To George Washington from Colonel Daniel Brodhead, 10 November 1779
From Colonel Daniel Brodhead
Pitsburgh Novr 10th 1779.
Dear General
I am honored with your favor of the 18th Ultimo.
The honorable notice you have been pleased to take of my little Expedition fills my mind with the warmest gratitude and I hope to merit your future esteem.1
It is some time since I inclosed to the Honorable Board of War a return of the Troops under my Command and of the Articles of Cloathing necessary for the respective Corps to render them tolerably comfortable during the ensuing Winter.
The Troops have received a small supply of Money and I expect they will be contented untill more can be procured from the Treasury.2
An Expedition against Detroit in the Winter season will doubtless put us in possession of the Enemies Shipping and of course give us the Command of lake Erie.3 Winter Expeditions are generally attended with great loss of Horses & Cattle except where large Magazines of Forage are laid in & can be transported. but the British Garrison & Shipping will be a full compensation for every loss of that kind and indeed every difficulty we can meet in the obtaining it as it will likewise secure the future tranquility of this frontier.
I will endeavour to have every thing in perfect readiness and procure the best intelligence that circumstances will admit.
I believe a considerable number of Indians will join me but I have little expectation of supplies except from the French Settlements in the vicinity of that post and as the British yearly cause the Inhabitants to thresh out their grain & sell to them for the purpose of filling their Magazines little dependance can be placed on receiving supplies from them. And the India⟨ns⟩ on the river St Lawrence subsist chiefly upon Animal food. I have frequently applied to the Board of War for supplies & Trinkets for the Indians but fear it is not in their power to procure them⟨.⟩ I will however renew my application.4
It is with great pleasure I hear of the destination of his Excellency Count D. Estainge & I have a happy presage that he will have the most ample Success.5
I herewith remit a return of the Cannon & Military Stores belonging to these Garrisons & an estimate of the Cannon & Military Stores necessary for the intended Expedition to the best of my Judgment.6
My best intelligence at present is, that the Enemy have erected a very Strong Work near to the old Fort and on the only commanding eminence behind the Soldiers Gardens, that the Garrison consists of three hundred Regulars (some say more)7 and about the same number of Militia some of the latter description it is said will join our Troops on their arrival in that Neighbourhood. The Wyandats Tawas Chepwa’s & pootiotomies live in the vicinity of Detroit and many of them are without doubt under British influence.
If the Expedition cannot be prosecuted before the Month of February it will then be too late on account of the high floods to which the intermediate Country is subject.
Should it prove impracticable to carry on the Expedition against Detroit the Troops under my Command with some Volunteers in my Opinion might be advantageously employed on an Expedition against the Shawnese on the Miami River and from thence against the Enemies post at Notchez with very little or no additional Expence & return early enough in the Spring to March against Detroit. for I apprehend no Danger to this frontier during the Winter Season; and the Troops will be healthier if Continued in Action than in these Garrisons.
A couple of French Gentlemen of good Address would be very serviceable in this distric⟨t⟩ & especially on an Expedition.
I shall be happy to hear from you & receive further instructions.8 I have the honor to be with the highest Sentiments of respect & esteem your Excellencies most obedt & most Humble Servt
Daniel Brodhead
P.S. I am this moment informed that 2000 Indians who were driven from their Towns are in great distress & live on the pittance afforded them by the Enemy at Niagara. this intelligence is from Sandusky and may be relied on⟨.⟩ they inform the other Indians that they are afraid to hunt on account of the Americans.
LS, DLC:GW; LB, NNGL. Only the LS includes the postscript.
In a letter of 11 Nov. to Maj. Richard Taylor, replying to one from that officer of 7 Nov., Brodhead wrote: “I was honored with a packet from his Excellency Gen’l Washington just before I received your letter, and the first contents being of great public Concern & requiring an immediate answer, my mind on that account was so much employed that I had not leisure to answer yours until this usual hour of leisure, viz., 10 o’clock at night” ( 1st ser., 12:182–83).
