Manuscripts and Special Collections
Ne C 2344 : Letter from Sir Henry Clinton to H.F.C. Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle under Lyne; 13 Oct. n.y. [1777]
power to give him the smallest assistance.
On the 12th of September I sent a messenger
to him with three lines in Cypher; "You
know my poverty, but if with 2000 men
which are all I can spare from this im
portant post, I can do anything to facili
tate your operations, I will make an attack
upon Fort Montgomery if you will let me
know your wishes." On the 30th of September
I received his answer in the following words
by the same messenger; "I have lost the old
cypher, but from the tenor of your letter,
I thought you would have it to read. An
attack or even the menace of an attack
upon Fort Montgomery will be of use. It
will stir them from before me, & I will
follow them close." In a second letter of
the same date he says, "that, should I not
be able to carry Montgomery, the keeping it
