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 Monmouth Militia During the Monmouth Campaign by Michael Adelberg Philemon Dickinson led the New Jersey militia. He sent the 1st Regiment of Monmouth militia to march with Col. Daniel Morgan, while keeping the 2nd and 3rd regiments under his direct command. - June 1778 - As the British Army marched across New Jersey, it was continually harassed by New Jersey militia that impeded its march by fouling wells, obstructing the roads, and skirmishing with the enemy. After dysfunction early in the war, the Monmouth County militia improved greatly toward the end of 1777. But even with improvements, the Monmouth militia was in a poor state as the British prepared to march into New Jersey. In March 1778, Captain Thomas Chadwick compiled a return on armaments for his Tinton Falls militia company at Shrewsbury. The 53 men, between them, had 14 guns, three bayonets, eight cartridge boxes, "enough lead for 7 1/2 men" and enough powder for four. Despite this, much of the Monmouth militia answered the call in 1778. On April 18, the Monmouth militia skirmished with a Hessian foraging party at Flourtown in Burlington County. Major Bernhard Bauermeister wrote of the engagement (the casualty figures are likely exaggerated): Fifty dragoons had taken the Burlington Road as far as Flourtown, where they encountered the Jersey militia from Monmouth County. Of these, sixteen men were killed, some twenty were left wounded, and eighteen taken prisoner. As the British prepared to leave Philadelphia, George Washington assigned one of his army’s best regiments, Colonel Daniel Morgan’s Riflemen, to hang on the flanks and harass them. And General Philemon Dickinson, the head of the New Jersey, on June 9, assigned the First Regiment of Monmouth Militia under Colonel Asher Holmes to guide and assist Morgan’s regiment: I beg you will hold your Regiment ready to march at a moment's notice. You must pay particular attention to the removal of bridges and felling the trees upon the roads... You will keep your men concealed, and act in small parties by a constant and incessant fire upon their front, flanks and rear as the occasion may require. Yet, the Monmouth militia began the Monmouth campaign with grievances. On June 15, Col. Samuel Forman, leading the militia for Upper Freehold and the shore townships of Dover and Stafford, wrote Nathaniel Scudder in Congress about the lack of pay for his men: There is universal complaints through our militia, their pay being held back… on the late alarm it was supposed the enemy was coming through this State, I rec'd orders for marching with one half of my Regt., I gave orders for that purpose -- They assembled at Toms River in full expectations of receiving their pay & marching, but they disbanded & went home, determined to remain there until paid. Five times, I had been to our Paymaster & with less encouragement the last then the first -- sure I am that there is fault somewhere, where it is I cannot tell you. He also wrote of a lack of military supplies: I have express orders for keeping up an important fire on the enemy's flank & rear when they march through this State, this without one single cartridge for my men. I have applied to the Governor [William Livingston] without success, we are very badly provided. The Monmouth County Militia Mobilizes It is safe to assume that Forman’s grievances applied equally to Holmes. Still, his regiment turned out. Morgan and Holmes would shadow the British prior to the Battle of Monmouth and for a week afterward. One of Holmes’s men, Jonathan Hildreth of Freehold Township recalled that on June 9 "he was again called out again on alarm... in pursuit of the British army as they marched through Monmouth & he followed them until they got on board of their shipping, when he was discharged at Middletown." As noted in a prior article, militia under Morgan’s command skirmished with British troops as they entered and exited Allentown . It is probable that Monmouth militia were involved in the skirmishing. As the British headed east toward Freehold, Morgan stayed east of them. As Morgan and Holmes arrived near Freehold, other militia companies joined them. When Continental Army units under General Charles Lee engaged the British Army on the morning of June 28, they did so from the west. Morgan’s 800-man command (half Monmouth militia) never received orders to join the battle. Many Monmouth militiamen recalled their service under Morgan during the Monmouth Campaign in their post-war pension applications. A few men recalled being with Morgan for the entire campaign. Zachariah Hankins of Dover Township recalled: They marched under Genl. Forman [Col. Holmes, actually] to meet the British on their retreat from Philadelphia. He thinks that near Mt. Holly in Burlington County, they fell in with the British [June 25] and then retreated before them to Crosswicks Creek where they cut down the bridge and made a stand, a pretty severe skirmish ensued and a number of men were killed upon both sides. On the march, they were joined by detachments of the American Army - his company was with Morgan's Riflemen and were on the right flank. Morgan's men and the militia companies formed a flanking party and were not engaged in the battle, though they had some skirmishing. Other militiamen recalled joining Morgan near Freehold. For example, James Perrine, in Michael Sweetman’s company, recalled "being on the right of the British Army where the Riflemen [Daniel Morgan's command] were parted, though his company was not actually engaged in the battle." Jared Stillwell, as a second example, recalled: “The company of light horse to which he belonged were on the flank of