The First Battle of Monmouth

The Battle of Monmouth, fought on June 28, 1778, is the most famous Revolutionary War event to occur in Monmouth County. Thousands of men from both of the great armies participated. But the principal actors in the battle, whether Continental or British, were not from Monmouth County. A week before the battle they were outside the county; a week after the battle they were outside the county. And the Battle of Monmouth did not greatly change the trajectory of the local war inside the county.

In contrast, a much smaller battle occurred in nearly the same place eighteen months earlier on January 2, 1777. Unlike the much larger second Battle of Monmouth, only a few hundred men participated in this first Battle of Monmouth. Unlike the larger second Battle of Monmouth, the majority of fighters in this first Battle of Monmouth were Monmouth Countians. And this first Battle of Monmouth was pivotal in changing the trajectory of Monmouth County’s local war.

Loyalists Gather at Freehold to Form New Militia

As noted in prior articles about the Loyalist insurrections in Upper Freehold and Freehold-Middletown (less so in the Shrewsbury insurrection), Monmouth County’s embryonic Loyalist regime sought to legitimize its rule by turning out all able-bodied men at Freehold starting on December 28, 1776. The men would take British loyalty oaths and either enlist in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers or divide up into Loyalist militia companies. The resulting Loyalist militia would become the vehicle for enforcing future Loyalist rule.

A week earlier, Lt. Colonel Elisha Lawrence, leading the 1st Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, had re-entered Monmouth County. He recalled, "In December 1776, he was ordered into Monmouth County with his battalion to collect horses and wagons for use of the Army, he collected many." As the first recruits began dribbling into Freehold in the days before Christmas, Lawrence positioned himself as the commander of this nascent county militia.

Establishing a camp capable of provisioning several hundred men was critical to the plan. The first document to discuss this is a December 22, 1776 letter from Colonel Joseph Reed of Pennsylvania to George Washington. Reed forwarded intelligence from an informer who saw sixteen wagons “for the Baggage of about 500 Men who were to quarter about Cranberry—inlisted Tories commanded by one Lawrence [Elisha Lawrence]." The informer was incorrect about the location—the Loyalist camp would be at Freehold.

At this time, public notices went up across Monmouth County calling on men between the ages of 16 and 60 to report to Freehold on December 28. The notices were signed by three British-appointed Monmouth County Commissioners—John Lawrence of Upper Freehold, John Taylor of Middletown, and John Wardell of Shrewsbury. Small numbers of men started arriving at Freehold on December 28. Word of Washington’s victory at Trenton and a fresh snowfall likely dampened turnout.

On December 31, Col. John Cadwalader commanding a regiment of Continentals close to the British Army in western New Jersey wrote George Washington on the gathering of Loyalists at Freehold:

Colonel Elisha Lawrence (late Sheriff of Monmouth) is now collecting men at Monmouth Court House. He has got together about 70 men. He has put twenty men into prison for refusing to bear arms. The person who brings the intelligence flew [from Lawrence]; Major Nichols is desirous of going after Lawrence's party. I think it is not an object at this time, and have refused the application.

Gurney’s Pennsylvanians March on Freehold

General Israel Putnam also learned of the gathering Loyalists at Freehold as (he commanded Continental forces at Crosswicks and Allentown in the days immediately before the Battle of Princeton on January 3). Putnam detached a regiment of Pennsylvania soldiers under Lt. Colonel Francis Gurney to head to Freehold to engage the gathering Loyalists.

