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 > Burying the Dead and Recovering the Wounded after the Battle of Monmouth by Michael Adelberg The Battle of Monmouth raged around the Tennent Church in Manalapan. The church became an impromptu hospital as wounded were brought there throughout and after the battle. - June 1778 - When the British Army withdrew from Freehold and headed for Middletown following the Battle of Monmouth, the Continental Army was left in possession of the battlefield. By European military tradition, possession of the battlefield gave the Continental Army the honor of claiming victory. With this honor came responsibility for considering the damages of the battle and cleaning up a battlefield strewn with the bodies of hundreds of dead and dying men. Burying the Dead George Washington called upon Lt. Colonel Cornelius Van Dyke to coordinate the grim task of locating and burying the dead. Early on June 29, the Army’s general orders included this notice: "a party of 200 men to parade immediately & bury the slain of both armies." Van Dyke divided the men into thirteen burial parties. After two days of burial duty, he compiled "A Report of the British and American Troops Fallen in the Action near Monmouth & Buried Under Care of Coll. Van Dyke and Different Officers.” The report indicated his parties buried 190 British and 29 Continental bodies; 27 more British were buried "by different inhabitants." Van Dyke noted that additional British soldiers were buried by the enemy before it left Freehold and were not included in his tally. According to the British “Inventory of Losses by the British Army” compiled immediately after the battle, that was another 60 men. Combined, these sources suggest that 304 men were buried on the battlefield. This does not include men who died elsewhere during the Monmouth campaign, or wounded who died shortly after the battle. Other Continental accounts offer similar, but not the same number, as Van Dyke’s 304 buried bodies. Continental Army Officer, Persefor Frazer, wrote that "258 have been buried by a party sent from our Army for that purpose.” Frazer also noted that “a great number were buried by” the British before they left Freehold “and numbers more have been interred by the Country people." Continental Army Officer James Chambers wrote on June 30 that the previous day "our fatigue parties were collecting the dead in piles and burying them." Chambers wrote that the parties buried 200 British and 30 Americans. A few days after the battle, Gen. Joseph Cilley wrote that “left on the field, about three hundred of the enemy's dead, with several officers.” George Washington’s Secretary, James McHenry, wrote on June 30: “As we remained masters of the ground, of course the burying of the dead became our duty, the returns of the parties employed for that purpose amount to 233 killed.” All but 52 of the bodies were from the British Army. In addition to the battlefield dead, McHenry said that 30-40 British soldiers died from skirmishing during the Monmouth Campaign and 100 more British died from heat stroke during the march. Washington, in his report to Congress about the battle, avoided providing a precise figure: “By accounts from Monmouth more of the Enemy's dead have been found. It is said the number buried by us and the Inhabitants exceeds three Hundred." Two accounts suggest a much larger body count. Dr. Samuel Adams of the New Jersey Line suggested that 300 British fell during the battle and 200 more Continentals. John Chittendon of Connecticut claimed that he "he helped berry [sic] 500 dead bodies." It is possible that Adams and Chittendon offered higher figures because they included the apparently large number of bodies found after Van Dyke’s burial parties quit the field. Sgt. Enos Barnes wrote of being sent to gather up the dead on June 29: "Our next business was to gather the dead together in order to bury them, which we did, going about in wagons, loading them up, bringing them together and burying about twelve or fourteen a hole." Captain John Nice, wrote about finding dead bodies "on the field and strewn through the woods; more was found afterwards by the country people when they began to smell." Dr. William Read wrote about dead soldiers left in a bog, “mired to the waist and probably shot." The “country people” of Freehold Township spent several days burying the dead. Richard Kidder Meade, a Continental officer, wrote from the Continental camp Englishtown on June 29 that "many of their dead have been buried by the country people, and other bodies since found." General Anthony Wayne wrote that while Continental burial parties “remained on the ground for two or three days after the action to bury the dead” the country people “discovered more bodies every day in the woods." And, as noted above, Persefor Frazer noted that many additional dead “interred by the Country people.” Recovering and Caring for the Wounded The British left, according to General James Pattison, 45 wounded men when they retreated from Freehold . They did so, because "we were under necessity of leaving a great part of our wounded officers and men behind, for want of a sufficiency of wagons to bring them off." David Griffith of Virginia offered a slightly more detailed account on the British wounded left behind. They [the British Army] retreated in a great hurry in the night, leaving behind them at Monmouth Court House, four Captains & forty-nine Privates and Sergeants, with a surgeon to take care of them. These were all too badly wounded to be moved. They left behind all the officers & prisoners they had taken in their march, which consisted chiefly of militia & people they had taken from their houses. James McHenry noted that other British wounded were recovered beyond those left at the Court House. McHenry wrote, "they left at Monmouth Court House 45 of their own, we found several others in the field… near some little brooks, we found a dozen of their soldiers.” The French officer Chevalier de Pontigibaud left Englishtown for Freehold and saw several corpses from heatstroke: "We found many soldiers dead without having received a wound.” On reaching Freehold, he wrote: “The enemy had left some of his baggage behind and his wounded; they were to be found in every house and in the [St. Peter’s] church." Dr. William Read wrote vividly about finding wounded on the field. Read came upon a British officer in his final minutes: Saw an officer lying a few yards from the morass, nearly cut in two by cannon shot; he was alive and spoke, implored Dr Read to lift him to a tree which stood near, alleging he had been all night trying to do so 'so that he might die easy'. The clotted blood was piled up several inches on his front and it had ceased to flow... they placed him against a tree, the blood now began to flow precipitately and in all probability terminated his life. He came upon another British soldier calling for water and "uttering the most dreadful and severe imprecations of the rebels.” He brought water to this man and others. While helping the wounded, "some country people and Negroes coming to the field of carnage, Dr. Read enlisted their feelings, and hired them to assist in turning these wounded men, and at length in procuring wagons and straw to remove them to the Court House.” The wounded were generally taken to two improvised hospitals at the Tennent Church in Manalapan and the county courthouse in Freehold. Captain John Shreve wrote about the activity at the Tennent Church on June 29: I halted at the Presbyterian Meeting House & barn, both filled with wounded men of the American and the English; the surgeons of both armies (the enemy had left several), after having been twenty-four hours dressing the wounded, had not got through. Dr. Read, as noted above, spent June 29 bringing 21 men from the battlefield to the county courthouse. He tended to the wounded, "aided by lint and bandages" supplied by locals. "Dr Read continued to dwell in the Court House, sleeping in the Judge's bench" and serving the wounded "at his own expense." Read continued to tend to the wounded at the courthouse until July 4 when he was relieved by two surgeons from New York. Continental doctors stayed at Freehold into August. Dr. Samuel Adams of Continental Army worried that in the summer heat, the wounded were in "no very agreeable situation, the ground being rather low, and the air confined by surrounding woods, which makes fever and ague flourish here." It is unknown exactly how many men successfully convalesced and how many died in Freehold in the summer of 1778, but at least two men died. Matthew Roads, a musician in the New Jersey Line, died at Englishtown shortly after the Battle of Monmouth (having fallen from heatstroke). Private John Sayre of the Essex County Militia, wounded in battle, fell into a coma on the 29th and died ten days later. Others recovered. Moses Etsey of Middlesex County recalled having a “wound that bled very freely, but not dangerously.” He received encouraging words from George Washington: Whilst bleeding, General Washington rode up to him, inquired very kindly by the nature & entry of his wound, directing that he should be carried to a place where his wound could be dressed, enjoining him to be very careful of infection until his recovery. Joseph Kelly of Middletown (serving in the Pennsylvania Line) recalled being wounded in the battle: He [I] was wounded while at the cannon, two bullets or ounce balls entered into the sides of the calf of his leg and the big toe on the left foot, tore off, the balls were taken out afterwards, but a buckshot he received in his right knee is still in the joint of the knee, which has never been entreated. This deponent, after being wounded, was taken to a house near the battleground, where his wounds were dressed, he was then carried to the meeting house where the wounded was taken, and staid [sic] there until he was able to join the army. Cannot remember the date he returned to the army. Joel Bower of New York was also wounded that day. He spent the night on the battlefield before being rescued: "The next day we were conveyed a few miles to a barn which was used as a kind of temporary hospital. From this place, we were sent to Morristown." Following the battle, different parties carried the wounded to hospitals in Princeton, Hightstown, and Morristown. June 29 Army orders noted that “A sergeant & 12 men from Genl. Maxwell's Brigade to guard the sick to Princeton." A party of Monmouth militia was sent “"to Hightstown with four wounded men, who were to be conveyed to the hospital." Mark Lender and Garry Stone, in their exhaustive study of the Battle of Monmouth, noted that most of the wounded were transported to permanent hospitals in Princeton and Morristown, but the men who were too wounded to move stayed in Monmouth County, where they were cared for in private homes. The British Army assisted by sending two surgeons to Englishtown on June 30 and two more surgeons, along with a wagon of medical supplies, a few days later. Indeed, General Henry Clinton "thanked Gen Washington by flag for his humane and generous treatment of the wounded and for the honors of war paid Col. [Henry] Monckton and other officers who were killed and left on the field of action." A letter published in the London Gazette also praised the Continental Army’s treatment of wounded British soldiers: We have accounts from Freehold that the four wounded officers of the Royal Army left with the soldiery, the flag, the surgeons, are as well as can be expected and are treated in a manner that does much honor to the American gentlemen whose protection and care they are under. The humanity shown to British soldiers in July would not be reciprocated the next time British and Continental troops clashed near Monmouth County. In a nighttime attack in October, British and Loyalist regulars would slaughter dozens of Continentals camped on Osborn Island at the southern tip of present-day Ocean County. That is the subject of a different article. Related Historic Site : Old Tennent Church Sources : 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. 