Notebook kept by George Washington, first President of the United States, while a colonel in charge of the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War, 1757. Memoranda concern military matters and consist of his outlines for letters to be...
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Notebook kept by George Washington, first President of the United States, while a colonel in charge of the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War, 1757. Memoranda concern military matters and consist of his outlines for letters to be written, orders to be given, and tasks to be accomplished. Letter recipients include the Governor of Virginia, the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Colonel Stanwix, and others. Initial entries are dated, beginning 1757 June 7, correlating to his command at Fort Loudoun in Winchester, Virginia. Items were apparently cross-hatched once completed. Memoranda include a list of officers' commissions given out by him in May and July; a list of his wagon horses with their names, physical descriptions and drawn brand marks; and a list of things to be done in Williamsburg should he go there in November. Also in his handwriting is an undated recipe for making "small beer." The volume also contains items not written by him: an earlier roll of the artificers employed at the works at Winchester under the command of Captain William Peach[e]y, with an account of their lost time for July, 1756; an undated list of men drafted from the artificers to do garrison duty for a time, drafted on July 9; and an undated list of men drafted from various Virginia counties, sometimes noting their occupation and description of fitness for service.
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