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Morristown: The Darkest Winter of the Revolutionary War and the Plot to Kidnap George Washington
In the fall of 1779 George Washington took his 10,000 men into winter camp at Morristown, New Jersey after six long years of fighting. It would be a brutal winter of suffering, depression, starvation, betrayal, mutiny, treason and an attempt to kidnap George Washington by the British. By the spring only 8,000 men would be left in Morristown with less than two thirds fit for service. Books have cemented Valley Forge as one with Omaha Beach, the Death March of Bataan, and Washington crossing the Delaware. But the winter of Valley Forge was mild in comparison to other winters. Temperatures did not plummet to unheard levels and snowfall was normal. And the men were not starving on the scale that would later follow at Morristown. The winter of 1779 to 1780 was the worst in a century and would mark Washington’s darkest hour where he contemplated the army coming apart from lack of food and, money, six years of war, desertions, mutiny, the threat of a devastating attack by the British, and incredibly, a plot to kidnap him. And yet Morristown would mark a turning point. After a long winter of suffering, he was joined by Lafayette in May who promised Washington a second fleet of French support, leading to the final defeat of the British in 1783.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 1, 2022
3.5 Stars
Morristown is an interesting look at a little known chapter of American history. As The United States gets closer to abandoning "democracy" its important to look back at where we started.
In Morristown William Hazelgrove explores a plot to kidnap George Washington during a very precarious moment during the Revolutionary War and famous snitch Benedict Arnold's role in it. I don't know how I never knew about this. I like to think of myself as history lover but somehow this never reached me.
Obviously we all know how this turns out. George Washington isn't kidnapped and he leads the U.S. to victory becoming our first President. Despite that I still never lost interest in the cloak and dagger scheme and I really did want to know how this plot unraveled.
I will say I don't think this book is for everyone. It's short but it can be a bit dry at times but I enjoy dry reads.
I'm happy to add another George Washington book to my Presidents read- along. Old George is moving up my Presidents power rankings.
Morristown is an interesting look at a little known chapter of American history. As The United States gets closer to abandoning "democracy" its important to look back at where we started.
In Morristown William Hazelgrove explores a plot to kidnap George Washington during a very precarious moment during the Revolutionary War and famous snitch Benedict Arnold's role in it. I don't know how I never knew about this. I like to think of myself as history lover but somehow this never reached me.
Obviously we all know how this turns out. George Washington isn't kidnapped and he leads the U.S. to victory becoming our first President. Despite that I still never lost interest in the cloak and dagger scheme and I really did want to know how this plot unraveled.
I will say I don't think this book is for everyone. It's short but it can be a bit dry at times but I enjoy dry reads.
I'm happy to add another George Washington book to my Presidents read- along. Old George is moving up my Presidents power rankings.
Read
October 13, 2022*Very interesting topic with excellent citations written in a very dry style with too many cliche phrases. But definitely worth reading through once, imo.
"It had snowed so much and been so brutally cold that the horses had suffocated from ice in their nostrils and men on guard had expired after just thirty minutes of exposure to the elements." (loc 323)
"In a letter to George Washington, General Anthony Wayne wrote, 'I must confess that they would make a better appearance had they a sufficiency of hats, but as Congress don't seem to think that an essential part of the uniform, they mean to keep us uniformly bare headed as well as bare footed and if they find we can bare it tolerably well in the two extremes, perhaps they may try it in the center.'" (loc. 722)
"Major John Brown of Massachusetts later said presciently of Arnold, 'Money is this man's God and to get enough of it he would sacrifice his country.'" (loc. 1582)
"Von Steuben understood the American character in a way the British did not, and they should have taken notes from the odd Prussian and probably could have avoided the American Revolution altogether. Von Steuben had commanded an undisciplined light infantry of Magyars who were Frederick the Great's shock troops. Von Steuben realized that like the wild Hungarians, the inconoclastic Americans who had been isolated in the backwoods of the continent did not understand an order as being valid until they understood the why behind the order. And von Steuben explained the why for all of his rules and regulations. He explained the reasons for all of his tactics and found the Americans then took them on as their own. His hard-won respect for the Americans soared as he came to understand what they had endured. 'No European army could have been kept together under such dreadful conditions,' he mused." (loc. 1753)
"In the beginning, General Howe didn't recognize George Washington as the leader of anything. When he sent him a letter in 1775, it was addressed to George Washington Esq. Washington refused the letter, and Howe protested that rank was only conveyed by the crown. He sent another letter and Washington refused again. This went on for some time until Howe finally addressed the letter to General Washington. But he didn't regard him at all. To the British, George Washington was a failed officer who at one time wanted to join the British army but had been rejected. That assessment changed quickly." (loc. 2236)
"Enter Henry Knox, a twenty-five-year-old Boston bookseller who had recently left Boston with his wife to join the cause. Knox had trained with an artillery unit in Boston and had read everything to do with the use of cannons and military engineering, filling his store with books on military strategy and military history. He was heavy and boisterous, and saw the inevitable break with Britain. 'The future happiness or misery of a great proportion of the human race is at stake - and if we make a wrong choice, ourselves and our posterity must be wretched. . . . And that is to separate - an event which I devoutly pray may soon take place and let it be as soon as it may be." (loc. 2266)
