# The Adventures Of A Revolutionary Soldier/Chapter III.

CHAPTER III.
Campaign of 1777.
When troubles fall within your dish, And things don't tally with your wish: It's just as well to laugh as cry— To sing and joke, as moan and sigh;— For a pound of sorrow never yet Cancel'd a single ounce of debt.
The spring of 1777 arrived; I had got recruited during the winter, and begun to think again about the army. In the month of April, as the weather warmed, the young men began to enlist. Orders were out for enlisting men for three years, or during the war. The general opinion of the people was, that the war would not continue three years longer; what reasons they had for making such conjectures I cannot imagine, but so it was;—perhaps it was their wish that it might be so, induced them to think that it would be so.
One of my mates, and my most familiar associate, who had been out ever since the war commenced, and who had been with me the last campaign, had enlisted for the term of the war, in the capacity of sergeant. He had enlisting orders, and was, every time he saw me, which was often, harrassing me with temptations to engage in the service again. At length he so far overcame my resolution as to get me into the scrape again, although it was, at this time, against my inclination, for I had not fully determined with myself, that if I did engage again, into what corps I should enter. But I would here just inform the reader, that that little insignificant monosyllable—No—was the hardest word in the language for me to pronounce, especially when solicited to do a thing which was in the least degree indifferent to me;—I could say Yes, with half the trouble.
But I had enlisted. However, when I was alone, and had time to reflect, I began sorely to repent. The next day I met the sergeant and told him that I repented my bargain; he endeavoured to persuade me to stick to it, but I could then say—No.—He told me that he would speak to his Captain about the matter, and as I had taken no bounty money, he thought that he would dismiss ​me. Accordingly, he told the Captain of my unwillingness to be held, and he let me run at large once more; I then determined to wait my own time before I engaged again.
The inhabitants of the town were about this time put into what were called squads, according to their rateable property. Of some of the most opulent, one formed a squad,—of others, two or three, and of the lower sort of the people, several formed a squad. Each of these squads were to furnish a man for the army, either by hiring or by sending one of their own number.
I had an elbow relation, a sort of (as the Irishman said) cousin-in-law, who had been in the army the two preceding campaigns, and now had a Lieutenant's commission in the standing army. He was continually urging my grandparents to give their consent for me to go with him. He told the old gentleman a power of fine stories, and made him promises, respecting his behaviour to me, which he never intended to perform, until he obtained my grandsire's consent, and at length, after much persuasion, my consent likewise.
​ Well, I was again a soldier!—I staid at home a few days, which I endeavoured to make as agreeable as possible, well knowing that the army would bring trouble enough to counterbalance all the happiness I could procure for myself in the short time I had to tarry at home.
Just at this time the British landed in Connecticut, and marched twenty miles into the country, where they burnt the town of Danbury with all the public stores it contained, which were considerable, among which was all the clothing of our regiment. The militia were generally turned out and sent to settle the account with them; the newly enlisted soldiers went with the militia; the enemy had, however, executed his commission, and made considerable progress on his return before we came up. We had some pretty severe scratches with them; killed some, wounded some, and took some prisoners; the remainder reached their shipping, embarked, and cleared out for New-York, where they arrived soon after, (I suppose,) much gratified with the mischief they had done. We likewise returned home, with the loss of three men belonging to the town, one of whom was an enlisted soldier. Major-General David Wooster, of New-Haven, an old and experienced officer, likewise fell in this expedition; Gen. Arnold had a very close rub, but escaped.
​ We staid here but a short time, and then marched to Peekskill, on the Hudson river, and encamped in the edge of the Highlands, at a place called Old Orchard; here we were tormented by the whip-poor-wills. A potent enemy! says the reader. Well, a potent enemy they were,—particularly to our rest at night;—they would begin their imposing music in the twilight and continue it till ten or eleven o'clock, and commence again before the dawn, when they would be in a continual roar. No man, unless he were stupified, could get a wink of sleep during the serenade, which, in the short nights in the month of May, was almost the whole of the night.
I was one day, while lying here, upon what was called a camp guard;—we kept a considerable chain of sentinels. In the night there came, what in military phrase is called the visiting rounds, which is, an officer attended by a small escort, to inspect the condition of the guards, and see that they do their duty. The officer, at the time I mention, was a field officer, a young man; he went to the extreme end of the line of sentinels and began his examination;—one sentry, he found, who had stowed himself away snugly in an old papermill; another had left his post to procure a draught of milk from the cows in a farmer's yard, and others were found, here and there, neglecting their duty. He brought off all the delinquents to deliver them up to the righteous sentence of a court-martial. In his progress he came to me, I being at the time on sentry too. I hailed him and demanded of him the countersign, which he regularly gave me and passed on. I did not expect to hear any thing further about it, as I concluded that I had done my duty to perfection. In the morning, before guard relieving, I happened to be posted at the Colonel's marque-door, when the above-mentioned officer came into the tent, and was telling some of our officers the consequences of his last night's expedition. I listened attentively to his recital. "At last," said he, "I came to a sentinel who challenged me like a man; I thought I had found a soldier after detecting so many scoundrels; but what think ye!—as soon as I had given him the countersign, the puppy shouldered his piece, and had I been an enemy I could have knocked his brains out." At the first part of his recital, I grew ​a foot, in my own estimation, in a minute, and I shrunk as much, and as fast, at the latter part of it. I was confident he did not know me, and I as well knew it was me he had reference to. Aha! thought I, this admonition shall not lose its effect upon me; nor did it so long as I remained in the army.
I was soon after this transaction, ordered off, in company with about four hundred others of the Connecticut forces, to a set of old barracks, a mile or two distant in the Highlands, to be innoculated with the small pox. We arrived at and cleaned out the barracks, and after two or three days received the infection, which was on the last day of May. We had a guard of Massachusetts troops to attend us. Our hospital stores were deposited in a farmer's barn in the vicinity of our quarters. One day, about noon, the farmer's house took fire and was totally consumed, with every article of household stuff it contained, although there were five hundred men within fifty rods of it, and many of them within five, when the fire was discovered, which was not till the roof had fallen in. Our officers would not let any of the inoculated men go near the fire, and the guard had enough to do to save the barn, the fire frequently catching in the yard and on the roof, which was covered with thatch or straw. I was so near to the house, however, that I saw a cat come out from the cellar window, after the house had apparently fallen into the cellar; she was all in flames when she emerged from her premises and directed her course for the barn, but her nimble gait had so fanned her carcass before she reached the place of her destination that she caused no damage at all.
I had the small pox favorably as did the rest, generally; we lost none; but it was more by good luck, or rather a kind Providence interfering, than by my good conduct that I escaped with life. There was a considerable large rivulet which ran directly in front of the barracks; in this rivulet were many deep places and plenty of a species of fish called suckers. One of my room-mates, with myself, went off one day, the very day on which the pock began to turn upon me, we went up the brook until we were out of sight of the people at the barracks, when we undressed ourselves and went into the water, where it was often to our shoulders, to catch suckers by means of ​a fish-hook fastened to the end of a rod;—we continued at this business three or four hours, and when we came out of the water the pustules of the small pox were well cleansed. We then returned to the barracks, and I, feeling a pretty sharp appetite after my expedition, went to the side of the brook where the nurses had been cooking and eating their dinners; I found a kettle standing there half full of stewed peas, and, if I remember rightly, a small piece of pork with them. I knew the kettle belonged to the nurses in our room, and therefore conceived myself the better entitled to its contents; accordingly I fell to and helped myself. I believe I should have killed myself in good earnest, had not the owners come and caught me at it, and broke up my feast. It had like to have done the job for me as it was; I had a sorry night of it, and had I not got rid of my freight, I know not what would have been the final consequences of my indiscretion.
