Gloucester County NJ Archives Military Records.....The Battle Of Red Bank Revwar ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nj/njfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 2, 2008, 3:09 am The Battle Of Red Bank The Battle of Red Bank* * By WALLACE McGEORGE, M. D. The attack on, and defence of Fort Mercer, at Red Bank, on the Delaware River, overlooking League Island and Fort Mifflin on the Pennsylvania side, was one of the most glorious battles in the Revolutionary War. When the Battle of Red Bank is mentioned, many people confuse it with the Red Bank in Monmouth County; but historic Red Bank was once the Capital of Gloucester County, the Courts being held alternately at Gloucester and Red Bank. While long ago it ceased to be a judicial town, the brave deeds of Colonel Greene and his soldiers, and Commodore Hazlewood and his sailors, in the defence of Fort Mercer, will rouse enthusiasm and patriotism for all time. After the Battle of the Brandy wine, September 11, 1777, and the occupation of Philadelphia by the British army under General Howe, in order to supply his army it became imperative for General Howe to open the Delaware River for navigation to Philadelphia. To accomplish this it was necessary to capture or destroy the fortifications at Billingsport, Fort Mifflin on Mud Island, Fort Mercer, on the Jersey shore near Red Bank, and pass through, or remove the chevaux-de-frise at Billingsport, and off Red Bank. The defence of Fort Mercer, at Red Bank, was given to two regiments of Varnum's Rhode Island Brigade, under the command of Col's Christopher Greene and Israel Angell, who were instructed to hold the fort to the last extremity as the key to the Delaware, and the pivot on which the success of the campaign depended. The French engineer, Manduit du Plessis, accompanied Greene. The Lieutenant Colonels were Shaw and Olney; the Majors were Thayer and Ward, and the Surgeon, Dr. Peter Turner. Fort Mercer, which had been erected here to support the left of the upper chevaux-de-frise, sunk in 1776, to prevent the ascension of the British fleet, was originally designed for a garrison of twelve or fifteen hundred men. When Greene took possession of the works, having but three hundred men, he adopted the suggestion of M. de Manduit, an experienced French engineer, and threw out a large part of the fortification on the north, reducing it to a pentagonal redoubt of convenient size. A rampart of earth raised to the height of the cordon, a fosse and an abattis in front of the fosse constituted the whole strength of the post. The battery numbered fourteen pieces of artillery of small calibre. The capture of Fort Mercer was assigned by General Howe, to Count Carl Emil Kurt von Donop, one of the most distinguished of the Hessian officers, who had taken an active part with his regiment in the battle of Germantown, and who was eager for an opportunity to display his ability as a leader. Howe regarded him as an intelligent and bold soldier, and assigned him the three Grenadier Battalions of Von Minnigerode, Von Linsingen and Von Lengererke, Mirbach's Regiment (which had been ordered up from Wilmington), consisting of four light companies of chasseurs, including Wangenheim's, a dozen cavalrymen, some artillery and two English howitzers." Donop recognized the heavy task entrusted to him, and asked in vain for more artillery, but Howe said that if Donop could not take the fort, the British would. Donop was angry at this reply and sent back word that the Germans had courage to do anything, and to his associates he said, "Either that will be Fort Donop or I shall be dead." On Tuesday, October 21, 1777, Count Donop with his troops started for Red Bank. To avoid molestation by the Yankee vessels in the river, who occupied the Delaware from Kaighn's Point southward to Red Bank, it was necessary to cross the Delaware at Cooper's Point, and take the road leading from that place to Haddonfield. At that time there were two ferries from Philadelphia to Cooper's Ferries, as Camden was then called, one from Market Street to Cooper Street, and the other from Vine Street, Philadelphia, to Main Street, Camden. As the river shore between the two ferries was held by English, Scotch and Hessian regiments, it was safe for the British hirelings to be ferried over the river at this point. When the troops, artillery, horses and baggage had been ferried over they marched through Main and Cooper Streets, Camden, to Pine Street, (now called North Sixth Street), and from thence over the road leading to Haddonfield. At that time this road was in some places not much better than a bridle path, and was not made a turnpike till 1792. They arrived at Haddonfield Tuesday evening and the soldiers bivouacked in the fields beyond the village near Hopkins' mill pond. Count Donop selected John Gill's house for his headquarters, and