Existing comment:
Log City
Following their arrival December 19, 1777, the men immediately set to work building huts for shelter. General orders for [the] preceding day specified the size and design of the huts: 14x16 feet each, 6-1/2 feet high, a door next to the street, and fireplace in the rear. Despite the orders, hut size, location, and material varies -- as these reconstructions demonstrate. Men from different regions were familiar with different building techniques, and few were skilled craftsmen. A surgeon's mate wrote home, "have one Dull ax to build a Logg Hutt. When it will be done knows not." By mid-January, most soldiers were housed, twelve to a hut.
"As an encouragement to industry and art, the General promises to reward the party in each regiment which finishes their hut in the quickest, and most workmanlike manner, with twelve dollars."
-- General Orders, December 18, 1777 |