This Day in History: February 11

You cannot conceive what a weight these kind of people are upon the Service, and upon me in particular, few of them have any knowledge of the Branches which they profess to understand, and those that have, are entirely useless as officers, from their ignorance of the English Language. I wish it were possible to make them understand, when Commissions are granted to them, that they are to make themselves Masters of the english Language in some degree, before they can be attached to any particular Corps.