York Town March 31. 1778
Dear Sir
I am sorry to inform you that the report of the board of Genl. Officers was sent by the Comtee, to Congress, & is agreed to. I laid the whole matter before them, but they were of opinion, that the surest way of not injuring the feelings of Military Gentlemen, was to conform to the ideas of the Gentlemen of the Army. This, I assure you, was the principle, which directed their determination & not any preference given the other Gentleman.1 I did not know who was Your Post master, but being inform’d he was not well affected, I thot it my Duty to mention it to some Gentn in the Neighbourhood. I am glad my information was not well founded.
I wrote some time agoe to Mr Dick about his Son, prisoner in England; shd. be glad to know if he recd. the Letr. You will do an essential service by hastening on the men. It is the opinion of the board of War, not to wait for inocculation, as there is little danger of infection while in the feild.
I am Dear Sir, Your very humble Sevt.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Receiver’s copy, Haverford College Library. Addressed: "To General George Weedon Fredericksburg Virginia."
1 On April 12 Weedon sent a copy of Congress’ March 19 resolution placing him last in the seniority arrangement of the brigadiers in the Virginia line to Richard Henry Lee, whom he asked to inform Congress that he would not serve "in the present Arrangement." Lee Family Papers, ViU. Responding to Weedon the same day, from "Belleview" in Virginia, Richard Henry urged him to remain in the army. "I am much concerned at the resolution of Congress that you have sent me a copy of," Lee explained, "because I am perfectly satisfied from the knowledge I have of this matter that it is unjust with respect to you. No affected knowledge of military rule is necessary here, common sense is sufficient without other aid to determine the question. When you were appointed Brigadier, Mr. Woodford was no more an Officer in the Continental Army than I am. He was out by his own choice, and with respect to him, your appointment was unoppugnable. When therefore Mr. Woodford was made a Brigadier from a Citizen, what pretext could there be for complaint that you were above him? I regard Gen. Woodford as a good Officer, but without flattery, I do not think his Talents superior to yours, and this alone, could in my opinion, justify the resolve. I must confess to you, that altho I thought well of Gen. Woodford, I found my feelings much hurt, both as a public man, and a friend to our righteous cause, when he resigned his commission. I thought it could not be justified upon any principles that I was able to try it by, and so I think still. Having thus given you my thoughts on this point, I will with your leave put down how I should, if in your situation, think and act on this occasion. And perhaps I am in some degree qualified to judge because I too have as a Citizen been not only injured in this way but in a much worse. I did then, and would now reflect, that the Sacred cause of Liberty and my Country supercedes all other obligations and every other consideration and therefore when I find that Country mistaken and acting upon wrong principles with respect to me, altho my feelings might be greatly hurt I should be more affected for the operation that the example might have upon the minds of others than for my particular injury, but I would continue to exert every faculty in the service of my
Country. I should certainly not resign, and by continuing to Act, convince Mankind of my superiority to what you call ’the evil spirit of intrigue,’ and indeed to every other consideration but the love of my Country. Military Men, in these days, are apt to carry their ideas of honor too far, for I cannot help thinking with St. Paul that Temperance, even in virtue, is proper. As I wish you to continue in the Army, so I could wish you would not insist on my doing the disagreable business of Bearing your resignation." Allyn K. Ford Collection, MnHi.
For information on the dispute respecting the seniority claims of the Virginia brigadiers and Weedon’s subsequent resignation despite the pleas of friends, see Committee at Camp Minutes of Proceedings, February 16 - 20, note 3; Committee at Camp Statement, March 2, 1778, note 1; and Harry M. Ward, Duty, Honor or Country, General George Weedon and the American Revolution, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society 133 (1979), chaps. 7 and 8.