change in that department took place contrary to my judgment, and the
consequences thereof were predicted; yet, finding that the inactivity
of the army, whether for want of provisions, clothes, or other
essentials, is charged to my account, not only by the common vulgar,
but by those in power; it is time to speak plain in exculpation of
myself. With truth, then, I can declare that no man, in my opinion,
ever had his measures more impeded than I have, by every department of
the army. Since the month of July, we have had no assistance from the
quartermaster general; and to want of assistance from this department,
the commissary general charges great part of his deficiency. To this I
am to add that, notwithstanding it is a standing order (often
repeated) that the troops shall always have two days provisions by
them, that they may be ready at any sudden call; yet, scarcely any
opportunity has ever offered of taking advantage of the enemy, that
has not been either totally obstructed, or greatly impeded, on this
account; and this, the great and crying evil is not all. Soap,
vinegar, and other articles allowed by congress, we see none of, nor
have we seen them, I believe, since the battle of Brandywine. The
first, indeed, we have little occasion for; few men having more than
one shirt, many, only the moiety of one, and some, none at all. In
addition to which, as a proof of the little benefit from a clothier
general, and at the same time, as a farther proof of the inability of
an army under the circumstances of this to perform the common duties
of soldiers, we have, by a field return this day made, besides a
number of men confined to hospitals for want of shoes, and others in
farmers' houses on the same account, no less than two thousand eight
hundred and ninety-eight men, now in camp, unfit for duty, because
they are bare-foot, and otherwise naked. By the same return, it
appears that our whole strength in continental troops, including the
eastern brigades, which have joined us since the surrender of General