From George Washington to the U.S. Senate, 15 December 1796
To the United States Senate
United States, 15 Dec. 1796. GW nominates fourteen men “for promotions and appointments in the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers,” two of whom received nominations as captains, and the other twelve appearing as candidates for the rank of lieutenant.1 The appointments were made to replace four officers who had died, six who had resigned, one who was dismissed, two who were promoted, and one who had “declined to take rank.”2
LS, DNA: RG 46, entry 52; LB, DLC:GW.
This message was delivered on 16 Dec. to the Senate, which approved the appointments on 19 Dec. (see , 215–16).
1. George Demlar and Joseph Elliott were GW’s two nominees for captain. Demlar had taken that rank on 20 Aug. 1795 to replace Capt. James Gamble, who had died that same day. Elliott accepted the post of captain on 19 July 1796, the day that Capt. Decius Wadsworth resigned. For more on Wadsworth, see James McHenry to GW, 8 Oct., and n.1.
2. Among the deceased officers whom GW named in this document was Lt. Nathaniel Cudworth of Massachusetts. The Courier of New-Hampshire (Concord) for 25 Oct. 1796 reported that Cudworth had been “killed in a duel at West-Point by Lieut. [Simon] Geddes.” The report noted that Geddes had “decamped.” Dismissed from the army in early December, Geddes had been pardoned earlier in the year for other misconduct (see James McHenry to GW, 14 June 1796, and notes 1 and 3 to that document; see also McHenry to GW, 8 Aug. 1796, and n.2). GW nominated Robert Parkinson to replace Geddes as lieutenant, and Parkinson took the post on 19 Dec., the same day that Lt. James Rand replaced Cudworth. Benjamin Wall, the officer who declined appointment, was replaced by Andrew Marschalk of New Jersey, who was to rank from 1 Nov. 1796.