79. Forman's Additional Regiment and the Union Salt Works < Back August 1777 Previous Next

49. Loyalist Refugees Go Into British Lines < Back January 1777 Previous Next

13. British Navy Takes Sandy Hook < Back April 1776 April 1776 was a tense time in New York City. American independence was not yet declared, yet Continental soldiers were flowing into the city and building defenses in preparation for a British attack. Meanwhile vestiges of the Royal Government continued in the city and a handful of British naval vessels sat in the harbor. The vulnerable position of the British ships was punctuated on April 7 when a small party of British was attacked while drawing fresh water on Staten Island. This resulted in the capture of one of the British boats and its crew. After this incident, Rear Admiral Molyneux Shudlham , commanding the British squadron in New York, determined it was necessary to move his ships to a less vulnerable location with fresh water. Sandy Hook was easily defended from New York, had fresh water nearby, and was a strategic location from which ocean-bound shipping could be either guarded or menaced. On April 7, Captain Thomas Parker of the Phoenix anchored off Sandy Hook and his sailors disembarked on the undefended peninsula. Within days, the British were garrisoning Sandy Hook as the Phoenix stood guard from the Raritan Bay side. A 12-man sentry was stationed at the bottom of the Hook to guard the freshwater well. The British also burned the pilot’s house near the light house in order to deny cover to would-be attackers. Lighthouse keeper, Adam Dobbs , was restricted in his activities and ordered to stay on the Hook. He was likely viewed with suspicion because his brother, William Dobbs , had previously refused to assist a British tea-ship and had recently joined the Continental Army. On April 16, the remaining British ships at New York sailed for Sandy Hook with the remainder of New York’s Royal Government, including Governor William Tryon . Tryon decided to permit Dobbs to leave the Hook for New York if a boat was sent for him. He wrote to New York’s mayor that “all possible care has been taken to Mr. Dobbs and his property, that if you will send a sloop to the Hook, it will be suffered to bring up to New York, Mr. Dobbs, his servants and effects." Dobbs was promptly retrieved and deposed before the New York Provincial Congress. After hearing from him, the Provincial Congress determined that Dobbs had information of value for the recently-arrived George Washington . It transcribed Dobbs’ testimony and: “Ordered, That Captain William Dobbs wait on his Excellency General Washington, with the said copy of a Letter." William Dobbs had enlisted in the Continental Army; he was the brother of Adam Dobbs, and the former pilot at Sandy Hook. Three days later, Tryon reported to George Germain , the British Foreign Secretary: I have now got down with my Ship under the guns of the Phoenix man of war, which is anchored within the Bay off Sandy Hook. This was necessary in order to replenish the Ship's water which was considerably expended. As I judged the possession of the Light House might prevent the Seamen from insults when watering at the well near the Light House, I have ordered a Sergeant and 12 men, from Cap' Campbell's new raised Company, for a night guard. Captain Parker assuring me that in case of extremity he could cover their retreat by the cannon of his Ships. The Pilot's house adjoining to the Light house is burnt down to prevent its being made a lurking place to the enemy, three or four hundred of which appeared yesterday near the Isthmus of the Peninsula where the Light house stands. The last sentence of Tryon’s report, in which he mentions 300-400 of the “enemy” at the bottom of the Hook must have been a reference to the still-organizing Monmouth militia . Companies of Middletown militia under Colonel George Taylor were stationed opposite the British, but they were less numerous than Tryon reported and in no condition to threaten the British. A British Colonel, Templehoffe, was on Sandy Hook during this time period. He discussed the importance of "being in possession of the light house upon Sandy Hook, which guards the right hand side of the harbour's mouth.” He further stated, “The entrance into the harbour is completely commanded by the light-house." His assessment about the importance of Sandy Hook was shared by Continental officers who would soon seek to dislodge the British. The HMS Phoenix was among the first British warships to land on the western bank of Sandy Hook. The British Navy took Sandy Hook without a fight in April 1776. Related Historical Sites : Sandy Hook Lighthouse Sources : Bruce Bliven, Under the Guns, New York 1775-1776 (New York: Harper & Row, 1972) p 236-7; Colin Lindsay, Extracts of Colonel Templehoffe's History of the Seven Years War (London: T. Cadel, 1793), v2, p484; David Syrett, The Royal Navy in American Waters, 1775-1783 (Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1989), p 16; Harlow McMillen, “Red, Green, and a Little Blue: The Story of Staten Island in the American Revolution, Part 8,” Staten Island History, 1st ser., vol. 32 (1977): Part 3, p 25-6; Pennsylvania Ledger, May 4, 1776; The Library Company, Pennsylvania Ledger, vol. 1, Jan. 1775-Nov. 1776; Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York (Albany: John R. Broadhead, 1857), vol. 8, p677; Peter Force, American Archives, v5:955, 1470; Archives of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey (Paterson, NJ: Call Printing, 1903) vol. 1, pp. 92-3; Genealogical webpage on William Dobbs: https://familypedia.fandom.com/wiki/William_Henry_Dobbs_(1716-1781) . Previous Next

