Monmouth County author and historian Rick Geffken recently stopped by the Mullica Hill Branch of the Gloucester County Library System to give a lecture on a piece of New Jersey’s Revolutionary War history.
The event was part of a New Jersey State Library’s REV 250: Examining the Semiquincentennial through a Jersey Lens program. This grant opportunity has helped public libraries across the state participate in programming that celebrates the nation’s 250th birthday and the state’s contributions to it.
The lecture on the evening of August 13 outlined the story found in Geffken’s latest non-fiction book “New Jersey’s Revolutionary Rivalry: The Untold Story of Colonel Tye & Captain Huddy,” which was released in November 2025. It brought a full crowd to the meeting room.
The flier for Rick Geffken’s lecture.
“Of course we had great Fourth of July celebrations throughout the state, but I want to tell you that even though we’re celebrating the 250th anniversary of the revolutionary Declaration of Independence, the war was just getting started,” he said at the start of the lecture.
“We know the major battles, we know the major people, but it’s my contention that in fact a whole lot of little people made up the success of the war, and some on the other side not so lucky, and those stories I find to be very interesting,” he said. “So the story tonight is about two people: a Black man named Colonel Tye and a white guy named Joshua Huddy.”
Tye, whose full name was Cornelius Titus, was born into slavery in Monmouth County in the 1750s. He escaped his Quaker owner’s home in 1775 after a proclamation was issued that offered freedom to slaves if they escaped to join the British Loyalists. He made his way down to Virginia before he later found himself back in Monmouth County in 1778 for a later battle.
Huddy, born in Salem County to a Quaker family in the 1730s, was a Patriot and known as a rebel war hero. He spent much of the 1770s and ‘80s participating in the Revolution and battles in Central Jersey. Like Tye, he was part of the Battle of Monmouth in 1778.
The two men crossed paths in 1780 when Tye led his team to capture Huddy, ending in a fierce battle that ultimately led to each of their deaths.
Geffken, who is now 81 years old and a Vietnam War veteran, has spent the last 20 or so years researching the stories of each man. He said he only knew a little about them prior to his studies.
“I only knew about Huddy because when I was a kid, I used to play in Huddy Park [in Tom’s River]. That’s all I knew. And it took me a couple years to try to get this story straight,” he said.
He gave ample background on each of the men and the groups they each aligned themselves with. The presentation was interactive, as he tried to engage the audience with questions about the Revolution, New Jersey and the men. While many people knew a lot about the American Revolution, most were unaware of Tye, Huddy and the events occurring in the Central Jersey region in 1700s. Many were even unaware of slavery in the state.
“I wrote my book specifically for this year to celebrate and to reveal the story of these two men who had tremendous impact. I wanted to make sure people knew it,” he said.
All of Geffkin’s research and informative storytelling is found in his book, which is available for purchase online. He also has written other books on the history of Monmouth County, amusement parks in the North Jersey Shore and slavery in New Jersey, plus, he has authored several articles and papers for newspapers and historical organizations. Much of his work is available through the library.
Author and historian Rick Geffken giving a lecture about his book, “New Jersey’s Revolutionary Rivalry: The Untold Story of Colonel Tye & Captain Huddy,” at the Mullica Hill Branch library on August 13.
