NEW JERSEY LOYALISTS T-Shirt

The Autumn of 1776 proved bleak for the Rebel cause. General William HOWE of the British Army had led a force of 30,000 British, Hessian and Loyal American troops victoriously through Staten Island, Long Island, Manhattan Island, the Bronx and Westchester. Hundreds and later thousands of loyalist Americans flocked into the British lines to seek protection and offer their services to the Royal army. One of these Loyalists was a Teaneck, Bergen County, New Jersey surgeon by the name of Abraham VAN BUSKIRK. VAN BUSKIRK was a member of an old Dutch family that had been settled in the country for many years. Like so many others he had served in the county militia but waited for the day when the British would arrive. With the clandestine help of numerous other prominent Bergen County Loyalists, VAN BUSKIRK secretly raised a regiment for British service that would rise and form when the British entered the province. On November 20th, 1776, Lord CORNWALLIS led a force of 5,000 men up the palisades overlooking the Hudson River and sent the Continental Army in headlong flight towards Pennsylvania. VAN BUSKIRK and his men could now associate freely and set about the raising and disciplining of a military regiment. The unit was named the 4th Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers. It was one of six battalions of volunteers then raising in New Jersey under Brigadier General Cortland SKINNER. SKINNER was the attorney general of the province under the crown, and a man of considerable influence. The men serving in the corps under his command came from all walks of life, all ethnic groups and all social classes. The typical officer was a farmer/gentleman settled on several hundred acres of land while the rank and file were usually smaller farmers, mechanics, tradesmen or laborers. The 4th Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers was composed of ten companies of varying strength. The authorised strength of the battalion was 500 Rank and File but it never achieved this strength at any one time. However, during the course of the war, over 750 officers and men would serve in their ranks. Losses by death, desertion and discharges would be sporadically replaced by recruits throughout the war. Many of the recruits in the later years of the war tended to be deserters from the Continental Army rather than pure loyalists. This led to a situation where men who had possibly fought against each other were now serving side by side in a common cause. The initial services of the battalion included raids into their home County of Bergen and garrisoning the lower portion of Bergen Neck and Staten Island. These raids often involved the taking of prisoners, collecting of cattle and the occasional skirmish with local militia or Continental troops.