Attachment-M_Existing_Exhibit_Inventory_0002.pdf

Existing Exhibit Inventory

Summary

Number of Wayside Interpretive Signs Total Number of Signs – 39 [not counting uninstalled Soldier’s Cemetery & HQ Bulletin Board]

Headquarters Area - 3

Fort Nonsense - 7

Jockey Hollow - 23

Cross Estate/New Jersey Brigade - 6

Sign material Fiberglass Signs - 27

Cast Aluminum - 12

Themes Note: Some signs could be under more than one theme but in this case each sign is limited to the theme that seemed to fit best.

Introduction to Park – 3 plus HQ Bulletin Board

A Revolutionary winter [multiple signs - PA Line, NY Brigade, VC]

Brigade/Camp Sites Identified - 9

The Pennsylvania Line [PA Line] The Grand Parade The New York Brigade The First Maryland Brigade The Second Maryland Brigade Hand’s Brigade The Connecticut Line Stark’s Brigade New Jersey Brigade

Attachment M

Army/Hut Life - 8

Inspections [Grand Parade] Guards [Grand Parade] Soldier’s Hut [Replica] [PA Line] Officer’s Hut [Replica] [PA Line] A heritage of hearths [PA Line] A warm fire [NJ Brigade] A trash pit [NJ Brigade] RHIP [NJ Brigade]

Ethnic or Racial Groups - 1

Sons of Saint Patrick, The Irish at Jockey Hollow

Fort Nonsense - 2

Fort Nonsense The Upper Redoubt

Signal Beacons - 2

Chain of Signal Beacons The Alarm Beacon

Waysides about Monuments - 2

Remembering the Past: Stark’s Brigade Monument circa 1900 Soldiers’ Cemetery [supposedly finished needs to be installed near cemetery monument]

Civilians, Local Area & the Army - 6

Ford Mansion The Guerin House The Wick Farm The Lay of the Land [Ft. Nonsense] Morristown [Ft. Nonsense] Iron [Ft. Nonsense]

Roads - 3

The Path to Victory [French Army] [Headquarters] The Old Camp Road [Jockey Hollow] Roads [JH trace road near WH & Tour Road]

Houses, Buildings or Structures - 2

Washington’s Headquarters Museum Water Tower [Cross Estate]

Post-Revolutionary War Stories - 2

The Aqueduct Trail [Trail Center JH] A Haven from Everyday Life [Cross Estate]

Related Monuments or Statues

This does not include statues or plaques on or near Morristown Green

On Park Property Stark’s Brigade [has interpretive sign] Soldier’s Cemetery [has interpretive sign, not yet installed] Bettin Monument Fort Nonsense Monument

Near but Off Park Property George Washington Equestrian Statue Lifeguard Camp

Off Park Property Artillery Park

Explore Morristown

Sign Material - Fiberglass

Theme – Introduction to Park

Text - Explore Morristown

Welcome to Morristown National Historical Park!

The Park commemorates several inter encampments of General George Washington and the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Morristown, New Jersey provided General Washington’s Army a safe haven from the British Army headquartered in New York City, and it offered the resources needed to support the army during the long months of winter and early spring.

Today, the park offers an opportunity to discover America’s past at four areas which feature historic structures and museum exhibits, cultural landscapes, outdoor interpretive panels, replica soldier huts, and 27 miles of hiking trails to explore the park’s natural beauty.

Jockey Hollow Area

With a population of over 10,000 people and an estimated 1,000 log huts during the 1779-1780 winter encampment, Jockey Hollow was one of the biggest cities in the United States at that time. Today the park visitor center offers exhibits and an orientation film that explain the significance of the encampment. The 1750 Henry Wick House provides a glimpse of the life and sacrifices of the civilian population during the Revolutionary War. A three mile Tour Road allows you to explore the key sites in the park by car, bicycle or as a pedestrian. An extensive network of walking and hiking trails present opportunities to experience the area’s 1,300 acres of woodlands, fields, streams, and wildlife that now populate this former “Log Hut City.”

New Jersey Brigade Area

Embark on a thirty-minute hike on the New Jersey Brigade Trail to the namesake’s encampment site where a loop trail of interpretive panels helps tell the story of the New Brigade. The trail also connects to Jockey Hollow and the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Sherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary trail network. Be sure to walk the grounds and gardens of the Cross Estate, once the summer retreat of New York businessmen. The state’s beautiful formal gardens have been restored to their former prominence by dedicated volunteers.

Washington’s Headquarters

Begin your visit at the Washington’s Headquarters Museum where you will experience interactive exhibits and formal galleries featuring artifacts from the colonial period, the park’s orientation film, museum store and restrooms.

