To George Washington from Captain Samuel Bartlett, 4 March 1778
From Captain Samuel Bartlett
Camp Valley Forge March 4 1778
I would beg leave to acquaint your Excelency that by reason of the Fatigues of the Past Campaign I am Reducd to So low a State of Health that I am intirely unfit to do Duty in the Camp,1 and as it is very improbable that I Shall recover So long as I Continue in the Camp, must beg your Excelency to grant me a Discharge from the Service.2 Your Excelencys Granting my Request will much Oblige your most Obedt Humle Servt
Saml Bartlit Capt. in Col. Wessons Regt
ALS, DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 2390.
Samuel Bartlett (Bartlit; c.1746-1810), a native of Chatham, Conn., was living at Ashfield, Mass., by the beginning of the Revolutionary War. In 1775, he served with the rank of lieutenant in Col. John Fellows’s Massachusetts regiment. In January 1776, Bartlett was commissioned a captain in the 21st Continental Regiment. In January 1777, Bartlett became a captain in Col. James Wesson’s 9th Massachusetts Regiment. He served in that capacity until he was discharged from the army on 6 March 1778. In 1780, Bartlett and his family moved to Sunderland, Bennington County, Vt., where they resided until 1803, when Bartlett moved to Sheshequin (now Bradford County), Pennsylvania. Bartlett, who had five children, died in Sheshequin.
1. According to Bartlett’s 1792 pension application, his health had been “impaired by the fatigues and hardships he endured in defending Fort Stanwix, alias Fort Schuyler, when besieged by the British in 1777.” Bartlett’s pension application stated that his efforts to help defend Fort Schuyler during the unsuccessful British siege in August 1777 left him “Infirm and debilitated” and “incapable of acquiring subsistence” (both , 61, 119; see also Horatio Gates to GW, 28 Aug. 1777). Long after Bartlett’s death, his brother Elisha claimed that Bartlett had “returned home on account of ill health” in December 1777 (DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900).
2. Lt. Col. James Mellen of the 9th Massachusetts Regiment wrote the following statement beneath Bartlett’s signature: “This may Certify that the Above Capt. Bartlit of Col. Wessons Regt is not Indebted to the Continent for Publick money, and likewise has settled all Accounts in said Regiment as to Debts Due from him I would Recommend him to His Excellency for A Discharge Knowing him to be Unable to Endure the Fatiague of the Camp.”