The Story Behind the Story: Telling the History of Colonel Tye at Sandy Hook

Abstract

The National Park Service and the Sandy Hook Foundation are in the midst of creating an educational experience to tell the story of Colonel Tye, the runaway slave who joined British forces at Sandy Hook and became one of the most feared fighters of the American Revolution in New Jersey. This article summarizes their efforts to create a rich, immersive narrative for public audiences, despite the challenge that surviving documents about him, mostly written by those who enslaved him and fought against him, are scarce and often scant on details.