Forage War The Forage War was a partisan campaign consisting of numerous small skirmishes that took place in New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War between January and March 1777 , following the battles of Trenton and Princeton . After both British and Continental Army troops entered their winter quarters in early January , Continental Army regulars and militia companies from New Jersey and Pennsylvania engaged in numerous scouting and harassing operations against the British and German troops quartered in New Jersey . The British troops wanted to have fresh provisions to consume , and also required fresh forage for their draft animals and horses . General George Washington ordered the systematic removal of such supplies from areas easily accessible to the British , and companies of American militia and troops harassed British and German forays to acquire such provisions . While many of these operations were small , in some cases they became quite elaborate , involving more than 1 , 000 troops . The American operations were so successful that British casualties in New Jersey ( including those of the battles at Trenton and Princeton ) exceeded those of the entire campaign for New York . Background . In August 1776 the British army began a campaign to gain control over New York City , which was defended by George Washington ' s Continental Army . Over the next two months , General William Howe quickly gained control of New York , pushing Washington into New Jersey . He then chased Washington south toward Philadelphia . Washington retreated across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania , taking with him all the boats for miles in each direction . Howe then ordered his army into winter quarters , establishing a chain of outposts across New Jersey , from the Hudson River through New Brunswick to Trenton and Bordentown on the Delaware River . The occupation of New Jersey by British and German troops caused friction with the local communities and led to a rise in Patriot militia enlistments . As early as mid - December , these militia companies were harassing British patrols , leading to incidents like Geary ' s ambush , in which a dragoon leader was killed , and increasing the level of tension in the British and German quarters . On the night of December 25 – 26 , 1776 , Washington crossed the Delaware and surprised the Trenton outpost the following morning . Over the next two weeks , he went on to win two further battles at Assunpink Creek and Battle of Princeton , leading the British to retreat to northern New Jersey . Disposition of the armies . General Washington established his headquarters at Morristown , separated from the coast by the Watchung Mountains , a series of low ridges . He established forward outposts to the east and south of these ridges that served not only as a defensive bulwark against potential British incursions across the hills , but also as launch points for raids . Over the course of January and February , Washington ' s Continental Army shrank to about 2 , 500 regulars after Washington ' s incentives for many men to overstay their enlistment periods ran out . A large number of militia from New Jersey , New York , and Pennsylvania bolstered these forces , and played a significant role that winter . The British army was initially deployed from posts as far north as Hackensack to New Brunswick . The garrison , numbering about 10 , 000 , was concentrated between New Brunswick and Amboy , with a sizable contingent further north , from Elizabethtown to Paulus Hook . Militia pressure in January led General Cornwallis to withdraw most of the northern troops to the shores of the Hudson . The resulting concentration of troops overflowed the available housing , which had been entirely abandoned by its residents , with some of the troops even living aboard ships anchored nearby ; the cramped quarters led to an increase in camp - related illnesses throughout the winter , and morale was low . The area had been heavily plundered during the American retreat in the fall , so there was little in the way of local provisions . The men subsisted largely on rations such as salt pork , but their draft animals required fresh fodder , for which they sent out raiding expeditions . Tactics . Early in the winter , Washington sent out detachments of troops to systematically remove any remaining provisions and livestock from convenient access by the British . General Cornwallis sent out small foraging and raiding parties in January . These were met by larger formations ( numbering 300 and up ) of American militia companies , sometimes with Continental Army support , that led on occasion to significant casualties . In one early example , Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson mustered 450 militia and drove off a British foraging expedition in the Battle of Millstone on January 20 . Washington gave his commanders wide latitude in how to act , issuing commands that they were to be " constantly harassing the enemy " , and that they should be aggressive in their tactics . These early successes depended in part on successful intelligence ; one British commander reported being met with force " notwithstanding the Orders were given , but a few hours before the Troops moved . " Even supply convoys bringing provisions from outside the state to the large garrison at New Brunswick were not immune to the American attacks , where the Raritan River and the roads from Perth Amboy offered opportunities for sniping and raiding . Their difficulties led British commanders to change tactics , attempting to lure these militia units into traps involving larger numbers of British regulars . But even this was not entirely successful , as wily militia and Continental commanders including Continental Army General William Maxwell used superior knowledge of the geography to set even more elaborate traps . In one encounter in late February , British Colonel Charles Mawhood , thinking he had flanked a party of New Jersey militia , suddenly found his advance force flanked by another , larger force . As they were driven back toward Amboy , more and more Americans appeared , ultimately inflicting about 100 casualties . The elite grenadiers of the 42nd Foot , part of Mawhood ' s vanguard , were badly mauled in the encounter . A British force of 2 , 000 was repulsed by Maxwell in another well - organized attack a few weeks later . The ongoing tensions took their toll on the beleaguered British . Johann Ewald , captain of a company of German jägers ( essentially light infantry ) who were often on the front lines , observed that " the men have to stay dressed day and night . . . the horses constantly saddled " , and that " the army would have been gradually destroyed through this foraging " . Some forage was provided from New York , but it was never sufficient for the army ' s needs . As a consequence , the British were forced to provide many supplies from Europe , at great cost and risk to the Royal Navy . Selected Actions . Elizabethtown . A