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 Disaffected Officeholders of Dover and Stafford Townships by Michael Adelberg This 1780 map shows Dover and Stafford Townships cut off from the major roads of the rest of Monmouth County. Resentful locals elected men disaffected from the Revolution to local offices. - March 1780 - Prior articles have documented that many people living along shore were disaffected . “Disaffected” was a term used during the war to describe people with a dislike for the Continental and New Jersey governments. Local leaders who were disaffected from the Revolution were elected to local offices in Shrewsbury Township . The term could be applied to Loyalist enemies of the new government, but could also be applied to malcontents who stayed home. Loyalists left American society—they went behind British lines and/or took up arms to oppose the Revolution. They were commonly labeled “Tories” or “Refugees” by Whigs (people who supported the Revolution). The “disaffected” who remained in New Jersey were unhappy with the state of affairs and took actions that placed them at odds with the new government (evading taxes, avoiding militia service, trading with the enemy). But they never took the ultimate step—risking their lives and their estates to support the restoration of Royal rule. They stayed home and, in some cases, remained active in local government. Here is a breakdown of a graphic by the author for an essay published in the Journal of the Early Republic detailing the political spectrum during the Revolutionary War in localities with large numbers of disaffected. In these places, like Monmouth County, rival blocs of Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) competed with each other and the disaffected for political sway. Political Factions Participating in Local Government: Machiavellian Whigs: W illing to sacrifice due process protections in the interest of fully prosecuting the local war forcefully Due-Process Whigs: S upported war effort, but not to the extent of sacrificing legal and due process protections Disaffected: Participated in the new government but covertly opposed it; took actions contrary to the war effort External: Loyalist: Went within British lines and/or took up arms in direct opposition to the American government It stands to reason that in areas with disaffected majorities, these citizens would elect leaders who reflected their disaffection. In four of Monmouth County’s six townships (Middletown, Shrewsbury, Dover, and Stafford), there were significant disaffected populations. Long shorelines made “London Trading ” with British-held New York easy and profits made this trade alluring. Resentment toward the new government—its taxes, its mandatory militia service, its inflationary money, its weak institutions—ran high. In prior research, the author identified fifteen wartime officeholders (even after the purging of Loyalists following the restoration of Whig rule in early 1777) linked to disaffection. Some, such as Richard Crammer, Clarence Van Mater, and David Woodmancy were from families that were known to be disaffected. Others like David Knott and Daniel Hendrickson of Middletown (not the militia colonel of the same name) were pre-war squires who probably enjoyed some lingering deference from their neighbors. While these disaffected leaders held a variety of leadership positions, they only held civilian offices. There is no evidence of disaffection among Monmouth’s militia officers subsequent to the restoration of Whig rule in early 1777 (though Major Thomas Hunn and three other militia officers were removed by courts martial for embezzling counterfeit money in 1781). The true political feelings of these disaffected officeholders are hard to know based on surviving documents, but their dalliances with disaffection (including participating in the highly profitable London Trade) suggests that the lure of profit may have trumped political convictions. Disaffected Local Leaders in Dover Township Township election records do not exist for most of Monmouth County’s townships during the Revolutionary War years. Fortunately, Dover Township records have survived for 1780 and 1783. The voters of Dover Township elected the following men during those two years: 1780 Dover Township Officeholders Name / Year / Office / Evidence of Disaffection Samuel Brown 1780 Commissioner of Appeals No records found John Cook 1780 Clerk, Freeholder No records found John Chamberlain 1780 Constable No records found Benjamin Ellison 1780 Highway Overseer No records found John Holmes 1780 Assessor No records found Ezekiel Johnson 1780 Highway Overseer No records found John Platt 1780 Commissioner of Appeals No records found Isaac Potter 1780 Freeholder to Assist Assessor skips jury duty, indicted for misdemeanor Thomas Potter 1780 Overseer of Poor takes British loyalty oath, petitioner against Retaliators Moses Robins 1780 Freeholder to Assist Assessor No records found John Stout 1780 Collector No records found Joshua Studson 1780 Highway Surveyors No records found Jacob Wolcott 1780 Highway Overseer Tory insurrectionist (recants) David Woodmancy 1780 Freeholder indicted for Seditious Words, militia delinquent, indicted for misdemeanor (twice) James Woodmancy 1780 Highway Surveyor skips jury duty, assists Pine Robbers Of the fifteen men elected to township offices in 1780, five took actions that indicate disaffection. While some officeholders—Cook, Brown, Stout, and Studson—were also militia officers who had risked their lives to combat Pine Robbers and London Traders, many officeholders were sympathetic to or in collaboration with those Loyalists. While five of fifteen is not a majority officeholders it must be noted that evidence of disaffection is incomplete; it is probable that additional officeholders committed acts that showed some level of collaboration with local Pine Robbers or London Traders. Three of the officeholders above—Johnson, Platt, and Robins—lack documentation of disaffection, but also documentation of taking acts in support of the Revolution (beyond holding a local office). 1783 Dover Township Officeholders Name / Year / Office / Evidence of Disaffection Jacob Applegate 1783 Highway Overseer No records found Jacob Foster 1783 Overseer of Highway Tory insurrectionist, indicted for misdemeanor (twice) Francis Letts 1783 Overseer of Poor No records found Isaac Potter 1783 Freeholder of Appeals skips jury duty, indicted for misdemeanor Moses Robins 1783 Freeholder of Appeals No records found John Rogers 1783 Chosen Freeholder No records found John Stout 1783 Overseer of Poor No records found Thomas Van Note 1783 Overseer of Highways Pine Robbers in family David Woodmancy 1783 Clerk; Freeholder of Appeals indicted for Seditious Words, militia delinquent, indicted for misdemeanor (twice) Gabriel Woodmancy 1783 Assessor; Chosen Freeholder indicted for Seditious Words James Woodmancy 1783 Collector skips jury duty, assists Pine Robbers John Woodmancy 1783 Constable skips jury duty, assists Pine Robbers Of the twelve men elected to township offices in 1783, at least seven men were disaffected. Four of these men were from the publicly disaffected Woodmancy family. The ranks of the staunch Whig leaders who stood for office in 1780 had thinned—Cook and Studson had both died in battle, and Brown had fled the township and was living in Woodbridge. The township’s primary Whig neighborhood—the village of Toms River —had been destroyed in March 1782 and this act may have left Whig voters dispirited. As noted above, it is possible that additional local officeholders were disaffected beyond those listed. The citizens of Dover Township elected men disaffected from the Revolution even as the Revolution’s outcome was becoming apparent. Disaffected Officeholders in Stafford Township Evidence is similar in Stafford Township, to the south of Dover. The locals of this township, culturally and geographically distant from the northern townships, took sniper shots at Kasimir Pulaski’s Continentals in 1778 and supported Pine Robbers and London Traders throughout the second half of the war. Name / Year / Office / Evidence of Disaffection Nathan Bartlett 1780 Freeholder No records found David Bennett 1780 Highway Surveyor indicted for misdemeanor (twice) Richard Brown Jr 1780 Freeholder seeks militia exemption, rejected Daniel Conklin 1780 Highway Overseer No records found Sylvester Cook 1780 Overseer of the Poor No records found Richard Crammer 1780 Overseer of Highways arrested for London Trading, indicted for going to New York, defaults on debt owed to State Nathan Crane 1780 Overseer of Highways No records found Trevor Newland 1780 Assessor accused of disaffection, arrested and released on bond, cordial with Loyalists, goes to New York Linus Pangburn 1780 Clerk No records found Amos Pharo 1780 Commissioner of Appeals No records found James Randolph 1780 Collector indicted for misdemeanor, missed jury duty Reuben Randolph 1780 Commissioner of Appeals missed jury duty John Southard 1780 Constable missed jury duty Sylvester Tilton 1780 Commissioner of Appeals No records found Of the fourteen elected officeholders in 1780, seven show evidence of disaffection. However, it should be noted that three of these men—James and Reuben Randolph, and Southard—had other experiences that show a commitment to the Revolution (Reuben Randolph was the captain of Stafford’s one militia company). So, some of these leaders might have been libertine rather than truly disaffected. On January 23, 1781, the Monmouth County Sheriff was ordered to form a posse and arrest many of Stafford Township’s leaders: You are hereby commanded that you take Samuel Ridgeway, Thomas Ridgeway, Thomas Osborn and Amos Randall… and them to safely keep so that you have their bodies before the Judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas to be held at Freehold...on the fourth Tuesday of April next, to answer the State of New Jersey in a plea of debt that they render to the said State, the sum of L320 lawful money, which to the said State they owe and unjustly detain. Similar orders were issued for the arrests of David Smith, Josiah Crammer, Samuel Pearce, David Jones, Micajah Willis, Amos Southard, Richard Crammer Jr., Richard Willis, Samuel Crammer, Anthony McKinnon. While the underlying charge is not stated, the most likely reason for this large-scale action was that these men were implicated in London Trading and/or harboring the enemy. The Ridgeway, Crammer and Southard families were among the most prominent in Stafford Township, and members of these families were in the rotation for local office holding. The leading families in Stafford Township, including those holding some of its most important offices, were judged disaffected by county leaders in Freehold. Perspective It is easy to deploy a simplistic “Patriot vs. Tory” dichotomy when considering the American Revolution. Popular culture depictions of the war suggest that the American countryside was comprised of “good” Patriots and a scattering of scheming Tories. However, along the ethnically-English, poor, and sparsely-populated Monmouth County shoreline, resentments ran high against the wealthier Scotch Irish and Dutch inland residents who dominated the county’s Revolutionary government. These resentments made it easy to oppose the Revolution—especially once London Trading created unprecedented opportunities to accumulate wealth. Whether the disaffected leaders of Dover and Stafford Townships were genuinely opposed to the Revolution, or merely co-opted by the windfalls of London Trading, is a tantalizing question not answered by surviving documents. Related Historic Site : Cedar Bridge Tavern Sources : Michael Adelberg, “The Transformation of Local Governance in Monmouth County, New Jersey during the War of the American Revolution,” Journal of the Early Republic , vol 31 (2011), pp 467-498; Dover and Stafford Township Election Returns, Monmouth County Archives, Box 613 - Election Returns, Folders – 1780, 1783; Kenneth Anderson to Sheriff, Monmouth County Archives, Common Pleas (Loose); Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 352; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File , at the Monmouth County Historical Association. 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 > Second Monmouth County Court of Oyer and Terminer by Michael Adelberg Fairfax County’s Court in Virginia was crowded with litigants, jurors, and passionate onlookers. Monmouth County’s 2nd Court of Oyer & Terminer may have been even more crowded and impassioned. - June 1778 - Monmouth County had no functioning courts from the middle of 1776 and through 1777. During that time, people charged with crimes were detained for long periods without trial, including more than 200 Loyalists sent out of state . In 1777, a few people were tried by the New Jersey Supreme Court and a few dozen went before the New Jersey Council of Safety . Sentences were lenient—usually a small fine and a loyalty oath. In sharp contrast, Colonel David Forman, acting under claimed martial law powers, convened extra-legal tribunals that exiled Loyalist women to New York and hanged the Loyalist, Stephen Edwards. In January 1778, Monmouth County convened its first Court of Oyer & Terminer , a special court for severe and politically-oriented criminal cases. The January court tried 106 individuals and followed the lenient sentencing precedents established by the Council of Safety. As 1778 progressed, however, Loyalist raids and crime increased in quantity and violence. Monmouth Countians became less tolerant. By May, it was expected that the 12,000-man British Army in Philadelphia would march across New Jersey and through Monmouth County. Amidst rising anger and worry, Monmouth County held its second Court of Oyer & Terminer. The Second Monmouth Court of Oyer and Terminer The second Court of Oyer & Terminer convened on June 3. As the court was held just a few days after three militiamen were killed at Middletown Point , the court was likely attended by a revenge-minded and raucous crowd. There are two surviving court dockets from this court and they are not identical in the roster of indictments and case outcomes. Despite the inconsistencies, it appears that by June 15, the court had tried 98 individuals. Charges included: High Treason (8 charged), Robbery (8 charged), Felony (2 charged), Assault (4 charged), Riot & Trespass (11 charged), Seditious Words (6 charged), A handful of individuals (Jonathan Brown, Joseph Giberson, Stephen West, John Lloyd, Esther Wilson) were charged with more than crime. Several of the individuals tried at the second Court of Oyer & Terminer had been charged at the first one. Based on surviving documents, it is impossible to know if these individuals were being retried or charged with new crimes. Seven women were charged with speaking seditious words or misdemeanors (likely conducting illegal trade with or visiting the enemy). Two of these women, Rhoda Pew and Elizabeth Farrow, were charged at the first Court of Oyer & Terminer. Mary Leonard, who had been exiled extra-legally to New York by David Forman, was back in Monmouth County and charged with speaking seditious words. Of the four other women charged with Seditious Words—Sarah Brown, Ann Parker, Catherine Thomson, and Esther Wilson—only Thomson was the wife of a prominent Loyalist. This suggests that most of these women chose to speak forcefully against the state of affairs. The Court’s Capital Convictions In contrast to the lenient sentences of the first of Court & Terminer, the second Court issued twelve capital convictions. This is a remarkable number given that not a single one of these convictions can be traced to a murder (based on surviving documents). As was common in this period, several (five) of the capital convictions drew pardons. On June 22, the Legislative Council (the Upper House of the state legislature) asked Governor William Livingston to pardon five of the capitally convicted Monmouth Countians: John Polhemus and William Grover (charged with High Treason) and William Dillon, Robert McMullen, Michael Millery (charged with Robbery and Felony). Two of the pardoned capital convicts, Dillon and McMullen, would return as dangerous Loyalists later in the war. The Council