I wish someone would make up their mind! They sent us to West Point, we had just started to settle in, and we got sent to Constitution Island. I don't know why they call it an island, there are no rapids on the east side of the island, it's a damned swamp over there! The very day after we arrived, new orders came for us to move to Popolopen Island to help construct "chevaux-de-frize" to block the river. They also intend to stretch a chain across the river here to block British ships from coming up the Hudson.

If the British can navigate far enough up the river, they can cut the supply lines from the eastern colonies to the western colonies. Since most of our Army is on the western side of the river and most of the farms are on the eastern side of the river, that would be a disaster.

We are an INFANTRY regiment, not engineers, and the troops resent being used as common labor. But for the most part, they do the work with a willing hand.

Tom and I have been fairly busy, making tools of different kinds. On the good side of things, I can say that at least we are getting the supplies we need fairly efficiently. But I have serious doubts whether the chevaux-de-frize will stop an enemy ship. The channel is wider here than it is up at the West Point and deeper as well. The current is swifter, and it's much more difficult to work.

There was a makeshift palisade here, and part of the troops have been busy fortifying that so that we will have a bit of protection, both from the elements and from the British. They are using earth, rather than logs, since the logs are being used for constructing the chevaux-de-frize.

It's been very cold, and we haven't been able to build shelters like we did last year. The troops are sleeping in their tents. I've been sleeping in the blacksmith wagon. We took my trunk and Rob's and Toms as well as the tool boxes and sat them on the ground to form walls around the wheel base of the wagon. Then we used the extra sail cloth to finish closing it in. Tom and Rob sleep under the wagon. We used part of the extra sail cloth to make end curtains for the wagon, and I sleep in the wagon. It's a bit cramped but if I make up my bed so that my feet are under the bellows and remember to latch the bottom of the bellows up, it's not too bad. With the candles down below, Tom and Rob are warm, and I put a candle on top of the bellows, which helps to warm the wagon up a bit. But it's nowhere near as warm as being home in bed with Dee!

Bah! Some of these people have more ego than brain! And they seem utterly convinced that the only reason we are at war is for them to make money! For the life of me, I cannot fathom minds that work in that way. Money is important of course. I worry about it as much as anybody, and more than many of the other officers do. But there are other things that are so much more important. Like the safety of our families and independence to be ourselves. Of the three men who seem to be vying for leadership, Capt. Machin appears to have the most sense. General Putnam seems to be very vague at times, unable to make a decision. And General Romans is never vague, but rarely right.

Before we got here, sometime in early January, Capt. Machin had towed the great chain into Popolopen Creek. When we arrived, he came to see us before we had even finished un-hitching the teams. (Well, the troops were un-hitching the teams, I'm not allowed to do that any more.) He came to me, saluted and asked if he could speak to me. I returned his salute, and said, "Of course you may, Captain. How may I help you?"

"I assume that you are the artificer company for your regiment. Do you have a blacksmith and a carpenter?"

"Yes, both. I am the master smith, and the freedman working at that wagon is a journeyman. The other man at the same wagon is a master carpenter.

"Do you have a forge with you, or can you build one here?"

"We have one in the wagon. Come with me."

Walking over to the wagon, I asked Tom, "Tom, would you set up the forge please."

Tom saluted me, (and I returned his salute, naturally. I don't think I'll ever get used to that!) "Certainly Capt. Dunagen!", he replied and immediately started doing so.

"Ingenious!" Capt. Machin exclaimed, "Your design?"

"Mostly the master smith's that taught me, but I helped a bit. And Robert Carpenter and his father, as well."

"Carpenter is a Master Carpenter?", he asked.

"Yes," I replied, "and Tom is a Journeyman Smith."

"Then you are precisely the man I need to talk to. Can we find a place to sit down and talk for a bit?"

First Sgt. Baker was standing to one side, and at Capt. Machin's question he spoke up.

"Capt. Dunegan, Cookie has his table set up and I'll have a couple of the men pull some trunks over to it for temporary seats, if you'd like."

"Thank you, First Sergeant. Please do that, and ask Cookie to put some coffee on as well."

Sgt. Baker grinned, "Pot's already on the fire, sir! I'll have the men get set up right away."

One of the hostlers came up and asked, "Capt. Dunegan, I'll take your horse, if you'd like. Will you be needing him, or should I un-saddle?"

"Just loosen his girth, give him some water, and tie him close to the smithy, please."

"Certainly, Sir." he replied with a salute, and taking the reins that I handed him he led Baron away.

As we walked to Cookies area, Capt. Machin commented to me, "Your men seem well trained, Capt Dunegan. That's a bit un-usual for a Colonial regiment, but very good to see.

