The only previous work that attempted to ascertain New Jersey troop casualties incurred at Monmouth was William Stryker's book, Battle of Monmouth. Unfortunately the lack of sources or footnotes in that work tarnishes the information given. Additionally, there has never been any information on how many men were killed, wounded or captured during the march to Monmouth, during which Brigadier General William Maxwell's Jersey Brigade, in conjunction with the New Jersey militia and Morgan's riflemen, harassed Sir Henry Clinton’s British army and its large baggage train.
Muster rolls have proven the most reliable source for losses in the four New Jersey regiments. Diaries, letters, and 19th century soldiers’ pension accounts have also been gleaned for additional information. Luckily, though a few muster rolls are almost illegible and one or two are missing, the great majority of them for 1778 still exist. Of the pension files only those for the 2nd New Jersey Regiment, both nine months levies and long-term soldiers, and those for the nine months men (only) of the other three regiments have been sought. Of a total of 670 nine months men and 258 long-term soldiers of the 2nd Regiment 227 pension depositions were found (included is a handful of 4th New Jersey long-term men who had been transferred to the 2nd Regiment in 1779). To these must be added a handful of depositions found in the course of an earlier study of musicians, and a few others collected through pure serendipity.
The muster information is sometimes very specific giving the date and status of the casualty. Unfortunately some men are noted as having been wounded (or recovering from a wound) with no date given for the incident except date of the return (the returns for June 1778 being generally dated July 14, 1778). Another unfortunate drawback is that the rolls often fail to differentiate between wounded and sick men, merely labeling them all as being sick, absent at various hospitals. Occasionally later returns clarify an individual’s status, noting their absence as due to recovery from a wound incurred, date unknown. Sometimes it is possible to trace the rolls back to ascertain the timeframe in which a soldier was wounded. Finally, many men were listed as missing. Some had been captured and later exchanged (many only shortly after the Battle of Monmouth), the information being recorded on the rolls. Some reappeared in the records without any explanation, some never rejoined to their units. The latter may have been captured, but were more likely deserters. All these uncertainties have been taken into consideration in the course of this study.
Unless otherwise noted the following data has been gleaned from muster rolls. Pension file information has been noted as such, as is corroborated material from Stryker’s work.
Regimental Casualty List
1st New Jersey
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Summary |
Richard Jasper (Flahaven's Co.) prisoner as of 7/14/78 return, absent from rolls after July
Stephen Goble (Flahaven's Co.) wounded in hospital as of 8/4/78, in hospital since at least 7/14/78.
Jacob Tharp (Longstreet's Co.) captured 6/20/78
Eliacam Crane (drummer, Baldwin's Co.) killed 6/20/78
Lapole Young (Van Angle's Co) noted as being dead 6/20/78
John Hubbell (Piatt's Co.) captured 6/27/78, exchanged, 7/17/78 (pension deposition)
John Williams (Polhemus's Co.) wounded 6/28/78 (pension deposition)
Samuel Seward (Mead's Co.) missing 6/28/78, rejoined between 7/14 and 9/10/78 (nine months man)
Josiah Halstead (Polhemus's Co.) missing 6/28/78, rejoined between 7/14 and 8/6/78 (nine months man)
Matthew Rhoades, (Van Angle's Co.) died of fatigue 6/29/78 (as per Stryker, verified by muster rolls)
2nd New Jersey
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Summary |
Consider Adition (Cummings' Co.) captured in June exact date unknown, rejoined July 1778
Daniel Burns (Luse's Co.) captured in June exact date unknown, exchanged 7/16/78
Henry Graham (drummer, Cummings' Co.) captured 6/22/78, rejoined July 1778
Asa Woodward (Hollinshead's Co.) captured 6/22/78, rejoined 10/78 (nine months man)
Henry Hinsman (Reading's Co.) captured 6/26/78, exchanged 7/17/78 (nine months man)
Thomas Boggs (Phillips' Co.) killed 6/27/78
George Walker, volunteer, wounded in the side 6/28/78. (As per Stryker, not verified but probable as Walker was shortly thereafter given a commission. A previous volunteer, James Paul, was awarded a commission after his wounding at Short Hills in 1777.)
