On 1 January 1777 the United States Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin
commissioner to the court of Spain in addition to his diplomatic work in France.
They proposed to borrow two millions sterling at 6% interest for ten years from France.
In the meantime they ordered $5,000,000 emitted, and they authorized the army
to punish anyone refusing to accept Continental currency.
Also on that day General Washington assembled 6,500 men at Trenton,
and he put out an order forbidding everyone in the Continental Army from
plundering anyone, whether British, Hessians, Tories, or others.
In a letter to Robert Morris, George Clymer, and George Walton he wrote,
I find they have done me the honor to entrust me
with powers, in my military Capacity,
of the highest Nature and almost unlimited in extent.
Instead of thinking myself freed from all civil Obligations,
by this mark of their Confidence,
I shall constantly bear in Mind, that as the Sword
was the last Resort for the preservation of our Liberties,
so it ought to be the first thing laid aside,
when those Liberties are firmly established.
I shall instantly set about making
the most necessary Reforms in the Army,
but it will not be in my power to make so great a progress,
as if I had a little leisure time upon my Hands.
Mr. Morris has my sincere thanks for the advice
and Assistance he promises to give
Mr. Commissary Wharton,
and I beg he would remind him,
that all his Exertions will be necessary,
to Support an Army in this exhausted Country.1
Robert Morris went from house to house in Philadelphia and borrowed
$50,000 that he sent to Washington, who had about 5,000 men by January 2.
The British army of Cornwallis reached Princeton on January 1,
and the next day 5,500 men began marching toward Trenton.
On January 3 they met Greene’s vanguard two miles from Princeton.
Other forces joined the fight at Princeton, and 23 Americans were killed.
The British had a hundred casualties and had 230 taken prisoner.
Especially needed by the Americans was a large supply of blankets.
On January 3 Washington, Brigadier General Hugh Mercer, and
Captain
Alexander Hamilton led 4,500 men against 1,200 British at Princeton, New Jersey,
and with many more cannons the Americans achieved a victory in this battle.
Mercer was killed, and Fort Mercer built in 1777
to protect Philadelphia would be named after him.
French ships brought about 25,000 muskets with
many flints and much gunpowder for the Americans.
General Washington led his army to camp at Morristown, New Jersey on January 6.
He ordered Dr. William Shippen to inoculate every soldier who had not had smallpox,
and in March they set up hospitals in Philadelphia to dispense the inoculations which
required a few days of dieting before and then two weeks of headaches and nausea.
The Howe proclamation persuaded 2,703 Jerseymen, 851 from Rhode Island
and 1,282 from New York, to pledge fidelity to the King by January 14.
On the 25th Washington proclaimed that those accepting British protection
should keep inside the enemy’s lines or take the oath to the United States.
James Delancey enlisted about 600 Tories in New York,
and Cortland Skinner enrolled more than 500 in New Jersey.
By the end of May about 3,500 Loyalists (Tories) had joined the British army.
On January 13 some Africans presented a petition to the
Massachusetts House of Representatives that slaves be freed at the age of 21.
Parliament in February authorized private ships to seize American vessels as prizes.
The British treated the American prisoners so badly that Washington refused
to exchange the healthy British prisoners, but he would accept them on parole.
During the war 8,500 American prisoners died while in British custody.
Food riots had broken out in Massachusetts, and on January 28 a committee
of the four New England states recommended that Congress regulate prices.
After debate Congress permitted them to impose price controls to help the poor.
Congress adjourned from Baltimore on February 27 and returned to Philadelphia,
and not every state was represented until April 8.
While General Howe was still in winter quarters, Cornwallis began
attacking Americans on April 13 at Brunswick, causing the American General
Benjamin Lincoln to lose twenty men before returning to Brunswick.
On April 23 a British corps of 1,800 men marched to Danbury, Connecticut
and destroyed supplies, including nearly 1,700 tents the Americans badly needed.
General Burgoyne reached Quebec on May 6, and on the 20th
he met with about 400 Iroquois, Algonquin, and Ottawa natives.
He approved their scalping of those killed,
but he warned them not to kill or scalp the wounded.
On March 14 George Washington in Morristown wrote to Congress
that he had less than 3,000 sick and starving men.
On April 6 he announced a pardon for all deserters who would return to the army by May 15.
In the north General Horatio Gates spoke to a council
of the Six Nations and urged them to remain neutral.
He had only 7,500 men.
About 17,000 British, Hessians, and Anspachers assembled at Brunswick on June 12.
Two days later the armies met.
Washington tried to avoid a general engagement and ambushed
the English as they marched back to Brunswick.
Cornwallis lost about seventy men and the Americans twice as many.
On June 30 Burgoyne’s force of 3,724 British, 3,016 Germans,
250 provincials, and fine artillery with 473 men took Crown Point.
They moved from Fort Ticonderoga, capturing Mount Defiance on July 5 and
Fort Independence the next day as the Americans led by General Arthur St. Clair retreated.
In this battle the British had 205 casualties while 40 Americans
were killed with 350 wounded or taken prisoner.
In a convention at Windsor people in Vermont decided not to be part of
New York nor of New Hampshire, and they adopted organic law on 8 July 1777,
creating a general assembly with a governor and an advisory council.
Their constitution was based on Pennsylvania’s and allowed all men to vote
without paying taxes, and they had elections for judges.
They emancipated all adult slaves and prohibited imprisonment for debt.
The New York delegation persuaded Congress to deny Vermont admission.
General Schuyler had lost Fort Ticonderoga and
appealed to those in Vermont as private citizens.
On July 22 the British General Howe boarded 17,000 of his best troops
on 267 ships with horses, artillery, and supplies, and they left New York harbor.
His brother Admiral Richard Howe ordered them to sail to Delaware Bay
by first going north to fool Washington who managed to march his 11,000 soldiers
south through Philadelphia and Wilmington.
On August 1 the Congress recalled General Schuyler who was suffering from poor health,
and they appointed Horatio Gates to command the Northern Department.
General Burgoyne sent Lt. Col. Barry St. Leger with about a thousand Indians,
700 Tories, and 340 regulars, and they besieged an American garrison of 550 men
and 200 reinforcements at Fort Stanwix on August 2.
General Nicholas Herkimer led 800 New York militia to relieve the fort,
and he was killed in the fighting on August 6.
The Indians had been promised they could loot, and after the battle many deserted.
Schuyler was informed and asked for volunteers.
On the 16th about 2,000 Americans led by General John Stark
defeated the British at Bennington, New York.
General Benedict Arnold led a thousand men who
drove away St. Leger’s forces on August 23.
On August 24 Washington led his army of 12,000 men
who
marched through Philadelphia without the women who were camp followers.
He tried to keep the British out of the city by
stopping them at Brandywine Creek on September 11.
Each side had an army of about 15,000.
General Howe’s army attacked in the morning.
The Americans suffered about 250 killed, 600 wounded, and 400 taken prisoner
while the British lost only 93 dead, 488 injured, and 6 missing.
The army of Gates had 9,000 men.
Burgoyne crossed the Hudson River on September 13
with less than 6,000 men but having fine artillery.
In the battle at Freeman’s Farm on the 19th the British
lost more than 600 men, the Americans less than 320.
Putnam let the New York militia go home and was left with 2,000 men.
On September 22 General Lincoln arrived with 2,000 militia.
The Indians abandoned Burgoyne, and Schuyler
persuaded some Oneidas to join the Americans.
The British Army marched into Philadelphia on September 26.
On that day they began the siege of Fort Mifflin that lasted
until November 16 when the British occupied the fort.
On September 19 Washington had left General Anthony Wayne with 1,500 men
south of the Schuylkill River near the Paoli Tavern to harass the rear of Howe’s army.
A Tory spy informed the British, and they attacked them on the next night,
killing 53 and taking 71 prisoners, 40 of whom were abandoned because of their wounds.
The disaster was called the Paoli massacre.
On October 4 Washington’s army of 11,000 attacked
Germantown where the British garrisoned 9,000 troops.
Washington made a strategic retreat and asked for troops
from Gates, but they were delayed.
Washington’s assaults suffered heavy losses.
In this battle the British had 70 killed, 420 wounded, and only 14 missing;
but the Americans lost 152 dead and 521 wounded, and 438 were captured.
Washington in October told Benjamin Franklin and two others
from Congress that he needed a professional army with 20,372 men.
Franklin hired the military engineer Tadeusz Kościuszko who helped
General Horatio Gates win the battles at Saratoga on September 19 and October 7.
General John Burgoyne’s British forces had 440 killed and
695 wounded
at Bemis Heights on October 7, and on the 17th
he surrendered his army of 6,622 men to General Gates at Saratoga.
An express rider brought the news to Washington the next day.
The British General Henry Clinton left New York on the 18th
and went up the Hudson River but was too late.
Washington’s army avoided large battles in 1777.
