To George Washington from Caleb Prew Bennett, 21 February 1797
From Caleb Prew Bennett
Philadelphia Februy 21st 179[7]1
The Petition of Caleb P. Bennett late of the State of Delaware. Humbly sheweth That by the Death of the late Major George Bush, the Office of Collector of the Customs for the District of Delaware hath become vacant: Your Petitioner having served his Country in a military capacity during the late revolution in the Delaware Regiment, in which he entered in the Year 1776 at the Age of sixteen Years, and continued therein until the close of the War; that during that time he suffered the fatigue and hardships which attended some of our most severe Campaigns; At the Battle of Germantown he was amongst the foremost in the field and received a Wound in his knee, by which he was disabled some short time; he received a Wound in North Carolina by a Bayonet through his right foot, which altho not in Battle was also in the service of his Country, and through the effects of which he frequently suffers considerable pain when walking, even at this distant time.2 In addition to the above your Petitioner begs leave to mention, that the sacrafices of his family in the cause of America both in persons and property were very great during the Revolution; that he lost two Brothers one of which died a Prisoner on board of a British Prison Ship at New York, and the other was killed by the Refugees in Delaware bay;3 That his Aged father whose confidence and zeal in the public cause induced him to call in and receive his monies (then on Interest) in depreciated Continental Currency, in order to lend the same to the public, by which he is now at a very Advanced Age reduced from a state of Affluence, almost to poverty,4 And by reason of which Your Petitione⟨r⟩ was obliged shortly after the Peace to sacrafice his hard earned Certificates at a Loss of eight hundred Pounds, to support his family and enter into business; that he has now a Wife and rising family of Children,5 and but in very moderate circumstances; that the most of the facts above stated as well as your Petitioners Capacity and abilities to serve the aforesaid Office, are known to the Senators in Congress from the State of Delaware, who he hopes will be good enough to inform you on that head.6 Your Petitioner therefore rests his case with you, and as it is the first Office of profit he hath ever sought after under the Government of the United States, he hopes it may be consistent with your Judgment to grant the Prayer of his Petition, which is, that you may be pleased to appoint him to fill the vacancy in the Office of Collector of the Customs for the District of Delaware, and Your Petitioner as in duty bound will ever acknowledge the favour.7
Caleb P. Bennett
ALS, DLC:GW.
Born in Chester County, Pa., Caleb Prew Bennett (1758–1836) moved to Wilmington, Del., as a young boy. In 1776, he served as a private and then a sergeant in a state artillery regiment. In April 1777, he received a commission as an ensign in the Delaware Regiment. Bennett rose to the rank of captain and served until the end of the war. After the war, he operated a public ferry on the Christina River and subsequently engaged in the shipping trade. After running an inn in New Castle, Del., Bennett began his political career in 1807 with his election as New Castle County treasurer, an office he held for twenty-six years. A major of artillery in the Delaware militia during the War of 1812, Bennett served as governor of Delaware from 1833 until his death.
1. Bennett wrote the year as “1796.” However, his reference in the opening of the letter to the death of George Bush, the Delaware customs collector who had died on 2 Feb. 1797, dates the letter to 1797 (see Jacob Broom to GW, 4 Feb., and n.1).
2. Bennett’s summary of his Revolutionary War service corresponds with the slightly more detailed account provided in his 1818 pension claim. In that claim, he mentioned his knee wound, which occurred at the Battle of German-town, Pa., on 4 Oct. 1777. According to the claim, he received another wound “in the foot, on the Pee-Dee River in North Carolina in August 1780, the schars of which” his “shattered frame still exhibits.” The latter injury occurred in the August 1780 Camden, S.C., campaign, during which the Delaware Regiment sustained heavy casualties (DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files).
3. Caleb’s brother may have died aboard the notorious British prison ship Jersey, which was moored for over three years during the Revolutionary War in Wallabout Bay, New York. Countless men died of sickness and mistreatment on that ship. At least five men with the surname of Bennett had been imprisoned on the Jersey, including a Joseph and a George Bennett. Caleb had two half brothers with those names: George (b. 1750); and Joseph, Jr. (born c.1751), who married in 1780 (see , 246–53, 449, 452; see also American Pioneer Records and The Boone Bulletin 1 [1930]: 126). The name of Bennett’s other brother, who was killed along Delaware Bay, has not been identified, but it may have been Abijah or Jacob, two of his other half brothers.
Bands of Loyalist refugees led raids along Delaware Bay from the latter 1770s until the close of the war. These raids involved property despoliation and the taking of prisoners (see Harold B. Hancock, The Loyalists of Revolutionary Delaware [Newark, 1977], 60–96).
4. Bennett’s father was Joseph Bennett (1719–1808), a former shipping merchant.
5. In 1792, Bennett married Catherine Britton (1768–1838), a daughter of Richard Britton of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. By the end of 1797, their children included Samuel Britton (1793–1866), Elizabeth (Eliza) (1795–1877), and Caroline (1797–1822).
6. No letters to GW about Bennett from John Vining or Henry Latimer, U.S. senators from Delaware, have been found. Vining and others had been recommended for the post of customs collector for the District of Delaware (see Broom to GW, 4 Feb.; see also William Vans Murray to GW, 8 Feb., and n.2 to that document).
7. No reply to Bennett from GW has been found. GW soon appointed Allen McLane as customs collector for the District of Delaware (see GW to McLane, 27 Feb., and n.1 to that document; see also GW to the U.S. Senate, 27 Feb., n.2 to that document).