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Documents filtered by: Author="Washington, George" AND Recipient="Knox, Henry"
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The situation of our affairs and the general prospects of the campaign require that the army should divest itself of every article that can be spared and take the field as light as possible—I am therefore of opinion, that not more than two light field pieces ought to be attached to each Brigade; and that the Park should be composed of a few pieces of the same sort—You will be pleased after...
On the 2d instant a part of the enemy possessed themselves of the fort on Ver-planks point, by capitulation—they are now throwing up some works on the point on this side. It would appear from a number of circumstances that they mean to press their operations against the posts on the highlands. The militia are calling out for amunition, and the supply for the army, as you know, is far from...
By a letter this moment arrived from General McDougall dated two OClock yesterday, the enemy were advancing in force towards The Continental Village. The other part of their army on the West side were to move the same day to invest the Fort. On reconsideration, as some heavy cannon in our future operations may become essential, if you can possibly procure a sufficiency of horses to carry those...
The army is now crossing the Mountain to take post on the upper communication. It will be unsafe for you to move on through the clove. You will therefore be pleased to file off by the road from Morris town toward Sussex so as to proceed on by the upper route from Sussex to New Windsor, till you join the army. This is meant as a general direction. You will inform yourself more particularly of...
I perceive by the last returns, that there is still a number of men wanting Arms —In addition to this, I am informed we may shortly expect some new levies from Massachusetts and Connecticut particularly the latter. The men without arms will be rather an incumberance—than a benifit I request you will take every measure in your power to have a supply ready. For this purpose, you will hasten to...
I have received the reports from Major General McDougal Brigadier Du Portail and yourself of this date on the subject of the batteries cannon and ammunition necessary, for the defence of West Point. The motive there suggested concurs with others to make me desire there should be a speedy and ample supply of powder at this post and in the vicinity—We cannot now undertake any operations however...
Letter not found: to Brig. Gen. Henry Knox, 10 Nov. 1779 . A summary of this one-page letter reads: “Instructions relating to the Southern campaign” ( ABPC, American Book-Prices Current . New York, 1895–2004. 69:748).
From present appearances, and the Season of the Year, there is little reason to beleive, that a cooperation, with the French Admiral, can possibly take place. In consequence of this opinion, and to avoid as much as possible a further increase of expence, I have to request you to suspend such of your arrangements as were designed for this purpose, and which, unless this event were to take...
As the North Carolina Troops have orders to march immediately to the Southward, you will be pleased to direct the Company of Artillery belonging to that State to hold themselves in readiness to move with them —their route will hereafter be made known—And with respect to their pieces you will suffer them to carry them or not, as you see proper. I am Dr Sr Yr Mo. Obet servt P.s. Colo. Clark will...
The ordnance and ordnance stores necessary for Fort Arnold and its dependencies you will please to have allotted agreeably to a report made to me by yourself and General McDougall and Gen: du Portail. And where the artillery can be planted with propriety and safety on account of the unfinished state of the out works to have it done accordingly. The posts at Kings-ferry should be immediately...
I have this moment recd a letter from Colo. Hamilton. It is Lord Stirlings opinion that the quantity of Amunition sent with the peices may be perhaps insufficient, should they find the Houses possessed by the Enemy stronger than are expected. You will be pleased to send a further supply to Elizabeth Town without loss of time, that we may lose no advantage for want of it—The troops began to...
The Committee of Congress are instructed, among other matters, to enquire whether there is any thing defective in the Ordnance department, or whether any of the regulations at present in force may be amended or altered for the benefit of the service. I do not exactly know when they will take the Business up, but I would wish you to be revolving the matter in your mind, and preparing yourself...
There is a large quantity of flour at Trenton which it is of the greatest importance should be forwarded with all possible expedition to the North River. The exigency is so pressing, that the ordinary means of transportation will not suffice, and it will probably be indispensable to have recourse to an impress of waggons. Relying on your judgment and activity I request you will proceed without...
