Red Bank Battlefield | |
Location | 100 Hessian Avenue, National Park, NJ 08063 |
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Coordinates | 39°52′13″N75°11′25″W / 39.87028°N 75.19028°W |
Area | 20 acres (8.1 ha) |
NRHP reference No. | 72000796 [1] |
NJRHP No. | 1405 [2] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 31, 1972 |
Designated NHL | November 28, 1972 [3] |
Designated NJRHP | August 16, 1979 |
The Red Bank Battlefield is located along the Delaware River in National Park, Gloucester County, New Jersey. It was the location of the Battle of Red Bank in the American Revolutionary War on October 22, 1777. Fort Mercer and its sister, Fort Mifflin in Pennsylvania, defended the river and prevented the British from using it for transportation. The forts successfully delayed the British, but in the end, they were both destroyed or abandoned.
Today the site of the Battle of Red Bank still has the trenches and cannons used by the 100 American soldiers fighting against 2000 British and Hessian soldiers. The Whitall House is an original home that was there during the battle and was used as a field hospital. It is open for tours today. The site is a part of the Gloucester County Parks system called Red Bank Battlefield Park.
The central feature of the park is the James and Ann Whitall House, located at the end of Hessian Avenue. It was built in 1748 by James Whitall Sr. and features Georgian architecture. [4] The house was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1936. [5] This brick and stone house just outside the works of Fort Mercer, served as a hospital for some of the men wounded in the fighting. The house suffered damage during the battle. [4] Ann Cooper Whitall had remained in the house during the fighting and tended to the wounded, earning her the epithet "Heroine of Red Bank."
Although much of the battlefield has eroded into the Delaware River, some portions of Fort Mercer (named after Brigadier General Hugh Mercer, killed at the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. [6] ) remain. The prominent historical feature of the park is the remains of the ditch which surrounded the now-gone earthworks. Around these works and along the riverbank are several period cannons, including four raised from the wrecks of the British man-of-war HMS Augusta and a British sloop, HMS Merlin. The three American cannons facing the Whitall House were found in 1935 buried on the site. Nearer to the Whitall House, a preserved section of the chevaux-de-frise river defenses of the Fort Mercer and Fort Mifflin system is displayed, along with various cannonballs recovered from the battlefield. Several monuments honor the combatants, including a memorial to the fallen Hessian leader, whose remains were buried on the grounds, and a 75-foot (23 m)-tall monument.
The 1st Rhode Island Regiment (also known as Varnum's Regiment, the 9th Continental Regiment, the Black Regiment, the Rhode Island Regiment, and Olney's Battalion) fought with the Americans.
The regiment included free African-Americans, enslaved people, and Native Americans.
Masters of the enslaved people were to be paid fair market value for their slave upon completion of the war, at which time the enslaved person would be freed. [7]
There is a historical marker at the battlefield that tells the story of the African American, enslaved people, and Native Americans who fought alongside the Americans with the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. [8]
In June 2022 the remains of 13 Hessian soldiers were discovered in land purchased by Gloucester County in 2020 at the northern end of the historical park. They are being analyzed by the New Jersey State Police forensic lab. [9] [10]
The 44-acre (180,000 m2) park is open to visitors during daylight hours. The Whitall House may be visited during more limited hours. An annual reenactment of the battle takes place on the park grounds in October. In the early 1980s, a lifeguard was on duty and swimming was permitted in the Delaware River.
The Battle of Princeton was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought near Princeton, New Jersey on January 3, 1777, and ending in a small victory for the Colonials. General Lord Cornwallis had left 1,400 British troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood in Princeton. Following a surprise attack at Trenton early in the morning of December 26, 1776, General George Washington of the Continental Army decided to attack the British in New Jersey before entering the winter quarters. On December 30, he crossed the Delaware River back into New Jersey. His troops followed on January 3, 1777. Washington advanced to Princeton by a back road, where he pushed back a smaller British force but had to retreat before Cornwallis arrived with reinforcements. The battles of Trenton and Princeton boosted the morale of the patriot cause, leading many recruits to join the Continental Army in the spring.
Count Carl Emil Ulrich von Donop was a Hessian colonel who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He died of wounds during the Battle of Red Bank.
Hugh Mercer was a Scottish brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He fought in the New York and New Jersey campaign and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Princeton.
Ann Cooper Whitall (1716–1797) was a prominent Quaker woman in the colonial U.S. She was born in Woodbury, New Jersey to John and Ann Cooper on April 23, 1716. She married James Whitall in 1739 at age 23. Whitall kept a diary starting in about 1760 that contains important historical insight into the lives of people in the Red Bank area and Quaker family life in colonial times.
