Colonel Elias Dayton to George Washington, 9 March 1781

From Colonel Elias Dayton

Chatham [N.J.] March 9th 1781

Sir,

Three persons upon whom I very considerably depended for the discovery of every important movement or transaction of the enemy are apprehended and closely confined in New York, and I am just informed are sentenced to die. As it has become more dangerous, from the late great jealousy and circumspection shewn by the enemy, so it has become more difficult to find such as will undertake to procure intelligence.1

On Monday about two thousand British troops went on board transports prepared for them, which immediately cast off from the shore and anchored in the stream—four of them were filled with horses, several companies of artillery were embarked & a number of carriages and wheels for cannon seen on board2—They fell down toward the hook on tuesday and were to have sailed the day before yesterday but were prevented by the weather that day and yesterday.3 Two frigates of 32 guns & a ship of twenty were to convoy them, I am convinced they have sailed this morning, as guns have been heard supposed to be meant as signals.4 It is said by some that they are intended to cause a diversion in favor of the southern army by landing in Pensylvania, by others that they are meant to cooperate with Cornwallis or Arnold as occasion may require.5

The reception and treatment of the British flags at Elizabeth town is exceedingly irregular and improper and I think operates exceedingly against us, as I am confident it has proved the best and most direct channel of intelligence for them for some time. I would wish to know whether it is your excellency’s pleasure that I should communicate the same instructions, on that head, to the officer commanding there with those sent me by your Excellency when I commanded at that post.6 I am your Excellency’s Most Obedient humble Servant

Elias Dayton

LS, DLC:GW. The complimentary closing is in Dayton’s writing.

1. One person that Dayton recently had tried to recruit as a spy reported the attempt to the British. An entry for 28 Feb. in Gen. Henry Clinton’s private daily intelligence reads: “Mc Farlane says Col Dayton came to him last night and offered him three hundred acres of land and two hundred guineas, if he would come over and find out the situations of the Guards, Regiments, and shipping here, and as he could not expect he could do it himself, free pardon to any Refugee, that would undertake it, and an hundred Guineas. That Dayton told him if he would do this business to General Washington’s satisfaction, he should carry letters to his correspondents in N. York—that immediately on his return he was to go to Morristown, and if General Washington was not there, he was to go N. Windsor” (“Clinton’s Secret Record,” description begins “Sir Henry Clinton’s Original Secret Record of Private Daily Intelligence.” Contributed by Thomas Addis Emmett, with an Introduction and Notes by Edward F. DeLancey. Magazine of American History with Notes and Queries 10 (1883): 327–42, 409–19, 497–507; 11 (1884): 53–70, 156–67, 247–57, 342–52, 433–44, 533–44. description ends 10:501).

McFarlan appears in British records without a first name. For his involvement as a double agent during the mutiny of the Pennsylvania line, see Anthony Wayne to GW, 11 Jan., and n.5 to that document.

2. British major Frederick Mackenzie, stationed in New York City, wrote in his diary entry for Sunday, 4 March: “The troops embarked this day: The Light Infantry at 9 in the Morning at Brooklyn, the 76th at 1 oClock at the Ship yards, and Prince Hereditaire at 8 in the morning from the wharfs in the East River.” In his entry for 5 March, he wrote: “The transports with the troops on board went out of the East River this Morning, and by 10 o’Clock were all anchored below Governor’s Island” (Mackenzie Diary description begins Diary of Frederick Mackenzie Giving a Daily Narrative of His Military Service as an Officer of the Regiment of Royal Welch Fusiliers during the Years 1775–1781 in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1930. description ends , 2:478–79).

3. Mackenzie wrote in his diary entry for Wednesday, 7 March: “Thick raw weather. Wind N.E. Sleet and Snow from 9 this Morning ’till night. Fresh wind in the Afternoon.” In his entry for 8 March, he recorded: “Fair weather. Wind N.

“The Fleet went down to the watering place at Staten Island this day” (Mackenzie Diary description begins Diary of Frederick Mackenzie Giving a Daily Narrative of His Military Service as an Officer of the Regiment of Royal Welch Fusiliers during the Years 1775–1781 in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1930. description ends , 2:481). It was not until his entry for 20 March that Mackenzie could report the expedition sailing “this afternoon at 5 oClock. The whole were safe over the bar at 6, and having got together to the amount of 36 sail, at 7 oClock made sail with a fine wind for The Chesapeak. If this wind continues for two days the fleet will have reached the Capes of Virginia” (Mackenzie Diary description begins Diary of Frederick Mackenzie Giving a Daily Narrative of His Military Service as an Officer of the Regiment of Royal Welch Fusiliers during the Years 1775–1781 in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1930. description ends , 2:491; see also n.5 below).

4. British vice admiral Marriot Arbuthnot had ordered the 32-gun frigates Richmond and Orpheus and the 16-gun sloop of war Savage to escort the British transports to the Chesapeake Bay (see Arbuthnot to Charles Hudson, 4 March, in Willcox, American Rebellion description begins William B. Willcox, ed. The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775–1782, with an Appendix of Original Documents. New Haven, 1954. description ends , 491; see also Willcox, American Rebellion description begins William B. Willcox, ed. The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775–1782, with an Appendix of Original Documents. New Haven, 1954. description ends , 252–53; Destouches to GW, 8 March; and GW to Samuel Huntington, 11 March).

5. Maj. Gen. William Phillips commanded this reinforcement for Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold’s command operating in Virginia (see Willcox, American Rebellion description begins William B. Willcox, ed. The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775–1782, with an Appendix of Original Documents. New Haven, 1954. description ends , 254).

6. For the earlier instructions on handling flags of truce, see GW to Dayton, 29 May 1780.

GW replied to Dayton on 27 March 1781.

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: Colonel Elias Dayton to George Washington, 9 March 1781
Author: Dayton, Elias
Recipient: Washington, George
Date: 9 March 1781

Reference

Cite as: “Colonel Elias Dayton to George Washington, 9 March 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-31-02-0018. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 31, 7 March–5 May 1781, ed. William M. Ferraro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2023, pp. 27–28.]

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