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“Employed in carrying cloathing & provisions”: Wagons and Watercraft during the War for Independence – Part I – The Continental Line – Development Site

The Continental Line – Development Site

The Continental Line, Inc.

“Employed in carrying cloathing & provisions”: Wagons and Watercraft during the War for Independence – Part I

Posted on by contine8

by John U. Rees

Part I.
“Country Waggons,” “Tumbrils,” and “Philadelphia Carts”
Wheeled Transport in the Armies of the Revolution
“The Weight of the Waggons of the Army.”
[hundredweight]
The large English13: 3:
The Philadelphia13: 3: 11
&13: 2: _
7. _. _.
The Dutch or American7. 2. _.
8. _. _.
8. _. _.
The English reduced8. 2. _.
A new Waggon with Rope Sides &
Bottom, runs light & handy7. _. _.
  1. Erna Risch, Supplying Washington’s Army (Washington, D.C., 1981), pp. 66-71, 75.
  2. Ibid., pp. 69-70, 80-86.
  3. Proposed arrangement of the Quartermaster General’s Department, 1777, The Papers of the Continental Congress 1774‑1789, National Archives Microfilm Publications M247, (Washington, DC, 1958), reel 71, pp. 455-458 (henceforth cited as PCC, NA). “Estimate of Waggons for a regiment of infantry under the new establishment of Octr. 1780”, Timothy Pickering to George Washington, 14 January 1781, George Washington Papers, Presidential Papers Microfilm, (Washington, DC, 1961), series 4, reel 74 (henceforth cited as GW Papers). “Detail of Public Waggons, and those employd on hire for the Service of the Army … reckoned for an Army of 30,000 Infantry – 5 regimts. Cavalry & 5 of Artillery, ” 29 March 1780, PCC, NA, reel 41, p. 161.
  4. George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 10 February 1781, John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington, vol. 21 (Washington. D.C., 1937), pp. 205-206 (henceforth cited as Fitzpatrick, WGW). . See also, Timothy Pickering to George Washington, 18 February 1781, GW Papers, Series 4, Reel 75.
  5. General orders, 22 August 1781, Fitzpatrick, WGW, vol. 23 (1937), pp. 37-38.
  6. “Estimate of Waggons for a regiment of infantry under the new establishment of Octr. 1780”, Timothy Pickering to George Washington, 14 January 1781, GW Papers, series 4, reel 74. Timothy Pickering to George Washington, 18 February 1781, ibid., series 4, reel 75.
  7. “Proposed distribution of waggons for the campaign 1781,” Numbered Record Books Concerning Military Operations and Service, Pay and Settlement Accounts, and Supplies in the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records, National Archives Microfilm Publication M853, Record Group 93 (Washington, D.C., 1973), vol. 103, reel 29, pp. 1-3 (henceforth cited as Nod. Record Books, NA). Timothy Pickering to Lt. Col. Dearborn, Col. Hatch and Ralph Pomeroy, Deputy Quarter Masters, 13 February 1782, ibid., reel 26, vol. 83, pp. 85-86.
  8. Pickering to Dearborn, Hatch and Pomeroy, 13 February 1782, ibid., reel 26, vol. 83, pp. 85-86. George Shumway, Edward Durell, and Howard C. Frey, Conestoga Wagon 1750-1850 (York, Pa., 1964), pp. 14-21, 35-37. John Omwake, The Conestoga Six-Horse Bell Teams of Eastern Pennsylvania (Cincinnati, Oh., 1930), pp. 32-33.
  9. “Narrative of Occurences, relative to His Majesty’s Provision Train in North America,” (circa 1778), Francis Rush Clark Papers (no. 2338), Sol Feinstone Collection, David Library of the American Revolution, Washington Crossing, Pa. (henceforth cited as “Narrative of Occurences,” Clark Papers, Feinstone Collection, PWacD).
  10. Colored drawings and descriptions of wagons in “Narrative of Occurences,” Clark Papers, Feinstone Collection, PWacD.
  11. “Narrative of Occurences,” and drawings and descriptions of wagons, Clark Papers, Feinstone Collection, PWacD. J. Geraint Jenkins, The English Farm Wagon (Wiltshire, U.K., 1972), pp. 9-13.
  12. Ibid., pp. 9-13.
  13. Colored drawings and descriptions of wagons, “Narrative of Occurences,” Clark Papers, Feinstone Collection, PWacD.
  14. Ibid.
  15. Timothy Pickering, “Proposed distribution of waggons for the campaign 1781, ” Nod. Record Books, NA, reel 29, target 4. “Estimate of Waggons for a regiment of infantry under the new establishment of Octr. 1780”, Timothy Pickering to George Washington, 14 January 1781, GW Papers, series 4, reel 74. Pickering to Washington (with enclosed memorandum), 14 January 1781, ibid., series 4, reel 74.
  16. Ibid.. Pickering to Major Keese, 18 June 1781, Nod. Record Books, NA, vol. 127, reel 26, 88.
  17. Richard M. Lederer, Jr., Colonial American English: A Glossary, (Essex, Ct, 1985). See also, John U. Rees, “‘We … got ourselves cleverly settled for the night …’: Soldiers’ Shelter on Campaign During the War for Independence,” part II, Military Collector & Historian, vol. 49, no. 4 (Winter 1997), p. 164, and, John U. Rees, “‘The great distress of the Army for want of Blankets …’: Supply Shortages, Suffering Soldiers, and a Secret Mission During the Hard Winter of 1780,” unpublished MSS, author’s collection (to be published in Military Collector & Historian).
Copyright © 1999 John U. Rees. All rights reserved.