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Home , 1st New Jersey Regiment, 3rd New Jersey Regiment, Cortlandt Skinner, Israel Shreve, Joseph Bloomfield, New Jersey Line

Brother Jonathan’s Images, No. 7

Major Joseph Bloomfield, 3d Regiment Artist: Charles Willson Peale Year: 1777 Collection: Privately owned

Narrative Joseph Bloomfield was born in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, East Jersey in 1753. His father was a physician, his mother a member of the colony’s wealthy and influential Ogden family. After attending Green’s Classical Academy in Cumberland County, West Jersey, Bloomfield studied law under Cortlandt Skinner, Attorney

1 General of the province, and later founder of the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers. Joseph Bloomfield began practicing law in 1775 but was soon caught up in the Whig cause. His initial military experience was aimed at his former mentor. In January 1776 Whig authorities intercepted letters from both Skinner and New Jersey Governor (Benjamin’s illegitimate son), voicing anti-Whig sentiments. Col William Alexander, commanding the , sent companies to both residences, to search the premises. Bloomfield, still with no official commissioned rank, commanded the detachment sent to the attorney general’s home, but Skinner had left Perth Amboy for the safety of a British vessel.1 Joseph Bloomfield first served with the 3d New Jersey Battalion in 1776, a one- year unit, with the entire enlisted contingent signed on for that term. The first two Jersey battalions were authorized in October 1775, and clothed and equipped their men sufficiently that by 7 February the first company began its march for Canada, with the remaining companies following in turn. Authorization to raise the state’s third battalion was not forthcoming until mid-January 1776, and was appointed commander. Joseph Bloomfield received his captain’s commission on 8 February, and by seniority was fourth in command of the battalion after the three field officers (, lieutenant colonel, and major). Dayton’s battalion left City on 3 May 1776 heading up the North (Hudson) River aboard a number of vessels bound for Albany. While the 1st and 2d New Jersey Battalions went directly upriver to Quebec, taking part in the retreat from Canada, and eventually ending up with the garrison, the 3d Battalion spent the spring and summer months in the Mohawk Valley, with a portion garrisoning Fort Stanwix. That autumn Colonel Dayton’s men marched to Ticonderoga, arriving on November 1st, fourteen days before the 1st and 2d Battalions left for New Jersey, their one-year enlistments having expired.2 Little is certainly known of clothing supply for all three Jersey battalions for that first year; hunting shirts were intended as part of their uniform, and numbers were made for the 1st and 2d Regiments, but as late as 31 January William Maxwell, colonel of the 2d Regiment, was compelled to inform John Hancock, “The Congress seem to think I have mistaken their Orders with respect to Marching them by Companies … untill the 8th instant we had no thought of going to the Northward & of course got Cloathing accordingly. We have many Frocks made but nothing like half enough for the Regt. - they might be taken for a southern Regt. & Cloath [for wool coats] given to us.” Besides clothing, “it has been my Chief object since I had the Honor to Command this Battallion that they might be well Armed - I have urged the Committee of this place on that Head & I saw Mr. Tuckers Letters wrote very pressingly for Arms & Blankets - You have now sent Money but it is too late before the Officers goes to the different parts of the province gathers them up and has them Repaired it will be too late there will nothing do at present but about 300 stand of good arms put into their Hands under stopages. The Committee has Intirely forgot Canteens & Camp Kettles. Camp Equipage I suppose will follow us.” Eight days earlier Maxwell had told President Hancock, “I find the Congress has ordered my Regt. to Canada Immediately. I hope I shall always obey them chearfully but must beg leave to mention … what the Regt. wants to compleat it, and … must inform you it wants a great part of every thing but Men. We want for the Regt. about 280 stand of Arms 405 Bayonets and

2 a great many of the Arms wants repairing we have them at so many Smyths we cannot get an exact Return / they have got their Hats Shoes & Stockings I believe in general but they want much warmer Cloathing to go into Cannada than if they stay'd here. There is a good many Cartouch boxes & Cross Belts some haversacks & Frocks here. Mr. Lowrey I suppose has the rest of the Articles making in different places, but still I am afraid not so much as I could wish possably for want of Materials.” The colonel closed this missive with a plea: “I do assure you I think they are as likely a Battallion of Men as any in the Continental service & I hope they will do their Duty with any that is not more experienced - for God's sake do not let them be Disgraced for want of their Necessaries / If I might advise I would have the Congress to send 2 or 3 Men from Philadelphia as a Committee to examine the Regt. immediately & make Report to the Congress what they want & let some of those Gentm. be taken out of the Committee that fitted out the Pensylvania Battallion. The four Com[pan]y here might soon be filled up but those at Burlington want evry thing / I am Determined to March off the four Company's that are here with what little fiting I can get here for them, they will make but a Poor Figure but I cannot help it - The first Company I hope, will set off the end of this week & the others follow as soon as they can - I should be glad to have the Orders of Congress with what Company I shall March I hope with the first for I am distressed beyond measure to have so fine a parcel of Men under my Command & yet so unfit for doing their Country service when it is so much wanted.”3 In the end, the 1st and 2d Jersey Battalions were indeed sent to Canada piecemeal, company by company. Colonel Maxwell’s 31 January memorandum suggests they only left only partially clothed and equipped: “Near one-half their arms; leggings; a number of warm waistcoats; some coats and breeches; stockings to make two pair per man; some shirts; Canada caps for the whole regiment; moccasins, may be had at Albany. About one pair of stockings per man are furnished by Mr. Lowrey [New Jersey quartermaster general]. The other articles he has no orders from Congress to provide, and if he had, they could not be purchased in Jersey.” In any case, by August the Jersey troops were clad in blue, leading to an order book entry for the 21st describing a robbery by "Certain Villians who Said they belonged to the Jersey Reigment. There are more Villians that wear Blues than those suspected in the Jersey Regimt." At the time, both the 1st and 2d Jersey Battalions were present at Ticonderoga, with the 3rd Battalion not arriving until 1 November.4

