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 > County Commissioners Inventory Loyalist Estates by Michael Adelberg Many Loyalist women stayed behind when their husbands went off to the British and some had property “applied to public use.” This sketch depicts a Loyalist woman having property taken. - August 1776 - By early August 1776, at least 150 Monmouth Countians had become active Loyalists by leaving their homes to join the British Army; hundreds more were engaging in activities that bordered on active Loyalism such as illegally trading with the British and refusing to participate in the militia. Monmouth County’s Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) sought a countermeasure that would punish their active enemies and deter potential enemies from going down the same path. Confiscating the estates of Loyalists was that measure. On August 7, Monmouth County became the first New Jersey county to begin the process for confiscating Loyalist estates (under the legal argument that an individual “forfeited” his property by joining with the enemy and fighting against his country). The first step toward confiscation was inventorying the estates of suspected traitors. After that, inquisitions would be held to determine that the Loyalist in question was in fact a traitor deserving of estate confiscation. The final step would be selling the estate at public auction. Three commissioners were appointed oversee this high-stakes process—Samuel Forman (Colonel of the Upper Freehold militia), Kenneth Hankinson (a captain in the Freehold militia and future Chairman of the vigilante group called the Retaliators ), and Jacob Wikoff of Freehold (who would become the county tax collector and paymaster for Monmouth County’s State Troops). The first estates were inventoried on August 7. They belonged to two Freehold Loyalists, Thomas Leonard (now a major in the New Jersey Volunteers) and John Longstreet (now a captain in the New Jersey Volunteers). The primary inventoried assets are listed below: Thomas Leonard – total value of inventoried assets £1909 3 slaves (named one named male slave, Paris, valued at £50), 300 acre farm (L800), 10 acre property near Court House (£500), 30 acre lot (£100), Other movable property. John Longstreet Jr – total value of inventoried assets £2887 4 slaves (including one named male slave, Prince, 2 women, 1 child), 1 servant, 2.5 acre lot in town "where William Taylor, Esq., lives" (£500), 2nd "town lot, where Israel Britton lives" (£200), 5 acre lot "house & lot where Adam Shaw lives" (£700), additional town lot "where John Combs lives" (£50), 8 acre lot (L50), farm "wherein Mr. Longstreet lived" (£1000), Other movable property. Inventorying estates did not displace the families of Loyalists who remained at home. In fact, the inventory of Thomas Leonard’s estate included a note from his wife, Mary Leonard: "I, the subscriber, take charge of the estate of my husband and oblige myself to be accountable to sd Commissioners." In a male-dominated era, the rights of wives who stayed on the family estate of a Loyalist husband was an open question. The status and welfare of the Loyalist families that remained at home would greatly complicate the confiscation of those estates. Other estates were inventoried shortly after. On August 10, the New Jersey Convention requested "inventories of the Estates of Anthony Woodward and William Guisebertson [William Giberson], of Monmouth County, persons who have absconded from their homes, and joined the enemy." The Estate Forfeiture Commissioners continued their work through August. On August 12, they inventoried the estates of a handful of Upper Freehold Loyalists (including Woodward and Giberson): James Grover - 250 acre farm (£1000), slave boy, 30 hogs, horses & cattle and other items -- total value £1281; William Giberson - 40 acre farm w/ corn £351 and 2 slaves: male Ike (£60), girl Rachel (£35); James Nealon - 1 gristmill, 1 sawmill, 11 acres (£600), bills and bonds (£600), 2 "little Negro girls" (£50), other items – total value £1321; and Anthony Woodward - 150 acre farm (£800), 250 acre farm (£1500), 250 acre farm (£500), salt meadow (£35), 60 hogs (£48), 30 sheep (£15), other items – total value £3317. For Grover, it was noted that he shared his estate with three of brothers, none of whom had left for the British Army. Therefore, the commissioners noted that they could only confiscate one fourth of the estate. Finally, on August 14, the Commissioners inventoried the estates of two Shrewsbury Loyalists: Robert Morris - 50 acres, sawmill £120), £73 in other items; Jeremiah North - no land, items worth £19 s11. Parallel to this process, other Loyalists had parts of the estates “applied to public use” – meaning that the new government commandeered their property and provided compensation. Brothers John Taylor and Morford Taylor of Shrewsbury, for example, had their estates "applied to public use" in 1777. For this, they were compensated with $373 of nearly worthless Continental money. John Morris, who had become a Colonel of New Jersey Volunteers, also had his property “applied to public use.” Dozens of smaller property confiscations and livestock impressments occurred without being documented. These first actions of the Forfeiture Commissioners were only an opening salvo – ultimately, more than 100 Monmouth County Loyalists had their estates confiscated and sold at public auction. However, this did not occur until 1779, when it occurred in a scandal-riddled process that generated New Jersey Legislature investigations and several lawsuits. Related Historic Site : National Guard Museum of New Jersey Sources : Francis Bazley Lee, New Jersey as a Colony and as a State (New York: The Publishing Society of New Jersey, 1902), vol 2, pp. 93-4; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #10122; 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 1661; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1661; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #10122; Gregory Palmer, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (Westport, Conn. and London, 1984) p 847. 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 > Daniel Hendrickson and Other Militia Officers as Privateer Captains by Michael Adelberg Militia privateers usually put to sea in oar-powered galleys and whaleboats. These boats were hidden on shore and rowed through the surf to take small ships and vessels grounded on sand bars. - September 1778 - As noted in prior articles, privateering flourished on the Jersey shore in summer 1778. The arrival of the French fleet and weakening of the British fleet opened up the waters near Sandy Hook to daring American sea captains. Privateers from Philadelphia and New England began taking British merchant vessels, and bringing them into Little Egg Harbor (called Egg Harbor at the time). New Jerseyans living on the shore had been taking wounded British ships since 1776; in 1778, they also took to the sea as privateers. Daniel Hendrickson Moves into Privateering Colonel Daniel Hendrickson lived at Tinton Falls, a few miles inland from the Shrewsbury River (which connected to the Atlantic Ocean in the 1700s). Hendrickson’s first prize vessel was taken in November 1776. General Hugh Mercer wrote: A ship loaded with rum, wine and sugar, and other stores belonging to the enemy is drove on shore at Deal beach, near Shrewsbury; the Colonel [Daniel] Hendrickson of the militia have taken care of her and the cargo. Hendrickson was appointed the colonel of the dysfunctional Shrewsbury Township militia in late 1776, but due to the disaffection in the region, Hendrickson lived in Upper Freehold Township in late 1776 and into 1777. He returned home in 1777 after the Loyalist associations at Shrewsbury were broken up by Pennsylvania soldiers . Some companies of the Shrewsbury militia remained dysfunctional, but Hendrickson was able to raise a hundred men on alarm in June 1778—when the British Army marched across the county in the days prior to the Battle of Monmouth. Sometime in July 1778, the Shrewsbury militia seized a Loyalist vessel, Indian Delaware , and it was condemned to Hendrickson at an admiralty court at Allentown on August 13. Taken vessels were commonly sold, but Hendrickson chose to keep the vessel and try his hand at privateering. On September 11, Hendrickson and the Indian Delaware were at Egg Harbor, where he signed up a nine-man crew. The contract read: We those under written, parties concerned in the Schooner Indian Delaware, taken by the militia… do each ourselves agree with Col Hendrickson… paying each of us our equal proportion of five hundred pound after deducting and paying all costs and accounts of the same. One of the signees, Jacob Dennis, was a minor. So his mother, Rebecca Dennis, signed for him. John Stokes, the Port Marshal at Egg Harbor, also signed. The Indian Delaware put to sea under Hendrickson. Four days later, Hendrickson was at Tinton Falls where he sold 400 lbs. of flour for £6 S14 to two buyers; this suggests that the Indian Delaware captured a small Loyalist vessel along the Monmouth shore and brought it into Shrewsbury Inlet (a channel that connected the Shrewsbury River to the ocean at present-day Seabright). The next day, Hendrickson purchased supplies to outfit Indian Delaware : £4 S15; £1 S10 for cartridges and fuses; £1 S10 for a sheep; £8 for two barrels of cider; £8 for rum. He also paid for "carting sails from Freehold", S15; "carting 2 3 lb. cannon from Tinton Falls", £1 S10, and he paid "Jeremiah Chadwick for piloting" his ship. Ten days later, the Indian Delaware had been out to sea, and returned. John Van Emburgh, a Middlesex County militia major and investor in privateers, wrote Hendrickson from Freehold. Van Emburgh was seeking to purchase a vessel at Egg Harbor that might have been deposited as a prize by Hendrickson, "In consequence of our determination at Squan, I have been to Egg Harbor but found on my arrival that the vessel we proposed [to buy] could not be sold until the next Admiralty Court.” Van Emburgh had also been to Tinton Falls: Was yesterday at the Falls to consult with your Captain Green [James Green], what more guns would be needed for us than he had purchased on our account... but was informed that you was under an engagement for that day & returned. Documentation on the Indian Delaware and Hendrickson’s time as a privateer is scant after this. Philip Freneau, the privateer sailor and poet, recorded sailing out of Shrewsbury inlet in the Indian Delaware on October 25 bound for the Caribbean (Shrewsbury Inlet connected the Shrewsbury River to the Atlantic Ocean at present-day Sea Bright). Egg Harbor’s Port Marshal, John Stokes, recorded the arrival of the Indian Delaware on November 21. There is no additional documentation related to the vessel or Hendrickson as a privateer—he was captured on land, during a raid against Tinton Falls in June 1779. Other Monmouth Militia Officers Dabble in Privateering Privateering was risky. Colonel Richard Somers of Gloucester County, who became involved with a double-dealing privateer , complained of his privateering investments that he "have lost my interest many times and received little for my share of prizes." But the profits from a successful voyage seemed to outweigh the risks (a small captured vessel with a cargo was often valued about £10,000, about equal to the cost of five yeoman estates). Besides Hendrickson, at least eleven other Monmouth Militia officers took to the sea as privateers or took vessels that grounded off the Monmouth shore. Captain Thomas Anderson of Freehold Township took a vessel on the Monmouth shore in May 1778. The New Jersey Gazette reported: "Friday last, a prize vessel laden with beef and pork, bound to New York, was taken by Capt. Anderson and 16 men in an armed boat and brought into Toms River.” Samuel Bigelow was a Dover Township militia captain. In December 1780, he led a militia party in the capture of the stranded Loyalist sloop Betsy off Cranberry Inlet; shortly after that, Bigelow took the stranded brig, Dove , off Long Beach, and brought the prize into Toms River. James Brewer , a militia captain from inland Upper Freehold, tried his hand at privateering. Wilson Hunt, one of his militiamen, recalled that in early 1778, Brewer’s company took a small vessel off Sandy Hook: We spied a sloop of war under sail, it appeared as tho' it would land where we immediately hid ourselves in ambush but she did not land. She tacked about and sailed near the British fleet and cast anchor. We marked her position, in course of the evening, we procured a vessel and after dark sailed to the aforesaid sloop, seized her and boarded her immediately and found only the captain and mate on board. The captain surrendered to us at discretion but the mate threatened to alarm the British fleet which lay close at hand, but there was a file of men with fixed bayonets quickly around him - if he opened his mouth they would quickly run him through, upon which he made no further resistance, and we hoisted anchor and bore away for the mouth of the Shrewsbury River which we fortunately struck and ascended our way up river. The next day we were hailed by two men and asked if we did want to buy provisions, having the British colors hoisted they took us to be British, we decoyed them on board and made them prisoners. They were both Tories. We carried the above sloop up to Shrewsbury Town and anchored as near the town as we could, where she was declared a lawful prize. Captain Samuel Brown of the Dover township militia led the 30-man militia company that mustered at Forked River. In late 1776, according to Samuel’s son, Thomas, "they immediately commenced building a gunboat on said river... intended to be used for the annoyance of the Enemy: boat kept 1 mile from the Brown homestead and guarded nightly.” By 1777, Thomas Brown recalled the Forked River militia manning the row galley, Civil Usage (with one 6-pound cannon, 4 swivel guns, and 36 men serving on board). Their mission was to "guard Barnegat Inlet and prevent, as far as practicable, aggressions of the enemy." In July 1778, the militia "succeeded in capturing a boat of the enemy engaged in trading with the Tory residents at the then called Clam Town (now Tuckerton)." Later that year, Brown captained a privateer sloop out of Toms River, during which he attempted to keep his true identify incognito. In 1779, Brown again captained Civil Usage "engaged and captured a gunboat belonging to the Refugees… armed with four swivels and a whale piece and with a crew of twenty-five to thirty-five men." In 1781, Samuel and Thomas Brown, after two attempts to capture them, left Forked River for the relative safety of Woodbridge. They brought Civil Usage with them and took two prizes in Raritan Bay, a schooner heading for New York City, and, in concert with a second gunboat, another schooner taken in Prince's Bay off Staten Island. The prizes were brought to New Brunswick. In summer, 1782, the Browns returned to Forked River. In concert with the New England privateer, William Gray, they rowed Civil Usage to Clam Town—in order to provoke an attack from the Pine Robber gang of William Davenport. When the Loyalists attacked, Gray joined the fight: "The vessels engaged. Captain Davenport and eight or nine of his men were killed by the first broadside of the privateer... and was immediately taken possession of by Captain Gray and sunk." The Pine Robbers were turned over to the Egg Harbor militia. John Burrowes , Jr., was commissioned a captain in the Continental Army in January 1777 and served for three years. Despite being in uniform and with the Army most of this time, Burrowes was active on the Raritan Bay while furloughed parts of 1778 and 1779. Middletown militiaman, Jemson Van Kirk recalled: Served three months on his own account at Mount Pleasant N.J. at this place Captain Burrowes of the regulars with ten men regular troops under whom Lieutenant Schank [John Schenck] volunteered with ten militia men of whom he was one went down the Bay with three skiffs and run among five sloops where they boarded two of them and took nineteen prisoners who were called refugees or Tories, one sloop they fetched off the other ran aground. On discharge in January 1780, Burrowes took to the water again. A February note in the papers of the Continental Congress notes a deposition of Burrowes as master of the sloop Tryal . By April, Burrowes was captain of the privateer, Rebecca . One of his sailors, Thomas Geron, wrote of his service under Burrowes: “He went to Philadelphia and enlisted as a common sailor before the mast on board the brig Rebecca , letter of marque, under one Captain John Burrowes." He sailed with Burrowes on May 1 but Rebecca had a brief tenure as a privateer: Arrived at the Gulf Stream southeast from the capes of Philadelphia, where the brig was taken and the whole crew was taken, by the English sloop of war Delight... he [Geran] was taken immediately to New York and put on board the prison ship Scorpion on the 18th of May, and remained there as a prisoner of war for about five weeks. He was then removed to the hospital ship Hunter, and remained there as a prisoner (an invalid) for 72 days when he was exchanged. Burrowes fared better than Geran. He was quickly exchanged, and then appointed a marshal of the New Jersey Admiralty Court. He was elected Sheriff of Monmouth County after that. Major John Cook commanded the Dover militia, including Samuel Brown and Joshua Studson. He led the capture of two prizes: Fanny and Hope . in 1778. In early 1779, he and Captain John Price took the Loyalist sloop Success , after it grounded off Island Beach. Samuel Forman was the militia colonel over Upper Freehold and the shore townships of Dover and Stafford. On June 25, 1781, he led a militia unit in capturing the vessel, Brunswick, which had grounded off the Monmouth shore with a cargo of lumber. On August 15, 1781, Forman wrote Governor William Livingston about using the Brunswick as a privateer, "on the fourteenth last month [7/14/81], I got a sloop or boat called Brunswick , burthen about 50 tons, condemned & since have sold her, a register [of the vessel as a privateer] is wanting, I wish to be favored with one under the name 'Monmouth'." But the vessel apparently was not condemned by the admiralty court. More than three years later, on September 13, 1784, the New Jersey Gazette advertised an admiralty court for October 22 to finally settle Forman’s claim to the vessel. Asher Holmes was the Colonel of the Freehold and Middletown militias. He also led the regiments of state troops stationed in Monmouth County from 1779 into 1782. In 1779, he led the capture of the stranded supply ship, Britannia , near Sandy Hook. This is the subject of another article. Joshua Huddy was a strident supporter of the Revolution who commanded a company of state troops in 1777 and 1778 and participated in the extra-legal hanging of the Loyalist, Stephen Edwards . Huddy was nearly captured by a Loyalist raiding party on August 31. Two weeks earlier, on August 18, 1780, he received a Letter of Marque from Pennsylvania to captain the privateer, Black Snake (co-owned with James Randolph). It was a small vessel with only one swivel gun and a crew of fourteen. The letter licensed Huddy to “by force of arms to attack, subdue, seize and take all ships and other vessels, goods, wares and merchandizes, belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, or any of the subjects thereof." Black Snake was at Toms River at the time, and sailed on September 22. Huddy sailed past Sandy Hook, where six British warships prevented him from hovering close to the Hook. He arrived in Providence, Rhode Island on October 3. The Providence Gazette recorded that: “he [Huddy] saw six British ships of the line standing for Sandy Hook." There is no evidence that Huddy took any prizes as a privateer. Joshua Studson was a militia lieutenant from Toms River. He commanded a whaleboat that in May 1778 rowed to Sandy Hook and captured a vessel as it sat near a large warship. The prize was taken to Middletown Point where it prompted British/Loyalist retribution . In August 1780, Studson received a Letter of Marque to captain the privateer Dolphin with one cannon and a fourteen-man crew. He captured two vessels. He was out in a militia boat again on December 1 when he spotted a Loyalist boat and closed on it. As he rose to give orders, he was shot and killed at close range by the Pine Robber, John Bacon. This incident and Studson’s career at sea are detailed in another article. John Walton was a militia captain from Freehold Township. He took a Loyalist boat and crew in 1777. Other prizes : Monmouth militia were involved in other maritime clashes where the officer’s name is unknown. Below is a short summary of four such incidents. 