I gave our roster of the “Advance Guard,” which included all 100 of Capt. Morgan’s Virginia Rifle Company, names from the two Pennsylvania Rifle Companies and a handful from Capt. Stephenson’s Virginia Rifle Company—268 names in all—to Capt. Febiger. I watched as he began to assemble a stack of ­different-sized pieces of paper and whispered to him, “Sir, if you need any help with this, let me know and I will do so.”

Col. Arnold adjourned the meeting shortly thereafter with the command: “Each one of you, post a reliable, trusted aide or messenger here at our headquarters, by three o’clock this afternoon so I can notify you quickly of any new orders from General Washington. Have your messengers report here to Capt. Febiger and he will billet them in tents behind this building where there is a ‘latrine.’

“They need not bring water or victuals. We will feed them two good meals a day and we have ‘good water.’ Unless I inform you otherwise, we will meet here again at eight o’clock, Sunday morning, September 3rd.”

After conferring quickly with Capt. Morgan and Lt. Humphrey, I stayed behind to help Capt. Febiger assemble the rosters. By noon we had compiled an alphabetical list for every unit in the expedition, a total of 1,373 names.

Among the four units: Advance Guard, 1st Infantry Battalion, 2nd Infantry Battalion, and Rear Guard, there were 169 duplications­—­meaning at least that many men volunteered to serve under different commanders at least twice—some, three times!

By dark, thanks to the messengers who arrived at Col. Arnold’s Headquarters as ordered, we winnowed the roster to 1,207 men. Or so we thought.

Endnotes

1. During the American Revolution, abatis, fascines, and gabions were used by both sides as hasty, defensive field fortifications. An abatis is an obstacle consisting of tree branches laid in a row with sharpened tips facing outwards toward an expected enemy approach. Fascines are rolled bundles of generally straight trunks of small trees which could be rolled into place providing defensive cover and shoring for trenches, revetments, and ramparts. Gabions of the day were cylindrical, wicker-type wooden baskets open at both ends. Turned upright, they are filled with hand-dug earth and/or stones and used to protect defenders from enemy fire.

2. “Camp Fever,” now known to be typhus, is a highly contagious bacterial disease transmitted by lice, fleas, and human contact. Symptoms include severe headache, a sustained high fever, cough, rash, severe muscle pain, chills, stupor, delirium, and death. Colonial-era doctors often mistook the onset of the rash as smallpox. The disease is treated today with antibiotics. In the 1770s the patient was bled, given water-diluted compounds containing ground dogwood and mustard, sassafras tea, and a lotion made from tulip poplar leaves.