the British army… in which he piloted Captain Waln of Virginia and then he came when one of his party which killed three and took six prisoners of the enemy.” Morgan’s command camped southeast of Freehold at a place he called “Squan Swamp” on June 26 and moved to nearby Richmond Mill (in present-day Howell) on June 27. That day, as the British sacked Freehold , Morgan attacked a German guard at Gardener’s Mill. Morgan wrote George Washington: I arrived at this place Yesterday encamp’d in the woods—sent out small parties—Capt. Leong fell in with fifteen Grenadeers and made them prisoners—deserters are continually comeng in—I have several parties out—whom I expect something from—I shall continue on the enemies right till I have orders to the contrary—They keep in so compact a body that it is impossible to do them much damage—However I will annoy them as much as possible. A German officer, Jacob Piel, wrote about the skirmish at Gardener’s Mill. His guard "was attacked by a rebel corps of several hundred men" which was repulsed "with the loss of a man." When the Germans brought up the cannon the Continentals and militia "hurriedly pulled back." The Monmouth militia lost two men in that skirmish, Privates Daniel Newberry and Richard Wolcott. Also that day, a party of Morgan’s men and Monmouth militia surprised a British party and took several prisoners. Major Thomas Massie of Virginia wrote, “The second attempt was a complete surprise, from thick shrubbery in the pines, where 16 or 18 prisoners were brought off and a few killed, with little loss to the Americans." Rhoda Sutphin wrote that her husband, Joseph Sutphin, was “stationed near a brook, flanking the British Army on the south, about 20 British came down to wash their clothes, who were taken prisoners.” The Continental Army’s Commissary of Prisoners, John Beatty, noted the arrival of these prisoners at his Provost Jail on July 2. "There are some 20 men in the Provost as those that marched up last Sunday, taken by Col Morgan - which arrived here Sunday evening." As Morgan harassed the British to the east, General Dickinson assembled militia from Burlington, Cumberland, Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Salem, and Somerset arriving from the west and north. His command also included the Upper Freehold militia under Samuel Forman. On June 26, Dickinson wrote Washington: I took post at this Place an hour ago, since which, nine Prisoners have been brought in—& five more on their way—the Enemy’s rear halted four miles from Monmouth Court-house which is three miles distance from this—I shall execute any order. Meanwhile, Col. John Neilson, with 200 Middlesex County militia, approached from Spotswood. Washington instructed him to "fall in on the flanks or rear” of the British. He further noted that “the Monmouthshire Militia may be of great service by attaching itself to one of the Continental detachments." Neilson replied that he would “throw what Obstructions we could in their way.” He also hoped to link up with Shrewsbury Township militia heading east from Tinton Falls. “I am informed about 100 Monmouth Militia on their March within a small Distance of this Place who have left their Quarters at Tenton Falls [Tinton Falls] in Shrewsbury not knowing the Situation of Our Army." One of these militiamen, James Bowne, recalled the arcing route they took to find Dickinson. He wrote: Previous to the Battle of Monmouth, they were marched to Tinton Falls where they lay. By way of Mount Pleasant to Englishtown, from thence to Tennant Meeting House, from thence to the front of the British Army near the farm of James Taylor. Some Monmouth militia stayed in the eastern part of the county and never attached to a larger unit. Lieutenant James Wall of Middletown recalled taking a lone British officer—probably a deserter. William Lloyd recalled being with a small party of militia that chased two disaffected locals on their way to sell goods to the British Army. Some Shrewsbury militia apparently stayed to destroy gunpowder and provisions that might be seized by the British Army as it marched east. A Loyalist newspaper in New York reported that British ships at Sandy Hook “observed a great fire” near the shore on June 27 and: On Sunday morning [June 28] about sun rise, a conflagration appeared at two different places, not far distant from the first, supposed to be raised by the rebels, in order to destroy their magazines of provision and forage; to prevent them from falling into the hands of the royal army. On June 27, Dickinson wrote Washington about the imminent arrival of the vanguard of the Continental Army. It "will give great spirit to the militia - who are now collecting very fast… our numbers increase hourly.” Dickinson’s optimism is tempered by the observation of Governor William Livingston who observed: "Our militia turn out finely, but we can only skirmish and run." A British senior officer, Stephen Kemble, dismissed the militia skirmishes as “a few popping shots from the rebel parties." Monmouth Militia on the Day of the Battle of Monmouth Monmouth militiamen experienced June 28—the day of the Battle of Monmouth—in different ways. The men attached to Morgan (including roughly 400 Monmouth militia) were separated from other Continental units. They spent the day at Richmond Mill waiting for orders to engage; men recalled hearing cannon-fire in the distance. William Cheeseman’s recollection is typical: [He] marched with the Riflemen [Morgan’s regiment] within a few miles of Monmouth Court House -- Morgan was not engaged in the battle and consequently the militia attached to his corps did not partake in the battle, altho' they were on the grounds, ready and willing. Several local leaders were either formally or informally attached to Continental units and a few advised senior generals including Charles Lee and Washington, who commanded Continental forces during the first and second parts of the battle respectively. Captain John Schenck, for example, noted that "he acted as a guide to the American Horse commanded by Col. Moylan" [Stephen Moylan].” The actions of Monmouth County’s leaders at the Battle of Monmouth is detailed in another article. Some militia joined Joshua Huddy’s company of State Troops in a brave but doomed attack on the British baggage train as it headed for Middletown. This is the subject of another article. Still, other Monmouth militia were apparently acting in small groups on their own. William Lloyd recalled that during the battle he collected discarded weapons and "gave them to the [Continental] soldiers as they stood in rank" for which "one of the officers gave me his canteen of grog to take a drink, it was the most delicious taste I ever drank." Other men recalled skirmishing with small bodies of British soldiers. James Bowne recalled that he was in “a smart scrimmage [skirmish]” in which “they lost two men - they retreated across a pass, there the British horse met & fallen on them." Benjamin Van Schoick recalled: He was not in the main Battle, but that he was in a skirmish with the British on the same day as they were retreating, on there left flank. Col Henrickson [Daniel Hendrickson] commanded according to the best of his recollection – In the skirmish the British sustained some loss. Other militiamen participated in irregular activities. Moses Mount’s widow, Catherine Mount, recalled that her husband “with one John Emmons, took two prisoners on that day, who were plundering and delivered them to our people." Abner Page (under Captain Kenneth Hankinson of Freehold) recalled: I was not engaged in the battle myself, Captain Hankinson having sent me to secure a very fine horse who stood in the neighborhood directly in the route. I secured the property and immediately joined the Army. One Middletown militia company sat out the battle. John Truax recalled that "having been cut off by the British before they could join the Army. To avoid being taken the deponent & his companions were compelled to hide in a swamp close by the British, where they continued two days without provision.” All three Monmouth militia regiments were in motion as the British Army arrived at Freehold. The First Regiment (under Holmes) likely mobilized all of its ten companies (at least 400 men). It is conservatively estimated that the Second and Third Regiments mobilized at least 200 and 100 men respectively. So, at least 700 Monmouth men were assembled on the day of the Battle of Monmouth. While this turn-out was incomplete, it demonstrates a remarkable turnaround from a year earlier when David Forman was only able to turn out half that number. Related Historic Site : Monmouth Battlefield State Park Sources : Return of Captain Thomas Chadwick, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 10, Document J; Bernard Uhlendorf, Confidential Letter and Journals, 1776-1784, of Adjutant General Major Bauermeister of the Hessian Forces (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1957) p 166; Dennis Ryan, New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Chronology (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1974) p 53; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Perrine; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Zachariah Hawkins of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#22623931; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jared Stillwell of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 18359845; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, James Wall of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 20365758; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Daniel Hendrickson of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23340856 ; John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 123; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jonthan Hildreth of NY, www.fold3.com/image/#22779401 ; Philemon Dickinson to NJ Militia Colonels, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 75, item 78, vol. 9, #165; Samuel Forman to Nathaniel Scudder, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 93, item 78, vol. 9, #161-2; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Auditor's Accounts, Revolutionary War, Book B, Abstracts of Pay Rolls (compiled by Garry Wheeler Stone); the account of the fires observed from Sandy Hook are in New York Royal Gazette, June 30, 1778; Henry Laurens, The Papers of Henry Laurens, vol. 13, ed. David R. Chesnutt (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1992), vol. 13, p 501; John U. Rees, “Reach Coryels ferry. Encamp on the Pennsylvania side.”1 The March from Valley Forge to Monmouth Courthouse, 18 to 28 June 1778", unpublished manuscript, p38.; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) appendix 71; Thomas Massie Pension excerpt, The Battle Cry: Newsletter of the Friends of Monmouth Battlefield, v7, n2, March 2001; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Cheeseman; Stephen Kemble, The Kemble Papers (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library, 2009) vol. 1, pp. 153-4; Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 546–547; George Washington to John Neilson, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 12, pp. 123-4; John Neilson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 557–558; Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, June 27, 1778; Bruce Burgoyne, Defeat, Disaster and Dedication: The Diaries of a Hessian Officer (NY: Heritage Books, 1997) p31-2; Munn, David, Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey, (Trenton: Bureau of Geology and Topography, New Jersey Geological Survey, 1976) p 47,139; Daniel Morgan to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, p. 564; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Van Note of Ohio, S.769 [Benjamin Van Schoick]; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Bowne; Don Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan: Revolutionary Rifleman (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), p 90; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Schenck; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Moses Mount; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Truax; Pension Application of -- Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Andrew Phares of New York, National Archives, p4; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Joseph Sutphin; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Abner Page of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 25889537; John Beatty, report, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 2, 1778; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Walton of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 20445857.Sources : Return of Captain Thomas Chadwick, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 10, Document J; Bernard Uhlendorf, Confidential Letter and Journals, 1776-1784, of Adjutant General Major Bauermeister of the Hessian Forces (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1957) p 166; Dennis Ryan, New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Chronology (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1974) p 53; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Perrine; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Zachariah Hawkins of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#22623931; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jared Stillwell of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 18359845; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, James Wall of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 20365758; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Daniel Hendrickson of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23340856 ; John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 123; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jonthan Hildreth of NY, www.fold3.com/image/#22779401 ; Philemon Dickinson to NJ Militia Colonels, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 75, item 78, vol. 9, #165; Samuel Forman to Nathaniel Scudder, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 93, item 78, vol. 9, #161-2; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Auditor's Accounts, Revolutionary War, Book B, Abstracts of Pay Rolls (compiled by Garry Wheeler Stone); Henry Laurens, The Papers of Henry Laurens, vol. 13, ed. David R. Chesnutt (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1992), vol. 13, p 501; John U. Rees, “Reach Coryels ferry. Encamp on the Pennsylvania side.”1 The March from Valley Forge to Monmouth Courthouse, 18 to 28 June 1778", unpublished manuscript, p38.; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) appendix 71; Thomas Massie Pension excerpt, The Battle Cry: Newsletter of the Friends of Monmouth Battlefield, v7, n2, March 2001; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Cheeseman; Stephen Kemble, The Kemble Papers (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library, 2009) vol. 1, pp. 153-4; Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 546–547; George Washington to John Neilson, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 12, pp. 123-4; John Neilson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 557–558; Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, June 27, 1778; Bruce Burgoyne, Defeat, Disaster and Dedication: The Diaries of a Hessian Officer (NY: Heritage Books, 1997) p31-2; Munn, David, Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey, (Trenton: Bureau of Geology and Topography, New Jersey Geological Survey, 1976) p 47,139; Daniel Morgan to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, p. 564; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Van Note of Ohio, S.769 [Benjamin Van Schoick]; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Bowne; Don Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan: Revolutionary Rifleman (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), p 90; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Schenck; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Moses Mount; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Truax; Pension Application of -- Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Andrew Phares of New York, National Archives, p4; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Joseph Sutphin; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Abner Page of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 25889537; John Beatty, report, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 2, 1778; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Walton of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 20445857. 