To George Washington from James Duane, 21 May 1780
From James Duane
Philadelphia 21st May 1780 On publick Service
Sir
The enclosed Letter was delivered me after a very importunate personal Sollicitation.1 I have a very great Respect for Col. Shea, and a warm desire to serve every officer of distinguished Merit; At the same time that I am anxious to do no Violence to the Arrangements of the Army which have been brought into order with such infinite pains and under numberless Embarrasments. Under these Circumstances I promised Col. Shea to learn from your Excellency whether the promotion asked for Capt. McClean woud not be improper or irregular, and to give his Application Support if it coud be done consistent with the order of the Army;2 If your Excellency sees no Objection I shoud be glad of your Opinion accordingly.3 I have the Honour to be—with the utmost Regard—Sir your Excellency’s most Obedient humble Servant
Jas Duane
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Duane enclosed an undated letter to him from John Shee: “In consequence of your desire of being informd in writing, of Captain Allen McClean’s Situation; I take the liberty of letting you know, that he commands a body of Infantry annex’d to Major Lee’s independant Corps, consisting I believe of three Companies, of course a Field Officers Command. His standing in the Army, his merit, which is universally confess’d, added to the extensiveness of his command, gives him the fairest pretentions to rank, that whilst withheld may be construed as a Tacit condemnation of his Conduct; he has therefore requested a Majority from Congress, and as you have been pleas’d to express a readiness to serve Capt. McClean, & to consult General Washington on that head, I flatter myself you will not think me too importunate in the cause of a man of worth, when I beg, you will, as soon as possible, with convenience to yourself write the General on the Subject” (DLC:GW).
2. Capt. Allen McLane wrote Samuel Huntington, president of Congress, from Philadelphia on 8 May to assert that the increase of the infantry in Maj. Henry Lee, Jr.’s partisan corps to three companies “rendered a field officer necessary, every similar situation from the beginning of the war proves, that hitherto it has been always given—why it is denied in my case is matter of speculation, especially when the commandant of the corps declared his want of Assistance and his wish for the Necessary promotion. … It is a most mortefying disgrace to be at the head of a field officers command with the commission of a Captain. … I have no prospect of Justice but from Congress. … Should they think proper to pass me over I must submit to the disgrace it Involves, or retire from a service which my duty my inclination and my experience combine in commanding my adherence to” (DNA:PCC, item 78). In a letter of 20 May to Joseph Reed, president of the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, McLane had sought to be “comprehended by the State of pencelvania as one of their offisors” (, 1st ser., 8:258). For McLane’s previous unsuccessful appeals for promotion, see Lee to GW, 26 Jan. 1780, and n.1 to that document; and GW to Lee, 30 Jan., and to the Board of War, 9 April.