THE SOUTH JERSEY CONNECTION TO VALLEY FORGE
by
Richard M. Burr
This talk is from an article written in 1929 by Frank H. Stewart, President of the
Gloucester County Historical Society and was entitled "Foraging for Valley Forge by
General Anthony Wayne in Salem and Gloucester Counties, N.J., with Associated Happenings".
Colonel Joseph Ellis, of
Gloucester county, was appointed February 15,1777, Brigadier-General to take the place
of Brigadier-General Philemon Dickinson, who had removed from the State. Colonel Ellis declined the honor and Colonel David Potter, of
Cumberland county, also declined an appointment in place of Colonel Ellis, made by the
Legislature six days later.
After the resignation of General Silas Newcomb, December 4, 1777, Colonel
Ellis was selected by Governor Livingston to take command of Newcomb's Brigade and
continued as the ranking military officer of the community until the end of the Revolution.
It is just to mention that many well-informed persons feel that the resignation of
General Newcomb was caused by criticism that was entirely too harsh under the circumstances. He was short of field pieces and ammunition for his command which
probably never exceeded five hundred men in service at anyone time. A considerable
part of his brigade was detached to join the Grand Army under Washington preceding the
Battle of Brandywine. Col. David Potter was later captured near Frankford and
paroled. He returned to his home in Cumberland county where he remained until he was
exchanged.
It must be borne in mind that the militia forces of New Jersey came and went in
classes on their "tours of duty" under the state law and tried to maintain their home lives
and vocations while serving from time to time as soldiers. General Washington on
several different occasions paid high tribute to the Militia forces of New Jersey but
continually decried the idea of short-time services of the Militia of the different states.
On January 15, 1778, Colonel Ellis, from his headquarters at Haddonfield, wrote
General Washington at Valley Forge that he had about five hundred men in service, who
were destitute of ammunition, but he had prevented marketing intercourse between the
neighborhood and Philadelphia, Howe's Winter Headquarters. Col. Ellis also wrote that
his lack of field pieces had prevented the capture of several of the vessels of the enemy
and had caused the loss of the cannon on board the wrecks of the Delaware River navy
and fleet, which had been burned by the patriots after the evacuation and destruction of
Forts Miftlin and Mercer.
The State of New Jersey could not furnish ammunition and Washington lacked it
just as he did shoes, clothing, blankets, medicine, food, forage and everything else of a
material character that an army should have.
Southern New Jersey had a plentiful supply of forage and food, but it could not be
taken to Valley Forge because of the scarcity of horses and wagons for the long haul
necessary to avoid the enemy in Philadelphia, who controlled the Delaware and Schuykill
rivers near Philadelphia, thus preventing transportation by water. The only way to obtain
meat was to drive it to Valley Forge on the hoof. Cattle from the northward could not be
obtained because of the weather conditions.
The affairs of America never looked more ominous than during the never-to-be-forgotten winter of 1777-8'. The terrible misfortunes and conditions, however, did not
prevent the activities of such men as Anthony Wayne, Light Horse Harry Lee, Allen
McLane, Pulaski and others, who kept the foragers of the enemy on the alert and, more or
less, within the City of Philadelphia. Those who took supplies to Philadelphia from its
outskirts were called "Market people" and, generally, made part of the trip by night.
During the Winter it was evident that the British were also getting short of hay,
fodder, straw, cereals and fresh meats. Governor Livingston issued an order to that
outstanding fighter of Old Gloucester county, Col. Joseph Ellis, to remove all of the live
stock in the counties of Burlington, Gloucester and Salem to the interior to prevent it
from falling into the hands of the enemy.
The army at Valley Forge being in dire distress, Washington sent the high-spirited Pennsylvanian, General Anthony Wayne, out on a foraging expedition, which, when
finished, resulted in a complete circuit of Gen. William Howe's army in Philadelphia.
Wayne with his detachment crossed the Delaware river twice, once below and once above the city of Philadelphia.
