1. See Elias Dayton to GW, 7 July; see also John Mercereau to GW, 8–9 July.

2. GW recently had called Dobbs to headquarters for consultations on issues of navigation in New York Harbor (see GW to Dobbs, 2 July). GW had also called pilot Patrick Dennis to headquarters (see GW to Dennis, this date, n.3). While at headquarters Dobbs and Dennis had prepared a document dated 7 July giving detailed information on the channels, depths, tides, and shoals in the waters leading to New York City. They also explained the optimal placement of ships of the line to defend the ship channel and Sandy Hook Bay. Additionally, they penned a joint letter dated 7 July asserting “that Eight Ships of the Line of Battle placed in the best Position within the Outer Bar … are equal if not superior to eleven of the same Force coming in from Sea” provided that the defenders controlled Sandy Hook and erected a battery there (both documents, DLC:GW). Copies were prepared for the French commanders and are in CtY-BR: Rochambeau Papers and Rochambeau Family Cartographic Archive.

In a letter to the commanders of the French expeditionary force, Major General Lafayette described the discussions at headquarters with Dobbs and Dennis: “It is after having gathered together all the best-known pilots, after having compared their opinions countless times and investigated the contradictions, and finally after having labored four days and almost four nights that I can with some certainty send you their opinions, their observations, and the least poor map possible, on which they made some marks relating to the enclosed documents. The two persons who signed them and who will go aboard your ship at Black Point, off Sandy Hook, are best known for their integrity and ability” (Lafayette to Rochambeau and Ternay, 9 July, in Lafayette Papers description begins Stanley J. Idzerda et al., eds. Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790. 5 vols. Ithaca, N.Y., 1977-83. description ends , 3:69–76).