A broadsheet issued on August 21, 1775, from the Continental Army headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, broadcast an urgent, industrial appeal to the local populace: “Wanted for the Continental Army. One Million of bricks. Three thousand cords of firewood…”
The sweeping logistical requisition published on August 21st laid bare the extreme, back‑and‑forth vulnerabilities facing the newborn army during the opening months of the Siege of Boston. Having hastily blocked the British forces inside the city following the bloody clashes at Bunker Hill, General George Washington faced a staggering structural crisis as he tried to shelter over 16,000 raw, poorly equipped state militiamen before the onset of a brutal New England winter. The urgent demand for a million bricks was not for fortifications, but to build thousands of uniform brick ovens and barracks chimneys to prevent a catastrophic outbreak of disease and hypothermia across the sprawling encampments.
By bypassing standard merchant channels and appealing directly to the patriotism of local brickmakers and woodcutters, the Continental command transformed the surrounding countryside into an active supply apparatus for war. This reliance on public procurement successfully stabilized the lines at Cambridge, proving that the survival of the revolution rested as much on the mass collection of raw materials as it did on gunpowder. The fragile broadside stands as a lasting testament to the grit of the home front, framing the unvarnished logistical labor required to sustain an army in the field.
