Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence representing New Jersey - Part 4

RICHARD STOCKTON

Engraved by Ole Erekson; Library of Congress photo

          Richard Stockton was born in Princeton, New Jersey on 1 October 1730.  He was educated first at Nottingham Academy in Rising Sun, Maryland, and then at the College of New Jersey in Newark.  He graduated from the latter in 1748 and was admitted to the bar in 1754.  Stockton's rise was fairly quick from this time forward.  In 1755 he married Annis Boudinot. [1]  The couple had six children.

          In 1756, the College of New Jersey was moved from Newark to Princeton, with much assistance from Stockton and his family.  A fellow trustee at the college, the Reverend Doctor John Rodgers called Stockton a gentleman, scholar and the head of his profession in New Jersey. [2]  In 1768 Stockton began a term on New Jersey's Provincial Council, a position that he held until June 1776.  In 1773, he wrote to Lord Dartmouth [3] a piece called An Expedient for the Settlement of the American Dispute.[4]  In 1774 Stockton was named an associate justice to the state Supreme Court, a position which he also held until June 1776.

          In 1776, Stockton was sent to the General Congress in Philadelphia as a delegate from New Jersey.  Though initially doubtful of an immediate declaration of independence, he quickly changed his mind and voted in favor of independence after considering the arguments of other Congressmen.

[5]  Stockton was the first man to sign for the state of New Jersey when the time arrived to declare independence.

          In September 1776, Stockton received an equal number of votes as William Livingston for governor of New Jersey, but after further discussion Livingston was awarded the position.  Stockton was soon on the run, anyhow.  When the British moved into Princeton in 1776, Stockton's home, Morven, was ransacked by the redcoats.  His books and most of his furnishings were destroyed.  Luckily, Stockton had removed his wife and children from the area earlier, fearing the worst.  Though our signer initially escaped to the home of a friend, John Covenhoven, about thirty miles east of Princeton, the British caught up with him on 30 November 1776. [6]  He was imprisoned first in the common jail of Amboy by the British, but later moved to the more deplorable conditions at the old Provost prison in New York City.  Stockton was abused by his captors, suffering from cold and starvation at the least.

                                    Morven - the home of Richard Stockton in Princeton, NJ. Photo by the author

Once Stockton was exchanged, he came home a broken man.  Ill in health (besides his ill treatment by the British, he probably had cancer) and poor in wealth, Stockton died at home on 28 February 1781.  He was buried at the Stoney Brook Quaker Burial Ground in Princeton.  He is also honored

with a statue in National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. - only one of six signers to be so honored.  Stockton also had a college named in his honor; Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, located in Galloway Twp., was founded in 1969.

          The Stockton's first born child, Julia, married Benjamin Rush, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a well-known physician of the time period, especially in Philadelphia.  Two of Stockton's sons obtained political success.  His son Richard was a U.S. Senator from New Jersey, while another son, Robert Field Stockton, served as a Commodore in the War of 1812, was the first military governor of California in 1846 and was also a New Jersey Senator.

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[1] Annis was the sister of Elias Boudinot.  Elias served as commissary general of prisoners in the Revolutionary Army from 1776 until 1779.  He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1778, and from 1781 until 1783.  He served as President of that body from November 1782 to November 1783.  After signing the Treaty of Paris with England, ending the war, he resumed his law practice, but in 1789 he was elected to the first U.S. Congress.  He was twice reelected, serving until 1795, at which time he was named third Director of the U.S. Mint.  He remained as Director until 1805, when he resigned.  Elias Boudinot died in 1821.

[2] Cunningham, John T. Five Who Signed. Trenton: NJ Historical Commission, 1975; 13.

[3] Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1772 to 1775

[4] The writing was a plan for self-government in the colonies; though they would be independent of Parliament, they would still remain loyal to the Crown.

[5] Lossing, Benson J. Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the Declaration of American Independence. New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859; 79.

[6] Ibid., 51.

The Campaign of 1779-1780

            As the French mobilized to move against the British, the face of the war changed.  Not only did the British have to worry about fighting in North America, but now they would also have to be prepared to fight the French, Spanish and Dutch in Europe, the Caribbean and elsewhere. 

Although the Americans attacked Nassau in the Bahamas in 1776 and again in 1778, they were too weak to capture and hold the town.  The American navy was also too weak to be a real threat to the British (Savas, 166).  To the British, these attacks were minor annoyances. Now that the British were fighting a world war, they had to focus more men and supplies elsewhere.  This did not stop the campaign which had begun in the southern colonies from progressing however.

The British took Savannah, Georgia from the Americans in December 1778.  As 1779 dawned, Clinton, believing the people of the south to be indifferent, decided to make an attempt to subdue Georgia and move north into South Carolina (Mackesy, 338).  Small engagements were fought in Georgia in February and March before the Americans retreated from the state (Savas, 208). 

In April 1780, the British moved to take Charleston, South Carolina, a major port city garrisoned by about 7,000 Americans.  If Clinton was successful in taking the city, he would have a beachhead established for pacifying the remainder of the Carolinas.  Victorious at Charleston, the British gained the port city and about 7,000 prisoners, plus materials, etc. (Mackesy, 341).  Established in the Carolinas, Clinton’s forces began fanning out across the state.  Smaller battles were waged over the following months, until the armies met in mid-August at Camden.  The American defeat here effectively placed South Carolina and Georgia firmly under the control of the British.  The control, however, would be short-lived.

A large part of the British force in the south, now under Cornwallis (Clinton went back to New York), was composed of Loyalists, who gave the campaign “the murderous character of a civil war” (Mackesy, 344).  Cornwallis wished to move north into North Carolina, assuming that his Tory militia could maintain control in South Carolina.  Unfortunately for Cornwallis, a force of about 1,000 men was defeated by an American force made up mostly of frontier men at Kings Mountain in South Carolina in October.  With this American force now threatening his rear, and the people of North Carolina less than enthusiastic at his presence, Cornwallis ended his North Carolina offensive and proceeded back to South Carolina.

Despite the entrance into the war of the French and Spanish the British looked to be in control of the war in North America.  The American army was on the run, and the French seemed too inept to threaten the British on the American coast.  A most fortunate victory by a band of frontiersmen at Kings Mountain turned the tide of the war in the Americans favor, and demoralized the British army, closing 1780 in much the same way 1776 and 1777 were closed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mackesy, Piers. The War for America 1775-1783. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964.

Savas, Theodore P. and J. David Dameron. A Guide to the Battles of the American Revolution. New York: Savas Beatie, 2006.

Wood, W.J. Battles of the Revolutionary War, 1775-1781. Chapel Hill: Da Capo Press, 2003.

January 27th

On 27 January 1777, the British and Hessians, under General Alexander Leslie and Colonel Carl Emilius von Donop ventured into New Jersey on a foraging expedition. The force, numbering two hundred men of the light infantry, four hundred men of the English regiments, the Grenadier Battalion Linsing, fifty horse and Capt. Johann Ewald with fifty Jaegers, marched toward Samptown (present-day South Plainfield). Near Quibbletown (present-day Piscataway), the Americans attacked the party several times, but could not prevent the enemy from foraging. Captain Ewald claimed "a few men were killed and wounded on both sides." (1)

(1) Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal. Capt. Johann Ewald, Trans. & ed. Joseph P. Trustin, New Haven, Yale Univ. Press, 1979, p. 52.

The Battle of Short Hills, 26 June 1777

Towards the end of June, 1777, the British were roaming through New Jersey from New Brunswick up through Scotch Plains. On 26 June 1777, between one and three o’clock in the morning, the British army set out in two columns. To the right, under British General Charles Cornwallis, was the English Guards, the Hessian grenadiers (under Colonel Carl Emilius von Donop), mounted jäger companies and part of the dragoons. To the left, under General John Vaughan, accompanied by the Commander, Lord William Howe, were the English grenadiers, the English infantry, the Anspach and jäger companies and the remaining dragoons. The column under Cornwallis marched toward Westfield, while Vaughan’s column moved toward Metuchen Meeting House. (1) Vaughan detached the 28^th, 35^th and 2^nd Hessian Battalions and stationed them at Bonhamtown. (2)

About six o’clock in the morning, before the two British columns could join up, William Alexander, Lord Stirling, was able to get between the columns and fire some shots before retreating. (3) By eight o’clock, the fire upon the British became steadier. Near Oak Tree, Cornwallis met up with about 600 men with three cannon on a hill near some woods. After a show of force by the British, the Americans retreated into the woods. (4)

By ten o’clock, the British would meet with the Americans again. Lord Stirling’s division, with six cannon and somewhere between 1800 and 2500 men, attacked from a hill. Under Lord Stirling were General Thomas Conway’s brigade and Brigadier General William Maxwell’s brigade. Cornwallis sent about 5,000 men – the 1st Light Infantry, 1st British Grenadiers, 1st, 2^nd and 3rd Hessian Grenadiers, the 1st Battalion of Guards, Hessian jägers and the Queen’s Rangers – against Stirling’s force. After some losses, the von Minnigerode battalion was able to capture two cannon and the English Guards took one, all three being new French brass 3-pounders. (5) Archibald Robertson claims that the British force lost about 40 killed and wounded in this one action. (6) It was said that Lord Stirling had his horse shot from under him, and that General Maxwell was almost captured, missed by only a “hair’s breadth.” (7)

