The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Capture and Execution of Ezekiel Tilton by Michael Adelberg Guy Carleton, the British Commander in Chief, tried to intercede on behalf of Ezekiel Tilton. But, Tilton, the brother of hated Loyalist partisans, was convicted of treason and hanged in Freehold. - July 1782 - Before the Revolution, Ezekiel Tilton lived in Shrewsbury Township with his wife, Elizabeth Tilton. With his brothers, Clayton Tilton and John Tilton, Ezekiel went behind British lines in early 1777. His brothers became Loyalist partisans and their infamy in Monmouth County likely put the same taint on Ezekiel. Ezekiel Tilton was accused of being in the party that hanged Joshua Huddy in April 1782. Two months after Huddy’s hanging, Ezekiel Tilton was captured while fishing near Sandy Hook and imprisoned in the Monmouth County jail at Freehold. Ezekiel Tilton’s Controversial Confinement In July 1782, Elizabeth Tilton petitioned General Guy Carleton, the British Commander in Chief, about her husband’s capture: While he endeavored to gain an occupation of fisherman to support his family, last week, while returning from the banks without Sandy Hook, they were taken by a row boat fitted out in the Jersies; he is carried to Monmouth Gaol and confined, and it is reported as a State prisoner -- So much oppressed with close and heavy irons that his flesh is in a state of mortification. She reminded Carleton of past abuses of Loyalists in the same prison: “one of his neighbors has been shot & murdered without provocation [James Pew], and others led to the gallows for their loyalty.” Elizabeth Tilton noted that her husband “can only be considered a naval prisoner (no other crime can possibly be held against him).” However, Ezekiel would be charged with and convicted of High Treason. Elizabeth Tilton requested Carleton’s assistance “in procuring a mitigation of his severe treatment and an exchange . " On July 18, a handful of Loyalists, including three of Monmouth County’s more prominent Loyalists, George Taylor, Chrineyonce Van Mater, and Thomas Crowell, petitioned Carleton in support Elizabeth Tilton. The petitioners framed themselves as loyal citizens forced to take up fishing in order not to be a burden on the British government: As exiles, our constant endeavors are to be as little burden to Government as possible, led us in general to pursue the business of fishing to supply this garrison, while it supplied scanty subsistence to ourselves and our families. That occupation from whence we drew our support has been so much interrupted by the armed whale boats, while we are unprotected in this employment. The petitioners noted the danger of fishing for a living: “A number of fishing boats have lately fell sacrifice to the rebels, whose fury and resentment operates very seriously on such persons when they discover among their prisoners a former inhabitant of their County.” They then discussed plight of Ezekiel Tilton: We deplore the captivity of Ezekiel Tilton, one of our number taken last week at the Narrows by [Adam] Hyler and his gang and conveyed to Monmouth Gaol, there loaded with heavy chains and experiencing the torments usual to the bitterness of this implacable enemy. That same day, John Morris, formerly a Lt. Colonel in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers , wrote Carleton about the imprisonment and potential execution of Ezekiel Tilton, "I am convinced that the rebel commander in that County will murder the same [Tilton] without some orders to the contrary from his superiors." He requested that Carleton contact New Jersey Governor William Livingston about Tilton’s treatment and forwarded a deposition from Aaron White on the mistreatment of Loyalists in Monmouth County. As requested, Carleton wrote Governor Livingston on July 21: I am just informed that Ezekiel Tilton, returning last week from the banks without Sandy Hook, where he had been fishing, was taken by an armed boat belonging to the State of New Jersey, and carried to Monmouth gaol where he was confined, loaded in irons and suffering hardships which greatly endanger his life; that he is considered to be in a condition of what is called a Jersey State prisoner and threatened as such with certain death. Carleton indignantly closed: “I do hereby demand, Sir, that this man shall be placed in the condition of prisoner of war only, and treated with lenity with which such prisoners of war ought to be treated." On July 31, Livingston inquired about Tilton’s prisoner status and being loaded in irons to John Burrowes, Monmouth County’s Sheriff. Burrowes responded on August 5. He defended Tilton's harsh treatment: As to his being loaded in irons, it is true. He joined the enemy in the Spring of 1777, he has been guilty of horse robbing, house burning, horse stealing & plundering ever since the time of his running off, which can be readily proven. However, while it appears that John and Clayton Tilton were involved in “horse robbing, house burning, horse stealing & plundering,” there is not clear evidence that Ezekiel was directly involved in irregular warfare. At the time Burrowes wrote this letter, Tilton had not been convicted of any crime. So, the pre-trial punishment of loading him in irons appears punitive and contrary to due process. Livingston replied to Carleton on August 10. Livingston enclosed the note from John Burrowes and suggested that he believed Burrowes’s characterization of Tilton. Livingston apologized for his tardy response: "I am very sorry that it was not in my power to answer your’s express, it was not then within my knowledge as to his character." But he offered Carleton no sympathy regarding Tilton. The Death of Ezekiel Tilton In November 1782, at the Seventh Monmouth County Court of Oyer and Terminer , Ezekiel Tilton was convicted of High Treason and sentenced to death. On December 18, the Loyalist New York Gazette reported: We hear that on Friday the 13th last, the following Loyalists were executed in Monmouth on pretense of having committed high crimes against the rebel states of America, viz. Ezekiel Tilton, John Lockerson [Okerson] and Peter Eaton--Judah Lippincott and James Fisher, condemned to suffer the same fate, were reprieved. The same newspaper further reported on January 1, 1783, that "the body of Ezekiel Tilton was resigned to his friends and by them interred in a manner that exhibited their detestation for the horrid deed, the largest number of respectable people ever known to have assembled there on any occasion attended the remains of his grave." If a large number of county citizens gathered for Tilton’s funeral (and did so during the winter), it would have been a statement of dissatisfaction with the Monmouth County courts for the executing him. Tilton and the others were hanged on December 13, 1782—fourteen months after the British surrender at Yorktown “ended” the Revolutionary War. It appears that these were the last Loyalist executions in Monmouth County. But the Revolutionary War in Monmouth County continued, particularly on the county’s lower shore where the Pine Robber gang of John Bacon remained unbowed into 1783. Related Historic Site : Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic (Nova Scotia) Sources : Elizabeth Tilton to Guy Carleton, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #5097; John Morris to Guy Carleton, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #5099; Petition, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #5098; Guy Carleton to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, p 445, 445 note; William Livingston to John Burrowes, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 17, August 5, 1782; To George Washington from Guy Carleton, 29 August 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-09302, ver. 2013-09-28). See also: K.G. Davies, Documents of the American Revolutions (London: Valletine-Mitchell, 1976) vol. 21, p 100; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, December 18, 1782, reel 2906; Kenneth Scott, Rivington's New York Newspaper: Excerpts from a Loyalist Press, 1773-1783 (New York: New York Historical Society, 1973) p 315; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, January 1, 1783, reel 2906. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > John Bacon Slaughters Gloucester Militia at Barnegat by Michael Adelberg Pine Robber, John Bacon led a party that surprised a 25-man militia party guarding a beached vessel on Long Beach. Bacon killed or wounded 21 militia and carried away a vessel and the militia’s boat. - October 1782 - A year after the surrender at Yorktown (October 1781), the British had retreated into a defensive crouch in New York City, drydocked Loyalist raiders , and started relocating Loyalists to Canada . They were actively negotiating a peace treaty in Paris premised on American Independence. Despite all of this, the Revolutionary War on the Jersey shore was not over. Small bands of Pine Robbers —domestic Loyalist partisans—had operated along the shore since 1778. By 1782, they had consolidated around Clamtown (present-day Tuckerton) at the southern tip of Monmouth County (Stafford Township) in two large gangs led by William Davenport and John Bacon. While Davenport generally avoided battle, Bacon was unafraid of confrontation, as when he routed the Stafford militia at Manahawkin in late 1781. When Davenport was killed by militia in June, John Bacon led the last significant Loyalist force operating in New Jersey. The Long Beach Massacre Bacon’s most infamous attack was the so-called Long Beach Massacre, a night attack against Gloucester County militia camped south of Barnegat in which 21 militiamen were killed or wounded. On November 2, the New York Royal Gazette reported that on October 25, 1782: A cutter bound for St. Thomas ran aground on Barnegat shoals. The American galley Alligator, Capt. [Andrew] Steelman, and twenty five men plundered her… but was attacked the same night by Captain John Bacon, with nine men, in a small boat called Hero's Revenge, who killed Steelman and all the party except four or five. A prior article reveals that the British vessel was originally an American merchant ship, captured by the British ship, Virginia , with “a very singular” cargo of tea worth £20,000. This meant the ship likely had only a small prize crew on board when it reached the Jersey shore—making it more vulnerable to American privateers . The Pennsylvania Packet would also report on the captured ship and Bacon’s attack: The cutter from Ostend bound to St. Thomas, mentioned in our last, ran aground on Barnegat shoals the 25th ultimo. The galley Alligator, captain Steelman, from Cape May, with 25 men, plundered her on Sunday last of a quantity of Hyson Tea and other valuable articles; but was attacked the same night by captain John Bacon and nine men in a small boat called Hero's Revenge, who killed Steelman, wounded the first Lieutenant and all the privates (four excepted) were either killed or wounded: the latter were sent to doctor with a flag of truce, by the captors, and the galley was brought in here on Wednesday last. John Dennis of the Gloucester County militia served under Steelman and was at Bacon’s attack. He later recalled Bacon’s attack in detail in his veteran's pension application. A British vessel ran aground on Long Beach while trying to avoid the New Jersey privateer, Rainbow , co-owned by Andrew Steelman of Great Egg Harbor. Dennis recalled that the Rainbow "had fallen in with a British letter of marque [privateer], loaded with dry goods, bound for New York – The letter of marque was armed, and on Long Beach and run aground there.” Dennis recalled his militia company going to secure the vessel: Twenty five men, deponent was one of them, volunteered their services, and entered on board a whale boat [Alligator] at Great Egg Harbor, under the command of a sea Captain named David Scull and Lieutenant Andrew Steelman. They had to go about sixty miles to the beach where the letter of marque was run a-shore. Dennis next recalled landing on Long Beach and securing the vessel, but being unable to move the vessel or its cargo due to bad weather: Arrived on Long Beach and went to work to save the property. The weather and surf was bad. The letter of marque lay about three miles from the main land but in the surf on the beach. They were there between two and three weeks, the weather being so bad that part of the time they could not work. They had got the goods out of the vessel on the beach, in a tent two or three hundred yards long. On October 25, Dennis recalled they were finally ready to move, “the goods ready and were waiting only for scows to take them off.” The militia may have been lax because “they looked out and saw no enemy near.” Dennis then discussed the surprise nighttime attack by Bacon and his men. He was incorrect in stating that British regulars were in the attack: The Captain (Scull) placed a guard all around the encampment. The night was pretty dark and the Americans had a considerable fire around which the men and officers laid. Captain Scull and Lieutenant Steelman laid together. The enemy (British from New York and tories) came about seven o’clock at night after the party and fired, wounded Captain Scull in his thigh and killed Lieutenant Steelman. Nearly all the American party were taken. Dennis escaped: “The guard of which deponent was one and a few others, got clear. Deponent ran along the beach, wading in some places, for about nine miles, then went on the mainland and went home.” Dennis discussed the fate of his colleagues, “The prisoners were soon exchanged. Captain Scull died some years afterwards of his wound, which never got well.” In 1783, James Somers, the other co-owner of the Rainbow , narrated Bacon’s attack while testifying against the double-dealing privateer , Nathan Jackson. Somers recalled "that a vessel appearing in a fight off Egg Harbor, the Rainbow went after her.” He stated that, “The Rainbow had driven the vessel on shore - that she was a cutter & the Rainbow 's people were saving her cargo & they employed a number of inhabitants to help save the goods.” Somers claimed that local “hired hands from the shore had gone & informed Captain Bacon, a refugee, & joined with his party.” Somers recalled Bacon’s attack. The Loyalists “shot Captain Steelman & some of his crew dead and wounded. David Scull while lying at a fire some distance from the Rainbow ; and they went & took the Rainbow & the rest of her crew." There are several antiquarian accounts of the Long Beach Massacre, some of which are incorrect on verifiable facts. For example, one account states that the militia were from Cape May County rather than Gloucester County. Other accounts exaggerate key parts of the action. For example, one account claims that Bacon’s party “poured shot” into the sleeping militia. But the single-shot muskets of the era and small size of Bacon’s party makes it improbable that gunfire killed and wounded most of the 21 militiamen. Most of the militia were likely killed by bayonet (as was the case in the Osborn Island Massacre in 1778) or were hunted down while fleeing (like Philip White in March 1782). Historian David Fowler, working from antiquarian and primary sources, discerned important information from antiquarian accounts not offered in the primary accounts above: A disaffected local, Wiliam Wilson of Waretown, was cited for tipping off Bacon to the location the wounded ship and militia guard; Bacon rowed the wounded to shore under a white flag; Afterward, Bacon took the Loyalist vessel and the militia boat, Alligator , to New York. Fowler notes that after the massacre, a party of Gloucester militia, in retaliation, stormed the house of Bacon's father-in-law which “was full of London traders .” But Bacon was not there, and the interrogated men offer no usable information. Bacon Takes Another Prize in December In early December, Bacon took another prize near Barnegat. The New York Gazette reported on December 7 that, “Last Monday, in a galley from this place, Capt. Davenport [not the Pine Robber], captured a brig in Little Egg Harbor.” But Captain Davenport’s galley “grounded coming down the channel” and therefore “was obliged to abandon this prize.” Davenport’s problems worsened when, “He was attacked soon after in the Inlet by a 16 gun schooner which he was obliged to fight in order to get out.” Davenport was killed and his Lieutenant “concealed himself” rather than fight. The Loyalist galley was taken and “the prisoners were put ashore on 8 Mile Beach, between Egg Harbor and Barnegat, where they remained in starving condition for three days.” Bacon rescued the Loyalist crew and galley. They “were taken off by Capt. John Bacon of the Black Jack whaleboat, from this port, and sent here in a prize of Capt. Bacon's." Bacon remained an active partisan until his death in 1783. Related Historic Site : Barnegat Lighthouse Sources : Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 207; Pennsylvania Packet, November 7, 1782; David Fowler, egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 259-60; Edwin Salter and George C. Beekman, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Monmouth Democrat, Freehold, 1887) pp. 46-47; Munn, David, “The Revolutionary War Casualties,” The Jersey Genealogical Record, vol. 55, (September 1982): p 131; Veteran Pension Application, National Archives, John Dennis, W.8196, State of Ohio, Clermont County; Alfred M. Heston, Editor, South Jersey - A History, 1664 - 1924, Volume I (New York and Chicago: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1924) p 240; Library of Congress, Revolutionary War Prize Cases, M162, reel 1, cases 91-2, David Forman v. Nathan Jackson; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, November 2, 1782, reel 2906. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Shrewsbury Friends Struggle to Stay Out of War by Michael Adelberg From their meeting house in Shrewsbury, Monmouth’s Quakers struggled to remain pacifists and keep members from participating in the war. They disciplined 31 members, 16 of whom were expelled. - July 1781 - Of all of America’s religious denominations, none were rocked as profoundly by the American Revolution as the Quakers (Friends). The majority of Quakers were pacifists and therefore at odds with a new government that required militia service. A prior article discussed the drive of the Shrewsbury Quakers to abolish slaveholding among Quakers, but the challenge of maintaining their pacifism amidst civil war would prove a more fundamental problem. Most of Monmouth County’s Quakers lived along its Atlantic shoreline and in its western township of Upper Freehold. The Upper Freehold Quakers attended a sub-meeting at Arneytown that rolled into a meeting in nearby Burlington County; those in Stafford Township attended a sub-meeting at Barnegat that rolled into the meeting at Little Egg Harbor. The Atlantic shore Quakers north of Barnegat attended a meeting at Shrewsbury, which included a sub-meeting at Manasquan. Fortunately, the minutes of the Shrewsbury monthly meetings and annual meeting have survived; they offer exceptional information on the activities of the meeting and its members. Grievances Grow among the Shrewsbury Quakers Not every Quaker was against the Revolution (Nathanael Greene, for example, was the most important American general of the war besides George Washington, was born and raised a Quaker). However, it appears that the majority of Shrewsbury Quakers were disaffected by the Revolution. They lived on the military frontier line that separated Continental- and British-controlled areas. A member of the Shrewsbury meeting, Benjamin White, recalled the difficulty of living on military frontier line and the imposition of quartering Continental troops: We were so near the lines that in the fore part of the night we had the British and Refugees, in the morning the American troops. My brother was called a King's Man or Refugee and myself a rebel or friend of the Jersey troops. Col [Benjamin] Ford and Maj [Henry] Lee came. We had to find quarters for the Army. The dwellings for some distance around were occupied by soldiers. We gave up our kitchens and cellars. White’s store at Tinton Falls was sacked during a Loyalist raid, but a more frequent source of Quaker grievance with the New Jersey government was its mandatory militia service. For strict Quakers, even paying fines for non-attendance was tantamount to supporting warfare. As early as February 1776, the pacifism of the Shrewsbury Quakers put them at odds with their local government. At that time, the township committee (acting as proto-government) unanimously warned the meeting to “forebear to pass censure on any person or persons... for acting in conformity in their military stations.” A year later, George Washington complained to Governor William Livingston about "the Quakers and disaffected persons are doing all in their power to counteract our Militia Law." The Shrewsbury meeting compiled reports on Quaker suffering due to the war. An August 1777 report concluded that £207 in fines had been levied against them "chiefly for support of the war & fines for refusal of military service.” Fines were enforced by seizing the goods of Quaker families. A 1779 report totaled up £1040 in fines (and this is before militia delinquency fines spiked in 1780). Equally concerning, “diverse friends were imprisoned, some were discharged, one of which qualified [took Loyalty oath], three continued confined upwards of three months, were fined by the court (though not yet levied) & their persons discharged from imprisonment." Over the course of the war, 31 members of the Shrewsbury meeting were disciplined for participating in the war. This was about one third of the 98 members disciplined during the war. In total, 78 men and 20 women were disciplined for a variety of offenses including marrying outside the faith, drinking alcohol, not attending church, and refusing to free slaves . Summary information on the 31 disciplined men is in the appendix of this article. Offenses related to participating in the war included serving in the militia and otherwise bearing arms, but also included less direct means of participation such as hiring a militia substitute and paying fines militia delinquency. Men were even disciplined for paying money for the return of property that was confiscated as a punishment for militia service. The Shrewsbury Friends did not distinguish between Whig and Loyalist when meting out discipline—members were disowned for supporting either side. Examples of Shrewsbury Quakers Disciplined for Participating in the War In September 1776, John Parker was reported at the Shrewsbury Meeting for “bearing arms.” The meeting sent Joel Borden to counsel him. Parker apologized, but his apology was rejected for “not being so full” and Parker committed a new offense by paying a fine for militia delinquency. Parker offered a second apology in December 1776, which was accepted. In June 1777, the meeting reported that "Parker doth acknowledge that he did hire a man to serve in his place for one month, but does not pretend to justify his conduct and seems disposed to make satisfaction.” In December 1777, Parker apologized for paying militia delinquency fines and hiring a militia substitute. Despite his many transgressions, Parker remained in the meeting. (A second John Parker was also disciplined.) In April 1777, Jacob Woolcott was brought before the Shrewsbury meeting and issued an apology: I hereby acknowledge that I did once ride in company with some military men who was on the business of taking prisoners & collecting arms, for which conduct I am really sorry, and do fully condemn the same. A year later, in June 1778, Woolcott again ran afoul of the meeting. It was reported: "Jacob Woolcott paid a sum of money for a man to go into military service, and since that matter has come against him for playing cards." Yet again, in August 1778, he was reported for "leaving his home for military service." Woolcott was given the opportunity to apologize, but apparently declined to do so. In January 1779, he was disowned by the Shrewsbury Friends. He went on to serve as a Lieutenant in the state troops . John Lawrence (son of William) went down the same path as Woolcott. In January 1779, he came before the Shrewsbury meeting: "I consented that a man should purchase my property when taken for a fine for not going into military service." In March 1780, Lawrence was again reported for "fighting formally and has bore arms in a hostile way, has left his habitation and gone where he cannot easily be treated." In March 1780, Lawrence was disowned by the Shrewsbury Meeting. In December 1779, and again in January 1780, the Shrewsbury Friends moved against three Pine Robbers who had previously been members of the meeting. In December, it was reported that: John Worthly and Joseph Hulletts have left us, and been concerned in bearing arms in a hostile manner, and as such practice is directly contrary to our principles & our profession, we think that for the reputation of our Society to disown them from being members. Another Pine Robber, Reap Brindley, was reported to the meeting in January 1780: "Richard [Reap] Brinley has bore arms & continues to do so, is profane in conversation and frequents places of deviation." Obadiah Tilton was sent to counsel him. In May, Tilton reported that his counseling had “no effect” on Brindley. Reap Brindley was disowned. In July 1781, the Shrewsbury Friends moved against three members concurrently. At a prior meeting, it was reported that James Tucker "has taken up arms, and [is] frequent in using vulgar and corrupt language." In July, it was reported that Tucker was still “bearing arms”; he was disowned. At the same time, Wiliam Corlies was disowned for bearing arms. However, a third member of the meeting, Richard Lawrence apologized to the meeting: "I am sensible that I have done wrong in traveling without a certificate, in bearing arms in the militia, and in committing fornication with a woman who is now my wife." He was permitted to remain in the meeting. Shrewsbury Friends Struggle to Comply with New Jersey Law In addition to disciplining individuals for not turning out for militia service. The Shrewsbury and Rahway Friends Meetings tracked the fines accrued by members. The first such report was compiled in July 1777; at the time, Friends had incurred L416 in fines "chiefly for not bearing arms & paying taxes for supporting a war against the Government." The report also noted that three members had been jailed. In January 1780, a committee of Edmund Williams, Robert Hartshorne and William Smith considered petitioning the New Jersey Assembly with respect to accumulating militia fines. The committee concluded: We do not at present find any matter wherein we can apprehend we can be useful - the laws, we think, is not so vigorously executed as heretofore, therefore [it is] our opinion that an application to those in power will not be of any good purpose. In October, a new committee comprised of Benjamin Woolcott, Jonathan White, William Tilton and George Parker reported that, "they have drew up a remonstrance against the oppressive conduct of those in power & presented it to the Assembly, who informed the Committee that the principal law discussed in their remonstrance expired at the close of the last session of the Assembly." The petition is noted in the minutes of the New Jersey Assembly, which recorded on November 8: Setting forth that the militia bill now in force, more especially that passed sixteenth day of June last, proves very grievous in the manner they have been executed against some of the persons belonging to the meeting, and praying relief. Loyalty oaths posed another problem for Quakers, whose religious principles made the act of taking an oath impermissible. So, the New Jersey government permitted Quakers to take an affirmation instead of an oath. Affirmations commonly included qualifying language such as "as far as consistent with my religious principles.” By 1778, all New Jersians were required to take an oath or affirmation to the New Jersey government; those who had not taken a Loyalty oath or affirmation (or signed the Continental Association before that) were barred from voting and officeholding. The Shrewsbury and Rahway Friends Meeting also considered the difficulties associated with Friends crossing enemy lines into New York and returning in Loyalist parties that robbed and plundered . On October, 1781, the combined meetings recorded: As there is a number of young people belonging to the Friends, removed from the verge of this meeting to New York, Long Island & Staten Island, some of whom have been privately returned back & committed acts inconsistent with our peaceable principles & thereby occasioned public scandal on our society, it is desired that Friends should consider whether such persons ought not to be publicly testified against. The outcome of their deliberations is unknown, but the willingness of devout Quakers to testify against former members linked to Loyalist raiding may show a desire to move closer to the New Jersey government toward war’s end. As the war wound down in July 1782, the Shrewsbury Friends finally agreed to pay taxes that supported the military. The Freeman's Journal (of Philadelphia) reported: We hear from Shrewsbury in New Jersey that the society of Friends, who are very numerous in those parts, have lately had a meeting to consider and provide against the ruinous tendency of being distrained on for taxes, as they have been these six years past. They are now consented to pay voluntarily to collectors, as other subjects of that State do. The Letters of the Hartshorne Brothers Letters sent to Richard Hartshorne (living on Rumson Neck) from Loyalist brothers, William and Lawrence, give insight into the views of a prominent Quaker family. In a March 20, 1778, William Hartshorne, in New York, wrote Richard Hartshorne to complain about his private letters being opened: The freedom that has been taken with the private letters of friends, however inoffensive they may be, has deterred me from attempting to convey one to you, but I can no longer refrain from endeavoring to have the satisfaction of hearing from you… At the same time, I seriously declare that I mean not to say one word that may do injury or give offense to any people on Earth. William Hartshorne further worried that he might suffer when his letter was read: The probability of this letter falling into the hands of people who may put meaning to words different from what I write – thought to convey, makes me very careful of what I say and not so particular in mentioning my own affairs as I wish to be. William Hartshorne wrote Richard Hartshorne again on September 19, 1778. This time he cautiously expressed hope of visiting the family. He also discussed affairs in New York and on Sandy Hook: “There has passed some compliments of a cordial sort between the commanding officer at S.H. & shore. I think there would not be much difficulty in procuring permission for being at home a day or two.” He also discussed a debate in New York about withdrawing from Sandy Hook (which would make contact between Loyalists in New York and disaffected in Monmouth County much more difficult): “Have found out that a great Revolution in politicks has been brought about in many little principalities in this neighborhood – from western to eastern – that poor S.H. must be given up.” In March and April 1779, Thomas Meadows (probably an alias used by Lawrence Hartshorne) wrote to R.H. (Richard Hartshorne) about the risk of sending letters to Shrewsbury. He also lampooned the Continental government and Colonel David Forman of Manalapan, a vigorous enemy of the disaffected: As there is considerable risqué in conveying letters, you will not hear from me in that way so often, however, I will sometimes attempt it and, in spite of all the lawmakers and lawgivers from Congresses down to Black David [David Forman], [I] will never call writing my brother corresponding with the Enemy. I think we may write to each other in a way that would not bring either of us into any disagreeable scrape even if they should unluckily fall into the hands of those heroes who, as volunteers, are sworn out to guard & protect or, in other words, to break open & plunder the dwellings of their neighbors. He also wrote of the anguish felt by brothers unable to visit family living across enemy lines: My brother would sometimes in a little boat visit his native shore and perhaps steal home to bless his aged parents with the sight of their son, but, of late, guards very frequently patrol the place of landing, so that my brother cannot without danger of being shot from behind the bushes and other skulking places where the guards often conceal themselves… Is it treason to warn him of this danger? His parents are in terror when they hear of his coming and although they long for nothing so much as to see him, could it be done without distressing his life? Lawrence Hartshorne also insulted unnamed Whig leaders: “I always make it a point to adhere to the spirit of the law immutable and to disregard the vile twistings of knaves & idiots.” As for Richard Hartshorne, he was the Monmouth militia paymaster through much of the war, but his warm contacts with New York Loyalists were discovered and he eventually became a Loyalist refugee himself. Perspective The author’s prior research demonstrates that more than a dozen Monmouth County Quakers served in British forces and even more served in the New Jersey (Whig) militia and state troops. Dozens more likely committed acts that, if detected, would have triggered disapproval from the Quaker meeting. These include assisting armed parties and participating in robberies. The war substantially intruded into the everyday lives of Shrewsbury Quakers. For example, the Shrewsbury Friends celebrated seventeen marriages between 1773-7, but only three from 1778-1783. The number of “witnesses” at these weddings also dropped from an average of 42 before the war, to 32 during the war. The pacifism of strict Quakers placed them squarely at odds with the laws of the State of New Jersey that mandated, among other things, militia service and fines for missing militia service. But in neighborhoods that were mostly ethnic-English, militia laws often went unenforced. This allowed many Quakers to ignore the law without penalty into the 1780s. Ultimately, the government of New Jersey made some concessions to Quaker principles and most Quakers evolved their principles to accommodate New Jersey law. Historian Richard McMaster argued that the requirements of the Revolutionary governments (militia service, loyalty oaths, taxes) pushed devout Quakers toward disaffection. These Quakers did not necessarily support the British, but they could not support a Revolutionary government with policies directly opposed to their principles. McMaster termed these Quakers "passive Loyalists" (to distinguish them from “active Loyalists” participating in the British war effort). Neutrality was the position of these passive Loyalists, as nicely stated by the Yearly Meeting of the Maryland Quakers in 1778: We believe it our indispensable duty to abstain from all wars and contests which have tendency to destroy the lives of men... we cannot, consistent with our religious principles, join with either of the contending parties, being thereby equally restrained from entering into solemn engagements of allegiance to either. Related Historic Site : Shrewsbury Quaker Meeting House Appendix: Shrewsbury Friends Disciplined for Participating in the War (see table 15 ) Sources : New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3792; Swarthmore College, Friends Historical Library, reel MR-PH 51; Judith M. Olsen, Lippincott, Five Generations of the Descendants of Richard and Abigail Lippincott (Woodbury, N.J.: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1982) pp. 159-61; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, p 195; George Washington to William Livingston in Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, pp. 331, 335. New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 4, May 7, 1777; Swarthmore College, Friends Historical Library, reel: MR Ph 585, Shrewsbury Meeting; Freeman's Journal (Pennsylvania), July 12, 1782; Swarthmore College, Friends Historical Library, reel: MR Ph 585, Shrewsbury Meeting; Swarthmore College, Friends Historical Library, Reel MR-PH, 585, Shrewsbury Meeting; Letter, William Hartshorne at Edenton, NC, to his brother Richard Hartshorne in New York, March 20, 1778, b6, f1, Hartshorne Family Papers, Monmouth County Historical Association; Letter, D. B. to Richard Hartshorne, September 19, 1778, b6, f1, Hartshorne Family Papers, Monmouth County Historical Association; Letter, “Thomas Meadows” to R. H. dated “13th of the 4th Moon 1779. Possibly a pseudonym being used by Richard Hartshorne’s brother William, b6, f1, Hartshorne Family Papers, Monmouth County Historical Association; Anonymous letter, addressed to R. H., dated “20th of the 3rd Moon 1779.," b6, f1, Hartshorne Family Papers, Monmouth County Historical Association; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 8, 1780, p 20-21; Information on the marriages of the Shrewsbury Friends is in John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) v1, p 306-14; Richard McMaster, "The Peace Churches of the American Revolution", Fides et Historia, v9, Spring 1977, p 8, 20. . Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Daniel Hendrickson and Other Militia Officers as Privateer Captains by Michael Adelberg Militia privateers usually put to sea in oar-powered galleys and whaleboats. These boats were hidden on shore and rowed through the surf to take small ships and vessels grounded on sand bars. - September 1778 - As noted in prior articles, privateering flourished on the Jersey shore in summer 1778. The arrival of the French fleet and weakening of the British fleet opened up the waters near Sandy Hook to daring American sea captains. Privateers from Philadelphia and New England began taking British merchant vessels, and bringing them into Little Egg Harbor (called Egg Harbor at the time). New Jerseyans living on the shore had been taking wounded British ships since 1776; in 1778, they also took to the sea as privateers. Daniel Hendrickson Moves into Privateering Colonel Daniel Hendrickson lived at Tinton Falls, a few miles inland from the Shrewsbury River (which connected to the Atlantic Ocean in the 1700s). Hendrickson’s first prize vessel was taken in November 1776. General Hugh Mercer wrote: A ship loaded with rum, wine and sugar, and other stores belonging to the enemy is drove on shore at Deal beach, near Shrewsbury; the Colonel [Daniel] Hendrickson of the militia have taken care of her and the cargo. Hendrickson was appointed the colonel of the dysfunctional Shrewsbury Township militia in late 1776, but due to the disaffection in the region, Hendrickson lived in Upper Freehold Township in late 1776 and into 1777. He returned home in 1777 after the Loyalist associations at Shrewsbury were broken up by Pennsylvania soldiers . Some companies of the Shrewsbury militia remained dysfunctional, but Hendrickson was able to raise a hundred men on alarm in June 1778—when the British Army marched across the county in the days prior to the Battle of Monmouth. Sometime in July 1778, the Shrewsbury militia seized a Loyalist vessel, Indian Delaware , and it was condemned to Hendrickson at an admiralty court at Allentown on August 13. Taken vessels were commonly sold, but Hendrickson chose to keep the vessel and try his hand at privateering. On September 11, Hendrickson and the Indian Delaware were at Egg Harbor, where he signed up a nine-man crew. The contract read: We those under written, parties concerned in the Schooner Indian Delaware, taken by the militia… do each ourselves agree with Col Hendrickson… paying each of us our equal proportion of five hundred pound after deducting and paying all costs and accounts of the same. One of the signees, Jacob Dennis, was a minor. So his mother, Rebecca Dennis, signed for him. John Stokes, the Port Marshal at Egg Harbor, also signed. The Indian Delaware put to sea under Hendrickson. Four days later, Hendrickson was at Tinton Falls where he sold 400 lbs. of flour for £6 S14 to two buyers; this suggests that the Indian Delaware captured a small Loyalist vessel along the Monmouth shore and brought it into Shrewsbury Inlet (a channel that connected the Shrewsbury River to the ocean at present-day Seabright). The next day, Hendrickson purchased supplies to outfit Indian Delaware : £4 S15; £1 S10 for cartridges and fuses; £1 S10 for a sheep; £8 for two barrels of cider; £8 for rum. He also paid for "carting sails from Freehold", S15; "carting 2 3 lb. cannon from Tinton Falls", £1 S10, and he paid "Jeremiah Chadwick for piloting" his ship. Ten days later, the Indian Delaware had been out to sea, and returned. John Van Emburgh, a Middlesex County militia major and investor in privateers, wrote