George Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., 1 July 1781

To Jonathan Trumbull, Sr.

Head Quarters Peekskill 1st July 1781

My Dear Sir

I am obliged again to trouble your Excellency with the Distress we are in for Want of Provisions to feed the Troops.1 by a Return from the Comry Genl of Issues, we have received from the 12th of May to this Day only 312 Head of Cattle—& those in the followg Proportions—Vizt:

N. Hampshire		30
Massachusetts Bay		230
Connecticut		52
		312

—from this Supply, with the Help of Salted Provisions, we have barely subsisted from Hand to Mouth.2 The Army is now Augmenting, & in the Field; yet our Prospects of Provisions rather seem on the decline, than otherwise; if we may judge from its actual Arrival. very little having come on lately, & no Knowlege being had of any Supply on the Roads. thus circumstanced, I am obliged to declare, that unless more strenuous Exertions are made by the States to feed their few Troops in the Field, we shall be reduced to the Necessity not only to relinquish our intended Operations,3 but shall be obliged absolutely to disband for Want of Subsistence. or, which is almost equally to be lamented, the Troops will be obliged to seek it for themselves wherever it is to be found. either of these Circumstances takg Place, will put us into a most distressing Scituation on our own Acco. and at the same Time place us in a most shamefull Point of View in the Eyes of our French Allies; & unhappily reduce them to a most disagreable Dilema.

Our Expectations lookg altogether to the Eastern States for a Supply of the Meat kind—I must entreat your Excellency, that every possible Measure may be exerted, that your State may furnish its Quota of fresh Beef—and that we may have a speedy Earnest of their Intentions.4

I am informed that the Salted Provision begins to fail comg on—I hope your Quantity is not yet exhausted. That I may obtain a thorough Knowlege of what is now on Hand—on the Road & in the State—& that I may thereby be enabled to judge what our Dependance may be on that Article; I have desired Colo. Stewart C. Gen. of Issues to send on the Road, into your State, one of his most active & intelligent People, to make strict Enquiry, & to obtain a real Return of all he can find—& to urge the N[e]cessity of imediate fowardg5—If he should have Occasion to apply to your Excellency, I dare say you will give him every Assistance & Information in your Power6—I have the honor to be—with perfect Esteem & Consideration sir Your Excellency’s Most Obedt Servant

Go: Washington

P.S. M. Stevens will mention the Necessity of Rum—& the Deficiency from your State, of that Article.7

LS, in Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.’s writing, Ct: Trumbull Papers; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. Trumbull docketed the LS: “recd 4th inst.”

In his reply on 9 July, Trumbull assured GW that he would receive the supplies and troops needed from Connecticut (DLC:GW).

1. See Circular to the New England States, 10 May.

2. The return has not been identified, but see n.7 below.

3. See The Wethersfield Conference and Aftermath, 14 May–16 June, editorial note.

4. For these requisitions, see Samuel Huntington to GW, 12 Nov. 1780, and n.1 to that document; see also GW to William Heath, 9 May 1781, and n.9.

5. The preceding eight words do not appear on the draft, which Trumbull, Jr., also penned. Nathaniel Stevens, deputy commissary general of issues at Fishkill, went to Connecticut (see Stevens to GW, 4 July).

6. On the draft, this paragraph appears as a first postscript.

7. A return from Stevens dated 4 July listed 1,570½ gallons of rum received from Connecticut (see DLC:GW). Congress had requisitioned 25,000 gallons (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 , 18:1012; see also n.4 above).

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: George Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., 1 July 1781
Author: Washington, George
Recipient: Trumbull, Jonathan, Sr.
Date: 1 July 1781

Reference

Cite as: “George Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., 1 July 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-32-02-0505. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 32, 6 May–4 July 1781, ed. William M. Ferraro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2023, pp. 651–652.]

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