To George Washington from Brigadier General Mordecai Gist, 26 October 1780
From Brigadier General Mordecai Gist
Baltimore 26 Octr 1780
Dear sir
I left Hillsborough the 24th Ult. in pursuance to the Orders of Major General Gates, a Copy of Which I have the Honor to enclose you.1
on my Arrival at Annapolis I found the extra Regiment raised by this state had been detain’d there some time for want of necessary Clothing &c. to equip them for the March; they are since furnish’d, and began their March Yesterday. a Return of the Regiment is herewith enclosd.2 Captain Beatty with 75 Rank & file marchd from Annapolis the 22d Instant,3 those are in part of our quota—no more Recruits are raised in this state—The Assembly are now sitting & without doubt will adopt some plans to compleat their Line. I shall give my Constant attendance during the sessions and will make you acquainted with every occurrence necessary for your Information.4 I have the Honor to be With perfect Respect & Esteem Yr Excellency’s Mo. Obdt Servant
M: Gist
ALS, PHi: Gratz Collection; copy (signed), MdHi: Gist Papers.
1. The enclosed instructions from Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates to Gist, dated 15 Sept., relayed GW’s order “that the Supernumerary Officers of the Maryland Line, should be sent Forthwith to their State, to Receive, Discipline, and Equip, the Quota of Continental Troops Raised & to be Rais’d in Maryland. You will please to proceed without Delay to Annapolis, and acquaint his Excellency Governor Lee, that you are the General, Appointed to Command and Execute that Service” (DLC:GW; see also Gates to GW, 3 Sept., and n.6).
2. The enclosed return “of the Maryland Regiment Extraordinary,” dated 25 Oct., lists 228 “Rank & File” out of 339 as “Present fit for Duty” (DLC:GW; see also GW to Thomas Sim Lee, 6 Sept.).
3. William Beatty, Jr. (1758–1781) became a Maryland militia ensign in June 1776 and a lieutenant in the 7th Maryland Regiment that December. Promoted to captain in September 1778, Beatty died on 25 April 1781 during the battle of Hobkirk’s Hill in South Carolina.
4. GW replied to Gist from Passaic Falls on 13 Nov.: “I have recd your favor of the 26th ulto with a Return of the Maryland additional Regiment, and a Copy of General Gates’s instructions to you. You will, I presume before this reaches you, have seen Major General Greene, in his way to take the command of the southern Army, and will have received from him such further directions as he may have thought necessary.
“I shall be glad of a line from you, from time to time, informing me of the progress of raising and forwarding the Recruits” (LS, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, MdHi: Gist Papers; Df, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW). Gist replied to GW on 24 Nov. (DLC:GW).