To George Washington from Captain Lieutenant Abraham Hargis, 31 July 1778
From Captain Lieutenant Abraham Hargis
[White Plains]
[c.31 July 1778]
May it Please your Excellency
Having suffered greatly by the Enemy in Philadelphia and am informed the Savages are Murdering &Ca and destroying my Property in the Back parts of Pennsylvania—I am Anxious and desirous to engage in the Expedition now carrying on against them it being my Natural Home.
I therefore beg leave to resign my Commission of Captain Lieutenant in the Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment—And Pray your Excellency will accept of this as my Resignation. I am with the greatest respect your Excellencies most obedient Humble Servant
Abraham Hargis
Capt. Lieut. 10th Pennsylvania Regiment
ALS, DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 31435. Hargis did not date the letter, but Col. Richard Humpton’s note on it, certifying that Hargis was not indebted to his regiment, is dated 31 July 1778, and the docket also uses that date. Abraham Hargis was appointed a second lieutenant in Col. Samuel Miles’s Rifle Regiment in September 1776 and became a lieutenant in the 10th Pennsylvania Regiment in December 1776. His resignation was accepted as of 1 August.