On April 20, 1776—250 years ago today—Captain John H. Wendell received his marching orders. Wendell was a lawyer and a lifelong resident of Albany, NY. When war came, like many of his Albany neighbors, Wendell chose to support the American cause. On March 1, 1776, he was commissioned as a captain in Colonel Cornelius Wynkoop’s 4th New York Regiment. He remained in Albany and recruited, trained, and supplied men for his new company for close to two months. On April 20, he was called to the field.
Wendell recorded the orders given to him by Goose Van Schaick, colonel of another New York regiment, in a neat hand on the first page of a new orderly book. “The publick Service requires that you March your Company’s to Fort George without any Delay,” Van Schaick ordered. “You will therefore begin your March to Morrow Morning at Sunrize when a Batteau will be ready at the lower Dock to take in your Baggage, and Six days provisions, which be Necessary for your March…”
The orders likely weren’t a surprise to Wendell, but receiving them required him to spring into action. Baggage had to be packed, provisions for the journey had to be drawn, and other loose ends had to be tied up. Wendell and his men may have found time amid the rush to think about their past and future. On his company’s last night in the city of his birth, Wendell knew there was no guarantee he would ever see Albany again.
Wendell and his company missed Van Schaick’s sunrise deadline by about nine hours. In his orderly book, which he sometimes used as a journal, Wendell recorded, “Marched from Albany the 21st on a Sunday about 2 OClock PM and arrived at Fort George on a Thursday Evening about six OClock on the 25th day of April”. His journey that year took him from Fort George to Ticonderoga, then to Skenesborough, where his company built bateaux for the Lake Champlain fleet. Wendell served for five years, resigning in 1781, then finally returned home to Albany.
Follow our social media throughout the year to hear more about Wendell’s journey! And learn about this orderly book (object ID MS.7197) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/30796