Knox, Henry, 1750-1806 to George Washington

Impressed with the importance of West Point for "the existence of the United States," says he wanted to make sure the fort was in working order and that its dependencies were well-supplied with cannon and military stores. Says he has made every exertion, but that money and equipment are in short supply. Has included a paper describing the state of ordnance and supplies (not included here). Says if he had all the ammunition he requested he would only have enough for a siege of ten days, but as it is, only half the cannon would be functional. Says many of the 10-inch shells and shot are at Mount Hope and Hibernia in New Jersey. Says the furnaces at Salisbury, Connecticut and Mount Hope might be able to supply West Point, but thinks Pennsylvania can fill in any gaps of supply from those two places. Estimates the deficiencies in ammunition at about 1,000 tons. Says the transportation costs to resupply West Point and its surrounding dependencies could be 250 pounds of Pennsylvania currency. Hopes this information will allow Washington to make an informed decision on supplying the forts. Suggests having stone magazines built to protect the ammunition. Says it would be best to have three magazines built for the garrison, each able to hold 2,000 barrels of powder. Says more pieces of ordnance are damaged by being crammed into poor, weather-soaked buildings than by any other cause. Knox says he was reluctant to bring this matter before Washington, but that he was unequal to the task of fixing the problems without his help. Closing in the hand of Knox's aide Samuel Shaw, who also signs for Knox. The enclosure cited is GLC02437.10503.