6 April 1781

Phillips, William, 1731-1781

Letter signed

Title: to George Weedon

Written by Phillips as British Major General, joining Benedict Arnold in his invasion of Virginia in 1781, to Weedon an American Brigadier General. Mentions two officers that Weedon sent to him under a flag of truce. Hopes Weedon gets a report from them that states he will act liberally and humanly during his campaigning in Virginia. Says that he doubts the Americans will act as honorable. Says a letter from Thomas Jefferson, the Governor of Virginia, and the resolutions of the Virginia Legislature are "barbarous." Says it would be unbecoming of him to answer them and hopes that the…

GLC06492

12 April 1781

Phillips, William, 1731-1781

Letter signed

Title: to George Weedon

Phillips, a British Lieutenant-General, discusses flags of truce and prisoner exchanges with American General Weedon. Writes "the usual and necessary forms must be preserved especially respecting Flags of Truce which are objects of a chaste nature and the rules belonging to them ought never to be violated..." Refers to Moss Armstead, an American soldier sent to negotiate prisoner exchange. Discusses penalties for Americans venturing within British lines. States that all flag vessels must stop at British commodores' ships stationed at Hampton Roads, Virginia, to gain authorization to…

GLC06493

12 April 1781

Brabazon, E., fl. 1781

Manuscript document signed

Title: Return of the names of the prisoners on board the Robert, prison ship & parol'd at Portsmouth & Norfolk

Document signed by "E Brabazon, Major of Brigade." Names of the 64 former prisoners of the ship "Robert" who were paroled at Portsmouth & Norfolk. Full names are given for all prisoners, except for two "Blacks" who are listed as "Titus" and "Tom." Marked at margin "Seamen Lately taken." Date from docket. According to the seller's description in the collateral file this list comes from the personal papers of General George Weedon, who commanded a brigade of troops in Virginia 1780-1781.

GLC06494

4 June 1781

Weedon, George, 1734-1793

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Marquis de Lafayette

An original draft copy, regarding the status of troops and provisions in Virginia. Discusses calling out the militia, civilians fleeing, and removing stores from Fredericksburg before the onslaught of the British invasion. Written from "Camp Hunters Heights." Later that year, Weedon commanded the Virginia militia at the siege of Yorktown.

GLC06495

21 December 1782

Greene, Nathanael, 1742-1786

Autograph letter signed

Title: to George Weedon

Written by Major General Greene as commander of the Southern Department to Brigadier General Weedon. A friendly, and at times humorous, letter addressed to Weedon as "My good old friend." Also has a note from Greene's wife Catherine after his signature. She signs the note "Caty Greene." References Weedon's letter of 6 November 1782. Says Major Ichabod Burnet, an aide-de-camp to Greene, is going to Philadelphia "with an account of the long expected evacuation of Charleston." In reference to the religion of New England says "To speak in the language of Connecticut now rejoice and be…

GLC06496

26 June 1780

Grayson, William, 1736-1790

Letter signed

Title: to George Weedon

Discusses General Weedon being recalled to military service by the Continental Congress, claiming that "you must look upon a call at this particular Crisis, as a very decided testimonial of the good opinion of Congress." Agrees with Weedon's ideas about recruitment. Suggests that "The rejection of the resolution of Congress respecting finance was a fatal stab to the independence of America." Criticizes the Virginia policies that limited much needed resources. Indicates "that the Enemy have got stung in the Jerseys." Notes French and Spanish mobilizations. A postscript reports that the…

GLC06497

30 March 1777

Parker, Richard, fl. 1777

Autograph letter signed

Title: to George Weedon

Possibly written by Colonel Richard Parker. Congratulates Weedon, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on a recent promotion (possibly his promotion to Brigadier General in February 1777). Parker notes, "Mr. Purdie has given me a good deal of uneasiness by killing my son Major Parker but that is now relieved by a letter I have received from him since his death dated the 13th Feb..." Asks that Weedon inform him what he knows of Major Parker, including what condition his son was in when Weedon last saw him. Writes, "I have two other sons in the second Regimt. who the last time I heard from them…

GLC06498.01

27 August 1780- 24 October 1780

Manuscript document

Title: [Copy of orders from the camp of General George Weedon]

Mentions Colonel Febigen and Captains Lovely and Richardson. Discusses a survey of commissaries' stores, in which barrels of salt fish were deemed unfit for consumption. Refers to court martials, the trial of prisoners, and the prevention of embezzlement from a store of arms (6 September). Provides a list of several persons charged with desertion, and describes the proceedings of their court martial (8 September). Discusses the command of local drafts (27 September, 1 October).

