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This website, its text and photographs are © 2009 - 2024 AL Frazza. All rights reserved.

ABOUT REVOLUTIONARY WAR NEW JERSEY

Revolutionary War New Jersey

Al FrazzaThis website is researched, written, photographed, and designed by Al Frazza

This website was created out of my love for history and for New Jersey. I began work on it on September 17, 2009, and completed it on March 1, 2017. During those seven-and-a-half years, I drove thousands of miles throughout New Jersey, locating and photographing Revolutionary War historic sites. In addition to getting to see and experience all of these historic places first-hand, it allowed me to get to know my home state in a way that I had never before imagined.

What has interested me most throughout the years of research were the very human experiences of those who lived through this monumental historic event, and the fact that they experienced it in this state. I spent a great deal of time reading the letters, diaries, and journals of officers, enlisted soldiers, and local citizens whose lives were affected dramatically - and often tragically - by the events of the Revolutionary War. Throughout this website, you will find source notes listing the historic materials used in my research. Whenever those documents are available to be read online, you will find a link to them. I recommend reading some of these original Revolutionary War era documents for yourself. The people of that time wrote in a style which is somewhat different than ours, and it may take a little time to acclimate yourself to their writing style. However, the rewards of reading their original words are great. Take my word for it.

I have striven to be as complete and thorough as possible in cataloging the Revolutionary War historic sites in New Jersey. There are almost 650 individual historic sites described on this website, including all truly important locations, and many of the minor ones. I have now concluded work on this website, and will not be adding any more entries for the foreseeable future. I will now be focusing on writing a series of books about the Revolutionary War experience in New Jersey, which will see print over the upcoming years.

This project has taken up a good portion of my life. Overall, it has been an incredibly rewarding experience, and was well worth the thousands of hours that went into it. I hope this website helps you to go out and explore for yourself the important history which took place in this great state.

- Al Frazza
New Jersey
March 1, 2017

This website is researched, written, photographed, and designed by Al Frazza

This website was created out of my love for history and for New Jersey. I began work on it on September 17, 2009, and completed it on March 1, 2017. During those seven-and-a-half years, I drove thousands of miles throughout New Jersey, locating and photographing Revolutionary War historic sites. In addition to getting to see and experience all of these historic places first-hand, it allowed me to get to know my home state in a way that I had never before imagined.

Al Frazza

What has interested me most throughout the years of research were the very human experiences of those who lived through this monumental historic event, and the fact that they experienced it in this state. I spent a great deal of time reading the letters, diaries, and journals of officers, enlisted soldiers, and local citizens whose lives were affected dramatically — and often tragically — by the events of the Revolutionary War. Throughout this website, you will find source notes listing the historic materials used in my research. Whenever those documents are available to be read online, you will find a link to them. I recommend reading some of these original Revolutionary War era documents for yourself. The people of that time wrote in a style which is somewhat different than ours, and it may take a little time to acclimate yourself to their writing style. However, the rewards of reading their original words are great. Take my word for it.

I have striven to be as complete and thorough as possible in cataloging the Revolutionary War historic sites in New Jersey. There are almost 650 individual historic sites described on this website, including all truly important locations, and many of the minor ones. I have now concluded work on this website, and will not be adding any more entries for the foreseeable future. I will now be focusing on writing a series of books about the Revolutionary War experience in New Jersey, which will see print over the upcoming years.

This project has taken up a good portion of my life. Overall, it has been an incredibly rewarding experience, and was well worth the thousands of hours that went into it. I hope this website helps you to go out and explore for yourself the important history which took place in this great state.

- Al Frazza
New Jersey
March 1, 2017

Revolutionary War New Jersey — AL Frazza

Acknowledgements

Throughout the course of this project, I have been in contact with many people who helped me to locate necessary documents, and/or who took the time to speak with me regarding their areas of expertise. These included members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sons of the American Revolution, and various historical societies, as well as directors and docents of numerous historic sites and museums. I offer my thanks to all of these helpful people. Some of them are thanked individually throughout this website, within the source notes of pages where they provided information to me.

The assistance I received from librarians and libraries throughout New Jersey was invaluable. During the course of this project, I visited or called more libraries throughout this state than I can count. In every communication I had with librarians, they were friendly and helpful, often helping me to locate a book or document which was otherwise unavailable. On many occasions, they sent me a scan of a document I needed, saving me hours of driving. Some of these librarians are thanked within the source notes of this website, on pages for which they provided assistance. I would like to offer particular thanks to several librarians who have assisted me on multiple occasions: Mary Nelson of the Bound Brook Memorial Library; the staff of the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center at the Morristown Library; Deb Carmody of the Monmouth County Historical Association; Peter Havel, who was the director of the Cedar Grove Public Library from 2011-2015; and the staff of the Little Falls Public Library.

I would like to thank my friends Tracy Stoft, Dave Meredith, Kyle Tevlin, Paul Bonazzi (R.I.P. August 2, 2016), Scott Dambrot, Peg Schumann, and my brother Bird for their encouragement throughout my years of work on this project.

Special thanks to:
• Paul Alexander, who went along for the ride on many of my long drives when I was out locating and photographing historic sites. And for his invaluable friendship.
• Joan Barrett, who provided the final proofread of the website for grammar and punctuation, and who was encouraging throughout the project.
• Chris Magenta, whose friendship and never-ending encouragement throughout this project has meant so much to me.

My biggest thanks goes to my girlfriend Toni, who helped me in multiple ways. Toni kept me company on many long drives throughout the state to historic sites. She also took many long walks and hikes with me through locations I was researching, as I was trying to figure out how a given hill, mountain, or river might have affected the events of the Revolutionary War.
For the last several years of this project, I showed Toni every draft I'd written of every page of this website. I always asked her the same questions about what I had written: "Is this confusing?" "Does it flow well?" "Is it interesting?" She patiently went through this process countless times, and her feedback always pushed me to produce better work.
Most importantly, she is a wonderful partner who has brought me great happiness which has helped me stay focused during the long hours I put into this project.

And finally, a huge thanks to my Mom for all of her encouragement and support, and for basically being a great Mom. I am very much my mother's son; I inherited from her a drive to create and an attention to detail, both of which served me well throughout this project. This website is dedicated to her.