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 > British and Continental Soldiers Pass Through Allentown by Michael Adelberg 1777 map shows the roads between New York and Philadelphia. Note the location of Allen’s Town (Allentown) at the confluence of roads from Trenton and Philadelphia. - December 1776 - George Washington’s bold attack on the Hessians at Trenton on Christmas, 1776, changed the course of the war. For the first time, the British were defeated and the surprise attack set both armies in motion. The armies would soon meet again at the Battle of Princeton on January 3. In between, detachments of both armies passed through Allentown, on the western edge of Monmouth County. At this time, Allentown and surrounding Upper Freehold Township was loosely controlled by an embryonic Loyalist regime , more or less led by Commissioner John Lawrence. The arrests and property confiscations of the Loyalist insurrection took a toll on Allentown. On December 27, when a regiment of Hessians entered the town, they found it largely empty. The reputation of the Hessians for brutality likely induced Allentown’s residents to flee. Captain Johann Ewald wrote: “In the afternoon, the march continued to Allentown where the corps arrived in the evening and took up quarters in devastated and abandoned houses, which numbered about eighty.” Ewald’s commander, Colonel Carl von Donop, used Allentown as a base to gather up and reorganize the recently defeated Hessians. On the 27th, he wrote General Wiliam Knyphausen, the commander of German troops in America, that "I have organized all the escaped men from the Rall brigade and made up a force of two hundred and ninety-two men." Von Donop worried that “my ammunition has run low, only about 9 bullet cartridges to a man,” but still thought Allentown’s location at a key crossroads made it an ideal place to camp. "This place is so situated that I intend to get through it to anywhere from here." With a Delaware Continental regiment only four miles away at Crosswicks, von Donop left Allentown for Hightstown on the afternoon of December 28. Historian David Hackett Fisher noted that the Hessians brought 150 wagons of supplies with them when they entered and left Allentown. This would have been the largest baggage train ever brought through Allentown—until the British Army’s baggage train in the days preceding the Battle of Monmouth. The Delaware Continentals followed the Hessians and moved into Allentown on December 29. Captain Thomas Rodney was not among the first of his regiment to enter Allentown, but he described the activities of his regiment’s vanguard as it entered Allentown. Before dawn, the Continentals turned the tables on the Loyalist insurrectionists. Rodney wrote: This morning, about sunrise we set out to reinforce the troops that went forward last night. We marched on through Allentown without stopping, about half a mile beyond, met the troops returning with about 30 bullocks and 5 Tories. Later that day, the Delaware troops shot and killed Isaac Pearson, the former town clerk, now a Loyalist, of neighboring Nottingham Township (Burlington County). Pearson was being sheltered by Upper Freehold Loyalists. The local Loyalists escaped but Pearson was not so fortunate, “In the afternoon was brought in the body of Isaac Pearson, who being found in the house with other Tories that were taken, fled off." Rodney described Allentown: “A little village of wooden houses, indifferently built on both sides of the road, at a mill, about 4 miles from Crosswicks." And he described a distasteful first encounter with the newly-arrived Captain Francis Wade of Pennsylvania. Wade had arrived with orders to set up a Quartermaster office at Allentown. Rodney called Wade "a vain blustering man." Rodney and the Delaware Continentals would stay at Allentown until January 2. While there, Rodney talked with Upper Freehold Whigs who were recently abused by the insurrectionists. He wrote: Jersey will be the most Whiggest [sic] colony on the continent: the Quakers declare for taking up arms. You cannot imagine the distress of this country. They [British and Loyalists] have stripped everybody almost, without distinction - even of all their clothes, and have beat and abused men, women and children in the most cruel manner ever heard of. It is possible that the locals exaggerated the brutality of the conduct of the insurrectionists, as there are no documents that detail beatings from the Upper Freehold Loyalists. It is also possible that Rodney was conflating accounts from Upper Freehold with accounts from western New Jersey, where Hessian soldiers engaged in numerous acts of brutality. Not all of the locals were bitterly divided. One of Allentown’s leading merchants, Richard Waln, though a Quaker pacifist, supported the Loyalist insurrection. This did not stop him from selling goods to the Continentals on December 31. On December 31, much of the Delaware regiment went to Cranbury to gather supplies and intelligence. During their absence, a Pennsylvania regiment under Lt. Colonel Francis Gurney moved into town. The officers of the two regiments nearly came to blows that evening. Rodney wrote: When we returned to Allentown, my quarters were full of militia [Pennsylvania Flying Camp] and there was no place to sit or lie down. I went to the door of the room, which was now occupied by three Pennsylvania field officers and politely requested to let us come in and sit by the fire, but they sternly refused. I told them we had no other place to go and if they would not admit us willingly they must defend themselves, and thereupon drew my sword. But the Continental officers were able to reach an accord, after which "we spent the rest of the night in great festivity... with good wine and ready dressed provisions." Gurney’s men would soon march for Freehold where they would clash with and defeat Monmouth County’s new Loyalist militia. Francis Wade would act as Continental Quartermaster at Allentown for several months. His relationships with the people of Monmouth County would be no better than his relationship with Thomas Rodney. Related Historic Site : Battle of Princeton State Park Sources : Thomas Rodney, Diary of Captain Thomas Rodney, 1776-1777 (Wilmington: Delaware Historical Society, 1888) p 26; Thomas Rodney, Diary of Captain Thomas Rodney, 1776-7 (Wilmington: Delaware Historical Society, 1888, p 27; John Fabiano, Allen's Town, New Jersey: Crossroads of the American Revolution, unpublished manuscript in the collection of the Allentown Historical Society, p 31; John Fabiano, Allen's Town, New Jersey: Crossroads of the American Revolution, unpublished manuscript in the collection of the Allentown Historical Society, p 25. 28; Johann Ewald, Diary of an American War (New Haven: Yale UP, 1979), 55; David Hackett Fischer, Washington's Crossing (NY: Oxford UP, 2004) p260, 344; New Jersey State Archives, Revolutionary War, Manuscripts Coll., box 2, #9, #12 and William S. Stryker, Battles of Trenton and Princeton, pp. 398-400; George Ryden, Letters to and from Caesar Rodney, 1756-84 (Philadelphia: U of Penn Press, 1933) p 152; David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 79; Thomas Rodney, Diary of Captain Thomas Rodney, 1776-7 (Wilmington: Delaware Historical Society, 1888, p 27; John Fabiano, Allen's Town, New Jersey: Crossroads of the American Revolution, unpublished manuscript in the collection of the Allentown Historical Society, p 31 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 Friends Move to End Slaveholding by Michael Adelberg In 1776, Shrewsbury’s Quaker meeting pressured its members to free their slaves. The Meeting House, rebuilt in 1816, was likely where the Friends provided education to the recently freed slaves. - August 1776 - As noted in prior articles, slaveholding in Monmouth County was destabilized during the ramp up to the American Revolution. There was increased agitation from African Americans, a number of whom escaped behind British lines. Relatedly, the Quakers of Monmouth County, following the lead of Philadelphia’s Quaker meeting, sought to end slaveholding in the summer of 1776. On August 19, the combined Shrewsbury and Rahway Friends Meeting issued a new code of conduct for its members as the war commenced. While much of the code was focused on maintaining neutrality and not giving offense to others, the code also included a provision banning “any further buying or selling of slaves.” Item #7 of the code pertained to “manumitting slaves, educating children of slaves.” That same day the Shrewsbury Friends meeting discussed efforts to have its members free their slaves: Those [Quakers] who hold negroes in bondage have been labored with, in order to prevail on them to do justice... some of which have manumitted, some of them as are arrived to the age of 18 & 21 years, one has manumitted several young negroes who are to be freed at that age, some others say that those that are young shall be free when of age, but have not yet manumitted them & divers [sic] others cannot be prevailed with to set them at liberty. Shrewsbury Friends Move to End Slaveholding in Their Meeting Three months later, the meeting appointed Joseph Wardell, Joseph Jackson, and Edmund Williams from Shrewsbury and three more Friends from Rahway as a committee to counsel slaveholders and report on the results. The committee filed its report on August 18, 1777, the anniversary of the first direction to manumit slaves. It wrote: "a number of them [slaveholders] have been prevailed upon to execute proper manumissions... others seem senseless with respect to their duty." The committee determined to further counsel the holdouts. Regardless of good intentions, resetting relationships with former slaves caused tensions. On May 5, 1777, the Friends recorded that James Williams and John Williams beat the freed slave, Caesar Moore. The Friends appointed a committee to investigate. On July 7, the committee reported that James and John Williams had submitted a letter of apology but the committee rejected the letter because they deemed the apology insufficient. In August, John Williams apologized again: “I have deviated so far from our principles as to strike a black man through a passion, for which I am sorry," but James Williams "showed a condescending disposition toward reconciliation." His apologies were not accepted until October. In April 1778, the Shrewsbury meeting reported on continued slaveholding among Friends. It was noted that: Amos White of Rumson and Jonah Parker have freed their slaves; Essek Hartshorne agreed to free his adult slaves on bond and pledge to release child slaves when they reach the age majority; John Stevenson "has left his Negroes in such a situation that they cannot legally be freed as yet"; Jonathan Wright had made "several manumissions." The one strident hold-out was John Corlies who "continues to decline to comply with the annual meeting's advice on that head, therefore John Hartshorne is appointed to inform him that unless he complies with the said advice, this meeting will be under the necessity to disown him." After another counsel, Corlies was disowned on December 7. In 1779, the Friends turned their attention to the few members who still owned slaves. Essek Hartshorne, it was reported, "showed a willingness to comply with the advice of the yearly meeting, he is desired to produce proof of his manumissions for his negroes.” Proof of the manumissions was provided later in the year. The report also noted that William Corlies freed the slave, Jack, and William Parker freed the slave, Neamus Parker. However, Parker continued to keep another slave named Robin (though Parker committed to freeing Robin in April 1780). The report concluded: "We are nearly clear of them (slaves)." In November 1779, two problems remained: William Parker had manumitted Robin, but in a manner judged "not satisfactory." Full manumission was completed in October 1780. Benjamin Corlies sold his last slave, but to Esek Hartshorne. Hartshorne promised manumission, but only after this slave worked off the debt related to his purchase. This slave was freed in July 1780. Support for Freed Slaves In 1780, the Shrewsbury Friends shifted their focus from freeing slaves to supporting freed slaves. In January, they noted that "it don't appear that the committee appointed to have care & oversight of the freed Negroes have made any report… some of them have been entirely unthoughtful of their charge." In August, the committee appointed for supporting freedmen met with several freed slaves. It reported giving “such counsel as we are capable of... said advice seemed acceptable to most of them, and Friends that have them under care seem disposed to do justice to them.” By January 1782, that same committee optimistically reported, "not any negro has been offered to that meeting as suffering & that care is extended toward the free negroes there." An August report also offered an upbeat assessment: "Those negroes who have been manumitted have a comfortable subsistence & justice, in a good degree, administered to them by some.” An August 1783 report concluded: It appears that those negroes who have been manumitted are generally well provided for as to the necessities of life, & some care taken for their school learning, except for the cases of some, who are placed with those not in society with us [non-Quakers]. However, a second report noted that while most of the freed slaves were being assisted, several were not. The report expressed concern about “those freed by Josiah Parker, a part of those freed by Elihu Williams & two of those freed by Essek Hartshorne, which are under care of those not in society with us." The report also discussed the freed child slave of Samuel Allison: “there is cause to fear are [is] sold back into slavery." As the war drew to a close, there were still three slaveholders among the Shrewsbury Quakers. Curiously, the names of two of the hold-out Quakers are not offered in the minutes in the Shrewsbury meeting: “None [are] held in bondage except one friend who purchased & manumitted, but with a promise from the slave of having the purchase money restored;” “One other difficult case of which care has been taken but that nothing can be done at present." The third member of the meeting was “Widow Stevenson.” It was reported that she maintained "6 [slaves] in the estate of John Stevenson.” The report suggested there is no executor to the estate and the family was in debt. Attempts to counsel widow Stevenson were unsuccessful: “The widow cannot be reasoned with." The Shrewsbury Quakers were part of a larger New Jersey community that frequently discussed the future of slavery. The state’s primary newspaper, the New Jersey Gazette , printed a number of essays on the topic—both in favor of and opposed to slave manumission. New Jersey’s Governor, William Livingston, was a known opponent of slavery. In 1778, he called it "utterly inconsistent with the principles of Christianity and humanity: and in Americans who have idealized liberty, particularly odious and disgraceful." Neighboring Pennsylvania—the state with the largest Quaker population—abolished slavery in 1780. While ending slaveholding was clearly important to Shrewsbury’s Quakers, an argument could be made that it was not among their top concerns. Between 1775 and 1783, the Shrewsbury Friends meeting censured or disowned two members for refusing to free their slaves. The infomation below lists other misconducts that resulted in more than two censures or expulsions. Marrying Outside the Faith - 19 censures or expulsions Fornication - 16 censures or expulsions Quarreling/Fighting - 7 censures or expulsions Marrying without Approval - 7 censures or expulsions Drinking Alcohol - 6 censures or expulsions Profane Language - 4 censures or expulsions Meeting Non-Attendance - 4 censures or expulsions Horse Racing/Fox Hunting - 3 censures or expulsions The gravest threat to the Friends, however, was the war itself. Strict Quakers vainly struggled to keep other members from militia service or otherwise align with the Continental or British armies; that was the Shrewsbury Meeting’s continuous worry. Some Shrewsbury Quakers faithfully served in the local militia; others took up arms for the British, including those who joined an ill-fated Loyalist association in the neighborhoods of Deal and Shark River. Related Historic Sites : Shrewsbury Friends Meeting House Sources : Swarthmore College, Friends Historical Library, reel: MR Ph 585, Shrewsbury Meeting; Swarthmore College, Friends Historical Library, Reel MR-PH, 51; J. T. Main, The Sovereign States, 1775-1783 (New York: New Viewpoints, 1973), pp. 290-1; William Livingston, quoted in Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the American Revolution (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996), p 49; John Corlies expulsion discussed in, Graham Hodges, African Americans in Monmouth County during the American Revolution (Lincroft, NJ: Monmouth County Park System, 1990) p 15; David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 90 note 70; The abolition of slaveholding in Pennsylvania is discussed in Gary B. Nash, Race and Revolution (Madison: Madison House, 1990) p 19. 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 > The Rise of John Bacon's Pine Robber Gang by Michael Adelberg In late 1781, the Pine Robber gang of John Bacon attacked and defeated the Stafford Twp. militia at Manahawkin. One of the killed militiamen, Silas Crane, is buried at Baptist Meeting House. - December 1781 - As noted in prior articles, Dover and Stafford townships in southern Monmouth County (and bordering Little Egg Harbor Township in Burlington County) was New Jersey’s most disaffected region during the second half of the Revolutionary War. The region was not well-suited for farming (the main path to acquiring wealth in 1700s America), so shore residents lived modestly by grazing small herds and practicing maritime trades. Shore residents were two days removed on horseback from their county seats in Freehold and Burlington. The culture of the region was rough: a Quaker elder complained that shore residents were “loose, libertine people;” they referred to “places of deviation ” along the shore. The Revolutionary War brought unprecedented capital and opportunity to acquire wealth to shore residents. Salt works sprung up and they were in constant need of laborers , but salt work owners constantly complained of laborers stealing their materials and then disappearing. Privateers from New England and Philadelphia employed some shore residents, and purchased supplies from others—but the opportunities created by privateers were transient. Though they brought money to a poor region, resentments toward these outsiders, no doubt, ran high. For shore residents, the most lucrative opportunity created by the Revolutionary War was the so-called London Trade. London Traders funneled the foodstuffs and lumber from disaffected New Jersey farmers to British buyers at Sandy Hook and New York. The wealth generated by this trade, coupled with long-simmering resentments from the shore region, bred gangs of Pine Robbers . By 1781, the Pine Robbers gangs of the lower shore numbered as many as 80 men, supported by armed London Trading vessels and disaffected locals who provided cover and supplies. Local militias lacked the power to depose these gangs, and George Washington, chastened by the poor record of Continentals previously stationed along the shore, refused to send troops . The Rise of John Bacon From this setting emerged John Bacon, the most prolific of the Pine Robber leaders. According to an antiquarian account, Bacon hailed from Arneytown, a center for disaffection in Upper Freehold Township . (Since Bacon is buried in Arneytown, there’s reason to think he had family there.) An antiquarian source claims that Bacon was an agricultural laborer to the Crane family of Stafford Township before the war. The Cranes supported the Revolution and would clash with Bacon’s gang later in the war. Further evidence that Bacon lived in Stafford Township is provided in court testimony from Luke Sooey, who stated that: “He knew Bacon before he went to the enemy - his family resides at Barnegat - thinks Bacon has been with the enemy between two & three years." David Fowler, who comprehensively studied the Pine Robbers, located Bacon in court documents early in the war. He was listed as a “shingle-maker” in a Monmouth County court document, meaning he was employed in repetitive and hard manual labor. Bacon also apparently ignored more than one court summons regarding a dispute with the Soper family, and was a claimant in a 1779 privateer case involving the capture of the vessel, Success . Fowler notes an antiquarian source which claims that Bacon was married and his wife, Hannah Bacon, lived apart from her husband in Burlington County. Bacon did not start the war as a violent outlaw. An antiquarian source describes an early incident in which Bacon refrained from violence. James Wells (who lived near Waretown) was a Quaker. He left his house in the uniform coat of a Continental soldier which had been left at his house (probably by one of Kasimir Pulaski’s troops). Pulaski’s Legion marched through Stafford Township in October 1778 during which time disaffected locals took sniper shots at them. Bacon saw a man in a Continental coat and closed in to shoot him until he recognized Wells. Bacon warned Wells not to wear the coat again. Fowler also notes that Bacon was indicted in the Monmouth County Courts in July 1780 for going to New York without a passport—by this time, Bacon had likely given up manual labor for a more lucrative living as a London Trader. The first violent event attributed to Bacon was the killing of Lieutenant Joshua Studson in December 1780. Studson was patrolling the bay waters near Toms River in a militia boat when he spotted a London Trading vessel. He hailed the vessel and came close. As the militia closed in, Bacon, who was reportedly concealed with the cargo, rose and fired on Studson, who was killed nearly instantly. Bacon leapt into the shallow water and waded to shore. The panicked militia did not pursue him. In May 1781, Bacon was in a gang that plundered the home of Captain Samuel Bigelow of Dover Township. Elenoar Bigelow later testified that the gang knocked down her door, rifled through the family goods, and carried off valuables. She did not know most of the men in the party but recognized Bacon, “a noted person of the Refugees at Egg Harbour.” Bacon was also named in the robbery of five horses from John Middleton, Jr., as the horses were being driven by a man named John Morris (not the Loyalist officer of the same name). Morris testified that the horses were taken by the “noted Refugee” John Bacon and presumably taken to New York. Bacon and his gang participated in several additional robberies against the homes of Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). A Stafford Township militiaman, Seth Crane, was wounded while attempting to defend his home. Other robbery victims from Dover and Stafford townships include: Silas Crane of Stafford Twp.: Shot in leg while escaping Bacon’s gang as it approached his home (another source claims Crane was shot through a window while in his home); Crane was wounded again in a skirmish with Bacon’s gang described below. John Holmes of Forked River: home plundered of "a large amount of money, a silver watch, gold ring, silver buckles, pistols, clothing, etc.", some valuables buried in the yard were not taken. Lieutenant Jacob Lane of Dover Twp.: Robbed, described by Lane below: His house was once attacked by one Captain John Bacon, a refugee, and his house was plundered and he was taken prisoner and carried over with them - that they oft swore after to let the deponent go, that they first robbed him of his Lieutenant's commission & Bacon sent word to the Governor that he had it. Captain John Price and Wiliam Price of Good Luck: John Price escapes with only his clothes and his commission; gang moves to nearby home of William Price, both homes robbed. Captain Reuben Randolph of Manahawkin: captured, pulled out of his house and tied to a tree in the woods, while a gang is plundering his house, he escapes. Joseph Soper of Stafford Twp.: Robbed of money paid for building a boat; other valuables buried in yard and not taken. Fowler notes that Bacon’s robberies were not random. He targeted Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) and relied on informers, including William Wilson, to know when to strike at the homes of his adversaries. John Bacon as a Notorious Outlaw By the end of 1781, Bacon was leading a Pine Robber gang. He was a frequent target of local militias, but his gangs were large and cunning enough to hold their own against militia parties. John Chamberlain of Dover Township described his many encounters with Bacon’s gang in his postwar veteran’s militia application. He recalled that he went “in pursuit of the Refugees, I recollect helping to destroy a large row boat, building in the pines, by one Bacon, a leading character amongst the Refugees." Chamberlain recalled Bacon’s revenge and the Dover militia’s counter-measure: I recollect having been robbed once, and taken prisoner twice by the above named Bacon, I also recollect having taken a refugee boat whilst under the command of John Stout, at Manasquan Inlet, making prisoner of her crew, consisting of five men and a boy. On December 30, 1781, Stafford Township militia commanded by Reuben Randolph attempted to ambush and capture Bacon near Manahawkin (where Randolph lived). The militia spent the night at Randolph's tavern and it is easy to imagine that the men had too much to drink. At dawn, a militia sentry spotted Bacon’s gang on the road. Bacon’s men fired on a sentry, Linus Pangburn, and killed him. Pangburn's widow would later testify, her husband “was shot dead as he stood on guard by a party of refugees.” Believing Bacon’s party to be thirty to forty men, the smaller militia party (likely 20-25 men) fired on the Pine Robbers and then fled. Bacon’s men fired on them—and killed a man named Soper. Two other militiamen were wounded in the skirmish. Sylvester Tilton was “severely” wounded based on one account. After the war, Tilton would have revenge against a man named Brewer in Bacon’s party. According to Fowler, Tilton inflicted an “unmerciful beating” on Brewer. Silas Crane would write of being wounded in the same skirmish in his postwar veteran’s pension application: “They had an engagement with the British and refugees under Capt. Bacon at Manahawkin… He received a severe wound to the thigh which disabled him for several months and which scar he carries to his grave." Bacon was now a notorious outlaw—perhaps the most notorious man in all of New Jersey. He was indicted for high treason in the Monmouth County Courts. Bacon was apparently captured in February 1782. Monmouth County’s Sheriff, John Burrowes, was ordered to secure him: “You are hereby commanded to receive into your custody the body of John Bacon, safely held, close confined in irons, to answer several charges of high treason, mischief and horse stealing, as stands accused.” When Bacon was transferred, a second order to Burrowes, from Judge David Forman, directed the sheriff to "safely keep him close, confined in irons to answer charges of High Treason, murder and horse stealing." However, Bacon escaped (details unknown) and was leading his gang again by summer. Bacon’s later exploits and most infamous attack