The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > David Brearley Leaves Continental Army for the Supreme Court by Michael Adelberg David Brearley served as a Lt. Colonel in the Continental Army from 1776 into 1779. Difficult service made him willing to leave the army to become Chief Justice of New Jersey Supreme Court in July. - July 1779 - David Brearley was born in 1745 in Hunterdon County. He went to Princeton, studied law, and established a law practice at Allentown. He was an early and outspoken critic of British policies whose father was briefly arrested by Royal authorities. Brearley was the first colonel of the Upper Freehold militia before being mobilized as Lt. Colonel in General Nathaniel Heard’s New Jersey Flying Camp. He was with the Continental Army through the disastrous New York Campaign of 1776. Brearley was then commissioned the Lt. Colonel of the new 4th New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Army. Except for a furlough to be with his wife, Elizabeth, as she died in August 1777, Brearley served with the Army stoically through the difficult Philadelphia Campaign (fall 1777), the famous winter at Valley Forge, and the Battle of Monmouth . Brearley served faithfully but not silently. Along with Colonel Israel Shreve, he returned to New Jersey in February 1778 to advocate for better provisions for his men, shivering at Valley Forge. He appealed to the New Jersey government: The condition of the New Jersey troops is such that it would be criminal to keep silent longer… New Jersey soldiers are as brave as any. Why they should be neglected is a problem in politics hard to explain. Brearley also returned to Allentown in March to look in on his motherless children, but before he did, he was one of six officers to sign a memorial to the Continental Congress complaining about the inadequate provisions available to the Army. Leaving the Continental Army While the Continental Army’s winter at Valley Forge (1777-1778) is more famous, the winters of 1778-1779 and 1779-1780 were harsher on the men. The New Jersey Line shrunk from four to two regiments in 1778, but, even with the downsizing, the New Jersey government still struggled to recruit and provision its soldiers. On April 17, 1779, Brearley, Captain Jonathan Forman and Forman’s three junior officers signed a letter to the New Jersey Assembly complaining of the lack of provisions for the troops and the inflation that depreciated their pay. Three weeks later, Captain Forman wrote bitterly about the indifference of the New Jersey Legislature to its state’s soldiers. He sent near-identical letters directly to George Washington and Governor William Livingston on May 8. After mentioning past petitions to the state legislature, he stated: It will be proper to inform your Excellency that the officers of the Jersey Brigade have repeatedly at almost every session of the Assembly since 1777 memorialized upon the necessities of the troops, but we have the misfortune to inform your Excellency that not a single resolve was entered into the minutes on our favor. Forman threatened mass-resignation from New Jersey’s line officers: We have lost all confidence in our Legislature, reason and experience forbid that we should have any… We have the highest sense of your ability and virtue, the execution of your orders has given us pleasure, that we love the service and we love our Country; but when that Country gets so lost to virtue & justice as to forget to support its servants, it then becomes their duty to retire from that service. However, Forman did not resign. Brearley, as his commanding officer, may have convinced Forman to stay in the service. He remained in the Army until 1783, and was even promoted to Major. Washington wrote General William Maxwell, commanding Brearley’s regiment. He was unsympathetic: Our troops have been uniformly better fed than any others—they are at this time very well clad and probably will continue to be so—While this is the case, they [the complaining officers] will have no just cause of complaint. It is important that any misconception on this point should be rectified. Washington, however, took the complaint as an opportunity to lobby for his men. He forwarded Forman’s letter to John Jay, serving in the Continental Congress, warning that: “This is an affair which Congress will no doubt view in a very serious light.” He discussed that “the distresses in some corps are so great… that officers have solicited even to be supplied with the cloathing destined for the common soldiery.” Washington concluded: “The patience of men, animated by a sense of duty and honour will support them to a certain point, beyond which it will not go.” He ended the letter by warning of the “extreme danger” of a mass officer resignation. Meanwhile, Forman’s letter to Livingston apparently prompted action from the New Jersey Assembly. Washington wrote of a letter he received from Livingston: I have this moment received information that the Assembly have made some provision for their troops. It seems there was a compromise upon the occasion. The officers withdrew their remonstrance, and the Assembly went into the business. It is lamentable, that the measure should have been delayed, ’till it became in a manner extorted. Notwithstanding the expedient adopted for saving appearances, this cannot fail to operate as a bad precedent. After months of discontent, Brearley apparently readied to leave the Army. In May, he was ordered to prepare his men for a difficult campaign against the Iroquois and marched with them to Easton, in northeast Pennsylvania, where the campaign would soon begin. The prospect of spending months in the wilderness might have been the final nudge Brearley needed to look for other forms of service. He likely exchanged letters with New Jersey leaders about the state’s vacant Chief Justice position (Chief Justice Robert Morris resigned on June 10). On July 1, General John Sullivan, commanding the Army in Northeast Pennsylvania, wrote, "Lt Col Brearley having business of importance which calls him to New Jersey has leave to retire from the Army and settle the same." On July 2, Brearley recorded that he "retired from Wyoming." Soon, he was home in Monmouth County. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court On July 22, Brearley wrote the Continental Congress "that the State of New Jersey, to which he belongs, has lately appointed him Chief Justice of the State, an office important & honorable, but not lucrative.” He noted that the state “requested him to retire from the Army and enter upon the duties of that office” and “that he is determined to comply with the request; but is very desirous of holding his rank in the Army without pay." Congress dismissed the request, noting in its minutes: "Resolved, that the desire cannot be complied with." Brearley was in Philadelphia on July 25 when he received this news and presumably informed friendly members of Congress that he was leaving the Army to become New Jersey’s Chief Justice. Some sources suggest he served his first day as New Jersey’s Chief Justice on July 27 (the first day of the 3rd Monmouth County Court of Oyer and Terminer ) although Brearley would later state that August 4 was his first day of service. Despite Congress denying Brearley’s request to maintain his commission, he apparently never resigned, and this became a source of controversy. On September 4, Brearley wrote to Colonel Shreve, commanding the 2nd New Jersey Regiment, regarding complaints about him. Brearley wrote defensively that "they charge me with wishing to serve individuals, [but] so would every gentleman that wishes to do justice for his Country.” He then asked Shreve to deliver a tough message to the junior officers who wanted his commission: You therefore will please inform these gentlemen who wish so much for my promotion, and it is very uncertain when I shall or whether I shall resign at all; for when I was at Philadelphia, I was advised by some gentlemen of high rank and knowledge not to resign. Brearley did not resign until July 1780, and it apparently took the intervention of George Washington to force the matter. Washington wrote Brearley on July 7: I have to request that you would be so obliging as to inform me by the earliest opportunity at what time you were appointed as the Chief Justice of this State. My reason for this request is that a board of officers of the Jersey line ought to take rank from that time. Brearley replied on July 11: "I am to inform your Excellency, that I was sworn into Office as Chief Justice the fourth day of August last." Even at this time, he did not explicitly resign. Some sources suggest that Brearley finally resigned on March 17, 1780—eight months after he left the army. Brearley’s reluctance to resign was not without precedent. Monmouth County’s two other high ranking Continental Army officers behaved similarly: Lt. Colonel David Rhea did not resign his commission until summer 1780, despite leaving the army to serve as Monmouth County’s Quartermaster agent in 1778. Colonel David Forman lost command of his regiment in early 1778, but maintained his commission through the entire war. Brearley left Allentown and moved to a fourteen-acre farm outside of Trenton, but the job of Chief Justice kept him on the road much of the time. Over his decade of service as New Jersey’s Chief Justice, the state’s courts gradually professionalized and the irregularities that plagued New Jersey’s first courts steadily lessened. As Chief Justice, Brearley attended Courts of Oyer and Terminer on which he sat with a panel of county judges. These courts heard the most severe and politically-oriented charges. Brearley participated in meting out several death sentences, including many in Monmouth County. Brearley presided over Holmes v Walton , a case involving the seizure of silks from John Holmes and Solomon Ketchum of Middletown by Major Elisha Walton. While the goods were almost certainly acquired illegally, Holmes and Ketchum were not given a fair jury trial. The seizure was upheld by Judge John Anderson and a six-man mini-jury that was treated to free liquor by Walton. Holmes, lacking an appeal under the law, hired an attorney, William Wilcocks, a former Judge Advocate for the Continental Army, who filed a case before the New Jersey Supreme Court. Brearley likely knew of all of this as he became Chief Justice and was well-acquainted with Wilcocks, with whom he served in the Army. Brearley heard the case In September and invalidated the seizure of the silks on the grounds that the New Jersey law under which the seizure was made was unconstitutional (because it did not give Holmes a full jury trial, a right guaranteed in New Jersey’s Constitution). The case is the first known example of judicial review in U.S. history, and established the power of the courts to void a law as unconstitutional. However, Brearley took ten months to issue the ruling in order to give the New Jersey legislature time to amend the law. As Chief Justice, Brearley was able to take on special assignments, one of which was to host and serve on a multi-state commission to settle the boundary dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania over rights to northeast Pennsylvania. In late 1782, Brearley and the commission sided with Pennsylvania. At the end of his tenure, Brearley participated in the Constitutional Convention where he played a prominent role in advancing the “New Jersey Plan” for the new national Congress—a plan premised on all states having the same number of Congressional delegates regardless of their size. Brearley was also active in devising the Electoral College as a compromise between big and small states, and a check against a popular demagogue who might temporarily win the favor of an electoral majority. After the Convention, Brearley returned to New Jersey and played a leading role in getting the state to ratify the United States Constitution. He was an elector for New Jersey at the Electoral College that elected George Washington President, and then was appointed a federal judge by Washington. He died in 1790—having accomplished a remarkable amount in only 45 years of life. Related Historic Site : St. Michael’s Episcopal Church Sources : T.H. Pyle, David Brearley: America’s Most Important Forgotten Founding Father, unpublished manuscript in the possession of the Allentown Historical Society); William Stryker, The New Jersey Continental Line in the Indian Campaign of 1779, (1885) p 15; New York Historical Society, Fairchild Collection, item: Jonathan Forman; Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) p 146; Dennis Ryan, A Salute To Courage The American Revolution as Seen through Wartime Writings (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979) p 151; The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 20, 8 April–31 May 1779, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, pp. 439–441; Diary, New Jersey State Archives, Revolutionary War, Manuscripts Coll., box 2, #12; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 14, p 861; Gen. John Sullivan to David Brearley, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I41, Memorials to Congress, v1, p475; David Brearley to Congress, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, Remonstrances to Congress, I43, p53; David Brearley to Israel Shreve, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Dreer Collection, David Brearley, September 4, 1779; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:2:./temp/~ammem_wnJq:: and “To George Washington from David Brearley, 11 July 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified November 26, 2017, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-02439 . Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Monmouth County's 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer by Michael Adelberg The county courthouse in Freehold hosted its 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer in July 1779. Despite worsening conditions, the court showed restraint when punishing dangerous criminals. - August 1779 - On July 27, 1779, Monmouth County convened its third Court of Oyer and Terminer. Courts of Oyer and Terminer were special courts that convened episodically to hear cases that were particularly serious or politically charged. Monmouth County’s 1st Court of Oyer and Terminer convened in January 1778 and heard many cases related to the Loyalist insurrections of December 1776. In keeping with sentencing precedents established by New Jersey’s Council of Safety in 1777 , the punishment meted by this court were generally mild. There were no capital convictions. The 2nd Court of Oyer Terminer convened in late May 1778 just two days after a Loyalist raided the village of Middletown Point , killed three militiamen, and carried off John Burrowes, Sr., one of the county’s leading supporters of the Revolution. On top of that, the court convened as anticipation was building that the British Army would soon leave Philadelphia and march through Monmouth County on its way to New York. This court was likely influenced by popular passions (courts of the era often attracted unruly crowds). The punishments meted out at the second court were markedly more severe and included six executions. Monmouth County’s 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer The 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer convened while the New Jersey Chief Justice position was vacant. New Jersey’s first Chief Justice, Robert Morris of New Brunswick, had resigned on June 10 (the same date that a punishing Loyalist raid decimated the village of Tinton Falls) and Morris went to Tinton Falls to help rally the villagers. The Chief Justice commonly joined local judges in administering Courts of Oyer and Terminer, but New Jersey had no Chief Justice as the Court convened. William Smith (not the Loyalist Chief Justice in New York of the same name, but an Associate Justice of the State’s Supreme Court), went to Freehold to convene the court with the local judges. There, Smith was joined by David Brearley, an Allentown lawyer who had been serving in the Continental Army before leaving the Army on July 2. Brearley would become New Jersey’s second Chief Justice, but the details of his appointment were still being worked out when the court convened (Brearley hoped to retain his Army commission while serving on the Court, but neither the State nor the Continental Congress would authorize this arrangement). Brearley would later report to George Washington that his first day as Chief Justice of New Jersey was August 1, four days into Monmouth County’s 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer. As the court convened, key officials were deeply impacted by recent wartime events. Sheriff Nicholas Van Brunt’s brother, Major Hendrick Van Brunt, had been taken prisoner by Loyalists during the raid against Tinton Falls six weeks earlier; Judge John Longstreet’s home was burned by Loyalist raiders two months earlier. Judge John Anderson was embroiled in a growing dispute for upholding seizure of fabrics by Major Elisha Walton of the Freehold militia from two Middletown residents (despite evidence that Walton tampered with the six-man jury that heard the case). The seizure would ultimately be reversed by David Brearley’s New Jersey Supreme Court. The 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer heard 129 total indictments, more than either of the prior courts. Sixteen indictments had the potential for capital convictions: three people were charged with high treason, nine were charged with murder, and four were charged with robbery. With respect to the High Treason cases, Joseph Stockton Nicholson was found guilty, but was permitted to “invoke an act of grace.” Acts of grace were granted occasionally to men of stature who confessed to the crime and showed contrition. New Chief Justice David Brearley apparently supported leniency for Nicholson. Two months later, the New Jersey Legislative Council, the Legislature’s Upper House, recorded receiving two petitions and “a letter from the Chief Justice in favor of Joseph Stockton Nicholson, lately convicted of High Treason in the County of Monmouth, recommending him as a proper object to be pardoned." The Council asked Governor William Livingston to pardon Nicholson on the condition that he sign a loyalty oath and agree never to return to Monmouth or Middlesex counties. The other men charged with High Treason were Thomas Thomson and Chrineyonce Van Mater. Thomson was a prosperous Upper Freehold farmer who had been arrested in 1777 for disaffection and compelled to take a loyalty oath in May 1779. His treasonable offense is unknown, but he was found not guilty. Chrineyonce Van Mater was active in the Freehold-Middletown Loyalist insurrection of December 1776. He guided the British party that captured Richard Stockton and John Covenhoven, two of New Jersey's leading statesmen. He went behind British lines and participated in violent incursions into Monmouth County. Van Mater was captured and briefly jailed in 1778, but freed by the British Army when it occupied Freehold the day before the Battle of Monmouth. While it is likely that there was considerable evidence to support a High Treason conviction, Van Mater was found not guilty. He would remain active in the local war after his acquittal. The men charged with murder included Samuel Wright, who formerly led a Loyalist association that was broken up in late 1776. Wright and a few others tried murder—William Van Note, Jacob Van Note, Elijah Groom—can be tied to Pine Robber activity. Other men charged with murder were Aaron Brewer Jr, Joseph Bennett, Thomas Bennett, and Dennis Hurlehoy. The disposition of these cases is not known, but if there were multiple death sentences, they would have been reported in the New Jersey Gazette as it was with other Courts of Oyer and Terminer. The men tried for robbery were Elijah Groom (a former New Jersey Volunteer and member of Jacob Fagan’s Pine Robber gang ), William Hankins (who was found not guilty), James Buckalew and Isaac Smith. Beyond Hankins, the outcomes of their cases are not known. Hankins subsequently collaborated with Colonel Samuel Forman in capturing Pine Robbers. Forman wrote to Governor Livingston about him in April 1780: There is one William Hankins, who was convicted of High Treason in this country & escaped from goal - has several times discovered himself & offers to betray a number of those wood rangers that has struck terror to the country, on condition of being pardoned. Six Monmouth Countians were charged with assault. One, Philip Milligan, was found guilty of "assault of with intent to ravage" and sentenced to one hour at the public pillory. William McMurray was also charged with assault. It is unclear what the Court of Oyer and Terminer decided, but the case was re-heard by the Supreme Court soon after. McMurray was charged with acting "with force and arms… in and upon Benjamin Parker… did make an assault” during which he “did beat and ill-treat & other wrongs." Other assault charges were against local leaders. David Rhea, the county’s agent for the Continental Army Quartermaster , had two counts of assault against him and was found guilty on at least one count because he was fined £20. His counterpart from the Army’s Commissary Department, John Lloyd, was also found guilty of assault and fined £6. Finally, Elias Longstreet, who had raised the first Continental Army company from Monmouth County in January 1776, was also charged with assault—the outcome of his case is not known. The remaining felony charges were against John Alward, who was indicted for deceit, and Peter Stillwagon, William Woodcock, and Richard Jackson were indicted for larceny. The outcome of their cases is not known. There were 105 misdemeanor indictments against 102 individuals (Samuel Dennis, Elizabeth Fisher, and Oliver Talman were indicted twice). Joseph Wardell, a disaffected Shrewsbury squire, received a massive L500 fine. Joseph Davis and Walter Curtis were fined £150 each. Two other men were fined £100, Peter Wardell and William Williams. Sarah White was also fined £100—the largest fine put on a woman. Eleven other women were indicted: Elizabeth Fisher (2 counts, fined L40), Sarah Dennis (fined £20), Elizabeth Parker, Elizabeth Wardell, Deborah Leonard, Ann Garvey, Elizabeth DeBow, Valerie Mount, Margaret Mount, Deborah Talman, and Lydia Corlies. With the exception of the fine against Joseph Wardell, the fines meted out by the 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer were in keeping with those of the 2nd Court of Oyer and Terminer. As noted in prior articles, unnamed misdemeanor charges generally related trading illegally with the British or going behind enemy lines to visit with Loyalist kin. The court also moved against two constables who did not attend the court. Nathan Davis (Shrewsbury) and John Southard (Stafford) were fined £50 for not attending—a larger amount than the majority of criminal fines. Similarly, twenty jurors were fined £30 for not attending jury duty. The large fines show a newfound willingness of judges to move against citizens who neglected their duty but were otherwise supporting the Revolutionary government. Perspective The circumstances surrounding the 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer were as grim as those surrounding the 2nd Court of Oyer and Terminer fourteen months earlier. Despite this, the 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer stepped back from the capital convictions of the 2nd Court, and the 3rd Court, for the first time, took meaningful actions against supporters of the Revolution who had broken the law or shirked the responsibilities of their office. It cannot be proven that David Brearley, as the new Chief Justice and a Monmouth Countians, caused this correction, but it is probable. What is clear is that the 3rd Court of Oyer and Terminer moved toward a more impartial adherence to the law and away from the passions of the crowd. Related Historic Site : Monmouth County Historical Association Sources : New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - July 1779; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #37083; Samuel Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 11, April 7, 1780; David Bernstein, Minutes of the Governor's Privy Council, 1777-1789 (Trenton: New Jersey State Library, Archives and History Bureau, 1974) p 126; Adelberg, Michael, Biographical File (on file at the Monmouth County Historical Association). Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Lt. Colonel Tupper's Continentals Attack on Sandy Hook by Michael Adelberg Benjamin Tupper commanded the party of Massachusetts Continentals that marched up the Sandy Hook peninsula and unsuccessfully attacked the Lighthouse on June 21, 1776. - June 1776 - As discussed in prior articles, the British Navy secured Sandy Hook in April 1776. But Sandy Hook’s strategic location at the entry point of New York Harbor and the imminent arrival of the British Army made it a tempting target for the Continental Army. In May 1776, Lt. Colonel Benjamin Tupper of Massachusetts commanded a regiment of Continentals stationed at Perth Amboy. In addition to commanding a regiment, he was commodore over a squadron of small sailing vessels and whaleboats in Raritan Bay. Two British frigates, Phoenix and Asia , and their tenders, faced them at Sandy Hook. The disparity in heavy guns between Tupper’s motley flotilla and the British frigates made it impossible to attack Sandy Hook by sea. In early May, Tupper apparently asked George Washington about attacking the British by landing on the Middletown shoreline and marching up Sandy Hook to capture the peninsula and lighthouse. Washington’s aide de camp, Robert Harrison, responded cautiously: "On dislodging the people at the Light House, he [Washington] does not mean to advise an attempt, unless you are certain it will be met with success - a miscarriage would douse the spirits of the men." But Tupper remained focused on Sandy Hook, even as more British ships arrived. On June 4, he wrote: There was two ships arrived within the Hook yesterday, there is now at the Hook eight sail of square wrigd [rigged] vessels and five small craft, besides the Asia & her small Tender. It is thought (but we can’t certainly determine) that three of the vessels which lately arivd [sic] is the Roebuck, the Marcury [sic] & the Liverpool. Tupper also was annoyed by the conduct of the Middletown militia under Colonel George Taylor. The militia received three British deserters and immediately dispatched an officer to interrogate them. But the militia “stupidly let them pass toward Philadelphia without asking them scarcely a question." In mid-June, Tupper moved his men to attack Sandy Hook. On June 17, one of Tupper’s men, Solomon Drowne wrote that "a part of the Artillery Regt and a number of volunteers have gone on an expedition to take ye watering place from ye Asia 's men, or drive ye regulars from their fort at ye Light House and destroy it." It appears that Tupper’s party landed on the Middletown shore on June 18, but did not immediately advance on Sandy Hook due to “inconveniences”. Tupper needed cannon, and waited for them to arrive by barge. Under cover of night, Tupper’s men marched up Sandy Hook during the early hours of June 21. He attacked Sandy Hook before dawn. A public version of his report on the battle was printed in several newspapers: This morning about 4 o'clock, we attacked the Light House with about 300 men; they were strongly reinforced being (as I saw a boat go from Long Island) previously informed of our design. I continued the attack for two hours with field pieces and small arms, all the time being between fires from the shipping and the light house, but could make no impression on the walls. I returned to my camp at the south end of the Cedars, which I have occupied for two days and nights, and sent out 50 men for some game; they have this minute attacked them with small arms, and seven boats are making for land from the ships. My men are in high spirits & well, not one of them either killed or wounded. Additional details on the attack were included in Tupper’s private letter to George Washington. In direct contradiction to the public report, Tupper claimed that the British were surprised by his advance: I advanced within 150 yds. of the Light House in so secret a manner that my party was undiscovered. I advanced with an officer and desired to speak with the commanding officer, and after a few words he fired several shot at me, but as God would have it, he mist [sic] me. I returned to my party and ordered the artillery to play, which continued about an hour, but found the walls [of the light house] so thick as to make no impression. Tupper also noted that he held his ground despite taking fire on two sides: "I occupied the ground about two and a half