Read Washington's General Online
Authors: Terry Golway
  35    One prominent Rhode Islander: Lovejoy,
Rhode Island Politics and the American Revolution,
158.
“I am . . . informed”: Simister,
The Fire's Center, 43.
“I do not receive instructions”: Ibid., 44.
  36    “I am the sheriff”: Langguth,
Patriots,
167.
One of the raiders: Greene,
Life,
1:34.
“I have long feared”: Langguth,
Patriots,
169.
In the meantime: Bancroft Collection, documents relative to Rhode Island, NYPL.
  37    “I was surrounded”:
PNG,
1:38-43.
“If Coventry ever was tolerable”: Ibid., 1:44-46.
  38    The royal commission: Eyewitness accounts of the burning of the
Gaspee
are compiled in Bartlett,
Records of the Colony of Rhode Island
, 7:68-77 and 182-85.
“I should be tempted”:
PNG
, 1:51-53.
He told Sammy Ward: Ibid.
  39    The minister's talk:
PNG,
1:61.
“Priests and Levites”: Ibid., 1:57-58.
The official record: Friends' minutes, 1751-1806, RIHS.
  40    In two letters:
PNG,
1:26-28; 51-53.
  41    John Sherwood: Kimball,
The Correspondence of the Colonial Governors of Rhode Island,
2:438.
In keeping with custom: Bancroft Collection, documents relative to Rhode Island, NYPL.
A correspondent:
Newport Mercury
, Mar. 21,1774.
  42    Britain's political leaders:
PNG
, 1:64-65.
One observer described her: Stegeman and Stegeman,
Caty
, 10.
  43    The ceremony was small:
PNG
, 1:64.
  44    Greene's was among eighty signatures: Ibid., 1:67-68.
Tradition has it: This story is told in nineteenth-century biographies by William Johnson and George Washington Greene, with no firsthand evidence.
With their red coats: Kentish Guard Papers, RIHS.
  45    He immediately wrote:
PNG,
1:75-76.
  46    The bloodshed: Ibid., 1:79fn. Greene's commission: Ibid., 1:78-79.
An Uncommon Degree of Zeal
  48    They heard: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
92.
After news of the skirmishes: Ketchum,
The Winter Soldiers,
49.
  49    “The rebels”: Harvey,
A Few Bloody Noses
, 160.
  50    Greene told Thomas:
PNG,
1:80.
  51    Murray was accused: Ibid., 2:96.
In his orders: Ibid., 1:84. A soldier from Connecticut: Ibid., 1:85.
  52    His superiors testified: Greene,
Life,
1:92.
  52    “Let us in”: Chidsey,
The Siege of Boston,
64.
Appropriating money:
PNG,
1:82.
He would have been happy: Ibid., 1:82-83.
  53    He found that many captains: Ibid., 1:85.
  54    “My task is hard”: Ibid., 1:93. Despite the discipline: Ibid. While the Rhode Islanders remained: Ibid., 1:94.
While most of the troops: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
153.
Other American generals:
PNG
, 1:93.
In a letter to Jacob: Ibid.
  55    A shocked Howe wrote: Wright Jr.,
The Continental Army
, 20.
He dispatched an urgent message:
PNG,
1:86.
  56    To his brother Jacob: Ibid., 1:92.
  58    “I hope we shall be taught”: Ibid., 1:99.
  59    “Familiarity between the officers and men”: Washington to Congress, Sept. 22,1775, PGW.
A disgusted Greene:
PNG,
1:95.
  60    In a far too candid letter: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
161.
  60    The southerners were themselves puzzled: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
71.
Washington “had not had time”:
PNG
, 1:163-65.
  61    “His Excellency”: Ibid., 1:135.
  62    True, Adams wrote: Langguth,
Patriots,
309.
“Our troops are now very sickly”:
PNG,
1:105-6.
“Void [their] Exerment”: Ibid., 1:108.
  63    “Provisions bad”: Ibid., 1:105-6.
“The fears and apprehensions”: Ibid., 1:111-12.
  64    “The Author is found”: Ibid., 1:127.
  65    “So far as regards the Preservation of the Army from cold”: Washington to Congress, Sept. 21, 1775, PGW.
