1. GW’s aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton probably spoke to Greene.

A letter from the Committee at Headquarters to Congress dated 5 June identifies the estimates that Greene enclosed as “An Estimate of the daily Issues to an Army Consisting of 40,000, Rank & File exclusive of Serjeants,” an “Estimate of Grainforage for 30 days for the horses requisite for an army of 40.000 Men; and proportioned upon the states from whence it may be drawn,” and an “Estimate of Waggons and horses required for an army of 40.000 Men” (DNA:PCC, item 39; see also Committee at Headquarters to Samuel Huntington, 5 June, in Smith, Letters of Delegates description begins Paul H. Smith et al., eds. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789. 26 vols. Washington, D.C., 1976–2000. description ends , 15:247–48). The estimates enclosed in the committee’s letter are in DNA:PCC, item 39. In anticipation of combined operations with the French expeditionary forces, these estimates were likely intended to support efforts to draw additional men and supplies from the states beyond those already requisitioned by Congress.

Charles Stewart, commissary general of issues, signed the “Estimate of the daily Issues to an Army Consisting of 40,000, Rank & File exclusive of Serjeants,” dated 2 June, when Stewart likely prepared this copy for the committee. His original estimate probably accompanied GW’s letter to the Committee at Headquarters of 31 May. This estimate modified the figures Stewart and Greene calculated for an army of 35,000 rank and file (see State of Matters Laid Before the Committee at Headquarters, c.25–31 May, n.7).

Stewart’s estimate for 40,000 men projected rations per day: the commander in chief, 80; 25 general officers (each 15 rations) 375; 240 field officers in 80 regiments (each 3 rations), 720; 2,480 captains, subalterns, and regimental staff (supposing 31 to each regiment at 2 rations each), 4,960; 2,666 sergeants (supposing 4 to every 60 men) 2,666 rations; rank and file, 40,000; hospital department, 250; department of the commissary general, 25; forage department, 60; geographers and surveyors, 20; department of the clothier general, 20; engineers, sappers, and miners, 200; 20 brigade commissaries and their clerks (2 rations each), 80; 10 clerks and storekeepers in the quartermaster general’s department (2 rations each), 20; 60 officers in the wagon department (2 rations each), 120; 50 officers of the artificer regiments (2 rations each), 100; 40 officers of boats (2 rations each), 80; 800 artificers, 800; 400 sailors and boatmen, 400; 1,500 wagoners, 1,500; 12 superintendents of roads, expresses, and guides (2 rations each), 24; 60 butchers, 60; 20 commissaries of hides, 20; 800 women and cooks, 800; 120 provosts and drovers, 120; and 600 wagoners “employed from Delaware & North River to Camp hauling provision, Forage & Stores,” 600. Stewart’s estimates required 54,100 rations per day. He commented: “54,100. Rations at One pound & one quarter of flour or Bread amounts to sixty seven Thousand, Six hundred & Twenty five pounds pr day which at Two hundred pounds pr Barrel is equal to Three hundred & thirty eight Barrels flour pr day and for Thirty days will require Ten Thousand One hundred & forty Barrels.”

Stewart then wrote that “To furnish this flour with Certainty the following Quotas and places of deposite are proposed,” with all figures designating barrels: Maryland, 2,500 (to Trenton); Delaware, 500 (to Trenton); Pennsylvania, 1,000 (to Easton), 1,000 (to Coryell’s Ferry on the Delaware River), and 3,000 (to Trenton); New Jersey, 500 (to “Camp”); Connecticut, 1,500 (to the Hudson River or at Long Island Sound “as the Commander in Cheif may direct)”; New York, 140 (to Albany “or elsewhere”). The numbers summed to 10,140 barrels of flour.

Stewart continued: “An equal Quantity of Beef will be required, the mode of estimating Cattle on foot has been very injurious to the public and may be of ruinous consequence. In the present case it is proposed that the Cattle furnished, be Slaughtered at Camp, and the exact weight fixed. This will do equal Justice to the States and to the Army.” Stewart set pounds of beef for each state to deliver daily to the army for thirty days and gave recommended locations for delivery: New Hampshire 9,000 (“in Camp”); Massachusetts, 17,000 (to camp); Connecticut, 25,000 (to camp); New York, 3,000 (to “Albany or elsewhere”); New Jersey, 1,625 (“at Camp”); Pennsylvania, 7,000 (to camp); Rhode Island, 2,000 (to camp); and Delaware, 3,000 (to camp). The need totaled 67,625 pounds of beef per day.

