Monmouth Loyalists Jailed at Frederickton, Maryland

In the sixty days between November 15, 1776 and January 15, 1777, at least two hundred Monmouth County Loyalists were arrested, detained, and imprisoned out-of-state (see table at end of this article). Monmouth County’s Loyalist insurrections made it impossible to hold Loyalist prisoners after December 3, when Sheriff Asher Holmes sent his prisoners to Easton, Pennsylvania. The scramble to get prisoners transported on the same day that Loyalists gangs rose up illustrates the improvisational and reactive nature of Continental governance during these desperate times. Loyalist prisoners were treated inconsistently and, sometimes, incompetently.

Sending away the Monmouth Loyalist Prisoners

Most arrested Monmouth Loyalists were sent to the jail in Philadelphia, but that jail was overcrowded with Loyalists and British prisoners of war. So, many of the Monmouth prisoners were sent more than 200 miles to Fredericktown (Frederick), Maryland. In 1776, the town hastily constructed a two-story 30 x 20 jail that first took in North Carolina Loyalist prisoners in May. It was described as “a dreadful place… so crowded at present that we fear it may be dangerous to their health.” The prison, at the time, held 27 prisoners. It would soon hold 50 from Monmouth County alone—at least until 1777 when a more accommodating barracks-prison was started.

The first Monmouth County Loyalists sent to Fredericktown were captured in November. They were members of Samuel Wright’s Loyalist Association, Shrewsbury Township men taken during Colonel Charles Read’s campaign, and men taken in Colonel David Forman’s campaign in Freehold and Middletown townships. William Taylor, leader of the Loyalist association broken up by Forman, recalled:

In November 1776, Mr. Washington detached a regiment from his army, under command of Col David Forman, to take up and secure your memorialist and other friends of Government in Monmouth County, they actually took near 100 of your memorialist's friends and relations, and removed them 200 miles to Fredericktown in Maryland, and there closely confined them in gaol.

David Forman corroborated this recollection in a letter to George Washington, stating that he “took nearly 100 of his [Taylor’s] friends and relatives, who were removed 300 miles to Fredericktown, Maryland, and there confined to jail." It is interesting that the one point of disagreement between the two accounts was over the distance between Monmouth County and the far-off prison.

The prisoners stopped in Philadelphia on their way to Fredericktown. An entry in the Journals of Continental Congress, on December 5, notes the receiving Monmouth County prisoners, "inhabitants of New Jersey being sent under guard to Philadelphia, being charged with the crime of enlisting men for General Howe, and some enlisting themselves in the service of the enemy.” 

Congress then resolved “that they be sent under guard to Frederick, Maryland, there to be safely confined." However, the prisoners did not leave Philadelphia for Fredericktown until December 10. On that day, Congress’s agent, Captain Mountjoy Bailey, assigned an 18-man guard to transport the prisoners.

Fifty Monmouth Loyalists arrived in Fredericktown on December 18 and were put under the care of Frederick County’s Committee Observation. According to a receipt made out to Mountjoy Bailey, the prisoners included John Van Mater, a former Committeeman whose brother helped capture Richard Stockton, and Henry Weatherby, the second-in-command in Samuel Wright’s Loyalist association.

The fifty men were a subset of Monmouth prisoners in Philadelphia. On December 15, General Israel Putnam wrote to Mountjoy Bailey about sixteen prisoners in Philadelphia:

In consequence of an application from a number of Gentlemen in this city, together with the presentation of Colo. [Nathaniel] Scudder, who is personally acquainted with many of the prisoners, a list of names enclosed. I am induced to authorize you to cause a guard to be immediately provided, which shall convey the 16 persons to the gaol at Lancaster, where they are to be delivered and left... The expense of such an extraordinary guard & the whole process to be defrayed by the prisoners themselves.

Some of the prisoners to be shipped to Lancaster were active in Samuel Wright’s association or were Freehold-Middletown and Shrewsbury Loyalist insurrectionists. Noteworthy names include: John Van Mater, Daniel Grandin, Morford Taylor, Thomas Leonard, and Robert James.

