What Was Morristown Like in 1777?
When General George Washington arrived in Morristown on January 6, 1777, he found a small rural village of approximately 250 residents and roughly 50 to 70 buildings. Originally known as West Hanover or New Hanover, the community was renamed in honor of Lewis Morris, New Jersey’s colonial governor, after Morris County was established in 1739. By the Revolution, Morristown was the county seat, with a courthouse, jail, two churches, taverns, and modest homes clustered around the Green. Farming dominated the surrounding countryside, while nearby ironworks and mills contributed to the region’s growing economy.
Unlike larger and more commercially important New Jersey communities such as Newark, Elizabethtown, New Brunswick, Perth Amboy, and Trenton, Morristown was a relatively small inland settlement. Yet its protected position among the hills, productive farmland, iron industry, and access to important roads made it an ideal military headquarters. Washington’s decision to establish his winter base here in 1777 transformed this quiet county seat into a vital center of the American Revolution, earning Morristown its lasting reputation as the Military Capital of the American Revolution.
Leaving Princeton on January 3, 1777, the army marched through Somerset County and reached Pluckemin on January 4, where the soldiers rested before continuing north through the Vealtown area toward Morristown. Arriving on January 6, Washington established headquarters at Jacob Arnold’s Tavern, beginning his first Morristown winter encampment following the Declaration of Independence.
For nearly five months, thousands of Continental soldiers occupied homes, farms, and temporary quarters throughout the region while Washington rebuilt his army and prepared for the next British offensive. This Mr. Local History Project historical map traces the army’s approximate march and identifies important military sites, officers’ quarters, taverns, and historical markers associated with the 1777 encampment.
1777 WAS NOT Jockey Hollow and That Terrible Winter of 1779–1780
Washington’s first Morristown winter encampment in 1777 was very different from the famous Jockey Hollow encampment two years later.
From January through May 1777, approximately 2,000 to 4,000 Continental soldiers were scattered throughout Morristown and the surrounding countryside, occupying private homes, farms, and temporary quarters. Washington established headquarters at Jacob Arnold’s Tavern. By contrast, during the brutal winter of 1779 to 1780, approximately 10,000 soldiers endured extreme cold, heavy snow, food shortages, and difficult living conditions in hundreds of log huts at Jockey Hollow. Washington’s headquarters were at the Ford Mansion. Both encampments were critical to the American Revolution, but they occurred in different locations, under different circumstances, and served different military purposes.
The December 1776 Connection: The Army Returns to Morristown
Just weeks before Washington established his first Morristown winter headquarters, about 2,700 New England soldiers under General Charles Lee marched through the same region to reinforce Washington along the Delaware River. Passing through Morristown, Vealtown, and Pluckemin in December 1776, these troops continued under General John Sullivan following Lee’s capture at Widow White’s Tavern in Basking Ridge on December 13.
They ultimately joined Washington’s army in Pennsylvania and contributed to the campaign that produced the victories at Trenton and Princeton. In January 1777, Washington’s army returned north through Pluckemin and the surrounding communities to establish winter quarters at Morristown. These overlapping military movements connect the December 1776 March to the Delaware with Washington’s first Morristown encampment and reveal how central this region was to the survival and recovery of the Continental Army.
Exploring 1777 Morristown
Our researchers found this great overview of the history of Arnold’s Tavern in Morristown, including drawings, maps, and stories from the period. History of “The Arnold Tavern,” Morristown, N.J., and many incidents connected with General Washington’s stay in this place, as his headquarters in the winter of 1777: with views of historic buildings and places of Revolutionary interest.
Identified as Map No. 105, “Survey of Morristown by the Chain Only,” the map depicts the town’s Revolutionary War-era roads, buildings, waterways, and surrounding terrain. Although Philip H. Hoffman’s 1903 history of Arnold’s Tavern reproduces it with a caption dating it to 1777, National Park Service records identify the survey as December 17, 1779. The map provides a valuable glimpse of Morristown during Washington’s Revolutionary War encampments.
Interactive Historic Morristown Map c1777
Created by the Mr. Local History Project, our interactive historical map lets you explore General George Washington’s march from Princeton through Pluckemin and Vealtown to Morristown in January 1777, along with key locations associated with the Continental Army’s first Morristown winter encampment.
How to Use the Map
Click or tap any map marker to discover its historical significance, including descriptions, photographs, historical marker information, and links to additional research where available. Use the map’s zoom controls to explore individual sites, roads, and surrounding communities. Open the map legend to view categories such as Washington’s headquarters, military locations, officers’ quarters, taverns, and historical markers. You can turn individual map layers on or off to focus on specific subjects.
A Note About Historical Accuracy
Some locations are historically documented, while others represent approximate positions based on available research. The reconstructed marching route follows the general path of Washington’s army and should not be interpreted as an exact representation of every road traveled in 1777. The map is an ongoing Mr. Local History Project research effort, and we may add additional discoveries and historical locations as they are verified.
Morristown 1777: Where Washington Planned His Next Campaign
After the victories at Trenton and Princeton, General George Washington established his headquarters at Jacob Arnold’s Tavern in Morristown on January 6, 1777. Here, Washington and his senior officers, including Generals Nathanael Greene, John Sullivan, Lord Stirling, and Anthony Wayne, confronted the enormous challenge of rebuilding an exhausted Continental Army.
Throughout the winter and spring, they organized new regiments, gathered intelligence on British movements, secured military supplies, and prepared defenses against another invasion. In May, Washington ordered construction of the fortification now known as Fort Nonsense before moving his army to Middlebrook.
From there, the Continental Army confronted British movements across New Jersey before eventually marching south to defend Philadelphia. The decisions made during those critical months in Morristown helped shape the military campaigns of 1777 and demonstrated that Washington’s army had survived the desperate retreat of December 1776.
Giralda Farms and the Forgotten Continental Army Encampment of 1777
If you travel just to the east of Morristown to Madison and Chatham Township, you might know Giralda Farms, the former estate of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge. But did you know that portions of this landscape may have once sheltered Continental Army soldiers during General George Washington’s first Morristown winter encampment in 1777?
The 35-room Giralda Farms mansion, originally built in 1893, was demolished following Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge’s death.
Historical accounts place Continental soldiers on the farms of John Easton and Isaac Pierson in the Loantaka Valley, near present-day Treadwell Avenue and Kitchell Road. Soldiers reportedly built log huts and stored military supplies in this area after Washington’s victories at Trenton and Princeton. More than a century later, portions of the surrounding farmland became part of the expansive Giralda Farms estate.
One surviving reminder of the area’s earlier history is the Boisaubin House historical marker along Treadwell Avenue in Chatham Township. The marker identifies a house built in the 1790s by a French émigré on land traditionally associated with a Continental Army campsite. The house was constructed after the Revolution and reportedly later served as a station on the Underground Railroad, adding another fascinating chapter to the property’s history.
The Boisaubin House historical marker recalls the area’s reported Continental Army encampment and its later association with the Underground Railroad.
The Revolutionary War connection gained renewed attention in 2016 when historian William Styple and archaeologists investigated portions of the former Dodge estate and recovered artifacts that encouraged further historical research. Although the precise location of the Continental Army campsite has not been conclusively established, the investigation supports continued interest in the Loantaka Valley’s Revolutionary War history.
Today, the landscape offers an intriguing connection between Washington’s army, the Underground Railroad, and one of New Jersey’s most celebrated private estates. What many recognize as Giralda Farms may also preserve traces of a much earlier chapter in America’s struggle for independence.
After Morristown – Valley Forge, PA
The next Encampment would be 1777-1778 in Valley Forge, then the following year back in Morristown at Jockey Hollow… and there’s plenty of research on those places.
Did You Know?
George Washington Spent More Time in Morris County Than Any Other New Jersey County
While Washington’s military campaigns took him across much of New Jersey, Morris County, including Morristown, became one of his most important centers of operations during the American Revolution. As illustrated in the accompanying graphic, estimates suggest Washington spent approximately 350 days in or passing through Morris County, more than any other New Jersey county, followed by Somerset County with approximately 250 days. Morristown served as his headquarters during two major winter encampments, in 1777 and 1779 to 1780. These extended stays helped establish Morris County as a vital center for military planning, troop movements, and the Continental Army’s struggle for independence.
Good-Bye (for now) Commander in Chief – May 28, 1777
General Washington Leaving Morristown – Letter signed, George Washington, to Robert Morris, Headquarters, Morris Town, May 28, 1777, the body in the hand of Alexander Hamilton.
Dear Sir, I transmit you the inclosed from General Lee which I have just received by a flag. The other inclosures, I beg may be immediately handed to the Gentlemen for whom they are. As I am this moment going off to the Camp at Boundbrook, I have only time to add, that I am with sentiments of real regard & respect, Sir Your most Obedient servant.” The Washington papers notes that he was evidently sending that May 19 letter to Morris.
Want to Know More? Good Read
In The Uncertain Revolution, John T. Cunningham tells the story of those forgotten winters in
Middlebrook and Morristown and of their critical importance to the course of the war. Author John T. Cunningham has long been known as “New Jersey’s popular historian,” a title bestowed upon him by the New Jersey Historical Commission. His prolific contributions to state history in his books, magazine articles, documentary films and talks demonstrate that he knows, writes and talks about his native state from experience and diligent research. This was his fiftieth book.
