The conflict having ruined his home and his tanning business, he moved to Ohio, where he served as a probate judge and militia commander.

[1] After his father died of smallpox[1] when Spencer was about 14 years old, he went to live with the family of Robert Ogden in Elizabethtown, New Jersey.

From New Brunswick Washington sent the three militia regiments from Essex, Morris, and Sussex Counties to operate against the British flank from the mountains of northern New Jersey.

[5] The British army commander Sir William Howe decided to halt his successful campaign at the Delaware River and hold New Jersey for the winter with 14 garrisons.

Howe left Major General James Grant in charge of the garrisons and returned to New York City.

Desiring to pacify the countryside, Grant ordered Brigadier General Alexander Leslie to march to Princeton via Springfield and Bound Brook on 17 December 1776.

Sending a courier to Chatham to warn the militia brigade of the British approach, Spencer withdrew his men from Springfield.

At Briant's Tavern, Spencer joined the main body of militia and the men advanced to contact the British.

[9] On 16 January at Connecticut Farms, 300 New Jersey militia led by Spencer ambushed 100 Hessian troops on a foraging mission.

[13] On 11 January 1777, Spencer's Additional Continental Regiment came into existence as part of Washington's main army.

[15] On 22 May 1777, Spencer's Regiment transferred into the 3rd Pennsylvania Brigade[14] which was commanded by French-Irish volunteer Thomas Conway.

[20] After meeting resistance from the 40th Foot at the Chew House, Sullivan ordered Conway's brigade to shift to a position on the right flank of the Maryland division.

At this point Sullivan's men passed west of the Chew House and into the fog and battle smoke.

[23] At the Battle of Monmouth on 28 June 1778, the 3rd Pennsylvania Brigade included 39 officers, 56 sergeants, and 343 rank and file in the six units listed above.

[24] Late in the day, Wayne pushed forward against the British left flank with the 3rd Pennsylvania, Spencer's, and Malcolm's Regiments.

Determined to find a living, he moved with his family to the Miami Valley in Ohio where he bought three sections of land.

When he arrived in Columbia, Ohio, the governor of the territory Arthur St. Clair made him the colonel of the local militia and probate judge for Hamilton County.