239-41; Jedidiah Huntington’s Orderly Book, New York Historical Society, Orderly Books Collection, reel 5, #60-61; Henry Lee, Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States. (New York: University Publishing Co., 1869), p 113; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p 508; British Army Return, Monmouth County Historical Association, Collections Alphabetical, Revolution folder 1; Persifor Fraser, General Persifor Fraser (1907), pp. 182-3; Joseph Cilley’s letter in Elliott Cogswell, History of Nottingham, Deerfield and Northwood (Manchester: John Clarke, 1878) p 181; George Washington to Congress, July 7, 1778, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw120194)) ; Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of John Chittendon of CT, National Archives, p5; Sgt. Enoch Barnes Diary, Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Battle of Monmouth files: folder - James Kochan; Albert Venderveer’s account in Three Generations from the Battle of Monmouth, Journal of the NY State Historical Association, vol. 9, n 3, July 1928, p 279-84; Report of Troops Fallen at Monmouth, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, roll 50, transcribed by Garry Wheeler Stone; John Thompson, Revolutionary Letters, The Southern Literary Messenger, vol. 28, April 1859, p 298; Robert Douglas, The Chevalier de Pontgibaud, a French Volunteer of the War of Independence (New York: Leopold Classic Library, 2015) p 56; Garrard, L. H., Chambersburg in the Colony and in the Revolution (Philadelphia, 1856) pp. 51-2; William Read’s account in John Rees, 'What is this You have been about Today?': The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth, www.revwar75/library/rees/monmouth/Monmouth.htm, p 32-3; Frederic Kidder, History of the First New Hampshire Regiment in the War of the Revolution (Albany, NY: Joel Munsell, 1868) pp. 42-3; The Battle of Monmouth, as Described by Dr. James McHenry, Secretary to Gen. Washington, with notes by Thomas H. Montgomery, Magazine of American History, June 1879, pp. 355-60; Copy: Letter of Capt. John Shreve, David Library, Battle of Monmouth Collection, #5; Robert Morris to Mr. Cooper, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder "Battle of Monmouth"; Anthony Wayne, The Life and Services of Gen. Anthony Wayne (Philadelphia, 1845), p. 64; David Griffith to Hannah Griffith, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder "Battle of Monmouth"; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p199; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Kelley of PA, www.fold3.com/image/# 26180227; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joel Bower of New York, www.fold3.com/image/#11092848 ; Orderly Book of the 8th Massachusetts Regt., Book 2, June-August 1778, Huntington Library, HM 719; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Samuel Burke; Samuel Adams to Sally Adams, letter, July 2, 1778; NYHS, Gilder-Lehrman Collection; Samuel Adams to Sally Adams, letter, David Library of the American Revolution, Sol Feinstone Collection, reel 1, #28-30; Return of Dead Bodies, Correspondence File: letter from The Friends of the Monmouth Battlefield; "Notes on the Battle of Monmouth" (orginally published in the London Gazette, September 17, 1778), reprinted in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 14, 1890, pp. 46-47. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Monmouth's Slaves Seek Freedom Behind British Lines by Michael Adelberg In 1775, Virginia’s Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation promising freedom to the slaves of rebels who joined the British Army. British generals would issue similar promises. - July 1776 - The landing of the British Army at Sandy Hook (June 30) and Staten Island (July 7) created a powerful magnet for Loyalists and others in unhappy situations in New Jersey and New York. As discussed in a prior article, Monmouth County’s African American population knew of British proclamations promising freedom to the slaves of rebels who would join the British Army. Many African Americans became restive or militant. With the British strong and near, joining them was, no doubt, alluring to many of Monmouth County’s slaves. On July 23, Daniel Hendrickson of Tinton Falls, who replaced Samuel Breese as the colonel of Shrewsbury Township’s militia, reported to the New Jersey Convention that "Negro slaves have run off and were on board the enemy's fleet.” He requested and received permission to go the British fleet and negotiate for their return. As discussed in a prior article, two of the slaves in question were regarded as the property of William Kipping and John Corlies. The British returned the runaways to their bondsmen. But it is likely that Hendrickson was referring to more than just these two slaves in his request to the Convention. The result of Hendrickson’s visit to the British is unknown. So, if Hendrickson brought back only two slaves, many others may have earned their freedom. In prior work, the author compiled a table of Monmouth County slaves who sought refuge behind British lines during the American Revolution. A condensed version of this information is as follows by year and # of escaped slaves: 1776 - Five 1777 - Six 1778 - Eight 1779 - Five 1780 - Three 1781- Four 1782 - Six Year Unknown - Three Importantly, this information demonstrates that Monmouth County slaves took refuge behind British lines every year of the war. While adult men were the majority of runaways, women and entire families escaped behind British lines as well. 28 of the 40 documented escaped slaves were from Shrewsbury and Middletown townships, the townships proximate to Sandy Hook. Because of incomplete documentation, the table above surely undercounts the full number of escaped slaves. Slaves demonstrated an understanding of the tumultuous politics of this period. As the British and Loyalists swept into New Jersey during the toward the end of 1776, slaves came to the Loyalist Commissioners appointed by the British; these men were empowered to free slaves if the slave took a Loyalty oath and demonstrated the disloyalty of his or her bondsman. John Pope testified that on December 13, 1776, he spoke with one of those commissioners, John Lawrence, about this: I mentioned to Mr. Lawrence that the Negroes were getting information against their masters in order to have them taken into custody and to have themselves freed thereby - Mr. Lawrence replied that it was an infamous practice and most discountenanced. Regardless of Lawrence’s sentiment, slaves were indeed freed during this time period. One of these recently freed slaves, a man named Sip, participated in the December Loyalist uprising known as the “Tory Ascendancy ”. In May 1777, Abraham Lane testified: The fore part of January last, this deponent was at the house of Thomas Lockerson [Thomas Okerson] and saw Sip, a negro man, the property of Peter Parker, when the said negro said he supposed that the damned rebels would soon be after him, but if they did, he would take shot amongst them... Sip at this time had a gun with him, that he got from Peter Wardell, a Tory refugee. At least two other runaway slaves (and probably more) participated in the Loyalist uprising. In May 1777, Captain John Dennis of Shrewsbury petitioned the New Jersey Council of Safety for the release of two African Americans, Joe and Scipio, who were formerly slaves of Peter Parker and John Slocum. According to a letter from Governor William Livingston they were “among a number of other prisoners hurried to jail in Philadelphia” immediately after the collapse of the Loyalist uprising. Dennis claimed: [Joe and Scipio] were sometime last February taken prisoner by the Memorialist on suspicion of having been in arms & aiding the Enemy, & afterwards sent to Philadelphia where they have been confined since... The masters of sd Negroes are desirous of having the matter heard and have prevailed upon your memorialist to lay a state of the charge before your Board, which he is ready to do, whenever the Board shall be pleased to hear him. Dennis, Slocum and Parker appeared before the New Jersey Council of Safety on May 22. Parker and Slocum agreed to compensate the State of New Jersey for the expenses of holding the slaves and posting bonds for their future good behavior. While the future “good behavior” of Joe and Scipio is unknown, it is known that dozens of Monmouth County ultimately achieved freedom by going behind British lines. By 1780, many were participating in an unofficial partisan organization known as “the Black Brigade.” The raids of the Black Brigade against the militia and leaders of eastern Monmouth County were among the more effective and punishing of the war. Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, p 1651; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 1, p 602-3; Michael Adelberg, The American Revolution in Monmouth County (History Press: Charleston, SC, 2010) p83; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives of History, Council of Safety, box 1, document #41; NJ Council of Safety, New Jersey State Archives, box 2; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) pp. 43, 52. New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 4, May 12, 1777; William Livingston to Richard Bache, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, p 338; Willam Livingston to PA Board of War, in Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 5, p 348. 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 > Upper Freehold's First Loyalist Insurrection by Michael Adelberg John Lawrence was a respected political leader, attorney, and surveyor. He was entrusted to draw the line that split East New Jersey and West New Jersey. - June 1776 - In June 1776, the debate over independence forced Americans to take sides. In Monmouth County, large numbers of people were opposed . As noted in prior articles, Monmouth Countians authored nine anti-independence petitions and refused to turn out for the militia in much of eastern Monmouth County. But it was in the westernmost township of Upper Freehold where hostility to independence first came to a head. The first evidence of exceptional disaffection in Upper Freehold was recorded by the New Jersey Provincial Congress. On June 24, it received "a letter enclosed by the Committee of Monmouth, enclosing an association signed by certain Disaffected persons." The same day the Congress received a second letter, “that Coll. Forman [Samuel Forman of Upper Freehold], and his minute men seizing several disaffected persons... without the express command of that Committee, though approved by them afterwards." The next day, the Provincial Congress received a memorial from Moses Ivins and Richard Robins of Upper Freehold. They were vocal opponents of independence. Two weeks earlier, they were summoned to appear before the Provincial Congress. The memorial offered “reasons for their refusal of the summons." Ivins, who was apparently being detained, soon sent another letter "praying a hearing, confessing their faults, offering to make discoveries and praying discharge." Ivins likely appeared and revealed information about a budding Loyalist insurrection. The day after his confession, the New Jersey Provincial Congress, declared: It appears, from undoubted intelligence, that there are several Insurgents in the County of Monmouth, who take every measure in their power to contravene the Regulations of Congress, and to oppose the cause of American freedom; and as it is highly necessary that an immediate check be given to so daring a spirit of disaffection: It is therefore Resolved, unanimously, that Colonel Charles Read take to his aid two companies of the militia of the County of Burlington, properly officered and armed, and proceed without delay to the County of Monmouth, in order to apprehend such Insurgents and disaffected persons. Due to dysfunction in the Monmouth militia, the Provincial Congress turned to a neighboring county to restore order. The order also specially named a number of persons to be arrested, at least three of whom would become hostile Loyalists later in the war: Richard Robins, Anthony Woodward, Guisebert Giberson. Read’s men were not immediately effective. On June 29, the Provincial Congress received: Two Memorials, the one from the County Committee of Monmouth, the other from the Committee of Safety of that County, respecting certain disaffected persons in said County, and requesting that this Congress would take some decisive order therein. Three days later, on the same day that the Provincial Congress approved a new constitution that severed ties to Royal authority, additional action was ordered against the Monmouth insurgents: Resolved that Colonel Charles Read and Lt. Col. Samuel Forman... take two hundred Burlington County militia, and proceed without delay, in order to quell the aforesaid insurrection, and to disarm and take prisoner whomsoever they shall find assembled with the intent to oppose the friends of American freedom... and the said officers are empowered to take such measures as they shall think necessary for this service. Read and Forman were further ordered to bring the men they took to the Burlington jail, likely because the Monmouth jail was deemed insufficiently secure for holding Loyalist prisoners. That same day, John Covenhoven of Freehold, a delegate in the Provincial Congress, warned the Provincial Congress that some Loyalist insurrectionaries were “embodying themselves, and a considerable number encamped at the Cedar Swamps” near Sandy Hook. From here, they were expected to join the British Army. He asked Congress to "send forward all the assistance in your power." The New Jersey Provincial Congress, now renamed the New Jersey Convention, reported the troubles in Monmouth County to the Continental Congress. On July 3, the day before adopting the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress considered affairs in Monmouth County: The Congress took into consideration the letter from the Convention of New Jersey, whereupon: Resolved, that the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania be requested to send as many troops of their Colony as they can spare to Monmouth County, in New Jersey, to the assistance of the inhabitants. John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, promptly requested help from Pennsylvania: The Congress being informed by an express from the Convention of New Jersey that a number of Tories are embodying themselves in the County of Monmouth, and a considerable number are already encamped in the cedar swamps, and as the power of the militia in that County have marched to New York for the defense of that important place ...I apply to you and request that you would immediately send as many troops as your colony can spare to Monmouth County, for the defense and the assistance of the militia and inhabitants. The same day, the New Jersey Convention revised its orders to Colonels Read and Forman: Take two hundred of the Militia of Burlington County and two hundred of the Militia of Monmouth, and proceed, without delay, in order to quell the aforesaid insurrection, and to disarm and take prisoners whomsoever they shall find assembled with intent to oppose the friends of American freedom. The troubles in Monmouth County were also noticed by George Washington in New York. On July 4, he wrote about “the disaffection of the people at that place and others not far distant… unless it is checked and overawed, it may become more general, and be very alarming." Also on July 4, Samuel Forman, the militia Colonel for Upper Freehold, wrote to Colonel Charles Read, "I have ordered 200 men to meet at the Court House tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock, to be taken out of the company of Lower Freehold. The notice was so short that I could not send to Shrewsbury & Middletown in time to get their assistance without delaying you." Forman said he would march his men to Imlaystown and link up with Read. Forman also suggested that John Lawrence, one of Monmouth County’s most prominent citizens, was at the head of “the Tory party.” Forman had interrogated a man named Foster, “who they [the Tories] pressed in their service & forced him to take their oath.” Foster named a number of men in the Tory party, including Anthony Woodward (who would lead a subsequent Loyalist insurrection) and Elisha Lawrence (the former county sheriff who would soon become a Lt. Colonel in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers ). He said that "sundry others to the amount of about 30 went on board of Thomas Chadwick's boat, said to be bound for the British fleet." As Forman was mustering the Monmouth militia, the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety acted on John Hancock’s request: It ordered 150 men under Col. Broadhead to go to Bordentown, get provisions, and march to Monmouth County. However, on July 6 Broadhead was still in Philadelphia. In a letter, he acknowledged his orders "but as no particular part of sd county is mentioned & every man in the detachment strangers to that county." Broadhead claimed needing a guide before deploying. Meanwhile, Read’s men made their first arrests and some of whom went before the New Jersey Convention on July 4. The Convention recorded that: Numbers have expressed willingness to return to their duty upon assurances of pardon, alleging that they have been seduced by the false and malicious reports of others...It is therefore resolved that all such persons as shall without delay return peaceably to their homes, and conform with the orders of Congress, shall be treated with lenity and indulgence; and upon their good behavior, shall be restored to the favor of their Country. The Convention also ordered that supplies be brought to Bordentown for Col. Broadhead. Two days later, Col. Charles Read was at Imlaystown with Samuel Forman. They had captured John Lawrence “on information of his qualifying men to join the insurgents” and four other men. Read estimated the strength of the remaining insurgents at “50 or 60 men.” He concluded, however, that the most ardent Loyalists had escaped: “I am afraid the principals are flown." The Pennsylvanians were unhelpful. It is unclear when Col. Broadhead made it to Monmouth County, but another Pennsylvania regiment, under Colonel Samuel Miles, was already in New Jersey. He was ordered to “disperse and disarm” the Loyalists on July 8. But the orders apparently did not reach Miles quickly. He had marched into eastern New Jersey before returning to Upper Freehold. He later recorded: Sent a body of men to suppress an insurrection in Monmouth County, N. Jersey, and Lt. Col. Broadhead was sent with a detachment of 400 men, but the Whigs in that State had completed the business before his arrival. By the end of July, it appears that the Loyalist insurrection was quelled, but not crushed. The insurrection’s apparent leader, John Lawrence, was detained and the New Jersey Convention would soon fine four of the more prominent insurrectionaries: Richard Robins, John Leonard, Thomas Woodward and Ezekiel Forman. As for the less strident Loyalists, Charles Read understood that they would remain a problem . He frankly apprised the situation in Upper Freehold on August 4: "We have no doubt that there are persons, some of them of note, who are acting a very improper part, but we do not really know what to do with them.” As for the party of strident Loyalists now with the British, they would be heard from again. Related Historic Site : Historic Walnford Sources : Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p136-43; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, pp. 1628-9; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornel University Press, 2009) p 474; "Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1629-30; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornel University Press, 2009) pp. 475, 482-4; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p136; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, p 1630-1; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornel University Press, 2009) p 478; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1630; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p136-43; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey, 1775-1776 (Trenton, NJ: Naar, Day, Naar, 1879) pp. 482-484; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, p 1663; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1632, 1635; Journal of Col Samuel Miles, Pennslyvania Archives, Series II, Journal of Col. Samuel Miles, v 1, p519; John Covenhoven to Continental Congress, "Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v1: p 1-2; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 1, p 1165; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, p 508; John Hancock to Pennsylvania Convention, Pennslyvania Archives, Series 1, v 4, p781-2; Journals of the Continental Congress, p508 ( www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html ); Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 4, pp. 377-8; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1637; George Washington, Official Letters to the Honorable American Congress Written During the War between the United Colonies and Great Britain (Boston: Manning & Loring, 1795) v 1, p181; Samuel Forman, "Tory Movements in New Jersey on Howe's Arrival at Staten Island", Historical Magaizine, vol. 5, 1861, p 7; Historical Society of Pennsylvania, New Jersey Papers, Historical MSS, 1654-1853, p 201, 203; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p137; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, p 1636; "Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1638-9; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p138; Samuel Forman, "Tory Movements in New Jersey on Howe's Arrival at Staten Island", Historical Magazine, vol. 5, 1861, pp. 7-8; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, p 1665. Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of New Jersey (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) p 545; Joseph Reed, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blankston, 1847, p 212; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post, July 9, 1776. 