To George Washington from Abraham Yates, Jr., 5 September 1776
From Abraham Yates, Jr.
In Convention of the Representatives of the State
of New York—Fish Kill, Septr 5th 1776
Sir
I am directed by the Convention of this State to transmit to your Excellency a Copy of a Resolution which they entreat may be carried into Execution with all possible Dispatch.1
It is with Extreme Concern that we find ourselves under the disagreable necessity of having recourse to this unhappy but necessary expedient or of troubling your Excellency with a Commission of this Nature—But the critical Situation of this State, the total want of Brass Field pieces, and our inability to have this Resolve executed by the City of New York,2 on account of their absence from the City, reduces us to the present Dilemma, either of adopting this Measure—or of neglecting the public Safety.
They therefore trust that your Excellency’s Zeal for the public Service will induce you to pardon the Liberty they take of troubling you on this Occasion. I have the Honor to be with great respect your Excellency’s obedient humble Servant
Abm Yates Junr President
LS, DLC:GW. The draft of this letter that the committee of safety approved late this afternoon contains only a few minor variations in wording (see , 1:611; see also note 2).
1. The convention’s resolution of this date authorizes and requests GW “to cause all the Bells in the different Churches and public Edifices in the City of New York to be taken down, and removed to New Ark in New Jersey, with all possible Dispatch, that the Fortune of War may not throw the Same into the Hands of our Enemy, and deprive this State, at this critical period, of that necessary tho’ unfortunate resource for Supplying our want of Cannon” (DLC:GW; see also , 1:610).
2. The draft reads: “and our inability to have this resolve executed by the committee of the city of New-York” (ibid., 611).