To George Washington from Major Benjamin Tallmadge, 22 July 1780
From Major Benjamin Tallmadge
Veals Ford on Croton1—July 22d 1780 9 oClock P.M.
Sir
I have this moment recd the enclosed from the Cu[lpe]r’s, which I have the Honour to enclose to your Excellency & forward by Express to Genl Howe2—Least the Intelligence of the Embarkation of Troops for the Eastward should not be recd from your Excellency at Rhode Island in season, I have forwarded that part of the Intelligence which respects the Destination of the British Fleet & Army Eastward, to Major Genl Heath.
If any matters contained in the enclosed blank Letter from Cu. Junr should respect the plan of our future Correspondence (of which I lately wrote) should be obliged to Your Excellency for such Extracts as may be necessary.3 I have the Honour to be with great Esteem Your Excellency’s most Obedt Hble Servt
Benja. Tallmadge
P.S. The Letter from C. Junr is directed to Col. Floyd at Brook–Haven because he is a disaffected Person, & should the Bearer of that letter be stopped & Searched nothing of importance could be discovered, as the letter appears to be on matters of business.4
B.T.
ALS, enclosed in Robert Howe to GW, 23 July (first letter), DLC:GW; ADfS, CtLHi. The draft does not include the postscript. Tallmadge wrote “Private” on the cover of the ALS. GW replied to Tallmadge on 24 July.
1. Veal’s Ford across the Croton River was located about six miles east of Crompond, N.Y., and about 200 yards west of present-day Woods Bridge, which crosses the New Croton Reservoir near Katonah, New York. The ford may have taken its name from the Vail family who lived nearby.
2. The enclosed letter from spy Samuel Culper, Sr. (Abraham Woodhull’s alias) to John Bolton (Tallmadge’s alias), written partly in code (with deciphered words placed above the code) and dated at Setauket, N.Y., on 20 July, reads: “Your letter came to hand and found me very ill with a fever—And Still continues all that I could do was to Send [Austin] Roe with directions Who retu[r]nd this day in great hast with the inclosed dispach from C. Jur. Also assures me of the arival of Adml Graves With Six Ships of the Line and is Joyned by three more out of N.Y. also 1 of 50 & 2 of 40 Guns and has Saild for R. Island and is Supposed these Will be there before this can Possibly Reach you Also 8000 Troops are this day imbarking at White Stone for the beforementiond Port—I am told for certain that the french have only 7 Sail of the Line I greatly fear their destruction—Whe hourly expect a Number of the Enemy in this Quarter for What end I Know not. You must excuse all imperfection at this time on the account of my beforementiond Fever—nevertheless you have Perhaps all the Needfull—And pray for your Success and exercions” (DLC:GW). For the Culper spy ring code book, see Tallmadge to GW, 25 July 1779.
Tallmadge also enclosed a letter from spy Samuel Culper, Jr. (Robert Townsend’s alias) to Richard Floyd, dated 20 July 1780 at New York City: “I recd your favor by ⟨Mr illegible⟩, and note the contents. The articles you want cannot be procured. as soon as they can will send them” (DLC:GW). The name is now illegible because of heavy markings over the words.
Tallmadge also enclosed an undated letter from Culper, Sr., to Lt. Caleb Brewster: “the inclosed requires your immediate departure this day by all means let not an hour Pass for this day must not be lost you have news of the greated consequence Perhaps that ever happend to your Country—John Bolton Must order your return Wen he thinks Proper” (DLC:GW, filed under 20 July 1780).
3. The enclosed “blank Letter,” or letter written in invisible ink, from Culper, Jr., is filed in DLC:GW with the letter from that spy in n.2. It was heavily stained with reagent and is now essentially illegible. For a summary of its contents, see GW’s reply to Tallmadge of 24 July. For GW’s use of reagent, or “counterpart,” see GW to James Jay, 9 April.
4. Richard Floyd, who had held a commission as a major at the time of the French and Indian War, became lieutenant colonel of the Suffolk County, N.Y., militia in 1773. In December 1776, he received a commission as colonel-commandant of that county’s royal militia.