771To George Washington from George Davis, 1 August 1789 (Washington Papers)
My friends have advised me to offer myself a candidate for the office of Marshall or Sheriff of New Jersey. I⟨n⟩ conformity with their advice, & in pursuance of my own inclination to Serve under the present Goverment in any reputable Station I take the Freedom of requesting that you will, Sir be pleased to put my name in Nomination for the Above office; I could easily procure a Number of...
772To George Washington from Colonel Henry Knox, 21 April 1776 (Washington Papers)
Agreable to your Excellencys Instructions I tarried at Cambridge ’till all the Ordnance & Stores in my department were on the way to this place, which to my great mortification was not till the 14th instant—The detention was owing to the Zeal of the General Assembly which promis’d more than their activity could perform —In my passing thro’ Providence Governor Cook & a number of the principal...
773To George Washington from Major General Philip Schuyler, 31 August 1775 (Washington Papers)
I arrived here last night and Immediately renewed my orders for Sending you the lead (my former ones having not come to hand) It will leave Crown point this Afternoon and be forwarded without Loss of Time to you. Gen: Montgomery leaves Crown point to day with twelve hundred Men, and four twelve pounders, I follow him this Evening and have ordered the whole Strength I can Spare to Join me at...
774To George Washington from François-Joseph-Paul, comte de Grasse-Tilly, 7 October 1781 (Washington Papers)
Il y a actuellement prés de Votre Excellence, deux officiers dont le merite, les connoissances et l’esprit, m’ont forcé a les distinguer, sur le nombre qui se trouve sous mes ordres. Ils n’ont d’autres instructions de ma part que celle de voir avec Votre Excellence, tout ce qui sera possible de faire exécuter à l’armée. Ils connoissent tous les deux, mais plus particulierement encore M. de la...
775To George Washington from Colonel Alexander Martin, 7 November 1777 (Washington Papers)
The within Proceedings of the Board of Officers of the N. Carolina Brigade I approve of, and do recommend the Gentlemen Officers within named—both from their Rank & Merit, to your Excellency, to fill the Vacancies aforesaid. ALS , DNA : RG 93, Revolutionary War Records, North Carolina. Beneath Martin’s letter GW’s secretary Robert Hanson Harrison summarized the promotions of four field...
776To George Washington from the Portsmouth Committee of Safety, 9 October 1775 (Washington Papers)
We are honoured with your Excellency’s Letter of the 5th Instant a full Answer to which we shall forward as soon as we have consulted the Provincial Committee of Safety which setts tomorrow, the Letters and Papers received by the Prince George We forward by Dr Jackson. I am with due respect By Order of the Comtee of safety Sir Your Excellency’s Most Obedient Humble Servt The Bill of Lading &...
777To George Washington from John Eager Howard, 21 June 1790 (Washington Papers)
I had the honor to receive your Excellencys letter of the 25th march with a medal ordered to be struck by the late Congress. my only object in the late war was to render any service in my power in the common cause, and my only hope of reward was that my conduct might meet the approbation of my Country; the obliging manner in which you are pleased to communicate this mark of approbation which...
778To George Washington from Jeremiah Olney, 3 September 1782 (Washington Papers)
I have the Honor to acquaint your Excellency, that in a Flagg of Truce Granted a few days Since Mrs Johnson a Refugee Lady from New York & Resident of Monmouth County, was permitted to pass to the Enemy’s Guard Ship—She having a pass port from his Excellency Govr Livingston to go into New York, but it being not of her power to obtain permission for that purpose, She Return’d this day in a...
779To George Washington from Major General John Sullivan, 22 September 1778 (Washington Papers)
The Enemy are Still Silent I have no news of the Fleet all the news of this Quarter is in the paper which I have the honor to Inclose. I am Dear General with much Respect & Esteem yr Excellenceys most obedt Servant ALS , DLC:GW . The enclosed newspaper has not been identified. Sullivan apparently had already sent GW a copy of the most recent issue of the Providence Gazette; and Country Journal...