After the American retreat, Vaughan’s column joined up with the men under Cornwallis who had recently battled the Americans, whence they marched to Westfield, harassed along the entire route by shots from men hidden in the bushes and woods. The army bivouacked overnight in and around the Westfield Meeting House (the present-day Presbyterian Church area), and took up the march again on 28 June back to its former location at Amboy. On this march, the British rear guard was constantly harassed by small parties of Americans. (8)

Among the casualties in the battle were twenty-something men of the combined British-Hessian force who died from the heat out of a total of approximately 70 men dead or wounded, (9) although General Howe claimed only 5 killed and 30 wounded. (10) Among the casualties were Captain John Finch, of the 1^st Regiment Foot Guards, who was wounded and died on the 29^th and Edward Kerin, 17, of the 22^nd Light Company, who was wounded and died on 6 July. General George Washington claimed to have taken 13 prisoners. (11)

The American losses are even harder to pin down. Captain Friedrich von Muenchhausen, General Howe’s aide, claimed that 37 wagons of wounded men were taken, estimating that the Americans lost 400 killed and wounded. (12) Washington left no numbers in his letter, while Howe claimed that 63 Americans were killed and near 200 were wounded or taken. British Captain John Montresor claimed 50 Americans were killed and 64 prisoners taken, whilst the Continental Journal of Boston reported 20 Americans killed and 40 wounded. Among the causalities was Ensign James Sproul from New Jersey, who was killed; Captain John Paul Schott, who was taken prisoner; Captain James Lawrie of Colonel Israel Shreve’s 2^nd NJ Regiment was taken prisoner, and later died in prison; Captain Ephraim Anderson, also of Shreve’s Regiment was killed; Adjutant Joseph King of Colonel Ephraim Martin’s 4^th NJ Regiment was shot through the thigh; Captain Cornelius Hennion and Private John Walters, both of Colonel Elias Dayton’s 3^rd NJ Regiment were wounded; Josiah Beach of Colonel Matthias Ogden’s 4^th NJ Regiment was shot; Private Christopher Romeo of Martin’s Regiment was missing. John Fell, later a congressman, was taken prisoner. Benjamin Simmons was also killed in the battle. (13)

Other men who participated in the battle, but who are not listed above are as follows: Jepther Lee, Capt. Benjamin Tallmadge, Capt. Cyrus De Hart, Col. Presley Neville, Jonathan Freeman, Maj. Nicholas Ottendorff, Johann Carl Buttner, George Ewing, Col. Lewis Willis, William Grant, Capt. Benjamin Eustis, Capt. Edward Archibald, Capt. Gibbs Jones, Capt. Garthwait, Col, Thomas, Johnathan Terry, Jacob Ludlow, Eseck Ryno, and James Kitchel. Among the combined British-Hessian force at the battle was the infamous Maj. John Andre, Lieut. Von Dincklage and Lord Chewton.

(1) Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal. Capt. Johann Ewald, Trans. & ed. Joseph P. Trustin, New Haven, Yale Univ. Press, 1979, 69.

(2) Archibald Robertson: His Diaries and Sketches in America, 1762-1780. ed. Harry Miller Lydenberg. New York Public Library, New York Times and Arno Press, NY, 1971, 139.

(3) At General Howe’s Side: 1776-1778. Captain Friedrich von Muenchhausen. Translated by Ernst Kipping. Philip Freneau Press, Monmouth Beach, NJ 1974, 19.

(4) Ibid., 19.

(5) Ibid., 19.

(6) Robertson, 139.

(7) Muenchhausen, 19.

(8) Ewald, 69.

(9) Ewald, 69; Muenchhausen, 20.

(10) War in the Countryside: The Battle and Plunder of the Short Hills New Jersey, June 1777 by Frederic C. Detwiller, Interstate Printing Corporation, Plainfield, NJ 1977, 14.

(11) Robertson, 258; Detwiller, 13, 14.

(12) Muenchhausen, 20.

(13) Lineage Book, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Vol. XX, 1897. Louise Pearsons Dolliver, Washington, D.C., 1905, 117; Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 8. by Samuel Hazard. Joseph Severns & Co., Philadelphia, 1853, 24; Detwiller, 13, 31.

