Halifax County Historical Society

Gunpowder in Short Supply during Revolution

 The War for Independence began with shots fired at Lexington and Concord. Shots that required gunpowder, a substance that was in short supply for colonial militias in the 1770s.

When the revolution started, there was only one American gunpowder mill, the Frankford Mill in Pennsylvania. This mill was turning out a miniscule amount of gunpowder compared to what would be needed to wage a successful war.

Any gunpowder available was purchased, and rebels were somewhat successful in clandestine efforts to “acquire” powder stored in British powder magazines. But the amount was not enough to sustain an army in the field. If George Washington’s army was going to have any chance of victory, the colonies needed to step up production or import the needed gunpowder.

The American quartermasters had secured about 80,000 pounds of gunpowder, around 13,000 pounds which was taken when a British warship was boarded in South Carolina. Just over 3,000 pounds came from Bermuda, where some locals stole gunpowder from military stores, and traded it with revolutionaries. (Bermuda was a British colony and was prohibited from any interactions with American trading companies, but because it depended on food imports from the colonies, trading gunpowder was a way to keep trade with America open.)

This lack of gunpowder was just one of the major hurdles George Washington faced when he was named commander of the Continental Army in July 1775. By fall of that year, it was evident that the Continental Army needed more guns as well as gunpowder. Congress set up a secret committee to find sources from other countries for gunpowder and supplies. The committee sent a Connecticut merchant, Silas Deane (see below), to France to seek French, Dutch and Spanish rifles and cannon, plus clothing and supplies for Washington’s troops. The supplies would arrive via the West Indies. The most important part of this covert opereation was that France would provide the gunpowder the American Revolution soldiers so desperately needed.

By the end of 1777, France had smuggled about two million pounds of gunpowder and 60,000 guns into the colonies. Once France joined the war, they openly supplied powder and arms. France also sent ground troops to join the revolutionary forces, and the French navy fought the British at sea.

Silas Deane--The Nation’s First Secret Agent

The son of a farmer in Groton, Connecticut, Silas Deane served in the Continental Congress during 1774 and 1775. In 1776, Benjamin Franklin and Congress’s Committee on Secret Correspondence sent Deane to France to pose as a merchant needing to purchase various household goods. In truth, Deane was sent to solicit money and military assistance from the government of France. America needed clothing, arms, cannons, and a large quantity of ammunition to supply at least twenty-five thousand soldiers.

Under the cover of a shell company, Deane was successful in securing eight shiploads of military supplies. He also sought experienced soldiers to join the Patriots’ fight for independence--among them the Marquis de Lafayette, whom Deane commissioned as a major general.

Joined in France by Virginian Arthur Lee and Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and the two men were signatories to the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity in 1778. These two documents recognized the independence of the colonies.