Ever Hear of the Battle of Woodbridge? It Happened Here

The area around Green Street and Route 1 may not seem to be particularly interesting, but the next time you're at the red light, take a look around.

One of the skirmishes during the Revolutionary War between the colonists and the British was fought right here.

That's just an example of the many unnamed fights that peppered central New Jersey, and throughout the eight years of the Revolutionary War, more than a few skirmishes and fights took place right in . 

The House of Representatives will soon be voting on a bill, the American Battlefield Protection Program Amendments Act (H.R. 2489), authored by Rep. Rush Holt (D-12), that would provide grants to preserve war battlefields. For central New Jersey, that means the Revolutionary War. 

Some of those battlefields where skirmishes were fought were right in Woodbridge.

Most people, including lifelong residents of the township, have no idea that Woodbridge and the vicinity played such an integral part in the fight for the nation's freedom. 

Woodbridge in the 18th century was probably less than awe inspiring. In 1767, William Owen, a British naval officer, heaped praise upon New Brunswick, saying it was "celebrated for the number of its beauties."

Of Woodbridge, Owen said, the township was "famous for nothing that I know of, but for having a printing press."

Owen referred to James Parker, who started the state's first printing press, located somewhere in the area of Main Street and Amboy Avenue. The British burned it down during the war.

George Washington and the British crisscrossed Woodbridge and Middlesex County during the entire war.

In 1777, the British general Lord Cornwallis marched his troops from Perth Amboy through Woodbridge, taking the route from Amboy Avenue, Green Street, and Oak Tree Road, in an effort to get George Washington and his troops to fight out in the open. 

And when the war was over, Washington travelled through Woodbridge and stayed at the Cross Keys Tavern on his way to his inauguration in New York City. The tavern, which was located on the corner of Amboy Avenue and Main Street, was moved in back of the 7-11 on Amboy Avenue to make room for the Knights of Columbus building.

Will any of the fights of the Revolutionary War that took place in the Woodbridge area be commemorated if the Holt bill passes? 

Historian David Hackett Fischer, in testimony to Congress on this bill, noted that many of the sites of Revolutionary War fights haven't been recognized.

"Many sites in central New Jersey were part of a campaign that has not found its historian," he said.