To George Washington from Charles Stewart, 15 July 1780
From Charles Stewart
Head Quarters [Preakness, N.J.] 15 July 1780
Sir
Yesterday there was at Hacketts Town 2.120 Barrells of Flour, and at Sussex Court House about 400 Bbls very little has been carried from either of those posts, for a week past; the people are engaged at their Hay, & harvest, and will be for Eight days to come; I have seen most of the Magestrates, of that County, & all the Quarter Masters, & Commissarys, and upon the whole, am of opinion that it would be best, to send a few light Horse, to accompany the Constables, and collect Waggons, to carry the Flour to Warwick, or New Windsor; (Vanheers men will do as well as any).
The County of Sussex, has been searched for Moody.1 I think he is gone by this time. The Stores at Hacketts Town, & Sussex Court House, are under the Care of Capt. Helms. He has got a Militia Gaurd at each place,2 and I flatter my self, the Stores will be Safe untill removed; But I wish them Eastward, As I fear the flour, now is, Or will soon be much wasted, at West point and that Quarter.3
I know not, what the Magazine, laid in by the philada Merchants, consists of.4 But think the supply of the Army, will require the utmost diligence, in forwarding on what flour, and Salt provisions, they have collected. If Your Excellency approves of it, I wish their provisions to come directly to Camp, so long as the Army, remains West Side, of North river and no part, to be left, at any post on the way by this means, the Accounts of what they furnish, will be more accurately kept, & the State of the supplys, better known from time to time. I wish Your Excellency, had a return, of what they have now on hand, and also a Copy of it for my future Guide. I am your Excellencys most Obedt Servt
Chas Stewart
ALS, DLC:GW; Df, MH: Stewart Papers. The draft is undated but docketed July 1780.
1. James Moody (c.1744–1809), a farmer from Sussex County, N.J., and a Loyalist, joined the provincial New Jersey Volunteers regiment as a private in January 1777 and became an ensign the following October. Moody subsequently led raids into New Jersey, making himself notorious. He attempted to capture New Jersey governor William Livingston, among other officials. After his own capture and escape, Moody continued to operate in New Jersey, basing himself in New York City, and continued his personal feud with Livingston (see Livingston to GW, 1 Jan. 1782, DLC:GW; GW to Livingston, 12–13 Jan. 1782, PWacD: Sol Feinstone Collection, on deposit at PPAmP; and Robert Hoops to Livingston, 2 April 1781, in , 4:3–5, 173–74; see also , 4:172, 258–59). In August 1781, Moody received promotion to lieutenant and later to captain. After the war, he settled in Nova Scotia on half-pay. For his own account of his wartime activities, see Moody’s Narrative.
For the New Jersey council’s order of 17 July to capture Moody, see Elias Dayton to GW, 3 July, n.3. For his capture and incarceration at West Point, N.Y., see William Helms to GW, 4 Aug., n.2, and Benedict Arnold to GW, 16 Aug.; see also GW to Livingston, 17 Aug., postscript, and Livingston to GW, 21 August. For his escape, see GW to Arnold, 19 Aug., n.2.
2. See Helms to GW, 1 July, and n.2.
3. The following sentence appears at this point on the draft: “(If the Agents for the supplys procured by the philada Merchants can send on fifty Barrells of Flour ⅌ day to Your Excellencys Camp.).”
4. See Samuel Meredith and Thomas Barclay to GW, 24 June, and GW to Meredith and Barclay, 27 June, and n.2 to that document.