H E A D Q U A R T E R S    began here . . . 

Home at Mt. Vernon, Virginia was smaller, but expanded during the Revolutionary War   
  

BEFORE WASHINGTON'S APPOINTMENT TO THE CONTINENTAL ARMY
 
CAPTAIN JOHN PARKER AT LEXINGTON
EARLY ACTIONS :   LEXINGTON, CONCORD, AND BREED'S HILL . . .                             

"Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."

John Parker was a father of seven children, a farmer, mechanic, joiner and had been a tax collector under the unpopular "Stamp Act" in 1764, 1765, 1767 and collector in 1774."  He was elected captain of the minutemen at age 46. 

On April 19, 1775, he commanded over 100 Lexington shopkeepers and farmers against over 700 English soldiers. He showed great coolness and bravery, ordering his men to load their guns, but not to fire unless fired upon. After eight of his men were killed on that morning and several  wounded, he collected his company and marched to meet the enemy on their return from Concord. 

Though he was suffering, he marched with a portion of his company to Cambridge in May and again in June for the Battle of Breed's Hill near Bunker Hill.  He died of tuberculosis on September 17, 1775.

OLD NORTH BRIDGE AT CONCORD, MA

. . . and in Virginia . . .
PATRICK HENRY'S FAMOUS SPEECH  "Give me liberty, or give me death"!

1775
 
MUCH HAPPENED AT CARPENTER HALL BEHIND INDEPENDENCE HALL

WASHINGTON WAS APPOINTED TO LEAD THE CONTINENTAL ARMY

       In 1775 at CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, Washington stayed at the WADSWORTH HOUSE
    
Wadsworth House was built in 1724 for use of the Presidents of Harvard     HARVARD HOUSE - The Present Home of the President of Harvard 

	1775	- Massachusetts	- Cambridge	- July  2 - Jul 14+	WADSWORTH HOUSE home of  Harvard President Samuel Langdon - built 1724.
				- July 15 - Dec 31+	John Vassell's House  (until Apr 4, 1776)

  
                                                                                      
            
                                        The Vassell Craige Longfellow House  -  HQ 1775

1776 

1776	- Massachusetts	- Cambridge	(July 15, 1775)  until Apr 4, 1776	John Vassel's House
			(Washington given Honorary Doctor  of Law degree from Harvard Univ.)	(Washington set out for  New York to prepare defenses)
		- Dedham	April  4, 1776	Joshua Henshaw's place
	- Rhode Island	- Providence	April  5 - 7, 1776	Stephen Hopkin's House
	- Connecticut	- Norwich	April  8, 1776	Jedidiah Huntington's House |  Leffingwell Inn

 
Governor Jonathan Trumbull's House Windham, CT
HQ - The War Office Lebanon, CT
Wadsworth Stable

 
Nathaniel Shaw's - New London, CT   -  HQ  Apr. 9, 1776 

 
Washington's HQ, Flushing, LI, NY                                              Brooklyn              

 
Washington's army was outnumbered and outflanked at the Battles of Long Island - July & August 1776

    From September 15 through October 20, 1776, 
    Washington stayed at Harlem Heights, on Manhattan Island, 
   at the Roger Morris Mansion -160th St. New York

 
         
   65 Jumel Terrace  at 160th St & Edgecombe Ave.  New York, NY 10032
     By Car:   Harlem River Drive to 179th Street, left on Amsterdam Avenue to 162nd Street 
or    Henry Hudson Parkway to 158th Street, to St. Nicholas Avenue.        
The house is near the present Broadway and 161st Street.         

         
The Main Hall                                                     The Tea Room       

 
The Dining Room with Items Related to George Washington

          
           Guard's Room                             and              George Washington's Bedroom

      
    LaFayette's Room                                                      Council Quarters 

 1776  - New York    - Westchester Cty     Oct 20 - 23, 1776      Mile Square - Valentine's Hill

Oct. 20 - Oct 23, 1776 Mile Square Westchester, NY - VALENTINE'S HILL

      
 
HQs were generally near WHITE PLAINS, NY Oct21 - Nov 10, '76

	1776	- New York	- White Plains	Oct 23 - 28, 1776	Jacob Purdy's House
			- White Plains	Oct 28 - Nov 10, 1776	Elijah Millar's House

