Supplying an 18th century army was not as complex as it was during WWII, but still Washington’s army needed supplies. Besides commercially available items like food and uniforms, the main needs of the army were: muskets and rifles, powder, lead for bullets, cannon, and ammunition for cannon.
The mercantilist policy prevalent in the 18th century dictated that colonies existed to serve and enrich the Mother Country. Colonies existed to produce cheap raw materials for the Mother Country and to consume its manufactured goods. Nevertheless, the colonies, which were rich in the materials needed to produce iron – iron ore, limestone, water, and an ample supply of wood for charcoal – were quick to establish a domestic iron industry, starting at Saugus, MA, in 1646. In 1750, Parliament passed the Iron Act of 1750, which was intended to discourage colonial iron manufacturing. But this was widely ignored and by the time of the Revolution more than 60 “iron plantations” existed in the colonies.
Much of the supply of arms (and ships) came from foreign aid and purchases, notably from the French, who sold the colonies arms and provided them after the 1778 alliance, and the Dutch, who carried on a lively trade, particularly in gunpowder, through the Caribbean port of Sint Eustatius.
But the colonies were able to supply a great deal of Washington’s army’s needs. Perhaps the strongest production was cannon and cannon balls. They were produced at iron plantations, which were complex operations that combined a source of water to power the operation, a supply of iron ore and limestone, ample woodlands to make charcoal, and a workforce of free and enslaved workers. The operation included a blast furnace, to melt iron or and turn it into iron bars and various fabricating operations.
Nearby ironworks that supplied Washington’s army included Pine Grove Furnace; Mary Ann Furnace in Hanover, which used German POWs to produce cannon balls and grapeshot; Hopewell Furnace (now administered by the National Park Service, which produced 115 cannon for the Navy as well as cannon balls and grapeshot); Carlisle Ironworks in Boiling Springs; and, in nearby Maryland, Catoctin Furnace. Besides cannon and ammunition, these operations also produced rifle and musket parts, camp kettles, and other equipment.
The colonies produced almost no gunpowder at the start of the war, except for several small operations near Philadelphia. Most gunpowder was obtained from sources in the Caribbean. Washington and the Continental Congress urged the expansion of domestic gunpowder production and a few new sources were created in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Lead was needed for bullets. The Chiswell Lead Mines in Wythe County, VA, were the largest source of lead in the colonies, but another lead mine was located in Sinking Springs Valley, PA, near Altoona on the frontier. In 1778, General Daniel Roberdeau built a fort in to protect the lead mine in the Pennsylvania frontier.
Most soldiers in the Revolution used the inaccurate but relatively quick to load musket. The rifle was a specialized weapon, used by hunters on the frontier, where accuracy was prized, and by select groups of sharpshooters. The best rifle in the world was the Pennsylvania long rifle, sometimes called the Kentucky rifle, which was made by highly skilled gunsmiths in Lancaster County.
Manufacturing industries were still fairly primitive in the colonies at the time of the American Revolution. But a combination of natural resources and entrepreneurialism allowed domestic sources to produce a lot of the needs of Washington’s army.