I left the hospital on the sixteenth day after I was inoculated, and soon after joined the regiment, when I was attacked with a severe turn of the dysentery, and immediately after recovering from that, I broke out all over with boils; good old Job could scarcely have been worse handled by them than I was;—I had eleven at one time upon my arm, each as big as half a hen's egg, and the rest of my carcass was much in the same condition. I attributed it to my not having been properly physicked after the small pox; in consequence of our hospital stores being in about the same state as the commissary's.
In the latter part of the month of June, or the beginning of July, I was ordered off in a detachment of about a hundred men, under the command of a Captain, to the lines near King's bridge, to join two regiments of New-York troops which belonged to our brigade. Upon the march (which was very fatiguing, it being exceeding hot weather) we halted to rest. I went into a house, hoping to get something to eat, of which I, as usual, stood in much need. The woman of the house had just been churning; I asked her for a drink of buttermilk; she told me to drink as much as I pleased. I drank as much as I could swallow and went out, but soon after returned and drank again; and as we staid here some hours, I ​ improved the time by helping myself to the buttermilk. I could never before relish buttermilk, but extreme hunger at this time gave it a new relish. So true is the observation of the wise man, "A full belly loatheth a honeycomb: but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." While I was in this house I went into the kitchen where I saw a simple incident which excited my risibility, maugre my fatigue. There was a large pot hanging over a considerable fire, but more smoke; the pot contained, to appearance, a large hock of fresh beef, the water in the pot had ebbed considerably and the meat made its appearance some way above it; upon the top of the meat, surrounded by fire and smoke, sat the old house-cat wreathing her head one way and the other, and twisting the beef into her face as fast as possible, winking and blinking in the steam and smoke like a toad in a shower. I left her at her occupation and went out.
We arrived upon the lines and joined the other corps which was already there. No one who has never been upon such duty as those advanced parties have to perform, can form any adequate idea of the trouble, fatigue and dangers which they have to encounter. Their whole time is spent in marches, (especially night marches,) watching, starving, and, in cold weather, freezing and sickness. If they get any chance to rest, it must be in the woods or fields, under the side of a fence, in an orchard or in any other place but a comfortable one;—lying down on the cold and often wet ground, and, perhaps, before the eyes can be closed with a moment's sleep, alarmed and compelled to stand under arms an hour or two, or to receive an attack from the enemy; and when permitted again to endeavour to rest, called upon immediately to remove some four or five miles to seek some other place, to go through the same manœuvring as before; for it was dangerous to remain any length of time in one place for fear of being informed of by some tory inhabitant, (for there were a plenty of this sort of savage beast during the revolutionary war,) and ten thousand other causes to harrass, fatigue and perplex, which time and room will not permit me to enumerate.
We were once on one of those night marches, advancing toward the enemy and not far from them, when, towards the latter part of the night, there came on a heavy ​thunder shower; we were ordered into some barns near by, the officers, as usual, ordering themselves into the houses. I thought I might get a nap if it did storm, but hardly had I sunk into a slumber when we were informed that we were discovered by the enemy, and that two or three thousand Hessians were advancing upon, and very near us. We were immediately hurried out, the shower then being at its height, and the night as dark as Egypt, except when it lightened, which, when passed, only served to render it, if possible, still darker; we were then marched across fields and fences, pastures and brooks, swamps and ravines, a distance of two or three miles, and stationed upon a hill, or rather a ledge of rocks, which was as completely fortified by nature with a breastwork of rocks as it could have been by art. Here we waited for Mynheer till the sun was two hours high, but no one coming to visit us, we marched off, and left the enemy to do the same, if they had not already done it.
We remained on this hard and fatiguing duty about six weeks, during which time many things transpired incidental to a military life, but which would be of little interest to the reader, and tedious for me to relate.
We marched to Peekskill and rejoined our regiments sometime in the fore part of the month of August. A short time after my arrival at Peekskill, I was sent off to King's ferry (about five miles below) to take some batteaux that were there and carry them to fort Montgomery, in the edge of the Highlands. While upon this tour of duty, an accident happened to me which caused me much trouble and pain. After we had arrived at the fort with the boats, we tarried an hour or two to rest ourselves, after which we were ordered to take a couple of the boats and return again to King's ferry. Wishing to be the first in the boat, I ran down the wharf, and jumped into it. There happened to be the butt part of an oar lying on the bottom of the boat, and my right foot, on which the whole weight of my body bore, alighted, in my leap, directly upon it, lengthwise; it rolled over and turned my foot almost up to my ankle,—so much so, that my foot lay nearly in a right angle with my leg. I had then to go to the ferry, where I was landed, and having no acquaintance with any of the party, ​ most of whom were New-Yorkers, and consequently, at that time, no great friends to the Yankees, I was obliged to hop on one foot all the way, (upwards of five miles,) not being able in the whole distance to procure a stick to assist me, although I often hobbled to the fences on each side of the road in hopes to obtain one. It was dark when I was landed at the ferry, and it was quite late before I arrived at the camp; some of my messmates went immediately for the Surgeon, but he was at a game of backgammon and could not attend to minor affairs; however, in about an hour he arrived, bathed my foot, which was swelled like a bladder, fumbled about it for sometime, when he gave it a wrench, which made me, like the old woman's dying cat, "merely yawl out." The next day as I was sitting under the shade before my tent, my foot lying upon a bench, swelled like a puff-ball, my Captain passed by and must needs have a peep at it; I indulged his curiosity, upon which he said it was not set right, and taking hold of it, he gave it a twist, which put it nearly in the same condition it was at first. I had then to send for Mr. Surgeon again, but he was not to be found. There was a corporal in our company who professed to act the surgeon in such cases, and he happening at the time to be present, undertook the job and accomplished it, but it was attended with more difficulty than at the first time, and with more pain to me. It was a long time before it got well and strong again, indeed it never has been entirely so well as it was before the accident happened. I was not long confined by it, however, but was soon able to perform my duty in the army again.
Our troops, not long after this, marched to join the main army in Pennsylvania; the heavy baggage was left to come on after them, and I, being an invalid, was left as one of the guard to conduct it. The baggage soon followed the troops, and I underwent not a little trouble on the march in consequence of my lame foot. When I joined the regiment the baggage was immediately sent back to Bethlehem, nearly fifty miles in the country, and I was again sent with it as a guard. It was much against my inclination to go on this business, for I had for sometime past been under the command of other officers than my own, and now I must continue longer under them. ​Soldiers always like to be under the command of their own officers; they are generally bad enough, but strangers are worse. I was obliged to obey my officers' orders and go on this duty, but when I was away they could not hinder me from coming back again. I was resolved not to stay at Bethlehem, and as soon as we arrived there I contrived to get the permission of the officers of the guard to return to camp again immediately. I arrived at camp the second day after leaving the baggage. My officers inquired of me why I had returned?—if I was able to do hard duty, they said they were glad that I had joined the company again; if not, they were sorry. I endeavoured to appear to be as well as possible, for I had no notion of being sent away from my officers and old messmates again, if I could avoid it.