1779 – A 16-gun brig from Jamaica to New York, with 160 barrels of rum “was drove ashore near that place [Barnegat].” It was boarded and secured by militia. 1780 – A Loyalist sloop ran aground on Manasquan beach. It was captured and floated by local militia; its cargo of assorted dry goods was saved. The crew was sent to Philadelphia as prisoners. 1781 – The Loyalist brig, Molly, grounded off Barnegat during a storm and began to break up. Local militia saved most of the crew and cargo. The crew was sent to jail in Trenton. 1783 - Two Loyalist trading boats on the way to New York grounded on the Monmouth shore during a storm. They were captured by a militia party. Of course, the Monmouth County militia was not the only militia dabbling in privateering. Cape May and Gloucester County militia were also active up and down the Jersey shore. The postwar pension applications of John Ingersoll (of Cape May) and Zachariah Steelman (Gloucester County) are particularly descriptive in describing the privateering voyages of militia from other counties off the Monmouth shore. Their narratives are excerpted in the appendix of this article. Related Historic Site : Sultana Education Foundation (Chestertown, Maryland) Appendix: Militiamen from Other Counties Recall Privateering on the Monmouth Shore John Ingersoll of Cape May recalled serving under Captain Enoch Willetts of the militia on privateering voyages to Shark River in 1781 and 1782. First voyage : The Cape May militia gunboat provisioned at Little Egg Harbor in fall 1781 before heading north. Ingersoll recalled that "we ran into Shark River… where lay a heavy ship loaded with goods... an English ship; the crew a few days earlier had mutinied. [The militia] succeeded in taking the ship and ran her into Egg Harbor.” The prize, however, grounded at the entrance of Egg Harbor, so the militia had to “float the ship & bring cargo upriver in a scow.” The successful capture took a bad turn when a gang of Pine Robbers “laid upon us, captured the scow one evening and took charge of her loads.” Ingersoll then recalled retaking the scow and its cargo: We went in pursuit... we came up with them at a place called Osborn's Island about six miles from where the ship lay. Said refugees had two wagons loaded with horses each, and one wagon loaded with two horses. They fired upon us and then fled, leaving their booty behind. The militia took back the vessel and its cargo, "said goods were condemned agreeably to law and sold at public sale." Second Voyage : Ingersoll also recalled a second privateering voyage to Shark River with Captain Willets in 1782: We set sail from Cape May and again landed Shark River. We staid [sic] at Shark River for two or three days, when we spied a refugee boat close in with the beach, steering apparently for Delaware. As they came opposite the Inlet wherein we lay, they gave [us] three cheers [mistaking them for London Traders]. We put to sea and gave chase. We kept up a steady and well directed fire for about four miles, when they endeavored to run their boat into Squan Inlet, but in their attempting to do so they ran her ashore and fled. Before we could get on shore, they had concealed themselves in the woods which were nearby. We took their boat, in which we found a six-pounder mounted on her stern, together with a quantity of dry goods, with hardware and one barrel of rum, which we took. We then made sail for Cape May. Zephaniah Steelman of Gloucester County recalled two voyages on the Monmouth shore: First voyage : “We took a refugee trading boat on the north end of Squan Beach with cranberries and tar in her. We saved the articles but burnt the boat… I have been on duty all along the sea coast as far as Sandy Hook and at all intermediate places.” Second voyage : “One [John] Bacon, a notorious refugee had killed Capt. Andrew Steelman in our look-out boat and wounded Lieut. David Scull so that he never recovered from it and had done much other mischief. Capt. Snell sent a company in pursuit of Bacon. We went as far as Barnegat, obtained a pilot to bring us to his father-in-law’s house, and we surrounded it in the middle of the night. It was full of traders but Bacon was not in there not did we obtain any findings of him, so we returned.” Sources : Peter Force, ed., American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution 1774–1776, 9 vols. (1837–53), 5th Series, vol. 3, p 892; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, p 363; Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 12, Documents K and L; Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 10, Document F; John Van Emburgh to Daniel Hendrickson, New Jersey Historical Society, Hendrickson Family Papers, box 1, folder 13; Axelrod, Jacob. Philip Freneau: Champion of Democracy, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967) pp. 96-7; Richard Somers testimony in Library of Congress, Revolutionary War Prize Cases, M162, reel 1, cases 91-2, David Forman v. Nathan Jackson; John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 142-143; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Jamison Van Kirk; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 19, pp. 365-6; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 56; Koegler ,M.L. Burrowes Mansion of Matawan, New Jersey, and Notations on the History of Monmouth County (Matawan, NJ: Matawan Historical Society), pp. 47-8; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Geron of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#19729784 ; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 56; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Wilson Hunt of KY, www.fold3.com/image/#24273269 ; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, May 27, 1778, reel 1930; William Fischer, Biographical Cyclopedia of Ocean County (Philadelphia: A.D. Smith, 1899) pp. 50-1; Worthington Ford, Naval Records of the American Revolution, 1775-1788, (Washington: Govt Printing Office, 1906) pp. 241, 272; Letter of Marque, Catalog of the Exhibition: Joshua Huddy and the American Revolution, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2004; Franklin Kemp, The Capture of Enemy Vessels by Ground Troops in New Jersey (-----) p 20; New Jersey Gazette, September 13, 1784; Samuel Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 15, August 15, 1781; Paul Burgess, A Colonial Scrapbook; the Southern New Jersey Coast, 1675-1783 (New York, Carlton Press, 1971) pp 161; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 70; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 227; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 81; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veteran's Pension Application of John Ingersoll of New Jersey, p 6; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Zachariah Steelman of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 19818216. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Richard Lippincott Leads Raid against Monmouth Shore by Michael Adelberg - March 1781 - Richard Lippincott was not always a Loyalist. He was elected a lieutenant of his local militia company in March 1776, sold goods to the Pennsylvania Salt Works that summer, and received a low interest loan from the state of New Jersey to establish his own saltworks on the Shrewsbury Township shore in October 1776. But residing among disaffected neighbors and news of British victories likely convinced Lippincott that siding with the British was the right decision. He supported Samuel Wright’s Loyalist association in October 1776. Lippincott harbored Loyalists; he was arrested and confined in Burlington. In December 1776, as the British Army pushed to the Delaware River, Lippincott freed himself. He recruited twelve men and joined the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers as an ensign. When his enlistment expired, Lippincott left the New Jersey Volunteers but any hope of returning home ended in 1779 when his 180-acre estate was sold off. Now an embittered refugee, Lippincott became an active Loyalist raider. He was in the party that murdered John Russell, Sr., in April 1780, and also in the party that captured Lt. Colonel John Smock that summer. In January 1781, Lippincott recruited 52 men and was commissioned a captain in the Associated Loyalists . On February 17, the Board of Directors of the Associated Loyalists wrote Lippincott: “You are therefore to take said Company into your Care and Charge, and to use your best endeavors to keep them in good Order and Discipline.” Lippincott was further ordered: And you are to observe and follow the Articles of Your Association, and such Orders and directions from time to time as you shall receive from the Board of Directors of Associated Loyalists, your Commandant, or any others Your Superior Officer in pursuance of the Trust hereby reposed in You. It was further noted that Lippincott was subject to any orders issued by the British Commander in Chief. Richard Lippincott Raids the Monmouth Shore On February 24, 1781, Lippincott proposed a plan to raid the Monmouth County shore. The minutes of the Board of Associated Loyalists record that the plan was not supported because of a lack of supplies and vessels: Captain Lippincott laid before the Board proposals for an expedition to Toms River to cut out vessels, take prisoners and bring away lumber; for this service an armed vessel or two would be wanted. The Board informed him that at present no vessels could be procured and desired him to think of some scheme of employing his men that would not require armed vessels. Lippincott returned two days later. This time, instead of proposing the carry off supplies from Toms River, he proposed to attack and take “aggressor” Whig leaders and the State Troop guard there. The Board was persuaded this time, and decided to seek supplies from the British for Lippincott’s descent: Having now proposed a plan for surprising and bringing off, with a party of about 30 men of his company, some of the principal aggressors in Monmouth County - the Board wrote to Headquarters for the approbation of his Excellency, the Comm. in Chief, and requesting that he be pleased to furnish them with 30 muskets and 7 days provisions for the 30 men to be employed in this business. On March 2, the Board recorded that Lippincott was given arms and supplies for his excursion as well as a "certificate to pass the guard ship" at Sandy Hook. Lippincott departed in two whaleboats with 21 men. He returned on March 27 and reported to the Board of Associated Loyalists about “the party of Associated Loyalists under him at Toms River & Egg Harbor, where they defeated a party of the rebels, and brought off a sloop [Hannah ] loaded with lumber, tar and iron." The attack generated a short report in the Loyalist New York Gazette : Captain Lippincott with his company of Associated Loyalists returned from an excursion to New Jersey, and brought in a sloop loaded with tar, iron and lumber; which he cut out of Egg Harbor at Chestnut Neck; near Toms River, he fell in with a party of rebel militia, mounted under the command of Captain Bishop [Sergeant Joseph Bishop]; the Loyalists gave him a volley, which wounded Bishop and two of his horses, on which the rebels fled with precipitation, three of them dropping their arms. Back in New York, Lippincott composed a detailed report of his raid. It is summarized below. Lippincott’s party departed New York for Sandy Hook on March 4, but was detained at Sandy Hook until March 11 due to "contrary winds." They “got into Manasquan” on March 12 and "concealed our boats." They sent a man to gather intelligence, but before they could leave Manasquan for Toms River, Lippincott’s party ran into some trouble because “the rebels had got some intelligence... and were in search of us." A skirmish ensued with the local militia, "we gave them a volley which wounded a Capt. Bishop [Sergeant Bishop] and two of their horses, whereupon they fled." Lippincott decided not to attack Toms River. The he had hoped to capture had sailed away on March 12. So, on March 14: We left Manasquan, and proceeded down the bay to Toms River that night, but finding the country alarmed there, and hearing the rebels were reinforced to thirty five men, and we only twenty one, it was thought prudent not to attack there. While Lippincott was attacked by local Whigs, he likely traded goods and information with disaffected locals . Some of these locals informed Lippincott that "the rebels were reinforced to thirty five men [at Toms River],” so “it was thought prudent not to attack there." Instead, Lippincott’s party went into Little Egg Harbor [called Egg Harbour at the time] on March 16, "where we had information that a sloop lay." The Loyalists arrived in the harbor and stayed until March 20, likely camping amongst disaffected residents. They waited "for the sloop to be fitted" before proceeding upriver to Chestnut Neck , boarding the vessel, taking and paroling the seven-man crew, and sailing the vessel down river and out to sea. Lippincott’s party sailed back toward Sandy Hook on March 24, but grounded and nearly sunk in "a violent gale… the sloop being very deep loaded and her deck leaky." To avoid sinking, "we kept the pumps going steadily, though she had three feet of water in her hold." To free the ship from the sand bar, “we were obliged to throw overboard twelve thousand feet of boards and about seven thousand shingles, with two pieces of cannon.” The battered ship made it to New York on March 26. Lippincott’s party did not lose any men and returned the boats loaned by the British. A version of Lippincott’s report was sent to General Henry Clinton on March 27. It is included in the appendix of this article. After the Raid Lippincott’s campaign against Manasquan and Little Egg Harbor demonstrates the improvisational nature of raid warfare. He was authorized to attack Monmouth County leaders and the guard at Toms River. However, learning that Toms River was well-defended, he changed his plan. He decided to take a vessel at Manasquan and, then, when that did not work, he decided to take a different vessel in Little Egg Harbor. While Lippincott’s party prevailed in its skirmish with the militia at Manasquan, his party was clearly unsafe as long as it stayed there; the opposite was true at Little Egg Harbor, where Lippincott’s party camped without molestation for four days until the vessel they targeted was fully loaded. As the local war in Monmouth County trended toward increased brutality , there is no evidence that Lippincott or his party were particularly nasty during this raid. Monmouth Countians did not report any arson, kidnapping, or plundering. Perhaps this was because Lippincott landed at places where at least some of the locals cooperated with him. Lippincott’s men did not always perceive themselves in hostile territory. After this attack, Lippincott engaged in a string of other activities for the Associated Loyalists that veered toward disrepute. A year after Lippincott passed Toms River in March 1781, a larger Associated Loyalist party attacked Toms River (in March 1782), defeated the guard, and brutally razed the village. The captain of the Toms River guard, Joshua Huddy, was taken to New York and jailed. Two weeks later, Lippincott took Huddy from jail and hanged him on the Navesink Highlands. This act would make Lippincott the most notorious Monmouth County Loyalist. Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : Clements Library, Proceedings of the Board of Directors of the Associated Loyalists, February 1781, p. 17-8 and March 1781, p. 15; Lippincott’s Commission is in Transcript of the Court Martial of Richard Lippincott, http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/halew/Lippincott.html; Clements Library, Proceedings of the Board of Directors of the Associated Loyalists, March 1781 p. 8-13, August p. 5, and September 1781, p. 5; Richard Lippincott’s Report, William Clements Library, Henry Clinton Papers, Richard Lippincott's Report, March 27, 1781; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File, unpublished, Monmouth County Historical Association. Appendix: Lippincott’s Report of March 1781 Campaign Against the Monmouth County Shore Report title: “Copy of Captain Lippincott’s Report of the Proceedings of a Party of Associated Loyalists under his Command to Monmouth County” “On the 4th of March 1781, I left New York and proceeded to Sandy Hook and was detained there until the 11th by contrary winds, when we put to sea in two whaleboats and on the 12th got into the head of the bay and having concealed our boats, landed and lay in the woods until we had sent a man to Toms River to get intelligence respecting the brig we went to surprise. On the 14th, we learned that she had sailed on the 12th – being thus disappointed of our first and principal object, we determined to proceed to Toms River to surprise the guard at that place, but on the 15th were informed that the rebels had got some intelligence of the party and were in search of us; whereupon we marched about a mile to a cross road and ambuscaded the one we supposed they would take in coming to us, but they coming on the other, we were taken at a disadvantage, notwithstanding which we gave them a volley which wounded a Capt. Bishop and two of their horses, whereupon they fled and we pursued them two miles, drove four of them through Manasquan River, three of whom left their arms – the remainder made their escape by taking to a very thick wood. After this alarm, we left Manasquan, and proceed down the bay to Toms River that night, but finding the country alarmed there, and hearing the rebels were reinforced to thirty five men, and we only twenty one, it was thought prudent not to attack there; and the surf running so high that we could not put to sea, we made the best of our way to Egg Harbor, where we had information that a sloop lay, loaded with lumber, tar and iron. We arrived that night a Long Beach and lay concealed until the evening of the 16th when we crossed over the main[land], and lay in the woods until the evening of the 20th waiting for the sloop to be fitted, & then proceeded up little Egg Harbor River about 20 miles to Chestnut Neck where the sloop lay, and took possession of her seven prisoners, but being very scant of provision and apprehensive we might be some time at sea, we were under the necessity of taking their parole and leaving them. – On the 24th, about ten o’clock, we got over the bar and stood for this port [New York] until ten o’clock at night, when a violent gale of wind at northwest obliged us to be put before it [grounded on sand bar], until 12 o’clock the next day, and the sloop being very deep loaded and her deck leaky we found, notwithstanding we kept the pumps going steadily, though she had three feet of water in her hold, and to free we were obliged to throw overboard twelve thousand feet of boards and about seven thousand shingles, with two pieces of cannon, and the wind shifting to the west, we arrived here yesterday afternoon.” 