Monroe celebrates with Revolutionary War re-enactment.
By: Al Wicklund
MONROE The night before the Battle of Monmouth in 1778, Gen. George Washington and his army of about 10,000 had their final pre-battle meals and slept in open fields in what is now Monroe Township.
That stay by the general and his troops will be celebrated by the Monroe Township Historic Preservation Commission on June 27, the day before a re-enactment marks the 225th anniversary of the Revolutionary War’s longest land battle at Monmouth Battlefield State Park.
Monroe’s celebration will include an encampment, drills by Continental Army re-enactors, displays of 18th century artifacts and bus tours of the area’s historic sites.
The Charles Dey Farm on Old Church Road, a township museum in development, will serve as the site for the encampment.
Commissioner Paul Lucey said the actual site of the campgrounds is located nearby, but Dey Farm, with adjacent parking and facilities for visitors, served the purposes of the day.
"We’ll have the actual campsite as well as the site of the farm house Washington used and the route the army used to leave the area as stops on our bus tour," Mr. Lucey said.
Activities in Monroe on June 27 are tentatively scheduled to run from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.
There will be historians playing the roles of George Washington, James Monroe (an army captain at the time of the battle) and Molly Pitcher.
On the eve of battle, Gen. Washington stayed in a comfortable farmhouse (that no longer exists) on Gravel Hill, near what is now the intersection of Prospect Plains and Hoffman Station roads, while the main body of troops was in an area bounded by Union Valley Road.
The Monroe Township Historic Preservation Commission and Township Historian John Katerba have been working for more than a year in preparation for the June 27 encampment.
The commission’s encampment subcommittee, charged with getting the project started, is chaired by Marcia Kirkpatrick, a former Jamesburg councilwoman who now lives in Rossmoor.
Serving on Ms. Kirkpatrick’s committee are commission members Mr. Lucey, Warren B. Barnes, Laura McIntyre and Mr. Katerba.
Another Monroe resident, Renee Hobbs, is the creative consultant for the group.
Monroe’s encampment will be part of a June 21-29 campaign that will have re-enactors following the routes of the British and American forces from Pennsylvania to Monmouth.
The British group will leave the Philadelphia area on June 21 and travel through Haddonfield, Evesham, Mt. Holly, Columbus, Crosswicks and Allentown.
Washington’s army will leave its base in Valley Forge on June 21 and retrace a route through Lambertville, Hopewell, Montgomery, Franklin Township, South Brunswick, Cranbury and Monroe.
The Battle of Monmouth began when Washington decided to attack the British army, which was retreating from Philadelphia across New Jersey to New York.
Historian Harold E. Selesky of the University of Alabama said it was the test of his army that Washington was looking for a day-long fight in the open fields near Monmouth Courthouse.
After the battle, the British army slipped away to Sandy Hook where the British navy was waiting to take it to New York.
British Gen. Henry Clinton succeeded in keeping his army intact, but the Americans displayed their growing ability and professionalism in holding the field against the highly trained and disciplined British units.

