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

TO ROBERT STEWART. - 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.

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TO ROBERT STEWART.

Mount Vernon, 13 August, 1763.

My Dear Stewart,

By Captain Walter Stuart I am favored with an opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 6th of June, and at the same time of forwarding the copy of my former (which was in readiness before that came to hand, and) which I incline to send, notwithstanding the original is got to hand, because it contains the second bills, and other matters entire as they ought to have been sent, and as I dare say Mr. Stuart will be so good as to deliver.

Another tempest has arose upon our frontiers, and the alarm spread wider than ever. In short, the inhabitants are so apprehensive of danger, that no families stand above the Conococheague road, and many are gone off below it. Their harvests are in a manner lost, and the distresses of the settlement appear too evident and manifold to need description. In Augusta many people have been killed, and numbers fled, and confusion and despair prevail in every quarter. At this instant a calm is taking place, which forebodes some mischief to Colonel Bouquet. At least those, who wish well to the convoy, are apprehensive for him; since it is not unlikely, that the retreat of all the Indian parties at one and the same time from our frontiers, is a probable proof of their assembling a force somewhere, and for some particular purpose, none more likely than to oppose his march.1

It was expected, that our Assembly would have been called, in such exigences as these; but it’s concluded, (as I have been informed,) that an Assembly without money could be no eligible plan. To comprehend the meaning of this expression you must know, the Board of Trade, at the instance of the British merchants, have undertaken to rebuke us in the most ample manner for our paper emissions; and therefore the Governor and Council have directed one thousand militia to be employed for the protection of the frontiers, five hundred of whom are to be drafted from Hampshire &c, and to be under the command of Colonel Stephen, whose military courage and capacity, (says the Governor,) are well established. The other five hundred, from the southern frontier counties, are to be conducted by Major Lewis; so that you may readily conceive what an enormous expense must attend these measures. Stephen, immediately upon the Indians’ retiring, advanced to Fort Cumberland with two hundred or two hundred and fifty militia in great parade, and will doubtless achieve some signal advantage, of which the public will soon be informed.

I think I have now communicated the only news, which these parts afford. It is of a melancholy nature, indeed, and we cannot tell how or when it is to end. I hope you may have got matters settled to your liking before this time. I should rejoice to hear it, as I should at every thing that gives you pleasure or profit.

Mrs. Washington makes a tender of her compliments, and you may be assured that I am, with great sincerity, dear Sir, your most obedient and affectionate servant.

[1 ]The Shawanese, Delawares, Senecas and other Ohio tribes of Indians, had made a general and almost simultaneous attack upon all the remote frontier settlements and posts. They had committed many murders, and taken the forts at Le Bœuf, Venango, Presqu’Isle, and others on Lake Michigan, the Miami River, the Wabash, at Sandusky, and Michilimackinac. Fort Pitt (formerly Duquesne) was in imminent danger of falling into their hands. In July, Colonel Bouquet was despatched by General Amherst with five hundred men and a supply of military stores for the relief of that fort. He marched through Pennsylvania, following the same route, that had been pursued by General Forbes’s army. The Indians, who were then besieging Fort Pitt, heard of his march, and came out to meet him. They attacked his army on the 5th and 6th of August, in a defile near the head waters of Turtle Creek, (Bushy Run) and the contest was kept up during the two days, with considerable loss on both sides. Colonel Bouquet maintained his ground, and routing the Indians, marched without further molestation to Fort Pitt. The news of this action seems not to have reached Washington, when he wrote the above letter. General Amherst wrote to Sir Wm. Johnson: “Some random shots were fired on the army between Bushy Run and Fort Pitt; but this seasonable check I believe will put an effectual stop to any further mischief being done on that communication; particularly as Colonel Stephen with 4 or 500 men of the Virginia militia is advanced as far as Forts Cumberland and Bedford, with a view not only of covering the frontiers, but of acting offensively against the savages. This public spirited colony has also sent a body of the like number of men under the command of Colonel Lewis for the defence and protection of their southwest frontiers. What a contrast this makes between the conduct of the Pennsylvanians and Virginians, highly to the honor of the latter, but places the former in the most despicable light imaginable.” 27 August, 1763. The king signified his displeasure at the “supine and neglectful conduct” of the Pennsylvania legislature, and urged more vigorous measures upon all the colonies except Virginia and Maryland. Earl of Halifax to Sir Jeffrey Amherst, 18 October, 1763.