1John Adams to Abigail Adams, 20 January 1777 (Adams Papers)
This Morning We crossed the North River at Poughkeepsie, on the Ice, after having ridden many Miles on the East side of it to find a proper Place. We landed at New Marlborough, and passed through that and Newborough Newburgh to New Windsor, where We dined. This Place is nearly opposite to Fish kill, and but little above the Highlands, where Fort Constitution and Fort Montgomery stand. The...
2To Alexander Hamilton from George Washington, [20 January 1777] (Hamilton Papers)
[ Morristown, New Jersey, January 20, 1777. A statement in George Washington’s letter to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hanson Harrison of this date reads: “Be so good as to forward the Inclosed to Captn. Hamilton.” Letter not found. ] Before the Revolution, Harrison, who was a native of Maryland, was a lawyer in Alexandria, Virginia, where he met Washington and became his occasional legal adviser....
3From Benjamin Franklin to John Hancock, 20 January 1777 (Franklin Papers)
ALS and copy: National Archives; copy: British Library The Bearer Capt. Balm is strongly recommended to me, as a very able Officer of Horse, and capable of being extreamly useful to us, in forming a Body of Men for that Service. As he has otherwise an excellent Character, I take the Liberty of recommending him to my Friends as a Stranger, of Merit, worthy of their Civilities, and to the...
4The Duc de La Rochefoucauld to Franklin and Silas Deane, 20 January 1777 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society This is the first communication from a man who, with his mother, soon became part of Franklin’s circle, and who corresponded with him intermittently for the rest of the Doctor’s life. Franklin had met the mother, the duchesse d’Enville, on one of his earlier visits to Paris, and the son at a dinner in London in 1769; but the connection seems to have been...
5General Orders, 20 January 1777 (Washington Papers)
Each Brigadier is to appoint a Brigade Parade, as central to his Brigade, as circumstances of Ground will permit; and each Colonel, or commanding Officer of a regiment is to fix under the same circumstances, a regimental parade, as convenient to the regiment, and the Brigade parade, as possible. An Alarm will be communicated by the discharge of three Field Pieces (which the commanding officer...
6To George Washington from Gunning Bedford, 20 January 1777 (Washington Papers)
As I promised your Excelly some fiew days ago; so I now take the liberty of transmitting to you, my sentiments on the subject of some Regulations to take place in my Department. The confusion that has attended the Office hitherto, & the difficulty of executing the duty of it, has given me much uneasiness; but those difficulties & that confusion, I hope your Excelly will see has been owing to...
7Orders to John Cochran, 20 January 1777 (Washington Papers)
you are to proceed from hence to New Town, to morrow & there inquire into the state of the smallpox & use every possible Means in your Power to prevent that Disease from spreading in the Army & among the Inhabitants, which may otherwise prove fatal to the service; To that End you are to take such Houses, as will be convenient in the most retired parts of the Country & best calculated to answer...
8From George Washington to Nicholas Cooke, 20 January 1777 (Washington Papers)
I am exceeding sorry to hear your State has ordered several Battalions to be raised for the defence of the State only, and this before proper measures are taken to fill the Continental Regiments; You cannot be insensible how unequal any one State is unconnected with the others to defend itself, if the Enemy shou’d make a descent against it with any considerable force; neither have you the...
9From George Washington to Col. Elias Dayton, 20 January 1777 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to Col. Elias Dayton, 20 Jan. 1777. Dayton’s letter to GW of 13 Jan. is docketed in part “Ansd 20th.”
10From George Washington to John Hancock, 20 January 1777 (Washington Papers)
I am favoured with yours of the 15th instant with the sundry Resolves inclosed in it. If that respecting the Continental Currency is carried strictly into execution, it cannot fail of fully re-establishing its Credit. I have no objection to the three Gentlemen who are recommended for Feild Officers in the New Hampshire Regiment, they seem fully intitled to it, as they have raised the Regiment....