American Colonies during the Revolutionary War. 53 



Harris, as one of the persons who had told him of the powder 

 there. 



The only official record that has been supposed to refer to it, and 

 that very doubtfully, is in the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety 

 minutes, Sept. 20, 1775,* pp. 340, 341, where it is stated that 1800 

 pounds of powder had been imported from Bermuda by Capt. Ord 

 in "The Lucy"; of this, 700 lbs. were noted as damaged and " not 

 fit to use." Some Avriters have stated that 100 barrels of powder 

 and many other stores were taken from the Bermuda magazine. 

 But there is no official record of this. A few days after the expe- 

 dition under Captain Whipple had sailed (Sept. 12), it was pub- 

 licly announced, it was said, perhaps in the news])apers, that 100 

 barrels of gunpowder had arrived from Bermuda. I have not been 

 able to consult the newspapers of that date. Perhaps "The Phila- 

 delphia Packet," a semi-official organ, was the authority referred to. 



The official records give Aug. 6, 1775, as the date when the 

 powder imported in the " Luc\' " was received in Philadelphia. 

 But Mr. DeLancey Clevelandf states that the powder was seized 

 Aug. 14, 1775. If the latter date be correct, the former record must 

 refer to a previous importation by Capt. Ord. This is not unlikely, 

 for Capt. Ord owned more than one vessel, and was then engaged in 

 commerce. Moreovei', a subsequent importation of gunpowder from 

 Bermuda is on record, and there may have been various others, for 

 considerable illicit traffic was continually carried on by the Bermu- 

 dians, according to the charges made by their governor at that time. 

 The Continental Congress had already offered special rewards for 

 the importation of gunpowder and firearms. The unusual favors 

 subsequently granted to the Bermudians (see especially the act of 

 Nov. 22, 1775, above, p. 49), indicate that much larger contribu- 

 tions than the 1800 lbs. of powder, about half of it " unfit for use," 

 had been received from them. 



I am, therefore, now led to believe that the importation in the 

 "Lucy" was entirely independent of the powder taken from the 

 large magazine. [j; 



* Vol. X, pp. 377-784, Harrisburg ed., 1852. See The Bermuda Islands, i, p. 

 873 (461). 



t See article " How Wasbington got his Powder," in New York Evening Post, 

 Feb. 24, 1904 ; reprinted in the Bermuda Eoyal Gazette, March 29. By DeLan- 

 cey Cleveland, a great-grandson of Capt. George Ord. 



X According to tradition in Bermuda powder was taken from more than one 

 magazine for the Americans. 



