Beschreibung:

HUNTINGTON, SAMUEL, 1731-1796, Signer (Connecticut) . Document signed ("Sam. Huntington") as President of Congress, to Pennsylvania President Joseph Reed Philadelphia, 12 January 1780. 2 pages, folio, 302 x 190mm. (11 7/8 x 7 1/2 in.), the leaf cleanly separated along a horizontal fold (repairable) . CONGRESS APPEALS TO THE STATES TO PREVENT ANOTHER VALLEY FORGE: "MUST IT BE SAID THAT AN ARMY DISBANDED FOR WANT OF PROVISION IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY?" A strongly worded letter to the President of the Pennsylvania Assembly, alerting him to the crisis of supply at the Morristown winter encampment of Washington's army. Huntington transmits "an Act of Congress...with Extracts of three Letters to which the Act refers [not present]. These I am directed to lay before the Legislature of Pennsylvania or...before your Excellency in Council...and to urge in the most pressing manner that Immediate Supplies of provision be by those several States sent to the Army...The Army must soon disband unless supplied with provision. That cannot be obtained at the present...without the aid of the several States now called upon. The Country abounds with the necessary Resources, but private gain seems the only object to many Individuals without any concern for the Public Safety. Congress have taken proper Measures to have Justice done to those States that shall afford present Supplies: The Exertions of New Jersey are already called forth on this occasion. Must it be said that an Army disbanded for want of provision in the midst of plenty?...[T]he aid of the States is absolutely necessary..." While the Valley Forge winter camp of 1777-1778 is better known, the 1779-1780 encampment at Morristown, New Jersey is regarded by many historians as an even more severe test of the American soldier. The winter of 1780 was one of the most severe ever recorded; the army suffered severe food and clothing shortages and there was little money to pay the troops. The Continental Congress managed to scrape together some provisions towards the end of January, but the soldiers still suffered harrowing hardships.