Orderly Book, 18 November 1758
Orderly Book
[18 November 1758]
New Camp Novr 18th 17581
Parole Dorset
All the different Detachments are instantly to Join their respective Corps and an exact return to be givin In of all the Troops here, and also of all the Tools[.]2 Serjt Moreland of the 1st V. Rt is to take Charge of them, taking Care to Issue none out without orders.3 the 15 Bullocks which Came up for the use of Colo. Washingtons Division to be divided amongst the Men of that Division that Came up from Loyal Hannon, those Men of that Division which came up with Mr Bassitt to receive as much Provision as will Compleat them to the same Quantity of the rest of that Division,4 As there is no Stylyards to weigh the Provs.5 The Qr Mastr or an Officer to act as such of each Corps is to see the Provisions Issued in the most exact and Equitable manner & to make a return of the Numbr of days it will Serve for Issuing the most Expeditious manner in giting it Serv’d.
The Carolina & Maryland Companies are to be Exempt from Guards Dutys and Fatigues on Acct of their being us’d as Scouts, therefore 3 Subs. 3 Serjts & 45 Rank and File of them are to parade for that Service the moment they git their proviss. Servd out they will receive their orders from Colo. Washington—at the Same Time that a Commanding Officer of each Corps gives in a return of the Number & to mention what time they are Serv’d with Provisions, So soon as the Provisions are Serv’d out, the Men are to git Part of it Cook’d and have always dressd Provision for two Days.
Major Waddell Field Officer for the Day.
After Orders
The Highlanders6 are to remain here till Brigadier Montgomrie comes up and to finish the works begun at this place agreeable to Capt. Gordons Plan all the rest of the Troops are to hold themselves in readiness to March by 3 OClock in the Morning at Farthest and to draw up at the head of their Incampments they will then Receive directions how to form the line and in what order to March.
D, DLC:GW. See “Orderly Book, 21 September–24 November 1758.”
1. GW gave the camp, or post, that Col. John Armstrong was building near the site of Hannastown the name New Camp in order to differentiate it from the camp Armstrong had begun building closer to Loyalhanna a few days before. See Bouquet to GW, 16 November. GW issued these orders after his arrival at New Camp at 11 P.M. and before his departure in the early morning hours of 19 November. See GW to Forbes, 18 November.
2. GW sent to Forbes on this day “A Return of His Majesties Forces at New Camp November 18th 1758” (DLC:GW). See GW to Forbes, 18 Nov., n.5. GW also received a “Return of the Numbr of Tools” and “A Return of the 1st Virginia Regt at New Camp” (DLC:GW), both dated 18 November. The return of the tools accounts for 98 axes, 17 mattocks, 24 spades, 26 shovels, 2 crosscut saws, 1 sledgehammer, and 2 grindstones. The regimental return reports 25 commissioned officers, 5 staff men, 43 noncommissioned officers (34 sergeants, 3 fifers, and 6 drummers), and 533 rank and file of whom 1 was sick and 4 on command. On hand for the regiment was a four-day supply of flour (1,066 pounds) and a three-day supply of beef (2,470 [2,370] pounds).
3. Francis Moreland, a shoemaker by trade from Surry County, Va., enlisted in the Virginia Regiment in September 1755. By July 1756, at age 22, he had become a sergeant in the regiment.
4. For the different “divisions,” or military units, at New Camp on 18 Nov., see GW to Forbes, 18 Nov., n.5.
5. Stilliards (steelyards) were weighing scales.
6. GW’s return of all the forces at New Camp on this day (see GW to Forbes, 18 Nov., n.5) reports the presence of a Highland battalion of 255 officers and soldiers led by two captains. A close examination of the Orderly Book, 20, 21 Nov., suggests that Col. Archibald Montgomery, commander of the Highlanders and of Forbes’s 2d Battalion, did not arrive at New Camp before 20 Nov. but that he was there no later than 21 Nov.