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Subject Area: War and Peace
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO MAJOR-GENERAL LINCOLN. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. X (1782-1785) [1891]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890). Vol. X (1782-1785).

Part of: The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols.

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TO MAJOR-GENERAL LINCOLN.

Sir,

My dear Sir,

You are hereby appointed to the command of West Point and its dependencies. But, as the army will lie for some time upon Verplanck’s Point, you will consider yourself as relieved till further orders from the care of attending to that post, Stony Point, and Dobbs’s Ferry, which are part of the dependencies, except so far as relates to their being constantly supplied with the proper quantity of ordnance. I have so thorough a confidence in you, and so well am I acquainted with your ability and activity, that I think it needless to point out to you the great outlines of your duty. I recommend the following matters to your attention.

Col. Hazen’s sending an Officer under the capitulation of York Town for the purpose of retaliation, has distressed me exceedingly—Be so good as to give me your opinion of the propriety of doing this upon Cap: Asgill if we should be driven to it for want of an unconditional prisoner.—

To visit the redoubts frequently; to see that they are kept in proper order; that the garrisons allotted to them are alert, and that they make it an invariable rule to sleep within the works. They should each be furnished constantly with ten days’ wood and water; and, if the contractors keep up such a magazine of salt provision upon the Point, as they ought to do by contract, the detached works should be provided with ten days’ provision also. The rolls to be frequently called. No officer to be absent without your leave, and no non-commissioned officer or soldier without the leave of a field-officer.

Presuming that this matter has been a subject of much conversation; pray, with your own, let me know the opinions of the most sensible of those with whom you have conversed.

The quarter-master having reported a scarcity of tents, you will be pleased to remove the tenth Massachussets regiment into the barracks, that their tents may be delivered up. No buildings, either public or private, are to be erected without your knowledge; and, when applications are made to you for that purpose, you will, if they are admitted, direct the commanding engineer to point out the situations, that they may not interfere with the defences of the place. The public buildings now carrying on, and the alterations and repairs of the works, will engage your particular attention. You know the necessity of bringing them to a certain state before the frost sets in. Given at Head-Quarters, at Newburg, the 29th of August, 1782.1

Congress by their Resolve has unanimously approved of my determination to retaliate—the Army have advised it—and the Country look for it—But how far it is justifiable upon an Officer under the faith of a Capitulation, if none other can be had, is the question?

[1 ]The army moved from Newburg, on the 31st of August, to Verplanck’s Point, where an encampment was established. This change was in consequence of an agreement with Count de Rochambeau to form a junction of the American and French armies at that place, and also to be nearer to the enemy in case any hostile attempts should be made from New York; although, from the inactivity and pacific declarations of Sir Guy Carleton, such attempts were not anticipated.

[1 ]The army moved from Newburg, on the 31st of August, to Verplanck’s Point, where an encampment was established. This change was in consequence of an agreement with Count de Rochambeau to form a junction of the American and French armies at that place, and also to be nearer to the enemy in case any hostile attempts should be made from New York; although, from the inactivity and pacific declarations of Sir Guy Carleton, such attempts were not anticipated.