The Patriots 'Long the Shore

The Jersey Coast knew turmoil in those first rebellious wars.
The British cruised the inlet, and kept watch of the shores.
Our Privateersmen, few in strength, had native goods to sell,
but they knew they could be captured, and their boats be burned, as well.
They hid loaded boats in rivers and kept watch from the coves -
if they caught the British napping, or it rained, they made their moves.
Stories of their experiences, for many years they told
of sneaking to the New York Market, and coming back with gold.
But they also climbed to rooftops or stood along the bay
to watch the burning of their boats captured on the way.
For many times they suffered loss of cargoes and their boat,
yet, they were men of courage, for their spirits kept afloat.
The refugees were Loyalists, sympathizers of the crown.
History recalls their havoc wreaked in many coastal towns.
Davenport, a refugee, Toms River was his bounds.
He helped to burn the village, then he roamed to other grounds.
In Forked River, after plundering farm and saltworks of Sam Brown,
he fell by patriot's swivel cannon, when he left Waretown.
They say it happened on a barge, filled with picarroon,
who scattered and hid in the woods, and fled by light of moon.
The saltworks, made by settlers, were important to the day.
They derived the salt they needed from the waters of the bay.
The salt was necessary for their food to be preserved,
but they also made gunpowder from the salt that they reserved.
So, if a refugee found one, he wrecked it, without fail.
In Soper's meadow there was one - and that brings up a tale.
Patriot Joseph Soper, and son Reuben slept in woods,
when notorious Cap'n Bacon came to rob them of their goods.
The Missus and the children didn't have the time to hide,
but she outwitted him from money they had set aside.
Bacon knew Joe had been paid for having built a ship,
so they buried it in two lots - expecting Bacon's trip.
Although he got the least part, he took things they'd liked to keep.
At a massacre in Long Beach, he killed Reuben in his sleep.
It happened sometime after that, Bacon was gunned down.
Soper's shirt became his "winding sheet" when he died near Clamtown.
The Quakers' faith, in those days, kept them from bearing arms.
They served their country their own way, by saltworks and their farms.
Pine robbers took advantage of the hospitality
of the Quakers, who had made their homes in this locality.
When the women cooked the supper, they never knew who'd eat,
for oftentimes, a knock would come; they'd lose their bread and meat.
From the Continental Army, six horsemen rode one day;
from Trenton they had started, and were headed toward Cape May.
Somewhere on the King's Highway, which was a stagecoach route,
they knew they were being followed by riders in pursuit.
So, when they spied a farmhouse here, almost out of sight,
their hopes were high that it would be their refuge for the night.
The owner's name was Camburn; he was glad to do his part,
to put them up and hide them 'til they got a safer start.
The soldiers watched their enemy rush by without a fear,
and hid within their confines, 'til they knew the coast was clear.
Passed down thru' generations, this story has been kept.
I drank tea in the dining room, where the horses slept.
These are the stories I have heard; there must be many more
of the Patriots in the Revolution, here along the shore.

-Lillian Arnold Lopez "Pineylore"

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