ALS, DLC:GW; ADfS, PHi: Wayne Papers; copy (extract), enclosed in GW to Samuel Huntington, 27 Dec., DNA:PCC, item 152; copy (extract), DNA:PCC, item 169; copy (extract), MdAA: Red Book, 8; copy (extract), FrPMAE, Cor. Polit., Etats Unis, 13. The extracts include the entire letter except for the comments about “Cursers” and “Mercury” that begin the third paragraph and the final paragraph. Wayne wrote on the cover of his ALS: “Dragoon who is to pass.”

Definitive word on the British expedition’s departure ended anxious weeks during which GW sought sound intelligence on the movement (see GW to Huntington, 29 Nov., and n.1 to that document; see also Henry Lee, Jr., to GW, 30 Nov., n.4). Planning for a British expedition against Charleston, S.C., had been under way since the spring and enjoyed the full support of Lord George Germain, who wrote Gen. Henry Clinton from London on 31 March that “the recovery of South Carolina, is conceived here to be an object of so great importance that, should Lieut.-Colonel Campbell find himself too weak to effect it this spring, it is hoped you will be able to send such a force there in the winter as will be sufficient to reduce Charleston and, cooperating with the troops in Georgia, obtain possession of the province” (Davies, Documents of the American Revolution, description begins K. G. Davies, ed. Documents of the American Revolution, 1770–1783; (Colonial Office Series). 21 vols. Shannon and Dublin, 1972–81. description ends 17:89–90). Clinton had reached a similar determination on his own and wrote Germain from New York City on 4 April with tentative thoughts: “Our successes to the southward suggest an attempt against Charleston, and I believe a tolerable convoy could now be collected. …

“The force which the present weakness of General Washington’s army would enable me to detach might possibly get possession of Charleston (though that place would certainly require a siege) but I doubt whether they could keep it, and in the present stage of the war I do not think such a transitory advantage in that quarter would be beneficial to our interests. …

“If the Spaniards do not interfere or the French throw troops into the country, if a sufficient fleet can be allotted, and if the state of this army at that time will admit of the detaching 6000 men, I think that in the month of October our success against South Carolina would be certain and decisive. In the hope that those circumstances may concur I shall keep the idea profoundly secret” (Davies, Documents of the American Revolution, description begins K. G. Davies, ed. Documents of the American Revolution, 1770–1783; (Colonial Office Series). 21 vols. Shannon and Dublin, 1972–81. description ends 17:96–97; see also Clinton to Germain, 21 Aug., in Davies, Documents of the American Revolution, description begins K. G. Davies, ed. Documents of the American Revolution, 1770–1783; (Colonial Office Series). 21 vols. Shannon and Dublin, 1972–81. description ends 17:189–91).

American and French operations against Savannah later that summer and into the fall delayed Clinton’s implementation of any plans for an expedition against Charleston until he learned authoritatively of the allied defeat and the withdrawal of the French fleet. Clinton recalled in his memoirs that “it was late in December before we had any accounts which could be depended on of what was become of the French fleet,” and the lateness of the season compelled him to launch the expedition on a less ambitious scale (Willcox, American Rebellion, description begins William B. Willcox, ed. The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775–1782, with an Appendix of Original Documents. New Haven, 1954. description ends 153; see also Clinton to Germain, 15 Dec., calendared in Davies, Documents of the American Revolution, description begins K. G. Davies, ed. Documents of the American Revolution, 1770–1783; (Colonial Office Series). 21 vols. Shannon and Dublin, 1972–81. description ends 16:235; Marriot Arbuthnot to Germain, 16 Dec., in Manuscripts of Mrs. Stopford-Sackville, description begins Report on the Manuscripts of Mrs. Stopford-Sackville, of Drayton House, Northamptonshire. 2 vols. London and Hereford, England, 1904–10. description ends 2:149–50; Arbuthnot to Clinton, 23 and 25 Dec., and Clinton to Arbuthnot, 26 Dec., in Willcox, American Rebellion, description begins William B. Willcox, ed. The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775–1782, with an Appendix of Original Documents. New Haven, 1954. description ends 437–38; and Willcox, Henry Clinton, description begins William B. Willcox. Portrait of a General: Sir Henry Clinton in the War of Independence. New York, 1964. description ends 295–301). Clinton later deemed it “very fortunate” that the expedition took “advantage of the favorable wind which offered on the 26th of December” because “a most violent snowstorm came on the next day but one” that almost certainly would have frustrated the entire operation (Willcox, American Rebellion, description begins William B. Willcox, ed. The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775–1782, with an Appendix of Original Documents. New Haven, 1954. description ends 154). The expedition’s departure undoubtedly pleased Germain, who had written Clinton from London on 4 Dec. of his desire “that you have long since effected the sending off the detachments you proposed to Carolina and the Chesapeake, upon the success of which all our hopes of a happy termination of the American war in a great measure depend” (Davies, Documents of the American Revolution, description begins K. G. Davies, ed. Documents of the American Revolution, 1770–1783; (Colonial Office Series). 21 vols. Shannon and Dublin, 1972–81. description ends 17:257). When Clinton sailed with the expedition, “Lieutenant General Knyphausen took the Command of the Army in the Middle District. Major General Tryon all the British Troops, Major General Pattison the Garrison & District of N. York, Major General [Francis] Smith the Troops on Long Island, & Brigadier General Stirling those on Staten Island” (26 Dec. entry in Ritchie, “New York Diary,” description begins Carson I. A. Ritchie, ed. “A New York Diary [British army officer’s journal] of the Revolutionary War.” New-York Historical Society Quarterly 50 (1966): 221–80, 401–46. description ends 446).