 
Elijah Miller House  HQ White Plains, NY   Oct. 28 - Nov. 10, 1776

  
HQ HACKENSACK

   
HQ NEWARK

	1776	- New York	- Peekskill	Nov 11, 1776
		- New Jersey	- Fort Lee	Nov 13 - 18, 1776
			- Hackensack	Nov 18 - 21, 1776	Peter Zabriskie's
			- Passaic	Nov 21 - 23, 1776
			- Newark	Nov 23 - 28, 1776	Eagle Tavern
			- New Brunswick	Nov 29 - Dec 2, 1776
			- Princeton	Dec  2, 1776
			- Trenton	Dec  3 - 8, 1776
		- Pennsylvania	- Bucks County |   Trenton Falls	Dec  8 - 13, 1776	Thomas Barkley's  Summerseat (Morrisville)
			- Bucks County |   near New Hope	Dec 14 - 28, 1776	William Keith's House  ( burned down in 1980's)
			- Bucks County |    Upper Wakefield Twp	Dec 20 - 24, 1776	William Keith's House
			- Bucks County |    Upper ford Delaware	Dec  24, 1776	Thompson-Neely House Johnson Ferry House, NJ
		- New Jersey	-Trenton VICTORY	Dec 25 - 26, 1776
		- Pennsylvania	- Newtown	Dec 26 - 29, 1776	(Mrs. John) Hannah Stewart Harris' House
		- New Jersey	- Trenton	Dec 30, 1776	(Loyalist)  John Barnes' House

  NEWTOWN, PA

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1777

	1777	- New Jersey	- Princeton VICTORY	Jan  3, 1777
			- Pluckamin	Jan  4 -  5, 1777
			- Morristown	Jan  6 -  May 28, 1777	Jacob Arnold Tavern on the Green

     
 

MORRISTOWN, NJ 
                                                                                  
BAPTIST CHURCH & Hospital       The Court House ON THE GREEN        THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH and Hospital
                                                                ==================================  
                                        THE TOWN GREEN -1777
                                        ==================================
The Continental Army arrived here just after their victories at Trenton and Princeton! 
  <== CONTINENTAL ARMY HQS FOR G.W. & STAFF
  George and Martha stayed here during winter and spring.
 <== This was the Washingtons' 1777 HQ
        ACROSS FROM "The GREEN;" it was 
        Jacob Arnold's Tavern.      
          Churches throughout the county were used as hospitals 
for the many small pox victims.  

This tavern became the military information center about British-Hessian forces located 30 miles to the east & south.  Click to see a walk-around narrative ==> streets and houses. The ARMY COMMISARY was located near The Green within view of Headquarters.  Much of the army was east of Morristown.

1777 Washington HQs as seen in the 1880's

  

WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS BUILDING?
Click for more photos and info on the => HQ - and - Hospital
This 1777 Washington HQs "burned down" in 1918.  The original building was built before 1764, probably by Samuel Arnold.  As Jacob Arnold's Tavern, it served as George and Martha's first Morristown lodging during the winter of 1777, in the battle against Small Pox.  

About the time of pre-Civil War, it was converted for use as retail space.  In the 1880's, the owner planned to replace the Tavern, now stores, with a new (red) building to be built on the choice location across from the Green.  

Town members fought to preserve the old building.   The Arnold Tavern was purchased by 
JULIA KEESE COLLES and was moved in 1886 to the southern border of Morristown, on the eastern side of Mount Kemble Avenue, Route 202.  

It then served as a boarding house until it was offered for sale in 1891.

In 1891, Monsignor Dean Flynn conceived an "all souls" hospital for Morristown.  He approached the Grey Nuns in Montreal, Canada.  They came to see the property.  On November 21, 1891 the nuns accepted the task to start a new hospital. Fund raising to purchase the Arnold Tavern began and the purchase was in September 1892. By 1893 the hospital was in working order,  and became the original All Soul's Hospital to serve all races, colors and creeds. 

 The second floor ball-room was converted into a chapel.  The dining room became a hospital ward.  The operating room was gas lighted.  A horse drawn ambulance was provided.  Stables were constructed for horses and cows, and a steam laundry plant were built.  

In the year 1893, 221 accident cases were treated.  Many were from Wharton mines.  Many  were treated for free as charity cases.  This count jumped to 300 or 400 in subsequent years.  In 1897, expansion was planned.  In 1899 there were new upper floor piazzas, wards and rooms for the Sisters and nurses as the building was widened.  In 1900, X-ray equipment was installed.  See the stories below about the 1904 fire!

The building was on the site of the present parking lot, across from the Morristown Memorial-Hospital REHAB CENTER, now know as RIMM.  
   

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ALL SOUL'S HOSPITAL WITH NEW UPPER FLOOR PIAZZAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1899.

On Thursday morning APRIL 5, 1918, fire spread in the old hospital when a pan of grease left in an oven overnight, caught fire and spread to woodwork and spread rapidly via a dumbwaiter to other floors. With coolness and courage, House Surgeon Frank A. Wade, Supervisor Viola the five nurses on duty, bravely carried all of the thirty-eight, aged, infirmed, three new-born babies and recently operated-on patients, to safety.  The next shift of nurses from their Nurse's Home opposite the burning building were alerted, too.  The patients were taken to Dr. Mill's house and neighboring houses for later transfer to Morristown Memorial Hospital.

