Head Quarters, Philadelphia County, 30th Oct., 1777.
Dear Sir:
It having been judged expedient by the members of a council of war,
held yesterday, that one of the gentlemen of my family should be sent
to General Gates, in order to lay before him the state of this army,
and the situation of the enemy; and to point out to him the many happy
consequences that will accrue from an immediate reinforcement being
sent from the northern army; I have thought it proper to appoint you to
that duty, and desire that you will immediately set out for Albany; at
which place, or in the neighborhood, I imagine you will find General
Gates.
You are so fully acquainted with the principal points on which you
are sent, namely, the state of our army, and the situation of the
enemy, that I shall not enlarge on those heads. What you are chiefly
to attend to, is to point out, in the clearest and fullest manner, to
General Gates, the absolute necessity that there is for his detaching
a very considerable part of the army at present under his command, to
the reinforcement of this; a measure that will, in all probability,
reduce General Howe to the same situation in which General Burgoyne now
is, should he attempt to remain in Philadelphia without being able to
remove the obstructions in the Delaware, and open a free communication
with his shipping. The force which the members of the council of war
judge it safe and expedient to draw down at present, are the three New
Hampshire and fifteen Massachusetts regiments, with Lee’s and Jackson’s
two of the sixteen, additional. But it is more than probable that
General Gates may have detained part of those troops to the reduction
of Ticonderoga, should the enemy not have evacuated it; or to the
garrisoning it. If they should, in that case the reinforcement will
be according to circumstances; but, if possible, let it be made up to
the same number out of other corps. If, upon your meeting with General
Gates, you should find that he intends, in consequence of his success,
to employ the troops under his command upon some expedition, by the
prosecution of which the common cause will be more benefited than by
their being sent down to reinforce this army, it is not my wish to
give any interruption to the plan. But if he should have nothing more
in contemplation than those particular objects which I have mentioned
to you, and which it is unnecessary to commit to paper; in that case
you are to inform him, that it is my desire that the reinforcements
before mentioned, or such parts of them as can be safely spared, be
immediately put in motion to join the army.
I have understood that General Gates has already detached Nixon’s
and Glover’s brigades to join General Putnam; and General Dickinson
informs me, Sir Henry Clinton has come down the river with his whole
force: if this be a fact, you are to desire General Putnam to send the
two brigades forward with the greatest expedition, as there can be no
occasion for them there.
I expect you will meet Colonel Morgan’s corps upon their way down:
if you do, let them know how essential their services are to us; and
desire the Colonel or commanding officer, to hasten their march as much
as is consistent with the health of the men after their late fatigues.