Deserters
Are any of your ancestors in this list of 108 Deserters names advertised in Page 4 of the Virginia Gazette 2 Sept 1757 ??
From a Founders Online Footnote:
The enclosure has not been found
[in Colonel George Washington's letter
to Lt Gov Robert Dinwiddie] ,
but in a proclamation dated 19 July 1757
Dinwiddie listed the names
and gave the descriptions
of 108 drafted men
from twenty-six counties
who had deserted
from the Virginia Regiment,
offering a reward of £5
for every deserter
returned to Winchester
(Virginia Gazette [Williamsburg],
2 Sept. 1757).
Source:
Founders Online Footnote 4 in GW's letter of 19 July 1757:
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For a better look at the Virginia Gazette on Page 4, go to this link:
We wonder if that Richard Smith listed on the bottom left of that Sept 1757 advertisement is the same Richard Smith who was already caught and sentenced to a 1000 lashings in a 25–26 July 1757 Court Martial at Fort Loudoun?
And there are some others listed on that bottom left.
We cannot clearly make out if that Is Ignatius Edwards and William Smith both sentenced to hang in that same Court Martial at Fort Loudoun in Winchester VA.
Notice on the far right, you can barely make out the Sadler describing William Smith's occupation.
Founders Online mentions this:
In the list of deserters advertised by Dinwiddie (see GW to Dinwiddie, 11 July 1757, n.4) a William Smith is named. He is identified as a 20–year-old “sadler.” See the General Court-Martial, 25–26 July, at which a William Smith in Crawford’s custody was tried for desertion and sentenced to be hanged. He was executed on 29 July.
Source
OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST:
STORIES OF ENEMY ATROCITIES, LETTERS FROM THE FRONT AND BATTLE-FIELD REPORTS GAVE READERS A RUNNING ACCOUNT OF THE FIGHT FOR A CONTINENT.
Newspaper links:
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