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1) Fort Lee Historic Park(NHL)
2) Historic New Bridge Landing
3) Steuben House State Historic Site
Elizabethtown
4) Boxwood Hall State Historic Site (NHL)
Connecticut Farms and Springfield
5) Liberty Hall (NHL)
Perth Amboy
6) Proprietary House
New Brunswick and Raritan Landing
7) Cornelius Low House
8) Sandy Hook Lighthouse (NHL)
9) Holmes-Hendrickson House
10) Marlpit Hall
Shrewsbury
11) Allen House (Blue Ball Tavern) |
Cockpit of the Revolution
From August 1776, when the British drove the Continental
Army out of New York, until 1783, when the British evacuated
New York, northeastern New Jersey knew no peace. Between major
military campaigns, army foraging parties "purchased" livestock and
crops at gunpoint and neighbors settled political differences through
murder and kidnapping.
After evacuating Fort Lee, Washington led a dwindling
Continental Army west and south through New Jersey,
passing over the New Bridge across the Hackensack River
(now New Bridge Landing), and through Newark, Elizabeth,
New Brunswick and Trenton, where they crossed the Delaware
River into Pennsylvania on December 7 and 8, 1776. They took
with them every boat the pursuing enemy could have used to
come after them.
An important port directly across the northern end
of the Arthur Kill from British-held Staten Island,
Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth) was repeatedly occupied by
British and Loyalist troops.
In June 1780, the British made two attempts to strike the
Continental Army base at Morristown. Both failed, but
the villages of Connecticut Farms (now Union) and
Springfield were burned in the fighting that repulsed those
attacks. The American victory at the Battle of Springfield was
the last major battle of the war fought in the north.
The Raritan River Valley was a natural corridor into
central New Jersey. The British garrisoned it, December
1776 through June 1777. Just before leaving to attack Philadelphia
by sea, the British tried to lure the Continentals into battle by advancing
from New Brunswick to Middlebush. When that failed,
they withdrew to Perth Amboy, then lunged back at the advancing
Continentals-action that resulted in the inconclusive Battle
of Short Hills. Having failed to draw Washington into battle, the
British withdrew to Staten Island, June 28-30. This area would
see raiders again in October, 1779, when the Queen's American
Rangers penetrated all the way to Somerset Courthouse.
The important port of Perth Amboy was the capital of
East Jersey from 1684 until the union of East and West
Jersey in 1702, and then remained one of the twin capitals (with
Burlington) until 1790. Its strategic location at the mouth of the
Raritan River meant that both armies occupied it at different
times during the Revolution.
At the head of navigation on the Raritan River and at the
crossing of the main road from New York to Philadelphia,
the villages of New Brunswick and Raritan Landing were
the hub of the Raritan and Millstone Valleys. The British Brigade
of Guards was stationed at Raritan Landing from December 1776,
through June 1777, and archaeological excavations have uncovered
evidence of both British and American encampments in the area.
From 1777 through 1780, Loyalists and British repeatedly
raided the port of Shrewsbury. Four historic structures
occupy its center, two of them from the 18th century, the Allen
House (northwest corner) and Christ Church (southeast corner).
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