Major General William Heath to George Washington, 29 March 1781
From Major General William Heath
Westpoint, March 29. 1781.
Dear General;
The distressed condition of the New York regiment, under the command of Colonel Van schaick, on account of their great arrears of pay [sixteen months]1 and the uneasiness consequent thereon, is encreased by the consideration that the troops of the other states have lately received money, while they get none2—their officers are much perplexed and embarrassed, and know not what to say or do. I promised the Colonel yesterday, that I would represent their case to your Excellency; which I beg leave now to do.3 If a few months pay can be procured for them, either from Congress or their own state, it will relieve their distresses, and thereby promote the public service: without it, there is every reason to fear that desertions will take place—indeed five or six have lately deserted from the lines—probably are gone to the enemy, which has obliged me to remove those troops intirely from the lines.4
Our stock of provisions of all sorts, instead of increasing; diminishes—I have lately urged on the several Commissaries and Quartermasters, the necessity of pushing on the stores—A word from your Excellency may be more efficacious.
I am informed that Major General Parsons is very sick of a bilious fever at Reading.5 I have the honor to be With the greatest respect, Your Excellency’s Most obedient servant
W. Heath
LS, DLC:GW; ADfS, MHi: Heath Papers.
1. Square brackets are in the LS.
2. GW wrote James Johnston, auditor of accounts, from New Windsor on this date: “You will be pleased to deliver to the Pay Masters of the several Massachusetts Regts the Muster Rolls of the Regts for the Months of May, June & July last, in Order to take Copies of the same to make a settlement with the state, the Sd Pay Masters, having engaged to you to return the Rolls into the Office, as soon as the Copies are Made & Certified by you” (Df, in David Humphreys’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW).
3. GW had ordered New York troops under Col. Goose Van Schaick from Albany to West Point (see GW to Heath, 3 March, and n.1 to that document).
4. Heath had written Maj. Lemuel Trescott from West Point on 28 March that he intended to replace the New York troops with men “from the New Hampshire Brigade. … I would not have you let it get to the men that they are to be relieved Untill the[i]r relief arrives, for if any more have a design to desert, knowledge of being relieved may precipatate their doing it” (MHi: Heath Papers; see also Alexander Scammell to Heath, same date; Heath to Scammell, this date; and Trescott to Heath, 1 April, all in MHi: Heath Papers).
5. For Maj. Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons’s ill health, see his letter to GW, 23–26 March, found at Parsons to GW, 14 March, n.7.
GW replied to Heath on 30 March.