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

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. V (1776-1777) [1890]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890). Vol. V (1776-1777).

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

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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 THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Morristown, 14 February, 1777.

Sir,

Since I had the honor of addressing you on the 5th Instt. no event of an important and interesting nature has occurred, unless the successes of our parties in foraging and bringing off several Horses, Waggons, and some fat Cattle, and Sheep, which were contiguous to and around the Enemy’s Lines, are considered as such. I then mentioned that I had such a scheme in contemplation which was happily accomplished the next day without any loss. The Enemy in turn have made frequent efforts in that way, but with little success. Whenever they made the attempt, it never failed to produce a Skirmish. They have been common of late, but with little damage to either side. We have certain intelligence that they have drawn the greatest part of their Troops from R. Island, and are told, that part of them have landed on Staten Island, and at Amboy with a view of augmenting their force at Brunswic.

Colo. Buckner agreable to the information contained in my last, has been tried by a Court Martial and cashiered. The proceedings and sentence I directed to be transmitted to the Secretary of the War Office, and to the printer of this State and Virginia to be published.

General Lincoln is just arrived with a regiment of Massachusetts militia, about two hundred and fifty. This, he says, is succeeded by three more, which will make in the whole near eighteen hundred; but in this I think he must be mistaken, unless those on the march are much fuller and larger than what they usually are. The whole are of the troops, that were with General Heath.

General Knox, by a letter of the 1st instant, informs me, that, on mature inquiry and examination, he finds Springfield to be more convenient and much better calculated for a laboratory and cannon-foundery, than any other part of the New England States. He adds, that a quantity of copper, tin, and other useful materials can be had there; and that the necessary works and preparations, from these and other advantages, can be accomplished at least three or four months sooner there than any where else. In consequence of his opinion, which I esteem of weight, particularly in this instance, and knowing the importance of these establishments and how essential they are, I have ventured to order the works to be begun there, without regard to what had been done at Brookfield, which was of but little consequence. The former, besides the many advantages mentioned by General Knox, stands on Connecticut River, and has a good navigation; yet is entirely secure against any attempts of the enemy, being twenty miles above Hartford, where the river is narrow, and too shoal to admit vessels that can give the least annoyance. As nothing but the good of the service could have led to this measure, I trust it will be approved.

I have wrote the Assembly of Massachusetts State, and the Convention of New Hampshire, requesting their good offices and exertions to promote the raising of their regiments as expeditiously as possible, and to forward the whole of the quotas first exacted from them to Ticonderoga. Their contiguity to that post more than to any other, the importance of it, and General Schuyler’s apprehensions, that the enemy may attempt to pass the Lake, if not on the ice, as soon as it is open, added to the great trouble, expense, and loss of time it will save in marching them elsewhere, and others there, who are much more distant and remote, induced me to determine so. I find the Council of the former, on General Schuyler’s earnest application, before my letter reached them, had determined to send four regiments as soon as they could be completed. I only wish the whole may be made up in a short time, and that their arrival may be early enough to prevent those inconveniences and fatal consequences, which the want of a sufficient force in that quarter would subject us to, were the enemy to pass the Lake at this time.

Mr. James Mease is now here in consequence of being appointed clothier-general. He is adjusting a plan for answering the end of his appointment, and making an estimate, to be laid before Congress, or their Secret Committee, of such clothes as may be necessary to import for the army. It is with much concern, that the situation of our affairs obliges me to mention so frequently the want of money, especially when I am persuaded every means are used to furnish it. Our distress on this account is great indeed; and the injury the service receives almost inconceivable; not a day, an hour, or scarcely a minute passes, without complaints and applications on this head. The recruiting of the regiments is most materially retarded by it.

Ten o clock, P. M. Just now a flag returned, that went to Brunswic to-day, who brought the enclosed letters from General Lee, which I do myself the honor, to transmit you, with a copy of one to myself.1 I have the honor to be, &c.

[1 ]General Lee’s letter to Washington, here mentioned, was dated at New York, February 9th, in which he said: “As Lord and General Howe have given me permission to send the enclosed to the Congress, and as the contents are of the last importance to me, and perhaps not less so to the community, I most earnestly entreat, my dear General, that you will dispatch it immediately, and order the Congress to be as expeditious as possible.” In the letter to Congress which was enclosed, General Lee requested that two or three gentlemen might be sent immediately to New York, to whom he would communicate what he conceived to be of the greatest importance, assuring Congress that Lord and General Howe would grant a safe conduct to the gentlemen thus deputed. He did not give the slightest clue to what such an important plan could involve, but Congress, almost unanimously decided that it was inexpedient to send any of their members to such a conference. This decision was due to a fear of the impression such a meeting would have on the court of France, as the British government had not failed to make the most of the meeting on Staten Island in September, 1776 (vol. iv., p. 401), and Deane had been much embarrassed by it in his efforts to secure aid from France. Lee was urgent, and wrote another letter reiterating the request, but Congress adhered to its decision, although Washington and General Greene thought there could arise no injury from accepting the proposition. John Adams saw in it an “artful stratagem of the two grateful brothers to hold up to the public view the phantom of a negotiation, in order to give spirits and courage to the tories, to distract and divide the whigs at a critical moment, when the utmost exertions are necessary to draw together an army. They meant further, to amuse opposition in England, and to amuse foreign nations by this manœuvre, as well as the whigs in America.”—John Adams to General Greene, March, 1777. Washington, on receiving the second refusal of Congress to entertain the idea of a conference, communicated it to Lee, who seemed to take the refusal much to heart, replying on the 5th:—

