THE VAN VEGHTEN HOUSE - A STATE & NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

On December 6, 1776, Derrick Van Veghten was arrested—effectively kidnapped—at sword point by British forces. This occurred while General Washington and the Continental Army were retreating across New Jersey toward Pennsylvania, just three weeks before the Battle of Trenton. Derrick may have been targeted because he owned property along a strategic roadway and had previously served as county road commissioner.

The incident is described in vivid detail in the diary of Hessian Captain Johann Ewald, who carried out the arrest largely on his own. At the time, Ewald was serving under General Charles Cornwallis, who was stationed in New Brunswick. The following day, a British detachment accompanied by Cornwallis’s mapmaker advanced toward Basking Ridge. Only six days later, British forces captured Continental General Charles Lee at a tavern in Basking Ridge. 

On January 22, 1777, one of the earliest engagements of what became known as the Forage War took place at Van Neste’s Mill on the Millstone River, near the southern boundary of the Van Veghten property. General Philemon Dickinson and approximately 400 militia successfully drove off British troops, capturing 40 wagons, 100 horses, and numerous sheep and cattle the British had seized. 

In April 1777, British forces again made use of the Van Veghten Bridge as part of a flanking maneuver during the Battle of Bound Brook. This battle is reenacted annually each April at the Staats House and Van Horne House.

The following year, Derrick Van Veghten offered his property for use by the Continental Army. During the Middlebrook Encampment of 1778–1779, the house served as headquarters for Quartermaster General Nathanael Greene, at a time when nearly 10,000 Continental officers, soldiers, camp followers, and animals descended on Somerset County.

Portions of the Pennsylvania Line under General Anthony Wayne, who reported to Greene, encamped on Derrick’s fields. These troops arrived late and found no available space in the Watchung Mountains, where the rest of the army was stationed. A small remnant of the mountain encampment is preserved today by the Washington Camp Ground Association, and it was there that the official flag of the new United States was first flown. Wayne’s troops remained on the south side of the Raritan River during the winter layover, in what is now the town of Manville. A historic marker at the Manville Public Library commemorates this encampment, and the town’s Complain Street is believed to be a corruption of its original name, Camp Lane.

After the winter encampment at Valley Forge, General Washington appointed Greene Quartermaster General, a formidable responsibility. Greene oversaw a staff that eventually grew to more than 3,000 and was charged with supplying food and provisions for Continental troops throughout the Mid-Atlantic and New England, as well as approximately 3,000 prisoners captured at the Battle of Saratoga. British forces controlled the Atlantic’s navigable waterways and were encamped in New Brunswick along the Raritan River. New Jersey had been devastated during the previous winter’s Forage War skirmishes, leaving few local resources. As a result, supplies had to be transported overland from the west. Greene himself had recommended Middlebrook as the site for the winter encampment, as it reduced supply transport by at least two days.

The winter also provided opportunities for social interaction among officers, their families, and staff. While residing at the Van Veghten House, General Greene wrote to his friend and supply agent Jeremiah Wadsworth on March 17, 1779, describing “a pretty little frisk” held at the house a few days earlier. He noted that General Washington danced with Mrs. Greene for “upwards of three hours without seting [sic] down.” When spring campaigns began and the army departed, the Greenes presented Mrs. Van Veghten with a mahogany tea table in appreciation of the family’s hospitality. Unfortunately, the Society retains only a photograph of the table.

Revolutionary War activity at the site did not end there. In later years, British Lieutenant John Simcoe, during his notorious second raid, burned the Dutch Reformed Church built by Michael Van Veghten, Sr. Still later, French General Rochambeau and his troops marched past the house on their way to Yorktown, Virginia. As a result, the Van Veghten House is recognized as a “witness site” along the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail, administered by the National Park Service. This trail extends more than 700 miles through nine states. A marker identifying the route can be found just before the house’s driveway.