(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (gentle music) - [Narrator] Tucked in central New Jersey is a gentle, green stretch of land where monumental history was made.

Here, in the summer of 1778, one of the largest battles of the American Revolution unfolded, where Washington saved his career.

- The Battle of Monmouth for George Washington was do or die.

- [Narrator] Where Continental soldiers showed their strength.

- It proved that the Patriot Army could stand toe to toe with the British, with the best army in the entire world.

- [Narrator] And the myth of Molly Pitcher was born.

- As the first real taste of a woman that was fighting.

- [Narrator] And you can immerse yourself in a pivotal battle of the Revolutionary War.

- To actually experience it physically is an astounding thing.

(cannon blasts) - [Narrator] Where an expansive park, abundant with lush trails, an interactive museum, and historic grounds, let visitors experience the fight for American freedom firsthand.

(cannon blasts) Where a beautiful landscape meets epic history.

"Treasures of New Jersey," Monmouth Battlefield State Park.

(gentle upbeat music) Spanning an expansive 1,800 acres of rolling hills and farmland, Monmouth Battlefield State Park lies on the border of Freehold and Manalapan Townships.

Its meadows and forests preserve a historic battlefield, with farm roads and paths to explore.

- The park has a lot to offer.

Besides the obvious history it has here, you have both wooded areas, nature areas, and you have historic areas.

- [Jesse] We have horseback riding trails, regular trails for hiking, some jogging trails, a place you can ride bikes.

- We have school groups coming through, bird lovers, tree huggers, and, of course, us historians.

So whatever your interests are, either historical or nature, it's here.

- The largest artillery dual of the American Revolution occurs here.

- Because of the variety of terrain and habitats we have, we have a variety of birds and small animals that do roam in the park.

We even have a beaver that's built a little dam for us, just to make it interesting around here.

(gentle upbeat music) - [Narrator] Along with miles of nature trails, the park features acres of fruit orchards, where visitors can pick their own seasonal produce, much like people did in colonial times.

- I think people are surprised that a battle took place here.

A lot of times you hear people say, "Oh, I've lived here my whole life and never knew this was here."

Meanwhile, it's one of the largest battles of the American Revolution.

I think people are blown away that something so significant in New Jersey and American history took place right in their backyards.

(upbeat patriotic music) - [Narrator] The park's green grounds look much like they did almost 250 years ago, when this farming community became the epicenter of one of the most brutal clashes of the Revolutionary War.

The expansive grounds and Visitor Center tell the story of this historic battle.

- It occurred on June 28th, 1778, the exact middle period of the Revolution War, which started in April of 1775 at Lexington and Concord.

And the fighting continued until Yorktown in 1781.

So just like Gettysburg is the middle of the Civil War and everybody goes there, Monmouth is the middle of the Revolution.

- In June of 1778, the British Army is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and George Washington's army in Valley Forge.

Both of those armies have gotten news of the new French alliance.

The British Army decide to retreat to New York; George Washington is hot on their heels.

And those two armies converge here at Monmouth Court House on one of the hottest days of the year, June 28th, 1778.

- [Narrator] Washington sends General Lee, one of his commanders, to lead the first attack on the British.

- I think the Battle of Monmouth is one of the greatest soap operas.

We have this figure, General Lee.

He is a huge critic of General Washington, and he's the second-in-command.

And secretly, I think, he was hoping to have Washington's position.

And so here he is.

He's in charge of trying to do the first wave of assault, and he fails.

He fails miserably.

- [Narrator] Lee is overwhelmed by the British counterattack and calls for a retreat.

Washington rides up and finds Lee's troops running from the British.

- We're near the location of the Point of Woods.

This area is where Washington finally finds Lee.

Washington's able to possess the situation, determines what needs to happen, orders Lee to take the rest of his men back to The Hedgerow, form a defensive position, and lay an ambush for the British soldiers as they follow Lee.

And here, you're gonna have a lot of nasty hand-to-hand combat.

- [Narrator] Washington commands Lee to hold off the British for as long as they can along the line of fence.

- [David] There's a line called The Hedgerow that runs through the middle of the battlefield.