When I arrived at camp it was just dark, the troops were all preparing for a march; their provisions (what they had) were all cooked, and their arms and ammunition strictly inspected and all deficiencies supplied. Early in the evening we marched in the direction of Philadelphia; we naturally concluded there was something serious in the wind. We marched slowly all night; in the morning there was a low vapour lying on the land which made it very difficult to distinguish objects at any considerable distance. About daybreak our advanced guard and the British outposts came in contact. The curs began to bark first and then the bull-dogs. Our brigade moved off to the right into the fields. We saw a body of the enemy drawn up behind a rail fence on our right flank; we immediately formed in line and advanced upon them,—our orders were, not to fire till we could see the buttons upon their clothes; but they were so coy that they would not give us an opportunity to be so curious, for they hid their clothes in fire and smoke before we had either time or leisure to examine their buttons. They soon fell back and we advanced, when the action became general. The enemy were driven quite through their camp. They left their kettles, in which they were cooking their breakfasts, on the fires, and some of their garments were lying on the ground, which the owners had not time to put on. Affairs went on well for sometime; the enemy were retreating before us, until the first division that was ​ engaged had expended their ammunition; some of the men unadvisedly calling out that their ammunition was spent, the enemy were so near that they overheard them, when they first made a stand and then returned upon our people, who, for want of ammunition and reinforcements, were obliged in their turn to retreat, which ultimately resulted in the route of the whole army.
There were several other circumstances which contributed to the defeat of our army on that day, but as I am narrating my own adventures, and not a history of the war, I shall omit to mention them. Those who wish to know more, may consult any or all the authors who have given the history of the revolutionary war.
I had now to travel the rest of the day, after marching all the day and night before and fighting all the morning. I had eaten nothing since the noon of the preceding day, nor did I eat a morsel till the forenoon of the next day, and I needed rest as much as victuals. I could have procured that if I had had time to seek it, but victuals was not to be found. I was tormented with thirst all the morning, (fighting being warm work,) but after the retreat commenced I found ample means to satisfy my thirst. "I could drink at the brook," but I could not "bite at the bank."
There was one thing in such cases as I have just mentioned, (I mean, in retreating from an enemy,) that always galled my feelings, and that was, whenever I was forced to a quick retreat to be obliged to run till I was worried down. The Yankees are generally very nimble of foot and in those cases are very apt to practice what they have the ability of performing. Some of our men at this time seemed to think that they could never run fast or far enough. I never wanted to run, if I was forced to run, further than to be beyond the reach of the enemy's shot, after which I had no more fear of their overtaking me than I should have of an army of lobsters doing it, unless it were their horsemen, and they dared not do it.
After the army had collected again and recovered from their panic, we were kept marching and countermarching, starving and freezing,—nothing else happening, although that was enough, until we encamped at a place called the White Marsh, about twelve miles to the ​ northward of Philadelphia; while we lay here there was a spell of soft still weather, there not being wind enough for several days to dispel the smoke caused by the fires in camp. My eyes were so affected by it that I was not able to open them for hours together; the ground, which was soft and loamy, was converted into mortar, and so dirty was it, that any hogsty was preferable to our tents to sleep in; and to cap the climax of our misery, we had nothing to eat, nor scarcely any thing to wear. Being pinched with hunger, I one day strolled to a place, where sometime before, some cattle had been slaughtered; here I had the good luck, (or rather bad luck, as it turned out in the end,) to find an ox's milt, which had escaped the hogs and dogs. With this prize I steered off to my tent, threw it upon the fire and broiled it, and then sat down to eat it, without either bread or salt. I had not had it long in my stomach before it began to make strong remonstrances and to manifest a great inclination to be set at liberty again. I was very willing to listen to its requests, and with eyes overflowing with tears, at parting with what I had thought to be a friend, I gave it a discharge. But the very thoughts of it, would for sometime after, almost make me think that I had another milt in my stomach.
About this time information was received at headquarters that a considerable body of British troops were advanced and encamped on the western side of the river Schuylkill, near the lower bridge, two or three miles from Philadelphia. Forces were immediately put in requisition to rout them from thence. Our brigade was ordered off, with some detachments from other parts of the army. We marched from camp just before night, as light troops, light in every thing, especially in eatables. We marched to a place called Barren Hill, about twelve or fifteen miles from the city. From here, about ten o'clock in the evening, we forded the Schuylkill where the river (including a bare gravelly island, or flat, which we crossed) was about forty rods wide, as near as I could judge, and the water about to the waist. It was quite a cool night, in the month of October; the water which spattered on to our clothes, froze as we passed the river. Many of the young and small soldiers fell while in the water, and were completely drenched; we, ​however, got over and marched two or three miles on a dreary road, (for that part of the country,) surrounded by high hills and thick woods. All of a sudden we were ordered to halt; we were, to appearance, in an unfrequented road, cold and wet to our middles, and half starved: we were sorry to be stopped from travelling, as exercise kept us warm in some degree. We endeavoured to kindle fires, but were ordered by the officers immediately to extinguish them, which was done by all except one, which having been kindled in a hollow tree could not be put out. I got so near to this that I could just see it between the men's legs, which was all the benefit that I derived from it.
We lay here freezing, about two hours, and then were ordered to fall in and march back again. About an hour before day we dashed through the river again, at the same place at which we had crossed the preceding evening, and I can assure the reader, that neither the water nor weather had become one degree warmer than it was then.
We went on to Barren hill again, where we lay all the day, waiting, as it appeared, for reinforcements, which arrived and joined us towards night. We drew a day's ration of beef and flour,—what was called a pound of each; the flour, perhaps, was not far from its nominal weight, but the beef was, as it always was in such cases, and indeed in all others in the army, not more than three fourths of a pound, and that, at the best, half bone. And how was it cooked?—Why, as it usually was when we had no cooking utensils with us,—that is, the flour was laid upon a flat rock and mixed up with cold water, then daubed upon a flat stone and scorched on one side, while the beef was broiling on a stick in the fire. This was the common way of cookery when on marches, and we could get any thing to cook, and this was the mode at the time mentioned. After I had satisfied my hunger, I lay down upon the ground and slept till within about half an hour of sunset. When I awoke I was turned quite about; I thought it was morning instead of evening; however, I was soon convinced of my error, and the sun had the good manners to wheel about and put himself in his proper position again.
Just at dark, the reinforcements having arrived and ​all things being put in order, we marched again, and about nine or ten o'clock we tried the waters of the Schuylkill once more, at the same place where we crossed the preceding night. It was not so cold as it was then and the crossing was not so tedious, but it was bad enough at this time.
We marched slowly the remainder of the night. At the dawn of day we found ourselves in the neighbourhood of the enemy; I mean, in the neighbourhood of where they had been, for when we were about to spring the net, we discovered that the birds had flown, and there was not one on the bed. There was a British guard at a little distance from the bridge, upon the opposite side of the river; they turned out to do us honour and sent off an express to the city, to inform their friends that the Yankees had come to pay them a visit, but they were so unmannerly as to take no notice of us;—after we had taken so much pains and been at so much trouble to come to see them, they might have shown a little more politeness, considering that it would not have cost them half the trouble to meet us as we had been at to meet them. But perhaps they thought, that as we had undergone so much fatigue and vexation on our journey, we might feel cross and peevish, and perchance some unlucky accidents might have happened. The British were politic, and it is good to be cautious and discreet.