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 > Monmouth Whigs Crack Down on London Traders by Michael Adelberg This 1800s sketch shows an attempt to capture a small smuggling vessel. Similar actions occurred off the Monmouth shore as militia and privateers attempted to curb the “London Trade.” - November 1780 - Illegal trade between Monmouth County farmers and British-held Sandy Hook and New York began with the British Army landing at Sandy Hook in 1776. In December 1779, a Continental spy in New York observed that the city receives "regular supplies from Shrewsbury, Middletown and every other port of East Jersey." A string of Continental Army detachments stationed in Middletown and Shrewsbury Townships from July 1778 through the end of 1779 were unable to check this illegal trade. It was so pervasive it was called “the London Trade” by locals. In May 1779, Monmouth Countians petitioned for a stricter law to crack down on the illegal trade from Monmouth County to New York. They set forth: The dangerous consequences of the trade carried on with the enemy, complaining of delays, troubles and expenses captors are put to by the practice of re-levying the goods [that are] condemned and seized, and discouragements thence arising to the virtuous part of the community, encouragement thereby given to that destructive & illicit trade. That same month, a large quantity of precious silk was seized from John Holmes and Solomon Ketchum by militia under Major Elisha Walton. While the goods were almost certainly illegally brought into the county, the goods were seized and condemned without a proper jury trial. In the case of Holmes v Walton , Holmes and Ketchum prevailed in court after demonstrating that the law authorizing the seizure of their goods denied them of their right to jury trial under the state’s constitution. A prior article notes that the New Jersey Supreme Court tried 245 Monmouth County-related cases between 1776 and 1784. The majority of those cases (126) concerned charges related to crossing enemy lines or trading with the enemy. Appendix 1 of the article summarizes sixteen well-documented London Trading incidents from 1776 through the end of 1780, but this is only a small fraction of the total London Trade. The scope of illegal trade must have been enormous. In a prior study, the author documents that Monmouth County’s identifiable disaffected gained wealth during the Revolution at a greater rate than the general population. See table 13a . This demonstrates that London Trading, even with the risks it created, was more profitable than selling the same goods legally. It was inevitable that Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) would seek to crack down on the pervasive illegal trade. David Forman Proposes Campaign against London Traders In October 1780, Colonel David Forman wrote Governor William Livingston about the arrest of a London Trader named Foster who he had examined with Magistrate John Longstreet of Shrewsbury Township. Forman had visited the shore multiple times and was confident that he understood the shore region. He would boast to the captured London Trader Davies Fulsome in 1783 that, "he knows every part of it [the shore]." Forman then wrote of the imminent arrest of shore residents involved in the illegal trade: I have obtained a warrant to have the traders there enumerated taken up -- the men are gone off for that purpose, Mr. Longstreet says they [are] bailable & has appointed Monday next to hear & do suppose [he will allow] bale for as many of them as can find security, it appears to me so happy an opportunity of giving a very serious check to the accursed traders. Forman went on to describe the benefits of a second campaign to impound the goods of shore residents (the first campaign took 160 livestock in June): Think this will be the critical season to give a wound to the trade with New York, and so favourable an opportunity offering of securing a number of traders that I do think it highly worthy of your immediate attention, both as to keeping them confined until they are tryed, and to fall on some way to immediately remove all articles of trade from off the lines. You will observe by Foster's testimony [that] a sloop load of Indian corn has already gone to market, a few days and all will be gone - nothing but an immediate exertion can prevent it. In Shrewsbury they have or have had a large quantity of cheese, pork & corn - beef & pork is dayly driven down the back roads to be shipped off. Forman proposed confining the London Traders “all be confined until tryal - there being confined will I suppose strike a terror into others." However, trading with the enemy was a misdemeanor; so confining London Traders without offering bail was contrary to custom and, arguably, contrary to law. Forman explained that a draconian prosecution was needed to counter the high prices paid in New York as “these temptations are too much for the weak Whigs to withstand -- Tories want no temptation.” Finally, Forman discussed the military weakness of the shore region: “At present there are no guards south of Middletown to prevent a free trade - when I say no guard, I would understand it to be no guard that attempts to mount on the sea shore." He noted eighteen State Troop s deployed at Tinton Falls and the rest at Middletown, "by which means Shrewsbury is left open" He accused the remnants of Nathaniel Bowman’s command at Manasquan of colluding with London Traders: "evidence makes them traytors [sic], therefore only serve to make up the number of Continental pick pockets." Given this weakness, Forman called for better supporting Captain Abraham Wooley’s “small volunteer scout made up of lads from this neighbourhood," but the Shrewsbury militia was wracked with delinquency. Therefore, Forman called for "a party of horse” to “make an excursion along shoar [sic] & destroy all small boats and at the same time seize all provisions.” He suggested “that business would require 100 horsemen, they could be raised in twenty four hours after the alarm was raised." Forman’s letter was augmented by a petition from Monmouth County to the legislature about: The many evil consequences flowing from the illicit trade carrying on with the enemy and the insufficiency of the laws as they now stand for preventing the same, by reason of the difficulty of convicting the persons engaged therein or intending to go into the enemy's lines while upon the shores, and by reason of the great disproportion between the penalty of the crime and the great profits arising from the said trade. The petitioners called for a law “authorizing retaliation upon the disaffected… and also for punishing persons convicted of carrying provisions to the enemy with death, confiscation of property and banishment of their wives & children.” A second petition followed discussing "the defects of the laws preventing illicit trade with the enemy.” Forman and his allies had assembled a vigilante society, the Association for Retaliation , which had been denounced by the legislature ; they were apparently seeking legalized retaliation against London Traders. Crackdown on Monmouth County’s London Traders On November 25, the New Jersey Assembly acted based on: Information received that large quantities of provisions are collecting near the lines in the townships of Shrewsbury and Middletown, for the purpose of supplying enemies of the United States, and that provisions are daily conveyed from the said lines to the garrison at New York; and as the passing of a law to restrain this pernicious practice will take up more time than the present exigency can admit of; therefore, Resolved. The Assembly ordered Major Elisha Walton to call up 100 militia to impound the goods of shore residents "as speedily as possible... [and] remove every article of provision or supply that can be spared from the necessities of the inhabitants." The order passed the Assembly 18-8 with support of Monmouth delegates - Thomas Seabrook, Thomas Henderson, and Nathaniel Scudder. Two days later, the Legislative Council followed. It considered “that large quantities of provisions are collecting on or near the enemy lines in the townships of Shrewsbury and Middletown for the purposes of supplying enemies of the United States.” The Council noted that “passing a law to restrain and prevent this pernicious practice will take up more time than the present exigency can admit of." Therefore, the Council: "Resolved, Major Elisha Walton to call out 100 mounted men" to remove "every article of provision and supply that can be spared from the necessities of the inhabitants." The Legislature’s interest in London Trading in Monmouth County was further stoked by a report published in the New Jersey Gazette on November 29: A number of persons long suspected of carrying on an illicit trade and dangerous correspondence with the enemy (by way of Shrewsbury) and depreciating our money, were apprehended. On their examination by the President and Vice President [of the Continental Congress], invoices of goods were brought from New York, to a great amount, rates of depreciation, the routes and stages to the sea shore &c. were found upon them. It appeared also, that by these means, persons were conveyed privately to New York. The report also discussed “a new scene of villainy, in carrying lumber to New York” and mentioned the same Continental soldiers at Manasquan that David Forman complained of a month earlier: The following persons were committed, viz. Patrick Garvey, an assistant apothecary in the Continental service, who owns part of a boat employed at Squan and New York; Samuel Clark, living near Princeton, who long followed this trade; Joshua Bunting, whose house was one of the stages; Joseph Cummins, merchant of this city; and Joseph Griswold, partner with Clark; and Joseph Stansbury, deeply concerned in the lumber business. On December 5, the Council unanimously passed a new and stricter law against London trading. Among other provisions, the law made second conviction for trading with the enemy a capital offense. Unfortunately, there are no documents that record the goods impounded by Major Walton and his men, but there is evidence that he made many arrests. The Monmouth Court of Quarterly Sessions compiled a document titled "A List of Persons Taken for Trading" that shows that at least 29 men were arrested by Walton. It includes men "taken in Monmouth" on December 4 and 12. Eight men were taken on December 12; the men were released on £50 bond. Sixteen more men were "taken in Monmouth" on December 4; they “made their escape from the constables." Most of the arrested men, based on last names (Crammer, Ridgeway, Southard) were from largely disaffected Dover and Stafford Townships. Six men were listed as being from Burlington County. Thirteen more men are not assigned a date of arrest, but have last names—Parker, Jackson, West—most common in Shrewsbury Township. Five of these men are specifically listed as taken “at Henry Wardell’s”—also a Shrewsbury family name. It is possible that Walton brought in additional men after this document was compiled. The men arrested by Walton were brought before a Court of Oyer and Terminer that convened in Monmouth County starting on December 12. The court ran until February 1. The exceptional length of the court was driven by 175 people charged with misdemeanors—nearly double of the number of people charged at the prior three courts of Oyer and Terminer. It can be safely assumed that the majority of misdemeanor charges concerned illegal trading or traveling behind enemy lines without a passport. Two men, John Havens and Levi Conrow, were found guilty of helping enemy soldiers escape to New York—not London Trading, but an act that required cooperation with London Traders. London Trading Continues after the Crackdown The crackdown on London Trading consisted of three actions: 1.) Walton’s campaign against shore residents, 2.) a new law against London Trading, and 3.) the extraordinary number of people charged at the December-February Court of Oyer and Terminer. Considerable as these actions were, there is no reason to think they had a lasting impact on London Trading. In the midst of the crackdown, near Toms River, Lt. Joshua Studson was shot and killed while attempting to take a London Trading vessel. Efforts to tame London Trading continued. Appendix 2 documents fourteen London Trading incidents that occurred from January 1781 and 1782. In 1781, New York Loyalist William Smith wrote of New Jersey’s London Traders, "they sent over everything they could spare to our market." In May 1782, George Washington wrote Governor Livingston about the “open intercourse between the City of New York and the County of Monmouth." In July 1782, Norwich Packet reported: Wagons have been constructed last winter at Shrewsbury by an ingenious mechanic with false bottoms and double sides, forming vacancies capable of containing seven or eight hundred pounds worth of such articles as are commonly brought hither; others pack up a water barrel full of goods, head it up, and enclose it within a hogshead of cyder. In January 1783, William Churchill Houston, a New Jersey Delegate in the Continental Congress, wrote that "the exertions of this State to prevent a convulsive trade with the enemy are very spirited and laudable, though they cannot prevail to break up the intercourse totally.” London Trading only ceased when the British quit New York. Related Historic Site : New Jersey Maritime Museum Appendix: Documented London Trading Incidents, 1776-1779, Table 13b Documented London Trading Incidents, 1781-1782, Table 13c Sources : Anonymous Letter, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 72, item 59, vol. 2, #185-7; Petition in The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, May 13 and May 20, 1780, p 187-195; David Forman to William Livingston, New York Public Library, William Livingston Papers, vol. 3, pp. 55-58; Monmouth County Archives, Court of Quarterly Sessions, folder: 1780; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 21-25, 1780, p 36-42; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 21-25, 1780, p 36-42; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1780) p23, 27; Pennsylvania Gazette, November 29, 1780 (CD-ROM at the David Library, #28517); Asher Holmes to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 13, December 12, 1780; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - December 1780; William Smith quoted in Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, p 225 note; Ruth M. Keesey, "New Jersey Legislation Concerning Loyalists," Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 79 (1961), pp. 86-7; List of Traders, Monmouth Court of Quarterly Sessions, Monmouth County Archives; George Washington to William Livingston, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw240250)) ; Norwich Packet, July 11, 1782; William Churchill Houston to Robert Morris, The Papers of Robert Morris (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973) vol. 7, p 385; Pennsylvania Journal, August 13, 1777; John Bakeless, Turncoats, Traitors and Heroes, (New York: DaCapo, 1998) p 176; Monmouth Court of Common Pleas, undated, Statement of John Robard, 1778; Monmouth County Archives, Common Pleas (Loose); National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Wilson Hunt of KY, www.fold3.com/image/#24273269 ; Catalog of the Exhibition: Joshua Huddy and the American Revolution, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2004; John Purtle and John Burkenot, Confession -- Monmouth County Archives, Court of Quarterly Sessions, folder: 1779; Richard Howell to Lord Stirling, New York Historical Society, William Alexander Papers, vol. 1, p. 251; Abraham Clark to John Jay, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 93, item 78, vol. 5, #287-9, 297; Munn, David, Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey, (Trenton: Bureau of Geology and Topography, New Jersey Geological Survey, 1976) p 135; Summons, Monmouth Court of Common Pleas, Signed by Attorney William Patterson; Court Clerk Kenneth Anderson -- Monmouth County Archives, Loose Common Pleas; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Van Pelt; Monmouth Court of Common Pleas, July 9, 1780, Monmouth County Archives, Loose Common Pleas; White’s death described in William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 78; Ramsey’s case is documented in Monmouth County Archives, Loose Common Pleas; Brewer v Shepherd, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #4818; Moffat’s capture is in 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) pp. 95-7; Moffat’s captures reported in New Jersey Gazette, August 8, 1781, contained in Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 5, p 279; New Jersey Supreme Court case, August 26, 1781, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #7595; Deposition taken before Justice of the Peace Peter Covenhoven at Middletown, Monmouth County Archives, Court of Quarterly Sessions, folder: 1782; Wright v Hall, Monmouth County Archives, Loose Common Pleas; Ramsay v Chadwick, Monmouth County Archives, Loose Common Pleas; Statement of William Tapscott, Justice of the Peace, Monmouth County Archives, The William Livingston Era: Documents of the American Revolution, exhibit at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2003; Monmouth County Court of Oyer & Terminer, "the State vs. Rosina Throckmorton - indicted, misdemeanor" -- Private Correspondence: Joseph Dangler; Testimony of Davies Fulsome, Library of Congress, Revolutionary War Prize Cases, M162, reel 1, cases 91-2, David Forman v. Nathan Jackson. 