The Reverend James Caldwell and the Battles of Springfield and Connecticut Farms

James Caldwell was born in April 1734, in Cub Creek in Charlotte County, Virginia. He graduated from Princeton in 1759, and was ordained the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown in 1762. Caldwell served as Third Battalion of Company No. 1, New Jersey Volunteers during the Revolutionary War, and was also Commissary to the troops in New Jersey. He was known as the “fighting parson.”

On 25 January 1780, Reverend Caldwell’s church was burned down by the enemy. He moved his family to the parsonage at Connecticut Farms (now Union), New Jersey so that they might enjoy a safer life. Unfortunately, this was not to pass.

On 6 June 1780, General Knyphausen crossed over from Staten Island into New Jersey with six to seven thousand German soldiers. (1) The goal was to reach Morristown, where the Rebels had their quarters and supplies. On the seventh, Knyphausen’s command marched to Elizabethtown where he drove the Rebel soldiers back. Stephan Popp, a Hessian soldier present at this time, wrote that they “marched close to Springfield, burned down many houses on the way and destroyed very much. On our side many were also killed and wounded.” (2) They retreated by way of Connecticut Farms. They set fire first to the house of Deacon Caleb Wade, and then the Presbyterian Church. They also set fire to other buildings. The New-Jersey Journal of 14 June reported that Hannah Caldwell, the Reverend’s wife, “with a babe of eight months, and one of three years old, with the housekeeper [Catherine Benward] and a little maid [Abigail Lennington], were left. Mrs. Caldwell having dressed herself, and put her house in order, retired into a back room[….]One of the barbarians advancing around the house, took the advantage of a small space, through which the room was accessable [sic], and fired two balls into that amiable lady, so well directed that they ended her life in a moment.” (3) Hannah was then stripped of part of her clothing and the house pilfered before it was set ablaze. Eleven more houses were also set on fire. (4) The Hessian, Popp, recorded in his diary that three boats of wounded were brought back to New York the following day, while another Hessian soldier, Johann Conrad Döhla, reported over 300 killed and wounded, including the English General Stern and Lieutenant Friedrich Ebenauer of the Jäger corps, both killed. (5)

The British did not take kindly to this defeat, and at the end of the month, they would appear at Elizabethtown, Connecticut Farms and Springfield again. The combined British-Hessian force under Knyphausen, with artillery, was able to push the Americans back to Springfield, but not without losses. It was at Springfield that the Americans ran out of paper wadding to load the bullets into their weapons. Reverend James Caldwell went into the Presbyterian Church and came out with as many Isaac Watts hymnals as he could carry. He ran amongst the troops, handing out the hymnals to them yelling, “Give ‘em Watts, boys!” Caldwell’s heroism and resourcefulness could only last so long; the English and Hessians charged with bayonets and chased the Americans out of Springfield. Springfield was plundered on the orders of the commanding general and was set afire (there were no longer any inhabitants). The Hessian soldier Döhla recorded in his diary, “The first fire was set by the English in the beautiful Reformed Church, which, with its steeple, soon was destroyed by the flames, because it was built mostly of wood. Springfield, of sixty or seventy buildings mostly of wood, in a period of half an hour was laid entirely in ashes. Six American men, whose legs had been shot off, unfortunately were burned to death in a house.” (6) Stephan Popp claimed that about one hundred men perished in the burning of the church, as they were not allowed out of the building. (7) If the fire was set to cover the retreat of the British and Hessians, it was not successful. They were pursued by the Americans to Elizabethtown, and suffered heavy losses. The combined British-Hessian forces lost 400-500 men, mostly on the retreat. The loss of the Americans, in killed and wounded, were 600-700 men.

Caldwell was involved throughout the war in the cause of the Patriots. On 24 November 1781, only about a month after the defeat of the British at Yorktown, Virginia, Caldwell was at Elizabethtown Point, picking up a Miss Murray, who had come from New York, under a flag of truce. After walking her to his carriage, he returned to the boat, to retrieve a package that was left behind. On the return back to his carriage, an American sentinel, named Morgan, challenged him, asking what was in the package. Caldwell attempted to proceed to the proper officer with the package, but as he attempted to move away, the sentinel, just relieved from duty, fired his musket, killing the Reverend Caldwell with two balls. Morgan was arrested and tried for the murder of Caldwell; he was condemned for his crime and executed. (8)

The Reverend James Caldwell and his wife were buried in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church in Elizabethtown.