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 Privateering of Captain Yelverton Taylor on the Jersey Shore by Michael Adelberg In small, fast ships like the Mars, Yelverton Taylor emerged as the most successful privateer captain to operate along the Monmouth shore during the Revolutionary War. - September 1778 - While the capture of the Venus in August 1778 by privateers David Stevens and Micajah Smith was the first capture of a great British ship along the Jersey shore, Philadelphia’s Yelverton Taylor was the first great privateer captain of the Jersey shore. Taylor operated out of Little Egg Harbor, at the junction of Gloucester, Burlington and Monmouth counties. Historian Donald Shomette described Little Egg Harbor and its inland village of Chestnut Neck at the start of the Revolution. The harbor was shallow, unmarked, and “perforated” with sand bars. The Mullica River which connected the harbor with the village, was thirty feet deep in stretches but twisted by sharp meanders and shifting shoals. Only local pilots could bring a ship upriver without it grounding. Chestnut Neck "could not be a considered a town," consisting of only a dozen dwellings and a tavern. Philadelphia ships used Little Egg Harbor in the winter when the Delaware River froze, and ships began using the port year-round when the British blockaded Delaware Bay and patrolled the Jersey Shore in spring 1776. The increased ship traffic provoked a British attack in June 1777 when a three-ship flotilla entered the Mullica River and took two vessels, and then took three more while departing. This attack led to the construction of a fort at the Fox Burrows of the Mullica River, but the cannon were never put into the fort. They were likely used by a privateer. By summer 1778, Little Egg Harbor was a booming port town. By summer 1778, Little Egg Harbor was the epicenter of Jersey Shore privateering. On July 6, British Admiral James Gambier wrote about these privateers. He called for more “20-gun ships coppered, sloops, cutters, and small vessels” but worried that even with more ships “the rebels can now muster threescore sail from their different ports.” He further worried “we have such a range of coast and… numberless difficulties” protecting British supply lines. In July 1778, with a powerful French fleet forcing the British into a defensive posture, privateering on the Jersey Shore truly blossomed. This is evidenced by establishment of regular admiralty courts to adjudicate the prizes. From Philadelphia, Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress, observed the rise of privateering at Little Egg Harbor. He wrote on July 22: “I am told no less than 12 Prizes lately taken are advertised for sale on Tuesday next at Egg Harbour.” It was from this boomtown that Yelverton Taylor emerged. His success is demonstrated by the upward progression of ships that he captained out of Little Egg Harbor. With his successes, he gained prize money necessary to put to sea in ever larger ships. By 1779, he was attacking vessels that he would have evaded in his first vessel. First Known Date / Taylor’s Vessel / Number of Guns / Crew Size June 27, 1778 Comet # of guns: 4 Crew: 25 September 30, 1778 Mars # of guns: 8 Crew : 35 July 29, 1779 Mars # of guns: 14 Crew: 60 Note: Taylor captained two different vessels named Mars . It is likely that Taylor first put to sea as a privateer captain on June 27, 1778, just days after British naval vessels completed their evacuation of Philadelphia. He would have waited for the British fleet to clear the Delaware Bay (June 30) and sail for Sandy Hook before putting himself into the sea lane along the Monmouth shore in search of smaller and unescorted vessels bound for New York. Early Captures On July 27, the New Jersey Gazette reported Taylor’s first captures, each of which was deposited at Little Egg Harbor (called Egg Harbor at the time). His first two prizes were the schooner Carolina Packet (under Capt. Walter Belts) with cargo of 16,000 bushels of salt and the sloop Lucy (Capt. Thomas Grandle) with cargo of rice and indigo. While these were small ships, they were fully loaded with goods in great demand. The vessels were sold at auction at Egg Harbor on September 11. Taylor’s next two documented prizes are recorded in the Maryland Journal , on September 8: "The privateer sloop Comet , Capt. Taylor of Egg Harbour, has brought into a safe port, a brig from Jamaica bound for New York, laden with rum, sugar, coffee and molasses--also a schooner from France, retaken with dry goods." The interest of a Baltimore newspaper in Taylor’s prizes is revealed by a Pennsylvania Evening Post report on September 19 about Taylor’s next prize. The Philadelphia newspaper reported that Taylor had arrived in the city with "the schooner, Smallwood , belonging to Maryland, taken on her passage to Curacao by a British tender, and retaken by Captain Taylor of Egg Harbor." A few days later, the New Jersey Gazette advertised an admiralty court to be held in Allentown on October 10 to hear Taylor’s claims on 1.) the schooner Fame against former Captain Francis Coffin, 2.) the schooner Good Intent against the former Captain Robsy, and 3.) the schooner Caroline [captain unknown].” The Smallwood , brought into Philadelphia, was outside the jurisdiction of New Jersey’s admiralty court. The Fame was not condemned to Taylor by the New Jersey admiralty court. An October 20 note in the papers of the Continental Congress infers that an out-of-state counter-claimant emerged. A second note about Fame from February 26, 1779, suggests that the rightful owner of Fame was still being determined six months after Taylor took it. A decision on a second vessel was also held up. In 1780, the New Jersey admiralty court retried another one of Taylor’s early captures. The delays in gaining access to his prizes may have prompted Taylor to bring other prizes into less regulated ports than Egg Harbor and Philadelphia (where port marshals impounded the vessel until a court condemned the prize to the capturing captain). There is no record of Taylor bringing another prize into either port for the next nine months. Later Captures Legal frustrations aside, Taylor remained active. By summer 1779, he was sailing in a larger ship and set his sights on bigger prizes. Joseph Reed of Philadelphia wrote of one such prize on August 18: Capt. Taylor in a privateer from this port on Thursday last took the Falmouth Packet bound to New York & was fortunate to secure the mail, not being able to bring in the vessel as the wind was contrary & he was chased by a frigate, he abandoned the prize, bringing off the mail & all the prisoners, which was landed at Egg Harbor. The New Jersey Gazette , reported that Taylor, in the schooner Mars , was "off Sandy Hook, fell in with a snow mounting 14 carriage guns, which he boarded and took.” The report continued: She proved to be a packet from Falmouth for New York. Captain Taylor took the mail and the prisoners, 45 in number, and stood for Egg Harbor; but on Saturday morning last, he fell in with a fleet of 23 sail, under convoy of a frigate, when the frigate gave chase & re-took her. Additional details were reported in the Morristown-based New Jersey Journal . The snow was the British vessel, Dashound , carrying the mail from New York to London. Nearing capture, the crew threw the mail into the sea, but it was recovered by Taylor’s men. A later article on the incident published in the Loyalist New York Gazette claimed the mail was "irrefutably sunk." This report is likely incorrect. Antiquarian sources complete the narrative. The Mars and Dashound fought a brutal hour-long battle (45 minutes in original accounts). The Dashound lost the battle when it grounded off the Monmouth shore during the fight. Once grounded, oar-powered gunboats from Toms River joined the fight. The Dashound surrendered when its masts were shot down. The gunboats ferried prisoners to Toms River and the Mars started towing the Dashound for Egg Harbor. However, Taylor had to cut the prize loose when the British frigate, Perseus , came after him. Taylor brought the British mail into Egg Harbor—a giant intelligence win for the Continental cause. Perseus towed the beaten Dashound back to Sandy Hook. A week later, Taylor was again at sea. He took a sloop named Active on September 1, but there is no record of this vessel being condemned in admiralty court so he likely did not bring it into Egg Harbor. He probably brought it to Philadelphia. At month’s end, Taylor was cruising along the Monmouth shore when he came upon his most spectacular opportunity. On September 14, the transport vessel, Triton , filled with troops, left Sandy Hook for the Carolinas as part of a convoy. Triton then separated from the convoy during a storm. The wounded vessel moved slowly off the Monmouth shore. The next day, according to a German Officer on board, “the wind was good, we therefore made our course northeast to get clear of the land and, if possible, out of the sight of the privateers cruising around there.” However, the transport was unable to get into deep water quickly. The officer recorded what happened at dawn on September 26 they spotted two privateers. It was a “sad and unhappy day.” The transport surrendered without a fight because “we were in such miserable condition that we could not escape nor make evasive procedures away from another ship. The wounded transport was larger than the two privateers, but had to surrender without a fight. Predictably, towing the bigger vessel was difficult; one of the privateers (Taylor in the Mars ) grounded and overset in the surf outside Egg Harbor. After a few days at the mouth of the harbor, the prisoners were rowed upriver to the privateer village of Chestnut Neck. They then walked under guard to Philadelphia, where they arrived ten days later. Another article discusses the capture of the Triton in greater detail. There is no record of Taylor remaining an active privateer after the capture of the Triton , though the Mars remained an active vessel under a Captain Geddes. Taylor likely had the wealth to retire. Having captured a British military mail packet and hundreds of soldiers, he knew he would be killed if ever taken by the British. Privateering was risky and he was now notorious. Before the war, Taylor worked as a pilot guiding ships between Cape May and Philadelphia—perhaps he retired to one of these places. Other privateer captains, mostly New Englanders , filled the void left by his retirement. Related Historic Site : New Jersey Maritime Museum Sources : Charles H. Lincoln, Naval Records of the American Revolution, 1775–1788 (Washington, D.C., 1906), pp. 254, 386; Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Hessian, Waldeck and British Prisoner Records, 1776-9, "List of Marine Department Prisoners: Officers Taken" and "Captures Made by Pennsylvania State Navy", coll. 875; Donald Shomette, Privateers of the Revolution: War on the New Jersey Coast (Shiffer: Atglen, PA, 2015); James Gambier to Earl of Sandwich, Sandwich Papers, 2: 295–301. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress, to Governor Richard Caswell of North Carolina, July 22, 1778, ScHi, Henry Laurens Letter Book. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/ ; Paul Burgess, A Colonial Scrapbook; the Southern New Jersey Coast, 1675-1783 (New York, Carlton Press, 1971) pp 126-7; J.A. McManemin, Captains of Privateers. (Spring Lake, N.J. : Ho-Ho-Kus Pub. Co., 1994), pp. 341-4; Maryland Journal, September 8, 1778; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 2, p 3395-6; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 12, p 1024 and vol. 13, p 188; Valentine C. Hubbs, Hessian Journals: Unpublished Documents of the American Revolution (London: Camden House, 1980) pp. 81-3; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I69, State Papers - PA, v 2, p 137; J.A. McManemin, Captains of Privateers. (Spring Lake, N.J. : Ho-Ho-Kus Pub. Co., 1994), pp. 341-4; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906; Committee of Appeals Decision, Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 14, p 377-8; Information on Taylor’s work as a pilot is in: “Revolutionary War Delaware River and Bay Pilots” (https://continentalnavy.com/archives/2018/revolutionary-war-delaware-river-and-bay-pilots/). 