as those families that entertained an officer were secure against pillage by the Hessians, many of the inhabitants quickly opened their doors to receive the Hessian officers. Judge Clement says: "In John Gill's house Donop had his headquarters, and although the owner was an elder among Friends, yet the urbanity and politeness of the German soldier so won upon him, that he was kindly remembered ever after." Early Wednesday morning, October 22, preparation was made to advance on Fort Mercer by way of Mount Ephraim to the Buck (now Westville) when their scouts brought them word that the bridge over Timber Creek at that point was torn up. This necessitated a change in the route, and securing guides they took the road from Haddonfield to Clement's Bridge, passing through the villages now called Barrington and Runnymede. Before reaching the latter place, they crossed Beaver Brook, and then had strenuous work dragging their cannon up the hill, which is one hundred feet high at this point. (To make myself thoroughly familiar with the route the Hessians took, Mrs. McGeorge and I drove over the entire route a few years ago, and we were particularly interested in the roads they marched after leaving Haddonfield till they reached Red Bank.) Crossing Timber Creek at Clement's Bridge, they proceeded along the road through the hamlet called Catteltown (because so many Cattells lived there), later known as Basket Town, and now called Wescottville; then skirting the edge of the woods, passing by the Cat-tell Burying Ground, over "Lavender Hill," passing J. Wood Hannold's and the Johnson farms, across the Westville and Glassboro Road, past the Knight, Ladner and McGeorge farms, through Ladd's woods and out through Mann Town, now Park Avenue, across the King's Highway, now the Woodbury and Gloucester Turnpike, and from thence out what is now called Hessian avenue, across the Crown Point Road and the highway from Woodbury to Red Bank, halting on the edge of the woods, near the fort, arriving there shortly before noon. Colonel Donop rode forward and reconnoitered. He found that he could approach the fort through a thick woods, on three sides, without hindrance. The fort was a five-sided earthwork, with a ditch and abattis. It had at first been constructed on too large a scale, but Monsieur du Plessis de Manduit had reduced the size of the works. On three sides of the fort the woods afforded shelter to the besieging party to within a distance of four hundred yards. On the north side was the Delaware River. Mickle, in his Reminiscences of Old Gloucester, says: "On the morning of the twenty-second, the Hessians arrived at the edge of the forest north of the fort, almost within cannon shot thereof. Halting them to rest from the march, Donop sent an officer with a drummer to command Greene to surrender. 'King George,' said the officer, 'directs his rebellious subjects to lay down their arms and promised no quarter if a battle is risked.' At which Col. Greene, in command of the fort, deputized a man to mount the parapet and return the laconic reply: 'We'll see King George damned first—we want no quarter!' The interview here terminated and the officer returned to the Hessian camp." Colonel Greene, after making final dispositions of his men, mounted the ramparts of the fort and inspected the enemy through his field glass. "Fire low, men," he said, "They have a broad belt just above the hips. Aim at that." On receiving Colonel Greene's answer, Count Donop hastily threw up intrenchments within half cannon shot of the fort, and ordered his men to prepare fascines, (bundles of rods, securely tied together, like bundles of lath, only larger, or like twelve or fifteen bean poles in one bundle). These were to be used by his troops in getting over the abattis and in crossing moats or ditches. In front of every battalion stood an officer commanding sappers, and one hundred men with these fascines which he had made that afternoon in the woods. The journal of the Grenadier Battalion Von Minnigerode says that Donop sent to summon the fort to surrender twice, once on first arriving, and once just before the attack. Lowell's account of the engagement is as follows: "Colonel von Donop drew up his little army. His right flank rested on the river, near which he had placed his eight three pounders and two howitzers. These were supported by a battalion of grenadiers and by chasseurs, who were to defend the flank and rear against troops disembarking from the shipping in the Delaware. The Hessian line extended the larger part of the way round the fort on the land side, the attack being made simultaneously from north and south. In front of every battalion stood an officer commanding sappers, and one hundred men with fascines. "About four o'clock all was ready. Donop then spoke a few words to his officers, calling on them to behave with valor. They