USA > New Jersey > New Jersey as a colony and as a state; one of the original thirteen > Part 10
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CHAPTER XI
THE DEFENSE OF FORT MERCER-1777
N EAR the partially identified site of Fort Nassau, where, in 1638, the claims of Holland to the South River were first asserted by dis- play of force, and near the site of the first capital of the County of Gloucester, one can trace, among the trees that skirt the shore of the Delaware River, a rounded ridge, a tangle- hidden ditch, and a few hillocks.1 This is all that remains of the old fort at Red Bank, where four hundred soldiers of the Rhode Island line held an unfinished earthworks against an assault from the rear by two thousand well-disciplined and well-equipped Hessians, where a band of patriots met the odds of five to one, and drove back the King's troops in signal rout. Across the Dela- ware, in the extreme southern part of the City of Philadelphia, lies League Island with its modern battleships and the dismantled ramparts of old Fort Mifflin.
Following the defeat of General Washington at Brandywine in September, 1777, Sir William Howe's army entered Philadelphia. To aid him in the occupation of the city and in securing the control of the Delaware Lord Richard Howe ap- peared in the lower Delaware with his fleet,
1 The subject of the "Defense of Fort Mercer " was clearly and thoroughly presented by Alfred M. Heston, of Atlantic City, in a paper read before the Monmouth County Historical Association,
July 26, 1900. From an illustrated monograph, subsequently published by Mr Heston, much of the material for this chapter is taken.
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which having sailed up the river as far as Bil- lingsport, opposite Chester, was stopped by a naval stockade, otherwise called a cheveaux-de- frise. This military work had been placed in the river channel between Billingsport and Red Bank by the Americans, and consisted of poles from thirty to forty feet long driven into the mud. At the top of each pole was fastened a long, sharp piece of iron for the purpose of piercing the bot- tom of any vessel that might attempt to pass over the obstruction.
Captain Hammond, commanding the British frigate " Roebuck," of forty-four guns, represent- ed to General Howe that if a sufficient force could be sent to reduce the fortifications at Bil- lingsport, three miles below Red Bank, he would take upon himself the task of opening a passage through the cheveaux-de-frise. General Howe at once dispatched two regiments from Chester, under Colonel Stirling, for that purpose. They crossed the Delaware a little below Billingsport, marched to the rear of the unfinished works, and made a furious assault upon the garrison. The Americans, dismayed at this unexpected attack, and believing themselves unable to make a suc- cessful resistance, spiked their guns, set fire to the barracks, and fled. The British thereupon demolished the works on the river front, made a passage seven feet wide through the stockades,
Hugh Mercer, b. Aberdeen, Scotland, about 1720 ; physician ; assistant surgeon in the army of Prince Charles Edward 1745; settled in Mercersburg, Pa., 1747 ; served in French and Indian War 1755 ; wounded at Monongahela ; lieutenant-colonel 1758; colonel of the Third Virginia Regiment 1775 ; brigadier-general 1776 ; d. of wounds near Princeton, Jan. 12, 1776 ; buried in Philadelphia.
GENERAL HUGH MERCER.
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sailed through the aperture with six light vessels, and anchored in the Delaware below Red Bank, leaving the larger ships of war behind.
The American land defense of the City of Phila- delphia, beside the cheveaux-de-frise, consisted of Fort Mifflin in Pennsylvania and Fort Mercer in New Jersey on the heights of Red Bank. Four hundred men of the Maryland line, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Smith, occupied Fort Mifflin, while in the mile-wide river was the Ameri- can fleet, composed mainly of galleys under Com- mander Hazelwood.
The forcing of the cheveaux-de-frise by Captain Hammond threw upon the two forts and the American galleys the burden of repulsing the ad- vance of the British fleet and the protection of the western division of New Jersey. Within Fort Mer- cer, named in honor of General Hugh Mercer, were two Rhode Island regiments of four hundred men, General Varnum's brigade, commanded by Colo- nel Christopher Greene, and it was in and around this fort, upon the 22d of October, 1777, that the Americans shed luster upon the national arms by " one of the most glorious stands ever made by patriots fighting for home or country."
