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 William Marriner by Michael Adelberg William Marriner led two boats with 28 New Jersians to the Brooklyn shore to pick-off vessels trading with New York. Bad weather forced Marriner’s party to land; they were taken by local militia. - August 1780 - In early June 1778, two whaleboats left Middletown Point (present-day Matawan). They rowed through the night, and landed in Brooklyn. The small party, led by William Marriner (along with Captain John Scheck of Middletown) captured two prominent Loyalists and returned with them without any losses. It was one of the more remarkable raids of the war. Operating out of Middletown Point, Amboy, and New Brunswick, Marriner raided Brooklyn again and intermittently attacked and took larger vessels over the next two years. But his string of successes ended in August 1780. On August 3, Marriner headed toward Brooklyn again with a small party (28 men) in two whaleboats. In bad weather, one the boats overturned and the party had to go ashore at Hog Island (near present-day Breezy Point). The Loyalist New York Gazette reported the results: Captain Hicks, of the militia of that place, mustered his company and with a few volunteers in two boats went in quest of them, but the stormy weather prevented their attacking them this evening. About four o'clock the next morning, a smart action ensued, and the whole party of Rebels were taken prisoner. The report claimed that Marriner had been cruising the Brooklyn-Queens shore for fourteen days and “had met with no success." That seems unlikely as Marriner’s party would not have carried enough provisions to be at sea for that long. The report also stated that "there were none killed or wounded on either side; several grape shot went through Captain Hick's jacket." Finally, the report discussed the captured rebels: One of them [boats] was commanded by William Marriner, formerly of this city, but of late a great rebel partisan, prisoners amount to twenty-eight, among them a rebel commissary named Mr. [Alexander] Dickey, who ever had proven a violent persecutor of Royal officers and Loyalists who had fallen in his power. Two men in Marriner’s party discussed their capture in their postwar pension applications. Joseph Vanderveer of Middletown recorded: He volunteered with about twenty other persons on board a boat under Captain Marriner and another boat under Dickey, upon an expedition where they proceeded as far as Rockaway Bay; our boats, together with a sloop we had captured, ran aground, while lying in this situation we were taken prisoner by a part of the British Army and marched across Long Island to a place called White Stone, where we then put on board boats, taken to New York, and imprisoned in the North Church & kept there in close confinement until the latter part of December in the year 1780, when he was again exchanged. Josiah Woodruff of Essex County was also in Marriner’s party. He later recalled that "in the year 1780, I volunteered with said William Clark [also from Essex County] in a company under the command of Captain Marriner who, as we understood, had a commission for cruising as a privateer on the water against the common enemy." The party left Amboy on August 3 "on board two boats" with 10 oars each and 28 men "well armed with muskets and other weapons." They rowed past Sandy Hook to the southern shore of Long Island where, at Hog Island, they captured a small sloop “loaded with pork and sugar.” Woodruff described the mission going bad. The boats were unable to row back to New Jersey "due to boisterous winds." One of the boats overturned and the men had to swim to shore. Then, "very early in the morning, the British collected in a large boat, well armed, and we were all made prisoners." Marriner’s men were jailed five months before they were exchanged. Woodruff noted that the mission was to "intercept London Traders " and that the men “had perfect confidence in his [Marriner’s] skill & his patriotism as a Whig engaged in annoying the London Trader & carrying on unlawful traffic with the enemy." This was Marriner’s last privateer action. While the men in Marriner’s party were exchanged in December 1780, Marriner was not released until October 1781. Upon release, Marriner returned to a hero’s welcome in New Brunswick. But he quickly faded from public view. Marriner was likely an alias, and he may have reverted to his original name. An antiquarian source claims Marriner managed a tavern at New Brunswick after his release. Alexander Dickey, the co-leader of Marriner’s party, would remain an active whaleboat privateer through the end of the war. And New Brunswick became the primary port for the Raritan Bay privateers . If Marriner was managing a tavern it is easy to imagine him advising would-be privateers over strong drinks. New Brunswick’s most famous privateer captain, Adam Hyler, would soon emerge. Related Historic Site : The Wyckoff House Museum (Brooklyn, New York) Sources : National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Tunis Vanderveer; J.A. McManemin, Captains of Privateers. (Spring Lake, N.J.: Ho-Ho-Kus Pub. Co., 1994), pp. 341-4; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of William Clark of NJ, National Archives, p26; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, August 1780, reel 2906. 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 Battle of Conkaskunk by Michael Adelberg This Loyalist map details the Middletown shoreline without identifying Conkaskunk. Yet several militiamen name the point as the site of a battle with Loyalist raiders in their postwar narratives. - May 1780 - In general, the larger Loyalist raids into Monmouth County were well documented in newspapers. These include the raids against Manasquan/Shark River and Middletown Point in 1778, and Shoal Harbor/Tinton Falls and Shrewsbury/Tinton Falls in 1779, each of which were documented in one or more newspapers. These raids were printed in newspapers because the raiders were not turned away and, as a result, carried off captives or considerable plunder. This fired local witnesses to document the raid and send their accounts to newspaper publishers. By 1780, however, the Monmouth militia, particularly along the Raritan Bayshore, was more formidable than prior years, and state troops provided a core of full-time soldiers camped on the military frontier. In June 1780, a large Loyalist party came off Sandy Hook and landed at Conkaskunk (present-day Union Beach) on the Raritan Bayshore. While they initially gathered up a considerable number of livestock, they soon met stiff resistance. Three militiamen and one state troop who participated in the “Battle of Conkaskunk” recalled the engagement in their post-war pension applications. Adam Stricker was serving in the state troops under Captain Moses Shepherd in 1780. He recalled being in an engagement near Sandy Hook “in which he and his company took 48 prisoners, 14 horses and a large quantity of household provisions which the enemy had plundered.” (The number of prisoners is likely exaggerated.) Stricker’s company “lost but one man, named Thomson, who was shot through the brains while standing close to the deponent.” He further described: In a skirmish at Conkaskunk with a party of British & Tories who came over for the purpose of carrying off cattle & horses, at which time he received a musket ball in the shoulder, by which he was stunned & thus mowed down - that Daniel Walling was near him at the time & assisted him to rise, the British party had got four wagons of household goods & had collected five hundred head of cattle [likely exaggerated], the whole of which we recovered from them, with the exception of a calf they killed. A comrade, Joseph Dorsey, claimed to have seen ten Loyalists "lying in a heap on board their vessel." Solomon Ketchum (arrested a year earlier for illegally trading with Loyalists) served with the Middletown militia that day. He wrote that: He was at a skirmish at Conkaskunk in Middletown with the refugees from New York, thinks under Captain Shepherd [Moses Shepherd] when one Strickland [Adam Stricker] was wounded and one Walling was wounded with a ball in the throat, which injured him but slightly, the ball being spread in its force. Daniel Hendrickson of Middletown (not the militia colonel of the same name) was also with the militia that day. He wrote that he was "in a battle at Conkaskunk in which a considerable body of British & refugees who had been out stealing cattle & were defeated and drove off, and the cattle with which they had taken were rescued." David Hall, living in Middletown Township at the time, wrote the most revealing recollection of the “Battle of Conkaskunk” which, he noted, “perhaps may be regarded as a skirmish.” He further wrote: The enemy were estimated to be 1,500 in force. They landed at Conkaskunk Point... they marched up to a place called Hedges' farm where they were met by our troops, the company of Captain Walling being the first to attack them. The enemy had a company of Negroes with them commanded by a black fellow whom they called Colonel Tye. The fight with the enemy was severe and they long and obstinately contested the field. The blacks in particular were very fierce and determined, many were killed on both sides. The sergeant of his, Captain Walling's company, Vanderhoff, was shot thru the body but survived. The enemy had to pass a long causeway with thick woods on either side. In those woods, our militia was posted and they cut the enemy down by scores and finally succeeded in driving them off. The enemy came from their shipping and from Staten Island on a plundering party but they failed in their purpose. The militia rallied from all parts of the adjacent country and did their duty like veterans. Hall exaggerated the size of the Loyalist party, but other details from his account are likely accurate and revealing. By writing that the party came from Staten Island, Hall was indicating that the raiding party included New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalist regulars), who were based on that island. Hall also noted that militia and state troops were able to hold off the larger enemy party because of their placement in the woods with the enemy vulnerable on a “long causeway.” This presumably negated the enemy’s superior number of men. Most interesting is Hall’s discussion of Colonel Tye and his irregulars who would soon earn the nickname, “the Black Brigade .” Hall described the African Americans as a “company” (a unit of roughly 50 men) who were “very fierce and determined” during the fight. Prior articles have mentioned small numbers of African Americans participating in Loyalist raids, but the Battle of Conkaskunk is the earliest mention of either Tye or a large number of African American Loyalists acting as a unit. After the Battle of Conkaskunk, Tye and his men continued raiding on their own, while the increasingly dispirited New Jersey Volunteers, generally, stayed in camp on Staten Island and Sandy Hook. There is only one Loyalist reference to the Battle of Conkaskunk. Predictably, it casts the battle in a very different light. On May 16, the prominent Loyalist, William Smith, recorded that "the rebels yesterday, noon, [were] near the Light House, 500 strong, but went off [when] the armed vessels prepared to fire on them." From New York, Smith learned about the Battle of Conkaskunk as a defensive action that turned away an attack on the increasingly permeable British defenses at Sandy Hook. At the Battle of Conkaskunk, the enemy was turned away without captures and the raider’s plunder was recovered. So, the engagement was never reported in newspapers. Pension accounts are prone to exaggerations and they are often murky on dates and commanding officers—that is the case here. But because five participants (in four pension applications submitted in two states) recorded aspects of the Battle of Conkaskunk, there should be little doubt that the event occurred even if the details in particular accounts are open to debate. Thoughtful compilations of the battles and skirmishes of the Revolutionary War, including those of David Munn and Howard Peckham, do not include the Battle of Conkaskunk. But those compilations are newspaper-centric and many local events went unreported in newspapers. Perhaps the most important lesson learned from the Battle of Conkaskunk is that many local events are knowable only when reviewing the widest variety of surviving sources. Other Revolutionary War events in Monmouth County certainly occurred that are lost to history. Related Historical Site: Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources: National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Solomon Ketchum of NY, www.fold3.com/image/#25013139; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Daniel Hendrickson of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23340856; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Adam Stricker; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, David Hall of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#21865954; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) p 265; Howard H. Peckham, ed, The Toll of Independence: Engagements and Battle Casualties of the American Revolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974); Munn, David, “The Revolutionary War Casualties,” The Jersey Genealogical Record, vol. 55, (September 1982). 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 Case of Caesar Tite and Other Litigation over Freedmen by Michael Adelberg In 1786, the New Jersey Legislature passed an act freeing Prime (formerly a slave of Middletown’s disaffected squire, John Taylor) who had run off to join the Continental Army. - May 1782 - The Revolutionary War and establishment of a new government led to many novel circumstances that the new nation’s immature laws and legal institutions had to learn to adjudicate. A number of the thorniest individual circumstances involved slaves and former slaves. Prior articles provide glimpses of the complex circumstances surrounding the abolitionism of Shrewsbury’s Quakers and Black men who became Loyalists to win their freedom. But few of these circumstances were well enough documented to serve as the basis for an article in this compendium. The case of Caeser Tite, however, is well documented. The Case of Caesar Tite Caesar Tite was a slave to the Tite family of Freehold Township. Grace Tite, his owner under New Jersey law, composed a will that promised freedom to Caesar upon his turning 21. Before turning 21, Grace Tite died and Caesar came under the supervision of Thomas Leonard, the former county sheriff. When the Revolution began, Leonard and his wife , Mary Leonard, became Loyalists—Thomas Leonard would soon be commissioned a major in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers . Caesar Tite was seized with Leonard’s other assets and sold at public auction in 1779. The purchaser on Leonard’s estate, Colonel David Forman, then sold Tite to his friend Kenneth Hankinson, who sold him to Lewis McKnight. McKnight was a yeoman farmer. He served as a Lieutenant in the militia and served on local juries. He is not listed as owning slaves in the 1779 tax lists. The purchase of an able bodied young adult slave was likely among McKnight’s most significant purchases. McKnight owned Tite on his 21st birthday. He refused to free him, claiming to know nothing of Tite’s promise of freedom. The case of The State v. Lewis McKnight was filed before the New Jersey Supreme Court on May 22, 1782—Caesar Tite was 23 at the time. On September 1, the New Jersey Supreme Court was ready to hear the case. It summoned McKnight to respond to charges that he was illegally detaining Tite, "a free Negro in your custody." McKnight submitted the following statement in his defense: Agreeable to the command of the written order, I have herein written to the court on the writ mentioned, Caesar Tite, and do say that this sd. Negro is my property, being bought of Kenneth Hankinson for valuable considerations, and he is not a free man, but I am willing and desirous to contest this property before a jury of this county, agreeable to the laws of the State and pray that he may not be taken from me without a trial by jury. It is interesting that McKnight wished for a jury trial in Monmouth County rather than a hearing before the Supreme Court’s justices. McKnight likely assumed that a local jury of his peers would be sympathetic to his plight as a man who purchased a slave without knowledge that the slave would be a free man imminently. The jury would also likely know of the long list of scandalous and unethical practices associated with Forman and Hankinson. A local jury might see McKnight as a victim. The case was argued in September. Tite produced documents proving the promise of freedom on his 21st birthday. The Supreme Court, presided over by Chief Justice David Brearley of Upper Freehold, unanimously