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 > Shore Neighborhoods Support Loyalists by Michael Adelberg In between privateering villages that supported the Revolution, large stretches of the Jersey shore were thinly-populated and largely disaffected from the Revolution. - January 1779 - In 1778, the New Jersey shoreline divided into adversarial camps. On one side, men took to sea to prey on vulnerable British/Loyalist ships , and muster into militia companies that attempted to impose order on locals who were disaffected from the new government. On the other side were “disaffecteds” who resisted militia service and supported Loyalist insurrections since the start of the war. The more violent of these men formed into outlaw gangs often called Pine Robbers . In between the two camps were opportunistic “trimmers,” a reference to trimming sails on a ship based on whichever way the wind was blowing. Continued Disaffect on the Monmouth Shore On January 25, 1779, Captain Andrew Brown of the Dover Township militia, stationed at Toms River, wrote about a Pine Robber gang that had the support of people on the shore: I would hope if any Continental troops should be stationed in Monmouth, you should move it to the commanding officer to station some of them at this place, as it might be advantageous to themselves and very serviceable in having an awe on a set of vagabonds that lurks about here and is too much countenanced by some of the inhabitants. Prominent Loyalists in New York were well aware of this disaffected population. In early 1779, New Jersey’s last Royal Governor, William Franklin, predicted that the New Jersey shore was "ready to rise" if the British would create a permanent base on the Shrewsbury shore. Similarly, the prominent Loyalist Andrew Elliot wrote about the lumber trade with the New Jersey shore: "The refugees [are] all employed in cutting wood on rebel lands by which they make money and help keep the town [New York] well supplied." A third prominent Loyalist, William Smith, wrote of disaffected on the Monmouth shore: “The people of Monmouth wish it to promote a rising and desertions.” He claimed that 60 would-be Loyalists were recently taken by Continental forces due to a lack of British support (this number is likely exaggerated). Various incidents illustrate that much of the shore region was disaffected. On November 4, William Burke, wrote the Continental Congress about his privateer, beached near Egg Harbor: I was cast away in the ship Henry from Boston last Thursday at Brigantine Beach. I landed yesterday to find the majority of people have inclined to plunder. There are no leading men amongst them and I am obliged to keep my own people under arms day & night. Burke continued, “I have no money and cannot get assistance... the public stores are in danger of being plundered." Burke was seeking help when he wrote this letter. The fate of the Henry is unknown. That same month, Captain Patrick Ferguson proposed an ambitious one-week raid of New Jersey to Henry Clinton, the commanding British general in New York. Ferguson had spent two weeks around Egg Harbor during October 1778 and had firsthand experience with shore residents. His proposed campaign included attacks on "the piratical town of Barnegat,” “that very rebel coast to Toms River," and "the pirates at Squan Inlet & Shark River.” But Ferguson also expected that his mounted Loyalists would be greeted by shore residents who had “indifference” and “disgust” for the rebel government. Ferguson’s plan was never implemented. In early 1780, a small Loyalist privateer, manned of Loyalist refugees in New York, made at least two successful trips along the Jersey shore. They embarked in a whaleboat (long rowboat) named Lewistown Revenge with a swivel gun in the bow. The Loyalist New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury reported twice in March on its voyages. It reported in greater detail on the first trip: They passed Sandy Hook and proceeded to Egg Harbour where they found three privateers ready for sea and a 12 gun schooner laden with lumber. Their number being inadequate for the force collected there, they pretended to be rebels and spent an evening with those who were really such in a most social manner. The Loyalists then proceeded to Delaware Bay where "they captured a loaded vessel" and a second vessel. They captured and paroled "between fifty and sixty rebel prisoners." One of their prizes was lost at Cape May, the other was taken back to Sandy Hook. A second voyage on the Jersey shore yielded another prize. In order for a rowboat to traverse the Jersey shore twice without attack, the men on the boat must have had allies along the way with fresh water, food, and shelter. This assertion is supported by an April 7 letter Colonel Samuel Forman to Governor William Livingston in which Forman, commanding the militia from present-day Ocean County, complained about resurgent disaffection. “The lower part of the county is in continual possession of the enemy.” Forman further wrote that Loyalists “march below in security in companies of 40 or 60 in number.” Many of the shore’s few patriots were captured. He concluded: “The county is now in a worse state than it was in the year 1776 when they layed [sic] down arms." A May 1780 petition from the leaders of Toms River offered the same sentiments: The enemies of the United States, as well as those without the lines and those more secret ones within, do carry on a clandestine trade contrary to the laws of this State & to the great detriment of the present cause and to the inhabitants of Toms River, [who] have been frequently threatened to be plundered & their houses laid to ashes; the militia not being very numerous and hard to be called together. The petitioners called for the state to finance a 30-man state troop guard at Toms River to support the local militia. Signers included the village’s militia officers: Maj. John Cook, Capt. Samuel Bigelow, Lt. Joshua Studson, Capt. Andrew Brown, and Lt. Ephraim Jenkins, as well as the village magistrate, Abiel Aiken. Loyalist Actions on the Shore In May, the Loyalist partisan, James Moody, landed in Stafford Township, a year after co-leading a raid that razed the village of Tinton Falls 30 miles to the north. He was hoping to cross the state and kidnap Governor Livingston. The plot was never executed, but Moody spent several days on the shore in safety. Moody would later write that he "was obliged to put his life in the hands of the Loyalists” and “was never disappointed by any of them." Three other Loyalist partisans entered New Jersey’s interior through the Monmouth shoreline. The New York Packet reported that on June 19: Three spies [William Hutchinson, John Clawson, Lewis Lacey] and horse thieves were hanged at Headquarters near Morristown; they were taken in Monmouth County by some of our militia. The gang consisted of five, one was killed, and another made his escape. They were harbored by a Quaker, who is now in custody. To the north, the stretches of the Shrewsbury Township shore were similarly in the hands of the disaffected. On September 30, Daniel Hendrickson, commanding the Shrewsbury militia, petitioned the New Jersey Assembly: Setting forth that neither taxes nor militia fines can be collected in some places within limits of his regiment, by reason of the contiguity with the lines of the enemy, and praying that provision be made by the Legislature for furnishing officers appointed to collect taxes or militia fines with a guard for their protection. The Assembly ordered Hendrickson to call out his regiment to protect the tax and fine collectors. One of Hendrickson’s militiamen, twice fined for delinquency, was Jesse Havens. He was indicted by the New Jersey Supreme Court three times in 1780. Two of the indictments were for trading illegally with New York, the third was because he "voluntarily and maliciously” did “harbor, counsel and feed a certain James Owens, Noah Morris, John Barton, Benjamin Lewis, knowing these to be enemies of the United States." The disaffection of the Monmouth shore neighborhoods is discussed in a handful of Revolutionary War veteran’s pension applications as well. For example, John McBride, who served in Pulaski’s Legion when it was harassed in its march through Stafford Township in October 1778, recalled serving at Cedar Creek (at the southern tip of Monmouth County) "where there were many Tories and disaffected” in 1780. He "marched down to Cedar Bridge in search of Col. Tye who had a party of Negroes and runaways under him and were plundering the inhabitants." The reference to Tye is wrong but there was a mixed-race Pine Robber gang in the area led by William Davenport—it clashed with militia at Forked River in 1782. John Thomas of Egg Harbor noted the difficulty of serving along the shore, “the country along the sea coast at that time was so thinly inhabited that when the militia were away the whole country was left almost defenceless.” Thomas noted that the prizes of American privateers attracted British and Loyalist counter-attacks, supported by local Loyalists: They frequently landed from their boats and burnt the houses of men who were active in the Revolution, stole their cattle and sheep, burnt their hay barns &c and committed other depredations upon the property along Shore. The Refugees had become very troublesome also. In 1781, Pine Robber gangs led by Wiliam Davenport and John Bacon dominated stretches of the lower Monmouth shore with the assistance of disaffected residents. They were economically tied to the British in New York who paid specie for lumber and foodstuffs brought from New Jersey. Historian Harry Ward noted that these same neighborhoods operated "a sort of underground railroad" for British and German prisoners escaping to New York. In April 1782, however, following the hanging of Monmouth County’s Joshua Huddy, the British drydocked the Loyalist vessels that were the connective tissue between New York and the disaffected stretches of the shore. With their shipping cut off, some shore neighborhoods quickly fell in line. In May, Colonel David Forman wrote of his trip down the formerly dangerous Shrewsbury shoreline: Yesterday, I was all through Shrewsbury - so great a change I never saw - the struggle now is who shall tender the greatest submission. The Tories of that country absolutely give up every idea of continuance of the war - they go so far as to expect an immediate withdrawing of all the [British] troops from New York. Whether these shore residents were true Tories, as Forman suggested, or merely trimmers, who now trimmed their sails to the Continental cause, is an open question. Related Historic Site : New Jersey Maritime Museum Sources : Andrew Brown to Asher Holmes in David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 191; Andrew Brown to Asher Holmes, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 5, folder 9; William Franklin’s quote is in Thomas Fleming, The Forgotten Victory: The Battle for New Jersey - 1780 (New York: Reader's Digest Press, 1973) p 30; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) p 93; William Burke to John Jay, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I78, Misc Letters to Congress, v 3, p 407; Zuriel Waterman, Rhode Islanders Record the Revolution: the Journals of William Humphrey and Zuriel Waterman (Providence: Rhode Island Publications Society, 1984) pp. 73-7; Elliott’s letter is in B. F. Stevens, ed., Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to America, 1773–1783, [25 vols., London, 1889–1898], vol. 1, #115; Patrick Ferguson to Henry Clinton, Clements Library, U Michigan, Henry Clinton Papers, November 15, 1779; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 4, p 251; New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, March 27, 1780; James Moody, Lieut. James Moody's Narrative of His Exertions and Sufferings in the Cause of Government, Since the Year 1776 (Gale - ECCO, 2010) pp. 13-4, 53-4; Theodore Sedgwick, Memoir of William Livingston (New York: J & J Harper, 1833) p 231; New York Packet article printed in William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 407; William Nelson, Austin Scott, et al., ed., New Jersey Archives (Newark, Somerville, and Trenton, New Jersey: 1901-1917) vol. 4, p 465; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of William McBride of NJ, National Archives, p3-4, 20-2; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 30, 1780, p 279; Petition, Monmouth County Historical Association, Haskell Collection, box 1, folder 22; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #35907; National Archives, John Thomas, R.10501, State of New Jersey, Gloucester County; Harry Ward, Between the Lines, (Westport, CT: Preager, 2002) pp. 110-1; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John McBride of Middlesex Co, www.fold3.com/image/#26202858 ; Samuel Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, May 20, 1781; Samuel Forman to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, p 326; Stafford petition is in Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 328, 356 note; David Forman to Elias Boudinot, Pennsylvania History Society, Gratz Collection, case 1, box 21, Nathaniel Scudder. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Monmouth Loyalists Emigrate to Canada by Michael Adelberg The eastern provinces of Canada were carved up on land grant maps like this one. Dozens of Monmouth County families emigrated to Canada. Even with free land, life was hard when they arrived. - September 1782 - Throughout the Revolutionary War, New York City was home to thousands of Loyalist refugees. Much of the time, the city was overcrowded; food and firewood shortages were common. While Loyalists sided with the British and performed military activities with British regulars, the relationship was an uneasy one. The British military was intensely hierarchical and harsh. American Loyalists, at least by British standards, were ill-disciplined. The British decision to court-martial Richard Lippincott in May 1782 for hanging Joshua Huddy angered Loyalists, as did other conciliatory gestures by the British. Whatever the resentments, Loyalists backed the losing side in the war—and were therefore dependent on British largesse. In many cases, Loyalists who tried going home were unwelcome and met with violence. Canada was sparsely settled and the British were eager to relocate loyal English families as a counterweight to the French population. Guy Carleton, the former Governor-General of Canada and British Commander in Chief at New York, was well positioned to steer Loyalists there. Monmouth Loyalists Head to Canada Documentation of Loyalist resettlement is plentiful but sometimes confusing. There are many partially overlapping lists of Loyalists bound for or settled in Canada, but some Loyalists who are known to have ended up in Canada are absent from these lists. African American Loyalists were compiled in separate lists and are the subject of a different article . With these data limitations in mind, it appears that the first Monmouth Countians resettled in Canada were part of a group of 600 Loyalists that left for Nova Scotia on September 20, 1782. Seven probable Monmouth County Loyalist families were among them, including Widow Buckalew (with two children) and Conradt Hendricks Freehold Loyalist with his wife and six children. Another group of 432 Loyalist refugees, the "Bay of Fundy Adventurers," left for New Brunswick, Canada on October 19. The effort to resettle Loyalists grew more intense in early 1783. The New Jersey Gazette wrote on March 12 about "recent intelligence from New York” detailing “that the Provincial Corps [Loyalist military units] are to be immediately disbanded." British authorities prepared lists of the Loyalists they were supporting. One list, "Refugees from the Province of New Jersey… for support from 1 January to 31 March, 1783," included 79 New Jersey families of which 17 were probably from Monmouth County including the families of former County Collector Samuel Osborne, former Judge John Wardell, former militia colonel George Taylor, and widow Catherine Reading (wife of a Middletown Loyalist partisan killed on Staten Island in 1781). Loyalist newspapers in New York began running glowing accounts of Canada and encouraging emigration. The advertisement excerpted below about Prince Edward Island (published on March 12 in the Royal Gazette ) was written to specifically appeal to New Jerseyans. Prince Edward Island was called "the most eligible Country for you to repair to of any we know between this and New Jersey.” The advertisement discussed the island’s virtues: The soil is good, it is well wooded, and free from rocks. The climate so good that fevers and agues unknown. Water everywhere is excellent. The government is mild, with but very few taxes.... Before we came here, we were told, as perhaps you may be, the worst things possible of this country but we have found the reverse to be true. Seven officers from the King's Rangers signed the advertisement, including three Monmouth Countians, Lieutenant John Throckmorton, Ensign John Robins, and Ensign Joseph Beers. Efforts were made to emigrate military units and their families together, but the decision to emigrate was voluntary. Some Loyalists had good reason not to leave when requested—perhaps they needed more time to sell possessions, settle business, or return to New Jersey to say goodbye to family. Ships taking some New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalist soldiers) and their families left on April 27 for New Brunswick. It appears that 24 additional Monmouth County families accompanied them that day, including the families of Rhoda Pew (whose husband was murdered in Monmouth County) and William Dillon (a Loyalist boatman from Toms River who would eventually return to New Jersey). The once-feared Associated Loyalists split up. Roughly 400 Loyalists emigrated to Port Roseway in April 1783. But they did so with trepidation, worrying over the "suffering they must endure" as the British offered only six months of provisions. They did not believe they could be self-sustaining in that time. In January 1784, 220 men, women and children remained at Port Roseway. Fifteen of those families were probably Monmouth County families including those headed by David Thomson, James Thomson, and John Thomson—an extended family that included a number of London Traders. Loyalist historian, Janice Potter-MacKinnon, wrote of another 300 Associated Loyalists who went to Sorel, Quebec in July and August 1783. She notes that they were from New York and New Jersey and one fourth were of Dutch descent. One of those Loyalists was Joseph Allen, a mill owner in Dover Township before the war, who would become a successful owner of several mills in Canada. While some New Jersey Volunteers had already left for Canada, it appears that the largest tranche--more than 600 men, women and children—emigrated to New Brunswick on July 8 along with "4 companies of free Black Refugees." Elisha Lawrence of Upper Freehold (former Lt. Colonel in the New Jersey Volunteers ) and John Antill (former Major) left for Canada on April 17 to scout for a large-scale emigration site. They returned to New York and brought off