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 > Thomas Henderson Selected to Continental Congress by Michael Adelberg Abraham Clark was selected to the Continental Congress after Thomas Henderson declined the serve. Henderson was active locally and probably did not want to leave his distressed home county. - November 1779 - Dr. Thomas Henderson was an important supporter of the Revolution in Monmouth County. Before the Declaration of Independence, he served on the Freehold committee and was second-in-command to Colonel David Forman in the regiment of Flying Camp raised to join the Continental Army in spring 1776. He served under George Washington during the disastrous New York Campaign that summer and then came home to capture local Loyalist insurrectionists in November. In early 1777, Henderson helped raise troops for David Forman’s Continental Army Additional Regiment . Later in the year, Henderson was one of three election judges who biased the election against the county’s incumbent legislators. The New Jersey legislature voided the election. Despite the rebuke, Henderson continued as an ardent patriot. In June 1778, following the razing of Middletown Point by Loyalists, Henderson led a mob that captured the Loyalist, William Taylor. He apparently hoped to conduct a prisoner exchange of Taylor for his captured father-in-law, John Burrowes, Sr., who was taken in the attack. A few weeks later, prior to the Battle of Monmouth , Henderson led a mounted militia party that gathered and delivered intelligence on British positions to George Washington. It was Henderson who likely was the first person to tell Washington of the Continental Army’s disorganized initial attack on the morning of the battle. Following the battle, Henderson took a leading role in compiling information on the British plundering of Freehold. Henderson was also a practicing physician and appears to have practiced as a protégé to Dr. Nathaniel Scudder, Freehold’s other practicing physician. Scudder was selected as one of New Jersey’s delegates to the Continental Congress in November 1777. In November 1778, the New Jersey Assembly selected Colonel John Neilson of New Brunswick for the Congressional delegation, but Neilson declined the seat. Scudder and Governor William Livingston lobbied for Thomas Henderson’s selection for the vacant seat. Livingston wrote on November 24, "I heartily wish he may be elected," but the legislature selected Colonel Elias Dayton instead of Henderson. Thomas Henderson Selected to Continental Congress In November 1779, it was widely rumored that Nathaniel Scudder would decline to serve another year in Congress. He had complained that serving in Congress had harmed his family and personal estate. Henderson, as Scudder’s protégé, was an obvious replacement. On November 7, the New Jersey Assembly selected Henderson, William Churchill Houston and John Fell as the state’s delegates to the Congress. On November 19, the credentials of Henderson and the others were presented to Congress. Scudder wrote Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress about Henderson: “Colo. Henderson, who if he accepts, shall be a very good man [in Congress]." On November 30, Philadelphia’s leading newspaper, the Pennsylvania Evening Post , noted Henderson’s selection to Congress. It was likely assumed that Henderson would naturally accept Scudder’s seat, but there is no evidence that Henderson ever indicated that he wanted the job. Even before his selection, Abraham Clark (one of New Jersey’s previous delegates in Congress) wrote Rev. John Caldwell, that, "if I am rightly informed… Dr. Scudder, Mr. [Elias] Boudinot, Dr. Henderson and Colo. [Frederick] Frelinghuysen will decline if chosen." Indeed, Henderson did decline to serve, though he was not immediately replaced. There were probably months of discussion between Henderson and those who wanted him to serve. Finally, on March 1, 1780, more than four months after this selection to Congress, the New Jersey Legislature selected Clark to replace Henderson "who declined taking his seat." Henderson’s reasons for declining to serve in Congress are not stated in surviving documents. But it is known that by 1779: 1.) Monmouth County was understood to be among the most distressed localities in the new nation and Henderson probably felt needed at home; and 2.) Henderson held important local offices in the county that were not easily given up. Among his leadership roles, Henderson was the county’s loan commissioner and was likely the Freehold Township magistrate. He would later serve five years in the New Jersey Assembly (1780-1784), the longest consecutive tenure of any of the county’s Revolutionary Era delegates. He also became a proponent of extra-legal retaliation against Loyalists—serving on the Board of Directors of the vigilante group known as the Retaliators. While a delegate in the Assembly, he authored a scathing report on the Associated Loyalists , a Loyalist vigilante group that rivaled the Retaliators. At war’s end, Henderson became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (1783) and the county commissioner to settle the accounts of veterans owed money by the state (1783). Later in life, he served in the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature (the Legislative Council). Henderson ran for the United State Congress in the first election under the Constitution (1788), but was defeated. He did, however, win a seat to Congress in the 1790s and served for two years and briefly served as New Jersey’s acting governor. Related Historic Site : Independence Hall (Philadelphia, PA) Sources : William Livingston to Thomas Henderson, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 2, pp. 484; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 15, p 1324 and vol. 16, p 84; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 17, 1779, p 28; William Livingston to Nathaniel Scudder, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 3, pp. 225, 281 note; Nathaniel Scudder to Henry Laurens, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Charles Jenkins Collection, ALS: Nathaniel Scudder; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Abraham Clark to John Caldwell, Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 18, p 110; Michael Adelberg, Biographical File, in the collection of the Monmouth County Historical Association; Randall Gabrielan, Monmouth County Revolutionary War Sites (Charleston, SC: History Press, 2025), 117-118. 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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 > 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 > 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 > Committees Form to Resist British Policies by Michael Adelberg The Continental Association, October 1774, created a national template for resisting British policies—county and township committees were responsible for enforcing it. - June 1774 - To punish the people of Boston for their “Tea Party” and other defiant acts , the British Parliament passed the so-called Intolerable Acts in early 1774. Colonists across the Thirteen Colonies reacted by boycotting British goods. Americans started forming committees to enforce the boycott and coordinate dissent across localities. The citizens of Freehold Township met at Monmouth Court House on June 6, 1774 to consider the state of affairs. According to minutes of the meeting, they agreed “that the cause for which the inhabitants of Boston are now suffering is the common cause of the whole Continent.” They also endorsed "an entire stoppage of importation and exportation from and to Great Britain and the West Indies.” Finally, they appointed a standing committee to “join an association with the several other counties in this province in any measures that may appear best to the weal and safety of North America." The Committee would be comprised of John Anderson, Hendrick Smock, Asher Holmes, Peter Forman, John Forman, John Covenhoven, Nathaniel Scudder – each of whom would go on to hold important leadership positions in the fledgling American government. While the committees that would soon form in other Monmouth townships contained a mix of men who would support and oppose the Revolution, the Freehold committee was full of ardent patriots (they called themselves Whigs). This would distinguish Freehold from the other Monmouth County townships in the years to come . A week later, on June 13, Josiah Holmes, one of Shrewsbury’s leading citizens, received a letter from the Essex County Committee. He responded by meeting with some other leading citizens in Shrewsbury and putting up a public notice which began: The deplorable state of the inhabitants of the great and (until now) flourishing town of Boston is reduced to by means of the late cruel and inhumane act of the British Parliament, for the blocking up their port, is the fatal occasion that thousands are now destitute of employment, and are also destitute of bread; now they have only to depend on the charity of well-disposed Christians. It is therefore proposed to load a vessel with grain and other provisions from this County of Monmouth, to be sent immediately for their relief. Meanwhile, the people of Monmouth County were called on to participate in the selection of delegates for a Provincial Congress, a state body that would operate outside the influence of New Jersey’s Royal Governor. On July 19, citizens from four of Monmouth County’s six townships met at Freehold to establish a county committee (attending: Freehold, Upper Freehold, Middletown, and Dover; Shrewsbury and Stafford did not attend). In addition to selecting delegates to this new Congress, the attendees agreed to raise foodstuffs for the suffering in Boston and establish a county committee. The new Monmouth County committee declared that British taxes were “altogether unprecedented and unconstitutional” but they also declared loyalty to the King: “they do highly esteem and prize the happiness of being governed by so excellent a system of laws as that of Great Britain, doubtless the best in the universe.” The County Committee quickly became the quasi-government of Monmouth County—with help from the township committees of Freehold, Upper Freehold, Middletown and Dover. Shrewsbury and Stafford townships did not establish township committees until 1775. Over the next few months, the committees of Monmouth County enforced the boycott of British goods by advertising boycott violators. They also raised and shipped “1200 bushels of rye, and 50 barrels of rye flour” for the suffering people in Boston. And they resolved to establish a new militia outside of the control of the Royal Governor. Soon, the County Committee would take action against some of the county’s most public Loyalists. All of this was set in motion before the first Continental Congress established the Continental Association in October 1774—calling on all Americans to take the actions that had already occurred in Monmouth County. Related Historical Sites : Monmouth County Historical Association Sources : Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 43-50; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety , 1775-1770 (Trenton: Naar, Day and Naar, 1879) pp. 4-5; Allan Nevins, The American States During and After the Revolution , 1775-1 789 (New York: MacMillan Company, 1 922), p 44; Monmouth County Historical Association, Genealogical Files, folder - Revolutionary War Records of Monmouth County Soldiers ; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, pp. 