From George Washington to Lieutenant Colonel William Stephens Smith, 14 March 1778
To Lieutenant Colonel William Stephens Smith
Head Quarters [Valley Forge] 14th March 1778
Sir
I expected you would have been at Camp with the detatchment under your command before this time but I imagine the Weather and Roads have hindered you.1 I desire you will lose no time in marching after you receive this; and that you will bring with you all the Men of other Corps that are sufficiently recovered from the Hospitals and properly clad to do duty. I am &c.
Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. Smith’s detachment of Lee’s Additional Continental Regiment, transferred from the northern army in November 1777, had been confined to the hospital at Lancaster by an outbreak of smallpox. On 12 Jan. 1778 Smith wrote to GW that his detachment would “in a short Time be fit for service” (DNA: RG 93, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775–1783), and on 27 Jan., GW directed Smith to march “immediately” to camp “as soon as” it was “fit to leave the Hospital.”