Sixty-four years after his death, on 24 November 1845, James Caldwell became the first person in Elizabethtown to have a monument dedicated to him, done so by the Sons of Cincinnati. (9) Hannah was also honored, in a different manner. The seal of union County, New Jersey, features the murder of Hannah Caldwell.

(1) A Hessian Soldier in the American Revolution: The Diary of Stephan Popp. Trans. Reinhart J. Pope, private printing, 1953, page 16.

(2) Popp, 16.

(3) New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Documentary History edited by Larry R. Gerlach, page 312.

(4) Gerlach, 313.

(5) Popp, 16 and A Hessian Diary of the American Revolution by Johann Conrad Döhla, Translated, edited by Bruce E. Burgoyne. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1990, page 128.

(6) Döhla, 131.

(7) Popp, 16.

(8) The Romance of the Revolution: being true stories of the adventures, romantic incidents, hairbreadth escapes, and heroic exploits of the Days of ’76. by Oliver Bell Bunce. Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, 1870, page 258.

(9) Elizabeth: The First Capital of New Jersey. by Jean-Rae Turner & Richard T. Koler. Arcadia Publishing, 2003, page 51.

The Asgill Affair

After news of Joshua Huddy’s murderous execution reached General George Washington, Washington demanded that the alleged murderer, Captain Richard Lippencott, be given up to the Patriots to face execution. Sir Henry Clinton, who did not approve of the hanging of Huddy, had Lippencott arrested, and ordered him to be tried for murder. General Washington wrote an unkindly letter to Clinton expressing the wishes of himself and the people to have Lippencott turned over to them. Washington’s letter included depositions proving that Huddy was not concerned in the murder of Phillip White. Huddy had confessed, however, that he had killed other Loyalists. Clinton was not moved. Lippencott was tried by court-martial. He argued that he was not subject to court-martial, but instead should be tried by common law, in which case, he could not be tried in New York for a crime committed in New Jersey. Lippencott’s objections were overruled, but as it appeared that he acted under orders of the Board of Associated Loyalists of New York, of which he was bound to obey, he was acquitted. (1)

The people of Monmouth County, New Jersey immediately voiced their displeasure to General Washington. On 4 May 1782, Washington directed Brigadier-General James Hogan to designate by lot a British Captain from among the prisoners who had unconditionally surrendered. Hogan could find no such officer, and Washington asked him to find men made prisoners by convention or capitulation. The British Captains who had surrendered at Yorktown and were quartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania fell under Hogan’s command. (2)

On 26 May 1782, at nine in the morning, thirteen prisoners were assembled at an inn called the Black Bear. The names of these men are as follows: Eld, Perryn, Charles Asgill, Ludlow, Greville, Lawford Mills, Saumarez (later Sir Thomas), Ingram, Samuel Graham, Barclay, Arbuthnot, Hathorn and Whitelocke. They were accompanied by Major Gordon. (3) The men were asked to decide amongst themselves who should be executed in retaliation for Joshua Huddy’s murder. Samuel Graham wrote that the men “unanimously declined, protesting against this breach of a solemn treaty, by which we had come into their power.” (4) The aide-de-camp and the commissary to the Brigadier General left the room and in a short time returned with a drum-boy. The aide-de-camp and the commissary each had a hat in their hand. It was explained to the British prisoners that in one hat were written, on separate pieces of paper, the names of the thirteen captains; in the other hat were also thirteen pieces of paper, one being marked with the word ‘unfortunate,’ while the other 12 pieces were blank. The drum-boy drew a name, while one of the other men drew the other paper. The paper marked ‘unfortunate’ was drawn on the eleventh pick, along with the name of Captain Asgill, who was immediately turned over to a dragoon officer. (5)

On 27 May, Asgill, with Major Gordon, left Lancaster, escorted by a party of dragoons. In a few days time, they arrived in Philadelphia. From there, Asgill was sent to Chatham, New Jersey, and placed under the charge of Colonel Elias Dayton. On 25 August he was paroled to Morristown, New Jersey. (6) During this time, Major Gordon appealed to the French Minister in Philadelphia, the Comte de Rochambeau and numerous influential men in the Colonies. Asgill’s mother, Sarah, wrote to the French Court, asking that they please save her son’s life. The Comte de Vergennes (the French Foreign Minister at the time) was ordered by King Louis XVI to communicate with General Washington that it was his wish that Asgill be spared, under the 14th Article of Capitulation, safeguarding prisoners of war. For about seven months, Asgill’s fate remained in the air. In December, 1782, Congress agreed to allow Asgill to be released to England. He was sent to New York, and embarked for England on the first oppurtunity, ending the new nation’s first international crisis.