  66    Then, Greene would contend:
PNG,
1:194.
  67    Henry Knox: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene
, 67.
In October 1775:
PNG,
1:140.
  68    “I would make it Treason”: Ibid., 1:140-41.
“This is no time”: Ibid., 1:171.
  68    He urged Ward and Congress: Ibid., 1:177.
  69    Of Franklin, Greene wrote: Ibid., 1:135-36.
  70    “I fear the Colony”: Ibid., 1:160.
He told his brother Jacob: Ibid., 1:158.
  71    If they did: Moses Brown's diary, RIHS; also published in
Rhode Island History
, vol. 15, no. 4, October 1956.
“Our suffering”:
PNG
, 1:173.
Only now were the Americans learning: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
253-54.
  72    “We never have been so weak”:
PNG
, 1:174.
His general orders: General orders, Jan. 1, 1776, PGW.
  73    “We have just experienced”:
PNG
, 1:178.
“It is no time”: Ibid.
  74    “[Playing cards] brings on a Habit of Drinking”: Ibid., 1:180.
“I am as yellow as saffron”: Ibid., 1:193.
  76    “draw Beer for the Troops”: Ibid., 1:208.
The Dark Part of Night
  77    New York, he wrote:
PNG,
1:177.
  78    “If any should be base enough”: Ibid., 1:205.
He forbade his soldiers: Ibid.
  79    Greene dutifully dispatched word to his troops: Ibid., 1:206.
Greene's troops: Ibid., 1:208.
  80    Even if the British: Lee to Washington, Feb. 19, 1776, Lee,
Papers of Charles Lee
, 1:308-10.
After all, he noted: Lee to Washington, Mar. 3, 1776, ibid., 1:343-44.
  81    They should do so “softly”:
PNG
, 1:220.
Local residents complained: Ibid., 1:212.
“Complaints Having Been made”: Ibid., 1:215.
Greene was not one: Ibid., 1:212.
  82    Knox condemned: Scheer and Rankin,
Rebels and Redcoats
, 143.
“Tis nobly done”:
PNG,
1:213.
  84    Henry Knox told Lucy: Stegeman and Stegeman,
Caty
, 34.
  85    Greene said that Adams's policy:
PNG
, 1:225.
Adams replied: Ibid., 1:239.
“As I have no desire”: Ibid., 1:216.
At one point, Greene accused Adams, and Congress: Ibid., 1:256.
  86    “I spied”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution
, 95.
  87    “Vegetables . . . would be much more wholesome”:
PNG
, 1:252.
“all Filth”: Ibid., 1:267-68.
Washington said he hoped: Freeman,
George Washington
, 4:133.
  88    He told Adams:
PNG
, 1:255-56.
“[It] is impossible”: Ibid., 1:263.
  89    Greene's complaints: Ibid., 1:264.
Still, the British waited: Langguth,
Patriots, 377.
“The fair nymphs”: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six
, 413-14.
  90    “Great humanity should be exercised”:
PNG
, 1:283.
They would soon “feel my Resentment”: Ibid., 1:287-88.
Soon after writing to Washington: Ibid., 1:288.
Within two days: Livingston to Washington, Aug. 17, 1776, PGW.
  91    Greene sought to reassure his commander: Blodget to Washington, Aug. 18, 1776, ibid.
  92    “Gracious God!”:
PNG,
1:291-92.
  92    “I give it”: Ibid., 1:294-96.
  93    “This in my judgment”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution
, 119.
  94    Their performance so embarrassed Washington:
PNG
, 1:300.
  95    As Greene noted: Ibid.
  96    Washington's secretary wrote: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
112.
“Providence, or some good honest fellow”: Langguth,
Patriots
, 397.
“I apprehend the several retreats”:
PNG,
1:303-4.
“The policy of Congress”: Ibid.
  97    There was, he wrote, “a great change”: Tretler, “The Making of a Revolutionary,” 249.
“exhibit a Spectacle”:
PNG,
1:311-12.
  98    “Here is a gentleman”: Dann,
The Revolution Remembered
, 118-19.
100Â Â Â Â Although he had told Greene:
PNG
, 1:339-40.
“If we cannot prevent vessels passing up”: Ibid., 1:342-43.
