Chapter IHOUSING CONDITIONS
The war was on, the Lexington and Concord fray was over, Paul Revere had made his memorable ride, and the young patriots with enthusiasm at white heat were swarming from village and countryside leaving their work and homes. Where they were going they did not know, they were going to fight with little thought of where they were to live or what they were to eat and wear. There was a continental congress but it had little authority and the fact was that very few members of that mushroom growth army even felt that they were fighting for a confederation for in their minds they were for the various states, and it was to the various states they looked for support and it was to those states that the honors were to go. It was not until the day before the battle of Bunker Hill that congress had appointed a commander-in-chief and it was almost a month later when Washington took command in Boston. There was an army of sixteen thousand men mostly from the New England States strengthened by about three thousand from the more southern states during the next month2. It was more nearly a mob than an army. There was no directing force, no one to superintend the building of barracks, no one to distribute food or to take charge of the supplies.
The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts on hearing of Washington's appointment ordered on June 26, 1775 "the President's (of the college) house in Cambridge, excepting one room, reservedfor the President for his own use, be taken, cleared, prepared, and furnished for the reception of General Washington and General Lee"3. It seems as though the General only occupied that house for a short time and then moved to what was called the "Craige House" for on July 8, 1775, the committee of safety directed that the house of John Vassel, a refugee loyalist, should be put in condition for the reception of the commander-in-chief and later that his welfare should be looked after, by providing him with a steward, a housekeeper, and such articles of furniture as he might ask for.4
Such were the headquarters of the first camp of the Revolution but the story of the privates' quarters is quite a different thing. The troops were not quartered at one place, they were scattered about the surrounding territory some at Roxbury, some at Winter Hill, others at Prospect Hill and Sewall's Farm and at various small towns along the coast.5Some of them were living in houses and churches, others were occupying barns6and still others were constructing their own places of shelter using sail cloth, logs, stones, mud, sod, rails or anything else which would lend itself to the purpose.7A good description of this motley host is given us by Rev. Wm. Emerson of Concord, "the sight is very divertingto walk among the camps. They are as different in their form as the owners are in their dress and every tent is a portraiture of the temper and taste of the persons who encamp in it. Some are made of boards, some of sail cloth, again others are made of stone and turf brick or brush. Some are thrown up in a hurry, others curiously wrought with doors and windows done with wreaths and withes in the manner of a basket".8Washington wrote from Cambridge to congress on July 10, 1775 about a month after taking command and said, "we labor under great Disadvantages for want of tents for tho' they have been help'd out by a collection of now useless sails from the Sea Port Towns, the number is yet far short of our Necessities"9.
When tents were used for shelter at Cambridge or at other places it was very seldom that any thing more than "Mother Earth" served as floors and sometimes that was so wet and miry that the soldiers during the rainy seasons were forced to raise the ground with "Rushes, Barks, and Flags in the dry"10and at other times the tents were taken down during the day for the ground to dry and then put up again at night.
It would be difficult to get any where more frank reactions to housing conditions than those which were given by Dr. Waldo11in a poem written while in camp describing the general conditionsbut particularly the tents and huts. The part quoted below describes a stormy day and the hardships endured when the army was encamped in tents.
"Though huts in Winter shelter give,Yet the thin tents in which we live,Through a long summer's hard campaign,Are slender coverts from the rain,And oft no friendly barn is nighOr friendlier house to keep us dry.*****Move tents and baggage to some height,And on wet cloths, wet blankets lieTill welcome sunshine makes them dry.Others despising storm and rainStill in the flat and vale remain,There sleep in water muck and mire,Or drizzling stand before a fireComposed of stately piles of wood,Yet oft extinguished with the flood."12
"Though huts in Winter shelter give,Yet the thin tents in which we live,Through a long summer's hard campaign,Are slender coverts from the rain,And oft no friendly barn is nighOr friendlier house to keep us dry.*****Move tents and baggage to some height,And on wet cloths, wet blankets lieTill welcome sunshine makes them dry.Others despising storm and rainStill in the flat and vale remain,There sleep in water muck and mire,Or drizzling stand before a fireComposed of stately piles of wood,Yet oft extinguished with the flood."12
"Though huts in Winter shelter give,Yet the thin tents in which we live,Through a long summer's hard campaign,Are slender coverts from the rain,And oft no friendly barn is nighOr friendlier house to keep us dry.
"Though huts in Winter shelter give,
Yet the thin tents in which we live,
Through a long summer's hard campaign,
Are slender coverts from the rain,
And oft no friendly barn is nigh
Or friendlier house to keep us dry.
