To George Washington from Lieutenant Henry Willis, 24 June 1780
From Lieutenant Henry Willis
Ki⟨n⟩gs Ferry [N.Y.] June 24th 1780 5 OClock Mor⟨ning⟩
Sir
I have receiv’d information of the enemies coming up the river. they were seen of[f] Closter this side of Fort Washington last evening about sun set, their numbers cannot be ascertain’d but in force you may depend on soon as ever they appear in sight I shall be able to write their size & strength.1 I have the honor to be &c.
Henry Willis
ALS, DLC:GW. The cover reads: “Pr Dragoon.”
Henry Willis, of Pennsylvania, joined the 4th Continental Dragoons as a cornet in June 1777. He became a lieutenant in December 1778 and a captain in December 1780. Willis left the army in April 1781.
For the orders stationing Willis at King’s Ferry to report on British naval movements up the Hudson River, see GW to Stephen Moylan, 20 June, and n.1 to that document; see also GW to Robert Howe, 10 June.
1. These ships carried the troops that British general Henry Clinton brought from Charleston, S.C., to Staten Island (see Battle of Springfield, 23–24 June, editorial note). British officer Archibald Robertson wrote in his diary on 23 June: “I left Staten Island this morning to join General Leslie who commanded the Troops going up the North River. The Transports went all past York with a fine Breeze. In the Night Sir Henry join’d us from Staten Island. The Fleet anchored off Phillips’s” (, 233). Philipse Manor was on the east side of the Hudson River opposite Closter, New Jersey.