regiment of Waldeck infantry , a few companies of the 71st Foot and a troop of British light dragoons were stationed at Elizabethtown , New Jersey in the winter of 1776 – 1777 . On 5 January 1777 , a British cavalry patrol was ambushed by militia near the town . One trooper was killed and a second was wounded . The next day , about 50 Waldeck infantry emerged from the town with a small escort of light dragoons with instructions to clear the country . Led by Captain Georg von Haacke , the strong patrol was attacked near Springfield by New Jersey militia . In Elizabethtown , the soldiers heard distant gunfire . Hours later the bedraggled British horsemen came back without the foot soldiers . Eight or 10 of the Waldeckers were shot down and the entire party captured by the militia . Ordered to pull back to Amboy , the garrison hurriedly left on 7 January . As the troops evacuated Elizabethtown , the militia attacked the rear guard . In the confused retreat , the Americans captured 100 soldiers , the baggage trains of two regiments , and food supplies . Chatham , Connecticut Farms and Bonhamtown . On 10 January 1777 , Colonel Charles Scott ' s Virginia Continentals captured 70 Highlanders together with their wagons at Chatham , New Jersey . Scott ' s brigade was composed of the 4th , 5th and 6th Virginia Regiment s . At Connecticut Farms on 15 January , 300 New Jersey militia commanded by Colonel Oliver Spencer attacked 100 German foragers . The Americans killed one enemy soldier and captured 70 more . The following day , 350 Americans set upon a large body of British foragers at Bonhamtown , New Jersey , killing 21 enemy soldiers and wounding 30 or 40 more . American casualties are not given in any of these actions . Millstone and Woodbridge . At the Battle of Millstone , Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson of the New Jersey militia scored a brilliant success . On 20 January 1777 near Van Nest ' s Mill , 400 militia and 50 Pennsylvania riflemen crossed an icy stream and fought a pitched battle with 500 British regulars and three cannons . The British lost 25 casualties , 12 prisoners , 43 wagons , 104 horses , 115 cattle and about 60 sheep . The Americans admitted losses of four or five men . Afterward , the British refused to believe that had been beaten by militia . On 23 January two British regiments were waylaid by Brigadier General William Maxwell near Woodbridge . The 200 New Jersey Continentals inflicted losses of seven killed and 12 wounded while only suffering two men wounded . Drake ' s Farm . On 1 February 1777 , Brigadier General Sir William Erskine , 1st Baronet set up a clever trap . He sent a party of foragers to Drake ' s Farm near Metuchen . When Scott ' s 5th Virginia tried to gobble up the small party , Erskine rushed his large force into action . Battalions of grenadiers , light infantry , 42nd Foot and Hessians appeared , supported by eight artillery pieces . Instead of fleeing , the Virginians launched a vicious attack which momentarily broke a grenadier battalion . Under intense cannon fire , the American attack was stopped , but the soldiers fought tenaciously until the British fell back toward Brunswick . The Americans admitted 30 to 40 casualties while claiming to have killed 36 British and wounding 100 more . The action was marred by an ugly incident when Lieutenant William Kelly and six other wounded Americans were abandoned during a tactical withdrawal . The frustrated British fell upon the seven helpless men with bayonets and musket butts and slaughtered them all . When the Americans recovered the mangled bodies they were infuriated . Brigadier General Adam Stephen exchanged a series of irate letters with Erskine , who denied all responsibility for the incident . Spanktown . On 23 February 1777 , Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood was sent with a reinforced brigade to destroy any rebel forces he could catch . He set out with a battalion each of light infantry and grenadiers , plus the 3rd Brigade . The latter formation consisted of the 10th Foot , 37th Foot , 38th Foot and 52nd Foot , recently transferred from the Rhode Island garrison . Near Spanktown , now Rahway , New Jersey , Mawhood found a group of militia herding some livestock covered by a larger body of Americans waiting on a nearby hill . The British officer sent the grenadier company of the 42nd Foot on a wide flanking maneuver . Just as the grenadiers prepared to launch their assault , they were fired on from ambush and routed with the loss of 26 men . At this moment , Maxwell sent his superior force forward to envelop Mawhood ' s force . The American force included the 1st , 2nd , 3rd and 4th New Jersey Regiment s , the 1st and 8th Pennsylvania Regiment s , and the German Battalion . Mawhood ' s surprised men were hounded all the way back to Amboy , which they reached at 8 : 00 PM . For losses of five killed and nine wounded , the Americans claimed to have inflicted 100 casualties . Mawhood admitted losing 69 killed and wounded and six missing . Casualty estimates . Historian David Hackett Fischer compiled a list that he describes as " incomplete " , consisting of 58 actions that occurred between January 4 and March 21 , 1777 . The documented British and German casualties numbered more than 900 ; a number of the events do not include any casualty reports . Combined with their losses at Trenton and Princeton , the British lost more men in New Jersey than they did during the campaign for New York City . Fischer does not estimate American casualties , and other historians ( e . g . Ketchum and Mitnick ) have not compiled any casualty estimates . Fischer notes that relatively few official reports of American ( either militia or Continental Army ) unit strengths for this time period have survived . Ending . The 1777 military campaigns began to take shape in April . General Charles Cornwallis punctuated the winter skirmishes with an attack on the Continental Army outpost at Bound Brook on April 13 . In the Battle of Bound Brook , he very nearly captured its commander , Benjamin Lincoln . Outnumbering the Americans 2 , 000 to 500 , the British scattered the militia but met stubborn resistance from the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment . The British captured three 3 - pound guns and 20 or 30 men and killed six Americans , but the bulk of Lincoln ' s force got away . General Washington moved his army from its winter quarters at Morrisville to a more forward position at Middlebrook in late May to better react to British moves . As General Howe prepared his Philadelphia campaign , he first moved a large portion of his army to Somerset Court House in mid - June , apparently in an attempt to draw Washington from the Middlebrook position . When this failed , Howe withdrew his army back to Perth Amboy , and embarked it on ships bound for the Chesapeake Bay . Northern and coastal New Jersey continued to be the site of skirmishing and raiding by the British forces that occupied New York City for the rest of the war .