Captain John Bacon is one of the most infamous of the legendary Pine Robbers, outlaws who preyed on Rebels and Tories alike in the wastelands of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Bacon, like many other famous conservative leaders in the province of New Jersey probably held office and was granted the title of "Captain" by the "Board of Associated Loyalists", which was a group formed in New York and founded by William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin and last Royal Governor of New Jersey. The British government, knowing that having an organized force of Loyalists would free up their armies to conduct military operations against the Continentals, approved the Council and as such offered a reward of 200 acres of land to anyone willing to fight for the British during the war. duration of the war. Raids were to be conducted exclusively against military targets, and Bacon primarily limited his "picarooning" to well-known members of the Monmouth Militia, unlike many other Pine Robbers who simply used warfare as an excuse to plunder indiscriminately. The exploits of Bacon and other refugees – Tories operating under the auspices of the Council – were far more violent and sinister than those sanctioned by the Crown. Before the war Bacon worked as a laborer on the Crane family farm in Manahawkin. Members of the Crane family would later join the Monmouth Militia. It is likely that Bacon's Tory sympathies caused a rift between him and his Whig employers and he was fired or resigned to join the Board of Associated Loyalists. At one point he settled his wife and two children in Pemberton but spent most of his time hiding and raiding the area between Cedar Creek and Tuckerton. One of the first actions that can be attributed to Bacon is a raid...... middle of paper ......id.Ibid, 45.Salter, 210Renee Brecht, The Long Beach Island Massacre, Part 2, http://www.njpinelandsanddownjersey.com/open/index.php?module=documents&JAS_DocumentManager_op=viewDocument&JAS_Document_id =205 (June 21, 2011).Salter, 210.American Revolutionary War – At Sea, the Long Beach Island Massacre http://www.awiatsea.com/incidents/25%20October%201782%20The%20Long%20Beach% 20Island%20Massacre.html (June 21, 2011).Salter, 209.New Jersey Gazette, Trenton, January 8, 1783.George F. Fort, M.D., “An Account of the Capture and Death of the Refugee John Bacon,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, (Newark, NJ: New Jersey Historical Society, 1847) 151.New Jersey Gazette, Trenton, April 9, 1783 .Fort, 152Henry Charlton Beck, More Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey. (Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1963) 260.