the 600 Loyalists in July. But Lawrence ran afoul of the Royal Governor who complained to General Carleton of Lawrence’s and Antill’s “unreasonable demands and illiberal ideas.” Additional New Jersey Volunteers continued to emigrate. A September 5 report, "Embarkation Return of Troops to Settle in Nova Scotia" included information on 59 New Jersey Volunteers settled there. “Staging for embarkation” were another 153 men, 67 women, 98 children and 12 servants from the 1st Battalion, and 134 men, 46 women, 67 children and 25 servants from the 2nd Battalion. Personal Accounts Regarding Emigrating to Canada Unfortunately, there are no surviving diaries or personal letters from Monmouth County Loyalists during their emigration. But a good sense for the journey is provided in the diary of New York Loyalist, Sarah Scofield Frost. She left on the ship, Two Friends , with 250 other emigres on her ship and 2,000 in total; on board with her, "many of the voyagers were or had been members of the New Jersey Volunteers." They boarded their ships June 8, 1783, bound for resettlement near St. John. The ships left Manhattan on June 9 but were detained by bad weather for a week at Staten Island and then detained again near Sandy Hook on June 15. She wrote, "We came to anchor about six miles from Sandy Hook Light House... This evening, we had a terrible storm, and hail stones fell as big as once balls." They sailed again on June 16 but were delayed for several hours as each of the fourteen heavily loaded ships (carrying 2,000 Loyalists) had to clear the Hook one at a time. During this time, Two Friends sat over the fertile fishing banks off Sandy Hook. Frost wrote that "the men are fishing for mackerel... It is the handsomest fish I beheld." After ten days at sea, the convoy arrived at St. John. The Loyalists had to live in tents and because it took time to build cabins for themselves; most spent the next winter in those same tents. Frost matter-of-factly wrote: Many of the women were unaccustomed to such living and this was made more serious by the care of the children, many of them being of tender years. Living in tents with snow at the time being six feet or more in depth caused much suffering. Two Monmouth County Loyalists wrote letters regarding emigrating to Canada. John Morris (formerly of Manasquan) commanded the 2nd Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers through the first half of the war before retiring on a half-pay pension due to disability. In August 1783, he wrote Guy Carleton to request reinstatement into the Army and reassignment to Quebec. It is unknown if his request was granted. Richard Robins (formerly of Upper Freehold) was a leader in December 1776 Loyalist insurrection. He wrote Carleton a memorial on his service in September 1783: “Your memorialist was called upon by Sir William Howe to furnish the Army with a number of wagons and horses, which your memorialist did." Robins suffered for his loyalty, writing that he was "confined in close gaol for eighteen months & upwards" and had his £1000 estate confiscated. He wrote that "has been drove from his home with the loss of the remainder of his property" and was leaving for Canada in “destitute” condition. He asked for compensation. The British created a process for Loyalist compensation in 1787, but Robins was dead—dying on Prince Edward Island in 1784. Monmouth County Loyalists Settle in Canada Canadian records from 1784-1786 provide information on Monmouth County Loyalists during the first years in Canada. A large number of the 2nd Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers had settled together in New Brunswick. A “List of Volunteers” compiled on July 14, 1784 (eight years after 60 Shrewsbury Loyalists marched to Sandy Hook to establish the group) includes 27 likely Monmouth Countians. Four were junior officers who served continuously through the war (Ensign Lewis Thomson, Lieutenant John Combs, Lieutenant Cornelius Thomson, and Ensign John Leonard). The 1st Regiment of the Kings Rangers was established halfway through the year, made up partially of Monmouth Countians who tired of the New Jersey Volunteers. They settled in Nova Scotia. A June 12, 1784 roll lists 85 household heads including eleven probable Monmouth County families: Lieutenant John Throckmorton (with wife and 2 two servants, 500 acres), Ensign John Robins (single, 500 acres), Ensign Joseph Beers (with wife, child, servant, 500 acres), Sergeant Alexander Campbell (with wife and child), 200 acres), Privates Peter Rose, Matthew Griggs, Thomas Smith, John Croxen, John Jackson, Daniel Wall, William Armstrong (all single with 100 acres each). Ward Chipman, the Muster Master for the Canadian Maritime Provinces, compiled rolls of “disbanded” American officers and widows of officers in his provinces. Ten likely Monmouth Countians are listed: John Horner, Lydia Horner, Anthony Woodward, Anthony Woodward Jr., Richard Lawrence, Michael Wardell (at Bellevue in Beaver Harbor, July 1, 1784); John Leonard (at Digby, May 29, 1784); John Taylor (1st NJ Volunteers), John Williams (at Gulliver's Hole, St. Mary's Bay, and Sissiboo, June 6, 1784); John Throckmorton (“Preparing to settle in the Island of Saint John” on August 12, 1784). There are other records of land grants being made to Loyalists in 1784. At least four more prominent Monmouth County Loyalists received significant grants of land. Nova Scotia: Captain Samuel Leonard, New Jersey Volunteers, 700 acres (October 8) and Major Thomas Leonard, 1000 acres (October 22); Cape Breton Island: Captain Thomas Crowell, 500 acres (March 15) and Major John Antill, 1,000 acres (November 28). An undated Canadian report, "List of Provincial Officers that Served in North America During the Late War" included the following probable Monmouth Countians as active: 1st Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers - Captains John Taylor, Samuel Leonard; Lieutenants John Thomson, John Lawrence, James Britton, Henry Britton, Ensigns John Woodward, Joseph Britton, Ozias Ansley, Reuben Hankinson; 2nd Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers - Lieutenant Cornelius Thomson, Ensigns Robert Morris, John Leonard; Roger's Rangers - Lieutenant John Throckmorton, Ensign Joseph Beers, John Robins. A list of retired officers on half-pay included: Lt. Colonels John Morris, Elisha Lawrence; Majors John Antill, Thomas Leonard; Captains John Longstreet, Robert Morris, Lieutenants John Throckmorton, Thomas Okerson; Ensign John Robins. Retired or not, Elisha Lawrence was entrusted by the British to make land grants to New Jersey Volunteers under his leadership. He granted 36 Loyalists 300 acres each on July 2, 1785. A year later, at St. John, Jonathan Odell (formerly of New Jersey) made 613 land grants in New Brunswick. Dozens of possible Monmouth Countians were among these grantees including Catherine Reading. Canada was not a frozen wasteland. But it was cold, the land was untamed, and support from the British fell short of expectations. The New Jersey emigres were not frontiersmen; most farmed land that had been cleared for decades. During the war, most lived on British rations or food purchased at New York City markets. Given all of this, there should be no doubt that while a few Loyalists prospered (Joseph Allen soon owned several mills and a great deal of land in Quebec), most found life in Canada, particularly in the early years, very difficult. Related Historic Site : United Empire Loyalists Heritage Centre (Ontario) Sources : List of Loyalists, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Colonial Office, CO 5, v97, #427; Loyalists Evacuated from New York to New Brunswick, (David Bell, Early Loyalist St. John, Fredericton, NB: New Ireland Press, 1983), compiled by Edward Kipp; Advertisement in Royal Gazette in Great Britain, Public Record Office, Colonial Office, Class 226, vol 9, folio 5-6; List of Provincial Officers, Great Britain Public Record Office, T64/23; Joseph Allen’s bio, United Empire Loyalists, Loyal Directory: http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Info ; United Empire Loyalists, Loyal Directory: http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Info ; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; List of Refugees from the Province of New Jersey, David Library, British HQ Papers, Carleton Papers, #7258; David Bell, American Loyalists to New Brunswick: Passenger Lists (Formac, 2015); Return of the Port Roseway Associated Loyalists, www.buckingham-press.com/project ; Associated Loyalists in Report on Canadian Archives (Ottawa: S.E. Dawson, 1894) p403; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 66, item 53, #276-94. Library of Congress, Peter Force Collection, series 7C, box 24, folder 3, 53:281-7; Notice, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #7575; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Diary of Sarah Scofield Frost, Migration by Ship/United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada, www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Ships/Loylalist-Ships.php; Captain John Hatfield : A Genealogy of the Descendants of Captain John Hatfield, Loyalist (New York: Genealogical Publishing Co, 1943) p10; Janice Potter-MacKinnon, While the Women Only Wept: Loyalist Refugee Women Eastern Ontario (Montreal: MacGill U.P., 1993) p 135-6; United Empire Loyalists, Loyal Directory: http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Info ; Governor Parr to Guy Carleton in Alfred Jones, “Letter of David Colden, Loyalist, 1783”, American Historical Review, October 1919, vol. 25, p81 n5; John Morris to Guy Carleton, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #8799; Return of Troops to Settle in Nova Scotia. Great Britain Public Record Office, WO 36/3, p 96; Richard Robins, Report on American Manuscripts, Library of Congress, v4, p336; Richard Robins to Guy Carleton, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #9022; Sketch of the Movement of the Troops, Clements Library, U Michigan, MacKenzie Papers, October 1783; Return of Loyalists Gone from New York to Nova Scotia, Great Britain Public Record Office, WO 36/3, p 97; Digitized Manuscripts: Loyalists in the Maritimes – Database: Ward Chipman, Muster Master ( http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/loyalists/loyalists-ward-chipman/pages/search.aspx ); Muster Roll of the King’s Rangers, 1784, www.islandregister.com/kingsrangers/html ; Muster Roll, King's Rangers, Capt Samuel Hayden, June 24, 1784, www.islandregister.com/kingsrangers/html ; 2nd Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, List of Volunteers, Collections of the New Brunswick Museum, folder 75, box 9; Nova Scotia Archives, Land Papers, http://www.novascotia.ca/nsarm/virtual/landpapers/archives.asp?ID=183&Doc=memorial&Page=201100512 ; List of Grantees, We Lived: A Genealogical Newsletter of New Brunswick Sources: http://freepages.geneaology.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cannbfam/SJ.pdf ; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File, unpublished at the Monmouth County Historical Association. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Monmouth County's Petitions Against Independence by Michael Adelberg The Declaration of Independence forced Americans to take sides. In the month prior to the Declaration, Monmouth Countians authored and signed nine petitions against independence. - June 1776 - By June 1776, Americans were hotly debating whether or not to declare independence from Great Britain. While a consensus for independence was emerging in large parts of the Thirteen Colonies, there were regions where significant minorities, and even local majorities, opposed independence. Monmouth County was one of those regions. In a time period before public polling, the best tool available for sensing public opinion were petitions to the state legislature (in June 1776, New Jersey’s legislature was the Provincial Congress). Different records of the Provincial Congress convey slightly different totals, but the most comprehensive source suggests that Monmouth Countians authored roughly half of New Jersey’s anti-independence petitions that were sent to the Provincial Congress. We can infer that the question of independence was well-settled in the counties that sent zero petitions. The large number of Monmouth County petitions suggests a deeply divided population in which individuals felt compelled to go on record with their opinions. In total, it appears that Monmouth Countians authored seventeen petitions to the Provincial Congress over a five week period—eight favoring independence and nine opposed. The sentiment of these petitions by township is as follows: Freehold Pro-Independence: 2 / Anti-Independence: 0 Middletown Pro-Independence: 3 / Anti: 4 Shrewsbury Pro-Independence: 2 / Anti: 4 Upper Freehold Pro-Independence: 1 / Anti: 1 Dover & Stafford Pro-Independence: 0 / Anti: 0 Unfortunately, the contents of most of these petitions are lost. The minutes of the Provincial Congress briefly summarizes the contents of the petitions. The brief petition summaries contain information on additional topics beyond independence. For example, a June 12 petition from Monmouth County opposing independence also asked "that none of the militia may be taken out of that county, as it lies so exposed to hostile invasion." This brief statement tells us that Monmouth Countians felt vulnerable to being on the front lines of the expected British invasion, with little to defend them but their own militia. For these petitioners, their vulnerability was a motivation to oppose independence. It appears that only one of the June 1776 anti-independence petitions still exists. In this petition, the petitioners acknowledged: "We daily experience and sincerely lament in common with our fellow inhabitants, the calamitous consequences of the present unhappy controversies with Great Britain.” However, the petitioners suggested that destruction from the coming war would outweigh any potential benefit of independence: We trust, Gentlemen, that you will have the honor, the interest, safety, and welfare of your native country too much at heart to subject this once flourishing and happy province to the reproachful and calamitous consequences of an avowed separation... We are convinced that settlements of separation and independence must not only be highly impolitic, but may be of the most dangerous and destructive consequences. The 47 petition signers are an interesting mix. Several would become Loyalists—including John Taylor—who would serve as a county commissioner for administering loyalty oaths during the Loyalist insurrections of December 1776. Two signers, Morford Taylor and John Van Mater, would flee to the British in the coming weeks. One signer, Timothy Scoby, would become a Loyalist partisan who would be sentenced to death by a Monmouth County court later in the war. Other signers, such as Revaud Kearney, would weather the war at home, but remain disaffected from the new American government. And most interesting, two of the signers, Thomas Wainwright and Hendrick Vanderveer, would become leaders in the Revolutionary movement. In 1777, when the Monmouth militia was re-organized and purged of its Loyalist-leaning officers, they would become a captain and lieutenant respectively. The Monmouth Countians who were most vocal in composing and gathering signatures for the anti-independence petitions eventually paid a price for doing so. When New Jersey’s Provincial Congress adopted a new constitution free of British control on July 2 and the Continental Congress declared independence on July 4, these men were now effectively enemies of their country. John Wardell of Shrewsbury gathered signatures for one petition. The former judge of the courts would be arrested in November 1776, appointed a commissioner for administering British loyalty oaths during the Loyalist insurrection of December, and then arrested again in 1777. The case of William Taylor, as summarized in his postwar Loyalist Compensation Application, provides an even better example of the fate of the men who led anti-independence petitions. Taylor was the son of John Taylor of Middletown, one of the county’s wealthiest men, and the county sheriff through the 1760s. Under Royal Governor William Franklin, William Taylor was the Surrogate of the Monmouth County Courts, a patronage position from which he drew a salary and prestige. As the votes for independence drew closer, Taylor "prevailed upon a great majority of the inhabitants of the Country to sign a counter petition [against independence] and William Taylor, himself, delivered them to a member of Congress." Shortly after the Declaration of Independence, Taylor was confronted and summoned to sign a Loyalty oath, which he refused to do. Taylor would lay low in Middletown for the next few months where he quietly organized a Loyalist association and waited for the right opportunity to support the British Army. His association was broken up in November and Taylor had to flee to the British at Sandy Hook ahead of a party of Monmouth County Continentals led by David Forman. Many of Taylor’s followers were captured and ultimately jailed in far-off Frederick, Maryland. Taylor became an officeholder in Royal Governor William Franklin’s government-in-exile in British-held New York City . He was captured in May 1778. Taylor moved to England at war’s end. Related Historic Site : National Archives (Washington, DC) Sources : Jones, E. Alfred. The Loyalists of New Jersey, (Newark, N. J. Historical Society, 1927) p 215. Gregory Palmer, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (Westport, Conn. and London, 1984), p 851; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) pp. 470-4; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p135-8; Larry Gerlach, Prologue to Independence: New Jersey in the Coming of the American Revolution (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1976) p 335; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) p 451; 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 1618; Monmouth County Historical Association, Articles File: "Local Facts about the American Revolution Made Public"; Jones, E. Alfred. The Loyalists of New Jersey, (Newark, N. J. Historical Society, 1927) p 241. Gregory Palmer, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (Westport, Conn. and London, 1984), p 906. Rutgers University Special Collections, Great Britain Public Record Office, Loyalist Compensation Claims, D96, AO 13/112, reel 12. 