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 > Dysfunction in the Monmouth County Militia by Michael Adelberg New Jersey Militia reenactors demonstrate a firing drill. The early Monmouth militia included several companies that did not muster and others officered by Loyalists. - March 1776 - Across New Jersey, in the spring of 1776, white men between ages 16 and 60 divided themselves up into districts and began drilling in new militia companies that were loyal to the New Jersey Provincial and the Continental Congresses. The prior militia structure under the Royal Government ceased to operate. However, in Monmouth County, the early militia was not united in its support of the two Congresses. John Longstreet, who would become a captain in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers later that year, was a militia captain in Freehold. He described his militia company as a 70-man association which called itself the “Loyalists of Freehold.” Longstreet’s company probably existed parallel to other militia companies, neither aligned nor hostile. When the Declaration of Independence was signed, Longstreet’s men earned the derisive nickname “the Tory company.” Longstreet soon took his men to Sandy Hook and joined the British Army on July 15, 1776. Contemporary descriptions of “the Tory company” are supported in the post-war Loyalist compensation application of John Throckmorton, who noted that he was a Lieutenant in Longstreet’s Loyalist Company, and Longstreet was his captain. Another gradation of loyalty was evident in the Grenadier Company captained by Henry Waddle of Freehold. Waddle’s company, unlike most militia companies, was not raised from a specific neighborhood – it appears that Waddle’s men came from Freehold and Shrewsbury Townships. Waddle’s company was the first Monmouth militia company to muster and march outside of the county –marching to Perth Amboy in April 1776. Waddle was a known opponent of British policies who supported the Continental Association and Whig committees, but Independence appears to have been a breakpoint for him. On July 2, 1776, the same day that the New Jersey Provincial Congress adopted a new constitution separate from British control, Waddle resigned from the militia. He claimed that gout prevented further service. His resignation was accepted by the New Jersey Provincial Congress but Waddle was forced to appear before the New Jersey Council of Safety to declare “his peaceful intentions.” Though disaffected from the new government, Waddle never became an active Loyalist. In neighboring Upper Freehold, the militia was also troubled. In June, Colonel David Brearley (who led the township militia and would soon join the Continental Army) wrote the Provincial Congress twice about disaffection among his men. The first time, Brearley wrote "respecting certain disaffected persons in Monmouth County" and then he wrote again about "disaffected persons in his Regiment.” The Provincial Congress responded first by summoning two of the leading voices in a bloodless Loyalist insurrection , Richard Robins and Moses Ivins. They would not appear. This and other troubling events in Upper Freehold prompted the New Jersey Provincial Congress to send in militia from Burlington County and Pennsylvania to establish order. Shortly after that, on July 23, James Mount, a “field officer” in the militia had his commission “revoked” by the New Jersey Convention (the renamed Provincial Congress). While the revocation’s reason is not stated, it is probable that Mount was found to be cooperating with the township’s insurgent Loyalists. Shortly after that, Guisebert Giberson resigned his militia captain’s commission, which was accepted by the Convention on August 2. Giberson and Mount would both become active Loyalists. Outside of Freehold and Upper Freehold, there was even greater dysfunction in the Shrewsbury Township militia. Balthazar DeHart, an attorney who was in Shrewsbury in June, was deposed about disaffection in Shrewsbury in July: Saith that he was informed by Captain Jacob Dennis, a Militia officer, who had been ordered to guard Deal shore, in that Township, that he could scarce persuade a man to go there with him; and that the examinant knows that his brother, who is another Militia officer there, could by no means prevail on his men to go to defend that shore—the Whigs telling him they expected that if they went there, they would be delivered by the Tories to the enemy on their landing; and that he was informed by the said Captain Dennis, that the inhabitants along Deal shore told him they did by no means thank him for guarding them, and that they would much rather have the [British] Regulars than the Yankees there. Indeed, Colonel Samuel Breese, Dennis’s commanding officer, struggled with disaffection across the township. David Brearley reported to the Provincial Congress about Breese’s frustration: The Colonel at Shrewsbury has offered to resign, making great complaints of the backwardness, "to say no worse," as he expresses himself, of his people; "so few of whom," he tells us, "are ready to turn out (hiding themselves and deserting their homes)... We have ventured to encourage him with the expectation of their assisting him. On July 9, the New Jersey Convention (the renamed Provincial Congress) accepted Breese’s resignation: “Colonel [Samuel] Breese has resigned his commission of the Third Battalion of militia in the County of Monmouth, assigning for reason the general backwardness of the people.” Beyond Breese, two other two original militia Colonels, Joseph Salter and George Taylor showed disaffection for the Continental cause. Salter, who resigned immediately upon selection in late 1775, would support the Loyalist insurrections . For this and likely other suspect acts, he was arrested and detained in Trenton in 1777. He converted to Quakerism—perhaps out of religious conviction or perhaps to strengthen his case for avoiding militia service . In late 1776, Taylor became an active Loyalist and a great enemy to Monmouth County’s new leaders. However, there were also areas of the county where the new militia was stronger. It appears that the majority of militia companies in Freehold and Middletown townships were functioning by July. On July 6, David Brearley observed that "the Freehold and Middletown people who form the large battalion are, we believe, very hearty & willing to assist as much as possible.” That heartiness would soon be tested, as 200 of them soon would be summoned to put down a Loyalist insurrection . Related Historical Sites : Museum of the American Revolution Sources : Monmouth County Historical Association, Genealogical File, folder – Waddell; local history source reports the resignation of Capt. Henry Waddell of the militia on 7/2/76; 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 1635; Peter W. Coldham, comp., American Loyalist Claims (Washington, D.C.: National Genealogical Society, 1980), p 12 and 489. Jones, E. Alfred. The Loyalists of New Jersey, (Newark, N. J. Historical Society, 1927) p 132 and 166. Gregory Palmer, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (Westport, Conn. and London, 1984) p 501 and 863. Rutgers University Library Special Collections, Great Britain Public Record Office, Loyalist Application Claims, D96, AO 13/18, reel 6; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v1: p 37-8; John Jordan, Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania: Genealogical and Personal Memoirs (New York: Lewis Publishing, 1911) v. 2, p804; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p138-9; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of New Jersey (Trenton: Naar, Day, and Naar, 1879) p 497; Troop Return, Henry Waddle, New Jersey Historical Society, collection 4, Revolutionary War Collection, item 7; Officers of 2nd Regiment of Monmouth Militia to New Jersey Provincial Congress, New Jersey Provincial Congress Coll., MG - 6, #17, #102, New Jersey Historical Society; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornel University Press, 2009) pp. 451, 460; David Brearley’s letters are summarized in Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornel University Press, 2009) pp. 451, 460; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p130, 136; 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, pp. 1621-5, 1630; "Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1625; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 1, p 602-3.;; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p138-9; Peter Force, American Archives, (Washington, DC: Clarke and Force, 1837) 4th series, vol. 6, pp. 1657-1658; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1657; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p229-32; John E. Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, 5 vols. (New York, 1903), vol. 1: p 191. 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 > Reconstructing Monmouth County's Government by Michael Adelberg The Monmouth County courthouse in Freehold was the seat of county government. However, the Monmouth County government did not exist between December 1776 and March 1777. - February 1777 - As discussed in a prior article, the functions of the Monmouth County government—including law enforcement, courts, prison, county clerk, tax collection, etc.—ceased during the Loyalist insurrections of December 1776. Some of these functions, such as courts and tax collection, had not functioned effectively since the breakdown of the Royal government in early 1776. In February 1777, with the British in retreat and the Loyalist associations broken , supporters of the Revolution in Monmouth County now had the opportunity to rebuild their local government. Locating the county’s records and legal papers was a foundational challenge. Even before the Loyalist insurrections , County Clerk Kenneth Anderson was unable to gather papers from the prior County Clerk, Joseph Leonard. In November 1776, Anderson wrote that Leonard “refused to give over an order of delivery of sd records.” Five months later, on March 24, 1777, Anderson was still seeking the county’s records. On that day, he wrote Governor William Livingston: Since my return, have been with the Sheriff [Asher Holmes], constantly engaged in the militia for the defense of the county, so that I had not an opportunity to call on Mr. Leonard until a few days since. When I did, in the presence of the Sheriff, he [Leonard] informed me that the books, records & c. were removed by Lt. Col. Lawrence [Elisha Lawrence] - to what place he [Leonard] could not tell. It is unknown if the county’s legal papers were ever recovered. Lacking the resources and infrastructure to detain large numbers of people, state and Continental authorities declared a general amnesty for the disaffected. Those who would renounce their British oaths and take Continental oaths would be pardoned. Armed insurrectionists who menaced citizens were not permitted amnesty. But a policy needed to be improvised for Loyalist leaders who supported the insurrections without taking up arms. There were many such individuals in Monmouth County. Disaffected Leaders Drop Out of Local Leadership When Francis Gurney’s Pennsylvanians came through Middletown, they detained John Taylor. Taylor was the commissioner charged with administering British loyalty oaths in Middletown during the insurrection. General Israel Putnam asked George Washington if Taylor’s status as a British civil government official excluded him from the general amnesty. Washington responded on February 5: I never Intended to exclude any from the benefit of my Proclamation who were not particularly Active in persecuting, and destroying the Property of the friends to our cause. The case of Mr. Taylor & any others that are brot [sic] to you, or confin’d, must therefore depend upon this—As to the Circumstance respecting the Families of those who went over to the Enemy, previous to the Proclamation, it is not my Intention that they should be under any necessity of withdrawing themselves—provided their future good behavior warrants such Lenity towards them. Washington also advised that Loyalist leaders who wished to go behind British lines could do so as long as they left their valuables behind: “let no Property be convey’d with them.” Samuel Breese, the former Committeeman and first militia colonel for Shrewsbury Townships, posed another challenge. On February 11, he wrote Governor William Livingston: I am one among the number of conquered people in Monmouth County who have taken the benefit of Lord General Howe's proclamation and sworn allegiance, and alas, I cannot as yet get over my scruple for [taking] the oath to the States as required by General Washington, and the consequence of refusing is to me very terrible. If I may not have a dispensation, upon giving in good and sufficient security for my good behavior, then I will be obliged to ask your Excellency to favor me with a parole to remain on any farm or in the country unmolested with my family -- leading a quiet inoffensive life, which can be of no loss to the State. It appears that Breese was allowed to retire on his farm. At the same time that Taylor and Breese were negotiating their status. the New Jersey government sought to enforce that all officeholders, civil or military, take a loyalty oath. New Jersey required officeholders to take a two-part oath: 1. "I do sincerely profess and swear (or if one of the people called Quakers, affirm) that I do not hold myself bound to bear allegiance to the King of Great Britain, so help me God." 2. "I do sincerely profess or swear (or if one the people called Quakers, affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Government established in this State, under the authority of the people, so help me God." Devout Quakers would not swear allegiance, so they were permitted to “affirm” their allegiance instead. Refilling Local Government March 1777 was the first month in which some civil government functions returned to Monmouth County. Elections for county and township officers were held on March 11. The Shrewsbury Township election certificate has survived. The voters of Shrewsbury elected 21 officeholders including four men who were disaffected or of wavering loyalty (called “trimmers” because they trimmed their sails and blew with the wind). Table 1 demonstrates the mixed record of Shrewsbury’s 1777 officeholders. Over the course of the war, local elections appear to have been held regularly starting in 1777. However, disaffected individuals continued to serve in local government in Monmouth County’s three townships—Shrewsbury, Dover, and Stafford. This was a reflection of the disaffection of the voters themselves. There was also a need to ensure that Monmouth’s senior militia officers were supporters