We had nothing to do now but to return as we came; accordingly, we marched off slowly, hoping that the enemy would think better of it and follow us, for we were loath to return without seeing them;—however, they kept to themselves and we went on. I was hungry, tired and sleepy;—about noon we halted an hour or two, and I went a little way into the fields, where I found a black walnut tree with a plenty of nuts under it; these nuts are very nutricious, and I cracked and ate of them till I was satisfied.
We marched again. In the course of the afternoon, I somewhere procured about half a dozen turnips, which I carried all the way to camp in my hand; so much did we value any thing that we could get to eat. About sun-setting we again waded the Schuylkill, at a ford a little higher up the river. The river was not so wide here as at the former place, but the water was deeper; it was to ​ the breast. When we had crossed, and it had become dark, we met the Quartermasters, who had come out to meet us with wagons and hogsheads of whiskey! (thinking, perhaps, that we might take cold by being so much exposed in the cold water;) they had better have brought us something more substantial, but we thought that better than nothing. The casks were unheaded, and the Quartermaster-sergeants stood in the wagons and dealt out the liquor to the platoons; each platoon halting as it came up, till served. The intention of the Quartermaster-sergeants was, to give to each man a gill of liquor, but as measuring it out by gills was tedious, it was dealt out to us in pint measures, with directions to divide a pint between four men; but as it was dark and the actions of the men could not be well seen by those who served out the liquor, each one drank as much as he pleased; some, perhaps, half a gill, some a gill, and as many as chose it drained the pint. We again moved on for the camp, distant about five miles. We had not proceeded far before we entered a lane fenced on either side with rails, in which was a water plash, or puddle. The fence was taken down on one side of the road to enable us to pass round the water. It was what is called a five rail fence, only the two upper rails of which were taken out;—here was fun. We had been on the march, since we had drank the whiskey, just long enough for the liquor to assume its height of operation;—our stomachs being empty the whiskey took rank hold, and the poor brain fared accordingly. When the men came to the fence, not being able, many or most of them, to keep a regular balance between head and heels, they would pile themselves up on each side of the fence, swearing and hallooing; some losing their arms, some their hats, some their shoes, and some themselves. Had the enemy come upon us at this time, there would have been an action worth recording; but they did not, and we, that is, such as could, arrived at camp about midnight, where "those who had remained with the stuff" had made up some comfortable fires for our accommodation. Poor fellows! it was all they could do;—as to victuals, they had none for themselves. I had then been nearly thirty hours without a mouthful of any thing to eat, excepting the wallnuts; having been the whole time on my feet ​(unless I happened to fall over the fence, which I do not remember to have done) and wading in, and being wet with the water of the river. I roasted some of my turnips, ate them, rolled myself up in my innocency, lay down on the leaves and forgot my misery till morning.
Soon after this affair our two Connecticut regiments (they being the only troops of that State then with the main army) were ordered off to defend the forts on the Delaware river, below the city. We marched about dark, hungry and cold, and kept on till we could proceed no further, from sheer hunger and fatigue. We halted about one o'clock at night, in a village, and were put into the houses of the inhabitants, much, I suppose, to their contentment, especially at that time of night. Sleep took such strong hold of me and most of the others, that we soon forgot our wants. Not so with some five or six of our company, who were determined not to die of hunger that night, if any means could be devised to prevent it. They, therefore, as soon as all was still, sallied out on an expedition. They could not find any thing eatable but the contents of a beehive, which they took the liberty to remove from the beehouse to a place which they thought more convenient. I had no hand in the battle and consequently no share in the spoil. One man who belonged to this foraging party had rather an uncouth visage; he had very thick lips, especially the upper one, a large flat nose, and quite a wide mouth, which gave him, as the Irishman said, really an open countenance. One of the inhabitants of the city he had helped to sack, not quite forgetting his resentment for the ill usage he had received from this paragon of beauty and his associates in the outrage, gave him a severe wound directly in the middle of the upper lip, which added very much to its dimensions. In the morning, when we came to march off, Oh! the woful figure the poor fellow exhibited!—a minister in his pulpit would have found it difficult to have kept his risible faculties in due subjection. To see him on the parade endeavouring to conceal his face from the men, and especially from the officers, was ludicrous in the extreme, and as long as it lasted it diverted our thoughts from resting on our own calamities.
We crossed the Delaware, between the town of ​Bristol, in Pennsylvania, and the city of Burlington, in New-Jersey. We halted for the night at the latter place, where we procured some carrion beef, (for it was no better;) we cooked it and ate some, and carried the remainder away with us. We had always, in the army, to carry our cooking utensils in our hands by turns, and at this time, as we were not overburthened with provisions, our mess had put ours into our kettle, it not being very heavy, as it was made of plated iron. Before noon, I had the carriage of the kettle and its contents, and thinking that I had carried it more than my turn, and the troops just then making a momentary halt, I put the kettle down in the road, telling my messmates that if they would not take their turns at carrying it I would carry it no further. They were cross and refused to take it up; I was as contrary as they were, so we all went on and left it. One of our company in the next platoon, in the rear of us, took it up and brought it on. We marched about half a mile and made another halt, when I turned round and saw the man who had taken care of our kettle, with one or two others helping themselves to the contents of it. I wished the kettle in their throats, but I had nothing to say, it was in part my own fault; my messmates looked rather grum, but had as little to say for themselves as I had. After the men had quieted their appetites one of them very civilly came and gave me up the kettle, but the provisions were mostly absent without leave.
We halted for the night at a village called Haddington; we had nothing to eat, nor should we have had if our kettle had kept us constant company. We were put into the houses for quarters during the night. Myself and about a dozen more of the company were put into a chamber where there was a fireplace but no fire nor any thing to make one with; it looked as if there had been no fire there for seven years; we, however, soon procured wherewithal to make a fire with and were thus enabled to keep the outside comfortable, let the inside do as it would. There was no other furniture in the room excepting an old quill-wheel and an old chair-frame; we procured a thick board and placed the ends upon the wheel and chair and all sat down to regale ourselves with the warmth, when the cat happening to come under the ​ bench to partake of the bounty, the board bending by the weight upon it, both ends slipped off at once and brought us all slap to the floor; upon taking up the board to replace it again we found the poor cat, pressed as flat as a pancake, with her eyes started out two inches from her head. We did not eat her although my appetite was sharp enough to have eaten almost any thing that could be eaten.
After we had got regulated again, we began to contrive how we were to behave in our present circumstances, as it regarded belly-timber;—at length, after several plans had been devised, many "resolves proposed and all refused a passage," it was finally determined that two or three of the most expert at the business should sally forth and endeavour to procure something by foraging. Accordingly two of the club went out and shortly after returned with a Hissian, a cant word with the soldiers, for a goose. The next difficulty was, how to pluck it; we were in a chamber and had nothing to contain the feathers. However, we concluded at last to pick her over the fire and let that take care of the feathers. We dressed her and then divided her amongst us; if I remember rightly, I got one wing. Each one broiled his share and ate it, as usual, without bread or salt. After this sumptuous repast, I lay down and slept as well as a gnawing stomach would permit. In the morning we found a sad witness of our overnight's adventure to testify against us; the whole funnel of the chimney was stuck full of feathers from top to bottom, and it being a very calm night the street opposite the house was as full of them as the chimney. We would have set the chimney on fire, but having nothing to do it with, we concluded to let chimney and street unite in their testimony against us if they pleased; but as we marched off early in the morning we heard no more about the goose.
