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

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 > Loyalists Raid Pleasant Valley during Winter Storm by Michael Adelberg Loyalists raided Pleasant Valley in Monmouth County in February 1782. Amidst snow and ice, they loaded five sleighs, like these used at Ft. Ticonderoga, with plunder and returned to Sandy Hook. - February 1782 - The popular belief is that Revolutionary War hostilities ceased after the British surrender at Yorktown. Yet in Monmouth County, hostilities continued with impunity, fired by vengeful Loyalists in New York and the need to continue provisioning a British Army penned into a perimeter roughly conforming to the boundaries of present-day New York City. In addition to a pervasive illegal trade between Monmouth County and British buyers at Sandy Hook and New York, emboldened Pine Robber gangs defeated local militia in southern Monmouth County. In northern Monmouth County, Loyalist irregulars at Sandy Hook and Staten Island continued to raid the county’s prosperous farms. Pleasant Valley (more or less, present-day Holmdel) was a neighborhood in western Middletown Township known for its prosperous farms and solidly Whig (pro-Revolution) families. In June 1781, a massive raiding party of near 1,500 men marched through the neighborhood, but spirited resistance from local militia and the county’s State Troops limited the impact of the raid. Monmouth County Loyalists, however, were tempted to attack Pleasant Valley again in February 1782. The February 1782 Pleasant Valley Raid According to a report printed in the Pennsylvania Evening Post , a 40-man Loyalist raiding party, led by Shore Stevenson (a former Lieutenant in the New Jersey Volunteers , now operating as a Loyalist partisan) "came over from Sandy Hook" into Pleasant Valley. They "took off upwards of 20 horses, five sleighs, which they loaded with plunder." The raiders also took eight prisoners at the home of Lieutenant Garrett Hendrickson. Two of the men at the house were not taken. Hendrickson’s son and William Thomson "slept in the second story of the house, being awakened by the noise below, secreted themselves.” They “escaped and went to the house of Capt. John Schenck, whom they alarmed.” Schenck, a “gallant officer” who had previously co-led a daring raid against Brooklyn, “collected a small party... arrived at the Gut just as they had gotten the prisoners" and a few horses over the Gut and onto Sandy Hook. He attacked the raiders, and took twelve prisoners. In the fighting, Thomson was killed and a man named Cottrell was shot in the knee. After the skirmish, Schenck, on his return home "suddenly fell in with Stevenson and 16 others who had remained behind... a firing ensued on both sides." Stevenson’s men fled when the militia charged with bayonets. During this second skirmish, however, nine of the twelve prisoners taken at the Gut escaped. In total, the Loyalists took 21 prisoners, nineteen horses, and five loaded sleighs of booty. The Loyalists "huzzaed and boasted of their success" as they departed and claimed "they would penetrate as far as Mount Pleasant" (adjacent to Pleasant Valley) on their next excursion. Antiquarian sources add to the newspaper account. One source claims that the raiders had come for Captain Schenck, who had a bounty on his head in New York and may have been serving as the Middletown Township tax collector. Schenck reportedly slept in different houses in order to make it impossible for Loyalist parties to know his whereabouts. Lieutenant Henderickson, whose house was struck by the raiders, had been wounded at the so-called Battle of the 1500 in 1781 and had one of his hands amputated after that battle. Henderickson was temporarily captured during the raid, but freed himself during chaotic skirmish at the Gut. One of the local militiamen who battled the raiders was Derrick Sutphin, a newlywed at the time. Altche Sutphin wrote about Derrick’s participation in the raid in his veteran’s pension application, submitted as Derrick’s widow. She recalled her groom "being out just a few days before their marriage... when a fellow soldier by the name of William Thomson was killed on Middletown Highlands, who was buried in the immediate neighborhood of this declarant.” Derrick Sutphin's sister, Elizabeth Snyder, further recalled: The wedding party dared not remain overnight at the house, but dispersed early in the evening for fear of the Tories who would be upon them - that the bride remained at his house while the groom, the said Sutphin, was called out in the service before the week was out, by the alarm gun being fired at Colo. [Asher] Holmes's; he joined the scouting party which went to Middletown Point in pursuit of the Tories - he returned in a few days. A week after the raid, Colonel David Forman wrote to Governor William Livingston about the raid and the vulnerability of northern Monmouth County. He summarized the raid: The enemy marched undiscovered to Pleasant Valley and captured eight valuable citizens and their Negroes, and would have made their retreat good had it not been for a body of ice that broke loose and detained them for several hours on the passage to Sandy Hook. The principal object was the Town Collector, they took him and his two sons, but fortunately the public money had been sent away a short time before. Forman enclosed a petition calling "for a guard to be called from the interior counties for protection of our frontiers, commanded by Capt. [John] Walton of the Horse." Forman alluded to talk between Livingston and Thomas Henderson, representing Monmouth County in the state legislature, in which the Governor reportedly admitted to "the inability of Capt. Walton's troops giving security to our very extensive frontiers" at their present strength. As noted in the previous article, recruitment for the State Troops was going badly, with only a few dozen men enlisted at the time of Forman’s letter. In comparison, Monmouth County’s State Troop regiment , first chartered in 1779, topped 100 men each year prior to 1782. Forman complained that New Jersey’s interior counties "enjoy almost perfect tranquility" while Monmouth County remained in a state of war. The February 1782 Colts Neck Raid To underscore his point about Monmouth County's vulnerability, Forman alluded to a second raid that occurred just a few days after the Pleasant Valley fight. He wrote: "They [the Loyalists] were off again, plundered Capt. [Moses] Shepherd of Middletown and took his son prisoner, the Capt. had happened to be from home or he would have shared the same fate." The New Jersey Gazette reported on this second raid on March 6: “A party of refugees, to the amount of upwards of one hundred, under the command of one Ryerson, made an incursion last week in the County of Monmouth as far as Colt's Neck." The reported size of the raiding party is almost certainly exaggerated. The report lampooned Loyalist raiders and portrayals of their raids in Loyalist newspapers: They have with singular bravery made sundry sorties upon the sheep and the calves, making great numbers of them prisoner. This, no doubt, will be ushered in the Royal Gazette as the most glorious achievement. The two February raids into northern Monmouth County, in the middle of the winter, demonstrate that: Loyalists were vengeful and desperate enough to raid several miles into Monmouth County in the midst of snow, ice, and winter cold. Conversely, Monmouth county’s defenses were weak. Local militia was spirited but reactive—it could not adequately patrol the county’s long shorelines. The county’s State Troops had shrunk from greater than a hundred men in 1780 and 1781, to just a few dozen in 1782—half of whom were stationed thirty miles away in Toms River . Militia from other counties only intermittently came to Monmouth County’s aid, even when ordered to do so by the Governor. George Washington opposed stationing Continental soldiers in Monmouth County after several prior deployments went badly. In 1782, the local war in Monmouth County raged without interruption, long after the British surrender at Yorktown supposedly ended hostilities. Related Historic Site : Holmes Hendrickson House Sources : Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; New Jersey Gazette, February 13, 1782, reel 1930; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 417; Monmouth County Historical Association, Articles File: "Whaleboat War Anniversary"; David Forman to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, p 380; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Derrick Sutphin; library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, March 6, 1782, reel 1930; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File, unpublished manuscript 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 Re-Capture of the Love and Unity at Toms River by Michael Adelberg Three galleys from Connecticut reportedly captured the large brig, Love & Unity, but Monmouth militia unloaded it. A British attack on Toms River spoiled the opportunity to sell the ship and its cargo. - September 1778 - As noted in prior articles, privateering along the Monmouth shoreline increased substantially in the summer of 1778. Aggressive captains from Philadelphia and New England combined with emboldened local militia officers to prey on British shipping to and from New York. If the captured Venus was the largest prize taken off the Jersey shore that summer, the Love & Unity was likely the second most impressive prize. However, the capture of the Love & Unity would be marred by post-capture wrangling and the vessel, ultimately, was lost to British reprisal. Antiquarian sources claim that the merchant brig, Love & Unity , was captured at Cranberry Inlet, north of Toms River. It was apparently taken by a Monmouth militia contingent led by Colonel Daniel Hendrickson. It is possible that privateers operating in the area forced the Love & Unity toward shore where it beached. The Connecticut privateer, Princess Mary , captained by Benjamin Pratt was operating near Toms River at this time. But militia secured the vessel and brought its cargo to Toms River once it grounded inside Cranberry Inlet. On August 5, the Pennsylvania Packet reported: A large London ship, richly laden with dry goods, bound for New York, ran aground on the Jersey shore at Shrewsbury, on Thursday last, when a few of the brave militia of that State took and secured her contents, although two British vessels of force were firing upon them with the utmost fury. The same newspaper reported again on August 12: We hear that on Thursday night, the ship Love and Unity from Bristol, with 80 hogshead of loaf sugar, several thousand bottles of London porter, a large quantity of Bristol beer and ale, besides many other valuable articles, was designedly run on shore near Toms River; since which, by assistance of some of our militia, she has been brought into a safe port, and her cargo properly taken care of. On August 13, the New Jersey Admiralty Court met at Allentown and it may have condemned Love & Unity to Captain Pratt. Daniel Hendrickson is listed as attending the same court (over his claim to the smaller vessel, Indian Delaware ). On August 26, the New Jersey Gazette advertised the sale of the Love & Unity and its cargo on August 31 and on September 2 at Manasquan, where some of the cargo was apparently stored. It is unclear if the auction actually took place (though some antiquarian sources assume it did), and it is unclear whether Pratt or Hendrickson was the established recipient of prize money from the sale. Whatever the reason, Love & Unity and its cargo remained at Toms River more than two weeks after the advertised auction date. The delay would prove costly. On September 18, the British came for their ship. The Pennsylvania Evening Post reported on the attack and the key role of William Dillon, a felon sentenced to death two months earlier but pardoned. He piloted the attackers: Two armed brigs belonging to the Enemy came to anchor close to the bar off Toms River Inlet, and they sent into the Inlet seven armed boats with between twenty and thirty men each, who re-took the ship Washington, formerly called Love & Unity, and two sloops which were near the bar, with most of their crews... Soon after they got ashore, a certain Robert McMullen (who sometime since was condemned with William Dillon to be hanged for burglary, and both having been reprieved) entered himself on board the ship, took the boat, and made off to the enemy, huzzahing as he went. Dillon, who joined them some time before, was supposed to pilot the British vessels into the inlet. A similar report was printed in the New Jersey Gazette . The Loyalist New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury provided some additional details on the British ships and collateral damage: "the boats of his Majesty's ship Delaware and the armed brig Halifax went into Cranberry Inlet, and burnt a ship of about 200 tons and a small sloop, they also brought off a sloop with 96 barrels of flour." One of the burnt sloops, according to historian Donald Shomette, was the Connecticut privateer, Princess Mary —that likely had participated in the capture of Love & Unity . Antiquarian sources provide a few additional details: the small prize crew of the Love & Unity apparently jumped into the water and swam to shore to avoid capture. Some of the Love & Unity ’s cargo, probably the cargo at Manasquan, was not recovered by the British attackers. As noted in a prior article , Hendrickson took to the sea as a privateer captain in the Indian Delaware in September, but his privateer career was undistinguished. He was captured by Loyalist raiders at his home in Tinton Falls in June 1779 and jailed for several months. It is unknown if Pratt remained active on the Jersey shore after he lost the Love & Unity , though several other Connecticut privateers were active on Monmouth shore through the end of the war. McMullan and Dillon would remain problems. McMullan joined a Pine Robber gang. After piloting the British attackers, Dillon captained small illegal trading vessels and consorted with Pine Robers. In 1782, he piloted a Loyalist raiding party that would raze the village of Toms River and capture Joshua Huddy, who was leading the defense of the village. The Love & Unity was probably the first of many significant vessels taken by New Englanders on the Monmouth coast. It also highlights several realities of the Revolutionary War on the Jersey shore. Specifically, 1.) profit and patriotism were interwoven motivations that drove Revolutionaries to put to sea in small vessels and, in the face of considerable risk, captured many larger British/Loyalist ships; 2.) Weak institutions and governance hampered efforts to exploit the capture of valuable vessels; and 3.) Local Loyalists and disaffected, driven by the same motivations as Revolutionaries, were dangerous adversaries capable of thwarting the efforts of their former neighbors. Related Historic Site : New Jersey Maritime Museum Sources : David C. Munn, comp., Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey (Trenton, N.J.: Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Geology, 1976) p 24; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Franklin Kemp, The Capture of Enemy Vessels by Ground Troops in New Jersey, pp 17-8; William MacMahon, South Jersey Towns (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1973) p 305; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, N.J.: E. Gardner and Son, 1890) pp. 80-84; Donald Shomette, Privateers of the Revolution: War on the New Jersey Coast (Shiffer: Atglen, PA, 2015); The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Pennsylvania Packet, August 6, 1778; Pennsylvania Packet, August 12, 1778; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Library of Congress, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, September 30, 1878; Arthur Pierce, Smugglers' Woods, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1960) p 40; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 38; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p80-4; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, pp. 445, 453. 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 > Colonel George Taylor Turns Loyalist by Michael Adelberg Loyalists were recruited into British service with handbills like this one used in Philadelphia in 1777. George Taylor circulated similar handbills when recruiting in Monmouth County. - November 1776 - George Taylor was Monmouth County’s senior militia officer, the first-appointed militia colonel and leader of the county’s largest regiment (his regiment had ten companies, the other two regiments had eight companies). But Taylor’s family leaned Loyalist. His cousin, William Taylor, led a movement to oppose the Declaration of Independence. William and his uncle, John Taylor, would lead a Loyalist insurrection in December. George’s father, Edward Taylor, was a leading Committeeman in 1775 who would become publicly disaffected by 1777. By November 1776, George Taylor’s frustrations mounted. The county militia was wracked with dysfunction —several companies simply would not turn out. From his base on the Navesink Highlands, Taylor daily observed small vessels illegally trading with the British on Sandy Hook and Staten Island without the naval assets to intervene. He also daily observed a powerful British military with the ability to easily invade thinly-protected Monmouth County. The Continental Army was routed in New York and retreating across New Jersey. Governor William Livingston snubbed Taylor by denying him custody of a vessel that he captured from a British prize crew. Taylor began hedging his bets; he became a “friend ” to a budding Loyalist association. Taylor was charged with rotating militia companies to stand guard opposite the bustling British naval base at Sandy Hook. Mid-month, he ordered out a new militia company but knew it was insufficient to withstand a British attack. On November 19, Taylor wrote John Covenhoven, a delegate to the New Jersey Assembly, about the weak defenses and a new loyalty oath requirement: I have taken this method to inform you and the rest of the House that Col. [Daniel] Hendrickson's month ends next Thursday, and the men will be very anxious to return home. I am at a loss how to act in this case, as the General's are out [retreating across New Jersey] and no orders can be given... I have ordered a company down to Sandy Hook; the post, I think, lies the most exposed. Taylor also offered to resign from the militia in preference to signing a loyalty oath: I have been informed that an act of your House makes void all commissions when the bearer does not qualify [sign of loyalty oath], and if officers have no other principles to bind them but oaths, I should be very doubtful whether any extraordinary matter might be expected of them. This subject I shall drop, and request information whether you choose my resignation or I must act as usual. This, Gentlemen, is on your breasts. Taylor concluded the letter ominously: “I shall now remain inactive until I hear from you." News of Taylor’s quasi-resignation spread quickly. Colonel Samuel Forman, commanding the militia regiment from Upper Freehold, Dover and Staff townships, wrote Assemblyman Joseph Holmes about Taylor in November 21: There is a task laid before me that I don't like. Col. Taylor refuses taking the oath required: in consequence thereof, the officers refuse acting under him. They request me to take command the next month, which begins tomorrow. Tis quite likely that Col Taylor has orders from the General, and also money to supply the regiment with provisions. Before I can go [and take command], I must have orders and money to supply a Commissary. You see the immediate necessity of orders being sent, or our guards on shore may be suffering for provisions, and in the greatest confusion. On November 24, Colonel David Forman’s Flying Camp returned to Monmouth County to break up a budding Loyalist insurrection—one that George Taylor likely knew about because it was led by his cousin, William. As Forman started arresting Loyalists, George Taylor likely feared that his cordial relations with insurrectionists would be uncovered. On November 28, George Taylor "deserted to the enemy"—probably joining the British on Sandy Hook or Staten Island. Taylor apparently met with Courtland Skinner, General of the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers , and offered himself up as a senior officer. Since the field officer ranks of the New Jersey Volunteers were filled (with Monmouth Countians Elisha Lawrence and John Morris already leading the 1st and 2nd Battalions), Skinner devised a novel role for him. On December 18, Taylor was commissioned the Colonel of Monmouth County’s [Loyalist] Militia: You are therefore to take said militia into your charge and care as Colonel thereof, and duly exercise both officers and soldiers of the same in arms; and as they are hereby commanded to obey you, as their Colonel, so are you likewise to observe and follow such orders and directions from time to time as you shall receive from your Captain General. Taylor’s ill-fated Loyalist militia and brief period as a Loyalist partisan are discussed in another article, but, regardless of title, George Taylor’s commission evolved into a recruiter role over the course of the war. In April 1779, Taylor paid 3-guinea bounties at Sandy Hook to seventeen Loyalists who he recruited from Monmouth County to join the New Jersey Volunteers. Six months later, deliberately vague orders were sent to Captain Swinney of the HMS Europe at Sandy Hook to assist Taylor. Taylor would "go ashore at Sandy Hook Bay as may suit his purpose, which are according to the Commander in Chief's directions." Related Historic Sites : Marlpit Hall Sources : Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) pp. 18-20; William S. Stryker, Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War (Trenton: Naar, Day & Naar, 1872); Courtland Skinner to George Taylor, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, vol 634, folio 186; Thomas Crowell, letter, Library of Congress, MMC - Courtland Skinner, box 10; John Andre to Captain Swinney, Great Britain Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, Volume 634, folio 187; Michael Adelberg, “’I am as Innocent as an Unborn Child’: The Disaffection of Edward and George Taylor,” New Jersey History , Spring 2005, v 123, pp 1-25. 