of the Revolution and in compliance with state law. On March 15 and 18, Governor Livingston exchanged letters with the New Jersey Assembly regarding irregularities among Monmouth County’s senior militia officers. The following problems were identified regarding the Monmouth County militia’s field officers: 1st Militia Battalion (Freehold and Middletown townships) "Lt Colonel Thomas Seabrook is said to have refused taking oaths to this State; if so, has forfeited his commission” “The Major, Mr [Asher] Holmes, is High Sheriff of the County, which two offices are incompatible, as no sheriff may leave his County - he ought therefore make his election” “In this battalion there is no Second Major" 2nd Militia Battalion (Upper Freehold, Dover, and Stafford townships) "Mr. Brearley [David Brearley] is Colonel of the 2nd Battalion, but is engaged in the Continental service” “The first Major is Elisha Lawrence [cousin of Elisha Lawrence, the Loyalist], who I am informed has accepted the enemy's protection, and refused taking oaths to Government” “This battalion is also without a Second Major" 3rd Militia Battalion (Shrewsbury township) "Of the Third Battalion, Daniel Hendrickson is Colonel, but is very infirm and said to be removed to Upper Freehold, while the battalion consists of the inhabitants of Shrewsbury." New militia elections were held on April 28 for captains and junior officers. These elections replaced officers who had joined the British and or refused to sign New Jersey’s loyalty oath. That same month, Asher Holmes, still in the role of sheriff, issued the first fines from the reconstituted Monmouth County government. The first general militia return was prepared on May 1. The return for the 1st Battalion has survived. It lists 484 rank and file as “fit & present”, 41 as captured by the enemy, and 126 as “absconded” (Loyalist refugees or in hiding). The controversial county-wide militia muster was a key element of David Forman’s (now a Brigadier General in the New Jersey militia) plan to expose the county’s remaining Loyalists and punish them under martial law . Both of these topics are discussed in other articles. Related Historic Site : Liberty Hall (William Livingston’s home) Sources : Kenneth Anderson to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 4, March 24, 1777; New Jersey Loyalty Oaths printed in Larry Gerlach, New Jersey in the American Revolution 1763-1783 A Documentary History (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975) pp. 363-4; Kenneth Anderson to New Jersey Legislature, New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 14, #27; George Washington to Israel Putnam, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 8, 6 January 1777 – 27 March 1777, ed. Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, p. 256; Samuel Breese to William Livingston, Massachusetts Historical Society, William Livingston Papers; Shrewsbury Township Election, Monmouth County Historical Association, Steen Collection, box 2, folder 11; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, March 15, 1777, pp, 108-9; William Livingston, report, in Carl Prince ed., Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, p 280-1; Militia Elections, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #1046-1058; Militia Return, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 6, folder 7; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Treasury, State Auditor's Account Book, Sheriff Fines, Monmouth County, reel 181, pp. 195-203 Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Refugee Women Listed in Monmouth County Militia Returns by Michael Adelberg Women picked up the pieces after raids laid waste to villages and farms. Sometimes they packed up their families and fled, as when 19 Tinton Falls women became refugees at Colts Neck. - June 1779 - Following April and June raids, the village of Tinton Falls was abandoned. All of its militia leaders were captured or killed, the public and military stores were taken, the buildings were looted or destroyed, and most or all of the livestock from the farms around the village were taken. Robert Morris, the Chief Justice of New Jersey, worried that people were becoming refugees in the inland countryside. He wrote: “Some are quitting their habitations, and others declare they are willing to do so, observing that if they must go on by starving, they had rather do it in the country than in the Provost Jail." Evidence that this did, in fact, happen is in a militia return compiled by Captain James Green. Green captained the Colts Neck militia, six miles west of Tinton Falls. His June 1780 militia return lists his 95 men and nineteen women—eleven of whom clearly were not from Colts Neck in boldface. (The others probably were not from Colts Neck either, but evidence is lacking.) See table 9 The women were not part of Green’s militia company. His decision to include them on his militia return is likely because they (and their families) were living as refugees at Colts Neck; Green was providing rations for them. Each township had Overseers of the Poor, but the Shrewsbury Township Overseers of the Poor in 1778 (1779 township records have not survived) were Joseph Parker, Joseph Throckmorton, and Thomas White—each of whom was either disaffected or residing near the shore. In either event, these men—who likely were neutrals or disaffected—were not politically aligned with families made refugee by Loyalist raiders. Green’s June 1780 return was compiled a year after the June 10, 1779, Tinton Falls raid, providing evidence that refugees were at Colts Neck for at least a year. It is important to note that none of these women were prosperous at war’s end, and at least three ended the war with less wealth than they had before the Tinton Falls raid (noted with an asterisk). Other Women in Militia Returns Seven women are listed in Upper Freehold militia returns from 1778-1780. They are Mary Perrine, Elizabeth Mooney, Elizabeth Rue, Martilla Clayton, Eleanor Reynolds, Elizabeth Mount, and Rebecca Mount. Of the seven, only one—Rue—is likely a refugee. She was from Freehold Township and her husband, Matthias Rue, was killed at the Battle of Navesink in 1777. Two of the women—Mary Perrine and Rebecca Mount were wives of Upper Freehold Loyalists who owned 225 and 200 acre farms with 12 and 11 head of livestock respectively. At war’s end, they were moderately prosperous yeoman farmers. The reason that Colonel Samuel Forman and Captain John Covenhoven (not the legislator of the same name) felt the need to list these women on militia returns is unknown. But the most likely reason is that these women (even the prosperous ones) and their families were displaced for a period of time and in need of support. Perhaps their estates were damaged when the British Army came through Upper Freehold in June 1778. There might be another case of a woman being included on a militia return. A genealogist, Marjy Wienkop, noted that the Stafford Township militia company of Captain Reuben Randolph lists Jeany Sutton as serving with him for 35 days at Perth Amboy. While "Jeany" is a female name, it can be wondered if this is a nickname of the French "Jean"—and potentially a male name (although Sutton is not a French name). Assuming that Jeany Sutton was a woman, the reason that Randolph felt a need to include her on his militia return is unknown. Women often went with military companies as “camp followers” but they were not paid for doing so beyond pay earned performing jobs for the soldiers. While the decimation of Tinton Falls may have forced dozens of people to become refugees, the Battle of Navesink was the event that produced the most deaths and captures of Monmouth Countians. Intermittently throughout the war, Monmouth Countians petitioned the state legislature for assistance for the suffering families of militiamen. On June 5, 1781, the New Jersey Assembly voted to grant half-pay military pensions to the wives of five Monmouth militiamen who died at Battle of Navesink or endured long term imprisonment after the battle. The women were: Isabella Hibbetts [widow of James], Mary Stillwell [widow of Obadiah], Elizabeth Cole [widow of William], Mary Winter [widow of James], and Penelope Davis [widow of Joseph]. The pensions were of a modest monthly amount of £2 S5. It is unknown why these five women were granted pensions while the wives of most of the militiamen killed or captured at the battle went unmentioned. While the state took like action to support a few women and families rocked by the local war in Monmouth County, militia officers provided support for many other impoverished, vulnerable women. If all of Monmouth County’s Revolutionary War militia returns had survived to this day, it is probable that more women would have been listed on a scattering of additional returns. Militia officers had no authority to provide rations or pay to these women. But under dire circumstances, these officers did what they thought was necessary. There is no reason to think they were punished for exceeding their authority. Sources : Morris, Robert, “Letters of Chief Justice Morris, 1777–1779,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 38 (1920), pp. 175-6; Upper Freehold Militia Muster Rolls, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, Coll. 70, p2, 4, 9; Muster rolls posted at the Continental Line, http://www.continentalline.org/articles/article.php?date=0002&article=000202 ; National Archives, Continental Army Records, Samuel Forman's Militia Regiment; Militia Return, June 1780, Captain James Green, Stryker-Rodda, Harriet, “Militia Women of 1780, Monmouth County, New Jersey,” N.S.D.A.R. Magazine, vol. 113, n. 4, April 1979, pp. 308-12; Harriet Stryker-Rodda, “Militia Women of 1780,” Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, vol. 113 (1979) p 310; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, June 5, 1781, p 34; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File (on file at the Monmouth County Historical Association Library). Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Samuel Lippincott, Man-Stealing, and Jailed Militiamen in New York by Michael Adelberg Lists like this one show that hundreds of prisoners were exchanged. But prisoner exchanges also fueled the “man stealing” of Monmouth County patriots who served as chips in later exchanges. - February 1780 - On a cold night in February 1780, Samuel Lippincott was kidnapped from his bed. He recalled: While in bed in his residence in Monmouth County, applicant’s residence was plundered by two black Refugees, who laid ready upon his house and took him out of his bed. After having tied his hands behind him, they, in the company of several Tories, conveyed him and two other prisoners to Sandy Hook, from whereabouts [on] the third day they were conveyed to New York. Lippincott was jailed three months in the notorious Sugar House prison until "that place becoming so crowded with prisoners, he was conveyed to the North Church where he remained until he was exchanged.” While there, Lippincott recalled a friend escaping from North Church "having procured a new civilian set of clothes with the connivance of two Hessian guards, passed through the board fence by which the church was surrounded, where a plank was missing, and mingled with the citizens." Lippincott was exchanged “after having been a prisoner for seven months and seven days.” The kidnapping of Lippincott represented an important pivot in the local war in Monmouth County in two ways. It is the first documented case of a party of Black Loyalists conducting a raid on their own, and it appears to be the first recorded “man-stealing” in Monmouth County. Man-stealing was the name given to small raids conducted primarily to carry off hostages. Monmouth Countians had been imprisoned in New York City jails at least since February 1777 when more than 70 Monmouth militiamen were captured by British regulars at the Battle of Navesink . At least four of the men taken that day were still imprisoned when Lippincott was taken. But Lippincott represented a new kind of Monmouth County prisoner—one taken not as a result of battle, but because Loyalists desired revenge for rebel abuses, and because new prisoners were needed for additional prisoner of war exchanges. Other Man-Stealings Captain Moses Shepherd led a militia company from Middletown Township. After the war, his widow, Rebecca Shepherd, wrote of his capture and imprisonment at about the same time as Lippincott’s capture: He was once made a prisoner taken in his own house by a party of Tories about dawn… he was taken to New York paroled as an officer on Long Island, stayed about six weeks, he, in company with Captain Thomas Chadwick took a small boat or skiff and came home, but was afterwards exchanged. William Morris testified to seeing Shepherd while he was detained in New York. “He was passing the prison in New York - Captain Moses Shepherd called to him from one of the windows. He [Morris] stayed and conversed with but was afraid to go in.” Two of Moses Shepherd’s nephews, Elisha Shepherd and Jacob Shepherd, were also captured in 1780. Elisha Shepherd recalled serving in the militia “until taken prisoner by the refugees under Col. Tye when he was taken to New York and put in the provost’s or hangman’s jail… and continued confined in said prison to the end of the war.” His brother, Jacob Shepherd, testified that “himself and his brother… were kept prisoners for about five months and he thinks they were exchanged in the month of March.” Two other militiamen, in their postwar pension applications, described being captured in small raids and taken to New York. Abraham Lane recalled that "he was taken prisoner by a company of Refugees of whom William Gillian was Captain, and was carried to the City of New York and confined in the Sugar House; from there he was removed to the North Church and detained prisoner from March to September 1781." He was paroled home and promptly re-joined the militia as a Lieutenant. Elijah Clayton recalled being taken at Colts Neck on May 14, 1781 “and confined in North Church, and from thence to the Sugar House, where he was kept prisoner until New Year's following, when he was exchanged." Thomas Clayton recalled meeting his brother, Elijah, while in jail: He did not know what had become of his brother until he was informed that he was a prisoner in the same city; that he obtained permission to go see said Elisha and asked for and received a dollar from a Black fellow in some office under the British... That the party that took him prisoner also took a horse from him, from which he never received any compensation. Of course, Monmouth militiamen continued to be taken in military encounters as well. Joseph Johnson was captured on March 16, 1780, on the