all dismounted and drew their swords, took their places in front of their battalions, and the attack began. The Hessians charged at double quick, passed the old disused lines with a cheer, carried the abbatis, but found themselves embarassed by pitfalls and by the ditch, which they had not enough fascines to fill. Three American galleys lying in the river kept up a ceaseless fire on the Hessian right flank. Some of the Hessians climbed the ramparts of the main fort. They were presently beaten back; Donop was struck by a musket ball in the hip, and fell mortally wounded. Twenty-two officers were killed or hurt, including the commanders of all the battalions. The Hessians turned and fled, leaving many of their wounded on the field." The Hessians had fled, night had fallen and a part of the garrison came out of the fort to repair the abattis and care for the wounded. Several Hessian grenadiers were found crouching close under the parapet, where the balls would go over their heads. The fellows could not fight without support and feared to run away. They were taken into the fort. Von Eelking gives the following account of the battle: "Donop placed the eight pound guns and the two mortars on the right and in support of Minnigerode's battalion and the Light Infantry, Von Mirbach's regiment in the center, Von Linsingen's battalion on the left, Von Lengerke's battalion, and some Yagers on the Delaware to guard against a landing and to protect his rear. Before each battalion there were sappers and a hundred men carrying hastily gathered fascines, led by a captain. "Donop, at 4 p. m., sent a summons to surrender with a threat of no quarter if it was refused, and received a reply that the fort would be held to the last man. As the report was that very few men were seen in the fort, Donop decided to attack at once, and made a stirring address, to which the men replied: 'We'll change the name from Fort Red Bank to Fort Donop,' and putting himself with his officers, sword in hand, at the head. "They charged gallantly, but soon found their road broken by deep ditches, and could, move only singly; they were met with a sharp fire in front and flank from a covered battery and from two vessels in the river. Still the troops pressed on; Von Minnigerode had taken the outlying redoubt by storm; the Americans at first gave way, but soon stood fast, and before their fire Donop and Minnigerode and many other officers fell, casting dismay on their men. "Colonel V. Linsingen succeeded to the command and did all he could to restore order, but the Hessians fell back in disorder. Dead and wounded were abandoned, and Von Linsingen brought the little remnant off under cover of the night, and on the next afternoon reached Philadelphia. "The fault lay with Howe, who had refused Donop's request for more artillery, had not supplied the necessary utensils for a siege—not even sending storming ladders or any means of scaling the walls—had taken no means to learn the nature of the position, and had as usual shown too little respect for the enemy." Mickle, from the MSS. notes of a Septuagenarian, gives the following interesting account of the Battle of Red Bank: "At four o'clock in the afternoon Donop opened a heavy cannonade from a battery which he had erected to the north-eastward; and at the same time the British ships from below the chevaux-de-frize began to thunder upon the little fort. Most of the balls from the latter fell too low, and entered the bluff beneath the works. After cannonading for a short time, the Hessians advanced to the first entrenchment. Finding this abandoned, they shouted Victoria!—waved their hats, and rushed into the deserted area before the redoubt; the little drummer, before mentioned, heading the onslaught with a lively march. When the first of the assailants had come up to the very abattis and were endeavoring to cut away the branches, the Americans opened a terrible fire of musketry in front and flank. Death rode in every volley. So near were the Hessians to the caponiere, or looped trench which flanked the enemy when they set upon the main fort, that the wads were blown entirely through their bodies. The officers leading the attack fought bravely. Again and again they rallied their men and brought them to the charge. They were mowed down like grass, and fell in heaps among the boughs of the abattis and into the fosse. In the thickest of the fight Donop was easily distinguished by the marks of his order and his handsome figure; but even his example availed nothing. His men, repulsed from the redoubt in front, made an attack upon the escarpment on the west, but the fire from the American galleys drove them back here also with great loss, and at last they flew in much disorder to the woods, leaving among many other slain the saucy drummer and his officer. "Another column made a simultaneous attack upon