To George Washington from Colonel Henry Emanuel Lutterloh, 17 February 1778
From Colonel Henry Emanuel Lutterloh
Feby 17 [1778]
Sir!
I have the honour to reply in answer to your Letter just received1 That Mr Blain has been with Me and he fixed 150 Waggons as a Sufficient Number for his Department, and I wrote directly to Mr Young to forward that Number. Mr Blain also gave Me the places where the Waggons should be loated with Flower, Porck & Salt. & I desired Mr Young that the Waggons must be loated.2
This Letter I got this Moment from Lancaster.3 That pleases me not, as it Seams Uncertain when those Waggons shall come. I have the honour to be with great Respects your Excell. Most obe. hbl. Sert
Lutterloh.
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. GW’s letter to Lutterloh has not been found.
2. Young (d. 1779) of Philadelphia, who had served as a captain and commissary general of musters for Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War, took the oath as justice for the city and county of Philadelphia in June 1777. On 9 Feb. 1778 he arrived in Reading to act as wagon master general for Pennsylvania, and he apparently continued in office until shortly before his death in January 1779. Lutterloh’s letter to Young has not been identified, but Young’s reply of 18 Feb. from Reading is in DNA:PCC, item 192; see also Timothy Matlack to GW, 25–26 February.
Lutterloh wrote to Young again from Valley Forge on 20 Feb., enclosing an undated copy of a letter from Hamilton to Lutterloh: “You are hereby Authorised by order of His Excellency General Washington, to impress any number of Waggons you stand in need of, in the neighbourhood of the Camp—you don’t say what number you expect in tomorrow. General Green & Coll Bidle write, that they meet with the greatest difficulty in foraging for want of Waggons. The General begs you to give them all the assistance you can. For Gods sake, my Dear Sir, exert yourself upon this occasion, our distress is Infinite” (PHarH: Records of Pennsylvania’s Revolutionary Governments, 1775–1790).
3. Lutterloh apparently is referring to an enclosure that has not been identified.