To George Washington from Major General William Heath, 10 February 1781
From Major General William Heath
West point Feb. 10. 1781.
Dear General,
I have been honored with your’s of the 7th and have sent orders to Capt. Wellis to relieve the Garrison of the Block house at Dobbs ferry, agreeable to your directions.1 I have the honor to be With the greatest respect Your Excellency’s Most obedient servant
W. Heath
P.S. I am this moment honored with your’s of the 9th to which I shall strictly attend.
W.H.
LS, DLC:GW; ADfS, MHi: Heath Papers. GW acknowledged this letter when he wrote Heath on 11 Feb., postscript.
1. On 7 Feb., GW wrote Heath from headquarters at New Windsor: “You will be pleased to Order Captain Welles, or Officer Commanding the Water Guard to detach a Subaltern and 25 Men to releive the Garrison of the Block House at Dobbs’ Ferry” (LS, in David Humphreys’s writing, MHi: Heath Papers; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW).
Heath wrote Capt. Roger Welles from West Point on 9 Feb. “to detach a Subaltern and Twenty five men from your Command to relieve the Garrison of the Block House at Dobbs Ferry, please to inculcate on the Officer the greatest vigilance and to obtain from the present officer in Command at the Block House the orders for the Post both verbal and written, and you will please your self to See that the Garrison you place at that post are properly Supplied with whatever may be necessary in case of Emergency, and that proper reserves are kept for that purpose” (MHi: Heath Papers). For the written orders given the commander at the blockhouse, see GW to John Mauritius Goetschius, 7 Oct. 1780, n.2.