Autograph letter signed : Newburgh [N.Y.], to Marinus Willett, 1783 Feb. 2.

Record ID: 
136788
Accession number: 
MA 506.6
Author: 
Washington, George, 1732-1799.
Credit: 
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan with the Irwin Collection, 1900.
Description: 
1 item (4 p., with address cover) ; 31.9 cm
Notes: 

With trace of a seal.
Addressed to "Colonel Willett at Albany." Also labeled "Private."
Address cover docketed by Willett: "Letter from Genl Washington 2d Feb. 1783 With my Instructions for the Oswego Expedition."
Part of a collection of letters and documents concerning a night attack on Oswego; for more information see main record for MA 506.

Summary: 

Telling him that 150 blankets and 25 axes are being sent to him; emphasizing that "every plausible deception should be used to mask the object of [the] expedition"; noting that "a vast deal depends upon having good guides to Oswego"; recommending that the night of the attack "may not be delayed beyond the 12th"; stressing the importance of timing if the attack is to be successful; giving instructions for what should be done to destroy "the Works -- the Vessels ... and everything else which cannot be brought away" in the event that they succeed in taking Oswego; asking for "the earliest report" of the success or failure of the expedition.

Provenance: 
Irwin Collection.