[No. 3343.] WASHINGTON TO CLINTON. New York's Quota under the Army Organization-The Situation in the North and the South from the Commander-in-Chief's Standpoint. Head Quarters Prackness, Novemb'r [6th] 1780. Dear Sir, I have received your several favours of the 18th, 30th and 31st ulto. I congratulate you upon your safe return from your late excursion, and upon the success which attended General Ransalaer's attack upon the enemy in their retreat. It is to be regretted that your Excellency was not near enough with the Reinforcement to take advantage of their situation. The damage, which has been done, will, I fear, be severely felt by the public as well as by individuals. We had the most pleas ing prospects of forming considerable Magazines of bread, from the Country which has been laid waste, and which, from your Excellency's letter, is so extensive, that I am apprehensive we shall be obliged to bring flour from the Southward to support the troops at and near West-point. You will be pleased to give me your opinion upon the quantity of flour that may yet, with probability, be procured above, in the course of the Winter, that I may form some calculation of the quantity which it will be necessary to draw from Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. I am very sorry that the troops of your State should look upon it as a hardship to do the garrison duty of Fort Schuyler. I had always allotted it to them, as thinking it would be agreable to both officers and men to guard their own Frontier, especially, when they were not continued an unreasonable time upon the tour. The Frontier posts of Pennsylvania and Virginia have been constantly garrisoned by their own Regiments, which have not been relieved these two years. The troops of the line in general are, in point of Cloathing, upon a footing with the rest of the Army, which is very bare, and which has a poor prospect of being well supplied. But as Colo. Weissenfelds Regiment is going to a distance, and where he will not have an oppertunity of drawing those temporary supplies which the troops with the main Army sometimes do, I have given orders to have it as well furnished as our Magazines will admit. I have appointed Brigadier General Clinton to take the command in the Northern department, and have ordered him to repair to Albany for that purpose. I am convinced he will second every measure which may be thought expedient for the security of the Frontier. I am much obliged to your Excellency for the attention which you promise to pay to the provisioning Fort Schuyler. I daily expect four or five hundred Barrels of salt beef from Connecticut; as soon as they arrive upon the North River, part of them shall be sent up to Albany for the Garrison of Fort Schuyler, I desired Governor Trumbull to hurry them on that they might be got up in all this month. I am very happy to find that the Legislature has vested your Excellency with the power of complying the requisitions of Congress for Compleating the new Army. I find that the Resolve of the 3d of Oct'r had only reached you, and that your calculation of the deficiency of 313 men had been founded upon that. Congress, by a subsequent act of the 21st, have made some very material and salutary amendments, the principal of which aregiving half pay for life to the officers, confining the term of service expressly to the War, and augmenting the number of men in each Regt. to 612 Rank and file. I, therefore, state your exact deficiency at 449 men, upon the following principles: 2 Regiment of Infantry Rank & file........ 1 Regt. of Artillery non com'd & privates.... Rank and file for the War by Return transmitted 1121 Already in Lamb's Regt. which is the 1224 650 1874 This, your Excellency will be pleased to observe, is the deficiency in figures, but when we come to take into the computa tion the casualties that will happen between this time and the junction of the recruits-the number of men sick in Hospitals and upon extra service, many of the first incurables, and of the last so detached that we shall never find them, the deficiency which, there will be in the number of Recruits voted, and other unforseen deductions, it will appear plainly, that if the assess ment is laid at 449 only, the Regiments will want very consider ably of that strength, which is absolutely necessary to make our Combined Continental force any ways adequate to the probable services of the next Campaign. I would therefore, beg leave to recommend to your Excellency to lay your assessment at 100 men more than the apparent deficiency. I am convinced it will be found cheaper and in every respect more eligible to compleat the matter at one stroke, than to have a second tax to lay. Our affairs to the Southward put on a more pleasing aspect since the defeat of Colo. Ferguson. Lord Cornwallis was retreating precipitately from Charlotte, and giving up a fine district of Country which he had in posession. But the diversion which General Leslie will occasion, by taking post in Virginia, will, I fear, operate against the formation of the Southern Army, and will embarrass us on the score of supplies. Another embarkation is preparing at New York, which I have no doubt is also intended for the Southward, as, without considerable Reinforcements, they must abandon their late conquests in that quarter. I have the honor to be, With the greatest esteem, Your Excellency's Most Obed't humb'e serv't Go. Washington. His Excell'y Gov'r Clinton. [No. 3344.] John Sloss Hobart Transmits News from Connecticut. Sharon, 6th Nov'r 1780. Dear sir, Your Fav'r of the 4th Inst. by Coll. Bostwick was handed to me last evening; am very sorry that I am not to expect Genl. Schuyler's company at Hartford.* By what I hear, the gentlemen from the Eastward will meet, with a disposition to make every possible exertion. The Legis lature of this State intended to adjourn on Saturday last for two or three weeks to wait the result of the Convention. They have adopted the Maryland Idea on the subject of the Confederation; they have determined to compleat their Bat'ls [battalions] to serve for 3 years or during the war; and they have laid a tax of 6d on the pound to be paid in provisions, not more than one half in flour, the remainder in Beef or Pork to be salted and stored in each town, 'tis computed to produce about 9,000 Bls. I am informed that the French Intendant has made his contracts for flour to serve 'till the first of May, in which case I * See Volume V, pages 285-287. think 'twill be a needless expense to go to Newport; however, if your Excellency should be of a different opinion please to send me your directions by the post to Hartford. Mrs. Hobart joins me in our best respects to Mrs. Clinton and says she is not much obliged to your Excellency for sending me to New Port this cold weather. I am with equal Esteem and Respect, your Excellency's most obed't h'ble Serv't His Excellency Gov'r Clinton. Jno. Sloss Hobart. [No. 3345.] Colonel Weissenfels Appeals for Apparel for His Men, His Officers and Himself. Fort Renselar Novemb'r 6th 1780. Sir, When the news wass recieved of the Enemy being about the German Flats, I concieved it my Duty to move as far as this Place, and send Major Davis, to take the Command of the Escort, with the Provisions to Fort Schuiler; the Supplies hetherto Provided for that Place, are so smal that I feel much anxcieity in my Breast. The naked Condition of my men grieves me, and the means to supply them at a great Distance, together with the uncertainty of a great number of officers, being left out of the Service induces me to stai here my self, till the Express returns, with your Exellency's answer. Not the least doubt is left me, that I and many officers more, will be left out of the army, now established; therefore, Pray, in behalf of my self, and my officers (who have waited upon me in a Body for the purpose of making this Request) that your |