3

Col. William Maxwell’s 2d New Jersey Battalion. 1776 (Painting by Don Troiani, www.historicalimagebank.com )

Elias Dayton’s 3d Battalion seems to have benefitted from their late start and was better supplied than the other Jersey battalions. Captain Bloomfield noted on May 9th at Albany, “At four Genl. Sullivan’s Brigade composed of Col. Reed’s & Starks Regmts. From New-Hampshire, Cols. Winds [1st Regiment] & Daytons from New-Jersey & Cols. Wayne & Irvin’s from Penislvana Paraded through the streets to his Excellency Genl. Schuyler’s about a mile from Albany where we were all reviewed … Col. Dayton’s Regmnt. haveing the prefference of good looking Men & being the best Equipped of any in the Field which reflected Honor on the Province of New-Jersey.”5 An advertisement in the May 1 1776 Gazette describes three deserters from Capt. John Ross’s company, all with the same attire:

Amboy, April 25th, 1776. Deserted from my Company in the Third-Battallion of Jersey troops, now lying at , opposite Amboy, the three following Men, viz. THOMAS DUNN, a

4 Native of Ireland, about 3O Years of Age, a strong well built Fellow, about 5 Feet, 8 Inches high, very fond of getting drunk, and very abusive when he is so, of a dark complexion, and black Hair, has been in the King's Service, had on, when he deserted, a new Hat, bound with white Binding, a new Regimental coat, of a drab colour, faced with blue, a Pair of Buckskin Breeches, a new Shirt, and Shoes. EPHRAIM CRAMNER, born in America, near 30 Years of Age, about 5 Feet, 9 Inches high, a tolerably well built man, brown Complexion, and black Hair ; has been sick some considerable Time, and looks thin in the face; his cloathing the same as the abovementioned DUNN'S. LEVI BISHOP, a Native of this Country, about 23 Years of Age, 5 Feet, 7 Inches high, of a brownish Complexion and cloathed as the others; he lived most of his Time in Sussex County, East-Jersey, and is supposed to have gone there. Whoever takes up and secures said Deserters, and acquaints me of the same, or delivers them at Amboy, shall receive FIVE DOLLARS each, and reasonable (Charges, paid by JOHN ROSS, Captain.6

Soldier of the 3d New Jersey Battalion of 1776. (Painting by Don Troiani, www.historicalimagebank.com )

5 For some years prior to the War for Independence the New Jersey Provincial troops had been colloquially known as the “Jersey Blues,” likely because of the color of their uniform coats. Blue regimental coats remained the preference for the state’s regiments, 1776 to 1783, with some exceptions, as follows; the aforementioned drab coats with blue facings worn by the 3d Battalion in 1776, brown faced brown coats possibly worn by the 2d Regiment during 1777, and in 1782 captured British 55th Regiment coats dyed brown and retaining their original facings and lace were issued to the two remaining Jersey regiments.7 (See addendum for a discussion of the term “Jersey Blues.”) With the second establishment of 1777, the 3d Jersey Battalion was reformed with veterans of 1776 signed on for three years or the war, as well as newly enlisted men. They received blue coats with red facings, thus carrying on the New Jersey military tradition. On 9 May 1777 Clothier General James Mease wrote Col. Elias Dayton,

at present I have no clothing on hand which I can apply to your regmt. But there is 395 Blue coats faced red on the road from Boston which are not appropriated with which I design to furnish your regmt. I could not clothe them in the uniform of last year & as you have already been supplied with 104 Blue coats think it best to compleat the regmt in that color. I have also at the Request of Capt. Patterson sent you 12 Red Coats fac'd with blue of the clothing taken from the enemy for your drums & fifes. If no accident prevents the coats above alluded to from coming & you wait for them those you already have may either be new faced or appropriated partly to the light Infantry Compy for whom I have also sent 60 Caps wh[ich] will help to make the 3d Jersey Battalion look smart as usual ... 8

A month later Gen. informed Maj. Gen. by letter,

this will be delivered ... by Mr. Young who is sent up by the Clothier General to issue Clothing to the Troops at Peeks Kill... There are among the Clothing 350 Coats, Blue and Red which were made up purposely for Colo. Daytons Regiment of Jersey, and of which they are in great want, they must come on immediately.9

That this clothing was actually issued is confirmed by a deserter advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia, 11 June 1777), describing a soldier from the 3d Regiment wearing a blue regimental coat faced with red, spotted jacket, and blue breeches.10 As officers supplied their own clothing, they seem often to have worn old serviceable regimental coats even when they no longer conformed to their unit’s uniform colors. Thus, Major Bloomfield may have been clad in his drab coat when wounded at the 11 September 1777 Brandywine battle. (The major wrote of his injury, “By the assistance of a stranger [I] dressed my Wound with some tow from my Catorich box & wrapped my Arm in my handkerchief.”)11 The instances of officers wearing non- uniform clothing continued relatively late in the war, as attested by 15 November 1780 army orders:

