To George Washington from Major General John Sullivan, 18 May 1779
From Major General John Sullivan
Hickory Tavern [N.J.]1 May 18th [1779] 5 oC.
Dear Genl
I met the Inclosed at this place & Take the Liberty to Inclose the whole to Your Excy that You may See our prospects & have an Idea of the Existing Difficulties The ⟨Ne⟩w Hampshire Regt Seems to be without Tents or any thing Else2 I was apprehensive that unless Tents was mentioned in the orders Sent for marchg they would Come without them Yr Excy will please to forward the Letter to Genl Green which is Directed to him.3 all the Evils which I can remedy Shall be done those which You Conceive out of my power Yr Excy will give the Necessary orders for.
The Difficulty of Forage Colo. Biddle will remove I have Seen him repeatedly on the Subject—The New Hampsre Regt did not march for Mohacomac agreable to orders if it had the Express would have met them. I have the Honor to be Dear Genl most Respectfully Yr Excys most obed. Servt
Jno. Sullivan
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Hickory Tavern, known since 1796 as Van Syckel’s Tavern, was built in the 1760s about sixteen miles east of Easton, Pa., in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
2. The enclosed “Return for Camp Equipage and Cloathing Wanting in the first Newhampshire Regiment Commanded by Colo. Cilley,” dated at Easton, Pa., on 18 May and signed by Maj. William Scott, is in DLC:GW.
3. The enclosure may have been a brief letter that Sullivan had written to Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene from Millstone, N.J., on 16 May (, 4:35). Alexander Hamilton wrote to Greene from headquarters at Middlebrook on 22 May: “By a letter we have received from General Sullivan it appears that Poor’s Brigade have left their tents behind—The General requests you will have them supplied from your nearest deposit, and, in general, that you will make up every deficiency in this article for the expedition as speedily as possible. General Sullivan appears to be very anxious to have his supplies of every kind forwarded to him, that he may begin his career—⟨he⟩ is in his usual pother; but dispatch is certainly very desireable” (PPAmP: Nathanael Greene Papers).