From George Washington to Officers in the 2d Canadian Regiment, 16 September 1780
To Officers in the 2d Canadian Regiment
Head qrs [Bergen County] Septr 16: 1780
Gentn
I have received your Letter of this date—and am sorry to find You have not obtained ⟨from⟩ your State, the benefits which are proposed and recommended by the Resolut⟨io⟩n to which You refer. I am sensible of the difficulties attending your situation on this account, and therefore consent to One of your going to His Excellency, Governor Lee, as You request.1 You will inform Colonel Hazen of it. Unfortunately there is no money in the Milita⟨ry⟩ chest or your paymaster or the Officer acting as such, might obtain a Warrant on account of your pay. I inclose a line addressd to Major General Greene, who will furnish One of You with a Horse, Saddle & Bridle on your application, if circumstances will admit, for the journey, which You will return again when the Officer arrives in Camp.2 I am Gentln with esteem Yr Most Obed. st
Go: Washington
LS, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s writing, PWacD: Sol Feinstone Collection, on deposit at PPAmP; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. Mutilated material on the LS is supplied in angle brackets from the draft, which is in the writing of GW’s secretary Robert Hanson Harrison.
1. Capts. John Carlile, Michael Gilbert, and John Hughes, along with Lt. Joseph Lewis, officers in the 2d Canadian Regiment, had written GW from camp in Bergen County earlier on this date: “We the Officers from the State of Maryland serving in the Corps commanded by Col. Moses Hazen beg leave to lay before your Excellency some of the many difficulties we labour under by being detached from the line of the State.
“We conceived that after the Resolution of Congress of the 15th of March 1779 for Crediting each State for their Number of Troops, Serving in the loose and independent Corps, we were entitled to receive all the Gratuities and Allowances that were made to the respective Battallions of our State—(indeed we conceived that it extended even to Rank in the line) Notwithstanding which several Allowances of Money—Cloathing and stores have been made without Taking the least Notice of us—This Total Neglect of us and our Services Obliged us last fall to Apply to the Legislature of the State, who some time After passed a Resolve to enable the Governer to make us all the Allowances of Cloathing—Money and Stores of every kind that was given to their Batallions, and to forward them to us at our different Stations—Nevertheless we have the Mortification to find ourselves Still Neglected, having never received a Single Article of any kind since the commencement of the War: whilst most of the Other States are providing for their Troops serving with us, in the same manner that their own Battallions are Supplyed.
“We therefore pray that your Excellency will give permission to one of us to Apply to the Governor of our State in person in order to Obtain a Settlement for Allowances which have been already made as well as for others which we may expect—And that your Excellency will be pleased to order so much Money to be paid us here on Account as will be Sufficient to defray the Expence of the Journey, and likewise furnish us with an Order on the Quarter M. General for an Horse &ca” (LS, DLC:GW; see also the three captains to Maryland governor Thomas Sim Lee, 12 Feb., in , 43:424–25, and , p. 58). For the congressional resolution adopted on 15 March 1779, see , 13:317–18; see also John Jay to GW, same date.
The Maryland Council resolved on 7 Oct. 1780 to provide supplies for Marylanders in Col. Moses Hazen’s regiment (see , 43:318–19).
John Carlile of Harford County, Md., became a militia lieutenant in October 1776. He was commissioned a captain in Hazen’s regiment that November, captured at Staten Island, N.Y., in August 1777, and later exchanged. After his elevation to assistant adjutant general in 1781, Carlile served until the end of the war. During GW’s presidency, he unsuccessfully sought appointment as a militia inspector (see Carlile to GW, 23 Dec. 1790, in 7:105–6).
Michael Gilbert (d. 1795) of Harford County joined the militia in September 1775 as an ensign and rose to lieutenant. Commissioned at the same rank in Hazen’s regiment in November 1776, he achieved captain in September 1777 and resigned in April 1781.
John Hughes (b. 1759) of Washington County, Md., became a lieutenant in Hazen’s regiment in November 1777, ascended to captain in September 1778, and resigned in 1781.
Joseph Lewis (1753–1796) became a Maryland militia ensign in July 1776, joined Hazen’s regiment as a lieutenant that November, and apparently resigned in November 1780.
2. The enclosure has not been found.