrote, “Pilots will be a material article.” Pilots Advise Against Attack However, those same pilots on that same day advised D’Estaing that the largest French warships sat too deep in the water to navigate Sandy Hook’s channel. Hamilton wrote Washington again on July 20: "he [D'Estaing] has had the river sounded and finds he cannot enter, he will sail for Rhode Island." D’Estaing wrote twice about the counsel he received from the pilots. The key obstacle was an underwater sand bar at the front of the channel: The better pilots obtained and given to me by General Washington joined me. I encouraged them secretly and publicly by the promise of compensation. They only reiterated what we already knew -- it was necessary to take whatever presented itself, but not cross the bar. Later, he wrote: The pilot removed all hopes of crossing the bar. He observed that the French [ships of line] were three or four feet deeper in the water than English ships of the same class, and advised that the larger ships could not enter on the other side of the Hook, one would have to unload the ships and tow them. Conrad Alexandre Gerard, the French diplomat in Philadelphia, wrote comprehensively of the depth of the French ships vs. the depth of the channel. He suggested that the largest French warship might clear the channel by only one inch—an unacceptable margin of error: [The channel will] yield only a high sea depth of 23 feet 11 inches. The Languedoc’s draft is 22 feet six inches; that of the Tonnant is 23 feet 10 inches, and all the squadron’s 74-gun ships draw from 21 to 22 feet of water; they alone can have superiority over the 64 and fifty-gun ships that the English possess. The French warships could be unloaded to lighten them. Then they would sit higher in the water and have less risk of grounding when passing through the channel. But, of course, unloading the ships would mean removing their artillery and neutralizing their firepower. Heading into battle, this was not an option. This was apparently contrary to what the French were told while the fleet was still in Europe. Lt. Jean Julian LeMauff wrote that Americans “assured him [D’Estaing] in Europe that there was enough water there [at Sandy Hook] for his squadron to enter” and “fight the English.” However, when “the pilot having arrived [Dobbs], there was not enough water for the large ships of the line and even for those of 74 guns, he would not take charge of the squadron." In an unfortunate coincidence for the French, the same day that D’Estaing decided to sail his fleet away from Sandy Hook, July 22, the winds shifted and the water deepened at Sandy Hook. A British report published in the London Chronicle recorded: On the 22d everything seemed to favour Monsieur's project. A fresh easterly wind, of two days continuance, at a time when the spring tides were at the greatest height, raised the water on the bar very considerably higher than its common level. British officers at Sandy Hook witnessed the French ships weighing anchor at “the proper time of tide for allowing him [D’Estaing] to make a tack or two to get into a position for lying in over the bar at high water.” For a short time, the British prepared to “settle matters with the Count on that day.” However, “after tacking two or three times, he [D’Estaing] stood off to sea, and we have not seen the Gentleman since.” Perspective Were the pilots correct that the larger French ships, when loaded for battle, sat too deep in the water to take the channel into Sandy Hook? The first pilot to accompany the French, the unnamed man picked up in Delaware Bay, probably was unqualified to lead the fleet around Sandy Hook. He likely led their failed landing at the bottom of Sandy Hook on July 12. But there is no reason to think the other pilots were incorrect in their judgment. Continental Army Doctor, David Ramsey, who wrote one of the first narratives of the Revolutionary War, did not blame the pilots for the non-attack at Sandy Hook: American pilots of the first abilities, provided for the purpose, went on board his fleet. Among them were persons, whose circumstances placed them above the ordinary rank of pilots… The pilots on board the French fleet, declared it to be impossible to carry the large ships thereof over the bar, on account of their draught of water. Washington, though probably disappointed, trusted the counsel of the pilots. On July 26, four days after the French sailed for Rhode Island, he called Dobbs “a pilot of the first established reputation.” He further wrote: “The most experienced Pilots have been employed in sounding, and after the deepest consideration of what might be effected by lightening the Ships and the like, the attempt has been determined unadvisable." Three years later, British ships of the line, the same size as the largest French ships, would unload their cargoes in order to sail the channel Sandy Hook—an option not available to the French. However, narratives written in the 1800s labeled Dobbs and the other pilots “cowardly,” “timorous” or worse. A French writer, for example, wrote: “The American pilots, whose advice he [D’Estaing] took too much, whether from ignorance on their part, treason or cowardice, dissuaded him from this enterprise.” Someone had to be blamed for the failure to attack Sandy Hook and the pilots—middling men who did not write their own narratives of the war were a convenient place to assign that blame. Related Historic Site : Hartshorne Woods Park Sources : David Ramsey, The History of the American Revolution, Liberty Fund: Indianapolis, 1990, Vol. 2, 88-89; Edmund Burke, Annual Register, 1778 (London: J. Dodsley, 1778) p228; John Campbell, Lives of British Admirals Containing New and Accurate Naval History (London: J. Robinson, 1779) vol. 4, p415-7; Samuel Cooper to Benjamin Franklin, Ben Franklin Papers online: http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=37&page=240a002 ; Richard Wescott to Congress, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I78, Misc Letters to Congress, v 23, p 509; George Washington to David Forman, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence; George Washington to Henri D’Estaing, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 13, 14, and 17, 1778; George Washington to William Dobbs, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw120218)) ; Henri D’Estaing in Henri Donoil, ed., Histoire de la Participation de la France à l'Etablissement des EtatsUnisd'Amerique: Correspondance Diplomatique et Documents, 5 vols. (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1876–99), vol. 3, pp. 327-32, 447-9; Alexander Hamilton to George Washington in Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 405; Henri D’Estaing to George Washington in Jared Sparks, Correspondence of the American Revolution: Being Letters of Eminent Men (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1853) pp. 157-8; George Washington to William Dobbs, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 15 - 20, 1778; Jacobus Van Zandt to George Clinton, The Public Papers of George Clinton, (Albany: State of New York, 1899) v 4, p561; Journal of French Navy Frigate Engageante, Capitaine de vaisseau Charles-René, Chevalier de Gras-Préville, July 19, 1778, in FrPNA, Marine B4, vol. 147, fol. 58. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 20, 1778; Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval Historical Foundation, Washington DC, 2019), vol 13, 448; Jonathan Lawrence, Journal, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 468; Henri D’Estaing to George Washington, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 653; George Washington to Henri D’Estaing, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 16, 1 July–14 September 1778, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, p. 172; Journal of Lt. Jean Julian LeMauff in Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 359-360; George Washington to John Sullivan, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw120243)) ; Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman on board the Fleet, with Lord Howe to his Friend in London, dated Sandy-Hook, July 28,” The London Chronicle, 22–24 Sept. 1778. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; Lapeyrouse de Bonfils, Léonard Léonce, Histoire de la Marine Française, Par M. le Comte (Chez Dentu, Librarie, Palais Royal Galerie D'Orleans, Paris, 1845) v. 3, pp45-48. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Alarm Beacons Constructed in Monmouth County by Michael Adelberg Fired beacons could speed news of a British incursion into New Jersey. The chain of 23 beacons across New Jersey included three in Monmouth County, but the Monmouth beacons were short-lived. - April 1779 - In 1779, the British, believing the South was filled with Loyalists, sent an Army to invade Georgia. In the North, they replaced major campaigns with raids into New Jersey. George Washington camped inland near Morristown and relied on riders to inform him of British incursions. But riders were sometimes unreliable, and messages took several hours to deliver under even the best circumstances. In 1778, Continental and New Jersey leaders discussed establishing beacons which, when fired, could be seen by men attending the next beacon—lighting a chain of beacons could, in theory, speed word of a British attack. Beacons were not a new idea. For centuries, they had been used on the continent of Europe to spread news of enemy attack. In New Jersey, the nascent state government’s Council of Safety, at its first meeting on January 10, 1776, recommended the construction of a set of warning beacons along the shore. Three months later, George Washington forwarded a plan to the New Jersey Provincial Congress for constructing beacons between the Navesink Highlands and Woodbridge. The beacons would alert New Jersey militia and the Continental Army of a British landing or a fleet arriving at Sandy Hook, but it is unlikely that beacons were constructed in 1776 amidst other competing priorities. Monmouth County’s Warning Beacons The plan to construct beacons across the parts of New Jersey most exposed to attacks reached fruition. in March 1779, George Washington wrote Governor William Livingston of a plan developed by General William Alexander (Lord Stirling) to construct 23 beacons from the Watchung Mountains southwest to Amwell and east through northern Monmouth County. Of the first eight beacons, Washington wrote: “I will have them erected.” For the rest, Washington requested that “Your Excellency [Livingston] will be pleased to give the order." This meant that fifteen beacons would be built and maintained by New Jersey militia. Stirling’s description of the hoped-for beacons included this instruction: Each of the beacons are to be of the following dimensions: at bottom, fourteen feet square, to rise in a pyramidal form to about eighteen or twenty feet high, and then to terminate about six feet square, with a stout sapling in the center of about thirty feet high from the ground. According to a list compiled by Baron Johan DeKalb – the last three beacons would be in Monmouth County "on Carter Hill in Monmouth" (near Freehold); "on Middletown Hill" and "on Mount Pleasant." A fourth beacon near the Navesink Highlands was not included in Stirling’s plan based on the advice of Joseph Holmes, one of Monmouth County’s legislators – presumably it would be impossible to defend . An April order discussed that the Monmouth beacons were to be fired when "the enemy invades Monmouth County or any part of Middlesex south of Raritan, or on the first appearance of the enemy going up Amboy Bay." On April 12, General Nathaniel Heard of Middlesex County, commanding the Monmouth militia, wrote to Colonel Asher Holmes, commanding the Freehold and Middletown militias. Heard’s detailed direction included instruction that "these fires should be