The museum also houses the park’s collection of over 300,000 books and artifacts. Guided tours of the Ford Mansion explore life inside the headquarters of George Washington during the hard winter of 1779-1780. All Ford Mansion tours begin in the museum building.

Fort Nonsense

Once the site of an earthen fort constructed in 1777, the area has several interpretive panels that describe its significance and use during the 1777 and 1779-1780 winter encampments. The highest point in Morristown, Fort Nonsense offers spectacular views of the town and the landscape looking east toward New York City. Picnic tables provide the opportunity for a quiet lunch in downtown Morristown.

Washington’s Headquarters Museum

Sign Material – Fiberglass

Theme – Houses, Buildings or Structures

Text - Washington’s Headquarters Museum

Completed in 1937, the Washington’s Headquarters Museum was one of the first museums planned and constructed by the National Park Service. Noted architect John Russell Pope designed the museum to memorialize General George Washington and to provide the park with an appropriate facility for exhibitions, meetings, lectures, and collections storage. Pope used George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, as his inspiration for the design.

A Depression-era project, the building was constructed under the authority of the Public Works Administration at a total cost of $139,000. Construction of the museum began in December 1935 and the building was dedicated on Washington’s Birthday, February 22, 1937.

The museum has been expanded twice since its opening to accommodate its research library and today it features interactive exhibits and galleries displaying furniture, weapons, documents and a wide variety of objects from the Colonial and Revolutionary periods. The building also includes an auditorium, museum store, research library, curatorial storage and administrative offices.

John Russell Pope John Russell Pope (1874-1937) Considered one of America’s premier architects in the early 20th century, Pope designed both fine private homes and public buildings. An 1894 graduate of Columbia University, Pope also studied architecture at the American School of Architecture in Rome and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Some of Pope’s most noted works include the Jefferson Memorial, the National Archives Building and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, all in Washington DC. Locally, Pope designed the Lord Memorial Fountain in Somerville, and the mansion in Far Hills, New Jersey, that houses the United States Golf Association Museum.

Ford Mansion

Theme – Civilians, Local Area & the Army

Text – Ford Mansion

The Army is quartered within three Miles of this place, in the usual way of hutting. Head Quarters is in this Town, at the Widow Fords, at the great white House at the North end of the place.

Major General Nathaniel Greene, December 25, 1779

Jacob Ford Jr., a wealthy iron manufacturer, built this Georgian style home in the early 1770s. A colonel in the New Jersey militia, Ford died of pneumonia on January 10, 1777 while General George Washington’s Light Infantry quartered in his home. Washington directed the Light Infantry to provide Colonel Ford with a military funeral.

Nearly three years later, his widow Theodosia Ford allowed General Washington, his wife Martha, and his military family of five secretaries and eighteen servants to return to her home to use the Ford Mansion as their quarters from December 1779 to June 1780.

Eventually, General Marquis de Lafayette, and Spanish and French Ambassadors visited the home with their servants and secretaries. Including Mrs. Ford, her four children, and her servants, this house might have quartered over 300 people a night.

History for Sale, History Preserved When Mrs. Ford’s grandson died in 1872, no other Ford descendant was interested in living in the 100-year old Ford Mansion. Therefore, on June 28,1873 the mansion was put up for public auction. Fearing that the Ford Mansion might be converted into a boarding house, or worse, four prominent men joined together at the auction to purchase it for $25,000.

In 1874, the four men, Theodore Randolph, N. Norris Halstead, George Halsey, and William Lidgerwood, formed the Washington Association of New Jersey (WANJ) to manage the property. With additional members joining throughout the years, the association preserved the Ford Mansion and operated it as a museum until 1933.

In 1933 the WANJ donated the Ford Mansion and its historical collections to the United States of America.

Combined with the donations of Jockey Hollow by Lloyd W. Smith and Fort Nonsense by the township of Morristown, these gifts led to the creation of Morristown National Historical Park – the first designated “national historical park” in the National Park System.

The Path to Victory

Theme - Roads

Text - The Path to Victory

On August 28, 1781, 5500 French troops under the command of General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau marched on the road before you on their way to Yorktown, Virginia. They had spent the previous night in Whippany, New Jersey. After passing through Morristown, they camped at Bullion’s Tavern in present-day Bernards Township. General George Washington’s Continental Army took a different route, slightly southeast, and spent the night of August 28th in nearby Chatham.

The Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail follows the routes used in 1781 and 1782 by the American and French forces to travel to and from the successful siege of Yorktown, Virginia. In a decisive victory, they captured the British Army under General Charles Cornwallis, who surrendered on October 19, 1781. This network of roads and water trails travels over 700 miles through nine states and the District of Columbia.