GLC06499

27 June 1780-15 August 1780

Walker, John, 1744-1809

Header Record

Title: Four letters to General George Weedon [Decimalized .01-.04]

Four letters commenting upon the activities of the French, English, and American forces. Word processed inventory and transcriptions available.

GLC06500

June 1781

Mortimer, Charles, fl. 1781

Autograph letter signed

Title: to George Weedon

Dr. Mortimer discusses the medical issues at his location, particularly the neglect of the department and the reasons why he can no longer assist with the sick. Explains that there is a lack of medicine and no experienced surgeon. He also notes that he has never practiced surgery. Indicates having supply problems.

GLC06501

1 February 1777

Hancock, John, 1737-1793

Letter signed

Title: to William Smallwood

Communicates to General Smallwood a resolution by the Continental Congress in response to a petition from citizens in Somerset and Worcester counties in Maryland. The resolution orders Smallwood to help "suppress the Tories in the counties of Somerset and Worcester, and to seize and secure the persons mentioned in a list to be transmitted." The loyalists would then be required to submit to a loyalty oath and some would be put on trial. Signed as President of Congress. Written "In Congress."

GLC06502

13 February 1782

Jenifer, Daniel of St. Thomas, 1723-1790

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Smallwood

Discusses the supply of iron, a congressional resolution rearranging the hospital department, the pregnancies of unmarried Roman Catholic women, and an act of the assembly regarding fornication.

GLC06503

23 October 1780

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Smallwood

Written by Brigadier General Knox, the Continental Army's chief of artillery, to Major General Smallwood of Maryland. Letter sent through General Nathanael Greene. Asks how he is sustaining the fatigues and hardships of war in a southern climate. Says it must be "agreeable in some degree, as it has produced you such a harvest of Glory." Mentions gallantry of the Maryland Line at the Battle of Camden. Asks to "prospect my love" to General Nathaniel Gist and other friends. Smallwood's brigade was actually swept to the rear by a flood of fugitives at Camden, but he still earned the "thanks of…

GLC06504

13 November 1780

Gates, Horatio, 1727-1806

Letter signed

Title: to William Smallwood

Written by Major General Gates to Major General Smallwood. This was written after Gates's defeat at the Battle of Camden and after Congress voted to call a court of inquiry into Gates's conduct at the battle in October 1780. Smallwood commanded the troops of the Maryland Line and was also at Camden. Seems to have written the letter over several days. Says he arrived in Salisbury after an agreeable march from Hillsborough. Encloses a letter from Governor Thomas Jefferson and a list of units under the command of General Alexander Leslie (not included). Fears that General Henry Clinton will…

GLC06505

19 February 1782

Smallwood, William, 1732-1792

Autograph manuscript signed

Title: [Letters to recruiting officers and reports on recruitment]

Written by Major General Smallwood while on a mission to raise troops and assemble supplies in Maryland. General Nathanael Greene had sent Smallwood on this mission to end a conflict of command between Smallwood and Baron Friedrich von Steuben. This is a booklet of recruitment information that appears to have been bound inside a cover, which is now removed. Includes two letters to recruiters, one dated 19 February 1782, and the other 7 April 1782. Gives guidelines on who not to recruit: British deserters, men under five feet four inches tall, men who do not have well proportioned limbs, and…

GLC06507

1777-1782

Header Record

Title: to General Smallwood re: 9 ALSs from various soldiers [Decimalized .01- .09]

GLC06508

9 December 1782

Smallwood, William, 1732-1792

Autograph document signed

Title: [Account of financial transfers used for recruiting of soldiers in Maryland under Major General William Smallwood]

Six leaves of notebook paper (four pages blank) listing various officers, the number of men they recruited, and the amount of money they received. Date from docket. Document signed by Smallwood several times in the text.

