Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence

by John Ferling

Twenty-six miles west of New York City, astride both the Whippany River and the post road that linked the Hudson and Delaware Rivers, Morristown was a market center for local farmers and iron miners. Situated in a region of rolling, sometimes lofty hills, the craggy narrow passes leading to the village could be easily defended, and the river that coursed through it was entirely in American hands. The village sat atop a triangular plateau. Hollows fell down two sides of the town and rugged Thimble Mountain stood tall at its back. Morristown was a carefully chosen site. The Continental army would be unassailable in these quarters.1 Morristown looked like scores of other hamlets. A church, courthouse, cemetery, two or three shops, a tavern, and perhaps fifty houses, most with lovingly tilled farm land, splayed out from the center of the village.