Take this Revolutionary Route and explore historic sites and communities that once hosted Revolutionary War soldiers. Learn the stories of people who helped pave the way to victory and an independent United States.

A Powerful Partnership George Washington: 1732 – 1799 Congress chose George Washington to command the Continental Army in 1775. His strategic insight and leadership culminated in American independence. After the war, Washington resigned his military command. He became the first President of the United States in 1789.

Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau: 1725 – 1807 The French nobleman and distinguished officer was appointed commander of the French Army sent to America in 1780 to fight the British. After success there, he continued his military career until 1792. Arrested in 1794 during the French Revolution, he was released later that year and retired to his estates.

Theme – Fort Nonsense

Text – Fort Nonsense

To protect his army and supplies from a British attack, General George Washington ordered the construction of a small fortification on the hill overlooking Morristown during the Spring of 1777. This became known as the “upper redoubt” and included a “guardhouse sufficient to contain 30 men…” As it turned out, the British never came and the fortification was never called on to defend the town.

The name “Fort Nonsense” first appeared after the war. It was said that the fort was called “Nonsense” because it was built to keep troops busy. This is probably untrue as Washington, throughout the war, demonstrated the military value of holding the high ground.

The Lay of the Land

Text – The Lay of the Land

The Watchung Mountains belong to a chain of ridges running from New Brunswick to West Point. They shielded the army from the British in New York City and helped protect the roads from Philadelphia to New England by way of West Point.

Located in a long valley west of the mountains, Morristown became an army supply center. Connecting roads brought in supplies from the surrounding region. Local rivers powered iron forges, grist mills, sawmills, and a gunpowder mill; all providing essential supplies for the army.

Morristown

Text - Morristown

Morristown was a village of about 70 buildings in 1777.

General George Washington, Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, brought his tired troops to Morristown for rest and reorganization in January 1777. They had just completed successful attacks against the Hessian and British troops at Trenton and Princeton. The new year brought an end to many enlistments and Washington’s regular army dwindled in size to a few thousand men. He warned the Continental Congress “to the Situation…of scarce having any army at all.” Encouraged by the recent military victories, enlistments increased by spring and the army regained its strength, numbering about 10,000 men.

General Washington lodged at Arnold’s Tavern, once located near the base of this hill next to the Green. The soldiers stayed in houses or encamped at various places near the town. A Delaware light infantry company stayed at the Colonel Jacob Ford house on the eastern edge of town.

The Upper Redoubt

Theme – Fort Nonsense

Text – The Upper Redoubt

No records exist from historical times to tell us exactly what the fortifications here looked like. Archaeological evidence reveals the location of walls and ditches. The stones you see mark the inside of the walls and form an outline of the redoubt. Cannon were also part of the defense. You are invited to walk the outline to better experience the size and shape of the redoubt. No records exist from historical times to tell us exactly what the fortifications here looked like. Archaeological evidence reveals the location of walls and ditches. The stones you see mark the inside of the walls and form an outline of the redoubt. Cannon were also part of the defense. You are invited to walk the outline to better experience the size and shape of the redoubt.

Iron

Text - Iron

At Morristown, Washington was close to the northern New Jersey iron furnaces of Hibernia, Pompton, Mount Hope and Ringwood. Cannon balls and shells from these furnaces were on frequent order for the Continental Army during much of the Revolution. Firebacks, kitchen implements and iron bars or "pigs" were also produced at these casting works.

During the war, two great chains of large iron links were placed across the Hudson River as an obstruction to British warships. The first was made at nearby Ringwood Furnace and placed at Fort Montgomery. It was replaced by an even larger chain at West Point with links each measuring about 10 by 30 inches.

Chain of Signal Beacons

Sign on Left

Theme – Signal Beacons

Text - Chain of Signal Beacons

Large fires, cannon and flags were used to signal alarms during the Revolutionary War. The fires were called beacons and were used to assemble militia, indicate the approach direction of the enemy and to direct the movements of military forces.

In the spring of 1779, a signal chain of log and brush pyramids was ordered built in a line along the highlands of the New Jersey coast. A beacon was to have been constructed at the “point” of this hill – a location that would seem to correspond to the area within the 1777 fortification. However, no conclusive historical documentation has been found to confirm the actual building of a beacon here. Looking south from this vista to the distant horizon, you can see the hill near Summit, New Jersey, on which another beacon was erected.

