New Jersey's Loyalist population was, at certain points and in certain parts of the state, larger than its Patriot population. The state's lack of a major city, its dependence on Philadelphia and New York for news, and the effectiveness of royal governor William Franklin all cultivated strong Loyalist sentiment. The British occupation of Sandy Hook and Staten Island gave Loyalists a secure presence, and the state saw widespread “flip-flopping” as people shifted allegiances based on which army controlled their territory. Strikingly, Benjamin Franklin and his son William—New Jersey's last royal governor—stood on opposite sides of the conflict, a schism mirroring broader family divisions across the state. Titus, an enslaved man probably from Monmouth County, escaped to the British post at Sandy Hook and became a feared Loyalist commander. Known to his followers as “Colonel Tye,” he unofficially banded together other men of African descent and refugees to make raids along the Jersey shore. Tye was wounded in a skirmish at Colt’s Neck in early September 1780, from which wound he succumbed two days later. His followers afterwards styled themselves the Black Brigade and continued the raids he had earlier initiated.
Interviewees
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Linda Caldwell Eps
- President and CEO, 1804 Consultants
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James Amemasor
- Research Specialist, New Jersey Historical Society
