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From George Washington to the New York Convention, 18 August 1776

To the New York Convention

New York Augt 18th 1776

Gentn

I have been honoured with your Letter of the 17th with the Resolution of your honourable Body for obstructing the Channel betwixt the Grand Battery and Nutten Island.1 Having gone into a considerable Expence for stopping that of the North River, and such as I am not certain I shall be justifyed in, and the Obstructions there being far from compleat, it will not be in my power to engage in the Business you propose, or undertake to Advance any part of the Money which will be necessarily expended in the Execution—At the same time give me leave to assure you Gentlemen that I shall most readily afford you such Assistance as may be derived from the Labour of the Troops here and that can be spared from other Service to facilitate the Design, which will be of great Importance if it can be executed.

I have been also honoured with your favr and Resolution of the same date, and am exceedingly obliged by the ready Attention you have paid to my Recommendation for the removal of the Women & Children and infirm persons from the City.2 I have the Honor to be with the greatest Respect Yr most obt Sert.

LB, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. This letter is printed in the N.Y. Prov. Congress Journals description begins Journals of the Provincial Congress, Provincial Convention, Committee of Safety, and Council of Safety of the State of New-York, 1775–1776–1777. 2 vols. Albany, 1842. (Microfilm Collection of Early State Records). description ends , 1:578. That text, which presumably was taken from the unfound receiver’s copy, is identical in wording to the LB.

1. See the first letter that Abraham Yates, Jr., wrote to GW on 17 August.

2. See Yates’s second letter to GW of 17 August.

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    Washington Papers
    Title
    From George Washington to the New York Convention, 18 August 1776
    Author
    Washington, George
    Date
    18 August 1776

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From George Washington to the New York Convention, 18 August 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-06-02-0062. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 6, 13 August 1776 – 20 October 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase and Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994, pp. 65–66.]