Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
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Source: April 1995 Volume 33 Number 2, Pages 77–82


Foraging For Valley Forge by General Anthony Wayne in Salem and Gloucester Counties, N.J.

Frank H. Stewart

Page 77

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 Schuylkill 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 northward could not be ob- tained because of 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 the 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 livestock 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. ...

Page 78

On February 16, 1778, Major General Nathanael 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 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, Cooper's Ferry 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 20th 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 were 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 to the writer.

Page 79

In the early part of February Captain Barry with four of his row galleys that were saved after the fall of Fort Mifflin, sneaked 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 Mermaid, 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 of hay 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 Oldmans 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 filled 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 Col. 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 the farm now [1929] occupied by James G. Griscom, 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 Creek bridge at Westville (Buck Tavern), and thence to Mt. Ephraim.

Page 80

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 that 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 had arrived in 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 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 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 mumber 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.

Page 81

Wayne's troops were greatly fatigued, but late the next morning, March 1st, he, with General Pulaski, reconnoitered 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 charge 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.

The following receipt among the papers of the Gloucester County Historical Society is a reminder of Count Pulaski while he was aiding General Wayne:

"Evesham, Burlington County, March 6, 1778

"Received of Mr. John Inskip, sixteen pounds of beef for a party of General Polaskee's Cavalry.

"Per order Gen'l Polaskee
Thos. Pemberton, Lieut. L. Dragoons.

To Commissary Gen'l."

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 Ferry, 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 or the capture of the adroit Wayne, who, in the "Cow Chase", written by Major Andre, was nicknamed the "warrior-drover".

Arnold's idea of treason is supposed to have had its inception here in Old Gloucester county, because of the notoriety given the use of army teams sent down to Batso by him for his private gain.

Page 82

The lamented, talented soldier, Adjutant-General Major Andre, lost his life as a spy because of his plotting with sanction of General Sir Henry Clinton with the foul and infamous Arnold at West Point in 1780. Tears for Andre and curses for Arnold will be the judgment of mankind as long as men can think, write and speak.

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 some 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 for Trent Town." Wayne himself was in Bordentown as late as March 14th. ...

While Wayne was in New Jersey, Lee was in Delaware, both heroically striving to save the Continental Army at Valley Forge from starvation and at the same time making it impossible for the enemy to get food in quantity.

With this stock of provisions on hand one naturally wonders why the Grand Army at Valley Forge should be destiutute of food. The real reason was that horses and wagons were practically unobtainable for the long circuitous haul in the winter months. ...

from a 1929 publication of the Gloucester Historical Society reprinted with permission

 
 

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