General Orders, 17 May 1780
General Orders
Head Quarters Morristown May 17th 1780
Parole Berwick Countersigns W. E.
[Officers] Of the Day Tomorrow[:] Colonel Livingston[,] Lieutenant Colonel Comdt Butler[,] Brigade Major 1st Pennsylva Brigade1
Colonel Procter is appointed Member of the General court martial whereof General Hand is President vice Colonel Ogden excused on account of his regiment being on the lines.2
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. In the place of the five preceding words, the general orders for this date in another orderly book reads: “Brigd Major Second Pensylvanea Brigade” (, 320).
2. Col. Thomas Proctor replaced Col. Matthias Ogden on the court-martial of William Shippen, Jr. (see General Orders, 13 March; see also General Orders, 14 May, n.3).
For the deployment of Ogden’s regiment, see General Orders, 9 May, and n.1 to that document.
3. Capt. John McGowan replaced Lt. Erkuries Beatty as the regimental paymaster. Beatty had served in that capacity since 1 June 1779 (see , 5th ser., 2:1066).
Erkuries (Erkurius) Beatty (1759–1823) joined the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment as an ensign in January 1777 and became a lieutenant the following May. After being wounded in the Battle of Germantown, Beatty participated in Sullivan’s expedition. He transferred to the 3d Pennsylvania Regiment in 1783 and served as regimental paymaster. Beatty became a lieutenant in the U.S. infantry in 1784 and served in the 1st Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army as a captain, paymaster, and major between 1789 and 1792. Beatty resigned in November 1792 and soon moved to Princeton, N.J., where he subsequently held numerous political offices, including membership in the New Jersey legislature.
4. John Pratt (1753–1824), promoted to lieutenant of the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment in January 1780, transferred in 1783 to the 3d Pennsylvania Regiment and served as regimental quartermaster. Pratt later became a lieutenant and captain in the 1st Infantry of the U.S. Army. From November 1790 to September 1791 he served as adjutant general of Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair’s army during his expedition against the Indians in the Northwest Territory. Pratt resigned from the army in December 1793.