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Military Record of Reuel Sayre

Armerican Revolution Veteran

On August 3, 1776, Reuel Sayre volunteered in the Salem County, New Jersey Militia. The local population was about equally split in their loyalities. Some were for independence, others fro the Crown. The Quakers remained neutral. The vilunteers who were loyal to the King were issued smart green uniforms and promised steady payment each month. They marched off to join the thousands of trained soldiers from Briain and Scotland who sported red coats. The Rebels had no such incentive. They served Washington's forces only because of their fervor to break the bonds with England. Local Rebels formed a home militia to protect the area in the event of an attack. The British forces in the area numbered from 1,500 to several thousand in their Red Coats and Green uniforms. When the British warships, the Roebuck and Liverpool came up the Delaware River to procure cattle to provision their troops, Reuel and his brother, Joseph, were among the volunteers who went out to guard the cows so the British didn't eat them. The cows were later rounded up and moved Valley Forge where they were desperately needed for Washington's troops to survive.

The first skirmish Reuel participated in was at Petticoat Bridge. On the 19th of December 1776. the British received reports that an American force of nearly 3,000 men were gathering. A Hessian outpost stationed at Petticoat Bridge was attacked by Reuel's American detachment of some 400 men. Hidden amidst the trees south of Petticoat Bridge, they appeared to be many morewhen they openedfire on the advancing Hessian troops. The Hessian's, many of them wounded, fled convinced that a much larger American force was on the way.

After Petticoat Bridge the Militia marched to Trenton to join the Army under General Washington. Then they marched to Princeton, and from there to Bordentown where they remained about a month. From there they went into Winter quarters at Morristown. In the fall of 1777 Reuel was Lieutenant of the Company. Reuel and his brother, Joseph, were quartered first at Woodberry, New Jersey, then marched to Philadelphia and quartered in the State House. When the British took possession of Philadelphia they marched to German Town and crossed the Delaware River to the Jersey shore.Reuel and his brothers did not always serve together. They were called out often for a month or mroe buttook turns staying home to help their father with the farming and to help their mother. Reuel stated in his pension application that after he served five months as Lieutenant he was chosen Captain but did no actual service as Captain.

The most remarkable part of Reuel's war record concerened the Hancock Bridge Massacre. His unit had commandeered the home of Quaker William Hancock. Judge Hancock's home located within 300 yards of the bridge, had two large rooms below, two bedrooms above, and unfinished attic with two dormer windows facing the creek. There were 20 to 30 Rebels stationed there on the night of March 21, 1778, guards were set at the bridge. A warning shot would bring aid. Guards were set at the doors of the house full of soldiers, the Rebel troops needed sleep and felt safe in taking it. The weary soldiers expected trouble, but not at night. They underestimated the British who arrived in the area by ship. They proceeded on foot and the detail sent ahead silently bayoneted the bridge guards before they could pick up their rifles to to fire a warning shot. No sound was heard and the enemy circled the house; half went in the front, the others to the rear.
They forced their way in, bayoneting the guards and stabbing the Rebel Soldiers, some of whom before the war had been their friends and neighbors. They even killed Judge Hancock and his brother who were Quakers and neutral. The only retreat was to the attic where the
men were slain or badly wounded. No gun was fired, no sound of ammunition exploding alarmed the little village. In all twenty were killed and ten or twelve others sustained terrible wounds. Only Reuel Sayre escaped. Joseph Sayre and his father's French boy age 12 or 13 were bayoneted and left in the field. Joseph was then taken prisoner and remained in captivity in the "Sugar House" Prison in New York where hundreds of American POW's died of starvation and disease. Joseph survivied, lived in Pennsylvania and eventually moved to Clark County, Ohio. Their oldest brother Abbot was also wounded at Hancock's Bridge, brother Reuben was killed there. The Hancock house still stands as memorial to those who fought and died there in the worst massacre of the Revolutionary War. Blood remains on the attic floor.

References and resources:

1. Heritage Quest

2. Sayre Family: Lineage of Thomas Sayre a founder of Southampton, Theodore M. Banta.
New York 1901, Reprinted by Goodspeed's Book Shop, Boston 1981.

3. Reuel Sayre's application for Pension Files in Perry County, Ohio November 9, 1832

4. Affidavit dated October 29, 1833, filed in Clark County, Ohio by Joseph Sayre
brother of Reuel details of their service in the Revolutionary War.

5. Salem County in the Revolution by Frank H. Stewart, Salem County Historical
Society, Salem, New Jersey, 1967

6. Various Web sites - This Day in History: March 21, 1778
                                   Sugar House Prison WIndow
                                   Massacre at Hancock's Bridge
                                   Petticoat Bridge Skirmish
                                   The story of the Hancock House