Battle of Millstone

Near Abraham Van Neste's mill in Weston, New Jersey, close to what is now Manville, a clash unfolded on January 20, 1777, amid the fighting of the American Revolutionary War. This engagement carries a second name, the Battle of Van Nest's Mill, and it saw a British party sent out to gather supplies get outflanked and pushed back by troops drawn largely from New Jersey's militia ranks. The British lost their wagons and provisions in the process.

The clash formed part of a broader string of skirmishes remembered as the Forage War, a period of conflict that continued across northern New Jersey during the opening months of 1777. What happened at Millstone showed that militia units, when tested, could mount a serious and effective resistance.

Background

After outmaneuvering Cornwallis's forces in the fighting at Princeton on January 3, 1777, Washington found himself squeezed between two British positions: Cornwallis's men at Trenton and the main body of the British Army stationed at New Brunswick. His troops were in no condition to strike the garrison at New Brunswick, so instead he led them northward along the Millstone River valley toward Morristown, a location suited to strong fortification and suitable for winter encampment. For their part, Cornwallis and the British and Hessian units still near Trenton and Princeton pulled back to New Brunswick to reorganize following their defeat.

On January 13, a large portion of the British force marched west out of New Brunswick to Somerset Court House, known today as Millstone, New Jersey. They occupied the town for roughly a week, burning homes and seizing supplies before pulling back to New Brunswick once more. Meanwhile, local militia units gathered to lend their support to the Continental Army. As a result of these back and forth maneuvers, the stretch of land west of New Brunswick, extending to the Millstone and Raritan rivers, turned into contested ground separating the two armies. Once the British withdrew, Somerset Court House was turned into one of several posts held by Patriot militia, backed by Continental soldiers.

Battle

On January 20, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Abercromby of the 37th Foot set out from New Brunswick with 500 British troops on a foraging mission, marching westward in the direction of the Millstone River. Somewhere along the way they crossed the river, though the exact bridge remains uncertain, and stationed Hessian soldiers with field artillery behind them as a rear guard to hold the crossing. Pressing onward, the column arrived at Van Nest's mill in Weston, New Jersey, close to what is now Manville and situated a short distance north of Somerset Court House, near where the Millstone flows into the Raritan. Once there, the men gathered up provisions of every kind and readied themselves for the march back.

Word of the British advance reached militia units to the north earlier that day, prompting some companies to head toward Bound Brook. As news of the raid at the mill spread, these forces redirected themselves toward Weston instead. Roughly 400 militiamen from New Jersey and another 50 from Pennsylvania assembled under Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson to challenge the enemy's foraging effort. Though the surviving accounts of the engagement lack precision, it appears Dickinson split his men into two groups, one meant to confront the wagon train head on, the other to swing around and strike its flank. Both contingents had to wade across a river through frigid, waist high water to reach their positions. One group managed to catch the British wagons off guard in the narrow lane leading from the mill, striking before the train could reach the main road and the bridge back to New Brunswick. Gunfire brought down horses pulling the lead wagon, halting the whole procession, sending drivers fleeing in disorder, and forcing the British into a hasty withdrawal that left their plundered goods behind.

As the militia pursued them to the bridge, the Hessian rear guard unleashed grape shot from their cannon to shield the retreating column. Gunfire passed between the two sides across the water without any clear effect, and the British ultimately pulled back.