Tranquility and revolution cannot coexist... or can they?
The southern forests of New Jersey, the Pine Barrens, prior to the American Revolution and during the war years, were a haven, a wondrous place of natural treasures, heaven-scented evergreens, flowing rivers, cedar streams and mysterious swamps teeming with vegetation, but, those same forests were inhabited by a "Nest of Rebel pirates," as the British called the area, a place where the dense trees offered a cloak for "rebellious" activities.
The sea, the sandy coves and bays along the Jersey coast were places of amazing beauty, where a person could find tranquility, a setting for reflection. The sea cast a spell on the observer, the enigma, the majesty, the excitement and astonishment, but, those same coves were also crowded with sloops and frigates, captained by adventurous men, privateers, some opportunists and some patriots. Their aim? To rid the American waterways of British ships! And perhaps to add a bit of booty to their coffers by capturing enemy ships, taking the cargo, and auctioning it in rebel ports, such as Toms River, Chestnut Neck, and Mays Landing.
The Colonies, seeking to become an independent nation, had land troops led by General Washington, though few in number. A Colonial navy, however, was almost nonexistent. Washington knew that the "rebels," without a navy, could not defeat the British. With monetary concerns, the inability to organize and equip a navy, the General had to turn to another source.
Several of Washington's officers, whom he paid for their experience and knowledge of seafaring, found American sailors, amateur privateers, willing to stalk and capture British vessels. Privateers, just pirates, some said, but there was a difference. Privateers chose a country to have an allegiance to and only "pirated" enemies of that country.
Shortly thereafter, Colonial investors commissioned privateers to seek out British merchant ships, board them, seize the cargo and capture the crews. The investors, the Colonial captains, and their crews all profited from these activities.1
The New Jersey coast grew into a roaring, pulsating center for privateers. At the beginning of the American Revolution, Colonial New Jersey had approximately 80,000 residents. About one-third of the population sympathized with the rebel cause, another third were loyalists, and the last third were neutral, yet New Jersey played a crucial part in the war, being the scene of five major battles and two hundred minor encounters.2
One of those battles was fought in October of 1778. Chestnut Neck, near the mouth of the Little Egg Harbor River, was a bustling port of trade, and, when tensions between America and Britain burst into fiery flames, the docks were cluttered with privateers and their captured vessels.
The British, frustrated and angered by Jersey's "Nest of Rebel Pirates," wanted to crush the Colonials and eradicate the entire area of resistance.3 When the captured vessels Venus and Major Pearson were brought up the Little Egg Harbor River to Chestnut Neck, the confiscated cargo was estimated to be worth $500,000, and the British formulated plans for a major assault. A fleet of nine ships gathered in New York Harbor, led by the sloops Zebra, Vigilant and Nautilus. On September 30, 1778, the fleet, passing by Sandy Hook, encountered strong winds and turbulent waters, which forestalled their arrival off the bar at Little Egg Harbor until October 6. In the meantime, General Washington, having been informed of the expedition by patriot spies, ordered forces, led by Count Casimir Pulaski, to march from Red Bank in Monmouth County to Middle of the Shore (Tuckerton), and on to Chestnut Neck.4 New Jersey's governor, William Livingston, sent Express Riders to forewarn the! residents.5
The British fleet had been held off by the churning sea, but learning, through Tory spies, that the Colonials knew of the impending attack, the ships made haste to sail upriver to Chestnut Neck. Impeded at every turn, especially by enshrouding fog, the British doggedly pushed toward the port, while the Colonial troops, marching through the pine forest and intending to defend Chestnut Neck, got lost and never reached their destination.
Chestnut Neck had hurriedly prepared to meet the enemy with privateer ships and an armed pilot boat. The locals erected a "Work with Embrasures for six Guns," level with the water, to protect the Channel. As the enemy vessels approached the shore, they were welcomed by Colonial gunfire coming from the tall meadow grass, but the British managed to land, form a line, and charge.
The inhabitants, without Pulaski's reinforcements and facing trained soldiers, retreated into the woods. Chasing, the British exhausted their supply of gunfire, and Tory Volunteers set fire to the homes, the tavern, and the storehouse. Apparently victorious at the port, the British forces wanted to head upriver toward an ironwork, Batsto, where patriots smelted iron and molded munitions for Colonial troops, but, not knowing the exact location of Pulaski's men and fearing bottleneck in the river, they returned to the fleet and the expedition sailed for New York. . .without the flagship, Zebra, whose bottom became forever cemented to a sandbar.6
The port was burned, but thanks to advance warning, the privateersmen, not one of whom was captured, sailed their ships far up the river, saving their valuable stores and private possessions. The British reported that Chestnut Neck had been destroyed and that it would not rise from the smoldering ashes. Not so. The port was never again what it once had been, for most of the locals rebuilt elsewhere, but just six weeks after the battle, a privateer, Captain Stevens, who had captured the Venus, towed in a prize, the armed schooner, Two Friends...and the seizures continued.7
Privateers operated out of Chestnut Neck until the close of the War, which can be verified by viewing the Newspaper Extracts in the New Jersey Archives, chronicling the captured vessels and their cargoes for sale at Chestnut Neck.8
The question again presents itself: can tranquility and revolution coexist? History seems to answer positively. Within the lovely, fragrant pine barrens of South Jersey, preserved today for all generations to enjoy, and along the shell-strewn beaches, patriots and privateers rousingly rooted out the British, leading the way to the formation of a new nation, America.
Endnotes
1. www.allsands.com/privateersameri_wq_gn.htm.
2. www.state.nj.us/hangout/synopsis.htm.
3. Arthur D. Pierce, SMUGGLERS' WOODS, (Rutgers University Press,
New Brunswick, New Jersey, sixth printing, 1984), 42.
4. William McMahon, SOUTH JERSEY TOWNS, (Rutgers University Press,
New Brunswick, New Jersey, fourth printing, 1973), 202-03. 5. http://lightning.prohosting.com/~batsto/Towns/Chestnut/Chesnut.html.
6. McMahon, 204-05.
7. Pierce, 52,53.
8. http://lightning.prohosting.com/~batsto/Towns/Chestnut/Chestnut.html.
Bibliography
Blake, Georgiana C. "Chestnut Neck." The Atlantic County Historical Society Yearbook, Volume 1, Number 3, October, 1950. http://lightning.prohosting.com/~batsto/Towns/Chestnut/Chestnut.html.
Green, Howard L. "A Synopsis of New Jersey History." New Jersey Historical Commission. July, 1996. www.state.nj.us/hangout/synopsis.htm.
McMahon, William. SOUTH JERSEY TOWNS. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1973.
Pierce, Arthur D. SMUGGLERS' WOODS. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, l984.
"The Privateers and the American Revolution." PageWise, Inc., 2001. www.allsands.com/privateersameri_wq_gn.htm.