^y. <^^ ^^^ "^^ .'f' \V tP_ <\ c\^^ >. .<^ o'^' '>. ,-0' ,0 o^ ,0o •^y- V^ ■^«?>^ -••^V. ,c\^ N^^ -^^^ X^^^. '^.<;^ s /^tbr ..■^' THE PRIVATE SOLDIER UNDER WASHINGTON BY CHARLES KNOWLES BOLTON ILLUSTRATED CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK::::::::::::::::::1902 THE LI8RARY.OF CONGRESS, Two Copied Recsived OCT. 1 1902 COPVBIOHT ENTPV C» AS8 «- XXa No. corY B. Copyright, 1902, by CHAKLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Published, September, 1902 ^' TROW DIRECTORr PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK i TO MY WIFE (£tl)cl StantoooU Bolton PREFACE MUCH has been written about the Ameri- can Revolution, but our knowledge of the private soldiers of the patriot army is confined chiefly to Washington's description of their sufferings at Valley Forge. Their story is to be found in a line here and there scattered through the mass of contemporary literature. In sifting this material, it has seemed best to give in every case the name of the authority who saw what he described. No student, however, would willingly forget the labors of those later writers who have done so much to make easier the way for others. I record with pleasure my obligation to Pro- fessor Edward Channing, of Harvard College, for very many valuable suggestions ; and also to Mr. Albert Matthews, whose knowledge of the lan- guage and customs of the period has been of great service to me. C. K. B. Pound Hill, Shirley, Massachusetts, July, 1902. CONTENTS PAGE I. The Origin of the Army ... 3 II. Maintaining the Forces .... 44 III. Material Needs 73 IV. Firelock and Powder 105 V. Officer and Private 125 VI. Camp Duties 143 VII. Camp Diversions 163 VIII. Hospitals and Prison-Ships . . .177 IX. The Army in Motion 194 X. The Private Himself 219 INDEX 249 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE How the news was carried. An express from New England i6 From the Gerard Bancker collection of broadsides. Punishment of a soldier zo Page from Washington's order book, July 3, 1775. An enlistment blank of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1776 An enlistment blank of 1776 30 A very rare broadside, inviting enlistment under Paul Jones, 1777 46 Original owned by the Essex Institute, Salem. Resolution of Congress to enlist 88 battalions .... 48 Orders relating to private soldiers 50 Page from Washington's order book, Nov. 9, 1776. Paper currency, 1776, 1778 60 Enlistment broadside 66 Original owned by the Boston Public Library. Facsimile (reduced) of a call for grain for the army at Valley Forge 84 Original owned by the Pennsylvania Historical Society, [xi] Illustrations Call for food and blankets, June i 8, 1775 Original owned by the Boston Public Library. Handbill sent among the British troops on Bunker Hill 90 Original owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society. Call for coats, showing a sample of the fawn-colored felt cloth desired. These broadsides are rarely found with the cloth still attached 96 Original owned by the Boston Public Library. Flint-lock guns, wooden canteen, and welded bayonet which were used by privates during the Revolution. The barrel of the lower gun has been shortened . .106 Originals owned by James E. Kelly. Plate taken from <' Regulations for the order and Discipline of the troops of the United States" by Baron de Steuben 1 10 Musket, powder-horn, bullet flask, and buck-shot pouch carried in the Revolution Lent to the Bostonian Society by George B. Dexter, Esq. Drum carried at the battle of Bunker Hill . . . .120 Probably a Massachusetts flag ; after an old print. The flag of Massachusetts ; a white ground with a pine tree in the centre. Flag carried by the Bedford mil- itia company at Concord bridge. Flag carried by the American army through the South at the beginning of the Revolution. First naval flag ; a yellow flag with a rattlesnake in the act of striking . . . .140 [ -' ] Illustrations FACING FACE Hunting shirt (made from a model of the Revolutionary period) of home-spun linen Vest made from a model of that period showing lacing in back instead of a buckle i6o Originals owned by James E. Kelly. Company receipt for pay showing the ability of the private to write i68 Original owned by the Boston Public Library. Receipt signed by the Ipswich minute men who marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775 172 Original in the Emmet collection in the Lenox Library, New York. Surgeon's saw used by Dr. David Jones, who had been a student under Dr. Joseph Warren Teeth extractors Owned by the Bostonian Society. Flask Owned by Mrs. R. W. Redman. Revolutionary bullet moulds 178 Celebration of New Year's Day 236 Page from Washington's order book, Jan. i, 1778. Gray cartridge paper with cartridges and ball, found in the attic of the church at Shirley Centre, Mass., by J. E. L. Hazen ; also bullet mould and melting pot . . . 242 [ X'" ] / The Private Soldier Under Washington The Origin of the Army WHEN the colonists in America rose in rebellion against the English Govern- ment in 1775, they occupied scarcely- more territory than had been won from the wil- derness a century earlier. Pioneers from the shores of the North Sea had crossed the Atlantic to make for themselves homes ; the more vent- uresome had forced their way to the head-waters of the coast rivers to build block-houses for trade and defence. Little by little they and their de- scendants cut away the timber along the banks of many pleasant streams and planted grain. And now, at the southward, their lands reached from the ocean to the Appalachian range — the water- shed of the Potomac, the James, the Roanoke, the Santee, the Savannah and the Altamaha rivers. Farther north they cleared and tilled the country which is drained by the Susquehanna, the Hudson, the Connecticut, the Kennebec, and the Penobscot. [ 3 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington Here was a theatre of war with great possibih- ties for the strategist who knew the topography thoroughly, and could marshal the rivers and hills like forces in reserve to checkmate his antagonist. Throughout Washington's campaigns near New York the Hudson River on the east and the Dela- ware on the west served to keep the British in check. The manoeuvres of Gates and Greene in the Carolinas were everywhere influenced by the broad streams that cross the country. But rivers were dangerous allies, and when made part of a great plan might, by the fortunes of war, prove ruinous to an army. In the campaign of 1777 Burgoyne was to gain control of the Hudson in order to separate the men of New England from their brothers in rebellion ; but he accepted a po- sition within the bend of the river at Saratoga and was compelled to surrender. In the expedi- tion of Cornwallis in 1781 the converging streams of the York and the James, which were to pro- tect his army, held him like a trap as soon as the French allies came into possession of the sea. The political divisions show that England laid claim to the eastern part of America, with the exception of Florida. Massachusetts still in- cluded the territory between the western part of Nova Scotia, now called New Brunswick, and [ 4 ] The Origin of the Army New Hampshire, later known as Maine ; and the land between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain, afterward the State of Vermont, was at this time within the bounds of New York. The rich country between the upper Mississippi and its tributary the Ohio had but recently been added to the Government of Quebec. There were few English inhabitants in this region, and the French stockades and trading villages, such as Detroit, Vincennes on the Wabash, and Kas- kaskia, were important only as settlements along the water highway from Canada and the Great Lakes to New Orleans. The southern English colonies already looked westward to the Missis- sippi for their expansion. Beyond all this region lay the untouched for- ests which gathered rains for the far-reaching waters of the Rio Grande, the Colorado, the Arkansas, and the Missouri — the possessions of Spain. The English colonies in 1775 had a popula- tion of two and a half million people, less than a third the number then in Great Britain and Ire- land. Moreover, above half a million of these people were negroes, barred very generally from military service ; many others refused from their religious views to bear arms ; and a considerable [ 5 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington minority of the citizens — more than a third of the men of influence, said Adams — opposed an ap- peal to force. It was fortunate for America that the war began in New England, which had few Tories and slaves, and was able, by furnishing a large part of the patriot army, to show a strong front to the enemy. Earlier in the century there had been little to draw together the various races then settled upon the continent, isolated as they were by religious differences, social distinctions, and the imperfect means of travel. But a steady policy of irritation and repression on the part of the English Govern- ment quickened the sympathies of the people, and led to the perfection of intercommunica- tion and to the dissemination of political ideas. The arbitrary restriction of trade and abrogation of privileges by an unseen power 3,000 miles away aroused the colonies to a sense of their common danger. The presence of an English garrison at Boston, and the enforcement of acts designed by Parlia- ment to crush out the revolutionary spirit in Massachusetts, made the colony a centre of the coming storm. The members of a convention of delegates from the towns and districts in Suffolk County, meeting in September, 1774, declared in [ 6 ] The Origin of the Army language vigorous, if a little florid, that to arrest the hand about to ransack their pockets, to dis- arm the parricide who stood with a dagger at their bosoms, and to resist the usurpation of un- constitutional power, would roll their reputation upon a " torrent of panegyric " , to the abyss of eternity.^ With their future fame secured, they set about frankly to prepare for the conflict, call- ing upon the people to elect their militia offi- cers, and acquaint themselves with the art of war, that King George might not make an easy prey of " a numerous, brave, and hardy people." ^ The action taken by several of the towns about Boston was if possible more marked. Brookline, for example, appointed a committee in Septem- ber to examine into the state of the town as to its military preparation for war " in case of a suden attack from our enemies." ^ On October 26, 1774, the Provincial Congress, sitting at Cambridge, chose a committee of safety with power to collect military stores, and, if necessary, to "summon and support the militia. With the delegation of this authority to a specific ^Journals of each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts (Lin- coln), pp. 601, 602. ^Ibid., pp. 603, 604. 3 Muddy River Records, p. 248. [ 7 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington body of leaders, the opposition to Great Britain ■ceased to be wholly legislative, for the committee had the necessary power to maintain armed re- bellion. The military measures of this period, proposed in convention and carried by vote, in time of peace and within three or four miles of the British garrison, were a test of New England courage and determination that deserve^ recogni- tion. At the same time a plan of organization for the militia was outlined. Field officers were ordered to enlist, if possible, a quarter of the total number of militiamen for emergency service under the direction of the committee of safety; these companies were to consist of at least fifty minute-men each, and were to elect their own company officers.^ Twenty years earlier, alarm- list companies had been organized to repel the Indians ; they may be considered as survivals of the regiments that were in King Philip's time ordered to be ready to march at a moment's warning ; and these in turn can be traced to the companies ^Journals Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, p. 33. The Continental Congress recommended to the Colonies, July 18, 1775, to form similar companies of minute-men. The term minute-men appears September 21, 1774, in the Journal of the Worcester County Convention. (Journals Provincial Con- gress, pp. 643, 644.) [8] The Origin of the Army of thirty men from each hundred of the miHtia which in 1645 were to be prepared "at halfe an howers warning." Thus had the training in arms and in preparation against surprise and attack been handed down from the days of Myles Stan- dish and Simon Willard.^ The committee on the state of the province drew up, December 10, 1774, an address to the people which urged the towns and districts to pay their local militia for their services, in order to encourage them " to ob- tain the skill of complete soldiers." These preparations were well known in Boston, and Lord Percy, who was for a time in command of the British troops there, referred often to them in letters to his father ; as early as September 12th he said that the rebels " did not make a despica- ble appearance as soldiers."^ He knew that training-day had ceased to be a perfunctory cere- mony. The Provincial Congress resolved, on April 8, 1775, that an army should be raised and estab- lished, and other New England colonies should be asked to furnish their quotas of men for the general defence. The records of the committees of safety and supplies show that various stores ^Green's Groton during the Revolution, p. 3. 2 Percy to his father, September 12, 1774; ^S- *^ Alnwick. [9] The Private Soldier Under Washington were being collected at this time, such as spades, pick-axes and bill-hooks, iron pots and wooden mess-bowls, carpenters' tools, cartridge - paper, powder and fuses, grape and round shot, bombs, mortars, musket-balls and flints, molasses, salt fish, raisins, oatmeal, and flour,^ From the 8th of March to the 14th of April, 1775, sundry persons under the direction of John Goddard were carting through the quiet country roads that lead to Concord casks of balls, barrels of linen, hogsheads of flints, loads of beef and rice, quan- tities of canteens and other articles.^ To seize these stores, so specifically enumerated in the old thong-bound account-book of wagon- master Goddard, Lieutenant - Colonel Francis Smith,^ with the flank companies of the Tenth Regiment of foot and of several other corps, em- barked from Boston, Common at about half-past ten o'clock Tuesday night, the 18th of April,^ crossed the Charles River, and began the march 1 Journals Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, p. 505 ^/ seq. Records Committee of Safety. ^Goddard's Account Book; MS. in Brookline Public Li- brary. Reprinted in part in Brookline Historical Publication Society, Publication No. 15. ^Cannon's Historical Record of the Tenth Regiment, p. 36. ■* Gage's account in Journals Provincial Congress of Massa- chusetts (Lincoln), p. 679. [ 10] The Origin of the Army which was to bring on the American Revolution. He met and dispersed the forewarned minute-men on Lexington Green at five o'clock of the morn- ing of the 1 9th of April ; he marched on to Con- cord, destroyed the stores, and commenced the return ; at half past two his men, thoroughly ex- hausted from their rapid march back toward Lex- ington, lay down within the hollow square formed by reenforcements which Lord Percy had led out from Boston. The retreat of the regulars along the country road has often been pictured in words ; the red- coats were harassed by the farmers who (to use Percy's own phrase) surrounded and followed them like a moving circle,^ firing from trees and stone walls. A British soldier, apparently in " Chatham's division of marines," had his hat shot off his head three times, lost his bayonet by a ball, and had two holes in his coat,^ as he pushed on to Charlestown. Colonel Smith's men from the Tenth Regiment wore at this period three- cornered cocked hats bound with white lace ; scarlet coats faced and turned up with bright yel- 1 Percy to General Harvey, April 20, 1775; MS. at Aln- wick. 2 Journals Provincial Congress of Massachusetts (Lincoln), p. 683. [ II ] The Private Soldier Under Washington low, and ornamented with white lace ; scarlet waistcoats and breeches ; white linen gaiters reach- ing above the knee ; white cravats, and buff belts.-^ They were brave men of many battle- fields, and their discomfiture was a sight to stir the blood of every man in homespun who reached the scene. Each town has its story of that mus- ter-morning, of the minute-man who left his plough in the furrow, the bucket at the well- sweep, or the fodder at the door of the cattle- shed. In some towns not above half a dozen able-bodied men remained at home through the 19th of April, and the killed, wounded, or missing were credited to twenty-three different towns and villages.^ The British reached Bunker Hill, across the narrow neck which joins Charlestown to the main- land, as the dusk began to make visible the flash of the muskets. Their pursuers halted while the militia officers held a consultation at the foot of Prospect Hill ; a guard was formed, sentinels were posted as far as the approach to the Neck, and patrols were sent out to watch the enemy. The militia then withdrew to Cambridge. An- other guard went to the Brookline and Roxbury 1 R. Cannon's Historical Record, p. 35. 2 Journals Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, p. 678. [ 12 ] The Origin of the Army shores, south of Boston, to cover that territory until morning. On the 2oth Cambridge was searched for beef, pork, and cooking utensils, while Roxbury furnished a good' supply of ship- bread for the hungry men. Before noon the committee of supplies in Concord had sent word that they were using every effort to forward pro- visions. Thus were the first difficulties overcome, and an armed force began the siege of Boston.^ The men who encamped about Boston had fought with perseverance and resolution ; ^ they were not raw recruits, for many had contended in the wars with French and Indians, and their names may still be seen on the King's muster- rolls.^ They were not a rabble recruited from the low ranks from which a city mob is drawn. College and professional men did their part. The death of a justice of the peace, who was a graduate of Harvard and held his commission under the Crown, caused a heated discussion in the British press ; some said that he was a spectator, for they could not believe that the movement was respect- able in the character of its supporters.'* General 1 Heath's Memoirs (1798), pp. 14-16. 2 Lord Percy's letter, supra. ^ Massachusetts Archives, Colonial and Revolutionary Rolls. ''Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, July 4, 1775. [ 13 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington Howe, writing to Lord Dartmouth a few months later, stated half the truth when he said that the Continental army contained many European sol- diers and most of the young men of spirit in the country, who gave diligent attention to the mili- tary profession.^ Lord Percy had held that the Americans were " a set of sly, artful, hypocritical rascals, cruel, and cowards," ^ but after the battle of Lexington he declared that the rebels showed an enthusiasm and a courage to meet death that promised an insurrection not so despicable as was imagined in England. Percy was quick to see that the Indian method of fighting from behind trees and stone walls was proof not of cowardice, but of ability to profit by conditions ; and, said he, " they know very well what they are about." ^ Soon after the events of the 19th, men in the companies encamped near Boston were asked by the committee of safety to enlist for service until the end of the year, or for a shorter period at the committee's discretion.^ A vigor- 1 Howe's letter, January 16, 1776, quoted in Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 353. 2 Lord Percy to H. Reveley, August 8, 1774; MS. at Alnwick. ^ Lord Percy to Harvey, April 20, 1775. ^ For the oath see Journals Provincial Congress of Massachu- setts (Lincoln), p. 201. [14] The Origin of the Army ous circular letter, dated April 20th, was sent to the neighboring towns urging the enlistment of an army to defend wives and children " from the butchering hands of an inhuman soldiery " ; and on the 2 1st the committee decided to raise an army of 8,000 effective men out of the Massa- chusetts forces.^ In the meantime the Provin- cial Congress had been hastily summoned, and had resolved, April 23, 1775, to raise 13,600 men. Proposals were also made " to the congress of New Hampshire, and governments of Rhode Island and Connecticut colonies " for furnishing men in the same proportion, as an army of 30,- 000 was deemed necessary. A month later 24,500 men had been collected in the several colonies. So thoroughly had the work of organization gone on in the colonies during 1773, 1774, and the spring of 1775, that an appeal for men when the siege of Boston began was immediately successful. Throughout the country a network of local committees, controlling militia compa- ^ Records Committee of Safety. Journals Provincial Con- gress (Lincoln), pp. 518—523. Each company was to have a captain, lieutenant, ensign, four sergeants, a fifer, drummer and fifty men ; nine companies to form a regiment. The men were promised good officers. [ 15 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington nies and post-riders, bound together the opposition to the King ; this network was like a fuse which ran over thousands of miles of wood, meadow, and farm-land. The people had been able to follow every movement of the hostile British Parliament through the aid of the committees of correspondence and inquiry. These committees, formed in each colony at the suggestion of the Virginia House of Burgesses in March, 1773,^ watched the approaching storm, tested the loyalty of those who professed to welcome it, and guided the popular indignation. When the battle of Lexington came, the col- onies were as well prepared for war as the poor dependencies of a powerful nation could be. The first news of the battle was brought to the ears of Putnam at Pomfret the next day, and to Arnold at New Haven a day later ; ^ John Stark in New Hampshire heard it in good time. At ten o'clock on Wednesday morning, the 19th, Palmer, of the Massachusetts committee of safety, wrote a letter from Watertown to alarm the country " quite to Connecticut," entrusting it to a rider who was to ask for fresh horses as he went. At Fairfield, Connecticut, this message was overtaken by one 1 Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. 