General Orders, 24 October 1779
General Orders
Head-Quarters Moores House [West Point]
sunday Octr 24th 79.
Parole Bermuda— C. Signs Bergen. Berne.
Lieutenant Colonel Williams is appointed to super-intend the hospital in Albany—He will apply at the Orderly-Office for instructions.1
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
A record in GW’s expense book on this date indicates a purchase of “2 sticks twist [tobacco] for the Genl” (household account book, 11 April 1776–21 Nov. 1780, DLC:GW, ser. 5, vol. 28).
GW’s aide-de-camp Richard Kidder Meade wrote Lt. Col. Edward Carrington from headquarters on this date: “His Excellency rec’d your favor respecting the supply of Cloathing for Capt. [William] Browns Company, though, the return you mention was omitted. If you will be pleased to forward it, the order you request will be granted” (DLC:GW).
1. GW apparently is referring to John Williams, who was replaced as superintendent of the hospital at Albany in the general orders for 22 November.
John Williams (1752–1806) trained as a doctor in England and settled in present-day Washington County, N.Y., about 1773. He became active in state politics and held the rank of colonel in the militia. Extortion charges leveled against Williams in 1778 clouded his service record (see Ebenezer Clark to George Clinton, 18 May 1778; John Barns and Alexander Webster to Clinton, both 19 May 1778; and Williams to Clinton, 8 June 1778, in 3:320, 329–32, 429–32). Williams subsequently resumed his political career, won several elections to the New York legislature, and served in Congress as a representative from 1795 to 1799.