The presence of the British army in Philadel- phia and his majesty's fleet in the Delaware made the situation intensely critical. From his head- quarters at Skippack, above Philadelphia, Gen-
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eral Washington, upon the 9th of October, had di- rected Colonel Greene to proceed to Fort Mercer, where he was to cooperate with Colonel Smith at Fort Mifflin and Commodore Hazelwood, of the fleet of American galleys. Cannon and military stores were to be furnished Fort Mercer from the arsenal at Fort Mifflin. In closing General Wash- ington said:
I have written to General Newcomb, of the Jersey militia, to give you all the aid in his power, for which you will accordingly apply when necessary. Upon the whole, sir, you will be pleased to remember that the post with which you are now entrusted is of the utmost importance to America, and demands every exertion of which you are capable for its security and defence. The whole de- fence of the Delaware absolutely depends upon it; and consequently all the enemy's hopes of keeping Philadelphia and finally succeeding in the object of the present campaign. Influenced by these consid- erations, I doubt not your regard to the service and your own repu- tation will prompt you to every possible effort to accomplish the im- portant end of your trust, and frustrate the intentions of the enemy.
Upon his arrival at Fort Mercer Colonel Greene found that he had not a sufficient force of men to protect his post. Realizing the insecurity of his position, he proposed to abandon about two-thirds or the upper end of the fort, put a double board fence across the lower third, protect it with wooden pickets and the sharpened branches of trees, place the cannon in such a position as to rake the upper part of the fort, cover them with bushes, and fill the space between the two fences with hay, old lumber, and such other obstructions
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as were at hand. The cannon were heavily loaded with grape shot and other destructive missiles. It was arranged that an attempt at defense should be made at the upper end of the fort, which was to be abandoned as soon as the attack was found to be in earnest, and a retreat made to the small inclosure or main fort below. This was to be defended to the last extremity.
Work upon this plan of defense was prosecuted with vigor, particularly when it was realized that the British, not only upon the river, but in the City of Philadelphia, were making preparations for attack. Scarcely had Colonel Greene estab- DELAWARE lished himself in Fort Mercer when Count Carl Emil Kurt von Donop, a brave German officer, was sent out from Philadelphia with four bat- talions of Hessian veterans, chosen from the powerful army of occupation. On Tuesday, October 21st, the attacking party crossed the Out Works Delaware at Cooper's Ferry, now Camden, and KK Main Fort marched to Haddonfield, where they remained RIVER until morning. The next day the Hessians depart- ed by way of a place then known as Cattletown to the King's Highway above Woodbury and H toward Red Bank. They had intended taking a more direct route, but the Americans had de- stroyed the bridge over Timber Creek, and the Hessians were obliged to march four miles up the PLAN OF FORT MERCER. creek, to a shallow ford, at or near Clement'sFrom a drawing made in 1842 by T. S. Saunders, of Woodbury.) [Vol. 2]
REFERENCES :
A-Road the Hessians used in marching to the attack. B-End of the Fort at which the Hesslans entered.
C-Monument erected in 1823.
D-Ditch, cross embankment and location of masked battery. E-Hickory tree used during the battle as a flag staff.
F-Ruins of the brick wall in the middle of the artificial bank-also gateway.
G-Trenches in which the slalo were deposited.
H-Count Donops grave.
I-Wbitall house. J-Road to Woodbury, now called "Hessian Road." K-Direction to Fort Mifflin.
The works represented extend about 350 yards in a right line.
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Bridge. A portion of their route to Red Bank still goes by the name of " Hessian road," and a stream of water that crosses the road is known as " Hessian run."
The afternoon of the 22d of October was pleas- ant and fair. Upon the appearance of the Hes- sians before the fort immediate preparations were made for its defense. The fourteen guns were double-shotted and reprimed. Within there was the roll of drums calling to quarters, the rat- tle of snapping flints, the hurrying footfalls of men forming a line along the parapets, the shout- ing of orders, the clash of steel, and the tattoo of ramrods. Without there was the roll of Hessian drums, and from the woods, across an open field, rode a Hessian officer, bearing a flag of truce, fol- lowed by a drummer. He halted close to the ramparts and shouted:
The King of England orders his rebellious subjects to lay down their arms, and they are warned that if they stand the battle no quarter will be given.
Colonel Greene deputized a man to mount the parapet and fling back the answer: "We ask no quarter, nor will we give any." One trustworthy account says the exact words were: "We'll see King George be damned first; we ask no quarter."
Simultaneously the Hessians on land and the British ships below the cheveaux-de-frise began a sharp cannonading. While the land attack was
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in progress the British ships " Augusta," of sixty- four guns, "Roebuck," of forty-four guns, two frigates, of thirty-two, " Merlin," of eighteen, and their large galleys came through the cheveaux-de- frise, and kept up a great firing in order to draw off the American galleys from giving any assist- ance to the fort.
