From George Washington to James Tilghman, 2 September 1786
To James Tilghman
Mount Vernon 2d Septr 1786.
Dr Sir;
If the Account I handed to you respecting the treatment of Captn Asgill (in confinement) has not passed from you, I should be obliged to you for withholding, & suffering no copies to be taken from it; to counteract such an injurious & ill founded calumny which obtains credit as it rolls on.1
I have it in contemplation to inspect my registers, & to give something from authentic documents relative to this matter. The former being drawn up in a hasty manner, & from memory, may contain something inconsistent with the latter, which will be substantiated.2 With great esteem & regard, I am Dr Sir, &c.
G: Washington
LB, DLC:GW.
1. See GW to Tilghman, 20 July, and Tilghman to GW, 23 September. The words following the semicolon clearly should be a part of the first sentence in the next paragraph, as presumably they were in GW’s own version.