The Battle of the 1500 at Middletown

By 1781, the British Army (including Loyalist units such as the New Jersey Volunteers) had largely pulled back from raiding into New Jersey. Many of their most enterprising officers, such as Captain Patrick Ferguson who led raids into Monmouth County, left to fight in the Carolinas. Loyalist irregulars, including the Associated Loyalists, filled the void—launching numerous small raids into New Jersey. However, the British Army still made a few large incursions in 1781. One of those large incursions, involving roughly 1,500 British and Loyalist regulars, was launched into Middletown on June 21, 1781. Some locals would subsequently call it “the Battle of the 1,500.”

The Battle of the 1500 in Newspaper Reports

The most complete narrative of the Battle of the 1500 was printed in the New Jersey Gazette a few days after the incursion. The report noted that “a body consisting of about one thousand new Levies [Loyalists], British and foreign troops, under the command of Cortland Skinner, made an incursion” with the “intention to plunder a place called Pleasant Valley.” Pleasant Valley (present-day Holmdel) was a solidly-Whig neighborhood in western Middletown Township. Alarm spread before the raiders arrived, allowing the locals to engage in “driving off their stock of every kind so that they [the raiders] found little booty.” The outnumbered local militia resisted bravely:

The militia of the neighborhood were by this time beginning to collect, and a pretty smart skirmishing was kept up through the remainder of the day, in which we are informed that our people behaved with great spirit.

The raiders then withdrew toward the Navesink Highlands, camping on Garrett’s Hill, where a militia party raided the camp of the raiders: “One of our gallant officers made a descent upon them and rescued a number of a stolen sheep.” The next day, the raiders carried off “about 40 cattle and 60 sheep… The loss on our side is one killed and three or four wounded.” Two homes were burned.

The report speculated that the raider’s “aim was to have penetrated further into the country” but the spirited militia response forced the raiders to shorten the incursion:

The militia of the neighboring counties were called upon, and it was truly surprising to see with what spirit and alacrity they flew to their arms and were crowding down from every quarter to the assistance of their brethren, which accounts for the hasty retreat of the enemy.

A report published in the Pennsylvania Gazette on June 27 claimed that 1,200 raiders landed at Shoal Harbor and marched through Middletown to Pleasant Valley “in the course of which he burnt Mr. [John] Stillwell's house, a Quarter Master in the Monmouth militia, also Justice [Peter] Covenhoven's house.” This report also praised “the militia, under Col. [Asher] Holmes, turning out with the greatest alacrity” which “ obliged the raiders “to go with very little plunder.” The report also praised “David Forman, Esq. (formerly General)” for “serving with his countrymen and fellow citizens in the ranks.”

As the incursion and skirmishing was occurring, Loyalist irregulars on Sandy Hook took advantage of the local militia responding to the alarm. The Pennsylvania Packet reported a brutal incident that day regarding a Lieutenant Otter, who was clamming on the Shrewsbury shore (the details of which may be exaggerated):

A refugee boat commanded by one Insley, formerly of New Jersey, was dispatched from a sloop at some distance in pursuit of him. Lieut. Otter gained the shore and ran a small distance, but having forgot his coat, ran back to recover it, and just as he arrived at the boat, he was killed by a four pound shot, which passed through his body. Insley and some of his crew came on shore, when he deliberately rolled up his sleeves, tore the bowels out of Lieut. Otter and washed his hands and arms in his blood. The wife and children of the unfortunate Lieut. were eyewitness to this monstrous barbarity of this imp of Hell.

The Battle of the 1500 in Officer Letters and Other Docs

Two of Monmouth County’s militia colonels, Asher Holmes and Samuel Forman, called out their men to combat the British/Loyalist incursion. Holmes reported to Governor William Livingston:

They landed this morning about 4 O’clock at Shoal Harbor - reports make them about 1500 or 2000 strong, was marching towards Middletown. I have called out my Regt. and shall march toward the enemy immediately, if they are so numerous as reports make them, [I] must request the assistance of the militia in neighbouring counties.

Forman, at Freehold, wrote to Captain John Covenhoven (not the political leader of the same name):

There is a number of the enemy landed at Middletown, I order your company to march down to the Court House with all speed -- as they collect their, by 30 or more, as that may happen -- they must march to join those who may be gone... I have 350 ball -- bring down powder to make up what cartridges you have need made.

The third Monmouth militia colonel, Daniel Hendrickson, was likely in motion too. But no surviving document proves this.

On June 23, Colonel Holmes at Freehold wrote a longer report on the raid to Governor Livingston:

They landed at Shoal Harbor about 4 O’clock on the 21st instant, marched up to Middletown and then divided into two parties, the main body took the main road towards Freehold to the upper Baptist meeting house & then turned off for Pleasant Valley, the other party took the road from Middletown to below Middletown, where they lay all night - about eight O’clock yesterday morning, they began their march down to the Highlands, and in the afternoon went on board their vessels in the cove, made sail before night for New York.

