Battle of Quinton’s Bridge

Overview

While General George Washington and the Continental Army remained at Valley Forge, both American and British forces searched New Jersey for food, horses, and other supplies. General Anthony Wayne was sent to gather provisions for the American army. British commanders sent their own parties into the state to collect supplies and prevent Wayne from succeeding.

One British expedition, commanded by Colonel Charles Mawhood and Major John Graves Simcoe,  left Philadelphia on March 12, 1778, and reached Salem, New Jersey, on March 17. Its mission was to gather supplies in the area and, if possible, engage Wayne.

After the British expedition arrived, Wayne returned to Valley Forge and left men from the New Jersey Militia to guard the river crossings to keep the British from pursuing him.

About five miles southeast of Salem, Colonel Benjamin Holmes commanded the Americans at Quinton’s Bridge, which crossed Alloway’s Creek. They removed the planks from the bridge and held the high ground on the eastern side of the creek, where they built breastworks. 

On March 18, Mawhood sent most of his troops out to forage, while he and Simcoe took the rest to Quinton’s Bridge to attack the Americans, drive them off, and secure the river crossing. 

When Mawhood and Simcoe arrived, they devised a plan to draw the Americans across the bridge and into an ambush. They sent troops to occupy Wetherby’s Tavern, on the west side of the creek, hid others behind a nearby fence, and more in the thick woods. Next, a smaller group of British regulars marched toward the bridge. When the Americans saw them, they opened fire, and the British retreated. The Americans replaced the planks on the bridge, crossed over, and chased after the British.

At this point, the British emerged from their hiding places and attacked the Americans at their front and in their rear. The Americans scattered and fled toward Alloway Creek. According to some accounts, many of them drowned while trying to cross the creek. 

As the British advanced, Colonel Elijah Hand and the Cumberland County Militia arrived. They opened fire on the British, who stopped their advance while the remaining American survivors crossed the creek and resumed their positions in the breastworks.

Mawhood decided the American position was too strong for him to launch a frontal assault, so he ordered his men to withdraw, leaving the bridge under American control. Mawhood and his men returned to Salem.

In the aftermath of the battle, New Jersey Patriots were outraged that some of Mawhood’s men, who were New Jersey Loyalists, participated in the attack on the New Jersey troops.

Essential Facts

• Also Known As: The Massacre of Quinton’s Bridge, Engagement at Quinton’s Bridge, Action at Quinton’s Bridge.
• Alternate Spellings: Quintin’s Bridge, Quintan’s Bridge.
• Date: March 18, 1788.
• Location: Quinton’s Bridge, in present-day Quinton County, New Jersey.
• Participants: United States of America and Great Britain.
• Key American Leaders: Asher Holmes, Elijah Hand.
• Key British Leaders: Charles Mawhood, John Graves Simcoe.
• Who Won: The United States won the Battle of Quinton’s Bridge because the British failed to take control of the bridge.
• Part of: Philadelphia Campaign, American Revolutionary War.

History

Background

Following the Siege of Boston, British forces evacuated the city and moved northward toward Canada. General George Washington fully expected the British, who were led by General William Howe, to set their sights on invading New York and seizing control of New York City. To prepare for this, Washington moved his army to New York City and the surrounding area, including Long Island.

In July and August of 1776, British forces arrived at Staten Island, including a large naval force under the command of Admiral Richard Howe. Then, on August 27, they invaded Long Island and easily pushed Washington’s Army into Brooklyn Heights. Although Washington’s Army was able to escape to Manhattan Island, it was eventually pushed northward to White Plains and then into New Jersey. While British forces occupied New York City, General Charles Cornwallis pursued Washington, who retreated across New Jersey, over the Delaware River, and into Pennsylvania.

By December 1776, the American war effort was in shambles. Despite Washington’s pleas for help to the members of Congress and various colonial Governors, very little was provided. Finally, reinforcements arrived, giving Washington enough men to carry out bold attacks on Trenton and Princeton, which shocked the British and pushed them back toward New York City.

Washington’s Army remained at Morristown, New Jersey, for the remainder of the Winter of 1776–1777. 

During this time, American and British forces engaged in nearly 60 skirmishes as they fought for food and supplies. Meanwhile, Howe and British officials made plans for the 1777 campaign. Two large expeditions were approved — one led by Howe and the other by General John Burgoyne.

• Howe was tasked with capturing Philadelphia, the American capital.
• Burgoyne was tasked with capturing Albany to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies.

