As an overview, we are looking now at the year 1778. The British are in Philadelphia. The Battle of Quinton’s Bridge, fought on March 18, 1778, was a sharp and bloody engagement in Salem County, New Jersey. It is a classic example of the “Foraging Wars” that occurred while the British occupied Philadelphia and Washington’s army was at Valley Forge.
For Sussex County militia, this battle represents the wide geographic range of their service, as units from North Jersey were often dispatched to the southern coast to protect vital food supplies.
In early 1778, the British in Philadelphia were running low on provisions. General Anthony Wayne had successfully moved cattle through South Jersey to feed the starving Continental Army at Valley Forge. In response, British Colonel Charles Mawhood led a force of about 1,200 regulars and local Loyalists into Salem County to seize livestock and crush the local resistance.
The local militia, reinforced by detachments from other Jersey regiments, took a defensive position on the south side of Alloway Creek at Quinton’s Bridge. They had removed the planks of the bridge to prevent the British from crossing.
Colonel Mawhood, a clever tactician, realized he could not take the bridge by a frontal assault. He employed a “decoy” strategy. He positioned a small group of soldiers near the bridge and then had them “retreat” in apparent confusion toward a nearby woods. Hidden in the woods and a nearby brick house (the Smith house) were the Queen’s Rangers, a highly disciplined Loyalist unit led by John Graves Simcoe.
The militia, seeing the British retreat, fell for the bait. Against the orders of their more experienced officers, the men replaced the planks on the bridge and rushed across in pursuit. As the militia reached the top of the hill near the woods, Simcoe’s Rangers emerged and unleashed a devastating volley. Simultaneously, British cavalry charged the militia’s flank. Trapped between the woods and the creek, the militia suffered heavy casualties. Many men were driven into the marshy banks of the Alloway Creek and drowned or were bayoneted.
The militia lost between 30 and 40 men, with many more wounded or captured. Despite the defeat, the arrival of reinforcements (including more Jersey militia units) prevented the British from successfully crossing the creek to continue their raid into the interior.
This battle is significant because it was followed just days later by the Hancock’s House Massacre, where the same British force bayoneted sleeping militia members. It highlights the brutal nature of the war in New Jersey, where neighbors (Loyalists vs. Patriots) fought one another.
For the Sussex men, Quinton’s Bridge served as a grim reminder of why military discipline and staying behind “loose rock walls” or natural defenses was superior to chasing a retreating professional army into the open.
The Quinton’s Bridge Memorial still stands today in Salem County, marking the site where the militia made their stand. If you are looking for specific names of Sussex men present, you might find them in the “Salem Expedition” orders within the state archives, as Sussex units were frequently rotated into these foraging protection details
Bill Truran, Sussex County’s historian, may be contacted at billt1425@gmail.com He is the author of “Voices of ‘76: Americans Speak of our Freedom.”