Raritan Bayshore, while under serving Capt. Joseph Stillwell. Johnson "was taken prisoner... he was kept a prisoner of war in close confinement for 9 1/2 months at which time he took with small pox and very nearly died and then exchanged at Elizabethtown." He returned to militia service in July 1781. In April 1780, John Brown, recalled participating in a skirmish at Manasquan during which he "was taken prisoner by the British at Shrewsbury & carried to New York, where he remained a prisoner in close confinement for 7 months & suffered cruelly from his captors." He also returned to militia service in 1781. Prisoner Backlog in Brooklyn An important purpose of man-stealing was to gain chips to be used in subsequent prisoner exchanges. As noted in a prior article, one of the primary powers granted to the vigilante Associated Loyalists by the British was the ability to capture their own prisoners and conduct their own exchanges. Exchanges are the subject of another article , but it is important to note that the pace of exchanges was slower than captures and prisoners backlogged. From September 1780 until the end of 1782, there was a backlog of Monmouth County militia officers as prisoners. Lists of militia officers paroled to Loyalist houses in Brooklyn exist from September 1780 through war’s end. A "List of New Jersey Officers taken by British, 1776-1780," was compiled in September 1780. It lists 26 New Jersey militia officers confined in Brooklyn. Fourteen of the men were from Monmouth County. They are noted below along with information on their capture and status in September 1780. Six of these men were at home and not in service when taken, three were exchanged, and one was dead: Col. Daniel Hendrickson: taken June 11, 1779, "at his house...exchanged"; Lt. Col. John Smock: taken May 27, 1778, "at Monmouth Cty…not in service"; Lt. Col. Aucke Wikoff: taken June 11, 1779 "at his house...in Provost [jail]"; Maj. Hendrick Van Brunt: taken June 11, 1779 "at his house...in Shrewsbury"; Capt. Stephen Fleming: taken May 27, 1778 at "Monmouth Cty...exchanged"; Capt. Barnes Smock: taken February 13, 1777 "near Light House...exchanged"; Capt. Jacob Covenhoven: taken May 27, 1778 "in Monmouth Cty"; Capt. Richard McKnight: taken June 11, 1779 "in home...not in service, died 1780"; Lt. Thomas Cook: taken February 13, 1777 "near Light House"; Lt. James Whitlock: taken February 13, 1777 "near Light House"; Lt. Theophilus Little: taken May 27, 1778 "in Monmouth Cty...not in service"; Lt. [Moses] Shepherd: taken [no date] "at home in Monmouth Cty"; Lt. Thomas Little: taken June 27, 1778 "in Monmouth Cty"; Lt. Tobias Polhemus: taken February 13, 1777 "near Light House." At least two additional militia officers were captured in 1780 but are not included in this report. Captain Thomas Wainwright spent eighteen months in prison before he was exchanged. Captain Barnes Smock was captured in June 1780 and was exchanged in December. The condition of the prisoners of war in New York was a frequent concern of Continental officials. On September 9, 1780, Commandant of Prisoners, Abraham Skinner, wrote to Governor William Livingston about "the peculiar situation of prisoners of war belonging to this State." Skinner worried that the New Jersey government was not supporting its prisoners of war. Of the officers, he wrote: The officers who are prisoners on Long Island [Brooklyn] have not had the least supply or support from this office since the Spring of 1779; since which many of them have been at board on Long Island, and many of them are destitute of a single farthing, are liable to the daily insult from their landlords, who seem tired of supporting them without fee or reward, and if their exchange could be effected, they would be detained for payment of the debts. Of the enlisted men, Skinner wrote: The citizens and Privates of this State are confined in the Sugar House and churches in a wretched situation, many of them without a shirt or blanket, and no allowance except what they receive from the enemy, about 3 1/2 pounds of bread, which is issued to them by the Continental agent. Skinner wrote that the Jersey prisoners "feel mortification in seeing their fellow sufferers receive supplies from the neighboring States" while they receive nothing from New Jersey. That same month, Hendrick Van Brunt co-authored a petition to Governor William Livingston requesting provisions for prisoners. This included a request for £50 in cash for each officer on parole on Long Island to settle debts. The petitioners noted that nothing had been sent from New Jersey in more than a year, and a prior request for support had been ignored. The petition was signed by 30 New Jersey officers. Seventeen of these men were militia officers of which nine were from Monmouth County (Lt. Col. John Smock, Lt. Col. Aucke Wikoff, Van Brunt, Capt. Barnes Smock, Capt. Jacob Covenhoven, Lt. James Whitlock, Lt. Thomas Little, Lt. Tobias Polhemus, Lt. Thomas Cook). On August 5, 1782, Skinner, compiled a list of "Debts incurred by Sundry Americans Owing to their Captivity to Inhabitants on Long Island." Eleven prisoners on the list were "Jersey Militia" and six of those were Monmouth Countians: Little, McKnight (dead), Polhemus, John Smock, Van Brunt, and Whitlock. They had accumulated debts as high as £65. Skinner’s November 1782 "Schedule of Debts Accumulated by Paroled Prisoners on Long Island" listed the same six officers plus Jacob Covenhoven, Thomas Cook, Barnes Smock (re-captured), and Aucke Wikoff. Lt. Whitlock had been exchanged. The prisoners were prone to disease and privations. Some died. Mathias Mount, a prisoner who was exchanged, returned to Monmouth County and testified on April 24, 1781, about the death of Captain John Dennis while they were prisoners in New York: The deponent was a prisoner in New York in 1778, and was well acquainted with Capt. John Dennis of the 3rd Regiment of the militia of Monmouth County, and saith that John Dennis' wounds were not cured, and that the said Dennis after his death lay several days in the corner of the yard, before he was buried. The kidnapping of Samuel Lippincott presaged the appearance of Colonel Tye and the Black Brigade and the man-stealings that would punctuate the Revolutionary War in Monmouth County in 1780. Man-stealings advanced the local war in Monmouth County to a more brutal stage, leading a cycle of retribution between the vigilante Associated Loyalists and Monmouth County’s Retaliators . Sources : National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Samuel Lippincott; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Moses Shepherd of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 16276047; -- National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Elisha Shepherd of OH, www.fold3.com/image/# 16277477; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Joseph Johnson; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Brown; List of Officers Taken, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3971; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p229-32; Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) pp. 260-1; Edward Roser, "American Prisoners Taken at the Battle of the Navesink," Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, vol. 45, n 2, May 1970, p57; Hendrick Van Brunt to William Livingston, Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) pp. 261-3; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Abraham Lane; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Elihu Clayton; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 303; List of Debts of Prisoners on Long Island, National Archives, M246, RG93, reel 135, folder 4, pages 4-10; Schedule of Debts, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #4125. 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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 > Dr. John Lawrence and the Crime of Having Loyalist Kin by Michael Adelberg Dr. John Lawrence was a physician prominent Loyalists in his family. Although he was not an active Loyalist, he was forced to live out the war away from his home. - July 1776 - As discussed in a prior article, John Lawrence, Sr., was one of Monmouth County’s leading citizens before the Revolution—a lawyer, judge, surveyor, and member of New Jersey Assembly. He was supportive of the Continental Association and boycott of British goods. However, when protesting British policies shifted to declaring independence, John Sr. became an active Loyalist. In July, he led a bloodless insurrection against the new government in Upper Freehold. John Sr. was arrested for "holding treasonable intercourse with the enemy" and detained in Burlington County. On July 5, the New Jersey Convention ordered that "Mr. John Lawrence, of the County of Monmouth, not to depart the house of Mr. [Rensselaer] Williams [of Trenton]; and if Mr. Lawrence should refuse…. order him confined under such guard as the Committee may deem necessary." He would remain under house arrest for nine months. John Lawrence, Sr., had two sons. Elisha Lawrence was the Monmouth County sheriff under the Royal government. He played an active role in his father’s insurrection and led 60 Upper Freehold Loyalists to join the British Army on Sandy Hook. He would soon become Colonel of the 1st Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, a Provincial Corps of the British Army. John Lawrence, Jr., was John’s other son, a Princeton graduate and prominent physician who owned a home at Perth Amboy but spent a great deal of time at his father’s house in Upper Freehold. There is no evidence that John Jr. (Dr. John Lawrence) was active in his father’s insurrection, but there is no evidence that he opposed it. Actions Taken Against Dr. John Lawrence On July 9, the New Jersey Convention took action against Dr. John Lawrence and seven other New Jerseyans from prominent Loyalist families. They were arrested and brought to Trenton. Lawrence and the others were ordered "not to depart the town of Trenton.” But later that day, the Convention reconsidered the status of Dr. John Lawrence. "Pursuant to order, Dr. John Lawrence, appeared before Congress and was permitted to return home on his parole, to attend this House whenever called upon." But Dr. Lawrence’s final parole agreement shows that he was not allowed to return home. Instead, he was required to go to Morristown. Perth Amboy was within sight of the British Lines and Upper Freehold was simmering with Loyalist insurrectionists. If Dr. John Lawrence wanted to actively oppose the Revolution, he could cause considerable mischief in either place. Morristown, on the other hand, was 25 miles inland from British lines and thoroughly controlled by Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). Though not as dangerous as his brother or father, New Jersey authorities were not willing to let Dr. John Lawrence live where he pleased. Dr. Lawrence’s July 13 parole oath is below: I do hereby give my parole of honor to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey that… I will return to Morristown, in Morris County, & there remain in a circle of six miles of the Court House in town, & that I will not carry on any political correspondence whatsoever on the subject of the dispute between Great Britain & the United Colonies, neither will I furnish any provisions or given any intelligence to the enemies of the Colony. In September, Continental Army defeats in New York raised expectations that the British Army would soon invade New Jersey. Amidst the resulting panic, men were punished for the crime of having Loyalist kin; Dr. Lawrence was jailed at Trenton. On September 26, Dr. Lawrence wrote a letter of protest to Governor William Livingston: After having complied with every requisition of the Congress - paying my proportions of the tax raised & signing the Association - I was exceedingly surprised to find myself made a prisoner by an order from Genl. Washington [George Washington] in consequence of which I have been carried to Trenton where the Provincial Congress was then sitting, and flatter myself that had I the opportunity: such a defense might have been made as would have discharged me entirely from my imprisonment - Taken from my business & put to very heavy expense. I therefore request that instead of continuing [within a circle of six miles of Morris[town], I may be removed to Allentown in Monmouth, under a parole similar to what I have given at this place, where my father's house will prevent any extraordinary charges occurring to me & where from its situation so remote from the British Army, I apprehend there can be no objection offered. However, Dr. Lawrence was not permitted to return to Upper Freehold. He returned to Morristown, where, while drunk, he engaged in spreading the word about the defeat of the Continental Army. On February 7, 1777, testimony was given against his conduct shortly before the British crossed into New Jersey: One Wm. Stewart [William Stewart] an assistant to these fals harted [sic] smooth tong’d fellows, went off to the Enemy, (as I am Well inform’d) I am affraid [sic] of the Conciquence [sic]. These fellows with two Tory Prisoners at McKee’s the Night after Long Island was given up was all drunk in taken of their Joy. Capt. Canedy & one Doctor Lawrence [Dr. John Lawrence] was the Prisoners—this Club of traitors has been riding all times of night just before some expedition of the Enemy, from Morristown to Prinstown [sic] or somewhere near their, where [there] was a member of the Convention, a friend of theirs. Another of them at the same time [was] going down to Newark, to their friends, their Every one of them most active in their several departments. I have many other reasons for my present opinion of these fellows, which would make them Blush to hear of. However, these fellows & their Influence is failing & will Continew [sic] to fail with all the rest of that abandoned crew of trators [sic] to their Country. Dr. John Lawrence at War’s End Despite this testimony, it appears that Dr. Lawrence was permitted to live out the war as a non-participant in New Jersey. Some sources suggest that he spent parts of the war behind British lines in New York as a non-combatant Loyalist refugee. Although surviving records are incomplete, there appears to be no further evidence of bad conduct from Dr. Lawrence or punishments from the New Jersey government. By 1783, it was clear that the British would be leaving New York. At this time, Dr. Lawrence considered his fate and whether he belonged with his brother (and three members of his extended family) behind British lines. He visited New York and may have offered himself up for a patronage position with the British government. On September 15, 1783, John Colden, a prominent New York Loyalist, wrote of Dr. Lawrence to Guy Carleton, the British commander in chief in New York and Governor of Canada: I am informed Mr. Lawrence supports a favorable character—is pushing himself forward and bids fair to rise in his profession. He has been two or three times in New York since the cessation of hostilities but I have not seen him. He will probably be a useful man to you; he designs to settle in New York. But it appears that this flirtation was temporary. Dr. Lawrence returned to Upper Freehold after the war, where he kept a low profile and lived out his life without incident. Outside of a night of loose talk while drunk, there is no evidence that he acted against the Continental cause. The support of his influential cousin, also named Elisha Lawrence, may have facilitated his peaceful reintegration. Cousin Elisha Lawrence was a Lt. Colonel in the militia and served in the upper house of the New Jersey legislature. Related Historic Site : Morristown National Historical Park Sources : Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p138 and 200-1; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, p 1638-9; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) pp. 497-8; John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, 4 vols, Genealogical Publishing Co, 1970, v3, p411-21; John Lawrence, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War Documents, #4; The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 22, March 23, 1775, through October 27, 1776, ed. William B. Willcox. New Haven and London:: Yale University Press, 1982, pp. 517–518; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1652; New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 3, September 26, 1776; NJ Council of Safety, New Jersey State Archives, box 2; The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 8, 6 January 1777 – 27 March 1777, ed. Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 266–267; John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) v3, p417; John Colden to Guy Carleton, Alfred Jones, “Letter of David Colden, Loyalist, 1783”, American Historical Review, October 1919, vol. 25, p80-6. Previous Next

