The Capture and Execution of Ezekiel Tilton

Before the Revolution, Ezekiel Tilton lived in Shrewsbury Township with his wife, Elizabeth Tilton. With his brothers, Clayton Tilton and John Tilton, Ezekiel went behind British lines in early 1777. His brothers became Loyalist partisans and their infamy in Monmouth County likely put the same taint on Ezekiel. Ezekiel Tilton was accused of being in the party that hanged Joshua Huddy in April 1782. Two months after Huddy’s hanging, Ezekiel Tilton was captured while fishing near Sandy Hook and imprisoned in the Monmouth County jail at Freehold.

Ezekiel Tilton’s Controversial Confinement

In July 1782, Elizabeth Tilton petitioned General Guy Carleton, the British Commander in Chief, about her husband’s capture:

While he endeavored to gain an occupation of fisherman to support his family, last week, while returning from the banks without Sandy Hook, they were taken by a row boat fitted out in the Jersies; he is carried to Monmouth Gaol and confined, and it is reported as a State prisoner -- So much oppressed with close and heavy irons that his flesh is in a state of mortification.

She reminded Carleton of past abuses of Loyalists in the same prison: “one of his neighbors has been shot & murdered without provocation [James Pew], and others led to the gallows for their loyalty.” Elizabeth Tilton noted that her husband “can only be considered a naval prisoner (no other crime can possibly be held against him).” However, Ezekiel would be charged with and convicted of High Treason. Elizabeth Tilton requested Carleton’s assistance “in procuring a mitigation of his severe treatment and an exchange."

On July 18, a handful of Loyalists, including three of Monmouth County’s more prominent Loyalists, George Taylor, Chrineyonce Van Mater, and Thomas Crowell, petitioned Carleton in support Elizabeth Tilton. The petitioners framed themselves as loyal citizens forced to take up fishing in order not to be a burden on the British government:

As exiles, our constant endeavors are to be as little burden to Government as possible, led us in general to pursue the business of fishing to supply this garrison, while it supplied scanty subsistence to ourselves and our families. That occupation from whence we drew our support has been so much interrupted by the armed whale boats, while we are unprotected in this employment.

The petitioners noted the danger of fishing for a living: “A number of fishing boats have lately fell sacrifice to the rebels, whose fury and resentment operates very seriously on such persons when they discover among their prisoners a former inhabitant of their County.”

They then discussed plight of Ezekiel Tilton:

We deplore the captivity of Ezekiel Tilton, one of our number taken last week at the Narrows by [Adam] Hyler and his gang and conveyed to Monmouth Gaol, there loaded with heavy chains and experiencing the torments usual to the bitterness of this implacable enemy.

That same day, John Morris, formerly a Lt. Colonel in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers, wrote Carleton about the imprisonment and potential execution of Ezekiel Tilton, "I am convinced that the rebel commander in that County will murder the same [Tilton] without some orders to the contrary from his superiors." He requested that Carleton contact New Jersey Governor William Livingston about Tilton’s treatment and forwarded a deposition from Aaron White on the mistreatment of Loyalists in Monmouth County.

As requested, Carleton wrote Governor Livingston on July 21:

I am just informed that Ezekiel Tilton, returning last week from the banks without Sandy Hook, where he had been fishing, was taken by an armed boat belonging to the State of New Jersey, and carried to Monmouth gaol where he was confined, loaded in irons and suffering hardships which greatly endanger his life; that he is considered to be in a condition of what is called a Jersey State prisoner and threatened as such with certain death.

Carleton indignantly closed: “I do hereby demand, Sir, that this man shall be placed in the condition of prisoner of war only, and treated with lenity with which such prisoners of war ought to be treated."

On July 31, Livingston inquired about Tilton’s prisoner status and being loaded in irons to John Burrowes, Monmouth County’s Sheriff. Burrowes responded on August 5. He defended Tilton's harsh treatment:

As to his being loaded in irons, it is true. He joined the enemy in the Spring of 1777, he has been guilty of horse robbing, house burning, horse stealing & plundering ever since the time of his running off, which can be readily proven.

However, while it appears that John and Clayton Tilton were involved in “horse robbing, house burning, horse stealing & plundering,” there is not clear evidence that Ezekiel was directly involved in irregular warfare. At the time Burrowes wrote this letter, Tilton had not been convicted of any crime. So, the pre-trial punishment of loading him in irons appears punitive and contrary to due process.

Livingston replied to Carleton on August 10. Livingston enclosed the note from John Burrowes and suggested that he believed Burrowes’s characterization of Tilton. Livingston apologized for his tardy response: "I am very sorry that it was not in my power to answer your’s express, it was not then within my knowledge as to his character." But he offered Carleton no sympathy regarding Tilton.

The Death of Ezekiel Tilton

In November 1782, at the Seventh Monmouth County Court of Oyer and Terminer, Ezekiel Tilton was convicted of High Treason and sentenced to death. On December 18, the Loyalist New York Gazette reported:

We hear that on Friday the 13th last, the following Loyalists were executed in Monmouth on pretense of having committed high crimes against the rebel states of America, viz. Ezekiel Tilton, John Lockerson [Okerson] and Peter Eaton--Judah Lippincott and James Fisher, condemned to suffer the same fate, were reprieved.

The same newspaper further reported on January 1, 1783, that "the body of Ezekiel Tilton was resigned to his friends and by them interred in a manner that exhibited their detestation for the horrid deed, the largest number of respectable people ever known to have assembled there on any occasion attended the remains of his grave." If a large number of county citizens gathered for Tilton’s funeral (and did so during the winter), it would have been a statement of dissatisfaction with the Monmouth County courts for the executing him.

Tilton and the others were hanged on December 13, 1782—fourteen months after the British surrender at Yorktown “ended” the Revolutionary War. It appears that these were the last Loyalist executions in Monmouth County. But the Revolutionary War in Monmouth County continued, particularly on the county’s lower shore where the Pine Robber gang of John Bacon remained unbowed into 1783.

Related Historic Site: Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic (Nova Scotia)

Sources: Elizabeth Tilton to Guy Carleton, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #5097; John Morris to Guy Carleton, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #5099; Petition, David Library of the American Revolution, Great Britain Public Records Office, British Headquarters Papers, #5098; Guy Carleton to William Livingston, Carl Prince, Papers of William Livingston (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987) vol. 4, p 445, 445 note; William Livingston to John Burrowes, New Jersey State Archives, William Livingston Papers, reel 17, August 5, 1782; To George Washington from Guy Carleton, 29 August 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-09302, ver. 2013-09-28). See also: K.G. Davies, Documents of the American Revolutions (London: Valletine-Mitchell, 1976) vol. 21, p 100; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, December 18, 1782, reel 2906; Kenneth Scott, Rivington's New York Newspaper: Excerpts from a Loyalist Press, 1773-1783 (New York: New York Historical Society, 1973) p 315; Library of Congress, Rivington's New York Gazette, January 1, 1783, reel 2906.