desire you on all difficult matters to consult with the state agent and take his advice provided it is not contradictory to the spirit of the above instructions. Abraham Legget Francis Chandonet Esqrs. Isaiah Maynard Camp August 11th, 1781. Gentlemen, If Colonel Pickering should think proper to comply with his promise made on the 9th inst. respecting the appraisement of forage already used by the army in this county, you will take care to have a clause at the bottom of the certificate for such forage of any sort as appears taken from any of the confiscated or sequestered Farms that it is mutually agreed by the Quarter Master General & the state agent that it shall be left to Congress & this state to determine whether said forage is finally to be credited to the state at and in proportion to the rates fixed by Congress for the final settlement of the Quotas of each state or at the current specie price at the time & place where said forage is taken as I think it would be better for the quarter master general & me to enter into a general agreement for this purpose, and give mutual obligations to each other signifying our joint consent. I wish you to mention it to him. I am with much esteem Gentlemen Yours etc. Udny Hay, State Agent. From Colonel Hay State Agent to Colo. Timothy Pickering Q. M. G'l. Camp, 11th August, 1781. Sir, I am sorry to find you took amiss the first paragraph of my instructions to Messrs. Chandenet & Brown, it arose from my not esteeming you in any respect bound by the promise alluded to therein, as at the meeting it was rejected on the part of the Refugees and you of consequence had a right to retract. I am informed you know a delay has been proposed as long as the 20th instant before any prosecutions should be entered, unless circumstances should turn up to make a speedier prosecution necessary; as the agents for the Refugees are to take my advice upon all difficult occasions, & as another meeting of Refugees is called on the 22d inst. I think it my duty to acquaint you that I shall advise them in the strongest manner not to delay longer than the 17th inst. before they demand your final answer and think it necessary to give you the earliest notice thereof in my power, that you may have the best opportunity of taking such steps as will most effectually enable you to determine with propriety. I am sir. Your most obdt. h: serv. Udny Hay S. Agent. From Colonel Udny Hay State Agent to Timothy Pickering Q. M. G. Camp, 14 August, 1781. Sir, As the longer the dispute betwixt you and me respecting the forage taken in this quarter for the use of the army remains unsettled, a final adjustment will not only become more difficult, but the Quarrel betwixt you and the individuals of the State, especially such of them as are known by the name of the Refugees, must unavoidably increase, and the time must be prolonged before a demand can with propriety be made on the French army for the Forage they have taken as well as for many other reasons too long to detail in a letter: if agreeable to you I should be glad to meet with three or four of our mutual friends belonging to the army at any time and place you may think convenient and cooly and dispassionately weigh the advantages and disadvantages that may result from your agreeing to give me a promissary obligation that on or before twelve o'clock in the forenoon of 20th inst. you will grant the usual certificates to me for the forage already or hereafter to be taken from the sequestered or confiscated lands within this county, and to individuals for what is taken from their lands, provided that Congress has not given you positive instructions to the contrary before that time. That I may continue the same openness and candour I have endeavoured hitherto to guide my whole conduct by in the course of this altercated business. I honestly confess my having two views in this letter. The first is to bring about a speedy and amicable settlement before the next meeting of the Refugees without which I will venture to predict there will soon be such a rupture between the Inhabitants of the State and you as will tend further to clog the business of your very important department already too much embarrassed by unavoidable causes; The second is that should you not comply with this requisition, I may have an opportunity of shewing them, the various proposals I have made and you have rejected. I am sir, Your most obdt. h: Servt. Udny Hay, State Agent, From Colonel Pickering Q. M. G. to Colonel Udny Hay State Agent. Camp, August 15th, 1781. Sir, I have already fully explained myself on the subject of your Letter of yesterday; & I am sorry my explanations have failed in any degree to answer my wishes which are to inform & convince those who were strangers to facts, & to put the matter in so clear a light that the arts of designing men, who desire to foment. differences, might be ineffectual. Having submitted the matter to Congress, their decision I am bound to wait for and obey. When that arrives I shall immediately act in consequence thereof and lest there should be an unnecessary delay, I have wrote a second time by express, representing the necessity of, and intreating their immediate decision. In the mean time I shall not be intimidated by any threats: for I have from the beginning offered to do in this affair whatever was consistant with my duty; and disinterested men of discernment and candour, asknowledge it; I have also shewn every disposition to cultivate harmony with this State and the citizens thereof concerned in this business; nor would anything but an adherence to my duty induce me to hazard an interruption of it: but as I have acted intirely in a public character, without any private views (none such, indeed, can possibly exist) I am willing to abide the consequences of my conduct. I am sir Your humble serv't. T: Pickering Q. M. G. From Colonel Pickering Q. M. G'L. to Colonel Udny Hay State Agent. Camp, August 16th, 1781. Sir, Mr. William Keese the bearer is come down for the purpose of joining with such person as shall be chosen by the agents of the owners of the 'lands where the army have consumed any forage in this county, in making appraisements of the quantities eaten or taken from those lands respectively, & the value thereof, agreeably to the proposals I made at the meeting of the refugees on the 9th inst. I did not consider myself bound by those proposals, seeing they were rejected by the refugees and you: yet as my intentions were the same from the beginning, viz, to give a certificate of facts, where