Weather conditions when the army arrived at Morristown were but a
foretaste of what was yet to come, and long before all the huts were up,
the elements attacked Washington’s camp with terrible severity. As
things turned out, 1779-80 proved to be the most bitter and prolonged
winter, not only of the Revolutionary War, but of the whole eighteenth
century.
One observer recorded 4 snows in November, 7 in December, 6 in January,
4 in February, 6 in March, and 1 in April—28 falls altogether, some of
which lasted nearly all day and night. The great storm of January 2-4
was among the most memorable on record, with high winds which no man
could endure many minutes without danger to his life. “Several marquees
were torn asunder and blown down over the officers’ heads in the night,”
wrote Dr. Thacher, “and some of the soldiers were actually covered while
in their tents, and buried like sheep under the snow.” When this
blizzard finally subsided, the snow lay full 4 feet deep on a level,
drifted in places to 6 feet, filling up the roads, covering the tops of
fences, and making it practically impossible to travel anywhere with
heavy loads.
[Illustration: _Reconstructions of typical log huts used by the
officers_ (above) _and by soldiers of the line_ (below) _in the
winter encampment of 1779-80_.]
[Illustration: {Log hut}]
What made things still worse was the intense, penetrating cold. General
Greene noted that for 6 or 8 days early in January “there has been no
living abroad.” Only on 1 day of that month, as far south as
Philadelphia, did the mercury go above the freezing point. All the
rivers froze solid, including both the Hudson and the Delaware, so that
troops and even large cannon could pass over them. Ice in the Passaic
River formed 3 feet thick, and, as late as February 26, the Hudson above
New York was “full of fixed ice on the banks, and floating ice in the
channel.” The Delaware remained wholly impassable to navigation for 3
months. “The oldest people now living in this country,” wrote Washington
on March 18, “do not remember so hard a Winter as the one we are now
emerging from.”
[Illustration: _The Pennsylvania Line campground in 1779-80, with a
hospital hut in the foreground._ From a recent painting in the park
collection.]