The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 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 COLONEL JOHN LAURENS, AT PARIS.

New Windsor, 9 April, 1781.

My Dear Laurens,

Colo. Armand, who was charged with the delivery of many letters to you from the Marquis de Lafayette, imparting to his friends and the ministry of France your mission, unfortunately arrived at Boston after you had Sailed. By him I gave you an acct. of the revolt of part of the Jersey Troops, Arnold’s Expedition to Virginia, Leslie’s arrival at Charles Town, and such other matters as occurred after your departure.

Since that period several interesting events have happened; some favorable, others adverse. Among the first may be reckoned Morgan’s brilliant action with Tarleton; among the latter, the advantages gained by Lord Cornwallis over General Greene. The official accts. of these I enclose to you. Cornwallis, after the defeat of Tarleton, destroyed his wagons, and made a violent effort to recover his prisoners, but, failing therein moved equally light and rapidly against General Greene, who, (though he had formed a junction with Morgan,) was obliged to retreat before him into Virginia. Whether from despair of recovering his prisoners, of bringing Greene to a general action, or because he conceived his own situation critical, I do not take upon me to determine; but the fact is, that here commenced Cornwallis’ retrograde movements, and Greene’s advance from the Roanoke to the place of action.

On the first notice of the storm, which happened on the 22d of Jany., and of its effects, I intimated to the French Genl. the possibility and importance of improving the opportunity in an attempt upon Arnold. When I received a more certn. acct. of the total loss of the Culloden, and the dismasting of the Bedford, two 74-gun ships belonging to the British Fleet at Gardiner’s Bay, I immediately put in motion, under the comd. of ye Marqs. de Lafayette, as large a part of my small force here, as I could with prudence detach,1 to proceed to the Head of Elk, and made with all expedition, a proposal to the Count de Rochambeau and the Chevr. Destouches for a coöperation in Virginia with the whole of the fleet of our allies and a part of their land force. Before my proposition arrived, in consequence of an application to him from Philadelphia, the Chevr. Destouches had sent a ship of the line and two or three frigates to Chesapeake Bay, which not only retarded the plan I had proposed (by awaiting their return), but ultimately defeated the project; as the enemy in the mean time remasted the Bedford with those taken out of the Culloden, and, following the French fleet, arrived off the Capes of Virginia before it; where a naval combat, glorious for the French, who were inferior in ships and guns, but unprofitable for us, who were disappointed of our object, was the issue.

The failure of this expedition, which was most flattering in the commencement, is much to be regretted; because a successful blow in that quarter would, in all probability, have given a decisive turn to our affairs in all the Southern States; because it has been attended with considerable expense on our part, and much inconvenience to the State of Virginia, by the assembling of its militia; because the world are disappointed at not seeing Arnold in Gibbets; and, above all,because we stood in need of something to keep us afloat, till the result of your mission is known; for, be assured, my dear Laurens, that day does not follow night more certainly, than it brings with it some additional proof of the impracticability of carrying on the war without the aids you were directed to solicit. As an honest and candid man, as a man whose all depends on the final and happy termination of the present contest, I assert this, while I give it decisively as my opinion, that, without a foreign loan, our present force, (which is but the remnant of an army,) cannot be kept together this campaign, much less will it be increased and in readiness for another.

The observations contained in my letter to you of the 15th of January last are verified every moment; and, if France delays a timely and powerful aid in this critical posture of our affairs, it will avail us nothing, should she attempt it hereafter. We are at this hour suspended in the Balle.; not from choice, but from hard and absolute necessity; for you may rely on it as a fact, that we cannot transport the provisions from the States in which they are assessed to the army, because we cannot pay the teamsters, who will no longer work for certificates. It is equally certain, that our Troops are approaching fast to nakedness, and that we have nothing to cloathe them with; that our Hospitals are without medicines and our sick without nutriment except such as well men eat; That all our public works are at a stand, and the artificers disbanding. But why need I run into the detail, when it may be declared in a word, that we are at the end of our tether, and that now or never our deliverancemust come. While, alas, how easy would it be to retort the enemy’s own game upon them, if it could be made to comport with the genl. plan of the war to keep a superior Fleet always in these Seas, and France would put us in a conditn. to be active by advancing us money. The ruin of the enemy’s schemes would then be certain; the bold game they are now playing would be the mean to effect it; for they would be reduced to the necessity of concentring their force at capital points, thereby giving up all the advantages they have gained in the Southern States, or be vulnerable everywhere.

Such of the Pensylvania line, as had reassembled and were recruited, say about 1,000, were ordered, the middle of Feby., to join the Southern army; and since the disappointment of our enterprise against Arnold, I have directed the detachment under the comd. of the Marqs. de Lafayette to proceed thither; but how either can march, without money or credit, is more than I can tell. With every wish for your success, and a safe and speedy return, and with every sentiment of esteem and affection, I am, dear Sir, &c. * * *

[1 ]The italicized parts of this letter were written in cypher.