To George Washington from Lieutenant Colonel John Connolly, 18 May 1780
From Lieutenant Colonel John Connolly
Germantown [Pa.] May 18th 1780.
sir,
Having applied to the Board of War for the necessary Passport to forward my son to New York, I have been informed that it is a favour, for the granting of which I am solely refered to your Excellency1—The unhappy situation in which I have been so long involved, has proved greatly prejudical to Him in point of education;2 & under my present more tolerable Circumstances his opportunity of improvement is little more favorable than formerly, & at an expence of an exorbitant Nature—Your Excellency will very greatly oblige me by giving the necessary Orders for complying with my request, which will not only confer a very particular Obligation upon me, but lay the young Gentleman referred to under a sense of the same, which I flatter myself, He may at some future period be able to acknowledge3—I have the honor to be Your Excellency’s most Obedt & most humble servant
Jno: Connolly
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Connolly’s letter to the Board of War has not been identified, but see Board of War to GW, 26 May.
2. Connolly had long been a prisoner on parole (see GW to John Beatty, 19 Aug. 1779, n.3).
3. No reply from GW has been found, but his aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman docketed the letter: “4th June. Commy of prisoners directed to send in his son” (see GW to Abraham Skinner, 4 June, and n.2 to that document, and to the Board of War, 5 June).