From George Washington to Brigadier General John Stark, 27 November 1779
To Brigadier General John Stark
Head Quarters West point 27th Novemr 1779
Sir
I have just recd advice that 40 sail of Vessels past Norwalk on the 25th bound Eastward.1 I therefore desire you to halt with the troops under your command untill we have had time to discover their intentions. Should they make a descent at any place upon the Sound, you will instantly march to its releif—or if they repossess R. Island you are to inform me and wait further orders. But should you not in the course of a few days hear of their making a landing any where upon the Coast, or upon Rhode Island,2 you are then to continue your march as expeditiously as possible to the place of cantonment, by the Route given to you in my last3—You will be pleased to observe, that should you march southward—Capt. Donnels Company of Colo. Cranes Battalion of Artillery with their peices are to be ordered to West point.4 The other Companies of Artillery with you with their peices are to join the park in the Jersies.5 I am &.
Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. The source of this apparently erroneous intelligence has not been identified.
2. At this place on the draft, Tilghman wrote and then struck out: “you may conclude that they have no offensive views in this quarter.”
3. See GW to Stark, 25 November.
4. Nathaniel Donnell (c.1753–1821) served as a lieutenant in an independent Pennsylvania artillery company before becoming a captain in Maj. Ebenezer Steven’s independent artillery battalion in November 1776. Donnell continued as a captain in Col. John Crane’s 3d Continental Artillery Regiment after that unit absorbed Steven’s command in fall 1778. Donnell remained in the army until the late spring or early summer of 1783.
5. Stark replied to GW from Danbury, Conn., on 28 Nov., 3:00 P.M.: “Your Excellencys Letter of the 27 came to hand.
“You may depend that, punctual Compliance shall ever be paid to your Excellen[c]ys Commands, as far as lays in my power” (LS, DLC:GW).
GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman wrote Jeremiah Wadsworth, commissary general of purchases, from headquarters at West Point on 29 Nov.: “General Starke with the troops under his command may be expected at Peekskill in a day or two. He writes from Danbury that he is much distressed for Flour, but hopes to collect sufficient to bring him on to Peekskill, at which place he depends upon meeting a supply to carry him on—You will therefore take the necessary measures for that purpose, if it be in your power—Some he must have at any rate” (DLC:GW). Stark’s letter regarding flour, presumably written to GW, has not been found.