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Letter from Major General Lord Stirling to Henry Laurens, 15 November 1778

1778-11-15

Sandy Hook · dispatched from Elizabeth Town, N.J. (approx)

A dispatch from Elizabeth Town written by Major General William Alexander — Lord Stirling of the Continental Army — to Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress. Stirling reports the British fleet that "dropped down to Sandy hook on the 12th" and lay in the roadstead through mid-November, waiting on the wind. He names the units aboard — the whole of the 71st Regiment, two battalions of Hessian Grenadiers, DeLancey's, Skinner's New Levies, companies of the 64th and 33rd — and guesses, correctly, that their destination is East and West Florida under Colonel Campbell. A three-page letter that shows how Sandy Hook worked during the war: as a floating siding for the Royal Navy, watched from the shore by American officers with paper and quill.