From George Washington to Colonel Theodorick Bland, 31 August 1779
To Colonel Theodorick Bland
Head Quarters West-Point 31st Augt 1779.
Sir
Congress were pleased to come to a resolution of the 21st instant of which the inclosed is a Copy. You will perceive it is their sense that Major General Phillips should not be indulged with permission to send two officers into Canada as he has requested1 In obedience to this signify to him that I countermand the dir⟨ecti⟩ons contained in my letter to you of the 27t⟨h⟩2 of July You will give notice to General Phillips that I took that step uninformed that the application was before Congress, and I am sorry to find it does not corrispond with their wishes. I am with great esteem Your most Obedt Servt,
Go: Washington
LS, in Caleb Gibbs’s writing, NN: Myers Collection; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. The LS appears to have been either cut and repaired or rewritten. GW enclosed this letter in his letter to John Jay of 31 Aug.-1 Sept., which asked that Congress forward this letter to Bland if it met with their intentions. Having read both of GW’s letters, Congress decided that the letter should go to Bland (see 15:1028-30).
GW wrote to Bland from headquarters at West Point on 1 Sept.: “I wish in future, that all applications from the Convention troops may be communicated to Congress. So many different powers taking order in their affairs, may lead to some confusion” (Df, in James McHenry’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW).
1. The enclosure has not been identified. Jay quoted this resolution in his letter to GW of 24 August. A draft copy of the resolution, penned and signed by GW’s secretary Robert Hanson Harrison, is in DLC:GW; see also 14:985.
2. This part of the LS is damaged; the draft manuscript has “27th.”