Think you know everything about NJ's role in the Revolutionary War? Check again
Westfield native Jim Stempel knows more about New Jersey now than when he lived there.
However, with key locales named Spanktown, Samptown and Quibbletown, Stempel's New Jersey bears little resemblance to today's Garden State.
"It was a totally different New Jersey back then," he said. "It was a completely different map."
Now a resident of Maryland, Stempel recently returned to his home state in spirit to write his new book: "The Enemy Harassed: Washington's New Jersey Campaign of 1777." Set for release on March 21, it is a story of violence, fortitude and survival, he said. It is also one of an agrarian society, ideologically torn and living amid nearly constant strife.
Stempel said he was astounded by the number of military actions in New Jersey in 1777 — and their level of violence.
"It struck me as really quite amazing that I had grown up and not heard any of this stuff," he said. "This was the book I would have wanted to read."
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To pull together his account, Stempel combined historical records, contemporary descriptions, war diaries and official correspondence. Firsthand accounts from Hessian officer Johann Ewald, Loyalist officer for the British Stephen Kemble and others provide varying perspectives.
Focused on the often glossed-over period after the Battle of Trenton and the lead-up to the Battle of Brandywine Creek, the book retells a hidden history set amid the state's hills and meadows.
It starts with the Battle of Princeton on Jan. 3 of 1777. In a struggle narrowly won by the Americans, the action began when the two sides essentially stumbled into one another north of Trenton. It ended when George Washington led a counterattack under the cover of a battery hurling grapeshot and canisters.
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After two subsequent and smaller skirmishes, the British collected themselves in New Brunswick. The Continental Army wintered at Morristown, then a town of 250. From his headquarters in Jacob Arnold's tavern on Morristown's public green, Washington was forced to watch most of his army disband, due to expiring enlistments. He held on under the protection of the nearby hills as reinforcements trickled in, Stempel said.
"He was in a very vulnerable position," Stempel said. "His objective, I think, was to survive. And he did."
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Washington had his remaining militias disperse in a web formation to frustrate the British efforts to forage outside New Brunswick, Stempel said. Washington generally monitored the situation from the Watchung Mountains and received post-action reports. His junior officers received vital on-the-job training that would come back to haunt the British, Stempel said.
From Morristown, Stempel's book covers events at Spanktown (Rahway), Quibbletown (Piscataway) and beyond.
By the end of July 1777, the British had tired of having their noses bitten off by American forces, Stempel said. They retreated off the coast of Sandy Hook to regroup for a southern approach on their target: Philadelphia.
"They could not cross New Jersey," Stempel said. "It was a hornet's nest."
A 1970 graduate of the Citadel in South Carolina, Stempel has a degree in political science. He has written about the Eastern campaigns of the American Civil War and is working on a novel from his Maryland home. "The Enemy Harassed: Washington's New Jersey Campaign of 1777" will be available through several nationwide retailers.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ's Revolutionary War history subject of Westfield author's new book
