To George Washington from Brigadier General Enoch Poor, 3 January 1778
From Brigadier General Enoch Poor
Camp at the Valley Forge Jany 3d 1778
Sir
I would beg leave to recommend Major Henry Dearborn, who is the Eldest Major in the New Hampshire State, to fill the Vacancy made by Lieut Colonel Colburn of Colonel Scammell’s Regimt Killed the 19th Septemr last.—1
Enoch Poor, B. Genl
, 4:210. No reply to Poor from GW has been found, but this letter evidently contained the following notation: “Major Dearborn Commission’d.”
1. Service record summaries indicate that Maj. Henry Dearborn became lieutenant colonel of Col. Alexander Scammell’s 3d New Hampshire Regiment on 19 Sept. 1777, the date of Lt. Col. Andrew Colburn’s death (DNA: RG 93, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War). This suggests that Dearborn’s promotion was backdated.
In a letter to Colburn’s wife Phebe, dated “Northern Army Septr 22nd 1777,” Scammell announced that Colburn was killed during the first Battle of Saratoga, known as the Battle of Freeman’s Farm, “on the 19tnth Inst after being in battle 3 hours.” Scammell lauded Colburn’s “Bravery” and “good Conduct.” In a letter written from Boston on 17 Dec. 1817, Dearborn informed former Massachusetts congressman Artemes Ward, Jr., that he had become acquainted with Colburn’s widow “soon after his death, by making a settlement with her for his effects deposited in my hands as Majr of the Regt” (both in DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900).