did not request pardons for four other men with robbery convictions and death sentences (James Disbrow, Harmon Johnson, John Wood, and Thomas Emmons); nor did it request a pardon for David Heslip, charged with High Treason and sentenced to death. The felony charge of “robbery” was more than the theft of property; simple thefts were tried in the courts of general sessions under the charge of larceny. Felony robbery, in contrast, was theft with malevolence—perhaps accompanied by physical intimidation, destruction of property, or tying someone up and leaving them. Disbrow, Johnson, Wood and Emmons may have been the first so-called Pine Robbers captured and tried. Pine Robber gangs, such as that led by Jacob Fagan, were operating in Monmouth County by summer 1778, and Pine Robbers were often sentenced to death in later courts. One of the hanged robbers, Thomas Emmons, was the brother of Stephen Emmons in Fagan’s gang. Therefore, it is probable that four men hanged for robbery were in groups that presaged the better-documented gangs of Fagan, etc. Two other men received capital convictions. Ezekiel Forman, kin of the powerful Forman family, was convicted of High Treason and sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to permanent exile behind British lines. Forman would return to Monmouth County and remain a problem throughout the war. Robert McElvin was convicted of robbery and sentenced to death but he invoked an “Act of Grace,” took a loyalty oath, and was released. Other Notable Proceedings There were other notable proceedings: Five disaffected individuals (Philip White, Benjamin Allen, John Kirby, Nathan Woolley and John Van Loo) were convicted of misdemeanor for "accompanying Captain Klein to Philadelphia.” Klein was a German officer in the British Army who came ashore in Monmouth County. The men took him to Philadelphia to rejoin the British Army. Only one of these men – Philip White – is recorded as being punished. He was jailed for one month. After that, White became a Loyalist partisan. He was captured by a party of state troops and was murdered in 1782. With the British Army on the march, three men sentenced to prison were ordered to serve their time outside of Monmouth County. Joseph Fitzrandolph was convicted of “trading with the enemy on Staten Island" and jailed in Morris County; Uriah West and Nathaniel Finnan were convicted of “absconding to the Enemy” and jailed in Gloucester County. Other men sentenced to prison were not sent out of the county; it is unclear why some men were sent away but others were not. Five individuals were fined £20 (the approximate value of a good horse) or more. They were: Thomas Thomson, Sr., seditious words, fined £100 Derrick Longstreet, riot & trespass, fined £50, Joseph Wardell, two misdemeanors, fined £30, James Grover, misdemeanor, fined £30, Esther Wilson (wife of Andrew), misdemeanor and seditious words, fined £20. Thomson was a yeoman from Upper Freehold Township who supported the Loyalist insurrection in 1776. It is unknown what he said to prompt the exceptional fine, but he would remain a problem throughout the war (including a High Treason indictment in 1779). Derrick Longstreet’s unusually large fine was likely tied to the curious fact that his was the only house at Manasquan spared the torch during the April Loyalist raid. John Lloyd and Thomas Lloyd, prominent supporters of the Revolution, were both charged with misdemeanors and were found not guilty. John Taylor, the former leader of the Middletown Loyalist Insurrection was also charged with misdemeanor and found not guilty. One person, Moses Robins, was charged with a felony and found not guilty. Two prominent Loyalists were jailed in the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold at the time of Court of Oyer & Terminer: Chrineyonce Van Mater and William Taylor. Van Mater had guided British troops in taking two of New Jersey’s leading Whigs, Richard Stockton and John Covenhoven. Taylor led a Loyalist association that was broken up in November 1776. Van Mater is listed in the court docket as indicted but his charged crime is not stated. Van Mater was freed by the British Army when it reached Freehold. Taylor is not listed in the court dockets—he was extra-legally detained and would soon be exchanged for the captured John Burrowes, Sr. Also absent from the court docket is Thomas Hartshorne of Shrewsbury Township. He was arrested on May 16, 1778, nearly two weeks prior to the start of the court for “being armed & arrayed in a warlike & hostile manner” where he “did falsely, wickedly and traitorously join, aid, abet & adhere to a body of troops and soldiers, then and there being enemies of their State." Hartshorne was indicted as a “false traitor” who was "seduced by the subjugation of the devil.” Hartshorne was tried for High Treason by the New Jersey Supreme Court in July 1779; it is unclear why he was not brought before the Second (or Third ) Monmouth County Court of Oyer and Terminer. The march of the British Army and Battle of Monmouth upended any plans for prompt executions. The British burned much of Freehold and, after the battle, the people of Freehold needed to care for dozens of severely-injured men . Executions were delayed until July 17—six weeks after sentencing. But it appears only two men were executed that day (Wood and Emmons). Dr. Samuel Adams of the New Jersey Line (who stayed in Freehold after the Battle of Monmouth) wrote that “two Tories were hanged at Monmouth Court House, I went to the place of execution, but they were carried off a few minutes before I arrived." The other three men on death-row, according to a July report in the New Jersey Gazette , would be executed on August 18, but there is no follow-up report stating that executions occurred that day. An August 1 report in the Loyalist New York Gazette reported that executions would occur at Freehold on August 18 and September 30. Presumably, the three capital convicts—Disbrow, Johnson, Heslip--were hanged on these two days. Perspective For Monmouth County, the second Court of Oyer & Terminer was a watershed. Prior to this court, the people of Monmouth County (with the extra-legal actions of David Forman as a conspicuous exception) showed great restraint when dealing with their enemies. At this court and with its five executions, Monmouth County’s leaders (judges and officers of the court) and its citizenry (juries) succumbed to bloodlust. The second Court of Oyer & Terminer demonstrated that Monmouth County’s Revolutionaries—enraged by deadly Loyalist raids and malevolent robberies, and facing an impending British invasion—were now as violent as their enemies. Related Historic Site : Burrowes Mansion Sources : Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, p 312; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - June 1778; Morristown National Historical Park Collection, reel 39, Monmouth Courts; Morristown National Historical Park Collection, reel 39, Monmouth Courts; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) pp. 249-50, 254; David Bernstein, Minutes of the Governor's Privy Council, 1777-1789 (Trenton: New Jersey State Library, Archives and History Bureau, 1974) p 83; Dr. Samuel Adams to Polly Adams, David Library of the American Revolution, Sol Feinstone Collection, reel 1, #28-30; New Jersey Supreme Court: State vs Thomas Hartshorne, High Treason, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, # 35917; Kenneth Scott, Rivington's New York Newspaper: Excerpts from a Loyalist Press, 1773-1783 (New York: New York Historical Society, 1973) pp. 148-9, 158. E. Alfred Jones, The Loyalists of New Jersey: Their Memorials, Petitions, Claims, etc. From English Records (Heritage Books, 2009), see Willaim Grover. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Monmouth Loyalists Pardoned for Continental Army Service by Michael Adelberg Abraham Clark was a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress in 1777. He supported three imprisoned Loyalists insurrectionists who sought pardons in exchange for enlisting in the Continental Army. - April 1777 - The Continental government had two interrelated problems in early 1777. First, it had several hundred Loyalist prisoners who needed to be sheltered, fed, and guarded. Daily, these men consumed resources that were needed by the threadbare Continental Army. Second, the Army was thousands of soldiers short of expectations with respect to filling its ranks. Offering Loyalist prisoners pardons in exchange for Continental Army service—though fraught with complications—was a way to alleviate both problems at once. The idea of pardoning prisoners for enlisting into the Continental Army and Navy was not unique to Monmouth County’s jailed Loyalists. It was implemented at different times and in different ways across the colonies. Moving Monmouth County’s Loyalists into the Continental Army was first proposed by Owen Biddle, a Continental commissary officer in Philadelphia, to Governor Willilam Livingston in February 1777. Livingston did not respond directly, but informed Biddle that Nathaniel Scudder, a committeeman and militia officer from Freehold, would soon be visiting Philadelphia to assess the Monmouth prisoners. Nathaniel Scudder visited the Continental prison In Philadelphia and identified Monmouth Loyalists taken on January 2 at Freehold (at the “First Battle of Monmouth ”) and other Loyalists taken by Francis Gurney’s regiment on January 6 at Upper Freehold and January 9 at Shrewsbury. Scudder did not endorse enlisting insurrectionists in the Continental Army in exchange for a pardon. Governor Livingston confessed frustration on how to proceed, "we know not what to do with them [the prisoners] at present." However, Livingston soon had a mechanism for considering these Loyalists. Beginning in earnest in April, Governor Livingston convened a Council of Safety for the state of New Jersey (discussed in another article) which examined dozens of Monmouth Loyalists, including several who were confined in Philadelphia. Jailed Insurrectionists Allowed to Join the Continental Army Some jailed Monmouth Loyalists wished for a pardon in exchange for serving in the Army. On March 30. 1777, Congressmen Abraham Clark and Jonathan Sargent, two of New Jersey’s delegates to the Continental Congress, wrote Gov. Livingston: The enclosed petitions from three of the Jersey prisoners [John North, William North, James Journee] were presented to Congress & referred to us. We have visited them in the hospital & find they have had the small pox very favorably. They are almost fit to go to work & very pressing for a discharge. We can find no cause of their detention. The three prisoners were transferred to New Jersey and appeared before the Council of Safety on April 14; they promptly took Loyalty oaths to the state. But the Council did not immediately pardon them, perhaps because it was considering the status of several other Monmouth Loyalists in similar circumstances. On May 19, Lt. Gilbert Imlay of David Forman’s Additional Regiment wrote the Council of Safety about fifteen Loyalists (including North, North, and Journee) who wished to join in the Army: A number supposed to be dangerous & disaffected to the Government were apprehended in the beginning of January last, in the county of Monmouth, by virtue of and orders from one of the generals in the Continental service [Israel Putnam], and sent to Philadelphia, in which place they have been since confined. Several of the prisoners have been enlisted in the United States [Army] on condition that they be released or set at large from their present imprisonment; and that practice & caution are taken to enlist only those as are either really innocent or stand accused on only petty offenses. Imlay noted that "Major Seabrook [Thomas Seabrook], who is now at this place, can if called upon, bear evidence in favor of the person aforementioned." Seabrook would formally request that the fifteen Loyalists "be released from confinement & permitted to join the company in which they have enlisted." If Imlay and Seabrook were seeking to bring Loyalists into David Forman’s Additional Regiment, they were presumably doing so with Forman’s approval. As discussed in a prior article, recruiting for Forman’s regiment was going badly and the potential of recruiting a large chunk of the 200+ jailed Monmouth Loyalists might double the size of the regiment. Forman was struggling to recruit even 100 men when a full-strength regiment was roughly 600 men. The Council of Safety heard from Seabrook and approved pardons for the fifteen Continental Army enlistees. On May 21, Gov. William Livingston wrote to the Pennsylvania Board of War about the Loyalists: The prisoners hereafter mentioned, confined in your goal, were apprehended January last in the County of Monmouth as disaffected; and are said to have enlisted in the service of the United States, on condition of being sett [sic] at liberty. Livingston proposed having Major Thomas Mifflin bring the prisoners back to New Jersey, where Livingston would free them contingent on their enlistment. The selection of Mifflin was not accidental; Mifflin led Pennsylvania troops in defeating the Monmouth Loyalists five months earlier. The prisoners were returned to New Jersey on May 23. For an unknown reason, only seven of the prisoners agreed to enlist at that time. The eight others were returned to jail. Confusion among the enlistees continued. On May 27, the New Jersey Council of Safety recorded that four of the enlistees--John Sears, Stout Havens, Richard Margison, Richard Barber--had "declared they had altered their minds and did therefore refuse to comply with their former engagements; wherefore they were remanded to the Guardhouse.” All four of these would cause trouble later in the war: Sears and Margison would be convicted of treason and jailed in Morris County; Havens would incited for harboring enemy combatants tried before the New Jersey Supreme Court (verdict unknown); and Barber would become a London Trader and associate of the Pine Robber , John Bacon. Lt. Imlay marched off with only three recruits (North, North, and Journee). The Loyalists who reneged on their promise to enlist were, by and large, treated roughly. Stout Havens remained in jail even after "friends testified in his favour" on June 4. Five others claimed the right to favorable treatment as prisoners of war (as opposed to domestic traitors) based on joining George Taylor’s Loyalist militia . This status was denied by the Council of Safety because "none of them had been engaged more than a fortnight" in that militia. They remained in jail as criminals not subject to prisoner exchanges negotiated between the armies. Seven of the twelve Loyalists were ultimately convicted of treason by the Council of Safety and, on June 19, transferred to prison in far-off Morristown, too far from home to receive regular visits from friends and family. Later in the War The idea of paroling prisoners in exchange for Continental service was raised again later in the war. For example, on January 1, 1781, New Jersey’s Chief Justice, David Brearley, a former Continental Army officer from Upper Freehold, wrote the New Jersey Legislative Council (the Upper House of the legislature) that: At a Court of Oyer and Terminer lately held in the County of Monmouth, Benjamin Lee was convicted of rape upon Sarah Phillips, and Henry Sellers of robbery, for which the death sentence was passed against them, and requesting a pardon for them upon condition that they enlist and serve aboard one of the Continental frigates. Brearley supported the proposal. Lee was not granted a pardon and was put to death; the fate of Sellers is unknown. As for the three Monmouth Loyalists who joined the Continental Army in exchange for a pardon—John North, William North, and James Journee—they took different paths through the war. John North served his three-year enlistment in the Continental Army without incident. He then served in the Monmouth militia. In January 1782, he joined the State Troops and was one of three men assigned with taking a captured Loyalist, Philip White, from Long Branch to the county jail at Freehold. The three guards harassed White into attempting an escape and then murdered him when he ran. White’s murder prompted Loyalists