Colonel Tye (Titus Cornelius)
Colonel Tye was an escaped slave who became one of the most effective loyalist commanders in New Jersey. Born Titus around 1753, he was enslaved by John Corlies, a Quaker in Monmouth County who, unusually and against his own Meeting's pressure, refused to free his slaves or teach them to read. In November 1775 Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, proclaimed freedom for any enslaved person belonging to a rebel who would bear arms for the crown. Titus left within days, and Corlies advertised a reward for him. He took the name Tye and fought at Monmouth in 1778, where he captured a militia captain. He then led the Black Brigade, a small unit of some two dozen formerly enslaved men, operating with the Queen's Rangers out of Sandy Hook. The colonel's rank was honorary, since the British did not commission Black officers, and it was used by everyone including his enemies. The unit conducted raids through Monmouth County over two years — seizing weapons and cattle, burning property, and capturing militia officers, several of them men who had held people in slavery. They knew the ground, the creeks and the households intimately, which is precisely why they were effective and why they were feared. In September 1780 he led an attack on the house of Joshua Huddy, a militia captain, who held out for hours before the building was set alight. Tye was shot through the wrist during the assault. The wound became infected, tetanus set in, and he died within days.
- Lived: 1753 CE – 1780 CE
- Nationality: American
- Roles: guerrilla_leader, formerly_enslaved
