Hancock House (Lower Alloways Creek Township, New Jersey)

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Hancock House
Hancock House, Lower Alloways Creek Township, NJ.jpg
Hancock House, in 2010
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Location3 Front St., Lower Alloways Creek Township, New Jersey
Coordinates 39°30′27″N75°27′38″W / 39.50750°N 75.46056°W / 39.50750; -75.46056
Area2.5 acres (1.0 ha)
Built1734 (1734)
NRHP reference No. 70000393 [1]
NJRHP No.2433 [2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPDecember 18, 1970
Designated NJRHPSeptember 11, 1970

The Hancock House is a historic structure in the Hancock's Bridge section of Lower Alloways Creek Township, Salem County, New Jersey, United States. It was the site of the 1778 Hancock's Bridge massacre. [3] The site is on the National Register of Historic Places. [4]

Contents

History

The house was built in 1734 for Judge William and Sarah Hancock and features Flemish bond 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. [4] William died in 1762 and passed the house to his son William, also a judge.

American Revolutionary War

During the American Revolutionary War, 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 led approximately 300 troops of the 27th Regiment of Foot and Queen's Rangers through a marsh and across Alloway Creek 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!", 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. [5] [6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ↑ "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Salem County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. April 1, 2010. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2006. Retrieved June 16, 2010.
  3. ↑ NJDEP-Parks and Forests-Centennial of NJ State Historic Site
  4. 1 2 Wilson, Charles I. Jr. (December 18, 1970). "NRHP Nomination: Hancock House". National Park Service.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) "Accompanying photo, from 1970".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ↑ Alexander Grant House, Crossroads of the American Revolution. Accessed April 14, 2015.
  6. ↑ https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/massacre-at-hancocks-bridge


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