ted at Amoskeag Falls. Two companies of
Stockbridge Indians also joined us. There were fifty men in each of
these companies.

By the first of June Amherst arrived at Fort Edward with part of the
army, and Gage came up the river with the rest in boats. He brought the
artillery and provisions with him.

The river was so high that the men could not use setting poles, and it
took them two weeks to row up against the swift current.

Most of the provincial troops were without uniforms, and, as I have
said, were ignorant of military life and discipline. Their officers wore
a uniform of blue faced with scarlet, with metal buttons, and had laced
waistcoats and hats. They were sober, sensible men.

When the provincials reached Fort Edward, they were drilled daily and
taught to fire by platoon and to shoot at a mark. They were sent into
the woods to learn how to fight.

One company from each regiment of the regulars was fitted out as light
infantry and clothed lightly. Plenty of powder and ball was given to
these men, and we used to go into the woods with them and give them an
idea of wood-fighting. We had a good deal of fun out of all this. It was
solid comfort to go out with a batch of conceited fellows and show them
how very green they were.

The soldiers were sent in bathing daily. The sick, if they had
sufficient strength, had to go to the doctor for their medicines and to
the river to wash and bathe. Amherst thought that spruce beer was a
remedy against scurvy and made great quantities of it. We could have all
we wanted at the rate of half a penny for a quart.

[Sidenote: MILITARY PUNISHMENTS]

Discipline was very rigid. Men were constantly being flogged. And one
sometimes saw the drummers give a man two or three hundred stripes with
the cat-o'-nine-tails, at the head of his regiment. Every now and then
the drummers would rest, and a surgeon would examine the man to see if
he could endure the remainder of the punishment. Some were punished by
riding the wooden horse, and a couple were hanged for stealing cattle.

The woods along the path from Fort Edward were cut down for quite a
distance on either side of the path, that the enemy might not ambuscade
our parties. And little forts were built every three or four miles along
the road. No one died of idleness that spring.

Our old uniforms were pretty well used up. When a jacket or a pair of
breeches gave out, we replaced them with a deerskin shirt or breeches,
which