General Orders, 2 April 1780
General Orders
Head-Quarters Morristown sunday April 2nd 1780.
Parole Privado— C. Signs Powers—Protect—
By a division General Court Martial held by order of General Gist March 27th 1780—Major Deane President,1 James Stinson of the Delaware regiment was brought before the court charged with “Promoting and encouraging discontent among the men, and making use of language that tended to countenance desertion” and plead “Not guilty.”
The Court having duly considered the charge against the prisoner, with the evidence are of opinion, he is guilty of the 3rd article 2nd section of the Articles of War and do sentence him to suffer death.2
The Commander in Chief approves the Sentence.3
Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. Following his court-martial responsibilities, John Dean (d. 1781) went to Maryland to manage supply shipments for the Maryland division after its transfer to the southern department (see , 43:317, 320, 45:442, 612; see also Samuel Huntington to GW, 6 April, n.2). Writing from Chestertown on 4 Sept. 1781, Dean asked the Maryland state council and Gov. Thomas Sim Lee for a new “Order for State Stores. I have been confined to my bed almost three months, and am at Present in a very poor state of health” (, 47:475). Capt. William Dent Beall was promoted to major upon Dean’s death on 6 Nov. (see , 18:479).
2. The third article of the second section of the articles of war reads: “Any officer or soldier who shall begin, excite, cause or join, in any mutiny or sedition, in the troop, company or regiment to which he belongs, or in any other troop or company in the service of the United States, or in any party, post, detachment or guard, on any pretence whatsoever, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by a courtmartial shall be inflicted” (, 5:789).
3. James Lewis Stevenson (Stinson; 1751–1817) enlisted in the Delaware Regiment in April 1777 and was reduced in rank from sergeant to private that July, purportedly for refusing to fire upon a raiding party that included his brother. In February 1780, just prior to being court-martialed and sentenced to death, Stevenson was “put on board a Continental Galley” (, 3:1116–17). Stevenson apparently escaped his penalty through service in the quartermaster department and died at Smyrna, Delaware.