St. John’s Church and Cemetery

St. John's Episcopal Church
76 Market St.
Map / Directions to St. John's Episcopal Church
Map / Directions to all Revolutionary War Sites in the town of Salem

British Occupation of Salem - March 1778 [1]
St. John's Church was Damaged in the Occupation

In March 1778, Salem was occupied by about 1500 British and Loyalist troops under the command of Colonel Charles Mawhood. Loyalist troops were Americans who sided with and fought for the British in the Revolutionary War.

Mawhood's objective was to confiscate cattle, hay, and corn to bring across the Delaware River to Philadelphia, which was controlled by the British from September 26, 1777 until June 18, 1778.

Local citizens moved some of the cattle south of Salem, past Alloways Creek to keep it from the British. Alloways Creek extends about thirty miles inland from the Delaware River, creating a natural southern boundary that could only be crossed at three bridges in the area: Hancock's Bridge, Quinton's Bridge, and Thompson's Bridge. Salem and Cumberland County militiamen took positions at the bridges to stop the British from moving past them.

On May 18th, the British made an attack on at Quinton's Bridge in which seventeen militiamen were killed, but the militia held the bridge, preventing the British from passing.

On the 21st, the British made an attack at the site of Hancock's Bridge, and massacred militiamen by bayoneting them in their sleep in a nearby house. Later that day, British Colonel Mawhood sent a letter to Militia Colonel Elijah Hand, threatening reprisals against the property of local militiamen if the militia did not stand down. Seventeen men were singled out by name in the letter. When the militia did not stand down, Mawhood's troops did carry out the threat and damaged property belonging to some of these men, as well as other buildings in Salem.

St. John's Church was heavily damaged during the occupation. That original church building which stood here during the Revolutionary War was replaced by the current structure in 1838. [2]

Several other buildings which were in Salem during the 1778 British occupation still stand. Some of these buildings are described in the entries below on this page.