the south, and in the technical language of a soldier, 'passed the abattis, traversed the fosse and mounted the barm;' but they were repulsed at the fraises, and all retreated save twenty, who were standing on the barm against the shelvings of the parapet, under and out of the way of the guns, whence they were afraid to move. These were captured by M. de Manduit, who had sallied from the fort to repair some palisades. This brave Frenchman, making another sortie in a few minutes afterwards to repair the southern abbatis, heard a voice from among the heaps of the dead and dying exclaim in English, 'Whoever you are, draw me hence.' This was Count Donop. M. de Manduit caused him to be carried into the fort. His hip was broken, but the wound was not at first considered as mortal. The victorious Americans, remembering the insolent message which their captive had sent them a few hours before, could not withhold marks of exultation. " 'Well—is it determined,' they asked aloud, 'to give no quarter?' "'I am in your hands,' replied Donop; 'you may avenge yourselves.' M. de Manduit enjoining the men in broken English to be generous towards their bleeding and humble prisoner, the latter said to him, 'you appear to be a foreigner, sir; who are you ?' " 'A French officer,' answered Manduit. " 'Je suis content,' (I am content) exclaimed the Count in French, 'je meurs entre les mains de l'honneur meme.' (I die in the hands of honour itself.) "Donop was taken first to the Whitall house, just below the fort, but was afterwards removed to the residence of the Lowes, south of Woodbury Creek. He died three days after the battle, saying to M. de Manduit in his last moments, 'it is finishing a noble career early; but I die the victim of my ambition and of the avarice of my sovereign.' To Col. Clymer he made the remarkable remark: 'See here, Colonel, see in me the vanity of all human pride! I have shone in all the courts of Europe, and now I am dying here on the banks of the Delaware in the house of an obscure Quaker.' "Colonel Donop had been an aide-de-camp of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, his sovereign, with whom he was a favorite. He was sent to America in 1776, in command of two companies of Field Yagers. According to the records, detachments of the Yagers Corps were concerned in every engagement in which the Hessians took part. In the attack on the Fort at Red Bank, Donop commanded in person the centre division, which was composed of Mirbach's Regiment, and at the head of his men attacked Fort Mercer on the south side, and crossed the abattis, before he was shot down. When the Hessians retreated, the Yagers wanted to carry their wounded commander with them, but according to the journal of the Yagers' Corps, Donop refused to be carried off the field. After the battle was over, he was carried, wounded and helpless, into the fort he had so set his heart on capturing. 'He died October 29th, (one week after the attack) in his thirty-seventh year, and was buried with military honors. His death was greatly mourned, both in the army and at home.' Other writers say Donop died three days after the battle." Lieut. Colonel Minnigerode, who commanded the right flank, and whose troops were the first to enter the abandoned fortifications, was wounded and not killed, as narrated by some writers. According to the Hessian records, he was wounded at Red Bank, and Gaines' New York Gazette of October 25, 1779, says he died at New York October 16, 1779, two years after the battle of Red Bank. Captain Wachs and Captain Stendorff, of his battalion, were also wounded at Red Bank. Lieut. Colonel Schieck was killed, and Lieut. Ruffer, of Mirbach's Regiment, was wounded where Colonel Donop fell. Lieut. Colonel Linsingen, who commanded the left flank, and who assumed command when Donop and Minnigerode were wounded, lost Lieut. DuBuy, of his battalion, killed, and Captains Von Stamfort, Von Eschwege and Lieutenants Prodemann and Von Eschen, wounded. The following officers belonging to Donop's troops were also killed: Captains Von Brogatzy and Wagner, Lieutenants Riemann, Von Wurmb, Hille, Von Offenbach and Heymel. The Hessians authorities admit their loss in killed, wounded and missing to be six hundred and fifty. The respected friend to whose MSS. notes we have before acknowledged our indebtedness, tells us that of the men under Col. Greene in this action many were blacks and mulattoes. He was in the fort on the morning of the twenty-third of October, while the garrison were burying the slain, and cannot be mistaken as to the point. His account of the loss agrees with that contained in Ward's letter to Washington, to wit: upon the American side, from Greene's regiment, two sergeants, one fifer and four privates killed, one sergeant and two privates wounded, and one captain who was reconnoitering, taken prisoner; from