Colonel Tye's Final Raid

On August 30, 1780, a 72-man raiding party comprised of New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalist soldiers led by Lieutenants Josiah Parker and William Hullet) and African American Loyalist irregulars led by Colonel Tye, left Sandy Hook in barges. (Historian Rick Geffken’s research suggests that Tye’s party actually left Sandy Hook in early September.) Tye was already well-known in Monmouth County, having led several smaller raids over the previous three months that carried off several prominent Whigs (supporters of the Revolution) and a large amount of plunder. According to a report published in the Pennsylvania Packet and elsewhere, Tye was a “brave Negro” and who had previously served in Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Brigade—though It is open to debate whether Tye served in this Virginia unit.

The Loyalists landed at Black Point (Rumson) and headed ten miles inland for Colts Neck. The Packet reported that the raiders, "about an hour before day, attacked the house of Captain Joshua Huddy...staving the window to pieces, and ordering the damned rebels to turn out.” Huddy was among Monmouth County’s most zealous Whigs. He had commanded a company of State Troops and, more notoriously, participated in the extra-legal hanging of the Loyalist Stephen Edwards.

According the Packet, Huddy stubbornly resisted the attack, “having loaded two guns at hand, made use of them...by the assistance of a young woman [20-year-old Lucretia Emmons], who carried his cartridges and rammed, he interchanged his firing up and down the stairs." Huddy and Emmons held off the attackers until they "fired the house, which induced him [Huddy] to capitulate.” Antiquarian sources suggest that Huddy negotiated his surrender in exchange for sparing his house and Emmons. Emmons was likely a servant of Huddy; though an antiquarian source claims she was his mistress.

The raiding party plundered the house (one antiquarian account claims they burned it). Emmons may have alerted the militia. According to the Packet, “six militia men pursued and came up with them...and killed the refugee commander. After this, they embarked.” But as the Loyalists embarked at Black Point (present-day Rumson), they were attacked by a larger Monmouth County militia party.

In the skirmish that followed, militia fired into the heavily-loaded barges which “threw them into confusion." A Loyalist boat overset and twenty men reportedly drowned (this figure is likely exaggerated). The Packet further reported that “Capt. Huddy was wounded but is like to do well. This Huddy was able to swim to safety.” Antiquarian sources add that Huddy was shot in the thigh. He shouted "I am Huddy! I am Huddy!" to avoid being shot while swimming to shore.

The Loyalists would experience more trouble. As they rowed north to Sandy Hook “passing the Gut between Sandy Hook and the main, Ensign William Vincent, with 16 of the State Regiment, Salem men” attacked them again. Middlesex County militia also battled the raiders. The harried Loyalists lost their main hostage and several men, but they did make it back to Sandy Hook. The Packet reported that the militia and state troops had one man killed and one man wounded.

Nathaniel Scudder, Monmouth County’s leading political figure, heard of the raid. He wrote of it as well:

On Saturday night, a party of Refugees came as high as Colts Neck and took Captain Huddy with the loss of one of their party, killed three. It is said Col Tye being wounded in the wrist -- their design was to surprise the guard at Colts Neck or to come and burn the Court House & town of Freehold, where we were prepared to give them a warm reception.

Scudder further described the skirmish between the militia and raiders, and Huddy’s escape:

I hear that a party of Middletown militia waylaid the enemy on their retreat and fired on them in their boats with such effect that a considerable number, at least 8 or 9, were killed, and one of their boats overset, in which Captain Huddy happened to be, by which means he made his escape and swam on shore, having however received a ball from our people in his thigh.

Sources describe Tye’s wound as fatal, but disagree as to whether Tye was killed by tetanus and gangrene.

Militiamen Recall the Colts Neck Raid

Three militiamen recalled counter-attacking the raiders in their postwar veteran pension applications. Rick Geffken, who has studied Tye’s last raid exhaustively, notes that some of the details in these accounts are not likely to be true.

John Johnson recalled engaging the raiders near Eatontown (though the skirmishing likely climaxed at Black Point). He exaggerated the size of the raiding party:

The refugees were about 150 in number, that John Dennis was the captain in the engagement, in this skirmish, Col Tye, a back refugee who, by his depredations had become the terror of the neighboring country, was killed.

John Dennis was dead by the time of this skirmish, but his brothers continued to captain Shrewsbury militia companies.

Samuel Johnson recalled the raid vividly; he recalled the raiders escaping with the assistance of a British frigate:

He was called off his bed by his under officer & commanded immediately to repair to headquarters at Colts Neck; that the refugees had that night made an attack on Captain Huddy's house at Colts Neck and wounded him under the command of a negro; deponent went to headquarters and marched with the company in the direction of the Highlands where the refugees fled to in order to effect their escape in their route to New York. That just as the company had arrived at the Highlands, the refugees reached their boats & were plying up to a place called the Gut, a few miles downwind from Sandy Hook; that the company & deponent, among the rest, fired several rounds at them until a British frigate from Sandy Hook bore down toward them & fired on them and forced them to break off the attack.

Oakey Van Osdol of Middlesex County was stationed in Monmouth County at the time. He “was attached to a company commanded by Captain Thomas Chadwick.” Van Osdol “volunteered on an alarm occasioned by the landing of a company of refugees from Sandy Hook at Black Point, who marched from there in the night to Colts Neck in order to go to Monmouth County to rescue some prisoners in jail there.” Colts Neck did not have a jail; Van Osdol was likely referring to militiamen detained at Colts Neck for courts-martial. Shrewsbury militia officers were imposing massive fines against disaffected militiamen—making it probable that the raiders hoped to take the officers or at least break up the courts-martial.

