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'{{Infobox person | name = Joshua Huddy | image = Our greater country; being a standard history of the United States from the discovery of the American continent to the present time (1901) (14782586454).jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = Captain Huddy led from prison to be hanged. | birth_name = | birth_date = November 8, 1735 | birth_place = [[Salem County, New Jersey|Salem County]], [[Province of New Jersey]] | death_date = April 12, 1782 | death_place = [[Monmouth County, New Jersey|Monmouth County]], Province of New Jersey | death_cause = Execution by [[hanging]] | resting_place = [[Old Tennent Cemetery]], [[Manalapan Township, New Jersey|Manalapan]], [[New Jersey]] | resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|40.2838735|-74.3261134|display=inline}} | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = [[Privateer]] | module = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes |allegiance= {{flag|United States|1782}} |branch= |serviceyears= 1777-1782 |rank= Captain |commands = Monmouth Militia |battles= [[American Revolutionary War]] }} | spouse = {{Marriage|Mary Borden|1764|1771|reason=died}}<br>{{Marriage|Catherine Applegate|1778|1782|reason=died}} | children = 2 | signature = | signature_size = }} '''Joshua "Jack" Huddy''' (November 8, 1735{{spaced ndash}}April 12, 1782) was a captain in the Monmouth militia and of the [[privateer]] ship ''The Black Snake'' during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Following his capture, Huddy was controversially executed by irregular [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] forces in 1782.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Hoock|first=Holger|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/953617831|title=Scars of independence : America's violent birth|date=2017|isbn=978-0-8041-3728-7|edition=1st|location=New York|pages=336–357|oclc=953617831}}</ref> His execution was noted for precipitating one of the first international incidents of the newly independent [[United States]]. To retaliate for Huddy's execution, many [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]] petitioned for the retaliatory execution of a captive British officer, Charles Asgill, which would have violated the terms of the [[Siege of Yorktown|Articles of Capitulation]].<ref name=":0" /> This came to be known as the "[[Asgill Affair]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanheritage.com/melancholy-case |title=A Melancholy Case|accessdate=21 August 2019}}</ref> The [[Kingdom of France]], allies of the US, put pressure on the Americans to show the officer mercy. The [[Congress of the Confederation]] voted to order his release. ==Early life== Huddy was born November 8, 1735, to a prosperous family in [[Salem County, New Jersey|Salem County]], [[Province of New Jersey]], the oldest of seven brothers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2018-10-08|title=Joshua Huddy: The Scourge of New Jersey Loyalists|url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/10/joshua-huddy-the-scourge-of-new-jersey-loyalists/|access-date=2022-01-25|website=Journal of the American Revolution|language=en-US}}</ref> His grandfather, Hugh Huddy, was a well-known judge in [[Burlington, New Jersey|Burlington]]. Huddy spent most of his early life in Salem, where he was considered rebellious and a troublemaker. He was disowned by [[Religious Society of Friends|Quakers]] in Salem in 1757 for his "disorderly" conduct.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Saretzky|first=Gary|url=https://www.monmouthcountyclerk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2004-Catalog-Am-Rev-Huddy.pdf|title=The Joshua Huddy Era: Documents of the American Revolution|publisher=Monmouth County Archives|year=2004|location=Manalapan, N.J.}}</ref> His "rough ways" continued into adulthood; he was tried and convicted several times for crimes including assault and theft and repeatedly had financial difficulties. He was forced to sell a 300-acre (1.2&nbsp;km²) plantation in Salem to pay his debts and was forced into debtor's prison for a time.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Saretzky|first=Gary|url=https://www.monmouthcountyclerk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2004-Catalog-Am-Rev-Huddy.pdf|title=The Joshua Huddy Era: Documents of the American Revolution|publisher=Monmouth County Archives|year=2004|location=Manalapan, N.J.}}</ref> In 1764, he married his first wife, the widowed Mary Borden, by whom he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Martha, before her death.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lurie |first1=Maxine N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_r9Ni6_u0JEC&dq=%22Joshua+Huddy%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA392 |title=Encyclopedia of New Jersey |last2=Lurie |first2=Maxine |last3=M.D |first3=Michael Siegel |last4=Mappen |first4=Marc |date=2004 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3325-4 |language=en}}</ref> In the 1770s, Huddy moved to [[Colts Neck Township, New Jersey|Colts Neck]] in [[Monmouth County, New Jersey|Monmouth County]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Saretzky|first=Gary|url=https://www.monmouthcountyclerk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2004-Catalog-Am-Rev-Huddy.pdf|title=The Joshua Huddy Era: Documents of the American Revolution|publisher=Monmouth County Archives|year=2004|location=Manalapan, N.J.