George Washington Papers

From George Washington to Peter Hog, 6 September 1755

To Peter Hog

[Fredericksburg, 6 September 1755]

To Captain Peter Hogg, of the Virginia Regiment.

You are hereby Ordered, and strictly commanded, to repair immediately, upon the Receipt of this, to Jackson’s River, or the Head-Quarters of Captain Lewis’s Company; and there take upon you the Command of said Company.1 You are therefore to be very punctual in obeying such Orders as have or may be given, by the Governour; and such as you shall receive, from time to time, from me: And above all; you are to be particularly careful in using your best Endeavours, to Guard and Protect the Inhabitants and Settlers in those Parts from the Incursions of the French, and their Indians; and to conform and regulate your Conduct, in every respect, by the Strict Rules and Discipline of War. Given under my hand, this Sixth Day of September, 1755.

G:W.

LB, DLC:GW.

1At this time Andrew Lewis and his company were at Fort Dinwiddie on Jackson’s River in Augusta County. The fort’s site is about 5 miles west of Warm Springs in present-day Bath County.

In response to Indian raids the year before, Dinwiddie on 11 Sept. 1754 ordered Lewis, with a “detachmt of 40 or 50 Men” from the Virginia Regiment, to Augusta County, where Col. James Patton of the militia would direct them “in protectg the Frontiers of that County” (ViHi: Dinwiddie Papers). Lewis and his company had probably erected Fort Dinwiddie by the end of 1754. On 12 Feb. 1755 Ens. William Wright a 18 men were ordered to remain at the fort “lately built,” while Lewis and the rest of the company marched to Winchester (GW to Lewis, ibid.). By July 1755 Lewis and his men had been ordered back to the Augusta frontier where they were to assist Patton and two newly authorized ranger companies in repelling Indian attacks. Patton was killed on 31 July and his duties devolved on Lewis until GW dispatched Hog to replace him. See both of GW’s dispatches to Lewis, 6 Sept. 1755 [1] [2].

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