There had been an expedition of the enemy's forces against a fort of ours at a place called Redbank, near this town. Two thousand Germans under the command of Colonel-Commandant Donop, who had begged the favour of the British Commander-in-chief of having the privilege of cutting the throats of about five hundred brave Rhode-Island Yankees, under the command of Colonel Green (uncle to the General of that name) who ​ commanded the garrison there. And here was fought as brilliant an action as was fought during the revolutionary war, considering the numbers engaged, Bunker-hill "to the contrary notwithstanding." Five hundred men defeated two thousand of the enemy, killed and wounded a large number, and mortally wounded and took prisoner their commander. So complete was the discomfiture, that the enemy threw their cannon into a creek that they might have the carriages to carry off their wounded officers on, left their provisions behind and fled for their lives. The loss of the garrison was twenty-four killed and wounded. This action happened on the 22d day of October, 1777.—I could give a full description of it and of the consequences which resulted from it, but that is foreign from my business, as I was not personally engaged in it. But why it has not been more noticed by the historians of the times I cannot tell.
This day we arrived at Woodbury, New-Jersey, which was the end of our present journey. We encamped near the village, planted our artillery in the road at each end of it, placed our guards and prepared to go into fort Mifflin, on Mud-Island. The reason of my referring to the above-mentioned battle, was, that we found several barrels of salted herrings, which the enemy had left in their flight, and as we had but a very small quantity of provisions we were glad to get these. I endeavoured to eat some of them but found them miserable food. They appeared to have been caught soon after the flood, and could neither be broiled nor boiled so as to be made eatable.
Immediately after our arrival at Woodbury, I was ordered upon an advanced guard, about half a mile in advance of a bridge which lay across a large creek, into which the tide flowed. The enemy's shipping lay in the river a little below us. They had also a fortification on the shore opposite to their shipping, at a place called Billingsport. There was a guard of the Jersey militia in advance of us. We used to make excursions in parties of three or four, from our guard, into the neighbourhood of the enemy, and often picked up stragglers from their post and shipping.
I was soon relieved from this guard, and with those who were able, of our two regiments, sent to reinforce ​ those in the fort, which was then besieged by the British. Here I endured hardships sufficient to kill half a dozen horses. Let the reader only consider for a moment and he will be satisfied if not sickened. In the cold month of November, without provisions, without clothing, not a scrap of either shoes or stockings to my feet or legs, and in this condition to endure a siege in such a place as that, was appaling in the highest degree.
In confirmation of what I have here said I will give the reader a short description of the pen that I was confined in; confined I was, for it was next to impossible to have got away from it, if I had been so disposed. Well, the island, as it is called, is nothing more than a mud flat in the Delaware, lying upon the west side of the channel. It is diked around the fort, with sluices so constructed that the fort can be laid under water at pleasure, (at least, it was so when I was there, and I presume it has not grown much higher since.) On the eastern side, next the main river, was a zigzag wall built of hewn stone, built, as I was informed, before the revolution at the king's cost. At the southeastern part of the fortification (for fort it could not with propriety be called) was a battery of several long eighteen pounders. At the southwestern angle was another battery with four or five twelve and eighteen pounders and one thirty-two pounder. At the north-western corner was another small battery with three twelve pounders. There were also three block-houses in different parts of the enclosure, but no cannon mounted upon them, nor were they of any use whatever, to us while I was there. On the western side, between the batteries, was a high embankment, within which was a tier of palisadoes. In front of the stone wall, for about half its length, was another embankment, with pallisadoes on the inside of it, and a narrow ditch between them and the stone wall. On the western side of the fortification was a row of barracks, extending from the northern part of the works to about half the length of the fort. On the northern end was another block of barracks which reached nearly across the fort from east to west. In front of these was a large square two story house, for the accommodation of the officers of the garrison; neither this house nor the barracks were of much use at this time, for it was as much as a man's life was worth to enter them, the enemy often directing their ​shot at them in particular. In front of the barracks and other necessary places, were parades and walks, the rest of the ground was soft mud. I have seen the enemy's shells fall upon it and sink so low that their report could not be heard when they burst, and I could only feel a tremulous motion of the earth at the time. At other times, when they burst near the surface of the ground, they would throw the mud fifty feet in the air.
The British had erected five batteries with six heavy guns in each and a bomb-battery with three long mortars in it on the opposite side of the water, which separated the island from the main on the west, and which was but a short distance across; they had also a battery of six guns a little higher up the river, at a place called the Hospital point. This is a short description of the place which I was destined, with a few others, to defend against whatever force, land or marine, the enemy might see fit to bring against it.
The first attempt the British made against the place after I entered it was by the Augusta, a sixty-four gun ship. While manœuring one dark night she got on the chevaux-de-frise which had been sunk in the channel of the river. As soon as she was discovered in the morning we plied her so well with hot shot, that she was soon in flames. Boats were sent from the shipping below to her assistance, but our shot proving too hot for them, they were obliged to leave her to her fate; in an hour or two she blew up with an explosion which seemed to shake the earth to its centre, leaving a volume of smoke like a thunder cloud, which, as the air was calm, remained an hour or two. A twenty gun ship which had come to the assistance of the Augusta in her distress, shared her fate soon after.
Our batteries were nothing more than old spars and timber laid up in parallel lines and filled between with mud and dirt; the British batteries in the course of the day would nearly level our works; and we were, like the beaver, obliged to repair our dams in the night. During the whole night, at intervals of a quarter or half an hour, the enemy would let off all their pieces, and although we had sentinels to watch them and at every flash of their guns to cry, "a shot," upon hearing which every one endeavoured to take care of himself, yet they would ​ever and anon, in spite of all our precautions, cut up some of us.
The engineer in the fort was a French officer by the name of Fleury, the same who struck the British flag at the storming of Stony-point. He was a very austere man and kept us constantly employed day and night, there was no chance of escaping from his vigilance.
Between the stone wall and the palisadoes was a kind of yard or pen, at the southern end of which was a narrow entrance not more than eight or ten feet wide, with a ditch about four feet wide in the middle, extending the whole length of the pen. Here, on the eastern side of the wall, was the only place in the fort that any one could be in any degree of safety. Into this place we used to gather the splinters, broken off the palisadoes by the enemy's shot, and make a little fire, just enough to keep from suffering. We would watch an opportunity to escape from the vigilance of Col. Fleury, and run into this place for a minute or two's respite from fatigue and cold. When the engineer found that the workmen began to grow scarce, he would come to the entrance and call us out. He had always his cane in his hand, and woe betided him he could get a stroke at. At his approach I always jumped over the ditch and ran down on the other side, so that he could not reach me; but he often noticed me, and as often threatened me, but threatening was all, he could never get a stroke at me, and I cared but little for his threats.
It was utterly impossible to lie down to get any rest or sleep on account of the mud, if the enemy's shot would have suffered us to do so. Sometimes some of the men, when overcome with fatigue and want of sleep, would slip away into the barracks to catch a nap of sleep, but it seldom happened that they all came out again alive. I was in this place a fortnight, and can say in sincerity that I never lay down to sleep a minute in all that time.