are discussed in another article . A Note on John Bacon and William Davenport Another large Pine Robber gang—reportedly 70-80 men—operated in the same region in 1782. It was led by William Davenport and reportedly had a base on Osburn’s Island—a peninsula of land north of the mouth of the Mullica River. Surviving documents do not reveal the relationship between Bacon and Davenport. Perhaps they were rivals operating gangs fully independent of each other; perhaps they were allies collegially pulling from the same pool of men. However, after Davenport was killed by militia at Forked River in June 1782, Bacon was the last Pine Robber commanding a body of men large enough to face down militia parties. Perhaps Bacon was made more desperate by Davenport’s death and the tide of the war. In May 1782, the British blocked the Associated Loyalists from raiding into New Jersey. With this move, it became easier for local militia to devote resources to combatting the Pine Robbers. This may have nudged Bacon, in his galley Hero’s Revenge , toward more ruthless acts. The surprise and slaughter of a militia party on the southern side of Barnegat Inlet in October 1782, the so-called Long Beach Massacre , was the bloodiest action taken by Bacon or any Pine Robber during the war. It is the subject of another article, as is the death of Bacon in 1783. Related Historic Site : Stafford Township Historical Society Sources : David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 240-251; Testimony of Luke Sooey, Library of Congress, Revolutionary War Prize Cases, M162, reel 1, cases 91-2, David Forman v. Nathan Jackson; David Fowler, Price vs. The Sloop Success, Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, 2005–Jan., vol. 80 n 1, 10–16; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 64, 214-5; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Silas Crane; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 207; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 45; William Fischer, Biographical Cyclopedia of Ocean County (Philadelphia: A.D. Smith, 1899) pp. 60; David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 246; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 317; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 242; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Jacob Lane; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Chamberlain; Mittimus, New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 27, #27; David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 252. 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 > The Capture of the Schooner, Two Friends, and Its Captain by Michael Adelberg Cooperages like this one in England made barrels that carried rum and other spirits. 160 barrels of rum were recovered near Toms River by opportunistic locals from a wrecked Loyalist vessel. - December 1778 - As noted in prior articles, privateering along the New Jersey shore blossomed in the summer of 1778. With the entry of France into the war, the British navy now faced a powerful enemy and ships were diverted to other parts of the sprawling empire. American privateers, with Little Egg Harbor (commonly called “Egg Harbor”) as their base, cruised the Jersey shore in search of solitary British and Loyalist ships going to and from New York. Large vessels such as the Venus and Love & Unity were vulnerable to capture, and privateer captains, such as Yelverton Taylor took several vessels and amassed small fortunes. Though not as famous or prolific as Taylor, David Stevens was another one of Egg Harbor’s successful privateer captains in 1778. By August, he had taken at least two prizes into that port. He would take his largest prize on December 1. On December 3, the Pennsylvania Gazette , reported that two days earlier: "Captain Stevens in a privateer belonging to Egg Harbor took the schooner Two Friends , Capt. Sion, of 6 carriage and 12 swivel guns, with 22 men, belonging to New York." Stevens towed the prize back to Egg Harbor. The actual captain of the Two Friends , as indicated by later reports, was Captain Alexander Bonnett. A brief report in the New Jersey Gazette on December 9 added that a "British armed vessel… came ashore near Barnegat. The crew, about sixty in number, surrendered to our militia… and are sent as prisoners to Bordentown." Indeed, antiquarian accounts note that Two Friends had grounded off Barnegat and that Stevens was assisted by local militia who secured the crew. The vessel and its cargo would eventually sell for £12,000. (The New Jersey Gazette account claims it sold for £5,000, but that figure likely did not include the cargo which presumably was auctioned off separately). The loss of the Two Friends was important enough to be discussed in New York where William Smith, the former attorney general of the colony, now a Loyalist, recorded on December 3: "A store ship is on the shore at Barnegat, carelessness or perfidy. There is perpetual negligence in not employing American pilots or seamen." The New Jersey Gazette reported again on the Two Friends on January 27, 1779: The armed sloop Two Friends, commanded by Capt. Alexander Bonnet, was cut away on Long Beach, near Barnegat. A number of people from the shore went to their assistance and saved all of them, but one man drowned...she went to pieces in a few hours. It is interesting that the report suggests that Two Friends broke apart, while prior reports say that the vessel was taken by Stevens, towed into Egg Harbor, and sold. It is presumed that the first reports were correct. The January 27 report goes on to note that the captain of the Two Friends , Alexander Bonnett, was permitted to stay in Toms River as a non-combatant, even as his crew was taken prisoner. This raises the possibility that Bonnett bribed local officials into paroling him. The report in the Gazette discussed Bonnett’s fate. He boarded a vessel at Toms River, Endeavor , from the West Indies and presumably (illegally) bound for New York. Bonnett’s bad fortune soon turned tragic. The Gazette reported: “On the night he parted, her [the Endeavor ’s] cable was cast away in the bay and Capt. Bonnet, with every soul on board, perished." An antiquarian source further noted that most of the cargo of rum and molasses was lost, but 160 barrels of rum were saved by locals. They likely toasted Bonnet’s bad fortune soon after. The misfortune of the Two Friends and Alexander Bonnett is a good case study on the way that privateering, opportunism, and luck combined on the Jersey shore during the American Revolution. Certainly, Stevens and the local militia were necessary to the capture, but they were not the cause of it. If Smith is to be believed, the capture was attributable to a British captain sailing an overloaded ship in tricky waters without a local pilot. Locals on the Monmouth shore were both Patriots eager to seize an enemy vessel and opportunists happy to reach an accord with a vessel’s rich captain. This duality would remain evident on the shore for the remainder of the war. Related Historic Site : New Jersey Maritime Museum Sources : Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 80-4; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 225; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) p 53; Pennsylvania Journal, February 3, 1779; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930 Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 225; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 119-20; Paul Burgess, A Colonial Scrapbook; the Southern New Jersey Coast, 1675-1783 (New York, Carlton Press, 1971) pp 150; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 58. 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 > New Jersey Assembly Struggles to Support State Troops by Michael Adelberg Col. John Simcoe led a feared Loyalist cavalry regiment. An exaggerated report of his likely raid on Monmouth County prompted the Legislature to send military supplies to the county’s State Troops. - October 1780 - When the cavalry of Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee left Monmouth County in fall 1780 , it marked the last time that Continental troops were stationed in Monmouth County. This put added responsibility on Colonel Asher Holmes’s undersized regiment of State Troops , raised from Monmouth County to defend Monmouth County. In a prior article, it was noted that New Jersey’s June 1780 recruiting law gave Continental Army recruiters significant advantages over State Troop recruiters. Now, with Lee’s withdrawal, the poor condition of Holmes’s regiment came into focus. Asher Holmes and David Forman Appeal to State Assembly On October 28, Holmes and most of his State Troop officers (Captains David Anderson and Samuel Carhart; Lieutenants Benjamin Corlies, John Blake, and David Imlay; Ensigns John Schenck and Peter Vanderhoff) petitioned the New Jersey Assembly: The men under our command have not received any part of the pay due to them since their entering into this service, which makes the soldiers very uneasy; and as we know not in what money we will be paid, whether old Continental bills or the new emission, are therefore at a loss to know in what manner our pay rolls should be drawn as by the law for raising said troops, they are to have the same pay and rations that is allowed Continental troops, and at this time what they may be, we humbly conceive the Legislature of the State are to determine. Within Monmouth County, Holmes was a political opponent of Colonel David Forman, leader of a set of Machiavellian Whigs who bitterly complained about his locally-negotiated prisoner exchanges with the enemy. Yet Forman understood that State Troops protected his family and property. So, Forman, on October 31, wrote his allies in the New Jersey Assembly (Nathaniel Scudder and Thomas Henderson who had prevailed in a tainted election ) in support of the State Troops. Forman warned of a 300-man Loyalist raiding party under Colonel John Simcoe that was poised to strike Amboy and then withdraw through Monmouth County to Sandy Hook. Forman warned, “If Col Simcoe should land at Amboy, he will more than probably make his retreat through Sandy Hook.” Forman’s report, given the size of his force and Simcoe’s feared reputation, likely stirred emotions in the Assembly—but it was largely incorrect. Simcoe raided Amboy with only 80 men, and he headed west into Somerset County, rather than south into Monmouth County. Forman also wrote starkly about the condition of the State Troops: Capt. Anderson, who commands the company of 6-month men at Shrewsbury has six cartridges per man, and that Col Holmes has no cartridges to give him - I inquired if there were any cartridges in the magazine at this place - found there was not one - the ammunition that was sent for Col Holme's Regt, I have myself delivered at different times to the troops on duty. Forman also complained that Colonel Daniel Hendrickson's Shrewsbury militia had only 40 dozen cartridges for roughly five hundred men. Forman concluded, "This is our present situation - a frontier county, at all times exposed to incursion, now immediately threatened, with not a single dozen cartridges to be given out." On October 31, the minutes of the New Jersey Assembly recorded receiving Holmes’s petition, "setting forth that the troops under their command have received no pay since their entering the service, and praying that the paymaster may be furnished with a sum of money sufficient for payment of the troops." Forman’s letter must have arrived at about the same time. Together, the two appeals impacted the Assembly. It responded with uncharacteristic speed. On November 1, it passed by a bill, by a 27-2 vote, to dispatch Nathaniel Scudder to Monmouth County with 80,000 cartridges and 1,000 flints "for the use of the militia of Monmouth and detachments of State Troops there stationed, to be delivered to Col. Holmes." While the quick action of the Assembly was laudable, it was far from a long-term solution for the state’s inability to consistently pay or supply its State Troops. Three months later, on January 24, 1781, Captain Anderson wrote Governor Wiliam Livingston with an old complaint: The raising of [State] troops is much retarded by reason of no money being paid to the men discharged from the late service, I could wish that the day could be had that the men could be got with ease at little or no expense. The letter was delivered by Lieutenant Elisha Shepherd, who, It was hoped, would return with the money owed the troops. Other State Troop Difficulties Months before the problems of October 1780, Holmes had difficulties provisioning and paying his State Troops. On May 26, 1780, as Holmes was mustering his regiment, he was chastised for buying provisions from local sources rather than the state’s purchasing agent. Robert Morris wrote because Holmes did not use the state’s agent, Holmes would have “difficulty in the settlement of your account... nor can this matter be rectified.” Morris, a leading voice on financial matters in the Continental Congress, warned Holmes to purchase from state contractors in the future. On September 22, Holmes wrote a long memorial to the New Jersey Assembly about being unable to settle the accounts with the state and his men. This was due to a shortage of funds from the Legislature and also because his records were lost when the British Army sacked his house the day before the Battle of Monmouth. As a result, Holmes declared that "he is rendered incapable of procuring sufficient accounts in order to reach a settlement." The state of New Jersey appointed a commissioner, Thomas Henderson, to settle the accounts of Holmes’s state troops. As late as December, Henderson was still working to do so. In May 1781, Holmes worried about the security of