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 > Loyalist Privateers Sail the Monmouth Shore by Michael Adelberg Rowboats, often with a small sail and small cannon on a turret, were used by both sides for coastal privateering. Loyalist crews conducted daring voyages down the Jersey shore from 1780-1782. - March 1780 - Prior articles have discussed the rise of privateering along the Jersey shore, first in the summer of 1778 with small vessels operating out of Little Egg Harbor , and then surging in spring 1779 when several New England privateers began preying on British shipping just outside of Sandy Hook. This was enabled by a weakened British naval presence, as the British diverted ships away from America to defend other parts of their empire from a growing coalition of European naval enemies—France, Spain, and the Netherlands. American Loyalists in New York complained about British weakness; some responded by going on offense in their own privateers. There is scattered evidence of Loyalist privateers operating off Toms River and elsewhere in 1778, and they returned in greater numbers in 1779. General Karl Bauermeister, based in New York, wrote of “freebooting” Loyalist privateers putting to sea in February 1779 : The homeless Loyalists who are still here are fitting out forty vessels to cruise under cover of six armed British ships and land anywhere between Rhode Island and Egg Harbor. They will keep all of their booty without exception, which has greatly encouraged them, for all of them had been well to do, but have lost everything. Bauermeister reported that Loyalist privateers had brought 46 prizes into New York since December. In April, he later reported that 32 Loyalist vessels were between New York and Delaware Bay. However, by June, Bauermeister was pessimistic: "Of the one hundred and twenty one New York privateers... sixty-one have been captured." He reported that 31 rebel vessels were “cruising between Sandy Hook and the Delaware." In early spring 1780, Loyalist privateers again went on offense along the Jersey shore. Below, are descriptions of successful small-vessel Loyalist privateer voyages along the Jersey shore from spring 1780. (Loyalist vessels scored additional wins along the Long Island and Connecticut shorelines, and larger Loyalist vessels scored some wins as far away as Charleston and the West Indies—but those voyages are beyond the scope of this article.) Loyalist Privateer Voyages in 1780 In March 1780, the New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury reported on "one of the most gallant privateering exploits performed by eleven determined refugee sailors." The Loyalists were motivated by "having been severely persecuted", "stripped of their property," and "reduced to circumstances detested by generous minds." So, they "resolved to balance accounts with the authors of their misfortune." They embarked in the whale boat, Lewistown Revenge , with only one swivel gun in the bow under a man named Wilby. Given its size, the boat must have stayed close to shore as it traversed the entire 70-mile Monmouth shoreline without incident. The newspaper reported: They passed Sandy Hook and proceeded to Egg Harbour [just south of Monmouth County] where they found three privateers ready for sea and a 12-gun schooner laden with lumber. Their number being inadequate for the force collected there, they pretended to be rebels and spent an evening with those who were really such in a most social manner. The Loyalists then proceeded to the Delaware Bay where "they captured a loaded vessel" and then another small vessel. The Loyalists captured and paroled "between fifty and sixty rebel prisoners." One of their prizes was lost at Cape May. The Loyalists, with their one remaining prize, then sailed the Monmouth shoreline again and nearly made it back to Sandy Hook. They lost their prize near Sandy Hook when a boat (likely Monmouth militia) chased them. One Loyalist was wounded during the journey. In June, the New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury , reported on another Loyalist whaleboat attack: The whaleboats, Fox, Capt. Urion, and Cock, Capt. Creppen, came in last Saturday after a five days cruize off Barnegat last Thursday. They fell in with two rebel whaleboats, with whom they engaged and took, killing one of their men without loss. It appears that those gentry intended to take our fishermen, and then plunder the inhabitants of Long Island or Staten Island. They belonged to Cape May and had a commission from Congress, eight men in each boat, well armed. Loyalist Privateers in Later Years of the War A year later, on August 25, 1781, the New York Gazette reported that "the whaleboat Surprise , Capt. Thomson, with a small boat in company" cruised between Barnegat and Manasquan where he "fell in with two large rebel gunboats" with three guns each. "They engaged, and after an hour of close combat were obliged to sheer off with the loss of one of the rebel commanders, and a number of men, four of whom were seen thrown overboard." Thomson "received a swivel gun [shot] in his groin" and two of his men were wounded. Thomson kept giving orders while "in a supine position from the wound." The report concluded that his actions "does him much credit and demands tribute and praise." An antiquarian account provides additional details. Captain William Thomson left New York City for Barnegat in a small vessel where he fell in with two privateers, one with a howitzer, and both with swivel guns. The antiquarian source continued: A very severe action was fought between the boat Surprise, Captain Thomson, and her consort, both crews consisting of twenty-four men and two rebel boats belonging to Philadelphia off Barnegat on the coast of New Jersey. The conflict lasted more than an hour within pistol shot in which Captain Thomson received a severe wound in the thigh notwithstanding which he continued the contest until the rebels took to their oars, first throwing over four of their dead, among the number was one of their Captains. Loyalist privateers continued to score occasional victories into late 1782. The last recorded prize taken off the Jersey shore was reported in the New York Gazette reported in October 1782: The galley, Boston Hero , Captain Read, from Boston, of 8 guns and 26 men was brought in here [New York] on Tuesday last, by the whaleboat Black Snake , Capt. Richardson, 12 men only. Capt. Read having sent 9 of his men ashore for water near Egg Harbor, the Black Snake's crew made prisoners of them in a farm house, then rowed on board the galley in the night and took her without firing a single shot. Capt. Richardson also brought in "the sloop Nancy , Capt. Dedrick, from Egg Harbor." This report suggests that the Loyalists were not opposed, and may have been supported, by the disaffected residents of Stafford Township —who surely could have assembled and protected the New Englanders against only twelve Loyalists. This and other incidents demonstrate that the Loyalist crews sailing the Monmouth shore often enjoyed some support from pockets of Jersey shore residents. The totality of evidence suggests that American privateers from Philadelphia (commonly based at Egg Harbor), New England, and small vessels manned by New Jersey militia took dozens more prizes than the Loyalist privateers operating out of New York. Besides a brief period of time in 1780 when the British navy was aggressive on the Jersey shore (the subject of another article), the British navy was not a consistent check against these privateers. But it is also true that a handful of small Loyalist vessels successfully sailed the New Jersey shoreline. Braving rebel privateers and militia boats, these Loyalists scored more than a few victories. This article, focusing only on their New Jersey shore voyages, remembers a fraction of these forgotten Loyalist victories. Related Historic Site : National Museum of the United States Navy Sources : New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, March 27, 1780; New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, June 19, 1780; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, etc. (London: Oxford University Press, 1876), 5th Series, vol. 5, p247. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Difficult Service of Forman's Flying Camp by Michael Adelberg British soldiers rowed ashore, assembled, and attacked the ill-prepared Continental Army in present-day Brooklyn. David Forman’s regiment saw limited action during the battle. - June 1776 - In June 1776, with momentum building for a declaration of independence and a massive British Army on its way, the Thirteen Colonies renewed their efforts to raise men for the Continental Army. Among other measures, on June 3, the New Jersey Provincial Congress passed an act to raise up to 3,300 “Flying Camp” to join the Continental Army. Flying Camp were like other Continental soldiers but, importantly, their enlistments would run for only five months—the expected length of time of the 1776 military campaign season. Raising Forman’s Regiment One Flying Camp regiment would be raised from Middlesex and Monmouth Counties--Nathaniel Heard of Woodbridge and David Forman of Freehold were charged with raising four companies each from their home counties. Recruiting began in May, prior to the passage of the act, and the regiment reached critical mass by mid-June. Thomas Henderson (a major in the newly-raised regiment) recalled that the first part of the Flying Camp left for “Long Island and joined General Washington's army” on June 14. (Brooklyn and Queens were discussed as part of Long Island in the 1700s.) A month later on July 15, as additional Monmouth County company raised from Upper Freehold left for New York. Forman’s recruits left Monmouth County at an inopportune time. As they left, a Loyalist insurrection bubbled up in Upper Freehold township. The departure of 200 supporters of the Revolution left the Monmouth militia weakened at its first moment of crisis. Noting the militia’s weakness, the New Jersey Provincial Congress resolved on July 2 that no additional Monmouth County militia would leave the county beyond Forman’s men: Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Congress, the Militia of Monmouth County ought, for the present, to remain in their own County, excepting such part thereof as by the late Ordinance of this Congress were required to form their proportion of the New-Jersey Brigade of three thousand three hundred men. Surviving documents do not reveal exactly when the full Middlesex-Monmouth regiment, now commanded by David Forman, its colonel, reached Long Island. However, one of the men, Isaac