Lieutenant Colonel John Fitzgerald to Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, 2 January 1778
Lieutenant Colonel John Fitzgerald to Brigadier General Anthony Wayne
Head Quarters [Valley Forge] Jany 2d 1778
Dear sir
The Inclosed Letter is just come to hand which his Excellency orders to be forwarded to you, that you make proper Enquiry into the truth of the Facts mention’d therin; & Issue such orders as you find necessary for the Reformation of those or any other Abuses or irregulariti⟨es⟩ you find to be committ’d in Lancaster, York, or other such places as you go to whilst absent from Camp.1
One Step the General recommends to affect this—that you order every Officer & Soldier fit for duty & not upon necessary Business, to return immediately to Camp & Join their respective Corps, taking a List of the Officers Names, Regiments &Ca so order’d, & transmit it to Head Quarters to the End that we may be able to point out any who dont pay due attention thereto. I am Dear Sir your mo: Obedt servt
John Fitzgerald
Aid de Camp
ALS, PHi: Wayne Papers; ADfS, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. The mutilated text is supplied in angle brackets from the draft. The cover of the ALS indicates that the letter was sent “by Express” to Wayne “now at Lancaster.” Fitzgerald also signed a note on the cover reading: “Permit the Bearer to pass to Lancaster.”
1. The enclosure has not been identified. For letters relating to Wayne’s absence from camp, see Wayne to GW, 26 Dec. 1777, and GW’s reply of the following day; see also Wayne to Richard Peters, 19, 31 Dec. 1777, PHi: Wayne Papers.