George Washington Papers
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To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 3 September 1780

From Thomas Jefferson

Richmond Sep. 3. 1780.

Sir

As I know the anxieties you must have felt since the late misfortune to the South,1 and our latter accounts have not been quite so unfavorable as the first, I take the liberty of inclosing you a state of this unlucky affair extracted from letters from General Gates, Genl Stevens, & Govr Nash, and taken as to some circumstances from an officer who was in the action.2 another army is collecting. this amounted on the 23d Ult. to between four & five thousand men consisting of about 500 Maryland regulars, a few of Harrison’s artillery & Porterfeild’s corps, Armand’s legion, such of the fugitive militia as had been reclaimed, and about 3000 N. Carolina militia newly embodied. we are told they will increase these to 8000. our new recruits will rendezvous in this state between the 10th & 25th inst.3 we are calling out 2000 militia who I think however will not be got to Hillsborough till the 25th of October.4 about 350 regulars marched from Chesterfeild a week ago; 50 march tomorrow and there will be 100, or 150 more from that post when they can be cleared of the hospital. this is as good a view as I can give you of the force we are endeavoring to collect. but they are unarmed. almost the whole small arms seem to have been lost in the late rout. there are here on their way Southward 3000 stand of arms sent by Congress, and we have a few still remaining in our magazine. I have written pressingly, as the subject well deserves, to Congress, to send us immediate supplies, and to think of forming a magazine here that in case of another disaster we may not be left without all means of opposition.5

I inclosed to your Excellency some time ago a resolution of assembly instructing us to send a quantity of tobacco to N. York for the relief of our officers there, and asking the favor of you to obtain permission. having received no answer I fear my letter or your answer has miscarried. I therefore now take the liberty of repeating my application to you.6 I have the honor to be with the most profound respect & esteem Your Excellency’s most obedt & most humble servt

Th: Jefferson

ALS, DLC:GW. This letter reached GW on 9 Sept. (see GW to Benedict Arnold, that date, postscript, found at Arnold to GW, 8 Sept., n.3). GW replied to Jefferson on 11 September.

1For the defeat at Camden, S.C., see Horatio Gates to GW, 30 Aug., n.1.

2Jefferson enclosed an undated document headed “A Narrative of the late disaster in South Carolina Collected from the Most authentic Accts which have been Received” (DLC:GW; filed under 3 Sept. 1780). The enclosure contained information on the Battle of Camden from Gates to Samuel Huntington, 20 Aug. (see Huntington to GW, 31 Aug., n.1), and from Edward Stevens to Jefferson, same date (see Jefferson Papers description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends , 3:558–59). The information from North Carolina governor Abner Nash probably came from a letter he had written Jefferson on 23 Aug., which presumably resembled one Nash wrote North Carolina’s delegates on the same date (see Jefferson to Nash, 3 Sept., in Jefferson Papers description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends , 3:592, and Huntington to GW, 8 Sept., n.1).

3See Jefferson to GW, 2 July, and n.4 to that document.

4Jefferson wrote Brig. Gen. Edward Stevens on this date that these troops came from counties “beyond and adjoining the blue Ridge” (Jefferson Papers description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends , 3:593).

5The arms then in Virginia were intended for North Carolina (see JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 17:492, and Jefferson to Huntington, this date, in Jefferson Papers description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends , 3:589–90).

6See Jefferson to GW, 4 July, found at GW to Jefferson, 29 Aug., n.1; and Va. House of Delegates Journal 1780 description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia. Anno Domini, 1780. Richmond, Va., [1780]. description ends , pp. 60, 62–63, 68, 70.

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