Here serves it up as to a lord,
The above description no doubt applies in general to any of the winter quarters. Often the camp was better situated for obtaining the necessary supplies and, too, after the soldiers had built one such town of huts the next would be better because of their experience. The camp at Morristown was better than the one at Valley Forge.[28] The quarters were large and huts were built to be used for social affairs such as dances and lodge meetings.
When the army was only stationed at a place for a short time as for instance when they were encamped near the enemy planning an attack and did not care to build the more permanent quarters, which took more time to complete, and when living in tents was not practicable, they built what the French called baroques, which could be thrown up in a day or two.[29] These temporary quarters consisted of a wall of stone heaped up, the spaces between filled with mud, and a few planks formed the roof. A chimney was built at one end and the only opening was a small door at the side of the chimney.[30]
When the army was on the march the soldiers carried their tents with them if it was possible but a great many circumstances arose which made that impossible. Then they had a hut of brush or sod or even just sky to cover and protect them[31]. At other times they slept in barns or churches,[32] or where ever they could find a place.
As might be expected the furnishings of the huts were of a very meagre sort. There were beds of straw usually on the floor or else raised from the floor to get away from the dampness.[33] Each man was supposed to have with him his own blanket and cooking utensils, but it often happened that there was but a kettle or two for the whole company.[34] Since the actual necessities were so meagre, there surely were no unnecessary articles. There were none of those things which would tend to make the camp quarters the least bit like home. One man describes the difficulty of finding a place to write and ends by saying that the railing in a near by church was the best place.[35] The only light they had was furnished by candles which were a part of every man's rations and the tallow from the cattle killed for camp use was made into candles.
The men crouched together in those huts and the poor ventilation coupled with the fact that the only means of heating was an open fire place which sent about as much smoke into the room as it did out through the chimney produced a condition which was almost unbearable.[36]
From this study it would seem as if there were at least three classes of barracks, the tents used when practicable, the huts for winter quarters, the barroques for temporary housing, and if one wanted to mention a fourth, it would be just any place where ever a soldier might lie down.
When the housing situation is looked at from one angle the view is of the worst possible, but when on the other hand one realizes that each time the troops went into camp the whole process had to be gone through with from the cutting of the logs to the moving into the huts and beside that they had no tools, the whole thing seems wonderful.
[2.] Van Tyne, The American Revolution, p. 44.
[3.] Mass. Hist. Soc. Pro. Vol. XII, p. 257, footnote, and Ford, Writings of Washington, Vol. III, p. 3.