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 > Lewis Bestedo Kills Loyalist and Exposes Loyalist Outlaws by Michael Adelberg Jesse Woodward led a small band of Loyalist outlaws into the woods of Upper Freehold Township in early 1777. Here, the men lived in small hunting cabins similar to this one still standing in Virginia. - April 1777 - When the Upper Freehold Loyalist insurrection and other insurrections collapsed in January 1777, the less committed insurrectionists received amnesty in exchange for taking a loyalty oath to the New Jersey government. Among the more committed insurrectionists, 200+ were captured and jailed ; at least as many others went to New York as Loyalist refugees and recruits into the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers . And a few committed Loyalists went underground, living as outlaws in the thinly-populated cedar forests and salt marshes along the shore. The best-documented of these Loyalist outlaw bands—numbering ten or fewer—went into the woods of southern Upper Freehold township in early 1777. These men, more or less led by Jesse Woodward, lived in modest hunting cabins for several weeks until the desire for revenge lured one member of the group, Nicholas Williams, to expose them and lose his life in the process. Lewis Bestedo Kills and Captures Loyalist Outlaws A devoted Whig (supporter of the Revolution), Lewis Bestedo, was the first man known to hunt down these Loyalist outlaws. On March 20, 1777, Colonel Israel Shreve of the Continental Army recorded "Lewis Bastedo brot [sic] three deserters viz. Jacob Fagan and his brother” and “6 Tories” to the Army’s prison. A year later Fagan would re-emerge as the first of Monmouth County’s notorious Pine Robber gang leaders. This incident may have induced other Loyalists-in-hiding to go after Bestedo. According to Bestedo’s deposition before the New Jersey Council of Safety : On or about the 9th of April, as he, the deponent, was riding the public road between the dwelling house of Alexander Howard and Crosswicks, two men, namely Nicholas Williams and Thomas Fowler, who were till then concealed in the bushes, started up near the deponent, when said Williams said 'God Damn your blood, stop!' and immediately said Williams and Fowler both presented their guns at this deponent, who instantly alighted for his horse... That one or both said persons did fire directly at him, and that a ball discharged from one of the guns came so near his head that he thinks it brushed his hair. Upon which the deponent, having also a loaded gun in his hand, did immediately take aim and shot the said Nicholas Williams through the head... and then rushing toward the said Thomas Fowler, took him a prisoner, and conveyed him to Allentown, where he delivered him to Capt. [Francis] Wade. The captured Loyalist, Fowler, was also deposed by Wade a Continental Army commissary officer , at Allentown: He heard Nicholas Williams, who Lewis Bestedo shot this morning in his own defense, says that he would shoot Bestedo the first time he could do it, and as Bestedo was passing the road, going to Crosswicks from Allentown on his lawful business, sd Williams and Fowler lay in ambush along some brush on the road, & started up on sd Bestedo when sd Williams cried out to sd Bestedo 'Damn you, stop' & fired at sd Bestedo directly out of a loaded rifle, & on a missing, sd Bestedo, having a loaded musket with him on his horseback, immediately alighted & fired at sd Williams & shot him there in the head & took sd Thomas Fowler prisoner. Fowler described that outlaw bands "kept in a cabin for two months past, near to Joshua Gibbs." Fowler lived near Williams and Samuel Woodward. “Jesse Woodward also lived in the woods with them in a cabin along Crosswicks Creek.” Jesse Woodward had encouraged Fowler and Williams to stay in hiding "as the regulars would soon return, when they would be at liberty to go where they pleased & that Little Anthony Woodward promised they would be rewarded." John McGinnis was also listed as one of the outlaws, but he remained living in the community. McGinnis had warned Fowler "not to betray him.” With Fowler as an informant, Captain Wade was apparently able to capture Jesse Woodward, who he examined on April 10 at Allentown. Wade wrote of Woodward, "I find he is very backward in giving any information. You will find by his confession and Fowler's, that they differ much... it however plainly appears that there is a gang of them living in the pines and no doubt in readiness to show themselves whenever an opportunity offers.” Wade said he would write George Washington about the Loyalist outlaws in hiding. He also suggested that Bestedo should be allowed to keep the firearms of Fowler and Williams as a reward for his actions. In his statement, Jesse Woodward admitted to disarming Whigs during the Loyalist insurrection the prior December under guidance from his cousin, Anthony Woodward, who was acting under order from the British Army. He then "went from his house last December into the Pines about ten miles from his house, and living in one of the cabins for about a week at a time, and sometimes went home, and removed to a cabin on Crosswick's Creek above Waln's Mill, where he has lived about three or four weeks past.” On Fowler and Williams, “he understood from his children they were under the same circumstances that he was.” Fowler was brought before the New Jersey Council of Safety on April 11 and confessed that he, Samuel Woodward and Nicholas Williams went to Shrewsbury with plan to go off to Sandy Hook, but were turned back by a patrol. After the insurrection collapsed, Fowler went with Jesse Woodward to a cabin. Tedium in the woods may have prompted rash action. Fowler deposed that, “he has done no work for two months, but was persuaded that the regulars would make it all up to him if he lay still... was persuaded by sd Williams to go with him & assist him in taking Lewis Bestedo, whom he said he would carry to the Hook, when Bestedo returned the fire & shot Williams dead & took him prisoner." Other Loyalist Outlaws Captured With Jesse Woodward and Fowler captured and Williams dead, the Loyalist outlaws grew desperate. Thomas Woodward and Thomas Williams attempted to escape to New York. However, they were taken outside of New Brunswick on May 10 and brought before the Council of Safety on May 21: This affirmant further saith that sd Williams did then and there undertake to conduct him, this affirmant, to the city of New Brunswick & that in pursuance thereof, they, this affirmant and sd Williams, did that night set off with a design to go to the said city & traveled nightly (laying still by day) until they arrived within a few miles of sd city, where they were both apprehended and made prisoners - This affirmant further saith that being himself a stranger to the country & roads through which they passed, he trusted himself entirely to the guidance and direction of him, sd Williams, and that altho' there was no previous agreement between of reward, yet the sd Williams did immediately after their sd apprehension demand of him, the affirmant, the sum of two dollars for his services, which he paid to sd Williams. Another member of the Loyalist gang, Giles Williams, was captured on May 19. Upper Freehold’s David Brearley, a Continental Army officer, sent him to Governor William Livingston, with the note: Your Excellency will have delivered herewith a certain Giles Williams, who left this State last summer with Elisha Lawrence and others, and joined the Enemy on Staten Island; he has sometime past been lurking in the Pines with a set of villains, but was very luckily taken last night in the edge of the Pines by Lieut. Barton [Gilbert Barton] and sent to this place [Allentown]. It is interesting that Giles Williams was part of the first wave of Loyalist insurrectionaries who left Upper Freehold in July 1776 to join the New Jersey Volunteers under Lt. Colonel Elisha Lawrence. Williams apparently deserted the New Jersey Volunteers but remained a committed Loyalist. A number of Loyalists who became so-called Pine Robbers later in the war followed this same pattern. The fate of the few remaining Loyalist outlaws in the Upper Freehold group is unknown; it is possible they remained outlaws and drifted into more violent outlaw activities. By the summer of 1778, and for the rest of the war, Loyalist outlaw gangs, including the one led by Jacob Fagan, resided in the pine forests and salt marshes of coastal Monmouth County. These Pine Robbers terrorized locals and made large swaths of land largely ungovernable. Historian David Fowler (no relation to Thomas Fowler) examined the Upper Freehold Loyalist outlaws and identified them as the starting point of the Pine Robber phenomenon. While this early Loyalist outlaw group was less violent than later outlaw gangs, Fowler’s hypothesis is instructive. Related Historic Site : Nothnagle Log Cabin (early log home in New Jersey, but not representative of one-room hunting cabin) Sources : The Journal of Colonel Israel Shreve, March 20, 1777, Louisiana Technical University, Special Collections (excerpted by David J. Fowler); Deposition of Lewis Bestedo, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, pp. 306-7.New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives of History, Council of Safety, Thomas Fowler; Jesse Woodward’s Statement, taken by Francis Wade, Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) p 51-3; Confession of Thomas Fowler, New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives of History, Council of Safety, box 1, document #74; Deposition, New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives of History, Council of Safety, Thomas Woodward; David Brearley to William Livingston, Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) pp. 60-1. 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 Demise and Sale of the Pennsylvania Salt Works at Toms River by Michael Adelberg Thomas Wharton was Pennsylvania’s Governor (called “President”) in early 1778 when the state determined the Pennsylvania Salt Works were a failure. The state sold the salt works in 1779. - November 1777 - As discussed in prior articles, because of the British blockade of American ports, there was an acute salt shortage in the fledgling United States. Salt was critical for preserving foods—without it, people would starve each winter. In 1776 and 1777, approximately twenty salt works started up along the Jersey shore. The most ambitious of these was the Pennsylvania Salt Works at Toms River, financed by the Pennsylvania government. Though started in summer 1776, the Pennsylvania salt works were still not producing salt in 1777—as other salt works were at least modestly productive. In fall 1777, the British Army defeated the Continental Army at Brandywine and Germantown , and occupied Philadelphia. The Continental Congress fled west to York, Pennsylvania and Washington’s army hunkered down for the winter at Valley Forge. The British navy patrolled the Delaware River. Given the crisis in Pennsylvania and the lack of production at its salt works, it is not surprising that the Pennsylvania government lost patience with its grandiose project at Toms River. Pennsylvania Government Sours on Pennsylvania Salt Works Thomas Savadge managed the salt works. His letter of November 11 to the state’s Council of Safety proved a tipping point. He detailed his continued labor shortage. Specifically, he lacked six carpenters, one smith, one bricklayer, one wheelwright, three cart men, laborers, and two guards who “must go on day and night; one must always be on duty that nothing be embezzled” by untrustworthy laborers . Savadge had further obligated the Pennsylvania government ($3,500) to harvest wood from James Mott's land. And he informed the Council that he sent Daniel Griggs of Toms River to Pennsylvania to collect the funds. Finally, Savadge called for fresh troops to protect the works: “Capt. Sutter's people's time will be up the first of January… should be glad to know whether they leave their arms and ammunition here or not.” Before responding to Savadge, the Council asked Colonel John Cox of Gloucester County (stationed at Little Egg Harbor) to assist them: “We have at length employed the bearer, Mr. Davison, to visit the works and furnish us… with a distinct account of the matters there." James Davison was at Little Egg Harbor and would proceed up the shore to Toms River. Along the way, he could observe other works. Davison’s November 19 orders told him that, upon reaching Toms River, if the Pennsylvania Salt Works lacked salt, he should "purchase [salt], if in his power, from other salt works, as will make up the deficiency." He should also report back to the Council on why the salt works remained unproductive. Finally, Davison was told to keep the mission secret "lest the forestallers should get notice of it." That same day, Thomas Wharton, President (Governor) of Pennsylvania and Chair of its Council of Safety, informed Savadge of Davison's mission. Wharton said that Davison "has directions from the Council to inspect the books and papers relating to the works." Wharton put Savadge on notice: We had reason to believe you would have furnished this State long since with considerable quantities of salt, we have however been most egregiously disappointed and are almost induced to give up the matter and pursue some other method to furnish this State with that article. The Council of Safety next considered the Pennsylvania Salt Works in January 1778. Despite its misgivings, it ordered another detachment to protect its investment at Toms River. On January 16, Commodore John Hazelwood of the state navy was directed to send 30 men to the salt works. The Council wrote Savadge on the same day. Despite "unaccountable delays… it is not the design of the Council to sell the salt works." The Council reminded Savadge of his prediction that the salt works would produce 30,000 bushels of salt a year. It informed Savadge that he would now report to Davison: "he is empowered and instructed to do everything that may be effectual in attaining the much desired end." The Council sent corresponding orders to Davison, noting that the salt works have “not produced any salt, tho' a very considerable sum has been invested.” Davison should “go to the works, take up the management and direction of them as fully and amply as the Council would do were they present.” On February 5, Savadge complained to the Council. Hazelwood's men had not arrived; the works were unguarded. Further, "such men as Commodore Hazelwood could furnish are not the men I want, neither will I pretend to carry on the works with such men." Savadge threatened to quit, "I cannot think of carrying them on any longer, for it is only deceiving the public, myself and my family, and getting an ill name for what I have not deserved." And he was predictably unhappy with Davison: The appointment of Mr. Davison as an agent here can be of no use to me or the works, it will be an additional expense on them and there is no use for such a person here; furnish me with proper men and I will take care of the rest... I think, agreeable to my contract, I can have no superintendent over me, but the Council themselves. Savadge wrote again on April 4. He informed the Council that British-Loyalist raiders had just razed the Union Salt Works at Manasquan (the other large salt works on the Jersey shore). Savadge stated that the raiders were "expected here this morning, but am informed that ye are returned to the Hook, but intend these works a visit very soon." Savadge was still waiting on Hazelwood’s guard and noted that the "the militia under Col Forman [David Forman] were here today" but had left for Manasquan. He complained: I have but a few men at the works, and them going to leave me on the above account -- I have heard nothing of Mr. Davison since he left about two months ago -- am without the cash to pay the people or purchase provisions of which I have no kind, other than the bread & pork -- am not able to make any salt for want of hands. Savadge followed up two days later: "We learnt this morning that the enemy, after leaving Squan, went to Shark River and destroyed the salt works there." He pleaded for a guard: "I apprehend it should be done so immediately, as in all likelihood they will make an attempt to destroy them [the salt works] in a few days." The Council’s response was prompt and unsympathetic. As [for] guards being sent to defend the salt works under your care, there does not appear to be any propriety in it -- these works have been greatly long in hand, and been altogether fruitless. This greatly discourages the Council from pursuing the business any further until they are satisfied that there is a reasonable prospect of something effectual being done. The Council would send no additional money until "they are satisfied of the propriety of the disposal of that already issued for that purpose. You are hereby directed to lay your accounts before the Council as soon as may be." Davison was sent back to the salt works in May 1778, and it appears that 20 bushels of salt (a modest amount) were produced that month. The End of the Pennsylvania Salt Works After May, there is a gap in surviving documents until November 25, 1778. Savadge had left Toms River and was in Philadelphia. He offered a weak excuse for not providing the Council with the requested financial records of the salt works: They were sent by a man who said he lived between Reading and Lancaster… [He] promised to deliver them with his own hand to the President [Wharton]. I do not recollect his name but have a copy of the letter I wrote him to the President, which I believe will give his name. On December 7, Savadge wrote to see if the Council might again invest in the salt works or, alternatively, reimburse him for past outlays: If the Council should think proper to carry the works into execution, it will be necessary that a further sum should be granted for that purpose... the sum of five hundred pounds should be sufficient to complete the five pans and carry them on so far as to satisfy your Honor... If on the other hand, the Council should decline carrying on the works any further, I beg they would inform me with whom I settle my accounts. Savadge likely met with the Council. He was again asked for his books and his original contract with the State. Savadge apologized: “I must confess with shame that I have used [the Board] extremely ill by inadvertently imposing a falsehood, by saying I had a copy of articles from Mr. Biddle, I cannot but with the greatest shame account for [them].” Savadge was similarly unable to produce the contract to harvest wood from James Mott. He called on the Council to “appoint a committee of judicious men” to consider “my character, my conduct and my accounts, respecting the works." On December 12, Savadge wrote the Council yet again: I beg your pardon for interrupting you so often, but necessity has no law. I have family in town, and I have not one stick of wood for them to burn nor money to buy any; I have been for almost seven weeks waiting to know when I am able to settle the ration bill and sundry other matters... I beg to know when I am to settle for my family cannot be wanting the necessities of life. It is not clear if Savadge’s account were ever settled; he was dead within the year. On November 5, 1779, the Council issued its last order respecting the Pennsylvania Salt Works: Whereas the Salt works belonging to this State in the State of New Jersey have been attended with great expense and no advantage to the Public, and the manager [Thomas Savadge] being dead, Resolved--that the said works be sold at public vendue. A few days later, the Pennsylvania Packet advertised: “To be sold at public vendue, the salt works belonging to the State of Pennsylvania on Barnegat Bay… These works have been erected on an extensive plan, calculated to produce a great quantity of salt.” They were purchased by John Thompson of Burlington for £15,000, and produced some salt until they were destroyed by Loyalist raiders in March 1782. Some financial records of the Pennsylvania Salt Works survived. They list expenditures for land, equipment, foods, and labor. The records offer no evidence of incoming revenues from salt sales. There are at least two substantial accounting errors noted (credits to Daniel Wilson and James Randolph). The Jersey shore salt works did not bring great wealth to investors. The two large scale works, the Pennsylvania and Union salt works, were less productive than hoped, and then destroyed by the enemy. Smaller salt works were more successful, but many of these were also destroyed. With the entry of France into the war in 1778, the British naval blockade weakened and salt returned to American ports. Salt prices fell; only a few salt works outlasted the war. Related Historic Site : State Museum of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, PA) Sources : Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 237; Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 5, p 763-4; Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 6, pp. 16-8; Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 6, p 236; Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 6, p 398; Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 6, p 417; Orders to James Davison, January 16, 1778, in Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 6, pp. 181-2, 186; Thomas Savadge to Vice President Bryan, Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 7, pp. 96-116; Thomas Savadge to PA Council of Safety, Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 7, pp. 96-116; Thomas Savadge to PA Council of Safety, Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 7, pp. 96-116; Pennsylvania Historical Society, Pennsylvania Salt Works Account Books; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 237; Pennsylvania Council of Safety, Instructions in Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 237; Library Company, Minutes of the Pennsylvania Council of Safety, vol. 12, p160; Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg: Theo. Fenn, 1853) vol. 12, pp. 160; The concurrent sale of the Union and Pennsylvania Salt works is in Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 234 and 238; Charles Thomson purchase is discussed in Harry B. Weiss, The Revolutionary Saltworks of the New Jersey Coast (Trenton: Past Times Press, 1959) p 44. 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 Continental Army Draft in Monmouth County by Michael Adelberg Thirty Monmouth Countians were drafted into the Continental Army in May 1778. They arrived at Valley Forge just in time to march back into New Jersey for the Monmouth Campaign in June. - April 1778 - In early 1778, New Jersey was responsible for filling four regiments (about 2,400 men) for the Continental Army. Washington’s Army, following demoralizing defeats in Pennsylvania and the harrowing winter at Valley Forge, was vastly understrength and recruiting had slowed to a trickle. In February 1778, the Continental Congress, at the urging of Nathaniel Scudder (a newly-arrived delegate from Freehold) and a few others, admonished the states to fill their quotas “by a draft of the militia or any other way that shall be effectual.” George Washington underscored Congress’s resolution with direct appeals to several state governors. He wrote William Livingston of New Jersey about the need to meet the state’s quota via a strictly-enforced draft: The Government must have recourse to coercive measures; for if quotas cannot be had by voluntary enlistment and the powers of the Government are not adequate to drafting, there is an end to this contest and opposition becomes vain. Livingston supported the draft and, after some debate, the New Jersey Legislature acted accordingly. New Jersey Drafts Men into the Continental Army On April 3, 1778, New Jersey passed a law instituting a draft. Under the law, each militia company in the state would divide into 18-man classes (three such classes to a full-sized company), and each class would select one man for nine months service in Continental Army. The means of selection would be determined locally, but, as a last resort, would consist of drawing lots. The law included a $300 fine for any draftee who did not show up for service, but permitted draftees to find substitutes. The law was controversial and compliance was not uniform because it put military impressments into effect—a British practice that was loathed in the colonies prior to the war. To make the law more palatable and reduce the number of needed draftees, New Jersey reduced its Continental Army obligation to fill-out regiments from four to two. The two undersized Additional Regiments of the Continental Army created for the defense of New Jersey—under David Forman and Oliver Spencer—were also merged into the New Jersey Line to help fill the remaining regiments. The Draft in Monmouth County In Monmouth County, compliance with the draft was higher than in much of the state. The county had 26 militia companies , the majority of which were full-sized on paper, but turnout was spotty. If compliance was complete, the county would have raised about 60 men through the draft; instead, 30 draftees were raised from Monmouth County (another list records 24-men raised, but is presumed to be pre-final). While 30 men was only half of what the law called for, Monmouth’s draftees were more than one-fourth of all of the impressments from across the state. The list of Monmouth County draftees has survived. They ranged in age from 16-year old Bedford Boltenhouse and 17-year old William Tennent (presumably the son of the recently-deceased Presbyterian minister of the same name) to 40-year old George Smith. The majority of the recruits (19) were aged between 19 and 27. Two men, William Hall and William Starkey (from Middlesex County), served as substitutes for draftees. Draftees were officially raised on May 14 and given until June 2 to report for duty. Given that these men had to walk from Monmouth County to Valley Forge in that time, the window to report was quite narrow. Records are incomplete, but at least one Monmouth draftee did not arrive in camp until June 11. The men had little time to train; Washington’s Army left Valley Forge to pursue the British Army across New Jersey on June 19 and engaged the British at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28. With Wiliam Tennent as the notable exception, none of the draftees were from the families of leaders. No Formans, Scudders, Smocks, Motts, Holmes, Schenks, Andersons, etc., were among the draftees. Based on the review of tax lists, none of the draftees (except one discussed below) owned a significant estate. This in line with research from historian Mark Lender who demonstrated that, following an initial burst of patriotism in 1776, the rank & file of the Continental Army was comprised of poor people. Besides Tennent, the most noteworthy draftee was Josiah Halstead. A man of this name owned the leading tavern in Shrewsbury. Halstead hosted the township’s annual meeting and his tavern boarded military officers intermittently stationed in Shrewsbury. It would be extraordinary to draft a prominent tavern keeper. This raises a few possibilities: 1.) Halstead, a supporter of the Revolution, believed himself to be in danger in Shrewsbury