inexpressible concern, 390, 2 consciousness of a trust, 390, 13 too great for my capacity, 390, 13 distant prospect, 390, 15 perceive, from the tenor, 391, 4 exposing my character to censures, 391, 8 summon your fortitude, 391, 17 ardent desire, 391, 20 tolerable degree of tranquillity, 391, 22 prudence dictates, 391, 25 temporal concerns, 391, 26 unfeigned regard, 391, 34 GEORGE WASHINGTON TO GOVERNOR GEORGE CLINTON Valley Forge, 16 February, 1778 Dear Sir: It is with great reluctance I trouble you on a subject which does not properly fall within your province; but it is a subject that occasions me more distress than I have felt since the commencement of the war; and which loudly demands the most zealous exertions of every person of weight and authority, who is interested in the success of our affairs; I mean the present dreadful situation of the army, for want of provision, and the miserable prospects before us, with respect to futurity. It is more alarming than you will probably conceive; for, to form a just idea of it, it were necessary to be on the spot. For some days past, there has been little less than a famine in camp. A part of the army has been a week without any kind of flesh, and the rest three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been, ere this, excited by their suffering to a general mutiny and dispersion. Strong symptoms, however, of discontent have appeared in particular instances; and nothing but the most active efforts, everywhere, can long avert so shocking a catastrophe. Our present sufferings are not all. There is no foundation laid for any adequate relief hereafter. All the magazines provided in the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, and all the immediate additional supplies they seem capable of affording, will not be sufficient to support the army more than a month longer, if so long. Very little has been done at the eastward, and as little to the southward; and whatever we have a right to expect from those quarters must necessarily be very remote, and is, indeed, more precarious than could be wished. When the before-mentioned supplies are exhausted, what a terrible crisis must ensue, unless all the energy of the Continent shall be exerted to provide a timely remedy! I am etc. NOTES AND QUESTIONS