To George Washington from John Tayloe, 22 May 1756
From John Tayloe
Fredbg May 22d 1756
Sir
My friend & Kinsman Capt. Wm Peachey1 informing me that he stood in need of a little more money than his pay I take the freedom to request the favour of you to supply him & I will gratefully discharge any of his engagements to you or your order & hope his Conduct may intitle him to that from you which to a generous mind is more valluable than even Gold.
I have engaged to one Briggs2 who comes with the Patriot Blews3 to mention him to your favour after he is discharged from that Service as he is desirous then of entering into Your Regiment if he can be preferred to any Post—he comes under my subscription & will be mentioned to you by my best friend Colo. Presly Thornton4 who will have the best oportunity of Judgeing of his Meritt I heartily wish so Laudable an undertaking may have its desired good ends & that you may have the satisfaction of speedyly restoreing tranquility to our Country. I am with a Sincere regard for your Meritt Sr Your Obedt Hble Servt
John Tayloe
ALS, DLC:GW.
John Tayloe (1721–1779), a great planter of Richmond County who completed his house Mount Airy in 1758, became a member of the provincial council in 1757.
1. William Peachey (1729–1802), who at this time spelled his name Peachy and was in Winchester, became a captain in the Virginia Regiment in September 1755 and left it in July 1757. For details about his military career, see GW to Peachey, 11 Sept. 1755.
2. This was probably Gray Briggs, a young lawyer who was representing Sussex County in the House of Burgesses. He was the son of Howell and Lucy Gray Briggs of Dinwiddie County.
3. The Gentlemen Associators were called Patriot Blues because of their blue coats. See Robert Dinwiddie to GW, 3 May 1756, n.6. At a council of war in Fredericksburg on 21 May the associators—about 150 of them—met to draw up articles for their own governance and to choose officers. Warner Lewis, Bernard Moore, Charles Carter, Richard Eppes, Nathaniel West Dandridge, and John Syme were elected captains, and Presley Thornton and Charles Osborne were named aides-de-camp (Maryland Gazette [Annapolis], 17 June 1756). Charles Carter may have been Charles Carter, Jr. (1733–1796), son of Charles Carter (1707–1764) of Cleve, or perhaps Charles Carter (1732–1806) of Shirley, son of John Carter (1690–1743) of Corotoman. For other references to the associators, see Dinwiddie to GW, 27 May, 12 June, Peyton Randolph to GW, 3 May, John Robinson to GW, 3 May, William Fairfax to GW, 4, 9 May, GW to Adam Stephen, 18 May, GW to Robert Stewart, 2 June, and Landon Carter to GW, May 1756.
4. Presley Thornton (1721–1769) lived in Northumberland County on the Northern Neck. In 1761, after having been a member of the House of Burgesses since 1748, he left the House to join his friend John Tayloe on the council. Thornton was a member of the Gentlemen Associators, or Patriot Blues.