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 > Colonel George Taylor Turns Loyalist by Michael Adelberg Loyalists were recruited into British service with handbills like this one used in Philadelphia in 1777. George Taylor circulated similar handbills when recruiting in Monmouth County. - November 1776 - George Taylor was Monmouth County’s senior militia officer, the first-appointed militia colonel and leader of the county’s largest regiment (his regiment had ten companies, the other two regiments had eight companies). But Taylor’s family leaned Loyalist. His cousin, William Taylor, led a movement to oppose the Declaration of Independence. William and his uncle, John Taylor, would lead a Loyalist insurrection in December. George’s father, Edward Taylor, was a leading Committeeman in 1775 who would become publicly disaffected by 1777. By November 1776, George Taylor’s frustrations mounted. The county militia was wracked with dysfunction —several companies simply would not turn out. From his base on the Navesink Highlands, Taylor daily observed small vessels illegally trading with the British on Sandy Hook and Staten Island without the naval assets to intervene. He also daily observed a powerful British military with the ability to easily invade thinly-protected Monmouth County. The Continental Army was routed in New York and retreating across New Jersey. Governor William Livingston snubbed Taylor by denying him custody of a vessel that he captured from a British prize crew. Taylor began hedging his bets; he became a “friend ” to a budding Loyalist association. Taylor was charged with rotating militia companies to stand guard opposite the bustling British naval base at Sandy Hook. Mid-month, he ordered out a new militia company but knew it was insufficient to withstand a British attack. On November 19, Taylor wrote John Covenhoven, a delegate to the New Jersey Assembly, about the weak defenses and a new loyalty oath requirement: I have taken this method to inform you and the rest of the House that Col. [Daniel] Hendrickson's month ends next Thursday, and the men will be very anxious to return home. I am at a loss how to act in this case, as the General's are out [retreating across New Jersey] and no orders can be given... I have ordered a company down to Sandy Hook; the post, I think, lies the most exposed. Taylor also offered to resign from the militia in preference to signing a loyalty oath: I have been informed that an act of your House makes void all commissions when the bearer does not qualify [sign of loyalty oath], and if officers have no other principles to bind them but oaths, I should be very doubtful whether any extraordinary matter might be expected of them. This subject I shall drop, and request information whether you choose my resignation or I must act as usual. This, Gentlemen, is on your breasts. Taylor concluded the letter ominously: “I shall now remain inactive until I hear from you." News of Taylor’s quasi-resignation spread quickly. Colonel Samuel Forman, commanding the militia regiment from Upper Freehold, Dover and Staff townships, wrote Assemblyman Joseph Holmes about Taylor in November 21: There is a task laid before me that I don't like. Col. Taylor refuses taking the oath required: in consequence thereof, the officers refuse acting under him. They request me to take command the next month, which begins tomorrow. Tis quite likely that Col Taylor has orders from the General, and also money to supply the regiment with provisions. Before I can go [and take command], I must have orders and money to supply a Commissary. You see the immediate necessity of orders being sent, or our guards on shore may be suffering for provisions, and in the greatest confusion. On November 24, Colonel David Forman’s Flying Camp returned to Monmouth County to break up a budding Loyalist insurrection—one that George Taylor likely knew about because it was led by his cousin, William. As Forman started arresting Loyalists, George Taylor likely feared that his cordial relations with insurrectionists would be uncovered. On November 28, George Taylor "deserted to the enemy"—probably joining the British on Sandy Hook or Staten Island. Taylor apparently met with Courtland Skinner, General of the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers , and offered himself up as a senior officer. Since the field officer ranks of the New Jersey Volunteers were filled (with Monmouth Countians Elisha Lawrence and John Morris already leading the 1st and 2nd Battalions), Skinner devised a novel role for him. On December 18, Taylor was commissioned the Colonel of Monmouth County’s [Loyalist] Militia: You are therefore to take said militia into your charge and care as Colonel thereof, and duly exercise both officers and soldiers of the same in arms; and as they are hereby commanded to obey you, as their Colonel, so are you likewise to observe and follow such orders and directions from time to time as you shall receive from your Captain General. Taylor’s ill-fated Loyalist militia and brief period as a Loyalist partisan are discussed in another article, but, regardless of title, George Taylor’s commission evolved into a recruiter role over the course of the war. In April 1779, Taylor paid 3-guinea bounties at Sandy Hook to seventeen Loyalists who he recruited from Monmouth County to join the New Jersey Volunteers. Six months later, deliberately vague orders were sent to Captain Swinney of the HMS Europe at Sandy Hook to assist Taylor. Taylor would "go ashore at Sandy Hook Bay as may suit his purpose, which are according to the Commander in Chief's directions." Related Historic Sites : Marlpit Hall Sources : Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) pp. 18-20; William S. Stryker, Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War (Trenton: Naar, Day & Naar, 1872); Courtland Skinner to George Taylor, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, vol 634, folio 186; Thomas Crowell, letter, Library of Congress, MMC - Courtland Skinner, box 10; John Andre to Captain Swinney, Great Britain Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, Volume 634, folio 187; Michael Adelberg, “’I am as Innocent as an Unborn Child’: The Disaffection of Edward and George Taylor,” New Jersey History , Spring 2005, v 123, pp 1-25. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Pulaski's Legion in Stafford Township by Michael Adelberg Kasimir Pulaski was a heroic officer who gave his life for the American Revolution. However, his newly-recruited Legion lost about half of its men during a disastrous two weeks in Stafford Township. - October 1778 - On October 15, 1778, Count Kasimir Pulaski and his new cavalry Legion was in dire straits. Hours earlier, in a pre-dawn attack that would become known as the Osborn Island Massacre , fifty of his 220 men were “cut to pieces” by a British-Loyalist raiding party, five others were captured, and 25 of his remaining men had just deserted. The only nearby town that might have had provisions for his men, Chestnut Neck , was razed a week earlier and incapable of assisting. The British flotilla that carried the raiding party had left Little Egg Harbor (called Egg Harbor at the time) that day—amid rumors that it would land men again on its way back to Sandy Hook. Pulaski’s decimated force rode north to shadow the vastly more powerful British force. As they did, they rode through Stafford Township, which was sparsely populated and poor. The life of the people living the region’s barrier islands and shallow bays was described by a German officer, Andreas Wiederholt, who spent days outside of Little Egg Harbor, in October 1779: The people who live on scattered islands are pilots who guide ships through channels and earn a living fishing. The islands are of poor soil, sandy and swampy so that not much grows except scrub cedar, pine, and marsh grass and reeds. Some of the ground around their houses is cultivated with soil amended with dung fertilizer which only support miserable vegetables. They have few livestock which graze on marsh grasses. The inhabitants must obtain wood, grain and other necessities from the mainland. The homes are all surrounded by dams and ditches, which constantly need replenishing or clearing out to protect the houses from floods or gales from the nearby ocean. A Quaker missionary, John Griffith, visited the region prior to the war; he wrote that it was filled with “loose and libertine” people. Pulaski’s Troubled March through Stafford Township Count Pulaski first wrote to Congress about his problems with the people of Stafford Township on October 16. He was unable to rally the local militia: “Major Montfort had been sent to the forks [on the Mullica River] to gather and bring the militia, but half of them were gone home and the remainder found so many difficulties that they almost mutinied." He continued: I beg you will order the militia to be obedient, or take them away entirely, for they are so ill-inclined that they will only spoil our affairs; besides, they disperse and retire when they please, particularly when they are wanted to face the enemy. Even worse were the local disaffected and Loyalists of Stafford Township (the southern third of today’s Ocean County) who were emboldened by Pulaski’s defeat: “I am constantly alarmed by parties of Tories who seem to make a sport of us, and who in all appearance make use of all opportunities to injure us.” Pulaski continued: I shall at last be forced to search the houses and take the oath of fidelity from the inhabitants, otherwise I shall be continually exposed. I shall endeavor to discover those who conceal the enemy although it will be dangerous as the Tories have sometimes fired on my patrols. But Pulaski singled out the Monmouth militia under Colonel Samuel Forman, arriving from Toms River: "toward the sea are good Whigs." Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress, received Pulaski’s letter and replied on October 18: "With respect to the Tories and the conduct of the militia which you complain of, attempts are daily made for reforming the conduct of both, but in infant States such evils are not to be removed in a moment." By this time, Pulaski was in motion, traveling to Barnegat in Stafford Township. Here, he was informed by locals that the British flotilla would land on the Monmouth County shore: “I am informed that the enemy have made some movement and that they may land this night. For fear of surprise, I shall wait for them under arms.” Pulaski’s intelligence included a report, presumably, from David Forman (now a Colonel, having resigned as a General of the militia amidst scandal ). “We were assured on this by the General [David Forman], who went to reconnoiter, himself.” The British flotilla did land a party near Barnegat. A militiaman, John Holmes, recalled camping at Barnegat where “the enemy landed in small parties & burnt some houses but could not effect landing to burn the salt works.” Barnegat was the site of a large and controversial salt works (likely never completed) co-owned by David Forman. Forman had proposed that these salt works would, in exchange for government funding, produce salt exclusively for the Continental Army. Pulaski reported that the quick departure of the British prevented him from engaging them. The landing party was also aided by local disaffected: “As they [the British] were concealed and favored by the Tories, they found means to re-embark.” Pulaski did not mention the role of the militia in blocking an easy landing by the would-be raiders. Pulaski promised to keep shadowing the flotilla in order to protect the Monmouth shore, “I shall conduct my forces toward Barnegat for fear that the Enemy may burn as they go on." He continued to complain about the militia, “I expect no assistance from the militia, for they have abandoned me.” However, according to Holmes, it was wisely-stationed militia that likely compelled the British landing party to give up its landing without burning the salt works at Barnegat, “the enemy landed in small parties & burnt some houses but could not effect landing to burn the salt works.” The next day, Gerard St. Elme, writing for Pulaski, informed Congress that, "We are betrayed on all sides, we cannot take a step but an hour later the enemy is informed.” St. Elme was not optimistic: “The number of the Legion is too small and in too ungrateful a country to undertake anything." Two days later, on October 21, Pulaski reported to Congress from Barnegat. The British ships were finally leaving, "the enemy are going away… save one frigate that ran ashore.” He also noted that other American forces were now headed back to Philadelphia: “I have directed Col Proctor to return to Philadelphia twenty-four hours after they are gone. I shall stop at Barnegat until they are passed.” Pulaski concluded, “My Corps is very much fatigued and require some days rest... I send you signatures of several inhabitants who have taken the Oath of Allegiance; they ought all take it." Between October 16 and October 21, Pulaski administered Loyalty oaths to at least eleven local residents: Silas Ireland, Joseph King, Stephen Ayers, Edward Parker, Samuel Parker, Noah Ridgeway, James Crammer, Adam Pettit, Cajah Willets, Peter Parker, Joseph Parker. The oath is below: I do swear before God the Supreme, that now being persuaded of the justice of our cause in defence of liberty, to be always faithful in fulfilling the will of the