Cold Christmas

New England troops had a cold Christmas in 1777 at Valley Forge. Most of us are familiar with the story—ragged, cold, hungry troops encamped in tents and tiny huts amid the snow—but the words of the men who were there remind  us of that reality. (A typical camp of the time can be seen in the background of this Peale portrait of Colonel Walter Stewart of the 2nd Pennsylvania). The encampment at Valley Forge was part of a larger strategy that required General Washington and his commanders to care about the quotidian details of their men’s lives. For us, Christmas and the winter holidays usually mean warm hearths or homes and presents, celebratory meals and the comfort of families. For Albigence Waldo, it did not.

From Waldo’s diary:

December 24.—Party of the 22^nd not returned. Hutts go on Slowly—Cold & Smoke make up fret. But mankind are always fretting, even if they have more than their proportion of the Blessings of Life. We are never Easy, always repining at the Providence of an Allwise & Benevolent Being, Blaming Our Country or faulting our Friends. But I don’t know of any thing that vexes a man’s Soul more than hot smoke continually blowing into his Eyes, & when he attempts to avoid it, is met by a cold and piercing Wind.

December 25, Christmas.—We are still in Tents—when we ought to be in huts—the poor Sick, suffer much in Tents this cold Weather. But we not treat them differently from they used to be at home, under the inspection of Old Women and Doct. Bolus Linctus. We give them Mutton & Grogg and a Capital Medicine once  in a While, to start the Disease from its foundation at once. We avoid Piddling Pills, Powders, Bolus’s Linctus’s Cordials and all such insignificant matters whose powers are Only render’d important by causing the Patient to vomit up his money instead of his disease. But very few of the sick Men Die.

2, 898 men (or about 25 % of the men in the camp) were reported unfit for duty at Valley Forge on December 23, 1777, largely due to a lack of clothing. Supplies were short, from flour and meat to linen and wool and shoes; a lack of supplies would dog the Continental Army for years, but the troops fought on. By February, about 32% of the men were listed unfit because they lacked clothing. In November, 1776 the Providence Gazette had published advertisment for “All Taylors who are desirous of employ” to make up “a great Quantity of woolen Cloathing, for the Continental Army,” but 13 months later, coats were still scarce on the ground.

Some basic information about the huts and tents can be found online at Valley Forge Encampment and about medical staff and conditions at Valley Forge at Historic Valley Forge .

~ Kirsten Hammerstrom, Director of Collections

Fire Cake & Water: Soldiers’ Winter Part III

Perception is reality, but how does a soldier’s own reality color his perception? For Jeremiah Greenman of the 2^nd Rhode Island, who had marched to Quebec on Arnold’s expedition of 1775, eaten squirrel and dog and endured barefoot marches through snow, Valley Forge proved less remarkable an experience than it was for Albigence Waldo, the well-educated surgeon with the  1^st Connecticut. Ebenezer David, Chaplain with the 2^nd Rhode Island, was also there.

Here are their accounts for this week in December, 1777.

Greenman
S 20 to W 31
Continuing near vally forg / we drawed axes to build huts for ye winter / we began our huts / order’d to build them with logs 14 feet  one way & 16 ye other / Continuing building our huts / nothing very Remarkable & C  / mov’d in.

Waldo
December 21—[Valley Forge.] Preparations made for hutts. Provisions scarce. Mr. Ellis went homeward—sent a Letter to my Wife. Heartily wish myself at home, my Skin & eyes are almost spoil’d with continual smoke. A general cry thro’ the Camp this Evening among the Soldiers, “No Meat! No Meat!” —the Distant vales Echo’d back the melancholy sound—“No Meat! No Meat!” Immitating the noise of Crows & Owls, also, made a part of the confused Musick.

What have you for your Dinners Boys? “Nothing but Fire Cake & Water, Sir.” At night, “Gentlemen the Supper is ready.” What is your Supper Lads? “Fire Cake & Water, Sir.” Very poor beef has been drawn in our Camp the greater part of this season.  A Butcher bringing a Quarter of this kind of Beef into Camp one day who had white Buttons on the knees of his breeches, a Soldier cries out – “There, there Tom is some more of your fat Beef, by my soul I can see the Butcher’s breeches buttons through it.”

