To George Washington from Lieutenant Colonel Udny Hay, 7 August 1780
From Lieutenant Colonel Udny Hay
FishKill [N.Y.] 7th August 1780
Sir
Being able to gett no definitive answer yesterday respecting my Department, when I had the honour of mentioning its situation to Your Excellency, the only member present of the Committee of Cooperation, and General Greene, in justification of my Character I thought it my duty this day officially to write the latter by the bearer of this, Captn Copp, with orders to deliver to your Excellency & the honourable member of the Committee this letter enclosing a Copy of that sent to General Greene,1 hoping thereby to obtain such orders from you and the honourable member (should General Greene decline giving them himself) as will soon relieve me from a State of anxiety which I find myself no longer able to bear, and will place the Department I have now had the honour of managing for near two Years and a half past upon a permanent and solid foundation.2
Should it be thought improper to grant me an answer, the bearer Capt. Copp, has a letter for his Excellency the President of Congress on the subject, from whom a definitive answer will undoubtedly be obtaind.3 I have the honour to be with every sentement of respect, Your Excellency’s most obedient and very humble Sert
Udny Hay
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Hay enclosed a copy of his letter to Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene of this date. In the lengthy letter, Hay explained the discontent among his assistants and their refusal to conduct any more public business. Because of debts owed him by his assistants which they refused to pay, Hay claimed he faced financial ruin unless Congress intervened. Since Congress now allowed only one deputy quartermaster for each state, he requested that Greene order Morgan Lewis, Hay’s senior as a quartermaster, to take charge of quartermaster affairs in New York. He also urged Greene to take steps to prepare for winter to avoid severe suffering by the troops (DLC:GW; see also , 6:190–92). Hay’s letter to the Committee at Headquarters has not been identified.
2. No reply from GW to Hay has been found.
3. Hay’s letter to Samuel Huntington of 7 Aug. has not been identified, but Congress read the letter on 14 Aug. and referred it to Col. Timothy Pickering, the new quartermaster general (see , 17:728). For a summary of Pickering’s reply of 16 Aug., in which he expressed his belief that Hay would continue as deputy quartermaster general until another person could be appointed to the office, see , 6:192.