Quinton Township, NJ

Quinton Township

New Jersey is a town with a great story to tell. On March 18, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, there was a Battle at Quinton’s Bridge about three miles from Salem, when a force of 1,000 British regulars and Hessians and 500 Tories ambushed 300 Salem militia. Although technically an Amercian victory because the British failed to seize the bridge, their main objective in order to forage into neighboring Cumberland County NJ, it came at a great cost when as many as 40 American men lost their lives, mostly due to drowning.

Quinton’s Bridge was located on Alloway Creek. On March 12, British Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Mawhood, along with a mixed force of Simcoe’s Rangers and British regulars, crossed the Delaware River to forage for supplies and to rendezvous with the foraging party led by Colonel Anthony Wayne. After the parties joined, they headed toward Salem, New Jersey, where they were met by Tories, who informed the commanders that Colonel Asher Holmes and 300 militia, were a mere three miles to the southeast. Like the British, Holmes’s men were also foraging in the area, and Holmes had taken a position to cover Quinton’s Bridge while his men were at work.

On March 18 before dawn, Mawhood moved several detachments of men into position on the side of the creek opposite the American forces. Knowing of the British presence in the area, Holmes had ordered planks removed from the bridge as an additional precaution. However, as soon as the Americans saw a British detachment moving to their rear, coming from the direction of the local tavern, a Captain Smith replaced the planks and left 100 men on the high ground, taking 200 more across the bridge in pursuit. They followed the British further along the road and encountered another group of the British soldiers, who had been posted behind a rail fence.

The remainder of the British force were posted in a house nearby and, while Smith and his men were being attacked, they slipped out and ran to the Americans’ rear flank, cutting off any retreat to the bridge. Smith’s men were forced to attempt another crossing of the creek while the main body of British soldiers arrived at the bridge and attempted to cross over to the American position. They were stopped by Colonel Elijah Hand and his militia, who arrived with two guns in time to stop a complete annihilation of the American force. In the event, the Americans lost between 30 and 40 men in the engagement, most to drowning.

Frustrated and angry at not being able to take control of Quinton’s Bridge, the British turned their attention to Hancock’s Bridge. On March 20, 1778, General Mawhood issued the following mandate to his British troops: €œGo – spare no one – put all to death – give no quarters.” At approximately five o’clock in the morning of March 21, 1778, these orders were carried out at The Hancock House at Hancocks Bridge, New Jersey.

The Battle at Quinton’s Bridge was frequently called a massacre; however, the British were never able to cross Alloway’s Creek as they had attempted to do at Quinton’s Bridge and other locations for further foraging so they soon departed from Salem County with what they had obtained in the Salem area.

Design and Promotion by Websketching.com