Chest

Title:

Quartermaster General's Campaign Chest

Object Name:

Chest

Creator:

Unknown

Date:

1770-1780

Material:

Pine, iron, paint

Dimensions:

H-4.75 L-21 Dia-7 inches

Description:

A large wooden chest with dovetailed joints, molding around the base, lid molding on two sides and original iron hardware (the right side lid molding is missing.) The chest retains its original black paint on the exterior and some of the original red paint on the interior, as well as its original massive lid hinges. Also all well wrought iron hardware including corner clamps, handles and lock hasp are original. "QMG" is carved into the middle of the lid and there is a 3 inch by 2.5 inch piece of paper that reads "Q M General No.1" nailed to the right side of the chest.

Provenance:

The chest was in the Pickering family until 1994.

Timothy Pickering (1745-1829) of Salem, Massachusetts, was a lawyer by trade, having graduated from Harvard in 1763. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Essex Militia in 1766 and began to study military history and tactics, which led to his writing of An Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia. This manual was used by Continental troops until superseded in 1779 by the more extensive (and more famous) volume by Baron von Steuben.
Pickering served as Adjutant General under General Washington from 1777 to 1780, issuing many of the general's orders, and traveling with the army. In August 1780, Pickering was appointed Quartermaster General of the Continental Army. The Quartermaster General's job was to obtain supplies for the army (including food, weapons, and uniforms), and to coordinate transportation for the army when it moved. Pickering had great difficulty in providing the necessary supplies due to insufficient funds. At one point, a frustrated Pickering wrote to Congress, "If any man can, without money, carry on the extensive business of this department, I wish most sincerely he would take my place. I confess myself incapable of doing it."

Subjects:

Campaigns, Military, Chests

People:

Pickering, Timothy

Place of Origin:

Unknown

Collection Name:

Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire

Item Number:

2004.001

Accession Number:

2004.001

Type of Material:

Objects

Copyright Statement:

For information regarding copyright, permissions, and reproductions contact the American Independence Museum

Credit Line:

purchased by members of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire, December 2003

Participating Organization:

American Independence Museum