Major General William Heath to George Washington, 9 April 1781
From Major General William Heath
West point, April 9. 1781.
Dear General,
The last evening I was honored with yours of the 8th. I am happy to find your Excellency has been pleased to take measures, which I hope will be effectual, for the forwarding the salted provisions from Connecticut. Unless they arrive very speedily, we shall be much straitened.1 My apprehensions of want were encreased yesterday by Mr Irvin the staff Commissary at New Windsor applying here for a supply of provisions—as it evidences every post depending on the small magazine here for relief. Our stock of rum is exceedingly small—the fatigue we have in prospect is very considerable, and much of it heavy—long faint days approaching, will absolutely require spirit for those who will have to endu⟨re⟩ it; & it seems expedient that the Commissary take speedy measures to forward a quantity.2 I submit it to your Excellency.
The reinforcement to your guard shall be sent tomorrow—the men shall be picked, & as far as we can judge, such as may be confided in.
Capt. Pope who had the escort of the prisoners to Easton, I am told, has returned. It is said he lost ten or twelve prisoners—among them, Galloway, the serjeant-major of Moyland’s regiment. Shall I appoint a court of inquiry, or court-martial to examine into Capt. Pope’s conduct? I do not remember which your Excellency signified to me verbally.3
About seventy recruits arrived yesterday from Massachusetts and three deserters. Colo. Shepard writes me that he was in hopes to forward another detachment in a few days. The discriptive lists are in the hands of the Deputy Adjutant-general here, at present, from which the officers are transcribing them to the company book—when this is done, shall the lists remain in the hands of Dep. Adjutant-general, or be sent to your Excellency?4 I have the honor to be With the highest respect, Your Excellency’s Most obedient servant,
W. Heath
LS, DLC:GW; ADfS, MHi: Heath Papers.
1. See GW to Heath, 8 April, found at Heath to GW, 7–8 April, n.6.
2. A “Return of Provisions and Stores on hand and the Number of Rations Issued daily on an Average for the preceeding Week at West Point, Posts and Brigades in its Vicinity,” dated 8 April, reports 8 hogsheads and 320 gallons of rum, none with GW’s staff commissary John Irwin (MHi: Heath Papers).
3. Heath had visited GW at New Windsor on 6 April (see GW to Ralph Pomeroy, 7 April, n.1).
Maj. Hugh Maxwell had written Heath from Crom Pond, N.Y., on 4 March to report his “pleasure to Send three Notorious Villa[i]ns,” including Peter Galloway, a deserter from Col. Stephen Moylan’s 4th Continental Dragoons. They were surprised and taken “about two oclock yesterday morning” (MHi: Heath Papers). Heath wrote in his reply to Maxwell from West Point on 6 March: “The Three Prisoners Sent up by you are Safely lodged in Provost” (MHi: Heath Papers). Heath later wrote in his memoirs for 24 March: “A number of prisoners of war, who had been collected at West Point, were sent off, under a guard of 60 men, commanded by Capt. Pope, to Lancaster” (, 293). For Capt. Isaac Pope’s exoneration, see the general orders for 19 April.
Peter Galloway was recruited from Maryland as a private in Moylan’s cavalry regiment in March 1777 and enlisted for the war. He became quartermaster sergeant in August 1778 and sergeant major in January 1779. Galloway deserted in July 1780, entered British service in April 1781, and later became sergeant in the King’s American Dragoons.
4. Col. William Shepard did not specify a date in April when he began his letter to Heath from Springfield, Mass.: “By the Bearer (who has conducted a Detachment of Recruits from this Post) I send you a Descriptive List of the Troops—which (if necessary) you will please to transmit to His Excellency.
“Also Three prisoners with their Crimes and Circumstances.
“am in hopes shall be able in a few Days to forward anoth[er] Detachment” (MHi: Heath Papers; the list of troops has not been identified). Ensign Jeremiah Greenman wrote in his diary entry for 11 April that the prisoners “deserted two & three years ago” (, 206). For the next detachment, see Heath to GW, 14 April (first letter), n.7.
For GW’s reply, see his first letter to Heath on 12 April.
Heath struck out a paragraph at the end of his draft: “The Field officers inform me that the Company Books are generally nearly filled, and as the late reform will occasion many new entries to be made it Seems renders a new Sett of Books necessary I beg submit to your Excellency the propriety and necessity of the Q.M. Genl procuring them, The wind has been so fresh down the River, that I have received no news from below.” For this reform of the Continental army, see General Orders, 1 Nov. 1780.