Hendrickson from Freehold. Van Emburgh was seeking to purchase a vessel at Egg Harbor that might have been deposited as a prize by Hendrickson, "In consequence of our determination at Squan, I have been to Egg Harbor but found on my arrival that the vessel we proposed [to buy] could not be sold until the next Admiralty Court.” Van Emburgh had also been to Tinton Falls: Was yesterday at the Falls to consult with your Captain Green [James Green], what more guns would be needed for us than he had purchased on our account... but was informed that you was under an engagement for that day & returned. Documentation on the Indian Delaware and Hendrickson’s time as a privateer is scant after this. Philip Freneau, the privateer sailor and poet, recorded sailing out of Shrewsbury inlet in the Indian Delaware on October 25 bound for the Caribbean (Shrewsbury Inlet connected the Shrewsbury River to the Atlantic Ocean at present-day Sea Bright). Egg Harbor’s Port Marshal, John Stokes, recorded the arrival of the Indian Delaware on November 21. There is no additional documentation related to the vessel or Hendrickson as a privateer—he was captured on land, during a raid against Tinton Falls in June 1779. Other Monmouth Militia Officers Dabble in Privateering Privateering was risky. Colonel Richard Somers of Gloucester County, who became involved with a double-dealing privateer , complained of his privateering investments that he "have lost my interest many times and received little for my share of prizes." But the profits from a successful voyage seemed to outweigh the risks (a small captured vessel with a cargo was often valued about £10,000, about equal to the cost of five yeoman estates). Besides Hendrickson, at least eleven other Monmouth Militia officers took to the sea as privateers or took vessels that grounded off the Monmouth shore. Captain Thomas Anderson of Freehold Township took a vessel on the Monmouth shore in May 1778. The New Jersey Gazette reported: "Friday last, a prize vessel laden with beef and pork, bound to New York, was taken by Capt. Anderson and 16 men in an armed boat and brought into Toms River.” Samuel Bigelow was a Dover Township militia captain. In December 1780, he led a militia party in the capture of the stranded Loyalist sloop Betsy off Cranberry Inlet; shortly after that, Bigelow took the stranded brig, Dove , off Long Beach, and brought the prize into Toms River. James Brewer , a militia captain from inland Upper Freehold, tried his hand at privateering. Wilson Hunt, one of his militiamen, recalled that in early 1778, Brewer’s company took a small vessel off Sandy Hook: We spied a sloop of war under sail, it appeared as tho' it would land where we immediately hid ourselves in ambush but she did not land. She tacked about and sailed near the British fleet and cast anchor. We marked her position, in course of the evening, we procured a vessel and after dark sailed to the aforesaid sloop, seized her and boarded her immediately and found only the captain and mate on board. The captain surrendered to us at discretion but the mate threatened to alarm the British fleet which lay close at hand, but there was a file of men with fixed bayonets quickly around him - if he opened his mouth they would quickly run him through, upon which he made no further resistance, and we hoisted anchor and bore away for the mouth of the Shrewsbury River which we fortunately struck and ascended our way up river. The next day we were hailed by two men and asked if we did want to buy provisions, having the British colors hoisted they took us to be British, we decoyed them on board and made them prisoners. They were both Tories. We carried the above sloop up to Shrewsbury Town and anchored as near the town as we could, where she was declared a lawful prize. Captain Samuel Brown of the Dover township militia led the 30-man militia company that mustered at Forked River. In late 1776, according to Samuel’s son, Thomas, "they immediately commenced building a gunboat on said river... intended to be used for the annoyance of the Enemy: boat kept 1 mile from the Brown homestead and guarded nightly.” By 1777, Thomas Brown recalled the Forked River militia manning the row galley, Civil Usage (with one 6-pound cannon, 4 swivel guns, and 36 men serving on board). Their mission was to "guard Barnegat Inlet and prevent, as far as practicable, aggressions of the enemy." In July 1778, the militia "succeeded in capturing a boat of the enemy engaged in trading with the Tory residents at the then called Clam Town (now Tuckerton)." Later that year, Brown captained a privateer sloop out of Toms River, during which he attempted to keep his true identify incognito. In 1779, Brown again captained Civil Usage "engaged and captured a gunboat belonging to the Refugees… armed with four swivels and a whale piece and with a crew of twenty-five to thirty-five men." In 1781, Samuel and Thomas Brown, after two attempts to capture them, left Forked River for the relative safety of Woodbridge. They brought Civil Usage with them and took two prizes in Raritan Bay, a schooner heading for New York City, and, in concert with a second gunboat, another schooner taken in Prince's Bay off Staten Island. The prizes were brought to New Brunswick. In summer, 1782, the Browns returned to Forked River. In concert with the New England privateer, William Gray, they rowed Civil Usage to Clam Town—in order to provoke an attack from the Pine Robber gang of William Davenport. When the Loyalists attacked, Gray joined the fight: "The vessels engaged. Captain Davenport and eight or nine of his men were killed by the first broadside of the privateer... and was immediately taken possession of by Captain Gray and sunk." The Pine Robbers were turned over to the Egg Harbor militia. John Burrowes , Jr., was commissioned a captain in the Continental Army in January 1777 and served for three years. Despite being in uniform and with the Army most of this time, Burrowes was active on the Raritan Bay while furloughed parts of 1778 and 1779. Middletown militiaman, Jemson Van Kirk recalled: Served three months on his own account at Mount Pleasant N.J. at this place Captain Burrowes of the regulars with ten men regular troops under whom Lieutenant Schank [John Schenck] volunteered with ten militia men of whom he was one went down the Bay with three skiffs and run among five sloops where they boarded two of them and took nineteen prisoners who were called refugees or Tories, one sloop they fetched off the other ran aground. On discharge in January 1780, Burrowes took to the water again. A February note in the papers of the Continental Congress notes a deposition of Burrowes as master of the sloop Tryal . By April, Burrowes was captain of the privateer, Rebecca . One of his sailors, Thomas Geron, wrote of his service under Burrowes: “He went to Philadelphia and enlisted as a common sailor before the mast on board the brig Rebecca , letter of marque, under one Captain John Burrowes." He sailed with Burrowes on May 1 but Rebecca had a brief tenure as a privateer: Arrived at the Gulf Stream southeast from the capes of Philadelphia, where the brig was taken and the whole crew was taken, by the English sloop of war Delight... he [Geran] was taken immediately to New York and put on board the prison ship Scorpion on the 18th of May, and remained there as a prisoner of war for about five weeks. He was then removed to the hospital ship Hunter, and remained there as a prisoner (an invalid) for 72 days when he was exchanged. Burrowes fared better than Geran. He was quickly exchanged, and then appointed a marshal of the New Jersey Admiralty Court. He was elected Sheriff of Monmouth County after that. Major John Cook commanded the Dover militia, including Samuel Brown and Joshua Studson. He led the capture of two prizes: Fanny and Hope . in 1778. In early 1779, he and Captain John Price took the Loyalist sloop Success , after it grounded off Island Beach. Samuel Forman was the militia colonel over Upper Freehold and the shore townships of Dover and Stafford. On June 25, 1781, he led a militia unit in capturing the vessel, Brunswick, which had grounded off the Monmouth shore with a cargo of lumber. On August 15, 1781, Forman wrote Governor William Livingston about using the Brunswick as a privateer, "on the fourteenth last month [7/14/81], I got a sloop or boat called Brunswick , burthen about 50 tons, condemned & since have sold her, a register [of the vessel as a privateer] is wanting, I wish to be favored with one under the name 'Monmouth'." But the vessel apparently was not condemned by the admiralty court. More than three years later, on September 13, 1784, the New Jersey Gazette advertised an admiralty court for October 22 to finally settle Forman’s claim to the vessel. Asher Holmes was the Colonel of the Freehold and Middletown militias. He also led the regiments of state troops stationed in Monmouth County from 1779 into 1782. In 1779, he led the capture of the stranded supply ship, Britannia , near Sandy Hook. This is the subject of another article. Joshua Huddy was a strident supporter of the Revolution who commanded a company of state troops in 1777 and 1778 and participated in the extra-legal hanging of the Loyalist, Stephen Edwards . Huddy was nearly captured by a Loyalist raiding party on August 31. Two weeks earlier, on August 18, 1780, he received a Letter of Marque from Pennsylvania to captain the privateer, Black Snake (co-owned with James Randolph). It was a small vessel with only one swivel gun and a crew of fourteen. The letter licensed Huddy to “by force of arms to attack, subdue, seize and take all ships and other vessels, goods, wares and merchandizes, belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, or any of the subjects thereof." Black Snake was at Toms River at the time, and sailed on September 22. Huddy sailed past Sandy Hook, where six British warships prevented him from hovering close to the Hook. He arrived in Providence, Rhode Island on October 3. The Providence Gazette recorded that: “he [Huddy] saw six British ships of the line standing for Sandy Hook." There is no evidence that Huddy took any prizes as a privateer. Joshua Studson was a militia lieutenant from Toms River. He commanded a whaleboat that in May 1778 rowed to Sandy Hook and captured a vessel as it sat near a large warship. The prize was taken to Middletown Point where it prompted British/Loyalist retribution . In August 1780, Studson received a Letter of Marque to captain the privateer Dolphin with one cannon and a fourteen-man crew. He captured two vessels. He was out in a militia boat again on December 1 when he spotted a Loyalist boat and closed on it. As he rose to give orders, he was shot and killed at close range by the Pine Robber, John Bacon. This incident and Studson’s career at sea are detailed in another article. John Walton was a militia captain from Freehold Township. He took a Loyalist boat and crew in 1777. Other prizes : Monmouth militia were involved in other maritime clashes where the officer’s name is unknown. Below is a short summary of four such incidents. 1779 – A 16-gun brig from Jamaica to New York, with 160 barrels of rum “was drove ashore near that place [Barnegat].” It was boarded and secured by militia. 1780 – A Loyalist sloop ran aground on Manasquan beach. It was captured and floated by local militia; its cargo of assorted dry goods was saved. The crew was sent to Philadelphia as prisoners. 1781 – The Loyalist brig, Molly, grounded off Barnegat during a storm and began to break up. Local militia saved most of the crew and cargo. The crew was sent to jail in Trenton. 1783 - Two Loyalist trading boats on the way to New York grounded on the Monmouth shore during a storm. They were captured by a militia party. Of course, the Monmouth County militia was not the only militia dabbling in privateering. Cape May and Gloucester County militia were also active up and down the Jersey shore. The postwar pension applications of John Ingersoll (of Cape May) and Zachariah Steelman (Gloucester County) are particularly descriptive in describing the privateering voyages of militia from other counties off the Monmouth shore. Their narratives are excerpted in the appendix of this article. Related Historic Site : Sultana Education Foundation (Chestertown, Maryland) Appendix: Militiamen from Other Counties Recall Privateering on the Monmouth Shore John Ingersoll of Cape May recalled serving under Captain Enoch Willetts of the militia on privateering voyages to Shark River in 1781 and 1782. First voyage : The Cape May militia gunboat provisioned at Little Egg Harbor in fall 1781 before heading north. Ingersoll recalled that "we ran into Shark River… where lay a heavy ship loaded with goods... an English ship; the crew a few days earlier had mutinied. [The militia] succeeded in taking the ship and ran her into Egg Harbor.” The prize, however, grounded at the entrance of Egg Harbor, so the militia had to “float the ship & bring cargo upriver in a scow.” The successful capture took a bad turn when a gang of Pine Robbers “laid upon us, captured the scow one evening and took charge of her loads.” Ingersoll then recalled retaking the scow and its cargo: We went in pursuit... we came up with them at a place called Osborn's Island about six miles from where the ship lay. Said refugees had two wagons loaded with horses each, and one wagon loaded with two horses. They fired upon us and then fled, leaving their booty behind. The militia took back the vessel and its cargo, "said goods were condemned agreeably to law and sold at public sale." Second Voyage : Ingersoll also recalled a second privateering voyage to Shark River with Captain Willets in 1782: We set sail from Cape May and again landed Shark River. We staid [sic] at Shark River for two or three days, when we spied a refugee boat close in with the beach, steering apparently for Delaware. As they came opposite the Inlet wherein we lay, they gave [us] three cheers [mistaking them for London Traders]. We put to sea and gave chase. We kept up a steady and well directed fire for about four miles, when they endeavored to run their boat into Squan Inlet, but in their attempting to do so they ran her ashore and fled. Before we could get on shore, they had concealed themselves in the woods which were nearby. We took their boat, in which we found a six-pounder mounted on her stern, together with a quantity of dry goods, with hardware and one barrel of rum, which we took. We then made sail for Cape May. Zephaniah Steelman of Gloucester County recalled two voyages on the Monmouth shore: First voyage : “We took a refugee trading boat on the north end of Squan Beach with cranberries and tar in her. We saved the articles but burnt the boat… I have been on duty all along the sea coast as far as Sandy Hook and at all intermediate places.” Second voyage : “One [John] Bacon, a notorious refugee had killed Capt. Andrew Steelman in our look-out boat and wounded Lieut. David Scull so that he never recovered from it and had done much other mischief. Capt. Snell sent a company in pursuit of Bacon. We went as far as Barnegat, obtained a pilot to bring us to his father-in-law’s house, and we surrounded it in the middle of the night. It was full of traders but Bacon was not in there not did we obtain any findings of him, so we returned.” Sources : Peter Force, ed., American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution 1774–1776, 9 vols. (1837–53), 5th Series, vol. 3, p 892; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, p 363; Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 12, Documents K and L; Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 10, Document F; John Van Emburgh to Daniel Hendrickson, New Jersey Historical Society, Hendrickson Family Papers, box 1, folder 13; Axelrod, Jacob. Philip Freneau: Champion of Democracy, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967) pp. 96-7; Richard Somers testimony in Library of Congress, Revolutionary War Prize Cases, M162, reel 1, cases 91-2, David Forman v. Nathan Jackson; John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 142-143; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Jamison Van Kirk; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 19, pp. 365-6; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 56; Koegler ,M.L. Burrowes Mansion of Matawan, New Jersey, and Notations on the History of Monmouth County (Matawan, NJ: Matawan Historical Society), pp. 47-8; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Geron of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#19729784 ; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 56; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Wilson Hunt of KY, www.fold3.com/image/#24273269 ; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, May 27, 1778, reel 1930; William Fischer, Biographical Cyclopedia of Ocean County (Philadelphia: A.D. Smith, 1899) pp. 50-1; Worthington Ford, Naval Records of the American Revolution, 1775-1788, (Washington: Govt Printing Office, 1906) pp. 241, 272; Letter of Marque, Catalog of the Exhibition: Joshua Huddy and the American Revolution, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2004; Franklin Kemp, The Capture of Enemy Vessels by Ground Troops in New Jersey (-----) p 20; New Jersey Gazette, September 13, 1784; Samuel Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 15, August 15, 1781; Paul Burgess, A Colonial Scrapbook; the Southern New Jersey Coast, 1675-1783 (New York, Carlton Press, 1971) pp 161; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 70; Alfred Heston, South Jersey: A History 1664-1923 (Lewis Historical Publishing, 1923) p 227; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 81; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veteran's Pension Application of John Ingersoll of New Jersey, p 6; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Zachariah Steelman of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 19818216. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The First Monmouth County Court of Oyer and Terminer by Michael Adelberg After a year and a half of inactivity, the Monmouth County courts reconvened at the county courthouse with a Court of Oyer & Terminer that heard charges against 94 men and 11 women. - January 1778 - Monmouth County’s courts ceased functioning in spring 1776 when the Royal government broke down. While courts were re-established under New Jersey’s Constitution of July 1776, there is no evidence that they met in Monmouth County—probably because so many of the officers of the court were Loyalists or disaffected. Monmouth County’s missing legal papers —taken during the Loyalist insurrections of December 1776—further hamstrung any attempt to re-convene the courts. Historian Richard Haskett wrote that much of New Jersey did not have functioning courts under the new government until early 1778. Each county was expected to convene Courts of General Sessions quarterly for ordinary crimes and Courts of Oyer & Terminer as needed for particularly consequential and political crimes. Haskett noted many problems with these early courts: novice judges, poor records, rulings not enforced by civil officers, and war intrusions. In lieu of courts, Loyalists and political criminals in Monmouth County were arrested by military units—such as those commanded by David Forman, Charles Read, Adam Stephen, and Francis Gurney—and sent to far-off prisons without trial. In 1777, the New Jersey Supreme Court heard a few cases regarding Monmouth County crimes and the New Jersey Council of Safety emerged as the primary vehicle for trying political prisoners. But punishments from the Council of Safety were often temporary until the courts could meet. Convening the First Court of Oyer and Terminer On December 7, the Council of Safety authorized a Court of Oyer and Terminer for Monmouth County to convene on January 20, 1778. The court was advertised in the state-supported newspaper, the New Jersey Gazette , on December 17. Local judges were assigned under Chief Justice Robert Morris of Middlesex County. There were three township magistrates: John Longstreet, Peter Schenck, Thomas Forman. Twenty grand jurors were also selected: William Tapscott David Forman* Hendrick Smock Henry Green, Jonathan Pierce Gilbert Van Mater Garrett Hendrickson Peter Covenhoven Joseph Stillwell* Cornelius Covenhoven Jacob Van Dorn Aucke Wikoff* Thomas Hunn* John Schenck* Joshua Anderson Elisha Walton* John Holmes Peter Imlay Richard Crawford Tobias Hendrickson Only six of the grand jurors held military officer commissions (see asterisk above). The aversion to military officers was likely deliberate. State authorities likely wanted to ensure that the court would be perceived in a dispassionate civil court (in contrast to the impromptu military tribunals convened in 1777). The constables and coroners for each of the six townships were required to attend and give testimony. However, three constables (Zephaniah Morris, Peter Johnson and Edward Wilbur) and one coroner (Jonathan Brown) never appeared. Brown was fined £3 for not appearing. The court convened at Freehold on January 20 and continued meeting until February 7. On January 23, the New Jersey Council of Safety ordered that the three Upper Freehold Loyalists it had jailed at Morristown—Thomas Fowler, Jesse Woodward, Richard Robins—should be transferred to Freehold for trial. The Proceedings of the First Court of Oyer and Terminer Fortunately, the docket and some other legal papers of the First Monmouth County Court of Oyer & Terminer have survived. There were 105 total indictments. The outcome of most of these indictments is unknown, but 22 men are documented as convicted. See Table 5 . Many defendants were charged with non-specific “misdemeanors.” Given the Court of Oyer & Terminer’s focus on political crimes, and corroborated by records from subsequent courts, it can be safely assumed that most misdemeanors brought before this court were for going behind enemy lines or illegally trading with the enemy. Riot & Trespass was the charge applied to many of the Loyalist insurrectionists who led “riotous” parties of men in breaking into the homes of Whigs and confiscating their guns, horses and wagons. Trespass was used to describe when a person was charged with going onto private property and taking or damaging something of value on that private property. Two future Loyalists, Josiah Giberson and Guisebert Giberson were charged with “cattle stealing” but it is unknown if they were convicted. David Taylor was charged with Riot & Trespass; he pled not guilty, and then the docket notes that he "leaves home without trial." He likely fled behind British lines. Samuel Miers and Jacob Wardell were convicted of crimes, but they were permitted by the court to “invoke act of grace.” They took loyalty oaths and were released without future punishment. Three local Revolutionary leaders were indicted. Captain John Burrowes and Estate Forfeiture Commissioner William Wikoff were both charged with trespass by Margaret Holmes; they were found not guilty. Captain Joshua Huddy, however, pled guilty to two separate assaults against Charles Gilmore and Benjamin Luffburrow; he was fined £15, less than Loyalists convicted on similar charges. Eleven of the 105 indictments were issued against women. Of these eleven, the following women were convicted of misdemeanors: Christian Crowell fined £3], Catherine Farrow [fined £3], Sarah Grover [fined £10, Phoebe Johnson [fined £5], Sarah Roberts [fined s20], Deborah Taylor [fined £3], Huldah Van Mater fined £3]. One woman, Theodocia Grover, had her case dismissed. Christian Crowell was the wife of Thomas Crowell, who captained a Loyalist boat, and Deborah Taylor was the wife of Colonel George Taylor, who led Loyalist raids into Monmouth County in 1777. However, the majority of these women were not the wives of Loyalist combatants. Huldah Van Mater was the wife of a prominent Loyalist, but also the sister of Asher Holmes, Colonel of Monmouth County’s First Militia regiment. In 1776 and 1777, hundreds of Monmouth County Loyalists participated in insurrections, raids, property confiscations, and acts of violence against their neighbors. The First Court of Oyer & Terminer for Monmouth County was the first in-county opportunity to exact justice (and revenge) against these perpetrators. Despite the increasing resentments against Loyalists and their disaffected allies, no individual was sentenced to more than one year in jail; the majority of fines were less than the cost of a reliable horse (roughly £20). Given the potential precedent set three months earlier by the extra-legal hanging of the Loyalist, Stephen Edwards, the court showed remarkable restraint—even leniency—in its sentencing. This would contrast significantly with the second Courts of Oyer & Terminer which meted out several death sentences. Related Historic Site : Old Salem County Courthouse Sources : Richard C. Haskett, “Prosecuting the Revolution,” in American Historical Review, vol. 49 (April 1954), pp. 580-1; Catalog of the Exhibition: Joshua Huddy and the American Revolution, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2004 (Monmouth County Archives); David Bernstein, Minutes of the Governor's Privy Council, 1777-1789 (Trenton: New Jersey State Library, Archives and History Bureau, 1974) p 59, 64; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 1, p 514; Morristown National Historical Park Collection, reel 39, Monmouth Legal; Monmouth Courts; Morristown National Historical Park Collection, reel 39, Monmouth Courts; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder -January 1778; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 195; State Auditor Acct Books, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Treasury, State Auditor's Account Book, Sheriff Fines, Monmouth County, reel 181, pp. 195-203. 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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 > British and Loyalist Raid of Tinton Falls and Shoal Harbor by Michael Adelberg On April 26, 1779, a 750-men British-Loyalist raiding party landed at Red Bank and Leonardo. They came from Sandy Hook in flat-bottom boats that landed large numbers of men onto beaches. - April 1779 - On April 12, 1779, thirty Shrewsbury Township Loyalist estates were confiscated and sold at a public auction. As discussed in prior articles, this ensured permanent enmity with Loyalists behind British lines. In addition, a regiment of Maryland Continentals sat exposed in Shrewsbury Township. The confluence of rising Loyalist anger and an attractive military target set the stage for a large and punishing raid. Newspaper Accounts of the Raid The first newspaper of this raid was printed in the Loyalist New York Gazette on April 28. It reported: 650 of the Royal Army under the command of Col. Hyde [West Hyde], fell down to Sandy Hook, the next morning [April 26] at 2 o'clock, the Colonel with one division landing at Shoal Harbor, four miles east of Middletown, pushed to that place, in which a rebel detachment was supposed to be posted, but had been withdrawn the evening before. The other under Capt. Ferguson [Patrick Ferguson] landed the same morning six miles on the opposite side of Middletown, and advanced to Shrewsbury where a battalion of Continental troops were quartered, but from the difficulty of navigation could not land before day, [so] the rebel battalion escaped with the loss of between 20 & 30 prisoners. The report went on to note that provisions were taken by both raiding parties. "In the afternoon, the whole assembled” and marched back to their boats “during which the enemy effected to follow & harass their rear.” The raiders took with them “several deserters…and some obnoxious persecutors of the Loyal subjects.” Casualties were light: one dead, one wounded. On May 5, the New Jersey Gazette printed its version of the raid. It generally corroborated the Loyalist account but offered additional important details. For example, it noted that “Colonel Ford with the Continental troops retired to Colts Neck.” It also described “the constant fire upon” the raiders maintained by Colonel Asher Holmes (with 60 Monmouth militia) and a 12-man party of New Jersey Continentals under Captain John Burrowes. The report also discussed robberies and arson: “they plundered the inhabitants and burnt several houses and barns.” The New Jersey Gazette disagreed with the New York Gazette on the size of the raiding party (800 men vs. 650 men) and the British/Loyalist casualty count (three dead and fifteen wounded vs. one dead and one wounded). The New Jersey Gazette omitted mention of New Jersians going off with the raiders. Versions of the New Jersey Gazette report were re-printed in newspapers as far off as New Hampshire. The complete New Jersey Gazette report is in the appendix of this article. Interestingly, the Maryland Gazette provided a more detailed account of the raid (probably informed by one of Ford’s officers). It noted that Ferguson’s men were discovered landing at Red Bank “by a scouting party of Col. Ford's” who alarmed Tinton Falls in time for Ford to narrowly escape by getting out “about four hundred yards ahead of them [the raiders].” The Maryland account also noted that Ferguson sent a 40-man party into the village of Shrewsbury and listed the owners of the burnt houses at Tinton Falls: Sheriff Nicholas Van Brunt, Colonel Daniel Hendrickson, Captain Richard McKnight, and Magistrate John Little, but McKnight’s and Little’s houses were saved "by the activity of our people." It was also noted: That the enemy plundered all the way to Col. Breeze's [Samuel Breese] whom they robbed of all his money and most of his plate, and at Justice Holmes's [Josiah Holmes] they robbed and plundered everything. The report also mentioned that “the enemy carried off with them Justice Covenhoven [Peter Covenhoven] and son, likewise several others” and “some cattle and horses." Finally, this Maryland account said Asher Holmes resisted with “140 militia who drove them to their boats,” rather than 60, suggested by the New Jersey Gazette . British/Loyalist Accounts of the Raid West Hyde's report on the raid to General Henry Clinton provides important additional details. His party, consisting of 200 Highlanders and 120 New Jersey Volunteers , landed at Shoal Harbor (present-day Leonardo) while “Capt. Ferguson [Patrick Ferguson] with 450 of the detachment… proceeded with utmost expedition for Shrewsbury.” While acknowledging that Ford’s Continentals “made their escape,” Ferguson “came up with their rear guard of which he took between 20 & 30 prisoners & some baggage.” Hyde admitted to burning homes but said his men only “destroyed several houses used as public stores”—it is doubtful that every burned home was a public store. Hyde discussed his march on Middletown. He “landed between 2 and 3 in the morning at Shoal Harbor, 4 miles from Middletown & marched directly hither” in the incorrect belief that a Continental regiment was camped there. He “remained there until one in the afternoon when Capt. Ferguson joined the detachment.” They marched for their boats at the Navesink Highlands “after allowing the men to refresh themselves.” By this time, the parties of Captain Burrowes and Colonel Holmes had arrived: A few of the rebel militia had assembled during our stay in Middletown & followed us on our return & effected to harass our rear, but from the judicious disposition of our rear guard, under Capt. Ferguson, he kept them at so respectful a distance that only one man of the Royal Highland Regiment was killed & one of Barton's Jersey Volunteers wounded. General Clinton summarized the raid on May 5. He wrote that the “exposed position” of Ford’s men prompted the raid and that “a change in the weather” slowed the raid and allowed Ford to escape—a detail not reported elsewhere and probably not fully true. Clinton praised Colonel Hyde for leading the raid "tho' he had the King's permission to return to Europe.” He also praised Ferguson as “a very active & zealous officer." William Smith, a prominent Loyalist attorney in New York, also wrote of the raid: 750 men under Col. Hyde of the guards landed in Monmouth near Middletown, took between 20 and 30 prisoners, and burnt a mill and two or three houses… it was said that they were to take a party of 300 troops posted to prevent access to Monmouth farmers with this town. Continental and New Jersey Accounts of the Raid Two officers, Ford and Burrowes (stationed at Middletown Point with twelve men), wrote accounts of the raid. As might be expected, Ford acquitted himself of any blame. He noted that at 4:30 a.m. “a body of the enemy effected a landing at red bank, about one mile from Shrewsbury, my patrol fired on them but being small did little or no execution.” On learning of the raid, "I immediately detached Capt Beale with 30 men to observe their movements & retard them in their march towards Tinton Falls.” Ford wrote that he planned to make a stand at Tinton Falls: We guarded the bridge before them, where I intended to have made a stand, but for the superiority of their numbers, which was as near as I could judge three to one, and on apprehension of their sending a party on my left flank which was by no means secure, I judged it expedient to retreat till a body of militia could be collected. After falling back six miles to Colts Neck, Ford blamed low militia turnout for not counterattacking. He wrote: “the militia have by no means answered my hopes or wishes, not more than 150 if so many has collected.” So, he stayed at Tinton Falls even while detailing considerable destruction: They burnt two dwelling houses belonging to officers of the militia, destroyed everything they could in others, not leaving a single pane of glass in any windows belonging to the people, after committing every wanton act they could, plundered and destroying all the furniture they found. The raiders also drove “all the stock of horses, sheep and cattle they could collect before them.” Ford noted that resistance was offered by a party of his men under Captain Beale and “a few of the militia” which limited the loss of livestock “as the principal part was again retaken.” He acknowledged that Colonel Holmes “collected a party and is hanging on their flanks.” Ford “estimated at 1000 men” as the raiding party’s size. He incorrectly reported that the party was commanded by Courtland Skinner, General of the New Jersey Volunteers. He also suggested that “the party at Shrewsbury amounted to 6 or 700 [under Ferguson],” more than twice the size reported in other sources. Ford downplayed his losses which “does not amount to more than a dozen men missing” – he would later admit to losing 25 men. He picked up two British deserters. John Burrowes wrote Lord Stirling (General William Alexander) of the raid: They got in the village of Middletown at daybreak - another party of them landed at Shrewsbury, near the same time, which went to surprise Coll Ford's command of Continental troops, but he happily got off. I mustered twelve men at 8 o'clock & gave them to understand we were about them - they continued in the village till 3 o'clock, when they began their retreat. Burrowes wrote that he “kept a constant fire for two miles, when Coll Holmes of the militia, with about sixty of his men, reinforced us, then their retreat was somewhat precipitate.” It is improbable that the Burrowes-Holmes party (70-80 men) would have hastened the retreat of the 750-man combined raiding party. Burrowes claimed the raiders had “three dead and fourteen wounded carried on board.” The raiders “wounded one of our men slitely [sic] and taken eight of the inhabitants of this place." Captain William Beatty, serving under Ford at Tinton Falls, wrote briefly about the raid: In the morning before sunrise, we were very near cut off by a party of the British under Major Ferguson, but having a little notice of the enemy's approach, we retreated about 7 miles toward Monmouth Court House [Colts Neck]. I lost all my clothes except what I had on, several other officers shared the same fate. Our loss in men was 22. The enemy left Shrewsbury at 9 o'clock, and the next day we took our posts again. George Washington received Ford’s and Burrowes’ reports and summarized them in two reports to Congress. Beyond facts offered by Ford and Burrowes, Washington suggested that the raiders sought “probably to cut off Colonel Ford's detachment, [and] obtain supplies and plunder the inhabitants.” But Washington also believed that northeast Monmouth County was vulnerable to British occupation: They [the British] may, however, possibly have it in mind to establish a post in that quarter for purposes of encouraging the disaffected, drawing provisions and forage from the adjacent country, and encouraging recruits to their corps of levies. Governor William Livingston also received reports on the raid. He wrote Washington that the raiders behaved “in the most dastardly manner” and retreated “to their very boats before less than one quarter of their number." Livingston continued the narrative that the Burrowes-Holme party vanquished the much larger raiding party in a letter to Anthony Bleeker a few days later: About 70 of our militia have drove between six and 800 British troops from Middletown quite to their boats, & the latter never pretended to take a stand except by just facing about on every advantageous spot & giving one volley, and prosecuting their flight. New Jersey’s Chief Justice, Robert Morris went to Tinton Falls shortly after the raid to rally the locals. He wrote Stirling on May 5 that Ferguson’s raiders were successful because they passed Black Point “under cover of darkness and thickness of fog” without detection. He also noted that Capt. Beale’s 40 men and Asher Holmes's militia did all the fighting during the raid because Ford "was unable to find any ground advantageous” for taking a stand. For his apparent timidity, Morris wrote that "Col Ford is censured by some of the inhabitants for his conduct." No doubt, Morris was understating sentiments about Ford. Morris also wrote of the incomplete damage to the village: On the one hand, "the enemy left the commissary's stores at the Falls inconsiderably injured,” on the other “they burnt every dwelling house within a few yards on each side of them, and committed the most wanton acts of destruction I ever beheld." Benjamin White, a storekeeper at Tinton Falls, wrote of the raiders’ conduct that day: So enraged that they lost their prey, they set fire to the houses and burned and plundered many on their return. I hid most of our dry goods but they broke open the store, robbed us of what they could, filled their canteens with spirits and let the rest run to waste. They had my mare out and were going with her, and while I was tussling with the soldiers, others were plundering my house. The guns left by our troops were broken on a fence, they seemed like wild or mad men. Eliza Chadwick Roberts, daughter of militia captain Thomas Chadwick also described the village: The houses that they had the preceding day left in the peaceable possession of their wives and children now displayed a column of fire... My father saw his habitation tumbling in a mass of flaming ruins... He beheld at a small distance the house of Colonel Hendrickson on fire. All through 1778, George Washington resisted requests to station a regiment of soldiers in northeast Monmouth County. He worried that the regiment might “do rather more harm than good” by serving as an attractive target to larger raiding parties without having the strength to resist them. That is exactly what happened on April 26, even if the raid was likely sparked by the Loyalist estate auctions two weeks earlier. After this raid, Ford’s men stayed in Monmouth County for another month before withdrawing on May 31. When they left, they were not replaced. This left Tinton Falls vulnerable to a smaller but even more punishing raid on June 9. Related Historic Site : Old Mill Inn Appendix New Jersey Gazette, May 5, 1779 : "On the 26th ult the enemy in two divisions landed in the county of Monmouth, one party at Shoal Harbor, which marched to Middletown and got into the village at daybreak; the other went in flat-bottomed boats into the Shrewsbury River, landed at Red Bank, and then proceeded to Tenton [Tinton] Falls. Colonel Ford with the Continental troops retired to Colts Neck. Near the middle of the day the party, which had landed at Shrewsbury, crossed the river and went to Middletown, where both divisions formed a junction. They sent their boats round the bay shore to near Harbert’s plantation, where they had thirteen sloops waiting to take them off. At eight o’clock, Captain Burrows, who had mustered twelve men, gave them to understand that they were surrounded by the militia; they continued in the village until three o’clock, when they began their retreat. Capt. Burrows was then joined by three more men, and kept a constant fire upon them for two miles, when Colonel Holmes of the militia with about 60 of his men, reinforced