1st New Jersey Regiment
Encyclopedia
The 1st New Jersey Regiment was the first organized militia
regiment
in New Jersey
, formed in 1673 in Piscataway
"to repel foreign Indians who come down from upper Pennsylvania and western New York (in the summer) to our shores and fill (themselves) with fishes and clams and on the way back make a general nuisance of themselves by burning hay stacks, corn fodder and even barns." All of New Jersey's regular organized military forces trace their lineage to this first provincial militia unit.
The regiment's allegiance was to the British Crown until 1775, when the regiment was raised for service in the Continental Army
during the American Revolutionary War
.
(1744-1748) the New Jersey legislature appropriated money and raised 500 volunteers to assist New York in capturing the French fort at Crown Point. Bad food, ill discipline and a mutiny resulted in the abandonment of the expedition, however.
.
Contrastingly, in 1755 the entire contingent of 500 men known as the Jersey Blues was stationed at the lightly fortified trading village of Oswego, N.Y., where they constructed the first documented military hospital. They also assisted with improving the fortifications in order support the British offensive against French Fort Niagara which wound up bring delayed until 1756. During that following year only a part of the regiment had returned to the three forts on Lake Ontario, and they were engaged in and bore the suffering of several skirmishes. However, in August the all out attack on their outpost by French commander the Marquis de Montcalm resulted in many Jerseymen becoming prisoners of war who experienced many documented tribulations.
By 1757 the Jersey Blues were remustered and assigned to Fort William Henry
where they comprised one third of its garrison. In July about 150 were taken as POWs while another 50 died during the battle of Sabbath Day Point on the northern part of Lake George. The 100 men who escaped that day returned to William Henry to join the 200 others who remained in garrison. A short few weeks later those 300 were again attacked by Montcalm which was immortalized in the book and movie "The Last of the Mohicans
". Most in the general public have no idea that the Jersey troops were present or what they experienced. Importantly, the unit included several Native Americans from the province who experienced harsh consequences following the fort's capitulation.
In 1758 the unit was again remustered and engaged in the attack of French Fort Carrilon, where Montcalm was able to repel a massive British force. Several Jersey Blues were killed in action. A part of the unit was later engaged in the successful taking of the strategic French outpost, Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario.
By 1759 they were again on the N.Y. frontier, when a small party was ambushed by Indians allied with the French near Lake George
of July 2, 1759. "16 of the Jersey Blues were sent without the camp to gather a little brush for the General's Baker, but were not an hour gone before they were surprised in sight of the camp by a party of the enemy, consisting of about 240, who killed and scalped six, wounded two, took four prisoners, and only four of the whole party escaped. They shewed themselves plainly to the whole Army after they got the scalps, gave a hollow, and then made off to their Battoes, which were not more than two miles from the Head of the Lake. A large party was ordered out after them, but in vain. They butchered our people in a most shocking manner, by cutting pieces of flesh out of their necks, thighs and legs" - New York Mercury
The N. J. Historical Society stated that in 1760 the regiment was part of the final campaign against the French in Canada. Remarkably, one of the soldiers (a N. J. Native American) who was taken as a POW at Fort William Henry in '57 was reunited with the unit and returned home with them.
By 1761 existing payroll accounts verify that the unit was indeed mustered, and by 1762 they had formed a part of the expedition against Havana, Cuba. There is also oral tradition that one of the cannons at the Old Barracks in Trenton, N. J. was a spoil of war for the Jersey Blues. Payroll accounts also verify that the unit remained activated through 1765.
under the command of Colonel William Alexander (American general), better known as Lord Stirling for his (unsuccessful) claims to that Scottish title. It was also known as "First or Eastern Battalion of Foot of New Jersey Troops" while the Second New Jersey, authorized at the same time, was raised in the western counties of provincial New Jersey. Eight companies of the 1st New Jersey were raised in Essex, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Monmouth, and Bergen counties. One of the first activities of the newly formed unit was subduing and capturing Tories on Long Island. After Stirling was elevated to the rank of general, command of the 1st New Jersey was given to Colonel William Winds. Winds suffered humiliation after pressing for the regiment to leave Fort Ticonderoga
in November 1776 after enlistments for the Jerseymen expired. When the regiment was reorganized in January 1777 as the 1st New Jersey Regiment, Continental Line, command was first offered to Silas Newcomb, but he declined. Matthias Ogden
, who had previously served as major and lieutenant colonel of the 1st NJ Battalion of 1775-1776, became regimental commander with the rank of colonel, a position he held virtually until the end of the war.