Holmes concluded that “their number was about 1500; the enemy missed their main object, which was the stock that was mostly drove off.” He reported on the destruction:

They have burnt two houses, vizt. Peter Covenhoven, esq., in Middletown, and John Stillwell at Garrett's Hill; the number of horned cattle taken by best account is between thirty & forty, and not above sixty or seventy sheep.

On casualties, Holmes reported no more than “four of our men wounded & four missing. The enemy left three of their dead behind & we have taken six prisoners." Holmes reported that he was unable to “get the militia embodied” before the enemy’s arrival, so the “attacks that were made were with small parties.” Holmes also reported that, while his men were called away to battle the raiders, "a party of refugees from Staten Island in boats landed at Shoal Harbor and took eight or ten horses."

Other letters reveal that considerable misinformation clouded the response to the raid. Captain Thomas Beatty of the Continental Army, stationed at Cranbury, initially refused to march his men toward Pleasant Valley. He wrote the Governor on June 22: "We have reason to believe the accounts [of the raid] coming to this place are untrue.” He continued, “several persons have returned and say that the militia of Monmouth County have been discharged from the field alarms.”

Beatty reported that Colonel William Scudder (brother of Monmouth County’s Nathaniel Scudder and leader of the Middlesex County militia) also kept his men at Cranbury: “Col Scudder has thought fit to detain his regiment at this place & has dispatched a horseman to Englishtown, or to the Court House if necessary, for more certain intelligence." Interestingly, Scudder’s man returned from Freehold with a great exaggeration: “Genl. [Benedict] Arnold has entered Monmouth County with 3,500 men."

A few days after the raid, Nathaniel Scudder, Monmouth County’s leading political figure, wrote Livingston about a false report of a new incursion against Shrewsbury. As a result:

An express was immediately dispatched for Monmouth Court House, whence the alarm was spread every way - I was awaked [sic] between five & six o'clock with the pointed information as to their being in force & on their way to Shrewsbury.

Scudder went to Cranbury to spread the alarm, but "on my way home, I heard it was a false alarm."

False reports continued. On June 25, Colonel Elias Dayton of the New Jersey Line reported to George Washington that: "On the morning of the 21st a body of the enemy, said to amount to fifteen or twenty hundred men landed at shoal harbour near Middletown point.” The wildly exaggerated size of the incursion force compounded an account of the enemy’s intention to stay in Monmouth County:

They had taken a position within four miles of Monmouth court-house. By the accounts from New York of their having carried with them tents, baggage &c. I am inclined to believe that it is their intention to establish a post in that country in order to annoy and harass the inhabitants and to collect cattle of all kinds… It appears that they gained very little by their expedition.

Following the battle, three wounded men, Privates Philip Walling and Walter Hyer of the Middletown militia, and Private William Hall of the State Troops were granted military pensions for wounds received during the battle. Attending doctors signed certificates like this one from Dr. Thomas Barber:

Thomas Barber swears that he attended as a doctor, Walter Hyer, who was wounded while fighting the common enemy, June 21, 1781, in the right fore arm, by a sword or cutlass, by which he lost part of the bone and his hand is rendered almost entirely useless.

Hyer later wrote in his veteran’s pension application that he "was severely wounded by a troop of British Light Horse, his arm being wounded and part of one hand cut off… in consequence of his being disabled, he was allowed and received a pension of the sum of sixteen schillings & eight pence per month."

The Battle of the 1500 in Veterans’ Pension Applications

Including Hyer, the Battle of the 1500 was discussed in eleven Revolutionary War veteran pension applications (Henry Applegate, Samuel Carman, John Leyster, John Schenck, Walter Van Pelt, William Van Pelt, Joseph Walling, Phillip Walling, William Walling, Garrett Wikoff). Among all of Monmouth County’s military clashes, only the Battle of Monmouth is narrated in more pension applications.

John Schenck, a militia captain who had co-led a raid against Brooklyn in 1778, was the only officer to narrate the incursion. He recalled being targeted by the raiders: “They attacked the house of the said John Schenck… the British and Tories at New York had offered a reward of twenty five guineas to the man would take or kill him." Schenck was out with the militia and not taken.

Phillip Walling was wounded at the battle and depositions were taken to confirm the fact. Samuel Cottrell deposed that Walling “was taken prisoner by the British at the battle, while a prisoner saw Philip Walling lying in a yard between the house and barn of Garret Schenck… Walling was taken from the yard and carried into the barn, & laid on the barn floor- said Walling was lifeless and was very bloody." William Van Pelt deposed that he “took off the hat of the said Walling and examined his wounds, which were on his head and appeared to be sword cuts -- the said Walling was very bloody and almost lifeless -- this deponent spoke to him and received no answer."