It is highly necessary that an estimate should be formed of the quantity of Ordnance Stores necessary for the expected cooperation in its fullest extent, that by comparing it with the General Return of those on hand, we may be able to ascertain the deficiency, which I very much fear (notwithstanding the pressing call upon the Board of War & Ordnance last fall when Ct D’Estaing was expected for...
The period for commencing our operations is so near, that, not a moment is to be lost in bringing forward all the cannon and stores in our possession proper for a siege, and necessary for the service of the campaign—to the North river. New-York will be the object, with an army of 30,000 men, which you will receive in confidence. I request you will take immediate measures for the above purpose,...
Since I saw you I have reflected upon the request of the General Officers for permitting Genl McDougall to go to Philadelphia with their representation to Congress. His presence here, from his knowledge of Naval affairs, may be very important at this juncture but if his going to Phila. be thought essential by the Gentn I shall give my consent—I am—Dr Sir Yr Most obedt P.S. I shall expect his...
I have received Colo. Lamb’s Letter addressed to You, by which he desires You “to ask me, if ever Colo. Bigelow solicited me, to order a Court of Enquiry into his conduct at the attack on Quebec, on the 31st Decr 1775.[”] In Answer to this question I can only say that I recollect something passed between Colo. Bigelow & Myself a long time ago. I believe soon after he returned from Canada on...
By advices received this afternoon the Enemy have again made an incursio⟨n⟩ into this State and were in pretty considerable force before Fort Schuyler on the 27th. It is essential that a considerable number of Militia should march to relieve it, and Ammunition is wanted for them, which can not be supplied at Albany. You will therefore be pleased to direct the Commissary of Military Stores to...
I wish to be informed, whether what Arms and Accoutrements you have on hand, together with those in the Magazines capable of being put in repair in three weeks; are sufficient to equip five thousand men, exclusive of the troops now on this ground, who are destitute and must be supplie⟨d⟩. If there are not Arms and Ac⟨co⟩utrements to this amount, I beg you will give me the best information you...
By twelve OClock on Friday you will have ready all such peices of your park as are most proper to annoy shipping and cover a body of troops across a River —A releif of Horses to accompany them will be desirable if they are to be had. Your usual punctuality assures me of the same in this instance. I am Dear Sir Your most obt humble Servt LS , in Tench Tilghman’s writing, ViRVal ; Df , DLC:GW ;...
I have received Some Intelligence wch has induced me to lay aside the enterprize I had in view—you will be pleased therefore to suspend the Measures & orders you were to execute. I shall now turn my thoughts to Winter Quarters, & have sent for the Qr Mr to fix Matters for this purpose. I am Dr Sir Yrs &ca. ALS , NjMoHP . See Document XIII ; see also Document XVIII . For the dispersal of GW’s...
You will proceed, with the dispatches with which you are charged, to the Governors of the States of Connecticut—Rhode Island and Massachusetts and to the President of New Hampshire. You are acquainted with the subject of those dispatches, in which, the Gentlemen, to whom they are addressed, are referred to you for a more particular account of the situation of the Army—the causes of discontent...
In the conference between the Count De Rochambeau and myself, it was agreed, that if by the aid of our allies, we can have a naval superiority, through the next campaign, and an army of thirty thousand men (or double the force of the enemy [at New York] and its dependencies) early enough in the season to operate in that quarter, we ought to prefer it to every other object, as the most...
Mr De Granger has represented to me that his delay in executing the experiments prescribed to him proceeded from the want of the materials requisite for making them, the composition and prepartion of which, he wishes to undertake himself, as the justness of his experiments depends upon the goodness of his materials and the accuracy with which they are prepared, and as his reputation and...
Inclosed you have Capt. Moodies letter and returns of Artillery and Ordnance Stores at Fort schuyler, which you laid before me for my opinion. I do not think there is any occasion, at present, for [more] than the quantity of these Articles which have been heretofore kept there. You will therefore be pleased to examine the Returns and send up what you may find deficient of the usual quantity at...
