Autograph letter signed : "Head quarters, high hills Santee" [S.C.], to "His Excellency" [General George Washington], 1781 Aug. 6.

Reporting that Governor [John] Rutledge "arrived in Camp a few days since" with the information that "a French fleet of 20 Sail of the line besides frigates was to be on this coast by the 15th of this month to cooperate with the American Army for dispossessing the enemy of the several posts they hold in the United States, and that there was to come with the fleet from five to ten thousand troops to facilitate the operation"; noting that he sent the message by one of his aids, Lt. Col. [Lewis] Morris, "that [Washington] might not only be satisfied in all matters respecting our situation but that [he] may have a better opportunity of conveying such instructions in return as may be unsafe to write"; giving his opinion that New York should be considered "by far the greatest object upon the Continent"; noting that he thinks the force under Lord Cornwallis in Virginia is "a little more than 5000 men"; giving advice about how to force Cornwallis to surrender; speaking of Charleston as "the greatest object to the Southward," and giving details of how the British have fortified the town; recommending that 10,000 troops be added to the Southern Army "to reduce Charles Town with certainty and with dispatch"; telling him that "if the operations cannot be carried on in Virginia and here at the same time [Greene] think[s] Charles Town must have the preference as the greatest object"; speculating that the British fleet "on the arrival of the French fleet will immediately take shelter in New York and assist in the defence of the place or run off to the West Indies," and expressing his hope that the British fleet will go to New York because "this would secure a [French and American] superiority by sea during the whole Campaign"; saying that he will wait Washington's "directions respecting ... preparations in this quarter"; commenting on a recent skirmish between the American Cavalry in South Carolina and the British; promising to guard against Lord Cornwallis being able "to get back to Charles Town by Land."