David Forman's Attack on Sandy Hook

For the British, Sandy Hook was a critical asset. By possessing it, the British controlled access between the Atlantic Ocean and New York City—their headquarters in the rebelling colonies. Sandy Hook was also a base from which the British received Loyalist refugees and provisions via illegal trade from New Jersey. As the war progressed, Sandy Hook became the base from which Monmouth County’s Loyalist partisans struck back at their former neighbors.

For these same reasons, Sandy Hook was an attractive target for Monmouth County’s Whigs (supporters of the Revolution). In May 1776, Continental troops captured a British party at the freshwater spring at the bottom of Sandy Hook, and in June, a Continental regiment under Colonel Benjamin Tupper attacked the Sandy Hook Lighthouse. But after the 25,000-man British Army arrived in America on June 29, 1776, Sandy Hook became unassailable to the outmanned and outgunned Monmouth militia that stood guard against it. In February 1777, the Monmouth militia opposite Sandy Hook was routed at the Battle of the Navesink; roughly one hundred militiamen were killed or captured.

David Forman’s Attack on Sandy Hook

Still, Sandy Hook remained an alluring target for ambitious Americans leaders and, in early 1777, David Forman was that ambitious leader. In the prior year, Forman had commanded a regiment of Flying Camp (short term Continental soldiers) during the disastrous New York campaign, broke up a Loyalist association in late 1776, and raised approximately one hundred fresh Continental recruits for his “Additional Regiment” in early 1777. The New Jersey government commissioned him a Brigadier General over the Monmouth militia on March 5, 1777. With the ability to attach militia to his Continental regiment and command the combined force, Forman moved quickly against Sandy Hook.

Forman’s attack on Sandy Hook is not discussed in surviving British or Continental military papers, but it is documented in two Loyalist newspapers. On March 8, 1777, the New York Journal reported: “It seems an attack was made at the Light House at Sandy Hook yesterday morning by about 250 rebels, horse and foot, but they were repulsed by the garrison, consisting of no more than about 30 men."

The New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury provided a little more detail:

About 250 of the rebels made an attack upon the Light House at Sandy Hook. By the bravery of the men posted there, and by the cannon of the Siren posted near the spot, they were beat off with some loss. From the many attempts at the Light House, it seems their favorite object.

These brief newspaper accounts are complemented by four recollections from Monmouth Countians who noted the attack in their post-war veteran’s pension applications. From these accounts, we learn that the attack was conducted after a heavy snowfall and that the militia was not beaten by the garrison at Sandy Hook (as claimed in the New York Journal). The attack was broken off when a British warship sailed around Sandy Hook, fired on the attackers, and prepared to land men behind Forman’s party. Forman retreated in order to avoid being cut off and trapped on Sandy Hook.

• Aaron Reid recalled that "he marched under General Forman with the Monmouth militia to Sandy Hook to take the Light House, but the British defeated them in their object and they were forced, after a little skirmishing, to retreat.”

• John Reid remembered that “In the early part of the year 1777, there was snow on the ground, he marched with the militia under Col. [Asher] Holmes and General Forman to take the light house on Sandy Hook, then in possession of the British and refugees. They was defeated in that object of their expedition by the British shipping which lay in the bay and they were obliged to retreat or be cut off by the British landing in their rear.”

• William Hays' recalled, “He went with the militia under General Forman to take the light house... the snow was half a leg deep. They attacked the Light House" but "General Forman said the vessel left her anchoring ground and went around the point of the Hook, and fearing that they might land in his rear and cut them off - he gave them orders to retreat, which they did."

• William Chambers remembered participating in more than one attack on Sandy Hook: "Several attempts were made to take it, but they were unsuccessful owing to the cannon not being heavy enough."

Two of the militiamen reference at least one other attack on Sandy Hook by Forman. But these brief mentions do not provide details on this second action.

There are remarkable commonalities between Forman’s March 1777 attack and Benjamin Tupper’s June 1776 attack on Sandy Hook. In both cases: 1.) a large American force marched up Sandy Hook and attacked a smaller British party stationed in the Sandy Hook Light House, 2.) the attacking parties lacked the heavy cannot necessary to damage the light house and seriously threaten the sheltered British, and 3.) the Americans were forced to retreat when a British warship joined the battle.

It is curious that Forman repeated Tupper’s miscalculations. Perhaps Forman had little knowledge of Tupper’s attack; Forman was in New York with George Washington’s Army when Tupper attacked Sandy Hook. Tupper’s letters on his attack on Sandy Hook note a lack of cooperation with locals. So, it is possible that Forman had only vague knowledge of Tupper’s failed attack and launched his attack believing his force and position was superior to Tupper’s.

While the attacks of Tupper and Forman on Sandy Hook were futile, resourceful Americans would find other ways to menace Sandy Hook later in the war (via raids and privateer ambushes of British shipping). The rebels never expelled the British, but they most certainly harassed them and forced the British into a defensive crouch later in the war.

Related Historic Site: Sandy Hook Lighthouse

Sources: David C. Munn, comp., Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey (Trenton, N.J.: Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Geology, 1976) pp. 91-3; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Journals of Hugh Gaine, Volume I (New York: Dodd, Mead 81 Company, 1902), vol. 2, p 21; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Chambers; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Reid of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/# 14359840 ; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Aaron Reid; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Hays.