General Orders, 17 January 1778
General Orders
Head-Quarters V. Forge Saturday Jany 17. 1778.
Parole: BuckinghamCountersigns: Boston. Brentwood.
Thomas Bradford Esquire is appointed Deputy Commissary General of Prisoners.1 His Quarters are at Mr David Havard’s the next house to the Marquis de-la-Fayettes.2
The Brigadiers and Officers commanding Brigades are to meet this evening at Genl Varnum’s Quarters to consult and agree upon proper & speedy measures to exchange raw-hides for shoes; They will as soon as possible critically review & examine into the State and condition of the Arms in their respective Brigades; get those out of repair put in order as soon as possible and consult upon the most speedy method of procuring a sufficient number of proper sized Bayonets to supply the deficiency thereof: The General desires that they will likewise agree upon the most proper and speedy measure to have all the Officers in their Brigades furnish’d with half Pikes agreeable to the General Order of the 22nd of December last.
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
Brig. Gen. Edward Hand’s orderly book for this date includes additional instructions for “The same Field Officers and same number for fatigue as paraded this morning, to parade Tomorrow Morning at Eight OClock” (DNA: RG 93, Orderly Books, 1775–1783, vol. 20).
1. Thomas Bradford (1745–1838) and his father, William Bradford, Sr. (1722–1791), owned the well-established Bradford family bookselling and printing business on Market Street in Philadelphia. In 1766 Thomas joined his father in managing the Pennsylvania Journal; and the Weekly Advertiser (Philadelphia), which had been printed by William since 1742, and he took over the newspaper entirely in 1778. William and Thomas also printed the 1774–75 journals of Congress, although Congress found their edition unsatisfactory (see , 21 [1897], 170–76). Thomas, who had opened a circulating library in Philadelphia in 1769 and taken a prominent role in resisting the Stamp Act, served under his father in 1777 as captain of the Chestnut Ward company of the Philadelphia City Militia Battalion, and then as captain of the 1st Battalion of Philadelphia militia. He acted as deputy commissary general of prisoners at least until 1780 and took over the Bradford bookselling and printing business after his father’s death in 1791.
2. Lafayette’s quarters were on the east bank of Valley Creek about half a mile southwest of the main encampment, in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, apparently in a house owned by Samuel Havard. David Havard (born c.1750) and Samuel Havard owned adjacent estates of 300 and 200 acres, respectively.