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 > Huddy's Artillery Company by Michael Adelberg Reenactors man a small iron cannon. Joshua Huddy’s Artillery Company had two smaller cannon. They missed the Battle of Germantown because transporting the cannon slowed their march. - October 1777 - In September 1777, many New Jerseyans predicted that British raids from New York and Sandy Hook would soon get much worse. That is because General John Sullivan’s August 22 raid against Staten Island would elicit retaliation from the British and Loyalists camped there. Further, the most spirited Revolutionaries in New Jersey were leaving the state en masse to help George Washington’s Army defend Philadelphia. This left New Jersey especially vulnerable; no county was more vulnerable than Monmouth County, with its long, exposed shoreline and disproportionate number of militia out-of-state. The Controversial Joshua Huddy To help provide added security along the Monmouth shore at this vulnerable moment, the State of New Jersey turned to an unlikely man—Joshua Huddy. Huddy was not from Monmouth County—he was born into a Salem County Quaker family. His pre-war life included expulsion from the Quakers for “dissolute behavior,” unpaid debts and a foreclosed estate, estrangement from his first wife, and a near-fatal boating accident in which others perished. Despite these blemishes, Huddy was a vocal supporter of the Revolution. Huddy was among the first New Jersians to be put to sea as a privateer. His first date at sea is unknown and it is also unknown if he captured any prizes. But it is known that Huddy’s vessel was taken by Captain Bridger Goodrich of the HMS Hammond in early August 1777. Huddy was taken to New York and interrogated by Mayor David Matthews during which he described his vessel: The said schooner at the time of her capture mounted six carriage guns & eight swivels and that she was commissioned by the Continental Congress to take & seize as a prize the ships, vessels & effects of the inhabitants of Great Britain. Huddy was apparently quickly exchanged and returned home, but he lost his ship. In need of a new source of income, on September 24, Huddy was commissioned to raise an artillery company of State Troops. State Troops were subject to the same command structure as New Jersey militia, but the men who joined the State Troops received bounties and served continuous enlistments (six months or one year) like the Flying Camp who augmented the Continental Army. The New Jersey Legislature put Huddy “under the particular direction of Brigadier General Forman [David Forman].” Huddy was ordered to set up camp at Tinton Falls, slightly inland from the site of the Monmouth militia’s worst defeat on the Navesink Highlands. One of Huddy’s men, William Cheeseman, recalled that the company had "two artillery pieces." Thomas Patten remembered building the carriages necessary to move the cannon. Huddy used his own horses to pull those cannon (for which he was belatedly compensated by the New Jersey Legislature two years later). How the cannon came to Huddy is a mystery. Perhaps they were taken off a privateer after Huddy left the sea for a land command; perhaps David Forman, who sought to build a small fort on the Highlands, procured the cannon and then thought better of putting them at risk by placing them on the Highlands. Within a few days of arriving at Tinton Falls, the Loyalist, Stephen Edwards, was captured at Eatontown, just a few miles from Tinton Falls. It appears that Huddy accompanied Edwards to Freehold and participated in the impromptu military trial convened by Forman. Edwards was sentenced to death for spying and hanged two days later. Huddy participated in the hanging of Edwards, slipping the noose around his neck. While in Freehold, Huddy assaulted Charles Gilmore and was indicted for the assault. He would plead guilty at the first Monmouth County Court of Oyer and Terminer in January 1778, admitting that "with force of arms… did make an assault on the said Charles Gilman [sic], then & there, did beat, wound, & ill treat [him], and other wrongs." Gilmore was from Middletown. Based on his petition signatures, he supported the Revolution and was wealthy enough to purchase a militia substitute for himself. It is not known why he and Huddy came to blows. While Huddy’s company was created to protect Shrewsbury Township from incursions, Huddy’s commander was David Forman, and, in early October, Forman raised a force to join Washington’s Army in Pennsylvania. Huddy and his company took one of their cannon and went with Forman. However, because the cannon was too heavy to be moved quickly, Huddy’s company was unable to keep up with the rapid movements of the infantry. So, as Forman and a few hundred other Monmouth Countians engaged in close combat at the Battle of Germantown , Huddy’s company sat-out the battle. While Huddy was away, a large British and Loyalist raiding party attacked Little Egg Harbor and slaughtered Kasimir Pulaski’s newly-raised legion on Osborn Island at the southern tip of Monmouth County. A second Loyalist party came off Sandy Hook and attacked a company of Shrewsbury militia under Captain John Dennis. Dennis and several militiamen were killed, wounded or taken. If Huddy’s company stayed at Tinton Falls, the odds are good that the Loyalist party that defeated Dennis would have never left Sandy Hook. Huddy’s company returned to Shrewsbury in October. One of his men, John Nivison, recalled spending six months in "an artillery company stationed at Tinton Falls." Huddy’s men participated in at least one skirmish during this time. Henry Vail recalled that: He had a skirmish with the enemy (British, Refugees and Green Coats) at Shark River Inlet. They landed from a frigate to destroy the salt works, but was repulsed & drove off. Capt. Joshua Huddy of the artillery company was the commander. In an interesting footnote to the service at Tinton Falls, at least one of Huddy’s men, William Sanford, moved his young family east to be with him. This cut against the trend of shore families moving west to live in areas less vulnerable to raids. Jerusa Sanford recalled, "she moved to Tinton Falls” with her small children. She "was frequently in the habit of seeing her husband" while on duty. Fortunately for the Sanford family, Tinton Falls was not attacked during Huddy’s tenure as State Troop commander. The village was, however, victimized by two raids in spring 1779, the latter of which razed the village and resulted in the capture of its leading citizens. As for Huddy, he remained a vigorous Revolutionary (for example, he led a risky attack on the British baggage train during the Battle of Monmouth) with a volatile personal life (including a second broken marriage and another assault charge). He was well known to Loyalist raiders who captured him three times (though he escaped once). On his last capture in April 1782, Huddy was hanged by Loyalists in retaliation for the prior murder of the Loyalist Philip White. Huddy’s murder lit a diplomatic bonfire that went to the highest levels of the Continental, British and French governments. Related Historical Site : Captain Joshua Huddy’s Homestead Sources : Catalog of the Exhibition: Joshua Huddy and the American Revolution, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, Manalapan, New Jersey, October 2004; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Nivison; Joshua Huddy interrogation from David Matthews, http://primarysources.brillonline.com/browse/prize-papers-part-1-online/sally-joshua-huddy-volunteer-on-board;prizepaperspp0104917 ; Mark Lender, “The Enlisted Line: The Continental Soldiers of New Jersey”(Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 1975) p 51; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 183-91; Dennis Ryan, New Jersey in the American Revolution (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1974) p 25; The Acts of the Council and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: Trenton, 1784) p 27; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of William Sanford of NJ, National Archives, p3-5, 22-3; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #35912; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Henry Vail of NJ, National Archives, p4; Catalog of the Exhibition: Joshua Huddy and the American Revolution, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2004 (original in Monmouth County Archives); National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Cheeseman. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Capture of Richard Stockton and John Covenhoven by Michael Adelberg Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was captured by Loyalists in November 1776 while staying at the home of John Covenhoven of Freehold. - November 1776 - In the early months of the American Revolution, Richard Stockton was among the most important men in New Jersey. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence. He came within one vote of being the first Governor of New Jersey. In late November, with the British Army marching toward his home in Princeton, Stockton accepted the invitation of his friend, John Covenhoven, to stay at Covenhoven’s home in Freehold (named “Federal Hall”). Covenhoven was Monmouth County’s most prominent delegate in the New Legislature and one of the drafters of New Jersey Constitution. The Capture of Stockton and Covenhoven In the middle of the night on November 30, 1776, a party of New Jersey Volunteers probably commanded by Lt. Colonel Elisha Lawrence (formerly of Upper Freehold) and guided by Chrineyonce Van Mater of Middletown, entered John Covenhoven’s house and captured Stockton and Covenhoven. The leaders were taken to Perth Amboy (now occupied by the British), loaded in irons, and transported to a common jail in New York. While confined, a well-to-do Monmouth County Loyalist showed “friendship” to Stockton and Covenhoven, presumably bringing them provisions. The Loyalist was Daniel Van Mater, brother of Chrineyonce. A month later, James Webster, a British officer, wrote Elisha Lawrence about Stockton. Lawrence’s battalion occupied Freehold at the time. General William Howe, the British Army’s commander in chief, had pardoned Stockton after he signed a British loyalty oath. Webster spoke with Stockton who "has informed me that his horse & bridle was taken from the ferry by some people under your command." Webster instructed Lawrence that "you will restore the said horse & such effects as shall come within your department, to the said Mr Stockton, at the house of John Covenhoven in Monmouth." After the Capture of Stockton and Covenhoven Stockton’s capture and release caught the attention of William Smith, the Attorney General of the New York’s Loyalist government. On January 2, 1777, Smith recorded that "Mr. Stockton flew with John Covenhoven, a member of the new assembly, to Monmouth, and was there taken by the regulars. It is supposed he went there to be apprehended… for they had a fair retreat to Philadelphia." Stockton recovered the property he left in Freehold and headed back to his home, Morven, in Princeton. As this was happening, the British quit their occupation of western New Jersey following defeat at the Battle of Princeton. Stockton was again in land held by the New Jersey Government. He was disgraced and his health was in decline. In April 1777, he attempted to recover a horse he left at Covenhoven’s house, but the horse was with Abiel Aiken across the state in Toms River; Stockton likely never recovered it. Stockton lived out his remaining years quietly in his home in Princeton; he died in 1781. John Covenhoven also signed a British loyalty oath, presumably after Stockton, and was allowed to return home. On March 4, 1777, Covenhoven petitioned to appear before the New Jersey Assembly, a body of which he was technically still a member. His appearance is recorded in the minutes of the Assembly: He was called in and heard respecting being taken prisoner by the Tories & carried to New York; and it appearing by Mr Covenhoven's own confessions that he had taken oaths of Allegiance to the King of Great Britain, & had given security to remain inactive during the present contest between Great Britain and the United States of America - Resolved, the Mr. Covenhoven has rendered himself unfit to take his seat in this house -- and that the seat be vacated accordingly. A new election was ordered to fill his seat. Covenhoven did not “remain inactive” for very long. He returned to public life in 1778 as a purchasing agent for the New Jersey government. He co-founded the Monmouth County Whig Society in spring 1781, and was re-elected to the New Jersey Assembly later that year. Chrineyonce Van Mater stayed in Monmouth County during the period of Loyalist rule in December 1776, and into January 1777. Major (soon to be Colonel) Asher Holmes led a militia posse that attempted to capture Van Mater but Van Mater’s exceptional horse riding skills allowed him to narrowly escape. Van Mater reportedly lept two fences and rode through a deep stream in order to lose his pursuers. Van Mater was captured on his return home in early 1778. In June 1778, he was tried for his role in the capture of Stockton and Covenhoven. The results were reported in the Pennsylvania Gazette : At the court of Oyer and Terminer lately holden in the county of Monmouth, the Grand Jury found a bill of indictment against Cyrenus Van Mater for giving information to the enemy and thereby being the cause of their taking Hon. Richard Stockton, Esq., and John Covenhoven, Esq., in the month of December 1776. Van Mater put himself upon his trial, and the jury found him guilty; the court thereupon sentenced him to pay a fine of £300 and to suffer six months imprisonment. Van Mater was jailed in the county prison beneath Monmouth Court House in Freehold. However, Van Mater was soon released by the British Army which swept into Freehold immediately prior to the Battle of Monmouth. We hear that the enemy in their late passage through that country released Van Mater; who, after having piloted them [the British Army] through his neighborhood, went off with them to New York, leaving a large real and personal estate behind him, which we presume will be forfeited for his crimes. Van Mater returned to Monmouth County again in 1780 and was captured again with a large quantity of counterfeit money. Related Historic Site : Morven Museum and Gardens Sources : Monmouth, Page in History (Freehold: Monmouth County Bicentennial Commission, 1976) p 6; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p204; Gregory Palmer, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (Westport, Conn. and London, 1984) p 888. Rutgers University Special Collections, Loyalist Compensation Applications, D96, AO 13/19, reel 6; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, July 7, 1778, reel 1930; David Hackett Fischer, Washington's Crossing, NY: Oxford UP, 2004, p164-5; William Dwyer, The Day is ours! - November 1776 January 1777: An Inside View of The Battles of Trenton and Princeton (New York: Viking Press, 1983) p 34-5; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Loyalists Collection, New Jersey Volunteers, box 3, uncataloged #2; Eric Shirber, "The King's Friends in Monmouth County," Monmouth County Historical Assoc. Newsletter, vol. 5, Jan. 1975; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) p 60; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, March 4, 1777, p 91-2; Daniel Van Mater to David Forman, Rutgers University Library Special Collections, Neilson Family Papers; Richard Stockton to David Forman, New Jersey State Museum, Manuscripts Collection; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p108-11; Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 19, p 313; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Rutgers University, Special Collections, Loyalist Compensation Applications, Coll. D96, PRO AO 13/112, reel 11; Pennsylvania Gazette, July 14, 1778; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930. 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 > Admiralty Courts Held at Barton's Tavern in Allentown by Michael Adelberg In April 1776, the Continental Congress authorized privateers to capture British ships. The legality of 58 ship captures were judged at Admiralty Courts held at Gilbert Barton’s tavern in Allentown. - July 1778 - With the entry of France into the war, the British navy re-assigned ships away from the Atlantic Seaboard to protect other parts of its sprawling empire. The British now had less ability to protect ships coming in and out of New York. Privateering, by which American ship captains captured British and Loyalist ships with the blessing of the Continental and state governments, officially started in April 1776, when the Continental Congress sent states “blank commissions for private ships of war… for making capture of British vessels and cargoes.” But privateering along the New Jersey shore did not blossom until spring 1778, when the British naval presence weakened and bold Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) such as William Marriner—demonstrated that British defenses in Brooklyn were permeable. The capture of a ship was often a simpler matter than determining who had rights to the captured vessel and its cargo. Cases like that of the Betsy , captured after beaching on the Monmouth shore in November 1776, illustrate the months of dysfunction that could follow the capture of a ship. The state of New Jersey established an Admiralty Court address this problem. Admiralty courts heard competing claims on captured vessels, declared a rightful owner, ordered sales, and collected fees for the state. Historian Donald Shomette dates the establishment of the New Jersey Admiralty Court to an October 1776 law that empowered the Governor to call an admiralty court. It appears that the first adjudicated prize vessel was in early 1777. Richard Somers, commanding the militia at Great Egg Harbor, took the brigantine Defiance. The state lacked an admiralty court but passed an act to establish one on February 28. The court would determine the right owner of the captured vessel and appoint a marshal to oversee the sale of the condemned vessel. The marshal would: It shall and may be lawful for the Marshal of the Court of Admiralty to take into his Care and Custody the said Vessel and Cargo, and, after giving due and publick Notice of the Time and Place of Sale, to sell and dispose of the same to the best Advantage, and to collect and receive the Monies thence arising, in the same Manner that he might or could do if the said Vessel and Cargo had been legally condemned in the said Court, and a Sale had been awarded by the Judge thereof. The act establishing New Jersey’s Admiralty Court is in Appendix 1 of this article. The new court condemned the prize vessel, Defiance , to Somers. The vessel was sold on the Tuckahoe River near Great Egg Harbor on March 12. Regular admiralty courts did not convene until summer 1778. Starting in 1778, and continuing into 1783, the State of New Jersey convened dozens of admiralty courts. While most prize vessels taken by privateers were brought into port at Little Egg Harbor or Toms River , the state chose to hold its admiralty courts well inland—perhaps because holding courts on the shore might prompt a British/Loyalist attack or spark riots from locals with a vested interest in the court’s decision. Allentown as Top Site for Admiralty Courts The majority New Jersey admiralty courts met at the tavern of Gilbert Barton in Allentown. The selection of Allentown as the host site for the majority courts was not accidental. Allentown was thirty miles inland and was connected to Egg Harbor and Toms River via roads. It was also close to Burlington, Princeton, and Trenton, seats of the New Jersey government. After June 26, 1778, when the British Army left Allentown on its march across New Jersey (leading to the Battle of Monmouth two days later), Allentown was safe from British/Loyalist attacks. Barton owned the village’s leading tavern. His loyalty to the Revolution was well-understood; he testified against Loyalist insurrectionaries before the New Jersey Council of Safety in 1777 and was the father of a Continental Army captain, William Barton. His tavern hosted Upper Freehold Township’s annual town meeting. Barton sold and leased livestock to the Continental Army even when it probably was not to his economic advantage. He was also a brother-in-law of Charles Petit of Egg Harbor, the shore’s most influential political leader and a man heavily invested in the flourishing privateer industry at Little Egg Harbor and the village of Chestnut Neck, just upriver from the harbor. The first New Jersey Admiralty Court in 1778 was advertised in the New Jersey Gazette on June 6, 1778, but was not held until July 13. The long lag probably is attributable to the march of the British Army across New Jersey in late June. When it did convene, the court adjudicated: the captured sloop, Duck , claimed by Joseph Wade; the sloop, Hazard , claimed by Peter Anderson; the sloop, Sally , claimed by the "Abraham Boys"; the sloop, Dispatch , and the brigantine, Industry , claimed by Timothy Shaler; the sloop, Palm , the brigantine, Speedwell , the brigantine, Carolina Packet , and the brigantine, Prince Frederick , all claimed by John Brooks; and an unnamed schooner claimed by John Potts (of Monmouth County). It is noteworthy that the majority of the claimants were Pennsylvanians or New Englanders—a trend that would continue at future admiralty courts. In total, 60 trials adjudicating 58 prize vessels (two re-trials) were held at Barton’s tavern—far more than any other New Jersey Admiralty Court host site. (See Appendix 2 for a list of these vessels.) 