Angell's regiment, one captain, three sergeants, three rank and file killed, and one ensign, one sergeant and fifteen privates wounded; and from Capt. Duplessis's company, two privates wounded. Several of the Americans were killed by the bursting of one of their cannon, the fragments of which are yet in the neighborhood. The Hessians slain were buried in front of the fosse, south of the fort. The wounded officers were carried to Philadelphia by Manduit, and exchanged. Count Donop was interred near the spot where he fell, and a stone placed over him with the inscription: "Here lies buried Count Donop." The epitaph has ceased to be true—all that was left of the poor Hessian having been dug up and scattered about as relics. In conclusion it may not be uninteresting to record that the journal of the Grenadier Battalion Von Minnigerode asserts that Donop had received orders not to attack the fort until the 23rd, in order to give the English frigates an opportunity to engage the American galleys. But as the English frigates actually fell back on the 23rd, after the Augusta had blown up and the Merlin had been set on fire, it could have made no difference in the result. The English account of the attack on Fort Mercer, as sent home by Admiral Howe and published in the London Chronicle of December 2, 1777, is as follows: "The attack of the redoubt (Fort Mercer) being observed to take place the evening of the 22nd, just before the close of day, Captain Reynolds (on the Augusta) immediately slipped (anchor) and advanced with the squadron (to which the Merlin had been joined) as fast as he was able with the flood to second the attempt of the troops which were seen to be very warmly engaged, but the change in the natural course of the river, caused by the obstructions, appearing to have altered the channel, the Augusta and Merlin unfortunately grounded some distance below the second line of chev-aux-de-frize, and the fresh northwardly wind, which then prevailed, greatly checking the rising of the tide, they could not be got afloat on the subsequent flood. "The diversion was endeavored to be continued by the frigates, at which the fire of the enemy's gallies was chiefly pointed for some time. But as the night advanced, the Hessian detachment having been repulsed, the firing ceased." In sailing up the river, "the ship Augusta, together with the Merlin, grounded during the operation on the River Delaware, on the 22d October, 1777." Colonel Bradford's account of the battle at Red Bank is of interest. This was sent to His Excellency William Bradford, President of the State of Pennsylvania, at Lancaster, and published in Pennsylvania Archives, 1st series, vol. 5, page 787: "Count Donop and his force were before the fort in the afternoon of the 22nd of October, and at a quarter before five o'clock proceeded to attack it with great spirit. Having carried the outworks against the garrison, his troops had now to storm the interior intrenchments. To reach them, as we have said in describing the fort, the attacking force had to place itself where it would be exposed to the fire of our vessels. The opportunity was not missed by Commodore Hazlewood. Coming as near as possible to the fort, he sent forth a universal shower of balls and musket shot on the attacking party. The rest of the history is known to every one. The assailants retired, but only to find in their slower and disordered retreat, a still more deadly fire from the fleet." In connection with this description of the battle much interest is centered in Ann Whitall, the heroine of Red Bank. I will quote what Mrs. McGeorge wrote about this heroine and her conduct during and after the battle of Red Bank: "When Colonel Greene moved out of the Whitall house into the fort, on October 21, Ann Whitall went over with her son Job; she at once decided to stay and put things to rights. Job insisted that she ought at least go to the nearest neighbors for safety. But she was obdurate and allowed that if the Lord called her, He would find her at home; and with beautiful faith reminded her son that 'The Lord is strong and mighty and He will protect me.' "On that fateful Wednesday, October 22, 1777, after setting her house in as good order as possible, and that she might prepare herself for whatever God ordained, Ann Cooper Whitall took her spinning wheel to the southeast room. As that wheel whirled round, the guns of the British frigates Augusta and Merlin boomed a gamut of threats—those of the nearby fort roared defiant answers and the musketry of besiegers and besieged, mingled with the screams of the wounded, kept up an incessantly horrible racket. It was terrible! She resisted the impulse to even look northward, fortifying herself with the thought that by abstaining she was bearing testimony to Friends' abhorrence of war. "Then one of the balls went wide of its aim and entered the north gable just below I. A. W., and as if seeking the old lady it crossed the northeast room, then the hall, and into the southeast room in which Ann Whitall sat spinning, where it fell inert. What if more should follow? She remembered that Providence favors those who aid themselves, so she carried her wheel out into the hall!