Massacre at Old Tappan

Colonel George Baylor, a native of Virginia who had short military service as an aide to General George Washington, was twenty-six years old in the summer of 1778. He commanded a regiment of dragoons* alternately known as the Third Continental Dragoons, the Third Light Dragoons or Lady Washington’s Guards. Baylor’s lightly armed regiment carried out few patrols; their duties consisted mostly of reconnaissance and escort, and they were accordingly lightly armed with sabers and some few pistols. (1) The major distinction in his career thus far was when he was awarded the privilege of delivering the news of Washington’s victory at Trenton and the captured Hessian flag to the Continental Congress in Baltimore. (2)

On 22 September 1778, the British sent a foraging expedition of about five thousand men from New York to the area between the Hackensack River and the Hudson River, where it was felt they would be best defended from an American attack. Five days later, Baylor’s regiment, which consisted of about 120 officers and men, was ordered to take a position between the main American army and the British foraging parties. With Major Alexander Clough, an experienced soldier and horseman, as second in command, the regiment moved to Harrington, New Jersey. Baylor and Clough made their headquarters at the house of Cornelius Haring, a known Tory. His officers boarded at four nearby houses, while his men stayed in six other out-buildings along the road. To the east, Baylor posted a guard at the bridge over the Hackensack River and sent out small patrols. (3)

General Charles Grey, in command of one of the British foraging parties, learned of Baylor’s position and prepared to move on the regiment. General Grey had earned a fierce reputation for taking no prisoners in a massacre of American troops at Paoli in Pennsylvania a year earlier. Among his tactics was the removal of the flint from the weapons of his soldiers to prevent any accidental discharge and preserve the secrecy of his attack. This forced his men to rely on close-quarters fighting and their bayonets. Since an attack from the west was most unlikely, Grey proceeded up the Kinderkamack Road to attack from that direction. Under Grey’s command were the Second Battalion of Light Infantry, the second Battalion of the Grenadiers, the 33^rd and 64^th Regiments of Foot, and a small detachment of cavalry. Grey ordered his Light Infantry to attack from two directions.

Major John Maitland with six companies advanced along the road to the patrol stationed at the bridge. Major Turner Straubenzee was led by Tory guides from the west to Baylor’s location. Between one and two o’clock in the morning of 28 September, the attack began. The sleeping Americans were completely surprised. Some of Baylor’s dragoons attempted to defend themselves with pistols or sabers, while others tried to hide under the hay in the barns. The British soldiers used their bayonets effectively, and also used their muskets as clubs to beat some of the American soldiers. (4) When Baylor and Clough heard the noise, they attempted to hide from the British by climbing into the chimney of the house where they were quartered. Both men were bayoneted multiple times by the British. (5)

Of the 120 Americans, the British killed eleven on the spot, while taking thirty-nine prisoners, eight of whom were wounded. The British left behind seventeen wounded Americans, four of whom later died. Only thirty-seven Americans escaped unharmed. Some of the Americans, were run through with bayonets a dozen times or more. Pvt. Julian King was reported to have been stabbed sixteen times, while two others received twelve wounds. Major Clough died of his wounds the following day, though Baylor lived on for two more years. (6) The British only lost one man, who was shot by an American dragoon. (7)

The British retreated to Tappan with their prisoners and supplies, and the Bergen County militia was sent out to locate survivors. The militia found six men killed at the bridge and others near the barns, but fearing a return of the British troops, they hastily buried the men in three abandoned leather tanning vats near the site of the massacre by the Hackensack River. (8)

In the spring of 1967, Thomas Demarest of Old Tappan claimed to know the location of the American burials, and feared that new development would destroy the site permanently. By summer of that year, the remains of six men were found buried in tanning vats in the area. (9) Today, the Baylor Massacre Park honors the American soldiers killed in this attack.

*Dragoons were mounted infantrymen, or lightly armed cavalrymen.

(1) The Massacre of Baylor’s Dragoons. By D. Bennett Mazur, Bergen Co. Board of Chosen Freeholders, 1968, p. 7.

(2) The Revolutionary War in Bergen County: The Times That Tried Men’s Souls. Edited by Carol Karels, The History Press, Charleston, SC, 2007, p. 118.

(3) Mazur, p. 7-8. Karels, p. 120.

(4) Mazur, p. 9.

(5) Karels, p. 120.

(6) Mazur, p. 9.

(7) Karels, p. 123.

(8) Karels, p. 123.

