Yet, had the army been assembled at Fort Washington July 15 instead of September 5, there would have been no such thing as moving northward for weeks. No sooner had the first of the troops reached St. Clair than it was clear that he had made no mistake in hurrying to the point of rendezvous. For instance the carriages of the guns used in Harmar's campaign were ruined and had not been replaced. There was no corps of artificers and drafting was resorted to in order to secure smiths, carpenters, harness-makers, wheelwrights, etc. With the arrival of Major Ferguson, June 20, it became clear that nearly all the ammunition had yet to be properly prepared; a laboratory had to be built; the shells had to be filled with powder, likewise the artillery cartridges, the shells for howitzers and musket cartridges. Not only did enough of this work have to be done for the immediate use of the army, but a sufficient supply had to be prepared for each of the posts to be erected between Fort Washington and the Maumee, and to supply the main fort on the Maumee and its defenders until spring. The carriages of the guns that arrived from Philadelphia were rendered useless and new ones had to be made. Almost all arms which the troops brought to Fort Washington were out of repair. An armory had to be built, and, says General St. Clair, "so fast did the work of that kind increase upon our hands, that at one time it appeared as if it would never be got through with."[94] An indeterminate amount of powder shipped from Philadelphia was practically ruined before it reached Fort Washington; one boatload was entirely submerged on the way from Fort Pitt. The officers attempted to keep this from the men but the news leaked out. "The powder was very bad," records Ensign Pope of the militia, "I fired at a tree several times and hit but seldom; it would not force the ball." Such of the powder as was good stood little chance of remaining so in the wretched tents that were palmed off on the quartermaster-general. Colonel Mentgetz, inspector, is our authority for the fact that, with the exception of two companies, the tents would not keep out rain at either front or back. General Harmar said the flanks of the tents were of Russian sheeting and the ends were of crocus or osnaburg and would not, in his opinion, keep out rain. According to Major Zeigler the tents were infamous and "many hundred dozen of cartridges were destroyed, and the troops, not being kept dry were sick in great numbers."[95] The packsaddles were too big--"big enough for elephants," said an officer; the axes sent from Philadelphia were useless--"would bend up like a dumpling," according to Major Zeigler. In fact Fort Washington was transformed into a manufacturing city, and there was almost no kind of work that was not done--though often the necessary tools had first to be made. Two traveling forges had been sent west of which only the anvils were missing!