- Call Number:
- HIL-MICL FC LMR .G7W3A4I5
- Category:
- Military
- Creator:
- Great Britain. War Office.
- Material Description:
- 8 microfilm textual records (13 volumes) ; 35 mm
- Background:
For historical summary of the War Office, see Electronic Finding Aid field.
- Contents:
The first 13 volumes of War Office In-Letters for the years, 1755-1785, contain letters and enclosures from officers in America that are addressed, for the most part, to the Secretaries-at-War, Barrington and Townsend, Deputy Secretary Walpole, and the Marquis of Granby, master-general of ordnance. The documents included: regimental and statistical returns; petitions and memorials from officers; schedules of papers; enlistments; regimental returns; lists of promotions, etc.; proclamations; declarations; minutes of councils of war; estimates of military expenditures; and letters concerning the condition of the army with respect to provisions, supplies and health. The time periods span two wars: the French and Indian War and the American Revolution; thus much of the content revolves around military affairs and management, including natives and health, and current events.
The records are arranged under the various military stations and public departments from which they were sent. Locations include: St John's, Albany, New York, Fort Edward, Lake George, London, South Carolina, Boston, Quebec, Halifax, Plymouth, Placentia, Louisbourg, Georgia, Chambly, Montreal, St. Augustine, Schenectady, and Staten Island. Correspondents are, primarily, British army generals and other officers in America, with a number of despatches from governors of colonies. They include the following generals: Sir Robert Abercrombie, Jeffery Amherst, Thomas Gage, William Howe, Guy Carleton, John Campbell, James Wolfe, William Shirley, Frederick Haldimand, Robert Monckton, Sir Henry Clinton, Philip Skene, William Phillips, James Paterson, Henry Bouquet, Sir James Murray, John Burgoyne, and many others. Governors and Lieutenant Governors include: Molineux Stuldham, Newfoundland; Thomas DesBrisay, St. John's Island (Prince Edward Island); Thomas Carleton, New Brunswick; J.F.W. Desbarres, Cape Breton; and Jonathan Belcher, Nova Scotia.
Several individual items are important to note: Volume 2 contains descriptions of both the Battle of Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill; Volumes 7 through 9 are concerned largely with Indian affairs along the frontier and with Pontiac's War; Volume 13 has a short account of the King's American Dragoons.
- Originals:
- The original records are held by The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom.
- Archival Ref. No.:
TNA (formerly PRO) WO 1/1-13
- Finding Aids:
A microfilm shelf list, which provides corresponding volume and reel numbers, has been created by the author of the Loyalist Collection Inventory. It is available in print and is shelved with the Loyalist Collection Finding Aids (red binders). It is also available online as an Electronic Finding Aid Record
There is a selective index filmed at the end of each volume. These indexes are also available in print in the Loyalist Collection Inventory binders (red binders).
Online: A detailed description of the contents of each volume can be found in: Andrews, Charles W. Guide to Materials for American History to 1783 in the Public Record Office of Great Britain. Volume 2 Washington: Carnegie Institution, 1914. See Electronic Finding Aids section.
- PDF Finding Aid:
- Health and Medicine in InLetters WO1 1-13.pdf In-Letters America and West Indies WO 1,1-13 Microfilm Shelf List.pdf Volume contents from Andrews.pdf