(9) Mazur, p. 19.

Massacre at Osborn Island

After the British attack at Chestnut Neck, New Jersey, on 6 October 1778, the Americans responded by sending General Casimir Pulaski and his Legion to Tuckerton, New Jersey, where they arrived on 8 October. He made his headquarters at the farm of James Willets and set up his men in camp. The First Troop of Light Dragoons and Militia Pulaski placed at his left, a few hundred yards to the east. At his right he posted the infantry, and about half a mile to the southwest, in another farmhouse, a picket post of forty-five men was stationed to guard against surprise attack. (1)

The British were prepared to sail back to New York on 8 October, but were delayed from the lack of wind. While they were waiting, a member of Pulaski’s infantry, Carl Wilhelm Joseph Juliat (a Hessian deserter who joined the American after the Battle of Trenton), and six other soldiers left the American camp under the pretext that they were going fishing. Instead, on 13 October, the men rowed out to the British flagship, H.M.S. Nautilus, to alert them of the American presence. (2) The following night, Juliat was in the lead, guiding a party of 250 British soldiers, under the command of Captain Ferguson, ashore. There they met with men from the Third Battalion of New Jersey Loyalist volunteers and continued to about ten more miles in boats to Osborn Island. Between three and four o’clock in the morning of 15 October, the British force landed. They approached the house of Richard Osborn, Jr., where they found his son, Thomas. Thomas was forced upon pain of death to guide the British to the American outposts. (3)

About one mile from Pulaski’s right flank, the British approached a bridge over a small creek, which they found unguarded. Fifty men were left here, in order to secure the British retreat. The main force continued across salt meadows before reaching Pulaski’s outpost, where they found a lone sentinel. This soldier was either taken or killed (reports vary), and the British surrounded the farmhouse. (4) Once the infantry’s position was surrounded, the British entered the farmhouse with bayonets at the ready. The infantrymen of Pulaski’s Legion were awaken by the British entry, but in the dark and confusion had little time to defend themselves. Thomas Osborn, in the confusion, escaped, but the Americans were not so lucky. Though many of the Americans cried for quarter, their pleas were largely ignored. Lieutenant Colonel Baron Charles August von Bose, in command of the infantry, attempted to lead his men through the British encirclement, with his sword and pistol in hand. Juliat saw him, and pointed out his rank to the attacking British, who ran the colonel with their bayonets. The second in command, Second Lieutenant Joseph de la Borderie fell in a similar manner. (5) It is believed that about 40 Americans were killed, and a small number made their escape. Captain Ferguson reported: “It being a night attack, little quarter could, of course, be given, so that there are only five prisoners.” Although it was reported the British burned some buildings before retreating, Ferguson reported that although he “had an Opportunity of destroying part of the Baggage and Equipage of Pulaski’s Legion, by burning their Quarters, but as the House belonged to some inoffensive Quakers who had suffered enough, nothing was done.” (6)

Upon hearing the sounds of battle, Pulaski readies his cavalry, but by the time he arrived at the farmhouse, the British had retreated. His attempt to follow them was prevented as the British removed the planking on the bridge. Although his cavalry could not cross the creek, some riflemen and infantry were able to cross on the remnants of the bridge and fire some shots at the retreating British. Pulaski reported to Congress: “We had cut off the retreat of about 25 men, who retired into the country and the woods, and we cannot find them; the general opinion is, that they are concealed by the tories in the neighbourhood of their encampment.” (7) Ferguson reported “two men of the Fifth, and one of the Provincials missing, and two of the Fifth slightly wounded. Ensign Camp, of the Third Jersey Volunteers, has received a stab through his thigh.” (8)

After this action, Pulaski moved his men to Barnegat. The British fleet, awaiting the arrival of Ferguson and his men, spotted an American privateer entering Little Egg Harbor. The ship was unaware of the British presence, and the startled American crew abandoned their ship, which was carrying six swivel guns and one two-pounder. (9) After Ferguson and his men returned, the British sailed out of Little Egg Harbor. Unfortunately for them, the flagship, H.M.S. Zebra, was grounded on a sand bar. Captain Collins, fearing the ship would be taken by the Americans, ordered everything of value removed from it and then ordered it burned. (10) The British returned to Staten Island from their successful endeavor on 23 October. (11)

(1) A Nest of Rebel Pirates. by Franklin W. Kemp. The Laureate Press, Egg Harbor City, NJ 1993, p. 44.