8. '^ Stiles' s Diary, vol. i,p. 540; Durfee's Fitch (1843), p. 8. [ 16] New-York, Tuefday, April 2 f, 177;. Tills Day, about Noon, arrived a fccond EXPRESS from New-England, with the following important Advices. \Vai;ingford, Monday, Aptil 34, 1775. DtAit Sii. COLONEL WADS\70RTH wat owr III thi> place, m id of y:ll«rday, and bai otdcrcJ 20 men oai of each c mpany in hii rcpmicnt. fome of which had already fet off, and nthtr« go thii moroir.c;. He hriog« ac- counti wbicb came 10 him auibcaticated from Thurfday ia the afteroQan. The King'i trnopi being reinlorced, a (econd lime, and jointd, ai I fappoCe. freto what I can learo, by the party who were iBicrecpted by Col. Gardner, wire then encamped on Winter HiM, and were furroonded by 20.0000! our (nes, who wrrc entrenching. — Colonel Gardner'i aaibuOi proved faral to Lord Percy, and another General Offlter. who v.cre killed od the fpot. the 6rft (ire — To ccuntcrbalance thii good newi, the Ho- ly ii, that oqr firft man in command, (who br it I know noi) ii alTo kiled — It leeot they hiTe loli mauy men on both fidei — Colonel Wadfworih bad the account a leitrrfioni Haritordj — The country beyond bcre 3fe all gone, and we cipefl it will be impotTible to procure horfei lor oor wag- goni a» they have, and will, in every place employ, ihemfelvti, all their horfei — in this pl.ice they find an horfe lor every fe —I knowol 00 way but you muH ira' Bitdiaicly fend a couple of ftout able horfei, who may overtake ui at Hinford p(>iribly ; where we mud te'.yrn Mr«. Noyei'l. and Mcloy'.. it he holdiout fo far —Remember the horfe» tnufl be had at any rate —I am in the greauft hifte, your ebtire friend and humble fcrraoC JAMES LOCKWOOa N. B. Col. Gardner look 9 prifonefr. ind la clubbed their firelock and came over to *ur parly. Col. Gardacr'i party confiAed of 700. and the regulsrt 1800. inflesd of laooai we hetrd btforc J >b'y ba»e f The above copy, came anthentlcaterf, from the Icveral lowni through which it paU-'d, by the following gentlemen, via. Fapli:ld. 34'h Apiil, 3 o'clock afternoon, Thaddeut Burr, Andrew Rowland. EhjArm,and iffojjfible.a Bayonet fitted (hereto, a Cartridge Box and Blanket, or in L.itti cj a Bayonet, a Hatchet er Tomaiami •• — ^e alfo ia. like MfinHer ■■promifeand engtge to obey all the Uwfvl Commands of the Officers appointed or to be appointed over us, purfuant to the Refolves of the General Court of the Colony 0/ Maflachufetts-Bay : and under the'DireRion vf fuch Officers to march, mheit ordered, with the utmojl "Difpcftch. to the Northern 'Department »rCanada, end 10 he fuhjeSi to all facb Rules and Reptlatiom, in every RtfpeB, a ate fttviitd for the Continental Army. July 3776. An enlistment blank of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1776. W£ the Suhfcriiers do hereby frverally inliji eurfelves into the Service fl/zA^Unifed American Colonie:, xintit the ftrft T}iy e/" January next, if the Service Jhould require it ;->-. 1776. An enlistment blank of 1776. 'The Origin of the Army long periods, as yet. The service was too new ; they had not yet become attached to it by habit. Was it credible that men who could get at home better living, more comfortable lodgings, more than double the wages, in safety, not exposed to the sicknesses of the camp, would bind them- selves during the war"? I knew it to be impos- sible." ^ This is the view of a shrewd observer of New England character, a politician who, it may fairly be said, knew those of whom he wrote. On the other hand, he does not seem to count the influence of patriotism and love of adventure ; these certainly would have moved some to for- sake their comforts and good wages for the army, even had the term of service been long. With a small permanent force many troubles of the next few years might have been banished, pro- vided, of course, the force was large enough to carry on the war. The size of the army that could have been raised will always remain debat- able. The advantage of long over short terms of en- listment has the weight of all authorities famil- iar with raising, equipping, and drilling recruits. Washington himself said on this subject : " The ^ John Adams's Autobiography, in his Works (C. F. Adams), 1851, vol. 3, p. 48. [ 29 ] T^he Private Soldier Under Washington evils arising from short or even any limited in- listment of the troops are greater and more ex- tensively hurtful than any person (not an eye- witness to them) can form any idea of It takes you two or three months to bring new men in any tolerable degree acquainted with their duty ; it takes a longer time to bring a people of the temper and genius of these into such a subor- dinate way of thinking as is necessary for a sol- dier. Before this is accomplished, the time ap- proaches for their dismissal, and you are begin- ning to make interest with them for their con- tinuance for another limited period ; in the doing of which you are obliged to relax in your disci- pline, in order as it were to curry favor with them, by which means the latter part of your time is employed in undoing what the first was accom- plishing. . . . Congress had better determine to give a bounty of 2o, 30, or even 40 Dollars to every man who will Inlist for the whole time." * Joseph Hawley, of the Provincial Congress, might be quoted in reply that no bounty would induce ^Washington to Reed, February i, 1776, in his Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 400. For some suggestive remarks on short enlistments and an untrained militia during the wars sub- sequent to the Revolution, see Hazard Stevens's address, October 14, 1898, " Reform the militia system " (Boston, 1898). [ 30 ] The Origin of the Army New England men to enlist for more than two years.^ The popular feeling in the autumn of 1776 is well shown by the following extract from a letter of Josiah Bartlett, a delegate in Congress from Rhode Island : " I am fully sensible," he writes, " of the great difficulties we labour under by the soldiers being enlisted for such short periods, and that it would have been much better had they at first received a good bounty, and been enlisted to serve during the war. But you may recollect the many, and, to appearance, almost insuperable difficulties that then lay in our way. No money, no magazines of provisions, no military stores, no government; in short, when I look back, and consider our situation about fifteen months ago, instead of wondering that we are in no better situation than at present, I am surprised we are in so good." ^ The colonies, particularly at the north where democracy was less tolerant of militarism, dread- ed a standing army,^ which to most minds had 1 American Archives V., vol. i, col. 404. ^ Ibid.yVoX. 2, col. 118. 3 *' The well disciplining the militia renders useless that danger- ous power and grievous Burden, a standing Jrmy.''^ — T. Pick- ering in the Essex Gazette, January 31, 1769, p. 1. [ 31 ] The Private Soldier Under Washijigton some close but mysterious connection with " en- listing for the war." Among northern officers this feeling crystallized into a leaning toward colony affiliation in preference to Congressional control; Governor Ward of Rhode Island, who was no enemy to the Continental system, attrib- uted the slow enlistment under the new establish- ment to dislike of plans brought forward through southern influence favorable to an army "wholly Continental " or attached solely to the Congress.^ The difficulties which were encountered in raising, equipping, and supporting a regular army led to the frequent use of militia. This in turn hindered the pursuit of agriculture and brought about a greater scarcity of food,^ while the con- stant coming and going of men, some of whom had been hired at exorbitant rates — $150 in spe- cie for five months of service — increased the consumption of supplies without adding propor- tionately to the effective force. Men were to be seen in the country taverns and upon the roads, some returning from service, some away on fur- lough, and too many away through desertion. 1 Samuel Ward to his brother, November 21, 1775; in W. Gammell's Life of Ward (Sparks's Library of American Biography, second series, ix., p. 327). 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 8, p. 395. [ 32 ] The Origin of the Army In a war of great successes their presence in the country might have encouraged enlistments by- awaking a warlike spirit ; in a war of delay and hardships they must have done little or nothing to offset the heavy cost of travel and rations while on their journey. The amusing experience of a not over-scrupulous private while on his travels has been related by himself: "The 20th [February, 1780] I leaves Mr. Lowdens [at New Windsor] and Crosses the North River and Comes to Fishkill, and gos to a offiser to git an order to Draw provision, and he hapened to be there that I Drue provision on the Day before, he said, Did not you Draw Eight Days yesterday (I found I was Cached). I said yes but that was to Carry me to Boston. He said how I Could draw at Litchfield and at Hartford. I said I did not want to Draw it there to have to Carry it." ^ The captains and lieutenants were kept busy training raw recruits ; this work was not left to sergeants and corporals, as it seemed best to have a closer bond between the officers and their men.^ Baron Steuben was an ardent advocate ^Elijah Fisher's Journal, p. 13. The punctuation has been supplied. ^ A. Graydon's Memoirs, pp. 117— 122. [ zz ] T^he Private Soldier Under Washington of personal contact of officer and private ; he had no patience with the British custom of giving over the awkward squads to sergeants. He rose at three in the morning during the manoeuvres, says his biographer North, drank a cup of coffee and smoked a single pipe while his servant dressed his hair; at sunrise he was on horseback. A year or two later when his theories of training had come to have their influence he said : "Do you see there, sir, your colonel instructing that recruit? I thank God for that." ^ His own interest in the rank and file was very real. One day during the roll-call Steuben heard a private answer to the name Arnold ; he summoned the man to his tent, told him that so good a soldier should not bear a traitor's name, and gave him permission to be known thereafter as Steuben.^ Increase in the price of food and clothing which accompanies war tends to check the en- listment of married men, and the rise in artisans' wages still further operates in the same direction where men have families dependent upon them for support. Under these conditions the bounty or pay must be advanced, as was ably set forth in the time of the Civil War by Governor OHver P. ^Kapp's Steuben (1859), pp. 130, 131. 2 Ibid.y p. 290. [ 34 ] The Origin of the Army Morton of Indiana in an address to Congress in 1862, entitled "Increase of Pay of private Sol- diers." Colonel Cortlandt related to General Gates a case that tells of the married man's trials : " The bearer hereof, William Foster, a soldier in Col- onel Wynkoop's regiment, having lately buried his wife, and has with him now at this place five small children, and no way to provide provision for them unless he can be discharged to go to a small farm he has some distance from here, and begs me to write in his favour to procure his dis- charge." ^ The privations of army life were trifling when compared with the worry that was caused by a knowledge of the privation at home. The steady increase of taxes in 1779-82 and the departure of farm-hands to the front drove women almost to desperation. State and town officials endeav- ored to aid and support the wives and children of the soldiers,^ and to check and punish those who forced up the necessities of life beyond the prices agreed upon by state or county conven- tions and accepted by the towns.^ Salt, so nec- ^ American Archives V., vol. 2, col. 573. ^Miss Caulkins's New London (1852), p. 503. Wheel- er's History of Brunswick, Me., pp. 125, 126, 170. ^ New London, p. 503 ; Parmenter's Pelham, Mass., p. 137. [ 35 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington essary to every farm that had live stock, rose from about thirty cents a bushel to almost as many dollars ; tea and molasses also advanced to a price that bore hard upon the poor.^ Women did the hard work of the farm, with a sugges- tion or word of advice at long intervals from their absent husbands. A private at the siege of Boston wrote to his wife and children in 1775- " I must Bee Short ! gat 2 or 3 Bushel of Solt as quick as you Can for it will Bee Deer, and what [cattle ?] the Barn will Not Winter [?>., hold through the winter] the Sailer Sail [cellar shall ?] ; and give them as good a chance [to thrive] as you Can and as for my Coming home I Can Not if you Sant ten men in my Room." ^ There was at the same time, if Dr. Benjamin Rush is right in his assertion, an increase in the birth-rate in America, implying prosperity or at least easy circumstances among a considerable part of the population.^ In the larger centres of trade the increased circulation of money, the growth in importation of goods and in transpor- 1 Stevens's Facsimiles, No. 2082. ^Parmenter's Pelham, p. 129. 3 Massachusetts Magazine for 1791, p. 360. [ 36 ] Tl'he Origin of the Army tation of grain, with an undoubted demand for labor, all combined to give an appearance of good times to that class which has nothing to lose by war. The men about the taverns, the small shops, and the wharves married and cared for their families. Dr. Rush declares that from the year 1776 to the close of the war beggars were rarely seen. The burdens of the war were not wiped out, but were placed upon the owners of the soil ; poverty was lifted from the town poor to fall upon the farmers. As it became more and more difficult for farmers to support their families, it is no surprise to find that after the first enthusiasm had died away, the enlistment of men was slow and un- pleasant. An officer would go to the village tavern, wax eloquent, and pass round the toddy until some country lad was moved to sign his name to the papers ; but unless an officer was shrewd, he came away with his money spent and no re- cruit at his back. That his errand was some- times a relief to a town may be inferred from a note in Graydon's Memoirs : " Mr. Heath . . . helped us ... to a recruit, a fellow, he said, who would do to stop a bullet as well as a better man, and as he was a truly worthless dog, he held that the neighbor- [ 37 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington hood would be much indebted to us for taking him away." ^ Another writer has pictured the motley throng of men and boys, in all stages of intoxication, that gathered about a recruiting officer in a seaport town. When the band which he employed to gather a crowd had stopped playing he stood at the street corner beneath a flag and sang in a comical manner : All you that have bad masters. And cannot get your due. Come, come, my brave boys, And join with our ship's crew. This was followed by cheers and a commotion in which men were persuaded or driven to the wharves and aboard a privateer that was ready for a cruise.^ Many undesirable army recruits were sent to camp, and upon one occasion General Parsons forwarded seven useless fellows to Hartford that the Connecticut Legislature might see what im- position was practised by some recruiting of- ficers.^ Congress decided in January, 1776, to 1 Gray don's Memoirs, p. 135. ^E. Fox's Revolutionary Adventures, p. 56. 3 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 9, p. 156. ■>' [ 38 ] The Origin of the Ar??iy disapprove the employment of prisoners, and thus closed to the enlistment officer a hopeful field for his efforts. When voluntary enlistments fell off the authorities resorted to drafts ; these were not always successful, especially in the disaffected districts, where many officers and men so obtained proved to be Tories at heart.^ When the militia were well fed and clothed, with good officers to make them contented, numbers of the rank and file could be trusted at times to go home to gath- er recruits. Colonel Thomson, of South Carolina, on one occasion wished to send most of his men away on furlough, so that they might return in time with lusty country lads at their heels.^ No doubt there was an element less readily moved to enlist by patriotism than by material and tangible considerations, however deep, strong, and broad the unseen current of loyalty might be. A warm, pleasant day in the autumn of 1775 and a cheering glass of grog helped the officers who were recruiting for the army of 1 776.^ This, the testimony of an officer at Roxbury, fairly repre- 1 American Archives V., vol. 3, col. 206. 2 Thomson to Rutledge and to Hovi^e, June 9, 1777, in Sal- ley's Orangeburg County, S. C, pp. 450, 451. 3J. Fitch, Jr.'s, Diary, November 14, 1775 ; in Massachu- setu Historical Society Proceedings, May, 1894, p. 80. [ 39 ] 'The Private Soldier Under Washington sents the easy-going spirit which governed men of a certain class. They were not the privates who studied by the camp-fire and kept diaries, but many were none the less useful soldiers. A battle sifts men by a process unknown to the days of peace, bringing to the front unexpected heroes. Can you not see two of them now — Haines at Bemis Heights, astride the muzzle of a British brass twelve-pounder, ramming his bayonet into the thigh of a savage foe, recovering himself to parry the thrust of a second, and, quick as a tiger, dashing the same bloody bayonet through his head ; recovering again, only to fall from the can- non, shot through the mouth and tongue ; lying two nights on the battle-field until thirst, hunger, and loss of blood overcame him, then in the ranks of the dead made ready for burial ; and from all this recovering for three years more of service and a green old age : ^ or again, that unknown dare- devil whose swaying figure stood out upon the parapet of the entrenchments about Yorktown, brandishing his spade at every ball that burred about him, finally going to his death, " damning his soul if he would dodge." ^• 1 Kidder's First New Hampshire Regiment, p. 23. ^ Captain James Duncan's Diary ; in Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. 15, p. 748. [ 40 ] The Origin of the Army " The common people," said General Greene, referring to New England, " are exceedingly ava- ricious ; the genius of the people is commercial from their long intercourse with trade." ^ This spirit prompted many from the towns to make the best bargain possible when they enlisted for the year 1776, while the farmers, who usually saw very little money, coveted the bounty that was offered. Washington had an independent in- come ; the poorer officers and the rank and file depended for their subsistence and the support of their families upon their meagre and uncertain pay. This difference in condition did not impress Washington with sufficient force in his first en- counter with the army. There was no doubt " a dirty, mercenary spirit" which to some extent made possible "stock-jobbing and fertility in all low arts to obtain advantages of one kind and another," but that it " pervaded the whole " one must doubt. The diaries of officers and privates, written with no thought of publication, show a loyalty and in some instances a religious earnest- ness that must indicate widespread moral purpose.^ ^ Greene to Ward, December 18, 1775 ; in Greene's Na- thanael Greene (1867), vol. I, p. 126. 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. i, p. 81 ; vol. 3, p. 247. [41 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington The character and care of the private soldiers were subjects for debate in every town that la- bored diligently to keep its quota of men in the field. As the farmers sat about the fire in the stuffy town threshing the matter out, a weather- worn, weary volunteer home upon furlough often sat there too and heard what they thought of him. Sometimes he had an opportunity to know what the leaders thought. Elijah Fisher has described his interview with the commit- tee of inquiry in Boston, whither he went to get satisfaction, having complained because they deducted from the amount still due him as wages on account of the depreciation in paper money, the bounty which he had received. The punctuation has been added, but the story is his : " One of the Comita, start[ing] up, with his grate wigg, said the sholgers had been used very well ; sometimes these things were not to be got, and then we could not have them as soon as we should wish. I was rong in acusing and talking as you [I ■?] do. " Then spake up another, that set a little Dis- tance and heard what was said (a black haired man), in my behalf, and said that the sholgers had been used very ill as this man said, and that [ 42 ] The Origin of the Army they are cheated out of a good eel that they ought to have. . . . " ^ It was no light task to bring an army into the field and maintain it for years, combating success- fully the local prejudices of northerner and south- erner, the greed for bounties, the trials that follow a depreciating currency and an advance in the price of family necessities, the fear of militarism and the dislike of strict discipline in an age of democratic theories. That the army about Bos- ton had the virtues that characterized many of the soldiers themselves no one will doubt. That it fell short in certain particulars may be surmised from the exclamation of a southern rifleman in the camp at Prospect Hill in September, 1775: " Such Sermons, such Negroes, such Colonels, such Boys, & such Great Great Grandfathers." '^ ^ E. Fisher's Journal, p. 14. 2 Letter of Jesse Lukens ; in Boston Public Library Histori- cal Manuscripts, No. i, p. 27. [ 43 ] II Maintaining the Forces WITH the opening of spring in the year 1776 (March 17th) the British evacu- ated Boston, and Washington was free to turn his attention to New York. The new field of action was far from the farms of many of the volunteers and they were anxious to be re- lieved from service; the people in the central colonies were by no means united in support of the patriot cause and army life among them was not found to be as pleasant as it had been in New England. The situation from a military point of view was more difficult than in Massachusetts, and Washington, learning his lessons as a com- mander in the school of experience, made life harder for the rank and file. Recruits were few, and there was need of some method to increase the army for the new enterprises. Early in June Congress drew up a plan to en- list militia, 6,000 for the campaign in Canada, 13,800 for New York, and 10,000 for a flying camp in the middle colonies ; but the bounty of [ 44 ] Maintaining the Forces $10 which was offered had Httle effect upon men who could get a larger sum for shorter emergency service in the local organizations.^ Two other inducements were held out, a gift of land as sug- gested by Washington,^ and a provision for sol- diers who should be so injured that they could no longer serve in the army nor get their livelihood by their labor.^ A serious obstacle which confronted the eastern States at this time in their attempts to fill their quotas was an excessive rage for privateering which drew from New England alone some 10,000 hardy, brave men. Clever advertisements in the newspapers^ and alluring posters were handed about; these, with marvellous stories of spoils from the West Indies, repeated from mouth to mouth, fostered discontent in camp and checked enlistments at home.^ Vast numbers, said Mrs. Adams, were employed in privateering, and offi- cers were not too particular in the methods used to get recruits away from the militia.^ Self- 1 Journals of Congress, June 26, 1776. 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 4, p. 380. ^Journals of Congress, August 26, 1776. ■* Miss Caulkins's New London, p. 541. 5 B. Rust to R. H. Lee; in American Archives V., vol. 3, col. 1513 ; also ibid., vol. 2, col. 337. ^ Ibid., vol. 2, col. 599 ; col. 622. [ 45 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington interest, said John Paul Jones, and this only, in- fluenced owners and sailors who preferred priva- teers to the navy service.