THE NEW BASE OF AMERICAN OPERATIONS.
A letter dated May 12, 1777, described the Morristown of that day as “a very Clever little village, situated in a most beautiful vally at the foot of 5 mountains.” Farming was the mainstay of its people, some 250 in number and largely of New England stock, but nearby ironworks were already enriching a few families and employing more and more laborers. Among the 50 or 60 buildings in Morristown, the most important seem to have been the Arnold Tavern, the Presbyterian and Baptist Churches, and the Morris County Courthouse and Jail, all located on an open “Green” from which streets radiated in several directions. There were also a few sawmills, gristmills, and a powder mill, the last built on the Whippany River, in 1776, by Col. Jacob Ford, Jr., commander of the Eastern Battalion, Morris County Militia. Colonel Ford’s dwelling house, then only a few years old, was undoubtedly the handsomest in the village.
Washington’s immediate reasons for bringing his troops to Morristown were that it appeared to be the place “best calculated of any in this Quarter, to accomodate and refresh them,” and that he knew not how to obtain covering for the men elsewhere. He must have been impressed also with the demonstrated loyalty of Morris County to the patriot cause, even in those dreary, anxious weeks of late 1776 when its militia helped considerably to stave off attempted enemy incursions directly westward from the vicinity of New York. Finally, there were already at Morristown three Continental regiments previously ordered down from Fort Ticonderoga, and union with these would strengthen the forces under his personal command.
The Arnold Tavern, where Washington reputedly stayed in 1777.
Even so, Washington hoped at first to move again before long, and it was only as circumstances forced him to remain in this small New Jersey community that its advantages as a base for American military operations became fully apparent. From here he could virtually control an extensive agricultural country, cutting off its produce from the British and using it instead to sustain the Continental Army. In the mountainous region northwest of Morristown were many forges and furnaces, such as those at Hibernia, Mount Hope, Ringwood, and Charlottenburg, from which needed iron supplies might be obtained. The position was also difficult for an enemy to attack. Directly eastward, on either side of the main road approach from Bottle Hill (now Madison), large swamp areas guarded the town. Still further east, almost midway between Morristown and the Jersey shore, lay the protecting barriers of Long Hill, and the First and Second Watchung Mountains. Their parallel ridges stretched out for more than 30 miles, like a huge earthwork, from the Raritan River on the south toward the northern boundary of the State, whence they were continued by the Ramapos to the Hudson Highlands. In addition to all this, the village was nearly equidistant from Newark, Perth Amboy, and New Brunswick, the main British posts in New Jersey, so that any enemy movement could be met by an American counterblow, either from Washington’s own outposts or from the center of his defensive-offensive web at Morristown itself. A position better suited to all the Commander in Chief’s purposes, either in that winter of 1777 or in the later 1779-80 encampment period, would have been hard to find.
Morristown and RELATED AMERICAN OUTPOSTS in the REVOLUTIONARY WAR
N. Y. Newburgh ▲◍Fishkill ▲New Windsor ▲Fort Constitution ◍West Point ◍Continental Village ▲Peekskill Galloway’s in the Clove ▲Fort Montgomery ▲King’s Ferry ◍Verplanck’s Point ◍Stony Point Haverstraw ◍Kakiat HARLEM HEIGHTS II WHITE PLAINS III Valentine’s Hill King’s Bridge Fort Lee NEW YORK BRITISH HDQRS. Brooklyn LONG ISLAND I CONN. N. J. ◍Ringwood Iron Works ▲Ramapo Charlottenburg Iron Works ▲◍Paramus ▲Pompton Hibernia Furnace Mt. Hope Furnace ◍Rockaway Boonton ▲Succasunna Plains ◍Crane’s Mills MORRISTOWN AMERICAN HDQRS. Bottle Hill ▲Chatham Easton ◍SPRINGFIELD VI & VII ◍Newark Vealtown Connecticut Farms Baskingridge ▲Scotch Plains ◍Pluckemin ▲◍Elizabethtown ▲◍Westfield ◍Rahway ▲Raritan ▲Quibbletown ▲Woodbridge ▲Middlebrook ▲Bound Brook ◍Perth Amboy ▲Somerset Court House ◍New Brunswick Coryell’s Ferry ▲◍PRINCETON V ▲◍TRENTON IV ▲◍Allentown Bordentown Cooper’s Ferry PA. McKonkey’s Ferry Newtown ▲Bristol ◍Burlington ▲◍PHILADELPHIA ▲AMERICAN OUTPOSTS IN 1777 ◍AMERICAN OUTPOSTS IN 1779-80 OTHER IMPORTANT LOCALITIES REVOLUTIONARY WAR ROADS MAJOR BATTLES I LONG ISLAND—AUGUST 27, 1776 II HARLEM HEIGHTS—SEPTEMBER 16, 1776 III WHITE PLAINS—OCTOBER 23, 1776 IV TRENTON—DECEMBER 25, 1776 V PRINCETON—JANUARY 5, 1777 VI & VII SPRINGFIELD—JUNE 7 & 23, 1780 DESIGNED BY M. J. WEIG · DRAWN BY V. B. CRAIG ·