(2) Brief Encounter at Osborn Island: The Pulaski Affair. by Pauline S. Miller. Ocean County Cultural & Heritage Commission, Toms River, NJ, 1998, p. 14.

(3) The Affair at Egg Harbor New Jersey October 15, 1778. by William S. Stryker. Atlantic County Historical Society, Somers Point (NJ), n.d., p. 9.

(4) ibid.

(5) A Nest of Rebel Pirates, p. 48.

(6) ibid, p. 127.

(7) ibid, p. 128.

(8) The Affair at Egg Harbor New Jersey, p. 18.

(9) A Nest of Rebel Pirates, p. 50.

(10) King’s Mountain and Its Heroes: History of the Battle of King’s Mountain, October 7, 1780, and the Events Which Led to It. By Lyman C. Draper, copyright Peter G. Thomson, Cincinnati, OH, 1881, p. 60.

(11) “The Massacre of Chestnut Neck,” by Howard M. Guttman. The Crossroads Volume XIII No. 3 December 1975, p. 4.

“This Nest of Pirates”

Chestnut Neck, New Jersey sits on the Little Egg Harbor River in the southeastern part of the state. Its location surrounded by the many bays and coves made it a prime place for American privateers to use as a base during the Revolutionary War.

A privateer is much like a pirate, except that they are authorized by their government (during wartime) to attack and rob enemy vessels. During the Revolutionary War, many investors put their money into privateer ships hoping that they would make money either in reward money, or sales of the captured ships and cargo. Privateers helped the war effort; the government did not have to expend resources and money on ships or crews, and the enemy saw their commerce disrupted, insurance rates skyrocket and, in some cases, used their warships to protect merchant ships. Furthermore, the new United States were sometimes able to acquire the better of the captured ships and refit them as warships.

According to the United States Merchant Marines, about 55,000 men served at one time or another as privateers during the Revolution on about 1,700 ships. These men captured about 2,300 enemy ships. In comparison, the Continental Navy had 64 total vessels during the war and captured under 200 enemy ships. (1) Keep in mind that there were also a large but unknown number of men acting as privateers without the permission of the United States government, effectively making them pirates, but no less damaging to the British.

This brings us to Chestnut Neck. Located in the Little Egg Harbor area of the state, which runs along the coast from Barnegat Inlet to Brigantine Inlet (about 25 miles) and about 25 miles inland, it is surrounded by bays, inlets, rivers and streams (see map). While the swift and smaller American ships could navigate these mostly shallow waterways, the larger British men-of-war could not.

During the Revolution, the town consisted of only about dozen houses, George Payne’s tavern, Daniel Mathis’ Inn, some store houses for captured goods and John Adams’ landing.” (2) Nearby was the Batsto Iron Works, which produced weaponry for the Americans, as well as a number of saltworks. After the war began, the town became a hotbed of privateering. Captured prizes were brought in and sold at public venues along with their cargos. If a ship was too large to bring in, the crew would salvage what they could at sea and burn the ship. Small shipyards abounded where privateer ships were repaired and outfitted, and captured ships repaired or refitted for military use.

Commander Henry Collins, of the Royal Navy, who was stationed in New York, called the Little Egg Harbor area a “Nest of Freebooters.” Captain Patrick Ferguson, who would command the British expedition against this place called it a “nest of pirates.” (3) Between June and September 1778 more than seventeen captured ships were taken into Chestnut Neck. From Chestnut Neck, goods were transported across New Jersey to the American Army. Items not purchased or appropriated by the army were sold at public auctions, sometimes lasting multiple days.

By late September 1778, the British command in New York had more than enough of the “pirates” of Chestnut Neck. On the evening of 30 September a British fleet of nine vessels under the command of Henry Collins carrying almost 1,200 men began to prepare at Staten Island for an attack. Due to poor weather, the fleet was delayed. Major Benedict Arnold, in Philadelphia, learned of the attack and sent one hundred men to reinforce those at Chestnut Neck. When General Washington was informed, he sent Count Casimir Pulaski and his Legion (about 250 men) to the area. When joined with the estimated 150 militiamen, 300 troops under Colonel Samuel Furman, and artillerymen under Thomas Proctor, already at Chestnut Neck, the American force would be just under 1,000 men. (4)

The British fleet did not reach Little Egg Harbor until just before noon on 5 October. Some American vessels made their escape before the British appearance. Upon arrival, Commander Henry Collins ordered three vessels into Little Egg Harbor bay to prevent any rebel ships from escaping. The other British ships followed, carrying the troops. At daybreak on 6 October the British force moved across Great Bay toward the mouth of the Little Egg Harbor River. They moved slowly, since they did not have experienced pilots to guide them through the shallow water. Still, two British ships, Greenwich and Granby, became grounded. Collins also realized he would have to make an attack before landing his men.

