To George Washington from Lieutenant Colonel William Henshaw, 6 July 1776
From Lieutenant Colonel William Henshaw
Long Island [N.Y.] 6 July 1776. Asserts right to command a regiment. “In the present Campaign I was appointed a Lt Col., under Col. Little, which reduced the Rank I formerly held in the Service, & exposes me to be Commanded by many, who have been on Command under me. . . . I have no doubts in my Mind, Sir, but that you will take my Case into Consideration, and grant me the Rank I have heretofore held, when you can without injuring the Service, or doing injustice to others—Happy shall I esteem myself, when I can retire from the Service without Injuring the Cause, or dishonouring myself.”
ALS, enclosed in GW to Hancock, 14 Aug. 1776, DNA:PCC, item 152; copy, DNA:PCC, item 169.
William Henshaw (1735-1820), who had commanded a militia regiment from Worcester County, Mass., during the first weeks of the siege of Boston and had acted as adjutant general at Cambridge before Horatio Gates arrived on 9 July, was lieutenant colonel of Col. Moses Little’s 12th Massachusetts Regiment during 1776. Although Joseph Reed recommended Henshaw for advancement in his letter to John Adams of 4 July, Henshaw was not promoted, and he left the army in February 1777 (see
, 4:358–60).