The regiment saw action at the Battle of Valcour Island
, Battle of Brandywine
, Battle of Germantown
, Battle of Monmouth
, Sullivan Expedition
, Battle of Springfield
and the Battle of Yorktown. Other service included Winter Cantonment at Valley Forge (1776-1777), Battle of Short Hills (1777), Winter Cantonments at Morristown/Pompton Plains. The regiment was disbanded on November 3, 1783 at New Windsor, New York
.
(1737-1807), a merchant from Elizabeth
and father of U.S. Constitution signer Jonathan Dayton
, became a lieutenant in the Jersey Blues in 1756. He was later present at the signing of the peace treaty with the Native American Chief Pontiac
outside Detroit, Michigan
in 1764 during Pontiac's Rebellion
. In 1776, Dayton was appointed colonel of the Third New Jersey Regiment of Foot, also known as the Third Battalion, New Jersey Line, in the Continental Army.
Other figures associated with the Jersey Blues during the colonial period include:
Peter Schuyler, who was colonel of the New Jersey Regiment during the French and Indian War and whose portrait is in the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society; John Johnston, another commander of the New Jersey Regiment during the French and Indian War; William "Scotch Willie" Maxwell, who was a lieutenant in the New Jersey Regiment during the colonial wars, a commissary in the 1760s, and later served as first colonel of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment (Continental Line) and general commanding the New Jersey Line during the Revolutionary War.
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, formed in 1673 in Piscataway
Piscataway Township, New Jersey
The township consists of the following historic villages and areas: New Market, known as Quibbletown in the 18th Century, Randolphville, Fieldville and North Stelton...
"to repel foreign Indians who come down from upper Pennsylvania and western New York (in the summer) to our shores and fill (themselves) with fishes and clams and on the way back make a general nuisance of themselves by burning hay stacks, corn fodder and even barns." All of New Jersey's regular organized military forces trace their lineage to this first provincial militia unit.
The regiment's allegiance was to the British Crown until 1775, when the regiment was raised for service in the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
.
"Jersey Blues"
Although the unit had existed long beforehand, it was not until the mid-eighteenth century that the term "Jersey Blues" came into popular usage. The term "Jersey Blues" derives from the uniform adopted by the New Jersey provincial legislature for its troops, which were assigned to service under the British Crown Provincial Forces. The coats of these Jersey units were blue with red lapels and cuffs. The men also wore blue breeches or leggings and red waistcoats. (In some cases, sturdier buckskin or leather breeches were authorized.) The term "Jersey Blues" continued to be used well into the early nineteenth century in reference to the state's military units. The regiments of the Jersey Line during the American Revolution and those of the New Jersey Volunteers, raised for Federal service during the Civil War, adopted the term. It was actually even used by New Jersey's National Guard units into the late twentieth century.King George's War
In 1744, during King George's WarKing George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
(1744-1748) the New Jersey legislature appropriated money and raised 500 volunteers to assist New York in capturing the French fort at Crown Point. Bad food, ill discipline and a mutiny resulted in the abandonment of the expedition, however.
The French and Indian War
During the French and Indian War (1755-1763) New Jersey's participation was remarkable, and a new resource (2007) "Colonial Tribulations" documents the service of the New Jersey Regiment (the "Jersey Blues") throughout that period. Just as in the previous colonial wars their existence began with the N. J. Assembly ordering the muster of 500 men to respond to the larger war looming on the New York frontier. Indian raids by tribes allied with the French along the colony’s northwest border in the summer of 1755 also prompted the raising of a different unit known as the New Jersey Frontier Guard (not to be confused with the regular provincial or "Blues" regiment). The Frontier Guard responded to localized Indian incursions, as well as garrisoned the forts along the Delaware RiverDelaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
.