required; so I could have no objection, on general principles, to an adherence to the proposals I had made. The ill treatment I have received from you, & thro' you from the refugees, would indeed warrant, or at least excuse, my throwing every possible embarrassment in your way: but resentment will have no influence on my conduct: I am still ready to take any proper measure in my power to ascertain the quantity & value of the forage in dispute; that the owners of the lands, if pronounced entitled to a compensation, may have the proper evidence of their respective dues. If your meaning in the first paragraph of your instructions of the 11th inst. to your two assistants, was merely what you explain in your letter to me of the same date, I cannot but think your words were very ill chosen. However, seeing Mr. Keese is arrived, & I would make no delay by a dispute about words, I will content myself with your explanation. Mr. Keese therefore may proceed to the appraisement of the forage taken from the sequestered lands, as well as the lands of refugees. I am sir Your most obdt. serv. Tim: Pickering Q. M. G. From Colonel Udny Hay State Agent to Colonel Timothy Pickering Q. M. Genl. yesterday would require no answer, was there not a possibility of your misapprehending the advice I promised in mine of 11th to give the agents for the Refugees, as connected with instructions I might give them as assistant State agent; I think it necessary therefore now to acquaint you in this latter capacity they have my orders to fall in with your proposal of 9th ulto.* for the present and untill I have advice from proper authority to adopt another method, even tho you have not appointed the person on your part immediately as promised in the proposal, for always willing to put the best possible construction on any breach of promise I suppose the delay has arose from unforseen & unavoidable causes. How your assertion of having shewed every disposition to cultivate Harmony with this state & the citizens thereof, while you are ordering their property to be taken away without the least compensation, contrary to Law, contrary to the established custom in similar cases, and without any official authority to warrant such proceedure, is a Paradox that certainly requires uncommon talents and abilities to explain. Though I acknowledge myself having had a very principal hand in opposing your measures in the whole of this business, I will not suppose that "the arts of designing men, etc.," is intended against me as I defy malevolence itself to prove that I have either used sinister art, Equivocation, falsehood or deceit in favour of this cause which both Duty and Inclination incited me so warmly to espouse, my conduct I know though warm has been open and unequivocal, Time will shew whether every one concerned can prove theirs to have been actuated by Principles equally honest & honourable. I am Sir, Your very hum: servt. Udny Hay, State Agent. [No. 3909.] Major Moses Hetfield Visits Posts on the Ulster Frontier, Forwards a Favorable Report With a Return of the Stations. Goshen, 17th August 1781. Agreeable to General Orders I visited the Different posts on the western frontiers of Orange & Part of Ulster Counties, (the 15th Instant) Commanded by Major DeWett; find them in Good order; the Inhabitence well Satisfyed with the Conduct of the officers & behavour of their men-as the distance from the Block house to fort Westfall on the frontiers of Orange was five miles, I thought it necessary to have one Station between them. Consulted Major De Wett on the subject who Joined me in opinion. I have ordered the post at Capt West Brooks and to be guarded by the Levies Last Raised from this Regt. Hope it will meet with your Excellencie's Aprobation. Inclosed is a Return of the Different Stations, their distance from each other the Num. The 9th instant, it should have been. ber of officers & privates at Each. I have the Honour to be your Excelliencies obedient serv't. A Return of the Detachment of Col. Albert Pawling's Regt. of Levies at the Stations on the western frontiers of Orange & Ulster Counties, Commanded by Major Thomas De Wett. Colonels Cantine and Pawling Report the Wawarsing Affair to the Governor. Marbletown, August 17th, 1781. Dr Sir, The Enemy (by Account from a Deserter from them) wear four hundred in Number and under the Command of a certain Capt. Caldwell, made a Descent last Sunday Morning on the Frontiers of Warwarsink, killed & scalped one Man, burnt about thirty buildings of Houses & Barns, & moved back about ten o'clock the same Morning, taking with them a number of Horses supposed to be about fifty some horn Cattle Sheep &c. We immediately endeavored to collect proper Force to pursue them by dispatching repeated Expresses to the neighboring commanding officers of the frontier Militia Regt. requesting their Aid, tho' in vain. We moved on Monday morning with the Levies & the Militia from Marbletown & Rochester and a few others about two hundred in Number, in pursuit of them, leaving orders for such of the Militia as should arrive to follow on, which those from the New Palts did & by a forced March of about thirty five miles endeavored to over take & fight them, but finding ourselves not able to succeed they being apprized of the Pursuit by their spies who we started several times & hastening their Flight with too great Precipitation, we returned. We had two Men taken, Buyker & one Hyne. As the Deserter informs us on their Return about twenty Miles from Shadawkan where they were sent to as spies. This unfortunate Circumstance favoured the Enemy's coming upon us without being aware of them. Before we close we beg leave to inform your Excellency that we should have informed you of the Enemy's Attempt on the Frontiers, ere we moved out, but being earnestly & very busily employed in collecting both Men & Provision to be revenged on the Villians we passed it by till our Return which was last Evening. We have the honor to be with high esteem Your Excellency's most obed. humble Serv't. John Cantine, P. S. The Enemy passed by the Fort at Laghwick in the dead of Night which from the situation of the ground might easily be affected. His Excellency Governor Clinton. [No. 3911.] Cornelius Post Makes Affidavit of the Treatment of Prisoners in Canada. Ulster County) SS: Cornelius Post, of full age being duly sworn on the Holy evangelist, of almighty God Deposed and Saith that he the Deponant, was with a party under the Command of Capt. Vroman, from fort Stanicks, to the Onida Lake to destroy |