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Lot 226
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Report to George Washington on Provisions in the Northern Department in March 1779
Report to George Washington on Provisions in the Northern Department in March 1779
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Description:

Revolutionary War

Report to George Washington on Provisions in the Northern Department in March 1779

 

JAMES GRAY, “A Return of Stores and Provisions On Hand and Receiv’d at the Several Posts and Places in the Northern Department, in the Month of March 1779,” Manuscript Document, to [George Washington?, March 1779, [Albany, New York? . 1 p., 14.5" x 28"  Expected folds; several tears and holes on folds, though none involving text; some tape repairs.

 

This document provides an accounting of flour, hard bread, cattle, sheep, pork, salted beef, rum, brandy, wine, soap, candles, salt, rice, peas, wheat, molasses, hides, rendered tallow, unrendered tallow, and neat’s feet at nineteen stations in New York and Vermont, including Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga, Bennington, and Rutland, and at Forts Plank, Dayton, Schuyler, and Edward. It also includes the names of issuing commissaries at the various stations, including Timothy Leonard in Albany, Henry Glen in Schenectady, John Pratt in Schoharie, Othniel Phelps in Saratoga, Enoch Woodbridge at Bennington, and Richard Mount in Rutland.

 

Historical Background



The Continental Army spent the winter of 1778-1779 at Middlebrook, New Jersey, and suffered extensively from the lack of supplies of all kinds. By mid-November, the camp went on half rations and suffered from a shortage of blankets and clothing. It was the responsibility of the Commissary’s Department to feed the army, but the lack of funds and the devaluation of Continental and state currency hampered the Commissary’s efforts.

 

According to Erna Risch in Supplying Washington’s Army, “During the course of the war, prices on the domestic market rose from 50 to 100 percent over those charged in prewar days in terms of constant money value. They rose many times more in terms of Continental and state currencies.”

 

The lack of funds made Quartermaster General Nathanael Greene’s task of raising supplies particularly difficult by 1780. His deputies had to employ many agents to collect supplies from people who would have given them gladly if the currency were stable. Because the department had to employ more agents, its expenditures increased, leading to charges that the Quartermaster’s Department was wasteful in its operations. Costs of the Commissary and Quartermaster Departments spiraled from $5.4 million in 1776 to $200 million in 1779.

 

James Gray sent an identical report for December 1778 to General George Washington at Middlebrook on March 1, 1779. It is likely that Gray also sent this report to Washington. Gray prepared a similar report in June 1779, and likely also forwarded it to Washington.

 

In January 1780, Gray wrote to Washington, “With this I forward my Monthly Return for Augst, it is at so late a day I blush, Alth’o its not owing to any Neglect of mine, or my Clerks, but one of my Commissaries at the remotest distance, whose Return I was Oblig’d to send back for correction.... As the Commissaries Department is now by Resolve of Congress, put wholly under the direction of the Board of War, I shall not Trouble your Excellency with any more of my Returns, unless it would be some satisfaction to your Excellenc[y to receive them, In which case I wish I knew your mind, as I would with great pleasure conduct Accordingly.”

 

 

 

James Gray (1749-1822) of Epsom, New Hampshire, served as a sergeant major in the 1st New Hampshire regiment from April to December 1775. He became a captain in the 3rd New Hampshire in November 1776 and resigned from the army in June 1778.  Congress appointed Gray as deputy commissary general of issues for the Northern Department in October 1778. Poor health forced him to resign in November 1780.

 

Henry Glen (1739-1814) was born in Albany, New York, and grew up in the Dutch culture of Albany and Schnectady. He became a merchant and was an early settler of Schnectady. He served as town clerk from 1767 to 1809. During the Revolutionary War, he served in the militia, on Schenectady’s Committee of Safety, and in the New York Provincial Congress. He supported the Federalist Party and served in the New York State Assembly in 1786 and 1787. He represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1793 to 1801. He married Elizabeth Vischer in 1762, and they had six children.

 

 

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