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.
Author(s): William Hazelgrove
Publisher: Lyons Press
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 272
City: Guilford
Contents
Prologue. The Road to Morristown
Part 1. Winter
Chapter One. On the Frozen Hudson River: February 11, 1780
Chapter Two. General in Winter: December 29, 1779
Chapter Three. General Simcoe’s Affront: October 28, 1778
Chapter Four. Scott and Zelda: September 1778
Chapter Five. Log House City: November 1779
Chapter Six. The Plot: December 1779
Chapter Seven. Sacricide: New York, 1776
Chapter Eight. The Pent-Up General: January 1779
Chapter Nine. The Hail Mary General: 1777
Chapter Ten. James Benedict Bond: May 1779
Chapter Eleven. The Most Daring Exploit: January 31, 1780
Chapter Twelve. The Seeds of Mutiny: January 1780
Chapter Thirteen. The Trial of Benedict Arnold: Christmas 1779
Chapter Fourteen. Valley Forge: February 22, 1778
Chapter Fifteen. The Manic-Depressive: New York, 1779
Chapter Sixteen. Preparing to Kidnap George Washington: January 1780
Chapter Seventeen. Mr. Moore’s Unspeakable Treason: December 23, 1779
Chapter Eighteen. He Was but a Man: January 1780
Chapter Nineteen. The Diversion: February 11, 1780
Chapter Twenty. Desperate Measures: January 1780
Chapter Twenty-One. The Coldest Night: February 11, 1780, five a.m.
Chapter Twenty-Two. The Indispensable Man: 1776
Chapter Twenty-Three. The Black Hussars: February 12, 1780, six a.m.
Chapter Twenty-Four. The Insomniac General: February 12, 1780, three a.m.
Chapter Twenty-Five. The Second Diversion: Elizabethtown, two a.m.
Chapter Twenty-Six. Simcoe’s Payback: Six a.m.
Chapter Twenty-Seven. George Washington’s Fate: Five a.m.
Interlude
Part 2. Spring and Summer
Chapter Twenty-Eight. The Circumspect General: March 1780
Chapter Twenty-Nine. The Stressed-Out Family Man: April 1780
Chapter Thirty. Some Violent Convulsion: April 28, 1780
Chapter Thirty-One. The Volcano Explodes: May 1780
Chapter Thirty-Two. Bonnie and Clyde: June 1780
Chapter Thirty-Three. The Darkest Hour: May 1780
Chapter Thirty-Four. The French Component: May 1778
Chapter Thirty-Five. Americans Fight Like Bulldogs: June 7, 1780
Chapter Thirty-Six. The Neurotic Returns: June 1780
Chapter Thirty-Seven. Benedict Arnold’s Final Play: July 31, 1780
Chapter Thirty-Eight. The Kidnapping of Benedict Arnold: October 21, 1780
Chapter Thirty-Nine. Morristown
Epilogue
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index
