BY MARY HAZEL SNUFF B. S. North-Western College, 1917.   THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1918...

The object of this study is to produce a picture of the private soldier of the American Revolution as he lived, ate, was punished, played, and worshiped in the army camp. Drawing that picture not only from the standpoint of the continental congress, the body which made the rules and regulations for governing the army, or from the officer's view point as they issued orders from headquarters rather just a study of the soldier himself in the camp conditions and his reaction to them. It was easy for

The war was on, the Lexington and Concord fray was over, Paul Revere had made his memorable ride, and the young patriots with enthusiasm at white heat were swarming from village and countryside leaving their work and homes. Where they were going they did not know, they were going to fight with little thought of where they were to live or what they were to eat and wear. There was a continental congress but it had little authority and the fact was that very few members of that mushroom growth army

If the problem of housing was a serious one and one which caused a great amount of suffering the question of food was even more serious. The theory of getting the food for the soldiers was all very simple, but not so simple in practice. According to theory the various colonies were apportioned the amount they were to supply and were to deliver their portion to the camp which might be designated by the commander-in-chief. The lack of authority of congress which played havoc so many times with the

The health of the soldier was not entirely forgotten. Those in authority made an attempt to prevent or at least to lessen the pain and suffering of those who were taken sick or were wounded in army service, but often the measures of prevention instituted, the methods of checking contagion and the means of allienating pain were of the crudest sort and to us of the twentieth century they seem almost inhuman. It must be remembered that not even our simple remedies of today were known then, not to m

If there must be a certain proportion of work and play in every one's life to make for efficiency, then the soldier of the Revolutionary War was far below normal in the scale of efficiency for recreation in any organized form is found to have been entirely lacking. But before too severe a judgment is placed upon this lack of recreation the conditions the soldier left at home must be studied. Recreation as such had not been a part of his daily routine. It has been estimated that nine-tenths of th

"It is earnestly recommended that all officers and soldiers diligently to attend Divine Service and all officers and soldiers who shall behave indecently or irreverently at any place of Divine worship shall if commissioned officers be brought before a court martial there to be publicly and severely reprimanded by the President, if non-commissioned officers or soldiers, every person so offending shall for his first offence forfeit one sixth of a Dollar to be deducted out of his next pay, for the

The soldier's day began with reveille at sunrise or "when a Sentra Can See Clearly one thousand yards around him and not Before" 177 and ended with tat-too heating at eight o'clock; 178 for after tat-too there was to be no straying about camp without a written pass. 179 Between reveille and tat-too there were numerous duties to be performed and orders to be obeyed. Some of them seemed foolish and most unnecessary to the average soldier. The first thing was roll call before the doors of the barra

In the citation of footnotes, the following form has been followed, Farnsworth, Diary, (May 12, 1775) p. 83 when referring to Amos Farnsworth's Diary in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings , series 2, Volume VII, p. 83. Source Material I  Diaries and Journals of Contemporaries Barton, William, Journal of Lieut. William Barton; in General John Sullivan's Indian Expedition 1779 , pp. 3–14 edited by F. Cook, Auburn, N. Y. 1887. The journal embraces from June 8 to October 9, 1779. Beatty, L