hours between the smart fires viz. to men of war on the one side & the Light House on the other." Tupper concluded his private letter by again complaining about the Middletown militia: "It is a little strainge [sic], I received no assistance from the Jersies, tho' it was earnestly requested." Local militia might have guided Tupper to a better position from which to launch the attack. Solomon Nash, an artilleryman under Tupper, wrote the attack. He provided additional details in his account. He noted that the cannon needed to be floated to Tupper on barges from Middletown Point [Matawan] on June 20: "This morning at 6 o'clock, landed at Spermacity Cove within four miles of the Light House, we got our field pieces ashore and there til about 9 o'clock p.m.” Nash’s account blames his own cannon for the failed attack: “The Light House being so strong that we could make no impression on it.” In July, Massachusetts newspapers, informed by letters home from Tupper’s men, offered some additional information on the battle. The Freeman's Journal reported that the attack failed because Tupper’s cannon were too small to damage light house. "Our men… not having heavy cannon sufficient to make any breach in the Light House." The American Gazette suggested it was heavy fire from the British frigates that “poured in a heavy fire on our men on our flank” that drove off Tupper’s men. British accounts of Tupper’s attack on Sandy Hook largely corroborate American sources. Captain Hyde Parker of the HMS Phoenix recorded his ship’s role, “kept up Constant Fire, for an Hour and a Half to Disperse them.” A British officer who arrived at Sandy Hook four days later reported on the battle from a British vantage point (note the exaggerated figures on the size of Tupper’s force and resulting casualties): Five hundred rebels with two brass field pieces, six pounders, were driven off by a Sergeant and Corporal of the 57th Regiment, with five of Governor Tryon's men; they killed 14 of the rebels, one of whom we hear is a Major; we expect it will be attacked again soon, but we are well prepared for them. Immediately after the attack, the British had an engineer, Lawrence Hartwick, survey Sandy Hook and recommend improvements. Hartwick noted the thickness of the lighthouse and the need for artillery around it. He measured that the lighthouse was 735 yards from the nearest cedar trees (presumably a safe distance) but there was a need to clear tall meadow grass within 525 yards of the light house. The fortification of the Hook was noticed. A Middletown militiaman, Richard Sutphin, looked over at Sandy Hook and later recalled that “the British troops took the light-house and converted it into a fort." Regardless of the steps taken, Sandy Hook remained an attractive target for Americans throughout the war. Tupper’s attack would not be the last attempt to capture it. Related Historic Sites : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : Bruce Bliven, Under the Guns, New York 1775-1776 (New York: Harper & Row, 1972) p 236-7; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 2, Letterbooks; The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 4, 1 April 1776 – 15 June 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991, pp. 323–325; The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 4, 1 April 1776 – 15 June 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991, pp. 436–437; New York City During the American Revolution: Being a Collection of Original Papers (NY: New York Mercantile Association, 1861) p98-99; Library of Congress, NY Gaz & Weekly Mercury, reel 2904; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Ledger, vol. 1, Jan. 1775-Nov. 1776; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Bruce Bliven, Under the Guns, New York 1775-1776 (New York: Harper & Row, 1972) p 314-5; William James Morgan, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1969) vol. 5, p 663. New Jersey Archives, "Newspaper Extracts," 1st. series, vol. 1, p 132; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 36, June 21, 1776; Solomon Nash, Journal of Solomon Nash, A Revolutionary Soldier (New York: Privately Printed, 1861) pp. 20-1; Margaret Willard, Letters on the American Revolution 1774-1776 (Associated Faculty Press, 1968) p 326; Pennsylvania Journal, June 21, 1776 Freeman's Journal, July 6, 1776; Henry P. Johnston, The Campaign of 1776 Around New York and Brooklyn, (Brooklyn: Long Island Historical Society, 1878) v3, p91; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Thomas Cummings of Massachusetts, National Archives, p30; Journal of H.M.S. Phoenix, Captain Hyde Parker, June 21, 1776, Great Britain Public Record Office, Admiralty 51/693. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; "Extract of a Letter from on Board His Majesty's Ship Swan, Sandy Hook, New York,” London Chronicle, August 22, 1776. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; Lopez, John. “Sandy Hook Lighthouse.” The Keeper's Log, Winter, 1986, pp. 5-6; David C. Munn, comp., Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey (Trenton, N.J.: Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Geology, 1976) pp. 91-3; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Richard Sutphin. 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 > Prominent Loyalists Captured and Scandal Ensues by Michael Adelberg George Taylor, Colonel of an illusory Loyalist militia, led several incursions into Monmouth County. He was taken in August 1780; after months in jail, he was exchanged back to New York. - August 1780 - Prior articles demonstrate that summer of 1780 was a particularly desperate time in Monmouth County. Colonel Tye and other Loyalist irregulars kidnapped more than a dozen county leaders. In response, hundreds of county residents formed an extra-legal vigilante association, the Retaliators . Disaffected county residents trying to weather the war at home had livestock impounded by Continental soldiers and were subject to shockingly high fines for missing militia duty. But it was an equally desperate time for Monmouth County Loyalists behind British lines in New York. The New Jersey Volunteers , which hundreds of Monmouth Loyalists joined in 1776-1777, were largely dispirited —and original recruits drifted into new military units or left the Army for irregular Loyalist paramilitaries such as the Associated Loyalists . Amidst this desperation, a party of prominent Monmouth Loyalists was tempted to land in Monmouth County on an ill-fated mission. Monmouth Militia Captures Loyalist Party The New Jersey Gazette reported that on August 2: Eight of the infamous refugees, five of whom pretended to be officers in the Tyrant's service, were brought to the Commissary of Prisoners at Elizabethtown from Monmouth. When they were captured, they pleaded they came over with a flag , and produced their orders; but their frivolous pretensions would not answer their ends, and they were sent to Philadelphia to occupy a corner of the new gaol until exchanged. The New Jersey Journal reported on the same incident: Yesterday, were brought to this town under guard, being on their way to Philadelphia, Col. George Taylor, Lt. Samuel Leonard, Lt. John Thomson, Ensign John Lawrence and Chrineyonce Van Mater, late inhabitants of Monmouth County, and three others -- they were made prisoners on Wednesday last by a party of militia." Five of the eight captured men were well-known Loyalists from prominent families: George Taylor was the colonel of the illusory Loyalist Monmouth County militia . In 1777, he led raids into Monmouth County and remained active in recruiting Loyalists from the county afterward. Samuel Leonard was a lieutenant in the (Loyalist) New Jersey Volunteers. He often commanded the troops at the Sandy Hook Lighthouse . He was kin to Thomas Leonard (a major in the Volunteers) and Joseph Leonard (the former county clerk who took the county’s records .). John Thomson was a former lieutenant in the New Jersey Volunteers who became an Associated Loyalist. He was involved in raids into Monmouth County. While others in the party were exchanged, Thomson remained in jail. He was convicted of two felonies and hanged. John Lawrence was an ensign in the New Jersey Volunteers. His kin co-led the Upper Freehold Loyalist insurrection of December 1776. Chrineyonce Van Mater was the first of Monmouth’s Loyalist partisans. He helped capture two leading Whigs in late 1776 and participated in the December Loyalist Insurrection. His daring escape on horseback gave birth to the place-name “Jumping Point” in present-day Rumson. The other men in the party—Timothy Scoby, Richard Freeman, and Adam Brewer—were from poor families. Scoby was a private in the New Jersey Volunteers early in the war before becoming an Associated Loyalist. In 1782, he was convicted of treason in the Monmouth County courts, but was pardoned by Governor William Livingston. Less is known about Freeman and Brewer. The purpose of the landing is not explicitly stated in any surviving document. It is known that George Taylor paroled home a captured Middletown militiaman, Daniel Covenhoven. Another militiaman, Cornelius Swart, testified that the Commanding Officer at Sandy Hook told Taylor “he could discharge them if he thought proper - at which time Taylor told them he paroled them both to return home and remain peaceable subjects until called upon.” Perhaps Taylor landed to conduct a prisoner exchange . However, as noted below, the Loyalists brought a large quantity of counterfeit money with them—and the discovery of this money likely ended any chance of the flag of truce being honored. Counterfeiting was a nagging problem throughout the war; various pre- and post-independence currencies and notes traded freely. Continental money was particularly prone to counterfeiting and rampant inflation. As early as April 1777, Thomas Clark, from a disaffected Middletown family, was brought before the New Jersey Supreme Court “for suspicion of receiving and passing counterfeit paper 30 dollar bills, in imitation of the 30 dollar Continental bills.” In January 1780, a bold raid against Sandy Hook resulted in the capture of counterfeit money by Continental soldiers. Major Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee reported on the raid, noting that “the counterfeit money I sent to be burnt." No doubt, counterfeit money was circulated via London Traders and other disaffected New Jerseyans. On August 4, the Pennsylvania Packet reported that the Monmouth Loyalists had reached Philadelphia: Yesterday was brought to town, under guard, being on their way to Philadelphia, Col. George Taylor, Lt. Samuel Leonard, Lt. John Thomson, Ens. John Lawrence and Chrineyonce Van Mater, late inhabitants of Monmouth, and three others. They were made prisoners on Wednesday last by a party of militia. On reaching Philadelphia, the Loyalists apparently complained about the legality of their capture. If they had arrived under a flag of truce, with a British passport, they should have been permitted to present themselves to an officer and explain their purpose. After that, they could have been allowed to stay or sent back to their boats by that officer. If their credentials were appropriate, they should not have been taken. Hearing the Loyalists’ plea, the Board of War of the Continental Congress inquired to George Washington about the capture. Washington, perhaps not wanting to involve himself in a sordid local affair, claimed minimum knowledge of the incident. He wrote on August 14: I have not yet been fully informed of the circumstances attending the capture of Lieut. Leonard and the others sent to Phila. with him. I only know that they came out under the sanction of a Flag, but there being something irregular in the conduct of it, the Militia of Monmouth thought proper to apprehend and secure them. The Fate of the Captured Loyalists and Capturing Militia Officers The Loyalists remained in jail in Philadelphia until January 1781. On January 9, Colonel David Forman wrote to Governor William Livingston about them: The Grand Jury would esteem it a particular favor if your Excellency would take the earliest opportunity of ordering Chrineyonce Van Mater, Samuel Leonard, John Thomson, John Lawrence, Timothy Scoby, Aaron Brewer and other late inhabitants of Monmouth County, and now confined in Philadelphia to be sent to this place to stand for tryal. Forman was serving as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Monmouth County and was apparently eager to try the Monmouth Loyalists. Forman was also leading the vigilante Retaliators , raising questions about the impartiality of the justice he might administer. The impending transfer to Monmouth County seems to have tempted at least some of the Monmouth Loyalists to attempt an escape. The Loyalist New York Gazette reported on January 21: The following persons arrived in this city, they have been made prisoners by the Rebels and confined in Philadelphia goal, from whence they fortunately escaped the 10th inst., a reward of $2000 was published for apprehending them. The escapees were Chrineyonce Van Mater, Timothy Scoby, Nathan Tyson, Aaron Brewer, and Richard Freeman. Van Mater, Scoby, and Brewer were Monmouth Countians taken in August. Tyson’s biography and reason for arrest are unknown. Thomson was tried in Monmouth County in November 1781, found guilty of horse stealing and “felony” and hanged. The others were probably exchanged for captured Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). Scoby would be captured again in 1782, convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death. He was pardoned by Governor Livingston at the request of Guy Carleton, the conciliatory British commander in chief at war’s end. The investigation of the Loyalists led to inquiries into the conduct of the militia that took the Loyalists despite their arrival under a Flag of Truce. This led to the court martial of several officers, reported in the New Jersey Gazette on February 21. The gravity of the trials is underscored by the fact that they were presided over by General Philemon Dickinson, the commander of the New Jersey militia. The results of the courts-martial are below: Major Thomas Hunn was charged with "cowardice and unofficerlike behavior, and acquitted of the first charge buy unanimously found guilty of the last, and judged to be cashiered"; Ensign Peter Vanderhoff was charged on the same charges with the same results. However, he was fined 200 