General Orders, 2 October 1776
General Orders
Head Quarters, Harlem Heights, October 2nd 1776.
Parole: Hartford.Countersign: Harlem.1
Jonathan Pollard Esqr. is appointed Aid-de-Camp to Genl Heath, and is to be obeyed and respected accordingly.2
It is with much Concern the General is informed, that tho’ the new Rules for the Government of the Army have been out sometime, they have not been generally read to the soldiers—Surely Gentlemen do not reflect what prejudice it is to the service, to omit so material a point of duty.
It is once more repeated, that every Soldier is to be completed with Ammunition to 24 Rounds a Man; and it is the duty of Officers to see that they have it3—Some of the troops who went out on the covering party this morning, had not their Complement, nor had their Officers examined their Arms and Ammunition, before they marched them on the Grand Parade—This Conduct if not amended will be fatal to the Army and the Country—Where the Cartridge-Boxes will not hold the full Complement, application is to be made for Pouches, which may be had at the Commissary’s Store.
Varick transcript, DLC:GW; Df, in Joseph Reed’s writing, DNA: RG 93. , Orderly Books, vol. 15. The two passwords in the draft are not in Reed’s writing.
1. 49:45, gives the parole for this date as “Glocester” and the countersign as “Falmouth.” In the draft they are the same as in the Varick transcript.
2. Jonathan Pollard of Massachusetts, who had been quartermaster of Knox’s artillery regiment since April 1776, served as one of Heath’s aides with the rank of major until May 1778 when Heath named him deputy adjutant general of the eastern department with the rank of lieutenant colonel (see Heath to GW, 23 May 1778, DLC:GW; Heath to Pollard, 18 June 1778, DNA:PCC, item 57; and GW to Heath, 17 June 1778, MHi: Heath Papers).
3. This order was issued originally in the general orders for 19 May 1776.