To George Washington from Major General Horatio Gates, 16 March 1779
From Major General Horatio Gates
Boston 16th March 1779:
Sir
Last Night I had the Honour to receive Your Excellencys Letter of the 6th Instant. The Man who undertakes the Indian Service, should enjoy Youth, & Strength; requisites I do not possess; it Therefore Grieves me Your Excellency should Offer me The only Command, to which I am intirely unequal; in Obedience to your Commands, I have forwarded Your Letter to General Sullivan, & that he may not be one moment detain’d, I have desired him to leave The Command with General Glover, until I arrive in providence, which will be in a few days1—Your may be Assured of my Inviolable Secrecy, & that Your other directions shall be fullfilled. I am Sir Your most Obedient Humble Servant
Horatio Gates
ALS, DLC:GW; ADf, NHi: Gates Papers; copy, in James McHenry’s writing, enclosed in GW to John Jay, 14 April 1779, owned (2006) by Mr. Joseph Rubinfine, Cocoa, Fla.
1. Gates is referring to GW’s letter of 6 March to John Sullivan instructing that general to take command of an expedition against the Six Nations along the Pennsylvania-New York frontier if Gates declined the offer to lead the expedition. For the letter from Gates to Sullivan, this date, that covered GW’s letter to Sullivan, see , 2:534 (see also Gates to GW, 24 March). Gates arrived at Providence, R.I., on 3 April.