MEMOIR OF HON. RICHARD PETERS, 



215 



man}' j'ears, during: the stnisrg'le for independ- 

 ence, Iiave been ackno^\•ledg:c(l bj- a .solemn vote 

 of thanks by tliat illustrious body ; services that 

 can have been only properly appreciated by 

 those who knew, like his fello\v-laborers, the 

 destitute state of the country, and consequent 

 ditticulties in the execution of his duty as adjunct 

 war minister. 



Who among us that has associated ^vith our 

 late venerable friend, has not' often heard him 

 advert to that gloomy period of our history, iu 

 language of trejiidation and doubt ! At one 

 time the arm\- was without powder, at another, 

 lead ; and always food or clothing \\as wanting. 

 These were daily requisitions, to which no other 

 answer oftentimes could be given, than that the 

 public stores were empty. To illustrate the na- 

 ked state of our magazines, and mental anguish 

 of our public functionaries at that ci-itical time, 

 I will give you, very nearly in the ^vords of Mr. 

 Peters, a revolutionarj- anecdote, which I thought 

 sulEciently curious to note in writing, on the 9th 

 of November, 1823 — the day that it was told to 

 me by him. 



" I was Commissioner of ^Var," he said, "in 

 1779. General Wa.«hington wrote to me that 

 all his powder was wet,.and that he was entirely 

 without lead or balls ; .so that should the enemy 

 aitproach him, he must retreat. When I receiv- 

 ed this letter, I was going to a grand gala at the 

 Spani.sh ambassador' .s, who lived in Mr. Chew's 

 fine house iu South Third-street. 'Tlie spacious 

 gardens w'ere superbly decorated ■»^th variega- 

 ted lamps : the edifice itself was a blaze of light ; 

 the show was splendid ; but mj- feelings were 

 far from being in harmony with all this brillian- 

 cy. I met at this party my friend Robert Mor- 

 ris, who soon discovered the state of my mind. 

 'You are not your.self to-night, Peters; what's 

 the matter?' asked Morris. Notwithstanding 

 my unlimited confidence in that gi-eat patriot, it 

 was some time before I could prevail upon mj-- 

 self to disclose the cause of my depression ; but 

 at length I ventured to give him a hint of my 

 inability to answer the pressing calls of the 

 Commander-in-chief ' The army is without lead, 

 and I know not where to get an ounce to supply 

 it : the General must retreat for want of ammu- 

 nition.' ' "WeU. let him retreat,' replied the high 

 and liberal-minded Moms: 'but cheer up: there 

 are in the Holkar privateer, ju.st amved, ninety 

 tons of lead, one half of which is mine, and at 

 your service ; the residue you can get by apply- 

 ing to Blair MClanaghan. and Holkar, both of 

 whom are in the house with us.' 



I accepted the oflier from Mr. MoiTis, said Mr. 

 Commissioner Peters, with many thanks, and 

 addressed myself immedialely to the two gentle- 

 men who owned the other half for their consent 

 to sell ; but they had already tnisted a large 

 amount of clothing to the continental Congj-ess, 

 and were unwilling to give that body anj^ farther 

 credit. 1 intbnned Morris of their refusal. 

 ' Tell them,' said he. ' that I will paj' them for 

 their share.' This settled the bu.siness; the lead 

 was delivered ; I set three or four huwdred men 

 to work, wlw manufactured it into cartridge 

 bullets for Washington's army, to which it gave 

 complete relief." 



The sequel of this anecdote shows that the 

 supply was entirely accidental. The Holkar 

 privateer was at Martinico, preparing to return 

 home, when her Captain, Matthew Lawler, who 

 is still living, had this lead oflered to him for 

 ballast. Uncertain, however, whether the mar- 

 ket would not be overstocked by airivals from 

 M67) 



Europe, he at first rejected it; but after somt* 

 persua.sion received it on board. Wliat thanks 

 do we not owe to such men ! Peters, watchful, 

 diligent, devoted — toils uncea.singly for his coun- 

 try's good ; MoiTis, generous to prodigality, ven- 

 tures his all in the holy cause ! Happily for 

 America, such noble-spirited citizens were nu- 

 merous in those days. Providence seemed to 

 have enriched the land with them in every sec- 

 tion. As they pass from us, it is assuredly due 

 to their memoiy, to dwell for a moment on the 

 mighty debt of gratitude we owe them. 



Some other passages in the life of the celebrat- 

 ed subject of this memoir, may appositely be 

 ])laciMl here, as having particular reference to 

 the post occupied by him during the greater part 

 of the revolutionary war. 



On the 18th of June, 1778, Mr. Peters entered 

 Philadelphia, at the very time the enemy was 

 evacuating the place. He %vent there under a 

 strong escort sent with him by General W^ash- 

 ington. His object was to .secure clothing and 

 stores, secreted by our friends, who had remained 

 in the city ; and to purchase every thing he 

 could from the dealers. The British rear-guard 

 was crossing the Delaware, when he arrived. 

 He .succeeded in fiiltilling the wi.shes of the 

 American General-in-chief. Arnold took com- 

 mand of the city a few days after, while Mr. Pe- 

 ters returned to York in this State, where Con- 

 gress then held its sei3.sions. 



" I left." says Mr. Peters, (in a letter to a 

 friend,) "fifty thousand dollars to the order of 

 Arnold, for the payment of the clothing and 

 stores. The traitor seized those articles, and 

 never paid for them, but converted the greater 

 part of the money to his own use : among others, 

 to buy the countr\--.seat of Mr. M'Pherson, on the 

 Schuylkill. Colonel Pickering and I detected 

 him in ordering stores and provisions out of the 

 public magazines, to fit out privateers of his 

 own, and for his extravagant family establish- 

 ment. An attempt to stop this robberj', produ- 

 ced betv\-ecn me and Arnold an open quarrel. 

 I did not conceal but wrote to head-quarters 

 ■my want of confidence in Arnold. When his 

 traitorous conduct at West-Point became public, 

 neither Colonel Pickering nor myself were the 

 least surprised at it. He was placed in that 

 command, at the solicitous request of some re- 

 spectable New-Yorkers, who knew only his 

 military character, which I always deemed 

 overrated far beyond its real merit." 



Mr. Peters's exertions became peculiarly me- 

 ritorious and useful, at the time when General 

 Washington .suddenly changed his intended at- 

 tack on New-\^ork, to that of Y^orktown in Vir- 

 ginia. We all know that this movement clo.sed 

 the wnr. De Gras.se, with his fleet, offered to 

 cooperate to the south, provided the American 

 army could be immediately put in motion, to act 

 in concert with the fleet. His cruise ofl'thc Ches- 

 apeake, he said, \\-ould be short ; and whatever 

 the land forces intended to do, mu.st be done 

 quickly. At this crisis, there were no battering 

 cannon ready ; no means of transporting the 

 army, \\hich lay at Mortistown in New-Jersey ; 

 no money in the national treasury or militarj- 

 chest. Let the plan of relief be told in Mr. Pe- 

 ters's own words, as extracted from a letter to 

 General Han-i.sou, of the date of 12tli of January-, 

 1818. 



"In the journals of Congress of July, 1781," 

 says Mr. Peters, " a member of the Board of 

 VVar was directed to repair to head-quarters, 

 with Robert Morris, superintendent of finance, 



