General Orders, 6 April 1778
General Orders
Head-Quarters V. Forge Monday April 6th 78
Parole: Leonidas—Countersigns: Lee. Logtown.
Lieut. Coll Greene is appointed to the Command of the 10th and Lieutt Coll Davies to the Command of the 14th Virginia Regiments ’till further orders and are to be respected accordingly.
At a General Court Martial whereof Coll Vose is Presidt March 31st 1778—Lieutt Dunn of Coll Patton’s Regt tried for striking and ungentlemanlike behavior to Lieutenant Street and acquitted.1
The Commander in Chief confirms the sentence and orders Lieutt Dunn to be discharged from his arrest, at the same time observing that the frequent proceedings of Courts-Martial presented to him which seem to originate more from personal prejudice & private animosities than real intention to promote the good of the Service, gives him very sensible pain; He wishes the Officers of His Army to consider themselves as a band of brothers cemented by the Justice of the Common Cause, that a perfect harmony might subsist among them and that they would settle all personal disputes among themselves in an amicable manner, ever being cautious not to trouble Courts-Martial or the General with private dissentions or add papers to the public files which may hereafter reflect disgrace upon themselves and the Army.
Varick transcript, DLC:GW. On this date GW aide Tench Tilghman wrote to Q.M. Gen. Nathanael Greene: “As Colonel [Samuel] Carlton has lamed his horse in public service his Excellency desires you will let him have one a few days untill his own recovers” (PHi: Dreer Collection).
1. Abner Martin Dunn (1755–1795), who had been commissioned an ensign of the 2d Pennsylvania Battalion in November 1776, later joined Patton’s Additional Continental Regiment, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant in January 1777 and a first lieutenant in October of that year. His company was attached to the Delaware Regiment in December 1778, but by June 1779 he had transferred to the 9th Pennsylvania Regiment. With subsequent transfers to the 5th Pennsylvania Regiment in January 1781, the 2d Pennsylvania Regiment in January 1783, and the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment in June 1783, Dunn served until November 1783. Benjamin Street was commissioned an ensign in Hartley’s Additional Continental Regiment in January 1777, but he apparently transferred to Patton’s Additional Continental Regiment before he was promoted to second lieutenant on 11 May of that year. He was commissioned a first lieutenant on 30 Nov. 1778. After portions of Patton’s, Hartley’s, and Malcom’s regiments were consolidated and redesignated as the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment in January 1779, Street served in that regiment until he resigned in 1780.