George Washington Papers
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From George Washington to Major General Nathanael Greene, 31 December 1779

To Major General Nathanael Greene

Head Quarters Morris Town 31st Decemr 1779.

Dear Sir

I received yours of last Evening respecting the arrangement of the Corps of Artificers. I must depend intirely upon you for the nomination of the Officers, as I am utterly unacquainted with the Merits or pretensions of any of those who have been in service, or who may with propriety be appointed should there be any deficiency of Officers. If you will make out an arrangement specifying the names, ranks, and dates of Commissions I will immediately transmit it to the Board of War who will issue Commissions agreeable to the directions of Congress.1 I am Dear Sir Yr most obt Servt.

Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.

1. Apparently in response to GW’s request, Greene obtained “A List of Officers proposed in the new Arrangement of the Corps of Artificers in the service of the United States” from Col. Jeduthan Baldwin, who commanded the quartermaster artificers (DNA:PCC, item 173). A copy of the list, which named twenty officers, was enclosed with a letter of 3 Jan. 1780 from GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman to Greene: “If the relative Rank of the Gentlemen named in the inclosed can possibly be settled it will be best to do it before it is transmitted to the Board of War—indeed their Register will not be compleat without it. I imagine they are hereafter to rise by succession as in other Regiments, and therefore the Board cannot have proper reference in case vacancies happen without they are acquainted with the Rank of the Officers when they issue their Commissions. You have not affixed the dates which the Commissions are to bear—but I do not think that is very material as the Officers do not interfere with those of the line. If there is no objection they may be dated whenever the Commissions may happen to issue” (DNA:PCC, item 173). For the final arrangement of the artificer companies, see Greene to GW, 8 Feb. 1780, and GW to the Board of War, 10 Feb., both in DLC:GW.

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    Source Project
    Washington Papers
    Title
    From George Washington to Major General Nathanael Greene, 31 December 1779
    Author
    Washington, George
    Recipient
    Greene, Nathanael
    Date
    31 December 1779

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From George Washington to Major General Nathanael Greene, 31 December 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-23-02-0589. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 23, 22 October–31 December 1779, ed. William M. Ferraro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, p. 781.]

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