6 As nothing adds more to the beauty and appearance of a Corps than exact uniformity of dress; the General [Washington] recommends it thus early to the Field officers newly arranged to fix upon a fashion for the regimental clothing of the officers of their respective corps (if it is not already done) confining themselves to the ground, facings, linings and buttons already assigned to the states to which they belong: The General sees with concern the difficulties which the officers labor under in procuring clothes; it is not therefore his wish that those who are already furnished should run themselves to the expence of new uniforms if their old are not exactly conformable, but that they should in future comply strictly with the regimental fashion, and if possible get their old clothes altered to it. It has a very odd appearance especially to Foreigners to see the same corps of officers each differing from the other in fashion of the facings sleeves and pockets of their coats.12

After convalescing in New Jersey, first in Swedesboro, Gloucester County at the home of Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr., then, after narrowly avoiding capture in early October, at Pittsgrove, Salem County, Joseph Bloomfield returned to the army at Whitemarsh on 28 November 1777. In early December he left once more to recuperate at home and “to restore my Arm to its former usefulness,” rejoining his regiment at in late February 1778. That April Major Bloomfield was appointed Inspector of Maxwell’s New Jersey brigade, responsible for introducing the “Prussian Exercise” to the officers and troops. In early late May the 1st, 3d, and 4th Jersey regiments marched to join the 2d Regiment already at Mount Holly, New Jersey, and were there when Lt. Gen. Henry Clinton’s Crown forces evacuated Philadelphia en route to New York. The major wrote of that day, “On the 18th. of June (whilst the officers of the [Jersey] Brigade & Gentn. of the Town were feasting on Turtle & Punch &c. &c.) Information was brought that the Enemy were advancing from Haddenfield and Moores-Town to Mount-Holly."13 The June 1778 Monmouth campaign was Bloomfield’s last; he resigned his commission, effective 1 February 1779, but in fact left for home on 14 September 1778 to establish himself as a lawyer. He married his fiancé Mary “Polly” McIlvaine on 17 December 1778. Joseph Bloomfield went on to a distinguished career, serving his home state as prosecuting attorney for Burlington County (responsible for Cumberland, Salem, and Gloucester counties as well), mayor of Burlington, state attorney general, and commanding general of the state militia. Influenced by his father, Bloomfield was an early abolitionist, and in the 1790s was a member and president of the New Jersey Society for the Abolition of Slavery. He also was a Federalist elector for George Washington in 1792, and in 1794 commanded New Jersey troops in the army that marched to western Pennsylvania during the . Bloomfield joined the Jeffersonians in 1797, becoming a leader in the new party, and was elected from 1801 to 1811. In 1812 he resigned the governorship and accepted a commission as brigadier general commanding the Third Military District, but instead of a field command, was tasked with training troops and eventually given command of the area around Plattsburgh, New York. Becoming active post-war in politics, Joseph Bloomfield served two terms in Congress (1817 to 1821); during that time he was instrumental in enacting the first Revolutionary veterans’ pension act in 1818. Returning to private life, Polly Bloomfield died in 1818, and Joseph remarried in 1820 to Mrs. Isabella Macomb of New York. Injured in a wagon accident in summer 1823, he never fully recovered and died that October.14

7 Uniform: Major Bloomfield sat for his portrait in April 1777. He wears a drab regimental coat with blue facings, the uniform worn by the 3d Battalion in 1776, with a blue sash over his right shoulder, hanging at his left waist. Probably a mark of his rank, sashes were never formalized for field officers by Continental Army regulations, and seem to have been authorized only at the state or even regimental level. The major also has a silk or linen cravat, and a shirt with ruffles on the front and at the cuffs. Under his drab regimental he wears a belted waistcoat. His coat has two silver epaulettes and bears large buttons showing the suggestion of a design and possibly a raised border. The buttons merit further discussion. For their first-year Continental regiments New Jersey manufactured marked buttons with the words “New Jersey” in script; numbers of these buttons, 23 mm in diameter (one specimen was 24 mm), were found only at 1776 sites, notably Forts Stanwix and Ticonderoga. Smaller marked buttons, likely used on soldiers’ waistcoats, have been excavated at mid and late- war sites; one button marked in script “NJ” was found at Valley Forge, and another single button marked “JB” (Jersey Battalion) was found at Dobbs Ferry. Artist and historian Don Troiani notes of the small “JB” buttons, “Several specimens are known to have been recovered from c. 1780-1783 American campsites along the Hudson River where New Jersey troops were known to have camped."15

1776 New Jersey buttons, 23 mm in diameter. Don Troiani, Military Buttons of the (Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 2001), 131. ______

“The Blues offered again to fight …” Contemporary Use of the Term “Jersey Blues”

(With thanks to Joseph Bilby, Todd Braisted, Scott Lance, Lawrence Schmidt, Matthew White, Jason Wickersty, Gary Zaboly)

By the time of the War for Independence blue had become the traditional color for New Jersey soldiers’ coats; here is a collection of accounts from the mid-eighteenth century to old soldiers’ nineteenth century pension depositions, beginning with the newest to the oldest.

