- The Writings of George Washington.
- 1775.
- Answer to an Address of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. 1
- To James Warren, President of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts.
- To the President of Congress. 1
- To Richard Henry Lee, In Congress.
- To Governor Trumbull. 1
- To the President of Congress.
- To General Thomas. 2
- To John Augustine Washington.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To General Court of Massachusetts Bay.
- To Deputy Governor Cooke, of Rhode Island.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Lewis Morris. 1
- To J. Palmer.
- To the President of the Council of Massachusetts Bay.
- To the Provincial Congress of New York.
- To a Committee of the General Court of Massachusetts Bay.
- To Lieutenant-general Gage.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To Deputy-governor Cooke.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Lieutenant-general Gage.
- To J. Palmer.
- To Sir William Howe. 2
- To Richard Henry Lee.
- To Caesar Rodney and Thomas Mckean. 1
- To the President of Congress.
- To Brigadier-general Wooster. 2
- To the Inhabitants of the Island of Bermuda. 2
- To the Major and Brigadier Generals.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To John Augustine Washington.
- To Colonel Benedict Arnold. Instructions.
- To Colonel Benedict Arnold.
- To the Inhabitants of Canada. 1
- To Thomas Everhard, Virginia.
- To Deputy Governor Cooke.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major Christopher French. 1
- To Brigadier-general Joseph Spencer.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Captain Daniel Morgan.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To the General Officers.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Robert Carter Nicholas, Virginia.
- To the President of Congress.
- To John Augustine Washington.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Committee of Falmouth, Casco Bay.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the General Court of Massachusetts.
- To Josiah Quincy. 1
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Brigadier-general John Sullivan. Instructions.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed, Philadelphia.
- To Colonel William Woodford. 2
- To the President of Congress.
- To William Palfrey, Portsmouth. 3
- To Henry Knox. Instructions.
- To Major-general Artemas Ward.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To Aaron Willard. Instructions.
- To Lund Washington, Mount Vernon. 1
- To Richard Henry Lee.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Governor Cooke.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Colonel Benedict Arnold.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress. 1
- To Joseph Reed.
- To His Excellency General Howe.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To Richard Henry Lee.
- To the General Court of Massachusetts.
- To the President of Congress.
- 1776.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To Governor Cooke.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To Major-general Charles Lee. 1 Instructions.
- To the Council of Massachusetts Bay.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Colonel Benedict Arnold.
- To James Warren, Speaker Etc.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To the General Court of Massachusetts Bay.
- To Matthew Thornton. 1
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the New England Governments.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To Major-general Lee.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Colonel Benedict Arnold.
- To Commodore John Manly.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Lee.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To the General Court of Massachusetts.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Lee.
- To Miss Phillis Wheatley.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Commanding Officer At New York.
- To the President of Congress.
- Proclamation On the Evacuation of Boston.
- To the General Court of Massachusetts Bay.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed.
- To Colonel Thomas Mifflin, Quartermaster-general. Instructions.
- Answer to an Address From the General Assembly of Massachusetts.
- To Major-general Putnam. Instructions.
- To John Augustine Washington.
TO MAJOR-GENERAL SCHUYLER.
Camp atCambridge, 5 October, 1775.
Dear Sir,
I wrote you yesterday, of which the enclosed is a copy, since which I have been informed, that your illness has obliged you to quit the army, and General Wooster as the eldest Brigadier will take rank and command of Mr. Montgomery. General Wooster, I am informed, is not of such activity as to press through difficulties, with which that service is environed. I am therefore much alarmed for Arnold, whose expedition was built upon yours, and who will infallibly perish, if the invasion and entry into Canada are abandoned by your successor.
I hope by this time the penetration into Canada by your army is effected; but if it is not, and there are any intentions to lay it aside, I beg it may be done in such a manner, that Arnold may be saved by giving him notice, and in the mean time your army to keep up such appearances as may fix Carleton, and prevent the force of Canada being turned wholly upon Arnold. He expected to be at Quebec in twenty days from the 26th of September, so that I hope you will have no difficulty in regulating your motions with respect to him. Should this find you at Albany, and General Wooster about taking the command, I intreat you to impress him strongly with the importance and necessity of proceeding, or so to conduct, that Arnold may have time to retreat.
Nothing new has occurred since yesterday deserving your notice. Our next accounts of your health I hope will be more favorable. Ten thousand good wishes attend you from this quarter; none more sincere and fervent than those of, dear Sir, your most obedient, &c.
General Wooster was now advanced in life. He had served in the two preceding wars, having been present at the capture of Louisburg in 1745, and commanded a Connecticut regiment nearly the whole of the last French war. When the Connecticut troops were raised, in 1775, he was appointed to the command of the whole. The continental appointment, therefore, by which he was placed the third on the list of brigadiers, and Putnam raised over him to the rank of major-general, was by no means satisfactory. Yet he accepted the commission in a spirit which reflected much credit upon his character.
When he went to the northward, General Washington had the impression, that he would assume the command in Canada, as higher in rank than Montgomery. But the fact was, he stood one degree lower, so that this difficulty was obviated. To prevent all chance of dispute, General Schuyler resolved to keep Wooster at Ticonderoga, and send forward his regiment. But the officers and men, who sympathized with their commander in his complaint of injustice, would not go without him. They had already refused to sign the articles of war, sent out by the Continental Congress, and their general was obliged to govern them by the military laws of Connecticut. This aspect of things gave some concern to General Schuyler, when the regiment arrived at Ticonderoga, and he wrote to General Wooster requesting to know precisely on what ground he considered himself to stand. The reply was that of an honorable and generous soldier, as well as a true patriot.
“My appointment in the Continental Army,” said General Wooster, “you are sensible could not be very agreeable to me; notwithstanding which, I never should have continued in the service, had I not determined to observe the rules of the army. No, Sir; I have the cause of my country too much at heart, to attempt to make any difficulty or uneasiness in the army, upon which the success of an enterprise of almost infinite importance to the country is now depending. I shall consider my rank in the army what my commission from the Continental Congress makes it, and shall not attempt to dispute the command with General Montgomery at St. John’s. You may depend, Sir, that I shall exert myself as much as possible to promote the strictest union and harmony among both officers and soldiers, and use every means in my power to give success to the expedition.”
“General Wooster is just arrived here. As he was appointed a major-general by the colony of Connecticut, and that I did not know his sentiments with respect to the rank he considered himself in the Continental army, my intentions were to have him remain at this post [Ticonderoga], but assuring me that his regiment would not move without him, and that although he thought hard of being superceded, yet he would most readily put himself under the command of General Montgomery, that his only views were the public service, and that no obstructions of any kind would be given by him. This spirited and sensible declaration I received with inexpressible satisfaction, and he moves to-morrow with the first division of his regiment.” Schuyler to Congress, 13 October, 1775. This harmony was soon threatened, as Schuyler wrote on the next day complaining that Wooster had ordered a court martial at Fort George, “which he by no means had a right to do,” and had discharged men from Hinman’s and Waterbury’s regiments. “I assure you, Sir, that I feel these insults from a general officer with all that keen sensibility that a man of honor ought; and I should be ashamed to mention them to Congress but that the critical situation of our public affairs at this period require that I should sacrifice a just resentment to them. And I would wish to have it remembered that to that cause only must be imputed that I have suffered a personal indignity to go unpunished.” Schuyler to Congress, 14 October, 1775.
He went forward with his regiment into Canada, put himself under General Montgomery, and verified this declaration by his conduct, which was not marked, however, with much enterprise or efficiency.
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