Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1874-09-19
WHO NOMINATED WASHINGTON,
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.

City, Md, to the editors OF the Baltl-
more Gazette, which was'pubhshed In
that paper of.a recent date -
In your leading editorial in the
Gazette of the lst instant You remark
that, at any rate; We are indebted TO
John Adams for the nomination of
George Washington as Commander in
Chief OF course this was slip of the
pen, for no one knows better than the
editor-in chief of the leading Maryland
paper that General Washington was
nominated to the Congress by Thomas
Johnson, then delegate from Maryland,
and the year afterward elected the first
Governor OF the State. When Mr..
Bancroft's volume on the Revolution
was first published some similar claims
were made for the Massachusetts, family,
but his error was corrected at the time,
and, believe, by him rectified. Mr..
Irving states the fact correctly. John
Adams in bis diary, / believe, Il am
writing away from books and papers
states that he suggested the name OF
Washington in private conversation,
but it was considered best that the nom
ination to the Congress should be made
by Southern colony, and that there
fore, Mr. Johnson was selected for the
purpose. | am unable TO assert from
whom the suggestion of Colonel Wash
ington's name first came, but it is much
more likely to have originated in pri-
yate conversation and conference with
a MARYLAND delegate than than the
Massachusetts one. Government John
SO, prior to l775, had been a prominent
member of the Maryland bar, had mar
ried tue daughter of Thomas Jennings,
Esq, the Attorney General of the
Province, and with Daniel Dulany,
was leading Wing until the latter be-
came unwilling to 60 into revolution.
Then johnson became one of the fore
most in organizing the Committee of
Public Safety, which met in Annapolis
in 1875, AID afterward developed into
the Revolutionary Convention which
controlled the State during the war.
He was OF the first delegation to tho
Continental Congress with the Hon.
Matthew Tilghman, Esq, was the com
mander-i in chief of the Flying Camp,
which was the embodiment of the Mill
tary force Of the State, and was the
Governor elected to put the new gov
ernment into operation. He had been
the associate of Colonel Washington III
his attempt in 1774 to organize a com
pany for the slackwater navigation OF
the Potomac river before the Maryland
Assembly. This was part of their idea
of connecting the waters of the Ohio
and the Chesapeake, but the enterprise
was interrupted by the war, and after
ward carried out by them in the incor-
poration of the old Potomac Company,
which was subsequently merged into
the present Chesapeake and Ohio Com
pany. Governor Johnson owned proper
ty in Frederick county, some at the
Point of Rocks, and was interested in
the development of the iron interested
there, and Colonel Washington's proper
ty on the opposite side OF the river, in
what is now Jefferson, gave them
community of interest apart from their
connection in the public service.
They were neighbors and friends, and
were men of consequence in their own
Province. johnson was Of the same
age of Washington, having been born
in the same year, and it would have
been very unnatural and very remarka-
ble when the Congress at Philadelphia
met, aud the minds of men were being
turned to the man Of position, property,
and experience all combined to be
placed in the command of the troops
then before Boston, aud about to be
raised aud sent forward for the South
that Johnson, impetuous, enthusiastic,
warm hearted, and his whole soul atire
in the Whig cause, should not at once
have thought OF his coadjutor in the
Potomac Company, bis neighbor and
his friend, the Virginia Colonel, who
had been quartered in Frederick, on
Braddocks staff, and whose experience,
and ability he perfectly well knew,
Colonel Washington, it is well known
preferred for Commander-ln-Chief zen
eral Andrew Lewis, of Virginia, who
at Point Pleasant, bad fought the hard
est and boodiest battle, with the largest
number of troops engaged, that had
then been fought OH this continent. lie
thought that Lewis was the man; and
Lewis had much the largest reputation
and widest experience. 1t isthen much
more likely that the friends and asso-
ciates of Washington in Maryland, (for
the Virginians would naturally have
been reticeut toward pressing one Of
their own men, should have influenced
the minds Of the members of the Con
gress in their private conferences and
conversations.
At any rate, il is understood that
Governor Johnson did make the public
official nomination to tie Congress,
which was Immediately adopted by
unanimous vote, and the intimacy and
connection between the two continued
through life. After the war they pro
cured together the incorporation Of the
Potomac Company by their respective
States. And in 1885 Rumsey demon
strated to them, on the Potomac at
Shepherdstown, his great discovery that
a boa, could be propelled by steam up
stream against the current. The boiler
and machinery for Rumseys steamboat
were made at the Catoctin Iron Fur