Asgill traveled to France to personally thank King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. A decade later, he fought under the Duke of York in Europe, and later became a Major General. Asgill died in London 23 July 1823 and was buried in the vault at St. James's Church Piccadilly.

(1) Memoir of General Graham with notices of the campaigns in which he was engaged from 1779 to 1801. ed. by his son Col. James J. Graham. R&R Clark, Edinburgh, 1862, p. 84.

(2) A History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. By Edwin Salter. E. Gardner & Son, Bayonne, NJ, 1890, p. 188.

(3) Graham, 82.

(4) Graham, 86.

(5) Graham, 87.

(6) Graham, 91, 96.

Joshua Huddy

Joshua Huddy was born in 8 November 1735 in Salem County, New Jersey. In his younger days, he was a troublemaker, being tried for theft and assault among other crimes. He married Mary Borden in 1764, and later moved to Colts Neck (Monmouth County), New Jersey with their two children. He was married again in 1778 to Catherine Hart, a widow who had two children.

In 1779, Huddy joined the Monmouth County Militia, where he served as Captain from March to December. He led many raids and captured Loyalists. He was also accused of executing some of these Loyalists.

In September, 1780, an attempt was made by a party of Refugees (the term Refugee was used by Loyalists who operated independently of the British Army, but still claimed British protection) to capture Huddy at his home in Colts Neck. A party of six Refugees, under the command of an audacious mulatto slave named Colonel Tye, (1) made their way to Huddy's home. When they arrived, Huddy was in the house with a servant girl, named Lucretia Emmons. Huddy would attempt to defend himself against the band of Refugees. The servant girl loaded the muskets in the house and handed them to Huddy. Huddy moved from window to window, firing at the Refugees to make it appear to them that a number of men were defending the house. He was able to wound several of the Refugees, including Colonel Tye, who was shot through the wrist. (2) The Refugees had enough and set fire to the house. Huddy, seeing his predicament, called out that he would surrender if the Refugees would help him extinguish the fire, to which they agreed. Angered that one man had caused so much trouble, the Refugees took Huddy off as a captive, closely followed by the roused neighboring militia. The Refugees, with Huddy, reached Black Point (between the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers on the Rumson peninsula) slightly ahead of the militia, and embarked on boats which they had hidden earlier. When the militiamen reached the riverbank, they fired upon the Refugee boats. In the ensuing confusion, Huddy escaped, jumping off the boat. As he swam for the shore, he was shot from the riverbank in the thigh. Huddy raised his hand and shouted: ‘I am Huddy! I am Huddy!’ by which his compatriots brought him safely to shore. (3)

Two years later, on 1 February 1782 Huddy, then a 47 year-old artillery company officer, arrived in Toms River, New Jersey to defend the Blockhouse there. (4) The Tory newspaper, Rivington’s Royal Gazette, of New York, wrote that on 20 March 1782, “Lieutenant Blanchard, of the armed whale boats, and about eighty men belonging to them, with Captain Thomas and Lieutenant Roberts, both of the late Bucks County Volunteers, and between thirty and forty other Refugee loyalists, the whole under the command of Lieutenant Blanchard, proceeded to Sandy Hook under the convoy of Captain Stewart Ross, in the armed brig ‘Arrogant,’where they were detained by unfavorable winds until the 23d.” (5) About midnight of the 23^rd this party landed near the mouth of Toms River (probably near present-day Ortley Beach). Garret Irons, who was on patrol, ran seven miles to the Blockhouse to alert the twenty-five or twenty-six defenders. (6) By daylight of the 24^th , the Loyalist force reached the Blockhouse. Lieutenant Blanchard demanded the surrender of the Blockhouse and those inside, which was refused. The Loyalist force then stormed the Blockhouse. In the ensuing action, the Patriots had nine men killed, and twelve captured; the rest made their escape. Rivington’s Royal Gazette reported that the Rebels had killed a Major of the militia, two Captains and one Lieutenant. On the Loyalist side, Rivington’s reported two killed – Lieutenant Iredell, of the armed boatmen, and Lieutenant Inslee, of the Loyalists – and Lieutenant Roberts and five others wounded. (7) The Loyalists burned all of the dozen or so houses in the village except for two. They also burned the Blockhouse, the tavern, the blacksmith shop, and the salt warehouses together with a saw-mill and grist-mill. Huddy had escaped into the countryside, but was found later that day with two other Patriots hiding in a nearby mill. Huddy and the two other Patriots, Daniel Randolph and Jacob Fleming, were taken prisoner aboard the Arrogant, and brought back to New York.

Huddy was housed in the infamous Sugar House Prison in New York until 8 April 1782. (8) At that time, Huddy, Randolph and Fleming were removed to a sloop (a small sailing boat) and placed in irons. On the 9^th, they were transferred to the British man-of-war Britannia, under a Captain Morris. (9) On the 12^th, Captain Richard Lippencott, a Loyalist, came aboard the ship claiming he had orders from the Board of Associated Loyalists of New York to hang Huddy. Lippencott took a rope from Captain Morris and proceeded with his captive to the Highlands. At Gravelly Point, a gallows was erected and a barrel placed under it. Huddy made out his will on the barrel before stepping upon it. A label was attached to his breast, which read: “We, the refugees, having long held with grief the cruel murders of our brethren, and finding nothing but such measures daily carrying into execution; we therefore determine not to suffer without taking vengeance for the numerous cruelties, and thus begin, having made use of Captain Huddy as the first object to present to your view, and determine to hang man for man while there is a refugee existing. UP GOES HUDDY FOR PHIL. WHITE.” (10) Huddy’s body was left hanging on the shore until the afternoon, when it was taken to the house of Captain James Greene of Freehold. Huddy was buried at the Old Tennent Church with military honors.

Huddy’s murder led to what is known as the Asgill Affair, which will be explained in the following post.

(1) Titus was a slave of John Corlies of Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey. He escaped in November, 1775, and changed his name to Tye. Tye fought in the Battle of Monmouth, 28 June 1778, and afterwards launched raids, mostly in Monmouth County, against Patriots.

(2) Tye’s wound later caused lockjaw, which killed him. The Jersey Coast and Pines. By Gustav Kobbé. Gateway Press, Inc., Baltimore, 1970, p. 24.

(3) Kobbé, 24.

(4) A blockhouse is a small fort, one building, usually in an isolated position. The one Huddy was defending protected the village of Toms River and the salt works near by. “The post into which the rebels had thrown themselves was six or seven feet high, made with large logs, with loop-holes between and a number of brass swivels on the top, which was entirely open, nor was there any way of entering but by climbing over. They had, besides swivels, muskets with bayonets and long pikes for their defence.” The date of his arrival is cited from The War at the Shore 2007: Commemorating the 225th Anniversary of the Revolutionary War in Ocean County 1776 – 1783. [pamphlet] Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders, 2007. The description of the Blockhouse is from A History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. By Edwin Salter. E. Gardner & Son, Bayonne, NJ, 1890, p. 205.

(5) Salter, 205.

(6) The War at the Shore 2007.

(7) Salter, 206. Of those casualties, the following have so far been identified by the author: Major John Cook, killed; Captain Ephraim Jenkins, killed; Daniel Randolph, captured; Jacob Fleming, captured; Moses Robbins, wounded. George, John and Joseph Parker were all with Huddy at the Blockhouse; their fate is thus far unknown.

(8) New York City contained many sugar houses. During the British occupation, the sugar houses were used as prisons. Many men died from the squalid conditions in these prisons, as well as the prison ships stationed off of New York City. The Sugar House Prison was the most infamous prison in New York.

(9) Randolph and Fleming were soon exchanged for two Tories: Captain Clayton Tilton and Aaron White.

(10) Phillip White was a Tory who met his death attempting to escape the Patriots about a week after Huddy’s capture. Lippencott claimed White was murdered by the Patriots, and in return, Huddy would be killed. The quote was taken from Salter, 185-186.

Greenwich Tea Party

Everyone knows of the famous Boston Tea Party of 16 December 1773. New Jersey also had a “Tea Party” about one year later. But first, Boston -

The American colonists had successfully protested and had repealed the hated Stamp Act of 1765; they also were able to get the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 repealed (in 1770), save for the tax on tea. The anger of the colonists was further inflamed in 1773, when the Tea Act was passed, effectively allowing the East India Company to have the lowest priced tea in the Colonies. Protests arose anew. When the tea ship Dartmouth arrived in Boston Harbor in November 1773, the Sons of Liberty did not allow the tea to be unloaded from the ship. Governor Thomas Hutchinson, refusing to back down, did not allow the Dartmouth to leave the harbor without paying the duty. Two other tea ships arrived in the harbor during this period, and they were treated likewise. On the night of the 16th, a number of men (the exact number is uncertain) boarded the three tea ships, some of them dressed as Indians, and, over the course of about three hours, dumped all 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

