From George Washington to Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, 7 March 1779
To Brigadier General Anthony Wayne
Head Quarters Middle Brook 7th March 1779
Dear Sir
I was favd a few days ago with a letter from you by Mrs Yorke.1 I wish it had been in my power to have complied with your request, and that of several other Gentlemen,2 in her behalf, without infringing a Rule which I myself had just proposed to the executive powers of the several States, which was, not to permit any inhabitants of the States to go within the enemy’s lines without a recommendation from their respective Governors or Legislatures.3 Maj: Brittain, Brother in law to Mrs Yorke, returned to Philada to endeavour to procure such a recommendation, which he seemed to think he could obtain.
Yours of the 28th last month only reached me this day. When matters are in a proper train for organizing the Light Troops you shall hear from me. I am with great Regard Dear Sir Your most obt Servt
Go: Washington
LS, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, PHi: Wayne Papers; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. This letter from Wayne to GW has not been found. In a petition dated 22 Feb., Abigail Yorke had requested Joseph Reed and the Pennsylvania executive council to issue a pass “for herself Two Children, her Aunt, & Servant Woman to go to Newyork, on her way to her husband” (DNA:PCC, item 69). The petition also asked permission to take “two Beds, & there Chests of Cloathing.”
2. Tilghman wrote and then struck out “worthy” before “Gentlemen” on the draft.
3. GW probably is referring to his letter of 17 Dec. 1778 to William Livingston and Joseph Reed, but also see GW to Reed, 12 Feb. 1779, and notes 2 and 3 to that document.