To George Washington from Samuel Cobbs and Thomas Tabb, 1 June 1756
From Samuel Cobbs and Thomas Tabb
Amelia County June 1st 1756
Sir
We have this day Sent twenty Seven Soldiers Inlisted the twenty Sixth day of last Month,1 under the Comand of Majr Wood Jones to be delivered to the Officer appointed by the Govr to receive them at Fredricksburg.2 the whole Number Inlisted Voluntarily. Most of them are Men of Midling fortunes and were in good Bussiness and we beleive go with a hearty desire to Serve their Country. many being Carpenters must be usefull on the present occation. Richard Rogers and four of his Apprentises are in the Number and has desired us to interseed with you that they may be kept together, and we do in a particular manner recomend to your favour Saml Sherwin[,] Thomas Easley and Robert Woodlief as Men deserving your notice, and if convenient and agreeable to you they desire they may all be in one Company that they may be well used we are Sure you will endeavour.3 That there has been complaints against some officers you are not a Stranger to, and should these Men have just cause to complain It will deter others from Inlisting hereafter. We heartily wish you well, and are Sir Your Most obedient and Humble Servants
Saml Cobbs
Thomas Tabb
LS, DLC:GW. The letter is probably in the hand of either Samuel Cobbs (d. 1757) or Thomas Tabb (d. 1769). Cobbs and Tabb were leading men of Amelia County. Samuel Cobbs, who went to Amelia from Williamsburg and became a large landholder, was county lieutenant. He served as a burgess for the county 1742–47 and 1748–49. Thomas Tabb of Clay Hill was a well-to-do merchant. He was a member of the House of Burgesses from Amelia County from 1748 until his death, except for the 1758–61 assembly.
1. Of these twenty-seven enlisted men, seventeen were discharged in December 1756. For the terms of the militia draft, see Dinwiddie to GW, 8 May 1756, n.4. For reference to other returns of the draft, see Landon Carter to GW, May 1756, nn.7 and 8, and GW’s Orders, 2 June 1756, n.2.
2. Like Cobbs and Tabb, Wood Jones, a younger son of Peter Jones (d. 1726), represented Amelia County in the House of Burgesses. His election was disallowed in 1748 when Cobbs replaced him, but he was elected again in 1752 and served with Tabb until 1755. His name was added to the commission of the peace for the county in 1741.
3. In July 1756 Richard Rogers, Samuel Sherwin, and Robert Woodlief were all in the company of artificers working on the construction of Fort Loudoun near Winchester. Thomas Easley was discharged in July because of “a desponding state of health.” He had procured an able-bodied man to serve in his stead. See GW’s Memorandum, 21 July 1756.