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Collection Reference Number GLC02437.01202
From Archive Folder The Henry Knox Papers [0033] September 1781 
Title A list of the Vessels appropriated to the American Army, loaded with Ordnance and Stores
Date September 1781
Document Type Military document
Content Description Enumerates the military stores for use in the siege of Yorktown that had been embarked on sixty-four ships at Head of Elk, Maryland. The names of the ships and captains are recorded. Pages 1-3 list 64 ships, enumerating type (sloop, schooner, etc.), name, captain and tonnage. (The captain of the schooner "Dolphin" is listed as "James. Negro.") Page 4 (entirely in Shaw's hand) lists quantities of ball and shell. (An annotation indicates a quantity of ball "unloaded to give the French the vessel and put on board the others...." Another indicates that a quantity of shell was on a vessel that was "cast away on Back River Point.") Pages 5-15 comprise "An account of Ordnance & Ordnance stores ship'd on board of several Vesels [sic] at the head of Elk, bound to James River." This account lists ship names, captains and articles shipped in each vessel. Cargo ranges from munitions and weapons to tools and other supplies (among them barrels of flour "for the American Army" and "for the French army"). A "Remarks" column notes transfers of cargo. A note next to the "Dolphin" entry says its cargo was transferred because the vessel was "unfit to proceed." Includes some annotations in the hand of Samuel Shaw.
Subjects Battle (Siege, Surrender) of Yorktown  African American History  Military History  Revolutionary War  Maritime  Transportation  Continental Army  Artillery  Ammunition  Military Provisions  Military Supplies  France  Global History and Civics  
People Knox, Henry (1750-1806)  
Place written Head of Elk, Maryland
Theme The American Revolution; Merchants & Commerce; Naval & Maritime; African Americans
Sub-collection The Henry Knox Papers
Copyright The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859