Bergen County Historical Society
Closter NJ, 1776 British Invasion of Bergen County: BCHS had our annual Veterans Day ceremony on Nov 10th. This year we marked the location of the November 20, 1776 British Invasion location along the Hudson River with a New BCHS Blue Marker. Troops scaled the vertical rise of 425 +/- feet and came close to cutting off Washington’s Retreat across the New Bridge.
Long talked about by John Spring, Kevin Wright and others, Past President Jim Purcell took the initiative by making funds available for the marker.
The marker committee, chaired by Peggy Norris, with BCHS President Jim Smith, Todd Braisted, Deborah Powell, John Heffernan, Bill Coughlin, Joe Suplicki, and Eric Nelsen.
Past president John Spring researched the correct Invasion route back in the 1970s. The marker is in cooperation with The Palisades Interstate Park Commission.
Marker text:
LOWER CLOSTER or NEW DOCK
Here a British invasion force of 5,000
troops commanded by Lord Cornwallis
landed before dawn on November 20,
1776. Guided by three Bergen County
residents, Joseph Hawkins, Isaac Perkins,
and John Aldington, they climbed the
rough road to the top of the cliffs
and marched south to capture Fort Lee.
At sunrise, Lt. John Clifford of the
Hunterdon County militia saw them,
commandeered a horse, and alerted the
garrison at Fort Lee. About 3,000
soldiers, led by Generals George
Washington and Nathanael Greene,
retreated over the Hackensack River at New Bridge on their route to the
relative safety of Pennsylvania.
This landing was used in later raids
and finally blocked with felled trees
in 1780.
Sponsored by the Bergen County Historical Society, 2019
The new marker joins 160+ BCHS Blue Markers throughout the county.