ruled that “the said Manumission is good in Law against all Persons claiming” a property right to Caesar Tite. It ordered Tite to be “discharged and set at Liberty from the said Lewis McKnight.” McKnight received no compensation. Tite was now 24; he was not compensated for his three extra years in bondage. Other Cases Beyond the case of Caesar Tite, there were five other New Jersey Supreme Court cases involving slavery and Monmouth County in the years following the Revolutionary War. Several earned their freedom. Luke, July 1783 : A Negro man named Luke was taken "by the refugees" from his home in Maryland and carried to New York. Luke was “there put on board the King's gallies" which “he escaped from with a white man.” Luke was picked up by Adoniah Francis at Allentown who “brought the said Negro to Allentown in Monmouth County.” The case went before the New Jersey Supreme Court, presumably to determine if Luke would be returned to slavery in Maryland. The fate of Luke is unknown. Betty, April 1784 : Arthur Barkalow was charged with murdering the "negro wench" named Betty based on evidence gathered by James Cox, the coroner for Upper Freehold Township. The case was tried before the New Jersey Supreme Court. Key statements are below: Derrick Barkalow testified: “Betty was the wench of Arthur Barkalow… hearing a noise, [Derrick] went out and saw sd. Arthur beating said wench with a small whip, he asked the said Arthur what he whipt her for and he answered she would not go home when he bid her." Lewis Garrison testified to seeing Betty's dead body. He further testified that “he saw the arm bloody and appeared to be cut by a whip." John Warrick testified that he saw Arthur Barkalow "bid her to go home which she refused, whereupon he gave her some stripes and she went home"... Warrick went to Arthur Barkalow's house, where he "found him beating her... one blow with broomstick on her head as she was sitting on a chair... Some short time after, Derrick Barkalow came out of the house saying she was dead." The verdict is unknown. Prime, 1786 : In 1786, the New Jersey legislature received a petition from a former slave, Prime. Before the war, Prime was slave to Dr. Absalom Bainbridge of Trenton, a Loyalist whose wife moved to Middletown in early 1777. In December 1776, Bainbridge fled to Staten Island and Prime was sold by Mrs. Bainbridge to her father, John Taylor of Middletown (a Loyalist elder who stayed in Middletown). Taylor later asserted that the purchase was conducted "under a license from General [Israel] Putnam," but Prime escaped and joined the Continental Army. After the war, Prime resettled in Trenton as a laborer. In June 1784, Taylor hired John Van Horn to take Prime and return him to Middletown as a slave. Prime's case attracted the attention of Moore Furman, a prominent Quaker, who unsuccessfully tried to win his freedom through the courts. In 1786, the New Jersey Legislature heard Prime’s petition and freed him based on his Continental Army service. Jack, May 1790 : In May 1790, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in the case of State vs. Tobias Hendrickson, "on habeus corpus of the Negro, Jack, on claiming his freedom." The verdict read: The court, having considered this case under all of its circumstances, and it appearing that John Coward, the former master, under whom Tobias Hendrickson makes claim to the negro, antecedent to the year 1785 actually entered into an agreement with Jack for his freedom, the terms of which have been fully complied with; The court is therefore of the opinion and do order that the said Jack is to be liberated from the custody of the said Tobias Hendrickson. While the exact circumstances that led Jack’s freedom are not revealed, the Supreme Court instructed Hendrickson that he could make a claim against Coward, who defied a summons to appear in court. This suggests that Hendrickson may have been deceived regarding Jack’s status when he purchased Jack from Coward. Cornelius Wilson and Hagar Wilson, September 1791 : In 1791, the New Jersey Supreme Court heard the case of The State vs. Abraham Probasco. The State of New Jersey, on behalf of the children of Cornelius Wilson and Hagar Wilson, sued Abraham Probasco for the children's freedom. In 1776, General William Winds of Morris County freed the slave family of Cornelius and Hagar Wilson, with their children. However, in 1779, with their parents sick, the children went to work for Abraham Probasco on a five-year indenture, with Winds posting a £5-per-child bond to complete their indenture. Winds and Probasco argued over conditions of the indenture and Probasco kept the children after the indenture expired. The court determined that because the children completed their indenture, the dispute between Probasco and Winds was irrelevant to the status of the children. The Court freed the children (but only after they spent twelve years under Probasco, rather than the required five). Perspective Led by a Quaker community committed to ending slavery, many Monmouth Countians, including some non-Quakers, freed slaves during and immediately after the war. New Jersey banned the importation of slaves in 1786. Nonetheless, New Jersey was the last northern state to abolish slavery (slavery was gradually abolished per an 1804 law), and Monmouth County was among the counties with the most slaves. This meant that Monmouth County had a few hundred slaves even a decade after the Revolutionary War ended. The New Jersey Supreme Court, under Upper Freehold’s David Brearley, was generally sympathetic to slaves seeking freedom and freed Monmouth County slaves when they had credible legal arguments for emancipation. However, the gross injustice of slavery was not easily wiped away—even after a slave earned her or his freedom. Black families were nearly always poor and dozens of Black Monmouth County families split during the Revolutionary War between those who stayed home and those who turned Loyalist on British promises of freedom. Dozens of Monmouth County African Americans resettled in Canada after the war. Only scattered documentation exists about the Black communities of Monmouth County during the Revolutionary period—and the under-representation of the unique difficulties experienced by those communities is among the most substantial shortcomings in the surviving historical record. Related Historic Site : National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, DC) Sources : T.H. Pyle, David Brearley: America’s Most Important Forgotten Founding Father, unpublished manuscript in the possession of the Allentown Historical Society); University of Virginia, Rare Books: New Jersey Society Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, pp. 59-76, 257; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 20, 1779, p 167; Supreme Court summons, New Jersey State Archives, NJ Supreme Court Collection, Case # 28002; Pennsylvania Gazette, August 21, 1782; University of Virginia, Rare Books: New Jersey Society Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, pp. 59-76, 257; Independent Gazetteer, August 9, 1783; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #34201; Fishman, George: Taking a Stand for Freedom in Revolutionary New Jersey: Prime's Petition of 1786 (Science & Society; Vol. 56, No. 3, Fall, 1992); Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court of New Jersey Relative to the Manumission of Negroes (Burlington: New Jersey Society for the Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, 1794), 24. . 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 Trial of Joseph Leonard by Michael Adelberg Robert Morris was the first Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. The court’s purview included trying New Jersians, such as Monmouth County’s Joseph Leonard, for political crimes. - April 1777 - As discussed in prior articles, one of the primary reasons that Monmouth County’s government remained non-functioning long into 1777 was the theft of the county’s records. The Monmouth County Clerk, Kenneth Anderson, was denied access to the county’s records by Joseph Leonard, the county clerk under the pre-Revolutionary government. Then the records disappeared under mysterious circumstances during the Loyalist insurrections of December 1776. They were apparently never recovered. Given this, it is no surprise that Joseph Leonard was one of the first people summoned by the newly-chartered New Jersey Council of Safety . On April 10, 1777, Leonard responded to the Council’s summons “setting forth that I am suspected of being dangerous to the present Government.” Leonard declined the summons: I am extremely sorry that I cannot attend so punctually as I am very unwell with a rash & fever at present - I enclose a certificate signed by the principal officers of the militia that my character stands in a very different light [than Council has heard] and hope this will convince your Excellency & Council that I am not the man they represented. Leonard also summarized a recent conversation between him and Kenneth Anderson: He [Anderson] thinks it was his err that I am summoned, by refusing to give an order to Mr. Wardell [Henry Waddell] for the papers belonging to the Clerk's office, but if Mr. Anderson remembers, he never read me his commission or any order for me to deliver them. The next time he applied to me for them, he likewise informed me they [the records] were removed, which surprised me. Leonard suggested that he had “no intention of secreting any part of the office.” He promised to support Anderson in locating missing records, and helping him in office. The New Jersey Council of Safety gathered additional information on Leonard’s conduct and, doubting Leonard’s account of events, referred him to the New Jersey Supreme Court . It appears that Joseph Leonard was the first Monmouth County man arraigned before New Jersey’s Supreme Court. In the case, State v Joseph Leonard of Middletown , Leonard was charged with "Joining the Army of the King of Britain." The trial dates are confusing in surviving documents, but it appears that the arraignment occurred in 1777, while the majority of the trial was conducted in 1778. The Supreme Court, presided over by Chief Justice Robert Morris of New Brunswick, heard several witnesses testify against Leonard including Lt. Col. Aucke Wikoff, Sheriff Nicholas Van Brunt, and Middletown Township (Tax) Collector James Wall. These men likely testified about Leonard’s role in the Loyalist insurrection. The Court also heard from Jonathan Stout (who would become a Loyalist and have his estate confiscated in 1779) and Joseph Murray (an ardent Revolutionary who would be murdered by Loyalists in 1780). Stout and Murray were men of modest standing and were likely fact witnesses who personally observed Leonard cooperating with the British during the Loyalist insurrection. Leonard had witnesses testify in his favor. Most notable among them were two militia officers, Thomas Seabrook and Joseph Stillwell, and Samuel Bray, a strong supporter of the Revolution. Other witnesses in his favor included Edmund Harris, who was arrested in early 1777 and convicted of political crimes, and George Harrison, a small farmer who appears to have weathered the war as a neutral. Again, the exact contents of the witness testimony is unknown, but it is probable that Seabrook and Stillwell testified to Leonard’s good character and perhaps his recent good conduct. Harris and Harrison might have been witnesses to specific actions taken by Leonard (presumably in support of the new government). However, what is most interesting about the list of men who testified in State v. Leonard is the men who did not testify. Kenneth Anderson, the county clerk who attempted to recover the county records from Leonard, and Henry Waddel, the militia officer accused of helping conceal the records, did not appear at the trial. Surviving documents do not explain why they did not testify. Joseph Leonard was found guilty of cooperating with the British on December 10, 1778. Though the case was tried through the New Jersey Supreme Court, it was a jury trial. It was noted that the jury reached its decision immediately "without going into the jury box." Leonard’s sentence from Chief Justice Morris is not listed in surviving documents. Parallel to the trial, Leonard faced additional troubles. After initially evading his summons, Leonard appeared before the New Jersey Council of Safety where he took a loyalty oath to the New Jersey government. He was released on bond on August 20, 1777. In Middletown’s 1778 tax ratables, Leonard’s estate was listed as 193 acres with eight head of livestock. Eight livestock is a surprisingly low number for a man of Leonard’s stature. This raises the strong possibility that many of Leonard’s livestock were taken from him by David Forman, who was given authority to impress livestock from disaffected farmers living near the shore in the spring of 1777. If Leonard was jailed it was not for long, and he became disaffected again. In 1781 he was arrested and brought before the New Jersey Supreme Court a second time on November 1, charged with illegally trading with the British. Specifically, he was accused of having "a quantity of cyder with the intention, then and there, to falsely & traitorously convey the same cyder to the subjects and troops of the King of Great Britain." The outcome of this case is unknown. As for Henry Waddle, who purportedly helped Leonard remove Monmouth County’s records, he eventually went before the New Jersey Council of Safety. He took an oath before the Council and was released. The lenient treatment from the Council of Safety did not spare Waddle from other difficulties during the war. He lost livestock (likely impressed away from him) and reportedly felt a need to flee to British-held New York for some time. Waddle became an Episcopal minister. After the war, he spent his final years leading the Christ Church in Shrewsbury. After Joseph Leonard’s trial, the New Jersey Supreme would continue to hear cases about the political crimes of Monmouth Countians. The court’s purview confusingly overlapped with the purviews of the New Jersey Council of Safety and Monmouth County’s episodic Courts of Oyer and Terminer , the first of which was held in January 1778. Related Historic Site : New Jersey State Museum Sources : New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 1, #62; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #36642-36644; Middletown Township Tax Ratables, 1778, New Jersey State Archives; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #36642-36644; Henry Waddle to New Jersey Council of Safety, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 4, April 11, 1777; Henry Waddle to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, pp. 302, 305; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File, at Monmouth County Historical Association Library, Freehold, New Jersey. 