SIR, TO GOVERNOR TRUMBULL. HEADQUARTERS, Gulf Mill, 15 December, 1777. I have the honor of yours of the 2d instant. much obliged for the attention you have paid to my requests through General Putnam, and I shall ever acknowledge the readiness with which you have always afforded any assistance from your State, when demanded immediately by myself. I was never consulted in the least upon the Rhode Island expedition, and I cannot therefore pretend to say who were, or who were not, to blame; but it undoubtedly cost the public an enormous sum to little or no purpose. I observe by the copy of your letter to Congress that your State had fallen upon means to supply your troops with clothing. I must earnestly beg that it may be sent on to camp as fast as it is collected. To cover the country more effectually, we shall be obliged to lay, in a manner, in the field the whole winter, and except the men are warmly clad they must suffer much. Among the troops of your State there are three hundred and sixty-three drafts whose time of service will expire with this month. This deduction, with the former deficiency of the regiments, will reduce them exceedingly low; and, as I have represented this matter to Congress very fully, I hope they have before this time urged to the States, the necessity which there is of filling their regiments this winter. But lest they should not have done it, I beg leave to urge the matter to your immediate consideration. Recruits for the war ought, by all means, to be obtained if possible, but if that cannot be done, drafts for one year at least should be called out without delay. And I hope that as many as are now upon the point of going home will be immediately reinstated. We must expect to lose a considerable number of men by sickness, and other ways, in the course of the winter; and if we cannot take the field in the spring with a superior, or at least an equal force with the enemy, we shall have labored through the preceding campaign to little purpose. I have the honor to be, &c. SIR, TO GEORGE READ, PRESIDENT OF DELAWARE. HEAD-QUARTERS, Gulf MILL, 19 December, 1777. I have received information, which I have great reason to believe is true, that the enemy mean to establish a post at Wilmington, for the purpose of countenancing the disaffected in the Delaware State, drawing supplies from that country and the lower parts of Chester county, and securing a post upon the Delaware River during the winter. As the advantages resulting to the enemy from such a position are most obvious, I have determined, and shall accordingly this day send off General Smallwood with a respectable Continental force, to take post at Wilmington before them. If General Howe thinks the place of that importance to him, which I conceive it is, he will probably attempt to dispossess us of it; and as the force, which I can at present spare, is not adequate to making it perfectly secure, I expect that you will call out as many militia as you possibly can, to rendezvous without loss of time at Wilmington, and put themselves under the command of General Smallwood. I shall hope that the people will turn out cheerfully, when they consider that they are called upon to remain within and defend their own State. In a letter, which I had the honor of receiving from you some little time past, you express a wish, that some mode may be fallen upon, to procure the exchange of Governor McKinly. As this gentleman will be considered in the civil line, I have not any prisoner of war proper to be proposed for him. The application would go more properly to Congress, who have a number of State prisoners under their direction, for some of whom, Sir William Howe would, probably, exchange the Governor. * I TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. HEAD-QUARTERS, VALLEY FORGE, 22 December, 1777. SIR, "Your favor of the 24th of September, inclosing a discourse against Toryism, came safe to my hands. For the honor of the dedication, I return you my sincere thanks, and wish most devoutly that your labor may be crowned with the success it deserves."- Washington to Rev. Mr. Whitaker (Salem, Mass.), 20 December, 1777. subject of his application, and transmitted to him a copy of the resolution of Congress founded thereon. That the matter might not be delayed, I despatched my letter by the express, who brought yours, he having informed me, that you expected he would be sent with it. It is with infinite pain and concern, that I transmit to Congress the enclosed copies of sundry letters respecting the state of the commissary's department. In these, matters are not exaggerated. I do not know from what cause this alarming deficiency, or rather total failure of supplies, arises; but, unless more vigorous exertions and better regulations take place in that line immediately, this army must dissolve. I have done all in my power, by remonstrating, by writing, by ordering the commissaries on this head, from time to time; but without any good effect, or obtaining more than a present scanty relief. Owing to this, the march of the army has been delayed, upon more than one interesting occasion, in the course of the present campaign; and had a body of the enemy crossed the Schuylkill this morning, as I had reason to expect, from the intelligence I received at four o'clock last night, the divisions which I ordered to be in readiness to march and meet them could not have moved. It is unnecessary for me to add more upon the subject. I refer Congress to the copies, by one of which they will perceive, how very unfavorable also our prospect is of having any considerable supplies of salt provisions for the ensuing year.' 1 Extracts from two letters, received on the 22d of December, will be enough to show the grounds upon which this statement is made. "I received an I would also take the liberty of reminding Congress of the necessity of filling, as soon as possible, the offices of quartermaster and adjutant general. These posts are of infinite importance, and without appointments to them it will be impossible to conduct the affairs of the army. The first office is now suffering much for want of a head to direct the great business of it; and the latter will be in the same predicament, in the course of a few days, by the departure of Colonel Pickering, who, since his appointment to the Board of War, has been waiting only for a successor.1 order," writes General Huntington, "to hold my brigade in readiness to march. Fighting will be by far preferable to starving. My brigade are out of provisions, nor can the commissary obtain any meat. I am exceedingly unhappy in being the bearer of complaints to Head-Quarters. I have used every argument my imagination can invent to make the soldiers easy, but I despair of being able to do it much longer." The next is from General Varnum. "According to the saying of Solomon, hunger will break through a stone-wall. It is therefore a very pleasing circumstance to the division under my command, that there is a probability of their marching. Three days successively we have been destitute of bread. Two days we have been entirely without meat. The men must be supplied, or they cannot be commanded. The complaints are too urgent to pass unnoticed. It is with pain, that I mention this distress. I know it will make your Excellency unhappy; but, if you expect the exertion of virtuous principles, while your troops are deprived of the necessaries of life, your final disappointment will be great in proportion to the patience, which now astonishes every man of human feeling." In a letter to Congress, dated October 8th, General Mifflin had tendered the resignation of his commissions of major-general and quartermaster-general, on the ground of ill-health. His commission of quartermaster was accepted on the 7th of November, but the rank and commission of major-general, without the pay annexed to the office, was continued to him; and at the same time he was chosen a member of the new Board of War, which was constituted of persons not in Congress. This Board, by its first organization, was to consist of three members. The persons chosen were General Mifflin, Colonel Pickering, and Colonel Harrison. Before it went into operation, the Board was enlarged to five members, and, Harrison having declined the appointment, General Gates, Joseph Trumbull, and Richard Peters were chosen in addition to Mifflin and |