William Todd (Luse's Co.) wounded 6/28/78 (pension deposition, nine months man)
James Hamilton (Bowman's Co.) wounded at Three Rivers in 1776, at Germantown in 1777 and at Monmouth 6/28/78 (pension deposition) This claim is questionable as Hamilton is shown on the muster rolls as having deserted 20 April 1778 and not rejoined until November 1778. All the same he had a history of leaving the regiment and returning. He may have rejoined the regiment, suffered a wound at Monmouth, and not rejoined till the later date.
David Gilmore (Reading's Co.) missing June 28, 1778
Dennis Coleman (Luse's Co.) missing 6/29/78
3rd New Jersey
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Summary |
Edward Brady (Ross's Co.) missing as of 7/14/78, rejoined by 8/5/78.
Michael Meeker (Patterson's Co.) listed as being a "Prisoner" as of 7/14/78, sick in Morristown as of 8/5/78 (nine months man)
John Walter (Anderson's Co.) wounded absent as of 7/14/78
John Hefner (Anderson's Co.) wounded absent as of 7/14/78
John Riordan (Anderson's Co.) wounded absent as of 8/5/78
Francis Barber, lt. col., wounded 6/28/78, musket ball passed through his body (as per Stryker, verified)
Samuel Leonard (Patterson's Co.) wounded 6/28/78, sick absent at Morristown 7/78 to 1/79, discharged 2/79 (pension deposition, nine months man)
William Kelty (Anderson's Co.) missing 6/29/78, rejoined by 8/5/78
4th New Jersey
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Summary |
Patrick MCanelly (Anderson's Co.) noted as wounded on furlough as of 8/5/78 having been on furlough at least since 7/14/78
Daniel Stephens (Forman's Co.) missing 6/28/78, never returned to the muster rolls
William Howell (Kinsey's Co.) wounded 6/28/78 (pension deposition)
James Search (Anderson's Co.) wounded 6/28/78 (as per Stryker, verified by pension deposition, nine months man)
Monmouth Campaign Events and New Jersey Brigade Losses
19 and 20 June 1778
Brigadier General William Maxwell, 19 June 1778:
The Enemy set off late to day from Haddonfield & is coming on the Road to EvesHam. They got a full fire from Capt. Ross [3rd New Jersey] this morning with 50 men which threw them into a great confusion. He came off some distance \ & Post[ed] them to give them More in a nother place.1
Major Richard Howell, 2nd New Jersey, 20 June 1778:
The Enemy march'd in 3 Columns ... Their March has been obstructed as much as possible & their flancks harrass'd by our parties.2
Captain John Peebles' Journal (42nd Regiment of Foot):
Saturday 20th. June, The army (the Bulk of the Army) march'd this Morng. at 4 O'Clock & proceeded thro Foster Town Ayres Town, cross'd Several branches of Naneskers Creek (the Bridges having been broke up and repair'd) & came to Mount Holly between 10 & 11 & Encamp'd mostly on that ground betwixt the Mount & to the No: of the Village, the morng. cool the Afternoon rainy-- about 800 of the Rebels left Mount holly yesterday Morng:-- Genl. Kniphausen with the Rear division of the Army I suppose march'd from Haddonfield this Morng. the 15th. Regt. expected from Billingsport to join them... deep, sandy road, more clear Country than yesterday... The advanced Yagers had a little skirmish lost one man & took some prisoners among whom was a deserter from the 28 Rgt. ...3
Captain Johann Ewald's Journal (Hessian Jaeger Corps):
The 20th. At daybreak the army set out, passed the defile of Eayrestown, and toward midday encamped... on the heights of Mount Holly. On this march the head of the queue and both flanks were constantly annoyed by the enemy.4
Brigade Casualties
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| 1
missing in June, date unknown |
22 through 25 June 1778
Captain John Peebles' Journal (42nd Regiment of Foot):
Monday 22d. June rain in the night The Army... moved on to the Black Horse a small Village about 7 or 8 miles from Mount holly & Encampd in two lines facing NW-- Genl. Kniphausens Division on the left-- the Queens Rangers on our Right... Maxwells Corps of Rebels left the Black horse this Morng. ...5
Private James Jorden, 2nd New Jersey, recounted in his pension application:
[We] went into Quaker Meeting house [at Black Horse] ... the whole regiment was there about the middle of the night [of 21/22 June, when] the British came and surrounded the Meeting house where he and his regiment were / we retreated out of the Back door of the Meeting house and through the grave yard to a town in New Jersey called Crossicks four miles from the Black Horse / this retreat was performed in the night / In the morning there was a command ordered to watch the motion of the enemy to see which way they would come he was included in this command / in the morning following [the command was] ... compelled to retreat from before the enemy in a swamp ... they were chased by the enemy light horse for three days before the command which was separated from the regiment ... came up with the regiment / on this retreat there were three men lost in this flanking party. (Jorden was a nine-months man and 29 years old at the time of his enlistment in May 1778)6
Brigade Casualties
2 captured 6/22/78
26 through 27 June 1778
Captain John Peebles' Journal (42nd Regiment of Foot):
Friday 26th. ready to march at 4 but it was 6 before we got off the ground march'd to the Eastwd. 8 or 10 miles & Encamp'd at Freehold or Monmouth Court House between 11 & 12 on a very fine extensive clearing facing to the Northwd. Genl. Kniphausens Divisn. came on to with[in] two miles of this yesterday & March'd from there early this Morng. a Sandy Soild Mixt Wood-- hot with Thunder
Saturday 27th. June The Army halted... Here the two Columns join, and ly Encamp'd on a very fine extensive plain in the Environs of the little Village at Monmouth Court House, making a line of about 4 miles the front about NW. the flanks facing outwd. with now & then some little popping at the different out Guards: half a dozen of the Sculking rascals taken this Morng. 7
Brigade Casualties
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| 1 captured 6/26/78 |
28 June 1778 - The Battle of Monmouth
Captain John Peebles' Journal (42nd Regiment of Foot):
Sunday 28th June a fight... 7
Private John Ackerman, 1st New Jersey, recalled the Monmouth battle,
that his regement on that day was ordered by the Colo to retreat which was effected by passing through a morass in which he lost his shoes ‑ After retreating through this morass, his regement came to the road just as the troops under the immediate command of Gen Washington were passing – Gen Washington halted his troops, and the retreating Regement was immediately paraded having become disordered in retreating throug the [morass] He well recollects that Gen Washington on that occasion asked the troops if they could fight and that they answered him with three cheers ...8
Colonel Israel Shreve:
Our Brigade was not Immediately Engaged But Drawn up in the Second Line, where Cannon Ball flew plentyfully ...9
Brigade Casualties
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| 7 (possibly 8) wounded 6/28/78 |
29June 1778
Captain Jonathan Forman (4th New Jersey):
“29.th at English T[ow]n.o … where we lay till Thirs[day]”10
Samuel Adams, surgeon (3rd Continental Artillery):
"29th … fair and very hot! - our Army after burying the Dead, taking care of the wounded etc., etc. just at Night marched back to English Town. I went over the field of Battle a shocking sight!"11
Captain John Peebles' Journal (42nd Regiment of Foot):
“Monday 29th. June … Genl. Knyphausens Division moved on to Middletown, with the Provision & baggage Train - & wounded”12
Brigade Casualties
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| 2 missing 6/29/78 |
New Jersey Brigade Final Analysis, Monmouth Campaign
Casualties 20 June to 27 June1778
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5 wounded |
Casualties at Battle of Monmouth, 28 June 1778
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7 (possibly 8) wounded 6/28/78 |
Total Casualties 20 June to 29 June 1778
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12 (possibly 13) wounded |
Muster roll and pension file casualty reports are probably quite accurate, though it is possible there were more wounded. For the most part Brigadier General William Maxwell's Jersey Brigade spent the battle marching and countermarching with General Charles Lee's Advance Corps and saw little or no real action. In the battle’s latter half, while in a reserve position, the New Jersey regiments were subjected to artillery fire that may have caused some men’s wounds.
Endnotes
1.
William Maxwell to Philemon Dickinson, 19 June 1778, George Washington Papers, Presidential Papers Microfilm, (Washington, DC, 1961), series 4, reel 50.2.
Richard Howell to Philemon Dickinson or Washington, 20 June 1778, ibid., reel 50.3.
Ira D. Gruber, ed., John Peebles’ American War: The Diary of a Scottish Grenadier, 1776-1782 (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1998), 190 (hereafter cited as Gruber, John Peebles’ American War).4.
