To George Washington from Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons, 23 December 1779
From Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons
23d Decr 79
Dear General
I am inform’d that forty Sail of Transports fell down to the Narrows last Fryday said to be a fleet for England, no Troops on Board,1 but Transports with Troops have been faling down every Day since;2 Genl Clinton’s & Ld Cornwalli⟨s’s⟩ Baggage I am informd (so that I think it cannot be doubted) Are imbarkd—Yesterday a Conversation was had among their Officers on whom the Command would devolve on the Fleet’s Sailing & they agreed Genl Kniphausen would command,3 Yesterday on firing a Signal Gun it was observd that the Signal was for a Ship of War to fall down, and that Sr Harry Clinton was to take his Passage in the Ship—this Morning a large Fleet fell down to the Hook, the Number I am not yet certain of4—by Letters I have containing Information from Long Island & Westchester compard with Information I have obtaind here I am inclind to beleive the Number of Troops to be imployd will not far differ from 10,000 & will be under Two Commands for different Purposes, nearly in the Proportion of 8,000 to 2,000.5 I am yr Excellency’s Obedt Servt
Saml H. Parsons
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Capt. Johann Hinrichs, a jäger staff officer then on a ship awaiting departure for South Carolina, described this fleet in his diary upon reaching Sandy Hook, N.J., “toward noon” on 22 Dec. as “destined for England with invalids, etc., etc. This fleet put to sea the following morning with a splendid wind and under cover of six men-of-war” ( 109; see also the entry for 23 Dec. in 446, and the entries for 22 and 23 Dec. in 71). The previous Friday was 17 December.
2. For reports of British forces preparing to depart from New York, see Anthony Wayne’s first letter to GW of 21 Dec., and n.1 to that document, and Wayne’s second letter to GW, same date, and n.2 to that document.
3. Lt. Gen. Wilhelm von Knyphausen commanded at New York City after Gen. Henry Clinton went with the expedition to Charleston, S.C. (see Wayne to GW, 26 Dec., source note).
4. New York City printer Hugh Gaine wrote in his diary entry for this date: “The British Fleet sails out of the Hook” ( 2:73). British officer Archibald Robertson’s diary entry for the same date elaborates: “English Fleet sail’d and were out of sight by 4 in the Afternoon” ( 205; see also the entry for this date in 317).
5. GW’s reply to Parsons, written at Morristown on this date, reads: “I am this moment favored with your letter of this date and its inclosure. It is very important, and I wish [to know] how soon we may be able to ascertain the truth of the several particulars. Should the officers you have mentioned take the command there is no doubt but the troops will be adequate to their station” (Df, in James McHenry’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW). The enclosure has not been identified.
For GW’s eagerness to confirm reports of a major British detachment from New York, see his letter to Samuel Huntington, 29 Nov., and n.1 to that document; see also Henry Lee, Jr., to GW, 30 Nov., n.4.