To George Washington from Thomas Bullitt, 18 October 1755
From Thomas Bullitt
Alexandria Octobr 18th 1755
Sir
Having Recd your Orders Shall Comply with them[.]1 As to Sending Sub[alter]ns Commands up to you I see no Hopes of doing it for I have not Recd but two Men from any of the Recruiting officers Ordered to Rendevous at Alexandria Since Capt. Wagoners Departure.2 Mr Triplep has Recruited One man & I am Satisfied has bin at no Small Expence[.] I have about Ten men In Town Seven Whereof I Recruited I have Let my Brother3 have money to Recruit a Subn Command and shall be Greatly Oblig’d to you to Let me Know by the First Opertunity Whether there is any Hopes of his Giting an Ensigns or Lieuts. Commision, upon his Recruiting the Compliment of men In one Fortnight that is Ordered to be Rais’d by a Subn (or in any short time after he has Got th⟨illegible⟩ so I Expect Mr McCarty & he Will March in about a Fortnight with Thirty men I this Instant Furnish’d them with Money and sent them Rec[ruitin]g As to my Accts with the Country you was so Kind as to promise to Git them Settled with the Committed[.] I shall State them And by the First Opertunity Enclose them to you & Hoping youl Excuse me for giving you the Trouble of Giting them Settled I am with Respect your Most Obedient Humble Servt
Thos Bullitt
P.S. Sir If the Service will admit of My going to Wmburgh Shortly hope youl Give me Leave also to Go One Fortnight Recruiting as I am Satisfyed I Can Get Nigh thirty Men I am Yours &c.
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. On 8 Oct. GW ordered Capt. Thomas Waggener to bring up to Winchester all the men at Alexandria and the appropriate number of officers, leaving behind an officer to receive future recruits. On 10 Oct. GW instructed the “officer appointed to Receive Recruits at Alexandria” to send recruits up to Winchester in groups of 20 or 25 under the care of “a Subaltern or trusty Sergeant.” Six days later he ordered Capt. William Peachey to have the “next eldest Captain” at Alexandria march all of the recruits there up to Winchester; if there was no other captain at Alexandria, Peachey was to send Lieutenant Bullitt. Presumably, it is to these orders to Peachey that Bullitt was referring.
2. “Since Capt. Wagoners Departure” is inserted above the line, it is unclear whether it is the final clause of this sentence or the first clause of the one following.
3. Benjamin Bullitt (d. 1757) was a son of Benjamin Bullitt (1700–1766) of Fauquier County and younger brother of Lt. Thomas Bullitt of the Virginia Regiment. He served first as a cadet, or volunteer, in the regiment in 1756 and had become an ensign before he was killed by Indians in June 1757.