To George Washington from Captain Samuel Booker et al., 22 August 1779
From Captain Samuel Booker et al.
Fort Mongomery [N.Y.] Augt 22d 1779
Your Excellen[c]yes Memoriallists truly Sensible of the Extraordinary hardships to which they are Expos’d from being orderd in December last from Middlebrook by the Commanding officers of thier Respective Regemts on command to Virga, with the troops Reinlisted in persuanece of your Excellencies orders,1 are compel’d hereby to present to your Excellencyes Consideration a true State of facts Vez, Several of your Excellencyes memoriallists consist of Subalterns whose pay is inconsiderable perticularly in the deprecated Situation of our currency, and the Exorbitant Expences that must necesarily arise from Such duty, Your Excellencies memoriallists aprehensive that they were Entitled to the benefit of a Certain Resolution of Congress, wherein is an allowance of three dollars $r day have made frequent aplication to the auditors office for the purpose of Settlement without Success,2 We are therefore obligd altho: with greatest Reluctency to appeal to your Excellency for Redress, assuring your Excellency two years pay would not Reimburse Some of us in the necesary Expenditures arising from about the twentieth of Decembr untill the latter End of april last which was the time of our Return, we Your Excellencies memoriallists therefore humbly Submit our Case to your consideration with full assurance that we can not pass unnotic’d, as the propriety of our Claim is so Evidently obvious.
Saml Booker Capt. 11th V. Rt
John Crittenden Lieut. 11th V. Rt
Thomas Fox Lt 6th V. R.
James Williams Capte 6th V. Regm.
Nathan Lamme Capt. 6th V. Rgt
David Williams Lieut. 7th Virga Regt
DS, DLC:GW.
Lt. John Crittenden enclosed this memorial in a letter to GW’s secretary Robert Hanson Harrison, dated 27 Sept. 1779 from the Light Infantry camp in New York: “Enclosed you will find a memorial adress’d to his Excellency Genl Washington which I neglected to deliver to you to day thro’ forgetfulness. “Pardon the Intrusion Sr of which I am guilty in writing you (as it is Occasiond by necessity). Thus far I can assure you that when on the within mentiond command for which I never Solicit’d any necessary Expenditures amounted to upwards of Eight Hundred dollars (To which Sum you are Sensible my pay is altogether Inadequate, Exclusive of the fatiagues to which I was Exposed, I Should not have troubled you at this time on the Occasion[)] but believing it to be necesary you Should peruse the within, Previous to writeing the Generals Woodford & Mughlenburg” (DLC:GW).
Samuel Booker (1755–1789), of Amelia County, Va., joined the 5th Virginia Regiment as a second lieutenant in November 1776. He transferred to the 15th Virginia Regiment as a first lieutenant in January 1777 and became a captain in August 1777. He retained that rank when the 15th Virginia Regiment was redesignated the 11th Virginia Regiment in September 1778. Booker was taken prisoner at Charleston, S.C., in May 1780 when the army defending that city surrendered to the British.
Thomas Fox received a commission as a second lieutenant in the 10th Virginia Regiment in December 1776 and became a first lieutenant in October 1777. When his regiment was redesignated the 6th Virginia Regiment in September 1778, Fox became commander of the major’s company. He was taken prisoner at Charleston, S.C., in May 1780 when the army defending that city surrendered to the British. After his exchange, Fox remained with the southern army in South Carolina and was wounded at the fighting at Quinby Bridge, S.C., in July 1781. He served until the close of the war.
Nathan Lamme (Lammé; c.1755–1834) joined the 10th Virginia Regiment as a second lieutenant in October 1776 and was promoted to first lieutenant in March 1777. He became a captain in December 1777 and transferred to the 6th Virginia Regiment in September 1778. He transferred to the 3d Virginia Regiment in February 1781, where he served to the close of the war. After the war, he moved to Greene County, Ohio.
David Williams received a commission as an ensign in the 11th Virginia Regiment in March 1777 and became a second lieutenant in July 1777. His regiment was redesignated the 7th Virginia Regiment in September 1778, and Williams received promotion to first lieutenant in July 1779. In February 1781, he transferred to the 3d Virginia Regiment, where he served to the close of the war.
2. The officers are probably referring to a resolution of Congress passed on 4 Sept. 1778 that provided for an allowance of three dollars per day to regimental officers who were ordered either by the Commander in Chief or the department commander to perform a duty deemed “not incidental” to their office and “distant from camp” ( 12:878).