LIBRARY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 PAVIS 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES 
 OF WASHINGTON 
 
 SCHROEDER-LOSSING 
 
 REVISED, ENLARGED, AND 
 ENRICHED: AND WITH A 
 SPECIAL INTRODUCTION 
 BY EDWARD C. TOWNE, B. A. 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 ALBANY .'. /. /. .'. .'. NEW YORK 
 
 M. M. BELCHER PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 i 903 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1903, 
 
 BY M. M. BELCHER PUBLISHING CO. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE plan of the present work, in the revised and 
 enlarged form now offered to the public, is that 
 of an attempt to adequately bring out all the 
 facts bearing upon the origin of the United States 
 of America within the period covered by the active 
 career of Washington; and with this to show, in the 
 clearest light possible, the character, conduct, services, 
 and political ideals of Washington ; his youth and educa 
 tion; his activity and development from sixteen to nine 
 teen years of age; his immediate entrance upon public 
 service and attainment of distinction; his important mili 
 tary position and experience while yet a very young man ; 
 his remarkable eminence and services as a Colonial soldier 
 in Virginia, then the foremost of the American colonies ; 
 his fearless recognition of the issues of liberty under the 
 oppressive attempts of the ministers of the British King ; 
 his leadership in the Virginia demonstrations of protest 
 preparatory to revolution ; his position as the first soldier 
 of the Continent in the earliest Congress of the Colonies ; 
 his unanimous recognition by the Congress as before all 
 others in military and political weight, and his appointment 
 as American Commander-in-Chief ; his conduct of the Rev 
 olution, both in military service of the highest character 
 and in constant sagacious counsel and effective influence, 
 accomplishing more than all others together in the main 
 tenance and direction of an otherwise hopeless cause ; the 
 supreme significance and weight of his thought in the 
 
 iii 
 
iy PREFACE. 
 
 making of the Constitution and the bringing together 
 under it of Colonies not yet educated to faith in a Union ; 
 and the final service and climax of his unsurpassed career 
 in two Presidencies, based on principles of National out 
 look and union prophetic of the rise of the United States 
 to the highest rank of world power. 
 
 The " Lives of Washington " thus far available for the 
 interest and instruction of the public have in important 
 respects come a good deal short of telling, sufficiently and 
 correctly, all parts of the great story of Washington, and 
 still more have they failed to apply adequate discrimina 
 tion to the manifestations in Washington of intellectual 
 genius, and noble character, of the very highest type. In 
 the case even of Irving's interesting and valuable " Life," 
 the literary felicity and general spirit with which the work 
 was executed left something to be desired in the method 
 and scope of the narrative; and for the matter which is 
 throughout of highest interest, Washington's complex and 
 unsurpassed character, his greatness intellectually, and 
 as a soldier and statesman, Irving's study in this direction 
 was less full and thorough than so great a theme seems 
 now to require, in view of the course of popular discus 
 sion from 1889 to the present time. The Schroeder- 
 Lossing " Life and Times," of which the present work is 
 an expansion and revision, was of special value because of 
 its large scope, and still more from its constant attention 
 to just appreciation of Washington's very exceptional 
 character, and the greatness everywhere implied in the 
 true story of his career. 
 
 Several recent works have aimed, more or less openly, 
 to apply a method of detraction to the character of Wash 
 ington, and to reduce his greatness to the common level, 
 upon the theory that we gain a man while we lose a hero. 
 The utterances brought out by the Centennial celebrations 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 which culminated in that of 1889 at New York were 
 almost universally at the level of exceedingly deficient 
 knowledge and profoundly unfortunate misapprehension, 
 even on the part of men of high representative position 
 and character. An edition of the writings of Washington 
 under the editorship of Mr. W. C. Ford, begun in 1888, 
 was executed on lines deliberately and avowedly intended 
 to bring Washington down from his high historic pedestal ; 
 and in sequel to this Mr. Ford's brother undertook a 
 popular volume, designed to reduce Washington from the 
 heroic, almost godlike level, to that of a common his 
 torical character. To go back to the Schroeder-Lossing 
 narrative is in itself to most effectively expose at once 
 the singular ignorance and the inexplicable wrong 
 of any " True George Washington " story, or study of 
 character, which fails to carry to the greatest monumental 
 height appreciation of the unparalleled man which Wash 
 ington was, and the unapproachable services which he 
 rendered as soldier and statesman, to America and to 
 mankind. 
 
 The thorough revision under which the work is now 
 given an expanded form, to make a complete text-book 
 of knowledge not less important than intensely interesting, 
 has aimed to strengthen the proof that the worship almost 
 by the fathers of Washington was but simple justice, and 
 that lapse of time but casts new light on the colossal and 
 splendid figure which Washington must ever be in the 
 history truly told. 
 
