Battle of Monmouth - Legacy

Legacy

The legend of "Molly Pitcher" is usually associated with this battle. According to one story, she was the wife of an American artilleryman who came to battle with her husband, bringing water for swabbing the cannons and for the thirsty crews, and took a soldier's place after he fell, and fought beside her husband. There is a common misconception that her husband was the soldier that fell, but research by the society that preserves the battlefield has proven this to be incorrect. The story is based on a true incident but has become embellished over the years. Two places on the battlefield are marked as sites of the "Molly Pitcher Spring".

Nine Army National Guard units (101st Eng Bn, 101st FA, 113th Inf 116 Inf, 125th QM Co, 175th Inf, 181st Inf, 198th Sig Bn and 211 MP Bn) and one active Regular Army Field Artillery battalion (1-5th FA ) are derived from American units that participated in the Battle of Monmouth. There are only thirty currently active units of the U.S. Army with lineages that go back to the colonial era.

Although never accorded formal preservation, the Monmouth Battlefield is one of the best preserved of the Revolutionary War battlefields. Each year, during the last weekend in June, the Battle of Monmouth is reenacted at Monmouth Battlefield State Park in modern Freehold Township and Manalapan.

The Monmouth County Historical Association at 70 Court Street in Freehold Borough, New Jersey houses a collection of documents which includes personal accounts, journals, pension applications, letters, and miscellaneous printed material.