Monmouth County in a letter to Livingston. He forwarded a note from Ensign David Imlay, commanding the State Troops at Toms River, who had appealed to Captain Samuel Carhart (of Middletown) for more men: Ensign Imlay, stationed at Toms River (by order of your Excellency) is calling on him [Carhart] for more men to reinforce him at that post, as part of Imlay's men have enlisted in the Continental Army; Capt. Carhart & almost every other person acquainted with our shore are of opinion that this number of men at this time [is] too small for the purpose intended, defending the frontiers of that part of the county. Holmes was worried by the dwindling number of State Troops in his command, and the lack of support from militia from other counties ordered into Monmouth County: I believe the number of men enlisted here don't much exceed half what the law has directed to be stationed in this county for the defense of its frontiers, every post is much too weak and the inhabitants in this part of the country who have stood firm and exerted themselves on every action during this contest, are much exposed to the ravages of our enemies - and some of the counties in this State have not sent any men for the defense of the frontiers. Holmes asked Livingston to again order militia from other counties to defend distressed areas like Monmouth. Livingston did so but the response from other counties was again lackluster. While companies of militia did station in Monmouth County, their frequency and force size was rarely what Holmes or Livingston requested. Monmouth Countians were largely on their own to defend themselves. Related Historic Site : National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey Sources : National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - David Imlay; David Forman to Nathaniel Scudder and Thomas Henderson, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War Documents, #102; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, October 30 and November 3, 1780, p 10-16; David Anderson to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, January 24, 178; Robert Morris to Asher Holmes, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 5, folder 9; Morristown National Historical Park Collection, reel 23, Thomas Henderson; Asher Holmes to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, May 6, 1781. 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 > Nathaniel Scudder's Service in the Continental Congress by Michael Adelberg Dr. Nathaniel of Scudder was the only Monmouth Countian to serve in the Continental Congress. He advocated for a strong national government and feuded with Thomas Paine and others. - November 1777 - While David Forman was Monmouth County’s leading military figure in 1777, Dr. Nathaniel Scudder was its leading political figure. Prior to the Declaration of Independence, he served as a delegate in the New Jersey Provincial Congress and Chair of the Monmouth County Committee . He became the Colonel of Monmouth County’s First Militia Regiment after Colonel George Taylor defected to the British in November 1776, but he was generally inactive in the militia after commanding at the disastrous Battle of the Navesink . (He briefly re-joined the militia for the campaign to shadow the British withdrawal from New Jersey, June 1777.) In March, he joined the New Jersey Council of Safety . Nathaniel Scudder Selected to the Continental Congress Scudder’s time on the Council of Safety deepened his friendships in the New Jersey Assembly. On November 20, the Assembly selected him (along with John Witherspoon, John Elmer, Elias Boudinot and Abraham Clark) to represent New Jersey in the Continental Congress from December 1, 1777 – December 1, 1778. New Jersey’s new delegates arrived in York, Pennsylvania (meeting there because Philadelphia was held by the British) on December 11. They presented credentials, and were admitted to the Continental Congress. It was a short session; Scudder and other delegates were home by Christmas. Congress next convened on January 28, 1778, but lacked a quorum on that day. Scudder’s colleague in Congress, John Witherspoon, wrote, "pray let Dr. Scudder come here without delay." Scudder arrived on February 9. By New Jersey law, an officeholder forced to spend time out of state could not be a militia officer. Scudder was in violation; he officially resigned his militia commission on March 28, 1778. In Congress, the first issue in which Scudder was prominent was a resolution to the states recommending a military draft . The resolve passed Congress on February 16, with Congress urging states to "fill up" their Army quotas "by a draft of the militia or any other way that shall be effectual." The New Jersey Legislature passed a law on April 3 to implement a draft but also petitioned the Continental Congress to lower the quota of Army regiments from four regiments to two. Even in Congress, Scudder remained focused on events at home. On April 9, he wrote Governor William Livingston about the need to confiscate Loyalist estates to prevent people from turning Loyalist: I enclose you a copy of a petition from several of the principal inhabitants of the Counties below [Monmouth and Burlington], by which you will see the deplorable situation of that part of the State… The Tory race, who have increased under our nurture, that is to say our lenient measures, are now triumphant & much more dangerous than the British troops. Alas, my dear sir, instead of rearing our heads as heretofore like the stout oak, we flag like the parcel of bull rushes. We want spirit & activity -- four sessions to complete an Act for Confiscating Tory property! Scudder attended Congress from February into May. During a stretch of April, he was the only New Jersey delegate to Congress in York, prompting Governor Livingston to request that the Assembly reprimand the other delegates. However, as the British prepared to quit Philadelphia and retreat across New Jersey, Scudder was given permission to leave Congress and tend to his family at Freehold. Leave was granted on May 23, but he left on May 27. Scudder left York with papers to be distributed along the expected British line of march. The papers, printed in English and German, encouraged British and Loyalist desertions by granting land and militia exemptions to anyone who switched sides. Scudder’s papers may have had an impact on British desertions which were prodigious during the march across New Jersey. Major von Wilmowsky wrote on June 26 that his regiment had lost 236 men to desertions because the enemy "printed slips of paper that were secretly distributed among the men by the rebels." Scudder made it back to Freehold just ahead of the British Army. He was briefly with the militia, but remained a physician. Scudder was called away to deliver a baby. According to an antiquarian source, he watched the Battle of Monmouth from the window of a house outside of Freehold. Shortly after the battle, he wrote his friend, Assembly Speaker John Hart, about the "great plunder and devastation has been committed among my friends this quarter, but through the distinguishing goodness of providence, my family & property escaped." By late summer, Scudder was back in Congress (now meeting in Philadelphia). He supported a stronger national government. For example, Scudder was a strong proponent of the Articles of Confederation. Though the Articles are today regarded as the weak predecessor of the United States Constitution, they created the first framework for a federal United States government. Their adoption was a big step toward nationalizing the otherwise independent states. In 1779, Scudder became one of the first delegates in Congress to speak of the need to put western lands under the stewardship of the federal government in order to head off interstate clashes. Scudder also sponsored a resolution in August 1779 to encourage free trade between the states: “it was resolved, that it be earnestly recommended to the several states to take off every restriction on the inland trade between the said states.” Nathaniel Scudder’s Second Year in Congress On November 6, Hart informed Scudder that the Assembly had selected him to serve another year in the Continental Congress. The Assembly also selected Scudder’s protégé, Dr. Thomas Henderson of Freehold, for Congress, but Henderson declined to serve. Nonetheless, the decision to select someone so closely associated with Scudder is a strong indication of Scudder’s high regard in the Assembly. In November, Scudder joined a select committee, with Gouverneur Morris and William Whipple, to investigate and reorganize the Quartermaster Department of the Continental Army. The Committee sent letters to the governors of several states inquiring about where stores could be collected for the Army. The Committee sought to create a pre-collected set of stores for the Army but it also drifted into side issues. For example, it drafted a Congressional resolution to encourage states to "prohibit, for the time being, the distilling of whiskey and other spirits”—which Congress read but ignored. He also served on Congress’s mustering and medical committees. As was common with political leaders of this era, Scudder engaged in personal feuds. One of his opponents was John Cooper, a senior New Jersey legislator from Gloucester County who Scudder accused of being a closet Tory. In December 1778, Scudder attacked him in a letter to Livingston: Cooper, according to custom, has used his little arts to retard every necessary measure, & enjoys satisfaction (if his crooked soul can delight in anything) of having his nays on record as monumental to the cause of Toryism in America, but by the very broadest hints from many of this Council has by one of them been called a Tory to his face. Scudder also led the effort in Congress to censure Thomas Paine. The famous author of Common Sense was given a patronage position in the Continental government. Despite this, Paine was a vocal critic of the Continental Congress and Scudder, among other delegates, was not amused. He introduced the following resolution: Resolved, that Mr. Thomas Paine for his imprudence ought immediately to be dismissed from his office of secretary to the Committee for Foreign Affairs, and the said Committee are directed to dismiss him accordingly, and to take such further steps relative to his misapplication of public papers as they shall deem necessary. Scudder also was a critic of General Charles Lee, George Washington’s second-in-command, who was court martialed after the Battle of Monmouth for leading an ineffectual attack on the British Army. In 1779, Lee came to Congress to clear his name and received rough questioning from Scudder. Lee later identified the "two of the most notorious idiots" in Congress, John Penn of North Carolina and Scudder. He described Scudder as “a gossiping pragmatical Presbyterian doctor or apothecary.” Of the two, Lee wrote with sarcasm, “both of which worthies I have given a downing slap on the face in a letter." Nathaniel Scudder Leaves Congress By fall 1779, Scudder was signaling that his time in Congress was nearing an end. On October 4, he wrote Henry Laurens, President of the Congress, from Freehold: "I intended when I left town to have returned by tomorrow's Stage, but the ill State of Mrs. Scudder's [Isabel Scudder] health, and the circumstances of my family forbid; nor can I determine precisely when I shall be down.” On October 26, he wrote John Stevens, also a delegate, that serving in Congress “has added so much to the reduction of the small remains of my estate, to the distress and uneasiness of my family, to the injury of my children's education, that another year of attendance would be ruinous." He hoped that "our places might not be filled by ambitious, designing men, or by others with like fortune with myself." Governor Livingston wrote Scudder on October 19 about his decision to leave Congress: “The delegates chose [for Congress] are Mr. Fell and Dr. Henderson. I am told the only reason why you was not re-elected was that you had declined to serve another year.” Livingston also encouraged Scudder to be vocal in the coming Monmouth County election: You have done your share, but there is still much to do... I hope you will exert yourself in Monmouth against the next election, that we may have all Whigs. The Legislative body suffers more detriment from three or four Tories than it can reap advantages from twenty Whigs. On November 8, Scudder replied that he had expressed a desire to spend more time at home, but never explicitly said he would not serve another year in Congress. A week later, Scudder wrote Laurens: I am now, my dear friend, returning to private life, this being my last week in Congress, but believe me I have no idea of shrinking from any further share in this important contest - no sir - I will continue to exert myself on all occasions... if necessary by again taking up the sword, and even enlist in the ranks of over those whom I lately held high command... I know you pity me for the unequal sacrifices I have made - I thank you for it, but I know that I have done nothing more than any honest man ought to have done. Scudder returned to Freehold amid rumors that he might return to Congress. In 1780, he reminded Laurens that his medical practice suffered during his absence and his wife was "altogether deranged by my absence." On October 10, 1781, Abraham Clark, a New Jersey delegate in Congress, listed the qualified men who said they would not serve in Congress: “If I am rightly informed… Dr. Scudder, Mr. Boudinot, Dr. Henderson and Colo. Frelinghuysen will decline if chosen." Five days later, Scudder joined David Forman in arms in a clash with a Loyalist raiding party. Scudder was shot in the face and died hours later. He was the only delegate of the Continental Congress to die in combat. Related Historic Site : Independence Hall (Philadelphia) Sources : National Archives, Collection 332, reel 6, #429-39; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 9, p 1017; Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 8, pp. 671-2 note 6; John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) v3, p339; Lender, Mark, “The Conscripted Line: The Draft in Revolutionary New Jersey,” New Jersey History, vol. 103 (1985), pp. 28-37; Nathaniel Scudder to William Livingston, Massachusetts Historical Society, William Livingston Papers; William Livingston to Nathaniel Scudder, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 2, pp. 284-5; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, April 14, 1778, p 110; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 11, p 529 and vol 14, p 814; Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 9, pp. 21. 