Oliver Spencer Oliver Spencer ( 6 October 1736 – 22 January 1811 ) was a New Jersey officer during the American Revolutionary War and received a special commission to enlist and lead one of 16 Additional Continental Regiments . He was born in Connecticut and later moved to New Jersey , where he married Anna Ogden and became a tanner . He joined the revolutionary cause and engaged a British force in December 1776 as a major of New Jersey militia . On 15 January 1777 during the Forage War , his militiamen captured 70 German mercenaries . That month George Washington authorized him to recruit Spencer ' s Additional Continental Regiment . As colonel , he led this unit at Brandywine and Germantown in 1777 and Monmouth in 1778 . His regiment participated in the Sullivan Expedition in 1779 and was disbanded at the beginning of 1781 . The conflict having ruined his home and his tanning business , he moved to Ohio , where he served as a probate judge and militia commander . He was the nephew of General Joseph Spencer . Early career . Oliver Spencer was born at East Haddam , Connecticut on 6 October 1736 . His parents were Samuel Spencer ( b . 1708 ) and Jerusha Brainerd . His father , who was the oldest of the 12 children of Isaac Spencer ( b . 1678 ) and Mary Selden , was a captain in the wars against the French in Canada . One of his uncles , Joseph Spencer became a Major General in the Continental Army . A second uncle was a prominent Presbyterian clergyman by the name of Elihu Spencer ( b . 1721 ) . After his father died of smallpox when Spencer was about 14 years old , he went to live with the family of Robert Ogden in Elizabethtown , New Jersey . When he reached the age of 21 , he wed Robert ' s daughter Anna Ogden . The newly married couple moved back to East Haddam where they lived for five years . Returning to Elizabethtown , Spencer became partner in his father - in - law ' s successful tanning business . Under his management , the commercial enterprise continued to prosper until the outbreak of the American Revolution . New Jersey campaign . Spencer was appointed major of the 2nd Essex County Militia Regiment . When this organization ' s Colonel Elias Dayton took command of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment , it left Lieutenant Colonel Thomas in charge . When George Washington ' s army retreated though Elizabethtown in late 1776 , the militiamen briefly joined it . From New Brunswick Washington sent the three militia regiments from Essex , Morris , and Sussex Counties to operate against the British flank from the mountains of northern New Jersey . When the militiamen reached Morristown , New Jersey , the commander of the three units resigned , as did Thomas . The British army commander Sir William Howe decided to halt his successful campaign at the Delaware River and hold New Jersey for the winter with 14 garrisons . Howe left Major General James Grant in charge of the garrisons and returned to New York City . Desiring to pacify the countryside , Grant ordered Brigadier General Alexander Leslie to march to Princeton via Springfield and Bound Brook on 17 December 1776 . As Leslie ' s brigade neared Springfield , it was detected by Spencer ' s militia which held the town . Sending a courier to Chatham to warn the militia brigade of the British approach , Spencer withdrew his men from Springfield . At Briant ' s Tavern , Spencer joined the main body of militia and the men advanced to contact the British . With Captain Seeley on the right , Captain Brookfield on the left , Colonel Lindsley on the left center , and Spencer on the right center , the New Jersey militia skirmished with Leslie ' s brigade near Woodruff ' s Tavern . The engagement lasted about one hour before darkness fell , upon which the militia withdrew about one mile . During the action Spencer ' s horse was killed under him . When the militiamen discovered the British were gone in the morning , they were greatly encouraged at their apparent success . After a Hessian brigade was crushed at the Battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776 and a British brigade was mauled at the Battle of Princeton on 3 January 1777 , Howe and Lord Charles Cornwallis hastily withdrew their forces from nearly all of New Jersey . This strategic retreat was immediately followed by the Forage War in which bodies of New Jersey militia and Continental Army troops severely harassed British and German forage parties . On 16 January at Connecticut Farms , 300 New Jersey militia led by Spencer ambushed 100 German foragers . In the Connecticut Farms action the mercenaries were nearly wiped out with losses of one killed and 70 captured . Another source noted an operation in which Spencer ' s men killed or captured almost 100 " mounted Waldecks " . but did not