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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. 1 - The Writings of George Washington, vol. VIII (1779-1780)
TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. 1 - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. VIII (1779-1780) [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. VIII (1779-1780).
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- The Writings of George Washington.
- 1779.
- To the Rev. Dr. William Gordon.
- To Thomas Jefferson, Governor of Virginia. 1
- To Samuel Purviance.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Dr. John Cochran, Surgeon-general.
- To Lund Washington. [extract.]
- To President Reed.
- To the President of Congress.
- To John Parke Custis.
- Circular to States.
- To Major Henry Lee.
- To Major-general Greene. 1
- To the President of Congress.
- To John Jay.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette, Paris.
- To Count D’estaing.
- To John Beatty, Commissary-general of Prisoners.
- To Major Benjamin Tallmadge.
- To Major-general Lincoln.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette, Paris.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Count D’estaing.
- To Count D’estaing.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To President Reed.
- To Benjamin Harrison.
- To Edmund Pendleton.
- To Major-general Gates.
- To Henry Laurens.
- To Brigadier-general Duportail and Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Robert Howe.
- To Governor Jefferson.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Governor Jefferson.
- To Major-general Lincoln, In South Carolina.
- To Governor Clinton.
- To Brigadier-general Woodford.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Sullivan.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Brigadier-general Woodford.
- To Major-general Heath, At West Point.
- To Governor Livingston.
- To Major-general Greene.
- 1780.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Colonel Daniel Brodhead, At Fort Pitt.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Magistrates of New Jersey.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To Lord Stirling. Instructions.
- To the Board of War.
- To John Parke Custis.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To Messrs. Gerry, Livingston, and Mathews.
- To Major-general St. Clair. Instructions.
- To Elbridge Gerry, In Congress.
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To the Chevalier De La Luzerne.
- To Major Benjamin Tallmadge.
- To Baron Steuben, At Philadelphia.
- To Governor Livingston.
- To Lieutenant-colonel Willett.
- Circular Letter to the States.
- To the Board of War.
- To Major-general Lincoln, In South Carolina.
- To Don Juan De Miralles.
- To Lord Stirling. [private.]
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general St. Clair, and Lieutenant-colonels Edward Carrington and Alexander Hamilton. Instructions.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Baron De Kalb.
- To Lord Stirling.
- To the President of Congress. 1
- To John Mathews, In Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Philip Schuyler, In Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Baron Steuben.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Lincoln.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Colonel John Laurens, At Charleston.
- To President Reed.
- To Major-general Howe.
- To the Reverend Doctor William Gordon.
- To James Duane.
- To James Duane.
- To Governor Jefferson.
- To Major-general Heath, At Boston.
- To Governor Rutledge.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette, At Philadelphia.
- To Brigadier-general Wayne.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Philip Schuyler.
- To Philip Schuyler, John Mathews, and Nathaniel Peabody, a Committee From Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To President Reed.
- To the Hon. Committee of CoÖperation.
- To Joseph Jones, In Congress.
- To the Chevalier De La Luzerne.
- To Major-general Howe.
- To the Committee of CoÖperation.
- To Governor Livingston.
- To Major-general Howe. 1
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To President Reed.
- To Robert R. Livingston, In Congress.
- To Governor Weare.
- To President Reed.
- To Fielding Lewis.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Greene, Quartermaster-general.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette. Instructions.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Joseph Jones.
- To Sir Henry Clinton.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To Major-general Heath.
- To Brigadier-general Fellows, Massachusetts Militia.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Major-general Heath.
- To Major-general Arnold. Instructions.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To John Parke Custis.
- To Major-general Arnold.
- To Joseph Jones.
- To the Chevalier De Ternay.
- To the Committee of Co-operation.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- Circular Letter to the States North of Virginia.
- To Major-general Heath.
- To James Bowdoin, President of the Council of Massachusetts.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Brigadier-general Wayne. [private.]
- To the President of Congress.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To John Mathews, In Congress.
- To Major-general Lincoln.
- To Count De Guichen.
- To the Chevalier De La Luzerne.
- To John Rutledge, Governor of South Carolina.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Greene. Instructions.
- To Abraham Skinner, Deputy Commissary-general of Prisoners. Instructions.
- Conference At Hartford.
- To Colonel Wade, At West Point.
- To Lieutenant-colonel John Jameson.
- To Governor Clinton.
- To Major-general Heath.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To Major-general St. Clair. Instructions.