*****
Move tents and baggage to some height,And on wet cloths, wet blankets lieTill welcome sunshine makes them dry.Others despising storm and rainStill in the flat and vale remain,There sleep in water muck and mire,Or drizzling stand before a fireComposed of stately piles of wood,Yet oft extinguished with the flood."12
Move tents and baggage to some height,
And on wet cloths, wet blankets lie
Till welcome sunshine makes them dry.
Others despising storm and rain
Still in the flat and vale remain,
There sleep in water muck and mire,
Or drizzling stand before a fire
Composed of stately piles of wood,
Yet oft extinguished with the flood."12
As the weather grew colder and the men were still in tents it was the practice to build chimneys13on the tents or rather in front of the tents. They were built on the outside and concealed the entrance which served the double purpose of keeping outthe wind and also keeping in as much heat as possible.14
The tents were supposed to house about six men and no more than fourteen tents were allowed to a company of about seventy two.15The tent was the most common mode of housing. It was used whenever it was possible to get material except when the army went into winter quarters then the log huts were built. The tents were usually formed in two ranks in regular lines16and often the seasons advanced so rapidly that the snow would be four feet deep around each tent17, it even being February before the huts were finished in some instances18.
The furnishings of the tents were very meagre, one person even remarking that they were greatly favored in having a supply of straw for beds. The straw was placed on the ground and five or six soldiers would crowd together on it hoping to keep warm19, sometimes each had a blanket and sometimes there was one blanket for three or four. The sentry was instructed to keep the fire burning in the chimney outside20which added a little to the comfort.
When the army went into winter quarters the soldiers were a little more comfortable. Morristown and Valley Forge were the two representative winter quarters. The location of these permanent camps was usually chosen because of the ease with which building materials could be obtained or because there was easy access to food supplies.
As orders came to go into winter camp the men were divided into companies of twelve. Each group was to build its own hut and lucky was the group which happened to get the most carpenters, for General Washington offered a prize of twelve dollars to the group in each regiment which finished its hut first and did the best work.21
While the men were busy cutting the logs and bringing them in, the superintendent appointed from the field officers marked out the location of the huts. They were usually in two or three lines with regular streets and avenues between them, altogether forming a compact little village.22The space in front of the huts was cleared and used for a parade ground by the various regiments.23Whenever it was possible the huts were built on an elevation, the health of the army being the object considered.24
The only tools the soldier had to work with were hisaxe and saw. He had no nails and no iron of any sort, just the trunks of trees to cut into the desired lengths and a little mud and straw.25Each hut was fourteen by sixteen feet, with log sides six and one-half feet high. The logs were notched on the ends and fitted together in a dovetailing fashion. The spaces between the logs being made airtight with clay and straw. The roof was a single sharp slope that would shed the snow and rain easily, made of timbers and covered with hewn slabs and straw. There might be boards for the floor, but often there was not even a board to use for that purpose and just dirt served instead. Each hut inhabited by privates had one window and one door, the officers quarters usually had two windows. The windows and doors were formed by sawing out a portion of the logs the proper size and putting the part sawed out on wooden hinges or sometimes in the case of windows the hole was covered with oiled paper to let in light. The door was in one end and at the opposite end a chimney was built, built in a manner similar to the hut itself except that it was made of the smaller timbers and that both the inner and outer sides were covered with a clay plaster to protect the wood from the fire.26The huts were in one room usually, except the officers and theirs were divided into two apartments with a kitchen in the rear. Each such hut was occupied by three or four under officers, the generals had either their ownprivate hut or else lived in a private house near the camp.27
In the same poem as mentioned above written by Dr. Waldo is a description of the building and furnishing of a hut which warrants repeating.
