To George Washington from John Robinson, 16 November 1756
From John Robinson
Wmsburgh Novr 16. 1756
Dear Sir
I reced your Favours by the Express1 and am extremely sorry to find you are made so uneasy in your Duty; while you are venturing your Life and fortune for the good of your Country, to be aspersed and censured by a vile and Ignorant Scribler, I must confess is sufficient to raise the indignation of every Gent. of Spirit, and no Man can blame you for Shewing a proper Resentment at it, but my Dear Sir, as You justly observe in your Letter, consider of what fatal Consequence to your Country your resigning the Command at this time may be, more especialy as there is no doubt most of the Officers will follow your Example, and then our Frontiers must be left exposed to cruelties and Barbarities of our merciless Enemies, and therefore I hope you will allow your Ruling Passion, The Love of your Country, to stiffle your Resentment at least till the Arrival of Lord Loudon2 or the meeting of the Assembly when you may be sure of having Justice done You, who those of your pretended freinds are that give Credit to the Malicious Reflections in that Scandalous Libel—I assure you I am ignorant, and do declare that I never heard any Man of Honor or Reputation speak the least disrespectfully of you or censure your Conduct in the least, and I am sure there is no well wisher to his Country that would not be greatly concerned to hear of your resigning, and therefore I must repeat my wishes that you will continue still in the Command. I could not possibly get the money signed to dispatch to Mr Mercer3 before this day tho’ I have applied myself as closely as possible, considering the Multiplicity of Business I have been engaged in—I am with the greatest sincerity Dr Sir Your Afft. Freind & Servt
John Robinson
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. One of the “Favours” from GW probably was his long letter of 9 Nov., but this letter of Robinson’s was written largely either in response to a letter from GW to Robinson, not found, in which GW complained of the vilification of himself and his regiment in Virginia-Centinel No. X, or in response to the letter about No. X that GW sent in October to Augustine Washington for possible publication (see Augustine Washington to GW, 16 Oct. 1756). Robinson also may very well have received at this time from GW the address of the regimental officers directed to Robinson and the House of Burgesses, quoted in William Peachey et al. to GW, 12 Nov. 1756, n.5.
2. Ever since the arrival of John Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun, in New York in August 1756 to take command of the British forces in North America, the Virginians had expected a visit from the man who was also the new governor of the colony. Loudoun never came to Virginia, but GW saw him in Philadelphia in March 1757 when the commander in chief met with Dinwiddie and several other governors to plan the 1757 campaign in the south.
3. Capt. George Mercer (1733–1784) of the Virginia Regiment was a veteran of the Fort Necessity campaign and GW’s aide-de-camp from September 1755 until the end of May 1757 when he sailed with a detachment of the regiment for South Carolina. He went from Winchester to Williamsburg on 10 Oct. and had apparently recently returned. See Orders, 31 Oct. 1756.