New Jersey in the American Civil War
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Union states in the American Civil War |
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The state of New Jersey in the United States provided a source of troops, equipment and leaders for the Union during the American Civil War. Though no major battles were fought in New Jersey, soldiers and volunteers from New Jersey played an important part in the war, including Philip Kearny and George B. McClellan, who led the Army of the Potomac early in the Civil War and unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States in 1864 against his former commander-in-chief, Abraham Lincoln.[1]
Slavery and prelude to war
The
New Jersey passed an act for the gradual abolition of slavery in 1804, it was only in 1830 that most blacks were free in the state. However, by the close of the Civil War, about a dozen African-Americans in New Jersey were still apprenticed freedmen. New Jersey at first refused to ratify the Constitutional Amendments that banned slavery. New Jersey was a major part of the extensive Underground Railroad system.
Civil War
On May 4, 1861, in a response to President
No battles took place within New Jersey throughout the course of the Civil War. However, over 88,000 soldiers from New Jersey were part of several infantry and cavalry regiments. In total, 52 regiments were created by New Jersey soldiers during this war. 23,116 of those soldiers served in the
Another notable officer from New Jersey was Major General
On 24 March 1863, the New Jersey legislature passed a resolution that included many aspects of the situation caused by the war. Some of the aspects were:[3]
Against proclamations from any source by which, under the plea of "military necessity," persons in states and territories sustaining the federal government, and beyond necessary military lines, are held liable to the rigor and severity of military law
Against all arrests without warrant—against the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in states and territories sustaining the federal government, "where the public safety does not require it"—and against the assumption of power by any person to suspend such writ, except under the express authority of Congress
Against the power assumed in the proclamation of the President made January one, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, by which all the slaves in certain states and parts of states are forever set free—and against the expenditure of the public moneys for the emancipation of slaves or their support at any time, under any pretence whatever
New Jersey was one of the few states to vote for
Many cities like Paterson and Camden, grew extremely strong through the duration of the Civil War. They produced many necessities, including clothing and war materials like ammunition. These cities prospered through constant production even after the end of the war. Cities like those of Paterson and Camden became crucial to the Northern war effort. With the Union's ability to manufacture more supplies, the Union was able to defeat the Confederates and successfully conclude the war and reunite the country.[4]
See also
References
- ^ a b Asszony, Carl J. "New Jersey and the Civil War: A complicated history we should better understand | Asszony". MyCentralJersey.com. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
- ^ New Jersey in the Civil War Archived 2006-08-30 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved December 18, 2005.
- ^ Acts of the Eighty-seventh Legislature of the State of New Jersey and Sixteenth Under the New Constitution. Newark, NJ: E. N. Fuller, Daily Journal Office, 1863, pp. 510-513.
- ISBN 1-4034-0673-1. pg 26-29
Further reading
- Bussanich, Lenny. " 'To Reach Sweet Home Again': The Impact of Soldiering on New Jersey’s Troops During the American Civil War." New Jersey History 125.2 (2010): 37–61.
- Cox, Christopher. History of New Jersey Civil War Regiments: Artillery, Cavalry, and Infantry (2013) online
- Foster, John Young. New Jersey and the rebellion: a history of the services of the troops and people of New Jersey in aid of the Union cause (1868), 872pp; short histories of all the state's military units. online
- Gillette, William. Jersey Blue: Civil War Politics in New Jersey, 1854-1865 (Rutgers University Press, 1995). online
- Green, Larry. "Lincoln, Slavery, and Race in Civil War New Jersey: The Documentary Evidence and Treatments in Film." Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries (2014) 66 10.14713/jrul.v66i0.1862.
- Green, Larry. "The Emancipation Proclamation in New Jersey and the Paranoid Style." New Jersey History 91 (1973): 108–124.
- Hodges, Graham Russell. Black New Jersey – 1664 to the Present Day (Rutgers University Press, 2019).
- Longacre, Edward G. The Sharpshooters: A History of the Ninth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War (U of Nebraska Press, 2017).
- Miller, Richard F. ed. States at War, Volume 4: A Reference Guide for Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey in the Civil War (2015) excerpt 890pp.
- Price, Clement Alexander. Freedom Not Far Distant: A Documentary History of Afro-Americans in New Jersey (New Jersey Historical Society, 1980).
- Rojas, Adriana, "New Jersey: Its Opinions and Reactions to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments Before and After the Civil War" (Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses. (2020)online
- Saretzky, Gary D. "Photographers of the Civil War Era: Theodore Gubelman of Jersey City." New Jersey Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 7.1 (2021): 209–225.
- Sinclair, Donald A. "New Jersey and the Civil War: Notes Toward a Bibliography." Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries 24.2 (1961) online
- Zinn, John G. The Mutinous Regiment: The Thirty-Third New Jersey in the Civil War (McFarland, 2005).
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