MORRISTOWN
NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK
_A Military Capital of the American Revolution_
[Illustration: {candlestick and letter}]
_by Melvin J. Weig, with assistance from Vera B. Craig_
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES No. 7
WASHINGTON 25, D. C., 1950
[Illustration: {DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR · March 3, 1949}]
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Oscar L. Chapman, _Secretary_
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Newton B. Drury, _Director_
_HISTORICAL HANDBOOK NUMBER SEVEN_
This publication is one of a series of handbooks describing the
historical and archeological areas in the National Park System
administered by the National Park Service of the United States
Department of the Interior. It is printed by the Government Printing
Office and may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents,
Washington 25, D. C. Price 20¢.
_Contents_
_Page_
THE FIRST WINTER ENCAMPMENT IN MORRIS COUNTY 1
Situation: January 1777 1
From Princeton to Morristown 2
The New Base of American Operations 3
Winter Quarters for Officers and Men 5
Instability of the Army 6
Food and Clothing Shortages 7
Recruitment Gets Under Way 7
Sickness and Death 8
Washington Tightens His Grip on New Jersey 9
The Prospect Brightens 10
End of the 1777 Encampment 11
JOCKEY HOLLOW: THE “HARD” WINTER OF 1779-80 11
Intermission: War in Deadlock 11
Morristown Again Becomes the Military Capital 12
Building the “Log-house city” 12
Terrible Severity of the Winter 16
Lack of Adequate Clothing 17
Shortage of Provisions and Forage 17
Money Troubles and Their Consequences 18
Guarding the Lines 18
The Staten Island Expedition 19
Sidelights on the Pattern of Army Life 22
Luzerne and Miralles 23
The Committee at Headquarters 24
Lafayette Brings Good News 24
Two Battles End the 1779-80 Encampment 25
JANUARY 1781: THE STORY OF TWO MUTINIES 27
THE NEW JERSEY BRIGADE ENCAMPMENT OF 1781-82 29
GUIDE TO THE AREA 29
HOW TO REACH THE PARK 42
ESTABLISHMENT AND ADMINISTRATION 42
VISITOR FACILITIES 43
RELATED AREAS 44
[Illustration: “_Washington Receiving a Salute on the Field of
Trenton._” From the engraving by William Holl (1865), after the
painting by John Faed.]
[Illustration: {Ford Mansion}]
During two critical winters of the Revolutionary War, 1777 and 1779-80,
the rolling countryside in and around Morristown, N. J., sheltered the
main encampments of the American Continental Army and served as the
headquarters of its famed Commander in Chief, George Washington. Patriot
troops were also quartered in this vicinity on many other occasions.
Here Washington reorganized his weary and depleted forces almost within
sight of strong British lines at New York. Here came Lafayette with
welcome news of the second French expedition sent to aid the Americans.
And here was developed, in the face of bitter cold, hunger, hardship,
and disease, the Nation’s will to independence and freedom. Thus for a
time this small New Jersey village became the military capital of the
United States, the testing ground of a great people in its heroic fight
for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
_The First Winter Encampment in Morris County_
SITUATION: JANUARY 1777.
Sir William Howe had been mistaken. Near the middle of December 1776, as
Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s army in America, he believed the
rebellion of Great Britain’s trans-Atlantic colonies crushed beyond hope
of revival. “Mr.” Washington’s troops had been driven from New York,
pursued through New Jersey, and forced at last to cross the Delaware
River into Pennsylvania. The British had captured Maj. Gen. Charles Lee,
the only American general they thought possessed real ability. Some
mopping up might be necessary in the spring, but the arduous work of
conquest was over. Howe could spend a comfortable winter in New York,
and Lord Cornwallis, the British second in command, might sail for
England and home.
Then suddenly, with whirlwind effect, these pleasant reveries were swept
away in the roar of American gunfire at Trenton in the cold, gray dawn
of December 26, and at Princeton on January 3. Outgeneraled, bewildered,
and half in panic, the British forces pulled back to New Brunswick. Now
they were 60 miles from their objective at Philadelphia, instead of 19.
Worst of all, they had been maneuvered into this ignominious retreat by
a “Tatterde-mallion” army one-sixth the size of their own, and they were
on the defensive. “We have been boxed about in Jersey,” lamented one of
Howe’s officers, “as if we had no feelings.” George Washington with his
valiant comrades in arms had weathered the dark crisis. For the time
being at least, the Revolution was saved.