To George Washington from Lieutenant Francis Monty, 29 April 1780
From Lieutenant Francis Monty
Camp Mendham [N.J.]
April 29th 1780
May it please your Excellency
Conceiving you to be The Father of the Army, and knowing the Justness, that Ever Reigns, in your Breast, is what Induces me to Apply to your Excellency for Redress in a Cause wherin I Conceive myself much Injured. Your Excellency must know that five years ago I Enterd this Service in Cannada as a Lieutenant that on our being Repulsd I was obliged to Quit the Country and Happily Brought my Family with me and having Two Sons thought I could not Employ them Better than Employ them in the Service of a Country whose Cause I had Espoused, Accordingly I Engaged them to Serve in the Regiment to which I Belongd as Volunteers or whilst I Continued in the Service they not being of age I made their Inlistment myself,1 the Country having occasion to send some one into Cannada with Letters and to gain Intelligence I was Employed by General Schuyler for occasion went and Fortunately Succeeded2 and on my Return was surprised to find my Children were musterd in my absence for During the Warr, by a Captain with whom they have signed no Inlistment Therefore Humbly beg your Excellency will give me, or order the Col. to give me a Certificate to the Contrary, that In Case any Accident should Happen to me, My Children, may have it in their power to be Free, and Enjoy that Liberty they Have So Gloriously Contended for, And the Favor will be Ever Thankfully acknoledged by Your Excellencys most Obedt Hble Servant
francis Monty Lt
ALS, DLC:GW.
Francis Monty (1736–1809) joined the 1st Canadian Regiment as an ensign in November 1775 and became a lieutenant in December 1776. Wounded at the Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778, Monty retired from the army in January 1781.
1. Monty presumably is referring to his sons Claude and Francis, Jr. For his other sons, some of whom served as Revolutionary War soldiers, see , 43–44.
Claude Monty (1759–1783) enlisted as a private in the 2d Canadian Regiment in November 1776 and served until the end of the war.
Francis Monty, Jr. (1760–1818) enlisted as a private in the 1st Canadian Regiment in December 1776 and apparently left the army with his father in January 1781. Monty drowned “by the upsetting of a canoe” (Plattsburgh Republican [New York], 29 Aug. 1818).
2. Monty enclosed a statement, written in French and dated 28 April, from Antoine Lavallé, who was then in Morristown. In that statement, Lavallé explained that Monty had arrived at his home in Canada in late spring 1777 to gather intelligence and had secured his agreement to assist spies (DLC:GW).