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 Army's Unpleasant Stay at Allentown, June 24-26, 1778 by Michael Adelberg This British map shows the crossroad and cluster of houses that made up Allentown. Leaving town, the British marched east to Freehold rather than northeast toward Cranbury as most expected. - June 1778 - On June 15, the British Army in Philadelphia started ferrying men across the Delaware River into New Jersey. It took four days to complete this action. As the British Army began moving east across New Jersey, it was slowed by thousands of non-combatant Loyalists and camp-followers, and a huge baggage train. The Army stretched out twelve miles on New Jersey’s poor roads. The weather was unusually hot. The New Jersey militia was expecting the enemy’s march. On May 27, General Philemon Dickenson, heading the militia, advertised that, "The militia of this State are to be particularly attentive to signals--as a movement of the enemy is expected soon." New Jersey militia, including Monmouth Countians under Colonel Asher Holmes, made the British miserable. They felled trees across roads, fouled wells, and skirmished with the British throughout their march. The British Army Enters Monmouth County Harried and overheated, the advanced column of the British Army reached Allentown on June 24. There, they found the bridge over Crosswicks Creek broken up (note: an older source claims the broken bridge was across Doctor’s Creek). The British officer, Andrew Bell, wrote: "The rebels had been there in the morning and tore up the bridge, which retarded us a short time.” A German officer named Hauser noted that “rebuilding the bridge kept us three hours." The rebuilding of the bridge impressed at least one Allentown resident, Elizabeth Waln, wife of disaffected mill owner, Richard Waln, who lived near town. She wrote: I never saw the like. The soldiers cut down big trees, trimmed them and brought each tree on porters (short trees passed under). There was a large row of soldiers on each side of a tree; they carried it along as if it weighed nothing, and some went back for another. There were so many men that as far as one tree was brought, another was close behind it, and so the bridge went up... The body marched on, and not the least annoyance was allowed. Col. John Simcoe wrote of the militia forming on the other side of the bridge, "Colonel Simcoe fired two or three cannon shot, which drove the small party from thence, and passed over without the exchange of a musket.” Bell further noted, “The Light Horse and infantry pursued them for four miles, but could not come up with any number." British officer, Thomas Sullivan, described this first skirmish at Allentown: "Fell in with Col. Morgan's [Daniel Morgan] riflemen and a body of militia… a smart firing ensued and the enemy, at length, retreated into the woods without any material loss on either side.” A second British force reached nearby Imlaystown on June 24, but not without incident. Adjutant General Carl Bauermeister wrote, "General Leslie had attempted to force the nearest road the previous evening, but had been compelled to desist because they were occupied by too strong a force. The enemy withdrew, however, during the night." Entry into the village the next day was delayed because the bridge into town "was completely demolished, which delayed his march into Imlaystown… for four and a half hours." A second German officer, Jacob Piel, mostly corroborated this account: “We had to cross a bridge which the enemy had broken up, the repairs to the bridge delayed us three hours." Lt. John Von Krafft, noted on the arrival of his company at Waln's Mill south of Allentown: We were soon again impeded in our march, the rebels having hewn and cast large trees in our way to prevent our baggage train from moving rapidly. Such tricks were often played on us by the rebels and sometimes they showed themselves in considerable numbers on the hillsides. But they never had the courage to attack us. The evening of June 24, the British Army camped in Allentown and nearby. John Peebles, a British officer, observed that “few or none of men inhabitants are at home & many houses deserted entirely.” Officers attempted to keep the Army in good order. Major John Andre wrote that "attention was paid to enforcing the orders respecting plunder, and also the Battalion horses and followers of the Army not mixing in the line of march." Lt. Colonel Alerud Clarke recorded receiving orders that "the women [campfollowers] are to march with the baggage" to lessen fraternizing and plundering. Despite the attempts to keep the Army in good order, there was bad behavior. Robert Montgomery, a militia officer, was robbed. Per an "inventory of property destroyed June 1778," he lost $249 worth of property. British soldiers reportedly "put a rope around the neck" of a family slave who would not reveal where the family hid its silver, but then let him go. In addition, three cannon balls were fired into Montgomery’s house during the June 25 skirmish. John Andrews, a supporter of the Revolution, wrote a memorandum shortly after the British left town: This day the British troops passed by with the Army, and the rear of the Army encamped at Lawrence Taylor's [tavern] and extended their three lines northern of my house, and plundered all after that part of the day, that they took from me, horses, cattle and hogs, destroyed all my grain and flax, took all of my meat and a number of things to the amount of £278. Another antiquarian account noted that the British used the Allentown Presbyterian meeting house as a stable for their horses, and damaged the building substantially. It was never repaired. John Peebles suggested widespread misbehavior by British soldiers. He wrote on the evening of the 24th that “a good deal of plundering [is] going on." On June 26, as Continental soldiers passed through Allentown, Joseph Plumb Martin of Massachusetts recorded: We had ample opportunity to see the devastation they made in their route; cattle killed & lying about in the pastures; some just in the position they were when they were shot down, others with a small spot of skin taken off their hind quarters and mess of steak taken out; household furniture hacked to pieces; wells filled up and mechanic's and farmer's tools destroyed. Better conduct was expected from British officers. Mrs. Waln recalled a British officer dining at her house: "He ate heartily and at the close of the meal, a large pile of bones by his plate... while the family refrained from eating." A twelve-year-old girl later recalled a British officer walking into her family’s house: “We all fell in to help the officers, giving them the entire table [of food]." But at the house of Elisha Lawrence (not the Loyalist and a Lt. Colonel in the militia) nearby, officers were refused food: They endeavored to evade this request, and made things as unpleasant as possible. The officer made no attempt to protect that house; and the consequence was [that] it was rifled of all valuables, and the famous Lawrence's fast mare was taken for an officer's horse. Historian John Fabiano wrote that when the British Army came through Allentown, Major John Andre carried a letter of introduction from John Lawrence (who led the first Loyalist insurrection two years earlier). Andre asked Dr. James Newell to care for his sick brother, which was done. When the British left town, Andre left Newell with the spoon (bearing the family crest) he used to feed his brother medicine. This could be used by Newell as a sign of loyalty to any future British parties. Desertion was a problem for the British Army all through the march. By some estimates more than one thousand men deserted during the miserable march across New Jersey and historian Don Hagist has documented 70 desertions during the British Army’s time in Monmouth County. As the Army left Allentown on June 25, Thomas Sullivan, a British soldier, recalled speaking with a corporal commanding a twelve-man guard who "acquainted me of their being inclined to quit the service, which I encouraged by informing them of my intention to do the same." Sullivan deserted during the march on June 25. After doing so, he recalled getting advice from a local: At some distance, I saw an old man who cautioned us against a set of people called Tories, or properly speaking, enemies of their Country. He also informed me of the route to take to escape danger... After a tedious and troublesome march, through woods and marshes, arrived at 4 o'clock within two miles of Allentown, where we met Colo. Morgan's riflemen. Sullivan surrendered to Morgan, who sent him to Philadelphia. He arrived there on June 28—the day of the Battle of Monmouth. British Army Departs Allentown John Andre noted a second skirmish with the New Jersey militia as the British left Allentown on June 25. He wrote: "a body of the enemy soon showed themselves, and passing thro' the village advanced a little toward the Jaegers [German soldiers], but were dispersed by a shot or two from their three pounders." A German captain Heindrich also described this second skirmish at Allentown: “The Jaegers in the rear guard were harassed severely by the enemy who pressed us vigorously” before they were dispersed. The New Jersey militia made the march from Allentown difficult. General Henry Clinton wrote of the rebels "filling up the wells and breaking down and destroying the bridges and causeways before us." Francis Downman wrote that "the rebels cut the ropes of the wells and filled them with rubbish.” Andre wrote: “As we approached Freehold, water was very scarce, the rebels had added to this by stopping up the wells." Bauermeister wrote of the militia blocking passage to Cranbury with "a thousand-yard wide strip of the finest woods cut down in order to barricade all the roads." Skirmishing continued on the march to Freehold. German Officer Heinrich von Feilitsch wrote: “the rebels soon appeared but a Jaeger killed an [rebel] officer. Shortly thereafter they engaged us closely but after a guard reinforced us, they had to retreat." John Peebles wrote of the continued need to “exchange a shot sometimes” with militia parties on the march to Freehold. As for the locals, Simcoe noted that his Loyalists were mistaken for Continental soldiers by locals who “gave the best accounts of the movements of the rebel army" and offered his men water. In contrast, locals avoided Redcoats. Peebles wrote: “A great many people left their houses & drove away their cattle.” By any measure, the British stay at Allentown was unpleasant. They skirmished when entering and leaving town. While some locals were hospitable, most were not—many left town and took their livestock with them. The march from Allentown to Freehold was even worse. The soldiers lacked water and the weather was unseasonably hot. Rumors, no doubt, swirled about rebel forces swelling on their northern flank and rear. Skirmishing and desertions continued. It is easily surmised that the British Army was in a foul mood when it reached Freehold—and Freehold would suffer for it. Related Historical Site : Historic Walnford Appendix: Continental Army and Militia Oppose the British in Allentown Opposing the British on June 24 and June 25 were a regiment of Virginia Continentals under Colonel Daniel Morgan (guided by Monmouth militia under Colonel Asher Holmes) and roughly one thousand New Jersey militia from several counties under General Philemon Dickinson. They did not have the strength to face the British, but they were successful in making the British miserable on their march. On the 24th, George Washington ordered Morgan, You are… to get upon the enemy's right flank and give them as much annoyance as possible in that quarter. Among the militia annexed to you, Gen. Dickinson will take care that there are persons [Col. Asher Holmes] perfectly acquainted with the country and roads, so as to prevent every danger and delay which might arise from want of intelligent guides. The same day, Dickinson wrote Washington of Morgan’s “march in the afternoon for Allentown” to harass the British rear. “I shall order about the three hundred militia who are collected there to join him." A mounted party of Upper Freehold militia under Colonel Samuel Forman was nearby; he informed Dickinson of British movement to Imlaystown but wrongly predicted that the British Army would head toward Hightstown (rather than Freehold). Also on the 24th, Washington wrote General William Heath that "every obstruction is thrown in their way which our circumstances will admit." Washington’s Secretary, James McHenry estimated that the small clashes at Allentown and elsewhere cost the British "thirty or forty in the different skirmishes with our militia and flying parties." Major Thomas Massie of Morgan's Regiment later suggested that the efforts to impede the British near Allentown “stopped them a day and some prisoners were taken." On June 25, Morgan’s Continentals skirmished with the British as they left Allentown for Freehold. The Continentals entered the town at 11 a.m. He wrote Washington: I fell in with their rear. We exchanged a few shot, no harm come. They drew up on one side of the creek and down the other, I sent some parties to skirmish with them and they immediately made off… I am afraid I shant [sic] be able to do them much damage. They encamp in a body so compact that it is impossible to get any advantage. Dickinson’s New Jersey militia entered Allentown soon after Morgan. He wrote Washington that "several deserters coming in - I imagine desertion will be great." At this point, the British line of march (whether through Middlesex County to Amboy or through Monmouth County to Sandy Hook) was unknown. Seeing the British take the road to Freehold, Dickinson informed Washington: “Their rout is certainly thro’ Monmouth, tis generally thought they will embark at the Watering-place [on the Navesink Highlands].” Dickinson further noted plundering by the British, “they have collected a great number of Cattle." General William Maxwell’s New Jersey Continentals reached nearby Hightstown on the 25th. He wrote: I have a small party on the Enemys rear & two Capts. and a Major on their right and rear who says the Desertion that way is Emence [sic]. Major [Joseph] Bloomfield says their rear today marched in much disorder and left a number of their Cattle on the road. They must have put a number of Men in their waggons [from heatstroke] as the day was immencely [sic] hot. Historian Mark Lender, who wrote the essential book on the Battle of Monmouth, described an incident involving the home of Robert Montgomery (an officer in the militia). Henry Clinton had used this house, among the best in town, as his headquarters. When the British left the house, it was quickly occupied by militia who then proceed to take shots at the assembled British from the house. The British fired cannon into the house to disperse the snipers, damaging the home. Three Monmouth Countians wrote of their service around Allentown on June 24 and 25 in their postwar veterans pension applications. John Scott of the local Upper Freehold militia was likely with Samuel Forman. He wrote of being nearly captured: “He acted as an orderly sergeant, he thinks with seventeen men under his command, being detached from his company from Crosswicks to Allentown, then were obliged to surrender & escape with alacrity from a larger party of British troops.” Two militiamen were likely attached to Morgan’s regiment. They described marching on the flanks of the British Army. Matthias Handlin wrote, "The army to which this deponent was attached pursued… and camped north of the British while they lay at Montgomery's farm, about three quarters of a mile, on the farm of Job Cleavenger." Ellison Covert of Freehold wrote: “He marched to Allentown the day the British reached there, and about a half hour before the British reached there. He marched to Hightstown with his company - stayed there all night. Next day, he marched back to Allentown & stayed there all night." Sources : Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; American Philosophical Society, Thomas Sullivan, Journal of Operations in the American War, p 403; John Peebles, John Peebles' American War, p221-8; Bruce Burgoyne, Journal of the Hesse Cassel Jaeger Corps (New York: Heritage Books, 1987) p43-7; Bell, A. "Copy of a journal by Andrew Bell, Esq., at One Time the Confidential Secretary of General Sir Henry Clinton. Kept during the March of the British Army through New-jersey in 1778.” Proceedings of the New jersey Historical Society, vol 6, 1851, p17; Bruce Burgoyne, Defeat, Disaster and Dedication: The Diaries of a Hessian Officer (NY: Heritage Books, 1997) p31-2; John Simcoe, Simcoe's Military Journal (New York: Bartlett & Welford, 1844) pp. 30, 32; Don Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan: Revolutionary Rifleman (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), p 87; Henry Clinton to Alerud Clark, Monmouth County Historical Association, Articles File: "Relic of the Revolution"; Robert Paterson, Diary, Copy: Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Battle of Monmouth files: folder - British Sources; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, June 24, 1778; James Graham, The Life of General Daniel Morgan (NY: Derby & Jackson, 1856), 204; John Fabiano, Allen's Town, New Jersey: Crossroads of the American Revolution, unpublished manuscript in the collection of the Allentown Historical Society, p 45; John C. Fitzpatrick, The George Washington Papers (Washington DC: U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1932, v12, p93; Veteran's Pension Application of Thomas Massie of Virginia, U.S. National Archives, Washington, DC; [?] Hausser, Journal of Quartermaster Hausser of von Lossing's Regiment, New Jersey State Archives, Manuscripts Coll., Papers of William S. Stryker; John Fabiano, Allen's Town, New Jersey: Crossroads of the American Revolution, unpublished manuscript in the collection of the Allentown Historical Society, p 51-2, 54; Allentown Messenger, Nov. 16, 1905; Carl Bauermeister, Revolution in America (New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1957) p185; Anonymous British Officer, Journal, Copy: David Library, Battle of Monmouth Collection, #73; Henry Jackson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 527–528; Bernard Uhlendorf, Confidential Letter and Journals, 1776-1784, of Adjutant General Major Bauermeister of the Hessian Forces (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1957) p 184; John Von Krafft, Journal of John Charles Philip Von Krafft, 1776-1784 (New York: Privately Printed, 1888) pp. 45-6; American Philosophical Society, Thomas Sullivan, Journal of Operations in the American War, p407, 417; Samuel Lockwood, The British March to Monmouth, Beecher's Illustrated Magazine, vol. 6, n. 1, 1872, p24; Mary Murrin, ed., Conflict at Monmouth Court House: Proceedings of a Symposium Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1978) p 13; Willcox, C. DeWitt, Major Andre's Journal, (Tarrytown, NY: William Abbatt, 1930) p 77-8; Joseph Plumb Martin, Private Yankee Doodle: Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (Eastern Acorn Press, 1962) p 123; 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 90; Francis Downman, The Services of Lieut. Colonel Francis Downman (London: Royal Artillery Institution, 1898) p64-72; Alexander Hamilton, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961) vol. 1, pp. 503-4; Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, June 25, 1778; Henry Knox to William Knox, Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC2437.00712, www.gilderlehrman.org ; Edward J. Lowell, The Hessians and Other German Auxiliaries of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War (New York: Harper Brothers, 1884) p213; Correspondence File: Table of British Desertions compiled from Don Hagist, based on documents in PRO, WO 12; Col. Daniel Morgan to George Washington, 6/25/78, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress, Series Four; John Andrews "His Surveying Book, Likewise, Paintings" private collection. Copy: David Library, Battle of Monmouth Collection, #84; Thomas Sullivan, Journal, Copy: David Library, Battle of Monmouth Collection, #52; The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, p. 537; William Maxwell to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 542–543; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Ellison Covert of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#12873752 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Matthias Handlin of Ohio, www.fold3.com/image/#23563620 ; Contained in: National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Scott of PA, www.fold3.com/image/# 16232608; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p 618; Samuel Lockwood, The British March to Monmouth, Beecher's Illustrated Magazine, vol. 6, n. 1, 1872, p25; John Simcoe, Simcoe's Military Journal (New York: Bartlett & Welford, 1844) pp. 32-3; John Anderson, The Battle Cry: Newsletter of the Friends of Monmouth Battlefield, v8, n3, May 2002; Bruce Burgoyne, Diaries of Two Ansbach Jaegers (NY: Heritage Books, 1997) p41-2; Mark Lender, Garry Wheeler Stone, Fatal Sunday (Norman, OK: Oklahoma University Press, 2016) pp 139-156. 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 Travails of Mary Leonard and Other Loyalist Women by Michael Adelberg Easton, Pennsylvania, a town of 500 people, hosted a large prison during the Revolutionary War. Many New Jersey Loyalist prisoners, including Thomas Leonard, were confined there. - May 1777 - In early 1777, as New Jersey came back under Continental control, authorities moved against remaining Loyalists. In Monmouth County, 200+ Loyalists were jailed and dozens of others were brought before the New Jersey Council of Safety . At least that many Monmouth Countians went behind British lines where the majority joined the New Jersey Volunteers , a Loyalist corps of the British Army. While some Loyalists brought wives and children with them, the majority did not. The Loyalist women who remained at home posed a substantial challenge to leaders struggling to establish competent and just local government. As noted in a prior article, Monmouth County lacked a functioning local government in the early months of 1777. The county’s senior military officer, Brigadier General David Forman, was not shy about exercising power to fill that gap. It appears that Forman’s first action involving Loyalist women occurred on April 11 when General Israel Putnam asked Forman to exile the families of two prominent Loyalists: I have sent down, under escort, the families of Mr. Saunders and Dr. [Absalom] Bainbridge, who are going to New York -- should Mrs. Bainbridge choose to stay for the present & then go, you will permit her to remain at her father's house in Middletown. Forman executed the order and now apparently believed it was within his power to act against other Loyalist women. Mary Leonard’s Disaffection Mary Leonard was from the prominent Lawrence family of Upper Freehold. She was the daughter of Robert Lawrence, a judge of the courts under the Royal Government, who retired from public life at the start of the Revolution. She was also the wife of Thomas Leonard, an early Loyalist and major in the New Jersey Volunteers . On February 18, 1777, Thomas was captured and imprisoned somewhere in Pennsylvania. Mary never learned her husband’s location even after she wrote letters of inquiry about him and requested leniency. However, Mary Leonard was not an apolitical innocent. As she was advocating for her husband she was also speaking with Jane Morris, the wife of Captain Robert Morris of the New Jersey Volunteers. Robert Morris had made himself particularly obnoxious to New Jersey authorities when he raised a company of New Jersey Volunteers recruits from Shrewsbury in December 1776 and nearly raised another company in February 1777 (Morris missed connecting with the ship sent to take the Loyalists to Sandy Hook). With Robert Morris in hiding, Mary advised Jane to tell her husband not to surrender himself to New Jersey authorities. For this and the nuisance she caused while inquiring about her husband, Mary Leonard was brought before the New Jersey Supreme Court on May 30, 1777. She was indicted as “a pernicious & disaffected woman, a person with a turbulent mind and seditious disposition.” The indictment further read: Concerning Robert Morris, the husband of Jane, in the presence & hearing of said Jane Morris, did falsely, maliciously and seditiously say & with a loud voice declare "I advise you to inform your husband that the Continental troops and the militia of this State think that he [Robert Morris] is gone off with the King's Party and tell your husband to keep himself secret. I am well informed that the King's troops will be in possession of this country in a few days, and if they [the British Army] find your husband with the Provincials [rebels], they will kill him. The court declared Mary Leonard’s conduct “to the evil example of all.” Mary’s punishment is unknown but it was apparently light because she remained at large. As for Thomas Leonard, he was confined in Reading, Pennsylvania. This is known because the Continental Congress recorded reimbursing the state of Pennsylvania for keeping him from March 3 – June 22. His whereabouts between his February 18 capture and March 3 is not known, but he was sent to the prison in Easton after June 22. Mary Leonard was not told of her husband’s new location. Mary Leonard’s Exile and the Resulting Controversy Mary Leonard apparently spoke harshly about the state of affairs. She drew the ire of David Forman who, without authority to do so, convened some type of military tribunal and then exiled her to New York. With her husband still confined in Pennsylvania, Mary returned to New Jersey in September without Forman’s permission. By this time, Thomas Leonard’s estate had been rented out by the county’s Forfeiture Commissioners, so she could not have returned to her house. Mary Leonard’s troubles roused her father, Robert Lawrence, who had been staying out of politics. On August 28, Lawrence sent a blistering petition to the New Jersey Legislature about Forman’s conduct respecting to his daughter and other Loyalist women: David Forman... presumed to banish some women out of this State into enemy lines, whereupon I apprehended that our new & happy constitution had received a very dangerous wound... this induced me to lay before the Governor & Council of Safety. Lawrence discussed “the arbitrary stretch of power by the said David Forman” and his heated discussion before the New Jersey Legislature about Forman’s authority per an order from George Washington: To my astonishment, I heard arguments that I never suspected would come from the mouths of free men… David Forman acting under martial law under the pretense of Genl. Washington's orders (which I am far from believing). If it is so, the Gen. surely never expected that David Forman do himself a court martial, without following the rules of either martial or common law. Lawrence claimed Forman’s conduct resembled that of "some African tyrant." On October 4, the New Jersey Council of Safety, considered Mary Leonard’s conduct and status: Mrs. Leonard, wife of Thomas Leonard, who acted as a major in the British service & is now a prisoner of the United States, was sent over to New York a while ago by order of Brigadier General David Forman and hath lately returned to this State. She complains of indisposition and requests that she may be permitted to tarry in Monmouth County until she be reinstated in her health, and that she be suffered to pass to Easton to see her husband. The Council of Safety "agreed, that Mrs. Leonard be permitted to pass to Easton and to remain with him." Its leniency toward Mary Leonard implicitly rebuked Forman’s harsh treatment. For this and other misdeeds, the New Jersey Legislature launched an investigation into David Forman’s conduct. Forman refused to appear before the Legislature and resigned his commission as a Brigadier General in the New Jersey militia, thereby depriving the legislature of a lever to punish him. Mary Leonard’s Further Travails Mary Leonard went to Easton in October, but was not reunited with Thomas. On October 29, she was still searching for him. From Lebanon, Pennsylvania, she wrote Robert Hooper, the jailkeeper at Easton: Since I left East Town [Easton], I have been indisposed that I have not been able to write till now. I send the enclosed to Mr. Leonard, beg favor that you will forward it as soon as possible. I flatter myself, sir, by the time you have heard from him where his lot is to be, if he should happen to be placed in Reading or East Town, I should esteem it one of the greatest blessings I could enjoy at this time. If he is sent two hundred miles from me, my State of health will not admit my going to him. As you have the character of a Gentleman of great humanity, I make not the least dought [sic] but you will assist and befriend the distressed, as is consonant with your honor. Thomas Leonard was in Easton when Mary visited that town. This raises the possibility that local jailers deliberately misled Mary Leonard about her husband’s whereabouts. It is also possible that disorganized jailers misinformed Mary by way of an honest mistake. On January 6, 1778, Elias Boudinot, the Commissary of Prisoners for the Continental government, wrote Thomas Leonard about Leonard’s request to let Loyalist women go to New York to be with their husbands. Boudinot wrote: “I have received your note about the women who wanted to go from Monmouth to New York.” Boudinot discussed an “Act of our Assembly lately passed gives such persons liberty to sell their effects & go to New York, so I suppose they will embrace the opportunity." In the same letter, Boudinot admitted to knowing of Mary Leonard’s plight, "I rec'd Mrs. Leonard's letter and feel exceedingly for the unhappy woman." Boudinot wrote Hooper about the Leonards. On February 5, Hooper responded that he was out of the area when Mary Leonard visited Easton. Of Thomas Leonard and other Loyalist officers in Easton, he wrote, “I am in pity to these miserable and unhappy men. Upwards of 26 of them are dead. Easton is by no means a proper place for officers.” It is unclear where and when Mary and Thomas Leonard were re-united. But Mary Leonard would get into trouble again. In December 1779 she was arrested for bringing “sundry goods, wares and merchandize without any license, permission or passport” from New York into New Jersey. She and Edward Brook (likely the pilot of the boat that carried her) were detained. In July 1780, the Monmouth County Court of Common Pleas found that she owed the state a hefty debt of 5,737 pounds. Other Loyalist Women Suffer during the Revolution Mary Leonard’s travails are better documented than Monmouth County’s other Loyalist women, but there is reason to think that other Loyalist wives suffered comparably. Below are two other examples: Christian Crowell was the wife of Thomas Crowell, a prosperous boat owner with a home on the Raritan Bayshore. Thomas Crowell joined the New Jersey Volunteers, then captained a Loyalist privateer. Christian Crowell stayed home as the family estate was inventoried for confiscation. She lost the family’s livestock in 1777--likely confiscated by David Forman’s men. In September 1777, she was brought before the New Jersey Supreme Court and charged with “maliciously and advisedly going over to Sandy Hook" and “returning to Middletown." A Loyalist newspaper reported about the harassments against her: A Party of Rebel Light Horse went to the House of Capt. Thomas Crowell, of Shrewsbury, in New Jersey, last Tuesday, and robbed him of all his Cattle, Sheep, Hogs and Horses; and told Mrs. Crowell, as soon as they had disposed of what they then took, they intended to return and carry off all her Household Furniture, and then dispose of her House and Plantation at public sale. She was fined £3 for a misdemeanor in January 1778. In May 1779, the family estate was confiscated and she was forced to rent a cottage from the Overseer of the Poor. After that, according to Thomas, "his wife and family came within British lines for relief." Rhoda Pew was the wife of James Pew, a boatman on the Raritan Bay who became involved in illegally trading with the British. He became a Loyalist. In November 1777, Rhoda was brought before the New Jersey Supreme Court for boarding a British sloop at Sandy Hook (probably visiting her husband). In January and May 1778, she was convicted of misdemeanors (probably illegally trading with the enemy). She was one of four Loyalist women exiled to New York in May 1778. Her husband was captured later that year and jailed in Freehold; there he was murdered by the prison sentry. In April 1782, Rhoda Pew gave emotional testimony about the cruel behavior of the rebels during the Court Martial of Richard Lippincott (after he hanged Captain Joshua Huddy of Colts Neck). The author has identified 79 women who, based on various records, suffered for their pro-British sympathies during the war. A table summarizing these women is in the appendix of this article. The table does not include women who were punished in the courts for offenses such as trespass that were not directly unrelated to the war. Nor does the table include women who lost their family estates for the “offense” of having a Loyalist husband And the table does not include women solely for emigrating to Canada at war’s end. It can be conservatively estimated that an additional 100 or more women suffered these outcomes. Nine women are documented as being adjudged for punishment or suffering a negative outcome more than once. Most of the 79 women in the table were brought before the Monmouth County courts for speaking seditious words or unnamed misdemeanors that were likely traveling behind enemy lines or illegally trading with the enemy. While the courts fined these women, it is worth noting that only one woman—Sarah White—received a fine comparable to the larger fines put on men (White’s fine of £100 was large, but still less than largest fines on men which could be as large as £500 for illegal trade or repeated militia delinquency ). Charges ultimately were dropped on three women, but only after arrest, detainment, and court appearances, so these women suffered even when legally exonerated. Most of these women had Loyalist husbands and, on some occasions, this was enough to bring punishments to them. A few of these women were “punished” by being forced off their Monmouth County farms and becoming impoverished in New York . Related Historic Site : Parsons-Taylor House (Easton, Pennsylvania) Appendix: Negative Outcomes for Loyalist and Disaffected Women See table 3 . Sources : Israel Putnam to David Forman, Neilson Family Papers, box 1, folder: Rutgersania, Rutgers University Special Collections; Mary Leonard to R.D. Hooper, Monmouth County Archives, The William Livingston Era: Documents of the American Revolution, exhibit at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2003; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #36727;Journals of the Continental Congress, June 27, 1777, p504; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 141; Robert Lawrence, Memorial, New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Coll., State Library Manuscript Coll., #129; Mary Leonard to R. Hooper, Monmouth County Archives, The William Livingston Era: Documents of the American Revolution, exhibit at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2003; Elias Boudinot, The Elias Boudinot Letterbook (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2002) p38 and 74; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #34638; Rutgers University Special Collections, Great Britain Public Record Office, Loyalist Compensation Claims, D96, AO 13/108, reel 8; the newspaper account on the harassment of Christian Crowell is posted at United Empire Loyalists, Loyal Directory: http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Info ; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #37510; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 243; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 243. Sources for Appendix Table : New Jersey Gazette, June 30, 1783, Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Ann Hendricks, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #35933; NY Gazette & Weekly Mercury, July 7, 1777, Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 1, p 420; New Jersey Council of Safety, Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 172; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Sophia Smith, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #38501; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Hannah Cook, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #34510; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Margaret Mount, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #37027; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Ann Parker, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #37484; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Esther Frost. New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #35286; Joshua Huddy vs. Elizabeth Pritchard Catalog of the Exhibition: Joshua Huddy and the American Revolution, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2004; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Deborah Leonard, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #36641; Upper Freehold Baptist Meeting, December 12, 1778, Upper Freehold Baptist Records, Rutgers University Special Collections, reel 1; Memorial of Deliah Cottrell to Col John Morris, 2/8/79: Memorial of Deliah Cottrell, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #1735; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Valesia Mount, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #37026; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Hannah Davis, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #34862; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Phoebe Brown, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #33972; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Cornelia Johnson, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #36268; Purdy Wardell to Gov. William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 11, April 12, 1780; Memorial of Catherine Reading in BF Stevens, Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain (London: Mackie & Co, 1906) v2, p117; Maj John Antill to Col John Morris, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #2777; Indictment, State vs. Catherine Clark of Freehold, signed by Attorney General William Patterson – Indictment, Monmouth County Archives, Loose Quarterly Sessions; Monmouth Court of Common Pleas, April 25, 1780, Monmouth County Archives, Common Pleas (Loose); Notable Cases from Monmouth Court of Quarterly Sessions Archives, Court of Quarterly Sessions, folder: 1780; NJ Supreme Court: State vs. Hannah Hyer. New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #35964; Notable cases before the Monmouth Court of Quarterly Sessions, Court Docket, Monmouth County Archives, Court of Quarterly Sessions, folder: 1781; NJ Gazette, January 30, 1781, Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 5, p 190; Asher Holmes to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, p 142; Mary Van Gordon to Henry Clinton, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Headquarters Papers of the British Army in America, PRO 30/55/3345; Peter Schenck to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, May 22, 1781; Court Docket, New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - November 1781; Burlington County Court record in Monmouth County Archives, The William Livingston Era: Documents of the American Revolution, exhibit at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2003; Swarthmore College, Friends Historical Library, reel: MR Ph 585, Shrewsbury Meeting; Jane Milligan, petition, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #4272 and 4278; Mrs. Lewis, memorial, BF Stevens, Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain (London: Mackie & Co, 1906) v2, p428; Mary Boggs to William Livingston in Mary Benjamin, "American Revolution ALS," The Collector, vol. 69, July - Aug., 1956, p 74; NJ Supreme Court: State of NJ vs. Sushe Johnson, NJ State Archives: NJ Supreme Court Records, case # 36246; Memorial of John Williams, Great Britain Public Record Office, British Headquarters Papers, 30/55, #4907; Private Correspondence from Joseph Dangler re Monmouth County Court Record, State v. Rosina Throckmorton; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - July 1783; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - June 1778; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - July 1779; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder -January 1778; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - May 1782. 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 > Nathaniel Scudder Killed during Loyalist Raid by Michael Adelberg Nathaniel Scudder, who had served in the Continental Congress, joined a militia party in repelling Loyalist raiders who took six prisoners at Colts Neck. Scudder was killed in the ensuing clash. - October 1781 - As noted in prior articles, Nathaniel Scudder was Monmouth County’s most important political figure. He was an early Committeeman and militia officer. In January 1777, Scudder attached himself to Lt. Colonel Francis Gurney’s Pennsylvania regiment and guided them as they toppled Loyalist associations at Freehold, Middletown, and Shrewsbury. Scudder helped reassemble the dispersed Monmouth County militia on February 1 and marched the Freehold-Middletown regiment to the Navesink Highlands where it was promptly routed by British regulars. Nearly 100 men were killed or captured at the Battle of the Navesink —the worst defeat of the war for the Monmouth militia. Scudder served in the Legislative Council (Upper House of the legislature) in 1777, and then was selected to the New Jersey Council of Safety . In fall 1777, Scudder was selected to the Continental Congress where he served for two years. He declined to serve a third year, citing strains on his family and finances. Scudder returned to public life in summer 1780, helping to found the Association for Retaliation , a vigilante society. He was elected to the New Jersey Assembly that fall in an election tainted by Retaliator voter intimidation . He was re-elected on October 10, 1781, in another election tainted by Retaliator intimidation . Just five days later, a Loyalist raiding party landed at Shrewsbury and raided Colts Neck. Scudder responded to an alarm. The Death of Nathaniel Scudder The Pennsylvania Journal reported Scudder’s death on October 27, based on a letter that appeared in a Loyalist newspaper: The refugees who lately had their shallops burnt at Sandy Hook went into the county of Monmouth as far as Colts Neck, where they made prisoners of six notorious rebels, vizt. Hendrick Vanderveer, Joseph Maxson, Lt. John Fleming and three others. A party of the rebels, headed by Nathaniel Scudder and David Forman, pursued them as far as Black Point, when Mr. Scudder was killed; he had been for several years a member of the Continental Congress, and was at present a member of the New Jersey Assembly. The refugees got off safe with their prisoners to Sandy Hook. The Pennsylvania Evening Post published a longer narrative on October 30: A party of Refugees from Sandy Hook landed at Shrewsbury in Monmouth County, and under cover of night marched undiscovered to Colts Neck, near 15 miles from their place of landing, and took six of the inhabitants from their houses. The alarm reached Freehold before dawn and the local militia assembled to pursue the raiders, including Nathaniel Scudder. Scudder responded as a volunteer; as a legislator, he was not required to turn out. The Freehold militia pursued the raiders to Black Point (Rumson) where they attacked the rear of the raiding party. The report continued: “Dr. Scudder, whilst bravely advancing on the enemy, received a wound by a musket ball passing through his head." He died soon after. His minister at the Tennent Church , Reverend John Woodhull offered a "most excellent and affecting sermon" on October 17. The funeral was attended by "the most numerous and respectable concourse of people." Scudder’s friend, Colonel David Forman, was standing next to him when the musket ball passed through his head. The New Jersey Journal printed a long eulogy for Scudder, dated October 17, presumably written by Forman. Excerpts are below (the full eulogy is in the appendix of this article): To the great grief of the party, Doctor Nathaniel Scudder, whilst he was bravely advancing on the enemy, received a wound from a musket ball passing through his head, of which he instantly expired. His remains were removed from this place of action to his own house, with all the decency and solemnity suitable for such a mournful and melancholy event. The eulogy then discussed Scudder and his family: Few men have fallen in this Country who were so useful in life, so generally mourned in death. He was a tender husband, an affectionate parent, a sympathetic generous and real friend, a disinterested and determined Patriot, and has since the commencement of this war devoted his time, talents and a large part of his whole comfortable estate to this service of his country, and what will add luster to the whole, he is a finished Christian. Thus, a great and good man fallen in the prime of his life, and in the midst of his usefulness, having left behind him an unconsolable widow, five amiable children, and very numerous acquaintances to lament his fall. Forman also wrote George Washington about Scudder’s death on October 18: "I, this day, had my good friend, Doct. Scudder killed by my side on the banks of Black Point in Shrewsbury and that my particular attention is demanded to his widow and children." He wrote from Scudder's house of "the uncommon deep distress of the Doctor's widow and large family of children, when added to my own feelings for the loss of a sincere friend and worthy patriot, really rendered me incapable to discharge my duty." Despite this, Forman continued sending intelligence reports on British fleet movements at Sandy Hook. Elias Boudinot, a New Jersey delegate at Congress, wrote about Scudder’s death on October 21: He went out as usual to see his patients, on the way met Gen. Forman, who was getting a few men together to drive off some refugees who landed on the shore. Them coming down, at about 500 yards distant, one of them fired his piece, a random shot, but from above. The ball entered just one side of his nose & went thro' the Doctor's head -- He died in about two hours, thus a helpless family is left in a very destitute circumstances, as I believe the Doctor's attention to politicks has been very prejudicial to his little estate. Two of Scudder’s sons, Kenneth and Joseph, wrote of their father’s death in Kenneth’s postwar veteran pension application. Kenneth Scudder wrote that the family “lived only seven miles from the said village [Freehold].” His father was killed “at a place called Black Point… by the British & Tories.” Joseph Scudder recalled of his father’s death: When he was a member of the state legislature, and when the enemy was driven off by the militia, under the command of General Forman, on which occasion… the said Nathaniel Scudder volunteered his services and was killed in the service of his country - information he received from General Forman, who was standing by his side when he fell dead. The postwar pension application of Lewis Compton of Middletown provides additional information on the skirmish that resulted in Scudder’s death. He recalled that "the British were driven back by Capt. Barnes Smock's artillery, at which time Coll. Scudder was killed near Genl. Forman by a musket ball fired on board the enemy's boat, directly in his chin." Compton noted that it was a Middletown militia company, with artillery, that drove the raiders to their boats. The Freehold volunteers with Scudder and Forman arrived after the raiders had started to withdraw. Scudder was the only member of the Continental Congress to die in combat. The outpouring of sympathy after his death likely led the New Jersey Legislature to ignore three petitions that protested Retaliator interference in the county’s election (tainting Scudder’s re-election the New Jersey Assembly). The legislature, instead, ordered a new election for Scudder’s seat, to be held on November 28. At that election, Thomas Seabrook, also a Retaliator, was elected to replace Scudder. Related Historic Site : Tennent Church Appendix: Eulogy to Nathaniel Scudder, printed in the New Jersey Journal, October 17, 1781 “The day before yesterday a party of Refugees from Sandy Hook landed at Shrewsbury River in Monmouth County, New Jersey, and under cover of night marched undisturbed to Colt’s Neck, near fifteen miles from their place of landing, where they took six of the inhabitants from their houses. The alarm reached the Court House between four and five o’clock in the morning, when a small number of the inhabitants of the village of Freehold and its vicinity went immediately in pursuit of them, hoping either to relieve their friends who had been stolen into captivity, or to chastise the enemy for their temerity. They rode to Black Point, the place where the Refugees had landed, and with all possible speed, fell in with and attacked the rear of the Refugee party, and drove them on board their boats; in which skirmishing, to the great grief of the party, Doctor Nathaniel Scudder, whilst he was bravely advancing on the enemy, received a wound from a musket ball passing through his head, of which he instantly expired. His remains were removed from this place of action to his own house, with all the decency and solemnity suitable for such a mournful and melancholy event. Today, a most excellent and affecting sermon was preached on the occasion of his funeral by Rev. Mr. Woodhull, after which his remains, attended by the most numerous and respectable concourse of people ever known on similar occasions in this country, were interred at Presbyterian Church in Freehold, with the full honours of war; …Few men have fallen in this Country who were so useful in life, so generally mourned in death. He was a tender husband, an affectionate parent, a sympathetic generous and real friend, a disinterested and determined Patriot, and has since the commencement of this war devoted his time, talents and a large part of his whole comfortable estate to this service of his country, and what will add luster to the whole, he is a finished Christian. Thus, a great and good man fallen in the prime of his life, and in the midst of his usefulness, having left behind him an unconsolable widow, five amiable children, and very numerous acquaintance to lament his fall.” Sources : National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Lewis Compton; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, October 24, 1781; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Oakey Vanosdol, National Archives, p4-9; Pennsylvania Journal, October 27, 1781; Elias Boudinot to Hannah Boudinot, Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 18, p 150; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 88, 210-1; Hamilton Cochran's Scudders of the American Revolution (Peterborough, N.H.: Scudder Association, 1976) pp. 99-100; Contained in: National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Kenneth Scudder of NY, www.fold3.com/image/# 20161011; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 81, October 17-19, 1781; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > John Morris and Jacob Wood by Michael Adelberg The court martial of Private Jacob Wood revealed that Lt. Col. John Morris tolerated Wood’s desertion because Wood was able to bring him fresh fish. Not long after, Morris retired from service. - August 1778 - Irregular behavior by militia officers in Monmouth County and elsewhere is well documented. Similarly, the Continental Army, particularly in the early years of the war, was also hamstrung by the irregularity of officers who engaged in self-serving and unprofessional conduct. The short tenure of David Forman’s Additional Regiment provides abundant examples of improper arrangements and controversial practices in Monmouth’s County principal army unit. While the terrible behavior of the British Army at Freehold prior to the Battle of Monmouth proves that British units also suffered breakdowns, it is nonetheless presumed that British officers were usually rule-bound in their conduct. While this may have merit as a generalization, there were certainly cases of British officers engaging in irregular conduct. The quasi-pardon of the deserter, Private Jacob Wood, by Lt. Colonel John Morris, is an excellent example. As noted in prior articles, John Morris was a junior officer in the British Army during the Seven Years War. After that war, Morris stayed in America and settled on a plot of land near Manasquan. When the Revolutionary War began, Morris assembled 58 Loyalists and marched them to Sandy Hook where they joined the British Army. Under Morris, these men and subsequent recruits became the 2nd Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers , a provincial corps of the British Army. The 2nd Battalion was the best-performing of the five original battalions of the Volunteers and the only one selected to join the British Army in the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777 and Monmouth Campaign of 1778. The campaigns were hard for Morris. He lost several men to death and desertion, and recruiting efforts in 1778 produced disappointing results—only eight new men. At the end of the Monmouth Campaign, Morris wrote letters to British generals calling for reforms that might curb