United States of America, their orders issued by the Honorable Congress, and also endeavor all in my power to render our country independent, so help me God. And I do solemnly swear or affirm that I do not hold myself bound to bear faith and allegiance to George, the King of Great Britain. I will solemnly declare and affirm that I do bear faith and true allegiance to the United States of America and will do all in my power to support the law established under the authority of the People. After the March Through Stafford Township Pulaski’s officers were Europeans, and most of the men who served in his Legion were recruited from Pennsylvania and Maryland. They probably were viewed as unwelcome foreigners by most of the locals. Stafford Township would become the center of Pine Robber activity later in the war, hosting the gangs of William Davenport and John Bacon. The residents and Stafford and Dover Townships continued to elect disaffected men to local offices through the end of the war. One of the few New Jersey recruits in Pulaski’s Legion was William McBride of Middlesex County, who enlisted at Britton’s tavern as the Legion headed toward the shore. His time in Stafford Township must have made an impression, as he volunteered for the State Troops regiment in 1780 that was sent into Stafford Township. He recalled serving at Cedar Creek (Tuckerton) "where there were many Tories and disaffected" and recalled pursuing a party of Pine Robbers who "were plundering the inhabitants." (McBride incorrectly stated the Loyalists were led by the African-American partisan leader, Colonel Tye .) After permitting his men a few days of rest at Barnegat. Pulaski ended the miserable assignment in Stafford Township. His men rode for Trenton, where they arrived on October 28. The New Jersey Gazette ’s brief article on Pulaski's return flatteringly suggested his Legion had "had driven the enemy on board their vessels." In reality, the two weeks in Stafford was a disaster—it had resulted in the death, capture, or desertion of more than a third of his men. This was an ominous sign of the misfortune that would befall a string of Continental regiments sent into Monmouth County in 1779. Related Historic Site : Barnegat Light Museum Sources : Kasimir Pulaski to Congress, Szymanski, Leszek, Casimir Pulaski: A Hero of the American Revolution, (New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 1993) p 216; Henry Laurens to Kasimir Pulaski, Szymanski, Leszek, Casimir Pulaski: A Hero of the American Revolution, (New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 1993) pp. 217-8; Kasimir Pulaski to Congress, Szymanski, Leszek, Casimir Pulaski: A Hero of the American Revolution, (New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 1993) pp. 217-8; Gerard St. Elme to Congress, Szymanski, Leszek, Casimir Pulaski: A Hero of the American Revolution, (New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 1993) pp. 218-9; Kasimir Pulaski to Congress, Szymanski, Leszek, Casimir Pulaski: A Hero of the American Revolution, (New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 1993) pp. 218-9; Griffith’s description is John Griffith, Journal of the Life, Travel and Labors in the Work of Ministry of John Griffith (London: James Phillips, 1779) p388-9; Weiderhold’s description is in JP Hand, The Cape May Navy, (Charleston, SC: History Press, 2018) pp. 71-76; Waldenmaier, Nellie Protsman, Some of the Earliest Oaths of Allegiance in the United States of America (Lancaster, Pa.: privately printed, 1944) p 72. Szymanski, Leszek. Casimir Pulaski: A Hero of the American Revolution, (New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 1993) p 220; Szymanski, Leszek, Casimir Pulaski: A Hero of the American Revolution, (New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., 1993) p 220; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of William McBride of NJ, National Archives, p3-4, 20-2. 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 Secret London Trading of the Privateer Nathan Jackson by Michael Adelberg In December 1782, duplicitous Nathan Jackson linked up with two small ships, Dolphin and Diamond, at Red Hook, Brooklyn. He faked their capture and brought them to New Jersey as faux prizes. - November 1782 - As discussed in prior articles, New England privateers regularly cruised the New Jersey shore during the second half of the Revolutionary War, capturing at least 60 British and Loyalist vessels coming to and from New York. While privateering was risky, fortunes were made by those who were bold, skilled, and lucky. Meanwhile, dozens of small boats traversed the Jersey shore, illegally ferrying agricultural goods from New Jersey farms to eager British buyers and then bringing finished goods back to New Jersey. The profits of this so-called “London Trade ” generated significant income for London Traders. It was inevitable that these two activities—privateering and London Trading—would become intertwined. Captain Nathan Jackson and His London Trader Crew Nathan Jackson was a privateer from Connecticut. In 1780, he commanded the 8-gun Rattle Snake and captured a London Trading vessel with a five-man crew. Two of the men captured, Simeon Poole and Henry DeHart, would serve under Jackson as he drifted into London Trading. According to 1783 court records, Jackson came to Little Egg Harbor in June 1781 where he signed a one-year agreement with two local leaders, Joseph Ball and Colonel Richard Wescott. He would captain their row galley, Greyhound , as a privateer. The vessel was fitted with a small cannon and a 12-man crew was assigned. The arrangement was unusual—a New England captain over a Jersey shore crew. And the local crew included men from areas that participated in the London Trade. Three of the crew (Benjamin Brooks, Samuel Cook, John Allen) were from the Shrewsbury Township shore. Henry DeHart later confessed to taking part in two prior London Trading voyages: He once sailed to Barnegat where his vessel, Elizabeth , was “captured” by a Loyalist vessel, and taken into New York. The cargo was unloaded and the ship and crew was then “exchanged.” They sailed back to Little Egg Harbor. "My next voyage was on a sloop commanded by Captain Philips, owned by Joseph Ball and Richard Wescott. We got our load of lumber from Ball and Wescott's saw mill and proceeded on our voyage until we came to Sandy Hook. There we called the guard vessel & got a pilot, & proceeded up to the city of New York.” Another crew member, Davies Fulsome, would testify: "We used to take the Fishermen from Shrewsbury [and ransom them], but finding we had no luck, determined to go into New York bay to try our fortune." Jackson and his crew left Little Egg Harbor on November 23, 1782. Nathan Jackson Fakes the Capture of Two Vessels Whispering about Jackson and his London Trading intentions started when the vessel picked up barrels of tar at the house of Luke Sooey near the mouth of Little Egg Harbor. According to subsequent court testimony against Jackson, the Greyhound spent the night at Toms River and then the next night near the mouth of the Shrewsbury River. The following day, they passed Sandy Hook. The Greyhound reached New York City, where the crew spent a few days. Using aliases, they sold their cargo of tar and on December 4 and purchased £400 of arms and dry goods. While in New York, Jackson met Samuel Lippincott of Monmouth County, who, himself, was in New York (illegally) working as a shoemaker. Lippincott subsequently returned to Monmouth County and surrendered himself to Major Elisha Walton. Charges against Lippincott were dropped in exchange for giving information on Jackson. Lippincott “said that Jackson was then there [in New York] on a trading scheme" He was London Trading under the guise of acting as an American privateer. Leaving Manhattan, Jackson rendezvoused with two small Loyalist privateers at Red Hook, Brooklyn. They were Dolphin with two with 3-lb cannon and 2 swivels, and Diamond . According to court testimony, no shots were exchanged or demands made when Jackson boarded Dolphin . However, Jackson’s encounter with the two vessels was reported as the capture of two British prizes by an American privateer in the New Jersey Gazette on December 18: On Sunday, Captain Jackson, commander of the galley Greyhound belonging to Egg Harbor, surprised and captured within the Hook the schooner Dolphin and the sloop Diamond, each having four hands, bound for New York from Halifax, with valuable cargoes, and brought them into Egg Harbor. The three vessels left New York Harbor with Jackson now in Dolphin , and headed for Little Egg Harbor. Greyhound separated from the sailing vessels in a storm and sank. As Dolphin and Diamond entered Little Egg Harbor, Dolphin was attacked and temporarily taken by John Bacon's Pine Robbers before being re-taken by the privateer brigantine, Chance , led by Alexander Dickey of New Brunswick. Philip Barry, the pilot at Little Egg Harbor, testified that on December 20 “one of the refugees, by the name of Johnson, told the deponent he was [had been] a prisoner" of Bacon. Frozen bay waters prevented Bacon's men from escaping Dickey's counter-attack. Instead, the Pine Robbers "made a breast work on the side of Gloucester County, Bacon and his party consisting of eleven men & seventeen muskets." The Pine Robbers defended themselves but lost the vessel. Other men testified about Bacon at the trial, including David Scull, whose men were slaughtered by Bacon at the Long Beach Massacre , and James Somers, co-owner of the vessel used by Scull. Alexander Dickey, recalled hearing of Bacon taking the Dolphin : A certain John Bacon, said to be in the service of the king of Great Britain... with a part of armed men in a boat, attacked and boarded the said schooner Dolphin in the port of little Egg Harbor and took out a large quantity of goods and merchandize, and carried off the same, together with two boats and made prisoners of sundry persons. Twelve hours later, Dickey counter-attacked, retaking the vessel and most of its goods. Two locals, Francis Gunnel and Luke Sooey, confirmed Dickey’s account. They noted that Bacon was a local who had been serving the British for two or three years. He also noted that local militia did not assist Dickey. Nathan Jackson and Others Are Arrested John Forman, who heard of Jackson’s double-dealing from Lippincott, went to Little Egg Harbor and “heard a number of persons suspect a collusive capture." He also heard Jackson boast about making "a bold push inside Sandy Hook" to capture the two vessels. Forman then confronted Jackson and Richard Wescott (Jackson's benefactor) and they exchanged "high language." Forman blasted Wescott and Joseph Ball who "have for several years carried on an illicit trade by collusive captures or otherwise." John Forman alerted David Forman, a judge of the Monmouth County Courts who previously led the Association for Retaliation , a vigilante society. On December 24, David Forman, with 20 armed men, arrived at Little Egg Harbor to make arrests. Most of Jackson’s crew fled. Davies Fulsome of Jackson's crew recalled of Forman’s reputation, "he had just been hanging a number of men , and he would hang us all." Forman arrested Jackson, another likely London Trader, Dr. William Vance (known as “Captain Vance”), and two of Jackson’s crew, Poole and Fulsome. Jackson had fled ahead of Forman’s posse but was chased down by an armed guard under Captain John Walton. Forman charged Jackson with "collusive captures" and claimed the vessels. One of Jackson's key collaborators, Captain William Austin of the Dolphin , escaped. Forman returned to Freehold with the prisoners on December 26. Sheriff John Burrowes testified that he went with Forman to Egg Harbor and arrested Jackson for perjury based on evidence given against Jackson by Simeon Poole. Poole testified that he “was neither bullied nor bribed into confessing” Jackson’s plot to Burrowes. But Burrowes, perhaps intentionally, left open the possibility that Forman may have influenced Poole, noting that he, as sheriff, did not have control of the prisoners, "for they were never delivered to me." Simeon Poole, after testifying against Jackson, recanted and claimed that Forman influenced him with threats. He testified that if he did not speak against Jackson, "he would be punished severely." Jackson and Poole remained in prison until March. Poole also claimed Forman promised his release if he would inform on Jackson. The confinement of Jackson and Poole took another odd turn when Wescott attempted to contact them through a former army officer, Nathan Pennington. However, the former Loyalist partisan, Edward Price (paroled at Freehold) informed on Pennington. Price testified that he conned Pennington: "He asked me if my heart was turned, I told him it was not, nor did I believe it would be till my neck was stretched." Pennington was then arrested and jailed. The prisoners were well-treated (noteworthy given past abuses of Loyalists at the jail). Davies Fulsome testified that "we wanted for nothing but our liberty." Dr. Vance, now jailed with Jackson and Poole, hired John James to go to Egg Harbor and get word of their arrest to Richard Wescott. James was captured and decided to testify against Vance and his London Trading collaborator, the tavern keeper Job Atkinson of Clamtown. James testified that Vance, if deprived of the money he expected from Wescott, would “play the devil” with