December 22.—Lay excessive Cold & uncomfortable last Night—my eyes are started out from their Orbits like a Rabbit’s eyes, occasion’d by a great Cold & Smoke.

What have you got for Breakfast, Lads? “Fire Cake & Water, Sir.” The Lord send that our Commissary of Purchases may live [on] Fire Cake & Water, ‘till their glutted Gutts are turned to Pasteboard.

Our Division are under Marching Orders this morning. I am ashamed to say it, but I am tempted to steal Fowls if I could find them, or even a whole Hog, for I feel as if I could eat one. But the Impoverish’d Country about us, affords but little matter to employ a Thief, or keep a Clever Fellow in good humour. But why do I talk of hunger & hard usage, when so many in the World have not even Cake & Water to eat. …

This evening a Party with two field pieces were order’d out. At 12 of the Clock at Night, Providence sent us a little Mutton, with which we immediately had some Broth made, & a fine Stomach for same. Ye who Eat Pumpkin Pie and Roast Turkies, and yet Curse fortune for using you ill, Curse her no more, least she reduce your Allowance of her favours to a bit of Fire Cake, & a draught of Cold Water, & in Cold Weather, too.

David
Decem. 22 1777
Dear Sir,
Have written you once or twice of late & missed in sending … I road through Germantown—to hear the inhabitants complain—to see the ruins of furniture, & Rooms kneedeep in feathers from beads was truly affecting—A Cow Horse or sheep was scarce to be seen for mile—After the Enemy returned we set out to Cross Schoolkill, accidentally met a large party of the Enemy at the Ford, who had drove our militia—this caused delay—since we have crossed we have lain a few days 7 or 8 Miles short of this at a place called the Gulph—The whole Army are come here to build Hutts to winter in The Huts are to be 14 feet by 16—in hight 6 ½–twelve Soldiers to a hut each mess builds their own—Those in each Regiment who build the best are to have 12 Dollars Premium—They are now laying out the ground

to Morrow I expect to take the ax—To think of the Jersey & so large a Part of this Province [Pennsylvania] lying at the Mercy of the Enemy is truely affecting—yet I believe the Measures to be the best possible in present circumstances—After Huts are provided we may send out large Scouts to check small parties—For our whole Force to be exposed for the winter as they have been we should have no Army in the Spring—Had we retired to any of the towns we should have found them crowded with Refugees—

May kind Heaven render the next Campaign prosperous & put speedy issue to this contest—we ruin the Country for miles round wherever we lay

“We ruin the Country for miles round wherever we lay:” Ebenezer David’s perspective is different from Greenman and Waldo’s. Waldo whines, he gripes, he complains, he thinks of the people who are better off than he is. Greenman observes, neutrally, for the most part.  David steps back farther and sees the effect of the war on the people and the country around him.  Each man’s record of the war is colored by his position and his education; as a minister, David has the broadest perspective and looks the most outside himself. As the best-educated and wealthiest, Waldo’s experience in the war offers the greatest contrast to his former life. Greenman, poorly educated and without a profession when he joned the Army at 17, has the most reportorial and neutral perspective of the three.

~ Kirsten Hammerstrom, Director of Collections

Soldiers’ Winter Part II

Plan of Fort Mifflin

There is yet another Rhode Island record of the events at Fort Mifflin: the letters of Ebenezer David, Chaplain of the 2^nd Rhode Island. Today, his November 23, 1777 letter to Nicholas Brown will be added to the accounts of Fort Mifflin. David was a graduate of Rhode Island College (now Brown University), and a Seventh-Day Baptist. He resigned from the Regiment in January, 1778 to undertake medical training, but  rejoined the troops at Valley Forge in the medical service a month later. He died  March 19, 1778, of what was probably typhus, contracted during an epidemic.

