Monmouth County Prepares for Return of French Fleet

In July 1778, a large French fleet anchored off Shrewsbury Inlet (connecting the Shrewsbury River to the ocean at modern-day Sea Bright). It had the firepower to destroy the British fleet at Sandy Hook but its largest ships, when loaded, sat too deep in the water to enter the Sand Hook channel. Compounding this problem, the fleet—particularly when it first anchored—was not well supported by the Continental or New Jersey government. It took a week to establish a steady flow of provisions and send reputable pilots. Those pilots counseled that the largest French ships sat too deep into the water to cross over to Sandy Hook. So, the French weighed anchor and left for Rhode Island. They eventually headed for the West Indies.

In summer 1779, word arrived that the French fleet had left the West Indies and was heading northward. Neither the British nor Continental armies knew the location of the French fleet. In New York, the German Officer Heinrich von Feilitsch wrote: "Rumor is that a French fleet is expected here… it is assumed he [Admiral Charles Henri D'Estaing] will come again to Sandy Hook. Certainly, no one knows the truth." Ships stayed in port. Brooklyn Loyalist, R.W. Parker wrote: "The damned French fleet has disconcerted everything, I did expect to have cheated winter by getting southward, but I now apprehend I shall have to continue here."

On September 13, George Washington ordered Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee back into Monmouth County: "I desire that you will, with the remainder of your corps, [go] to the County of Monmouth and take a position as near the coast as you can, without making yourself liable to a surprise." His primary job was to locate the expected French Fleet and establish communications.

Gathering Pilots for the French Fleet

By early October, efforts were underway to get the best Sandy Hook pilots into Monmouth County. Washington wrote New Jersey Governor, William Livingston, on October 4:

It is essential that some good pilots should be ready to go on Board the French fleet the moment it appears perfectly acquainted with the entrance into New York harbor. Wm. Van Drill who resides in your State I am informed is one of the best that can be had. I shall be much obliged to your Excellency immediately to engage Mr. Van Drill to go down to Monmouth and join Major Lee at English Town… If there are any others on whose skill and fidelity we can depend within your Excellency's reach, I request they may be also sent.

That same day, Nathaniel Scudder of Freehold, serving in the Continental Congress, wrote Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress. Scudder discussed his absence from Congress and the expected arrival of French fleet, "We expect the appearance of the Count [D’Estaing] at Sandy Hook every hour... Pilots are providing for him as soon as possible -- two of them lodged with me last night, and are gone down this morning." The identity of these pilots is unknown.

Alexander Hamilton wrote about other pilots on the 6th: "Mr. Dobbs and Mr. Redfield are engaged to go on Board the French fleet as pilots. The former is well acquainted with the passage of the Hook and the latter with the navigation of the North River.”  The pilots were Wiliam Dobbs, the resident pilot at Sandy Hook before the war, and William Redfield of Connecticut.  Geroge Washington wrote of them on the same day in a letter to Congress:

Two pilots—Capn Dobbs & a Mr Redfield set out a few hours ago for Philadelphia—and I should hope from the measures I have taken—that there will be others immediately with you—or on the Coast of Monmouth, ready to embark on board the Count’s Squadron.

At least one prominent pilot was not available. The Loyalist New York Gazette wrote on October 13 about William Fundrum, "a very skillful pilot of our harbor" who had returned to New York. In July 1778 he was "forced aboard the French fleet" and counseled the French against sailing their large warships into the Sandy Hook channel, "he absolutely refused the undertaking as hazardous and impracticable."

British Prepare Sandy Hook for Attack

Rumors and falsehoods about the French fleet spread rapidly. In New York City, German officer, Johann Prechtel, wrote that "seventeen French warships arrived off Sandy Hook, they then turned back to sea." Colonel Isaac Angell in northern New York wrote on October 7, "We rec'd an account that Count D'Estaing was at Sandy Hook, and had taken all the British shipping and men." On October 9, Colonel David Forman, at Manalapan, predicted that the climactic battle for New York City would soon begin:

Reports say the Count is determined for New York -- should that be the case, I have determined with myself once more to have the pleasure to visit with my military friends and share with the fatigue of the attack of New York.

At Sandy Hook, as they had in July 1778, the British prepared for the French attack. Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot, commanding at Sandy Hook, wrote General Henry Clinton on October 4 about the need to strengthen defenses:

I must entreat your Excellency to strengthen the former batteries [at the Hook] with many more guns than heretofore because my situation is very different from Lord Howe's [in July 1778], both from the weakness of my command and the strength of the enemy; nor will it be possible to make a strong impression without the assistance of a very strong shore battery.

Clinton responded affirmatively the next day, "I think Sandy Hook worthy of my own protection.”

The enhanced defenses at Sandy Hook were observed by scouting parties on the Navesink Highlands. National Scudder wrote, "They now have a number of men at Sandy Hook, erecting a fort & batteries with heavy cannon." Captain John Walton wrote, "the enemy at Sandy Hook are fortifying there, I believe they expect trouble soon & hopefully they will not be disappointed."

Those same scouting parties reported on positions being taken by British warships to concentrate fire on Sandy Hook’s channel. One of those reported was printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette: 

"Ships lying at the Hook: Russell 74 guns, Capt. Drake; Europe 64 guns, Capt. Edwards; Reasonable 64 guns, Capt. Collier; Renown 50 guns, Roebuck 44 guns" and also "a chain of ships consisting of eleven sail, were to be sunk in the channel" to impede entrance into the harbor.

Samuel Culper, Jr., a Continental spy in New York also wrote about the sinking of hulks off Sandy Hook: "The transports which I intimated are taking water and ballast was for the use of the ships at Sandy Hook. The pilots say that it is now very difficult to bring a vessel in, owing to the hulks which were lately sunken there." A week later, Culper reported on four additional hulks being sunk in the channel to block the French entrance.

On October 20, George Washington wrote:

We are making every preparation in our power for an extensive and perfect co-operation with the fleet (if it comes) while the enemy, whose expectation of it keeps pace with ours, are equally vigorous in preparing for defence.

He also wrote of the defenses at Sandy Hook:

They have already sunk eight, and have 12 more large Ships to sink in the Channel within the light House… they work incessantly; and will, it is to be feared, render the entrance into the harbor extremely difficult, if not impracticable.

Major Lee at Freehold also reported on British defenses at Sandy Hook:

The enemy’s strength at the hook consists in two 64, the Europa & Russell—the Raisonable, Renown Roebuck & Romulus. Besides these they have a few frigates & some armed Schooners. They have sunk ten hulks in the outer channel & have more ready to be sunk, some of those sunk have got afloat & reached shore.

Not knowing where and when the French would arrive, Continental officers were sent to greet them at Cape May and Little Egg Harbor. Washington sent Alexander Hamilton to the Navesink Highlands on October 25. Although there were presumably pilots on hand by October 25, the Continental Congress sent an additional pilot, Captain Patrick Dennis, to Monmouth County on October 29. This occurred even as the British, according to a letter from Lee, began dismantling their defenses at Sandy Hook. "The heavy cannon placed in the batteries at the Hook, to secure the channel, was taken off."

By the middle of November, doubts were being raised about the French fleet’s expected arrival. Interestingly, one of those reports came from the prominent Loyalist, William Smith, in New York. On November 16, he expressed doubt that the French would come to New York based on intelligence provided by "people from Shrewsbury."

D’Estaing’s fleet did not return to Sandy Hook—Continental and British efforts on both sides of Sandy Hook were in vain. Instead, D’Estaing unsuccessfully besieged the British base at Savannah, Georgia. In spring 1780, new intelligence was received about the French fleet’s expected arrival on the Jersey shore and a new set of preparations were made.

Related Historic Site: Sandy Hook Lighthouse

Sources: Marine Committee to Henry Lee, National Archives, Collection 332, reel 6, #230; Heinrich von Feilitsch quoted in Bruce Burgoyne, Diaries of Two Ansbach Jaegers (NY: Heritage Books, 1997) p56; Heinrich von Feilitsch quoted in Bruce Burgoyne, A Hessian Officer's Diary of the American Revolution (NY: Heritage Books, 1994) p37; George Washington to Henry Lee, John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 16, pp. 279, 367; R.W. Parker to Seth Norton, Naussau County Museum, Seth Norton Papers, L82.2.48; George Washington to William Livingston, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw160418)); George Washington to Henri D’Estaing In George Clinton, Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, 1777-1795 (Albany: Hugh Hastings, 1904) vol. 1, pp 292-3; Nathaniel Scudder to Henry Laurens, Letters to Delegates of Congress, vol. 14, p22-3 (www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html); Alexander Hamilton to Congress, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 2, 1779–1781, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 198–199; The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 22, 1 August–21 October 1779, ed. Benjamin L. Huggins. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, pp. 642–643; George Washington to Congress, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw160434)); Isaac Angell, Diary of Isaac Angell (Providence, RI: Preston & Rounds, 1899) p77; David Forman to Nathanael Greene, University of Michigan, Clements Library, Nathanael Greene Papers, box 5, doc 23; Marriott Arbuthnot to Henry Clinton, B. F. Stevens, ed., Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to America, 1773–1783, [25 vols., London, 1889–1898], vol. 10, #1007, 1009; John Walton to Congress, Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, reel 2906, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 104, item 78, vol. 24, #187, 189; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 15, p 1166; Library of Congress, Early American Newspapers, Pennsylvania Evening Post; Morton Pennypacker, General Washington's spies on Long Island and in New York (New York: Long Island Historical Society, 1939) pp. 63, 258-9; George Washington to Marquis de Lafayette, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw160520)); Henry Lee to Alexander Hamilton, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 2, 1779–1781, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 208–209; George Washington to Henry Lee, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 62, October 25, 1779; Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961) vol. 2, pp. 213-5; George Washington to Lord Stirling, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw170041)); Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw170041)); Pennsylvania Gazette, November 3, 1779 (CD-ROM at the David Library, #27637); Marine Committee of Congress to Henry Lee, Charles Paulin, Out-Letters of the Marine Committee and Board of Admiralty (New York: Navy History Society, 1914) vol. 2, pp. 124-5; William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith: From 26 August 1778 to 12 November 1783 (New York: Arno, 1971)  p 184.