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 Re-Capture of the Love and Unity at Toms River by Michael Adelberg Three galleys from Connecticut reportedly captured the large brig, Love & Unity, but Monmouth militia unloaded it. A British attack on Toms River spoiled the opportunity to sell the ship and its cargo. - September 1778 - As noted in prior articles, privateering along the Monmouth shoreline increased substantially in the summer of 1778. Aggressive captains from Philadelphia and New England combined with emboldened local militia officers to prey on British shipping to and from New York. If the captured Venus was the largest prize taken off the Jersey shore that summer, the Love & Unity was likely the second most impressive prize. However, the capture of the Love & Unity would be marred by post-capture wrangling and the vessel, ultimately, was lost to British reprisal. Antiquarian sources claim that the merchant brig, Love & Unity , was captured at Cranberry Inlet, north of Toms River. It was apparently taken by a Monmouth militia contingent led by Colonel Daniel Hendrickson. It is possible that privateers operating in the area forced the Love & Unity toward shore where it beached. The Connecticut privateer, Princess Mary , captained by Benjamin Pratt was operating near Toms River at this time. But militia secured the vessel and brought its cargo to Toms River once it grounded inside Cranberry Inlet. On August 5, the Pennsylvania Packet reported: A large London ship, richly laden with dry goods, bound for New York, ran aground on the Jersey shore at Shrewsbury, on Thursday last, when a few of the brave militia of that State took and secured her contents, although two British vessels of force were firing upon them with the utmost fury. The same newspaper reported again on August 12: We hear that on Thursday night, the ship Love and Unity from Bristol, with 80 hogshead of loaf sugar, several thousand bottles of London porter, a large quantity of Bristol beer and ale, besides many other valuable articles, was designedly run on shore near Toms River; since which, by assistance of some of our militia, she has been brought into a safe port, and her cargo properly taken care of. On August 13, the New Jersey Admiralty Court met at Allentown and it may have condemned Love & Unity to Captain Pratt. Daniel Hendrickson is listed as attending the same court (over his claim to the smaller vessel, Indian Delaware ). On August 26, the New Jersey Gazette advertised the sale of the Love & Unity and its cargo on August 31 and on September 2 at Manasquan, where some of the cargo was apparently stored. It is unclear if the auction actually took place (though some antiquarian sources assume it did), and it is unclear whether Pratt or Hendrickson was the established recipient of prize money from the sale. Whatever the reason, Love & Unity and its cargo remained at Toms River more than two weeks after the advertised auction date. The delay would prove costly. On September 18, the British came for their ship. The Pennsylvania Evening Post reported on the attack and the key role of William Dillon, a felon sentenced to death two months earlier but pardoned. He piloted the attackers: Two armed brigs belonging to the Enemy came to anchor close to the bar off Toms River Inlet, and they sent into the Inlet seven armed boats with between twenty and thirty men each, who re-took the ship Washington, formerly called Love & Unity, and two sloops which were near the bar, with most of their crews... Soon after they got ashore, a certain Robert McMullen (who sometime since was condemned with William Dillon to be hanged for burglary, and both having been reprieved) entered himself on board the ship, took the boat, and made off to the enemy, huzzahing as he went. Dillon, who joined them some time before, was supposed to pilot the British vessels into the inlet. A similar report was printed in the New Jersey Gazette . The Loyalist New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury provided some additional details on the British ships and collateral damage: "the boats of his Majesty's ship Delaware and the armed brig Halifax went into Cranberry Inlet, and burnt a ship of about 200 tons and a small sloop, they also brought off a sloop with 96 barrels of flour." One of the burnt sloops, according to historian Donald Shomette, was the Connecticut privateer, Princess Mary —that likely had participated in the capture of Love & Unity . Antiquarian sources provide a few additional details: the small prize crew of the Love & Unity apparently jumped into the water and swam to shore to avoid capture. Some of the Love & Unity ’s cargo, probably the cargo at Manasquan, was not recovered by the British attackers. As noted in a prior article , Hendrickson took to the sea as a privateer captain in the Indian Delaware in September, but his privateer career was undistinguished. He was captured by Loyalist raiders at his home in Tinton Falls in June 1779 and jailed for several months. It is unknown if Pratt remained active on the Jersey shore after he lost the Love & Unity , though several other Connecticut privateers were active on Monmouth shore through the end of the war. McMullan and Dillon would remain problems. McMullan joined a Pine Robber gang. After piloting the British attackers, Dillon captained small illegal trading vessels and consorted with Pine Robers. In 1782, he piloted a Loyalist raiding party that would raze the village of Toms River and capture Joshua Huddy, who was leading the defense of the village. The Love & Unity was probably the first of many significant vessels taken by New Englanders on the Monmouth coast. It also highlights several realities of the Revolutionary War on the Jersey shore. Specifically, 1.) profit and patriotism were interwoven motivations that drove Revolutionaries to put to sea in small vessels and, in the face of considerable risk, captured many larger British/Loyalist ships; 2.) Weak institutions and governance hampered efforts to exploit the capture of valuable vessels; and 3.) Local Loyalists and disaffected, driven by the same motivations as Revolutionaries, were dangerous adversaries capable of thwarting the efforts of their former neighbors. Related Historic Site : New Jersey Maritime Museum Sources : David C. Munn, comp., Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey (Trenton, N.J.: Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Geology, 1976) p 24; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Franklin Kemp, The Capture of Enemy Vessels by Ground Troops in New Jersey, pp 17-8; William MacMahon, South Jersey Towns (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1973) p 305; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, N.J.: E. Gardner and Son, 1890) pp. 80-84; Donald Shomette, Privateers of the Revolution: War on the New Jersey Coast (Shiffer: Atglen, PA, 2015); The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Pennsylvania Packet, August 6, 1778; Pennsylvania Packet, August 12, 1778; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Library of Congress, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, September 30, 1878; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 40; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 38; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p80-4; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, pp. 445, 453. 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 Bold Privateering of Adam Hyler by Michael Adelberg In whaleboats that could be rowed or sailed, Adam Hyler, New Jersey’s greatest privateer, led small parties in more than a dozen actions against enemy ships in Raritan Bay and near Sandy Hook. - April 1781 - Adam Hyler was born in Germany. A newspaper account claims he served on a British or Loyalist vessel early in the Revolutionary War. Besides this, there is little reliable biographical information about him. He likely participated in the privateer activities of William Marriner, who was captured by the British in August 1780; Hyler would soon fill the void left by Marriner’s capture. In Hyler’s first action, he was mistaken for Marriner. On April 4, 1781, the New York Gazette reported: "Last Sunday evening a sloop from New York to Lloyd's Neck was captured on Coney Island by two rebel whaleboats." Marriner was credited with the attack, but Marriner wrote that it was "Hyler & Dickey" who led the action; Marriner, still imprisoned at the time, disavowed any role in the action. April 1781: Hyler Leads Raids on New York Hyler’s exploits would soon overshadow Marriner ’s or any other New Jersey privateer. He raided Brooklyn four times and Staten Island once over five months (see table 14 ). Captures two Loyalists, two slaves, and family goods Hyler’s “ manstealing” raids " against Brooklyn mirrored the raids launched against the New Jersey shore by Loyalist irregulars . His actions worried Colonel John Taylor of Middlesex County who wrote Governor William Livingston that "the whaleboat men from this place are daily robbing the inhabitants of Long Island and Staten Island, and in their last cruise they have murdered an old man because he defended his property in his own house." Taylor worried that Hyler’s actions would draw Loyalist retaliation . Fall 1781: Hyler Targets Sandy Hook Perhaps for this reason, Hyler pivoted away from attacking New York and started targeting Sandy Hook. While others had successfully raided Sandy Hook before Hyler, Hyler’s activity level greatly surpassed any other individual . On October 7, the New Jersey Gazette reported on Hyler’s first action there: Captain Hyler of this place with one gunboat and two whale ditto, within a quarter mile of the guard ship at Sandy Hook, attacked five vessels; and after a smart conflict of fifteen minutes carried them. Two of them were armed, one of them mounting four six pounders, and the other had six swivels and one three pounder. The hands escaped in a longboat and took refuge in a small fort, in which twelve swivel guns were mounted, and from whence they kept a constant firing, notwithstanding which he boarded them all without the loss of a single man. Hyler’s haul included 350 bushels of wheat, cheese, and a cask of gunpowder. Due to “contrary wind & tide,” he was unable to bring the boats up the Raritan River, so he "stripped the vessels of the sails and rigging” and “burnt them all except one, on board of which was a woman & four small children." Hyler’s next action was on October 13. The New Jersey Gazette reported that, "with one gun-boat and two whale boats,” Hyler and his men: Boarded one sloop and two schooners, which all the hands except two had previously left, and which lay under cover the Light House fort at Sandy Hook, and brought them off; but the sloop being such a dull sailor, and being much annoyed from a galley lying near Sandy Hook, was set on fire about three miles from the fort. One of the schooners, running aground by accident, was stripped and left; the other, a remarkably fine and fast sailing Virginia-built pilot boat mounted with one four pounder, was brought in with four prisoners. Hyler raided Sandy Hook again on October 24, this time landing at Refugeetown , the Loyalist settlement. The New Jersey Gazette reported: Capt. Hyler went down with one gun-boat to surprise Refugeetown near Sandy Hook where the horse thieves resort. He landed within three quarters of a mile of the light-house, but found they were out in the county of Monmouth stealing horses. The Captain however fell in with six other noted villains, whom he brought off. Hyler’s next action was the capture of a vessel that was part of a convoy heading for Sandy Hook from New York. The Pennsylvania Evening Post reported that Hyler "and a small party of men went into the Narrows, where he captured a ship with 14 or 15 hands.” Hyler chased another vessel, the sloop Father’s Desire , across Raritan Bay until it grounded near Keyport. Colonel Samuel Forman wrote: "Capt. Hyler captured a brig that belonged to the outward bound fleet last Saturday night - was pursued & was obliged to burn her after getting 25 h.h. [hogshead] of rum out of her & some other things." On December 15, Hyler took two more London Trading sloops. The New Jersey Gazette reported: Capt. Hyler of Brunswick (who now commands seven or eight stout whaleboats manned with near 100 men) fell in at the Narrows with two refugee sloops trading to Shrewsbury; one of them was commanded by the noted villain Shore Stevens [Stevenson], and had on board £600 in specie, besides a considerable quantity of dry goods; the other also had a parcel of similar articles, sugar & rum & c., they were both conducted to Brunswick. Hyler’s successes gave him access to several whale and gunboats, as well as a small sloop, Revenge . Maritime historian Donald Shomette wrote that Hyler’s preferred vessel was a "lightly armed sloop-rigged whaleboat." Hyler’s crew of strong rowers could sprint into and out of creeks. Whaleboats sat high in the water and passed over sand bars that scuttled sailing vessels. Whaleboats were also quiet, allowing Hyler’s parties to surprise larger vessels at night. Samuel Forman, Jr., brother of one of Hyler’s men, recalled: “These gunboats were all propelled by muffled oars that dipped in and out of the water so as to make no noise; nor did any of them speak above their breath.” 1782 started ominously for Hyler. An attack on Sandy Hook on January 4 was unsuccessful. Hyler was driven off by fire from the shore battery. Then the British launched a punitive raid against New Brunswick on January 9, in which 200 British soldiers in six boats landed and burned every boat they found in the Raritan River. The Loyalist New York Gazette took note of him on January 12: "this Hyler is a deserter from the Royal service, and ever since his defection has proved too successful an enterpriser in his various descents upon our vicinities." 1782: Hyler Raids Again Hyler apparently took the winter off. Sea traffic slowed—rivers and shallow bays froze. An antiquarian source reports his next action occurred on March 25. He apparently landed on Sandy Hook with a 25-man party and dispersed a Loyalist party camped there. Details on this action are unknown. Hyler’s next action was April 20, documented by Loyalist publisher Hugh Gaine: The cutter Alert (at Sandy Hook) of 16 nine pounders, Captain White, lay under the Highlands about 2 o'clock was boarded by three boats under command of Hyler, at the same time [that] 12 sail of man of war were not a mile off [the Hook], and taken, but the rebels finding it impracticable, got her away, took out the crew and blew her up. John Bray of New Brunswick wrote Governor Livingston on the same incident. Bray noted that Hyler attacked with a gunboat and 35 men. He first “boarded a trading sloop commanded by Capt. James Corlies, but finding nothing of consequence on board, thought it was most advisable to suffer her to be ransomed” (for $400). Hyler then spotted the sloop-of-war, Alert : Capt. Hyler and his brave crew, with the greatest spirit, boarded her, and after a few minutes of conflict, in which Capt. White was sounded, she struck [surrendered]. The Alert had 46 men on board, which so far exceeded Hyler in number that he was under the necessity of tying them to himself. This being done, he made sail, but after running about two miles, the wind being not favorable... He ran her aground. This being done, he took out a quantity of, and together with the prisoners, he blew her up. Hyler took out the “arms, powder, and chest of medicine” and fired the vessel. The prisoners were sent to Middletown Point and the white sailor prisoners were then sent to Elizabethtown. The black sailors (many of whom were likely runaway slaves ) were kept. Bray noted that “the eleven Negroes [are] detained for trial.” They were presumably treated as prizes of war and sold with the ship’s cargo. The capture of the Alert apparently was not reported locally, but was reported in the Maryland Gazette : The celebrated Captain Hyler of New Brunswick… in an open boat, boarded and took a large cutter lying near Sandy Hook almost at sea in sight of the Lion man of war and her 64 guns. The vessel mounted twelve 18 pounders and was commanded by one White... She [Alert] was designed to cruize in Delaware Bay. Captain Hyler, in coming off with his prize, was pursued by several armed vessels, and finding it impracticable to save her, blew her up, but brought off said White and about forty prisoners. The humiliation of losing a well-armed ship exasperated leading Loyalists. This prompted the Board of Directors of the Associated Loyalists , on April 23, to consult with Monmouth County Loyalists and propose a joint expedition with the New Jersey Volunteers to catch Hyler and burn his gunboat: The Board, having consulted some intelligent refugees from Monmouth County on the practicability of destroying the boat of one Hyler, a rebel partisan, which infest the bay of New York -- they proposed in a letter that day to the Adjutant General the Lt Colonel Buskirk and Taylor of the New Jersey Volunteers, should be authorized to take about one hundred men of that corps and when joined by the Refugees and some boatmen, endeavor to accomplish this desirable purpose. This raid never occurred. The next day, General Henry Clinton drydocked the Associated Loyalists amidst the building furor over Richard Lippincott’s brazen hanging of Monmouth County’s Joshua Huddy. Hyler was at sea again in early May. A Loyalist newspaper reported on May 7 that "Hyler's playing devil at Rockaway"; the results of that trip are unknown. On this or another excursion, Hyler took the schooner, Speedwell . Interestingly, Speedwell was not brought to New Brunswick or Middletown Point, but was taken down the Atlantic shore to Toms River (one of Hyler’s men recalled going as far as Cape May on a different trip). The New Jersey government passed a law on June 20 to permit issuing official privateer commissions to “boats” (versus ships). It is probable that Hyler made this necessary. Hyler’s next descent on Sandy Hook was reported in the New York Gazette on May 29: Mr. Hyler paid a visit to our fishing boats last Saturday and took three boats and a prize, inward bound, without [the Hook]; he was pursued by an armed vessel dispatched from one of his Majesty's ships, which obliged him to run the prizes ashore. This action climaxed with Hyler capturing a party of British regulars sent from Sandy Hook (the subject of another article ). The New Jersey Gazette on May 25: Capt. Hyler with his armed boat, being in the Shrewsbury River, a party of twenty-five men, a party of British troops, under Capt. Schanck, was detached to intercept them. Hyler discovered them and landed thirteen men with orders to charge; when four of the enemy were killed and wounded, and the Capt. and eight men taken prisoners. A month later, Hyler preyed on the fishing boats off Sandy Hook again. The New York Gazette reported on June 19: "A number of fishing