To George Washington from Walter Steuart, 20 July 1758
From Walter Steuart
Raes Town July 20th 1758
Sir
As you did not Acquaint me, when I was to Date the Commission, you was Pleased to send me, I have referr’d filling it up, untill I had the Pleasure of Seeing you. But as you Seemd to be of Oppinion when I spoke to you at Winchester, that I had a right to the Pay, from the Date of Col: Mercers Commission, I draw’d Pay from Mr Boyd—from the first of May—If the thing is Disagreeable to you I shall Return the money again to him.1
Col. Bouquet has been Pleas’d to Appoint me Major of Brigade, for this Division of the Troops untill the General Came up, & tells me there is one to be Appointed for the Virgns. As your letter gave me reason to beleive you was willing to do me a kindness, I beg leave to request your interest again in this,2 which favr shall be gratefully acknowledgd by Sr yr most Obedt humle Servt
Walter Steuart
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. For Walter Steuart’s promotion to captain in the 1st Virginia Regiment, see GW to John Blair, 4–10 May 1758, n.17, and Walter Steuart to GW, 27 June 1758.
2. GW’s letter to Steuart has not been found, but on 21 July GW wrote Forbes’s aide Francis Halkett urging that Forbes make Robert Stewart, not Walter Steuart, the brigade major of the Virginia forces. See particularly note 2 of that document. On 20 Mar. 1759 a memorial from Walter Steuart was presented to the House of Burgesses “setting forth, that he acted as Brigade-Major of the Virginia Troops, from the 7th of June to the Appointment of Captain Robert Stewart to that Office, for which he has never received any Satisfaction, and praying to be allowed for the same.” A few days later the Burgesses resolved “that the Memorial of Walter Stewart . . . is reasonable; and that he ought to be allowed the Sum of £27.10 for his Pay as Brigade-Major to the Virginia Troops from the seventh of June to the first of August last past” (, 101, 107).