John Stewart (1757 - 1827)

Born 15 Feb 1757 in New Hanover Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, British Colonial America

Husband of Rhoda (Shinn) Stewart — married 23 Sep 1783 in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States

Descendants

Died 11 Apr 1827 at age 70 in Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States

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John Stewart is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A109548.

Biography

Daughters of the American Revolution information:

• STEWART, JOHN
• Ancestor #: A109548
• Service: NEW JERSEY
• Rank(s): CAPTAIN
• Birth: 1757 BURLINGTON CO NEW JERSEY
• Death: 4-11-1827 BROWNSVILLE TWP FAYETTE CO PENNSYLVANIA
• Service Source: STRYKER, REG OF OFFICERS & MEN OF NJ IN THE REV, P 412
• Service Description: 1) BURLINGTON CO MILITIA
• Residence: Created: 2002-03-27 23:23:55.3, Updated: , By: Conversion 1) County: BURLINGTON CO - State: NEW JERSEY
• Spouse: RHODA SHINN; Created: 2002-03-27 23:17:13.16, Updated: 2002-03-27 23:17:13.16, By: Conversion 1)
• Child son: CHARLES STEWART, [Spouse #] Spouse: [1] ELISABETH CRAFT

Captain John Stewart and the pursuit, capture and demise of the notorious British Tory Captain John Bacon

The Monmouth County, New Jersey annals include a long list of the Tory Loyalist, Captain John Bacon's plunderings and brutalities. His blackest moment, however, was the night of the Long Beach Massacre. On October 25, 1782, Lieutenant Andrew Steelman of Cape May and twenty-five men on the privateer [ship] the "Alligator" captained by Lieutenant Andrew Steelman spotted a ship with a valuable cargo of hyson tea, far off course, which had been previously captured by British privateers while it was on its way to New York. It ran aground on what was then called “Barnegat Shoals” (Barnegat Inlet at the northern end of the Long Beach Island) and was abandoned. On 25 October 1782 the New Jersey Privateer Galley "Alligator" was sailing off Barnegat Bay, when a vessel was spotted, late in the afternoon, ashore on Barnegat Shoals or Long Beach Island. She was near Spear Point (Barnegat Shoals). "Alligator" came in to investigate and discovered she was the prize cutter. The cargo was still aboard, but no crew. Steelman and his men labored the whole day to unload her cargo on Long Beach. By nightfall all hands were dead-tired and curled up among the high sand dunes on the beach to rest. In the dead of night Bacon and his followers sailed over from the mainland, crept up on the Americans, and slew them while they slept. Lieutenant Steelman and a number of his men were killed instantly; those who attempted to rise were hacked with bayonets; and of the twenty-five in Steelman's crew only five managed, somehow, to escape alive."

The derelict ship was discovered by the American privateer ship the "Alligator" alleged by contemporary Tory newspaper to be commanded and captained by Lieutenant Andrew Steelman.

However John D. Dennis saw Captain Scull wounded and Lieutenant Steelman killed. In his affidavit John tells of most of the guards and himself getting clear and running for what he believed to be nine miles in the surf before coming in land. This became known as Massacre at Long Beach.

A band of Tory British Loyalists known as the "Pine Robbers" were responsible for these war atrocities. Their name derived from the fact that they tended to operate and hide out in the large wilderness section of South Jersey known as the Pine Barrens. One of the most infamous of the Pine Robbers was Captain John Bacon.

Bacon's most notorious action occurred on Long Beach Island on October 25, 1782, when he and a band of Tories killed militia Lieutenant Andrew Steelman and his men. The public outrage against Bacon intensified after the killings at Long Beach Island, and a serious effort to capture him began. A reward of £50 was offered by the New Jersey Governor William Livingston for the capture of Bacon. Two months after the killings at Long Beach Island, an attempt to capture John Bacon led to the Affair at the Cedar Bridge and the nearby tavern.

In late December of 1782, a group of Burlington County militia set out to find and capture John Bacon. They consisted of six cavalry commanded by Captain Richard Shreve and twenty infantrymen commanded by Captain Edward Thomas. They searched for Bacon as far as the shore, and then after several days of not finding him, they decided to head west back to Burlington. Along the way, the men stopped to rest at the Cedar Bridge Tavern, located very close to a bridge over the Cedar Creek. While they were in the tavern, Bacon and his men appeared on the other side of the bridge.

Shreve and the militiamen attempted to charge and attack Bacon's men, but they were repelled. They were at a disadvantage because they needed to charge over the narrow bridge while Bacon's men could fire at them from fixed positions on the other side of the creek. Bacon's men were especially determined to fight hard to avoid being captured; they knew that they could not expect leniency as prisoners because of the severity of the crimes they were wanted for, and they would likely be executed if caught.

Several local Loyalist residents came to the aid of Bacon, and fired on the militiamen, who were forced to halt, allowing Bacon's men to escape. One of Bacon's men, Ichabod Johnson, who had the £25 reward on his head, had been killed. Several others were wounded. Bacon himself had been wounded, but he had managed to safely escape. Seven of the local Loyalists who had come to the aid of Bacon's men were captured and taken to the Burlington jail. The Americans had also suffered several wounded and one killed. The man killed was William Cook; his brother Sergeant Joel Cooke would have his revenge on Bacon the following spring. A few months later, Bacon, who had a bounty of 50 Sterling on his head, was found in a tavern by Captain John Stewart , where he was mortally wounded, and his body was desecrated. According to the account, Captain Stewart along with five men, including Joel Cook, a brother of William Cook who was killed at Cedar Creek Bridge, received a report that Bacon might be found at a “public house” owned by William Rose near West Creek on the Shore Road a few miles north of Clamtown (Tuckerton).

The Affair at Cedar Bridge is sometimes described as the last skirmish of the Revolutionary War, although different historians name different skirmishes. At the very least, it is the last documented skirmish in New Jersey. Afterwards, troops on both sides waited for the treaty to be finalized to end the war.

• https://www.nationalwarmemorialregistry.org/joomla/new-jersey/massacre-at-long-beach-revolutionary-war-memorial-marker
• https://allthingsliberty.com/2021/09/captain-john-bacon-the-last-of-the-jersey-pine-robbers/
• https://awiatsea.com/incidents/1782-10-25%20The%20Long%20Beach%20Island%20Massacre.html
• https://www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/barnegat_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm
• http://www.pineypower.com/cedarbridge.htm

John was born in 1757. He passed away in 1827.

Sources

• https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A109548

• Ancestry.com trees

findagrave.com