My humble hut demands a rightTo have its matter, birth and siteDescribed first! of ponderous logsWhose bulk disdains the winds or fogsThe sides and ends are fitly raisedAnd by dove-tail each corner's brac'd;Athwart the roof, young saplings lieWhich fire and smoke has now made dry—Next straw wraps o'er the tender pale,Next earth, then splints o'erlay the whole;Although it leaks when showers are o'erIt did not leak two hours before,Two chimneys placed at opposite anglesKeep smoke from causing oaths and wrangles,*****Our floors of sturdy timbers made,Clean'd from the oak and level laid;Those cracks where zephyrs oft would playAre tightly closed with plastic clay;Three windows, placed all in sight,Through oiled paper give us light;One door on wooden hinges hung,Lets in the friend, or sickly throng;By wedge and beetles splitting forceThe oaken planks are made though coarse.By which is formed a strong partitionThat keep us in a snug condition;Divides the kitchen from the hall,Though both are equal and both are small,Yet there the cook prepares the board,Here serves it up as to a lord,
My humble hut demands a rightTo have its matter, birth and siteDescribed first! of ponderous logsWhose bulk disdains the winds or fogsThe sides and ends are fitly raisedAnd by dove-tail each corner's brac'd;Athwart the roof, young saplings lieWhich fire and smoke has now made dry—Next straw wraps o'er the tender pale,Next earth, then splints o'erlay the whole;Although it leaks when showers are o'erIt did not leak two hours before,Two chimneys placed at opposite anglesKeep smoke from causing oaths and wrangles,*****Our floors of sturdy timbers made,Clean'd from the oak and level laid;Those cracks where zephyrs oft would playAre tightly closed with plastic clay;Three windows, placed all in sight,Through oiled paper give us light;One door on wooden hinges hung,Lets in the friend, or sickly throng;By wedge and beetles splitting forceThe oaken planks are made though coarse.By which is formed a strong partitionThat keep us in a snug condition;Divides the kitchen from the hall,Though both are equal and both are small,Yet there the cook prepares the board,Here serves it up as to a lord,
My humble hut demands a rightTo have its matter, birth and siteDescribed first! of ponderous logsWhose bulk disdains the winds or fogsThe sides and ends are fitly raisedAnd by dove-tail each corner's brac'd;
My humble hut demands a right
To have its matter, birth and site
Described first! of ponderous logs
Whose bulk disdains the winds or fogs
The sides and ends are fitly raised
And by dove-tail each corner's brac'd;
Athwart the roof, young saplings lieWhich fire and smoke has now made dry—Next straw wraps o'er the tender pale,Next earth, then splints o'erlay the whole;Although it leaks when showers are o'erIt did not leak two hours before,Two chimneys placed at opposite anglesKeep smoke from causing oaths and wrangles,
Athwart the roof, young saplings lie
Which fire and smoke has now made dry—
Next straw wraps o'er the tender pale,
Next earth, then splints o'erlay the whole;
Although it leaks when showers are o'er
It did not leak two hours before,
Two chimneys placed at opposite angles
Keep smoke from causing oaths and wrangles,
*****
Our floors of sturdy timbers made,Clean'd from the oak and level laid;Those cracks where zephyrs oft would playAre tightly closed with plastic clay;Three windows, placed all in sight,Through oiled paper give us light;One door on wooden hinges hung,Lets in the friend, or sickly throng;By wedge and beetles splitting forceThe oaken planks are made though coarse.By which is formed a strong partitionThat keep us in a snug condition;Divides the kitchen from the hall,Though both are equal and both are small,Yet there the cook prepares the board,Here serves it up as to a lord,
Our floors of sturdy timbers made,
Clean'd from the oak and level laid;
Those cracks where zephyrs oft would play
Are tightly closed with plastic clay;
Three windows, placed all in sight,
Through oiled paper give us light;
One door on wooden hinges hung,
Lets in the friend, or sickly throng;
By wedge and beetles splitting force
The oaken planks are made though coarse.
By which is formed a strong partition
That keep us in a snug condition;
Divides the kitchen from the hall,
Though both are equal and both are small,
Yet there the cook prepares the board,
Here serves it up as to a lord,
The above description no doubt applies in general to any of the winter quarters. Often the camp was better situated for obtaining the necessary supplies and, too, after the soldiers had built one such town of huts the next would be better because of their experience. The camp at Morristown was better than the one at Valley Forge.28The quarters were large and huts were built to be used for social affairs such as dances and lodge meetings.
When the army was only stationed at a place for a short time as for instance when they were encamped near the enemy planning an attack and did not care to build the more permanent quarters, which took more time to complete, and when living in tents was not practicable, they built what the French called baroques, which could be thrown up in a day or two.29These temporary quartersconsisted of a wall of stone heaped up, the spaces between filled with mud, and a few planks formed the roof. A chimney was built at one end and the only opening was a small door at the side of the chimney.30
When the army was on the march the soldiers carried their tents with them if it was possible but a great many circumstances arose which made that impossible. Then they had a hut of brush or sod or even just sky to cover and protect them31. At other times they slept in barns or churches,32or where ever they could find a place.
As might be expected the furnishings of the huts were of a very meagre sort. There were beds of straw usually on the floor or else raised from the floor to get away from the dampness.33Each man was supposed to have with him his own blanket and cooking utensils, but it often happened that there was but a kettle or two for the whole company.34Since the actual necessities were so meagre, there surely were no unnecessary articles. There were none of those things which would tend to make the camp quarters the least bit like home. One man describes the difficulty of finding a place to write and ends by saying that the railing in a near by church was the best place.35The only light they had was furnished by candles which were a part of every man's rations and the tallow from thecattle killed for camp use was made into candles.