his benefactors. Two of Forman’s allies testified. Denice Denice, a judge of the Court of the Common Pleas with Forman, testified that he was with Forman when Forman took Poole’s deposition. He swore it was done honestly. Joseph Stillwell, who was employed by Forman to monitor British movements at Sandy Hook, took a deposition from Jackson on February 2, 1783. Jackson claimed to be a commissioned privateer but only produced the commission of Timothy Shaler, another man. Jackson then claimed his commission was at New Brunswick. Stillwell concluded of Jackson: “His general character is that of a dishonest man, and a man not governed by the truth.” Court Proceedings against Nathan Jackson On December 31, Forman formally claimed Diamond and Dolphin as his rightful prizes, claiming Jackson was using the vessels "to carry on an illegal trade" and other "evil designs." As required by law, he advertised the prizes. A hearing was held before the New Jersey Admiralty Court to have the vessels adjudged to him. The advertisement in the New Jersey Gazette announced the court would meet on January 31 to consider Forman’s claim against: The bills of; Capt. Nathan Jackson against a certain schooner or vessel called the Dolphin lately commanded by a certain William Austin; and also against a certain sloop or vessel called the Diamond lately commanded by a certain William Roche… Said vessels were taken at sea near Sandy Hook, loaded with British merchandize, flour, earthenware, ginger, cyder and apples and brought into Egg Harbour by the said Capt. Jackson. Jackson was charged with “collusion” with respect to the two vessels. The New Jersey Gazette reported that the Court condemned the vessels, valued at £10,500, to David Forman on February 1: On a charge of collusion; on the trial it appeared that Capt. Jackson sailed from Egg Harbor in December last, in said boats with three men beside himself, armed with one swivel and two muskets... That went to New York openly the next day with his boat and there remained until December 7, and that evening boarded the Diamond. Jackson was brought before the Monmouth County courts for trading with the enemy and fined a massive £500 (most illegal trading fines were £100 or less). On February 25, the Monmouth Court of Common Pleas, on which David Forman sat as a judge, issued summons for Nathan Jackson for defaulting on the £500 fine. The summons read: “Said Nathan did send & convey was aiding & assisting in sending and conveying provisions and other necessaries into the lines of the enemy without being authorized by permission or passport." Jackson "although required, hath not paid and altogether refused" to pay the fine. Major Elisha Walton and Judge John Anderson were instructed to collect the fine or take him into custody. Defeated in court and under arrest, Jackson fought on. He appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case in September. Monmouth County’s David Rhea was selected to go to Connecticut to deliver the summons to Jackson. Henry Woodward of Burlington County, who had been arrested by Forman and his posse, testified against David Forman. He stated that Forman never administered oaths and that parts of his deposition were recorded incorrectly ("one or two of the answers appeared to me to be wrong"). He also suggested that Forman incented Constable Abraham Davis to make excessive arrests by paying him a remarkably high £20 for his services at Egg Harbor. He further stated about Davis, "he could not have made out better at home, for there he might have been collecting taxes and serving warrants & got nothing for it.” Meanwhile, David Forman lined up a set of Monmouth County leaders to provide depositions in support of his actions. These were given at the tavern of Henry Drake of Freehold on October 8. The most interesting witness was New Jersey Chief Justice David Brearley, who testified of Ball and Wescott having “the reputation of being in that trade”—a reference to “an extensive illicit trade being carried on between the cities of New York and Philadelphia through New Jersey.” The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled against Jackson. As a Connecticut citizen, Jackson was able to appeal the New Jersey decisions to an appeals court established by the Continental Congress to hear interstate disputes. He procured a famous New Jersey Lawyer, Richard Stockton, to represent him (Stockton signed the Declaration of Independence, but his patriotism was tarnished after he was captured by Loyalists at Freehold and signed a British loyalty oath). Forman also hired a powerful attorney, William Churchill Houston, who had served in the Continental Congress. The Continental Court sided with Forman and, in the process, documented Wescott’s London Trading. Jackson was determined an illegal trader and perjurer. Curiously, Jackson was back in the Monmouth County jail in 1788. In November of that year, he petitioned the New Jersey Legislative Council to be forgiven for his debts. He was identified in the Council’s minutes as "an insolvent debtor in Monmouth gaol." The Council did not act on his petition. Related Historic Site : Waterfront Museum (Brooklyn) Sources : Summons, Monmouth County Archives, Loose Common Pleas – 1783; Library of Congress, Revolutionary War Prize Cases, M162, reel 1, cases 91-2, David Forman v. Nathan Jackson; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, December 1782 - January 1783, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; New Jersey Gazette, January 15, 1783; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; New Jersey Gazette, April 16, 1783; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1788) p20. 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 Capture of Lt. Col. Klein and Others Seeking to Go to New York by Michael Adelberg In January 1781, Continental soldiers mutinied at Morristown. The British sought to bring them over to New York; throughout the war, Americans defected to the British through Monmouth County. - January 1781 - Wiliam Klein was born in Germany but was living in America when the Revolutionary War began. In 1776, he helped raise the so-called German Regiment—a Continental Army unit comprised of German-American immigrants from Maryland and Pennsylvania. He served as a major in Washington’s Army through the campaigns of 1776, 1777, and 1778 (including the Battle of Monmouth campaign). In September 1778, he was promoted to Lt. Colonel of the regiment. But the regiment diminished in size and was consolidated out of existence in June 1779; Klein was squeezed out of his command. Klein apparently became disaffected. He petitioned and received permission to return to Germany, but getting to Germany was difficult. Few, if any, American ships were Germany-bound and any American ship that attempted to do so faced a high likelihood of capture passing the British Isles. In comparison, there was regular traffic between British-held New York City and German ports—shuttling men and supplies between home and German soldiers in America. Klein apparently decided that defecting to the British was the best way to get home. The Capture of Lt. Colonel Klein On January 9, 1781, Colonel David Forman of Manalapan wrote Governor William Livingston about Klein. He discussed Klein’s passage across New Jersey to Manasquan: A certain Lt. Col. Klein, late of the American Army, and discharged vizt June 1779 - Col Klein left Philadelphia, come by way of Yarkey's Ferry, from there across the country to a certain Walter Curtis at Manasquan. Curtis was a Quaker who defied his church’s pacifism by serving in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers before deserting and returning home. He was convicted of an unnamed misdemeanor (likely illegally trading with the British) in 1779 and fined £150 and then fined in 1780 for militia delinquency . In 1781, he had a bond cashed for missing a required court appearance, and then was convicted of another misdemeanor with a massive £500 fine. It is probable this fine was for his complicity with Klein. Forman’s letter discussed Klein’s arrest for attempting to go to New York illegally: On the way through the back parts of Upper Freehold some of the inhabitants took the alarm from his going down in a wagon of and in company of a certain John Jones, they pursued and overtook Mr. Klein at the aforementioned Curtis', your Excellency will observe by the enclosed affidavits of Elisha Stout that Mr. Klein inquired how he, Col Klein, should get to New York; they took and brought up Col Klein to the Grand Jury - in the course of our examining him we was fully convinced his destination was New York, his confession was induced fully. The arrest of a Continental Army senior officer for attempting to defect to the enemy merited the attention of newspapers. New Jersey Gazette reported on January 17, "Lt. Colonel Klein, formerly in the service of the United States, was last week apprehended in the County of Monmouth on his way to New York." The Pennsylvania Evening Post ran the same report a week later. Klein was brought before New Jersey’s Chief Justice David Brearley. Brearley was an Upper Freehold resident who likely knew the people who arrested Klein, and he likely knew Klein from their common service as mid-level officers in Washington’s camp from 1776 to 1779. On February 1, Brearley wrote Livingston about Klein. He explained that Klein was looking for a disaffected shore resident to take him to New York, but because Klein was not a New Jersey resident and had permission to return to Germany, it was unclear if he could be prosecuted under New Jersey law. Brearley was unsure what to do with him: I am at a loss with respect to Lt. Col. Klein and don't incline to have anything to do with him. I think it would be very hard to punish him by the laws of this State... but to set him at liberty will be an encouragement for him to attempt it again. The Governor and Klein apparently reached an accord. Livingston pardoned Klein on February 8 on the condition that he return to Pennsylvania and never return to New Jersey. Other Captures in Monmouth County Historian Harry Ward wrote that escaped British and Loyalist prisoners used the Pinelands of Monmouth and Burlington Counties as "a sort of underground railroad" to go within British lines. Other articles demonstrate that dozens of so-called London Traders , disaffected Monmouth Countians, regularly ferried goods (and, when necessary, people) from Monmouth farms into British lines. Klein’s curious capture was one of many cases of disaffected men or former soldiers seeking passage to New York via Monmouth County. Seven other cases are summarized below (list is not exhaustive): June 1779: Three British soldiers who escaped prison in Frederick, Maryland walked to New Jersey. With a local guide named Atkinson, they were “apprehended making their way through the pines to the Monmouth seashore, in order to get to New York." August 1779: "Samuel Slack & John Shellman [horse thieves who previously escaped jail in Philadelphia] were taken up at Freehold.” The thieves presented a false passport and were released by local officials who did not detect the false document. February 1780: A party of 22 British prisoners and two runaway slaves “with their guide, Joseph Hayes, were taken up as they were passing through Monmouth County on their way to New York." May 1780: Two Pennsylvania outlaws , John Smith and Robert Smith, wanted for murder, attempted to escape to New York via Monmouth County. A local Whig “forced them to throw down their weapons… marched them several miles, and lodged them in jail at Freehold.” June 1780: A party of 34 German soldiers serving in the British army "were taken up in Monmouth County. They were on their way to New York, piloted by persons as yet unknown. These gentry are sent to Philadelphia." November 1780: Monmouth Countians, Robert Woodward, Robert Wilson and “three Negroes" escaped the state prison in Trenton “by undermining the same.” They were seeking to “get to the enemy.” A $2,000 reward offered for taking Woodward; a $250 reward for the others. January 1781: Five Loyalists escaped from prison in Philadelphia “they have been made prisoners by the Rebels and confined in Philadelphia gaol, from whence they fortunately escaped on the 10th inst.” They arrived in New York, via Monmouth County, on January 19. Monmouth County and the Continental Army Mutiny In December 1780, Pennsylvania and New Jersey soldiers in Washington’s Army mutinied at Morristown. According to William Smith, a leading Loyalist in New York, the British commander in chief, Henry Clinton was “pleased and yet I think distrustful of the mutineers.” Clinton, via spies, offered the mutineers the back pay owed to them by the Continental Congress if they would defect to the British. He also “advised their [mutineers] crossing the south branch of the Raritan, and going into Monmouth” where disaffected locals could link them up with Loyalist boats to ferry them to New York. Clinton ordered Elisha Lawrence (the pre-war Monmouth County Sheriff who commanded the 1st Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers through 1777) into Monmouth County to consort with the mutineers. Lawrence was ordered "to go out to Mount Pleasant [near Middletown], [and] from there, by Scott's Tavern, try to get to Princeton” to link up with an unnamed man in direct contact with the mutineers. The order continued: If they mean to come