Everyday Life at a Frontier Fort

During the French and Indian War period, living conditions in the frontier forts can only be described as miserable. The crude wooden barracks were cold in winter, hot in summer, leaked during rains, and were fire hazards when dry. Heavy rains could wash away earthen walls quickly, and required repair often. Clapboards and green palisades quickly rotted.

Drainage was often poor, and the parades were often deep with mud. Upkeep and repair required strenuous labor and exposure to weather, and the enemy. Survival was a harsh and grim endurance contest which left cruel marks on many.

Both personal diaries and official reports are filled with accounts of overwork, fatigue, diseases, torture, boredom, scarcity of female company, snakebites, excessive punishment, exposure to extremes of temperature, desertion and interpersonal friction.

Even if forts were supplied with the basics, and this was seldom the case, they were subject to certain recurring problems such as smallpox, scurvy and dysentery. But on many occasions these supplies were spoiled on arrival, intercepted and destroyed by Indians before arrival or even destroyed after arrival to keep the enemy from getting them.

Correspondence between fort commanders and public officials frequently mention that they are afflicted with a bout of some disease, large numbers of desertions, a straggler being killed after wandering too far from the walls of the fort or an account of a lashing for drunkenness or swearing.

A look at the daily rations given to each soldier will show the source of many problems. But it would be an error to suppose that even this most restricted diet was always available. The following ration list was issued to Henry Bouquet by Lord Loudoun.

The Contractors are Obliged to furnish the following proportions for each soldier.

Bread per week 7 pound -- or same in flower
Peas d/o 3 pints --- of half that quantity of rice
Beef d/o 7 pound -- In lieu thereof 9 pound pork

These rations might be supplemented by berries, nuts and other choices at various fort sites or with meat supplied by Indians who were friendly. This of course could not be counted on in any regularity. The lack of forest survival skills of the British soldiers accounted for much of the suffering on the frontier. Some fort commanders encouraged gardens near their forts as a means to ward off scurvy. Eventually, a spruce beer was discovered that was helpful in controlling outbreaks of this disease. Another sickness that plagued the soldiers was dysentery or "bloody flux" as it was called. Forts were not very clean and cooking utensils fared little better. While there were many occurrences of the sickness in the officers, it was even more likely to effect the enlisted men, who cooked their own meals. Also, considering that the soldiers were drafted from the lower classes of society, it should come as no surprise that sanitation was not one of their priorities.

Another disease which struck with devastating effect was smallpox, it raged through many of the frontier forts, leaving large numbers of deaths. Due to the shortage of doctors at the forts, it was not possible to get proper treatment even at the best of times. During and after a battle or during a siege, conditions were intolerable. Also, medical practice was relatively primitive at the time, thus adding to the problem.

Alongside these sources of suffering was another that exacted a heavy toll at forts. Punishment was unbelievably inhuman. Confinement, even under grizzly conditions was generous compared to the liberal use of the whip or death sentence. Punishment for what was considered as a serious breach of discipline might be dealt with with as many as 1000 lashes with a Cat O Nine tails! Surprisingly, the recipient of this punishment often survived! For the crime of drunkenness, a soldier might receive 200 lashes.