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General Forbes. He just got in a little bit of trouble because he and some troops were hunting in the woods and saw some French troops who possibly were spies. General Washington told them to shoot.

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December 23, 1757
    Joseph, my friend who is my work partner, and I just finished building Lars Grieg’s house today. He paid us four shillings. Lars Grieg does not speak English too well, he speaks Swedish. Tomorrow we are going to go to start building a smoke house for Mister Bailey. Mister Bailey is a wealthy man, he said that he would pay us more than the normal wage if we built it in a couple days. I am going to try to do that but it is going to be hard because it takes around a day day to cut down a tree and prepare the wood, but smoke houses are not that big so I assume I can.
December 24, 1757
    We cut down the tree with a saw, then used a plane to shave the bark off the tree so it would be slicker when we got the oxen to drag it out of the woods. Once we got the oxen and pulled the tree out of the woods, we brought it to the miller who cut it into boards. Winters in Jamestown, Virginia are so cold. That is why it was exciting to take a warm bath today. Now I will not have to take another one for about a month. We had to pay Doctor Evens for a new tooth because mine went out in apple. I also got a bar of soap from my grandmother for my birthday so I got to use it for the first time today. It is almost Christmas and that means that we can drink warm cider and eggnog.
    Joseph and I just finished a new house for the Queen’s officers who get to live in a home, they are staying for a couple months. All the foot solders have to make their own shacks. My brother used to be in the army, but I don’t know where he is any more. I also have a sister who is married to a wealthy man. This man’s father was the Major General’s right hand man, until he was hanged for giving information to the French. The traitor; he got what he deserved.

December 25, 1757
    Yesterday Joseph and I started to build that smoke house for Mister Bailey. Today we are going to finish it. We had some left over wood from yesterday. So I do not think we need to cut down a another tree, we will just use what we have now, instead on going into the woods with the saw, draw knife, awl, plane, gimlet, and froe.

February 27, 1758
    The troops are lead by General Forbes. He just got in a little bit of trouble because he and some troops were hunting in the woods and saw some French troops who possibly were spies. General Washington told them to shoot. They killed ten and they captured twenty two. The twenty two who were captured are kept in our neighboring village. Mathias said that General Forbes was going to attack the French's fort today.

March 25, 1758
    This morning Mathias (a neighbor) said that yesterday General Forbes and his troops attacked Fort Duquesne. They ambushed it, but the French had Indian scouts, so they saw the troops and alerted the French. The French were still surprised because they are not used to ambushes so they fled without even a single shot at us. Cowards. I am thinking about going to join the troops soon. Mister Bailey said that it is a good thing to join the war and defend your country. Also today we went into the woods to get a tree to start building the smoke house.

March 31, 1758
    I am going to join the army tomorrow, so I will not be writing in my journal anymore.   Today is my last entry. I went and purchased more ammo for my gun today because I will need it if I am going to fight in the army. I also purchased a bayonet for the end of my gun. I am leaving the carpentry to Joseph, I know he will do good.

Epilogue

Bartley joined the Continental Army. During the Battle of Quebec, Bartley was wounded in the arm. He had his arm looked at by a doctor, but the infection had spread and Bartley died. Joseph stayed in Jamestown and continued carpentry.

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