8 Nineteenth Century Pension Accounts16

William Mead, 1828 (S.31860): "he enlisted to serve in the army of the at Morristown in the State of New Jersey, for three years, that he served under said enlistment of three years in the 28th [sic] Regiment of Jersey Blues, commanded by Colo. Dayton [actually the 3d New Jersey Regiment], in the Company Commanded by Capt. Dickenson, on the continental establishment, he faithfully served out said Term of three years, & was honorably discharged by Colo. Dayton at Elizabeth town, New Jersey – which discharge has since been burnt up with my house." (Todd Braisted)

James Jordan, 1833 (W.8225), served in the 2d New Jersey Regiment, from 5 June 1778 to 5 March 1779: “On the morning of the 28th day of June [1778] Gen. Washington ordered Gen. Lee to go and take the Jersey Blues and one Brigade of Marylanders commanded by Gen. Wayne and go and attack the enemy in order to bring them back to the ground on which he wished to fight them / he belonged to the second regiment of the New Jersey Blues … This was the principal Battle he was in during the time he served / from Monmouth after the battle he was, with his regiment, marched to Elizabeth Town ... [they] lay there until Fall. The second regiment of the Jersey Blues ... was ordered to New Ark in [New Jersey] ... to Winter Quarters ..." (John U. Rees)

John J Carman, 1832 (R.1705): “In the latter part of the year 1776, he enlisted into the Regiment called the Jersey Blues as a minute man, that he armed, equipped and uniformed himself, that a first the Regiment was commanded by Colonel Samuel Parker, afterwards by Col Samuel Crow; that by the terms of his enlisted he was to be ready at all times, when called on, and that for two whole years he served every other month …” (Jason Wickersty)

Jonathan Catterlin, 1832 (S.12444): “That he enlisted in the army of the United States in the year Ad 1775 with Captain John Budd Scott and served in a Regiment in the Continental Line known as the Jersey Blues, number of the Regiment not recollected, under the following officers to wit Colonel Maxwell [2d New Jersey Battalion] the names of the other field officers are not recollected – Captain John B. Scott, 1st Lieutenant Higgins, 2nd Lieut. Maxwell – Ensign’s name not remembered – first sergeant Palmer.” (Jason Wickersty)

Joseph Concklin, 1832 (S.3201): “That he the said Joseph Conklin enlisted for the term of one year in the year 1775 in the army of the United States in the County of Salem New Jersey and served in a company commanded by Cap William Shute First Lieutenant Freize or Frizee Second Lieutenant Jeremiah Smith Ensign William Parrott of the Second Regiment of the Jersey Blues commanded by Colonel Maxfield Lieut Col Shreve and Majr Ray –“ (Jason Wickersty)

9 Thomas Conley, 1853 (R.2218): “… he enlisted in the Army of the United States in the year 1775 and served in the Regiment called the Jersey Blues commanded by Col John Hollingsworth, the names of Company officer snot recollect that he served six months and fourteen days the balance of the term of his father William Conley, and buy the name of William Conley and that at the time of enlistment he resided in Northampton County State of Pennsylvania when he entered the service, was in the , marched from the place of enlistment to Flemingtown thence to Princeton, to Trenton, thence to Princeton where he was honorably discharged, which discharge was lost.” (Jason Wickersty)

Thomas Martin, 1833 (S.18964): “In the first of the month of December 1775 Capt Asher Randall of Woodbridge in the State of New Jersey enlisted a company of Infantry to guard the town of Woodbridge from the depredations of the British army a part of which was then quartered on Staten Island about one and a half miles from Woodbridge – I the said Thomas Martin then about fifteen years old enlisted under said capt Asher Randall a private for the term of six months – Our first Lieutenant was randall from Princeton, our Second Lieutenant Wm Cape – I can not now call to mind the given names of the said first and second Lieut. We quartered near the River in the Town of Woodbridge about one month when Colo Holmes came to our aid and our Company joined his Regiment called the Jersey Blues. The Jersey Blues with Colo reads regiment then attempted to cross over to Staten Island to storm the British garrison but the snow at this time being very deep and the weather severe, we were compelled to return to our quarters leaving the British undisturbed. – I the said Thomas remained in Randall’s company and Holmes Regiment till the six months for which I enlisted had fully expired – Then a part of our company left and part enlisted again under said Capt Randall and I among others remained with the said Randall.” (Jason Wickersty)

John Wetherhold, 1832 (S.3523): “That he was drafted and enlisted in the State of New Jersey in the Regiment of Colo Livingston of the Jersey Blues by a recruiting sergeant named Scott; he does not recollect in what year; tha this Captain’s name was Congar; that he enlisted at Rockaway; after he was enlisted he was marched to New York where General Washington then was – afterward he was marched up the North River – staid one night at King’s Bridge at the house of one Cutland; - that he proceeded on to the White Plains; - that he was in the retreat of the American Army through Jersey –was at the battle of Trenton …” (Jason Wickersty)

(Note: Undoubtedly, there are more pension accounts using the term “Jersey Blues.”)

10 The “Jersey Grays”

This is, to date, the only reference to the “Jersey Grays.” The singular nickname of course refers to the drab coats worn by the 1776 battalion.

