Letter sent by George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the American Continental Army, to Major General William Smallwood, Newburgh, July 1782.
Image used by kind permission of the Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland.
In this letter General George Washington requests information about recruits and supplies from Major General William Smallwood (1732-1792), who was in charge of American forces in Annapolis, Maryland.
Maryland was officially part of the responsibility of the American Southern Army under the command of Major General Nathanael Greene (1742-1786). Washington explains that, as Commander-in-Chief, he wants regular reports from Smallwood.
Although the British had been defeated at Yorktown in 1781, the American commanders still consider the remaining British forces to be a threat.
[NLS reference: MS.594, no. 2050]
This item featured in our display about American independence, which ran from 4 July to 16 September 2012.
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