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The Traditional Story
(Found in most General History Books, when it is mentioned at all)
This excerpt is from New Jersey, America's Main Road, by John
T. Cunningham
"The war in New Jersey took a more devious turn when Clinton
transferred his seat of operations to Southern states. Privateers based in
southern New Jersey carried the war to British shipping, sailing out of
Barnegat Bay and Little Egg Harbor to hunt down merchant vessels off the
coast. Their captured cargoes brought prosperity to Toms River and
Tuckerton and a small privateer boom town arose at the forks of the
Mullica River. By midsummer of 1778 no British merchant ship was safe off
the Jersey coast without armed escort.
The Crown's officers decided in October to subdue
these "nests of pirates" and chose Chestnut Neck on Great Bay
(near modern Atlantic City) as the spot to teach a lesson. Some 800
British troops overwhelmed the Chestnut Neck defenders on October 6, 1778,
and proceeded up the Mullica River toward the several ironworks within the
pinelands. Hastily recruited woodlands volunteers tore into the Redcoats
next day and sent them streaming back to Chestnut Neck"
Now, in most cases, I really adore the writing of John Cunningham, but
he has really missed the big story here. Partially, I am sure, because he
was mainly a historian of North Jersey and dabbled a little in South
Jersey history.
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