To George Washington from Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Johnson, 24 March 1780
From Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Johnson
Springfield [N.J.] 24th March 80
Dear Sir,
as Capt. Josiah Lacey of the 5th Connecticut Regiment has mad[e] Application to me for Leave of Absence on account of the Destres’d Circumstances of his Family by reason of Sickness1 Considering the Late orders given by Your Excellency prohibiting Either Officer or Soldier to be absent on Furlough after the first of april next Consider my Selfe not authoris’d to grant him Leave of absence.2
but would Recommend him to Your Excellency for Leave of absence if Consistant with Your Excellencys pleasure.3 I am Sir with Sentiments of Esteem Your Excellencys most Obedient Humble Servt
Jonathan Johnson Lut. Colo. Comdat of 2d Brigade
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Josiah Lacey (c.1746–1812) served as a private in the Lexington Alarm during April 1775 and then as ensign of the 5th Connecticut Regiment from May to December of that year. He became ensign in a state regiment from June to December 1776 and captain in the 5th Connecticut Regiment in January 1777. Lacey resigned from the army in July 1780. In his letter to GW dated 18 July, Johnson urged Lacey’s discharge because of that officer’s long-standing discontentment over “the peculiar scituation of his domestic affairs, which at present are not less embarrassd” (DNA: RG 93, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, 5th Connecticut Regiment; see also GW to Johnson, 13 July, DLC:GW). The family sickness presumably involved Lacey’s wife, Judith, who died in 1780.
2. Johnson is referring to the general orders for 8 Dec. 1779; see also GW’s circular to major generals and officers commanding brigades, 22 Jan. 1780.
3. GW’s aide-de-camp Richard Kidder Meade replied to Johnson from Morristown on this date: “His Excellency has received your favor by Capt. Lacey, & has directed me to inform you that if the state of the Regt to which the Capt. belongs, will admit of his absence, that you may grant him a furlough” (DLC:GW). Johnson granted Lacey a furlough starting on 25 March.