“This battle was fought on the 28th June 1778, and my Regiment was in the latter part of the action.”
– John Hereford
Recreated 2d Virginia Regiment at Monmouth Battlefield State Park, 2008
In the summer of 1777, I enlisted under Lieutenant Erasmus Gill, a recruiting officer belonging to the Second Virginia Regiment, of Infantry of the line, on the Continental establishment, for the term of three years. I marched with the said officer, and under the command of Captain Marcus Calimar [Marquis Calmes], another recruiting officer of the same Regiment, with about one hundred recruits from Leesburg, and joined the American Army near Philadelphia.
I was annexed to Capt. Peyton Harrison’s Company in said Regiment, as Sergeant, and continued as such, during my service in the Regiment. In the winter of 1777-1778, the army took up their winter quarters at the Valley Forge. When the Spring Campaign opened we left our huts and lay in the plains below, on the Schuylkill, until the enemy left Philadelphia.
As soon as the news of their movement arrived in our Camp the whole American Army was put in motion and crossed the Delaware at [?] ferry, as well as my memory serves.
Orders were given to the troops to divest themselves of knap-sacks and blankets in order to go with as much expedition as possible on a fast march to [overtake] the enemy.
The day was [exceptionally] hot and as our march was through a dry, barren sandy coun-try destitute of water, many of our soldiers became exhausted, and fell by the way. Our Army passed through Mount Holley, an English town in the State of New Jersey. The principal action took place between the church and Monmouth Court House, where we [?] the retreating troops under Gen.l Charles Lee.
This battle was fought on the 28th June 1778, and my Regiment was in the latter part of the action. The division to which I belonged, formed near the church. The Re-giment in which I served, was then commanded by Col. Christian Febiger, an old swede, who told me he had been in thirty six actions in Europe and America.
The English having gained the heights of Monmouth, commenced a heavy fire from their artillery, which was returned by Col. Harrison of Virginia, commanding our artillery — We lay on the field of battle that night, and on the next day, buried the dead of both armies. The British having made their escape during the night, our army took up the line of March, for the heights of Brunswick, and lay their some time.
Pension application of John Hereford
The 2d Virginia Regiment 