The Cherokees continued to fight against the incoming settlers in 1780.
On December 8 Col. John Sevier and 250 riflemen defeated them at French Broad River.
Sevier was reinforced by Col. Arthur Campbell with 400 Virginians,
and they attacked the western Cherokee villages.
They avoided the Chickamauga warriors while burning 17 towns
of neutral Cherokees and destroying 50,000 bushels of corn.
On May 28 Washington wrote this letter to Joseph Reed
in which he discussed the current situation:
I am much obliged to you for your favor of the 23rd.
Nothing could be more necessary than the aid given
by your state towards supplying us with provision.
I assure you, every Idea you can form of our distresses,
will fall short of the reality.
There is such a combination of circumstances to exhaust
the patience of the soldiery that it begins at length
to be worn out, and we see in every line of the army
the most serious features of mutiny and sedition.
All our departments, all our operations are at a stand,
and unless a system very different from that which
for a long time prevailed be immediately adopted
throughout the states, our affairs must soon become
desperate beyond the possibility of recovery.
If you were on the spot my Dear Sir, if you could see
what difficulties surround us on every side,
how unable we are to administer to the most ordinary
calls of the service, you would be convinced that
these expressions are not too strong,
and that we have almost ceased to hope.
The country in general is in such a state of insensibility
and indifference to its interest, that I dare not
flatter myself with any change for the better.
The Committee of Congress in their late address to the
several states have given a just picture of our situation.
I very much doubt its making the desired impression,
and if it does not, I shall consider our lethargy as incurable.
The present juncture is so interesting that if it does not
produce correspondent exertions, it will be a proof that
motives of honor public good and even self preservation
have lost their influence upon our minds.
This is a decisive moment; one of the most I will go
further and say the most important America has seen.
The Court of France has made a glorious effort for our
deliverance, and if we disappoint its intentions by our
supineness, we must become contemptible in the eyes
of all mankind; nor can we after that venture to confide that
our allies will persist in an attempt to establish what it will
appear we want inclination or ability to assist them in.
Every view of our own circumstances ought to determine
us to the most vigorous efforts; but there are considerations
of another kind that should have equal weight.
The combined fleets of France and Spain last year
were greatly superior to those of the enemy.
The enemy nevertheless sustained no material damage,
and at the close of the campaign have given
a very important blow to our allies.
This campaign the difference between the fleets
from every account I have been able to collect will
be very inconsiderable, indeed it is far from clear
that there will not be an equality.
What are we to expect will be the case
if there should be another Campaign?
In all probability the advantage will be on the side
of the English, and then what will become of America?
We ought not to deceive ourselves.
The maritime resources of Great Britain are more
substantial and real than those of France and Spain united.
Her commerce is more extensive than that
of both her rivals; and it is an axiom that the nation
which has the most extensive commerce will always
have the most powerful marine.
Were this argument less convincing the fact speaks
for itself; her progress in the course of the last year
is an incontestable proof.
It is true France in a manner created a Fleet
in a very short space, and this may mislead us
in the judgment we form of her naval abilities.
But if they bore any comparison with those of Great Britain
how comes it to pass that with all the force of Spain added
she has lost so much ground in so short a time,
as now to have scarcely a superiority.
We should consider what was done by France as
a violent and unnatural effort of the government
which for want of sufficient foundation
cannot continue to operate proportionable effects.
In modern wars the longest purse
must chiefly determine the event.
I fear that of the enemy will be found to be so.
Though the government is deeply in debt and
of course poor, the nation is rich, and their riches
afford a fund which will not be easily exhausted.
Besides, their system of public credit is such that
it is capable of greater exertions
than that of any other nation.
Speculatists have been a long time foretelling its downfall,
but we see no Symptoms of the catastrophe
being very near.
I am persuaded it will at least last out the war,
and then in the opinion of many of the best politicians
it will be a national advantage.
If the War should terminate successfully, the crown
will have acquired such influence & power that
it may attempt anything, and a bankruptcy will probably
be made the ladder to climb to absolute authority.
Administration may perhaps wish to drive matters
to this issue; at any rate they will not be restrained by an
apprehension of it from forcing the resources of the state.
It will promote their present purposes on which their all
is at stake and it may pave the way to triumph
more effectually over the constitution.
With this disposition I have no doubt that ample means
will be found to prosecute the war with the greatest vigor.
France is in a very different position.
The abilities of her present Financier has done wonders.
By a wise administration of the revenues aided by
advantageous loans he has avoided the necessity
of additional taxes.
But I am well informed, if the war continues another
campaign, he will be obliged to have recourse to the taxes
usual in time of war which are very heavy,
and which the people of France are
not in condition to endure for any duration.
When this necessity commences, France makes war
on ruinous terms; and England from her individual wealth
will find much greater facility in supplying her exigencies.
Spain derives great wealth from her mines,
but not so great as is generally imagined.
Of late years the profit to government
is essentially diminished.
Commerce and industry are the best means of a Nation;
both which are wanting to her.
I am told her treasury is far from being so well filled
as we have flattered ourselves.
She is also much divided on the propriety of the war.
There is a strong party against it.
The temper of the nation is too sluggish to admit
of great exertions, and though the Courts of
the two kingdoms are closely linked together,
there never has been in any of their wars a perfect harmony
of measures, nor has it been the case in this; which has
already been no small detriment to the common cause.
I mention these things to show that the circumstances
of our allies as well as our own call for peace; to obtain
which we must make one great effort this campaign.
The present instance of the friendship of the Court of France
is attended with every circumstance that can
render it important and agreeable;
that can interest our gratitude or fire our emulation.
If we do our duty, we may even hope to make
the campaign decisive on this Continent.
But we must do our duty in earnest,
or disgrace and ruin will attend us.
I am sincere in declaring a full persuasion, that
the succor will be fatal to us, if our measures
are not adequate to the emergency.
Now my Dear Sir I must observe to you,
that much will depend on the State of Pennsylvania.
She has it in her power to contribute without comparison
more to our success than any other State
in the two essential articles of flour and transportation.
New York, Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland are
our flour Countries: Virginia went little on this article the last
crop, and her resources are called for to the southward.
New York by legislative coercion has already given
all she could spare for the use of the army.
Her inhabitants are left with scarcely a sufficiency
for their own subsistence.
