What was to become Warren Township a generation after the Declaration of Independence played only a peripheral role in the Revolutionary War. The fifty or sixty families that inhabited the Blue Hills were safe in their vastness, isolated from the tide of war that swirled around them. To the north and west were Morristown and Chatham, both important outposts of Revolutionary activity. To the south, on the plains below the steep mountain slopes, American, British and Hessian soldiers contested for supremacy. The Watchung Mountains, however, were a natural fortress, never challenged by the enemy. In late November and early December 1776, Washington’s defeated army passed through Somerset County on its dispirited march to the Delaware. Following the surprise victory at Trenton on Christmas Day, Washington moved his troops north again, toward Pluckemin, reached by advance elements on January 4, 1777. After two days of rest, the army moved to winter quarters at Morristown.

During the winter of 1776-77, Somerset County was entirely at the mercy of Hessian and British soldiers headquartered at New Brunswick. Property was seized or destroyed and homes plundered and burned by enemy troops seeking forage and supplies. It was during this unsettled time that hundreds of families fled from the path of war through the mountain passes or to improvised shelters on the wooded heights. Hoping to protect the Quibbletown Gap (a pass through the mountains at today’s Washington Rock), patriots led by Cornelius Vermeule established a militia post below the lookout in late December 1776. The Blue Hills Fort would be headquarters to militiamen from Somerset, Morris and Middlesex Counties in numbers that fluctuated between one and two thousand. At Bound Brook, the county’s oldest town, General Lincoln was stationed with 500 soldiers with orders to allow no foraging boats to pass up or down the Raritan River. On the early morning of April 13, 1777, he was surprised by a large party of British troops, some 4,000 in number, led by Lord Cornwallis. The attack was so sudden that General Lincoln had time only to rush from his bed, mount his horse and escape to the mountains. His little army was not so fortunate: 100 of them were killed or captured before the rest gained safe refuge in the hills. The British held Bound Brook until the afternoon, when, after thoroughly plundering every home in the town, they left for New Brunswick, carrying their spoils with them. Believing that Lord Howe intended to move south across the Delaware toward Philadelphia, Washington decided to move his forces closer to New Brunswick where he could be within striking distance of the enemy. In late May the patriot army marched to Middlebrook, on the First Mountain south of Martinsville, remaining there for six weeks. Unable to lure Washington into battle on the plains below the mountains, and wary of operating in New Jersey with 8,000 American soldiers on his flank, Lord Howe abandoned operations in the state on June 30. On July 2nd the American army decamped from Middlebrook, passing through Somerset County on its way to Philadelphia.

Not until the winter of 1778-79 did the American army return again to Somerset County. Recalling the bitter experiences of Valley Forge, and determined to quarter his troops in a more advantageous position, Washington returned to Middlebrook for the second time. Between December 1778 and June 1779, between 8,000 and 10,000 American soldiers made camp on the slopes of the First Mountain, just below Martinsville in Bridgewater Township. At Pluckemin General Henry Knox settled in with 49 companies of artillery and some 60 cannon. By the first of February log huts were completed and both officers and men were made comfortable for the remainder of what proved to be an unusually mild winter. The passes through the first and second ranges of the Watchung Mountains were carefully guarded to prevent the enemy from getting to the rear of the encampment (a stone construction in Dock Watch Hollow may the remnant of a rifle pit erected by soldiers guarding that area during the Second Middlebrook Encampment). Bullets, gun parts and spoon fragments found near the intersection of Morning Glory and King George Roads are further evidence of the presence in this area of the American army. Among the prominent officers at Camp Middlebrook besides the Commander-in-Chief were Generals Greene, Wayne, Alexander (Lord Stirling), Sullivan, DeKalb, Steuben, Lafayette and Colonels Hamilton, Scammell and Lee, some of whom may have accompanied Washington as he rode on horseback along the valley road to Washington Rock, a jutting outcrop in what is now Green Brook that offered the best view of enemy activity on the plains below the mountains (see separate entry). It was while encamped at Middlebrook that Washington ordered a series of signal beacons constructed “on conspicuous Hills and Mountains” as a way to warn the countryside of enemy troop movements. Six were built in the Watchung Mountains, two of them in Warren Township (see separate entry).

n the summer of 1781 the American army again passed near Warren as the combined American and French forces marched south toward Virginia and ultimate victory at Yorktown. The right column, mostly French soldiers, marched through Liberty Corner on August 28th en route from Chatham.