The British knew the situation of the place as well as we did. And as their point blank shot would not reach us behind the wall, they would throw elevated grape-shot from their mortar, and when the sentries had cried, "a shot," and the soldiers, seeing no shot arrive, had become careless, the grape-shot would come down like a shower of hail about our ears.
​I will here just mention one thing which will show the apathy of our people at this time. We had, as I mentioned before, a thirty-two pound cannon in the fort, but had not a single shot for it; the British also had one in their battery upon the Hospital-point, which, as I said before, raked the fort; or rather it was so fixed as to rake the parade in front of the barracks, the only place we could pass up and down the fort. The Artillery officers offered a gill of rum for each shot, fired from that piece, which the soldiers would procure. I have seen from twenty to fifty men standing on the parade waiting with impatience the coming of the shot, which would often be seized before its motion had fully ceased and conveyed off to our gun to be sent back again to its former owners. When the lucky fellow who had caught it had swallowed his rum, he would return to wait for another, exulting that he had been more lucky or more dexterous than his fellows.
What little provisions we had was cooked by the invalids in our camp and brought to the island in old flour barrels; it was mostly corned beef and hard bread, but it was not much trouble to cook or fetch what we had.
We continued here suffering cold, hunger and other miseries, till the fourteenth day of November; on that day, at the dawn, we discovered six ships of the line, all sixty-fours, a frigate of thirty-six guns and a gally in a line just below the Chevaux-de-frise; a twenty-four gun ship, (being an old ship cut down,) her guns said to be all brass twenty-four pounders, and a sloop of six guns in company with her, both within pistol shot of the fort, on the western side. We immediately opened our batteries upon them, but they appeared to take very little notice of us; we heated some shot, but by mistake twenty-four pound shot were heated instead of eighteen, which was the calibre of the guns in that part of the fort. The enemy soon began their firing upon us, and there was music indeed. The soldiers were all ordered to take their posts at the palisadoes, which they were ordered to defend to the last extremity, as it was expected the British would land under the fire of their cannon and attempt to storm the fort. The cannonade was severe, as well it might be, six sixty-four gun ships, a thirty-six gun frigate, a twenty-four gun ship, a gally and a sloop of six guns, ​ together with six batteries of six guns each and a bomb-battery of three mortars, all playing at once upon our poor little fort, if fort it might be called.
Some of our officers endeavoured to ascertain how many guns were fired in a minute by the enemy, but it was impossible, the fire was incessant. In the height of the cannonade it was desirable to hoist a signal flag for some of our gallies, that were lying above us, to come down to our assistance. The officers inquired who would undertake it; as none appeared willing for some time, I was about to offer my services; I considered it no more exposure of my life than it was to remain where I was; the flagstaff was of easy ascent, being an old ship's mast, having shrouds to the ground, and the round top still remaining. While I was still hesitating, a sergeant of the Artillery offered himself; he accordingly ascended to the round top, pulled down the flag to affix the signal flag to the halyard, upon which the enemy, thinking we had struck, ceased firing in every direction and cheered. "Up with the flag!" was the cry of our officers in every part of the fort. The flags were accordingly hoisted, and the firing was immediately renewed. The sergeant then came down and had not gone half a rod from the foot of the staff, when he was cut in two by a cannon shot. This caused me some serious reflections at the time. He was killed! had I been at the same business I might have been killed; but it might have been otherwise ordered by Divine Providence,—we might have both lived,—I am not predestinarian enough to determine it. The enemy's shot cut us up; I saw five Artillerists belonging to one gun, cut down by a single shot, and I saw men who were stooping to be protected by the works, but not stooping low enough, split like fish to be broiled.
About the middle of the day some of our gallies and floating batteries, with a frigate, fell down and engaged the British with their long guns, which in some measure took off the enemy's fire from the fort. The cannonade continued without interruption on the side of the British throughout the day. Nearly every gun in the fort was silenced by mid-day. Our men were cut up like cornstalks; I do not know the exact number of the killed and wounded but can say it was not small, considering the numbers in the fort, which were only the able part ​of the fourth and eighth Connecticut regiments, with a company or two of Arillery, perhaps less than five hundred in all.
The cannonade continued, directed mostly at the fort, till the dusk of the evening. As soon as it was dark we began to make preparations for evacuating the fort and endeavouring to escape to the Jersey shore. When the firing had in some measure subsided and I could look about me, I found the fort exhibited a picture of desolation; the whole area of the fort was as completely ploughed as a field. The buildings of every kind hanging in broken fragments, and the guns all dismounted, and how many of the garrison sent to the world of spirits, I knew not. If ever destruction was complete, it was here. The surviving part of the garrison were now drawn off and such of the stores as could conveniently be taken away were carried to the Jersey shore. I happened to be left with a party of seventy or eighty men to destroy and burn all that was left in the place. I was in the northwest battery just after dark, when the enemy were hauling their shipping, on that side, higher up to a more commanding position; they were so nigh that I could hear distinctly what they said on board the sloop. One expression of theirs I well remember,—"We will give it to the d—d rebels in the morning." The thought that then occupied my mind I as well remember, 'The d—d rebels will show you a trick which the devil never will, they will go off and leave you.' After the troops had left the fort and were embarking at the wharf, I went to the waterside to find one of my messmates to whom I had lent my canteen in the morning, as there were three or four hogsheads of rum in the fort, the heads of which we were about to knock in, and I was desirous to save a trifle of their contents; there being nothing to eat I thought I might have something to drink. I found him, indeed, but lying in a long line of dead men who had been brought out of the fort to be conveyed to the main, to have the last honours conferred upon them which it was in our power to give. Poor young man! he was the most intimate associate I had in the army, but he was gone, with many more as deserving of regard as himself.
I returned directly back into the fort to my party and proceeded to set fire to every thing that would burn, and ​ then repaired immediately to the wharf where three batteaux were waiting to convey us across the river. And now came on another trial. Before we could embark the buildings in the fort were completely in flames, and they threw such a light upon the water that we were as plainly seen by the British as though it had been broad day. Almost their whole fire was directed at us; sometimes our boat seemed to be almost thrown out of the water, and at length a shot took the sternpost out of the rear boat. We had then to stop and take the men from the crippled boat into the other two; and now the shot and water flew merrily; but by the assistance of a kind Providence we escaped without any further injury and landed, a little after midnight, on the Jersey shore.
We marched a little back into some pitch-pine woods, where we found the rest of the troops that had arrived before us. They had made up some comfortable fires and were enjoying the warmth, and that was all the comfort they had to partake of, (except rest,) for victuals was out of the question. I wrapt myself up in my blanket and lay down upon the leaves and soon fell asleep, and continued so till past noon, when I awoke from the first sound sleep I had had for a fortnight. Indeed, I had not laid down in all that time. The little sleep I had obtained was in cat-naps, sitting up and leaning against the wall; and I thought myself fortunate if I could do that much. When I awoke I was as crazy as a goose shot through the head.
We left our flag flying when we left the island, and the enemy did not take possession of the fort till late in the morning after we left it. We left one man in the fort who had taken too large a dose of "the good creature." He was a deserter from the German forces in the British service. The British took him to Philadelphia, where (not being known by them) he engaged again in their service—received two or three guineas bounty, drew a British uniform, and came back to us again at the Valley Forge. So they did not make themselves independent fortunes by the capture of him.
