Philip Van Rensselaer to George Washington, 1 April 1781
From Philip Van Rensselaer
Albany 1 April 1781
I have recd a Letter from the Honble Brigadr Genl Knox, Inquiring in the repair of Arms & Making of Bayonets, which I cannot with propriety Omitt Informing your Excellency that the works have ceased at this place, Because I am not Supplyed by the Quarter Master with Iron, Steel, files Coal &ca &ca nor with provision & money to pay the Artificers.1
I here inclose your Excellency my Return for the Month of March.2 I have the honor to be Most respectfully Your Excellencies Most Obedt hum: Servt
P. Van Rensselaer Public storekeeper
ALS, DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 21439.
1. Brig. Gen. Henry Knox’s letter to Van Rensselaer has not been identified. For problems that plagued the armory at Albany, see Van Rensselaer to GW, 1 Nov. 1780, and the source note to the document, and Alexander Hamilton to GW, 19 Dec., and n.3; see also Van Rensselaer to GW, 23 Dec., and n.1.
Peter Gansevoort, brigadier general of the New York militia, wrote New York governor George Clinton from Albany on 14 April: “A few Days since arrived at this Place, eight Barrels of Powder from the main Army for the use of the Militia in this Quarter: But not a single Pound of Ball or Lead, or any Cartridge Paper, Twine or Thread are to be had at this Place to make the same up into Cartridges, nor are we furnished with any Flints. …
“Many of the Militia in this Part of the County are destitute of Arms & were occasionally supplied from the Continental Armoury in this Place. But I find that General Clinton has, by Order of His Excellency General Washington, directed Mr. Rensselaer, the Dep’y C. Genl. of Military Stores, not to deliver out any arms to the militia in future, and that he has ordered all those arms which are already in the Hands of some of the Militia, to be immediately collected & returned into the Store” (, 6:765–66).
2. The enclosed return has not been found, but Knox sent a return to GW from New Windsor on 7 April that showed “from an actual Survey” that there were 479 “Good” muskets “suppos’d with bayonets” at Albany. According to the same return, 2,896 muskets at that place needed repair. The return also gave statistics on muskets and bayonets at New Windsor and Fishkill, New York. A statement appears at the bottom: “N.B. I have written to Albany at which place is an armory to know in what time the above can be repaird” (DS, DNA: RG 93, Miscellaneous Numbered Records, no. 20984).