Vredenburgh, recalled their line of march and initial responsibilities upon reaching Brooklyn: His company was attached to the Regiment commanded by Col David Forman. A few days after the company marched to Elizabeth Town and from thence by Bergen Point & Staten Island, to Long Island [Brooklyn], and that they labored there and were engaged in constructing redoubts, and breastworks. Forman’s Regiment in the New York Campaign Forman’s regiment was assigned to a brigade commanded by General Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island. Greene’s first order mentioning Forman’s regiment concerned gathering "slaw bunks [sick beds] from the different regiments” for Forman. Greene’s order continued “two companies that have been with Col. Forman's Regiment are exceedingly sick, great numbers taken down every day." Indeed, sickness would prove far more dangerous to Forman’s Flying Camp than British soldiers. Periodic muster rolls from Forman’s regiment show the impact of sickness on the regiment during its five months of service. July 1776 – 451 men (42 sick & present, 0 sick & home) September, 352 total (25 sick & present, 131 sick & home); October – 253 men (20 sick & present, 115 sick & home) By October, Forman’s regiment had lost roughly 40% of its men. While there were a few captures and deaths, sickness caused the large majority of losses. After the Continental Army’s disastrous first battle with the British in Brooklyn, the Continental Army began retreating across New York. With the Army in motion, desertions also became a problem. On September 9, Forman advertised a 40-shilling reward for the return of sixteen deserters. He re-advertised for their return in two New York newspapers again on September 28, suggesting little initial success in locating and capturing the deserters. Other men left the regiment for various reasons. Muster rolls record six men being furloughed home (presumably they would return). Forman furloughed himself in September, perhaps to search for the deserters. Other men were listed as “on command” – a catch-all term used for men on temporary assignments away from their company. Common reasons men were listed “on command” include service at a military hospital, gathering supplies for the Army, and recruiting. Combat deaths were a relatively small problem – there were only two combat deaths across the four Monmouth companies. Other documents provide glimpses into the ill-discipline of the rank and file. Orderly books from junior officers and sergeants in Forman’s regiment provide glimpses into the Army’s disorder: July 10: “The General doubts not the person that took and mutilated the statue in the Broadway last night was actuated by zeal in the public cause, yet it was so much the appearance of riot & want of order in the Army that he directs that in the future these things may be avoided by the soldiers & left to be executed by the proper authority.” July 13: [Soldiers] “instead of attending to their duty at the beating of a drum, continued along the banks of the North River, gazing at the ships”; July 17: “Complaints having been frequently made that the Sentries, especially those posted along the river, fire wantonly at boats and persons passing - officers are to be careful upon this head and acquaint Sentries that they are not to molest or upset the ferry boats”; August 3: Warning issued regarding "the foolish & wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing"; August 6: Men chastised for "bad behavior" towards locals "taking and destroying their things." The first time Forman’s regiment saw battle was at the Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn). Several of Forman’s men discussed it in their postwar veteran’s pension applications (written in the 1820s). Some anecdotes about the Battle of Long Island are offered below: David Baird recalled that he “marched to Flatbush where a battle was fought -- that he was not in the main battle, but was engaged in a skirmish with the British during the day, and made a narrow escape with his life, being shot at by a Hessian of whom some of his men killed afterwards, the bullet passing his temple but doing no serious harm." John Bruce recalled that he “was employed in making entrenchments and fortifications in Brooklyn, at which place they continued until a few days after the battle of Flatbush... Saw the engagement but was not in the battle." Isaac Childs recalled that he "was in the battle of Long Island when the British took it, and saved myself from being prisoner by swimming to the Yellow Mill." James Craig recalled that “when the British Army attacked the Americans at Long Island… were placed in a piece of woods that skirted the roads which the British Army had to come.” His friend, Jacob Pettenger, recalled that Craig “induced a fleeing soldier” to return and stay in formation. Samuel Mundy recalled the hurried retreat of Forman’s regiment after the battle: He recalled the regiment fleeing suddenly at 11 pm "leaving their tents standing.” After the Battle of Long Island, Washington’s Army, with Forman’s regiment in it, spent the fall retreating across New York and into New Jersey. Isaac Vrendenburgh recalled the regiment’s line of march: Remained in the New York a very short time when the whole army move towards Harlem, and from thence marched to Fort Washington and while there had several recontres with the enemy – Shortly after marched up to the White Plains, where the American forces were collected, and where he remained until the battle at that place occurred, in which he was engaged. After this affair, marched some distance further north and crossed the Hudson, and then marched down southerly through Haverstraw to Fort Lee, and from thence through Bergen County to Newark and Elizabethtown in Essex. With only a week remaining in their enlistment, on November 24, Forman was permitted to pull his regiment away from the Army and return to Monmouth County. This was done in order to suppress a burgeoning Loyalist insurrection. Samuel Mundy recalled: The Colonel of the regiment received orders to take his regiment to Perth Amboy & cross over into Monmouth County to disarm certain disaffected persons in that county - immediately after this service he was discharged with the rest by the Colonel, their term of service expired. Forman’s campaign against the Monmouth insurrectionaries is discussed in another article. Related Historic Site : Brooklyn Battlefield (Battle of Long Island, Brooklyn, NY) Sources : Anderson, John R. "Militia Law in Revolutionary New Jersey." Proceedings of the New Jersey historical Society, vols. LXXVI and LXXVII (July 1956 and January 1959), pp. 291, 293-4; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Henderson of New Jersey, www.fold3.com/image/#23877525 ; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) pp. 550-1; Charles H. Lesser, The Sinews of Independence: Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental Army (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), pp. 26-34; New York Historical Society, Orderly Books Collection, Captain Henry Weatherhill, reel 3, #32 and American Book #32; Library of Congress, William Walton, Orderly Book; Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 1, pp. 270-1; Peter Kinnan, Orderly Book Kept by Peter Kinnan, pp. X, 19-56; New York Gazette & Weekly Mercury, September 9, 1776; David Forman returns, National Archives, Collection 881, R 640; New Jersey Provincial Congress, July 2, 17776, in Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1632, 1635; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Samuel Mundy of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#25890437 ; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 1, p 197; David Forman returns, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, Coll. 69, p2, 5, 7, 11; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - David Baird; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p228; John Rees, Eyewitness to Battle: The Pension Depositions of Frederick Van Lew and Isaac Childs, Brigade Dispatch, vol 29, n 3, 1999, p 18-21; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Bruce of New York, www.fold3.com/image/#11713958 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jacob Pettinerger of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 25952031. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Case of Caesar Tite and Other Litigation over Freedmen by Michael Adelberg In 1786, the New Jersey Legislature passed an act freeing Prime (formerly a slave of Middletown’s disaffected squire, John Taylor) who had run off to join the Continental Army. - May 1782 - The Revolutionary War and establishment of a new government led to many novel circumstances that the new nation’s immature laws and legal institutions had to learn to adjudicate. A number of the thorniest individual circumstances involved slaves and former slaves. Prior articles provide glimpses of the complex circumstances surrounding the abolitionism of Shrewsbury’s Quakers and Black men who became Loyalists to win their freedom. But few of these circumstances were well enough documented to serve as the basis for an article in this compendium. The case of Caeser Tite, however, is well documented. The Case of Caesar Tite Caesar Tite was a slave to the Tite family of Freehold Township. Grace Tite, his owner under New Jersey law, composed a will that promised freedom to Caesar upon his turning 21. Before turning 21, Grace Tite died and Caesar came under the supervision of Thomas Leonard, the former county sheriff. When the Revolution began, Leonard and his wife , Mary Leonard, became Loyalists—Thomas Leonard would soon be commissioned a major in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers . Caesar Tite was seized with Leonard’s other assets and sold at public auction in 1779. The purchaser on Leonard’s estate, Colonel David Forman, then sold Tite to his friend Kenneth Hankinson, who sold him to Lewis McKnight. McKnight was a yeoman farmer. He served as a Lieutenant in the militia and served on local juries. He is not listed as owning slaves in the 1779 tax lists. The purchase of an able bodied young adult slave was likely among McKnight’s most significant purchases. McKnight owned Tite on his 21st birthday. He refused to free him, claiming to know nothing of Tite’s promise of freedom. The case of The State v. Lewis McKnight was filed before the New Jersey Supreme Court on May 22, 1782—Caesar Tite was 23 at the time. On September 1, the New Jersey Supreme Court was ready to hear the case. It summoned McKnight to respond to charges that he was illegally detaining Tite, "a free Negro in your custody." McKnight submitted the following statement in his defense: Agreeable to the command of the written order, I have herein written to the court on the writ mentioned, Caesar Tite, and do say that this sd. Negro is my property, being bought of Kenneth Hankinson for valuable considerations, and he is not a free man, but I am willing and desirous to contest this property before a jury of this county, agreeable to the laws of the State and pray that he may not be taken from me without a trial by jury. It is interesting that McKnight wished for a jury trial in Monmouth County rather than a hearing before the Supreme Court’s justices. McKnight likely assumed that a local jury of his peers would be sympathetic to his plight as a man who purchased a slave without knowledge that the slave would be a free man imminently. The jury would also likely know of the long list of scandalous and unethical practices associated with Forman and Hankinson. A local jury might see McKnight as a victim. The case was argued in September. Tite produced documents proving the promise of freedom on his 21st birthday. The Supreme Court, presided over by Chief Justice David Brearley of Upper Freehold, unanimously ruled that “the said Manumission is good in Law against all Persons claiming” a property right to Caesar Tite. It ordered Tite to be “discharged and set at Liberty from the said Lewis McKnight.” McKnight received no compensation. Tite was now 24; he was not compensated for his three extra years in bondage. Other Cases Beyond the case of Caesar Tite, there were five other New Jersey Supreme Court cases involving slavery and Monmouth County in the years following the Revolutionary War. Several earned their freedom. Luke, July 1783 : A Negro man named Luke was taken "by the refugees" from his home in Maryland and carried to New York. Luke was “there put on board the King's gallies" which “he escaped from with a white man.” Luke was picked up by Adoniah Francis at Allentown who “brought the said Negro to Allentown in Monmouth County.” The case went before the New Jersey Supreme Court, presumably to determine if Luke would be returned to slavery in Maryland. The fate of Luke is unknown. Betty, April 1784 : Arthur Barkalow was charged with murdering the "negro wench" named Betty based on evidence gathered by James Cox, the coroner for Upper Freehold Township. The case was tried before the New Jersey Supreme Court. Key statements are below: Derrick Barkalow testified: “Betty was the wench of Arthur Barkalow… hearing a noise, [Derrick] went out and saw sd. Arthur beating said wench with a small whip, he asked the said Arthur what he whipt her for and he answered she would not go home when he bid her." Lewis Garrison testified to seeing Betty's dead body. He further testified that “he saw the arm bloody and appeared to be cut by a whip." John Warrick testified that he saw Arthur Barkalow "bid her to go home which she refused, whereupon he gave her some stripes and she went home"... Warrick went to Arthur Barkalow's house, where he "found him beating her... one blow with broomstick on her head as she was sitting on a chair... Some short time after, Derrick Barkalow came out of the house saying she was dead." The verdict is unknown. Prime, 1786 : In 1786, the New Jersey legislature received a petition from a former slave, Prime. Before the war, Prime was slave to Dr. Absalom Bainbridge of Trenton, a Loyalist whose wife moved to Middletown in early 1777. In December 1776, Bainbridge fled to Staten Island and Prime was sold by Mrs. Bainbridge to her father, John Taylor of Middletown (a Loyalist elder who stayed in Middletown). Taylor later asserted that the purchase was conducted "under a license from General [Israel] Putnam," but Prime escaped and joined the Continental Army. After the war, Prime resettled in Trenton as a laborer. In June 1784, Taylor hired John Van Horn to take Prime and return him to Middletown as a slave. Prime's case attracted the attention of Moore Furman, a prominent Quaker, who unsuccessfully tried to win his freedom through the courts. In 1786, the New Jersey Legislature heard Prime’s petition and freed him based on his Continental Army service. Jack, May 1790 : In May 1790, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in the case of State vs. Tobias Hendrickson, "on habeus corpus of the Negro, Jack, on claiming his freedom." The verdict read: The court, having considered this case under all of its circumstances, and it appearing that John Coward, the former master, under whom Tobias Hendrickson makes claim to the negro, antecedent to the year 1785 actually entered into an agreement with Jack for his freedom, the terms of which have been fully complied with; The court is therefore of the opinion and do order that the said Jack is to be liberated from the custody of the said Tobias Hendrickson. While the exact circumstances that led Jack’s freedom are not revealed, the Supreme Court instructed Hendrickson that he could make a claim against Coward, who defied a summons to appear in court. This suggests that Hendrickson may have been deceived regarding Jack’s status when he purchased Jack from Coward. Cornelius Wilson and Hagar Wilson, September 1791 : In 1791, the New Jersey Supreme Court heard the case of The State vs. Abraham Probasco. The State of New Jersey, on behalf of the children of Cornelius Wilson and Hagar Wilson, sued Abraham Probasco for the children's freedom. In 1776, General William Winds of Morris County freed the slave family of Cornelius and Hagar Wilson, with their children. However, in 1779, with their parents sick, the children went to work for Abraham Probasco on a five-year indenture, with Winds posting a £5-per-child bond to complete their indenture. Winds and Probasco argued over conditions of the indenture and Probasco kept the children after the indenture expired. The court determined that because the children completed their indenture, the dispute between Probasco and Winds was irrelevant to the status of the children. The Court freed the children (but only after they spent twelve years under Probasco, rather than the required five). Perspective Led by a Quaker community committed to ending slavery, many Monmouth Countians, including some non-Quakers, freed slaves during and immediately after the war. New Jersey banned the importation of slaves in 1786. Nonetheless, New Jersey was the last northern state to abolish slavery (slavery was gradually abolished per an 1804 law), and Monmouth County was among the counties with the most slaves. This meant that Monmouth County had a few hundred slaves even a decade after the Revolutionary War ended. The New Jersey Supreme Court, under Upper Freehold’s David Brearley, was generally sympathetic to slaves seeking freedom and freed Monmouth County slaves when they had credible legal arguments for emancipation. However, the gross injustice of slavery was not easily wiped away—even after a slave earned her or his freedom. Black families were nearly always poor and dozens of Black Monmouth County families split during the Revolutionary War between those who stayed home and those who turned Loyalist on British promises of freedom. Dozens of Monmouth County African Americans resettled in Canada after the war. Only scattered documentation exists about the Black communities of Monmouth County during the Revolutionary period—and the under-representation of the unique difficulties experienced by those communities is among the most substantial shortcomings in the surviving historical record. Related Historic Site : National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, DC) Sources : T.H. Pyle, David Brearley: America’s Most Important Forgotten Founding Father, unpublished manuscript in the possession of the Allentown Historical Society); University of Virginia, Rare Books: New Jersey Society Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, pp. 59-76, 257; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 20, 1779, p 167; Supreme Court summons, New Jersey State Archives, NJ Supreme Court Collection, Case # 28002; Pennsylvania Gazette, August 21, 1782; University of Virginia, Rare Books: New Jersey Society Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, pp. 59-76, 257; Independent Gazetteer, August 9, 1783; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #34201; Fishman, George: Taking a Stand for Freedom in Revolutionary New Jersey: Prime's Petition of 1786 (Science & Society; Vol. 56, No. 3, Fall, 1992); Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court of New Jersey Relative to the Manumission of Negroes (Burlington: New Jersey Society for the Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, 1794), 24. . 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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 > Monmouth Loyalists Join British Army at Sandy Hook by Michael Adelberg The Monmouth County Loyalists who joined the British Army in July 1776 would serve in the New Jersey Volunteers, led by Courtland Skinner, the former Attorney General of New Jersey. - July 1776 - The British invasion fleet, carrying 25,000 soldiers, arrived at Sandy Hook on June 29. As discussed in a prior article, some British soldiers landed on Sandy Hook that day. But even before the British Army landed on the peninsula, Monmouth County Loyalists were coming to Sandy Hook to join them. The arrival of the Monmouth Loyalists was gratifying to British leadership. On June 29, on his arrival at Sandy Hook, the British Army’s commander-in-chief, William Howe, thought the arrival of Loyalists from Monmouth County was important enough to include in his first report back to England. He reported that on June 27 "many Gentlemen, fast friends of the Government” had met with New York’s Royal Governor William Tryon and provided “the fullest information on the State of the rebels." Howe further noted that "sixty men came over, two days ago, from the neighborhood of Shrewsbury, with a few arms, who are all desirous to serve, and I understand there are 500 more in that quarter ready to follow their example." Monmouth Loyalists Join the British Army The men to whom Howe was referring had crossed over from Shrewsbury, but were actually from Upper Freehold township. This first party of Loyalists to join the British was led by Elisha Lawrence, the former sheriff of Monmouth County and son of John Lawrence, a leader of the Loyalist insurrection that was underway in Upper Freehold. Lawrence noted that he “joined his Excellency Gen. Howe on his arrival at Sandy Hook, with a party of 60 men, and came aboard the Greyhound .” On June 30, Lawrence wrote a letter home to William Montgomery, a militia major from Upper Freehold, predicting his imminent return: I hope you will wait with patience for my return, which I expect won't exceed three weeks at the farthest, and [I] shall return with a power sufficient to show my head in public & do my business - how dreadful is my situation, drove from my house, separated from my family & for my protection obliged to fly on board the man of war. Lawrence predicted that 45,000 British troops would soon land (the actual number was 25,000) and pledged to conduct his affairs honorably on his return: "Don't fear any losses from me, I am determined to do every man justice... You need not fear any action against you." On July 1, Elisha Lawrence was named the Lt. Colonel of the 1st Battalion of the embryonic New