Last updated: November 30, 2022
Place
Morristown Life Guard Marker
NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
Morris Ave and W Valley Drive, Morristown, NJ
Significance:
Historic marker
The simple marker in front of a church yard reads as follows:
"Continental Army Encampments At Morristown 1777 1781
Life Guard Camp
On this site the Commander In Chief's Guard was encamped from December 1779 to June 1780. The Guard was reorganized in Morristown during the first Encampment in 1779 and again in 1780. Washington made his headquarters in the Ford House opposite.
Erected in 1932, by Tempe Wicke Society, Children of the American Revolution."
Washington's Life Guard protected the Commander in Chief, his headquarters, and his baggage. Numbering between 100 and 250 men, they were handpicked volunteers from many of the Army's various brigades, and a constant presence at headquarters. Their duties included standing post within and without the Ford Mansion and escorting the Commander and his guests when they traveled. Rather than taking up more room in the already crowded Ford Mansion, they built a series of log huts nearby to shelter in through the coldest winter in living memory. The widow Ford's eldest son, Timothy, volunteered to serve in the Life Guard over the course of the encampment.
The marker, like the others in its series, was placed here prior to the establishment of the National Historical Park. Nothing of the original huts, built in much the same manner as the ones in Jockey Hollow, remained to mark the site. The winter quarters of the famous Washington was a stone's throw across Morris Avenue, and had been celebrated in memory since the war's end, and especially once the Washington Association opened it to public tours in the late 19th century.
The Tempe Wick Society of the Children of the American Revolution placed this marker here, not the federal or local governments. Their involvement and successful establishment of the marker shows the power of community in creating and maintaining historic memory. The timing is also of interest. By 1932, the National Park Service had recommended historic sites, specifically Washington's Headquarters and Jockey Hollow, become federally designated historic sites. Within a year, the first National Historical Park was established at Morristown.
"Continental Army Encampments At Morristown 1777 1781
Life Guard Camp
On this site the Commander In Chief's Guard was encamped from December 1779 to June 1780. The Guard was reorganized in Morristown during the first Encampment in 1779 and again in 1780. Washington made his headquarters in the Ford House opposite.
Erected in 1932, by Tempe Wicke Society, Children of the American Revolution."
Washington's Life Guard protected the Commander in Chief, his headquarters, and his baggage. Numbering between 100 and 250 men, they were handpicked volunteers from many of the Army's various brigades, and a constant presence at headquarters. Their duties included standing post within and without the Ford Mansion and escorting the Commander and his guests when they traveled. Rather than taking up more room in the already crowded Ford Mansion, they built a series of log huts nearby to shelter in through the coldest winter in living memory. The widow Ford's eldest son, Timothy, volunteered to serve in the Life Guard over the course of the encampment.
The marker, like the others in its series, was placed here prior to the establishment of the National Historical Park. Nothing of the original huts, built in much the same manner as the ones in Jockey Hollow, remained to mark the site. The winter quarters of the famous Washington was a stone's throw across Morris Avenue, and had been celebrated in memory since the war's end, and especially once the Washington Association opened it to public tours in the late 19th century.
The Tempe Wick Society of the Children of the American Revolution placed this marker here, not the federal or local governments. Their involvement and successful establishment of the marker shows the power of community in creating and maintaining historic memory. The timing is also of interest. By 1932, the National Park Service had recommended historic sites, specifically Washington's Headquarters and Jockey Hollow, become federally designated historic sites. Within a year, the first National Historical Park was established at Morristown.