made of logs intermixed with brush squares at the bottom, about sixteen feet high and to diminish as they rise like a pyramid, and should be 18 or 20 feet high." Heard’s orders reveal that he was more concerned with battling enemy raiders than getting word to Washington. He ordered beacons further forward than Stirling and he required that the beacons serve as militia rallying points. He wrote: I have received orders from General Dickinson [Philemon Dickinson] to execute and erect beacons for your militia in case of alarm… you will immediately order the officers commanding to have their men attending the firing of these beacons. When the beacons fired militia were ordered to muster at each of them: 1. companies of Michael Sweetman, John Walton, David Gordon, William Van Cleaf were to meet at the beacon at Bray's meeting house (south of Middletown); 2. companies of John Schenck, William Schenck and Samuel Carhart were to meet at the beacon on Vanderbelt's Hill (near Middletown); 3. companies of John Stillwell, Barnes Smock and Theophilus Little were to meet at the beacon on Ruckman's Hill (near Navesink). The militia’s Light Horse company was to "be divided in three divisions, each of which to repair to each of the three posts, that they may forward intelligence from one post to the others." Holmes would oversee the construction of the beacons and would be compensated for expenses directly related to their construction: “You must keep an exact account of expenses attending to the fixing of these beacons which you will be pleased to transmit regularly." The Loyalist officer, Elisha Lawrence, formerly of Upper Freehold, compiled a map of Monmouth County in spring, 1779. The map was likely to assist raiding parties and illegal traders . The map showed the location of beacons on Garretts Hill (west of Navesink Highlands); a beach on Highlands marked "watering place" (fresh water well); and on the Middletown shore opposite Horseshoe Bay on the Sandy Hook Peninsula. The map also showed the location of four companies of Benjamin Ford’s Continental troops in Monmouth County, one at Middletown, two more at Eatontown, and one at Tinton Falls. The map, if correct, showed that beacons were constructed far closer to the British base at Sandy Hook than Stirling had suggested and slightly closer than Heard had ordered—but it is possible that Lawrence’s map was incorrect. Short Life of Monmouth County’s Beacons What became of the beacons is unclear. Perhaps they were never fully constructed or perhaps they were fired once and not rebuilt. If they were as close to Sandy Hook as Lawrence’s map suggests, then the men firing those beacons were in great danger of capture . At least in Monmouth County, there is no reason to believe the beacons were long-lived. A May 1780 list of New Jersey militia rally points had the Monmouth militia assembling at South Amboy “along the shore towards Middletown” and at Deal. Beacons go unmentioned in the order. In the three northeast townships (Freehold, Middletown and Shrewsbury), militia used “signal cannon” to indicate alarm and summon the militia. As early as September 1778, there is a documentation that militia “went on the boom" of the cannon, and men were fined for not turning out when the gun was fired. The booms of this cannon were likely effective at alarming the militia because a Loyalist newspaper particularly called out the disabling of the Middletown militia signal cannon in its report of the June 1780 raid that captured Captain Barnes Smock of Middletown. In post-war veteran pension applications, six Monmouth militiamen from the Northeast townships mention marching at the boom of signal cannon, but none mention marching at the firing of a beacon: John Aumock recalled mustering on “a general alarm (which was announced by the firing of the alarm gun kept by Colo. Holmes), and then all the militia were called out together." John Carhart remembered,” under a signal from the alarm gun, the militia of the neighborhood, whether out under regular duty or not, repaired with all speed to the place of rendezvous.” Garrett Jeffrey recalled he would “repair immediately to all points of attack on the discharge of the alarm gun.” John Matthews also recalled mustering at the firing of a signal cannon: “the militia immediately laying aside all business at the report of the alarm gun & repairing to the place of rendezvous.” Koert Schenck recalled "all the militia were called out on the firing of the alarm gun.” Derrick Sutphin marched at the alarm gun, including a boom just after his wedding: “was called out the same week as the wedding, after the marriage, the alarm gun firing at Colo. Holmes’.” There are no accounts of the Monmouth militia responding to an alarm via the lighting of a beacon. Riders continued to be used to alert George Washington on events along the Monmouth shore and Sandy Hook through the end of the war. Related Historic Site : Beacon Pole Hill (Rhode Island) Sources : Bob Rupert, The Blue Hills Beacons, Journal of the American Revolution, April 29, 2015, https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/04/the-blue-hills-beacons/#google_vignette ; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 4, pp. 660, 662-3; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 1, p 1165; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of New Jersey (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) p 327; George Washington to William Livingston, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 14, pp. 281-3; Elisha Lawrence, Map, U. of Michigan, Clements Library, Map 237, Monmouth County; James Raleigh, "Beacon Bicentennial--1779," Monmouth County Historical Association Newsletter, vol. 7, n2, 1779, p1; Nathaniel Heard to Asher Holmes, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 5, folder 3; Cherry Hall Papers, box 1; John Clayton to Asher Holmes, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 5, folder 9; John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) v3, p341; George Washington to John Neilson, May 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-01952, ver. 2013-09-28); National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Matthews of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23666685 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Garrett Jeffrey of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#24630193 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Derrick Sutphin; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Carhart; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Aumock; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Koert Schenck. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Thomas Seabrook and Other Whigs Move Inland for Safety by Michael Adelberg Thomas Seabrook was a militia officer who moved inland after Loyalists bayoneted his son. Over the course of war, at least twenty Monmouth County families moved inland for safety. - June 1777 - Thomas Seabrook and his family lived comfortably on the Raritan Bayshore before the war. In April 1776, Seabrook was commissioned a major in the new Monmouth County militia. Weeks later, he became a major in the regiment of Flying Camp raised by Nathaniel Heard and David Forman. He served for five months, enduring a string of defeats and privations with the Continental Army. In spring 1777, Seabrook was commissioned as the new Lt. Colonel of the 1st Regiment of Monmouth Militia following the disastrous Battle of the Navesink . In April, his adult son, Stephen Seabrook, confronted the disaffected squire Edward Taylor over assisting Loyalist raiding parties led by his son, George Taylor. The Seabrook family was now known to the Loyalist refugees that began raiding the Monmouth shore in spring 1777. On June 16, a raiding party led by George Taylor entered the Seabrook house, probably looking to take Thomas Seabrook. Thomas was not home, but Stephen was. He hid in a ceiling loft. A Loyalist raider noticed a sag in the ceiling and thrust his bayonet upward, stabbing Stephen. The Seabrook family lost £31 in taken items. After the incident, the Seabrooks left the family home and moved to a rented house in present-day Manalapan. A year later, the Seabrooks suffered again when the rented house sustained heavy damage during the Battle of Monmouth. Other Monmouth Whigs Move Inland The Seabrooks were among the first Whig (pro-Revolution) families to move inland after suffering at the hands of Loyalists, but they certainly were not the last. Table 4 documents 21 families that moved inland for safety—and it is safe to assume that this table is not a complete accounting of all the Whigs who re-located inland. The table omits families with incomplete evidence. For example, a farm near Freehold was rented to a man named Carr. The farm was damaged during the Battle of Monmouth (June 1778). Based on tax records, all Monmouth County families named Carr lived in the shore townships of Shrewsbury, Dover and Stafford. But because the identity of the Carr family living near Freehold is unknown, they are not included in the record compilation above. There are additional families that moved inland but are not well documented. Even with this limitation, the records above shows that families moved inland from all three Atlantic shore townships (Shrewsbury, Dover, and Stafford) and the Raritan Bayshore township of Middletown. Half of these families relocated near the county seat of Freehold, a safe place because it was fifteen miles inland and the county militia muster site. Other families went even further inland to Upper Freehold, Cranbury (in Middlesex), and even out of state. Families that owned boats moved to Woodbridge and Middletown Point, but both of those villages were only somewhat safer than their homes—both villages suffered Loyalist raids during the war. Families moved inland every year of the war in which there were Loyalist raids, but 1777 was the year in which the most families moved. Six of the twenty (30 percent) families that moved inland were the families of militia officers—while leaders represented less than 20 percent of the general population. The author’s prior research documents that leaders suffered twice as often during the war as non-leaders because they were targeted by Loyalists. A number of veterans (or their widows) recalled moving inland in their postwar veteran pension applications. A few examples follow. Mary Wall, the wife of Lieutenant James Wall of Middletown, recalled: Her husband was regularly obnoxious against the [Loyalist] refugees and always slept with his arms at his side; his house was frequently searched and one time he very narrowly escaped by availing himself to the darkness of night when the enemy came to the door. The family moved to Spotswood for safety, but Mary Wall noted that Spotswood was also unsafe: At that time he lived in Spotswood when his house was again plundered of everything valuable and portable and he then lost the sword which had been surrendered to him by the British officer at the Battle of Monmouth. Matthias Handlin of Long Branch turned sixteen, joined the militia, and participated in a battle against an African American Loyalist raiding party. After that, his father decided his son needed to move inland: At Long Branch, there were a great many Tories and said Handlin believed himself to be in great danger from them, owing to the active part he had been taking against them... His father, about this time, persuaded said Matthias Handlin to go to Allentown at which place he had a sister living. That, being obedient to his father's request, did so proceed to Allentown. William Aumack joined the militia upon turning 16 in 1778. "He lived almost on the shore of New York Bay, within about one hundred yards of it... and for his own safety he was forced to seek the ranks of a soldier... When called into service, he