While the men-of-war sailed proudly up the river the Hessians advanced to the first intrench- ment. Finding this abandoned, they shouted " Victory," waved their hats, and rushed into the deserted area before the redoubt. When the first of the assailants had come up to the abatis and were endeavoring to cut away the branches the Americans opened a terrific fire of cannon and musketry in front and flank. Death rode in every volley. So near were the Hessians to the caponiere or looped trench which flanked the enemy when they set upon the main fort that the wads were blown entirely through their bodies. The officers leading the attack fought bravely. Again and again they rallied their men and brought them to the charge, but they fell in heaps among the boughs of the abatis and into the moat. In the thickest of the fight Donop was easily dis- tinguished, but his example availed nothing. Re- pulsed from the redoubt in front, his men made an attack upon the escarpment on the northwest or river side, but the fire from the American gal-
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leys drove them back with great loss, and at last they flew in great disorder to the woods, leaving many slain.
Another column made a simultaneous attack upon the south, but was repulsed, and all retreat- ed save twenty, who were standing on the berm against the shelvings of the parapet, under and out of the way of the guns, whence they were afraid to move. These Hessians were captured by M. du Plessis Mauduit, a French engineer, who had sallied from the fort to repair some palisades. This brave Frenchman, making another sortie a few minutes afterward to repair the southern abatis, heard a voice from among the heaps of dead and dying exclaim in broken English: " Whoever you are, draw me hence." This was Colonel Donop. The Frenchman caused his brave antagonist to be carried into the fort, where it was found that his hip was broken, from which wound Colonel Donop died three days later in the house of one Lowe on Woodbury Creek. When told that his end was near he said: "It is finishing a noble career early, but I die the victim of ambition and the avarice of my sovereign." To Colonel Clymer he said: " See in me the vanity of all human pride. I have shone in all the courts of Europe, and now I am dying on the banks of the Delaware, in the house of an obscure Quaker."
SECTIONAL PLAN OF A HESSIAN HUT.
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The death of Colonel Donop and of Mingerode, second in command, utterly demoralized the Hes- sians, who retreated toward Cooper's Creek, beg- ging food, shelter, and transportation for their wounded. In retributive justice, upon the defeat of the Hessians, the Americans hung two prison- ers, who had voluntarily acted as guides to the King's troops from Haddonfield to Red Bank.
Although the battle lasted but three-quarters of an hour the loss was heavy. Accounts differ, as in the case of most military engagements, but a correct summary probably shows Hes- sians: eighty-seven killed, one hundred wounded, and twenty prisoners; Americans: fourteen killed, twenty-two wounded, one prisoner.
The day following the attack upon the fort the British fleet in the river renewed the engagement. The " Augusta," having grounded, was set on fire, and, according to a "Diary of the Revolution," blew up " with an astonishing report." Later in the day the " Merlin " ran aground and was con- sumed by flames. The " Roebuck," after surviv- ing the engagement, was a few years thereafter wrecked on Absecom Beach, New Jersey. Com- modore Hazelwood later boarded the wrecks and captured a quantity of military stores.
Then for six days Fort Mifflin was besieged and, being evacuated, the remnant of its garrison es- caped to Fort Mercer, of which spectacle the
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Americans in New Jersey were hopeless and un- willing spectators.
The capitulation of Fort Mifflin, and the passage of the British fleet to Philadelphia after the re- duction of that defense, left Colonel Greene in an exposed position. The failure of the Hessians to secure so great a prize spurred Howe to activity, and Lord Cornwallis was sent with reinforce- ments from New York to fall upon Fort Mercer. With two thousand men he crossed the Delaware from Chester to Billingsport on November 18th. Washington had been apprised of this movement and had previously sent troops under General Nathaniel Greene to relieve the garrison at Red Bank. This force was to be increased by the ad- dition of Glover's brigade, but Generals Greene and Lafayette, the latter not yet recovered from a wound received at Brandywine, crossing to New Jersey, failed to connect with Glover's brigade. Learning the strength of Cornwallis's army, Gen- eral Greene went off to Haddonfield. Under orders Colonel Christopher Greene evacuated Fort Mercer, which was blown up upon November 20th, and the forts on the Delaware passed into the hands of the British. Cornwallis arrived in Wood- bury upon the day following the evacuation of the fort, and the troops began a series of depredations upon the farms of Whigs and non-combatant Quakers. Among those who suffered most was
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Job Whitall, near Fort Mercer, whose plantation was raided, his barn torn down, and orchard de- stroyed by the soldiers of Colonel Greene's regi- ment, while upon the arrival of the British the latter troops, in passing, took bread, pies, milk, cheese, dishes, cups, spoons, shirts, sheets, and blankets, and then drove out the cattle.
