Colonel Elias Dayton to George Washington, 14 April 1781
From Colonel Elias Dayton
Chatham [N.J.] April 14th 1781
Sir,
I received your Excellency’s letter dated the 11th last evening.1 I believe without a doubt that another embarkation is in great forwardness and that in every point it will be more respectable than that of the last under General Phillips.2 I have enclosed a letter from Capt. Scudder commanding at Elizth Town, which is in a great measure confirmed by my private intelligence from the city.3 How they can spare such a number of men from New York consistently with their own safety is to me very mysterious and what I cannot reconcile with my idea of their strength & numbers. The opinion seems to prevail, that they are intended to act on the Delaware river and in Pennsylvania,4 rather than in the Cheseapeake or to the southward; of the three I must confess, the first appears to me most probable—it is indeed possible that something of more consequence than we are aware of is now upon the carpet.5
Admiral Arbuthnot I am informed is returned to Gardiner’s bay, also that Arnold has returned with at least a part of his troops, certain it is that upward of twenty sail of transports were seen going up to the city on Thursday, which were said and supposed to be Arnold.6
The refugees are all ordered to be embodied, their Officers are nominated and a Colonel Conolly is appointed to command them, and it is generally said they are going to Quebec.7 An officer told my informant that all those refugees who would not enlist would be immediately impressed and put on board the ships.8
I enclose for your Excellency’s perusal, Gaine⟨’s⟩ Gazette extraordinary, from whence it appears that Great Brita⟨in⟩ has brought upon herself a war with Portugal as well as with the United States.9 I am your Excellencys Most Obedient Hbl. servant
Elias Dayton
LS, DLC:GW.
1. See GW to Dayton, 11 April.
2. British major Frederick Mackenzie, stationed at New York City, noted in his diary entry for this date: “Transports are preparing for the reception of 3000 troops” (, 2:507). For the expedition to Virginia under Maj. Gen. William Phillips, see Dayton to GW, 9 and 15 March.
3. The enclosed letter from Capt. John Scudder to Dayton, written at Elizabeth, N.J., on 13 April, reads: “This hour by good athoritty from N. york I Reciv’d the following Account. that there is a Large Imbarcation takeing place at New york. to the Amount of four or five Thousand Strong. that they are Intended for the Southword, up the Chesepick to Take possession of all the Rivers & Towns that will be advantages. that will Cut of[f] General Greens Communication. the Ships & Transports are Takeing in water, & will Immediatly Take place. by account, that Genl Clinton is to Take the Command without Doubt … you may Depend there is an Imbargo Laid on all the Shiping in the harbour” (DLC:GW; see also n.4 below).
4. For this intelligence, see Samuel Huntington to GW, 7 April, n.2, and GW to Huntington, 12 April.
5. British general Henry Clinton expected additional troops from Ireland and the West Indies. The anticipated augmentation persuaded him to send an expedition to reinforce the corps in Virginia under Phillips (see n.2 above). Clinton planned afterwards to use the reinforcements and most of the troops with Phillips to conduct operations in “Delaware Neck” near Head of Elk, Md. (, 274–80, quote on 277; see also William Heath to GW, 1 May, n.1).
6. This intelligence was faulty. Neither Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold nor the troops with him had returned from Virginia. British vice admiral Marriot Arbuthnot and his fleet of nine warships and about seventeen empty transports had arrived off Sandy Hook, N.J., on 10 April. The warships anchored inside the hook that night, but the transports proceeded into the bay and anchored off Staten Island. On Thursday, 12 April, four warships in need of repairs came up to New York and anchored in the Hudson River. The other warships moved to the Watering Place off Staten Island (see the entries for 11–12 April in , 2:503–4, 506). Dayton soon corrected his report (see his letter to GW, 20 April).
7. Lt. Col. John Connolly had been exchanged in October 1780. British general Henry Clinton commissioned him in April 1781 to raise and command a Loyalist regiment, known as the Corps of Loyal Foresters or the Virginia Loyalists, for service on the western frontier. The regiment never contained more than two small companies (see , 383). A notice seeking “Gentlemen Volunteers” for the regiment first appeared in The Royal Gazette (New York) for 14 April.
8. Mackenzie wrote in his diary entry for 20 April: “The Admiral is endeavoring to get a number of The Loyal Refugees to enter on board The fleet for the next Cruize or Expedition. Every offer of prize-money, pay, &c is made to them to induce them to serve on the present occasion. The board of Directors are very active in forwarding this matter” (, 2:509).
9. The extraordinary edition of Hugh Gaine’s The New-York Gazette: and the Weekly Mercury has not been identified. The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser (Boston) for 29 March printed under the headline “BOSTON, March 29” a report from “an intelligent person who lately made his escape from St. Eustatia” about the British capture of that island in the West Indies. The “particulars” included the information that a Portuguese ship was “detained” at Saint Eustatius by the British and “that war either had already commenced or would soon take place between Portugal and Britain” (see also Rochambeau to GW, 25 March, n.4). Portugal did not go to war with Great Britain.