^ Looking at the matter in another way, privateers were a blessing; they offered protection to helpless seaport towns, and discouraged petty marauding expeditions of the British against fishing villages. This work of the privateers freed the militia from service in the coastguard, and permitted a concentration of forces for larger undertakings.^ The prevalence of smallpox about Boston in the summer of 1776 added to the trials of Massa- chusetts recruiting officers, and made help from that section of the country less welcome to the army at New York ; ^ but the need of reenforce- ments was so urgent that any risk seemed justifi- able. The effect of enlistments and drafts upon the population of a small town are described by Mrs. John Adams in September, 1776: " Forty men," she writes, " are now drafted from this town. More than one half, from sixteen to fifty, are now in the service. ... I hardly ^American Archives V., vol. 2, col. 1105. See also Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, vol. 6, p. 207. 2 James Lyon, in American Archives V., vol. I, col. 1282. ^Serle to Lord Dartmouth, August 12th. Stevens's Facsim- iles, No. 2041. [46] .^^^-^: Jm R h A E N C O U Iti>i: G E M E N-SP: O R SEA> LL GENTLEMEN SEAMEN and able-bodied LANDSMFt^ . ^ wlio hn'c a MinJ W difiinguifti tlitmklvci in tlie GLORIOUS _^ CAUSL of their Ob rnv, and make ibeir tortuues, an. Op- > nity nu« »»" on foyd^be Ship R ANGER, oViTwiaiy"- Olins. ((m Ft*i.ci) linw. layi*' i» Pouts voTrrH,"T(rt!ti StaCe oT New-Hamf-". <■ J In J3? We J U H IS l-AUL JONErfc^l Iq; let them repair lo ihc bhip s Kcidez- ■^■ouc in Portsmouth, or at the Sign of Coiflnioctjjrc Manliv, m Salsh, wllwe they will be kind- ly entertained, -snd receive the greatert Eocourai^mrnt.- -The Ship Rancfh, in the Opinion of every Pcrfon wAo has fccn her is looked upon t&hf one of the bcfl Cnjizcrs in America.— She wall be always able to Fight her Guns undcf ^Jnoft excellent Cover ; and no Vcli'cl yet built was ever calculated for failing faftcr, and.nwi'ns; g"""' Weather. i ,^ny Gentlemen VoLtJNTEERi who have a^lind to take an agrcable Voyage in this plealant Seafon of tlic Year, may, by entering oa boaal the abc.c Ship Ranger, meet with every Civility thcr can poiiibly cxpc^, and for a farther Eucouragcnicnt depend on the firft Op- i:ibraccd to rc.vard each one agrcable to his Merit. ' portunity be^M^'t ^ All reafoj^^!.;^ Tjavellinj ' - "'their .^ppcaratJci on Board. Expenses xviU tie allowed, and the Advance-Money be paid on N G R E S S, March 2q, J THAT i.'ic Mapinf. Committee be .authbrifcd to advance to every able Seaman, that enters into the Continfntal Seiivic|, any Sum not exceeding FORTY D O L. L .-V R S, and to every ordinary Soman or jLandiinan, any Sum not exccedir.g TWEN- TY DOLLARS, to be deduced from their future PrizeMoney. , j ISy Order of C o n c R E s J, ^ O H N HANCOCK, Peesiotht. V.tM-LK:>: F:micJ by E. Re the Hou/c Iaic the BeJl-Tarero. A very rare broadside inviting enlistment under Paul Jones. 1777- (Original owned by the Esse.x Institute, Salem.) I Maintaining the Forces think you can be sensible how much we are thinned in this Province. . . . If it is neces- sary to make any more drafts upon us, the women must reap the harvests. I am willing to do my part. I believe I could gather corn and husk it, but I should make a poor figure at digging po- tatoes." ^ The absence of militiamen during harvest time was a serious loss to a town in the destruction of unharvested crops ; the knowledge of this preyed upon the minds of the farmer-soldiers themselves and led to desertion.^ " In some parishes," wrote Colonel Fitch, of Connecticut, " but one or two [men] are left ; some have got ten or twelve loads of hay cut, and not a man left to take it up ; some five or six, under the same circumstances; some have got a great quantity of grass to cut ; some have not finished hoeing corn; some, if not all, have got all their ploughing to do, for sowing their winter grain; some have all their families sick, and not a person left to take care of them. . . . It is enough to make a man's heart ache to hear the complaints of some of them."^ ^American Archives V., vol. 2, col. 599 (September 29th). 2 Uid., vol. I, col. 172. 3 Jonathan Fitch to Governor Trumbull, August 13, 1776; in American Archives V., vol. i, col. 938. [ 47 ] 'The Private Soldier Under Washington In the southern colonies the minds of the recruits from the frontier or "back country" were fre- quently harassed by rumors of Indian raids upon their homes. Officers at such times asked for fur- loughs or resigned, and privates deserted in their desperation.^ Under these circumstances the most pressing calls for more troops met with little response from the people. They felt that they had done enough, and the legislatures were either unwilling or un- able to urge them to further sacrifice. If Con- gress itself was slow to see the need of a greater army, the disaster at Long Island in August pro- duced an immediate change. Upon September l6th Congress voted that eighty-eight battalions be enlisted to serve during the war.^ Each non- commissioned officer and private was promised a bounty of $20, and a hundred acres of land 1 Salley's Orangeburg County, S. C, p. 439. 2 The apportionment was : New Hampshire . . 3 battalions Delaware i battalion Massachusetts Bay. 1 5 '* Maryland 8 battalions Rhode Island .... 2 " Virginia 15 " Connecticut 8 ** North Carolina. 9 " New York 4 " South Carolina. 6 " New Jersey 4 '• Georgia i battalion Pennsylvania 12 ♦♦ Sixteen additional battalions were authorized later. (Heath's Memoirs, p. 116, and Journals of Congress, December 27th.) [ 48 ] In congress, SEPTEMBER 16, 1776. R E S O L V E D Thjt eighty-tight Battilioni be enlifted u loon as polTible. to lenre during the prefent War, md thii «Kh Stue fumifli their refpeaivc Quouj in Uie following Proportion!, viz. New-Hunplhire - - - 3 Battilionj. MalTachufetH-Bav - • - 15 Ditto. Rhode-lttand ' - - - ^ Ditto. Connefticut - - - • 8 Ditto. New- York - - - 4 Ditto. Ncw-Jeifey - - • ♦ Ditto. Pennlylvania . . - iz Ditto. Delaware - - - - l Ditto. Maryland . . - : Ditto, Virginia - - - - '5 Ditto. North-Crolina - - - 9 Ditto. South-Carolina . . . 6 Dino. Georgia - - - • i Ditto. That Twenty Dollars be given as a Bounty to each non-commilTioned Officer and private Soldier, who Ihall enlift to ferve during the prefent War, unle6 fooner difcharged by Congrtfs. That Congrefs make Provifion for granting Lands in the following Proportions to theOfScers and Soldiers who Ihall fo engage in the service, and continue therein to the Clofc ot the War, or until difcharged by Congreis, and to the Beprcfcnuiives ot fuch Officers and Soldiers as fliall be Oain by the Enemy j fuch Lands to be provided by the United States, and whatever Expence Ihall be necelTary to procure fuch Land, the faid Expencc (hall be paid and borne by the Statei in the fame Proportion as the othet Expcnces of the War, viz. To a Colonel - - 500 Acres. a Lieutenant-Colonel - - 450 Ditto, a Major -' . - 400 Ditto. a Captain • • * 300 Ditto, a Lieutenant ... 200 Ditto. an Enfign - - - - 150 Bittn, Each non-commilEoned Officer and Soldier 100 Acres. That ihe Appointment of all Officers and filling up Vacancies (except general Officers'^ be lek to the Governments ot the fevcral Slates, and that every State provide Arms, Cicathing, and every Neccffary for its Quota of Troops according to the toregoing Ellimate j the Expcnce of the Cloathing to be deducted from the pay ot the Soldiers as yftul. That alt Officers be commidioned by Congrefs. That it be tecommended to the feveral States that they take the m6ft fpecdy and effefttial Meafures for enliding their fevcral Quotas. That the Money to be given for Bounties be paid by the Payraafter in the Department where the Soldier Ihall enUft. That each Soldier receive Pay and SiIbGftence from the Time of their Enliftment. September 18, 1776. RESOLVED, Thai if Rations be received by the Officers or Privates in the Continental Atmy in Money, they be paid at the Kate of Eight Ninetieth Patis of a Dollar per Ration. That the Bounty and Grants of Land, offered by Congrefs by a Refolution of the 16th InftanC as an Encouragement 10 the Officers and Soldiers to enf^age to ferve in the Army of the Utiiteti States during the War, (hall extend to all who are or (hall be enlitted for that Term, the Bounty ot Ten Dollars which any ot the Soldiers have received from the Continent on Account of i lor- mer Enlillment, tu be reckoned in part Payment of the Twenty Dollars offered by laid Relolution. That no Officer in the Coniinental Atmy is allowed to hold more than oneCommifTion, or to receive Pay but in one Capacity. S 1 p t E M B E a 19. 1776. That the Adjutants of Regiments in the Continental Army be allowed the Pay and Rationa of Captains, and have the Rank of Firll Lieutenants. Ik order to prevent the Officers and Soldiers who (hall be entitled to the Lands hereafter to he granted by the Refolution ot Congrefs of the i6th, frum difpofing of the fame during the War, RESOLVED, That this Congrefs will not grant Lands to any Perfon or Perfont claiming under the AITignn-ent- of an Officer or Solder. Bji Order of the Congress, JOHN HANCOCK, President. Resolution of Congress to enlist 88 battalions. Maintaining the Forces were to be given to him, or to his representa- tive if he was " slain by the enemy " before the close of the war. The expense necessary to pro- cure the land was to be borne by the States in the same proportion as the other expenses of the war. The States were to provide arms, clothing, and every necessity, the cost of the clothing to be de- ducted from the pay of the men.-* A little later, however, Congress voted a suit of clothes (or $20 if the soldier owned the clothes) to be given annually as a further inducement.^ Washington in general orders November 10, 1776, announced that those who enlisted into the new army would have the usual pay and rations, but no boys or old men and no deserters would be received. At the same time the army regulations were repealed and a more rigorous code was put in force to bring the service to a higher standard of disci- pline.^ The plan to raise eighty-eight battalions, so simple on paper, developed endless complications. The States, as might be expected, found it diffi- 1 Journals of Congress, September 16, 1776. ^ Ibid., October 8, 1776. 3 American Archives V., vol. 2, col. 561. In November Gates's force numbered 11,526 men ; Lee had 10,768 men. (^Ibid., vol. 3, cols. 702, 710.) See also W. Eddis's Letters from America (1792), pp. 342, 343. [ 49 ] The Private Soldier Under JVashingtofi cult to fill their quotas, and they resorted to ad- ditional bounties ; Connecticut and Massachusetts voted 20J". a month to privates above that al- lowed by Congress, and $33/^ additional bounty; New Jersey offered $53/^ ; Maryland objected to giving money in any case and wished to sub- stitute land.^ At a meeting of New England delegates to regulate prices the plea was made that Congress would not increase the pay of soldiers to meet high prices and a larger bounty was the last resort. Massachusetts then offered $86^, and New Hampshire did the same. In this confusion the bewildered recruits stood ir- resolute, hoping that bounties had but just begun their upward course. Meanwhile the eighty- eight battalions had to be filled by drafts of one man in four or five, excluding, however, those already in service, those in seaboard or frontier towns, school-masters, students, and a portion of those employed in powder-mills.^ The men who 1 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 5, pp. 18, 20, 213, notes, 2 American Archives V., vol. 2, col. 763. Many who paid a fine rather than go when drafted received a receipt similar to the following : ♦' Reed of Mr. Caleb Craft the Sum of Ten Pounds Lawfull Money in full for his fine he Refuseing to go a Solder when Draughted by the Town." — MS. in Brookline Public Library. [ 50 ] ( •'^'■'^J -M..A. I. .,.',,., /'I > ,■ >--^--^ v^-- <■ -'-'-y-' ■■ " ' ■'■' " .-::.. . _; . ./-<.■'/ .^/6;:.../'--'.'. ^c^,. /.„y,../ /^— /Aw./. 5^, *-v^,.y^«^ -^"^ 'i'r/Z.X.-V, .., .-.. "'..> /"" •" Orders relating to private soldiers. Page from Washington's order book, Nov. 9, 1776. Maintaining the Forces served in the artillery — known as bombardiers and matrosses — held back so persistently that Wash- ington was forced to offer an advance in pay of twenty-five per cent, to obtain the necessary numbers.^ The Continental army had its first time of se- rious privation in the winter that was juSt setting in; the soldiers in the northern camps especially deserve to share the fame that came to those who suffered and survived at Valley Forge a year later. A gentleman, writing from Ticonderoga December 4, 1776, concluded his letter with the words : " For all this Army at this place, which did consist of twelve or thirteen thousand men, sick and well, no more than nine hundred pair of shoes have been sent. One third at least of the poor wretches is now barefoot, and in this con- dition obliged to do duty. This is shocking to humanity. It cannot be viewed in any milder light than black murder. The poor creatures is now (what's left alive) laying on the cold ground, in poor thin tents, and some none at all, and many down with the pleurisy. No barracks, no hos- pitals to go in. The barracks is at Saratoga. If you was here, your heart would melt. I paid a ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 5, p. 113. [ 51 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington visit to the sick yesterday in a small house called a hospital. The first object presented [to] my eyes, one man laying dead at the door ; the [n] inside two more laying dead, two living lying between them ; the living with the dead had so laid for four-and-twenty hours. I went no further; this was too much to see and to much to feel, for a heart with the least tincture of humanity." ^ To Ticonderoga the men had marched cheer- fully, a great part of them barefooted and bare- legged. In this condition they were forced to look forward to sentinel duty in the snow of a northern winter.^ A British officer, in a letter dated at York Island, October 30, 1776, states that "the Rebel army are in so wretched a con- dition as to clothing and accoutrements, that I believe no nation ever saw such a set of tatter- demalions. There are few coats among them but what are out at elbows and in a whole reg- iment there is scarce a pair of breeches. Judge then how they must be pinched by a winter campaign." ^ Such were the hardships endured by the army; ^ Jos. Wood to Thomas Wharton, Jr. ; in American Archives v., vol. 3, col. 1358. '^Richard Stockton, in ibid., vol. 2, cols. 1274, 1275. ^American Archives V., vol. 2, col. 1293. [ 52 1 FOR tlie Fncoui|gement or thof:.' tliat fhall Mi(k in the Contin4|tai Army— The CONGRESS in . their Re[oWeH oipeptem6eri^i6y iSt/j, iqd, OS7oier Seby and Nove^^er 12/b, 1776, Engage, I / ^ i THAT 7-u)enl^ DoMi be given as a Pounty tffeach Non-Comtrtte.,,; ~- . . fioned OtfiCvra{id Pjvate Soldier who fliali Inlift tp ferve for the Term of Three Years. ,. . i That each^ Von-Comf.i^ned Officer 4nd private Soldier (half annually receive a Suit of Cloathi, c| cor.fift for the prefenc Year, of Two Linnen i Hun ing Shirrs, Two Fair oiOveralls, a Leathern or Wocikn VVaiflcoat with !, Sleeves, One Pair of BreechiaHat or Leather Cap, Twq Shirts, Two Fair " of Hofc, and Two Pair of »oes, amounting in the whole- to the Value of twenty Dellarj, or that Soifto be paid to each Soldier wh^ ^aif procure thofe Articles for himfelf, artq produces a. Certificate thereoffrbni the Captain' of ehe Company to whish hcbelongs, to the Pay-Msfterof the Regiment ThateachNon-CommifTiOKdOfflcer and private Soldier who f?i3ll Inlift and engage to continue in thaiScrvJcfe to the Clofe of the War^ or until dif- charged by CoNsagss, (haJi Kceive in Addition to thA,alx>vt Encoarkgc- tatnt. One Hundred Acr8s of Land, and if any are Slain by the Edc- ,-tiy, the Reprefentatives of fu(^ Soldiers fhs'l be intitled to the aforefaid tiaii- jired Acres of Land. • | '-' And for their further Encouwigamsnt, the Stste of Mafsciu/et/i-Bay,hiSi • by aj^olve of November 29i^v&i engaged; - ,Thiit each Non-Commi«5oi"^'t5 OSicer^and prirafe "£oidler'Who fhall inlifV. into the CoBtinoijtal Army.^eiiJ^er-cluringthe War, of for the Term of Three 5?ears«>«l Pift oflhe Qj^taofjMen afTigncd this State, the Sum ei't'ioef.iy Ptiivds on his- paffing Mullet, tne fSid twenty Pounds to-be g?td in Tfealur- cr'^ Notes oi- Ten Pounds ea8h,'^,jable*ta*the PofTeflbr in Four Years," with Intercft to be paid annually, « -the Rate of S/x«>ir Cm/, : .s In the Hcuft of R & PR gtS E. N T A r l^E S, i?w. 4,^'^fjC.^ ■ - THE foregoing Extrafts-.were Read and f^re/lto fae Printed, ' " -i. JAMES M'ARREN, Speaker. Lnli,-^uncir. I>ruiul>i<.lc. (Original owned by tlie Boston Public Library.) Maintaining the Forces disease and cold thinned the ranks that had borne the attack of British infantry. So great was the demand for men that not a itw deserted to reenhst, and the temptation increased with the duration of the war.-^ A punishment of a hundred lashes had little effect, and in 1778 a man was shot who had deserted and reenlisted for the bounties seven times.^ For him there was no semblance of ex- cuse, but for some who went home without leave a word in extenuation might be said. They re- ceived few of the blessings, usually, that the re- cruiting officer held before trusting eyes ; they lived for months without proper or even decent food and clothing, fighting (in some cases) for a country that had known them but a few years and against friends and neighbors of their youth.^ If they had been drafted or had been induced to sign enlistment papers when dazed by liquor, their consciences did not hold them to service in the army. Later on, an officer, after complaining that the troops had been for two years without clothes and pay, affirmed that there must have ^ E. Wild's Diary ; in Massachusetts Historical Society Pro- ceedings, October, 1890, p. 93. 2 Orderly book of the Northern Army at Ticonderoga, p. 9. ^Colonel Richardson in September, 1775, spoke of the need of arms to equip "the new Irish settlers" in South Carolina. — Salley's Orangeburg County, S. C, p. 432. [ 53 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington been virtue in the army when under such cir- cumstances there was any army left. A sen- tence in his diary which refers to a practice not uncommon in the early years of the war is good enough to bear repeating: "This day one ot our soldiers which deserted some time ago deserted back again with a neiv suit of cloaths"'^ Weak as the Continental army was in the autumn of 1776, it undertook two important duties; part of the forces held the Hudson above New York to check any advance of the British toward Canada or New England ; another wing of the army kept to the banks of the Delaware to guard the highways to Pennsylvania and the south. On December 22d (just before the battle of Tren- ton was fought) the return of the army then en- camped on the banks of the Delaware gives a total of 10,106 men; of these 3,357 were sick, absent on duty or on furlough, making thirty-three per cent, ineffective.^ It was the current belief that affairs had come to a critical pass, requiring a suc- cessful battle to awaken enthusiasm and quicken ^ W. McDowell's Journal ; in Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. 15, p, 321. See also Army Correspondence of Colonel John Laurens, p. i 39. ^American Archives V., vol. 3, col. 1401. [ 54 ] Maintaining the Forces enlistments for the next campaign.^ Washington's capture of nearly the whole British outpost at Trenton on Christmas night accomplished what was needed, but in order to follow up the suc- cess he was driven to a fresh bounty of $10 to keep the discontented men together for another month. The year 1777, with its defeats at the Brandy- wine and at Germantown, brought little cheer to the main army until the news of Burgoyne's sur- render came in October. Throughout the summer Washington never had above 1 1,000 Continentals and 2,000 militia in the field at one time. At the close of July Congress abandoned the expensive and unsatisfactory system of appointing army officers as recruiting agents; the States were to be divided into districts, with a local officer in each district, who was to receive $8 for every man en- listed and $5 for each deserter secured.^ Washing- ton expressed approval of an annual draft of men to fill the regiments that became reduced by death, disease, or the withdrawal of those who could not be induced by a bounty of $25 to remain in the service beyond the term of enlistment.^ ^American Archives, V., vol. 3, col. 1 5 14. 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 6, p. 7. 3 Ibid., vol. 6, p. 305. [ 55 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington At the beginning of autumn the army, number- ing some ten or eleven thousand men, marched through Front Street, Philadelphia, on the way to check the advance of General Howe. Alexander Graydon stood at the coffee-house corner and watched them pass, the Commander-in-chief and his men. They were, he says, indifferently dressed, but carried their well-burnished arms like good soldiers who might reasonably expect success in a contest with equal numbers. They were obliged to fall back a few days later before Knyphausen's advance over Brandywine Creek at Chadd's Ford and Cornwallis's flank attack by way of Birming- ham church, greatly outnumbered but not put to rout.^ General Howe occupied Philadelphia and thus achieved one object in the British plan of campaign. , While the moral effect of this move was considerable at the time, Philadelphia being the great port of trade of the middle colonies, and a centre for army supplies of all kinds, he had, however, done little harm to Washington, and he now found that he must divide his army in order to protect both Philadelphia and New York. To put down the rebellion of an agricultural people, scattered over a wide territory, by a garrison in each town would have required more soldiers than 1 Graydon's Memoirs, p. 29I. [ 56 1 Maintaining the Forces England possessed. The other movement of the year, Burgoyne's attempt to isolate New England by seizing Lake Champlain and the Hudson, which taken together formed a natural western barrier, ended in his capitulation, Washington looked forward to winter quarters where the men could be near enough to the scene of action to furnish comfort to supporters of the patriot cause, where they could be drilled by Baron Steuben, and could be so fed and protected from the weather that sickness and desertion would not destroy the army. It seemed necessary to be at least a day's march from the enemy to afford time for defensive measures or for retreat in case the British made a hostile move. He therefore withdrew up the eastern bank of the Schuylkill some miles to the northwest of Philadelphia, crossed the river on December 13th by two bridges, one old and insecure and another improvised from boats and fence-rails, and on the 19th went into camp at Valley Forge. By January 1st most of the troops were settled in huts, and they soon began to improve in discipline under the in- struction of Baron Steuben, who toiled with the zeal of "a lieutenant anxious for promotion."