To George Washington from Colonel Elias Dayton, 17 July 1780
From Colonel Elias Dayton
Elizabeth Town [N.J.] July 17th 1780
Sir
The enclosed is the copy of a paper I have just received from New york, which I beleive to be nearly just, excepting five or Six of the Smallest Vessels which are constantly kept out cruising,1 the fleet is now at anchor just without the hook nearly in the same manner Count DEstaing was in august 1778.2
If your Excellency has any hard money for the public serveice should be glad to have some sent me, as I have promised several persons a reward for their intelligence, and I have never received one Shilling from the public for that purpose.3 I am your Excellencys Most Humble Servant
Elias Dayton
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. The enclosure has not been identified. The list of ships filed with Dayton’s letter in DLC:GW was not an accurate list of the ships in Vice Adm. Marriot Arbuthnot’s fleet and may not have been Dayton’s enclosure. It appears to be a list of ships from a later date in 1780 or 1781. For a contemporary list from a British source of ships in the fleet in late July 1780, see , 237.
2. The fleet of French vice admiral d’Estaing was off Sandy Hook, N.J., in July 1778 (see d’Estaing to GW, 8, 13, and 17 July 1778; see also Alexander Hamilton to GW, 20 July 1778).