From George Washington to Major Christopher French, 31 August 1775
To Major Christopher French
Camp at Cambridge August 31 1775
Sir
I duly received your Letter of the 15th Inst. with the Inclosures which shall be forwarded into Boston agreeable to your Request.
I understand the Committee of Safety of Philadelphia have directed an Escort with you to this Camp.1 The Accomodations, as well as many other Reasons, would make your Residence here extremely inconvenient, I have therefore directed that it be changed to Hartford—To this Effect I have wrote to the Committee there, who will take Care that Suitable Provission Shall be made for you and your Companions, & Shew you every Civility, consistent with their Duty, & the Interest of the publick2—Should Governour Trumbull think proper to make any Alteration of your Residence he is impower’d so to do, & I make no Doubt of your Acquiescence—I am Sir Your
LB, in Thomas Mifflin’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. A copy of this letter was enclosed in the letter of 3 Sept. 1775 that Joseph Reed wrote to French, but it has not been found. See French to GW, 3 Sept. 1775, n.1.
1. Richard Willing and John Wharton escorted French and his companions north toward Cambridge (Pennsylvania Committee of Safety to GW, 17 Aug. 1775).
2. On this date Joseph Reed wrote to Thomas Seymour, chairman of the Hartford committee: “I am directed by his Excellency, Genl Washington to inform you that he has given Orders that Majr French & some other Prisoners from Philadelphia should remain at Hartford instead of proceeding to this Camp as was proposed. Should there be any Doubt of their Parole of Honour given at Philadelphia being vacated by this Change of their Destination; you will require them to renew it before they are allowed the same Indulgences with the other Gentlemen, now under the Care of the Committee over which you preside. Should they have advanced beyond Hartford before this Letter reaches you, his Excelly requests you will immediately dispatch an Express for their Return; as their coming to this Place will be attended with many Inconveniences both to the Service & themselves” (DNA:PCC, item 78). Reed wrote a similar letter on this date to Capt. John Wharton (NjP: De Coppett Collection). French and his companions reached Framingham, Mass., before receiving GW’s orders to return to Hartford (French to GW, 3 Sept. 1775).