Other pensioners discussed the route of the raiders and specific skirmishes. Joseph Walling recalled a skirmish "at Monkacunk when a James Hull was killed and Abraham Vanderule was wounded, Garret Hendrickson and Adam Striker were also wounded." (For Hendrickson, it was his second time wounded.} Garrett Wikoff recalled that his militia company “flanked the artillery at the time of the skirmish… near Van Dorn’s Mill.” Samuel Carman was also at Van Dorn’s Mill, where "he had his horse shot thru the neck but made his retreat & escaped."

Henry Applegate suggested that the raiders “were marching towards Monmouth Court House and were met and engaged near Colts Neck.” They were “driven back” by militia resistance. John Leyster similarly recalled: “They divided at Middletown, about half going toward Middletown Point & the other division taking the road to Bray's Meeting House.” Leyster recalled that “his company was engaged harassing them during the day of their landing… their attempting to burn and plunder being in most cases rendered wholly ineffectual by the indefatigable exertions of his & other scouting parties."

The pension application of Walter Van Pelt (submitted by his widow, Nancy Van Pelt) included telling details about the young couple. Matthis Smith deposed that, "the house of said Walter Pelt was burned by a party of the enemy... they had been married and keeping house for only one year or more, and he remembers that all property and furniture in the house was destroyed, and they did not even save the Bible." Nancy Van Pelt also recalled that after the raid, her husband brought “the coat of a Hessian who had been killed in the battle, and hung it up in her bedroom, and she insisted on her husband removing the coat before she would go into the room."

Some of the information in the pension narratives is incorrect. For example, Walter Van Pelt claimed that the Loyalist raiders were under "the command of the celebrated Tory, Colonel [John] Morris.” But Morris was retired from the military by June 1781.

Perspective

The incursion of June 21, 1781 was a failure. The British had expected to push further into Monmouth County (probably to Freehold), but stubborn resistance from Monmouth militia and state troops convinced the raiders to shorten the incursion. Their haul of about 100 head of livestock was only a little greater than the haul taken by raiding parties one tenth the size. The Battle of the 1500 would be remembered as the day when the men of Monmouth County faced down a larger enemy. While some recollections were romanticized, it was a great day for the Monmouth County militia and a remarkable turnaround from early in the war when the militia usually scattered after exchanging a few shots with the enemy.

Related Historic Site: Holmes Hendrickson House

Appendix: New Jersey Gazette Account of the Battle of the 1500

"From Monmouth County we learn that on Thursday last a body consisting of about one thousand new Levies, British and foreign troops, under the command of Cortland Skinner, made an incursion into that county: By their conduct it appears that it was their intention to plunder a place called Pleasant Valley, where they arrived about 11 A.M. with little or no interruption; the inhabitants had however exerted themselves in such a manner in driving off their stock of every kind that they found little booty.

The militia of the neighborhood were by this time beginning to collect, and a pretty smart skirmishing was kept up through the remainder of the day, in which we informed that our people behaved with great spirit.—They began their retreat about sundown, and made no halt till they got to Garret’s Hill, where they continued that night, during the course of which one of our gallant officers made a descent upon them and rescued a number of a stolen sheep; the next day they embarked again, having captured and taken off with them, by the best count, about 40 cattle and 60 sheep, with the loss of one man killed and a number deserted; their loss in wounded is unknown: the loss on our side is one killed and three or four wounded.—They have burned two houses, but it is acknowledged in their favor that they behaved remarkably well to the persons of the people in general.

By their coming out in such force it was expected their aim was to have penetrated further into the country, to prevent which the militia of the neighboring counties were called upon, and it was truly surprising to see with what spirit and alacrity they flew to their arms and were crowding down from every quarter to the assistance of their brethren on this occasion, which accounts for the hasty retreat of the enemy and rendered their further services unnecessary."

Sources: National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Henry Applegate of Monmouth, www.fold3.com/image/#12036438; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - John Schenck; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Walling; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Joseph Walling; National Archives, Misc. Numbered Records, 4019; Pennsylvania Gazette, June 27, 1781; Pennsylvania Packet, June 28, 1781; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; Pennsylvania Gazette, June 27, 1781 and July 4, 1781 (CD-ROM at the David Library, #29049, #29075); Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 303; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Walter Hier; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - William Van Pelt; National Archives, Revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Philip Walling; New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 15, June 21, June 23, 1781; To George Washington from Elias Dayton, 25 June 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-06164, ver. 2013-09-28); National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Henderson of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#24475353; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Garret Wikoff of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#  NJ 28142503; William S. Stryker, Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War (Trenton: Naar, Day & Naar, 1872); Forman, Samuel S. Narrative of a Journey down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90 (Cincinnati, R. Clarke and Co., 1888) p 9; William Livingston to Asher Holmes, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 14, folder 10; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Walter Van Pelt; Pennsylvania Packet, July 12, 1781; Asher Holmes to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 224-5; Thomas Beatty to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 15, June 22, 1781; Asher Holmes to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, pp. 224-5; Nathaniel Scudder to William Livingston, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 15, June 24, 1781; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Samuel Carman.