Howe’s forces landed at Head of Elk, Maryland, on August 25, 1777. Washington responded to Howe’s movements by marching southward to put his army between Howe and Philadelphia. This led to several small battles and a larger engagement at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11. The Americans were defeated and forced to retreat, which allowed Howe to capture Philadelphia on September 26.

Although fighting continued through October and November, the British eventually took control of the Delaware River. Despite this, American forces continued to harass the British, engaging them on December 7 at Whitemarsh and again on December 11 at Matson’s Ford and Black Horse Tavern.

Following the engagements on December 11, Washington tried to cross the Schuylkill River at Matson’s Ford through the use of a temporary bridge that was made out of wooden rails and nearly 40 wagons. The crossing was interrupted when a 3,500-strong British force under General Cornwallis appeared on the opposite hill while the Americans were in the middle of crossing. Washington ordered his men to retreat, destroyed the bridge, and returned his forces to Whitemarsh.

Afterward, Washington decided that his army was in no condition to continue the campaign. After convincing a committee of delegates from Congress that he needed to find a place for his army to spend the winter, he met with his officers, who suggested various locations around Philadelphia. At first, the plan was to take the army to Wilmington, Delaware, but Pennsylvania leaders objected, arguing that the army needed to continue operations in hopes of freeing Philadelphia from British control. 

Washington countered by explaining the poor condition of his troops and pointed out that Pennsylvania had provided very little in terms of food and supplies to aid the war effort. Finally, it was decided that Washington’s Army would spend the winter at Valley Forge, roughly 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

During the winter, supply chain breakdowns led to shortages of food, clothing, and supplies at Valley Forge. By spring, some of the troops were on the verge of mutiny, and Washington decided to take action.

New Jersey Foraging Expeditions

Washington sent General Anthony Wayne into New Jersey to gather food and horses for the men who were suffering at Valley Forge. General William Howe responded by sending out his own foraging parties, both to stop Wayne’s efforts and to collect supplies for his troops. 

• The first group included roughly 4,000 troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Abercromby and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Sterling.
• The inhabitants offered little resistance, and the New Jersey Militia rarely turned out to stop the raids.
• Most of the horses and provisions in the area were seized.

British Foraging Force Reaches Salem

General Howe organized a foraging expedition, led by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood, that included:

• Regulars from the 17th, 27th, and 46th regiments.
• 300 Loyalists from the Queen’s Rangers, who were led by Colonel John Graves Simcoe.
• The New Jersey Volunteers, who were also Loyalists, were led by General Cortlandt Skinner.

The expedition was planned to last for two weeks, so Mawhood also had artillery and provisions with him. Mawhood’s expedition was loaded onto six transports that sailed out of Philadelphia on March 12, 1778, along with the frigate Camilla, under the command of Captain Charles Phipps. The small fleet sailed down the Delaware River and arrived near Salem, New Jersey, on March 17.

Howe also instructed Mawhood to find and engage Wayne, who was at Burlington. Wayne was alerted to Mawhood’s mission and prepared to return to the American camp at Valley Forge.

• Wayne left men from the New Jersey Militia at two river crossings at Alloway Creek: Quinton’s Bridge and Hancock’s Bridge.
• He wanted to keep Mawhood from crossing the creek and following him.
• Colonel Asher Holmes and 300 militiamen guarded Quinton’s Bridge.
• Colonel Elijah Hand also gathered New Jersey Militia forces in response to Mawhood’s arrival.

About six miles from Salem, Mawhood landed Simcoe. He instructed him to find enough horses for his men and to advance to Salem, where Mawhood intended to join him. 

• It was here that local Loyalists informed Mawhood that the men from the New Jersey Militia were close by.
• Mawhood planned to carry out his foraging expedition and attack the Americans defending the bridges the next day, March 18.

AHC Notes

• The New Jersey troops were from Cumberland County and Salem County.
• Quinton’s Bridge was located at a peninsula formed by Salem Creek and Alloway Creek.
• Mawhood had a total of 1,200 to 1,300 men, including some Hessians and Hessian cavalry, known as “Hussars.”
• Multiple accounts say the New Jersey commander was Asher Holmes; however, the on-site historical marker refers to “Benjamin Holme.”

Geography

Quinton’s Bridge was about five miles southeast of Salem and was one of three river crossings. Moving south to north, they were:

1. Hancock’s Bridge.
2. Quintin’s Bridge.
3. Thompson’s Bridge.

The land on the east side of Alloway Creek rose sharply, while the west side opened into a marsh that was roughly 200 yards wide before reaching higher ground. On the road that ran along the higher ground stood a tavern run by Benjamin Wetherby, which served travelers and their horses.