“I cannot conceive”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution
, 147.
100Â Â Â Â Still, Washington hesitated: Scheer and Rankin,
Rebels and Redcoats
, 200.
Lee boldly asserted:
PNG
, 1:341.
“I cannot help”: Lee to Reed, Nov. 16, 1776, Lee,
Papers of Charles Lee
, 2:283-84.
101Â Â Â Â They found themselves:
PNG,
1:352.
102Â Â Â Â In it, he did not spare Greene: Washington to Congress, Nov. 16, 1776, PGW.
“Oh, General”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution
, 152.
103Â Â Â Â He claimed that other officers accused Greene: Lee to Washington, Nov. 19, 1776, Lee,
Papers of Charles Lee
, 2:286-88.
“I feel mad”:
PNG,
1:321-22.
“what is said”: Ibid.
104Â Â Â Â Washington later estimated: Washington to Congress, Nov. 19,1776, PGW.
105Â Â Â Â “We retreated to Hackensack”:
PNG,
1:362.
“Our people”: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
496-97.
the American army “is broken”: Ibid.
“Entre nous”: Langguth,
Patriots,
404
106Â Â Â Â “These are the times”: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
505.
106Â Â Â Â “Fortune seems to frown”:
PNG,
1:368-69.
a painting of a rising sun: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
131. The anecdote is not verified by any firsthand testimony.
Victory or Death
108Â Â Â Â “I hope to give the Enimy”:
PNG,
1:375.
109Â Â Â Â he noted with “satisfaction”: Ibid., 1:376.
The general, Greene told Caty: Ibid., 1:368.
Showing off his self-taught erudition: Ibid., 1:372.
110Â Â Â Â “one of the severest” storms: Ibid., 2:4.
112Â Â Â Â “This is an important period”: Ibid., 1:377.
113Â Â Â Â “Should we get possession of the Jerseys”: Ibid.
One soldier recalled: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
519.
“My brave fellows”: Ibid.
“God Almighty”:
PNG,
2:4.
114Â Â Â Â “This is the greatest evidence”: Ibid.
“[We] have great reason”: Ibid., 2:3.
115 “Push on, boys”: Greene,
Life,
1:298.
115Â Â Â Â “It appeared to me”: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
148.
116Â Â Â Â “This line of conduct”:
PNG,
1:374-75.
“The day ... is our own”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution,
185.
117Â Â Â Â “Great credit is due”:
PNG,
2:3-4.
“The achievements of Washington and his little band”: Leckie,
George Washington's War,
333.
118Â Â Â Â “I am exceeding happy”:
PNG,
2:7.
He was installed in the home: Greene,
Life,
1:306.
“I am unhappy”:
PNG,
2:6-7.
119Â Â Â Â Furious civilians: Ibid., 2:4-5.
There, he told Washington: Ibid., 2:24-25.
120Â Â Â Â In mid-February: Ibid., 2:26-27.
A loyalist judge: Scheer and Rankin,
Rebels and Redcoats,
222.
“This ... is the State of the War”:
PNG,
2:56-57.
According to a letter: Craig to Wayne, Feb. 16, 1777, Bancroft Collection, Wayne Papers, NYPL.
121Â Â Â Â “not so much for the annoyance of the Enemy”:
PNG,
2:56-57.
121Â Â Â Â Congress passed a resolution: Greene,
Life,
1:336.
“Could I accomplish”: Ibid., 1:337.
“There is not a state”:
PNG,
2:10.
122Â Â Â Â “I am sensible”: Ibid., 2:29.
In his reply: Ibid., 2:37.
Greene told Adams: Ibid., 2:31.
123Â Â Â Â Adams countered: Ibid., 2:40.
Washington explained to Congress: Greene,
Life,
1:338-39.
Washington told him:
PNG,
2:44-45.
“There is so much deliberation”: Ibid., 2:46-48.
124Â Â Â Â Several weeks later: Ibid., 2:87-88.
He was alarmed to find them “insufficient”: Ibid.
When he returned: Ibid., 2:50.
He felt duty-bound: Ibid., 2:54-55.
125Â Â Â Â “It is to be regretted”: Ibid., 2:59-60.