Jersey from being so long the place
of the army’s residence is equally exhausted.
Maryland has made great exertions;
but she can still do something more.
Delaware may contribute handsomely
in proportion to her extent.
But Pennsylvania is our chief dependence.
From every information I can obtain, she is
at this time full of flour.
I speak to you in the language of frankness and as a friend.
I do not mean to make any insinuations
unfavorable to the state.
I am aware of the embarrassments the government
labors under from the open opposition of one party
and the underhand intrigues of another.
I know that with the best dispositions to promote the public
service you have been obliged to move with circumspection.
But this is a time to hazard and to take
a tone of energy and decision.
All Parties but the disaffected will acquiesce
in the necessity and give their support.
The hopes & fears of the people at large may be
acted upon in such a manner as to make them
approve and second your views.
The matter is reduced to a point.
Either Pennsylvania must give us all the aid we ask of her,
or we can undertake nothing.
We must renounce every idea of a co-operation,
and must confess to our Allies that
we look wholly to them for our safety.
This will be a state of humiliation and littleness against
which the feelings of every good American ought to revolt.
Yours I am convinced will.
Nor have I the least doubt that you will employ all your
influence to animate the legislature and the people at large.
The fate of these states hangs upon it.
God grant we may be properly impressed
with the consequences.
I wish the Legislature could be engaged to vest
the executive with plenipotentiary powers.
I should then expect every thing practicable
from your abilities and zeal.
This is not a time for formality or ceremony.
The crisis in every point of view is extraordinary,
and extraordinary expedients are necessary.
I am decided in this opinion.
I am happy to hear that you have a prospect of complying
with the requisitions of Congress for specific supplies
that the spirit of the city and state seems to revive,
and the warmth of party decline.
These are good omens of our success.
Perhaps this is the proper period to unite.
I am obliged to you for the renewal of your assurances
of personal regard; my sentiments for you,
you are too well acquainted with to make it necessary
to tell you with how much esteem etc.1
In the early months of 1780 many settlers came to Kentucky.
Tom Paine wrote The Public Good, arguing that Kentucky had been separated
from Virginia by the Proclamation of 1763 and should be independent of Virginia.
Clark went north and got to Cahokia on May 25
before the British whom he defeated the next day.
British Captain Henry Bird led nearly 1,000 men with cannons, Shawnees,
Delawares,
Wyandots, and others from Detroit and captured Ruddle’s Station on June 24.
They took 350 prisoners; the Indians kept about 200
while the others arrived at Detroit on August 4.
Governor Jefferson had called up 250 militia for another expedition.
Col. George Rogers Clark gathered nearly 1,000 riflemen
and led a retaliatory attack in August, crossing the Ohio
and destroying the Shawnees’ “mother town” of Chillicothe.
They invaded Shawnee territory again in November and burned six villages.
At the beginning of August 1780 Brant with 500 Indians and Tories plundered Canajoharie.
Then he went down the Ohio and meeting 100 Pennsylvania volunteers led by Col. Archibald Lochry, Brant and his men killed 41 and captured 60.
Brant at Unadilla met with John Johnson who commanded 1,000 Tories and Indians including those under Brant and Cornplanter.
They raided the Schoharie Valley in September.
General Robert Van Rensselaer pursued them with a smaller force,
and General Schuyler sent him reinforcements.
On October 19 Col. John Brown from Fort Paris attacked Johnson’s army
with only 130 men at abandoned Fort Keyser; 40 were killed, and the rest fled.
Later that day Van Rensselaer’s force with 1,500 militia and 60 Oneidas
led by Col. Lewis DuBois arrived and attacked Johnson’s forces.
After a battle Johnson’s men fled in the dark.
On December 8 Col. John Sevier and 250 riflemen
defeated
Cherokees in the valley of the French Broad.
Col. Arthur Campbell of Virginia with 400 men was joined by
backwoodsmen and invaded Overhill towns, taking Choté without a fight.
Dragging Canoe and some Cherokees continued the fight in 1781,
but they were driven back by General Andrew Pickens.
Fort Stanwix had been damaged by fire and flood, and it was abandoned in May.
Col. Marinus Willett was in charge of defending the frontier with its 24 forts.
In late October they were attacked by about 800 Tories and
British soldiers along with 120 Indians led by Walter Butler.
Willett gathered a force of more than 400 at Fort Hunter and marched to Johnstown.
They attacked the Tories who had been slaughtering cattle and drove them away,
taking about 50 prisoners while suffering some 40 casualties.
This was the last major attack, and Willett managed to keep
the peace with one-tenth the troops Sullivan had used.
On 22 January 1781 George Rogers Clark was made a brigadier general
and
left for Pittsburgh which was in territory claimed by both Pennsylvania and Virginia.
On March 15 Governor Jefferson ordered Clark to
lead a Virginia army of 2,000 north from the Ohio falls.
In April the Treaty of Pittsburgh was broken when Fort Pitt’s commander
Daniel Brodhead, concerned that some Lenape-Delaware had sided with the British,
invaded Delaware territory and destroyed the town of Coshochton and other villages.
Clark left Wheeling on June 21 and was attacked by Indians,
and most of his men were killed.
He learned that Fort Jefferson had been abandoned on June 8 for lack of supplies.
On June 23 by the falls of the Ohio the town of Louisville was incorporated.
Clark could raise only 730 men and abandoned his expedition.
He began building Fort Nelson at the falls, and neighboring tribes submitted.
Clark left Fort Pitt in early August with only 400 men.
On November 22 Benjamin Harrison was elected governor of Virginia,
and he limited Clark to 304 men to garrison forts and protect the frontier.
The act for the northwest territory expired on December 14,
leaving it without legal administration.
In early 1782 the peaceful Moravian missionaries David Zeisberger and John
Heckwelder converted some Delaware Indians by the Tuscarawas River near Pittsburgh.
When the area around Pittsburgh was recognized as part of Pennsylvania,
some settlers lost their land claimed under Croghan.
Settlers in the Chartiers Creek area crossed the Ohio and attacked Indians.
Atrocities led to a retaliatory raid led by Washington County’s commandant
James Marshal with 300 men, and on March 7 they went to the Delaware
village of Gnadenhutten where they enjoyed hospitality for three days.
