12. Signal Beacon fires Traditional Cache

In 1779 George Washington moved the Continental Army into New Jersey. He wanted to be within striking distance of New York City but at the same time be able to respond to an attack in or around Philadelphia. He chose Morristown at Jockey Hollow in the Watchung Mountains as his camp and headquarters. To protect the army from a surprise attack by Gen. Clinton’s forces out of New York, he ordered General Alexander, Lord Stirling to put together a plan for a series of signal beacons be built “on conspicuous hills and Mountains, which appear to be judicious and well disposed” on the eastern side of the Watchung Mountains then called the Blue Hills of New Jersey.

Stirling was given the assignment because he knew the mountains and lowlands very well, being a gentleman farmer and soldier from nearby Basking Ridge. Similar beacons had already been built in the Hudson Highlands of New York. The beacons were to serve three purposes: to call out the militia, to indicate the approach direction of the British and to direct the subsequent movements of the militia. Stirling met with the field officers of the militias of Middlesex and Somerset counties and “Settled with them their posts to Assemble at in Case of Alarm” as well as “the Most proper Method & places for Signals.”

Washington, aware that he needed permission from the state before building any beacons, wrote to Governor William Livingston. The governor “most heartily approved it,” but because the New Jersey Council-of-Safety Act, passed on September 20, 1777 and extended on June 20, 1778, had expired on October 8, 1778, he needed to set the request before the state’s General Assembly.

This cache is one of "The American Revolution Geo~Trail" caches throughout New Jersey. These special geocaches are hidden at historic locations which have a connection to important New Jersey's American Revolutionary War history. To participate in the optional Geo-Trail, after you find the geocache, locate the secret code and record it into your passport which you will print from the Geo~Trail website. Information at njpatriots.org

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