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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 > Salt Work Laborers and Militia Exemptions by Michael Adelberg This sketch of a boiling house presents an idealized picture of the hot and dirty labor at a salt work. Finding reliable laborers was a common problem at the salt works along the Jersey shore. - March 1777 - As noted in prior articles, the shortage of salt in America sparked a new salt-making industry along the Jersey shore at the start of the American Revolution. By 1777, Monmouth County had at least nine salt works. These salt works needed laborers to cut wood, boil salt brine, and transport salt. But most salt works were far from population centers and they generally paid wages in low-value Continental money. Labor Problems at New Jersey’s Salt Works Labor problems were continuous at New Jersey’s salt works. John Van Emburgh of Middlesex County co-owned a salt works near Toms River, and he managed them. A dozen of his letters from the second half of have survived. The letters details that uneven productivity of the salt works, and his complaints about salt work laborers: July 12, 1778 “No salt making on the shore, scarcely since the last alarm… the people who belonged to the Country… will not work & they has been idle for two weeks.” Salt Produced: None Sept. 13, 1778 “The sooner you can forward the wagon & horses, I think the better … we are short of casks provided for salt” Salt Produced: Two wagon loads Nov. 7, 1778 “No salt at the works - sent you a load this morning by Mr Jobs which is all they have made.” Salt Produced: One wagon load Nov. 15, 1778 “I send you 19 bushels of salt from the works which Is all is all they have.” Salt Produced: 19 bushels Nov. 26, 1778 “They go on very slowly.” Salt Produced: 59 bushels Nov. 18, 1778 “Now on his errand to get hands [workers] which, if he fails, then the works will stop. Even could we get hands here, the prices is such that the works will not defray the charges.” Salt Produced: None Dec. 27, 1778 “The late storm has proved fatal to us in a very considerable degree. The people have been obliged to leave the works.” Salt Produced: 9 bushels of salt Dec. 30, 1778 “The men to whom we have rented the salt works have quit them, as nothing can be done along the shore in that way for some time now.” Salt Produced: None In December 1778, Van Emburgh gave up directly managing the salt works and focused on managing ships based at Toms River. He rented them and then re-rented them to a local man, Samuel Bennett, in May 1779. Bennett agreed to run the works and provide one third of the salt to Van Emburgh as rent: I have left the salt works to Sam Bennett who is to have them during his pleasure, find his own wood, & every other necessary. as such materials as possibly belong to the works & delivers us ... 1/3 of the net proceeds & at the expiration of his time in them, the works be returned in as good order as he received them. Van Emburgh purchased fifteen bushels of imported salt at an auction that same month and sought to purchase 150 more—further evidence that the salt works were not consistently productive. Thomas Hopkins, manager of the Friendship Salt Works in Gloucester County also frequently complained that his "wood-cutters refused to cut" and “said they would work no more as the weather was so hot & the mosquitos so thick." Sometimes they took his tools and ran off: "the 3 wood cutters eloped before day & stole an axe and loaf of bread,"; "no wood cutters at work this day. Thomas Savadge, managing the Pennsylvania Salt Works at Toms River, had similar complaints . One salt works laborer, Benjamin White, of Tinton Falls, recalled: “I left [home at Tinton Falls] and came to Shrewsbury, and went to making salt by boiling seawater." But White soon “returned to my native soil… with but little money of value, it being Continental and old Jersey money.” White also complained that as a Quaker (whose religious principles did not permit militia service) and as a salt works laborer, he was "often fined for not doing militia duty.” New Jersey Government Considers Militia Exemptions for Salt Works Wage and working conditions aside, the need for salt work laborers clashed with New Jersey’s militia law which mandated service every second month. The New Jersey Assembly first considered this tension in September 1776 when it read a request from the Pennsylvania Council of Safety to grant militia exemptions to "persons employed in manufacturing, entrenching tools and carrying on salt works." The Pennsylvania government was sponsoring a large salt work at Toms River and was hearing about labor shortages from Thomas Savadge, the manager of the salt work. John Hart, on behalf of the New Jersey Assembly, declined Pennsylvania’s request: The malitia [sic] ordinances of this State have subjected malitia to certain fines for non-attendance, -- The assembly are of the opinion that particular exemptions, at this time, will be injurious to the public and greatly retard the marching out of the malitia. Hart suggested that salt work wages be adjusted to compensate laborers for paying militia fines. Near concurrent requests were made from Pennsylvania leaders and the Continental Congress to exempt salt workers from militia service. Yet, these same bodies requested local militia to “guard the salt works near Toms River.” These conflicting requests may have rankled New Jersey’s leaders. On the one hand, the state of Pennsylvania was requesting militia exemptions; on the other hand, they asked for a high-functioning militia to guard the salt works (at a time when the shore township militias were largely dysfunctional ). The New Jersey Assembly continued to hear requests for militia exemptions. Richard Brown of Stafford Township petitioned the Assembly on February 15, 1777, "praying an exemption for 15 men in the militia to be employed in carrying on the whale fishery in this State.” The Assembly rejected this petition but re-started deliberations about militia exemptions for salt work laborers. On March 14, the Legislative