George Taylor and Nathaniel Scudder Report the Arrival of the British Army

At the end of June 1776, a massive British fleet began arriving at Sandy Hook, the peninsula at the entrance of New York that was taken by the British navy two months earlier. This massive British fleet numbered 120 sails on June 29. It carried 25,000 soldiers—the largest European army ever sent to the Americas.

Long before the fleet’s arrival, Monmouth Countians worried that they could not protect Middletown and Shrewsbury townships, oppositive of Sandy Hook. In April, for example, Joseph Throckmorton, the Shrewsbury Township Magistrate, wrote the New Jersey Provincial Congress about his county’s weakness. He worried that if the British found New York “strongly fortified and garrison'd” they would naturally turn their attention to the “defenceless country” opposite Sandy Hook with “the necessary refreshments and supplies they may so easily obtain.”

Throckmorton assessed the Monmouth County militia facing Sandy Hook, particularly in light of recent recruiting by David Forman to enlist “Flying Camp” to augment George Washington’s Army:

As to our strength to defend ourselves, it is much weaken'd by ‘listing of men for the Continental service, and this last supply of men and arms, if not soon recall'd or other ways supplied, may render us incapable of defending ourselves from becoming an easy prey to any invaders, which at this time very much dispirits the inhabitants of this County to be left In so defenceless a condition.

Throckmorton furthered worried that “the sending of fifty Jersey muskets to supply part of Col. [William] Maxwell's Battalion and the late draft has took a considerable part of our best Arms.”

In June, the Monmouth County militia camped opposite Sandy Hook on the Navesink Highlands. Commanded by Colonel George Taylor, they were the first rebelling Americans to see the British fleet, and it was their responsibility to report on the critical event. James Bowne, serving under Taylor, recalled:

The company consisted of about sixty privates - besides the officers - they were quartered at a house on the Bay shore near the upper part of the Highlands where they could see from their quarters the enemy shipping and had a fair view of Sandy Hook, where the enemy lay.

On June 29, Colonel George Taylor of Middletown reported the first of the British fleet was arriving. The New Jersey Provincial Congress recorded receiving notice from Taylor that "45 sail is now in sight & 19 sail are at the Hook, & a party of men already landed at the Light House & some light horse."

At the same time, Taylor assessed his own vulnerable position. He pessimistically predicted: "The party of men and Light Horse [at Sandy Hook], I have no doubt, will pay us a visit as soon as convenient for them. Our guard is very weak, and not sufficient to make any stand." Taylor’s assessment is corroborated by militiaman George Smock, who recalled that the British landing put “strict terror in the hearts of all."

Indeed, on Sandy Hook, the British were receiving reports on the weakness of local defenses. James McFarlane, a Loyalist who enlisted in the British Army a few days after the fleet arrived, reported that “there was nobody on the other side of the Island [Sandy Hook] but a parcell of Jersey rascals.” McFarlane told that the British that “500 [British troops] would drive them all.”

John Covenhoven of Freehold, a delegate in the Provincial Congress serving as the body’s Vice President, immediately forwarded Taylor’s report to the Continental Congress. Covenhoven noted steps taken to supply Taylor’s militia and then appealed for help:

We have taken steps to move forward a considerable number of arms & ammunition, lead & powder... We rely on your care and protection from every part of the Continent, and doubt not that the most vigorous steps have been taken for our general safety.

On July 1, the majority of the British fleet passed Sandy Hook and entered lower New York Harbor. At this critical moment, Nathaniel Scudder, a Committeeman and Lt. Colonel of the Monmouth militia, rode through the night to deliver word to the New Jersey Provincial Congress. During the night he heard booms that he mistook for cannon-fire from the British ships of war (probably thunder). He arrived at the Provincial Congress on July 2 mistakenly believing that the invasion of New York was already underway.

Understanding the exceptional vulnerability of Monmouth County, Scudder called for the Monmouth militia to be exempted from duty outside its boundaries. The men should "not be prevailed upon to march to New York and leave their wives and children to fall prey to the enemy, if they should be repulsed at New York, or to be murdered by the Tories in their absence.”

John Covenhoven immediately passed Scudder’s report to the Continental Congress along with his own letter:

We have this moment undoubted information, by Lieutenant Colonel Scudder, from Monmouth County, that about four o' clock yesterday afternoon, he observed nearly the whole of the enemy' s fleet in motion, and at half past six in the afternoon, saw about one hundred and thirty sail in the channel from the Hook to New York ...that he left Middleton at eleven o' clock last evening; and at about four this morning, being at the high land between Upper and Lower Freehold, heard a very heavy firing of cannon.

Covenhoven also reported on events in his home county:

We also received, by Colonel Scudder, a letter from Colonel [George] Taylor, of Monmouth, dated yesterday, informing us of that County being so exposed to the enemy without, and the Tories among themselves, that he apprehends the Militia will not be prevailed on to march to New York, and leave their wives and children to fall either a prey to the enemy, if they should be repulsed at New York, or be murdered by the Tories in their absence, who are embodying themselves, and a considerable number already encamped at the Cedar Swamps.

Covenhoven concluded by asking the Continental Congress to "send forward all the assistance in your power."

However, the greatest threats to the Continental cause in Monmouth County would not come from the British Army, but from Monmouth County’s own Loyalists. Some of these men were already in insurrection against the new government while others were forming into companies that would soon join the British Army at Sandy Hook.

Related Historic Sites: Independence Hall (Philadelphia)

Sources: Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p137; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - James Bowne; Peter Force, American Archives: Consisting of a Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress Clerk's Office, 1853), 5th Series, vol. 6, pp. 1133-4; National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, reel 82, item 68, #155, 159; John O'Connor, "Nathaniel Scudder's Midnight Ride," New Jersey Historical Commission Newsletter, vol. 6, n. 3, November 1975, p 2 & 7; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v1: p 1-2; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - George Smock; Journal of H.M.S. Chatham, Captain John Raynor, June 29, 1776, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Admiralty 51/192. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/; "The Examination of James MacFarlan a Soldier belonging to the 55th Regiment, July 5, 1776, Washington Papers, LC. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/; Joseph Throckmorton at Shrewsbury to Azariah Dunham, April 4, 1776, Lloyd W. Smith Collection, MNHP. Accessed via https://navydocs.org/.