A call for help from Miss Brizzette went out to Fire Chief Mitchell, a few minutes before 5 A.M.  He dispatched "the Chemical" and soon William Robshaw, a driver for the Independent Hose Company requested more help.  The Chief called in help from the Resolute Hook and Ladder Company and the Washington Engine Hose Company.  Two general alarms were issued, but too few persons responded.  There was also a shortage of extension ladders to reach to the roof of the fourth story in the rear of the hospital.  The Mount Kemble Fire Department was praised for their early response, rescues and salvage work.  The larger building was mostly gutted, but the first floor was saved.  A third alarm at about 1:30 PM was called to put-out subsequent smoldering.  The lost was estimated as $75,000 and was partially covered by $25,000 insurance.

The citizens of Morristown had provided funds for a new structure across the street.  The construction of that new All Soul's Hospital would be rushed, with special consideration for filling the new building with convalescent soldiers.  

Many persons were especially saddened, when they realized that the gutted building had been the winter 1777 residence of George and Martha Washington.

MORE ABOUT THE TAVERN WHERE GEORGE AND MARTHA STAYED,
WHICH LATER BECAME A HOSPITAL  <= Click here

 
Plainfield

North Plainfield
  

        

	1777	- New Jersey	- Middlebrook	May 29 - Jun 24, 1777
			- Quibbletown    BATTLE OF SHORT HILLS - Plainfield	Jun  25, 1777 - Jun 27	H. P. Drake House Rev. Nathaniel Drake
			- Middlebrook	Jun  26 -  Jul  2, 1777
			- Morristown	July  3, 1777
			- Pompton Twp of Wayne	July 11, 1777	Arent Schuyler's / Colfax House
			- Pompton Plains	July 13, 1777	Van Aulen's
		- New York	- Suffern	July 15, 1777	Suffern's Tavern
			- Smith's Cove	July 20, 1777
			- Smith's Cove 11 Miles in	July 21 - 23, 1777	Galloway's
		- New Jersey	- Ramapo  - Oakland	July 23 - 24, 1777	Van Allen House
			- Pompton Plains	July 25, 1777
			- Near Morristown	July 26 - 27, 1777	Mondevil's House
			- Flemington	July 28, 1777
			- Coryell's Ferry   (Lambertville)	July 31, 1777	Holcombe-Jimison Farmstead House
		- Pennsylvania	- Chester	Aug  1, 1777
			- Philadelphia / Roxboro	Aug  2 -  5, 1777	Colonel Henry Hill's House
			- Germantown	Aug  6, 1777
			- Schuykill Falls	Aug  7, 1777
			- Germantown	Aug  9, 1777
			- Hartsville /    Neshaminy Camp	Aug 10 - 23, 1777	Morland House

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 GERMANTOWN                      MOLAND FARMHOUSE
              
                         August 1777       Near the Neshamini, Pennsylvania Encampment Site 
                                                          LAFAYETTE ASSUMES A COMMAND AS 
                                                         MAJOR GENERAL UNDER WASHINGTON.

                                       
    Birmingham Meeting House at Chadds Ford  -  Brandywine

  
   

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	1777	- Pennsylvania	- Germantown     4601 No. 18th Phila  MARCH THRU PHILDELPHIA	Aug 23, 1777	Stenton's via Elphref's Alley
		- Delaware	- Wilmington  - Newark	Aug 25 -Sep 5, 1777 Sep 3, 1777	303 West Street Hale-Byrnes House
			- Wilmington / New Port	Sep  5, 1777
		-Pennsylvania	- Chadds Ford	Sep 10, 1777	Benjamin Ring's
			- BRANDYWINE  Battle Ground	Sep 11, 1777
			- Derby    - Marion	Sep 12, 1777	Wayside Inn
			- Schuylkill Falls /    Germantown	Sep 13, 1777	Colonel Henry Hill's
			- Buck's Tavern	Sep 15, 1777
			- Near White Horse Tavern	Sep 16, 1777	Randall Malin's
			- Yellow Springs / Pottsgrove	Sep 17, 1777	Red Lion Tavern /  Pottsgrove Manor
			- Warwick Furnace	Sep 18, 1777
			- Parker's Ford	Sep 19, 1777
			- Pottsgrove  - Colonial Road ...	Sep 21, 1777	Pottsgrove Manor Col. Fredeick Antes
			- Reading Road Camp    28mi. fr. Phila	Sep 22, 1777	Kennedy's House
			- Schuylkill Camp   34mi. fr. Phila.	Sep 22 - 25, 1777	William Artes House
			- Yellow Springs / Pottsgrove	Sep 26, 1777	Henry Keely's
			- Penny packer's Mill	Sep 27 - 29, 1777	Pennypacker Mansion
			- Shippack	Sep 30 - Oct  2, 1777	Peter Wentz's
			- Pennypacker's Mill - BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN	Oct  4, 1777	Cliveden at Germantown
			- Pennypacker's Mill	Oct  5, 1777	Pennypacker Mansion
			- Pawlin's Mill	Oct  6, 1777
			- Towamencin	Oct  9 - 15, 1777	Frederick Wampole's
			- Worcester	Oct 16 - 20, 1777	Peter Wentz Farmstead

