General Orders, 4 February 1780
General Orders
Head-Quarters Morristown friday Feby 4th 1780
Parole Holland— C. Signs Hanau. Hague.
By a General Court Martial held in Garrison at Philadelphia by order of Brigadier General Woodford the 5th of January 1780—Colonel Neville President—Thomas Warren of the Invalid Corps was tried for “Leaving his post when centinel and for theft”—found guilty of a breach of section 13th article the 6th of the Articles of War of the United States of America and sentenced to suffer death.1
The Commander in Chief approves the sentence and orders it to be executed—The Prisoner is to suffer according to the sentence awarded against him by being shot to death on the 10th day of February instant.2
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
Adj. Gen. Alexander Scammell’s orderly book entry for this date includes the following additional general orders: “General Hands and General Maxwells Brigades will furnish the Fatigue for the Orderly Room tomorrow and next Day.
“Two hundred Men from Genl Clintons & General Starks Brigades properly Officerd with two Days Provision to March to Morris Town this afternoon[.] The Commanding Officer will receive Orders at the Adjt Generals Office” (orderly book, 17 Oct. 1779–22 March 1780, DNA: RG 93, Orderly Books, 1775–1783, vol. 33).
On this date, John Mercereau signed a receipt for monies provided to him by GW, almost certainly for espionage services on Staten Island. The receipt, in the writing of GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman, reads: “Recd at Morris Town the 4th Feby 1780 of His Excellency General Washington Twelve half Johannes—thirty eight spanish Dollars and Twelve hundred Continental paper dollars for the services of myself and the within named persons to this date.” The persons named were Peter Latorelle, Abraham Conner, Daniel Semoniers, James FitzRandolph, Asher FitzRandolph, “Gruden,” and Mercereau. Tilghman indicated that Latorelle, Conner, and Semoniers had been employed on 2 June 1779 (see GW to Mercereau, that date). He indicated that James and Asher FitzRandolph had been employed on 14 Oct. 1779 (Revolutionary War Accounts, Vouchers, and Receipted Accounts 2, 1775–1783, DLC:GW, ser. 5). Mercereau probably had engaged the FitzRandolphs to provide the intelligence GW had requested on 10 Oct. 1779 from Lt. Col. John Taylor or Maj. Samuel Hayes (see GW to Taylor or Hayes, that date).
On this date, Mercereau signed a second receipt, also in Tilghman’s writing, for ten English guineas “for my services at different times” (Revolutionary War Accounts, Vouchers, and Receipted Accounts 2, 1775–1783, DLC:GW, ser. 5).
During his visit to headquarters, Mercereau probably conferred with GW on a plan for gathering intelligence that included setting up a spy to gather information in New York City (see GW to Mercereau, 13 April 1780, and Mercereau to GW, 23 April, both in DLC:GW).
1. The sixth article of the thirteenth section of the articles of war reads: “Whatever sentinel shall be found sleeping upon his post, or shall leave it before he shall be regularly relieved, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be inflicted by the sentence of a court-martial” ( 5:797).
2. GW pardoned Warren the next day (see GW to Lewis Nicola, 5 Feb.). Scammell’s orderly book entry for this date concludes the orders with the following notice: “The General Court Martial meets again Tomorrow.”