Beschreibung:

WASHINGTON, GEORGE, President. Letter signed ("G: Washington") as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, to Lt. Col. [William Stephens], text of the letter in the hand of Benjamin Walker, Washington's Aide-de-Camp, Head Quarters [Newburgh, N.Y.], 16 December l782. 1 1/2 pages, folio, integral blank with recipient's docket (cleanly separated), small stains along extreme top and right-hand edge, paper evenly browned, neatly tipped into a mat with engraved portrait. THE COMMANDER CONSIDERS THE STRENGTH OF THE WORKS AT DOBBS FERRY AND HOW TO BREAK UP INTERCOURSE WITH THE BRITISH IN NEW YORK Stephens, stationed at Dobb's Ferry, close to the British lines, had written to Washington to express his doubts whether the fortifications could stand against a British attack, and complaining of increasing commerce and communication between the British and American residents of the area. "Your letter...was deliver'd me yesterday with its several enclosures, and I am to thank you for the intelligence it contains. I have myself seen the work [fortifications] at Dobb's Ferry, but cannot agree with you as to its indefensible State; it never was calculated to withstand a serious attack, but has always been supposed equal to any small party that might attempt it by a Coup de Main, and as that Post is assigned for the only communication we have with the Enemy, it appears, if not the only, at least the best place where the duties of your Office can be performed. "The intercourse which you say is daily increasing between the inhabitants of the lower country and the Enemy is indeed alarming, and if possible should be broke up. I wish as you are upon the spot and acquainted with the circumstances and nature of it, that you would suggest the measures which you think will be most effectual for that purpose, and I will give them every support in my power. "The refugee you mention is at West Point -- you may send him on Parole if he cannot be exchanged...." Smith had been appointed by Washington Commissary of Prisoners to the Army in September l782. During the period of relative quiet in New England which followed the Yorktown victory, the concerns of prisoners and their exchange had become an important issue to Washington and Congress. The lightly fortified outpost of Dobbs Ferry, almost halfway between the British Army in New York and the Bronx and the American Army's stronghold in the Hudson Highlands, had been designated the post where communications and prisoners were exchanged, under flags of truce, between the two armies. (Washington described Dobbs Ferry, and Stephens' intended role, in a letter of 20 November 1782; cf. Fitzpatrick, xxv, 358-359). Washington believed it imperative that all contact with the enemy be through this outpost, where it could be carefully controlled, and expressed great concern about the illicit contacts between the Americans in outlying regions (particularly Rockland County and New Jersey) which occurred frequently. Washington even admonished the Governor of Maryland, Thomas Sims Lee, on 5 November l782, that Dobb's Ferry must remain "the only Post from which Flags are sent, or at which they are received. This is absoluteley necessary to prevent that illegal Intercourse and Traffic, which are now carried to so great a Height..." (Fitzpatrick, xxv, 318). Published, from a draft (also in Walker's hand) in Writings, ed. J. Fitzpatrick, ed., xxv, 438. Provenance : Beth El Synagogue Center, New Rochelle, New York