Reputedly the most handsome man in the Continental Army, Walter Stewart emigrated to Pennsylvania from Ireland prior to the Revolution. At the age of twenty, he was appointed Captain of the 3rd Pennsylvania Battalion of the Continental Line, and after various assignments, rose to the Colonelcy of the 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry in July 1778. The regiment was involved in several engagements during the Philadelphia Campaign and was brigaded with the 1st, 7th, and 10th Pennsylvania Regiments during the fall and winter of 1778-1779.
A detailed brigade-level orderly book recording orders, disciplinary matters, and other affairs within the Pennsylvania Line (1st, 2nd, 7th, and 10th Pennsylvania Regiments). During the period covered, October 1778-May 1779, the brigade was stationed in Fredericksburg and Middlebrook, New Jersey, under the command of Anthony Wayne. The authorship of the volume has been attributed to William Stewart, Colonel of the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment, however notations inside the front cover identify James Willson [sic] and James Maxwell (7th Pennsylvania Regiment) as owners. The majority of entries in the book appear to be in Maxwell's hand.
1 vol. (260p.)
Unknown.
Cite as: Walter Stewart Orderly book, American Philosophical Society.
Catalogued by rsc, 2001.
Orderly books for Col. Henry Bicker, 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment, 1778, Col. Henry Bicker and Col. Walter Stuart, 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment, 1778-1779, and Walter Stewart, 1780, are located in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Collection 973 and 1324). The HSP also contains materials relating to other regiments brigaded with the 2nd Pennsylvania. Orderly books for the 7th Pennsylvania Regiment are located in the Pennsylvania State Archives (February-September, 1779), Special Collections at the West Point Library (February-August and August-September, 1779). "The Orderly Book of the Seventh Penn'a. Regiment..." Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Ser., v.11, pp. 397-438 and 503-526.
The Orderly Book for the Second Pennsylvania Regiment contains the daily activities of this group, including daily orders, disciplinary actions, and travel from 1778-1779. The brigade traveled from New Jersey to Virginia during this period.