and allowed himself to be drafted in order to gain relative safety with the Army; 2.) Halstead was drafted as a punishment from local militia officers, perhaps for not being sufficiently accommodating to the local war effort; 3.) Halstead had fallen into debt and military service kept his creditors at bay for nine months; 4.) a different man named Josiah Halstead was drafted (although county tax lists record only one man with this name). The relatively high turnout of Monmouth County draftees is an indicator of the county’s turnaround from a year earlier when the county’s civil government was non-existent and its militia was largely dysfunctional . Another reason for the high turnout may have been the growing understanding in May that the British Army would soon be leaving Philadelphia and marching across New Jersey—with a probable path through Monmouth County. The strength and competence of Washington’s Army would soon have direct bearing on the welfare of Monmouth County. The 1778 draft was greatly unpopular and New Jersey would never again use a draft to fill its Continental Army ranks. However, in 1781, Monmouth County was permitted to conduct a local draft to fill a regiment of State Troops (state-financed soldiers for the defense of the state) established to guard the Monmouth shoreline. That draft raised seventeen men—four of whom—Boltenhouse, Tennent, Smith, and John Robins—were among the Monmouth Countians drafted in 1778. Related Historic Site : Valley Forge National Historical Park Sources : Mark Lender, “The Enlisted Line: The Continental Soldiers of New Jersey”(Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 1975) p 86; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3628; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #7199; Mark Lender, “The Enlisted Line: The Continental Soldiers of New Jersey”(Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 1975) pp. 87-9; Lender, Mark, “The Conscripted Line: The Draft in Revolutionary New Jersey,” New Jersey History, vol. 103 (1985), pp. 28-37; List of Recruits, New Jersey State Archives, Dept of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #2325-2330; List of Draftees, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #2328. 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 > William Marriner's Second Brooklyn Raid and Later Career by Michael Adelberg Daring privateer William Marriner captured Simon and Jacques Courtylou at Simon’s house in New Utrecht, Brooklyn. Marriner remained an active privateer for two more years after this capture. - November 1778 - In June 1778, William Marriner co-led a remarkable raid against Brooklyn. He and militia captain John Schenck led two boats that left Middletown Point (Matawan), rowed through the night, landed in Brooklyn, captured Loyalist prisoners, and returned to Middletown Point without the loss of a man. One observer called it “perhaps the most extraordinary circumstance which ever took place.” To New Jerseyans living along the Raritan Bayshore who had been victimized by Loyalist raids, Marriner was a hero. Two months later, Marriner and his business partner, Henry Remsen, received a Letter of Marque (more or less, a privateer license ) from the State of New Jersey. On August 18, the state licensed Marriner to attack and capture enemy ships in the sloop Enterprise , with 15 crew and an unstated number of “carriage guns” (very small cannon). But there is no record of Marriner immediately capturing enemy vessels. Marriner’s Later Actions On November 3, Marriner again raided Brooklyn. According to a report published in the New Jersey Gazette and Pennsylvania Evening Post , Marriner went to Brooklyn with a small raiding party that included seven Continental soldiers. He "landed at New Utrecht [Brooklyn] and brought off Simon [Simon Courtylou] and Jacques Courtylou, two famous Tories, and in specie and property to the amount of 5000 dollars." The prisoners were brought to New Brunswick. A Loyalist newspaper suggested that the Courtylou brothers were targeted because they had been "uncivil to some Whigs who were prisoners." A few weeks later, Marriner apparently attempted another raid. Courtland Skinner, the general commanding the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers wrote from Staten Island on December 4: "Marriner, who took Mr. Bache, is out on another escapade." The details of this action are unknown. With winter coming and prize money in his pocket, Marriner apparently purchased an inn near New Brunswick. He hosted an auction of Loyalist property there in February 1779. Marriner was inactive well into 1779. In July, however, rumors of him putting to sea began again. The Loyalist New York Gazette reported that "William Marriner, late a cordwainer & oyster fryer of this city" was expected to attack Staten Island or Brooklyn. Citizens were warned to be alert. It was noted Marriner was spotted in sixteen-foot boats “between Sandy Hook and the Narrows." Just two weeks later, the British issued a new rule that small boats nearing New York must first obtain a pass from "the commanding officer at an Out-Post" (of which there were six including Sandy Hook). It is possible that this regulation was calculated to curtail the stealthy Marriner from going to New York undetected. One of Marriner’s men, Benjamin Coddington of Middlesex County, recalled a successful privateer action that August. Coddington exaggerated some of the details, but described Marriner taking two vessels: In August 1779, I volunteered under Capt. Marraner [Marriner] to go privateering on an expedition which took two months; during my term under Capt Marraner we took a privateer brig belonging to the British carrying 16 guns & 24 swivels on her …. We took the brig by surprise in the night while the crew was asleep after we captured the brig and got her underway and went about ten miles. We run foul of a schooner with 60 to 70 refugees going to join the enemy, Capt Marraner and crew had nothing more than our gun boat; these two vessels was captured off Sandy Hook near the light house, we took the brig & schooner and about one hundred prisoners into Egg Harbour. Marriner took two more prizes six months later, in April 1780. The New Jersey Gazette reported: The privateer Black Snake was captured by the British, but Capt. [William] Marriner, with nine men, retook her. Capt. Marriner then took to sea in his prize, and captured the Morning Star, of 6 swivels and 33 men, after a sharp resistance, in which he lost three killed and five wounded; he carried both prizes into Egg Harbor. The prize vessels were sold at auction on May 16. Historian Richard Koke wrote that in July 1780 Marriner and Captain Thomas Clark of Middlesex County co-led a raid on Jamaica Bay. There, they were captured by the local Loyalist militia. Joseph Vanderveer of Middletown was with Marriner on this raid: I volunteered in a gunboat under Capt. William Marriner (in company of Capt. Alexander Dickey who commanded another boat) and was taken prisoner by the British on the fifth of August, and taken to N. York where I was confined until the latter part of December, when I was exchanged. Marriner was detained several months longer than Vanderveer before he was exchanged. He was paroled in early 1781, but did not return to New Jersey until October 1781. A celebration was held on his return to New Brunswick. He was not active after that. Marriner’s legacy would be continued by one of his men, Alexander Dickey, who took prizes in the Raritan Bay in 1782. And Marriner’s exploits were ultimately eclipsed by the dramatic exploits of Adam Hyler, who made numerous successful assaults on British shipping in Raritan and New York bays in 1781 and 1782. Related Historic Site : American War of Independence Privateer Museum (in progress) Sources : Privateer Bond, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 2, pp. 415-6; Richard J. Koke, "War, Profits, and Privateers Along the Jersey Coast," New York Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 41, 1957, p 295; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post, November 20, 1778; Courtland Skinner to Henry Clinton, William Clements Library, Henry Clinton Papers, vol. 47; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; New Jersey Gazette report in Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 79; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 226; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Joseph Vanderveer; 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, 385; Richard J. Koke, "War, Profits, and Privateers Along the Jersey Coast," New York Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 41, 1957, p 295-6 note 30; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Benjamin Coddington of Maryland, National Archives, p19. 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 > Salt Works Begin on the Monmouth Shore by Michael Adelberg Sketch of a saltwork shows pools for trapping salt water and drying it to brine, and a boiling house for steaming water out of brine. Saltworks needed continual re-supplies of food and wood. - May 1776 - Salt was far more than a seasoning in 18th-century America. Foods, particularly meats, were salted and dried in order to preserve them. A winter-store of food was essential to surviving the long winter and large quantities of salt were essential to creating a winter-store. Soldiers, unable to produce their own food, were particularly dependent upon salt-dried food. Prior to the American Revolution, Americans imported nearly all of their salt from England. In early 1776, a British naval blockade choked off imported salt and Americans experienced a severe salt shortage. For example, in Philadelphia, the price of salt jumped from £2 to £7 a bushel as the boycott of British goods became complete. The Reverend Muhlenberg noted "the people push and jostle each other whenever there is a small quantity of salt to be found." In 1776, American leaders started actively promoting domestic salt making. The Continental Congress passed a resolve encouraging American salt production and one of its delegates authored a booklet on salt-making. Shallow bays, from which salt water could be trapped in drying pans at high tide, were ideal for salt-making. The Monmouth shore was dotted with such bays. On May 28, the New Jersey Provincial Congress passed an act to encourage salt production, putting "a bounty of 1/3 a dollar per bushel upon all such salt... manufactured within one year of the date hereof.” It also granted militia-service exemptions to salt work owners with "500 gallons of boiling vessels" or more. But it was neighboring Pennsylvania that was first to establish a large salt making project on the Jersey shore. Establishing the Pennsylvania Salt Works On May 31, the Pennsylvania Convention (its new legislature), considered a proposal from an entrepreneur, Thomas Savadge, to establish a large salt works on the Jersey shore. On June 12, the committee charged with considering the proposal reported favorably: The Committee appointed to take into consideration the proposals of Thomas Savadge regarding the making of salt, &c., reported that they had examined the plan of said Thomas Savadge for making annual on the sea-coast about sixty thousand bushels, and are of the opinion that the said works may be completed in a short time, at an expense to exceeding two thousand five hundred pounds. The committee recommended that the project go forward but noted that private investment would be needed to supplement any public investment. On July 19, the Pennsylvania Council of Safety provided Savadge with a L400 advance to begin work. Interestingly, Savadge was already in New Jersey, and he had already spent more than his advance on the purchase of land near Toms River. Historian Harry Weiss wrote that the Pennsylvania Salt Works were "located at Coates Point on the north bank of the Toms River about one-half mile from its junction with Barnegat Bay, and six hundred yards inland." Savadge proceeded to purchase the materials necessary to build a large salt works. He hired laborers and purchased supplies on credit with little regard for his limited funding. In October, he optimistically reported on his progress: “I have nearly completed a boiling house… two drying houses, [and] a mill for the pump." But he also reported a litany of problems that included a lack of funds, laborers leaving every second month for militia service, and the non-delivery of purchased boiling pans. Savadge also noted that the salt works were vulnerable to British attack. The Pennsylvania Council of Safety resolved to advance Savadge more funds and protect the salt works: That an officer and twenty-five men be sent to the Salt Works at Toms River as a guard, and twenty-five spare muskets and two howitzers, and sufficient amount of ammunition to defend in case of attack. The Council of Safety also wrote the Continental Congress to ask the government of New Jersey to help protect the Pennsylvania Salt Works. Dr. Samuel Bard’s and Other Monmouth County Salt Works By August, New Jersey was actively promoting its own salt works. The New Jersey Assembly rolled out a plan to support a salt works owned by Dr. Samuel Bard of Shrewsbury. Bard would receive a L500 loan "for the term of two years without interest." The legislature further agreed to buy all salt produced at $1 a bushel. And the legislature agreed that "if any of the works shall be destroyed by the enemy" the legislature would reimburse Bard for half of his losses. Finally, it offered ten militia exemptions for Bard’s laborers. The plan was approved on September 11. Later that month, the New Jersey Assembly considered the salt works project of William Parker (also of Shrewsbury) and his partners. They requested a loan from the state “on easy terms.” On October 5, the legislature passed "An Act to Encourage William Parker & Others to Erect Salt Works." Loan terms included a provision that the loan would convert to a grant if the salt works were producing three bushels of salt a day within 90 days, and 50% loan forgiveness if the salt works were destroyed by the enemy. Interestingly, Bard and Parker would flirt with disaffection throughout the war, and one of Parker’s partners, Richard Lippincott, would become one of New Jersey’s most notorious Loyalists. Over the next year, several other saltworks started along the present-day Monmouth and Ocean County shore. According to one study that attempted to locate them all, there were nine salt works in total: 1. the mouth of the Shrewsbury River (The River Works, likely owner Samuel Bard); 2. Shark River (name unknown, likely owner William Parker); 3. Brielle bank of the Manasquan River (Union Salt Works , co-owned by David Forman); 4. Squan Inlet (name and owner