Washington Crossing Historic Park is a 500-acre (2 km2) state park operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in partnership with the Friends of Washington Crossing Park. The park is divided into two sections. One section of the park, the "lower park," is headquartered in the village of Washington Crossing located in Upper Makefield Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It marks the location of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River during the American Revolutionary War.
The 1st Rhode Island Regiment was a regiment in the Continental Army raised in Rhode Island during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83). It was one of the few units in the Continental Army to serve through the entire war, from the siege of Boston to the disbanding of the Continental Army on November 3, 1783.
Pennsylvania was the site of many key events associated with the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War. The city of Philadelphia, then capital of the Thirteen Colonies and the largest city in the colonies, was a gathering place for the Founding Fathers who discussed, debated, developed, and ultimately implemented many of the acts, including signing the Declaration of Independence, that inspired and launched the revolution and the quest for independence from the British Empire.
The Battle of Gloucester was a skirmish fought between November 25, 1777 and the early morning of November 26, 1777, during the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was the first battlefield command for the Marquis de Lafayette.
John Glover was an American fisherman, merchant, politician, and military leader from Marblehead, Massachusetts, who served as a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is most famous in American history for his role in helping found what would become the United States Navy, along with his regiment rowing Washington across the Delaware, the Battle of Long Island, and leading one of the first integrated regiments in the American Revolution.
The Battle of Red Bank, also known as the Battle of Fort Mercer, was fought on October 22, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War. A British and Hessian force was sent to take Fort Mercer on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River just south of Philadelphia, but was defeated by a smaller force of Continental Army troops.
The Brandywine Battlefield Historic Site is a National Historical Landmark. The historic park is owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, on 52 acres (210,000 m2), near Chadds Ford, Delaware County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
Fort Mercer was an earthen fort on the eastern shores of the Delaware River in New Jersey that was constructed by the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. The fort was built in 1777 by Polish engineer Thaddeus Kosciuszko under the command of George Washington. Along with Fort Mifflin on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River to its west, Fort Mercer was designed to block the British advance on the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia during the Philadelphia campaign.
Fort Billingsport, referred to as Fort Billings in some sources, was a Continental Army fort in Billingsport in Paulsboro, New Jersey in Gloucester County, New Jersey, during the American Revolutionary War. The site of the fort is now a public park of the same name, located at the Plains Terminal at the Port of Paulsboro between two oil refineries.
The Old Barracks Museum, also known just as the Old Barracks, is a historic building located at 101 Barracks Street in Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey. Built in 1758 to house soldiers of the British Army, it is the only remaining colonial barracks in the state and is one of the few tangible surviving elements of the 1776 Battle of Trenton. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 25, 1971 and listed as a National Historic Landmark on November 28, 1972, for its significance in military history. It is now a state-run historic site and museum.
The Princeton Battlefield in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, is where American and British troops fought each other on January 3, 1777, in the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolutionary War. The battle ended when the British soldiers in Nassau Hall surrendered. This success, following those at the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, and the Battle of the Assunpink Creek the day before, helped improve American morale.
Christopher Greene was an American legislator and soldier. He led the spirited defense of Fort Mercer in the 1777 Battle of Red Bank, and for leading the African American 1st Rhode Island Regiment during the American Revolutionary War, most notably with distinction in the 1778 Battle of Rhode Island. He was killed in May 1781 at the Battle of Pine's Bridge by Loyalists, possibly because he was known to lead African American troops.
Events from the year 1777 in the United States.
The Woodbury Friends' Meetinghouse is located at 120 North Broad Street in the city of Woodbury in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. The Friends meeting house was built in 1715 and was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1936. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 6, 1973, for its significance in architecture and religion.
The James Whitall Jr. House is located at 100 Grove Avenue in the borough of National Park, Gloucester County, New Jersey. The house was built in 1766 and documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1937. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 6, 1973, for its significance in architecture.
Thomas-Antoine de Mauduit du Plessis or Thomas Duplessis or Thomas-Antoine du Plessis-Mauduit was a French officer who fought with the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in Brittany, he ran away to sea at age 12 and voyaged in the eastern Mediterranean Sea for a time. Later, he attended a famous French artillery school. He was among a number of volunteers to join the fledgling American army in 1777, especially distinguishing himself for bravery at Germantown and skill at Red Bank. At Valley Forge he helped train American officers in the finer points of tactics and artillery handling.