70. David Forman Seeks to Reorganize Militia < Back May 1777 Previous Next

82. The Hanging of Stephen Edwards < Back September 1777 Previous Next

14. British Burn the Sloop, Endeavor, at Tucker’s Island < Back April 1776 In April 1776, a British Navy sloop sailed off Little Egg Harbor where it chased, beached and burned a small Continental vessel. This may have been the first maritime battle on the Jersey shore. With a British naval squadron in possession of Sandy Hook, it was perhaps inevitable that an enterprising British officer would request and receive permission to cruise the New Jersey shore in order to disrupt Continental shipping, avenge prior British captures , and acquire needed fresh provisions for hungry sailors deprived of New York’s markets. Though accounts differ on the exact date and other details, it appears that a well-armed tender of the British frigate, Phoenix , a sloop commanded by a Lieutenant Butler , left its mothership April 10, 1776. Its destination was Little Egg Harbor, the busiest port on the New Jersey shore and the only one capable of admitting deep-hulled vessels. At Tucker’s Island, outside of Little Egg Harbor (on the southern end of Monmouth County, which included present-day Ocean County), the tender found an attractive prey. The Pennsylvania Journal printed an account of what happened next: A small boat belonging to a sloop from Dartmouth, bound to Philadelphia in the Continental service, came on shore at Tucker's on Flat Beach, in whom came a Captain, a mate, and three foremast men belonging to said sloop, which was taken the first inst. in the evening by a King's tender, from out of Sandy Hook, who boarded and rifled her of everything valuable on board; after which they set fire to her and burnt her to the water's edge. The same report further detailed the skirmish that occurred when the Continental boat was captured: “The Capt. has one of his thighs broke and a musket ball thro' the other and the mate is badly wounded in the breast.” And the report revealed the intentions of the British, based on intelligence from a Barnegat man who was aboard the British ship: The said tender intended to come into our inlet with the first north-west wind to take off the cattle from the beaches and destroy all the vessels that were in here. The tender is a small sloop, mounted with two six pounders, four four pounders, some swivels and some small arms, with 36 men on board. Another account of the incident revealed that the Continental boat, Endeavor , commanded by Captain Job Tripp , “was chased and came up with” by the British tender. The tender was not content with firing a broadside at Capt. Trip's vessel, after she had hauled down her sails, but went alongside, after using much scurrilous language, ordered another broadside to be fired, by which Capt. Trip received a ball in his thigh, which has broke... The Mate also had a ball went through one thigh, and lodged in the other; an officer afterwards came on board and told Capt. Trip, that Butler, the Captain of the tender, out of his clemency had consented to give him his boat, on condition he would make the best of his way ashore. Captain Tripp initially claimed that he and his crew were too badly wounded to get themselves to shore, though they eventually did so by driving the Endeavor onto the beach. This likely angered the British and may be the reason they burned the ship. This report concluded that, “The Captain and Mate are both dangerously ill, having been thirty-six hours without any suffering to their wounds. The tender's people, after plundering the sloop, scuttled and set her on fire." On April 20, depositions were taken from two of the surviving sailors, Job Tripp and James Cathill . Their accounts add visceral details about the skirmish: We hailed them twice with our trumpet, but received no answer, but another firing, and hove about, and made after us. We still kept our course, and they after us, continually firing, till about ten o' clock at night. At that time they were about a swivel-shot distance from us ... We immediately hove to, and hauled down our foresail, and were busy in hauling down our mainsail, when they fired a broadside at us; which felled both the Captain and Mate. By their account, they fired two volleys of small-arms just as they fired their cannon and swivels; each volley ten guns. Their carriage-guns and swivels were two four-pounders and six swivels on each side. The Captain was wounded in the thigh, which we imagine to be a swivel-ball, which broke the bone, and shattered it very much. The Mate was also wounded in both thighs; the ball went through the fleshy part of the right, and lodged in the left. A follow up report on the incident, also published in the Pennsylvania Journal , revealed an important additional fact. The man from Barnegat who was aboard the British tender was Arthur Green , who reportedly gave the British “an account of all the inlets about there.” The British used him as their pilot during the attack and the report suggested they would do so again. This appears to be the first instance of a shore resident working directly against the Continental cause; it certainly would not be the last. American sailors were undeterred by the defeat and destruction of the Endeavor . On April 22, a six-gun tender of a British frigate was captured off the New Jersey coast by Captain Barry of Pennsylvania; that same month, the Continental government, in combination with the state of New York, assigned two midsized ships, General Schyler and General Mifflin , to cruise the Jersey shore to pick off vulnerable British shipping and to protect American shipping. The early voyages and successes of these vessels are discussed in another article. Related Historic Site : National Museum of the Royal Navy (Portsmouth, UK) Sources : Peter Force, American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution, 1774-6 (digitized: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch/find.doc.html ), v5: p 1003-4; Gardner W. Allen, A Naval History of the American Revolution (1912, 1940, reprinted New York: Russell & Russell, Inc., 1962), p 86; Pennsylvania Journal, April 10, 1777; The North British Intelligencer or Constitutional Miscellany (Edinburgh: William Auld, 1776) v 1, p 347; John Jay Papers, Columbia U., digitized, http://wwwapp.cc.columbia.edu/ldpd/jay/image?key=columbia.jay.01088&p=3&level=2&originx=0&originy=0&fullheight=2768&fullwidth=2133&image.x=129&image.y=20 ; Journals of the Provincial Congress, Provincial Convention, Committee of Safety and Council of Safety of the state of New-York (Albany: Thurlow Weed, printer to the State, 1842) vol. 1, p414; Maryland Journal, May 1, 1776; Pennsylvania Journal, April 17, 1776. Previous Next

