Transcriber's Note
Footnote 194: Missing reference page number.
Footnotes have been placed at end of their respective chapter.
Obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been repaired.
A STUDY OF ARMY CAMP LIFE DURING AMERICAN REVOLUTION
BY
MARY HAZEL SNUFF
B. S. North-Western College, 1917.
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
IN HISTORY
IN
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
1918
[Illustration]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION 1
Chapter I
HOUSING CONDITIONS 4
Chapter II
FOOD AND CLOTHING 15
Chapter III
HEALTH AND SANITATION 27
Chapter IV
RECREATION IN CAMP 37
Chapter V
RELIGION IN THE CAMP 46
Chapter VI
CAMP DUTIES AND DISCIPLINE 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY 64
INTRODUCTION
The object of this study is to produce a picture of the private soldier
of the American Revolution as he lived, ate, was punished, played,
and worshiped in the army camp. Drawing that picture not only from
the standpoint of the continental congress, the body which made the
rules and regulations for governing the army, or from the officer's
view point as they issued orders from headquarters rather just a
study of the soldier himself in the camp conditions and his reaction
to them. It was easy for congress to determine the rations or for
the commander-in-chief to issue orders about housing conditions and
sanitation, but the opportunities for obeying those orders were not
always the best. It is just that fact, not what was intended, but what
happened, that is to be discussed.
The soldier in camp is an aspect of the Revolutionary War which has
been taken up only in a very general way by writers of that period of
history, except perhaps the conditions at Valley Forge, for at least
their terrible side is quite generally known. Charles Knowles Bolton
has studied the private soldier under Washington[1], but has emphasized
other phases of the soldier's life than those taken up in this study.
The material has been gathered mostly from letters, journals, orderly
books, and diaries of the officers and privates, written while in camp.
The difficulty confronted has been to get the diaries of the private
soldier. They have either not been published or if they have been
published they have been edited in such a way as to make them useless
for a study of social conditions in camp, the emphasis having been
placed on the military operations and tactics rather than the every day
incidents in the soldier's life.
The soldier has been studied after he went into camp. Little has been
said about the conditions which led to the war or the conditions as
they were before the struggle began except as they are used to explain
existing facts. It has been the plan in most of the chapters to give a
brief resume of the plans made by congress or the commander-in-chief
for the working out of that particular part of the organization, then
to describe the conditions as they really were.
There has been no attempt made, for it would be an almost impossible
task, to give a picture of the life in all the camps but rather the
more representative phases have been described or conditions in general
have been discussed.
The first phase of camp life considered is that of the housing
conditions, the difficulties encountered, the description of the huts,
the method of construction, and the furnishing. This is followed in the
second chapter with a study of the food and clothing, the supply and
scarcity of those necessities. The third chapter will have to do with
the health and sanitation of the soldier while encamped, the hospital
system, the number sick, the diseases most prevalent and the means
of prevention. The soldier's leisure time will be the subject of the
fourth chapter, the sort of recreation he had been in the habit of at
home and the ways he found of amusing himself in camp conditions. The
soldier's religion forms the subject matter of the fifth chapter, the
influence of the minister before the war, his place in the army, the
religious exercises in camp and their effect upon the individual and
the war in general. The last chapter will in a way be a recapitulation
of all that has gone before by drawing a picture of a day with a
soldier in camp emphasizing the discipline and duties of camp life.
[Footnote 1: Bolton, _The Private Soldier Under Washington_.]
Chapter I
HOUSING 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 month[2]. 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, reserved for 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.[5] Some of them were living in houses and churches, others were
occupying barns[6] and 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.[7] A good description of
this motley host is given us by Rev. Wm. Emerson of Concord, "the sight
is very diverting to 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".[8] Washington 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"[10] and 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. Waldo[11] in a poem
written while in camp describing the general conditions but 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 nigh
Or friendlier house to keep us dry.
* * * * *
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 chimneys[13] on 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 out the 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.[15] The
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 lines[16] and often the seasons advanced so rapidly
that the snow would be four feet deep around each tent[17], it even
being February before the huts were finished in some instances[18].
