To George Washington from Colonel Alexander Scammell, 16 November 1780
From Colonel Alexander Scammell
Camp Totoway Novr 16tnth 1780.
Sr
The Honble the Congress having put the Regts in point of numbers & Term of service, on a reputable and permanent footing;1 and being so much reduc’d in property as not to be able to equip myself properly for the office I at present have the honor to hold; I beg your Excellency would please to grant or obtain leave for me to retire from the staff department and rejoin my Regt, by the first of Jany next: That, I might have an early opportunity, to attend to the internal police and recruiting of it;2 and my Successor of gaining a perfect knowledge of the business of the office previous to the commencement of the next campaign.3 I Have the Honor to be with the utmost Respect Yr Excellency’s Most Obedt & very Humble servt
Alexdr Scammell
ALS, DLC:GW; copy, DNA:PCC, item 152; copy, DNA:PCC, item 169. GW’s aide-de-camp David Humphreys wrote “Referred to Congress” on the docket of the ALS.
1. See General Orders, 1 November.
2. Scammell resigned as adjutant general on 1 Jan. 1781 and assumed command of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment. He previously had commanded the 3d New Hampshire Regiment.
3. Brig. Gen. Edward Hand replaced Scammell as adjutant general (see GW to Samuel Huntington, 28 Nov. 1780, and n.13; see also Nathanael Greene’s second letter to GW, 19 Nov., postscript, and GW’s second letter to Greene, 13 Dec.).