To George Washington from William Fitzhugh, 23 April 1780
From William Fitzhugh
Annapolis Maryld Apl 23d 1780
Dear General.
This will be Deliver’d to You by my Particular Friend Mr Smith, Whose Prudence, & Conduct from the Begining of the War, Has merrited a General Approbation, & He now Has Permission to go to Great Brittain, & may return When He Pleases.1
I had the Honor to recieve Your favor with Enclosures for My Son, Who has Address’d Your Excellency on the Subject of His releasement, & forwarded His Parole Under Cover to Colo. Ramsay, Whom He Expects it will Overtake at Philadelphia Before He Departs for Head Quarters.2
I am Infinetely Oblig’d to You for Your friendship & Indulgence to My Captive Son; The Limitation of His Parole, to the 15th of July next, is Kindness to Him & a Mark of that Justice & Humanity to Others, Which Has, & I hope ever will Distinguish Your Character.
As My friend Smith is Intimately Acquainted with General Tryon, & has promis’d Me His Interrest wth Him, And As I Entertain no Doubt of Genl Philips’s Continuing His Good Offices to my Son, I Flatter Myself with His Obtaining a Common Parole, by the time His present Indulgence Shall Cease, which I Assure You my Dear General, is An Interresting Object to Me, Having, from the Great Scarcity of Gold & Silver, & the Rapid Depreciation of Paper Money, Found it Extreamly Inconvenient & Very Difficult to Support Him in Captivity As a Gentleman; Nor can I indulge the most Distant Expectation of a Cartel being Settl’d, so Long as the Convention Troops Remain As they Are & will Continue to be an Obsticle to that Desireable Event.3
Our General Assembly is now Seting, & have Pass’d a Bill for Supplying Our Prisoners with provissions at New York; of the Policy or Expediency of This Measure, I can not Undertake to Judge, but Hope it may prove Salutary4—Our Supply Bill founded on the Requisitions of Congress is not Yet Pass’d, Tho I Expect will, & be Adequate to Every Necessary Purpose;5 The Greatest Part of This States Quoto of Provissions Are Already Procur’d, & more in many Articles, That of Beef only remains Deficient.
My Son I think is much Improv’d by His Military Progress; He return’d from Hence to Marlbro’ Yesterday.6 I Have The Honor to be with sincere Regard Your Excellencys Affectionate & Oblig’d H[umbl]e Sert
Willm Fitzhugh
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Acting on a state legislative resolution, the Maryland Council on 5 April recommended Robert Smith “to His Excellency Genl Washington or the commanding Officer at Elizabeth Town for his Licence to go into the City of New York for the Purpose of obtaining a Passage to Great Britain” (, 43:130; see also , p. 99, and GW to Jedediah Huntington, 10 May). For similar cases, see the Maryland Council to GW, 30 March, and the notes to that document.
Robert Smith had been secretary for Maryland’s last colonial governor, Robert Eden. Smith returned from England to Maryland in August 1783 with Eden and Henry Harford, who unsuccessfully pressed claims for lost property (see Harford to Benjamin Franklin, before 7 June 1783, in , 40:120–21).
2. The letter from GW to William Fitzhugh with enclosures for Lt. Peregrine Fitzhugh has not been found, but see GW to Arthur St. Clair, 2 April, and notes 4 and 7; see also GW to William Fitzhugh, 26 Feb., and William Fitzhugh to GW, 30 June (DLC:GW).
3. For the recent failure of prisoner exchange negotiations, see both letters from the Commissioners for the Exchange of Prisoners to GW, 26 March [letter 1, letter 2].
4. The Maryland House of Delegates passed “An act to supply the officers of this state, prisoners with the enemy, with provisions and other necessaries,” but the state senate never agreed to the measure (, 110, 120–21, 123–24).
5. For the contentious deliberations in the Maryland legislature over fulfilling the Continental supply requirements, see , 103–5, 115, 127; see also , 16:196–201, and Samuel Huntington to GW, 29 Feb., and n.2 to that document. No bill proposed in the Maryland legislature to satisfy the congressional supply mandate became law.
6. Peregrine Fitzhugh likely went to Upper Marlborough, Md., which was founded in 1706 as Marlborough Town and now is called Upper Marlboro, the seat of Prince Georges County.