Of the battle of Red Bank but few memorials remain. A marble shaft, weatherworn and mu- tilated by relic hunters and vandals, was dedi- cated upon the occasion of a sham battle fifty years after the affair at Fort Mercer was fought. Upon the north side of the shaft is an inscription slightly inaccurate in its statements as to Colonel Donop:
This monument was erected on the 22d Octo., 1829, to transmit to Posterity a grateful remembrance of the Patriotism and Gallan- try of Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Greene, who, with 400 men, conquered the Hessian army of 2000 troops (then in the British service) at Red Bank, on the 22d Octo., 1777. Among the slain was found the commander, Count Donop, whose body lies interreil near the spot where he fell.
The inscription on the east side is:
A number of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania volunteers, being desirous to perpetuate the memory of the distinguished officers and soldiers who fought and bled in the glorious struggle for Independ ence, have erected this monument on the 22d of October, A.D. 1829.
Originally the monument stood upon the edge of the river bluff, but was subsequently set further back, near the ditch surrounding the fort.
Christopher Greene, b. In Warwick, R. I., May 12, 1737 ; member Rhode Island Legislature 1772-74 ; major in Continental army 1775; taken prisoner at Quebec ; colonel Oct., 1776; killed in Westchester County, N. Y., May 13, 1781.
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For his gallant conduct at Fort Mercer Con- gress directed that a sword be presented to Colo- nel Greene, but this sword it was not his priv- ilege to receive. It was given to his son after the close of the war, the colonel himself being then dead, murdered in an engagement with Tories near Croton, N. Y., upon May 13, 1781.
In the moat south of the fort are the graves of the Hessian dead, while Colonel Donop was buried in the pathway halfway between the old Whitall house and the lower end of the fort, the feet towards the river. Some one placed a rough stone at his head, on which were picked in a very crude way the letters " Here lies buried Count Donop." Years afterward what was left of the Hessian was dug up and distributed among various persons as ghastly relics.
In 1872, the United States government acquired possession of the site of Fort Mercer and the Whitall house.
CHAPTER XII
THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH-1778
2
T HAT the evacuation of Philadelphia was early premeditated is shown from the orders sent to America by the English ministry under date of March 21. It was then that the declaration had been made of a treaty between France and the United States. By May 23 Gen- eral Clinton, British commander in Philadelphia, advised Lord Germain that he had determined to leave Philadelphia and proceed to New York. Upon the one hundred and eighty transports in the river, protected by bodies of British troops which lined the Jersey shore, were loaded the army supplies, the plunder from the abandoned city, and the personal effects of the most conspicu- ous Tories, who saw in retreat to New York City the possibility of escaping the anger of the Whigs and of saving something from the wreck.
By the 18th of June, the official date of the evacuation of Philadelphia, all preparations had been made to move the King's troops. Upon that day the soldiers of the crown were, in the main, sent over the river to Gloucester and the British retreat across the Jerseys toward Amboy was be- gun. Other detachments of the British army crossed at Cooper's Ferry, now a part of the City of Camden, where, as an outpost under General Abercrombie, Scotch, Hessian, and English regi- ments had been quartered during the occupation
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of the city, and where Count Pulaski, in March, by chance had escaped ambushment. Other de- tachments were sent over the Delaware at nearby points.