Capt. Burrows, and then the enemy’s retreat was precipitate; they were drove on board at sun-set and immediately set sail for New York. Their numbers were about 800, commanded by Col. Hyde. We had but two men but slightly wounded. The enemy left three dead behind them, their wounded they carried off as their rear made a stand at every hill, house, and barn in their route. One of our inhabitants says 15 wounded were carried on board. In their progress, or rather flight, they plundered the inhabitants and burnt several houses and barns. Had they landed in the day, or till our militia could be collected to half their numbers (which we reckon sufficient to drub them) they would doubtless have repented their invasion. But ever choosing, like their brother thieves, the hours of darkness, they generally land in the night and before the militia can be collected, flee to their vessels with precipitation, snatching up in their flight what plunder they can, and then blazon away in their lying Gazettes; turning one of their sheep stealing nocturnal robberies into one of the Duke of Marlborough’s victories at Flanders." Sources : Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Frank Moore, The Diary of the American Revolution, 1775-1781 (New York: Washington Square Press, 1967) pp. 356-7; Howard Peckham, The Toll of Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974) p 59; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) pp. 97-8; John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 14, pp. 443, 456, 462, 465; Judith M. Olsen, Lippincott, Five Generations of the Descendants of Richard and Abigail Lippincott (Woodbury, N.J.: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1982) pp. 159-61; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 168, item 152, vol. 7, #275-7; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 169, item 152, vol. 7, #283-4; Henry Clinton to Lord Germain, William Clements Library, Henry Clinton Papers, vol. 57; George Washington to Congress, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 57, April 26, 1779; David C. Munn, comp., Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey (Trenton, N.J.: Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Geology, 1976) pp. 91-3; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 57, April 26, 1779; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 87; William Beatty, "Journal of Captain Wiliam Beatty of the Maryland Line, 1776-1781", Historical Magazine, 2nd Series, 1867, pp 117; Henry Clinton, The American Rebellion; Sir Henry Clinton's Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775-1782, with an Appendix of Original Documents (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1971) p 123; Maryland Gazette, Library of Congress, May 7, 1779; William Livingston to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 20, 8 April–31 May 1779, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, pp. 281–282; William Livingston to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 20, 8 April–31 May 1779, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, pp. 281–282; William Livingston to Anthony Bleeker, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 3, p 78; Henry Laurens to John Laurens, Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 12, p 428; Autobiography of Eliza Chadwick Roberts, coll. 215, Monmouth County Historical Association; Morris, Robert, “Letters of Chief Justice Morris, 1777–1779,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 38 (1920), pp. 172-4. 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 > George Taylor and Nathaniel Scudder Report the Arrival of the British Army by Michael Adelberg A massive British fleet passed Sandy Hook and entered lower New York Harbor on June 30, 1776. Monmouth County’s George Taylor and Nathaniel reported the event. - June 1776 - At the end of June 1776, a massive British fleet began arriving at Sandy Hook, the peninsula at the entrance of New York that was taken by the British navy two months earlier. This massive British fleet numbered 120 sails on June 29. It carried 25,000 soldiers—the largest European army ever sent to the Americas. Long before the fleet’s arrival, Monmouth Countians worried that they could not protect Middletown and Shrewsbury townships, oppositive of Sandy Hook. In April, for example, Joseph Throckmorton, the Shrewsbury Township Magistrate, wrote the New Jersey Provincial Congress about his county’s weakness. He worried that if the British found New York “strongly fortified and garrison'd” they would naturally turn their attention to the “defenceless country” opposite Sandy Hook with “the necessary refreshments and supplies they may so easily obtain.” Throckmorton assessed the Monmouth County militia facing Sandy Hook, particularly in light of recent recruiting by David Forman to enlist “Flying Camp ” to augment George Washington’s Army: As to our strength to defend ourselves, it is much weaken'd by ‘listing of men for the Continental service, and this last supply of men and arms, if not soon recall'd or other ways supplied, may render us incapable of defending ourselves from becoming an easy prey to any invaders, which at this time very much dispirits the inhabitants of this County to be left In so defenceless a condition. Throckmorton furthered worried that “the sending of fifty Jersey muskets to supply part of Col. [William] Maxwell's Battalion and the late draft has took a considerable part of our best Arms.” In June, the Monmouth County militia camped opposite Sandy Hook on the Navesink Highlands. Commanded by Colonel George Taylor, they were the first rebelling Americans to see the British fleet, and it was their responsibility to report on the critical event. James Bowne, serving under Taylor, recalled: The company consisted of about sixty privates - besides the officers - they were quartered at a house on the Bay shore near the upper part of the Highlands where they could see from their quarters the enemy shipping and had a fair view of Sandy Hook, where the enemy lay. On June 29, Colonel George Taylor of Middletown reported the first of the British fleet was arriving. The New Jersey Provincial Congress recorded receiving notice from Taylor that "45 sail is now in sight & 19 sail are at the Hook, & a party of men already landed at the Light House & some light horse." At the same time, Taylor assessed his own vulnerable position. He pessimistically predicted: "The party of men and Light Horse [at Sandy Hook], I have no doubt, will pay us a visit as soon as convenient for them. Our guard is very weak , and not sufficient to make any stand." Taylor’s assessment is corroborated by militiaman George Smock, who recalled that the British landing put “strict terror in the hearts of all." Indeed, on Sandy Hook, the British were receiving reports on the weakness of local defenses. James McFarlane, a Loyalist who enlisted in the British Army a few days after the fleet arrived, reported that “there was nobody on the other side of the Island [Sandy Hook] but a parcell of Jersey rascals.” McFarlane told that the British that “500 [British troops] would drive them all.” John Covenhoven of Freehold, a delegate in the Provincial Congress serving as the body’s Vice President, immediately forwarded Taylor’s report to the Continental Congress. Covenhoven noted steps taken to supply Taylor’s militia and then appealed for help: We have taken steps to move forward a considerable number of arms & ammunition, lead & powder... We rely on your care and protection from every part of the Continent, and doubt not that the most vigorous steps have been taken for our general safety. On July 1, the majority of the British fleet passed Sandy Hook and entered lower New York Harbor. At this critical moment, Nathaniel Scudder, a Committeeman and Lt. Colonel of the Monmouth militia, rode through the night to deliver word to the New Jersey Provincial Congress. During the night he heard booms that he mistook for cannon-fire from the British ships of war (probably thunder). He arrived at the Provincial Congress on July 2 mistakenly believing that the invasion of New York was already underway. Understanding the exceptional vulnerability of Monmouth County, Scudder called for the Monmouth militia to be exempted from duty outside its boundaries. The men should "not be prevailed upon to march to New York and leave their wives and children to fall prey to the enemy, if they should be repulsed at New York, or to be murdered by the Tories in their absence.” John Covenhoven immediately passed Scudder’s report to the Continental Congress along with his own letter: We have this moment undoubted information, by Lieutenant Colonel Scudder, from Monmouth County, that about four o' clock yesterday afternoon, he observed nearly the whole of the enemy' s fleet in motion, and at half past six in the afternoon, saw about one hundred and thirty sail in the channel from the Hook to New York ...that he left Middleton at eleven o' clock last evening; and at about four this morning, being at the high land between Upper and Lower Freehold, heard a very heavy firing of cannon. Covenhoven also reported on events in his home county: We also received, by Colonel Scudder, a letter from Colonel [George] Taylor, of Monmouth, dated yesterday, informing us of that County being so exposed to the enemy without, and the Tories among themselves, that he apprehends the Militia will not be prevailed on to march to New York, and leave their wives and children to fall either a prey to the enemy, if they should be repulsed at New York, or be murdered by the Tories in their absence, who are embodying themselves, and a considerable number already encamped at the Cedar Swamps. Covenhoven concluded by asking the Continental Congress to "send forward all the assistance in your power." However, the greatest threats to the Continental cause in Monmouth County would not come from the British Army, but from Monmouth County’s own Loyalists. Some of these men were already in insurrection against the new government while others were forming into companies that would soon join the British Army at Sandy Hook. Related Historic Sites : Independence Hall (Philadelphia) Sources : Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p137; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Bowne; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, pp. 1133-4; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 82, item 68, #155, 159; John O'Connor, "Nathaniel Scudder's Midnight Ride," New Jersey Historical Commission Newsletter, vol. 6, n. 3, November 1975, p 2 & 7; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v1: p 1-2; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - George Smock; Journal of H.M.S. Chatham , Captain John Raynor, June 29, 1776, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Admiralty 51/192. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; "The Examination of James MacFarlan a Soldier belonging to the 55th Regiment, July 5, 1776, Washington Papers, LC. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; Joseph Throckmorton at Shrewsbury to Azariah Dunham, April 4, 1776, Lloyd W. Smith Collection, MNHP. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Monmouth Soldiers Participate in Campaign against Iroquois by Michael Adelberg In summer 1779, New Jersey’s Continental Line marched into Pennsylvania to punish the Iroquois Indians for past frontier raids. About 100 Monmouth Countians participated in the campaign. - July 1779 - As described in another article, spring 1779 was a hard time for the New Jersey troops in the Continental Army. The state was unable to properly pay or provision its men. So, the soldiers of the New Jersey Line were in poor condition and foul disposition when they received orders to march west into Pennsylvania and campaign against the Iroquois Indians. Six Monmouth Countians—Captain John Burrowes, Lieutenant William Barton, Sergeants Michael Errickson, Moses Sproule, Thomas Roberts, and Privates Benjamin Paul and Henry Johnson—kept journals or wrote letters during parts of the campaign. This article highlights their documentation of the campaign. Before the Campaign Thomas Roberts of Middletown Point (serving under Captain Burrowes) recorded that his company left its camp at New Brunswick on May 29 and reached Easton on June 5. That day, the Army hanged three soldiers for desertion and made a fourth run the gauntlet. After spending a few days at Easton, the company marched further west. Michael Errickson of Freehold wrote of additional discipline on June 12: "three men hanged in presence of our troops and a great multitude of inhabitants, for murder & robbery." Lieutenant Barton of Allentown wrote his father, Gilbert Barton, from the village of Wyoming, Pennsylvania on June 22: Very few Indians seen near here lately – they supposed to be spies only… This place is composed of a few log huts and a fort on the river Susquehanna, which is a beautiful river. Our living is tolerable good as the woods abound with wild hogs of which the soldiers kill numbers. Barton complained of the “horrid roads” and inactivity: “We are laying here doing little or nothing, but hope soon to go on from this place.” A week later, Sergeant Roberts compared the countryside surrounding Wyoming favorably to Middletown Point: "The land is very good for wheat or anything that is put in the ground, the shad lay on the river and on the shore as thick as most bunkers on the Middletown shoar [sic]." But Roberts also noted damage from Indian raids, "the buildings is destroyed on both sides of the river for 20 miles." Errickson also noted the destruction, writing on June 27 that he "marched nineteen miles in the shadows of death." The New Jerseymen stayed put through July. On July 22, Lt. Barton wrote again from Wyoming: We have been retarded here much longer than was expected on account of some part of our provisions that was intended for us being entirely spoiled and unfit for use… The Genl says he is determined to march in a few days or he will not go... We are to march the first for a place called Tioga, to which place we can take our provisions in boats, but from there up on horses – thirty days flour and all of our baggage as there is no other way of conveyance. It appears that we shall return when that is exhausted. Barton also took a swipe at two Monmouth County officers who were apparently ducking service: “The savages have very lately been doing some mischief at Minisink, for particulars I refer you to Mr. Rhea [David Rhea] and Capt Combs [John Combs], they seem to avoid this place with great caution.” Other Monmouth officers were also getting excused from the campaign. On July 1, General John Sullivan, leading the Continental Army in northeast Pennsylvania, granted leave to Lt. Colonel David Brearley of Allentown, "Lt Col Brearley having business of importance which calls him to New Jersey has leave to retire from the Army." Brearley would become New Jersey’s second Chief Justice . On July 5, Errickson recorded that "Captain Burrowes set off this evening for Philadelphia on public business." Private Henry Johnson of Middletown wrote his father from Wyoming on July 22: "The Injenes [Indians] have done a great deal of mischief here, but we lie undistressed by them. We expect to march in about a week after the Injenes, when we return I know not." Sgt. Roberts recalled finally marching to the frontier line on July 29 where he saw "buildings were burnt by the savages.” Barton wrote of leaving Wyoming that same day: Upwards of one hundred boats arrived the day before yesterday with stores & a like number of wagons yesterday from Easton, which will enable us to proceed. I am wanted to remain at this garrison but believe I shall not. If I do, shall endeavor to get home before long. The Iroquois Campaign About August 1, Sullivan’s troops entered Indian County. Sgt. Sproule of Englishtown wrote of frequent transportation challenges. On August 2, he wrote, "several of the packs consisting of ammunition & provisions was lost on account of a [steep] defile & darkness." On August 3, the men had to "lay still this day to collect the cattle & c. which had strayed during the last night." A few days later, "three bullocks was lost when they fell down a defile." At the end of the month, Sproule wrote that "the roads being so bad that the baggage wagons overset at different times, which retarded the march." Despite the challenges, the soldiers soon came upon Iroquois settlements. On August 12, Sgt. Roberts noted that the troops were ordered to be ready for combat; the first skirmish occurred the next day. Roberts recorded that as the men fired a village, they skirmished with an Iroquois party-- killing seven and wounding eight before the Indians fled. There were two more skirmishes in the next three days. Sproule wrote of entering an Iroquois village on August 13, where he "found the enemy had abandoned the town in great confusion… the army then went to destroying corn" and razing the village. After days of advancing, Errickson wrote on August 17 the "troops was weary, very fatigued.” That same day, the Iroquois exacted some revenge, sneaking into camp, killing three cattle, and scalping a sentry. Not coincidentally, Lt. Barton wrote a melancholy letter to his father that day: I have undergone a long and fatiguing march and retain my health perfectly as I ever did in my life. Yet I must confess time passes on but tediously in this horrid Indian country where there is nothing to cheer & divert one’s mind--unless it is barely thought of against returning to Jersey after reducing those infernal savages. God grant it may not be too long they meet the destruction they justly merit. The next day, Barton wrote again, describing the court martial and lenient punishment of Upper Freehold’s Isaac Robins: He was sentenced to have ten lashes only, and had he not been favored surprisingly, it would have been one hundred. Richard Jobs was ordered to flog him and to favor him likewise, which he did, for you could hardly perceive that he had been whipt at all. Errickson wrote of more court martials being held on August 22, including a court martial of a Sergeant Wilson who was "reduced in rank" and forced to run a gauntlet. Errickson wrote that this "made me very sorry, by all accounts he was not guilty." By late August, Captain Burrowes, had returned from Philadelphia and rejoined his men. On August 25, he wrote of the need to quit campaigning: "The season of the year is advancing when we should begin to think about winter quarters, as the men are poorly clothed and not above one in 12 have a blanket, and the nights here are already very cool." Despite his worries, General Sullivan and the campaign went forward. Burrowes wrote on August 27 of the men feasting at an Iroquois field: We got this night to a large flat… where corn grows such that cannot be equaled in Jersey… contains about 100 acres of beans, cucumbers, simblens, water-melons and pumpkins. We sat until between one and two o'clock feasting on these rarities. Indeed, the men ate so well that General Sullivan cut the men’s rations on August 30 and, according to Burrowes, “it was agreed and answered with three cheers." Burrowes noted that "the men find a good deal of plunder in every town and settlement we come to... the savage villains continue flying before us and generally leave their villages a few hours before we enter them." While Burrowes showed contempt for Iroquois fighters, he was impressed by their agriculture and villages. On August 30, he wrote: “The land exceeds any I have ever seen, some corn stalks measure eighteen feet, and a cob one foot and a half long.” Then, he wrote of an ample fruit orchard at the next settlement. And a week after that, Burrowes wrote of the Iroquois village of Cashong: “The houses new and built very neat and appeared that they were whites that lived there.” More often, Burrowes wrote about the difficulties of the campaign. On August 31, he wrote that "the country is very mountainous, makes our march very tiresome" and the next day the men marched "through a most horrid swamp." A week later, Burrowes worried that food was now scarce, "Living is already hard. We eat meat twice in three days & bread once in four or five. The country abounds with corn and beans which we live solely on, salt is very scarce." According to Errickson, there were several mini-sieges and skirmishes as the troops pushed deeper into Indian Country. Lt Barton wrote of an attack on an Iroquois fortification on August 29: “Some