^ ^ Army Correspondence of Colonel John Laurens (1867), pp. 90-97, 100, 152, 160, 169. [ 57 ] T^he Private Soldier Under Washington The sufferings of the Continentals at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78, without sufficient clothing, blankets, or shoes, and much of the time destitute of proper food, are described in a suc- ceeding chapter. An army of about 1 7,000 men had melted away, until now, in 1778, 5,000 ragged soldiers remained. A Tory writer reported in March that 1,134 de- serters had come into Philadelphia and taken the oath of allegiance. It is worthy of notice, in support of Washington's frequent request for recruits of American birth, that just three-fourths of these deserters were foreign born.^ The ef- fective force was further decreased by the per- nicious habit of employing privates as officers' servants. Steuben has mentioned as an illustra- tion of the system a certain company which had " twelve men present ; absent, one man as valet to the commissary, two hundred miles distant from the army, for eighteen months; one man valet to a quartermaster attached to the army of the north, for twelve months; four in the differ- ent hospitals for so many months ; two as driv- ers of carriages; and so many more as bakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, even as coal-porters, for years together." These men, once on the rolls, ^Joseph Galloway. Stevens's Facsimiles, No. 2094. [ 58 j Maintaining the Forces were reported regularly as part of the effective force.^ With the opening of the spring campaign Con- gress called upon the States to maintain their quotas,^ and in May resolved to grant $80 at the end of the war to every non-commissioned officer and private who had enlisted or would enlist for or during the contest.^ In August it was reported that " a great spirit of inlisting " had taken place among the militia drafts."* A proposition to pay part of the usual bounty of $20 in specie instead of bills would have helped the movement along, but on a vote it was lost, and an appropriation of $120,000 in Continental money was made."^ The 1 Kapp's Steuben, p. 116. Also Baron de Kalb's views; Stevens's Facsimiles, No. 761. 2 See table, p. 48, note. Rhode Island was to furnish i bat- talion. New York 5, and Pennsylvania 10 ; South Carolina and Georgia were omitted. — ^Journals of Congress, February 26, 1778. ^ Ibid., May 15, 1778. ^ No soldier in the infantry battalions could — by a resolve of August 31, 1778 — enlist outside the battalions credited to the State for which he had enlisted as a militiaman. 5 The establishment of 1778 allowed to each battalion of in- fantry 477 privates with pay at $6^ per month ; artillery, 336 matrosses at $8i/^ per month; cavalry, 324 dragoons, %^yi per month ; provost, 43 provosts or privates, $81^ per month ; three companies in the engineering department, each to have sixty privates at $8j^ per month (Journals of Congress [ 59 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington much -desired consummation of treaties with France was hailed with celebrations in the army, and the virtual victory at Monmouth following Clinton's evacuation of Philadelphia served in a sense to offset the loss of Savannah, which was not known in camp until the new year came in. The opening weeks of 1779 disclosed con- ditions that might well have discouraged Wash- ington himself Congress authorized him to offer a bounty not to exceed $200 (in ad- dition to the usual bounties of clothing, and, at the expiration of the war, of land and money) to be given to each man engaged for the war.^ Later, where the bounty offered by a State exceeded $200, this sum was ordered to be put to the State's credit for each recruit furnished, to prevent the jealousies that might otherwise arise from too great inequality in the amount of May 27, 1778). A regiment of infantry had i colonel (who was also a captain), i lieutenant-colonel (also captain), i major (also captain), 6 captains, paymaster, adjutant, quartermaster, I surgeon, i surgeon's mate, 8 lieutenants, 9 ensigns, i ser- geant-major, I quartermaster-sergeant, 27 sergeants, i captain- lieutenant (over the colonel's company), x drum-major, i fife- major, 18 drums and fifes, 27 corporals, 477 privates: in all 585. ^Journals of Congress, January 23, 1779. [ 60 ] mm^ '■■ " l^t^ foon as podibic. with a \-.:qc Number of the fald Ariicicj, not lefs thin tivo Shirts, two pair of Stockings and tw.i p.nr r.t" Summer Bricchcs to each Coat, apportioned as the Share of your Town odd (end liicni o-; foon as procured o Mr. William Hunt, at WaieHMm— We (hall be ready to Order P<> for the (j;iie a: fbio as receiv'd, according to the Prices which yon fhall'ceafy, re your judgment 10 prevent Iftlpe-fitionsOpon the Soldiers. ,**- js*, f >■'"£ "" ►^Vv ... Call for coats, -Imwiiig a --amiilc ibrary.) ^ Material Needs A story is told of two soldiers in another cam- paign who, being out of provisions, put a stone in their camp-kettle when a certain Colonel Winds was expected. The colonel soon stopped before their fire and inquired: "Well men, anything ^o eat *? " " Not much," they replied, " What have you in that kettle ? " "A stone. Colonel, for they say there is some strength in stones, if you can only get it out." This guileless conversation had the desired ef- fect, for the officer declared that they must have something better to eat. In times of distress it was vexing to find that the ^wagon-drivers had ruined the pork by drawing out the brine to lighten the load ; ^ or to see a clumsy fellow endeavoring to guide through the marshy road four or five horses attached to a wagon from which barrels of flour and other perishable provisions tumbled into the mud.^ At Harlem Heights, soon after the battle of Long Island, the general saw about the camp large pieces of fine beef left untouched to putrefy in the sun.^ ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 4, p. 125. 2 Dr. J. Campfield's Diary, p. 133. 2 General orders, September 28, 1776. American Archives v., vol. 2, col. 605. [ 85 ] 'The Private Soldier Under Washington The food was frequently poorly cooked from a scarcity of wood for the fires, and the few trees near a camp were the source of angry disputes. " I thought," said Washington one day, " that different regiments were upon the point of cut- ting each others' throats for a few standing lo- custs near their encampments, to dress their victuals with." ^ The quartermaster-general was instructed to investigate complaints regarding food and to punish careless cooks and bakers.^ In Wayne's command each regiment or corps had an officer appointed weekly whose duty it was to visit the kitchen or place for cooking in every company, to see that the work was properly done, and that meat was boiled, not fried. It was recommended that flour be drawn from the stores two days in each week, so that small dumplings could be made for the soup.^ When the kitchen had no roof but the sky the soup was often too thoroughly permeated with burnt leaves and dirt to be palatable.^ Better cooking, especially baking, became a pressing necessity ; ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 195. ^ Colonel William Henshaw's Orderly Book, p. 4.4.. ^ Orderly Book of the Northern Army at Ticonderoga, p. 126. 4 Dr. A. Waldo's Diary, Historical Magazine, May, 1861, p. 131' [ 86 ] Material Needs finally all bakers were placed under a director, without whose license no baker could work for the army.^ A year later a company of bakers was authorized, to consist of seventy-five men and a director who was to receive $50 a month and three rations a day.^ The beef was poor all through the winter of 1777-78, so lean and thin that it became a matter of jest. A butcher who wore white but- tons on the knees of his breeches was seen bear- ing a quarter of beef into camp. " There, Tom," cried a soldier, " is some more of our fat beef. By my soul, I can see the butch- er's breeches buttons through it."^ It is not strange that the doctor who records this conver- sation was fervently grateful for a good stomach that he might endure " fire-cake " and water for breakfast, with water and fire-cake for dinner. At evening the cry could be heard along the line of soldiers' huts at Valley Forge, " No meat, no meat." That the men under these conditions still showed " a spirit of alacrity and content- ment " was marvellous. Were soldiers to have ' Journals of Congress, May 3, 1777. "^ Ibid., February 27, 1778. ^Dr. Waldo's Diary, Historical Magazine, May, 186 1, p. 134- [ 87] The Private Soldier Under Washington plenty of food and rum, wrote Dr. Waldo, " I believe they would storm Tophet." ^ The fare of the enemy was not always better than that of the Continental soldiers, if confidence may be placed in the remark of a diarist that bis- cuit taken from the British regulars were hard enough for flints.^ The question of a sufficient supply of good food was of the first importance, and was seem- ingly as little understood by politicians of the day, as was the effect of clothing on enlistments, or of enlistment for short periods on the success of a campaign. Washington estimated that 30,- 000 men would require for twelve months at least 200,000 barrels of flour and 40,000,000 pounds of meat.^ To obtain these supplies each year was one of the great tasks imposed upon the Commander-in-chief, and had confidence in Washington not grown from year to year and made his appeals effective, the Revolutionary War must have failed. To prevent the entire dissolution of the small permanent force which was deemed necessary during the winter months ^Dr. Waldo's Diary, Historical Magazine, May, l86i, p. 130. 2 Military Journals of Two Private Soldiers, p. 53. 3 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 8, p. 225. [ 88 ] Material Needs of inactivity, food had to be saved for the sup- port of these men that should have been avail- able to maintain the militia when called upon for important enterprises.^ The method adopted to obtain supplies was simple in theory; the amount of flour, meat, and other necessities to be procured was apportioned to the various colonies to be collected, trans- ported, and deposited at such places within the respective colonies or States as the Commander- in-chief might from time to time designate.^ The same lack of a central authority strong enough to use force, which made it next to impossible to collect clothing, draft men, raise money, or punish deserters, played havoc with the commissary department. But when Wash- ington in his vigorous, earnest appeals stirred the people near at hand they never failed him. The crises were always safely passed, and the war went on to the end. Next in value to good food may be placed clothing, upon which depended largely the health, degree of cleanliness, and soldierly pride of the army. Frequent wars throughout the col- onies from the earliest times had fostered the ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 9, p. 45. 2 Sparks in Washington's Writings (1834), vol. 6, p. 482, [ 89 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington military spirit along the Atlantic coast line and the inland frontier towns. At the outbreak of the Revolution militia and independent companies were to be found in all the colonies, and styles of uniform were almost as numerous as company organizations. From the simple dress of the New England alarm-list companies to the elab- orate costumes of the private corps in New York, Philadelphia, or Virginia was a long step ; and thus it happened that the levies raised from time to time on short enlistments to reenforce the Continental army formed a motley gathering. In the ranks at the siege of Boston were men dressed as savages,^ as backwoodsmen, and some with uniforms not unlike those of the British regulars.^ The general hue of the ranks, how- ever, not only in the campaign before Boston but through much the larger part of the war, was sombre, and can best be indicated by saying that the browns and greens predominated.^ Congress seems to have recognized this in an order to the commissioners at the Court of France in 1777 to ^ American Archives IV., vol. 3, col. 2. 2 A little later confusion arose from the similarity of the cloaks of the Connecticut light horse to those of the enemy. — Waldo's Diary, Historical Magazine, June, 1861, p. 169. 3 Historical Magazine, vol. 4, p. 353 (December, i860) ; also Magazine of American History, vol. 1, p. 461. [ 90] Material Needs send uniforms of green, blue, and brown colors.^ The popular "blue and buff" were not worn by the Continental rank and file from New England or the South, and the New York and New Jer- sey troops, for whom the combination was des- ignated between 1779 and 1782 were, much of the time, destitute of cloth of the proper colors. During the opening months of the Revolu- tion the troops that had no distinctive uniform were, as far as possible, clothed as Washington suggested^ in a hunting shirt (a long loose coat), and in long breeches to which were attached gaiters or small - clothes buttoned at the sides and held down by straps under the shoes. The gaiters or leggings were often made of tow cloth which had been ^steeped in a tan vat until it be- came the color of a dry leaf This uniform was sometimes called the rifle dress.'^ There were ruffles of the same material around the neck and on the bottom of the coat, on the shoulders, at the elbows, and about the wrists. The hat was round and dark, with a broad brim turned up in three places, in one of which there was usually a 1 Journals of Congress, February 5, 1777. 2 Magazine of American History, vol. i, p. 60, p. 461 et seq., a valuable review of the subject by Professor A. B. Gardner of West Point. [ 91 ] T^he Private Soldier Under Washington cockade of some color or a sprig of green. A white belt over the left shoulder held the car- touch-box. A black cloth or stock went about the neck, and the hair was bound in a cue at the back.-^ This costume was, in the minds of the British, associated with a skilful marksman, and Wash- ington in the summer of 1776 urged its impor- tance in these words : " It is a dress which is justly supposed to carry no small terror to the enemy, who think every such person a complete marksman."^ At Bunker Hill a rifleman, stand- ing upon the earthworks, was noticed by an Englishman to have shot as many as twenty of Howe's officers before he fell,^ and in the Sara- toga campaign, Anburey, watching the effect of their fire, attributed to the Americans a love of killing,^ The British had reason, therefore, to fear the rifleman's dress. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts re- solved July 5, 1775, to provide 13,000 coats, faced with the material of the coat, without * See also Uniforms of the Army of the United States from 1774 to 1889, pp. 1-3. 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 4, p. 297. Orderly Book, July 24, I 776. ■^ Trevelyan's American Revolution, part i, p. 328. ''Anburey's Travels, vol. i, p. 331. [92 ] Material Needs lapels, short and with small folds, each regiment to have its number on the pewter buttons.^ The general orders from head-quarters at Cambridge, July 24, 1775, recommended Indian leggings instead of stockings, as Washington hoped to obtain from the Continental Congress a hunting shirt for each man.* Leggings were also warmer than stockings, more lasting, and could be had in uniform color,^ Congress, on November 4, 1775, resolved to provide clothing for the army, to be paid for by stoppages out of the soldiers' wages. At the same time it was ordered that as much as possible the cloth be dyed brown, and the distinction in regiment be indicated by the color of the facing,^ It will be noticed that there was little attempt to introduce bright col- ors, which were less serviceable and less easy to obtain. ^American Archives IV., vol. 2, col. i486. "^ Ibid., vol. 3, col. 248. 3 Colonel William Henshaw's Orderly Book, p. 65. ^ Again, having in mind the necessity of providing "the soldiers of the United Colonies " with clothing and blankets. Congress resolved, June 19, 1776, to recommend to the colonial assemblies and conventions that they cause to be made for each soldier a suit of clothes, the waistcoat and breeches to be of deer leather if to be had on reasonable terms, a blanket, felt hat, two shirts, two pair of hose, and two pair of shoes, [93] The Private Soldier Under Washington In the campaign about New York in 1776 many soldiers had no uniforms, and these men were provided with hunting shirts.^ In October, 1776, Congress voted to give annually to each soldier who would enlist for the war a suit of cloths, to consist that year of two linen hunting shirts, two pair of overalls, a leathern or woollen waistcoat with sleeves, one pair of breeches, a hat or leather cap, two shirts, two pair of hose, and two pair of shoes.^ Writing to Governor Trumbull in January, 1778, Washington gave his opinion on a service- able form of clothing, and added a word as to the value of trousers, now so universally adopted : " I would recommend a garment of the pattern of the sailors for jacket. This sets close to the body, and by buttoning double over the breast adds much to the warmth of the soldier. There may be a small cape and cuff of a different color to distinguish the corps. ... As the overall is much preferable to breeches, I would recom- mend as many of them as possible." ^ The differ- ^ American Archives IV., vol. 6, col. 426. 2 Journals of Congress, October 8, 1776. 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 6, p. 288. In Gen- eral Sullivan's expedition in 1779 against the Six Nations in Western New York and PennsyK^ania each man wore a short [ 94 ] Material Needs ence desirable in winter and in summer is shown in the following letter : " In June should be given a waistcoat with sleeves, flannel, if to be had, two pair of linnen overalls, one shirt, a black stock of hair or leather, a small round hat bound and a pair of shoes. In January, a waistcoat to be worn over the former, close in the skirts and double breasted, resem- bling a sailor's — , to have a collar and cuff of a different color, in order to distinguish the regi- ment, a pair of breeches, woolen overalls, yarn stockings, shirt, woolen cap, and a blanket when really necessary. Watch coats ought if possible to be provided for sentinels." ^ Trousers or overalls were more and more rec- ognized as necessary, and Congress by a resolu- tion of March 23, 1779, directed Washington to fix and prescribe a uniform for the soldiers, being governed by the supply, " woolen over- alls for winter and linen for summer to be sub- stituted for the breeches." The adoption of blue coats followed in the fall; for in general orders dated at Moore's house, October 2, 1779, the rifle frock, a vest, trousers of tow, shoes, stockings, and carried a blanket and an extra shirt. — Nathan Davis's History, Histor- ical Magazine, April, 1868, p. 204. 1 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 6, p. 330. [ 95 ] T^he Private Soldier Under Washington Commander ordered that the coats of the infantry be blue with white linings and buttons. The New England troops were to be distinguished by white facings, those of New York and New Jer- sey by buff facings, those of Pennsylvania, Dela- ware, Maryland, and Virginia by facings of red, and the troops of the Carolinas and Georgia by blue, with buttonholes edged with white tape or lace. The artillery coats were to be faced and lined with scarlet ; they were to be edged with tape, as well as the buttonholes, and the buttons and hat- bands were to be of yellow. Finally, the light dragoons or cavalry were to be distinguished by blue coats, with white facing, linings, and buttons. It will be noticed that "blue and buff" had no standing in eleven of the thirteen States, although blue now became the military color of the United States.^ Signs of merit, common to all parts of the country, were adopted toward the close of the war. In August, 1782, Washington directed that a non-commissioned officer or a private who had served honorably for more than three uninterrupted years should be permitted to wear upon the left sleeve of the uniform coats a narrow angular piece of cloth of the color of the regi- ^ Magazine of American History, vol. i, p. 477. [ 96] Material Needs mental facing. For six years of service a parallel strip might be added. Unusually meritorious action earned for the soldier a purple heart of silk or cloth edged with lace or binding, to be worn on the facing over the left breast.^ The uniforms of all the infantry and cavalry were later ordered to be blue, faced with red and lined with white — the buttons also to be white. This order, from the scarcity of scarlet cloth, did not prove effective until the war closed.^ The Revolution quickened the production of cloth (duck, Russia sheeting, tow-cloth, osna- burgs, ticklenburgs),^ as it did that of shoes, gun- powder, and firearms. Throughout the country towns women carded and spun the wool and flax which their husbands provided, and the cotton which came from the West Indies ; then they themselves, or itinerant weavers, wove the fiannel, linen, and corduroy. In New England they usually received — but values are not easy to set down — five or six pence a skein of fifteen knots (about a yard and a half), and their day's work of from two to five skeins brought the value of 'Washington's Revolutionary Orders (Whiting), pp. 220— 231. ^General Orders, Nevvburgh, December 6, 1782, February 24, March 3, 1783. ^Mentioned in a vote of Congress, July 19, 1775. [97] The Private Soldier Under Washington five or ten pounds of beef, or, to state it again, one or two good dinners at the tavern.^ Prices in Virginia in 1776 varied greatly. John Har- rower, a Scot, mentions in his diary a payment of five shillings a pound for spun cotton, to run eight yards per pound, or about seven pence a yard.^ Weaving brought the same or a less amount. Many towns had mills for producing cloth, and the business of supplying the army grew rapidly. The campaign of 1775", however, was fought by men who had no clothing at hand suitable for very cold weather, and in many cases no blankets between their bodies and the ground.^ The insufficient clothing was more serious in the expedition led by Montgomery in the autumn of 1775 to Montreal. His proclamation, promising every article of clothing requisite for the rigors of the climate, was intended to satisfy the men who were willing to go forward ; it shows that they might expect blanket-coats, coats, waistcoats, breeches, one pair of stockings, two shirts, leg- gings, sacks, shoes, mittens, and a cap.^ The 1 Weeden's Economic and Social History, pp. 73 i, 789, 790. 2 American Historical Review, October, 1900, p. 106; see also p. 107. 3 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, pp. 142, 147. ^Lossing's Schuyler (1872), vol. i, p. 464. [ 98 1 Material Needs way to Canada might be said to have been paved with promises, and it proved to be a rough road. In December, 1776, Washington referred to the distresses of his soldiers, "many of 'em being entirely naked and more so thinly clad as to be unfit for service." ^ The hardships of the year before had dampened the enthusiasm of the farmers, and enlistments fell off. The men had ragged shirts and many marched with their feet bare ; ^ a few days of active service resulted in sickness for want of proper covering at night and lameness for lack of shoes. Many deserted, im- pelled by indignation at what was believed to be the bad faith and indifference of the Colonial Assemblies. Colonel Angell, of Rhode Island, writing from Peekskill in August, 1777, to the governor of his State, declared that the condition of his regiment was so scandalous that the mem- bers of the other corps and people in the villages along the line of march called his men "the Ragged, Lousey, Naked regiment." ^ These troubles reached their worst form in the winter at Valley Forge in 1777-78 and in ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 5, p. 103. 