Stewart also estimated the quantity of rum required for the army: “Rum, allowing a Gill to each ration will require upwards of Twenty Two hogsheads pr day, Estimating them at One hundred Gallons each. Great peculation is made on this Costly and usefull article, and tho’ it is not propos’d by this estimate to fix a Gill of Rum as part of a ration, Yet provision should be made for having it to Issue, when the Commander in Cheif thinks proper.

“Two thousand two hundred & fifteen Gallons pr day for thirty days will amount to Six hundred & Sixty five Hogsheads.” Four states were to deliver hogsheads to camp: New Hampshire, 25; Rhode Island, 25; Massachusetts, 350; and Connecticut, 60. Two states delivered hogsheads to Trenton: Pennsylvania, 155; and Maryland, 50.

Stewart stated that “Soap & Candles should be instantly provided by the superintendant Contractor for the State of New Jersey, and deliverd to Commissary at the Magizine—what provision Colo. Blain has made for Vinegar we dont know but the health of the Army requires considerable Supplies of that Article.”

Stewart next noted that “One Thousand Bushels of Salt will be necessary in this Month. One half of which to be furnishd by New Jersey, and the other half by Pensylvania.”

Stewart then considered bacon: “The Officers of the Army as well as the Troops in General in the summer season are anxious for Bacon. There is little or none provided for this Campaign in addition to the Beef.” Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia were expected to provide 30,000 pounds each; Maryland, 20,000; and Delaware, 5,000, for a total of 145,000 pounds. “This quantity would be three days supply for the whole,” Stewart noted, “and we think may readily be furnished by all the above States.”

He concluded: “No allowance for Wastage, peculation, or damages of any kind is made in the foregoing Estimation, great deficiencys arise on flour in transportation, no adequate punishment on waggoners for plundering Stores Great allowance should be made for even accidental losses in order to be certain that the supplys hold Out at least from ten to fifteen ⅌ Cent on the whole Estimate will be found a moderate allowance.”

The estimate of grain forage required to subsist 10,954 horses for thirty days, at an average daily consumption of 8 quarts per horse, amounted to 82,155 bushels. Proportioned by state, the number of bushels needed by 20 June were: New Hampshire, no figure given; Massachusetts, 4,571; Rhode Island, 2,285; Connecticut, 9,142; New York, 2,285; New Jersey, 6,857; Pennsylvania, 9,142; Delaware, 6,857; Maryland, 11,428; and Virginia, 29,714. These figures totaled 82,281 bushels, slightly greater than Stewart’s required quantity.

The estimate for wagons and horses calculated requirements at 588 “Public,” or army-owned, covered wagons; 1,040 open wagons or ox carts; and 9,754 “horses or oxen equivalent[s].” The estimate listed as “On hand in the states from Susquehannah northwd” 371 public open wagons; 400 “compleat” ox teams (100 carts with 4 oxen each); and 1,568 public horses. An additional 20 public covered wagons were “Contracted for to be ready by the 20th June.” And “With the army fit for service by the 20th June” were 167 public covered wagons; 200 public open wagons; 43 “Open Waggons on hire”; 140 public horses; and 177 “Horses on hire.” The deficiencies “to be provided” were 401 public covered wagons, 226 open wagons or ox carts, and 7,469 “horses or oxen equivalent[s].” The estimate identified the “States from which the deficiency may best be drawn.” The named states and expectations follow: Maryland, 50 open wagons and 600 horses; Delaware, 50 open wagons and 500 horses; Pennsylvania, 250 open wagons and 2,500 horses; New Jersey, 51 open wagons and 900 horses; New York, 600 horses; Connecticut, 1,000 horses and 100 ox teams; New Hampshire, 150 horses; Rhode Island, 200 horses; and Massachusetts, 1,020 horses.

2. For the difficulties facing the quartermaster department, see Greene to GW, 21 May.