From George Washington to a Board of General Officers, 4 July 1780
To a Board of General Officers
Head qrs [Preakness, N.J.] July 4. 1780
Gentn
I have the Honor to transmit You such papers and Resolutions in my possession as respect the appointments of Brigadier Generals Hand & Irvine and the dispute between them, which the Board will be pleased to return with their proceedings in the case.1 The appointment of Genl Hand will be found in the Journals of Congress in 1777—page 107: Genl Irvine’s in those of May 1779—page 7.2
Besides the papers respecting Generals Irvine & Hand—I inclose the Board a State of Sundry Facts respecting Lt Colo. Conway and Other Officers of the Jersey line3—and request that they will give me their opinion upon it.4 I have the Honor to be with great respect & esteem Gentn Yr Most Obedt St
G.W.
Df, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
For the background to the rank dispute between brigadier generals William Irvine and Edward Hand, see Board of War to GW, 17 May 1779, n.1.
In a letter of this date that has not been found, GW wrote Brig. Gen. William Maxwell concerning facts bearing on the rank dispute between Irvine and Hand. Maxwell replied to GW on this date: “I have Your Favour of this date and, for answer Coll Brearley left the Western Camp the 4th July 1779 in consequence of a letter he recd from some of the Legislature, of his being apointed chief Judge.
“No one in Camp that I can find can inform when he accepted.
“Lieut. Coll Conway & Major Hollingshead was apointed to that Rank the 23d Augt 1779 and both to do duty in the 3d Regt till further Orders. Coll Barber of the 3d was then doing the duty of Angt [Adjutant] General. This is all I know of the Matter. … N.B. Excuse the want of paper I cannot get at it” (ALS, DLC:GW). Lt. Col. Francis Barber served as Maj. Gen. John Sullivan’s adjutant general on the punitive expedition against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations in 1779 (see GW to Sullivan, 28 May 1779).
1. A note on the draft lists papers GW submitted to the board: Board of War to GW, 17 May 1779, with its enclosure, a letter of 15 May 1779 from Brig. Gen. William Irvine to John Jay; Irvine to Samuel Huntington, 23 Jan. 1780; and an act of Congress adopted on 29 Feb. 1780. For Irvine’s letter to Huntington and the congressional resolution that directed GW to order an inquiry and settle the rank dispute, see Huntington to GW, 29 Feb., and n.1 to that document.
2. See , 7:213 and 14:580.
3. The enclosed document reads: “The Commander in Chief submits the following state of Facts to the Board of General Officers now sitting.
“That on the 4 or 5 day of July 1779 Lt Colo. David Brearly of the 1st Jersey Regiment went from the Army going to the Westward under General Sullivan, in consequence of an appointment of Chief Justice given him or in contemplation to be given him by the State.
“That it appears by the Journals of Congress that Lt Colo. Brearly on the 22d of July 1779 represented to them ’That the State of New Jersey to which he belonged, had lately appointed him Chief Justice of the State, an Office important and honourable but not lucrative, and had requested him in the strongest manner to retire from the Army & enter upon the duties of the Office: that he was determined to comply with their request: but was very desirous of holding his rank in the Army without pay.’
“That Congress Resolved that the desire of Lt Colo. Brearly to hold his rank in the Army after he should accept the office of Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey, could not be complied with.[’]
“That it is not known precisely at what time Lt Colo. Brearly finally accepted & began to exercise the Office of Chief Justice of the State; but he never was with the Army after he went from it, when it was going to the Westward.
“That on the 23d of August 1779 Major John Conway & Captain Hollingshead, the first being the oldest Major and the last the oldest Captain in the line, were appointed in Orders by Major General Sullivan, to the ranks of Lt Colo. & Major respectively, and to do duty accordingly.
“That the State of New Jersey did not give their approbation for the promotion of Major John Conway, as a Lieutt Colo. till the 17th day of March last and that his Commission gives him rank as such only from that time.
“That there are several promotions in the Jersey line, including Major Conway’s, which on principles of lineal and Regimental succession depend on the time Lt Colo. Brearly ceased to be an Officer. Upon this State of facts—The Commander in Chief requests that the Board will inform him from what date in their opinion, which they will fix, Lt Colo. Conway & the Officers entitled to rise in consequence of his promotion ought to take rank” (D, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW).
John Hollinshead (1748–1798) joined the 2d New Jersey Regiment as a lieutenant in October 1775 and rose to captain in November 1776. He became major of the 3d New Jersey Regiment in August 1779 and transferred to the 2d New Jersey Regiment in January 1781. He left the army in November of that year.
4. The board’s report of 4–5 July, signed by major generals Nathanael Greene, Lafayette, and Stirling, and brigadier generals Henry Knox, William Maxwell, and Anthony Wayne, reads: “At a meeting of a board of Genl Officers held the 4th July 1780 pursuant to a General Order of the 3d Present Major General’s Greene Marquis de la Fayette Brigadier General Maxwell[.] The Board adjourned untill tomorrow 9. O’Clock A.M.
“July 5th the Board met agreeable to adjournment.
“Present Major General’s Greene Lord Stirling Marquis de la Fayette Brigadier Genls Maxwell Knox Wayne.
“It is the unanimous opinion of this Board that they have not powers to alter the standing of any General Officers different from their appointment and therefore cannot determine upon the claim of Genl Ervine, of precedence to General Hand.
“It is also the unanimous opinion of the Board that Major John Conway and Capt. Hollingshead ought to take rank at the time Lt Colonel Brearly accepted the appointment of Chief Justice, and that reference to him be had to fix the time” (DS, DLC:GW).