Oak Tree Rd. and Plainfield Rd.
Edison, NJ 08820
Yesterday, I stopped by the Oak Tree Pond Historic Park in Edison, NJ. This site is associated with the Oak Tree Engagement and the Battle of Short Hills during the American Revolution. The site is now surrounded by a bank, high school, and convenience store. The Reuben Ayers House sat on this land up until 1968 when it was demolished. This home was looted by both British and Hessian troops during the battle. The barn that sat on the property was burned down by British and Hessian troops on the day of the Oak Tree Engagement.
Below is a short write up from the Crossroads of the American Revolution website, along with some photos I took yesterday:
"The Oak Tree Engagement was a series of fierce skirmishes during the Battle of Short Hills (June 26, 1777) along Oak Tree Road in present day Edison. Men under Brigadier General Thomas Conway and General William Alexander (Lord Stirling) defended against a numerically superior force that had marched overnight from Woodbridge under General Charles Cornwallis, allowing Washington to secure a defensible position in the Scotch Plains Gap in the first Watchung Mountain. Despite being outnumbered five to one, the American forces successfully held off the main British force before falling back to regroup with the rest of the Continental army in the mountains." (http://www.revolutionarynj.org/the-forage-wars-and-first-middlebrook-encampment/1322707014383f74c5a9ec910a3bf04afcb3bdefb7/)
MW
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