Grandfather, as usual, is tight-lipped about public affairs, but Uncle Richard hears plenty of news on the Change, as he calls it, meaning, I believe, the Exchange where merchants meet and talk. It seems that General Washington is in deep trouble. The very unprofessional army that he put together is short of clothing, provisions, ammunition, and the money to buy those essentials. The officers are disgruntled. The privates threaten to mutiny if their wages are cut.
Enlistments are about to expire and the prospect of renewal is uncertain.
In several letters to the congressional delegates in Philadelphia, this past September, he laid his difficulties before them and intimated that only they could keep the Army from disintegrating. Benny had been listening to his father, his serious little face in a frown. Aunt Sally and I chuckled. But he was appointed, he accepted, and he set off this morning with two colleagues named Thomas Lynch and Benjamin Harrison. He told us not to expect any news from him until he came back.