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Dorothea Graham Jensen
a book bubble about
The Riddle of Penncroft Farm
Children's Books
Author Insight
Toilet Training at Valley Forge
I wrote THE RIDDLE OF PENNCROFT FARM Iin the early 1980s. I was very pleased recently to come across an article on the website of the New England Historical Society that backed up what I wrote so long ago. Here's what it said about punishment for not using the "vaults" (also called latrines, jakes or necessaries), the troughs dug to be used as toilets: Soldiers could get whipped for failing to use the privy. When they arrived at Valley Forge, some men relieved themselves wherever they felt like it. They left the carcasses of horses to rot where they fell. Washington, concerned about disease and disgusted by ‘intolerable smells,’ ordered five lashes for anyone who did not use ‘a proper Necessary.’ He also ordered two windows cut in every hut to let in fresh air. - Seven Fun Continental Army Facts, New England Historical Society
Book Excerpt
The Riddle of Penncroft Farm
“Perhaps. Actually, he’s lucky. As an officer, he’s merely cashiered, as you saw—disgraced and sent away. A regular soldier might have been whipped for such offenses.”
In the weeks that followed, I witnessed many such whippings. They were common enough, for there were many offenses carrying such a penalty. Chief among them was desertion, but even such a small offense as failure to use the vaults—the latrine ditches—was punishable by five licks of the lash.
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