
Joseph Bloomfield (18 October 1753 – 3 October 1823) was the Governor of New Jersey from 31 October 1801 to 29 October 1812, succeeding Richard Howell and preceding Aaron Ogden.
Biography[]
Joseph Bloomfield was born on 18 October 1753 in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, the son of an abolitionist physician. Bloomfield was educated in Deerfield Township and studied law, being admitted to the bar in 1775 and beginning a law practice in Bridgeton. On 9 February 1776, he was granted the rank of Captain in the 3rd New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Army, and he was wounded in the September 1777 Battle of Brandywine during the American Revolutionary War. In 1794, he led New Jersey federal troops to put down the Whiskey Rebellion, and from 1794 to 1800 he was Mayor of Burlington before becoming Governor of New Jersey on 31 October 1801. In 1812, he was commissioned as a Brigadier-General of the US Army during the War of 1812, and he served on the United States-Canada border until 1815. He died in 1823 at the age of 69 in Burlington. The township of Bloomfield in Essex County is named for him.