General Orders, 21 December 1779
General Orders
Head-Quarters Morristown tuesday Decr 21st 1779.
Parole C. Signs
The General Court Martial whereof Majr General Howe is President will assemble tomorrow at Norris’s tavern in Morristown1—Brigadier General Gist is appointed a member of the Court, vice Brigadier General Smallwood, who is obliged to be absent2—General Stark being indisposed Colonel Spencer is added as a member.3
When men are discharged the service the officers will be responsible that their arms, accoutrements &c. be delivered to the brigade Conductors, or Commissary of Military Stores, where no brigade Conductors are appointed.
It has been represented that some officers quarter’d in the neighborhood of camp, draw the wood for their own use from the encamping grounds of the corps to which they belong; this practice not only increases the inconvenience to the proprietors of the lands on which the army is quarte[re]d but will tend to distress the service by consuming the wood on the spot for the use of the troops and obliging them hereafter to draw their supplies from a distance; The General therefore desires those Gentlemen will in future while they remain in houses supply themselves from the lands on which they are quartered and give orders on the Quarter Master General for payment.4
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
Adj. Gen. Alexander Scammell’s orderly book entry for this date includes additional general orders: “For detachment to morrow—Major Torrey—A Sergt and fifteen men for fatigue to morrow, at the Orderly room, from Hands brigade—The Connecticut line gives the main guard to morrow.
“Lieutenant Colonel or Major, from the Connecticu⟨t⟩ line, to join the Light-Infantry immediately. …
“A detachment to parade to morrow morning ten o’clock, in the field between the Pennsylvania and York encampments (which is assigned for a Grand Parade) with two days cooked provisions and forty rounds per man—Lieut. Colonel DeHart is to take the command—he will apply to Head Quarters for orders this afternoon” (orderly book, 17 Oct. 1779–22 March 1780, DNA: RG 93, Orderly Books, 1775–1783, vol. 33).
1. Robert Norris recently had leased this tavern from the building’s owner, Peter Dickerson, who had served as captain in the 3d New Jersey Regiment prior to his resignation in October 1777. The tavern stood near the center of Morristown about three-fourths of a mile west of GW’s quarters at the Ford mansion. The rectangular two-story building with a center entrance remained standing with modifications until some decades into the twentieth century.
2. Brig. Gen. William Smallwood’s absence and replacement as a member of Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold’s court-martial occurred despite GW’s appeal to Smallwood in a letter of 20 December.
3. For Arnold’s court-martial, see GW to Joseph Reed, 4 Dec., and n.2 to that document.
4. For difficulties finding suitable winter quarters for the higher-ranking officers, see GW to Nathanael Greene, 30 Nov., n.2.