From Frederick, Maryland, Meriwether Lewis writes a letter to the Superintendent of Schuylkill Arsenal, William Irvine, ordering two hundred pounds of portable soup—a reduced gelatinous mixture that can be stored in tin cans.
Portable Soup
Historical interpretation by John W. Fisher. Photo © 2018 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Fredericktown, Apr. 15th 1803
Sir [William Irvine],
It is probable that in the course of ten or twelve days I shall have the pleasure of being with you in Philadelphia; the object of my visit to that place is principally to provide the articles necessary for my intended expedition in the western country. Portable-Soup, in my opinion, forms one of the most essential articles in this preparation, and fearing that it cannot be procured readily in such quantity as is requisite, I have, in order to save time and to guard against possible disappointment, taken the liberty to request, that (you) will procure two hundred pounds of it for me, and that should so large a quantity not be attainable ready made, that you would be so good as to contract with some person to prepare the ballance as soon as possible. I have supposed that the soup would cost about one dollar pr. lb, but should it however, come much higher the quantity must be limited by the sum of 250$. as more cannot be expended in it’s purchase.—
Your attention to this subject will much oblige
Your friend &
Obt. Humbl. Servt.Meriwether Lewis.
Pt. Secy. to the Prst. US.[1]Steve Harrison, “Meriwether Lewis’s First Written Reference to the Expedition—April 15, 1803,” We Proceeded On 9 no. 4 (November 1983): 10 available at … Continue reading
Notes
| ↑1 | Steve Harrison, “Meriwether Lewis’s First Written Reference to the Expedition—April 15, 1803,” We Proceeded On 9 no. 4 (November 1983): 10 available at lewisandclark.org/wpo/pdf/vol9no4.pdf#page=10. |
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