1. GW’s letter to Brodhead of 18 Oct. acknowledged that officer’s successful late summer “expedition up the Alleghany against the Senecca & Muncy Nations.”
This letter from GW to Brodhead probably arrived with one of the same date from Adj. Gen. Alexander Scammell. Brodhead replied to Scammell from Pittsburgh on 11 Nov.: “I have received your obliging letter of the 18th ult.
“It is sometime since I enclosed the return of the Troops under my command to his Excellency the Commander in Chief, but as it may have miscarried or been mislaid, I now enclose you a copy of it. I am ever attentive to Gen’l orders, but frequent safe opportunities cannot be found from this place for the conveyance of papers of importance & Expresses pay and subsistance is extravagantly high, however, if it should be the intention of the Gen’l to have the returns transmitted monthly at any rate—I shall be very punctual in the execution of that as well as other duties” ( 1st ser., 12:185–86). For Brodhead’s further problems sending strength returns, see his letter to Scammell, 28 April 1780, in 1st ser., 12:226–27.
2. Brodhead’s letter to Timothy Pickering, president of the Board of War, written from Pittsburgh on 3 Nov. illuminates the preceding two paragraphs. That letter reads: “The Returns of the Continental Troops under my Command and the Clothing necessary for them during the winter season (as they are made out by the Officers Comm’g the Respective Corps) I have enclosed. I should have sent them before had not a great variety of business prevented me. …
“I am very sensible of the exertions of your Hble. Board and am always contented with a reasonable quantity of Clothing, but I hope it will be admitted that Troops which are constantly employed in ranging thro’ the woods require a larger supply of some articles than such as are employed in an open country.
“The arrival of a pay master with money has raised the spirits of the Troops, but as there are many old demands from the Militia & others, I fear the sum in his possession will be inadequate to discharge the arrearages” ( 1st ser., 12:179–80; see also Brodhead to James Wilkinson, 13 Dec., in 1st ser., 12:199).
3. In his letter of 18 Oct., GW had advised Brodhead to give his “closest attention” to an expedition against Detroit and “make such preparations & obtain such necessary information as may be in your power without exciting much alarm—as may facilitate the work whenever it is undertaken.”
4. Brodhead fulfilled his pledge when he wrote Pickering from Pittsburgh on 11 November. That letter in part reads: “I am directed by the Commander in Chief to apply to your Honorable Board for some supplies and trinkets for the Indians.
“It is probable that an expedition may be ordered against Detroit or Natchez next winter and they will be essentially necessary to engage the Indians to aid us” ( 1st ser., 12:183).
5. Brodhead apparently learned from the Board of War in an unidentified communication dated 15 Oct. that a French fleet under Vice Admiral d’Estaing intended to cooperate with GW. He expressed his thoughts on the prospect in his letter to Pickering of 3 Nov.: “I am exceedingly happy to hear Count D’Estaing will soon be on the Coasts, & I have not a doubt but the joint efforts of his Excellency the Commander in Chief, & that Gentleman will humble the pride of the haughty Britons” ( 1st ser., 12:179–80; see also Planning for an Allied Attack on New York, c.3–7 Oct., editorial note).
6. The enclosed return and estimate have not been identified. In the postscript of his letter to Brodhead dated 18 Oct., GW had asked for an enumeration of the “Military Stores & Artillery” necessary for an expedition against Detroit.
7. For the accuracy of this intelligence about the garrison, see Mason Bolton to Frederick Haldimand, 15 Nov., in 19:479.
8. GW replied to Brodhead from Morristown, N.J., on 4 Jan. 1780: “Persuaded that a Winter expedition against Detroit would have great advantages over a Summer one, and be much more certain of success, I regret that the situation of affairs does not permit us to undertake it. We cannot at present furnish either the men or supplies necessary for it” (Ia-HA).