On January 10, 1776, the Continental Congress authorized the 3rd New Jersey Regiment. A month later, Congress confirmed the officers nominated by the New Jersey legislature, including Colonel Elias Dayton, a veteran of the French and Indian War and a field officer in the state militia. The regiment drew its recruits from across New Jersey, the men pledging to serve one year.

When the 3rd New Jersey's eight companies mustered into Continental service at New York City on May 1, 1776, they made a handsome appearance. The men wore black cocked hats trimmed in white, drab coats with blue facings, and buckskin breeches. Sailing up the Hudson, the 3rd New Jersey patrolled the Mohawk Valley, garrisoned Fort Stanwix, and then reported to Fort Ticonderoga. Ordered back home in late February 1777, the regiment disbanded at Morristown on March 20. Even before the original 3rd New Jersey ceased to exist, Colonel Dayton began organizing a new version for long-term service. On May 22, 1777, the revived 3rd New Jersey joined the 1st and 2nd New Jersey Regiments in Brigadier General William Maxwell's New Jersey Brigade. The Continental Army's Clothier General provided the 3rd New Jersey with blue coats sporting red facings in May and June.

A deserter report in the Pennsylvania Gazette on June 11, 1777, revealed that the men also received blue breeches. Conforming to European practice, the regiment's drummers and fifers wore coats with reversed colors - red faced blue.

Assigned to General George Washington's Main Army, the New Jersey Brigade participated in the defense of Philadelphia, experiencing especially heavy action at Germantown on October 4, 1777. The Jerseymen met the British again at Monmouth, June 28, 1778. In the following year, Maxwell's Brigade accompanied Major General John Sullivan's punitive expedition against the Iroquois. On October 21, 1780, Congress reduced New Jersey's troop quota to two infantry regiments, and the 3rd New Jersey ended its service on January 1, 1781.

In Europe, company officers in the infantry carried short spears called spontoons. During the Revolution, however, British officers exchanged their spontoons for fusils. General Washington disliked this practice. On December 22, 1777, he directed every infantry captain and lieutenant under his command to acquire a spontoon "as soon as possible - fire-arms, when made use of, withdrawing their attention too much from their men."

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