removed from said Township, it being on the shore, with his father, into the township of Freehold for two years." Job Throckmorton's pension application was submitted by his widow, Mary Throckmorton. She described the family’s move inland in 1780. That year, the family moved “into the interior of the county at a place called Englishtown, upwards of twenty miles distant, and the reason for his doing so was that himself and his family would not be murdered by the enemy." Not included in the table are the nineteen women from Tinton Falls who are listed in a 1780 militia return of Captain James Green. These women likely had been burned out of their homes during a particularly punishing Loyalist raid and now were under the care of the Colts Neck militia captain. These women and their families moved inland for safety and poor relief. They are not included in the table because their time inland was likely short term. The movement of Whigs to inland locations was noticed by Loyalists in New York. The Loyalist New York Gazette reported in October 1779 that “the well-affected inhabitants” to the Revolution in Monmouth County were “removed to the back part of the county.” The report further stated that: The more moderate and sober Whigs have lately remonstrated against this practice and procured their return, declaring that they looked upon the Tories as their protectors, and unless the Loyalists were recalled would, themselves, follow them into retirement. In September 1782, David Forman wrote George Washington about a rumored promise from the British Commander in Chief, Guy Carleton, that "he will prevent small parties coming within the American lines… for plundering and man stealing .” Forman asked for information about this rumored British directive on behalf of “a respectable body of Whigs who have been compelled to leave their homes on the shore on acct of their affection to the American cause and are exceedingly distressed." Forman, living near Freehold, was obviously in contact with the shore-residents who had moved to the Freehold-area. These Whig refugees were likely hoping for news that would allow them to go home; their grievance may have contributed with the radicalization of Forman and other political leaders around Freehold—this radicalization was evident in the election-coercion and vigilantism embraced by Forman a clique of Freehold leaders. Related Historic Site : Seabrook-Wilson House (Spy House) Sources : John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) v4, p247-8; John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, 4 vols, Genealogical Publishing Co, 1970, v4, p236; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, David Cooper of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#12873752 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Peter Crawford of PA, www.fold3.com/image/#15198310 ; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Burrowes Norris; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, James Wall of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#20365758; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Aumock; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Matthias Handlin of Ohio, www.fold3.com/image/#23563620www.fold3.com/image/#23563620 ; Thoms Brown’s pension application in John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 141-3; National Archives, revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Derrick Sutphin; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p 508; National Archives, Veterans Pensions, Isaac Covenhoven of New York; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Job Clayton; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Clark of PA, www.fold3.com/image/#12752854 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Zachariah Hawkins of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#22623931 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Job Throckmorton; “An Evenly Balanced County: The Scope and Severity of Civil Warfare in Revolutionary Monmouth County New Jersey,” Journal of Military History , 2009; Militia Return, June 1780, Captain James Green, Stryker-Rodda, Harriet, “Militia Women of 1780, Monmouth County, New Jersey,” N.S.D.A.R. Magazine, vol. 113, n. 4, April 1979, pp. 308-12; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, October 1779, reel 2906; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence, September 21, 1782; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File , at the Monmouth County Historical Association. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Henry Lee's Continentals Raid Sandy Hook by Michael Adelberg As recently as 2018, Sandy Hook Bay froze-over, making it impassable. The frozen bay in January 1780 permitted a daring over-ice raid against the British naval base by Continental soldiers. - January 1780 - As noted in prior articles, Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee commanded a regiment of Virginia cavalry. Lee’s regiment was first sent into Monmouth County in early 1779 , setting up camp at Freehold. Lee spent much of 1779 in Monmouth County. During that time, he sent scouts parties along the shore to search for and establish contact with the French fleet , which was expected to anchor on the Monmouth shore. Lee was also active in local affairs, which put him at odds with some local leaders. For example, Lee’s men supported some magistrates in collecting provisions from disaffected neighborhoods—a controversial practice that split Monmouth leaders. His men also hunted down the notorious Pine Robber, Lewis Fenton, and they launched a bold raid against the British naval base at Sandy Hook. Even in the cold of winter, Lee camped or boarded men near Sandy Hook. On January 5, 1780, Lee wrote George Washington that "I have heard from one of my officers on the shore, who has taken a British officer with five others, & 80,000 counterfeit dollars, I hope this capture will lead to some useful discoveries." Lee informed Washington that he had sent the money and prisoners to Philadelphia. Washington responded "I am exceedingly glad to hear of the capture of a British officer and his associates." But then, on January 8, ordered Lee’s men to leave the county—likely in response to a letter of complaint from Governor William Livingston about Lee’s conduct. However, Lee did not leave immediately. The captured British party likely provided information on the weak condition of the British garrison at Sandy Hook, as did the capture of the Loyalist brig , Britannia , near Sandy Hook on December 30. The weather grew colder, punctuated by a storm that drove several ships onto Monmouth County’s beaches, and the Sandy Hook Bay froze over. Colonel Lewis Nicola (stationed at Egg Harbor) noted a new weakness of Sandy Hook: "Seven deserters from the guard ship at the Hook made their escape on the ice." Desertions from the guard ship at Sandy Hook had been a problem for several months. Three times in 1779, Nicola recorded incidents in which a total of nine sailors deserted from the Hunter , which was the guard ship at Sandy Hook through most of the year. Successful small raids on Sandy Hook by Captain John Burrowes demonstrated that small attacks on the base could be successful when the goal was to carry off a single vessel. Lee’s Continentals Raid Sandy Hook Lee wrote Washington on January 12: "I detached an officer & party for the purpose of taking advantage of the ice to transport troops to the Hook for important business of collecting supplies for the support of the Army... committed the enterprise to Capt. Peyton, an officer of singular worth." Other sources note that a winter storm occurred that day, driving three ships ashore on the Jersey coast. The Pennsylvania Evening Post first reported on Lee’s raid on January 16: We hear that a large quantity of Counterfeit Continental money was taken a few days ago by a Party of Lee's Light Dragoons in Monmouth County… there was also found a considerable quantity of goods which had been sent from New York for sale at the same time. Several persons were taken, among whom was Anthony Woodward's son [Thomas Woodward]. Lee wrote Washington more about the raid on January 16. He noted that the raid was led by a Captain Peyton, who landed on Sandy Hook and hoped to attack the light house: The noise of the men marching occasioned by the snow, alarmed the garrison; of course the attempt at the Light House was [therefore] omitted, agreeable to orders. Their shipping was assaulted, and three officers were taken some time since, will be sent to Philadelphia. The counterfeit money I sent to be burnt. Another officer in Lee’s raiding party, Alan McLane, recalled the counterfeit money. They "took it by surprise, brought off prisoners with a large quantity of Continental bills so well executed that Mr. Smith, the loan officer in Philadelphia could not discover the difference between them & regular bills." Follow-up newspaper accounts provided additional details on Captain’s Peyton’s raid. The Pennsylvania Evening Post published a second account: Major Lee detached from Burlington [Freehold] forty men under command of Captain Patten [Peyton], in sleighs, who before the next morning were beside the guard ship, lying frozen in ice at Sandy Hook, so that they could not board her; they retired a small distance unperceived, where they surprised two schooners and a sloop, made the men prisoners, burnt the vessels, and returned without the least loss, bringing with them the prisoners and all the plunder they thought proper. The New Jersey Gazette also reported on the Sandy Hook raid with somewhat different details: We are informed that on Thursday night, Captain Rudolph of Lee's Rangers, a sergeant, a corporal and eight men, landed at Sandy Hook within a half mile of the Light House--surrounded a house and made seven of the enemy prisoners; they also brought off $45,000 in counterfeit Continental dollars, a quantity of hard money, and several parcels of dry goods, without any loss. Transporting the prisoners all the way to Philadelphia in the middle of the winter was a miserable task. So, Lee apparently commandeered space in the Monmouth County jail (in the basement of the county courthouse at Freehold). This put Lee at odds with William Lawrence, the county jailkeeper. On March 1, Lawrence petitioned the New Jersey Assembly: Setting forth that Major Lee had, in contempt of the law, taken possession of his dwelling room and quartered a number of men against his consent; that he [Lee] had also taken charge of and maintained a number of different prisoners confined for different crimes and misdemeanors; and praying that his [Lee's] account [counter-charges] may be discharged. It is unclear if the Assembly acted on the matter. Leading forty-men in sleighs over a frozen bay during a winter storm to attack an enemy that, if alarmed, possessed substantially more men and firepower, was a daring endeavor. Major Lee’s men executed this raid flawlessly. They filled their sleighs with booty, burned three small ships, captured several prisoners, and took tens of thousands of dollars in counterfeit money—and then retreated without the loss of a man. Throughout the Revolutionary War, few actions were as bold and successful. In the local war in and around Monmouth County, perhaps only William Marriner’s June 1778 raid of Brooklyn was bolder and more successful than the exceptional raid-by-sleigh undertaken by Lee’s men on January 12, 1780. Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : Allan McLane, Army and Navy Chronicle (New York: Benjamin Homans, 1838) p130-1; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 63, January 5, 1780; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence; George Washington’s General Orders, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 17, p 362; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 68-9; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post, January 1780; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mgw/mgw4/063/0700/0735.jpg ; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 4, pp. 154-5. Howard Peckham, The Toll of Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974) p 67; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, January 1780; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, March 1, 1780, p 132; Lewis Nicola to Congress, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 187, item 169, #35, 116, 136, 191; State of the Rebel Army, William Clements Library, Henry Clinton Papers, vol. 86. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Provisioning the French Fleet Via Rumson by Michael Adelberg Needing provisions, the French Admiral D’Estaing came ashore. He set up a camp at Rumson to receive provisions. D’Estaing was unable to get the provisions his fleet needed and left for Rhode Island. - July 1778 - On July 11, 1778, a large French fleet anchored off Shrewsbury, an opening the connected the Shrewsbury River to the ocean four miles south of Sandy Hook. They came to annihilate the smaller British fleet that had withdrawn inside the Hook. The fleet had a 14-9 advantage in large warships, and their largest ships carried more cannon than any of the British ships. However, the French had two problems: First, they did not know if their large ships could successfully navigate the narrow channel that served as the shipping lane into lower New York Harbor; second, the French fleet was out of fresh water and provisions for their 11,000 men after three months at sea. The need for water was dire. Admiral Charles Henri D’Estaing, leading the fleet, wrote, “the leakage, waste and pilferage of the food, and excessive consumption, as well as several irregularities in the plan for water, left us little.” He was disappointed that local boats did not greet the fleet: "We received hardly any advice or signal, no ship from Long Island or the Jersies was zealous enough to come." So, D’Estaing decided to personally lead a landing party on July 12. The apparent destination was the freshwater spring immediately south of Sandy Hook on the Navesink Highlands, often identified as “the watering place” on maps. The French Come Ashore in Monmouth County To get there, the French likely sought to send the landing party through “the Gut ”—a channel of water that, due to violent storms the prior winter, now separated Sandy Hook from the mainland. D’Estaing was advised that the watering place was within reach: “A pilot gave to us by the Americans assured us we could cross the bar at Sandy Hook and get water there." The Gut, however, likely had a strong flow that created novel currents and sand bars on the ocean side. These new hazards were probably unknown to the pilot. The attempt to traverse the Gut was a fiasco—boats overturned and men drowned in the fast water. Samuel Cooper wrote: “he [D’Estaing] threw himself into a small Boat… the Navigation of which was so extremely difficult, as to cost him an Officer, many Sailors, and a Number of Boats." The expedition was made worse by the appearance of British troops who blocked the French from escaping the fast water by coming onto Sandy Hook. D’Estaing wrote: “The cavalry and infantry of the English appeared on the coast with the bar, preventing us from landing.” On the far side of the Gut, British ships were close enough for D’Estaing to see their flags. The French had to retreat. The second landing was at Black Point (present-day Rumson). The French entered the Shrewsbury River. Lieutenant Jean-Julien Chevalier LeMauff, with the Admiral, described the journey: The Admiral himself went down in the morning into this river with two boats fit out to reconnoiter the country, which appeared to us well peopled, as we lacked fresh victuals of every kind, and even water, having passed three months at sea. Across the river at Black Point (Rumson), D’Estaing first met the locals. The Admiral recalled: I was received by a few foot soldiers; after a short time, which seemed very long to me, I was received by a Quaker , 'A friend of Everybody in the World', but more a friend of the English than Americans, proved to me by his remarks and by the tea he gave me, which I did not find very good. I was able by this undertaking to make contact with several of the best Patriots, and the acquaintance of the dirty river Shrewsbury, as well as getting some fresh water from the wells. D’Estaing’s host was probably John Hartshorne, a prominent Quaker who lived near the probable French landing point. Hartshorne’s granddaughter, Lulu, recalled what she was told about John Hartshorne meeting D’Estaing. Hartshorne “brought him [D’Estaing] and some officers home to breakfast, one [French officer] was quartered at the house a considerable time, a very Gentlemanly intelligent man -- spoke English very well." D’Estaing needed to establish an outpost in order to “find water and to establish correspondence with General Washington.” LeMauff described that outpost. The next morning the General sent me with a detachment to employ the means of watering there by wells; to accomplish this daily we had a detachment of 250 men, 4 cannons, and some swivel guns mounted on carriages. The inhabitants being American but, in number, several to be found who are Royalists, we feared that some English detachments might come to attack us. One of the locals of ambiguous loyalty was Benjamin White. He wrote of the French: A French fleet came to anchor off Jumping Point and sent their boats ashore for water. They were cut off by the British fleet from obtaining the watering places [closer to Sandy Hook]. I assisted them in carting their empty casks, filling them and returning through the surf. A Loyalist newspaper, the New York Gazette , reported on another meeting. A Scot naval officer serving in the French fleet "went ashore at Shrewsbury; the inhabitants finding he spoke good English crowded to converse with him." The officer was reportedly condescending toward them. Further, "he looked upon their independence as only a dream, for France or Britain must have this Country." From Philadelphia, Cooper wrote of D’Estaing’s cool reception from disaffected locals: Not a person had come to him from the Shore: That part of the Jerseys had not then the Reputation of the greatest Zeal for the common Cause: Nothing presented itself to the Squadron of our Allies, unacquainted with our Coasts, but an inaccessible Shore. Continental Government Sends Supplies to French As the French procured a trickle of provisions from people living along the Shrewsbury River, the Continental Congress sought to provide more. On July 12, Richard Henry Lee of Congress wrote D’Estaing: A commissary has orders quickly to collect 50 bullocks and 700 sheep with a quantity of vegetables and a number of poultry, and he will wait on your Excellency to know your pleasure... I am to inform you that in Little Egg Harbor or Toms River, neither of them far from the Hook, fresh water may be conveniently obtained. George Washington also sought to get supplies to the French, writing a commissary on July 15: I desire you immediately to select Fifty of your best Bullocks, and give orders to have two hundred Sheep, if to be procured and a quantity of poultry purchased in the most convenient part of the Country. They are intended as a present to the Count D'Estaing Admiral of the French Fleet now laying off Sandy Hook. You are to send them to the Coast as expeditiously as possible. The French diplomat at Philadelphia, Conrad Alexandre Gerard, also sought to get supplies to the fleet after receiving a list of needs from D’Estaing: "I have curtailed the salted beef because it is not in abundance this season” but he advised the Admiral of local supplies “of fresh meat for your crews at a better price than that of salted meat. We expect to be able to furnish almost all the articles; however, it will take several days.” Curiously, Gerard asked D’Estaing to buy him a slave: “Sir, if there are some negroes for sale in this country… have the goodness to send [one to] me.” Lee again wrote D'Estaing on July 16 that Congress was sending "a supply of water and fresh provisions… with all possible expedition.” A French frigate in the Delaware Bay, Chimera , with local vessels, “will be dispatched immediately with as much water as we can find Casks for.” Beyond that, Lee noted: The same vessels will bring your Excellency some hundred barrels of bread and flour, with a small supply of fresh provisions. A Commissary has orders quickly to collect near Shrewsbury and the Hook 50 Bullocks, 700 Sheep, with a quantity of vegetables and a number of poultry. Lee reminded D’Estaing that “fresh water can be conveniently obtained" at Toms River and Egg Harbor. On the same day, one of Monmouth County’s leading patriots, David Forman, arrived at the French outpost. Capt. Choin of the French Army introduced him to D’Estaing: "We are sending you a Colonel from the militia who knows the [Shrewsbury] river, but he arrives by only one horse and carriage” to avoid attracting attention of the British. John Laurens reached Shrewsbury the next day. Colonel John Laurens, the son of the President of the Congress, had “taken quarters at Shrewsbury" to help the French. He went aboard the French fleet accompanied by Forman. In a July 17 letter, Laurens noted that Forman had already been out to see the French. He said of Forman: “A Gentleman for whom I have the highest esteem on account of his indefatigability and great sacrifices... He is a man of enlightened understanding." Laurens also wrote of the difficulties in finding provisions for the French: I found the fleet under the greatest difficulty in procuring water; its distance from the shore was too great to role [sic] the casks down to the place of embarkation; the disaffected citizens either refused their wagons or granted them only at an exorbitant price. In addition, the French suffered some losses while rowing heavily-laden boats through the surf to their ships. On July 15, "4 seamen of the Aimable were drowned in passing the bar.” The next day, “Our large dinghy stove [overturned] on the bar, two men drowned and several sheep." The promised livestock had not reached the French on July 18. That day, Reverend James Caldwell, a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress, was at Freehold: “I have just received General Washington's order from Congress to send the Admiral 50 best bullocks, 200 sheep, poultry & I am preparing to transmit this well-timed present in the best manner I can.” The traffic of small vessels from Shrewsbury Inlet to the fleet was watched by the British. Rear Admiral James Gambier, wrote about it on July 19: “The [French] fleet have been ever since watering at the mouth of Shrewsbury River near the Navesink, where they appear to do it with great convenience and dispatch.” The British were also debriefed by a Loyalist fisherman, Samuel DeHart, who “was taken Prisoner… fishing of[f] the Sea Bass bank.” DeHart said that “Washington made the Fleet a present of 500 fat oxen—the French have landed a great many Troops in the Jerseys." DeHart was partially correct. On July 21, Reverend Caldwell wrote that he finally gathered and drove the requested livestock to the French fleet. "Yesterday got them [cattle] on board, the sheep and poultry not gathered on time." He also wrote that the French had “a very plentiful supply of hard money, and easily tempted the Monmouth people to prepare to this market." In a second letter, Caldwell noted that the French did not want the sheep he brought them, "told me he had a supply of sheep waiting in another way.” The provisions made it on board the French fleet just in time for it to leave for Rhode Island. Caldwell was angry. The French “stripped, then sunk