Captain Francis Wade at Allentown

As discussed in prior articles, Francis Wade of Philadelphia was a captain in the Continental Army’s Commissary Department. He was sent to Allentown in late December, 1776, to raise provisions for the Army. He arrived at a very precarious time—the Loyalist insurrectionists were scattered by Pennsylvania and Delaware soldiers, but the Loyalists were not yet defeated. There was no effective county government in Freehold. Dozens of residents were recently plundered of their livestock by Loyalist insurrectionists; others were detained and harassed. Wade faced the exceedingly difficult task of setting up an office to purchase livestock for the Continental Army at a time when the Continental government lacked both money and legitimacy. Ultimately, he was not up to the task.

Francis Wade at Allentown

The first documented action by Wade occurred on January 2, 1777. According to statements made by Wade and Benjamin Randolph, a merchant who guided Wade, the two men with “a few horsemen” went to the house of Richard Robins. Robins was a leading Loyalist insurrectionist. At his house, they found 39 “well-dressed” hogs which had likely been gathered during the Loyalist insurrection for the benefit of the British Army. Richard Robins was in hiding and Mrs. Robins, according to Wade and Randolph, was uncooperative. Wade recalled his conversation with her:

I informed her that our army was then suffering for want of provisions; that I was to send beef and pork for their relief, and for whatever she could spare a generous price should be given; she declared they had scarce enough for the family; nay, she was sure they would fall short. I asked if they had lately killed any beef or had pork for sale; she replied ‘not any.’

When the hogs were discovered by Wade’s men, Mrs. Robins claimed no knowledge of them. Since she did not assert ownership of the hogs, Wade felt no need to compensate her when he carried them off. Richard Robins was discovered and jailed. His family claimed the right to compensation for the taken hogs and the matter reverberated in the courts into 1783. There is no evidence to suggest that the Robins family was compensated.

Interestingly, it appears that Wade performed this action before he had official orders to do so. The first mention of Wade’s assignment is on January 10. On that day, George Washington wrote: "I have appointed Capt. Francis Wade to collect a quantity of provisions (particularly pork) in and about the towns of Allentown and Crosswix & c. and store the same at Newtown in Bucks County." The same day, Washington sent his official order to Wade: “You are empowered to collect all the beef, pork, flour, spirituous liquors & c. not necessary for the subsistence of the inhabitants of all parts of East Jersey lying below the road leading from Trenton to Brunswick.” Wade was also empowered “to collect & press such wagons, carriages & c. as may be necessary to transport the provisions.”

Washington encouraged Wade to offer generous terms to the locals, but also empowered him to impress goods if refused:

You are to notify the inhabitants and request them to bring in all the above enumerated articles not necessary for their own subsistence, at such a price as you shall appoint, for which they shall be paid a generous price; but if any should refuse to comply with the request, you are required to take such articles as they withhold by force, giving the proper certificates for the articles.

Over the next few weeks, it appears that Wade’s primary duty was cataloging the goods taken by Francis Gurney’s Pennsylvania regiment as it pushed east from Freehold following the “first” Battle of Monmouth. Gurney’s men broke up Loyalist stores at Middletown and Shrewsbury. On January 29, Wade, still at Allentown, compiled a list of goods sent to him by Gurney. He wrote Washington: “Enclosed you have a return of provisions stopped by me from Lt. Col. Gurney's party." He sent forward: 55 barrels of fresh pork, 59 sacks of peas, 3 turces of rice, 1 half-pipe of wine, 7 casks of rum, 3 barrels of sugar, 1 cask of limes, 17 hatchets, 2 iron pots, 3 iron kettles, and a half cask of oil. The caravan was valued at £905.

In the same report, Wade noted difficulties in raising meat for the Army. He complained:

I have great mortification to be without the assistance, at present, of either men or money, I have had, until a few days past, a few of the Philadelphia County militia, but their time being out, as they say, are going home. So I have not a man.

He further complained about the "extravagant price" of salt (in which meat was packed in order to preserve it). Wade noted that "I have sent a party yesterday down to the salt works where I had information there is a quantity ready, with orders to secure it."

Two weeks later, Wade wrote Congress from Allentown that he had "made considerable progress purchasing provisions of pork & c. for the use of the Army, but have not been so fortunate as to obtain one shilling to pay.” Wade was issuing receipts for purchases but warned that his inability to pay cash “causes a general murmuring among the people & makes my situation rather disagreeable.” Wade also noted his competition with the State of New Jersey’s Commissary Office, “I have purchased at a much lower rate than the [State] Commissary has been giving for the same articles.” He concluded his letter ominously: “I am desirous to do all the good service I can, but unless supported by your body in the cash way, I will find it impossible."

On March 4, Wade again wrote Congress from Allentown. His relations with locals had soured, "I have to deal with a sett of the most disaffected wretches that were existed” who are "prejudicing others against me by insinuating that I was never intending they should be paid for their produce." Wade noted that he asked General Israel Putnam to send him men so that he could go east to seize provisions as Gurney had done in January. If "he will strengthen me, I intend tomorrow for Monmouth (Ct. House), Shrewsbury."

