Was Pluckemin America’s First Military Academy? Expert Breaks Silence & Takes Position

Historic archeologist drops a verbal bombshell announcement at a New Jersey conference: The Rev War Pluckemin Cantonment WAS America’s first military academy, confirming the construction was done 24 years before the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Dr. John Seidel – Archeologist and historian who has spent the last 50 years researching the site’s history.

“We’re going to address the elephant in the room.
Was the Plukemin Cantonment the first military academy in America?“

Dr. John Seidel – Historical Archeologist and guest speaker at the
2026 Middlebrook Symposium at Raritan Valley College, New Jersey

It had been more than 7 years since John Seidel last spoke in the Garden State about his lifelong archaeological work. On Saturday, March 14, 2026, he returned to New Jersey for the Middlebrook Symposium at Raritan Valley Community College, not just with a lecture, but with something more. After almost 50 years of excavation, study, and reflection on the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment, he came back, this time with a conclusion, a conclusion that challenges our understanding of the Revolutionary War. Was Pluckemin, in fact, America’s first military academy, built more than 24 years before the founding of the United States Military Academy in 1806? Seidel had plenty to say in his hour-long presentation.

Background

Known as a historical archaeologist, Dr. John Seidel first took over the Pluckemin’s Revolutionary War winter Cantonment site in 1979, continuing the work of historian Cliff Sekel of Bridgewater, who had spent decades searching for proof of what was then just a theory. For decades, the evidence has been there, but only now, with the benefit of time, perspective, and continued study, has Seidel been willing to frame what Pluckemin represented to America’s history of the Revolutionary War.

“Pluckemin, New Jersey, holds one of the most significant yet overlooked chapters of the American Revolution,” stated Seidel. During the winter of 1778 to 1779, General Henry Knox and the Continental artillery established the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment, where Washington’s Army began its transformation into a disciplined and professional fighting force. Seidel noted:” Here, soldiers were trained in artillery, logistics, engineering, and battlefield tactics under a structured system of instruction. This was not simply a winter encampment. It may have been the first true military school in America.”

Pluckemin, New Jersey, pronounced “PLUCK um in“, carries three enduring name stories. Some trace it to a Lenape word for persimmon tied to early Algonquian place terms. Others repeat the roadside tale of tavern keeper Jacob Eoff, who would pluck them in at his door along the Great Road. Still others point to a namesake from a village in Scotland brought by early settlers. Whatever its origin, this crossroads became the winter.

Bedminster’s western 2nd Watchung Mountain was the winter home of the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment from 1778 to 1779, where General Henry Knox and the Continental artillery helped transform Washington’s Army into a disciplined fighting force on the road to independence. Unlike the hardships of the winters at Valley Forge winter encampment and Morristown, Pluckemin tells a different story. It is here that Washington’s Army began its transformation into a more professional and organized military force.

“Often overlooked, Pluckemin holds one of the most important chapters of the American Revolution,” according to Seidel. It was here that Knox and the Continental Army established what may have been America’s first military academy, predating the founding of the United States Military Academy by more than 20 years. At Pluckemin, soldiers were trained in artillery, logistics, engineering, and battlefield tactics under a structured system of instruction, laying the groundwork for America’s future military education.”

Sit down with Dr. Seidel

Following Dr. Seidel’s visit to the Middlebrook Symposium, we sat down with him to discuss his thoughts on a few issues. Brooks Betz, researcher and Board member of the Mr. Local History Project, has also been on the Board of Trustees at Bedminster’s Jacobus Vanderveer House, which had sponsored several grants that Brooks had worked with Seidel for several years, so what better way to tell the story than having these two meet in New Jersey for a catch-up discussion.

Transcript of Dr. Seidel’s speech:

Question:
When was the last time you came to New Jersey to talk about your Pluckemin work?

John was quick to mention that it had been almost seven years since he had spoken in New Jersey about the Pluckemin Cantonment site. “I got a little sidetracked when I started doing some work at Colonial Williamsburg that actually helped me better understand what we found while in Pluckemin back in the 1980s.”

“Given the excitment around America 250 and the semiquintenial celebrations, when Heritage Trail reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in speaking about my work at Pluckemin, I felt it was a good time to again focus on Pluckmin, as you probably know that distractions have a way of getting in the way.” But it’s a perfect time to have another conversation, so John went to work preparing for the Middlebrook Symposium, a one day “woodstock of American history fans” at the Raritan Valley Community College in Somerset County, New Jersey, uncommonly known as the 2nd most important county during the Revolutionary War campaign only outvisited by Morris County.

Question #1:
When you were preparing your presentation, did you learned anything that you felt was important you wanted to discuss about the Pluckemin Cantonment based on anything you’ve learned or observed from any of your previous presentations?

When Seidel spoke with the Middlebrook Symposium committee, they agreed they had already covered what Seidel found at the Pluckemin cantonment site, so they felt everyone was good with that story. After thinking about it for a moment, he felt it was time to discuss the legacy of the Pluckemin site’s role in the overall war effort. “I think that at Middlebrook and Pluckemin, George Washington, Henry Knox, and others doubled-down on a process of training that started at Valley Forge with Von Steuben, but then spread in 1778-1779, including marked improvements in the supply system, I firmly believe that the things that Knox and Washington learned with the construction of Pluckemin was a model that would be leveraged throughout the remainder of the war.” He also felt that, while Congress would not approve his request to build an academy during the war, Knox had spent time building consensus with other Washington generals, like Baron Friedrich von Steuben, who also believed that an academy was necessary if the Continental Army was going to succeed.

John had also felt it was time to address what he called the “elephant in the room”:
“Was the 1779-1780 Pluckmin cantonment America’s first military academy?”

He compared his Pluckemin research to the 1802 United States Military Academy at West Point. It was interesting to hear that John proclaims himself a “historical archeologist” since he’s been spending so much time studying history, which better aligns him to discuss relationships with what was happening across the war effort and what they were learning as the war progressed. Based on all of John’s research since the dig on the hillside, it was now time to shift focus to the site’s legacy and historical significance.

Seidel made his statement that Pluckemin was indeed America’s first military academy and,
that while Congress wouldn’t approve the creation of the facility, Knox had a plan.

Seidel firmly believes that Knox was intending to come back to Pluckemin after 1780 and was the one of the reasons Knox decided to create such an extensive site, which included sturdy housing vs. tents, manufacturing facilities for better supplying soldiers and improving the war supply chain, and lastly to create an academy to train artillerists on the mechanics and lessons learned by experts in the field. We then asked, “Do you think the site was built without congressional approval, and do you think General Washington knew what Knox was doing? “I believe that Knox had always informed Washington of his intentions and simply let Knox do what he felt best to do.” So was it a “wink-wink” moment? “It’s better to beg for forgiveness than to seek permission” was a phrase he agreed with, given the decisions made at the time. Seidel felt that Knox planned to return to Pluckmin and leverage what the artillery division had created, but the war would have more to say about that, as it didn’t return to the area again as the war shifted southward.

Question #2:
What was it like when you finally got to see Captain Lillie’s 1779 Pluckemin Cantonment drawing that had been eluding you after spending ten years excavating and mapping fragments on the mountainside without it?

Factoid: Did You Know?
John Seidel and his archaeological dig group back in 1979 DID NOT have access to this important original 1779 Lillie drawing for reference (see story at the end of this post).

This question was one you could almost know exactly how a person felt about, knowing that a drawing of the Pluckemin site was mentioned in numerous circles. Still, the document had evaded archeologists for decades. “It was after the digging on the site, and our field study was almost complete. We happened to come upon the drawing after one of the students who was participating in the excavation was a very smart AP-type student who hoped to pursue a career in the field was attending a Morristown event where the presenter had shown, to her astonishment, a drawing that looked very similar to the work she was doing with the Seidel team.” When she came back after that event and told me there was something she saw that might be the drawing that had elluded him and other archiologigests for decades might be the missing link, it was time for me to confront the National Park Service in Morristown.”

The discovery of drawing came after Seidel’s initial survey was complete, in roughly 1981 or ’82, but before they went too far with their excavation program. After some time and as discussions advanced, Seidel finally went to the source and, in Morristown, was shown the Lillie drawing of Pluckemin. When he returned home with a photograph of the image and placed it over his geological maps, it was obvious that his excavation was not just a bunch of farmers’ rocks aligned in an E-Shape separating properties, as some had stated. While he didn’t mention the feelings he experienced, you could imagine that moment and the vindication he must have felt.

Question #3:
What’s next for you and your Pluckemin work?

Like fine wine that improves with age, John’s feelings about Pluckemin have also improved, but his goal remains focused. “I feel it’s time now to focus on the artifacts we’ve had in storage for all these years, and get those artifacts a permanent home in New Jersey, where people can study and learn more about what we found. “All those artifacts have been in boxes and barrels for so long, it’s time to bring them out of storage and bring in those who can take the research I’ve done and tie it back to my research and the documentation tied to that time on the hillside. “I really do believe that the artifacts don’t mean much without the research that brings the opportunity to move the research forward.”

On the other hand, Mr. Local History expressed that it was time for Bedminster Township to honor all the work these archaeologists and historians have done for over a century and build an access park and path that connects Knox’s 1779-1780 cantonment home at Bedminster’s Vanderveer House, along with access to the actual Pluckemin Cantoment site (see story).

Seidel believes that while there are concerns about the collection and how it’s handled moving forward, he hopes there will be commitments from whoever takes control of those artifacts, prepares them for future conservation and research, and can take the story forward. Seidel has been in discussions with the reborn nonprofit, Friend of the Jacobus Vanderveer House 2.0, in Bedminster, New Jersey, to advance the effort.

“I also hope to make sure that there are clear legal agreements that protect this incredible collection and its associated archaeological records, while making provisions for future, continuing research,” he said. “For whatever reason, I just need to make sure that the issues that we’ve had in the past don’t happen again.” John was hinting that protecting artifacts from “walking” had been an issue in the past. “There needed to be protections in place for the security and vitality of the organization to carry the effort forward.” In a previous story, MLH reported that the first Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House was evicted after a two-year lease renegotiation with Bedminster Township officials failed due to mismanagement, which hints at what many called dysfunctional leadership. But it looks like there are positive and historic times ahead.

Side Notes:

More Pluckemin – Middlebrook Research

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