Tenney, Samuel (1748-1816) [Deposition of Samuel Tenney]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.10197 Author/Creator: Tenney, Samuel (1748-1816) Place Written: s.l. Type: Manuscript document signed Date: circa 1783 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 35.5 x 23.7 cm.
Deposition by doctor Tenney, signed as "Sam. Tenny", describing the duties of an officer in relation to Mr. Pratt's arrest. Writes, "[A] commanding officer of a company having the temporary command of a battalion or garrison had no right or pretence, on that account, to divest himself of his proper command & to impose his duty on a subordinate officer." Mr. Wheaton, supposedly broke this rule in ordering Mr. Pratt to take over Wheaton's command, though Wheaton repeatedly denies this. Mentions that Baron Steuben hopes the dispute might be settled peacefully. Watermarked.
Tenney was the surgeon for the Rhode Island Battalion and was later a U.S. Representative from New Hampshire. Wheaton possibly refers to Lieutenant Joseph Wheaton, and Pratt to Sergeant William Pratt, who were both retained in Olney's Rhode Island Battalion. Steuben was a German-Prussian General who served with George Washington in the American Revolutionary War and is credited with teaching the Continental Army the essentials of military drill and discipline.
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