This day I went to
see the curious works of Mr. Ballentine. He had made a canal about one mile
along side of James River, which was about forty feet wide, in the centre
of which was built a curious fishbasket. At the end of the canal was an elegant
grist-mill with four pair of stones, close by which was the Bloomery or
boring-mill, where they bored the cannon. Close by which was the Mansion House;
four very large chimneys, built of the best brick I ever saw; each chimney has
two air furnaces and a number of other works too tedious to mention. All those
works were built at the expense of the State.
Within half a mile
of these works is a very fine brewery.
All which elegant
buildings were burnt by that d----d rascal, Arnold. The brewery was saved by
the intercession of the widow who owned part of it.
SOURCE: Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, Publisher, Journal of Lieut. William Feltman,
of the First Pennsylvania Regiment, 1781-82, p. 8-9
