December 3rd
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“The distress we feel is chiefly owing to the early commencement and uncommon vigor of the Winter, which have greatly obstructed the transportation of our supplies.”
To the Magistrates of New Jersey
Head Quarters, Morris Town, 8 January 1780
Gentlemen,
The present situation of the Army with respect to provisions is the most distressing of any we have experienced since the beginning of the War.* For a Fortnight past the Troops both Officers and Men, have been almost perishing for want. They have been alternately without Bread or Meat, the whole time, with a very scanty allowance of either and frequently destitute of both. They have borne their sufferings with a patience that merits the approbation and ought to excite the sympathy of their Countrymen. But they are now reduced to an extremity no longer to be supported. Their distress has in some instances prompted the Men to commit depredation on the property of the Inhabitants which at any other period would be punished with exemplary severity, but which can now be only lamented as the effect of an unfortunate necessity. This evil would increase and soon become intolerable were not an instant remedy to be applied.**
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The distress we feel is chiefly owing to the early commencement and uncommon vigor of the Winter, which have greatly obstructed the transportation of our supplies. These causes have obliged us to exhaust all the Magazines in the vicinity of Camp, and as they continue to operate we shall be unable to derive seasonable succour from our more distant resources. From present appearances it must be more than five Weeks before we can have the benefit of any material supplies beyond the limits of this State; so that unless an extraordinary exertion be made within the State to supply the wants of the Army during that space, fatal consequences must unavoidably ensue. Your own discernment makes it needless to particularise.
. . .
While I have intire confidence that you will do every thing in your power to give efficacy to this requisition, I have too high an opinion of the patriotism of the People of this State and of their attachment to an Army making every sacrifice in defence of their Country, to entertain the least apprehension of their not seconding your endeavours. But at the same time I think it my duty to inform you, that should we be disappointed in our hopes, the extremity of the case will compel us to have recourse to a different mode, which will be disagreeable to me on every account, on none more than on the probability of its having an operation less equal and less convenient to the Inhabitants, than the one now recommended. I intreat you to be assured Gentlemen, that I have given you a just representation of our distresses, of the causes, and of the time which must in all likelyhood elapse before we can obtain relief through the ordinary channels. From this you will be sensible that delay or indicision is incompatible with our circumstances. With the greatest respect I have the honor to be, Gentlemen your most obt & hble servt***
G:o Washington
* The winter of 1779-1780 was the most severe winter of the 18th century; the winter the army spent at Valley Forge had been mild in comparison. However, Valley Forge is remembered more so than Morristown for the fact that between one and three thousand died, mostly due to inexperience and disease; 100 perished at Morristown. — NPS2
Washington wrote Lafayette, March 18, 1780: “The oldest people now living in this Country do not remember so hard a Winter as the one we are now emerging from. In a word, the severity of the frost exceeded anything of the kind that had ever been experienced in this climate before.”
** A drought in the latter part of 1779 had caused the mills to shut down due to a lack of moving water to run the waterwheels. The severe winter weather had only exacerbated the Army’s problems. Washington wrote Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. (Governor of Connecticut), November 12, 1779: “I allude in particular to the condition of our magazines of flour. The uncommon drought, (not to hint at circumstances which must be well known to your Excellency) has affected us exceedingly in this article. A considerable quantity of wheat now lies in the mills in this State unmanufactured for want of water, and the same cause produces the same effects in some of the neighbouring States.”
*** Washington wrote Major General William Heath on January 14th, 1780, “Those counties I have heard from, have with great readiness complied with the requisition, and I would flatter myself, that with economy we shall be enabled to live till we can be furnished in the usual manner.”
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