To George Washington from William Brown, 15 April 1780
From William Brown
Philada April 15th 1780
Sir
I have the honor to enclose a general return of the hospitals and Sick of the Army from the first of March to the first of April past;1 and now beg leave to inform your Excellency, that, with great reluctance on one consideration, but from absolute necessity on others, I am about to avail myself of the discretionary leave I obtained from your Excellency to visit my family for a few weeks—I have so disposed matters in the Hospital department, that on any event, that I can conceive to take place, nothing will suffer therein thro’ my absence for five or six weeks, which is the utmost of the time I shall be away—The hospitals already established & going on well in the vicinity of the Army, will easily receive all the Sick that will be sent from Camp, while the army continues stationary; and Dr Bloomfeild2 with three assistants waits at Pluckemin to take immediate charge of the surplus of such as will be left on the ground, in case of the Army’s moving, that the old hospitals cannot receive—I have proposed that these should be accommodated either in General Knoxs buildings (if he evacuates them) or in some of the best of the vacated hutts3—After all; I must assure your Excellency, that nothing less than the apprehension of danger even to my Wife’s life, in the critical situation in which she now is, unless I attend her, could induce me to avail myself so far of your Excellency’s indulgence at this time.4 I am, with the most perfect respect, Your Excellency’s most obedient humble Servant
W. Brown
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. The enclosed return has not been identified.
2. Moses Bloomfield (1729–1791) practiced medicine in Woodbridge, N.J., became a hospital surgeon in May 1777, and advanced to hospital physician and surgeon in October 1780. He resigned in December of that year. For Bloomfield’s capture by Loyalists that same summer, see his letter to GW, 30 Aug. 1780 (DLC:GW).
3. Brown is referring to buildings that Brig. Gen. Henry Knox had built as an artillery park at Pluckemin, N.J., during the army’s winter encampment the previous year. For the subsequent use of these facilities as a hospital, see GW’s order of cantonment, November 1779, and the general orders for 28 Dec. 1779, source note.
4. Catherine Scott Brown (1741–1813) knew GW from visits to Mount Vernon prior to her marriage in later 1772 or early 1773, and she continued as an occasional guest (see , 3:71, 74–75, 108, 197, 210, 322).
For William Brown’s return to New Jersey after his leave of absence in Virginia, see his letter to GW, 29 May (DLC:GW).