JANUARY 17TH.
On the 17th of January the last division arrived also in the barracks. This ended the march of the army.
We have no right to complain of the treatment received during the march. Although we were refused quarters in some places, we were most the time well received. The officers were always treated with distinction. The commanders of the escorts left it entirely to the commanders of the divisions to decide the time of the march. They allowed the divisions to march as we thought best and had no objection to sending some of the men back, or to giving them permission to arrive later. Most the time the escort only showed the way or assisted in getting quarters for our men, when we met with a refusal. We have, however, much cause to complain of the expenses during the march. We were often taken advantage of and could not help ourselves. In the first place, the judge often lives 5 to 6 miles away. And, even if we could have reached him, it would have done no good. The inhabitants of the province of Connecticut were the most reasonable ones, and lower classes in Virginia the worst. These presented the most outrageous bills. I had to pay $30 in paper money for two days board and lodging in Luisburg. I am sure that I had to spend at least 1000 paper dollars during the trip from Boston to Charlottesville. I had not been extravagant at all, and had even fared very poorly at times. The weather was not as unbearable as might have been expected in this season. We suffered more from wet weather than from the cold. It was never very cold, and the cold weather lasted never more than 4–5 days. During the last part of our march we had to pass over very bad roads, especially in Virginia, where the ground was often swampy. This caused the greatest difficulties, because the weather was warm and the roads in consequence soft. We were luckier than we expected to be in regard to desertion.
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When we left Boston, we had good reason to fear that we would not be able to land here with one third of our men. However, only a few more than 400 deserted. We had very few sick men, and had to leave only two behind. This is remarkable, as we marched every day regardless of the weather. It was sometimes impossible to provide the men with shoes and stockings. Besides, they were not able to protect themselves against the cold, their clothes being much torn and ragged. Our men had to stand a great many hardships, although everything was done for them that could be done. In Pennsylvania and other places with German inhabitants, we lost most of our men. They were persuaded to stay behind, and the girls did their best to keep them for husbands. Even the officers were not safe from such proposals, and I know of some to whom girls were offered with a fortune of $3000 to $4000.
After having gone through all the hardships of the march, we reached the climax of all bad things, when we reached the barracks at Charlottesville. They are 5 miles (taking the footpath) or 10 miles (taking the main road, from Charlottesville). They are built on a hill in the woods. There is only one house between Charlottesville and the barracks. The barracks are built in four rows in a square, each row consisting of 12 barracks. There are seven of these squares one after another, which makes altogether 336 barracks, 36 of which in the quarters of the German troops, were not intended to be built. The 12 barracks in each row are close together without space in between. Each barrack is 24 feet long, and 14 feet wide, big enough to shelter 18 men.
The construction is so miserable that it surpasses all that you can imagine in Germany of a very poorly built log house. It is something like the following:
Each side is put up of 8 to 9 round fir trees, which are laid one on top of the other, but so far apart that it is almost possible for a man to crawl through. At the ends where they join, they are indented, thus keeping them in place. The roof is made of round trees covered with split fir trees, intended to take the place
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of boards. These trees, most the time only one hand wide, make bad roofing, and the rain comes through everywhere. Heavy beams hold these so-called (meant-to-be) boards in place so that the wind does not blow them away. A hole is made in the middle of each hut, in which a door is fastened. (The door is put in in about the same manner in which we fix the door in pig pens.) There is not a single nail in the whole lot of barracks, except 5 or 6 in the doors. Everything is just put together without nails. Windows are superfluous, fresh air, rain having free passage. No chimney is needed for the same reason, and the fire is made in the middle of the floor. The people lie around it on the floor to warm themselves. This was the condition of the barracks when we moved in. The only difference was that most of them did not even have a roof. The first impression of the quarters was especially bad as it had been snowing hard when we arrived. A great number of our men preferred to camp out in the woods, where they could protect themselves better against the cold than in the barracks. Never shall I be able to forget this day, which was terrible in every way. Never have I seen men so discouraged and in such despair as ours, when, tired and worn out from the long trip and the hardships, they had to seek shelter in the woods like wild animals. There were no barracks for the officers. According to the order from Congress, they were to take up their quarters in the houses whenever they liked. None of the English officers were therefore with their regiments. Most of our officers, however, stayed with their men. They did not care to leave them, besides having no other places to go. The English officers occupied all the houses near Charlottesville. They had arrived eight days sooner than we did.