Jersey Volunteers, which would become the largest Provincial Corps of the British Army. Just a few days later, he was joined at Sandy Hook by another party of Monmouth Loyalists led by John Morris of Manasquan (in Shrewsbury Township). Morris had served as a Lieutenant in the British Army during the Seven Years War before settling near Manasquan. He recalled joining the British Army at Sandy Hook this way: I exposed myself to every kind of ill treatment in order to support his Majesty and the British Government, and joined the Royal Army on the 6th of July 1776, with a number of men, I brought from New Jersey, as a volunteer without pay, either for myself or for them. British officer, Stephen Kemble, said Morris brought 58 men with him. Morris would be named the Lt. Colonel of the 2nd Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers. At least two other parties of Monmouth Loyalists joined the British Army in July. A small party of Shrewsbury Township Loyalists, led by John Taylor of Colts Neck, "joined the British Army the day they landed at Staten Island (July 7)." He was commissioned as a company commander under Morris. And John Longstreet of Freehold, who commanded the so-called “Tory Company ” of the Monmouth militia, joined the British on July 15. He noted that most of his militia company "were afterward of the British forces." He became a Captain in Lawrence’s battalion. Other Loyalist associations would continue to form in Monmouth County, though at least one, led by Samuel Wright of Long Branch, would be discovered and foiled before going off to the British. Finally, a Tinton Falls Loyalist, Thomas Okerson, brought supplies to the British Navy at Sandy Hook and then returned to Monmouth County. He was captured by the militia on July 6 and “was committed to the common Jail of Burlington County.” Okerson would become a Lieutenant in the New Jersey Volunteers. Perceptions of Monmouth Loyalists Joining the British Army Continental leaders in Monmouth County watched the Loyalist defections with concern. David Brearley, the first Colonel of the Upper Freehold militia, reported about this to Samuel Tucker, the President of the New Jersey Convention. Tucker summarized Brearley’s report on July 6: He [Brearley] supposes that not more than 100 have been over [to Sandy Hook]… 30 more are flying on board the enemy's fleet; our militia is in pursuit & numbers of lesser offenders are coming back to their duty, upon encouragement we have to give, as all appear to have been deluded. The leaders, if they can be apprehended, will be punished. News of the Monmouth Loyalists joining the British Army reached George Washington, who wrote New Jersey’s new Governor, William Livingston, on July 8, that "Capt. Morris and Elisha Lawrence of Monmouth County came down to the Hook a few days ago with 60 men & are now on Staten Island." A number of British officers wrote about the arrival of the Monmouth Loyalists as a harbinger of the thousands more Loyalist recruits who would soon flock to them. William Howe’s report on July 6 is a good example: I have satisfaction to inform your Lordship that there is great reason to expect a numerous body of inhabitants from New York, Jersey & Connecticut, who in this time of universal oppression, only wait to give proof of their loyalty and zeal to the Government; sixty men came over a few days ago with some arms from the neighborhood of Shrewsbury, all desirous to serve, and I understand there are five hundred more in that quarter ready to follow their example. The Royal Navy’s Captain Marion Bowater on the Centurion wrote from Sandy Hook on July 7: They desert to us hourly, and what is still better, they bring their arms with them, as Gen'l Howe let them know that ten dollars reward for rifle guns. All the principal people are with us; five Gentlemen & sixty private men & a stand of colors came over in a vessel from the Jerseys yesterday. [John Morris and his Shrewsbury Loyalists.] The New Jersey Volunteers would eventually become the largest Provincial Corps of the British Army. Both Lawrence and Morris would return with their troops to Monmouth County to lead a countywide insurrection before the end of the year. However, the New Jersey Volunteers would have an unhappy history; both Lawrence and Morris lost their regiments by the middle of the war. Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : John Almon, The Rembrancer or Impartial Repository of Public Events for the Year 1776 (John Almon: London, 1776), 228-9; Monmouth County Historical Association, Haskell Collection, box 15, folder 8; John Morris Loyalist Claim, Rutgers University Library Special Collections, Great Britain Public Record Office, Loyalist Application Claims, D96, AO 13/19, reel 6; Elisha Lawrence Loyalist Claim, Rutgers University, Special Collections, Loyalist Compensation Applications, Coll. D96, PRO AO 13/110, reel 10; Loyalist Claim of John Taylor, Rutgers University Special Collections, Loyalist Compensation Applications, D96, AO 13/112, reel 10; American Archives, 4th Series, excerpted on Http://www.stanklos.net ; Peter Force, American Archives, v1:41; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 82, item 68, #179-81; Great Britain, Public Record Office, Colonial Office, CO 5, v93, reel 2, #404; Stephen A. Kemble, “The Kemble Papers,” in Collections of the New York Historical Society (New York: Printed for the Society, 1883), vol. 1, p 79; New York Constitutional Gazette, July 6, 1776; Orderly Book, Col. Samuel Miles’ Regt., MG 224, New Jersey Historical Society; Marion Balderston, The Lost war : Letters from British Officers during the American Revolution (New York : Horizon Press, 1975) p 88; William Howe, Narrative of Lieut. General Sir William Howe (London: H. Baldwin, 1780) p50; Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, pp. 80-1; John Longstreet, Peter W. Coldham, comp., American Loyalist Claims (Washington, D.C.: National Genealogical Society, 1980), p 12. Jones, E. Alfred. The Loyalists of New Jersey, (Newark, N. J. Historical Society, 1927) p 132. Gregory Palmer, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (Westport, Conn. and London, 1984) p 501. Rutgers University Library Special Collections, Great Britain Public Record Office, Loyalist Application Claims, D96, AO 13/18, reel 6; Smith, Paul H., “New Jersey Loyalists and the British Provincial Corps in the War for Independence,” New Jersey History, vol. 87 (1969), p 72. 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 Battle of the Navesink by Michael Adelberg The steep Navesink Highlands were scaled by British troops before dawn on February 13, 1777. The British surprised and routed the Monmouth militia in a sunrise attack. - February 1777 - As discussed in other articles, Monmouth County’s militia “laid down their arms” during the Loyalist insurrections of December 1776—hundreds of militiamen accepted British “protection” by signing British loyalty oaths. When a regiment of Pennsylvania troops toppled the Loyalist insurrectionists in January, the Monmouth militia stayed home . In late January, 1777, as the Pennsylvanians prepared to leave, Dr. Nathaniel Scudder (a lieutenant colonel of the militia) reassembled the 1st Regiment of the Monmouth militia—at least those men who would be reassembled . The Pennsylvania Post reported: “Many of the inhabitants of Monmouth County in New Jersey who received written [British] protections are now determined to return them to his Britannic Majesty's Commissioners in [gun] cartridges.” In early February, a detachment of roughly 140 Monmouth militia marched east to the Navesink Highlands where it set up camp. Historians differ on the location of the camp: either Portland Manor, the home of Richard Hartshorne, the regiment’s Quartermaster, or the nearby home of his brother, Esek Hartshorne. They constructed a beacon to warn out the Shrewsbury militia in the event of an enemy incursion. Some of the men had been only there two nights when the British attacked. British Accounts of the Battle of the Navesink A British officer, Thomas Sullivan, offered the most complete account of what happened next. He wrote that on February 10, Major Gordon with 170 British regulars (another report says 200) from the 26th Regiment “embarked from Sandy Hook with the intention of cutting off a party of rebels stationed at the Highlands of Neversink.” He continued: After being detained on board by hard gales of wind and bad weather for 3 days, they landed (wading up to their waists) on the beach at the Highlands, about 2 miles below the Enemy’s post. A little before day [on February 13], they marched and surprised the piquet without firing a shot: From thence, they proceeded a mile further to a house to which they approach from two different ways (the flanking companies to the right), a guard posted about 200 yards from the house was first alarmed. Thereafter, firing a few shots, together with the main body, who at first affected to form and make a stand, being pushed by the Battalion, fled too soon for the Grenadiers and Light Infantry to come up enough to cut off their retreat. Sullivan reported that 72 militiamen were captured (other reports claim 74) and between 30 and 40 escaped. He also reported that “several dead bodies were found in the woods where the soldiers buried them.” The prisoners included two militia captains and four lieutenants. The British took the militia’s stores, including “3 barrels of powder, 770 ball cartridges, some salt provisions and 10 quarters of fresh beef.” One British soldier was killed in the battle. After the battle, Sullivan noted that “the prisoners were carried on board the Syren [at Sandy Hook]. Many of them had certificates from having taken the [British] Oath of Allegiance, which they took to cover their deceit.” A newspaper report in the New York Royal Gazette corroborated Sullivan’s account; it also included information on the supporting role played by Colonel John Morris’s New Jersey Volunteers : The guides were intelligent and behaved very well. Col. Morris's new levies...had been detached to a different place, picked up some of those who made their escape from Hartshorne's, together with an officer and small party had crossed the river from the rebel's post at Black Point, for the business of Tory hunting. Historian Edward Raser noted that Morris learned of the militia camp when he led a Loyalist party to Black Point to salvage a beached vessel. There, he chased off a small militia guard. The vessel was a British supply boat driven ashore during a storm on February 1; it was too badly damaged to sail. A disaffected man, Cornelius McClease Jr., alerted Morris’s men to the vessel and the militia camp near it. General William Howe, commanding British forces in America, wrote about the Battle of the Navesink twice. In February 1777, he reported to the British Foreign Secretary, “A considerable number of the rebels having appeared on the heights above the Light House at Sandy Hook, Major Gordon with 200 men landed behind them, attacked and defeated them, killing