Virginia Colonel Conveys Governor’s Request to County Militia for Guarding British Prisoners Who Had Surrendered at Yorktown

[REVOLUTIONARY WAR.] WILLIAM DAVIES, Autograph Letter Signed, to County Lieutenant in Berkeley County, [Virginia], December 17, 1781. 1 p., 8.25ʺ x 12.5ʺ. Expected folds; one large hole from opening seal; several small holes with minimal impact on text; good.

Provenance: Ex Christie's, Ex Sigety.

Colonel William Davies of the Virginia Board of War asked the assistance of local militia in Berkeley County, Virginia, in guarding a group of British prisoners who had surrendered at Yorktown until he could relieve them with regular troops. Davies relayed the request from Governor Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the newly instated fifth governor of Virginia. Berkeley County is now a part of West Virginia and borders both Maryland and Virginia.

At the surrender of Lord Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown, Virginia, in October 1781, the American army took charge of approximately seven thousand British and German prisoners. The articles of surrender stipulated that the prisoners must be kept in Virginia, Maryland, or Pennsylvania. The Americans divided the prisoners into two groups. One marched to Frederick, Maryland, guarded by state soldiers, while the other marched to western Virginia, under an escort of militia. The latter group arrived in Winchester, Virginia, on November 5, and began repairing and completing a prison camp that had been partially built in 1778. Colonel Joseph Holmes (1746-1806), a merchant from Winchester, served as Deputy Commissary of Prisoners for Virginia and had responsibility for the prisoners there. Because of the inadequate housing, the prisoners were marched away from Winchester in late January 1782. The British prisoners marched to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, while the German prisoners marched forty miles to Frederick, Maryland, to join the prisoners from Yorktown who were already there.

Complete Transcript
War office Decr 17, 1781
Sir,
I am directed by His Excellency the Governor in council to ask from your county for one Captain, one Lieutenant and one Ensign and sixty four noncommissioned officers and soldiers to guard the British, to be relieved by regular [tours?], and to be under the command of Colonel Holmes. As soon as steps can be adopted to guard these prisoners without calling upon you, it shall be immediately communicated and your men relieved, which, I hope, will soon be the case.
I have the honor to be with respectful esteem,
Your most Obedt Servant
William Davies
Berkley

[verso address:]
County Lieutenant or officer commanding in Berkley
War office

William Davies (1749-1805) was the son of Rev. Samuel Davies, the fourth president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton). William Davies graduated from the college in 1768, and moved to Norfolk, Virginia, to begin a law practice. When the Revolutionary War began, Davies served as captain in the 1st Virginia Regiment in 1775, and by March 1778, had become colonel of the 14th Virginia Regiment. In 1779, George Washington appointed Davies as a commissioner for the exchange of prisoners with the British. In March 1781, Governor Thomas Jefferson appointed him to the Virginia board of war. After the war, Davies helped settle claims between the United States and Virginia. In 1800, President John Adams appointed Davies as collector of the customs for Norfolk and Portsmouth. He died on his estate in Mecklenburg County in southern Virginia.

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