43 of these cases were held at Barton’s tavern in 1778 and 1779, after which other sites were used mor43 of these cases were held at Barton’s tavern in 1778 and 1779, after which other sites were used more frequently. (See table 7 for the list of vessels tried at Barton’s tavern.) The other sites to host multiple admiralty courts were: The Burlington County Courthouse, Rensselaer Williams’ House at Trenton, and Isaac Wood’s House at Mount Holly. In Upper Freehold Township, admiralty courts later in the war were listed as being hosted at the house of Benjamin Lawrence and “Randle’s Tavern.” Gilbert Barton died in 1782 (his will was dated February 21). Lawrence was his son-in-law and likely moved into Barton’s tavern, even if only temporarily. There is a good chance that Barton’s tavern and Lawrence’s house were the same place. Local historian John Fabiano notes that Barton’s tavern became Randle’s tavern when the Barton family sold it to the Randolph family (Randle was a nickname for Randolph). Adonijah Francis, the owner of Allentown’s other tavern, also hosted one admiralty court. James Green of Colts Neck became an innkeeper at Freehold later in the war and hosted an admiralty court; no other Monmouth County site hosted a court outside of Allentown. New Jersey Admiralty Court records no longer exist, but the admiralty court announcements printed in the New Jersey Gazette provide important information on what transpired in these courts. Through these announcements, we know the men who claimed the prize vessel, the men who were alleged to have lost or forfeited the vessel, and the type of vessel. John Burrowes, Jr., of Middletown Point, who served as captain in the Continental Army into 1779 (starting in David Forman’s Additional Regiment and later serving in the New Jersey Line ), became the Admiralty Court’s Marshal in 1780 and announcements carry his name after his appointment. He served as Monmouth County’s sheriff concurrently for two years. At least eleven Monmouth County militia officers took prizes during the war. All of these Monmouth County claimants, except Asher Holmes of Marlboro, lived near the shore. At least three of the captured vessels (probably more) had grounded on shore. The vessels taken by Monmouth Countians were a combination of captures at sea and vessels that grounded on the shore. Interestingly, two Monmouth County Loyalists operating ships out of Staten Island—Richard Reading and Thomas Crowell—lost vessels that were condemned at admiralty courts in Barton’s tavern. The most prolific privateer captains were from New England or Philadelphia. For example, Samuel Ingersoll of Salem, Massachusetts had four prizes condemned to him at Barton’s tavern and Yelverton Taylor of Philadelphia had three prizes condemned there. Raritan Bay’s most prolific privateer , Adam Hyler of New Brunswick, also had three prizes condemned to him at Barton’s tavern. These men were heroes in their day and a prize being condemned to a privateer was a cause for celebration. It is easy to imagine significant bar tabs being run up at Barton’s tavern on the nights when prizes were condemned. Hosting admiralty courts was, no doubt, good for business. Shortcomings of the Admiralty Courts Admiralty Courts did not end all controversies about claims on captured vessels. A 1780 Dover and Stafford townships petition to the New Jersey Assembly complained: A number of vessels have lately been stationed along the shores… and that there is no law of this State, as they allege, clearing ascertaining what proportions of said vessels or cargoes shall belong to captors of preservers, which has given occasion to many suits. Some prizes were indeed the subject of litigation and counterclaims long after the New Jersey admiralty courts finished their work. This was commonly because the provenance of the vessel was not known when the New Jersey admiralty court awarded the prize to the claimant. American vessels taken by British ships and then retaken by American privateers could bog down in long litigation. At least three of the vessels tried at Barton’s tavern were known to be American vessels taken by the British and then retaken by American claimants. For example, a January 2, 1782, admiralty court announcement noted that William Treen and Joseph Edwards ("of the whaleboat Unity ") claimed the sloop Betsy (not the same vessel discussed above) formerly captained by Joseph Burden. The Betsy was originally a New Jersey vessel taken by the British off the Delaware Bay before it was retaken on the New Jersey coast by Treen and Edwards. One particularly complicated case brought before the Admiralty Court in 1783 involved Colonel David Forman’s seizure of two vessels, Diamond and Dolphin , at Little Egg Harbor. They were owned by the New England privateer Nathan Jackson. Forman had evidence that Jackson was secretly playing both sides, operating as a Yankee privateer when convenient and trading with Loyalists in New York when his cargo could fetch a better prize there. The Admiralty Court awarded the vessels to Forman despite Jackson contesting the claim. The court’s decision was upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court when Jackson sought redress there. Jackson then sought redress in the Continental Congress’s court to hear interstate disputes, apparently without success. This is the subject of another article. Curiously, it appears that many vessels taken as prizes on the New Jersey shore were never brought to the Admiralty Court. William Marriner, for example, captured a number of enemy vessels between 1778 and 1780. In May 1780, the Pennsylvania Gazette , advertised the sale of two prizes taken by Marriner near Sandy Hook, Black Snake and Rattle Snake , along with a pilot boat. These were apparently American privateers captured by the British navy, and then re-taken by Marriner. It does not appear that these prizes were adjudicated in admiralty court (based on court announcements) even though Marriner carried a Letter of Marque (privateer license) from the state. (Note: The Black Snake was purchased by Joseph Randolph of Toms River and re-commissioned as a privateer captained by Joshua Huddy.) The New Jersey Court of Admiralty passed out of existence when the war ended. The courts certainly did not solve all of the problems associated with assigning a captured ship to a new owner, but it improved upon the vacuum that preceded it. Better documentation would shed greater light on whether most of the court’s proceedings were straightforward assignments of a ship to a single claimant, or contested affairs between individuals with conflicting claims. Whatever its shortcomings, the New Jersey Admiralty Court was a good example of the fledgling government quickly devising \a new institution to meet a need. Related Historic Site : The Old Mill Appendix: "An Act to Empower the Marshal of the Court of Admiralty to Secure and Sell the Prize Vessel or Brigantine Defiance Lately Taken by the Militia of this State," February 28, 1777 Whereas Colonel Richard Somers, by his Petition hath set forth, That he the said Richard Somers, with a Detachment of the Militia of this State, was stationed at Great-Egg-Harbour as a Guard to the Sea-Coast, and to protect the Inhabitants thereof against the Depredations of the Enemy; and that during his Continuance in that Station, he, with the said Detachment, and sundry others of the Inhabitants, did man and arm certain Boats, and therewith took a certain Brigantine or Vessel called the Defiance, supposed to belong to the King of Great Britain, or some of the Subjects of the said King; and that as a Court cannot conveniently be held at this Time wherein to proceed against the said Vessel and her Cargo, no Trial or Condemnation thereof can be speedily had, by Reason whereof the same are suffering, and likely to be greatly wasted; Sect. 1. Be it therefore Enacted by the Council and General Assembly of this State, and it is hereby Enacted by the Authority of the same, That it shall and may be lawful for the Marshal of the Court of Admiralty to take into his Care and Custody the said Vessel and Cargo, and, after giving due and publick Notice of the Time and Place of Sale, to sell and dispose of the same to the best Advantage, and to collect and receive the Monies thence arising, in the same Manner that he might or could do if the said Vessel and Cargo had been legally condemned in the said Court, and a Sale had been awarded by the Judge thereof; 2. And it is further Enacted, That the said Monies arising from the Sale of the said Vessel and Cargo shall be liable to the like Decree, Distribution and Order of the Court of Admiralty, when the same shall be fully established, as if the Sale hereby ordered and directly had not been made. Appendix 2: Prize Vessels Adjudicated at Barton’s Tavern See Table 7 Sources : Continental Congress authorizes Letters of Marque, Journal of the American Revolution , https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/09/massachusetts-privateers-during-the-siege-of-boston/letter-of-marque/ ; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, pp. 251-2, 258-9, 272; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, pp. 469-70; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 3, pp. 54, 60; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 3, p 330; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 3, pp. 385, 420; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 3, pp. 481, 486-7; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 3, pp. 513, 524; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, pp. 251-2, 258-9, 272; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, pp. 469-70; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 4, p 147; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 75; Donald Shomette, Privateers of the Revolution: War on the New Jersey Coast (Shiffer: Atglen, PA, 2015); William Nelson, Austin Scott, et al., ed., New Jersey Archives (1901-1917, Newark, Somerville, and Trenton, NJ: 1901-1917) vol. 5, pp. 139-140; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 5, p 170; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 4, p 358-9; Charles Hutchinson, Allentown, N.J. its Rise and Progress (Part 15), Allentown Historical Society; Petition summarized in: The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, March 13, 1780, p 157; Correspondence from John Fabiano; Huddy’s privateer commission is in Catalog of the Exhibition: Joshua Huddy and the American Revolution, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2004; Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, at a Session begun at Princeton on the 27th Day of August 1776, and by Adjournment. To which is prefixed, the Constitution of the State (Burlington, 1777). Accessed via https://navydocs.org/. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Capture of the Venus by Two Privateers and its Aftermath by Michael Adelberg The Declaration of Independence forced Americans to take sides. In the month prior to the Declaration, Monmouth Countians authored and signed nine petitions against independence. - September 1778 - Privateering along the Jersey shore blossomed in 1778—the appearance of a powerful French fleet in American waters forced British ships into a defensive crouch that extended to waters they formerly ruled. Small and mid-sized privateer ships from Philadelphia and New England started prowling the coastal sea lanes to and from New York harbor and taking British and Loyalist ships with impunity. When British ships were wounded by severe storms or grounded on the Jersey shore, local militia took to their boats and took the prize. Newly-established admiralty courts condemned the taken vessels to the capturing captains. Small fortunes were made from a single lucky day at sea. The Capture of the Venus Privateering quickly eclipsed salt-making as the favorite activity of investors from across New Jersey and Philadelphia and more ships put to sea. Just to the south of Monmouth County, the village of Chestnut Neck , a few miles up the Mullica River from Little Egg Harbor (commonly called Egg Harbor at the time) became a privateering boomtown; Toms River in Monmouth County, smaller than Egg Harbor and lacking a direct overland road to Philadelphia, became the shore’s second privateer port. At least initially, the prizes captured by privateers and brought into Egg Harbor were small or middling vessels owned by middling Loyalists in New York—until the capture of the Venus . On September 16, the Loyalist New York Gazette reported the capture of the Venus on the Jersey shore on August 26. "The ship Venus, [under] Capt. Chowne, was taken by two privateers…and carried into Barnegat." The report noted that Thomas Chowne was now confined in the Continental jail in Philadelphia. The privateer vessels were Chance and Sly from Philadelphia. It is unlikely that either of them carried more than 8 guns or crews larger than 30 men. A week later, the Pennsylvania Packet reported again on the capture, noting that the Venus was unloaded at Egg Harbor. The Venus , bound for New York from London, was taken by privateer captain David Stevens of Philadelphia, seconded by privateer captain, Micajah Smith. Venus had "a very valuable cargo” that was further described: [It] consisted of fine and coarse linen, calicoes, chinces, lawns and chambricks, silks and satins, silk and thread stockings, men's and women's shoes, a great variety of medicines and books, hardware, beef, pork, butter, cheese and porter, in short, the greatest variety of all kinds of merchandise. The New Jersey Gazette advertised the sale of the Venus, “with cargo of fine cloth, satins, silks, shoes, medicines, books, beef and pork” at Egg Harbor on September 14. A second advertisement valued the cargo “in the amount to L20,000”—approximately the cost of ten midsized Monmouth County farm estates. The sale, however, did not occur because a New Jersey Admiralty Court had not yet condemned the prize to Stevens and Smith. Consequently, on September 23, the New Jersey Gazette advertised that an admiralty court would be held in Allentown on October 10 to hear Stevens’ and Smith’s claims to the vessel and its valuable cargo —as well as any potential counterclaims. The delay was bad for Stevens and Smith and tragic for hundreds of others at Egg Harbor and Chestnut Neck. A massive British-Loyalist raiding party , more than 1,000 men, launched a punishing raid against the privateer base before the sale could occur. The raiders arrived in Egg Harbor in early October and burned eleven vessels and the village of Chestnut Neck. The details of the raid are the subject of another article, but importantly, retribution for the captured Venus was a key motivation for the raid. The New York Gazette , on October 24, summarized the raid. It also noted that the raid aimed to avenge the capture of the Venus, "a very fine ship from London." The raiders destroyed the Venus and "11 sail of other vessels.” They also destroyed the warehouses holding the Venus’ cargo at Chestnut Neck. Lacking pilots who could navigate the large ship through the narrow river, they had to burn the ship rather than rescue it. If the Venus grounded in river on the way out, any British vessel behind it might be trapped. Perspective Why did the capture of the Venus prompt a reprisal when the capture of so many other vessels earlier in the year did not? There are likely two reasons: First, the Venus was larger than most or all of the vessels taken along the Jersey shore before it; it was the first time that a top-tier merchant vessel was taken. Second and likely more important, Venus ’s cargo of British-made luxury items was a direct blow to British officers and the wealthiest Loyalists in New York. They were probably eagerly awaiting the ship’s landing and the chance to purchase luxury goods in short supply. New York’s most powerful men directly felt this capture. These men had the power to lobby British leadership to conduct the reprisal. On the American side, the capture of the Venus was an important milestone. It marked the first time that regional privateers had taken a ship off the Jersey shore that could be labeled “a very fine ship from London.” It also appears to be the first time that relatively small privateers teamed up to capture a vessel that would have easily fought off either vessel as a single attacker. This lesson—hunting in small packs —would be used by privateers hovering in the sea lanes to and from Sandy Hook for the rest of the war. Caption : Two privateers captured the British ship Venus and brought it into Egg Harbor in September 1778. The map shows a narrow deep-water channel that needed to be used to carry in the big ship. Related Historic Site : New Jersey Maritime Museum Sources : Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, p 3395-6; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Franklin Kemp, A Nest of Rebel Pirates (Egg Harbor, NJ: Batsto Citizens Committee, 1966) pp 5-8. 