The Alarm Beacon

Sign on Right

Theme – Signal Beacons

Text – The Alarm Beacon

The alarm beacon was a huge pyramid-shaped structure of logs and brush usually placed on a prominent hilltop. In case of enemy invasion or other emergency situations, it was to be set on fire to notify militiamen to go to preselected meeting places and prepare for response to the alarm.

Instructions for building alarm beacons in New Jersey during 1779 required that they should be “…made of Logs intermixed with Brush square at Bottom about sixteen feet & to Diminish as they rise like a pyramid & should be 18 or 20 feet high.”

A Revolutionary Winter [Pennsylvania Line]

Text – A Revolutionary Winter

Morristown National Historical Park commemorates the suffering of the Continental Army during the terrible winter encampment of 1779-1780. It commemorates also the ability and leadership of George Washington.

The main part of Washington’s army camped in Jockey Hollow during that winter. There were no smiling fields and shady trails – just snow and cold, bitter cold. The rural comfort of Henry Wick’s farm sheltered many of the cols 10,000 who camped in huts and prayed for spring.

The Pennsylvania Line

Sign Material – Cast Aluminum

Theme - Brigade/Camp Sites Identified

Text – The Pennsylvania Line

The First and Second Pennsylvania Brigades – the Pennsylvania Line – was the backbone of Washington’s army.

From the invasion of Canada in 1775 to the victory at Yorktown in 1781 Pennsylvania troops served in almost every major battle.

At Monmouth, which began as an American calamity and ended no worse than a draw, Pennsylvanians held the American positions during the initial retreat until Washington put things to rights.

Anthony Wayne, who commanded the Second Brigade, wrote of his men:

I would risk my soul that they would sell their lives or liberties at too dear a rate for Britons to make any purchase.

Sons of Saint Patrick, The Irish at Jockey Hollow

Theme - Ethnic or Racial Groups

Text - Sons of Saint Patrick, The Irish at Jockey Hollow

Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1780 was “ . . . ushered in with Music and the hoisting of Colours, exhibiting the 13 Stripes, the favorite Harp, and an Inscription, declaring in Capitals, THE INDEPENDENCE OF IRELAND.” – The New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury; April 24, 1780

Irishmen fought on both sides of the American Revolution.

For the British, they fought in battles from Maine to Georgia as members of the Royal Irish Artillery, the Queen’s Rangers and the Volunteers of Ireland.

However, the largest number of Irishmen served in the American Army. Seven out of the eleven brigades in Jockey Hollow were commanded by generals born in Ireland or who had Irish parents. It is estimated that one quarter of the entire Continental Army was from Ireland. In some regiments from Pennsylvania and Maryland, almost half of the soldiers were Irish. The Irish were so numerous in the Pennsylvania Line that General Henry Lee (“Light Horse Harry”) of Virginia referred to it as the “Line of Ireland.”

St. Patrick’s Day was one holiday General Washington granted the army in Jockey

Hollow during the hard winter of 1779-1780. He hoped that by recognizing the Irish holiday it might further political unrest in Ireland.

General Washington ordered all work parties to cease for the day. In the New York Brigade the officers were told “not to detail for duty any sons of St. Patrick.” Colonel Johnson, commanding the Second Pennsylvania Brigade, bought a large barrel of rum for his men, though he expected them to “conduct themselves with the greatest sobriety and good order.”

Soldier’s Hut [Replica]

Theme - Army/Hut Life

Text – Soldier’s Hut [Replica]

“December 19, 1779 – For two weeks we have been very diligently employed in building our Hutts. The weather has been rather against us, but we have got our buildings almost finished and find ‘em very comfortable – so that barring accidents I think the troops will have very good Winter Quarters.” – Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willet, 3rd New York Regiment

By 1779, after past winter encampment high death rates due in part to poor construction, General Washington ordered huts, like these replicas, to be built to strict dimensional standards of 14 feet wide by 16 feet long and front walls 6½ feet high to the eaves of the roof. All huts were built on the sides of hills to ensure proper drainage and in straight lines. Each hut was home to 12 soldiers where they cooked and ate their meager rations, warmed their frozen bodies and slept until reveille called them to duty the next morning.

Officer’s Hut [Replica]

Text – Officer’s Hut [Replica]

“December 15, 1779 – The men of the Regt. Moved into their Hutts. The Officers Hutts were not yet finished for the Gen’l orders were for the officers to see their men Hutted first.” – Lt. Rudolphus Van Hovenburgh, 4th NY Regiment

Washington ordered that the officer’s huts be built last; after the soldiers had moved into their huts. While the soldiers were in their huts by Christmas 1779, some officers did not move into a hut until much later. Unlike the soldier’s huts, the officers’ huts did not have required dimensions.

A heritage of hearths

Text – A heritage of hearths

Soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line built these hearths in the winter of 1779-1780.

