From George Washington to Major General Arthur St. Clair, 26 May 1779
To Major General Arthur St. Clair
Head Quarters Middle Brook 26th May 1779
Dr Sir,
My intelligence from new York renders it indispensibly necessary for me to look towards the Posts in the highlands.1 As your division has been inspected, I wish you to hold it in the most perfect readiness for marching and encamping at an hours wa[r]ning2—for these purposes you will settle matters with the Qr ⟨M⟩r Genl. ⟨As⟩ it is much my wish to have ⟨a light active Army this campaign, I shall rely fully upon you (principally) & the Officers commanding Brigades & Regiments (in general) in yr division to see that the orders of the 17th of April3 are strictly complied with so far as they relate to their respective commands. I am &ca
G. W——n⟩
LS (fragment), in Richard Kidder Meade’s writing, O; ADfS, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. GW signed the cover of the LS. The text in angle brackets is missing from the LS fragment and has been supplied from the draft.
1. For the intelligence GW had received concerning an impending British move up the Hudson River, see Elijah Hunter to GW, 21 May, and Israel Shreve to GW, 23 May. Alexander Hamilton reinforced these orders in a letter to St. Clair from headquarters on 28 May: “I am commanded by His Excellency to inform you that recent intelligence increases the probability of the enemy being on the point of some important movement. He therefore repeats his recommendation that you will exert yourself to get your division in readiness to march as soon as possible” (DLC:GW). For the results of the British expedition, see William De Hart to GW, 30 May, n.1.
2. Meade inadvertently wrote “waining”.
3. See General Orders, 17 April.