boats were just on the eve of being captured on the bank's by Hyler's boats; but luckily the Lark , privateer, inward bound, saved them from being convoyed to Middletown." Perhaps frustrated by not taking the boats, Hyler attempted what might have been his boldest action. An anonymous letter details his attempt to kidnap Loyalist partisan Richard Lippincott from Manhattan: Capt. Hyler was determined to take Lippincott, on inquiry he found that the man resided in a well known house on Broad Street, New York. Dressed and equipped like a press gang of a man of war, he left the kills with one boat, landing after dusk... He then passed the residence of Lippincott where he inquired for him and found that he was absent, gone to the cock-pit. Thus failing in his object, he returned to his boat... but finding a boat from the West Indies laden with rum, he took her, cut her from her cable and sailed to Elizabethtown Point; and before daylight had landed from her 40 hogshead of rum. He then burned the sloop to prevent her recapture. Hyler was, by now, a hero. The Freeman's Journal (of Philadelphia) exulted “the celebrated paritizan” who captures ships “by surprise or strategem." The report called Hyler “a considerable annoyance to the wood shallops, trading vessels and plundering parties of the enemy about Sandy Hook” and asked “the whaleboat men in Delaware Bay… to copy his conduct." And the report called Hyler's crew “particularly expert at the oars” and they “row with such silence and dexterity as to not be heard at the smallest distance, even though they go three or four boats together and go at a rate of twelve miles an hour." The Freeman's Journal also reported that British vessels were now in the Raritan Bay to check Hyler: The enemy have a stout galley stationed near the mouth of the Raritan, and gun boat or two cruizing about the bay, who appear to do little more else then firing now and then upon such rebel oystermen and fishermen as venture too near them... It is further said that it is expected in New York that Brunswick will be shortly burnt on account of the whaleboat depredations. The report was defiant: “If the town is destroyed, every whaleboat, like the Hydra's head, will speedily multiply into ten and make the masters of Sandy Hook bay more uneasy.” On July 2, Hyler returned to Sandy Hook. The New Jersey Gazette reported that Hyler and John Storer, (another whaleboat privateer): "boarded and took the schooner Skipjack , carrying six guns and swivels, and burned her at noon, in sight of the guard ship.” Hyler also “took the Captain and nine or ten men prisoners. About the same time, he also took three or four trading vessels loaded with calves, sheep, etc." A July 10 admiralty court announcement noted that Skipjack was sold with two slaves as part of the cargo. Other prizes taken were an unnamed sloop with two cannon and a sloop, Providence . On or about July 10, according to the New Jersey Gazette , "Mr. Hyler took two fishing boats near the Narrows and ransomed them for $100 each. One of them has been twice before captured." Hyler’s last documented action occurred a few days later, on July 15. The New Jersey Gazette reported that “a little before sunset, Mr. Hyler, with three large oar boats, made an attack on a galley stationed at Prince's Bay, south side of Staten Island." While attacking the galley, a second British vessel under Captain Cashman fired and landed an 18 lb. ball on one of Hyler's boats. The heavy ball crippled Hyler’s boat and forced it to land on Staten Island. The other two boats landed and picked up their stranded comrades while taking fire. Hyler’s party narrowly escaped, but Hyler was fatally wounded in the action. One of his men, Job Compton, recalled that Hyler “was wounded, of which wound he died.” On September 6, the New Jersey Gazette reported that Adam Hyler died "after a long and tedious illness." A few days later, the Loyalist New York Gazette reported “that the famous partisan, Hyler, lately died in New Jersey of a wound in the knee, accidentally given himself some time ago." Antiquarian sources note that Hyler’s boats became the property of colleagues who continued attacking British interests—but without Hyler’s boldness or track record. Historian Robert Schiena wrote about these men: Alexander Dickey, John Bordwine, John Storer and retired Continental Navy officer Luke Matthewson. Appendix 1 excerpts newspaper reports of the actions of Hyler’s successors. The danger of whaleboat privateering was best summed up by John Riddle, who served under Hyler: On two occasions, we narrowly escaped being taken prisoners by two different frigates; once in coming up from Sandy Hook to Amboy, with two gun boats and a whale boat, Capt. Hyler commanding, being in chase of a British gunboat, we run in between an enemy's brig and a galley, that carried an eighteen pounder in the bow. The gun boat had struck [her colors (surrendered)]; but before we were able to board her, an eighteen pound ball passed through one of our gun boats, which obliged us to make the best of our way to the Jersey Shore; and getting everything out of the boat, under a continual fire of cannon and small arms. While Hyler’s bravery and success as a privateer is abundantly documented, it cannot be forgotten that he also engaged in kidnapping and selling captured black sailors as part of a prize ship’s cargo. A militia colonel from Hyler’s home county suggested that he was involved in a murder. Hyler was not from Monmouth County. But he very much belongs in this compendium because most of his actions occurred on the shores of Monmouth County. He often used Middletown Point as his point of departure and point of return. Most importantly, a large portion of Hyler’s men were Monmouth Countians. Of the nine men who wrote narratives about serving under Hyler, four (Job Compton, Lewis Compton, Denice Forman, Benjamin Wilson) were from Monmouth County. So, Hyler’s remarkable exploits were, in large part, enabled by the strong backs of Monmouth Countians. Excerpts of these nine accounts are in Appendix 2 of this article. Related Historic Site : American War of Independence Privateer Museum Appendix 1: Newspaper Accounts of Raritan Bay Privateers after Adam Hyler’s Death New York Royal Gazette, September 11, 1782: "The privateer Jack , Capt. Marsh, took and sent a New Jersey whale boat commanded by Peter Nephew [Neafie]; the whale boat had first taken two fishing boats and had one killed and one wounded." New York Gazette, October 9, 1782: Loyalist Capt. Peter Laurens arrives in New York, "He was taken at the Hook some days ago by John Bordwine, who commands the whaleboats lately commanded by Capt. Hyler….after his capture, he was not only stripped of his clothes and money, but also beat and abused in such an unmerciful manner that he has for the present lost use of his right arm, and is most shockingly bruised; he hopes to soon return to them, quid pro quo." New Jersey Gazette , November 13, 1782: "We hear that the brave Capt. Storer, commissioned as a private boat of war under this State, and who promises to be the fair successor of the late Capt. Hyler, has given a recent instance of his velour in capturing one of the Enemy's vessels… He embarked with two boats under his command at Point Comfort" and went to the Narrows, "after a fruitless search for detached vessels, he bore away for Middletown"...on the Staten Island side of the bay "discovered a vessel lying under the flag staff fort, within a half pistol shot of a fourteen gun battery. This vessel he immediately boarded, and carried away without any alarm." Prize is a sloop under the command of the British Army's Engineer Dept. "He had the good fortune to get her safe into port in spite of the Enemy's armed vessels lying in Prince's Bay." New York Gazette, December 1782: "On Wednesday last, as Morford Taylor, William Salter, Robert Patterson and James Lippincott were passing Sandy Hook shore in a skiff, a party under Capt. Storey rose behind a hill and fired on the boat without first hailing them. Mr. Taylor was shot through the head and died instantly; the other three were made prisoners and stripped of their apparel. Mr. Salter was taken on shore, Messrs. Patterson and Lippincott, with a sentry to over them, were ordered to row the skiff to the cove where Storey had his boats concealed; but Patterson and Lippincott seized a favorable moment to throw the sentry overboard and made their escape. The sentry swam to shore and Mr. Salter was immediately compelled to exchange his dry clothes for those of the wet, half-drowned sentry. He has since ransomed himself for $200 and is now in town." Appendix 2: Post-War Accounts of Service under Adam Hyler Job Compton of Middletown veteran's pension application excerpted: As a privateer, "he was in several affairs with Captain Hyler... in the year 1782, [when] he entered under Captain Hyler on board a gun bote [sic]. He remained with him until he [Hyler] was wounded, of which wound he died... The Captain has a commission and what they took, the prize money was divided amongst them." Lewis Compton of Middletown veteran’s pension application excerpted: "at Brown's Point on the Bay Shore under Capt. Walton, in which engagement he was partially blinded by a swivel ball striking immediately before him; in the same skirmish, Capt. Hyler was also present, about which time Capt. Hyler landed and took a British man-o-war lying in the bay near the Sandy Hook Light House." Samuel Forman of Freehold Township , a boy during the Revolution, recalls his brother, Denice Forman serving under Privateer Captain Adam Hyler: "Denice Forman engaged in a boat under Captain Hyler, who had charge of a few gunboats that coasted along the Jersey shore to annoy and oppose the enemy. When the British fleet lay at anchor at Sandy Hook, Captain Hyler went in the night and surprised a large sloop at anchor, and got her out from the fleet, and took her up Middletown Creek, all without any fighting." More on Hyler: "These gunboats were all propelled by muffled oars, that dipped in and out of the water so as to make no noise; nor did any of them speak above their breath. On the gunwale of the boat a strip of heavy canvas was nailed, the inner having been left unfastened, under which were concealed their swords, guns and other implements for use in combat, and so placed so that any could, at a moment's notice, lay his hand upon his weapon." Richard Nixon of Morris County veteran's pension application: "in the summer or Fall of 1782 [7/82] Deponent again entered on board of Captain Hyler’s Gunboat in which Deponent served six weeks, during the cruise off Sandy Hook we Captured in the night by Boarding the British Cutter Alert Carrying eighteen 9 & 12 pounders, Commanded by Captain White, Deponent received an additional share of Prize money for having been the first on board in boarding." Marsh Noe of Middlesex County veteran’s pension application: recalls serving 2 years "on the water" under Captains Adam Hyler and John Storer "both of which commanded gunboats." From bases at Amboy and New Brunswick, "cruised into the bay of New York, the Narrows and Sandy Hook; owing to the superiority of the enemy, we had to go mostly at night." Recalls three missions with Hyler - 1. "boarded & took a British cutter in the night-time near Sandy Hook" with 18 carriage guns, Hyler has 32 men and the cutter 50, then they "ran the cutter aground near Sandy Hook and blew her up", 2. took an "armed schooner, Jack , mounting 6 carriage guns with a crew of about 40, taken near Sandy Hook, was run ashore near the Highlands, stores and ammunition taken out & the vessel burnt up - a seventy four gun ship firing on them most of the time", 3. "landed with 14 or 15 men on Sandy Hook... engaged a party of British (about 30 men) commanded by a Captain & after a smart action, took them prisoners & sent them to Headquarters." John Riddle ’s autobiography of his service under Adam Hyler: Recalls that they coasted from Brooklyn to Sandy Hook, and sometimes down the Jersey Shore as far as Cape May - usually two boats, a gunboat and whaleboat, 30 men: * "The first vessel we captured was a sloop of war carrying two guns; having boarded her in the night and ransomed her for $400. Same night boarded and took a 16 gun cutter, mounting 18 pounders and six 6 pounders, having captured her in the midst of the British fleet, then lying at Sandy Hook; after running the prize past the guard ship up the bay towards Amboy, we run aground on a sandbar in the night. the next morning, took out of her fifty prisoners, and everything else we could, then set fire to her with provisions, ammunitions & c." * "On another night, the Captain and fourteen of us (who had volunteered our services) sailed up the narrows in York bay, in a whale boat, and on our return boarded a schooner, (which we ransomed for $400) returned to our gunboats in the Sosbury [Shrewsbury] River, without injury or the loss of a single life. " * "On another occasion, Capt. Story, from Woodbridge, with a gun and whale boat, fell in with us in Sosbury river - Captains Hyler and story ascending the heights [Middletown Highlands], observed four vessels at a distance, moored close to the Highlands, termed London traders. One of them, However, being an armed schooner, carrying eight guns, used as a guard ship to protect the other three; there being a calm tide against them, we run out on them, within a short distance of the British fleet, a severe cannonading commenced on both sides; at last, the schooner having struck [her colors, surrendered], we captured the other two without much difficulty. The guard ship by this time coming up, poured her shot on us like hail, one shot cutting off the mast of our whale boat just above our heads; but at last we succeeded in running the [prize] schooner on a sand bar, where we burnt her in view of the fleet; the others were bilged and driven on the beach." * “On hard combat and narrow escapes, "In fact, every day while off Sandy Hook afforded a skirmish of some kind or another, either with small arms or cannon. At Toms River inlet we were twice nearly cast away; once [more] at Hogg island inlet, on two occasions we narrowly escaped being taken prisoners by two different frigates, one the fair American; once in coming up from Sandy Hook to Amboy, with two gun boats and a whale boat, Capt. Hyler commanding, being in chase of a British gunboat, we run in between an enemy's brig and a galley, that carried an eighteen pounder in the bow. the gun boat had struck; but before we were able to board her, an eighteen pound ball passed through one of our gun boats, which obliged us to make the best of our way to the Jersey Shore: and getting every thing out of the boat, under a continual fire of cannon and small arms (which lasted until 9 O’clock at night), we left her to the British, our ammunition being all spent." * Final term under Hyler and his successor: "About the first of April 1782, the applicant volunteered on board a gunboat at New Brunswick, under the command of Captain Adam Hyler, for the term of eight months as a privateersman, and served out said term... the said Captain Hyler commanded forty-five men, who occupied said gunboat and a whaleboat... after said eight months had ended, and the Spring of 1783 (Captain Hyler having died), the applicant again volunteered as a privateersman at New Brunswick under the command of Capt. John Bordwine, for a term of two weeks, and served out said term coasting from Sandy Hook around to the New Jersey shore and performed nothing of note, except the taking of a British barge and crew." John Sutphin of South Amboy veteran's pension application: "He shipped himself aboard a Gun Boat called the White Bottom Nancy as a Privateer under the command of Edmund Hiler in this Boat. He sailed from New Brunswick on a cruize round Sandy Hook in company with three other boats for the purpose of surprising and taking a British gunboat then lying in Princes Bay near Staten Island. In this attempt we were unsuccessful in consequence of the Nancy’s being wholly disabled in a combat with a British Row Galley then lying in the same bay... The ensuing season during his service as a Privateersman under Capt. Hiler he assisted in taking from the British two sloops & three schooners then lying in a place called the Horse Shoe [Bay]. After this he assisted in cutting out from the British at the Narrows a three decked British vessel called Father’s Desire which we ran aground & burnt at Sandy Hook. He was in an engagement with a British Cutter. This Cutter was boarded by the crew of our boat and after an action of 15 or 20 minutes in which we killed and threw overboard 8 or 10 of the crew of the Cutter we succeeded in Capturing her with near 300 prisoners, nearly all Blacks. We burnt the cutter took the negroes which were called Dunmore’s Army, into the country and sold them. After this, we took an English vessel in Prince’s Bay loaded with arms and ammunition