To John Jay from Alexander McDougall, 30 October 1775
From Alexander McDougall
[NewYork, 30th. Octor. 1775.]
Dear Sir,
I have many matters of importance to communicate to you, respecting our own Safety and the Publick Security, which time will not now permit to enumerate. Sufice it that the Tories are chearfal, and too many of ^the^ Whigs make long Faces. Men of rank and Consideration refuse to accept of Commissions as Field Officers of the Militia; so that these commissions have gone a beging for Six or Seven weeks. This requires no comment to one of your discernment. our Congress wrote Some days Since to your’s, to replace the Powder you ordered from us for continental Service, and that we voluntarily ^spared^ it.1 But we have not been favoured with an answer; altho we ^have^ not 200 lb at our Command if it would Save the Colony; and the inhabitants are very illey supplied, not a Quarter of a Pound per man in the Hands of half the Citizens; and the Country much worse. This is a deploreable State ^to be in^ for men who have their all at Stake, For God’s sake quicken the replacing of our Powder. The Serving of Artillery require men of more Talents and greater Soberity than is requisite for Musketry; the former being more complex than the Latter. For this reson reason I got our Congress to write to yours for an order to enlist matrosses for the Fort on Hudsons River.2 What detains it? Are the men for this part of the Service to be raised—when the Guns are mounted; and thereby expose the Post to fall into the Hands of the Enemy from the unskilfulness of the matrosses. You may be assured infantry alone cannot defend Such a Post; unless they have been ^long^ Trained to the Artillery. General Woster’s corps, which you ordered for the Fort, is by this at St. John’s in Consequence of orders he received from Genl. Schyler; before yours to the former to return hither reached him:3 So that there are
no Continental Forces nearer the Post on Hudsons river, than lake George, except two incompleat Companies in our Barracks; one of the first and the other of the Third Regiment. As it will be very dificult if not imposible, to procure the Stores necessary for that Post, on the Sea Coast, I wish the Continental Congress would pass an order ^without delay^ to enable us to take Such Stores from Ticonderoga, as will be wanted for it; and also to enable this ^and the other^ Colonies to take from that Fort on Crown Point4 Such Stores as may be requisite for the defence of the Colonies, especially lead of which there is a great abundance. I have urged our Congress to dispatch a Sloop we were obliged to seize, for Powder; but as it is difficult to procure Gold & Silver or Bills of exchange, it will be necessary to Send provission with her, which in Some of the Island will facilitate the geting that article.5 ^But^ The Congress wait your determination on the Trade. To prevent excuses for those whose Parsimony is very Criminal, and pretexes for false Brethren, I think it would be advancive of the Public ^Service,^ were the Congress to pass a Resolution to enable us, to Send provissions for amunition if we shall Judge it Necessary.6 For there is not a moment to be lost in procuring this necessary Article: Our all depend opon it. The Viper’s Conduct detained a Sloop we had ready here to dispatch for Powder 15 days; And She ^is^ soon to return.7 I therefore intreat ^you^ to get the opinion of Congress on this matter without delay; and if it should be favourable dispatch it by express that we may expedite that Vessel before the return of the Viper. The intelligence from St. John’s is to the 13th Instant, by Captain Quackenboss of my Regt. ^who is returned Sick.^8 He say that he left it the 13th. That the next morning a Battery of 2 Twelve, 2 Nine & 2 Six pounders was to be opened on the East Side of the River9 against John’s. which was to play on the Schoner & Galley of the Enemy. That the Ground on which the Battery is errected is much higher than that on which St. John’s stand, in so much that the Battery would command the Parade of the Fort. That he Heard a ^very^ heavy cononade the 14th, which began at Sun rise and continued all the day, and commenced the next at Sun rise; and ceased all at once about 10 oClock. That the Troops were healthier than they had been and in good Spirits; That they had plenty of Provissions and latterly fresh. That one of our Bombs had fired a large House the Principal Barrack in the Fort; but was extinguished. by This intelligence is confirmed by another Person. From ^all^ I have been able to Collect, The Fort is compleatly invested, and so near, that the beseigers can hear the Garrison speak to each other. That they are not Strongh enough to make any Sallies. So that that if we do not Succeed, it must be for want of enginer’s, and amunition. For ^if^ these were
^well^ supplied the place must have Surrender or been destroyed. Time will only permit me to add that I am with great Truth & regard Your Friend and very Humble Servant
Alexr Mdougall
ALS, NNC (EJ: 6916).
1. On 16 Oct. 1775 the Continental Congress directed the New York Congress to send to Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler a ton of powder forwarded to New York the week before. The New York Congress received this directive on 18 Oct. and immediately complied, but warned Congress that the province would be defenseless in case of invasion unless the powder were replaced. The Continental Congress responded on 8 Nov. by directing that the powder recently sent to Schuyler from Philadelphia was to be “remanded, if it can be any ways spared, and left at the fortresses in the highlands.” Further, the Philadelphia Committee of Safety was ordered to send 500 pounds of powder to New York. , 3: 296, 338–39; , 1: 178–79.
2. Pursuant to the instructions of Congress, construction began on the fort at West Point on the Hudson River in August 1775. On 17 Oct., the New York Congress wrote to the Continental Congress that four companies of matrosses, or artillery operators, would be needed to man the fort and other points being fortified along the river and requested that one company should be raised immediately. On 28 Oct., the Continental Congress approved the immediate raising of one such company. Notification of this decision did not reach the New York Congress until 2 Nov. 1775. , 1: 177, 191; , 3: 309.
3. Maj. Gen. David Wooster (1711–77) of Connecticut was ordered to the province of New York in June 1775. That summer he commanded troops on Long Island and at Harlem before being ordered northward in September. On 7 Oct., Congress ordered Wooster to return to the Hudson Highlands, where he was to leave part of his men to help construct artillery batteries while he and the rest of his troops returned to New York. However, these orders were to take effect only if Wooster had “no orders to the contrary from General Schuyler.” Wooster remained with the Canadian expedition through the fall and winter of 1775. He was present during the siege and capture of St. Johns, a fortified point twenty miles southeast of Montreal, which was invested in early September and which surrendered on 2 Nov. , 3: 282–83.
4. Crown Point, a post ten miles north of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, fell to the Patriots on 12 May, two days after Ticonderoga’s capture.
5. On 18 Oct., the provincial congress authorized the purchase of a pilot boat, the Bishop of Landaff. Six days later, McDougall and others notified the New York Congress that gunpowder could be procured in the West Indies, and a committee was delegated to plan a voyage for the vessel. On 3 Nov., the committee received orders to load the ship with flour and dispatch her to the Indies to obtain ammunition and arms. , 1: 179, 184, 192.
6. For the congressional resolve of 26 Oct. on this point, see above, JJ to McDougall, 26 Oct. 1775. The New York Congress received notice of this resolution on 2 Nov. , 1: 190.
7. The Viper, a royal sloop of war, arrived in New York harbor from Rhode Island on 7 Oct. 1775. The vessel sailed for Boston on 19 Oct. but remained off Sandy Hook until 21 Oct. She carried with her four New York merchant vessels captured between the harbor and the Hook. N.Y. Gazette, and Weekly Mercury, 23 Oct. 1775.
8. John Quackenbos, captain of the 1st New York Regiment.
9. St. Johns was located on the Richelieu (or Sorel) River, which connects Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence.