Officers all pay
their respects to the Commander-in-chief; go in a body; those who are not
personally known, their names given by General Hand and General Wayne. He
stands in the door, takes every man by the hand—the officers all pass in,
receiving his salute and shake. This the first time I had seen the General. We
have an elegant encampment close to town, behind William and Mary College. This
building occupied as an hospital. Williamsburg a very handsome place, not so
populous as Richmond, but situate on evenly, pretty ground; streets and lots
spacious—does not appear to be a place of much business, rather the residence
of gentlemen of fortune; formerly it was the seat of government and Dunmore's
late residence. A neat public building, called the capitol, fronts the
principal street; upon the first floor is a handsome marble statue of William
Pitt.
The presence of so
many general officers, and the arrival of new corps, seem to give additional
life to everything; discipline the order of the day. In all directions troops
seen exercising and manœuvring. Baron Steuben, our great military oracle. The
guards attend the grand parade at an early hour, where the Baron is always
found waiting with one or two aids on horseback. These men are exercised and
put through various evolutions and military experiments for two hours—many
officers and spectators present; excellent school, this. At length the duty of
the parade comes on. The guards are told off; officers take their posts, wheel
by platoons to the right; fine corps of music detailed for this duty, which
strikes up; the whole march off, saluting the Baron and field officer of
the day, as they pass. Pennsylvania brigade almost all old soldiers, and well
disciplined when compared with those of Maryland and Virginia. But the troops
from the eastward far superior to either.
SOURCE: J. B.
Lippincott & Co., Publisher, The Record of the Court at Upland, in
Pennsylvania. 1676 to 1681. And a Military Journal Kept by Major E. Denny, 1781
to 1795, pp. 243-4
