Jotham Loring to George Washington, May 1781
From Jotham Loring
Boston, May 1781. “I have been honoured with your Excellencys letter of the 6th of April containing a refusal to grant me a new trial and the reasons of such refusal.”1 Loring presses GW to reconsider his decision not to grant a new court-martial because he stands “convicted of no less a crime, than that of defrauding my brother soldiers of their bread—This is but another name for stealing, and stealing is a crime, that not only damns my character as an officer, but in civil life must denominate me a felon.” He must “make use of every exertion to acquit” himself or ruin his reputation. Determined to change GW’s mind, Loring parses the language of GW’s letter and suggests that he has “been able to obtain evidences of the groundlesness of the charges exhibited. …
“Your Excellency will pardon I hope the liberty I have taken in answering Your letter—To the justice of Your Excellency I chearfully submit the matter.”
LS, DLC:GW. A duplicate of this letter sent from Boston on 15 Aug. 1781 has no significant differences except an addition before the closing paragraph: “I write your Excellency in month of may on the subject of my affairs not receiving an awnswer I had reason to think your Excellencey has not recived it” (ALS, DLC:GW).
GW then wrote Loring from King’s Ferry, N.Y., on 24 Aug.: “Your Letter of the 15th instt is receieved—As the Matter of a second Trial requested by you, was fully considered in my Reply to you of the 6th of April last, I cannot consent to order any Further Proceedings in your Case—and have only to request that this Letter may close the Correspondence on the Subject” (Df, in Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW).
1. GW had written Loring on 6 April upon the direction of Congress after Loring had petitioned for a reconsideration of his dismissal from the army for fraud and disobedience (see Samuel Huntington to GW, 15 Dec. 1780).