AHC Notes

• Alloway Creek is also referred to as Alloway’s Creek and Aloes Creek.
• The bridge was named for Tobias Quinton and was a wooden drawbridge.

American Defenses

On the high ground east of Alloway Creek, the militia built breastworks for protection. They also removed the planks from Quintin’s Bridge to make it difficult for the British to cross. 

The British Advance

Mawhood divided his troops into several groups, the largest of which was dedicated to foraging. 

• He sent smaller groups out to watch the Americans at Quinton’s Bridge and Hancock’s Bridge, to ensure they would not interfere with the foraging party. 
• He sent another group to Thompson’s Bridge to cross Alloway Creek and move down behind the Americans at Quinton’s Bridge and establish positions around Wetherby’s Tavern on the west side of the creek.

Around 70 men from the 17th Regiment were sent to the tavern. Their commanding officer believed the position was unsafe and reported this to Mawhood, who responded by quickly crossing Thompson’s Bridge with Simcoe and the Queen’s Rangers and marching toward the tavern.

Mawhood’s Deceptive Maneuver

When Mawhood approached Quintin’s Bridge, he stopped in a wooded area where the Americans could not see his men. Mawhood and Simcoe then rode ahead to inspect the American positions without making it clear that they had more troops with them. Together, they devised a plan of attack that was intended to draw the Americans into a trap:

• Captain Francis Stephenson and some of the Queen’s Rangers crossed through an orchard and occupied the tavern.
• Two more companies of the Queen’s Rangers, led by Captain John Saunders, hid behind a fence on the west side of the tavern.
• Simcoe and the main body of the Queen’s Rangers waited farther back in the woods along the road.

Mawhood then sent a portion of the 17th Regiment toward the bridge. When they saw the Americans, they turned and retreated. The Americans quickly replaced the planks on the bridge and pursued the British down the road, where the rest of Mawhood’s men were waiting.

About 200 Americans, led by Captain William Smith, followed the British down the road, while another contingent of Americans moved to the right and took the high ground north of the tavern, likely to protect the bridge.

AHC Notes

• When Stephenson and his men approached the tavern, the shutters were closed, so the people inside likely did not see them coming. 
• The people inside were sent into the cellar and told to remain quiet. 
• One of Stephenson’s men was posted behind the open door with a bayonet and was ordered to seize the first person who entered.

The Ambush

When the second group of Americans reached the tavern, some of them wanted to go inside, thinking it was empty. However, their commanding officer convinced them to keep moving, completely unaware that Stephenson and his men were hidden inside.

This group continued toward the bridge and moved through a field on the south side of the road when they stumbled into the two companies of Queen’s Rangers led by Saunders. The American commander, who was on his horse, quickly ordered a retreat, but it was too late. His horse was shot out from under him, and he was captured.

• Captain Stephenson and his men rushed out of the tavern and blocked the American escape route. 
• Captain Saunders and his men fired on them from behind the fence.
• Simcoe and the main body of the Queen’s Rangers came out of the woods and joined the attack. 

The Americans broke into a confused retreat, fleeing across the fields toward Alloway Creek. They crossed the creek and returned to the Bridge, where they took defensive positions. Meanwhile, Colonel Elijah Hand and the Cumberland Militia arrived to support Holmes and his men.

AHC Notes

• One of the men, Andrew Bacon, cut the ropes on the drawbridge, so the British could not use it (see Appendix, Narrative of the Battle of Quinton’s Bridge).

Mawhood Returns to Salem

Mawhood ordered the men from the 17th Regiment, who had successfully acted as a decoy, to turn back toward Quintin’s Bridge. They pushed forward with the grenadiers and Highlanders of the Queen’s Rangers and advanced toward the tavern, preparing to seize the bridge if they had the chance. When they saw that the Americans had recrossed the creek and received reinforcements, Mawhood called off the attack and regrouped his men. 

AHC Notes

• Some accounts indicate Mawhood remained at Quinton’s Bridge and launched another attack on March 19. The Americans held their positions, and Mawhood withdrew to Salem.
• Three days later, on March 21, Mawhood attacked the Americans at Hancock’s Bridge.

