To George Washington from Major General Stirling, 24 March 1777
From Major General Stirling
Baskenridge [N.J.] March 24. 1777
Dear Sir
I have Just now received your Excellencys letter of Yesterdays Date,1 almost every Matter Mentioned in it Necessary to guard our out posts from any surprize; at the same time to Harrass them, were Contain’d in a set of Instructions which I gave to Colo. Hollinsworth, on his first going to Quibble Town.2 I shall again urge the same Matters to Colo. Rumsey, who now Commands there with about 300 men, which is the whole of my Division Excepting, a Guard of a Serjt & 12 here.
I shall send for & Examine Capt. Courtney the Artillery Officer at Long Hill, Indeed I sent this Morning a note to him to be upon his Guard & keep a sharp lookou⟨t⟩ Especially as there was a firing heard in this Ne⟨igh⟩bourhood of near 20 pieces of Cannon & a firing ⟨this⟩ Morning, Again for some hours. the former see⟨med⟩ to be towards Bonum Town, the latter more towards Bound Book—I have been this four Days very ill with a Violent pain in my Bowels—Intense head Ach & high Fever. which has reduced ⟨me to a⟩ lower state than I have been this ⟨mutilated⟩ years. I Express my Wish in a letter Yesterday to Genl St Clair to see Doctr Cochran—nor have I been Able to find Doctr Burnet. I am, &C.
Stirling,
LS, NjR: New Jersey Letters. The material in angle brackets is mutilated.
1. This letter has not been found.
2. Henry Hollingsworth (1737–1803) of Cecil County, Md., was appointed lieutenant colonel of Charles Rumsey’s regiment of Maryland militia in January 1776 and promoted to colonel in June 1781. Hollingsworth owned a number of flour mills on the Elk River and supplied saltpeter and muskets to the Maryland militia, and he began serving as a deputy quartermaster general at the Head of Elk later this year. Hollingsworth was accused of forgery and fraud and suspended from office in July 1780.