GLC06509

1792/05/31

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Mease re: thanks for Mease's dissertation on canine madness

ALS in the third person, written horizontally and signed in text at the beginning. Thanking Mease for his "very learned and ingenious dissertation on canine madness" and discussing insanity. Jefferson mentions a cure by mercury of an American captive in Algiers, a cure mentioned in Mease's book. He suggests an experiment with animals, infecting them with madness and then attempting the cures. Docketed, with loss at the upper right corner of the address leaf.

GLC06510

1814/06/29

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Mease re: origins of the Taliaferro apple, its quality, cyder

Responding to a letter about Hughes's crab apple. (Spelling Mease's name "Maese.") He tells the origins of the Taliaferro apple by Major Taliaferro about 60 years before, near Williamsburg, and which he called the Robertson apple. When Taliferro "made a cask of cyder [it was]... the finest they had ever seen." Jefferson compares the Hughes crab apple to the Taliaferro and finds the latter "has more body, is less acid, and comes nearer to the silky Champaigne than any other." Written in Monticello

GLC06511

1809/08/25

Pinckney, Charles C., fl. 1746-1825

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Mease

Thanks him for sending a Spanish merino ram. Discusses problems with breeding because the ram does not seem interested in the ewes. Describes his sheep pasture and thanks Mease for his advice. Comments on his desire to breed for merino wool on a Barbary carcase.

GLC06512

1840-1841

Thacher, James, fl. 1840-1841

Header Record

Title: Two letters to James Mease, a fellow physician [Decimalized .01-.02]

GLC06513

1 September 1810

Livingston, Robert L., 1746-1813

Letter signed

Title: to James Mease

Comments on reading Mease's two volume, "Archive of useful knowledge" promoting manufactures, agriculture, and economy. States that they are, "the foundations upon which a lone we can safly build our independence, as well as public and private happiness." Corrects some errors Mease made in relation to Livingston's flock of sheep and rams. Discusses the flock and the fleece it produces at length. Written from Clermont, the Livingston estate in the Hudson Valley of New York State.

GLC06514

1831/04/29

Miller, Joseph, fl. 1819-1831

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Mease

Responds to Mease's query about the causes of a boiler explosion aboard the steamboat Philadelphia. Blames the accident on a combination of factors including the age of the boiler and the rust accumulated on it. Places most of the blame, however, on the engineer, who he argues was not well trained and tried to generate more steam than the engine could safely maintain. James Mease (1771-1846) was a prominent Philadelphia physician and scientific thinker. Joseph Miller was captain of the steamboat "Bristol."

GLC06515

8 May 1775

Warren, Joseph, 1741-1775

Letter signed

Title: to William Whipple

Written by and co-signed by Samuel Freeman, Secretary of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. Signed by Warren as president pro tempore of the Provincial Congress to Whipple, who would later sign the Declaration of Independence, as Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence in New Hampshire. Says the Congress received Whipple's letter by express. Says he is surprised someone in New Hampshire would complain of someone from Massachusetts with such severity. Says they will investigate. "We shall be studious to maintain that character for humanity which we would wish may ever be the…

GLC06516

14 June 1776

Whipple, William, 1730-1785

Autograph letter

Title: to John Langdon & Meshech Weare

Written by Whipple, who would later signed the Declaration of Independence, as a New Hampshire Congressman to Langdon and Weare as prominent politicians in New Hampshire (Landgon resigned from his seat in Congress on 25 June 1776 to become agent for Continental prizes in New Hampshire). This document is actually two drafts of letters on different sides of one sheet of paper. The letters are unsigned. Langdon draft: Says this accompanies the 10,000 dollars for the naval service mentioned in a former letter. Says he has put it in a box with other money sent to Colonel Weare. Mentions that…

GLC06517