Casualties

The British took only a few prisoners during the attack. According to their own account, they drove many of the Americans they did not kill into Alloway Creek, where “the greater part” of those pursued were said to have drowned (approximately 30 or 40). The exact number of American losses in this part of the fighting was not recorded. The British reported only a casualty, a Hessian cavalryman who was mortally wounded.

The “Massacre” at Quintin’s Bridge

Word spread that the Americans suffered heavy losses, which contributed to the idea that a massacre took place. The people of New Jersey were outraged because the New Jersey Loyalists told Mawhood where the Americans were, while others participated in an attack on the New Jersey militiamen. According to some accounts, many of the militiamen and Loyalists knew each other. Some are believed to have been friends and neighbors prior to the war.

AP US History

Definition

Battle of Quintin’s Bridge (March 18, 1778) — The Battle of Quintin’s Bridge was fought during the Philadelphia Campaign, after a British expedition landed at Salem, New Jersey, seeking to gather food and supplies and to engage General Anthony Wayne’s forces. Wayne withdrew after the British arrived and left the New Jersey Militia to guard river crossings, including Quinton’s Bridge. Colonel Charles Mawhood and Major John Graves Simcoe, who led the British expedition, devised a plan to draw the Americans out into the open and successfully carried it out. They quickly overwhelmed the Americans, but were forced to withdraw after American reinforcements arrived. The British withdrawal allowed the Americans to maintain control of Quinton’s Bridge.

Alignment

The Battle of Quinton’s Bridge is part of the following units, topics, and chapters in the AP US History curriculum:

• The American Revolution (Unit 3.5) 
• America Secedes from the Empire (1775–1783)

Appendix

Simcoe’s Eyewitness Account

AHC Note — This account of the battle was written by John Graves Simcoe and was printed in Historical Collections of New Jersey: Past and Present (1868) by John W. Barber.

An expedition was formed under the command of the late Colonel Mawhood, consisting of the 27th and 46th regiments, the Queen’s Rangers, and New Jersey Volunteers; they embarked the 12th of March, and fell down the Delaware. On the 17th, the Queen’s Rangers landed, at three o’clock in the morning, about six miles from Salem, the Huzzars carrying their accoutrements and swords.

Major Simcoe was directed to seize horses, to mount the cavalry and the staff, and to join Colonel Mawhood at Salem; this was accordingly executed. Major Simcoe, making a circuit and passing over Lambstone’s bridge, arrived at Salem, near which Colonel Mawhood landed.

The Huzzars were tolerably well mounted, and sufficient horses procured for the other exigencies of the service: Colonel Mawhood had given the strictest charge against plundering; and Major Simcoe, in taking the horses, had assured the inhabitants that they should be returned, or paid for, if they did not appear in arms, in a very few days; and none but officers entering the houses, they received no other injury.

The Queen’s Rangers’ infantry were about two hundred and seventy, rank and file, and thirty cavalry; Colonel Mawhood gave directions for the forage to take place on the 18th. 

The town of Salem lies upon a creek of that name which falls into the Delaware nearly opposite Reedy island; the Aloes, or Allewas [Alloways] creek, runs almost parallel to the Salem creek, and falls into the Delaware to the southward of it; over this creek there were three bridges: Hancock’s was the lower one, Quintin’s that in the centre, and Thompson’s the upper one. 

Between these creeks the foraging was to commence; the neck, or peninsula, formed by them was at its greatest distance seven, and at its least four miles wide. The rebel militia was posted at Hancock’s and Quintin’s, the nearest bridges, which they had taken up and defended by breast-works.

Colonel Mawhood made detachments to mask these bridges, and foraged in their rear: the officer who commanded the detachment, consisting of seventy of the 17th infantry, at Quintin’s bridge, sent information that the enemy were assembled in great numbers at the bridge, and indicated as if they meant to pass over whenever he should quit it, in which case his party would be in great danger. Colonel Mawhood marched with the Queen’s Rangers to his assistance: he made a circuit so as to fall in upon the road that led from Thompson’s to Quintin’s bridge, to deceive any patrole which he might meet on his march, and to make them believe that he directed it to Thompson’s, not Quintin’s bridge.

Approaching the bridge, the Rangers halted in the wood, and Col. Mawhood and Major Simcoe went to the party of the 17th, but in such a manner as to give no suspicion that they were part of a reinforcement; the ground was high, till within two hundred yards of the bridge, where it became marshy; immediately beyond the bridge the banks were steep, and on them the enemy had thrown up breast-works; there was a public house very near the road, at the edge of its declivity into the marsh, on the Salem side. 