to execute Captain Joshua Huddy, a retaliatory act which nearly led to the execution of a British officer, Charles Asgill, in retaliation for Huddy. The “Huddy Affair ” reverberated across the highest levels of the Continental, French and British governments. North was indicted in the Monmouth courts for riot in November 1782, though the particulars are unknown. William North served in Forman’s regiment but left in 1777. He is listed as deserted in the muster rolls of the New Jersey Volunteers in January 1778. This suggests that he deserted the Continental Army in 1777, collected a bounty for joining the New Jersey Volunteers, and then returned to the Continental Army where he received lenient treatment because he returned on his own. After his three-year term in the Continental Army, he served in the Monmouth County militia. He is listed as a “Single Man” in the 1784 tax rolls—suggesting that he was a poor laborer unable to own land at war’s end. James Journee served his three-year enlistment and returned home. He became a Lieutenant in the militia. He is listed as owning 200 acres in the 1779 tax rolls, suggesting he was from a wealthier family than John and William North. He was indicted for assault in 1780, but the particulars of that assault are unknown. In 1781, he was involved in an attempted prisoner exchange outside of official channels, but the exchange did not occur. Permitting Loyalist prisoners to join the Army in exchange for a pardon, at least in the case of Monmouth County’s Loyalists, produced only three recruits. Given the amount of time invested by several leaders to create the opportunity and the continued shortage of men in the Continental Army, the results of this effort could only be considered disappointing. Related Historic Site : Morristown National Historical Park . Sources : William Livingston to Owen Biddle, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, p 248, 253; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) pp. 19, 21; Abraham Clark to William Livingston, Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 6, p 310 note 2; Gilbert Imlay to NJ Council of Safety, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #4126; William Livingston to PA Board of War, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, pp. 337-8; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) pp. 55, 57-8; David Bernstein, Minutes of the Governor's Privy Council, 1777-1789 (Trenton: New Jersey State Library, Archives and History Bureau, 1974) p 191; Adelberg, Michael, Biographical File , at Monmouth County Historical Association, Freehold, New Jersey. 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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 > Prominent Loyalists Captured and Scandal Ensues by Michael Adelberg George Taylor, Colonel of an illusory Loyalist militia, led several incursions into Monmouth County. He was taken in August 1780; after months in jail, he was exchanged back to New York. - August 1780 - Prior articles demonstrate that summer of 1780 was a particularly desperate time in Monmouth County. Colonel Tye and other Loyalist irregulars kidnapped more than a dozen county leaders. In response, hundreds of county residents formed an extra-legal vigilante association, the Retaliators . Disaffected county residents trying to weather the war at home had livestock impounded by Continental soldiers and were subject to shockingly high fines for missing militia duty. But it was an equally desperate time for Monmouth County Loyalists behind British lines in New York. The New Jersey Volunteers , which hundreds of Monmouth Loyalists joined in 1776-1777, were largely dispirited —and original recruits drifted into new military units or left the Army for irregular Loyalist paramilitaries such as the Associated Loyalists . Amidst this desperation, a party of prominent Monmouth Loyalists was tempted to land in Monmouth County on an ill-fated mission. Monmouth Militia Captures Loyalist Party The New Jersey Gazette reported that on August 2: Eight of the infamous refugees, five of whom pretended to be officers in the Tyrant's service, were brought to the Commissary of Prisoners at Elizabethtown from Monmouth. When they were captured, they pleaded they came over with a flag , and produced their orders; but their frivolous pretensions would not answer their ends, and they were sent to Philadelphia to occupy a corner of the new gaol until exchanged. The New Jersey Journal reported on the same incident: Yesterday, were brought to this town under guard, being on their way to Philadelphia, Col. George Taylor, Lt. Samuel Leonard, Lt. John Thomson, Ensign John Lawrence and Chrineyonce Van Mater, late inhabitants of Monmouth County, and three others -- they were made prisoners on Wednesday last by a party of militia." Five of the eight captured men were well-known Loyalists from prominent families: George Taylor was the colonel of the illusory Loyalist Monmouth County militia . In 1777, he led raids into Monmouth County and remained active in recruiting Loyalists from the county afterward. Samuel Leonard was a lieutenant in the (Loyalist) New Jersey Volunteers. He often commanded the troops at the Sandy Hook Lighthouse . He was kin to Thomas Leonard (a major in the Volunteers) and Joseph Leonard (the former county clerk who took the county’s records .). John Thomson was a former lieutenant in the New Jersey Volunteers who became an Associated Loyalist. He was involved in raids into Monmouth County. While others in the party were exchanged, Thomson remained in jail. He was convicted of two felonies and hanged. John Lawrence was an ensign in the New Jersey Volunteers. His kin co-led the Upper Freehold Loyalist insurrection of December 1776. Chrineyonce Van Mater was the first of Monmouth’s Loyalist partisans. He helped capture two leading Whigs in late 1776 and participated in the December Loyalist Insurrection. His daring escape on horseback gave birth to the place-name “Jumping Point” in present-day Rumson. The other men in the party—Timothy Scoby, Richard Freeman, and Adam Brewer—were from poor families. Scoby was a private in the New Jersey Volunteers early in the war before becoming an Associated Loyalist. In 1782, he was convicted of treason in the Monmouth County courts, but was pardoned by Governor William Livingston. Less is known about Freeman and Brewer. The purpose of the landing is not explicitly stated in any surviving document. It is known that George Taylor paroled home a captured Middletown militiaman, Daniel Covenhoven. Another militiaman, Cornelius Swart, testified that the Commanding Officer at Sandy Hook told Taylor “he could discharge them if he thought proper - at which time Taylor told them he paroled them both to return home and remain peaceable subjects until called upon.” Perhaps Taylor landed to conduct a prisoner exchange . However, as noted below, the Loyalists brought a large quantity of counterfeit money with them—and the discovery of this money likely ended any chance of the flag of truce being honored. Counterfeiting was a nagging problem throughout the war; various pre- and post-independence currencies and notes traded freely. Continental money was particularly prone to counterfeiting and rampant inflation. As early as April 1777, Thomas Clark, from a disaffected Middletown family, was brought before the New Jersey Supreme Court “for suspicion of receiving and passing counterfeit paper 30 dollar bills, in imitation of the 30 dollar Continental bills.” In January 1780, a bold raid against Sandy Hook resulted in the capture of counterfeit money by Continental soldiers. Major Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee reported on the raid, noting that “the counterfeit money I sent to be burnt." No doubt, counterfeit money was circulated via London Traders and other disaffected New Jerseyans. On August 4, the Pennsylvania Packet reported that the Monmouth Loyalists had reached Philadelphia: Yesterday was brought to town, under guard, being on their way to Philadelphia, Col. George Taylor, Lt. Samuel Leonard, Lt. John Thomson, Ens. John Lawrence and Chrineyonce Van Mater, late inhabitants of Monmouth, and three others. They were made prisoners on Wednesday last by a party of militia. On reaching Philadelphia, the Loyalists apparently complained about the legality of their capture. If they had arrived under a flag of truce, with a British passport, they should have been permitted to present themselves to an officer and explain their purpose. After that, they could have been allowed to stay or sent back to their boats by that officer. If their credentials were appropriate, they should not have been taken. Hearing the Loyalists’ plea, the Board of War of the Continental Congress inquired to George Washington about the capture. Washington, perhaps not wanting to involve himself in a sordid local affair, claimed minimum knowledge of the incident. He wrote on August 14: I have not yet been fully informed of the circumstances attending the capture of Lieut. Leonard and the others sent to Phila. with him. I only know that they came out under the sanction of a Flag, but there being something irregular in the conduct of it, the Militia of Monmouth thought proper to apprehend and secure them. The Fate of the Captured Loyalists and Capturing Militia Officers The Loyalists remained in jail in Philadelphia until January 1781. On January 9, Colonel David Forman wrote to Governor William Livingston about them: The Grand Jury would esteem it a particular favor if your Excellency would take the earliest opportunity of ordering Chrineyonce Van Mater, Samuel Leonard, John Thomson, John Lawrence, Timothy Scoby, Aaron Brewer and other late inhabitants of Monmouth County, and now confined in Philadelphia to be sent to this place to stand for tryal. Forman was serving as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Monmouth County and was apparently eager to try the Monmouth Loyalists. Forman was also leading the vigilante Retaliators , raising questions about the impartiality of the justice he might administer. The impending transfer to Monmouth County seems to have tempted at least some of the Monmouth Loyalists to attempt an escape. The Loyalist New York Gazette reported on January 21: The following persons arrived in this city, they have been made prisoners by the Rebels and confined in Philadelphia goal, from whence they fortunately escaped the 10th inst., a reward of $2000 was published for apprehending them. The escapees were Chrineyonce Van Mater, Timothy Scoby, Nathan Tyson, Aaron Brewer, and Richard Freeman. Van Mater, Scoby, and Brewer were Monmouth Countians taken in August. Tyson’s biography and reason for arrest are unknown. Thomson was tried in Monmouth County in November 1781, found guilty of horse stealing and “felony” and hanged. The others were probably exchanged for captured Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). Scoby would be captured again in 1782, convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death. He was pardoned by Governor Livingston at the request of Guy Carleton, the conciliatory British commander in chief at war’s end. The investigation of the Loyalists led to inquiries into the conduct of the militia that took the Loyalists despite their arrival under a Flag of Truce. This led to the court martial of several officers, reported in the New Jersey Gazette on February 21. The gravity of the trials is underscored by the fact that they were presided over by General Philemon Dickinson, the commander of the New Jersey militia. The results of the courts-martial are below: Major Thomas Hunn was charged with "cowardice and unofficerlike behavior, and acquitted of the first charge buy unanimously found guilty of the last, and judged to be cashiered"; Ensign Peter Vanderhoff was charged on the same charges with the same results. However, he was fined 200 Continental dollars and permitted to continue serving; Ensign Barnes Bennett was charged with "disobeying orders with respect to the trunks brought from Staten Island with George Taylor and others under the sanction of a Flag.” He was further charged with "suffering those goods to be embezzled" and "for passing the counterfeit money which came over." He was found guilty on all charges and cashiered; Lt. Jacob Tice was charged with "not turning out upon his tour of duty, and adjudged to be guilty." He was fined 200 Continental dollars; Capt. Samuel Dennis was charged with "cowardice and disobedience of orders.” He was “acquitted on both charges"; Quartermaster Richard Hartshorne was charged with "neglect of duty in not supplying the men with provisions.” He was “unanimously acquitted." Surviving documents do not reveal if there were legitimate questions about the documents the Loyalists brought into Monmouth County, but the courts-martial results reveal that, whatever the official purpose of their landing, another purpose was to return with materials purchased with counterfeit money. On this alone, the Loyalists deserved to be detained, though the scandalous conduct of certain Monmouth militia—passing the counterfeit money into circulation—surpassed whatever “irregularity” might have existed with the flag of truce carried by the Loyalists. Related Historic Site : Jumping Point Park Sources : Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; 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, pp. 551-552; State vs. Thomas Clark of Middletown. New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #34610; Henry Lee to George Washington, January 16, 1780, Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Pennsylvania Packet, August 4, 1780; Goerge Washington to Congress, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw190446)) ; David Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, January 9, 1781; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, January 21, 1781, reel 2906; The New Jersey Gazette report on the court martial is in William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 162; William Nelson, Austin Scott, et al., ed., New Jersey Archives (Newark, Trenton, Somerville, 1901-1917) vol. 5, p 200; Daniel Covenhoven to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, February 15, 1781; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File , unpublished, Monmouth County Historical Association. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Grain Seizure Splits Whig Leadership by Michael Adelberg General Nathanael Greene was in charge of raising provisions for the Continental Army in 1779 when the improper seizure of hay from Benjamin Van Cleaf of Middletown was escalated to him. - January 1779 - As discussed in prior articles, raising forage and provisions from the fertile farms of Monmouth County was a high priority for the Continental Army. It appointed two officers, David Rhea and John Lloyd to purchase supplies in the county. But not all farmers wanted to sell their goods to Rhea and Lloyd. Some were secretly trading with Loyalist middlemen (called “London Traders ”) who brought their goods to the British. Other farmers were simply interested in holding onto their goods in order to get a higher price later on. The treatment of one of these farmers was escalated to senior Army generals and New Jersey’s governor. It caused a rift in the county’s leadership. The Benjamin Van Cleaf Affair Benjamin Van Cleaf was a comfortable Middletown farmer from an extended family that solidly supported the Revolution and included both militia and local government officers. Van Cleaf was a militia lieutenant who signed a number of pro-Revolutionary petitions and served on grand juries. In January 1779, Peter Forman, the magistrate from neighboring Freehold Township, came to Van Cleaf’s house and ordered his grain to be impounded for the use of the Army. Van Cleaf was compensated at the Army’s standard rate. General Nathanael Greene was made aware of the controversial seizure. He noted: “This Van Cleaf has had rye in stacks upwards of two years. He has frequently refused to sell it, cloaking his real intentions with the very charitable purpose of reserving it for the poor." Greene was implying that Van Cleaf was participating in the London Trade, though there is no evidence of that in surviving documents. According to Greene’s letter, Forman had initially sent Captain Knight [Richard McKnight] to buy the rye, but Van Cleaf refused, claiming he was keeping it for poor relief. Forman then went to Van Cleaf with a party of teamsters, and, under threat of arrest, forced Van Cleaf to sell his rye. Forman appears to have exceeded his authority in two ways: First, he left his own township to impound the goods of a farmer living in another township; second, magistrates were permitted to impound goods from those disaffected from the Revolution or materials likely to fall into enemy hands; there is no evidence that Van Cleaf was disaffected or that his rye was in danger. Aggrieved, Van Cleaf went to the Middletown magistrate, Peter Schenck, who appeared with his own party and ordered the wagons with Van Cleaf’s rye to be unloaded. On February 4, Schenck wrote Forman: “How could you assume such authority as to supersede my precepts?... Neither the Chief Justice nor Governor Livingston would have presumed to supersede any magistrate without giving him a hearing." Schenck wrote that Forman has "scoffed... at giving him [Van Cleaf] an opportunity in his own defence.” Schenck further stated: Your conduct I cannot but resent, and resent accordingly. I know not how you should impress the grain after it was made known it was sold for the use of the inhabitants - the legislature reposing confidence in Magistrates as the guardians of the people - gave them authority to impress produce from disaffected persons, but not to take it from the people who would dispose of their produce for the use of the poor... families are dependent on their bread on Mr. Van Cleave, out of the grain you have undertook to seize. Schenck concluded by insulting Forman with a striking comparison—suggesting that Forman’s actions were even worse than the crimes of the hated Pine Robbers , Jacob Fagan and Thomas Emmons (a.k.a. Burke): “Fagan and Burke, when they robbed, had regard for the poor, they only took out of abundance from those they robbed, but you have endeavored to arrest the bread from the poor." Schenck’s letter was forwarded to Gen. Greene and the Continental Congress with documents showing the market price of a bushel of rye or corn to be $10, but the Continental Quartermaster paying only $4 and $6 a bushel respectively. With the controversy brewing, the Quartermaster purchasing agent from Monmouth County, David Rhea, wrote a Continental officer, Clement Biddle, on February 12: “The country are all in arms about grain prices; send no more wagons here." Rhea informed Biddle that he sent Captain McKnight and Forman to Van Cleaf to purchase the rye: I sent a Magistrate [Forman] with the forage purchase who ordered the brigade [wagon team] to be loaded - paid for the same by taking the receipts without opposition; as soon as they were gone the owner applied to another Magistrate [Schenck] who drove off McKnight with his brigade, nor would he suffer them to take any [of the rye]. Rhea suggested that he would seek to right the situation by gaining Schenck’s support. He apologized for the controversy that he had inadvertently begun: "I am extremely sorry to trouble you about this affair - this much I must say, it is a damnation country to do business with." The Van Cleaf controversy prompted General Greene to write Governor William Livingston on February 14. Greene sided with Rhea and Forman: "I have enclosed for your Excellency's information copies of several papers… respecting the wickedness and villainy of some Magistrates in Monmouth County.” Greene argued that “the great difference in the price offered by the public purchasers and the private engrossers” was the root cause of the problem. He suggested: It appears to me a plan concerted with a design either to save the grain in the county or procure for the inhabitants an extravagant price for it. That we are reduced to the necessity to impress the grain by the aid of Magistrates is notorious. Greene was, in effect, admitting that because of the low price paid by the Continental Army, the Army had to rely on magistrates to take goods from otherwise dutiful citizen farmers at below-market prices. Livingston responded to Greene three days later. He suggested that some of Monmouth County’s office holders were not sufficiently patriotic and even in league with London Traders. "Some of them have rendered themselves culpable. While some are remiss at assisting the Army... others have been oppressive in granting warrants for wood cutting without summoning the owner to try his disaffection, or any proof of his refusal." Monmouth County’s disaffected officeholders is the subject of another article. However, Schenck’s intervention on behalf of Van Cleaf was never reversed. Perspective In isolation, the seizure of Van Cleaf’s rye was a small incident in which a local official exceeded his authority by going into a neighboring township to seize goods for the benefit of the Army. The seizure was reversed by the magistrate with appropriate jurisdiction. Continental and state leadership empowered local agents to act aggressively in raising forage for the Army but acquiesced to the rule of law when one of their agents exceeded his authority. More broadly, the bitter words between the magistrates exposed a growing rift in Monmouth County’s leadership. On one side of the split were “Machiavellian” Whigs (mostly from Freehold and Upper Freehold townships) who took unlawful actions in the interest of better prosecuting the Revolution; other the side, were “Due Process” Whigs (mostly from the Middletown and the Shore Townships) who supported the Revolution, but not at the expense of the rule of law. While this split was evident intermittently before the Van Cleaf controversy (such as the overturned county election of 1777), the Van Cleaf controversy re-aggravated the split and set in motion a string of events that substantially worsened it. Another property seizure by a Captain John Walton of Freehold against a Middletown citizen, Solomon Ketchum, three months later would lead to landmark litigation and further widen the split inside Monmouth County. The split would climax with leaders from the two sides coming to blows at the 1780 county election and splitting into rival associations after that. Related Historic Site : Howell Living History Farm Sources: Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 3, pp. 247-8; Peter Schenck to Peter Forman, Papers of the Continental Congress, Letter of Nathanael Greene, vol. 3, p43-4; David Rhea to Clement Biddle, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I173, Letters from Nathanael Greene, v3, p37; Nathanael Greene to William Livingston, Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 3, pp. 247-8; William Livingston to Nathanael Greene, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 3, pp. 35-6; Michael S. Adelberg, “The Transformation of Local Governance in Monmouth County, New Jersey during the War of the American Revolution,” Journal of the Early Republic , 2011. 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 > British and Continental Soldiers Pass Through Allentown by Michael Adelberg 1777 map shows the roads between New York and Philadelphia. Note the location of Allen’s Town (Allentown) at the confluence of roads from Trenton and Philadelphia. - December 1776 - George Washington’s bold attack on the Hessians at Trenton on Christmas, 1776, changed the course of the war. For the first time, the British were defeated and the surprise attack set both armies in motion. The armies would soon meet again at the Battle of Princeton on January 3. In between, detachments of both armies passed through Allentown, on the western edge of Monmouth County. At this time, Allentown and surrounding Upper Freehold Township was loosely controlled by an embryonic Loyalist regime , more or less led by Commissioner John Lawrence. The arrests and property confiscations of the Loyalist insurrection took a toll on Allentown. On December 27, when a regiment of Hessians entered the town, they found it largely empty. The reputation of the Hessians for brutality likely induced Allentown’s residents to flee. Captain Johann Ewald wrote: “In the afternoon, the march continued to Allentown where the corps arrived in the evening and took up quarters in devastated and abandoned houses, which numbered about eighty.” Ewald’s commander, Colonel Carl von Donop, used Allentown as a base to gather up and reorganize the recently defeated Hessians. On the 27th, he wrote General Wiliam Knyphausen, the commander of German troops in America, that "I have organized all the escaped men from the Rall brigade and made up a force of two hundred and ninety-two men." Von Donop worried that “my ammunition has run low, only about 9 bullet cartridges to a man,” but still thought Allentown’s location at a key crossroads made it an ideal place to camp. "This place is so situated that I intend to get through it to anywhere from here." With a Delaware Continental regiment only four miles away at Crosswicks, von Donop left Allentown for Hightstown on the afternoon of December 28. Historian David Hackett Fisher noted that the Hessians brought 150 wagons of supplies with them when they entered and left Allentown. This would have been the largest baggage train ever brought through Allentown—until the British Army’s baggage train in the days preceding the Battle of Monmouth. The Delaware Continentals followed the Hessians and moved into Allentown on December 29. Captain Thomas Rodney was not among the first of his regiment to enter Allentown, but he described the activities of his regiment’s vanguard as it entered Allentown. Before dawn, the Continentals turned the tables on the Loyalist insurrectionists. Rodney wrote: This morning, about sunrise we set out to reinforce the troops that went forward last night. We marched on through Allentown without stopping, about half a mile beyond, met the troops returning with about 30 bullocks and 5 Tories. Later that day, the Delaware troops shot and killed Isaac Pearson, the former town clerk, now a Loyalist, of neighboring Nottingham Township (Burlington County). Pearson was being sheltered by Upper Freehold Loyalists. The local Loyalists escaped but Pearson was not so fortunate, “In the afternoon was brought in the body of Isaac Pearson, who being found in the house with other Tories that were taken, fled off." Rodney described Allentown: “A little village of wooden houses, indifferently built on both sides of the road, at a mill, about 4 miles from Crosswicks." And he described a distasteful first encounter with the newly-arrived Captain Francis Wade of Pennsylvania. Wade had arrived with orders to set up a Quartermaster office at Allentown. Rodney called Wade "a vain blustering man." Rodney and the Delaware Continentals would stay at Allentown until January 2. While there, Rodney talked with Upper Freehold Whigs who were recently abused by the insurrectionists. He wrote: Jersey will be the most Whiggest [sic] colony on the continent: the Quakers declare for taking up arms. You cannot imagine the distress of this country. They [British and Loyalists] have stripped everybody almost, without distinction - even of all their clothes, and have beat and abused men, women and children in the most cruel manner ever heard of. It is possible that the locals exaggerated the brutality of the conduct of the insurrectionists, as there are no documents that detail beatings from the Upper Freehold Loyalists. It is also possible that Rodney was conflating accounts from Upper Freehold with accounts from western New Jersey, where Hessian soldiers engaged in numerous acts of brutality. Not all of the locals were bitterly divided. One of Allentown’s leading merchants, Richard Waln, though a Quaker pacifist, supported the Loyalist insurrection. This did not stop him from selling goods to the Continentals on December 31. On December 31, much of the Delaware regiment went to Cranbury to gather supplies and intelligence. During their absence, a Pennsylvania regiment under Lt. Colonel Francis Gurney moved into town. The officers of the two regiments nearly came to blows that evening. Rodney wrote: When we returned to Allentown, my quarters were full of militia [Pennsylvania Flying Camp] and there was no place to sit or lie down. I went to the door of the room, which was now occupied by three Pennsylvania field officers and politely requested to let us come in and sit by the fire, but they sternly refused. I told them we had no other place to go and if they would not admit us willingly they must defend themselves, and thereupon drew my sword. But the Continental officers were able to reach an accord, after which "we spent the rest of the night in great festivity... with good wine and ready dressed provisions." Gurney’s men would soon march for Freehold where they would clash with and defeat Monmouth County’s new Loyalist militia. Francis Wade would act as Continental Quartermaster at Allentown for several months. His relationships with the people of Monmouth County would be no better than his relationship with Thomas Rodney. Related Historic Site : Battle of Princeton State Park Sources : Thomas Rodney, Diary of Captain Thomas Rodney, 1776-1777 (Wilmington: Delaware Historical Society, 1888) p 26; Thomas Rodney, Diary of Captain Thomas Rodney, 1776-7 (Wilmington: Delaware Historical Society, 1888, p 27; John Fabiano, Allen's Town, New Jersey: Crossroads of the American Revolution, unpublished manuscript in the collection of the Allentown Historical Society, p 31; John Fabiano, Allen's Town, New Jersey: Crossroads of the American Revolution, unpublished manuscript in the collection of the Allentown Historical Society, p 25. 28; Johann Ewald, Diary of an American War (New Haven: Yale UP, 1979), 55; David Hackett Fischer, Washington's Crossing (NY: Oxford UP, 2004) p260, 344; New Jersey State Archives, Revolutionary War, Manuscripts Coll., box 2, #9, #12 and William S. Stryker, Battles of Trenton and Princeton, pp. 398-400; George Ryden, Letters to and from Caesar Rodney, 1756-84 (Philadelphia: U of Penn Press, 1933) p 152; David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 79; Thomas Rodney, Diary of Captain Thomas Rodney, 1776-7 (Wilmington: Delaware Historical Society, 1888, p 27; John Fabiano, Allen's Town, New Jersey: Crossroads of the American Revolution, unpublished manuscript in the collection of the Allentown Historical Society, p 31 Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > New Jersey Legislature Investigates the Retaliators by Michael Adelberg In summer 1780, vigilante “Retaliators” seized furniture from the house of John Hartshorne, a leading Shrewsbury Quaker. The Retaliators victimized many other Quakers over the next two years. - September 1780 - On July 1, 1780, a public meeting was held at the Monmouth County Courthouse to officially establish the Association for Retaliation . 