General Orders, 17 April 1780
General Orders
Head Quarters Morristown April 17th 1780
Parole Mexico Countersigns Nile, Otway—
[Officers] Of the Day Tomorrow[:] Brigadier General Hand[,] Lieutenant Colonel Conway[,] Brigade Major Hand’s Brigade
Four Battalions to be paraded on the Grand parade tomorrow morning 9 o clock at which time Colonels Johnson Courtlandt Ogden and Jackson;1 Lieutenant Colonels Barber Smith Harmar and Huntington and Major Fish are to attend.
General St. Clair’s Division to give 6 Capts. 18 Sub. 26 Serjts 288 P[rivates;] General Hands Brigade to give 2 Capts 4 Sub. 4 Serjts 48 P[rivates;] General Stark’s Brigade to give (Blue and red) 2 Capts. 4 Sub. 4 Serjts 48 P[rivates;] General Maxwell’s Brigade to give 3 Capts. 10 Sub. 13 Serjts 144 P[rivates;] General Stark’s Brigade to give (Blue and Buff) 2 Capts. 3 Sub. 4 Serjts 48 P[rivates;] General Clinton’s Brigade to give 5 Capts. 13 Sub. 17 Serjts 192 P[rivates].2
After Orders
At a General Court martial of the Line whereof Colonel Livingston is President3 the 10th instant; Mr Randall state Clothier from the State of Maryland appeared before the Court charged with “Unofficerlike behavior in distributing the cloth sent up by the State of Maryland for the use of her Officers in an unjustifiable partial manner in consequence of which many officers are injured.”
The Court having fully and maturely considered the charge against Mr Randall and the Evidence do Acquit him with Honor.
The Commander in Chief approves the opinion of the Court.
Mr Randall is released from Arrest.4
Varick transcript, DLC:GW, ser. 3, subseries G, letter book 5; Varick transcript, DLC:GW, ser. 3, subseries G, letter book 4.
1. Col. Henry Jackson commanded an Additional Continental Regiment and was on duty at the Morristown winter encampment.
2. These four battalions prepared for the visit of French minister La Luzerne (see GW to Jedediah Huntington, 20 April, and the source note to that document).
GW’s aide-de-camp Richard Kidder Meade wrote Brig. Gen. Henry Knox from headquarters at Morristown on this date, Monday: “As it is probable Eight or Ten thousand blank Cartridges may be wanted by Thursday, His Excellency has desired me to request you will be pleased to have them ready by that time. …
“P.s. You will also be pleased to have eight light Field pieces in readiness to manœuvre with the Troops” (DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 29214).
3. GW had authorized this court-martial in the general orders for 9 April.
4. For the complaints of Maryland officers that led to this court-martial, see General Orders, 19 March, source note.
Col. Otho Holland Williams had written GW’s secretary Robert Hanson Harrison on 22 March: “Mr Randall Clothier of the state of Maryland is arrested by Coll Gunby for a Partial distribution of state Clothing[.] He cannot do the necessary buisiness as Agent of Stores ’till he is try’d the Genl Co[urt]s M[artia]l cannot do it soon and if His Excellency will permit me I will Write Genl Gist to order a Divn genl Cos. Ml to sit for the purpose” (DLC:GW). Harrison replied to Williams on the same date: “I have communicated Your Note to His Excellency. The General thinks that Mr Randall cannot with propriety be tried by a Court Martial of the State line, as the matter for which he is arrested, implies that there may be a dispute among the Officers. Indeed He knows that there is a disagreement among them upon the occasion” (DLC:GW).