New Jersey
Code: Select all
City Size in Game Comments
Morristown 1
Princeton 2
Trenton 1
The New Jersey census for 1790 was burned by the British when they took Washington in 1814, so there are no results available.
I've looked for alternate references. I dug up a book called
"American Population before the Federal Census of 1790"It cites sources saying that Newark had 141 houses in 1777, Perth Amboy had 200 in 1776-77, Princeton had 60-80 houses, Trenton had 185 in 1785 and Bordentown had 20-25 in 1774. Not much to work from.
By way of comparison it also says that New York had 3340 houses in 1786.
The capital of New Jersey alternated between Burlington and Perth Amboy.
This
map of the colonies in 1776 has a finder chart for distance between major cities. The three New Jersey cities are East Amboy, Burlington and Princeton
This isn't all that comprehensive, but I'm going to try to reach conclusions anyway.
-Morristown: It would be bad to prevent Washington from wintering there so I would keep it as level 1.
-Perth Amboy: As one of the capitals it should be in there. The source implies it was the biggest town in New Jersey. Make it level 2 in Newark, with a level 1 port (there was a ferry from New York).
-Burlington: It was the part time capital, but was also in the same area as Trenton, which seems to have been bigger. Bordentown is also in the Burlington area.
-Trenton: can stay as level 2. I would make it a port, at least level 1 - it was at the head of navigation of the Delaware, and that would give the Philadelphia bateau somewhere to go. (from
this link)
The head of navigation on the Delaware River, Trenton became a port for shipping grain and products traveling between Philadelphia and New York City.
-Princeton; I'd like to downgrade it to a level 1 town. It seems to have been small.
-Newark: In the same area as Perth Amboy which was the capital and seems to have been bigger. So leave it out.
recommendationAdd Perth Amboy in Newark area as a level 2 town. Make Princeton a level 1 town. Make Trenton a level 2 port
PennsylvaniaCode: Select all
City Population 1790 Size in Game Comments
Easton 703 2 Settled 1752
Philadelphia 38435 9 Capital, including Northern Liberties
Reading 2225 2 Settled 1748
Lancaster 4070 2 Including Lancaster Borough
York 3457 2
Sunbury - 2 Returns from Luzerne Co. not by town. Founded 1772. Fort Augusta built 1758
Wilkes Barre - 1 Returns from Luzerne Co. not by town. Founded 1769.
Wyoming - 1 Returns from Luzerne Co. not by town.
Fort Venango 0 1 Fort built 1754, destroyed 1763
Presqu'ile 0 1 Settled 1795
Pittsburgh 1853 2 Including Pitt township
Logantown - 1 I can't identify this town
Broadly Pennsylvania is OK, although for the French and Indian Scenarios several towns shouldn't be there. Luzerne county (in 1790) shows no returns by town, which is a pain because three of the cities in BoA were in Luzerne county at that time. I haven't been able to work out what Logantown represents (Loganton, PA?). However, I still have some changes I'd like to see.
-Easton should be a level 1 city.
"American Population before the Federal Census of 1790" says that it had 60-70 dwellings in 1777.
It just isn't big enough to possibly justify level 2 in 1775, let alone 1755. It was founded in 1752.
-Philadelphia ought to be bigger. It was the biggest city in the colonies by population, and was the cultural and mercantile capital of the colonies. Again,
this site gives the populations as 40,000 Philadelphia and 25,000 New York for 1775 and 44,100 for Philadelphia and 33,100 for New York in 1790. Philadelphia should be a level 10 city and a level 10 port.
-Reading is fine, but in 1755 it was only seven years old. I suggest that it should be a level 1 city for the FIW scenarios.
-Sunbury, Wyoming and Wilkes Barre didn't exist in 1755-1760, so they shouldn't be there. In the case of Wilkes-Barre, the crisis of Wilkes' election didn't happen until 1769 (when the town was coincidentally founded) and Barre didn't even enter parliament until 1761, and he didn't come up with the terms "Sons of Liberty" until 1765 and the Stamp Act.
-Sunbury should have a fort - Fort Augusta. This was built in 1758 at the junction of the north and west branches of the Susquehanna after the electoral defeat of the Quakers. It could arrive by event at that date, and should exist for a 1759 start.
-Sunbury was settled in 1772. I just can't believe that it should be a level 2 town 3 years later. Make it level 1.
-Fort Venango was destroyed in 1763 after Pontiac's revolt. It was never rebuilt. It shouldn't exist in games that start after 1763.
-Pittsburgh should have a fort - Fort Pitt in 1775. The population I've listed above for 1790 (1853) includes the borough, and clearly Pittsburgh was growing rapidly from 1775 to 1790. While I can see the point of making it level 2 - it was far and away the biggest town west of the Appalachians and ought to be distinguished from the Sycamore Shoals and Boonesboros. In game it provides an excellent bolt hole for the continentals. But I just can't see how it's big enough to justify being level 2.
recommendation
Make Easton a level one city. Make Philadelphia level 10 city and port. Make Reading level 1 in 1755 (leave level 2 for the revolution). Remove Sunbury, Wyoming and Wilkes Barre in 1755. Add a fort to Sunbury (Fort Augusta). Have an event creating this fort in 1758. Make Sunbury level 1 in 1775. Get rid of Fort Venango for all the 1775-1783 scenarios. Make Pittsburgh level 1 and add a fort (Fort Pitt) there.