Cudjo Banquante was from a royal family in Ghana (Gold Coast, Africa), who was captured and forced into slavery in the Colonies. Cudjo was bought by Benjamin Coe (ca. 1702-1788) of Newark, most likely sold to him by Dutch traders.
Early in the Revolution, Coe’s house in Newark was ravaged by the British, and he moved to Hanover, Morris County to escape danger. Coe was too old for active service himself, so while in Hanover he furnished Cudjo Banquante as a substitute, and he enlisted in March 1777. As a soldier, Banquante was assigned the first names “Jack” and “Thomas” at various times in his service, with the last name registered on muster rolls as Cugo or Cuga. As part of Captain Peter Dickerson’s (later Captain Jeremiah Ballard’s) company from Morristown in the 3rd Battalion of the Continental Army, Banquante served bravely in the Battle of Monmouth and other battles.
At the end of the war, Coe rewarded Cudjo Banquante for his service by giving him his freedom and an acre of land on High Street in Newark (now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard). Once given his freedom, records suggest that he returned to using his given name, Cudjo Banquante, and abandoned the names he was assigned while in the army.
Cudjo Banquante became a horticultural importer and cultivator of exotic plants, and is the first documented black businessman in Newark. He was a central figure of a free back community in Newark called “Guinea.” He became so admired around town that “even children born in slavery were named after him.”
He was buried at the Trinity Church Cemetery on 5 Mar 1823, where church records indicate that he was “probably about 100 years.” The cemetery was built over and is now the site of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
Cudjo is not yet a recognized DAR patriot. Benjamin Coe, Cudjo’s owner, is DAR ancestor A131247, recognized for “suffering losses by British.”
There is a biography book about Cudjo, “Jack Cudjo” by Kofi Ayim. Some book excerpts and commentary are here: https://amandlanews.com/?s=jack+cudjo&x=0&y=0
Cudjo Banquante’s story is a wonderful example of the triumph of the spirit. He overcame life-threatening and soul-crushing obstacles: his capture in Africa, the dangerous ship ride on a slave ship across the Atlantic to North America, years of slavery, and risking his life as a soldier during the Revolution. Despite all these challenges, he remained strong and found a way to thrive and survive. We honor and respect Cudjo Banquante as a role model who can teach all of us some important life lessons.
From Revolutionary War Slips: Single Citations of the New Jersey Department of Defense Materials, New Jersey State Archives, available online at familysearch.org
Photo of the Coe homestead, the house built in 1782 to replace the original house that was burned by the British. From “A Quiet Lady” by Greg Guderian, https://wawhitehead.net/2019/02/28/a-quiet-lady/
Sources
Atkinson, Joseph, The History of Newark New Jersey: Being a Narrative of Its Rise and Progress. Newark NJ: William B. Guild, 1878, pg. 117.
Ayim, Kofi, Jack Cudjo: Newark’s Revolutionary Soldier & First Black Businessman. New Jersey: Reedbuck, Inc., 2011.
Bartlett, J. Gardner, Robert Coe, Puritan: His Ancestors and Descendants 1340-1910. Boston MA: published by the author, 1911.
Chen, David W., Jerseyana: A Frustrating Final Chapter in a 19th-Century Graveyard’s History in The New York Times, 26 Nov 1995.
Cummings, Charles F. Slavery in New Jersey: A Shame that Spanned Three Centuries in the Star-Ledger, Newark NJ, 10 Feb 2000. Online at https://knowingnewark.npl.org/slavery-in-new-jersey-a-shame-that-spanned-three-centuries/
Cummings, Charles F. Knowing Newark – Blacks in New Jersey: The Journey in The Star-Ledger, Newark NJ, 17 Feb 2000, page 3.
Cummings, Charles F. Black Trailblazers Wrote New Chapters in the City in The Star-Ledger, Newark NJ, 12 Feb 2004, page 3.
Cummings, Charles F. Black Pioneers Filled Ranks of City’s Who Was Who in The Star-Ledger, Newark NJ, 3 Feb 2005, page 3.
Cummings, Charles F., Mt. Pleasant Still Stands as Monument to Glories of the Past in The Star-Ledger, Newark NJ, 22 Apr 1999
Cunningham, John T., Newark. Newark NJ: The New Jersey Historical Society, 1988, pp. 79-80.
Epps, Linda Caldwell, Jack Cudjo Banquante, posted on Revolutionary Neighbors, Crossroads of the American Revolution, https://revolutionarynj.org/rev-neighbors/jack-cudjo-banquante/
Essex County NJ, Deed Book G pp 245-246, Aaron Crane and Abigail Crane to George Scriba.
Gigantino, James J. II, The Ragged Road to Abolition. Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016, pg. 197.
Grundset, Eric G. (ed. and project manager), Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War, A Guide to Service, Sources and Studies, Supplement 2008-2011, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, 2011, pg. 29.
Guderian, Greg, A Quiet Lady – An Attractive Presence, posted on The World of William Whitehead, wwhitehead.net, 28 Feb 2019, wawhitehead.net/2019/02/28/a-quiet-lady/
Hoskins, Barbara, Men from Morris County New Jersey Who Served in the American Revolution. Morristown NJ: Friends of the Joint Free Public Library of Morristown and Morris Township, 1979, pg. 52.
Lee, Francis B., New Jersey Archives, Second Series, Vol. 2, Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey. Trenton NJ: The John L. Murphy Publishing Co., printers, 1903, pg. 130.
New Jersey Historical Society, Manuscript Group 1421, Box 1, Folder 3, Coe Family Genealogy, map between pages 18-19, pg. 27, pg. 42.
New Jersey Historical Society, Map 346, Map of Estates of Benjamin Co Benjamin Coe.
Stryker, William S (ed.). New Jersey Archives, Second Series, Vol. 1, Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey. Trenton NJ: The John L. Murphy Publishing Co., 1901, pg. 352.
Stryker, William S., Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War. Trenton NJ: Wm. T. Nicholson & Co., 1872, pg. 177.
Trinity Parish Church entry book #19, under funerals 24 May 1813 to 15 Apr 1845. Held at the New Jersey Historical Society, MG 882.
U.S. Revolutionary War Rolls 1775-1783 accessed on ancestry.com. 02d Regiment, 1776-1783 (Folder 34); 3d Regiment, 1770-1780 (Folders 35-38). Digital pages 615, 620, 622, 624, 625, 628, 632 of 699.
Woodruff, George Coyne, History of Hillside N.J. and Vicinity. Hillside NJ: The Hillside Times, 1934, pg. 54.
______, 3000 Blacks Served in Continental Army, newspaper clipping in the Morristown African American Veterans file at the Morristown and Morris County Library, Morristown NJ.
______, Newark as It Was – No. 19 in Newark Daily Advertiser, Newark NJ, 8 Apr 1864.
Morristown ChapterDaughters of the American Revolution