Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 8).djvu/127

the lateness of the season, and the nature of the case will possibly admit." It is a matter of record that at the time this letter was written neither General Butler or Quartermaster-general Hodgdon had so much as reached the rendezvous. The latter's delay was never explained and General Butler was utterly dependent upon quartermaster and contractor. Butler was at last ordered to Fort Washington by Secretary Knox in the following peremptory words, which implied neglect and carelessness—a rebuke which was, perhaps, as undeserved as it was sharp: "I have received your letter of the 18^th instant, which has been submitted to the President of the United States, and I am commanded to inform you that he is by no means satisfied with the long detention of the troops on the upper parts of the Ohio, which he considers unnecessary and improper. And it is his opinion, unless the highest exertions be made by all parts of the army, to repair the loss of the season, that the expenses which have been made for the campaign, will be altogether lost, and that the measures, from which so much has been