Washington's Revolution: The Making of America's First Leader (54 page)

28.
Ibid., 2:29.

29.
The best way to understand the attitudes and policies of Congress is to read the letters of delegates in Paul H. Smith et al., eds.,
Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789
(Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976–2000, 26 vols.). See also Jack N. Rakove,
The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress
(New York: Random House, 1979).

30.
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 2:71–72. See also L. H. Butterfield, ed.,
Diary and Autobiography of John Adams
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1961, 4 vols.), 2:117 (on Lynch); 120 (on Harrison).

31.
For the “Proceedings of the Committee of Conference,” see
PGW: Rev. War. Ser.
, 2:185–203; and Leonard W. Labaree et al., eds.,
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1959–, 41 vols. to date), 22:225–41. Franklin wrote Richard Bache on Oct. 24, “Here is a fine healthy Army, wanting nothing but some Improvement in its Officers, which is daily making,” 22:242. The letters of Christopher French on Sept. 18, Oct. 9, and Nov. 13, 1775,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 2:9–10, 130–32, 362–63, provided the moment of humor mentioned in the paragraph above.

32.
Washington to Brigadier General Joseph Spencer, Sept. 26, 1775,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 2:55–56 for “subordination” and “discipline.”

33.
Lynch’s letter and quotations, ibid., 2:366–67, for this paragraph and the one above.

34.
For the Articles of War, see
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 1:44–46n3 and passim. The Articles in full appear in Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds.,
Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1779
(Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1904–37), 2:90, 111–23.

35.
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 2:235–36 quotations.

36.
Ibid., 2:236 quotation.

37.
Ibid., 2:247, 261, 268–70.

38.
Washington to Joseph Reed, Jan. 14, 1776; to Nicholas Cooke, Jan. 16. 1776; and Council of War, Feb. 16, 1776; ibid., 3:87–89, 104–5, 320–22.

39.
Washington to John Hancock, Feb. 9, 1776, ibid., 3:274–77; quotation 274. The opinions of Washington’s generals were expressed in “Council of War, 16 Feb. 1776.” See ibid., 3:320–24.

40.
Ibid., 3:335, 336 for both quotations.

41.
Washington to Reed, Jan. 14, Feb. 10, and Feb. 26, 1776, ibid., 3:90, 288–89, 370, quotations. The letters in full, ibid., 3:87–91, 286–90, 369–76.

42.
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 3:370 quotation.

43.
Christopher Ward,
War of the Revolution
(New York: Macmillan, 1952, 2 vols.), 1:117–26 offers a helpful review of the run-up to the end of the siege.

44.
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 3:372.

45.
Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:126–27.

46.
For this paragraph and the five above it, see ibid. and
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 3:369–76, Washington’s account of Feb. 26–Mar. 9, 1776, to Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. His General Orders, Feb. 27, 1776, ibid., 3:379–80, are also informative.

47.
Washington notified President John Hancock of the sailing of the British fleet on Mar. 27, 1776. Ibid., 3:548–49.

5 NEW YORK

1.
William H. Guthman, ed.,
The Correspondence of Captain Nathan and Lois Peters, April 25, 1775–February 5, 1777
(Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1980), 36.

2.
Washington to Joseph Reed, Apr. 1, 1776, and to Charles Lee, May 9, 1776, quotations,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 4:10 (on Frye), 4:245 (on Ward).

3.
The bitterness in Washington’s comments on Frye and Ward was unusual; he ordinarily displayed a great deal of patience in his assessments of his generals.

4.
For Charles Lee, see John Shy’s essay in George Anthan Billias, ed.,
George Washington’s Generals and Opponents: Their Exploits and Leadership
(New York: De Capo Press, 1994, 2 vols.), 1:22–53.

5.
For Washington’s first plans for Arnold’s Canadian campaign, see Washington to Schuyler, Aug. 20, 1775,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 1:332, 333n6, and 406.

6.
Pauline Maier,
American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), 155–56.

7.
Ira Gruber,
The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution
(New York: Norton, 1972), 91–105.

8.
Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris, eds.,
The Spirit of ’Seventy Six: The Story of the American Revolution as Told by Participants
(New York: Harper and Row, 1975), 132, 134.

9.
Christopher Ward,
War of the Revolution
(New York: Macmillan, 1952, 2 vols.), 1:211–12.

10.
Ibid., 1:212–13.

11.
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 6:126–27.

12.
Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:216–18.

13.
Freeman, 4:153–75; Robert Harrison to John Hancock, Aug. 27, 1776,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 6:140–44, 155–56; Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:225–26.

14.
Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:231–32.

15.
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 6:153–54.

16.
Washington to John Hancock, Sept. 2, 1776, ibid., 6:199–201, quotation 199.

17.
Ibid., 6:199.

18.
Ibid., 6:394, 396 quotations. The entire letter reveals Washington’s convictions about militia and ordinary enlisted men as clearly as anything he ever wrote. He makes a powerful argument for a standing army. See 6:393–400.

19.
Ibid., 6:396.

20.
Ibid., 6:398–400 and note 2 on 400–1.

21.
See General Orders, Sept. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, ibid., 6:204–5, 212–13, 221, 229, 244, 277, for Washington’s concern about plundering and unit discipline.

22.
Washington to John Hancock, Sept. 16, 1776, ibid., 6:313. Quotation appears in Washington’s account of the British landing at Kips Bay. See also the notes to the letter and quotations from other sources there.

23.
Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:238–45.

