To George Washington from Major General Philip Schuyler, 30 September 1776
From Major General Philip Schuyler
Albany September 30th 1776
Dear Sir
I have the Honor to acknowledge your Excellency’s Favor of the 27th Instant, with the paper inclosed, which I shall immediately transmit to General Gates.
The Resolution of Congress of the 14th Instant received since I wrote your Excellency on the Subject of Barracks, has empowered the Commander in this Department, to build Barracks where he may think Proper;1 but no Nails can as yet be procured.
Major William Edmenston of the British 48th Regiment, who is now a prisoner sent down by the Committee of Tryon County, has requested my Leave to wait on you, in Order to get exchanged, which I have refused until I should receive Orders thereon.2
We have Intelligence from Oswego, since the 20th Instant—No Enemy then there. I am Dr Sir with great Respect Your Excellency’s most obedient humble Servant
Ph: Schuyler
LS, DLC:GW; LB, NN: Schuyler Papers.
1. Schuyler proposed building barracks at Schenectady in his letter to GW of 23 September. For Congress’s resolution of 14 Sept., see , 5:757.
2. William Edmeston (Edmestone), who immigrated to New York from England in 1755, lived on a 10,272–acre plantation called Mount Edmeston in Tryon County about ninety miles west of Albany. A brevet major and captain in the 48th Regiment, Edmeston expected “to serve as an officer when General Sir William Howe came into the district” (, 249). On 18 Oct. 1776 the Albany committee of correspondence ordered Edmeston to be sent to nearby Berkshire County, Mass., and on 21 Jan. 1777 it sent him to Boston (, 1:580–81, 662). After being exchanged sometime in 1777, Edmeston became a lieutenant colonel of the 48th Regiment. He was captured by a French privateer in 1779, but he made his way to England the following year and spent the remainder of the war in Europe, serving as a lieutenant colonel of the 48th Regiment until 1782 and of the 50th Regiment from 1782 to 1783.