2 Jiid., vol. 5, p. 151. 3 I. Angcli's Diary (Field), p. xii. LofC. t 99 1 The Private Soldier Under Washington the summer which followed. The Ne-w Tork Gazette at this time reported humorously that Congress was not prevented from making more paper dollars by scarcity of rags, for " independ- ent of the large supply expected from Washing- ton's army as soon as they can be spared, we have reason to believe the country in general never abounded more in that article." ^ The dress of the soldiers was a favorite subject for jest, in one form or another, among the British. A poem addressed to Washington, who had issued a proclamation to the people calling upon them to fatten their cattle for his army, has the lines : And for the beef — there needs no puff about it ; In short, they must content themselves without it, Not that we mean to have them starved — why, marry. The live-stock in abundance, which they carry Upon their backs, prevents all fear of that ! ^ Upward of 2,000 men were unfit for service in November, 1777; in December there were 2,898 men in camp unfit for duty, many with no shoes and some without shirts. Many were confined * New York Gazette, February 23, 1778. In F. Moore's Diary, vol. 2, p. 16. -Rivington's Royal Gazette, January 2, 1779. In Moore's Diary, vol. 2, p. 118. [ 100 ] Material Needs to hospitals and farm-houses with feet too sore to bear unprotected the winter snows.^ When the trampled mud froze suddenly the rough ridges were like knives, and although men cut up their blankets and bound the strips about their feet the flesh was soon as unprotected as before.^ Still others, in their huts, sat by the fire through the night and dozed, unwilling to lie far enough from the coals to sleep.^ A fourth or fifth of the army passed the summer of 1778 about White Plains without shoes, and many with tattered shirts and breeches."* The winter of 1779-80 was endured by many without suitable covering at night,^ and it is not strange that the young men in the country towns demanded exorbitant bounty money when asked to enlist in the fol- lowing spring. If the Continental Congress could have offered good clothing and sufficient food soldiers might have been found for little or no bounty. A vivid picture of Virginia troops is given by Thomas Anburey in his untrustworthy but read- • Washington, December 29, 1777. In his Writings (Ford), vol. 6, p. 267, ^John Shreve's Personal Narrative. Magazine of American History, September, 1879, P* 5^^- ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 6, p. 260. * Ibid.y vol. 8, p. 333. ^ Ibid., vol. 7, p. 137. [ loi ] The Private Soldier Under Washington able book of" travels. The writer claims that the colonel was proud of their appearance, and went about with two troopers before and two behind him, bearing drawn swords. Anburey writes : " As to those troops of [Colonel Bland's Vir- ginia] regiment with Washington's army, I can- not say any thing, but the two that the colonel has with him here, for the purposes of expresses and attendance, are the most curious figures you ever saw ; some, like Prince Prettyman, with one boot, some hoseless, with their feet peeping out of their shoes ; others with breeches that put de- cency to the blush ; some in short jackets, some in long coats, but all have fine dragoon caps, and long swords slung round them, some with hol- sters, some without, but gadamercy pistols, for they have not a brace and a half among them, but they are tolerably well mounted." ^ While considering the lack of clothing, Wash- ington wrote to General Lincoln : " What makes the matter more mortifying is that we have, I am positively assured Ten thousand compleat suits ready in France & laying there because our pub- lic agents cannot agree whose business it is to ship them — a quantity has also lain in the West Indies for more than eighteen months, owing 'Anburey's Travels, vol. 2, p. 320. [ 102 ] Material Needs probably to some such cause." ^ The effect of this kind of official inaction upon the private may be illustrated by an old soldier's experience which he described to the historian of the First New Hampshire Regiment. This man had, at the time of these troubles, a furlough to visit his home ; but the journey was a long one. Before he could start he was obliged to spend two days in cutting up his blanket to make for himself breeches and a pair of moccasins.^ Two months before the siege of Yorktown began, the men were so destitute of clothing that the French troops, encamped near by, made jokes on the nudity of the Continentals ; yet, such was their loyalty to the cause of the Colonies that, when two ships from Spain arrived with sup- plies, and some of the coats were found to be red in color like those worn by the British, the Americans, ill-clad as they were, refused to wear them.^ A humorous view of the veterans was taken by the " Peaceable man," as he styled himself, when he " ventured to prophesy . . . that if the war is continued through the winter, ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 9, p. 51. 2 Kidder's First New Hampshire Regiment, p. 72. 2 Chevalier de la Luzerne, in J. Durand's New Materials, p. 250. [ 103 ] T^he Private Soldier Under Washington the British troops will be scared at the sight of our men, for as they never fought with naked men, the novelty of it will terrify them." ^ Times changed, however, and the winter of 1782-83 was passed at Newburgh in comfort; the men were better fed, well clothed, and sheltered.^ Ragged uniforms and poor food for a long time not only discouraged enlistments, but in- jured the efficiency of the men in the service. Soldiers grumbled, and if they did not come to open mutiny, they grew careless about their ap- pearance and negligent in their habits. " Our men," Washington wrote in the orders of the day for January l , 1 776, " are brave and good ; men who, with pleasure it is observed, are ad- dicted to fewer vices than are commonly found in armies. ... If a soldier cannot be in- duced to take pride in his person he will soon become a Sloven, and indifferent to everything else. Whilst we have men, therefore, who in every respect are superior to mercenary troops, that are fighting for ta:o pence or three pence a day, why cannot we in appearance also be superior to them, when we fight for Life, Liberty, Property and our Country "? " ^ M. Morris's Private Journal, p. i6. ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. lo, p. I 53. [ 104 ] Flint-lock guns, wooden canteen, and welded bayonet which were used by privates during the Revolution. The barrel of the lower gun has bfeen shortened. (Originals owned by James E. Kelly.) IV Firelock and Powder ALTHOUGH guns were far more gen- erally used at the outbreak of the Rev- olution than they are to-day, a serious problem in each campaign was to provide fire- arms for the troops. Each farmer in 1775 had his trusted flintlock, made usually by the hand of a village gunsmith.^ With the disappearance of village artisans much of the charm and pros- perity of rural towns has taken flight. The little shop of the cordwainer, or shoemaker, no longer resounds to the merry tapping of the pegs or the creaking of the waxed threads in his hands ; the 1 The warlike stores in Massachusetts, and what is now Maine, reported April 14, 1775, aggregated : Fire-arms 21, 549 Pounds of powder 1 7,444 Pounds of lead balls 22,191 Number of flints 1 44,699 Number of bayonets 10, 108 Number of pouches 11,979 (Journals of Each Provincial Congress, edited by Lincoln, p. 756.) [ 105 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington cooper and the broom-maker are so rare that few of the present generation have seen the one crowding his staves into place and the other shaping the broom-corn about the handle. The itinerant weaver, too, has passed away, and the miller no longer grinds the coarse flour, corn- meal, and buckwheat which delighted the chil- dren of a by-gone age. Who of us, looking through the advertising pages of a popular mag- azine, will feel any sentiment for the factories and mills pictured there — those unlovely suc- cessors of the vine-covered shops of the cord- wainer, the cooper, the gunsmith *? To polish the barrel of a gun with buckskin and to keep a gloss on the stock by frequent use of oil and wax required more time than the av- erage soldier could or perhaps would give;^ so that during the war many of the firelocks soon wore out from exposure to the weather ; some were lost in difficult marches, and others becom- ing broken could not easily be repaired, since the parts were usually hand-made and a new part had to be fitted to its place. The Continental Congress, July 18, 1775, in recommending the formation of militia companies, suggested that 1 Major Elliott's Orders ; in Charleston Year Book, 1889, p. 247. [ 106 ] Firelock and Powder each soldier have a good musket that would carry an ounce ball, a bayonet, steel ramrod, worm, priming wire, and brush fitted thereto, a cutting-sword or tomahawk, a cartridge-box to contain twenty-three rounds of cartridges, twelve flints, and a knapsack. The barrel was to be three and a half feet long. In time Con- gress established a Continental gun-factory at Lancaster, Penn., and a gun-lock factory at Trenton.^ When the militia soldier provided his own firelock his contribution to the cause was con- siderable for those days. In Massachusetts a gun and bayonet were estimated by the Provin- cial Congress to be worth £l ; ^ in Pennsylvania in 1776 a gun brought about the same sum. In Virginia in 1778 a gun appears to have been worth from £0^ to ^5, and a rifle a pound or two more; a drum was valued at half as much. At this time ^5 would buy about fifteen cords of wood, pay a laborer for two weeks' work, or pur- chase some fifty bushels of coal.^ The flintlock, or firelock as it was commonly called, was an effective weapon when supple- ' Journals of Congress, May 23, 1776. 2 Journals, October 25, 1774. 2 Virginia Historical Magazine, January, 1899, pp. 280—283. [ 107 ] 'The Private Soldier Under WasJmigton mented by earthworks. At Bunker Hill, after two splendid but ineffective advances against the Americans in their hastily formed defences, Gen- eral Howe saw that the bayonet was his last re- source to silence their destructive fire. At Long Island the British used the bayonet with deadly effect, by receiving the fire of Washington's men and charging before they could reload.^ Therein lay the weakness of the firelock, for the manner of loading was clumsy and slow. The end of the cartridge — a paper case filled with ball and powder — was bitten off, and a little powder was sprinkled on the pan ; ^ the remainder of the con- tents was then dropped into the muzzle of the barrel and held in by ramming down the car- tridge-case like a wad. The powder in the flash-pan, ignited by sparks from the contact of a flint with the " battery " (a piece of steel), communicated through a hole with the charge in the barrel. From this description it will be evident that the manual of exercise called for movements more intricate in loading and reload- * Lord Percy's Letter; in Boston Public Library Bulletin, January, 1892, p. 325. A century before this it was part of a musketeer's training to draw his sword when hard pressed in- stead of attempting to reload. 2 Sometimes "priming powder," of better quality, was used. [ 108 ] Firelock and Powder ing than were required later when the percussion- lock came into use. Until the introduction of Baron Steuben's plan in 1779 the form of exercise in the regiments was influenced by the previous training of the colonels in English, French, or German meth- ods.^ The English systems in use in the Colo- nies before the war naturally had the greatest vogue. In 1757 the Militia Bill was passed in England to provide 32,000 men for home de- fence, so that the regular army could be em- ployed abroad. As the new levies were to ex- ercise but one day a week a simple form of discipline was desirable ; and that devised for the county of Norfolk became so successful for drilling militia that it was known widely as the Norfolk Discipline. This plan was in favor in New England as early as 1768, when an abstract was published at Boston ; and Timothy Picker- ing's simphfication of the Norfolk was much used at the North early in the war. Colonel Bland's ^ Treatise, published first in 1727, was more or less in use in the South ; a copy had been in Wash- ington's library for many years. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress, how- ever, had in 1774 adopted the British army man- ^Steuben's Memorial in Kapp's Life (1859), p. 127. [ 109 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington ual of 1764 (known as the "Sixty-fourth"),* which, at the time the New Haven edition ap- peared, was in general use in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts Bay.^ The words of command and motions for priming, loading, and firing a flintlock may be of interest in this age of rapid-fire machine-guns. The explanations are not given in full, as they are very detailed, to obtain uniformity in company drill. 1. Poise your Firelocks! ------ 2 motions 1. (Lock outward, firelock per- pendicular.) 2. (Left hand just above the lock and of an equal height with the eyes.) 2. Cock your Firelocks J ----- ~ 2. motions 3. Present / ----___.. i motion I. (Six inches to rear with right foot. Butt-end to shoulder.) * Washington's own copies of Pickering and the Norfolk show no signs of wear; of the "Sixty-fourth" he had six copies, but the one in his Hbrary is fresh. His copy of the later work by Steuben bears annotations in MS. (probably his own), some of which were incorporated into succeeding editions. Sabin says that copies of Pickering's Easy Plan show much wear. It was adopted by Massachusetts in 1776. See Catalogue of Washington Collection in Boston Athensum, pp. 135, 163. For an opinion of the Norfolk Discipline see the Monthly Re- view, vol. 21 (London, 1759), P* 34°* ^Sabin's Dictionary, viii., 30771. [ iio ] Plate taken from " Regulations for the Order and Discipline the Troops of the United States," by Baron de Steuben. Firelock and Powder 4. Fire ! --------__i motion 5 . Half-cock your Firelocks I - _ _ _ i motion 6. Handle your Cartridge I ----- i motion I. (Slap your Pouch, seize Car- tridge, bite the top well off.) 7. Prime f -------- ..i motion I. (Shake the powder into the pan.) 8. Shut your Pans / -------2 motions 9. Charge with Cartridge f ----- 2 motions 1. (Put the Cartridge into the muzzle, shaking the pow- der into the barrel.) 2. (Hand on Rammer.) 10. Draw your Ra/mners ! - ----- 2 motions 1 1 . Ram down your Cartridge / - - - - 1 motion 12. Return your Rammers / ----- i motion 13. Shoulder your Firelocks/ ^ - - - - - 2 motions 1. (Left hand under butt.) 2. (Right hand thrown down at side.) These actions were much the same in all the manuals, although in the Norfolk they were be- gun chiefly from the shoulder, and not, as here, from the " rest." Baron Steuben made his words of command shorter and sharper. In the ma- noeuvres greater divergence appears. At this time there were two serious objections to the firelock : the soldier required so long to load and fire it that a rapid advance of the enemy [ III ] The Private Soldier Under Washington close upon the discharge found him with no weapon ready for defence, so that he was apt to be overcome with panic ; and the two qualities of powder needed in the cartridge and the pan for effective firing were difficult to obtain. Franklin advocated the introduction of pikes; and in a letter in 1776 gave strong reasons for the use of bows and arrows, claiming that a man could send four arrows for every bullet, that his vision was not clouded by smoke, that his enemy seeing the arrow (he could not see a bullet) had his attention diverted from his duty, and when struck he was less able to fight.* It is interesting to hear Colonel Thomson, a successful militia officer of South Carolina, advocate the next year for his regiment one hundred "complete rifle- men with good horses and spears." ^ The use of an old-time musket, which now seems so cumbersome, led to frequent accidents. In August, 1775, for example, a man forgot to stop the end of his powder-horn ; he flashed the powder in the pan of his gun so near to the horn that there was a conflagration which burned many 1 Franklin to Charles Lee. In his Works (Bigelow), vol. 6, p. 2. 2 Thomson to Rutledge, August 13, 1777; in Salley's Orangeburg County, S. C, p. 452. [ 112 ] Firelock and Powde? soldiers.^ Another man lowered his gun to re- cock it, when there was a report and the gun " kicked " him in the breast, producing instant death.^ The force of these firelocks may be il- lustrated by an accident that happened in Decem- ber, 1775; John M'Murtry, who was cleaning his gun, put in the priming and pulled the trigger, not knowing that it carried a load ; the shot went through a double partition of inch boards, through one board of a berth, through the breast of a man named Penn, and hit a chimney, leaving its mark there.^ The scarcity of fire-arms made it necessary in the autumn of 1775 for Washington to order that no soldier was to carry away his arms if they were fit for use ; private property would be ap- praised and purchased.^ In the following Janu- ary he authorized colonels to buy guns which the militia were willing to sell;^ and yet a month later 2,000 men in camp lacked arms.** Colonel ^ Rev. B. Boardman's Diary ; in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, May, 1892, p. 404, 2 Lieutenant I. Bangs's Journal, p. 55. 3 A. Wright's Journal; in Historical Magazine, July, 1862, p. 2 11. ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 233. ^Washington's Orderly Book, January 28, 1776. ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 406. [ 113 1 The Private Soldier Under Washington Ritzema's regiment in May possessed in all ninety-seven firelocks and seven bayonets.^ In July of the critical summer of 1776 nearly one- fourth of the army had no arms,^ and the New York convention ordered that each militia-man without arms should bring with him a shovel, spade, pick-axe, or a scythe straightened and made fast to a pole.^ One method of obtaining weapons was to dis- arm all disaffected persons,"* and another means of increasing the supply was to purchase through local committees of safety the arms owned by men who for one reason or another were not like- ly to engage in active service. In Pennsylvania county committees of safety, by authority of the province assembly, appointed three collectors for each township. These men could call upon the nearest colonel of militia for aid or could bring before the committees any recalcitrants.^ Congress urged upon the Colonies the need of ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 4, p. 65. '^ C. F. Adams, in American Historical Review, vol. I, p. 651. 3 New York Convention Journal, August 10, 1776; Wash- ington's Writings (Ford), vol. 4, p. 338. ^Journals of Congress, March 14, 1776. 5 Minutes Bucks County Committee ; in Pennsylvania Ar- chives, 2d series, vol. 15, p. 359 et seq. [ 114 ] 1 Firelock and Powder encouraging gunsmiths,^ and the Colonies them- selves imported large consignments of fire-arms from Bordeaux in France.^ Pliarne, Penet et Cie., of Nantes, did a large export business and claimed that they were able to send arms and powder directly from the royal manufactories.^ Lead was to be had with less effort; that for the campaign of 1776 was taken from the statue of King George on the Bowling Green and from the house-tops of New York ; ^ and the amount needed for the operations of 1777 came from the ^Journals of Congress, November 4, 1775. ^American Archives V., vol. 3, col. 1065. ^ Ibid., vol. 2, col. I 147. * Washington to the President of Congress, July 3, 1776. The following note is from the Journal of Lieutenant Isaac Bangs (p. 57) : [July loth, 1776.] Last Night the Statue on the Bowling Green representing George Ghwelph, alias George Rex . . . was pulled down by the Populace. In it were 4000 Pounds of Lead. . . . The Lead, we hear, is to be run up into Mus- quet Balls for the use of the Yankies, when it is hoped that the Emanations of the Leaden George will make as deep impressions in the Bodies of some of his red Coated & Torie Subjects, & that they will do the same execution in poisoning & destroying them, as the superabundant Emanations of the Folly & pretended Goodness of the real George have made upon their Minds, which have effectually poisoned & destroyed their Souls, that they are not worthy to be ranked with any Beings who have any Pretensions to the Principles of Virtue & Justice. [ 115 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington leaden spouts and window-weights of Philadel- phia.* As the bore of the muskets differed in size the bullet-moulds were often of various sizes, and were joined together so that a soldier could make balls to fit any firelock. The running of balls — running the lead into the moulds — was a frequent duty in camp ; it was noted one day by David How in his diary that he went to Prospect Hill after he had done his "steant running ball." ^ A quarter of ' a pound of buck-shot^ or a pound of lead to be " cast into ball to suit the bore " was a proper allowance for a man.^ In Stark's regi- ment each man on the day of Bunker Hill fight had a flint in his gun, and was served a gill-cup full of powder and fifteen balls for his cartridges.^ Powder was the crying need through much of the war. As early as 1774, the Provincial Con- gress of Massachusetts made an effort to provide powder; in December, Connecticut sought to obtain more powder, and Mr. Shaw, a New Lon- ^ American Archives V., vol. i, col. 366 ; see also Journals of Congress, July 31, 1775. There was also a good lead mine in Virginia. ^D. How's Diary, pp. 5, 30. 3 A. Lewis's Orderly Book, April 19, 1776. •* Orderly Book of the Northern Army at Ticonderoga (1859), P- 24. ^Quoted in Trevelyan's American Revolution, pt. i, p. 331. [ 116 ] Firelock and Powder don ship-owner, offered a swift vessel to go to the West Indies for this purpose.^ " To maintain a post within musket-shot of the enemy for six months together," said Washington, " without [powder],'^ and at the same time to disband one army [i.e., of 1775] and recruit another within that distance of twenty-odd British regiments, is more, probably, than ever was attempted."^ Every effort was made to purchase powder, to encourage the manufacture of it, and to have the people save nitre and sulphur."* The Provincial Congress, two months before the battle of Lexing- ton took place, resolved to appoint a committee to draw up directions " in an easy and familiar style " for the manufacture of saltpetre, these to be printed and sent to every town and district in the province at the public expense.^ Further- more, the Congress agreed to purchase all the saltpetre manufactured in the province for the next twelve months at a stated price. After the passage of this act a " simple countryman," it is ' Caulkins's New London, p. 508. 2 The word was omitted lest the letter, if it fell into the hands of the enemy, should disclose Washington's precarious condition. 