186-8; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p119-20; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 301-2; Pennsylvania Gazette , November 2, 1774 Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > David Forman and the Continental Army Red Coats by Michael Adelberg Re-enactors in the blue-coated uniforms of the 3rd New Jersey Continental Regiment. David Forman’s Monmouth County regiment, in contrast, wore red coats taken from the British. - April 1777 - The Continental Army was faced with many problems, particularly early in the war. Among them was the inability to provide uniforms to its troops. When David Forman started raising his Additional Regiment of the Continental Army in January 1777, there were no uniforms available. George Washington was aware that Forman’s men needed uniforms. On April 17, he wrote James Mease, the Army’s Clothier General, about “a sufficient quantity [of uniforms] for Colo. Forman's Regiment of which they are in immediate want.” But the uniforms that were available were thick wool and ill-suited for the spring. Washington “directed the Colo. to have the heavy woolen linings taken out of the Coats… as they will be too warm for summer.” What is most interesting about these uniforms is that they were red; they had been taken from the British Army. David Forman’s regiment would be unformed as British soldiers. This concerned George Washington, who instructed his aide, George Johnston, to write Forman on May 9: "His Excellency conceives of the disadvantages and dangers that must attend our troops being clothed in scarlet; desires that you would have those drawn dyed some other color." Forman’s men spent the summer of 1777 in a salt marsh near on the shore building a salt works co-owned by their Colonel. The men grew sick and lacked provisions. Desertions resulted. In July and August 1777, two Pennsylvania newspapers advertised desertions from David Forman's Additional Regiment. One noted the deserter was in a uniform described as "scarlet and buff with pewter buttons." The second newspaper account described the deserter's uniform as "red coat with buff-colored facings, with woolen jacket, buff breeches and wool hat cocked up." A shore resident and militiaman, Samuel Lippincott, recalled meeting Captain John Burrowes of Forman’s regiment "who commanded a company which were termed Red Coats from the color of their outer garments." Forman’s red-coated Continentals participated in the Battle of Germantown , where Colonel Asher Holmes, leading the Monmouth militia, referred to them as “the Red Coats under Gen. Forman.” General Alexander MacDougall of the Continental Army also described that “Forman's Red Coats stood firm and advanced upon the British Red Coats." It is known that the Battle of Germantown was fought in poor visibility (due to fog and smoke from gunpowder filling the air). The Continental Army held firm at first, but broke lines amidst confusion about British positions. There was friendly fire between Continental units. Koert Schenck of Monmouth County recalled that Forman’s men “who all wore red coats and were fired at by some of our troops by mistake.” The origin of these uniforms is briefly discussed by Rachel Henderson, wife of Dr. Thomas Henderson, a friend of Forman’s. In a statement provided in Daniel Applegate’s postwar veteran’s pension, she wrote of Forman’s regiment “in regular uniform red coats, the said red coats having been taken by the Militia of Monmouth County from a British vessel captured in Raritan Bay.” Henderson’s account is corroborated by Abraham Melat’s testimony in his postwar veteran’s pension application: He was with a number of others, marched to Freehold and then put under the command of Col David Forman & company, consisting of about 30 under the command of Capt. John Burrowes, marched to the Monmouth shore to protect it, while there, a British vessel was wrecked, from which he took a large quantity of clothing and all the company, when he returned to headquarters were dressed in clothes we took from the British ship. Finally, Daniel Hygate’s testimony in Thomas Henderson’s pension application further corroborates that Forman’s regiment wore uniforms taken from the British: "said men raised & under drill & in regular uniforms, in red coats, the said red coats having been taken by the militia of Monmouth County from a British vessel captured in Raritan Bay." It is also known that David Forman used his own money to clothe his men. On March 1, 1778, as Forman was losing command of his regiment as a result of a dispute with the New Jersey Legislature , he submitted a £467 bill for clothing them over the course of "18 days of purchasing." The Continental Army’s account books also list $10,000 owed Forman in December 1778 for expenses incurred for equipping and clothing his men. As late as 1781, the New Jersey State Treasurer was carrying a line item for £961 in bounties and clothing expenses owed to Forman for his Additional Regiment. It is unknown whether Forman had to purchase the captured British uniforms for his men or if the uniforms were condemned to him as a prize of war with the captured vessel. Either way, Forman faced additional expenses in clothing his men beyond their uniforms. For example, shoes were an expensive necessity also in short supply. It is a fascinating irony that the regiment of Continentals raised to defend Monmouth County from British attacks wore British uniforms. This serves as a good reminder that the early Continental Army was truly a threadbare operation. Related Historic Site : Cliveden (The Chew House) Sources : Geore Washington to James Mease, John Fitzpatrick, The Writings of George Washington, US Govt Printing Office, Washington DC, 1932, vol 7, 420-2; George Johnson to David Forman, Neilson Family Papers, box 1, folder: Rutgersania, Rutgers University Special Collections Charles Lefferts, Uniforms of American, British, French & German Armies in the Revolution (New York: 1926) p 78; Asher Holmes, Letter Concerning the Battle at Germantown, 1777, Proceedings of the NJHS, vol 7, 1922, p34-5; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Treasury, Auditor's Acct. Books, Book B, Ledger A, reel 181, #35-6; Account List, Clothier General, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I59, Miscellaneous Papers, v 2, p 143; Thomas Henderson (W426), Forman’s Regiment and Monmouth County militia, Supplementary deposition of Daniel Applegate, 21 April 1837, transcribed by John U. Rees; Forman, Samuel S. Narrative of a Journey down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90 (Cincinnati, R. Clarke and Co., 1888) p 9-10. Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p 735; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Samuel Lippincott; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Abraham Melat of Mercer Co, www.fold3.com/image/#23397176 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Henderson of New Jersey, www.fold3.com/image/#23877525 The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, June 1781, p 71-72. Previous Next

The articles in the collection 250 for the 250th: The American Revolution in Monmouth County represent the most complete history of this topic ever assembled. < 250 Home < Previous pg. Next > Monmouth County's Ill-Fated Loyalist Militia and the Fall of George Taylor by Michael Adelberg From his home-in-exile on Staten Island, Gen. Courtland Skinner directed the actions of George Taylor, including his futile attempts to raise a Loyalist militia in Monmouth County. - January 1777 - As discussed in a prior article, the newly-mustered Loyalist militia of Monmouth County was defeated outside of Freehold by Pennsylvania Flying Camp under Lt. Colonel Francis Gurney, January 2, 1777. Throughout January 1777, the Pennsylvanians scattered groups of armed Loyalists at Middletown and Shrewsbury. But this did not end British attempts to marshal Loyalists and disaffected in Monmouth County into a militia. George Taylor Attempts to Build a Loyalist Militia On January 10, as Gurney was moving against Loyalists in Middletown, Courtland Skinner, the General of New Jersey Volunteers , assigned George Taylor to lead Monmouth County’s Loyalist militia: I have ordered Coll. Morris [John Morris] and Coll. Lawrence [Elisha Lawrence] to advance towards this place [Amboy] directly and bring the Volunteers here; You are therefore to muster the militia and take such part as will prevent small parties from entering the County and distressing the people. George Taylor was the former senior Colonel of the Monmouth County militia. In November 1776, his cousin, William Taylor, led a Loyalist association that was discovered and rounded up . His uncle, John Taylor, served as a Commissioner for administering British loyalty oaths . When George Taylor was pressured to sign a Continental loyalty oath, he refused and went behind British lines. With the order above, Skinner pulled his troops out of Monmouth County and sent Taylor into Monmouth County. However, there is no evidence that Taylor re-entered Monmouth County as a consequence of Skinner’s order. It is probable that Taylor had few, if any, men. And Gurney’s troops were proving themselves superior to any armed Loyalist resistance inside the county. Taylor also lacked a formal officer’s commission and may have been reluctant to re-enter Monmouth County without one. Skinner addressed this concern on February 26: It will give me great pleasure to enable you to enter the County of Monmouth once more, [but] all I can do at present is to give you the authority, which I cheerfully do by a commission which I enclose. It will be very proper, upon entering the County, to summon the inhabitants without distinction to renew their oaths and fidelity, and form them into such companies for the purpose of expelling the enemy and afterwards keeping the County. Still, Taylor hesitated. He may have been deterred by the capture of Robert Morris of Shrewsbury. Morris was a Loyalist who helped recruit for the New Jersey Volunteers during the Loyalist insurrection of December 1776. Morris left Shrewsbury with the New Jersey Volunteers in January and returned in February. On February 19, Morris’s band of Loyalist recruits, while waiting for a ship to carry them off, was attacked and captured by a Stafford and Dover township militia force led by Captain Reuben Randolph. Morris was jailed in the overcrowded Philadelphia prison. In April 1777, small armed parties of Monmouth Loyalist refugees began returning to the county. On April 2, the Middletown militia skirmished with Loyalists. One militiaman, Elijah Clayton, was captured. On April 14, Colonel David Forman reported to Governor William Livingston that his men had skirmished with and chased off a different Loyalist recruiting party. Forman called for depriving the Loyalists of recruits by drafting the disaffected into the Continental Army. These early Loyalist recruiting activities soon gave way to violent raids . George Taylor was involved in some of these activities, and led at least two early incursions, though it is impossible to know the connection between these actions and Taylor’s Loyalist militia. As for the Loyalist militia, there is no reason to believe that many men mustered for it. Taylor spent much of 1777 at Sandy Hook seeking to recruit and organize the Loyalist refugees and London traders who arrived there. But Taylor continued to have no effective fighting force under his command. In October 1777, while at Sandy Hook, he observed boats gathering at Point Comfort (Keansburg). Lacking his own force, he wrote Courtland Skinner to request a force to attack the boats. Skinner declined: I have for some time had intelligence that a