435 men signed the articles that established the group—more signatures than compiled on any other Revolutionary Era Monmouth County document. The Retaliators established a nine-man board of directors chaired by Colonel David Forman—a man who was already known for 1.) being a zealous supporter of the Revolution based on senior-level military commissions and civil offices, and 2.) exceeding the authority of those offices. The Retaliators promised eye-for-an-eye retaliation for every act committed against a member. Largely unable to strike at their real enemies (Loyalist raiders sheltered behind lines), the Retaliators looked at the kin of Loyalists within Monmouth County as befitting targets of retaliation. From the moment of their founding, the clique of Freehold leaders who led the group—including Forman, Nathaniel Scudder, and Thomas Henderson—faced accusations that the group’s extra-legal punishments were illegal. They sought to insulate themselves with a law that would authorize their activity. Monmouth Countians Petition the New Jersey Legislature On September 23, 1780, Scudder and Henderson petitioned the New Jersey Legislature for the opportunity to address the Assembly "on matters of the moment in the County of Monmouth." They were admitted and presented a memorial, "praying that a law may be passed to authorize the well-affected inhabitants to retaliate upon the property of the disaffected of said county; and also a copy of an association lately formed and entered into by a number of inhabitants of said county." The Assembly established a committee to consider their request and investigate the Retaliators. However, just two days later, Joseph Salter, a squire from Dover Township, petitioned the Assembly: Setting forth that Captain Green [James Green], with a number of armed men under his command, had forcibly seized and carried away sundry articles of furniture belonging to the said petitioner and John Hartshorne of the same county, under pretense of retaliation; that he had sought redress through the medium of the law without effect, and praying relief. Joseph Salter had participated in the December 1776 Loyalist insurrections . For this, he was brought before General Israel Putnam who decided not to punish him. Later, Salter was brought before the New Jersey Council of Safety —he took a loyalty oath to the New Jersey government and was released. Salter sold off tracts of land along the shore to start saltworks , and was a creditor to the ill-fated Pennsylvania Salt Works . His son, William Salter, however, was a Loyalist living in New York. John Hartshorne was one of the leading Quakers in Monmouth County; as a pacifist, he played no role in the war. He freed his slaves in 1776 and hosted the French Admiral, Charles Henri D’Estaing, when he came ashore in July 1778. Members of his large family were supporters of the Revolution (Richard Hartshorne was the Monmouth Militia’s Paymaster), but other family members were Loyalists (Lawrence Hartshorne was a merchant in New York) or disaffected (Esek Hartshorne refused loyalty oaths to the New Jersey government). There is no evidence that either Joseph Salter or John Hartshorne had committed any crimes; rather, their “crime” in the eyes of the Retaliators was having Loyalist kin. Salter’s petition demonstrated that the Retaliators were practicing extra-legal property confiscations while concurrently petitioning the legislature for a law that would authorize acts already taken. Committee Report on the Retaliators On September 29, the committee established to study the Retaliators presented a scathing report about the group. The report offered six findings. The first four concerned Monmouth County’s defenses. First, the committee expressed sympathy for the people of Monmouth County: The exposed and dangerous situation on the frontiers of Monmouth County, liable to the continual depredations of the enemy, and the great numbers of well affected inhabitants lately captured by them in that quarter are matters highly worthy of the attention of government. Second, the Committee observed that Monmouth County’s best defense was the county’s own militia supplemented by militia from other counties : A prudent disposition of militia force, together with the occasional aid of militia adjoining the frontiers would, with proper and spirited execution, in a great measure, if not entirely, have afforded protection & security to that part of the country. Third, the Committee singled out the need to prevent militia delinquency to strengthen the county’s defenses (Monmouth County was in the midst of a crackdown on militia delinquency): Delinquency of the officers and classes in some of the counties in procuring and forwarding men for that directed service has greatly contravened the good intentions of the legislature, and burdened the militia in that quarter with an over-proportion of the duty. Fourth, the committee called on Governor William Livingston to call out militia from other counties to assist Monmouth County when necessary. The report’s last two findings focused specifically on the Retaliators. Fifth, the Committee declared that: The Association for Retaliation, referred to in the said memorial, is an illegal and dangerous combination, utterly subversive to the law, highly dangerous to the government, immediately tending to create disunion among the inhabitants, directly leading toward anarchy and confusion, and tending to the dissolution of the constitution and government. And, finally, the committee suggested that: The exertions of the associators regularly to enforce laws in that county, and to defend the frontiers against the predatory incursions of the enemy's parties, would have had a much more evident tendency to have produced security for the said county, and safety to the well-affected inhabitants, than any illegal combination whatever. The report was a stinging rebuke of the vigilante acts of the Retaliators. However, the report never explicitly banned the Retaliators. For this reason, James Mott, a Monmouth County Assemblyman (recently exchanged home from capture and an in-law to Joseph Salter) offered an amendment to the report on October 2. Mott sought to add the following sentence: "that the association referred to in the memorial ought to be discountenanced by the legislature as illegal and contrary to the laws of this state." The Assembly declined to add Mott’s language by an 11-14 vote. Monmouth County’s other two Assemblymen, Hendrick Smock and Thomas Seabrook, voted against the new language. Both men had signed the Articles of Association for Retaliation. Had Smock and Seabrook voted with Mott, the resolution would have passed 13-12. The defeat of Mott’s amendment allowed the Retaliators to maintain that the Assembly had only frowned on their group. Their vigilante acts would grow bolder in 1781. Related Historic Site : Shrewsbury Quaker Meeting House Sources : Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 23 - October 2, 1780, pp. 270-282; The New Jersey Legislature’s rebuke of the Retaliators is in Larry Gerlach, New Jersey in the American Revolution 1763-1783 A Documentary History (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975) p. 399 note 4; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File, unpublished, Monmouth County Historical Association. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Rise of John Bacon's Pine Robber Gang by Michael Adelberg In late 1781, the Pine Robber gang of John Bacon attacked and defeated the Stafford Twp. militia at Manahawkin. One of the killed militiamen, Silas Crane, is buried at Baptist Meeting House. - December 1781 - As noted in prior articles, Dover and Stafford townships in southern Monmouth County (and bordering Little Egg Harbor Township in Burlington County) was New Jersey’s most disaffected region during the second half of the Revolutionary War. The region was not well-suited for farming (the main path to acquiring wealth in 1700s America), so shore residents lived modestly by grazing small herds and practicing maritime trades. Shore residents were two days removed on horseback from their county seats in Freehold and Burlington. The culture of the region was rough: a Quaker elder complained that shore residents were “loose, libertine people;” they referred to “places of deviation ” along the shore. The Revolutionary War brought unprecedented capital and opportunity to acquire wealth to shore residents. Salt works sprung up and they were in constant need of laborers , but salt work owners constantly complained of laborers stealing their materials and then disappearing. Privateers from New England and Philadelphia employed some shore residents, and purchased supplies from others—but the opportunities created by privateers were transient. Though they brought money to a poor region, resentments toward these outsiders, no doubt, ran high. For shore residents, the most lucrative opportunity created by the Revolutionary War was the so-called London Trade. London Traders funneled the foodstuffs and lumber from disaffected New Jersey farmers to British buyers at Sandy Hook and New York. The wealth generated by this trade, coupled with long-simmering resentments from the shore region, bred gangs of Pine Robbers . By 1781, the Pine Robbers gangs of the lower shore numbered as many as 80 men, supported by armed London Trading vessels and disaffected locals who provided cover and supplies. Local militias lacked the power to depose these gangs, and George Washington, chastened by the poor record of Continentals previously stationed along the shore, refused to send troops . The Rise of John Bacon From this setting emerged John Bacon, the most prolific of the Pine Robber leaders. According to an antiquarian account, Bacon hailed from Arneytown, a center for disaffection in Upper Freehold Township . (Since Bacon is buried in Arneytown, there’s reason to think he had family there.) An antiquarian source claims that Bacon was an agricultural laborer to the Crane family of Stafford Township before the war. The Cranes supported the Revolution and would clash with Bacon’s gang later in the war. Further evidence that Bacon lived in Stafford Township is provided in court testimony from Luke Sooey, who stated that: “He knew Bacon before he went to the enemy - his family resides at Barnegat - thinks Bacon has been with the enemy between two & three years." David Fowler, who comprehensively studied the Pine Robbers, located Bacon in court documents early in the war. He was listed as a “shingle-maker” in a Monmouth County court document, meaning he was employed in repetitive and hard manual labor. Bacon also apparently ignored more than one court summons regarding a dispute with the Soper family, and was a claimant in a 1779 privateer case involving the capture of the vessel, Success . Fowler notes an antiquarian source which claims that Bacon was married and his wife, Hannah Bacon, lived apart from her husband in Burlington County. Bacon did not start the war as a violent outlaw. An antiquarian source describes an early incident in which Bacon refrained from violence. James Wells (who lived near Waretown) was a Quaker. He left his house in the uniform coat of a Continental soldier which had been left at his house (probably by one of Kasimir Pulaski’s troops). Pulaski’s Legion marched through Stafford Township in October 1778 during which time disaffected locals took sniper shots at them. Bacon saw a man in a Continental coat and closed in to shoot him until he recognized Wells. Bacon warned Wells not to wear the coat again. Fowler also notes that Bacon was indicted in the Monmouth County Courts in July 1780 for going to New York without a passport—by this time, Bacon had likely given up manual labor for a more lucrative living as a London Trader. The first violent event attributed to Bacon was the killing of Lieutenant Joshua Studson in December 1780. Studson was patrolling the bay waters near Toms River in a militia boat when he spotted a London Trading vessel. He hailed the vessel and came close. As the militia closed in, Bacon, who was reportedly concealed with the cargo, rose and fired on Studson, who was killed nearly instantly. Bacon leapt into the shallow water and waded to shore. The panicked militia did not pursue him. In May 1781, Bacon was in a gang that plundered the home of Captain Samuel Bigelow of Dover Township. Elenoar Bigelow later testified that the gang knocked down her door, rifled through the family goods, and carried off valuables. She did not know most of the men in the party but recognized Bacon, “a noted person of the Refugees at Egg Harbour.” Bacon was also named in the robbery of five horses from John Middleton, Jr., as the horses were being driven by a man named John Morris (not the Loyalist officer of the same name). Morris testified that the horses were taken by the “noted Refugee” John Bacon and presumably taken to New York. Bacon and his gang participated in several additional robberies against the homes of Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). A Stafford Township militiaman, Seth Crane, was wounded while attempting to defend his home. Other robbery victims from Dover and Stafford townships include: Silas Crane of Stafford Twp.: Shot in leg while escaping Bacon’s gang as it approached his home (another source claims Crane was shot through a window while in his home); Crane was wounded again in a skirmish with Bacon’s gang described below. John Holmes of Forked River: home plundered of "a large amount of money, a silver watch, gold ring, silver buckles, pistols, clothing, etc.", some valuables buried in the yard were not taken. Lieutenant Jacob Lane of Dover Twp.: Robbed, described by Lane below: His house was once attacked by one Captain John Bacon, a refugee, and his house was plundered and he was taken prisoner and carried over with them - that they oft swore after to let the deponent go, that they first robbed him of his Lieutenant's commission & Bacon sent word to the Governor that he had it. Captain John Price and Wiliam Price of Good Luck: John Price escapes with only his clothes and his commission; gang moves to nearby home of William Price, both homes robbed. Captain Reuben Randolph of Manahawkin: captured, pulled out of his house and tied to a tree in the woods, while a gang is plundering his house, he escapes. Joseph Soper of Stafford Twp.: Robbed of money paid for building a boat; other valuables buried in yard and not taken. Fowler notes that Bacon’s robberies were not random. He targeted Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) and relied on informers, including William Wilson, to know when to strike at the homes of his adversaries. John Bacon as a Notorious Outlaw By the end of 1781, Bacon was leading a Pine Robber gang. He was a frequent target of local militias, but his gangs were large and cunning enough to hold their own against militia parties. John Chamberlain of Dover Township described his many encounters with Bacon’s gang in his postwar veteran’s militia application. He recalled that he went “in pursuit of the Refugees, I recollect helping to destroy a large row boat, building in the pines, by one Bacon, a leading character amongst the Refugees." Chamberlain recalled Bacon’s revenge and the Dover militia’s counter-measure: I recollect having been robbed once, and taken prisoner twice by the above named Bacon, I also recollect having taken a refugee boat whilst under the command of John Stout, at Manasquan Inlet, making prisoner of her crew, consisting of five men and a boy. On December 30, 1781, Stafford Township militia commanded by Reuben Randolph attempted to ambush and capture Bacon near Manahawkin (where Randolph lived). The militia spent the night at Randolph's tavern and it is easy to imagine that the men had too much to drink. At dawn, a militia sentry spotted Bacon’s gang on the road. Bacon’s men fired on a sentry, Linus Pangburn, and killed him. Pangburn's widow would later testify, her husband “was shot dead as he stood on guard by a party of refugees.” Believing Bacon’s party to be thirty to forty men, the smaller militia party (likely 20-25 men) fired on the Pine Robbers and then fled. Bacon’s men fired on them—and killed a man named Soper. Two other militiamen were wounded in the skirmish. Sylvester Tilton was “severely” wounded based on one account. After the war, Tilton would have revenge against a man named Brewer in Bacon’s party. According to Fowler, Tilton inflicted an “unmerciful beating” on Brewer. Silas Crane would write of being wounded in the same skirmish in his postwar veteran’s pension application: “They had an engagement with the British and refugees under Capt. Bacon at Manahawkin… He received a severe wound to the thigh which disabled him for several months and which scar he carries to his grave." Bacon was now a notorious outlaw—perhaps the most notorious man in all of New Jersey. He was indicted for high treason in the Monmouth County Courts. Bacon was apparently captured in February 1782. Monmouth County’s Sheriff, John Burrowes, was ordered to secure him: “You are hereby commanded to receive into your custody the body of John Bacon, safely held, close confined in irons, to answer several charges of high treason, mischief and horse stealing, as stands accused.” When Bacon was transferred, a second order to Burrowes, from Judge David Forman, directed the sheriff to "safely keep him close, confined in irons to answer charges of High Treason, murder and horse stealing." However, Bacon escaped (details unknown) and was leading his gang again by summer. Bacon’s later exploits and most infamous attack