70. Battle of the Short Hills at Oak Tree Traditional Cache

The Battle of the Short Hills engagement was one of four near continuous skirmishes, The Oak Tree Engagement of June 26, 1777 took place in Edison Township.

In March 1776, British General Sir William Howe having been expelled from Boston descended on New York City that summer. In August 1776, after being defeated by British troops at the Battle of Brooklyn, General George Washington and the American troops retreated onto Manhattan Island. Then the American forces were driven from Fort Washington and across the Hudson River at Fort Lee. The British attacked Fort Lee succeeded in forcing The American to retreat across New Jersey onto the Pennsylvania side and the safety of the Delaware River.

However, Washington's army struck back December 1776 and reversed the course of the War after winning the battles of Trenton and Princeton. During the winter and inter and spring of 1777, Washington made his headquarters in Morristown. Howe did the same and the British established themselves around New Brunswick. As the winter months progressed, Howe commenced planning for a campaign against the American capital at Philadelphia while American and British troops routinely skirmished in the territory between the encampments.

Between January and late May, Washington sent Major General Benjamin Lincoln and 500 American detachments below the Watchung Mountains south to Bound Brook with the goal of collecting intelligence and protecting farmers in the area. There his troops engaged elements of the British Army who were posted between New Brunswick and Perth Amboy and raiding the area for food, and livestock, these were forage wars. The Americans, in a series of hit-and-run engagements, struck numerous foraging parties and outposts of Howe's troops. On April 13, Lincoln was attacked by Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis and forced to retreat. By late May 1777, an effort to better assess British intentions, Washington moved most of the American army to the Middlebrook encampment in the Watchung Mountains and from there waited to see what the British Army would do next.

A strong position, the encampment was situated on the south slopes of the first ridge of the Watchung Mountains. From the heights, the Washington could observe British movements on the plains below which stretched back to Staten Island. Unwilling to assault the Americans while they held the high ground, Howe sought to lure them down to the plains below. On June 14, he marched his army Somerset Courthouse (Millstone) on the Millstone River. Only eight miles from Middlebrook he hoped to entice Washington to attack. As the Americans showed no inclination to strike, Howe withdrew after five days and moved back to New Brunswick. Once there, he elected to evacuate the town and shifted his command to Perth Amboy.

By mid-June 1777, General Howe had assembled his main army in the Raritan Valley area of central New Jersey. Intending to destroy Washington's army of 8,000 men and then capture Philadelphia, Howe's forces totaled 17,000. His initial plan was to draw Washington's army down from the safety of the Watchung Mountains and into the open ground near Somerset Courthouse by feigning an overland advance towards the Delaware River. When this failed, Howe pulled back his troops to New Brunswick and began to contemplate his next move which seemed to be the removal of his army from New Jersey.

On the 21st of June, Howe began his withdrawal from his encampment in New Brunswick and appeared to the Americans to be moving towards Staten Island. Believing the British to be abandoning New Jersey in preparation for moving against Philadelphia by sea, Washington ordered Major General William Alexander, Lord Stirling to march towards Perth Amboy with 2,500 men while the rest of the army descended the heights to a new position near Samptown (South Plainfield) and Quibbletown (Piscataway). Washington hoped that Stirling could harass the British rear while also covering the army's left flank. Advancing, Stirling's command assumed a line in the vicinity of Short Hills and Ash Swamp (Plainfield and Scotch Plains). Washington responded by attacking the rear of the moving British forces in Piscataway and Bonhamtown. Washington, against his better judgment moved his headquarters and several American divisions to the plains at Quibbletown (i.e., northern Piscataway). The division of Major General William Alexander, known as Lord Stirling, was posted in advance around Ash Swamp and the Short Hills, then part of Woodbridge Township. A detachment of New Jersey and Virginia troops accompanied by Colonel Morgan's famous Rifle Corps were sent closer to the village of Woodbridge to set up a picket line and observe the British.

On the evening of the 25th, alerted to these movements by an American deserter receiving intelligence that the Americans had moved to the low ground, Howe reversed his march moving quickly with around 11,000 men, divided his army in two and began to launch two-pronged pincer attack against the Americans. Howe sought to crush Stirling and prevent Washington from regaining a position in the mountains. General Charles (Lord) Cornwallis commanding the right column, consisting of around 5,000 troops, left Amboy very early in the morning of June 26th, to travel "the route by Woodbridge to Scotch Plains." Their course from Woodbridge followed present-day Plainfield Road in Metuchen to join the rear of Cornwallis' column. Howe hoped to cutoff the American Army's avenue of retreat and force Washington to battle the British in the open ground of Piscataway and Woodbridge.

The first skirmish of the day came before sunrise west of Woodbridge as Cornwallis' division fell against American pickets near present-day Green Street and Route 1. As the pickets retreated, the sound of firing alerted the American camp, which sent out Brigadier General Thomas Conway's Pennsylvania Brigade of about 700 men to support the pickets. Conway's Brigade (actually led by New Jersey Brigadier General William Maxwell) clashed with the British on the high ground near Oak Tree Road and Wood Avenue but was pushed back due to overwhelming enemy numbers. Following this, Cornwallis continued westerly on Oak Tree Road.

The Oak Tree Engagement began approximately 8:30AM to 9:00AM by the road junction near this marker and continued between New Dover Road and Woodland Avenue. Here, an American detachment under the command of Colonel Charles Armand, known as Ottendorf's Corps attempted to defend against the British onslaught. Armand lost 32 men out of 80 but heroically saved an American cannon while slowing the British advance.

Shortly afterwards, the remaining American forces, consisting of the New Jersey Brigade (approximately 1,000 men and four cannons) under the command of Lord Stirling, gathered near the vicinity of the Short Hills Tavern (near Old Raritan Road and Inman Avenue) and formed a line stretching east (towards Tingley Lane/Rahway Road). The New Jersey Brigade moved south, coming into contact with the combined elite troops of the British and Hessians. Now began the largest engagement of the 26th. The Americans were outnumbered nearly five to one and almost outflanked. However, fighting from hill to hill for close to two hours, they were able to withdraw to Westfield and then onto the Scotch Plains up the "Bloody Gap" into the safety of the First Watchung Mountain.

The battle had cost the Americans nearly 200 casualties and the loss of three valuable French cannons. However, the valiant and successful defensive efforts of the day, including the Oak Tree Engagement were instrumental in providing Washington with the critical time needed to extract his men from Howe's trap and return to the safety of the Watchung Heights.

Certainly, without the success of the Oak Tree Engagement and the Battle of the Short Hills, Washington would not have been able to go on to his later victories and ultimate defeat of the British forces.

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