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 warm[19], 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
outside[20] which 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.[22] The space in front of the huts was cleared and
used for a parade ground by the various regiments.[23] Whenever 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 his axe 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.[25] Each 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.[26] The 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 own private 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 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 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 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.[28] The 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.[29] These temporary quarters consisted 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 them[31]. At other times they slept in barns or
churches,[32] or 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.[33] Each 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.[34]
Since 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.[35] The only light they
had was furnished by candles which were a part of every man's rations
and the tallow from the cattle 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.
[Footnote 2: Van Tyne, _The American Revolution_, p. 44.]
[Footnote 3: _Mass. Hist. Soc. Pro._ Vol. XII, p. 257, footnote, and
Ford, _Writings of Washington_, Vol. III, p. 3.]
[Footnote 4: _Mass. Hist. Soc. Pro._ Vol. XII, p. 257, footnote, and
Ford, _Writings of Washington_, Vol. III, p. 3.]
[Footnote 5: Ford, _Writings of Washington_. Vol. III, p.11.]
[Footnote 6: Lyman, _Journal_, (Nov. 17, 1775.) p. 126]
[Footnote 7: Force, _American Archives_, Ser. 5, Vol. III, Col. 593.]
[Footnote 8: Quoted in Trevelyon, _American Revolution_, Vol. I, p.
324.]
[Footnote 9: Ford, _Writings of Washington_. Vol. III, p. 11.]
[Footnote 10: Trumbell, _Journal_. (Sept. 19, 1775), p. 146]
[Footnote 11: Dr. Waldo was a surgeon in the continental Army,
1775-1777.]
[Footnote 12: Poem by Dr. Waldo in _Historical Magazine_, Sept. 1863,
p. 270.]
[Footnote 13: Lyman, _Journal_, (Oct. 16, 1775). P. 121.]
[Footnote 14: Chastellux, _Travels in America_, p. 104.]
[Footnote 15: Lewis, _Orderly Book_, (Aug. 18, 1776), p. 78]
[Footnote 16: Chastellux, _Travels in America_, p. 104.]
[Footnote 17: Thacher, _Military Journal_, p. 181.]
[Footnote 18: Greene, _Life of Greene_, Vol. 2, p. 185.]
[Footnote 19: Thacher, _Military Journal_, p. 181.]
[Footnote 20: Ibid., p. 176.]
[Footnote 21: Greene, _Life of Greene_, Vol. 1, p. 538.]
[Footnote 22: Greene, _Life of Greene_, Vol. I, p. 528.]
[Footnote 23: Thacher, _Military Journal_, p. 155.]
[Footnote 24: Chastellux, _Travels in America_, p. 202.]
[Footnote 25: Thacher, _Military Journal_, p. 155.]
[Footnote 26: See Chastellux, _Travels in America_, p. 302. Greene,
_Life of Greene_, Vol. I, p. 538 and Thacher, _Military Journal_, p.
155.]
[Footnote 27: Thacher, _Military Journal_, p. 155, and _American Hist.
Mag._ Vol. 3, p. 157.]
[Footnote 28: Greene, _Life of Greene_, Vol. II, p. 160.]
[Footnote 29: Chastellux, _Travels in America_, p. 66.]
[Footnote 30: Chastellux, _Travels in America_, Vol. II, p. 160.]
[Footnote 31: See, Thacher, _Military Journal_, p. 176, Trumbell
_Journal_, Aug. 7, 1775; Waldo, _Journal_ (Nov. 29, 1777.), p. 130.]
[Footnote 32: Squir, _Journal_, (Sept. 13, 1775), p. 13.]
[Footnote 33: Lossing, _Life of Washington_. Vol. VI, p. 572.]
[Footnote 34: Waldo, _Journal_, (Dec. 1777.), p. 131.]
[Footnote 35: Fitch, _Journal_, (Aug. 20.) p. 46.]
[Footnote 36: Greene, _Life of Greene_, Vol. I, p. 570.]