are discussed in another article . A Note on John Bacon and William Davenport Another large Pine Robber gang—reportedly 70-80 men—operated in the same region in 1782. It was led by William Davenport and reportedly had a base on Osburn’s Island—a peninsula of land north of the mouth of the Mullica River. Surviving documents do not reveal the relationship between Bacon and Davenport. Perhaps they were rivals operating gangs fully independent of each other; perhaps they were allies collegially pulling from the same pool of men. However, after Davenport was killed by militia at Forked River in June 1782, Bacon was the last Pine Robber commanding a body of men large enough to face down militia parties. Perhaps Bacon was made more desperate by Davenport’s death and the tide of the war. In May 1782, the British blocked the Associated Loyalists from raiding into New Jersey. With this move, it became easier for local militia to devote resources to combatting the Pine Robbers. This may have nudged Bacon, in his galley Hero’s Revenge , toward more ruthless acts. The surprise and slaughter of a militia party on the southern side of Barnegat Inlet in October 1782, the so-called Long Beach Massacre , was the bloodiest action taken by Bacon or any Pine Robber during the war. It is the subject of another article, as is the death of Bacon in 1783. Related Historic Site : Stafford Township Historical Society Sources : David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 240-251; Testimony of Luke Sooey, Library of Congress, Revolutionary War Prize Cases, M162, reel 1, cases 91-2, David Forman v. Nathan Jackson; David Fowler, Price vs. The Sloop Success, Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, 2005–Jan., vol. 80 n 1, 10–16; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 64, 214-5; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Silas Crane; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 207; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 45; William Fischer, Biographical Cyclopedia of Ocean County (Philadelphia: A.D. Smith, 1899) pp. 60; David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 246; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 317; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 242; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Jacob Lane; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Chamberlain; Mittimus, New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 27, #27; David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 252. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Violence Again Mars Monmouth County Elections by Michael Adelberg By 1781, David Forman had bullied voters and officials at two prior elections. The group that he led, the Retaliators, again interrupted the 1781 elections. The New Jersey Legislature did not intervene. - October 1781 - In October 1777, David Forman, at the time a general in the New Jersey militia and commander of a regiment of Continental troops, came to the county election with a party of armed men. He “harangued” the crowd and denounced the incumbent county legislators. Voters favoring the incumbents were driven away without voting and a slate of Forman allies were elected. Afterward, the New Jersey legislature investigated the affair, voided the election, and ordered a new one. Forman’s allies were turned out of office in the re-run election. In October 1780, David Forman returned to the county election with a gang of armed men. Allied election judges refused to hold the polls open a second day, long enough for militiamen serving on the shore to come to Freehold and vote. When an incumbent legislator, James Mott, protested the disenfranchisement of men protecting their county, Forman beat Mott in front of the crowd. The legislature again investigated the election, but the Forman-allied new delegates provided enough votes in the closely-divided Assembly to preserve the election. Monmouth County’s 1781 Election On October 10, 1781, elections were held across New Jersey for the legislature and county sheriff. In Monmouth County, the election judges recorded the election of Thomas Henderson, Nathaniel Scudder and John Covenhoven to the Assembly and Elisha Lawrence (cousin of the Loyalist of the same name) to the Legislative Council. All four were from inland Freehold or Upper Freehold Townships. No elected delegate was from the county’s four shore townships—Middletown, Shrewsbury, Dover and Stafford—despite over 60 percent of the county population residing in these townships. It is likely that militiamen serving on the shore were unable to vote in large numbers. Henderson and Scudder were active participants in the Association for Retaliation , a vigilante society devoted to eye-for-an-retaliation for every misdeed committed against a member of the society. Covenhoven was the co-founder of the Monmouth County Whig Society —which was devoted to preserving the value of currency and conducting itself legally. He and Lawrence were, presumably, not allied with the extra-legal actions of the Retaliators. As respected elder-statesmen, they likely enjoyed the deference of county voters. The next month, three Identical Monmouth County petitions were sent to the New Jersey Legislature, signed by 83 men. The petitioners expressed concern about both the election and the actions of the Retaliators. They wrote: While the enemy is yet formidable & almost at our door, there is tyranny set up against us, equally dangerous to liberty with that which we are fighting against; a set of men of the title of a Committee of Retaliation has formed a combination to trample all law underfoot that clashes with their measures, & under the pretense of retaliating for crimes committed and injuries done by the Refugees to any of the Associators. The petitioners then discussed the Retaliators sending out armed parties to practice vigilantism: Some they have imprisoned, from some they have taken goods & from others money; & when those injured have attempted to right themselves by law, they have been abused, their lives threatened & some unmercifully beaten by those persons who have taken their property; officers of justice have been prevented from doing their duty & threatened for attempting it. Specific Retaliator actions are discussed in the next article. The petitioners then discussed Retaliator misconduct at the recent election: At the late election, when a number of men (some in arms) appeared in a hostile manner, threatening all such persons at they called Tories and [ London] Traders , if they should vote; A writing was put up at the Court House to the same effect; several persons were inhumanly beaten, some of them after they had voted, and some of them drove away who were legally entitled to vote, and went away without voting, not thinking themselves safe, as they did not confine their abuse to people they judged disaffected, but beat and abused several… and at the close of the election, one of the inspectors was attacked going down the stairs, and most barbarously beaten. The petitioners concluded that the Retaliators were “corrupting the morals of the people & encouraging many others to plunder for their own gain, and committing other crimes with impunity.” They requested “speedy and effectual relief against so dangerous a Combination.” While David Forman was not specifically named in the petitions, there can be no doubt that, as the Chairman of the Retaliators, he played a role in the election day violence. Timing doomed the anti-Retaliator petitions. On October 15, as the petitioners were gathering signatures, Nathaniel Scudder was killed in a skirmish with Loyalist raiders. He was the only man to serve in the Continental Congress to die in combat, and there was an outpouring of sympathy in favor of Scudder. The New Jersey Legislature ordered a new election for Scudder’s replacement without acknowledging the election protests or petitions. On November 29, Thomas Seabrook—a Middletown militia officer who relocated to Freehold after Loyalist raiders attacked his home and bayoneted his son —was elected to replace Scudder. Seabrook was also a Retaliator. The author’s prior research demonstrates that the Retaliators continued to operate without an effective check on their vigilantism into 1783; violence and controversy would mar the county election again in 1785 Related Historic Site : New Jersey State Museum Sources : The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, October 23-26, 1781, p 3-8; Larry Gerlach, New Jersey in the American Revolution 1763-1783 A Documentary History (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975) pp. 397-9. New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #10948 and 11036, and Collective Series, Revolutionary War, document #114; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File, unpublished, Monmouth County Historical Association; “A Combination to Trample All Law Underfoot”: The Association for Retaliation and the American Revolution in Monmouth County, New Jersey” , New Jersey History , vol. 115, n. 3, 1997, pp. 3-36. 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 Daring Escape of John Hewson from New York to Monmouth County by Michael Adelberg John Hewson was jailed in New York City. To escape, he paddled all night, eluded a British boat, and nearly drowned in Shrewsbury Inlet before reaching safety on the Navesink Highlands. - September 1778 - John Hewson was born in England; he emigrated to Philadelphia in 1773. An anti-monarchist, Hewson supported American independence and became a captain in the city’s militia. In April 1778, while the British Army was occupying Philadelphia, Hewson was captured and jailed in New York City. There, he met Captain Rufus Lincoln of Massachusetts, also a prisoner. On September 1, Hewson and five others attempted a risky escape that brought them past Sandy Hook and into Monmouth County. Forty years later, Hewson, who had become a well-known textile-maker, wrote an account of his remarkable escape to his old friend, Lincoln. Lincoln kept Hewson’s account and it was published as part of his Revolutionary War papers. A summary of Hewson’s escape is below. Sadly, the Monmouth Countians who helped Hewson are not named. The full account is an appendix to this article. The Daring Escape of John Hewson Hewson and five men, led by a man named “Ogburn,” stole a canoe and left Manhattan at night. They had no provisions other than a jug of water and a bottle of spirits. The canoe was only “a little wider than our bodies, and five of us pretty well fill’d it lengthways.” Hewson described his party in the canoe: We made Ogburn our captain and bound ourselves to obey his command – He, with a short paddle sat in the stern in the bottom of the canoe, with the incessant labor of his arms, in the ocean to his elbows, he kept her from falling in the trough of the sea which, if once done, we would have undoubtedly perished; myself & two more rowed with paddles, Black sat on the sand in the bottom of the canoe, to bail the water out with his hat, as it occasionally came in. After stopping on a “barren island” to put sand in the bottom of their canoe for ballast, the men put to sea again in rough water. Hewson recalled, “We soon had to encounter the breakers, which were terrible; we expected to be swallowed up.” Paddling through the night, the men came within sight of the British naval base at Sandy Hook: “there was light in the light house that evening.” The water was rough due to “the abating of a storm.” The men had paddled 20 miles through the night when they came to Sandy Hook. At Sandy Hook, “We past [sic] several vessels in the night, but we was as still as death” to avoid the Loyalist crews. Nearing the bottom of the Hook at one o’clock in the morning, the sea worsened: The waves was raised about 3 feet high, and several times broke over us; I fainted on my seat twice with fatigue but did not fall. Blake had a bottle of water by his which he put to my mouth which revived me. We had half a gallon of spirits in the head of the canoe but not a man dare lose a stroke or stir from his seat, for one false stroke would have sent us all to the bottom. Hewson’s boat made it through the rough waters and, before dawn, reached the bottom of Sandy Hook. ”As the day began to dawn, we then rowed about to look for an inlet, that we may not be forced to land in the surf.” His party was now pursued by “a vessel bearing downing on us.” The pursuit forced Hewson’s party to risk the rough surf. They likely landed in “the Gut” a temporary channel of land that separated Sandy Hook from the rest of New Jersey (the same place where several French sailors had attempted a landing and drowned two months earlier). Our fears were alarmed and we concluded we must land in the surf at all hazards; We went as nigh as we could & waited the word of command. When we ventured on the first wave, the second knockt us all out the boat & the boat on shore, but it did not hurt us much, only wetted our clothes and, what was worse, then broke our bottle of Spirits. The men stumbled onto land: In, then, our wet and feeble state we gathered our cloaths together and began our march toward the Highlands of the Neversink, but we had gone no more than a quarter mile before a river, or what is called Shrewsbury inlet, presented between us and the main land. This struck us with horror, as the [British] vessel was making fast toward us. Shrewsbury Inlet connected the Shrewsbury River directly with the Atlantic Ocean at present-day Sea Bright. Here, Hewson’s party split up: We found a piece of board and tied all of our cloaths on it. Ogburn, our captain, agreed to take charge of the board if we could venture to swim across. Myself, Mr. Millard and Ogburn could swim – Rankin and Blake could not. They agreed to hide themselves in the sand and wait our fate. Hewson and the swimmers went into the swift water of Shrewsbury Inlet, which he said was 200 yards wide. After 20 minutes of swimming, the men had made little progress: “I wondered why I was always in the middle of the river & turning myself round, I discovered more water behind & before me than the whole was where we entered -- we were in a strong eddy.” The pursuing boat closed in on them: “the vessel was opposite to us and the hands on deck were staring at us, but they dare not land in the surf and perhaps they had no firearms, so they went on without attempting anything.” Hewson and his comrades remained stuck in the middle of Shrewsbury Inlet: I now drifted down to Ogburn to consult him on our situation. When I began to speak to him I could only whisper; he advised me to tread water and try one hand on his board & rest a little, and then we could make one last grand effort to gain the land. Our cloaths, or a good part of them, at this juncture slipt off the plank and all we could do was send a wishful look after them. We had but one half dollar among us all & and that was in my velvet breeches pocket, which went off the plank with some shirts. The men swam for the Highlands . “In 4 or 5 minutes more we found our feet on the sand.” Hewson was exhausted, “All I wanted now was to go to sleep while they got ready to climb the hills, but my captain made me climb the mountain for he insisted that if I slept 5 minutes I should sleep the sleep of death.” Hewson recalled reaching the top of the Highlands where the men “staggered and fell like drunken men.” He recalled their first contact with Monmouth Countians: We came to a house where people treated us kindly and gave us a warm breakfast. Here we dried our cloaths and inquired if there was no poor men in the neighborhood, some was soon introduced and we made a bargain with them to get a boat and row over the Inlet and look for our brethren left on the sandbar, and bring them safe to us; And the canoe we stole to come of it we gave them for their trouble, which they thought very good pay. Hewson’s Party Crosses into Monmouth County Hewson’s party knew that they could not stay long as “we learned that the enemy made frequent excursions over to where we was.” Once fed, the men walked six miles and ended the day at a crossroad, probably at or near Middletown. Here, locals again showed them kindness: I was very weak from what I had undergone. We stopt where two