The men crouched together in those huts and the poor ventilation coupled with the fact that the only means of heating was an open fire place which sent about as much smoke into the room as it did out through the chimney produced a condition which was almost unbearable.36
From this study it would seem as if there were at least three classes of barracks, the tents used when practicable, the huts for winter quarters, the barroques for temporary housing, and if one wanted to mention a fourth, it would be just any place where ever a soldier might lie down.
When the housing situation is looked at from one angle the view is of the worst possible, but when on the other hand one realizes that each time the troops went into camp the whole process had to be gone through with from the cutting of the logs to the moving into the huts and beside that they had no tools, the whole thing seems wonderful.
2.Van Tyne,The American Revolution, p. 44.3.Mass. Hist. Soc. Pro.Vol. XII, p. 257, footnote, and Ford,Writings of Washington, Vol. III, p. 3.4.Mass. Hist. Soc. Pro.Vol. XII, p. 257, footnote, and Ford,Writings of Washington, Vol. III, p. 3.5.Ford,Writings of Washington. Vol. III, p.11.6.Lyman,Journal, (Nov. 17, 1775.) p. 1267.Force,American Archives, Ser. 5, Vol. III, Col. 593.8.Quoted in Trevelyon,American Revolution, Vol. I, p. 324.9.Ford,Writings of Washington. Vol. III, p. 11.10.Trumbell,Journal. (Sept. 19, 1775), p. 14611.Dr. Waldo was a surgeon in the continental Army, 1775–1777.12.Poem by Dr. Waldo inHistorical Magazine, Sept. 1863, p. 270.13.Lyman,Journal, (Oct. 16, 1775). P. 121.14.Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 104.15.Lewis,Orderly Book, (Aug. 18, 1776), p. 7816.Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 104.17.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 181.18.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. 2, p. 185.19.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 181.20.Ibid., p. 176.21.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. 1, p. 538.22.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. I, p. 528.23.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 155.24.Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 202.25.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 155.26.See Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 302. Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. I, p. 538 and Thacher,Military Journal, p. 155.27.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 155, andAmerican Hist. Mag.Vol. 3, p. 157.28.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. II, p. 160.29.Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 66.30.Chastellux,Travels in America, Vol. II, p. 160.31.See, Thacher,Military Journal, p. 176, TrumbellJournal, Aug. 7, 1775; Waldo,Journal(Nov. 29, 1777.), p. 130.32.Squir,Journal, (Sept. 13, 1775), p. 13.33.Lossing,Life of Washington. Vol. VI, p. 572.34.Waldo,Journal, (Dec. 1777.), p. 131.35.Fitch,Journal, (Aug. 20.) p. 46.36.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. I, p. 570.
2.Van Tyne,The American Revolution, p. 44.
3.Mass. Hist. Soc. Pro.Vol. XII, p. 257, footnote, and Ford,Writings of Washington, Vol. III, p. 3.
4.Mass. Hist. Soc. Pro.Vol. XII, p. 257, footnote, and Ford,Writings of Washington, Vol. III, p. 3.
5.Ford,Writings of Washington. Vol. III, p.11.
6.Lyman,Journal, (Nov. 17, 1775.) p. 126
7.Force,American Archives, Ser. 5, Vol. III, Col. 593.
8.Quoted in Trevelyon,American Revolution, Vol. I, p. 324.
9.Ford,Writings of Washington. Vol. III, p. 11.
10.Trumbell,Journal. (Sept. 19, 1775), p. 146
11.Dr. Waldo was a surgeon in the continental Army, 1775–1777.
12.Poem by Dr. Waldo inHistorical Magazine, Sept. 1863, p. 270.
13.Lyman,Journal, (Oct. 16, 1775). P. 121.
14.Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 104.
15.Lewis,Orderly Book, (Aug. 18, 1776), p. 78
16.Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 104.
17.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 181.
18.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. 2, p. 185.
19.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 181.
20.Ibid., p. 176.
21.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. 1, p. 538.
22.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. I, p. 528.
23.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 155.
24.Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 202.
25.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 155.
26.See Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 302. Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. I, p. 538 and Thacher,Military Journal, p. 155.
27.Thacher,Military Journal, p. 155, andAmerican Hist. Mag.Vol. 3, p. 157.
28.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. II, p. 160.
29.Chastellux,Travels in America, p. 66.
30.Chastellux,Travels in America, Vol. II, p. 160.
31.See, Thacher,Military Journal, p. 176, TrumbellJournal, Aug. 7, 1775; Waldo,Journal(Nov. 29, 1777.), p. 130.
32.Squir,Journal, (Sept. 13, 1775), p. 13.
33.Lossing,Life of Washington. Vol. VI, p. 572.
34.Waldo,Journal, (Dec. 1777.), p. 131.
35.Fitch,Journal, (Aug. 20.) p. 46.
36.Greene,Life of Greene, Vol. I, p. 570.