The men of the Corps of Discovery performed a great variety of fatigue duties at Camp River Dubois. These included hauling wood and supplies into the camp by cart and sled. One of the more onerous of the constant round of “fatigue duties” was cutting, gathering, and transporting wood, which was the primary source of heating and cooking fuel. As wood was cut around frontier forts, an ever-widening circle was formed, creating a tactically desirable field of fire. At the same time, the distances over which wood had to be hauled increased the longer a fort was occupied, meaning more drudgery for the enlisted man.
WINTER AT CAMP DuBOIS, 1803-1804
The men of the Corps of Discovery performed a great variety of fatigue duties at Camp River Dubois. These included hauling wood and supplies into the camp by cart and sled. One of the more onerous of the constant round of “fatigue duties” was cutting, gathering, and transporting wood, which was the primary source of heating and cooking fuel. As wood was cut around frontier forts, an ever-widening circle was formed, creating a tactically desirable field of fire. At the same time, the distances over which wood had to be hauled increased the longer a fort was occupied, meaning more drudgery for the enlisted man.