Continental dollars and permitted to continue serving; Ensign Barnes Bennett was charged with "disobeying orders with respect to the trunks brought from Staten Island with George Taylor and others under the sanction of a Flag.” He was further charged with "suffering those goods to be embezzled" and "for passing the counterfeit money which came over." He was found guilty on all charges and cashiered; Lt. Jacob Tice was charged with "not turning out upon his tour of duty, and adjudged to be guilty." He was fined 200 Continental dollars; Capt. Samuel Dennis was charged with "cowardice and disobedience of orders.” He was “acquitted on both charges"; Quartermaster Richard Hartshorne was charged with "neglect of duty in not supplying the men with provisions.” He was “unanimously acquitted." Surviving documents do not reveal if there were legitimate questions about the documents the Loyalists brought into Monmouth County, but the courts-martial results reveal that, whatever the official purpose of their landing, another purpose was to return with materials purchased with counterfeit money. On this alone, the Loyalists deserved to be detained, though the scandalous conduct of certain Monmouth militia—passing the counterfeit money into circulation—surpassed whatever “irregularity” might have existed with the flag of truce carried by the Loyalists. Related Historic Site : Jumping Point Park Sources : Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 137; William Nelson, Austin Scott, et al., ed., New Jersey Archives (Newark, Trenton, Somerville, 1901-1917) vol. 4, pp. 551-552; State vs. Thomas Clark of Middletown. New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #34610; Henry Lee to George Washington, January 16, 1780, Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Pennsylvania Packet, August 4, 1780; Goerge Washington to Congress, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw190446)) ; David Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, January 9, 1781; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, January 21, 1781, reel 2906; The New Jersey Gazette report on the court martial is in William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 162; William Nelson, Austin Scott, et al., ed., New Jersey Archives (Newark, Trenton, Somerville, 1901-1917) vol. 5, p 200; Daniel Covenhoven to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, February 15, 1781; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File , unpublished, Monmouth County Historical Association. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Committees Form to Resist British Policies by Michael Adelberg The Continental Association, October 1774, created a national template for resisting British policies—county and township committees were responsible for enforcing it. - June 1774 - To punish the people of Boston for their “Tea Party” and other defiant acts , the British Parliament passed the so-called Intolerable Acts in early 1774. Colonists across the Thirteen Colonies reacted by boycotting British goods. Americans started forming committees to enforce the boycott and coordinate dissent across localities. The citizens of Freehold Township met at Monmouth Court House on June 6, 1774 to consider the state of affairs. According to minutes of the meeting, they agreed “that the cause for which the inhabitants of Boston are now suffering is the common cause of the whole Continent.” They also endorsed "an entire stoppage of importation and exportation from and to Great Britain and the West Indies.” Finally, they appointed a standing committee to “join an association with the several other counties in this province in any measures that may appear best to the weal and safety of North America." The Committee would be comprised of John Anderson, Hendrick Smock, Asher Holmes, Peter Forman, John Forman, John Covenhoven, Nathaniel Scudder – each of whom would go on to hold important leadership positions in the fledgling American government. While the committees that would soon form in other Monmouth townships contained a mix of men who would support and oppose the Revolution, the Freehold committee was full of ardent patriots (they called themselves Whigs). This would distinguish Freehold from the other Monmouth County townships in the years to come . A week later, on June 13, Josiah Holmes, one of Shrewsbury’s leading citizens, received a letter from the Essex County Committee. He responded by meeting with some other leading citizens in Shrewsbury and putting up a public notice which began: The deplorable state of the inhabitants of the great and (until now) flourishing town of Boston is reduced to by means of the late cruel and inhumane act of the British Parliament, for the blocking up their port, is the fatal occasion that thousands are now destitute of employment, and are also destitute of bread; now they have only to depend on the charity of well-disposed Christians. It is therefore proposed to load a vessel with grain and other provisions from this County of Monmouth, to be sent immediately for their relief. Meanwhile, the people of Monmouth County were called on to participate in the selection of delegates for a Provincial Congress, a state body that would operate outside the influence of New Jersey’s Royal Governor. On July 19, citizens from four of Monmouth County’s six townships met at Freehold to establish a county committee (attending: Freehold, Upper Freehold, Middletown, and Dover; Shrewsbury and Stafford did not attend). In addition to selecting delegates to this new Congress, the attendees agreed to raise foodstuffs for the suffering in Boston and establish a county committee. The new Monmouth County committee declared that British taxes were “altogether unprecedented and unconstitutional” but they also declared loyalty to the King: “they do highly esteem and prize the happiness of being governed by so excellent a system of laws as that of Great Britain, doubtless the best in the universe.” The County Committee quickly became the quasi-government of Monmouth County—with help from the township committees of Freehold, Upper Freehold, Middletown and Dover. Shrewsbury and Stafford townships did not establish township committees until 1775. Over the next few months, the committees of Monmouth County enforced the boycott of British goods by advertising boycott violators. They also raised and shipped “1200 bushels of rye, and 50 barrels of rye flour” for the suffering people in Boston. And they resolved to establish a new militia outside of the control of the Royal Governor. Soon, the County Committee would take action against some of the county’s most public Loyalists. All of this was set in motion before the first Continental Congress established the Continental Association in October 1774—calling on all Americans to take the actions that had already occurred in Monmouth County. Related Historical Sites : Monmouth County Historical Association Sources : Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 43-50; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety , 1775-1770 (Trenton: Naar, Day and Naar, 1879) pp. 4-5; Allan Nevins, The American States During and After the Revolution , 1775-1 789 (New York: MacMillan Company, 1 922), p 44; Monmouth County Historical Association, Genealogical Files, folder - Revolutionary War Records of Monmouth County Soldiers ; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, pp. 186-8; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p119-20; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 301-2; Pennsylvania Gazette , November 2, 1774 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 Monmouth Militia During the Monmouth Campaign by Michael Adelberg Philemon Dickinson led the New Jersey militia. He sent the 1st Regiment of Monmouth militia to march with Col. Daniel Morgan, while keeping the 2nd and 3rd regiments under his direct command. - June 1778 - As the British Army marched across New Jersey, it was continually harassed by New Jersey militia that impeded its march by fouling wells, obstructing the roads, and skirmishing with the enemy. After dysfunction early in the war, the Monmouth County militia improved greatly toward the end of 1777. But even with improvements, the Monmouth militia was in a poor state as the British prepared to march into New Jersey. In March 1778, Captain Thomas Chadwick compiled a return on armaments for his Tinton Falls militia company at Shrewsbury. The 53 men, between them, had 14 guns, three bayonets, eight cartridge boxes, "enough lead for 7 1/2 men" and enough powder for four. Despite this, much of the Monmouth militia answered the call in 1778. On April 18, the Monmouth militia skirmished with a Hessian foraging party at Flourtown in Burlington County. Major Bernhard Bauermeister wrote of the engagement (the casualty figures are likely exaggerated): Fifty dragoons had taken the Burlington Road as far as Flourtown, where they encountered the Jersey militia from Monmouth County. Of these, sixteen men were killed, some twenty were left wounded, and eighteen taken prisoner. As the British prepared to leave Philadelphia, George Washington assigned one of his army’s best regiments, Colonel Daniel Morgan’s Riflemen, to hang on the flanks and harass them. And General Philemon Dickinson, the head of the New Jersey, on June 9, assigned the First Regiment of Monmouth Militia under Colonel Asher Holmes to guide and assist Morgan’s regiment: I beg you will hold your Regiment ready to march at a moment's notice. You must pay particular attention to the removal of bridges and felling the trees upon the roads... You will keep your men concealed, and act in small parties by a constant and incessant fire upon their front, flanks and rear as the occasion may require. Yet, the Monmouth militia began the Monmouth campaign with grievances. On June 15, Col. Samuel Forman, leading the militia for Upper Freehold and the shore townships of Dover and Stafford, wrote Nathaniel Scudder in Congress about the lack of pay for his men: There is universal complaints through our militia, their pay being held back… on the late alarm it was supposed the enemy was coming through this State, I rec'd orders for marching with one half of my Regt., I gave orders for that purpose -- They assembled at Toms River in full expectations of receiving their pay & marching, but they disbanded & went home, determined to remain there until paid. Five times, I had been to our Paymaster & with less encouragement the last then the first -- sure I am that there is fault somewhere, where it is I cannot tell you. He also wrote of a lack of military supplies: I have express orders for keeping up an important fire on the enemy's flank & rear when they march through this State, this without one single cartridge for my men. I have applied to the Governor [William Livingston] without success, we are very badly provided. The Monmouth County Militia Mobilizes It is safe to assume that Forman’s grievances applied equally to Holmes. Still, his regiment turned out. Morgan and Holmes would shadow the British prior to the Battle of Monmouth and for a week afterward. One of Holmes’s men, Jonathan Hildreth of Freehold Township recalled that on June 9 "he was again called out again on alarm... in pursuit of the British army as they marched through Monmouth & he followed them until they got on board of their shipping, when he was discharged at Middletown." As noted in a prior article, militia under Morgan’s command skirmished with British troops as they entered and exited Allentown . It is probable that Monmouth militia were involved in the skirmishing. As the British headed east toward Freehold, Morgan stayed east of them. As Morgan and Holmes arrived near Freehold, other militia companies joined them. When Continental Army units under General Charles Lee engaged the British Army on the morning of June 28, they did so from the west. Morgan’s 800-man command (half Monmouth militia) never received orders to join the battle. Many Monmouth militiamen recalled their service under Morgan during the Monmouth Campaign in their post-war pension applications. A few men recalled being with Morgan for the entire campaign. Zachariah Hankins of Dover Township recalled: They marched under Genl. Forman [Col. Holmes, actually] to meet the British on their retreat from Philadelphia. He thinks that near Mt. Holly in Burlington County, they fell in with the British [June 25] and then retreated before them to Crosswicks Creek where they cut down the bridge and made a stand, a pretty severe skirmish ensued and a number of men were killed upon both sides. On the march, they were joined by detachments of the American Army - his company was with Morgan's Riflemen and were on the right flank. Morgan's men and the militia companies formed a flanking party and were not engaged in the battle, though they had some skirmishing. Other militiamen recalled joining Morgan near Freehold. For example, James Perrine, in Michael Sweetman’s company, recalled "being on the right of the British Army where the Riflemen [Daniel Morgan's command] were parted, though his company was not actually engaged in the battle." Jared Stillwell, as a second example, recalled: “The company of light horse to which he belonged were on the flank of the British army… in which he piloted Captain Waln of Virginia and then he came when one of his party which killed three and took six prisoners of the enemy.” Morgan’s command camped southeast of Freehold at a place he called “Squan Swamp” on June 26 and moved to nearby Richmond Mill (in present-day Howell) on June 27. That day, as the British sacked Freehold , Morgan attacked a German guard at Gardener’s Mill. Morgan wrote George Washington: I arrived at this place Yesterday encamp’d in the woods—sent out small parties—Capt. Leong fell in with fifteen Grenadeers and made them prisoners—deserters are continually comeng in—I have several parties out—whom I expect something from—I shall continue on the enemies right till I have orders to the contrary—They keep in so compact a body that it is impossible to do them much damage—However I will annoy them as much as possible. A German officer, Jacob Piel, wrote about the skirmish at Gardener’s Mill. His guard "was attacked by a rebel corps of several hundred men" which was repulsed "with the loss of a man." When the Germans brought up the cannon the Continentals and militia "hurriedly pulled back." The Monmouth militia lost two men