In spite of the advice of General Charles Lee, who had returned to Valley Forge in exchange, General Washington, before the evacuation, pre- pared to follow Clinton across New Jersey. To accomplish this purpose the Jersey troops of the continental line under General Maxwell were sent across the river under orders to act in conjunction with General Dickinson's command of the New Jersey militia. Upon receipt of the news that Clin- ton had evacuated the city General Washington at once sent forward six brigades, the remaining portion of the army following upon the 19th. Ar- riving at Doylestown, Pennsylvania, upon the 20th of June, Washington followed the advance led by General Lee, and, although impeded by rain, ar- rived in Lambertville, Monday, June 22d. Design- ing to reach Princeton, Washington heard that the enemy were moving toward Trenton, where- upon he altered his plans and took the road to- ward Hopewell, where in a farm house was held a council of war, the determination influencing to a great degree the destinies of the campaign in the North as well as the future progress of the war. General Lee urged the continuance of the policy of paralleling the line of march of the King's
SCENE AT THE GREAT BRIDGE. ( Elizabeth River. )
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troops, while Washington with Generals Greene and Wayne and the French generals was in favor of attacking Clinton should opportunity offer. In pursuit of the plan Washington turned sharply toward the east, occupying Kingston in case Clin- ton should attempt the passage of the Raritan.
While Washington, unhampered by the impedi- menta of war, was flanking the King's troops, the Anglo-Hessian army moved northeastwardly with a slowness almost painful. Clinton was vastly hampered by a baggage train twelve miles in length, by the presence of refugees of quality who hung on the rear of the army, and by many wom- en, favorites of the officers, who followed the Tory fortunes to New York. Added to this detachments from the army of Washington, which were com- manded by Generals Morgan, Maxwell, Scott, Wayne, and Poor, harassed the enemy's left, while the New Jersey militia, under Generals Dickinson and Forman, with troops whose colonels were Phillips, Shreve, Frelinghuysen, Van Dike, Web- ster, and the unfortunate Jonathan Beasley, of Cumberland County, who died a prisoner of war near Haddonfield, were engaged in constantly an- noying the enemy.
Owing to the presence of both armies the resi- dents of Central Jersey, particularly in Burling. ton County, suffered severely. The Americans burned the bridges, filled up the wells, and
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stripped the country of cattle and the ripening grain. In retaliation the King's troops burned the mill at Bordentown, the iron works at Mount Holly, and the residences of influential Whigs. In spite of the heat Clinton pressed on toward Amboy.
It was between Crosswicks and Bordentown that the first general engagement between the contending armies occurred. The local militia having destroyed a bridge over Crosswicks Creek, a detachment of the King's troops attempted to repair the damage, when several Americans were killed. At Crosswicks village another encounter took place at a bridge, in which there was loss of life, cannon balls from a battery of the local militia striking the meeting house of the Society of Friends and leaving marks still plainly visible.
The morning of the 26th of June found General Clinton at Freehold, where the court house of the County of Monmouth, from which the succeeding battle took its name, is situated. The front of the retreating British lay a mile and a half beyond Freehold on the Middletown road. On the high- way from Cranbury to Freehold was Clinton's left, protected by swamps and ravines. As the British entered Freehold the Americans arrived in Cran- bury, eight miles distant. General Lee was in advance, only five miles from the British. To Lee came an order from Washington directing him to
THE BATTLEGROUND AT MONMOUTH.
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attack Clinton " unless," as stated by the late Frederick D. Stone, "it should prove that there were strong reasons for his not doing so." Lee, however, delayed the attack, and on the morning of the 28th General Knyphausen began an ad- vance toward Middletown, followed by the main army, the rear being assailed by militia under General Dickinson.
The New Jersey troops, thus forced back, were met by Lee advancing, and, reforming, engaged the British rear, which had been reinforced. Lee, attempting to decoy the British rear from the main army, indulged in a number of strategic movements, which being misunderstood by his men disheartened them, and a retreat ensued. As the soldiers retired in confusion, they were met, says a Whig newspaper account of the time, " by General Washington with the main army, which formed on the first advantageous ground In the meantime two field pieces, covered by two regiments of the detachment, and commanded by Colonels Livingston and Stewart, were advanced to check the enemy's approach, which they per- formed with great spirit and with considerable loss on both sides. This service being performed, they retired with the pieces to the front line, then compleatly formed, when the severest cannonade began that it is thought ever happened in Amer- ica."
1
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It was then that the famous scene between Washington and Lee took place. Few but heated were the words of the indignant commander-in- chief. Rallying the panic-stricken soldiers, Greene was assigned to the right, Stirling the left, ere an engagement took place which reddened the ravine with blood, and gave to Molly Pitcher a name fa- mous in Revolutionary annals as the bravest wom- an in New Jersey's history. The rear of Clinton's army, failing to silence the battery of Duplessis or to dislodge Wayne, finally gave way and joined the main army. Thus the Whig newspaper con- tinues the story of the end of the day:
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