ammunition to be made; and the report stated three hundred and three
barrels of powder to be in store. A few days after this return, the
alarming discovery was made, that the actual quantity was not more
than sufficient to furnish each man with nine cartridges. This mistake
had been produced by a misapprehension of the committee of supplies,
(for the magazines were not yet in possession of military officers,)
who, instead of returning the existing quantity, reported the whole
which had been originally furnished by the Province. Though the utmost
exertions were made, this critical state of things continued about a
fortnight, when a small supply of powder was received from
Elizabethtown, in New Jersey.[11] The utmost address was used to
conceal from the enemy this alarming deficiency; but when it is
recollected, in how many various directions, and to what various
bodies, application for assistance was unavoidably made, it will
appear scarcely possible that those efforts at concealment could have
been completely successful. It is more probable that the
communications which must have been made to the British general were
discredited; and that he could not permit himself to believe, that an
army without bayonets would be hardy enough to maintain the position
occupied by the Provincials, if destitute of ammunition.

[Footnote 11: A circumstance attending this transaction,
will furnish some idea of the difficulties encountered by
those who then conducted the affairs of America.
All-important to the general safety as was the speedy
replenishment of the magazines of that army which lay
encamped in front of the enemy, the committee of
Elizabethtown was under the necessity of transmitting this
powder secretly, lest the people of the neighbourhood should
seize and detain it for their own security.]