or burnt" the captured fishing boats and kept the local fishermen they had taken "except young Samuel DeHart whom I happened to see while I was on board." Caldwell likely did not know that DeHart was a British informer. Caldwell wrote that Captain Patrick Dennis was told that captured fishermen would be “sent ashore for trial by their Country & it was consented.” Perhaps the French better knew the danger of placing men like DeHart on parole until a trial could be arranged. The Jersey Shore Responds to the French Fleet The arrival of the French fleet was big news up and down the Jersey Shore. Whig villages like Chestnut Neck (upriver from Little Egg Harbor ) and Toms River sent pilots and ships to the French. But the villages were tiny in comparison to the needs of the French fleet. For example, Captain Samuel Brown of Forked River sailed out of Toms River, “his boat was intended for the fleet to ferry her their [American] signals.” The arrival of the French fleet chased the British off the Jersey shore and that unleashed several small privateers and militia boats previously blockaded in New Jersey’s small ports. This is well-documented by maritime historian Donald Shomette, who wrote: "The French alliance ingited a dramatic escalation in the number of active privateers and a stunning increase in British losses." Prizes taken by American privateers jumped from 128 in 1778 to 298 in 1780. The unleashing of local privateers in summer 1778 is evident in New Jersey Admiralty Court advertisements and the letters of John Van Emburgh, a privateer owner at Toms River. He wrote of privateers entering and leaving port in July 1778. The departure of the British was the reason: “The enemy vessels has now left the bar [off Toms River] … the privateers are again out.” The French Quit Sandy Hook The French decision to quit Sandy Hook for Rhode Island was forced by the realization that their large ships were ill-suited for entering the channel north of Sandy Hook, but inadequate provisions likely hastened this decision. D’Estaing wrote Washington about this on August 3: “The extreme difficulty of procuring water at Shrewsbury, and the tardiness with which it is collected from different places, have long since obliged me to retrench our allowance.” The British understood this also. On July 23, the day after the French left for Rhode Island, three British ships went to the abandoned French outpost. Captain James Parker wrote: Three of our ships ly [sic] where the French lay yesterday. A Fisherman came up, says he was taken by the French & has been a week with them. Says they landed their sick at Shrewsberry, about 4 or 500, that they wanted water & could only get trifling supply from thence. While New Jersey and Continental leaders did their best to supply the French, the Shrewsbury Inlet anchorage was too far from commissaries to promptly bring them the needed provisions. The disaffection of the Shrewsbury shore compounded the problem. The inability to trust the residents of Shrewsbury would soon push Washington to station a company of Continentals there. Related Historic Site: Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : 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; Samuel Cooper to Ben Franklin, Ben Franklin Papers online: http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=37&page=240a002 ; Journal of LIeutenant Jean-Julien Chevalier LeMauf, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 359-360; Henri Doniol, ed., Histoire de la Participation de la France à l'Établissement des États Unis d'Amérique: Correspondance Diplomatique et Documents, 5 vols. (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1876–99), vol. 3, p. 447-9; Lulu Hartshorne’s account is in Monmouth County Historical Association, Collection #86, box 1, folder 21; Henri D’Estaing to George Washington, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 369-370; Jedidiah Huntington, Huntington Papers, Connecticut History Society Collections, vol. 20 (1923), p 411; George Washington to Jeremiah Wadsworth, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw120217)) ; Alexandre Gerard in Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 397; Richard Henry Lee to Henri D’Estaing in Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 359-360; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Charles Paulin, Out-Letters of the Marine Committee and Board of Admiralty (New York: Navy History Society, 1914) vol. 1, p 267; James Caldwell to Elias Boudinot, Library of Congress, Elias Boudinot Coll. Letters; Capt. Choin to Henri D’Estaing in Henri Doniol, ed., Histoire de la Participation de la France à l'Établissement des États Unis d'Amérique: Correspondance Diplomatique et Documents, 5 vols. (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1876–99), vol. 3, p. 327-32; John Laurens, The Army Correspondence of Colonel John Laurens in the years 1777-8 (New York: New York Times, 1969) pp. 206-7; The loss of French boats is documented in the Logbook of the Languedoc, printed in Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 233; James Gambier to Earl of Sandwich in Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 465; Interrogation of Samuel DeHart, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 527; United State Naval Academy, Rosenbach Coll., James Caldwell; James Caldwell to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 23, 1778; Capt James Parker, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 480; Henri D’Estaing to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw120322)) . 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Continental Army Camps at Englishtown and Manalapan by Michael Adelberg The Village Inn served as George Washington’s headquarters for the two days that the Continental Army stayed at Englishtown after the Battle of Monmouth. Soldiers slept in nearby fields. - June 1778 - As discussed in prior articles, in June 1778, the British Army withdrew from Philadelphia and marched east into Monmouth County. It camped in Allentown on the night of June 25, west of Freehold on June 26, and into Freehold on June 27. George Washington sent Colonel Daniel Morgan’s regiment ahead with Monmouth County militia to harass the British and slow their march. Meanwhile, Washington’s Army pursued from behind, hoping to engage the British in New Jersey. The two armies fought at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28. Continental Soldiers Pass through Englishtown Besides Morgan’s regiment, the first Continental soldiers to arrive in Monmouth County arrived from the west via Cranbury. On the evening of June 27, these advance units camped near Englishtown, just four miles from British soldiers camped at Freehold. Sergeant Ebenezer Wild recorded arriving at “Penelopan Bridge” on the evening of June 27. The men had marched since 7 a.m., in weather Wild termed “excessive hot.” He noted the scant accommodations that night, “We lay in the open field. Hard thunder, &c. &c." Major John Jameson wrote that his men lacked uniforms: "Our men are so naked that it is a shame to bring them into the field." Three men deserted. The Battle of Monmouth began the next morning when Continental units under General Charles Lee, informed by local guides , pushed forward against the British rear guard. General Joseph Cilley recalled, “We were at a small town called Englishtown, about four miles from [the British camp at] Monmouth Court House… marched forward before dawn.” For at least one Continental unit, the order to march was unexpected. John Ross recalled being roused so suddenly that "they had to leave their kettles on the fire with the beef cut up." The initial Continental advance was disjointed and, when the British counterattacked, the Americans were pushed backward. In the early afternoon, Washington’s army arrived and stabilized the battle lines. As Washington’s men surged forward, they discarded their possessions in order to lighten their burdens in the oppressive heat. Continental officer, Persefor Frazer, wrote of his march through Englishtown on June 28: We came to this place [Englishtown] about five miles - here we rested our men a small space of time, we were directed to leave out all the packs of the soldiers in order to expedite our march, as the day was excessively hot. Captain William Beatty of Maryland wrote similarly: About a mile before we reached Englishtown, we were ordered to leave our knapsacks and blankets, then resumed our march by passing Englishtown to a church [Tennant] about two miles nearer Monmouth [Freehold]. Lt. Colonel John Brooks, General Charles Lee's Adjutant, discussed the men left behind to protect the discarded possessions of the soldiers: When they marched from Englishtown [Lee] ordered all the packs to be left under the care of proper guards. After the troops had paraded to march to Englishtown, I rode through the different encampments and found the baggage very strongly guarded. Upon riding up to several and enquiring the reason of so many men being there, I was answered that they were men who were lame, sick, and those who were worn out with the march the day before, together with the guards who were left with the baggage. The idea that I then formed of those left on the ground was they were between four and five hundred in the whole. John Bruce of Middletown recalled his militia company guarding the possessions of the Continentals: "They went to that place [Englishtown] to guard the baggage wagons.” Similarly, Andrew Bray of the Hunterdon County militia recalled protecting the army’s baggage at the Battle of Monmouth, "I had been on duty all night… it was said that General Washington ordered the militia to stay back toward Englishtown & guard the baggage of the American Army. They stood still all day." Ralph Schenck of Middlesex County recalled the hospitality of the locals that day: We all suffered severely from the want of water. The tongues of some of our men were so swollen with thirst, that they could [only] with difficulty speak so as to be understood, but when we arrived at Englishtown, we had good attention paid to us by the inhabitants of that place. Despite the lightened loads, men still fainted from heat stroke during the day. Capt. Stephen Olney recalled that during the Battle of Monmouth: The heat of the day was so intense that it required the greatest efforts of the officers to keep their men in the ranks; and several of my company were so overcome and faint'd in coming; they said they could go no farther, but by distributing half a pint of brandy which I happened to have in my canteen, I made out to get them along. After the battle, with the sun setting, most Continental troops stayed on the battlefield without tents. Dr. Samuel Adams of New Jersey Line, wrote: "Lodged at night with the Army on the field of Action with no other covering than the canopy of heaven, not so much as the convenience of a blanket." Beatty recalled that that night "the whole army lay on their arms all night" expecting to resume the battle in the morning. Continental Army at Englishtown after the Battle of Monmouth Beatty’s men did not get back to their possessions until June 29. Ebenezer Wild corroborated Beatty: "we marched to the ground where we left our baggage yesterday, and lay there all night without any tents." On June 29, the Continental Army rested at Englishtown and Freehold. The battle of the prior day was discussed as a glorious victory. The order book of a Virginia regiment read: The Commander in Chief congratulates the Army on the victory obtained over the arms of his Britannic Majesty yesterday and thanks most sincerely the gallant officers & men who distinguished themselves on this occasion, and such others as by their good order and coolness gave the happiest progress of what might have been expected had they came to action. - The Commander in Chief also thanks