The next morning our men started right away to improve their dwellings, although they lacked almost all tools. They filled the spaces with logs, built chimneys from wood, covering them thickly with glue, fixed up the roofs that they would not leak, and succeeded in making the barracks tight and fast, although it was impossible to make them comfortable.
The officers had their barracks improved also, and had another kind of loghouses put up with their own money. Our
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abode is now tolerable. Some of the officers went to live in a little town called Stanton, about 40 miles from the barracks. The commander of each regiment stayed with his men, also one captain and 10 officers. These are to change places after a time with those in the town. Our limits are much more extensive here than they had been near Boston. We have the freedom of three counties: Albemarle, Orange and Augusta. Each officer had to give his word of honor not to leave these counties. We have plenty of provisions, and everything is brought to us in abundance. The only trouble is that the people ask tremendous prices for them, especially for groceries, for instance, for one pound of coffee, 2 to 3s.; 1 bottle of wine (which is bad), 6s; one quart of whisky, 5s; one pound of butter is 1s. to 4s., paper money. cloth, linen and ready made garments are exceedingly expensive, being scarce besides. Paper money runs high here in exchange for gold or silver, and 1 guinea is worth 30s. in paper money. the only trouble is that we have not received gold since we left Boston, and have always been paid with paper money. One paper guinea is worth only 22s. The scarceness of gold is probably the cause of its increase in value. The officers as well as the men have suffered quite a loss through this way of payment; we often might have had 40s. or more during the march, if we had been paid in gold.
Immediately after my arrival in Charlottesville, I was introduced to the Clerk of the county of Albemarle by Col. Devenport, a friend of mine. As I was unable to find quarters anywhere, this man was kind enough to offer a room in his house. I accepted this offer because I had no other place to go. When we became better acquainted, he wished me to remain with him for the sake of my company, not because he wanted the money. In order to have some of my friends with me, I asked Lieutenant v. Burgsdorff to share my quarters. The amount we pay for them, is, however, so very small that it can hardly be called payment. My host did not want to accept any money at all, but I refused to stay for nothing and compelled to ask at least a small sum.
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We have a living room and a bedroom for ourselves, but take our meals with our host except in the morning when we have breakfast alone. We have everything we need, even horses, should we care to go riding. For all this we do not pay more than $60—paper money, or 2 guineas a month, which is considered very cheap here.
The complaisance of my host and his nice wife will certainly do much to make our stay in Virginia a pleasant one. Almost all the other officers envy us.
Our host is a man of rank and has so much company that it is often a bore to me. Many a time I wished to be alone, but had this privilege only a few times during my stay with him. We live very high and no stranger, whether he comes to see our host or us, leaves the house without having dined with us. If he cares to stay over night, he is welcome. It have made the acquaintance of almost everybody of rank around here and received so many invitations that I could go visiting all summer, and not have any expenses whatever. I have accepted some of these invitations and have been received most cordially every time. I was never allowed to leave before 3–4 days, as much as I begged them to let me go. I appreciate my good fortune most, when I go to the barracks and see how my comrades have to live. They do not get half as much as I for a greater amount of money and their life is a great deal less pleasant. I have permission to go hunting through three counties, and everything that makes life comfortable and pleasant is at my disposal. I am in constant fear that it cannot last long; I am so much more fortunate than others. In my capacity of adjutant of the regiment, I ought to have remained with the regiment at the barracks. However, I had to stay with Brigadier Specht to act as interpreter before General v. Riedesel arrived. General v. Riedesel was pleased with my services, and since I was by that time acquainted with all the people we had to deal with, he wanted me to remain with him to transact all business. It was agreeable to him that I should live in Charlottesville (no other German officer was there). He gave orders to another officer to do my
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work and I am quite free form duties of that sort. I get my pay, have little or nothing to do and live as I please.