number of [rebel] boats were at the Point [Comfort], and of their designs, but I believe they will hardly amount to anything. I wish I could send you the reinforcement you wish for; I am sure if it could be effected it would be worth attempting, but at present I cannot. In April 1778, Taylor was again at Sandy Hook. Courtland Skinner directed him to circulate pamphlets among the people of Monmouth County and deliver sealed letters to specific disaffected men living inside the county. You will endeavor to have them circulated as much as you can. Those sealed [letters] you may direct to such as you think will be best... let those in opposition have a good share, by this means we will be more at liberty. Spreading the literature did not lead to new Loyalist insurrections or a surge of Loyalist recruits. George Taylor’s Later Military Career By the middle years of the war, the Loyalist militia of Monmouth County ceased to exist. The British understood this and, in June 1779, commissioned Taylor to raise a company of Loyalist partisans that would, effectively, compete for recruits with the New Jersey Volunteers. Taylor’s order read: I do hereby authorize and empower you to raise for his Majesty's service a company of able bodied men, to consist of one Captain, one Lieutenant, one Ensign, three Sergeants, three Corporals, one Drummer, and fifty three privates, who will engage for two years, or the continuance of the rebellion in North America, in the defence of Sandy Hook and places adjacent, to receive the same pay, bounty and every other emolument, and to be under the same discipline as his Majesty's other Provincial Corps. With respect to your pay & appointment by Commission as Captain, these depend upon your success recruiting. The first will be issued to you as General Orders direct, and the latter you will be entitled to when you raise thirty two able-bodied men. Taylor’s company never reached 32 men; by his own account he raised only twenty. Despite continued setbacks, Taylor remained active at Sandy Hook. A note from Major John Andre that October gave him permission to board British vessels back and forth to Sandy Hook without needing to state his purpose. In 1780, Taylor and Andrew Skinner prepared a map for the British titled "the Refugee Posts: July 21, 1780", showing 21 Loyalist bases throughout New York and New Jersey. In fall 1780, Taylor and a handful of other prominent Monmouth County Loyalists were captured after landing in Monmouth County with a large quantity of counterfeit Continental money. Taylor described his service this way: Your memorialist, in December 1776, received a commission from Brigadier General Skinner, by authority of Governor Franklin, to command the militia of the County of Monmouth, and did actually prevent that part of the country from espousing the cause of rebellion until the arrival of the King's troops in 1777, when your memorialist joined them with a number of other active Loyalists, at the head of whom he frequently made excursions into rebel country, and captured a great number of officers and soldiers, who were exchanged for British of the same rank. That your memorialist in June 1779 did actually raise twenty effective men, and would have soon embodied many more had he not been taken prisoner and kept a long time in captivity. Taylor petitioned the British for a captain’s pension after the war. It was not granted. However, the Loyalist general, Oliver DeLancey, summed up his service: "Mr. George Taylor rendered very essential services to the Army in America, but I do not think they were of a nature to entitle him to Provincial half-pay." Taylor’s wartime trajectory—from leading the county militia, to leading an ill-fated Loyalist militia, to raising a single company, to performing ad hoc partisan activities—well illustrates the fall of a pre-war leader who chose the losing side. Even within the Loyalist ranks, Taylor’s restraint was increasingly anachronistic as the local war grew brutal. By the middle years of the war, bolder and crueler Loyalist raiders based at Sandy Hook were taking actions that likely made Taylor look mild-mannered and ineffectual. Related Historic Site : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : Cortland Skinner to George Taylor, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, vol 634, folio 186; Great Britain, Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, vol 634, folio 186; Peter W. Coldham, comp., American Loyalist Claims (Washington, D.C.: National Genealogical Society, 1980), pp. 357-8. Rutgers University Library Special Collections, Great Britain Public Record Office, Loyalist Application Claims, D96, AO 13/110, reel 10; David Forman to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #4097; Hendrick Smock, Note, National Archives, Collection 881, R 593; David Forman to William Livingston, Mark Lender, “The Enlisted Line: The Continental Soldiers of New Jersey”(Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 1975) p 94; Courtland Skinner to George Taylor, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, vol 634, folio 186; Courtland Skinner to George Taylor, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, vol 634, folio 187; General H. Rooke to George Taylor, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, vol 634, folio 187; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) p 308 note. Harlow McMillen, “Green and Red, and a Little Blue: The Story of Staten Island in the American Revolution, Part 5,” Staten Island History, 1st ser., vol. 32 (1976), p 49; George Taylor’s petition, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Treasury, Class 1, vol 634, folio 184-5 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 > Militia Family Suffering After the Battle of Navesink by Michael Adelberg The Sugar House warehouse in New York was converted into a prison that held roughly 500 prisoners. Most of the militiamen captured at the Battle of Navesink were confined here. - February 1777 - By 1777, both the British and Continental governments were struggling to house and feed thousands of captured enemy combatants. The British Army in New York City was faced with the acute problem of holding 4,000 prisoners in a city that was already overcrowded with British troops and Loyalist refugees. Lacking alternatives, the British converted old warehouses and non-seaworthy ships into improvised prisons. These impromptu prisons were horrible places where hundreds died from inadequate food, shelter, and clothing. American prisoners had few beds and blankets. The skimpy twice-a-week prisoner rations (1/2 lb. of biscuit, 1/2 lb. pork, 1/2 pint of peas, cup of rice, 1/2 oz. butter) was rarely fully allotted. Following the defeat at the Battle of the Navesink , more than 70 Monmouth militiamen were put into these miserable jails. Monmouth Militiamen in British Prisons Historian Edward Raser studied 72 Monmouth militiamen captured at the Battle of Navesink. Five died in jail within two months and five others died in prison over the next year. At least seven of these men were married and at least four were fathers. Two of the prisoners were paroled from jail to become tailors for the British Army. The captured officers (Capt. Barnes Smock, Lt. Joseph Brown, Lt. Thomas Cook, Lt. James Whitlock, Ens. Tobias Polhemus) were eventually paroled to private homes on Long Island. Several of the captured militiamen discussed their time in prison in their postwar veteran’s pension applications after the war. Garrett Wikoff recalled his eighteen months of confinement: Together with about seventy other persons, were taken prisoner and carried on board a 64-gun ship then lying near Sandy Hook where he remained three days and three nights closely confined in her hatches. He was then taken, together with his comrades, to New York and imprisoned in the Old Sugar House, as it was then called. He remained there a prisoner to the enemy until the 8th of August 1778. Other Monmouth militiamen offer similar narratives. A few additional details are offered below: James Morris: “he was very sick with small pox, and looked very miserable, his hair was nearly all off his head." Cornelius Vanderhoff: "detained for 18 or 20 months until there was little number [left alive], for want of humane treatment” Matthias Hulse: “confined to the Old Sugar House… remained a prisoner there from the time he was taken, in close confinement, until the 12th day of May, when he was exchanged” Linton Doughty: “was confined for 19 months - for this time, on his return home received pay." Henry Vunck: “suffered while a prisoner great privations… in poor clothing and scanty & unwholesome provisions. Many of the prisoners died in consequence of this treatment.” Elisha Clayton may have had the most interesting recollection. He was “compelled to work at his trade in making clothes for the enemy; while thus employed he watched [for] his opportunity and made his escape, accompanied by a British soldier whom he induced to desert from the enemy.” Attempts to Support the Prisoners The Continental Commissary of Prisoners, Elias Boudinot, sought provisions for the prisoners of war. He engaged John Covenhoven, formerly Monmouth County’s leading delegate in the New Jersey Assembly prior to capture by a Loyalist party on November 30, 1776. Covenhoven signed British protection papers and, after that, he retired from public life. But raising provisions for prisoners of war at Boudinot’s request brought him back into a leadership role. Boudinot wrote Covenhoven on January 17, 1778: I must again beg that you will exert yourself on this occasion, and add a few quarters of beef (say 10 or 12) and 100 bushels of Indian corn -- I enclose two passports for the sloop, and most heartily wish she may go off on the first open weather. Boudinot promised to pay for the provisions that could be raised. Covenhoven’s response has not survived but it was apparently encouraging because Boudinot directed an associate, "I hope you will soon receive a boat load of flour from Middletown Point." Covenhoven further responded on January 30: I have purchased a quantity of wood which is this day setting out for New York with a few lbs. of flour; I have also engaged a quantity of wheat… will be ready when the boat returns. The beef you desired to be sent I have not got & will be difficult to be had; purchased between two & three hundred bushels of rye. Covenhoven noted delays with shipping these goods to the prisoners in the winter because "the boat was froze up" at Middletown Point. Paroled Officers and the Special Status of Capt. Barnes Smock and Lt. James Whitlock Consistent with the social class-focused attitudes of the day, special attention was given to the captured officers. Several were paroled from prison to private homes on Long Island. However, two of the officers, Captain Barnes Smock and Lt. James of Whitlock, were denied this lenient treatment for several months because they had signed British protection papers during the Loyalist insurrections . The harsh treatment of Smock and Whitlock caught the attention of Elias Boudinot. In December 1777, Boudinot compiled a report to Congress titled, "State of Charges Against the Prisoners in the Provost of New-York.” It included this paragraph: Captain Smock and Whitlock discussed entering the service after taking oaths of Allegiance last winter to the King of Great Britain. They acknowledge the fact, declaring their faithful adhesion to their oaths as long as protected, but when the English left the Jerseys, they took the benefit of General Washington's proclamation. If this is a crime, it was equally so in the first instance, after submitting to