Waldo
November 15
An attack was made on Fort Mifflin by 4 ships, 4 Batteries, & 1 Gally. Our People fired from Fort Mifflin 1 Battery, 12 Gallies & two Shearbacks or small ships. The firing was incessant all Day. Our people defended themselves with unparallel’d bravery amidst a continual storm of Balls ‘till at length when Capt. Lee’s company of Artillery were almost all cut off, and a reinforcement had stood at the Guns till 9 o’clock in the evening the Garrison evacuated the  fort, after having spiked up the Cannon. Capt. Stephen Brown was kill’d by a shot from the round-top of a Ship that had hauled up in pistol shot of the Fort.
Mem.—Fort Mifflin was a Burlesque upon the art of Fortification.

Greenman
S15.
This morning about 9 oClock the Enemy made a furious attack, by the River, & land / the Ships came as near to the Fort as posable in the Main Channell, & a large East Indiaman they cut down & mounted 20 24 pounders on here. She came up under the protection of the Land Batteries, behind Hog Island & anchored four yards from the Angle of the SW Battery, the Fort had been very much exposed on this side / than on it, did not remain one Single Gun except those that was dismounted Major Thayer ordered a 32 pounder to be carried thare, which was effected with great trouble & danger, this was done before the Ship got up / the single gun put 14 shot into her bow but as soon as She was farly at anchor she began to play, all resistance became imposable, in 3 or 4 Broad Sides and from the tops with Cowhorn filled with Grape Shot so that it was almost imposable for a man to move without being killed…

David
Nov 23—1777
–the 15 of the Month & 6^th Day of the Canonade the East-indiaman Cut down [the Vigilant] of which you must have heard with 20-24 pounders came up a Channel that was said by the Commodore to the insuffitient for her, & laid within Pistol shot of the Fort. Our Cannon being chiefly dismounted, & the Fort badly constructed—What was extraordinary she fired 2- 24 pound shot into a 32 Pounder, from which she received the chief annoyance. This Day the fire exceeded all Description from their Fleet & Batteries.

The noise and misery of Mud Island must have been intense, as 400 Americans defended the Fort against some 2000 British troops. More than half of the American defenders were killed or wounded before the Americans evacuated and began the march to Whitemarsh and eventually to winter quarters at Valley Forge. When Major Simeon Thayer, of the 2^nd Rhode Island, ordered the evacuation of the Fort, Greenman wrote:

Major Thayer evacuated the Fort with a Degree of fermness equal to the Bravery of his defence, he set fire to the Remains of the Barracks & with less than two hundred men carried off all the wounded & most of the Stores

A 32-pound gun produces not just enormous noise but also a shockwave that reverberates in your chest and pops in your ears, so the terror and noise is multidimensional; you cannot escape it. It is impossible for most of us to really imagine what those men experienced 234 years ago.  Reading their journals, erratic spelling and all, helps us put ourselves in their place.

Somewhere in France…part 2

After the war, Miss Bray compiled notes from her diaries and letters home into a typed manuscript now owned by the RIHS (MSS 303). Her letters tell of daily life near the front lines in France, but are more composed and self-conscious than the short, hand-written diary entries. What follows first is taken from a letter home to her parents in Pawtucket; after that are entries from her diary the following month.

The letter, as descriptive as it is, reads more like a tour guide than a candid account of life near the front lines, as it neglects to mention air raids, social events, or anything like  the “awful mush” of Captain K., who was not Miss Bray’s first admirer.

Letter excerpt, 1918

“Somewhere in France”

Feb. 8^th (Luneville)

I wish I could tell you the name of this town, after the war you must come here, preferably by auto of course.

I’m going to start this letter in good time, tho I may not send it until after several installments, then I won’t have to rush it thru at the last.

I got up at 6 AM the morning I left Paris, had a tiny breakfast, and started for the station. A “Y” man was going part of the way so he helped me with my baggage.  IN my compartment were three French officers and one American. The American loaned me his newspapers and that broke the ice and soon we were talking like old friends. He had been fighting with the British and was now trying to locate his regiment, not knowing exactly where it was.

