The Continental soldier often had to provide his own eating utensils, but on occasion they came as standard issue. Maryland troops, for example, were provided a wooden trencher (plate), and bowl, as well as wooden and pewter spoons. Each man would have his knife, of course; and for quaffing his rum, cider, beer, or whiskey, a horn cup, which was extremely light compared with pewter or ceramic. Officers, as might be expected, had more refined utensils. George Washington’s mess kit, for example, was a very elaborate affair housed in a handsome fourteen-compartment wood chest lined with green wool.
Place | City | |
---|---|---|
Kings Mountain National Military Park | Blacksburg | This 3,945 acre park commemorates the 1780 battle between colonialists — Patriot vs. Loyalist with no British involved. |
Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site | Camden | The 107-acre site includes the town of 18th century Camden, the Joseph Kershaw mansion — headquarters for Lord Cornwallis — and more. Fourteen battles of the Revolution were fought in the area. |
Drayton Hall | Charleston | The mansion, built 1738-42, was the birthplace of patriot William Henry Drayton. |
Middleton Place | Charleston | Well-preserved eighteenth century plantation with America's oldest landscaped gardens; the house dates to the late 1730s. |
Old Slave Mart Museum | Charleston | Opened in 2007, the museum offers a narrative history of slavery in the U.S. The building, formerly Ryan’s Mart, was an actual showroom where slaves were bought and sold. |
Cowpens National Battlefield | Chesnee | A pasturing area at the time of the battle, the site covers 845 acres and is preserved to its 1781 appearance. |
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site | Mount Pleasant | Charles Pinckney was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a governor; the 28-acre site is just a remnant of Pinckney's 715-acre coastal plantation, Snee Farm. |
Ninety Six National Historic Site | Nintey Six | Commemorates two Revolutionary War battles and includes the original 1781 Star Fort, historic roads, the original town sites of Ninety Six & Cambridge, the reconstructed Stockade Fort, and siege trenches. |
Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence Was Fought (2007)