William Livingston to George Washington, 27 June 1781
From William Livingston
Princeton 27th June 1781
Dear Sir
It gives me great pain that I have not been able to answer your Excellency’s several Letters of the 27th of May & 15th June till this moment having ever since waited with great impatience for the passing of the Bill respecting your requisition of the 750 militia to co-operate with the regular Troops for 3 months, which did not pass till this day.1 I have issued the necessary orders, & directed the men to rendezvous at Morris town the 15th of July or as soon after as possible.
Collo. Seely is appointed to command the detachment.2
The Legislature have directed our Contractors to use the utmost dispatch in forwarding the Provisions,3 & passed an Act for completing our Brigade, (of the efficacy of which, I confess I have no great Expect[at]ion).4 But they have not vested the Executive with any powers during the recess of the Assembly to comply with any farther requisitions for men, provision, or transportation.5
They will adjourn to morrow, after which your Excellency will be pleased to direct to me at Trenton6—I have the honour to be with the highest esteem Dear Sir your Excellency’s most obedient & very humble Servant
Wil: Livingston
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. The New Jersey Legislative Council amended a bill on 15 June that came from the legislature on 9 June. The General Assembly rejected the amendments on 19 June, and a stalemate ensued when the council disagreed (see GW to Livingston, 27 May, source note; , pp. 19, 22–24; and , pp. 53–54). The assembly introduced new legislation on 27 June that changed the title from “An Act for embodying, for a limited Time, seven hundred and fifty of the Militia of this State[,] and for other Purposes therein mentioned” to “An Act to authorize the Governor or Commander in Chie[f] of this State for the Time being to call out a Part of the Militia of this State and to continue them in Service for three Months” (, p. 98; see also GW to Livingston, 15 June, and the source note to that document). Both the assembly and council adopted the retitled act on 27 June (see , p. 98, and , p. 33). The act authorized 750 militia “from the several Counties in this State … to be held in Readiness, and to be subjected to the Orders of the Commander in Chief of the fœderal Army” (, pp. 112–13).
2. The New Jersey Privy Council met at Princeton on this date and advised Livingston “to call out” militia “to rendezvous at Morris Town on the fifteenth day of July next … under the Command of Colonel Seely” (, 201–2; see also Livingston to Asher Holmes, this date, in , 4:237).
3. The legislative council approved on this date a resolution that the assembly adopted on 26 June in response to GW’s request “for an immediate Supply of Provisions for the Use of the Army, and the Legislature being informed that the Article of Meat is most wanted.” The measure required “Contractors of the several Counties” to purchase “Cattle or Sheep” to supply designated “Quantities of Beef or Mutton from each County” (, pp. 66–67; see also , p. 32).
4. Livingston refers to “An ACT to raise, by voluntary Enlistment, four hundred and fifty Men, for completing the Quota of Troops belonging to this State, in the Service of the United States,” which the assembly adopted on 23 June and the council approved on 25 June (N.J. Acts, 24 May—28 June 1781, pp. 105–10; see also , p. 60, and , p. 29).
5. GW had requested such authority for state executives (see Document IV with The Wethersfield Conference and Aftermath, 14 May–16 June, editorial note).
6. GW responded to Livingston on 13 July (NN: William Livingston Papers).