—Oh-h! what an ugly hole that ball made! —down the open stairway, speedily reaching the cellar door and made quick descent to the cool depth of the southeast corner. Here she continued to spin until the tumult ceased and the battle was over. "Ann was on hand with bandages that evening when the injured were brought in; the house was filled, even the attic was crowded. That night she was an angel of mercy to the wounded and dying, but when some of them fretted because of the noise, she reminded them that they 'must not complain, who had brought it on themselves.' She administered to their needs, this being clearly within the line of duty—'to care for the ill and dying and direct their minds to a solemn consideration of the approaching awful period of life.' " Colonel Greene then took possession of the house— the dead were interred on the banks south of the stockade and Ann Whitall returned to her daughter's, Sarah Matlock. After the evacuation of the fort, on November 20, 1777, the British came and laid waste to everything but the Whitall house. Although it was not deemed safe for the family to return to their home on the bluff until Monday, April 20, 1778, the record in James Whitall's diary states "after an absence and precarious living for upward of six months." Half an hour after sunset—the sun set at eleven minutes after five o'clock that day—Lieutenant Colonel Linsingen, who by the wounding of Colonel Donop and Lieutenant Colonel Minnigerode, became the senior officer, gathered his demoralized force, and beat a hasty retreat along the Hessian Run Road, as it is called to this day. When he arrived at the Junction of the King's Highway and Park Avenue, in North Woodbury, finding himself hampered with the wounded, he sent the more seriously wounded of them into Woodbury, where they took possession of the Friends' Meeting House on the crest of the hill and also Deptford School House, on Delaware Street, now the Public Library building. The wounded soldiers who died in Woodbury were interred less than a hundred yards away in the Strangers' Burying Grounds, nearly opposite Wood Street. Some of the wounded who recovered did not return to their battalions, but secured work with the farmers in the country. Linsingen's retreating force became confused in the darkness when they reached the Clement's Bridge Road, and some of them continued on across that road to Wescottville till they reached the Almonesson Road and marched through Almonesson and Mechanicsville, finally stopping at Blackwoodtown. Others took the right hand road after crossing Timber Creek at Clement's Bridge, and brought up at Chew's Landing, but the greater number kept to the left after crossing the creek and finally got back to Haddonfield, which they had so proudly left in the morning. The next day, October 23rd, they made their way back to Philadelphia, footsore and weary, thankful to escape from New Jersey. Mickle says that the Hessians who retreated by way of Chew's Landing were met by a company of farmer boys near the Landing and held at bay for some time. This detachment had with them a brass cannon which they are supposed to have thrown into Timber Creek, at Clement's Bridge. On October 22, 1829, the old monument at Red Bank was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, on the fifty-second anniversary of the battle. This was of grey marble. It was not as large or as high as when first erected and has been abused by vandals and others. The Gloucester County Historical Society has done what it could to preserve it from further desecration. The new monument was erected by the State of New Jersey and dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, June 21, 1906, the Governors of Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and New Jersey taking part in the presentation of the monument. This land has been conveyed in trust by Congress to the Board of Freeholders as a public park, to be forever owned and used by the people of our country and to instill, if possible, a greater love of country among our citizens. Additional Comments: Extracted from: NOTES ON Old Gloucester County NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL RECORDS PUBLISHED BY THE NEW JERSEY SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA VOLUME I Compiled and Edited by FRANK H. STEWART HISTORIAN OF THE SOCIETY 1917 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/njfiles/ File size: 29.4 Kb This file is located at http://files.usgwarchives.net/nj/gloucester/military/revwar/battles/redbank.txt