farmers were leaning over the fence on each side of the road & made our case known to them as we had no money. One of them said I will take the sick man myself & two more, the other said he would take the other two. When I got to his house, his wife had me to bed in a crack. I had not slept an hour before she brought me something very good to take, and in a half hour as a good a supper was prepared for us as any person need ever to sit down to. Hewson suggested that British and Loyalist cruelties had made the farmers strong Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). “This was in Monmouth County where General Howe [William Howe] made many wigs by his ill treatment, that they called him the wig maker.” Hewson wrote that the kindly farm family was “like a Mother & Father” to him and said, “I might stay a month with them & they would take care of me without a charge.” But Hewson’s party needed only a day of good rest and food before moving again. They headed west, “Without any money in our pockets, we reach[ed] Allentown and made our case known to the inhabitants.” The people of Allentown were polite but did not provide provisions because “they had been hard pressed during the war.” They sent the escapees to a wealthy “Tory” living outside of town, probably Richard Waln, who had recently returned home after a year inside British lines. Hewson’s party said that under Waln’s care “we would be well treated, not out of love but for fear” of what might happen if he turned the men away. Hewson recalled that “I went to the door of a great house, then the Gentleman appeared.” Hewson plead for help, “All we wanted was a little refreshment & a night’s lodging.” Hewson promised to send compensation once he reached Philadelphia. The disaffected family “were ashamed to deny us.” The family held a party that night, “they were to have a ball that night & asked us if we would not wish supper pretty soon & retire to rest.” Well-fed and rested, Hewson and the other men left in the morning. They crossed into Pennsylvania that night. Hewson’s story is the most detailed account of a band of penniless, hungry men traversing Monmouth County during the Revolutionary War. While Hewson’s party was well-treated and, therefore, respectful to their hosts, there were certainly times when that was not the case. Desperate men are prone to act desperately when their needs are not met. The six years of war unleashed dozens of similar parties of desperate men (including white and black Loyalists heading east for refuge at Sandy Hook ) into Monmouth County. Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : The Papers of Captain Rufus Lincoln of Wareham, Massachusetts (James Minor Lincoln: Privately Printed, 1904), pp 211-215; A Brief History of the Revolution, with a Sketch of the Life of Captain John Hewson (Philadelphia: Sarah Alcock, 1843). Appendix: The Full Text of John Hewson’s Escape from New York “I promised to give you a detail of what I past through when I left the island; it will be tedious but it may beguile a gloomy hour, as well as show to you the super abundant goodness of a gracious God to one of the chiefest of sinners – When we left the Island, we went to the mouth of a barren creek which led to barren Island & from there to the sea. It was about ten o’clock at night; We had prepared a large boat, but our company, not all arriving, we took a small canoe which we could not stand in without the danger of tumbling overboard. We proceeded down the creek about a mile & then run her ashore & ballast her with sand; and proceed to the ocean. We soon had to encounter the breakers, which we were terrible; we expected to be swallowed up; but God preserved us, glory be to his most Holy name! When we thought little of him he was mindful of us and saved us. I shall just mention that there was light in the light house that evening and it was at the abating of a storm, which two circumstances was necessary to be observed, but all of these prudential methods would have proved abortive had the Lord not preserved us – Judge from the following; a canoe only a little wider than our bodies, and five of us pretty well fill’d it lengthways. We made Ogburn our captain and bound ourselves to obey his command – He, with a short paddle sat in the stern in the bottom of the canoe, with the incessant labor of his arms, in the ocean to his elbows, he kept her from falling in the trough of the sea which, if once done, we would have undoubtedly perished; myself & two more rowed with paddles, Black sat on the sand in the bottom of the canoe, to bail the water out with his hat, as it occasionally came in. We made on offing toward the ocean of about 20 miles for fear the flood tide should be so powerful for us and put us in view of Allens Core at the Hook. We past several vessels in the night, but we was as still as death; about one o'clock as near as I can guess, an awful moment arrived. The sky blackened and the wind made a hollow, dismal noise. The waves was raised about 3 feet high, and several times broke over us; I fainted on my seat twice with fatigue but did not fall. Blake had a bottle of water by his which he put to my mouth which revived me. We had half a gallon of spirits in the head of the canoe but not a man dare lose a stroke or stir from his seat, for one false stroke would have sent us all to the bottom – but I must not pass by my feelings in the awful moment mentioned above, I felt uneasy about my precious soul, for I had known the worth of it from 19 years of age, but I was in a backsliding state. I proposed a question to myself: “Soul: if left to your choice, which of the following would you choose; Either to be taken prisoner by Allens Core, or go down to a watery grave?” The answer in my mind was quick: Let me go down in this great deep, and fall into the hands of God rather than fall into the hands of wicked men whose tender mercies are very Cruelty – I felt easy & satisfied with this, and we continued to labor till we heard the surf roar. And the day began to dawn, we then rowed about to look for an inlet, that we may not be forced to land in the surf at all hazards. We went as nigh as we could but as daylight approached, we discovered a vessel bearing downing on us from New York as she come on purpose for us. Our fears were alarmed and we concluded we must land in the surf at all hazards; We went as nigh as we could & waited the word of command. When we ventured on the first wave, the second knockt us all out the boat & the boat on shore, but it did not hurt us much, only wetted our clothes and, what was worse, then broke our bottle of Spirits, which I am sure one hundred guineas would not have purchased it from us. In, then, our wet and feeble state we gathered our cloaths together and began our march toward the Highlands of the Neversink, but we had gone no more than a quarter mile before a river, or what is called Shrewsbury inlet, presented between us and the main land. This struck us with horror, as the vessel was making fast toward us. We found a piece of board and tied all of our cloaths on it, Ogburn, our captain, agreed to take charge of the board if we could venture to swim across. Myself, Mr. Millard and Ogburn could swim – Rankin and Blake could not. They agreed to hide themselves in the sand and wait our fate. Rankin said if we was saved he was sure we would save them, and if we perished, he was willing to share our fate, but Blake wished himself back on the island. We entered the river, it appeared to be about 200 yards wide. We swam hard for about 20 minutes, when I grew very sleepy & made some attempts to lay my head on the water to make the experiment, but something told me it would not do; I wondered why I was always in the middle of the river & turning myself round, I discovered more water behind & before me than the whole was where we entered -- we were in a strong eddy. By this time the vessel was opposite to us and the hands on deck were staring at us, but they dare not land in the surf and perhaps they had no firearms, so they went on without attempting anything. I now drifted down to Ogburn to consult him on our situation. When I began to speak to him I could only whisper; he advised me to tread water and try one hand on his board & rest a little, and then we could make one last grand effort to gain the land. Our cloaths, or a good part of them, at this juncture slipt off the plank and all we could do was send a wishful look after them. We had but one half dollar among us all & and that was in my velvet breeches pocket, which went off the plank with some shirts & c. After I had rested two or three minutes, Ogburn gave the word, “whorah for life” – we started off with a little fresh resolution and exerted our remaining energies. It was 3 or 4 minutes before we was certain we gained on the land, but when we attained that knowledge, it seemd to instill fresh life & strength into us and in 4 or 5 minutes more we found our feet on the sand. All I wanted now was to go to sleep while they got ready to climb the hills, but my captain made me climb the mountains for he insisted that if I slept 5 minutes I should sleep the sleep of death. We, at length, reached the summit of the mountains and staggered and fell like drunken men till we came to a house where people treated us kindly and gave us a warm breakfast. Here we dried our cloaths and inquired if there was no poor men in the neighborhood, some was soon introduced and we made a bargain with them to get a boat and row over the Inlet and look for our brethren left on the sandbar, and bring them safe to us; And the canoe we stole to come of it we gave them for their trouble, which they thought very good pay. After we was all refreshed, we learned that enemy made frequent excursions over to where we was, so we got ready & took up our line of march. As I past along, it appeared like paradise to me, I could scarcely refrain from falling down & kissing the ground, I thought it favored too much Idolatry. We marched 6 miles this day & could go no further, for I was very weak from what I had undergone. We stopt where two farmers were leaning over the fence on each side of the road & made our case known to them as we had no money. One of them said I will take the sick man myself & two more, the other said he would take the other two. When I got to his house, his wife had me to bed in a crack. I had not slept an hour before she brought me something very good to take, and in a half hour as a good a supper was prepared for us as any person need to sit down to. This was in Monmouth County where General Howe made a many wigs by his ill treatment, that they called him the wig maker. The people at this house was more like a Mother & Father to us than anything else. When they heard I had such a family & how I had been treated, they cheered me up & told me they would put a feather bed in the wagon and take me home without a farthing of expense, or I could not march whatever, I might stay a month with them & they would take care of me without a charge – but through their kind treatment, I felt pretty well next morning and off we started for home like brave fellows. Without any money in our pockets, we reach Allentown and made our case known to the inhabitants; they told us we should not suffer, but they had been hard pressed during the war, but about a mile from town there was some rich Tory families and if we made application there, we would be well treated, not out of love but for fear of having their names canvas’d over on such business. I went to the door of a great house, then the Gentleman appeared; I addressed him in the best manner I was capable, told him we hoped he would not look upon us as common beggars, that we was persons who loved our country & had fought for it, that while we had been prisoners & had just made our escape from the enemy, all we wanted was a little refreshment & a night’s lodging, & if he thought proper, we would give an order on some suitable person in Philadelphia for the payment of what we had. They were ashamed to deny us, they were to have a ball that night & asked us if we would not wish supper pretty soon & retire to rest. “By all means” we answered & went to bed & slept sound while they danced. The next morning, we set off for the city [Philadelphia], which we reached about 8 o’clock in the evening.” 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 > Thomas Henderson Selected to Continental Congress by Michael Adelberg Abraham Clark was selected to the Continental Congress after Thomas Henderson declined the serve. Henderson was active locally and probably did not want to leave his distressed home county. - November 1779 - Dr. Thomas Henderson was an important supporter of the Revolution in Monmouth County. Before the Declaration of Independence, he served on the Freehold committee and was second-in-command to Colonel David Forman in the regiment of Flying Camp raised to join the Continental Army in spring 1776. He served under George Washington during the disastrous New York Campaign that summer and then came home to capture local Loyalist insurrectionists in November. In early 1777, Henderson helped raise troops for David Forman’s Continental Army Additional Regiment . Later in the year, Henderson was one of three election judges who biased the election against the county’s incumbent legislators. The New Jersey legislature voided the election. Despite the rebuke, Henderson continued as an ardent patriot. In June 1778, following the razing of Middletown Point by Loyalists, Henderson led a mob that captured the Loyalist, William Taylor. He apparently hoped to conduct a prisoner exchange of Taylor for his captured father-in-law, John Burrowes, Sr., who was taken in the attack. A few weeks later, prior to the Battle of Monmouth , Henderson led a mounted militia party that gathered and delivered intelligence on British positions to George Washington. It was Henderson who likely was the first person to tell Washington of the Continental Army’s disorganized initial attack on the morning of the battle. Following the battle, Henderson took a leading role in compiling information on the British plundering of Freehold. Henderson was also a practicing physician and appears to have practiced as a protégé to Dr. Nathaniel Scudder, Freehold’s other practicing physician. Scudder was selected as one of New Jersey’s delegates to the Continental Congress in November 1777. In November 1778, the New Jersey Assembly selected Colonel John Neilson of New Brunswick for the Congressional delegation, but Neilson declined the seat. Scudder and Governor William Livingston lobbied for Thomas Henderson’s selection for the vacant seat. Livingston wrote on November 24, "I heartily wish he may be elected," but the legislature selected Colonel Elias Dayton instead of Henderson. Thomas Henderson Selected to Continental Congress In November 1779, it was widely rumored that Nathaniel Scudder would decline to serve another year in Congress. He had complained that serving in Congress had harmed his family and personal estate. Henderson, as Scudder’s protégé, was an obvious replacement. On November 7, the New Jersey Assembly selected Henderson, William Churchill Houston and John Fell as the state’s delegates to the Congress. On November 19, the credentials of Henderson and the others were presented to Congress. Scudder wrote Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress about Henderson: “Colo. Henderson, who if he accepts, shall be a very good man [in Congress]." On November 30, Philadelphia’s leading newspaper, the Pennsylvania Evening Post , noted Henderson’s selection to Congress. It was likely assumed that Henderson would naturally accept Scudder’s seat, but there is no evidence that Henderson ever indicated that he wanted the job. Even before his selection, Abraham Clark (one of New Jersey’s previous delegates in Congress) wrote Rev. John Caldwell, that, "if I am rightly informed… Dr. Scudder, Mr. [Elias] Boudinot, Dr. Henderson and Colo. [Frederick] Frelinghuysen will decline if chosen." Indeed, Henderson did decline to serve, though he was not immediately replaced. There were probably months of discussion between Henderson and those who wanted him to serve. Finally, on March 1, 1780, more than four months after this selection