Then while 96 villagers were in church on Sunday, the 28 men, 29 women,
and 39 children were all taken out in small groups and slaughtered.
The soldiers returned to Pittsburgh and killed another small group of Indians.
General William Irvine took command and tried to moderate the violence.
Many of those with land claims from Croghan
and the Indiana Company wanted to secede.
On December 2 Pennsylvania passed a law making it treason to advocate
secession
from the state, and the Reverend James Finley found that the agitation had ceased.
In 1782 Sevier led an expedition that destroyed villages in Chickamauga country.
In June an Indian intertribal council decided to wipe out
Kentucky settlements while the British were still aiding them.
On August 15 about 30 Tories and 300 Shawnees led by Captain William Caldwell
and Alexander McKee besieged Bryan’s Station which
three days later was relieved by 182 Kentucky militia.
They pursued the British and Indian force for four days,
and at Blue Licks despite Daniel Boone’s warning they walked into an ambush.
Seventy Kentuckians, including Boone’s son Israel, were killed.
George Rogers Clark was blamed, and in November he led 1,050 mounted riflemen
and destroyed Chillicothe and five Shawnee villages on the Great Miami River
in the last offensive of the Revolutionary War during which the Americans
gained firm control of western Virginia and Kentucky.
Samuel Huntington replaced John Jay as president of the Congress
on 28 September 1779, and on 12 January 1780 he sent a circular letter
to states asking them to provide supplies immediately to the army.
On February 8 Congress set the men needed for the army at 35,211
and asked the states to meet their requirements by April 1.
Pennsylvania worked on a constitution that would abolish slavery,
and the former president George Bryan persuaded the Assembly to pass it on February 29.
Massachusetts also had adopted a constitution abolishing slavery on January 31.
John Adams drafted a bill of rights with a preamble and thirty articles
that was ratified on June 15; many of these rights would become
part of the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Massachusetts became a free commonwealth on October 25.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in Boston
and James Bowdoin was elected president.
Also in 1780 the Methodists of the United States at their general meeting
voted that slave-keeping is “contrary to the laws of God, man, and nature.”
On 26 December 1779 the commander-in-chief Clinton had sailed
with 8,500 British soldiers for Georgia where he gathered 10,000 men.
He sent for 3,000 more from New York, and they landed near Charleston
on 11 February 1780 and began the siege on March 29.
General Lincoln tried to hold Charleston, South Carolina with less than 2,000 men.
General Washington thought they should abandon the city,
though 700 veterans from Virginia joined them on April 7.
The next day the British Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot blockaded the
port from the sea, and they began bombarding the city on the 13th.
Lincoln considered evacuation until General Cornwallis
brought 3,000 men from New York.
British Generals Henry Clinton and Cornwallis with 12,847 soldiers and 4,500 sailors
had been besieging Charleston, and they began bombarding Charleston on May 9.
On that day Richard Henry Lee persuaded the Virginia legislature
to raise and send 3,000 men to South Carolina.
When the British began an assault on May 12, General Benjamin Lincoln
capitulated with 2,571 Continentals as the South Carolina militia escaped.
All the men in Charleston were considered prisoners, and Clinton reported
that they captured 5,466 American regulars, militia, and sailors.
The value of the spoils taken was estimated to be £300,000,
and 2,000 slaves were shipped to the West Indies.
The British also captured 391 cannons, about 6,000 muskets,
more than 40,000 bullets, and 376 barrels of gunpowder.
The British forced them to lay down their weapons in silence.
They were given the choice of swearing not to fight
the British again or become prisoners of war.
Clinton moved his army back to New York City,
and Cornwallis continued fighting in the South.
Lafayette after being in France for a year and a half returned on May 6 1780
with the welcome report that six men-of-war and
6,000 troops were on the way to America.
When the British began to offer more favorable terms,
Washington realized it was because of the Americans’ alliance with France.
Another contingent of 380 infantry and 40 cavalry led by Col. Abraham Buford
arrived in South Carolina from Virginia, and on May 29 they were defeated by
General Banastre Tarleton’s more experienced force of 150; 113 Virginians were killed;
150 were too wounded to be moved; and 53 were taken to Camden as prisoners.
General Henry Clinton proclaimed that all inhabitants of South Carolina
must return to allegiance or be treated as rebels.
He left 5,000 men with General Cornwallis and more than a 1,000 in Georgia.
General Andrew Williamson, who had built a fort at Ninety-Six in South Carolina
earlier in the war, and working as a double agent he surrendered it
to the British and even went over to their side.
On May 19 Washington in a letter to his cousin Lund Washington wrote,
You ask how I am to be rewarded for all this?
There is one reward that nothing can deprive me of,
and that is, the consciousness of having done my duty
with the strictest rectitude, and most scrupulous exactness,
that if we should, ultimately, fail in the present contest,
it is not owing to the want of exertion in me,
or the application of every means that Congress
and the United States, or the States individually,
have put into my hands.…
Providence—to whom we are infinitely more indebted
than we are to our own wisdom—or our own exertions—
has always displayed its power & goodness,
when clouds and thick darkness
seemed ready to overwhelm us—
The hour is now come when we stand
much in need of another manifestation
of its bounty however little we deserve it.2
Washington sent nearly 2,000 Maryland men under General Kalb,
leaving his Continental Army between the Chesapeake
and Canada with only 3,760 men fit for duty.
Washington asked Congress again for an army of 20,000 men.
On May 31 he learned that the British led by General Clinton had captured Charleston
as the garrison of 2,500 Continentals and 2,000 militia surrendered.
Washington on that day in a letter to Joseph Jones wrote,
Certain I am that unless Congress speaks
in a more decisive tone; unless they are vested with powers
by the several States competent to the great purposes
of War, or assume them as matter of right;
and they, and the states respectively, act with more energy
than they hitherto have done, that our Cause is lost.
We can no longer drudge on in the old way.
By ill-timing the adoption of measures,
by delays in the execution of them,
or by unwarrantable jealousies,
we incur enormous expenses,
and derive no benefit from them.
One state will comply with a requisition of Congress,
another neglects to do it; a third executes it by halves,
and all differ in the manner, the matter,
or so much in point of time,
that we are always working up hill, and ever shall be
(while such a system as the present one,
or rather want of one prevails)
unable to apply our strength or resources to any advantage.