unknown); 5. Mosquito Cove, north of Toms River (Randolph's Works owned by James Randolph); 6. Toms River (Pennsylvania Salt Works managed by Thomas Savadge); 7. Forked River (name unknown, owned by Samuel Brown); 8. Waretown (name unknown, owned by Trevor Newland); and 9. Tuckerton (name and owner unknown). There were also ten other salt works south of Monmouth County along the New Jersey shore. The two largest salt works, the Pennsylvania Salt Works and the Union Salt Works, would be marred by scandal and destruction from Loyalist attacks. But a number of the smaller salt works steadily produced small quantities of salt. Related Historic Site : Historic Salt Park (Saltville, VA) Sources : Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 225-6; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Ledger, vol. 1, Jan. 1775-Nov. 1776; Peter Force, American Archives, v6: 856; K. Braddock-Rogers, "Salt Works of New Jersey during the American Revolution," Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 15 (December, 1938), p 586; Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 4, p 771; Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the Colony of Pennsylvania, 1767-1776 (Philadelphia: Henry Miller, 1776) p735, 739; Peter Force, American Archives, v1:1297; Library of Congress, J. Turner Coll., Folder - John Hart; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 2, 1776, p 3.; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 235; Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 5, p 55; Weiss cited in Thomas Foster, The Coastal War in Monmouth County, 1778-1782 (MA Thesis, U. of Pennsylvania, 1961), p13-14; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 419; Peter Force, American Archives, 4th series, vol. 3, pp. 182-183; Journals of the Continental Congress, p925-6 ( www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html ); Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 6, p 925; C.C. Smith, "Scarcity of Salt During the Revolutionary War", Proceedings of the Mass. Hist. Soc., 1856-7, vol. 15, p224; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 14, #23; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 11, 1776, p 8; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1776) p29-30; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 20, 1776, p 17 and September 27, p 23; The Library Company, Acts of the General Assembly of New Jersey, pp. 6-7, 47; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 22, 1776, p 42; Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, p 173, 182-4; J. Reuben Clark, Emergency Legislation Passed Before December 1917 Dealing with the Control and Taking of Private Property for the Public Use and Benefit to which is Added a Reprint of Analagous Legislation Since 1775 (Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 1918), p501-2; K. Braddock-Rogers, "Salt Works of New Jersey during the American Revolution," Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 15 (December, 1938), p 590. Harold Wilson, The Jersey Shore: A Social and Economic History of the Counties of Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth, and Ocean (Lewis, 1953) vol. 1, p 171; K. Braddock-Rogers, "Salt Works of New Jersey during the American Revolution," Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 15 (December, 1938), pp. 586-7, 591; Journals of the Continental Congress, American Memory, Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hlawquery.html ; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 232. 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 Difficult Service of Forman's Flying Camp by Michael Adelberg British soldiers rowed ashore, assembled, and attacked the ill-prepared Continental Army in present-day Brooklyn. David Forman’s regiment saw limited action during the battle. - June 1776 - In June 1776, with momentum building for a declaration of independence and a massive British Army on its way, the Thirteen Colonies renewed their efforts to raise men for the Continental Army. Among other measures, on June 3, the New Jersey Provincial Congress passed an act to raise up to 3,300 “Flying Camp” to join the Continental Army. Flying Camp were like other Continental soldiers but, importantly, their enlistments would run for only five months—the expected length of time of the 1776 military campaign season. Raising Forman’s Regiment One Flying Camp regiment would be raised from Middlesex and Monmouth Counties--Nathaniel Heard of Woodbridge and David Forman of Freehold were charged with raising four companies each from their home counties. Recruiting began in May, prior to the passage of the act, and the regiment reached critical mass by mid-June. Thomas Henderson (a major in the newly-raised regiment) recalled that the first part of the Flying Camp left for “Long Island and joined General Washington's army” on June 14. (Brooklyn and Queens were discussed as part of Long Island in the 1700s.) A month later on July 15, as additional Monmouth County company raised from Upper Freehold left for New York. Forman’s recruits left Monmouth County at an inopportune time. As they left, a Loyalist insurrection bubbled up in Upper Freehold township. The departure of 200 supporters of the Revolution left the Monmouth militia weakened at its first moment of crisis. Noting the militia’s weakness, the New Jersey Provincial Congress resolved on July 2 that no additional Monmouth County militia would leave the county beyond Forman’s men: Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Congress, the Militia of Monmouth County ought, for the present, to remain in their own County, excepting such part thereof as by the late Ordinance of this Congress were required to form their proportion of the New-Jersey Brigade of three thousand three hundred men. Surviving documents do not reveal exactly when the full Middlesex-Monmouth regiment, now commanded by David Forman, its colonel, reached Long Island. However, one of the men, Isaac Vredenburgh, recalled their line of march and initial responsibilities upon reaching Brooklyn: His company was attached to the Regiment commanded by Col David Forman. A few days after the company marched to Elizabeth Town and from thence by Bergen Point & Staten Island, to Long Island [Brooklyn], and that they labored there and were engaged in constructing redoubts, and breastworks. Forman’s Regiment in the New York Campaign Forman’s regiment was assigned to a brigade commanded by General Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island. Greene’s first order mentioning Forman’s regiment concerned gathering "slaw bunks [sick beds] from the different regiments” for Forman. Greene’s order continued “two companies that have been with Col. Forman's Regiment are exceedingly sick, great numbers taken down every day." Indeed, sickness would prove far more dangerous to Forman’s Flying Camp than British soldiers. Periodic muster rolls from Forman’s regiment show the impact of sickness on the regiment during its five months of service. July 1776 – 451 men (42 sick & present, 0 sick & home) September, 352 total (25 sick & present, 131 sick & home); October – 253 men (20 sick & present, 115 sick & home) By October, Forman’s regiment had lost roughly 40% of its men. While there were a few captures and deaths, sickness caused the large majority of losses. After the Continental Army’s disastrous first battle with the British in Brooklyn, the Continental Army began retreating across New York. With the Army in motion, desertions also became a problem. On September 9, Forman advertised a 40-shilling reward for the return of sixteen deserters. He re-advertised for their return in two New York newspapers again on September 28, suggesting little initial success in locating and capturing the deserters. Other men left the regiment for various reasons. Muster rolls record six men being furloughed home (presumably they would return). Forman furloughed himself in September, perhaps to search for the deserters. Other men were listed as “on command” – a catch-all term used for men on temporary assignments away from their company. Common reasons men were listed “on command” include service at a military hospital, gathering supplies for the Army, and recruiting. Combat deaths were a relatively small problem – there were only two combat deaths across the four Monmouth companies. Other documents provide glimpses into the ill-discipline of the rank and file. Orderly books from junior officers and sergeants in Forman’s regiment provide glimpses into the Army’s disorder: July 10: “The General doubts not the person that took and mutilated the statue in the Broadway last night was actuated by zeal in the public cause, yet it was so much the appearance of riot & want of order in the Army that he directs that in the future these things may be avoided by the soldiers & left to be executed by the proper authority.” July 13: [Soldiers] “instead of attending to their duty at the beating of a drum, continued along the banks of the North River, gazing at the ships”; July 17: “Complaints having been frequently made that the Sentries, especially those posted along the river, fire wantonly at boats and persons passing - officers are to be careful upon this head and acquaint Sentries that they are not to molest or upset the ferry boats”; August 3: Warning issued regarding "the foolish & wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing"; August 6: Men chastised for "bad behavior" towards locals "taking and destroying their things." The first time Forman’s regiment saw battle was at the Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn). Several of Forman’s men discussed it in their postwar veteran’s pension applications (written in the 1820s). Some anecdotes about the Battle of Long Island are offered below: David Baird recalled that he “marched to Flatbush where a battle was fought -- that he was not in the main battle, but was engaged in a skirmish with the British during the day, and made a narrow escape with his life, being shot at by a Hessian of whom some of his men killed afterwards, the bullet passing his temple but doing no serious harm." John Bruce recalled that he “was employed in making entrenchments and fortifications in Brooklyn, at which place they continued until a few days after the battle of Flatbush... Saw the engagement but was not in the battle." Isaac Childs recalled that he "was in the battle of Long Island when the British took it, and saved myself from being prisoner by swimming to the Yellow Mill." James Craig recalled that “when the British Army attacked the Americans at Long Island… were placed in a piece of woods that skirted the roads which the British Army had to come.” His friend, Jacob Pettenger, recalled that Craig “induced a fleeing soldier” to return and stay in formation. Samuel Mundy recalled the hurried retreat of Forman’s regiment after the battle: He recalled the regiment fleeing suddenly at 11 pm "leaving their tents standing.” After the Battle of Long Island, Washington’s Army, with Forman’s regiment in it, spent the fall retreating across New York and into New Jersey. Isaac Vrendenburgh recalled the regiment’s line of march: Remained in the New York a very short time when the whole army move towards Harlem, and from thence marched to Fort Washington and while there had several recontres with the enemy – Shortly after marched up to the White Plains, where the American forces were collected, and where he remained until the battle at that place occurred, in which he was engaged. After this affair, marched some distance further north and crossed the Hudson, and then marched down southerly through Haverstraw to Fort Lee, and from thence through Bergen County to Newark and Elizabethtown in Essex. With only a week remaining in their enlistment, on November 24, Forman was permitted to pull his regiment away from the Army and return to Monmouth County. This was done in order to suppress a burgeoning Loyalist insurrection. Samuel Mundy recalled: The Colonel of the regiment received orders to take his regiment to Perth Amboy & cross over into Monmouth County to disarm certain disaffected persons in that county - immediately after this service he was discharged with the rest by the Colonel, their term of service expired. Forman’s campaign against the Monmouth insurrectionaries is discussed in another article. Related Historic Site : Brooklyn Battlefield (Battle of Long Island, Brooklyn, NY) Sources : Anderson, John R. "Militia Law in Revolutionary New Jersey." Proceedings of the New Jersey historical Society, vols. LXXVI and LXXVII (July 1956 and January 1959), pp. 291, 293-4; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Henderson of New Jersey, www.fold3.com/image/#23877525 ; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) pp. 550-1; Charles H. Lesser, The Sinews of Independence: Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental Army (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), pp. 26-34; New York Historical Society, Orderly Books Collection, Captain Henry Weatherhill, reel 3, #32 and American Book #32; Library of Congress, William Walton, Orderly Book; Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 1, pp. 270-1; Peter Kinnan, Orderly Book Kept by Peter Kinnan, pp. X, 19-56; New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, September 9, 1776; David Forman returns, National Archives, Collection 881, R 640; New Jersey Provincial Congress, July 2, 17776, in Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1632, 1635; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Samuel Mundy of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#25890437 ; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 1, p 197; David Forman returns, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, Coll. 69, p2, 5, 7, 11; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - David Baird; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p228; John Rees, Eyewitness to Battle: The Pension Depositions of Frederick Van Lew and Isaac Childs, Brigade Dispatch, vol 29, n 3, 1999, p 18-21; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Bruce of New York, www.fold3.com/image/#11713958 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jacob Pettinerger of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 25952031. 