Thanks much for the additional information Malinda. I just received word that there is a book listing the guards. Sure will save me decades of time for other ancestor searching. The book is: The Commander-in-Chief's Guard: Revolutionary War Carlos E. Godfrey 302 pp., Illus. (1904), 2001. ISBN 0806305185, available for puechase from 2 locations. I'll check the sites you listed, and thanks again for your sending them to me. Earl. In a message dated 11/28/01 5:51:43 PM, mthiesse@swbell.net writes: << HI Earl, No problem. The names Francis (male) and Frances (female) run in several of my lines. If they don't run in your lines, it's very easy to guess wrong about the spelling. In the letter/order Washington seems to be directing the selection of the Life Guards using Francis Moreland as both a participant as well as role model. This letter doesn't specifically refer to them as the Commander-in-Chief's Life Guards. This particular letter is dealing primarily with Quartermaster duties (which the Life Guards also saw to IIRC). In another letter relating to a 1778 Court Martial of George Albin. He was sentenced to receive 100 lashes in the "presence of the old and new Guards". Francis Moreland was named as a member of the Guards . Here's a better portal and path WASHINGTON Papers http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html Query box http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mgwquery.html Search result http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query New Address for the Washington to Stephen letter http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mgw:1:./temp/~ammem_QJ7L:: This is the page that mentions Francis Moreland ...it is now Image # 33 http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mgw2&fileName=gwpage003.db&recNum= 32&tempFile=./temp/~ammem_QJ7L&filecode=mgw&next_filecode=mgw&itemnum=1&ndocs= 100 >>