Think You Got it Rough, Eh? Washington & 640 Slept Here

Living in Hollis or Stoughton this year, some yardling is sure to find himself believing that it is both unreasonable and insanitary to go putting 93-odd men into each of the two old buildings. He might feel these were too many people breathing a limited amount of air, too many unsocked feet befouling the evening breeze.

Actually, he never had it so good. He should have been in the Army--the Continental Army stationed in the American Theatre of Operations, circa 1777. George Washington put a few of his men up in Hollis and Stoughton for a night or two then, and although nobody knows whether or not double-decker bunkes were used, it is a matter of record that 640 soldiers slept, to to toe, in each of the two buildings for some length of time.