To George Washington from Brigadier General Joseph Spencer, 25 November 1775
From Brigadier General Joseph Spencer
Camp at Roxbury
Novemr 25th 1775
May it please your Excellency
The Bearer hereof Capt. Sumner in Colo. Wyllys’s Regiment, has a Lieut. on Command with Colo. Arnold—whereby the Birth is at present vacant: Roger Hooker an Ensign belonging to the same Regiment a likely young Officer—and the only one who is willing to serve another Campaign, of the Company he at present belongs to—is desirous to serve in the Birth of the absent Lieut.—as likewise Capt. Sumner and the officers of his Company to have him; till the Lieut. should return: provided he can have the pay of a Lieut. and then resign, if there could not be a Birth for him. I beg Leave to inform your Excellency—that if he can be permitted to remain in the Service, agreeable to the above proposal—as he is the only officer of the Company in the present Establishment, who rema⟨ins⟩ in the Service, he will probably be able to get a considerable part of the Company he at present belongs to—to engage for another Campaign:1 I am sir with great Respect & Esteem, your Excellency’s most obedt hum. servt
Jos: Spencer
ALS, MH: Jared Sparks Collection.
1. Roger Hooker, who joined Spencer’s Connecticut regiment as a sergeant in May 1775, served as a 2d lieutenant in Wyllys’s 22d Continental Infantry during 1776. In 1781 Hooker was a brigade major in the Connecticut militia. Ebenezer Sumner was commissioned a 1st lieutenant in Spencer’s regiment in May 1775 and was promoted to captain in July. Sumner served as a captain in the 22d Continental Infantry during 1776 and subsequently as a captain in the Connecticut militia. Samuel Wyllys (c.1738–1823), lieutenant colonel of Spencer’s regiment, commanded the regiment while Spencer performed his duties as a Continental general. Wyllys served as colonel of a Continental regiment from 1 Jan. 1776 to 1 Jan. 1781 when he retired from the army.