Lot 1033: WARD, JOSEPH

WARD, JOSEPH Autograph letter signed ("Joseph Ward, C[ommissary] G[eneral of] M[usters]," 3 pages (11 3/4 x 7 5/8 in.; 300 x 194 mm), Head Quarters [Valley Forge, Pennsylvania], 13 March 1778, to Richard Varick at West Point, New York; formerly folded, fold-tears some of which are mended, a few small dampstains and traces of mounting in left margin. Blue half-morocco drop-box.

Keeping the troops at Valley Forge.

Joseph Ward was a Massachusetts schoolmaster who, after serving his cousin Artemas Ward as secretary in 1776, was appointed Commissary General of Musters, with the rank of Colonel. He writes, from the encampment at Valley Forge to Richard Varick (1753-1831), then Deputy Muster Master General at West Point, on the delicate subject of maintaining an adequate muster of troops, who unpaid, were taking furloughs, or sheltering in hospitals established in the surrounding countryside during the harsh winter of 1777-78. Wives, sisters, and daughters of the enlisted men served in these hospitals, and many soldiers were loathe to return to the wretched conditions prevailing in the camp.

He begins with reference to Varick's account of a "secret expedition" which he is thankful was not pursued, though "some advantage may accrue from the Design [plan], as the British Court will doubtless hear of it long before they can know the consequence ...".

He goes on: "The difficulties you mention, respecting Furloughs, men left in Hospitals, etc., are too much experienced here, as well as with you. I consulted his Excellency general Washington on these matters, and his direction was, that Soldiers who did not join their Corps at the expiration of their Furloughs, (unless their Officers, or others, could make it appear that they were necessarily detained) should be returned Deserters. If upon joining their Corps, they should then make it appear they had been necessarily detained, they will, notwithstanding their having been returned Deserters, draw their whole pay. Officers are not to be returned Deserters, unless they have been long absent after the expiration of their Furloughs, but are to be answerable to the Commander in chief of the Department, for absence beyond the limited time." If an officer is unlikely to return, he may be stricken from the roll, until he rejoins. "This I think may be a more eligible method than to return them Deserters, and more consistent with that delicacy which Officers ought to deserve."

On the subject of men in hospitals, it is the responsibility of their officers to know their condition, and be subject to court-martial if they do not. "When you are satisfied any absent men who were left in Hospitals or elsewhere ... will never join their corps, you may strike them out of the Rolls. You are not obliged to wait for proof of their death or desertion." If they rejoin their corps in the meantime, "they may be inserted in the next Roll for the whole time of their absence; by which means no honest man will suffer by being struck off the Roll."