Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO MAJOR FRANCIS HALKET, BRIGADE MAJOR. - The Writings of George Washington, vol. II (1758-1775)

Return to Title Page for The Writings of George Washington, vol. II (1758-1775)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: War and Peace
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO MAJOR FRANCIS HALKET, BRIGADE MAJOR. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. II (1758-1775) [1889]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1889). Vol. II (1758-1775).

Part of: The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO MAJOR FRANCIS HALKET, BRIGADE MAJOR.

My dear Halket,

I am just returned from a conference held with Colonel Bouquet. I find him fixed, I think I may say unalterably fixed, to lead you a new way to the Ohio, thro a road, every inch of which is to be cut at this advanced season, when we have scarce time left to tread the beaten track, universally confessed to be the best passage through the mountains.

If Colonel Bouquet succeeds in this point with the General, all is lost,—all is lost indeed! Our enterprise will be ruined, and we shall be stopped at the Laurel Hill this winter; but not to gather laurels, (except of the kind that covers the mountains.) The southern Indians will turn against us, and these colonies will be desolated by such an acquisition to the enemy’s strength. These must be the consequences of a miscarriage; and a miscarriage the (almost) necessary consequence of an attempt to march the army by this new route. I have given my reasons at large to Colonel Bouquet. He desired that I should do so, that he might forward them to the General. Should this happen, you will be able to judge of their weight.

I am uninfluenced by prejudice, having no hopes or fears but for the general good. Of this you may be assured, and that my sincere sentiments are spoke on this occasion. I am, dear Halket, most affectionately yours.