Battle of Cedar Bridge

Near the close of the Revolutionary War, on December 27, 1782, an armed clash unfolded at Cedar Bridge in what is now Barnegat Township, New Jersey. Captains Richard Shreve and Edward Thomas led Continental militia against a band of Loyalist fighters commanded by John Bacon in what stands among the conflict's final skirmishes.

Bacon's name had already become synonymous with brutality. He had cut down thirty American seamen while they slept aboard the colonial vessel Alligator, along with committing further violent acts against those he suspected of aiding the Continental cause. Such infamy prompted New Jersey's governor, William Livingston, to place a bounty of 50 pounds on his head.

That December, Shreve and Thomas led a militia force out with the express purpose of tracking Bacon down. Days of fruitless searching followed, and the men turned back toward Burlington, New Jersey without success. On their return journey, they paused at a tavern situated near the bridge, not realizing that Bacon and his followers were positioned just across it.

Word soon reached Bacon that the militia had drawn close. With scant opportunity to flee, he chose instead to fortify the bridge and fire upon the approaching Continentals. Though his men held their ground for a stretch, the tide eventually turned in the militia's favor. The sound of the exchange drew nearby residents, who rushed to reinforce the Loyalists, buying Bacon and his men the moments needed to slip away. Even so, the Continentals subdued the local supporters who had joined the fight and took a number of them prisoner.

Bacon's escape proved only temporary. Several months later he was tracked down to a tavern in Tuckerton, New Jersey, where he was seized and killed. The depth of local hatred toward him showed in the aftermath: his body was dragged through the town and surrounding countryside on display before finally being laid to rest in a grave that bore no marker.