Major John Andre, the unfortunate Adjuant-General of Sir Henry Clinton's army,
facetiously wrote what he called the "Cow Chase" in 1780, the closing stanza of which
reads as follows:
"And now I've closed my epic strain,
I tremble as I show it,
Lest this same warrio-drover, Wayne,
Should ever catch the poet. "
This bit of satire may have had some of its foundation of fact in the foraging
expedition made by Wayne in Salem and Gloucester counties in February, 1778, as well
as the affair at Bulls Ferry.
On February 16, 1778, Major General Nathaniel Greene wrote Washington that
General Anthony Wayne had gone to Wilmington, Delaware, to cross over to New Jersey
if the ice would permit; otherwise he would make a large circuit and come in by the way
of Goshen. Wayne's orders were to drive all the live stock back from the New Jersey
shore bordering on the Delaware and forward it to Valley Forge by the shortest and safest
route. He was also ordered to destroy the hay to prevent its use by the enemy in
Philadelphia. He landed in Salem county on the 19th of February and proceeded to
Salem, where he arrived the same evening. Immediately after Wayne's arrival he
dispatched a letter addressed to Brigadier-General Joseph Ellis of the local militia to
collect the cattle and horses at Gloucester, Cooper's Ferry and Haddonfield and take them
to a secure place, and at the same time have his militiamen refrain from insulting or
abusing the owners. Wayne took it for granted that Col. Ellis was a Brigadier-General
but he had declined that honor just a year before.
On February 21st Col. Ellis wrote to General Wayne from Haddonfield as
follows:
"I am happy in just receiving your orders by express, which I shall be particularly
careful in attending to. Such cattle, etc., as are fit for present use and the several horses
for the immediate use of the cavalry in the neighborhood of Gloucester, Coopers Ferries
and my present quarters shall be taken and driven to some secure place as soon as the
small detachment under my command can possibly collect them.
"You may depend upon my being so attentive to the motions of the enemy that
you shall receive the earliest intelligence of their route.
"I shall be as well careful to prevent any insult or abuse whatever being offered to
the inhabitants through which the militia may pass, as executing any other orders that I
may receive from you.
"I am, Dear Sir, Your Most Obt. Hum.
Serv.
"Jos. Ellis."
On the morning of the 2Oth of February, Wayne sent out several detachments and,
according to a letter he wrote to Washington from Haddonfield on the 25th, he had
succeeded in collecting in Salem county about one hundred and fifty head of cattle,
despite the fact that the inhabitants, who had an abundant supply, had secreted them in
the swamps, which made them difficult to find. He probably spent two days foraging in
Salem county , and, while there, heard the enemy was about to land a force at Burlington
to intercept him. He, therefore, attempted to send the cattle from Salem county over to
New Castle, Delaware, by means of Captain John Barry's boats, but the effort failed.
Whether the failure was caused by the inadequacy of the boats, the ice in the river, or the
presence of the enemy, is not known. In the early part of February Captain Barry with four of his row galleys that were
saved after the fall of Fort Miffiin, went down the Delaware past the City of
Philadelphia
with about twenty five or thirty men and was of great assistance to General Wayne.
While Wayne was on his foraging expedition Barry captured the Kitty and the
Mennaid, two vessels convoyed by the Alert with ten guns, but while sacking the two
ships he was discovered by the British cruisers and was compelled to burn them and
beach the Alert. It is probable that the supplies taken off the destroyed vessels were sent
forward to Valley Forge at the same time as the cattle.
In a letter dated Salem, February 23rd General Wayne ordered Captain John
Barry, also at Salem, later the first Commodore of the United States Navy, to go up the
river with his row galleys and burn all of the hay between Salem and
Billingsport in order
that the enemy might be deprived of its benefits. Wayne wrote Barry that there was
reputed to be nearly one hundred tons on the place of John Kelly at the mouth of
Raccoon Creek and also a considerable quantity up Mantua Creek.