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 Local Response to the Hanging of Joshua Huddy by Michael Adelberg Monmouth Countians were outraged by the hanging of Joshua Huddy. They sought redress from the Continental Army. General Henry Knox was the first army general to learn of Huddy’s death. - April 1782 - On April 12, 1782, a party of Loyalists led by Richard Lippincott, hanged Joshua Huddy on the Navesink Highlands . The hanging was an act of retaliation for the murder of the Loyalist Philip White two weeks earlier. The cycle of escalating retaliation between the vengeful Associated Loyalists based in New York and the equally vengeful Association for Retaliation in Monmouth County had been building for more than a year. With Huddy’s hanging, it finally reached a crescendo of eye-for-an-eye executions. The futility of vigilante retaliation is revealed by the note that was pinned to Huddy’s swinging corpse: We, the Refugees, having with grief long beheld the cruel murders of our brethren and finding nothing but such measures daily carrying into execution— We therefore determine not to suffer without taking vengeance for the numerous cruelties, and thus began and have made use of Capt. Huddy as first object to present to your views, and further determine to hang man for man as long as a Refugee is left existing. -- Up goes Huddy for Philip White. With only a few name changes, the exact same note could have been pinned to White’s body and delivered to the British base at Sandy Hook. Huddy’s body was discovered and brought to Freehold on April 13. Antiquarian sources claim that Huddy’s corpse was laid in the tavern of James Green, the former Colts Neck militia captain who had moved further inland for safety. A crowd gathered to pay respects and, no doubt, discuss the best way to exact revenge. Building the Case for Additional Retaliation By April 14, a petition to George Washington was drafted. The petition placed Huddy’s hanging in the context of a string of recent events and Loyalist atrocities. For example, the petitioners claimed that after Huddy surrendered his 25-man guard at Toms River on March 24, "five of Captain Huddy's men were most inhumanly murdered after his surrender." The petitioners rightly complained that Huddy had no role in the killing of Philip White. Loyalists had "told him [Huddy] that he was to be hanged for he had taken a certain refugee by the name of Philip White.” But Huddy was confined in New York City at the time of White's death, March 31. The petitioners also disputed the overblown rumors of White’s corpse being mistreated. The guards had not ”cut off his arms, broke his legs, pulled out one of his eyes." The petitioners concluded with a call for further retaliation: We do as a right look to your Excellency as the person in whom the sole of avenging of our wrongs is lodged, and who has full and ample authority to bring a British officer of the same rank to a similar end... and we with the fullest assurances rely upon receiving effectual support from your Excellency. The next day, a long memorial was compiled by fifteen of Monmouth County’s senior leaders: Colonel David Forman, Assemblyman John Covenhoven, Assemblyman Thomas Seabrook, Judge Peter Forman, Magistrate Richard Cox, Captain Joseph Stillwell, Captain Barnes Smock, Captain John Schenck, Colonel Samuel Forman, Attorney William Wilcocks, Colonel Asher Holmes, Major Elisha Walton, Captain Stephen Fleming, Lt. Colonel John Smock, and Captain Thomas Chadwick. The memorial was clearly informed by Daniel Randolph and Aaron Fleming. They had been captured with Huddy at Toms River, jailed with him in New York, and brought back into Monmouth County with Huddy. The memorialists explained their purpose this way: The murder [of Huddy] was attended with so much deliberate injustice and wanton cruelty that the circumstances ought to be preserved and made publick, not only to call upon the vengeance of his countrymen and to expiate the manes of the sufferer, but as a shocking instance of the blackness of that guilt on which human nature is capable. Huddy was lionized for the defense of his Colts Neck home when it was attacked by Loyalists: Capt. Huddy was one of the bravest men, a fit subject therefore of their cowardly inhumanity.—He has distinguished himself on a variety of occasions, one instance of which I cannot avoid mentioning: The summer before last, alone and unassisted, except by a woman [Lucretia Emmons], he defended his house against a party of nearly seventy refugees for several hours and where it was in a manner riddled with musket balls and in flames about him, he refused to submit until he obtained from his assailants safe and honorable terms: Among the number who were killed in that encounter was the famous Negro [Colonel] Tye, justly much more to be feared than respected, as an enemy, than any of his brethren of the fairer complexion. The memorialists then discussed Huddy’s capture at Toms River and after “his the brave little garrison” ran out of ammunition: Capt. Huddy also commanded the troops at the Block House on Tom’s River when it was lately reduced: He defended it most gallantly against vastly superior numbers until his ammunition was expended, and no alternative was left. The memorialists described Huddy’s capture in New York and then he, Randolph and Fleming “were put into the hold of a vessel. Capt. Huddy was ironed, hand and foot.” While on the boat, Huddy was told that he would be hanged: On Monday last, a certain John Tilton, a refugee, came to him, “that he was ordered (by the board of Refugees we suppose) to be hanged.” Capt. Huddy asked, “what charge was alleged against him?” Tilton replied that, “that he had taken a certain Philip White, a refugee, six miles up in the country, cut off both his arms, broke both his legs, pulled out one of his eyes, and then damned him and bid him to run.” To this Huddy answered, “It is impossible that I could have taken Philip White, I being prisoner closely confined in New York at the time, and for many days, before he was made a prisoner.” Justice Randolph confirmed what Huddy said and assured Tilton that he could not possibly be chargeable with White’s death; upon which Tilton told Mr. Randolph that “he should be hanged next.” This flimsy story must have been created by the murderous hearts of the Refugees, to cloak their villainy. The prisoners were confined on the guard ship at Sandy Hook until the morning of April 12. Then the memorialists wrote “some men, strangers to the prisoners, came below and told Capt. Huddy to ‘prepare to be hanged immediately.’” Huddy, reportedly, took the news bravely: He again said, He was not guilty of having killed White,” and that “he should die an innocent man and in a good cause,” and with the most uncommon fortitude and composure of mind, prepared for his end, and with the spirit of a true son of Liberty, he waited the moment of his fate, which he met with a degree of firmness and serenity which struck the coward hearts of his executioners with admiration. He even executed his will under the gallows, upon the head of that barrel from which he was immediately to make his exit, and in a hand writing fairer than usual. The memorialists then turned their attention to Philip White, whom they blamed for faking a surrender: “After he had laid down his arms in token of surrendering himself a prisoner, he again took up his musket and killed the son of Coll. [Daniel] Hendrickson.” White was taken by the mounted State Troop company of Captain John Walton, but again attempted an escape. His mounted guards rode in front of him and “several times” called for his surrender, “but he continued running.” When White leaped toward a bog “impassable by our horse” he “received a stroke in the head with a sword, which killed him instantly.” The memorialists claimed to be informed by “the voluntary and candid testimony of one Aaron White, who was taken prisoner with said Philip.” Aaron White was captured at the time at the same time as his brother, Philip. Shortly after making a statement about Philip White’s death, he escaped from prison and made it to New York. There, he gave a statement that claimed his first statement was largely false—due to pressure being put on him by David Forman and because he was never given a chance to review it. Aaron White gave a new, longer statement claiming that his brother’s death was premeditated murder by guards who openly discussed killing him, provoked his escape, and delivered several sword and gunstock blows before Philip White finally died. Affidavits from those same guards contradicted parts of the memorial above. Presenting the Case for Additional Retaliation The petition and memorial were extraordinary documents. While documents of the era were prone to emotional language, no Revolutionary-era Monmouth County document was written as strongly as the memorial. The memorial is also the longest protest document from Monmouth County from this era. Finally, while parts of the memorial are written in the first person (perhaps by Thomas Henderson), the memorial was submitted by fifteen authors. The Monmouth County petition and memorial were carried by Colonel David Forman (who provided Washington with intelligence on British movements at Sandy Hook and led Association for Retaliation) and Colonel Asher Holmes (the senior colonel of the Monmouth County militia and colonel of Monmouth County’s State Troops ). The co-presentation of the petition by Forman and Holmes was symbolically important, as the men were known rivals from antagonistic factions of Machiavellian Whigs vs. Due Process Whigs in Monmouth County. These factions clashed on topics related to law and order, prisoner exchanges , and compulsory purchases from reluctant farmers. Leaders from these factions had (literally) come to blows at the 1780 and 1781 county elections. The mutual outrage of Forman and Holmes at Huddy’s hanging was a powerful unity statement. Forman and Holmes apparently did not speak directly with Washington, at least not initially. Instead, they went to Elizabethtown, the base of operations for prisoner of war exchanges, and spoke with General Henry Knox and Gouverneur Morris (of the Continental Congress). Knox wrote George Washington on April 16 that “Genl. Forman is now on his way to you with representation of the hanging of Captain Huddy by the Refugees." Knox and Morris noted that the prisoner of war commissioners at Elizabethtown "seemed surprised & wounded by the information," They doubted that General Henry Clinton, the British Commander in Chief, would condone the action. However, they wrote that the Associated Loyalists "act on their own authority” and are only subordinate to Clinton’s authority “if he pleases to exert it." Forman, without Holmes, went forward to Washington’s camp and spoke with him. Washington took some time, likely to consult with attorneys and prisoner of war commissioners, and then wrote his first letters about the scandalous hanging on April 20. Forman returned home on April 19 and took another set of affidavits about the killings of White and Huddy—including statements from Huddy’s three guards—William Borden, John North, and John Russell. Forman then composed his own statement. Outrage over Huddy’s hanging influenced the courts in Monmouth County. In May, Monmouth County’s Court of Common Pleas, on which David Forman served as a judge, re-started the Loyalist estate confiscation process. And the county convened its fifth Court of Oyer and Terminer that same month—with Forman serving on the panel of judges. This court had more felony convictions than that of any of Monmouth County’s prior courts and imposed several capital convictions. Perspective The extraordinary unity shown by Monmouth County’s leaders regarding Huddy’s execution would not last. David Forman continued to lead the Retaliators in vigilante acts even as the British drydocked the Associated Loyalists who provoked brutal retaliation with their own brutal acts. The rivalry between Machiavellian Whigs and Due Process Whigs was enflamed again by the fall—as evidenced by the creation of a flurry of new Whig associations which likely came into existence, at least in part, as a counterbalance against the Retaliators. Meanwhile, the hanging of Joshua Huddy careened from a local to an international event . Soon, Washington would demand the body of Huddy’s executioner (Richard Lippincott) and threaten to hang a British officer if the man was not delivered. The British commander in chief would court-martial Richard Lippincott, but not turn him over. Senior officials in the American, British and French governments were pulled into months of diplomacy over two local acts in Monmouth County. Related Historic Site : Huddy Park Appendix: Letter from Monmouth dated April 15, 1782 printed in New Jersey Gazette, April 24 Last Saturday was brought to this place the corpse of Capt. Joshua Huddy, who was at about ten o’clock the day before most barbarously and unwarrantably hanged at Middletown-Point, by a party of Refugees.—The murder was attended with so much deliberate injustice and wanton cruelty that the circumstances ought to be preserved and made publick, not only to call upon the vengeance of his countrymen to expiate the manes of the sufferer, but as a shocking instance of the blackness of that guilt on which human nature is capable. Capt. Huddy was one of the bravest men, a fit subject therefore of their cowardly inhumanity.—He has distinguished himself on a variety of occasions, one instance of which I cannot avoid mentioning: The summer before last, alone and unassisted, except by a woman, he defended his house against a party of nearly seventy refugees for several hours and where it was in a manner riddled with musket balls and in flames about him, he refused to submit until he obtained from his assailants safe and honourable terms: among the number who were killed in that encounter was the famous Negro Tye, justly much more to be feared than respected, as an enemy, than any of his brethren of the fairer complexion.—Capt. Huddy also commanded the troops at the Block House on Tom’s River when it was lately reduced: he defended it most gallantly against vastly superior numbers until his ammunition was expended, and no alternative was left.—The refugees, like their British task masters, who employ them in every kind of infamous business, are always cruel in success and pitifully mean in adversity. After the brave little garrison was in their power, they deliberately murdered five soldiers asking for quarter. From Tom’s River, Capt. Huddy, Justice Randolph, and the remaining prisoners, were taken to New York, where suffering the various progressions of barbarity usually exercised upon those who are detained to a violent or a lingering death, those two gentlemen, with a Mr. Fleming, were put into the hold of a vessel. Capt. Huddy was ironed, hand and foot. On Monday last, a certain John Tilton, a refugee, came to him, “that he was ordered (by the board of Refugees we suppose) to be hanged.” Capt. Huddy asked, “what charge was alleged against him?” Tilton replied that, “that he had taken a certain Philip White, a refugee, six miles up in the country, cut off both his arms, broke both his legs, pulled out one of his eyes, and then damned him and bid him to run.” To this Huddy answered, “It is impossible that I could have taken Philip White, I being prisoner closely confined in New York at the time, and for many days, before he was made a prisoner.” Justice Randolph confirmed what Huddy said and assured Tilton that he could not possibly be chargeable with White’s death; upon which Tilton told Mr. Randolph that “he should be hanged next.” This flimsy story, which must have been created by the murderous hearts of the Refugees, to cloak their villainy, was the only charge against Capt. Huddy, and was the common subject of their conversation. From the sloop Capt. Huddy, with his fellow prisoners, were put on board the guard ship at the Hook, and confined between decks till Friday morning, the 12th instant, when some men, strangers to the prisoners, came below and told Capt. Huddy to “prepare to be hanged immediately.” He again said, He was not guilty of having killed White,” and that “he should die an innocent man and in a good cause”, and with the most uncommon fortitude and composure of mind, prepared for his end, and with the spirit of a true son of Liberty, he waited the moment of his fate, which he met with a degree of firmness and serenity which struck the coward hearts of his executioners with admiration.—He even executed his will under the gallows, upon the head of that barrel from which he was immediately to make his exit, and in a hand writing fairer than usual. The circumstances attending the death of the above mentioned Philip White were as follows: On Saturday, the 30th of March last, he was surprised by a party of our people, and after he had laid down his arms, in token of surrendering himself a prisoner, he again took up his musket and killed the son of Coll. Hendrickson; he was however taken by our Light Horse, and on his way from Colt’s Neck to Freehold, where they were conducting him, he again attempted to make his escape from the guard, who called on him several times to surrender, but he continued running although often crossed and recrossed by light horse, and desired to stop, and finally, when leaping into a bog, impassable by our horse, he received a stroke in the head with a sword, which killed him instantly. The above facts have not only been proved by the affidavits of our fiends who were present, but by the voluntary and candid testimony of one Aaron White, who was taken prisoner with said Philip. Captain Huddy was taken prisoner on the 24th of March, and kept in close custody with Justice Randolph, out of whose presence he never was until his hour of execution, which shows how impossible it was for him to have been concerned in White’s death, and that they must have known this was so. To show their intolerance yet further, they left the following label affixed to the breast of unfortunate Capt. Huddy -- “We, the Refugees, having with grief long beheld the cruel murders of our brethren and finding nothing but such measures daily carrying into execution— We therefore determine not to suffer without taking vengeance for the numerous cruelties, and thus began (and I say may those lose their liberty who do not follow on) and have made use of Capt. Huddy as the first object to present to your views, and further determine to hang man for man as long as a Refugee is left existing. -- Up goes Huddy for Philip White.” Sources : Waldo Wright, "The Captain Asgill Affair", The Dalhousie Review, 1962, vol. 42, p 453; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, April 24, 1782, reel 1930; New Jersey Gazette excerpted in William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 420; Henry Knox to George Washington, in Jared Sparks, Correspondence of the American Revolution (Boston: Little, Brown & Co) p500; Affidavits printed in Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 63-4; The Court Martial of Richard Lippincott, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (gnb.ca) ; Michael Adelberg, “The Transformation of Local Governance in Monmouth County, New Jersey during the War of the American Revolution,” Journal of the Early Republic , vol. 31, n3, Fall 2011, pp. 467-98. 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