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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. - The Writings of George Washington, vol. IX (1780-1782)
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. IX (1780-1782) [1891]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. IX (1780-1782).
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- The Writings of George Washington.
- 1780.
- To Governor Reed.
- To Major Lee.
- To Major-general Heath.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Greene. Instructions.
- To George Mason. 1
- To Major-general Gates.
- To the Board of War.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Abner Nash, Governor of North Carolina.
- To Robert Carter Nicholas.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To William Fitzhugh.
- To Governor Jefferson.
- To Major-general Heath. [private.]
- To John Sullivan, In Congress. 1
- To Sir Henry Clinton.
- To John Sullivan, In Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Gouverneur Morris.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To Major-general Lincoln.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Count De Rochambeau and the Chevalier De Ternay.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To John Sullivan, In Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Benjamin Franklin, Minister Plenipotentiary At the Court of Versailles.
- To Lieutenant-colonel David Humphreys. 1 Instructions.
- To James Duane.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Governor Jefferson.
- 1781.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Brigadier-general Wayne.
- To the New England States.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Brigadier-general Wayne.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To Major-general St. Clair.
- To Lieutenant-colonel John Laurens. 2
- To the President of Congress.
- To Mrs. Sarah Bache. 2
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To the Executives of the States. 1
- To the Officer Commanding the British Fleet At New York.
- To the Commissioners For Redressing the Grievances of the New Jersey Line.
- To Major-general Howe.
- To Robert R. Livingston.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general St. Clair.
- To John Sullivan, In Congress.
- To Governor Jefferson.
- To Mrs. Francis, Mrs. Hillegas, Mrs. Clarkson, Mrs. Bache, and Mrs. Blair.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To Brigadier-general Knox. Private Instructions.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Abraham Skinner.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette. Instructions.
- To Elbridge Gerry.
- To Governor Jefferson.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To Major-general St. Clair.
- To Major-general Parsons.
- To the Chevalier Destouches.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To Governor Clinton.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To John Mathews, In Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Lincoln.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To John Park Custis.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Governor Hancock.
- To Benjamin Harrison.
- To Major-general Heath.
- To William Fitzhugh.
- To Major-general Armstrong.
- To Benjamin Harrison. 1
- To the Board of War.
- To Major-general Lincoln.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Count Rochambeau.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Colonel John Laurens, At Paris.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To Lieutenant-colonel Alexander Hamilton.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To Major Benjamin Tallmadge.
- To Lund Washington, At Mount Vernon.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To John Sullivan, In Congress.
- To Philip Schuyler.
- To the President of Congress.
- Substance of a Conference Between General Washington and Count De Rochambeau At Weathersfield, 22 May, 1781. 2
- To the Chevalier De La Luzerne.
- Circular Letter to the States.
- To the President of Congress.
- To John Sullivan, In Congress.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To the President of Congress.
- To John Mathews, In Congress.
- To Governor Jefferson.
- To Colonel William Crawford.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To Governor Clinton.
- To President Reed.
- To Count De Rochambeau.
- To Major-general Lincoln. Instructions.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the Superintendent of Finance.
- To Major-general Lord Stirling. Instructions.
- To Richard Henry Lee 1 .
- Questions and Replies.
- To Brigadier-general Waterbury.
- To Thomas Mckean, President of Congress. 1
- To John Parke Custis.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- Circular Letter to States.
- To the Superintendent of Finance.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the Count De Grasse. 2
- To the Superintendent of Finance.
- To Major-general Heath. Instructions.
- To Robert Morris and Richard Peters. 1
- Circular Letter to the States.
- To the Superintendent of Finance.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Count De Grasse.
- To Major-general St. Clair.
- Questions and Answers.
- To the Count De Grasse.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Count De Grasse.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To Don Francisco Rendon. 3
- To the President of Congress.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Lord Cornwallis.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Count De Grasse.
- To David Ross.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Count De Grasse.
- To Major-general St. Clair. Instructions.
- To Major-general Lincoln. Instructions.
- To the President of Congress.
- To the Marquis De Lafayette.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Benjamin Dulany.
- To George Plater, President of the Senate, and Thomas Cockey Dey, Speaker of the House of Delegates, of Maryland.
- To Governor Trumbull.
- To James Mchenry.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To the President of Congress.
- 1782.
- To Thomas Chittenden, Vermont. 2
- To the Marquis De Lafayette, At Paris.
- To Colonel Christian Febiger.
- Circular Letter to the States.
- Circular Letter to States. 1
- To Major-general Schuyler.
- To the Count De Rochambeau.
- To the President of Congress.
- To Lieutenant-colonel John Laurens. 2
- To the President of Congress.
- To Major-general Heath.
- Circular to the Eastern and Middle States.
- To Brigadier-general William Irvine. Instructions.
- To Brigadier-general Knox and Gouverneur Morris. Instructions.