It was a convenient place for troops to line up and fight.

It changed hands seven times during the battle.

- At this point, the Americans are outnumbered.

They're not here to win the battle right here.

They're here to slow the British down, give Washington time as Washington's army is being set up there.

(tense music) - [Narrator] Eventually, the British broke through the Continental lines of General Lee at The Hedgerow, but found the full force of Washington's army ready and waiting for them.

- The British run into the whole American Army, 10 cannons pointed right at the British, and sends them back.

And then we get into our cannon duel between the British artillery and the American artillery.

- We're located on Perrine Ridge.

So this is where the Continental Army would've prepared itself to any attack the British might launch at them.

It's also here where they endured the three-hour artillery duel.

So you would've had soldiers from one side of the fence all the way down to the other, behind me, laying on their stomachs, sweating under the hot June sun, just enduring three hours of cannonballs flying and whizzing through the air and around them.

- [Narrator] It's here on Perrine Ridge where General Washington once again demonstrates his bravery to his troops and the enemy.

- Washington is a general that's not afraid to lead from the front, and that's one of the things his soldiers admire the most about him.

During this three-hour artillery duel, while the cannons are firing off over to my left, he's riding up and down the whole length of the line, encouraging his men, giving orders, being right off in the danger with them.

One witness will even describe how a British cannonball comes and strikes the ground right near Washington and his staff, showering them all with mud.

- [Narrator] Washington turned the tide of the battle by adding a line of cannons, flanking the British.

- Washington gets another group of four cannons on the flank, the side of the British, on Combs Hill.

And this gets the British in a crossfire.

- [Narrator] This cannon crossfire is enough to force the British to leave the field.

- By strictly military terms, the Battle of Monmouth is a draw.

There's no clear winner.

But in its historical context, for what it did for George Washington and the reputation of the struggling Continental Army, it's a huge success.

(percussive patriotic music) - Washington had trouble winning battles.

His record as a field commander was four wins, eight losses, and one tie.

Monmouth was a big battle, and we didn't lose it.

Now, you say, "Why is that important?"

He didn't lose his job.

There were people that wanted Washington's job.

Imagine if Washington lost Monmouth, got fired as a commander.

We might not have won the Revolution.

He wouldn't have been the first president.

My god, that changes all of history.

So it's a very important battle for American history and Washington's career.

But it's also important just 'cause it's big.

- Even though this battle was considered a draw, in the books, it really showcases the ever-present Patriot cause here in New Jersey, that we were willing to push through and sacrifice, no matter what, even in 100 degrees, to make sure that we were free from England's crown.

- The Patriot Army stood toe to toe with the British Army, the best army in the entire world, and fought them to a standstill.

- [Narrator] Every year in late June, the park hosts the largest Revolutionary War reenactment in the state, reigniting this fierce and pivotal battle for all to see.

- [Michael] The reenactment helps to bring alive the battle itself.

And you get a chance to feel it, smell it, hear it.

For our bigger battles, we've had as many as, I guess, 1,000 reenactors on that battlefield.

- We get reenactors from all over the country who come here to participate.

There's even a sizable British contingent, which is usually an issue at every battle, because not everybody wants to play the British side.

- You're all gonna receive your pay, and with that pay, you're gonna be buying yourselves lunch at the sutlery, which is gonna be under the sutler tent right over there.

- The amazing thing about reenactors is that even though you might see them for only a few minutes, they've spent years researching how people looked, the way they spoke, the food they ate, just so that they can recreate the appearance of the Revolutionary War.

- You can walk through the American camp and see what the soldiers would've been doing on their daily life.

Even if there wasn't a battle, they would be just, this is how they would get up in the morning.

This is where they would sleep.

This is what they would eat.

- Yeah, this is what we have for breakfast, but.

- [Michael] And then you can do the same thing in walking through the British camp and see the differences and the similarities between the two.

- It takes months of planning.

We're up hours sewing new uniforms.

We're up hours making rations for it.

The left, face.

Forward, march.

Yes.

Hey there.

Halt.

And then when we finally get there, there's almost, like, a smell in the air.

