To George Washington from Brigadier General William Maxwell, 17 May 1780
From Brigadier General William Maxwell
Connecticut Farms [N.J.] 17th May 1780
Sir
Your Excellencys Favour of the 15th Inst. I recd by Capt. Rochefontain1 I have carefully noted the contents and recollect what passed at the private interview I had with Your Excellency before I marched;2 we took a little view of the places most eligible to encamp on and fortify last nigh[t], but to day we made a more thorough survey and find no place to make temporary fortification on without their inconveniencies; the place we had thought so much of is so much crouded with orchards and houses that I am of opinion with every other person (that saw it after the Engineer had sketched out the works necessary to defend the place) that it would be too expencive to the Continent to clear off all obstructions, for temporary works.3
One mile on the road to New Ark and between that, and the creek thrat runs by the Governors, there appears a tolerable good place to encamp and fortify, that would do less dammage to the Inhabitants, there is some grain on it the sittuation is rather low and does not appear to have any good springs the creek is not far off.4
¾ of a mile in this side the Governors there is a fine rising ground on the west side of that creek, but I think it too far from town.
As You pass out of Elizth Town over the stone Bridge towards Amboy and between 2 & 300 yards to the left of said Bridge there is a fine lott called Kelleys, a good part of it has had a stone wall round it and it has many large Appletrees that make fine shades, plenty of good wells close by, and the creek at hand no owner to claim it,5 it will do well to encamp in, but not to fortify, there is another place that will do to encamp in but not fortify, one mile this way from Town on the west side of the Brook but not so convenient as Kelleys, I leave it to the Capt. Engineer to inform Your Excellency of any thing further concrning it and shall wait further orders,6 but would much rather see Your Excellency here if bussiness will permit. I inclose You Colo. Daytons letter to know Your pleasure with the Prisoners whether You will have them sent up or have them tryed here, The Man was taken in the very fact conducting them to his Canoe or Boat where they found several silk Handkerchiefs & other things he had brought the night before from statten Island, if examplls is not made of Such villains we nor no one else can stay here.7 the Coll has some others of no great note.
If Your Excellency will come down and give me notice I will Kill the Fated Calf I have. I am Your Excellencys Most Obedient Humble Servt
Wm Maxwell
ALS, NHi: Miscellaneous Manuscripts.
1. Maxwell is referring to GW’s letter to him of 16 May.
2. Maxwell had been at headquarters on 11 May to receive the marching orders for his brigade (see General Orders, 10 May, and GW to Jedediah Huntington, 13 May, and n.1 to that document).
3. Maxwell probably refers to the area west of Elizabeth, N.J., that he examined on 14 May (see his letter to GW of 15 May). GW later identified the site as an “Orchard of Mr De Harts” (see GW to Stirling, 19 May).
4. This area of cultivated land and pasture was about one mile northwest of Elizabeth, between the Elizabeth River and the road leading to Newark (see ). New Jersey governor William Livingston’s manor house, Liberty Hall, was completed in 1774 and still served as his family’s residence (see , 1:5–6; see also William Livingston to Susannah French Livingston, 9 June 1780, in , 3:424).
5. Maxwell is referring to a farm belonging to the estate of William Kelly located just south of Elizabeth near the stone bridge over the Elizabeth River (see ). An item in the New-York Gazette: and the Weekly Mercury for 20 March 1775 described the property as a “house, and about 5 acres of ground … together with another lot adjoining the first lot, and containing near 5 acres more.”
William Kelly (d. 1774) had been a prosperous merchant in New York and owned vast amounts of property in Great Britain, the United States, and the West Indies. Upon his death in Bath, England, a notice credited Kelly with being “well known in the commercial world for his extensive connections” (London Chronicle, 11–13 Aug. 1774).
6. The engineer Captain Rochefontaine delivered Maxwell’s letter to GW (see GW to Maxwell, 19 May). For GW’s further instructions concerning the encampment site for the New Jersey Brigade, see his letter to Maxwell of 28 May.
7. The enclosure is a letter from Col. Elias Dayton to Maxwell written at Elizabeth on 16 May: “I send under guard A Samuel Jones whome last night I caused to be taken for attempting to convey deserters from our Army to the enemy, he has confessed the fact, allso that he some time since went to Staten Island with Crane who deserted from the first Regiment, the person who he says conducted the boat in which Crane & he passed over, I expect to have secured before night. with Jones I send two women belonging to the first Regimt, & who I am confident have been assisting Jones in his villainy” (NHi). For more on this incident, see Maxwell to GW, 27 May. Maxwell had urged the legislature to pass laws for the punishment of individuals assisting deserters (see Livingston to the Assembly, 23 May, in , 3:390–91).