New Jersey During the Revolution, as Related in the News Items of the Day

The period 1771 through 1783 saw the Revolution's fermentation, eruption and resolution. New Jersey was in the middle of it all. Indeed, situated as it was, between the key cities of New York and Philadelphia, it was known as the cock pit of the Revolution and was never very far from the politics or action. Happily, the events of the Revolutionary War period can be observed, almost as one would view a documentary film, with images fashioned from words, rather than by the camera, in the news accounts of the period, both Loyalist and Patriot. A sometimes forgotten resource, news articles reveal the sentiments of the participants to the conflict as it was being waged, rather than as it is sometimes recast by legends or in history books. Indeed, if studied hard and long enough, newspapers can become mirrors in which we can see America in her youth. An index to full names, places and subjects adds to the value of this sometimes revealing, sometimes stirring tale.