plundering by British troops. While British regulars left New Jersey via Sandy Hook in July 1778, Morris and his men stayed on the Hook, coming off to gather intelligence and horses left by the army. They had to kill many of the horses, so that they would not become useful to the Americans—a task that could only have been dispiriting. Morris and his men spent the month of July on Sandy Hook lacking water and provisions, and frantically making preparations for a climactic battle with a heavily armed French fleet that anchored four miles away. Morris sent intelligence reports to British high command and worried about the safety of the garrison at Sandy Hook which might be attacked by the French fleet from the sea and an American army from the land. He wrote, “Great threats are made, I find, against us on every part.” (The battle never happened because the French admiral, based on advice from American pilots , determined that his largest ships sat too deep in the water to enter the channel north of Sandy Hook.) The Court Martial of Jacob Wood It was at Sandy Hook that Jacob Wood, who had deserted from Morris’ battalion five months earlier, was arrested for desertion. According to court martial papers and testimony, Wood “deserted from thence February last, with two other men of the same detachment." His former captain, Cornelius McClease (also from Monmouth County), said Wood deserted because "he received a letter from his wife, who lived in New Jersey, acquainting him that she was in distress." Morris refused Wood’s request for leave. Although not stated by Wood, his desertion coincides with the arrest of John Wood—who was jailed at Freehold and was sentenced to death at the 2nd Court of Oyer and Terminer in June 1778. John Wood was among the first Monmouth County Loyalists to be hanged. With his wife in distress and kinsman facing dire punishment, Jacob Wood deserted and went to his home on the Jersey shore, where he stayed several weeks. Wood then “carried his wife and family to Sandy Hook about the first of May last." There, Wood became a fisherman, living among other Loyalist refugees who fished off Sandy Hook. At his court martial, Wood testified about being discovered at Sandy Hook by his old battalion and resuming contact with its officers: Lt. Parker [Josiah Parker] of the same regiment came down and he immediately went upon the sloop, where he [Wood] was desired that he would acquaint the Colonel that he was there, and begged that he would obtain leave to stay; that Lieut. Parker went up to New York and upon his return told him the Colonel said he might stay there till he went for him; that Colonel Morris himself was backwards and forwards to and from the Hook, and he (the witness) used to constantly supply him [Morris] with fish; that he also got a pass from him [Morris] to go into Jersey, where he stayed a week, and whilst he was there, the French erected a work on a hill, and were watering their fleet near Shrewsbury; that one of his neighbors desired him to go and give General Clinton [Henry Clinton] intelligence of it, and he accordingly set out for New York, and Colonel Morris went with him to General Clinton’s and afterwards returned to the Hook, in the same sloop with him, and supply’d him with fish as usual. Wood then testified that, “having affronted the Colonel by going fishing without his leave,” Morris “ordered Captain McClease to take him up.” Two Monmouth County officers, Lt. Parker and the battalion’s surgeon, Dr. James Boggs, testified at Wood’s court martial. Parker testified that he saw Wood several times at Sandy Hook and warned him “that he believed that the Colonel would hang him, and the prisoner answered that he meant to re-join the Regiment” but, for the time being, was willing to “run the risk of it.” Parker also admitted that he “bought clams from him” at Sandy Hook, demonstrating that Parker was tolerant of Wood’s fisherman status. Boggs testified that he spoke “very warmly against him [Wood] for deserting” but also admitted that “Colonel Morris bought some fish of him [Wood]” and that no arrest was made after various exchanges between Wood and his former officers. While desertion was a grave offense in the British Army punishable by dozens of lashes or even death, testimony was given at the court martial that Wood and Morris worked out an arrangement in lieu of arrest. Wood would "constantly to supply him [Morris] with fish, [and] that he [Wood] also got a pass from him [Morris] to go into Jersey." The arrangement worked for a while, but Wood was arrested by Captain McClease on August 3 after "having affronted the Colonel." McClease testified to “finding the prisoner on board a fishing boat at Sandy Hook on the 3rd instant, and knowing him to be a deserter from the regiment of which he (the witness) belonged to, he apprehended him.” Morris did not testify at the court martial, claiming "indisposition" and being unable to attend the court. The court found Wood guilty of desertion, but noted that his arrangement with Morris "implied a pardon." The court declined to impose a punishment. The unusual verdict read: The Court having considered the evidence for and against the prisoner, Jacob Wood, together with what he had to offer in his defence, is of the opinion that he was Guilty of the crime laid to his charge, in breach of the 1st article of War of the 6th section; but having given himself up and been afterwards employed on different occasions by Lieut. Colonel Morris, instead of being immediately apprehended and brought to trial, the Court is of further opinion that this implied a pardon, and gave the prisoner reason to regard it as such; that they therefore cannot under these circumstances proceed to sentence or adjudge the prisoner any punishment. John Morris’ health was declining. He would be listed as “lame” and “invalid” in later documents. In 1779, he ceased commanding his battalion and retired to New York on a military pension. Wood apparently stayed at Sandy Hook. He is noted as captured on a Loyalist list compiled in 1779. His fate is unknown after that. The Wood Family of Shrewsbury Township The Wood family of Shrewsbury Township well illustrates the disaffection that was rampant along the Monmouth shore. Beyond Jacob and John Wood, there were several other Loyalists in the family. Joseph Wood joined the Associated Loyalists, a British-tolerated Loyalist military group that raided New York and New Jersey. In 1780, he was captured at Long Branch and died mysteriously while under the care of guards. Benjamin Wood was also an Associated Loyalist; he settled in Canada after that war. Obadiah Wood and Stephen Wood served in the New Jersey Volunteers. Stephen is listed as dead on a 1777 troop return but is then listed as serving again on a later return. George Wood also served in the New Jersey Volunteers and is listed as dead on a 1777 return; but a man named George Wood is listed as serving in the Shrewsbury Township militia later in the war. Three men in the Wood family never served in Loyalist units—Aaron, Matthew, and Nathaniel Wood. Aaron Wood enlisted in the Continental Army in early 1777 but deserted within a year. His whereabouts after that are unknown. Matthew Wood served with a Virginia Continental Army unit while it was stationed in Monmouth County and also served in the militia. But he was twice indicted for misdemeanors (likely illegal trading with the enemy). He appears in the 1784 tax rolls as a “single man,” demonstrating he was poor at war’s end. Nathaniel Wood is listed on a 1780 Shrewsbury militia roll—as a “delinquent” (he skipped his service). Families like the Woods continually caused headaches for Monmouth County’s fragile government throughout the war—they evaded militia service and tax collection, traded with the enemy, and drifted between feigned allegiance to the new government and active opposition to it. It was families like the Woods that populated the Pine Robber gangs of the lower shore and the vigilante Associated Loyalists. Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : Court Martial of Jacob Wood, Great Britain, Public Record Office, War Office, Class 71, Volume 86, pages 405-9; Adelberg, Michael, Biographical File, on file at the Monmouth County Historical Association. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Continental Response to Huddy Hanging by Michael Adelberg James Madison, serving in the Continental Congress in 1782, like many Americans, was shocked by the hanging of Joshua Huddy. He and the Congress supported hanging a British officer in retaliation. - April 1782 - As discussed in the previous article, Colonel David Forman personally presented materials on the execution of Joshua Huddy to George Washington on April 17 or 18, 1782. Forman had a long history with Washington, leading a regiment under Washington in the disastrous New York campaign of 1776 and then raising an “Additional Regiment ” of Continentals in 1777. Forman guided Continental troops and met with Washington during the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 and then testified against Washington’s rival, General Charles Lee, at Lee’s court martial. Throughout the second half of the war, Forman often sent Washington intelligence reports of British naval movements at Sandy Hook. Washington was aware of Forman’s excesses (he had to relieve Forman of the command of his regiment) and gaps in judgment (including intrigues that skirted the law). But Washington also, no doubt, viewed Forman as a patriot who had risked his life and property for the Revolution and performed valuable services. So, when Forman rode into Washington’s camp, requested a meeting, and made an impassioned plea for retaliation for the death of Huddy—it was likely persuasive to Washington. George Washington Considers Huddy’s Execution Washington knew Forman was coming to see him. Forman and Colonel Asher Holmes, rivals before and after the Huddy hanging, had gone to Elizabethtown to meet the Prisoner of War commissioners and General Henry Knox. They met on April 16 and Knox notified Washington that Forman would visit him. On April 19, following his meeting with Forman, Washington chose to query his senior officers on the appropriate next step. He sent a “general inquiry” to his senior officers: The Commander in Chief submits the papers accompanying this, containing the case of Capt. Joshua Huddy lately hanged within the County of Monmouth in N Jersey State, by a party of the Enemy, to the consideration of the Gen. Officers and commanding officers of Brigades and Regiments. And thereupon requests from them, separately and in writing, a direct and laconic reply to the following queries: Vizt: 1st. Upon the state of facts in the above case, is Retaliation justifiable and expedient? 2d. If justifiable, ought it to take place immediately? Or should a previous representation be made to Sir Hy [Henry] Clinton, and satisfaction demanded from him? 3d. In case of representation and Demand, who should be the person or persons to be required? 4th. In case of refusal, and Retaliation becoming necessary, of what description shall the Officer be on whom it is to take place; and how shall he be designated for the purpose?" Washington was apparently told that some Monmouth County leaders—particularly Asher Holmes—were conducting local prisoner exchanges outside of the process set up by the Continental and British Armies. Forman, who opposed these local exchanges because they encouraged Loyalist “manstealing , ” likely informed Washington about the local exchanges. This caused Washington to make an inquiry. On April 20, Washington wrote Andrew Skinner, his Commissary of Prisoners: I have been informed that a certain Col Asher Holmes of Monmouth County has been concerned in making partial exchanges, sending and receiving Flags, giving indulgence to People within the Enemy's lines, and obtaining Paroles in consequence for some of our People in the power of the Enemy; and that when questioned for so doing by the Executive of the State he attempted to exculpate himself by asserting he acted under proper authority derived from your Department. As I know you have frequently made complaints (and not without great occasion) respecting such irregularities; I request to be informed explicitly, whether Col Holmes has received any authority from you, or any Person acting under you, and in that case, of what nature, and under what limitations or restriction it was in order, that if anything improper has been done, it may be amended; or if otherwise, the report may be refuted. Skinner replied two days later: "I know not how Colo. Holmes could assert that he acted under Authority from my department in the making of partial Exchanges; he has no such Authority from me and I have written to him on the Subject." In December 1780, Holmes wrote a letter to Governor William Livingston informing Livingston that the Governor had previously given him the authority to conduct local prisoner exchanges. Livingston did not challenge Holmes on the matter. George Washington Prepares for Retaliation On April 20, Washington replied to Henry Knox about Forman’s presentation of the scandalous execution of Huddy. Washington was “convinced from the state of facts which has been exhibited that justice, expediency and necessity requires that satisfaction should be obtained for the murder of Captain Huddy.” Washington concluded that if Huddy’s murderer was not turned over, retaliation was in order: I have in the first instance made a representation to Sir Henry Clinton and demanded that the officer who commanded the party [Richard Lippincott]... should be delivered up to condign punishment. In case of refusal, I have formed the resolution that retaliation should take place upon a British officer of equal rank, it therefore remains with the enemy alone to prevent this distressing alternative; for having formed my opinion upon the most mature reflection and deliberation, I can never recede from it. Washington wrote Clinton that same day. He referred to Huddy as "most cruelly & wantonly hanged” and stated that “this instance of barbarity calls for retaliation." He sent a second stronger letter to Clinton on April 21 that was apparently for public consumption. It was printed in the Pennsylvania Evening Post : Sir, The enclosed representation from the inhabitants of the County of Monmouth, with sentiments to the feat (which can be corroborated by other unquestionable evidence) will bring before your Excellency the most wanton, cruel and unprecedented murder that ever disgraced the arms of a civilized people. I shall not, because I conceive it altogether unnecessary, trouble your Excellency with any animadversions upon this transaction. Candor obliges me to be explicit: to save the innocent, I demand the guilty. Capt. Lippincott therefore, or the officer who commanded at the execution of Capt. Huddy, must be given up; or if that officer was of inferior rank to him, so many of the perpetrators as will, according to the tariff of exchange, be an equivalent. To do this, will mark the justice of your Excellency’s character. In failure of it, I shall hold myself justified, in the eye of God and man, for the measure to which I shall resort. I beg your Excellency to be persuaded that it cannot be more disagreeable to you to be addressed in this language than it is for me to offer it. But the subject requires frankness and decision. The Evening Post’s report went on to state that Clinton "had been imposed upon by the Board of Refugees… on pretense of conveying him" for a prisoner exchange. And that "the menace in the General's [Washington's] letter… produced a spirited memorial from British officers" to give up the murderer, Richard Lippincott. This, in turn, generated a counter memorial from the Associated Loyalists "against the delivery of Lippincott." The report concluded that, "It is said the Lippincott has been delivered up" but there were a number of reports awaiting confirmation. Congress Supports Retaliation for the Execution of Huddy A week later, the Continental Congress considered the burgeoning “Huddy Affair.” Elias Boudinot, the former Continental Commissary of Prisoners now serving as a New Jersey delegate in Congress wrote of William Franklin “as head of the Refugees… by their particular order" hanged Huddy "in a very insulting manner under pretense of retaliation for a man who was shot in the act of running away from his guard - this made a great noise in our camp & throughout the State." The Minutes of the Continental Congress record: A letter of the 20th, from the Commander in Chief, together with a copy of a memorial from the inhabitants of the County of Monmouth, in the state of New Jersey, and sundry affidavits respecting the death of Captain Joshua Huddy; who, after being a prisoner for some days in New York, was sent out with a party of Refugees, and most cruelly and wantonly hanged on the heights of Middletown. Congress then acted to support Washington’s threat of retaliation: The Congress having deliberately considered the said letter and the papers attending it, and being deeply impressed by the necessity of convincing the enemies of the United States, by the most decided conduct, that the repetition of their unprecedented and inhuman cruelties will no longer be suffered with impunity, do unanimously approve of the firm and judicious conduct of the Commander in Chief in his application to the British General at New York, and do hereby assure him of their firmest support in his fixed purpose of exemplary retaliation. Outrage at Huddy’s hanging spread. On May 1, James Madison of Virginia wrote about Huddy and retaliation in a letter to Edmund Randolph, also of Virginia. Madison wrote that “the refugees in New York have lately perpetrated one of the most daring and flagrant acts that have occurred in the course of the war.” Huddy had been “treated with every mark of insult of cruelty” and then and then “brought over to the Jerseys and in cold blood, hanged.” Madison then discussed retaliation: A number of respectable people have, by a memorial, called aloud on the Commander in Chief for retaliation; in consequence of which he has, in the most decisive terms, claimed of Sir Henry Clinton a delivery of the offenders for justice as the only means of averting a stroke of vengeance from the innocent head of a captive officer of equal rank to the Jersey Captain. Newspapers that would not have routinely reported on local events in New Jersey reported on Huddy’s hanging. Two examples are below: The Maryland Gazette , May 2: [Huddy] was brought on shore by a party of murderers and hung, his will was found in his pocket, and a paper purporting the occasion of their executing him was in retaliation for a refugee, who, being under guard, attempted an escape, our people had shot. Arouse Countrymen! Let not this black act pass with impunity, but let full atonement for his hapless life be made on those hell hounds we have in our possession. The Boston Independent Gazetteer , May 4: General Washington, we hear, has written to Sir Henry Clinton, insisting that the perpetrators of the deliberate and horrid murder committed on Capt. Huddy should be given up, and that nothing should expatiate the diabolical deed, but a retaliation on the murderers, or on some other British officer now in our custody.