join us, to tell them that we have been ready to go into the Jerseys whenever they choose to call upon us. If they have anything to propose, we shall be ready to hear anyone they send and will be answerable to their safety. Lawrence apparently went into Monmouth County, though there are no letters that detail his time there. As late as January 29, Clinton was discussing plans to ferry mutineers over from Monmouth County "from whence our boats and vessels could easily bring them off." However, through a combination of concessions and punishments, the mutinies collapsed. While the mutineers never came into Monmouth County, the episode shows that the British high command viewed Monmouth County as the most permeable place in New Jersey for bringing over defectors. Relevant Historic Site : Morristown National Historical Park Sources : Klein’s service record is summarized in Fracis Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army (Washington, D.C. The Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, Inc. 1914); David Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 14, January 9, 1781; information on Walter Curtis is Michael Adelberg’s Biographical File, unpublished at the Monmouth County Historical Association; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post, January 1781; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, January 1781; David Brearley to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 135-6, 140; Pennsylvania Archives, Minutes of the Provincial Council, 1859, p285; Papers Relating to the War of the Revolution, v3, p285; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, August 4, 1779; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, February 23, 1780; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930, June 7, 1780; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 5, p 129; Harry Ward, Between the Lines, (Bloomsbury Academic, 2002) pp.110-1; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) pp. 373-4; Carl Van Doren, Mutiny in January: The Story of a Crisis in the Continental Army (New York: Viking, 1943), pp. 177, 228. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee's Dragoons in Monmouth County by Michael Adelberg The bold cavalryman, Henry Lee, was twice court-martialed for ignoring rules, but never convicted. He camped in Monmouth County and performed well, but made enemies and was removed. - February 1779 - As noted in a prior article , in January 1779, George Washington, after resisting calls to do so, sent a regiment of troops into Monmouth County to increase the county’s security. That assignment fell to Colonel Caleb North of Pennsylvania , though North’s regiment would be replaced by deployments led by Mordecai Gist (Maryland ) and Benjamin Ford (Maryland ). These men camped close to the British base at Sandy Hook. They sought to block illegal trade and shield the county from Loyalist raiding parties . Parallel to these troop deployments, the cavalry regiment of Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee was intermittently stationed at Freehold for the purpose of establishing contact with and relaying communications with the French fleet —if it appeared off the New Jersey shore. Lee was apparently ordered to Monmouth County in late January 1779. On the 31st, Washington wrote Governor William Livingston about his decision to send troops into Monmouth County, including this note on Lee’s corps: No Corps of Cavalry remains in Jersey except Major Lee's, which is quartered in the lower part of the Country where the Quarter Master informed me there would be a sufficient supply of forage with least inconvenience to the Inhabitants. However, Lee had not yet arrived in Monmouth County by February 12. That day, David Rhea, the Army’s quartermaster officer for Monmouth County, wrote of Lee’s dragoons, "the light horse have not made their appearance, pray do not send them to these parts as yet.” Rhea went on to describe his difficulties in raising forage for the Army, including the controversy from the seizure of Benjamin Van Cleaf’s grain. Rhea did not want the added burden of finding forage for Lee’s men. Determining Lee’s arrival in Monmouth County is muddied further by a brief report in the New Jersey Gazette on February 15, "We hear that the Continental troops that were for some time stationed at Freehold, in New Jersey, are ordered away by Congress, and to be replaced by some Light Horse." This is a reference to the pending arrival of Lee’s men at Freehold, but it is unclear who they were replacing. While the date of Lee’s arrival at Freehold is unknown, there is no doubt that he arrived and operated out of Freehold by spring. According to a veteran’s pension application filed after the war, James Chambers of Freehold Township, only 15 years old at the time, enlisted in Lee’s dragoons in spring 1779. (Another Monmouth Countian, William Van Mater, enlisted on September 23.) It is probable that Lee was in Monmouth County intermittently through the summer. Lee’s Cavalry Camps at Freehold In September 1779, Lee re-established quarters at Freehold. On September 12, General Nathanael Greene noted ordering Lee to Monmouth County "in hopes that Lee might deliver the letter if D'Estaing should appear off the coast." George Washington sent further orders to Lee: “I desire that you will, with the remainder of your corps, [go] to the County of Monmouth and take a position as near the coast as you can, without making yourself liable to a surprise." Lee was directed to monitor the coast for the arrival of the French Fleet and report on British movements at Sandy Hook. He was also asked to “suppress” illegal trade between Monmouth County and the British to the degree he could do so without risking his men. In another note that day, Washington alluded to sending Lee to nearby Englishtown. At about this time, a sergeant’s guard of Lee’s men patrolling near the Shrewsbury shore killed Lewis Fenton, a notorious Pine Robber . A New Jersey Gazette report on September 23 noted that the men were alerted to Fenton’s presence: The Sergeant immediately impressed a wagon and horse and ordered three of them to secret themselves under some hay... on the approach of the wagon, Fenton (his companion being gone) rushed out to plunder it, while advancing toward the wagon, one of the soldiers shot him through the head, which killed him instantly on the spot. The killing of Fenton is the subject of another article. In October, with the French fleet again expected on the Jersey shore, Washington wrote Livingston about sending pilots to the shore. He wrote on October 4 that “good pilots should be ready to go on Board the French fleet.” Livingston was asked to send the pilot, Wiliam Van Driil, “to go down to Monmouth and join Major Lee at English Town." Two days later, Washington asked Lee to be more vigilant in receiving and conveying intelligence reports from the shore. He wrote: I presume that you constantly keep an intelligent officer to observe the arrival or casting of the enemy's vessels. I wish to have his diary transmitted from time to time, say once a week, and more especially when anything more extraordinary occurs. Later that month, the Continental Congress’ Marine Committee wrote Lee about the pilot, Patrick Dennis, being sent to the Shrewsbury shore to come aboard the French fleet. Congress instructed Lee that: "Captain Patrick Dennis, being employed to wait on the arrival of Count D'Estaing's fleet off the Hook, and being a Gentleman for whom we have the greatest confidence, we request you will afford him every assistance." This likely led to Lee’s men patrolling the shore more vigorously, which created new demands for forage for the horses. Quartermaster officer, David Rhea, was aggrieved. On October 12, he wrote that "Major Lee's dragoons have done as they please since they have been in this county.” Rhea refused Lee’s request for wagons and horse teams to supply his men and worried that Lee would negotiate purchases on his own with local farmers. He further wrote: I have put him off in such a manner that I believe he will not ask again -- I think I shall have no more of it -- those horse consume a large quantity of forage, and at a very high price, I know not what to do --I hope they will not stay long. Rhea’s complete grievances with Lee are the subject of another article . Whatever his problems with forage, Lee went to the Navesink Highlands to observe the British fleet. He sent a report to Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s aide-de-camp, on October 22: The enemy’s strength at the hook consists in two 64, the Europa & Russell—the Raisonable, Renown, Roebuck & Romulus. Besides these they have a few frigates & some armed Schooners. They have sunk ten hulks in the outer channel & have more ready to be sunk, some of those sunk have got afloat & reached shore. They have also two fire ships. A few days later, Lee wrote Washington from Freehold: "My spies have not given us their report for the last week, none of them having returned." But Lee believed the French fleet was not coming to Sandy Hook based on British actions, "The heavy cannon placed in the batteries at the Hook, to secure the channel, was taken off." Lee’s Cavalry Winters in Monmouth County Despite this report, Washington, not knowing the location of the French fleet, kept Lee in Monmouth County through the winter. That month, he issued general orders for the Army’s winter quarters. Washington ordered a regiment of New Jersey Continentals into Monmouth County to disrupt the illegal trade between disaffected farmers and Sandy Hook. Lee would stay in Monmouth County as well. Washington wrote that a New Jersey regiment would be "aided by a party of Lee's Light Dragoons, endeavor to stop the communication from New York, from that quarter." As weather grew colder, travel to the Navesink Highlands became unpleasant. Lee wrote Washington on November 30: "It is utterly impossible to execute your Excellency's orders as the source of intelligence without enduring great personal trouble from the civil government of this State." Lee wrote Washington again two weeks later regarding his men lacking winter coats: "The season is getting cold & my men are perfectly bare of clothing, having not received the annual allowance for '79." In addition to his “trouble” with “civil government,” Lee was feuding with Judge John Imlay. Imlay complained to Governor Livingston about Lee issuing passports to locals in the interest of having spies in New York. Livingston wrote back on December 18 that Lee had exceeded his authority in granting the passports, “but I have lately so fully explained to him the dangerous tendency of such a practice & his want of authority for that purpose, that I flatter myself he will for the future cause no further complaint on the subject." Livingston wrote Lee on the subject that same day. In a letter to Washington, Lee also noted a slow-down in intelligence from his “spies” in New York, "my last account from New York mentions no appearance of emissaries or embarkation of troops." Washington, who had received a letter from Livingston complaining of Lee issuing passports, cautioned Lee: The practice of [illegal] trading under the cover of procuring intelligence has grown to such a height that there is an absolute necessity of putting a stop to it. To avoid giving any umbrage to the Government of the State, I would have you confine your observations to the sailing of the fleets from New York, and whenever any capital movement takes place communicate it immediately to the president of Congress as well as to me. Washington offered to send more men to winter in Monmouth County if forage was available for them: “If the Country where you are will afford Forage for more than your own Corps, I can reinforce you with some detached troops of Horse." Washington then ordered Col. Armand to Monmouth County on December 23. You will proceed with your corps to Monmouth County and take such a station as will best accommodate your men and horses and enable you to communicate with Major Lee for the purposes of mutual security, covering the country and preventing all intercourse between the inhabitants and the enemy. Washington told Armand that he should rest his men, but also asked him to support Lee’s patrols of the shore: “I am persuaded you will wish to be as useful as you can. You will immediately open a correspondence with Major Lee." On December 29, Lee reported that the cavalry of Colonel Charles Armand “has reached this place." But Armand did not stay more than a few days, prompting Washington to express disappointment: I should have been glad had it been possible for your corps and Col Armand's to have found a position in Monmouth County capable of supporting both cavalry with hay & forage, as it would in my opinion, have answered the object which I have principally had in view, that of covering the county and preventing intercourse with the enemy. Because of the apparent lack of forage for the two cavalry units, particularly near the shore, Washington gave Lee permission to pull his scout parties inland. He advised Lee to have his men make “their quarters at a distance from the shore, far enough to prevent surprises, but still able to send patrols toward those places at which the enemy most commonly land, and to which the country people usually carry their produce." The opportunity to pull back did not stop Lee from opportunistically