To George Washington from William Livingston, 18 June 1777
From William Livingston
Morris Town 18 June 1777.
Sir
I take the Liberty to inclose you a Discharge from Capt. Wetherby to one Sharp a Soldier in the Service of the united States; and Sharp’s Affidavit of his having paid the Capt. 100 Dollars to obtain it.1 I cannot learn with any certainty to whose Battalion, Wetherby belongs, but am told that he belongs to Collo. Forman’s. If he was an officer in one of the Regiments raised by this State, I should agreable to a Resolution of Congress of the 14 of April last,2 have spared your Excellency the Trouble of ordering an Inquiry in the Matter. I am with great Respect your Excellency’s most humble Servt
Wil: Livingston
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Henry Sharp’s accusations against Benjamin Wetherby appear in his affidavit of 23 May 1777, sworn before Justice John Sparks and in Sparks’s writing: “Personly appered Before me the Subscrbr one of the Justics for the State of new Jersy Henry Sharp and upon his Solom Oath Doth Say that he was Inlisted by Capn Benjbin Watherby and that he Give to Said Captian for his Discharge the Sume of one hundered Dowllers and further he Sayeth not” (DLC:GW). Benjamin Wetherby (Weatherby; Weatherbee), a Loyalist who had been arrested in the summer of 1776 for enlisting troops for the British service and confined until recently, apparently did not serve in the Continental army (see John Sullivan to GW, 19 June, Livingston to GW, 11 July, and GW to Livingston, 12 July).
2. For the Continental Congress’s resolution of 14 April 1777 recommending that the executive powers of the states inquire into the conduct of the recruiting officers under their jurisdiction, see Hancock to GW, 16 April, and note 3 (see also , 7:261).