A small fort had been built at Chestnut Neck, erected level with the water and with embrasures for six cannon, though no guns were in the fort at the time of the British arrival. Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clark and First Major Richard Wescoat directed the building of the fort, and the men manning the post this day were reportedly under the command of Captain Johnson. Among the defenders at the fort was Captain George Payne.

At about 4 in the afternoon on 6 October, the British ships reached Chestnut Neck. Because the banks of the river were swampy, Collins could not land Ferguson and his men there. He sailed in close to the fort, which he believed contained artillery, and began a bombardment. The militiamen were no match for the heavy British fire, and they fled. Ferguson and his men landed unopposed about 100 feet above the fort. Once the British landed, they found ten prize ships along the river. Not wasting any time, Collins ordered the ships dismantled (after any valuable cargo was preserved) and set ablaze. While the destruction of the ships continued into the night, Ferguson set up a defensive perimeter and began destroying the town. (5) Chestnut Neck contained twelve dwelling houses (including one belonging to Captain George Payne), and various barns and outbuildings. All of these were destroyed, along with a storehouse near the wharf and the small fort. (6)

As the British prepared to leave Chestnut Neck on the morning of 7 October, Collins had his men unload the cargo of the two British ships so that they could be refloated. During this time, some men were sent to destroy three saltworks located on the north shore of the Mullica River, along with the home of local militiaman Captain John Mathis. (7) It wasn’t until the morning of 8 October that the Greenwich and the Granby were refloated and the British were able to push off.

In the action, Captain Ferguson noted, “One soldier of the Fifth was wounded through the leg at Chestnut Neck but we have neither lost a man by the enemy nor deserting since we set out.” The commanding officer of the British Fifth Foot later commended the conduct of Capt. William Cox, Lieut. Thomas Littleton, Ensign Cotter (all of the Fifth) and Captain Peter Campbell (Third Jersey Vols.) in this action. (8)

The British were not done with this attack. A week and a half later, they would launch another, more deadly attack against the Americans.

(1) American Merchant Marine at War, “Privateers and Mariners in the Revolutionary War.” 15 March 2001. http://www.usmm.org/revolution.html (4 October 2010).

(2) Guttman, Howard M. “The Massacre of Chestnut Neck,” The Crossroads Volume XIII No. 3 December 1975. New Jersey Historical Society.

Kemp, Franklin W. A Nest of Rebel Pirates. Egg Harbor City, NJ: The Laureate Press, 1993.

(3) A Nest of Rebel Pirates. 33.

The Affair at Egg Harbor New Jersey October 15, 1778. by William S. Stryker. Atlantic County Historical Society, Somers Point (NJ), n.d., 16

(4) A Nest of Rebel Pirates. 24.

(5) A Nest of Rebel Pirates. 31.

Brief Encounter at Osborn Island: The Pulaski Affair. by Pauline S. Miller. Ocean County Cultural & Heritage Commission, Toms River, NJ, 1998, 11.

(6) The Affair at Egg Harbor New Jersey October 15, 1778. by William S. Stryker. Atlantic County Historical Society, Somers Point (NJ), n.d., 5.

(7) Brief Encounter at Osborn Island: The Pulaski Affair, 11.

(8) A Nest of Rebel Pirates. 17, 12.

The Lighthouse at Sandy Hook

Sandy Hook Lighthouse is the oldest standing lighthouse in the United States of America. It played an important part in the Revolutionary War, as it could guide British ships into the harbor, and to New York City. Some American attempts were made at disabling the light in early 1776, but the British were able to put it back in service and control the area for the duration of the war.