The rest of the encampment vanished decades ago, victims of disuse and decay. These huts are copies, based partly on the ghosts of post holes and foundation logs still found in the ground. But only the hearths survived just as they were then.

The little mementos – buttons, knives, pipe stems – have all been sifted out of the ground and studied to recapture the life of Washington’s soldiers.

The Grand Parade

Middle Sign

Theme - Brigade/Camp Sites Identified

Text – The Grand Parade

A focal point of the sprawling “log cabin city” at Jockey Hollow was the Grand Parade. Each day, guard details assembled here for inspection, and General Orders from Washington’s headquarters were distributed. This was also the site of formal military reviews. And it was here that those guilty of serious crimes were executed and buried.

The original Grand Parade was located beyond this open ground, in the woods to the north. It was 400 yards long and 100 yards wide – six times the size of this clearing.

Inspections

Text - Inspections

Faces and hands washed … beards close shaven…hair combed and tied if long enough … shoes clean…clothes brushed…

And cartridge boxes …. Washington worried often about cartridge boxes. Unless they kept a soldier’s powder dry, his musket was useless.

Despite every effort, cartridge boxes often fell short of standards – lack of money and shortages of leather. So … a captain inspected cartridge boxes every morning.

Guards

Text -Guards

Each day’s guard reported here for inspection, a short drill, and the daily parole and countersign. From here they relieved the previous day’s guard.

The camp guard – 27 men from every 2 regiments – surrounded Jockey Hollow with a chain of sentinels. A picket guard – 2 officers and 50 men

– assembled daily and “lay on their arms” waiting for orders.

The Guerin House

Text – The Guerin house

When Washington’s soldiers camped in Jockey Hollow, they occupied parts of blacksmith Joshua Guerin’s land.

Parts of this house stood here then.

The New York Brigade

Theme - Brigade/Camp Sites Identified

Text – The New York Brigade

1779, summer in upstate New York … campaigning against Indian allies of Britain.

1780, winter – Morristown, camping near here.

1781, fall – Yorktown, Va. Witnessing the British surrender.

A Revolutionary Winter [New York Brigade]

Theme – Introduction to Park

Text – A Revolutionary winter

Morristown National Historical Park commemorates the suffering of the Continental Army during the terrible winter encampment of 1779-1780. It commemorates also the ability and leadership of George Washington.

The main part of Washington’s army camped in Jockey Hollow during that winter. There were no smiling fields and shady trails – just snow and cold, bitter cold. The rural comfort of Henry Wick’s farm sheltered many of the cold 10,000 who camped in huts and prayed for spring.

The Old Camp Road

Text – The Old Camp Road

When the population of Jockey Hollow jumped from two or three farmers to 10,000 soldiers, the army had to build some roads. This is one of them, running between two pre-Revolutionary roads; the Jockey Hollow Road and the Basking Ridge Road.

You can walk it in 45 minutes; a soldier slogging through snow probably took a little longer.

The Aqueduct Trail

Theme - Post-Revolutionary War Stories

Text – The Aqueduct Trail

Nathanael Greene, Washington's quartermaster, wrote of Jockey Hollow:

There is wood I am in hopes is sufficient for the purpose of hunting and firing, if it is used properly. There is water in plenty, tho in some places it will be some distance to fetch.

The trail runs through the woods where the army cut 600 acres for hut building and firewood. It follows one of the streams where the men fetched water and, years later, Morristown built some water works.

The First Maryland Brigade

Text – The First Maryland Brigade

The Marylanders were ordered south in April 1780 to reinforce the garrison at Charleston, South Carolina. The New Jersey Brigade, just back from guard posts near the British lines, moved into the Maryland huts for the next three weeks.

The Jersey troops were relieved by the Connecticut Line, which moved into this area in May. Although the weather had improved, the rations had not. Two hungry Connecticut regiments mutinied here on May 25, 1780. Washington declared that the mutiny gave him “infinitely more concern than any thing that ever happened.”

The Second Maryland Brigade

Text – The Second Maryland Brigade

Like all the brigades at Jockey Hollow, the Marylanders faced shortages of supplies and provisions. Baron von Steuben, the army’s inspector general, noted their condition in January 1780:

“The Cloathing is in very bad order for want of Mending. Shirts and Shoes are very much wanting especially in the three Regiments of the Second Brigade; where great Numbers of the Men are wholly Destitude of those articles.”

Roads

Text - Roads

Today the Mendham-Elizabethtown Road looks about as the army found it. The highways then were rivers and the sea. Roads – usually short and rough – led to water. Jockey Hollow Road, a little improved today for motor vehicles, led farmers to market.