3 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 313. ^Weeden's Economic and Social History, vol. 2, p. 789. ^Journals Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, February 15, 1775- [ 117 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington said, brought into the House half a bushel of saltpetre which he had made, and promised that more could be made in eight months than the province had money to pay for. His method, the same as that described in the official Water- town pamphlet, is (in the language of a contem- porary letter) " to take the earth from under old houses. Barns, &c., & put it lightly into a hogs- head or Barrel ; & then fill it with water, w'^'' immediately forms a lie. This lie he then puts into an ashes leach that has all the goodness ex- tracted before, this being only as a strainer. After it is run thro' w''\ he boils the Lie so clarified to a certain Consistance, & then puts it to cool, when the saltpetre forms, & is immediately fit for use ; & from every Bushel of earth he produces ^ lb. saltpetre. On this information . . . the Act was suppressed for Amendment."^ The Congress at Philadelphia aided in the quest for powder by authorizing suspension ot the non-importation agreement in the case of vessels bringing gunpowder or sulphur (with four times as much saltpetre), or brass field- pieces, or muskets with bayonets, allowing them to carry out the same value, generously esti- * Joseph Barrell to Joseph Green, November 3, 1775 ; in Boston in 1775 (Ford), p. 37. t 118 ] Firelock and Powder mated, in produce from the Colonies.^ Congress, on June lo, 1775, recommended to the several towns and districts in the Colonies that they col- lect all their saltpetre and sulphur, to be sent from the northern colonies to New York, from the central colonies to Philadelphia, and from those farther south to their committees and con- ventions to be manufactured into gunpowder. The committee of safety in Philadelphia not only published the description of a process for making saltpetre, but called upon the local com- mittee of each county to send two persons to learn the business at their works; these men when trained were, at the committee's expense, to travel from town to town for the purpose of instructing others in the art.^ The flint was characteristic of the gun of this period. The blunderbuss, a short gun with a large bore, clumsy and inaccurate of aim, had nearly passed out of use ; ^ the old-time slow match which ignited the priming-powder had given way to the grooved wheel with serrated ' Journals of Congress, July 15, 1775. 2 Minutes Bucks County Committee of Safety ; in Pennsyl- vania Archives, 2d series, vol. 15, p. 354. 2 Journals Provincial Congress of Massachusetts (Lincoln), p. 526. [ 119 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington edges, rotating against a flint, and this in turn passed out of use when the flint was fastened into the jaws of the cock and sprung against the steel hammer or cover-plate of the flash-pan. Each man when possible had at least two flints,^ and also a wooden "driver" or " snapper," which was substituted for the flint at the time of ex- ercise to prevent unnecessary wear of the stone. A good flint would fire sixty rounds before it had to be repaired, but the habit of snapping the lock was so prevalent that few flints did so much service.^ Flints were not easily obtained and workmen who could shape them were few. When " a vein of prodigious fine black flint stone " was discovered upon Mount Independence (near Ti- conderoga) in 1776, the commanding officers of regiments were ordered to inquire if there were among their soldiers any old countrymen who understood the hammering of flints.^ ^ A. Lewis's Orderly Book, p. 29. 2 Washington's Orderly Book, -May 21, 1776 ; in his Writ- ings (Ford), vol, 4, p. 100. General Greene, in his orders May 29, 1776, directed as a penalty for snapping locks two days and nights confinement on bread and water. (Long Island Historical Society Memoirs, vol. 3, pt. 2, p. 14.) 2 Lieutenant E. Elmer's Journal; in New Jersey Historical Society Proceedings, vol. 3 (1849), p. 41. [ 120 ] Musket, powder-horn, bullet-flask, and buck-shot pouch carried in the Revolution (lent to the Bostonian Society by George B. Dexter, Esq.). Drum carried at the battle of Bunker Hill. I 'Ai-*^^^ ^tjf}^-^^ ^jt^' C f nmlcr cf Tupfiics, Watcrtovn, June 18, 177^. G.'iNTl EMF.V, THE VVeifarc of onr Country again induces tis to urge your exertions in fending to ihc Magazine in tiiis place, what ..-ri^n *"• pro cuicO u ftliC fotl o w ing A rt}e!g?;^ltPoik,Bca"^» Peas, Vinegar and Blankets, the prizes whereof as well as- the CarriDg (liall be allowed ac co rd i n g to the Cuftom of your I'lacer vhich we defire you to certify — Ic is of the ucmoft Importance thac the Aimy fiiould be fuppiied agreeable to the Refolve of the Con- };r-is more efpccially with thefc Articles, the four firft of which are BecelTi y for the irubfiflcnce as well as the Health of the Men, and, the other for their Comfort — The occafion of the Deficiency in J.'iimkets is moftly owing to a number of Men enlifted from Bofton and other Towns which have been vacated, acd they all muft be procured immediately or our worthy Countrymen will fufFer. — As the Country affords every thing, in plenty neccflary to fubfift the Army, and we cannot at prefent obtain many things but by youf Afllflanct ;, W<; pflTiri-OHffFlyes thaCjJOU will aA ynuy ptn-f<; qi; wnrrhily a^ you have done and hope tliac the Event of all our exertions will' be the Salvation of bur Country. To- tht SekBmen and Committee of Corrtfpijndaice fop. the T(kvn D.win CHEEvrR, per Order of Coaunitcec of Supplies, ?C. Call for food and blankets. June 18, 1775. {Original owned by the Boston Public library.) BUNKER'. HILL.| I. tXmt Ptacc a Day. j* IL Rottea Salt Poik. jt UL The Scuny. \ IV. Slatery, Bcegary snd Want h f PROSPECT HILL. \ I. Sem Dollu* • MoqeH. -^ — Ml. Fiefh Provi&m, tad in Plenty. -^ — /niHetlth. . _ -. — ^ IV, Freedom, Cafe, Affluence tnd » good Firm. Handbill sent among the British troops on Bunker Hi (Original owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society.) Firelock and Powder At the beginning of the war the farmers had their powder-horns, many of which bore designs and phrases expressing the sentiments of their owners. It was soon discovered that paper cyl- inders filled with powder and balls, and bound at either end with jack-thread, were more ser- viceable. They were ready for use in an emer- gency and in time of rain or snow ; on the other hand, they could not be withdrawn except by firing the gun, and when powder was scarce the battalion or regimental guards (quarter-guards they were called) were instructed, it would seem, to charge their pieces with powder and " run- ning " (loose-fitting ? ) balls that there might be no waste of ammunition.^ The number of rounds carried by each man was less than the British regulars had at almost every period of the war, owing to the scarcity of cartridge-paper and pow- der. At the battle of Bunker Hill most of the men are said to have fired thirty rounds.^ In the Quebec expedition Arnold's men had only five rounds apiece,^ and during the winter of ^ Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, October, 1876, p. 94; June, 1875, p. 90. 2 Letter of Jesse Lukens, September, 1775 ; in Boston Public Library, Historical Manuscripts, No. i, p. 25. ^American Historical Review, vol. i, p. 296. [ 121 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington 1775-76 Washington felt that he could not risk more than twelve or fifteen rounds at a time in the hands of the men.^ Later on the Continen- tal soldiers carried as many as twenty-five or forty rounds to be used against the sixty of the regulars.^ Given the firelock with powder and balls, there was still to be considered the man behind it; his skill and courage were worthy the atten- tion of the Commander himself In his book of orders, under date of June 29, 1 776, Washington said to his soldiers : " He [the General] recommends to them to load for their first fire with one musket ball and four or eight buck shot, according to the size and strength of their pieces ; if the enemy is re- ceived with such a fire at not more than twenty or thirty yards distant, he has no doubt of their being repulsed."'^ When placed behind earth- works or a stone wall this had proved the best of devices. In the open field enough disciplined troops would survive such a fire to fall upon the raw recruits with fixed bayonets before they could, in their inexperience, load and deliver a ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 387. "^ Ibid., vol. 3, p. 426 ; vol. 4, p. 201 ; vol. 6, p. 71. ^ Ibid., vol. 4, p. 194. [ 122 ] Firelock and Powder second volley ; ^ but the regulars were scarcely a match for the militia when protected by earth- works. Officers constantly advised the militia to hold their fire until the enemy approached to within a few yards of their defences ; they gave orders also to aim with care, for they knew that many in the ranks were marksmen. When 500 vol- unteers were to be levied in the mountains of Virginia in 1775, so many men came forward that the commanding officer made his selection by a trial of skill. A board one foot square bearing a chalk outline of a nose was nailed to a tree at a distance of 150 yards, or about the space covered by fifteen to twenty houses in a modern city block. Those who came nearest the mark with a single bullet were to be enlisted. The first forty or fifty men who shot cut the nose en- tirely out of the board.^ At Bunker Hill the American works were silent until the British were within forty yards, and where companies of grenadiers had stood, three out of four, even nine out of ten in some places, lay dead or wounded in the long ^ See note No. i, p. 108. ^John Harrower's Diary ; in American Historical Review, October, 1900, p. 100. [ 123 ] The Pmate Soldier Under Washington grass.^ A Scotchman living in Virginia said two months later that the slaughter of June 17th was to be attributed to the fact that the Amer- icans " took sight " when they fired. 1 Trevelyan's American Revolution, pt. i, p. 328; Percy to his father, June 19, 1775 (MS. letters at Alnwick). [ 124 1 ' V Officer and Private IT is difficult to ascertain just what Washing- ton thought of the private soldiers. When by a disgraceful retreat, as once happened, he was left in imminent danger of capture, he was incensed at the cowardice of his men ; when he saw them enlist where they were offered the largest bounty, he scorned their avarice ; but when they suffered and were patient, were tested and proved loyal and courageous, he loved and praised them. He put his trust in the native rank and file, and chose for his bodyguard only those born in America or those who were bound to the land by the strongest ties of blood.^ The privates bore hardships such as, in his opinion, would have broken the spirit of foreign soldiers. In the spring of 1778 he wrote from Valley Forge : " To see men, without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie on, with- out shoes by which their marches might be 1 Historical Magazine, vol. 2, p. 131. [ 125 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington traced by the blood from their feet, and almost as often without provisions as with them, march- ing through the frost and snow, and at Christmas taking up their winter quarters within a day's march of the enemy without a house or hut to cover them, till they could be built, and submit- ting to it without a murmur, is a proof of pa- tience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be paralleled." ^ Colonel John Laurens, a young officer at head-quarters, shows in his let- ters a frank affection for the men whom he de- sired to command. " I would cherish," he said, " those dear, ragged Continentals, whose patience will be the admiration of future ages, and [I] glory in bleeding with them."^ From the words of Washington and of Laurens it is reasonable to suppose that the rank and file were kindly remembered in the deliberations of those who formed the Commander's official family. Washington knew, the trials of the men who served under him ; his kindly heart tempered the course of justice because he could measure the strength of their temptations. But officers were not always men of character — or, to use the old word, men of true quality — and the private, rea- 1 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 6, p. 487. 2 Army Correspondence of Colonel John Laurens, p. 136, [ 126 ] O^cer and Private sonably patient under almost -unheard-of priva- tion and suffering, chafed beneath the yoke of militarism. At the South the owner of a plan- tation, having large opportunities for culture by means of his great wealth, commanded respect, and having many servants he grew to exercise the voice of authority. At the North there was none of this, and a distinction between officer and man did not prevail in the rural militia of New England.^ This was due, in part at least, to the levelling influence of small farms. The private's company officers were not infrequently his inti- mate friends or even his inferiors, men who had devoted their time to the local militia organiza- tion and had become familiar with drill and tac- tics while he, perhaps, was busy with other mat- ters. The private could not understand why he should salute such neighbors because they were in camp, or why he should ask of them per- mission to go beyond the lines. When the men gathered at the siege of Boston they were at first allowed much liberty ; a soldier, wishing to go home for a few days, wrote a letter to a friend or relative and asked him to come to camp as a sub- stitute.^ Before many weeks had passed the men 1 See also Franklin's Works (Bigelow), vol. 4, p. 245, 2 Green's Groton During the Revolution, p. 8. 1 127 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington noticed the increasing rigor of army discipline. Even a man of superior education, Rev. William Emerson, commented upon the "great distinction made between officers and soldiers," where every- one was made to know his place and keep in it, on pain of receiving thirty or forty lashes.^ Intelligent opinion was, on the whole, against the popular social philosophy of the day, when applied to army life. Joseph Reed, writing to his wife October ii, 1776, remarks: "Where the principles of democracy so universally pre- vail, where so great an equality and so thorough a levelling spirit predominates, either no disci- pline can be established, or he who attempts it must become odious and detestable, a position which no one will choose. You may form some notion of it when I tell you that yesterday morn- ing a captain of horse, who attends the General from Connecticut, was seen shaving one of his men on the parade near the house." ^ The same impression was gained by James Wilkinson, who noticed in the camp at Boston but little distinc- tion between colonel and private.^ Graydon is ^ Washington's Writings (Sparks), vol. 3, p. 491. 2 Joseph Reed's Life and Correspondence (1847), vol. i, p. 243 ; also American Archives V., vol. 2, col. 994. 3J. Wilkinson's Memoirs (1816), vol. i, p. 16. [ 128 ] Officer and Private another witness ; he recalls the story of Colonel Putnam, chief engineer of the army, who was seen with a large piece of meat in his hand. "• What," said a friend, " carrying home your rations your- self. Colonel?" "Yes," he replied, " and I do it to set the officers a good example." And Graydon adds that if Putnam had seen any aristocratic ten- dencies in the army they must have been of very recent origin and due to southern contamination. It was not at all uncommon for company or even regimental officers to give to their sons or younger brothers positions which were below commissioned rank.^ But rank came to be more jealously guarded as time went on. In 1779, at a brigade court-martial. Captain Dexter, for be- havior unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman in frequently associating with the wagon-master of the brigade, was sentenced to be discharged the service.^ Earlier in the war Lieutenant Whitney, "for infamous conduct in degrading himself by voluntarily doing the duty of an orderly sergeant," was sentenced to be se- verely reprimanded.^ Among a rural people at ^ Graydon's Memoirs, p. 147. 2 Colonel Israel Angell's Diary, p. 37, note. ^General Orders, Ticonderoga, October 3, 1776. In American Archives V., vol. 2, col. 1082. [ 129 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington the North the lieutenant's act of kindness could hardly have merited severity, except as it injured discipline in other regiments. In the South more was expected ; Captain Barnard Elliott's Diary has this entry ; " The Lieut. Col. cannot think the Major could so far have overlooked the officers' com- mand and authority as to order Shepherd (a pri- vate) to take a power only due to an officer ; he assures the regiment that in future if an officer suffers his prerogative to be trampled upon which he ought to support, he will be considered by him as a man wanting in that essential which constitutes the officer." ^ The practical results of the doctrine of equality, when put in force, were occasionally made evident by disorder and mu- tiny.^ While the lack of a proper difference in pay for the officer and the private may have justified in the mind of the private this attitude of equal- ity, it could not have been the dominating in- fluence among the troops from New England, if it was among those from the middle and south- ern colonies. Washington calls it " one great ^Charleston Year Book, 1889, p. 256. ^ Case cited by Colonel Weissenfels, July 6, 1776. In American Archives V., vol. i, col. 41. [ 130 ] Officer and Private source of familiarity." ^ But the farmer of to-day is more jealous of his right of familiarity with the rich than with the poor, and more watchful as his neighbor prospers. To his reasoning a larger income brings no enlarged prerogative in social affairs. Where social distinctions were closely observed, as in the South, a marked differ- ence in pay was more essential to the manage- ment of the rank and file. But the difficulty existed, and Washington wrote to the president of Congress, September 24, 1776: "While those men consider and treat him [an officer] as an equal, and, in the character of an officer regard him no more than a broomstick, being mixed together as one common herd, no order nor dis- cipline can prevail."^ What was the governing cause of this trou- ble? Many have answered the question in much the same words. Captain John Chester, of Connecticut, soon after the experience at Bunk- er Hill, commented upon the fear of all officers, " from the Cap* General to a corporal," that the people would brook no exercise of authority, and added the significant words : " The most of the companies of this Province [meaning Massa- ^ Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 141. 2 Ibid., vol. 4, p. 443. [ 131 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington chusetts Bay] are commanded by a most Despic- able set of officers." ^ One explanation needs no proof to convince us of its truth. Where officers depended for their commissions upon their ability to raise com- panies or to persuade companies to serve under them, the test was of popularity and not of mil- itary skill. It proved impossible in Massachu- setts for many men to play the double role of recruiting officer and disciplinarian before the same body of soldiers with success. Several of- ficers who would have made excellent privates or officials in civil employment were turned out of the army in disgrace before the war was fairly begun. If discipline depends upon those in command, what could be expected at Bunker Hill of a company whose captain ordered the men to march into battle, promising to " overtake them directly," and never appearing until the next day ^ ^ "I have," said Washington, " already broke one Col°. and five Captains for Coward- ice, or for drawing more Pay & Provisions than they had Men in their Companies." ^ General Lee and Captain Chester both speak of the ab- 1 Boston in 1775 (Ford), p. 15. "^ Ibid., p. 14. ^ Ibid., p. 29. [ 132 1 Officer and Private sence of officers from Bunker Hill, of lack of discipline, and of readiness to retreat among many companies of privates who had not so much as a corporal to command them.^ Men who had had little or no discipline at home needed a strong hand in camp, but a hand that they could respect. " As to the materials (I mean the private men)," wrote Charles Lee, " they are admirable — young, stout, healthy, zeal- ous, and good humor'd and sober. " ^ " But," to quote Joseph Hawley, " there is much more cause for fear that the officers will fail in a day of trial than the privates." ^ It was the officers who failed in their duty (if failure there was) at Bunker Hill ; "* they were the drill-masters on the green, but when the best stuff of the town was put under them and they were no longer merely drill-masters but leaders, they could not fill the measure. They were not always gentlemen, in so far as that term implies leadership in thought 1 Boston in 1775 (Ford), pp. 14, 23. 2 Lee to S. Deane, July 20, 1775. In Boston in 1775 (Ford), p. 22. 3 Hawley to Washington. In Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 18. ^Washington, July 21, 1775. In Ibid., vol. 3, p. 32. See also Dr. Belknap's opinion, in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, June, 1875, p. 92. [ 133 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington and action. Some were petty, mercenary, over- bearing, and themselves ill-trained to obey their official superiors. " These N. England men," said Lee, the professional soldier, " are so defec- tive in materials for officers, that it must require time to make a real good army out of 'em." ^ The same sentiment was voiced in almost the same words by another famous general of the war, Nathanael Greene. " We want nothing," he said, " but good officers to constitute as good an army as ever marched into the field. Our men are much better than the officers."^ It would not be well to condemn many for the failings which were too evident in a few ; but the testi- mony of men like Lee and Greene suggests that when the private fell short in discipline and obedience, as frequently happened, he was not alone at fault. The charge was once made that the rank and file served for money, while the liberties of Amer- 1 Lee to R. Morris, quoted in Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 215. Ebenezer Huntington held a sim- ilar opinion ; see a letter dated June 29, 1775, in American Historical Review, July, 1900, p. 705. Graydon, in a rather unpleasant spirit, emphasizes the lack of men of the world and those of " decent breeding " among New England officers. (Memoirs, p. 157.) 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 4, p. 44I. I 134 ] Officer and Private ica were preserved by the patriotism of officers. In this connection a half-serious remark of Wash- ington's, reported by an officer' at Valley Forge, seems applicable. " So many resignations of of ficers," said he, " that his Excellency expressed fears of being left alone with the soldiers." ^ These resignations, if we may believe Colonel Reed, were sometimes prompted by cowardice. " I am sorry to say," he writes in 1776, " too many officers from all parts leave the army when danger approaches. It is of the most ruinous consequences." ^ A fail- ing among officers which was happily much less common than mediocrity or even cowardice was that of theft or embezzlement. The soldiery were nearly helpless in the hands of those who withheld the pay of their men from month to month until mustered out of service or brought to book by a court-martial.