Joshua Huddy

Joshua "Jack" Huddy (November 8, 1735 – April 12, 1782), the commander of a New Jersey Patriot militia unit and a privateer ship during the American Revolutionary War, was captured by Loyalist forces twice. He escaped his first capture, but following his second capture, he was summarily hanged by irregular forces of the Associated Loyalists. Huddy's death became a motive force behind one of the first international incidents of the fledgling United States when the Continental army planned to execute a young British officer in retaliation in what became known as the "Asgill Affair".

Joshua Huddy was born November 8, 1735 to a prosperous family in Salem County, New Jersey, the oldest of seven brothers. His grandfather, Hugh Huddy, was a well-known judge in Burlington. Huddy spent most of his early life in Salem, where he was considered rebellious and a troublemaker. He was disowned by Quakers in Salem in 1757 for his “disorderly” conduct. His “rough ways” continued into adulthood; he was tried and convicted several times for crimes including assault and theft, and repeatedly was in financial difficulties. He was forced to sell a 300-acre (1.2 km²) plantation in Salem to pay his debts and was forced into debtor’s prison for a time. In 1764, he married his first wife, the widowed Mary Borden, by whom he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Martha.

In the 1770s, he moved to Colts Neck in Monmouth County, where on October 27, 1778, he married his second wife, Catherine (Applegate) Hart, also a widow and owner of the Colts Neck Tavern, which she inherited from her first husband, Levy Hart. Huddy was later accused by the Monmouth County sheriff of trying to steal the tavern from his wife and force her children out onto the street. He often was in civil and criminal court, either as plaintiff or defendant.

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