I have received your several favo⟨rs of the 18th 30th⟩ and 31st Ulto.2 I congratulate you upon your safe return from yo⟨ur⟩ late excursion, and upon the success which attended ⟨Genl Rans⟩alaers attack upon the enemy in their retreat—It is to be ⟨regretted⟩ that your Excellency was not near enough with the Reinfor⟨cement to⟩ take advantage of their situation. The damage, which has ⟨been⟩ done, will, I fear, be severely felt by the public as well as by individuals. We had the most pleasing prospects of forming considerable Magazines of bread, from the Country which has been laid waste, and which, from your Excellency’s letter, is so ⟨ex⟩tensive, that I am apprehensive we shall be obliged to bring f⟨lour⟩ from the Southward to support the troops at and near West p⟨oint.⟩ You will be pleased to give me your opinion upon the quantity of flour that may yet, with probability, be procured above, in the course of the Winter, that I may form some calculation of the quantity which it will be necessary to draw from Jersey—Pennsylvania and Maryland.

I am very sorry that the troops of your State should look upon it as a hardship to do the Garrison duty of Fort Schuyler. I had always allotted it to them, as thinking it would be agreab⟨le⟩ to both Officers and men to guard their own Frontier, especially when they were not continued an unreasonable time upon the tour. The Frontier posts of Pennsylvania and Virginia have been constantly Garrisoned by their own Regiments, which have not been releived these two years. The troops of the line in general are, in point of Cloathing, upon a footing with the rest of the Army, which is very bare, and which has a poor prospect of being well supplied⟨.⟩ But as Colo. Weissenfelds Regiment is going to a distance and where ⟨he will not have an opportunity of drawing those temporary supplies which the troops with the⟩ main Army sometimes do, ⟨I have given orders to have⟩ it as well furnished as our3 Magazines ⟨will admit.⟩4

I have appointed Brigadier General Clinton to ⟨take the⟩ command in the Northern department, and have ordered him to repair to Albany for that purpose.5 I am convinced he will second every measure which may be thought expedient for the security of the Frontier.

I am much obliged to your Excellency for the attention which you promise to pay to the provisioning Fort Schuyler. I daily expect four or five hundred Barrels of salt beef from Connecticut, as soon as they arrive upon the North River, part of them shall be sent up to Albany for the Garrison of Fort Schuyler, I desired Governor Trumbull to hurry them on that they might be got up in all this month.6

I am very happy to find that the Legislature has vested your Excellency with the power of complying ⟨with⟩ the requisitions of Congress for Compleating the new Army. I find that the Resolve of the 3d of Octr had only reached you, and that your calculation of the deficiency of 313 men had been founded upon that—Congress, by a subsequent act of the 21st have made some very material and salutary amendments, the principal of which are—giving half pay for life to the Officers—confining the term of service expressly to the War, and augmenting the number of men in each Regt to 612 Rank and file. I therefore state your exact deficiency at 449 Men, upon the following principles7 This ⟨your Excellency will be pleased to observe is the deficiency⟩ in figures—but ⟨when we come to take into the computation the⟩ casualties that will happ⟨en between this time and the junction⟩ of the recruits—the number of men ⟨sick in Hospitals and upon⟩ extra service, many of the first incurab⟨les, and of the last so⟩ detached that we shall never find them—⟨the deficiency which⟩ there will be in the number of Recruits voted—⟨and other unfore⟩seen deductions, it will appear plainly, that if ⟨the assessment⟩ is laid at 449 only, the Regiments will want very ⟨consider⟩ably of that strength, which is absolutely necessary to ⟨make⟩ our Combined Continental force any ways adequate ⟨to the⟩ probable services of the next Campaign. I would theref⟨ore⟩ beg leave to recommend to your Excellency to lay your Asses⟨sm⟩ent at 100 men more than the apparent deficiency. I am convinced it will be found cheaper and in every respect more eligible to compleat the matter at one stroke, than ⟨to⟩ have a second tax to lay.

Our affairs to the Southward put on a more pleasing aspect since the defeat of Colo. Ferguson. Lord Cornwallis8 was retreating precipitately from Charlotte, and giving up a fine district of Country which he had in poss⟨e⟩ssion. But the diversion which General Leslie will occasion, by taking post in Virginia, will I fear, operate against the formation of the Southern Army, and will embarrass us on the score of supplies.9 Another embarkation is prepareing at New York, which I have no doubt is also intended for the Southward,10 as, without considerable Reinforcements, they must abandon their late conquests in ⟨that quarter⟩.11 ⟨I have⟩ the honor to be ⟨wi⟩th the greatest esteem Your Excellency’s Most Obedt humbl. servt