Van Osdol recalled that “the militia and David Rhea’s Company of Light horse from Monmouth [Freehold] pursued them & overtook a part of them in a cornfield in Rumson under the command of a Lieutenant Hulet and a negro called Colonel Tye.” He recalled the death of the Loyalist leader Hullet:

He heard Lieutenant Joseph Hulet [actually William Hullet] call out 'come on boys' – some of his men said he had better come back and Hulet said 'damn their blood we can catch some of them' upon which declarant with the other two with him fired at Hulet – one ball struck him in the hip & came out at his groin – he took a few steps fell on his face and died. One of Hulet’s refugees returned our fire & his ball struck a post near where we were standing.

Van Osdol further described the pursuit of the raiders and the skirmish in which Huddy escaped:

Captain David Rhea with his troop of horse pursued the refugees to Black Point. The Middlesex Militia had collected at Sandy Hook between the Highlands of Neversink and lay in ambush at the Gut & when the boats with the refugees came along they fired upon them & killed several of the men & wounded Captain Huddy in the thigh but not mortally. In the confusion the boat in which Captain Huddy was, overset & he swam ashore.

Interestingly, Van Osdol’s account reveals that the dead Loyalist leader, Hullet, was from Eatontown. Van Osdol wrote that after the skirmish he “went up to Eatontown and told Joseph Hulet that his son was killed. He came & took the corpse away."

For the African-American Loyalists, the non-capture of Huddy was compounded by another defeat. In the mid-1800s, Edwin Woolley would write "An Account of the Massacre of Negro Refugees.” Sam, formerly a slave of the Wooley family, ran off to Sandy Hook to join the Loyalists. Sam was in a party that raided near Tinton Falls; they were pursued to Long Branch on their retreat. The entire party was bayoneted to death by militia except Sam, who was stabbed several times and left for dead. He was found by locals and returned to the Woolley family. He recovered and lived the rest of his life as a slave. Woolley claimed that Sam "carried with him to the grave marks of eleven bayonets on his hands and breast."

It is probable that some African-American Loyalists left Sandy Hook for the lower Monmouth shore after these defeats, where they merged into the Pine Robber gangs of that region.

Joshua Huddy Bestowed Hero Status

The raid on Colts Neck was a failure. The Loyalists lost Tye, Hullett, and other men. They did not prevent the courts-martial from occurring. The raid also raised the public esteem of Joshua Huddy—a man they loathed. Huddy’s increased standing was reflected in legal proceedings on November 2. The Shrewsbury Township Magistrate, John Longstreet, had taken possession of "three horses, two cows, eight hogs, twenty bushels of Indian corn and several acres of grain still in the ground, five feather beds & sundry articles of household furniture" which Huddy claimed. A writ ordered Sheriff David Forman (an ally of Huddy) to return Huddy's goods to him in exchange for "sufficient security." The writ was signed by Governor William Livingston.

It was unusual for the Governor to involve himself in a petty case—and this suggests that Huddy’s newfound “hero” status may have influenced the Governor’s involvement. Huddy would again command a company of State Troops in 1781 and was assigned to Toms River in 1782. In March of that year, a Loyalist party came for him again—they razed the village and took him. Three weeks after that, he was taken from jail, brought back into New Jersey, and hanged. Huddy’s hero status likely contributed to his death.

Related Historic Site: Colts Neck Inn

Appendix: Pennsylvania Packet Report on Tye’s Colts Neck Raid

On Sunday morning, the 29th instant, 72 men, composed of New-Levies, Refugees and Negroes, under the command of Lieuts. Josiah Parker and William Hewlet, about an hour before day, attacked the house of Captain Joshua Huddy in the following manner, viz. staving the windows to pieces, and ordering the damned rebels to turn out-This awoke Capt. Huddy, who, having two loaded guns at hand, made use of them in a proper manner through the windows; and by the assistance of a girl, who carried his cartridges and rammed, he interchanged his firing up and down stairs, in such a manner, that the assailants took it for granted a small scouting party must be there; by this means he repulsed them, but they renewed the attack again, and fired the house, which induced him, on the entreaty of Mrs. Huddy and another woman, to capitulate on honorable terms and be delivered himself up a prisoner. On their entering the house, when they found none but himself had defended it, and their brave Negro Tye, (one of Lord Dunmore's crew) wounded, it was with the greatest difficulty he was prevented from being murdered. They broke the honor they had pledged, by not leaving Capt. Huddy and his family, a second change of cloathes; and, after near two hours spent in taking this one man, they made a shameful and silent retreat. A short time after, six militia men pursued and came up with them and killed their refugee Commander. After this they embarked in their boat, and passing the gut between Sandy Hook and the main, Ensign William Vincent, with 16 of the state regiment, Salem men, attacked them again. The first fire, Capt. Huddy, their prisoner was wounded, but is like to do well. This threw them into such confusion, that they overset their boats, four in number, and about twenty were killed and drowned. This gave Capt. Huddy an opportunity of attempting to make his escape by swimming, which he with much difficulty accomplished. We had but one man shot and wounded. This account is taken from Captain Huddy himself.

Sources: National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Johnson of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#24148566; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p214; Claghorn, Charles E. Women Patriots of the American Revolution, (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press Inc., 1994) p 72; Benson Lossing, Pictorial Fieldbook of the Revolution (reprint: Kessinger Publishing, NY, 2006) v2, p366 n3; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Samuel Johnson of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#24646107; Nathaniel Scudder to John Scudder, New Jersey Historical Society, Letters: Nathaniel Scudder; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Joseph Van Note of Ohio, S.9507; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Packet, September 3, 1780; Virginia Gazette, October 21, 1780; Writ to Sheriff David Forman, Catalog of the Exhibition: Joshua Huddy and the American Revolution, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, October 2004; Wolley’s account is in Monmouth County Historical Association, Steen Collection, box 1, folder 13.