TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. VII (1778-1779) [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. VII (1778-1779).
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- The Writings of George Washington.
- 1778.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Heath.
- To Major-general Mcdougall.
- To General Schuyler.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette. Instructions.
- To Gouverneur Morris, In Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Richard Henry Lee.
- To John Parke Custis.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To Henry Laurens.
- To Landon Carter.
- To Major-general Lee. Instructions.
- To Sir Henry Clinton.
- Thoughts Upon a Plan of Operations For the Campaign of 1778. 1
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Dickinson.
- To John Augustine Washington.
- To Henry Laurens.
- To Major-general Gates.
- To Major-general Charles Lee.
- To James Hunter, Esq., Near Fredericksburg, Va.
- To Joseph Reed, Delegate In Congress From Pennsylvania.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Gates.
- To Major-general Arnold.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette. Instructions.
- To Major-general Lee.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Gates.
- To John Augustine Washington.
- To Major-general Lord Stirling and the Members of the General Court-martial For the Trial of Major-general Lee.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Governor Clinton.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To Count D’estaing.
- To Count D’estaing.
- To Major-general Sullivan.
- To John Parke Custis.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Count D’estaing.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To Henry Laurens.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Major-general Sullivan.
- To Major-general Arnold.
- To the Board of War.
- To the President of Congress.
- To John Parke Custis.
- To Count D’estaing.
- To Lund Washington. 1
- To the President of Congress.
- To Henry Laurens.
- To Brigadier-general Nelson, Virginia.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To Major-general Sullivan.
- To Major-general Heath.
- To Major-general Sullivan.
- To Major General Greene.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To Count D’estaing.
- To Major-general Sullivan.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Henry Laurens.
- To John Augustine Washington.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Gates.
- To John Parke Custis.
- To Brigadier-general Andrew Lewis, Virginia.
- To Major-general Heath.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Mr. James Hill.
- To Count D’estaing.
- To Burwell Bassett.
- To Count D’estaing,
- To the President of Congress.
- To Henry Laurens.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed, President of Pennsylvania.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Lund Washington.
- To Benjamin Harrison, Speaker of the House of Delegates of Virginia.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- 1779.
- To the Committee of Congress Appointed to Confer With the Commander-in-chief.
- To the Committee of Congress.
- To Major-general Putnam.
- To the Committee of Congress.
- To Brigadier-general Mcintosh.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To the President of Congress.
- To John Jay, President of Congress.
- To Governor Livingston.
- To President Reed.
- To Major-general Gates.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette, Paris.
- To Sir Henry Clinton.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Henry Laurens, In Congress.
- To Colonel Daniel Brodhead, At Fort Pitt.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To George Mason.
- To President Reed.
- To James Warren, In Massachusetts.
- To President Reed.
- To John Jay.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To Colonel Daniel Brodhead.
- To Burwell Bassett.
- To Governor Livingston.
- To John Jay.
- To President Reed.
- To Monsieur Gerard, Minister Plenipotentiary From His Most Christian Majesty to the United States of America.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Governor Livingston.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Benjamin Harrison.
- To Brigadier-general Maxwell.
- To Brigadier-general Maxwell.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To the President of Congress.
- To John Armstrong.
- Circular to the States.
- To Major-general Sullivan. Instructions.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Gates.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major Benjamin Tallmadge. 1
- To Major-general Sullivan.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Brigadier-general Wayne. 2
- To Brigadier-general Wayne.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To Brigadier-general Wayne.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Reed.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Valley Forge, 2 June, 1778.
Sir,
I beg leave to inform you, that agreably to the Resolutions transmitted in your Favor of the 31st ulto., I shall undertake the reform of the North Carolina Batallions in camp, as soon as circumstances will admit.
I sincerely wish the Legislatures of the several States had passed Laws, adopting the generous policy, recommended by Congress in their Resolution of the 23d of April. I am assured, by authority not to be questioned, that for want of this, Hundreds nay Thousands of people, and among them many valuable artizans, with large quantities of goods will be forced from Philadelphia, who otherwise would willingly remain. From report, their reluctance and distress upon this occasion, are scarcely to be parallelled. There are a few, whose conduct has been such, that no assurances of security, I presume, could induce them to stay; and their departure, compelled and founded as it were in the approbation of their own consciences, would answer all the purposes of example, especially if followed by a confiscation of the property. A proscribing system, or Laws having the same effect, when carried to a great extent, ever appeared to me to be impolitic; and their operation should always cease with the causes, which produced them. Examples, in terrorem are necessary, but to exile many of its Inhabitants cannot be the interest of any State. I have, &c.
The enemy had resolved to evacuate Philadelphia as early as the 23d of May, and perhaps before. On that day General Clinton wrote to Lord George Germaine, that he had determined to leave Philadelphia and proceed to New York with the whole army, as soon as it could be done. The first intention was to go by water, but twelve days after the date of the letter mentioned above he wrote again as follows: “I found it impracticable to embark the forces in order to proceed to New York by water, as there are not transports enough to receive the whole at once, and therefore a great part of the cavalry, all our provision train, and the persons whose attachment to the government has rendered them objects of vengeance to the enemy, must have been left behind. I am to add to this, that, if we should afterwards have been detained by contrary winds, General Washington might have seized the opportunity of making a decisive push at New York, all accounts from thence seeming to indicate an intent of that sort. These reasons have induced me to resolve on marching through Jersey.”—MS. Letters, May 23d, June 5th.
General Clinton likewise added, that a large part of the baggage and stores of the army, and valuable merchandise necessary for the troops, were already embarked on board transports; and, also, that the refugees were provided for in those vessels.
Orders for evacuating Philadelphia had been sent by the ministry, dated March 21st, immediately after the French Government had publicly declared, that a treaty had been made with the United States.
It is somewhat curious that these orders were not known to the commissioners, and it was not until they were in Philadelphia and saw the preparations to evacuate the city that they were informed “that every measure relative to this campaign was determined long before our departure from England.” The Earl of Carlisle at once recognized the futility of attempting to carry out the commission. “If I was only to follow my feelings, it would be to implore your Lordship in the most serious manner to take such methods as your judgment would suggest to you to free me from the painful burthen of an employment which I was sent at this distance to execute, little suspecting that the same breath which gave life to the undertaking, secretly blasted it in the first moment of its existence, or that such measures were concealed from me, that would have determined me never to have embarked in the business.”—Earl of Carlisle to Lord G[ower], July, 1778. Stevens’ Fac-similes.
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