Jacob Cook, 1835 (R.2258): “… he distinctly recollects that shortly after the death of his father which happened when he was young, his mother removed with him to Huntington County in the State of New Jersey and was then placed under the care of Walton B. White of said County, where he remained until after the commencement of the Revolutionary war, and that about the first of May 1776 he volunteered his services as a drummer in the regiment commanded by Col Dayton and Lieutenant Colonel Walton B. White, a son of Col Dayton was paymaster of the regiment, William Norcross was Quarter Master and Lewis Dunham was surgeon. The regiment to which he belonged was called the Jersey Grays, there were five companies in the regiment of which he well recollect the Captain’s names, one company was commanded by Capt Potter, a second by Capt Dickinson, a third by Capt Redding, a fourth by Capt Bloomfield, & fifth by Capt Patterson. The regiment rendezvoused at Morristown, from which place is marched to Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk river, where he remained with the regiment until the fall of that year, when he marched with the regiment to Ticonderoga and there joined the main army under General Gates and there remained in service until the spring of 1777, when the regiment to which he was attached marched to Morristown, where the regiment was dismissed, the time having expired, t wit; one year, for which it had volunteered he received no discharge, as the Colonel thought it unnecessary to give any.” (Jason Wickersty)

Jersey Blues References during the War for American Independence

From Montreal, Canada, en route to , Capt. Joseph Brearley, 2d New Jersey Battalion, wrote his brother David on 7 March 1776, “God grant that they may acquit themselves like soldiers, and more especially the Jersey Blues! May they be crowned with fresh laurels to add to their former greatness.”17

Samuel Hodgkinson of Burlington, New Jersey, a sergeant in Col. William Irvine’s 1st Pennsylvania Battalion, noted in a 27 April 1776 letter the arrival of a neighbor, Solomon Shedaker, with a company of “the Jersey Blues.” Solomon Shadaker was a private in Capt. Brearley’s company of the 2d Battalion.18

Richard Howell to Ebenezer Howell, writing from Trois Rivieres, 20 May 1776, describing the withdrawal from besieging Quebec : “The infantry gave us one fire, the main body another, and the field pieces remembered us a good while with their grapes. Providence protected us from danger, and we returned to join our main line; but when we had reached headquarters, who was there! about one hundred and fifty Jersey Blues, and the enemy just by. The Yankoes were run away, and we all ran away. The Blues offered again to fight and were forming, the General bade us go

11 on, the Yankoes were gone on, and we marched quick time again. Well we went then to Jacartie. The enemy's ships followed, and were landing. We formed to fight, they retired, but the Yankoes ran away. At Point De Chambeau we marched to fight them, they retired abroad, but the Yankoes did not come up. In short, I am tired of recollecting what is past.”19 Lawrence Schmidt

“Jersey Blues”: French and Indian War, 1757-1760

Luke Gridley’s Diary of 1757, While in Service in the French and Indian War: “Day 29th [May 1757] Sabath sume scouting others garding & Regellateing there tents : the roil amarricans the Blues marcht to fort willaim henerry”

“Day 28th [June 1757] Came 13 frinchmen & Rezined themselves up : saying they had [nothing] to eat for 7 or 8 Days : Allso that thare a Lewance had Been one Pound Pork 1 1 Days. Six men taken small pox: we picth our tents the out Side of the pickets so that 500 Green Regelars & 500 Roil amerrycans the Blews might go with In them”

1757, exact date not given: “An a Count of the men of each Government … the Blews govt Jerzey 1-5-0-0”20 Scott Lance and Gary Zaboly

Journal of the Rev. Daniel Shute, D. D., Chaplain in the Expedition to Canada in 1758: “Aug 9 [1758]. Our Regt continued to surround ye Encampment with Logs. —A Party of 12 men sent out on a scout; ye 18 returned made no discoveries. The Jersey- Blue's arrived at 12 o clock. P.M. Very rainy, our Camp nothing but mire.”21 Scott Lance

“Extracts from the Journal of Constantine Hardy, in the Crown Point Expedition of 1759”: “June the 18. 1759. Coneticut Jerzy Blews and the Royal Scotch From Ford Edward to go to the Lake.”

“July the 2. the French and Endions Came upon a Party of Jarzy Blews that was apealing Bark and kild and Took Eleven they Came in open Sight of the Camp their Rallied out Maier Rogers with a Number of the Rangers and they Pursued after them and they Came in Sight of them Jest as they got in to their Battoes and So they got away.”

“July the: 14: 1759. the first Battallion Came up to the Lake and Joyned the Second Battallion and their was a Ridgment or a Part of a Ridgment of Coneticots and Some Jerzey Blews.”22 Scott Lance

12 The Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 1593, 5 July 1759: “Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in the Army, dated at the Camp, three Miles on this Side , June 20, 1759. ‘Your Favours came to Hand, the first a few Days before we left Fort Edward, the last Saturday Morning, the Day we marched for Half-Way-Brook, where we encamped, and left it Yesterday, and are now encamped here; as is likewise the Royal Scotts, and the Jersey Blues. We are building a stockade Fort, which will be finished in a few Days, when I suppose we shall march for Lake George.‘”23

New York Mercury, 9 July 1759: “Extract of a letter from Albany, dated July 5, 1759. ‘The following is a Copy of a Letter from Lake-George, viz., The second Instant, 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.’”24 John U. Rees

Weyman’s New York Gazette. 9 July 1759: “Run away from his bail, the 16th of June last, Joseph Wilcox, late of Sussex County, province of West New-Jersey . . . Supposed to have on when he went away, an Ensign’s coat belonging to the Jersey blues, faced with red . . .” Scott Lance and Gary Zaboly

