The origins of the ship-stopping device trace back to the Dutch War of Independence—an eighty-year conflict between 1568 and 1648—where it was initially used on land to thwart cavalry charges. Modified in both name and function by colonial soldiers,…

Modern forensic technology has enabled the New Jersey State Police to reconstruct a remarkably detailed image of what a Hessian soldier would have looked like—including the uniform, signature facial hair (common among German troops of the era), and…

As you enter Red Bank Battlefield in National Park, New Jersey, you’re immediately welcomed by a serene and peaceful landscape. Yet, that calm quickly gives way to a profound sense of history. While undeniably picturesque, this site is sacred…

This monument was erected on October 2, 1829, bearing the inscription: "To transmit perpetually a grateful remembrance of the patriotism and gallantry of Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Greene, who, with 400 men, defeated the Hessian army of…

The First Rhode Island Regiment, a colonial military unit that was the first to incorporate African Americans into its ranks, was led by Colonel Christopher Greene, while not an abolitionist, advocated for Black inclusion in the military. Greene…

Imagine standing face to face with this cannon, its barrel once jutting from the broadside of a massive sixty-gun British warship—aimed squarely at the newly built Fort Mercer. At that time, the fort was little more than earthen mounds, sharpened…

This 400-plus-acre site, owned by the devoutly Quaker Whitall family since circa 1704, was where a few hundred U.S. soldiers of the Rhode Island Regiment—both Black and white—repelled a British and Hessian attack on Fort Mercer. The fort itself was…