The troops were, at first, all stationed at Charlottesville. That town then contained only a court-house, one tavern, and about a dozen houses. These were crowded with the English officers, and many sought quarters on neighboring plantations. The soldiers suffered dreadfully. Not expecting the captives before spring, barracks were not erected, and the only shelter that was vouchsafed them, after their fatiguing march through mud and snow, were a few half-finished huts in the woods. These, not half covered, were full of snow, and it was three days before they were made habitable. No provisions had arrived for the troops, and for a week they subsisted upon corn meal made into cakes. The officers, by signing a parole, were allowed to go as far as Richmond for quarters, and in a short time both officers and soldiers were rendered quite comfortable. General Phillips made his quarters at the plantation of Colonel Carter, **** and General Riedesel and his family resided upon the estate of Mr. Mazzei, an Italian gentleman at Colie, a few miles distant from Charlottesville. (v)Mr. Jefferson, who was then at Monticello, did every thing in his power to render
* I have before me the original parole ol the Germans, with the autographs of the ninety-five officers who signed it. It is headed by the names of Baron Riedesel, the commander of the Brunswick forces, and of those of his military family, Gerlach, Edmonstone, and Cleve. The first was deputy quarter-master general; the last two were aids-de-camp. Edmonstone, who was a Scotchman, was General Riedesel's secretary, and wrote all his English letters.
* During the summer and autumn of 1778, the English captives were quartered at Rutland, in Worcester county, fifty-five miles northwest of Boston. A portion of them were marched thither on the fifteenth of April.
** Anburey expressed his belief that the chief advantage which the Congress sought to obtain by this journey in the winter, was the desertion of troops, believing that the privations on the march would drive hundreds to that step. There were a great many desertions during the march.
*** The principal places through whieh the troops passed, were as follows: Weston, Marlborough, Worcester, Leicester, and Enfield, in Massachusetts; Suffield, Sunbury, New Hartford, Norfolk, and Sharon, in Connecticut; Nine Partners, Hopewell, Fishkill, Newburgh, Little Britain, and Goshen, in New York; Wallins, Sussex Court House, Hacketstown, and Sherwood's Ferry, in New Jersey; Tinieum, Hilltown, North Wales, Valley Forge, Lancaster, and York, in Pennsylvania; Hanover, Tawneytown, and Frederickstown, in Maryland; Little London, Neville Plantation, Farquier Court House, Carter's Plantation, Orange, Walker's Plantation to Charlottesville, in Virginia.
**** Anburey says, "the house and plantation where General Phillips resides is called Blenheim. The house was erected shortly after that memorable battle in Germany, by a Mr. Carter, who was secretary to the colony." He mentions the fact that Colonel Carter possessed fifteen hundred slaves.—Travels, ii., 327.
* (v) Madame Riedesel says, "the house where we were lodged, and indeed the whole estate, belonged to an Italian, who hired it to us, as he was about setting out on a journey. We looked impatiently forward to the time of his departure, and that of his wife and daughter, on account of the smallness of the house and the scarcity of provisions. In respect to the latter, our landlord voluntarily assumed a kind of tutorship over us. Thus, when he killed a calf, he gave us on the first day only the head and the tripe, though we represented that this was not enough for twenty persons. He replied that we could make a very good soup of it. He then added to the meat two cabbages and some stale ham; and this was all we could obtain from him.
Jefferson's Hospitality.—Erection of Barracks.—Extensive Gardening.—General Condition of the Troops.
the situation of the officers and troops as pleasant as possible. To the former, the hospitalities of his mansion and the use of his choice library were freely proffered; and when, in the spring of 1779, it was proposed to remove the troops to some other locality, he pleaded earnestly and forcibly, in a letter to Governor HenryMarch 27 against the measure, on the grounds of its inhumanity, expense, and general inexpediency. For these attentions, the officers and troops often expressed their warmest gratitude toward Mr. Jefferson. The kindness of Colonel Bland, on their march, also excited their affection, and made him a favorite.