Talk:List of New Jersey military officers in the American Revolution

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Retitle, expand scope[edit]

This kind of list is a good idea, since most Revolutionary officers won't have articles of their own. However, the title "List of New Jersey captains in the Continental Army" is not correct, since at least one of the men listed, John Outwater, was in the militia and state troops, not the Continental Army. So the title of the list needs to be broadened to include all captains, not just those with the CA. But why limit to captains? Cast your net wider, making a list of all New Jersey officers. If it then gets too long, subdivide. Start out with something like "List of New Jersey military officers in the American Revolution. That would be an interesting list and could be done for each of the original states, although some of the lists would be too long and need to be subdivided by rank or branch of service. —Kevin Myers 02:05, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Directory[edit]

How does this list square with WP:NOT which says "Wikipedia is not a directory." This list might fit at Ancestry.com, for people to look up their Revolutionary War ancestor, but how many officers were there in the American Revolution, including the Continental Army and Militias as this one does? What's next, "Officers in the Civil War?" "Officers in World War 2?" Most lists from the military history project are more selective. Edison (talk) 14:57, 17 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

According to Ancestry.com there were 18,000 officers on the US side in the Revolutionary War. There may well have been 1000 to 2000 from New Jersey. What makes the few listed here so special? Someone's ancestors? There is a searchable digitized list at [1]. It seems undue weight to imply that the few listed here are somehow more important than the other thousand or however many there were. Since Wikipedia is not a directory, it would seem inappropriate to duplicate that directory here. If any of them are otherwise notable (politicians, war heroes, businessmen, etc) they should indeed have their own articles, and could be put in a category of "New Jersy military officers in the American Revolution." Edison (talk) 21:25, 17 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]