From George Washington to Major General Philip Schuyler, 24 October 1778
To Major General Philip Schuyler
Head Qrs [Fredericksburg] 24 Otbr 1778
Dr sir
I inclose you the opinion of Mr Pettit A.Q.M.G. and the Commissaries Mesrs Flint and Stuart, on that paragraph in your letter of the 22d In[s]t. which respects the purchasing the flour and wheat in those districts of Pennsylvania and Jersey, above Trenton, with their several sentiments how far a water conveyance can be conveniently adopted1—Mr Stuart is particularly conversant in the navigation of Delaware both above & below the mountains.
Things you will observe by Mr Flints letter are already in a train and proper measures shall be taken to have the purchases stored at Coles-fort as you propose, from whence they may be moved as the exigencies of the army require.2 To obtain an estimate of the quantity which may be drawn from those places I have given orders to the Commissary to send a person properly qualified for this purpose who will transmit his report as soon as <complete.>3
I am much obliged to you for offering yourself in this affair—but as it seems so well contrived, and the business in some degree entered on—I would not wish to give you unnecessary fatigue on this occasion. I am D. S. &[ca.]
G. W——n
Df, in James McHenry’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. Schuyler’s letter to GW of 22 Oct. has not been found. The enclosed letters from Charles Pettit, Royal Flint, and Charles Stewart, which they apparently had written to GW, have not been identified.
2. Cole’s Fort, which had been built during the French and Indian War, was on the Delaware River at the site of present-day Port Jervis, New York.
3. This mutilated word is supplied from the Varick transcript.