Book Quote #3-Morristown, NJ-1779-80

The middle of December proved to be increasingly arduous for the troops. Surgeon James Thacher reported in his diary that he arrived “on the 14th” in “this wilderness” and he encountered “the snow on the ground . . .  about two feet deep, and the weather extremely cold. The soldiers are destitute of both tents and blankets and some are actually barefooted and almost naked. Our only defense against the inclemency of the weather, consists of brush-wood thrown together. Our lodging the last night was on the frozen ground.” Thacher noted that five or six soldiers would lie down side by side, with large fires burning at their feet, “in great-coats, spread out blankets on the ground . . . leaving orders with waiters to keep it well supplied with fuel during the night.” The weather was not the only obstacle during the first weeks in the encampment. “In addition to other sufferings,” wrote Thacher, “our only food is miserable fresh beef, without bread, salt, or vegetables.” Thacher thought it remarkable that “the army, who are devoting their lives and every thing dear to the defense of the country’s freedom, should be subjected to such unparalleled privations, while in the midst of a country abounding in every kind of provisions.” Washington received word from General Heath that “Some of the Troops were Ten Days without Bread, which was such a Tryal even to the veterans that one Brigade was on the point of mutiny.” But in one of Heath’s letters to Washington, he struck a chord with one of the primary reasons behind these shortages of food. “The Farmers will not part with their Forage on Credit,” he warned, “as they observe by the Time of Payment the money is depreciated one Quarter.” The paradox of a bountiful countryside and a starving army was a sad commentary.

            Nathanael Greene brought the currency issue to the fore with Samuel Huntington, the president of the Continental Congress. The outlook was certainly grim, and Greene minced no words. “The principal source of all our difficulties,” Greene said, “is the state of our Money; the depreciation of which locks up almost every species of supplies, deprives us of the opportunities of making contracts, or of gaining credit, and obliges us to employ innumerable Agents to collect from the People, what they would be glad to furnish.” Greene warned of the expenses needed to support an army and noted that with the campaign resuming in the spring, there was no way “to defray the current expenses, or discharge our past contracts.” The situation in terms of forage was dire, but at the present time, the magazines were empty while heavy consumption continued unabated. He posed the question: “What are we to do”? Washington laid before Huntington similar concerns regarding the supply of meat. In one enclosure to Huntington, Royal Flint, deputy commissary general of purchases, wrote to Washington on December 12 that “it appears . . . that the subsistence of the army is hastening to a very desperate crisis.” Colonel Henry Champion, commissary general for the Eastern Department of the Continental army, wrote on December 3 to Jeremiah Wadsworth, commissary general of purchases, that “I shall not be able to supply the Army more than two Weeks after this with fresh Meat, and even that will be difficult unless a large supply of Cash is immediately sent or is now on the road.” Champion thought that taxation was the only means of the army’s salvation. Taxation was out of the question, and for the second time since the crossing of the Delaware on Christmas night 1776, the Revolution was teetering on the brink of extinction.