On this day 250 years ago, in New York City General Washington replied to Lt. Col Henry Beekman Livingston of the 2nd New York Regiment who had requested orders for the three companies of the regiment detached under his command to eastern Long Island. The huge British Army occupying western Long Island essentially meant Livingston’s detachment was operating behind enemy lines. Washington wrote:

circumstanced as we both are at present it is not in my power to give you any other instructions for your Conduct than that you pursue every step which shall appear to you necessary & judicious for annoying & harrassing the Enemy, & to prevent their forraging, & while those measures are in any degree effectual I would wish to have you continue on the Island, but as soon as you find you can be of no longer service I would have you make your retreat to the main without farther delay—You will take care to have Boats so provided as to secure your Retreat in the best manner possible.

Sources: “George Washington to Lieutenant Colonel Henry Beekman Livingston, 4 September 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-06-02-0176. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 6, 13 August 1776 – 20 October 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase and Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994, pp. 217–218.]; https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-06-02-0140

Also on that day, General Washington wrote a highly critical letter to Col. Fisher Gay of Connecticut for failing to respond to Washington’s orders demanding a return (an account of the number of men present and available for duty) from his regiment. Washington would later learn that Col. Gay had failed to obey the orders because he had died from dysentery five days before the Battle of Brooklyn.

Sources: “George Washington to Colonel Fisher Gay, 4 September 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-06-02-0174. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 6, 13 August 1776 – 20 October 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase and Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994, pp. 214–215.]; https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gay-3397