our Government. Boudinot was not successful in negotiating parole for Smock and Whitlock. In March 1778, he wrote George Washington about Smock and Whitlock and a few other captured New Jersey officers who were denied parole on Long Island. “That having repeated my Applications for the relief of the seven remaining Officers in the Provoost, I could not succeed, and as the objections against the liberation of Smock, Whitlock and Skinner are rather trifling,” Boudinot called for a general prisoner exchange as the best way to help these men. The next month, April 1778, Boudinot and his British counterpart negotiated a "Draft of the Proposed Cartel for Prisoner of War Exchanges." That document lists eleven officers, including Smock and Whitock, who “remain yet unexchanged” as "the objects of particular exception” The cartel proposed to move these eleven men to the top of the list of men to be exchanged: We do hereby specially stipulate and declare, that the aforesaid officers shall be immediately exchanged on the terms of this cartel, for any officers of equal rank, or others by way of equivalent or composition; which have been or shall be delivered in lieu of them. The draft cartel was not immediately executed, but it appears to have helped Smock and Whitlock. A “List of Whig Officers on Parole on Long Island” compiled by Boudinot in August 1778 includes Smock and Whitlock as paroled in Brooklyn. Other documents related to the paroled officers corroborate this. The officers paroled to Long Island received vastly better treatment than the rank & file left in the British prisons, but parole was not without insults and dangers. Two Monmouth militia officers paroled on Long Island, Thomas Little and Tobias Polhemus, petitioned British general James Pattison on August 29, 1778, about “daily and repeated insults” from British troops: This treatment we bore with patience, but...they continued and their brutality [and] carried them so far as to beat us in a cruel manner. They openly declared that they came to our quarters with a formed design to perpetrate these violences and that they were determined to murder us. Attempts to win the exchange of these paroled officers failed more often than not. Lt Thomas Cook, a prisoner on Long Island, wrote to Nathaniel Scudder in August 1780: My brother informs that Lewis Thomson was sent here to effect an exchange, it has answered no valuable purpose to that end, the influence of such men is very little in this place. Had he been of my rank, it is possible it would have been done... I am at a loss to know the reasons why an exchange do not go on for me, the officers in general are in a very disagreeable circumstance [sic]; it is fifteen months since our bond was paid [permitting parole to Long Island] or the last Public supplies were sent to us. Edward Raser noted that the first five militiamen were exchanged in May 1777, probably due to serious illness. Most of the Monmouth prisoners came home as part of the general prisoner exchanges conducted in the summer of 1778. Once exchanged, Barnes Smock returned to the militia as captain of his Middletown company; he was captured again by Loyalist raiders in May 1780. James Whitlock was listed in a 1778 prisoner schedule as “broke parole.” For this offense, he was not exchanged until December 1780. He was probably very ill and died soon after this release. New Jersey Government Provides Relief to Families of Some Captured Militiamen New Jersey leaders sought to help the prisoners and their families. On September 20, 1777, David Forman petitioned the New Jersey Legislative Council for ongoing militia wages to the families of men captured at the Battle of the Navesink; the Council approved the petition on the same day, but apparently lacked the power to appropriate funds. So, in November 1777, Asher Holmes and Nathaniel Scudder petitioned the New Jersey Assembly "setting forth that a great number of militia of the county of Monmouth under their command have at different times been taken prisoner by the enemy, some of whom have perished in confinement, and other in their family are in great distress." They requested relief for the suffering families. It does not appear that the Assembly acted on the petition. However, in March 1778, the New Jersey Council of Safety, on which Scudder served, "Agreed, that there be paid to Col. Asher Holmes, the sum of £120 -- for use of the wives, widows and children, of such militia inhabitants of Monmouth County, who have either been taken prisoners by the enemy or killed in battle, & who appear objects of public charity, to be distributed among them at [his] discretion." Holmes received £120 for the relief of the following "suffering families": James Hibbetts, Peter Yateman, Samuel Hanzey, John Bowes, Abraham Marlat, Nathan Marion, Joseph Davis, William Norris, William Cole, Alexander Clark, Lambert Johnson, and Obadiah Stillwell. Why the families of these men merited relief while others did not was not stated. In June 1781, the New Jersey Assembly returned to the Battle of Navesink. On June 4, it voted 29-1 to give James Whitlock legal title to the estate of his brother, John Whitlock. The next day, the Assembly voted half-pay pensions (£2 S5 per month) to the wives of five men killed at the battle. They were: Isabella Hibbetts [widow of James Hibbetts], Mary Stillwell [widow of Obadiah Stillwell], Elizabeth Cole [widow of William Cole], Mary Winter [widow of James Winter], and Penelope Davis [widow of Joseph Davis]. Perspective By any measure, the Battle of the Navesink was the worst moment of the war for the Monmouth militia and many of the seventy-two men captured and their families suffered for years afterward. However, many other militiamen and their families suffered from militia service at other times for other reasons. A few examples are offered below based on postwar pension application narratives: Job Clayton : “His four older brothers were made prisoners by the refugees and confined many months in the Sugar House, at the City of New York.” William Johnson : "My father, a Whig, was robbed of between five and six pounds of hard money. I myself, was robbed of thirty pounds and my coat, vest and even my shoes.” Rachel Lake , regarding the service of her dead husband, John Smith: “She lost a child in his absence… They were robbed and plundered by a party of Tories one time during the war, and upon another occasion they were robbed of about twenty sheep, which were also driven off by the Tories." Rebecca Shepherd , wife of Captain Moses Shepherd (in the application of John Truax): "She was informed that the enemy intended to take her off, this information caused her to leave her home at night… the refugees took the slay [sic] & horses and brought them off to Sandy Hook." Altche Sutphin , regarding the service of her husband, Derrick Sutphin: “He was called out the same week as the wedding… when a fellow soldier by the name of William Thomson was killed on Middletown Highlands… 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." Mary Wall , regarding the service of her husband, James Wall: “She was sometimes left with small children and such assistance as could be secured in the affected state of the country exposed to the ravages of a cruel enemy without any male about the house… the enemy were always willing to make daring inroads into the county to capture those who were obnoxious to them or plunder their houses." Asa Woolley : "He suffered from the cold, his feet were frozen, his eyes much injured, so that he was not able to read for seven years. The injury arose from the flash of a gun when fighting the Enemy... he obtained a furlough from Captain [Richard] McKnight to visit his friends but in a few nights his comrades were taken prisoner, and carried to New York." Related Historic Site : The Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument (Brooklyn) Sources : Ammerman, Richard, “Treatment of American Prisoners during the Revolution.” New Jersey History, vol. 78 (1960), pp. 263-5; Edward Raser, "American Prisoners Taken at the Battle of the Navesink," Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, vol. 45, n 2, May 1970; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971) p 321 note; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Cornelius Vanderhoff; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Job Clayton; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Linton Doughty; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Van Note of Ohio, S.11617; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Elihu Clayton; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Eldridge; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Matthias Hulce; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Garret Wikoff of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# NJ 28142503; Receipt, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, Coll. 91, p195; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1777) p111; John Fell's Journal, Brooklyn Historical Society, coll. 1974.225; Elias Boundinot to Congress, Library of Congress, Peter Force Collection, 7E, reel 3, Elias Boudinot Papers; Elias Boudinot to John Covenhoven, Elias Boudinot Letterbook, Wisconsin Historical Society, p63-6; Princeton University Library, CO230, Elias Boudinot to John Covenhoven; List of Officers, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3994; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 214; Elias Boudinot to George Washington, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 14, 1 March 1778 – 30 April 1778, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004, pp. 16–24; Elias Boudinot, The Elias Boudinot Letterbook (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2002) p114; Draft Prisoner Cartel, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 1, 1768–1778, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 466–472; List of Prisoners, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3967; List of Prisoners, National Archives, Collection 881, R 593; Rufus Lincoln, The Papers of Captain Rufus Lincoln, ed. by James M. Lincoln. (Cambridge, MA 1903) p. 29-40; Samuel B. Webb, Correspondence and Journals of Samuel B. Webb (NY: Arno, 1969) v2, p123; List of Captured Officers, National Archives, Collection 881, R 593; Elias Boudinot, Accounts for Prisoners, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #3976; Thomas Cook to Nathaniel Scudder, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 93, item 78, vol. 5, #499; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 14, 1780, p 258; Thomas Little and Tobias Polhemus, Memorial, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Irvine-Newbold Papers, box 77, folder 29; List of Suffering Families, New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Defense, Revolutionary War, Numbered Manuscripts, #1148; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, November 22, 1777, p 28; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 214; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, May 22 and June 4, 1781, p 8-32; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, June 5, 1781, p 34; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Asa Wooley; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Smith; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, James Wall of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 20365758; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Johnson; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Truax; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Derrick Sutphin. 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