1. For GW’s decision to send the Virginia line to the southern department, see his letter to Samuel Huntington, 29 Nov., and the source note to that document.

2. Greene explained GW’s choice of the winter encampment just southwest of Morristown, N.J., in a letter to Col. Daniel Brodhead written at that place on 18 Dec.: “The Enemys whole force is now collected at New York. This circumstance and the divided state the General [Washington] is obligd to canton the American Army in on both sides of the North River; and the diminution of our strength from the expiring enlistments obligd the General to take an interior position for the greater security of his Army” (Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:181–82). To procure a map of the winter encampment, GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman wrote Robert Erskine from Morristown on 9 Dec.: “His Excellency is extremily anxious to have the Roads in front and rear of the Camp accurately surveyed as speedily as possible—He therefore wishes to see you immediately at Head Quarters that he may give you particular directions as to the Business which he wants executed” (DLC:GW). For the process leading to the selection of this winter encampment, see Greene to GW, 14 Nov., and n.1 to that document.

Upon learning the winter encampment’s location, Greene promptly issued orders from Morristown to prepare the site. He wrote Sidney Berry, assistant deputy quartermaster for New Jersey, on 1 Dec.: “The Army is to hut directly back of Mr [Peter] Kembles. I wish you therefore to forward the Boards to that place as fast as possible. Set the whole world in motion upon the occasion as there will be a Universal cry for them the moment the Troops get upon the ground. I beg of you not to lose a moments time in forwarding Stores of all kinds as soon as may be” (Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:135). Greene wrote Moore Furman, deputy quartermaster for New Jersey, on the same date: “The General [Washington] has fix’d upon a place for hutting the Army near Mr Kimball’s [Peter Kemble’s], within about 4 Miles of this Town. His reasons for this choice are unnecessary to be explained; but whatever they were, they will prove very distressing to the Quarter Master’s Department. You will direct all the Boards and other supplies to that place as fast as possible. Your utmost exertions will be necessary to forward the Boards, Forage and Provisions:—all of which will be wanted in great abundance; and very speedily. I beg you to set every Wheel in motion that will give dispatch to the business. I have written to Mr Berry to do all he can; but you must write to him also, to stir him up on the occasion” (Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:135). Furman replied to Greene from Pittstown, N.J., on 2 Dec.: “I am advised by your favour of yesterday of the Position of the army and shall do all in my Power to hurry Every thing to Mr. Kembles House where I suppose they will receive orders what further is to be done. shall give immediate notice to every person engagd in any part of Business in Q.M. & Forage Department that every thing may move to that Spot—I feel for the Army this Cold storm” (Furman Letters, description begins Historical Research Committee of the New Jersey Society of the Colonial Dames of America, ed. The Letters of Moore Furman: Deputy Quarter-Master General of New Jersey in the Revolution. New York, 1912. description ends 44–45, and Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:139; see also Furman to Berry and three other assistant deputy quartermasters, 2 Dec., in Furman Letters, description begins Historical Research Committee of the New Jersey Society of the Colonial Dames of America, ed. The Letters of Moore Furman: Deputy Quarter-Master General of New Jersey in the Revolution. New York, 1912. description ends 43–44, and John Cox, Jr., to Greene, in Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:150–52).

To guide troops coming to the encampment, Greene issued directions to the commanding major and brigadier generals. His letter to Brig. Gen. William Woodford, written on 1 Dec., reads: “The position is fixed upon for hutting the army a little back of Mr [Peter] Kembles. The Genl [Washington] has made choice of this ground in preference to any other from its interior situation. The ground is mountainous and uneven; and therefore is not so agreeable as I could wish. …

“It may be well to send a small detachment from each Regt to take possession of their ground. You will also order your brigade quarter masters to draw the tools for each brigade and to get a plan for hutting, which they will find made out at my Quarters” (Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:136–38). For construction of the huts, see Edward Hand to Greene, 8 Dec., and Greene to Furman, 9 Dec., in Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:155, 157.

Despite logistical challenges, the soldiers apparently worked hard to prepare their camp. The Connecticut Journal (New Haven) for 29 Dec. printed an extract from an unidentified officer’s letter written at Morristown on 11 Dec.: “The ground for our troops to hut upon is laid out in a thicket of woods four miles west of this town, and in a line with the rest of the army, who are now almost now compleatly hutted, and make a very respectable appearance; and I must say for myself that notwithstanding the trouble and fatigue which we shall have in hutting at this late season, there is a satisfaction in being under the immediate command of his Excellency (where every part of the army is conducted with so much regularity and order) in preference to any other station.” A portion of a letter written at Basking Ridge, N.J., on 18 Dec. and printed under the heading “TRENTON, December 22” in The Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser (Philadelphia) for 25 Dec. reads: “I rode out to day on purpose to take a view of our encampments. I found it excessively cold; but was glad to see most of our poor soldiers were under good roofs. The encampments are exceeding neat, the huts are all of a size, and placed in more exact order than Philadelphia: You will be surprized to see how well they are built without nails. Head Quarters is at Morristown, and the army extends from thence a long the hills nearly to this place.” For details on how soldiers built their huts, see Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, description begins Joseph Plumb Martin. Private Yankee Doodle: Being a Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier. Edited by George F. Scheer. 1962. Reprint. New York, 1968. description ends 167–69.

The worsening weather undoubtedly pushed GW into making a decision without further delay and explained, at least in part, the feverish tone of Greene’s correspondence. Writing in his journal, Dr. James Thacher, who arrived at Jockey Hollow on 14 Dec., described his brigade’s encampment location as a “wilderness, about three miles from Morristown, where we are to build log-huts for winter-quarters. Our baggage is left in the rear, for want of wagons to transport it. The snow on the ground is about two feet deep, and the weather extremely cold; the soldiers are destitute of both tents and blankets, and some of them are actually barefooted and almost naked. Our only defence against the inclemency of the weather, consists of brush-wood thrown together. … The ground is marked out, and the soldiers have commenced cutting down the timber of oak and walnut, of which we have a great abundance. Our baggage has at length arrived, the men find it very difficult to pitch their tents on the frozen ground, and notwithstanding large fires, we can scarcely keep from freezing” (Thacher, Military Journal, description begins James Thacher. Military Journal of the American Revolution, From the commencement to the disbanding of the American Army; Comprising a detailed account of the principal events and Battles of the Revolution, with their exact dates, And a Biographical Sketch of the most Prominent Generals. Hartford, 1862. description ends 180–81). Writing from “Camp near Morristown” on 22 Dec., paymaster Erkuries Beatty informed his brother Reading, a surgeon’s mate in the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment, that “I think if you saw my Situation and way of living you would really Pity me, for colder weather I never saw in this time of year, and we are yet in our cold tents, we have just got the men in their Hutts, and it is so cold we cant get ours built, and what is worse than all we scarcely got anything to Eat” (“Beatty Brothers,” description begins Joseph M. Beatty, Jr., ed., “Letters of the Four Beatty Brothers of the Continental Army, 1774–1794.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 44 (1920): 193–263. description ends 205).

In a similar vein, Lt. Col. Ebenezer Huntington wrote Col. Samuel Blachley Webb from “Camp in Morristown” on 24 Dec.: “The severity of the weather hath been such that the men have suffered much; without shoes and stockings, and working half leg deep in snow. Poor fellows, my heart bleeds for them, while I Damn my country as void of gratitude” (Ford, Webb Correspondence and Journals, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed. Correspondence and Journals of Samuel Blachley Webb. 3 vols. New York, 1893–94. description ends 2:231–32). Huntington elaborated in a letter to his brother Andrew written from camp near Morristown on 8 Jan. 1780: “the Snow is very deep & the Coldest weather I ever experienced for three Weeks together. Men almost naked & what is still worse almost Starved. for Eight days Past the Army have not received as much as three days full Allowance. and in a part of the World Called a Land of Plenty. Money is good for nothing. Corn is 15 dollars p Bushel. Oats 30. Hay 300 Dollars P Ton, & every thing else as high, & higher. I could never have believd that the Money would have been so low & passed as a Currency. … Hardships, every one on Entering the Army, expects to Endure, but to Sacrafice the Army to Aggrandize a few D——d dirty Rascals, is below the Character of those who Pretend that they hath the Blood of a Freeman flowing in their Veins. …

“I beg your Pardon for the Spirit & the Length of this Letter. I cant help it. Empty belly’s will push a Man to What, at other times he would avoid” (Huntington Papers, description begins Huntington Papers: Correspondence of the Brothers Joshua and Jedediah Huntington during the Period of the American Revolution. Hartford, 1923. In Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, vol. 20. description ends 436–38; see also Ebenezer Huntington to Webb, 6 Jan., in Ford, Webb Correspondence and Journals, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed. Correspondence and Journals of Samuel Blachley Webb. 3 vols. New York, 1893–94. description ends 2:240–41).

Selections from Maryland division commander Maj. Gen. Johann Kalb’s letters to his wife and European friends written at the Morristown encampment in December 1779 read: “We are here going into winter-quarters in the woods, as usual. Since the beginning of this month we have been busy putting up our shanties. But the severe frost greatly retards our work, and does not even permit us to complete our chimneys. Winter has set in fiercely ever since the end of November. In any other country our repose at this place would bear the name of an arduous campaign; it is really worse. It may truly be said that a foreign officer, who has served in America as long as I have, under such adversities, must be either inspired with boundless enthusiasm for the liberties of the country, or possessed by the demons of fame and ambition, or impelled by an extraordinary zeal for the common cause of the king and his confederates. I knew, before I came, that I should have to put up with more than usual toils and privations, but I had no idea of their true extent” (Kapp, Life of Kalb, description begins Friedrich Kapp. The Life of John Kalb: Major-General in the Revolutionary Army. New York, 1884. description ends 182).

Finding appropriate quarters for officers near their troops presented additional difficulties. Greene wrote Brig. Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons, presumably from Morristown on 7 Dec.: “Mr [John] Story marked your quarters, I have not seen them; but he was instructed to mark none but such as wood [would] accomodate the Officers as well as the common run of dwelling Houses would admit of in this Country.

“It was His Excellencys [Washington’s] desire that the officers should be posted as near the respective brigades as possible. If Officers of inferior rank have got into dwelling houses more convenient than those alloted for General Officers, it must be an act of their own, as no quarters have been marked for such Officers; neither is it the Generals intention they should quarter from their Troops. I will see you in the morning, and if any thing further can be done to accomodate you better, it shall be done” (Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:153–54). Parsons replied to Greene on 8 Dec.: “I beg you to order me a large Markee and a Stove as the last Resort I have to cover me; I cannot stay, in this Tophet [i.e., hell] a Day longer nor can I find a House without going four Miles from Camp into which I can put my Head. The Room I now have is not more than Eight feet Square for Six of Us; and the family worse than the Devil; and the Justices threatning you and me if I continue to occupy this Hutt” (Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:154) GW solved this particular problem when he detached Parsons to gather intelligence, but finding quarters for officers remained awkward (see GW to Parsons, 13 Dec., and Greene to GW, 21 Dec.; see also Greene to Furman, 9 Dec., and William Maxwell to Greene, 24 Dec., in Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:157, 206–7, and GW to Greene, 22 Dec.).

In the main, officers who arrived earlier secured more suitable quarters. Greene lodged his wife, Catharine, then very pregnant, at Jacob Arnold’s tavern bordering the Morristown green in later November while he evaluated potential encampment locations (see Greene to James Abeel, 15 and 23 [two letters] Nov., and Abeel to Greene, 17 Nov., in Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:77–78, 91–92, 109). Arnold’s tavern subsequently became Greene’s winter quarters after GW chose Jockey Hollow for the army’s winter encampment. For a misunderstanding over accommodations that prompted a forceful letter from Greene to Arnold on 16 Dec., see Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:179–80.

All division and brigade commanders overcame the scant selection and eventually found places. Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair, who led the Pennsylvania division, maintained his quarters at the Wick house in the western portion of the encampment. Brig. Gen. William Smallwood, who oversaw a Maryland brigade, landed in Peter Kemble’s substantial house south of the principal hutting grounds. Brig. Gen. John Stark, who arrived late to the encampment with his New England regiments, ended up in Jacob Larzelaer’s tavern. Several officers cannot be placed in exact quarters because of insufficient records. Some officers, however, apparently settled at the O’Hara Tavern in Morristown.

The encampment included an artillery park under the immediate supervision of Brig. Gen. Henry Knox (see General Orders, 4 Dec.). Lt. Robert Parker, previously in a temporary camp, recorded his arrival in his journal entry for 6 Dec.: “Marched this morning to Morristown & joined the Grand Park, which lay about a mile west of that place—encamped there, the snow knee deep & the weather very cold” (“Parker Journal,” description begins “Journal of Lieutenant Robert Parker, of the Second Continental Artillery, 1779.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 27 (1903): 404–20; 28 (1904): 12–25. description ends 28:23). The artillery park’s precise location has not been ascertained, but it is known to have been situated about one mile northwest of Morristown. Knox established his quarters in a nearby private home (see Smith, Morristown, description begins Samuel Stelle Smith. Winter at Morristown, 1779–1780: The Darkest Hour. Monmouth Beach, N.J., 1979. description ends 16–17).

Hessian major Carl Leopold Baurmeister favorably characterized the Continental army’s main winter encampment in a dispatch written at New York City on 13 Dec.: “Washington, who is always resourceful, went into cantonments in Jersey with five thousand Continentals early this month between Morristown and Mendham, where his rear and wings are covered by mountains and his front is so posted that he cannot be attacked easily, especially during the winter” (Baurmeister, Revolution in America, description begins Carl Leopold Baurmeister. Revolution in America: Confidential Letters and Journals, 1776–1784, of Adjutant General Major Baurmeister of the Hessian Forces. Translated and annotated by Bernhard A. Uhlendorf. New Brunswick, N.J., 1957. description ends 326).

For specifics on the Continental army’s experience during this winter encampment, see S. Sydney Bradford, “Discipline in the Morristown Winter Encampments,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society 80 (1962): 1–30; Bradford, “Hunger Menaces the Revolution, December, 1779–January, 1780,” Maryland Historical Magazine 61 (1966): 1–23; Fred Bartenstein, Jr., “N.J. Brigade Encampment In The Winter of 1779–1780,” New Jersey History 86 (1968): 135–57; George J. Svejda, Quartering, Disciplining, and Supplying the Army at Morristown, 1779–1780 (Washington, D.C., 1970); Ricardo Torres-Reyes, Morristown National Historical Park, 1779–80 Encampment: A Study of Medical Services (Washington, D.C., 1971); Edward S. Rutsch and Kim M. Peters, “Forty Years of Archaeological Research at Morristown National Historical Park, Morristown, New Jersey,” Historical Archaeology 11 (1977): 15–38; see also the Morristown encampment map in this volume and John T. Cunningham, The Uncertain Revolution: Washington & the Continental Army at Morristown (West Creek, N.J., 2007).

3. While GW reached Morristown on 1 Dec., he is not known to have written any letters from his new headquarters until the next day (see GW to Samuel Huntington, 2 Dec., and n.1 to that document; see also General Orders, 27 Nov., source note, and GW to Anthony Wayne, 3 Dec.).

4. Theodosia Johnes Ford (1741–1824), the daughter of Presbyterian minister Timothy Johnes, married Jacob Ford, Jr., a prosperous landowner and manufacturer, in January 1762. After her husband died in 1777, she continued to occupy the family’s eight-room mansion in Morristown with her daughter and three sons. Although completed about 1774 and commodious for its time and place, the mansion proved inadequate for GW’s needs (see Greene to GW, 21 Jan. 1780, DLC:GW, and GW to Greene, 22 Jan., PWacD: Sol Feinstone Collection, on deposit at PPAmP). In a letter to Brig. Gen. George Weedon written from Morristown on 25 Dec. 1779, Greene described GW’s headquarters as “in this Town, at the Widow Fords, at the great white House at the North end of the place” (Greene Papers, description begins Richard K. Showman et al., eds. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1976–2005. description ends 5:209). According to a nineteenth-century commentator, the mansion was “situated nearly three fourths of a mile east of the village green … The general and his suite occupied the whole of the large building, except two rooms on the eastern side of the main passage, which were reserved for Mrs. Ford and her family. The lower front room, on the left of the door, was his dining-room, and the apartment immediately over it was his sleeping-room while Mrs. Washington was at head-quarters. He had two log additions made to the house, one for a kitchen, on the east end, and the other, on the west end, was used as the offices of Washington, Hamilton, and Tilghman. In the meadow, a few rods southeast of the dwelling, about fifty log huts were erected for the accommodation of the life-guard, which consisted of two hundred and fifty men” (Lossing, Pictorial Field-Book, description begins Benson J. Lossing. The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution; or, Illustrations, by Pen and Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence. 2 vols. New York, 1851–52. description ends 1:310; see also Smith, Morristown, description begins Samuel Stelle Smith. Winter at Morristown, 1779–1780: The Darkest Hour. Monmouth Beach, N.J., 1979. description ends 20–22, and New Jersey Women, description begins The Women’s Project of New Jersey, Inc. Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women. Metuchen, N.J., 1990. description ends 18–19).

GW’s decision to establish quarters at the Ford mansion troubled its owner. Attempting to allay concerns, New Jersey governor William Livingston wrote her father, Timothy Johnes, from Mount Holly on 10 Dec. that he “could have wished that General Washington had been as well accommodated without taking up his Quarters at Mrs Fords’ but his amiable disposition & the pleasure he takes in making everybody about him happy will I am persuaded induce him to make it as easy to her as possible; & perhaps in the final Result, she will not resent that her house has entertained such a General; nor the Neighbourhood regret that a disproportionate quantity of their wood was sacrificed in such a Cause” (Prince, Livingston Papers, description begins Carl E. Prince et al., eds. The Papers of William Livingston. 5 vols. Trenton and New Brunswick, N.J., 1979–88. description ends 3:256–58).