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Woodbury, New Jersey Revolutionary War Sites
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REVOLUTIONARY WAR SITES IN WOODBURY, NEW JERSEY

Revolutionary War New Jersey
CORNWALLIS'S HEADQUARTERS MARKER
Cornwallis Headquarters
Woodbury New Jersey in the Revolutionary War

Cornwallis's Headquarters Marker
Next to the Hunter-Lawrence-Jessup House
58 North Broad St.
Map / Directions to the Cornwallis's Headquarters Marker
Map / Directions to all Woodbury Revolutionary War Sites

After the Battle of Red Bank, which occurred three miles from here on October 22, 1777, some seriously wounded Hessian soldiers were sent to Woodbury. (Hessians were German mercenary soldiers who fought for the British during the Revolutionary War.) They were cared for at the Friends Meeting House (See next entry) and the Deptford School House, which stood at the site where the Woodbury Public Library is now located. Those that died were buried in a strangers burial ground on nearby Wood Street. That cemetery was condemned circa 1915, and the remains and stones were moved two-and-a-half miles from here to the Old Deptford Strangers Burial Ground. [1]

A month after the Battle of Red Bank, British troops occupied Woodbury, and General Cornwallis set up headquarters on this street across from the Court House at the house of John Cooper from November 21-24, 1777.  Cooper himself was a patriot who was active in Revolutionary War era politics, and he had to flee his home when it was seized by Cornwallis. The Cooper house no longer stands. It was located where the PNC parking lot is, about 100 yards down North Broad St. [2] John Cooper is buried in the Woodbury Friends Meeting House cemetery. (See next entry.)

Revolutionary War New Jersey
WOODBURY FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE
Woodbury Friends House
Woodbury New Jersey in the Revolutionary War

Woodbury Friends Meeting House
124 North Broad St.
Map / Directions to the Woodbury Friends Meeting House
Map / Directions to all Woodbury Revolutionary War Sites

In the fall of 1777, during the period before and after the Battle of Red Bank which took place three miles from here, the building was occupied by soldiers of both sides. [3]

During the months before the Battle of Red Bank, the Woodbury Friends Meeting House was occupied at times by American militia. The Diary of Job Whitall, a Quaker who lived in the area and attended this meeting house, mentions several occasions.
(Note that his spelling, grammar and capitalization have not been corrected or modernized)

August 8, 1777 - "There was a number of ye militia came in to Woodberry & took possession of our Meetinghouse by geting open one of ye shutters, pushing open ye window & going in thereat."

August 15, 1777 - "Ye Soldiers come back this day & went in to ye Meeting hous."

September 19, 1777 - "Ye Militia had fild our Meetinghouse & schoolhous & several other houses ye forepart of this week."

After the Battle of Red Bank, the Meeting House was used as a Hospital for wounded Hessians. [4]

A month after the battle, British troops occupied the meeting house. Job Whitall's diary entry for November 30, states, "My wife & I went to Meeting at Woodbury in ye Meetinghous for ye first time since ye [British] soldiers had left. [5]


John Cooper is buried in the meeting house's cemetery. (See Cornwallis's Headquarters Marker entry above.)

Revolutionary War New Jersey
HUNTER-LAWRENCE-JESSUP HOUSE MUSEUM
Historic Sites in Woodbury, NJ

Hunter-Lawrence-Jessup House
58 North Broad St.
Map / Directions to the Hunter-Lawrence-Jessup House
Map / Directions to all Woodbury Revolutionary War Sites

For hours and admission information, see the
Hunter-Lawrence-Jessup House Museum Webpage

This house was built in 1765. From 1792 to 1798, it was the home of the Reverend Andrew Hunter, a Greenwich Tea Burner and an army chaplain in the Revolutionary War.  It was also later home to James Lawrence of “Don’t Give Up The Ship! ” fame from the War of 1812. [6]

The Hunter-Lawrence-Jessup House is now used as a museum by the Gloucester Historical Society. The museum has exhibits relating to the history of Gloucester County and Southern New Jersey, including the Revolutionary War era.   


Revolutionary War New Jersey

Source Notes:

1. ^ The sign was erected by the New Jersey Commission on Historic Sites.

• Identification of the headquarters as at the home of John Cooper can be found:
George Reeser Prowell, The History of Camden County, New Jersey (Philadelphia; L.J.Richards & Co., 1886) p. 413 / Available to be read at Google Books Here
and in a 1964 New Jersey Historical Society pamphlet titled Historic Woodbury, which is available as a PDF Here

Regarding John Cooper's Revolutionary Era political career, Cooper's bio on the Biographical Dictionary of The United States Congress reads:
"Cooper, John, a Delegate from New Jersey; born near Woodbury, Gloucester County, N.J., February 5, 1729; received a liberal education; member of the committee of correspondence for Gloucester County in 1774; member of the Provincial Congress in 1775 and 1776 and served on the committee that drafted the first constitution of New Jersey; appointed by the Provincial Congress treasurer of the western division of New Jersey and served from October 28, 1775, to August 31, 1776; served on the legislative council from Gloucester County 1776-1780 and 1784; elected to the Continental Congress in 1776, but did not attend; member of the State council of safety in 1778; elected judge of the pleas for Gloucester County courts on December 25, 1779; reelected in 1784, and served until his death in Woodbury, N.J., April 1, 1785; interment in Quaker Cemetery."

2. ^ Frank H. Stewart, Notes on Old Gloucester County New Jersey - Historical Records Published by the New Jersey Historical Society of Pennsylvania Volume 1 (Camden NJ; Sinnickson Chew & Sons Company, 1917) p. 49 and p. 271
Available to be online at Google Books Here

3. ^ Job Whitall, transcribed by Florence DeHuff Friel, The Diary of Job Whitall, Gloucester County, 1775-1779 (Woodbury, NJ: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1992) pages 71, 72 and 76

4. ^ Frank H. Stewart, Notes on Old Gloucester County New Jersey - Historical Records Published by the New Jersey Historical Society of Pennsylvania Volume 1 (Camden NJ; Sinnickson Chew & Sons Company, 1917) p. 49
Available to be read at Google Books here

5. ^ Job Whitall, transcribed by Florence DeHuff Friel, The Diary of Job Whitall, Gloucester County, 1775-1779 (Woodbury, NJ: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1992) page 87

6. ^ The Hunter House article in the Historic Sites section of the Gloucester County NJ website