--This spirited demand has occasioned great contention between British officers and the Refugees--the former are for complying with it, but the latter are for rejecting it. With a national consensus building for eye-for-an-eye retaliation , Washington embraced it. On May 3, he wrote General Moses Hazen, commanding the Continental Army prison camp in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Washington informed Hazen of the “barbarous line of Conduct” of the Loyalists who “have lately most inhumanly executed Captain Joshua Huddy.” Washington had therefore: Written to the British Commander in Chief, that unless the Perpetrators of that horrid deed were delivered up I should be under the disagreeable necessity of Retaliating, as the only means left to put a stop to such inhuman proceedings. You will therefore immediately on receipt of this designate, by Lot for the above purpose, a British Captain who is an unconditional Prisoner. The British officer selected for retaliation would be Charles Asgill, who was to be sent to Philadelphia and put under the direct care of the Continental government. Washington recognized the ugliness of the order and asked Hazen to treat Asgill well: “I need not mention to you that every possible tenderness, that is consistent with the Security of him, should be shown to the person whose unfortunate Lot it may be to suffer." The fate of Asgill is the subject of another article . As Washington moved toward retaliation—the punishment of an innocent for an atrocity committed by another person—the British looked to defuse the situation . They could not accede to Washington’s request to turn over Huddy’s executioner (Richard Lippincott), but they did convene a court martial to try Lippincott for murder. That is the subject of the next article. Related Historic Site : Camp Security (York, Pennsylvania) (in progress) Sources : George Washington, General Inquiry, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw240157)) ; George Washington to Andrew Skinner, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw240160)) ; George Washington to Henry Know, Richard J. Koke, "War, Profits, and Privateers Along the Je sey Coast," New York Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 41, 1957, p 337; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 171, item 152, vol. 10, #475; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post ; Journals of the Continental Congress, p217-8 ( www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html ); To George Washington from James Robertson, 1 May 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08307, ver. 2013-09-28); James Robertson, The Twilight of British Rule in Revolutionary America: The New York Letter Book of General James Robertson, 1780-1783 (New York: New York State Historical Association, 1983) pp. 243-4; James Madison to Edmund Randolph, Letters to Delegates of Congress, vol. 19, p186 ( www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html ); Elias Boudinot, Journal of Historical Recollections of Events During the Revolutionary War (Phila: Frederick Bourquin, 1894) p60-1; George Washington to Moses Hazen, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw240230); David Library of the American Revolution, Independent Gazetteer, n2, May 4, 1782. 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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 > Henry "Light Horse Harry " Lee Returns to Monmouth County by Michael Adelberg Cavalry reporting to Major Henry Lee were sent into Monmouth County in July 1780. They were directed to take livestock from shore residents under the direction of Col. David Forman of Manalapan. - July 1780 - As noted in prior articles, in June 1780, George Washington learned that a French fleet was expected on the Jersey shore. The Continental government would send pilots, set up communications, and raise provisions for the French. To do this, Washington returned Major Henry Lee to Monmouth County. Lee was among Washinton’s most able officers. During his prior stay in Monmouth County in 1779, Lee’s men killed the infamous Pine Robber , Lewis Fenton, and conducted a spectacular raid against Sandy Hook. But Lee feuded with Monmouth County leaders—including Peter Imlay and David Rhea, the Army’s Quartermaster Agent in the county. When Lee proposed to impound goods from disaffected locals without their collaboration, his opponents successfully lobbied for his removal in January 1780. Lee’s Return to Monmouth County Washington ordered Lee back into Monmouth County on July 11, 1780, and ordered him to collaborate with David Forman, a colonel who was relieved of command of his command in 1778 but maintained a relationship with George Washington by supplying him with intelligence : When you arrive there, you will see General Foreman who is charged with dispatches for a French fleet expected at the Hook and to keep a look out for their arrival. You will give such assistance in this as will be necessary. Lee was asked to protect pilots sent to Monmouth County, and establish contact with the French on their arrival. Lee was also ordered to establish stores of provisions for the French: You will instantly impress every kind of refreshment the Country affords; cattle, vegetables & ca. for the use of our allies; for which purpose you will make previous arrangements, and execute them in the manner most effectual and least grievous to the inhabitants, giving certificates for everything taken. Forman was informed of Lee’s deployment the next day, "Major Henry Lee moved down yesterday to Monmouth with his corps of horse to protect the pilots and keep open the communication between me and the French Admiral." Lee’s first letter to Washington on his return to Monmouth County was on July 16. He asked Washington to clarify that Forman was responsible for sending daily intelligence reports on British activity at Sandy Hook—rather than him. Forman wrote Washington that he needed to leave Monmouth County “on business,” so Lee needed to send the reports. Washington sided with Forman, sternly writing Lee: “I depend on you for information of every occurrence… For the future, you will make the report every two days of the appearance at the Hook in which the more detail the better.” Lee acknowledged the order on July 20, but warned that because his troops would be diverted relaying intelligence reports, he could not defend the shore: “We cannot protect the people on shore from depredations because the country is too environed with water to predict probable attempts from the enemy.” In advance, Lee chose “to apologize for accidents that might transpire.” Indeed, Lee’s men were ineffectual in defending Monmouth County—summer 1780 was a terrible time for Loyalist raids into Monmouth County. Lee set up posts at Freehold and New Brunswick for express riders on route to Washington’s camp at Morristown. The provisions consumed by these horses and men would soon become controversial. Times were hard for Lee’s men, some of whom lacked supplies and pay. On July 20, Lee wrote the Governor of Maryland to complain about the “deficiency in Emolument” for the twenty Marylanders in his corps. Lee was apparently unable to draw provisions for these men from the stores set up for the Army’s Maryland troops and not given a separate allowance for them either. He made a request: I now beg Leave to present my claim to my proportion of Levies... to give me an order for the possession of twenty of the new Levies; or, that you will allow me to withdraw the soldiers now in my Corps subjects of your State, & to throw them into the quota of some other people. Lee’s appeal likely fell on deaf ears. Five months later, Lee was pressing Maryland’s delegates to the Continental Congress on the same matter. Meanwhile, David Rhea, the quartermaster who feuded with Lee a year earlier, started complaining about Lee again. Rhea worried about a food shortage at the county jail leading to trouble "as there are a number of prisoners, very impudent, in the gaol now." He blamed Lee for consuming food allotted for the jail: "Major Lee's troops have consumed all the meal at Walton's & Conover's mills.” Raising Stores for the French Fleet As Rhea complained, the focus of Lee’s deployment in Monmouth County shifted to raising provisions. On July 24, General Nathanael Greene wrote that Lee is in Monmouth County to "impress horses and cattle." That same day, Washington made that mission explicit: “I am informed by General Forman that there is a great number of horses in Monmouth County [are] within the enemy's power, belonging to disaffected persons.” He then ordered Lee: To prevent the enemy from having benefit of these, you will immediately set about driving off from that part of the country, all horses fit for riding or wagon service, and deliver them to the Quartermaster General, giving certificates to the persons from whom they are taken. You will do the same with respect to cattle. Washington also ordered Lee to go to Easton, Pennsylvania when the press of provisions was over. Washington then wrote Forman, telling him to cooperate with Lee: “He will apply to you for advice, which you can give him privately, as I imagine it will not be prudent for you to appear in this matter." Washington asked Forman to report on British movements at Sandy Hook after Lee departed. On July 25, Lee left for Easton prior to Washington’s order. He wrote Washington that Captain John Rudolph would work with Forman on impressing livestock. By leaving for Easton before impressing livestock, Lee seemingly disobeyed an order. Perhaps Lee wanted to leave before he had to take direction from Forman. With Lee gone, Forman went to Shrewsbury to meet Rudolph in order to impress horses and cattle. It proved to be harder than predicted, they only raised 160 head of livestock when Forman had predicted they could raise 1,000 head. Only July 27, Forman blamed Lee: “Major Lee has marched all his horse previous to my getting this letter to East Town except Capt. Rudolph's troops, about 24 in number.” Forman augmented Rudolph’s company with thirty militia before setting him to work: Yesterday morning, Capt. Rudolph, I expect, began to collect from the seaboard side of Shrewsbury. I fear that his success would not be considerable as I expected, occasioned by an order from Major Lee which has given the inhabitants the week before to drive up all their live cattle. That order will induce, I apprehend, the people to secret part of them. While Lee’s men gave certificates redeemable for money, the impressment of livestock was certain to draw anger. On August 6, Obadiah Holmes, a magistrate, took the unusual step of writing directly to Washington. Holmes forwarded a memorial from Joshua Anderson complaining about the impressment of a stud horse taken from him because it was co-owned by a man named Thomson, said to be disaffected. Anderson further complained that the certificate issued was for only one third the value of the horse. He wrote: A certain Mr. Heard an officer in Maj. Lee’s Core [sic] under the immediate command of Capt. Rudolph came to the house of your petitioner when both he & his son were absent & forcibly took away sd horse alleging to your petitioner’s wife that he had your Excellency’s orders for so doing—Your petitioner & son have since applied to Capt. Rudolph for the horse and upon remonstrating against the proceedings, Capt. Rudolph swore he would cut your petitioners son’s ears off if he said anything more about the Horse. Anderson was robbed by British soldiers in 1778; it was therefore a particular hardship to lose the valued horse: Before the Enemy pass’d thro’ this County, [he] lived in easy circumstances but at that time by reason of his attachment to the cause of his Country lost almost everything he had (land excepted), which has reduced him to necissitous [sic] circumstances. Anderson questioned the alleged disaffection of Thomson, the co-owner, and noted that “his son is so frequently out in the Militia as to render but little service at home.” Holmes offered to put up a bond to be cashed if the horse was returned and Thomson or the horse went into British lines. Finally, Anderson wrote that he would keep the horse “at such a Distance from the Enemies Lines” by keeping the horse at his Upper Freehold home, “living some miles west of Monmouth Courthouse." The petition was signed by Holmes and several leading Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). It was accompanied by a note from the officers of the 1st Regiment of the Monmouth County militia: We the subscribers, officers of the first regt of Monmouth militia being well acquainted with Mr. Joshua Anderson & family do hereby certify that he is a man of reputable character both as a citizen as Inhabitant and as a friend to his country. It was signed by: Asher Holmes Col.; David Gordon, Capt.; John Smock Lt. Col.; John Walton Capt.; Joseph Stilwell Capt.; John Schanck, Capt; Samuel Carhart, Capt.; Jonathan Forman, Capt; John Schenck, Lieut.; Peter Vanderhoff, Ensign; William Schenck, Lieut.; Richard Hartshorn, Qtr Mstr; William Forman; Jonathan Forman; Samuel Forman, Lieut.; Michael Sweetman, Capt.; Benjamin Van Cleave, Capt. (Anderson’s petition is in the appendix of this article.) Anderson went to Washington’s camp to make his case. As a result, Washington wrote Lee: His petition is supported by many well affected Inhabitants of that County who place him clearly in the character of a friend to his Country. Therefore, as the seizure must have been made by the Capt., in consequence of my instructions to you, and they only directed that such horses and cattle as belonged to disaffected persons in the power of the Enemy were to be taken, and Mr Anderson lives about 20 miles from the sea, and cannot be considered as coming within the instructions, I desire you will have the horse given up to him. Lee wrote to Washington two days later that "I gave orders to Capt. Rudolph to deliver Mr Anderson’s horse to him. The horse is gelded & Mr Anderson refuses him.” Lee blamed the improper seizure of the horse on David Forman: When I left Monmouth I directed Capt. Rudolph to be under the guidance of Gen. Furman, in conformity to whose advice, every hoof seized, has been seized. I am fully persuaded from Capt. Rudloph’s natural equity & moderation of temper that he has committed no act but can be justified by his orders, & by Gen. Furman’s council [sic]. Lee further noted that “the disaffected in Upper Freehold” often send livestock “to the Hook, & Capt. Rudolph assured me this horse was the property of two persons connected with the enemy.” Lee enclosed a statement from Rudolph who stated that Anderson refused reasonable compensation for the gelded horse, but “insist’d on 300£ Specie” (15x the value of an ordinary horse). Rudoph noted, “I could not consent to an act so injurious to justice and to the public.” Rudolph then defended his conduct: “I accept’d this command with reluctance & in the prosecution of the business act’d altogether by advice of Genl Furman” who “press’d me repeatedly to seize the horse.” However, Rudolph declined to insult Forman for whom he had the “highest opinion of his virtue & public spirit.” Rudolph argued that Thomson “is noted for his disaffection & has a brother, a cornet in Genl Skinners Cavalry [New Jersey Volunteers ].” Rudolph also claimed that “young Mr Anderson has been convict’d of illicit trade to N. York, & has never taken the oath of allegiance to the States.” He concluded: I conducted myself with the greatest moderation so much so that I by no means seized for the public one fourth of what was pointed out to me by Genl Furman—I only wish to explain to your Excellency the humanity of my conduct… I feel very unhappy when I find my conduct exposed to the insults of the interest’d & ignorant. Meanwhile, another accusation was made against Lee. New Jersey’s Chief Justice , David Brearley (of Upper Freehold), wrote Washington on August 11. Brearley claimed that Lee’s men were "impressing forage on their own authority." He asked Washington to "deliver them, to be dealt with agreeably to the law." Lee defended his men for only feeding their horses and acting under warrant from a magistrate: Capt. John Rudolph of the Cavalry joined with his host from Monmouth. He, according to the usage of the corps & orders, got billet & forage warrants from the magistrate, & acted by virtue of them only. On my junction, the troops with me were also quartered by the authority of the warrant given Capt. Rudolph which was general & designed for the quartering of the whole. Lee insisted that certificates were issued “procuring payment to the people for the supplys furnished” according to “a letter from the Contractor of the county to