To George Washington from Major Eli Leavenworth, 18 March 1780
From Major Eli Leavenworth
West Field [N.J.] March 18th 1780
Sir
In June 1778 I recd the following orders from Major Genl Putnam (Viz.).
Sir
You are hereby Authorizd & directed to proceed with the Party & Boats under your Command to Long Island, where you will Collect as many Horses & Cattle &c. as you can Conveniently and bring them off—You will take particular Care not to suffer your Party to Plunder or take any Articles from the Houses of the Well Af[fe]cted Inhabitants, be Cautious against a Surprize and return Immediately when you have Effected your bussiness.
Israel Putnam M.G.
I immediately put my Orders into Execution, and brought off from Long Island, Thirty Nine Cattle including four Horses, the Cattle were Chiefly taken from a person that purchased for the Brittish Army, the Horses as I supposed were taken from Majr Wickham (who had broke his Parole with us,)1 since that one of the Horses was Claimd, by a Friend on the Island, said his Horse, had got with Major Wickham’s, have not had any other Claim to either the Horses or Cattle, The money was deposited in Mr John Lloyd Junr: hands at Hartford, by Order of Genl Putnam, who wrote your Excellency I believe last August upon the matter—the expence of the Vessels to transport the Stock from the Island were Considerable, have been repeatedly calld upon for it. Genl Putnam when he wrote your Excellency proposed to have Mr Lloyd appointed Judge of the Matter as he was Acquainted with the persons from Whom the Cattle was taken,2 am willing to abide his determination.3
I have also a Considerable Cloathing Accompt to settle at Hartford, am calld upon to do it immediately, and a Number of the Officers of the 6th Connt Regt are desirous of having me procure them Cloathing. pray your Excellency (if Consistent with the good of the Service) to grant Colo. Shearman permission to give me leave of Absence Twenty five Days4 Lt Colo. Gray is present with the Regt. I am Your Excellencys Most Obedient Humble Servt
Eli Leavenworth
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. This officer may have been Parker Wickham (1727–1785), who served as a Loyalist major under Maj. Gen. William Tryon.
2. No letter from Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam to GW on this subject has been found, but see Ezra L’Hommedieu to George Clinton, 15 Oct. 1778, found at Clinton to GW, 17 Oct. 1778, n.5.
John Lloyd, Jr. (1745–1792) was born into a prominent Long Island family and worked as a merchant extensively involved in overseas trade. The Connecticut legislature in February 1781 granted Lloyd’s request for tax relief because of his status as “a refugee from Long Island” (
, 3:327–28).Lloyd petitioned Congress from Hartford on 11 March 1780: “The Memorial of John Lloyd Junior late of Queens County on Long Island in the State of New York now a Refugee in the State of Connecticut humbly sheweth.
“That Your Memorialist from the earliest Stages of the Present Controversy with Great Britain declared against the Oppressive Measures Pursued by that Government against the Liberties of these States.
“That when the British Troops took Possesson of Long Island Your Memorialist fled from his Habitation and took refuge in this State with the little part of his fortune which he saved in his flight. Soon after his arrival on the Main to Wit between the Tenth of September and the last of December 1776 he furnished the then Commissary General with Sundry Articles of Provision &. for which he Agreed to receive in Payment Loan Office Certificates as at that time Loaning Money to these States was deemed Among the Most effectual services any Subject of these States could render his Country. Your Memorialist was happy to contribute in this way the Small remains of his wrecked fortune to that Use Since which being engaged in the service of the Continent and obliged to flee from Danbury the place of his residence after leaving his habitation where in the Employment of the United States he lived till driven from thence by the Enemy—he Never was able to obtain the Certificates or any Other payment from the Commissary General whose Decease soon after prevented a Settlement of Accounts till the 22d of February 1780 When Your Memorialist settled And Adjusted his Accounts with Jonathan Trumbull Esqr. and there remains a Ballance of Two Thousand and ten pounds 4/10½ Lawfull Money of New England due (as by the account and certificate of said Trumbull appears) to Your Memorialist Who conceives he has a just right to receive payment in Certificates bearing date as early as the close of the Year 1776 Agreeable to Contract so that he may be saved from Utter ruin.
“Your Memorialist therefore humbly prays the interposition of Congress in the Premisses by ordering him payment in Continental Loan office certificates bearing date as above or some other way which Your Honourable Body shall deem Just and Equitable” (DNA:PCC, item 78). Congress read Lloyd’s petition on 22 March and referred it to the Board of Treasury (
, 16:275). Lloyd again wrote Congress from Hartford on 10 Nov., raising the same matter and requesting payment to ease his “Necessitous circumstances” (DNA:PCC, item 78). Congress read Lloyd’s letter on 4 Dec. and referred it to the Board of Treasury ( , 18:1116). A notation on the docket of Lloyd’s later letter reads: “deferd untill Petition & Account mentioned within is found.”Congress considered Board of Treasury reports on 8 Jan. 1781, including one on Lloyd’s claim. The board stated that “they are of opinion that payment of particular balances due from the Department of the late Commissary General Joseph Trumbull, ought to be deferred until the final adjustment of the accounts of the Department” (Cash Account of Collo. Joseph Trumbull is settled by the Board of Treasury, which indeed I know to be fact. Is it necessary to ruin me because others have not produced their Accounts or is there any danger of injuring the United States by doing me justice” (DNA:PCC, item 78). Congress read Lloyd’s letter on 19 March and referred it to the Board of Treasury, which rejected the appeal (see , 19:275, 322–23, 401). In a report dated 21 April, the board finally dismissed Lloyd’s claim as improperly seeking “two sums for the discharge of one debt” ( , 20:453–54). This decision upset Lloyd, who continued to pursue payment (see Robert Morris to Lloyd, 18 Sept. 1781, in , 2:294–95, and Aaron Burr to Lloyd, 13 Feb. 1783, in , 2:773–74).
, 19:36). Lloyd repeated his appeal in a letter to Samuel Huntington, president of Congress, written at Hartford on 28 Feb.: “I am constrained by Necessity to make another Application to Congress for Payment of my Account against them. Had my former application been for immediate payment in Specie, I should have expected a refusal; as I am well aware my Country is like myself without Money: but as my Claim is well supported, and my Ballance clearly Ascertained, I did hope Congress would have ordered me Certificates, from the Loan Office, of eaqual date with the time my Money became due: especially as I am well informed that the3. No reply from GW to Leavenworth concerning this cattle claim has been found.
4. GW’s secretary Robert Hanson Harrison wrote Lt. Col. Isaac Sherman on 20 March: “Major Levensworth has requested His Excellency’s leave to go to Connecticut for Twenty five days. If the Majors business is such as will make it necessary for him to be there by a particular day—and he can be absent in your Opinion without material injury—You will be pleased to give him the permission he requests; but if it is not such—His Excellency would rather have him remain in Camp till the Return of some of the Field Officers of your line when it may be more conveniently granted” (DLC:GW).