To George Washington from Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, 11 May 1780
From Brigadier General Anthony Wayne
Philadelphia 1[1]th May 1780
Dear General
many Gentlemen in this place affect to be very Sanguine in the Defence of Charles town, & remain in the most unworthy state of torpidity, waiting the Issue—whilst others are depressed or elevated (like the ebbing & flowing of the tide) upon the rect of every piece of Intelligence, either of a gloomy or pleasing complexion1—but an equal supiness pervades the Whole, & when they are calling upon your Excellency for troops to send to the Southward—use no exertions to supply their places, or even to furnish provisions or other necessaries for those already on their march.2
I was in the lower Counties, or Delaware State, about eight days since, & found the Second Maryland brigade at Newport—Destitute of provision’s except what fish they took for themselves in netts borrowed for the purpose—when I arrived at Willmington I found the Artillery in the same situation—they had been some days there without a Commissary or any Supplies other than the scanty pittance they recd from the Inhabitance, who had employed a few fishermen to take herring for them.
An omission of this Nature struck me so forceably—(altho’ not Immediately in the line of my duty) that I made a representation of it to the board of War,3 who have since put those troops in motion—but I believe without the least prospect of their arrival in time to afford any succour to Charlestown, notwiths[t]anding this an other Detatchment may probably be called for—& what service are we to expect from them adequate to the Certain loss, in sickness, Death & Desertion, that will Inevitably take place, thro’ a long & fatiguing March, in a Climate to which our people are not Inured.
Is there no mode of giving some relief to the Southren States more sudden in it’s opperation—than any effect that the Detatching of troops from this army can possibly produce, may not part of those already on their march be Countermanded, is there no opening to strike the Enemy in the Vicinity of New York—such an event wou’d counter ballance the loss of Charles-town—but your Excellency can alone Determine—whether the State of your Army & resources are such as will justify the measure, or afford a probability of Success.
You’l have the goodness to pardon this Intrusion & believe me in every Vicissitude of fortune Your Excellency’s Most Obt & very Huml. Sert
Anty Wayne
shou’d my attendance in Camp be of the least use—I shall hold myself in readiness at the shortest notice.4
ALS, DLC:GW; ADfS, PHi: Wayne Papers. The date on the ALS is smudged but given as 11 May because of a clear rendering on the draft manuscript. GW received Wayne’s letter on 17 May (see GW to Wayne, 18 May, NjP: De Coppet Collection).
1. Connecticut delegate Oliver Ellsworth had written his state’s governor, Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., from Philadelphia on 9 May: “Much anxiety prevails here to know the fate of Charlestown, from which there are no accounts, to be depended on, later than the 9th of April. …
“P.S. Since writing the above advice is receivd from Charlestown to the 15 of April 2 oClock P.M. The Enemy had opened their batteries on the town on the 12th & kept them incessantly playing but without much execution. … The Enemy had also crossed Cooper river & were taking a strong post on the north side of it nearly opposite the town & were endeavouring to complete the Blockade, which unless a reinforcement seasonably arived there was danger of their effecting” (, 15:101–3; see also Board of War to GW, 9 May, and the source note to that document).
The British captured Charleston, S.C., on 12 May (see Benjamin Lincoln to GW, 11–12 Feb., n.4).
2. Wayne is referring to the Maryland division and the Delaware Regiment, both sent south in early April (see Samuel Huntington to GW, 6 April, n.2).
3. Wayne’s letter to the Board of War has not been identified.