From George Washington to Brigadier General Jedediah Huntington, 13 May 1780
To Brigadier General Jedediah Huntington
Head Qrs [Morristown] May 13: 1780
Dr Sir
General Maxwell with the Brigade under his command comes to relieve You,1 to whom You will be pleased to give a Copy of the Instructions you have received and such information with respect to Guards &c. as You may deem material.2 When You are relieved You will march with Your Troops to Camp and either occupy their own Huts or those which the Maryland Troops have left as may be most agreable.3 It is a point which is left entirely with Yourselves; but if the Maryland Huts are equally good & convenient—it would make our situation rather more compact if they were to be possessed. It will be necessary in either case to send up your Quarter Master to have the Huts put in some order.4 I am Dr sir, with Yr Most Obedt st
G. Washington
Df, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. For GW’s orders to Brig. Gen. William Maxwell’s New Jersey Brigade, see General Orders, 10 May, and GW to Huntington, that date, postscript. Connecticut brigades had been on the army’s outpost lines since early February (see James Caldwell to GW, 28 Feb., and n.1; see also Arthur St. Clair to GW, 4 Feb., and n.9).
2. GW is referring to his instructions of 13 Dec. 1779 to Brig. Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons, the first commander of troops on the army’s outpost lines near Elizabeth, N.J.; see also GW to Johann Kalb, 29 February.
3. The Maryland division had left Morristown to reinforce the southern army (see Samuel Huntington to GW, 6 April, n.2).
4. Huntington’s command remained in the field temporarily (see GW to Huntington, 15 May).