On October 17 he wrote to the Congress President Richard Henry Lee
criticizing making Brigadier Thomas Conway a Major General, writing,
General Conway’s merit, then, as an Officer,
and his importance in this Army,
exists more in his own imagination, than in reality:
for it is a maxim with him, to leave no service
of his own untold, nor to want any thing
which is to be obtained by importunity;
but, as I do not want to detract from any merit
he possesses, and only wish to have the matter
taken upon its true Ground, after allowing him every thing
that his warmest Friends will contend for, I would only ask,
why the Youngest Brigadier in the service
(for I believe he is so)
should be put over the heads of all the Eldest?2
John Hancock resigned on October 31.
Henry Laurens had been Vice President of South Carolina from March 1776 to June 1777,
and on 1 November 1777 he was elected President of the Continental Congress.
After the pivotal victory at Saratoga the Congress worked on the
“Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union” and adopted them
on November 15, 1777, calling the confederacy “The United States of America.”
Here is the document that would be ratified and become effective on 1 March 1781:
To all to whom these Presents shall come,
we, the undersigned Delegates of the States
affixed to our Names send greeting.
Whereas the Delegates of the United States of America
in Congress assembled did on the
fifteenth day of November in the year of our Lord
One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy seven,
and in the Second Year of the Independence of America
agree to certain articles of Confederation
and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire,
Massachusetts-bay, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Georgia in the Words following, viz.
“Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between
the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay,
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.”
Article I. The Stile of this confederacy shall be,
“The United States of America.”
Article II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom
and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right,
which is not by this confederation expressly delegated
to the United States, in Congress assembled.
Article III. The said states hereby severally
enter into a firm league of friendship with each other,
for their common defense, the security of their Liberties,
and their mutual and general welfare,
binding themselves to assist each other,
against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them,
or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade,
or any other pretense whatever.
Article IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual
friendship and intercourse among the people
of the different states in this union, the free inhabitants
of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds and fugitives
from Justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges
and immunities of free citizens in the several states;
and the people of each state shall have free ingress
and regress to and from any other state,
and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade
and commerce, subject to the same duties,
impositions and restrictions as the inhabitants
thereof respectively, provided that such restrictions
shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property
imported into any state, to any other State
of which the Owner is an inhabitant;
provided also that no imposition, duties or restriction
shall be laid by any state,
on the property of the United States, or either of them.
If any Person guilty of, or charged with, treason, felony,
or other high misdemeanor in any state, shall flee
from Justice, and be found in any of the United States,
he shall upon demand of the Governor or executive power
of the state from which he fled, be delivered up,
and removed to the state having jurisdiction of his offence.
Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these states
to the records, acts and judicial proceedings
of the courts and magistrates of every other state.
Article V. For the more convenient management
of the general interests of the United States,
delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner
as the legislature of each state shall direct,
to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November,
in every year, with a power reserved to each state
to recall its delegates, or any of them,
at any time within the year, and to send others
in their stead, for the remainder of the Year.
No State shall be represented in Congress
by less than two, nor by more than seven Members;
and no person shall be capable of being delegate
for more than three years, in any term of six years;
nor shall any person, being a delegate,
be capable of holding any office under the United States,
for which he, or another for his benefit receives any salary,
fees or emolument of any kind.
Each State shall maintain its own delegates
in a meeting of the states, and while they act
as members of the committee of the states.
In determining questions in the United States,
in Congress assembled, each state shall have one vote.
Freedom of speech and debate in Congress
shall not be impeached or questioned in any Court,
or place out of Congress, and the members of Congress
shall be protected in their persons from arrests
and imprisonments, during the time
of their going to and from, and attendance on congress,
except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.
Article VI. No State, without the Consent
of the United States, in Congress assembled,
shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from,
or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance,
or treaty, with any King prince or state;
nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust
under the united states, or any of them,
accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind
whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state;
nor shall the United States, in Congress assembled,
or any of them, grant any title of nobility.
No two or more states shall enter into any treaty,
confederation, or alliance whatever between them,
without the consent of the United States,
in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes
for which the same is to be entered into,
and how long it shall continue.
No State shall lay any imposts or duties,
which may interfere with any stipulations in treaties,
entered into by the United States in Congress assembled,
with any king, prince, or State, in pursuance of any treaties
already proposed by congress,
to the courts of France and Spain.
No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace,
by any state, except such number only, as shall be deemed
necessary by the united states, in congress assembled,
for the defense of such state, or its trade;
nor shall any body of forces be kept up, by any state,
in time of peace, except such number only as,
in the judgment of the United States, in Congress
assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts
necessary for the defense of such state;
but every state shall always keep up a well regulated
and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred,
and shall provide and constantly have ready for use,
in public stores, a due number of field pieces and tents, and
a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp equipage.
No State shall engage in any war without the consent
of the United States in Congress assembled,
unless such State be actually invaded by enemies,
or shall have received certain advice of a resolution
being formed by some nation of Indians
to invade such State, and the danger is so imminent
as not to admit of a delay till the United States
in Congress assembled, can be consulted:
nor shall any state grant commissions to any ships
or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal,
except it be after a declaration of war by the United States
in Congress assembled, and then only against the kingdom
or State, and the subjects thereof,
against which war has been so declared,
and under such regulations as shall be established
by the United States in Congress assembled,
unless such state be infested by pirates, in which case
vessels of war may be fitted out for that occasion,
and kept so long as the danger shall continue,
or until the United States in congress assembled
shall determine otherwise.
Article VII. When land forces are raised by any state,
for the common defense, all officers of or under the rank
of colonel, shall be appointed by the legislature of each state
respectively by whom such forces shall be raised,
or in such manner as such state shall direct,
and all vacancies shall be filled up by the state
which first made appointment.
Article VIII. All charges of war, and all other expenses
that shall be incurred for the common defense
or general welfare, and allowed
by the United States in Congress assembled,
shall be defrayed out of a common treasury,
which shall be supplied by the several states,
in proportion to the value of all land within each state,
granted to or surveyed for any Person,
as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon
shall be estimated, according to such mode as
the United States, in Congress assembled,
shall, from time to time, direct and appoint.
The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied
by the authority and direction of the legislatures
of the several states within the time agreed upon
by the United States in Congress assembled.
Article IX. The United States, in Congress assembled,
shall have the sole and exclusive right and power
of determining on peace and war,
except in the cases mentioned in the sixth article—
of sending and receiving ambassadors—
entering into treaties and alliances,
provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made,
whereby the legislative power of the respective states
shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties
on foreigners, as their own people are subjected to,
or from prohibiting the exportation or importation
of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever—
of establishing rules for deciding, in all cases,
what captures on land or water shall be legal,
and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces
in the service of the United States,
shall be divided or appropriated—of granting
letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace—
appointing courts for the trial of piracies
and felonies committed on the high seas;
and establishing courts; for receiving
and determining finally appeals in all cases of captures;
provided that no member of Congress
shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts.
The United States, in Congress assembled,
shall also be the last resort on appeal,
in all disputes and differences now subsisting,
or that hereafter may arise between two or more states
concerning boundary, jurisdiction,
or any other cause whatever; which authority
shall always be exercised in the manner following.
Whenever the legislative or executive authority,
or lawful agent of any state in controversy with another,
shall present a petition to congress,
stating the matter in question, and praying for a hearing,
notice thereof shall be given, by order of Congress,
to the legislative or executive authority of the other state
in controversy, and a day assigned for
the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents,
who shall then be directed to appoint, by joint consent,
commissioners or judges to constitute a court
for hearing and determining the matter in question:
but if they cannot agree, Congress shall name
three persons out of each of the United States,
and from the list of such persons each party shall alternately
strike out one, the petitioners beginning,
until the number shall be reduced to thirteen;
and from that number not less than seven,
nor more than nine names, as Congress shall direct,
shall, in the presence of Congress, be drawn out by lot,
and the persons whose names shall be so drawn,
or any five of them, shall be commissioners or judges,
to hear and finally determine the controversy,
so always as a major part of the judges,
who shall hear the cause, shall agree in the determination:
and if either party shall neglect to attend
at the day appointed, without showing reasons
which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present,
shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed
to nominate three persons out of each State,
and the secretary of Congress shall strike
in behalf of such party absent or refusing;
and the judgment and sentence of the court,
to be appointed in the manner before prescribed,
shall be final and conclusive;
and if any of the parties shall refuse to submit
to the authority of such court, or to appear
or defend their claim or cause, the court shall nevertheless
proceed to pronounce sentence, or judgment,
which shall in like manner be final and decisive;
the judgment or sentence and other proceedings
being in either case transmitted to Congress,
and lodged among the acts of Congress,
for the security of the parties concerned:
provided that every commissioner,
before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath
to be administered by one of the judges
of the supreme or superior court of the State
where the cause shall be tried,
“well and truly to hear and determine the matter in question,
according to the best of his judgment, without favor,
affection, or hope of reward:”
provided, also, that no State shall be deprived of territory
for the benefit of the United States.
All controversies concerning the private right of soil
claimed under different grants of two or more states,
whose jurisdictions as they may respect such lands,
and the states which passed such grants are adjusted,
the said grants or either of them being at the same time
claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement
of jurisdiction, shall, on the petition of either party
to the Congress of the United States, be finally determined,
as near as may be, in the same manner
as is before prescribed for deciding disputes
respecting territorial jurisdiction between different states.
