Colonel Charlus to George Washington, 12 May 1781
From Colonel Charlus
to New-port 12. May 1781.
Sir
I take the liberty to recommand to your excellency’s care the inclosd letters. they are of the utmost importance for the public and1 the Marquis in particular;2 I beg your excellency would be pleas’d to forward them to chevalier de la Luzerne, by a very safe opportunity:3 if there was at head quarter’s any of the marquis Servants, I think it would be safer & quicker, to Sent him to philadelphia, if there is None, I vould be much oblig’d to your excellency, for Sending those dispatches by an other express to chevalier de la luzerne who will forward them to the Marquis.
I have the honour of Sending to your excellency, portsmouth map, which you desir’d, I want to make an apologie for the delay.4 I am with great respect your excellency’s the most obedient humble Servant
Castries de Charlus.
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Charlus inadvertently wrote “et,” which is the French word.
2. The enclosed letters have not been identified but likely included one from French foreign minister Vergennes to Major General Lafayette, written at Versailles on 10 March, with information about the king’s “decision regarding the assistance of all kinds to be given to the Americans for the next campaign. … I have reason to believe Mr. Washington will be satisfied with the efforts we are making for the support of the American cause and that he on his part will do everything in his power so that they will not be fruitless. Please assure the general that we place the most complete confidence in his zeal, his patriotism, and his talents, and that we shall with great pleasure see him finally achieve the glory of having delivered his country and assured its liberty” (, 3:391; see also John Laurens to GW, 24 March, and Rochambeau to GW, 11 May, n.2).
3. GW wrote French minister La Luzerne from headquarters at New Windsor on 17 May: “The inclosed dispatches have just been sent to me with a request that I would forward them immediately to your Excellency. Count Charlus mentions that the packet for the Marquis is of great importance and wishes it may be transmitted to him by a safe conveyance” (LS, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, FrPMAE; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW; GW wrote “great” above the line on the draft, which Tilghman also penned).
4. GW replied to Charlus from New Windsor on 17 May: “I had this morning the pleasure of receiving your favor of the 12th. The dispatches for the Marquis de la Fayette have been forwarded by a servant of his own who was luckily here and just setting out for the southward.
“I am exceedingly obliged by the trouble you have taken in making me a Copy of the Map of the Country in the Vicinity of portsmouth” (Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW). GW apparently had requested a map of the area around Portsmouth, Va., during a visit from Charlus (see Rochambeau to GW, 13 Jan., and GW to Rochambeau, 20 Jan.; see also GW to Samuel Huntington, 24 Jan.). The map has not been identified.