Capt. Rudulph.” The contractor in question was David Rhea, who disliked Lee and may have been happy to have a role in embarrassing him. Perspective The French fleet did not anchor at Sandy Hook and Lee’s time in Monmouth County was mired in controversy. He feuded with David Forman and other local leaders. But the anger at Lee was largely the byproduct of Forman’s direction. Forman may have used the opportunity to impress livestock to retaliate against real and perceived enemies (having just founded a group for that purpose). Ironies abound regarding Lee’s time in Monmouth County. His men were more active against the enemy than any other Continental unit sent into the county, but they were also the most disliked by locals. Lee’s 1779 deployment into Monmouth abruptly ended when he sought to impress livestock without guidance from a local leader; he was ordered to do exactly that during his 1780 deployment. However, that task turned into a debacle because the impressments were performed under guidance of a local leader with complicated motivations. Related Historic Site : Allen House Appendix: Petition of Obadiah Holmes to George Washington, August 6, 1780 "The Petition of Joshua Anderson an Inhabitant of the County of Monmouth, State of New Jersey in behalf of himself & Son, humbly shewith, That your Petitioner & Son in equal Partnership with one of their neighbours were legally possessed of a very valuable blooded covering Horse three years old in June last for which they [were] or are to pay eleven thousand Pounds Contl Currency or the Exchange in Specie at one for sixty, that on the third Day of this Inst. a certain Mr Heard an officer in Majr Lee’s Core under the immediate Command of Capt. Rudolph came to the House of yr Petitioner when both he & his Son were absent & forceably took away sd Horse alledging to your Petitioners wife that he had your Excellency’s Orders for so doing—Your Petitioner & Son have since applied to Capt. Rudolph for the Horse and upon remonstrating against the Proceedings he Capt. Rudolph swore he would cut yr Petitioners Son’s Ears off if he said anything more about the Horse—It gives your Petitioner Pain to trouble your Excellency on such an Occasion, but your Petitioner humbly hopes your Excellency will excuse the Application when he considers his Petitioner as an aged Man with a Large Family that before the Enemy pass’d thro’ this County lived in easy Circumstances but at that Time by Reason of his Attachment to the Cause of his Country lost almost every Thing he had (Land excepted), which has reduced him to necissitous Circumstances. Your Petitioner would beg Leave further to inform your Excellency that the only Plea they have for detaining the Horse is that the Person who owns one half of him is disaffected & there is Danger of his going to the Enemy how far the person owning one half the Horse in Partnership with yr Petitioner & Son has given Reason for such Suspicions your Petitioner cannot determine, Your Petitioner believes such a Report & Suspicion of his Design of going to the Enemy &c. never prevailed in the neighborhood until on this Occasion—but be that as it may the Law of the State has made Provision in such Cases for forfeited Property & your Petitioner would give ample Security that the publick meet with no Loss in Case the sd Person should forfeit his Property. Your Petitioner begs Leave to give it as his Opinion that the Horse is by no Means fit for the publick Service being a full blooded Horse but three Years old Last June that has never been rode ten Miles from his Stable & that cost as much as would buy three or four abler Horses for Service than he is—Your Petitioner humbly hopes when your Excellency considers the Part that he & his Family have acted since the Commencement of this Contest (which is certifyed by a Number of the Officers & Reputable Inhabitants in the Neighborhood & annexed to this Petition) when your Excellency considers the necessities of a large Family, your Petitioners Age, & that his Son is so frequently out in the Militia as to render but little Service at Home & that your Petitioner stands bound for the Money & that if the other Partner in the Horse should go to the Enemy yr Petitioner must pay the Money. your Petitioner hopes these Circumstances considered together with the Horse’s being so young as to be unfit for Service & kept at such a Distance from the Enemies Lines as not to be in Danger of falling into their Hands all the Partners living some Miles west of Monmouth Courthouse that your Excellency will immediately issue Orders for the Horse to be returned to your Petitioner." Signed: Obadiah Holmes, One of the Justices of the Peace, Samuel Pearce, Lucas Vorhees, Joseph Browne, Charles Gilmore, [ ]Vanderbilt, Samuel Forman, Garrett Wilkes, John Till,John Vanderveer, George Walker, Benjamin Cavenhoven, Nicholas Van Brunt, George Wilson, David Cooper, Benjamin Heaviland, Solomon Combs, Stephen Heaviland, James Hampton, John Campbell, John Craig, David Forman. "We the Subscribers, Officers of the first Regt of Monmouth Militia being well acquainted with Mr Joshua Anderson & Family do hereby certify that he is a Man of reputable Character both as a Citizen as Inhabitant and as a Friend to his Country" Signed: Asher Holmes Col.; David Gordon, Capt.; John Smock Lt. Col.; John Walton Capt.; Joseph Stilwell Capt.; John Schanck, Capt; Samuel Carhart, Capt.; Jonathan Forman, Capt; John Schenck, Lieut.; Peter Vanderhoff, Ensign; William Schenck Lieut.; Richard Hartsborne, Qtr Mstr; William Forman; Jonathan Forman; Samuel Forman, Lieut.; Michael Sweetman, Capt.; Benjamin Van Cleave, Capt Appendix 2: Captain Rudolph’s Statement, August 22, 1780 "I yesterday offer’d to Mr Anderzon a horse seiz’d from him for public service & at present in the 2d troop of cavalry. Mr Anderson refus’d accepting his horse as he was gelded, & insist’d on 300£ Specie. Conscious that the original appraisement is his full value, I cou’d not consent to an act so injurious to justice and to the public. Mr Anderzon left me to wait on the govenor & presume my reputation or purse must suffer for my zealous execution of my orders—when left by Major Lee to execute your Excellencies instructions in Monmouth, I accept’d of the command with reluctance & in the prosecution of the business act’d altogether by advice of Genl Furman. The horse in controversy is the joint property of a Mr Thompson & a Mr Anderson [Joshua Anderson], son to the Old gentleman who wait’d on your Excellency. Mr Thompson is noted for his disaffection & has a brother a cornet in Genl Skinners Cavalry; & young Mr Anderzon has been convict’d of illicit trade to N. York, & has never taken the oath of allegiance to the States. I conceiv’d their property the object of your Excellencies orders. Genl Furman [David Forman] was of the same Opinion & press’d me repeatedly to seize the horse When he was taken it gave joy to every Whig I saw and spoke to, as it was generally presumed that the horse woud be convey’d to the Enemy after the covering Season was over for the use of cornet Thompson. In my certificate I gave full allowance for the horse, rather more than my judgment approv’d—during the whole of my transactions in the county, I conducted myself with the greatest moderation so much so, that I by no means seized for the public one fourth of what was pointed out to me by Genl Furman—I do not mean by this to asperse Genl Furman, for I possess the highest opinion of his virtue & public spirit, I only wish to explain to your Excellency the humanity of my conduct on Mr Andersons return to Monmouth he will no doubt publish your Excellencies decision in his behalf which will operate much to my prejudice. I feel very unhappy when I find my conduct exposed to the insults of the interest’d & ignorant." Sources : George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw190182)) ; George Washington ot David Forman, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 19, pp. 145, 156-7, 158-9; George Washington to David Forman, Monmouth County Historical Association, Collections Alphabetical, Letters 1770-1780; George Washington to David Forman, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 68, July 12, 1780; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 68, July 16 and 20, 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 184; 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; Henry to Lee to Governor of Maryland, Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Maryland, 1780-1, p 18; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence; David Rhea to Moore Furman, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #5591-5592; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 68, July 21, 1780; Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 6, p 218 note; 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 248. Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 68, July 24, 1780; 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, pp. 244-5; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw190290)) ; Henry Lee to Captain Rudolph, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence; George Washington from Obadiah Holmes, 6 August 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-02839, ver. 2013-09-28;David Brearley to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:1:./temp/~ammem_wnJq ::; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw190470)) ; George Washington from Henry Lee, 22 August 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-03013, ver. 2013-09-28); To George Washington from Henry Lee, 5 September 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-03180, ver. 2013-09-28); New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3736; Henry Lee to Maryland Delegates to Congress, Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Maryland, 1780-1, p 388-9. 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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 > The First American Raids Against Sandy Hook by Michael Adelberg In 1778, Sandy Hook was cut off from the mainland by a channel called “the Gut.” A British guardship protected the lighthouse at its tip. Captain John Burrowes launched the first raid against it. - December 1778 - By late 1778, Sandy Hook had been occupied by the British navy for two and a half years. During that time, the British fought off at least three land-based attacks (April 1776 , June 1776 , and March 1777 ). They also fortified the Hook and supported Loyalist refugees in establishing a makeshift settlement called Refugeetown . Sandy Hook became the base of operations for Loyalist middlemen, called “London Traders ,” who powered the illegal trade between Monmouth County’s disaffected farmers and the British commissary at the lighthouse. Finally, Sandy Hook was the staging ground for raids, great and small , against the shores and villages of Monmouth County. In 1778, bold privateers such as Yelverton Taylor on the Atlantic shore and William Marriner in the Raritan Bay proved that small American vessels could sting the British and escape without harm if the action was quick. Given this, it was inevitable that local Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) would seek to strike at Sandy Hook. Captain John Burrowes of Middletown Point was the first Revolutionary to surprise attack the Hook. The Service of John Burrowes, Jr. John Burrowes, Jr., was a captain in the Continental Army. His father, John Burrowes, Sr., was the Chair of the Monmouth County Committee immediately prior to independence. Burrowes, Sr., was captured by Loyalist raiders in May 1778. Captain Burrowes led the most active and largest company in David Forman’s Additional Regiment which was created to defend Monmouth County. But Forman was stripped of command and the regiment, including Burrowes, Jr., was pulled out of Monmouth County and merged into the main Continental Army two months prior to his father’s capture. After the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778), Captain Burrowes was allowed to stay home for long stretches in order to observe and report on British movements in the Raritan Bay and at Sandy Hook. But Captain Burrowes likely wanted revenge on the Sandy Hook-based Loyalists who took his father and razed his village. He was also an active patriot who understood that the weakened British naval presence at Sandy Hook, whittled down to a single guard ship and company of Loyalist soldiers, made the Hook vulnerable to attack. The First Raid Against Sandy Hook On December 18, 1778, Burrowes wrote his commanding general, Lord Stirling (William Alexander) about "a little excursion made on the night of the 15th inst.” He reported that “my cruise was not so favorable as expected,” but it was still quite favorable: In the evening at 7 o'clock, I set out from this place in three small boats which carried eighteen men, proceeded to Spermacity Cove [on the bayside of Sandy Hook], where I found the sloops I had taken view of the day before; the one that appeared the largest I boarded with six men, the other boats I sent men to board the other two [sloops]. The one I boarded was a tender belonging to the Light House, she mounted 8 swivels, 2 musketoons & 2 blunderbusses. I immediately secured the prisoners & got her away, as also the others; but unfortunately run her ashore and found I could do no more with her. I left her after taking out the prisoners and proceeded to secure the others, which I did. I took fourteen prisoners and some plunder. The Pennsylvania Packet reported on the event: "Some Jerseymen went in rowboats to Sandy Hook and took four sloops, one of which was armed. They burned three, took one; also taken, nineteen prisoners. The share of prize money per man was £400." An article in the Pennsylvania Evening Post reported the same event, but with slightly different details: Some row boats about a fort night ago went from Jersey to Sandy Hook where in the night they boarded four sloops, one of which was armed. In carrying them to a place of safety, three of them, by the unskillfulness of the pilots, ran ashore and were burnt. The other, with nineteen prisoners, got safe to New Jersey. In February 1779, a second raid against Sandy Hook succeeded in taking three additional small sloops. On February 10, the New Jersey Gazette reported "that on Monday night, three prizes taken near Sandy Hook were brought into the Raritan River, one of which had a valuable cargo on board." A second brief reported similarly: "three prizes taken near Sandy Hook were brought into Raritan River, one of which had a valuable cargo on board." It is unknown who led this second raid, but the raiders may have included William Marriner or some of his men given that the captured boats were brought into the Raritan River. The vessels taken in both actions, with the exception of the one tender discussed in Burrowes’ letter, were not military vessels. They were likely small sloops owned by Loyalist refugees who were facilitating illegal trading between Monmouth County and the British. Regardless of whether these were military vessels or not, interrupting this illegal trade was a valid military objective. The vessels were subject to seizure and could be condemned in the New Jersey Admiralty Courts as valid prizes. British Weakness at Sandy Hook The British did not beef up the defenses at Sandy Hook as result of these first two raids. In March 1779, the sloop, Hunter , arrived from Halifax and was left at Sandy Hook as the guardship. According to documents in the Papers of the Continental Congress, the Hunter suffered desertions throughout 1779 and was well under its full complement of guns. A June document states: “She has lain there as a guard ship last March when she arrived from Halifax, has only six guns mounted, having thrown four overboard in her passage." This is a remarkable contrast to the 40-gun frigates that guarded the Hook in 1776 and 1777. The weakness of the British defense prompted further insults. On April 10, the Loyalist New York Gazette reported a strange incident that occurred at Sandy Hook on April 2. A Loyalist privateer was sabotaged by a spy named “Smith.” The privateer’s captain discovered "two holes newly bored with an auger and stuffed with fresh cork and some canvas" in the hull of his vessel. The ship nearly sank outside of Sandy Hook, but listed back into sheltered waters where the captain discovered the sabotage on inspection. A party of Monmouth militia also took a Loyalist vessel near Sandy Hook that spring. Wilson Hunt of Upper Freehold recalled in his postwar veterans’ pension application: 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 get her, where she was declared a lawful prize. On land, the Monmouth militia and state troops also grew bolder. Cornelius Smock, the son of Lt. Col. John Smock and nephew of Captain Barnes Smock of the Middletown militia, recorded an attack against a Loyalist party on Sandy Hook in 1779: He was one of thirteen men, with Capt. Barnes Smock, commanded by his father, Lt. Col. John Smock, that went to a place called the Gut on the sea shore near Sandy Hook, and after a smart skirmish, took 26 prisoners - refugees commanded by Lt William Stevens, who was amongst the prisoners - these prisoners were afterwards exchanged for American prisoners then in prison in New York. Smock further reported that “he was with a party that marched on Sandy Hook and retook John Stillwell's cattle, and brought them off.” Another Middletown militiaman, Chrineyonce Schenck, recalled the same skirmish near Sandy Hook "when twenty-eight or thirty Tories were taken prisoner, together with Captain William Stevens.” The Loyalist publisher, Hugh Gaine, reported in his journal, "an attack upon the Light House at the Hook, but the enemy soon retired." These early attacks on Sandy Hook set the stage for even more impressive attacks later in the war. Most notably, in January 1780, Major Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee made a bold descent on Sandy Hook during a snowstorm, and throughout 1781 and 1782, the New Brunswick privateer, Adam Hyler, made several successful attacks on British assets on Sandy Hook. These are subjects of later articles. Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : John Burrowes to Lord Stirling, New York Historical Society, MSS John Burrowes; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 194-202; Edwin Salter, Old Tims in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 127-8; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 3, p 41; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 3, p 58; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 187, item 169, #35, 116, 136, 191; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Wilson Hunt of KY, www.fold3.com/image/#24273269 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Cornelius Smock; Allan McLane, Army and Navy Chronicle (New York: Benjamin Homans, 1838) p 130-1; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Journals of Hugh Gaine, Volume I (New York: Dodd, Mead 81 Company, 1902), vol. 2, pp. 87; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Journals of Hugh Gaine, Volume I (New York: Dodd, Mead 81 Company, 1902), vol. 2, pp. 87. Providence Gazette, August 25, 1781; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Chrineyonce Schenck. 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 > Alarm Beacons Constructed in Monmouth County by Michael Adelberg Fired beacons could speed news of a British incursion into New Jersey. The chain of 23 beacons across New Jersey included three in Monmouth County, but the Monmouth beacons were short-lived. - April 1779 - In 1779, the British, believing the South was filled with Loyalists, sent an Army to invade Georgia. In the North, they replaced major campaigns with raids into New Jersey. George Washington camped inland near Morristown and relied on riders to inform him of British incursions. But riders were sometimes unreliable, and messages took several hours to deliver under even the best circumstances. In 1778, Continental and New Jersey leaders discussed establishing beacons which, when fired, could be seen by men attending the next beacon—lighting a chain of beacons could, in theory, speed word of a British attack. Beacons were not a new idea. For centuries, they had been used on the continent of Europe to spread news of enemy attack. In New Jersey, the nascent state government’s Council of Safety, at its first meeting on January 10, 1776, recommended the construction of a set of warning beacons along the shore. Three months later, George Washington forwarded a plan to the New Jersey Provincial Congress for constructing beacons between the Navesink Highlands and Woodbridge. The beacons would alert New Jersey militia and the Continental Army of a British landing or a fleet arriving at Sandy Hook, but it is unlikely that beacons were constructed in 1776 amidst other competing priorities. Monmouth County’s Warning Beacons The plan to construct beacons across the parts of New Jersey most exposed to attacks reached fruition. in March 1779, George Washington wrote Governor William Livingston of a plan developed by General William Alexander (Lord Stirling) to construct 23 beacons from the Watchung Mountains southwest to Amwell and east through northern Monmouth County. Of the first eight beacons, Washington wrote: “I will have them erected.” For the rest, Washington requested that “Your Excellency [Livingston] will be pleased to give the order." This meant that fifteen beacons would be built and maintained by New Jersey militia. Stirling’s description of the hoped-for beacons included this instruction: Each of the beacons are to be of the following dimensions: at bottom, fourteen feet square, to rise in a pyramidal form to about eighteen or twenty feet high, and then to terminate about six feet square, with a stout sapling in the center of about thirty feet high from the ground. According to a list compiled by Baron Johan DeKalb – the last three beacons would be in Monmouth County "on Carter Hill in Monmouth" (near Freehold); "on Middletown Hill" and "on Mount Pleasant." A fourth beacon near the Navesink Highlands was not included in Stirling’s plan based on the advice of Joseph Holmes, one of Monmouth County’s legislators – presumably it would be impossible to defend . An April order discussed that the Monmouth beacons were to be fired when "the enemy invades Monmouth County or any part of Middlesex south of Raritan, or on the first appearance of the enemy going up Amboy Bay." On April 12, General Nathaniel Heard of Middlesex County, commanding the Monmouth militia, wrote to Colonel Asher Holmes, commanding the Freehold and Middletown militias. Heard’s detailed direction included instruction that "these fires should be made of logs intermixed with brush squares at the bottom, about sixteen feet high and to diminish as they rise like a pyramid, and should be 18 or 20 feet high." Heard’s orders reveal that he was more concerned with battling enemy raiders than getting word to Washington. He ordered beacons further forward than Stirling and he required that the beacons serve as militia rallying points. He wrote: I have received orders from General Dickinson [Philemon Dickinson] to execute and erect beacons for your militia in case of alarm… you will immediately order the officers commanding to have their men attending the firing of these beacons. When the beacons fired militia were ordered to muster at each of them: 1. companies of Michael Sweetman, John Walton, David Gordon, William Van Cleaf were to meet at the beacon at Bray's meeting house (south of Middletown); 2. companies of John Schenck, William Schenck and Samuel Carhart were to meet at the beacon on Vanderbelt's Hill (near Middletown); 3. companies of John Stillwell, Barnes Smock and Theophilus Little were to meet at the beacon on Ruckman's Hill (near Navesink). The militia’s Light Horse company was to "be divided in three divisions, each of which to repair to each of the three posts, that they may forward intelligence from one post to the others." Holmes would oversee the construction of the beacons and would be compensated for expenses directly related to their construction: “You must keep an exact account of expenses attending to the fixing of these beacons which you will be pleased to transmit regularly." The Loyalist officer, Elisha Lawrence, formerly of Upper Freehold, compiled a map of Monmouth County in spring, 1779. The map was likely to assist raiding parties and illegal traders . The map showed the location of beacons on Garretts Hill (west of Navesink Highlands); a beach on Highlands marked "watering place" (fresh water well); and on the Middletown shore opposite Horseshoe Bay on the Sandy Hook Peninsula. The map also showed the location of four companies of Benjamin Ford’s Continental troops in Monmouth County, one at Middletown, two more at Eatontown, and one at Tinton Falls. The map, if correct, showed that beacons were constructed far closer to the British base at Sandy Hook than Stirling had suggested and slightly closer than Heard had ordered—but it is possible that Lawrence’s map was incorrect. Short Life of Monmouth County’s Beacons What became of the beacons is unclear. Perhaps they were never fully constructed or perhaps they were fired once and not rebuilt. If they were as close to Sandy Hook as Lawrence’s map suggests, then the men firing those beacons were in great danger of capture . At least in Monmouth County, there is no reason to believe the beacons were long-lived. A May 1780 list of New Jersey militia rally points had the Monmouth militia assembling at South Amboy “along the shore towards Middletown” and at Deal. Beacons go unmentioned in the order. In the three northeast townships (Freehold, Middletown and Shrewsbury), militia used “signal cannon” to indicate alarm and summon the militia. As early as September 1778, there is a documentation that militia “went on the boom" of the cannon, and men were fined for not turning out when the gun was fired. The booms of this cannon were likely effective at alarming the militia because a Loyalist newspaper particularly called out the disabling of the Middletown militia signal cannon in its report of the June 1780 raid that captured Captain Barnes Smock of Middletown. In post-war veteran pension applications, six Monmouth militiamen from the Northeast townships mention marching at the boom of signal cannon, but none mention marching at the firing of a beacon: John Aumock recalled mustering on “a general alarm (which was announced by the firing of the alarm gun kept by Colo. Holmes), and then all the militia were called out together." John Carhart remembered,” under a signal from the alarm gun, the militia of the neighborhood, whether out under regular duty or not, repaired with all speed to the place of rendezvous.” Garrett Jeffrey recalled he would “repair immediately to all points of attack on the discharge of the alarm gun.” John Matthews also recalled mustering at the firing of a signal cannon: “the militia immediately laying aside all business at the report of the alarm gun & repairing to the place of rendezvous.” Koert Schenck recalled "all the militia were called out on the firing of the alarm gun.” Derrick Sutphin marched at the alarm gun, including a boom just after his wedding: “was called out the same week as the wedding, after the marriage, the alarm gun firing at Colo. Holmes’.” There are no accounts of the Monmouth militia responding to an alarm via the lighting of a beacon. Riders continued to be used to alert George Washington on events along the Monmouth shore and Sandy Hook through the end of the war. Related Historic Site : Beacon Pole Hill (Rhode Island) Sources : Bob Rupert, The Blue Hills Beacons, Journal of the American Revolution, April 29, 2015, https://allthingsliberty.com/2015/04/the-blue-hills-beacons/#google_vignette ; 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. 4, pp. 660, 662-3; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 1, p 1165; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of New Jersey (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) p 327; George Washington to William Livingston, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 14, pp. 281-3; Elisha Lawrence, Map, U. of Michigan, Clements Library, Map 237, Monmouth County; James Raleigh, "Beacon Bicentennial--1779," Monmouth County Historical Association Newsletter, vol. 7, n2, 1779, p1; Nathaniel Heard to Asher Holmes, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 5, folder 3; Cherry Hall Papers, box 1; John Clayton to Asher Holmes, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 5, folder 9; John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) v3, p341; George Washington to John Neilson, May 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-01952, ver. 2013-09-28); National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Matthews of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23666685 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Garrett Jeffrey of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#24630193 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Derrick Sutphin; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Carhart; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Aumock; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Koert Schenck. 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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 > Local Leaders at Battle of Monmouth by Michael Adelberg General Charles Lee led Continental forces during the first part of the Battle of Monmouth; he relied on Monmouth County leaders as guides, but was generally unhappy with their guidance. - June 1778 - Due to their knowledge of the Freehold -Englishtown area, a number of Monmouth County’s leaders played important roles at the Battle of Monmouth. The four most important were Lt. Colonel David Rhea and Captain Peter Wikoff, who acted as faithful guides to Continental commanders during the battle, Colonel David Forman, who furnished guides, and Dr. Thomas Henderson who provided George Washington with early information on the Continental Army’s late morning withdrawal. David Rhea grew up just west of Freehold, but lived as a merchant in Allentown before the war. He enlisted in the Continental Army in 1775 and served continuously through the Battle of Monmouth. Due to his local knowledge, Rhea spent the first hours of the battle advising General Charles Lee. Lt. Col. Tench Tilghman, Washington's Aide de Camp, met Rhea on the battlefield as Lee began the mid-morning troop withdrawal (in the face of a British counter-attack). Tilghman said of Rhea: "He appeared to be very much agitated, expressed his disapprobation with the retreat, and seemed to be equally concerned that he had no place assigned to go where the troops were to halt." Later, Tilghman noted that Lee "desired me to go and bring him [Rhea] as quick as possible." Late in life, Rhea wrote about being pursued by a British dragoon that morning: The Colonel abruptly wheeled, put spurs to his horse, and galloped to a barn, the dragoon after him. Around the barn, and through one door and out the other, went both pursuer and pursued. Ray [sic] galloped for safety to the regiment [Continental Army], passed in front, the trooper still at his heels. More than 100 muskets were discharged at him. But he [the dragoon] escaped unharmed, galloped back to his regiment, and was seen to take his place in line. In the afternoon, Lt. Col. John Fitzgerald recalled Rhea assisting George Washington. Rhea offered to guide Washington’s arriving army to better ground: “It was good ground, and that, should General Washington want him, he should be glad to serve him." Fitzgerald concluded that Rhea “knew the ground exceedingly well.” Rhea also sent a letter to Washington about troop movements: "There is a strong party by your order posted at the pass I mentioned, and will in a few minutes open four pieces of artillery on their left flank…. They must go near five miles round before they can flank us." Peter Wikoff was a local militia captain. He served as a guide to General Lee in the morning of the battle. Capt. John Mercer (an aid to Lee) noted that Wikoff "directed him [Lee] to the heights occupied afterward by Lord Stirling, as the only piece of ground in our favor." Wikoff proposed his family’s house as a rallying point for retreating troops and was sent off to inform retreating units of their withdrawal points. Colonel Isaac Ogden recalled Lee treating Wikoff disrespectfully in the heat of battle, "Mr. Wikoff in some measure apologized as if he [Lee] had looked upon it rather as an intrusion, and then turned off." Lee suggested he was not disrespectful, "I had not the least apprehension that Mr. Wikoff would not have the influence to lead a battalion to the point proposed for the halt." Other officers spoke positively of Wikoff’s role guiding troops during the battle, though there is reason to think the militia officer’s counsel was not always heeded by regimental army commanders in the heat of battle. At least one other militia officer (probably more) served as a guide that day. Captain David Baird wrote: The day of the battle, his men were far from where the enemy passed, [and] were desirous of going to look after their property; not anticipating an engagement that day, permitted them to do so -- that he afterward rode to Englishtown, where he met Washington and Stirling, and even conducted them, that they might know the ground in the vicinity of the battle. David Forman was a colonel in the Continental Army in June 1778, but did not command any men; he lost command of his regiment a few months earlier. In the days leading up to the battle, Forman attached himself to the advancing Continental Army. On June 26, he met with the Marquis de Lafayette at Cranbury. Lafayette wrote that “Gal. Forman is firmly of the opinion that we may overtake the enemy... his sentiment is of great weight on account of his knowledge of the country." But Lafayette also expressed caution about Forman’s advice: "Gal. Forman says that on account of the country, it is impossible for me to be turned to the right or left -- but I shall not quite depend upon that." While Forman was away, a 200-man British detachment sacked his house and farm. Moses Estey of the Middlesex County recalled that on June 27: [He] volunteered with others to go in pursuit of a detachment of the enemy of about 200 men at General Forman’s, who had plundered his house of all valuables, destroyed all his furniture & taken off his plantation all his cattle which they were driving off the British Army then near. They succeeded in re-taking the cattle which were brought back, but the detachment of the enemy got back to the camp of their main army. Forman accompanied General Lee on the morning of June 28, and wrote a note at Lee’s direction to George Washington on the British line of march: I am directed by Genl Lee to Inform your Excely that the Enemy’s Front have advanced one and a half Miles on the road leading to Middle Town and South Amboy… I have no doubt of Middle Town being their distination [sic], as Amboy would Expose there left flank to your Excelys Army. Forman brought Lee guides (including, presumably, Wikoff and Baird). Based on testimony at Lee’s court martial, it appears that Lee and Forman did not like each other. Early on, Forman offered Lee advice on needed troop movements and offered to lead a column of Lee’s men. Lee reportedly responded curtly: “I know my business.” He had nothing to do with Forman after that. After the battle, Forman wrote a letter to Washington criticizing Lee. And at Lee’s court martial, Forman testified against Lee. Forman claimed that, "Gen. Lee committed an error in his order of line by neglecting to find orders to hold the Gentlemen in march" and then "detaining the troops at least two hours longer than was necessary" at Englishtown. Forman stated that Lee was reluctant to attack the enemy: "Instead of marching to attack them, halted in the woods a mile from the enemy, and only sent a detachment." Lee also "appeared confused, and as he said, not well appraised of the enemy's situation.” During the Continental withdrawal, Forman said of Lee: "I observed the greatest confusion amongst the troops, occasioned… by Genl. Lee's frequent and contrary orders.” In total, "Genl. Lee, from the whole of his conduct, appeared determined to avoid fighting." Forman’s role in furnishing guides was affirmed by the testimony of Colonels William Grayson and John Laurens. However, the timeliness of Forman’s assistance was questioned by Lee’s supporters. Lt. Colonel Brooks, Lee’s aide-de-camp, testified about the lack of local guides early in the battle, "about six o'clock they [Lee's men] began their march from Englishtown towards Monmouth Court House, having been detained by want of guides." Captain Evan Edwards, another aid to Lee, said he had to seek guides before assistance was offered: General Lee sent me to procure some for him, but the guides who were ordered to remain with us could not be found. I went through the town to procure others... Genl. Forman [then] came to General Lee's quarters and said he would procure guides, which is supposed he did. Lee, himself, testified about "various delays, halts and embarrassments, occasioned by false alarms and contradictory intelligence" from local guides. Dr. Thomas Henderson served in 1776 as the Lt. Colonel of a regiment of Flying Camp that was attached to the Continental Army. In early June 1778, in retaliation for a Loyalist raid that resulted in the capture of his father-in-law, John Burrowes, Sr., Henderson led a gang that extra-legally seized the Loyalist William Taylor. Henderson’s vengeful act (and probably other acts) made him a target of Loyalists and British. They burned his house and farm on June 27—the first of a dozen arsons . That same day, Henderson led forty mounted men in gathering intelligence on British troop movements and reporting to the arriving Continental generals. Daniel Applegate recalled seeing “Henderson about 4 miles from Village of Freehold on the day before the Battle of Monmouth with about 40 Calvary under his Command” as he gathered information on the British camp and pickets. Henderson observed the withdrawal of Continental troops in the late morning of June 28 and then reportedly raced to Englishtown to debrief George Washington as he arrived at Englishtown. This was apparently Washington’s first intelligence about Lee’s late morning retreat. However, historians Mark Lender and Garry Stone have concluded that Lee’s withdrawal was prudent and relatively orderly, as were the positions Lee staked out for forming a defensive line. So, if Henderson characterized Lee’s retreat as disorderly (or even cowardly, as David Forman suggested), Henderson’s counsel was partially correct. After the battle, on June 30, Henderson, Congressman Nathaniel Scudder, and David Forman, met with George Washington at Englishtown. Col. John Laurens recalled the three local leaders advising Washington not to pursue the British Army, now camped on higher ground at Middletown: The reason for not pursuing them farther with the main body of the Army was that people well acquainted with the Country said the strength of the ground would render it impracticable for us to injure them [the British]; and that the sandy, parched soil, together with the heat of the sun, would probably occasion us considerable loss. After the battle, Henderson documented the arson and plundering of Freehold by British soldiers during their stay in Freehold, including the often-cited account of Elizabeth Covenhoven. Several other Monmouth County leaders participated in the Battle of Monmouth. At least two Monmouth Countians, Captain John Burrowes, Jr., and Captain Jonathan Forman, were company captains in the New Jersey Line. They participated in the early morning attack on the British and subsequent retreat. Militia Colonels Asher Holmes and Samuel Forman skirmished and harassed British parties leading up to the Battle of Monmouth, Forman spent the day under the command of Colonel Daniel Morgan, south of the battlefield, as a non-participant. Holmes and Captain Joshua Huddy led a brave but doomed attacks on the British baggage train east of the battlefield. And, finally, Congressman and Dr. Nathaniel Scudder, watched the battle from an attic window, having been pulled away to deliver a baby. Related Historic Site : Monmouth Battlefield State Park Sources : Mark Lender, Garry Wheeler Stone, Fatal Sunday (Norman, OK: Oklahoma University Press, 2016) pp 269-349; Cyclopedia of New Jersey Biography, American Historical Society, New York City, 1921 Page 25-29; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Samuel Mount; Muster Rolls, John Burrowes’s Company, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, Coll. 105, p35, 36, 38, 41, 44, 46; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, David Rhea of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 14148165; Marquis de Lafayette to George Washington, in Stanley Idzerda ed., Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution. Selected Letters and Papers, 1776-1790 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981) pp. 89-91; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Moses Estey of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 18309690; Charles Gilman, Monmouth: A Road to Glory (Red Bank, NJ: Arlington Laboratory for Clinical and Historical Research, 1964) p 34; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 357; Benson Lossing, The Battle of Monmouth Court House, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 57, 1878, June, p43; John Barber, Historical Collections of the State of New Jersey (New Haven, Conn., J. W. Barber, 1868) pp 341; David Forman to George Washington, Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Battle of Monmouth files: folder - American Sources; Proceedings of a General Court Martial Held at New Brunswick for the Trial of Major General Lee (New York: Privately Printed, 1864) pp. 30, 164, 197-8, 204, 213; Lee, Charles, The Lee Papers. 4 vols. (New York: New York Historical Society, 1871-1874) vol. 3, pp. 22-187; Lee, Charles, The Lee Papers. 4 vols. (New York: New York Historical Society, 1871-1874) vol. 3, pp. 22-187; David Forman to George Washington, Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Battle of Monmouth files: folder - American Sources; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - David Baird; David G. Martin, The Philadelphia Campaign: June 1777-July 1778 (Cambridge, MA: DaCapo, 1993), pp. 209-20; John Rees, 'What is this You have been about Today?': The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth, www.revwar75/library/rees/monmouth/Monmouth.htm, p5; John Rees, 'What is this You have been about Today?': The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth, www.revwar75/library/rees/monmouth/Monmouth.htm, p14-5, 18; John Rees, 'What is this You have been about Today?': The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth, www.revwar75/library/rees/monmouth/Monmouth.htm, p15; John Burrowes, The Revolutionary War Reminiscences of John Burrows, Virginia Historical Society, MSS5:1B9466:1; David Rhea to George Washington, The George Washington Papers, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Henderson of New Jersey, www.fold3.com/image/#23877525 ; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, June 28, 1778; Hamilton Cochran, Scudders of the American Revolution (Peterborough, N.H.: Scudder Association, 1976), pp. 97-8; David Forman to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, p. 577; David Rhea to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, p. 582; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 216; William Stryker, The Battle of Monmouth (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1927) p 232; John Laurens, The Army correspondence of Colonel John Laurens in the years 1777-8 (New York: New York Times, 1969) pp. 200-1; Thomas Henderson (W426), Forman’s Regiment and Monmouth County militia, Supplementary deposition of Daniel Applegate, 21 April 1837, transcribed by John U. Rees. 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 decided to 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; 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 > Benjamin Ford's Maryland Continentals in Monmouth County by Michael Adelberg After the April 1779 raid, Chief Justice of Robert Morris went to Tinton Falls to rally the locals. He encountered people angry at Colonel Benjamin Ford for retreating instead of defending the village. - April 1779 - As discussed in prior articles, in an effort to improve the county’s security and check illegal trade, George Washington committed to stationing a regiment of troops in Monmouth County in January 1779. Caleb North’s Pennsylvanians served into March and then were replaced by a cobbled-together 250-man detachment led by Mordecai Gist of Maryland. Gist’s difficult tour included a troop mutiny and other irregularities. His detachment was soon replaced by the Maryland regiment of Colonel Benjamin Ford—who would fare no better. Benjamin Ford Camps at Tinton Falls Ford’s men arrived in Monmouth County on April 10. One of Gist’s officers, Captain Walter Finney, wrote: "Col. Ford and an equal detachment relieved us." Ford’s men set up headquarters at Tinton Falls, as North and Gist had done. A Monmouth militiaman, Anthony Holmes, discussed being detached to Ford’s troops (probably as a guide). Holmes wrote that "in his services, he was detached to the regular troops." Other locals struggled to quarter Ford’s troops. Quaker shopkeeper Benjamin White recalled: My brother was called a King's Man or Refugee and myself a rebel or friend of the Jersey troops. Col Ford and Maj Lee [ the dragoons led by 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. As Ford settled in, Monmouth County’s Forfeiture Commissioners held an auction at Shrewsbury to sell off the estates of thirty Loyalists who had joined the British. The sale of these estates, no doubt, enraged the Loyalists in New York and at Sandy Hook—and likely stirred them toward retaliation. On the morning of April 26, Colonel Ford wrote George Washington. He reported that a large raiding party came off Sandy Hook at 4:30 am: "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." Ford sent a 30-man scout party “to observe their movements & retard them in their march towards Tinton Falls, a post of which I conceived would be their first object.” He reported that “the enemy pushed with great rapidity to the Falls” where Ford wrote that he “intended to have made a stand.” However, Ford believed he was outnumbered “as near as I could judge three to one.” So, he “judged it expedient to retreat” to Colts Neck “till a body of militia could be collected, which I hoped would be done in a few hours.” Ford claimed his retreat “frustrated” the raiders who then “halted at Tinton Falls.” Ford then described the destruction of the village: 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 there, after committing every wanton act they could, plundered and destroying all the furniture they found, they retreated again to Red Bank to their boats, driving all the stock of horses, sheep and cattle they could collect before them. Ford reported that his 30-man scout and militia provided modest resistance: “Capt Beale, with his party and a few of the militia, harassed them.” He noted that another raiding party landed at Shoal Harbor (present-day Leonardo) on the Middletown shore. Ford exaggerated the size of the raiding parties which included “1,000 men said to be commanded by Genl. Skinner [Courtland Skinner], and two British regiments.” In fact, the two raiding parties numbered about 750-men—roughly triple the size of Ford’s detachment. Skinner did not participate in the raid; the Shoal Harbor raiding party was led by Colonel West Hyde, a British officer. Ford reported some loss: “my loss does not amount to more than a dozen men missing” and claimed that weak militia turnout prevented him from offering more resistance. He wrote, “The militia have by no means answered my hopes or wishes, not more than 150 if so many has collected or as yet joined us. Coll. Holmes [Asher Holmes] has collected a party and is hanging on their flanks.” Ford noted taking two deserters as prisoners and concluded: “my men are now refreshing themselves and I shall immediately march to Middletown and act as circumstances will permit." George Washington's aide, Richard Kidder Meade, promptly wrote back that Ford should be careful in responding to the attack, "You will, with caution, give them all the annoyance you can" but not risk a general attack. The April 26 raid is the subject of the next article. Ford returned to Tinton Falls after the raid. His next report to Washington is on May 5, when he noted the movement of a British fleet from Sandy Hook. He revised his losses to 25-men (about ten percent of his force). He wrote that “nothing material occurred after" the raid. That same day, Robert Morris, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, visited Shrewsbury and Tinton Falls to rally the locals. He reported that Ford’s men retired all the way back to Van Mater's Hill in Colts Neck. Morris said that Ford "was unable to find any ground advantageous on every account than the hill where his men lay." Surely understating anger at Ford, Morris wrote, "Col Ford is censured by some of the inhabitants for his conduct." Benjamin Ford’s Return to Tinton Falls Ford sent reports on British naval activity at Sandy Hook on May 7, 9, May 13. On the 13th, he noted the arrival of the South Carolina brig Isaac , beached off Shrewsbury. The ship was bound for Boston with a cargo of rice. It had been taken off Long Island by a Loyalist privateer, but "was out on shore at this post yesterday." The vessel escaped capture while being towed into Sandy Hook. The only other event of note during Ford’s time in Monmouth County was his capture of two Loyalists, Joseph Mount and a man named Allen. Ford first wrote of Mount on May 9: Joseph Mount, a refugee from New York [Middletown before that] was apprehended at this place, several articles of merchandize was taken along with him which I conceive need not be condemned by a Magistrate as they were taken from an enemy who is out of the allegiance of the States. It has been practice, I am told, for the capturers to make what disposition they please of the goods. Ford asked to be permitted to seize and sell the goods taken with the Loyalists and sent them forward to the Army’s Adjutant General. He became acquainted with a fickle associate of Mount who apparently was open to spying in New York: "Should your Excellency think it necessary, I believe a person might be sent into New York from this place, that would collect all the intelligence possible to collect.” Ford’s letter apparently did not get a response, so he wrote again on May 24: When Joseph Mount, a refugee from New York, was apprehended at this place, several articles of merchandize was taken with him which I conceived would not need to be condemned by the Magistrate as it was taken by an enemy who is out of allegiance with the State. Ford alluded to disagreement with the local magistrate over this matter, which also occurred with other Continental officers in Monmouth County. He inferred that Goerge Washington might be entitled a share of the goods taken from Mount (including fabrics, sewing needles, pins, and sugar) if Ford was given title to it. George Washington responded two days later with a mild rebuke for Ford. He wrote: Should the goods which have been seized be condemned as legal prize by the laws of the state, in my opinion, it is most equitable to have the prize equally divided among the whole detachment. I am much obliged for your offer, but I do not want any of the articles. Ford’s men stayed in Monmouth County only a few days longer. Captain William Beatty, serving under Ford, wrote that “the next day we took our posts again.” But they only stayed “until the last of May, then marched for Middlebrook." Just ten days later, a party of sixty vengeful Loyalist s gathered at Sandy Hook and launched a raid that would finish off the already-damaged village of Tinton Falls. While Ford’s men failed in providing security against a large raiding party, their presence probably would have deterred this smaller raiding party from attacking and razing Tinton Falls. Related Historic Site : Old Mill Inn Sources : Chester County Historical Society, Diary of Walter Finney; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 57, April 26, 1779; Richard Kidder Meade to Benjamin Ford, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 57, April 27, 1779; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mgw4&fileName=gwpage058.db&recNum=335&tempFile=./temp/~ammem_YHA1&filecode=mgw&next_filecode=mgw&prev_filecode=mgw&itemnum=8&ndocs=100 ; Morris, Robert, “Letters of Chief Justice Morris, 1777–1779,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 38 (1920), pp. 172-4; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 58, May 6, 1779; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 58, May 9 and 26, 1779; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 169, item 152, vol. 7, #295, 369-70; Benjamin Ford to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mgw4&fileName=gwpage058.db&recNum=1102&tempFile=./temp/~ammem_YHA1&filecode=mgw&next_filecode=mgw&prev_filecode=mgw&itemnum=7&ndocs=100 ; George Washington to Benjamin Ford, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:1:./temp/~ammem_YHA1 ::; 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, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Anthony Holmes of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23390940 ; William Beatty, "Journal of Captain Wiliam Beatty of the Maryland Line, 1776-1781", Historical Magazine, 2nd Series, 1867, pp 117. Previous Next