To George Washington from George Clinton, 20 September 1778
From George Clinton
Poughkeepsie [N.Y.] 20th Septr 1778
Dear Sir.
By the enclosed Copies of Letters which were forwarded to me by Genl Ten Broeck and came to hand this forenoon, your Excellency will receive the disagreable Intelligence of the destruction of the valuable Settlements of the German Flatts by the Enemy and the Loss of 100 head of Cattle which were destined for Fort Schuyler.1
As I have not received any Account of this Affair or of the Disposition of the Troops on the western Frontier from Genl Stark, I am not able to inform your Excellency whether it is probable that the Militia who are said to have been on their march to cut off the Retreat of the Enemy, will be able to effect it, or whether Alden’s Regiment is so situated as to afford them any Assistance. I am with great Esteem Your Excellencys most Obedt Servt
Geo: Clinton
ALS, DLC:GW. Clinton wrote in the lower-left corner of the addressed cover: “pr Mr [David] Barclay Express.” The slightly variant text of this letter that is printed in Hastings and Holden, Clinton Papers, 4:59–60, apparently was taken from a draft that has not been found.
1. The enclosed copies of letters are Col. Jacob Klock to Col. Frederick Fisher, 16 Sept.; Fisher to Col. Abraham Wemple, 18 Sept., and Brig. Gen. Abraham Ten Broeck’s to George Clinton, 18 Sept., all in DLC:GW. German Flats (now Herkimer), N.Y., a small town on the Mohawk River about twenty miles west of Albany, was mostly burned on 17 Sept. by a combined force of Indians led by Joseph Brant and Loyalists commanded by Capt. William Caldwell. For further details about this raid, see George Clinton to GW, 24 Sept., and note 1 to that document.