780To George Washington from Jacob Read, 13 August 1798 (Washington Papers)
A desire to fulfill the Wishes & to further the Veiws of a Friend who I most Sincerely Esteem and who I believe possesses much of your good opinion must be my appology for troubling you with the present Letter—In doing so I cannot omit the pleasing opportunity of offering you my most Sincere respects & good Wishes, and of expressing to you the happiness I felt on receiving the Intelligence of...
781To George Washington from John Woddrop, 16 September 1784 (Washington Papers)
I having done myself the honour for to write to your Excellency on the 27th of July the last year, and to transmit along therewith a list of the different Manufacturies in the linen branch of bussiness in Scotland, and as I did do so with a vow to be of some use to the States of America, and also to serve the Mississippi Company, of which Company my brother Robert Woddrop, late factor &...
782To George Washington from Pierre-François de Bois, 5 Sept. 1779 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found : from Pierre-François de Bois, 5 Sept. 1779. On 27 Sept., GW wrote de Bois: “I have received Your Letter of the 5th Instant.”
783To George Washington from Guy Carleton, 24 April 1783 (Washington Papers)
It is with great satisfaction that I receive notice, by your letter of the 21st instant, of arrangements being taken for the immediate release of the prisoners, and I am to acknowledge with thanks the different options you have been pleased to give me as to the more convenient execution of this measure; but considering the quantity of tonnage necessary for the evacuation of this place, and...
784To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 15 May 1778 (Washington Papers)
Permit me to congratulate you on the passing a Resolution for a Kind of Establishment at this late Hour It is not what you wished but it may do You must pardon a little to the Republicanism of our Ideas. What is a little extraordinary there was no Dissentient State and only two Individuals Yet no Measure hath ever been more severely contested. We shall now go thro the Regimental & other...
785To George Washington from William Livingston, 10 October 1777 (Washington Papers)
your Excellency’s Letter of the 8th Instant respecting the Enemy’s Movements up the North River is truly alarming; nor shall I be wanting to use every Mean in my Power towards procuring all the assistance which this State can afford to oppose their Attempts. But the Necessity of such assistance being speedily procured, (and must if it is to answer any purpose) & the dilatoriness unavoidably...
786To George Washington from Sussex County, Va., Citizens, 12 August 1795 (Washington Papers)
At a numerous and respectable meeting of the inhabitants of Sussex County in the State of Virginia on Wednesday the 12th day of August 1795 for the purpose of investigating the proposed Treaty of Amity, commerce and navigation between his Britannic majesty and the United States of America, Citizen William Massenburg was unanimously chosen chairman and Citizen Michael Bailey Secretary to the...
787To George Washington from Giuseppe Chiappe, 31 August 1791 (Washington Papers)
Extiment de mon devoir La continuation a Vôtre Excellence de Toutes Les Novelles de cet Royaume particullierement sur ce qu’il peut servir de gouvernement aux Venerables Etats, J’ai L’haute honneaur de Les umillier a V.E. & dans Le même temps de supliquer tres humblement vouloir m’honnorer de ⟨ illegible ⟩ ordres tres respectables ⟨ illegible ⟩ Toutes mes humbles precedentes pour me...
788To George Washington from Hampden-Sydney College Committee, 6 April 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your benevolent intention, as to the appropriation of your interest in the James River Canal Company, being known by a resolution of the last General Assembly of this State; a Board of the Trustees for the College of Hamden Sidney, in this County, have appointed us, in their name, to address you, Sir, in behalf of that seminary. Hamden Sidney lays claim to considerable local advantages; to...
789To George Washington from William Jackson, 15 January 1783 (Washington Papers)
I am honored with your Excellency’s letters of the 3rd and 8 instant—The Post did not arrive until this morning. I shall address Congress on the subject of additional subsistence money to be allowed the Officers of the Cavalry in consideration of their keeping more servants without arms than those of the Infantry—until their decision is had, which I am persuaded will be conformable to the...
