Revolutionary Skirmishing & the End of an Era

Today in New Jersey history:

June 20, 1777: New Jersey Militia General Philemon Dickinson led 400 New Jersey militiamen and 50 Pennsylvania riflemen in an attack on a British foraging party in Middlesex County, capturing 9 prisoners and 40 wagons.

June 20, 1780: “A British Officer” complained in the pages of the Royal Gazette that the New Jersey Patriots protested too much about the death of Hannah Caldwell, killed when a British soldier fired into her house in Connecticut Farms (Union) earlier in the month. The officer claimed that the soldier was merely returning fire, and that the ultimate blame should be placed on the New Jersey militia for practicing guerilla warfare, which encouraged random return fire.

June 20,1980: The last of six million vehicles produced at the Ford factory in Mahwah over a twenty-five year period rolled off the assembly line as the plant closed forever. According to press reports, the final car produced was a “two-door cream and tan colored Fairmount Futura.” More than 3,700 employees lost their jobs as the de-industrialization of New Jersey accelerated. On closing, the plant dumped paint sludge and other waste in nearby Upper Ringwood, creating a future Superfund site.