Morristown National Historical Park: Jockey Hollow

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The Jockey Hollow unit of Morristown National Historical Park is the site of the Continental Army’s main winter encampment. My first stop was the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center. There, I watched the 15 minute film and arranged for a volunteer to take me inside the Wick House.

The film described what life was like for the common soldier who wintered at Jockey Hollow during the harshest winter of the War, from December 1779 to June 1780. Huddled in log cabins with rags for clothing and little food, the army hunkered down to wait for Spring.

The miserable conditions gave rise to desertions and mutinies, but the death toll was actually small compared to the…