Barracks

A barracks built in the summer of 1776 at Fort Montgomery was probably a two-story building with a cellar under the northern half. Artifacts recovered from the site, including shoe buckles, brass and silver buttons, cuff links, glass tableware, tea services, and flatware, show that the soldiers who lived there possessed items that in the 18th century signified elevated status, challenging traditional assumptions that they were poor and unsophisticated. A large trash dump just outside the building's west wall contained abundant cattle, pig, sheep, chicken, duck, pigeon, and fish bones, indicating that the soldiers were generally well supplied with meat, probably butchered on site and cooked in soups and stews eaten from bowls with large pewter spoons. The scarcity of bones and other debris inside the barracks suggests that the soldiers regularly cleaned the building, in keeping with General George Clinton's July 25, 1776, order that persons be appointed daily to remove all filth and nastiness from about the barracks and garrisons.

Highlands, New York · United States