1. The enclosed congressional resolution, adopted on 22 May, directed the board “to estimate the supplies necessary for the Northern and southern Army in ration specifying of what a ration is to consist; and that proposals be taken in for supplying these at a stipulated price in Gold and Silver by a Contract or Contracts from the 1st July next to the 1st day of January 1782.

“That a right shall be made out, to the contractor or contractors, to receive the specific supplies required by Congress at such price as shall be agreed on in part payment of the stipulations in the Contracts” (DLC:GW; 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 , 20:525–26).

Also enclosed were copies of letters from Ephraim Blaine, commissary general of purchases, to the board, 23 May, and the Board of War to Samuel Huntington, president of Congress, 7 June (both DLC:GW). Additional enclosures were two undated estimates of rations (both DLC:GW, filed with the board’s letter to Huntington).

Blaine wrote from Philadelphia about past resolutions regarding rations and how GW had fixed “a Ration” early in the war at “one pound of Flour, one pound of beef, or three quarters of a pound of pork and in lieu of milk, molasses, rice &c. a jill of Rum or other spirits.” Blaine believed that ration “is sufficient for the Troops, and the Rum an equivalent for the small parts thereof. Fish is an article the Soldiery do not like, nor will they accept of it only chance days when there is a scarcity of beef.

“The value of the above mentioned Rations will depend on the places where you engage your contractors to deposit or deliver.” A chart then showed the sums in specie that would purchase the flour, beef or pork, and rum necessary for one ration. Blaine concluded that “when you fix upon your places of deposit and the method in which you mean to have your supplies delivered I make no doubt you will have many persons offering to engage” (see also General Orders, 8 Aug. 1775, and n.3).

Board of War president William Grayson, also in Philadelphia, signed the letter to Huntington, which included “a list of the component articles of a ration and an Estimate of the price thereof in the whole amounting to eleven ninetyeths of a dollar in specie—The calculations are founded on the prices in this State and therefore exhibit no certain rule for other parts of the Continent which from the nature of things must vary according to circumstances: the difference should therefore be well considered in framing the contracts.” The board based its estimates for “the number of Rations for the Northern and Southern Armies respectively on a supposition of” full ranks but left Congress with discretion to alter the numbers “as their wisdom shall suggest. …

“The Board have wrote to the Commander in Chief to point out the places of deposit as he has the directions of the operations of the Campaign the Board thought it necessary to consult him on the occasion that in forming the contracts his views might be adopted and his measures facilitated. … P.S. South Carolina and Georgia are excepted as it is supposed it will not be practicable to engage provisions by contract in those states” (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 , 19:126).

The estimates “of the number & cost of Rations necessary for the Northern Army” and “for the Southern Army” each covered 184 days between 1 July 1781 and 1 Jan. 1782. Specific numbers for each unit in each army were given in tabular form. The northern army required 18,744 rations each day, or a total of 3,448,896. With “General & Staff Officers & other Contingencies” assigned 1,961,908, the amount needed rose to 5,410,804, with a final projected cost fractionally over $661,920 (a calculation error gives a figure that is $600 too high). The southern army required 19,847 rations each day, or a total of 3,651,848. With “General & Staff Officers & other Contings” assigned 2,077,358, the amount needed rose to 5,729,206, with a final projected cost fractionally over $700,236. The projected combined cost for rations paid in specie was fractionally over $1,362,156.

2. See 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 , 16:197; see also Huntington to GW, 29 Feb. 1780, and n.2.

3. GW replied to the board on 21 June.