“The Journal of Hanna Callendar”: Travelling by “stage wagon” across New Jersey in in 1759, Hanna Callendar noted, "Our more particular company comprised Richard Smith, Senior and James James, some sailors shipwrecked in the 'King of Prussia,' a humorous old Dutchman, and an officer of the Jersey Blues."25 Joseph Bilby

New York Mercury, 11 August 1760: "Camp at Oswego, July 15, 1760. We have now here the first Battalion of the Royal Highlanders, the 55th Regiment, one Battalion of the Royal Americans, three of the New-York and Jersey Blues, with Gage’s Light Infantry, 100 of the Ruff Heads, and two Provincial Regiments."26 Gary Zaboly

The Jersey Provincials were first authorized to wear blue coats in the April 1758 New Jersey Assembly Act to raisie the regiment: “the said Commissioners … shall purchase or procure for each Volunteer, the following Cloathing, or other Articles, to be delivered unto them respectively, at the Time of Muster or Embarkation; (to wit) A blue Coat after the Highland Manner, lapell’d and cuffed with red; one pair of Ticken Breeches, and one Pair of blue ditto, of the same Cloath of their Coat; one Check Shirt and one white ditto; two Pair of Yarn Stockings; two Pair of Shoes; one Hat to each Man, bound with yellow Binding; one Blanket; one Knapsack; one Hatchet; one Canteen; one Camp Kettle to five Men; a Pair of white Spatterdashes, and also One Hundred Grenadiers Caps for One Hundred of the said Soldiers, and Two Hundred Falling-Axes for the whole Regiment.” In New York, on 5 June 1758, it was reported, “A few Days ago the New-Jersey Forces, of between 11 or 1200, of the likeliest well-

13 set Men for the Purpose, as has perhaps been turned out on any Campaign, passed by this Place for Albany. They were under Col. Johnston, and all in high Spirits, their Uniform blue, faced with red, grey Stockings and Buckskin Breeches.” The first known use of the moniker “Jersey Blues” occurred the previous year, intimating Jersey troops wore blue that year as well. There is also a poorly supported claim the name “Jersey Blues” originated in 1747 when Col. Peter Schuyler commanded the first New Jersey unit to serve outside of the state. Since the soldiers coats were not blue at that time, and would not be for another ten or eleven years, the Blue Mountains are mentioned as the inspiration for the nom de plume.27 Joseph Bilby, Lawrence Schmidt, and Matthew White ______

Brother Jonathan’s Images Consortium Neal T. Hurst [email protected] John U. Rees R. Scott Stephenson Matthew C. White

“The British were very civil, and indeed they generally were after they had received a check from Brother Jonathan for any of their rude actions.” Connecticut soldier Joseph Plumb Martin writing in his 1830 memoir of the October 1776 . ______

"'One of the best in the army.': An Overview of Brigadier General William Maxwell's Jersey Brigade," The Continental Soldier, vol. XI, no. 2 (Spring 1998), 45-53 http://revwar75.com/library/rees/njbrigade.htm

For uniform clothing worn by all four New Jersey regiments see, "'The Great Neglect in provideing Cloathing': Uniform Colors and Clothing in the New Jersey Brigade During the Monmouth Campaign of 1778": "The Jersey Blues:" The New Jersey Regiments, 1755-1776 "Never...Our Proper Quantity:" The New Jersey Brigade of 1777 "The Regiments Have No Uniforms or Distinguishing Colours:" Uniform Coats and the New Jersey Brigade During 1778 “The following Articles of Cloathing …”: 1778 Nine Months Levies’ Apparel “Only a few light things in the Spring.": Clothing the Jersey Brigade’s Long Term Soldiers, 1778 Military Collector & Historian, two parts: vol. XLVI, no. 4. (Winter 1994), 163-170; vol. XLVII, no. 1 (Spring 1995), 12-20. http://revwar75.com/library/rees/neglect1.htm and http://revwar75.com/library/rees/neglect2.htm

George Ewing was a 2d New Jersey Battalion soldier in 1776; he was left behind by his battalion when he took sick and ended serving most of that year with the 3d Battalion in the Mohawk Valley: “Receivd an Ensigncy in Capt Hagans Company Third Jersey Regt” Ensign George Ewing’s Journal, , 11 November 1775 to 21 May 1778 (Published as George Ewing, The Military Journal of George Ewing (1754-1824): A Soldier of Valley Forge (Yonkers, N.Y.: Privately printed by T. Ewing, 1928)) http://www.scribd.com/doc/153505766/%E2%80%9CReceivd-an-Ensigncy-in-Capt-Hagans- Company-Third-Jersey-Regt%E2%80%9D-Ensign-George-Ewing%E2%80%99s-Journal-New- Jersey-Line-11-November-1775-to-21-May-1778-Pu