^ The New Hamp- shire committee of safety — to mention a single case — voted August 6, 1776, that Lieutenant Gilman pay over to his men the coat -money which he had the previous year received for ^ Dr. A. Waldo's Diary ; in Historical Magazine, June, 1861, p. 169. 2 American Archives V., vol. 2, col. 1036. ^ Ibid., vol. 2, col. I 128. The case of Captain Byers (col. 1278) is typical. [ 135 ] 'The Private Soldier Under Washington them and had declined to deUver.^ It would be unfair, perhaps, to assume that these malprac- tices were more evident in the revolutionary army than in any other army of volunteers ; and it should be said that the self-sacrifice and hero- ism shown by officers all over the Colonies did much to put spirit into the rank and file. An officer's ability to command carries with it a presumption that there is good discipline and obedience in the ranks. John Adams complained that soldiers loitered along the country roads and idled in the taverns.^ In camp also, from time to time, there was a lack of discipline; sol- diers were known to be on friendly terms with the enemy,^ and careless sentries allowed their guns to be stolen while they were on duty."* The practice of hiring one's duties done by an- other did not sweeten the lot of the poorer sol- dier,^ although this could hardly have been of frequent occurrence. Refusing to do duty, or threatening to leave the army,*^ were not uncom- ' American Archives V., vol. i, col. 609. 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 4, p. 438. ^ Ibid., vol. 3, p. 26. Also Army Correspondence of Col- onel John Laurens, p. 70. ■^ Orderly Book of the Northern Army at Ticonderoga, p. 108. 5 Essex Institute Collections, vol. 14, p. 63. ^Colonel William Henshaw's Orderly Book, p. 58. [ 136] Officer and Private mon breaches of discipline, brought about often by the unreasonable conduct of officers. Tim- othy Burnham, corporal, for keeping " Seymore " on sentry from six o'clock in the evening until seven the next morning, was reduced to the ranks.-^ Moses Pickett " for disobedience of or- ders and damning his officer " was sentenced to receive thirty lashes and afterward to be drummed out of the regiment.^ The firing of guns in and about the camp was a constant annoyance that could not be stopped, and during the siege of Boston, British soldiers, hearing frequent reports followed by no casualties, came to ridicule American marksmanship.^ Many of these acts of insubordination, however, are common to all armies. In the winter of 1780-81, the mutiny of the Pennsylvania line, consisting at that time of six regiments, was one of the serious events of the war. The men were in huts near Morris- town under the command of General Wayne ; many of them had been engaged for the ambig- uous term of " three years or the war," and now feared that they might be pressed to serve beyond ^ Essex Institute Collections, vol. 14, p. 206. 2 Colonel William Henshaw's Orderly Book, p. 81. 3 Ibid., p. 63. [ 137 ] 'The Private Soldier Under Washington the three-year period of their enlistment. At a time when recruits were receiving large bounties for short service, their own pay was already many months in arrears, their food was poor and insuf- ficient, and their ragged clothes were filthy. Re- ports were current that officers had used the men cruelly, but these carried little or no weight. The first day of the new year was celebrated with an undue allowance of spirits, and soon the men were ready to be stirred to rebellion by the pict- ure of their sufferings artfully drawn by dema- gogues. Between nine and ten o'clock of the same evening the mutiny broke out under the lead of Sergeant Williams, a deserter, poor, and fond of drink. A number of officers were killed or injured in a futile attempt to restore order, and the men with six pieces of artillery set off for Princeton. They marched with " an astonish- ing regularity and discipline," allowing General Wayne and two of his officers to accompany them. On the second day Wayne asked for a conference with one man chosen by the soldiery from each regiment, hoping, as he said, " soon to return to camp with all his brother soldiers who took a little tour last evening " ; ^ but the rank and file would not listen to his proposals, and the ' Stille's Wayne, p. 252. [ 138 1 I Officer and Private mutineers marched again on the 4th. Wash- ington, meantime, apprised, of events, was using every effort to bring about an agreement ; he asked of the States a suit of clothes for each man and three months, pay. Clinton, of the British army, was not idle ; he sent a message, addressed " To the person appointed by the Pennsylvania line to lead them in their present struggle for their lib- erty and rights," in which he offered to protect them, pardon any of their number for past of- fences, pay them what was due from Congress, and leave them free to give up military service if they wished. These were generous terms offered by the mother-country to her sons in rebel- lion. As they recalled their privations, and the uncertainty of their fate when they should again be in the power of Congress, they could hardly be expected to disappoint Clinton. Yet, as they put it, they preferred not " to turn Ar- nolds." ^ The Committee of Congress and Gov- ernor Reed, for the Council of Pennsylvania, of- fered terms which the mutineers accepted. The men who had enlisted indefinitely for three years or for the war were to be discharged unless they had voluntarily reenlisted, and where the orig- 1 Wayne. Quoted in Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 9, p. 97. [ 139 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington inal papers were not to be had the oath of the^ soldier was to be sufficient evidence. Certificates for the depreciation on their pay were to be given, and arrearages were to be made up as soon as possible. Clothing — a pair of shoes, overalls, and a shirt — was to be furnished as indicated in the proposals. Finally, no man was to be brought to trial or censured, but the past was to be buried in oblivion.^ When these negotiations were completed the British spies were given up and executed. Many of the men, according to Washington's letter to Steuben, dated February 6, 1781, took the oath before the proper papers could be procured, and by perjury got out of the service.^ The New "Jersey Gazette^ in a discussion of the revolt, remarks that the satisfactory con- clusion " will teach General Clinton that, though he could bribe such a mean toad-eater as Arnold, it is not in his power to bribe an American sol- dier."^ The unfortunate affair was not without other lessons, for men who could not be bribed ^Stilld's Wayne, p. 257. 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 9, p. 123. See Haz- ard's Register of Pennsylvania, vol. 2 ; Marshall's Life of Washington (1805), vol. 4, p. 393 ; Remembrancer, vol. 1 1, p. 148. 3 Gazette, January 17, 1781. In F. Moore's Diary, vol. 2, p. 374- [ 140 ] JL LIBERTY TREE .AN APPl Probably a Massa- chusetts flag. After an old print. AN APPEALTO HEAVEN Jk_ The flag of Massa- chusetts. A white ground with a pine tree in the centre. .*(«- Flag carried by j the Bedford Militia Company, at Con- I cord Bridge. " It was originally designed in England in 1660-70, for the three county troops of Middlesex, and became one of the accepted standards of the organized Militia of the State, and as such it was used by the Bedford Company." WiLLi.\M S. Appleton, Mass. Hist. Society. Flag carried by the American Army through the South at the beginning of the Revolution. First naval flag. A yellow flag with a rattle- snake in the act of striking. Officer and Private needed the best efforts of the commissary de- partment in their behalf The restless element wanted a firm hand, also, if the loyal majority was to remain obedient. A few months later, at Yorktown, twelve plot- ters stepped out before the regiments and per- suaded the men to refuse to march because the promises made to them had not been kept. Wayne then addressed them earnestly and called upon a platoon of soldiers to fire either upon him, who, with his officers, had been humiliated by the former disgrace, or upon the instigators of this fresh mutiny. At the word of command they presented and fired, killing six of the twelve leading rioters. One of the remaining six was badly maimed, and Wayne ordered a soldier to use his bayonet. This the man refused to do, claiming that the mutineer was his comrade. The general instantly drew his pistol, and would have shot the soldier had he refused longer to carry out the order. General Wayne then marched the regiments about the lifeless bodies, and ordered the five remaining mutineers to be hanged.^ In a recent work on the French army, Decle's 1 Livingston to Colonel Webb. In Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 9, p. 267. [ 141 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington " Trooper 3809," there is evidence of much fric- tion between company officers and men. While something of the kind was suggested as the cause of the mutiny of the Pennsylvania Hne, this rumor never gained credence ; the want of clothing and food was too evident a source of discontent. The following order of General John Rutledge of South Carolina, in 1776, bears upon the rela- tions between officers and their men, and it has the right spirit ; it reads : " Any officer that shall strike a soldier at any time hereafter, whatsoever the provocation may be, such act of striking shall be imputed as an act of cowardice, save the Major and Adjutant [do it] and that tenderly and in the way of their particular duty."^ ^ Captain B. Elliott's Diary ; in Charleston Year Book, 1889, p. 209. [ 142 ] VI Camp Duties THE soldier's life was not passed in idle- ness. Uniforms and arms required daily attention before the hour for parade, and the endless duties connected with cooking, ob- taining fuel, and caring for the camp provided work for all. Day in camp began at sunrise with the beating of the reveille, or earlier when some important movement was to be executed. Not infrequently the exact moment of dawn was un- known and the tired men were called from their beds in the dark. Day was said, however, to have begun when a sentry could see clearly a thousand yards around him, "and not before."* To farm- ers' sons, unaccustomed to shave frequently, to put powder upon their hair, or to brush their clothes, a constant regard for personal appear- ance became at once oppressive. During the period of late sunrise the men were instructed to shave in the evening that they might be ready ^ Colonel William Henshaw's Orderly Book, p. 53. [ 143 ] T^he Private Soldier Under Washington for parade in the morning ; ^ and their canteens were to be filled at night whenever there was reason to expect an early departure from camp or an attack.^ In the opening years of the war many pickets, from ignorance of military life or from careless- ness, brought trouble upon themselves; some went back to their quarters to get provisions, leaving their posts unprotected,^ others sat down in comfort under trees, and, as just stated, were so negligent that their guns were stolen from their keeping.^ Colonel Crafts at one time threat- ened to punish those who persisted in relieving themselves from duty without the presence of a corporal.^ In September, 1775, the following description of military duty appears in a letter written by a Southern rifleman at Prospect Hill : " On Thursday at firing the morning Gun we were ordered to Plow'd Hill, where we lay all that day — I took my paper & Ink along as you once desired I would, but found so much to do beside writing, that you had only a few lines 1 Orderly Book of the Northern Army at Ticonderoga, p. 26. 2 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 4, p. 219. 3 Colonel William Henshaw's Orderly Book, p. 47. ^ A. Lewis's Orderly Book, p. ■]■]. 5 Essex Institute Collections, vol. 14, p. 64. [ 144 ] Camp Duties manufactured (in the face of 18 battering Can- non) ; . . . there was too much noise for writing & the Generals appearing in sight I tho't it not quite so decent a Posture of a SOL- DIER, thrust my writing materials under an old Blanket, Shouldered my firelock, and strutted with all the parade of a careful Lad." ^ As the autumn of 1775 wore on the men be- came accustomed to the routine and were more alert, although some failed to remember the proper password or countersign, since it was changed every night. A single sentinel demanded the countersign only, but the sentry next to the guard, upon hearing someone approach, de- manded, " Who goes there '? " and if many were in view he called to the sergeant of the guard, who ordered out his men under arms. When officers made the grand round the sergeant de- manded the parole — a watchword not known to the guard — which he repeated to his captain. If the parole was given correctly he cried, " Grand round pass." ^ General Ward's selection of the parole and countersign- was intended to impress 1 Letter of Jesse Lukens ; in Boston Public Library, His- torical Manuscripts, No. i, p. 26. 2 Major Ennion Williams's Journal, Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, vol. i 5, p. 19. [ 145 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington wisdom upon the lonely sentinel, who was forced to remember the words if he was unwilling to accept their lesson. The parole Industry was given with the countersign Wealth, Neatness with Gentility, Inoculation with Health. In time of dan- ger the parole Look out with the countersign Sharp must have suggested to the sentinel the path of duty. ^ At Valley Forge there was a chain of sentinels which surrounded the camp at the distance of a mile ; the men were relieved daily.^ The fol- lowing entry in Sergeant Wild's journal while at Warwick, R. I., illustrates very well the per- formance of guard duty. " At sundown," he writes, " I carried my men to roll call. After the rolls were called I mounted guard with sixteen men under my command. I marched with my men about 2 miles towards the Point, where I left my guard. At 1 1 o'clk I sent a corporal and four men out as a patrolling party, which went down to the Point and all round the shore. They discovered nothing remarkable. Came in again about l o'clk, at which time I sent out an- ^ Colonel I. Hutchinson's Orderly Book ; in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, October, 1878, p. 340 et seq. 2 T. Blake's Journal, in Kidder's First New Hampshire Regiment, p. 40, [ 146 ] Camp Duties other party, which went the rounds as before and came in about three o'clk ; at which time I sent another party, which went the rounds as usual and came in between 4 & 5 o'clk, and then 1 sent another party, which patrolled till daylight and then came in with the other corporal and four men from the Point. I went to the com- missary's, and got a gill of rum p"^ man. After I gave it to them I dismissed them." ^ Guard service in all kinds of weather, and sometimes in places of great danger, was not the least trying part of the soldier's routine, follow- ing, as it often did, days of great bodily exertion and fatigue. He who fell asleep while on duty was punished by twenty lashes on the bare back, or more if the enemy was near enough to make the crime a dangerous one.^ The hardships which were endured called occasionally for a rec- ommendation of clemency by a court-martial, as, for instance, in the case of George Cook, who was tried in 1777 for sleeping at his post. Cook had been ill of a fever for several days and unable to sleep ; the fresh air of his lonely vigil brought relief, and he was found fast asleep, standing at ^ E. Wild's Journal, in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, October, 1890, p. 121. 2 Orderly Book, of the Northern Army at Ticonderoga, p. 56. [ 147 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington his place of duty.' When a sentinel deserted to the enemy he became the subject of comment ; " old countrymen," as the soldiers of foreign birth were called, never quite gained the confidence of the army, and if a man who was reported as " gone over to the enemy " was known to be an old countryman the fact was emphasized among the rank and file after the evening roll-call.^ Washington preferred " natives " for sentinels, and later he chose from them his body-guard.^ He insisted that officers should place as sentinels at the outposts those whose characters were thor- oughly known. " He therefore orders that for the future, no man shall be appointed to those important stations who is not a native of this country, or who has a wife or family in it, to whom he is known to be attached." ^ Washing- ton was driven to prefer Americans for officers, also, when the tide of adventurers from across the sea set in so strongly that it threatened to carry Congress with it and drive the native officers into retirement. Lafayette, however, he contin- ^ Putnam's General Orders, August lo, 1777 (p. 52). 2 E. Wild's Journal ; in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, October, 1890, p. 96. 3 Washington's Revolutionary Orders (Whiting), p. 35. * Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 3, p. 6. [ 148 ] Camp Duties ued to treat with an affection very like that of a father for his son. Honor and kindness, while by no means un- known in war time, were not as common in the Revolution as the best military standards demand. Cases might be mentioned which did no credit to royalist or colonist. " About 8 o'clock," wrote John Clunes in March, 1779, "the Rebels sent in a Flagg of truse to us [the British], but Gen. Powell would not see [it] and ordered us to fire on them which we did and out of 5 killed 3."^ British treatment of the enemy's outposts was sometimes cruel and uncalled for. The follow- ing note by Lieutenant Eld, of the Coldstream Guards, describes an experience of his in New Jersey : " I was sent forward with 60 Light Infantry to attack a rebel Picquet on the right of the main body of the rebels who were advantageous- ly posted & fortified in a Church Yard at a place called Paramus. The Picq* was placed at the edge of a wood with a plain of half an mile in the rear, — I surprised the Picq^ which instant- ly fled & the most famous chase over the plain ensued — we were in at the death of seven. — I had given orders that my Party should not fire 'Note to G. Pausch's Journal (1886), p. 151. [ 149 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington but use their Bayonets." ^ After reading these words it may be well to recall an incident which is recorded in Simcoe's Journal, for it shows that all the inhumanity was not confined to King George's men : " The rebels continually fired at night on the centinels. ... A figure was dressed up with a blanket coat, and posted in the road by which the enemy would probably advance, and fires re- sembling a piquet were placed at the customary distance ; at midnight the rebels arrived, and fired twenty or thirty shot at the effigy. . . . The next day an officer happening to come in with a flag of truce, he was shown the figure and was made sensible of the inhumanity of firing at a sentinel when nothing farther was intended." ^ This was not an isolated case, for David How's Diary, under date of October 28, 1776, states that riflemen fired at the sentries of the regulars while the British army lay in sight, at or near White Plains.^ The danger which a sentry encountered came almost wholly from the sabre and the musket- ^ Boston Public Library Bulletin, January, 1892, p. 314. ■^J. G. Simcoe's Military Journal, p. 173. 3 How's Diary, p. 35. See also Heath's Memoirs (1798), pp. 62,63. 1 150 ] 1 Camp Duties ball; but a curious exception recorded by the Rev. Benjamin Boardman should be noticed here. On Monday night, July 31, 1775, the enemy opened fire upon the Continentals from their works in Roxbury, and a cannon-ball came through the air so close to a sentinel that the man was set to whirling like a top. He soon fell to the ground, but was found to be only slightly injured,' A month earlier a soldier died from the "wind of a ball," as it was called.^ Camp life was not devoted wholly to drill or picket duty or cooking, although idleness was discouraged. Cutting wood, building fires, re- pairing huts, cleaning arms, waiting upon offi- cers, tramping a road through the brush to facil- itate the hauling of firewood,^ serving in the " grass guard " to watch and protect the horses while feeding,'* or making cartridges,® were use- ^ Boardman's Diary, in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, May, 1892, p. 400. See also Boston Public Library, Historical Manuscripts, No. i, p. 28 ; the wind from a twenty-four-pounder knocked down a man and horse. 2 John Trumbull's Autobiography, New York, 1841, p. 21. ^ E. Wild's Journal, December 27, 1778 ; in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, October, 1890. ^ A. Lewis's Orderly Book, p. 10. ^ Essex Institute Collections, vol. 14, p. 190; also Lewis's Orderly Book, p. 48. [ 151 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington ful services which kept the privates out of mis- chief. The construction of earthworks, building of whale-boats,^ and other occupations incident to a campaign, filled the men's time while in more active service. In the expedition to Crown Point under Arnold, all hands were employed on occasion in necessary work ; men were di- vided into squads, some to bake bread, some to go in search of game or to spend their time in fishing, others to cut timber or mount can- non.^ In South Carolina seines were provided for the Continental troops that were detailed to fish.^ Temporary field-works of earth were not in favor in Europe a century and more ago ; they were held to be unmilitary and to foster coward- ice. But the defences thrown up at Bunker Hill in a night proved effective in checking the British advance ; the firelock behind loose earth weighed heavily against disciplined bravery, and the lesson once learned, the Continentals en- tered more and more into the construction of ^ Colonel Hutchinson's Orderly Book, p. 23. 2 B. Arnold's Regimental Memorandum Book, June 14, 1775- ^Captain B. Elliott's Diary, in Charleston Year Book, 1889, p. 231. [ 152 ] Camp Duties such works.-^ The Hnes were first marked on the ground in the angular forms so often shown in illustrated histories covering this period. The gabions (" stakes interwoven with twisted bun- dles of switches, like baskets without bottoms") were then set on the lines, three or four deep, and earth dug up alongside was thrown in. Fascines (" bundles of switches about six feet long ") were then piled up on the outside and inside, and were held in place by stakes, four feet long, driven down through them ; more fas- cines were laid on top of the gabions, and the whole was then covered with earth, and with sod. In the space between the foot of the outer slope and the ditch or fosse, which was a cus- tomary part of the works, wooden pickets were frequently planted, as was the case at Bunker Hill in October, 1775. Redoubts sometimes had as additional works half-moon structures or transes, as at Prospect Hill.