Here ends the account of as hard and fatiguing a job, for the time it lasted, as occurred during the revolutionary war. Thomas Paine, in one of his political essays, speaking of the siege and defence of this post, ​ says, "they had nothing but their bravery and good conduct to cover them." He spoke the truth. I was at the siege and capture of lord Cornwallis, and the hardships of that were no more to be compared with this, than the sting of a bee is to the bite of a rattlesnake. But there has been but little notice taken of it; the reason of which is, there was no Washington, Putnam, or Wayne there. Had there been, the affair would have been extolled to the skies. No, it was only a few officers and soldiers who accomplished it in a remote quarter of the army. Such circumstances and such troops generally get but little notice taken of them, do what they will. Great men get great praise, little men, nothing. But it always was so and always will be;—said the officers in king David's army, when going out against rebel Absolem, "thou shalt not go out with us—for if half of us die they will not care for us. But now thou art worth ten thousand of us." And this has been the burden of the song ever since, and I presume ever will be.
We now prepared to leave Redbank. I was ordered on a baggage guard; it was not disagreeable to me as I had a chance to ride in a wagon a considerable part of the night. We went in advance of the troops, which made it much easier getting along. We had been encouraged during the whole siege with the promise of relief. "Stand it out a little longer and we shall be relieved," had been the constant cry. The second day of our march we met two Regiments advancing to relieve us. When asked where they were going, they said, to relieve the garrison in the fort. We informed them that the British had done that already.
Our guard passed through Haddington in the night; heard nothing of the goose or murdered cat. We arrived early in the morning, at a pretty village called Milltown or Mount-holly. Here we waited for the troops to come up. I was as near starved with hunger, as ever I wish to be. I strolled into a large yard where was several saw mills and a grist mill, I went into the latter, thinking it probable that the dust made there was more palatable than that made in the former, but I found nothing there to satisfy my hunger. But there was a barrel standing behind the door with some salt in it. Salt was as valuable as gold with the soldiers. I filled my pocket with it and ​ went out. In the yard and about it was a plenty of geese, turkeys, ducks, and barn-door fowls; I obtained a piece of an ear of Indian corn, and seating myself on a pile of boards began throwing the corn to the fowls which soon drew a fine battalion of them about me, I might have taken as many as I pleased, but I took up one only, wrung off its head, dressed and washed it in the stream, seasoned it with some of my salt, and stalked into the first house that fell in my way, invited myself into the kitchen, took down the gridiron and put my fowl to cooking upon the coals. The women of the house were all the time going and coming to and from the room; they looked at me but said nothing.—"They asked me no questions and I told them no lies." When my game was sufficiently broiled, I took it by the hind leg and made my exit from the house with as little ceremony as I had made my entrance. When I got into the street I devoured it after a very short grace and felt as refreshed as the old Indian did when he had eaten his crow roasted in the ashes with the feathers and entrails.
We marched from hence and crossed the Delaware again between Burlington and Bristol. Here we procured a day's ration of southern salt pork (three-fourths of a pound) and a pound of sea bread. We marched a little distance and stopped "to refresh ourselves;" we kindled some fires in the road, and some broiled their meat; as for myself I ate mine raw. We quickly started on and marched till evening, when we went into a wood for the night. We did not pitch our tents; and about midnight it began to rain very hard which soon put out all our fires, and we had to lie "and weather it out." The troops marched again before day; I had sadly sprained my ankle the day before, and it was much swelled. My lieutenant told me to stay where I was till day and then come on. Just as I was about to start off, our Brigadier-General and suite passed by and seeing me there alone, stopped his horse and asked me what I did there, I told him that Lieut. S—— ordered me to remain there till daylight. Says he, Lieut. S—— deserves to have his throat cut, and then went on. I had finished my pork and bread for supper, consequently had nothing for this day. I hobbled on as well as I could; the rain and travelling of the troops and baggage had converted ​the road into perfect mortar and it was extremely difficult for me to make headway. I worried on however till some time in the afternoon when I went into a house, where I procured a piece of a buckwheat slapjack. With this little refreshment I proceeded on and just before night overtook the troops. We continued our march until some time after dark, when we arrived in the vicinity of the main army. We again turned into a wood for the night; the leaves and ground were as wet as water could make them; it was then foggy, and the water dropping from the trees like a shower. We endeavoured to get fire by flashing powder on the leaves, but this and every other expedient that we could employ, failing, we were forced by our old master, Necessity, to lay down and sleep if we could, with three others of our constant companions, Fatigue, Hunger and Cold.
Next morning we joined the grand army near Philadelphia, and the heavy baggage being sent back to the rear of the army, we were obliged to put us up huts by laying up poles and covering them with leaves; a capital shelter from winter storms. Here we continued to fast; indeed we kept a continual lent as faithfully as ever any of the most rigorous of the Roman Catholics did. But there was this exception, we had no fish or eggs or any other substitute for our commons. Ours was a real fast, and depend upon it, we were sufficiently mortified.
About this time the whole British army left the city, came out, and encamped, or rather lay, on Chesnut-hill in our immediate neighbourhood; we hourly expected an attack from them; we had a commanding position and were very sensible of it. We were kept constantly on the alert, and wished nothing more than to have them engage us, for we were sure of giving them a drubbing, being in excellent fighting trim, as we were starved and as cross and illnatured as curs. The British, however, thought better of the matter, and after several days manœuvering on the hill, very civilly walked off into Philadelphia again.
Starvation seemed to be entailed upon the army and every animal connected with it. The oxen, brought from New-England for draught, all died, and the southern horses fared no better; even the wild animals that had any concern with us, suffered. A poor little squirrel who ​ had the ill luck to get cut off from the woods and fixing himself on a tree standing alone and surrounded by several of the soldier's huts, sat upon the tree till he starved to death and fell off the tree. He, however, got rid of his misery soon. He did not live to starve by piecemeal six or seven years.
While we lay here, there happened very remarkable northern lights. At one time the whole visible heavens appeared, for some time, as if covered with crimson velvet. Some of the soldiers prognosticated a bloody battle about to be fought, but time, which always speaks the truth, proved them to be false prophets.
Soon after the British had quit their position on Chesnut-hill, we left this place, and after marching and countermarching back and forward some days, we crossed the Schuylkill in a cold rainy and snowy night, upon a bridge of wagons set end to end, and joined together by boards and planks; and after a few days more manœuvering, we at last settled down at a place called "the Gulf," (so named on account of a remarkable chasm in the hills;) and here we encamped some time, and here we had liked to have encamped forever—for starvation here rioted in its glory. But, lest the reader should be disgusted at hearing so much said about "starvation," I will give him something that, perhaps, may in some measure alleviate his ill humour.
