1st New Jersey Regiment The 1st New Jersey Regiment was the first organized militia regiment in New Jersey , formed in 1673 in Piscataway " to repel foreign Indians who come down from upper Pennsylvania and western New York ( in the summer ) to our shores and fill ( themselves ) with fishes and clams and on the way back make a general nuisance of themselves by burning hay stacks , corn fodder and even barns . " All of New Jersey ' s regular organized military forces trace their lineage to this first provincial militia unit . The regiment ' s allegiance was to the British Crown until 1775 , when the regiment was raised for service in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War . " Jersey Blues " . Although the unit had existed long beforehand , it was not until the mid - eighteenth century that the term " Jersey Blues " came into popular usage . The term " Jersey Blues " derives from the uniform adopted by the New Jersey provincial legislature for its troops , which were assigned to service under the British Crown Provincial Forces . The coats of these Jersey units were blue with red lapels and cuffs . The men also wore blue breeches or leggings and red waistcoats . ( In some cases , sturdier buckskin or leather breeches were authorized . ) The term " Jersey Blues " continued to be used well into the early nineteenth century in reference to the state ' s military units . The regiments of the Jersey Line during the American Revolution and those of the New Jersey Volunteers , raised for Federal service during the Civil War , adopted the term . It was actually even used by New Jersey ' s National Guard units into the late twentieth century . Service to the crown . King George ' s War . In 1744 , during King George ' s War ( 1744 – 1748 ) the New Jersey legislature appropriated money and raised 500 volunteers to assist New York in capturing the French fort at Crown Point . Bad food , ill discipline and a mutiny resulted in the abandonment of the expedition , however . The French and Indian War . During the French and Indian War ( 1755 – 1763 ) New Jersey ' s participation was remarkable , and a new resource ( 2007 ) " Colonial Tribulations " documents the service of the New Jersey Regiment ( the " Jersey Blues " ) throughout that period . Just as in the previous colonial wars their existence began with the N . J . Assembly ordering the muster of 500 men to respond to the larger war looming on the New York frontier . Indian raids by tribes allied with the French along the colony ' s northwest border in the summer of 1755 also prompted the raising of a different unit known as the New Jersey Frontier Guard ( not to be confused with the regular provincial or " Blues " regiment ) . The Frontier Guard responded to localized Indian incursions , as well as garrisoned the forts along the Delaware River . Contrastingly , in 1755 the entire contingent of 500 men known as the Jersey Blues was stationed at the lightly fortified trading village of Oswego , N . Y . , where they constructed the first documented military hospital . They also assisted with improving the fortifications in order support the British offensive against French Fort Niagara which wound up bring delayed until 1756 . During that following year only a part of the regiment had returned to the three forts on Lake Ontario , and they were engaged in and bore the suffering of several skirmishes . However , in August the all out attack on their outpost by French commander the Marquis de Montcalm resulted in many Jerseymen becoming prisoners of war who experienced many documented tribulations . By 1757 the Jersey Blues were remustered and assigned to Fort William Henry where they comprised one third of its garrison . In July about 150 were taken as POWs while another 50 died during the battle of Sabbath Day Point on the northern part of Lake George . The 100 men who escaped that day returned to William Henry to join the 200 others who remained in garrison . A short few weeks later those 300 were again attacked by Montcalm which was immortalized in the book and movie " The Last of the Mohicans " . Most in the general public have no idea that the Jersey troops were present or what they experienced . Importantly , the unit included several Native Americans from the province who experienced harsh consequences following the fort ' s capitulation . In 1758 the unit was again remustered and engaged in the attack of French Fort Carrilon , where Montcalm was able to repel a massive British force . Several Jersey Blues were killed in action . A part of the unit was later engaged in the successful taking of the strategic French outpost , Fort