and
"GENERAL ORDERS
Head Quarters, Hunt's House, Tuesday, June 23, 1778.
Parole Philadelphia. Countersigns Brunswick, Boston.
The Troops will cook their Provisions and in every respect be
in the greatest readiness possible for a march or Action very early in
the morning.
When the General beats, the Army is to be put in immediate readiness
to march; on beating the troop the march begins. ..."
McHenry:
"The army takes the road from the Stone Schoolhouse to Rocky hill.
Hault near Sourland hights-- Hopewell. 4 miles from Princetown.
" Rocky hill reconnoitered. A good position relative to Kingston
in case that should be the enemy's route. The Millstone river unfordable
-- steep craggy ground under the right flank. -- The order to march-- 3
o'clock. 600 men detached under Col. Morgan to hang on the enemy
in conjunction with the militia."
Ege:
"Tradition says that these Hart borthers [Jesse and Nathaniel] guided
the army of General Washington from Coryell's Ferry to Hopewell, and to
their father's farm, where they encamped on June 23 to 25, when they resumed
their march to Monmouth. It rained constantly and the roads and fields
were in very miry codition, but the crest of the hill north of the borough
[Hopewell Borough] afforded a reasonably dry and solid location for their
encampment." (p255)
Erskine:
Shows a line going west from the current Woodsville Road (CR612) at
the county line. No road goes east. Label at this intersection
says "James Brooks", no mention in Ege. This matches the description
of the Bungtown Road. Could this be John Snooks, not Brooks?
(see Ege, June 22)
Ege:
" ... By this insturment, Fransic Blackwell conveyed the two adjoining
tract of land lying between the brook on the west and the "Great road leading
to Rocky Hill" on the east, and from the mill to the stony Brook road ..."
(p133) [ note reference to the "Great road leading to Rocky Hill", and
compare this to McHenry "the road from the Stone Schoolhouse to Rocky hill"
(even though they don't go to Rocky Hill, that's the name of the road.)
Quoted in Ege:
"May 15, 1752, Hunterdon County, S. S. We, the Grand Jury, now sitting
in, and for the County of Hunterdon, Oyer & Terminer, Do present the
overseers of the road oof the Township of Hopewell for not repairing a
certain road called "Roger's Road," leading from a Stone School House by
Daniel Hart's mill [footnote: This was Philip Ringo's mill, now J. H. Moore's
at Glen Moore. It was purchased by Daniel Hart in 1751"] to the Province
Line, being the road leading to Brunswick."... [Daniel Hart was an
uncle of Jesse and Nathaniel Hart.]
Erskine:
Map 49A shows "Schoolhouse" at the northern corner of Marshalls Corner.
Clearly, this shows that the stone school house, and road to Rocky Hill are the roads from Marshalls Corner to Hopewell and 518 to Rocky Hill. Even if this is not the spot that Lee suggested for a camp, it is clear that the army either didn't feel the British Army would come up from Pennington, or felt that pushing on was a good idea.
Brechnell:
"1. Hunt's House
"This is the address General Washington used for his dispatches dated
June 1778, after he chose to stop for a time and meet with his generals...
he set up a temporary encampment at "Baptist Meeting House," then the name
for present-day Hopewell Borough on the farm of American patriot Judge
John Hart. Hart had earlier signed the Declaration of Independence.
His farm more or less encompassed the present village; the meeting
house cemetery was on his property. The General himself, with Lafayette,
proceeded to take possession of the late well-to-do Colonel Joseph Stout's
large stone house which was beautifully set apart from other farms on 296
acres and overlooked the valley. As it happened, at this time, Stout's
son had let his cousin John Price Hunt occupy the house, which explains
how Washington came to call it "Hunt's House."..."
Stryker:
"On the top of a hill overlooking the village of Hopewell the late
Colonel Joseph Stout had built a large and imposing dwelling. When
General Washington reached Hopewell, he took possession of this building
for his headquarters."
More discussion of this on the June 24 page. (note, Stout house
is approximately at the intersection of
Province Line Road and Long Way on the lower map.
