Morristown: The Darkest Winter of the Revolutionary War and the Plot to Kidnap George Washington

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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. 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