Chapter VI
CAMP DUTIES AND DISCIPLINE
The soldier's day began with reveille at sunrise or "when a Sentra Can See Clearly one thousand yards around him and not Before"[177] and ended with tat-too heating at eight o'clock;[178] for after tat-too there was to be no straying about camp without a written pass.[179]
Between reveille and tat-too there were numerous duties to be performed and orders to be obeyed. Some of them seemed foolish and most unnecessary to the average soldier. The first thing was roll call before the doors of the barracks[180] which every one was to appear in full dress, well shaved and with hat cocked.[181] Then came breakfast prepared either by one of the company in the camp kitchen or by each one for himself over the open fire. The breakfast was anything from the "usual dish, a large plate of rice with a little salt"[182] to a heavier meal of meat and potatoes.
Morning prayers7 followed breakfast and of the routine of the rest of the day Simon Lyman of Sharon wrote "we marched out in the morning and exercised and in the afternoon we marched out again and exercised again".[183] Captain Lewis in his Orderly Book recorded the following order "For the future the fatigue parties to parade at 7 o'clock in the morning and return at eleven to their dinners and parade again at two".[184] Then came supper, evening prayers[185] and tat-too.
Camp life was, however, not all a routine of reveille, prayers, drills, meals, and tat-too for there were hundreds of other things which had to be done. There were huts to build[186], roads to make,[187] entrenchments to construct,[188] fuel to collect,[189] supplies to provide,[190] armaments to make or clean, and drills for the "awkward squad",[191] besides guard and fatigue duty;[192] not to mention the more domestic duties of cooking,[193] of washing and mending clothes,[194] and cleaning huts, or acting as 'grass guard.'[195]
It can hardly be said that any hard and fast rule was followed in the matter of camp activities for there were circumstances continually arising which altered affairs; there were parades before a visiting officer,[196] and days taken off for washing. Then, too, there was the lack of a permanent organization of the army, which was a serious hindrance in following any different course, for the short time enlistment men were constantly leaving and the new recruits were coming into camp, all of which broke into the routine of camp[197] and often nothing of importance was accomplished for weeks at a time. Simon Lyman of Sharon wrote of the week following August 29, 1775. "Friday, 29th, In the forenoon we went round the town, and in the afternoon we putted up our tents and marched through Cambridge to Charlestound, there we was stationed, we put up our tents.
Tuesday, 3th I rubbed up my gun and looked round the forts.