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]
them, & of getting to Albany, but doubted
whether he could subsist there, as the country
was drained; & that therefore he could not
think of going thither unless I could open
a communication with it, could name the
day, on which I could be there, & being there
would answer for keeping the communica
tion open with New York": he further de
sired him to tell me "that he waited for
my orders, whether he should attack the
Rebels, or retire across the lakes, while
they were clear from ice; that, if he did
not hear from me by the 12th, he should
retire". Thinking I should fulfill all
that could be expected, & his utmost wish, by
even a menace against Fort Montgomery, I
was much astonished to find that he now
expected me with 1000 men (what I could spare
