The Affair at Little Egg Harbor took place on October 15, 1778, in southern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. American Loyalists killed nearly 50 Patriot men, bayonetting them as they slept. The battle took place about one week after the

Battle of Chestnut Neck The Battle of Chestnut Neck was fought on October 6, 1778 in southern New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War, at Chestnut Neck, a settlement on the Little Egg Harbor River (now known as the Mullica River) near the present-day city of P ...

, a British raid aimed at suppressing

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

s who used the area as a base to harass and seize British ships and their cargoes.

Background

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

officer Captain

Patrick Ferguson Patrick Ferguson (1744 – 7 October 1780) was a Scottish officer in the British Army, an early advocate of light infantry and the designer of the Ferguson rifle. He is best known for his service in the 1780 military campaign of Charles C ...

led a raid on Chestnut Neck, on the Mullica River, to retrieve supplies taken by

s and try to stop their use of the town as a base for the distribution of their prizes and shipment of captured goods to General Washington at Valley Forge. Count

Kazimierz Pułaski Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski of the Ślepowron coat of arms (; ''Casimir Pulaski'' ; March 4 or March 6, 1745 Makarewicz, 1998 October 11, 1779) was a Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called, tog ...

and his newly raised forces were ordered to oppose his actions.

Pulaski's Legion Pulaski's Legion was a cavalry and infantry regiment raised on March 28, 1778 at Baltimore, Maryland under the command of Polish-born General Casimir Pulaski and Hungarian nobleman Michael Kovats de Fabriczy for their service with the Continent ...

, along with three companies of light infantry, three troops of light horse, and one artillery detachment, arrived the day after Ferguson departed Chestnut Neck. But their arrival did stop Ferguson from raiding the iron works at BatstoPlan was to attack Batsto, but the river proved to shallow and time ran out, Batsto remained untouched. and stemmed their attacks on privateers at The Forks of the

Mullica River The Mullica River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in southern New Jersey in the United States. The Mullica was once known as the ''Little Egg Ha ...

. For a week the two forces were at a standoff.

Attack

Pulaski's troops reached the

Little Egg Harbor Little Egg Harbor is a brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and ...

district (near present-day Tuckerton), and immediately set up camp on a farm. Lt. Gustav Juliet, a deserter, found Ferguson and told him of Pulaski's encampment; he mentioned that morale was fairly low, and security almost nonexistent. Ferguson promptly loaded 250 of his best men onto boats and rowed them, in the dark, some ten miles to what is now Osborne Island. He marched them two miles to the site of the infantry outpost, which comprised fifty men a short distance from the main encampment. At first light, Ferguson ordered the attack; he took only five prisoners and his men, all American Loyalists, killed nearly 50 men. Pulaski eventually led up his mounted troops, causing Ferguson to retreat to his boats, and leaving a few men who had fallen into the Patriot colonists' hands.

Legacy

*The farm land which was the site of the battle has been developed as the Country Club Estates; a small parcel of the colonial farm was preserved on a plot of land between Hollybrook Drive and Cedarbrook Lane. *The Pulaski Monument is located on Pulaski Blvd in the Mystic Island section of Little Egg Harbor.

References

*''Information adapted from Boatner's ''Landmarks of the American Revolution'', 1992 ed. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Affair at Little Egg Harbor 1778 in the United States

Ocean County, New Jersey 1778 in New Jersey Privateering in the American Revolutionary War

Massacres in 1778 1778 murders in the United States

Background

Attack

Legacy

See also

References