             
              HQ Germantown, PA                     Pottsgrove Manor  HQ - 1777 

Peter Wentz's at Shippack, PA  Sep. 30 - Oct 2, 1777

	1777	- Pennsylvania	- Whitemarsh	Oct  21 - Nov  2, 1777	James Morris House / Dawesfield
			- Whitemarsh	Nov  4 - Dec 11, 1777	Emlin House
			- Swede's         Ford	Dec 12, 1777
			- Gulph Mill	Dec  14 - 17, 1777
			- VALLEY    FORGE	Dec 19, 1777 - (June 18, 1778)	Rented Home of  Isaacs Potts Deborah Hewe's House

   "The March to Valley Forge from WHITEMARSH, north of Philadelphia" 
   Late 1777

               
George Washington and soldiers                              For the full color original 
 -  visualized and painted by                                     refer to the Valley Forge Historical Society
William B. T. Trego  1859-1904
Click => to read about the  Heroic  
Artist  William B.T. Trego,  a courageous but sad story.  

The approach to Valley Forge,
 and the first month there, was filled with suffering, but yes -  
"The Worst Winter" of the war was 1780  at Morristown, NJ 

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1778

            
VALLEY FORGE HEADQUARTERS, NORTHWEST OF PHILADELPHIA 
Late Dec. 1777 => Spring 1778                   
Valley Forge HQ is about a four hours automobile ride from Morristown, start very early.    
Limited Hours - call ahead.
This should be called "Rolling Hills PA."  
In Dec. and Jan., men were cold; supplies of food and clothing were extremely low!

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    Hopewell, NJ

	1778	- Pennsylvania	- Valley Forge - Yellow Springs    Hospital Site	(Dec 19, 1777) -  June 18, 1778 Visits by GW and Martha	Deborah Hewe's
			- Doylestown	June 20, 1778
		- New Jersey	- Coryell's Ferry	June 22, 1778	Holcombe House
			- Hopewell	June 23, 1778	John Hunt's
			- Cranberry	June 26, 1778
			- Englishtown	June 27, 1778
			- Middlesex County	June 28, 1778
			MONMOUTH COUNTY   BATTLE  - Near Manalapan |    Freehold	June 28-29, 1778
			- New Brunswick	July  3, 1778

 

 

	1778	- New    Jersey	- Newark	July   9, 1778
			- Paramus	July 10 - 14, 1778	Theodosia Provost's Heremitage
		- New York	- Haverstraw	July 15 - 16, 1778	Udny Hay's
			- West Point	July 16
			- Haverstraw	July 17 - 18, 1778	Udny Hay's
			- 7mi above King's    Ferry	July 19, 1778	Captain Drake's  Delav House
			- White Plains - Pawling  HQ	July 20 - Sep 16, 1778 Sep 12 - Nov 23 - HQ	Elijah Millar's House/ Reuben Wright's Mill John Kane  House
			- Fredericksburg	Sep 17, 1778
			- Fishkill	Oct  1 -  8, 1778	Brinkerhoff's House
			- Fredericksburg	Oct  9 - Nov 10, 1778
			- Poughkeepsie	Nov 10, 1778	Glebe House

 
Glebe House Poughkeepsie, NY  -  HQ Nov. 10, 1778

	1778	-  New York	- Fredericksburg	Nov 11 - 29, 1778
			- Fishkill	Nov 29 - Dec  2, 1778
		- New Jersey	- ElizabethTown	Dec  2 -  4, 1778
			- Paramus	Dec  6, 1778
			- Middlebrook   Sommerville	Dec  11 - 21, 1778	Wallace House 1/2 House Leased from Dec 1778 - Jun 1779
			- Philadelphia	Dec  23 - (Feb  3, 1779)

Wallace House Sommersville, NJ near Middlebrook

                 
SOMMERVILLE, NJ HEADQUARTERS   (RENTED)
Wallace House   Dec. 1778 -    -->  Early 1779 

 
Martha and George Washington went to Philadelphia for "R&R" and to meet with Congress

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Continue . . .
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PICTURES OF  
WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS
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"The Worst Winter" was 1780  at Morristown, NJ 
IMAGES OF  GW HEADQUARTERS   at MORRISTOWN, NJ , etc.

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Other Images Later ...

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