The United States, in Congress assembled, shall also have
the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating
the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority,
or by that of the respective states—fixing the standard
of weights and measures throughout the United States—
regulating the trade and managing all affairs
with the Indians, not members of any of the states;
provided that the legislative right of any state,
within its own limits, be not infringed or violated—
establishing and regulating post-offices from one state
to another, throughout all the United States,
and exacting such postage on the papers
passing through the same, as may be requisite to defray
the expenses of the said office—appointing all officers
of the land forces in the service of the United States,
excepting regimental officers—appointing all the officers
of the naval forces, and commissioning all officers whatever
in the service of the United States;
making rules for the government and regulation of the
said land and naval forces, and directing their operations.
The United States, in Congress assembled,
shall have authority to appoint a committee,
to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated,
“A Committee of the States,” and to consist of
one delegate from each State; and to appoint such other
committees and civil officers as may be necessary for
managing the general affairs of the United States under
their direction—to appoint one of their number to preside;
provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office
of president more than one year in any term of three years;
to ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised
for the service of the United States, and to appropriate
and apply the same for defraying the public expenses;
to borrow money or emit bills on the credit
of the United States, transmitting every half year
to the respective states an account of the sums of money
so borrowed or emitted,—to build and equip a navy—
to agree upon the number of land forces,
and to make requisitions from each state for its quota,
in proportion to the number of white inhabitants
in such state, which requisition shall be binding;
and thereupon the legislature of each state
shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men,
and clothe, arm, and equip them, in a soldier-like manner,
at the expense of the United States;
and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and equipped,
shall march to the place appointed, and within the time
agreed on by the united states, in Congress assembled;
but if the United States, in Congress assembled,
shall, on consideration of circumstances,
judge proper that any state should not raise men,
or should raise a smaller number than its quota,
and that any other state should raise a greater number
of men than the quota thereof, such extra number
shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed, and equipped
in the same manner as the quota of such state,
unless the legislature of such state shall judge that
such extra number cannot be safely spared out of the same,
in which case they shall raise, officer, clothe, arm,
and equip, as many of such extra number
as they judge can be safely spared.
And the officers and men so clothed, armed, and equipped,
shall march to the place appointed, and within the time
agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled.
The United States, in Congress assembled,
shall never engage in a war, nor grant letters of marque
and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into any treaties
or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof
nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary
for the defense and welfare of the United States,
or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money
on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money,
nor agree upon the number of vessels of war
to be built or purchased,
or the number of land or sea forces to be raised,
nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy,
unless nine states assent to the same,
nor shall a question on any other point,
except for adjourning from day to day,
be determined, unless by the votes of a majority
of the United States in Congress assembled.
The Congress of the United States shall have power
to adjourn to any time within the year,
and to any place within the United States,
so that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration
than the space of six Months, and shall publish the Journal
of their proceedings monthly, except such parts thereof
relating to treaties, alliances, or military operations,
as in their judgment require secrecy;
and the yeas and nays of the delegates of each State,
on any question, shall be entered on the Journal,
when it is desired by any delegate;
and the delegates of a State, or any of them,
at his or their request, shall be furnished
with a transcript of the said Journal,
except such parts as are above excepted,
to lay before the legislatures of the several states.
Article X. The committee of the states,
or any nine of them, shall be authorized to execute,
in the recess of Congress, such of the powers of Congress
as the United States, in Congress assembled,
by the consent of nine states, shall, from time to time,
think expedient to vest them with;
provided that no power be delegated to the said committee,
for the exercise of which, by the articles of confederation,
the voice of nine states, in the Congress
of the United States assembled, is requisite.
Article XI. Canada acceding to this confederation,
and joining in the measures of the United States,
shall be admitted into, and entitled to
all the advantages of this union:
but no other colony shall be admitted into the same,
unless such admission be agreed to by nine states.
Article XII. All bills of credit emitted, monies borrowed,
and debts contracted by or under the authority of Congress,
before the assembling of the United States,
in pursuance of the present confederation, shall be deemed
and considered as a charge against the United States,
for payment and satisfaction whereof the said United States
and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged.
Article XIII. Every State shall abide by the determinations
of the United States, in congress assembled, on all questions
which by this confederation are submitted to them.
And the Articles of this confederation shall be inviolably
observed by every state, and the union shall be perpetual;
nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made
in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to
in a congress of the United States, and be afterwards
confirmed by the legislatures of every state.
And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor
of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures
we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of,
and to authorize us to ratify the said
articles of confederation and perpetual union,
Know Ye, that we, the undersigned delegates,
by virtue of the power and authority to us given
for that purpose, do, by these presents,
in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents,
fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every
of the said articles of confederation and perpetual union,
and all and singular the matters
and things therein contained.
And we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith
of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the
determinations of the United States in Congress assembled,
on all questions, which by the said confederation
are submitted to them.
And that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed
by the states we respectively represent,
and that the union shall be perpetual.
In Witness whereof, we have hereunto
set our hands, in Congress.
Done at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania,
the ninth Day of July, in the Year of our Lord
one Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy eight,
and in the third year of the Independence of America.3
Each state remained independent, free, and sovereign with one vote in Congress.
They entered into a “firm league of friendship with each other
for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their
mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other.”
The people of each state could travel freely to other states
and enjoy the privileges of trade and commerce.
“Great and interesting questions” on peace, war, treaties, and finance
required a two-thirds vote, other matters a majority.
Revenue had to come from the states in proportion to the value of their real estate,
and each state had its own military force.
The states set import and export duties and thus could nullify commercial treaties.
No man could sit in Congress for more than three years out of six.
Article XI allowed for Canada to join the Confederation.
The Articles of Confederation required unanimous consent
from every state’s legislature for ratification and amendments.
The Articles assured all free inhabitants that they had
“all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states,”
but South Carolina and Georgia rejected that
free black inhabitants of other states had equal rights.
The Articles of Confederation were the first Constitution for the United States
as a League of Friendship for the 13 independent states.
They failed to give the Congress the power to tax the people.
On December 4 about 14,000 British soldiers attacked the American army
which had about 11,000 camped in the woods near Philadelphia,
but only about 7,000 Americans were fit enough to fight.
Washington urged them to use their bayonets.
On the 8th the British army returned to Philadelphia, having lost
about one hundred men; the Americans had only 27 casualties.
On December 9 British General Howe took his army
to comfortable accommodations in Philadelphia for the winter.
Conflict occurred over a French officer of Irish descent named
Thomas Conway whom Washington and others considered incompetent.
Conway resigned, but based on Mifflin’s report he was appointed inspector-general
on December 13 with a rank of Major General over the objections of Washington.
On the 13th the Board of War established an inspection system to stop desertions.
Washington’s army on December 20 moved to Valley Forge
where they suffered during a cold winter.
Most of those who stayed in the Continental army that winter did so
out of respect for Washington who had them build their own huts at Valley Forge.
He reported that 2,898 men were unfit for duty because they were hungry,
barefoot, and lacked clothes, leaving 8,200 ready for duty in the camp.
They needed food, clothing, and blankets, and some corn
and blankets were provided by the Oneidas and Tuscaroras.
During the winter about 2,500 American soldiers died at Valley Forge.
On 8 January 1778 Congress appointed a new board of war
with Gates, Mifflin, and Timothy Pickering.
After Washington exposed Conway’s notorious letter revealing the cabal
to replace General Washington, Gates avoided Washington’s headquarters.
Merchants and farmers were demanding that price controls be repealed,
and late in 1777 New Hampshire and Massachusetts cancelled them.
By the end of 1777 most states had turned to conscription to
meet their quotas for the army, usually for one year’s service.
Virginia drafted young men for three years, and as early as 1776
they had impressed “rogues and vagabonds.”
In some states those conscripted could pay a fine,
and in any state one could pay for two substitutes.
When a sheriff tried to impose fines in Baltimore County in October 1777,
hundreds of men rebelled.
The Maryland Council ordered the militia to suppress the insurrection.
Some men threatened to shoot their field officers.
On December 23 Washington wrote this letter to Henry Laurens:
Full as I was in my representation of matters
in the Commissary department yesterday,
fresh and more powerful reasons oblige me to add,
that I am now convinced beyond a doubt,
that unless some great and capital change suddenly
takes place in that line, this Army must inevitably
be reduced to one or other of these three things.
Starve, dissolve, or disperse,
in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can;
rest assured Sir this is not an exaggerated picture,
and that I have abundant reason to support what I say.
Yesterday afternoon receiving information that the Enemy,
in force, had left the City, and were advancing
towards Derby, with apparent design to forage,
and draw Subsistence from that part of the Country,
I ordered the Troops to be in readiness,
that I might give every Opposition in my power;
when behold! to my great mortification,
I was not only informed, but convinced,
that the Men were unable to stir on Acct. of Provision,
and that a dangerous Mutiny begun the Night before,
and with difficulty was suppressed by the spirited exertions
of some officers was still much to be apprehended
on account of their want of this Article.
This brought forth the only Commissary.
in the purchasing Line, in this Camp,
and, with him this Melancholy and alarming truth;
that he had not a single hoof of any kind to Slaughter,
and not more than 25 Barrels of Flour!