24.
Ibid., 1:246–52. See Allen French, ed.,
Diary of Frederick Mackenzie: Giving a Daily Narrative of His Military Service …
 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1930, 2 vols.), 1:47–48.

25.
Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:253–59; Robert Harrison to John Hancock, Oct. 20, 1776,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 6:592–94.

26.
Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:260–66, for this paragraph and the one preceding.

27.
Washington to Nathanael Greene, Nov. 8, 1776,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 7:116; the whole letter, 7:115–17, is valuable for discovering Washington’s thought. General Nathanael Greene’s correspondence with Col. Magaw sheds some light on the loss of the fort. Richard Showman, ed.,
The Papers of Nathanael Greene
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1976–2005, 12 vols.).

28.
Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:267–74;
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 7:162–69 and notes 1–9. Greene’s biographer, Terry Golway, in his
Washington’s General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution
(New York: Henry Holt, 2005), 102, writes that the defeat “was, to a large extent, Nathanael Greene’s fault.”

29.
Washington’s retreat to Trenton, where he crossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania, can be followed in his and others’ letters,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 7:193–275, and in Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:275–90.

30.
Charles Lee to Washington, Nov. 19, 1776,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 7:187.

31.
Lee to Washington, Nov. 30, 1776, ibid., 7:235.

32.
Washington to Joseph Reed, Nov. 30, 1776, ibid., 7:237n1.

33.
Ibid., 7:238n1, a continuation of Reed’s letter found in note 1.

34.
George Washington to Samuel Washington, Dec. 18, 1776, ibid., 7:370–71.

35.
Ward,
War of the Revolution
, 1:285–90.

36.
George Washington to Samuel Washington, Dec. 18, 1776,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 7:369–72.

37.
David Hackett Fischer,
Washington’s Crossing
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 182–203, an especially astute account.

38.
Ibid., 206–33.

39.
Ibid., 234–345.

6 THE PHILADELPHIA CAMPAIGN

1.
Robert J. Taylor, ed.,
Papers of John Adams
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963–, 17 vols. to date), 5:95.

2.
Marcus Cunliffe,
George Washington: Man and Monument
(New York: Little, Brown, 1958), 81–82.

3.
Bartholomew Dandridge to Washington, Jan. 16, 1777,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 8:79–80 quotations.

4.
Washington to Jonathan Trumbull Sr., Jan. 10, 1777; to Philip Schuyler, Jan. 18, 1777; to John Parke Custis, Jan. 22, 1777; ibid., 8:38, 99, 123 quotations.

5.
Joseph Reed to Washington, Dec. 22, 1776, ibid., 7:414–16.

6.
Washington to Jonathan Trumbull Sr., Dec. 12, 1776; to John Hancock, Dec. 13, 1776; ibid., 7:321–22, 324–25.

7.
Washington to John Hancock, Jan. 22, 1777, ibid., 8:125–26; David Hackett Fischer,
Washington’s Crossing
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 346–62.

8.
For an example of Washington’s willingness to add certain benefits for service in both regular and militia units, see
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 8:57 and note 1.

9.
Washington also advised recruiters (always officers) to pay only a part of a bonus promised to new soldiers, with the remaining part withheld until the recruit was in camp.

10.
For the new regiments authorized by Congress in December 1776, see
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 8:39n; for recruiting instructions with information on inducements, Jan. 12[–27], 1777, see 8:44–45.

11.
Ibid., 8:44 (“free from Lameness or other bodily Infirmity”). For the complete instructions, 8:44–45n2.

12.
This paragraph and the one immediately above: for quotations, Samuel Webb to Washington (“over & above”), Jan. 22, 1777, ibid., 8:132; Washington to Jonathan Trumbull Sr. (“most extravagantly”), Mar. 3, 1777, 8:505; William Heath to Washington (“Uneasy”), Mar. 16, 1777, 8:587.

13.
Washington to William Shippen Jr., Jan. 28, 1777; to Horatio Gates, Feb. 5–6, 1777; to Nicholas Cooke, Feb. 10, 1777, ibid., 8:174, 248, 296–97, passim. See also Elizabeth A. Fenn,
Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775–82
(New York: Hill and Wang, 2001).

14.
The complications and problems of recruiting are revealed in many of the letters to and from Washington. See, e.g., Washington to Mass. Council, Feb. 1, 1777; to Jonathan Trumbull Sr., Feb. 1, 1777; to Henry Knox, Feb. 11, 1777,
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 8:218–19, 220–21, 307–8.

15.
Washington to William Livingston, Apr. 1, 1777; to Nicholas Cooke, Apr. 3,
1777; to John Hancock, Apr. 12, 1777; Brig. Gen. Samuel H. Parsons to Washington, Apr. 15, 1777, ibid., 9:40–43, 52–53, 128–29 (especially important), 172–75. Washington to Continental Congress Committee … State of the Army, July 19, 1777, 10:332–36.

16.
On the creation of departments, Robert K. Wright Jr.,
The Continental Army
(Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1983), 26, 29–32, 36; Taylor, ed.,
Papers of John Adams
, 3:100.

17.
Washington to William Heath, Apr. 10, 1777; Samuel H. Parsons to Washington, Feb. 23, 1777;
PGW: Rev. War Ser.
, 9:116–17, 8:430-431 and note 1.

18.
Ibid., 7:404n3

19.
These conclusions are based on many letters of the leaders and the books by Willcox, Mackesy, Ward, and Gruber cited in these notes.

20.
Ira D. Gruber,
The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution
(New York: Atheneum, 1972), 193.