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Dear Reader:
My friend and noted Monmouth County (NJ) historian Rick Geffken has graciously consented to participate in a written interview for this blog about his new book, New Jersey’s Revolutionary Rivalry: The Untold Story of Colonel Tye & Captain Huddy. It features a lucid and intriguing narrative about the exploits of Patriot hero Joshua Huddy, whose execution by armed Loyalists in 1782 would have implications for Anglo-American peace negotiations, and the importance of Titus/Colonel Tye, who led runaway slaves such as himself and white Loyalists during a bitter civil war that raged across much of the state. Rick’s work forcefully conveys the intensity of emotion that engendered brutal violence on both sides of the conflict.
Rick’s other books include: Stories of Slavery in New Jersey, Hidden History of Monmouth County, To Preserve & Protect, The Story of Shrewsbury, Revisited 1965-2015, and Lost Amusement Parks of the North Jersey Shore.
I think you’ll enjoy reading this.
1. Tell us about yourself and how you came to write this book.
We lived in Hudson County when I grew up, but my parents rented a bungalow at a place called Gravelly Point in Highlands, Monmouth County, every summer until I was sixteen. My summer friends and I played frequently in Huddy Park, and I probably read the plaque on the monument to this Revolutionary War hero, who was hanged nearby, dozens of times. Without realizing the fascinating story of Huddy’s life, I frequented all the Monmouth County places where he’d been and near where he fought almost two-hundred-years before.
As I began to research Revolutionary War history about five years ago, I came across frequent mentions of Huddy and his rival Colonel Tye. The coincidences of the locations of their battles (e.g., the Colts Neck Inn) and places I knew well (most significantly Gravelly Point where Huddy was executed and Rumson where Tye was enslaved) compelled me to learn more about these men.
2. How long were you working on this project and what, if any surprises, did you encounter in the course of your research? Did it change your mind about anything related to the subject matter?
I spent a least two years sifting through the legends and stories about them, while visiting archives and repositories all over New Jersey for added information. I went to the University of Virginia Library to read and research British Governor Lord Dunmore’s papers, looking for references to Tye in Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment (there were none).
I was surprised to find more documents and references to Tye and Huddy than had previously been reported— and more unfounded rumors about them too. Some of the misinformation about them had been repeated for at least a century in various publications, newspapers, and even academic papers.
I certainly changed my mind about Huddy, who was a prewar convicted criminal In Salem County, where he was from. He was egocentric and careless about the feelings of others. An opportunist, Huddy twice married widows when he realized they each had substantial estates.
Most astonishing to me was that the King and Queen of France, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, became involved in the aftermath of Huddy’s illegal execution in Highlands, New Jersey. Without the queen’s intervention, George Washington might have carried out a revenge hanging of a British P.O.W. that could have scuttled the Paris Peace talks Benjamin Franklin was heading.
3. What was most challenging to you in crafting this work?
How to create an interesting narrative, not only about their interactions but what was happening in Monmouth County during the war that affected them. The story I wrote required more research into this history than I had anticipated in order to place Tye and Huddy in their proper context.
4. This is, of course, a book about the civil war that raged in New Jersey, and especially in Monmouth County where you’re regarded as an authoritative historical source. Can you convey in a few words the brutal reality that was at the heart of that experience for people on both sides of the conflict?
Families were torn apart as individual members took opposite sides and sometimes even switched sides during the war, notably the Taylor family of Middletown. Former friends and neighbors divided along Loyalist and Patriot lines, sometimes turning each other in to their respective authorities, spying on each other, and to a surprising degree fighting one another. People throughout Monmouth County were dragged into the conflict against their will and punished by their opponents. Extrajudicial hangings and murders were common throughout the war. Try as they might, no one, not even Quakers, could remain neutral.
5. You’ve spent a great deal of time researching and writing about the history of slavery in New Jersey. What would you especially like readers to know about the relationship between slavery and the American rebellion, and in particular the role played by enslaved persons in this struggle and how they were impacted by it?
Despite the inspiring words of the greatest document ever written for a new nation—the 1776 Declaration of Independence—its assertion that “all men are created equal” did not mean to include Black people, women, or native Americans. Those supporting the rebellion, including the renowned founders of our nation—almost 75 percent of whom were enslavers, were fighting for independence from Britain, not for the freedom of Black people, enslaved or free.
Yet Black men fought on both sides of the Revolutionary struggle, obviously men like Tye who fought for the British, but also people like the free Black man Oliver Cromwell, whom George Washington acknowledged as important to the Patriot cause. There were hundreds of other Black fighters whose individual motivations varied during the war. It’s also interesting to note that the slaveholding Washington wanted the British to return Virginia runaway slaves to their original owners after the fighting ended. Instead, three thousand Black men and women were shipped from New York to Canada and Nova Scotia with other Loyalists in 1783.
It took New Jersey, where more Revolutionary battles were fought than in any other colony/state, until 1804 to legislate a beginning to the end of enslavement, in a law entitled “An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery.” And New Jersey was the last northern state to ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that ended slavery in the United States.
6. Is there anything else you would like readers to know about your book and about how the Revolution impacted New Jersey?
With well over seven hundred armed incidents or battles in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War, there’s a very good chance people living in the state today reside near one of the places that helped ensure American independence.
Thanks very much, Rick.
