To George Washington from Colonel Daniel Brodhead, 24 April 1780
From Colonel Daniel Brodhead
Fort Pitt [Pa.] April 24th 1780
Dear General
I am honored with your favors of the 4th of January & the 14th of March, that of the 4th January I did not receive untill the 18th instant.
Returns of the Troops under my Command have been duly forwarded to the orderly Office agreeable to Genl Orders, except one or two Months in the Winter when the Mountain was impassible.1
As no reinforcement can be had from your Excellency, the intended expedition against Detroit must be laid aside untill a favourable turn of affairs takes place, unless you would recommend a junction of Colo. Clarks Troops with mine.
I have called upon the different Counties on this side the Mountain for 825 Rank & file to be drafted from the Militia and intend to visit the Shawnese provided the Men are furnished but the unhappy dispute of Jurisdiction will, I fear, prevent my getting them, and as many Renegadoes from the different Indian Nations are Collected at the Shawnese Towns I do not incline to make an attempt with an inconsiderable number of Men, because a defeat would be attended with fatal Consequences to the Settlements.2
I am honored with a Line from the Honorable Board of War informing me that an Officer of Colo. proctors Regt with some stores & Cannon were in readiness to be sent up as soon as the Roads would permit & the means of transportation can be procured.3
Mr Arthur Gordon is deserted from his Arrest and will probably avoid a new trial.
With a view of saving Land Carriage Expences where water carriage was practicable I suffered only a few of the boats to be used, and greater care could scarcely have been taken than what I took to prevent their being lost or spoiled; but it was out of my power to watch every person. I have however the pleasure to assure you that not more than seven are past Fort Henry, which as I have given Orders to some of Colo. Clarks Officers will I trust be saved & sent back to this post.4
I was much inclined last fall to do myself the Honor of waiting upon your Excellency with a view of proposing some things which at that time I expected would have promoted the Service in this district in the course of this Campaign but I do not recollect that I expressed any desire to visit my Family. I am much oblidged to your Excellency for the indulgence but as Colo. Gibson is absent on a visit to his Family at Carlisle and the Indians are remarkably hostile, I must remain untill I see whether it will be in my power to prosecute an Expedition against the hostile Indians or not, and untill I have the honor of hearing from you again.
The Lieutts of Monongalia County & Ohio, write that they are happy to hear of the intended Expedition against some of the Hostile Indians, and that they will exert themselves to furnish the Men required but they conceive that it will be difficult to effect it on acct of the disputed Territory.5
I take the liberty to inclose the Copy of a letter lately received from the Delaware Council at Coochocking No. 1.6 Likewise a Copy of the Revd Mr Zeisbergers Letter No. 27 & an extract from the Revd Mr Hackenwelders Letter No. 3.8 And will likewise inclose the Return of the Troops as nearly as possible to your wish but as Colo. Gibsons Regt my own & the Independent Corps were chiefly raised within the disputed territory it will be impossible to determine in which State they were raised untill the line is run.
Fearing a scarcity of salt provisions for the out posts and the better to enable me to subsist a number of the Militia upon the proposed Expedition I have been oblidged to Reduce the ration of Meat one quarter, but I have allowed some Indian Meal in lieu thereof.
Since the first of March, the Indians have killed & taken forty three Men Women & Children, in the Counties of Yoghagania, Monongalia & Ohio, including those killed and taken upon the River, and they have destroyed a number of Horses & Cattle in Tyger Valley.9
The Honorable Board of War mention the Expence of Expresses in such a manner as must prevent my employing any, but I will do myself the Honor to communicate to you, every material Occurrence by such private conveyances as may from time to time offer.10 I have the Honor to be with the most Sincere respect & esteem your Excellencies most Obedt Servt
Daniel Brodhead
LS, DLC:GW; LB, NNGL. An undated note on the docket of the LS in the writing of GW’s secretary Robert Hanson Harrison reads: “N.B. A Return 26 April delivered Colo. Scammell rank & file fit for duty &c. &.”
