Colonel Timothy Pickering to George Washington, 10 May 1781
From Colonel Timothy Pickering
Newburgh [N.Y.] May 10. 1781.
Sir,
I am informed that about 60 barrels of shad came down yesterday from Esopus. As this article of provisions is for an immediate supply, I beg leave to suggest the expediency of bringing down daily all that are caught. Two or three pettiaugers may be employed in this service; and with the wind as it is to day, they may run from Esopus to West point in five or six hours; and if the wind be adverse, they can get down in two tides. If this mode be adopted, the immense expence of salt & barrels, & the great loss of time in putting up the shad will be saved. If three quarters of a bushel of salt be allowed for salting one barrel of shad, then the salt for the 60 barrels already brought down was worth 270 hard dollars, for it sells currently at six hard dollars a bushel, & will probably grow dearer soon. Should 600 barrels be caught during the season, the salt thus consumed will be worth 2700 hard dollars. To this are to be added the price of half the bbls (for probably half will be lost) 300 dollars, and the price of packing, of the cost of which I am ignorant, but it will be considerable. But in the way here proposed, all these expences will be saved, & the troops receive daily an agreeable supply of fresh provisions, as a change, with their salt meat.1
I cannot account for my not hearing from Mr Anderson A.D.Q.M. at Sussex Court House relative to the transportation of flour.2 I am just sending off two officers of my department to hire, & if the offer of pay fails, to impress, teams to bring forward any flour that may have arrived at Warwick since the last impress;3 and all the provisions from Ringwood, where, by Mr Stevens’s return recd last evening, there appears to be 90 barrels of beef, of which I never heard before.4 The officers I now send will have orders to use military coercion conditionally, agreeable to your Excellencys directions of the 25th ulto.5 I have the honour to be very respectfully your Excellency’s most obedt servt
T. Pickering Q.M.G.
ALS, DLC:GW; copy (extract), DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 23895. The extract contains only the first paragraph.
1. Efforts had been underway to procure shad for the army in exchange for salt (see Nathaniel Stevens to GW, 20 April, and 1, 3, and 8 May).
GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman wrote Pickering from headquarters on this date: “His Excellency very much approves your plan of bringing down the shad daily—only taking care to give each Cargo as much salt as will secure them against a passage longer than the common calculation.
“The Magazine at West point is in a most deplorable condition for want of a covering of Boards. The last Storm has damaged the Ammunition considerably and now the Water has found its way in, very little Rain will be hurtful. It will take about 200 Boards to cover the Magazine. If they cannot be procured by any other means the General will grant an impress. You will be pleased to see as soon as possible what can be done in it” (DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 26019).
An extract from Pickering’s reply to Tilghman, written at Newburgh on the same date, reads: “Your favor of this date is just received—I know not who has the Direction of the shad fishery; & if I did have no authority to put the Business in a new train.
“The Pettiaugers I can order to be got ready to sail at a moment’s warning: and for the security of the fish against the accident you mention (which however can scarcely happen) each boat may take & keep on board a barrel or two of salt—But somebody must be authorized to contract for the delivery of the fish from the seine, and an Order given for the salt, of which I presume there is already enough at Esopus to answer every demand on the proposed plan” (DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 23895).
2. For recent efforts of Thomas Anderson, assistant deputy quartermaster at Sussex Court House, N.J., to send provisions to the army, see Pickering to GW, 25 April, and n.1 to that document.
Thomas Anderson (c.1743–1805) served as a clerk in Sussex County, N.J., and a private in the militia prior to his appointment as assistant deputy quartermaster for the county. He subsequently filled the position of county surrogate. A death notice in the Trenton Federalist for 10 June 1805 characterized Anderson, a Freemason, as “a zealous supporter” of his country. The notice also described Anderson as “a professing believer” of Christianity.
3. For flour at Warwick, N.Y., see Pickering to GW, 25 April; see also Nathaniel Stevens to GW, 21 April, source note.
4. For this return, see Stevens to GW, 8 May, n.4.
5. See GW to Pickering, 25 April.