General Orders, 3 July 1781
General Orders
Head Quarters Valentines Hill [N.Y.] Tuesday 3d July 1781
Parole Lauzun. Countersigns D’Arrot—Dillon.
[Officers] For the Day Tomorrow[:] Major General Lord Stirling[,] Lieutenant Colonel Gray[,] Major Gibbs[,] Inspector—1st Connecticut Brigade.
The Continental Troops will this Evening lay upon their Arms upon Valentine’s hill in their usual order of Encampment.1
All detachments are immediately to join their respective Corps and the officers to take their command in the line—Colonel scammel’s detachment excepted.2
The Duke de Lauzun and Brigadier General Waterbury will be pleased to place Picquets upon the roads leading from East Chester to Kingsbridge.
The Officers of the day will take care that proper Guards are posted upon the roads leading from our front and right flank to King’s bridge being particularly attentive to the North river and roads leading from it.
The Commander in Chief takes the earliest opportunity of expressing his thanks to the Duke de Lauzun, His Officers and Men for the very Extraordinary Zeal manifested by them in the rapid performance of their march to join the American Army3—And the General also takes occasion to thank the Officers and Men of the American Army for the Alacrity with which they have supported themselves under the fatiguing March of yesterday and last Night—The Troops who were engaged to day merit his particular Thanks.4
The Army will march tomorrow morning at three ô clock—the General will beat at two—the Assemble at half after two—and it is hoped the March will commence punctually at three in order to avoid the heat of the day—the Route and order of March will be furnished by the Quarter Master General.5
Colonel Scammell’s detachment will follow the American Column and serve as a Rear Guard to it.
The Camp Guards with the Addition of a Captain from each division will form the Advanced Guard to be commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gray and form three hundred yards in the rear of the second line on the road by which the Army marches on the beating of the General.
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
For the march to Valentine’s Hill and its purpose, see General Orders, 30 June and 1 July.
1. In his journal entry for 5 July, Dr. James Thacher described how on 3 July the troops “marched all night, and at sunrise arrived within two miles of the enemy’s works at King’s-bridge. Having halted about two hours, a firing of cannon and musketry was heard in front, and we were informed that a party of our troops had engaged the enemy, and we were ordered to advance rapidly to their assistance; but before we could reach the scene of action, the enemy had retired within their strong works. … We took our repose for the night in the open field, and our tents and baggage having arrived the next day, we pitched our encampment in two lines, on the most advantageous ground, within a few miles of the outposts of the enemy” (, 264–65; see also General Orders, 18 June, and n.2).
2. For Col. Alexander Scammell’s detachment, see General Orders, 17 May.
3. Lieutenant General Rochambeau’s aide-de-camp Ludwig von Closen wrote in his journal entry for 1–2 July that “Lauzun’s legion left in the evening to join the American army and marched by long stages on Morrisania, a post where the enemy keeps a party of refugees at all times” (, 88; see also GW to Lauzun, 1 July). French brigadier general Lauzun later recalled that GW “showed the greatest joy on seeing me return, and in his orders paid the most flattering tribute to my troops. He decided to take the opportunity of making a close reconnaissance of New York. I escorted him with a hundred or so of hussars; we came under a considerable fire, both musketry and artillery, but we saw everything that we wished to see” (, 201–2; see also the entry for 3 July in , 3:389).
4. For the operations, see GW to Benjamin Lincoln, 1 July, source note.