General Orders, 13 June 1779
General Orders
Head-Quarters Smith’s Tavern [N.Y.] Sunday June 13th 1779
Parole Westbury—C. Signs Warwick—Wells.
The officers commanding divisions will take the most effectual means to call in all the absent officers of their respective divisions not on essential public business to join their Corps immediately—This order must not be dispensed with or delayed on any account though the execution should be attended with expence: The good of the service and the honor of the officers where they are not absent by order, demand their immediate attendance and no excuse can or will be admited.1
The 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade is to march tomorrow morning at 5 ôclock to relieve the detachment under Colonel Williams2 at the Forest of Deane—It must go light and furnished with provisions to serve ’till thursday inclusively.
Colonel Williams will communicate his instructions to Colonel Johnson3 and make him acquainted with the Grounds, Roads &c.—which require his attention.
The Inspection of the Light-Infantry is postponed ’till tomorrow afternoon, five ô clock.
The Light-Infantry of the 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade agreeable to its’ formation in yesterday’s orders are to remain on the ground until they have passed inspection.
After Orders June 13th 1779.
The Honorable, The Congress have been pleased to pass the following Acts.
In Congress June 5th 1779.
Resolved—That Colonel Dubois, rank in the line of the Army of the United States of America after Colonel Van Cortlandt and Colo. Gansevoort.4
Resolved—That the Commission of Major granted to Captain Prowell in the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment be vacated, and that the rank of the officers continue the same as they were at the time of passing the resolution for incorporating Hartley’s and Patton’s regiments and the Independent Companies & rise according to the principle or rule established.5
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
Adj. Gen. Alexander Scammell’s orderly book entry for this date includes two additional general orders. The first appears just before “After Orders” and reads: “The Maryland division gives the Fatigue for the Forage Master General tomorrow.” The second appears at the end of the entry and reads: “The Post-Office is removed from the Artillery Park and is now kept opposite the Baron DeKalb’s Quarters near the Mill, from whence the southern & eastern Posts will set off on Wednesday morning next ten ôClock” (orderly book, 22 Dec. 1778–26 June 1779, DNA: RG 93, Orderly Books, 1775–1783, vol. 28).
A letter of this date from Q.M. Gen. Nathanael Greene, in camp at Smiths Clove with GW, to William Smith, deputy quartermaster general at Springfield, Mass., reads: “I hope the Wine you sent forward for His Excellency General Washington was cased as the carters will ruin its quallity by adulteration if it is open. Every thing of this sort should be cased to save it from the peculation of the Carters” ( 4:153).
1. Major General Stirling gave publicity to GW’s directive in an order sent on 14 June from his camp in Smiths Clove. The order was printed in newspapers, including the Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser (Philadelphia) for 29 June. That item reads: “IN OBEDIENCE to the above general order, all Officers of the Virginia line absent from the army are hereby required immediately to join their respective corps, or inform me of the cause of their absence.”
2. For the detachment under the command of Col. Otho Holland Williams, see General Orders, 9 June; GW to Williams, same date and 11 June (second letter); and Williams to GW, 11 June.
3. Instructions from Williams to Col. Francis Johnston have not been identified.
4. See 14:694. For the dispute over precedence among colonels Lewis Duboys, Philip Van Cortlandt, and Peter Gansevoort, see John Jay to GW, 25 May, and n.1 to that document, and GW to Jay, 3 June (second letter).
5. See 14:694. For the rank dispute involving Joseph Prowell, see GW to the Board of War, 10 Oct. 1778 and 30 May 1779, and n.1 to the earlier document; Pennsylvania Continental Captains to GW, 8 May; Peter Scull to GW, 21 May; Thomas Bartholomew Bowen and Benjamin Bartholomew to GW, 25 May; and GW to Jay, 3 June (second letter).