One of Gurney’s junior officers, Adam Hubley, described the engagement at Freehold, 1/2/77:

We arrived there Thursday evening, we were informed of a party of men consisting of about 200, under the command of Col Morris. We had our party (about 120 in number) formed in proper order and intended to attack them in town, about a half hour before night. Col Morris [a reference to John Morris, but it was Elisha Lawrence] it seems got account of our arrival, had his men drawn and baggage in order to move toward Middletown, a town about 18 miles below the Court House. They pushed off from town and got about a mile and a half, within sight of us. We immediately pushed after them, when they made a halt. We came up, about a quarter of an hour before night, when we engaged them, and they stood us about 8 minutes, a very heavy firing was kept up between us for that time. The enemy at last gave way, and retreated very precipitously, at this time it was quite dark and we could not see what loss the enemy sustained. On our side, we had none killed. We marched from the field to the town and lodged there that night. The next morning we sent out a party to the field we engaged in, they brought four dead bodies, which we buried. We took during the engagement 23 prisoners, which we brought to this place. We also took from the enemy 7 wagon loads of stores and 12 horses.

Putnam summarized the battle similarly on January 6, though his numbers differ slightly from Hubley:

Major Mifflin [Thomas Mifflin], at the head of 120 men, attacked a body of 250 Tory recruits in Monmouth County a few days ago, killed 4 of them and took 24 prisoners. They were enlisted during the American rebellion. Captain Smith, with about 30 rifle-men has brought 22 prisoners with a wagon containing their baggage.

Putnam’s choice of the term “Tory recruits” explains why the smaller body of Pennsylvanians was able to rout the larger body of Monmouth Loyalists. The Pennsylvanians, though poorly armed and trained in comparison to the British Army, were vastly better armed and trained than the Loyalists. It can be safely assumed that the Loyalists lacked the cohesion, discipline, and munitions necessary for battle. When the first few Loyalists turned and ran, it likely induced a general panic in their ranks. If 200+ committed Loyalists were not taken and shipped out of state in December, the outcome might have been different.

An additional account of this first Battle of Monmouth is in the pension application of John Hunter of Pennsylvania, who served under Major Thomas Mifflin:

They then marched against Col [John] Morris [actually Elisha Lawrence] of Monmouth and drove him and his forces, that they killed some and took others prisoners and that they took plunder from the enemy in that encounter to amount to ten dollars per soldier when sold.

Nathaniel Scudder of Freehold also described the battle:

Gen'l Putnam detached a party of militia [Flying Camp] under command of Col Francis Gurney of Philadelphia, who marched them into Monmouth, routed the Tories and seized a considerable body of stores in several places.

After the battle, Scudder guided Gurney to Middletown and Shrewsbury in a campaign that finished off Monmouth County’s brief Loyalist regime.

It is interesting that Hunter chose to note that the Pennsylvanians received a bounty based on the sale of confiscated Loyalist stores. This might explain why the Pennsylvanians were so eager to continue the campaign against Monmouth Loyalists, the subject of the next article.

Caption: Under the command of Francis Gurney, Thomas Mifflin led 120 Pennsylvanians in routing 200 Monmouth Loyalist recruits under Elisha Lawrence at Freehold on January 2, 1777.

Related Historic Site: Monmouth Battlefield State Park

Sources: Michael Adelberg, The Forgotten First Battle of Monmouth, Journal of the American Revolution, March 2013, https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/05/the-forgotten-first-battle-of-monmouth/; The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 7, 21 October 1776–5 January 1777, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1997, pp. 414–417; Peter Force, ed., American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution 1774–1776, 9 vols. (1837–53), 5th Services, vol. 3, pp. 1514; Rutgers University, Special Collections, Loyalist Compensation Applications, Elisha Lawrence, Coll. D96, PRO AO 13/110, reel 10; Joseph Reed, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blankston, 1847, p 287-8; Gaillard Hunt, Fragments of Revolutionary History (Brooklyn: Historical Publishing Club, 1892) pp. 112-5; Samuel Hazard, Pennsylvania Archives (Harrisburg: State of Pennsylvania, 1902) First Series, vol. 5, pp. 158, 168. Dennis Ryan, A Salute To Courage The American Revolution as Seen through Wartime Writings (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979) pp. 60-1; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 178, item 159, #33; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Hunter of PA, www.fold3.com/image/#24019015.