790To George Washington from Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, 19 November 1777 (Washington Papers)
The Light Infantry who were Encamped on the Right between third & fourth Street have Struck their tents this morning—their Picquets are drawn in—we took possession of the Advanced Redoubt made of Rails when they Vacated this day—I am just proceeding along the line to the left—they have turned out the Guards from a house near the City with a few of their Horse but don’t seem Inclined to...
791To George Washington from Cumberland County Convention, 8 November 1775 (Washington Papers)
The petition of the Delegates for the several Towns in the County of Cumberland met in Convention Humbly Sheweth That in consequence of the Distruction of the Town of Falmouth on the 18th Ult., this Convention met on the 31st of the same Month and continued by Adjournments to this Day, To consider of the most practicable and eligable ways to Defend this County. and also this part of the...
792To George Washington from William Lord Stirling Alexander, 21 September 1782 (Washington Papers)
I have had the honor to receive your Excellencys Letter of the 18th Instant—that part of my letter of the 11th Instant relative to the boundaries between Canada and The United States must have been misunderstood, for I had not the most distant idea of an attempt of that kind under our present circumstances, it was only meant to give my idea’s of some consequential points that should hereafter...
793From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, 23 December 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, December 23, 1790. Discusses qualifications of various candidates who have been recommended for the appointment as “Keeper for the Light-house at Portland in the District of Maine.” LC , George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
794To George Washington from Henry Knox, 27 February 1787 (Washington Papers)
My last to you was on the 22d instant, in which I stated my apprehensions respecting the proposed disfranchisement in Massachusetts. I did not mean to find fault with the measure. I am persuaded circumstances have rendered it necessary, and proper. But any rigorous chastisement of the rebels, will enflame them and render it right and expedient for the government to provide for its own safety...
795To George Washington from Major General Benedict Arnold, 12 September 1780 (Washington Papers)
Last Night I had the Honor to receive Your Excellency’s Favor of Yesterday inclosing a Copy of a Council of War held the 6th. I will endeavour agreeable to Your Excellency’s request, to transmit my Opinion, on the Matters submitted by the Time required: I sincerely wish the Situation of our Affairs would admit my giving it with more Decission, than I am able to do at present. The Order...
796To George Washington from Benjamin Hawkins, 20 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
There being a proba[bi]lity that an accommodation of our differences with the Northwestern Indians is to be effected by treaty in the course of the expected negotiations with them: Or their enmity placed in so strong a point of view, as to endure a general acquiescence in the measures, which must of necessity be persued, by the government, to compell them to embrace such equitable terms, as...
797To George Washington from Thomas McKean, 27 April 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have an ambition to take a share in Your Excellency’s administration, and know of no line in which I can render so good service as in the judicial department. Having expressed this, it will, I trust, not be deemed indelicate in me to give a short account of myself & my studies. I was born in Chester county in this State, and having been instructed for seven years in the latin and greek...
798To George Washington from La Luzerne, 15 February 1785 (Washington Papers)
The Marquis de la Fayette has delivered to me the letters of your Excellency and I am extreemely flattered by this mark of your attention and of your remembrance. I have executed your commissions near his Majesty and the Royal family, and the King is concerned that your domestic affairs deprive him of the satisfaction to see a man, whose talents and virtues have procured the hapiness of his...
799To George Washington from Elias Dayton, 27 May 1783 (Washington Papers)
I enclose to your Excellency a note which I have received from the paymaster general with respect to a permission for Captains Ogden & Dayton to be absent for the purpose of procuring their vouchers & Accounts for settlement. I would wish to know whether it is your Excellency’s pleasure that they be permitted to go to Jersey for this purpose. I can assure your Excellency that I am fully...
800To George Washington from Lieutenant Robertson Duncanson, 21 April 1780 (Washington Papers)
I beg your Excellency will be pleased to excuse the liberty I take in addressing you, but particular bussiness of a private nature which I had not an opportunity of negotiateing at New York before I was made Prisoner, and that now requires my personal attendance there, induces me most earnestly to request your Excellencys permission to go in upon Parole of honor for any space of time your...
801To George Washington from Peter Trenor, 26 October 1794 (Washington Papers)
I take the Liberty of annexing you Duplicate of what I had the Honour of writing your Excellency 9 May last —As Mr Pollock is at so great a distance from Mount Vernon & Philadelphia, he thinks ’tis my best mode to Employ a friend either in Baltimore or Philadelphia to wait on your Excellency—in consequence, have desired Mr Pollock to hand over all the Papers relative to Mrs. savages affairs to...
802To George Washington from Samuel Phillips, Jr., 8 February 1783 (Washington Papers)
In the Year 1779 the enemy made a lodgement on the banks of Penobscot river about an hundred miles west of the eastern bounds of this Commonwealth—a post too beneficial to them and too dangerous to the safety of this, and the other States in the Union to suffer us to remain in different, passive observers of their measures. Pursuing the same vigilant and determined spirit, which first induced...
803To George Washington from Brigadier General John Paterson, 4 December 1777 (Washington Papers)
The bad State of our Army at present, destitute of Clothing and many other Necessaries the Necessity of its being reunited this Winter that we may be superior to Mr How in the Spring induces me to give my Opinion in favour of going to Winter Quarters. The Attack on Philadelphia, from the best Knowledge I can obtain of the Strength of their Works I must think wou’d fail, the Consequences of...
804To George Washington from John Augustine Washington, 11 May 1777 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from John Augustine Washington, 11 May 1777. GW wrote his brother Jack on 1 June : “I think I stand Debter to you for your Letters of the 22d of April and 11th of May.”
805To George Washington from Capel & Osgood Hanbury, 20 June 1768 (Washington Papers)
We have now before us thy favor of 5th May the contents of which are duly noticed—The Insurce on the 10 Hhds Tobacco belonging to J. P. Custis on board the Hanbury shall be made —inclos’d is our Letter to him left open for thy perusal to which refer respecting the state of his Account under our care —If at any time thee should have Tobacco to spare, we should be oblig’d to thee for thy...
806To George Washington from the Commissioners for Indian Affairs, 5 June 1779 (Washington Papers)
Your Excellency’s Letter of the 28th covering the Acts of Congress of the 17th & 22d we had the Honor to receive Yesterday. The Line of Conduct which your Excellency points out as necessary to be observed with the Indians meets our entire Approbation. We shall immediately try to engage the Onondagas to bring off Brandt and Butler. If any Exchange of prisoners should take place your Directions...
807To George Washington from George Clinton, 24 November 1793 (Washington Papers)
I have recently received a Letter from the Secretary of War dated the 12th and also another dated the 13th Instant in Answer to mine of the 8th of September last. On recurring to my Correspondence with the Minister of France a Copy of which was enclosed in that letter it will appear that my Object was to procure the departure of the privateers Petit Democrat and Carmagnole Agreeably to your...
808To George Washington from Harry Innes, 5 December 1789 (Washington Papers)
I have the hono’r to acknowledge the receipt of your very polite Letter of the 30th of September with the several papers therein inclosed, permit me sir to return my most grateful thanks for the attention paid & the hono’r confered on me by the supreme Executive of the United States. The Office of Judge is of the first Magnitude, and when I reflect on its importance & my own imbecility it is...
809To George Washington from Charles Little, 15 December 1786 (Washington Papers)
I would have complyed with my promise: given your Execellencey; before this time, but have been from home for several days. I have now colected all the papers; and accounts which relate to Colo. Thos Colvile’s; affairs[.] them with a Bond of Sidney Georges, which I found amongst John Colvils, papers, I have Inclosed you. I have The Honour to be with due respect your Excellency’s Very Humble...
810To George Washington from James Ross, 2 February 1798 (Washington Papers)
In consequence of your letter of the 22d Ulto I lodged your bonds in the Bank of Pennsylvania & received the enclosed receipt, so that in future there will be no difficulty when the debtors offer money to the Bank. Your lands on the Kenhawa are well sold if the purchaser is an industrious & wealthy man. Altho the lands are certainly of the first quality & the credit very considerable, yet I...
811To George Washington from George Mason, 21 August 1755 (Washington Papers)
I fully intended to have waited on You this Evening at Belvoir, but find myself so very unwell after my Ride from Court, that I am not able to stir abroad. I have taken the Liberty to inclose You two Bills for £300 . . . Ster: drawn by Mr Paymaster Genl Johnston on Colo. Hunter, & an Ordr on Govr Dobbs from his Son for £18.15. Ster: also a Letter for Colo. Hunter, & another for his Honr our...
812To George Washington from Edmund Randolph, 29 January 1794 (Washington Papers)
E. Randolph has the honor of informing the President, that he saw Judge Wilson yesterday, and Mr Madison last evening. The former, to whom E.R. took an occasion of bringing up the subject of the resolution of the senate in a general Shape, said, that what they might have, he thought, ought to be sent; and what they ought not to have, ought not to be sent. The latter expressed himself thus: “I...
813To George Washington from William Rawle, 6 July 1787 (Washington Papers)
I have the honor to transmit to you as President of the Convention, a resolve of the directors of the Library Company in this City. I am Sir with perfect respect your most obedient humble servant LS , DNA : RG 360, Records of the Federal Convention. William Rawle (1759–1836), who returned to Philadelphia from London in 1782 and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1783, became a member of...
814To George Washington from William Gordon, 30 March 1793 (Washington Papers)
When I wrote on the 8th of Feby last, I had no thought of addressing You so soon after. But the subject matter of my writing is of such importance, in my apprehension, that I could not decline doing it—& of that nature, that I choose not to submit it to the inspection of any but yourself, in whom I can confide for secrecy, in regard both to the writer & letter. I have lately learnt that some...
815To George Washington from Colonel Goose Van Schaick, 8 January 1780 (Washington Papers)
Pursuant to your Excellencys directions of the 28th of November last, the Oneida Indians are imployed in making Snowshoes, but by the last Account from Major Graham at present the Commanding Officer at Fort Schuyler, I am informed that not a Sufficient Quantity of Leather can be procured in that part of the Country to make one hundred & fifty pair, whatever their may fall short of the Number,...
816To George Washington from Edmond Atkin, 19 June 1757 (Washington Papers)
When the Swallows People came to Town this afternoon, with the Young French Officer their Prisoner, they came strait to my Lodgings, to pay their Compliment; and soon after carried him away to their own, to eat some Victuals, Hunger being uppermost in their Thoughts. In the Evening, before I would put you to the Trouble to attend (as I had determined to examine him then in the presence of...
817To George Washington from John Cochran, 25 March 1779 (Washington Papers)
I should not trouble your Excellency at this time, but am under Apprehensions that, my Absence may be attributed more to a Neglect of Duty, than any real Cause. When I came to this Place, on my Way from Boston to Head Quarters, I found Mrs Cochran so dangerously ill that I could not possibly leave her, but at the utmost risk of her Life, and am sorry to say that, her Circumstances are such...
818To George Washington from Edmund Randolph, 10 January 1795 (Washington Papers)
E. Randolph has the honor of sending to the President all the letters of consequence, written to Colo. Humphries concerning the Algerine Mission, since the last money was voted by congress. They are of the following dates. July 19. August 25, Novr 21 on the same sheet with a rough letter to Short—and Decr 31, 1794. It is observable too, that these letters were written, as soon as it was...
819To George Washington from Major General John Sullivan, 29 June 1779 (Washington Papers)
Extract of a Letter from Major General Sullivan dated Wyoming 29th June 1779. [“]I was this morning honored with your Excellencys favour (without date) Acknowledging the receipt of mine of the 12th coming to hand on the 19th Inst. I am happy to Inform your Excellency that thirty six of our boats have arrived this morning with Stores & that the provisions are in a much better Condition than...
820To George Washington from N. G., 22 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
While you receive the Congratulations of your fellow Citizens on the Anniversary of your Birth permit one who has long Admired both your Public and private Virtues to address you as a Character under God who has been a principal Instrument of bringing about the late Glorious and Happy revolution which is justly acknowledged to exceed any thing of the kind ever recorded in the Annals of time....