Major General Lafayette to George Washington, 9 March 1781

From Major General Lafayette

Off Turkey Point [Md.] March the 9th. [1781]

My Dear General,

Commodore Nicholson has joined us sooner than I expected; he answers to conduct the detachment to Annapolis without the least danger, there he will wait for intelligence from me, but says that if the French fleet are below he might go with safety (if not for the vessels at least for the troops) to the point of our destination. Nicholson will be very useful to the French fleet as he knows well the bay.1

I will be at Hampton to-morrow night or the day after, and three days after my arrival, if the French (whose arrival has not been heard of) consent to send a frigate, the detachment may come in two days from Annapolis. Most respectfully, my dear General, your’s &c.

P.S.—I have written to the State of Maryland to tell them we don’t want any of their Militia.2 I have left to the Navy Board to judge of the propriety to send out the Ariel adding that it was no more essential.3

Lafayette, Memoirs description begins Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de Lafayette. Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette Published by His Family. New York, 1837. description ends , 496–97. For this letter’s receipt, see GW to Rochambeau, 16 March.

1. See Lafayette’s first letter to GW on this date.

2. See Lafayette to Thomas Sim Lee and the Governor’s Council of Maryland, 8 March, in Lafayette Papers description begins Stanley J. Idzerda et al., eds. Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790. 5 vols. Ithaca, N.Y., 1977-83. description ends , 3:385.

3. Lafayette’s letter to the Board of Admiralty regarding the Continental frigate Ariel has not been identified.

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: Major General Lafayette to George Washington, 9 March 1781
Author: Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de
Recipient: Washington, George
Date: 9 March 1781

Reference

Cite as: “Major General Lafayette to George Washington, 9 March 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-31-02-0021. [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, p. 31.]

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