From George Washington to Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, 15 August 1779
To Brigadier General Anthony Wayne
West point August the 15th 1779
Dr Sir
I inclose you a Warrant on the Deputy pay Master General for Fifteen hundred Dollars to pay the rewards promised to the first five Men who should enter the Enemy’s works in the attack upon Stony point: Also f⟨or⟩ One Hundred & forty thousand Nine hundred & Twenty Eight Dollars & Eighty two ninetieths of a Dollar, being part of the value of the Stores taken there, the whole value of which the Honourable the Congress with the most generous unanimity, as you will have seen by their Resolution of the 26th Ulto published in General Orders, have directed “to be divided among the Gallant troops by whom the post was reduced.”1 Besides this last sum, there is a ballance of Seventeen Thousand Seven Hundred & Twelve dollars in the hands of the Quarter Master General for the remainder of the Stores that were taken—which he will pay upon your application. These Two Sums are to be distributed among the Troops within the above description—and in proportion to the pay of the Officers & Men. I am Dr Sir with great regard & esteem Yr Most Obedt sert
Go: Washington
LS, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s Writing, PHi: Wayne Papers; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. GW signed the cover of the LS. The draft, which is also in the writing of Harrison, has the following table, in an unknown hand, appended:
| To the first man | 500 | ||
| the second | 400 | ||
| the third | 300 | ||
| the fourth | 200 | ||
| the fifth | 100 | ||
| 1,500 |  |
160,140 82⁄90 | |
| Ordinance & other stores | 140,928 82⁄90 | ||
| In Qr. Masters hands | 17,7,12 |
1. See General Orders, 7 Aug.; see also 14:890–91. For Wayne’s promise of rewards, see his Plan of Attack enclosed in Wayne to GW, 15 July. Brig. Gen. Henry Knox had valued the captured stores, and he sent an itemized return to GW on 1 Aug. (see the source note to the general orders for that date).
The entries for this date in GW’s warrant book include $1,500 “To Brigadier Genl Wayne—for reward to first 5 Men who entered Works at Stoney point” and $140,928 82/90 to Wayne “for value of M[ilitar]y Stores” (Revolutionary War Warrant Book 4, 1779–1780, DLC:GW, Ser. 5).