Washington was appointed by the Continental Congress, Commander-in-Chief
of the American forces, and on July 3, 1775, two weeks after the battle
of Bunker Hill, he took formal command of the army at Cambridge. In a
letter to the President of Congress notifying him of his safe arrival
there, he made the following statement. "Upon the article of ammunition,
I must re-echo the former complaints on this subject. We are so
exceedingly destitute that our artillery will be of little use without a
supply both large and seasonable. What we have must be reserved for the
small arms, and that well managed with the utmost frugality." A few
weeks later General Washington wrote the following letter on the same
subject.[A]

[Footnote A: Writings of George Washington, by J. Sparks, vol. iii, page
47.]

TO GOVERNOR COOKE, OF RHODE ISLAND.

Camp at Cambridge, 4 August, 1775.

Sir,

I am now, Sir, in strict confidence, to acquaint you, that our
necessities in the articles of powder and lead are so great, as to
require an immediate supply. I must earnestly entreat that you will
fall upon some measure to forward every pound of each in your
colony that can possibly be spared. It is not within the propriety
or safety of such a correspondence to say what I might on this
subject. It is sufficient that the case calls loudly for the most
strenuous exertions of every friend of his country, and does not
admit of the least delay. No quantity, however small, is beneath
notice, and, should any arrive, I beg it may be forwarded as soon
as possible.

But a supply of this kind is so precarious, not only from the
danger of the enemy, but the opportunity of purchasing, that I have
revolved in my mind every other possible chance, and listened to
every proposition on the subject which could give the smallest
hope. Among others I have had one mentioned which has some weight
with me, as well as the other officers to whom I have proposed it.
A Mr. Harris has lately come from Bermuda, where there is a very
considerable magazine of powder in a remote part of the island; and
the inhabitants are well disposed, not only to our cause in
general, but to assist in this enterprise in particular. We
understand there are two armed vessels in your province, commanded
by men of known activity and spirit; one of which, it is proposed