A George Washington letter to Col. Stephen Moylan from January 1780 will be auctioned off Aug. 23 by Briggs Auction Inc. in Garnet Valley, according to Express Press Release.

The letter has been passed through descendants of Stephen Moylan and Thomas Lancaster Lansdale and is being offered for the first time at public auction.

It was written Jan. 5, 1780, after Washington and his troops marched into Morristown, New Jersey for winter encampment.

In the letter, Washington asks Stephen Moylan, the Colonel of the Fourth Continental Light Dragoons camped in Colchester, Connecticut, to organize commissions to complete four regimes of calvary requested by the board of war.

Washington, Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, closes with, “I am dear sir, your humble servant, George Washington”.

Stephen Moylan was an Irish-American patriot leader in the American Revolutionary War.

He had several positions in the Continental Army, including Muster-Master General, Secretary and Aide to General George Washington, 2nd Quartermaster General, Commander of the Fourth Continental Light Dragoons, and Commander of the Cavalry of the Continental Army.

In January 1776, Moylan included the term “United States of America” in a letter, the earliest known use of the phrase.

Find out more about the George Washington letter and the upcoming auction in Express Press Release.