Jockey Hollow | |
![]() Wick House at Jockey Hollow in 2016 | |
Coordinates | 40°45′41″N74°32′33″W / 40.76139°N 74.54250°W |
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Area | 1,307.49 acres (5.2912 km2) |
Part of | Morristown National Historical Park (ID66000053 [1] ) |
NJRHP No. | 3381 [2] |
Significant dates | |
Designated CP | October 15, 2000 |
Designated NJRHP | May 27, 1971 |
Jockey Hollow is the name of an area in southern Morris County, New Jersey, which was farmed in the 18th century by the Wick, Guerin, and Kemble families.
The origin of the name is still uncertain, but it was a farming property during the American Revolution. For most of the American Revolutionary War, it was used by portions of Continental Army as a winter camp site, and it housed the main Continental Army during the "Hard Winter" of 1779–80, believed to be the harshest winter in recorded history.
It is located in Harding Township and Mendham Township, in Morris County.
Since 1933, the Wick House has been part of Morristown National Historical Park in Morristown, New Jersey. Morristown National Historical Park is administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. [3]
During the Revolutionary War, Henry Wick possessed the largest portion of this area—his farm comprised 1400 acres of timber and open field. The Wick farm and his neighbors' property were considered the ideal location for a winter camp due to the distance from British forces in New York and the amount of timber needed for shelter and firewood for a large army, and the availability of houses for officers, mainly generals and their staff, to quarter.
During the winter of 1779–1780, approximately 600 acres of timber in Wick land and about 2000 acres total in Jockey Hollow were cut down by the soldiers to be used for the construction of huts and as firewood. [4]
In the spring of 1777, the Wick family hosted Captain Joseph Bloomfield.
During the Winter of 1779–1780, the Wicks housed General Arthur St. Clair, who was then commander of the Pennsylvania Line, and several of his aides.
The house is now restored and is one of the historic structures maintained and open for viewing at the Morristown National Historical Park.
A kitchen garden next to the Wick House is maintained by the Northern New Jersey unit of Herb Society of America.
During the Winter of 1779–1780, the Wicks housed General Arthur St. Clair, who was then commander of the Pennsylvania Line, and several of his aides.
In December 1779, over 10.000 Continental Army troops encamped for the winter at Jockey Hollow. Soldiers camped at this location until June 1780, during which time they endured some of the harshest conditions of the war. [5] Due to the bad conditions of the dirt roads in the winter and spring, dependence on horsepower, distance from the enemy in New York plus the natural walls of protection provided by the present-day Watchung Mountains, this was a secure area to camp the army.
The Winter at Jockey Hollow was the worst winter of the war, even worse than the Winter at Valley Forge two years before. [6] Twelve men often shared one of over one thousand simple huts built in Jockey Hollow to house the Army. [5] Amazingly, despite the difficult conditions and lack of food, fewer than 100 soldiers died and only one out of ten deserted.
Soldiers had to build their own huts including surrounding trenches for drainage. The huts, made of log, were 14 by 16 feet (4.3 by 4.9 m) and 6.5 feet (2.0 m) high. Twelve men often shared one of over one thousand simple huts built in Jockey Hollow to house the army. [5] Inside the huts soldiers had a fireplace for warmth and cooking. To create a floor they packed the ground for an earthen floor. Soldiers also had to make their own furniture, including bunks and tables. Their bunks got covered with straw and each soldier was to be given one blanket, although Washington claimed that a quarter of the men "did not have the shadow of a blanket." . Soldiers huts were about 2 to 3 ft (50–100 cm) apart, with three rows of eight huts for each regiment. By 1780, soldiers had built about 1,200 huts in Jockey Hollow. [7]
There are four replica huts on Sugar Loaf hill built in 1964.
There is a 1932 marker to the "Jockey Hollow Hospital" just across the road from those replica huts—subsequent archeology done after Morristown National Historical Park was established found no evidence of graves there.
On December 21, 1780, Henry Wick died at Jockey Hollow. On the evening of January 1781, the Pennsylvania Line, then encamped in Jockey Hollow under the command of General Anthony Wayne mutinied. They supposedly intended to march to Philadelphia to complain to the state legislature. Many soldiers believed their enlistments in the army had expired with the new year, but the army claimed that their enlistment terms "two years or during the war" meant the end of the war was their true duration. The mutineers reached Princeton, New Jersey, where Pennsylvania's chief executive Joseph Reed and representatives of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania negotiated with them. The mutiny ended peacefully—some of the soldiers agreed to stay in the army. The event is believed to be the largest mutiny in the course of the American Revolutionary War.
The most famous account of this mutiny is Carl Van Doren's book, Mutiny in January, published in 1943.
Morris County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, about 30 mi (48 km) west of New York City. According to the 2020 census, the county was the state's tenth-most populous county, with a population of 509,285, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 17,009 (+3.5%) from the 2010 census count of 492,276, which in turn reflected an increase of 22,064 (+11.6%) from the 470,212 counted in the 2000 census, Morris County is part of the New York metropolitan area and is divided into 39 municipalities, with many commuter towns but no large cities. Its county seat is Morristown, in the southeast. The most populous place was Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, with 56,162 residents at the time of the 2020 census, while Rockaway Township covered 45.55 square miles (118.0 km2), the largest total area of any municipality. The county is part of the North Jersey region of the state.
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia after the war's outbreak. The Continental Army was created to coordinate military efforts of the colonies in the war against the British, who sought to maintain control over the American colonies. General George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and maintained this position throughout the war.
Morristown National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park, headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, consisting of four sites important during the American Revolutionary War: Jockey Hollow, Ford Mansion, Fort Nonsense, and Washington's Headquarters Museum.
"Middlebrook encampment" may refer to one of two different seasonal stays of the Continental Army in central New Jersey near the Middlebrook in Bridgewater Township in Somerset County. They are usually differentiated by either the date of the encampment or their chronological order.
The 2nd New Jersey Regiment was raised, on 9 October 1775, at Trenton, New Jersey, for service with the Continental Army under the command of Colonel William Maxwell. The regiment would see action at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, Battle of Valcour Island, Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Germantown, Battle of Crooked Billet, Battle of Monmouth, Sullivan Expedition, Battle of Springfield and the Battle of Yorktown. The regiment was furloughed, on 6 June 1783, at Newburgh, New York, and disbanded 3 November 1783.
The 6th Pennsylvania Regiment, first known as the 5th Pennsylvania Battalion, was a unit of the United States of America (U.S.) Army, raised December 9, 1775, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for service with the Continental Army. The regiment would see action during the New York Campaign, Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Germantown, Battle of Monmouth, and Green Spring. The regiment was disbanded on January 1, 1783.
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Valley Forge was the winter encampment of the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778. It was the third and harshest of the eight winter encampments that Washington and the Continental Army endured during the war.
Nero Hawley was an African-American soldier who was born into slavery in North Stratford, Connecticut, and later earned his freedom after enlisting in the Continental Army in place of his owner, Daniel Hawley, on April 20, 1777, during the American Revolution. His life is featured in the 1976 book From Valley Forge to Freedom, which also notes other areas of present-day Trumbull, Connecticut associated with Hawley.
The Pennsylvania Line Mutiny was a mutiny of Continental Army soldiers, who demanded higher pay and better housing conditions, and was the cause of the legend and stories surrounding the American heroine Tempe Wick. The mutiny began on January 1, 1781, and ended with a negotiated settlement on January 8, 1781. The negotiated terms were finally concluded by January 29, 1781. The mutiny was the most successful and important insurrection of Continental Army soldiers during the American Revolutionary War.
The Pluckemin Continental Artillery Cantonment Site in Pluckemin, New Jersey, at the southern section of Bedminster Township, New Jersey, holds historic American Revolutionary War importance as the Continental Army's artillery winter cantonment during the winter of 1778–79. It was nestled on the western side of the Second Watchung Mountain just to the North of the village of Pluckemin. The major significance of the site lies with the very different picture it yields of military organization during the Revolutionary War, although some point to it as the birthplace of the American military academy, 24 years prior to the founding of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Israel Shreve was a colonel in the 2nd New Jersey Regiment during the American Revolution. He fought at the Battle of Brandywine and at the Battle of Germantown and wintered at Valley Forge.
Morristown Green, most commonly referred to as the Green, is a historical park located in the center of Morristown, New Jersey, United States. It has an area of two and a half acres and has in the past served as a military base, a militia training ground, and an area for public executions. It is now a public park in which many community events are held. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places, listed as a contributing property of the Morristown District, on October 30, 1973.
Spencer's Additional Continental Regiment, sometimes referred to as the 5th New Jersey Regiment, was an American infantry unit that served for four years in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress authorized sixteen "Additional" Continental Regiments in late 1776 and Colonel Oliver Spencer accepted command of this regiment with rank from January 15, 1777.
Temperance Wick, also known as Tempe Wick and Tempe, was an American Revolutionary War heroine and the subject of many early American legends. She is traditionally regarded as an example of female patriotism in the early Republic, though many scholars and historians dispute the historical accuracy of the stories and traditions surrounding her life.
The New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site, also called the New Jersey Brigade Area, was used by the Continental Army in the winter of 1779–80, during the American Revolutionary War. The site is located in Bernardsville, Somerset County, New Jersey and extends into Harding Township, Morris County. About 1,300 men of the New Jersey Brigade were encamped here. It is one of four contributing sites of the Morristown National Historical Park. The Cross Estate Gardens property was added in 1975.
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Dr. Jabez Campfield was a colonial-era doctor, one of the earliest to set up practice in Morristown, New Jersey. He served as a surgeon in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. During the Continental Army's winter encampment in Morristown in 1777, Dr. Campfield helped inoculate soldiers against a smallpox outbreak that spread through the army and the area that winter. Dr. Campfield was a surgeon on the Sullivan Expedition in upstate New York in the summer and autumn of 1779, during which he kept a detailed diary which has been preserved and published. During the winter encampment of 1779-1780, surgeon general Dr. John Cochran stayed in Dr. Campfield's home, and his home served as a "flying hospital". Dr. Cochran's niece, Elizabeth Schuyler, came to stay in Dr. Campfield's home, and while there fell in love and became engaged to Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
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