Curiously, Van Mater, Grandin, and two others on the Lancaster prisoner list also appear on the Fredericktown list. The same man could not have been sent to both places. This raises the strong possibility that the prisoners were lying to jailers about their true identity, perhaps in order to protect their family name and kin still in Monmouth County.

Further muddying the documentation is an undated “List of Tories” that includes 53 names. It was likely compiled in Philadelphia in December. It includes several names from the list of 50 Loyalists sent to Fredericktown and several from the list of 16 sent to Lancaster. But it also includes names that are not on either list. And there are interesting annotations next to eight of the names. They are below:

Ren Cooke -- "helped discover Tories"

John Bennett -- "of Samuel Wright's men"

William Dennison -- "escaped"

Robert James -- "again apprehended"

William Tie -- "taken by Capt. Wikoff"

Charles Lucas -- "released"

William Jones -- "discharged"

William Woolley -- "in Frederick".

Based on the annotations, at least three of these men were cooperating with Continental authorities.

Returning the Monmouth Loyalist Prisoners

On January 2, 1777, Pennsylvania Continentals under Lt. Colonel Francis Gurney routed the new Loyalist militia at Freehold. Gurney pushed east and further broke up Loyalist stores at Middletown and Shrewsbury. The British Army concurrently withdrew across New Jersey. The New Jersey government regained its bearings. On February 13, before learning of the disastrous defeat of the Monmouth militia at the Battle of the Navesink, the New Jersey Assembly passed a resolution to bring back the Frederick Loyalists and "convey them into this State to stand trial."

It appears that the Monmouth Loyalists in Maryland were moved to a prison in Salem County. On March 19, the New Jersey Council of Safety, considered trying the Loyalists: “Ordered, that the prisoners lately ordered to be brought from Fredericktown in Maryland and lodged in the gaol of the County of Salem, to be conducted under guard to Bordentown [to appear before the Council].” Three of the Frederick-detained Loyalists appeared before the Board on March 29: "the Board proceeded to examine Major Seabrook [Thomas Seabrook] respecting three prisoners who were sent to Fredericktown in Maryland & are now returned to this State."

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia prison remained overcrowded and a breeding ground for disease. In early April, Nathaniel Scudder wrote of the Monmouth prisoners in Philadelphia, including some recently moved to Bordentown, New Jersey, that they “are in a wretched condition, many sick - [John] Sears apparently dying yesterday morning." Three other prisoners, John North, William North, and James Journee–were in the hospital recovering from smallpox. They would soon be permitted to leave prison in exchange for enlisting in the Continental Army.

Thomas Wharton wrote Governor William Livingston about the prison overcrowding on March 26. “The prison is much crowded and many of the prisoners are sick, which renders it necessary to take every step possible to lessen their number."  Wharton noted that "several of the prisoners from the State of New Jersey have petitioned for a hearing."

On April 2, Livingston replied, "the difficulty of knowing how to dispose of them has given me great anxiety" but he also reminded Wharton that the Loyalists were “in treason and rebellion against the United States.” Livingston asked Wharton to continue to hold the Loyalists until David Forman arrived to testify to “several of the delinquencies.” But Livingston then moved to bring home the Loyalists, “I have sent Lt. Smock [Barnes Smock] with a guard to receive them from your State." As late as October 1777, 79 New Jersey prisoners were still being held in the Philadelphia jail. Based on the surnames, as many as 50 of those men could have been from Monmouth County.

On April 3, the New Jersey Council of Safety began a long series of trials against Monmouth Loyalists. A few of the men--Garrett Covenhoven, Thomas Woolley, Charles Lucas, Zachariah Sickles—were identified as taken by David Forman in November. They likely showed contrition and were released after taking loyalty oaths. Other jailed Loyalists, such as Edmund Harris and Richard James, remained in prison until their eventual trials before Monmouth County first Court of Oyer Terminer in January 1778.

