Garrison Garden

Garrison Garden. . , Eighteenth century soldiers lived largely on portable food. On the march, their diet consisted of flour, rice, dried peas and beans, salted or pickled meat – goods that could travel in bags or barrels without spoiling. In Europe, soldiers depended on foraging in the countryside to supplement their rations. But the wilds of the New World offered no farmers’ garden to loot. Consequently, most wilderness forts had huge gardens, planted by the small winter garrison to provide fresh vegetables for the thousands of troops arriving for the summer campaign season., The French soldiers who built Fort Carillon filled the space between today’s tree lines with a garden they called le jardin du Roi or “the King’s Garden.” They laid out neat geometrical beds planted with leafy greens, root vegetables, flavorful herbs and lots of cabbage. Soldiers could earn extra pay by tending garden. When General Amherst’s British forces captured Fort Carillon, one of his sergeants gained favor by delivering several heads of cabbage stolen from the garden.