This my dear Sir is plain language
to a member of Congress;
but it is the language of truth and friendship.
It is the result of long thinking,
close application, and strict observation.
I see one head gradually changing into thirteen.
I see one Army branching into thirteen;
and instead of looking up to Congress
as the supreme controlling power of the united States,
are considering themselves
as dependent on their respective States.
In a word, I see the powers of Congress declining too fast
for the consequence and respect which is due to them
as the grand representative body of America,
and am fearful of the consequences of it.3
General Washington wanted Greene to succeed Lincoln,
but Congress appointed Gates to command the southern army on June 13.
On July 10 France’s Admiral de Ternay arrived at Newport with ten warship
and about 6,000 men led by Comte de Rochambeau.
Col. Thomas Sumter organized a continental regiment in South Carolina that won a
victory at Williamson’s Plantation on July 12 and attacked Rocky Mount on August 1.
On August 4 General Gates proclaimed a pardon
to any who would remain loyal to America from then on.
On the 14th about 700 militia under General Edward Stevens joined Gates
who now had 1,100 Continentals and 2,350 militia from North Carolina and Virginia.
They met the advance guard of Cornwallis near Camden on the 16th.
When the British attacked them from the rear, the Americans fled to the woods.
Kalb’s division fought, and the victorious British lost about 500 troops.
Gates fled to Hillsboro, North Carolina and was eventually joined by 700 Continentals.
About 1,900 American soldiers had surrendered at Charleston,
and they were put on prison-ships with the prisoners captured near Camden.
After thirteen months one third of them had died of fevers, and others
were
impressed into serving on British ships or in a British regiment in Jamaica.
On August 26 General Greene wrote to Washington asking his permission
to hang two soldiers, one for desertion and the
other for committing horrid acts of plunder.
Washington approved the punishment.
The American Army in August asked the state
to provide 15,600 recruits and they received only 6,000.
The French fleet arrived at Newport, Rhode Island
on July 10 with 5,300 men under 450 officers.
On August 16 the British General Cornwallis with only 2,100 soldiers and 4 cannons
defeated about 1,500 Continentals and 2,500 militia with 8 cannons led by
General Horatio Gates at Camden, South Carolina.
The Americans had 900 casualties.
The British suffered only 313 while capturing about
1,000 prisoners of war along with the 8 cannons and 200 wagons.
Virginia’s Governor Thomas Jefferson in September approved organizing
a regiment of 400 men in the backwoods under Col. William Campbell.
On October 7 these men and other soldiers fought the British at King’s Mountain,
killing a third of the British soldiers led by Major Patrick Ferguson.
The British had 456 killed or so severely wounded that
they were abandoned among the 648 who were captured.
The Americans suffered only 28 killed and 60 wounded.
The attempt by Cornwallis to penetrate western Virginia
was thus stopped by spontaneous uprisings.
Washington in early September sent home 400 militia to conserve food.
He went to Hartford, Connecticut to discuss strategy with France’s
General Rochambeau, and then he visited his friend, General Benedict Arnold,
at the West Point fortress on the Hudson River.
Arnold was not there, and Washington attempted to find out
what was going on between Arnold and the British Major John André.
General Benedict Arnold worked with André and secretly agreed
to turn over West Point to the British for £6,000.
General Benedict Arnold had begun collaborating with the
British General Clinton and accepting pay in the winter of 1778-79.
Arnold became the commander at West Point on 3 August 1780.
That month the British General Henry Clinton agreed to pay Arnold £20,000.
Arnold also tried to help Clinton capture Washington.
He revealed military secrets to the British,
and he worked to weaken West Point’s defenses.
The plot of Arnold and André was exposed on September 21.
Washington in his General Orders on October 1 wrote,
The Board of General officers appointed to examine
into the Case of Major Andre have reported.
1st. “That he came on shore
from the Vulture sloop of War in the night
of the 21st. of September last on an interview
with General Arnold in a private and secret manner.”
2dly. “That he changed his dress within our Lines
and under a feigned name and in a disguised habit
passed our works at Stoney and Vere-Planks Points
the Evening of the 22d. of September last at Tarrytown
in a disguised habit being then on his way to New York;
and when taken he had in his possession several Papers
which contained intelligence for the Enemy.”
The Board having maturely considered these Facts
do also report to his Excellency General Washington
“That Major Andre Adjutant General to the British Army
ought to be considered as a spy from the enemy
and that agreeable to the Law and usage of nations
it is their opinion he ought to suffer Death.”
The Commander in Chief directs the execution
of the above Sentence in the usual way
this afternoon at five o’clock precisely.4
Benedict Arnold escaped.
In December he took orders from General Henry Clinton
and led an army of 1,600 British in attacks against Virginia.
In June 1781 Arnold would lead an attack on New London,
Connecticut that destroyed property worth about $500,000.
Arnold and his family fled to England in December.
On October 10 Congress passed a resolution that authorized the settlement
and formation of republican states in the western territories with
“the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence as the other states.”
On October 30 the Congress went along with Washington’s advice
and appointed Greene to command the southern department.
Washington was short of men, but he sent 350 infantry with Greene
who reached Charlotte on December 2.
When Cornwallis complained about how British prisoners were treated,
Greene sent him a list of about 50 men who had been hanged by Cornwallis.
Before departing, Gates turned over 2,307 men to Greene,
though only 800 were properly clothed and equipped.
Greene gave a third of his men to General Daniel Morgan and sent them southwest.
At the end of 1780 Washington had an army of 10,000 as half of their enlistments ended.
On the first day of 1781 about 200 mostly new recruits
from Pennsylvania at Morristown marched to Princeton and
mutinied, demanding winter clothes, their pay, and adequate food.
British General Henry Clinton sent two emissaries with an offer for the mutineers;
the mutineers turned them in, and the two were hanged as spies.
Pennsylvania’s President Joseph Reed discharged those whose
enlistments had expired and promised to clothe and pay the others.
On January 2 the Virginia Assembly ceded
its claims to territory north of the Ohio River.
Maryland’s Governor Thomas Johnson and other members of the
Illinois-Wabash Company also sacrificed their claims in February.
Benedict Arnold was now fighting for the British and
on January 2 arrived with 1,600 men by the James River.