shells and round shot were thrown at their works, which caused them to give several yells, and doubtless intimidated them much.” The artillery apparently killed several. Barton reported, “they gave a most hideous yell and quit their works… leaving their dead behind.” Barton noted the corpses of the Iroquois fighters “were scalped immediately.” Moses Sproule wrote that among the enemy killed on 29th were "one Tory, one Neggar." Having scattered the resistance, the New Jerseyans fired the fields on August 30, took “plunder of all kinds” and scalped four Indians. Sproule recorded that on August 28, "the troops went to destroying the corn & c., with which this place abounded." On August 30: "this day was spent destroying corn." On August 31, he was sent "to destroy what crops of corn they could find." The brutality of the campaign worsened. Sgt. Thomas Roberts wrote on August 30: “Found four Indians and scalped them and brought them into camp . . . besides a great deal of plunder of all kinds.” The same day, Lt. Barton wrote, “Toward noon they found them and skinned two from the hips down for boot legs; one pair for the Major and the other for myself.” The next day, the New Jersey troops captured two Indians and "skinned their legs & dressed them for leggings." Sproule recorded that two weeks later, the New Jerseyans found two soldier corpses "mangled in a most inhuman and barbarous manner, having pulled the nails out by the root, tied them to a tree and whipped them with prickly ash, threw darts at them, stabbed them with spears, cut out their tongues & off their heads." Captain Burrowes also reported on two corpses (possibly the same men): We find Lieut. Boyd and one of the men... their heads cut off and scalpt [sic]. They had been whipped horribly. Their body's are spread all over and Boyd's partially skinned. Such is the barbarity of these savage villains. The campaign continued through September. Errickson wrote that on September 8, the New Jersey troops burned an Indian village and the surrounding fields which Erickson estimated at “50 acres of corn, 50-60 houses.” Errickson recorded that on September 6 "most of the day was employed in destroying the corn & c., and collecting the cattle" and on September 8, 400 men went to raze an Indian village. On September 15, Errickson wrote: "the whole of the troops this morning, with great cheerfulness, went about destroying the corn & c. at this post." The same day, Burrowes estimated the destruction: "It is judged we have burnt or destroyed about sixty thousand bushels of corn and two or three thousand of beans." The destruction continued. Errickson wrote that on September 23: "most of the day was taken up destroying the scattered towns & c. within two or three miles around this town." Benjamin Paul, a private from Monmouth County, recalled an encounter at an Iroquois village. The soldiers found one old squaw remaining. She refused to serve as a guide or leave, so the men gathered her a basket of provisions and then "all the rest was destroyed.” Paul personally “cut down a large apple orchard and assisted to destroy fields of corn, beans and Indian towns.” The men also rescued a hostage: “We also took a white woman and kept her until we returned to Wyoming, where she had been taken." None of the journals lists a specific date that the Continentals ended the offensive and turned around, but the campaign was over by early October. Lt. Barton and his company returned on September 30. He wrote his father: I am very well & arrived the 30th of Sept. at this place with very little loss on our side, but total destruction of the Indian Country, which we have penetrated about three hundred miles, burning everything before us & supposed by some to have destroy’d one hundred thousand bushels of corn, but others think a much larger quantity… Mr. Rhea [David Rhea], who will be the bearer, is in great hurry. Tomorrow morning, the Army marches for Wyoming; when we arrive there, I shall apply for leave to come home. Captain Burrowes also returned and was safe enough on October 9 to spend the day hunting with Captain Jonathan Forman. The New Jersey troops were all back in Wyoming by October 12. After the Campaign It is impossible to know exactly how many Monmouth Countians participated in the Iroquois campaign, but one hundred is a reasonable estimate. There two company commanders—Burrowes and Jonanthan Forman—from Monmouth County and recruits were typically raised from the captain’s locality. Burrowes had 35 men in 1779 and Forman likely had a similar number. By mid-1779, the New Jersey Line companies had been jumbled by drafts and consolidations making it likely that Monmouth Countians were serving beyond these three companies and vice versa. The viciousness of the Iroquois campaign went beyond anything seen in Monmouth County to that point. The brutality of the local war in Monmouth County surged in 1780 as both sides formed active vigilante groups—the Association for Retaliation and the Associated Loyalists —that sought to punish the enemy beyond military objectives. It is probable that the brutality of the Iroquois Campaign influenced this lurch toward greater brutality. Veterans leaving the Army after three years of army service likely brought these tactics into Monmouth County’s local war. Related Historic Site : The Iroquois Museum Sources : Thomas Roberts, Letter, Journals of the Military Expedition of Maj John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians, 1779 (NY: Knapp, Peck, & Thomson, 1887), p245-6; John Sullivan to David Brearley, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I41, Memorials to Congress, v1, p475; Thomas Roberts Journal, Journals of the Military Expedition of Maj John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians, 1779 (NY: Knapp, Peck, & Thomson, 1887), p240-5; Library of Congress, Michael Errickson, Diary; William Stryker, The New Jersey Continental Line in the Indian Campaign of 1779, (1885) pp. 8, 13, 62-3; John Burrowes, Journals of the Military Expeditions of General John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians (Auburn, NY: Frederick Cook, 1887) p 42-50; John Burrowes is quoted in John Rees, Supply Shortages, Suffering Soldiers and a Secret Mission During the Hard Winter of 1780, Military Collector & Historian, v52, n3, Fall 2000, p100-7; John Burrowes Journal, Frederick Cook, Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan against the Six Nations (Auburn, N. Y.: Knapp, Peck and Thomson, 1887), pp. 8, 42-51, and 244; Johon Burrowes Journal, Frederick Cook, Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan against the Six Nations (Auburn, N. Y.: Knapp, Peck and Thomson, 1887), pp. 42-51; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Benjamin Paul; Sproule, Moses. "The Western Campaign of 1779: The Diary of Quartermaster Sergeant Mosts Sproule of the Third New Jersey Regiment in the Sullivan Expedition of the Revolutionary War, May 17-October 17, 1779" Edited by R. W G. Vail, pp. 11-34; Letters of Lt. William Barton, son of Gilbert Barton, 1777-1779, American Revolution Institute, Society of the Cincinnati, 13 A.LL.S., Washington, DC; Henry Johnson’s letters in Monmouth County Historical Association, Collections Alphabetical, Letters 1770-1779. 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 British Navy Takes Sandy Hook by Michael Adelberg The HMS Phoenix was among the first British warships to land on the western bank of Sandy Hook. The British Navy took Sandy Hook without a fight in April 1776. - April 1776 - April 1776 was a tense time in New York City. American independence was not yet declared, yet Continental soldiers were flowing into the city and building defenses in preparation for a British attack. Meanwhile vestiges of the Royal Government continued in the city and a handful of British naval vessels sat in the harbor. The vulnerable position of the British ships was punctuated on April 7 when a small party of British was attacked while drawing fresh water on Staten Island. This resulted in the capture of one of the British boats and its crew. After this incident, Rear Admiral Molyneux Shudlham, commanding the British squadron in New York, determined it was necessary to move his ships to a less vulnerable location with fresh water. Sandy Hook was easily defended from New York, had fresh water nearby, and was a strategic location from which ocean-bound shipping could be either guarded or menaced. On April 7, Captain Thomas Parker of the Phoenix anchored off Sandy Hook and his sailors disembarked on the undefended peninsula. Within days, the British were garrisoning Sandy Hook as the Phoenix stood guard from the Raritan Bay side. A 12-man sentry was stationed at the bottom of the Hook to guard the freshwater well. The British also burned the pilot’s house near the lighthouse in order to deny cover to would-be attackers. Lighthouse keeper, Adam Dobbs, was restricted in his activities and ordered to stay on the Hook. He was likely viewed with suspicion because his brother, William Dobbs, had previously refused to assist a British tea-ship and had recently joined the Continental Army. On April 16, the remaining British ships at New York sailed for Sandy Hook with the remainder of New York’s Royal Government, including Governor William Tryon. Tryon reported that the British navy officers, on reaching Sandy Hook, “found it expedient for his Majesty's Service to burn down the Pilot-House, at the Hook.” He would also permit Dobbs to leave the Hook for New York if a boat was sent for him. He wrote to New York’s mayor that “all possible care has been taken to Mr. Dobbs and his property, that if you will send a sloop to the Hook, it will be suffered to bring up to New York, Mr. Dobbs, his servants and effects." Dobbs was promptly retrieved and deposed before the New York Provincial Congress. After hearing from him, the Provincial Congress determined that Dobbs had information of value for the recently-arrived George Washington. It transcribed Dobbs’ testimony and: “Ordered, That Captain William Dobbs wait on his Excellency General Washington, with the said copy of a Letter." William Dobbs had enlisted in the Continental Army; he was the brother of Adam Dobbs, and the former pilot at Sandy Hook. Three days later, Tryon reported to George Germain, the British Foreign Secretary: I have now got down with my Ship under the guns of the Phoenix man of war, which is anchored within the Bay off Sandy Hook. This was necessary in order to replenish the Ship's water which was considerably expended. As I judged the possession of the Light House might prevent the Seamen from insults when watering at the well near the Light House, I have ordered a Sergeant and 12 men, from Cap' Campbell's new raised Company, for a night guard. Captain Parker assuring me that in case of extremity he could cover their retreat by the cannon of his Ships. The Pilot's house adjoining to the Light house is burnt down to prevent its being made a lurking place to the enemy, three or four hundred of which appeared yesterday near the Isthmus of the Peninsula where the Light house stands. The last sentence of Tryon’s report, in which he mentions 300-400 of the “enemy” at the bottom of the Hook must have been a reference to the still-organizing Monmouth militia . Companies of Middletown militia under Colonel George Taylor were stationed opposite the British, but they were less numerous than Tryon reported and in no condition to threaten the British. A British Colonel, Templehoffe, was on Sandy Hook during this time period. He discussed the importance of "being in possession of the light house upon Sandy Hook, which guards the right hand side of the harbour's mouth.” He further stated, “The entrance into the harbour is completely commanded by the light-house." His assessment about the importance of Sandy Hook was shared by Continental officers who would soon seek to dislodge the British. Related Historical Sites : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : Bruce Bliven, Under the Guns, New York 1775-1776 (New York: Harper & Row, 1972) p 236-7; Colin Lindsay, Extracts of Colonel Templehoffe's History of the Seven Years War (London: T. Cadel, 1793), v2, p484; David Syrett, The Royal Navy in American Waters, 1775-1783 (Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1989), p 16; Harlow McMillen, “Red, Green, and a Little Blue: The Story of Staten Island in the American Revolution, Part 8,” Staten Island History, 1st ser., vol. 32 (1977): Part 3, p 25-6; Pennsylvania Ledger, May 4, 1776; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Ledger, vol. 1, Jan. 1775-Nov. 1776; Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York (Albany: John R. Broadhead, 1857), vol. 8, p677; New-York Gazette, Monday, May 6, 1776. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; Peter Force, American Archives, v5:955, 1470; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 1, pp. 92-3; Genealogical webpage on William Dobbs: https://familypedia.fandom.com/wiki/William_Henry_Dobbs_(1716-1781) . 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 > David Forman Sends Intelligence Reports to George Washington by Michael Adelberg In 1777 and from 1780 into 1782, Monmouth County’s David Forman provided intelligence reports to George Washington about the movement of British ships and troops at Sandy Hook. - June 1780 - From spring 1777 onward, George Washington sought intelligence on the movement of British ships and troops coming in and out New York Harbor via Sandy Hook. Monmouth County, and the Navesink Highlands-area in particular, provided the best views of Sandy Hook. Starting in 1777, Colonel David Forman of Manalapan, leading a locally-raised Continental Army regiment, provided intelligence reports to Washington. But Forman lost his command in early in 1778 and apparently stopped sending reports. After the Battle of Monmouth and the arrival of the French fleet in America, the need for regular intelligence on British movements took on new importance. Starting fall 1778, reports were provided by Continental officers who were temporarily stationed in northeast Monmouth County, starting with Major Richard Howell and Captain John Burrowes in summer 1778. After that, Washington sent regiments of Continentals in Monmouth County and relied on Colonels Caleb North (January-February 1779), Moredcai Gist (March 1779), and Benjamin Ford (April-May 1779) for intelligence reports. When Ford left Monmouth County, it appears that Washington lacked an officer who could be held accountable for regular intelligence reports. In addition to the men mentioned above, on July 27, Washington requested Middlesex County’s Colonel John Taylor (not the Monmouth County Loyalist of the same name ) to provide “immediate notice of any embarkation, the sailing of any troops out of the harbor or of the arrival of any in it, or the departure or arrival of any Vessels, whether they have troops on Board or not.” He noted that “it would be extremely useful to have look outs in Monmouth County and at the town of Amboy to keep an exact account of all Vessels coming in and going out and make daily reports to be transmitted to me.” However, Taylor did not emerge as a regular source of intelligence. In September, two officers in the Monmouth County state troop regiment, reporting to Colonel Asher Holmes, sent intelligence reports on the movements of the British. For example, Major Elisha Walton reported: Yesterday afternoon came a fleet consisting from sea consisting of seven men of war, forty-five square rigged vessels; we are informed by some of the Refugees that made a descent upon our shore that it is the 2nd division of Arbuthnot's fleet with troops from England, but what number we could not learn. We are informed by a deserter that came over yesterday. Lieutenant Jacob Woolcott, “commanding at Shrewsbury,” also sent a brief report on a British fleet leaving Sandy Hook on September 23. A week later, David Forman, for the first time in three years, was observing the British fleet at Sandy Hook from the Navesink Highlands. He noted the diminished size of the British naval squadron and concluded the British "are reduced to a position more to be pitied than feared." He pledged to join the Continental Army on an anticipated Franco-American assault on British positions in New York. David Forman’s Intelligence Reports, 1780 In June 1780, a string of punishing “man-stealing ” raids into Monmouth County and talk of vigilante reprisals re-raised affairs in Monmouth County to the attention of Continental Congress and Army leaders. Washington also learned that the French fleet had left the Caribbean and Sandy Hook was a likely destination. For both reasons, Washington re-established contact with David Forman and charged him with assisting the cavalry officer , Major Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, in linking up with the French. Washington also asked Forman to report on the movement of British ships at Sandy Hook. On June 12, 1780, Forman sent Washington a note that a British flotilla had crossed the channel north of Sandy Hook and entered lower New York Bay. Washington valued this intelligence because he wrote, on June 14, to the “Commanding Officer” of the Monmouth militia about the need to support Forman: As General Forman will probably, in the course of some months to come, have occasion to transmit me intelligence of a very interesting nature from the County of Monmouth, you will be pleased, whenever required by him, to direct one or more Light Horsemen of the County Militia to attend him and bring forward his dispatches to me. By doing this, you will render a very essential service to the public. The unnamed commanding officer was Asher Holmes, the colonel of the largest Monmouth militia regiment and colonel of the regiment of state troops defending Monmouth County. Holmes and Forman had many disagreements . Washington’s camp knew Holmes (who had twice marched militia to support the Army); it likely was a snub to leave Holmes unnamed on the order to support Forman. Forman lived in Manalapan and was deeply involved in founding the Association for Retaliation , a vigilante society soon enmeshed in violence. So, Forman only occasionally went to the Highlands to personally observe the British fleet. He hired Captain Joseph Stillwell of Middletown to perch himself in the Highlands (Garrett’s Hill most of the time) and send near-daily observations. Parts of Stillwell’s diaries have survived. Stillwell’s reports from June 16-20, 1780; July 1-8, 1780; July 16-20, 1780; November 5-11, 1780; December 12-14, 1780 were sent to Washington. There were other reports that have not survived. Most of these reports are short and concern information only on British ship movements; Stillwell often reports no activity or foggy weather preventing his view. Other Topics in Forman’s Reports Forman’s reports to Washington often included information on events in Monmouth County. Forman, an ambitious man who stretched the boundaries of decorum and his own authority, periodically sought Washington’s favor on topics well beyond British movements at Sandy Hook. On June 17, for example, Forman discussed a privateer flying “English colors” that attacked “fifteen of the trading vessels from Shrewsberry to New York” while “they was on a general fish party on the banks of the Shrewsberry.” Forman then informed Washington: My information, and I believe it is good, says that eleven or twelve of them was taken as the privateer immediately stood southward with her prizes. We are not informed who the prisoners are, we expect all are principal traders & plunderers of this Country - immediately on this information, I sent to Egg Harbor where I presume the prisoners are, if possible, to prevent there being paroled or discharged until their characters are fully known. Should they prove the gang we suppose they are, I hope it will be instrumental in restoring peace to this County. Why did Forman tell Washington about captured Loyalists at Little Egg Harbor? Probably because Forman lacked any jurisdiction over these prisoners and his stature with Gloucester County officials was enlarged if he could invoke Washington’s name when making an appeal to detain the prisoners. Unfortunately, we do not have further documentation of Forman’s attempt to detain and interrogate the captured Loyalists. On July 9, Forman lobbied Washington for troops to capture Sandy Hook. He discussed British plans to obstruct the expected French fleet “by interrupting the channel way at the point of the Hook & at the