Alexander Hamilton Papers

Enclosure: Appointments by Authority, [25 July 1798]

[Enclosure]5
Appointments by authority

Alexander Hamilton, of New York, to be Inspector General of the Army with the rank of Major General.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina to be a Major General

Henry Knox of Massachusetts to be a Major General

Henry Lee of Virginia to be a Major General of the provisional army.

Edward Hand of Pennsylvania to be a Major General in the provisional army.

John Brooks of Massachusetts to be a Brigadier general

William Washington6 of South Carolina to be a Brigadier general

Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey to be a Brigadier general

William North7 of New York to be Adjutant General of the army with the rank of Brigadier general

Ebenezer Huntington8 of Connecticut to be a Brigadier of the provisional army.

Anthony Walton White9 to be a Brigadier General of the provisional army.

William Richison Davie10 of North Carolina to be a Brigadier general of the provisional army.

John Sevier11 of Tennessee to be a Brigadier general of the provisional army.

James Craik of Virginia to be Physician general of the Army.

5Copy, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.

6William Washington held the rank of lieutenant colonel at the close of the American Revolution.

7At the end of the American Revolution, North, who had been an aide-de-camp to Baron von Steuben, was inspector of the army with the rank of major. He had served in the New York Assembly in 1792, 1794, 1795, and 1796, and was speaker in 1795 and 1796. From May 5, 1798, to August 17, 1798, he was United States Senator, filling the vacancy which had been created by the resignation of John Sloss Hobart. On July 19, 1798, North was appointed adjutant general with the rank of brigadier general (Executive Journal, I description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate (Washington, 1828), I. description ends , 293).

8Huntington served throughout the American Revolution and at the end of the war was a lieutenant colonel.

9Anthony Walton White of New Jersey held the rank of colonel at the close of the American Revolution. On March 3, 1797, he was appointed surveyor for the port and inspector of the revenue for New Brunswick, New Jersey (Executive Journal, I description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate (Washington, 1828), I. description ends , 232). On September 9, 1798, Washington wrote to Timothy Pickering concerning this appointment: “What in the name of Military Prudence could induce the appointments of White & Severe as Brigadiers? The latter never was celebrated for anything … except the murder of Indians—and the former for nothing but frivolity and empty shew and something worse …” (ALS, letterpress copy, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress). On September 14, 1798, Washington wrote to McHenry: “Of all the characters in the Revolutionary Army, I believe one more obnoxious to the Officers who composed it could not have been hit upon for a Genl. Officer than White—especially among those to the Southward where he was best known, and celebrated for nothing but frivolity—dress—empty shew & something worse—in short, for being a notorious L—r. This appointment will, I am told exclude many valuable Officers who will not serve as his juniors” (ALS, letterpress copy, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress).

10William Richardson (not Richison) Davie served as colonel of the North Carolina cavalry during the American Revolution. After the war he pursued his legal career and was a member of the North Carolina legislature almost continuously from 1786 to 1798. In 1798 he was elected governor of North Carolina.

11Sevier had been a colonel of the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution. Following the war he became governor of the abortive state of Franklin. He was also an Indian fighter, land speculator, and a member of the House of Representatives in the First Congress from that section of North Carolina which was to become Tennessee. He was elected the first governor of Tennessee and held the post from 1796 until 1801 and again from 1803 to 1809. Francis B. Heitman states that Sevier was “not employed” as a brigadier general (United States Army, I, 21). See also note 9.

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