Genl. Dickinson and the militia of this State for the noble spirit which they have shown in opposing the Enemy on their march from Philadelphia and for the deed which they have given by harassing & impeding their motions so as to allow the Continental troops to come up with them. Companies had scattered the prior day and men wandered the fields looking for their possessions and units. Henry Dearborn recalled that "we lay still to recruit our men, there being no probability of coming up with the enemy.” The battle and thunderstorms had left the fields and roads nearly impassable. Dr. Wiliam Read recalled a "bog was so deep and required the utmost effort of his, and his servant's horses also to get through it.” Read slept in the county court house on the night of the 29th tending the wounded , "Continued to dwell in the Court House, sleeping, when he was able, in the Judge's bench." The Continental Army awakened on June 30 in the fields between Freehold and Englishtown. George Washington's general orders called for a celebration: The men are to clean and wash themselves this afternoon and appear as decent and clean as possible. Seven o'clock this evening is appointed that we may publicly unite in Thanksgiving to the Supreme Disposer of human events, for the victory obtained on Sunday over the flower of the British troops. But June 30 included some more somber messaging to the soldiers about stealing from the locals. Jedidiah Huntington, a Connecticut officer, read this order to his men: "The General further gives notice that the detestable crime of marauding will henceforward be invariably punished with instant death." William Malcolm of New York (who led an expedition to disable the Sandy Hook Lighthouse two years earlier) gave this order: Complaints having been made to the Commander in Chief that certain persons belonging to the Army have received the property of the inhabitants which had been concealed in order to escape the ravages of the Enemy. He calls on the Commanding Officers to order a strict search of the soldier's packs at parade time; the offenders that may be discovered are to be brought to condign punishment; such articles as may be found are to be left the Adjutant General's. For some Continentals, June 30 was an unpleasant day. Jeremiah Greenman wrote of resting on June 30 in hot weather without water. "Water is very scarce indeed / such a number of soldiers that water is almost as scarce as liquor & what is got is very bad indeed." But Joseph Bloomfield of the New Jersey Line recalled the day very differently: "We want for nothing to make our time pass most agreeably." On July 1, the men awoke to additional stern orders about plundering: The Officers are to exert themselves in restraining their men from straggling, injuring fences, fruit trees, & c. They are to have the orders of the 30th relative to marauding read to the men and use every means to guard against this infamous practice. Based on the repeated warnings about plundering, there can be no doubt that some Continental soldiers stole goods from the residents of Freehold and Englishtown. But it can also be safely assumed that these instances, whatever they were, lacked the frequency and severity of British plundering at Freehold immediately before the battle. The Continental Army was soon in motion. With the exception of a few regiments sent east to shadow the British, it left Monmouth County on July 1, arriving and camping in Spotswood that evening. General Nathanael Greene described an unpleasant march from Englishtown, "We marched through a country, from Monmouth to Brunswick, not unlike the deserts of Arabia for soil and climate." As for the people of Monmouth County, particularly those living near the battlefield, the next month would be spent caring for wounded and recovering from the physical damage of the battle. Both of these are topics of other articles. Related Historic Site : The Village Inn Sources : John U. Rees, “Reach Coryell's ferry. Encamp on the Pennsylvania side.” The March from Valley Forge to Monmouth Courthouse, 18 to 28 June 1778", unpublished manuscript, p34; Joseph Clark, Diary, Proceedings of the NJ Historical Society, 1853-55, vol. 7, pp 106; John Rees, 'What is this You have been about Today?': The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth, www.revwar75/library/rees/monmouth/Monmouth.htm, p4, 30; Militia Orders, Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Battle of Monmouth files: folder – Militia; Charles Campbell, ed., The Bland Papers, Being a Selection from the Manuscripts of Colonel Theodorick Bland, Jr., of Prince George County, Virginia (Petersburg, Va., 1840-43), p 97; Narrative of Stephen Olney in Catherine Read Williams, Biography of Revolutionary Heroes (Providence: 1839) p 244; Benson Lossing, The Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution (New York: Harper Brothers, 1860) vol. 2, pp. 354-64; Charles Bushnell, Crumbs for Antiquarians, 2 vols., (New York: privately printed, 1864) vol. 1, p 14; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 46, item 39, vol. 1, #224; Israel Shreve to Polly Shreve, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Dreer Collection, Series 52:2, vol. 4; Persifor Fraser, General Persifor Fraser (1907), pp. 182-3; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of John Ross of North Carolina, National Archives, p18; Elliott Cogswell, History of Nottingham, Deerfield and Northwood (Manchester: John Clarke, 1878) p 181; Pennsylvania Gazette, August 29, 1778; William Beatty, "Journal of Captain Wiliam Beatty of the Maryland Line, 1776-1781", Historical Magazine, 2nd Series, 1867, pp 113; Archilaus Lewis, Diary, Dennis Ryan, A Salute To Courage The American Revolution as Seen through Wartime Writings (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979) p 130-1; Lt. Thomas Blake’s letter in Frederic Kidder, History of the First New Hampshire Regiment in the War of the Revolution (Albany, NY: Joel Munsell, 1868) pp. 42-3; Ralph Schenck, The Historical Magazine (Boston: C. James Benjamin, 1861) vol. 5, p 219; Ebenezer Wild, "The Journal of Ebenezer Wild (1776-1781)," Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 2nd ser., 6 (1890-91), p 110; Jedediah Huntington, New York Historical Society, Orderly Books Collection, reel 5. #60-61; Dr. Samuel Adams in John Rees, 'What is this You have been about Today?': The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth, www.revwar75/library/rees/monmouth/Monmouth.htm, p 30, 31; Copy: David Library, Battle of Monmouth Collection, #28; Lt. Col. John Brooks, John Rees, 'What is this You have been about Today?': The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth, www.revwar75/library/rees/monmouth/Monmouth.htm, p5; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Andrew Bray of NJ, National Archives, p6-7; George Washington to Congress, George Washington, Official Letters to the Honorable American Congress Written During the War between the United Colonies and Great Britain (Boston: Manning & Loring, 1796) v 2, p272; Orderly Book of the 8th Massachusetts Regt., Book 2, June-August 1778, Huntington Library, HM 719; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Bruce of New York, www.fold3.com/image/#11713958 ; Historical Society of Pennsylvania, John Nice Papers, coll. 451, box 1, folder 2; Henry Dearborn, Revolutionary War Journals of Henry Dearborn (Chicago: Ayer Company, 1939) pp. 125, 129; Jeremiah Greenman, Diary of a Common Soldier in the American Revolution, 1775-1783 (DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1978) p 122; Munn, David, Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey, (Trenton: Bureau of Geology and Topography, New Jersey Geological Survey, 1976) p 90, 92; Ebenezer Wild, Journal of Ebenezer Wild, Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 2nd Series, vol. 6, p 109-110; "Notes on the Battle of Monmouth" (originally published in the London Gazette, September 17, 1778), reprinted in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 14, 1890, pp. 46-47; Virginia Historical Society, Revolutionary War Orderly Book, June 1-July 2, 1778; R. W. Gibbes, Documentary History of the American Revolution, Consisting of Letters and Papers Relating to the Contest for Liberty, Chiefly in South Carolina 1764-1776, (New York, 1855) vol. 2, 255-6; Dr. Read’s account in John Rees, 'What is this You have been about Today?': The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth, www.revwar75/library/rees/monmouth/Monmouth.htm, p 32-3; Joseph Bloomfield, Citizen soldier: The Revolutionary War journal of Joseph Bloomfield (Newark: New Jersey Historical Society, 1982) p 137; John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 12, pp. 131-2; Virginia Historical Society, Revolutionary War Orderly Book, June 1-July 2, 1778; George Washington’s Orders in John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 12, p 147; David Griffith, letter, Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Battle of Monmouth files: folder - James Kochan; Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 2, p 451. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Associated Loyalists Raze Toms River by Michael Adelberg The Block House fort at Toms River was attacked by a 100-man Loyalist party that overwhelmed the defenders. The fort and the village were razed after the defenders surrendered. - March 1782 - In early 1782, Toms River was the most solidly Whig (pro-Revolution) village along Monmouth County’s sixty-mile Atlantic shoreline. According to antiquarian sources, the village included 12-15 homes, including the houses of four officers (John Cook, Jacob Fleming, David Imlay, Ephraim Jenkins) and two civil officeholders, Daniel Randolph and Abiel Aiken. The village also included the house of Mary Studson, whose husband, Joshua Studson was killed by London Traders in December 1780. The village had two taverns (belonging to Daniel Griggs and Aiken), a few warehouses and the gristmill of Abraham Schenck. On the south end of the village was a boatyard for repairing and constructing vessels. On the edge of the village was the Block House, an open fort described as “about six or seven feet high, made of large logs, with loop holes in between, and a number of brass swivels on top, which was entirely open, nor was there any way of entering, but climbing over.” Toms River had a wharf capable of holding up to twenty oar-powered and small sailing vessels. The port was too shallow for large vessels. They had to anchor in the bay and shuttle cargo to shore via oar-powered boats. Toms River was at a junction of three roads—one south to Little Egg Harbor, one north to Shrewsbury, and one northwest to Freehold. Travel on any of the roads was complicated by storms that felled trees and rutted the sandy roadbeds. Their poor condition caused a strong indictment of county Highway Overseers . One antiquarian source claims that the road to Shrewsbury was non-continuous. Travel on any of these roads was made dangerous by Pine Robbers and other thieves who preyed on travelers. New Jersey had three privateer ports—Cape May, Chestnut Neck (upriver from Little Egg Harbor), and Toms River . Local militia conducted patrols in boats. Dover’s long shoreline was sparsely populated and swampy—travel by boat was faster and more likely to yield encounters with London Traders. Interdicting the London Trade and providing a check against Loyalist Pine Robbers were the primary responsibilities of the local militia. Dover militia also acted as privateers when wounded British vessels came near shore. Dover militia officers took several prizes into Toms River during the war. The war brought an unprecedented amount of visitors and capital to Toms River. The Pennsylvania government built a large saltworks south of the village and a second saltwork was established at Mosquito Cove north of