The 1st New Jersey Regiment was the first organized militia regiment in New Jersey, formed in 1673 in Piscataway "to repel foreign Indians who come down from upper Pennsylvania and western New York (in the summer) to our shores and fill (themselves) with fishes and clams and on the way back make a general nuisance of themselves by burning hay stacks, corn fodder and even barns.

In 1744, during King George's War (1744–1748) the New Jersey legislature appropriated money and raised 500 volunteers to assist New York in capturing the French fort at Crown Point.

Indian raids by tribes allied with the French along the colony's northwest border in the summer of 1755 also prompted the raising of a different unit known as the New Jersey Frontier Guard (not to be confused with the regular provincial or "Blues" regiment).

Contrastingly, in 1755 the entire contingent of 500 men known as the Jersey Blues was stationed at the lightly fortified trading village of Oswego, New York, where they constructed the first documented military hospital.

However, in August the attack on their outpost by French commander the Marquis de Montcalm resulted in many Jerseymen becoming prisoners of war who experienced many documented tribulations.

Importantly, the unit continued to include several Native Americans from the province who experienced harsh consequences following the fort's capitulation.

In 1758, the unit was again re-mustered and engaged in the attack of French Fort Carillon, where Montcalm was able to repel a massive British force.

They butchered our people in a most shocking manner, by cutting pieces of flesh out of their necks, thighs and legs" – New York Mercury The New Jersey Historical Society stated that in 1760 the regiment was part of the final campaign against the French in Canada.

Remarkably, one of the soldiers (a New Jersey Native American) who was taken as a POW at Fort William Henry in 1757 was reunited with the unit and returned home with them.

Winds suffered humiliation after pressing for the regiment to leave Fort Ticonderoga in November 1776 after enlistments for the Jerseymen expired.

[5] Other figures associated with the Jersey Blues during the colonial period include: Col. John Parker resumed command during Schuyler's captivity – 1757.