About a year later, sometime between 12-14 December 1774, the brig Greyhound, under Captain J. Allen, sailed into the Cohansey River with a cargo of tea. Most likely, the brig had been refused entry first to Philadelphia. The tea was unloaded secretly at Greenwich, and then stored in the cellar of a house occupied by Dan Bowen on Market Square. (1) The residents soon found out about the tea, and a temporary committee was established to watch over it until the fate of the tea was determined. A committee was selected to meet in Bridgetown. The meeting occurred on 22 December 1774. Some members of the committee wished to immediately destroy the tea. Men from nearby towns met at the home of Richard and Lewis Howell (presently the Governor Howell Plantation on the Roadstown-Shiloh Road) and then moved on to the Fithian home, where the men from Greenwich awaited them. (2) The men then marched to Market Square and forced entry into the storehouse. They passed the chests of tea from the house to a neighboring field, where they piled the broken chests and tea before setting it ablaze. Like the men at the Boston Tea Party, some of the men at the Greenwich Tea Party also dressed as Indians.



The Rev. Philip Vickers Fithian, who is supposed to be one of the tea burners, wrote in his journal the next day, “Last night the tea was, by a number of persons in disguise, taken out of the house and consumed with fire. Violent and different are the words about this uncommon maneuver among the inhabitants. Some rave, some curse and condemn, some try to reason; many are glad the tea is destroyed, but almost all disapprove the manner of the destruction.” (3) The names of other men associated with the tea burning in Greenwich can be found on the monument there, erected in 1908: Ebenezer Elmer, Timothy Elmer, James Ewing, Thomas Ewing, Joel Fithian, Lewis Howell, Richard Howell, James B. Hunt, John Hunt, Andrew Hunter Jr., Joel Miller, Alexander Moore Jr., Ephraim Newcomb, Silas Newcomb, Clarence Parvin, David Pierson, Stephen Pierson, Henry Seeley, Josiah Seeley, Abraham Sheppard, Henry Stacks, Silas Whitekar, and others. Local tradition also includes the names of Enos Ewing and Isaac Preston with the tea burners. (4)

Many of these men were active participants in the war which followed. According to the research of Frank D. Andrews, the following men served thusly:

Ebenezer Elmer served in the army for the entire war. In 1800 he began six years’ service as a Congressman from New Jersey. He died 18 October 1843.

Timothy Elmer, who was the brother of Ebenezer, also entered into the service of the army in 1776. He did not live long enough to see the peace reached; he died 16 May 1780.

Thomas Ewing (who was the brother of James), like Timothy Elmer, entered the army immediately; also like Timothy, he did not make it to the signing of the peace treaty. Thomas died 7 October 1782.

Joel Fithian, a cousin of the Rev. Philip Vickers Fithian, served in the battle of Princeton & elsewhere. He died 9 November 1821.

Philip probably joined the men at the tea burning. He secured a position as chaplain in the army, but sickness swept through his battalion in September, which affected him. Philip died 8 October 1776.

Lewis Howell joined the army in 1776 and was present during the British retreat through New Jersey in June 1778, but he died on 28 June 1778 – the day of the Battle of Monmouth – at only 24 years of age.

Richard Howell, the twin brother of Lewis, joined the army in 1775, in time to join the expedition to Canada. He served at a number of other battles including Monmouth. He was involved in helping the cause of independence until the end of the war. He died 28 April 1802. As a side note, Richard’s granddaughter, Varina, married Jefferson Davis on 26 February 1845. When Davis became the first and only President of the Confederate States of America in 1861, Varina became First Lady. She lived until 1906.

James Booth Hunt (brother of John) enlisted in the army in 1776. He died 5 August 1824.

Andrew Hunter, Jr. received an appointment as chaplain in1776. He served until the end of the war, and was at the Battle of Monmouth. He died 24 February 1823.

Joel Miller served in the army at Princeton and Monmouth, among other battles. He died 8 December 1827.

Silas Newcomb joined the militia, and later the Continental army.

David Pierson joined the army in 1776 and served until at least 1780.

Josiah Seeley also joined the army in 1776. He died 1 October 1832.





(1) The Burning On Market Square Greenwich, New Jersey December 22, 1774.
Article taken from The History of Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland Counties, New Jersey, by Sheppard and Cushing, p. 1

(2) The Tea-Burners of Cumberland County. Frank D. Andrews. Vineland, NJ, 1908. Republished by the Cumberland Co. Historical Society, 1974, p. 9

(3) The Burning On Market Square Greenwich, New Jersey December 22, 1774, p. 2

(4) The Tea-Burners of Cumberland County, p. 14