 It has been particularly sought to make as perfect as 
 possible from our latest knowledge the panorama of 
 events and of contemporary characters, which make the 
 times and the scenes of the career of Washington forever 
 unique in interest and instruction. There are characters 
 in the great story who had their meed of praise locally 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 and for the time, and the tradition of whose fame still 
 commands the popular ear, in disregard to some extent 
 of the issues of the history and the final verdict of truth 
 and justice; while on other characters, and before all on 
 Washington himself, in the various stages of his activity 
 and the various aspects of his character, has not yet fallen 
 the full light of exact knowledge and critical discrimina 
 tion. The current story of Washington's education, his 
 attention to surveying, and his military service in Virginia 
 during several eventful years, has either been wrongly 
 told or has not been told at all. An adequate, as well as 
 accurate, account of Washington as a youth, from his 
 father's death to his earliest military employment, and as 
 a character of distinction and a military commander for 
 the seven years preceding his marriage, is given for the 
 first time in the following pages, in the passages added by 
 the present writer. 
 
 And not the least important of the aims of the work as 
 now offered to the public, is that of presenting the facts 
 in such a light of equal justice to the contrasted forms 
 of culture and civilization, of society and political order, 
 peculiar on the one hand to New England and the North, 
 and on the other to Virginia and the South, as to promote 
 a clear understanding of all the issues of early American 
 history, through which have been reached the develop 
 ments of the Twentieth Century that "great empire, 
 . . . stupendous fabric of freedom and empire, . . . 
 an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and re 
 ligions" whereof Virginia's incomparable son, and he alone, 
 had clear vision. 
 
 EDWARD C. TOWNE. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PART 1. 
 
 Washington's Ancestors and Boyhood. 
 1657-1751. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE. 
 
 I. His Birth and Ancestors I 
 
 II. Early Days of Washington 15 
 
 III. Incidents of His Youth 52 
 
 IV. His Voyage to Barbadoes 89 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Washington's Military Appointments. 
 1751-1758. 
 
 I. Washington a Maj or 97 
 
 II. Washington's First Battle 174 
 
 III. Washington's Capitulation of Fort Necessity 182 
 
 IV. Defense of the Colonies 202 
 
 V. Washington at the Battle of the Monongahela 214 
 
 VI. Washington the Virginia Commander-in-Chief 250 
 
 VII. Campaign of 1758 - Washington's Marriage 391 
 
 [vii] 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 Washington During the Opening Scenes of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 1759-1775. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE. 
 
 I. Washington in Retirement Campaign of 1759 451 
 
 II. Life at Mount Vernon 470 
 
 III. Causes of the Revolution 487 
 
 IV. The Revolutionary Storm Increasing 521 
 
 V.Washington's Plan of Association 541 
 
 VI. Discontents Producing Violence and Bloodshed 563 
 
 VII. Washington Visits the Western Country 569 
 
 VIII. Political Union of the Colonies 584 
 
 IX. Washington a Politician 599 
 
 X. Washington a Member of the Continental Congress 649 
 
 XL Washington a Member of the Virginia Convention.... 678 
 
 XII. Partisan Warfare 707 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 Washington Continental Commander-in-Chief. 
 1775-1783. 
 
 I. The Continental Congress Appoints Washington Com 
 mander-in-Chief for All the Colonies 718 
 
 II. The Battle of Bunker Hill 741 
 
 HI. Washington Takes Command of the Continental Army, 772 
 
 IV. Washington Sends a Detachment to Canada 809 
 
 V. Washington Expels the British from Boston 822 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VI. Washington in New York .......................... 875 
 
 VII. Washington Crosses the Hudson ................... 932 
 
 VIII. Washington's Masterly Retreat through the Jerseys. . 971 
 
 IX. The Battles of Trenton and Princeton .............. 987 
 
 VOLUME II. 
 
 X. Lord Howe Outgeneraled by Washington 1017 
 
 XL Washington Holds Howe in Check 1069 
 
 XII. Burgoyne's Defeat and Surrender 1 105 
 
 XIII. Washington at Valley Forge 1149 
 
 XIV. The Battle of Monmouth 1191 
 
 XV. Washington Directs a Descent on Rhode Island.... 1213 
 
 XVI. Washington Prepares to Chastise the Indians 1237 
 
 XVII. Washington's Operations in the Northern States 1255 
 
 XVIII. Campaign in the North Arnold's Treason 1281 
 
 XIX. Operations at the South 1313 
 
 XX. Preparations for a New Campaign 1360 
 
 XXI. The Campaign at the South 1377 
 
 XXII. Continuation of the Campaign at the South 1398 
 
 XXIII. Washington Captures Cornwallis 1412 
 
 XXIV. Final Events of the Revolution 1442 
 
 PART V. 
 
