Monmouth County Intersects with the Yorktown Campaign

After the defeat of Loyalists at Kings Mountain in fall 1780, the tide of the war in the South turned against the British. By summer 1781, General Charles Cornwallis’s Army had marched north into Virginia in search of local support and supplies. Lacking both, he camped his army on the York Peninsula and waited for relief from the sea. The British were soon trapped by Continental and local forces.

In July, George Washington and Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau (leading the French Army in America) decided to march for Virginia to finish off Cornwallis. The move was risky—as it left New Jersey largely open to British incursions from New York and the plan was dependent on the French fleet arriving at the mouth of the Chesapeake in time to turn back any British fleet that might attempt to rescue Cornwallis. As noted in prior articles, the poor communications and long distances made the whereabouts of the French fleet a frequent mystery.

Preparations for the French Fleet

On July 21, Washington wrote to Colonel David Forman of Manalapan, his best intelligence source for British movements at Sandy Hook. "Under the strictest injunctions of secrecy," he informed Forman that the French fleet under Admiral Francois DeGrasse was expected. Washington asked Forman to report “with the utmost dispatch” on British movements at Sandy Hook and the arrival of the French fleet:

You will be pleased to take some militia horse into pay and station them at such distance from New York to Dobbs Ferry that they may perform the ride in twelve to fifteen hours - the horsemen need not know the particular purpose for which they are stationed.

On August 1, Forman reported to Washington that he had executed the general’s orders. Forman wrote again on August 3. He requested supplies for "sixteen artificers of the French Army" who landed on the Monmouth shore. Forman also reported that "these men tell me that the whole of the French Army are on the march to this State, that 20 ships have arrived at the Hook, and that New York will soon be invaded." Forman was correct that the French Army (marching from Rhode Island) was in motion, but wrong that the French intended to attack New York. The French would soon link up with Washington’s Army and march for Virginia.

As he had done before, on July 31, Washington sent for Captain William Dobbs of the New York Line. Before the war, Dobbs was the resident pilot at Sandy Hook. Washington sent him into New Jersey to pilot the French ships in July 1778. Dobbs was sent two more times when the French fleet was expected on the Jersey shore (but did not arrive). Washington ordered Dobbs:

I wish to procure a number of those Pilot[s] you formerly engag’d, and who are particularly acquainted with the Navigation of the Hook & North River, and with them repair, as soon as possible to Capt. [Patrick] Dennis’s at Baskenridge [sic], where you’ll continue ’till you receive further orders from Genel Foreman of Monmouth.

Like Forman, Dobbs was ordered to keep the mission secret, “I must enjoin upon you to not [give] your thoughts to anybody, and as much as possible to prevent the Pilots you engage making known their business." The pilots were to meet and remain at the ready at Baskin Ridge. Washington likely did not send the pilots to the shore because the presence of Sandy Hook pilots at the shore would likely be reported to the British by disaffected locals. That, in turn, would raise the alarm in New York.

On August 13, Washington sent an additional order to another pilot in the Continental Army, Captain Patrick Dennis. He was to link up with Dobbs at Baskin Ridge and await Forman’s orders. The pilots were to head to Monmouth County on word from Forman that the French had arrived:

There will be no danger between Baskin Ridge and Monmouth Court House, and from thence to the shore an escort will be easily procured, especially when it shall be found that a French Fleet is off. Boats will undoubtedly be sent from the Fleet sufficient to carry you off—Genl Forman will have gone on board before you can get down and will have informed the Admiral that you are in waiting.

As intelligence from Forman arrived, Washington passed it along to his French allies. On August 3, he wrote Jacques DeBarras, a French naval officer, that the French fleet under Count de Grasse "should come immediately to Sandy Hook.” Therefore:

I have lodged dispatches for him with General Forman of the Militia of Monmouth on the coast of New Jersey not far from Sandy Hook, a Gentleman in whom the utmost confidence may be placed. In these I have given the Count information of our position, strength and prospects, as also of the probable force and divided situation of the enemy.

Washington wrote of “Captain Dobbs, one of our most experienced pilots.” Dobbs was waiting “with as many more as he can obtain at a secure place contiguous to the Hook, that they may be ready to go on board the Fleet the moment they are assured it is that of our Ally.”

A week later, Washington forwarded DeBarras more intelligence from Forman: "By a letter from General Forman of the 3rd of this Month, I am informed that Admiral Rodney [British Admiral George Rodney] is expected upon this Coast, and he mentions a circumstance which seems to corroborate the opinion; it is, that a large store ship is kept at Sandy Hook with provisions and vegetables."

Forman’s next surviving report to Washington was dated on August 23. He noted the arrival of a British fleet at Sandy Hook where "they appear to be very busy overhauling their rigging & c." Forman had interrogated a deserter who informed him that the French fleet was at Rhode Island. On August 29, Forman suggested that the French would take losses if they attacked Sandy Hook "occasioned by the narrowness of the passage that would only admit their coming down by single ships."

Forman sent reports again on August 31 and September 1, 2, and 6. He had interrogated "a branch pilot that was on board and piloted the [British] fleet lately arrived at this station" and sent information from that pilot. Forman also sent forward plans for conveying intelligence to Washington as he marched south for Yorktown. Forman wrote:

I have sent forward some horsemen to Allentown & Burlington, there to cross the Delaware to Bristol - if they have been able to get quarters at the several posts, agreeable to my directions, this will pass very rapidly to your Excellency's hands.

On September 6, Forman noted that the frequent intelligence reports were taking a toll on him, writing: "though far from well, I rode down yesterday" to personally view the British fleet from the Highlands. Washington, now in motion, told Forman to send additional intelligence through the Continental Quartermaster General in Philadelphia, "if anything worthy of notice takes place under your observation, I shall thank you for its communication thro' the QMG, Col. Miles, in Philadelphia."

Deceptions and Rumors Accompany Yorktown Campaign

Meanwhile, rumors flew regarding Washington’s intent. One rumor was that Washington was heading to Amboy and Middletown to attack Staten Island and Sandy Hook in combination with a French attack on New York. The journal of Colonel John Trumball reveals that these rumors were deliberately spread by Washington to deceive the British. He wrote on August 21:

The general wants to cover his design as much as long as possible--for which purpose all our views, talk & some preparation seem to look toward Staten Island & Sandy Hook... French ovens are building in Chatham in Jersey--others ordered to be prepared at a place near the Hook & forage contracted to be delivered to the French Army immediately on their arrival at that place.

Elias Boudinot, a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress, wrote that Washington summoned a Monmouth Countian "who was suspected of giving intelligence to the Enemy & put a number of questions to him about the situation of the country about Middletown and Sandy Hook where the man was born and bred.” Washington then “urged him the most profound secrecy." But Continental leaders knew the old man would spread the rumors that Washington had seeded. Unfortunately, the identity of this man is unknown.

Rumors also flew regarding what the British might do to relieve Cornwallis. On September 8, early in the Yorktown siege, Governor William Livingston reported that "it is said and fully believed that 6 or 7,000 men [British soldiers] are going [to Cornwallis's assistance], & that they are to land at Monmouth and pass through the State." That landing never occurred.

With Washington’s Army in Virginia, the Continental Army was largely unable to protect New Jersey from a large incursion. This weakness enflamed rumors of British intentions. On September 21, Colonel Samuel Forman of the Monmouth County militia worried about reported British movements on Staten Island in a letter General William Heath, whose small army faced the British:

There is considerable movement on foot by the British, there is 5 or 6,000 troops on Staten Island, provided with 200 wagons -- The opinion is that this [Monmouth] county is their object, the season approaching that calls for forage to be provided, their business to go where it can be obtained with the least fighting, we have nothing but militia to oppose them, excepting 50 State Troops.

Samuel Forman’s report was not substantiated and the British did not leave Staten Island.

Victory at Yorktown and Continued News from Sandy Hook

Meanwhile, David Forman continued to send reports, now to Thomas McKean at Philadelphia. His September 20 report conveyed essential intelligence that “Admiral [Thomas] Graves with twenty ships” had returned to Sandy Hook. This meant that the attempt to relieve Cornwallis had failed. DeGrasse’s fleet arrived off Norfolk in time to turn the British away at the Battle of the Chesapeake on September 5.

On October 8, Forman wrote McKean again. He worried that two naval squadrons were now at Sandy Hook and that the British were preparing to put the combined fleet to sea:

Admiral Graves is exerting every measure to equip his fleet, and although I am informed Congress ridicules the idea of his returning to the Chesapeake, I have such full assurance of his intentions of making a second attempt to relieve Lord Cornwallace [sic], that I cannot doubt it.