The bad weather, and great care which the Post Riders take of themselves, prevented your letters of the 3d & 9th of last Month from getting to my hands ’till the 10th of this. Setting of next Morning for Fredericksburgh to pay my duty to an aged Mother, and not returning ’till yesterday, will be admitted I hope, as a sufficient apology for my silence ’till now. I am much obliged by the trouble...
Your Letter of the 21st ulto did not reach my hands ’till yesterday—Having the Governor here & a house full of company—& the Post being on the point of setting out for the Eastward I must confine the few lines I shall be able (at this time) to write, to the business of the Cincinnati. From what you have said of the temper of your Assembly respecting this Society—from the current of Sentiment...
The names which follow, are those mentioned in the Marqs la Fayette’s letter to me. La’ Peyrouse La Touche D’Albert de Rion✻ Tilly✻ Enclosed it seems is the proper address to the characters therein mentioned, I send it that you may be governed thereby—pray return it to me again —The enclosed private letters be so good as to include under cover of the public ones. Yrs affly ✻I am not sure that...
The inconvenience with which I left home, & my impatience to return to it, hastened every step I took back, & but for the delay I met with in crossing the Bay, I might have been at home with ease on the Friday after I parted with you. Before eight on thursday morning I was at Rock-hall, & not until friday evening could I get my horses & carriage over to Annapolis. It is a real misfortune, that...
Apologies are idle things: I will not trouble you with them—that I am your debtor in the epistolary way I acknowledge—and that appearances indicate a disposition to remain so, I cannot deny; but I have neither the inclination nor the effrontary to follow the example of Great Men or St—s to withhold payment altogether. To whatever other causes therefore my silence may be attributed, ascribe it...
About the beginning of last month I wrote you a pretty long letter, & soon after, received your favor of the 23d of November. It is not the letters from my friends which give me trouble—or adds ought to my perplexity. I receive them with pleasure, and pay as much attention to them as my avocations will admit. It is references of old matters with which I have nothing to do. Applications, which...
Your favor of the 31st Ulto came to my hands by the last Post. enclosed are letters under flying Seals to Count de Rochambeau & the Marqs de Chastellux (late Chevr) introductory of Mr Swan. also certificates for Lieutts Seaver & Henley. if these will answer the purposes designed, I shall think nothing of the trouble, but be happy in having given them. Upon summing up the cost of my projected...
I am quite ashamed to be so long deficient in acknowledging the receipt of your favors of the 24th & 29th of March, and 5th of May; but an intervention of circumstances (with the enumeration of which I shall not trouble you) have prevented it. It gave me great pleasure to hear of your appointment as Secretary at War—without a complimt, I think a better choice could not have been made—and...
Majr Farlie gave me the pleasure of receiving your letter of the 22d Instt, & thereby knowing that you, Mrs Knox & the family were all well. It has always been my opinion you know, that our Affairs with respect to the Indians would never be in a good train whilst the British Garrisons remained on the American side of the territorial line—& that these Posts would not be evacuated by them, as...
The Post of last week brougt me (by way of New York) a letter, of which the inclosed is a Copy. I transmit it, not only for your perusal, but for information, and advice. All the papers respecting the Soci[e]ty of the Cincinnati being in possession of the Secretary Genl or the Assistant Secretary, and my memory very defective, I cannot speak with precision to Mr Jefferson, or decide on any...
The inclosed letter I received a short time since. As I am wholly unacquainted with the writer, & circumstances therein mentioned; I can only say, that if the facts are such as there alledged, I think the sufferer is entitled to some redress; but how far it may be in the power of Congress to comply with petitions of this nature I am not able to say. You undoubtedly know much better than I do,...
Nothing but the pleasing hope of seeing you under this roof in the course of last month, and wch I was disposed to extend even to the present moment, has kept me till this time from acknowleging the receipt of your obliging favor of the 23d of October. Despairing now of that pleasure, I shall thank you for the above letter, and the subsequent one of the 17th instt, which came to hand yesterday...