That New Jersey winter was no time to travel. Couriers and soldiers used the roads, but most people stayed home and let the army get what few supplies it could – barely enough.

Revolutionary Winter [Visitor Center]

Text -A Revolutionary winter

Morristown National Historical Park commemorates the suffering of the Continental Army during the terrible winter encampment of 1779-1780. It commemorates also the ability and leadership of George Washington.

The main part of Washington’s army camped in Jockey Hollow during that winter. There were no smiling fields and shady trails – just snow and cold, bitter cold. The rural comfort of Henry Wick’s farm sheltered many of the cold10,000 who camped in huts and prayed for spring.

The Wick Farm

Text – The Wick Farm

Henry Wick’s prosperous 1,400-acre farm yielded a bounty typical of this area: wheat, corn, hay, rye, and timber.

Orchards provided apples for cider; a kitchen garden near the house produced vegetables.

Then Washington’s army arrived. For three winters (1779-1782) parts of the Continental Army camped on Wick’s farm and the rest of Jockey Hollow. Rows of log huts and company streets lined slopes once covered by woods.

During the harsh winter of 1779-1780 alone the Continental Army consumed more than 600 acres of farmer Wick’s trees – trees to build shelter, cook meals, and warm chilled limbs. That winter, the Wick House itself served as headquarters for Major General Arthur St. Clair, commander of the Pennsylvania Line.

Hand’s Brigade

Text – Hand’s Brigade

Edward Hand of Pennsylvania was a physician before the war. His brigade consisted of two Pennsylvania regiments and two Canadian. The Canadians joined the American army during the 1775-76 invasion of Canada.

In 1780-81, Pennsylvania troops commanded by General Anthony Wayne occupied the huts Hand’s Brigades had used the previous winter. The Pennsylvanians mutinied on New Year’s Day, 1781, and marched to Philadelphia to present their grievances to the Continental Congress.

They finally moved from the ground about 11 o’clock at night scouring the grand parade with round and grape shot from four field pieces, the troops advancing in a Sold Column with fixed bayonets.

Anthony Wayne

The Connecticut Line

Text -The Connecticut Line

The Connecticut Line camped here until February when Washington sent them to guard against British raids near Staten Island. When they returned to Jockey Hollow in May, they moved into huts of the Maryland Brigades, which had just gone south.

Joseph Plumb Martin joined the army in the spring of 1777 and stayed with it until 1783. Years later he wrote the only known reminiscences of the Morristown winter by a private.

A four-day blizzard in January 1780 closed all roads to Jockey Hollow, preventing supplies from reaching the camp.

“We were absolutely, literally starved . . . I did not put a single morsel of victuals into my mouth for four days and as many nights, except a little black birch bark which I gnawed off a stick of wood, if that can be called victuals.”

Joseph Plumb Martin

Stark’s Brigade

Theme - Brigade/Camp Sites Identified

Text – Stark’s Brigade

“We arrived here the 14 Decr. Since which we have been imployed in Hutting . . [and] the weather is aceedingly cold and the snow two feet deep on a level . . . ” Captain William Allen, Angell’s Rhode Island Regiment, January 4, 1780

On December 14, 1779, approximately 1100 Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts soldiers of General John Stark’s Brigade set up camp on this hillside. After two weeks of hard work in deep snow and freezing temperatures, the enlisted men moved into their new log huts. By Washington’s orders, officers remained in tents until the soldiers’ huts were completed. Some officers did not move into a hut until mid-February of 1780. For six months the soldiers endured shortages of food and clothing during the worst winter of the 18th century.

Washington’s army left Jockey Hollow in early June 1780 when British and German troops attacked, 15 miles east of Morristown, just beyond the hills on the horizon behind you. The soldiers of Stark’s Brigade played a key role defending a bridge over the Rahway River at the battle of Springfield on June 23, 1780.

General Stark, the victor of the battle of Bennington in 1777, commanded four regiments: Colonel Israel Angell’s (Rhode Island), Colonel Charles Webb’s (Connecticut), Colonel Henry Jackson’s (Massachusetts), and Colonel Henry Sherburne’s (Connecticut). Like many generals, General Stark went home on furlough for part of the winter.

1780 Drawing of Stark’s Brigade An unknown soldier made this drawing of Stark’s Brigade showing the arrangement of the regiments and their huts.

Twelve soldiers lived in each of the small huts in the first two rows. The third row of small huts housed Ensigns and Lieutenants. Captains, two to a hut, were higher up the hill above the enlisted men. Colonels, Majors, and staff officers lived in the larger huts at the top. Notice that these huts are labeled to show their occupants.

