To George Washington from the Maryland Council, 27 October 1779
From the Maryland Council
In Council Annapolis 27th October 1779
Sir.
On hearing that the two Companies of Matrosses kept here and at Baltimore by this State, were directed by the Assembly to be incorporated and sent into the Continental Service,1 Capt. Lieut. James Smith of Brown’s Company2 & Capt. Lieut. Edward [Ebenezer] Finley3 of Dorsey’s Company, wrote to the Governor proposing their Pretensions to rise, if any Appointments were to take Place in that Company.4 The Manner of their Writing, it being with great Temper on what they esteemed an interesting Point of Right, is a Confirmation, in some Degree, of what we have heard of their Merit: before we received their Letter, the Company was commissioned, and that, as we conceive, in the Manner we should have been obliged to commission it, if we had received the Letter, immediately on the Act of Assembly passing. It is much our Desire to remove every good Ground for Complaint amongst our Officers and perhaps, as to the Artillery Officers from Maryland, it might be done by making, of the three Maryland Companies, a fourth, the whole to be considered as one Corps under the Command of a Major; there are Men enough for it & still to spare and it will give an Opportunity this would leave Room to place every Officer in the Situation he thinks himself entitled to, each Company would still have more Men than the Establishment and we apprehend, it would be more convenient for every Purpose. If your Excellency should entertain the same Sentiments, we shall be obliged to you to regulate this Matter in the proposed Way, or to recommend it so that it may be done.5 We have the Honor to be with the most perfect Esteem & Respect &ca.
LB, MdAA. The Maryland Council also wrote Brig. Gen. William Smallwood from Annapolis on this date: “We have inclosed you a Letter to his Excelly Genl Washington, requesting that a fourth Company of Artillery may be formed of the three we have at Camp, to be commanded by a Major; there are Men enough for it & still to spare and it will give an Opportunity of gratifying the Officers of Brown’s & Dorsey’s Companies, who complain, with, at least, a Shew of Reason, and we shall then keep our own Men together. We request the Favor of you to deliver the Letter at a proper Time and, as far as you may think it right, join in our Request to the General” ( 43:2).
1. The Maryland House of Delegates had approved this measure on 11 Aug. (see , 137, 144, 146–47; see also 18:578, 596–97).
2. William Brown served as a Maryland militia lieutenant in 1776 and became captain of an independent Maryland artillery company in November 1777. Brown’s company joined the 1st Continental Artillery Regiment in May 1778. Subsequently promoted to major, Brown remained in the army until June 1783. For his service in the southern department, see 11:42, 641.
3. Ebenezer Finley (c.1754–c.1789) graduated in 1772 from Princeton College, where his father, Samuel, was president from 1761 to 1766. For a letter recommending Finley—who was described as “a third lieutenant in a company of [Maryland] Artillery”—for more responsible service, see Benjamin Rush (Finley’s cousin) to Henry Knox, 30 Jan. 1777, in 6:168–69. Finley became captain lieutenant in Capt. Richard Dorsey’s Maryland artillery company in July 1777 and continued at that rank after the company joined the 1st Continental Artillery Regiment in May 1778. Named deputy judge advocate for the southern department in July 1780, Finley held that position through most of 1781 while also performing field duties (see 8:251, 264; 9:386; 10:128–29). In a letter to Rush written from South Carolina on 1 Feb. 1782, Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene characterized Finley as “a young fellow of good sense and great observation; and a most excellent officer” ( 10:299).
4. This letter from Capt. Lt. James Smith and Finley to the Maryland governor, presumably Thomas Johnson, who left office that fall, has not been identified.
5. GW referred this letter to Brig. Gen. Henry Knox, who argued at length against the Maryland Council’s request in his letter to GW of 26 December. GW then replied to Maryland governor Thomas Sim Lee on 19 Feb. 1780 that “my ideas correspond” with Knox’s views (DLC:GW).