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

TO WILLIAM PALFREY, PORTSMOUTH. 3 - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. III (1775-1776) [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. III (1775-1776).

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 WILLIAM PALFREY, PORTSMOUTH.3

Cambridge, 12 November, 1775.

Sir,

At a time when some of our seaport towns are cruelly and wantonly laid in ashes, and ruin and devastation denounced against others; when the arms are demanded of the inhabitants, and hostages required (in effect) to surrender of their liberties; when General Howe by proclamation, under the threat of military execution, has forbid inhabitants of Boston to leave the town without his permission first had and obtained in writing; when, by another proclamation, he strictly forbids any persons bringing out of that place more than five pounds sterling of their property in specie, because truly the ministerial army under his command may be injured by it; and when, by a third proclamation, after leaving the inhabitants no alternative, he calls upon them to take arms under officers of his appointing; it is evident, that the most tyrannical and cruel system is adopted for the destruction of the rights and liberties of this continent, that ever disgraced the most despotic ministry, and ought to be opposed by every means in our power. I therefore desire, that you will delay no time in causing the seizure of every officer of government at Portsmouth, who has given proofs of his unfriendly disposition to the cause we are engaged in; and when you have secured all such, take the opinion of the provincial Congress, or Committee of Safety, in what manner to dispose of them in that government. I do not mean that they should be kept in close confinement. If either of those bodies should incline to send them to any interior towns, upon their parole not to leave them until released, it will meet with my concurrence. For the present I shall avoid giving you the like order in respect to the Tories in Portsmouth; but the day is not far off, when they will meet with this or a worse fate, if there is not a considerable reformation in their conduct. Of this they may be assured from, Sir, your most humble servant.1

[3 ]William Palfrey was a native of Boston, born in 1741, and educated a merchant under the auspices of John Hancock. Before the revolution he was engaged in mercantile affairs in Boston, and towards the close of the year 1774 he sailed on a voyage to South Carolina, and thence to England, in a vessel belonging to Hancock. From a journal, which he kept during his stay in London, and which I have seen, he appears to have been on terms of intimacy with some of the leaders of the high Whig party, and it is probable, that his visit to the metropolis of Great Britain had a political as well as commercial object. He returned to Massachusetts a few days before General Washington took command of the army, and was immediately employed on business of trust and importance. Assuming a military character, he was for some time aid to General Charles Lee, and afterwards to General Washington, and received a lieutenant-colonel’s commission. On the 27th of April, 1776, he was by Congress appointed paymaster-general of the army, a station of great responsibility, which, for more than four years and a half, he filled in such a manner as to give universal satisfaction. During this period he had exhibited such proofs of his talents for business, fidelity, and devotedness to the cause of his country, that, on the 4th of November, 1780, he was elected Consul-General from the United States to France, an office at this time of much consideration, as it involved the duties of making extensive purchases of military and other supplies for the country, and an examination and settlement of all the accounts, in which the United States were concerned with public and private agents in Europe, and which had been multiplying and accumulating since the commencement of the war. He sailed for France, but the vessel in which he took passage was lost at sea, and every one on board was supposed to have perished,—Sparks.

[1 ]“I received your favor of the 6th inst: in which you give a detail of Doctor Cheney’s case as it appeared before you and council, in which nothing but the fair side of his character appears. You may be assured sir that his Trial will be impartial,—that no insidious designs of his enemies will have weight, and that it will give me much pleasure to find he can acquit himself of the Crimes he is charged with—the evidences are hourly expected—on their arrival, the Trial will be no Longer delayed. Genl. Sullivan set out on the 12th Inst: for Portsmouth, New Hampshire. . . . As it is now very apparent that we have nothing to depend on in the present Contest, but our own strength, care, firmness, & union. Should not the same measures be adopted in yours and every other Government on the Continent? Would it not be prudent to seize on those Tories, who have been, are and that we know will be active against us? why should persons who are preying upon the vitals of their Country be suffered to stalk at large, whilst we know they would do us every mischief in their power? these, Sir, are points I beg to submit to your serious consideration.

“I congratulate you on the success of our arms, by the surrender of St. Johns which hope will be soon followed by the reduction of Canada.”

“P. S. by an express arrived from Philadelphia I received the following Resolve of the Continental Congress:

Resolved—That Doctor Church be close confined in some secure Goal in the Colony of Connecticut without the use of Pen, Inck and paper—and that no person be allowed to Converse with him except in the presence of a Magistrate or the Sherriff of the County where he shall be confined, and in the English Language untill further orders from this or a future Congress.