From hence form an opinion of our situation
when I add, that, he could not tell when to expect any.
All I could do under these circumstances was,
to send out a few light Parties to watch
and harass the Enemy, whilst other Parties
were instantly detached different ways to collect,
if possible, as much Provision as would satisfy
the present pressing wants of the Soldiery.
But will this answer? No Sir:
three or four days bad weather would prove our destruction.
What then is to become of the Army this Winter?
and if we are as often without Provisions now,
as with it, what is to become of us in the Spring,
when our force will be collected, with the aid perhaps
of Militia, to take advantage of an early campaign
before the Enemy can be reinforced?
These are considerations of great magnitude,
meriting the closest attention, and will,
when my own reputation is so intimately connected,
and to be affected by the event, justify my saying that
the present Commissaries are by no means
equal to the execution
or that the disaffection of the People is past all belief.
The misfortune however does in my opinion
proceed from both causes, and though I have been tender
heretofore of giving any opinion or lodging complaints,
as the change in that department took place
contrary to my judgment,
and the consequences thereof were predicted;
yet, finding that the inactivity of the Army,
whether for want of provisions, Clothes,
or other essentials is charged to my Account,
not only by the common vulgar, but those in power,
it is time to speak plain in exculpation of myself;
with truth then I can declare that, no Man in my opinion,
ever had his measures more impeded than I have,
by every department of the Army.
Since the Month of July, we have had no assistance
from the Quarter Master General.
and to want of assistance from this department, the
Commissary General charges great part of his deficiency;
to this I am to add, that notwithstanding
it is a standing order (and often repeated)
that the Troops shall always have two days provisions
by them, that they might be ready at any sudden call,
yet, no opportunity has scarce ever yet happened
of taking advantage of the Enemy that has not been
either totally obstructed or greatly impeded on this Account,
and this though the great and crying evil is not all.
Soap, Vinegar and other Articles allowed by Congress
we see none of nor have seen I believe,
since the battle of Brandywine;
the first indeed we have now little occasion of few men
having more than one Shirt, many only the Moiety of one,
and Some none at all; in addition to which as a proof
of the little benefit received from a Clothier General,
and at the same time as a further proof
of the inability of an Army under the circumstances of this,
to perform the common duties of Soldiers (besides
a number of Men confined to Hospitals for want of Shoes,
and others in farmers Houses on the same Account)
we have, by a field return this day made
no less than 2,898 Men now in Camp unfit for duty
because they are barefoot and otherwise naked
and by the same return it appears that our whole strength
in continental Troops (Including the Eastern Brigades which
have joined us since the surrender of General Burgoyne)
exclusive of the Maryland Troops sent to Wilmington
amount to no more than 8,200 In Camp fit for duty.
Notwithstanding which, and that, since the 4th Institute
our Numbers fit for duty from the hardships and exposures
they have undergone, particularly on Account of Blankets
(numbers being obliged and do set up all Night by fires,
instead of taking comfortable rest in a natural way)
have decreased near 2,000 Men.
We find Gentlemen without knowing whether the Army
was really going into Winter Quarters or not (for I am sure
no resolution of mine would warrant the remonstrance)
reprobating the measure as much as if they thought Men
were made of Stocks or Stones
and equally insensible of frost and Snow and moreover,
as if they conceived it practicable for an inferior Army
under the disadvantages I have described ours to be which
is by no means exaggerated to confine a superior one
(in all respects well appointed, and provided
for a Winters Campaign) within the City of Philadelphia,
and cover from depredation and waste
the States of Pennsylvania, Jersey, &ca.
but what makes this matter still more extraordinary in my
eye is, that these very Gentlemen who were well apprized
of the nakedness of the Troops, from ocular demonstration
thought their own Soldiers worse clad than others,
and advised me, near a Month ago, to postpone
the execution of a Plan I was about to adopt
(in consequence of a Resolve of Congress)
for seizing Clothes, under strong assurances that
an ample supply would be collected in ten days
agreeably to a decree of the State, not one Article of which,
by the bye, is yet come to hand, should think
a Winter’s Campaign and the covering these States
from the invasion of an Enemy so easy a business.
I can assure those Gentlemen that it is a much easier
and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances
in a comfortable room by a good fireside
than to occupy a cold bleak hill
and sleep under frost & Snow without Clothes or Blankets;
however, although they seem to have little feeling
for the naked, and distressed Soldier,
I feel superabundantly for them,
and from my Soul pity those miseries,
which it is neither in my power to relieve or prevent.
It is for these reasons therefore I have dwelt
upon the Subject, and it adds not a little
to my other difficulties, and distress, to find that
much more is expected of me,
than is possible to be performed,
and that upon the ground of safety and policy, I am obliged
to conceal the true State of the Army from Public view
and thereby expose myself to detraction and Calumny.
The Honorable Committee of Congress went from Camp
fully possessed of my Sentiments respecting the
Establishment of this Army, the necessity of Auditors of
Accounts, appointment of Officers, new arrangements, &ca.
I have no need therefore to be prolix on these Subjects,
but refer to them after adding a word or two to show,
first, the necessity of some better provision for binding
the Officers by the tie of Interest to the Service
(as No day, nor scarcely an hour passes without an Offer
of a resigned Commission) otherwise I much doubt
the practicability of holding the Army together much longer.
In this I shall, probably, be thought more sincere,
when I freely declare that I do not, myself,
expect to derive the smallest benefit from any establishment
that Congress may adopt, otherwise than as
a Member of the Community at large in the good
which I am persuaded will result from the measure
by making better Officers and better Troops,
and Secondly to point out the necessity of making
the Appointments, arrangements, &ca. without loss of time.
We have not more than 3 Months to prepare
a great deal of business in; if we let these slip, or waste,
we shall be laboring under the same difficulties
all next Campaign as we have done this,
to rectify mistakes and bring things to order.
Military arrangements and movements in consequence,
like the Mechanism of a Clock, will be imperfect,
and disordered, by the want of a part;
in a very sensible degree have I experienced this
in the course of the last Summer,
Several Brigades having no Brigadiers appointed to them
till late and some not at all; by which means it follows that
an additional weight is thrown upon the Shoulders
of the Commander in chief to withdraw his attention
from the great line of his duty.
The Gentlemen of the Committee, when they were at Camp
talked of an expedient for adjusting these matters,
which I highly approved and wish to see adopted namely,
that two or three Members of the Board of War
or a Committee of Congress should repair immediately
to Camp where the best aid can be had
and with the Commanding Officer or a Committee
of his appointing prepare and digest the most perfect plan,
that can be devised for correcting all abuses,
making new arrangements, considering what is to be done
with the weak and debilitated regiments
(if the States to which they belong, will not draft men
to fill them, for as to enlisting Soldiers
it seems to me to be totally out of the question)
together with many other things that would occur
in the course of such a conference, and after
digesting matters in the best manner they can to submit
the whole to the ultimate determination of Congress.
If this measure is approved of, I would earnestly
advise the immediate execution of it and that the
Commissary General of Purchases whom I rarely see, may
be directed to form Magazines without a Moments delay,
in the Neighborhood of this Camp in order to secure
Provision for us in case of bad weather;
the Quarter Master General ought also to be busy
in his department; in short there is as much to be done
in preparing for a Campaign as in the active part of it;
in fine, everything depends upon the preparation
that is made in the several departments
in the course of this Winter and the success,
or misfortunes of next Campaign will more than probably
originate with our activity or supineness this Winter.4
With the help of the Mohawk Joseph Brant the British tried to enlist
Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots, Shawnees, Senecas, Delawares, and Pottawatomies.
Black Fish led 200 Shawnees across the Ohio River
and camped near the crossing of the Licking.
On 7 March 1777 Shawnees attacked Boonesborough and then settlers near Harrodsburg.
While Dragging Canoe was still raiding, some Cherokees agreed to treaties
at Dewitt’s Corner on May 20 and at Fort Henry, giving up some of their land.
Dragging Canoe and the British agent Alexander Cameron with a thousand Cherokees
gathered at Chickamauga, and the governments of North Carolina and Virginia
sent Evan Shelby with a regiment to reinforce Clark in Illinois.
In June the British ordered Lt. Governor Henry Hamilton at Detroit to
employ as many Indians as possible against American settlers on the frontier,
and within six months he received 129 scalps and 72 prisoners.
In the early summer the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas, and Cayugas met at Oswego.
Joseph Brant urged them to fight with the British and called the
Seneca chief Cornplanter a coward for suggesting neutrality.
The British gave them rum, and the majority persuaded Cornplanter.
On August 6 the Redcoats, Tories, and about 400 Iroquois led by Brant
attacked 800 American militiamen and about 60 Oneida allies in the Mohawk Valley,
and they claimed they killed 500 Americans and Oneidas
while losing only 100 men in the beginning of an Iroquois civil war.
Samuel Kirkland learned Mohawk from chief Joseph Brant,
and he with a six Oneidas visited the headquarters of Washington
who told them that the French were going to be their ally against the British.
Brant knew English and translated some of the New Testament into Mohawk.
In the summer of 1777 Iroquois warriors were fighting the British and the Americans.
The Oneidas supported the United States General
Horatio Gates against Burgoyne at Saratoga.
Virginia in October authorized settlers to claim 400 acres,
but they had to pay tax on it without a legal title.
Squatters liked this because they resented anyone
owning more land than they could settle and cultivate.
In November under a flag of truce the Shawnee chief Cornstalk informed
Captain
Matthews Arbuckle at Fort Randolph that he could no longer keep the peace.
Cornstalk, his son Elinipsico, and Chief Red Hawk were detained.
When news came that Indians had killed two hunters,
the troops killed the three Indians in revenge.
This made Cornstalk’s successor, Black Fish,
even less trusting of Americans, and he decided to drive them away.
When the Revolution began in 1775, Loyalists from the Mohawk Valley
in New York fled to Fort Niagara by Lake Erie, and their rangers led by
Major John Butler and his son Walter with Brant’s warriors raided and burned settlements.
In February 1778 the Continental Congress called
on General Washington to punish “the savages.”
They appropriated nearly $1 million for campaigns against the Six Nations in June.
Washington responded that it was not the right time, and they put it off for a year.
That month the rangers and Brant’s warriors traveled 300 miles to the Wyoming Valley
where they took 227 scalps and five prisoners from the Americans on July 3.
This terrified settlers on the frontier,
and the half-breed Seneca Queen Esther killed 15 prisoners.
There were more raids at German Flats by the Mohawk River
in September and at Cherry Valley in November.
Washington in October 1778 sent an expedition to attack Oquaga and Unadilla.
Lt. Col. William Butler led 267 soldiers, and they raided the two villages.
In early 1778 Charles Willing and Col. David Rogers led expeditions
from Pittsburgh to New Orleans while Clark went to Illinois.
On February 7 a war party of 120 men led by Black Fish
captured Daniel Boone while he was hunting alone.
A majority of the Shawnee council agreed to his proposal but made him run the gauntlet.
Black Fish and his wife adopted Boone as their son.
Boone escaped on June 16 to warn settlers of an imminent attack,
and he traveled 160 miles in four days to Boonesborough.
On September 7 Black Fish with 400 warriors besieged the Boonesborough fort.
Boone negotiated with Black Fish, and they signed
a treaty making the Ohio River the boundary.
The last Indian attack was on September 17,
and Boone believed they killed 37 Indians while only two men were killed in the fort.
Richard Callaway and Benjamin Logan accused Boone of treason
for appearing to have sided with the British, but he was acquitted.
Black Fish divided his warriors into small groups that continued to harass settlers.
In June 1778 Col. John Butler led 400 Tories and about 500 Iroquois
into the Wyoming Valley where 300 American pioneers led by Col. Zebulon Butler
opposed them and were defeated; only 60 Americans escaped.
The Mohawk chief Theyendanegea, who was called Joseph Brant,
had married Molly, the sister of the late Indian commissioner William Johnson,
and Brant was allied with the British.
In August he with 150 Iroquois and 300 Tories burned the houses
at German Flats and stole the livestock.
Some Continental soldiers marched against the Iroquois town of Unadilla.
The natives fled, and they destroyed it on October 8.
A Philadelphia regiment led by Col. William Butler raided upper Susquehanna
and burned the Indian village of Ocquaga, destroying 4,000 bushels of corn.
In retaliation for these Brant with 500 Indians and 200 Tory Rangers
led by Captain Walter Butler invaded Cherry Valley in November,
killing and capturing about 50 inhabitants.
On 18 June 1778 General Lachlan McIntosh had succeeded
General Edward Hand on the western frontier, and he was assigned
1,500 regulars and militia at Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) to destroy Indian towns.
Governor Patrick Henry sent 600 more men to help him punish the Indians.
On September 17 at Fort Pitt the United States in their first written treaty
with Indians recognized the Delaware as a sovereign nation.
Delaware Chief Quequedegatha, who was called George White Eyes,
agreed to an alliance and gave American troops free passage through their territory.
Clark raised 175 men by June 24, crossed the Ohio River,
and took Kaskakia by surprise on July 4.
Without any shooting they were able to take over Cahokia, Vincennes, and other villages.
In October the American army built Fort McIntosh at Beaver Creek,
and in November by the Tuscarawas River they erected Fort Laurens in Delaware country.
On 7 October 1778 Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton
with soldiers and 350 warriors from thirteen nations left Detroit
and peacefully took over Fort Vincennes on December 17.
Hamilton rewarded Indians for taking scalps but not for prisoners,
and many men, women, and children were killed.
On December 24 Clark ordered that no one should sell, trade,
or give intoxicating liquors to “red and black slaves,” and they
were forbidden to lend or rent houses or buildings to them.
By 1779 the Delawares were so upset by the treaty that
they sent
a delegation to the Congress in Philadelphia, but they got no changes.
Frontiersmen murdered White Eyes, and many Delawares became allies of the British.
In February 1779 George Rogers Clark led a small force of 200 men 150 miles,
and on the 24th they attacked Detroit’s Governor
Col. Henry Hamilton and his garrison at Vincennes.
At a church Hamilton believed he was outnumbered and offered to surrender,
but Clark insisted on fighting.
His men attacked a returning raiding party of Indians, and five captured warriors
were tomahawked to show the Indians that the English could not protect them.
Hamilton with his 79 men finally surrendered the fort.
On 8 January 1779 Virginia’s Governor Patrick Henry ordered Col. Shelby
to raise 300 men and destroy the Chickamauga settlement,
and in April he led 600 North Carolina and Virginia volunteers
who burned eleven towns and stole 20,000 bushels of corn and British ammunition.
On June 1 Thomas Jefferson became governor of Virginia for two years,
and he continued Henry’s western policy.
George Mason got his land office bill passed on June 22;
but even though Jefferson had advocated granting 50-acre tracts, this bill
allowed Robert Morris to acquire 1.5 million acres and Alexander Walcott one million.
In the fall Clark began building Fort Jefferson at the mouth
of the Ohio to control the Mississippi trade.
General Washington ordered General Sullivan to
destroy Iroquois settlements and to take prisoners as hostages.
Sullivan left for the Wyoming Valley on June 18 with
2,500 men, 120 boats, 1,200 packhorses, and 700 cattle.
Washington instructed Col. Daniel Brodhead with 600 men
to attack Seneca towns and cooperate with Sullivan.
General James Clinton led 1,500 soldiers through the Mohawk Valley,
and Col. Goose Van Schaick split off with 500 of the men and
destroyed an Onondaga settlement, capturing 37 and killing more than 20 warriors.
Clinton’s and Sullivan’s forces met at Tioga and built
Fort Sullivan to defend the Wyoming Valley.
Major John Butler and his son Walter were near the Indian town
of Chemung which Sullivan had burned.
On August 26 Clinton and Sullivan departed with 2,500 men and attacked
the Indian settlement at Newtown, devastating extensive fields of corn and beans.
Sullivan moved on but found the villages abandoned.
He captured only a few women, but his men devastated
more than 40 villages and destroyed fields and orchards.
On August 29 Brant and Butler’s men tried to fight Sullivan’s army
but they were overwhelmed and fled.
This atrocious Indian policy occupied half of Washington’s army
for six months and turned the Iroquois into fiercer warriors.
After hundreds of people died of starvation and disease during the winter,
they took revenge against the settlers the next spring.
Sullivan had used Oneidas as allies, and the Mohawks, Senecas, and Cayugas
with help from British soldiers and Tories destroyed Oneida settlements.
In March 1780 the garrison at Skenesboro near Lake George was captured,
and the Mohawk Joseph Brant captured Harpersfield a few weeks later.
John Johnson in May led 200 warriors and 400 Tories into the Mohawk Valley,
killing Americans, destroying their homes, and stealing horses and cattle.
At Big Creek in April 1779 most of the Indians had fled, and 40 warriors were killed.
That year the Chickasaw joined the war on the side of the British and their Indian allies,
and the pioneers James Robertson and John Donelson established Fort Nashborough.
Benjamin Franklin drafted a proposal for a French-American alliance,
and on 17 December 1777 the Foreign Minister
Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, agreed.
In January 1778 France’s Louis XVI promised the Americans three million livres.
France and the United States agreed to a defensive alliance
and commercial treaty on February 6.
The British Parliament repealed the Coercive Acts
it had imposed on the colonies four years before.
Gilbert de Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, arrived from France at the age of 20,
and Congress appointed him to lead an expedition to Canada
with Baron Johann de Kalb as his second.
Lafayette insisted that the appointments be through General Washington.
In January 1778 Washington offered freedom to Negro and Indian slaves
who fought for the Continental Army to the end of the war,
and former owners were promised compensation.
As over 700 Africans fought for the Americans,
they defeated the British at Monmouth courthouse on June 28.
Washington opposed a plan to invade Canada.
In the first four months of 1778 Congress issued $12.5 million in paper money.
Rhode Island had 3,700 slaves, and in January General James Mitchell
asked Washington to let them recruit Negroes.
He approved, and in February they offered freedom to any “able-bodied Negro,
Mulatto,
or Indian Man slave” who would fight in the Continental Army until the end of the war.
About 200 enlisted, and their former owners were promised £120 each.
The Prussian Friedrich von Steuben arrived at Valley Forge on February 23.
Nathanael Greene became Quartermaster General in March.
When Conway’s resignation was accepted on April 28,
Steuben was appointed Inspector General,
and he introduced more effective training and discipline.
To counter English recruiting of Indians on the western borders
of Virginia and the Carolinas, Congress authorized Col. Nathaniel Gist
to organize 200 Indians and 50 whites in the region.
Generals Thomas Conway and Horatio Gates formed a cabal that
criticized Washington who had objected to Congress making Conway
a major general and in December 1777 the Inspector General.
Washington wrote to Henry Laurens about this on 2 January 1778 and to Gates on the 4th.
In the period from September 1777 to March 1778 Washington lost one-half of his troops.
At Valley Forge on January 31 in another letter to Henry Laurens he wrote,
I cannot sufficiently express the obligation
I feel to you for your friendship and politeness
upon an occasion in which I am so deeply interested.
I was not unapprised that a malignant faction
had been for some time forming to my prejudice;
which, conscious as I am of having ever done
all in my power to answer the important purposes
of the trust reposed in me,
could not but give me some pain on a personal account;
but my chief concern arises from an apprehension
of the dangerous consequences, which
intestine dissentions may produce to the common cause.
As I have no other view than to promote the public good,
& am unambitious of honors
not founded in the approbation of my Country,
I would not desire in the least degree to suppress
a free spirit of enquiry into any part of my conduct
that even faction itself may deem reprehensible.
The anonymous paper handed you exhibits
many serious charges, and it is my wish that
it should be submitted to Congress;
this I am the more inclined to,
as the suppression, or concealment, may possibly
involve you in embarrassments hereafter;
since it is uncertain how many,
or who may be privy to the contents.
My Enemies take an ungenerous advantage of me;
they know the delicacy of my situation,
and that motives of policy deprive me of the defense
I might otherwise make against their insidious attacks.
They know I cannot combat their insinuations,
however injurious, without disclosing secrets,
it is of the utmost moment to conceal.
But why should I expect to be exempt from censure;
the unfailing lot of an elevated station?
Merits and talents, with which I can have
no pretensions of rivalship, have ever been subject to it.
My Heart tells me it has been my unremitted aim
to do the best circumstances would permit;
yet, I may have been very often mistaken
in my judgment of the means, and may,
in many instances deserve the imputation of error.
I cannot forbear repeating that I have a grateful sense
of the favorable disposition you have manifested to me
in this affair, and beg you will believe me
to be with sentiments of real esteem etc.5
In February 7,000 men were ill, and 290 died; in March the death toll was 424.
On March 12 Congress suspended the invasion of Canada
and ordered Lafayette and Kalb to join the main army.
On the 23rd they ordered Conway to report to General Alexander McDougall.
Conway did not like it and threatened to resign, and Congress accepted his resignation.
Conway was seriously wounded in a duel with General John Cadwalader on 4 July 1778,
and on the 23rd he wrote an apologizing letter to Washington.
On March 16 Parliament appointed a commission led by the Earl of Carlisle
which sent a package of proposals for peace to Congress on June 13.
The commissioner George Johnstone was accused of trying to bribe
General Joseph Reed with 10,000 guineas and returned to England before the others.
Lafayette challenged Carlisle to a duel for what he said about France.
The Congress insisted on independence as a starting point for negotiations,
and the commissioners, unable to accept this,
eventually went back to England in November.
On March 21 Tom Paine addressed the 5th part of The Crisis
to General William Howe and accused him of abetting the crime of
circulating counterfeit Continental money.
Later Franklin wrote that the British used artists to counterfeit the Continental currency
while they were in New York and circulated them widely before the fraud was detected.
The British had broken their surrender agreement at Saratoga by concealing
their public chest and property, and Burgoyne complained that the Americans
violated the terms by providing unsatisfactory accommodations for his officers in Boston.
Dr. Benjamin Rush had been appointed Surgeon General of the Middle Department
in April 1777, and in a letter on December 26 he castigated Dr. William Shippen
for the terrible medical conditions and the large number of sick.
Rush also criticized Washington, and on 12 January 1778 he wrote to Virginia’s Governor
Patrick Henry that General Gates or Conway should be made commander-in-chief.
Washington became aware of the anonymous letter, and Rush resigned on April 30.
Rush wrote a pamphlet, and to preserve the health of soldiers
he recommended improving dress, diet, cleanliness, and encampments.
He also wrote on education and pioneered the field of mental health with
his Medical Inquiries and Observations Upon the Diseases of the Mind
which was published in 1812.
Baron von Steuben organized systematic training and discipline for the Army.
He did not know English and had to communicate through
Greene, Laurens, and Hamilton who knew French.
In February the French signed a reciprocal trade treaty
with the United States and a military alliance treaty.
France sent arms to support the Americans.
After receiving formal notification from Congress of the alliance with France,
Washington, realizing this alliance could win the war,
in the General Orders on May 5, 1778 wrote this:
It having pleased the Almighty ruler of the Universe
propitiously to defend the Cause
of the United American-States and finally by raising us up
a powerful Friend among the Princes of the Earth
to establish our liberty and Independence
upon lasting foundations, it becomes us to set apart a day
for gratefully acknowledging the divine Goodness
& celebrating the important Event
which we owe to his benign Interposition.6
Congress unanimously ratified the treaties with France on May 4,
and France and England were at war by June.
At a strategy council on May 8 Washington noted that the British had 4,000 troops
in New York, 2,000 who were mostly Germans in Rhode Island, and 10,000 in Philadelphia.
There were 11,800 Americans at Valley Forge and 1,400 in Wilmington.
Washington suggested they “remain on the defense” until they had “a fairer opportunity.”
After much debate Congress on May 17 approved half-pay
for officers for seven years after retirement from the war.
Enlisted men got only an $80 bonus for enlisting for the duration of the war.
Washington hired 47 Oneidas to work as scouts for Lafayette, and with 2,200 troops
they fought 16,000 British at Barren Hill on May 20 with hardly any casualties.
General Howe had spent the winter in Philadelphia without attacking Valley Forge.
His gambling and other vices set a bad example for his men.
On May 18 the British held a festival in Philadelphia.
Howe learned that Lafayette was nearby with 2,500 men,
and on the night of the 19th he sent General James Grant with 5,300 men.
The next morning Howe led 5,700 more soldiers with Clinton and Knyphausen.
Lafayette managed to fool them by using small parties in the woods
to represent attacking columns, and the British army returned to Philadelphia.
The British appointed Henry Clinton commander-in-chief,
and on May 25 William Howe sailed for England with 3,000 grieving Tories.
A negotiated prisoner exchange enabled General Charles Lee
to return from British captivity, and Washington met him on the road.
Lee had suggested a plan to the British on how they could win the war.
Lee resumed correspondence with the fading Conway Cabal.
Lee warned Congress that the British might press forward up the Susquehanna River.
Washington at Valley Forge let Lee command the first division.
Lee was critical, and Washington asked him to speak directly to him.
When General William Howe left, General Henry Clinton moved
from New York to Philadelphia to command the British Army.
On June 17 France declared war on Great Britain.
That night General Clinton and 17,000 British soldiers
left Philadelphia and crossed the Delaware.
Washington ordered his forces at Valley Forge to follow them cautiously.
General Charles Lee advised the Americans not to try to fight the British.
On June 19 Washington ordered General Benedict Arnold to put Philadelphia
under martial law, and Arnold began exercising dictatorial powers in the city.
Then with less than 12,000 men Washington also crossed the Delaware
and deployed forces to destroy roads and harass the enemy.
Washington at a Council of War on June 24 noted that the enemy had less than
10,000 men while Americans had 10,648 plus 1,200 regulars and 1,200 militia.
General Lee offered a plan, and they agreed on a compromise.
When Major General Charles Lee objected,
Washington appointed Lafayette to lead the men.
That caused Lee to change his mind.
On June 28 the American Army camped at Monmouth Court House.
In rainy weather some men were sick.
General Lee led the attack, and they captured at least 500 deserters,
who were mostly foreigners, as prisoners.
Lee had ordered a retreat, and Washington came forward to reverse the withdrawal.
He ordered Lee to the rear and with his horsemanship
inspired his men to stop running away.
In the battle at Monmouth courthouse the Americans
had 69 killed, 161 wounded, and 130 missing.
The British lost more than 400 men while 136 British
and 440 Hessians deserted in New Jersey.
More than 700 Africans fought on the American side.
Washington had Lee court martialed for disobeying orders,
misbehavior before the enemy, and disrespect for the Commander-in-Chief.
His only penalty was that he was suspended for one year.
When Lee complained to Congress, they canceled his commission.
The next year Lee was caught receiving money from British officers
in New York and was dismissed by Congress.
On 2 July 1778 Congress met in Philadelphia, and one week later
delegates of eight states signed the Articles of Confederation.
North Carolina approved them on July 21 followed by Georgia three days later.
New Jersey held out for western territory but accepted the confederacy on November 25.
Delaware’s delegates approved in February 1779.