^ Farmers accus- tomed to handle the spade soon grew experienced in this form of labor. ' C. F. Adams's Bunker Hill ; in American Historical Review, vol. i, pp. 411, 412. ~ Major Ennion Williams's Journal ; in Pennsylvania Ar- chives, 2d series, vol. 15, pp. 16—19. -^^ White Plains Gen- eral Heath made three serviceable redoubts of earth and corn- stalks. (Memoirs, 1798, p. 82.) [ 153 ] 'The Private Soldier Under Washington Expert artisans were called upon to make paper for bank-notes,^ print proclamations, and provide many articles in constant demand. These men were usually excused from all other duties, and found it to their advantage to exhibit their ability when called upon.^ The dearth of skilled artisans in America is well illustrated by the petition presented to Congress in 1776, in which sundry paper-makers prayed that Nathan Sellers of Colonel Paschall's battalion might be ordered home " to make and prepare moulds, washers and utensils for carrying on the paper manufac- tory." ^ The " gunbarrel-maker," the saltpetre- maker, and he of the " nailer's business " were in such demand that they could hardly be spared for military service.'^ Forges had been set up all over the Colonies, giving employment to iron-workers and gunsmiths. The latter were not numerous, and a few of these accepted the bait or bribe of high wages in England, offered by leading royalists, and left the country.^ Some of the sol- diers were ordered to act as servants to their offi- ' Washington's Orderly Book kept at Valley Forge (Griffin), p. 5. 2 A. Lewis's Orderly Book, p. 19, 3 Journals of Congress, August 26, 1776. ^American Archives V., vol. i, col. 1062. 5 Weeden's Economic and Social History, vol. 2, p. 795. [ 154 ] Camp Duties cers ; but as this kept many able-bodied men from active service and led to abuses, it was discontin- ued by general orders at Valley Forge in 1778.^ Knowledge of music was also in demand. In the Boston campaign the drums and fifes of each regiment were regularly instructed' by the regi- mental drum-major and fife-major, and their music stirred the men as martial music does to- day.^ When drums were not to be had, French horns were used;^ In the campaign of 1779 against the Six Nations two men were cut down by the Indians' tomahawks ; later Colonel Proc- tor ordered his musicians, in passing the spot, to play the touching air of Roslin Castle, " the soft and moving notes " of which cast a hush upon the regiment and awakened pity for their com- rades.'* The Pioneers March was another tune used at the time.^ The memory of one master of the drum should be kept green, for he helped to while away many tedious hours during the Northern campaign of 1776. Tibbals was his G 1 Washington's Revolutionary Orders (Whiting), p. 91. '■^ Colonel Hutchinson's Orderly Book ; in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, October, 1878, p. 347. . 3 Captain B. Elliott's Diary, in Charleston Year Book, 1889, j p. 241. * Rev. William Rogers's Journal, p. 35. ^ A. Lewis's Orderly Book, p. 12. [ 155 ] lihe Private Soldier Under Washington name, and as the boatmen sang at their oars — they were upon the lake — he would give one touch upon the drum which seemed to bring every voice into harmony.^ The soldiers, halt- covered with water as they lay in the boats, for- got the loneliness and gloom of the darkening night; the music lingered in each man's memory long after the voices and drums were still. It is probable that Yankee Doodle had little or no vogue in the army, and the statement by An- burey that the lively air was " a favorite of fav- orites . . . the lover's spell, the nurse's lullaby" is open to serious question.^ At funerals the im- pressive tune Funeral Thoughts, with its drum-beat at the end of each line, was sometimes played.^ Washington made use of the artisan in the army whenever it was possible, but there were many occasions when capable hands were able to turn a penny after the soldier's day had closed. Early in the war, barter and private labor pre- vailed among the thrifty to a surprising degree ; men worked at their trades during the hours be- ^ Rev. A. R. Robbins's Journal, pp. i8, 43. ^T. Anburey's Travels, vol. 2, p. 50. Thacher's Military Journal, p. i 28. 3 Rev. B. Boardman's Diary, in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, May, 1892, p. 411. [ 156 ] Camp 'Duties tween the Retreat, which beat at sunset, and the Tattoo, which was sounded at eight or nine o'clock.^ The makers of shoes, leather breeches, or caps earned money, and by their work aided to some extent the efforts of the Colonies to clothe the army. David How, a private at the siege oi Boston, bought and sold cider, chestnuts, arms, and clothing. A few lines from his diary will show the busy life that a soldier might lead when not on duty : 25 day [January, 1776]. I Bought 7 Bushels of Ches- nuts & give 4 pisterens per bushel. 30 We have Sold Nuts and Cyder Every Day this Weak. 31 I Bought 4 Bushels of Apels and gave 12s. pr Bushel for them. 22 [February]. Peter gage Staid Hear Last Night and I Bought 3 pare of Shoes of him @ 5/6 per pare. I Bought a pare of Stocking And give 5/4 for them. 23 I Sold a pare of Shoes for 6/8. 26 I Sold my Cateridge box For 4/6 Lawfull money. ^ At the same time British soldiers earned money by working for the inhabitants of Boston, although this was contrary to orders. (Diary of S. Kemble, Lieutenant-Colonel Sixtieth Foot; in New York Historical Society Collections, 1883, p. 72.) Private work is still carried on where one might least expect to see it, by sailors on British men-of-war. (F. T. Bullen, in the Spectator, September 9, 1899.) [ 157 J The Private Soldier Under Washington At the time he carried on this trading he was quartered in one of the buildings at Harvard College, and did his share of fatigue, made car- tridges, ran ball, and even served his turn as cook for the company.^ A curious agreement, made between a soldier and a land-owner near camp, stipulated that the former was to clear a certain tract of land fit for mowing, and was to receive $100 paper currency, but if head-quarters moved before he had finished the work, he was to receive payment for what he had done.' Among the many duties incident to army life the observance of Sunday as a day for religious teaching was not forgotten. Washington him- self impressed upon the men under his command the value of Christian character, and his own example must have aided the chaplains in their difficult labors. Public prayers were a part of the daily or Sun- day routine, followed by the reading of orders, and usually the roll-call.^ Washington's attitude toward religion in the army was unmistakably ■ David How's Diary, p. 4 et seq. ^ Elijah Fisher's Journal, p. i i . ^ Rev. William Emerson, in Washington's Writings (Sparks), vol. 3, p. 491. [ 158 ] Camp Duties set forth when he said : " To the distinguished character of a Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of a Christian." ^ And Congress, ready to promote the same ideals, voted September ii, 1777, to import twenty thousand Bibles ; it is curious to notice that all the members from New England were in favor of the measure, and all those from the Southern States, except Georgia, were record- ed as against it, although Lee of Virginia and Laurens of South Carolina were with the North. A chaplain, who, it is said, "prayed and sang with the brigade," has described the preparation made for services : " The music march up and the drummers lay their drums in a very neat style in two rows, one above the other ; it always takes five, and often the rows are very long; occasion- ally they make a platform for me to stand upon, and raise their drums a number of tier." ^ The sermon on Sunday, usually at eleven, was often of a practical nature; it referred to the hardships and the duties of a soldier; it urged upon him temperance and vigilance, cleanliness and honesty. In many cases, as in those cited herewith, the min- ister altered the text to suit his need. Rev. John 1 Washington' s Revolutionary Orders (Whiting), p. 75. ~Rev. A. R. Robbins's Journal, p. 37. [ 159 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington Gano, who was attached to Clinton's division of the expedition against the Six Nations in 1779, was asked to preach to the troops at Canajoharie, and was requested " to dwell a little more on politics " than he usually did. He preached from the words of Moses : " Come, go thou with us, and we will do thee good ; for he that seeketh my life, seeketh thy life, but with us thou shalt be in safeguard." ^ Rev. Mr. Kirtland preached September 15, 1776, to the New Jersey troops at Fort Schuyler from the text, " He that is not with me is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me, scatter- eth abroad." ^ Upon the 4th of July, Mr. Gano took for his text these words : " This day shall be a memorial unto you throughout your genera- tions." ^ But these suggestive sermons did not always attract the men, and even when they were present discipline was not maintained as rigidly as would be the case to-day. To increase the audi- ence a penalty was once imposed for absence from ^A practical adaptation from i Samuel xxii. 23. 2 Lieutenant E. Elmer's Journal; New Jersey Historical Society Proceedings, vol. 3 (1849), p. 25. The reading in Matthew xii. 30, "with me," was changed by the minister to '* for me," perhaps to strengthen his text. ^ From Exodus xii. 14. [ 160 J Hunting shirt (made from a model of the Revolutionary period) of home-spun linen. Vest made from a model of that period showing lacing in back instead of a buckle. (Originals owned by James E. Kelly.) 1 Camp Duties worship : a few hours spent in digging out stumps in a New York woodland proved effective.^ It should be said in defence of the men that the preaching was not always worth a hearing. Mr. Bliss, said a fellow clergyman, preached at Cam- bridge August 20, 1775, "from those words in Deut. 23, 9-14, and had he have digested his sub- ject might have done v/ell, but attempting to ex- temporize, // was as it was" ^ The critic himself, however, rather outdid Mr. Bliss on the following Sunday, when, as he records, he preached the en- tire day ; but perhaps he had relays of listeners, and not one weary throng, as might be inferred ^ Rev. Mr. Gano was a serviceable preacher. When he was informed that many of the soldiers before whom he was to preach on a certain Sun- day were six and nine months men, whose depart- ure from the army would be unfortunate, he told his listeners that " he could aver of the truth that our Lord and Saviour approved of all those who had engaged in His service for the whole warfare." The rank and file were much amused, and those ' Rev. John Gano's Biographical Memoirs (New York, 1806) ; also Historical Magazine, vol. 5, p. 332. ^Rev. B. Boardman's Diary; Massachusetts Historical So- piety Proceedings, May, 1892, p. 403. 3 Ibid., p. 404. [ 161 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington who had " engaged for the whole war " forced many short-term men by their jesting to re-enhst. But the laugh was not always on the ministers' side. During the winter at Valley Forge many parsons were at home, as the men were too poorly clad to stand in the cold and listen to preaching. Mr. Gano was away on leave ; when he returned to camp he asked a soldier how his commander and the men had fared. The soldier replied gravely that they had suffered all winter without hearing the Word of God. Mr. Gano explained that it was their comfort he had had in mind. " True," said the soldier, " but it would have been consoling to have had such a good man near us." Deeply touched, Mr. Gano told General van Cortlandt of his encounter. Van Cortlandt, a little later, asked to have the soldier pointed out to him, and was surprised to see the worst reprobate in the regiment.^ 1 P. van Cortlandt's Autobiography ; in Magazine of Amer- ican History, May, 1878, p. 296. [ 162 ] VII Camp Diversions RUMORS of victory or defeat lent a pleas- ant excitement to the lives of the rank, and file. A story of the patriot campaign in Canada was passed on, together with official dispatches, from one post-rider to another along the almost impassable river-routes of Maine, over the stony roads of Massachusetts and Connecti- cut, through the Tory settlements of New York, and so southward to the Congress at Philadel- phia; the dispatches reached their destination unchanged except for a coating of grime and wet, but the verbal story grew with each retell- ing until the last post-rider had news to astonish those about the camp-fires. The official news was printed upon handbills, which were given out to the men.' The effect of good tidings is shown in a some- what famous scene. When the stores from the captured ship Nancy arrived in the camp near ^Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 6, p. 65. [ 163 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington Boston, there were demonstrations of joy. The scene as pictured by Colonel Moylan is some- what startHng : " Old Put [General Putnam] was mounted on the mortar, with a bottle of rum in his hand, standing parson to christen, while godfather Mifflin gave it the name of Con- gress." ^ Bands of prisoners of war and captive Tories, passing through the camp, awakened patriotic en- thusiasm, which found expression in shouts from the men; and the coming of well-known or cu- rious visitors — delegates from Congress, sent to inspect the army, or Indian chiefs and their fol- lowers — helped to while away the hours. The impression made by such events is illustrated in the record in a soldier's diary that " the King of the Ingans with five of his Nobles to attend him come to Head Quarters to Congrattulate with his exelency." ^ For many years June 4th, the King's birthday, had been celebrated in America; and when the day was allowed to pass in camp with no festiv- ity and no mirth, even the rebel in arms could not but notice this sorry end of a time-honored 1 Quoted m The Military Journals of Two Private Soldiers, J758-75. P- 83. ~ David How's Diary, p. 12. [ 164 ] Camp Diversions custom.^ When September 22d, the King's coronation day, was referred to as the King's " Damnation day," war had indeed come.^ The great day was the Fourth of July, com- monly called the anniversary " of our Independ- ency." Few diaries fail to mention with some detail the usual ceremonies of the occasion. The whole army was drawn up under arms at one o'clock, with detachments of artillery interspersed and thirteen pieces at the right. The celebration began with a discharge of thirteen shots for the States, followed by a running fire of musketry and cannon from right to left through the front ranks, and then from left to right through the second line, repeated three times. A speech sometimes followed, and then three cheers from the entire army.^ Games and an extra allowance of rum closed the day. On the British prison- ships, where all the horrors of starvation, suffo- cation, and disease were rife, the day brought a speech or a feeble cheer.* 1 Lieutenant Isaac Bangs's Journal, p. 39. ^Daniel McCurtin's Journal ; in T. Balch's Papers ( 1857), p. 17. ^ Henry Dearborn's Journals, p. 18 ; Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 7, p. 482 ; Feltman's Journal, p. 6 ; T. Blake's Journal, p. 43. ■* Martyrs of the Revolution in British Prison-ships, p. 20. [ 165 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington Another favorite anniversary was that of the clay of Burgoyne's surrender, which was celebrated by the firing of cannon, the throwing of sky- rockets into the air ("skilokets in the are "), and much merrymaking.^ When the welcome news was received that France had declared for the United States, the delighted troops cheered for the King of France, the " Friendly powers " of Europe, and the thirteen States ; every Continen- tal soldier under arrest in Washington's army was set at liberty to enjoy the day.^ On more than one occasion a soldier under sentence of death profited by the news that the French King had shown his friendship for the Colonies or that a distant battle had been won. But the successes of the British bore hard upon the men in the patriot army; and sometimes even those in captivity were made to know that their captors had won a victory. Major Griffith Will- iams, in command of the detachment of Royal Artillery with Burgoyne, ordered that the Amer- ican prisoners be drawn up in the rear of the British lines, to hear the " feu de joye " given in honor of Burgoyne's victories. Some, it is said, ' Elijah Fisher's Journal, p. lo. ^ Ibid., p. 8; also T. Blake's Journal, in Kidder's First New Hampshire Regiment, p. 4 1 • [ 166 ] Camp Diversions were stung by the insult, while others threw up their caps with the British and were roughly handled by their more loyal comrades.^ The customary holidays were not forgotten ; Christmas and Thanksgiving Day brought greater liberties and an extra allowance of liquor.^ Even St. Patrick's Day produced a noticeable change in camp ; ^ the Irishmen who had been born in America or had settled in the country before the war began were reenforced in some regiments by deserters from the British lines.^ The widow Izard, a prominent lady in the South, honored the name of St. Patrick in 1782 by a i gift of a gill of spirits to each soldier in General Greene's army. A little later the same army cel- ebrated May Day with May-poles and festivities, although this was declared to be " something ex- traordinary," as indeed it must have been.^ Victories and anniversaries brought merriment ' Hadden's Journal, p. 102. Hadden did not approve of Major Williams's treatment of American prisoners. ^ H. Dearborn's Journals, 1776-83, p. 25. ^ Ebenezer Wild's Diary ; in Massachusetts Historical So- ciety Proceedings, October, 1890, p. 133. ■* Kemble's Journal (New York Historical Society Collections, 1883) mentions Irish deserters from both armies. ^ W. McDowell's Journal ; in Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, vol. 15, pp. 314, 321. [ 167 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington and noise, with their accompaniment of drinking and cursing. Congress occasionally showed an interest in these celebrations and sent the inevi- table present of rum ; thirty hogsheads were con- sumed by the gallant survivors of the battle of the Brandywine.' But there were other forms of amusement in camp. The men played ball or cards, and now and then were allowed a " rifle frolic " — a contest in marksmanship in which the vanquished was bound to treat his more skilful adversary to liq- uor.'^ A form of relaxation not so clearly under- stood is mentioned by private Samuel Haws as " an old fudg fairyouwell my friends." ^ During the winter of 1775-76, which was bitterly cold at the north, men enjoyed skating on the rivers and ponds ; ^ and in summer they bathed when- ever it was possible.^ They sometimes were able to get away into the country to fish, hunt, and to gather nuts,^ but these privileges were more often granted to ofBcers.^ ^ Journals of Congress, September 12, 1777. "^ Military Journals of Two Private Soldiers, p. 77. 3 Ibid., p. 80. " Ibid., p. 90. ^ Colonel W. Henshaw's Orderly Book, p. 72. ^ Military Journals of Two Private Soldiers, p. 77. ■'A. Lewis's Orderly Book (Richmond, i860), p. 65; also Feltman's Journal. [ 168] '// V, "■« '-7? i^^ Company leceipi lur pay hhuwing the ability of the private to write. (Original owned by the Boston Public Library.) Camp Diversions Nothing so depressed the spirits of the sol- diers as the inactive life of a camp far removed from the enemy. A spice of danger vi^as always welcome. To train the raw recruits to be fear- less under fire a trifling reward was offered for bringing to head-quarters each cannon-ball which was thrown from the enemy's batteries. It was found, however, that the younger men failed to gauge properly the force and weight of a ball that ricochetted slowly along the uneven ground ; several soldiers in using their feet to bring a ball to a stop were knocked down or crippled. This plan had to be given up.^ When the shells from Boston fell into the camp at Roxbury, shrieking like " a flock of geese," they did more, said an observer, " to exhilarate the spirits of our people than 200 gallons of our New England rum." Each shell as soon as it burst was sur- rounded by a throng of men, eager for memen- toes.^ Funerals, someone has said, must be counted with amusements in a description of uneventful country life. The chastisement of wrong-doers may likewise fall into line with the diversions of 'John Trumbull's Autobiography (1841), p. 19. ^ Jabez Fitch's Diary; in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, May, 1894, p. 45. [ 169 ] The Private Soldier Under Washington camp-life, without great impropriety ; for the curious modes of punishment in vogue at the time afforded some relaxation, if they did not convey the obvious lesson. The moral to be taken to heart by the onlookers was weakened by the frequent reprieve of the culprit ; and this misfortune was only too well understood by the officers.^ One hundred lashes — the limit of cor- poral punishment allowed — made little impres- sion upon the spirit of a sullen and wilful trans- gressor.^ To give a hundred lashes their proper value and importance, standing, as they did, for the penalty next to death itself, many serious 1 The articles of war were approved by the Continental Con- gress June 30 and November 7, 1775. Article LI. reads: That no persons shall be sentenced by a court-martial to suffer death, except in the cases expressly mentioned in the foregoing articles ; nor shall any punishment be inflicted at the discretion of a court-martial, other than degrading, cashiering, drumming out of the army, whipping not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, fine not exceeding two months' pay of the offender, imprisonment not exceeding one month. The articles approved for the army September 20, 1776, directed in Section XVIII,, Article 3, that corporal punishment should not exceed 100 lashes. 2 One hundred lashes could be made very effective, as in the case of one Burris, who received fifty lashes a day for two suc- cessive days, and then was well washed with salt and water. — Washington's Revolutionary Orders, edited by Whiting, March 25, 1778. [ 170 I Camp Diversions crimes that needed severe treatment had to be met with inadequate punishment. The result as it worked out in practice was that the death penalty was too often imposed, and this led to reprieves. Another unfortunate outcome of the system was the invention of new punishments, more or less cruel or savage, when officers became exasperated by desertions and mutiny.^ A corporal and two privates were making their escape from the First Pennsylvania Regiment when they were overtaken and captured. After they had been secured a dispute arose ; some of the captors wished to kill all three on the spot, without trial and without authority ; others coun- selled delay. It was agreed finally to kill one of the three deserters immediately ; the three luckless fellows drew lots and fate selected the corporal, whose head was at once cut off and placed upon a pole. This grewsome object was carried into camp by the surviving captives, to be placed over the camp gallows as a warning to all.*^ 1 Washington's Writings (Ford), vol. 9, p. 128. The Brit- ish army regulations of to-day do not permit more than twenty- five strol