Colonel Mawhood asked Major Simcoe “whether he thought, if he left a party in the house, the enemy would pass by it or not?” who replied, “that he thought they would be too cowardly to do it; but at any rate the attempt could do no harm, and, if he pleased, he would try.”

Colonel Mawhood directed Major Simcoe to do so, who accordingly, profiting by the broken ground of the orchard which was behind it, and the clothing of his men, brought Captain Stephenson and his company into the house undiscovered; the front windows were opened, and the back ones were shut, so that no thorough light could be seen; the women of the house were put in the cellar, and ordered to be silent; the door was left open, and Lieutenant M’Kay stood behind it, with a bayonet, ready to seize the first person whose curiosity might prompt him to enter; the Queen’s Rangers were brought into the wood near to that part where it ended in clear ground, and two companies, under Captain Saunders, were advanced to the fences at the very edge of it, where they lay flat.

Colonel Mawhood then gave orders for the detachment of the 17th, who were posted near the house, to call in their sentinels and retreat up the road in full view of the enemy. This party had scarcely moved, when the enemy laid the bridge and passed it; a detachment of them went immediately across the marsh to the heights on the left, but the principal party, about two hundred, in two divisions, proceeded up the road; 

Captain Stephenson, as they approached the house, could hear them say, “Let us go into the house,” &c., but they were prevented, both by words and by action, by the officer who was at their head: he was on horseback, and spurring forward, quitted the road to go into the field, on the right, through a vacancy made by the rails being taken for fires; his party still proceeded up the road, and the first division passed the house; the officer, his sight still fixed on the red clothes of the 17th, approached close up to the fence where Captain Saunders lay; he did not immediately observe the Rangers, and, it is probable, he might not, had he not heard one of the men stifling a laugh; looking down he saw them, and galloped off; he was fired at, wounded, and taken. 

The division that had passed the house attempted to return. Captain Stephenson sallied, drove them across the fields. Captain Saunders pursued them. The Huzzars were let loose, and afterward the battalion, Colonel Mawhood leading them. 

Major Simcoe directed the 17th back to the house, with the grenadiers and Highlanders of the Rangers, ready to force the bridge, if ordered; the enemy, for a moment, quitted it; Colonel Mawhood thought it useless to pass it. 

Some of the division, who passed the house, were taken prisoners, but the greater part were drowned in the Aloes creek. The officer who was taken proved to be a Frenchman. The Rangers had one Huzzar mortally wounded; and what was unfortunate, he was wounded by a man whom in the eagerness of the pursuit he had passed, given quarters to, and not disarmed; the villain, or coward, was killed by another Huzzar. The corps returned to Salem.

Narrative of the Battle of Quinton’s Bridge

AHC Note — This narrative of the battle is taken from The History of New Jersey, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time (1854) by William Henry Carpenter.

On the 17th of March, a British detachment, of Colonel Mawhood and Majors Simcoe and Sims, having landed at Billingsport, made a rapid march to Salem, in the expectation of surprising Colonel Wayne, who, with a few American troops, was posted at that place. 

Unsuccessful in this, Mawhood, at daybreak of the 18th, dispatched Simcoe to cut off a small party of the militia under Colonel Holmes, who were intrenched at Quinton’s Bridge, on the southern shore of Alloway’s Creek, about three miles from Salem. By a successful stratagem, Simcoe drew the militia from their works across the bridge and into an ambuscade. A fierce conflict ensued.

Surprised and outnumbered, and with a loss of forty men, the Americans retreated to their intrenchments, bravely contesting every foot of the way. As their rear left the bridge, one of the most courageous of the party, Andrew Bacon by name, seized an axe, and heedless of the storm of balls that whistled around him, resolutely cut away the draw, thus rendering immediate pursuit by the enemy impossible. Scarcely was this gallant action performed, when the hero of it received a wound by which he was crippled for life. 

In the meantime, Colonel Hand, with a reinforcement of militia, had arrived on the ground, and now, opening upon the enemy a heavy fire from two pieces of artillery, he compelled them to fall back upon the main body at Salem.

Chagrined on account of Simcoe’s ultimate failure, Mawhood determined to pass the bridge at all hazards. Accordingly, early in the following day, he attacked it with his whole force. But cheered by their late success, and so posted that both flanks, as well as the front of the attacking column, were exposed to their fire, the Americans obstinately stood their ground, and Mawhood, after a desperate attempt to gain his point, was obliged to retreat in considerable disorder.