George Washington to Meshech Weare, 15 June 1781
To Meshech Weare
Head Quarters New Windsor 15th June 1781.
Sir
I have been honored with your Favor of the 4th instant.1 In the Calculation which I made at Wethersfield, of the Aid of Militia which would be necessary to support the Operation which we have in View, I included sixteen hundred from Pennsylvania,2 but that State having been since called upon to embody and march two thousand four hundred Men immediately to the Assistance of Virginia,3 I am obliged to add the Number which I shall be disappointed in from Pennsylvania, to the Quota required from the other States; your Proportion of them will be two hundred & fifty which with the Requisition of the 24th May will make in the whole six hundred and fifty.4
I need not enter into a Repetition of the Arguments which were made Use of in my Letter of the 24th May to induce the most strenuous Exertions to fill up the Continental Battalions. I will only say, that our Success will depend upon that being done. Without it, there is not a Chance, & with it We have the fairest Prospect. These Men must be sent forward as fast as they are raised.
I am in Hopes that the Assembly will, at their present Meeting, take effectual Measures for supplying the Quota of Beef called for in the Requisitions which were laid before You by Major General Heath.5 You must be fully sensible that our whole Dependence for Provisions is upon the Exertions of the States, and that without the punctual Compliance with the Demands made upon them, the Force which will be collected must soon disband, Whereby the immense Expence which we are now incurring will be so much dead Loss, and the Consequences, in a political View, of a most serious and alarming Nature. I have the Honor to be Sir Your most Obedt & Humble Servt
Go: Washington
LS, in Richard Varick’s writing, Nh-Ar: Weare Papers; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. GW’s secretary Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., penned the postscript on the LS. For similar letters, see GW to John Hancock, to William Livingston, and to Joseph Reed, all this date.
1. See Weare to GW, 4 June.
4. The New Hampshire legislature voted on 26 June to accept “the report of the Committee for apportioning the 650 men to be raised to join the army.” The report assigned quotas to “the several Regts of militia” and recommended that the troops “be formed into one Regiment” (, 904–5).
5. See William Heath to GW, 27 June, and n.3 to that document.
6. The draft, which GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman penned, gives “198” for this number.
The congressional quota for New Hampshire was two regiments with a total of 1,354 non-commissioned officers and privates (see Weare to GW, 2 April, n.4).
7. The return has not been identified.