in that skirmish, Privates Daniel Newberry and Richard Wolcott. Also that day, a party of Morgan’s men and Monmouth militia surprised a British party and took several prisoners. Major Thomas Massie of Virginia wrote, “The second attempt was a complete surprise, from thick shrubbery in the pines, where 16 or 18 prisoners were brought off and a few killed, with little loss to the Americans." Rhoda Sutphin wrote that her husband, Joseph Sutphin, was “stationed near a brook, flanking the British Army on the south, about 20 British came down to wash their clothes, who were taken prisoners.” The Continental Army’s Commissary of Prisoners, John Beatty, noted the arrival of these prisoners at his Provost Jail on July 2. "There are some 20 men in the Provost as those that marched up last Sunday, taken by Col Morgan - which arrived here Sunday evening." As Morgan harassed the British to the east, General Dickinson assembled militia from Burlington, Cumberland, Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Salem, and Somerset arriving from the west and north. His command also included the Upper Freehold militia under Samuel Forman. On June 26, Dickinson wrote Washington: I took post at this Place an hour ago, since which, nine Prisoners have been brought in—& five more on their way—the Enemy’s rear halted four miles from Monmouth Court-house which is three miles distance from this—I shall execute any order. Meanwhile, Col. John Neilson, with 200 Middlesex County militia, approached from Spotswood. Washington instructed him to "fall in on the flanks or rear” of the British. He further noted that “the Monmouthshire Militia may be of great service by attaching itself to one of the Continental detachments." Neilson replied that he would “throw what Obstructions we could in their way.” He also hoped to link up with Shrewsbury Township militia heading east from Tinton Falls. “I am informed about 100 Monmouth Militia on their March within a small Distance of this Place who have left their Quarters at Tenton Falls [Tinton Falls] in Shrewsbury not knowing the Situation of Our Army." One of these militiamen, James Bowne, recalled the arcing route they took to find Dickinson. He wrote: Previous to the Battle of Monmouth, they were marched to Tinton Falls where they lay. By way of Mount Pleasant to Englishtown, from thence to Tennant Meeting House, from thence to the front of the British Army near the farm of James Taylor. Some Monmouth militia stayed in the eastern part of the county and never attached to a larger unit. Lieutenant James Wall of Middletown recalled taking a lone British officer—probably a deserter. William Lloyd recalled being with a small party of militia that chased two disaffected locals on their way to sell goods to the British Army. Some Shrewsbury militia apparently stayed to destroy gunpowder and provisions that might be seized by the British Army as it marched east. A Loyalist newspaper in New York reported that British ships at Sandy Hook “observed a great fire” near the shore on June 27 and: On Sunday morning [June 28] about sun rise, a conflagration appeared at two different places, not far distant from the first, supposed to be raised by the rebels, in order to destroy their magazines of provision and forage; to prevent them from falling into the hands of the royal army. On June 27, Dickinson wrote Washington about the imminent arrival of the vanguard of the Continental Army. It "will give great spirit to the militia - who are now collecting very fast… our numbers increase hourly.” Dickinson’s optimism is tempered by the observation of Governor William Livingston who observed: "Our militia turn out finely, but we can only skirmish and run." A British senior officer, Stephen Kemble, dismissed the militia skirmishes as “a few popping shots from the rebel parties." Monmouth Militia on the Day of the Battle of Monmouth Monmouth militiamen experienced June 28—the day of the Battle of Monmouth—in different ways. The men attached to Morgan (including roughly 400 Monmouth militia) were separated from other Continental units. They spent the day at Richmond Mill waiting for orders to engage; men recalled hearing cannon-fire in the distance. William Cheeseman’s recollection is typical: [He] marched with the Riflemen [Morgan’s regiment] within a few miles of Monmouth Court House -- Morgan was not engaged in the battle and consequently the militia attached to his corps did not partake in the battle, altho' they were on the grounds, ready and willing. Several local leaders were either formally or informally attached to Continental units and a few advised senior generals including Charles Lee and Washington, who commanded Continental forces during the first and second parts of the battle respectively. Captain John Schenck, for example, noted that "he acted as a guide to the American Horse commanded by Col. Moylan" [Stephen Moylan].” The actions of Monmouth County’s leaders at the Battle of Monmouth is detailed in another article. Some militia joined Joshua Huddy’s company of State Troops in a brave but doomed attack on the British baggage train as it headed for Middletown. This is the subject of another article. Still, other Monmouth militia were apparently acting in small groups on their own. William Lloyd recalled that during the battle he collected discarded weapons and "gave them to the [Continental] soldiers as they stood in rank" for which "one of the officers gave me his canteen of grog to take a drink, it was the most delicious taste I ever drank." Other men recalled skirmishing with small bodies of British soldiers. James Bowne recalled that he was in “a smart scrimmage [skirmish]” in which “they lost two men - they retreated across a pass, there the British horse met & fallen on them." Benjamin Van Schoick recalled: He was not in the main Battle, but that he was in a skirmish with the British on the same day as they were retreating, on there left flank. Col Henrickson [Daniel Hendrickson] commanded according to the best of his recollection – In the skirmish the British sustained some loss. Other militiamen participated in irregular activities. Moses Mount’s widow, Catherine Mount, recalled that her husband “with one John Emmons, took two prisoners on that day, who were plundering and delivered them to our people." Abner Page (under Captain Kenneth Hankinson of Freehold) recalled: I was not engaged in the battle myself, Captain Hankinson having sent me to secure a very fine horse who stood in the neighborhood directly in the route. I secured the property and immediately joined the Army. One Middletown militia company sat out the battle. John Truax recalled that "having been cut off by the British before they could join the Army. To avoid being taken the deponent & his companions were compelled to hide in a swamp close by the British, where they continued two days without provision.” All three Monmouth militia regiments were in motion as the British Army arrived at Freehold. The First Regiment (under Holmes) likely mobilized all of its ten companies (at least 400 men). It is conservatively estimated that the Second and Third Regiments mobilized at least 200 and 100 men respectively. So, at least 700 Monmouth men were assembled on the day of the Battle of Monmouth. While this turn-out was incomplete, it demonstrates a remarkable turnaround from a year earlier when David Forman was only able to turn out half that number. Related Historic Site : Monmouth Battlefield State Park Sources : Return of Captain Thomas Chadwick, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 10, Document J; Bernard Uhlendorf, Confidential Letter and Journals, 1776-1784, of Adjutant General Major Bauermeister of the Hessian Forces (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1957) p 166; Dennis Ryan, New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Chronology (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1974) p 53; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Perrine; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Zachariah Hawkins of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#22623931; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jared Stillwell of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 18359845; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, James Wall of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 20365758; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Daniel Hendrickson of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23340856 ; John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 123; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jonthan Hildreth of NY, www.fold3.com/image/#22779401 ; Philemon Dickinson to NJ Militia Colonels, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 75, item 78, vol. 9, #165; Samuel Forman to Nathaniel Scudder, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 93, item 78, vol. 9, #161-2; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Auditor's Accounts, Revolutionary War, Book B, Abstracts of Pay Rolls (compiled by Garry Wheeler Stone); the account of the fires observed from Sandy Hook are in New York Royal Gazette, June 30, 1778; Henry Laurens, The Papers of Henry Laurens, vol. 13, ed. David R. Chesnutt (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1992), vol. 13, p 501; John U. Rees, “Reach Coryels ferry. Encamp on the Pennsylvania side.”1 The March from Valley Forge to Monmouth Courthouse, 18 to 28 June 1778", unpublished manuscript, p38.; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) appendix 71; Thomas Massie Pension excerpt, The Battle Cry: Newsletter of the Friends of Monmouth Battlefield, v7, n2, March 2001; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Cheeseman; Stephen Kemble, The Kemble Papers (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library, 2009) vol. 1, pp. 153-4; Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 546–547; George Washington to John Neilson, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 12, pp. 123-4; John Neilson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 557–558; Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, June 27, 1778; Bruce Burgoyne, Defeat, Disaster and Dedication: The Diaries of a Hessian Officer (NY: Heritage Books, 1997) p31-2; Munn, David, Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey, (Trenton: Bureau of Geology and Topography, New Jersey Geological Survey, 1976) p 47,139; Daniel Morgan to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, p. 564; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Van Note of Ohio, S.769 [Benjamin Van Schoick]; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Bowne; Don Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan: Revolutionary Rifleman (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), p 90; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Schenck; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Moses Mount; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Truax; Pension Application of -- Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Andrew Phares of New York, National Archives, p4; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Joseph Sutphin; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Abner Page of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 25889537; John Beatty, report, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 2, 1778; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Walton of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 20445857.Sources : Return of Captain Thomas Chadwick, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 10, Document J; Bernard Uhlendorf, Confidential Letter and Journals, 1776-1784, of Adjutant General Major Bauermeister of the Hessian Forces (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1957) p 166; Dennis Ryan, New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Chronology (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1974) p 53; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Perrine; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Zachariah Hawkins of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#22623931; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jared Stillwell of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 18359845; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, James Wall of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 20365758; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Daniel Hendrickson of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#23340856 ; John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp 123; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Jonthan Hildreth of NY, www.fold3.com/image/#22779401 ; Philemon Dickinson to NJ Militia Colonels, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 75, item 78, vol. 9, #165; Samuel Forman to Nathaniel Scudder, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 93, item 78, vol. 9, #161-2; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Auditor's Accounts, Revolutionary War, Book B, Abstracts of Pay Rolls (compiled by Garry Wheeler Stone); Henry Laurens, The Papers of Henry Laurens, vol. 13, ed. David R. Chesnutt (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1992), vol. 13, p 501; John U. Rees, “Reach Coryels ferry. Encamp on the Pennsylvania side.”1 The March from Valley Forge to Monmouth Courthouse, 18 to 28 June 1778", unpublished manuscript, p38.; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) appendix 71; Thomas Massie Pension excerpt, The Battle Cry: Newsletter of the Friends of Monmouth Battlefield, v7, n2, March 2001; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Cheeseman; Stephen Kemble, The Kemble Papers (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library, 2009) vol. 1, pp. 153-4; Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 546–547; George Washington to John Neilson, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 12, pp. 123-4; John Neilson to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, pp. 557–558; Philemon Dickinson to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, June 27, 1778; Bruce Burgoyne, Defeat, Disaster and Dedication: The Diaries of a Hessian Officer (NY: Heritage Books, 1997) p31-2; Munn, David, Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey, (Trenton: Bureau of Geology and Topography, New Jersey Geological Survey, 1976) p 47,139; Daniel Morgan to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, May–June 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006, p. 564; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Van Note of Ohio, S.769 [Benjamin Van Schoick]; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Bowne; Don Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan: Revolutionary Rifleman (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), p 90; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Schenck; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Moses Mount; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Truax; Pension Application of -- Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of Andrew Phares of New York, National Archives, p4; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Joseph Sutphin; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Abner Page of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 25889537; John Beatty, report, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 50, July 2, 1778; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Walton of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 20445857. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Holmes v. Walton as a London Trading Incident by Michael Adelberg Sloops like the ones in this sketch of the New York Harbor were the workhorses of the London Trade, bringing food and lumber into the city and shipping out finished goods craved in New Jersey. - May 1779 - When the American Revolution began, the state of New Jersey made it illegal to bring or sell goods to the British Army or its supporters. However, the British paid good prices and paid in specie, and the government of New Jersey had few tools to enforce its no-trade policies. Regardless of attempts to curb the illegal trade, New Jerseyans, and Monmouth Countians in particular, were tempted into trading with British assets at Sandy Hook and New York. The illegal trade between disaffected Monmouth County farmers and British buyers was often facilitated by Loyalist middlemen nicknamed “London Traders .” This trade was so pervasive that the New Jersey legislature passed laws to authorize local officials to make arrests and seize suspect goods. But the early laws were cumbersome and frustrated both militia officers and local magistrates seeking to enforce the law. These frustrations and reports of the scope of the illegal made it to the Continental Congress which, in summer 1778, began a dialog with New Jersey Governor William Livingston about London Trading. On August 22, Livingston acknowledged receiving a letter from the Continental Congress urging him to stop the illicit trade between Monmouth County and New York. Livingston replied that "to prevent such supplies from Shrewsbury (from whence, as the County of Bergen is almost exhausted, that villainous traffic is now carried on) will be utterly impossible without a greater military force." Despite this misgiving, Livingston issued a proclamation on August 26 in which he noted "the most boundless avarice" of those who "persist in the traitorous practice of enabling the enemy, by supplying them with provisions." He then charged militia officers and magistrates: To exert their most vigorous efforts in support of said embargo, and particularly enjoin the civil and military officers of the counties of Monmouth and Bergen to use their utmost vigilance in preventing all commercial intercourse with the enemy, and to seize and secure all persons concerned in transporting and provisions to any place in their [British] possession, so that they [traders] may be brought to speedy and condign punishment. The Continental Congress and Livingston continued to consider London Trading . On October 13, the minutes of the Congress recorded: A letter of the 2nd from Governor Livingston was read: Ordered, That the letter be referred to the Board of War, and an extra of so much of it as it relates to the trade carrying on with the enemy at Shrewsbury, be sent to General Washington [George Washington]. That same month, New Jersey’s legislature passed its third law to curb London Trading. That law made it "lawful for any person or persons to seize and secure possessions, goods, wares, and merchandise, attempted to be carried or conveyed” to the enemy. The seized goods had to be registered with the local magistrate and, if the seizure was contested, the Magistrate would preside over a hearing to assure that seizure of goods was appropriate. The magistrate’s hearing did not need to be in a regular court and could be held before a six-man jury (even though a twelve-man jury was the legal standard). There was no appeal. In January 1779, George Washington committed to sending troops to Monmouth County in order to curb the London Trade. While Continental soldiers were involved in a few arrests and seizures, there is no reason to believe they were effective in curbing the London Trade as a whole. While militia officers seized goods suspected of being traded illegally, township magistrates were the officers charged with upholding the seizures. As noted in prior articles, Continental officers such as Major Henry Lee and Continental purchasing agents such as David Rhea, had testy relationships with magistrates who they deemed insufficiently diligent in condemning taken goods. Two township magistrates, Peter Forman of Freehold and Peter Schenck of Middletown, clashed bitterly when Forman upheld the seizure of goods from Benjamin Van Cleave, a Middletown resident. Holmes v Walton as a London Trading Incident On May 24, 1779, Major Elisha Walton, acting on a tip from William Wikoff, seized the goods of John Holmes and Solomon Ketchum, held by Daniel Ketchum. John James was with Daniel Ketchum at the time of the seizure. He subsequently testified: “At the time of the seizure of the goods; about sundown the evening of the seizure, John Holmes and William Bostwick came to Daniel Ketchum." After this, Ketchum "appeared to look very uneasy.” Ketchum soon left with the goods in a wagon. Phoebe Ketchum testified that she "rode in the wagon with her brother [Daniel]… along the back road" to escape notice. When they were stopped, they claimed to have no goods in the wagon. Walton asserted that Holmes and Ketchum bought the goods from London Traders bringing in goods from British-held New York. The goods Walton seized included 700 yards of silk, 400 yards of silk gauze, and other fabrics. Walton claimed that the silk was "such a quantity as could not be purchased in all the stores of New Jersey." Thomas Henderson, the former Freehold township magistrate, supported Walton’s assessment. He said the seized goods "appeared to be such as are usually imported from Great Britain... and the quantity was greater than ever this deponent had seen in any country store.” He further stated that silks like these "were exceedingly scarce." William Hilsey said the silks "appeared imported and of the first quality." Andrew Bowne testified that he transported the silks to Ketchum’s barn. He stated that “Holmes was not a merchant” and "he had never heard of John Holmes purchasing the goods from Boston." Testimony in support of Holmes and Ketchum was weak. Holmes asserted that the goods were purchased in Boston but was unable to produce any receipts about the purchase. Daniel Ketchum testified that he was moving the silks inland because of "an alarm at Middletown" and that the goods were purchased "honestly and righteously." Elias Covenhoven testified that he spoke with Holmes about the goods and Holmes never indicated "the goods were carried from N. York." The seizure of the silks was upheld by Judge John Anderson of Freehold and a mini-jury of six men. Walton promptly sold the silks for £20,000, a huge sum. Under New Jersey law, there was no way to appeal Anderson’s decision short of the state’s Supreme Court. So, John Holmes hired William Wilcocks of Freehold, formerly a Judge Advocate in the Continental Army, and Wilcocks filed a complaint before the New Jersey Supreme Court. While the assertion that the silks were purchased from Boston seems implausible, the due process arguments offered by Wilcocks were damning. Testimony strongly suggested jury tampering: "Elisha Walton did, at his own expense, and without the consent of said John and Solomon, treat with strong liquor the jury sworn to try this case, after they were unpaneled, but before they gave their verdict in the case." Wilcocks also claimed that the October 1778 law under which the seizure occurred was overly broad because it permitted seizures "under any pretense whatsoever.” In addition, Holmes was stripped of his goods without the due process protection of a regular jury trial. The New Jersey Supreme first heard the case in November 1779. The seizure of the silks was invalidated because Holmes did not receive appropriate legal due process (including a fair trial before a full jury). In addition, the October 1778 law that permitted Anderson to uphold the seizure without a verdict from a full jury was judged unconstitutional and voided by the Supreme Court (presided over by Chief Justice David Brearley of Upper Freehold). The case of Holmes v Walton is the first known case of “judicial review” in the United States—in which a court struck down a law as unconstitutional. Holmes v Walton was a Constitutional watershed; this is the subject of the next article . The Scope of London Trading Were it not for the precedent-setting litigation, the seizure of Holmes’ silks would have been just another London Trading incident. The seizure of Benjamin Van Cleave’s grain (see prior article) four months earlier aroused greater passions inside Monmouth County. The author is able to document thirty distinct London Trading incidents during the war, but it is safe to assume that that is only a small fraction of the total volume of London Trading. The trade was so profitable that disaffected Monmouth Countians acquired more wealth (land and livestock) during the war than Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). London Trading also lured in out-of-staters. Three examples are below. These interstate incidents re-escalated London Trading to the attention of state and national leaders. July 3, 1781, the Monmouth County Court of Common Pleas heard the case David Ramsay of Virginia v John Chadwick. Ramsay "landed near Cranberry Inlet” where John Chadwick, believing Ramsay a London Trader, "threatened taking his boat from him" and then impounded the boat. Several Virginians wrote statements about Ramsay’s good character. The dispute was escalated to the Continental Congress. The final disposition of the case is not known. The Pennsylvania Gazette reported that on November 25, 1780, that "a number of persons long suspected of carrying on an illicit trade with the Enemy (by way of Shrewsbury) and depreciating our money, were apprehended.” They were: Patrick Garvey "an apothecary in the Continental service who owns part of the boat employed between Squan and Sandy Hook,” Garvey’s collaborators included two Princeton merchants. Garvey was found not guilty in the Monmouth Court of Oyer and Terminer in May 1782. The fate of the other men is unknown. Nathan Jackson was a New England privateer who apparently discovered that London Trading was more profitable than privateering. His double-dealing along the Monmouth shore allowed him to purchase provisions and then sell them in New York. His duplicity was eventually exposed and he was arrested and his vessel impounded. Jackson fought the charges against him for years in the courts but never recovered his vessel. London Trading in the Courts London Trading and related offenses drove activity in the county courts and New Jersey Supreme Court. Dozens of London Traders (or alleged London Traders) were arrested in a 1780 crackdown that led to a two-month long Court of Oyer and Terminer —twice as long as any court held in Monmouth County during the war. The New Jersey Supreme Court heard 246 Monmouth County-originated cases between its founding in 1776 and the end of 1784. About half of those cases might have involved London Trading: charges in those cases included crossing enemy lines (110 cases); supplying or aiding the enemy (13 cases); boarding an enemy ship (3 cases); and receiving stolen goods (1 case). The frequent appeal of seizures to the New Jersey Supreme Court was a cause of concern for many. A 1780 petition from 34 Monmouth Countians noted that “many captures have been made by the inhabitants of this State from persons within the enemy lines under sanction of a law now in force in this state” and that the decision on some of those captures were “removed to the Supreme Court under the pretense of errors in the proceedings of the Magistrates.” The petitioners complained: Your Petitioners are informed that some of the judgments are reversed by the Judges of the Supreme Court & there remains no redress for the captors who ought to have been fully supported - Your petitioners think it highly inconsistent with Justice that in every case any error should be committed by a Magistrate, that such error should totally abolish the capture. The petitioners requested a new law to protect the rights of people making seizures when an error was made by the magistrate. Petition signers included Elisha Walton, embroiled in Holmes v Walton litigation, as well as Captain John Walton (Elisha’s brother), Thomas Henderson, and John Covenhoven (a former state legislator). The New Jersey Assembly read the petition on December 8. The Assembly acknowledged that setting aside seizures gave “encouragement of the Disaffected and [is] great loss to the Loyal citizens of the State." Similar petitions arrived from Middlesex and Essex counties. However, there is no evidence that the New Jersey Legislature acted on the petitions. London trading remained a profitable endeavor through the end of war. The author’s prior research demonstrates that people in shore townships (where London trading occurred) increased their net wealth during the war despite being victimized by Loyalist raids that carried away their livestock and valuables. London Trading was risky; participants could run afoul of militia and privateer parties that seized their goods. As the war went on, complicated schemes evolved to bring goods to New York involving suspect passports and trap-doored wagons . While one ingenious scheme regarding wagons with trap doors for hiding contraband was exposed , most London trading went undetected; the practice only ended when the British left New York. Related Historic Site : South Street Seaport Museum (New York) Sources : New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 19, #30; Austin Scot, "Holmes v. Walton: The New Jersey Precedent", American Historical Review, 1899, vol. 4, pp 3-4; William Livingston to Congress, Library of Congress, Peter Force Collection, Series 7C, box 31, folder 2, 68:155, 211; Livingston’s proclamation published in the New Jersey Gazette, August 26, 1778; Journals of the Continental Congress, October 13, 1778, p1005 ( www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html ); Supreme Court Records, New Jersey State Archives, #44928; Common Pleas Minutes, July 1780, Monmouth County Archives; Austin Scot, "Holmes v. Walton: The New Jersey Precedent", American Historical Review, 1899, vol. 4, pp 3-5; Petition, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War Documents, #76; Supreme Court Records, New Jersey State Archives, #18354; Compiled records of the New Jersey Supreme Court, New Jersey State Archives; Holmes v. Walton, retrial, Supreme Court Records, New Jersey State Archives, #44928; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, May 13 and May 20, 1780, p 187-195; Adelberg, Michael, “Destitute of Almost Everything to Support Life: The Acquisition and Loss of Wealth in Revolutionary Monmouth County, New Jersey,” in James Gigantino, ed., New Jersey in the American Revolution (Rutgers University Press: 2015). 