From George Washington to Colonel John Lamb, 13 August 1778
To Colonel John Lamb
Head Qrs [White Plains] August the 13th 1778
sir
I have been favoured with your Letter of ⟨yes⟩terday.
A Board of Officers cannot sit at this time upon the point in question between you and Colo. Harrison; but you may be assured, that as soon as circumstances will permit, I will order One, as there is nothing that I wish for more than an adjustment of disputes about rank. In the mean while I request, that you will transmit me a full state of your claim, that I may lay it before the Board when they meet, with such other papers as may be nec⟨e⟩ssary upon the occasion.1 I am sir Your Most Obedt servant
Go. Washington
LS, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s writing, NHi: Lamb Papers; DF, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. On 15 Aug., Lamb wrote New York delegate to Congress Francis Lewis for “a Copy of the Resolve of Congress, in regard to the raising Colonel [Charles] Harrisson’s Regiment; and also the Resolve, respecting the raising the Continental Artillery; and whether Colo. Harrison’s Regiment, was at first ordered to be raised as a State Regiment … or for the Continental Service” (NHi: Lamb Papers). When GW’s aide-de-camp Robert Hanson Harrison wrote Lamb on 27 Aug., “His Excellency desires to know whether you are ready to lay your claim before a Board of Officers, The situation of the Army will allow one to sit at this time,” Lamb evidently replied that he had not obtained the resolutions, for Harrison wrote Lamb again on 28 Aug. to inform him that he could see the relevant resolutions at headquarters (both letters, NHi: Lamb Papers). The board of officers, which GW instructed on 11 Sept. and which met on 15 Sept., ranked Lamb above Harrison but Harrison’s regiment above Lamb’s (see General Orders, 15 Sept.).