- To John Mathews, In Congress.
- To James Duane, In Congress.
- To Brigadier-general John Cadwalader.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To Major-general Greene. Instructions.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Gates.
- To Benjamin Franklin, Minister Plenipotentiary At the Court of France.
- To Colonel James Wood.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Lieutenant-colonel John Laurens. 2
- To Major-general Greene.
- To the President of Congress.
- To President Reed.
- Circular to States.
TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA.
West Point, 6 August, 1779. Sir,
I have been honored with your Letter of the 17 of July, upon the case of Lt.-Governor Hamilton. This subject, on more mature consideration, appears to be involved in greater difficulty than I apprehended. When I first received the proceedings of the Council upon it, transmitted in your Excellency’s Letter of the 19th of June, I had no doubt of the propriety of the treatment decreed against Mr. Hamilton, as being founded in principles of a just retaliation. But, upon examining the matter more minutely, and consulting with several intelligent General Officers, it seems to be their opinion, that Mr. Hamilton could not, according to the usage of war, after his capitulation even in the manner it was made, be subjected to any uncommon severity under that idea, and that the capitulation placed him upon a different footing from a mere prisoner at discretion.
Whether it may be expedient to continue him in his present confinement from motives of policy, and to satisfy our people, is a question I cannot determine; but if it should, I would take the liberty to suggest, that it may be proper to publish all the cruelties he has committed or abetted, in a particular manner, and the evidence in support of the charges, that the World, holding his conduct in abhorrence, may feel and approve the justice of his fate. Indeed, whatever may be the line of conduct towards him, this may be advisable. If, from the considerations I have mentioned, the rigor of his treatment is mitigated, yet he cannot claim of right upon any ground the extensive indulgence, which Genl. Phillips seems to expect for him; and I should not hesitate to withhold from him a thousand privileges I might allow to common prisoners. He certainly merits a discrimination; and, altho the practice of war may not justify all the measures, that have been taken against him, he may unquestionably, without any breach of public faith or the least shadow of imputation, be confined to a Room. His safe custody will be an object of great importance. I have the honor to be, &c.
P. S. Augt. 10— I have received your Excellency’s Letter of the 19th of July with the Blank Commissions which I will use as the Council requests.
Thomas Jefferson had been chosen Governor of Virginia on the 1st of June, as successor to Patrick Henry.
Henry Hamilton had been for several years Lieutenant-Governor of Detroit and the British dependencies in that region. On the 24th of February he had resigned himself, and a party of troops under his command, prisoners of war by capitulation to Colonel Clark, of Virginia, who, by a spirited and well-conducted enterprise, had passed through the wilderness at the head of a detachment from that State, and invested Fort St. Vincent’s, in the Illinois country, where Governor Hamilton was then stationed. He and several other prisoners were sent to Virginia. It appeared by papers laid before the Council of the State, that Governor Hamilton had issued proclamations and approved of practices, which were marked with cruelty towards the people that fell into his hands, such as inciting the Indians to bring in scalps, putting prisoners in irons, and giving them up to be the victims of savage barbarity. The Council decided, that Governor Hamilton was a proper subject for retaliation, and that he should be put in irons and confined in a jail. The British general Phillips, who was then at Charlottesville with the convention troops, wrote a long and temperate letter on the subject to Governor Jefferson, arguing, upon military principles, that this treatment of Governor Hamilton could not be justified, even if the charges against him were true. Had he been captured, or had he surrendered at discretion, General Phillips acknowledged, that he would have been at the mercy of his enemies; but since he had capitulated upon honorable terms, which were signed in the usual form by both parties, he could not be made accountable for alleged previous misdemeanors, without the violation of a compact, which had always been considered sacred by civilized nations.
Governor Jefferson, who said that “he had the highest idea of the sacredness of those contracts, which take place between nation and nation at war, and would be the last on earth, who should do any thing in violation of them,” represented the matter fully to General Washington, and asked his advice. The above letter was written in reply, and Governor Hamilton’s confinement was mitigated accordingly. It is but justice to General Phillips to say, since he had made himself somewhat odious by his correspondence and deportment at Cambridge, that his letter to Governor Jefferson on this occasion was highly honorable to him, both on the score of the temper and sentiments it exhibited, and the moderation and courtesy with which it was written.—Sparks.
Jefferson wrote to the Governor of Detroit a letter of exceeding interest, defending his treatment of Hamilton. It will be found in Calendar of Virginia State Papers, i., 321.
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