From George Washington to Major General Stirling, 22 August 1779
To Major General Stirling
Head Quarters West-point 22d Augt 1779
My Lord.
I have to request your Lordship to order the boats from new-Ark to their former stations as I do not apprehend them altogther safe where they now are.1 I am, your Lordship’s ⟨illegible⟩
G.W.
Df, in James McHenry’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. These were the boats which GW had ordered Maj. Henry Lee to gather at Newark, N.J., to support the assault on the British fort at Paulus Hook, N.J. and which Lee had intended to use in his retreat. Through confusion in communications they had not been employed (see GW to Lee, 10 Aug., and Lee to GW, 22 Aug.).
On 23 Aug., Stirling wrote an unidentified person from “Camp Ramapogh”: “It is his Excellency General Washington’s order that you remove the Boats from New Ark to their former Station and let me know when you arrive there” (NjP: Atkinson Autograph Collection).