The Death of John Bacon

As noted in prior articles, John Bacon was the most prolific of the Pine Robber gang leaders, and was likely the last active Loyalist partisan in the state. In December 1782, Bacon’s gang attacked a party of Burlington County militia at Cedar Creek (Tuckerton). Bacon scattered the militia, but the attack was costly—Bacon lost two of his most steadfast comrades and seven other supporters were captured days later. Bacon and three others were reported wounded and this may have prompted him to lay low for a few months. Bacon never again had the strength to turn away a militia attack.

On March 13, 1783, the state of Maryland sent a ship to New York for the relief of its prisoners held there. It was attacked by an unprincipled Rhode Island privateer captain, Oliver Reed, “off Little Egg Harbor.” According to the Maryland Gazette, the Rhode Islanders took the vessel "under the pretense that this government was trading with the enemy." But the Maryland vessel was then boarded by a Loyalist galley that deposited the Maryland crew "on shore on the Beach Island (near Barnegat Inlet) and observed that “no inhabitants lived within five or six miles from the main land.” The newspaper report concluded that, “It cannot escape notice that more respect was shown to this government [Maryland] by a refugee barge than by the vessel of a sister state [Rhode Island]."

The “refugee boat” was likely Hero’s Revenge led by John Bacon, and, assuming this was Bacon, it was his last successful attack. The capture of the vessel also likely aroused the local militias of Burlington and Monmouth counties. A posse of Burlington County militia party was soon after Bacon.

On April 9, the New Jersey Gazette reported Bacon’s death on April 4:

The infamous John Bacon, a refugee from New York, who has murdered several good citizens from this State, and plundered many defenseless families, was surprised and killed at Egg Harbor by a detachment from Capt. Shreve's light horse, commanded by Cornet Cook.

The New York Gazette and New Jersey Journal carried the same report.

Historian David Fowler, who comprehensively studied Bacon, provides additional details on Bacon’s death. Captain John Stewart (previously robbed by Bacon) and Joel Cook (brother, William Cook, killed in skirmish with Bacon) located Bacon at a tavern at West Creek, three miles north of Clam Town (an antiquarian source claims it was the tavern of William Rose in Clam Town).

Fowler, relying on a plurality of sources on Bacon’s death, writes that Bacon was surprised and surrendered. He was disarmed. Bacon reportedly then insulted Cook, who responded by bayoneting Bacon (an antiquarian source claims that Cook and Bacon wrestled on the tavern floor before Bacon was bayoneted). Bacon attempted to flee but was shot before exiting the tavern.

There are, however, alternative versions of Bacon’s death. Militiaman John Peters claimed: “A price was offered for his [Bacon’s] head; that he was shot thru a window sitting by a fire by one of our company, Sergeant Benjamin Smith.”  Another militiaman, Isaac Quigley, offers yet another version:

He [Quigley] was out with scouting parties at least six times to take Col. John Bacon, a refugee officer weigh-laying the road and wood by day and night - a bounty of $500 was offered for him dead or alive. He was, at length, shot by Nathaniel Forman who got the bounty.

Bacon’s body was brought to Jacobstown in Burlington County (Cook’s home village) and displayed on the public road. Bacon's brother arrived from Philadelphia and was allowed to take the corpse. Bacon was buried at Arneytown on the western edge of Upper Freehold Township, suggesting a family connection with that area.

Governor William Livingston had previously issued bounties for the capture of Bacon and Ichabod Johnson (killed at Cedar Creek in December). But the Burlington militia had killed them, rather than captured them, so the militia were ineligible for the bounties. On June 9, Cornet John Brown and Captain Richard Shreve petitioned the New Jersey legislature "to allow them and their party to collect their reward offered for the capture of John Bacon and Ichabod Johnson." Two days later, the legislature voted them the reward of Shreve £50 and Brown £25. Its action is recorded in the minutes of the New Jersey Assembly:

A Petition from Captain Richard Shreve and Cornet John Brown, of the County of Burlington, was read, praying that an order may pass to allow them and their Party the Reward offered by His Excellency’s proclamation for securing Ichabod Johnson and John Bacon:

Whereupon, Resolved, that the Treasurer of the State be directed to pay unto Captain Richard Shreve, of the County of Burlington, the Sum of Twenty-five Pounds, in consequence of His Excellency’s proclamation, being for the use of himself and the party of men that assisted him in securing Ichabod Johnson; and to John Brown Cornet of Horse, of the said County, the Sum of Fifty Pounds, in consequence of said proclamation of His Excellency, being for the Use of himself and the Party of Men that assisted in securing John Bacon; and the Receipt of the said Richard Shreve and John Brown, shall be sufficient vouchers to the Treasurer for so much of the publick.

The next month, July, Monmouth County held its seventh and final Court of Oyer and Terminer. The court was noteworthy because it did not charge any of the 38 people on the docket with a capital crime. The most noteworthy person indicted was Hannah Bacon, presumably Bacon’s captured wife. She was charged with misdemeanor—the details of her crime are unknown. She was likely complicit in Bacon’s partisan activities or allied with London Traders at Sandy Hook.

Perspective

Bacon was the last man killed in a military action in Monmouth County, and probably the last Revolutionary War belligerent killed anywhere in New Jersey. An objective look at the documentation on Bacon’s acts reveal that he was more “regular” in his conduct than most other Pine Robbers. Bacon’s actions did not include the kind of gratuitous violence and revenge attacks that characterized the careers of Pine Robbers like Lewis Fenton.

Bacon skirmished (arguably battled) with militia, but these were military actions in which his assembled men battled militia parties sent to capture him. Twice, after killing Gloucester militia on Long Beach and with respect to the Maryland sailors above, Bacon brought prisoners to safety. His most notorious act, the Long Beach massacre, was a nighttime attack in which his outnumbered party slaughtered (likely sleeping) men. When Bacon’s men did so, they were employing the tactic used by British Captain Patrick Ferguson’s party on nearby Osborn Island in 1778. Ferguson reported that because his men were outnumbered and they attacked at night, “no quarter could be given.” Bacon, who surely knew of Ferguson’s attack, would have made the same argument.

Several Pine Robbers survived Bacon, but there is no reason to think that Pine Robber gangs continued as active belligerents after Bacon’s death. Peace negotiations premised on American Independence were underway, the British ceased supporting Loyalist partisans, and thousands of Loyalists were being shipped to Canada. The remaining Pine Robbers likely melted back into the disaffected neighborhoods from which they came—though a few would have to endure vigilante punishments in the post-war period.

Related Historic Site:  Tuckerton Seaport & Baymen’s Museum

Sources: David Fowler, Egregious Villains, Wood Rangers, and London Traders (Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers University, 1987) p 273-6; Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 211-2; Joseph E. Wroblewski. Captain John Bacon: The Last of the Jersey Pine Robbers, September 28, 2021, Journal of the American Revolution, https://allthingsliberty.com/2021/09/captain-john-bacon-the-last-of-the-jersey-pine-robbers/; Maryland Gazette, March 27, 1783; Thomas Wilson, Notices from New Jersey Newspapers, 1781-1790 (Hunterdon House, 1820) p 19; New Jersey Gazette, April 9, 1783; Library of Congress, New Jersey Journal reel 1930 (mistakenly included on film with New Jersey Gazette, March 19, 1783); Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, May 1783, pp. 100-110, 122; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1783) p55; New Jersey State Archives, Judicial Records, Court of Oyer & Terminer, box 2, folder - July 1783; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, John Peters of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#  NJ  25927424; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Isaac Quigley of NJ, www.fold3.com/image/#  NJ  27214772.