When you get to Monmouth for the reenactment, you're smelling wool, you're smelling campfires, you're smelling old linen tents.

And then, all of a sudden, this battle takes place.

And it's pure chaos around you at all times, but it's organized chaos.

And it's just an unbelievable experience.

(soldiers screaming) (cannon blasting) (tense music) - [Michael] When the battle itself is raging, it is deafening out there at times with the cannons all firing.

- [Commander] Fire.

(cannon blasts) - So I really love Monmouth.

I came here first when I was seven.

And the whole battle just got me cooked in history and reenacting, you know, the full conflict.

You know, I actually sewed the shirt and the gaiters.

It's all made by historical tailors and, you know, people in the hobby.

- 90% of what I'm wearing is all hand sewn.

We pride ourselves on making our own clothes, making sure that this stitch is the way it's supposed to be, or it's up to code with what we just recently researched.

And it's just really nice to have that sense of authenticity.

(upbeat patriotic music) - Make ready.

Present.

Fire.

(muskets blast) - I think a lot of people assume that we are focused solely on the battle itself, and that's not quite true.

One of the best parts of the change that we see in our community is telling these richer narratives of these microhistory and these marginalized groups, whether that be, you know, followers of both the combative forces or black interpreters or enslaved.

And that's what we're seeing more of.

We're seeing more focus on the roles of women.

- [Narrator] One of the most famous women of the Revolutionary War emerges from the Battle of Monmouth, Molly Pitcher.

- Molly Pitcher is a sort of tall tale or a mythological viewpoint of a woman.

Molly is a nickname that it was very common for Mary.

And then Pitcher being carrying water out on the battlefield.

So at the Battle of Monmouth, there were a small group of women that were here.

Their primary tasks were things like bringing water in to the soldiers, as we know it's the hottest day.

And so they were there to help hydrate the men.

Mary Hays was a follower who was coming in with water, and she noticed that her husband had fallen.

He was an artillery man.

And legend has it, she decided to man the cannon in his place.

And was even spoken about by Joseph Plumb Martin, who recalled seeing her man that cannon.

- The young man named Joseph Plumb Martin, after the war, he is gonna write a memoir about his service.

And it's at this battle that he describes, as he's laying down, shielding himself from the oncoming artillery fire, that he notices a woman manning one of the guns.

In addition to that, he even describes that a cannonball passes through her petticoat, carrying away part of it.

Now, how much of that is an author just trying to make his story more exciting and enhance book sales?

Or how much of that is an 18-year-old kid who would just kill to see a woman's ankles after being in the military for three years?

No matter what, either way, it makes for part of the story and really launches the legend of Molly Pitcher.

- Molly Pitcher's just one example of women during the American Revolution, but I think that what speaks to the larger picture is the amount of women that sacrificed during their daily lives for this cause.

Women oftentimes would become camp followers.

They would follow their husbands, they would follow their family into battle, because you needed them.

You needed them to do your laundry.

You needed them to cook for you to maintain your health and wellbeing.

You needed them to nurse you.

And they really played a pivotal and crucial role in our success as a nation in winning the American Revolution.

- [Narrator] Alongside stories of women like Molly Pitcher, the hidden history of black soldiers is increasingly being unearthed.

- At the Battle of Monmouth, there were certainly black soldiers present.

The Patriot Army was an integrated force.

So black soldiers were certainly here, and they experienced the heat of battle, just like everybody else.

I am a member of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment reenactors.

We are based out of Trenton, New Jersey.

We are the only predominantly African-American Revolutionary War reenactor unit probably in the country, maybe the world.

The reenactments are cool, they're fun.

You get to shoot a gun.

But I like going and educating.

Talking to someone that has no clue that there were African Americans in the Revolutionary War, that has no clue about what we did there, has no clue that there were more African Americans that served on the Loyalist side than on the Patriot side.

And what were those reasons?

Why did they serve?

What was their rationale?

One of the most notorious and well-known Black Loyalists, or Black Tories, is Titus Cornelius, who was born a slave here in Monmouth County in the area around Shrewsbury.

At the age of 21, Titus Cornelius decided to escape.

Titus Cornelius would eventually become Colonel Tye.

