From Alexander Hamilton to Major General William Heath, [9 July 1779]
To Major General William Heath1
[New Windsor, New York, July 9, 1779]
Sir
His Excellency commands me to acknowlege the receipt of your letter of this day with two prisoners.2 He says he spoke to you to day on the points mentioned in your letter which probably was written antecedent to your interview. Lt Col Loring is to be tried by a Court Martial of the line.3 Capt Forrest,4 under the peculiar circumstances represented by Col Putnam,5 to be indulged with a furlough.
I have the honor to be Very respectfully Sir Yr most Obed serv
A Hamilton Aide De Camp
ALS, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.
1. Heath was at Mandeville’s, New York. He was at this time in command of a wing of Washington’s Army.
2. Heath’s letter is in George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
3. Lieutenant Colonel Jotham Loring, Third Massachusetts Regiment, was tried on five charges, was found guilty of two of them, and in August, 1779, was cashiered. See , XVI, 89–90.
4. H was mistaken. It was not “Capt. Forrest,” but Captain Samuel Flower, Third Massachusetts Regiment, who had requested a furlough. See Heath to Washington, July 9, 1779, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
5. Colonel Rufus Putnam.