200 Plus
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•March 27, 2013
The Voyage Through Hell
As September 1918 came to an end, the men from Camp Merritt, today Cresskill, N.J., had boarded the world’s largest troop ship, the 950-foot-long USS Leviathan, at Hoboken, for the passage to France.…
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•March 21, 2013
Influenza Crosses the Atlantic Ocean
The killer flu of 1918, which had broken out at Camp Dix in mid-September, was about to overwhelm the U.S. Army and explode across the state and onto the high seas. The Philadelphia Bulletin reported…
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•March 13, 2013
Vain Attempts Made to Contain Epidemic
Despite the reassurances in newspaper articles in mid-September 1918, it was becoming apparent the epidemic of the Spanish influenza was spreading rapidly across the United States. What made this…
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•March 7, 2013
U-Boats and Flu Hit the Shore
During the late summer of 1918, the United States was on a complete war footing as the doughboys in France began to drive the Huns back toward Germany. Just when victory seemed at hand, however, the…
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•February 28, 2013
Deadly Disease Grips Fort Dix
The battle of Camp Dix, N.J., isn’t covered in any history book. But the more than 800 American troops who died during a three-week period, Sept. 15 to Oct. 6, 1918, is more than all the American…
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•February 21, 2013
The Hornet Twists the British Lion’s Tail
On Feb. 24, 1813, off the coast of South America, 31-year-old James Lawrence of Burlington, N.J., in command of the sloop of war Hornet, had destroyed the HMS Peacock in a violent, 14-minute…
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•February 14, 2013
Hornet Takes on Proud Peacock
Thirty-one-year-old Master Commander James Lawrence, from Burlington, N.J., had served with distinction as a junior naval officer in the Barbary wars; now on Feb. 24, 1812, he was in command of the…
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•February 7, 2013
The Hornet Stings the British
The year 1813 had begun gloriously off the coast of Brazil for New Jersey’s two great naval heroes of the second war of independence. Thirty-nine-year-old William Bainbridge of Princeton, in command…
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•January 31, 2013
The ‘Diggers’ at Cedar Bridge Tavern
Last week as I was surfing the Internet I came upon an article written by John Ostapkovich for CBS.
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•January 21, 2013
Little Egg Harbor at Mercy of Politics
This question was posed to me recently: How could Little Egg Harbor and Tuckerton be in the same county as Stafford Township but in different Jerseys? The story of how the township called Little Egg…
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•January 14, 2013
Capt. Dorsett’s Cabinet
A unique piece of Jersey Shore history is currently on loan to the Museum of New Jersey Maritime History in Beach Haven from the Point Pleasant Historical Society. Most have read stories about the…
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•January 10, 2013
Did You Pay Attention?
Well, we made it back. It’s 2013; hopefully it will be a quiet and lucky year – but somehow I’m never as accurate looking forward as I am looking back.
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•December 19, 2012
How Much Did You Learn?
As has been my tradition for longer than I care to remember, the final issue for The SandPaper in December, before it takes its winter hiatus, has been the time to review the past year with a test on…
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•December 10, 2012
Americans, British in Fierce Combat at Sea
December 1812 in the waters off Brazil, two New Jersey sea captains whose fathers had sided with the British in the American Revolution were getting a chance to redeem their family names. Cmdr. James…
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•December 3, 2012
British Ship Declines U.S. Challenge
In early December 1812, Capt. James Lawrence of Burlington, in command of the sloop of war Hornet, and Commodore William Bainbridge of Princeton, commanding the frigate Constitution, were sailing off…
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•November 26, 2012
Two Jersey Captains Take the Helm
Two hundred years ago this week, two of New Jersey’s most famous naval heroes, Capt. James Lawrence and Commodore William Bainbridge, were looking for a fight as they commanded two of the nation’s…
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•November 22, 2012
Healing the Wounds of War
March 1862, the Battle of New Bern was over and the men of the 9th New Jersey Volunteers, which included almost all of Ocean County sons, had done themselves proud. Col. Charles A. Heckman, a former…
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•November 15, 2012
Bravo for the Jersey Blues!
The events of March 14, 1862, at New Bern, N.C., would make General Ambrose Burnside a national hero and help propel him to a disastrous tenure as the head of the Army of the Potomac. They would also…
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•November 9, 2012
NJ 9th Moves to Cut Off Railroad
Unknown to the men of Ocean County and their comrades in the 9th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, the successful capture of Roanoke Island, N.C., in February 1862 wasn’t the end of their trial by fire…
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•October 25, 2012
Jersey ‘Muskrats’ Take Roanoke Island
On Feb. 8, 1862, the men of the 9th New Jersey Volunteers, which included most of the enlistees from Ocean County, were bogged down in a swamp on Roanoke Island, N.C., under heavy Confederate fire.…
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•October 18, 2012
The Elephant in the Swamp
“Seeing the elephant” was a common expression in the 1800s for a man meeting his fears and overcoming them. For the 9th New Jersey volunteers, which included almost all of the men from Ocean County…
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•October 1, 2012
Jersey Shore Troops Vital to Coastal Defense Plan
The events that would lead the men of Ocean County to play a major role in the Union Army’s first decisive victory in the East began in Washington, D.C., in 1861. When the South fired on Fort Sumter…
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•September 27, 2012
N.J., Ocean County Answer the Call
One hundred fifty years ago, the United States was in the midst of the great Civil War. Unlike the Revolution or the War of 1812, there would be no blood spilled on Ocean County soil or in its…
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•September 20, 2012
Hull’s Surrender Disgraces America
It wasn’t until Sept. 12, 1812, that most Americans learned of the disaster that had befallen the Army of the Northwest, commanded by 59-year-old William Hull, at Fort Detroit. The general had led a…
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•September 13, 2012
Which Side Is He On?
The War of 1812 opened on a high note for the United States. With cries of “On to Canada,” America’s war hawks dreamed of empire. Even Thomas Jefferson had boasted that taking the British colony…
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•August 30, 2012
1812: Terms of Invasion
Two hundred years ago this summer, the United States suffered the worst military humiliation in its history. The white flag of surrender would fly over an American city as politicians accused the…
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•August 23, 2012
Constitution Comes Out On Top
On Aug. 19, 1812, two ships in the waters of the North Atlantic were headed for a showdown. On board the HMS Guerriere, Capt. James A. Dacres tried to make out the identity of the mystery ship. He…
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•August 16, 2012
Hull Hurries to Face British
Following the USS Constitution‘s great escape from five British warships off the Jersey Shore in July 1812, her captain, Isaac Hull, had informed the secretary of the Navy on the 21st that he was…
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•August 9, 2012
Mob Violence Turns Horrific
Although not as well-known as the storming of the Bastille in Paris, the attack on the Baltimore jail in July 1812 did have important consequences. Alexander Hanson, editor of the Federal Republican…
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•August 2, 2012
Violence Against the Press
James Madison, Princeton class of 1771, is often called “the father of the Bill of Rights,” the keystone of which is today’s First Amendment, guaranteeing the freedom of speech, press and religion.…