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 > County Commissioners Inventory Loyalist Estates by Michael Adelberg Many Loyalist women stayed behind when their husbands went off to the British and some had property “applied to public use.” This sketch depicts a Loyalist woman having property taken. - August 1776 - By early August 1776, at least 150 Monmouth Countians had become active Loyalists by leaving their homes to join the British Army; hundreds more were engaging in activities that bordered on active Loyalism such as illegally trading with the British and refusing to participate in the militia. Monmouth County’s Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) sought a countermeasure that would punish their active enemies and deter potential enemies from going down the same path. Confiscating the estates of Loyalists was that measure. On August 7, Monmouth County became the first New Jersey county to begin the process for confiscating Loyalist estates (under the legal argument that an individual “forfeited” his property by joining with the enemy and fighting against his country). The first step toward confiscation was inventorying the estates of suspected traitors. After that, inquisitions would be held to determine that the Loyalist in question was in fact a traitor deserving of estate confiscation. The final step would be selling the estate at public auction. Three commissioners were appointed oversee this high-stakes process—Samuel Forman (Colonel of the Upper Freehold militia), Kenneth Hankinson (a captain in the Freehold militia and future Chairman of the vigilante group called the Retaliators ), and Jacob Wikoff of Freehold (who would become the county tax collector and paymaster for Monmouth County’s State Troops). The first estates were inventoried on August 7. They belonged to two Freehold Loyalists, Thomas Leonard (now a major in the New Jersey Volunteers) and John Longstreet (now a captain in the New Jersey Volunteers). The primary inventoried assets are listed below: Thomas Leonard – total value of inventoried assets £1909 3 slaves (named one named male slave, Paris, valued at £50), 300 acre farm (L800), 10 acre property near Court House (£500), 30 acre lot (£100), Other movable property. John Longstreet Jr – total value of inventoried assets £2887 4 slaves (including one named male slave, Prince, 2 women, 1 child), 1 servant, 2.5 acre lot in town "where William Taylor, Esq., lives" (£500), 2nd "town lot, where Israel Britton lives" (£200), 5 acre lot "house & lot where Adam Shaw lives" (£700), additional town lot "where John Combs lives" (£50), 8 acre lot (L50), farm "wherein Mr. Longstreet lived" (£1000), Other movable property. Inventorying estates did not displace the families of Loyalists who remained at home. In fact, the inventory of Thomas Leonard’s estate included a note from his wife, Mary Leonard: "I, the subscriber, take charge of the estate of my husband and oblige myself to be accountable to sd Commissioners." In a male-dominated era, the rights of wives who stayed on the family estate of a Loyalist husband was an open question. The status and welfare of the Loyalist families that remained at home would greatly complicate the confiscation of those estates. Other estates were inventoried shortly after. On August 10, the New Jersey Convention requested "inventories of the Estates of Anthony Woodward and William Guisebertson [William Giberson], of Monmouth County, persons who have absconded from their homes, and joined the enemy." The Estate Forfeiture Commissioners continued their work through August. On August 12, they inventoried the estates of a handful of Upper Freehold Loyalists (including Woodward and Giberson): James Grover - 250 acre farm (£1000), slave boy, 30 hogs, horses & cattle and other items -- total value £1281; William Giberson - 40 acre farm w/ corn £351 and 2 slaves: male Ike (£60), girl Rachel (£35); James Nealon - 1 gristmill, 1 sawmill, 11 acres (£600), bills and bonds (£600), 2 "little Negro girls" (£50), other items – total value £1321; and Anthony Woodward - 150 acre farm (£800), 250 acre farm (£1500), 250 acre farm (£500), salt meadow (£35), 60 hogs (£48), 30 sheep (£15), other items – total value £3317. For Grover, it was noted that he shared his estate with three of brothers, none of whom had left for the British Army. Therefore, the commissioners noted that they could only confiscate one fourth of the estate. Finally, on August 14, the Commissioners inventoried the estates of two Shrewsbury Loyalists: Robert Morris - 50 acres, sawmill £120), £73 in other items; Jeremiah North - no land, items worth £19 s11. Parallel to this process, other Loyalists had parts of the estates “applied to public use” – meaning that the new government commandeered their property and provided compensation. Brothers John Taylor and Morford Taylor of Shrewsbury, for example, had their estates "applied to public use" in 1777. For this, they were compensated with $373 of nearly worthless Continental money. John Morris, who had become a Colonel of New Jersey Volunteers, also had his property “applied to public use.” Dozens of smaller property confiscations and livestock impressments occurred without being documented. These first actions of the Forfeiture Commissioners were only an opening salvo – ultimately, more than 100 Monmouth County Loyalists had their estates confiscated and sold at public auction. However, this did not occur until 1779, when it occurred in a scandal-riddled process that generated New Jersey Legislature investigations and several lawsuits. Related Historic Site : National Guard Museum of New Jersey Sources : Francis Bazley Lee, New Jersey as a Colony and as a State (New York: The Publishing Society of New Jersey, 1902), vol 2, pp. 93-4; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #10122; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, p 1661; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1661; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #10122; Gregory Palmer, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (Westport, Conn. and London, 1984) p 847. 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 Retaliators Outlast the War by Michael Adelberg The New Jersey Legislature met in different places during the Revolution, including Nassau Hall. In September 1782, the legislature censured Judge David Forman but did not remove him from office. - September 1782 - Founded in the summer of 1780, the Association for Retaliation , was established to exact eye-for-an-eye revenge against Loyalist enemies of the Monmouth County Whigs who joined the association. Over the next two years, the Retaliators would become an active vigilante society denounced by the New Jersey Legislature as: An illegal and dangerous combination, utterly subversive to the law, highly dangerous to the government, immediately tending to create disunion among the inhabitants, directly leading toward anarchy and confusion, and tending to the dissolution of the constitution. However, while the legislature clearly stated its distaste for the Retaliators, it stopped short of forcing a confrontation with the group by declaring it illegal. The Retaliators in 1782 The Retaliators entered 1782 unbowed. Their original chairman and most strident leader, David Forman, was now a judge of the Monmouth County Court of Common Pleas . He stepped down as Chairman of the Retaliators but, according to a subsequent deposition, Forman handpicked his successors at a February meeting of the Retaliators held at the county courthouse: Genl. Forman rose and address’d the people and said he had gone through a great many hardships and dangers, but now he would go through no more; and all that was said to the people was said by Forman whilst he was by, and received over a list of persons in nomination for Retaliators that Judge Forman recommended to the people to choose sd. Committee. The new Chairman, Kenneth Hankinson, had co-invested with Forman on a salt works at Barnegat that became the center of scandal. Hankinson was also at the center of scandalous Loyalist estate auctions in 1779. In January 1782, Hankinson advertised a public meeting of the Retaliators to occur at the county court house on February 16, 1782 to select a new committee to lead the group: Every associator is expected to attend without fail, as the Committee wishes to know the Associators; Should any of the inhabitants who are not yet associators choose to join, we wish their attendance to sign the Association, and have their names accepted. The outrage in Monmouth County following the April 12 hanging of Joshua Huddy by Loyalists likely spiked a wave of vigilante activity from the Retaliators. This led a series of complaints about them to the New Jersey Legislature. On May 25, the New Jersey Assembly recorded reading “several petitions from sd County setting forth the destruction and ravages committed on the property of persons there, by a set of men who call themselves Retaliators, with several papers respecting the same." The Assembly was unmoved, voting 23-8 on May 31 to send the anti-Retaliator petitioners to the courts for redress. There is no record of Retaliator activity through the spring and summer of 1782. Throughout their existence, they were secretive about their acts. But they remained active. The New Jersey Legislature Considers David Forman and the Retaliators Again On September 12, Guy Carleton, the British Commander in Chief in America, wrote George Washington about continued “cruelties in the Jersies.” This was likely a reference to the acts of Retaliators. Carleton wrote about a “suspension of hostilities” that he thought “sufficient to have prevented those cruelties in the Jersies which I have had occasion to mention more than once.” He had drydocked Loyalist raiders and he called on Washington for a “mutual agreement” to restrain extralegal violence. Carleton called for a truce: “I disapprove of all hostilities, both by land and sea, as they only tend to multiply the miseries of individuals, when the public can reap no advantage by success." The same month, the New Jersey Legislature received another set of petitions complaining of the Retaliators. The upper house of the legislature, the Legislative Council, recorded on September 23, receiving a petition from Monmouth County residents "setting forth that they have been very much injured by order of a body of men who style themselves Associators for Retaliation." It does not appear that the Council acted on the petition. Two days later, the Assembly recorded reading "sundry petitions from a number of inhabitants of the County of Monmouth, complaining of the conduct of David Forman, first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the County of Monmouth, accompanied by an affidavit and two impressment warrants , and praying a hearing." One of these anti-Forman, anti-Retaliator petitions has survived. It is excerpted below: Your petitioners are peaceable inhabitants of this state, who have always contributed their proportion to the support of government, and are, at all times amenable to the laws. that your petitioners have been in a wanton & cruel manner, spoiled of their property by order of a body of men, who title themselves "the association for retaliation" - our doors have been forced open, our houses rifled of our beds & other furniture - our stock drove away, and our teams totally broke up. - we have been deprived of the means of tilling our land - and many of us, who lived in a degree of affluence, now find it difficult to procure sustenance for our families. The petitioners claimed the Retaliators corrupted “good government” and deprived them of legal due process: We have no form of tryal - if any crimes are laid to our charge, we have no chance of defending ourselves, nor any account of how our property, thus torn away, is disposed of. Tho’ diverse of us have been imprisoned, and one [John Taylor] for months, confined in the common gaol, in the course of which time a court of Oyer & Terminer was sitting over his head. Writs of habeas corpus have been disregarded by the Sheriff. In short, every attempt for relief by course of law has been of no effect, owing, as we firmly believe, to the prevailing influence of said association. that the first judge of the court of common pleas, David Forman, esq., has been at the head of the said association. The petitions were referred to the next session. The Assembly reconvened and considered Forman and the Retaliators again on October 29. It re-read "the petitions from Monmouth, complaining of the conduct of David Forman, Esq., of said county, in his official character… ordered, that the petitioners be heard with their evidences before the House." The hearings were held November 18-20: That Forman, first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas has been at the head of the Association for Retaliation, Chairman of their committee, and has signed orders