Sorry it took me so long to get to this. I’ve been searching through two different books trying to find this story, and I finally found it.
So, I think this is an interesting theory, but I have one of my own:
Basically, this whole situation was Colonel Stephen Moylan’s fault. This dude sent a letter to Washington that just talked about Tallmadge’s shortcomings, including the procuring of necessary supplies and equipment, as well as the treatment of his platoon’s horses. In my opinion, the colonel was probably just jealous of Washington’s and Tallmadge’s relationship, and wanted to throw Ben under the bus.
In Tallmadge’s defense, he tried very hard to gather supplies and take care of the horses, but it was extremely difficult without the money he needed. Tallmadge was constantly concerned about money, and wrote Congress very often asking for more money for supplies. He actually ended up paying for more supplies, mounts, and even paying his soldiers’ salaries out of his own pocket.
So, I really think Tallmadge actually did drop the ball and didn’t take care of his horses, but he couldn’t take care of them since he didn’t have the money he needed. He was probably stressed out anyway about the lack of money, and of course other problems in the army, so I kinda don’t blame him for screwing up, but Washington probably wouldn’t have found out anyway if it wasn’t for Moylan, so I’m just gonna blame him lol. And to be fair, the harsh letter that Washington sent Tallmadge was also sent to Moylan, so he got in trouble too.
Tallmadge attempted to defend himself. He wrote back to Washington saying they were lacking supplies and his soldiers weren’t paying attention to their duties. He didn’t want to take responsibility for the slip up, but eventually he must of realized it was his fault, because he offered his resignation to Washington, but of course Washington didn’t accept. Their relationship was rather tense at this point, and they didn’t talk for awhile, but I guess Washington let it go and forgave Tallmadge a few months later.
But yeah, I don’t think Tallmadge took the fall for anyone. He probably just felt like his soldiers weren’t doing their jobs and that they couldn’t take care of the horses without supplies, but he tried his best to defend himself to Washington. I think he knew it was really his own fault that his platoon was in such bad condition, but he was also probably pissed at Moylan for ratting him out.
Thank you so much for the theory though, @iwasthatlostcause! You could possibly be right too, but I guess we’ll never really know for sure.