Seth Warner to George Washington, 15 June 1781
From Seth Warner
Bennington [Vt.] June 15th 1781
sir,
I wrote your Excellency some Time since for the Exchange of my Officers, Prisoners in Canada, to which I receiv’d your Excellency’s Answer that there were many Officers of equal Rank made Prisoners of prior Date standing in the Roll before those Officers of mine taken July 15th 1779, who would claim a Right to a prior Exchange.1
Hearing of several Exchanges being made, moves me to again ask the Exchange for them (if possible without interfering on some prior Claim) as Capts. Brownson & Smith, if not called for in the Army have necessitous Families at Home, who are suffering in their Absence—Lt. Dunning is a Gentleman who is single in Life, but cannot be more chagrined than in a Captivity that renders him so long bound from the Service of his Country.
If Officers of equal Rank can be spared for them, Capt. Eli Brownson (the Bearer) will accompany them to me.
Upon which I can obtain a Flag I can effect the Exchange without Loss of Time. If the favour can be granted, it will be greatly acknowledged by their friend And your Excellency’s Most Obedt Humbl. Servant.
P.S. Also Serjt David Curtis, & Danl Bean & Jno. Whitely (Rank & file) who were taken at the same Time, & Charles Grandison & Geo. McCarthy who were taken Augt 22d 1779;2 would recommend to your Excellency’s Notice, for an Exchange, and Request that it may be had for them as speedy as Rules of War, and Circumstances can admit.3
S.W.
LS, DLC:GW. Warner, a former colonel who retired from the army on 1 Jan., signed the cover.
In a letter that appears to be missing at least one page, Vermont governor Thomas Chittenden wrote GW from Bennington on 16 June: “I do now in behalf of those distressed Captives, (who are principally Citizens) request your Excellency to grant me a Number of Prisoners of equal rank to redeem those I have abovementioned, as soon as I shall furnish a List particularly, which shall be immediately done, when I learn that this shall meet your Excellency’s Approbation; which I flatter myself will; when I consider that I have delivered over to the United States more than four Times the Number which I have Occasion for by this Request.
“Captain Brownson, who will deliver this, and who is nearly interested in this Request, will be able to give any further Information that may be necessary on this Subject, whom I beg leave to recommend to your Excellency’s favourable Notice” (LS, DLC:GW; Chittenden signed the cover; the dateline is taken from the docket, which is in the writing of GW’s secretary Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.). No reply from GW has been found. Chittenden previously had sought assistance to execute prisoner exchanges (see his letter to GW, 15 Jan.).
1. See Warner to GW, 22 Aug. 1780, and GW to Warner, 30 Aug. 1780, found at GW to Frederick Haldimand, same date, source note.
2. The circumstances through which these two soldiers became prisoners have not been ascertained.
David Curtis enlisted for the war in Warner’s Additional Continental Regiment in July 1776 and was appointed corporal that December. Returned from captivity in late August 1777, he received a short furlough in September and apparently was present for the British surrender at Saratoga, N.Y., on 19 October. Promoted to sergeant in October 1778, he again was taken prisoner in July 1779. No records indicate his release, and he probably died while a prisoner.
Daniel Bean (born c.1756) enlisted at Hartford, Vt., for three years as a private in Warner’s Additional Continental Regiment in December 1776. Escaping soon after being taken prisoner during summer 1777, he was promoted to corporal in January 1778. Reduced to private in January 1779, he was again taken prisoner that July and subsequently escaped (see Bean’s affidavit below). He received pay at Sunderland, Vt., in January 1783.
John Whitely (Whiteley; born c.1754) enlisted from Rutland, Vt., for three years as a private in Warner’s Additional Continental Regiment in January 1777. Taken prisoner in July 1779, he received pay at Sunderland in January 1783. In a deposition given at Susquehanna County, Pa., on 18 April 1818, Whitely reported that “he was taken by the Indians and taken to Montreal & Quebeck, at last to New York and discharged at [D]obbs ferry about the time of the close of the war being three years and four months in Captivity” (DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900).
Charles Grandison (Grandeson, Granderson) enlisted from Vermont for three years as a private in Warner’s Additional Continental Regiment in February 1777. Taken prisoner in early September 1779, he was discharged in February 1780 and apparently remained a prisoner until shortly before returning to his home in October 1782.
George McCarty enlisted from Pennsylvania for the war as a private in Warner’s Additional Continental Regiment in January 1777. Taken prisoner in early September 1779, he apparently remained a prisoner until shortly before returning to his home in October 1782.
In an affidavit given at Hillsborough, N.H., on 29 April 1818, Bean sketched his extensive army service and explained how he, Curtis, and Whitely became prisoners in July 1779 when stationed at “Fort George at the Head of Lake George,” N.Y.: “I was out on a scouting party, the party were attacked by the Mohawk Indians, seven of our people were killed, I was wounded & I with six others were taken prisoners by the Indians, and carried to Montreal & delivered up to the English, I was then Sent to Quebec Where I remained a prisoner about two months & then made my escape, & came home thro the woods to Salisbury New Hampshire in October 1779 where I understood that the Regiment of Col. Warner to which I belonged was broken up” (DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900).