"Colonel Callahan insists on it, and so do I. It's my feeling that well trained men can be depended on, and un-trained men, cannot."

"I agree completely!"

When we arrived in Cookie's area, he was already pouring coffee into two cups for us, and had placed them on the table. A couple of his boxes had been placed at the table for seats, and a pot of honey was sitting on the table, as well as a small jug of milk.

"You do yourself well, Captain. And your men as well!"

"We try, and will do so as long as it does not interfere with what we need to do."

Passing him the honey and milk to use at his pleasure, I asked, "Now, what can we do for you?"

He laid the roll of papers that he had been carrying on the table and explained.

"I'm responsible for the chain which is to be stretched across the river here, and for the "chevaux-de-frize" as well. The workmen that I have hired will do the work, but I have been worried about a blacksmith, since all that I have been able to find are in Poughkeepsie making chain. The chain has already broken twice, and each time I have had to send the broken section all the way to Poughkeepsie to have it repaired. That takes much too long!

"I'm sure that Colonel Callahan will want me to cooperate with you as much as possible, and I will be glad to do so." I told him.

Captain Machin heaved a great sigh of relief, and answered, "You don't know how glad I am to hear that!"

Cookie had been working at his fire and he spoke up, saying, "Capt. Dunegan, here come's Colonel Callahan now."

Rising to my feet, I turned just in time to salute the colonel and ask, "Sir, do you have a minute to spare?"

"Certainly, Capt." he replied. "You and your men need me so seldom that I will always take time for you.

Cookie approached with a cup and the coffee pot. "Colonel, would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Thank you, Cookie." the colonel replied and sitting down he asked,. "Well gentlemen, what is the situation?"

Capt. Machin explained briefly and I told the colonel that subject to his approval I had agreed to help in any way I could. The Colonel agreed immediately, and told Capt. Machin, "Anything you need, see Capt. Dunegan. He is the commanding officer of the artificers and has my complete trust and support."

Capt. Machin and I both thanked him. He swallowed the last of his coffee and rose to his feet, saying, "Keep your seats, gentlemen. I'll leave you to your conversation. Capt. Machin, a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you Colonel, the pleasure is all mine, I assure you!" replied the captain.

Capt. Machin and I talked for a bit longer, then he took his leave after thanking me profusely for my help.

Well, that damn chain is finally in place! The first time they stretched it across the river last November a connector snapped. They repaired that, and tried again and a second connector broke. So Tom and I have inspected every link, every connector, every staple, and every inch of the thing, while Rob has inspected all of the logs and all of the rafts. Tom and I found a few links which appeared to be questionable, so we re-worked them. One connector also had a weld that I didn't like the look of, so we re-heated that and started to forge it, when it popped apart. There was a slag inclusion in the center of the weld. We fixed that, and re-welded it and it all seems to be holding fine. What a job this has been! There are 850 links, each of them almost two feet long so it's been a lot of work, just to maneuver it around to inspect it. The men have really worked hard and I have to say that I've done a bit, too! I talked to some of the townsmen and bought a small keg of ale from them. Tonight at dinner, I had Cookie set it up on a trestle and broach it for the men. They seemed surprised and I told them that this was my way of thanking them for the tremendous amount of work they have done on this chain. They gave me a cheer and set to with a will.

One keg doesn't last these men very long! I did manage to get one tankard for myself, though! Capt. Machin has been very helpful, and when I mentioned that I was going to get the men some ale, he asked if he could please share in the cost. I was glad to let him do so and invited him to join us this evening for our celebration. He did so and when the Colonel came by, he paused for a tankard as well. He also took the time to compliment the men on their work. That always helps morale, and as difficult as this chain has been, every thing that helps in any way is of great value.

And the weather is finally starting to warm up a bit!

I had to laugh today. The Col. came by as we were eating lunch. I invited him to eat with us, and he accepted. I nodded to Cookie and he immediately began fixing a plate for the Col., and brought it to him with a cup of coffee. The Col. looked at his well filled plate and started to laugh. I asked him what he was laughing about and he said:

"Just a little while ago, I was reading the army regulation that describes what our issue rations are and saying to my self that we eat considerably better than the regulation prescribes. We've had a steady supply of beef from the colony ever since we came on duty this time. The colony sends two wagon loads of other foods to us every week. Most of the Continental Army has to make do with much less."

I asked him what ration the regulations called for, and he dug a scrap of paper out of his pocket and read it to me.

"Every soldier shall have a daily ration of 1 pound of beef, or 3/4 pound of pork, or 1 pound of salt fish. He shall also be issued 3 pints of peas, or 3 pints of beans or an equivalent amount of vegetables at the rate of $1.00 per bushel for beans or peas. To this shall be added, 1/2 pint of rice or 1 pint of Indian Meal. In addition, each soldier shall have 1 pint of milk and 1 quart of spruce beer or cider per day OR 9 gallons of molasses per company of 100 men."

