George Washington Papers

General Orders, 4 April 1777

General Orders

Head-Quarters, Morristown April 4th 1777.

Parole: Princeton.Countersign: Putnam.

The detachments, commanded by Capts. O’Harra, Bicker, Talbot and Selin, to hold themselves in readiness (with two days provision) to march to morrow morning. They will receive their orders from Major Genl St Clair.1

Varick transcript, DLC:GW.

1Henry O’Hara was a captain in the 2d Canadian Regiment. Anthony Selin (d. 1792) was a captain in Ottendorf’s independent corps, and Jeremiah Talbot (d. 1791) was a captain in the 7th Pennsylvania Regiment. The fourth officer may be Victor Bicker, Jr., whom the New York committee of safety on 4 Dec. 1776 nominated lieutenant of marines for the frigate Congress at Esopus, N.Y. (see N.Y. Prov. Congress Journals description begins Journals of the Provincial Congress, Provincial Convention, Committee of Safety, and Council of Safety of the State of New-York, 1775–1776–1777. 2 vols. Albany, 1842. (Microfilm Collection of Early State Records). description ends , 1:734). Selin, who had been appointed a captain in Ottendorf’s corps by Congress on 10 Dec. 1776, continued in Continental service after that corps was broken up in April 1778, commanding his company as an independent entity until 1 Jan. 1781 when it was consolidated with the 2d Canadian Regiment. Selin remained in that regiment until the end of the war, and he was promoted to major shortly before his discharge. Talbot, who had been appointed a captain in the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment on 9 Jan. 1776 and in the 7th Pennsylvania Regiment on 15 Feb. 1777, became major of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment in September 1777. He retired from the army on 1 Jan. 1781.

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