Spirit of ’76 fills Main Street corner in Hackensack
Washington prepped here during key point of Revolutionary War
Opposite the northwest corner of the Hackensack Green, a 150-year-old former bank stands on hallowed ground.
Now housing law offices, the former Bank of Bergen County was built in 1874 as a monument to the county’s prosperity. Gleaming in bright red brick, the building was a refreshing example of Victorian Gothic architecture and a display of Hackensack’s wealth.
Today, it endures as a reminder of an even deeper history. It serves as a bridge to a time when the site at the corner of what is now Sussex and Main streets held Archibald Campbell’s tavern that fed Gen. George Washington during the retreat that made a nation.
It was about dusk when the first of the troops entered Hackensack on Nov. 20, 1776, according to an eyewitness account once kept by the Rev. Theodore B. Romeyn, the mid-19th century pastor of the First Church of Hackensack. They were falling back from a series of disasters that had British generals salivating at the prospects of victory.
“The night was dark, cold and rainy,” the account continues.
“They marched two abreast, looked ragged, some without a shoe to their feet, and most of them wrapped up in their blankets.”
For the previous 18 months, Bergen County had become increasingly involved in the Revolution. The county had been war-torn, trounced by both Patriots and Loyalists seeking to gain key footholds in the conflict.
The drums of battle would beat again after the loss of Fort Washington in Harlem Heights on Nov. 16, 1776. Within four days, 5,000 British and Hessian troops were advancing up the Palisades toward an exposed Fort Lee. The fall of Fort Lee on Nov. 20 added to a string of Patriot mishaps in Long Island, Brooklyn and White Plains, New York.
Washington wrote to Gen. Charles Lee the next day from Hackensack, informing him of the loss of the “fort called by your name” and his decision to move his troops to the west side of the Hackensack River.
Washington had been staying at Peter Zabriskie’s home on the north side of the Green.
Some drunk and mostly weary, Washington’s troops had left Fort Lee and marched north to Englewood, then southwest along present-day Lafayette Avenue. From there, they turned right on Forest Avenue until they hit Teaneck Road, then called Schraalenburgh Road. They then proceeded north from there to New Bridge Road, where they turned left and proceeded west, crossing the Hackensack River at the “new bridge.”
Washington, the head of his army of roughly 3,000, had crossed the “new bridge” at New Bridge Landing first. His troops trudged behind Washington and stayed at Zabriskie’s, 50 Main St. His supplies were furnished by the tavern keeper across the street at 41 Main St., Archibald Campbell. As the British camped across the river, their fires shone brightly - stretching more than a mile. Campbell rightly had his concerns.
Before taking his leave, Washington rode to the dock near the crossing and “viewed the enemy’s encampment about 10 or 15 minutes,” according to the account.
He then returned to Campbell’s tavern for some wine and water. Campbell laid his concerns bare for the general.
“With tears streaming down his face, (Campbell) said, ‘General what shall I do? I have a family of small children and a little property here; shall I leave them?’ Washington kindly took his hand and replied, ‘Mr. Campbell, stay by your family and keep neutral,’ then bidding him goodbye, rode off’.”
By noon the next day, the British had occupied Hackensack. The Green was packed with thousands of Hessian troops in pursuit of Washington.
On Nov. 30, from New Brunswick, Washington wrote of his thoughts on the British tactics.
“They will pay dearly for it, for I shall continue to retreat before them so as to lull them into security,” he wrote.
In all, Washington’s army retreated 90 miles in 19 days before arriving in Trenton. They were there at Christmas in 1776 for the memorable Crossing of the Delaware and victory at Trenton, Washington’s first major victory of the war.
For Campbell, the conflict also continued, according to Romeyn’s account. His attempts to remain neutral went for naught on the night of March 23, 1780, when an estimated 400 British and Hessian troops burned the former Bergen County Courthouse on the west side of the Green. Campbell was taken prisoner. He had been confined to his bed from a bout of rheumatism and unable to hide when his tavern was raided.
As the story goes, Campbell was able to escape in the confusion and took refuge under the “new bridge.” Once it was safe, he returned home. Campbell lived until 1798 and allegedly never had a recurrence of rheumatism.