I haven't written anything in my journal for almost two weeks now. But there hasn't been anything to write about! We're still sitting here on the bluff over the river. Colonel Callahan had the troops cut down trees from the area and used them to build a palisade around the camp. They built blockhouses in each corner for guards and small one room cabins along the north wall for the officers. They built a larger cabin in the center of the west wall for Regimental

Headquarters. The front gate is located on the east wall and our corral for the horses is just outside the south wall, with a small gate for access to the corral. Our wagons are parked along the inside of the south wall. The troops have their tents set up in front of the headquarters building in company "blocks"

That all took quite a while, the fort covers almost 5 acres of ground. I've been kept fairly busy, sharpening axe heads, making nails, door latches for the officers cabins, and things like that. Robert also asked me to make a more hammers. He was leading the troops that were building the cabins and only had two hammers. I made one for each company, and made each company an adz as well.

I didn't want to use any of my merchant bar to make the adz's with, but I had some tire strap left from the wrecked wagon. By folding the end of a piece a couple of times and forge welding it into a block, I was able to build it up enough for the eye, Then I punched it for the handle, forged out the shape of the blade and forge welded a piece of steel on the edge so I could sharpen it. A little bit of file work finished them off. They came out rather well, if I do say so myself.

I also made several froes, so the men can split shakes for the roofs of the cabins. They are even easier to make than the adz's. Just fold one end of a piece of strap over the horn, forge weld it back to itself to make an eye, and thin down one side of the strap to a blunt chisel shape.

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Just a little file work to take the hammer marks off of the cutting edge, and they were ready. They only put shake roofs on the officer's cabins and the Headquarters building. Shakes take a lot of work, and use a lot of wood.

Baker was out with the foragers from his company and found slate on a hillside not too far away. He brought back two good sized pieces for me. I used a cold chisel to score the small piece and broke it into four pieces about the size of a sheet of paper. The larger piece I drilled holes in so I could mount it on the inside of the corral next to my forge. I found some soapstone down near the river and picked up several pieces. Now I can sketch my ideas. I gave Rob one of the small pieces of slate and a piece of soapstone to use for sketching, and will use one myself. The last two I can use for fine sharpening stones. The slate is finer grained than the stone I normally use, so it will work well for sharpening things like knives and razors.

I sketched a portable grill for Cookie. It is just four corner posts with a ring on top. Then I made two bars like the corner posts, but a little bit longer. Finally I made six cross-over pieces. Being able to sketch what I am planning before I start work makes the forging easier. I made the grill so that it can be taken apart easily, and it packs up very neatly so it is easy to carry in the wagon. It doesn't weigh much, but is still very sturdy.

Cookie put his new grill close to the cook set that he already had, and pulls coals over from the fire. That way he doesn't have to sit things directly in the fire. He puts his dutch oven in the fire so he can put coals on top of it, too. I made him a simple hammer to drive the four uprights into the ground.

Robert and I made a storage compartment under the Colonel's and I made some fittings for all of our wagons. Little hooks for holding candle lanterns, things like that.

I've written to Dorothea a couple of times, but have heard nothing from her. The Constitutional Post established by William Goddard is functioning but is not yet completely reliable. Late in July, Benjamin Franklin was appointed Postmaster General by the Continental Congress when Congress assumed control of the Constitutional Post. Since Master Franklin did so well as one of the Crown's Postmaster Generals, Congress hopes that he will be able to organize things so that we have a reliable way of communicating between the Colonies.

If or when the post is functioning, we will be better able to communicate with our families. That's very important, since word from home helps to keep us from getting too lonely.

Well! The post rider came through today and I had a letter from Dorothea! Not long, only a page, but how good it was to hear from home. She says that everything is going well there. Master John is very busy, and has commented a couple of times about how well Tommy is doing. I am just a touch jealous, that should be me working with Master John. But how glad I am that Tommy is there and doing well.

I'm glad the letter was still tightly sealed when it arrived, my little lady is very frank about how much she is looking forward to our wedding. At one point while I was reading it, Rob asked me why I was blushing. I told him that it was none of his business, and he just laughed at me!

Yesterday evening, Lieutenant Colonel Alsop asked me to attend the officer's meeting. One of the subjects under discussion was the possibility of constructing a warehouse to store supplies, and a smokehouse for smoking meat. Colonel Callahan asked if I thought that Rob and I could lead a group to build them. I told him that I thought so, but asked if we could have a couple of days to talk it over and do some planning. I also mentioned that we would need assistance from the companies in order to have enough hands to accomplish the task in as short a time as possible. He agreed and told the company commanders to survey their troops and make a list of men who have carpentry and masonry skills.

Rob and I have spent most of the day sketching on my big slate and talking out the problems. We decided to build the storage building against one wall of the palisade. We will build it a couple of feet off of the ground, on posts. That will help to keep animals from raiding it. We got Cookie involved in the discussion about the smokehouse, since he knows more of what needs to be done than we do. He suggested a building similar to the cabins that the troops are talking about building for themselves. Not very large, and with a fire pit in the center of the floor. He says that if we build a good fire in the pit, and then add green or wet wood to the top of the fire, the small building will quickly fill with smoke, and with just a few small holes near the ridge line, allow the smoke to slowly escape. That way the fire won't smother, and the meat can be more evenly smoked. He also suggested that we cut a good stock of hickory wood to use for the smoking, saying that it gives the meat the best flavor.