Frontenac , on Lake Ontario . By 1759 they were again on the N . Y . frontier , when a small party was ambushed by Indians allied with the French near Lake George of July 2 , 1759 . " 16 of the Jersey Blues were sent without the camp to gather a little brush for the General ' s Baker , but were not an hour gone before they were surprised in sight of the camp by a party of the enemy , consisting of about 240 , who killed and scalped six , wounded two , took four prisoners , and only four of the whole party escaped . They shewed themselves plainly to the whole Army after they got the scalps , gave a hollow , and then made off to their Battoes , which were not more than two miles from the Head of the Lake . A large party was ordered out after them , but in vain . They butchered our people in a most shocking manner , by cutting pieces of flesh out of their necks , thighs and legs " - New York Mercury The N . J . Historical Society stated that in 1760 the regiment was part of the final campaign against the French in Canada . Remarkably , one of the soldiers ( a N . J . Native American ) who was taken as a POW at Fort William Henry in ' 57 was reunited with the unit and returned home with them . By 1761 existing payroll accounts verify that the unit was indeed mustered , and by 1762 they had formed a part of the expedition against Havana , Cuba . There is also oral tradition that one of the cannons at the Old Barracks in Trenton , N . J . was a spoil of war for the Jersey Blues . Payroll accounts also verify that the unit remained activated through 1765 . The American Revolution . The 1st New Jersey Regiment , which was known as part of the famed " Jersey Blues , " was authorized on October 9 , 1775 by the Continental Congress to be raised for service with the Continental Army under the command of Colonel William Alexander ( American general ) , better known as Lord Stirling for his ( unsuccessful ) claims to that Scottish title . It was also known as " First or Eastern Battalion of Foot of New Jersey Troops " while the Second New Jersey , authorized at the same time , was raised in the western counties of provincial New Jersey . Eight companies of the 1st New Jersey were raised in Essex , Middlesex , Morris , Somerset , Monmouth , and Bergen counties . One of the first activities of the newly formed unit was subduing and capturing Tories on Long Island . After Stirling was elevated to the rank of general , command of the 1st New Jersey was given to Colonel William Winds . Winds suffered humiliation after pressing for the regiment to leave Fort Ticonderoga in November 1776 after enlistments for the Jerseymen expired . When the regiment was reorganized in January 1777 as the 1st New Jersey Regiment , Continental Line , command was first offered to Silas Newcomb , but he declined . Matthias Ogden , who had previously served as major and lieutenant colonel of the 1st NJ Battalion of 1775 - 1776 , became regimental commander with the rank of colonel , a position he held virtually until the end of the war . The regiment saw action at the Battle of Valcour Island , Battle of Brandywine , Battle of Germantown , Battle of Monmouth , Sullivan Expedition , Battle of Springfield and the Battle of Yorktown . Other service included Winter Cantonment at Valley Forge ( 1776 – 1777 ) , Battle of Short Hills ( 1777 ) , Winter Cantonments at Morristown / Pompton Plains . The regiment was disbanded on November 3 , 1783 at New Windsor , New York . Famous members . Elias Dayton ( 1737 – 1807 ) , a merchant from Elizabeth and father of U . S . Constitution signer Jonathan Dayton , became a lieutenant in the Jersey Blues in 1756 . He was later present at the signing of the peace treaty with the Native American Chief Pontiac outside Detroit , Michigan in 1764 during Pontiac ' s Rebellion . In 1776 , Dayton was appointed colonel of the Third New Jersey Regiment of Foot , also known as the Third Battalion , New Jersey Line , in the Continental Army . Other figures associated with the Jersey Blues during the colonial period include : Peter Schuyler , who was colonel of the New Jersey Regiment during the French and Indian War and whose portrait is in the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society ; John Johnston , another commander of the New Jersey Regiment during the French and Indian War ; William " Scotch Willie " Maxwell , who was a lieutenant in the New Jersey Regiment during the colonial wars , a commissary in the 1760s , and later served as first colonel of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment ( Continental Line ) and general commanding the New Jersey Line during the Revolutionary War .