Contrastingly, in 1755 the entire contingent of 500 men known as the Jersey Blues was stationed at the lightly fortified trading village of Oswego, N.Y., where they constructed the first documented military hospital. They also assisted with improving the fortifications in order support the British offensive against French Fort Niagara which wound up bring delayed until 1756. During that following year only a part of the regiment had returned to the three forts on Lake Ontario, and they were engaged in and bore the suffering of several skirmishes. However, in August the all out attack on their outpost by French commander the Marquis de Montcalm resulted in many Jerseymen becoming prisoners of war who experienced many documented tribulations.
By 1757 the Jersey Blues were remustered and assigned to Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George in the province of New York. It is best known as the site of notorious atrocities committed by Indians against the surrendered British and provincial troops following a successful French siege in 1757, an event which is the...
where they comprised one third of its garrison. In July about 150 were taken as POWs while another 50 died during the battle of Sabbath Day Point on the northern part of Lake George. The 100 men who escaped that day returned to William Henry to join the 200 others who remained in garrison. A short few weeks later those 300 were again attacked by Montcalm which was immortalized in the book and movie "The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in February 1826. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known...
". Most in the general public have no idea that the Jersey troops were present or what they experienced. Importantly, the unit included several Native Americans from the province who experienced harsh consequences following the fort's capitulation.
In 1758 the unit was again remustered and engaged in the attack of French Fort Carrilon, where Montcalm was able to repel a massive British force. Several Jersey Blues were killed in action. A part of the unit was later engaged in the successful taking of the strategic French outpost, Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario.
By 1759 they were again on the N.Y. frontier, when a small party was ambushed by Indians allied with the French near Lake George
Lake George (New York)
Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...
of July 2, 1759. "16 of the Jersey Blues were sent without the camp to gather a little brush for the General's Baker, but were not an hour gone before they were surprised in sight of the camp by a party of the enemy, consisting of about 240, who killed and scalped six, wounded two, took four prisoners, and only four of the whole party escaped. They shewed themselves plainly to the whole Army after they got the scalps, gave a hollow, and then made off to their Battoes, which were not more than two miles from the Head of the Lake. A large party was ordered out after them, but in vain. They butchered our people in a most shocking manner, by cutting pieces of flesh out of their necks, thighs and legs" - New York Mercury
The N. J. Historical Society stated that in 1760 the regiment was part of the final campaign against the French in Canada. Remarkably, one of the soldiers (a N. J. Native American) who was taken as a POW at Fort William Henry in '57 was reunited with the unit and returned home with them.
By 1761 existing payroll accounts verify that the unit was indeed mustered, and by 1762 they had formed a part of the expedition against Havana, Cuba. There is also oral tradition that one of the cannons at the Old Barracks in Trenton, N. J. was a spoil of war for the Jersey Blues. Payroll accounts also verify that the unit remained activated through 1765.
The American Revolution
The 1st New Jersey Regiment, which was known as part of the famed "Jersey Blues," was authorized on October 9, 1775 by the Continental Congress to be raised for service with the Continental ArmyContinental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
under the command of Colonel William Alexander (American general), better known as Lord Stirling for his (unsuccessful) claims to that Scottish title. It was also known as "First or Eastern Battalion of Foot of New Jersey Troops" while the Second New Jersey, authorized at the same time, was raised in the western counties of provincial New Jersey. Eight companies of the 1st New Jersey were raised in Essex, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Monmouth, and Bergen counties. One of the first activities of the newly formed unit was subduing and capturing Tories on Long Island. After Stirling was elevated to the rank of general, command of the 1st New Jersey was given to Colonel William Winds. Winds suffered humiliation after pressing for the regiment to leave Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century fort built by the Canadians and the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York in the United States...
in November 1776 after enlistments for the Jerseymen expired. When the regiment was reorganized in January 1777 as the 1st New Jersey Regiment, Continental Line, command was first offered to Silas Newcomb, but he declined. Matthias Ogden
Matthias Ogden
Matthias Ogden was born at Elizabeth, New Jersey on October 22, 1754, Fought in the American revolutionary war and served various political positions afterwards.-Family:...
