Brave Harry and his Band of Brothers
Some writers knew their history and they knew their Shakespeare.
The Brave Harry Letter
To George Washington
from John Baylor,
20 June 1757 New Market 20th June 1757
Dear Sir
Yrs of the 10th I rec’d1 & have by the Bearer sent yr Mare which I make not the least Doubt of being in Foal & you are kindly welcome to send a couple of Mares yearly to my Horses.
When we come to recounting Favours I find my self so largely yr Debtor that I shall allways insist on yr commanding with Freedom any & every Thing wherin I can be Serviceable.2 Sorry I am for the unhappy Fall of one of the poorest or least of our back Inhabitants. I wish it were in my Power to prevent it.
The Tenderness of my Understanders3 [ his legs ] render me incapable of any Atchevts [achievements] in that Part of the World could we get a peacable or even Forcible Possession of that fine Country lying between the Mississippi & Ohio I had rather live there than any Part of America & more so after a late Confab. with Capt. Gist.
I wish my good Friends Capt. Spotswood & Lieut. Baker may not have ventur’d too far with so small Partys
but as the brave Harry the 5th [King Henry V] told his Soldiers that Victory was not so much owing to Numbers as to Conduct & Courage at the remarkable Battle of Azincourt [Agincourt]
so I make no Doubt but these Gentln of whom I have an extr[aordinar]y esteem will render a good Acct of their Behaviour. If ever an Oppy offers pray remember my little Friend Capt. Woodford.4 And that you may allways succeed in all yr Undertakings will be ever the most joyful News to Dear Colo. yr most Obedt Hbe Sert & sincere well wisher J. Baylor
ALS, DLC:GW.
Founders Online Footnote:
1. GW’s letter has not been found.
2. John Baylor (1705–1772) of Newmarket in Caroline County was perhaps rivalled as a breeder of racehorses in Virginia only by John Tayloe of Mount Airy. Baylor, who was schooled in England and attended Caius College, Cambridge, imported from England in 1764 a horse named Fearnaught whose progeny “introduced a taste (in imitation of the English) for Course racing” in Virginia (Patrick N. Edgar, The American Race-Turf Register, Sportsman’s Herald, and General Stud Book . . . [New York, 1833]). See John Baylor to GW, 7 June 1756.
3. Baylor may have been saying that he had trouble with his legs or feet—his “Understanders.”
4. William Woodford, the son of a prominent planter of Caroline County, was serving as a volunteer in the Virginia Regiment. Woodford was a captain of the Caroline County militia and had served on the frontier during the spring and summer of 1756. GW made him an ensign in July (see GW to Dinwiddie, 11 July 1757, n.2).
Source:
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Brave Harry the Fifth is
King Henry V
made famous by Shakespeare
and made famous by his own actions
and especially at the Battle of Agincourt 25 Oct 1415
Compiled by Jim Moyer in March 2023, post 4 April 2023, but post dated it for 20 June 2021 since we covered 1757 in the year 2021
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