To George Washington from Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, 13 October 1779
From Brigadier General Anthony Wayne
Light Infantry Camp
Heights of Haverstraw [N.Y.]
13th Octr 1779
Dear General
In Obedience to your Orders of the [ ] 1 Instant I directed Colonels Putnam & Butler to Reconnoitre the Ground from this Camp by Spring Steels to the point of the Dunderberg opposite picks Kill2—who Report that a very good road may be made with little trouble from Spring Stells to a Landing about two Miles & a half in a Direct Line above Stoney Point where a Battery may be Immediately Errect[ed] so as to Effectuall[y] to ⟨Cover⟩ the Landing from any fear from Shipping but from thence to the point of the Dunderberg Opposite Peeks kill, is Impracticable for either man or Horse—& will not admit of any road if you should think that the part which they Report practicable advisable to repair I will Order it Immediately to be executed—as it wants nothing more tha[n]3 cutting a few logs out of the roads already opened & mending two or three cause ways.
a few Ships & other Vessels made their Appearance yesterday in the lower end of Haverstraw bay & two large transport came up to Stoney point in the Evening—I have sent down to try to Discover whether they have brought a Reinforcement, ⟨to⟩ the Garrison—or—preparing for an Evacuation—In either case you may Depend upon the Earliest Intelligence.4 I am your Excellancey’s Most Obt & very Hume Sevt
Anty Wayne
ADfS, PHi: Wayne Papers.
1. A blank was left at this point on the manuscript. Wayne is referring to GW’s letter to him of 10 October.
2. Wayne is referring to Springsteel’s, Dunderberg Mountain, and Peekskill, N.Y. (see Map 2).
3. Wayne inadvertently wrote “that.”
4. For Wayne’s further report on these ship movements, see Wayne to GW, 14 October. British officer Archibald Robertson wrote in his diary entries for 11, 12, and 13 Oct.: “11th at 6 in the evening I went on Board the Peggy Sloop … to Attend [Gen. Henry Clinton] who went on Board the Fanny. Got to Spiken Devil. 12th weigh’d at 8 morning and got to Stoney Point ½ past 12. Visited the Works. 13th got under way at 8 Morning and reach’d New York at 4 Afternoon” ( 203).