A City of Huts

In the winter of 1777, soldiers arriving in this rural area quickly transformed it into one of the largest population centers in America by building 2000 log huts for shelter, earthworks for defense, and rubble roads through deep mud. General Washington gave orders for the huts’ size and placement, and the soldiers cleared trees for miles around, hauling the timber back to make log walls, shingled roofs, and rough bunks and stools. Despite shortages of tools, most of this immense labor was completed within a month. For six months, the encampment’s population rivaled Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Its layout followed a regular plan, with brigade areas arranged so that the smallest huts for soldiers stood on the front line, larger huts reflected higher rank, and the commissary kitchen stood at the rear, farthest from the enlisted men, creating from the surrounding hills the appearance of a small, orderly city.

Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania · United States