To George Washington from Colonel Israel Shreve, 29 December 1780
From Colonel Israel Shreve
Jersey-Camp 29th Decr 1780.
I would beg leave to suggest to Your Excellency, that the time is nearly approaching, when agreeable to the resolutions of Congress, the new establishment of the army, is to take place.1 In order the more effectually and impartially to accomplish this, in the Line that I have at present the honor to command,2 it will be necessary, previously, to have an exact return of the men in Colonel Spencer’s regiment, that belong to this State, with the periods of their enlistments; or that the men themselves should be sent to the line, to which they belong. I could wish that Your Excellency would be pleased to give the necessary directions for this purpose.
Permit me further to inform Your Excellency that there are five men in Colonel Livingston’s regiment, that belong to Jersey; I could wish that they also may be directed to join the Brigade.3
I expect our arrangement will be completed by the 4 or 5th of Jany next, when I shall do myself the honor to transmit Your Excellency a return of the Officers as they will then stand arranged.4
Your Excellency’s orders respecting Col. Weltner are complyed with.5 I have the honor to be Your Excellency’s Very humb. servt
I. Shreve Colo: Comdt
ALS, DLC:GW; ADf, NjR: Israel Shreve Papers.
1. See General Orders, 1 Nov.; see also Samuel Huntington to GW, 26 Oct., and n.1.
2. Shreve temporarily commanded the New Jersey Brigade.
3. GW responded in his first letter to Shreve from headquarters at New Windsor on 31 Dec.: “The Jersey Men of Spencers and Livingstons Regiments will I imagine have joined you before this reaches you—There were by the Returns transmitted to me 8. Serjeants 1 Drum—74 Rank and File in Spencers and 4 Rank and File in Livingstons. Their terms of service were not specified, but I believe they are all for the War” (Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW).
4. Shreve still was arranging the New Jersey officers on 8 Jan. 1781 (see his letter to GW, that date, DLC:GW).
5. For GW’s instructions regarding Lt. Col. Ludwig Weltner’s German Regiment, see his letter to Shreve, 16 Dec., found at Shreve to GW, 14 Dec., n.4.