To George Washington from Captain Thomas Wylie et al., 26 August 1780
From Captain Thomas Wylie et al.
Washington [Pa.] Augt 26th 1780
Hon’d sir
Far be it from us to regret, to have pass’d many more years in Obscurity at Washington near Carlisle; where we have been station’d these three years past (Officers of Col. Benjamin Flower’s Regiment of Artillery and Artificers) without a Murmur because we knew we were endeavouring to render every service in our Power to our Country.
But now we can no longer be silent but beg your Excellencies Notice. We behold a Campaign of Danger and Honour fast Approaching: we envy our Fellow Citizens and Officers who under your Excellency we hope with the blessing of God will be Crown’d with Success. We will think our selves particularly Obliged to be ordered by your Excellency immediately to Camp; there to convince our Brethren in the Army that it was not to screen our selves from the Field of Battle or for the Love of Gain that we accepted of Commissions of Artill⟨er⟩y and Artificers in the Armies of the United States of America. On the Contrary we expected before now to have been order’d to Camp. Our Soldiers are Able Bodied, brave Disciplined Troops, all of them enlisted for three Years, or during the War: One hundred or upwards with the Compliment of Officers are ready to March on the shortest Notice. we beg your Excellencys Patronage. We seem to be not only neglected, but forgot. Our Hearts burn with zeal for our cause and your Excellencies Success. If throwing our Mite into the Scale is worthy of Acceptance will peculirally Oblige your Excellencies most Obedt & very Humble Servts
LS, DLC:GW. No reply from GW has been found.
1. Thomas Wylie joined Col. Benjamin Flower’s regiment of artillery artificers as a captain lieutenant in February 1777. He rose to captain in February 1778 and served until the close of the war.
2. John Jordan (d. 1835) became a captain lieutenant in Flower’s regiment in February 1777 and rose to captain in May 1778. He left the army in January 1783.
3. James Gibson joined Flower’s regiment as a lieutenant in February 1777 and received promotion to captain in 1779. He left the army in May 1781.
4. George Norris (d. 1819) became a lieutenant in Flower’s regiment in February 1777 and left the army in May 1781.
5. Prior to his appointment as surgeon of Flower’s regiment in July 1778, Samuel Allen McCoskry (McCaskrey, McCoskey, McCloskrey; d. 1818) served as a lieutenant in a battalion assigned to guard stores at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He left the army in May 1782.
6. Before becoming a lieutenant and quartermaster in Flower’s regiment, Alexander Power (Powers) served as quartermaster in Col. Samuel Miles’s Pennsylvania state rifle regiment from April to October 1776. He left the army in May 1781.