Warmth, family, and comfort. This is what we look forward to during this time of the year.
This has not always been the case, especially during the war for independence during our early days some 250 years ago. The winter was quite harsh. The season was certainly not festive.
The winter encampment at Morristown during 1779-80 was a time of harsh hardship, anxiety, and monotonous military routine for the Continental Army. The winter has been considered the most severe winter of the 1700s. This was also a time of suffering for the troops, a challenge that surpassed even the famed winter at Valley Forge.
Most of the enlisted men were encamped at Jockey Hollow, south of Morristown. Somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 men were located in “log house city,” which were small cabins that they themselves constructed. When arriving, they endured extreme cold and deep snow, living in tents while they made their new quarters. Each hut was only 14 by 16 feet and six and a half feet high. These were logs with clay chinking. Some were built into the hillside for additional warmth and each had a fireplace and stone chimney. Twelve enlisted men shared a single hut, sleeping on straw covered bunks.
Christmastime was marked by severe deprivation and misery. In addition to the hardships of being an infantryman, there was a failing supply chain. This put the army on the brink of collapse.
Soldiers were on half or even quarter rations. By Christmas Eve, the conditions were so frightful that Indian corn, intended for consumption by the horses, was ground into flour for the soldiers. They had some bread and beef or pork.
Many soldiers were described as “naked as Lazarus” for the lack of clothing. There were insufficient blankets to protect them from the extreme chill and the frequent snowstorms.
Although it was Christmas, the soldiers were still living in tents and hastily worked to build the log huts, even in this most harsh part of the winter.
Even the mood in the high command was dour. Major General Benedict Armnold was being court martialed in absentia, the French fleet failed to help in the attack on Savannah, Ga., General George Washinton had constant fear of a potential British attack from nearby New York, and there was diminishing hope of a swift end to the war.
In all, any revelry for the Patriots who endured Christmas of 1779 was nonexistent. The many soldiers encamped in nearby Morristown were struggling to survive a severe winter and food and clothing shortage.
With our home of Sussex County close to the encampment, there was real linkage with them. It is reasonable to assume that many of the Continental Army were from Sussex County and endured the pain of that winter, under contract and thus required to stay with their regiments. It is also reasonable to assume that the quartermasters such as our own Anderson or Armstrong were critical to getting the provisions needed from our own plentiful resources of wood, grain, and cattle. With the return of the Marquis de Lafayette on May 10, 1780, there was a joyous reunion with General Washington in Morristown. Lafayette was known to come on foraging trips to Sparta. In fact, there’s a statue on the Morristown Green that commemorates the pivotal time when Lafayette informed Washington and Alexander Hamilton of the forthcoming French support that he had acquired while in France.
In all our other wars, the men and women who served to protect us and to defend our freedom encountered deathly conflict and terrible living conditions. We owe so much to them.
Enjoy the holiday season, but appreciate all that we have and thank those who labored for us.
Bill Truran, Sussex County’s historian, may be contacted at billt1425@gmail.com He is the author of “Last Signer of the Declaration of Independence: Lewis Morris III.”
