Upper Freehold's First Loyalist Insurrection

In June 1776, the debate over independence forced Americans to take sides. In Monmouth County, large numbers of people were opposed. As noted in prior articles, Monmouth Countians authored nine anti-independence petitions and refused to turn out for the militia in much of eastern Monmouth County. But it was in the westernmost township of Upper Freehold where hostility to independence first came to a head.

The first evidence of exceptional disaffection in Upper Freehold was recorded by the New Jersey Provincial Congress. On June 24, it received "a letter enclosed by the Committee of Monmouth, enclosing an association signed by certain Disaffected persons." The same day the Congress received a second letter, “that Coll. Forman [Samuel Forman of Upper Freehold], and his minute men seizing several disaffected persons... without the express command of that Committee, though approved by them afterwards."

The next day, the Provincial Congress received a memorial from Moses Ivins and Richard Robins of Upper Freehold. They were vocal opponents of independence. Two weeks earlier, they were summoned to appear before the Provincial Congress. The memorial offered “reasons for their refusal of the summons." Ivins, who was apparently being detained, soon sent another letter "praying a hearing, confessing their faults, offering to make discoveries and praying discharge."

Ivins likely appeared and revealed information about a budding Loyalist insurrection. The day after his confession, the New Jersey Provincial Congress, declared:

It appears, from undoubted intelligence, that there are several Insurgents in the County of Monmouth, who take every measure in their power to contravene the Regulations of Congress, and to oppose the cause of American freedom; and as it is highly necessary that an immediate check be given to so daring a spirit of disaffection: It is therefore Resolved, unanimously, that Colonel Charles Read take to his aid two companies of the militia of the County of Burlington, properly officered and armed, and proceed without delay to the County of Monmouth, in order to apprehend such Insurgents and disaffected persons.

Due to dysfunction in the Monmouth militia, the Provincial Congress turned to a neighboring county to restore order. The order also specially named a number of persons to be arrested, at least three of whom would become hostile Loyalists later in the war: Richard Robins, Anthony Woodward, Guisebert Giberson.

Read’s men were not immediately effective. On June 29, the Provincial Congress received:

Two Memorials, the one from the County Committee of Monmouth, the other from the Committee of Safety of that County, respecting certain disaffected persons in said County, and requesting that this Congress would take some decisive order therein.

Three days later, on the same day that the Provincial Congress approved a new constitution that severed ties to Royal authority, additional action was ordered against the Monmouth insurgents:

Resolved that Colonel Charles Read and Lt. Col. Samuel Forman... take two hundred Burlington County militia, and proceed without delay, in order to quell the aforesaid insurrection, and to disarm and take prisoner whomsoever they shall find assembled with the intent to oppose the friends of American freedom... and the said officers are empowered to take such measures as they shall think necessary for this service.

Read and Forman were further ordered to bring the men they took to the Burlington jail, likely because the Monmouth jail was deemed insufficiently secure for holding Loyalist prisoners.

That same day, John Covenhoven of Freehold, a delegate in the Provincial Congress, warned the Provincial Congress that some Loyalist insurrectionaries were “embodying themselves, and a considerable number encamped at the Cedar Swamps” near Sandy Hook. From here, they were expected to join the British Army. He asked Congress to "send forward all the assistance in your power."

The New Jersey Provincial Congress, now renamed the New Jersey Convention, reported the troubles in Monmouth County to the Continental Congress. On July 3, the day before adopting the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress considered affairs in Monmouth County:

The Congress took into consideration the letter from the Convention of New Jersey, whereupon: Resolved, that the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania be requested to send as many troops of their Colony as they can spare to Monmouth County, in New Jersey, to the assistance of the inhabitants.

John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, promptly requested help from Pennsylvania:

The Congress being informed by an express from the Convention of New Jersey that a number of Tories are embodying themselves in the County of Monmouth, and a considerable number are already encamped in the cedar swamps, and as the power of the militia in that County have marched to New York for the defense of that important place ...I apply to you and request that you would immediately send as many troops as your colony can spare to Monmouth County, for the defense and the assistance of the militia and inhabitants.

The same day, the New Jersey Convention revised its orders to Colonels Read and Forman:

Take two hundred of the Militia of Burlington County and two hundred of the Militia of Monmouth, and proceed, without delay, in order to quell the aforesaid insurrection, and to disarm and take prisoners whomsoever they shall find assembled with intent to oppose the friends of American freedom.

The troubles in Monmouth County were also noticed by George Washington in New York. On July 4, he wrote about “the disaffection of the people at that place and others not far distant… unless it is checked and overawed, it may become more general, and be very alarming."

Also on July 4, Samuel Forman, the militia Colonel for Upper Freehold, wrote to Colonel Charles Read, "I have ordered 200 men to meet at the Court House tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock, to be taken out of the company of Lower Freehold. The notice was so short that I could not send to Shrewsbury & Middletown in time to get their assistance without delaying you." Forman said he would march his men to Imlaystown and link up with Read.

