To George Washington from Colonel Joseph Cilley, Jr., 7 March 1780
From Colonel Joseph Cilley, Jr.
Camp near Danbury [Conn.]
March 7th 1780
May it Please your Excellency
I have had the Honour of receiving yr Favours of the 15th 19th & 22d Ult. the two last came to Hand Yesterday.1 In consequence of the first I immediately remited the Return call’d for—notwithstanding a Similar one then lay at West-Point the receipt of which Colo. Brooks acknowledges Prior to yr Excellency requisition.
Inclosed I now Send a Duplicate of the former least that might be miscarried a Copy of which I have this Instant Dispatch’d to the state of N. Hampshire agreeable to your Direction.2
I assure yr Excellency I will use every Precaution in my Power to avoid being Surprised altho our Numbers are Small, & will soon be more so as You will Perceive by the Inclosed Return.
I have likewise recd a letter from Genl Howe in which He Informes He expects to have Occasion Soon to call two Hundred; or two Hundred & fifty Men into Command which with the Men now Detatch’d & other Daily Duty Must leave us very weak. With the greatest Esteem I have the Honour to Remain yr Excellency’s Most Obedient Humble Servt
Jos. Cilley Colo. Commdg G. Poors Brigade
LS, DLC:GW.
1. These letters were addressed to Brig. Gen. Enoch Poor. For the letter to Poor of 15 Feb., see the source note of GW’s letter to William Heath of that date. GW’s letter to Poor of 19 Feb. has not been found, but it was similar to GW’s letter to Heath of that date. Cilley had assumed temporary command of Poor’s New Hampshire brigade (see GW to Poor, 5 Feb.).
2. Cilley enclosed a “Return of Non-Commissioned Officers & Soldiers in General Poors Brigade engaged during [the] war and the Different Terms of Expiration of others,” signed by himself and dated this date at Danbury, Connecticut. The return indicated that 32 sergeants, 19 “Music,” or drummers and fifers, and 407 rank and file were enlisted for the war. The terms of 90 soldiers of all ranks were expiring in March, 182 in April, and another 59 in May. Between June 1780 and July 1781, the terms of another 192 soldiers were due to expire. Cilley gave the brigade’s total strength of noncommissioned officers and privates as of 7 March as 981 (DLC:GW).