We reached Langres about 2 o’clock. A funicular railway conveys one up to the town. From the bottom of the hill, all one can see are walls and towers. As the town is laid out in funny little streets, I had some difficulty in locating the Y hdq. … There was only one man there, but he got me some lunch, for I was nearly famished, alth’ I was too excited to eat much. He told me that until the director came back to take that time to see the place. I did, taking careful bearings as to where I lived so as not to get Lost. I’ll just give you a few details about Langres, for I never can describe it as it should be done. Its all surrounded by walls built mostly in the time of Caesar and has seen a good many hard old scraps. There is a walk around this wall that I’m going to take sometime, or the view is wonderful. The streets are narrow and crooked and filled with funny old houses. There are quantities of our men here and some French, too. I think it is the hdq of the division, but I don’t know enough about it yet to say.

Diary excerpt, 1918

Mar 31- Sunday Easter

Left (—–ville) at 10:30 for Baccarat with Miss R.

Stormy. Billeted across from W. House. Nice room. After lunch went to Major’s office & mailed Shaw for few minutes.  Retired early.

April 1^st. Stormy.

Provost Marshall’s office also went with Mr. Pitman to Hospital & Foyer  to make my choice. Foyer near station very unattended. Decided to take Foyer.

Apr. 2^nd Stormy.

Moved into Foyer.  Mostly French & Italians. Do not specially like it.

Apr. 3^rd.

Mr. A—— to help me. Lots of French. American beginning to come. Went to general mess.

Apr. 4 Pleasant.

Boys beginning to come. Worked hard.

Apr. 5^th Lots of (vapor?)

Old friends coming in. Sergeant Henry Dobbes & Private Smith invited me to go to movies with them. Enjoyed it and they stayed a while in my billet.

Apr. 6^th Pleasant

Air raid Worked hard. More men all the time.

Apr. 7—Air raid near us. Services in hut. Trees and flowers beginning to bloom. Party at our billet. Miss R, Mr. Pettus, Rilie Chaut,  Harrington, Hughes & myself. Good time.

Apr 8^th Pleasant.

Dobbs & Smith leave for front. Move into new billet 17 Rue de la chapelle. Bedroom and sitting room. Still eat at old place.

Apr. 9^th Pleasant

Went to Hospital with Miss R. Party at billet. Capts. Riley & [Kennedy or Kennerly], Miss R and myself. Good times- Capt. K. awful mush. Both 165 Inf.

Apr. 10^th Warmer

Worked hard stay at hut for supper.

Apr 11^th Pleasant

Air raids- (illegible)

Lt. __________ in (one I had mess in stable with.)

Apr. 12^th

150th Field Artillery Band played at hut every morning for practice. Very busy.

–Kirsten Hammerstrom, Director of Collections.

Images from the Library of Congress Photographs & Prints Collection

Sanford Ross, pt. 1

The previous post offered a note on the Thanksgiving celebrations of 1812 in Rhode Island*. That it turns up in the pages of an almanac is not particularly unusual—almanacs were frequently used for that purpose, which is only natural, considering that almanacs are arranged chronologically. Nor is the customized interleaving done by this owner unusual. What makes this case particularly useful is that the almanac-diaries of a single person over the course of a fairly lengthy period of time (roughly 1806-22) are brought together in one place  and that their author signs his name (Sanford Ross).

A genealogical account** lists a Sanford Ross born on 22 March 1752 and who died on 22 April 1831. He had 11 children with his first wife, Hannah Briggs, and after her death in January of 1809, Sanford married Lydia Peck in November of the same year. Both events are recorded tersely in the diaries: January of 1809: “Hannah Ross died 4th of January half past Seven of the Clock evening” and then in November: “Married 6th November” in the margin beside the calendar. Among his 11 children with Hannah is one named William, who appears in the almanac entry for 9 January 1811:

William’s date of death is not recorded in the family Bible that lists the births and deaths of his siblings. The genealogical account does, however, mention a death notice of a William Sanford who died on a gunboat in 1813, within a year or two of  the night his father dreamed he was at home.

