31st. Arrived at Philadelphia to dinner and immediately hastened up all the Vessels that could be procured—but finding them inadequate to the purpose of transporting both Troops & Stores, Count de Rochambeau & myself concluded it would be best to let the Troops March by land to the head of Elk, & gave directions accordingly to all but the 2d. York Regiment which was ordered (with its baggage) to come down in the Batteaux they had in charge to Christiana bridge.1
1. The Pa. Packet, 2 Sept. 1781, , 332, and , 116, all give 30 Aug. as the date of arrival in Philadelphia where GW, Rochambeau, and their entourage were “received by crowds of people with shouts and acclamations” (, 332). On 28 Aug., Robert Morris had offered GW his house for the commander in chief’s stay in Philadelphia since the city was “filled with Strangers” and private lodgings were almost impossible to acquire (DLC:GW). The French officers lodged at the residence of the chevalier de La Luzerne, “where M. de Rochambeau and his staff were housed like princes.” In the evening they dined with Robert Morris (, 116). GW’s main purpose in visiting Philadelphia was to arrange for supplies and transport for the march to Virginia (see GW to Robert Morris, 17, 24, 27 Aug. 1781, GW to de Grasse, 17 Aug. 1781, DLC:GW; for the conference between Morris and GW on supplying the campaign, see Morris’s diary, 31 Aug. 1781, DLC: Robert Morris Papers).
For GW’s orders of march, see his two letters to Benjamin Lincoln, 31 Aug. 1781 (MH). For the progress of the French army to Head of Elk, see , 1:40–51, 253–55; , 107–15.