1778.] HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 329 



engaged in its transportiition, when captured by the American 

 scouts, were rarely subjected to any otlicr punishment than the 

 forfeiture of their goods and the imposition (»f a fine. In default 

 of the latter, a good whipping was sometimes substituted. In 

 the townships nearest the city, even some of those who were not 

 disposed to favor tlie enemy, engaged in this traihc; for wiiile 

 persons at a distance had no temptation but British gold, these 

 had no alternative but to carry their produce within the lines of 

 the enemy and receive its value, or have it taken without com- 

 pensation. 



It is a singular circumstance, and one not easily accounted 

 for, that such a bold and efficient officer as Gen. Wayne, and one 

 so perfectly acquainted with the country west of the Schuylkill 

 as he undoubtedly was, should not, at this particular juncture, 

 have been assigned a position where his local knowledge would 

 have been so valuable in defending the inhabitants of his native 

 county from the aggressions of the enemy. But his command 

 was encamped during nearly the whole winter and spring at 

 Mount Joy, in Lancaster County, a point so distant that even 

 the advice that his local knowledge would have enabled him to 

 give, could not be made available.' 



But our people were not subjected to the depredations of the 

 enemy alone. The necessities of our army at the Valley Forge 

 had become so great that Congress had authorized the Comman- 

 der-in-chief to seize provisions for its use at any place within 

 seventy miles of his headquarters. Washington reluctantly 

 yielded to the overwhelming necessity that induced Congress to 

 confer this unusual authority upon him; but he did yield, and in 

 order that the present year's crop should be made available for 

 the pressing necessities of the army, he had, early in the winter, 

 issued a proclamation enjoining and requiring all persons resi- 

 ding within seventy miles of his head-quarters to thresh out one 

 half of their grain by the first of February, and the other half 

 by the first of March, under the penalty of having all that re- 

 mained in sheaves after the last mentioned period seized by the 

 Commissaries and Quartermasters of the army and pa/<? for as 

 straw.'- The necessities of the army were too great to await the 

 times specified in the proclamation ; and the General was obliged 

 to keep parties of bis troops threshing grain to prevent his sup- 

 plies from failing. Certificates were given for the property 



• Gen. Wayne is said to have commanded a foraging expedition •' with orders to seize 

 every article proper for the use of the army within fifteen miles of the Delaware, and 

 to destroy the forage on the islands hetwccn Philadelphia and Chester." — {Mamliall'ii 

 Life of iyanhitujf oil.) To the author this appears to be a mistake. 



- It has been erroneously supposed by some that this proclamation for threshing 

 w;is in order to procure straw for the use of the troops. Ths cry from the camp was 

 incessant for /oud and clothiixj. 