49; Willhelm Wilmostky to William Knyhausen, Copy: David Library, Battle of Monmouth Collection, #106; Hamilton Cochran, Scudders of the American Revolution (Peterborough, N.H.: Scudder Association, 1976), pp. 97-8; Nathaniel Scudder to John Hart, Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) pp. 119-23; Scudder’s appointment noted in Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 3, p 40; John Hart to Nathaniel Scudder, Library of Congress, Peter Force Collection, Series 7C, box 31, folder 2, 68:223; Journals of the Continental Congress, American Memory, Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hlawquery.html ; Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, v13, p272, http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr13-0324 ; Minutes of the Council of Delaware State, 1776-1792 (Dover: James Kirk: 1896) p 339-40; Nathaniel Scudder to William Livingston in Hamilton Cochran, Scudders of the American Revolution,. (Peterborough, N.H.: Scudder Association, 1976), pp. 98-9; Journals of the Continental Congress, American Memory, Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hlawquery.html ; Journals of the Continental Congress, American Memory, Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hlawquery.html ; Thomas Bradford to Nathaniel Scudder, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Bradford MSS: British Army Prisoners, vol. 2, p 11; Donald W. Whisenhunt, ed., Delegate from New Jersey: The Journal of John Fell (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1973) pp. 16, 29, 79, 130, 141; Lee, Charles, The Lee Papers. 4 vols. (New York: New York Historical Society, 1871-1874) vol. 3, pp. 317-21; Charles Lee, Memoirs of the Life of Gen. Charles Lee (London: JS Jordan, 1792) p 54; Journals of the Continental Congress, American Memory, Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hlawquery.html ; Nathaniel Scudder to Henry Laurens, Letters to Delegates of Congress, vol. 14, p22-3 ( www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html ); Nathaniel Scudder to John Stevens in Hamilton Cochran, Scudders of the American Revolution,. (Peterborough, N.H.: Scudder Association, 1976), pp. 98-9; Nathaniel Scudder to John Stevens, Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 14, pp. 127-9; William Livingston to Nathaniel Scudder, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 3, pp. 225, 281 note; Nathaniel Scudder to Henry Laurens, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Charles Jenkins Collection, ALS: Nathaniel Scudder; John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 17, pp. 134, 217; Nathaniel Scudder to Henry Laurens, New York State Library, Special Collections, MS 953; Nathaniel Scudder to Henry Laurens, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Gratz Collection, case 1, box 21, Nathaniel Scudder; Abraham Clark to John Caldwell, Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 18, p 110. 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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 > Major John Burrowes and His Actions at Middletown Point by Michael Adelberg Captain John Burrowes served in the Continental Army from 1777-1780. This included two long assignments at his home in Middletown Point (Matawan) where he was active in the local war. - February 1779 - Loyalists raided the Monmouth shore throughout 1778, and Monmouth County’s Whig (supporters of the Revolution) had little recourse. Willam Marriner raided Brooklyn once, and privateers along the Atlantic shore took some British ships, but Sandy Hook—the centerpiece of British power in the local war around Monmouth County—was seemingly invulnerable. That changed when the British weakened their military presence in the fall of 1778. Then, on December 15, Captain John Burrowes of Middletown Point successfully raided Sandy Hook, capturing or burning three vessels and capturing fourteen prisoners. This is the subject of another article. John Burrowes, Jr., (“Captain Burrowes”) was a captain in the Continental Army—commissioned in January 1777 in David Forman’s Additional Regiment to raise a company of Monmouth Countians for the defense of Monmouth County. His father, John Burrowes, Sr., was taken by Loyalist raiders in May 1778, just weeks after Forman was stripped of command and the regiment was pulled out of Monmouth County. Captain Burrowes was merged into the main body of the Continental Army. After the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778), however, he was permitted to stay home and report on British movements in the Raritan Bay and at Sandy Hook. John Burrowes, Jr., at Middletown Point After his successful raid of December 15, Burrowes entered the Raritan Bay again in early February. In collaboration with a New Brunswick privateer, Alexander Dickey, he took a captured Loyalist vessel and brought it into New Brunswick. The specifics of the capture are unknown, but it can be determined that the capture was controversial because Burrowes was arrested. He wrote his senior general, Lord Stirling [General William Alexander], on February 3, 1779: I have to inform your lordship that I am arrested on account of the sloop Brunswick for not delivering her up, by the request of Genl. Maxwell [William Maxwell], which I could not do; Capt. Dickey, one of the owners, was the person that brought the order for the delivery of the vessel; I told him [Maxwell] I could not do it, except by an order from his Excellency [Washington], your Lordship or Governor Livingston, he then told me he would wait on your Excellency and get an order, which I thought he had done till five or six days after, when I was taken by the sheriff - I thought proper to let your Excellency know. The fate of the vessel is unknown but, presumably, the charges against Burrowes were dropped because he was home at Middletown Point by early April. On April 2, Burrowes reported on cannon fire at Sandy Hook: "There is a very heavy firing at the Hook this morning which I am to believe is the arrival of more of their vessels.” Burrowes also discussed his role purchasing oysters for Stirling: “I have not had it in my power to procure any oysters for your Lordship on any terms, as the oystermen will not go out for fear of the enemy, a King's galley yesterday drove all the fishermen off the shore & lays there yet." Burrowes wrote Stirling again on April 5 and promised to "start for the [Navesink] Highlands immediately and make all the discoveries possible." He also expressed frustration in transmitting his reports to Stirling, "The militia Light Horse are dismissed, I am obliged to send my letters to Bordentown, to be forwarded [from there]." Three weeks later, Burrowes, and fifteen men under him, joined with the Monmouth militia to hang on the flanks of a 700-man British-Loyalist raiding party that landed at Shoal Harbor and marched on Tinton Falls. A Loyalist who was with the raiding party, Joseph Mount, visited family in Middletown after the raid and was arrested by Burrowes. On May 6, Burrowes wrote Stirling about interrogating "a person [Joseph Mount] that was taken when the enemy were over at Middletown.” Mount told Burrowes about British troops in New York, “he says General Clinton with 7,000 troops were on board of the fleet and going on a secret expedition, how true that may be, I cannot tell." This is Burrowes’ last surviving letter to Stirling from Middletown Point in 1779. John Burrowes, Jr., Returns to the Continental Army Camp In June, he returned to the main body of the Continental Army after almost a year at home. He was recommended for promotion to Major on July 22, but this occurred as the New Jersey regiments were being consolidated, forcing George Washington to write Congress’ Board of War: A Board of Gen. Officers were of opinion upon the question being put, that it would be best to consider them as forming a particular line and for the Officers to be promoted accordingly. I do not however recollect that any promotions took place, while they remained in this situation, and perhaps it may be best as the line is reduced and several Regiments are incorporated into one, that they should be Regimental. There is an instance in which it has been so. If the Board please, they may appoint Capt. Burrows to the Majority in Spencer's [Colonel Oliver Spencer]. After some delay, the promotion to major occurred. That summer, Burrowes led two companies of New Jersey Continentals into northwest Pennsylvania as part of General John Sullivan’s campaign against the Iroquois . Burrowes returned with his men to the Continental camp at Morristown in late 1779 and spent a miserable winter there. He likely proposed returning to the Raritan Bay region, where he had been valuable in the past. On April 22, 1780, Washington sent Burrowes to New Brunswick: You will march the detachment under your command to Brunswick - the object of it is to guard a quantity of flour deposited there until it can be brought away -- when the wagons begin to move it, you will be pleased to give me notice & also when the whole is near taken away - as a additional motive for the enemy to make some attempt there. John Burrowes, Jr., Returns to Middletown Point A month later, Burrowes was sent back into Monmouth County for the last time as an Army officer. On May 24, General Maxwell, commanding New Jersey troops, wrote George Washington about sending Burrowes to purchase whaleboats and take cattle from residents living along the Monmouth shore: I had Major Burrows, an Officer and 25 Men ordered to set out for Monmouth County this Morning at 7 o’clock. The Major was to purchase two whale Boats that lay at Brunswick, If he could not pick up some along the shore, at Monmouth County where they ought not to be. Coll Dayton [Elias Dayton] informed me he had spoke to Your Excellency about the Boats at Brunswick. The reason of the partys going to Monmouth was the scarcity of meat with us; and I am creditably informed that there are always considerable quantitys [sic] of Cattle brought from the West Jersey, and lodged near the shore to be handy to send off to New York. I have directed the Major if he finds such cattle, that he will apply to the purchaser of the County, and if the people who has them in charge, or the owner, refuse to sell them, that he will have with him a Majestrate [sic] at the same time, and I make no doubt he will give him orders to take them. The plan was similar to a plan that had caused trouble for Major Henry “Light Horse Harry Lee” months earlier, but with the important addition of partnering with local magistrates . If successful, Burrowes would interrupt illegal trade between the Monmouth shore and Sandy Hook and assist the county’s commissary officers in finding meat for the Army. Maxwell noted that Burrowes would link up with Colonel Jean-Joseph Gimet at New Brunswick before proceeding into Monmouth County. The same day Washington wrote to "the Officer of General Maxwell's Brigade who is to accompany Colo. Jamet [Gimet] to Monmouth." Washington likely sent the letter before receiving Maxwell’s letter: You are to accompany Colonel Jemet to the county of Monmouth and to such parts of the coast as he may find occasion to visit. You are well apprized of the disaffection of many of the inhabitants in that quarter and of the necessity with which there will be of guarding against any attempts of their to take you off. It may perhaps add to your security if you can prevail upon some of the well affected gentlemen of the country to accompany you whenever you ride towards the shore. The letter suggests that Washington already knew of Maxwell’s plan to send Burrowes into Monmouth County to impound cattle (in collaboration with local magistrates). One of Burrowes’s men, Joseph Kelly wrote about being dispatched to Monmouth County in his veterans’ pension: Information was soon after received from Monmouth by General Washington that the British and Tories from New York City were carrying the people of Monmouth off as prisoners & putting them in the Provost and on board of the prison ships, and stealing their cattle. The Monmouth regulars were anxious to return home when the intelligence was received. General Washington sent us home to protect the coast of Monmouth. It is unknown exactly how long Burrowes stayed in Monmouth County, but there are hints that he stayed into the summer. This is provided in the muster rolls of his men. Monmouth County enlistees, Lewis Poole deserted on June 7 and Esek Van Dorn deserted on July 1; men were more likely to desert near home. Henry Johnston was wounded and Abel Thorp was sick and kept at Allentown in July. These notations in the muster rolls do not prove that Burrowes stayed in Monmouth County into July, but they establish a probability that Burrowes was in the county with a small party that long. It is also possible that Burrowes never returned to the Continental Army camp. According to an antiquarian source, he purchased a small privateer vessel, Rebecca , in spring 1780 and was captured. He was then appointed the marshal of the New Jersey Admiralty Court in November 1780—a position that likely was incompatible with serving in the Army at Morristown. He was listed as “deranged” and formally discharged from the Army on January 1, 1781. However, Burrowes was not deranged, at least not as the term is used today. On January 23, the New Jersey Government trusted him to communicate with the Continental Congress about the mutiny of the New Jersey Line. He helped recruit for the Continental Army later that year and was elected as the Monmouth County Sheriff in October 1781. He served in that role for four years. Related Historic Site : Burrowes Mansion Sources : John Burrowes to Lord Stirling, New York Historical Society, MSS John Burrowes; John Burrowes to Lord Stirling, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 55, February 3, 1779; John Burrowes to Lord Stirling, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:13:./temp/~ammem_tAu8 ; John Burrowes to Lord Stirling, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 57, April 5, 1779; John Burrowes to Lord Stirling, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 58, May 6, 1779; Muster Rolls, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, Coll. 166, p8, 14, 20, 31, 39, 149; George Washington to Board of War, Congress, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw150489)) ; George Washington to John Burrowes, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 65, April 22, 1780; George Washington from William Maxwell, 24 May 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-01846, ver. 2013-09-28); Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mgw/mgw3b/011/352349.jpg ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Kelley of PA, www.fold3.com/image/# 26180227; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 56. 