Militia Musters on the Green

**Militia Musters on the Green**

In the spring of 1775, as news of armed conflict at Lexington and Concord rippled through the American colonies, the residents of Hackensack, New Jersey, found themselves at the center of an increasingly volatile political crisis. Bergen County was no hotbed of unified patriot sentiment. Its population was deeply divided between those who supported the revolutionary cause and those who remained loyal to the British Crown, a fracture that ran through families, churches, and neighborhoods. It was in this charged atmosphere that the village Green at the heart of Hackensack became far more than a simple gathering place. It became a stage on which the drama of revolution and resistance would play out for the duration of the war.

Throughout the Revolutionary War, the Green served as the primary mustering ground for Bergen County's militia companies. Local men — farmers, tradesmen, laborers — assembled on the open ground to drill, receive their orders, and prepare to march in defense of the county against British and Loyalist raids. These musters were organized and led by officers such as Major John Mauritius Goetschius, a militia leader who took on the demanding task of transforming ordinary civilians into a functioning military force. Goetschius was responsible not only for drilling the men in the basics of military discipline and tactics but also for maintaining morale in a community where allegiances were uncertain and danger was constant. His presence on the Green lent the musters a sense of order and authority, signaling to patriots and loyalists alike that the revolutionary government intended to defend its claim to power.

Spiritual sustenance accompanied the military preparations. Reverend Dirck Romeyn, a local clergyman, served as chaplain to the militia companies mustering on the Green. Romeyn's role went beyond offering prayers before marches. In a community fractured by political loyalty, a minister's public endorsement of the patriot cause carried significant weight. His willingness to stand alongside armed militiamen was itself a political act, reinforcing the moral legitimacy of the revolution in the eyes of those who gathered and those who watched from the margins.

Yet the story of the Green cannot be told solely through the actions of its most prominent figures. The musters took place within a society built on slavery, and enslaved individuals like Sam of Hackensack inhabited this same landscape. While the historical record offers limited detail about Sam's specific experiences during the musters, his presence in Hackensack during this period is a reminder that the revolutionary ideals of liberty and self-governance existed in painful tension with the reality of human bondage. Enslaved people witnessed the musters, heard the rhetoric of freedom, and navigated the upheaval of war with their own interests and aspirations, even as the revolution largely failed to extend its promises to them.

As the war progressed and the civil conflict within Bergen County intensified, the militia musters on the Green became increasingly fraught. Hackensack's proximity to British-held New York meant that the county was subject to frequent raids, and the men who assembled on the Green knew the risks they faced. They also knew that loyalist neighbors were watching — observing the size and readiness of militia forces and passing intelligence to British commanders across the Hudson. Every muster was therefore both a military exercise and a calculated display of defiance, a public demonstration that the revolutionary government could still command the loyalty of armed men even in contested territory.

The significance of these musters extends beyond the local history of Hackensack. They illustrate a broader truth about the American Revolution: that the war was not won solely on famous battlefields but also sustained in countless small acts of organization, resistance, and civic courage carried out in towns and villages across the colonies. The Green at Hackensack was one of many such places where ordinary people chose sides, shouldered arms, and confronted the uncertainties of revolution. In doing so, they helped determine not only the fate of Bergen County but also the outcome of the broader struggle for American independence.