1776.] HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 1^87 



^8 lf\s.; Upper Providence, £S 12s. 9d.; Ridley (including 

 Tinicum), X-'U 10«. ; Radnor, £11 ISs. (W. ; Sprin<,'field, £13 

 15«. SlL; Tliornbury, £12 6«. ; Biruiintrham, £0 9.s. 2d. 



At a meeting of the Chester County Committee, held on the 

 26th of December, (1775,) regulations were enacted to secure a 

 perfect organization of the Associators, agreeably to a vote of 

 the Assembly. At the same meeting it was also ''Resolved, that 

 Anthony Wayne, James Moore, Francis Johnston Esq, D' Sam- 

 uel Kenedy, Caleb Davis, William Montgomery, Persifor Frazer, 

 and Richard Thomas, Gentlemen, or any five or more of them, 

 be appointed, and they are hereby appointed, to represent this 

 county, (if occasion be,) in Provincial Convention for the ensuing 

 year."^ 



The Committee of Safety hehl its sessions almost daily in 

 Philadelphia. Their duties were arduous in the extreme. It is 

 indeed difficult to comprehend how a body of men could control 

 and direct such an amount of business, in all its details, as was 

 brought under their notice. Some idea may be gained, in respect 

 to their doings, by a detail of such of their transactions as relate 

 more particularly to this county or its vicinity. 



Four battalions of Continental troops were ordered by Con- 

 gress to be raised in Pennsylvania. At the request of that body, 

 the Committee recommended proper persons for officers. An- 

 thony Wayne received the unanimous recommendation of the 

 Committee for the office of Colonel. On the 17th of January, 

 the Committee resolved, " that Col.» Wayne, Col. Johnson, M'' 

 Bartholomew & M"" Reiley, be a committee to examine the Fire- 

 locks, Cartridge boxes, Knapsacks &c. as ordered by the Assem- 

 bly to be provided by Chester County * * *." 



The two tiers of chevaux-de-frize that had already been laid 

 •were not regarded as sufficient. Others were constructed at 

 Gloucester, and on the loth of March it was resolved by the 

 Committee, " that John Cobourn be employed to take the Che- 

 vaux-de-Frize, when launched at Gloucester, and sink them in 

 their proper places near Fort Island, and that he be authorized 

 to procure anything for the purpose, hire persons under him, on 

 the best and cheapest terms, and that he draw on this board for 

 the expense." 



Saltpetre for the manufacture of gunpowder was the great 

 desideratum of the times, and great apprehensions were enter- 

 tained in regard to the possibility of obtaining a sufficient 

 supply for a successful defence of the Province. The following 

 advertisement shows the extraordinary means adopted to insure 

 a supply of this necessary article : 



1 Pennsylvania Packet. 