}}</ref> There, on October 27, 1778, he married his second wife, Catherine (Applegate) Hart, also a widow and owner of the [[Colts Neck Inn|Colts Neck Tavern]], which she had inherited from her first husband, Levy Hart. Huddy was later accused by the Monmouth County sheriff of trying to steal the tavern from his wife and to force her children out onto the street. He often appeared in civil and criminal court, either as plaintiff or defendant. ==Military career== The outbreak of the [[American Revolution]] saw Huddy align himself with the Patriot cause. On September 4, 1777 he was appointed as a captain in the Monmouth Militia by the [[New Jersey Legislature|New Jersey State Legislature]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Saretzky|first=Gary|url=https://www.monmouthcountyclerk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2004-Catalog-Am-Rev-Huddy.pdf|title=The Joshua Huddy Era: Documents of the American Revolution|publisher=Monmouth County Archives|year=2004|location=Manalapan, N.J.}}</ref> Huddy was a popular and aggressive captain, engaging in the raids and executions that characterized the intense violence within Monmouth County.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Saretzky|first=Gary|url=https://www.monmouthcountyclerk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2004-Catalog-Am-Rev-Huddy.pdf|title=The Joshua Huddy Era: Documents of the American Revolution|publisher=Monmouth County Archives|year=2004|location=Manalapan, N.J.}}</ref> In October 1777 Huddy participated in the execution of Loyalist Stephen Edwards, who was dragged from his home in [[Shrewsbury, New Jersey|Shrewsbury]] before being hanged from an oak tree.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/276340255|title=The other loyalists : ordinary people, royalism, and the revolution in the middle colonies, 1763-1787|date=2009|publisher=State University of New York Press|others=Joseph S. Tiedemann, Eugene R. Fingerhut, Robert W. Venables|isbn=978-1-4384-2590-0|location=Albany|pages=57|chapter="Loyalty is now bleeding in New Jersey" : motivations and mentalities of the disaffected|oclc=276340255}}</ref> Little is known of Huddy's involvement in the [[Philadelphia campaign]].<ref name=":1" /> Huddy and the Monmouth Militia harassed the British as they moved from [[Freehold Borough, New Jersey|Freehold]] to [[Sandy Hook]], where the British Army was transported from New Jersey back to British-occupied [[New York City]]. In August 1780, Huddy was issued a commission to operate a gunboat, ''The Black Snake'', and given a [[letter of marque]] by the [[Second Continental Congress|Continental Congress]] to operate as a privateer.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Saretzky|first=Gary|url=https://www.monmouthcountyclerk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2004-Catalog-Am-Rev-Huddy.pdf|title=The Joshua Huddy Era: Documents of the American Revolution|publisher=Monmouth County Archives|year=2004|location=Manalapan, N.J.}}</ref> One month later, he was captured in his house in Colts Neck at night by 25 Loyalist raiders led by [[Colonel Tye]], a former slave.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Egerton|first=Douglas R.|url=https://archive.org/details/deathorlibertyaf00eger|title=Death or liberty : African Americans and revolutionary America|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-971923-5|location=Oxford|oclc=308566663}}</ref> Huddy and his mistress Lucretia Edmonds held off the attackers in a two-hour-long gun battle, but after the Loyalists set fire to his house, Huddy surrendered on the condition they would extinguish the blaze.<ref>{{cite book|title=Loyal Son| author=Daniel Mark Epstein |pages=330–331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hodges|first=Graham Russell|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34584080|title=Slavery and freedom in the rural North : African Americans in Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1665-1865|date=1997|isbn=0-945612-43-5|edition=1st|location=Madison, Wisconsin|pages=103|oclc=34584080}}</ref> Colonel Tye took the captive Huddy to [[Rumson, New Jersey]], where he was put on a boat to go to British-occupied New York City. However, Patriots on the other side of the [[Shrewsbury River]] fired on the boat, which capsized. Huddy, wounded in the thigh, managed to swim to shore and escape.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Saretzky|first=Gary|url=https://www.monmouthcountyclerk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2004-Catalog-Am-Rev-Huddy.pdf|title=The Joshua Huddy Era: Documents of the American Revolution|publisher=Monmouth County Archives|year=2004|location=Manalapan, N.J.}}</ref> ==Capture and execution== On February 1, 1782, Huddy was given command of the blockhouse, a small fort, at the village of [[Toms River, New Jersey|Toms River]] that was built to protect the local salt works.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Di Ionno|first=Mark|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42022394|title=A guide to New Jersey's Revolutionary War trail for families and history buffs|date=2000|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2000|isbn=0-8135-2769-4|location=New Brunswick, NJ|pages=87|oclc=42022394}}</ref> The salt was needed to cure meat destined for American troops, and the Toms River was an important launch point for Patriot privateers. On March 24, a large irregular force of approximately 80 Associated [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]], an organization headed by [[William Franklin]], overwhelmed Huddy's small band of defenders and took the fort.