artridge of that day was a paper
envelope containing the charge of ball and powder. This served also as
a wad, after being emptied of its contents, and was pushed home with a
ramrod. A store of German Bibles in Pennsylvania fell into the hands of
the soldiers at a moment when paper was a crying need, and the pages of
these Bibles were used for wads.

The artillery of the time seems feeble compared with the monster weapons
of death which we know in our own age. Yet it was an important factor in
the war. It is probable that before the war not a single cannon had been
made in the colonies. From the outset Washington was hampered for lack
of artillery. Neutrals, especially the Dutch in the West Indies, sold
guns to the Americans, and France was a chief source of supply during
long periods when the British lost the command of the sea. There was
always difficulty about equipping cavalry, especially in the North. The
Virginian was at home on horseback, and in the farther South bands of
cavalry did service during the later years of the war, but many of
the fighting riders of today might tomorrow be guiding their horses
peacefully behind the plough.

The pay of the soldiers remained to Washington a baffling problem. When
the war ended their pay was still heavily in arrears. The States were
timid about imposing taxation and few if any paid promptly the levies
made upon them. Congress bridged the chasm in finance by issuing paper
money which so declined in value that, as Washington said grimly, it
required a wagon-load of money to pay for a wagon-load of supplies. The
soldier received his pay in this money at its face value, and there
is little wonder that the "continental dollar" is still in the United
States a symbol of worthlessness. At times the lack of pay caused mutiny
which would have been dangerous but for Washington's firm and tactful
management in the time of crisis. There was in him both the kindly
feeling of the humane man and the rigor of the army leader. He sent
men to death without flinching, but he was at one with his men in their
sufferings, and no problem gave him greater anxiety than that of pay,
affecting, as it did, the health and spirits of men who, while unpaid,
had no means of softening the daily tale of hardship.

Desertion was always hard to combat. With the homesickness which led
sometimes to desertion Washington must have had a secret sympathy,
for his letters show that he always longed for that pleas