George Washington to Samuel Huntington, 8 May 1781
To Samuel Huntington
Head Quarters New Windsor 8th May 1781
Sir
I have been honored with your Excellency’s favors of the 26th and 29th ulto with the inclosures to which you refer—They shall be duly attended to.1
Under cover of the letter of the 26th is one from General Gates to Congress, indorsed by the Secretary “Ordered to be transmitted to the Commander in Chief.” without any particular directions respecting the subject of it.2 Congress have been informed of the instructions which had been given to General Greene relative to bringing on the enquiry upon General Gates as early as circumstances would admit,3 and they have been advised that it was deemed impracticable at the time to hold a Court at the southern Army for the reasons given to General Greene by the Board of General and Feild Officers consulted upon the occasion. General Gates has also been furnished with these Reasons4—There remain but two methods of determining the matter speedily, in a military way—directing General Greene to order a Court of Enquiry immediately and at all events—or taking depositions at the Southward and bringing them before a Court in this Army.5
I am sorry that I am obliged so often to wound the feelings of Congress with accounts of our distressed situation on the score of provisions, but duty calls upon me to represent what it is not in my power, by my utmost exertions, to prevent.
Your Excellency will perceive, by Copies of letters from General Heath of the 6th instant and from Brigr Genl Clinton of the 30th of April and 4th instant, to what an alarming situation we are reduced at these posts and upon the Northern Frontier.6 Upon the receipt of Genl Clintons letter of the 30th ulto, I, upon the 5th, sent off 34 Barrels of Beef, which was every ounce in the Magazine and 50 Barrels of Flour to Albany. I am now, upon receiving the letter of the 4th sending off 100 out of 131 Barrels in the Magazine. Of Meat I have not a Barrel to send.7 The Quarter Master is unable to transport what is at the distant Magazines, and the States neither do that, or send on Beef, Cattle agreeable to requisition.8
I have written most pressingly to the President of Pennsylvania for a supply of Flour,9 and that nothing may be left unessayed on my part, I am going to send Major General Heath to the Eastern States purposely to represent our distresses for Meat in their true Colours, and to point out to them the inevitable consequences of a failure in the non-compliance with the requisitions upon them.10 Whether this will have any better effect than my frequent applications by letter; I cannot say, but of this I am certain, that if there is not a very great and sudden change of measures it will be next to impossible to keep the Army together.11
To add to our present embarrassments, application has just been made to me by Colonel Menonville, who is sent forward by Count Rochambeau, to know in what manner it will be most convenient to us to make payment for a very large quantity of provisions, with which, Doctor Franklin, in behalf of the United States, has contracted to supply the French Army. Colonel Menonvilles instructions have reference to Resolves of Congress and letters which have passed between your Excellency and Count Rochambeau on the Subject, but as I am totally a stranger to the whole transaction, I have been under the necessity of referring him to Congress, and have taken the liberty to give him letters of introduction to your Excellency.12
As Colonel Menonville was very pressing with me to know whether I could give him any assurances of the provision being furnished, and at what places it would be most proper to deposit it, I could only tell him, that none of what had been required of the States for the subsistence of the Army could possibly be spared, because, the requisitions, were they fully complied with, would not be more than adequate to our own wants. I gave him my opinion as to the proper places of deposit, in as particular a manner as the uncertainty of our plan of operations would admit.
Colo. Menonville is likewise charged by the Count Rochambeau, to sollicit some heavy Iron Cannon for the Works at Newport, in place of the Brass Battering Cannon which are at present in them, and which there will be a necessity of removing should the Army remove. When I told him that I knew of none belonging to the Continent but what were in use, he informed me he understood that there were some in New Hampshire which had been imported for the 74 Gun Ship now upon the Stocks. Upon this, I promised him to mention the matter to Congress, and to recommend a complicance with his request, if the Cannon should be there and can be spared without inconvenience.13 I have the Honor to be with very great Respect Yr Excellency’s Most obt Servt
Go: Washington
LS, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DNA:PCC, item 152; Df, DLC:GW; copy, DNA:PCC, item 169; copy (extract), Ct: Trumbull Papers; copy (extract), DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 26353; copy (extract), NHi: Gates Papers; copy (extract), Nh-Ar: Weare Papers; copy (extract), Nj; copy (extract), R-Ar; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. The draft, which Tilghman also penned, is docketed 8 May, but another docket is struck out: “N. Windsor 6th May 1781 to President of Congress.” The extracts at Ct, DNA, Nh-Ar, Nj, and R-Ar contain the third and fourth paragraphs and the last phrase of the fifth paragraph. The extract at NHi contains only the second paragraph.
Congress read this letter on 14 May and referred it to a committee (, 20:499). The committee reported on the same date, and Congress adopted a resolution that “earnestly recommended” state executives “from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania, inclusive, to forward on to such place, as the quartermaster general shall direct, at the expence of the respective states,” the provisions requisitioned the previous fall with a promise that transportation costs “shall be placed to the credit of the states respectively” (, 20:502; see also Huntington to Certain States, 14 May, in , 17:235–36, and n.8 below). For other committee actions, see notes 12 and 13 below.
1. These letters addressed complaints from Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates and army administration (see Huntington to GW, 26 and 29 April).
2. See Gates to Huntington, 24 April, found at Huntington to GW, 26 April, n.3.
4. See Greene to GW, 7 Dec., and n.2 to that document; see also Gates to GW, 15 Jan. 1781, and n.4, and GW to Gates, 12 May.
5. For subsequent congressional action regarding Gates, see , 20:515; see also Huntington to GW, 28 May (first letter), n.2.
6. Provision shortages plagued West Point and the northern department (see William Heath’s second letter to GW, 6 May, and James Clinton to GW, 30 April–1 May and 4 May).
7. See GW to Clinton, 7 May, and n.3 to that document.
8. For these congressional requisitions upon state governments, see Huntington to GW, 12 Nov. 1780, and n.1 to that document.
10. A sentence on the draft is struck out at this point: “But I cannot flatter Congress with a hope that it will be possible to keep the Army together unless there is a very great and sudden increase of measures.” For Maj. Gen. William Heath’s mission in New England, see GW to Heath, 9 May, n.9.
11. A subsequent sentence on the draft is struck out: “Of one thing Congress may be assured, that while there is a ray of hope left, my endeavours to keep matters from dissolution shall be unceasing.”
12. See GW to Huntington, 10 May. The same committee that had acted earlier on GW’s letter to Huntington received directions from Congress on 15 May to consider the contract Benjamin Franklin, U.S. minister to France, had negotiated regarding provisions for French forces (see , 20:505; see also GW to Ménonville, 6 May, and the source note to that document). The committee reported to Congress on 23 May that Franklin’s contract “ought to be” fulfilled even though “no resources at present appear to be vested in Congress to enable them to procure the provision” (, 20:527–28).
13. Congress met the artillery request (see Huntington to GW, 20 May, n.3; see also GW to Ménonville, 9 May, and the source note to that document).
For the acknowledgment of this letter, see Huntington to GW, 17 May, postscript; see also Huntington to GW, 20 May, n.2.