Details
[REVOLUTIONARY WAR.] WEEDON, George (1730-1793), Continental General. Autograph letter signed (“G. Weedon”) to William Phillips (1731-1781), 26 April 1781. 2 ½ pages, folio.
"I HAVE EVER HELD FLAGS OF TRUCE IN THE MOST SACRED LIGHT& AM SORRY TO FIND ANY GOING FROM ME...VIOLATED"
An apology to a British general after a mix-up over prisoner exchanges. On 6 April Weedon sent Moss Armistead and John Slaughter to Portsmouth, to meet with the British commander to exchange prisoners and return slaves. Evidently unauthorized use was made of this pass, resulting in Armistead’s and Slaughter’s detention. “I ever held Flags of Truce in the most sacred light,” Weedon tells Phillips, “& am sorry to find any going from me, in the smallest degree violated. I pledge you my honor it was not my intention, and for your further satisfaction enclose you [not included] [a] copy of Mr. Moss Armistead’s credentials, so far as related to his business. Any persons going into your lines under the sanction of his mission were to blame, & I totally disapprove their conduct. Care shall be taken in future to carry those delicate matters with more punctilio.”
The lists of prisoners Armistead was to exchange “were such as at that time happened to be at Richmond, and convenient to open a field of exchange with. I did not examine it so strictly as I should have done, but think it comprehended the exchangeable lines of Soldier, Sailor & Citizens.” Weedon saw this as a preliminary exchange, as he was not authorized to engage in a general exchange “without the approbation of Major Genl. Baron de Steuben, who at that time commanded in Virginia.” Weedon thinks “holding the unfortunate commissioners in captivity…can make no possible advantage to one side or the other in our National dispute.” He notes “certain operations” have interrupted the exchanges (Lafayette’s pursuit of Arnold). But he pledges, “the moment I am authorized,” to order the exchange of “as many British and German prisoners as will exchange the Americans who were taken in Arms, but fear this cannot be done in the time you limit, as this is the thirteenth day since the date of your letter.”
"I HAVE EVER HELD FLAGS OF TRUCE IN THE MOST SACRED LIGHT& AM SORRY TO FIND ANY GOING FROM ME...VIOLATED"
An apology to a British general after a mix-up over prisoner exchanges. On 6 April Weedon sent Moss Armistead and John Slaughter to Portsmouth, to meet with the British commander to exchange prisoners and return slaves. Evidently unauthorized use was made of this pass, resulting in Armistead’s and Slaughter’s detention. “I ever held Flags of Truce in the most sacred light,” Weedon tells Phillips, “& am sorry to find any going from me, in the smallest degree violated. I pledge you my honor it was not my intention, and for your further satisfaction enclose you [not included] [a] copy of Mr. Moss Armistead’s credentials, so far as related to his business. Any persons going into your lines under the sanction of his mission were to blame, & I totally disapprove their conduct. Care shall be taken in future to carry those delicate matters with more punctilio.”
The lists of prisoners Armistead was to exchange “were such as at that time happened to be at Richmond, and convenient to open a field of exchange with. I did not examine it so strictly as I should have done, but think it comprehended the exchangeable lines of Soldier, Sailor & Citizens.” Weedon saw this as a preliminary exchange, as he was not authorized to engage in a general exchange “without the approbation of Major Genl. Baron de Steuben, who at that time commanded in Virginia.” Weedon thinks “holding the unfortunate commissioners in captivity…can make no possible advantage to one side or the other in our National dispute.” He notes “certain operations” have interrupted the exchanges (Lafayette’s pursuit of Arnold). But he pledges, “the moment I am authorized,” to order the exchange of “as many British and German prisoners as will exchange the Americans who were taken in Arms, but fear this cannot be done in the time you limit, as this is the thirteenth day since the date of your letter.”