From George Washington to Mrs. Jeremiah Duggan, 4 September 1779
To Mrs. Jeremiah Duggan
Head Quarters West-point 4th Sepr 1779.
Madam.
I sincerely wish it was in my power to give you that satisfaction which you have desired relative to Mr Duggan your husband. My inquiries have been able only to ascertain his going to St Eustatius, but under what circumstances I am altogether uninformed.
In looking over the resolves of Congress I find several sums voted Mr Duggan under the description of supplies and services, all in the year 1776, amounting in the whole to 1584 Dollars—But I cannot say whether he is entitled to more, or if he has completed his demands on the States.1
Wishing you such accounts from him as may be perfectly satisfactory, I am Madam your most hble sert.
Df, in James McHenry’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. The draft is addressed to “Mrs. Duggan—Albany.”
1. The words “before he sail’d from America” are crossed out at the end of the paragraph. For Congress’s grants of money to Jeremiah Duggan for his “services in the Cause of the United Colonies in Canada” and to settle accounts he had accrued earlier in the war by supplying the army in Canada at his own expense, see 4:174, 238–39, 5:642, 672, and 6:978. In September 1777, on Duggan’s behalf, Congress had also voted to give his wife $300, on account of Duggan’s arrears of pay. Later, in October 1777, Congress ordered the treasurer to advance $200 to Mrs. Duggan on account of her husband’s pay as a major commandant ( 8:728, 9:826; see also 7:105, 107, 8:713, 9:1011). Early in the war, Duggan had assisted the American forces in Canada, and Congress had authorized him to raise a corps of rangers in Canada ( 4:239).