Accounting statements

Collection

Identifier: VAULT oversize-Ayer-MS-3069

Staff Only

Abstract

Includes three separate accounting statements recording ordnance supplies held at Greenleaf's Point and at Fort Belle Fontaine.The first item is a detailed accounting notebook (18 pages) of expenditures for basic supplies at Greenleaf's Point Arsenal (1817-1820) under the command of Capt. Joseph S. Nelson. The notebook contains over 400 entries for a variety of provisions including lumber, shovels, nails, rope, oil and lead. The other two items briefly enumerate accounts of ordnance stores at Fort Belle Fontaine (Sept. & Dec. 1820). Each statement lists the military weapons held at the fort such as cannons, howitzers, small arms, and ammunition supplies.

Dates

Creation: 1820

Creator

United States. Army. Ordnance Department (Organization)

Biographical / Historical

The accounting statements of the U.S. Arsenal at Greenleaf's Point and Fort Belle Fontaine exemplify the Army's ordnance needs in the early years of the republic. Now known as Fort Lesley J. McNair, the Arsenal at Greenleaf's Point was established in the 1790's at the mouth of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. And Fort Belle Fontaine was built in 1805 on the Missouri River just north of St. Louis and served as the military headquarters of the region until 1826.