Colonel Tye’s Guerrilla Activities in Monmouth County
Titus Cornelius had escaped slavery in Monmouth County, New Jersey, changed his name to Tye, enlisted with the British, then returned to his birthplace under British arms. In his first combat experience, the Battle of Monmouth, June 28th, 1778, Tye distinguished himself by capturing a Patriot captain of the Monmouth militia, and returned with his captive to British held New York City.
Having grown up in Monmouth County, Tye had intimate knowledge of the local geography, which made him well suited to the guerrilla warfare that wracked the region. While the Redcoats and the Continental Army fought each other in formal pitched battles, a nasty civil was simultaneously being fought between Loyalist and Patriot militias and armed bands throughout much of the colonies.
The guerrilla warfare was intense in New Jersey, a border region sandwiched between the British stronghold in New York, and the Patriot capital in Philadelphia. In Monmouth County, things got particularly vicious, as Patriot vigilantes took to hanging Loyalists and confiscating their property. That prompted William Franklin, New Jersey’s Loyalist governor despite being Benjamin Franklin’s son, to sponsor Loyalists in fighting fire with fire.
In July of 1779, Tye led a racially integrated Loyalist guerrilla group in a daring raid on Shrewsbury, NJ, in Patriot territory, that captured dozens of cattle, horses, as well as two prominent local Patriots. Tye and his men eventually set up a base that they named Refugeetown in Sandy Hook, at the northern end of the Jersey Shore. From there, they conducted a series of nighttime raids that targeted prominent and wealthy local Patriots, particularly slaveholders.
Tye proved himself a successful guerrilla leader in the summer of 1779, as he led his men in a hit and run campaign that terrorized and enraged the local Patriots, seizing food and provisions, destroying property, and freeing numerous slaves. It was during this period that Tye became known as Colonel Tye – an honorific bestowed upon him by the British, albeit not an actual rank.
By the winter of 1779, Colonel Tye, after having distinguished himself in combat, had joined the Black Brigade – a unit of about two dozen black Loyalists. They fought alongside the Queen’s Rangers – a white Loyalist unit that was eventually integrated by incorporating into its ranks the Black Brigade, and black Loyalists from some other units.