From George Washington to Colonel Israel Shreve, 25 April 1778
To Colonel Israel Shreve
Head Quarters [Valley Forge] 25th April 1778.
Sir.
I have received your favor of the 16th inclosing a return of the prisoners taken by the enemy near Coopers Ferry1—The Disposition which you have made of the men under your command I have no doubt is founded on a knowledge of the Country, and calculated to answer the ends in view.
Your Quarter master is furnished with an order to procure the number of arms required, at Trenton or Easton2—I congratulate those Gentlemen of whose conduct you speak so favorably, upon their prospect of recovering from their wounds and am Sir Your most obedt Servt
Go: Washington
LS, in John Laurens’s writing, CSmH; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. Neither Shreve’s letter nor the return has been found. For accounts of the action at Cooper’s Ferry on 5 April, see Shreve to GW, 6 April, and notes.
2. The order has not been identified. Shreve’s regimental quartermaster was Benajah Osmun (d. 1816), who assumed that position in January 1777. Commissioned a lieutenant in the 2d New Jersey Regiment from September 1778, Osmun was taken prisoner at Charleston in April 1780. He served to the end of the war. Osmun later settled near Natchez, Miss., where he became a colonel of militia and in 1807 stood as security for Aaron Burr during his conspiracy trial.