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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Letter from Griffith John McRee to Thomas Burke
McRee, Griffith John
March 31, 1782
Volume 16, Pages 258-259

TO GOV. BURKE FROM MAJ. G. J. McREE THIRD N. C. REGIMENT.
[From Executive Letter Book.]

Camp Near Bacon’s Bridge,
March 31st, 1782.

Sir:

The Honorable General Sumner acquainted me by letter that your Excellency detained a soldier who was passing as Express to Philadelphia with an order signed in my name for all Quarter Masters, &c., to supply with forage, &c., on his way, on the public account. I gave Lieutenant Wilkinson permission to send the soldier to his relations in Virginia for some wearing apparel, which article he was nearly destitute of. He forged my name to the order and is now in arrest for the crime.

Your Excellency will, I flatter myself, never know me to be capable of abusing the trust reposed in me by the State by making use of that authority to accomplish private views.

Lieutenant Pasteur waits on your Excellency to remonstrate in behalf of several officers in Camp that think themselves injured in a distribution of clothing brought from the State, by Captain Doherty, with orders from the Speaker of the House of Assembly then acting Governor, pointing out the mode of distribution by which all the officers now in Camp, that were served with a certain proportion of clothing at Charlestown during their captivity are excluded, though several young officers, making their first campaign, are served with an equal proportion.

I believe your Excellency well knows that the small relief the officers received from their Country at Haddrell’s Point, was little enough to alleviate their distress whilst in the hands of our Enemy, destitute of the resources, which, in another situation, they might draw from their friends and private interest. Exchanged by the General Cartel and landed in the State of Virginia, the public paying but little attention to their circumstances, many were obliged to part with those very supplies to defray their expenses to Camp. Three other officers were likewise excluded that lately joined Camp from North Carolina with Recruits, and the only reason given is,

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they were not in Camp when Captain Doherty was authorized to make application for the Stores.

I view the matter in the same light they do, and a wish to prevent valuable officers from quitting the service when there is a probability of redressing themselves in another manner, prompts me to trouble your Excellency on the subject by stating their case, which they do with confidence in the Justice of the Legislature, and that it is never its intention to injure officers that have served them since the beginning of the present struggle with unshaken fidelity. They apply to your Excellency for that redress they cannot obtain in the Brigade.

I am in hopes the uneasiness of the gentlemen will be removed, which will stimulate them to a cheerful perseverance in the glorious cause of their Country.

I have the Honor to be
Your Excellency’s
Most Obedt. H’ble Serv’t.,
G. J. McREE,
Major 3rd Regiment N. C.