Council heard a bill to grant 10 militia exemptions to laborers at the Union Salt Works at Brielle. The bill passed unanimously on March 17. David Forman, Colonel of a Continental Army regiment and Brigadier General of the New Jersey militia , was the majority owner of this salt work. The preferential treatment of Forman’s Union Salt Works was noticed. Tensions between New Jersey and Pennsylvania over Militia Exemptions Just two weeks after Forman received the militia exemptions, James Mott, a member of the New Jersey Assembly, political rival of Forman, resident of Toms River, and creditor to the Pennsylvania Salt Works, wrote Governor William Livingston: Mr. Thomas Savadge of the Pennsylvania salt works at this place hath not been able to complete the same by reason of his workmen being frequently called out in the militia, he lately made application to Gen. Putnam, who gave a protection to his workmen, who were just got to work when they were called out again… If he cannot keep his workmen, he must be obliged to drop the whole [project], to the great loss of the owners and much damage to the public in general, for if the works were completed, he expects to make at least one hundred bushels of salt a day, and as salt is so much wanted, I make no doubt of your Excellency granting him such power. Mott’s letter suggests that Savadge had received militia exemptions from General Israel Putnam of the Continental Army. However, Putnam, as a Continental Army officer, lacked the authority to direct the affairs of the New Jersey militia. That responsibility belonged to Governor Livingston. The disparate treatment of the salt works was also noticed by Clement Biddle of Pennsylvania’s War Office. Biddle wrote the Continental Congress on April 4: This State has been at very considerable expense in the erecting of a salt works at Toms River in the State of New Jersey, under the management of Thomas Savadge; he informs the Board that they would have begun salt making before this time had the work men not been called out in the service of the militia. As the works are likely to be of great public utility, we think the work men should be exempted from military service. His Excellency, Governor Livingston, refuses to grant any such exemptions unless it be recommended by the Congress. We therefore recommend that you would give a few lines to the Governor to that purpose. On April 8, Congress debated a "motion from Pennsylvania for recommendation to the Governor of New Jersey to excuse [from militia service] 40 persons employed by Pennsylvania at the salt works.” The minutes of Congress noted the outcome of the debate: After much debate the amendment was agreed. -- Resolved that it be recommended to the Governor and Council of the State of New Jersey not to call into the field such part of their militia, not exceeding forty, who are necessarily employed in the salt works, now erecting in their state by the government of Pennsylvania, provided it be not inconsistent with the laws of the state. Congress’s resolution was toothless. The militia exemptions were plainly “inconsistent with the laws of the state.” Members of Congress likely knew this because most states had militia laws that required universal service, similar to New Jersey’s militia law. On April 12, Governor William Livingston's replied: The exemptions above recommended is inconsistent with the militia laws of this State, but if the Government of Pennsylvania will carry on said works with the inhabitants of their own Commonwealth, care shall be taken to have them exempted as above. Thomas Savadge continued to suffer labor shortages and continued to blame militia service for his labor problems. On July 8, he complained about “the tediousness and delay of erecting the works arises from not getting a [militia] exemption of my people for military duty in the militia.” He also noted the burden of recruiting workers: “It takes half of my time riding about the country looking for fresh hands, and when I have had them two weeks, the militia takes them away." By late 1777, a compromise was emerging. In September, Gov. Livingston wrote Thomas Wharton of the Pennsylvania Council of Safety acknowledging that the loss of salt work laborers “is extremely vexatious." He foreshadowed that "our Legislature is about to revise our militia law... doubt not the reasonableness of the exemptions you desire; it will be provided in the new Act." On October 7, the New Jersey Assembly unanimously passed "An Act to Encourage the Making of Salt at the Pennsylvania Salt Works." It allowed that "the manager of the salt works for the time being may cause to be enrolled any number of men that may need to be employed" with militia exemptions as long as the manager notified the militia captains of the men. The salt workers would function as their own militia unit: "the men so enrolled will be disciplined in arms by being regularly mustered and officered.” The Limited Impact of Militia Exemptions The New Jersey law came too late to save the Pennsylvania Salt Works. With the British invading Pennsylvania, the state’s government soured on the grandiose but non-productive project on the Jersey shore. On November 6, Wharton declared them: “long in the hand and altogether fruitless.” The state ceased underwriting them and eventually sold them. The failing Pennsylvania Salt Works did not dampen the interest of New Jersians in salt-making or their desire for militia exemptions. On November 13, Nathaniel Scudder petitioned the New Jersey Assembly on behalf of himself and other salt work investors "soliciting an exemption from militia duty for a number of men said to be carrying on a salt works, erected by them." David Knott