<ref name=":1" /> They destroyed the blockhouse, salt works, local mills, and razed all but two houses in the village.<ref name="Reeve">{{Cite web |date=2009-10-21 |title=History of Joshua Huddy Chapter |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021173926/http://geocities.com/captjhuddy/fjhuddy.html |access-date=2022-06-25 |website=web.archive.org}}</ref> As an officer, Huddy was transferred to a military prison ship at New York City.<ref name="Johnson">Benjamin Johnson, [https://www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/general-washington-s-terrible-dilemma-2007-10-01 "General Washington's Terrible Dilemma,"] Massachusetts Historical Society, October 2007, www.masshist.org/</ref> Soon, however, Huddy was removed from British custody by a band of Associated Loyalists, headed by Captain [[Richard Lippincott (Loyalist)|Richard Lippincott]], ostensibly for the purpose of making a [[prisoner exchange]].<ref name=Johnson /> No such exchange was planned, however. Instead, Lippincott's forces took Huddy by boat to Middletown Point, a location on the south coast of [[Sandy Hook Bay]]. They landed on the beach at the foot of the [[Navesink Highlands|Navesink Hills]]. There, on April 12, 1782, they hanged Huddy after they had allowed him to dictate and sign his will.<ref name=Reeve /><ref name=":0" /> In the rounds of retaliation, Huddy's [[summary execution]] by the Loyalists was retaliation for the death in Patriot custody of Loyalist farmer Philip White. The Loyalist executioners left a note pinned to Huddy's body: [[File:Huddy Grave Marker.jpg|left|thumb|[[Cenotaph]] for Jack Huddy. His burial site is in an unknown location on the ground of the [[Old Tennent Church|Old Tennent Churchyard]].]] <blockquote>''We the Refugees having with Grief Long beheld the cruel murders of our Brethren & findg [<nowiki/>[[sic]]] nothing but Such measures Daily carrying into Execution.'' ''We therefore Determine not to suffer without take Vengeance for numerous Cruelties and thus begin and have made use of—Capt. Huddy as the first Object to present to your Views, and further Determine to Hang Man for Man as Long as a Refugee is Left Existing.'' ''Up Goes Huddy for Phillip White.''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maurer |first=C. F. William |title=Forgotten Holiday - Early American Review, Summer/Fall 2008 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7828808/Forgotten_Holiday_Early_American_Review_Summer_Fall_2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Founders Online: From George Washington to John Hanson, 20 April 1782 |url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08207 |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=founders.archives.gov |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>It was reported in a letter to Washington that Huddy maintained his innocence in the death of Phillip White, and the he "should Dye [sic] Innocent, and in a good Cause, and with uncommon Composure of Mind and fortitude prepared Himself for his End"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/default.xqy?keys=FOEA-print-01-02-02-2207|title=From George Washington to John Hanson, 20 April 1782|publisher=Rotunda|accessdate=21 August 2019}}</ref> and that "Capt. Huddy dyed [sic] with the firmness of a Lyon [sic]."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Founders Online: From George Washington to John Hanson, 20 April 1782 |url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08207 |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=founders.archives.gov |language=en}}</ref> The next morning, Patriots found Huddy's body hanging from the gallows, cut it down, and brought it to [[Freehold Township, New Jersey|Freehold]], where they buried him at [[Old Tennent Church]].<ref>{{cite web|title=CAPTAIN HUDDY'S STORY|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njcjhcdr/capt_huddy.html|website=ancestry.com|publisher=The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution|accessdate=31 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Capt Joshua Huddy (unknown-1782) - Find A Grave...|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10468694/joshua-huddy|access-date=2022-01-26|website=www.findagrave.com|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> More than 400 people gathered to protest his execution, and a petition was sent to General [[George Washington]] to demand retribution by execution of a British officer of similar rank if Captain Lippincott was not surrendered.<ref name=Reeve /> Both Washington and the commander of British forces in New York, General [[Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)|Sir Henry Clinton]], condemned the hanging. The British forbade the Board of Loyalists from removing any additional prisoners. Sir [[Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester|Guy Carleton]], Clinton's successor, later abolished the organization. ==Asgill Affair== {{Main|Asgill Affair}} [[File:Asgill-Charles-color.jpg|thumb|right|220 px|Sir Charles Asgill, slated by random lot for execution to avenge the killing of Joshua Huddy.]] Patriotic sentiment ran high following the killing of Huddy. In an effort to avert independent reprisals by the New Jersey militia, Washington agreed to the proposition to select a British [[prisoner of war]] for retaliatory execution.<ref name=Johnson /> Washington issued an order to General [[Moses Hazen]] to select a British prisoner by lot to be hanged in retribution.<ref name=Johnson /> Straws were drawn on May 26, 1782 and a young British officer, [[Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet|Captain Charles Asgill]], drew the short straw. If Lippincott was not turned over to the Patriots for trial, Asgill was to be killed. The situation was complicated by the fact that Asgill and the other British captive officers were protected under the terms of surrender agreed to between British General [[Charles Cornwallis]] and Washington following the [[Siege of Yorktown]] in October of the previous year.<ref name=Johnson /> Executing Asgill would have violated the terms of the surrender and created a black eye for the rebellious colonials who were intent upon establishing an independent nation.<ref name=Johnson /> The British managed to delay Asgill's execution by promising to hold their own [[court-martial]] of Lippincott. The court-martial acquitted and freed Lippincott, finding that he had acted on orders from a civil officer, since the Crown still considered [[William Franklin]] as officially New Jersey's royal governor.<ref>https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/huddy-asgill-affair {{Bare URL inline|date=May 2022}}</ref> Washington turned to an old associate, General [[Benjamin Lincoln]], formerly the second in command of the Continental Army and the acting Secretary of War of the Americans.<ref name=Johnson /> While he and other ranking Continental Army officers continued to favor a retaliatory killing, they urged patience.<ref name=Johnson /> The delay ultimately allowed sufficient time for intercession by the Americans' French allies. The mother of the condemned British captain appealed directly for help to French [[King Louis XVI]] and his wife, [[Marie Antoinette]]. French Foreign Minister [[Comte de Vergennes]] was directed to plead Asgill's case to Washington.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schama|first=Simon|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21036771|title=Citizens : a chronicle of the French Revolution|date=1989|publisher=Viking|isbn=0-670-81012-6|location=London|pages=29|oclc=21036771}}</ref> Catherine Hart, Huddy's widow, also said that she wanted Asgill's life spared since the captain was innocent. Backed by diplomatic pressure to lift the execution order, the military turned the issue over to the [[Congress of the Confederation]] for decision. Asgill was freed by order of Congress passed on November 7, 1782.<ref name=Johnson /> Asgill was issued a pass to British lines and returned to Britain. After the war, Lippincott emigrated to Canada, where the Loyalist was granted 3,000 acres (12&nbsp;km²) by the Crown as a reward for his services to Britain.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gagan|first=David Paul|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/601863856|title=The Denison family of Toronto, 1792-1925|date=1973|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4875-9565-4|location=[Toronto]|oclc=601863856}}</ref> ==Legacy== [[File:Huddy Park.png|253x253px|thumb|right|Huddy Park sign]] Huddy's legacy lives on throughout [[Central New Jersey]], specifically [[Monmouth County, New Jersey|Monmouth County]]. In [[Highlands, New Jersey]], [[Huddy Park]] as well as a street are named after him. A plaque in West Park in [[Rumson, New Jersey]] honors Huddy's escape from the capsized boat he was captured on.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/10/joshua-huddy-the-scourge-of-new-jersey-loyalists/ |title=JOSHUA HUDDY: THE SCOURGE OF NEW JERSEY LOYALISTS |date=8 October 2018 |publisher=Journal of the American Revolution |access-date=7 March 2020}}</ref> Another plaque in [[Colts Neck, New Jersey]] was erected in 1977.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=76469 |title=Capt. Joshua Huddy Historical Marker |website=Historical Marker Database |access-date=7 March 2020}}</ref> There is also a restaurant in Colts Neck, Huddy's Inn, which is situated on the opposite corner of the original [[Colts Neck Inn]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.huddysinn.com/ |title=Huddy's Inn in Colts Neck, New Jersey |website=Huddy's Inn |access-date=22 September 2021}}</ref> There is also a Huddy Park in [[Toms River, New Jersey]], around the location of the original blockhouse. ==See also== * [[Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet|Charles Asgill]] * [[William Franklin]] * [[Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730)|Henry Clinton]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/toms_river_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm "Revolutionary War Sites in Toms River, New Jersey: Joshua Huddy Park,"] Revolutionary War New Jersey, www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/ {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Huddy, Joshua}} [[Category:1735 births]] [[Category:1782 deaths]] [[Category:People from Salem County, New Jersey]] [[Category:People of colonial New Jersey]] [[Category:Patriots in the American Revolution]] [[Category:New Jersey militiamen in the American Revolution]] [[Category:Diplomatic incidents]] [[Category:People disowned by the Quakers]] [[Category:Executed people from New Jersey]] [[Category:People executed by the British military by hanging]] [[Category:18th-century executions of American people]] [[Category:Deaths by hanging]] [[Category:American Revolutionary War executions]] [[Category:Burials at Old Tennent Cemetery]]'