“It is a most unfortunate circumstance for myself, and I think not less so for the public, that the Congress have not thought proper to comply with my request. It could not possibly have been attended with any ill consequences, and might with good ones. At least it was an indulgence, which I thought my situation entitled me to. But I am unfortunate in every thing, and this stroke is the severest I have yet experienced. God send you a different fate. Adieu, my dear General. Yours most truly and affectionately.”

It was nearly eighty years before the purpose of Lee in proposing the meeting was discovered. The theft of some of the papers of the Secretary of the Royal Commissioners, Henry Strachey, disclosed a plan for putting an end to the war, drawn up by General Lee, and dated 29 March, 1777—the very day on which Congress confirmed its decision not to accede to a conference. This scheme has been printed by its owner, Mr. George H. Moore, and contains the plan of a campaign to the southward, designed to cripple Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and so terminate the contest—on the success of which Lee “would stake his life.”—Treason of Charles Lee.

To his servant Guiseppi Minghini, Lee wrote for some necessaries, and added “if any of the Dogs are with you, bring them.” “Your dogs are in Virginia. This circumstance I regret, as you will be deprived of the satisfaction and amusements you hoped to derive from their friendly and companionable dispositions.”—Washington to General Lee, 16 February, 1777.

“I concur with you in the belief that the backwardness observed by the militia in turning out may be fairly charged to their officers—an observation that should have its due weight with the Power that appoints them. Very many of our misfortunes originate in the want of proper attention to the choice of officers. In answer to the representation of the joint meeting of the Council and assembly of this State respecting the rank of officers in their battalions, I take the liberty to observe that I know of no method freer from the charge of injustice and partiality than to refer the decision to a board of officers so soon as the battalions are raised. Before them every officer will have an opportunity of advancing all his reasons for precedence. The disputes that prevailed on a like occasion at Cambridge were settled in this way to the satisfaction of them all.”—Washington to Governor Livingston, 14 February, 1777.

“We are now at an enormous bounty, and with no small difficulty, recruiting an army of upwards of an hundred battalions. The ensuing campaign may, from the same causes, prove as sickly as the last. If the hospitals are in no better condition for the reception of the sick, our regiments will be reduced to companies by the end of the campaign, and those poor wretches who escape with life, will be either scattered up and down the country and not to be found; or if found, totally enervated and unfit for further duty. By these means the bounty is not only lost, but the man is lost also, and I leave you to judge, whether we have men enough to allow of such a consumption of lives and constitutions as have been lost the last campaign. For my own part, I am certain, that if the army which I hope we shall have in the field this year, is suffered to moulder away by sickness, as it did the last, we must look for reinforcements to some other places than our own States. . . . I hear from every quarter, that the dread of undergoing the same miseries for want of proper care and attention when sick, has much retarded the new enlistments, particularly to the southward.”—Washington to the President of Congress, 14 February, 1777.

“Lord Stirling did me the favor of sending to me your letter of the 8th Inst. to him, mentioning your cheerfulness to continue in service, though your brigade had returned home, and waiting my determination on that head. The readiness with which you took the field, at the period most critical to our affairs, the industry you used in bringing out the militia of the Delaware State, and the alertness observed by you in forwarding on the troops from Trenton, reflect the highest honor on your character, and place your attachment to the cause in a most distinguished point of view. They claim my sincerest thanks, and I am happy in this opportunity of giving them to you. Circumstanced as you are, I see no necessity of detaining you longer from your family and affairs, which no doubt demand your presence and attention. You have therefore my leave to return.”—Washington to Brigadier-General Cæsar Rodney, 18 February, 1777.

“To obviate all difficulties that would otherwise arise on account of the dates of commissions, I have determined that all commissions in the new army shall bear date on the 1st January, 1777, and then a Board of officers shall determine the precedency, which when ascertained may be settled by numbering the commissions or some such way. I was aware of the animosities that would arise if rank was claimed agreeable to the dates in the different states, and therefore determined upon the foregoing mode, which gives an equal chance to every person, according to his former services.”—Washington to Major General Parsons, 18 February, 1777.