1776
In North Carolina, the Royal Governor attempted to reassert British rule by mobilizing local Loyalists. This ultimately led to a decisive Patriot victory later in the month, which broke the Loyalist hold in the region and helped prevent a full-scale British invasion of the South for several years.
As General George Washington continued the Siege of Boston, he worked to maintain discipline and supply lines while awaiting the arrival of heavy artillery from Fort Ticonderoga.
British forces were actively preparing to shift their strategic focus toward New York City and coordinating with Loyalists in the southern colonies to suppress the growing rebellion.
1777
Following the brutal ambush at Drake’s Farm in Metuchen just the day before, tensions between Patriot and British forces reached a fever pitch. On February 2, Continental troops under General Adam Stephen were actively responding to the “Metuchen Atrocity”—the bayoneting of seven wounded Americans by British soldiers. This event galvanized the New Jersey militia and led to even more aggressive harassment of British foraging parties.
By this date, George Washington’s strategy of harassing the enemy had successfully bottled up 10,000 British and Hessian troops into a narrow corridor between New Brunswick and Perth Amboy. On February 2, local militia and Continental scouts frequently exchanged fire with British pickets at Quibbletown (now New Market) and Woodbridge, preventing them from securing the hay and livestock needed to sustain their horses through the winter.
While the militia fought in the lowlands, Washington remained at his headquarters in Morristown. On February 2, he continued the difficult task of managing a “vanishing army” as enlistments expired, while simultaneously overseeing the mass inoculation of his troops against smallpox to prevent the disease from destroying his forces before the spring campaign.
During this week in early February, the New Jersey Legislature was meeting at the Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield. They were working to finalize the state’s transition from a colony to an independent state, an essential administrative step taken while much of the state was still a designated “war zone.”