From George Washington to Colonel George Baylor, 17 January 1777
To Colonel George Baylor
Morris Town Jan. 17th 1777
Dear Baylor,
There is a Gentleman, a friend of mine whom I should be glad to provide for in your Regiment of Horse I therefore desire you will reserve a Troop for him.1
The Lieutt & other Officers of the Company must raise the Men &ca—The Gentleman I have in my view, is now in the Service, and cannot conveniently leave this place, at this time; nor in deed have I said any thing to him on the subject as yet.
Let me hear from you by every Post. send me a List of the Officers you have fixed on—and again let me urge to you, how much every thing depends upon dispatch. I am very sincerely your Affecte Friend & Servt
Go: Washington
ALS (photocopy), NjP: Armstrong Collection; ALS, sold by Kende Galleries, Inc., New York, 1947.
1. GW is referring to Capt. John Washington (1740–1777) of the 4th Virginia Regiment, a distant cousin to GW and the younger brother of GW’s business manager at Mount Vernon, Lund Washington. Before the Revolutionary War John Washington resided in Suffolk, Va., where he directed operations for the Dismal Swamp Company, but by February 1776, when he began serving as a captain in the Virginia militia, he was living in nearby Nansemond County. In April 1776 Washington was commissioned a captain in the 4th Virginia Regiment, and near the end of the year his regiment joined GW’s army in New Jersey. On 2 Mar., just twelve days before John Washington was killed in a skirmish with Bergen County Loyalists, GW wrote to him to apprise him of his appointment to Baylor’s regiment: “I have reserved a Troop in Colo. Baylors light Horse for you—You will repair immediately to Virga therefore and put yourself under his Command. This Letter will be a sufficient intimation of my Intention’s to him in your behalf” (ALS, Vi).