his fleet.
Colonel Howe, with five or six hundred North Carolina troops, now joined
Woodford, and assumed command at the Great Bridge, with the consent of
Woodford, who yielded to the seniority of his commission. Colonel Henry
now saw the colonel of the second Virginia regiment, who had refused to
acknowledge his command, submitting himself to an officer of no higher
rank, and of another colony. He found himself, although invested with
the title of commander-in-chief, yet virtually superseded and reduced to
the mere shadow of a name. To nullify his superiority of command the
committee had only to detach his subordinate officers.

On the thirteenth of December a member of the convention wrote to
Colonel Woodford: "I have talked with Colonel Henry about this matter;
he thinks he has been ill-treated, and insists the officers under his
command shall submit to his orders:" and again, "A commander or general,
I suppose, will be sent us by the congress, as it is expected our troops
will be upon continental pay." Mr. Pendleton, chairman of the committee,
in a letter dated December the twenty-fourth, and addressed to Colonel
Woodford, said: "The field-officers to each regiment will be named here
and recommended to congress; in case our army is taken into continental
pay, they will send commissions. A general officer will be chosen
there, I doubt not, and sent us; with that matter I hope we shall
not intermeddle, lest it should be thought propriety requires our
calling, or rather recommending, our present officer to that station."
It appears that Colonel Henry had not owed his military appointment
to those members of the committee of safety who conducted the
correspondence.[636:A] Mr. Pendleton looked upon the appointment of
Henry as an "unlucky step." Pendleton and Woodford were both of the
County of Caroline.

Late in December, Colonel Henry insisting upon a determination of the
question thus raised between him and Colonel Woodford, the committee
passed the following resolution:--

"_Resolved_, Unanimously, that Colonel Woodford, although
acting upon a separate and detached command, ought to
correspond with Colonel Henry, and make returns to him at
proper times of the state and condition of the forces under
his command, and also that he is subject to his orders when
the convention or the committee of safety is not sitting; but
that while either of these bodies is sitting he is to receive