- To James Mchenry.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To Brigadier-general Knox and Gouverneur Morris, At Elizabethtown.
- To Colonel Matthias Ogden. Instructions.
- To the General Officers.
- To John Lewis (fredericksburg).
- To the General and Field Officers of the Army.
- To Bartholomew Dandridge.
- To Sir Henry Clinton.
- To Major-general Greene.
- To the Secretary At War.
- To the Chevalier De La Luzerne.
- To the President of Congress.
- Plan of Campaign.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
New Windsor, 2 January, 1781. Sir,
I have been honored with your Excellency’s favor of the 21st ulto., in which Congress have been pleased to refer the propriety of granting Genl. Stark’s request to them, to me. His health is undoubtedly so much impaired, that he has been able to do but very little duty the preceding Campaign, and retirement for a time seems therefore necessary. Congress will either direct his return to the Army at a certain period, or they will leave it at large, as they may judge proper. I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to my letter, of the 28th Novemr. last from Morris Town in which I mentioned Colo. Scammell’s desire to quit the Office of Adjutant-General. I had not at that time his letter on the subject with me. I now enclose a Copy of it, in which his reasons for wishing to return to the line are fully set forth. I find him still determined in his resolution, and I shall therefore, I hope, be excused for pressing Congress to appoint a successor.
I have at length, thro’ a Channel on which I can depend, gained an account, as accurate as circumstances will admit, of the embarkation which sailed from New York on the 20th ulto. It consisted of about sixteen hundred Men, and was chiefly composed of detachments from the British, German, and provincial Corps. The Queen’s Rangers are said to be the only intire Corps. Arnold commands, which, my informant says, gives disgust to many of the other officers. The destination was not reduced to a certainty, but from the preparations, and the Refugees who embarked in the fleet, it was generally thought to be to the southward. I have the honor to be, &c.
P. S. Capt. Mitchell of the Jersey line has marched with a Company to relieve Colo. Butler at Wyoming.
In consequence of the memorable defeat of the British detachment under Colonel Ferguson at King’s Mountain, Lord Rawdon, by order of Lord Cornwallis, wrote to General Leslie, then in the Chesapeake, suggesting the expediency of his advancing to North Carolina. “No force has presented itself to us,” said Lord Rawdon, “whose opposition could be thought serious to this army; but then we have little hopes of ever bringing the affair to an action. The enemy are mostly mounted militia, not to be overtaken by our infantry, nor to be safely pursued in this strong country by our cavalry. Our fear is, that, instead of meeting us, they would slip by us into this province were we to proceed far from it, and might again stimulate the disaffected to serious insurrection. This apprehension must greatly circumscribe our efforts.”—Lord Rawdon to General Leslie, October 24th. For these reasons a speedy co-operation was desired, but not ordered. It was left wholly to the discretion of General Leslie, who, on receiving this letter, resolved to move as soon as possible by water to Cape Fear River. That his purpose might be unsuspected, he engaged pilots for James River, and nobody but himself and two officers were entrusted with the secret of his destination. He left the Chesapeake on the 24th of November, and went to sea. He did not stop at Cape Fear, as he at first proposed, but arrived in Charleston on the 13th of December, after a tempestuous voyage; and marched thence with a large part of his force to form a junction with Lord Cornwallis.
In consequence of this movement of General Leslie, it was resolved to send another body of troops to the Chesapeake.
“This detachment,” said Sir Henry Clinton in a letter to Lord George Germaine, “is under the command of General Arnold, with whom I thought it right to send Colonels Dundas and Simcoe, as being officers of experience and much in my confidence. The objects of this expedition are nearly the same as those of the one under Major-General Leslie, but rather more positive as to the establishment of a post at Portsmouth on the Elizabeth River. I have also directed General Arnold to prepare materials for building a number of boats, that we may, as soon as possible, have a naval force in Albemarle Sound, which force, when the season is too far advanced for it to act in those waters, may be employed to great advantage in the rivers of the Chesapeake.”—MS. Letter, December 16, 1780.
The expedition consisted of sixteen hundred and nine effectives. A severe gale separated the fleet on the 26th and 27th of December, but a reunion was effected at the Capes of the Chesapeake, and the fleet entered Hampton Roads on the 30th, except three transports and one armed vessel, with upwards of four hundred men on board. These arrived on the 4th of January. Half of the cavalry horses were lost, and several guns were thrown overboard. Arnold was instructed to strike at the magazines of the Americans, should an opportunity of doing it without risk offer itself; and to assemble and arm the loyalists, but not to encourage any to join him, till there was the fairest prospect of protecting them. In all cases Arnold was to consult Dundas and Simcoe, before undertaking any important measure. He was to co-operate with Lord Cornwallis, should it be the united opinion of those two officers, or should he receive a positive order from Lord Cornwallis to that effect. The whole tenor of the instructions shows a distrust of Arnold, and a strict watchfulness over his conduct.—Sparks.
Read in Congress, January 8th.
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