"Somehow this American cause seemed destined to survive the day. It had happened time and again. Fate, providence, call it what you will, always seemed to come to the rescue of this. . . this ragtag army in this benighted country of farmers and frontiersmen, these towns of displaced Englishmen who acted with such impudence, and this general who seemed to have the favor of God on his side. They could have plowed on through snow, cold, and wind, but this strange confluence of freezing rain and dropping temperatures had turned the roads into jagged icicles that slashed the horses' legs. What were the odds? . . . Simcoe and Beckwith had taken in the situation, calculated the odds, and determined that the possibility of success was high . . . and now George Washington had been saved not by his LifeGuard or his troops, but by providence, by the weather that would prove to be a rare confluence of snow, ice, zero-degree temperatures, and twenty-eight consecutive snowstorms, a once-in-a-century convergence of horrible meteorological events that showered favor upon the leader of a rebellion who was fighting the most powerful nation on earth for the birth of a new nation." (loc. 2665)
"In sheer size the Hudson River is larger than any other river on the Eastern seaboard. The 400,000 gallons a second pouring out from the Hudson creates its own tidal currents in the ocean." (loc. 2973)
"Hessian captain Johann Ewald expressed his admiration of the fighting tactics of the American militia.
What can you achieve with such small bands who have learned to fight dispersed, who know how to use every molehill for their defense, and who retreat as quickly when attacked as they advance again and who always find a space to hide? Never have I seen those maneuvers performed better than by the American Militia and especially that of the province of New Jersey. If you were forced to retreat against these people you could certainly count on constantly having them around you.
General Philip Schuyler who was still in Morristown with the committee at headquarters, reflected on the assumptions the British had when they invaded. 'I find the enemy were made to believe that if they came out in force, our army would not fight, the Country would submit, and they would possess themselves of all our stores. They were surprised to find the militia so firm - some were heard to say the Americans fight like bulldogs.' The Hessians had in theory trained for American-style fighting, but they had no defense for an enemy that fired and then melted back into the forest." (loc 3155)
"It had snowed so much and been so brutally cold that the horses had suffocated from ice in their nostrils and men on guard had expired after just thirty minutes of exposure to the elements." (loc 323)
"In a letter to George Washington, General Anthony Wayne wrote, 'I must confess that they would make a better appearance had they a sufficiency of hats, but as Congress don't seem to think that an essential part of the uniform, they mean to keep us uniformly bare headed as well as bare footed and if they find we can bare it tolerably well in the two extremes, perhaps they may try it in the center.'" (loc. 722)
"Major John Brown of Massachusetts later said presciently of Arnold, 'Money is this man's God and to get enough of it he would sacrifice his country.'" (loc. 1582)
"Von Steuben understood the American character in a way the British did not, and they should have taken notes from the odd Prussian and probably could have avoided the American Revolution altogether. Von Steuben had commanded an undisciplined light infantry of Magyars who were Frederick the Great's shock troops. Von Steuben realized that like the wild Hungarians, the inconoclastic Americans who had been isolated in the backwoods of the continent did not understand an order as being valid until they understood the why behind the order. And von Steuben explained the why for all of his rules and regulations. He explained the reasons for all of his tactics and found the Americans then took them on as their own. His hard-won respect for the Americans soared as he came to understand what they had endured. 'No European army could have been kept together under such dreadful conditions,' he mused." (loc. 1753)
"In the beginning, General Howe didn't recognize George Washington as the leader of anything. When he sent him a letter in 1775, it was addressed to George Washington Esq. Washington refused the letter, and Howe protested that rank was only conveyed by the crown. He sent another letter and Washington refused again. This went on for some time until Howe finally addressed the letter to General Washington. But he didn't regard him at all. To the British, George Washington was a failed officer who at one time wanted to join the British army but had been rejected. That assessment changed quickly." (loc. 2236)
"Enter Henry Knox, a twenty-five-year-old Boston bookseller who had recently left Boston with his wife to join the cause. Knox had trained with an artillery unit in Boston and had read everything to do with the use of cannons and military engineering, filling his store with books on military strategy and military history. He was heavy and boisterous, and saw the inevitable break with Britain. 'The future happiness or misery of a great proportion of the human race is at stake - and if we make a wrong choice, ourselves and our posterity must be wretched. . . . And that is to separate - an event which I devoutly pray may soon take place and let it be as soon as it may be." (loc. 2266)
"Somehow this American cause seemed destined to survive the day. It had happened time and again. Fate, providence, call it what you will, always seemed to come to the rescue of this. . . this ragtag army in this benighted country of farmers and frontiersmen, these towns of displaced Englishmen who acted with such impudence, and this general who seemed to have the favor of God on his side. They could have plowed on through snow, cold, and wind, but this strange confluence of freezing rain and dropping temperatures had turned the roads into jagged icicles that slashed the horses' legs. What were the odds? . . . Simcoe and Beckwith had taken in the situation, calculated the odds, and determined that the possibility of success was high . . . and now George Washington had been saved not by his LifeGuard or his troops, but by providence, by the weather that would prove to be a rare confluence of snow, ice, zero-degree temperatures, and twenty-eight consecutive snowstorms, a once-in-a-century convergence of horrible meteorological events that showered favor upon the leader of a rebellion who was fighting the most powerful nation on earth for the birth of a new nation." (loc. 2665)
"In sheer size the Hudson River is larger than any other river on the Eastern seaboard. The 400,000 gallons a second pouring out from the Hudson creates its own tidal currents in the ocean." (loc. 2973)
"Hessian captain Johann Ewald expressed his admiration of the fighting tactics of the American militia.
