The Loyalists of New Jersey

The desire for independence from Great Britain was far from unanimous among the American Colonists. A large portion of people, in all walks of life and in all the colonies, were loyal to the Crown, often at great personal risk. The Loyalists were probably the dominant faction in New York, New Jersey, and Georgia, while they were clearly in the minority in Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Loyalists units played a significant part in the war, especially in the south. About 70,000 Loyalists fled to England or Canada, while the majority of them remained in the colonies and attempted to conceal their sympathies. Those that fled, as well as some of those who remained, suffered great hardships and financial losses. Great Britain attempted to provide some compensation for them, hence the mass of English records on which the present work is largely based. About two-thirds of this work consists of biographical data on 419 New Jersey Loyalists culled from English archives, while the final on-third gives briefer accounts of 1,308 more derived from American records. Both parts of the work are documented with citations to the sources, and there is an index to full names and places. This volume was first published as Volume X of the Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society. It is the most comprehensive examination of New Jersey Loyalists in the American Revolution available. It includes an appendix of additional loyalists by A. Van Doren Honeyman.