The strategic value of the Watchung Mountains was not lost on either American or British commanders. In November 1779 General Washington, then looking for suitable winter quarters, sent Lord Stirling and Colonel James Abeel on a scouting trip through the area from Morristown to the old camp at Middlebrook. “[We] proceeded along the foot of the mountain to Quibble Town Gap, & found many good places for the Army to encamp,” wrote Col. Abeel from Basking Ridge on November 9, 1779, “but as the encampment would be too much exposed, we crossed the mountain thro’ Quibble Town Gap in between the first & second mountain where we find a most Beautiful place for the whole Army to encamp Wood & Water being plenty the ground dry, roads leading through the mountain to Morris Town, Basken Ridge and Middlebrook, a Number of houses are in between the mountains some pretty good…. There is plenty of Room in between those mountains for six or eight divisions…; over the Second Mountain is a most Beautiful river Vale between that and Long hill, abounding with fine meadows and Plenty of Forage; the mountain in the Rear of 2d mountain has scarcely any Wood…. The Road between the two mountains is very good and never Deep as it is hard Gravel and not very Rockey….” Abeel’s description is of Washington Valley, Stony Hill and the Passaic River valley. Ultimately, Washington chose Jockey Hollow near Morristown for his winter camp. In one of those coincidences of history, the same year Stirling and Abeel were scouting Washington Valley as a possible campsite for the American army, one of British Lord Clinton’s men also traversed the area, drawing a map of the land from Mendham to Bound Brook to Chatham. “The Road from the banks of the pissaik River and of Dead River to the Valley where the Rebel army was said to be encamped, are practicable for Waggons of any Burthen,” he wrote. “They cross Stony Hill and Second Mountain which are of easy ascent; a great part of the Hills is clear cultivated Land. Some places are interspersed with Brush Wood and there is scarce any part where a Horseman may not ride up conveniently. There are only fences, no Stone Walls. Dead River is not above 20 feet broad but is very deep. In freshes it is considerably widened.” Despite the mapmaker’s optimistic report, British commanders had little interest in challenging Fortress Watchung. Only once during the Revolution did British troops penetrate what would become Warren Township when, on December 15, 1776, a troop of 30 dragoons led by Colonel William Harcourt galloped up King George Road on their way from Bound Brook to Basking Ridge. Their mission was to capture the American General Charles Lee, then dallying at the widow Brown’s tavern.

More than 50 men (nearly the entire male population between the ages of 15 and 50 living in what would become Warren Township in 1806) served in the Somerset County militia at one time or another during the war, most on monthly tours whenever their “class” was called to duty. While by far the greatest number served as infantrymen, others were teamsters, express riders, scouts or spies, guards or fifers and drummers. Private Isaac Coddington was captured by the British and held prisoner for months in New York’s infamous Sugar House until exchanged. Another private, John Coon, was killed. Warren’s militiamen saw hard service at the battles of Springfield, Connecticut Farms, the Short Hills, Bound Brook, Monmouth Court House, Long Island, Staten Island, White Plains and scores of others less well known. Israel Coon (1758-1809), who enlisted in the Continental Army in February 1777, served as a corporal in “Light Horse Harry” Lee’s renowned First Regiment of Dragoons. David Smalley (1745-1816) served with distinction from 1776 to 1781, rising through the ranks from ensign to captain of State troops. A lieutenant in the militia from 1777 to 1784, Joseph Catterline (1741-1822) had charge of Signal Beacon No. 7

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