Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
Yours of the 13th to Mr. Griffiths he brought up here in order to hurry on the Guns, but being determined to Ascertain the Quality before I proceeded any further, made trial of five I have cast & find the Mettle has not sufficient Cohesion tho as grey as lead, and with the usual Powder (which I had by me for blasting in the Myne) they have burst in Pieces in proving, so thought it my Duty to give you this earliest Notice. The Draft of the Twelve Pounder was drawn by Coll. Masen of the Artillery, the Nine Pounder by Mr. Collis Superintindant of the Newyork Water Works, and the four Pounder by Mr. Griffiths all of them as directed sixteen Calibers of their Shott. The Wood Work all turn’d by one Mr. Turk, and the Pewter Mouldings by Bradford & McEwen of New York. had been at the expence to get some Cannon Moulder that had work’d at Carron1 in Scotland, & others that had cast the Brass Field Pieces at New York at exorbitant Wages, which with the Alterations & Expences I have been at are a very heavy Loss to a Person in my Situation. If the Gentlemen of the Committee are pleased to consider my Case, as I believe they dont wish any who are endeavouring to serve the Cause should be sufferers, I shall take it very kind. The Shott I hope to get ready as soon as was 233called for & am with the greatest sorrow for the Disassapointment Hond. Sir Your very Humble Servant,
The Carron Works, near Falkirk, Stirlingshire, were producing iron guns—from three-to forty-one-pounders—from 1759. In 1776 they cast their first “Carronade,” a short, light, iron cannon of some renown (Charles Ffoulkes, The Gun-Founders of England [Cambridge, 1937], 118).
On receiving yours of the 13th went immediately for Mr. Patricks Furnace in Orange County. Found by the Trial he made that the Mettle tho exceeding Grey was no ways suited for casting Gunns, as what he tried burst in the proving tho more than commonly fortified. Am just this Minute returned & enclose his Letter.
The Price of Pig Iron for some time past in Newyork is as follows
| York Money | |
| Andover—sold by Mr. Stewart1 | £9.10 per Ton |
| Stirling—sold by Mr. Hawkhurst2 | £11 per Ton |
| Ancram—Mr. Livingstone’s3 | £10 per Ton |
| Hibernia—Messrs. Murray’s & Co.4 | £9 per Ton |
| Mount Hope—Mr. Faish5 | £9 per Ton |
| Ringwood Charlotteburgh & Longpond, Mr. Erskine6 | £9 per ton |
And as none of course will convey to Poughkeepsie & deliver it there under Nine Pounds, Mr. Patrick will expect that Price, & the Quantity of one Hundred Tons will be conveyed there from time to time as Oppertunity serves. With Sincere sorrow for the Dissapointment in the Article of Gunn making at Orange Furnace I beg leave to subscribe myself Hond. Sir Your ready & very Hble. Servt.,
The Andover Ironworks in Sussex County, New Jersey, were opened about 1760 to take advantage of the nearby mine, “the ore is esteemed of the best quality of any in America.” Archibald Stewart (also spelled Stuart) was associated with the Union Iron Works in 1766 when he was one of the administrators on the estate of John Hacket of the Andover Ironworks and by 1770 was apparently in charge of the Andover works (Forges and Furnaces in the Province of Pennsylvania, 44; Pennsylvania Gazette, Nov. 6, 1766, Oct. 4, 1770, Feb. 8, 1775).
The Sterling Iron Works were operated by W. Hawxhurst (Rita Susswein Gottesman, The Arts and Crafts in New York, 1726–1776. Collections of the New-York Historical Society, vol. 69 [New York, 1938], 217).
Robert Livingston, Jr., operated a forge at Ancram in the Manor of Livingston from at least 1744. In 1760 he built a new forge there and advertised for “Three good Refiners to make bar-iron” (New-York Weekly Journal, Apr. 2, 1744; New-York Mercury, Oct. 27, 1760).
Hibernia Furnace was erected in 1763 or 1764 near Rockaway, N.Y. In 1776, Robert and John Murray, prominent New York merchants, were the agents (Charles S. Boyer, Early Forges & Furnaces in New Jersey [Philadelphia, 1931], 94; Thomas M. Doerflinger, “Hibernia Furnace During the Revolution,” New Jersey History 90[1972]:97–114).
John Jacob Faesch (1729–1799), a Swiss native and ironmaster, erected the Mt. Hope Furnace, three miles north of Dover, N.J., in 1772 [
DAB
; Boyer, Early Forges & Furnaces in New Jersey, 136].
Robert Erskine (1735–1780) was a Scots geographer and hydraulic engineer sent in 1771 to represent a group of British capitalists, investors in the American Iron Company, which owned the Ringwood, Charlotteburgh, and Longpond ironworks in New Jersey, of which Erskine became manager and agent. During the Revolution Erskine took up the patriot cause and was commissioned as geographer and surveyor-general of the Continental Army (
DAB
; Albert H. Heusser, George Washington’s Map Maker: A Biography of Robert Erskine [New Brunswick, N.J., 1966]).