e. Though the utmost
exertions were made, this critical state of things continued about a
fortnight, when a small supply of powder was received from
Elizabethtown, in New Jersey.[11] The utmost address was used to
conceal from the enemy this alarming deficiency; but when it is
recollected, in how many various directions, and to what various
bodies, application for assistance was unavoidably made, it will
appear scarcely possible that those efforts at concealment could have
been completely successful. It is more probable that the
communications which must have been made to the British general were
discredited; and that he could not permit himself to believe, that an
army without bayonets would be hardy enough to maintain the position
occupied by the Provincials, if destitute of ammunition.

[Footnote 11: A circumstance attending this transaction,
will furnish some idea of the difficulties encountered by
those who then conducted the affairs of America.
All-important to the general safety as was the speedy
replenishment of the magazines of that army which lay
encamped in front of the enemy, the committee of
Elizabethtown was under the necessity of transmitting this
powder secretly, lest the people of the neighbourhood should
seize and detain it for their own security.]

The troops were also in such need of tents, as to be placed in
barracks, instead of being encamped in the open field; and were almost
destitute of clothing. They had, too, been raised by the colonial
governments; each of which organized its quota on different
principles. From this cause resulted not only a want of uniformity,
but other defects which were much more important. In Massachusetts,
the soldiers had chosen their platoon officers, and generally lived
with them as equals. This unmilitary practice was the certain index of
that general insubordination which pervaded every department. The
difficulty of establishing principles of order and obedience, always
considerable among raw troops, was increased by the short terms for
which enlistments had been made. The quotas of some of the colonies
would be entitled to a discharge in November; and none were engaged to
continue in service longer than the last of December. The early orders
evidence a state of things still more loose and unmilitary than was to
be inferred from the circumstances under which the war had been
commenced.

An additional inconvenience, d