From Lieutenant Colonel Udny Hay to George Washington, 29 December 1780
From Lieutenant Colonel Udny Hay
Poughkeepsee [N.Y.] 29 Decr 1780
Sir
Yours of 22nd I had the honour of receiving last night; Provisions agreable to your Excellencies order shall be issued to the Carpenters, I could have wishd you had mentiond the quantity that was proper to have been given, as you have not I shall endeavour to satisfy them without injuring the public, and make the report to Colonel Hughes as directed.1
The beef salted here in bulk does not I flatter myself run the least risque of being spoild till we can have Casks to putt it in, And Your Excellency is no doubt informd before now that no more is expected in.
I have the honour to enclose Your Excellency the best return I yett can of what supplies both of Forage and Provisions had been procured for the Army up to the first of this month, it is however a very imperfect one, And very far short of what was really delivered, as I have no return from any part of Albany or Tryon Countys of what has been procured and delivered there;2 I have enclosed likewise for your Excellencys perusal Copys of two circular letters wrote to all the assistants respecting the necessity of furnishing me wt. exact returns against the meeting of the Legislature and up to the first of January next,3 I doubt not of a full complyance, and as soon as in my power a regular one shall be made out for Your Excellency; from the best information I have at present I am of opinion that there will have been delivered and ready for delivery (as soon as transportation can be procured) at the end of this month about two thirds of the flour demanded of the State by Congress,4 and every method in my power shall be essayd for sending it on to the Army, but at present the situation of the roads is an absolute barr against all exertions either by the Qr Master or myself; I have reason to think there is nearly fifteen hundred barrells of flour ready at this time within this County5 and the lower part of Albany County on this side the river.
Captn Townshend one of my Assistants in Westchester County was lately taken Prisoner by a party of Tories and carryed to N. York, as he was the most usefull man in the purchasing business that could be gott in that part of the Country, I should be glad any proper method coud be falln on to gett him exchanged, perhaps your Excellency might think proper to give some directions to the Commissary of Prisoners on the subject6—I have the honour to be with the utmost respect, Your Excellencys, most obedient and very humble
Udny Hay
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. See GW to Hay, 22 Dec., found at Hay to GW, 17 Dec., n.4.
2. The enclosed “Return of Provisions &c. Purchased and Delivered, under the Direction of Udny Hay Agent for the State of New York, from August to, 30th Novr 1780. as far as has yet been recd of his Assts,” shows that nine assistants had purchased 727 fat cattle (250,051 pounds); 11,290½ bushels of wheat; and 488 barrels of flour. They had delivered 593 fat cattle (232,542 pounds) and 698 barrels and 31 bags of flour (DLC:GW).
The enclosed “Return of Short Forage Purchased and Delivered, under the Direction of Udny Hay Agent for the State of New York from August to 30th November 1780. as far as has yet been recd of his Assistants,” shows that nine assistants had purchased 148 bushels and 16 quarts of rye; 824 bushels and 24 quarts of Indian corn; 733 bushels and 13 quarts of buckwheat; 3,612 bushels and 29 quarts of oats; 484 bushels of bran; and 932 bushels of short forage. They had delivered 116 bushels and 16 quarts of rye; 378 bushels and 8 quarts of Indian corn; 683 bushels and 8 quarts of buckwheat; 3,602 bushels and 29 quarts of oats; 342 bushels of bran; and 932 bushels of short forage (DLC:GW).
3. Hay enclosed his circular to the assistant state agents written at Poughkeepsie on 4 Dec. instructing them to complete for the legislature convening in January 1781 “as exact a Return as possible up to the first of that Month, and Transmitting the same as early after that Period as you conveniently can.” They also were to mention “where any Grain, Wheat, Flour, or Beef may be Collected, of which you cannot give a Return altogether regular,” and provide “the fullest and Clearest Reasons in your Power, why the whole of the Quota, Assessed within your District, has not been Collected; with all other Observations you have made, in the course of your Business, worthy the Attention of the Legislature. …
“As the Legislature ought to be made fully acquainted with all our Embarrassments, as well as with the Quantity of Supplies we have procured, I have no doubt of your Complying with my Request on this Subject, as fully as I can either wish or Expect.
“I have once more to desire that no possible Method may be left unessayed for Collecting and forwarding all the Flour and Forage you can before the Water Communication is shut up” (DLC:GW).
Hay also enclosed his circular to the assistant purchasers written at Poughkeepsie on 21 Dec. to reiterate the need for their “complying fully with” the previous circular (DLC:GW).
4. For this congressional resolution, see Samuel Huntington to GW, 12 Nov., n.1.
5. Poughkeepsie is in Dutchess County.
6. No letter from GW to Abraham Skinner, commissary general of prisoners, regarding Samuel Townsend has been found. Loyalist cavalry had captured Townsend on 18 November. For his brutal captivity and attempts to effect an exchange, see Philip Pell to George Clinton, 22 Dec. 1780, and Townsend to Clinton, 26 March 1781, in , 6:513–16, 720–23. Hay subsequently appealed to New York governor George Clinton on 28 May 1781 for Townsend’s exchange (see , 6:914–15).
Samuel Townsend (1744–1792) served as a New York militia captain in 1776 and became paymaster of the 5th New York Regiment in June 1777. He had been assistant commissary of purchases for Westchester County, N.Y., prior to becoming an assistant state agent for obtaining supplies in New York.