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Setting
Up Camp
General
Washington's poorly
fed, ill-equipped
army, weary from
long marches,
struggled into Valley Forge
and prepared for
winter's fury.
First orders were to select
grounds for brigade
encampments.
Within days of the
army's arrival,
the snow was six inches deep.
General Washington directed
his men to build a
log encampment
to protect them
from the winter
weather. By January, the men
began working on
the fortifications
needed should they
have to defend
the camp.
General
Orders
Head
Quarters, at the
Gulph, December
18, 1777
äThe
Colonels, or
commanding officers
of regiments, with
their Captains,
are immediately to
cause their
men to be divided into squads
of twelve, and see that each
squad have their proportion
of tools, and set about a hut
for themselves: And
as an encouragement
to industry and
art, the General
promises to reward the party
in each regiment,
which finishes
their hut in the
quickest, and
most workmanlike manner, with
twelve dollars. And as there
is reason to
believe that boards,
for covering, may
be found scarce
and difficult to be got; He
offers One hundred dollars to
any officer or soldier, who
in the opinion of
three Gentlemen,
he shall appoint as judges,
shall substitute some other
covering, that may be cheaper
and quicker made, and will in
every respect
answer the ends.
The
Soldier's huts are to be of
the following
dimensions: fourteen
by sixteen each, sides, ends
and roofs made with logs, and
the roof made tight
with split
slabs, or in some other way;
the sides made
tight with clay,
fire-place made of wood and
secured with clay
on the inside
eighteen inches thick, this
fire-place to be in the rear
of the hut; the door to be in
the end next to the street;
the doors to be made of split
oak-slabs, unless boards can
be procured. Side-walls to be
six and a half-feet high. The
officers huts to form a line
in the rear of the
troops, one
hut to be allowed
to each General
Officer, one to the Staff of
each brigade, one
to the field
officers of each
regiment, one
to the Staff of
each regiment,
one to the
commissioned officers
of two companies, and one to
every twelve non-commissioned
officers and
soldiers.
G.
Washington
(The Writings of
George Washington:
From the original
Sources 1745-1799.
Washington, D.C.:
U.S. Government
Printing Office,
1934.)
Within
days of their
arrival at Valley
Forge, Continental
Army soldiers
began building their huts as
directed by General
Washington.
Between December 21
and January
20, hut
construction was a top
priority. Approximately 2,000
huts were built
based on Washington's
own specific plan for their
construction. However, many
men used their own initiative
to construct the
log huts.
Building
your own log house
sounds like
great fun until you consider
that most soldiers had never
built a log house before. The
lack of food and
proper clothing
made it difficult for the men
to work outside and
to carefully
follow orders for
hut construction.
There were very few tools or
animals around to help haul
logs. To add to the problems,
building materials
such as logs
were scarce. As a
result, there
was a wide variety
in the size,
shape, and look of the huts.
There is evidence that some
huts were dug into the earth
with their floors
several feet
below ground level.
Others were
built with fireplaces in the
corner. There may have been
regional variations
in building
techniques.
Soldiers from North
Carolina, for
example, may have
built their huts differently
than those built by soldiers
from another part
of the country.
By the beginning of February,
General Washington reported
that most men were living in
huts.
Imagine
sharing a space
slightly larger
than your bedroom
with 11 other
people —
adults! On average
each hut housed 12 men. There
was a row of bunk beds along
two walls of the huts. This
is where the men
slept and kept
their clothes and
personal items.
Many
were astonished at
General Washington's
orders to build the hut city.
General Huntington
was not alone
in his thoughts:
"I
wish I could tell you I was
coming to see you, instead
I am going to
build me a House
in the Woods, what do you
think if the Armys making
two thousand log Houses in
all the
Regularity of an encampment."
(Jedediah
Huntington to Andrew
Huntington,
December 23, 1777.
Jedediah Huntington Papers.
Chicago: Chicago Historical
Society.)
On
January 3, 1778,
General Nathanael
Greene wrote to his brother,
Jacob, and said
"we are all going into log huts — a sweet
life after a most fatiguing
campaign." (Valley Forge Historical
Park documents.)
Though the huts provided shelter, they did
little to offset the critical
shortages that continually plagued
the army.
Learn
more about Valley Forge:
Why
Valley Forge?
Setting Up Camp
Training
a Fighting Force
Diversity
of the Revolutionary Soldiers
Marching
Out of Valley Forge
Visiting
Valley Forge National Historical
Park
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