To capture him Washington sent Lafayette with 1,200 men
and a fleet of ten French warships to the Chesapeake.
Cornwallis had 3,500 men and sent Tarleton with 1,100 soldiers
against Brigadier General Morgan’s forces.
Washington on January 5 sent a Circular to
New England State Governments that included this:
Sir: It is with extreme anxiety, and pain of mind,
I find myself constrained to inform your Excellency
that the event I have long apprehended would be
the consequence of the complicated distresses of the Army,
has at length taken place.
On the night of the 1st instant a mutiny was excited
by the Non Commissioned Officers
and Privates of the Pennsylvania Line,
which soon became so universal as to defy all opposition;
in attempting to quell this tumult, in the first instance,
some Officers were killed, others wounded,
and the lives of several common Soldiers lost.
Deaf to arguments, entreaties, and utmost efforts
of all their Officers to stop them, the Men moved off
from Morris Town, the place of their Cantonment,
with their Arms, and six pieces of Artillery;
and from Accounts just received by Genl. Wayne’s
Aid De Camp, they were still in a body,
on their March to Philadelphia,
to demand a redress of their grievances.
At what point this defection will stop,
or how extensive it may prove God only knows;
at present the Troops at the important Posts
in this vicinity remain quiet,
not being acquainted with this unhappy and alarming affair;
but how long they will continue so cannot be ascertained,
as they labor under some of the pressing hardships,
with the Troops who have revolted.
The aggravated calamities and distresses
that have resulted, from the total want of pay
for nearly twelve Months, for want of clothing,
at a severe season, and not unfrequently
the want of provisions; are beyond description.5
On January 10 Congress created a Department of Foreign Affairs
with a secretary elected by Congress.
The American navy had been reduced to two frigates,
though their French allies had a good navy.
Their ships brought 1,500 more men to the French contingent that left Newport.
The army of General Cornwallis devastated Virginia,
destroying property worth £3,000,000 sterling.
The people who wanted independence resisted.
On January 15 Washington wrote to John Laurens,
In compliance with your request I shall commit to writing
the result of our conferences on the present state
of American affairs; in which I have given you my ideas,
with that freedom and explicitness,
which the objects of your Commission,
my entire confidence in you, and the exigency demand.
To me it appears evident.
1st. That, considering the diffused population
of these states,
the consequent difficulty of drawing together its resources;
the composition and temper of a part of its inhabitants;
the want of a sufficient stock of national wealth
as a foundation for Revenue
and the almost total extinction of commerce;
the efforts we have been compelled to make for carrying on
the war have exceeded the natural abilities of this country
and by degrees brought it to a crisis,
which renders immediate and efficacious succors
from abroad indispensable to its safety.
2dly. That, notwithstanding from the confusion,
always attendant on a revolution,
from our having had governments to frame,
and every species of civil and military institution to create;
from that inexperience in affairs,
necessarily incident to a nation in its commencement,
some errors may have been committed
in the administration of our finances,
to which a part of our embarrassments are to be attributed,
yet they are principally to be ascribed
to an essential defect of means,
to the want of a sufficient stock of wealth,
as mentioned in the first article;
which, continuing to operate, will make it impossible,
by any merely interior exertions,
to extricate ourselves from those embarrassments,
restore public credit,
and furnish the funds requisite for the support of the war.
3dly. That experience has demonstrated
the impracticability, long to maintain a paper credit
without funds for its redemption.
The depreciation of our currency was, in the main,
a necessary effect of the want of those funds;
and its restoration is impossible for the same reason;
to which the general diffidence,
that has taken place among the people, is an additional,
and in the present state of things, an insuperable obstacle.
4thly. That the mode, which for want of money
has been substituted for supplying the army;
by assessing a proportion of the productions of the earth,
has hitherto been found ineffectual, has frequently
exposed the army to the most calamitous distress,
and from its novelty and incompatibility with ancient habits,
is regarded by the people as burthensome and oppressive;
has excited serious discontents, and,
in some places, alarming symptoms of opposition.
This mode has besides many particular inconveniences
which contribute to make it inadequate to our wants,
and ineligible, but as an auxiliary.
5thly. That from the best estimates
of the annual expense of the war, and the annual revenues
which these states are capable of affording,
there is a large balance to be supplied by public credit.
The resource of domestic loans is inconsiderable
because there are properly speaking few monied men,
and the few there are can employ their Money
more profitably otherwise; added to which,
the instability of the currency and the deficiency of funds
have impaired the public credit.
6thly. That the patience of the army
from an almost uninterrupted series
of complicated distress is now nearly exhausted;
their discontents matured to an extremity, which
has recently had very disagreeable consequences,
and which demonstrates
the absolute necessity of speedy relief,
a relief not within the compass of our means.
You are too well acquainted with all their sufferings,
for want of clothing, for want of provisions,
for want of pay.
7thly. That the people being dissatisfied
with the mode of supporting the war, there is cause
to apprehend, evils actually felt in the prosecution,
may weaken those sentiments which begun it;
founded not on immediate sufferings,
but in a speculative apprehension of future sufferings
from the loss of their liberties.
There is danger that a commercial and free people,
little accustomed to heavy burthens,
pressed by impositions of a new and odious kind,
may not make a proper allowance for the necessity
of the conjuncture, and may imagine,
they have only exchanged one tyranny for another.
8thly. That from all the foregoing considerations result:
1st. The absolute necessity of an immediate,
ample and efficacious succor of money;
large enough to be a foundation
for substantial arrangements of finance,
to revive public credit and give vigor to future operations.
2dly. The vast importance of a decided effort
of the allied arms on this Continent, the ensuing campaign,
to effectuate once for all the great objects of the alliance;
the liberty and independence of these states.
Without the first, we may make a feeble
and expiring effort the next campaign,
in all probability the period to our opposition.
With it, we should be in a condition to continue the war,
as long as the obstinacy of the enemy might require.
The first is essential to the last;
both combined would bring the contest to a glorious issue,
crown the obligations, which America already feels
to the magnanimity and generosity of her ally,
and perpetuate the union, by all the ties
of gratitude and affection, as well as mutual advantage,
which alone can render it solid and indissoluble.
9thly. That next to a loan of money
a constant naval superiority on these coasts
is the object most interesting.
This would instantly reduce the enemy
to a difficult defensive, and by removing
all prospect of extending their acquisitions,
would take away the motives for prosecuting the war.
Indeed it is not to be conceived,
how they could subsist a large force in this country,
if we had the command of the seas, to interrupt
the regular transmission of supplies from Europe.
This superiority (with an aid of money) would enable us
to convert the war into a vigorous offensive.
I say nothing of the advantages to the trade of both nations,
nor how infinitely it would facilitate our supplies.
With respect to us, it seems to be
one of two deciding points; and it appears too,
to be the interest of our allies,
abstracted from the immediate benefits to this country,
to transfer the naval war to America.
The number of ports friendly to them, hostile to the British;
the materials for repairing their disabled ships;
the extensive supplies towards the subsistence of their fleet,
are circumstances which would give them
a palpable advantage in the contest of these seas.
10thly. That an additional succor of troops
would be extremely desirable.
Besides a reinforcement of numbers,
the excellence of the French troops,
that perfect discipline and order in the corps already sent,
which have so happily tended to improve the respect
and confidence of the people for our allies;
the conciliating disposition and the zeal for the service,
which distinguish every rank,
sure indications of lasting harmony,
all these considerations evince the immense utility
of an accession of force to the corps now here.
Correspondent with these motives, the enclosed minutes
of a conference between Their Excellencies
The Count De Rochambeau, the Chevalier De Ternay
and myself will inform you that an augmentation
to fifteen thousand men was judged
expedient for the next campaign;
and it has been signified to me, that an application
has been made to the Court of France to this effect.
But if the sending so large a succor of troops
should necessarily diminish the pecuniary aid,
which our allies may be disposed to grant,
it were preferable to diminish the aid in men;
for the same sum of money, which would transport
from France and maintain here a body of troops
with all the necessary apparatus, being put into our hands
to be employed by us would serve to give activity
to a larger force within ourselves,
and its influence would pervade the whole administration.
11thly. That no nation will have it more in its power
to repay what it borrows than this.
Our debts are hitherto small.
The vast and valuable tracts of unlocated lands,
the variety and fertility of climates and soils;
the advantages of every kind,
which we possess for commerce, insure to this Country
a rapid advancement in population and prosperity,
and a certainty, its independence being established,
of redeeming in a short term of years,
the comparatively inconsiderable debts
it may have occasion to contract.
That notwithstanding the difficulties under which
we labor and the inquietudes prevailing among the people,
there is still a fund of inclination and resource in the country
equal to great and continued exertions, provided
we have it in our power to stop the progress of disgust,
by changing the present system and adopting
another more consonant with the spirit of the nation,
and more capable of activity and energy in public measures;
of which a powerful succor of money must be the basis.
The people are discontented, but it is with the feeble
and oppressive mode of conducting the war,
not with the war itself.
They are not unwilling to contribute to its support,
but they are unwilling to do it in a way
that renders private property precarious,
a necessary consequence of the fluctuation
of the national currency and of the inability of government
to perform its engagements, oftentimes coercively made.
A large majority are still firmly attached
to the independence of these states,
abhor a reunion with great Britain,
and are affectionate to the alliance with France,
but this disposition cannot supply the place of means
customary and essential in war,
nor can we rely on its duration amidst the perplexities,
oppressions and misfortunes, that attend the want of them.
If the foregoing observations are of any use to you,
I shall be happy.
I wish you a safe and pleasant voyage,
the full accomplishment of your mission
and a speedy return;
being with Sentiments of perfect friendship etc.6
In the battle of Cowpens on January 17 Virginia’s 900 riflemen and cavalry
routed 1,150 British under General Banastre Tarleton who had 110 men killed,
200 wounded, and 712 regulars captured;
only twelve Americans died with sixty wounded.
On 20 January 1781 about 200 soldiers from New Jersey
demanded pay and rum and headed toward Congress.
They were persuaded to return, and Washington had two leaders shot by a firing squad.
General Anthony Wayne had been in the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1774-75,
and he became a colonel in Pennsylvania’s Army in January 1776.
He was aggressive and won several battles.
When Pennsylvania troops complained that promises had not been kept,
troops under General Wayne fired on twelve leaders, killing six.
Wayne ordered a soldier to kill a badly maimed man and then had the other five hanged.
The Pennsylvania Line was reduced from 2,400 men to 1,150.
On February 3 Congress voted to ask the states to give them
the
power to regulate commerce and levy a duty of 5% on imported goods.
Virginia approved and offered to yield its title to the lands northwest of the Ohio
on the understanding that they would be formed into
republican states and be admitted into the union.
Twelve states ratified the duty, but Rhode Island refused.
Robert Morris was elected Superintendent of the Department of Finance
in February, but he did not officially take office until September.
Yet Morris presented his plan for the Bank of North America right away
and received authorization for it in May, and in June Congress gave him
all its money borrowed from France and in unsold bills.
The Bank would begin operating at the beginning of 1782.
Congress also established a Secretary of War in February,
and Benjamin Lincoln was not elected until October.
Alexander Hamilton had been considered, and in a letter
to General John Sullivan on February 4 Washington wrote,
How far Col. Hamilton, of whom you ask
my opinion as a financier,
has turned his thoughts to that particular study,
I am unable to answer because
I never entered upon a discussion on this point with him.
But this I can venture to advance
from a thorough knowledge of him,
that there are few men to be found of his age
who has a more general knowledge than he possesses
and none whose soul is more firmly engaged in the cause
or who exceeds him in probity and sterling virtue.7
On February 16 Washington and Hamilton quarreled,
and the latter decided to leave Washington’s staff.
Hamilton in July wrote to Washington asking for a commission that
was granted
as a commander of a light infantry company in the New York Regiments.
Hamilton would command three battalions during the attack on Yorktown.
On March 1 Maryland finally ratified the Articles of Confederation
which made
all thirteen states a part of the “perpetual union,” and the Articles went into effect.
In that winter Benjamin Franklin and John Laurens obtained
a loan
of 6 million livres from the French to purchase military supplies.
By May not one of the states had sent even one-eighth of its quota of soldiers.
President Huntington resigned because of ill health on July 6, and four days later
Pennsylvania’s Chief Justice, Thomas McKean of Delaware, was elected president
of the Congress; but on November 5 he was replaced by John Hanson of Maryland
who was the first to serve for one year as required in the Articles.
