Brigadier General James Clinton to George Washington, 22–23 May 1781
From Brigadier General James Clinton
Albany May 22d[–23] 1781.
Sir
I have been honoured with your Excellencies favour of the 18th Inst. agreeable to the Governors advice I consulted Generals Rensselaer and Gansevoort, the Mayor in Council, and several other Gentlemen whom I could confide in, respecting the abandoning Fort Schuyler, and, establishing a Post at the German Flatts, who were unanimous in opinion that under our present Circumstance the Fort Should be evacuated and the Garrison removed to Fort-Herkermer;1 I have this day given orders accordingly as will appear by a Copy of a Letter herewith inclosed to Colo. Cochran2—If we errect works at the German Flatts an Engineer will be much wanted for that Purpose. Last night I received an Express from Genl schuyler which contains all the news I have at present from the Northward; for the information of which I refer your Excellency to his Letter.3
I am confident the Enemy intend something Serious against our Frontiers. we have but few men to the Northward, as Colo. Cortlandt’s Regiment with part of the new Levies will be for a Considerable time employed to assist in the evacuation of Fort Schuyler.4 I would wish to have the other six Companies of the Brigade which are at west Point could I see any prospect of Supplying them with Provisions. I have been able to pro⟨cure⟩ a Quantity of Flour by impress, the Chief of which appears to be purchas’d for the use of the French Army which is Considerable amounting to near three thousand Barrels. I have not been able to procure one Barrel of Beef or Fish. the Flour I have not yet removed but the Purchasers have promised not to send it off without my Notice or Consent.5
23d May
Since yesterday I have detain’d my Letter expecting to receive farther intelligence from the Northward. Last Night Hagenbottom the pretended deserter, and, M⟨eeker⟩ of the first New York Regiment were brought to Town. they are both in Irons and Close Confined;6 at the sa⟨me⟩ time a Second Letter for your Excellency from Genl Schuyler was received which was left open for my Perusal, and contains all the news at present from that Quarter.7 I have the honor to be Your Excellency’s most Obedt Humbl. servt
James Clinton
LS, DLC:GW; copy, NN: Gansevoort-Lansing Collection. “By Express” is written on the cover of the LS, which is addressed to GW at New Windsor. GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman wrote “Ansd 29th” on the docket of the LS, but GW replied to Clinton on 28 May.
This letter helped convince GW that the British intended deep incursions into New York, prompting him to ready at West Point reinforcements for the frontier (see the entry for 25 May in , 3:371; see also Philip Schuyler’s second letter to GW, 21 May, and General Orders, 28 May).
1. See GW to Clinton, 18 May, and n.2 to that document; see also Clinton to GW, 16 May, n.1.
2. Clinton enclosed a copy of his orders to Lt. Col. Robert Cochran written at Albany on 22 May: “My Express has returned from Head Quarters. I have thought proper to Abandon Fort Schuyler, you will therefore immediately on receipt hereof convey down the Magazine, Stores, &c. with all possible dispatch to Fort Herkermer, demolish the works, march down the Garrison, and take post at Fort Herkermer.” The orders continued with specific directions (DLC:GW). For the completion of the move, see Clinton to GW, 15–18 June. Daily details can be found in Ensign Samuel Tallmadge’s journal entries for 1–11 June in , 751–52.
3. Clinton presumably enclosed Schuyler to GW, 21 May (second letter).
4. For the New York levies, 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.
5. For James Clinton’s impressment warrants, see George Clinton to GW, 6 May, n.4.
6. John Hudson, one of the New York levies, later recalled his service with a detachment at Saratoga, N.Y., that guarded two prisoners spared from hanging “and sent down to Albany. One of these men was Solomon Meeker, a private in Capt. Ausin’s [Aurson’s] company, and the other was a British deserter named John Higginbottom, who it was judged was in reality a spy, and had been tampering with Meeker to lead him to desert, if not for worse purposes.” Hudson added that “many years after the period of which I am now speaking,” Higginbottom “stated that he had got clear at Albany by representing himself as a deserter, which led them at last to let him off. He confessed to me that he had been, however, a spy, and as such had came to Saratoga, and that he had entered that fort at daylight, and in a few hours would have been off and discovered enough to the British forces to bring on a body of Indians and tories from Canada sufficient to have destroyed every human being about the place” (, 2:292; see also James Clinton to GW, 30 May).
Solomon Meeker (Maker) enlisted as a private in the 3d New York Regiment in November 1776 and joined the 1st New York Regiment in August 1780. Meeker’s service record indicates that he was a “Prisr in Albany Goal” on 12 June 1781, but he then served until the end of the war (DNA: RG 93, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, 1st New York Regiment).
7. For the enclosure, see Schuyler to GW, 21 May (first letter).