give a date . He was also credited for boldly attacking an enemy picket near Elizabethtown . Spencer ' s Additional Regiment . On 27 December 1776 , the Continental Congress authorized Washington to form 16 new battalions of infantry . These became known as the " Sixteen Additional Regiments " . Immediately , the commanding general began appointing officers to recruit these new units . Washington offered two of the regiments to New Jersey militia officers , Spencer and Samuel Griffin . Spencer accepted but Griffin declined and David Forman was appointed instead . On 11 January 1777 , Spencer ' s Additional Continental Regiment came into existence as part of Washington ' s main army . During the spring , the unit assembled at Monmouth County , New Jersey . Seven of its companies hailed from New Jersey , while one company was recruited from Pennsylvania . Spencer became colonel and Eleazer Lindsley became the regiment ' s lieutenant colonel . Their commissions dated from 15 January 1777 . No major was listed . On 22 May 1777 , Spencer ' s Regiment transferred into the 3rd Pennsylvania Brigade which was commanded by French - Irish volunteer Thomas Conway . The brigade fought in Lord Stirling ' s division at the Battle of Brandywine on 11 September 1777 . Conway ' s brigade , which also included the 3rd , 6th , 9th , and 12th Pennsylvania Regiment s , was driven off the field . At the Battle of Germantown on 4 October 1777 , Conway ' s Brigade led John Sullivan ' s right column . When contact was made with the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion , Conway ' s men pressed straight on over Mount Airy while Sullivan ' s Maryland division formed on its right and Anthony Wayne ' s Pennsylvania division moved to its left . After meeting resistance from the 40th Foot at the Chew House , Sullivan ordered Conway ' s brigade to shift to a position on the right flank of the Maryland division . At this point Sullivan ' s men passed west of the Chew House and into the fog and battle smoke . Eventually , Sullivan ' s men were attacked at a time when they had run low on ammunition . After losing a few senior officers , the troops began a hasty retreat . Francis B . Heitman listed Spencer as the commanding officer of his regiment at Valley Forge . Together with Malcolm ' s Additional Continental Regiment and the four Pennsylvania regiments , Spencer ' s formed part of Conway ' s brigade . At the Battle of Monmouth on 28 June 1778 , the 3rd Pennsylvania Brigade included 39 officers , 56 sergeants , and 343 rank and file in the six units listed above . Before a substantial number of men were detached to units of the advance guard , the brigade numbered 42 officers , 112 non - coms , 20 staff , and 445 rank and file . Late in the day , Wayne pushed forward against the British left flank with the 3rd Pennsylvania , Spencer ' s , and Malcolm ' s Regiments . At first , the 1st Grenadier Battalion was isolated but soon the 33rd Foot came to its help and drove back Wayne ' s thrust . Spencer ' s Regiment was assigned to the Highlands Department in July 1778 and transferred to the Middle Department in November of that year . In April 1779 the regiment absorbed Forman ' s Additional Continental Regiment and part of Malcolm ' s regiment to form nine companies . Lindsley retired in May and his replacement as lieutenant colonel was William S . Smith . John Burrowes joined the regiment in July 1779 . In late June , the unit became part of the New Jersey Brigade . Spencer ' s Regiment marched with the Sullivan Expedition in the summer of 1779 . With the 1st and 2nd New Jersey Regiment s , the unit formed part of William Maxwell ' s 1st Brigade . At the Battle of Newtown on 29 August , Sullivan routed a force of Indians and Tories . That was the only serious fighting as the expedition visited large scale destruction on Iroquois villages . Spencer ' s Regiment was assigned to the Highlands Department in September 1780 and disbanded on 1 January 1781 . Post - Revolution . Spencer ' s home and tannery in Elizabethtown were thoroughly despoiled by the enemy . He suffered additional losses because of the depreciation of the currency . Determined to find a living , he moved with his family to the Miami Valley in Ohio where he bought three sections of land . When he arrived in Columbia , Ohio , the governor of the territory Arthur St . Clair made him the colonel of the local militia and probate judge for Hamilton County . One source gives a glowing account of Spencer ' s " spotless " character and generosity . He died at Columbia on 22 January 1811 and was interred in the Wesley Chapel Burial Grounds . His wife Anna lived until 1823 . On 19 August 1865 , Spencer ' s remains were moved to Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati , Ohio .