The Revolutionary War was truly America’s first civil war. Nowhere was that better exhibited than in Bergen County. Governor William Livingston in 1777 referred to it as “that almost totally disaffected county” and actually sent an expedition of state militia from neighboring counties into it to round up Loyalists. But those partisans for each side has something in common: they were all Americans, New Jerseyians with perhaps differing views of freedom and liberty. Join us as we examine some of the county residents who took arms for both sides in the firm belief of the righteousness of their cause and what became of them. Based on the 2012 book “Bergen County Voices from the American Revolution: Soldiers and Residents in Their Own Words” by Todd W. Braisted.

Todd Braisted is an author and independent researcher specializing in Loyalist studies during the American Revolution. He has published over sixty books and journal articles on a variety of period subjects, including the 2016 book Grand Forage 1778.Todd has likewise appeared as a guest historian on such television shows as History Detectives and Who Do You Think You Are? Over the past four decades, he has served as president of the Bergen County Historical Society and the Brigade of the American Revolution and is a Fellow in the Company of Military Historians. In 2018 he received the Award of Recognition from the New Jersey Historical Commission and in 2026 the History Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution in addition to being named an Honorary Fellow by the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada.