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 Historical Overview of: Toryism in the Middle Colonies
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   The middle colonies had a substantial loyalist population. Several prominent loyalists, including Daniel Leonard, drew up a plan for establishing a loyalist stronghold on the eastern seaboard. Leonard was a prominent, if aristocratic, Boston lawyer and was one of the most able and literate of the loyalists. He had expounded the tory cause in a series of papers addressed to "the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts" and signed with the pen name Massachusettensis. His arguments were drawn heavily on Thomas Hobbes. John Adams had considered these papers worthy of his attention and had responded in papers signed Novanglus. Should such a safe haven be created, with peace guaranteed by the British army backed by tory militia, Leonard believed that many loyalists would defect and enter the safe zone and there be gathered as his majesty's loyal subjects. Leonard considered several sites for his loyalist community, among them the eastern shore of Maryland, Delaware and the greater Philadelphia area. The first key ingredient was a successful British invasion of the chosen area. Second, the British must secure the area so that all Tories could gather organize in an atmosphere of relative security. Third, the British must transport known loyalists from other areas and resettle them in the secure zone. Finally, the loyalists must themselves form a strong protective wing, a powerful and well-armed militia. The plan suggested that a minimum number of militia would have to be 10,000 to 12,000 men.
 
   There were about 5000 tories in New Jersey during the Revolution, of which about 1200 were determined to have openly aided, or fought for, the enemy. This was one of the largest and most influential loyalist groups of loyalists in the new nation. There had been no sharp class distinctions or incidents of abuses by the wealthier citizens, so most inhabitants were neither disposed to support independence nor exert themselves to preserve union. As in most colonies, citizens chose sides merely on whim of the moment, according to successes of one or another side, or because of friendships and other loyalties. There is strong evidence that in some counties, such as Bergen, that loyalists may have constituted a majority of the population.
 
   As late as July 1774 the colony's political leadership was loyalist in sympathy. A state convention called to nominate delegates to the Continental Congress on 21 to 23 July resolved that the people "are, and ever have been, firm and unshaken in their loyalty" to the crown. Further, they "detest all thoughts of an independence" from the mother country. Governor William Franklin, natural son of Benjamin Franklin, became irrevocably alienated from his father over the issue of independence. Franklin's addresses of 3 and 13 February 1775 renewed the state's oath of loyalty to the crown. As late as 30 November 1775 the Assembly pledged its commitment to reconciliation with England, and expressed a desire to retain and support Franklin as the legitimate executive. By 13 January 1776, the legislature had debated disarming loyalists and to take into custody those who refused to sign an oath of loyalty or report for duty in the state's patriot militia. Soon, loyalist property was confiscated and those persons joining tory militias or the British army were to be treated as traitors.
 
   New Jersey was a major battleground in the earliest years of the war, as Howe chased Washington's army deeper into the state. As Washington retreated, loyalism became more evident. In 1776 Washington noted that incidents of desertion from his army were greatest among troops from New Jersey because the men from that state frequently changed loyalties, perhaps under great pressures from home. By laws of 1777 and 1782 any person entering an enemy camp, or otherwise holding conversation with the enemy, without high level, explicit permission might be sentenced to death. On 27 June 1777 the Council of Safety ordered that wives and dependents of loyalist militiamen and other persons detained for suspicious activities be deported to British lines, from which they were to leave America.
 
   Defections may have still greater at later dates had it not been that both the British and Hessian troops stationed in the state committed such great and well publicized outrages against both the patriot army and the civilian population. Even friends of the king complained of many outrages having been perpetrated against them by troops they considered to be "on their side." Later, as the focus of the war shifted south, and the British army no longer shielded the tories, loyalism in New Jersey receded.
 
   In 1780 William Franklin organized a loyalist association which operated independent of British military control. It was called The Honorable Board of Associated Loyalists. William Franklin recruited several of his royal authorities to form loyalist militias, including his former Attorney-general Cortlandt Skinner (1728-1799). Skinner attempted to recruit 2500 loyalists, offering the men the opportunity to elect their own officers. This force was well armed at government expense, but they clothed and equipped themselves. They raided the shores of Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey, and owned many sloops, whale boats, and private men of war. They formed three distinct corps, one of which was mounted. Skinner's New Jersey Volunteers was the largest of the tory militias.
 
   Governor Franklin commissioned Colonel Van Dyke to raise a loyalist militia in New Jersey. Van Dyke signed 306 men. John Coombs (1753-1827), a second lieutenant in the British army, was a recruiter for the New Jersey loyalist, raising volunteers for the First New Jersey Loyalist Volunteers. James Cougle (1746-1819) of Pennsylvania, a former officer in the militia, served as captain of the New Jersey Loyalist Volunteers. Robert Drummond ( -1789) was commissioned a major in the Second New Jersey Volunteers. He recruited some 200 of his neighbors into tory militia units. Many of them later served as volunteers in South Carolina and Georgia, raiding out of Florida. John Purvis (1757-1811) was initially commissioned to raise two companies of Whig militia, but decided to desert, leading most of his men to the tory side. Tory efforts in New Jersey received unexpected support from a mulatto slave named Titus, called Captain Tye, once the property of John Corlies. Titus recruited a band of about 60 raiders. He died of wounds received in raids in 1778.
 
   It had been home government policy from the beginning to try to draw Washington's army into one large, hopefully decisive, battle. It was equally Washington's policy to prevent such a massive confrontation and to fight a prolonged war of attrition. Having failed to entrap and confront the patriot army, on 23 January 1779 Lord George Germain instructed Sir Henry Clinton to attempt to restrict Washington's army to the wilderness. The home government expressed the greatest concern for the safety of the loyalists and ordered Clinton to try to secure safe haven for them on the eastern seaboard, especially in the cities and in New Jersey and Delaware.
 
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