Forage War - Disposition of The Armies

Disposition of The Armies

General Washington established his headquarters at Morristown, separated from the coast by the Watchung Mountains, a series of low ridges. He established forward outposts to the east and south of these ridges that served not only as a defensive bulwark against potential British incursions across the hills, but also as launch points for raids. Over the course of January and February, Washington's Continental Army shrank to about 2,500 regulars after Washington's incentives for many men to overstay their enlistment periods ran out. A large number of militia from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania bolstered these forces, and played a significant role that winter.

The British army was initially deployed from posts as far north as Hackensack to New Brunswick. The garrison, numbering about 10,000, was concentrated between New Brunswick and Amboy, with a sizable contingent further north, from Elizabethtown to Paulus Hook. Militia pressure in January led General Cornwallis to withdraw most of the northern troops to the shores of the Hudson. The resulting concentration of troops overflowed the available housing, which had been entirely abandoned by its residents, with some of the troops even living aboard ships anchored nearby; the cramped quarters led to an increase in camp-related illnesses throughout the winter, and morale was low. The area had been heavily plundered during the American retreat in the fall, so there was little in the way of local provisions. The men subsisted largely on rations such as salt pork, but their draft animals required fresh fodder, for which they sent out raiding expeditions.