Follow the course of the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse (28 June 1778) with a company of the 4th Connecticut Regiment serving with Maj. Gen. Charles Lee’s Advance force!
On June 25, 2016 a recreated company of the 4th Connecticut Regiment will march the route that Brigadier General James Varnum’s brigade of New England troops followed at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. This will be the first time since 1778 that anyone has retraced the events of the battle where they actually occurred. The company of 50 men, plus 3 female followers, will set off from their overnight camp on the grounds of the Village Inn, Englishtown, and then travel the roads and fields of Manalapan and Freehold Townships, as far as Freehold Borough, where General Charles Lee’s Advance Force confronted British forces covering the rear of their army. After reaching their furthest point of advance, the recreated Connecticut company will retrace Major General Lee’s retreat to Perrine Ridge, the main American defensive position at the battle. There they will interact with visitors and camp overnight as did General George Washington’s troops after the battle 238 years ago.
Also on June 25, the Craig House and property on Monmouth Battlefield State Park will be occupied by historical interpreters portraying householders, civilians forced from their homes by Crown troops, and local Loyalists. The interpreters will spend the day interacting with visitors and sharing their views on the cause of independence, slavery in New Jersey, and the trials and tribulations of wartime Monmouth County.
The battle of Monmouth Courthouse was the last large action fought in the north during the War of the American Revolution. It took place in the fields and woods surrounding present-day Freehold Borough on June 28, 1778, a day the thermometer topped 90 degrees Fahrenheit. A long-awaited study of that complicated and often confusing battle was recently published, “Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle” by Mark Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone. The book is available from the Friends of Monmouth Battlefield State Park.
Living history interpreters, all volunteers, will travel from New England, most of the Mid-Atlantic states, and Virginia to participate in this commemorative program. For more information about the event and related programs, find “Order out of Confusion”: Marching to Monmouth Courthouse on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/456366424538309/
Contact: John U. Rees (215) 208-8778 or [email protected]
