From George Washington to George Clinton, 27 November 1793
To George Clinton
(Private)
Dear Sir,Philadelphia 27th Novr 1793
Not having the letters at hand, I am unable to refer to dates; but the one with which you were pleased to favour me, dated sometime in September, did not reach my hands before I had left this City. Immediately, however, upon the receipt of it (at my own house in Virginia) I put it under cover to the Secretary of War with directions to answer it conformably to the rules which had been adopted for Government in such cases; but before my letter got to this place he also had left it, for Boston. This being the true state of the case will, I hope, apologize for your being so long without an acknowledgment of the first letter, whilst those of subsequent date have been answered with more promptitude.1
Whenever it shall be perfectly convenient to you,2 I would thank you for a statement of our joint concern in the Mohawk Land—that is—for information of what Lots have been sold, and what remain on hand, with the numbers of each.3 My compliments & best wishes attend you, Mrs Clinton4 & the family—& with real regard & friendship I am—Dear Sir Your Affecte & Obedt Servt
Go: Washington
ALS, owned (1982) by James F. Ruddy, Rancho Mirage, Calif.; ADfS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DLC:GW.
1. GW is responding to Clinton’s letter of 24 Nov., which made reference to his earlier letters to GW of 8 Sept. and 15 November. GW received the 8 Sept. letter at Alexandria on 14 Sept. and sent it to Secretary of War Henry Knox in a letter of 16 September. Knox’s replies to Clinton’s letters of 8 Sept. and 15 Nov. are dated 15 Nov. and 26 Nov. (see Clinton to GW, 8 Sept., n.2, and Knox to GW, 26 Nov., n.1).
2. On the ALS the remainder of this paragraph was underlined at a later date, apparently subsequent to the letter’s sale in 1977 (see Charles Hamilton Galleries, Inc., Auction 103, 24 Feb. 1977, item 266).
3. For discussion of the 6,071 acres along the Mohawk River that Clinton purchased in 1784 on behalf of himself and GW, see GW to Clinton, 25 Nov. 1784, and Indenture with Jedediah Sanger, 22 July 1790, source note. For information about Clinton’s reply to this inquiry, see GW to Clinton, 25 Dec., n.1.
4. Clinton married Cornelia Tappen (1744–1800) in 1770.