same time taking possession of the Hook with a body of troops and heavy cannon, they would make the passage almost impossible.” Forman predicted that bad weather or obstructions would “oblige the French fleet to put to sea." He then discussed the advantage of occupying Sandy Hook: With possession of the Hook, every difficulty would be removed in a very short time - by landing a few pieces of heavy cannon, the troops could cover the French ships while they drew the sunk vessels out of the channel or until they could wrap their ships through them. Washington did not respond to this proposal. Spotty Intelligence from David Forman’s Informers Forman continued sending intelligence reports in 1780 and intermingled information from these sources with Stillwell’s observations. On June 18, Forman wrote: “Yesterday afternoon, three frigates arrived within Sandy Hook. In the evening, a fourth ship was run in. The Tory report of this day is that Admiral [Marriott] Arbuthnot was on board.” Forman also wrote, incorrectly, that “this afternoon a large French fleet appeared, standing for Sandy Hook." On July 30, Forman sent intelligence after interrogating a deserter from Sandy Hook. He wrote Washington that “I have it from a mate of a vessel in their service, yet I believe an honest man in his information." The deserter described plans to sink ships at Sandy Hook if the French fleet arrived: "They should sink their store vessels in the place they now lay, which will, I apprehend, for a time render the passage of large ships up to the Narrows impracticable." Forman then reported on British ships leaving Sandy Hook, adding that "informers from New York” said the ships were headed for Rhode Island. On September 1, Forman again mixed Stillwell’s observations of British ships with word from informers in New York. Accounts from New York agree that there has been an amazingly severe press there for some time past and still continues - that the people are very generally dissatisfied and dispirited - it was also said Sir Harry [General Henry Clinton] was embarking his troops for Rhode Island. This last detail was false and Forman likely understood the mistake afterward. Two weeks later, Forman again reported based on an informer in New York. He reported that 5,000 troops were boarding transports. This time, Forman qualified his source, "this account my informant says may be relied upon.” And Forman went further: Should I ascertain further information that the intelligence is in any way wrong, I shall correct it by finding an honest man as soon as I shall be better informed. Yet I would observe to your Excellency that I have hardly ever been deceived by accts through this channel. Forman’s informer was spectacularly wrong six months later. In April 1781, Forman ignited a boomlet of excitement among the nation’s leaders by reporting a British invasion of the Delmarva Peninsula at New Castle, Delaware. He wrote on April 2: By account this day rec'd from New York, I am informed that a large embarkation is now in forwardness for Delaware Bay, that Genl. Clinton will take command of it & take a post at New Castle. My informant says confidence may be put in this information -- in justice to his intelligence I have found him hardly to err. Forman sent similar reports to Samual Huntington, President of the Continental Congress, and Governor William Livingston. Livingston forwarded Forman's report to Congress with a smidge of doubt, writing: "I know Genl. Forman's intelligence has been generally found true." Other times, however, Forman’s human intelligence gave him early word—even word about top secret activity. On August 3, Forman interrogated "sixteen artificers of the French Army" and sent Washington word: "These men tell me that the whole of the French Army are on the march to this State.” This was correct, but Forman incorrectly guessed why the French were coming, writing “that New York will soon be invaded." Forman was not supposed to know the French were moving, and did not imagine that the French would link up with Washington and march for Virginia to capture the British Army at Yorktown. Washington’s Reliance on Forman’s Intelligence While Forman’s intelligence, particularly from New York sources, was sometimes inaccurate, there is no doubt that his reports were valued. On June 18, 1780, Washington wrote General Robert Howe that Forman "is entirely to be depended upon" (though this was before Forman conveyed incorrect information from informers). Even when there were gaps in Forman’s reports, such as a gap from August 23-30, Washington was typically polite to Forman: I have not had the pleasure of hearing from you since your first favor of 23rd. inst. and I am informed from N York that a fleet with part of the Army of Lord Cornwallis arrived at that place last Friday. My anxiety will be well and early informed of the enemy's movements by water, induces me to wish to hear from you as often and as speedily as any material circumstance renders it necessary. Washington expanded even Forman’s responsibilities to include commanding the cadre of pilots gathered at Basking Ridge under Captain William Dobbs—men to be mobilized on the arrival of the French fleet. Washington wrote Forman: Immediately upon the appearance of a fleet near Sandy Hook, and you are satisfied it is the one we are expecting, you will please to give order to the pilots to repair down, where they may be at hand to be improved as occasion and circumstances shall require. Even in May 1781, after Forman’s intelligence was proven incorrect a number of times, Washington was grateful to Forman for his services. He wrote: “I am exceedingly obliged by the distinct and full intelligence of the sailing of the British Fleet - I had not before been able to ascertain the matter, and I was very anxious to do it." Forman rehired Joseph Stillwell at Washington’s request. It also appears that Congress valued Forman’s reports. On July 7, 1780, John Brown of the Continental Congress’s Marine Committee wrote directly to Forman to request intelligence reports: We would be much obliged to you if you would employ some suitable person to observe the motions of the enemy ships as they go in to and come out of New York, and transmit the number of guns and the condition, together with their movements. Brown informed Forman that he would be compensated for "any reasonable expense." Congress had even sent Forman a gift to assist him in reporting on British movements: “The Board are informed that an excellent spy glass was sent to your quarters by the Navy Board last year for the purpose of observing the motions of the Enemy from the Highlands." Forman’s reports to Congress have not survived. Perspective Whether Continental or British, Revolutionary War leaders were starved for information about the enemy. Whatever his flaws, Forman was George Washington’s best source of early intelligence on the movement of British men and ships in and out of New York. This made Forman valuable despite the inaccuracies in some of his reports. Savvy individuals like Washington and Livingston may have understood that Forman’s information from Stillwell could be trusted while the information from informers was suspect. Forman was also diligent in reporting his difficulties in gathering intelligence (see Appendix) and these difficulties, coupled with the value of his reports, earned Forman the goodwill of Continental and State leaders. Forman would need this goodwill as he was, simultaneously, leading a vigilante society, the Association for Retaliation, into lawless and violent acts. Related Historic Site : Hartshorne Woods Park Appendix: Difficulties Gathering and Sending Intelligence Reports On June 17, 1780, Forman boasted to Washington about the outposts he established to gather intelligence to Washington. He wrote, "I have established different posts for upwards of fifty miles of seacoast, that I think it will be impossible for any number of ships to be on the coast without my immediately being informed of it.” But his sentries proved unreliable and, at times, bad weather made observation difficult. Just two days after his boast, a frustrated Forman reported that foggy weather prevented useful reports from his posts. Therefore, he would go to the shore himself. "By daylight,” he wrote, “I will myself be on the Highlands of Middletown." Forman returned to the Highlands on June 29, writing Washington, "I rode down to the Highlands of Middletown - the day was rainy and dull as to prevent any particular observation." He went to the shore again on July 17, "I rode down to Shrewsbury yesterday, but the weather being too foggy to make any critical observation." While at Shrewsbury, Forman met with Major Lee and his cavalry. Forman informed Lee that he had to leave Monmouth County “on business” and needed Lee to provide intelligence reports in his absence. Lee might have disagreed and Forman might have complained to Washington. On July 19, Washington gave Lee a stern order: I depend on you for information of every occurrence, which will save General Forman the trouble of a business which I could only with propriety request the favor of him... For the future, you will make the report every two days, of the appearance at the Hook in which the more detail the better. Forman returned to Monmouth County in time to report again on August 11. He noted the arrival of British ships at Sandy Hook and promised to return to Shrewsbury for more information. He reported again from Shrewsbury on August 13, noting that he was in dangerous country "with only a small guard." Forman also noted that foggy weather hampered his intelligence; he was back in Freehold on August 16 and sent his next report. On May 21, 1781, Forman apologized to Washington for subpar intelligence reports due a family tragedy: "My whole time has been so entirely engaged with the distress of my family, loss of my little son, that I have not been of intelligence so as to form of an opinion on the destination of the fleet." He did, however, note that three deserters claimed a British fleet was heading for the Chesapeake. He also asked Washington about whether or not to rehire Stillwell. Washington promptly replied: I shall very willingly consent to take a man into pay at the rate you mention as the heights of Monmouth are the only ones from whence the movements of the enemy fleet in and out of the Hook can be clearly discovered. Stillwell was re-employed; the May 29 report included observations from Stillwell. Forman also ran into problems getting his reports delivered. An attempt to communicate via warning beacons had failed a year earlier—forcing Forman to rely on express riders. Forman wrote with frustration on July 9, 1780: “There is so few militia horse ordered out and so much use for them that in many instance I cannot be furnished with one in twenty four horses, and never until I send 15 or 20 miles for them." Washington was aware of Forman’s difficulties maintaining express riders. In August, when there was a break in regular reports, he wrote Forman, “I am very fearful that you have met with more trouble in establishing the Chain of Expresses than was expected.” Forman had to finance his horses and riders to carry reports. In 1782, Colonel John Neilson wrote that he and Forman were frustrated by having to make outlays for horses and riders: "If this mode is to be continued, it will be necessary to establish a fund to defray the expenses of that business, for no person can be prevailed upon to do it without being paid their traveling charges." Neilson also expressed frustration with Forman for taking one of his horses, “He has disappointed me, and is possessed of a horse which I am doubtful of his being entitled to." Sources : George Washington to John Taylor, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, July 27, 1779, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw150526)) ; Elisha Walton to Congress, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 157, item 147, vol. 2, #496; Jacob Wolcott, letter, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 157, item 147, vol. 2, #489; David Forman to George Washington, Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 4, p 428; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post, July 1780; David Forman to George Washington, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 171, item 152, vol. 8, #603 and vol. 9, #179; George Washington to New Jersey Militia Officer Commanding the Monmouth County, 14 June 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-02093, ver. 2013-09-28; David Forman to George Washington, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 19, p 29; Forman’s letter noted in Thomas Fleming, The Forgotten Victory: The Battle for New Jersey - 1780 (New York: Reader's Digest Press, 1973) p 223; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 67, June 29, 1780; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 67, June 30, 1780; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 223-4; David Forman George Washington, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 93, item 78, vol. 9, #319; John Brown to David Forman, National Archives, Collection 332, reel 6, #260; David Forman to George Washington, 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. 19, p 183; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 68, July 17, 1780; George Washington to Henry Lee, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 19, p 214 note; George Washington to David Forman, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw220484)) ; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 80, August 11, 13, and 16, 1781; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 70, September 1, 1780; David Forman to William Livingston, U. of Michigan, Clements Library, Henry Clinton Papers, box 151, folder 42; David Forman to Congress, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Gratz Collection ALS; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 78, May 17, 1781; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 78, May 29, 1781; Personal Correspondence: David J. Fowler, Letter: David Forman to ?, August 3, 1781; John Neilson to Timothy Pickering, National Archives, Misc. Numbered Records, 85: 24782. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Death of the Pine Robber, Jacob Fagan by Michael Adelberg The first Pine Robber gangs, including that of Jacob Fagan, laired in the marshes between Shrewsbury and Manasquan. Fagan was only an outlaw a few months when he was killed by militia. - September 1778 - The Pine Robbers were Loyalist outlaws who lived in the coastal marshes and interior pine forests of Monmouth, Burlington, and Gloucester counties. While many of these outlaws made a living primarily by acting as middlemen in the illegal trade between disaffected farmers and the British commissary at Sandy Hook, others engaged in multiple violent robberies and burglaries. A lot that has been written about the Pine Robbers is improbable and not supported by original documents. One account, for example, claims that Jacob Fagan’s Pine Robber gang had a sophisticated fortress-lair: Fagan's gang had a state-of-the-art hideout in the pine barrens. Trap doors hidden under leaves and branches in steep hillsides admitted the pine robbers into 30 foot tunnels. These ended in storerooms that were large enough to hold six men. Buried beneath their floors was thousands of dollars worth of patriot loot. Romantic depictions aside, living in swamps and subsisting off the occasional robberies of people who were, themselves, not wealthy, was a very difficult way to live. Fagan’s outlaw existence, which lasted only a few months, was not “state of the art.” Many Pine Robbers did not survive the war; of those who did, there is no reason to think they were anything other than poor at war’s end. Historian David Fowler, who wrote the defining work on the Pine Robbers, traces their origin to early 1777 when some of the defeated Upper Freehold Loyalist insurrectionists hid in the woods after their insurrection was toppled. A few of these men were captured and jailed . Others may have stayed in the woods. These men laid low and convinced themselves that the British would return as liberators. But when the British Army traversed Monmouth County and quit New Jersey in July, 1778, any flickering hopes of liberation were dashed. Now, these Loyalist recluses mixed with British Army deserters and pre-war ne’er do wells. They emerged in outlaw gangs that have been imprecisely labeled Wood Rangers, Tory Banditti, and especially, Pine Robbers. In June 1778, a dozen men received death sentences for treason, robbery, and burglary at Monmouth County’s Court of Oyer and Terminer —half were pardoned. Two of these Loyalists, William Dillon and Robert McMullan, either became Pine Robbers or consorted with them after their pardon. In August 1778, Major Richard Howell, from his camp at Black Point, wrote about marching after a Pine Robber gang to his south, but it is unclear if he ever did so. What is clear is that Pine Robbers gangs—swelled by deserters from the British Army—grew increasingly bold in summer 1778. The Rise of Jacob Fagan and Attempts Take Him Jacob Fagan was a criminal who was twice indicted for larceny before the war. In 1776, he stole a horse, and then joined the Continental Army some months later (perhaps in exchange for a pardon). Fagan did not serve long. On March 20, 1777, Jacob, his brother, Perrine Fagan, and a third deserter were “brot [sic] in” to the Continental Army camp with six other “Tories.” The men were likely hiding in the woods following the collapse of the Loyalist insurrections in January. The man who took them, Lewis Bestedo, was an ardent Whig who would capture another group of Tories-in-hiding two weeks later. Though returned to the Army or jailed, Fagan escaped. He likely lived as a vagrant or outlaw in Monmouth County’s swamps through the summer of 1777. With winter coming, Fagan joined the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers in November 1777. Fagan’s battalion of Loyalists was with the British Army during the march across New Jersey in June 1778. In the days before the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778), Fagan and a few other Monmouth County Loyalists with the British Army, deserted and camped in the marshes a few miles inland from Shrewsbury. They became the core of the first notorious Pine Robber gang. Fagan and his gang must have been active robbers in summer 1778 based on the many steps taken to counter him. Daniel Dey of the Monmouth County militia recalled in his veterans' Pension Application: I volunteered for one month under Capt Walton at the time the British Army evacuated Philadelphia and marched through the State of New Jersey, was in the battle of Monmouth - was one week in the service under Col. [David] Forman hunting Tories through the pines, capturing more than 20 of them and fastened them together, two by two by the neck with a strong rope. William Lloyd also recalled going "in pursuit of the Refugees of the Pines” in 1778. He further recalled that “they broke into the house of a man I knew and killed the man and his wife." Jacobus Van Zandt of New York rode to Shrewsbury on July 16 to deliver pilots to the French fleet that was anchored off shore. He likely heard stories about Fagan’s gang and probably had to take precautions that made his trip unpleasant. He wrote: “I am much Fateagued and almost Burnt up with hot sand, in going through a Villanous Tory country.” On August 10, with Fagan’s infamy building, the New Jersey Legislative Council (the Upper House of the legislature) asked Governor William Livingston to "order out one class of militia from each of the counties of Burlington and Monmouth, to be stationed in Monmouth” to protect residents from “the disaffected persons skulking in the pines." Two weeks later, Major Richard Howell, stationed at Black Point with a small guard of Continental soldiers, attempted to infiltrate Fagan’s gang and then proposed to attack them: I sent out two men who pass for deserters to join the wood Tories, but could not join them, from their caution, having been deceived before. Since that measure was defeated, I now propose to go down by night & surround the swamp in which they are from, with this intelligence, and burn their cabins. However, there is no evidence that Howell went after Fagan. Fagan’s Most Notorious Incident and Death The primary documented incident involving Fagan was the robbery of the house of Captain Benjamin Dennis. Amelia