290 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1776. 



of the Provincial fleet prevented them from ascending higher up 

 the river than the neighborhood of Wilmington. Here on the 

 8th of May both vessels were attacked by the Provincial fleet 

 under the command of Capt. Reed. Col. Miles, with 100 rifle- 

 men, had repaired to that vicinity, with the view of rendering 

 any assistance in his power, and witnessed the engagement. At 

 4 o'clock on that day, he writes from the river bank near Wil- 

 mington, to the Committee of Safety : " Our boats and the two 

 men of war have been engaged for two hours at long shot. I 

 believe there is no damage done on either side, tho' I suppose 

 three or four hundred shot have passed between them. * * * 

 Our boats fire much better than the other vessels, but in my 

 opinion engage at too great a distance."^ * * * 



There was disappointment expressed at the failure of the 

 Gondolas or armed boats, to capture or destroy the Roebuck ; 

 and those in charge of the expedition, to screen themselves from 

 censure, attributed their want of success to a deficiency of 

 supplies, particularly of ammunition ; thus casting the blame on 

 the Committee of Safety. This body very promptly asked the 

 Assembly, " to promote such an inquiry as shall satisfy the 

 public where the blame & misconduct is justly chargeable." 

 Perhaps an item in the instructions sent by the Committee to 

 t^apt. Reed — " to he careful in exposing any of the Boats to capture 

 or destruction" — had as much to do in causing the failure of 

 the expedition as the want of supplies. 



From the following orders, adopted by the Committee on the 

 7th of May, it may be inferred, that a considerable land force 

 was at this time stationed at Chester : 



" Robert Towers was directed to deliver to Colo. Samuel 

 Miles, for the use of the Provincial troops under his command 

 1000 pounds of gunpowder and 2000 pounds of Lead, or as 

 great a part thereof as is in store." At the same time 20,000 

 cartridges for muskets, "for the use of the Associators of 

 Chester County," were directed to be conveyed there " agree- 

 ably to Col. Miles direction." And on the next day, the Com- 

 missary was directed, " to send down to Chester, for the use of 

 the Provincial troops under Col. Miles, Sixty Firelocks." 

 These guns were sent under the protection of a guard. 



After procuring a supply of saltpetre, the next great necessity 

 of the country was to have it manufactured into powder. There 

 was no powder-mill in the Province before the Revolution broke 

 out. An oflBcial report made on the 3d of June, shows that the 

 first powder-mill put in operation was that of Doctor Robert 

 Harris, "on Crum Creek, about three miles from Chester." It 

 began to work about the 23d of May. The dimensions of the 



' Penna. Archives, iv. 748. 