1. See Brodhead to GW, 18 March, and n.3 to that document; see also source note above.
2. Writing from Pittsburgh on 13 April, Brodhead asked Lt. Col. John Evans, who commanded militia troops from Monongalia County, Va., to ensure that “two hundred and fifty men with a proportionate number of officers” be “rendezvoused at Fort Henry” by 22 May. “Those with the number I expect from the other cou[n]ties will enable us to strike terror into the hostile western nations, & as the expedition will be rapid & of short duration, it will be attended with very small inconveniency to the planters. Encourage those who can afford it to bring eight or ten days’ provisions with them, for which they shall be paid out of the public funds” (, 1st ser., 12:219). Brodhead sent similar letters, also on 13 April, to Virginia militia colonel David Shepherd (Ohio County) requesting “seventy-five men,” and to Virginia militia colonel Joseph Beeler (Yohogania County) requesting “three hundred men” (, 1st ser., 219); see also Brodhead to Archibald Lochry (Westmoreland County, Pa.), same date and 25 April, in , 1st ser., 12:219–20, 225–26.
3. The Board of War’s letter to Brodhead has not been identified, but see GW to the Board of War, 8 Feb., and the Board of War to GW, 4 March.
5. See n.2 above.
6. The enclosure marked “No. 1” on its docket was a copy of an address from a Delaware tribal council to Brodhead and “John Henry” (John Killbuck), given at Coshocton, Ohio country, on 30 March (DLC:GW; see also Brodhead to GW, 18 March, n.2). Brodhead replied to the council from Pittsburgh on 6 April: “Your determination to send some of your warriors to join me is a fresh proof of the sincerity of your regard for you[r] american Brethren & it must convince the whole world of the wisdom of your Council. …
“Brothers: I am only waiting to receive a letter from our great Warrior, but I am weary of sitting here & am now standing with my Tomhawk in my hand wherefore I request you will send me another letter immediately & inform me of the number of warriors you can furnish for an expedition” (, 166).
7. The enclosure marked “No. 2” on its docket was a copy of a letter that Moravian missionary David Zeisberger wrote to Brodhead from Tupaking, Ohio country, on 2 April: “I have been very much disappointed in sending an answer to your several letters you wrote me. This place is quite out of the way, no Indians which are going to the Fort pass by here. …
“Of the murder committed on Racoon Creek I heard nothing before I received your letter. …
“P.S. After I wrote the above I had more full intelligence—the murder on Racoon Creek was committed by the Wyandotts” (DLC:GW; see also , 161–63; , 1st ser., 8:158–59; and Brodhead to GW, 18 March, n.2). For Brodhead’s reply to Zeisberger, dated 15 April, see , 1st ser., 12:221–22.
Tupaking was the Indian name for the Moravian mission of Schōnbrunn, which was established during the early 1770s and located about three miles southeast of modern New Philadelphia in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. The Moravians deserted the place in 1777, returned briefly, and abandoned it permanently in 1781.
8. The enclosure marked “No. 3” on its docket was an extract from a letter that John Heckewelder wrote to Brodhead from Coshocton on 30 March: “We have heard nothing at all this whole winter what the Enemy are about: The Snow being so deep & the weather so continually cold has I suppose prevented this, but this day I am informed that three young fellows, two Delawares & one Wyandott have turned back from a body of warriors consisting of Twenty six men. They inform that five or six Companies of warriors are gone out, two parties of Wyandotts towards Beaver Creek & the others down this [Muskingum] River.” Heckewelder added that reports indicated the Shawnee and Wabash Indians similarly had “gone to war” (DLC:GW; see also , 159).
9. Tygart’s (Tiger) Valley, on the east fork of the Monongahela River in modern Randolph County, W.Va., was named for David Tygart, whom the Indians had driven from that location in 1753 (see , 279).
10. GW answered Brodhead on 4 July (DLC:GW).
Brodhead wrote Board of War secretary Richard Peters from Fort Pitt on 25 April: “I am honored with your favor of the first Instant. … I seldom make use of expresses but as I had some reason to hope that I should have been enabled to do something clever in the course of this Campaign, I was anxious to receive the earliest advices from my Superiors” (, 1st ser., 12:224–25).