letion, Washington was
never for a day properly supplied.

His difficulty in finding muskets, though never so great, was always
considerable. The gunsmiths of Philadelphia, who had been expected
speedily to equip his army, were not able to supply a satisfactory
portion of the arms required, so that Washington was reduced to sending
agents through the neighboring towns to buy guns. Their success was
small. He tried also to buy the muskets of those men who, on the
expiration of their term of service, went home. Here again the result
was poor, for the men, mindful of the possibility of militia service,
were very unwilling to part with their arms.

Yet the men had an ineradicable propensity to dicker among themselves.
Arms and equipment changed hands in true Yankee fashion; even clothing
was traded in, and the camp, when the men were off duty, must at times
have been as busy as a market. Nothing better shows this than the diary
of David How, whose brief entries prove him to be a true New Englander.
Months later than Washington's first attempts to buy arms from the men,
we find entries as follows.

"13 (January, 1776) I Bought a gun & Bayonet & Cateridge Box of Joseph
Jackson and gave 42/6 Lawfull Money for the Whole. I have been Makeing
Cateridges this Day....

"20 I Bought a frock & Trouses of Parley Macingtyre and give 6/Law.

"22 Peter Gage Staid Hear Last Night and I bought 3 Pare of Shoes of him
@ 5/6 per pare

"23 I sold a pare of Shoes for 6/8.

"26 I Sold my Cateridge box For 4/6 Lawfull Money.

"16 March I sold my gun to Timothy Jackson for Three pound Lawfull
Money."

We see in David How, even when soldiering, the qualities which later
made him one of the richest men in Haverhill. The diary shows, also,
what appears to be the visit to the camp of a shoe pedler. Modern
disciplinarians would scarcely condone this, nor would they permit How's
opportunity of making money when cooking for his company. For he
writes:--

"24 day (January, 1776) I Cook this day & Bought 3 Barrels of Cyder for
9/per Barrel.

"25 day I Bought 7 Bushels of Chesnuts & give 4 pisterens per bushel.

"30 We have Sold Nuts and Cyder Every Day This Week."

It was in the face of this well-nigh incorrigible tendency to make money
out of the situation that Washington struggled to turn his militiamen
into soldiers. We gather from his orderly books that he had difficulties
with disorders of many kinds, not the least of which were cause