1. William Johnson, who had been mustermaster of the Fairfax Independent Company when he visited GW at Mount Vernon on 25 April 1775 to discuss the company’s uniform, became adjutant of the Prince William district minuteman battalion by the end of 1775, and in March 1776 Gen. Robert Howe appointed Johnson brigade major of the Continental troops in Virginia (see Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 3:323; Fairfax Independent Company to GW, 25 April 1775; Scribner and Tarter, Revolutionary Virginia description begins William J. Van Schreeven et al., eds. Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence. A Documentary Record. 7 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1973–83. description ends , 5:283; and Virginia Gazette [Williamsburg], Purdie edition, 22 Mar. 1776).