While we lay here there was a Continental thanksgiving ordered by Congress; and as the army had all the cause in the world to be particularly thankful, if not for being well off, at least, that it was no worse, we were ordered to participate in it. We had nothing to eat for two or three days previous, except what the trees of the fields and forests afforded us. But we must now have what Congress said—a sumptuous thanksgiving to close the year of high living, we had now nearly seen brought to a close. Well—to add something extraordinary to our present stock of provisions, our country, ever mindful of its suffering army, opened her sympathizing heart so wide, upon this occasion, as to give us something to make the world stare. And what do you think it was, reader?—Guess.—You cannot guess, be you as much of a Yankee as you will. I will tell you: it gave each and every man half a gill of rice, and a table spoon full of ​ vinegar!! After we had made sure of this extraordinary superabundant donation, we were ordered out to attend a meeting, and hear a sermon delivered upon the happy occasion. We accordingly went, for we could not help it. I heard a sermon, a "thanksgiving sermon," what sort of one I do not know now, nor did I at the time I heard it, I had something else to think upon, my belly put me in remembrance of the fine thanksgiving dinner I was to partake of when I—could get it—I remember the text, like an attentive lad at church, I can still remember that, it was this, "And the soldiers said unto him, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, nor accuse any one falsely." The Preacher ought to have added the remainder of the sentence to have made it complete; "And be content with your wages." But that would not do, it would be too appropos; however, he heard it as soon as the service was over, it was shouted from a hundred tongues. Well—we had got through the services of the day and had nothing to do but to return in good order to our tents and fare as we could. As we returned to our camp, we passed by our Commissary's quarters, all his stores, consisting of a barrel about two thirds full of hocks of fresh beef, stood directly in our way, but there was a sentinel guarding even that; however, one of my messmates purloined a piece of it, four or five pounds perhaps. I was exceeding glad to see him take it, I thought it might help to eke out our thanksgiving supper; but, alas! how soon my expectations were blasted!—The sentinel saw him have it as soon as I did and obliged him to return it to the barrel again. So I had nothing else to do but to go home and make out my supper as usual, upon a leg of nothing and no turnips.
The army was now not only starved but naked; the greatest part were not only shirtless and barefoot, but destitute of all other clothing, especially blankets. I procured a small piece of raw cowhide and made myself a pair of moccasons, which kept my feet (while they lasted) from the frozen ground, although, as I well remember, the hard edges so galled my ancles, while on a march, that it was with much difficulty and pain that I could wear them afterwards; but the only alternative I had, was to endure this inconvenience or to go barefoot, as ​ hundreds of my companions had to, till they might be tracked by their blood upon the rough frozen ground. But hunger, nakedness and sore shins were not the only difficulties we had at that time to encounter;—we had hard duty to perform and little or no strength to perform it with.
The army continued at and near the Gulf for some days, after which we marched for the Valley Forge in order to take up our winter-quarters. We were now in a truly forlorn condition,—no clothing, no provisions and as disheartened as need be. We arrived, however, at our destination a few days before christmas. Our prospect was indeed dreary. In our miserable condition, to go into the wild woods and build us habitations to stay (not to live) in, in such a weak, starved and naked condition, was appaling in the highest degree, especially to New-Englanders, unaccustomed to such kind of hardships at home. However, there was no remedy,—no alternative but this or dispersion;—but dispersion, I believe, was not thought of,—at least, I did not think of it,—we had engaged in the defence of our injured country and were willing, nay, we were determined to persevere as long as such hardships were not altogether intolerable. I had experienced what I thought sufficient of the hardships of a military life the year before (although nothing in comparison to what I had suffered the present campaign) and therefore expected to meet with rubbers. But we were now absolutely in danger of perishing, and that too, in the midst of a plentiful country. We then had but little, and often nothing to eat for days together; but now we had nothing and saw no likelihood of any betterment of our condition. Had there fallen deep snows (and it was the time of year to expect them) or even heavy and long rain-storms, the whole army must inevitably have perished. Or had the enemy, strong and well provided as he then was, thought fit to pursue us, our poor emaciated carcases must have "strewed the plain." But a kind and holy Providence took more notice and better care of us than did the country in whose service we were wearing away our lives by piecemeal.
We arrived at the Valley Forge in the evening; it was dark; there was no water to be found, and I was perishing with thirst. I searched for water till I was weary, ​ and came to my tent without finding any;—fatigue and thirst, joined with hunger, almost made me desperate. I felt at that instant as if I would have taken victuals or drink from the best friend I had on earth by force. I am not writing fiction, all are sober realities. Just after I arrived at my tent, two soldiers, whom I did not know, passed by; they had some water in their canteens which they told me they had found a good distance off, but could not direct me to the place as it was very dark. I tried to beg a draught of water from them but they were as rigid as Arabs. At length I persuaded them to sell me a drink for three pence, Pennsylvania currency, which was every cent of property I could then call my own; so great was the necessity I was then reduced to.
I lay here two nights and one day, and had not a morsel of any thing to eat all the time, save half of a small pumpkin, which I cooked by placing it upon a rock, the skin side uppermost, and making a fire upon it; by the time it was heat through I devoured it with as keen an appetite as I should a pie made of it at some other time. The second evening after our arrival here I was warned to be ready for a two days command. I never heard a summons to duty with so much disgust before or since, as I did that; how I could endure two days more fatigue without nourishment of some sort I could not tell, for I heard nothing said about "provisions." However, in the morning at roll-call, I was obliged to comply. I went to the parade where I found a considerable number, ordered upon the same business, whatever it was. We were ordered to go to the Quartermaster-General and receive from him our final orders. We accordingly repaired to his quarters, which was about three miles from camp; here we understood that our destiny was to go into the country on a foraging expedition, which was nothing more nor less than to procure provisions from the inhabitants for the men in the army and forage for the poor perishing cattle belonging to it, at the point of the bayonet. We staid at the Quartermaster-General's quarters till some time in the afternoon, during which time a beef creature was butchered for us; I well remember what fine stuff it was, it was quite transparent, I thought at the time what an excellent lantern it would make. I was, notwithstanding, very glad to get some of it, bad ​ as it looked. We got, I think, two days allowance of it, and some sort of bread kind, I suppose, for I do not remember particularly about that, but it is probable we did. We were then divided into several parties and sent off upon our expedition. Our party consisted of a Lieutenant, a Sergeant, a Corporal and eighteen privates. We marched till night when we halted and took up our quarters at a large farm-house. The Lieutenant, attended by his waiter, took up his quarters for the night in the hall with the people of the house, we were put into the kitchen; we had a snug room and a comfortable fire, and we began to think about cooking some of our fat beef; one of the men proposed to the landlady to sell her a shirt for some sauce; she very readily took the shirt, which was worth a dollar at least,—she might have given us a mess of sauce, for I think she would not have suffered poverty by so doing, as she seemed to have a a plenty of all things. After we had received the sauce, we went to work to cook our suppers. By the time it was eatable the family had gone to rest; we saw where the woman went into the cellar, and, she having left us a candle, we took it into our heads that a little good cider would not make our supper relish any the worse; so some of the men took the water pail and drew it full of excellent cider, which did not fail to raise our spirits considerably. Before we lay down the man who sold the shirt, having observed that the landlady had flung it into a closet, took a notion to repossess it again. We marched off early in the morning before the people of the house were stirring, consequently did not know or see the woman's chagrine at having been overreached by the soldiers.
This day we arrived at Milltown, or Downingstown, a small village half way between Philadelphia and Lancaster, which was to be our quarters for the winter. It was dark when we had finished our day's march. There was a commissary and a wagon-master-general stationed here, the commissary to take into custody the provisions and forage that we collected, and the wagon-master-general to regulate the conduct of the wagoners and direct their motions. The next day after our arrival at this place we were put into a small house in which was only one room, in the centre of the village. We were ​immediately furnished with rations of good and wholesome beef and flour, built us up some births to sleep in, and filled them with straw, and felt as happy as any other pigs that were no better off than ourselves. And now having got into winter-quarters, and ready to commence our foraging business, I shall here end my account of my second campaign.