From George Washington to Colonel Goose Van Schaick, 16 May 1780
To Colonel Goose Van Schaick
Head Quarters Morris Town 16th May 1780
Sir
I this day recd yours of the 1st inclosing an account of the Fire at Fort Schuyler which I am glad to find was extinguished without doing any very material damage.1
Inclosed you will find permissions for Lieut. Sherwood and Ensign Clock of your Regt to quit the service—You will be pleased to indorse Copies of the same upon their Commissions if they have any.2 I am Sir Your most obt Servt.
Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. The enclosure with Van Schaick’s letter to GW of 1 May described a fire at the “Guard House” at Fort Schuyler, N.Y., that occurred on the night of 13–14 April.
2. The enclosures have not been identified. Both Lt. Adiel Sherwood and Ensign Jacob I. Klock are listed on an undated document titled “Resignations of Officers received & entered at Head Qrs since the 1st of January 1780” (DNA:PCC, item 152).
Adiel Sherwood (1749–1824), a native of Washington, Conn., served in 1775 in the Charlotte County (now Bennington County, Vt.) militia, and in 1776 he received a commission as lieutenant in the 1st New York Regiment. After his resignation on this date, he served as captain in the 3d New York Regiment of levies.
Klock subsequently “joined the Enemy” as a volunteer in the King’s Royal Regiment of New York and reportedly either deserted or was captured on the Mohawk River, at Fort Klock, N.Y., in the summer of 1782 (DNA: RG 93, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, 1st New York Regiment).