“Sir, in consequence of the above resolve I now transmit to your Care Doctor Church under the Guard of Capt. Israel Putnam, a sergeant & seven men.

“You will please to comply in every particular with the above Resolution of Congress.”—Washington to Governor Trumbull, 15 November, 1775.

“In the General Orders of the 31st of October, it is declared that every Non-Commission’d Officer and Soldier, shall be paid by the Kalander month, as follows. to a Serjeant forty-eight Shillings to the Corporals forty-four and forty to each private; which pay it is expected, will be regularly distributed every month— Each Non-Commissioned Officer, and Soldier, (Drums & Fifes excepted) is to furnish his own Arms; if arms are found him, he is to allow Six Shillings, at the end of the Campaign for the use thereof. New Cloathing will forthwith, be provided for every Non Commission’d Officer & Soldier, for which an easy stoppage, of only ten Shillings a month, will be made out of his pay, until the whole is paid. Two Dollars will be allowed to each Non-Commission’d Officer, and Soldier, who provides himself with a good Blanket, and Liberty to take it away at the end of the campaign; the present ample allowance of provisions will be continued, and those who inlist, will be indulged in a reasonable time, to visit their familys, in the course of the Winter, this to be regulated in such manner as not to weaken the army, or injure the service.

“To prevent such contentions as have arisen, from the same person being inlisted by different Officers, and for different Regiments, it is possitively ordered; upon pain of being cashiered, That no Officer knowingly presume to inlist any Soldier, who has been previously inlisted by another officer, where such a mistake happens undesignedly, the first Inlistment is to take place— The Officers are to be careful not to inlist any person, suspected of being unfriendly to the Liberties of America, or any abandon’d vagabond to whom all Causes and Countries are equal and alike indifferent—The Rights of mankind and the freedom of America, will have Numbers sufficient to support them, without resorting to such wretched assistance.—Let those who wish to put Shackles upon Freemen fill their Ranks, and place their confidence in such miscreants.

“Neither Negroes, Boys unable to bear Arms, nor old men unfit to endure the fatigues of the campaign are to be inlisted, the preferences being given to the present Army, The Officers are vigilantly to try, what number of men can be inlisted in the Course of this week, and make report thereof to their Colonels, who will report it to the General—This to be done every week, until the whole are compleated. The Regiments are to consist of eight Companies, each Company of a Captain, two Lieutenants, and an Ensign, four Serjeants, four Corporals, two Drums & Fifes and Seventy-six Privates; as the Regiments are compleated, they will be mustered, and then reviewed by the Commander in Chief; when a Roll of each Company, sign’d by the Captain, according to a form previously deliver’d by the Adjutant General; is to be delivered to his Excellency. The Colonel of each Regiment will receive a List of the Officers upon the New-establishment from his Brigadier General. The Commissioned, non Commissioned Officers and Soldiers of the present Army are, (notwithstanding their new engagement) to continue in the Regiment and Company they now belong to, until further orders.—Upon any Soldiers being inlisted, from the present, into the New Establishment, the Regiment he now belongs to, with his Name, Town and Country, are to be enter’d in a Roll kept for that purpose, by each Officer; A Copy of this Roll sign’d, to be sent every Saturday morning, to the Colonel of each regiment.”—Orderly Book, 12 November, 1775.

“It is earnestly recommended to all the Officers of the old Regiments, to see that their men’s arms are always in good order and the men not suffered to straggle from Camp—nor on any Account, to quit their post when upon duty, but be ready to turn out at a moment’s warning; and they may rely upon it they will be suddenly called upon, whenever it happens.

“Very pointed Complaints having this day been made against the Commissary General, from several Field Officers, &c., of Genl. Sullivan’s brigade—The Commander in Chief assures the complainants, that the strictest examination shall be made into the Conduct of the Commissary General, as soon as he arrives in Cambridge, which is expected this week.

“Whereas the General has been informed that the orders of the 6th of Septembr. have been construed to permit any approv’d Sutler, to sell spirituous Liquors, to the Soldiers belonging to other Regiments, without the permission of the Commanding Officer of the regiment, to which such Soldier belongs. It is therefore ordered, that no Commanding Officer of a Regiment, shall authorise more than one Sutler to a Regiment, and such appointment shall be notified in Regimental Orders, and no person being authorised, shall presume to sell spirituous Liquors to any Soldiers belonging to any other Regiment, without leave in writing under the hand of the Commanding Officer to which such Soldier belongs.”—Orderly Book, 14 November, 1775.