General Orders, 25 May 1781
General Orders
[New Windsor] Friday May 25th 1781
Parole Countersigns.
Peter McBride Matross in the 2d regiment of Artillery charged with “mutinous behavior,” Joel Wilmot and Elmer Russell matrosses in the same regiment charged with “Desertion” were tried by the General Court martial whereof Lieutenant Colonel Stephens is president convicted and sentenced as follows vizt Peter McBride to receive one hundred Lashes on his bare back with hiccory rods: Joel Wilmot and Elmer Russell to receive one hundred lashes each on their bare backs.1
Major General St Clair approves the above sentences and orders them to be executed as soon as convenient.
Varick transcript, DLC:GW. See the general orders for 18 May, n.1.
1. For the appointment of this court-martial, see General Orders, 21 May.
Peter McBride (born c.1758) had enlisted at Orange County, N.Y., as a matross in the 2d Continental Artillery Regiment. He apparently deserted in June 1778 but returned to the army and enlisted for the duration of the war in March 1781. McBride had a “Dark” complexion and “Slim” build (DNA: RG 93, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, 2d Continental Artillery).
Joel Wilmot (Willmot; c.1759–1821) of Wallingford, Conn., enlisted as a matross in the 2d Continental Artillery Regiment in May 1777. He deserted in the second half of 1780 and died in Trumbull County, Ohio.
Elmore Russell (1761–1835), a native of New Haven, enlisted as a matross in the 2d Continental Artillery Regiment in May 1777 and deserted in October 1780. In an affidavit given on 24 Feb. 1819 in Windsor, N.Y., Russell stated that he had served for a “term of three years, when he was discharged from service, at West Point.” He added that “he was in the battle at Fort Montgomery, at Danbury in Connecticut & several skirmishes” (DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900).