As anyone who’s been reading Sam Bishop’s articles on Gen. Washington’s correspondence, it is evident that one of the biggest problems in the fight for independence was the shortage of ammunition (shot and powder). Prior to the start of the hostilities, some towns like Rochester voted to purchase firearms, powder, lead and flints. Later, it was even voted “to send to the West Indies by Capt. Moses Bartlett for powder, firearms, molasses and other war supplies”. My first thought was, “that’s a long way for a town to send someone”, but I remembered Rochester at the time was a seafaring town. Also, there was not a central government actively acting against Great Britain in 1774 and the town fathers were preparing for what most saw as the inevitability of war. Of course, any munitions gathered at that time didn’t last long when fighting began.
Because of the scarcity of powder and shot throughout the colonies, people were taking advantage of any materials at hand to create them. In New York on the Bowling Green in Manhattan, a gold-leaf lead statue of King George III had been erected in 1770. After Gen. Washington had the Declaration of Independence read aloud to the continental troops stationed there on July 9,1776, a crowd pulled down the statue. The horse section was cut up and sent to Connecticut where the lead was melted down to create more than 42,000 bullets. I’m sure there was more than the need for ammo that motivated that event.
While there wasn’t as great a need for the actual firearms due to the requirement that each man provide his own weapon for his militia duties, there was a pressing need for gun powder. The colonists were an ingenious lot and went about searching for ways to increase supplies. Gun powder was 12 parts saltpeter to 2 1/2 parts charcoal and 1 1/2 parts sulfur. Charcoal and sulfur were easier to come by than saltpeter which was essential.
Not to be deterred, they sought out “refuse” in stables, cellars and even outhouses. Boiling this material and the mold it engendered down would leave saltpeter.
Here in Rochester, the Prince family home, Whitehall or White House, was left abandoned after the family moved to Middleboro in 1723. The floors of the house were torn out to be used “to procure materials for making saltpeter for use of the army”. Stories like this show the lengths that people all over the colonies went to in order to aid in the fight for separation from England.
By Connie Eshbach
