REVOLUTIONARY WAR SITES IN HOLMDEL, NEW JERSEY

Holmes-Hendrickson House
62 Longstreet Rd.
Map / Directions to the Holmes-Hendrickson House

For information about visiting the Holmes-Hendrickson House, see the Monmouth County Historical Association website

Lieutenant Garrett Hendrickson [1]

At the time of the Revolutionary War, this was the home of Garrett Hendrickson, a wealthy and prominent local citizen. Hendrickson served as a Lieutenant in the 1st Regiment of the Monmouth County Militia.

As an officer in the Monmouth County militia, much of Hendrickson's wartime experience involved fighting against Loyalist raids. Loyalists were Americans who remained loyal to the British in the Revolutionary War. Violence between Loyalists and those who supported Independence happened throughout many parts of New Jersey, but Monmouth County was a particular hotspot for this type of fighting. Raiding parties of Loyalists (also called Tories) attacked Monmouth County many times.

On May 27, 1778, a large group of Loyalists raided nearby Matawan (then called Middletown Point). Local militiamen, including Garrett Hendrickson, responded and fought with the raiding party. Hendrickson was wounded during the fighting when he was shot in the hand. (For more about the May 27, 1778 raid, see the Burrowes Mansion entry on the Matawan page.) [2]

Hendrickson was again wounded by a different party of Loyalist raiders in June 1780; he suffered a gunshot to his ear and a sword wound to his arm. Due to these wounds, he retired from the militia. [3]

On February 8, 1782, another group of Loyalist raiders captured Garrett Hendrickson at this house, and also captured eight or nine other local residents. A newspaper article several days later reported: [4]

"[The raiders] visited the houses of sundry persons in the neighbourhood, from whence they took off upwards of twenty horses, five sleighs, which they loaded with plunder, and eight or nine prisoners.... At Garret Hendrickson's, having entered the house and made him prisoner, they went to the barn to take his horses and sleigh. In the mean time, two young men, his son and one William Thomson, who slept in the second story of the house, being awaked by the noise below, secreted themselves till the enemy were gone to the barn, and then came down, escaped and went to the house of Capt. John Schenck, of Col. Holmes's regiment, whom they alarmed about an hour and a half before day."

Captain Schenck and some militiamen pursued the raiders and some fighting ensued. Hendrickson either escaped during the fighting, or was held prisoner for a short time after. The Revolutionary War officially ended a little over a year later.

With this history, it is not surprising that Hendrickson was unforgiving towards the Loyalists after the war ended; in 1787, he signed a petition that called Loyalists "atrocious monsters of wickedness." [5]

 

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The House was Moved from its Original Location in 1965

The Holmes-Hendrickson House was originally located about a mile from here on Crawford's Corner Road. The property was acquired by Bell Labs in 1929, and in 1965 they moved the house to its current location. [6] It is now operated by the Monmouth County Historical Association.

Source Notes:

1. ^ In addition to the primary sources listed in source notes 2 - 5, information for this section was drawn from:

• Michael Adelberg, The American Revolution in Monmouth County: The Theatre of Spoil and Destruction (Charleston, SC; The History Press) Pages 88-89

• Michael Adelberg, The American Revolution in Monmouth County: Notes to Accompany the Book and Additional Essay (For the Monmouth County Historical Association, November 2010) Pages 2-4.   (Adelberg includes a large list of sources for his information beginning on the bottom of page 3).
Available to be read here

• William S. Stryker, Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War (Trenton: Wm. T. Nicholson & Co., 1872)  Pages 437
Available to be read at Google Books here

2. ^ "We are informed that on Wednesday morning last," New Jersey Gazette, Volume 1, No. 27, June 3, 1778, as reprinted in:
Francis B. Lee, editor, Archives of the State of New Jersey, Second Series, Vol II (Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey / Extracts from American Newspapers relating to New Jersey) (Trenton: John L. Murphy Publishing Company, 1903) Page 237
Available to be read at the Internet Archive here
 ▸ Contains an account of the May 27, 1778 raid.

3. ^ "Extract of a letter from Monmouth county, dated June 22, 1780,"The New-Jersey Journal, Vol. 2, Numb. 72, July 5, 1780, reprinted in:
William Nelson, editor, Archives of the State of New Jersey, Second Series, Vol II (Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey / Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey) (Trenton: State Gazette Publishing Company, 1914) Pages 456-457
Available to be read at the Internet Archive here
 ▸ Contains an account of the  June 21, 1780 raid.

4. ^ "We hear from Monmouth that on Friday evening...," New Jersey Gazette, Vol. V., No 216, Feb 13, 1782, reprinted in:
Austin Scott, Editor, Archives of the State of New Jersey, Second Series, Vol. V. (Trenton, Star Gazette Publishing Company, 1917) Pages 372 - 373
Available to be read at the Internet Archive here.

5. ^ Petition Against the Return of Tories, April 10, 1787, New Jersey State Archives, Collective Series, Revolutionary War Documents, #147,
Referenced and quoted in:
Michael Adelberg, The American Revolution in Monmouth County: Notes to Accompany the Book and Additional Essay (For the Monmouth County Historical Association, November 2010) Page 3
Available to be read here

6. ^ Lee Cook, "Holmes-Hendrickson House sets Mood for Film on Colonial NJ," Asbury Park Sunday Press, July 23, 1967, Page 28