After many wrecks and the loss of much money, the merchants of New York petitioned for a lighthouse to be built to guide ships into the city. A lottery was authorized in 1761, which raised twenty-six hundred pounds to buy four acres of land. This, though, was not enough to get the lighthouse built. Another lottery was held in 1763, and a tonnage tax was placed upon ships for the maintenance of the light. (1)

The lighthouse was completed in 1764 and first lit on the 11^th of June that year. The New York Mercury, in their 18 June 1764 edition wrote: “On Monday evening last the New York Light-house erected at Sandy Hook was lighted for the first time. The House is of an Octagon Figure, having eight equal Sides; the Diameter at the Base 29 Feet; and at the top of the Wall, 15 Feet. The Lanthorn is 7 feet high; the Circumference 33 feet. The whole Construction of the Lanthorn is Iron; the Top covered with Copper. There are 48 Oil Blazes. The Building from the Surface is Nine Stories; the whole from Bottom to Top 103 Feet.” (2)

Only twelve years later, in early March, 1776, the New York Congress ordered the light destroyed so it would be of no use to the British ships attempting to work their way towards New York. The Congress chose Major William Malcolm to “take the glass out of the lantern, and save it if possible; but if you find this impractible you will break all the glass. You will also endeavour to pump the oil out of the cisterns into casks and bring it off; but if you should be obstructed by the enemy, or not be able to procure casks, you will pump it out on the ground. In short you will use your best discretion to render the light-house entirely useless.” (3) Major Malcolm, with Colonel George Taylor and some of his men, were successful. Although Malcolm could not save the glass, “for want of tools as by reason of time” he was able to remove other items, including “eight copper lamps, two tackle falls and blocks and three cask, and a part of a cask of oil.” (4)

This map, published in 1776, shows Sandy Hook, Staten Island, Long Island and Manhattan Island and shows the depths of water and the banks for sailing vessels

The British were able to repair the light before June of that year. On 1 June, the Americans again attempted to disable the light. Captain John Conover, with some boats mounted with two six-pound cannons managed to damage the lighthouse slightly, but they were driven off by an armed British ship in the area. (5)

The largest attempt at destroying the Sandy Hook Lighthouse happened on 19 June 1776. About 300 Americans under the command of Colonel Benjamin Tupper launched an attack against the lighthouse which lasted about two hours. At about three or four o’clock in the morning, Tupper’s force was able to advance within 150 yards of the lighthouse undiscovered by the British. Their guns, two six-pound brass cannons, fired upon the lighthouse for about one hour, but Tupper reported to George Washington that he “found the walls so firm I could make no Impression.” Tupper reported that he therefore retreated, and although he and his men were “between two Smart fires vis from two men of war on one Side & the Light house on the other” not a man was killed or wounded. (6) The two British ships firing at Tupper and his men were most likely the Phoenix and the Swan. A man from the Swan reported, contrary to Tupper’s report, “a serjeant and corporal of the 57^th regiment, with five of Gov. Tryon’s men, killed 14 of the rebels.” (7) At a time when casualty figures were fudged for various reasons, this contradiction is not unusual.

No large-scale attempt to attack the lighthouse was made by the Americans again during the war. In 1787, four years after the war had officially ended, New York and New Jersey quarreled over the lighthouse. New York first passed a law requiring vessels to stop at the custom house and pay a fee, which was an especially heavy burden to ships trading in New Jersey. New Jersey retaliated by charging New York a tax of thirty pounds per months for the lighthouse, owned by New York, but on New Jersey’s land. The controversy was negated, however, in 1790, when the federal government, in a controversial action, took control of the lighthouse in the United States. (8) In 1996, the U.S. Coast Guard transferred ownership of the lighthouse to the National Park Service. The lighthouse is still in active operation today, and is open to visitors.

(1) Lighthouses and Lightships of the United States. by George R. Putnam. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1917, 11.

(2) Lighthouses and Lightships of the United States. by George R. Putnam. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1917, 12.

(3) Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol. 4. ed. William Bell Clark. U.S. Navy Department, Washington, DC, 1969, 195.

(4) Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol. 4. ed. William Bell Clark. U.S. Navy Department, Washington, DC, 1969, 310.

(5) Sandy Hook Light - Fort Hancock, NJ – History. The New Jersey Lighthouse Society. http://www.njlhs.org/njlight/sandy.html, 2006. [22 June 2009].

(6) Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol. 5. ed. William James Morgan. U.S. Navy Department, Washington, DC, 1970, 663.

(7) Naval Documents of the American Revolution Vol. 5. ed. William James Morgan. U.S. Navy Department, Washington, DC, 1970, 963.

(8) Lighthouses and Lightships of the United States. by George R. Putnam. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1917, 13.

