Sir, Warwick-Furnace Sept. the 24th 1776

Since my arrivel here I have been at Mr. Birds Furnace to know how they were like to succeed in casting their contract of cannon, and find Mr. Bird hath sold one of his Teams of horses & Ordered the Manneger to cast the few Moulds they had made & no more, and put the furnace out of Blast, and then bore the remainder of the guns. They have cast in all 60—12 pounders 19—9 pounders & 17—4 pounders, That is

13—12 lbrs.	{	proved & sent to Philada.	]	7—12 lb.	{	proved & not yet sent down	]	38—12 lbrs.} not	2—12 lbrs.}	To cast & Bore
8—9 Do.				2—9				8—9 Do. } bored	1—9 Do. }
7—4 Do.				4—4				5—4 Do.	1—4 Do. }

By which you’ll see he will fall vastly short of the complement he was to cast. I do not know the Number of Nine lbrs. the Frigat is to carry but soppose you’ll not have enough by 5 or 7. If you want a few 12 & 9 cast Messrs. Rutter & Potts have don with their contract with the counciel of safty and are at lesure to do it if you can agree with them. Mr. Samuel Potts will be in Philada. in a day or two. As they intend to put their Furnace out of Blast in 10 or 15 day they will not do it cast them without you give them enough shot to keep the Furnace going that is to use all the Metal she maks. They have cast some prity nice 9 lbrs. about two Inches longer then Birds one of which you may see on Capt. Andrew Caldwells warff. If you cannot agree with them you may prevail with the counciel of safty to let Mr. Old cast what few 12, 9, & 4 pounders you may want. I am almost sure he will do it. He has cast some very neat 3 & 4 lbrs. for 294Mr. Nathl: Tyson of virginia Some of which will be in Town this week. I shall go to Mr. Grubbs to morrow & as soon as I have used what powder they have there shall return to these Furnaces & If you have sett either of them to worke shall prepare Draufts for them &ca. In the Intrem I remain with much Esteem your Humble Servant,

Daniel Joy

RC ; addressed: “To The Honble: Robert Treat Pain In Philadelphia”; endorsed. RTP notes on the reverse:

	12 lb.	9 lb.	4 lb.
Bird was to cast	76	20	20

12 lb.	9 lb.	4 lb.
13	8	7
7	2	4
38	8	5
2	1	1
50	Wants 19	17
Wants 26		Wants 3

Sr., Philada. Septr. 25th. 1776.

Mr. Gerry delivered me a letter yo. sent by Major Cox1; I have been a long time anxious to know the state of Gun Powder manufacture in our Government and have wrote repeatedly withot. being able to get any satisfactory information. We have had great success in making saltpetre, but without great Care it will be all spoilt in making into Gunpowder. There have been some great instances here of miserable trash trun’d out for Gunpowder, which occasioned the Congress to appoint a committee to enquire into the defect and procure a remedy. . . .

. . . I am exceeding glad to find you turning yr. attention to this very important Manufacture. I hope you will not only make improvements in 295yr. own Works but communicate Knowledge to the other Powder makers and do what lays in yr Power to promote the manufacture of good Powder for it must be a most cruel Vexation in the day of decision for Liberty or Slavery to have the Scale turn against us meerly thro’ the defect of our own Powder. This matter has lain as a Burthen on my mind and has caused me to apply great attention to this manufacture. . . .

Congress have passed some resolves to prevent the bad manufacture of Powder and also the importation of bad Powder, (for much Powder which has been imported from abroad has proved exceed bad) and have recommended inspectors to be appointed to prove all Powder. This matter should be carefully attended to. Majr. Cox will describe to you the machine by which we made most of our Experiments. You will excuse the freedom I take in addressing you thus freely when you consider the real importance of the subject. I wish the Inhabitants of the United States were more intent upon providing and manufacturing the Means of defence, than making Governments witht. providing for the means of their Support. Wishing you Success in yr. noble Efforts to promote that best Good of yr Country, its defence from powerful enemies, I part your most hble. Servt.,

R T Paine

Original not located; reprinted from Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress (Washington, 1921–1936), 2:101 , which misinterprets the endorsement as: “Mr. Paine to S. P. Eve [?] on Gun powder.” Ellipses appear as in the transcription.

1.

Lemuel Cox (1736–1806) assisted in the building of the Andover powder mill and claimed to have “invented a machine for granulating the powder whereby one man could granulate five hundredweight in one day at the same time saving the labor of fifty men.” Cox later became known as a bridge builder for his work on the bridge from Boston to Charlestown in 1786 and the bridge in Waterford, Ireland, in 1795 (Walter Kendall Watkins, Lemuel Cox: Bridge Builder and Inventor, 1736–1806 [Malden, Mass., 1907], 6).