On February 26, 1778, Captain Barry wrote to General Washington to the
effect that he had destroyed about four hundred tons of forage before the enemy's boats had
appeared and deprived him of the ability to proceed further. Barry promised to transmit
the names of the persons whose hay he had destroyed together with the quantity belonging to each, as he had been ordered to do by General Wayne before he left Salem
on the twenty-third of February.
Wayne probably marched up the Old King's Highway from Salem to
Blessington,
now Sharptown, and on by the Moravian Church on Oldman's Creek to Swedesboro. He
ordered Captain John Barry , with his row galleys, to make a feint on the 24th at the
mouth of Raccoon Creek which was done at 10 o'clock in the morning. This movement,
as was hoped, attracted the attention of the enemy and, on the morning of the 25th, just
after midnight, they sent down by Gloucester Point (on the Pennsylvania shore), twenty
flat-bottomed boats, together with a number of other craft all filed with troops, under
Lieut. Col. Abercrombie. While they were rowing down the river Wayne had horsemen
scouting up and down the river front trying to locate their landing place, which proved to
be Billingsport, early on the 25th, on which day Wayne was at Haddonfield, where he
had joined forces with Cot. Ellis. The combined patriot forces amounted to about 550
men.
The route of Wayne from Swedesboro is supposed to have been by way
of the King's
Highway to the south end of Woodbury, passing through a farm, thence over to the
Clements Bridge Road to Haddonfield. By means of this route the soldiers protecting
the cattle escort could be kept between the cattle and the river which is not far distant
from the King's Highway that ran from Woodbury to the Big Timber Bridge at Westville
(Buck Tavern), and thence to Mt. Ephraim.
On February 25, the cattle from Salem county were at Mt. Holly, and Wayne
wrote from Haddonfield to Washington that there were enough more between Cooper's
and Dunk's ferries (Camden and Beverly) which he expected to drive in within four days
to bring the total number of cattle up to 250 head and also 30 horses for Lee's Legion.
The owners had received certificates signed by Col. Richard Butler, which were
presumably redeemed by a Commissary officer and Quartermaster at Mt. Holly during
the month of May following. On February 26th Wayne wrote Governor William Livingston from Mt. Holly that
the enemy forces amounting to about 2,000 men had been split at Billingsport and that
1,500 of them had proceeded toward Salem and had encamped the night before within
seven miles of that place (near Sharptown), and about 500 had gone up to Haddonfield,
where they were joined at dawn of day on the 26th by about 1,300 more men, who had
crossed from Philadelphia to Cooper's Ferry at 2 o'clock in the morning with the
expectation of capturing the forces under Wayne and Ellis.
General Wayne fortunately received timely warning of the approach of the enemy
from one of Col. Ellis' mounted sentinels, named Chew, on the river front, who made a
thrilling ride to Haddonfield. Wayne ordered one of his drummers to beat a tattoo and
hastily decamped from Haddonfield and happily escaped the army that arrived in the
town on the heels of his fleeing troops, who had been quartered in the homes of the
inhabitants and in the Friends' Meeting House. This was early in the morning of
February 26th, while it was yet dark.
Pulaski was at Trenton with about eighteen of his horsemen. The rest of his
troop was divided and doing duty at great distances by orders of Washington. An
express rider notified him of the events at Haddonfield. On the 28th of February he was
at Burlington with fifty light horsemen he had hastily collected in the country. At this
time a thaw had broken up the ice on the river. Col. Ellis with 250 of his militia, his
entire force, was at Evesham Meeting House at the junction of the Egg Harbor and
Mount Holly roads. The main body of the army of the enemy was at Haddonfield, but
small detachments were out foraging between Cooper and Big Timber Creeks.
Wayne made a return forced march from Mount Holly to strike the enemy, and at
9 o'clock at night he arrived at the home of Capt. Joseph Matlack, about four miles
southeast of Haddonfield, where he was joined by General Pulaski with his fifty light
horsemen. An hour later Pulaski attempted to surprise the outpost of the enemy at a mill
a half mile out of Haddonfield Colonel Sterling, the English Commander, however,
was not surprised, but was greatly deceived as to the number of Wayne's troops and,
believing them to be superior in number to his own, left Haddonfield in three columns
and precipitately retreated at 11 o'clock at night to Cooper's Ferry, where he arrived
before daybreak, leaving behind the wagons, horses, and most of the cattle he had taken
from the Gloucester county inhabitants, who later claimed their property.
