A letter dated May 12, 1777, described the Morristown of that day as “a very Clever little village, situated in a most beautiful vally at the foot of 5 mountains.” Farming was the mainstay of its people, some 250 in number and largely of New England stock, but nearby ironworks were already enriching a few families and employing more and more laborers. Among the 50 or 60 buildings in Morristown, the most important seem to have been the Arnold Tavern, the Presbyterian and Baptist Churches, and the Morris County Courthouse and Jail, all located on an open “Green” from which streets radiated in several directions. There were also a few sawmills, gristmills, and a powder mill, the last built on the Whippany River, in 1776, by Col. Jacob Ford, Jr., commander of the Eastern Battalion, Morris County Militia. Colonel Ford’s dwelling house, then only a few years old, was undoubtedly the handsomest in the village. Washington’s immediate reasons for bringing his troops to Morristown were that it appeared to be the place “best calculated of any in this Quarter, to accomodate and refresh them,” and that he knew not how to obtain covering for the men elsewhere. He must have been impressed also with the demonstrated loyalty of Morris County to the patriot cause, even in those dreary, anxious weeks of late 1776 when its militia helped considerably to stave off attempted enemy incursions directly westward from the vicinity of New York. Finally, there were already at Morristown three Continental regiments previously ordered down from Fort Ticonderoga, and union with these would strengthen the forces under his personal command. [Illustration: _The Arnold Tavern, where Washington reputedly stayed in 1777._]