106 Heading 4 < Back About the Recipe Previous Next

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30. Monmouth Slaves Flee to British < Back July 1776 Previous Next

71. External Military Bounties Hurt Local Army Recruiting < Back May 1777 Previous Next

June 1774 Committees Form to Resist British Policies < Back June 1774 To punish the people of Boston for their “Tea Party” and other defiant acts , the British Parliament passed the so-called Intolerable Acts in early 1774. Colonists across the Thirteen Colonies reacted by boycotting British goods. Americans started forming committees to enforce the boycott and coordinate dissent across localities. The citizens of Freehold Township met at Monmouth Court House on June 6, 1774 to consider the state of affairs. According to minutes of the meeting, they agreed “that the cause for which the inhabitants of Boston are now suffering is the common cause of the whole Continent.” They also endorsed "an entire stoppage of importation and exportation from and to Great Britain and the West Indies.” Finally, they appointed a standing committee to “join an association with the several other counties in this province in any measures that may appear best to the weal and safety of North America." The Continental Association, October 1774, created a national template for resisting British policies—county and township committees were responsible for enforcing it. The Committee would be comprised of John Anderson , Hendrick Smock , Asher Holmes , Peter Forman , John Forman , John Covenhoven , Nathaniel Scudder – each of whom would go on to hold important leadership positions in the fledgling American government. While the committees that would soon form in other Monmouth townships contained a mix of men who would support and oppose the Revolution, the Freehold committee was full of ardent patriots (they called themselves Whigs). This would distinguish Freehold from the other Monmouth County townships in the years to come . A week later, on June 13, Josiah Holmes , one of Shrewsbury’s leading citizens, received a letter from the Essex County Committee. He responded by meeting with some other leading citizens in Shrewsbury and putting up a public notice which began: The deplorable state of the inhabitants of the great and (until now) flourishing town of Boston is reduced to by means of the late cruel and inhumane act of the British Parliament, for the blocking up their port, is the fatal occasion that thousands are now destitute of employment, and are also destitute of bread; now they have only to depend on the charity of well-disposed Christians. It is therefore proposed to load a vessel with grain and other provisions from this County of Monmouth, to be sent immediately for their relief. Meanwhile, the people of Monmouth County were called on to participate in the selection of delegates for a Provincial Congress, a state body that would operate outside the influence of New Jersey’s Royal Governor. On July 19, citizens from four of Monmouth County’s six townships met at Freehold to establish a county committee (attending: Freehold, Upper Freehold, Middletown, and Dover; Shrewsbury and Stafford did not attend). In addition to selecting delegates to this new Congress, the attendees agreed to raise foodstuffs for the suffering in Boston and establish a county committee. The new Monmouth County committee declared that British taxes were “altogether unprecedented and unconstitutional” but they also declared loyalty to the King: “they do highly esteem and prize the happiness of being governed by so excellent a system of laws as that of Great Britain, doubtless the best in the universe.” The County Committee quickly became the quasi-government of Monmouth County—with help from the township committees of Freehold, Upper Freehold, Middletown and Dover. Shrewsbury and Stafford townships did not establish township committees until 1775. Over the next few months, the committees of Monmouth County enforced the boycott of British goods by advertising boycott violators. They also raised and shipped “1200 bushels of rye, and 50 barrels of rye flour” for the suffering people in Boston. And they resolved to establish a new militia outside of the control of the Royal Governor. Soon, the County Committee would take action against some of the county’s most public Loyalists. All of this was set in motion before the first Continental Congress established the Continental Association in October 1774—calling on all Americans to take the actions that had already occurred in Monmouth County. Caption : The Continental Association, October 1774, created a national template for resisting British policies—county and township committees were responsible for enforcing it. Related Historical Sites : Monmouth County Historical Association Sources : Edwin Salter, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties (Bayonne, NJ: E. Gardner and Sons, 1890) p 43-50; Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety , 1775-1770 (Trenton: Naar, Day and Naar, 1879) pp. 4-5; Allan Nevins, The American States During and After the Revolution , 1775-1 789 (New York: MacMillan Company, 1 922), p 44; Monmouth County Historical Association, Genealogical Files, folder - Revolutionary War Records of Monmouth County Soldiers ; Proceedings of the Committees of Freehold and Shrewsbury, Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, First Series, 1846, pp. 186-8; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p119-20; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 301-2; Pennsylvania Gazette , November 2, 1774 Previous Next

25. Pennsylvania Continentals Seek to Restore Order in Monmouth County < Back July 1776 Previous Next