To George Washington from Peter Scull, 15 April 1779
From Peter Scull
War-Office 15th April 1779.
Sir.
By this conveyance your Excellency will receive the arrangement of the Rhode Island line, and that of the Captains and Subalterns of the Regiments from pennsylvania. The inclosed Letter from General St Clair containing matters on which the Board cannot determine, I am directed to forward it to your Excellency for consideration.1 The commissions of Captains McClelland and Finney having been made out I have sent them on in their proper bundles. The latter is in the 6 P. Regt and the former in the ninth—Cap. McClellan’s commission is dated the 13. July 1776.2 I have the honor to be Your Excellency’s Very obed. hb. Serv.
P. Scull Secretary
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. The enclosed arrangements and letter from Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair have not been identified.
2. Joseph McClellan (1747–1834) of Chester County, Pa., was appointed a first lieutenant in Col. Samuel Atlee’s Pennsylvania Musketry Battalion in March 1776. In November 1776 he was promoted to captain in the 9th Pennsylvania Regiment with a commission dating from the previous July. He transferred to the 2d Pennsylvania Regiment in January 1781 and left the army six months later. Walter Finney (1747–1820), also of Chester County, Pa., was appointed a first lieutenant in Col. Atlee’s Musketry Battalion in March 1776 and was taken prisoner that August at the Battle of Long Island. After his exchange, he was promoted to captain in the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment with a commission dating from August 1776. Finney was wounded at the Battle of Green Spring, Va., in July 1781; transferred to the 3d Pennsylvania Regiment in January 1783; and transferred to the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment in June 1783, serving until the end of the war. From 1784 to 1787 he served as a captain in the U.S. Army. A rank dispute subsequently arose between McClellan and Finney and had to be resolved by a board of officers; see GW to Peter Scull, 25 May.