From George Washington to Brigadier General John Stark, 29 August 1778
To Brigadier General John Stark
Head Quarters White plains 29th Augt 1778.
Sir
I have duly recd yours of the 13th 18th 19th and 21st instants to which I shall reply in course.1 I have desired the pay Master General to appoint a deputy at Albany and to supply him with the proper Sums to pay the troops to the Northward. I have it not in my power to make you any extra allowance for your expences, an application upon that head must be made to Congress. If Capt. McKeens Company of Rangers is raised for a limited time to answer any good purpose, I have no objection to their being taken into continental pay, but if they are intended to be a permanent Corps, and to act in one particular district, I have the same objection to them, that I have to all Corps raised for local purposes, and cannot give my sanction to them, if they are upon such terms—I will desire Genl Knox to order some 2. 3 and 4 pound shot to be sent to Albany—The application for Cloathing for Colo. Whitcombs Rangers should have been made to the Cloathier General. I have not seen Lt Mott, who you say is sent down for the Cloaths, but when he arrives I will direct him in what manner to make the application in a proper manner.2
The appointment of a deputy Commissary in the room of Mr Winship lays intirely with the Commy General. He has been informed of Mr Winships intended resignation, and will no doubt take care to appoint another.
I shall lay yours of the 21st respecting the Deputy Qr Mr at Albany before the Qr Mr Gen. and shall desire him to make enquiry into so extraordinary a conduct as you represent.3 I am &c.
Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. Stark’s letter to GW of 18 Aug. has not been found. The only identified copy of the letter here acknowledged as a letter of 13 Aug. is a printed publication in which the letter is dated 15 August. The correct date has not been determined with certainty.
2. John Mott (1747–1831) was commissioned a second lieutenant in Capt. Thomas Lee’s Independent Company of New Hampshire Rangers in December 1776. He left that company in March 1778 but apparently joined Maj. Benjamin Whitcomb’s New Hampshire Rangers. In December 1778 he was stationed at Fort Ranger at Rutland in what is now Vermont.
3. For Deputy Quartermaster General Morgan Lewis’s response to the inquiry, see Lewis to GW, 11 Sept., and Charles Pettit to GW, 15 October.