To George Washington from Major Thomas Lloyd Moore, 22 May 1780
From Major Thomas Lloyd Moore
Paramus [N.J.] May 22nd 1780.
Sir,
I should have done myself the honor of addressing your Excellency before now, had I been able to have collected any intelligence worth communicating; with respect to the movement, or designs of the Enemy.1 For which purpose, & to collect some provision; I on wednesday evening detached a Subaltern & 20 Men to the English Neighbourhood, a place so called situated between Hackensack & Fort Lee; & on thursday morning2 moved down with the remainder of my Command for his support, to New Bridge on Hackensack River: All the Information I received was, that some Refugees had the Evening before scoured the Country circumjacent to Fort Lee; & carried off a number of Horses, chiefly from Inhabitants well affected to us. I understand ’tis their intention to mount a Troop of Light Horse, which is to be dependent upon a Post they are about establishing at Bulls Ferry, upon North River; where they have erected a Block House 20 feet square of Logs. This Work is at present defended by 70 Refugees. I am told they have mounted a small piece of Artillery in each face, & have surrounded it with an Abbatis. Under cover of this work there is a Store, stocked with an Assortment of European Merchandize: which is vended for Hard Money, or Provision.3 When I arrived at this Post, my opinion of the Chief part of the Inhabitants was such, that I did not think a March could be conducted thro’ the Country, without a knowledge of it arriving so quickly to the Enemy, as to frustrate the purposes of any Enterprize; that might be attempted against them. But from the secrecy with which I conducted my rout to New Bridge, I think its in my power to surprize & bring off this Garrison, at Bulls Ferry: it cannot recieve support in less than three hours & an half; by which time, if the Attempt meets with success, or is relinquished I can regain New Bridge, which secures my retreat. I could wish that your Excellency would be pleased to indulge me with a discretionary power, which I shall not make use of unless a full opportunity presents itself; & before I possess a perfect knowledge of the Ground upon which I am to act.
Our Friends both on this & the other side of Hackensack River, foresee the ruinous consequences attending this Troop of Horse; expecting that their Cattle & Horses will be bou⟨ght⟩ off & their Habitations continually plundered.
your Excellency may depend upon hearing from Me often & receiving the earliest intelligence that I can possibly gain.4 I have the satisfaction of informing You that my Command has not been diminished by Desertion since I have taken post.5 I have the honor to be your Excellencys most Obedient Servent
Thomas Ll. Moore Major Commdt Detachment
P.S. About Day Break on thursday Morning there were three Signal Guns fired towards Sandy Hook; subsequent to which I heard a brisk Cannonade & frequent discharges of small Arms. The former I concluded to be signals for the sailing of a Fleet, The latter some Troops exercising on Yor⟨k⟩ Island.6
T.M.
ALS, DLC:GW. The cover reads: “Pr Express.”
1. Moore commanded the detachment at Paramus (see General Orders, 14 May).
2. The previous Thursday was 18 May.
3. Moore undoubtedly heard reports about Lt. Col. Abraham C. Cuyler and the associators from New York (Loyal Refugee Volunteers), who had organized woodcutting parties to supply the British garrison in New York City. In a letter of 30 April, Maj. Gen. James Pattison, commandant of New York City, directed Maj. Charles Lumm, British commandant at Paulus Hook, N.J., to “order a Detachment of a Captain and 100 Men, from the Garrison at Paulis Hook.” The commanding officer was to “take Post upon the Heights, half a Mile below Bulls Ferry, upon the North River, in such manner as will most effectually cover a Body of Refugees under Col. Cuyler, who are to take Post, and establish themselves, at the Place above mentioned this Night, in order to cut wood for the Army” ( 391). The associators had conducted foraging raids from a blockhouse near Bull’s Ferry, N.J. (see Lemuel Trescott to GW, 8 and 14 May, and Elias Dayton to GW, 15 May). Situated on high ground above a ravine, the blockhouse also received protection from cliffs, abatis, stockades, a ditch, and a parapet. Seventy men garrisoned the post, which Capt. Thomas Ward commanded during Cuyler’s absence (see , 253–58; and , 90, 431–32; see also , 165–67).
GW’s delay in moving against the post prompted William Smith, royal chief justice of New York, to write in his memoirs for 11 May: “Nothing can more clearly demonstrate the Imbecility of the Rebels than the Safety of Cuyler’s Wood Party in Bergen opposite to Bloomingdale [N.Y.]. Washington seems afraid to move an Inch for Fear of Desertions.” In his entry for 23 May, Smith wrote that “the Militia had been summoned to attack the Refugees cutting Fuel in the Bergen Woods under Mr. Ab. Cuyler’s Contract, and but 60 offered, and those refused to serve” (Sabine, Smith’s Historical Memoirs [1971], 264, 267).
For a proposal to attack the blockhouse, see Henry Lee, Jr., to GW, 28 June. An unsuccessful Continental army attempt against this Loyalist post occurred later in the summer (see GW to Anthony Wayne, 20 July, and Wayne to GW, 22 July, both DLC:GW; see also , 257–60).
4. For Moore’s recall from his detached command and the subsequent withdrawal of the detachment at Paramus, see General Orders, 28 May and 9 June.
5. GW replied to Moore on this date from headquarters at Morristown: “I have received Your Letter of Yesterday, and am glad to hear that You have lost none of your Detachment by Desertion. With respect to the attempt which You are desirous of making against the party of the Enemy who are establishing themselves at Bulls ferry—I leave the matter with yourself—to act in it or not as circumstances may justify; but the Enterprize should not be undertaken I think, without You have a very good & almost certain prospect both of succeeding in it and bringing off your Detachment safe afterwards. The most profound secrecy and the greatest rapidity in the execution of the business, will be essential to give it the least chance of success” (LS, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s writing, in private hands; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW). GW signed the cover of the LS.
6. Sgt. Ebenezer Parkman, Jr., who served with the artificers, recorded in his diary entry for Thursday, 18 May, that he “heard the Enemys Cannon from Powls [Paulus] Hook” (MWA: Parkman Family Papers). The guns may have been related to the fleet carrying troops destined for Quebec (see Elias Dayton to GW, 19 May, and n.2 to that document). Early on 19 May, a frigate in that fleet “gave the signal to raise the anchor,” and later that morning the fleet “anchored near Sandy Hook” (, 44).