Yet oft extinguished with the flood."[12]
As the weather grew colder and the men were still in tents it was the practice to build chimneys[13] on the tents or rather in front of the tents. They were built on the outside and concealed the entrance which served the double purpose of keeping out the wind and also keeping in as much heat as possible.[14]
The tents were supposed to house about six men and no more than fourteen tents were allowed to a company of about seventy two.[15] The tent was the most common mode of housing. It was used whenever it was possible to get material except when the army went into winter quarters then the log huts were built. The tents were usually formed in two ranks in regular lines[16] and often the seasons advanced so rapidly that the snow would be four feet deep around each tent[17], it even being February before the huts were finished in some instances[18].
The furnishings of the tents were very meagre, one person even remarking that they were greatly favored in having a supply of straw for beds. The straw was placed on the ground and five or six soldiers would crowd together on it hoping to keep warm[19], sometimes each had a blanket and sometimes there was one blanket for three or four. The sentry was instructed to keep the fire burning in the chimney outside[20] which added a little to the comfort.
When the army went into winter quarters the soldiers were a little more comfortable. Morristown and Valley Forge were the two representative winter quarters. The location of these permanent camps was usually chosen because of the ease with which building materials could be obtained or because there was easy access to food supplies.
As orders came to go into winter camp the men were divided into companies of twelve. Each group was to build its own hut and lucky was the group which happened to get the most carpenters, for General Washington offered a prize of twelve dollars to the group in each regiment which finished its hut first and did the best work.[21]
While the men were busy cutting the logs and bringing them in, the superintendent appointed from the field officers marked out the location of the huts. They were usually in two or three lines with regular streets and avenues between them, altogether forming a compact little village.[22] The space in front of the huts was cleared and used for a parade ground by the various regiments.[23] Whenever it was possible the huts were built on an elevation, the health of the army being the object considered.[24]
The only tools the soldier had to work with were his axe and saw. He had no nails and no iron of any sort, just the trunks of trees to cut into the desired lengths and a little mud and straw.[25] Each hut was fourteen by sixteen feet, with log sides six and one-half feet high. The logs were notched on the ends and fitted together in a dovetailing fashion. The spaces between the logs being made airtight with clay and straw. The roof was a single sharp slope that would shed the snow and rain easily, made of timbers and covered with hewn slabs and straw. There might be boards for the floor, but often there was not even a board to use for that purpose and just dirt served instead. Each hut inhabited by privates had one window and one door, the officers quarters usually had two windows. The windows and doors were formed by sawing out a portion of the logs the proper size and putting the part sawed out on wooden hinges or sometimes in the case of windows the hole was covered with oiled paper to let in light. The door was in one end and at the opposite end a chimney was built, built in a manner similar to the hut itself except that it was made of the smaller timbers and that both the inner and outer sides were covered with a clay plaster to protect the wood from the fire.[26] The huts were in one room usually, except the officers and theirs were divided into two apartments with a kitchen in the rear. Each such hut was occupied by three or four under officers, the generals had either their own private hut or else lived in a private house near the camp.[27]
In the same poem as mentioned above written by Dr. Waldo is a description of the building and furnishing of a hut which warrants repeating.