To George Washington from Major Benjamin Tallmadge, 15 January 1780
From Major Benjamin Tallmadge
Wethersfield [Conn.] Jany 15th 1780
Sir
Your Excellency’s favou⟨r⟩ of the 6th ulto was recd on the 26th ensuing. The instructions therein contained for C—— Junr to effect a Communication with Head Quarters, if possible, across the North River, had been previously given him.1 I conclude his dispatches have been forwarded to Hd Qrs as usual since I left the Lines, making allowance for the Severity of the Season.2 I have just recd a Line from C—— informing that he has no more of the Stain on hand, & that one of my Letters remains undecyphered for want of the Counterpart. Of this I conclude he has advised your Excellency in some papers which have not passed thro’ my hands, as he informs me he wrote on the Subject some time ago.3 I have the Honour to be, with great Regard your Excellency’s most obedt Servt
Benja. Tallmadge
ALS, DLC:GW; copy, CtLHi. A note on the cover reads: “favd by Lt [William] Colefax.”
1. See Tallmadge to GW, 3 Dec. 1779. For the espionage operations of the Culper spy network and its chief spies, Robert Townsend (“Samuel Culper, Jr.”) and Abraham Woodhull (“Samuel Culper” or “Samuel Culper, Sr.”), see Culper Spy Ring Intelligence, 6–17 Aug. 1779.
2. On 18 Jan., GW received Townsend’s letters to Tallmadge of 11 and 27 Dec. 1779, and also Woodhull’s letter to Tallmadge of 12 Dec. (see GW’s second letter to Samuel Huntington of 18 Jan., and n.2).
3. Woodhull mentioned a shortage of reagent for invisible ink in his letter to Tallmadge of 12 Dec. 1779. Even though Tallmadge was in winter quarters and the Culper letters meant for GW were not passing through his hands, Townsend and Woodhull continued to address their letters to “John Bolton,” Tallmadge’s alias.
GW replied to Tallmadge on 5 February.