Letter not found: to Henry Knox, 25 Jan. 1787. On 8 Feb. Knox wrote GW : “I have received your favor of the 25 Jany.”
I feel my self exceedingly obliged to you for the full, & friendly communications in your letters of the 14th 21st & 25th ult.; and shall (critically as matters are described in the latter) be extremely anxious to know the issue of the movements of the forces that were assembling, the one to support, the other to oppose the constitutional rights of Massachusetts. The moment is, indeed,...
Accept, my dear General Knox my affectionate thanks for your obliging favors of the 29th, 30th, & 31st of Jany and 1st 8th & 12th of the present month. They were indeed, exceedingly satisfactory, and relieving to my mind which has been filled with great & anxious uneasiness for the issue of General Lincoln’s operations, and the dignity of Government. On the prospect of the happy termination of...
Will you permit me to give you the trouble of making an indirect, but precise enquiry, into the alligations of the enclosed letters. I flatter myself that from the vicinity of Elizabeth Town to New York, and the constant intercourse between the two, you will be able to do it without much trouble. It is but little in my power to afford the pecuniary aids required by the letter writer; but if...
The early attention which you were so obliging as to pay to my letter of the 8th ulto is highly pleasing and flattering to me. Were you to continue to give me information on the same point, you would add to the favor; as I see, or think I see, reasons for and against my attendance in Convention so near an equilibrium, as will cause me to Determine upon either, with diffidence. One of the...
After every consideration my judgment was able to give the subject, I had determined to yield to the wishes of many of my friends who seemed extremely anxious for my attending the Convention, which is proposed to be holden in Philadelphia the second Monday of May. And tho’ so much afflicted with a rheumatic complaint (of which I have not been entirely free for Six months) as to be under the...
Hurried as I am I cannot (not expecting to see you in Philadelpa) withhold the copy of a Paragraph in a letter which came to my hands yesterday from Mr Jefferson, and a translation of the article “Cincinnati” from the Encyclopedie Methodique; forwarded to me by the same Gentleman as they relate to the Society & serve to shew the light in wch it is viewed in France. I do not know what the...
It gave me great pleasure to find by your letter of the 29th that you were freed from all apprehension on acct of Miss Lucys eye—and that we might flatter ourselves with the expectation of seeing Mrs Knox & you at this place. It was not untill Friday last that Seven States assembled in Convention. By these I was, much against my wish, unanimously placed in the Chair—Ten States are now...
By slow, I wish I could add & sure, movements, the business of the Convention progresses; but to say when it will end, or what will be the result, is more than I can venture to do; and therefore shall hazard no opinion thereon. If however, some good does not proceed from the Session, the defects cannot, with propriety, be charged to the hurry with which the business has been conducted: yet...
Your favor of the 3d instt came duly to hand. The fourth day after leaving Phila. I arrived at home, and found Mrs Washington and the family tolerably well, but the fruits of the Earth almost entirely destroyed by one of the severest droughts (in this neighbourhood) that ever was experienced. The Crops generally, below the Mountains are injured; but not to the degree that mine, & some of my...
I beg you to accept of my thanks for your obliging favor of the 11th Ult.; which, owing to the dullness of the season, and want of matter to amuse you, has lain unacknowledged till this time. Three States—to wit—Pensylvania New Jersey, and Delaware having adopted the New Constitution in so decisive a manner and those of New Hampshire, Massachusetts & Connecticut having discovered such...
Soon after my last was dispatched to you, I was favoured with the receipt of your letter of the 14th Ult.; by which, and other accts of more recent date, I am sorry to find that the important question under deliberation in Massachusetts, stands on such precarious ground. The decision of that State will, unquestionably, have considerable influence on those which are to follow; especially on the...
Letter not found: to Henry Knox, 11 Feb. 1788. On 10 Mar. Knox wrote GW : “Your favor of the 11th ultimo was duly received.” Knox may have been referring to GW’s letter of 5 February . See Knox to GW, 10 Mar., n.1 .