Johann Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal, Joseph P. Tustin, ed. (New Haven, 1979), 133.5.
Gruber, John Peebles’ American War, 190-191.6.
James Jorden, pension deposition, "'... in reduced circumstances': Pension Papers of the Soldiers of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment," 20, appendix to "I Expect to be stationed in Jersey sometime ..."7.
Gruber, John Peebles’ American War, 192-193.8.
John Ackerman, pension deposition, "'from thence to the Battle ...': Gleanings From the Pension Depositions of the Soldiers of the New Jersey Brigade," 2, appendix to "I Expect to be stationed in Jersey sometime ..."9.
Israel Shreve to his wife, from Englishtown, 2 July 1778, Dreer Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, "Soldiers of the Revolution", Box IV [Series 52:2, Vol. IV].10.
29 June 1778, entry, Revolutionary war diary, Fellows Papers, box 2, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Rush Rhees Library, University of Rochester; anonymous diary likely penned by Jonathan Forman, captain, 4th New Jersey Regiment.11.
"Samuel Adams's Private Miscellaneous Diary Ann: Dom: 1778. Kept partly in the Town of Dorchester and partly in his Excellency General Washington's Camp at Valley Forge, White Plains, Fredericksburgh, &c ...," Samuel Adams Diaries, Manuscript Division, New York Public Library.12.
Gruber, John Peebles’ American War, 195.General Sources
Revolutionary War Rolls, National Archives Microfilm Publications, Record Group 93, M246 (Washington, D.C., 1980), roll 55 to roll 62, muster rolls of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th New Jersey Regiments. Also studied though not included in the statistics was Spencer's Additional Regiment, rolls 128 and 129.
Index of Revolutionary in the latter half of the battle War Pension Applications in the National Archives (Washington, D.C., 1976). Depositions and related materials may be found in National Archives Microfilm Publication M804 (2,670 reels)
Johann Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal, Joseph P. Tustin, ed. (New Haven, 1979), 132-139.
John Peebles, Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh; Cunninghame of Thorntoun Papers (GD 21); Papers of Lt., later Capt., John Peebles of the 42d. Foot, 1776-1782; incl. 13 notebooks comprising his war journal; book #6.
William S. Stryker, Battle of Monmouth (Revised and edited by William Starr Myers, Princeton, 1927)
Unverified casualties in Stryker’s work:
2nd New Jersey
John Fleming (Luse's Co.) wounded 6/28/78 (not verified by muster roll)
3rd New Jersey
James Kirkpatrick (Patterson's Co.) wounded 6/28/78 (Neither the pension deposition or the muster rolls give any indication of a wound)
4th New Jersey
John Hamilton (Forman's Co.) killed 6/28/78 (No soldier of this name found in the rolls of the 4th New Jersey)
John Williams, cpl. (Anderson's Co.) wounded four times 6/28/78 (Not in Anderson's Co., but in Mitchell's Co.)
John U. Rees, "'He Come Out with us this time As a Volunteer': Soldiers Serving Without Pay in the Second New Jersey Regiment, 1777-1780," Military Collector & Historian, vol. XLV, no. 4 (Winter 1993), 154-55.
John U. Rees, "I Expect to be stationed in Jersey sometime...": An Account of the Services of the Second New Jersey Regiment:
Part I, December 1777 to June 1778 (1994, unpublished, copy held in the collections of the David Library of the American Revolution, Washington Crossing, Pa.), contains seventeen appendices covering various subjects including studies of the casualties incurred by the New Jersey Brigade (1777-1779), the uniform clothing of the New Jersey Brigade (1776-1778) and the use of the nine-month draft during 1778. Also included is a collection of pension narratives of the common soldiers of the New Jersey Brigade.
The works below are appendices of Rees, "I Expect to be stationed in Jersey sometime...”:
John U. Rees, "Losses in the New Jersey Brigade at the Battles of: Short Hills (26 June 1777); Brandywine (11 September 1777); Germantown (4 October 1777)."
John U. Rees, "`The new Leveys are coming in dayly ...': The Nine Month Draft in the Second New Jersey Regiment and Maxwell's New Jersey Brigade” (Including a study of "The Use and Effect of the Nine-Month Draft in the Other Brigades of Washington's Army").
John U. Rees, "`In reduced circumstances': Pension Papers of the Soldiers of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment"