Reconstructed Army Hospital Hut.
[NO. 22]. GRAND PARADE, 1779-80.
North of the Grand Parade Road, below the east slope of Sugar Loaf Hill, is the level ground “between the Pensylvania & the York encampment” which served as the Grand Parade used by the Continental Army in 1779-80. Here the camp guards and detachments assigned to outpost duty usually reported for inspection, and the troops were sometimes paraded to witness military executions. The ground was also used for drill purposes. Near the Grand Parade was the “New Orderly Room” where courts martial were frequently held, and where Washington’s orders were communicated to the army.
[NO. 23]. HAND’S BRIGADE CAMP, 1779-80, AND RECONSTRUCTED SOLDIERS’ HUT.
Parallel to the north side of the Tempe Wick Road, about 300 feet southeast of where it joins the Jockey Hollow Road, is the campsite occupied in 1779-80 by Hand’s Brigade, named for its commanding officer, Brig. Gen. Edward Hand. In this brigade were the 1st and 2d Canadian and the 4th and New 11th Pennsylvania Regiments, with a combined total enlistment, in December 1779, of 1,033 men. The official uniform of the Pennsylvania regiments was blue, faced with red; the buttons and linings, white. How all the Canadians were clothed is unknown, but some of them probably wore brown coats, faced with red, and white waistcoats and breeches.
This identical campsite was occupied by part of the Pennsylvania Line early in the winter of 1780-81, and from about February 7 to July 8, 1781, by the New Jersey Brigade of the Continental Army. Here occurred the great mutiny of the Pennsylvanians on New Year’s Night 1781 (pp. [27]-28).
On the Hand’s Brigade campsite may be seen a reconstruction, by the National Park Service, of the type of log hut used by private soldiers of the Continental Army in 1779-80 ([p. 16]).
NOS. [24]-[25]. FIRST AND SECOND CONNECTICUT BRIGADE CAMPS, 1779-80.
About 600 feet northeast of the Tempe Wick Road, along the south and east slopes of Fort Hill ([No. 15]), are the campsites occupied early in 1779-80 by the 1st and 2d Connecticut Brigades. The former, under Brig. Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons, was composed of the 3d, 4th, 6th, and 8th Connecticut Regiments, with a combined total enlistment, in December 1779, of 1,680 men. In the latter, under Brig. Gen. Jedediah Huntington, were the 1st, 2d, 5th, and 7th Connecticut Regiments, with a corresponding enlistment, at the same period, of 1,367 men. The official uniform of all these troops was blue, faced with white; the buttons and linings, white.