, who had previously served as major and lieutenant colonel of the 1st NJ Battalion of 1775-1776, became regimental commander with the rank of colonel, a position he held virtually until the end of the war.
The regiment saw action at the Battle of Valcour Island
Battle of Valcour Island
The naval Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the Battle of Valcour Bay, took place on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain. The main action took place in Valcour Bay, a narrow strait between the New York mainland and Valcour Island...
, Battle of Brandywine
Battle of Brandywine
The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of the Brandywine or the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American army of Major General George Washington and the British-Hessian army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777. The British defeated the Americans and...
, Battle of Germantown
Battle of Germantown
The Battle of Germantown, a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War, was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania between the British army led by Sir William Howe and the American army under George Washington...
, Battle of Monmouth
Battle of Monmouth
The Battle of Monmouth was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on June 28, 1778 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The Continental Army under General George Washington attacked the rear of the British Army column commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton as they left Monmouth Court...
, Sullivan Expedition
Sullivan Expedition
The Sullivan Expedition, also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, was an American campaign led by Major General John Sullivan and Brigadier General James Clinton against Loyalists and the four nations of the Iroquois who had sided with the British in the American Revolutionary War.The...
, Battle of Springfield
Battle of Springfield (1780)
The Battle of Springfield was fought during the American Revolutionary War on June 23, 1780. After the Battle of Connecticut Farms, on June 7, 1780, had foiled Lieutenant General Wilhelm, Baron von Knyphausen’s expedition to attack General George Washington’s army at Morristown, New Jersey,...
and the Battle of Yorktown. Other service included Winter Cantonment at Valley Forge (1776-1777), Battle of Short Hills (1777), Winter Cantonments at Morristown/Pompton Plains. The regiment was disbanded on November 3, 1783 at New Windsor, New York
New Windsor, New York
New Windsor is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was estimated at 25,244 in 2010 by the US Census.The Town of New Windsor is in the eastern part of the county, bordering the Town of Newburgh and the City of Newburgh....
.
Famous members
Elias DaytonElias Dayton
Elias Dayton was the Mayor of Elizabethtown, New Jersey-Biography:He was born in Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey....
(1737-1807), a merchant from Elizabeth
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
and father of U.S. Constitution signer Jonathan Dayton
Jonathan Dayton
Jonathan Dayton was an American politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. He was the youngest person to sign the United States Constitution and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as the fourth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and later the U.S. Senate...
, became a lieutenant in the Jersey Blues in 1756. He was later present at the signing of the peace treaty with the Native American Chief Pontiac
Chief Pontiac
Pontiac or Obwandiyag , was an Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion , an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War. Historians disagree about Pontiac's...
outside Detroit, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
in 1764 during Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac's War, Pontiac's Conspiracy, or Pontiac's Rebellion was a war that was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the...
. In 1776, Dayton was appointed colonel of the Third New Jersey Regiment of Foot, also known as the Third Battalion, New Jersey Line, in the Continental Army.
Other figures associated with the Jersey Blues during the colonial period include:
Peter Schuyler, who was colonel of the New Jersey Regiment during the French and Indian War and whose portrait is in the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society; John Johnston, another commander of the New Jersey Regiment during the French and Indian War; William "Scotch Willie" Maxwell, who was a lieutenant in the New Jersey Regiment during the colonial wars, a commissary in the 1760s, and later served as first colonel of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment (Continental Line) and general commanding the New Jersey Line during the Revolutionary War.
External links
- Bibliography of the Continental Army in New Jersey compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History