During the night of 25 January 1780,

British forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

staged simultaneous raids into Elizabethtown and

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in New Jersey.

Elizabethtown

Colonel Abraham van Buskirk led the attack into Elizabethtown with 300 infantry under his own command and 60

dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat w ...

s of the 17th Light Dragoons under the command of Captain William Steward. They also had a party of

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

militia, bringing the total number of this body to about 400. Col. van Buskirk's men were guided into the town by three local men, Job and Smith Hetfield, and Captain Cornelius Hetfield. After crossing the ice from

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to Trembly's Point, about 3 miles from Elizabethtown, the British infiltrated the town in two divisions. They plundered some houses and captured the American commander as well as two or three officers and forty-seven colonial soldiers. The loyalist militia burned the

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church and court house, against the wishes of Col. van Buskirk. By this time the alarm had been raised and the British retreated by way of De Hart's Point, burning De Hart's house on the way because it was frequently used by American forces.

Newark

The second party crossed the frozen North River on sleighs to Newark, which they entered in three divisions. The British captured fifteen men at the

Newark Academy Newark Academy is a coeducational private day school located in Livingston, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in sixth through twelfth grades. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Col ...

, of which one lieutenant escaped, and then set fire to it. They looted a few houses, including those of Justice Joseph Hedden and Robert Neil, Jr., whom they took as prisoners. Hedden was wearing only a shirt and stockings, but the British would not allow him to fully dress despite the bitter cold. Justice Hedden's wife attempted to intervene and received two bayonet wounds for it. It was later reported that Justice Hedden suffered severe frostbite during his ordeal. The entire attack took less than twenty minutes. The local militia pursued, capturing five British soldiers, two of whom died of hypothermia. According to a British report, taking Hedden was never part of the original plan. His capture and subsequent treatment was at the hand of a loyalist named Walker who had been treated very poorly by Hedden in the past. When the officers later learned that he had not been allowed to dress, they provided him with some clothing. Robert Neil, on the other hand, was a "sub-deputy quarter-master", and would frequently take crops and firewood from the property of known Tories for distribution to the American army.

Aftermath

There was almost no long term strategic impact to this raid. Its primary purpose was to harass two colonial garrisons and to further personal vendettas.

References

{{reflist 1780 in the British Empire 1780 in New Jersey Elizabethtown and Newark 18th-century history of the British Army Elizabethtown and Newark Elizabethtown and Newark History of Elizabeth, New Jersey History of Newark, New Jersey