celebration. He issued the following order, which has just been discovered, and never saw print until recently: HEADQUARTERS, NEWBURGH, April 19, 1783. To erect a frame-work for an illumination, the several corps of the cantonment are to square and deliver at the new building on Monday next the following pieces of timber, namely: Maryland Detachment, 2 pieces, 30 feet long 7 inches square. Jersey Battalion, 2 pieces, 30 feet long 7 inches square. First New York Regiment, 2 pieces, 30 feet long 7 inches square. Second New York Regiment, 3 pieces, 30 feet long 7 inches square. Hampshire Regiment, 8 pieces, 18 feet long 7 inches square. Hampshire Battalion, 3 pieces, 18 feet long 7 inches square. First Massachusetts Regiment, 9 pieces, 18 feet long 7 inches square. Fourth Massachusetts Regiment, 8 pieces, 18 feet long 7 inches square. Seventh Massachusetts Regiment, 4 pieces, 18 feet long 7 inches square. Seventh Massachusetts Regiment, 4 pieces, 19 feet long 7 inches square. Second Massachusetts Regiment, 8 pieces, 19 feet long 7 inches square. Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, 4 pieces, 19 feet long 7 inches square. Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, 8 pieces, 8 feet long 7 inches square. Eighth Massachusetts Regiment, 16 pieces, 8 feet long 7 inches square. Third Massachusetts Regiment, 2 pieces, 14 feet long 3 inches square. Third Massachusetts Regiment, 3 pieces, 15 feet long 3 inches square. Third Massachusetts Regiment, 6 pieces, 11 feet long 3 inches square. The different detachments at once betook themselves with their axes to the woods. Trees were felled, squared, and hauled to the Temple, where they were erected into a huge frame for the display of fire-works and hanging of lanterns. The celebration surpassed the previous one. The people went wild with joy. There was music in the Temple, and dancing was kept up till a late hour. The noise of fire-arms was incessant and deafening. One who was a witness of the scene has written: The mountain sides resounded and echoed like tremendous peals of thunder, and the flashing from thousands of fire-arms in the darkness of the evening was like unto vivid flashes of lightning from the clouds. This is the way, Mr. Speaker, in which the war-worn veterans of 1783 celebrated the proclamation of peace. How shall we, their descendants, now reaping the full benefit of their noble efforts, with an overflowing Treasury, celebrate it in 1883? I await, and I must say I await in confidence, the vote on the pending resolution for an answer to the question, I have already said, Mr. Speaker, that the whole Army had gone into camp at Newburgh and vicinity. The encampment, as it was called, had been marked out by General Heath. The ground which it occupied is now used as ordinary farm land. The quarters for the soldiers consisted of log huts, built on the slope of the hill, with regular streets, to facilitate access from one section to another. General Heath says the encampment was "regular and beautiful," and Chastellux says the "huts were wooden houses, well built and well covered, having garrets, and even cellars." The subordinate officers were provided with barracks near the Temple. The commanding generals had their headquarters within a radius of five miles. General Gates, who was in command, had his headquarters at the Ellison House, and Baron Steuben had his headquarters at Fishkill, within convenient distance. These various houses are yet in a good state of preservation and are the objects of increasing interest to tourists. The troops occupying the encampment embraced detachments from all the Northern States. It has been said that New Jersey was not represented, because of a law that forbade the encampment of New Jersey men on other than their own territory. But I think this is a mistake. The recently-discovered order, which I have read, assigns to the Jersey Battalion and the Jersey Regiment the squaring of a certain number of logs before the following Monday. This assignment of labor would not have been made unless there had been on the ground Jersey men to comply with the direction. The only Southern States represented were Maryland and Virginia. It will be remembered that the Army occupied the encampment for about a year and a half. During this time many of the soldiers died. They were buried on a slight elevation to the east of the Temple. The spot is yet well marked by the raised hillocks, although overgrown with trees. The site of the old encampment, Mr. Speaker, is indeed hallowed ground. No spot on this continent is so replete with Revolutionary interest; none so consecrated by patriotic associations. Here yet may be seen the broken walls of the commissary store-house and the rude flagging which formed the hearth-stones of the sheltering huts. Here also is to be found the mounded earth, devoid of head-stone, yet speaking in silent tones of the patriot dead. The ruthless plow has thus far spared their graves. Let us, by our action to-day, preserve this God's acre from future desecration. Let us repair the nation's neglect. Let us do a simple act of justice, |