1. The Board of War detailed its deliberations in a letter to Samuel Huntington, president of Congress, written on 7 Dec.: “The Board are extremely embarrass’d in their Attempts to execute the Orders of Congress on the Subject of the Troops intended to reinforce the Southern Army. From a Want of Information of the Probability of a Convoy to guard the Transports if they could be provided from Chesapeak, & the seeming Impracticability of providing Transports in that Bay we have ordered the North Carolina Brigade by Water to Christeen thence to the Head of Elk by Land & from thence to Petersburg in Virginia by Water—The Waggons attached to the Brigade are ordered on to Petersburg as there is a great Appearance of Impracticability in providing Waggons in Virginia. All the Information we have collected from Gentlemen having the latest Knowledge of the Situation of that Country tends to evince the Opinion we have formed that it will be next to impossible for the Troops to march by Land in any Time short enough to be of Use in the Relief of the Country against any Invasion in Force by the Troops of the Enemy even if those Troops are yet to be sent from the City of New York. The Rapidity of their Transportation & Safety of Convoy will give them every Advantage & altho’ in our Circumstances every thing must be attempted we conceive that little Dependence is to be placed in a Reinforcement from this Quarter which will lessen every Mile of its Progress by Land if its March can at any Rate be accomplished. Whether any Troops can be sent from North Carolina Time enough to give a Check to the Enemy or not is a Subject we are unacquainted with; but if it could be done we humbly conceive it would be adviseable.

“We cannot undertake to determine in Favour of the Passage of the Virginia Troops by Water uni[n]formed as we are on more Points necessary to be taken into Consideration. We therefore shall direct their Progress from hence to Williamsburg where they can be best accomodated & shall direct the Quarter Master to provide for their proceeding from thence with all the Speed Circumstances will admitt But we do not yet know how many Men will be ordered on as the Comr in Chief means to retain those whose Times will expire in or before January & what Proportion of them are under this Predicament we know not. It appears that it will take near one Month from this Time to collect Waggons at Williamsburg sufficient for the Use of the supposed Number of Troops & it does not appear certain that Waggons can even be had in that Time to transport the Baggage & Stores the whole Way as they must be hired & the People have an utter Aversion to the Service. The Assistant Qr Mr Genl (Mr Pettit) informs us that there is a great Scarcity of Forage & that all his Deputies are out of Money to buy it. Whereas Magazines should have been timely provided thro’ the whole Route & we believe that a single Regiment would under present Circumstances meet with the greatest Difficulties in their March to Charlestown. The Disst[r]esses therefore of a larger Body must be accumulated in Proportion to their Numbers.

“It therefore appears to us that the Virginia Troops must halt at Williamsburg until the Means of their proceeding farther are more safe & certain & as the North Carolina Brigade will exhaust all the present supplies on the road. The Waggons now attached to the former should proceed to Williamsburg & having their wearied Horses replaced proceed the whole Way with the Troops—Magazines of Forage & Provisions should be laid up at proper Places & to effect this the Quarter Master’s & Commissary’s Departments should be well supplied & that immediately with Money. When the Commanding Officer of the Troops at Williamsburg is ascertained of the Practicability of proceeding he should march off the Troops by Detachments as Circumstances render necessary. On the whole we are of Opinion that a Period of at least three Months will have elapsed before the Virginia Troops can possibly arrive in South Carolina & then they will be much reduced by Desertions & other Casualties.

“We have troubled Congress on this Subject that they might be acquainted with our Ideas of the Embarrassments to be contended with & that they may be pleased to fall on every possible Measure to remedy them. If Congress are possessed of Information relative to the Safety of a Water Transportation the whole Way the Measure will certainly be the most eligible—but the Dangers now apparently attending it are in our View so great that we will not undertake to determine it without the positive Directions of Congress. Whether if the Convoy is in Chesapeak Transports can be had we know not. The greater Gains made by the Owners of Vessells in private than in public Service will create an Aversion in the Merchants to hire them as Transports. …

“P.S. The General seems in the Postscript of his Letter to Congress to be decisively of Opinion ‘that we cannot attempt to succour Georgia & South Carolina by a Land March of Troops” (DNA:PCC, item 147; see also JCC, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends 15:1362–64, and GW to Huntington, 29 Nov., and the source note to that document).

Congress considered the board’s letter on 8 Dec. and finally decided to appoint a three-member committee “to confer with the Board of War about the best method of conveying the troops of the Virginia line to join the southern army, by land or by means of any inland navigation, and take order thereon” (JCC, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends 15:1364–65). The committee, which consisted of North Carolina delegate Thomas Burke, Virginia delegate Cyrus Griffin, and South Carolina delegate John Mathews, apparently met with the Board of War earlier on 10 Dec. and reached agreement on the contents of the board’s letter to GW of this date. For insights into the congressional debate, see Mathews to Benjamin Lincoln, 9 Dec., 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 14:257–58; see also GW to Thomas Clark, 19 Nov., and notes 2 and 4.