1. Muhlenberg’s letter to GW of 10 Dec. has not been found.

2. For the movement of the Virginia line to the southern department, see GW to Huntington, 29 Nov., and the source note to that document.

Muhlenberg balked at moving under Brig. Gen. William Woodford’s command because of a longstanding rank dispute (see Muhlenberg to GW, 22 Oct. 1778, and n.1 to that document). In an undated letter to the Virginia delegates read in Congress on 22 April 1779, Muhlenberg complained that Woodford’s nine-month separation from the army negated any claims to superior rank. Muhlenberg also wrote: “When the Honble The Congress were pleasd to pass the last Ranks in favor of Genl Woodford, I waited on His Excellency The Commander in Chief, & requested his permission to resign but as the Campaign was just opening, & finding His Excelly unwilling to spare me at that time, I promisd to continue untill I could retire without prejudice to the Service, or untill the end of the Campaign. At the Conclusion of last Campaign I found it impracticable to Quit the Army: as I was the only General Officer of the Virginia Line then in Camp, and therefore could not be spard—I have hitherto retaind the Commission I first Recd as Brigadier, which gave me Rank of Genl Woodford, & cannot in Justice to myself accept an inferior one unless it can be done in a manner that will Give no reason to think I was superseded for Misconduct … I should perhaps have given in my Claim sooner, but The General has been so much distressd with disputes of this kind, that I was Loth to trouble him, I Shall be happy if the matter can be settled without troubling His Excellency further” (DNA:PCC, item 163; see also JCC, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends 13:490; and Muhlenberg to GW, and GW to Muhlenberg, both 10 April 1778).

Still upset with prior decisions to arrange Woodford as the senior brigadier general from Virginia, Muhlenberg apparently again applied for a reconsideration, which led to a congressional resolution adopted on 29 Dec. 1779 that confirmed the relative standing among the officers (see JCC, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends 15:1418–19). Samuel Huntington, president of Congress, then wrote Muhlenberg from Philadelphia on 8 Jan. 1780 “that the Arrangement of the General Officers in the Virginia line was founded upon principals not affecting the personal Characters or comparative merit of those Officers” (Smith, Letters of Delegates, description begins Paul H. Smith et al., eds. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789. 26 vols. Washington, D.C., 1976–2000. description ends 14:327). For Muhlenberg’s coming to Philadelphia and subsequent departure for Virginia, see the journal entries for 23 Dec. 1779 and 7–8 Jan. 1780, in Tappert and Doberstein, Muhlenberg Journals, description begins Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein, trans. and eds. The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1942–58. description ends 3:279, 283.