To George Washington from the Maryland Council, 23 March 1780
From the Maryland Council
Annapolis March 23d 1780.
Sir,
In Council
We have had the honor of receiving your Excellency’s Letters of the 19th & 20th Ultimo1 and 10th of the Current Month, with their several enclosures, every of which shall be immediately laid before the Honorable General Assembly now about to meet.
The Recruiting Officers in this State have not had the success We Wished, Yet they have procured a sufficient number to lessen our deficiency considerably, and should the Legislature continue our Recruiting Act Six or Eight Weeks beyond the time limited for its duration, We have reason to expect our Quota will be nearly if not entirely compleat in that Space.2 We have the Honor to be with Sentiments of the most profound Personal respect esteem & Attachment Your Excellencys Most Humble Servants
Tho. Sim Lee
ALS, DLC:GW; LB, MdAA: Council Letterbook, 1779–1780.
1. GW’s letter of 19 Feb. to Maryland governor Thomas Sim Lee addressed recruiting for the artillery. GW’s circular to the states dated 20 Feb. indicated the number of recruits needed from Maryland to fill that state’s quota for the Continental army.
2. The council is referring to “An ACT for recruiting the quota of troops of this state in the American army,” which ran until 1 April (, ch. 36).
For the extended efforts of Maryland officials to meet the state’s recruiting quota, see the Maryland Council to the lieutenants of the several counties, 28 March, to David Poe, 10 April, to Michael Boyer, 13 April, and to William Woolford, 15 April, in , 43:123, 137, 141, 143; see also Uriah Forrest to GW, 7 April.