took out what we could and being closely pursued by the enemy we blew up the vessel and made good on our retreat and returned to New Brunswick." Abraham Van Tine's of Middlesex County veteran's pension application. On his time as whaleboat privateer: "He afterwards continued in the same service under Captain Peter Begins who had the command of a whale boat called the General Green & served under him for the period of five months, when they were taken prisoners by a privateer in the British service called The Jack o Lantern commanded by Captain Thomas Marsh a Tory and were sent to New York & confined as prisoners in what was then called the Provost prisoner where he lay for seven months and was discharged precisely at the expiration of 7 months imprisonment and when peace was proclaimed – During his service under Captains Adam Hyler and Nevins they took several vessels engaged in the enemy’s service. They went out to take the schooners or privateers commanded by Marsh & made an attack upon her in the night but were overpowered by numbers & taken prisoners themselves... That the engagement in which he was taken prisoner took place between Sandy Hook and the Great Kilns – That his whole Term of service during the war together with the term of his imprisonment as aforesaid amounted to at least two years." Benjamin Wilson of Middletown veteran's pension application excerpted: 1782, serves on a whaleboat privateer, in an action "was engaged under Capt. Hyler at Point Comfort, Captain Hyler was cruising off the shore & was chased by the British boats & was obliged to land: the British also landed, a sharp engagement ensued in which the applicant was engaged"; also in 1782, he was in "a skirmish under Capt. Neafie, who was chased ashore by a British gunboat." Sources : Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gaze reel 2906; John J. Clute, Annals of Staten Island: From Its Discovery to the Present Time (New York: Press of Charles Vogt, 1877), pp. 111-3; J.A. McManemin, Captains of Privateers. (Spring Lake, N.J. : Ho-Ho-Kus Pub. Co., 1994), pp. 467-77; New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, April 17, 1781; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 228; Contained in: National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Darby Oram of RI, www.fold3.com/image/# 25326993; John Taylor to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 223-4; Certificate, Rutgers University Special Collections, AC 2889; Stephen Conway, The War of American Independence 1775–1783 (London: Edward Arnold, 1995), pp. 392-3; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, October 10, 1781; New Jersey Gazette report contained in Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 124; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; National Archives, revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey – Lewis Compton; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 124-5; Erna Risch, Supplying Washington's Army (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1981), p 113; Samuel Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 16, November 13, 1781; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 125; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 34-6; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Robert L. Scheina, "A Matter of Definition: A New Jersey Navy, 1777-1783," American Neptune, vol. 39 (1979), p 216; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Benjamin Wilson; J.A. McManemin, Captains of Privateers. (Spring Lake, N.J. : Ho-Ho-Kus Pub. Co., 1994), pp. 467-77; Donald Shomette, Privateers of the Revolution: War on the New Jersey Coast (Shiffer: Atglen, PA, 2015); Narrative of Lieut. Luke Matthewman, Magazine of American History, vol 2, 1878, p184; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Van Note of Ohio, S.1133; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Marsh Noe of NJ, National Archives, p4-5; Royal Gazette excerpted in Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 127; Hyler’s attack at 25-man party in Howard Peckham, The Toll of Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974) p 95; John Bray to William Livingston in J.A. McManemin, Captains of Privateers. (Spring Lake, N.J. : Ho-Ho-Kus Pub. Co., 1994), pp. 467-77; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Journals of Hugh Gaine, Volume I (New York: Dodd, Mead 81 Company, 1902), vol. 2, pp. 147-9, 153; Princeton University Library, Microfilms Collection, #1081.133, Board of Associated Loyalists, April 23, 1782; Maryland Gazette, May 2, 1782; John Bray to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, p 173, 182-4; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 37; Edwin Salter and George C. Beekman, Old Times in Old Monmouth: Historical Reminiscences of Old Monmouth County, New Jersey (Freehold, N.J.: Moreau Brothers, 1887) p 125; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Freeman's Journal, June 26, 1782; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Anonymous letter printed in John Barber, Historical Collections of the State of New Jersey (New Haven, Conn., J. W. Barber, 1868) pp 316-7; Freeman's Journal, June 26, 1782; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, June 20-21, 1782, p 39-45; Prisoner receipt, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3853; National Archives, Richard Nixon, W.5423, State of New York, City and County of New York; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; New Jersey Gazette report in Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 125-6; Howard H. Peckham, ed, The Toll of Independence: Engagements and Battle Casualties of the American Revolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974) p 96; John J. Clute, Annals of Staten Island: From Its Discovery to the Present Time (New York: Press of Charles Vogt, 1877), pp. 111-3; Royal Gazette report printed in John Neafie, "Captain Peter Neafie and His Whaleboat Crew in the American Revolution," Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 13, 1928, pp 422-3; Riddle, John, The Memoir of Colonel John Riddle, pp. 1-4. Personal photocopy. Correspondence from Jack Fulmer; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post and New Jersey Gazette, November 13, 1782; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Applications, John Riddle of New Jersey; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Job Clayton; Forman, Samuel S. Narrative of a Journey down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90 (Cincinnati, R. Clarke and Co., 1888) p 7-8; National Archives, John Sutphin, S.29489, State of New York, Wayne County. 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 > Loyalists Seek to Defend Waters Off Sandy Hook by Michael Adelberg Isaac Lowe, Chairing the New York City Chamber of Commerce, sought a vessel to protect the waters outside of Sandy Hook in spring 1781. Neither he, nor the British, found a vessel to do this job. - May 1781 - Early in the Revolutionary War, the British military easily turned aside any threats to their base and ships at Sandy Hook (which they captured in April 1776 ). Troops at the lighthouse, backed by a guardship(s) anchored nearby, easily dispersed land-based attacks in June 1776 and March 1777 . Fortifications constructed and troops deployed in July 1778 made Sandy Hook impervious to a landing by the marines in Admiral Charles Henri D’Estaing’s large French fleet . However, by 1779 the British presence at Sandy Hook was dramatically weaker. Early in the war, the guardship was never less than a frigate and was frequently more than one ship. In 1779, with the British navy now fighting a global war that sapped its strength in New York, the guardship was often a sloop of war (less than half the guns of a frigate). Cannon were taken from Sandy Hook’s shore battery, and troop size dwindled down to a single under-strength company of New Jersey Volunteers . Loyalist irregular raiding parties camped at Sandy Hook intermittently, but did not greatly increase the peninsula’s security. A collection of rebels successfully attacked Sandy Hook—including Captain John Burrowes of Middletown Point and Captain John Rudolph of Henry Lee’s Continental Army dragoons . A company of Loyalists was captured by a privateer on its way to Sandy Hook. On the ocean side of Sandy Hook, New England privateers took dozens of vessels coming in and out of New York. On the Raritan Bay side, local privateers such as William Marriner launched at least a dozen successful attacks against Loyalist vessels “London Trading ” between New Jersey and New York. The large merchant ship, Britannia , and sloop of war, Alert , were taken in separate incidents. Better Protecting Ships Near Sandy Hook Loyalists were exasperated. In March 1781, the Board of Associated Loyalists , a British-tolerated paramilitary group, sought an armed boat to protect the waters around Sandy Hook without success on March 13 and March 20. Details on their attempts to gain a vessel are not revealed. The Associated Loyalists would continue trying to purchase vessels for the next six months before finally succeeding in doing so in September. Isaac Lowe, chairing the New York City Chamber of Commerce, also believed an armed boat was needed to better protect London trading vessels coming into Sandy Hook and fishing vessels off Shrewsbury Inlet (at present-day Sea Bright). On May 1, the Chamber wrote Marriott Arbuthnot, the admiral commanding the British navy in New York: The best cruising ground for the enemy, perhaps in the whole world, is within sight of Sandy Hook… many stout privateers are fitting out in different rebel ports, and that unless effectual measures may be taken to defeat and blast their designs, very few vessels, except of great force, will get safe in or out of this port. The Chamber called for: A couple of last-failing frigates constantly to cruise between Delaware and Block island, and making the lighthouse at Sandy Hook once or twice a week, as the winds might permit, would effectually protect the trade at this port from all invaders. Arbuthnot responded two days later: I have just received the letter you have honored me with, pointing out the necessity of frigates being constantly employed in cruising off Sandy Hook, for the protection of the trade bound to this place, as well as for protecting the fishery upon the banks of Shrewsbury, and to prevent the rebel privateers from making such near approaches to this port as they have lately done, to which they are reported to have met with too much success. The admiral further wrote that British "frigates have not only been cruising almost constantly off the bar, but between Montauk point and the Delaware ...I have detached cruisers off this part of the coast.” Arbuthnot then discussed a prior offer to protect the Shrewsbury fishing banks: With respect to the protection of the fishermen employed on the banks of Shrewsbury, for supplying your market, I cannot help mentioning to you, that early after I took the command on this station, I purchased a vessel, mounting 12 carriage-guns; she was fitted out at a considerable expense; I requested that the city would man her, that I would pay the men, and that her services should never be diverted to any other purpose than giving such protection. My offer was received with a strong degree of coolness. Lowe did not reply for nearly a month. When he did, on May 28, he expressed ignorance regarding Arbuthnot’s prior offer of a boat to protect the fishing banks off Shrewsbury: With regard to your Excellency's request to the city, to man a vessel for the protection of the fishery on the banks of Shrewsbury, the Chamber of Commerce beg to assure your Excellency, that no application was ever made to this corporation upon that subject; or, in all probability, they had taken it up with the same zeal which they doubt not your Excellency will admit they manifested to procure volunteers for manning his Majesty's ships under your command. Lowe promised to man the gunboat if Arbuthnot would again make it available: If your Excellency will be so good as to furnish-a proper vessel, with provisions and ammunition, to protect the fishermen on the banks of Shrewsbury, for the benefit of this market, the Chamber of Commerce will cheerfully exert their endeavors and they doubt not they will be able, in a short time, not only to procure as many men as your Excellency may think sufficient for that purpose, but also raise funds for paying them provided that they shall be discharged as soon as the fishing season is over. It is unknown if Arbuthnot and Lowe ever put the discussed vessel to sea to protect the Shrewsbury shore. The Associated Loyalists nearly did so. On May 21, Daniel Coxe of the Associated Loyalists wrote: You will please to inform the Board that there is now fitting out at this place three large whaleboats in order to protect the trade to you by cruising along the Jersey Shores from Cape May to the Hook, they are now ready to go down. However, as noted above, it appears that these boats never put to sea (or may have put to sea and suffered quick capture rebel privateers). The Associated Loyalists, on July 20, had to again request a vessel from the British navy "to annoy the sea coast southward of Sandy Hook, and check the trade of the Delaware." Meanwhile, the most successful Loyalist whaleboat, the vessel Trimmer , neared the end of its career. According to newspaper accounts in the Loyalist New York Gazette and the New Jersey Gazette , the Trimmer captured a New Jersey galley, Bulldog , and two small sloops on April 21, which it brought into Sandy Hook. This added to its impressive list of captures: "these three makes nine prizes brought into here by the Trimmer in the last month, besides the number destroyed." However, the Trimmer soon met with disaster. On June 13, the New York Gazette , reported that the Trimmer , while returning back to New York, "was overset by means of a sudden gust of wind within sight of the Light House, by which melancholy incident 35 people drowned, the remainder of the crew taken up by some vessels near at hand." The newspaper further reported that “among the saved was Capt. Phillips, the vessel's master.” It appears that Phillips did not return to the dangerous work of privateering. Efforts to Better Protect Sandy Hook Fizzle For all of the letter-writing in spring 1781, there is no evidence that the British navy, the New York Chamber of Commerce, or the Associated Loyalists put a vessel to sea to protect the London Traders or fishermen of the Shrewsbury banks in spring 1781. Lowe again sought British protection for the Shrewsbury Banks fishermen in July 1782, writing the British Admiral: The trade and fishery [off Sandy Hook?] are unprotected, and requesting that some means be pursued to encourage the fishermen to take fish and supply this garrison, and that its commerce may not be annoyed by the privateers and whale-boats that infest even the Narrows. New England privateers continued to prowl the approaches to Sandy Hook and small New Jersey privateers, including the bold Adam Hyler, continued to pluck small vessels off Sandy Hook. The Associated Loyalist vessels (the sloops Colonel Martin and Association , and the brig Sir Henry Clinton ) that finally put to sea in September 1781 had undistinguished tenures. Newspapers do not attribute any captures to them. When the British finally sought to check Hyler and the Raritan Bay privateers in June 1782, their efforts were lampooned rather than feared. The Pennsylvania Freeman's Journal reported on June 19: The enemy have a stout galley stationed near the mouth of the Raritan, and gun boat or two cruizing about the bay, who appear to do little more else then firing now and then upon such rebel oystermen and fishermen as venture too near them. That same month, Congress approved a plan to provide wood and supplies to American prisoners held in New York to build a fishing boat if the British would permit the prisoners to fish the Shrewsbury Banks alongside Loyalist fisherman. It is unknown if his plan was ever fully-executed. For short periods of time, such as May 1780 , British fleets docked at New York and put ships on patrol on the Jersey shore. They took some prizes, and forced rebel privateers to back off. But, for long stretches in between, rebel vessels operated with impunity. The illegal trade between the Monmouth shore and New York was too profitable to be ended by the capture of some Loyalist vessels. London Traders knew the risks they were taking and enjoyed cooperation from locals along long stretches of the largely disaffected New Jersey shoreline. The capture of Loyalist fishermen engaged in peaceful activity, was that much more heart-wrenching for Loyalists. This is the subject of another article. Related Historic Site : New York City Chamber of Commerce (Manhattan, New York) Sources : New York Chamber of Commerce of Marriott Arbuthnot, John Stevens, Colonial Records of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, 1768-1784 (New York: John F. Trow, 1867) pp. 255-81; S.W. to Daniel Coxe, John Austin Stevens, Magazine of American History, 1884, vol 11, p161; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; The Scots Magazine, v43, p 373-5; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Clements Library, Proceedings of the Board of Directors of the Associated Loyalists, March 1781 p. 8-13, August, p. 5, July p. 11, and September 1781, p. 5. 