To George Washington from Henry Lee, 16 May 1758
From Henry Lee
Prince William County May 16th 1758
Sir
In Obedience to His Honr The Presidents orders to me wch I inclose you a Copy off.1 I have Sent One hundred Men of this Militia Commanded by Capt. Thos McClanahan & Capt. William Tebbs to Garrison Fort Loudoun at Winchester.2
I have directed them to Apply to you for Arms & Ammunition & to the Commissary for Provisions: the arms sent for the Use of this County Not being yet Arrived.3 I am Sir Your Most Obedient Hble Servt
Henry Lee
ALS, DLC:GW.
Henry Lee II (1729–1787), of Leesylvania, longtime county lieutenant of Prince William, represented the county, from 1758 until his death, in the House of Burgesses, the Revolutionary conventions, and finally the state senate.
1. The enclosed copy of John Blair’s orders, dated 4 May, instructed Lee “to Raise and send one Hundred men of your Militia under the command of two Captains 2 Lieutenants. 2 Ensigns & 6 Sergeants. with 2 Drums. to Garrison Fort Loudoun at Winchester . . . till the 20th of December next or the Return of the Regiment” (DLC:GW).
2. Thomas McClanahan (McClenahan) relieved Capt. Thomas Waggener at Fort Hopewell on the South Branch in late June 1758 when Waggener and his men left to join GW in his march to Fort Cumberland. See GW to Waggener, 15, 19 June, and GW to McClanahan, 19 June. McClanahan became one of the justices of the peace in Fauquier County at the time that it was created from Prince William in 1759. William Tebbs, son of Daniel Tebbs (d. 1742) of Prince William County, continued active in the affairs of the county down into the Revolutionary War years and afterward.
3. For GW’s displeasure with these instructions, see GW to Fauquier, 19 June.