Officers Quarters - 1776

Officers Quarters - 1776 (HMBP5)

Location: Orwell, VT 05760 Addison County
Buy Vermont State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 43° 49.641', W 73° 23.032'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 396 views
Inscription

Mount Independence State Historic Site

" . . . some of the officers have good framed houses." -
Dr. Lewis Beebe, September 30, 1776


This fifteen-foot square, well-defined stone foundation may be the remains of quarters for one or more American officers in the Second Brigade, a unit of regiments from Massachusetts and New Hampshire encamped here the last half of 1776. Many soldiers arriving at Mount Independence after the retreat from Canada had lost their tents. Their first order of business was to clear trees and brush from the encampment site. Regulations stipulated a well laid-out regimental camp, with housing for enlisted men along company streets and quarters for officers in the rear. Lieutenants and captains were closest to the men and the colonels were furthest away.

Rank had its privilege in determining how many officers lived in each hut and in the amount of rations they received. Colonels, lieutenant colonels, and majors usually lived by themselves and were issued more food and supplies. Surgeons, adjutants, captains, and lieutenants may have shared their housing in pairs. Officer servants prepared the meals in separate structures.

Most of the wood came from the site and was hand-hewn or perhaps sawn in the mill at Fort Ticonderoga. The army supplied nails and window glass that were purchased in Albany, New York, shipped up the Hudson River to Skenesborough, and then transported on Lake Champlain or Lake George to Mount Independence and Fort Ticonderoga.

The construction of housing for officers and the enlisted men was similar. Zephaniah Shepardson from Col. Timothy Bedell's New Hampshire Regiment, part of this Brigade, built his hut on July 30, 1776. "Our house I built. [For] my part [I] cut and laid up the logs and split basswoodlogs for the door and floor, civerd the roof with bas bark and made a fireplace of stone. Here I blistered my hands in this building."

This hut and others in the area likely had a fireplace and chimney and sufficient headroom to stand upright. Archaeological investigations in 1989 and 1990 of several probable officer structures found artifacts indicating differences between the enlisted men and their officers, who generally were from wealthier civilian backgrounds and better-paying occupations. Shards of window glass reveal that officer huts had windows, while enlisted men's quarters usually did not. Officers had better quality possessions, such as more expensive stoneware and creamware ceramic tableware, and wine glasses that reveal the drinking of costlier benerages.

Respect our history. Take only photographs.
Details
HM NumberHMBP5
Tags
Placed ByMount Independence State Historic Site
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, September 19th, 2014 at 3:23am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18T E 629947 N 4853966
Decimal Degrees43.82735000, -73.38386667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 43° 49.641', W 73° 23.032'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds43° 49' 38.46" N, 73° 23' 1.92" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)802
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 698 Mt Independence Rd, Orwell VT 05760, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. What year was the marker erected?
  9. This marker needs at least one picture.
  10. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  11. Is the marker in the median?