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New York, July 19, 1776.
HONOURED SIR: Walter Livingston, Esquire, Deputy Commissary-General at Albany, writes of the 15th instant, as he has done several times before, that large supplies of fresh beef, &c˙, are wanting in the Northern Army; that he has no money to procure them with; and that the chest there is empty. That the chest is empty, is confirmed to me by my brother' s letter of the same date. Mr˙ Livingston writes me that he is in debt already more than $30,000; and my brother, that the whole $500,000 ordered some time ago, $200,000 of which went by General Gates, would not pay their old debts.
For fear my department should suffer for want of cash, I am sending an express this afternoon to Mr˙ Livingston, with $18,000, which can but illy be spared from here; but as eating cannot go on without cash, and they are worse off for it than we are at present, I thought it my duty to do it,
I am, honourable sir, your most humble servant,
To the Hon˙ John Hancock, Esq˙, President of the Congress of the United States of America, at Philadelphia.
P˙ S˙ Mr˙ Gerry is here — better than when he left Philadelphia.
Letter from Joseph Trumbull to the President of Congress
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and at the same time to write Congress, and beg that my department to the northward may not suffer for the want of so necessary an article as cash.
JOSEPH TRUMBULL.