The few pieces of information the president did obtain were often second- or thirdhand and usually vague in nature. "The accounts we receive here," he lamented, "are so opposite and unsatisfactory that we know not on what to rely." It was, Washington complained, "a delicate situation for the President to be placed in."
Adding to his frustration was the fact that very few official papers had made their way to him at Mount Vernon. Washington was a stickler for orderly files that he could search at a moment's notice. This was the most important way he kept himself informed about the hundreds of things happening in the fledgling nation. Unfortunately, when the government clerks had panicked and dashed from Philadelphia, they had abandoned all papers and records in boarded-up houses. No one knew where these documents were; and no one was willing to risk his or her life wandering through the infected city in search of them.
—An American Plague,
Jim Murphy
Why did George Washington not have any information about Philadelphia?
All government officials had yellow fever and were unable to send Washington a letter.
Mail delivery was slow.
The clerks had fled Philadelphia and left papers and records behind.
Washington was waiting for firsthand accounts of the epidemic.