The cause of many difficulties faced by Washington that winter appears
to have been the near chaotic state of American finances. Currency
issued by Congress tumbled headlong in value, until in April-June 1780
it took $60 worth of “Continental” paper to equal $1 in coin. “Money is
extreme scarce,” wrote General Greene on February 29, “and worth little
when we get it. We have been so poor in camp for a fortnight that we
could not forward the public dispatches for want of cash to support the
expresses.” Civilians who had provisions and other necessaries to sell
would no longer “trust” as they had done before; and without funds,
teams could not be found to bring in supplies from distant magazines.
Reenlistment of veteran troops and recruitment of new levies became
doubly difficult. Even the depreciated money wages of the army were not
punctually paid, being frequently 5 or 6 months in arrears. Dr. Thacher
wailed at length about “the trash which is tendered to requite us for
our sacrifices, for our sufferings and privations, while in the service
of our country.” No wonder that desertions soon increased alarmingly,
and that many officers, no longer able to support families at home,
resigned their commissions in disgust! At the end of May an abortive
mutiny of two Connecticut regiments in Jockey Hollow, though quickly
suppressed, foreshadowed the far more serious outbursts fated to occur
within a year.