George Washington Papers

To George Washington from John Jay, 6 August 1779

From John Jay

Philadelphia 6th August 1779

Sir,

Your Favors of the 29th July & 2nd Inst. have been delivered to me1—The Papers, herewith enclosed, are a copy of the Act of the 8th of March mentioned in Your Excellency’s Letter of the 29th Ulto2 and a Report of the Board of War recommending that Captain Wilkie’s Company of Coll Spencer’s Regiment be annexed to the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment—Congress desire your Excellency’s Opinion on the Propriety of this measure.3 I have the honor to be With the greatest Respect & Esteem Your Excellency’s Most Obedient Servant

John Jay Presidt

LS, DLC:GW; LB, DNA:PCC, item 14. The LB is dated 7 August.

1GW addressed two letters to Jay on 29 July.

2The enclosed copy of the 8 March resolutions, which directed that the states certify commissions by warrant and specified the method of Congress approving and the Board of War certifying the commissions, is in DLC:GW (see also JCC, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends 13:289–91 and Jay to GW, 30 June, n.4).

3GW returned the enclosed copy of the report, which has not been identified, to Jay (see GW’s second letter to Jay of 16 Aug.; see also JCC, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends 14:900). The report of the Board of War, dated 30 July, is in DNA:PCC, item 147. Another copy of the report, in the writing of GW’s secretary Robert Hanson Harrison and dated 30 July, is in DLC:GW. The report, after recommending the annexation of Wilkins’s company to the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment, explained that because of a mistaken difference in the wording of two congressional resolutions (see JCC, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends 12:1225, 13:58), Wilkins’s company had been annexed to Col. Oliver Spencer’s additional regiment instead of to the new 11th Pennsylvania Regiment and, further, that Spencer had refused to give up the company. The board hoped its recommendation would settle the dispute.

While often called Capt. “Wilkie’s” company at this time, the company to which Jay refers had been raised by Capt. John Wilkins as one of the four independent Pennsylvania companies which GW had authorized to be raised in April 1777 (see John Armstrong to GW, 8 April 1777, and GW to John Hancock, 10 April 1777). Although the other three companies joined Col. William Malcom’s Additional Continental Regiment in October 1777, Wilkins’s company was annexed to Col. Oliver Spencer’s Additional Continental Regiment. This difference led to a dispute between Lt. Col. Adam Hubley and Spencer over whether Wilkins’s company should be detached to join the former’s new 11th Pennsylvania Regiment after Congress directed the independent Pennsylvania companies to join Hubley’s regiment in January 1779 (see General Orders, 13 Oct. 1777; Pa. Archives, description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds. Pennsylvania Archives. 9 ser., 138 vols. Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 1852–1949. description ends 5th ser., 3:665; JCC, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends 12:1225, 13:58; and Pa. Archives, description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds. Pennsylvania Archives. 9 ser., 138 vols. Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 1852–1949. description ends 1st ser., 7:554). In July, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania asked the Board of War to have Wilkins’s company detached from Spencer’s Regiment and sent to the 11th Pennsylvania, as originally intended by Congress (see Pa. Col. Records, description begins Colonial Records of Pennsylvania. 16 vols. Harrisburg, 1840–53. description ends 12:53). GW recommended that Wilkins’s company remain with Spencer’s regiment (see GW’s second letter to Jay of 16 Aug.).

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