At another time we had our quarters for the night at the house of a Colonel Howe, to whom I thought I was paying a compliment by asking him if he was a relation of the English General? “God forbid,” answered he, very much affronted, “he is not worthy of it.” They said that this colonel was a brave man. When he was not in the field but at home, he plowed his acres himself, and busied himself with his household affairs. He had a daughter fourteen years old, pretty, but of a wicked disposition. As I was once sitting with her before a good chimney fire, she gazed at the glowing coals, and cried out “Oh, if I only had the king of England here, with what satisfaction I could cut his body in pieces, tear out his heart, dissect it, put it upon these coals, and consume it!” I looked at her with horror, and said, “I am almost ashamed to belong to a sex that is capable of taking such pleasure.” I have never been able to forget this detestable girl; and I was glad to get away from this house, although, in other respects, we were very well treated.
Before we passed the so-called Blue mountains, we were forced to make a still further halt of eight days, that our troops might have time to collect together again. In the mean time such a great quantity of snow fell, that four of our servants were obliged to go before my wagon on horseback, in order to make a path for it. We passed through a picturesque portion of the country, which, however, by reason of its wildness, inspired us with terror. Often we were in danger of our lives while going along these break-neck roads; and more than all this we suffered from cold, and what was still worse, from a lack of provisions. When we arrived in Virginia, and were only a day’s journey from the place of our destination, we had actually nothing more remaining but our tea, and none of us could obtain any thing but bread and butter. A countryman, whom we met on the way, gave me only a hand full of acrid fruit. At noon we came to a dwelling where I begged for something to eat. They refused me with
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hard words, saying that there was nothing for dogs of Royalists. Seeing some Turkish meal lying around, I begged for a couple of hands full, that I might mix it with water and make bread. The woman answered me “No, that is for our negroes, who work for us, but you have wished to kill us.” Captain Edmonston offered her from me, two guineas for it, as my children were so hungry. But she said “Not for a hundred would I give you any; and should you all die of hunger, it will be so much the better.” At this reply, the captain became so provoked, that he wished to take it by force. I, however, entreated him, in order to prevent disturbance, to keep quiet, as we, perhaps, would soon come across better disposed people. But alas that did not happen! We did not once meet with even a hut. The roads were horrible, the horses completely tired out, my three children exhausted by hunger, very wan, and I for the first time was thoroughly disheartened. Captain Edmonston, exceedingly touched at this sight, went from man to man to see if he could not obtain something to eat. At last he received from one of the drivers of our baggage-waggons, a piece of old bread, a quarter of a pound’s weight, which had been considerably gnawed at, since, on account of its hardness, no one could bite off the smallest piece. The instant he brought it to us, joy sparkled in the eyes of the children. I was about to give the first piece to Caroline as the youngest. “No,” said the kind child, my sisters are more hungry than I.” Gustava and Frederica also refused to take it, wishing to leave it for their little sister. I therefore divided it and gave it to all three to eat. Tears ran down both my cheeks; and the good Edmonston was so affected, that he was unable to endure the sight. If I had at any time refused a piece of bread to the poor, I should have thought that God wished now to punish me for it. The kind driver, who had so willingly given us his last piece of bread, received a guinea from Captain
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Edmonston, and on our arrival at the place of our destination, a large stock of bread for his return journey.
The place of our destination was Colle in Virginia, where my husband, who had gone ahead with our troops, awaited us with impatient longing. We arrived here about the middle of February, 1779, having, on our journey, passed through the provinces of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and having traveled in twelve weeks, six hundred and seventy-eight English miles. The house in which we lived, and the entire estate, belonged to an Italian, who, as he was to be absent for some time, gave it up to us. We looked forward longingly to the departure of himself, wife and daughter, for not only was the house small, but more than all, the scarcity of provisions seemed to trouble them—a circumstance which caused the husband to exercise a kind of guardianship over us. Thus, when he had a ram killed, he gave us on the first day, nothing more than the head, the neck, and the giblets, although I represented to him that more than twenty persons were to make a meal off them. He assured me that a right good soup might be made of these articles, and gave us besides, two heads of cabbage, with which, and half of a putrid ham, we were obliged to be satisfied.
The troops had been expected earlier, and accordingly many oxen and swine had been killed for food; and, as salt was very scarce, they cut the meat into quarters, placed it in a vault in the earth, and scatted between the pieces ashes instead of salt which answered equally as well. but as in this part of the country, the sun, even in January, often shines out very warm, all the top layers were spoiled. The meat was brought to us on a wheel-barrow; but we were often obliged to throw the whole of it away, although sometimes we could wash it, in which cases we tasted salt and hung it up in smoke. The day of our arrival, when I had scarcely enough for dinner to satisfy us alone, I saw with tears, eight of our officers ride up just before dinner. What
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could we do but share with them the little we had? The troops were stationed at Charlottesville, two hours ride from us. to reach them we were obliged to go through a very beautiful piece of woods. At first they endured many privations. They occupied block-houses, which, however, were without plaster, and destitute of doors and windows, so that they were very cold inside. They worked, however, with great industry to build themselves better dwellings; and, in a short time, I saw a pretty little town spring up. Behind each barrack, they laid out gardens and constructed pretty little inclosures for poultry. Afterwards, when the old provisions were consumed, they received fresh meat and meal enough to make bread. As this latter was Indian meal, it served them for omelets and dumplings; so that now they were in want of nothing but money. Very little of this latter commodity was sent to them by the English, and it was difficult sometimes to obtain credit — a circumstance which oftentimes gave great inconvenience to the common soldiers.
In the middle of the month of February the fruit trees, which were already in blossom, were all killed by the night-frost. As soon as the temperature of the air would allow, we had the garden and the field tilled and planted; and, as our landlord went off three weeks after, we took possession of every thing — swine, wild turkeys, etc. Some of the latter weighed over fifty pounds, and were perfectly tame; but when spring came, they all flew off to hatch their eggs, which they had laid in the forests. We gave them up for lost, but they all came back and brought with them a great number of young ones.
We had built for us a large house, with a great drawing-room in the center, and upon each side two rooms which cost my husband one hundred guineas. It was exceedingly pretty.
