From George Washington to Colonel Joseph Reed, 12 January 1777
To Colonel Joseph Reed
Head Qrs Morristown 12th Jany 1777
Dear sir
Yours of the eleventh is Come to hand if the account the prisoners give be true it is a very agreeable & important one.1
the order you Sent to Colonel Winds has interferd with a plan, Concerted by Generals Sullivan & Maxwell, whenever you have occasion to order a Movement of any part of the Army, it will be best to apply to the Commanding Officer, Lest it may, [(]as it has in the present instance) interfere with Some other object2—I wish you had brought Vanhorne of with you, for from his noted Character, there is no dependance to be placed upon his Parole, nothing new here but the arrivall of Genl Stevens with the baggage of the Army, Genl Putnam is or soon will be at Princeton, Heath is moveing towards Kingsbridge, a Detachment from that quarter are at Ramapa. I am Dear Sir Your affte H. St
Go: Washington
LS, in Stephen Moylan’s writing, RPJCB.
1. Reed’s letter has not been found.
2. GW is referring to Reed’s orders to Col. William Winds’s New Jersey militia and Col. William Butler’s 4th Pennsylvania Regiment to harass the British light horse patrolling the road between Bonhamtown and Perth Amboy. See Reed to John Sullivan, 10 Jan. 1777, in , 1:309–12.