Loyalist Raiding Party Murders John Russell

Prior articles discussed that Loyalist raids increased in number and ferocity in 1779 and 1780 as irregulars (non-soldiers) started raiding Monmouth County with impunity. These raids were ungoverned by officers and lacked military objective—the common end-result were “man-stealings” of particular Whigs, often to settle an old score. The raiders were financed by the plunder they carried off, creating a cohort of raiders who were financially dependent on raiding.

The Attack on John Russell’s House

The first well-documented raid of this type was the March 30, 1780, attack on the house of John Russell, Sr., of Long Branch. The New Jersey Gazette reported that on March 30:

A party of Negroes and Refugees from the Hook landed at Shrewsbury in order to plunder. During the excursion, a Mr. Russell, who attempted to make some resistance, was killed and his grandchild has five balls shot through him, but is yet living. Mr. Russell, however, previous to his death, shot one of the ring leaders. Capt. Warner of the privateer brig Elizabeth was made prisoner by these ruffians, but got released by them two half-Joes. This banditti also took off several persons, among whom were Capt. James Green and Ensign John Morris of the militia.

John Russell, Jr., later recalled the attack on his family. Parts of his account differ from the newspaper account:

His father persuaded him not to fire, but did so when they broke into the house. When they broke into the house, the father fired first, but missed his aim; he was fired upon and then was killed. John Russell then fired upon the man [William Gillian] who shot his father. During the fray, young Russell was shot in the side, after being wounded he fell on the floor and pretended to be dead. 

The refugees went to plundering the house. The mother and wife of John Russell were lying in the bed with a child; the child was awoke... a refugee pointed his gun and fired. Whether he really intended to wound the child or only frighten is uncertain, but the child as before stated, was badly wounded but recovered. As the refugees were preparing to leave, one of the number [John Farnham] pointed his musket at John Russell as he lay on the floor and was about firing, saying he did not believe he was dead yet, whereupon another [Richard Lippincott] knocked up his musket, saying it was a shame to fire upon a dying man.

John Russell ominously noted that he later "aided in visiting merited retribution on the refugees for their doings." This is a reference to Russelll’s participation in the murder of Philip White (who was captured at Long Branch in March 1782). White was a member of the party that killed his father.

Antiquarian sources add details to the narrative: a party of seven Loyalists entered the home of John Russell. John Russell, Sr., shot at them but missed. The party’s leader, William Gillian, retaliated by shooting and killing John Sr. at close range. John Russell, Jr., was also shot and survived by feigning death. John Russell, III, a boy, was shot while in bed. The Loyalist party reportedly included Richard Lippincott (who would become infamous for hanging Captain Joshua Huddy two years later). Lippincott restrained another Loyalist, John Farnham, from murdering John Rusell, Jr.

Sources disagree on some details, particularly with respect to when William Gillian, the Loyalist leader, was shot. One source claimed that Gillian, "when about to stab an aged Whig by the name of Russell, into whose house he had broken, he was shot by Russell's son, who lay wounded on the floor." If Russell, Jr. had shot Gillian, then Farnham’s desire to kill Russell, Jr., is explainable. The postwar veteran’s pension application of William Talman corroborates Gillian’s death, but suggests Gillian was killed in a skirmish with Shrewsbury militia after leaving Russell’s house. Talman wrote of skirmishing with the Loyalists after the Russell house attack. They skirmished with "Bill Galleon [William Gillian], a Captain of the Refugees. whom they killed at John Russell's in Shrewsbury near Long Branch."

Why was the Russell family targeted? John Russell, Sr., was an ascending member of the Christ Church in Shrewsbury—being first named to the vestry in 1778. That congregation went from Loyalist-led to Whig-led by 1778 and Russell certainly played a role in this transition. John Russell Jr. was also a militiaman in the part of the county where militia service, though officially mandatory, was not enforced. So, the Russells were likely disliked by local Loyalists.

Important details on the Russell House raid are only hinted at in the sources above. It appears that the raiders were lured to Long Branch, and the Russell house in particular, by the presence of a privateer and its captain. It also appears that the Loyalist party battled with militia after leaving the Russell House—likely alerted by family members who escaped. The capture of two militia officers—including Captain James Green, the most active of Shrewsbury’s militia captains—was a significant blow to the Shrewsbury militia. It lacked active officers and was already missing several of its senior officers, captured nine months earlier at Tinton Falls. The raiders likely understood that the leaderless militia would be impaired in responding to their attack.

John Russell, Jr., After the Attack

The killing of his father and wounding of himself and son, made John Russell, Jr., a strident Whig. In August 1780, Russell, Jr., was one of a few men listed as a “collector” of fines against militia delinquents—a dangerous assignment in disaffected Shrewsbury Township, where Whigs known to be carrying cash were vulnerable to attack. Russell, serving under Richard Laird, also seized the goods of suspected London Trader, Samuel Cories, which was challenged before the state’s Supreme Court. Russell testified in May 1781:

The plaintiff being on duty near the lines, he seized the wagon & two horses of the defendant with lead boards going into enemy lines and the defendant not giving the plaintiff proper satisfaction what he was going to do with said boards, plaintiff ordered the wagons & drove toward Colts Neck.

Like many other Whigs living along the shore, Russell Jr., eventually moved inland for safety. In January 1782, he joined Captain John Walton’s company of State Troops. He is listed as living in Freehold on the enlistment roll. Three months later, he would participate in murdering the captured Loyalist, Philip White, a member of the Loyalist party that killed his father.

The raid on the Rusell family merits its own article because it was well enough documented to support an article, not because it was an exceptional event. On April 5, the New Jersey Gazette reported on two other small raids that occurred within days of the Russell House raid:

Last week, a party of the enemy landed at Tinton Falls and carried off six or seven of the inhabitants prisoner. Another small party which landed at Middletown carried off a Mr. Bowne, who had but three days before been exchanged and just returned home.

Beyond this brief mention in the New Jersey Gazette, these other two raids—both of which were roughly equivalent to the Russell House raid—went undocumented. Thus, it is not possible to write about these other raids. It must be wondered how many similar raids went completely undocumented.

Caption: Long Branch was within easy reach of Loyalist raiders at Sandy Hook. One party, lured by a nearby privateer, landed at the house of John Russell and killed him. The party’s leader was also killed.

Related Historic Site: Long Branch Historic House & Farm

Sources: Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application of William Talman of NJ, National Archives, p9-11; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; John Russell’s recollection is in Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 65-6; Christ Church Vestry List, Monmouth County Historical Association, Vault, Shelf 4, Christ Church (Shrewsbury) - Vestry Book; List of Warrants, Shrewsbury Militia, Holmes Family Papers, Revolutionary War Series, New Jersey Historical Society; Samuel Corlies vs. Richard Laird, New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #7595; State Troops Muster Rolls, National Archives, Revolutionary War Rolls, Coll. 89, p2, 6, 9, 11.