[Illustration: _Position of the Continental Army at Jockey Hollow in the winter of 1779-80._ Drawn by Capt. Bichet de Rochefontaine, a French engineer.] As they arrived in camp, the soldiers pitched their tents on the frozen ground. Then work was begun at once on building log huts for more secure shelter from the elements. This was a tremendous undertaking. There was oak, walnut, and chestnut timber at hand, but the winter had set in early with severe snowstorms and bitter cold. Dr. James Thacher, a surgeon in Stark’s Brigade, testified that “notwithstanding large fires, we can scarcely keep from freezing.” Maj. Ebenezer Huntington, of Webb’s Regiment, wrote that “the men have suffer’d much without shoes and stockings, and working half leg deep in snow.” In spite of these handicaps, however, nearly all the private soldiers had moved into their huts around Christmastime, though some of the officers’ quarters, which were left till last, remained unfinished until mid-February. A young Connecticut schoolmaster who visited the camp near the end of December described it as a “Log-house city,” where his own troops and those of other States dwelt among the hills “in tabernacles like Israel of old.” About 600 acres of woodland were cut down in connection with the project. Each brigade camped in the Jockey Hollow neighborhood occupied a sloping, well-drained hillside area about 320 yards long and 100 yards in depth, including a parade ground 40 yards deep in front. Above the parade were the soldiers’ huts, eight in a row and three or four rows deep for each regiment; beyond those the huts occupied by the captains and subalterns; and higher still the field officers’ huts. Camp streets of varying widths separated the hut rows. This arrangement is clearly shown in a contemporary sketch of the Stark’s Brigade Camp. [Illustration: _The “hutting” arrangement for General Stark’s Brigade, 1779-80._ From an original manuscript once owned by Erskine Hewitt, of Ringwood, N. J.]