Historical Society to Present Revolutionary War Talk
September 02, 2008 | History
The Englewood Historical Society is presenting a talk
by Leonia Municipal Historian Carol Karels on
Wednesday, September 10, at 7:30 PM, in the Mackay
Room of the Englewood Public Library. Carol is the
editor of The Revolutionary War in Bergen County: The
Times That Tried Men’s Souls, which was published by
The History Press in 2007 and received a Bergen
County Historic Preservation Award in 2008. The book,
which includes sixty images and twenty-two essays
contributed by seventeen Bergen County historians,
examines one of the Revolutionary War's most dramatic
and pivotal fronts. Carol will discuss highlights of
the book and how it came together.
The book examines the events from the perspective of all who were involved—the military commanders on both sides, the foreign volunteers, the patriots and loyalists, the militiamen and the New Jersey Volunteers, the Jersey Dutch farmers, the women left alone to defend their homes, blacks both free and enslaved, the British and Hessian troops, the opportunistic London traders and the lawless plunderers.
Much of the information in this new book comes from primary sources—letters, diaries, pension records, muster rolls, ship logs of former slaves departing for Nova Scotia, bills of sale, military after-action reports and George Washington’s handwritten expense reports. Some essays were written expressly for this book; others were adapted or excerpted from previous work. All focus on events or people who spent time in or around Bergen County during the Revolutionary War. Most of the essays were written for, or adapted for this book; a few had previously appeared in the Bergen County Historical Society’s Annuals and were reprinted with their permission.
It begins in June 1776, when thirty thousand British and Hessian troops arrived in New York Harbor and ends in April 1781, after the decisive Battle of Yorktown. In the years between, British, Hessian and Continental troops helped themselves to Bergen County farmers’ crops to feed their hungry troops. Troops from both sides cut down trees and fences for fuel and warmth. They pillaged and plundered homes. Residents lived in constant fear of being ambushed, having their property seized, their houses burned down, their fields stripped and their men hauled off to prison for their political beliefs. Although it was known as "the neutral ground" because it was located between the American troops in the New Jersey Highlands and the British troops in Manhattan, few in Bergen County were politically neutral. Families, neighborhoods and churches were divided over loyalty to the king or to the United States, leading to lifelong animosity.
Carol Karels, the Leonia Borough Historian, holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Illinois. She has written four books on Leonia, including Images of America: Leonia. She’s a native Chicagoan, where she trained and worked as an RN at Cook County Hospital. Her book Cooked: An Inner City Nursing Memoir, won an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year award in 2005.
The book examines the events from the perspective of all who were involved—the military commanders on both sides, the foreign volunteers, the patriots and loyalists, the militiamen and the New Jersey Volunteers, the Jersey Dutch farmers, the women left alone to defend their homes, blacks both free and enslaved, the British and Hessian troops, the opportunistic London traders and the lawless plunderers.
Much of the information in this new book comes from primary sources—letters, diaries, pension records, muster rolls, ship logs of former slaves departing for Nova Scotia, bills of sale, military after-action reports and George Washington’s handwritten expense reports. Some essays were written expressly for this book; others were adapted or excerpted from previous work. All focus on events or people who spent time in or around Bergen County during the Revolutionary War. Most of the essays were written for, or adapted for this book; a few had previously appeared in the Bergen County Historical Society’s Annuals and were reprinted with their permission.
It begins in June 1776, when thirty thousand British and Hessian troops arrived in New York Harbor and ends in April 1781, after the decisive Battle of Yorktown. In the years between, British, Hessian and Continental troops helped themselves to Bergen County farmers’ crops to feed their hungry troops. Troops from both sides cut down trees and fences for fuel and warmth. They pillaged and plundered homes. Residents lived in constant fear of being ambushed, having their property seized, their houses burned down, their fields stripped and their men hauled off to prison for their political beliefs. Although it was known as "the neutral ground" because it was located between the American troops in the New Jersey Highlands and the British troops in Manhattan, few in Bergen County were politically neutral. Families, neighborhoods and churches were divided over loyalty to the king or to the United States, leading to lifelong animosity.
Carol Karels, the Leonia Borough Historian, holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Illinois. She has written four books on Leonia, including Images of America: Leonia. She’s a native Chicagoan, where she trained and worked as an RN at Cook County Hospital. Her book Cooked: An Inner City Nursing Memoir, won an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year award in 2005.
