Washington's Revolution: The Making of America's First Leader (57 page)

25.
Conference at Dobbs Ferry, July 19, 1781, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 22:396n1.

26.
Washington to de Grasse, July 21, 1781, ibid., 22:400–2.

27.
Washington to the Comte de Barras, Aug., 15, 1781, ibid., 22:499.

28.
Washington to Lafayette, Aug. 15, 1781, ibid., 22:501–2.

29.
Washington to de Grasse, Aug. 17, 1781, ibid., 23:8–9.

30.
Willcox,
Portrait
, 417–20; Jackson, ed.,
Diaries
, 3:413n2.

31.
Willcox,
Portrait
, 402.

32.
Washington to Rochambeau, Aug. 19, 1781, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:35–37, 82–83.

33.
Washington to Lafayette, Sept. 2, 1781, ibid., 23:76–77.

34.
Washington to Robert Morris, Aug. 17, 1781, ibid., 23:12, 89, 95; Baron Ludwig von Closen wrote in his journal that American troops from New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania at Head of Elk “did not wish to continue their march or embark unless they received part of their backpay.” When Rochambeau was told of this, he gave Washington fifty thousand livres. Evelyn M. Acomb, trans. and ed.,
The Revolutionary Journal of Baron Ludwig von Closen, 1780–1783
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1958).

35.
Jackson, ed.,
Diaries
, 3:419 and note 1.

36.
Washington to de Grasse, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:93 quotation. Flexner gives a short account of the supper, 2:448.

37.
Washington remarks briefly in his diary on his visit to de Grasse on the
Ville de Paris
off Cape Henry: “to my satisfaction except not obtaining an assurance of sending Ships above York and one that he could not continue his fleet on this Station longer than the first of November.” Jackson, ed.,
Diaries
, 3:420.

38.
Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:132–33. The story of Washington’s departure from the
Ville de Paris
is well told in Flexner, 2:449–50.

39.
Washington to de Grasse, Sept. 25, 1781, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 21:361, 333, 373, 376, 396, 397; 21:136–37. For de Grasse’s letter of Sept. 23 to Washington and the reply to it, Fitpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:136n21.

40.
For the quotations in the paragraph above, ibid., 23:137; for Washington’s letter of Sept. 27, 1781, to de Grasse, praising him for promising to remain in Virginia, 23:143.

11 YORKTOWN

1.
William B. Willcox,
Portrait of a General: Sir Henry Clinton in the War of Independence
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964), 386. An excellent account of Cornwallis and Guilford Courthouse is Franklin and Mary Wickwire,
Cornwallis: The American Adventure
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970), 274–310.

2.
Willcox,
Portrait
, 268–69.

3.
Ibid., 394 and note 8.

4.
Ibid., 392–408.

5.
Wickwire and Wickwire,
Cornwallis
, 354–64; Washington, General Orders, Sept. 30, 1781, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:153–54.

6.
Washington wrote accounts of the move of the Franco-American army to Yorktown from Williamsburg to Congress and general officers of the army. See Washington to Major General William Heath, Oct. 1, 1781, and to the President of Congress, Oct. 1, 1781, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:157, 158–59. See also Edward G. Lengel,
General George Washington: A Military Life
(New York: Random House, 2005), 337–38.

7.
Willcox,
Portrait
, 421–27. Wickwire and Wickwire,
Cornwallis
, 369-70.

8.
For a valuable description of Yorktown and its setting, see Evelyn M. Acomb, trans. and ed.,
The Revolutionary Journal of Baron Ludwig von Closen, 1780–1783
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1958), 140–41.

9.
Wickwire and Wickwire,
Cornwallis
, 369–70.

10.
Washington to Board of War, Sept. 28, 1781, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:151.

11.
General Orders, Sept. 29, 30, 1781, ibid., 23:153–54.

12.
“Regulations for the Service of the Siege,” ibid., 23:179–85.

13.
Ascomb, trans. and ed.,
von Closen
, 143–46.

14.
“Diary of Captain James Duncan,” in William H. Egle, ed.,
Pennsylvania Archives
, 2nd Ser. 15 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1890), 748.

15.
Acomb, trans. and ed.,
von Closen
, 146.

16.
General Orders, October 11, 1781, Fitpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:206–7; Court-martial held on Oct. 2, 1781, reported in these General Orders.

17.
Washington reported the opening of the first parallel to the President of Congress on Oct. 6 as the work began. Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:188.

18.
Washington also kept de Grasse informed about the siege, writing him Oct. 11 and 16 of the opening of the second parallel and other progress. Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:209.

19.
There are several accounts of the assaults on the redoubts. Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:227–28 to the President of Congress and de Grasse. See also Acomb, trans. and ed.,
von Closen
, 148–49, and Hamilton to Lafayette, Oct. 15, 1781, Harold C. Syrett, ed.,
Papers of Alexander Hamilton
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1961–1979, 26 vols.), 2:679-80. An old and excellent account by Henry B. Carrington,
Battles of the American Revolution
(New York: n.p., 1876), is reprinted in Syrett, ed.,
Papers of Alexander Hamilton
, with Hamilton’s letter.

20.
Washington wrote Greene of the British attack in response to the raids of Oct. 14. See his letter of Oct. 16, 1781, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:231.

21.
On the negotiations for surrender of Cornwallis’s army, see Washington to Cornwallis, Oct. 17 and 18, 1781, and to the President of Congress, Oct. 19, 1781, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:236–38, 242. See also Acomb, trans. and ed.,
von Closen
, 152–53; Wickwire and Wickwire,
Cornwallis
, 384–86; and Freeman, 5:378–91.

22.
The ceremony has been described many times. Washington’s note in his diary is less than a page. See Jackson, ed.,
Diaries
, 430–31, and editor’s account, 432n1.

23.
North’s despairing exclamation has been widely noted. See Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy,
The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2013), 3.

12 THE WAR’S END

1.
Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:284–85. Washington states his hopes for future actions against the British before he lays on the praise in these quotations.

2.
Washington to de Grasse, Oct. 20, 1781, and de Grasse’s reply of Oct. 23, 1781, ibid., 23:249, 250n59. Washington wrote again, Oct. 28, 1781, recommending operations against New York the following summer, ibid., 23:284–85, 286–87.

3.
Even Ron Chernow, in his
Washington: A Life
(New York: Penguin, 2010), seems to suggest Washington may have had settling old scores in mind. Chernow’s discussion of the New York “campaign” is far more subtle and thorough than this phrase hints.

4.
It is only fair to say that most writers—military historians and biographers—believe that Washington was mistaken in his emphasis on taking New York.

5.
Admiral Howe is a special case—his “failure” was as a commissioner charged with persuading the Americans to remain in the empire. Ira Gruber’s fine biography
of Howe and his brother William gives a full account of his American experience. See
The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution
(New York: Athaneum, 1972).

6.
Washington to Horatio Gates, Nov. 1, 1781, Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:315–16 quotations.

7.
Washington to William Ramsey, John Fitzgerald … and Other Inhabitants of Alexandria, Nov. 19, 1781, ibid., 23:355–56; Washington to General Assembly of Maryland, Nov. 23, 1781, 23:358–59.

8.
For Robert Morris, see Clarence L. Ver Steeg,
Robert Morris: Revolutionary Financier
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1954) and E. James Ferguson,
The Power of the Purse: A History of American Public Finance, 1776–1790
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961).

9.
Washington wrote Lafayette Nov. 15, 1781, that if de Grasse, who had departed, could have stayed two months longer, “the allies could have achieved the total extirpation of the British force in the Carolinas and Georgia.” Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 23:341.

10.
Memorandum, Newburgh, May 1, 1782, ibid., 24:194–215. For the numerical estimates, 24:195.

11.
Though Carleton’s tone in his communications with Washington was different, Washington noted in a letter to Nathanael Greene that the “terms of conciliation that Carleton brings resembles those of 1780.” Ibid., 24:276.

12.
William Fowler Jr.,
American Crisis: George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years After Yorktown, 1781–1783
(New York: Walker & Co., 2011), 48–52. John Brooke,
King George III
(New York: McGraw Hill, 1972), 219–22.

13.
Jonathan R. Dull,
A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985), 137–63. See also Leonard W. Labaree et al., eds.,
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1959–, 40 vols. to date), 38:263–75, 382–88.

14.
Articles of Confederation, Article 8. Fowler,
American Crisis
, 138–39.

15.
See Washington to Joseph Jones, Dec. 14, 1782, in which he warns Jones of a letter from line officers stationed along the Hudson who express their grievances. Washington notes their hardships. Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 25:289.

16.
Washington to Secretary at War, Benjamin Lincoln, Aug. 21, 1782, ibid., 25:50. See also letter of Oct. 2, 1782, 27:226–29.

17.
Jack N. Rakove,
The Beginnings of National Politics
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), 337–42.

18.
Robert Morris is probably the least well known of this group. He was made superintendent of finance on June 27, 1781. The son of an English merchant who lived in Maryland, he was authorized to use five million dollars from French and Dutch loans and smaller sums from Pennsylvania. He persuaded Congress to charter the Bank of the United States in 1781. He was wealthy, having made money through his firm, Willing and Morris. He voted against the Declaration of Independence, but signed it.

19.
Hamilton to Washington, Feb. 13, 1783, Harold C. Syrett, ed.,
Papers of Alexander Hamilton
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1961–1979, 26 vols.), 3:253–54. Washington to Colonel Lewis Nicola, May 22, 1783, in answer to a document sent by Nicola in which he proposed that Washington should be given—or take—powers of government that only a monarch or dictator could
exercise. Washington replied in “great surprise and astonishment” and, after declaring his abhorrence of the proposal, forbade any repetition of it. Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 24:272–73.

20.
Washington to Hamilton, Mar. 4, 1783, Syrett, ed.,
Papers of Alexander Hamilton
, 3:277–79.

21.
Ibid., 3:277.

22.
Ibid., 3:286–88 and notes 1–9. For a solid account of the Newburgh affair, see Richard H. Kohn,
Eagle and Sword: The Federalists and the Creation of the Military Establishment in America, 1783–1802
(New York: Free Press, 1975), 17–39, and Fowler,
American Crisis
, 174–88.

23.
Washington’s thoughts in the crisis, as well as his actions at the critical moments of the affair, can best be followed in his letters to Joseph Jones of Mar. 12, 1783; to the President of Congress, Mar. 12, 1783; to Hamilton, Mar. 12, 1783; and to Benjamin Harrison, Mar. 19, 1783; and in his speech of Mar. 15, 1783; ibid., 26:213–16, 229–32, 216–17, 239–41.

24.
The complete address to the officers, Mar. 15, 1783, is in Fitzpatrick, ed.,
Writings
, 26:222–27. All quotations are from his speech. The report on Mar. 18 in the speech by Major J. A. Wright that Washington appeared “sensibly agitated” when he began is in ibid., 26:229–32n40. There are other letters in Syrett, ed.,
Papers of Alexander Hamilton
, vols. 2 and 3, that are helpful.