It was Monday, July 15, 1776.
Independence had become a supply problem.
George Washington had already warned Congress that British ships had forced their way up the North River and that Admiral Howe had arrived near New York.
Congress had answered by meeting on Sunday, July 14, after receiving Washington’s letters of July 11 and July 12.
Now John Hancock was sending Washington the orders.
They covered tents, camp kettles, canteens, flour, cartridges, lead, money and men.
The Declaration told Americans what they were fighting for.
July 15 showed what they would need to fight with.
The DX Brief
- John Hancock wrote Washington from Philadelphia on July 15, 1776, transmitting resolutions Congress had adopted the previous day.
- Congress ordered $20,000 for the Flying Camp and militia in New Jersey.
- Congress directed Clement Biddle to furnish tents, camp kettles and canteens for an army of 20,000 men, but the Flying Camp itself had been authorized at 10,000 men.
- Washington told Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler that Admiral Howe had arrived and that the Americans “hourly expect his Fleet.”
- Washington said the two British warships and three tenders that passed New York’s batteries had reached Tappan Bay.
- Brig. Gen. George Clinton said militia left “their Harvest Fields” to defend the Hudson Highlands.
- Col. James Clinton reported work on fire rafts, ammunition and damaged arms at Fort Montgomery.
- Washington sent congressional resolutions on the treatment of American prisoners to British generals William Howe and John Burgoyne.
Congress answers Washington’s warning
Washington’s letters from New York had forced Congress to move.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, two British warships and three tenders had run past American batteries and up the North River on July 12. Washington warned that Howe’s arrival appeared confirmed and that British operations could begin quickly.
Congress met in a Sunday session on July 14 after receiving Washington’s letters. The Journals recorded Washington’s July 11 and July 12 letters before Congress turned to the Flying Camp and militia in New Jersey.
Hancock sent Washington the resolutions on July 15.
The measures centered on getting men and supplies toward the ground between Philadelphia and New York, where Washington feared the British might strike.
Washington later described them as measures to “expedite the raising of the Flying Camp” and provide it with “Articles of the greatest use.”
That phrase stripped the Revolution down to its working parts.
The new nation needed more than declarations and resolve.
It needed equipment.
Tents, kettles, canteens and lead
The congressional resolutions showed what preparation looked like.
Congress ordered $20,000 drawn for Col. Clement Biddle, deputy quartermaster general, for the Flying Camp and militia ordered to New Jersey. It told him to move flour from Trenton, hire armorers and appoint an assistant.
Then Congress gave him a larger equipment order.
Biddle was directed to furnish tents, camp kettles and canteens “for an army of 20,000 men.”
That did not mean the Flying Camp itself contained 20,000 troops. Congress had authorized the mobile reserve on June 3 at 10,000 men from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. The July 14 resolutions addressed both the Flying Camp and militia ordered to New Jersey, although the journal did not divide the 20,000-man equipment total by formation.
Congress also asked Pennsylvania to spare as many “musket cartridges, well balled” as possible. It directed the Secret Committee to replace the powder Pennsylvania supplied in those cartridges.
Then it looked for lead wherever it could find it.
New Jersey was asked to supply “all the lead they possibly can” for the Flying Camp and militia. An express was sent after powder wagons headed to Virginia so Fielding Lewis could load their return trip with lead collected at Fredericksburg.
Virginia was also asked to send spare lead from Williamsburg and order 15 or 20 tons more from the mines.
That was not glamorous work.
It was survival.
Men could march toward New York, but they needed shelter, food, ammunition and cooking gear once they arrived. The war for independence depended on the same humble items every army needed: tents to sleep under, kettles to cook in, canteens to carry water and lead to fire back.
Howe had arrived
Washington did not stop watching the enemy while Congress moved supplies.
In a July 15 letter to Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler, Washington wrote, “Admiral Howe arrived on Friday last, and we hourly expect his Fleet.”
He also repeated the latest danger on the river.
The two British warships and three tenders that had passed American batteries on July 12 had reached Tappan Bay.
“You may readily conjecture a Variety of bad Purposes intended by this Manœuvre,” Washington told Schuyler.
Washington did not have to guess about the immediate military problem. The ships had moved beyond New York Harbor and into the Hudson.
In another letter that day, Washington told Connecticut Gov. Jonathan Trumbull that the ships could cut water communication between New York and Albany. He wanted row galleys sent quickly enough to challenge them in the narrower river channel.
The threat now stretched toward the Hudson Highlands and the road to the northern army.
Men left their harvest fields
The Hudson threat had already stirred the countryside.
Mount Vernon identifies the danger on the Hudson as Washington’s central concern on July 15. From Fort Montgomery, Brig. Gen. George Clinton reported that he had put neighboring militia in motion after British ships moved upriver.
Clinton ordered regiments toward Fort Montgomery, Fort Constitution and Newburgh. He told other militia units to stand ready “to march on a Moments warning.”
Then Clinton described what the alarm demanded from ordinary men.
“The Men turn out of their Harvest Fields to defend their Country with surprizing alacrity,” he wrote in his July 15 letter to Washington.
That line captures the moment better than any broad summary could.
The men were not leaving winter quarters or empty towns. They were leaving crops in the field during harvest season because the British threat had reached the Hudson.
Clinton knew the burden. He warned that their absence, while the harvests were “perishing for want of the Sickle,” would greatly distress the country.
But the danger came first.
The river became a battlefield
George Clinton was not the only officer rushing to prepare.
In a separate July 15 letter from Fort Montgomery, Col. James Clinton reported that ship carpenters were building fire rafts. He also listed powder, ball and double-headed shot for 32-pounders, described damaged arms under repair and warned that artillerymen were scarce.
The details sounded scattered until the larger picture came into focus.
Washington’s army needed New York defended.
Congress needed the Flying Camp supplied.
The Hudson forts needed fire rafts, powder, shot, repaired arms and men who could work the guns.
Farmers had to become soldiers.
Every piece mattered because British ships had shown they could move through American waters and threaten the river line.
Washington answered as commander in chief
July 15 also carried a symbolic echo from the day before.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Washington’s headquarters had refused a British letter addressed to “George Washington Esqr.” rather than by his military rank.
One day later, Washington sent congressional resolutions to British generals William Howe and John Burgoyne.
Those were not the Flying Camp supply orders. They addressed the treatment of American prisoners captured in Canada and warned of retaliation if British forces continued abuses.
The distinction matters, but so does the sequence.
Washington had rejected a British address that treated him as a private gentleman. Now he was carrying out Congress’ instructions in direct communication with British commanders.
The new country had declared independence.
Washington was acting as its commander in chief.
Why it mattered
July 15, 1776, showed the Revolution entering its hardest stage.
The Declaration had announced independence.
Washington had defended his rank.
British warships had tested New York.
Now the Americans had to build the machinery of survival.
Congress pushed money and supplies toward the Flying Camp. Washington tracked the ships in the Hudson. George Clinton called militia from their harvest fields. James Clinton prepared fire rafts and heavy shot at Fort Montgomery.
That is what independence required after the speeches ended.
It required men, metal, flour, cartridges, boats, tools, discipline and a supply line that could reach the places Britain threatened next.
The British had ships in the river.
Washington needed an army that could move.
On July 15, the fight for independence became a race to prepare before the British struck.
Tomorrow on Road to Independence
July 16, 1776: Washington confronted the Connecticut Light Horse after they resisted ordinary soldier duties, warning that men who would not mount guard or perform garrison service “can be no longer of Use here.”
Follow the full Road to Independence series here.
Provided by Dallas Express
