Entry in progress—B.P.
Wikipedia: 1st New Jersey Regiment
The 1st New Jersey Regiment was the first organized militia regiment in New Jersey, formed in 1673 in Piscataway “to repel foreign Indians who come down from upper Pennsylvania and western New York (in the summer) to our shores and fill (themselves) with fishes and clams and on the way back make a general nuisance of themselves by burning hay stacks, corn fodder and even barns.”[1] All of New Jersey’s regular organized military forces trace their lineage to this first provincial militia unit.
The regiment’s allegiance was to the British Crown until 1775, when the regiment was raised for service in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
“Jersey Blues”
Although the unit had existed long beforehand, it was not until the mid-eighteenth century that the term “Jersey Blues” came into popular usage. The term “Jersey Blues” derives from the uniform adopted by the New Jersey provincial legislature for its troops, which were assigned to service under the British Crown Provincial Forces. The coats of these Jersey units were blue with red lapels and cuffs. The men also wore blue breeches or leggings and red waistcoats. (In some cases, sturdier buckskin or leather breeches were authorized.) The term “Jersey Blues” continued to be used well into the early nineteenth century in reference to the state’s military units. The regiments of the Jersey Line during the American Revolution and those of the New Jersey Volunteers, raised for Federal service during the Civil War, adopted the term.
Google Books
5 August 1843, Supplement to the Courant (Hartford, CT), pg. 128, col. 3:
(State nickname list from the New-York American.—ed.)
New Jersey, Jersey Blues.
22 March 1866, Louisville (KY) Daily Journal, “Nicknames,” pg. 1, col. 4:
New Jersey, Blue State, or New Spain.
(...)
The natives of these States are:
... New Jersey, blues or clam-catchers; ...
7 April 1866, The Daily Cleveland Herald (Cleveland, OH), “Geographical Nicknames,” pg. 2, col. 2:
... New Jersey, Blue State, or New Spain; ...
OCLC WorldCat record
Colonial tribulations : the survival story of William Casterline and his comrades of the New Jersey Blues regiment, French and Indian War, 1755-1757
Author: Greg Casterline
Publisher: [New Jersey] : Lulu Publishing, 2007.
Edition/Format: Print book : Manuscript Archival Material : English
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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