Forman also suggested that John Lawrence, one of Monmouth County’s most prominent citizens, was at the head of “the Tory party.” Forman had interrogated a man named Foster, “who they [the Tories] pressed in their service & forced him to take their oath.” Foster named a number of men in the Tory party, including Anthony Woodward (who would lead a subsequent Loyalist insurrection) and Elisha Lawrence (the former county sheriff who would soon become a Lt. Colonel in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers). He said that "sundry others to the amount of about 30 went on board of Thomas Chadwick's boat, said to be bound for the British fleet."

As Forman was mustering the Monmouth militia, the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety acted on John Hancock’s request: It ordered 150 men under Col. Broadhead to go to Bordentown, get provisions, and march to Monmouth County. However, on July 6 Broadhead was still in Philadelphia. In a letter, he acknowledged his orders "but as no particular part of sd county is mentioned & every man in the detachment strangers to that county." Broadhead claimed needing a guide before deploying.

Meanwhile, Read’s men made their first arrests and some of whom went before the New Jersey Convention on July 4. The Convention recorded that:

Numbers have expressed willingness to return to their duty upon assurances of pardon, alleging that they have been seduced by the false and malicious reports of others...It is therefore resolved that all such persons as shall without delay return peaceably to their homes, and conform with the orders of Congress, shall be treated with lenity and indulgence; and upon their good behavior, shall be restored to the favor of their Country.

The Convention also ordered that supplies be brought to Bordentown for Col. Broadhead.

Two days later, Col. Charles Read was at Imlaystown with Samuel Forman. They had captured John Lawrence “on information of his qualifying men to join the insurgents” and four other men. Read estimated the strength of the remaining insurgents at “50 or 60 men.” He concluded, however, that the most ardent Loyalists had escaped: “I am afraid the principals are flown."

The Pennsylvanians were unhelpful. It is unclear when Col. Broadhead made it to Monmouth County, but another Pennsylvania regiment, under Colonel Samuel Miles, was already in New Jersey. He was ordered to “disperse and disarm” the Loyalists on July 8. But the orders apparently did not reach Miles quickly. He had marched into eastern New Jersey before returning to Upper Freehold. He later recorded:

Sent a body of men to suppress an insurrection in Monmouth County, N. Jersey, and Lt. Col. Broadhead was sent with a detachment of 400 men, but the Whigs in that State had completed the business before his arrival.

By the end of July, it appears that the Loyalist insurrection was quelled, but not crushed. The insurrection’s apparent leader, John Lawrence, was detained and the New Jersey Convention would soon fine four of the more prominent insurrectionaries: Richard Robins, John Leonard, Thomas Woodward and Ezekiel Forman.

As for the less strident Loyalists, Charles Read understood that they would remain a problem. He frankly apprised the situation in Upper Freehold on August 4: "We have no doubt that there are persons, some of them of note, who are acting a very improper part, but we do not really know what to do with them.”

As for the party of strident Loyalists now with the British, they would be heard from again.

Related Historic Site: Historic Walnford

Sources: Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p136-43; 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. 1628-9; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornel University Press, 2009) p 474; "Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1629-30; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornel University Press, 2009) pp. 475, 482-4; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p136; 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, p 1630-1; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey 1775-1776 (Ithaca: Cornel University Press, 2009) p 478; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1630; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p136-43; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey, 1775-1776 (Trenton, NJ: Naar, Day, Naar, 1879) pp. 482-484; 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, p 1663; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1632, 1635;  Journal of Col Samuel Miles, Pennslyvania Archives, Series II, Journal of Col. Samuel Miles, v 1, p519; John Covenhoven to Continental Congress, "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; 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. 1, p 1165; Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, p 508; John Hancock to Pennsylvania Convention, Pennslyvania Archives, Series 1, v 4, p781-2; Journals of the Continental Congress, p508 (www.ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html); Paul Smith, et al, Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970) vol. 4, pp. 377-8; Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1637; George Washington, Official Letters to the Honorable American Congress Written During the War between the United Colonies and Great Britain (Boston: Manning & Loring, 1795) v 1, p181; Samuel Forman, "Tory Movements in New Jersey on Howe's Arrival at Staten Island", Historical Magaizine,  vol. 5, 1861, p 7; Historical Society of Pennsylvania, New Jersey Papers, Historical MSS, 1654-1853, p 201, 203; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p137; 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, p 1636; "Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html), v6: p 1638-9; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p138; Samuel Forman, "Tory Movements in New Jersey on Howe's Arrival at Staten Island", Historical Magazine,  vol. 5, 1861, pp. 7-8; 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, p 1665. Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of New Jersey (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009) p 545; Joseph Reed, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blankston, 1847, p 212; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Evening Post, July 9, 1776.