A Massacre, a Burglary, a Raid, a Rally & a Launching

Today in New Jersey history:

July 21, 1757: A 350 man force of New Jersey and New York Provincial troops left Fort William Henry on a reconnaissance in force. Two days later, at Sabbath Day Point on Lake George, they were surrounded and ambushed by the French and their Indian allies. The provincials panicked, losing 160 men killed or drowned and many of the remainder captured. It was reported, albeit not confirmed, that Ottawa warriors subsequently dined on at least one unfortunate Jerseyman. 

July 21, 1768: A burglar broke into the Perth Amboy home of Stephen Skinner, the treasurer of East New Jersey, and made off with the treasury, some £6750, causing a governmental crisis. The crime was never solved, and some subsequently suggested that the treasurer, later a prominent Loyalist during the War for Independence, had indeed burgled himself.

July 21, 1780: General Anthony Wayne led a raid on a Loyalist blockhouse at Bull’s Ferry, now part of Hackensack. Although they outnumbered the enemy considerably, Wayne’s men failed to take the blockhouse, and were only able to capture some cattle. 

July 21,1862: During a rally to promote recruiting in Orange during the Civil War, speaker Cortlandt Parker, the Essex County prosecutor, was heckled by a member of the crowd who called out “why don’t you enlist yourself.”

July 21, 1959: the first nuclear powered merchant ship, the SS Savannah, was christened at Camden.