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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
When, about 1710, word came to the settlement at Newark that iron ore was plentiful beyond the Watchung Mountains, a small number of pioneers struck out on a wilderness road to engage in a new industry. One group selected a site at the foot of the present Water Street in Morristown, in the small valley (now known as The Hollow), and named their new village West Hanover. Newcomers spread to the tablelands above and formed a ring of improved properties around a central green which later became Morristown Green.
In 1739 a new county was laid out within the bounds of Hunterdon and named in honor of Lewis Morris, the first governor of New Jersey. The first session of the Morris County court was held in the tavern of Jacob Ford, the appointed justice. At this convening, the township of Morris was legally defined. Within two years the population was large enough to support a log church. A courthouse was built in 1755.
During the Revolution, when the demand for munitions tested the young industrial resources of the Colonies, no fewer than forty-five forges were operated in Morris County. In addition there were sawmills and gristmills on every sizable stream. The iron industry became the most important factor in the development of Morristown and neighboring communities.
No Briton or Hessian set foot in Morris County except as a prisoner, for the town was relentlessly defended as a key point in the theater of war. General Washington was aware of the natural advantage of Morristown's site on the frontier of the highlands. Good roads provided quick communication with Philadelphia and Congress, and made it easy to concentrate military supplies Within striking distance of the British.
Washington led his exhausted army here in January 1777 for winter encampment in the Loantaka Valley after the victories at Trenton and Princeton. He returned with his troops to pass the winter of 1779-80. The men were quartered in crude huts in jockey Hollow, while Washington made the Ford House his headquarters. With his army's condition even worse than it had been at Valley Forge, the commander-in-chief established a quota system for levying supplies upon the various counties. He wrote to a friend that the men sometimes went "five or six days together without bread" and that at one time "the soldiers ate every kind of horse food but hay."
Count Pulaski helped to maintain morale by exercising his cavalry corps before the Ford House. His special stunt was to fire his pistol while at full gallop, toss it into the air, catch it, and hurl it at an imaginary enemy ahead. With one foot in the stirrup, and his horse still galloping, Pulaski would then swing to the ground and pick up the gun. Some of the best Virginia horsemen suffered bad falls in attempts to duplicate this feat.
During this winter occurred the court martial of Gen. Benedict Arnold, requested by the officer himself after the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania had accused him of partiality to Tories and rudeness to American civil authorities when he was in command of Philadelphia. The trial was staged in the old Dickerson Tavern (no longer standing) with
Maj. Gen. Robert Howe as presiding officer. The verdict was a recommendation for a reprimand by General Washington, a comparatively mild punishment, but one that stung the young officer. Arnold remained in the service only at the insistence of Washington, who placed him in command of West Point. There he entered into a plot with Major Andre's men to deliver the fortification to the British. It is said that Washington laughed heartily only once during his stay in Morristown-and that was when he was describing Arnold's ludicrous appearance as he galloped from the Robinson house near West Point to seek safety on a British vessel.
From 1780 until the fall of 1781 Continental troops were in and about the north New Jersey area. The Pennsylvania Line was quartered at jockey Hollow in the winter of 1780-81 and from there went north to meet the troops that Washington was assembling at Newburgh for the final march to Yorktown.
When the iron industry diminished before Western competition during the nineteenth century, Morristown became largely a residential and shopping town. Thomas Nast, the cartoonist who created the Tammany tiger and pilloried Boss Tweed, made his home here. Bret Harte and Frank R. Stockton lived in Morristown for a time.
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