Captain Benjamin Laing's Company, First Regiment, Essex County Militia

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Essex, New Jersey, United States

Contents 1 Captain Benjamin Laing's Company, First Regiment, Essex County Militia 2 Members of Captain Laing’s Company 3 Revolutionary War Service 3.1 Muster Rolls 3.2 Pay Rolls 4 Blue Hills Militia Post at Plainfield 5 Revolutionary War Historic Sites 6 Sources

Captain Benjamin Laing's Company, First Regiment, Essex County Militia

Benjamin Laing served as a Captain in the First Regiment, Essex County Militia, New Jersey.^[1]

Members of Captain Laing’s Company

The Revolutionary War service for Members of Captain Laing’s Company, First Regiment, Essex County Militia, New Jersey are documented in some of the sources noted below. A list of names of some of the people who served in his company can be compiled from those sources.

Revolutionary War Service

Members of the company were in service at the events listed below, which are documented in the service record for Captain Benjamin Laing of the First Essex Militia.^[1] Additional research is needed to determine which members of the company were present at each these events.

• June 26, 1777 Battle of Short Hills
• October 1, 1777 in service at Elizabethtown under Colonel Samuel Potter (55 men)
• December 1, 1777 in service at Elizabethtown under Major Jacob Crane (98 men)
• May 23, 1778 in service at Elizabethtown and Tremley's Point under Brigadier General William Winds and Colonel Silvanus Seely (64 men)
• June 28, 1778 Battle of Monmouth
• July 2, 1778 in service at alarm in Essex County
• October 8, 1778 in service at alarm
• October 10, 1778 in service at Tremley's Point
• June 7, 1780 Battle of Connecticut Farms
• June 23, 1780 Battle of Springfield
• June 26, 1780 in service at Springfield
• December 3, 1780, to January 1, 1781 in service

Muster Rolls

22 Sep 1777 - Muster of Captain Laing’s Company, First Regiment, Essex County Militia, New Jersey

Pay Rolls

3 Dec 1780 to 1 Jan 1781 - Pay Roll of Captain Laing’s Company, First Regiment, Essex County Militia, New Jersey

Blue Hills Militia Post at Plainfield

A militia post was built between late 1776 and early 1777 on the property of Cornelius Vermeule in the area of present-day Green Brook Park in Plainfield, New Jersey.^[2] A map showing the location of the militia post and nearby property owners shows the proximity of Captain Laing and several members of his company to the militia post.^[3]

The militia post was located on what was then called the Scotch Plains–Quibbletown road. It was strategically important in protecting the Quibbletown Gap in the Watchung Mountains leading to Washington's camps at Middlebrook and Morristown. People stationed there were mainly from the Essex County, Morris County, and Somerset County Militia. They responded to alarms in the surrounding area and often served under the command of the Continental Army.^[2]

George Washington and the Continental Army were in the area of the militia post shortly before and during the Battle of Short Hills. There is a documented account of George Washington viewing the Battle of Short Hills from Washington Rock, located nearby.^[2][4]

Revolutionary War Historic Sites

Below is a list of historic sites associated with some battles in which the company fought:

• Battle of Short Hills
  
• Battle of Monmouth
  
• Battle of Connecticut Farms
  
• Battle of Springfield
  

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Revolutionary war index : a compilation of Revolutionary war slips and documented materials from other sources, FamilySearch Catalog with access restricted to FamilySearch Center (formerly Family History Center) or FamilySearch Affiliate Library. Original data: New Jersey State Archives. Dept: Genealogical Society. Rec: Revolutionary War Index. Benjamin Laing.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Radice, Ryan. “For the Defense of the Liberties and Independence of the United States”: Remembering a Forgotten Militia Post and Quasi-War Cantonment in Plainfield, New Jersey (Part 1 of 2). New Jersey Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Volume 8, Number 2 (2022): Summer 2022. Online archive. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14713/njs.v8i2.286
3. ↑ Vermeule, Cornelius C. The Revolutionary Camp Ground at Plainfield, New Jersey An Address Delivered before Continental Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, January 9, 1923. New York: The Evening Post Job Printing Office, Inc. Online archive. https://plainfieldlibrarynj.org/pdf/LH/RevolutionaryCampGroundPlainfield-Vermeule1923.pdf
4. ↑ New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Washington Rock State Park Overview, https://nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/parks/washingtonrockstatepark.html : Accesssed 8 April 2023.