General Orders, 28 December 1777
General Orders
Head-Quarters, Valley-Forge, Decr 28th 1777.
Parole: Countersign:
All the troops are to draw and cook provisions for to morrow.
Two Captains of General Wayne’s division are to be detached to aid Lt Col. Bayard in the business committed to his charge1—The Assistant Commissary General (Mr Chaloner) will inform the captains where Col. Bayard may be found.2
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. For GW’s orders to Lt. Col. Stephen Bayard to collect flour, grain, cattle, and pork for the Continental army, see General Orders, 25 December.
2. John Chaloner (1748–1793), a merchant who operated a business on Chestnut Street next to the Cross Keys Tavern in Philadelphia, served after the summer of 1777 as an assistant to Commissary General of Purchases Ephraim Blaine. Blaine appointed Chaloner the representative of the purchasing department at headquarters, in which capacity Chaloner served for the duration of the Valley Forge encampment (see , 174, 215). He later acted as purchasing agent for Commissary General of Purchases Jeremiah Wadsworth.