McKean forwarded Forman’s intelligence to Washington at Yorktown. He further noted that the British had attempted to communicate with Cornwallis via three small boats sent for Virginia via the New Jersey shore. The first boat was taken on the New Jersey shore. It was:

Named the Andre, carrying brass six pounder in her bow, eight blunderbusses, and twenty men armed with muskets… was entrusted with one set of dispatches, I found it was hidden on the beach, where she was taken.

A second boat was also taken, but the third boat was at large. McKean sent men to Little Egg Harbor "in quest of it, but the beach is so extensive, and so many places like each other, that it is not yet found."

Forman sent a letter to General Heath on October 19. It included observations on British movements at Sandy Hook. He noted that the largest British warships were unloading at Sandy Hook "for the purpose of making their ships light as to insure their quick passage over the bar -- their 80 and 90 gun ships not being able to pass it at any time with their complements of stores on board… the reason for their failing to get out yesterday was for want of water.” In so doing, Forman confirmed the advice that American pilots had previously offered French admirals about Sandy Hook being too shallow for ships of the line.

Forman reported continuing to have express riders in place to ride for Morristown. Heath forwarded Forman’s intelligence to McKean on October 24. He wrote:

The British fleet, consisting of twenty-five ships of the line, three of 50 [guns], three of 40 [guns] and a number of frigates, with Sir Henry Clinton and 6,000 troops sailed from Sandy Hook to Virginia. -- That after the ships got over the bar, the troops were taken from the transport and put on the men of war, and the former returned.

This report, with its exaggerated details, was distributed to additional Continental leaders. However, Forman’s fears were soon discounted by Cornwallis’s surrender—also on the 19th.

Forman’s last surviving intelligence report from 1781 was sent to Washington (returned from Virginia)  on December 16. Forman described, “The sailing of a very considerable fleet from Sandy Hook -- I am sorry I have it not in my power to form an opinion of their destination or what they have on board." With winter coming on, Forman noted that “I have discharged the horsemen I had engaged for that purpose” because of the "far advanced season of the year and sailing of the fleet.”

Washington concurred with Forman closing down his operation, writing on January 2: "I approve of the discharging of the horsemen mentioned, as it at present is a very inactive season, their being continued in service would be a very unnecessary expense to the public." While Forman’s reports were not always accurate, there is no doubt that his services were valued by Washington and other leaders.

Related Historic Site: American Revolution Museum at Yorktown (Virginia)

Sources: George Washington to David Forman, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 79, July 21 and August 1, 1781; George Washington to William Dobbs, 31 July 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-06550, ver. 2013-09-28); John Bakeless, Turncoats, Traitors and Heroes, (New York: DaCapo, 1998) pp. 339-40; Personal Correspondence: David J. Fowler, Letter: David Forman to ?, August 3, 1781; George Washington to Count de Barras, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw220497)); Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw220532)); Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw220545)); John Trumball, Journal, in Benjamin Silliman, Catalogue of the Col. John Trumball Letters and Papers (Thomas Birch's Sons, Philadelphia, 1897), p 56; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 80, August 23 and 29, 1781; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 80, August 31, 1781; David Forman to George Washington, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 80, September 1, 2, and 6, 1781; Goerge Washington to David Forman, Fraunces Tavern, George Washington to David Forman, September 6, 1781; William Livingston to Joseph Reed, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 288-9; David Forman to Thomas McKean, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Thomas McKean Papers, vol 2, p6; Samuel Forman to William Heath, Massachusetts Historical Society, General Heath Collection, Samuel Forman to Gen. William Heath; Elias Boudinot, Journal of Historical Recollections of Events During the Revolutionary War (Phila: Frederick Bourquin, 1894) p41-2; David Forman to Thomas McKean, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Thomas McKean Collection, vol. 2., p 32, David Forman; Thomas McKean to George Washington, Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 18, p 128; David Forman to Wiliam Heath, Massachusetts Historical Society, General Heath Collection, David Forman to Gen. William Heath; William Hath to Thomas McKean, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 177, item 157, #351, 355, 359; David Forman to George Washington, Monmouth County Historical Association, Diaries Collection, box 2, John Stillwell's Diary (photocopy); David Forman to George Washington, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 23, pp. 44-394; George Washington to David Forman, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 82, January 2, 1782, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 82, January 2, 1782.