And it's highly likely that he was here at the Battle of Monmouth because he was from Monmouth County.

- He goes on to ultimately become the commander of a group of Loyalists fighting out of Sandy Hook and raiding Monmouth County, where he is the commander of the Black Legion, which goes on to infamy in this area.

- He's ambushing, he's capturing Patriots, he's raiding farms, he's burning plantations, he's freeing slaves.

He can be looked at as bad if you are pro-Patriot.

But in my opinion, as someone that's freeing slaves, he's a freedom fighter.

So to me, in many ways, he's a hero.

He's a great tactician, and he's someone that should be recognized here in Monmouth County, certainly at the battlefield.

- [Narrator] As celebrated as the park is today, the preservation of the battlefield was far from certain.

- The original plans for the area was that the property was starting to be bought up for a developer who wanted to put a mall here.

And that's what got the people together in an effort to try to save it.

- I cringe every time I tell the story that we came very close, this close, to having Monmouth Battlefield Mall.

- This park is the result of a community outpouring of concern to save this land so that the battle that was fought here could be remembered forever.

- [Narrator] The park also features three 18th-century houses that stood while the battle raged around them.

One of the three, the Craig House, has been carefully restored and preserved, giving visitors a chance to step into the revolutionary past.

- What we do here at the Craig House is we interpret it, which is to tell people the history of the family, the history of the house, and what it was like to live here.

A man named Samuel Craig built the core of the house in the 1740s.

The Craig House here is more a middle class, not rich.

They're successful farmers, but they're not as fancy.

The farm was around 300 acres.

- When you walk into that house, you truly are stepping back in time.

The refurbishment that's been done on that building is just fabulous.

- As you come in, on the right side is the kitchen area, where there's kitchen implements, real colonial Murphy bed, and some other interesting furniture.

There's some sayings in modern days.

You know, sleep tight.

Sleep tight means before you go to bed, you literally wound the ropes that were the base for the mattress.

That's what sleep tight is.

And they say, "Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite," because they had bedbugs.

There's a bedroom on the first floor.

It's thought that one of the older members of the family might have stayed there, or the owners would've stayed on the first floor, just to avoid going up and down stairs.

The parlor room is where you would have your fancy meals, have your guests in, so the furniture and the furnishings would be more fancy, especially the mantle on the fireplace, than over in the utilitarian kitchen wing.

- The Craig House has an awesome story behind the family that lived in it.

So John and Anne Craig.

John was off fighting in the American Revolution, and Anne was living in the home with her one daughter and their two enslaved peoples.

Anne knows the British are coming, and she decides she needs to leave.

- When the troops come and camp around a house, they'll burn whatever they can for their firewood, they'll eat any chicken or pigs that are around, they'll take all your food that you've stockpiled.

And you don't want to be in a house like this when there's an army coming through.

- So she packs up what she can.

Before she leaves, however, she realizes that she has the family silver in the home, and she does not want the British to get it.

So she takes the silver, and she places it into a well that is on the property.

However, she did not anticipate the 100-degree heat that the Battle of Monmouth would produce that day.

And once the British spot a deserted house with a well, they go to drink.

And then lo and behold, they find the Craigs' silver, which they keep for themselves.

- [Narrator] High on Combs Hill, where Continental cannons helped win the battle, is a modern visitor center that offers a window into the past.

- The goal of the design of the Visitor Center is to engage the visitor directly with the landscape and where the battle happened, and to make them feel like they were there on the day of the battle.

- When you come to the Visitor Center and you look out onto the ridges that encompassed the battlefield, you are looking at spots of ground that would've had soldiers on it at one point or another during the battle.

Every single land feature you can see from the point of the Visitor Center would've had soldiers fighting and dying on it at one point or another.

- Knowing that the key artifact is the battlefield, everything about the visitor experience needs to reinforce that.

All the displays have been arranged so that you're constantly, as you move through them in a circular pattern, you're always looking back out to the battlefield.

And that was the key idea, both on the outside and on the inside.

- [Michael] In the Visitor Center, we have a small museum.

It takes you through the battle, what led up to the battle, what happened after the battle.

