From George Washington to Captain George Baylor, 28 November 1775
To Captain George Baylor
Cambridge 28th Novr 1775
Dr Sir,
I forgot to desire you to hire Horses if more than those you carried should be wanted. & therefore I mention it by Captn Blewer.1 I should be glad if you could send on, & let me know a little before you come to Town—the Evening before if convenient.2 I wish you a pleasant and uninterupted Journey, & am Dr Sir Yr Obedt
Go: Washington
P.S. I forgot to give you Money before you went away but keep an Acct of your Expences & they shall be paid so soon as you return to Camp.3
ALS, (photocopy), NjP: Armstrong photostats; ALS, sold by Kende Galleries, Edward Ambler Armstrong Collection of Washingtonia, item 241, 1947. The cover is addressed “to George Baylor Esqr. on the Road.”
1. Joseph Blewer (1734–1789), a shipmaster from Southwark in Philadelphia County, was a member of the Pennsylvania provincial conference in 1775, the provincial convention in 1776, the state council of safety 1776–77, the state navy board 1777–78, and the general assembly 1779–80. In 1781 Blewer became a warden of the port of Philadelphia.
2. Baylor left Cambridge on 26 Nov. to meet Martha Washington and her traveling party at Norwalk, Conn., which he reached on 4 December. Mrs. Washington arrived at Cambridge on 11 December.
3. GW paid Baylor £21.5.8 on 29 Jan. 1776 for the expenses of this journey. See GW’s Account with the United States, June 1775–1 July 1783, p.9, DNA: RG 56, General Records—Treasury Department, and Baylor’s account of expenses to and from Norwalk, 26 Nov.—11 Dec. 1775, in Revolutionary Vouchers and Receipted Accounts, 1775–1783, DLC:GW. The latter document includes an itinerary of Baylor’s trip.