People

Bergen County militia officer (c.1753-1789) who led patriot forces in skirmishes against Loyalist raiders and British foraging parties throughout the Hackensack Valley during the Revolution.

Dutch Reformed minister of Hackensack (1775-1784) who served as a patriot organizer, militia chaplain, and spiritual leader of the independence movement in Bergen County.

Bergen County judge and delegate to the Continental Congress (1721-1798) who was captured by Loyalist raiders from his Paramus home in 1777 and held prisoner in New York City.

An enslaved man from Bergen County who sought freedom during the Revolution, representing the thousands of enslaved people in northern New Jersey for whom the war presented both danger and opportunity.

Wife of a British officer who hosted American officers including Washington at her Bergen County estate, the Hermitage, and later married Aaron Burr (1746-1794).

Continental Army general (1745-1796) who led foraging expeditions and military operations in Bergen County, including actions near Hackensack to secure supplies and counter Loyalist activity.

Bergen County-born loyalist commander (1736–1797) who raised and led the 4th Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers, one of the most active Loyalist Provincial Corps operating in the Hackensack Valley. Van Buskirk conducted repeated raids against patriot farms and communities in Bergen County throughout the war and was the primary military antagonist the Hackensack patriot community faced on a day-to-day basis.

Bergen County patriot judge, militia colonel, and landowner (c.1729–1787) whose Preakness estate (now Wayne, NJ) served as a Washington headquarters in July–November 1780. Dey was one of the most prominent Dutch Reformed landowners in Bergen County to commit to the patriot cause, and his family's resistance to Loyalist pressure through years of civil conflict in the Hackensack Valley embodied the patriot community's persistence.