‘Fighting for Freedom on Raritan Bay’: Revisiting Maritime Clashes

John R. Schneider recalls long-overlooked battles and heroes along the New York-New Jersey waterways.

John R. Schneider tells a less-known story of the Revolutionary War in "Fighting for Freedom on Raritan Bay: How America Quelled the British Invasion of Its Waterways." CreateAVision Media

Perfectly timed for release ahead of the 250th anniversary celebration of American independence, John R. Schneider’s new book explores an aspect of the Revolutionary War that often gets overlooked—the maritime conflicts across the New York and New Jersey region. These battles provided both miraculous triumphs and grim defeats for the colonists seeking a break with Great Britain.

The first battles of the Revolutionary War took place in Massachusetts in April 1775, but the war did not reach the New York-New Jersey region until days after independence was declared in July 1776. Schneider observes that control of the regional waterways came to define how the war was fought.