Maryland had several prominent citizens with landholdings
northwest of the Ohio River and refused to sign.
A French fleet with twelve ships and three frigates commanded
by Admiral Count Charles D’Estaing arrived in Delaware Bay on
8 July 1778 after being delayed doing exercises at sea.
They began intercepting British ships going to New York.
On July 18 Congress rejected the latest British peace proposal
from the Carlisle commission because they did not recognize the independence
of the United States nor had they withdrawn their armies and their fleets.
On the 29th another French fleet with 3,500 soldiers was seen off Newport.
Washington’s army was losing militia and had less than 6,000 men in camp.
On August 29 the British tried to flank their right wing, but General Greene
led a counter-attack in which the British lost 260 men and the Americans 211.
Sullivan’s army withdrew before General Clinton arrived with 4,000 British.
Richard Howe was replaced in September by Admiral John Byron
and never returned to America.
That month people in New England raised Sullivan’s army to 10,000 men.
John Adams had replaced Silas Deane in France in November 1777,
and on 14 September 1778 Congress unanimously appointed
Benjamin Franklin the minister plenipotentiary to France.
Congress asked Adams to work on finances.
Deane believed that the money from France was not a gift but a loan,
and Arthur Lee, who disagreed, persuaded Congress to begin
investigating Deane’s questionable conduct.
After it was learned that Samuel Chase of Maryland had profited by cornering
the grain market prior to purchases for the army, Alexander Hamilton wrote
a letter against war profiteering on October 19
that was published in the New York Journal.
Clinton sent 3,500 soldiers under Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell
to the southern port of Savannah in November.
The American general Robert Howe led about a thousand militia from Georgia
and South Carolina and inflicted about 500 casualties on the British with few losses.
On December 29 the British lost 29 killed as they took over the capital
at Savannah and captured 453 prisoners and 48 cannons.
The captives who refused to enlist with the British were put
on crowded prison-ships plagued by infection that killed many.
Royal Governor James Wright returned to Georgia.
In November and December the Congress
issued more than $20,000,000
in paper money, increasing the Continental bills to more than $106,000,000.
Inflation of the Continental currency went from $1.00 in coins being equal
to $1.25 in paper money in January 1777 to $3.25 one year later to $7.42
two years later to $29.34 in January 1780 and to $167.50 in April 1781.
Joseph Reed, a lawyer, resigned from Congress, and on 1 December 1778
he became president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.
Like many Quakers he opposed military violence.
He accused Benedict Arnold of corruption.
Arnold was crippled at Saratoga,
and Washington appointed him military governor of Philadelphia.
On 9 December 1778 Congress elected John Jay
of New York president to replace Laurens.
Washington in December opposed another plan by Lafayette to invade Canada.
Most Americans were more loyal to their state governments than to the Congress,
and Washington in December expressed his concern to the speaker of the Virginia house
that if the whole is mismanaged, the individual states will be wrecked.
He warned that America could be destroyed if they
did not apply remedies for their common interests.
Thomas Jefferson estimated that in 1778 more than 30,000 Virginia slaves ran away.
That year Rhode Island and Massachusetts allowed Africans to serve as soldiers,
and only Georgia and South Carolina opposed black enlistments.
Washington on December 12 in a letter to Joseph Reed wrote,
It gives me very sincere pleasure to find that
there is likely to be a coalition of the Whigs in your State
(a few only excepted) and that the Assembly of it,
are so well disposed to second your endeavors
in bringing those murderers of our cause—
the Monopolizers—forestallers—& Engrossers—
to condign punishment.
It is much to be lamented that each State, long ’ere this,
has not hunted them down as the pests of Society,
& the greatest enemies we have,
to the happiness of America....
No punishment, in my opinion, is too great for the Man,
who can build “his greatness upon his Country’s ruin.”7
Washington during the hard times at Valley Forge allowed
the men to forage for food, and he issued this order:
Leave as much forage to each farm
as will serve the remaining stock ’till next grass,
as much grain as will support them ’till harvest,
some milch cattle and a reasonable number of horses.8
Washington approved soldiers attacking British foraging parties,
and they tried to prevent American farmers from selling food to the British in Philadelphia.
Quakers by their religion did not approve of fighting, and Howe sent four wives
to ask Washington to release their husbands who had been captured at Brandywine.
Washington received the women cordially and gave them dinner.
Martha Washington entertained them and persuaded her husband
to release all the Quakers who experienced extreme joy.
Because the British were circulating counterfeit Continental money,
the Congress recalled two emissions of $5,000,000 each.
On 14 January 1779 Congress ordered a new emission of $50,000,400.
On the same day they resolved that neither France nor the United States
would make peace with Britain without first obtaining formal consent from their ally.
Congress voted for 80 battalions of infantry in March,
but none of the states met their quotas.
This plan included 3,000 Negroes in Georgia and South Carolina,
but the latter rejected the proposal.
After hearing reports, Congress voted that their territory would extend from the
Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from the Floridas to Canada and Nova Scotia.
They debated whether they should retain the fishing rights off Newfoundland
they had under the British but could not agree.
They promised a bounty of $750, annual clothing, and 100 acres of land
after the war
to anyone who would serve in the Continental Army for the duration of the war.
British led by General John Campbell took over Augusta in January 1779.
South Carolina replaced Robert Howe with General Benjamin Lincoln
who took command of 1,100 men on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River.
North Carolina had regiments in Washington’s army,
and they sent 2,000 men without weapons to Lincoln under
Col. John Ashe and General Griffith Rutherford for five months.
Ashe crossed the river at Augusta with 1,500 militia; and on March 3
the British took them by surprise, and the unprepared Americans
lost nearly a thousand men, seven cannons, and more than a thousand weapons.
John Laurens was willing to free his family’s slaves, and in late December
he advised South Carolina that they needed a black force because of “impending calamity.”
On March 16 he wrote to Washington that 3,000 armed blacks
could help drive the British out of Georgia.
In response on March 20 Washington wrote to Laurens,
The policy of our arming Slaves, is, in my opinion,
a moot point, unless the enemy set the example;
for should we begin to form Battalions of them,
I have not the smallest doubt
(if the war is to be prosecuted) of their following us in it,
and justifying the measure upon our own ground;
the upshot then must be who can arm fastest,
and where are our Arms?
Besides I am not clear that a discrimination will not render
Slavery more irksome to those who remain in it;
most of the good and evil things of this life
are judged of by comparison, and I fear comparison;
and I fear a comparison in this case will be productive
of much discontent in those who are held in servitude;
but as this is a subject that
has never employed much of my thoughts,
these are no more than the first crude Ideas
that have struck me upon the occasion.9
On March 29 the Continental Congress passed the following:
Resolved, That it be recommended to the states
of South Carolina and Georgia, if they shall think
the same expedient, to take measures immediately
for raising three thousand able bodied negroes.
Resolved, That congress will make provision for paying
the proprietors of such negroes as shall be enlisted
for the service of the United States during the war,
a full compensation for the property at a rate
not exceeding one thousand dollars for each
active able bodied negro man of standard size,
not exceeding thirty five years of age,
who shall be so enlisted and pass muster.
That no pay or bounty be allowed to the said negroes,
but that they be clothed and subsisted
at the expense of the United States.
That every negro who shall well and faithfully serve
as a soldier to the end of the present war,
and shall then return his arms,
be emancipated and receive a sum of fifty dollars.10
On April 28 the British General Augustine Prévost with 3,000 men including
Indians crossed the Savannah River and attacked a thousand South Carolina
militia under Brigadier General William Moultrie at Perrysburg.
They besieged Charleston on May 11.
John Laurens went there to enlist Negroes.
Alexander Hamilton agreed with this project because he believed they could fight as well.
Washington was concerned that this would lead to an arms race.
General Isaac Huger warned Congress that South Carolina was weak
because citizens had to stay home and guard against revolts by Negro slaves.
South Carolinians rejected the advice of Laurens because
the British had confiscated all the Negroes they could.
The British intercepted a letter from General Lincoln that he was coming
to relieve Charleston, and the British embarked and established a post at Beaufort.
They raided the country and took 3,000 slaves to Georgia
while another thousand died in the woods or of fever in the British camp.
The South Carolina Assembly in May debated the Laurens proposal to free slaves
so that they could support the Americans in the war,
but the slaveowners considered it outrageous.
On 12 May 1779 Washington made this speech to the Delaware Chiefs:
Brothers: I am happy to see you here.
I am glad the long Journey you have made,
has done you no harm; and that you are in good health.
I am glad also you left All our friends
of the Delaware Nation well.
Brothers: I have read your paper.
The things you have said are weighty things,
and I have considered them well.
The Delaware Nation have shown
their good will to the United States.
They have done wisely,
and I hope they will never repent.
I rejoice in the new assurances you give of their friendship.
The things you now offer to do to brighten the chain,
prove your sincerity.
I am sure Congress will run to meet you,
and will do everything in their power
to make the friendship between the people of those States,
and their Brethren of the Delaware nation, last forever.
Brothers: I am a Warrior.
My words are few and plain;
but I will make good what I say.
‘Tis my business to destroy all the Enemies of these States
and to protect their friends.