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 Death of John Bacon by Michael Adelberg After more than three years as a Loyalist outlaw, John Bacon was hunted down at a tavern near present-day Tuckerton. He surrendered, but was bayoneted and killed by Burlington County militia. - March 1783 - As noted in prior articles, John Bacon was the most prolific of the Pine Robber gang leaders, and was likely the last active Loyalist partisan in the state. In December 1782, Bacon’s gang attacked a party of Burlington County militia at Cedar Creek (Tuckerton). Bacon scattered the militia, but the attack was costly—Bacon lost two of his most steadfast comrades and seven other supporters were captured days later. Bacon and three others were reported wounded and this may have prompted him to lay low for a few months. Bacon never again had the strength to turn away a militia attack. On March 13, 1783, the state of Maryland sent a ship to New York for the relief of its prisoners held there. It was attacked by an unprincipled Rhode Island privateer captain, Oliver Reed, “off Little Egg Harbor.” According to the Maryland Gazette , the Rhode Islanders took the vessel "under the pretense that this government was trading with the enemy." But the Maryland vessel was then boarded by a Loyalist galley that deposited the Maryland crew "on shore on the Beach Island (near Barnegat Inlet) and observed that “no inhabitants lived within five or six miles from the main land.” The newspaper report concluded that, “It cannot escape notice that more respect was shown to this government [Maryland] by a refugee barge than by the vessel of a sister state [Rhode Island]." The “refugee boat” was likely Hero’s Revenge led by John Bacon, and, assuming this was Bacon, it was his last successful attack. The capture of the vessel also likely aroused the local militias of Burlington and Monmouth counties. A posse of Burlington County militia party was soon after Bacon. On April 9, the New Jersey Gazette reported Bacon’s death on April 4: The infamous John Bacon, a refugee from New York, who has murdered several good citizens from this State, and plundered many defenseless families, was surprised and killed at Egg Harbor by a detachment from Capt. Shreve's light horse, commanded by Cornet Cook. The New York Gazette and New Jersey Journal carried the same report. Historian David Fowler, who comprehensively studied Bacon, provides additional details on Bacon’s death. Captain John Stewart (previously robbed by Bacon) and Joel Cook (brother, William Cook, killed in skirmish with Bacon) located Bacon at a tavern at West Creek, three miles north of Clam Town (an antiquarian source claims it was the tavern of William Rose in Clam Town). Fowler, relying on a plurality of sources on Bacon’s death, writes that Bacon was surprised and surrendered. He was disarmed. Bacon reportedly then insulted Cook, who responded by bayoneting Bacon (an antiquarian source claims that Cook and Bacon wrestled on the tavern floor before Bacon was bayoneted). Bacon attempted to flee but was shot before exiting the tavern. There are, however, alternative versions of Bacon’s death. Militiaman John Peters claimed: “A price was offered for his [Bacon’s] head; that he was shot thru a window sitting by a fire by one of our company, Sergeant Benjamin Smith.” Another militiaman, Isaac Quigley, offers yet another version: He [Quigley] was out with scouting parties at least six times to take Col. John Bacon, a refugee officer weigh-laying the road and wood by day and night - a bounty of $500 was offered for him dead or alive. He was, at length, shot by Nathaniel Forman who got the bounty. Bacon’s body was brought to Jacobstown in Burlington County (Cook’s home village) and displayed on the public road. Bacon's brother arrived from Philadelphia and was allowed to take the corpse. Bacon was buried at Arneytown on the western edge of Upper Freehold Township, suggesting a family connection with that area. Governor William Livingston had previously issued bounties for the capture of Bacon and Ichabod Johnson (killed at Cedar Creek in December). But the Burlington militia had killed them, rather than captured them, so the militia were ineligible for the bounties. On June 9, Cornet John Brown and Captain Richard Shreve petitioned the New Jersey legislature "to allow them and their party to collect their reward offered for the capture of John Bacon and Ichabod Johnson." Two days later, the legislature voted them the reward of Shreve £50 and Brown £25. Its action is recorded in the minutes of the New Jersey Assembly: A Petition from Captain Richard Shreve and Cornet John Brown, of the County of Burlington, was read, praying that an order may pass to allow them and their Party the Reward offered by His Excellency’s proclamation for securing Ichabod Johnson and John Bacon: Whereupon, Resolved, that the Treasurer of the State be directed to pay unto Captain Richard Shreve, of the County of Burlington, the Sum of Twenty-five Pounds, in consequence of His Excellency’s proclamation, being for the use of himself and the party of men that assisted him in securing Ichabod Johnson; and to John Brown Cornet of Horse, of the said County, the Sum of Fifty Pounds, in consequence of said proclamation of His Excellency, being for the Use of himself and the Party of Men that assisted in securing John Bacon; and the Receipt of the said Richard Shreve and John Brown, shall be sufficient vouchers to the Treasurer for so much of the publick. The next month, July, Monmouth County held its seventh and final Court of Oyer and Terminer . The court was noteworthy because it did not charge any of the 38 people on the docket with a capital crime. The most noteworthy person indicted was Hannah Bacon, presumably Bacon’s captured wife. She was charged with misdemeanor—the details of her crime are unknown. She was likely complicit in Bacon’s partisan activities or allied with London Traders at Sandy Hook. Perspective Bacon was the last man killed in a military action in Monmouth County, and probably the last Revolutionary War belligerent killed anywhere in New Jersey. An objective look at the documentation on Bacon’s acts reveal that he was more “regular” in his conduct than most other Pine Robbers. Bacon’s actions did not include the kind of gratuitous violence and revenge attacks that characterized the careers of Pine Robbers like Lewis Fenton. Bacon skirmished (arguably battled) with militia, but these were military actions in which his assembled men battled militia parties sent to capture him. Twice, after killing Gloucester militia on Long Beach and with respect to the Maryland sailors above, Bacon brought prisoners to safety. His most notorious act, the Long Beach massacre, was a nighttime attack in which his outnumbered party slaughtered (likely sleeping) men. When Bacon’s men did so, they were employing the tactic used by British Captain Patrick Ferguson’s party on nearby Osborn Island in 1778. Ferguson reported that because his men were outnumbered and they attacked at night, “no quarter could be given.” Bacon, who surely knew of Ferguson’s attack, would have made the same argument. Several Pine Robbers survived Bacon, but there is no reason to think that Pine Robber gangs continued as active belligerents after Bacon’s death. Peace negotiations premised on American Independence were underway, the British ceased supporting Loyalist partisans, and thousands of Loyalists were being shipped to Canada . The remaining Pine Robbers likely melted back into the disaffected neighborhood s from which they came—though a few would have to endure vigilante punishments in the post-war period. Related Historic Site : Tuckerton Seaport & Baymen’s Museum Sources : David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 273-6; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 211-2; Joseph E. Wroblewski. Captain John Bacon: The Last of the Jersey Pine Robbers, September 28, 2021, Journal of the American Revolution, https://allthingsliberty.com/2021/09/captain-john-bacon-the-last-of-the-jersey-pine-robbers/ ; Maryland Gazette, March 27, 1783; Thomas Wilson, Notices from New Jersey Newspapers, 1781-1790 (Hunterdon House, 1820) p 19; New Jersey Gazette, April 9, 1783; Library of Congress, New Jersey Journal reel 1930 (mistakenly included on film with New Jersey Gazette, March 19, 1783); Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, May 1783, pp. 100-110, 122; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1783) p55; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - July 1783; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Peters of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 25927424; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Isaac Quigley of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 27214772. 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 > Asher Holmes Raises New Regiments of State Troops by Michael Adelberg Handbills advertised large bounties for joining the Continental Army. Recruiters for the New Jersey State Troops, defending Monmouth County, competed for recruits but could not offer bounties. - March 1780 - Prior articles have discussed the first State Troops from Monmouth County. State Troops were local militiamen who volunteered for several months of continuous service, during which they were, per New Jersey law, "entitled to the same pay and rations" as Continental troops. The first of these State Troops was an artillery company raised by Captain Joshua Huddy in 1777. In June 1779, as Continental troops were being withdrawn from Monmouth County, Colonel Asher Holmes was given permission to raise a regiment of State Troops to replace them. While Holmes likely never raised even half a regiment, the State Troops were deemed helpful, and regiments of State Troops were re-raised and continuously served in Monmouth County through the end of 1782. Re-Raising State Troops in Monmouth County The State Troops raised by Holmes in June-July 1779, enlisted for nine months. So, in March 1780, Holmes began enlisting new State Troops. He did this without a law from the New Jersey Legislature explicitly authorizing him to do so. Colonel Holmes apparently pressed the case to re-raise the regiment of State Troops before the Legislature. A March 21 letter, from Governor William Livingston to Holmes alluded to this, and it appears that Holmes was given encouragement to raise the regiment even before the Legislature was able to act. In that same letter, Livingston acknowledged Holmes’s need to raise men for the defense of Monmouth County and authorized him to call up 80 militia for temporary service. These militia and State Troops would be sorely tested in the coming months—the Loyalist raids of 1780 were more frequent and intense than any other year of the war. A March 11 document lists fourteen State Troop recruits. Thirteen of these men were from Freehold and Upper Townships (one from Middletown). All of the recruits were under age 24 except one (33-year-old Jonathan Jones of Freehold). The youngest was Solomon Ivins, Jr., of Upper Freehold, only 16 on the date of enlistment, but apparently 17 by his first date of service. Apparently, Ivins’ enlistment caused quite a stir. Another recruit, Jacob Hall, recalled after the war that he “was then encamped at Freehold town when Capt. William Barton brought in a number of recruits for the Army, among them was young Solomon Ivins.” Soon after, “old Solomon Ivins (the Quaker Preacher) came to camp on horseback in order to induce his son to leave the company, and he would procure him a substitute." Hall wrote that young Solomon would not leave: Young Sol had told the deponent that he had married Kitty Scott and offended the old man by doing so, and he had so much fuss on the matter, that he had enlisted, and more, he would not leave the Army to please the old fellow; the said Solomon Ivins was a good soldier and served until the close of the war. Still lacking a law to raise a new regiment, Holmes continued recruiting. A list of recruits dated May 25, 1780, documents that Captain Samuel Carhart of Middletown Township had raised a full company of 54 men (including the fourteen raised in March). 31 of the recruits were under age 21, six were over 30 years old (42 year old George Smith was the oldest). 31 of the men were from Freehold Township, 18 from Middletown, 7 from Upper Freehold, and 1 from Middlesex County. Recruiting Disparities between State Troops and the Continental Army The New Jersey Legislature finally acted on June 14, 1780 (five days after a punishing raid against Middletown ). It authorized Holmes "to raise a [second] company of volunteers for the defense of a part of the County of Monmouth [in addition to Carhart’s]." The law also authorized a smaller company of State Troops to be stationed at Toms River, where Loyalist raiders and Pine Robber gangs created a double threat. Lieutenants Joshua Studson and Ephraim Jenkins were appointed "to raise by voluntary enlistment" 30 men to defend the lower shore. Other counties were authorized to raise companies of state troops as well. Importantly, the law also authorized recruiting officers across the state to raise 640 men for the Continental Army, including a 60-man quota for Monmouth County (the third highest county quota). Army units detached to Monmouth County recruited without contributing to the quote. The Virginia dragoons of Major Henry Lee's Virginia cavalry appear to have enlisted six Monmouth Countians while stationed in the county in 1780. So, Continental Army recruiters and State Troop recruiters directly competed. Army recruits received a L12 bounty and Army recruiters received a 30-schilling bonus for each recruit. State Troop recruits received no bounty; recruiters received no bonus. Legislators likely knew that they put the State Troops at a significant disadvantage. A second law passed that month gave Holmes permission to complete his State Troop companies by drafting men out of local militia companies. On June 28, 23 men—exclusively from Freehold and Middletown townships, ranging in ages from 17 to 34—were drafted to complete Holmes’s two companies. The Toms River company recruited separately and its strength at this time is unknown. The New Jersey Legislature further tweaked recruiting rules in 1781, but continued to provide greater incentives for Continental recruiters. Holmes had Captain Carhart write the Governor on June 5 about difficulties raising State Troops. Captains Carhart, Anderson, and John Walton were State Troop recruiters for the county and given a quota of 259 men to raise. Carhart wrote that he was unable recruit because: 1.) State Troops offered no recruitment bounty (while the Continental Army was offering a $200 bounty for enlistment), and 2.) the State’s late payment to the State Troops discouraged recruits. Carhart complained that men were leaving the State Troops for Continental service. This made Carhart ask: “I must beg your Excellency's opinion whether men who are enlisted in our company can, with propriety, leave us to enlist in the Continental Army." Several months later, in November 1781, the New Jersey Assembly considered Monmouth County’s Esek Van Dorn. He had been recruited out of the State Troops into the Continental Army. He petitioned the Assembly, "setting forth that he has been a considerable time over and above his term of enlistment [in the Army], and has been refused discharge.” He requested “the interdisposition of the Legislature" to release him. There likely was confusion over whether Van Dorn’s time in the State Troops counted toward his term of service in the Continental Army. George Washington and Governor Livingston respected the mission of the Monmouth State Troops to stay home and defend the county. Shortly after the passage of the June 1780 law, Livingston excused the Monmouth militia and state troops from responding to the British incursion at Springfield, writing that “our regiments along the frontiers cannot be called from their own counties without exposing them to the ravages of the refugees." On August 3, Washington and Livingston exchanged letters about mobilizing New Jersey militia to respond to an expected British incursion into New Jersey. It was noted that Holmes was told to "remain there" in Monmouth County for three the next three months even during periods of alarm. There is no evidence that the State Troops were ordered out of the county. Respect for the State