14 For information on the New Jersey Brigade in the 1777 campaign: "’We ... wheeled to the Right to form the Line of Battle’: Colonel 's Journal, 23 November 1776 to 14 August 1777 (Including Accounts of the Action at the Short Hills)” Contents 1. “The Enemy Came out fired several Cannon At our Pickets”: Journal Entries, 23 November 1776 to 25 June 1777 2. Composition of Maj. Gen. William Alexander, Lord Stirling's Division, Summer 1777 3. “Our Canister shot Did Great Execution.”: The Battle of the Short Hills: Journal Entries 26 to 28 June 1777 4. “There was a steady fire on us from out of the bushes …”: A German Officer’s View of Operations in New Jersey, 24 to 28 June 1777 5. “A smart engagement ensued …”: A British Private’s View of the Short Hills Battle 6. "I propose leaving Colo. Daytons and Ogden's Regts. at Elizabeth Town … for the present ...”: Movements of the 1st and 3d New Jersey Regiments, July and August 1777 7. “Crossed Delaware [River], halted At Doctor Enhams …”: Final Journal Entries, 29 July to 14 August 1777 Addenda 1. Listing of Field Officers, Commissioned Officers, and Staff of the 2d New Jersey Regiment December 1776 to December 1777 2. Company Strengths and Dispositions, Colonel Israel Shreve's 2d New Jersey Regiment December 1776 to December 1777 3. 2d New Jersey Regiment, Monthly Strength as Taken From the Muster Rolls, December 1776 to December 1777 4. 2d New Jersey Regiment, Company Lineage, 1777 to 1779 5. “The Troops of this Army … Appear to Manoeuvre upon false principles …”: The State of Continental Army Field Formations and Combat Maneuver, 1777 6. Composition of British Columns at the Short Hills Action, 26 June 1777; Organization of British Light Infantry and Grenadier Battalions, Spring and Summer 1777 7. “I have sent down Lord Stirling's Division, to reinforce Genl. Maxwell …”: Summer Campaign Letters, Gen. George Washington and Virginia Captain John Chilton, plus the role of “late Ottendorff’s Corps,” 22 to 29 June 1777 8. “At sunrise the fire began …”: New Jersey Brigade Accounts of the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign 9. "Without Covering but the H[eaven's].C[anop].y and boughs of Trees …": 4th New Jersey Officer's Diary, 21 June 1777 to 18 February 1778 (plus Journal of Ensign George Ewing, 3d New Jersey, 1777-1778) http://www.scribd.com/doc/153790118/%E2%80%99We-wheeled-to-the-Right-to-form-the- Line-of-Battle%E2%80%99-Colonel-Israel-Shreve-s-Journal-23-November-1776-to-14-August- 1777-Including-Accounts-of

Endnotes 1. Mark E. Lender and J. Kirby Martin, eds., Citizen Soldier: The Revolutionary War Journal of Joseph Bloomfield (Newark, N.J.: 1982), 2-3. Brig. Gen. Cortland Skinner, 1776-1783The Online Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies, http://www.royalprovincial.com/history/figures/skinner.shtml 2. William S. Stryker, Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War (Trenton: Wm. T. Nicholson and Co., Printers, 1872), 9-23. Doyen Salsig, ed. and annot., Parole: Quebec; Countersign: Ticonderoga, Second New Jersey Regiment Orderly Book of 1776, (Cranbury, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1980), 39-52. Lender and Martin, Revolutionary War Journal of Joseph Bloomfield, 7- 17; see also Bloomfield’s journal entries on the pertinent dates.

15 3. William Maxwell to John Hancock (two letters), 23 and 31 January 1776, The Papers of the 1774–1789, National Archives Microfilm Publications M247 (Washington, DC, 1958), reel 99, pages 3, 7. 4. Doyen Salsig, ed. and annot., Parole: Quebec; Countersign: Ticonderoga, Second New Jersey Regiment Orderly Book of 1776, (Cranbury, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1980), 50, 214. 5. Lender and Martin, Revolutionary War Journal of Joseph Bloomfield, 43-44. 6. William S. Stryker, ed., Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey, Extracts from American Newspapers, vol. I, 1776-1777 (Trenton, N.J.: The John Murphy Publishing Co., Printers, 1901), 93-94. 7. John U. Rees, "'The Great Neglect in provideing Cloathing': Uniform Colors and Clothing in the New Jersey Brigade During the Monmouth Campaign of 1778": "The Jersey Blues:" The New Jersey Regiments, 1755-1776 "Never...Our Proper Quantity:" The New Jersey Brigade of 1777 "The Regiments Have No Uniforms or Distinguishing Colours:" Uniform Coats and the New Jersey Brigade During 1778 “The following Articles of Cloathing …”: 1778 Nine Months Levies’ Apparel “Only a few light things in the Spring.": Clothing the Jersey Brigade’s Long Term Soldiers, 1778 Military Collector & Historian, two parts: vol. XLVI, no. 4. (Winter 1994), 163-170; vol. XLVII, no. 1 (Spring 1995), 12-20. http://revwar75.com/library/rees/neglect1.htm and http://revwar75.com/library/rees/neglect2.htm D. Brooks to George Washington, 1 April 1782, George Washington Papers, Presidential Papers Microfilm (Washington: Library of Congress, 1961), series 4 (General Correspondence. 1697–1799), reel 83: "... The N. Hampshire, N. York & N. Jersey Lines & the 10th Massachusetts & Invalid Regiments are compleatly clothed with the British (dyed) Coats, which we... are of very good quality & have no received the least injury in colouring. As some of the troops [refused?] taking the British Coats on account of their Colour & Others (though without Reason as time will demonstrate) raisd a Report that they Were [ruined?] in dying - we agreed, previous to the delivery that the British Hats & Breeches should go with the Coats, as a compensation for the real & imaginary defect in Colour and quality. These Hats will about suffice those Lines, & for what the Breeches fell short we have delivered Cloth & Materials to compleat them to a pair per man so that the Lines and Regts. above mentioned are supplied with a Coat, Vest, Overalls, Breeches, two pair of Hose, hat, One shirt, and as many shoes as their Necessities from time to time required ..." Don Troiani and James Kochan, Soldiers of the American Revolution (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2007), 179. See also John U. Rees, "’The taylors of the regiment’: Insights on Soldiers Making and Mending Clothing, and Continental Army Clothing Supply, 1776 to 1783,” Military Collector & Historian, vol. 63, no. 4 (Winter 2011), 254-265. http://www.scribd.com/doc/131742393/The-taylors-of-the-regiment- Insights-on-Soldiers-Making-and-Mending-Clothing-and-Continental-Army- Clothing-Supply-1778-to-1783 8. James Mease to Elias Dayton, 9 May 1777, manuscript in a private collection.