You have seen how
we have withstood the English for four years;
and how their great Armies
have dwindled away and come to very little;
and how what remains of them
in this part of our great Country,
are glad to stay upon Two or three little Islands,
where the Waters and their Ships
hinder us from going to destroy them.
The English, Brothers, are a boasting people.
They talk of doing a great deal; but they do very little.
They fly away on their Ships
from one part of our Country to another;
but as soon as our Warriors get together,
they leave it and go to some other part.
They took Boston & Philadelphia,
two of our greatest Towns;
but when they saw our Warriors in a great body
ready to fall upon them, they were forced to leave them.
Brothers: We have till lately fought the English all alone.
Now the Great King of France
is become our Good Brother and Ally.
He has taken up the Hatchet with us,
and we have sworn never to bury it,
till we have punished the English and made them sorry
for All the wicked things
they had in their Hearts to do against these States.
And there are other Great Kings and Nations
on the other side of the big Waters,
who love us and wish us well,
and will not suffer the English to hurt us.
Brothers: Listen well to what I tell you,
and let it sink deep into your Hearts.
We love our Friends, and will be faithful to them,
as long as they will be faithful to us.
We are sure our Good brothers
the Delawares will always be so.
But we have sworn to take vengeance on our Enemies,
and on false friends.
The other day, a handful of our young men
destroyed the settlement of the Onondagas.
They burnt down all their Houses,
destroyed their grain and Horses and Cattle,
took their Arms away, killed several of their Warriors
and brought off many prisoners
and obliged the rest to fly into the woods.
This is but the beginning of the troubles
which those Nations,
who have taken up the Hatchet against us, will feel.
Brothers: I am sorry to hear that you have suffered
for want of Necessaries,
or that any of our people have not dealt justly by you.
But as you are going to Congress,
which is the great Council of the Nation
and hold all things in their hands,
I shall say nothing about the supplies you ask.
I hope you will receive satisfaction from them.
I assure you, I will do everything in my power
to prevent your receiving any further injuries
and will give the strictest orders for this purpose.
I will severely punish any that shall break them.
Brothers: I am glad you have brought
three of the Children of your principal Chiefs
to be educated with us.
I am sure Congress will open the Arms of love to them,
and will look upon them as their own Children
and will have them educated accordingly.
This is a great mark of your confidence and of your desire
to preserve the friendship between the Two Nations
to the end of time, and to become One people
with your Brethren of the United States.
My ears hear with pleasure the other matters you mention.
Congress will be glad to hear them too.
You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life
and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.
These will make you
a greater and happier people than you are.
Congress will do everything they can
to assist you in this wise intention;
and to tie the knot of friendship and union so fast,
that nothing shall ever be able to loose it.
Brothers: There are some matters about which
I do not open my Lips, because they belong to Congress,
and not to us warriors; you are going to them,
they will tell you all you wish to know.
Brothers: When you have seen all you want to see,
I will then wish you a good Journey to Philadelphia.
I hope you may find there everything your hearts can wish,
that when you return home
you may be able to tell your Nation good things of us.
And I pray god he may make your Nation wise and Strong,
that they may always see their own true interest
and have courage to walk in the right path;
and that they never may be deceived by lies
to do anything against the people of these States,
who are their Brothers
and ought always to be one people with them.11
In May 1779 the Cayugas wanted to make peace with the Americans,
and Washington was persuaded to accept their support against hostile Iroquois.
On June 11 the British army attacked Norwalk, Connecticut
and burned buildings while plundering and losing nearly 150 men.
Washington sent a force led by General Wayne to Stony Point.
On the 16th the Americans killed 63 British soldiers and captured 543
while only 15 Americans were killed.
In the summer of 1779 Washington sent forces to attack the Iroquois four times,
and they destroyed most of their villages and burned 160,000 bushels of corn.
Washington sent a force of Continentals and militia totaling about 4,600
led by Major General Sullivan to invade the Iroquois near
Finger Lakes and the Genesee Valley in western New York.
Washington ordered Sullivan not to make peace until he had destroyed their settlements.
Sullivan’s main force attacked a deserted Seneca stronghold on August 11, the day
that Brigadier General Daniel Brodhead left Fort Pitt with 605 men and 8 Delaware guides.
General James Clinton with 1,500 New Yorkers burned deserted Indian villages,
and they ate ripe corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins.
Sullivan’s force of 4,000 men took artillery along the Delaware River,
and on August 29 they fought Loyalists and Iroquois led by Chief Joseph Brant,
250 of Butler’s rangers, and 15 British recoats at the Indian village of Newtown.
They burned Indian settlements in the Mohawk Valley and destroyed 1,500 peach trees.
Sullivan’s Army ravaged 160,000 bushels of corn along with vegetables and fruit.
Brodhead said that he destroyed over 500 acres and took plunder worth $30,000.
They damaged the centuries-long culture of the Iroquois.
This provoked more raids by Butler’s rangers, Brant’s warriors, and Senecas in 1780.
They killed 142 Americans and captured 161, destroying 157 houses, 150 granaries,
and stealing 247 horses and 922 cattle in New York.
General Schuyler gave clothing to the Oneidas in the winter of 1781.
Congress approved that in the spring and provided $1,000
to buy blankets for the Oneidas and Tuscaroras.
This aggressive Indian policy used half of Washington’s army
for six months in 1779 and made the Iroquois fiercer warriors.
After hundreds of people died of starvation and disease during the winter,
they took revenge against the settlers the next spring.
Captain John Paul Jones had been given command of
the USS Providence in May 1776, and he took many prizes.
He became captain of the 24-gun frigate USS Alfred on November 1.
He was given the newly built USS Ranger in June 1777 and sailed
for France in November and discussed strategy with Ben Franklin.
In 1778 Jones began attacking British ships near England,
and on April 24 he captured the HMS Drake.
In 1779 he was given command of the old and slow
USS Bonhomme Richard, and it had 42 guns.
In his most famous naval battle against the new HMS Serapis on September 23,
Jones refused to strike his colors, saying he was just beginning to fight.
During hand-to-hand combat a grenade thrown onto the Serapis
caused gunpowder to explode, and its Captain Pearson surrendered.
The Bonhomme Richard was also damaged and was abandoned
as Jones and his men took over the Serapis.
The Americans suffered 150 casualties while killing 100 British and wounding 68.
Silas Deane engaged in questionable commercial transactions with Robert Morris,
John Holker and others such as selling them a boat-load of flour that they sold to the
French without ever offering it to Congress, which discharged Deane on 6 August 1779.
On September 27 the Congress elected John Jay as their envoy to Spain.
Admiral d’Estaing with a French fleet joined with the Americans led by
General Lincoln in a siege of Savannah on September 23, and during an assault
on October 8 the Americans and French allies had 244 killed and 584 wounded.
D’Estaing was wounded twice, and his fleet sailed for France in December.
The Georgians fled across the river or into the woods.
The British occupation of Rhode Island ended on October 7
when General Henry Clinton withdrew his army.
That month Congress learned that nearly 160 million dollars of paper money
were outstanding, and they voted to limit the paper emissions to $200 million
which was reached before the end of the year.
Washington in December went into winter quarters
at Middlebrook, New Jersey, and his headquarters was at Morristown.
He warned the Congress of the army’s needs, and he sent letters to the
governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.
On December 16 he sent this circular to the states,
The situation of the Army with respect to supplies
is beyond description alarming.
It has been five or Six weeks passed on half allowance:
and we have not more than three days bread
at a third allowance on hand, nor anywhere within reach.
When this is exhausted, we must depend on
the precarious gleanings of the neighboring country.
Our Magazines are absolutely empty every where
and our Commissaries entirely destitute
of Money or Credit to replenish them.
We have never experienced a like extremity
at any period of the War.
We have often felt temporary want,
from accidental delays in forwarding supplies;
but we always had something in our Magazines
and means of procuring more.
Neither one nor the other is at present the case.
This representation is the result
of a minute examination of our resources.
Unless some extraordinary exertions be made
by the States, from which we draw our supplies,
there is every appearance that
the Army will infallibly disband in a fortnight.
I think it my duty to lay this candid view of our situation
before your Excellency, and to entreat the vigorous
interposition of the State to rescue us from the danger
of an event, which if it did not prove the total ruin
of our affairs, would at least give them a shock
from which they would not easily recover and plunge us
into a train of new and still more perplexing
embarrassments, than any we have hitherto felt.12
Washington on Christmas Eve had the corn used for the horses
ground into meal for the soldiers.
Notes
1. Washington Writings, p. 265-266.
2. Ibid., p. 275.
3. Documents of American History ed. Henry Steele Commager, p. 111-115.
4. Ibid., p. 281-286.
5. Ibid., p. 290-291.
6. Ibid., p. 308.
7. The Writings of George Washington ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, Volume 13, p. 383.
8. George Washington in the American Revolution (1775-1783)
by James Thomas Flexner, p. 276.
9. Washington Writings, p. 338.
10. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America
by Henry Wiencek, p. 232.
11. Washington Writings, p. 349-351.
12. George Washington: A Biography in His Own Words ed. Ralph K. Andrist, p. 194.
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