George Washington Papers

General Orders, 7 November 1780

General Orders

Head Quarters Totowa Tuesday November 7th 1780

Parole Hingham Countersigns N. P.
Watchword Caution

[Officers] For the day Tomorrow[:] Brigadier General Glover[,] Lieutenant Colonel commandant Hubley[,] Lieutenant Colonel Whiting[,] Major Wiley[,] Brigade Major Moore.

At the General court martial of the Line whereof Colonel Bailey is President1 the 30th of October last Major Thomas Barnes of the 12th Massachusett’s regiment was tried on the Resolve of Congress of December 6th 1779. respecting absent officers, he being charged with “Overstaying his furlough from the 2nd day of January last.”

The Court on consideration are of opinion that Major Barnes having been indulged with a furlough and not joining his regiment at the Expiration thereof, has been properly notified agreeable to the Resolve of Congress of December 6th 1779 and that he has neglected to join his regiment agreeable to such notification and do sentence that he be Cashiered.2

The Commander in Chief confirms the opinion of the Court and orders it carried into execution.3

Varick transcript, DLC:GW.

1. For the establishment of this court-martial, see the general orders for 14 Oct.; see also General Orders, 27 October.

2. For the congressional resolution, see JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 15:1351–52, and General Orders, 14 Dec. 1779; see also Board of War to GW, 8 Nov. 1779, n.3.

3. A privateering venture apparently had extended Maj. Thomas Barnes’s furlough, and the aspirations of a rival officer purportedly led to the court-martial (see Cooke, Driver Family description begins Harriet Ruth (Waters) Cooke, comp. The Driver Family: A Genealogical Memoir of the Descendants of Robert and Phebe Driver, of Lynn, Mass., With an Appendix, Containing Twenty-Three Allied Families. 1592–1887. New York, 1889. description ends , 114).

Barnes had written GW from Salem, Mass., on 20 Sept. 1780 tendering his resignation because of his need to support “a wife and family” (ALS, DNA: RG 93, manuscript file no. 2408; GW’s aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton wrote undated remarks on the docket: “This Officer was furloughed 10 Months ago & his Case is now before a Court Martial. … Cashiered”).

Hannah Driver Barnes (1757–1821) had married Barnes in 1778. A daughter was born to the couple in 1779 and a son in 1780 (see Cooke, Driver Family description begins Harriet Ruth (Waters) Cooke, comp. The Driver Family: A Genealogical Memoir of the Descendants of Robert and Phebe Driver, of Lynn, Mass., With an Appendix, Containing Twenty-Three Allied Families. 1592–1887. New York, 1889. description ends , 113–14, 117).

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    Washington Papers
    Title
    General Orders, 7 November 1780
    Author
    Washington, George
    Date
    7 November 1780

    Reference

    Cite as
    “General Orders, 7 November 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-29-02-0079. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 29, 28 October–31 December 1780, ed. William M. Ferraro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2021, pp. 130–131.]