There's also a short film, which orients you to it.

- [Narrator] They would meet the- - At the very end of the film, the screen raises, and you look out to where literally the battle occurred.

So the use of the glass in the Visitor Center was important in order to connect the visitor to the battlefield visually.

We wanted to ensure that the building would be environmentally sustainable, so one, we're using the thermal energy from the earth to heat and cool the building, reducing how much carbon fuel we need to do that.

The second feature is we're collecting the rainwater from the roof of the building.

The rain chains collect water from the roof and have the water travel down the chain to a rain garden on the ground.

- In the Visitor Center, what I like, because I'm a cannon person, they have an exhibit of different sizes of cannon balls.

We actually have a few that came from different parts of the battlefield.

They also have an exhibit on musket balls.

British used a different-size musket balls than we did.

So you can actually track troop movements on where the armies were based on the size of the musket balls.

- [Narrator] The museum continues to update its exhibit, including a plan for a new display that focuses on battlefield surgery.

- We're gonna change this over to talk about what would happen to a soldier if he was shot or wounded on the battlefield.

And we actually have an actual bullet from the battle that was an impacted bullet, which means it went into part of the body.

It's not just a case of simply, "Oh, there's the bullet.

Let's pull it out."

The first thing they do is put that needle into the hole and feel around for the bullet.

And then there's forceps in to actually grab the ball and pull it out.

And then this is for cauterizing.

They're gonna literally eat it up and sear it shut.

We have imagery up here that shows a soldier that's been wounded in the leg.

And most likely, he would've ended up having had that leg amputated.

So part of this display would be the tools needed to do an amputation.

So the bone saw.

This knife is designed literally to just take the flesh away from the bone so it's a clean cut.

All this, of course, without anesthesia.

It's a little bit on the morbid side, but at the same time, it is the other part of the story.

The reality is it's people who are paying the price.

Good morning.

- [Audience] Good morning.

- So in 1775, what were we fighting for?

- [Audience Member] Taxes?

- No taxation without representation.

- [Narrator] The museum hosts thousands of students and visitors every year, with talks to bring the history to life.

- At the Battle of Monmouth, one of the big things is there's a guy who comes over from Germany who helps train the army.

Anybody remember his name?

- [Audience Member] Von Steuben.

- Von Steuben.

Friedrich von Steuben, otherwise known as Baron von Steuben.

He came over and taught the American Army how they fight like European soldiers, right?

So this thing here is called a musket, what they call a flintlock musket, which means that this part here is the lock, and right here, this piece of stone, is flint.

What happens when you use flint and steel?

It makes a spark.

(flint and steel scraping) - One of our key exhibits inside happens to be a cannon from the Revolution.

So a visitor coming to the Visitor Center overlooks the battlefield and stands behind the cannon as if they were there that day, and gets a full understanding of what it must been like to be sitting on top of Combs Hill, looking out at the British approaching.

- One of the favorite things for children coming through here, for the school groups, is the hands-on cannon drill.

And once they get themselves into realizing that they're actually gonna go through the paces, and they start handling and they feel they're actually holding a cannonball, a three-pound cannonball, it becomes more real when they start doing it.

It gets to be more fun for the students.

- Load the gun.

Ram.

Pick, fuse, and fire.

Three, two, one.

- [Children] Boom!

- All right.

For me, one of the greatest things that's happened to me here is when you talk to, you know, 3,000 school children over the course of the year and sometime in the summer, one child comes back, a parent in tow: See, he's the guy who told me about the Battle of Monmouth!

Or he's the guy who shot the musket.

And hopefully, by making them aware of it that way, it's gonna be them.

It's the children who are gonna have to keep places like this alive and make it so it's still here for their children to see and maybe learn something from.

- You can learn history a lot of ways.

You can read books, you can watch movies.

But here at Monmouth, you can actually visit the place where those things happen.

And that's why it's so important that it's preserved for us today.

- [Narrator] Almost 250 years later, due to the efforts of passionate reenactors, historians, and volunteers, the lessons of a beautiful stretch of land where a brave battle for freedom was fought will remain for generations to come.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues)