George Clinton to George Washington, 17 May 1781
From George Clinton
Poughkeepsie [N.Y.] 17th May 1781
Dear Sir
I this moment received the enclosed Letter from Genl Schuyler to your Excellency which agreable to his Direction I have perused & now forward by the same Express who handed it to me.1 This Letter with one which the Express is charged with from Brigr Genl Clinton will I presume give your Excellency all the Intelligence from the Northward and render it unnecessary to communicate the Particulars contained in my Letter.2 The Destruction of the Barracks at Fort Schuyler is a Loss which I fear cannot be easily repaired in our present situation and I find it is my Brothers Opinion which he informs me is supported by the concurrent Sentiments of the principal People of Albany, that it would be more eligible to abolish the Works, remove the Artillery & Stores and take Post at the German Flatts than attempt it. It is conceived that a Post established at that Place would affo⟨rd⟩ greater Security to the frontier Settlements & be supported with less expence & difficulty; and it is alledged that the great Object of maintaining a Post at the former Place is removed by the friendly Indians having abandoned their Settlements in it’s vicinity & retreated to Schenectady.3
I promised myself the Pleasure of seeing your Excellency at Head Quarters before this: but the necessity then was of convening special Courts for the speedy Trial of a number of attrocious Offenders confined in the Goal here prevented it. This business being completed which I hope will be effected in a Day or two at farthest I shall not fail waiting on your Excellency.4 I have not yet been furnished with Returns of the Levies raising for the Defence of the State and therefore am not able to form any estimate of the additional Strength they will afford to the regular Force on the northern Frontier—I fear but few of them are as yet collected in that Quarter.5 I am with the highest Respect & Esteem Your Excellencys most Obdt Servt
Geo: Clinton
LS, DLC:GW. “By Express” is written on the cover, which is addressed to GW at New Windsor.
Clinton presumably sent the LS before receiving a letter that his brother Brig. Gen. James Clinton wrote him from Albany on this date: “Since my last to you of yesterday, another Express has been received from Fort Schuyler. Copies of the contents I send you under a flying seal, for your Perusal, and have to request that you seal & forward them to the General.
“I informed you yesterday of the general prevailing opinion among the better part of the People in this Quarter, respecting Fort Schuyler. The recent Loss of the Barracks and ruinous State of the works have confirmed them in the propriety, and even the necessity of removing the Garrison to the German Flatts, near Fort Herkimer, where they are disposed to afford every assistance in their power to erect a formidable work, confident that it will be able to give more Protection, not only to that perticular Quarter but also to the whole western Frontier. I must confess that this has long been my opinion.
“I have not hinted it to the General, as I conceive it will come better from you, who are acquainted with every particular circumstance respecting it, and many Difficulties we shall labour under in puting it in any tollerable State of Defence.
“As I have directed the Troops to keep Possession of the works, untill I shall receive Instructions from Head Quarters, I wish you may have it in your power to have a conference with the General on the subject, and transmit to me the result of it without Delay” (, 6:881–82; see also James Clinton to GW, 16 May, n.4). For the likely enclosures, see James Clinton to GW, this date, n.1.
GW wrote in his diary entry for 18 May that “Letters from Generals Schuyler and Clinton” induced him to direct Clinton to move the garrison at Fort Schuyler to German Flats if agreeable to “the Governor & other principal Gentn.” of New York (, 3:367; see also GW to James Clinton, same date).
2. See James Clinton to GW, 16 May, and n.1 to that document.
3. For this movement of Oneida Indians to Schenectady, N.Y., see Schuyler to Lafayette, 10 Aug. 1780 (DLC:GW; see also GW to Goose Van Schaick, 28 June 1780, and Van Schaick to GW, 29 July, and n.2 to that document).
4. GW did not meet Clinton until June (see his reply to Clinton dated 18 May, found at GW to James Clinton, same date, source note, and GW to James Clinton, 25 June, and n.1 to that document). For some of the men brought to trial, see Isaac Nicoll to Clinton, 4 May, and Clinton to Nicoll, 5 May, in , 6:834–35; see also , 6:888–90.
5. For these New York levies attached to the Continental army, see Samuel Huntington to GW, 4 April, and n.1 to that document, and George Clinton to GW, 28 April, and n.2 to that document.
Col. Marinus Willett wrote Clinton from Albany on 19 May “that the whole of the levies, which I expect to compose my regiment, (besides those that are to be sent from Dutches County) will amount to about four hundred & sixty or seventy men, and some of those are deserted” (, 6:893–94). For a return of Willett’s “Regiment of Levies raised for the immediate Defence of the Frontiers of this State” dated 21 May, see , 6:900.