Posted on 05/05/2010 5:03:44 PM PDT by mdittmar
Sir: I have so often, and so fully communicated my want of Arms to Congress, that I should not have given them the trouble of receiving another Letter upon this Subject, at this time, but for the particular application of Colo. Wain of Pensylvania, who has pointed out a method by which he thinks they may be obtain'd.
In the hands of the Committee of Safety at Philadelphia, there are, according to Colo. Wain's Acct. not less than two or three thousand stand of Arms for Provincial use; from hence, he thinks a number might be borrowed by Congress; provided they are replaced with Continental Arms, as they are brought into the Magazine in that City. At a crisis so important as this, such a loan might be attended with most signal advantages while the defenceless state of the Regiments, if no relief can be had, may be productive of fatal Consequences.
To give Congress some Idea of our Situation with respect to Arms, (and justice to my own Character requires that it should be known to them, altho' the world at large will form their opinion of our strength from numbers, without attending to circumstances) it may not be amiss to Inclose a Copy of a Return which I received a few days ago from the Troops in the Highlands, and add, that by a Report from Colo. Retzema's Regiment of the 29th ulto., there appeared to be only 97
[Note:The return from Isaac Nicoll, colonel of New York Militia, presented a state of the garrisons at Fort Montgomery on April 23, and at Fort Constitution on April 29. This return, dated Apr. 29, 1776, is in the Washington Papers. ]
Four of those Companies at the Fortifications in the Highlands belonging to Colo. Clintons Regiment but in what condition the residue are, on acc't. of Arms, and how Col. Wynkoop's Men are provided I cannot undertake to say, but am told most miserably; as Col. Dayton's (of New Jersey) and Col. Wain's of Pennsylvania also are. This Sir, is a true tho' melancholy description of our Situation; the propriety therefore of keeping Arms in Store when Men in actual pay are wanting of them and who it is to be presumed will, as they ought, bear the heat and burthen of the day, is submitted with all due deference to the superior judgment of others.
I cannot, by all the enquiries I have been able to make, learn, what number of arms have been taken from the Tories, where they lay, or how they are to be got at.
The Committee of Safety for this Colony have assured me that no exertions of theirs shall be wanting to procure Arms; but our sufferings in the meanwhile may prove fatal, as Men without are in a manner useless.
I have therefore thought of Imploying an Agent, whose sole business it shall be, to ride through the middle and interior parts of these Governments for the purpose of buying up such Arms as the Inhabitants may Incline to sell, and are fit for use.
[Note:The resolve of May 14, 1776, authorized Washington to employ such an agent, but ignored the reported stores in Philadelphia. The Secret Committee was ordered to send to camp the muskets that were at Newport, R. I. ]
The designs of the Enemy are too much behind the Curtain, for me to form any accurate opinion of their Plan of Operations for the Summers Campaign; we are left to wander therefore in the field of conjecture, and as no place, all its consequences considered, seemed of more Importance in the execution of their grand Plan, than possessing themselves of
Ping.
Washington persevered through six years of war against the most powerful country on earth, was called again to serve his country at the Constitutional convention, and then for another eight years as President.
Yes, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.
And schools don’t even teach children about him anymore, but they know all about Castro, Caesar Chavez and Michelle Obama.
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Gods |
Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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