Troops did not prevent Livingston from ordering Asher Holmes on, June 27, 1781, to furnish militia for three months of service with the Continental Army. The Governor wrote: You are required to call forth half a class or sixteen men from the several companies in your Regiment, to be officered with a Lieutenant and suitable number of non-commissioned officers... to be in service three months. They are to receive three schilling per day and exempted for nine months after the expiration of their service from their monthly call of duty. The men were to report to Morristown on July 15. Similar requests were made from each New Jersey county and colonels were ordered to "fine according to the law, those who shall refuse." The call-out was largely ignored; as of August 6, only 60 men had come into Morristown. Colonel Robert Taylor of Gloucester County complained that his men (from Egg Harbor) refused to assemble because they were "so lately plundered" by Pine Robbers . There is no evidence that Holmes sent anyone to Morristown, but Samuel Forman, commanding the Upper Freehold militia, sent a company of men under Captain John Coward in August. The Men Who Served in the State Troops Service in the State Troops was hard and dangerous. State troops camped near enemy lines in northeast Monmouth County and frequently marched on reports of enemy landings. At times, they found the enemy and fought them, at times they chased shadows. The State was frequently late in paying and supplying the men. Many of the men who joined the State Troops were already veterans of the local war. This is particularly illustrated in the pension application of John Brown. Before joining the State Troops, Brown served for six months under Colonel David Forman in his regiment of Flying Camp in 1776. He then served in the militia consistently. In April 1780, Brown was in a militia company that unsuccessfully attempted to repel a Loyalist-raid at Manasquan . Brown recalled that “some of his officers were killed in battle.” Soon after, he "was taken prisoner by the British at Shrewsbury & carried to New York, where he remained a prisoner in close confinement for 7 months & suffered cruelly from his captors.” Home again in Shrewsbury, Brown, perhaps fearing re-capture, enlisted in the State Troops. "He equipped himself as a mounted dragoon & volunteered to serve 9 months… during the latter part of that service he received a wound from a musket ball in his shoulder, which disabled him for 4 or 5 months." Thomas Geron served in the State troops from May 1779 through the end of 1782. He served under various officers and locations, before settling into “a company of horsemen" under Captain John Walton. Geron recalled, “This applicant found his own horse, saddle & bridle, carbine, pistols, holsters & sword, and all other accoutrements necessary for the equipment of a horsemen, and that he was allowed 20 shillings a month for his horse over and above the pay allowed to the foot.” Geron “rode the express which carried intelligence of the arrival of the fleet at Sandy Hook from the Chesapeake Bay" (meaning that the British attempt to break the siege at Yorktown had failed). At the end of his service in November 1782, “a party of 15 men under Cornet Denice were detached from Freehold and stationed at Pleasant Valley… quartered among the farmers until they were discharged.” Mark Lender, who exhaustively studied the New Jersey Line, concluded that after the surge of patriotism in 1776, the rank and file of the Army were poor men who primarily served for the money. The rank and file of the State Troops lacked the rich bounties, so they were likely motivated by more than money. The men who selected the State Troops were likely motivated to protect their neighborhoods and serve under men they knew, versus joining the Army, marching far away and serving under strangers. Related Historic Site : Morristown National Historical Park Sources : List of Recruits, New Jersey State Archives, Dept of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3631; William Livingston to Asher Holmes, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 3, pp. 343-4; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Brown; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Solomon Ivins; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3631, 3845; Authorization to raise another regiment of State Troops is discussed in Mark Lender, “The Enlisted Line: The Continental Soldiers of New Jersey”(Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 1975) p 55; Act of the New Jersey General Assembly, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 22, item 11, #172-6; Information on the Toms River company is in National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 22, item 11, #172-6; Raising State Troops in June 1780 is discussed in Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p227; State Troop Return, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, New Jersey, folder 58, #123; George Washington to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, p 38; Major Henry Lee muster roll, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3736; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 22, 1780, p 267-268; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Geron of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#19729784 ; Samuel Carhart to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, p 215; William Livingston to Joseph Reed, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 3, p 433; William Livingston to Asher Homes, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 237, 244-5, 250 note; Samuel Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 15, August 15, 1781; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 27, 1781, p 11. 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 > Refugee Women Listed in Monmouth County Militia Returns by Michael Adelberg Women picked up the pieces after raids laid waste to villages and farms. Sometimes they packed up their families and fled, as when 19 Tinton Falls women became refugees at Colts Neck. - June 1779 - Following April and June raids, the village of Tinton Falls was abandoned. All of its militia leaders were captured or killed, the public and military stores were taken, the buildings were looted or destroyed, and most or all of the livestock from the farms around the village were taken. Robert Morris, the Chief Justice of New Jersey, worried that people were becoming refugees in the inland countryside. He wrote: “Some are quitting their habitations, and others declare they are willing to do so, observing that if they must go on by starving, they had rather do it in the country than in the Provost Jail." Evidence that this did, in fact, happen is in a militia return compiled by Captain James Green. Green captained the Colts Neck militia, six miles west of Tinton Falls. His June 1780 militia return lists his 95 men and nineteen women—eleven of whom clearly were not from Colts Neck in boldface. (The others probably were not from Colts Neck either, but evidence is lacking.) See table 9 The women were not part of Green’s militia company. His decision to include them on his militia return is likely because they (and their families) were living as refugees at Colts Neck; Green was providing rations for them. Each township had Overseers of the Poor, but the Shrewsbury Township Overseers of the Poor in 1778 (1779 township records have not survived) were Joseph Parker, Joseph Throckmorton, and Thomas White—each of whom was either disaffected or residing near the shore. In either event, these men—who likely were neutrals or disaffected—were not politically aligned with families made refugee by Loyalist raiders. Green’s June 1780 return was compiled a year after the June 10, 1779, Tinton Falls raid, providing evidence that refugees were at Colts Neck for at least a year. It is important to note that none of these women were prosperous at war’s end, and at least three ended the war with less wealth than they had before the Tinton Falls raid (noted with an asterisk). Other Women in Militia Returns Seven women are listed in Upper Freehold militia returns from 1778-1780. They are Mary Perrine, Elizabeth Mooney, Elizabeth Rue, Martilla Clayton, Eleanor Reynolds, Elizabeth Mount, and Rebecca Mount. Of the seven, only one—Rue—is likely a refugee. She was from Freehold Township and her husband, Matthias Rue, was killed at the Battle of Navesink in 1777. Two of the women—Mary Perrine and Rebecca Mount were wives of Upper Freehold Loyalists who owned 225 and 200 acre farms with 12 and 11 head of livestock respectively. At war’s end, they were moderately prosperous yeoman farmers. The reason that Colonel Samuel Forman and Captain John Covenhoven (not the legislator of the same name) felt the need to list these women on militia returns is unknown. But the most likely reason is that these women (even the prosperous ones) and their families were displaced for a period of time and in need of support. Perhaps their estates were damaged when the British Army came through Upper Freehold in June 1778. There might be another case of a woman being included on a militia return. A genealogist, Marjy Wienkop, noted that the Stafford Township militia company of Captain Reuben Randolph lists Jeany Sutton as serving with him for 35 days at Perth Amboy. While "Jeany" is a female name, it can be wondered if this is a nickname of the French "Jean"—and potentially a male name (although Sutton is not a French name). Assuming that Jeany Sutton was a woman, the reason that Randolph felt a need to include her on his militia return is unknown. Women often went with military companies as “camp followers” but they were not paid for doing so beyond pay earned performing jobs for the soldiers. While the decimation of Tinton Falls may have forced dozens of people to become refugees, the Battle of Navesink was the event that produced the most deaths and captures of Monmouth Countians. Intermittently throughout the war, Monmouth Countians petitioned the state legislature for assistance for the suffering families of militiamen. On June 5, 1781, the New Jersey Assembly voted to grant half-pay military pensions to the wives of five Monmouth militiamen who died at Battle of Navesink or endured long term imprisonment after the battle. The women were: Isabella Hibbetts [widow of James], Mary Stillwell [widow of Obadiah], Elizabeth Cole [widow of William], Mary Winter [widow of James], and Penelope Davis [widow of Joseph]. The pensions were of a modest monthly amount of £2 S5. It is unknown why these five women were granted pensions while the wives of most of the militiamen killed or captured at the battle went unmentioned. While the state took like action to support a few women and families rocked by the local war in Monmouth County, militia officers provided support for many other impoverished, vulnerable women. If all of Monmouth County’s Revolutionary War militia returns had survived to this day, it is probable that more women would have been listed on a scattering of additional returns. Militia officers had no authority to provide rations or pay to these women. But under dire circumstances, these officers did what they thought was necessary. There is no reason to think they were punished for exceeding their authority. Sources : Morris, Robert, “Letters of Chief Justice Morris, 1777–1779,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 38 (1920), pp. 175-6; Upper Freehold Militia Muster Rolls, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, Coll. 70, p2, 4, 9; Muster rolls posted at the Continental Line, http://www.continentalline.org/articles/article.php?date=0002&article=000202 ; National Archives, Continental Army Records, Samuel Forman's Militia Regiment; Militia Return, June 1780, Captain James Green, Stryker-Rodda, Harriet, “Militia Women of 1780, Monmouth County, New Jersey,” N.S.D.A.R. Magazine, vol. 113, n. 4, April 1979, pp. 308-12; Harriet Stryker-Rodda, “Militia Women of 1780,” Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, vol. 113 (1979) p 310; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, June 5, 1781, p 34; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File (on file at the Monmouth County Historical Association Library). 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 > Samuel Lippincott, Man-Stealing, and Jailed Militiamen in New York by Michael Adelberg Lists like this one show that hundreds of prisoners were exchanged. But prisoner exchanges also fueled the “man stealing” of Monmouth County patriots who served as chips in later exchanges. - February 1780 - On a cold night in February 1780, Samuel Lippincott was kidnapped from his bed. He recalled: While in bed in his residence in Monmouth County, applicant’s residence was plundered by two black Refugees, who laid ready upon his house and took him out of his bed. After having tied his hands behind him, they, in the company of several Tories, conveyed him and two other prisoners to Sandy Hook, from whereabouts [on] the third day they were conveyed to New York. Lippincott was jailed three months in the notorious Sugar House prison until "that place becoming so crowded with prisoners, he was conveyed to the North Church where he remained until he was exchanged.” While there, Lippincott recalled a friend escaping from North Church "having procured a new civilian set of clothes with the connivance of two Hessian guards, passed through the board fence by which the church was surrounded, where a plank was missing, and mingled with the citizens." Lippincott was exchanged “after having been a prisoner for seven months and seven days.” The kidnapping of Lippincott represented an important pivot in the local war in Monmouth County in two ways. It is the first documented case of a party of Black Loyalists conducting a raid on their own, and it appears to be the first recorded “man-stealing” in Monmouth County. Man-stealing was the name given to small raids conducted primarily to carry off hostages. Monmouth Countians had been imprisoned in New York City jails at least since February 1777 when more than 70 Monmouth militiamen were captured by British regulars at the Battle of Navesink . At least four of the men taken that day were still imprisoned when Lippincott was taken. But Lippincott represented a new kind of Monmouth County prisoner—one taken not as a result of battle, but because Loyalists desired revenge for rebel abuses, and because new prisoners were needed for additional prisoner of war exchanges. Other Man-Stealings Captain Moses Shepherd led a militia company from Middletown Township. After the war, his widow, Rebecca Shepherd, wrote of his capture and imprisonment at about the same time as Lippincott’s capture: He was once made a prisoner taken in his own house by a party of Tories about dawn… he was taken to New York paroled as an officer on Long Island, stayed about six weeks, he, in company with Captain Thomas Chadwick took a small boat or skiff and came home, but was afterwards exchanged. William Morris testified to seeing Shepherd while he was detained in New York. “He was passing the prison in New York - Captain Moses Shepherd called to him from one of the windows. He [Morris] stayed and conversed with but was afraid to go in.” Two of Moses Shepherd’s nephews, Elisha Shepherd and Jacob Shepherd, were also captured in 1780. Elisha Shepherd recalled serving in the militia “until taken prisoner by the refugees under Col. Tye when he was taken to New York and put in the provost’s or hangman’s jail… and continued confined in said prison to the end of the war.” His brother, Jacob Shepherd, testified that “himself and his brother… were kept prisoners for about five months and he thinks they were exchanged in the month of March.” Two other militiamen, in their postwar pension applications, described being captured in small raids and taken to New York. Abraham Lane recalled that "he was taken prisoner by a company of Refugees of whom William Gillian was Captain, and was carried to the City of New York and confined in the Sugar House; from there he was removed to the North Church and detained prisoner from March to September 1781." He was paroled home and promptly re-joined the militia as a Lieutenant. Elijah Clayton recalled being taken at Colts Neck on May 14, 1781 “and confined in North Church, and from thence to the Sugar House, where he was kept prisoner until New Year's following, when he was exchanged." Thomas Clayton recalled meeting his brother, Elijah, while in jail: He did not know what had become of his brother until he was informed that he was a prisoner in the same city; that he obtained permission to go see said Elisha and asked for and received a dollar from a Black fellow in some office under the British... That the party that took him prisoner also took a horse from him, from which he never received any compensation. Of course, Monmouth militiamen continued to be