On March 15 the British General Charles Cornwallis with an army of 1,900
met Greene’s 1,651 near Guilford Courthouse.
The British suffered 570 casualties and the Americans 419
with about a thousand men missing.
Greene’s forces drove Cornwallis back to South Carolina.
After stopping in Wilmington in April, Cornwallis headed toward Virginia with 1,435 men.
In a battle against Greene’s army near Camden on May 10 each side lost about 300 men.
Cornwallis with 7,000 men reached Petersburg on May 20
and ordered Arnold back to New York.
Governor Thomas Jefferson wrote to Washington
on May 28 asking him to help defend Virginia.
Forces led by Wayne, Steuben, and Morgan joined
Lafayette’s army which now had 5,200 men.
The American navy had been reduced to two frigates,
but their French allies had a good navy.
Their ships brought 1,500 more men to the French contingent that left Newport.
A fleet from Ireland brought reinforcements for the British,
and Lord Rawdon led 2,000 men to relieve the town of Ninety-Six on June 7.
Greene led an assault on June 18 and then retreated the next day
after suffering more casualties than the smaller British force.
Then the army of General Cornwallis devastated Virginia,
destroying property worth £3,000,000 sterling.
Yet the people wanting independence resisted.
In England the 22-year-old William Pitt made a speech on June 12
condemning the British war as “wicked, barbarous, cruel, and unnatural.”
His mentor Charles James Fox admitted that America was lost
and that they should vote to declare it independent.
Lafayette wrote to Washington in July urging him to march a force to Virginia
because with the French fleet they could force the British army to surrender.
Cornwallis embarked his troops in early August from Portsmouth
and moved them to Yorktown and Gloucester.
On August 14 Washington learned that the Comte de Grasse was taking his fleet to Virginia,
and five days later Rochambeau’s troops and the American army
left New York to go to Chesapeake Bay.
In August envoys from Vermont asked Congress for admission as a state.
New York withdrew its objection, but the southern states refused to accept
another northern state without it being balanced by a southern slave state.
Admiral de Grasse arrived from the West Indies with 28 ships
and 4,000 French on August 30, and they blocked the York River.
The French Comte de Barras with eight warships and ten transports
from Newport, Rhode Island brought ordnance for a siege.
A British fleet led by Admiral Thomas Graves left Sandy Hook
and encountered de Grasse by the James River on September 5.
After losses over five days the British returned to New York.
Washington visited his home at Mount Vernon on September 9
for the first time in more than six years.
He sent a message with Lafayette to persuade de Grasse to stay for the common cause.
When he agreed, Washington wrote, “A great mind knows how
to make personal sacrifices to secure an important general good.”8
Taking advantage of Washington’s departure, the turncoat Benedict Arnold led
British forces who drove out the defenders of Fort Trumbull in Connecticut on September 6.
On the other side of the Thames River the British soldiers
massacred the garrison of Fort Griswold after they surrendered.
Then Arnold’s army burned 143 buildings in New London
and about a dozen American ships before they embarked for New York.
On September 8 General Nathanael Greene’s army
attacked the British at Eutaw Springs, South Carolina.
In two battles the Americans suffered 554 casualties;
but they captured 500 prisoners as the British lost nearly a thousand men.
In his first nine months of command Greene had recovered three southern states.
Washington’s army was in place to begin the siege of Cornwallis on September 28.
Cornwallis had promised more than 4,000 slaves
their freedom in exchange for their support.
When food shortages began, he cut back on the rations
for the Africans, causing some to starve to death.
Trapped at Yorktown by 8,845 Continental soldiers, 7,800 French troops,
3,100 Virginia militia, and 37 French ships, on October 17 General Cornwallis sent
a capitulation proposal to Washington, and two days later he surrendered
7,247 soldiers,
840 sailors, 214 cannons, 6,658 muskets, 457 horses, and more than £2,000.
Washington responded with this message:
My Lord: I have had the Honor of receiving
Your Lordship’s Letter of this Date.
An Ardent Desire to spare the further Effusion of Blood,
will readily incline me to listen to such Terms
for the Surrender of your Posts and Garrisons
of York and Gloucester, as are admissible.
I wish previously to the meeting of Commissioners
that your Lordship’s proposals in writing, may be sent
to the American Lines, for which Purpose,
a Suspension of Hostilities during two Hours,
from the Delivery of this Letter will be granted.9
Washington persuaded complaining officers to be loyal to Congress. During peace negotiations many British troops left the 13 colonies. Washington went back to the North to deal with General Henry Clinton and the British army at New York.
When the news of the surrender by the British General Charles Cornwallis
reached England on 25 November 1781,
King George III still refused to give up his claim to America.
In February 1782 Colonial Secretary George Germain resigned.
After the French brought over $200,000 in specie, the Confederation’s
Finance Minister Robert Morris started a bank
of the United States with $400,000 on 7 January 1782.
Congress also approved establishing a mint.
New York elected as a delegate to Congress the young Alexander Hamilton
who had served as an aide to Washington since 1777.
On March 4 the British Parliament voted to consider as enemies
anyone who would advise offensive war in North America.
On July 4 Hamilton published “Arguments for Increasing the Power
of the Federal Government” in The Continentalist, examining the consequences
of not authorizing the federal government to regulate trade.
On July 31 Morris presented a budget to Congress, proposing
they borrow $4,000,000 and raise $5,000,000 by quotas.
That summer Congress adopted a seal depicting an eagle with its right talon holding
an olive branch and the left talon thirteen arrows on a blue field with thirteen stars.
A scroll in the eagle’s beak had the Latin words
“E pluribus unum,” which means “from many one.”
A few minor skirmishes occurred as the British still had 14,000 soldiers
in New York and about 10,000 troops in Charleston, Wilmington, and Savannah.
In the first half of 1782 General Anthony Wayne forced
the British troops in Georgia to retreat to Savannah.
On July 11 the regulars went from there to Charleston
while the Loyalists took refuge in Florida.
On December 14 the British fleet sailed from Charleston
with 4,000 Loyalists and 5,327 Africans.
Only about 160 free Africans went to New York, Nova Scotia, and England;
about 1,960 were taken to Jamaica and Saint Lucia
while 2,960 were shipped to East Florida to be sold.