Rob copied our drawings from the slate to paper so I can take them to the meeting this evening.

The smokehouse and storage building are completed. The smokehouse is small, we only built it 12 feet on a side, with outside walls 6 feet tall. All of the rafters have holes drilled in them, and pegs fitted to the holes. That way the cuts of meat can hang in the air to be exposed to the smoke more evenly. We were able to find a good bit of hickory wood, and Cookie had us save all the chips from the cutting and shaping. He keeps those in several buckets, and keeps them covered with water so they will make more smoke. He had us stack the cut firewood around the outside of the smokehouse, in the weather, for the same reason. He keeps a small amount inside the smokehouse for starting the fires.

We built the warehouse 10 feet wide, and almost 20 feet long, so there is a plenty of room. The rafters all have pegs for hanging meat, and we built rough shelves for storing other goods. Rob uses a lot of peg construction, which makes life easier for me, since I don't have to make many nails. The back wall of the building is actually the palisade wall, and the floor is almost five feet off of the ground. Rob had me make some small "hoops" of iron that he placed around each of the posts just below the floor level. Then he nailed shingles to the posts with the bottom edge held away from the posts by the hoops. This made little "cones" that keep animals from climbing the posts. He also put a row of shingles on the palisade wall the same way but he used a long pole on supports to hold the bottom of the shingles away from the wall. That serves the same purpose as the cones around the legs. I did make good latches and hinges for the doors of the two buildings.

Corporal Baker has been hunting almost continuously ever since the smokehouse and storage building have been completed. A couple of the other teamsters have been working with him and each company has appointed a hunter. So the smokehouse has been operating since the day it was completed. The foragers have been gathering food from the forest, nuts and some plants, as well as buying grain and such from the few farmers in the area. Both the storage building and the smokehouse are becoming well stocked, so we are in very good shape as far as food is concerned. Baker and his helpers have brought in at least a dozen deer, and four black bears. The bears are particularly welcome, since they are fat, and the skins make good bed covers. Rob has been busy tanning the hides and skins. All of the meat goes into the common pool for the entire regiment, but the hides and skins belong to the hunters. Baker gave one of the tanned bear skins to me, so I will be quite warm when the weather gets colder.

I got another letter from Dorothea yesterday. I had written one and sent it with the post rider when he came through last time. So the letter yesterday is in response to the one I sent her. I hope no one ever reads the letters that I have gotten from her, but I can't bear to throw them away. Dorothea seems to be very excited about our wedding and our house.

I can understand her excitement about the wedding, but it's going to take some time to build our house. I hope she doesn't get impatient.

Corporal Baker says the hunting is getting more difficult. Evidently the larger animals are beginning to move out of the area in response to the increased hunting that we have been doing.

So he has started setting small snares in some of the thickets near the river. Each day he goes out and checks the snares. When an animal has been trapped, he retrieves the animal, and moves the snare before he re-sets it. In this way, he has managed to bring in many rabbits and a few squirrels. He doesn't like to use his musket to shoot them, he says the ball damages too much meat, and we don't have much powder to spare, anyway.

Some of the men have made themselves slings and by using small stones from the river have managed to take more small game. I'm glad they can do it, for I can't hit the broad side of a barn from inside with a sling!

Baker did use his musket to bring in a few turkeys, and some other large birds. We have to eat the birds quickly, because the meat does not cure as well as the larger game. By doing so, we save the bigger game for later in the winter.

Some of the men have built fish traps out of small willow branches. They've managed to catch quite a few fish that way, which we have smoked and stored. We don't have enough salt to salt meat down.

Three days ago, Baker came back from hunting very excited. He found some tracks that looked like deer tracks, but they were the biggest tracks he had ever seen. Next morning, he took five other hunters with him when he left. They all rode horses, so they'd be able to cover ground a little quicker.

Yesterday when they came back they were all walking. All six horses were loaded down with almost more than they could carry. This animal, whatever it is, is bigger than any wild animal any of us have ever seen. They estimate that it must have weighed over a thousand pounds! The hooves were almost seven inches from end to end. The fur is a dark brown, almost black, and has some reddish highlights. But the fur on the legs is a grayish color, almost white.

The horns were different from any I have seen before, and huge! They look almost like hands, with a wrist at the head, and then a large flat area like a palm on the end of each wrist. Each palm has many spikes like fingers around the outer edge. The horns still had some velvet on them, similar to a deer's rack before it sheds all the velvet.

Baker saved the horns for me, and brought the heart, liver, and kidneys for cookie. He also brought the brain for the tanners. He hated to leave the ribs in the woods, but they had too much for the horses to carry.

Baker said they had to shoot it three times before it finally fell. That was a BIG animal! It makes a very welcome addition to our food supply. The smokehouse is full, with cuts of meat hanging on every available hook

Nobody knows for sure what it is, one soldier said he had heard an animal described that sounded a lot like this one, but he couldn't remember the name.

Whatever it is, it's good eating, it tastes a lot like beef. Cookie did the heart for the teamsters last night and it was delicious..

With this much meat, plus what we already have, we have a goodly supply of food for the rest of our time here, more than we really need. But that's good. We've decided that we will not hunt anymore, but we will continue to gather as much other food as we can. The only things the we really do not have enough of are grain and vegetables.

But we are running out of things to do!