George Washington Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-19-02-0439

To George Washington from William Deakins, Jr., 8 March 1796

From William Deakins, Jr.

Geo. Town [D.C.] March 8th 1796

Sir

The bearer Colo. John Lynn wishes an Appointment to some Office in the Western territory, he has a growing family and thinks he can better provide for them by removing to that Country, I have been long Acquainted with him & know him to be a man of firmness & great Integrity and will have Influence wherever he is best known.1 I was in Alligany County in the begining of the late Western Insurrection when parties there was Strong in favor of the Insurgents, but the firm & Spirited Conduct of Colo. Lynn Aided by Colo. Cresap,2 Checked the party opposed to Government & produced Confidence & good Order in that County—he will be a Valuable Citizen to settle in a New Country under the Government of the United States—I am with Great Respect Sir Your Obt Servt

Will. Deakins Junr

ALS, DLC:GW.

1Lynn, who had been recommended in former Maryland governor Thomas Johnson’s letter to GW of 3 Jan., also was recommended to GW by current governor John Hoskins Stone in a letter of 8 March, and by federal marshal Nathaniel Ramsay in a letter of 10 March. Stone wrote that Lynn “was an Officer in the Maryland troops during the late war with Great Britain and served with reputation, he has since commanded a Battalion in the late Western expedition against the Insurgents—as I have known him long & know him well, I shall not hesitate to say that I can recommend him as a man of Virtue & real worth” (ALS, DLC:GW). Ramsay wrote that Lynn was “possessed of every necesary qualification to fill that important Office. He served through the war with great reputation as an Officer, and since his return to private life his conduct has been such as has rendered him equally conspicuous as a Citizan. The decided part he took in favor of Government in the late western insurrection had a very happy and powerfull effect in his County” (ALS, DLC:GW).

2Daniel Cresap, Jr. (1753–1794), who served as a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War, was a colonel of Allegany County, Md., militia who died while returning from the Whiskey Insurrection campaign.

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