petitioned for militia exemptions at his salt works two weeks later. The Assembly initially dismissed these petitions. But then, on December 11, the New Jersey Legislature passed an act granting militia exemptions to the laborers at salt and gunpowder works (exemptions for iron workers were also granted in a separate act). But, for salt-making, the exemptions were explicitly tied to production -- "one man at the salt-works for every 500 gallons the boiling vessels hold." The exemptions did not last. On March 28, 1778, the salt-making exemptions were repealed: "the great number of private [salt] works erecting, as well as already erected, promise an ample supply of salt." The legislature was likely influenced by scandals surrounding both the Union and Pennsylvania Salt Works and by the expected arrival of foreign salt in American ports (enabled by France’s entry into the war). An October 1778 bill to reinstate the exemptions failed by a 9-16 vote in the Assembly. Few surviving documents provide information about the Monmouth Countians laboring at the salt works. The financial papers of the Pennsylvania Salt Works show that the labor force fluctuated significantly but do not list the names of the laborers. An October 1778 militia delinquency fine against Peter Hulsart was “remitted & entirely set aside” at the Court of General Sessions in Freehold because he “labored at a salt works.” It is the only document of its kind that still exists. Two militiamen, in their post-war pension applications, recalled missing service due to laboring at a salt work. John Hulsart recalled being excused from militia service because he labored at the salt work at Mosquito Cove (north of Toms River): "Those who were thus engaged in the boiling of salt, from the great scarceness, were exempt from military duty." David Cooper recalled missing four to six months of militia service because “I was exempted under the laws of New Jersey from militia service” by laboring at a salt work. “It was considered the same as doing militia duty by those who were engaged in it." The British also took an interest in the Monmouth shore’s salt works. In April 1778, they attacked and destroyed several of them. Related Historic Site : National Guard Museum of New Jersey Sources : “Journal of Thomas Hopkins of the Friendship Salt Company, New Jersey, 1780,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 4 (1918), pp. 46-61; Benjamin White’s narrative is in Judith M. Olsen, Lippincott, Five Generations of the Descendants of Richard and Abigail Lippincott (Woodbury, N.J.: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1982) pp. 159-61; Library of Congress, J. Turner Coll., Folder - John Hart, September 2, 1776.; Journals of the Continental Congress, November 5, 1776, p925-6 ( www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html ); The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, February 15, 1777, p 67.; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1777) p69, 73; Library of Congress, J. Turner Collection, folder: John Hart; The Library Company, Acts of the General Assembly of New Jersey, pp. 6-7, 47; James Mott to William Livingston in Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, p 303; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 83, item 69, vol. 1, #355; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Henderson of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23389962 ; Thomas Savadge to Pennsylvania Board of War in Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 5, pp. 418-9; James Mott to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 1, #55, 58; William Livingston to Thomas Wharton in Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 2, pp. 69-70; William Crispin to PA Council of Safety, William Morgan, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1970), v10, p306, 419; Journals of the American Congress, April 8, 1777 (Washington DC, 1823) v3, p83. Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 6, p 554.; Pennsylvania Council of Safety, Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p92, 193-4; Carl E. Prince, ed., The Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick, N.J., 1988), vol. 1, p 303; Thomas Savadge to Pennsylvania Board of War, Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 5, pp. 418-9; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1777) p117-8; “An Act to Encourage the Making of Salt” discussed in Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Phila: Joseph Severns, 1845) vol 5, p745; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 13, 1777, p 17; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1777) p24; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 28-29, 1777, p 33-34; William Livingston to Assembly in Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 2, p 126; Harry B. Weiss, The Revolutionary Saltworks of the New Jersey Coast (Trenton: Past Times Press, 1959) p 39; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, March 27, 1778, p 92; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 228National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Morris of KY, www.fold3.com/image/#25351861 ; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, October 8, 1778, p 203-204; Peter Hulsart, Court Paper, Rutgers University Special Collections, Holsart Family Papers, folder: A2; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1778) p10; Mark Lender, “The Enlisted Line: The Continental Soldiers of New Jersey”(Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 1975) p 48; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, David Cooper of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#12873752. Previous Next