attacking British assets. On January 5, Lee reported a raid on Sandy Hook. "I have heard from one of my officers on the shore, who has taken a British officer with five others, & 80,000 counterfeit dollars, I hope this capture will lead to some useful discoveries." Lee sent the money and prisoners to Philadelphia. Washington acknowledged and praised the attack in a brief response. This action is the subject of another article . Washington abruptly ordered Lee out of Monmouth County on January 8. Caleb North would return to Monmouth County as a replacement. The abrupt order was likely sparked by Lee’s proposal to impound cattle from the Monmouth shore. On January 7, Washington skeptically wrote Lee: "I take it for granted that measures you mean to pursue for cutting off intercourse between the country and the Enemy will be justified by circumstances and not incompatible with the laws of the State." He asked Lee to further consider New Jersey’s law. As Lee moved toward impound cattle from locals living along Monmouth's shores, it is likely that Lee’s enemies in Monmouth County (Rhea and Imlay) protested. They finally had what they needed to rid themselves of Lee in January 1780 and hastened his departure. When Lee returned to Monmouth County in July 1780— to establish contact with the expected French fleet —he and Rhea promptly feuded again. Perspective By any measure, Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee was among the Continental Army’s most energetic officers. But he was frequently at odds with authority and twice court-martialed for disobeying orders or ignoring rules (never convicted). While in Monmouth County, Lee’s men killed a hated Pine Robber leader and successfully raided Sandy Hook. But Lee’s vigorous prosecution of the war put him at odds with local officials charged upholding rules of which Lee was either unknowing or indifferent. This tension created local enemies and likely led to Lee’s abrupt removal from Monmouth County. Related Historic Site : Moland House (Bucks County, Pennsylvania) Sources : George Washington to William Livingston, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw140058)); Marine Committee to Henry Lee, National Archives, Collection 332, reel 6, #230; David Rhea to Clement Biddle, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I173, Letters from Nathanael Greene, v3, p37; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 136; William Nelson, Austin Scott, et al., ed., New Jersey Archives (Newark, Trenton, Somerville, 1901-1917) vol. 3, p 77; Contained in: National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Wyley of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 28231283; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Chambers; Library of Virginia, Archives, Revolutionary War (Land) Bounty Warrants, William Van Mater, reels 1-29; National Archives, revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Van Mater; Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 4, p 366 note; George Washington to Henry Lee, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 16, pp. 279, 367; David Rhea to Moore Furman, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #5599; George Washington to William Livingston, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw160418)); New Jersey Gazette report on death of Lewis Fenton in Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p198; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 61, September 25, 1779; Henry Lee quoted in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 1899, v 7, p 177; Henry Lee to Alexander Hamilton, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 2, 1779–1781, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 208–209; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 62, October 25, 1779; Marine Committee of Congress to Henry Lee, Charles Paulin, Out-Letters of the Marine Committee and Board of Admiralty (New York: Navy History Society, 1914) vol. 2, pp. 124-5; Winter Orders, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 17, p 211; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 62, November 3, 1779; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mgw/mgw4/062/1000/1046.jpg ; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 63, December 16, 1779; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw170339)); Nathanael Green, Report, Nathanael Greene, The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 1976) vol. 5, p 85 note; Henry Lee, note, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence; Henry Lee to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 63, January 5, 1780; Henry Lee to John Simcoe in John Simcoe, A JOURNAL OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE QUEEN'S RANGERS, APPENDIX, p267, p270; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 63, December 28, 1779; William Livingston to John Imlay, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 3, p 271; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 63, December 23, 1779; George Washington to Charles Armand, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw170362)) ; General Orders in John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 17, p 362; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > British Fortify Sandy Hook in Preparation for French Attack by Michael Adelberg Admiral Richard Howe focused his ships and shore battery into a firing position at the channel above Sandy Hook. Confined to the narrow channel, the French fleet chose not to attack. - July 1778 - The Sandy Hook peninsula sits at the entrance of Raritan Bay and Lower New York Harbor. Its lighthouse brings in ships from the Atlantic Ocean. The British navy took the unguarded Hook in April 1776 and held it continuously through the end of 1783—longer than any other piece of the rebelling colonies. The British gradually fortified Sandy Hook following land-based attacks in June 1776 and March 1777 . But the threat faced in July 1778—with the arrival of a large French fleet—was on a different scale, and so were the corresponding fortifications. On July 5, the British Army completed the Monmouth campaign and left for New York via Sandy Hook. This was a few days before the arrival of the French. The German officer, Johann Ewald, described the fortified Sandy Hook Lighthouse as it appeared on that day: It is built of the most beautiful stones, some thirty feet wide in the square, and is about two hundred feet high. Since the Americans constantly threatened to destroy it, the Light House has been fortified with a stone breast work in which loop holes have been constructed. In the tower itself, port holes for cannon have been cut on all four sides, four of which are on the first floor for defense. The defenses were built to protect the lighthouse and its one-company guard from land-based attacks. The cannon were likely small and most did not face into the channel where New York-bound ships enter. Fortifying Sandy Hook The French fleet anchored off Shrewsbury Inlet on July 11. That same day, British officer Frederick Hamilton noted that construction had begun on a five-gun channel-facing battery. The next day, Major John Andre offered a more complete description of the full scope of efforts underway to fortify Sandy Hook: The 44th and 15th Regiments were added to these, and Colonel O’Hara [Charles O'Hara] took the command and marched from Bedford to be embarked for Sandy Hook. They were here employed in throwing up a battery of two 8-inch howitzers and three 32-pounders. Eight Companies from the Light Infantry and Grenadiers were distributed on board the ships of war. The Companies were chosen by lot and the whole drew at their own request. The ardor to serve and the confidence in Lord Howe were as conspicuous in the seamen of the transports, who almost to a man were Volunteers to go on board the King’s Ships. Andre reported seventeen warships arrived at the Hook along with “three sloops, three fire-ships, two bombs and three galleys.” The ships were lined up near the tip of Sandy Hook, so that they could fire on any French ship coming into the channel immediately north of the Hook. The shore battery still needed cannon. Admiral Richard Howe at Sandy Hook wrote to General Henry Clinton at New York: "I shall be obliged to you to furnish me with a couple of 8-inch Howitzer, with Artillery Men Ammunition &ca., to place on the point of the Hook.” Howe also expressed concern about the lack of engineers and whether Sandy Hook was ready for a French attack: Your engineer is not yet (that I have heard of) arrived. The wind being easterly, furnishes our adversaries with a favorable opportunity to make their attempt… Some tools will be necessary amongst the other requisites for making a bed & Breast Work for the Howitzer. But a skillfull engineer to direct our undertakings will be a treasure. We wish to borrow a few light infantry of which Duncan [Henry Duncan] writes. No time should be lost in the dispatch of the Howitz &c. The requested British Army engineer, John Montressor, returned to Sandy Hook on July 13 (he was there a week earlier during the British Army’s withdrawal). He wrote of his activities to complete the channel-facing battery at the tip of the Hook: "I detached 3 engineers to Sandy Hook to construct two batteries for 3 eighteen pounders and 2 howitzers, with tools and materials." More troops continued to arrive; a troop return listed 1,349 men (of which 1,076 “were fit & present”) at Sandy Hook. In New York, General James Pattison wrote of Loyalists volunteering to man the British ships in this moment of need: "A hot press of seamen began this evening but was soon put to a stop upon a sufficient number of men from the transports turning out as volunteers to serve in the fleet." After the war, David Ramsey, a Continental officer, noted the spirited response from New York City: “The sight of the French fleet raised all the active passions of their adversaries ...the British [and Loyalists] displayed a spirit of zeal and bravery which could not be exceeded.” Pattison noted that the requested howitzers were on their way: “A battery was begun at the Hook & eighteen pounder were sent down there, also 2 eight inch howitzers." The next day, Pattison noted the loss of a sloop to the French. More ominously, he wrote that "the French were observed to be sounding the channel into Sandy Hook & to take several prizes." The British placed retired ships next to the shore battery. On July 13, Captain Henry Duncan wrote of the placement of a “fireship” at the tip of Hook, to be set afire and sent toward the French if they entered the channel. Also on site was the aged storeship, Leviathan , which was turned into a 16-gun floating battery. Another navy officer, Peter Alpin, noted 200-New York City volunteers “variously employed" at Sandy Hook. This included rowing casks of fresh water to the men on the dry peninsula. On July 15, Colonel Thomas O’Beirne, noted another asset at the tip of the Hook: Four galleys were ranged across the narrow part of the channel abreast the Hook; from which situation, in case of attack, they could row upon the shoal and cannonade at such a distance as should be most convenient for the purpose of annoying the enemy. Sandy Hook as Key British Defenses On July 15, Colonel Charles O'Hara, the commanding army officer on Sandy Hook, toured the Hook with Admiral Howe. He reported to Henry Clinton on the Hook’s vulnerability: “The French Fleet could cover the descent of troops on almost every part of the coast of the Hook.” O’Hara called for a fort on the south end of Sandy Hook: “So many formidable attempts may be made upon this Island, I conceive that it would be absolutely necessary that a very considerable Reinforcement, not less than fifteen Hundred Men with Six Pieces of Field artillery, would be requisite for its defence.” O’Hara reminded Clinton of the importance of holding Sandy Hook: The possession of this post I conceive to be of the greatest importance as it enables Lord Howe under its cover to take a position that puts him upon a Level with the French fleet—who by being obliged to pass the bar by single ships would be beat by our fleet—But were the French masters of this Island, they would by erecting batterys [and] oblige our Ships to quit this present advantageous situation & move higher up the bay—the Enemy would then pass the bar unmolested & attack Lord Howe in line of battle—I must therefore take the Liberty of repeating that I conceive this Post to be of the very first Importance & that an Immediate considerable reinforcement is necessary. On July 15, O'Beirne underscored O‘Hara’s assessment by sizing up the two fleets: The French held a fourteen-to-nine edge in large warships, though the British had more smaller ships, but some of the British ships remained "wretchedly manned" even with a thousand Loyalist sailor-volunteers ("masters and mates of the merchantmen and traders"). Soldiers were placed on the British ships as marines. A few days later, Henry Clinton visited Sandy Hook. Montressor wrote that "Sir Henry Clinton went this morning to the Hook." Montressor was also at Sandy Hook and visited the ship-turned-gun platform, Leviathan , which Montressor reported now carried 70 cannon." He noted that "the [French] fleet have now taken eleven sail of our vessels besides the fishing craft." Peter Alpin reported that three French ships approached and the two fleets exchanged