Morristown National Historical Park. As one of the finest homes in Morristown, Washington accepted an invitation by Mrs. Ford to use the mansion as his headquarters during the brutal winter of 1779—80 as his 13,000 troops camped nearby. Washington brought with him his aides-de-camp and servants, leaving Mrs. Ford and her four young children with only two rooms of the house.
But with the British army evacuated [from Philadelphia in 1778] and the Patriots now in charge, Philadelphia Loyalists were doubly vulnerable to censure and punishment for siding with the Crown and for having consorted with the enemy. The Philadelphia Assembly Appointed [Charles Willson] Peale and four others to be Commissioners of Forfeited Estates, and for that the commissioners would receive a 5 percent commission. Peale’s group had extraordinary power to interrogate suspected traitors, break into houses, remove property, and sell off estates. Writs were issued to seize 118 estates ...