Barracks

Barracks. . , You are looking at the foundation of a barracks built in the summer of 1776. This was probably a two-story building with a cellar under the northern half. Artifacts recovered from the site tell us a lot about the soldiers who lived here. In the 18th century, shoe buckles, brass and silver buttons, cuff links, glass tableware, tea services, and flatware were symbols of elevated status. The large quantity of these items recovered from all of the barracks excavated at Fort Montgomery challenges traditional assumptions that these soldiers were poor and unsophisticated., An abundance of cattle, pig, sheep, chicken, duck, pigeon, and fish bones was found in a large trash dump just outside the building's west wall, indicating that the soldiers were generally well-supplied with meat. The animals were probably butchered on site and the meat cooked in soups and stews that were eaten from bowls using large pewter spoons. The scarcity of bones and other debris inside the barracks suggests that the soldiers regularly cleaned the building., “Two or more Persons are to be appointed whose Duty it shall be daily to remove all Filth and Nastiness from about the Barracks and Garrisons.” , General George Clinton , Fort Montgomery, 25th July 1776.