Dennis, the 15-year-old daughter of Captain Dennis, later recalled Fagan and Stephen Emmons (who used the alias “Burke”) and two others coming to the family home near Manasquan. Dennis was a target because he was a strong supporter of the Revolution and because he was holding money from a sale of a captured Loyalist vessel. Captain Dennis was not home when the Pine Robbers approached, but his wife and daughter were. The first man to enter the house was a man named Smith, who, according to Amelia Dennis, was secretly an informer against Fagan. He warned Amelia to gather her father's valuables and flee into the woods. Amelia “hid a pocketbook containing eighty dollars in a bed-tick.” She and her little brother hid in the woods. Fagan and Emmons entered the house and became frustrated when they could not find any money. They found Rebecca Dennis, Amelia’s mother, and “took her to a young cedar-tree and suspended her to it by the neck with a bed cord” to force her to reveal the money's location. The potential hanging was disrupted by a passerby (John Holmes) who fled when the robbers descended on him. During the distraction, Mrs. Dennis freed herself and ran off. The robbers left with only a few household items. Afterward, Captain Dennis moved his family to the village of Shrewsbury for safety. According to Amelia Dennis, Smith informed Captain Dennis of Fagan's plan to return to the Dennis home in order to more thoroughly search for the hidden cash. The militia set up an ambush and fired upon both Fagan and Burke when they came, but the Pine Robbers escaped. However, Fagan was apparently wounded and his body was recovered a few days later in a swamp. Fagan's body was brought to Freehold where: The people assembled, disinterred the remains, and after heaping indignities upon it, enveloped it in a tarred cloth and suspended it in chains with iron bands around it, from a large chestnut tree, about a mile from the Court-house, on the road to Colt's Neck. There hung the corpse in mid-air, rocked to and fro by the winds, a horrible warning to his comrades. Amelia Dennis’ full account is an appendix to this article. Fagan’s death was reported in the New Jersey Gazette and Pennsylvania Evening Post . Jacob Fagan, the chief of a number of villains of Monmouth County, terror of travelers, was shot. Since which his body was gibbeted on the public highway in that County, to deter others from perpetrating like detestable crimes. The near-hanging of an innocent woman was an outrage that stirred the New Jersey Government. On September 30, the New Jersey Assembly, not knowing Fagan was already dead, concurred with a request from Governor Livingston: To issue proclamations offering such reward or rewards as his Excellency and the Privy Council shall deem proper for the apprehension of Jacob Fagan and Stephen Emmons, alias Burke, and certain other disaffected and disorderly persons in the County of Monmouth, who have for the time past committed, and still continue to commit, diverse felonies & depredations on the persons & property of the inhabitants thereof. The upper house of the legislature, the Council, recommended that Governor Livingston place bounties on the heads of: Jacob Fagan ($500), Stephen Emmons, alias Burke ($500), Samuel Wright of Shrewsbury, William Van Note, Jacob Van Note, Jonathan Burdge, and Elijah Groom ($100 each). The New Jersey Gazette published the Governor’s proclamation accordingly on October 7: Whereas it has been represented to me that a number of persons in the County of Monmouth, and particularly those herein mentioned, have committed diverse robberies, violences and depredations on the persons and the property of the inhabitants thereof, and in order to screen themselves from justice, secret themselves from justice in the said County: I have therefore thought proper, by and with the advice of the Council of this State, to issue this Proclamation, hereby promising rewards herein mentioned to any person or persons who shall apprehend and secure, in any gaol of this State, the following person or persons to wit: for JACOB FAGAN and STEPHEN EMMONS, alias BURKE, five hundred dollars each; and for SAMUEL WRIGHT, late of Shrewsbury, WILLIAM VAN NOTE, JACOB VAN NOTE, JONATHAN BURDGE and ELIJAH GROOM, one hundred dollars each. The militia had already killed Fagan—so, Dennis and the other militia were ineligible to collect on his bounty. In November, Dennis petitioned for the Jersey Assembly for the bounty anyway. Governor Livingston was sympathetic to Dennis and wrote a letter on his behalf. Livingston noted that he could not give Dennis the bounty, but urged the Assembly to "recompense [Dennis’ party] for their risque and trouble as may be suitable encouragement for others to undertake the like enterprises." On December 1, the Assembly voted to award Dennis £187 for his efforts—this amount was likely reimbursement for expenses related to mustering the militia to go after Fagan. The Council concurred on December 12, though it called the sum “a reward for taking Jacob Fagan” rather than reimbursement for expenses. This was less than the bounty on Fagan’s head, but still a significant sum. Fagan’s death was re-reported in the New Jersey Gazette on January 29, 1779, after three other members of his gang (including Stephen Emmons) were killed. The newspaper wrote: "the destruction of the British fleet could not diffuse more joy through the inhabitants of Monmouth County then has the above deaths of these three most egregious villains." The death of Emmons is the subject of another article . The death of the Pine Robbers was big news. It was reported as far away as Williamsburg, Virginia, where the Virginia Gazette reported on February 26: We hear from East Jersey that a desperate gang of murderers, chiefly refugees, deserters from New York, were lately brought to condign punishment in a most striking manner. For months past these miscreants had plundered Monmouth County with impunity, all means used to curb their excesses being eluded, by their vigilance and sudden retreat to the pine forests. At length, however, they were way layed by a party of armed men, who put the whole to death. However, other Pine Robber gangs led by Lewis Fenton, William Davenport, John Bacon and others would form and prove more destructive and durable than Fagan’s gang. The swamps of the Monmouth shore would remain, in the words of historian Donald Shomette, “lightly populated and altogether wild... the haunt of rowdies, smugglers, and highwaymen.” Pine Robbers would remain a significant problem for local governments and militia for the remainder of the war. Related Historic Site : Bear Swamp Natural Area Appendix: Amelia Dennis’ Account the Pine Robber Attack on Her Family One Monday in the autumn of 1778, Fagan, Burke [actually Stephen Emmons], and Smith came to the dwelling of Major Dennis, on the south side of the Manasquan River, four miles below what is now the Howell Mills, to rob it of some plunder captured from a British vessel. Fagan had formerly been a near neighbor. Smith, an honest citizen, who had joined the other two, the most notorious robbers of that time, for the purpose of betraying them, prevailed upon them to remain in their lurking place while he entered the house to ascertain if the way was clear. On entering he apprised Mrs. Dennis of her danger. Her daughter Amelia, a girl of fifteen, hid a pocketbook containing eighty dollars in a bed-tick, and with her little brother hastily retreated to a swamp near. She had scarcely left when they entered, searched the house and bed, but without success. After threatening Mrs. Dennis, and ascertaining she was unwilling to give information where the treasure was concealed, one of them proposed murdering her 'No!' replied his comrade, 'let the d—d rebel b—h live. The counsel of the first prevailed. They took her to a young cedar-tree and suspended her to it by the neck with a bed cord. In her struggles she got free and escaped. Amelia, observing them from her hiding place, just then descried John Holmes approaching in her father's wagon over a rise of ground two hundred yards distant, and ran toward him. The robbers fired at her; the ball whistled over her head and buried itself in an oak. Holmes abandoned the wagon and escaped to the woods. They then plundered the wagon and went off. The next day Major Dennis removed his family to Shrewsbury under the protection of the guard. Smith stole from his companions and informed Dennis they were coming the next evening to more thoroughly search his dwelling, and proposed that he and his comrades should be waylaid at a place agreed upon. On Wednesday evening the Major, with a party of militia, lay in ambush at the appointed spot. After a while Smith drove by in a wagon intended for the plunder, and Fagan and Burke came behind on foot. At a given signal from Smith, which was something said to the horses, the militia fired and the robbers disappeared. On Sunday, the people assembled, disinterred the remains, and after heaping indignities upon it, enveloped it in a tarred cloth and suspended it in chains with iron bands around it, from a large chestnut tree, about a mile from the Court-house, on the road to Colt's Neck. There hung the corpse in mid-air, rocked to and fro by the winds, a horrible warning to his comrades." Sources : Stephen Davidson, The Pine Barrens: Jacob Fagan's Gang, United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada, http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Trails/2012/Loyalist-Trails-2012.php?issue=201243 ; David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987); Journal of Colonel Israel Shreve, Louisiana Technical University, Special Collections (excerpted by David Fowler); Muster Roll of 2 nd Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, February 24, 1778, Library and Archives of Canada, Loyalist Muster Rolls, New Jersey Volunteers, vol. 1855, reel C3874; JohnJohn Raum, The History of New Jersey (Philadelphia: John Potter, 1872) v2,p72-4 Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p196-7; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Freehold, NJ: Moreau Brothers, 1887) p 36; Donald Shomette, Privateers of the Revolution: War on the New Jersey Coast (Shiffer: Atglen, PA, 2015); National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Daniel Dey of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#15489356 ; William Lloyd’s pension application contained in John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 135-16; Jacobus Van Zandt to George Clinton, Clinton Papers 3: 560–6. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; David Bernstein, Minutes of the Governor's Privy Council, 1777-1789 (Trenton: New Jersey State Library, Archives and History Bureau, 1974) p 83-4; Richard Howell to William Maxwell, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress, Series 4, Reel 5; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 30, 1778, p 180-1; David Bernstein, Minutes of the Governor's Privy Council, 1777-1789 (Trenton: New Jersey State Library, Archives and History Bureau, 1974) p 91-2; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Library of Congress, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; William Livingston to New Jersey Assembly, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 2, pp. 487-8; New Jersey Legislature notice, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 13, Document A; John C. Paterson, The Pine Robbers of Monmouth County, unpublished manuscript in the collection of the Monmouth County Historical Association, 1834, p 3; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 3, p 54; Virginia Gazette, February 26, 1779, 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 > Privateer Captain William Gray Clashes with London Traders by Michael Adelberg While dozens of privateers took British ships near Sandy Hook, they mostly ignored the Loyalist gallies that rowed or sailed in their midst. William Gray, however, took two Loyalist boats in 1782. - January 1782 - As noted in prior articles, in 1779, large numbers of privateer vessels from New England began “cruising” the sea lanes to and from Sandy Hook, capturing vulnerable British/Loyalist shipping. While there is a great deal of documentation of the larger prizes they took and their periodic showdowns with British naval vessels, there is little documentation about the encounters between these privateers and the Loyalist boats that sailed the same New Jersey shoreline and violently clashed with local militia. Dozens of small Loyalist vessels carried out the so-called London Trade , bringing the farm goods and lumber of disaffected New Jersians to British buyers at Sandy Hook and New York. Yet there is almost no documentation of the interactions between New England privateers and London Traders. Perhaps the privateers were more interested in larger prizes than small trading vessels, but it is also likely that there were actions that simply went undocumented because the prizes were small and they were taken into small inlets where nobody wrote up a report for a newspaper. Captain William Gray Attacks London Traders For this reason, the actions of the Massachusetts privateer, Dart , captained by William Gray, is unusual. Gray’s capture of two vessels, and attempted capture of a third, in January 1782, is well documented. On February 6, 1782, the New Jersey Gazette reported that on January 19: Arrived at Toms River, the schooner Dart privateer, from Salem, Captain William Gray, and brought in with him a sloop prize taken from the Black Jack, a galley belonging to New York; and the next day his boat, with seven men, went in pursuit of a brig which was near the bar, but neither boat nor men have been heard of since. The final piece of the New Jersey Gazette report is noteworthy: “The next day his boat, with seven men, went in pursuit of a brig which was near the bar, but neither boat nor men have been heard of since.” According to antiquarian sources, which vary on the details, Gray went to Dillon's Island in Barnegat Bay and gave chase to a London Trading boat owned by William Dillon, though Dillon was not in it. Gray captured the boat, Lucy, when it grounded outside Cranberry Inlet. They brought it into Toms River. The next day, Gray, with eight men in a whaleboat pursued a Loyalist brig, which was, ironically, being piloted by William Dillon. Gray’s boat and the London Traders kept up a running fire all the way to Manasquan. Despite being outnumbered, Gray attempted to board the brig. In the resulting melee on the deck of the brig, Gray and six of his men were captured. Gray was jailed in New York for four months (another source claims six) before being exchanged. (Note: One antiquarian source suggests that Gray was victorious in this third encounter with London Traders.) A New Jersey Admiralty Court announcement from Abiel Aiken (the court’s agent at Toms River ) advertised that a court would be held on March 16 at the house of James Green in Freehold to hear Captain William Gray’s claim (in absentia) on the sloop Lucy "taken on her voyage from Egg Harbor to New York" with a cargo and "a Negro man named York." The claim was against William Dillon. Before the war, Dillon was a boatman from Toms River. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to death at the 2nd Monmouth Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1778, but was pardoned. Dillon returned to Toms River and rowed out to a British party later that year when it raided the port to reclaim the vessel, Love & Unity . While Dillon had a role in capturing Gray, he lost his boat and slave. He may have desired revenge for the losses and prior abuses. Dillon returned to Dover Township two months later as a guide for a raiding party of Associated Loyalists that razed Toms River . This is the subject of another article. It appears that Gray exacted revenge on Monmouth County Loyalists after his release. Thomas Brown of Dover Township was the son of Captain Samuel Brown, one of a half-dozen Monmouth County militia officers who blurred the lines between militia service and privateering. Thomas Brown recalled an action against the Pine Robber gang of William Davenport in June 1782. His Dover militia company, in the row vessel named Civil Usage, planned to attack William Davenport’s Pine Robber gang at Clam Town (present-day Tuckerton). The Dover militia used themselves as a decoy by rowing through Little Egg Harbor and lured a Pine Robber galley to attack them. Gray's privateer brig then closed on the Pine Robbers. Brown recalled: "The vessels engaged. Captain Davenport and eight or nine of his men were killed by the first broadside of the privateer... and was immediately taken possession of by Captain Gray and sunk." Davenport and the defeat of the Pine Robbers at Forked River is the subject of another article. Other New England Privateers along the Disaffected Monmouth Shore With the exception of Gray, it is remarkable how little documentation exists of New England privateers clashing with local disaffected and Loyalists on the lower Monmouth shore. This is despite the fact that New England privateers would have come in contact with the disaffected residents of this region dozens of times as they came into New Jersey’s inlets for supplies or to escape storms and British warships. Privateers towing prizes into Chestnut Neck (the inland village up the Mullica River from Egg Harbor) or Toms River would have routinely passed small clusters of cabins and boats used by London Traders and Pine Robbers. Yet it appears that an informal détente existed much of the time between privateers and disaffected shore residents. Privateers and disaffected were on different sides in the war, but both were fundamentally opportunists. There apparently was little to be gained from hostilities. The experience of the Rhode Island sloop, Providence , at Clam Town in November 1779 is telling. The ship’s surgeon, Zuriel Waterman, recalled coming into Little Egg Harbor on November 4, where he: "went on shore at Foxborough Isle.” The island and the disaffected family living there did not impress Waterman: It has but one wretched house upon it, being mostly a marsh spot of rising ground where the house stands; it is 7 miles distant from a little village called Clamtown and fronts the entrance of the [Egg] Harbor. The house is inhabited by one Moses Mulliner, his wife, 2 daughters and a son. Waterman spent two days on the island, during which time nine crew deserted. On November 6, Waterman "went to Mulliner's to get some rum... came to anchor at Mulliner's house." After purchasing what they could from Mulliner, Waterman and other officers went to Clamtown. They "stayed and drank chocolate and played checkers, delaying some time until after dark." On November 9, the officers re-provisioned their vessel, while noting that "articles are very scarce and dear." Waterman took the time to write down the exorbitant prices the privateers were charged for purchasing in Continental dollars . The New Englanders paid: gallon of rum - $80, pound of sugar - $7, pound of coffee - $7, pound of gunpowder - $40, bushel of potatoes - $12, pair of shoes - $60, 1 turkey - $15. Waterman further noted the exchange rate of $1 of specie for $30-40 Continental dollars. However, the privateer officers found some solace on November 12 when they "sold our runaway [sailor's] clothes at vendue, amounted to above £100." Despite spending more than a week in the epicenter of the London Trade and the lair of a large Pine Robber gang, no shots were fired between the privateers and the disaffected locals. The Providence left Little Egg Harbor on November 13. Related Historic Site : Cedar Bridge Tavern Sources : William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 79; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, (Bayonne, N.J.: E. Gardner and Son, 1890) pp. 80-84; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, February 6, 1782; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 79-80; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, February 13, 1782; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 79; William MacMahon, South Jersey Towns (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1973) p 305; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p91; John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 143; Zuriel Waterman, Rhode Islanders Record the Revolution: the Journals of William Humphrey and Zuriel Waterman (Providence: Rhode Island Publications Society, 1984) pp. 73-7. Previous Next