To George Washington from Lieutenant Colonel Udny Hay, 11 July 1779
From Lieutenant Colonel Udny Hay
Fish Kill [N.Y.] 11th July 1779
Sir
Having recd no particular directions from General Heath either respecting the route or quantity of Flour which would probably be wanted for the Troops under his command, I must beg leave to apply to your Excellency to know what route you think the Flour ought to go by, the nearest would be to unload it at Robisons1 and from there proceed by the continental Village Crompond and Bedford, but as I am totally unacquainted with the Disposition of the Troops on that route, would not venture to send any Teams that way till your pleasure was known, and have therefore ordered on all the flour which is purchased near Frederec’s burgh,2 but am much affraid the quantity is very triffling, nor can the Commissary give me any information about it.
If the lower Route is not thought safe we must transport the whole through Frederecs burgh and Danbury at the last of which places the Connecticutt Teams will no doubt take it up.
The Guard for the beacon will be furnished from this.3 I have the Honour to be with the truest respect Your Excellencies most obedt & very humble Sert
Udny Hay
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Hay is referring to Robinson’s Landing on the east side of the Hudson River a little more than two miles south of West Point.
2. Hay is referring to Fredericksburg (now Patterson), New York.
3. A letter from GW’s aide-de-camp Richard Kidder Meade to Hay, written at New Windsor on 10 July, reads: “Your letter of this date on the subject of a Guard for the security of the Beacon & to give the alarm, his Excellency has received, and desires me to observe to you that as he concieves a corp[oral]l & 3 or 4 Men will answer the purpose, that number might be furnished from the troops that may be in & about Fishkill—If this can be done you will be pleased to give the necessary directions; if it cannot you will let the Genl know it, when a guard will be order’d. Their direction in case of alarm will be to take their signal from the firing of the Beacon on this side” (DLC:GW). Hay’s letter of this date, presumably to GW, has not been found.