Ride the Way-Back Machine to 1775

[The Miner '49er]

Here we are in 2023 grousing about the shortage of Goex. Hop on the Way-Back Machine to Boston in 1775.
George Washington had less than 14,000 newly minted troops who were about to face 6,000 British Regulars, the most feared soldiers on the planet. GW thought he had 308 barrels of powder, but soon learned, to his dismay, that he actually had a sum total of 36 barrels, and that was for artillery use as well as for the troopers! To top it off, he had a zero backup supply of flints and merely two tons of lead. That would give his soldiers enough supplies for nine shots each. What did the Brits have? 60 rounds each. While he pressed for more supplies, and quick delivery, he did three things. One - he instituted measures to curtail any unnecessary use of powder. Two - he told his troops that he was embarrassed by how much powder he had. Three - he leaked it to the Brits that he had 1800 barrels of powder. We're here today because of his determination, so it's likely we will survive the "Goex shortage of '23." I bet GW would have been a heck of a poker player. Read more about this in the article Patriot Riflemen During the Ammunition Crisis at the Siege of Boston in 1775, by Hugh T. Harrington at AmericanRevolution.org.