taken in military encounters as well. Joseph Johnson was captured on March 16, 1780, on the Raritan Bayshore, while under serving Capt. Joseph Stillwell. Johnson "was taken prisoner... he was kept a prisoner of war in close confinement for 9 1/2 months at which time he took with small pox and very nearly died and then exchanged at Elizabethtown." He returned to militia service in July 1781. In April 1780, John Brown, recalled participating in a skirmish at Manasquan during which he "was taken prisoner by the British at Shrewsbury & carried to New York, where he remained a prisoner in close confinement for 7 months & suffered cruelly from his captors." He also returned to militia service in 1781. Prisoner Backlog in Brooklyn An important purpose of man-stealing was to gain chips to be used in subsequent prisoner exchanges. As noted in a prior article, one of the primary powers granted to the vigilante Associated Loyalists by the British was the ability to capture their own prisoners and conduct their own exchanges. Exchanges are the subject of another article , but it is important to note that the pace of exchanges was slower than captures and prisoners backlogged. From September 1780 until the end of 1782, there was a backlog of Monmouth County militia officers as prisoners. Lists of militia officers paroled to Loyalist houses in Brooklyn exist from September 1780 through war’s end. A "List of New Jersey Officers taken by British, 1776-1780," was compiled in September 1780. It lists 26 New Jersey militia officers confined in Brooklyn. Fourteen of the men were from Monmouth County. They are noted below along with information on their capture and status in September 1780. Six of these men were at home and not in service when taken, three were exchanged, and one was dead: Col. Daniel Hendrickson: taken June 11, 1779, "at his house...exchanged"; Lt. Col. John Smock: taken May 27, 1778, "at Monmouth Cty…not in service"; Lt. Col. Aucke Wikoff: taken June 11, 1779 "at his house...in Provost [jail]"; Maj. Hendrick Van Brunt: taken June 11, 1779 "at his house...in Shrewsbury"; Capt. Stephen Fleming: taken May 27, 1778 at "Monmouth Cty...exchanged"; Capt. Barnes Smock: taken February 13, 1777 "near Light House...exchanged"; Capt. Jacob Covenhoven: taken May 27, 1778 "in Monmouth Cty"; Capt. Richard McKnight: taken June 11, 1779 "in home...not in service, died 1780"; Lt. Thomas Cook: taken February 13, 1777 "near Light House"; Lt. James Whitlock: taken February 13, 1777 "near Light House"; Lt. Theophilus Little: taken May 27, 1778 "in Monmouth Cty...not in service"; Lt. [Moses] Shepherd: taken [no date] "at home in Monmouth Cty"; Lt. Thomas Little: taken June 27, 1778 "in Monmouth Cty"; Lt. Tobias Polhemus: taken February 13, 1777 "near Light House." At least two additional militia officers were captured in 1780 but are not included in this report. Captain Thomas Wainwright spent eighteen months in prison before he was exchanged. Captain Barnes Smock was captured in June 1780 and was exchanged in December. The condition of the prisoners of war in New York was a frequent concern of Continental officials. On September 9, 1780, Commandant of Prisoners, Abraham Skinner, wrote to Governor William Livingston about "the peculiar situation of prisoners of war belonging to this State." Skinner worried that the New Jersey government was not supporting its prisoners of war. Of the officers, he wrote: The officers who are prisoners on Long Island [Brooklyn] have not had the least supply or support from this office since the Spring of 1779; since which many of them have been at board on Long Island, and many of them are destitute of a single farthing, are liable to the daily insult from their landlords, who seem tired of supporting them without fee or reward, and if their exchange could be effected, they would be detained for payment of the debts. Of the enlisted men, Skinner wrote: The citizens and Privates of this State are confined in the Sugar House and churches in a wretched situation, many of them without a shirt or blanket, and no allowance except what they receive from the enemy, about 3 1/2 pounds of bread, which is issued to them by the Continental agent. Skinner wrote that the Jersey prisoners "feel mortification in seeing their fellow sufferers receive supplies from the neighboring States" while they receive nothing from New Jersey. That same month, Hendrick Van Brunt co-authored a petition to Governor William Livingston requesting provisions for prisoners. This included a request for £50 in cash for each officer on parole on Long Island to settle debts. The petitioners noted that nothing had been sent from New Jersey in more than a year, and a prior request for support had been ignored. The petition was signed by 30 New Jersey officers. Seventeen of these men were militia officers of which nine were from Monmouth County (Lt. Col. John Smock, Lt. Col. Aucke Wikoff, Van Brunt, Capt. Barnes Smock, Capt. Jacob Covenhoven, Lt. James Whitlock, Lt. Thomas Little, Lt. Tobias Polhemus, Lt. Thomas Cook). On August 5, 1782, Skinner, compiled a list of "Debts incurred by Sundry Americans Owing to their Captivity to Inhabitants on Long Island." Eleven prisoners on the list were "Jersey Militia" and six of those were Monmouth Countians: Little, McKnight (dead), Polhemus, John Smock, Van Brunt, and Whitlock. They had accumulated debts as high as £65. Skinner’s November 1782 "Schedule of Debts Accumulated by Paroled Prisoners on Long Island" listed the same six officers plus Jacob Covenhoven, Thomas Cook, Barnes Smock (re-captured), and Aucke Wikoff. Lt. Whitlock had been exchanged. The prisoners were prone to disease and privations. Some died. Mathias Mount, a prisoner who was exchanged, returned to Monmouth County and testified on April 24, 1781, about the death of Captain John Dennis while they were prisoners in New York: The deponent was a prisoner in New York in 1778, and was well acquainted with Capt. John Dennis of the 3rd Regiment of the militia of Monmouth County, and saith that John Dennis' wounds were not cured, and that the said Dennis after his death lay several days in the corner of the yard, before he was buried. The kidnapping of Samuel Lippincott presaged the appearance of Colonel Tye and the Black Brigade and the man-stealings that would punctuate the Revolutionary War in Monmouth County in 1780. Man-stealings advanced the local war in Monmouth County to a more brutal stage, leading a cycle of retribution between the vigilante Associated Loyalists and Monmouth County’s Retaliators . Sources : National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Samuel Lippincott; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Moses Shepherd of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 16276047; -- National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Elisha Shepherd of OH, www.fold3.com/image/# 16277477; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Joseph Johnson; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Brown; List of Officers Taken, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3971; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p229-32; Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) pp. 260-1; Edward Roser, "American Prisoners Taken at the Battle of the Navesink," Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, vol. 45, n 2, May 1970, p57; Hendrick Van Brunt to William Livingston, Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) pp. 261-3; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Abraham Lane; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Elihu Clayton; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 303; List of Debts of Prisoners on Long Island, National Archives, M246, RG93, reel 135, folder 4, pages 4-10; Schedule of Debts, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #4125. 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 > Dr. John Lawrence and the Crime of Having Loyalist Kin by Michael Adelberg Dr. John Lawrence was a physician prominent Loyalists in his family. Although he was not an active Loyalist, he was forced to live out the war away from his home. - July 1776 - As discussed in a prior article, John Lawrence, Sr., was one of Monmouth County’s leading citizens before the Revolution—a lawyer, judge, surveyor, and member of New Jersey Assembly. He was supportive of the Continental Association and boycott of British goods. However, when protesting British policies shifted to declaring independence, John Sr. became an active Loyalist. In July, he led a bloodless insurrection against the new government in Upper Freehold. John Sr. was arrested for "holding treasonable intercourse with the enemy" and detained in Burlington County. On July 5, the New Jersey Convention ordered that "Mr. John Lawrence, of the County of Monmouth, not to depart the house of Mr. [Rensselaer] Williams [of Trenton]; and if Mr. Lawrence should refuse…. order him confined under such guard as the Committee may deem necessary." He would remain under house arrest for nine months. John Lawrence, Sr., had two sons. Elisha Lawrence was the Monmouth County sheriff under the Royal government. He played an active role in his father’s insurrection and led 60 Upper Freehold Loyalists to join the British Army on Sandy Hook. He would soon become Colonel of the 1st Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, a Provincial Corps of the British Army. John Lawrence, Jr., was John’s other son, a Princeton graduate and prominent physician who owned a home at Perth Amboy but spent a great deal of time at his father’s house in Upper Freehold. There is no evidence that John Jr. (Dr. John Lawrence) was active in his father’s insurrection, but there is no evidence that he opposed it. Actions Taken Against Dr. John Lawrence On July 9, the New Jersey Convention took action against Dr. John Lawrence and seven other New Jerseyans from prominent Loyalist families. They were arrested and brought to Trenton. Lawrence and the others were ordered "not to depart the town of Trenton.” But later that day, the Convention reconsidered the status of Dr. John Lawrence. "Pursuant to order, Dr. John Lawrence, appeared before Congress and was permitted to return home on his parole, to attend this House whenever called upon." But Dr. Lawrence’s final parole agreement shows that he was not allowed to return home. Instead, he was required to go to Morristown. Perth Amboy was within sight of the British Lines and Upper Freehold was simmering with Loyalist insurrectionists. If Dr. John Lawrence wanted to actively oppose the Revolution, he could cause considerable mischief in either place. Morristown, on the other hand, was 25 miles inland from British lines and thoroughly controlled by Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). Though not as dangerous as his brother or father, New Jersey authorities were not willing to let Dr. John Lawrence live where he pleased. Dr. Lawrence’s July 13 parole oath is below: I do hereby give my parole of honor to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey that… I will return to Morristown, in Morris County, & there remain in a circle of six miles of the Court House in town, & that I will not carry on any political correspondence whatsoever on the subject of the dispute between Great Britain & the United Colonies, neither will I furnish any provisions or given any intelligence to the enemies of the Colony. In September, Continental Army defeats in New York raised expectations that the British Army would soon invade New Jersey. Amidst the resulting panic, men were punished for the crime of having Loyalist kin; Dr. Lawrence was jailed at Trenton. On September 26, Dr. Lawrence wrote a letter of protest to Governor William Livingston: After having complied with every requisition of the Congress - paying my proportions of the tax raised & signing the Association - I was exceedingly surprised to find myself made a prisoner by an order from Genl. Washington [George Washington] in consequence of which I have been carried to Trenton where the Provincial Congress was then sitting, and flatter myself that had I the opportunity: such a defense might have been made as would have discharged me entirely from my imprisonment - Taken from my business & put to very heavy expense. I therefore request that instead of continuing [within a circle of six miles of Morris[town], I may be removed to Allentown in Monmouth, under a parole similar to what I have given at this place, where my father's house will prevent any extraordinary charges occurring to me & where from its situation so remote from the British Army, I apprehend there can be no objection offered. However, Dr. Lawrence was not permitted to return to Upper Freehold. He returned to Morristown, where, while drunk, he engaged in spreading the word about the defeat of the Continental Army. On February 7, 1777, testimony was given against his conduct shortly before the British crossed into New Jersey: One Wm. Stewart [William Stewart] an assistant to these fals harted [sic] smooth tong’d fellows, went off to the Enemy, (as I am Well inform’d) I am affraid [sic] of the Conciquence [sic]. These fellows with two Tory Prisoners at McKee’s the Night after Long Island was given up was all drunk in taken of their Joy. Capt. Canedy & one Doctor Lawrence [Dr. John Lawrence] was the Prisoners—this Club of traitors has been riding all times of night just before some expedition of the Enemy, from Morristown to Prinstown [sic] or somewhere near their, where [there] was a member of the Convention, a friend of theirs. Another of them at the same time [was] going down to Newark, to their friends, their Every one of them most active in their several departments. I have many other reasons for my present opinion of these fellows, which would make them Blush to hear of. However, these fellows & their Influence is failing & will Continew [sic] to fail with all the rest of that abandoned crew of trators [sic] to their Country. Dr. John Lawrence at War’s End Despite this testimony, it appears that Dr. Lawrence was permitted to live out the war as a non-participant in New Jersey. Some sources suggest that he spent parts of the war behind British lines in New York as a non-combatant Loyalist refugee. Although surviving records are incomplete, there appears to be no further evidence of bad conduct from Dr. Lawrence or punishments from the New Jersey government. By 1783, it was clear that the British would be leaving New York. At this time, Dr. Lawrence considered his fate and whether he belonged with his brother (and three members of his extended family) behind British lines. He visited New York and may have offered himself up for a patronage position with the British government. On September 15, 1783, John Colden, a prominent New York Loyalist, wrote of Dr. Lawrence to Guy Carleton, the British commander in chief in New York and Governor of Canada: I am informed Mr. Lawrence supports a favorable character—is pushing himself forward and bids fair to rise in his profession. He has been two or three times in New York since the cessation of hostilities but I have not seen him. He will probably be a useful man to you; he designs to settle in New York. But it appears that this flirtation was temporary. Dr. Lawrence returned to Upper Freehold after the war, where he kept a low profile and lived out his life without incident. Outside of a night of loose talk while drunk, there is no evidence that he acted against the Continental cause. The support of his influential cousin, also named Elisha Lawrence, may have facilitated his peaceful reintegration. Cousin Elisha Lawrence was a Lt. Colonel in the militia and served in the upper house of the New Jersey legislature. Related Historic Site : Morristown National Historical Park Sources : Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p138 and 200-1; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, p 1638-9; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) pp. 497-8; John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, 4 vols, Genealogical Publishing Co, 1970, v3, p411-21; John Lawrence, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War Documents, #4; The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 22, March 23, 1775, through October 27, 1776, ed. William B. Willcox. New Haven and London:: Yale University Press, 1982, pp. 517–518; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1652; New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 3, September 26, 1776; NJ Council of Safety, New Jersey State Archives, box 2; The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 8, 6 January 1777 – 27 March 1777, ed. Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 266–267; John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) v3, p417; John Colden to Guy Carleton, Alfred Jones, “Letter of David Colden, Loyalist, 1783”, American Historical Review, October 1919, vol. 25, p80-6. Previous Next