The image above offers a taste of the most typical concerns of the diary: Weather is far and away the most popular topic, but there are also references to things like “uncommond noises”, family members getting or leaving jobs, births, deaths, comings and goings of ships, openings of new shops, and always more weather. (The entry for 4 January will be the topic of a future blog post.)

Over the course of such entries, brief as they are, it’s possible to assemble a picture of their author. Weather, for instance, is only the beginning of Sanford’s interest in nature. The following selection hints at his interest in wildlife, as he notes  the arrival of swallows in April of 1812 not once, but twice:

(Hint: the second reference to the swallows is written vertically in the margin.)

And the bottom of the facing page is an example of the religious, political and financial issues that are frequent as well, as Sanford notes the passing of the Embargo act in April and the fact that he managed to rent half of his church pew for 7 shillings and 6 pence for the year (more information about the practice of buying pews and an example of a particularly nice pew at the website of the Old North Church in Boston). One of the entries below (6 January 1817) provides evidence that Ross was a shop owner of some kind, and the 1824 directory of Providence lists him as a grocer at 228 South Main.

A few more selections:

• Creative Spelling: 5 September 1813: “the Younited States Brigg Enterprize of 14 gun took the Brittish Brigg Boxer of 18 heavy guns”
• The 1814 almanac begins with a full-page tally of the ships of the British and American navies on Lake Ontario.
• 15 December 1814: [In large script] “This Day the Hartford Convention Meets In Hartford…Never forgit the mischef that was Intended by them”.
• 6 April 1815: “Horrid Masscre” followed by a description of the English murder of 7 American prisoners of war after the Treaty of Ghent ended the war. As an example of how importantly the War of 1812 figured into Sanford Ross’s life, the first interleaved leaf of the 1817 almanac opens by noting the beginning of the war in 1812 and its end in 1815.
• 6 January 1817: “This Day the Sun has Rose to clear the Ruff of the widdow Sheldons house & Shines in my Shop all Day.”
• 14 January 1817: “This Day and Night being the coldest that we have had for Several years this Evening a teamster froze to Death a going home from town to Smithfield, by Name James Mitchal Lindsey. Found the Next morning on the Road two miles from home…”
• 6 June 1817: “Mr Peleg Peckhams foot taken off.”
• 28 October 1817: Commenting on the repeal of an act sponsored by James B. Mason, which presumably was burdensome to retailers: “And Maide More Milde that Retailors may try to Live. Fair ye Well James. You have had them Under the hammer Long a Nuff.”
• At the end of the 1817 almanac: “A Receipt to make Spruce Beer”: “6 Gallons of warter and 2 qt of molasses put togeather & Stand in the Sun which will warm it a Nuff then Shake them well — then Put in 1 gill Essence of Spruce & Mix them well togeather — then put in 1 Large tea Spoonfull of Perlash and 1 cup full of Ginger Stir them well togeather when Setteld Put in 1/2 pint of Emptious[?] which wen Setteld will be fitt for Youse.”
• 18 January 1819: “this Day their was 4 Pirats hanged in Boston on Thirsday.”
• 5 July 1819: “A Commet maid its appearence about Nor. Nor West out of site a bout at 11 Clock in Evening and Rises a bout Day light. It plays Round the North Star.”
• 15 August 1819: “heard a Sermand prechd by a woman Mrs. Clarrissa Danforth. in the town house. Preachd from Ezeakel [33] chapter 11 Verse. Veary Good Discorse and Veary full.”
• 18 October 1822: “Whipping Day in town and cutting of Ears and Branding with the letter C as a Counterfitter of money.”

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*Thanksgiving was a sporadic holiday at the time: http://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving/

** Reading Room: CS 71 R825 1938. Ross Family: Sanford Ross Descendants. Copy of manuscript.