From John Jay to Philip Schuyler, 11 July 1777
To Philip Schuyler
Kingston 11 July 1777
Sir
The Council have directed me to transmit to you by Express the enclosed Extracts of a Letter from General Schuyler.2 They think it of Importance that you should from time to time be apprized of the Situation of Affairs in the Northern Department, & will omit no opportunity of communicating to you whatever Intelligence they may recieve from that Quarter—
The Evacuation of Ticonderogah appears to the Council highly reprehensible, and it gives them great Pain to find that a Measure so absurd & probably criminal should be imputed to the Direction of General Schuyler in whose Zeal Vigilance & Integrity the Council repose the highest Confidence— I have the Honor to be &ca.
P.V.C.3
Dear Sir
As the Contents of the above Letter may be agreable to You, I take this opportunity of transmitting to You a Copy of it— Let not the hasty Suspicions of the ignorant or the malicious Insinuations of the wicked, discompose You. The best & greatest Men in all Ages have met with the like Fate, and gloriously risen superior to Calumny.
I wont detain You longer than to assure you how sincerely I am your Friend
John Jay
N.B. The Extracts sent to Putnam contain nothing of your Letter to Gen. Washington.4
ALS, NNC (EJ: 13193). Addressed: “The Hon’ble Major General Schuyler / Fort Edward.” Endorsed. Tr, NN: Bancroft.
1. Israel Putnam, commander of the fortifications in the Hudson Highlands since May 1777. The letter to Putnam is published in , 1: 992.
2. In the letter of 9 July to the Council of Safety, Schuyler denied rumors that he had ordered the retreat from Fort Ticonderoga and angrily stated, “What could induce General St. Clair and the general officers with him, to evacuate Ticonderoga, God only knows.” He also commented on widespread desertions in the militia and asserted he hoped to halt the enemy before they reached Albany. , 1: 992; 2: 514.
3. Pierre Van Cortlandt (1721–1814), from Westchester County, president of the Council of Safety and first lieutenant governor of New York.
4. In the letter of 9 July to the council, Schuyler also included two letters, not one, of 7 July to George Washington, to be forwarded to the commander as soon as the council had read them. In these letters, one written from Stillwater and the other from Saratoga, Schuyler gave Lieutenant Colonel Udney Hay’s account of the evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. DLC: Washington Papers, series 4.