The Hancock House is a historic structure in the Hancock's Bridge section of Lower Alloways Creek Township,

Salem County Salem County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its western boundary is formed by the Delaware River, and it has the eastern terminus of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which connects the county with New Castle, Delaware. ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, United States. It was the site of the 1778 Hancock's Bridge massacre. The site is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

History

The house was built in 1734 for Judge

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

and Sarah Hancock and features

Flemish bond Flemish bond is a pattern of brickwork that is a common feature in Georgian architecture. The pattern features bricks laid lengthwise (''stretchers'') alternating with bricks laid with their shorter ends exposed (''headers'') within the same cou ...

brickwork detailed with blue-glazed bricks, which gives the year of construction (1734) and the initials of the couple for whom it was built: ''W S'' for William and Sarah. William died in 1762 and passed the house to his son

, also a judge.

American Revolutionary War

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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, British forces under Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Mawhood launched a successful raid on Salem on March 18, 1778. Three days later on March 21, Major

John Graves Simcoe Lieutenant-General (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British army officer, politician and colonial administrator who served as the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 u ...

led approximately 300 troops of the

27th Regiment of Foot The 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot was an Irish infantry regiment of the English Army and then the British Army, formed in 1689. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 108th (Madras Infantry) Regiment of Foot to form the Royal Inn ...

and

Queen's Rangers The Queen's Rangers, also known as the Queen's American Rangers, and later Simcoe's Rangers, were a Loyalists fighting in the American Revolution, Loyalist military unit of the American Revolutionary War that specialized in cavalry tactics, clo ...

through a marsh and across

Alloway Creek Alloway Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in Salem County, New Jersey in the United States. The name is a derivat ...

in a surprise attack on Hancock House. At approximately 5 a.m., they entered the house, surprising and killing between 7 and 30 American militiamen sleeping there. Simcoe's troops, reportedly exclaiming "Spare no one! Give

no quarter No quarter, during War, military conflict or piracy, implies that combatants would not be taken Prisoner of war, prisoner, but executed. Since the Hague Convention of 1899, it is considered a war crime; it is also prohibited in customary interna ...

!", allegedly killed several militiamen who were attempting to surrender and fatally injured Loyalist judge William Hancock Jr., the owner of Hancock House before American forces commandeered it, who Simcoe and his troops mistakenly believed was away from the house for the night. All remaining American soldiers in the house were captured. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/massacre-at-hancocks-bridge

References

External links

*
The Story of the Hancock House
* * Hancock House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Houses completed in 1734 Houses in Salem County, New Jersey New Jersey in the American Revolution Museums in Salem County, New Jersey Historic house museums in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Salem County, New Jersey Lower Alloways Creek Township, New Jersey American Revolutionary War sites New Jersey Register of Historic Places Historic American Buildings Survey in New Jersey American Revolution on the National Register of Historic Places {{NewJersey-museum-stub

History

American Revolutionary War

See also

References

External links