several and taking 74 prisoners, which has occasioned the rebels to abandon all that part of Monmouth county." Two years later, Howe wrote about the mixed loyalties of the Monmouth militiamen: In the Pockets of the Killed, and Prisoners, were also found Certificates of those very Men having Subscribed a declaration of Allegiance, in Consequence of the Proclamation of the King’s Commissioners for a general amnesty. American Accounts of the Battle of Navesink There are no surviving contemporary accounts of the Battle of the Navesink from the Monmouth militia. The closest to it is an “account of losses” compiled by Captain Barnes Smock of Middletown. He reported losing a “rifle gun,” cartridge box, pistol, and silver hinges during the battle. After the war, however, many militiamen wrote about the battle in their veteran pension applications. The most complete account was from Henry Vunck: In the latter part of January 1777, he was drafted by orders from Col Nathaniel Scudder to serve for one month company mustered under Lieut. John Whitlock at Freehold and marched through Middletown to Sandy Hook and were out as near as he can recollect 17 days. The party to which he belonged were surprised and taken prisoner by the 26th regiment of British troops and Lieut. Whitlock was killed. The prisoners were put on board the British guard ship at Sandy Hook and remained there a few days and was then removed to the Sugar House in the city of New York where he was kept until in the fall where he removed to and was confined on board the transport ship Goodenough for 2 months and 7 days. Was then sent to the hospital where he remained until he was exchanged, where he returned home having been gone from the time of the draft one year and one month, and having suffered while a prisoner great privations and … in poor clothing and scanty & unwholesome provisions. Many of the prisoners died in consequence of this treatment. The treatment of the captured militiamen is detailed in the next article. Vunck’s narrative is corroborated by several other militiamen. Interesting additional details are offered in other accounts. Peter Crawford recalled mustering with his father and that “his father was shot down by his side at the Highlands of Navesink.” Matthias Smith recalled that his companions were captured but he made his escape after “his hat was shot through and the belt of his drum shot off.” John Bennett recalled a half-dozen militiamen being captured the day before the battle (probably by John Morris’s New Jersey Volunteers), “having gone over in a skiff to learn what was the cause of the firing the night before." James Bowne recalled missing the battle because “he had permission that night to go home for clothes - and by that means escaped being made prisoner.” The Battle of the Navesink was the worst defeat of the war for the Monmouth militia and it set back efforts to restore the militia and civil government in Monmouth County. But with more Monmouth Loyalists leaving the county there would be new opportunities to rebuild the militia. Related Historic Site : Portland Manor (Portland Place) Sources : Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 1, p 277; Andrew D. Mellick, Jr., Lesser Crossroads , ed. Hubert G. Schmidt from Andrew D. Mellick, Jr., The Story of an Old Farm (1889 reprint) (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1948), p 302; Thomas Sullivan, Journal of Operations in the American War , American Philosophical Society, p180; William Howe to George Germain, Letter extracted in North British Intelligencer or Constitutional Miscellancy , 1777, p 413; London Gazette , March 18, 1777; The Narrative of Lieut. Gen. Sir William Howe , in a Committee of the House of Commons, on the 29th of April 1779, Relative to His Conduct during His Late Command of the King’s Troops in North America, London, 1780; Mary Hyde, The Battle of the Navesink Highlands, American Monthly Magazine , vol 9, 1896, pp 27-28; Hyde, Battle of the Neversink", New York Times , February 23, 1896; Mary Hyde, Battle of the Neversink", New York Times, February 23, 1896; Mary Hyde, Battle of the Neversink", New York Times , February 23, 1897; Wiliam Howe’s Testimony before Parliament, The History of Civil War in America (Mew's Gate, United Kingdom: T. Payne & Sons) p 272; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Benjamin Berry of VA, National Archives, p4-6; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Timothy Mount; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Van Note of Ohio, S.1161; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Peter Crawford of PA, www.fold3.com/image/#15198310 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Harmonus Peak NY, www.fold3.com/image/#25834037 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Matthias Smith of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#16882568 ; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Perrine; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Bennett, www.fold3.com/image/#13715628 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Tunis Vanderveer; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Bowne; Barnes Smock, Account of Losses, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #1059; William Stryker, Officers and Men of New Jersey During the American Revolution (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1967); Edward Raser, "American Prisoners Taken at the Battle of the Navesink," Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, vol. 45, n 2, May 1970, p50-1. 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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's Dragoons in Monmouth County by Michael Adelberg The bold cavalryman, Henry Lee, was twice court-martialed for ignoring rules, but never convicted. He camped in Monmouth County and performed well, but made enemies and was removed. - February 1779 - As noted in a prior article , in January 1779, George Washington, after resisting calls to do so, sent a regiment of troops into Monmouth County to increase the county’s security. That assignment fell to Colonel Caleb North of Pennsylvania , though North’s regiment would be replaced by deployments led by Mordecai Gist (Maryland ) and Benjamin Ford (Maryland ). These men camped close to the British base at Sandy Hook. They sought to block illegal trade and shield the county from Loyalist raiding parties . Parallel to these troop deployments, the cavalry regiment of Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee was intermittently stationed at Freehold for the purpose of establishing contact with and relaying communications with the French fleet —if it appeared off the New Jersey shore. Lee was apparently ordered to Monmouth County in late January 1779. On the 31st, Washington wrote Governor William Livingston about his decision to send troops into Monmouth County, including this note on Lee’s corps: No Corps of Cavalry remains in Jersey except Major Lee's, which is quartered in the lower part of the Country where the Quarter Master informed me there would be a sufficient supply of forage with least inconvenience to the Inhabitants. However, Lee had not yet arrived in Monmouth County by February 12. That day, David Rhea, the Army’s quartermaster officer for Monmouth County, wrote of Lee’s dragoons, "the light horse have not made their appearance, pray do not send them to these parts as yet.” Rhea went on to describe his difficulties in raising forage for the Army, including the controversy from the seizure of Benjamin Van Cleaf’s grain. Rhea did not want the added burden of finding forage for Lee’s men. Determining Lee’s arrival in Monmouth County is muddied further by a brief report in the New Jersey Gazette on February 15, "We hear that the Continental troops that were for some time stationed at Freehold, in New Jersey, are ordered away by Congress, and to be replaced by some Light Horse." This is a reference to the pending arrival of Lee’s men at Freehold, but it is unclear who they were replacing. While the date of Lee’s arrival at Freehold is unknown, there is no doubt that he arrived and operated out of Freehold by spring. According to a veteran’s pension application filed after the war, James Chambers of Freehold Township, only 15 years old at the time, enlisted in Lee’s dragoons in spring 1779. (Another Monmouth Countian, William Van Mater, enlisted on September 23.) It is probable that Lee was in Monmouth County intermittently through the summer. Lee’s Cavalry Camps at Freehold In September 1779, Lee re-established quarters at Freehold. On September 12, General Nathanael Greene noted ordering Lee to Monmouth County "in hopes that Lee might deliver the letter if D'Estaing should appear off the coast." George Washington sent further orders to Lee: “I desire that you will, with the remainder of your corps, [go] to the County of Monmouth and take a position as near the coast as you can, without making yourself liable to a surprise." Lee was directed to monitor the coast for the arrival of the French Fleet and report on British movements at Sandy Hook. He was also asked to “suppress” illegal trade between Monmouth County and the British to the degree he could do so without risking his men. In another note that day, Washington alluded to sending Lee to nearby Englishtown. At about this time, a sergeant’s guard of Lee’s men patrolling near the Shrewsbury shore killed Lewis Fenton, a notorious Pine Robber . A New Jersey Gazette report on September 23 noted that the men were alerted to Fenton’s presence: The Sergeant immediately impressed a wagon and horse and ordered three of them to secret themselves under some hay... on the approach of the wagon, Fenton (his companion being gone) rushed out to plunder it, while advancing toward the wagon, one of the soldiers shot him through the head, which killed him instantly on the spot. The killing of Fenton is the subject of another article. In October, with the French fleet again expected on the Jersey shore, Washington wrote Livingston about sending pilots to the shore. He wrote on October 4 that “good pilots should be ready to go on Board the French fleet.” Livingston was asked to send the pilot, Wiliam Van Driil, “to go down to Monmouth and join Major Lee at English Town." Two days later, Washington asked Lee to be more vigilant in receiving and conveying intelligence reports from the shore. He wrote: I presume that you constantly keep an intelligent officer to observe the arrival or casting of the enemy's vessels. I wish to have his diary transmitted from time to time, say once a week, and more especially when anything more extraordinary occurs. Later that month, the Continental Congress’ Marine Committee wrote Lee about the pilot, Patrick Dennis, being sent to the Shrewsbury shore to come aboard the French fleet. Congress instructed Lee that: "Captain Patrick Dennis, being employed to wait on the arrival of Count D'Estaing's fleet off the Hook, and being a Gentleman for whom we have the greatest confidence, we request you will afford him every assistance." This likely led to Lee’s men patrolling the shore more vigorously, which created new demands for forage for the horses. Quartermaster officer, David Rhea, was aggrieved. On October 12, he wrote that "Major Lee's dragoons have done as they please since they have been in this county.” Rhea refused Lee’s request for wagons and horse teams to supply his men and worried that Lee would negotiate purchases on his own with local farmers. He further wrote: I have put him off in such a manner that I believe he will not ask again -- I think I shall have no more of it -- those horse consume a large quantity of forage, and at a very high price, I know not what to do --I hope they will not stay long. Rhea’s complete grievances with Lee are the subject of another article . Whatever his problems with forage, Lee went to the Navesink Highlands to observe the British fleet. He sent a report to Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s aide-de-camp, on October 22: The enemy’s strength at the hook consists in two 64, the Europa & Russell—the Raisonable, Renown, Roebuck & Romulus. Besides these they have a few frigates & some armed Schooners. They have sunk ten hulks in the outer channel & have more ready to be sunk, some of those sunk have got afloat & reached shore. They have also two fire ships. A few days later, Lee wrote Washington from Freehold: "My spies have not given us their report for the last week, none of them having returned." But Lee believed the French fleet was not coming to Sandy Hook based on British actions, "The heavy cannon placed in the batteries at the Hook, to secure the channel, was taken off." Lee’s Cavalry Winters in Monmouth County Despite this report, Washington, not knowing the location of the French fleet, kept Lee in Monmouth County through the winter. That month, he issued general orders for the Army’s winter quarters. Washington ordered a regiment of New Jersey Continentals into Monmouth County to disrupt the illegal trade between disaffected farmers and Sandy Hook. Lee would stay in Monmouth County as well. Washington wrote that a New Jersey regiment would be "aided by a party of Lee's Light Dragoons, endeavor to stop the communication from New York, from that quarter." As weather grew colder, travel to the Navesink Highlands became unpleasant. Lee wrote Washington on November 30: "It is utterly impossible to execute your Excellency's orders as the source of intelligence without enduring great personal trouble from the civil government of this State." Lee wrote Washington again two weeks later regarding his men lacking winter coats: "The season is getting cold & my men are perfectly bare of clothing, having not received the annual allowance for '79." In addition to his “trouble” with “civil government,” Lee was feuding with Judge John Imlay. Imlay complained to Governor Livingston about Lee issuing passports to locals in the interest of having spies in New York. Livingston wrote back on December 18 that Lee had exceeded his authority in granting the passports, “but I have lately so fully explained to him the dangerous tendency of such a practice & his want of authority for that purpose, that I flatter myself he will for the future cause no further complaint on the subject." Livingston wrote Lee on the subject that same day. In a letter to Washington, Lee also noted a slow-down in intelligence from his “spies” in New York, "my last account from New York mentions no appearance of emissaries or embarkation of troops." Washington, who had received a letter from Livingston complaining of Lee issuing passports, cautioned Lee: The practice of [illegal] trading under the cover of procuring intelligence has grown to such a height that there is an absolute necessity of putting a stop to it. To avoid giving any umbrage to the Government of the State, I would have you confine your observations to the sailing of the fleets from New York, and whenever any capital movement takes place communicate it immediately to the president of Congress as well as to me. Washington offered to send more men to winter in Monmouth County if forage was available for them: “If the Country where you are will afford Forage for more than your own Corps, I can reinforce you with some detached troops of Horse." Washington then ordered Col. Armand to Monmouth County on December 23. You will proceed with your corps to Monmouth County and take such a station as will best accommodate your men and horses and enable you to communicate with Major Lee for the purposes of mutual security, covering the country and preventing all intercourse between the inhabitants and the enemy. Washington told Armand that he should rest his men, but also asked him to support Lee’s patrols of the shore: “I am persuaded you will wish to be as useful as you can. You will immediately open a correspondence with Major Lee." On December 29, Lee reported that the cavalry of Colonel Charles Armand “has reached this place." But Armand did not stay more than a few days, prompting Washington to express disappointment: I should have been glad had it been possible for your corps and Col Armand's to have found a position in Monmouth County capable of supporting both cavalry with hay & forage, as it would in my opinion, have answered the object which I have principally had in view, that of covering the county and preventing intercourse with the enemy. Because of the apparent lack of forage for the two cavalry units, particularly near the shore, Washington gave Lee permission to pull his scout parties inland. He advised Lee to have his men make “their quarters at a distance from the shore, far enough to prevent surprises, but still able to send patrols toward those places at which the enemy most commonly land, and to which the country people usually carry their produce." The opportunity to pull back did not stop Lee from opportunistically attacking British assets. On January 5, Lee reported a raid on Sandy Hook. "I have heard from one of my officers on the shore, who has taken a British officer with five others, & 80,000 counterfeit dollars, I hope this capture will lead to some useful discoveries." Lee sent the money and prisoners to Philadelphia. Washington acknowledged and praised the attack in a brief response. This action is the subject of another article . Washington abruptly ordered Lee out of Monmouth County on January 8. Caleb North would return to Monmouth County as a replacement. The abrupt order was likely sparked by Lee’s proposal to impound cattle from the Monmouth shore. On January 7, Washington skeptically wrote Lee: "I take it for granted that measures you mean to pursue for cutting off intercourse between the country and the Enemy will be justified by circumstances and not incompatible with the laws of the State." He asked Lee to further consider New Jersey’s law. As Lee moved toward impound cattle from locals living along Monmouth's shores, it is likely that Lee’s enemies in Monmouth County (Rhea and Imlay) protested. They finally had what they needed to rid themselves of Lee in January 1780 and hastened his departure. When Lee returned to Monmouth County in July 1780— to establish contact with the expected French fleet —he and Rhea promptly feuded again. Perspective By any measure, Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee was among the Continental Army’s most energetic officers. But he was frequently at odds with authority and twice court-martialed for disobeying orders or ignoring rules (never convicted). While in Monmouth County, Lee’s men killed a hated Pine Robber leader and successfully raided Sandy Hook. But Lee’s vigorous prosecution of the war put him at odds with local officials charged upholding rules of which Lee was either unknowing or indifferent. This tension created local enemies and likely led to Lee’s abrupt removal from Monmouth County. Related Historic Site : Moland House (Bucks County, Pennsylvania) Sources : George Washington to William Livingston, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw140058)); Marine Committee to Henry Lee, National Archives, Collection 332, reel 6, #230; David Rhea to Clement Biddle, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I173, Letters from Nathanael Greene, v3, p37; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 136; William Nelson, Austin Scott, et al., ed., New Jersey Archives (Newark, Trenton, Somerville, 1901-1917) vol. 3, p 77; Contained in: National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Wyley of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 28231283; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Chambers; Library of Virginia, Archives, Revolutionary War (Land) Bounty Warrants, William Van Mater, reels 1-29; National Archives, revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Van Mater; Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 4, p 366 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. 16, pp. 279, 367; David Rhea to Moore Furman, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #5599; George Washington to William Livingston, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw160418)); New Jersey Gazette report on death of Lewis Fenton in Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p198; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 61, September 25, 1779; Henry Lee quoted in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 1899, v 7, p 177; Henry Lee to Alexander Hamilton, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 2, 1779–1781, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 208–209; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 62, October 25, 1779; Marine Committee of Congress to Henry Lee, Charles Paulin, Out-Letters of the Marine Committee and Board of Admiralty (New York: Navy History Society, 1914) vol. 2, pp. 124-5; Winter Orders, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 17, p 211; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 62, November 3, 1779; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mgw/mgw4/062/1000/1046.jpg ; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 63, December 16, 1779; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw170339)); Nathanael Green, Report, Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 5, p 85 note; Henry Lee, note, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 63, January 5, 1780; Henry Lee to John Simcoe in John Simcoe, A JOURNAL OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE QUEEN'S RANGERS, APPENDIX, p267, p270; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 63, December 28, 1779; William Livingston to John Imlay, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 3, p 271; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 63, December 23, 1779; George Washington to Charles Armand, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw170362)) ; General Orders in John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 17, p 362; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence. 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