To Thomas Jefferson from Littleberry Mosby, 20 April 1781
From Littleberry Mosby
Powhatan April 20th 1781
Sir
Having orders from the Executive to put the Recruiting Act in Motion, I appointed Fryday last for that Purpose, but on thursday evening Received orders from you to send the whole of our Militia to Manchester, which has again put a stop to the Business, and As it is Uncertain how long the Militia will be Kept in Service shall not appoint a Nother day untill I have further orders. The Act to Establish a Corps of Invalids I have Received and Made the Enquiry Necessary on the Subject, I find No Invalid in this county.
I have Appointed Mr. Robert Smith to Receive the Recruits, a man of good Reputation Who I doubt not will doe his duty.
I am With due Regard your Very H. Servt.,
L. Mosby
RC (Vi); addressed; endorsed.
The act to establish a corps of invalids: was passed at the Oct. 1780 session of the legislature ( x, 346–7), but probably not distributed until early Apr. 1781, when the session laws for the Oct. 1780 and Mch. 1781 sessions were printed and sent out (see R. H. Lee to TJ, 13 Apr. 1781). The Act establishing a corps of invalids was passed because of the “great numbers of wounded and other soldiers discharged from the public service as invalids, who receive liberal pensions from the community, and who if collected and formed into corps might render good service by doing garrison duty, and thereby compensate for the expense they create,” but a secondary purpose of the Act was “that such pensioners may be more amply provided for” ( x, 346). The Act authorized the Governor to collect all such pensioned invalids who desired to enlist, to form them into companies, and to place them on useful duty; county lieutenants were required “to make diligent enquiry … without delay, and report to the governor a list of all such invalids.”