long distance fire, "but not the least attention [was] paid to them" because they did not come close. On July 21, Pattison reported to Admiral Howe about the defenses on Sandy Hook: “All the larger ships of his fleet were ordered to Sandy Hook & the cruisers called in… the fleet was properly arranged & batteries erected on the Hook, where a corps of two battalions was encamp'd.” Pattison observed that because of the narrowness of the Sandy Hook channel, “not more than one or two of their [French] ships at most can come in at a time” during which time the British could concentrate fire on that ship. Knowing this, he concluded, “We have the satisfaction to find that we are pretty secure from an attack in this quarter." From Sandy Hook, the British observed the French ships moving on July 22. Lord Carlisle, in New York City, speculated that the climactic naval battle would soon begin, “we expect every day to hear of some major event that may be very decisive, as his whole force is collected." A British officer also noted very high tides, "the spring tides were at their highest and that afternoon, thirty feet deep at the bar". So, July 21-22 were ideal days for the large French ships to enter Sandy Hook’s narrow channel. The French, however, had other ideas. Local pilots had informed them that their largest ships sat too deep in the water to enter the channel. Their fleet, receiving only a fraction of needed provisions from Shrewsbury, decided to sail for Rhode Island—where deeper waters and greater provisions awaited. With the threat passed, the British quickly divested resources from Sandy Hook. On August 3, Pattison reported that Admiral Howe pulled his fleet away from Sandy Hook, "leaving only the Leviathan , an old 74 gun ship, now carrying 54, and the Amazon of 32 guns." The troops left a week later. Montressor reported on August 10, "The troops evacuated the post at Sandy Hook and proceeded to Long Island, all but 3 companies of Jersey Volunteers ." Had the French arrived a week sooner, the British fleet would have been scattered and unable to resist them, and the British Army could have been cut off in New Jersey. It is quite possible that the American Revolution might have ended on the Navesink Highlands in July 1778. This was not lost on Colonel Thomas O’Beirne who observed, "had the French squadron arrived a few days sooner, or had the evacuation of Philadelphia been deferred a few days later, the whole force of Great Britain on that side of the Atlantic must have been annihilated." Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse and HMS Surprise (Replica of the Rose) (San Diego, CA) Sources : Johann Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1979) p 138; Frederick Hamilton, The Origin and History of the First or Grenadier Guards (Ulan Press, 2012) vol. 1, p 233; Jack Coggins, Ships and Seamen of the American Revolution, (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1969) p 142; Major John Andre, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 357; Richard Howe to Henry Clinton, Naval Documents of the American Revolution (Naval History Foundation: Washington DC, 2018) vol 13, p 359-360; British Army Return, Clements Library, U Michigan, Henry Clinton Papers, July 13, 1778; Gen Richard Howe to Henryt Clinton, Clements Library, U Michigan, Henry Clinton Papers, July 13, 1778; Montresor, John. “Journals of Captain John Montresor.” Edited by G. D. Scull. (New York: Collections of the New-York Historical Society, 1881) p 505-9; James Pattison in Ritchie, Carson I. A., ed., “A New York Diary of the Revolutionary War.” in Narratives of the Revolution in New York (New York: New-York Historical Society, 1975) pp. 242-3; David Ramsey, The History of the American Revolution, Liberty Fund: Indianapolis, 1990, Vol. 2, 88-89; John Knox Laughton, "Journal of Capt. Henry Duncan" in Publications of the Naval Records Society, vol. 20, 1920, p169-70; Clements Library, U Michigan, Peter Alpin Collection, Logbook of the Roebuck; Charles O’Hara to Henry Clinton, Clements Library, U Michigan, Henry Clinton Papers, July 15, 1778; Thomas Lewis O'Beirne, A Candid and Impartial Narrative of the Transactions of the Fleet, Under the Command ofLord Howe (London, 1969), pp. 3 - 15; David Library of the American Revolution, James Pattison Papers, reel 1; Joseph Reed, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, William B. Reed, ed. (Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1847), p 389; Mahan, A. T., The Major Operations of the Navies in the War of American Independence, (London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1913) pp. 64-8; James Pattison in Ritchie, Carson I. A. “A New York Diary of the Revolutionary War.” in Narratives of the Revolution in New York (New York: New-York Historical Society, 1975) pp. 246; David Syrett, The Royal Navy in American Waters, 1775-1783 (Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1989), p 99; Montresor, John. “Journals of Captain John Montresor.” Edited by G. D. Scull. (New York: Collections of the New-York Historical Society, 1881) p 509. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > The Continental Response to Huddy Hanging by Michael Adelberg James Madison, serving in the Continental Congress in 1782, like many Americans, was shocked by the hanging of Joshua Huddy. He and the Congress supported hanging a British officer in retaliation. - April 1782 - As discussed in the previous article, Colonel David Forman personally presented materials on the execution of Joshua Huddy to George Washington on April 17 or 18, 1782. Forman had a long history with Washington, leading a regiment under Washington in the disastrous New York campaign of 1776 and then raising an “Additional Regiment ” of Continentals in 1777. Forman guided Continental troops and met with Washington during the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 and then testified against Washington’s rival, General Charles Lee, at Lee’s court martial. Throughout the second half of the war, Forman often sent Washington intelligence reports of British naval movements at Sandy Hook. Washington was aware of Forman’s excesses (he had to relieve Forman of the command of his regiment) and gaps in judgment (including intrigues that skirted the law). But Washington also, no doubt, viewed Forman as a patriot who had risked his life and property for the Revolution and performed valuable services. So, when Forman rode into Washington’s camp, requested a meeting, and made an impassioned plea for retaliation for the death of Huddy—it was likely persuasive to Washington. George Washington Considers Huddy’s Execution Washington knew Forman was coming to see him. Forman and Colonel Asher Holmes, rivals before and after the Huddy hanging, had gone to Elizabethtown to meet the Prisoner of War commissioners and General Henry Knox. They met on April 16 and Knox notified Washington that Forman would visit him. On April 19, following his meeting with Forman, Washington chose to query his senior officers on the appropriate next step. He sent a “general inquiry” to his senior officers: The Commander in Chief submits the papers accompanying this, containing the case of Capt. Joshua Huddy lately hanged within the County of Monmouth in N Jersey State, by a party of the Enemy, to the consideration of the Gen. Officers and commanding officers of Brigades and Regiments. And thereupon requests from them, separately and in writing, a direct and laconic reply to the following queries: Vizt: 1st. Upon the state of facts in the above case, is Retaliation justifiable and expedient? 2d. If justifiable, ought it to take place immediately? Or should a previous representation be made to Sir Hy [Henry] Clinton, and satisfaction demanded from him? 3d. In case of representation and Demand, who should be the person or persons to be required? 4th. In case of refusal, and Retaliation becoming necessary, of what description shall the Officer be on whom it is to take place; and how shall he be designated for the purpose?" Washington was apparently told that some Monmouth County leaders—particularly Asher Holmes—were conducting local prisoner exchanges outside of the process set up by the Continental and British Armies. Forman, who opposed these local exchanges because they encouraged Loyalist “manstealing , ” likely informed Washington about the local exchanges. This caused Washington to make an inquiry. On April 20, Washington wrote Andrew Skinner, his Commissary of Prisoners: I have been informed that a certain Col Asher Holmes of Monmouth County has been concerned in making partial exchanges, sending and receiving Flags, giving indulgence to People within the Enemy's lines, and obtaining Paroles in consequence for some of our People in the power of the Enemy; and that when questioned for so doing by the Executive of the State he attempted to exculpate himself by asserting he acted under proper authority derived from your Department. As I know you have frequently made complaints (and not without great occasion) respecting such irregularities; I request to be informed explicitly, whether Col Holmes has received any authority from you, or any Person acting under you, and in that case, of what nature, and under what limitations or restriction it was in order, that if anything improper has been done, it may be amended; or if otherwise, the report may be refuted. Skinner replied two days later: "I know not how Colo. Holmes could assert that he acted under Authority from my department in the making of partial Exchanges; he has no such Authority from me and I have written to him on the Subject." In December 1780, Holmes wrote a letter to Governor William Livingston informing Livingston that the Governor had previously given him the authority to conduct local prisoner exchanges. Livingston did not challenge Holmes on the matter. George Washington Prepares for Retaliation On April 20, Washington replied to Henry Knox about Forman’s presentation of the scandalous execution of Huddy. Washington was “convinced from the state of facts which has been exhibited that justice, expediency and necessity requires that satisfaction should be obtained for the murder of Captain Huddy.” Washington concluded that if Huddy’s murderer was not turned over, retaliation was in order: I have in the first instance made a representation to Sir Henry Clinton and demanded that the officer who commanded the party [Richard Lippincott]... should be delivered up to condign punishment. In case of refusal, I have formed the resolution that retaliation should take place upon a British officer of equal rank, it therefore remains with the enemy alone to prevent this distressing alternative; for having formed my opinion upon the most mature reflection and deliberation, I can never recede from it. Washington wrote Clinton that same day. He referred to Huddy as "most cruelly & wantonly hanged” and stated that “this instance of barbarity calls for retaliation." He sent a second stronger letter to Clinton on April 21 that was apparently for public consumption. It was printed in the Pennsylvania Evening Post : Sir, The enclosed representation from the inhabitants of the County of Monmouth, with sentiments to the feat (which can be corroborated by other unquestionable evidence) will bring before your Excellency the most wanton, cruel and unprecedented murder that ever disgraced the arms of a civilized people. I shall not, because I conceive it altogether unnecessary, trouble your Excellency with any animadversions upon this transaction. Candor obliges me to be explicit: to save the innocent, I demand the guilty. Capt. Lippincott therefore, or the officer who commanded at the execution of Capt. Huddy, must be given up; or if that officer was of inferior rank to him, so many of the perpetrators as will, according to the tariff of exchange, be an equivalent. To do this, will mark the justice of your Excellency’s character. In failure of it, I shall hold myself justified, in the eye of God and man, for the measure to which I shall resort. I beg your Excellency to be persuaded that it cannot be more disagreeable to you to be addressed in this language than it is for me to offer it. But the subject requires frankness and decision. The Evening Post’s report went on to state that Clinton "had been imposed upon by the Board of Refugees… on pretense of conveying him" for a prisoner exchange. And that "the menace in the General's [Washington's] letter… produced a spirited memorial from British officers" to give up the murderer, Richard Lippincott. This, in turn, generated a counter memorial from the Associated Loyalists "against the delivery of Lippincott." The report concluded that, "It is said the Lippincott has been delivered up" but there were a number of reports awaiting confirmation. Congress Supports Retaliation for the Execution of Huddy A week later, the Continental Congress considered the burgeoning “Huddy Affair.” Elias Boudinot, the former Continental Commissary of Prisoners now serving as a New Jersey delegate in Congress wrote of William Franklin “as head of the Refugees… by their particular order" hanged Huddy "in a very insulting manner under pretense of retaliation for a man who was shot in the act of running away from his guard - this made a great noise in our camp & throughout the State." The Minutes of the Continental Congress record: A letter of the 20th, from the Commander in Chief, together with a copy of a memorial from the inhabitants of the County of Monmouth, in the state of New Jersey, and sundry affidavits respecting the death of Captain Joshua Huddy; who, after being a prisoner for some days in New York, was sent out with a party of Refugees, and most cruelly and wantonly hanged on the heights of Middletown. Congress then acted to support Washington’s threat of retaliation: The Congress having deliberately considered the said letter and the papers attending it, and being deeply impressed by the necessity of convincing the enemies of the United States, by the most decided conduct, that the repetition of their unprecedented and inhuman cruelties will no longer be suffered with impunity, do unanimously approve of the firm and judicious conduct of the Commander in Chief in his application to the British General at New York, and do hereby assure him of their firmest support in his fixed purpose of exemplary retaliation. Outrage at Huddy’s hanging spread. On May 1, James Madison of Virginia wrote about Huddy and retaliation in a letter to Edmund Randolph, also of Virginia. Madison wrote that “the refugees in New York have lately perpetrated one of the most daring and flagrant acts that have occurred in the course of the war.” Huddy had been “treated with every mark of insult of cruelty” and then and then “brought over to the Jerseys and in cold blood, hanged.” Madison then discussed retaliation: A number of respectable people have, by a memorial, called aloud on the Commander in Chief for retaliation; in consequence of which he has, in the most decisive terms, claimed of Sir Henry Clinton a delivery of the offenders for justice as the only means of averting a stroke of vengeance from the innocent head of a captive officer of equal rank to the Jersey Captain. Newspapers that would not have routinely reported on local events in New Jersey reported on Huddy’s hanging. Two examples are below: The Maryland Gazette , May 2: [Huddy] was brought on shore by a party of murderers and hung, his will was found in his pocket, and a paper purporting the occasion of their executing him was in retaliation for a refugee, who, being under guard, attempted an escape, our people had shot. Arouse Countrymen! Let not this black act pass with impunity, but let full atonement for his hapless life be made on those hell hounds we have in our possession. The Boston Independent Gazetteer , May 4: General Washington, we hear, has written to Sir Henry Clinton, insisting that the perpetrators of the deliberate and horrid murder committed on Capt. Huddy should be given up, and that nothing should expatiate the diabolical deed, but a retaliation on the murderers, or on some other British officer now in our custody.--This spirited demand has occasioned great contention between British officers and the Refugees--the former are for complying with it, but the latter are for rejecting it. With a national consensus building for eye-for-an-eye retaliation , Washington embraced it. On May 3, he wrote General Moses Hazen, commanding the Continental Army prison camp in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Washington informed Hazen of the “barbarous line of Conduct” of the Loyalists who “have lately most inhumanly executed Captain Joshua Huddy.” Washington had therefore: Written to the British Commander in Chief, that unless the Perpetrators of that horrid deed were delivered up I should be under the disagreeable necessity of Retaliating, as the only means left to put a stop to such inhuman proceedings. You will therefore immediately on receipt of this designate, by Lot for the above purpose, a British Captain who is an unconditional Prisoner. The British officer selected for retaliation would be Charles Asgill, who was to be sent to Philadelphia and put under the direct care of the Continental government. Washington recognized the ugliness of the order and asked Hazen to treat Asgill well: “I need not mention to you that every possible tenderness, that is consistent with the Security of him, should be shown to the person whose unfortunate Lot it may be to suffer." The fate of Asgill is the subject of another article . As Washington moved toward retaliation—the punishment of an innocent for an atrocity committed by another person—the British looked to defuse the situation . They could not accede to Washington’s request to turn over Huddy’s executioner (Richard Lippincott), but they did convene a court martial to try Lippincott for murder. That is the subject of the next article. Related Historic Site : Camp Security (York, Pennsylvania) (in progress) Sources : George Washington, General Inquiry, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw240157)) ; George Washington to Andrew Skinner, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw240160)) ; George Washington to Henry Know, Richard J. Koke, "War, Profits, and Privateers Along the Je sey Coast," New York Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 41, 1957, p 337; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 171, item 152, vol. 10, #475; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post ; Journals of the Continental Congress, p217-8 ( www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html ); To George Washington from James Robertson, 1 May 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08307, ver. 2013-09-28); James Robertson, The Twilight of British Rule in Revolutionary America: The New York Letter Book of General James Robertson, 1780-1783 (New York: New York State Historical Association, 1983) pp. 243-4; James Madison to Edmund Randolph, Letters to Delegates of Congress, vol. 19, p186 ( www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html ); Elias Boudinot, Journal of Historical Recollections of Events During the Revolutionary War (Phila: Frederick Bourquin, 1894) p60-1; George Washington to Moses Hazen, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw240230); David Library of the American Revolution, Independent Gazetteer, n2, May 4, 1782. 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The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > 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 > Loyalists and American Prisoners Fish Off Sandy Hook by Michael Adelberg Small boats like this one fished the “Shrewsbury Banks” off Sandy Hook. In June 1782, the British permitted American prisoners to fish the banks to bring food to the horrid prison ships. - June 1782 - Today, the waters off Monmouth County contain only a small fraction of the fish and shellfish that inhabited the same waters during the Revolutionary War. Based on surviving documents, the most important fishery on the Jersey Shore was “the Shrewsbury Banks” near Shrewsbury Inlet (which connected the Shrewsbury River with the ocean). Johann Schoef, a German naturalist, visited Sandy Hook and Raritan Bay in 1783. While he complained of the mosquitoes, he was impressed by the quantity of seafood readily available. He wrote of the oysters: Often oysters climb so high on the beach, clinging to stones, roots of trees, &c. that at ebb-tide they are for many hours exposed quite to the air. Oysters are eaten raw, broiled on coals, baked with fat and in other ways; they are also dried, pickled, boiled in vinegar, and so preserved and transported. Schoef also wrote about shellfish; he was concerned that it dropped precipitously during the war: These waters furnish for the kitchen the Lobster... and crab. Before the war, lobsters were numerous, but for some years have been seldom seen. The fishermen's explanation was that the lobster was disturbed by the many ships' anchors and frightened by the cannon fire. There is also abundant evidence that the Shrewsbury Banks contained a significant fishery. A traveler to Sandy Hook, Adam Gordon, discussed the bountiful waters in 1765: “Behind the Hook when at sea, you make the Highland of Neversink… One may catch good sea bass and black fish aplenty, with ground bait.” A March 1784, the Pennsylvania Gazette advertised the sale of a 120-acre estate a Long Branch, noting the productivity of local waters: It [the estate] is directly opposite and within a mile of the great banks which supply the city of New York with black fish, sea bass and cod in such abundance, and the Jersey fishing-boats bring their fish to the very landing of this place. Whig and Loyalist fishermen found eager buyers for their catch, but the British, penned into the garrison city of New York, were particularly dependent on the Sandy Hook fishery. For example, in July 1778, Lt. Colonel John Morris, commanding a Loyalist battalion stationed on Sandy Hook, tolerated a deserter from his unit living amongst his men because the deserter, Jacob Wood, was supplying the officers with fresh fish taken from the local waters. The Dangers of Fishing Off the Shrewsbury Banks By 1779, fishermen on both sides faced the danger of capture when fishing near Sandy Hook. John Burrowes, a Continental Army captain serving at Middletown Point in April 1779, discussed the insecurity of Whig fishermen, “The oystermen will not go out for fear of the enemy, a King's galley yesterday drove all the fishermen off the shore & lays there yet." Two months later, a Pennsylvania ship captain named Doane beached on Sandy Hook but avoided capture because he “prevailed upon the [Loyalist] fishermen to land him in New Jersey." In 1780, James Mott, Jr., son of a New Jersey Assemblyman captured by Loyalists, sought a prisoner exchange—his father for Richard Reading who was “taken not many days ago, off the banks while afishing." A month later, Colonel Elias Dayton wrote George Washington of a plan to gain intelligence about the British fleet at Sandy Hook by sending spies "to follow the fishing [boats] to Sandy Hook until he gets thorough knowledge of every obstruction.” Meanwhile, Colonel David Forman wrote Washington of an American privateer sailing with London Trading and fishing boats at Sandy Hook: On Monday last, a privateer laying under Long Island, found by means of her situation & her English colours to introduce herself unsuspectful amidst fifteen of the trading vessels from Shrewsberry to New York - they was on a general fish party on the banks of the Shrewsberry. Throughout spring 1781, the Loyalist New York City Chamber of Commerce and the British Admiral commanding at New York, Marriott Arbuthnot, exchanged letters about manning a war galley to protect the Loyalist fishermen on the Shrewsbury Banks. Arbuthnot offered a vessel, but, due to confused communications, the Chamber of Commerce did not initially acknowledge it. In May, Isaac Lowe of the Chamber of Commerce promised to man the vessel if Arbuthnot would again make it available: If your Excellency will be so good as to furnish-a proper vessel, with provisions and ammunition, to protect the fishermen on the banks of Shrewsbury, for the benefit of this market, the Chamber of Commerce will cheerfully exert their endeavors and they doubt not they will be able, in a short time, not only to procure as many men as your Excellency may think sufficient for that purpose. It is unknown if this vessel ever put to sea. Throughout 1781 and 1782, the daring privateer , Adam Hyler made a number of descents among the fishing boats near Sandy Hook. Two examples are offered below. The Loyalist New York Gazette reported on May 29, 1782 that: Mr. [Adam] Hyler paid a visit to our fishing boats last Saturday and took three boats and a prize, inward bound, without [the Hook]; he was pursued by an armed vessel dispatched from one of his Majesty's ships, which obliged him to run the prizes ashore. A Loyalist newspaper reported that on June 19, "a number of fishing boats were just on the eve of being captured on the bank's by Hyler's boats; but luckily the Lark , privateer, inward bound, saved them from being convoyed to Middletown, & c." The actions of Hyler and, no doubt, others prompted a British officer to plead for greater protection of local fishermen to British Governor General James Robertson. Robertson was asked to "encourage fishermen to take fish to supply the garrison" by protecting them, so that they are not "annoyed by the privateers and whaleboat men.” Hyler’s privateer peers at New Brunswick, including Jacob Story, were also active off Sandy Hook. William Corlies, formerly of Shrewsbury, went over two New York in January 1781 and operated two London Trading vessels. In 1782, he admitted to London Trading with two other disaffected Monmouth Countians, Richard Hartshorne and William Salter. Corlies discussed the terms of his release: I was taken a prisoner in Sandy Hook Bay by Captain Story of an American whaleboat and lost most of my property - he ransomed the sloop & I was employed several weeks going back and forth to Woodbridge, settling the ransom money. Hyler, on some occasions, also ransomed captured Loyalists and released them on Sandy Hook. American Prisoners Fish the Shrewsbury Banks By June 1782, the British were making conciliatory gestures toward the Continental government. However, American prisoners continued to be held in New York Harbor on horrid, overcrowded prison ships (on which hundreds of Americans died from disease and malnutrition). Adequately provisioning these prisoners was a genuine challenge for the British—as New York was a garrison city unable to adequately feed its own loyal citizens, much less thousands of prisoners. An idea was proposed to let some prisoners provision