"That's about what the British army ration is, but it's far more than most of our men ever see. Our surgeon also seems to feel that it is lacking in some of the things that are necessary to prevent scurvy."

"Spruce beer?" I asked, "I don't think I've ever tasted it, how is it made?" The Col. looked at Cookie and said,

"I'm not sure either. Cookie, do you know?" Cookie replied,

"Yes sir, I do. It's a beverage brewed from spruce twigs and spruce leaves, boiled with molasses or sugar and fermented with yeast. We kept some in the tavern, but very few people care much for it."

I almost gagged at the thought of what it must taste like and said, "I hope we never have to make any!" and the Col. agreed. But then he added,

"At that it sounds better than the Swizzle that some troops make! That's a mixture of water and vinegar with a bit of molasses to make it taste a bit better."

I told Cookie not to EVER run out of coffee and honey! The Col. laughed heartily and agreed.

Then the Col. said that most of the men in the regiment couldn't cook, so many impromptu "messes" had gathered together. But that ours was the only company sized mess in the regiment. He asked Cookie how he managed to keep up with all of the work.

Cookie answered that I had excused him from all other duties, except for cooking and that in addition, two men were assigned to him every day to help. That made it possible to keep all of us fed and happy. Since each soldier is responsible for keeping his own plate, cup and utensils clean, it really wasn't difficult at all.

Col. Callahan asked where the idea came from to assign two helpers to work with Cookie. I admitted that it was my idea, and that when I mentioned it to the troops, they wholeheartedly agreed. So my clerk kept a roster of all the men and assigned the duty on a rotating basis.

The Col. looked very thoughtful and commented, "Your system seems to work very well, I hear almost no complaints from your men about the food, and most of the rest of the troops seem to be less than satisfied with their arrangements."

Then the Col. asked how we kept track of who was doing what, and I called Rob over, and asked him to show the Col. a copy of each of the "duty rosters" that he had designed. He did so, and after the Col. had looked them over, he asked if Rob would make him copies of how each was laid out. As yet, there is no prescribed system for keeping track of who does what and so some men complained that they were always on this or that duty. Our men on the other hand seemed to be satisfied that they were treated fairly. I told him that Rob had suggested the duty rosters to me shortly after I was elected Sergeant, and that he had designed all of them.

Col. Callahan looked at Rob and said, "Corporal Carpenter, you may have designed a system for the whole regiment. Would you mind if I adopted this system and ordered all of the companies to follow it?"

"Of course not Colonel!" Rob replied. "I'd be honored for you to do so and very pleased if it works for you."

"I feel sure that it will, and I thank you for your help." the Col. said. "I'll show these to the Sgt. Major and if he has any questions, I'll send him to you. You could wind up teaching us all how to use the system!"

Rob looked a little frightened at that comment, but I told him that I'd help him if he had to do that teaching.

Then turning to me, the Colonel spoke a bit more quietly. "Captain Dunegan, I also note that you always eat with your men, rather than eating in the Officer's Mess. Why is that?"

"Sir," I replied, "I prefer to eat with my men for two reasons. One, by doing so I can keep an eye on the amount and quality of the food that they are getting. And Two, by sharing in their food, and occasionally in the labor, they see that I am here to share whatever happens to them. They elected me as their company commander. That is a honor that I would have willingly forgone. Because with the honor comes the responsibility to see to it that they are cared for."

"Captain, you care about your men, and they know it. You will always be able to depend on them. Some of the other officers have commented to me about you eating with your men. Now I have an answer for them. You did not say anything about it, but I've noticed that you always wait till the men are fed before you get any food. And each of your squad leaders and platoon sergeants does the same thing. The men see that and it makes a difference in their attitude."

The post rider went through today. He had a small bag of mail for the regiment. Tom and Rob and I all got letters. Rob read a bit of his and whooped out loud! I asked him what was going on, and he shouted, "I'm going to be a father!" I couldn't tease him too much, I remembered how excited I had been.

I went back to reading my letter and on the next page learned that Rob is not the only one in the company who is going to be a father! Dee says we have another little one on the way, probably due around the middle of October. I started to laugh, and when Tom and Rob looked at me to see why I was laughing, all I could say was "Me, too!" I think Tom looked a bit dis-appointed that he didn't have the same news, but he congratulated Rob and me.

I think this calls for a spot of ale this evening. At least a tankard or two.

Oof! I think I had one tankard too many last night! My head hurts this morning, and my stomach is a bit queasy. Cookie made me a cup of willow bark tea, and it seems to have helped a bit.