From George Washington to Colonel Elisha Sheldon, 30 January 1781
To Colonel Elisha Sheldon
Head Quarters New Windsor Janry 30th 1781
Sir—
I have received your Letter of the 24th Inst.1—And shall write to the Board of War on the Subject of remounting the Regts of Dragoons.2
The necessity of a regular & rapid communication between this place & Rhode Island has induced me to reestablish the Chain of Expresses; The Count De Rochambeau, to whom I have written, will I presume, make the necessary arrangements for conveyance from Rhode Island, to Hartford.3 From which place to Litchfield the communication must be kept up by Your Dragoons—and from thence to Head Quarters Riders will be furnished by the Quarter Mastr Genl.
You will therefore be pleased to send immediately a party of Dragoons & have them so posted as to support the communication proposed from Hartford to Litchfield, both Places inclusive. the Detachment to be under the direction of an Oficer or careful Sergt—& to be relieved as often as You think proper. I am Sir.
Df, in David Humphreys’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. See Sheldon to GW, 24 January.
3. GW had written Lieutenant General Rochambeau about this topic on 20 January. For the end of the expresses, see Sheldon to GW, 2 Dec. 1780, found at GW to Sheldon, 27 Nov., n.3, and GW to Sheldon, 8 and 17 December.