Escaped from enslavement in NJ; Loyalist raider and leader of Black Brigade operations in Monmouth County.

Known as Colonel Tye, Titus was born enslaved in Monmouth County, NJ. He escaped in 1775 and joined British-aligned forces after proclamations promised freedom to those who left rebel masters and supported the Crown. He became a feared Loyalist raider, leading Black Brigade operations that targeted Patriot militia leaders and property.

Colonel Tye’s raids reveal how the Revolution in NJ was fought neighborhood by neighborhood, with enslaved people making strategic choices in a brutal landscape.

He is a key figure for Revolutionary New Jersey: a Black leader whose actions shaped wartime fear, retaliation, and the contested meaning of “liberty.”

Tye was mortally wounded in 1780 after a raid (accounts differ on the exact incident). His death ended one of the most effective Loyalist partisan operations in NJ.

New Jersey was one of the war’s most bitter internal battlegrounds. Raids, reprisals, property seizures, and neighbor-against-neighbor violence were common, especially in central NJ.

Tye’s decision to join British-aligned forces is often interpreted plainly: the British offered a path away from enslavement, while Patriot leadership frequently defended slaveholding rights. For many enslaved people, “choosing sides” was about freedom and survival.

His operations helped destabilize Patriot local leadership and contributed to the sense that NJ was a civilian war zone. These were doorstep conflicts, not distant battles.

For Franklin 250 interpretation, Tye pairs naturally with local Forage War and civil-conflict themes: the Revolution here was lived through raids, shortages, and violence, and Black people were actors within that reality.

Colonel Tye escaped from slavery and fought for the British during the Revolution. He led raids in New Jersey, where the war could be dangerous for families.

Misconception: Everyone in NJ supported the Patriots. Reality: NJ was deeply divided, and Loyalist/Patriot conflict could be violent and local.

Tye’s operations are central to NJ’s Revolutionary landscape and connect directly to the theme of local raids and conflict affecting the Raritan Valley.

Search Tags: Black Loyalist | New Jersey | Partisan Warfare | Escape from Slavery | Raids | Civil War Within a War

Mount Vernon – Black Patriots & Loyalists (context): https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/black-patriots-and-loyalists/

National Park Service – African Americans in the Revolution (context): https://www.nps.gov/subjects/americanrevolution/african-americans.htm