Camp Followers

18th Century

Camp Followers were civilians who traveled with and supported armies during the Colonial Wars and the American Revolutionary War.

Camp Followers, Soldiers Cooking, Schutz, Met

Soldiers Cooking by Heinrich Joseph Schütz (1798). Image Source: The Met.

Definition

Camp Followers were civilian men and women who accompanied armies and provided essential noncombat services such as cooking, laundry, nursing, and trading. Many were family members of soldiers or individuals seeking protection, income, or freedom. Although they suffered the same hardship and loss as the soldiers and officers, their labor supported military operations and allowed armies to function effectively. However, their contributions to the various war efforts are often overlooked.

Essential Facts

  • Camp followers included civilian men, women, and sometimes children.
  • They marched with the armies and provided support to military camps.
  • Common motivations included family loyalty, financial needs, protection, and the hope for freedom.
  • Many suffered hardship, including death, disease, and loss of supplies.

Roles of Men and Women

  • Many women, often family members of soldiers, worked as laundresses, cooks, nurses, or seamstresses. During battle, women often carried water to troops in combat, which may be the source of the nickname, “Molly Pitcher.”
  • Men served as sutlers (licensed traders), laborers, artificers, and wagoners.

Continental Army

  • The Continental Army modeled its camp structure after the British system.
  • Army regulations exempted camp followers from combat duty but required them to follow military discipline.
  • A large number of Camp Followers joined General Johann de Kalb for his march to North Carolina during the Camden Campaign (1780).

British Army

  • At the end of the Saratoga Campaign (1777), there were about 600 Camp Followers with General John Burgoyne when he surrendered his army to General Horatio Gates.
  • These Camp Followers were attached to the “Convention Army” that marched to Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the supervision of American troops commanded by General John Glover. Upon arrival, they lived in the barracks built during the Siege of Boston.

African Americans

  • African Americans, both enslaved and free, also served as camp followers and performed manual labor.
  • African American slaves did not always gain freedom through service.

Significance

Camp Followers are important to American History for the roles they played in supporting armies during the Colonial Wars and the American Revolutionary War. Although they suffered many of the same hardships as the soldiers, they provided essential services that helped armies continue their operations.