whereby some of the petitioners have been plundered of their property and their person imprisoned; that he still continues as an aider and encourager of the said Associators; and also that he has in several instances granted impress warrants contrary to law. The transcript of Forman’s hearing before the Assembly has survived. Eighteen Monmouth Countians testified. Deponents focused on two allegations against Forman: 1.) That he was “partial” in his role of settling the accounts of a wealthy farmer, Joshua Anderson, whose horse Forman ordered taken; 2.) That Forman, while judge, acted with the Retaliators to extra-legally seize and sell the horses of disaffected county residents, with particular impunity shown toward William Taylor. Four other men who lost horses testified. Hugh Newell recalled appealing to Forman who told him that if he “would come and pay the money he gave for the mare, he should have it.” Taylor lost three horses, he testified that: He applied to said Forman for the creatures & said he would give security for the money, but said Forman said the creatures should not go out of the yard without the creatures being paid for. He [Taylor] said all he wanted was a fair hearing. William Morton testified that Forman accused him of being among “a parcel of traders and wished they were hanging so high that the birds could not smell them.” Morton was permitted to take back his livestock by “giving a bond of fifty five pounds for them” but Forman “blamed the Committee” for its leniency. A fourth man, Garrett Schenck, from a solid Whig family, testified that “Forman ordered a horse pressed” from him, but the horse was returned. Others testified that Forman was active in selling the seized horses at a public auction in Freehold. However, several witnesses testified that Forman was a strong patriot and William Taylor, in particular, was of “bad character.” James Mott, who had been assaulted by Forman at the 1780 county election and was an opponent of the Retaliators, declined to testify against Forman. Mott stated that “he knows nothing against Judge Forman” and called Taylor “a disaffected person ” (which was true). Other witnesses stated that Forman, whatever his outside conduct, had never “withheld justice” or “done injustice” while serving on the bench. The unnamed compiler of the hearing transcript concluded that “I have heard no evidence to convince me that things are sufficient to ground an impeachment.” On November 21, the Assembly concluded: "having taken into consideration the testimony so offered to support the several charges contained in the affidavits and petitions of Joshua Anderson against David Forman" votes were taken regarding Forman and his conduct: 1. Affirming Anderson's petition and the charges against Forman – vote passed "nem. con." (without dissent); 2. On whether to censure Forman for "diverse orders whereby sundry persons have been plundered of their property, and their persons imprisoned, and he still continues an aider and encourager of said Retaliators" -- vote passed 16-13 despite all three Monmouth delegates (Thomas Henderson, Thomas Seabrook, John Covenhoven voting against the censure); 3. On whether to impeach Forman and remove him from the Bench – vote fails 12-17 (all three Monmouth delegates voting against the impeachment). One source claims that an initial vote to impeach and remove Forman passed by a 18-15 but this vote was reversed after Governor William Livingston and some members of the Council came into the Assembly to argue in favor of Forman. At the end of 1782, David Forman had narrowly survived an impeachment hearing and the Retaliators, with whom he was allied, remained intact. The Retaliators’ chairman, Kenneth Hankinson, felt secure enough to advertise the selection of their new board of directors in the New Jersey Gazette , the state’s official newspaper, twice in March 1783: Whereas the time of the Committee of Associators for Retaliation of the County of Monmouth expires, and it being necessary for a new Board to be chosen as there remains some business unsettled: The Associators are requested to meet at the Court House on March 15 to determine on said business and to be prepared for future depredations. Warfare Ends, But the Retaliators Continue By summer 1783, warfare in Monmouth County was finally over. John Bacon, the last active Pine Robber leader, was dead and the other Pine Robbers were scattered. Loyalist refugees, who raided the county with impunity, were disarmed and leaving for Canada . In July 1783, Monmouth County was at peace for the first time in seven years. Forman and the Retaliators, however, remained hostile. On July 11, 1783, Lieutenant John White of the sloop-of-war Vixen , the British guardship at Sandy Hook, took the unusual step of writing directly to David Forman: Yesterday morning, at eleven o'clock, I sent three men in a small boat for a cask of water, near the watering place, near Mr. Stout's at the Highlands; on their arrival they were made prisoners by a party of armed men, one of the men has been liberated and is since on board, who informs me that he has been beat most unmercifully, indeed his bruises are sufficiently conspicuous; what has become of the other two I cannot learn, I have therefore taken the liberty of acquainting you with the matter. White then flattered and threatened Forman concurrently: I am confident you would never give sanction to such an affair, and in the fullest hope that you will take the proper methods to bring the offenders to punishment, and to prevent the retaliating that might be the consequence of such unwarrantable proceedings. Meanwhile, animosities within the county’s Whig leadership continued. Asher Holmes, a political rival of Forman and Hankinson, had invested with them in a salt works on the Jersey shore early in the war. Now, he and Hankinson argued over a business relationship gone bad. Holmes heatedly wrote: I have never had title or anything to show for my share of the salt works built on the plantation formerly of [Trevor] Newland, nor could obtain salt sufficient to salt my porage, except what I paid a dear rate for, and you and company have had the total use of said works. I now demand interest of my money, or rent for a share, with a proper acct of how my money was laid out; if not, pay me my money with interest due thereon, as I have undoubted right. We do not know exactly when the extralegal violence and scandals of the Retaliators finally ceased. As discussed in another article, isolated instances of violence against Loyalists and disaffected continued into the post-war period. So did the animosities between Machiavellian and Due Process Whigs. These activities would go on at least into fall 1785 when violence and voter intimidation again rocked the county’s annual election (as it had in 1777 , 1780 , and 1781 ). Related Historic Site : Nassau Hall Sources : Guy Carleton to George Washington, G. Robinson, The New Annual Register, or General Repository of History, Politics and Literature, London, 1782, p160-1; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1782) p29; Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 25, 1782; The petition complaining about David Forman is in Leonard Lundin, Cockpit of the Revolution the War for Independence in New Jersey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950) p 292; Petition, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War documents, #32; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, October 29, 1782, p 13; Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 19 and 21, 1782; New Jersey Assembly Hearing Transcript, Rutgers University Special Collections, Uncataloged Manuscript, David Forman; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; New Jersey Gazette, March 12, 1783; New Jersey Gazette, April 16, 1783; John White to David Forman, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #8405; Asher Holmes to Kenneth Hankinson, John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, 4 vols, Genealogical Publishing Co, 1970, v3, p341. 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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 > Shrewsbury Leaders Move Against Their Black Neighbors by Michael Adelberg Many free African-Americans and slaves lived in small clusters of cabins removed from villages of best farmland. Colonial leaders often depicted these Black settlement areas as sources of trouble. - October 1775 - Approximately 10 percent of Monmouth County’s Revolutionary-era population was African American, split roughly evenly between slave and free. Free Blacks faced substantial discrimination—they could not vote or serve in the militia (though they would be permitted to serve in the Continental Army). According to Monmouth County’s tax lists, no African-American owned a large farm—the primary path to acquiring wealth. The large majority of free Blacks were “householders” or “single men” according to the tax lists—meaning they labored for others in order to make a living. Free Black men often lived segregated, in clusters of cabins outside of the county’s villages. Some slaves lived with the free Blacks in these segregated communities, others lived on the family farms of the men who owned them. Monmouth’s wealthy men frequently owned slaves. However, tax lists show that no Monmouth Countian owned more than ten slaves. Runaway slave advertisements from Monmouth County appeared in colonial newspapers a handful of times each year, including one for “Titus” in 1775. It is probable that Titus became a famous Loyalist partisan known as “Colonel Tye.” Anti-Black sentiment bubbled up periodically during the colonial period—court records document sporadic assaults and other crimes against African Americans. The immorality of slavery was frequently discussed during the Revolutionary period; colonists often referred to British policies “enslaving” the colonies. Quakers, particularly numerous in Shrewsbury Township, campaigned for the end of slavery and in 1776, started pressuring members to free their slaves. Steps Taken Against African Americans Predictably, all of this activity emboldened the Black community. In February 1774, residents of Shrewsbury and Middletown authored petitions to the New Jersey Assembly claiming that: There is a great number of Negro men, women and children being slaves, and are daily increasing in numbers & impudence, that we find them very troublesome by running about all times of night, stealing, taking & riding other people's horses & other mischief, in a great degree owing to having a correspondence and recourse to the Houses of them already freed. The 108 petitioners further worried over the “great number of petitions for the freeing of slaves” which were being sent to the Assembly. They called talk of freeing slaves “pernicious to the public” and urged the Assembly to assert that slavery would remain the law of New Jersey. Interestingly, the petitioners included several men who would become leading Loyalists—Rev. Samuel Cooke, Dr. James Boggs, Commissioner John Taylor, Col. George Taylor—and several others who would hold senior positions in the new Revolutionary government—Col. Daniel Hendrickson, Maj. Hendrick Van Brunt, Assemblyman James Mott, and Committee Chair John Burrowes. The militance of the county’s African Americans, particularly in Shrewsbury, prompted a backlash. On October 6, 1775, Shrewsbury’s Committee of Observation noted that “numerous and riotous meetings of Negroes at unlicensed houses is pernicious of itself and may be of pernicious consequences.” It ordered the militia Colonel (Samuel Breese), to report on such events and “to use his militia... to secure the Negroes, and give the names of the delinquents" to the Committee. Ten days later, the Committee went further, instructing Breese to “order parties of the militia to attend such suspected places to search for and apprehend all transgressors of the law." It is noteworthy that the first campaign of the Shrewsbury militia was not against the British, but against a segment of its own population agitating for greater freedom. The Shrewsbury Committee of Observation was not done cracking down on the local Black community. On February 16, 1776, it resolved to disarm all African Americans: “all arms in the hands of or at the disposal of Negroes, either slave or free, shall be taken and secured by the militia officers... until the present troubles are settled, and that such arms shall be lodged in the hands of the Colonel." Two weeks later, the Committee went even further: Resolved, that all slaves, either Negroes, mulattoes or others that shall be found off their master's premises any time of night, may be taken up by any person whatsoever and secured until a fine of ten schillings be paid... and in failure of payment of such fine, the slave shall be delivered to the Minute-men to be kept under guard until he shall receive lashes on the bare back. The actions of the Shrewsbury Committee occurred as events outside the county were causing waves within it. In November 1775, the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, declared that “all indentured servants, negroes or others” owned by rebels would be freed from their bonds if they sought British protection and supported the British war effort. Meanwhile, many New Jersey slaveholders were indeed freeing their slaves. Historian James Gigantino estimated that 17% of New Jersey’s slaveholders freed at least one slave in his/her will and others did not wait for their death to free one or more slaves. Contested manumissions led to complicated litigation during and immediately after the American Revolution. New Jersey was the last northern state to outlaw slavery. An 1804 law created a gradual emancipation process. Related Historical Sites : none Sources : New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 14, #17; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, pp. 191-2; Proclamation of Lord Dunmore, Nov 11, 1775, Africans in America, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part 2; Jim Gigantino: Slavery, Abolition, and African Americans in New Jersey’s American Revolution in James Gigantino, ed., The American Revolution in New Jersey: Where the Battlefront Meets the Homefront (New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2015), pp 52-5; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, pp. 191-3; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, pp. 192-3 . Previous Next