The family had deep roots in New Jersey: John Ogden had built a house in Elizabeth in 1664 after having moved from Long Island, where he had settled in 1640 from Hampshire, England.

After the outbreak of hostilities between the American colonists and the British authorities in 1775, Ogden went along as a gentleman-volunteer on Benedict Arnold's march to Quebec, joined by his cousin Aaron Burr.

In a 1786 painting of the Battle of Quebec, John Trumbull inaccurately depicted Ogden in place of Burr, holding General Richard Montgomery as he died.

[3] Ogden was granted military leave by Congress in April 1783 to visit Europe, in order to secure business relations with the French.

Ogden's leadership role was featured prominently by historian William M. Fowler in An American Crisis: George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years after Yorktown, 1781–1783.

[7] The coins, which depicted a horse's head and plow, symbols taken from the coat of arms/Seal of New Jersey, on one side, and a "Union" shield taken from the Great Seal of the United States, on the reverse, were produced in a number of locations.