Israel Shreve

Israel Shreve (December 24, 1739 – December 14, 1799) was a colonel in the 2nd New Jersey Regiment during the American Revolution. He fought at the Battle of Brandywine and at the Battle of Germantown and wintered at Valley Forge.

Early life

Israel Shreve was born December 24, 1739, in the Shreve family homestead at Mount Pleasant, New Jersey, an old community founded by Quakers. Shreve's father, Benjamin Shreve, and his mother, Rebecca French, were married in the Springfield Township Friends Meeting House on February 23, 1729. Israel was the fifth of their eight children.

Israel married Grace Curtis on February 27, 1760, at a Quaker meeting in Burlington County, New Jersey. On April 8, 1762, Grace gave birth to John. After she died in 1771, Israel married Mary Cokely on May 10, 1773, in Philadelphia. Grace gave birth to four children, and Mary gave birth to seven more. One of these was Henry Miller Shreve, in February 1775.

American Revolutionary War

When the Battle of Bunker Hill occurred on June 17, 1755, Israel Shreve was a farmer living on the "Franklin Park Farm" in Rancocas, New Jersey. After news came of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Israel and his brothers William and Samuel enlisted as officers in the New Jersey State militia. In October 1775, the Continental Congress recommended to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey that two battalions of soldiers be raised for service in the Continental Army. Israel was appointed lieutenant colonel in the second battalion, under command of Colonel William Maxwell. Also serving in this battalion was Israel's thirteen-year-old son, John.

The 2nd New Jersey Regiment was sent north to relieve Benedict Arnold's attack on Quebec. The regiment arrived in Albany, New York by March 27, 1776, then reached Fort Ticonderoga by April 18. Shreve arrived in Quebec City May 3 under cannon fire from the British. When a British fleet appeared in the Saint Lawrence River, Shreve retreated west with 1,900 Americans. General John Thomas ordered Shreve to take some of the wounded to Sorel, at the juncture of the Richelieu and Saint Lawrence River. By June 11, American forces had been defeated by British troops near Trois-Rivières, Quebec, and they abandoned Sorel on June 14, just three hours before the British arrived. Shreve was back at Fort Ticonderoga June 16, 1776, and remained there until November, when the enlistments for the 2nd New Jersey expired.

By April 1777, Shreve and his regiment were in Princeton, New Jersey. He spent the summer in Reading, Pennsylvania, and returned to service in November 1777. From March to May 1778, Shreve and the 2nd New Jersey were stationed at Haddonfield, New Jersey. In mid-June, the British, now under the command of General Sir Henry Clinton, departed Philadelphia, crossed the Delaware River and began their march in a northeasterly direction across New Jersey. When some of his men burned Shreve's house near Georgetown, Clinton offered a reward of 25 guineas for information on the soldiers' identities. Shreve's 2nd New Jersey followed the British to Monmouth Courthouse, site of the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. Shreve walked over the battlefield after the British had retreated farther north to New York.

The following year Shreve took the 2nd New Jersey on the Sullivan Expedition. They left Easton, Pennsylvania, on June 18, 1779, arriving in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, five days later. They remained in Wyoming more than a month before loading 117 rowboats with 1,200 pack horses and 900 cattle. The regiment reached Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, on August 5 and Tioga Point on August 11. The next day General John Sullivan ordered his combined forces to Chemung, Pennsylvania, west of Tioga Point, where they burned an Indian village and Israel's son, John, witnessed a skirmish with a retreating native tribe; a man standing next to him was killed by musket fire. Both Israel and John Shreve returned to an army fort at Tioga while Sullivan led his command farther west.

In November 1779, Shreve led the 2nd New Jersey Regiment to the Continental Army's winter encampment at Morristown, New Jersey. On June 7, 1780, the British Army under Henry Clinton crossed from Staten Island to New Jersey. On June 23, they came west from Elizabeth, New Jersey

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