British officer Archibald Robertson described leaving shore and detailed the expedition force in his diary entry for 25 Dec.: “at Midday Sir Henry Embark’d and we sail’d likewise in the Briton and got to an Anchor at the Hook in 3 hours. …

“The following Corps are Embark’d for this Expedition under Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Cornwallis, and Brigadier General Patterson.

“2 Battalions Light Infantry[,] 2 Battalions Grenadiers[,] 4 Battalions Hessian Grenadiers[,] 7th[,] 23d[,] 33d[,] 63d[,] 64th[,] Hessian Regiment of Huyne. Legion Mounted and Dismounted with 50 of the 17th Light Dragoons[,] Detachment of 200 Provincials and 120 Hessians under Fergusson and Huyn[,] Captian Trial [Traille] with 2 Companys Artillery[,] And 3 Engineers—[John] Campble, [Henry] Haldane and [William] Fyers[,] A Detachment of 200 Yagers under Captain Evald[.] Ships 2, 74s; 3, 64s; 1, 50; 2, 40s and 2 Frigates” (Lydenberg, Robertson Diaries, description begins Harry Miller Lydenberg, ed. Archibald Robertson, Lieutenant-General Royal Engineers: His Diaries and Sketches in America, 1762–1780. New York, 1930. description ends 206). According to Hessian captain Johann Ewald, the “entire corps numbered between 7,000 and 8,000 men” (Ewald, Diary, description begins Johann Ewald. Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal. Translated and edited by Joseph P. Tustin. New Haven and London, 1979. description ends 190; see also Burgoyne, Enemy Views, description begins Bruce E. Burgoyne, ed. Enemy Views: The American Revolutionary War as Recorded by the Hessian Participants. Bowie, Md., 1996. description ends 357–58, 362–64).

The expedition required extensive preparations, especially during the weeks immediately preceding departure. The journal of British captain John Peebles, beginning with the entry for 3 Dec., is a descriptive daily record of an officer preparing for the embarkation (see Gruber, Peebles’ American War, description begins Ira D. Gruber, ed. John Peebles’ American War: The Diary of a Scottish Grenadier, 1776–1782. Mechanicsburg, Pa., 1998. description ends 313–18). Peebles depicted the expedition’s departure in his entry for 26 Dec.: “clear & cold north wind … a Signal for sailing the ships getting under way & sail’d out of the Hook about 2 o’clock in the Afternoon taking their stations according to the order of sailing, about 100 sail of square rigg’d Vessels beside Sloops & schooners steering to the So:d on duty for the day, The Comr. in chief in the Romolus Lord Cornwallis in the Roebuck” (Gruber, Peebles’ American War, description begins Ira D. Gruber, ed. John Peebles’ American War: The Diary of a Scottish Grenadier, 1776–1782. Mechanicsburg, Pa., 1998. description ends 318–19; see also Ewald, Diary, description begins Johann Ewald. Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal. Translated and edited by Joseph P. Tustin. New Haven and London, 1979. description ends 192–93; Hinrichs, “Diary,” description begins “Diary of Captain Johann Hinrichs.” In The Siege of Charleston: With an Account of the Province of South Carolina: Diaries and Letters of Hessian Officers From the von Jungkenn Papers in the William L. Clements Library. Translated and edited by Bernhard A. Uhlendorf. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1938, pages 103–363. In University of Michigan Publications: History and Political Science, vol. 12. description ends 109–11; Burgoyne, Diaries of Two Ansbach Jaegers, description begins Bruce E. Burgoyne, ed. and trans. Diaries of two Ansbach Jaegers: Lieutenant Heinrich Carl Philipp von Feilitzsch and Lieutenant Christian Friedrich Bartholomai. Bowie, Md., 1997. description ends 95–97; and William Thomas Bulger, Jr., “The British Expedition to Charleston, 1779–1780,” Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1957).