The American operations were so successful that British casualties in New Jersey (including those of the battles at Trenton and Princeton) exceeded those of the entire campaign for New York.

The occupation of New Jersey by British and German troops caused friction with the local communities and led to a rise in Patriot militia enlistments.

He established forward outposts to the east and south of these ridges that served not only as a defensive bulwark against potential British incursions across the hills, but also as launch points for raids.

A large number of militia from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania bolstered these forces, and played a significant role that winter.

[12] The men subsisted largely on rations such as salt pork, but their draft animals required fresh fodder, for which they sent out raiding expeditions.

[13] Early in the winter, Washington sent out detachments of troops to systematically remove any remaining provisions and livestock from convenient access by the British.

These were met by larger formations (numbering 300 and up) of American militia companies, sometimes with Continental Army support, that led on occasion to significant casualties.

[13] In one early example, Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson mustered 450 militia and drove off a British foraging expedition in the Battle of Millstone on January 20.

"[17] Even supply convoys bringing provisions from outside the state to the large garrison at New Brunswick were not immune to the American attacks, where the Raritan River and the roads from Perth Amboy offered opportunities for sniping and raiding.

Johann Ewald, captain of a company of German jägers (essentially light infantry) who were often on the front lines, observed that "the men have to stay dressed day and night ... the horses constantly saddled", and that "the army would have been gradually destroyed through this foraging".

[23] A regiment of Waldeck infantry, a few companies of the 71st Foot and a troop of British light dragoons were stationed at Elizabethtown, New Jersey in the winter of 1776–1777.

[26] At Connecticut Farms on 15 January, 300 New Jersey militia commanded by Colonel Oliver Spencer attacked 100 German foragers.

On 20 January 1777 near Van Nest's Mill, 400 militia and 50 Pennsylvania riflemen crossed an icy stream and fought a pitched battle with 500 British regulars and three cannons.

Under intense cannon fire, the American attack was stopped, but the Virginians fought tenaciously until the British fell back toward Brunswick.

When the Americans recovered the mangled bodies they were infuriated; Brigadier-General Adam Stephen exchanged a series of irate letters with Erskine, who denied all responsibility for the incident.

[38] Near Spanktown (now Rahway), Mawhood found a group of militia herding some livestock covered by a larger body of Americans waiting on a nearby hill.

[39] Historian David Hackett Fischer compiled a list that he describes as "incomplete", consisting of 58 actions that occurred between January 4 and March 21, 1777.

[41] Fischer notes that relatively few official reports of American (either militia or Continental Army) unit strengths for this time period have survived.

General Charles Cornwallis punctuated the winter skirmishes with an attack on the Continental Army outpost at Bound Brook on April 13.

[45] As General Howe prepared his Philadelphia campaign, he first moved a large portion of his army to Somerset Court House in mid-June, apparently in an attempt to draw Washington from the Middlebrook position.

[47] Northern and coastal New Jersey continued to be the site of skirmishing and raiding by the British forces that occupied New York City for the rest of the war.