What can you achieve with such small bands who have learned to fight dispersed, who know how to use every molehill for their defense, and who retreat as quickly when attacked as they advance again and who always find a space to hide? Never have I seen those maneuvers performed better than by the American Militia and especially that of the province of New Jersey. If you were forced to retreat against these people you could certainly count on constantly having them around you.
General Philip Schuyler who was still in Morristown with the committee at headquarters, reflected on the assumptions the British had when they invaded. 'I find the enemy were made to believe that if they came out in force, our army would not fight, the Country would submit, and they would possess themselves of all our stores. They were surprised to find the militia so firm - some were heard to say the Americans fight like bulldogs.' The Hessians had in theory trained for American-style fighting, but they had no defense for an enemy that fired and then melted back into the forest." (loc 3155)
July 16, 2023
To many, the American Revolution is summed up by the Boston Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence, the cold winter at Valley Forge and victory at Yorktown. History buffs might even remember Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill. “Morristown” chronicles the crucial middle time between The Shot Heard Round The World and the playing of “The World Turned Upside Down” at Cornwallis’ surrender.
The subtitle “The Darkest Winter of the Revolutionary War and the Plot to Kidnap George Washington” succinctly describes the heart of this tome. Though not limited to these seasons, the primary action takes from the Fall of 1779 through the Winter of 1779-1780. The most significant events are the treachery of Benedict Arnold and the British attempt to kidnap General Washington in February 1780.
Many think of Valley Forge as being the nadir of the War of Independence, but author William Hazelgrove makes a compelling case that the winter Washington’s army spent in Morristown, New Jersey was really the time when the Revolution was in greatest peril.
Employing a non-linear timeline, Hazelgrove introduces the main characters and chronicles their actions: George Washington, the athletic American commander given to bold action with a taste for fine company, food and drink; Benedict Arnold, the ambitious but frustrated American general who, after having been involved in major engagements, including the failed attack on Quebec and the successful one on Fort Ticonderoga, sought his fortune by delivering the crucial West Point on the Hudson to the enemy; British Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe, hatcher of the scheme to end the Revolution by kidnapping Washington.
The scene was stark. The coldest winter in a century froze the Hudson, turning it into a highway across which raiding forces could march. Winds froze men’s ill-clad bodies, but stimulated officers’ minds to unique opportunities. When Washington saw a chance to surprise the British on Staten Island, as he had the Hessians in Trenton in 1776, Simcoe sought the big prize by capturing Washington.
During the 19th Century, though assassination was considered bad form, kidnapping important figures was an accepted form of warfare, perhaps harking back to medieval times when kings would be ransomed. The descriptions of Simcoe’s plot have the makings of a mystery.
Histories and biographies are often lauded on the basis that “it reads like a novel”. I always understood that as meaning it is really good writing. “Morristown” takes the phrase to a new level. Hazelgrove skillfully weaves presumed details into historical fact to the point that, at times, I looked to see if this really was historical fiction. Consider: “The glow from the snow outside poured in the long windows like three coffins. It was very bright outside. Martha shut her eyes and fell asleep.” I doubt this is documented in the historical record, but it enhances the text without compromising the history.
“Morristown” is a good, fairly short read, that fills in the middle of the Revolutionary story from the enthusiastic beginnings in Boston and Philadelphia with the events that made victory at Yorktown possible. It is probably no spoiler to say that the kidnapping plot failed, but I will stop there. The suspense of how it failed is too entertaining to give it away. I recommend “Morristown” to any reader seeking a deeper understanding of the daunting task of winning independence and the winter that gave the American cause a chance to succeed.
