This Day in History: February 9

February 9, 1778: “Since the English supplies completely ruin the trade of the Americans, they were chiefly short of salt and clothing. For this reason, everyone who traveled across the line had to be searched carefully by the sentries, which compelled the inhabitants to resort to trickery. For example, two women who had the appearance of pregnancy passed through the outposts toward Germantown yesterday. The noncommissioned officer of the light infantry, who had charge of the picket, showed an interest in examining the pregnancy of these women. He found that it consisted of a quantity of salt on one woman and twenty-five calfskins on the other. Here again something is learned. One cannot be too careful at the outposts, for who knows whether or not these women might have supplied the leather for shoes for an entire regiment of the enemy?
—Captain Johann Ewald , 119. [More]