to Congress, the New Jersey Legislature selected Clark to replace Henderson "who declined taking his seat." Henderson’s reasons for declining to serve in Congress are not stated in surviving documents. But it is known that by 1779: 1.) Monmouth County was understood to be among the most distressed localities in the new nation and Henderson probably felt needed at home; and 2.) Henderson held important local offices in the county that were not easily given up. Among his leadership roles, Henderson was the county’s loan commissioner and was likely the Freehold Township magistrate. He would later serve five years in the New Jersey Assembly (1780-1784), the longest consecutive tenure of any of the county’s Revolutionary Era delegates. He also became a proponent of extra-legal retaliation against Loyalists—serving on the Board of Directors of the vigilante group known as the Retaliators. While a delegate in the Assembly, he authored a scathing report on the Associated Loyalists , a Loyalist vigilante group that rivaled the Retaliators. At war’s end, Henderson became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (1783) and the county commissioner to settle the accounts of veterans owed money by the state (1783). Later in life, he served in the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature (the Legislative Council). Henderson ran for the United State Congress in the first election under the Constitution (1788), but was defeated. He did, however, win a seat to Congress in the 1790s and served for two years and briefly served as New Jersey’s acting governor. Related Historic Site : Independence Hall (Philadelphia, PA) Sources : William Livingston to Thomas Henderson, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 2, pp. 484; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 15, p 1324 and vol. 16, p 84; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 17, 1779, p 28; William Livingston to Nathaniel Scudder, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 3, pp. 225, 281 note; Nathaniel Scudder to Henry Laurens, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Charles Jenkins Collection, ALS: Nathaniel Scudder; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Abraham Clark to John Caldwell, Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 18, p 110; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File, in the collection of the Monmouth County Historical Association; Randall Gabrielan, Monmouth County Revolutionary War Sites (Charleston, SC: History Press, 2025), 117-118. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > David Forman's Informants In and From New York by Michael Adelberg In August 1781, George Washington’s Army marched to Yorktown to besiege the trapped British Army. David Forman’s intelligence kept him apprised of British moves during the march. - June 1777 - In spring 1777, combat lines hardened. The British controlled lower New York and small pieces of New Jersey, including Sandy Hook. The rest of New Jersey was under the Continental government (though much of the New Jersey coast and pinelands remained weakly governed). Both sides sought intelligence on the strength and movements of the other. The large number of Monmouth County Loyalist refugees and pervasive illegal trade with New York created human bonds between New York and Monmouth County that could be exploited for intelligence gathering. David Forman, Monmouth County’s de facto leader in 1777, placed himself at the center of this sensitive activity. David Forman’s First Spy in New York, Robert Ireland The first documented spy to go to New York from Monmouth County was Robert Ireland. On June 3, 1777, David Forman wrote General John Sullivan about Ireland: “He fell in to the enemy's hands last winter, at the time when the enemy penetrated this State -- they have since employed him as a shoer to the British horse." Forman called Ireland "friendly to our cause" and proposed sending him back to New York as a spy: [He] has gained the entire confidence of several soldiers and was so generally known as a horse shoer, he could pass unsuspected amongst the troops... I therefore proposed his returning on the plan of getting intelligence -- He agreed to it. -- The copy of his oath I enclose herewith, I had him conducted by an officer beyond the guards last night and is gone off by way of the Hook. Forman noted that Ireland’s family remained in Shrewsbury and could be used as human collateral to keep Ireland honest. "His wife and family being in my hands will be at all times a proper check on him." Sullivan’s response has not survived, but it appears that Ireland engaged in spying, was discovered, and was taken by the British. On March 28, 1778, Ezekiel Williams, a member of the Continental Congress, wrote Elias Boudinot, the Continental government’s Commissary of Prisoners, about Boudinot’s proposal to involve Ireland in a prisoner exchange. Williams wrote, "I have no objection to the release of Ireland, provided he is altogether a common prisoner of war." Ireland’s whereabouts later in the war are unknown, but he is absent from the county’s tax lists, so it can be assumed that he did not stay in Monmouth County. (Perhaps because he was no longer safe; many shore Whigs moved inland for safety.) Other Sources of Intelligence Between 1777 – 1782, David Forman was responsible for sending literally dozens of intelligence reports to George Washington on British movements at Sandy Hook. These reports were usually drafted by Forman or a subordinate, particularly Captain John Burrowes and John Stillwell. They camped on the Navesink Highlands and reported on what they saw. At times, these reports were quite valuable and Washington praised Forman and requested additional reports. At other times, Washington was able to rely on other Continental Officers stationed in the area, most notably Major Richard Howell in the summer of 1778. These reports are the subject of another article . Intelligence was gathered from Americans returning from New York and British deserters. For example, in July 1780, David Forman sent George Washington intelligence taken from Lieutenant Joseph Wolcott, who had been a prisoner in New York prior to a prisoner exchange. Wolcott watched British ships while being transported to Sandy Hook for his exchange: At the Narrows he fell in with five large transports—The vessell he was in run close by two of the Transports, he saw they ware full of troops—There uniform red ground turnd up white or pale Buff—Instead of Buttons on the Hips they ware Trim’d with Lace or fringe—that the Officers of the flagg informed him they ware Lord Rawdon’s or some such Core—That on Tuesday before he was exchanged he saw the said five ships go to sea and stand southward. A different type of returning American was Joseph Mount. He lived in Middletown and went off with a Loyalist raiding party in April 1779. After two weeks in New York, Mount came home and reported on what he saw to Captain John Burrowes: “he had the liberty of the town granted to him, convenient to his being a Friend of [British] Government - he says General Clinton with 7000 troops were on board of the fleet and going in a secret expedition.” However, Mount illegally brought a large quantity of fabrics, sewing wares, and sugar on his return. These were seized by Continental Army Colonel Benjamin Ford and suggest that Mount was a person of ambiguous loyalty. Forman and other Monmouth leaders interrogated a string of British deserters during the war. For example, in July 1780, he wrote his ally in the New Jersey Assembly, Nathaniel Scudder, about the intelligence provided by a deserter. Forman reported that the feared Colonel John Simcoe, with 300 men, was preparing to attack Amboy and “he will more than probably make his retreat through Sandy Hook.” Forman used the opportunity to press for supplies to the troops in Monmouth County, listing the specific detachments lacking ammunition. He then concluded, "This is our present situation - a frontier county, at all times exposed to incursion, now immediately threatened, with not a single dozen cartridges to be given out." The intelligence proved wrong—Simcoe did not attack in October 1780. On another occasion, British Navy deserters allowed Forman to compile a list of warships at New York and a picture of the defenses at Sandy Hook consisting of "fire ships" and several sunken ship hulks "loaded with stone for sinking in the channel." David Forman’s “Intelligencers” During the Yorktown Campaign During the Yorktown campaign (fall 1781), General Charles Cornwallis’s British Army was trapped on the York Peninsula in Virginia and Washington marched much of his army south to participate in the siege. The key question throughout the campaign was when and with what level of force the British fleet in New York would seek to rescue their trapped army. Intelligence reports from David Forman on British movements in New York were critical. Historian Burke Davis noted that David Forman's reports during the Yorktown campaign were the single most important source of intelligence on the British attempts to relieve Cornwallis at Yorktown. To meet the need, Forman created an informant network in New York. The first word of this network is in a July 23 letter from Forman to Washington (a month before Washington began his march). Forman had heard from an informant in New York and wrote that "I have lately obtained from New York a list of the British Line ships” which he forwarded. Forman also warned that he was having "the greatest difficulty in employing horsemen to forward intelligence.” This would lead to delays in the future. In September 1781, Forman wrote Washington that his "intelligencers who live in the power of the enemy must be dealt with very guardedly on acct of their personal safety and to gain their confidence - I therefore dare not send a messenger to them for fear of alarming them or cause suspicion in others." Later that month, Forman wrote Washington about the first mission undertaken by one of his spies: "This evening, under cover of night, one of my intelligencers called upon the enemy." In October, Forman received and forwarded intelligence on British movements in New York Harbor. The intelligence, Forman wrote, "comes through a person who has it in his power to know their intended operations." Forman also forwarded Loyalist newspapers from New York as a source of intelligence. The uneven pace of Forman’s intelligence frustrated Washington at times. In November, Washington wrote Marquis De Vaudriel, "I cannot account for not hearing from General Forman (upon the Monmouth Coast) respecting the sailing of the last division and fleet." Washington was apparently embarrassed that a British fleet sailed from Sandy Hook without a report from Forman (the report arrived a few days later). On December 12, Washington wrote Forman to politely ask him to be more prompt in sending intelligence reports. On receiving this rebuke, perhaps not coincidentally, Forman wrote Washington of a serious blow to his intelligence network: My intelligence from New York has of late been entirely broken up, occasioned by a fellow from this county joining the enemy & swearing against eight different persons - they went to New York by my permission. But this breakdown did not prevent Forman from declaring Staten Island "very defenseless" based on reports from one of his intelligencers. At this time, Forman also forward his accounts for 1780-1781 related to maintaining his intelligence network. He apologized for needing to send a bill for reimbursement but said that he was "drained to the last shilling.” Despite this, there is evidence that Forman maintained at least some “intelligencers” in New York late into 1782 when Washington again promised Forman funds to maintain his "chain of intelligence” in New York. Later Intrigues in New York In February 1782, Forman sought permission to send Ana Prevost to New York to collect a debt owed to her family by David Matthews, the Loyalist Mayor of New York. Matthews was hated by local Whigs because of his role in administering the miserable British prisons in which hundreds of Americans died. Forman sought permission from Washington, who referred him to Governor William Livingston. Livingston declined to grant permission and sent him back to Washington. On his second try to get a pass for Prevost, Forman discussed sending Prevost for spying purposes: “I should not have interested myself so considerably had I not the fullest assurance of being able to obtain the fullest account of the enemy's situation... also to establish a line of intelligence." On March 8, Governor Livingston finally approved Forman's plan. This is the subject of another article. A few months later, David Forman, with two former legislators, John Covenhoven and Thomas Henderson, proposed a plan to extract specie from New York by sending “a person of prominence” to New York to borrow from Loyalist creditors, receive specie, and never pay the loan because of the impending evacuation of New York. Forman and his colleagues acknowledged that the plan was “hazardous business” but argued it was necessary because of a lack of specie in the state. The plan to extract specie through unpaid loans was neither approved nor disapproved by the Governor, but was likely put into effect. It is probable that Forman, himself, was the “person of prominence.” In April 1783, Elias Boudinot wrote, "Mr. [David] Forman is in New York" without stating the reason that Forman was behind enemy lines. Perspective David Forman was not the only Revolutionary leader who sought to extract intelligence from New York. For example, in July 1780, Colonel Elias Dayton proposed a plan to learn of British defenses by embedding a boat with trusted men "to follow the fishing [boats] to Sandy Hook until he gets thorough knowledge of every obstruction in the Narrows and then return to Elizabethtown." Other New Jerseyans implemented other plans. But, in total, and despite his inconsistent record, no individual was as prolific as David Forman in providing intelligence about the enemy. Related Historic Site : Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Sources : Sullivan, John, Letters and Papers of Major John Sullivan, Otis G. Hammond, ed. , 2 vols. (Concord, NH: 1930-31) vol. 2, pp. 355-6; Elias Boudinot Letterbook, Wisconsin Historical Society, p95; John Burrowes to Lord Stirling, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 58, May 6, 1779; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mgw4&fileName=gwpage058.db&recNum=1102&tempFile=./temp/~ammem_YHA1&filecode=mgw&next_filecode=mgw&prev_filecode=mgw&itemnum=7&ndocs=100 ; George Washington from David Forman, 21 July 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-02593), ver. 2013-09-28; David Forman to Nathaniel Scudder and Thomas Henderson, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War Documents, #102; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 72, July 23, 1781; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 80, September 5, 1781; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 81, October 17-19, 1781; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:28:./temp/~ammem_8Jit ::; Burke Davis, The Campaign that Won America (New York: The Dial Press, 1970), pp. 30; George Washington to Marquis Vaudreil, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 24, pp. 382-3; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 87, September 1 and 3, 1782; David Forman, Thomas Henderson, and John Covenhoven to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 440-1; George Washington to David Forman, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 24, pp. 60, 320; George Washington to Anne-César, chevalier de La Luzerne, 6 November 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-09886, ver. 2013-09-28); Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 20, pp 201-2; Monmouth County Historical Association, Diaries Collection, box 2, John Stillwell's Diary (photocopy); George Washington to David Forman, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 23, pp. 424-5; Monmouth County Historical Association, Diaries Collection, box 2, John Stillwell's Diary (photocopy). 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