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 Outlaws John and Robert Smith by Michael Adelberg Out-of-state and British deserters committed various crimes against Monmouth County’s farm families as they sought to go to and from Sandy Hook throughout the Revolutionary War. - May 1780 - Prior articles have demonstrated the rise in violence and felonies during the Revolutionary War in Monmouth County. County courts of Oyer and Terminer were held in 1778 and 1779, resulting in several capital convictions. Pine Robber gangs committed numerous violent crimes along the shore and interior pinelands. Loyalist raiding parties conducted numerous “manstealings” —including more than a dozen militia officer kidnappings in the summer of 1780 alone. On top of all of this, small bands of British and Loyalist prison escapees and outlaws traversed Monmouth County on their way to and from British lines via Sandy Hook. This was known by state and local authorities. On January 20, 1779, the New Jersey Gazette published a notice about these roving men: It appears that a constant correspondence is kept up, and traffic carried on between the Refugees of New York and disaffected persons in this State and Pennsylvania, chiefly by way of Shrewsbury. Magistrates and other officers would do well to examine suspicious people traveling to and from that place. The Capture of John and Robert Smith On May 27, the Pennsylvania Gazette printed a brief account written from the jail in Philadelphia: John Smith and Robert Smith, charged with the murder of Mr. Boyd, a collector of the County of Chester, are taken and secured in the gaol of this city. The vigilance of the good people of Freehold in New Jersey on this occasion does them honor, and particularly the Sheriff of Monmouth County, David Forman, Esq., [cousin of Colonel David Forman] whose son, a youth of nineteen, after receiving the fire of Robert Smith, at twenty yards distance, took them both, and drove them before him to the guard. The Pennsylvania Evening Post further reported that "the two Smiths…were brought to this city. They were near Shrewsbury on their way to New York. They made their escape by force of arms from the party that first took them, but were afterwards both taken by a single man." On May 31, Colonel Samuel Forman, commanding the Upper Freehold militia, wrote an account of the same incident that was published in the New Jersey Gazette . He wrote that the family of Sheriff David Forman was at breakfast when: A soldier almost out of breath burst into the room, and stated that he and another soldier were conducting to the Court House, two men, taken up on suspicion at Colts Neck; they had knocked down his comrade, seized his musket and escaped. Sheriff Forman rode off for the courthouse to raise a posse while his seventeen-year-old son, Tunis Forman, loaded a musket with bird shot. Tunis was not with his father when "he discovered the men sitting on a fence, who, on perceiving him, ran into a swamp." Tunis pursued the men for a mile. Smith fired on Tunis but missed, then young Tunis Forman “compelled the men to throw down the musket by threatening them with death if he did not instantly comply.” Forman then “drove them to the court house, careful, however, to keep them far apart to prevent conversation." Sheriff David Forman and Tunis brought the men to Philadelphia on May 24, where they were handsomely rewarded. That day, the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, drew up an order, "in favor of David Forman, Esq., County of Monmouth… for the sum of £20,000, the reward offered by the Board for securing John Smith and Robert Smith." There are two additional accounts of the capture of John and Robert Smith from the early 1800s. Samuel Forman (not the militia Colonel, but a cousin of Tunis Forman) wrote a memoir that included a mention of the capture: A cousin of his, Tunis Forman, about seventeen years of age, met two robbers; after one fired at him and missed, he, getting advantage of them in the adjustment of his gun, forced them to throw down their weapons, when he marched them several miles, and lodged them in jail at Freehold; for this brave act, young Forman received a large reward. In his postwar veteran’s pension application, John Staatesor, a private in the State Troops in May 1780, recalled capturing John and Robert Smith while serving as a sentry at the Colts Neck farm of Captain Jacob Fleming. He found the outlaws on the road and asked them for papers or the countersign. When they produced neither; he arrested them and took them to Fleming's farm. The Smiths were unarmed but carrying bridles in their packs (suggesting they were planning to steal horses). Staatesor was ordered to take them to the county jail at Freehold. However, the next day, while being walked to Freehold, the Smiths escaped their two guards. That is when the Forman family was alerted, leading to Tunis Forman’s remarkable capture of the two outlaws. Other Out-of-County Outlaws The capture of John and Robert Smith is the best-documented incident of Monmouth Countians capturing roving outlaws heading to New York, but it certainly was not the only such incident. Historians Harry Ward and David Fowler both noted a connection between Upper Freehold Loyalist partisans, John Woodward and Samuel Woodward, and the notorious Doane Gang of Pennsylvania. They collaborated in robbing John Hart, the Burlington County Collector in October 1781, taking £2,000 in currency. Elizabeth Woodward sheltered members of the gang. Burlington County court papers read, “The jurors here conclude that Elizabeth Woodward… did conceal Moses Doane, Nathan Tomlinson and divers others" while they were armed with "guns & pistols and other weapons" despite knowing them to be "notorious thieves and robbers." The Pine Robber , Lewis Fenton, on the day after the Battle of Monmouth, sought to rob the Cooper family south of Freehold only to be chased off by a band of German soldiers, deserted from the British Army, who may have had more ambitious larceny in mind. Later in the war, Lt. Colonel Klein, a German officer who deserted the British for the Continental Army, was arrested in Monmouth County while attempting to illegally go to New York. African Americans were also lured to Sandy Hook by British promises of freedom . One example was documented in the New Jersey Gazette , which advertised: "taken up at Toms River on July 20th [1779] a Negro man who called himself John Thomas, but made his escape." Over the course of the war, there are more than a dozen documented cases of military officers picking up deserters from British ships at Sandy Hook. The first deserter was taken in Monmouth County on May 14, 1776, three weeks before the Declaration of Independence was signed. As the British Army traversed Monmouth County during the Battle of Monmouth campaign, hundreds of deserters wandered parts of the county. No doubt, they committed many petty crimes on their way toward eventually surrendering. British navy deserters came over from Sandy Hook throughout the war. Loyalists from as far away as South Carolina came through the county on their way into British lines. Colonel Lewis Nicola recorded taking up deserters from the Hunter , a guard ship at Sandy Hook: five on June 14, 1779, six more on August 12, three more on September 10, and seven more on January 12, 1780. On April 5, 1779, Continental Army Captain Walter Finney reported chasing a Loyalist party near Shrewsbury. The Loyalists eluded Finney’s troops but Finney’s men took others: The whole detachment set out in quest of them [Loyalist raiders], missed the main object, but in our route took two negroes and one deserter and two suspected persons, put the whole, with one other deserter, into one room--the two most noted villains in irons. Deserters were not always trouble, some attempted to integrate into civilian life. A British navy deserter, Charles Jackson, settled at “Clamtown” just south of Monmouth County. He served faithfully in the local militia, even battling a British raiding party at “the Battle of Little Egg Harbor ” and serving on the privateer, Two Sisters . Other deserters were apparently living at Freehold in early 1780; Loyalist William Smith, on February 21, recorded that British offers of amnesty to German deserters who "have got into rebel lines at Freehold." But the experience with Peter Berry may have been more typical. Berry deserted from the British Army during the Battle of Monmouth Campaign and settled at Allentown where he was employed as a tailor under an indenture. On September 10, William Lloyd, the township constable, advertised him as “absconded”—Berry had broken the indenture that bound him to Allentown. Deserters were still being picked up by militia late in 1782. John Little, a Justice of the Peace for Shrewsbury Township, recorded receiving seven deserters on October 15, another deserter on November 16, and one more on December 21, 1782. More than once, British prisoners who escaped from inland prisons traveled across Monmouth County on their way to Sandy Hook. David Brearley wrote on September 1, 1779, that: "A few days ago, three British soldiers were apprehended making their way through the pines to the Monmouth seashore, in order to get to New York." On examination, the men were found to have walked all the way from the jail in Frederick, Maryland (which had housed fifty Monmouth Loyalists two years earlier). Armed robberies in Upper Freehold Township continued into 1780. On May 31, the New Jersey Gazette reported: A number of armed villains supposed to be about twelve broke open the house of Mr. John Holmes of Upper Freehold in Monmouth County, and robbed him of 400 or 500 Pounds Continental money, a silver watch, a gold ring, silver buckles, a fire lock, a pair of pistols, clothing, provisions and ammunition. Upper Freehold Township remained unsafe into summer 1782. On June 18, New Jersey’s Upper House (the Legislative Council) recorded receiving: Affidavit from Abraham Hendricks, Collector of the Township of Upper Freehold, proving robbery having been committed on his house on the evening of June 12th last by a number of armed men, who robbed the house of cash and effects to considerable value… Robbed by a number of persons unknown, armed and associated into a party, two of whom entered the said house with muskets, and putting the family in fear, robbed said Hendricks of considerable sums of money and effects. Two months later, the New Jersey Gazette published an announcement from John Cox of Upper Freehold, Chairman of an association of citizens living from Allentown and Burlington. He called on local magistrates and militia officers: To attend particularly to the vigorous execution of the law against vagrant and idle persons, the Act to prevent illicit trade and intercourse with the enemy, and the law passed 10th Jan'y 1779 to prevent persons traveling through this state without a passport; and, in a word, use their every possible means in their power to effect the grand purpose of disappointing the Enemy. By war’s end, there was at least one robber gang that combined Pennsylvania and Monmouth County Loyalists. On August 6, 1782, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Executive Council recorded interrogating two robbers, Jesse Vickers and Solomon Vickers. The Council learned that “it appears probable that Caleb Paul [of Pennsylvania] is now confined in gaol in the County of Monmouth, under some other name.” It also warned the New Jersey Government that two members of the Woodward family were robbing with the Vickers family in Bucks County Pennsylvania: Ordered, that a communication be made to Governor [William] Livingston, with a request that he may be delivered to this state, and also inform Governor Livingston that two men named Woodward, who lived near Crosswicks, have been concerned in robbing the Treasurer of the County of Bucks. The same gang of robbers—the Vickers brothers, two members of Upper Freehold’s Woodward family , and perhaps a few others—killed a militia sentry, Richard Wilgus, near Allentown, before heading west to Bucks County. The New Jersey Gazette reported: One Richard Wilgus, with several others were watching the road below Allentown in order to detect person with contraband goods, were attacked by a number of armed men, when the said Wilgus fell sacrifice to their cruelty; he was shot through the bowels and in one of his arms, of which he is since dead. Monmouth Countians seeking to live normal lives faced many dangers during the American Revolution—including militia service and clashes with various Loyalist enemies. These included military clashes and Loyalist raids. All of these dangers and disruptions were considerable—but so was the increase in violent crime related to external outlaws coming through the county on their way to or from British lines. Related Historic Site : Covenhoven House Sources : Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p 387; The New Jersey Gazette notice is printed in William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 136; Pennsylvania Archives, Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council,1859, v 12, p396; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Pennsylvania Gazette, May 31, 1780 (CD-ROM at the David Library, #28071); Samuel Forman, Narrative of a Journey down the Ohio and Mississippi, (reprint) Wentworth Press, 2016, p6; Samuel Forman’s account, published in the New Jersey Gazette, and reprinted in William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 129-30; Chester County Historical Society, Diary of Walter Finney; Pennsylvania Gazette, September 19, 1778 (CD-ROM at the David Library, #25766); New Jersey Archives, (Call Printing: Paterson, NJ, 1903) vol. 2, p 438; National Archives, Charles Jackson, R.5513, State Ohio, Ross County; Continental Congress accounts, Peter Force, American Archives, (Force and Clarke: Washington, DC, 1837) Series 4, vol. 6, p1667; Records of John Little, Justice of the Peace, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Gloucester County Docket Book, coll. 860; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) p 234; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Notice from David Brearley in Pennsylvania Archives, Minutes of the Provincial Council, 1859, p285; Papers Relating to the War of the Revolution, v3, p285; David Bernstein, Minutes of the Governor's Privy Council, 1777-1789 (Trenton: New Jersey State Library, Archives and History Bureau, 1974) p 222-3; The robbery of John Holmes is in William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 137; William Nelson, Austin Scott, et al., ed., New Jersey Archives (Newark, Trenton, Somerville, 1901-1917) vol. 4, p 401; Minutes of the Governor's Privy Council, 1777-1789 (New Jersey Archives, 3d ser., Trenton, 1974), vol. 5, p 458; Records of Lewis Nicola, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 187, item 169, #35, 116, 136, 191; Information on the Doane Gang is in Harry Ward, Between the Lines, 120, 130-3; Pennsylvania Archives, Minutes of the Supreme Executive, v 13, p344; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, August 7, 1782, reel 1930. . 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