the village. The saltworks created jobs and purchased large amounts of provisions from locals. Privateering would prove to be the shore’s true boom industry . Over the course of the war, more than a dozen prizes were brought into Toms River. These captures filled the village’s warehouses with valuable goods and filled the taverns with deep-pocketed buyers. In late 1781, the Pine Robber gangs of John Bacon and William Davenport menaced Toms River. The village’s principal defenders were 30 state troops whose terms were expiring. Amidst a wave of complaints, a new guard was raised under Joshua Huddy of Colts Neck. It arrived in February 1782. But Huddy’s twenty men and the Block House would be no match for a large raiding party. The Toms River Raid in Original Documents On March 24, 1782, a large party of Associated Loyalists raided Toms River. The Loyalist New York Gazette printed the longest report of the raid. It is excerpted below and printed in full in Appendix 1 of this article. The Loyalists, under Lieutenant Blanchard, consisted of “armed whale-boats, and about eighty men belonging to them, with Capt. Thomas and Lieut. Roberts, both of the late Buck’s County Volunteers, and between thirty or forty other refugee Loyalists.” They assembled at Sandy Hook on March 20 but were detained until March 23 by “unfavorable winds.” On the 23rd, they left for Toms River “under convoy of Captain Stewart Ross, in the armed brig Arrogant .” At dawn on March 24, “the party landed near the mouth of Tom’s River, and marched to the block house… just at day light.” The march on Toms River was not easy: They were challenged and fired upon, and when they came to the works they found the rebels, consisting of twenty-five or six twelve-months men and militia, apprised of their coming, and prepared for defence. Blanchard called on the outnumbered defenders to surrender. He was “not only refused” but Huddy showed “defiance.” Blanchard then “ordered the place to be stormed… though defended with obstinacy, it was soon carried.” The report claimed nine defenders were killed (including Major John Cook) and twelve men were captured, including Huddy. “The rest made their escape in the confusion.” The Loyalists also suffered losses: “Two were killed: Lieut. Iredell of the armed boatmen and Lieut. Inslee of the loyalists, both very brave officers… Lieut. Roberts and five others are wounded.” The report described the “piratical set of banditti” living at Toms River whose past acts merited rough treatment. Accordingly, the fort was “burned to the ground and an iron cannon spiked and thrown into the river.” Two large boats, one reportedly owned by Adam Hyler, “were brought off.” Captain Ross of the British navy was thanked for his “spirit through the whole service” including “the politeness and tender treatment of the wounded while onboard his brig.” The New Jersey Gazette printed an anonymous letter describing the raid. Interestingly, the report did not portray the attack as led by the Associated Loyalists, but stated that “about one hundred refugees under the command of one Davenport” attacked Toms River. The report suggested a brave but doomed defense of the Block House: On the alarm, Capt. Huddy repaired to the Block House, in which some of the inhabitants joined him, and others remained outside: The house was defended until the ammunition was expended, when it surrendered. Major Cook, who was out of the house, fell; five others were killed and two wounded. Capt. Huddy, Daniel Randolph, Esq., and several more were carried off. A Monmouth County petition drafted three weeks after the attack on Toms River claimed that “five of Captain Huddy's men were most inhumanly murdered after his surrender." The razing of Toms River was near complete: “The enemy then burnt the village, except the houses of Aaron Buck and Mrs. Studson, after which they went off immediately. The unfortunate inhabitants have not saved more than two horses.” This is not correct. The report incorrectly stated that “Davenport was wounded, supposed since dead.” Davenport was killed three months later in a battle with militia at Forked River . The same report was printed in the Pennsylvania Evening Post . The Maryland Gazette also reported: The Refugees have paid Toms River a visit. They have burnt most of the houses, stripped and plundered the inhabitants of most everything. Mr. Daniel Randolph is carried to New York. Moses Robins is badly wounded and stripped of everything. The inhabitants are in great distress. Colonel Samuel Forman, commanding the local militia, wrote Governor William Livingston on March 25. The letter is similar to a report printed in the New Jersey Gazette , with some additional facts and innuendo. Forman accused Abiel Aiken, the port marshal and township magistrate, of fleeing the fight: "Abiel Aiken took his crooked leg out of the way on the alarm." He (incorrectly) claimed that "Capt. Davenport was wounded (supposed since dead) and one Negro killed." Forman had ordered out four militia companies from Dover and Stafford townships, plus "the 34 you requested from my regiment [from Upper Freehold], I shall also send for to reinforce them." Randolph was captured and was still in jail a month later when he gave a deposition at the court martial trial of Richard Lippincott (who had hanged Huddy). Randolph claimed that locals had warned Huddy "that a body of refugees were approaching this port.” Huddy dispatched a scout party but it “entirely missed the enemy" and provided the village no warning of the Loyalist landing. Randolph called the Block House "small and unfinished” and claimed that the attack “commenced without a previous demand for a surrender.” Randolph said “that Capt. Huddy did all that a brave man could do to defend himself against so superior a number” and claimed the Loyalist behaved horribly after quarter was called: This deponent saw a negro, one of the refugee party, bayonet major John Cook, and he also saw a number of refugees jump into the block house and heard them say that they would bayonet them [the defenders], but did not see the deed done to any person save major Cook. Eight Monmouth County militiamen recalled the attack on Toms River in their postwar veterans’ pension applications. John Wilbur, one of Huddy’s men, was posted as a sentry a half mile from the village. He provided the most vivid description: One John Eldridge and David Dodge were stationed sentry on the road about seven or eight hundred yards from my and [James] Kinsey's station; about daylight or a little after, we heard the enemy advancing by the noise they made in walking, and in a minute or two I heard the sentry hail them and fire. I retreated with Kinsey toward the Block House, he in advance of me. When I arrived at the Block House, I found that it was surrounded by the enemy and Kinsey was killed on the outside of the Block House; I did not attempt then to enter, but retreated across the bridge where I met Captain Brown, a sea captain, and George Cook. Dodge & Eldridge did not get in, the brother of George, whom I met on a bridge, was also killed before he got into the Block House; after the alarm of the advance of the enemy, myself and John Eldridge, and one Joseph Parker, were all who made their escape. Another small party also escaped "by being out on a scouting party.” John Eldridge, a sentry with Wilbur, wrote that “the whole party, comprised of thirty men - with the exception of himself and two- were killed or taken prisoner." Henry Applegate recalled that he was “wounded in the thumb on his left hand by a musket" at the battle but continued serving in the State Troops . Brothers, Joseph Parker and George Parker, served under Huddy. Joseph recalled that he “joined his [Huddy’s] company at Colts Neck, from whence they marched to Toms River and was there until the Block House at Toms River was taken and Captain Huddy was taken prisoner.” Geoge Parker recalled: They had been at that place a short time [when] they were attacked by a party of Refugees in a Block House and were all taken, except one man by the name John Eldridge, who got out and made his escape and one other that was left for dead, being badly wounded. George Parker was "confined in prison for about 7 months mostly in the Sugar House, he then got exchanged - returned home” with a festering wound, but he “got the vermin cleaned” and recovered. Parker referred to the Block House attackers as "a party of refugees, Negroes and sailors." Not all locals engaged in the battle. David Imlay, who commanded state troops at the Block House in 1781, wrote that he was "posted at the north end of Toms River Bridge, some forty rods from the Block House" and never engaged. Aaron Bennett of Dover Township recalled that "Toms River was their headquarters... a number of militia were constantly stationed there." But Bennett’s tour of duty expired two days before the attack. He did not return for the fight. Similarly, Aaron Chamberlain of Stafford recalled getting the alarm and marching for Toms River, but arriving too late, "He and a few others got a few shots at the Refugees before they got off, but did not kill any of them." Militia from other counties came to the defense of Toms River but word spread slowly on the sparsely populated shoreline, and they arrived too late to engage the Loyalists. Enoch Young of the Gloucester County militia recalled: He marched through the counties of Gloucester and Burlington and Monmouth to Toms River, at the Block House, to assist against the enemy in the engagement there, but was too late, the enemy had fled before they arrived. One Loyalist briefly discussed the Block House fight in his postwar Loyalist Compensation Application. David Lewis, formerly of Metticonk (present-day Jackson), recalled serving in the Associated Loyalists . He was at Toms River for the Block House raid where he was "very dangerously wounded." The Toms River Raid in Later Accounts Antiquarian sources provide several additional details on the Toms River raid. However, these sources must be regarded with some skepticism. An antiquarian newspaper account from 1868, for example, includes many false details. (See Appendix 2 for this article.) But other details in antiquarian accounts are illuminating, and likely true or mostly true. Some are summarized below. With respect to the Loyalists, one source claims that the Pine Robber leader, John Bacon, participated in the raid. Another claims that Davenport’s Pine Robbers carried off a great deal of plunder after the village was razed. A few antiquarian accounts note the role of William Dillon, formerly a boatman at Toms River, serving as a guide to the attackers. Dillon served as a pilot on Loyalist privateers and a boat belonging to him was taken and brought into Toms River shortly before the raid. So, he had strong motivation to help the raiders. His cousin was Aaron Buck, whose house was spared when the village was fired. Another source claims that Loyalists had planned to raid Manasquan and Shark River on their way back to New York, but gave that up in order to get prompt medical care for the wounded. Antiquarian sources also provide information on Toms River’s defenders. One source singles-out David Imlay (the former commander of the State Troops at Toms River) for cowardice—claiming that he fled the Block House and hid in a swamp. Imlay may have fled because he feared for his life if captured—having killed the Pine Robber, Richard Bird, a few months earlier. Other sources detail casualties: Killed : Maj. Cook (bayoneted after surrender), John Farr (killed in first volley from Loyalists), Lt. Ephraim Jenkins, James Kennedy (mortally wounded, dies that night), James Kinsley (shot and mortally wounded at swivel gun), Moses Robbins (shot in face, dies) and John Wainwright (shot five times). Captured : Lt. Huddy, Sgts. David Langdon, Luke Story; Privates: Daniel Applegate, William