From George Washington to William Greene, 25 May 1780
To William Greene
Head qrs Morris Town May 25th 1780
Sir
Doctor Craick, Assistant Director General of the Hospitals in our Army, will have the honor of delivering this Letter to your Excellency. This Gentleman comes to providence to provide Hospitals and such refreshments as may be wanted in the first instance for the Sick, which may be on board the Fleet of His Most Christian Majesty when it arrives. The Doctor will consult with Your Excellency about the Houses which will be necessary and proper upon the occasion—and on the best mode of obtaining the refreshments which he may think it essential to provide. He will stand very materially in need of your good offices in this interesting business1—and in a particular manner will want the assistance of the State, either to advance him money or their credit for laying in the requisite supplies. This I am persuaded they will most readily give him from an earnest desire to afford every possible comfort & accomodation to the Sick of our Good & Great ally—who have the strongest claim to our attention and generosity.2 Your Excellency will be pleased to have the Accounts of the disbursements incurred on the occasion kept in a clear & particular manner, which will be punctually paid by Monsr Corné, Commissary at War to His Most Christian Majesty—or Mr Danmour his Consul, in Gold & Silver or in Bills of Exchange on France on their arrival at providence. One of these Gentlemen will be there in a short time.3 I have the Honor to be with the highest respect Yr Excellency’s Most Obedt servant
Go: Washington
LS, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s writing, R-Ar; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. Greene wrote GW from Warwick, R.I., on 6 June: “I Receiv’d your Excellencys favr of the 25th Ulto by Doctr Craick, and laid it before the Council of War who have Appointed a Person to Assist him in procuring Suitable Buildings for the reception of the Sick likewise to provide Such necessaries as the Doctr may require. Shall afford him every Assistance in my Power to Effect the purpose of His errand here” (L, DLC:GW; ALS [retained copy], RPJCB; the address of the L is in Greene’s writing). For the orders concerning the establishment of the hospital, see GW to James Craik, 24 May; see also Craik to GW, 11 June.
2. The Rhode Island general assembly voted in June to authorize Ephraim Bowen, Jr., deputy quartermaster general for Rhode Island, “to draw the sum of £10,000, lawful money, out of the general treasury” to repair and erect buildings for the hospital and “to supply the said Dr. Craick” (, 9:86–88). The assembly also appointed doctors Jonathan Arnold and Isaac Senter, prominent surgeons, to “a committee to advise with the said Dr. Craick, respecting the necessary means and measures to be pursued to prevent any contagious disorders, which may prevail amongst the said sick, from being communicated to the inhabitants of this state” (, 9:88). In its July session, the general assembly authorized funds to defray Craik’s “expenses, since he hath been in this state, and on his return to headquarters” (, 9:168).
3. French war commissary Corny arrived in Providence on 24 June in order to “make a personal inspection of the establishments” and to provide for “the several wants of the french army” (Lafayette to La Luzerne, 24 May, and to William Heath, 11 June, in , 3:29–31, 53–56; see also , 256). Charles-François-Adrien Le Paulmier, chevalier d’Annemours, the French consul at Baltimore, intended to assist Craik in making final decisions concerning the medical establishment, but he never went to Providence. Unaware of the consul’s whereabouts, French minister La Luzerne directed Lafayette to permit Craik to take charge of arrangements (see La Luzerne to Lafayette, 28 May, in , 3:39–40; see also GW to Craik, 24 May, and n.2 to that document).