On May 1, the New Jersey Council of Safety noted that William Woolley was still in Fredericktown. The council wished to “deliver said Woolley to Richard Bell, he having promised to bring him into this State, and enter into a bond for his appearing before the Council of Safety." 

On June 10, the Council noted another Monmouth Loyalist still in Frederick, James Paterson; it permitted Peter Paterson and Thomas Jeffrey “to bring them into this State at their own expense & entering into a bond of L500." Solomon Wardell and Moses Havens were also permitted to retrieve David Brown and George Johnson from Fredericktown under the same conditions. It is unclear why these Loyalists were left behind.

The irregularities regarding the out-of-state confinement and return of the Monmouth Loyalists illustrates that the nation’s new leaders, acting under difficult conditions, made significant mistakes.

Major Events Resulting in the Capture of Monmouth Loyalists

• 13 of Samuel Wright’s Party taken by VA. Continentals c. November 15, 1776

• 70 Shrewsbury Loyalists taken by Col. Charles Read c. November 30, 1776

• "Near" 100 Freehold Loyalists taken Col. David Forman c. November 30, 1776

• 5 Upper Freehold Loyalists taken by DE. Continentals c. December 29, 1776

• 23 Loyalist Militia taken by PA. Continentals on January 2 and 3, 1777

• 15 Loyalist insurgents taken by PA. Continentals on January 6 and 9, 1777

The statistics above undercount the complete number of captured Loyalists. They include only documented events resulting in five or more captures. Captures of less than five are not listed. Additional captures likely occurred that are not documented in surviving records and, therefore, cannot be included.

Related Historic Site: Fort Frederick State Park (Maryland)

Sources: “You shall be carried to the gaol of Fredericktown,” Emerging Revolutionary War Era, January 29, 2019 (https://emergingrevolutionarywar.org/2019/01/29/you-shall-be-carried-to-the-gaol-of-fredericktown-part-1/#_edn7); “Conveyance of Tory Prisoners of War,” correspondence from the Frederick County Historical Society; Rutgers University, Special Collections, Loyalist Compensation Applications, Hendrick Van Mater, Coll. D96, PRO AO 13/112, reel 11; Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, p 186, 182, 315 note. William Dwyer, The Day is Ours! An Inside View of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1998), p38. Harry Ward, Major General Adam Stephen and the Cause of American Liberty (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1989) pp. 146-7; Rutgers University, Special Collections, Loyalist Compensation Applications, William Taylor, Coll. D96, PRO AO 13/112, reel 10; John Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1932) vol. 6, p 307; Peter Force, ed., American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution 1774–1776, 9 vols. (1837–53), 5th Services, vol. 2, pp. 1599, 1603; General Israel Putnam to Capt. Mountjoy Bailey, Dec 15, 1776, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 84, item 70, #117; Prisoner List, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 53, item 42, vol. 2, #301; George Washington to Israel Putnam, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw060334)); List of Tories, undated, Princeton University, Firestone Library, CO387, Barricklo Coll., box 1, folder Miscellaneous; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I78, Miscellaneous Letters to Congress, v22, p193; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, February 13, 1777, p 66; Willliam Livingston to Owen Biddle, New York Public Library, Emmet Collection, #9455; Thomas Wharton to William Livingston, in Carl Prince ed, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, pp. 285-6, 291; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) pp. 9-10; Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 1, p 292; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 13; Pennsylvania Gazette, December 24, 1777(CD-ROM at the David Library, #24267); Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 209; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, April 9, 1778, p 104-105; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) p 251; New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 7, June 16, 1778; Nathaniel Scudder to David Forman, Rutgers University Library Special Collections, Neilson Family Papers; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2009) pp. 255, 283; Memorial of John Williams, Great Britain Public Record Office, British Headquarters Papers, 30/55, #4907; List of Prisoners in Philadelphia Gaol, October 1777, New Jersey Council of Safety, New Jersey State Archives, b2, n120.