To George Washington from Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, 17 October 1777
From Brigadier General Anthony Wayne
Skippack [Pa.] 17th Octr 1777
Sir
Altho’ I am Confident that your time is Necessarily taken up on the most Important business—yet my own Honor and Charecter—Induces me to Request your perusual of the Enclosed Defence1—every part of which I have fully proved by Indubitable Evidence and however the Gentn who Composed the Courts of Enquiry may have Determined—yet so Concious am I of having done my Duty—that I am very Desirous of having my Conduct brought to the Decision of a Genl Court Martial—if the least doubt Remains on your Excellencies mind with Regard to it.
I don’t know what the Opinion of the Court was—nor have I any Copy of the Evidences—or my own Defence—excepting this which I beg may be Return’d.2 Interim I am your Excellenci[e]s most Obt Huml. Sert
Anty Wayne
ADfS, PHi: Wayne Papers.
1. This enclosure has not been identified, but see Wayne’s defense of his actions in his letter to GW of 22 October.
2. For the ambiguous opinion of the court of inquiry on Wayne’s conduct at Paoli on the night of 20–21 Sept. 1777, see General Orders, 11 Oct., n.1.