I did win a copy of this book through Goodreads.
The subtitle “The Darkest Winter of the Revolutionary War and the Plot to Kidnap George Washington” succinctly describes the heart of this tome. Though not limited to these seasons, the primary action takes from the Fall of 1779 through the Winter of 1779-1780. The most significant events are the treachery of Benedict Arnold and the British attempt to kidnap General Washington in February 1780.
Many think of Valley Forge as being the nadir of the War of Independence, but author William Hazelgrove makes a compelling case that the winter Washington’s army spent in Morristown, New Jersey was really the time when the Revolution was in greatest peril.
Employing a non-linear timeline, Hazelgrove introduces the main characters and chronicles their actions: George Washington, the athletic American commander given to bold action with a taste for fine company, food and drink; Benedict Arnold, the ambitious but frustrated American general who, after having been involved in major engagements, including the failed attack on Quebec and the successful one on Fort Ticonderoga, sought his fortune by delivering the crucial West Point on the Hudson to the enemy; British Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe, hatcher of the scheme to end the Revolution by kidnapping Washington.
The scene was stark. The coldest winter in a century froze the Hudson, turning it into a highway across which raiding forces could march. Winds froze men’s ill-clad bodies, but stimulated officers’ minds to unique opportunities. When Washington saw a chance to surprise the British on Staten Island, as he had the Hessians in Trenton in 1776, Simcoe sought the big prize by capturing Washington.
During the 19th Century, though assassination was considered bad form, kidnapping important figures was an accepted form of warfare, perhaps harking back to medieval times when kings would be ransomed. The descriptions of Simcoe’s plot have the makings of a mystery.
Histories and biographies are often lauded on the basis that “it reads like a novel”. I always understood that as meaning it is really good writing. “Morristown” takes the phrase to a new level. Hazelgrove skillfully weaves presumed details into historical fact to the point that, at times, I looked to see if this really was historical fiction. Consider: “The glow from the snow outside poured in the long windows like three coffins. It was very bright outside. Martha shut her eyes and fell asleep.” I doubt this is documented in the historical record, but it enhances the text without compromising the history.
“Morristown” is a good, fairly short read, that fills in the middle of the Revolutionary story from the enthusiastic beginnings in Boston and Philadelphia with the events that made victory at Yorktown possible. It is probably no spoiler to say that the kidnapping plot failed, but I will stop there. The suspense of how it failed is too entertaining to give it away. I recommend “Morristown” to any reader seeking a deeper understanding of the daunting task of winning independence and the winter that gave the American cause a chance to succeed.
I did win a copy of this book through Goodreads.
December 5, 2024
This is a well-written account of the winter encampment of 1779-80 by Washington and the Continental Army. Most people are aware of the harsh winter at Valley Forge, but by many historians and meteorologists, the winter at Morristown in Central NJ was worse - 28 - major snowstorms, and sub-zero temperatures for several months that almost destroyed Washington's already depleted army wearily retreated from the near disastrous New York Campaign. Added to the detailed descriptions of the endless suffering and hardships - from exposure, lack of food and supplies, and hastily assembled shelters, is the story of the near successful British plot to kidnap George Washington from his headquarters at the Ford Mansion and have him brought back to New York - over the frozen Hudson River - thus ending the war in one swift action. It almost worked, and if so, the course of history would be very different. In addition, there was a near mutiny as well as the infamous dealings of a treasonous self-serving general by the name of Benedict Arnold - also almost successful, that could have changed the course of history as well. This is all a great deal of history, action, and drama all taking place over the course of a few months. William Hazelgrove breaks it down into periods of time, by date - almost like journal entries that cover both angles - the British in New York and of course Washington and the Americans. This could well be a "what if " story - and in a way it is just that - but it is also an exciting well-written account of a turning point in the course of the American Revolution that is in many ways an incredible story of both endurance, luck and of course, military strategy.
March 18, 2022
Like many others I have always been fascinated with the early history of our country and the Revolutionary War. This book taught me what George Washington and his soldiers went through at Morristown, New Jersey in 1779! I had no idea that the winter they spent there was worse than the one at Valley Forge. The author is an excellent historian and the pieces of the past he brings back to light in this book are well written. I am looking forward to reading some of his other works!!!
November 8, 2022
I found this narrative of the story of Morristown and the plot to kidnap General Washing informative. Although I will have to agree with other reviews that it does tend to jump around the timeline somewhat. You do get a history lesson about the events leading up to the attempt and the outcome of all the major players involved. The one part I found interesting was the author's conclusion that Benedict Arnold may have unknowingly saved General Washington at Morristown and the patriot cause. If you like brief histories on specific events, this is your book.
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