The Capture of General Charles Lee at Basking Ridge, NJ

General George Washington and his ragged troops retreated from Fort Lee on 20 November 1776, across the state of New Jersey, through Hackensack, Newark, Brunswick, Princeton and Trenton, before finally crossing the Delaware into Pennsylvania ahead of the oncoming British on 8 December. General Charles Lee, despite Washington’s pleas to join him immediately, was taking his time moving across the Hudson River in New York state. In fact, it is unlikely that Lee was planning to join Washington any time soon. Lee had little nice to say of Washington, and hoped to replace him as the lead American general. Instead of uniting forces with Washington on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, Lee thought it might be better for him to launch a surprise attack against the British in New Jersey.

Lee crossed over to Peekskill, New York on 2 December, and had only made it to Morristown, New Jersey as the remnants of Washington’s force finished crossing the Delaware to Pennsylvania. On the night of 12 December, Lee decided to stay with only a small detachment of his men at the tavern of the widow White in Basking Ridge instead of with his main force in Vealtown (Bernardsville). This would prove a costly mistake.

The British commander, General William Howe, knew Lee was on his flank, and thought he had with him about 3,000 men (Lee had only about 2,000). In this dangerous situation, Howe continuously kept reconnoitering parties in the field to keep tabs on Lee. General Charles Cornwallis dispatched a patrol from Pennington on 12 December. Lieutenant Colonel William Harcourt commanded this patrol of about thirty from the British Sixteenth Regiment of Light Dragoons (dragoons were light cavalry soldiers). A twenty-two year old subaltern, Cornet Banastre Tarleton, was given command of a party of six advance guards. On 13 December, after crossing the Raritan River, the guards chanced upon a sentry guard of the rebels. He was shot down before he could fire at the British. (1) Moving forward, a second American sentry was found, but was seized and questioned. An express rider, most likely Elder Samuel McIlrath, of Mendham, was also captured, and it was he who led the British towards the widow White’s Tavern, under the threat of death.

It was ten in the morning of 13 December before Lee sat down for breakfast. Lee had spent the morning arguing with officers of the Connecticut Light Horse, and conversing with his staff on possible movements. (2) Tarleton, meanwhile, approached the house, and ordered his men to surround it and kill anyone who resisted. At their approach, a young major, James Wilkinson, who had delivered a letter to Lee at four that morning, happened to glance out the window, and alerted Lee of the British presence. Lee’s guard, of eighteen to twenty-five men, were billeted in a nearby barn, and were alerted only when the British troops made themselves known. Four or five of Lee’s men were killed, and the arms of at least two were severed. (3)

Inside of the house, as Wilkinson prepared by picking up two pistols and stationing himself in a back room to await the British assault, Lee first tried to hide himself in or behind a fireplace. Seeing he could not do this, he grabbed a weapon, and along with a Frenchman, Lieutenant Colonel Gaiault de Boisbertrand, began firing out the windows at the British. It is likely that the other two men in the house, Captain William Bradford of Rhode Island and another Frenchman – Jean Louis de Viurnejoux – joined in the defense. The firing lasted for about eight minutes according to Tarleton, when he proclaimed that if Lee would “surrender himself, he and his attendants should be safe, but if my summons was not complied with immediately, the house should be burnt and every person without exception should be put to the sword.” (4)

Lee now saw that resistance surely meant death, and decided to surrender himself to the British. As the widow White begged for her tavern to be spared, Lee gave himself up as a prisoner. Still dressed in his sleeping gown, he requested that he be able to dress himself; the request was denied, and Lee and Colonel Boisbertrand were hastily taken to Pennington by the British, while the others in the house made their escape.

After the British left the area, Wilkinson hurried to his horse and rode off towards General John Sullivan, who was en route to Pluckemin with his men. When Wilkinson informed Sullivan of what had happened to Lee, Sullivan took command of Lee’s troops and continued the march to Washington’s camp on the Delaware. By 20 December, with the arrival of Sullivan’s men, Washington had about 6,000 soldiers, with more on their way. Less than a week later with his larger force, in a stroke of brilliant genius and with some luck, Washington’s army would cross the icy Delaware River in a blinding snowstorm and launch a successful surprise attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton.

Notes:

(1) At General Howe’s Side: 1776-1778. Captain Friedrich von Muenchhausen. Translated by Ernst Kipping. Philip Freneau Press, Monmouth Beach, NJ 1974. page 7

(2) A New Age Now Begins Vol. One by Page Smith. McGraw-Hill Co., New York, 1976. Page 809

(3) 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. Page 116. And The Day is Ours! by William M. Dwyer. New York: The Viking Press, 1983. Page 146.

(4) Smith, 809.

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.