Case, David Dodge, James Edsall, John Eldridge, Jacob Fleming, Cornelius McDonald, John Mitchell, John Morris, John Nivison, George Parker, John Parker, Joseph Parker, John Pellimore, Moses Robins (shot in face, survives), Thomas Raftsnider, Daniel Randolph, Jacob Stillwagon, Seth Story, John Wainwright (shot six times but survives), John Wilbur. The accounting of men listed as killed and captured in antiquarian does not fully align names in contemporary sources. Antiquarians also disagree on the killed and captured—two men, John Wainwright and Moses Robins, are listed as either killed or captured depending upon the source. One modern historian has written a full account of the Toms River attack. Historian Donald Shomette wrote that the Loyalists were led by Captain Evan Thomas and Lt. Owen Roberts of the Bucks County Volunteers in whaleboats commanded by a Lt. Blanchard. Shomette concluded that the party was 120 Loyalists, supplemented by Pine Robbers who met the Loyalists at Toms River. Despite the size of the party, they evaded a scouting party sent out by Huddy on word of enemy landing. Shomette noted that the attack began at dawn. The battle was brief but bloody; two Loyalist officer fell during the battle—Lieutenants Insley and Lt. Iredell. Shomette concluded that the raiders outnumbered the defenders "six or seven to one” but the defenders held out until their ammunition ran out. After the surrender, the Loyalists committed "an orgy of destruction and revenge.” Shomette also wrote that Huddy was "mistreated with blows, slaps, etc." by the Loyalists. Due to the need to bring injured back to New York, the raiders did not stop at Manasquan on their return, as originally planned. Retaliation after the Razing of Toms River The attack on Toms River in March 1782 was the last significant Loyalist raid from New York. This is because it set in motion a chain of events that resulted in the British reining in their vengeful Loyalist allies . A few days after the raid on Toms River, a small Loyalist party landed at Long Branch. It included the veteran Loyalist raider, Philip White. Angered by the razing of Toms River and the capture of Huddy’s state troops there, the men who took White separated him from the other prisoners. They harassed White into attempting an escape. When he ran, they murdered him . Enraged Loyalists then took Huddy from jail in New York, brought him to the Navesink Highlands, and hanged him with a note proclaiming his murder an act of retaliation for White’s murder. The murders caused a diplomatic bonfire that reverberated to the highest levels of the British, French and American governments. All of these escalations are detailed in other articles. Related Historic Site : Joshua Huddy Park Historic Markers Appendix 1: "An authentic account of the Expedition against the Rebel Post on Tom’s River, New-Jersey (printed in the Loyalist New York Gazette) On Wednesday, the 20th instant, Lieut. Blanchard of the armed whale-boats, and about eighty men belonging to them, with Capt. Thomas and Lieut. Roberts, both of the late Buck’s County volunteers, and between thirty or forty other refugee Loyalists, the whole under the command of Lieutenant Blanchard, proceeded to Sandy Hook, under convey of Captain Steward Ross, in the armed brig Arrogant, where they were detained by unfavourable winds until the 23rd; about twelve o’clock on that night, the party landed near the mouth of Tom’s River, and marched to the block house, at the town of Dover, and reach it just at day light. On the way, they were challenged and fired upon, and when they came to the works they found the rebels, consisting of twenty-five or six twelve-months men and militia, apprised of their coming, and prepared for defence. The post into which they had thrown themselves was about six or seven feet high, made of large logs, with loop holes in between, and a number of brass swivels on top, which was entirely open, nor was there any way of entering, but climbing over-- They had, besides the swivels, muskets with bayonets, and long pikes for their defence. Lieutenant Blanchard called on them to surrender, which they not only refused, but bid the party defiance; on which he immediately ordered the place to be stormed, which was accordingly done, and, though defended with obstinacy, it was soon carried. The rebels had nine men killed in the assault and twelve made prisoners, two of whom are wounded. The rest made their escape in the confusion. Among the killed was a Major of the militia [John Cook] and two captains and one Lieutenant. The Captain of the twelve-months men [Joshua Huddy] is among the prisoners, who are all brought safe to town. On our side, two were killed: Lieut. Iredell of the armed boatmen and Lieut. Inslee of the loyalists, both very brave officers, who distinguished themselves on the attack, and whose loss is much lamented. Lieut. Roberts and five others are wounded, and it is thought some of them in a dangerous way. The town, as it is called, consisting of about a dozen houses, in which none but a piratical set of banditti resided, together with a grist and saw mill, were, with the block house, burned to the ground and an iron cannon spiked and thrown into the river. A fine large boat (called Hyler’s boat) and another boat, which the rebels used to make their excursions on our coast, were brought off. The appearance of bad weather and the condition of our wounded, being without either a surgeon or medicines, induced the party to return, where they arrived on the 25th." I should not do justice to the Loyalists who were with me, without expressing the highest prohibition of their behaviour and spirit through the whole service; and I beg leave to mention the very great obligation I am under to Captain Ross for his advice, attention to the convoy, and, in a particular manner, for the politeness and tender treatment of the wounded while onboard his brig. Capt. Ross has likewise mentioned in his report the Loyalists, during the service, paid every attention, and were willing to assist in every point." Appendix 2: THE OCEAN EMBLEM, JANUARY 30, 1858 On Toms River raid: “Woodmansee immediately returned to New York, when the plan was laid over until March 18th, 1782, when a second vessel was sent from New York with 100 picked British regulars, and about 25 or 30 refugees of the blackest dye. They arrived at the mouth of the river on the night of the 19th, where they landed and proceeded to the house of James Lippincott (now James Cook’s residence). They forced Mr. Lippincott to march as their guide to the village. Mr. Edward Flinn [Edward Flynn], a son-in-law of Mr. L., was let out of the chamber window by the females, and took a different route, to inform the villagers of the enemy’s approach. The enemy entered the field north-east of the place where John J. Irons’ residence now stands, and marched behind a barn of Abel Akins, Esq., near the present site of the Presbyterian Church some two hundred yards east from the block house. About this time day began to dawn, and the enemy finding himself discovered, rushed to the charge, when the sentinel fired his alarm, and rushed into the fort, calling for someone to go for Capt. Huddy, as there was but one round of ammunition in the fort. The enemy charged on the four men in the fort, murdered John Farr and all the citizens who fell in their way, burned all the houses except three in the village, one of which was the residence of Mrs. Mary Studson, widow of the noble Joshua, which was preserved through the influence of a tory whom she recognized, although in disguise. While a part were satiating their revenge on the north side of the river, others had crossed the bridge and burned the mills of Williams & Randolph, near the mills, they found Capt. Joshua Huddy snugly stored in bed after a pleasant dance that he had attended the night previous, and made him a prisoner. He had commanded the fort only about four weeks. Considering discretion the better part of valor, they beat a retreat before Captain Tilton could arrive with his command, although he lay at Schenck’s Mill, four miles north. The end of the gallant Huddy is known as a part of our Revolutionary struggle, while no one has ever had patriotism sufficient to even point out the grave of Studson, although Woodmansee was subsequently taken, and tied to a stake in front of the widow’s house; his captors said to her, “your will is our pleasure;” she replied with all the magnanimity that woman’s soul is endowed with, “his life will not bring back the life of my husband; besides, his wife would be left with several fatherless children, while I have but one.” Woodmansee was compelled to furnish provision for her for one year, which he did, and then left the country. Mrs. Studson subsequently married Chamberlain; she survived him many years, and died in 1824.” Sources : Lorenzo Sabine, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution, 2 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1864), vol. 1, p 566; William Fischer, The Toms River Block House Fight, March 24, 1782; Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 14, p423-5; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 38-9; James Levitt, New Jersey Revolutionary Economy (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975) pp. 19-2-, 22. James Levitt, For Want of Trade: Shipping and the New Jersey Ports, 1680-1783 (Newark: New Jersey Historical Society, 1981) pp. 141-9; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 45; Rutgers University, Special Collections, Loyalist Compensation Applications, David Lewis, Coll. D96, PRO AO 13/18, reel 6; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; and New Jersey Gazette, March 27, 1782; Henry Beck, More Forgotten Towns, p86-8; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 164; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 222; Howard H. Peckham, ed, The Toll of Independence: Engagements and Battle Casualties of the American Revolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974) p 95; Donald Shomette, Privateers of the Revolution: War on the New Jersey Coast (Shiffer: Atglen, PA, 2015); National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Enoch Young of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 24155756; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 17-8; Stryker, comp., Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War (Trenton: Naar, Day, Naar, 1872); Samuel Forman to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 388-9; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) pp. 233-5; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Henry Applegate of Monmouth, www.fold3.com/image/#12036438 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Aaron Chamberlain; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Daniel Applegate; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Eldridge; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - David Imlay; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Wilbur; William Fischer, Biographical Cyclopedia of Ocean County (Philadelphia: A.D. Smith, 1899) pp. 55-56; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - George Parker; Casualty List, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3854; Francis Bazley Lee, New Jersey as a Colony and as a State (New York: The Publishing Society of New Jersey, 1902), vol 2, pp. 244-6; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Aaron Bennett of New Jersey; Maryland Gazette, April 11, 1782; Contained in: National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Parker of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 25397561; Correspondence with Jeff Brown, The Ocean Emblem, January 30, 1858; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 241; Library of Congress, Richard Lippincott, Court Martial, reel 1, pp. 201-4. Previous Next