Major Benjamin Tallmadge to George Washington, 6 May 1781
From Major Benjamin Tallmadge
Wethersfield May 6th 1781
Sir
I had the honor to receive Your Excellency’s favor of the 30th ulto a few days past, the Contents of which were in some measure answered in my letter of the 2d inst.1 I have given the most pressing Instructions to C—— Senr & others to put the Corresponden⟨ce⟩ on a more advantageous footing.2 Depend on my Exertions, & the earliest Communications of all Intelligence I may receive.3
I take the liberty to enclose a letter for the Commissary of Prisoners. I have recd Information that some of the Prisoners who were wounded in the Capture of Fort St Georg⟨e⟩ & left on Parole, are actively in Arms against us.4 The inclosed to Col. Skinner will give Him the necessary information.5
When I had the Honor of seeing Your Excellency at Hartford,6 I mentioned the Circumstance of my application to the Genl Assembly of this State for Remounts for the Regt & the ostensible Reasons of its failure, viz. because they had recd no particular Requisitions from Congress or the Commander in Chief for this purpose. (Possibly this was the Case)7 Immediately after which I wrote to Col. Jameson at Philadelphia, to procure an order of Congress for this p⟨ur⟩pose.8 I have not yet heard from him on the Subject.
In Consequence of a hint from some of the mor⟨e⟩ liberal & leading Members of the Legislature, I take the liberty to request that Your Excellency would be pleased (if it should not be judged improper) to mention to Governor Trumbull the necessity of procuring Remounts for the Regt⟨,⟩ as well as the propriety of its being done by this State, to which We are assigned as part of the Quota of her Troops.9 As we have but about one Troop of horse now in the Regt & a prospect of getting nearly our Complement of Men, added to the Circumstance of having no other Regt of American Cavalry in this Quarter for service the ensuing Campaign, I cannot but hope that some more vigorous & speedy measures may be taken to put us on a more respectable footing.10 Agreeable to your Excellency’s Orders I have engaged some sadlery work to be done for the Regt, so that I hope we shall not be wanting in the article should we receive our Complement of Horses.11
I expect Col. Sheldon will be at Hartford in a few days to attend the Assembly on the above business.12 I have the Honor to be, with great Regard, Your Excellency’s most Obedt hble Servt
Benja. Tallmadge
P.S. By some naval Officers who left New York last Thursday, I am informed that the British Fleet fell down to the Hook the day before, said to have about 2000 Troops on board—& that previous to this, they impressed a number of Men from the City of N.Y. & took more than 200 Prisoners from the Prison Ships, & put them on board their Ships of War.13
B.T.
ALS, DLC:GW; copy, CtLHi. Tallmadge wrote “P. Express” on the cover of the ALS, which is addressed to GW at New Windsor. The copy does not include the postscript.
1. GW had written Tallmadge on 30 April with instructions for the speedier conveyance of future spy reports from the Culper ring. Tallmadge wrote GW on 2 May about money received to facilitate the transfer from Long Island of Culper ring reports.
2. Tallmadge apparently wrote Samuel Culper (Abraham Woodhull’s alias) on 28 April and 3 May about improving the gathering and transfer of intelligence (see Tallmadge to GW, 12 May, n.1, and 29 May, n.1).
3. See Tallmadge to GW, 12 May.
4. Troops under Tallmadge raided the Loyalist garrison of Fort St. George on Long Island in 1780 (see Tallmadge to GW, 25 Nov., and n.7 to that document).
5. The enclosure for Abraham Skinner, commissary general of prisoners, has not been identified.
6. GW visited Hartford twice in March 1781 (see GW to Alexander Hamilton, 7 March, source note, and GW to Rochambeau, 16 March, n.1).
7. GW had written the Board of War on 31 Jan. to ascertain whether Congress or Connecticut’s state government should furnish new horses for Col. Elisha Sheldon’s regiment. He received an indefinite reply (see Board of War to GW, 3 March).
8. Tallmadge’s letter to Lt. Col. John Jameson has not been identified. Jameson had been assigned to Philadelphia “to procure arms accoutrements and cloaths” for Sheldon’s regiment (, 20:460).
9. For state troop quotas, see General Orders, 1 Nov. 1780, and n.1 to that document.
10. See GW to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., 22 May 1781, and notes 1–3 to that document.
11. GW probably issued Tallmadge these orders in person (see n.6 above; see also Tallmadge to GW, 25 June, and n.8 to that document).
12. See Sheldon to GW, 2 June.
13. British major Frederick Mackenzie, stationed in New York City, wrote in his diary entry for Friday, 4 May: “There was a press for Seamen last night, & about 300 men were collected, and put on board the fleet” (, 2:517; see also Tallmadge to GW, 12 May, n.1). Citing “persons from New-York” as the source, The New-Jersey Gazette (Trenton) for 9 May reported: “That last week a very hot press took place there, by which several hundred men from the city were carried on board the fleet—and 309 American prisoners were also carried from the prison ship, and forced on board their ships of war, among whom were Captains, Mates, and other officers.—Such is the unexampled barbarity of the piratical nation against which we have to contend! They revere neither the laws of God nor of nations.” For British thinking about this impressment, see James Robertson to George Germain, 6 May, in , 190–91.