General Orders, 1 September 1777

General Orders

Head Quarters, Wilmington [Del.] September 1st 1777

Parole: Stanwix.Countersigns: Arnold. Gansevoort.

Mr Austin Sandridge was on the 15th instant appointed Quarter Master to the 6th Virginia regt and is to be regarded as such.1

The guards after to day are to be releived in the morning at 9 o’clock.

The Commander in Chief has the pleasure to inform the army, that on the approach of Genl Arnold with his detachment, the enemy raised the siege of Fort Stanwix, and fled with such precipitation, that they left their tents standing, with2 their ammunition, baggage, stores, four Royals3 &c. &c. &c. have fallen into our hands; and that a party sent out by Col. Gansevoort who commanded at the fort, brought in a number of prisoners and deserters.

Varick transcript, DLC:GW.

1. Austin (Augustine) Sandridge had been a sergeant in the 6th Virginia Regiment since January 1777. He retired from the army in September 1778.

2. George Weedon’s and Peter Muhlenberg’s orderly books both read “which with” (Weedon’s Orderly Book description begins Valley Forge Orderly Book of General George Weedon of the Continental Army under Command of Genl George Washington, in the Campaign of 1777–8: Describing the Events of the Battles of Brandywine, Warren Tavern, Germantown, and Whitemarsh, and of the Camps at Neshaminy, Wilmington, Pennypacker’s Mills, Skippack, Whitemarsh, & Valley Forge. New York, 1902. description ends , 29; “Muhlenberg’s Orderly Book,” description begins “Orderly Book of Gen. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, March 26–December 20, 1777.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 33 (1909): 257–78, 454–74; 34 (1910): 21–40, 166–89, 336–60, 438–77; 35 (1911): 59–89, 156–87, 290–303. description ends 34:452).

3. A royal was a small mortar that fired shells of 5.5 inches in diameter.

Index Entries

You Are Looking At

Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: General Orders, 1 September 1777
Author: Washington, George
Date: 1 September 1777

Reference

Cite as: “General Orders, 1 September 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-11-02-0103. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 11, 19 August 1777 – 25 October 1777, ed. Philander D. Chase and Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001, p. 106.]