title: General Washington and the patriot soldiers. They won a war with little food. A Bicentennial study.
abstract: The troops in the first action of the American Revolution in Massachusetts were well provisioned through the efforts of Joseph Trumbull of Connecticut, whom the Second Continental Congress appointed Commissary General, at General Washingtion's request. The ration, as ordered, would have provided-by today's standards-more calories, twice as much protein, and adequate minerals and vitamins, except possible vitamin A and ascorbic acid. Unfortunately, all items in the ration were seldom available to the soldiers. Each man was issued his ration and was responsible for cooking it. Trumbull held his post for two years, with little support from the Congress and no departmental organization. When the Army moved to New York, difficulties in provisioning the troops on the march began-and continued until 1781. Following the retreat to Morristown, New Jersey, in 1776, flour and beef, but little else, were available during the winter and into the following summer. Washington pleaded with the Congress for help with food supplies, but to no avail. Finally, Trumbull resigned. Thereafter, followed a series of four reorganizations of the commissariat by the Congress-each disastrously conceived-which brought no relief to the ill-fed soldiers, whose physical condition progressively worsened. Finally, a fifth reorganization in 1781 put into operation a contract plan of procuring food; no longer was it necessary for Washington to order impressment of food from farmers or for the troops to live off the land. The Continental Army "starved, not because the country could not furnish the food, but becasue the people were unwilling to endure taxation and Congress did not understand the importance of administrative centralization; ...the greater part of the hardships" were avoidable. Yes, General Washington and the patriot soldiers won the war with little food.
mesh_terms: D003296:Cooking; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards; D004467:Economics; D005523:Food Supply; D006076:Government; D006666:History of Medicine; D006761:Hospitals; D008887:Military Medicine; D009748:Nutrition Disorders; D013217:Starvation; D014481:United States; D014857:Warfare