Wayne's troops were
greatly fatigued, but late the next morning, March 1st, he,
with General Pulaski, ~ the enemy and found them in full force at the ferry
unable to cross on account of a high wind but well protected by their ships. In the
middle of the afternoon the wind died down and they transported thirty-six head of cattle
they had saved.
General Pulaski, fretting over the embarkment of the enemy, was anxious to
change them, and General Wayne ordered Captain Doyle up with his company of fifty
men, who were three miles in advance of the rest of the detachment, which was ordered
to follow as quickly as possible. At this instant Wayne was informed of a fresh body of
troops from Philadelphia, who were marching up Cooper's Creek. He ordered Col. Ellis
with his militia on that route to advance and engage them. Col. Sterling brought up his
full force and Wayne fell back slowly until Col. Butler's detachment could join him, but
he did not arrive until dark, too late to join in the skirmish. The Hessian Grenadiers had
meanwhile attempted to go across Cooper's Creek bridge, but were defeated by Col. Ellis
with about one hundred of his militiamen. Franklin Davenport of Woodbury
commanded a field piece in this engagement, which was a general one on the part of the
field pieces and muskets of the enemy troops and the cannon of their ships.
The enemy left for Philadelphia before 9 o'clock at night. Pulaski acted with his
usual bravery and had his own and four other horses of his troop wounded. According to one of General Wayne's letters to Washington, Abercrombie, who
commanded the enemy detachment that went to Salem, took fright because of
exaggerated reports that Wayne was returning from Mt. Holly and that the militia were
collecting in large numbers. He hastily left Salem in his boats without the cattle he had
collected and arrived in Philadelphia on March 1st. Colonel Sterling and Major Simcoe
followed late at night from Cooper's Ferries, but it is probable that the entire force from
Haddonfield was not landed at Philadelphia until after midnight.
It is apparent that the first foraging expedition of the British to Salem and
Gloucester counties did not result in the collection of very much food supplies of the
capture of the adroit Wayne, who, in the "Cow Chase", written by Major Andre, was
nicknamed the "warrio-drover".
On March 4th General Wayne wrote General Washington from Haddonfield that
he would begin his march for Valley Forge the next day and that he had been delayed in
order to obtain shoes for his troops, who were almost barefoot. By this time it is
possible that the herd of cattle for the relief of Valley Forge had arrived at that place.
Whether they were sent across the river at Burlington or Trenton, or elsewhere, has not
been determined. In General Wayne's letter of February 25th he wrote, "I shall push the
cattle from Trent Town." Wayne himself was in Bordentown as late as March 14th.
INVOCATION
Dear Heavenly Father,
As we, the Descendants of Washington's Army at Valley Forge, gather here this evening
at the beginning of our encampment, we are grateful for all of our many blessings. We are grateful for our ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, and especially those who served here in Valley Forge. We are thankful for the freedom which we now enjoy thanks to the efforts of those who went on before us. At this time, we would ask to have thy spirit to be with us, to guide us and help us to make those decisions which will be most beneficial to our organization. This we pray in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NECROLOGY
Dear Heavenly Father,
As we gather together at this time, we are grateful for all that thou hast done for us. We
are grateful for all of our members, but at this time we would like to remember those members who passed through the veil since our last
encampment. We would ask that thy spirit be with the families and friends of our deceased members. Please comfort them and help them to understand thy great plan which thou hast prepared for us. This is our prayer in the
name of Jesus, the Christ. Amen.
BENEDICTION
Dear Heavenly Father,
As we close this social muster this evening, we pray that what has been accomplished
here tonight will be beneficial to our society, and will help us to grow and become a strong and viable organization. We ask that thy spirit be with those who have not yet arrived and are still traveling, that they will arrive here safely tomorrow. This is our prayer in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.