Remembering the Past: Stark’s Brigade Monument circa 1900

Theme - Waysides about Monuments

Text - Remembering the Past: Stark’s Brigade Monument circa 1900

Americans began to commemorate their past by erecting monuments at the end of the 19th century. Monuments started to appear on the old campgrounds of Washington’s army, long before the 1933 establishment of Morristown National Historical Park.

Emory McClintock, a wealthy insurance executive, erected this monument on his property around 1900. The trail you stand on was originally a road built by McClintock. Knowing that the road construction would disturb the archaeological remains of three soldiers’ huts, he had the stones from their fireplaces saved and used in the construction of this monument.

The New Jersey Brigade

Theme - Brigade/Camp Sites Identified

Text – The New Jersey Brigade

“December 25, 1779 – Removed into out huts and ended the campaign.”

Quartermaster Sergeant Moses Sproule, Third New Jersey Regiment

Less than a mile from here over 1,000 soldiers of the New Jersey Brigade camped from December 1779 to April 1780 during the worst winter in the history of the United States.

After spending the summer of 1779 fighting the people of the Iroquois Nation in western New York State, the New Jersey Brigade camped near Ayer’s iron forge on December 17, 1779. While living in tents, the men cleared six acres of land and built over 100 log cabins, finally moving into winter quarters on Christmas Day.

The hard frontier campaign, plus the bad winter left the New Jersey troops in tatters. After an inspection in January 1780, General Washington noted: “I am sorry to find the Jersey brigade appears to have fallen off from what it formerly was – one of the best in the army…”

In April, the New Jersey Brigade left camp for outpost duty near Elizabethtown. In June, British invasions were halted by the Jersey troops at the Battles of Connecticut Farms (June 7, 1780) and Springfield (June 23, 1780).

The following are part of the main text and a caption, but they were supposed to be a sidebar with the illustration. If this sign is redone, this sidebar caption should read this way.

The New Jersey Brigade were the last troops to arrive in Morristown. They were forced to camp several miles away from the main camp in Jockey Hollow.

There were orders about the size and placement of the log huts. One hut built out of line, was torn down and rebuilt before the final inspection. Archaeologists found another hut had been built around a large boulder rather than being built outside its designated place.

A Haven from Everyday Life

Theme - Post-Revolutionary War Stories

Text A Haven from Everyday Life

Whether you call the mansion before you "Queen Anne Farm" as the Bensels did, or Hardscrabble House as the Cross Family renamed it, the estate served as an escape from everyday life.

John A. and Ella Bensel built the house in 1905, and William R. and Julia Newbold Cross purchased it in 1929. Both families were part of a trend of wealthy industrialists and financiers who established country homes in the Morristown area and Bernardsville's "Mountain Colony."

As you explore the mansion's grounds, you'll discover a few of its Bensel-era remnants, including a five-story, stone water tower and a large silver maple tree the Bensels planted in 1906.

The house was remodelled in 1940 after the death of William R. Cross, but the gardens remain the most significant contribution the Cross family made to the estate. Go through the gate to your left to enter the gardens and enjoy the legacy left by Julia Newbold Cross and her landscape architect Clarence Fowler. Volunteers have cared for this garden since 1977.

In 1975, Morristown National Historic Park purchased this property to protect the adjacent Revolutionary

War New Jersey Brigade encampment area and connect to the Jockey Hollow section of the park. The house and grounds of this former private estate have recently been declared eligible for National Historic Landmark status.

Today, the grounds can serve as your retreat to share with friends and family.

Water Tower

Theme – Houses, Buildings or Structures

Text – Water Tower

This medieval-looking stone and wood water tower was constructed in 1905 by John Bensel, the owner of the estate that was then known as Queen Anne Farm. Wind power pumped water from a well below to a wooden storage tank at the top of the tower. Since the tower is located at a high point on the property, the weight of the downward moving water provided enough pressure to force water all the way up to the third floor of the main house in what is known as a gravity-fed plumbing system. In 1929, after a storm damaged the original windmill, the new owner William Redmond Cross, replaced it with an electic pump which is still used today to provide water to the Cross Estate mansion and several outbuildings.

Water Tower Cross Section

The water tower has five floors with windows to provide views of the countryside. A fourteen foot high, 18,500 gallon water tank dominates the upper levels. The wooden balconies on the second and fifth floors deteriorated over time and, as a safety precaution, the National Park Service removed them in the 1980’s.

A warm fire

Text – A warm fire

In 1779 soldiers of the New Jersey Brigade built this hearth. Archeologists stabilized it and removed the other artifacts found here for protection.

The hearth provided the hut’s only comfort: a warm fire. Food ran out. Many men had no shoes and some had no clothes. Even bedding straw was in short supply – but there was a fire.

Soldiers’ huts were all alike – one room, one hearth, one door, six bunks, and 12 men – all the huts lined up in neat rows. Most of the soldiers’ huts were ready by Christmas.

Storm Damage

A trash pit

Text – A trash pit

Even in times of severest want, there are trash pits. What else can you do with the occasional bone? Or the inevitable broken oddments? Wreckage of a chicken or a beef, a pipe or a musket?

Archeologists removed everything – a meager collection. The army’s supplies gave out. At times the men ate bark or shoes, if they had shoes (and many didn’t). Yet, there was still a trash pit.

RHIP

Text - RHIP

RHIP – Rank Hath Its Privileges – bigger huts, more privacy, two fireplaces – the normal social distinctions of the day.

But officers and men worked together to build the huts and the soldiers’ huts were built first. Some officers were still in tents as late as February.

After two centuries only the hearths remain. Decay took the hut, and archeologists have the few artifacts that were found for study and preservation.

Officer’s Hut Hearth

Kiosk/Bulletin Board Inventory Morristown NHP 2022

Headquarters Upper Parking Lot

Text - Explore Morristown

Welcome to Morristown National Historical Park!

The Park commemorates several winter encampments of General George Washington and the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Morristown, New Jersey provided General Washington’s Army a safe haven from the British Army headquartered in New York City, and it offered the resources needed to support the army during the long months of winter and early spring.

Today, the park offers an opportunity to discover America’s past at four areas which feature historic structures and museum exhibits, cultural landscapes, outdoor interpretive panels, replica soldier huts, and 27 miles of hiking trails to explore the park’s natural beauty.

Jockey Hollow Area

With a population of over 10,000 people and an estimated 1,000 log huts during the 1779-1780 winter encampment, Jockey Hollow was one of the biggest cities in the United States at that time. Today the park visitor center offers exhibits and an orientation film that explain the significance of the encampment. The 1750 Henry Wick House provides a glimpse of the life and sacrifices of the civilian population during the Revolutionary War. A three mile Tour Road allows you to explore the key sites in the park by car, bicycle or as a pedestrian. An extensive network of walking and hiking trails present opportunities to experience the area’s 1,300 acres of woodlands, fields, streams, and wildlife that now populate this former “Log Hut City.”

New Jersey Brigade Area

Embark on a thirty-minute hike on the New Jersey Brigade Trail to the namesake’s encampment site where a loop trail of interpretive panels helps tell the story of the New Brigade. The trail also connects to Jockey Hollow and the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Sherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary trail network. Be sure to walk the grounds and gardens of the Cross Estate, once the summer retreat of New York businessmen. The state’s beautiful formal gardens have been restored to their former prominence by dedicated volunteers.

Washington’s Headquarters

Begin your visit at the Washington’s Headquarters Museum where you will experience interactive exhibits and formal galleries featuring artifacts from the colonial period, the park’s orientation film, museum store and restrooms.

The museum also houses the park’s collection of over 300,000 books and artifacts. Guided tours of the Ford Mansion explore life inside the headquarters of George Washington during the hard winter of 1779-1780. All Ford Mansion tours begin in the museum building.

Fort Nonsense

Once the site of an earthen fort constructed in 1777, the area has several interpretive panels that describe its significance and use during the 1777 and 1779-1780 winter encampments. The highest point in Morristown, Fort Nonsense offers spectacular views of the town and the landscape looking east toward New York City. Picnic tables provide the opportunity for a quiet lunch in downtown Morristown.

Museum Backdoor

Note: The Operating Hours [both the days and times] can be changed.

Headquarters Lower Parking Lot

Note: The text, maps and photos on this panel are the same as on the panel in the bulletin board at the Headquarters Upper Parking Lot.

Note: The text on all the bulletin boards at Fort Nonsense, Jockey Hollow and the New Jersey Brigade match the inner page of the park brochure.

Jockey Hollow Visitor Center Parking Lot

Pennsylvania Line Parking Lot

Brigade match the inner page of the park brochure.

The sign identifying this as the “Pennsylvania Line” is missing. I’ve been told a volunteer is making a new one.

The text panel is dirty and damaged across the middle.

New York Brigade Parking Lot

Trail Center Park Lot

The text panel is damaged across the middle. The frame on the door is falling apart on this bulletin board and several others.

New Jersey Brigade

Brigade match the inner page of the park brochure. The wooden “New Jersey Brigade” is missing. I have been told a volunteer is making new ones.

This bulletin board has more additional signs that the others.