Alexander Hamilton Papers
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Candidates for Army Appointments from Delaware, [November–December 1798]

Candidates for Army Appointments
from Delaware1

[Philadelphia, November–December, 1798]

Majors
John Vining commands a Company of Light Infantry provisional
 
Captains
Richard Dale handed in by Clayton2 Antifœderal
1 Samuel White young Lawyer Dover
prudence & propriety
Foederal
good property
G Read3
Basset4 integrity
}
well supported
education }
Talents
Courage
Vyning5
Bayard6
Richard Dale now Militia Light Infantry
good education & principles }
Clayton
Clayton } Bayard
Basset
tolerably
1 - 2 Benjamin Burrows Major of Militia
attached to the Government sensible active industrious & brave
John Corse 45 to 50 raised by merit to Capt in Revolutionary War
Clayton Latimer7 & Bayard
James Battel
 Dover
Lawyer
Clayton speaks highly of him
Subalterns
Samuel Armstrong private soldiers
James Armstrong 1791 promoted as sergeant Major & Qr M sergeant & sergeant of horse men of good Characters
now W Territory as Qr. Master
Winlock Clarke probably Frederica bred a Tanner
honor integrity & Talents }
provisional army
Basset } respectable family
Vyning
Clayton
Bayard
Andrew Barret8
Respectably as Lieutenant
Arthur Mason Barr9
 Christina Bridge Johns10
 served as soldier in Maryland Line good moral character
Thomas Huston Dover young man of prudence & honor Qr. Ensign
Mercantile
Basset & Vining
Stephen Pleasonton by J Clayton respectable family sprightly active believes moral char Lt or Ensign
Col James Henry11 Latimer suppo
Timothy Winn Duck Creek young Gentleman from New England
Taddock Crapper Daniel Rogers12 Governor Respectably
 one of McPhersons Blues13 Clayton qualified for soldier family fortune good moral character Enquire of McPherson
Kent County
John Wild
Peter Jaquett Jun Latimer nothing positive antient family American principles Respectably
Decent
as Lieutenant
 Ensign in the late war
What age
 cornet
Bayard
John Merritt sober active & brave
 
 now Philadelphia in opinion of Clayton will make good officer
William Keller Junior Dover No information
James Clayton Jun Dover by J Clayton in respectable Terms Lieutenancy respectable
 21 years Rodney14 &c
Samuel Wethered 22 years Young Gentleman of spirit & honor Lieutenancy respectable
James A Bayard
Jo. Sykes15
Basset Vyning
William Miller16
James Caskery Milson Sussex Daniel Rogers Governor
pretty well
Ensign
Levy George Foard respectable Connections good English Educa Ensign
David Witherspoon Clayton good foederalist genteel young man honor &c Not very strong
Surgeans
John Laws Clayton strongly
George Dell Gov Rogers—
&
Samuel Barr Chaplan
Antifoederal17
5 Samuel White Dover Capt
9 Peter Jacquett Junr. Lt
4 James Clayton Junr. Ensign

AD, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.

1In this list of recommendations for Army appointments, those recommended have not been identified. Wherever possible, however, the individuals making the recommendations have been identified.

H, George Washington, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney prepared this list, which is undated, during their meetings in Philadelphia.

2Joshua Clayton, a veteran of the American Revolution, was governor of Delaware from 1793 to 1796. In January, 1798, he was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Vining, and Clayton served in that capacity until his death on August 11, 1798.

3George Read, a lawyer from New Castle, Delaware, was a Federalist. He was a member of the United States Senate from 1789 to 1793, when he resigned to become chief justice of Delaware. He held that position until his death on September 21, 1798.

4Richard Bassett was a member of the United States Senate from Delaware from 1789 to 1793 and chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 1793 to 1799. In 1796 he was elected as a Federalist to the Electoral College.

5John Vining, a Delaware lawyer, served in the House of Representatives from 1789 to 1793 and in the United States Senate from 1793 to January, 1798, when he resigned.

6James A. Bayard, a lawyer from Wilmington, Delaware, was a Federalist member of the House of Representatives from 1797 to 1803.

7Henry Latimer.

8From 1791 to 1797, Andrew Barratt was the supervisor of the revenue for the District of Delaware (Executive Journal, I description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate (Washington, 1828), I. description ends , 87, 88, 247). In July, 1798, he became one of the commissioners of valuations for Delaware (Executive Journal, I description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate (Washington, 1828), I. description ends , 288, 289).

9Samuel Barr was a Delaware clergyman.

10Kensey Johns was an associate justice of the Delaware Supreme Court.

11Henry was a member of the Delaware House of Representatives in 1793.

12Rogers was governor of Delaware from 1797 to 1798.

13This is a reference to a Pennsylvania volunteer company of troops commanded by William Macpherson. Such troops were authorized by Section 3 of “An Act authorizing the President of the United States to raise a Provisional Army” (1 Stat. description begins The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, I (Boston, 1845). description ends 558–61 [May 28, 1798]).

14Thomas Rodney, a prominent landowner in Kent County, Delaware, was elected to the Continental Congress five times.

15James Sykes, a Delaware physician, was a presidential elector in 1792. He was elected to the state Senate in 1794 and served as president of the Senate until he succeeded to the office of governor in 1801.

16Miller, a resident of Philadelphia, was the commissioner of the revenue of the United States (Executive Journal, I description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate (Washington, 1828), I. description ends , 259–60).

17H endorsed the last page of this list: “Left unexamined.”

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