During the War of Independence at least 8,000 American soldiers were killed in battle;
about 8,500 died from disease, and at least 8,500
of the 18,154 prisoners of war did not survive.
During the war Congress issued $241,552,780 in Continental currency.
Between 1775 and 1782 a smallpox epidemic took the lives of 130,000 people
in North America even though inoculations were used.
About 85,000 British soldiers fought in America,
and about 21,000 died, probably a large majority of those by disease.
About 1,200 German mercenaries were killed while 6,354 died of illness or other causes.
The British Royal Navy reported 1,243 killed in battle
while 18,541 died of disease, mostly from scurvy.
About 42,000 British sailors deserted out of 175,990 in the Royal Navy
which had 468 warships by the end of the war.
All together about 50,000 Loyalists emigrated to Canada, Europe, and the West Indies.
General Guy Carleton in New York refused to turn over 3,000 Africans
he considered free; they were allowed to emigrate to Canada.
Support for the war in the British Parliament gradually decreased
until finally on 27 February 1782 a motion to stop the war achieved a majority.
On March 20 Lord North admitted that his administration was finished.
One week later Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham,
became Prime Minister, and he agreed to American independence.
William Petty, the Earl of Shelburne, was elected to head
the home department which included America.
On April 4 he sent Guy Carleton to New York,
and he appointed Richard Oswald of Scotland as the
diplomat to meet with the American commissioners.
On April 19 the seven provinces of the Netherlands recognized
the United States and received their ambassador John Adams.
Carleton replaced General Henry Clinton in New York on May 5,
ended hostilities, and began sending soldiers home.
Oswald went to Paris to meet with Benjamin Franklin who explained
that Britain must treat with France as well as the United States.
John Jay had little success in Spain and came to Paris,
and Franklin decided to exclude Spain from the negotiations.
In July he proposed full reconciliation with Canada given to the United States
with war reparations and opening British ports to American ships.
The Foreign Secretary Charles James Fox sent young Thomas Grenville
to Paris as the British plenipotentiary to King Louis XVI.
After Rockingham’s death Shelburne became Prime Minister on July 4.
When Franklin became ill in August, Jay did the negotiating daily with Oswald.
Samuel Ely was an unpopular preacher from Somers, Connecticut
who fought against General Burgoyne’s army.
Concerned about the corruption of merchants, in 1782 Ely urged men to challenge
the supreme court in Hampshire County, and he was arrested and taken to Springfield.
The radical Joseph Hawley warned that veterans would defend debtors,
and in June some men led by Reuben Dickinson freed Ely from jail and
went north, pursued by the sheriff and 50 soldiers.
Ely escaped, but three hostages were taken.
The next day 600 men went to free the hostages, and they all agreed to turn in Ely
who was arrested in September and released for reconciliation in March 1783.
On 27 July 1782 Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to his friend Joseph Banks,
I join with you most cordially
in rejoicing at the return of Peace.
I hope it will be lasting, and that Mankind will at length,
as they call themselves reasonable Creatures,
have Reason and Sense enough
to settle their Differences without cutting Throats;
for, in my opinion,
there never was a good War, or a bad Peace.
What vast additions to the Conveniences
and Comforts of Living might Mankind have acquired,
if the Money spent in Wars
had been employed in Works of public utility!
What an extension of Agriculture,
even to the Tops of our Mountains;
what Rivers rendered navigable, or joined by Canals:
what Bridges, Aqueducts, new Roads,
and other public Works, Edifices, and Improvements,
rendering England a complete Paradise,
might have been obtained
by spending those Millions in doing good,
which in the last War have been spent in doing Mischief;
in bringing Misery into thousands of Families,
and destroying the Lives
of so many thousands of working people,
who might have performed the useful labour!10
Franklin argued that the British had forfeited their rights
to compensation for the Loyalists by their bad behavior.
John Jay suggested they allow the British free navigation
of the Mississippi, and this was accepted.
John Adams had secured the Netherlands’ recognition of American independence
in April and then arranged a substantial loan.
On October 8 he concluded a treaty of friendship and commerce
before returning to Paris where he helped define the northeast border.
The northwest border extended through the Great Lakes.
The British had to surrender all their posts on the Penobscot River,
in New York and Carolina, and at Niagara and Detroit.
United States territory would include land east of the Mississippi River and north of Florida.
Finally they agreed to give Americans equal rights
with the British to fish on the coast of Newfoundland.
They accepted the demand by Henry Laurens that the British be prohibited
from “carrying away any Negroes or other property of the inhabitants.”
Terms between Britain and France still needed agreement while on November 30
the preliminary peace treaty was signed by John Adams, John Jay,
and Benjamin Franklin for the United States and Richard Oswald for Britain.
The British and French agreed on peace on 20 January 1783,
and the British declared an end to hostilities on February 4.
The Marquis de Lafayette learned of it in Cadiz, Spain, and he found
a speedy French ship so that he could take the news to America.
Lafayette had lost his father, and he and George Washington,
who had only step-children, were close friends.
In a letter on February 5 Lafayette suggested that
Washington start freeing his slaves writing,
Now, my dear General, that you are going to enjoy
some ease and quiet, permit me to propose a plan to you,
which might become greatly beneficial
to the black part of mankind.
Let us unite in purchasing a small estate,
where we may try the experiment to free the negroes,
and use them only as tenants.
Such an example as yours
might render it a general practice;
and if we succeed in America,
I will cheerfully devote a part of my time
to render the method fashionable in the West Indies.
If it be a wild scheme, I had rather be mad this way,
than to be thought wise in the other task.11
On April 5 Washington wrote to Lafayette that his plan showed the benevolence
of his heart, and he said that he would discuss the business when he sees him.
Notes
1. Washington Writings, p. 373-377.
2. From George Washington to Lund Washington, 19 May 1780 (online)
3. Washington Writings, p. 378.
4. George Washington: A Biography in His Own Words ed. Ralph K. Andrist, p. 200-201.
5. Washington Writings, p. 406-407.
6. Ibid., p. 408-412.
7. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, p. 392.
8. History of the United States of America by George Bancroft, Volume 6, p. 425.
9. Washington Writings, p. 464.
10. Writings by Benjamin Franklin, p. 1073-1074.
11. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America
by Henry Wincek, p. 260.
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