WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Letter signed (''Go:Washington'') to Meshech Weare, Newport, 12 March 1781.

WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Letter signed ("Go:Washington") to Meshech Weare, Newport, 12 March 1781.

One page, 356 x 209mm, body of letter in the hand of Tench Tilghman (weak horizontal fold reinforced on verso, dampstain at top right, marginal losses not affecting text).

Forced by Benedict Arnold's Virginia raids to send additional detachments south, Washington requests reinforcements from New Hampshire to reinforce West Point. "Having lately been obliged to make a very considerable detachment from the troops in the vicinity of West point, I have been under the necessity of calling upon the neighbouring States to send forward the new Levies which have been raised, and urging them to compleat their Quotas as expeditiously as possible." Fortunes for the Continental Army were at a low point at the opening of 1781. Many soldiers had left the army due to expired enlistments, Congress was broke, and the British had made major forays into the South, occupying Savannah and Charleston, and now threatening Virginia. Washington had travelled to Newport, where Rochambeau's army was encamped, to see that a fleet of French ships set off in time to land reinforcements in Virginia: a mission that failed as a large British fleet prevented them from entering the Chesapeake. Fortunately for Washington, this proved to be only a minor setback. The arrival of French naval reinforcements later in the year set in motion the far more successful campaign that trapped Cornwallis at Yorktown. Published in Fitzpatrick, Writings, 21:334-335.

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