State Project

2025-2026 N.J.C.A.R. State Project

The 2025-2026 N.J.C.A.R. State Project “Patriot Privateers" aims to commemorate the United States Semiquincentennial by raising funds for an educational historical marker and raising awareness of the active role the Jersey Shore communities and its people played in the American Revolutionary War, including the contributions of privateers and the naval battles and skirmishes that occurred near the New Jersey beaches. 

N.J.C.A.R. will partner with other lineage organizations and historical societies to work with a local municipality to erect a marker along the Jersey Shore honoring the privateers, local militias, naval battles and skirmishes. Additionally throughout the year, members of the State Society will research the locations and battles that took place off of the New Jersey coast line. The research will be compiled for distribution to C.A.R. members, historical societies, municipalities, and the media during the United States Semiquincentennial to support public history.

A bit of background:

There were ten times as many naval actions as land actions in the American Revolutionary War but this history is not well known. All of the New Jersey Coast was involved in the War with the privateers making significant contributions including slowing British trade and capturing British supply ships including troops and cargo. Privateers were privately owned and armed ships that had permission from the government to capture enemy ships during war. Crucially, the New Jersey privateers supplied General George Washington’s troops at Valley Forge as the British occupation of Philadelphia had cut-off the General’s supply lines.

The “Patriot Privateers” project logo includes two sails indicative of a brigantine, an agile two-masted sailing ship used by many privateers off the coast of New Jersey. The significance of the three stars on the sail is that New Jersey is the third star on the flag of the United States, signifying that New Jersey was the third state to ratify the new U.S. Constitution and join the Union.