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Extract.- From Sir Henry Clinton to Earl Cornwallis, dated New York, June 11, 1781. RESPECTING my opinion of stations in James and York rivers, I shall beg leave only to refer your lordship to my instructions to, and correspondence with, General Phillips and Arnold; together with the substance of conversations with the former, which your lordship will have found amongst General Phillips' papers, and to which I referred you in my last dispatch. I shall, therefore, of course, apporve of any alteration your lordship may think proper to make in those stations. The detachments I have made from this army into Chesapeak, since General Leslie's expedition in October last, inclusive, have amounted to seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-four effectives; and at the time your lordship made the junction with the corps there, there were, under Major-general Phillips' orders, five thousand three hundred and four: A force, I should have hoped, would be sufficient of itself to have carried on operations in any of the southern provinces of America; where, as appears by the intercepted letters of Washington and La Fayette, they are in no situation to stand against even a division of that army. I have no reason to suppose the continentals under La Fayette can exceed one thousand; and I am told by Lieutenant-colonel Hill, of the 9th regiment, that about a fortnight ago he met at Frederick town the Pennsylvania line, under Wayne, of about the same number, who were so discomforted that their officers were afraid to trust them with ammunition. This, however, may have since altered; and your lordship may possibly have opposed to you from fifteen hundred to two thousand continentals, and (as La Fayette observes) a small body of ill-armed peasantry, full as spiritless as the militia of the southern provinces, and without any service. Comparing, therefore, he force now under your lordship in the Chesapeak, and that of the enemy opposed to you, (and I think it clearly appears they have, for the present, non intention of sending thither reinforcements) I should have hoped you would have quite sufficient to carry on any operation in Virginia, should that have been advisable at this advanced season. By the intercepted (a.) letters, enclosed to your lordship in my last dispatch, you will observe, that I am threatened with a siege in this post. My present effective force is only ten thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine. With respect to that, the enemy may collect for such an object, it is probable they may amount to at least twenty thousand, besides reinforcement to the French, (which, from pretty good authority, I have reason to expect) and the numerous militia of the five neighbouring provinces. Thus circumstanced, I am persuaded your lordship will be of opinion, that the sooner I concentrate my force the better. Therefore (unless your lordship, after the receipt of my letter of the 29th of May, and 8th instant, should incline to agree with me in opinion, and judge it right to adopt my ideas respecting the move to Baltimore, or the Delaware neck, &c.) I beg leave to recommend it to you, as soon as you have finished the active operations you may now be (b.) engaged in, to take a defensive station, in any healthy situation you chuse, (be it at Williamsburgh or York town); and I would wish, in that case, that, after reserving to yourself such troops as you may judge necessary for an ample defensive, and desultory movements by water, for the purpose of annoying the enemy's communications, destroying magazines, &c., the following corps may be sent to me in succession as you can spare them: Two battalions of light infantry; 43d regiment; 76th or 80th regiment; two battalions of Anspach; Queen's rangers, cavalry and infantry; remains of the detachment of 17thlight dragoons; and such proportion of artillery as can be spared, particularly men. (From A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the Southern Province of North America?, by Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton, pp395-397.) Tarleton, Ch 6., [A], p. 395 6/11/1781 |
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