Wade’s March 4 letter was likely forwarded to George Washington. On March 19, Washington wrote Major Thomas Mifflin about Wade and other commissary officers in New Jersey:

I have had so many complaints of irregularity and ill conduct in the Deputy Commissaries, which I have in vain endeavored to remedy, that I some time ago directed Colo. Trumbull [Jonathan Trumball] to come down himself and regulate his own Department. I expect him daily, when I hope he will make strict inquiry into the Conduct of all of them.

Washington also specifically discussed Wade. “Capt. Wade may be a man of warm temper, but he has had a sad disaffected Set to deal with."

On March 25, Wade wrote George Washington, but that letter has not survived. Washington’s response on March 28 suggests that Wade wrote about his continued frustrations with Monmouth’s disaffected:

I have yours of the 25th inclosing sundry Letters and papers respecting some of the most notorious of the disaffected in the County of Monmouth. It is lamented that the States will not pursue the proper Methods to root out all such dangerous Enemies from among them. It is not in my power to do it at present, having sufficient work upon my Hands to watch the common and more powerful Enemy—But I hope the time will come when they will pay for their Villanies.

By April, Wade’s purchasing activities seem to have ceased, but his involvement in local activities against Loyalists increased. After Lewis Bestedo captured a gang of Loyalists (the subject of another article), Wade and David Brearley examined the prisoners on April 10.

Wade wrote Governor William Livingston about one of the captured Loyalists, Jesse Woodward: “I find he is very backward in giving any information.” But Wade’s concern with disaffection in Monmouth County extended far beyond Woodward and foreshadowed the Pine Robber gangs that started in 1778: “It plainly appears that there is a gang of them living in the pines and no doubt in readiness to show themselves whenever an opportunity offers.” Wade promised to seek military assistance from George Washington. He worried that the local militia, under Colonel Samuel Forman, was not ready to face down the Loyalists because their "ammunition is much wanting."

Indeed, Colonel Forman’s men were not in good shape. But he blamed that, in large part, on Wade. Forman wrote Livingston complaining that higher prices were paid for provisions in Philadelphia than in Allentown, resulting in local shortages. He complained: "I expected we had two days provision of meat, but alas… we had no meat & none be expected from the Commissary." He wrote that the commissaries “leaving only receipts only is another great stumbling block." Forman concluded that “every man pleads the right of getting the best price he can - they say 'we are fighting for liberty & are deprived of liberty by our own people' [commissaries purchasing at a fixed price], they don't understand."

Francis Wade Leaves Allentown

Wade’s time in Allentown was nearly done. It is unclear exactly when he left, but Wade was home in Philadelphia in May. There, he heard that his time at Allentown was viewed negatively. He wrote George Washington, "it gives me concern to think that you have been troubled on account of the departments I have been acting in… I have petitioned the Congress to appoint a committee to inquire into my conduct & the conduct of the people I had to deal with.”

The Continental Congress convened such an inquiry and three Upper Freehold Whigs—John Lawrie, Michael Mount and Jacob Hendrickson—petitioned in support of Wade. On June 26, Congress concluded that Wade “governed himself as nearly to the principles of justice and moderation, and acted with as little severity as might be expected in the execution of such an office."

Wade also expressed concern regarding David Forman’s attempt to bring Monmouth County’s disaffected to heel through a general militia muster:

I wish I could join your Excellency in the opinion by which Genl. Forman being able to keep the disaffected in Monmouth County in order. I fear he has not the strength for it & as to their militia, I am of the opinion that if they do turn out, they will be of more hurt than good to him.

Forman’s actions in Monmouth County in 1777 are the subject of several other articles. As for Wade, he never returned to Monmouth County, but a reconfigured commissary department would again raise provisions in Monmouth County starting in 1778. This time, a local officer, David Rhea, would lead the effort.

Caption: Drawing of a Commissary’s wagon delivering provisions to the Continental Army. Commissary officers, such as Francis Wade at Allentown, had authority to seize provisions and wagons from locals.

Related Historic Sites: Morristown National Historical Park.

Sources: Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; George Washington to Congress, January 10, 1777, The George Washington Papers, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov; George Washington to Francis Wade, January 10, 1777, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw060380)); Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 3B, reel 17, January 11, 1777; Francis Wade to George Washington, January 29, 1777, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 8, 6 January 1777 – 27 March 1777, ed. Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 185–186; Francis Wade to Congress, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:7:./temp/~ammem_XXqo:: Francis Wade to Congress, February 16, 1777, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I78, Miscellaneous Letters to Congress, v23, p367; Francis Wade to George Washington, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I78, Miscellaneous Letters to Congress, v23, p383; George Washington to Thomas Mifflin, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw070298)) ; George Washington to Francis Wade, The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 9, 28 March 1777 – 10 June 1777, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, pp. 7–8; Samuel Forman to William Livingsgton, New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Coll., State Library Manuscript Coll., #121; David Fowler, egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 87; Francis Wade to William Livingston, Selections from the Correspondence of the Executive of New Jersey, From 1776 to 1786 (Newark, NJ: Newark Daily Advertiser, 1848) p 53; Francis Wade to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 4, reel 42, May 1777; Journals of the Continental Congress, June 26, 1777, p499 (www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html).