16 9. George Washington to Israel Putnam, l0 June 1777, John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799, vol. 8 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1933), 222. 10. Charles Lefferts, Uniforms of the American, British, French and German Armies of the American Revolution (New York: New-York Historical Society, 1927), 118-119. 11. Lender and Martin, Revolutionary War Journal of Joseph Bloomfield, 127. 12. General Orders, 15 November 1780, Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, vol. 20(1937), 349-350. 13. Lender and Martin, Revolutionary War Journal of Joseph Bloomfield, 128-135. 14. Ibid., 19-28, 138-142. 15. Don Troiani, Military Buttons of the American Revolution (Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 2001), 131. Don Troiani and James L. Kochan, Insignia of Independence: Military Buttons and Accoutrement Plates of the American Revolution (Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 2012), 233. William Louis Calver and Reginald Pelham Bolton, History Written With Pick and Shovel: Military Buttons, Belt-Plates, badges, and other Relics Excavated from Colonial, Revolutionary, and Camp Sites by the Field Exploration Committee of The New-York Historical Society (New York: The New-York Historical Society, 1950), 89, 91 (photo). “No. 5. Button of the New Jersey troops. Found at Fort Ticonderoga.” Page 89: “At Fort Ticonderoga was found also a button or two of the New Jersey troops in the Revolution. Another specimen - a badly battered one, was found in the British Camp at 195th Street [and] Broadway, in . The New Jersey buttons are unique in having the name of the state spelled out in full script.” Lee Hanson and Dick Ping Tsu, Casemates and Cannonballs: Archaeological Investigations at Fort Stanwix National Monument, Publications in Archaeology 14 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975), 84 (photo), 85. Button “Variety f. Face cast with “New Jersey” in script. One specimen (fig. 48h) has a diameter of 23 mm. and a thickness of 12 mm. It was a New Jersey regimental button of the Revolutionary period; the was at Fort Stanwix from July to October, 1776, (Luzader, 1969, pp. 56-61). Another similar specimen (but not from the same mold) was found at Fort Ticonderoga (Calver and Bolton, 1950, p. 91). 16. Index of Revolutionary War Pension Applications in the National Archives (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976), copies of depositions and related materials in National Archives Microfilm Publication M804 (2,670 reels). 17. Joseph Brearley to David Brearley, 7 March 1776, Montreal, Larry R. Gerlach, ed., New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763–1783: A Documentary History (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975), 180-181. 18. Samuel Hodgkinson to his parents. 21 April 1776 (information courtesy of Lawrence Schmidt, citation unknown). 19. Daniel Agnew, "A Biographical Sketch of Governor , of New Jersey," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 22 (1898), 221-225. 20. Luke Gridley’s Diary of 1757, While in Service in the French and Indian War (Hartford, CT.: The Hartford Press. 1907), 31, 38, 62. 21. A Journal of the Rev. Daniel Shute, D. D., Chaplain in the Expedition to Canada in 1758 (no publication information), 12 (Original in the Library of the Public Archives of Canada. Ottawa : Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions, 1984).

17 22. “Extracts from the Journal of Constantine Hardy, in the Crown Point Expedition of 1759,” The New- Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. LX (Boston, July 1906), 237. 23. William Nelson, ed., “Extracts from American Newspapers, Relating to New Jersey,” vol. IV, 1756-1761, Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Archives of the State of New Jersey, first series, vol. XX (Paterson: The Call Printing and Publishing Co., 1898), 364. 24. Ibid., 364. 25. John T. Cunningham, New Jersey: America's Main Road (Garden City, N.J.: Doubleday and Col, Inc., 1976), 71. 26. Nelson, ed., “Extracts from American Newspapers, Relating to New Jersey,” vol. IV, 1756-1761, 472. 27. “An Act for augmenting the Regiment of this Colony of New-Jersey, to the Number of One Thousand effective Men, Officers included, and making Provision for the same,” passed 4 April 1758, vol. II, The Acts of the General Assembly of the Province of New-Jersey, From the Year 1753, being the Twenty-sixth of the Reign of King George the Second, where the First Volume ends, to the Year 1761, being the First of King George the Third (Woodbridge: James Parker, Printer, 1761), 163, 170. New York Mercury, 12 June 1758, William Nelson, ed., “Extracts from American Newspapers, Relating to New Jersey,” vol. IV, 1756-1761, Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Archives of the State of New Jersey, first series, vol. XX (Paterson: The Call Printing and Publishing Co., 1898), 219. William H. Benedict, “Origin and Sketch of the ‘Jersey Blues’,” New Jersey Historical Society Proceedings, vol. 9 (October 1924), 341. http://archive.org/stream/newjerseyhistori09maga#page/n356/mode/thum b

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