With Staten Island and Perth Amboy serving as Loyalist strongholds, British troops occupied Woodbridge from December 2, 1776 to June 22, 1777, extending their reach into Middlesex County. It is believed five Redcoat regiments were quartered at Trinity Episcopal Church, with the chapel used as barracks and the rectory as a fort. Woodbridge residents who favored independency formed a local Committee of Safety that directed insurgent operations against the British. Throughout the war, control of Woodbridge shifted between Loyalist and Rebel camps, and a contemporary source said villagers suffered much more from fear, foraging, and personal molestation. Woodbridge’s wartime population was estimated at around 3,000, and the town saw 14 recorded skirmishes, ranging from kidnappings and raids on personal property to pitched battles between Rebel militia and British troops that caused significant dead and wounded. Battles took place at Strawberry Hill in March 1777 and July 1778; a fight at Spanktown on February 23, 1777 ended with more than 100 British soldiers killed; on April 15, 1777, a detachment of the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment successfully attacked the British camp in the Bonhamtown area, killing or capturing 25 enemy troops. On June 26, 1777, the pivotal battle of Short Hill was precipitated in Woodbridge when local militia under Capt. James Dark attacked Gen. Cornwallis’s 5,000-man British army moving along Green Street and Oak Hill Road, and the battle noise alerted Gen. George Washington, whose main army under Gen. William Alexander was waiting at Short Hills Tavern near present-day Old Raritan Road and Inman Avenue.