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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 > David Forman's Informants In and From New York by Michael Adelberg In August 1781, George Washington’s Army marched to Yorktown to besiege the trapped British Army. David Forman’s intelligence kept him apprised of British moves during the march. - June 1777 - In spring 1777, combat lines hardened. The British controlled lower New York and small pieces of New Jersey, including Sandy Hook. The rest of New Jersey was under the Continental government (though much of the New Jersey coast and pinelands remained weakly governed). Both sides sought intelligence on the strength and movements of the other. The large number of Monmouth County Loyalist refugees and pervasive illegal trade with New York created human bonds between New York and Monmouth County that could be exploited for intelligence gathering. David Forman, Monmouth County’s de facto leader in 1777, placed himself at the center of this sensitive activity. David Forman’s First Spy in New York, Robert Ireland The first documented spy to go to New York from Monmouth County was Robert Ireland. On June 3, 1777, David Forman wrote General John Sullivan about Ireland: “He fell in to the enemy's hands last winter, at the time when the enemy penetrated this State -- they have since employed him as a shoer to the British horse." Forman called Ireland "friendly to our cause" and proposed sending him back to New York as a spy: [He] has gained the entire confidence of several soldiers and was so generally known as a horse shoer, he could pass unsuspected amongst the troops... I therefore proposed his returning on the plan of getting intelligence -- He agreed to it. -- The copy of his oath I enclose herewith, I had him conducted by an officer beyond the guards last night and is gone off by way of the Hook. Forman noted that Ireland’s family remained in Shrewsbury and could be used as human collateral to keep Ireland honest. "His wife and family being in my hands will be at all times a proper check on him." Sullivan’s response has not survived, but it appears that Ireland engaged in spying, was discovered, and was taken by the British. On March 28, 1778, Ezekiel Williams, a member of the Continental Congress, wrote Elias Boudinot, the Continental government’s Commissary of Prisoners, about Boudinot’s proposal to involve Ireland in a prisoner exchange. Williams wrote, "I have no objection to the release of Ireland, provided he is altogether a common prisoner of war." Ireland’s whereabouts later in the war are unknown, but he is absent from the county’s tax lists, so it can be assumed that he did not stay in Monmouth County. (Perhaps because he was no longer safe; many shore Whigs moved inland for safety.) Other Sources of Intelligence Between 1777 – 1782, David Forman was responsible for sending literally dozens of intelligence reports to George Washington on British movements at Sandy Hook. These reports were usually drafted by Forman or a subordinate, particularly Captain John Burrowes and John Stillwell. They camped on the Navesink Highlands and reported on what they saw. At times, these reports were quite valuable and Washington praised Forman and requested additional reports. At other times, Washington was able to rely on other Continental Officers stationed in the area, most notably Major Richard Howell in the summer of 1778. These reports are the subject of another article . Intelligence was gathered from Americans returning from New York and British deserters. For example, in July 1780, David Forman sent George Washington intelligence taken from Lieutenant Joseph Wolcott, who had been a prisoner in New York prior to a prisoner exchange. Wolcott watched British ships while being transported to Sandy Hook for his exchange: At the Narrows he fell in with five large transports—The vessell he was in run close by two of the Transports, he saw they ware full of troops—There uniform red ground turnd up white or pale Buff—Instead of Buttons on the Hips they ware Trim’d with Lace or fringe—that the Officers of the flagg informed him they ware Lord Rawdon’s or some such Core—That on Tuesday before he was exchanged he saw the said five ships go to sea and stand southward. A different type of returning American was Joseph Mount. He lived in Middletown and went off with a Loyalist raiding party in April 1779. After two weeks in New York, Mount came home and reported on what he saw to Captain John Burrowes: “he had the liberty of the town granted to him, convenient to his being a Friend of [British] Government - he says General Clinton with 7000 troops were on board of the fleet and going in a secret expedition.” However, Mount illegally brought a large quantity of fabrics, sewing wares, and sugar on his return. These were seized by Continental Army Colonel Benjamin Ford and suggest that Mount was a person of ambiguous loyalty. Forman and other Monmouth leaders interrogated a string of British deserters during the war. For example, in July 1780, he wrote his ally in the New Jersey Assembly, Nathaniel Scudder, about the intelligence provided by a deserter. Forman reported that the feared Colonel John Simcoe, with 300 men, was preparing to attack Amboy and “he will more than probably make his retreat through Sandy Hook.” Forman used the opportunity to press for supplies to the troops in Monmouth County, listing the specific detachments lacking ammunition. He then concluded, "This is our present situation - a frontier county, at all times exposed to incursion, now immediately threatened, with not a single dozen cartridges to be given out." The intelligence proved wrong—Simcoe did not attack in October 1780. On another occasion, British Navy deserters allowed Forman to compile a list of warships at New York and a picture of the defenses at Sandy Hook consisting of "fire ships" and several sunken ship hulks "loaded with stone for sinking in the channel." David Forman’s “Intelligencers” During the Yorktown Campaign During the Yorktown campaign (fall 1781), General Charles Cornwallis’s British Army was trapped on the York Peninsula in Virginia and Washington marched much of his army south to participate in the siege. The key question throughout the campaign was when and with what level of force the British fleet in New York would seek to rescue their trapped army. Intelligence reports from David Forman on British movements in New York were critical. Historian Burke Davis noted that David Forman's reports during the Yorktown campaign were the single most important source of intelligence on the British attempts to relieve Cornwallis at Yorktown. To meet the need, Forman created an informant network in New York. The first word of this network is in a July 23 letter from Forman to Washington (a month before Washington began his march). Forman had heard from an informant in New York and wrote that "I have lately obtained from New York a list of the British Line ships” which he forwarded. Forman also warned that he was having "the greatest difficulty in employing horsemen to forward intelligence.” This would lead to delays in the future. In September 1781, Forman wrote Washington that his "intelligencers who live in the power of the enemy must be dealt with very guardedly on acct of their personal safety and to gain their confidence - I therefore dare not send a messenger to them for fear of alarming them or cause suspicion in others." Later that month, Forman wrote Washington about the first mission undertaken by one of his spies: "This evening, under cover of night, one of my intelligencers called upon the enemy." In October, Forman received and forwarded intelligence on British movements in New York Harbor. The intelligence, Forman wrote, "comes through a person who has it in his power to know their intended operations." Forman also forwarded Loyalist newspapers from New York as a source of intelligence. The uneven pace of Forman’s intelligence frustrated Washington at times. In November, Washington wrote Marquis De Vaudriel, "I cannot account for not hearing from General Forman (upon the Monmouth Coast) respecting the sailing of the last division and fleet." Washington was apparently embarrassed that a British fleet sailed from Sandy Hook without a report from Forman (the report arrived a few days later). On December 12, Washington wrote Forman to politely ask him to be more prompt in sending intelligence reports. On receiving this rebuke, perhaps not coincidentally, Forman wrote Washington of a serious blow to his intelligence network: My intelligence from New York has of late been entirely broken up, occasioned by a fellow from this county joining the enemy & swearing against eight different persons - they went to New York by my permission. But this breakdown did not prevent Forman from declaring Staten Island "very defenseless" based on reports from one of his intelligencers. At this time, Forman also forward his accounts for 1780-1781 related to maintaining his intelligence network. He apologized for needing to send a bill for reimbursement but said that he was "drained to the last shilling.” Despite this, there is evidence that Forman maintained at least some “intelligencers” in New York late into 1782 when Washington again promised Forman funds to maintain his "chain of intelligence” in New York. Later Intrigues in New York In February 1782, Forman sought permission to send Ana Prevost to New York to collect a debt owed to her family by David Matthews, the Loyalist Mayor of New York. Matthews was hated by local Whigs because of his role in administering the miserable British prisons in which hundreds of Americans died. Forman sought permission from Washington, who referred him to Governor William Livingston. Livingston declined to grant permission and sent him back to Washington. On his second try to get a pass for Prevost, Forman discussed sending Prevost for spying purposes: “I should not have interested myself so considerably had I not the fullest assurance of being able to obtain the fullest account of the enemy's situation... also to establish a line of intelligence." On March 8, Governor Livingston finally approved Forman's plan. This is the subject of another article. A few months later, David Forman, with two former legislators, John Covenhoven and Thomas Henderson, proposed a plan to extract specie from New York by sending “a person of prominence” to New York to borrow from Loyalist creditors, receive specie, and never pay the loan because of the impending evacuation of New York. Forman and his colleagues acknowledged that the plan was “hazardous business” but argued it was necessary because of a lack of specie in the state. The plan to extract specie through unpaid loans was neither approved nor disapproved by the Governor, but was likely put into effect. It is probable that Forman, himself, was the “person of prominence.” In April 1783, Elias Boudinot wrote, "Mr. [David] Forman is in New York" without stating the reason that Forman was behind enemy lines. Perspective David Forman was not the only Revolutionary leader who sought to extract intelligence from New York. For example, in July 1780, Colonel Elias Dayton proposed a plan to learn of British defenses by embedding a boat with trusted men "to follow the fishing [boats] to Sandy Hook until he gets thorough knowledge of every obstruction in the Narrows and then return to Elizabethtown." Other New Jerseyans implemented other plans. But, in total, and despite his inconsistent record, no individual was as prolific as David Forman in providing intelligence about the enemy. Related Historic Site : Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Sources : Sullivan, John, Letters and Papers of Major John Sullivan, Otis G. Hammond, ed. , 2 vols. (Concord, NH: 1930-31) vol. 2, pp. 355-6; Elias Boudinot Letterbook, Wisconsin Historical Society, p95; John Burrowes to Lord Stirling, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 58, May 6, 1779; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mgw4&fileName=gwpage058.db&recNum=1102&tempFile=./temp/~ammem_YHA1&filecode=mgw&next_filecode=mgw&prev_filecode=mgw&itemnum=7&ndocs=100 ; George Washington from David Forman, 21 July 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-02593), ver. 2013-09-28; David Forman to Nathaniel Scudder and Thomas Henderson, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War Documents, #102; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 72, July 23, 1781; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 80, September 5, 1781; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 81, October 17-19, 1781; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:28:./temp/~ammem_8Jit ::; Burke Davis, The Campaign that Won America (New York: The Dial Press, 1970), pp. 30; George Washington to Marquis Vaudreil, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 24, pp. 382-3; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 87, September 1 and 3, 1782; David Forman, Thomas Henderson, and John Covenhoven to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 440-1; George Washington to David Forman, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 24, pp. 60, 320; George Washington to Anne-César, chevalier de La Luzerne, 6 November 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-09886, ver. 2013-09-28); Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 20, pp 201-2; Monmouth County Historical Association, Diaries Collection, box 2, John Stillwell's Diary (photocopy); George Washington to David Forman, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 23, pp. 424-5; Monmouth County Historical Association, Diaries Collection, box 2, John Stillwell's Diary (photocopy). 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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 Retaliators Outlast the War by Michael Adelberg The New Jersey Legislature met in different places during the Revolution, including Nassau Hall. In September 1782, the legislature censured Judge David Forman but did not remove him from office. - September 1782 - Founded in the summer of 1780, the Association for Retaliation , was established to exact eye-for-an-eye revenge against Loyalist enemies of the Monmouth County Whigs who joined the association. Over the next two years, the Retaliators would become an active vigilante society denounced by the New Jersey Legislature as: An illegal and dangerous combination, utterly subversive to the law, highly dangerous to the government, immediately tending to create disunion among the inhabitants, directly leading toward anarchy and confusion, and tending to the dissolution of the constitution. However, while the legislature clearly stated its distaste for the Retaliators, it stopped short of forcing a confrontation with the group by declaring it illegal. The Retaliators in 1782 The Retaliators entered 1782 unbowed. Their original chairman and most strident leader, David Forman, was now a judge of the Monmouth County Court of Common Pleas . He stepped down as Chairman of the Retaliators but, according to a subsequent deposition, Forman handpicked his successors at a February meeting of the Retaliators held at the county courthouse: Genl. Forman rose and address’d the people and said he had gone through a great many hardships and dangers, but now he would go through no more; and all that was said to the people was said by Forman whilst he was by, and received over a list of persons in nomination for Retaliators that Judge Forman recommended to the people to choose sd. Committee. The new Chairman, Kenneth Hankinson, had co-invested with Forman on a salt works at Barnegat that became the center of scandal. Hankinson was also at the center of scandalous Loyalist estate auctions in 1779. In January 1782, Hankinson advertised a public meeting of the Retaliators to occur at the county court house on February 16, 1782 to select a new committee to lead the group: Every associator is expected to attend without fail, as the Committee wishes to know the Associators; Should any of the inhabitants who are not yet associators choose to join, we wish their attendance to sign the Association, and have their names accepted. The outrage in Monmouth County following the April 12 hanging of Joshua Huddy by Loyalists likely spiked a wave of vigilante activity from the Retaliators. This led a series of complaints about them to the New Jersey Legislature. On May 25, the New Jersey Assembly recorded reading “several petitions from sd County setting forth the destruction and ravages committed on the property of persons there, by a set of men who call themselves Retaliators, with several papers respecting the same." The Assembly was unmoved, voting 23-8 on May 31 to send the anti-Retaliator petitioners to the courts for redress. There is no record of Retaliator activity through the spring and summer of 1782. Throughout their existence, they were secretive about their acts. But they remained active. The New Jersey Legislature Considers David Forman and the Retaliators Again On September 12, Guy Carleton, the British Commander in Chief in America, wrote George Washington about continued “cruelties in the Jersies.” This was likely a reference to the acts of Retaliators. Carleton wrote about a “suspension of hostilities” that he thought “sufficient to have prevented those cruelties in the Jersies which I have had occasion to mention more than once.” He had drydocked Loyalist raiders and he called on Washington for a “mutual agreement” to restrain extralegal violence. Carleton called for a truce: “I disapprove of all hostilities, both by land and sea, as they only tend to multiply the miseries of individuals, when the public can reap no advantage by success." The same month, the New Jersey Legislature received another set of petitions complaining of the Retaliators. The upper house of the legislature, the Legislative Council, recorded on September 23, receiving a petition from Monmouth County residents "setting forth that they have been very much injured by order of a body of men who style themselves Associators for Retaliation." It does not appear that the Council acted on the petition. Two days later, the Assembly recorded reading "sundry petitions from a number of inhabitants of the County of Monmouth, complaining of the conduct of David Forman, first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the County of Monmouth, accompanied by an affidavit and two impressment warrants , and praying a hearing." One of these anti-Forman, anti-Retaliator petitions has survived. It is excerpted below: Your petitioners are peaceable inhabitants of this state, who have always contributed their proportion to the support of government, and are, at all times amenable to the laws. that your petitioners have been in a wanton & cruel manner, spoiled of their property by order of a body of men, who title themselves "the association for retaliation" - our doors have been forced open, our houses rifled of our beds & other furniture - our stock drove away, and our teams totally broke up. - we have been deprived of the means of tilling our land - and many of us, who lived in a degree of affluence, now find it difficult to procure sustenance for our families. The petitioners claimed the Retaliators corrupted “good government” and deprived them of legal due process: We have no form of tryal - if any crimes are laid to our charge, we have no chance of defending ourselves, nor any account of how our property, thus torn away, is disposed of. Tho’ diverse of us have been imprisoned, and one [John Taylor] for months, confined in the common gaol, in the course of which time a court of Oyer & Terminer was sitting over his head. Writs of habeas corpus have been disregarded by the Sheriff. In short, every attempt for relief by course of law has been of no effect, owing, as we firmly believe, to the prevailing influence of said association. that the first judge of the court of common pleas, David Forman, esq., has been at the head of the said association. The petitions were referred to the next session. The Assembly reconvened and considered Forman and the Retaliators again on October 29. It re-read "the petitions from Monmouth, complaining of the conduct of David Forman, Esq., of said county, in his official character… ordered, that the petitioners be heard with their evidences before the House." The hearings were held November 18-20: That Forman, first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas has been at the head of the Association for Retaliation, Chairman of their committee, and has signed orders whereby some of the petitioners have been plundered of their property and their person imprisoned; that he still continues as an aider and encourager of the said Associators; and also that he has in several instances granted impress warrants contrary to law. The transcript of Forman’s hearing before the Assembly has survived. Eighteen Monmouth Countians testified. Deponents focused on two allegations against Forman: 1.) That he was “partial” in his role of settling the accounts of a wealthy farmer, Joshua Anderson, whose horse Forman ordered taken; 2.) That Forman, while judge, acted with the Retaliators to extra-legally seize and sell the horses of disaffected county residents, with particular impunity shown toward William Taylor. Four other men who lost horses testified. Hugh Newell recalled appealing to Forman who told him that if he “would come and pay the money he gave for the mare, he should have it.” Taylor lost three horses, he testified that: He applied to said Forman for the creatures & said he would give security for the money, but said Forman said the creatures should not go out of the yard without the creatures being paid for. He [Taylor] said all he wanted was a fair hearing. William Morton testified that Forman accused him of being among “a parcel of traders and wished they were hanging so high that the birds could not smell them.” Morton was permitted to take back his livestock by “giving a bond of fifty five pounds for them” but Forman “blamed the Committee” for its leniency. A fourth man, Garrett Schenck, from a solid Whig family, testified that “Forman ordered a horse pressed” from him, but the horse was returned. Others testified that Forman was active in selling the seized horses at a public auction in Freehold. However, several witnesses testified that Forman was a strong patriot and William Taylor, in particular, was of “bad character.” James Mott, who had been assaulted by Forman at the 1780 county election and was an opponent of the Retaliators, declined to testify against Forman. Mott stated that “he knows nothing against Judge Forman” and called Taylor “a disaffected person ” (which was true). Other witnesses stated that Forman, whatever his outside conduct, had never “withheld justice” or “done injustice” while serving on the bench. The unnamed compiler of the hearing transcript concluded that “I have heard no evidence to convince me that things are sufficient to ground an impeachment.” On November 21, the Assembly concluded: "having taken into consideration the testimony so offered to support the several charges contained in the affidavits and petitions of Joshua Anderson against David Forman" votes were taken regarding Forman and his conduct: 1. Affirming Anderson's petition and the charges against Forman – vote passed "nem. con." (without dissent); 2. On whether to censure Forman for "diverse orders whereby sundry persons have been plundered of their property, and their persons imprisoned, and he still continues an aider and encourager of said Retaliators" -- vote passed 16-13 despite all three Monmouth delegates (Thomas Henderson, Thomas Seabrook, John Covenhoven voting against the censure); 3. On whether to impeach Forman and remove him from the Bench – vote fails 12-17 (all three Monmouth delegates voting against the impeachment). One source claims that an initial vote to impeach and remove Forman passed by a 18-15 but this vote was reversed after Governor William Livingston and some members of the Council came into the Assembly to argue in favor of Forman. At the end of 1782, David Forman had narrowly survived an impeachment hearing and the Retaliators, with whom he was allied, remained intact. The Retaliators’ chairman, Kenneth Hankinson, felt secure enough to advertise the selection of their new board of directors in the New Jersey Gazette , the state’s official newspaper, twice in March 1783: Whereas the time of the Committee of Associators for Retaliation of the County of Monmouth expires, and it being necessary for a new Board to be chosen as there remains some business unsettled: The Associators are requested to meet at the Court House on March 15 to determine on said business and to be prepared for future depredations. Warfare Ends, But the Retaliators Continue By summer 1783, warfare in Monmouth County was finally over. John Bacon, the last active Pine Robber leader, was dead and the other Pine Robbers were scattered. Loyalist refugees, who raided the county with impunity, were disarmed and leaving for Canada . In July 1783, Monmouth County was at peace for the first time in seven years. Forman and the Retaliators, however, remained hostile. On July 11, 1783, Lieutenant John White of the sloop-of-war Vixen , the British guardship at Sandy Hook, took the unusual step of writing directly to David Forman: Yesterday morning, at eleven o'clock, I sent three men in a small boat for a cask of water, near the watering place, near Mr. Stout's at the Highlands; on their arrival they were made prisoners by a party of armed men, one of the men has been liberated and is since on board, who informs me that he has been beat most unmercifully, indeed his bruises are sufficiently conspicuous; what has become of the other two I cannot learn, I have therefore taken the liberty of acquainting you with the matter. White then flattered and threatened Forman concurrently: I am confident you would never give sanction to such an affair, and in the fullest hope that you will take the proper methods to bring the offenders to punishment, and to prevent the retaliating that might be the consequence of such unwarrantable proceedings. Meanwhile, animosities within the county’s Whig leadership continued. Asher Holmes, a political rival of Forman and Hankinson, had invested with them in a salt works on the Jersey shore early in the war. Now, he and Hankinson argued over a business relationship gone bad. Holmes heatedly wrote: I have never had title or anything to show for my share of the salt works built on the plantation formerly of [Trevor] Newland, nor could obtain salt sufficient to salt my porage, except what I paid a dear rate for, and you and company have had the total use of said works. I now demand interest of my money, or rent for a share, with a proper acct of how my money was laid out; if not, pay me my money with interest due thereon, as I have undoubted right. We do not know exactly when the extralegal violence and scandals of the Retaliators finally ceased. As discussed in another article, isolated instances of violence against Loyalists and disaffected continued into the post-war period. So did the animosities between Machiavellian and Due Process Whigs. These activities would go on at least into fall 1785 when violence and voter intimidation again rocked the county’s annual election (as it had in 1777 , 1780 , and 1781 ). Related Historic Site : Nassau Hall Sources : Guy Carleton to George Washington, G. Robinson, The New Annual Register, or General Repository of History, Politics and Literature, London, 1782, p160-1; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1782) p29; Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 25, 1782; The petition complaining about David Forman is in Leonard Lundin, Cockpit of the Revolution the War for Independence in New Jersey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950) p 292; Petition, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War documents, #32; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, October 29, 1782, p 13; Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 19 and 21, 1782; New Jersey Assembly Hearing Transcript, Rutgers University Special Collections, Uncataloged Manuscript, David Forman; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; New Jersey Gazette, March 12, 1783; New Jersey Gazette, April 16, 1783; John White to David Forman, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #8405; Asher Holmes to Kenneth Hankinson, John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, 4 vols, Genealogical Publishing Co, 1970, v3, p341. 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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 > John Bacon Slaughters Gloucester Militia at Barnegat by Michael Adelberg Pine Robber, John Bacon led a party that surprised a 25-man militia party guarding a beached vessel on Long Beach. Bacon killed or wounded 21 militia and carried away a vessel and the militia’s boat. - October 1782 - A year after the surrender at Yorktown (October 1781), the British had retreated into a defensive crouch in New York City, drydocked Loyalist raiders , and started relocating Loyalists to Canada . They were actively negotiating a peace treaty in Paris premised on American Independence. Despite all of this, the Revolutionary War on the Jersey shore was not over. Small bands of Pine Robbers —domestic Loyalist partisans—had operated along the shore since 1778. By 1782, they had consolidated around Clamtown (present-day Tuckerton) at the southern tip of Monmouth County (Stafford Township) in two large gangs led by William Davenport and John Bacon. While Davenport generally avoided battle, Bacon was unafraid of confrontation, as when he routed the Stafford militia at Manahawkin in late 1781. When Davenport was killed by militia in June, John Bacon led the last significant Loyalist force operating in New Jersey. The Long Beach Massacre Bacon’s most infamous attack was the so-called Long Beach Massacre, a night attack against Gloucester County militia camped south of Barnegat in which 21 militiamen were killed or wounded. On November 2, the New York Royal Gazette reported that on October 25, 1782: A cutter bound for St. Thomas ran aground on Barnegat shoals. The American galley Alligator, Capt. [Andrew] Steelman, and twenty five men plundered her… but was attacked the same night by Captain John Bacon, with nine men, in a small boat called Hero's Revenge, who killed Steelman and all the party except four or five. A prior article reveals that the British vessel was originally an American merchant ship, captured by the British ship, Virginia , with “a very singular” cargo of tea worth £20,000. This meant the ship likely had only a small prize crew on board when it reached the Jersey shore—making it more vulnerable to American privateers . The Pennsylvania Packet would also report on the captured ship and Bacon’s attack: The cutter from Ostend bound to St. Thomas, mentioned in our last, ran aground on Barnegat shoals the 25th ultimo. The galley Alligator, captain Steelman, from Cape May, with 25 men, plundered her on Sunday last of a quantity of Hyson Tea and other valuable articles; but was attacked the same night by captain John Bacon and nine men in a small boat called Hero's Revenge, who killed Steelman, wounded the first Lieutenant and all the privates (four excepted) were either killed or wounded: the latter were sent to doctor with a flag of truce, by the captors, and the galley was brought in here on Wednesday last. John Dennis of the Gloucester County militia served under Steelman and was at Bacon’s attack. He later recalled Bacon’s attack in detail in his veteran's pension application. A British vessel ran aground on Long Beach while trying to avoid the New Jersey privateer, Rainbow , co-owned by Andrew Steelman of Great Egg Harbor. Dennis recalled that the Rainbow "had fallen in with a British letter of marque [privateer], loaded with dry goods, bound for New York – The letter of marque was armed, and on Long Beach and run aground there.” Dennis recalled his militia company going to secure the vessel: Twenty five men, deponent was one of them, volunteered their services, and entered on board a whale boat [Alligator] at Great Egg Harbor, under the command of a sea Captain named David Scull and Lieutenant Andrew Steelman. They had to go about sixty miles to the beach where the letter of marque was run a-shore. Dennis next recalled landing on Long Beach and securing the vessel, but being unable to move the vessel or its cargo due to bad weather: Arrived on Long Beach and went to work to save the property. The weather and surf was bad. The letter of marque lay about three miles from the main land but in the surf on the beach. They were there between two and three weeks, the weather being so bad that part of the time they could not work. They had got the goods out of the vessel on the beach, in a tent two or three hundred yards long. On October 25, Dennis recalled they were finally ready to move, “the goods ready and were waiting only for scows to take them off.” The militia may have been lax because “they looked out and saw no enemy near.” Dennis then discussed the surprise nighttime attack by Bacon and his men. He was incorrect in stating that British regulars were in the attack: The Captain (Scull) placed a guard all around the encampment. The night was pretty dark and the Americans had a considerable fire around which the men and officers laid. Captain Scull and Lieutenant Steelman laid together. The enemy (British from New York and tories) came about seven o’clock at night after the party and fired, wounded Captain Scull in his thigh and killed Lieutenant Steelman. Nearly all the American party were taken. Dennis escaped: “The guard of which deponent was one and a few others, got clear. Deponent ran along the beach, wading in some places, for about nine miles, then went on the mainland and went home.” Dennis discussed the fate of his colleagues, “The prisoners were soon exchanged. Captain Scull died some years afterwards of his wound, which never got well.” In 1783, James Somers, the other co-owner of the Rainbow , narrated Bacon’s attack while testifying against the double-dealing privateer , Nathan Jackson. Somers recalled "that a vessel appearing in a fight off Egg Harbor, the Rainbow went after her.” He stated that, “The Rainbow had driven the vessel on shore - that she was a cutter & the Rainbow 's people were saving her cargo & they employed a number of inhabitants to help save the goods.” Somers claimed that local “hired hands from the shore had gone & informed Captain Bacon, a refugee, & joined with his party.” Somers recalled Bacon’s attack. The Loyalists “shot Captain Steelman & some of his crew dead and wounded. David Scull while lying at a fire some distance from the Rainbow ; and they went & took the Rainbow & the rest of her crew." There are several antiquarian accounts of the Long Beach Massacre, some of which are incorrect on verifiable facts. For example, one account states that the militia were from Cape May County rather than Gloucester County. Other accounts exaggerate key parts of the action. For example, one account claims that Bacon’s party “poured shot” into the sleeping militia. But the single-shot muskets of the era and small size of Bacon’s party makes it improbable that gunfire killed and wounded most of the 21 militiamen. Most of the militia were likely killed by bayonet (as was the case in the Osborn Island Massacre in 1778) or were hunted down while fleeing (like Philip White in March 1782). Historian David Fowler, working from antiquarian and primary sources, discerned important information from antiquarian accounts not offered in the primary accounts above: A disaffected local, Wiliam Wilson of Waretown, was cited for tipping off Bacon to the location the wounded ship and militia guard; Bacon rowed the wounded to shore under a white flag; Afterward, Bacon took the Loyalist vessel and the militia boat, Alligator , to New York. Fowler notes that after the massacre, a party of Gloucester militia, in retaliation, stormed the house of Bacon's father-in-law which “was full of London traders .” But Bacon was not there, and the interrogated men offer no usable information. Bacon Takes Another Prize in December In early December, Bacon took another prize near Barnegat. The New York Gazette reported on December 7 that, “Last Monday, in a galley from this place, Capt. Davenport [not the Pine Robber], captured a brig in Little Egg Harbor.” But Captain Davenport’s galley “grounded coming down the channel” and therefore “was obliged to abandon this prize.” Davenport’s problems worsened when, “He was attacked soon after in the Inlet by a 16 gun schooner which he was obliged to fight in order to get out.” Davenport was killed and his Lieutenant “concealed himself” rather than fight. The Loyalist galley was taken and “the prisoners were put ashore on 8 Mile Beach, between Egg Harbor and Barnegat, where they remained in starving condition for three days.” Bacon rescued the Loyalist crew and galley. They “were taken off by Capt. John Bacon of the Black Jack whaleboat, from this port, and sent here in a prize of Capt. Bacon's." Bacon remained an active partisan until his death in 1783. Related Historic Site : Barnegat Lighthouse Sources : Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 207; Pennsylvania Packet, November 7, 1782; David Fowler, egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 259-60; Edwin Salter and George C. Beekman, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Monmouth Democrat, Freehold, 1887) pp. 46-47; Munn, David, “The Revolutionary War Casualties,” The Jersey Genealogical Record, vol. 55, (September 1982): p 131; Veteran Pension Application, National Archives, John Dennis, W.8196, State of Ohio, Clermont County; Alfred M. Heston, Editor, South Jersey - A History, 1664 - 1924, Volume I (New York and Chicago: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1924) p 240; Library of Congress, Revolutionary War Prize Cases, M162, reel 1, cases 91-2, David Forman v. Nathan Jackson; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, November 2, 1782, reel 2906. Previous Next

Taylor Butler House Interactive Experience Take the full audio tour, or focus on your areas of interest! Explore our digital gallery for more insight into what life was like at Taylor Butler House. Enjoy your visit! FULL TOUR Station One Mary's New Home Station Two History of the Structure Station Three Lives of the Enslaved Station Four The Last Descendant Saves Marlpit Digital Gallery Explore Our Collections Continue your tour with nearby historic sites Marlpit Hall This house was filled with many generations of Taylors descended from Edward Taylor the 1st. His grandson, also Edward, was a loyalist during the American Revolution. Both the structure and the site are rich in historical significance. It is one of the oldest surviving structures in New Jersey. Old First Church The congregation began in 1688 as the Middletown Baptist Church. This structure was built in 1832, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.