To George Washington from Joseph Reed, 22 December 1779
From Joseph Reed
[22 Dec. 1779]
Sir
Your Favour of the 16th Instt advising us of the melanch[o]ly State of the Army came to Hand on Sunday Evening, & was early the next Morning laid before the Council.1 Soon after a Committee of Congress laid before us a Letter on the same Occasion & to the same Import.2 We did not consider it wise or prudent to spend Time in unavailing Complaints of Misman[a]gement or Neglect but to endeavour to apply a Remedy. For this Purpose we caused Inquiry to be made of the Quantity of Flour in the Town & its Vicinity, & found a greater Supply than at first we expected; the whole amounting to 2500 Barrlls which might be spared, of all which we gave immediate Notice to Congress pointing out the Places where it lay & offering our utmost Aid & Assistance in procuring it, if the Possessors made any Difficulty to part with it.3 We also find on farther Inquiry that there are some Quantities of Wheat in the Brandywine & other Mills which with Attenti[o]n may be procured for publick Purposes. The Crops in this State are very far from being so plentiful as was believed some Time ago—the Supply of the French Fleet & the Draught of our Flour to Baltimore & Wilmington where the Embargo has not been executed with the same Strictness as in this Port has also very much lessened our natural Stock.4 Added to this we supply from this State only a greater Number of Rations than the whole of the Continental Army. Those drawn in this Town alone amounting to 9400 & that during the whole of this Summer. This heavy Consumpti[o]n must necessarily exhaust our Resources & prevent our giving that Aid which might otherwise be expected. However your Excelly may be assured that nothing shall be wanting on our Part to give the necessary Relief whatever we may think of the Causes of such a Calamity. The Assembly will meet in a short Time, Taxes are in vigorous Collecti[o]n throughout this State—& if some fatal unforeseen Influence does not blast our Prospects we think a similar Scene will never present itself.
I am now also to thank your Excelly for your Favour of the 22d November directing the Dismissi[o]n of the Militia & for the favourable Sentiments it contains of a publick as well as personal Nature.5 Happily the Orders given were not marching Orders but to hold themselves in Readiness so that all Expence of Provisions & of every other Nature has been saved except the Pay & Bounty of about 200 Men, which latter has been reduced one third—About half of these were kept in Pay for 2 Months at the Request of the Board of War to escort Prisoners to Maryland6—so that we have the Pleasure of having avoided putting the States to any Inconvenience or Expence, & yet I flatter myself we should ⟨in⟩ Case of Necessity have furnished as large a Body of Men as would have been required & as good as that Service intitles us to expect. I have the Honour to be with very grea⟨t⟩ Respect & Regard Your Excellys Most Obed. & Very Hbble Servt.
ADf (undated), PHarH: Records of Pennsylvania’s Revolutionary Governments, 1775–90. The date of this letter comes from the printed version in ser. 1, 8:54–55.
2. The Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council read GW’s letter of 16 Dec. “on the alarming situation of the Army for want of a supply of provisions” on Monday, 20 December. That letter was “transmitted to the Committee of Congress” that met the council “according to appointment” on the same date: “Several hours were spent in Conference, on the state of the Army and supply of provisions, as well as the state of publick credit, and a proposition was made by them, that the Taxes shou’d in the present necessity for money, be anticipated by Congress, drawing negotiable notes for money on the State Treasurer, which being accepted by him, wou’d become current in the Country; and it was proposed to the consideration of this Board, whether it wou’d not be best for them to make an application of that nature to Congress, which the Council took into farther consideration.
“The Committee then withdrew, and the Board proceeded to deliberate on the most effectual mode of obtaining an immediate supply; Whereupon,
“Resolved, That Letters be immediately wrote to sundry merchants in this City [Philadelphia], requesting their attendance to-Morrow at ten o’clock, in order to obtain information of the probability of procuring immediate supplies in the City” ( 12:203).
3. Reed provides greater detail on this meeting between Philadelphia merchants and the council than the latter’s minutes for 21 Dec.: “The several Gentlemen whose attendance was requested, having met, and sundry questions proposed, it appears that some considerable supplies may be attained within the City; Whereupon, a letter was wrote to the Committee of Congress, giving a detail of the proceedings, and assuring them of the aid of this Board to their Commissaries, or other persons employed” ( 12:204; see also Reed’s undated letter to the committee of Congress, in 1st ser., 8:53).
4. The Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council had adopted a thirty-day embargo on 11 Oct. “on the exportation of Wheat, Flour, Rye, Oats, Speltz, Barley, Indian Corn, Beef, Pork, and other victuals, whether alive or dead, from this State to any parts or places beyond sea; and for that purpose do forbid the clearing out and dispatch of any ship or other vessel on which any such goods and victuals shall be laden” ( 12:125–26). For congressional embargoes on provisions, see 11:569–70, 578–79; see also 14:986–87, 994–96, 15:1036–37, 1383.
5. For GW’s letter to Reed of 22 Nov., see GW to William Livingston, same date, n.3.
6. See the Board of War to Reed, 5 Nov. and 13 Dec., in 1st ser., 8:5, 38; see also Timothy Matlack to William Coats, 13 Dec., in 1st ser., 8:43.