themselves by fishing the Shrewsbury Banks. On June 12, 1782, Abraham Skinner, the Commissary of Prisoners for the Continental Government, wrote the Continental Congress: I am solicited by our Board of Prisoners at New York and the British Commissary to obtain permission for a boat to fish on the banks near Sandy Hook on the New Jersey coast. This boat they propose to man by some of the prisoners on board the prison ships and other places they are confined. Skinner noted that the prisoners needed a fishing boat. Accordingly, “the British commissary has also proposed to purchase within our lines a quantity of wood for which he will pay cash and it shall be for the use of the prisoners solely." Two weeks later, the War Office of the Continental Congress directed George Washington to permit fishing off the banks of Sandy Hook for the benefit of the prisoners. They told Washington that “our marine prisoners in New York… might be permitted to fish on the banks near Sandy Hook for their benefit.” To do this, a British commissary would need to “purchase wood for the use of our prisoners, within our lines, where it can be procured much cheaper than with the enemy, and will enable him to afford the prisoners a greater supply.” Washington was requested to support the plan: The distressed situation of those prisoners--the little probability there is that all of them will soon be liberated, and the necessity we are under not only to do every thing in our power to alleviate their sufferings but to convince them that they are the objects of our attention; in order to reconcile them as much as possible to the miseries of a Loathsome confinement, until they can be exchanged. While Congress supported the plan, it also apparently worried that supplies purchased in New Jersey to be shipped to New York could devolve into a London Trading scheme—indeed, ingenuous schemes were underway to do exactly that. Therefore, Congress asked Washington to “suspend it [sending wood to New York] whenever he finds that it is injurious or does not answer the good purposes intended." On July 1, James Madison, serving in Congress, penned a report "Respecting a Supply of the Marine Prisoners of Fish & Fuel," further supporting the proposal. There is no record of the fishing vessel(s) that the prisoners built. But because there is no documentation of the plan being halted, it is probable that the prisoners did build at least one boat and put to sea. Soon, Loyalist departures to Canada would at least partially relieve food shortages in New York. Nonetheless fishing the Shrewsbury Banks remained a dangerous activity—as clashes between British and American vessels continued off Sandy Hook into 1783. Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : Alfred Morrison, Travels in the Confederation, 1783-4, (Philadelphia: Joseph Campbell, 1911) p 15-9; Gordon’s account is in Newton Mereness, Mereness's Travels in the American Colonies, (Carlisle, MA: Applewood, 1916) p453; Pennsylvania Gazette, March 17, 1784; Charles Todd, Whale Boat Privateersmen of the American Revolution, p180; John Burrowes to Lord Stirling, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 57, April 5, 1779; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, June 23, 1779, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Isaac Lowe, letter, John Stevens, Colonial Records of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, 1768-1784 (New York: John F. Trow, 1867) p 285; James Mott to Asher Holmes, John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, 4 vols, Genealogical Publishing Co, 1970, v4, p90, 117; Elias Dayton to George Washington, June 1780, Monmouth County Historical Association, Diaries Collection, box 2, John Stillwell's Diary (photocopy); David Forman to George Washington, Monmouth County Historical Association, Diaries Collection, box 2, John Stillwell's Diary (photocopy); Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, May 29, 1782, reel 2906; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, June 19, 1782, reel 2906; Abraham Skinner to Congress, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 162, item 149, vol. 1, #433; Journals of the Continental Congress, June 28, 1782, American Memory, Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hlawquery.html ; the narrative of William Corlies in is Library of Congress, Revolutionary War Prize Cases, M162, reel 1, cases 91-2, David Forman v. Nathan Jackson; Report, July 1, 1782, The Papers of James Madison (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977) vol. 4, pp. 380-1. Previous Next

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

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Loyalists Raid Pleasant Valley during Winter Storm by Michael Adelberg Loyalists raided Pleasant Valley in Monmouth County in February 1782. Amidst snow and ice, they loaded five sleighs, like these used at Ft. Ticonderoga, with plunder and returned to Sandy Hook. - February 1782 - The popular belief is that Revolutionary War hostilities ceased after the British surrender at Yorktown. Yet in Monmouth County, hostilities continued with impunity, fired by vengeful Loyalists in New York and the need to continue provisioning a British Army penned into a perimeter roughly conforming to the boundaries of present-day New York City. In addition to a pervasive illegal trade between Monmouth County and British buyers at Sandy Hook and New York, emboldened Pine Robber gangs defeated local militia in southern Monmouth County. In northern Monmouth County, Loyalist irregulars at Sandy Hook and Staten Island continued to raid the county’s prosperous farms. Pleasant Valley (more or less, present-day Holmdel) was a neighborhood in western Middletown Township known for its prosperous farms and solidly Whig (pro-Revolution) families. In June 1781, a massive raiding party of near 1,500 men marched through the neighborhood, but spirited resistance from local militia and the county’s State Troops limited the impact of the raid. Monmouth County Loyalists, however, were tempted to attack Pleasant Valley again in February 1782. The February 1782 Pleasant Valley Raid According to a report printed in the Pennsylvania Evening Post , a 40-man Loyalist raiding party, led by Shore Stevenson (a former Lieutenant in the New Jersey Volunteers , now operating as a Loyalist partisan) "came over from Sandy Hook" into Pleasant Valley. They "took off upwards of 20 horses, five sleighs, which they loaded with plunder." The raiders also took eight prisoners at the home of Lieutenant Garrett Hendrickson. Two of the men at the house were not taken. Hendrickson’s son and William Thomson "slept in the second story of the house, being awakened by the noise below, secreted themselves.” They “escaped and went to the house of Capt. John Schenck, whom they alarmed.” Schenck, a “gallant officer” who had previously co-led a daring raid against Brooklyn, “collected a small party... arrived at the Gut just as they had gotten the prisoners" and a few horses over the Gut and onto Sandy Hook. He attacked the raiders, and took twelve prisoners. In the fighting, Thomson was killed and a man named Cottrell was shot in the knee. After the skirmish, Schenck, on his return home "suddenly fell in with Stevenson and 16 others who had remained behind... a firing ensued on both sides." Stevenson’s men fled when the militia charged with bayonets. During this second skirmish, however, nine of the twelve prisoners taken at the Gut escaped. In total, the Loyalists took 21 prisoners, nineteen horses, and five loaded sleighs of booty. The Loyalists "huzzaed and boasted of their success" as they departed and claimed "they would penetrate as far as Mount Pleasant" (adjacent to Pleasant Valley) on their next excursion. Antiquarian sources add to the newspaper account. One source claims that the raiders had come for Captain Schenck, who had a bounty on his head in New York and may have been serving as the Middletown Township tax collector. Schenck reportedly slept in different houses in order to make it impossible for Loyalist parties to know his whereabouts. Lieutenant Henderickson, whose house was struck by the raiders, had been wounded at the so-called Battle of the 1500 in 1781 and had one of his hands amputated after that battle. Henderickson was temporarily captured during the raid, but freed himself during chaotic skirmish at the Gut. One of the local militiamen who battled the raiders was Derrick Sutphin, a newlywed at the time. Altche Sutphin wrote about Derrick’s participation in the raid in his veteran’s pension application, submitted as Derrick’s widow. She recalled her groom "being out just a few days before their marriage... when a fellow soldier by the name of William Thomson was killed on Middletown Highlands, who was buried in the immediate neighborhood of this declarant.” Derrick Sutphin's sister, Elizabeth Snyder, further recalled: The wedding party dared not remain overnight at the house, but dispersed early in the evening for fear of the Tories who would be upon them - that the bride remained at his house while the groom, the said Sutphin, was called out in the service before the week was out, by the alarm gun being fired at Colo. [Asher] Holmes's; he joined the scouting party which went to Middletown Point in pursuit of the Tories - he returned in a few days. A week after the raid, Colonel David Forman wrote to Governor William Livingston about the raid and the vulnerability of northern Monmouth County. He summarized the raid: The enemy marched undiscovered to Pleasant Valley and captured eight valuable citizens and their Negroes, and would have made their retreat good had it not been for a body of ice that broke loose and detained them for several hours on the passage to Sandy Hook. The principal object was the Town Collector, they took him and his two sons, but fortunately the public money had been sent away a short time before. Forman enclosed a petition calling "for a guard to be called from the interior counties for protection of our frontiers, commanded by Capt. [John] Walton of the Horse." Forman alluded to talk between Livingston and Thomas Henderson, representing Monmouth County in the state legislature, in which the Governor reportedly admitted to "the inability of Capt. Walton's troops giving security to our very extensive frontiers" at their present strength. As noted in the previous article, recruitment for the State Troops was going badly, with only a few dozen men enlisted at the time of Forman’s letter. In comparison, Monmouth County’s State Troop regiment , first chartered in 1779, topped 100 men each year prior to 1782. Forman complained that New Jersey’s interior counties "enjoy almost perfect tranquility" while Monmouth County remained in a state of war. The February 1782 Colts Neck Raid To underscore his point about Monmouth County's vulnerability, Forman alluded to a second raid that occurred just a few days after the Pleasant Valley fight. He wrote: "They [the Loyalists] were off again, plundered Capt. [Moses] Shepherd of Middletown and took his son prisoner, the Capt. had happened to be from home or he would have shared the same fate." The New Jersey Gazette reported on this second raid on March 6: “A party of refugees, to the amount of upwards of one hundred, under the command of one Ryerson, made an incursion last week in the County of Monmouth as far as Colt's Neck." The reported size of the raiding party is almost certainly exaggerated. The report lampooned Loyalist raiders and portrayals of their raids in Loyalist newspapers: They have with singular bravery made sundry sorties upon the sheep and the calves, making great numbers of them prisoner. This, no doubt, will be ushered in the Royal Gazette as the most glorious achievement. The two February raids into northern Monmouth County, in the middle of the winter, demonstrate that: Loyalists were vengeful and desperate enough to raid several miles into Monmouth County in the midst of snow, ice, and winter cold. Conversely, Monmouth county’s defenses were weak. Local militia was spirited but reactive—it could not adequately patrol the county’s long shorelines. The county’s State Troops had shrunk from greater than a hundred men in 1780 and 1781, to just a few dozen in 1782—half of whom were stationed thirty miles away in Toms River . Militia from other counties only intermittently came to Monmouth County’s aid, even when ordered to do so by the Governor. George Washington opposed stationing Continental soldiers in Monmouth County after several prior deployments went badly. In 1782, the local war in Monmouth County raged without interruption, long after the British surrender at Yorktown supposedly ended hostilities. Related Historic Site : Holmes Hendrickson House Sources : Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; New Jersey Gazette, February 13, 1782, reel 1930; William Horner, This Old Monmouth of Ours (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932) p 417; Monmouth County Historical Association, Articles File: "Whaleboat War Anniversary"; David Forman to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, p 380; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Derrick Sutphin; library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, March 6, 1782, reel 1930; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File, unpublished manuscript at the Monmouth County Historical Association. Previous Next