 Washington a Private Citizen. 
 1783-1788. 
 
 I. Washington's Return to Private Life 1509 
 
 II. Washington President of the Constitutional Con 
 vention 1527 
 
x CONTENTS. 
 
 PART VI. 
 
 Washington as President and in Retirement. 
 1789-1799. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE. 
 
 I. Washington Elected First President of the United 
 
 States 1579 
 
 II. Washington's Inauguration and First Administration 
 
 Formed 1594 
 
 III. Measures for Establishing the Public Credit 1657 
 
 IV. Establishment of a National Bank 1698 
 
 V. Political Parties Developed 1725 
 
 VI. Washington Inaugurates the System of Neutrality... 1775 
 
 VII. Washington Sends Jay to England 1822 
 
 VIII. Washington Quells the Western Insurrection 1847 
 
 IX. Washington Signs Jay's Treaty 1867 
 
 X. Washington Maintains the Treaty-Making Power of 
 
 the Executive 1896 
 
 XI. Washington Retires from the Presidency 1922 
 
 XII. Washington Appointed Lieutenant-General 1969 
 
 XIII. Last Illness, Death, and Character of Washington... 1994 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 FAGS. 
 
 WASHINGTON Frontispiece. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S INTERVIEW WITH His MOTHER 41 
 
 WASHINGTON'S FIRST INTERVIEW WITH MRS. CUSTIS, AFTER 
 WARDS MRS. WASHINGTON 56 
 
 MARTHA WASHINGTON 105 
 
 WASHINGTON ON His MISSION TO THE OHIO 120 
 
 BRADDOCK'S RETREAT 169 
 
 PATRICK HENRY 184 
 
 BOSTON MASSACRE 233 
 
 BATTLE OF LEXINGTON 248 
 
 RETREAT OF THE BRITISH FROM CONCORD 297 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS 312 
 
 JOSEPH WARREN 361 
 
 WASHINGTON TAKING COMMAND OF THE ARMY 376 
 
 RICHARD MONTGOMERY 425 
 
 WASHINGTON IN 1775 440 
 
 GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM 489 
 
 DRAFTING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 504 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 553 
 
 THE DEATH WARRANT OF MAJOR ANDRE 568 
 
 FIRST MEETING OF WASHINGTON AND HAMILTON 617 
 
 SURRENDER OF COL. RAHL AT THE BATTLE OF TRENTON 632 
 
 WASHINGTON AT THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON 745 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY KNOX 760 
 
 SERGEANT MOLLY AT THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH 809 
 
 BARON DE KALB INTRODUCING LAFAYETTE TO SILAS DEANE... 824 
 
 LADY ACKLAND'S VISIT TO THE CAMP OF GENERAL GATES 937 
 
 BATTLE OF SARATOGA 952 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Vol. II. 
 
 WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT Frontispiece. 
 
 VALLEY FORGE WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE 
 
 WASHINGTON AT TRENTON 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL BARON STEUBEN 1097 
 
 PHILIP SCHUYLER ni2 
 
 HORATIO GATES 1 161 
 
 BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN 1176 
 
 TREASON OF ARNOLD 1225 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS 1240 
 
 LEE'S CAVALRY SKIRMISHING AT THE BATTLE OF GUILFORD 1289 
 
 GENERAL FRANCIS MARION 1304 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL NATHANAEL GREENE 1417 
 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 1432 
 
 ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON 1481 
 
 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL TO His OFFICERS 1496 
 
 LAFAYETTE 1545 
 
 JOHN JAY 1560 
 
 INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON 1673 
 
 THE FIRST CABINET 1688 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK 1737 
 
 JOHN ADAMS 1752 
 
 WASHINGTON AND FAMILY AT MOUNT VERNON 1865 
 
 CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN MARSHALL 1880 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 1929 
 
 HENRY LAURENS ........... ...... ......... ._. _. 1944 
 
PART I. 
 HIS ANCESTORS AND BOYHOOD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTORS. 
 
 I657-I739- 
 
 THE eventful times of Washington may well arrest 
 the thoughts of every one who is interested in the 
 origin and destiny of our republic. And the com 
 bination of causes which made this illustrious man the 
 master-spirit of his day, and the very impersonation of 
 the great principles which he asserted, is a pleasing indi 
 cation of what may be regarded as not a merely fortuitous, 
 but a divinely ordered, series of events, having for their 
 ultimate object the general welfare of humanity. 
 
 Among leaders and rulers of nations there is not an 
 other who has illustrated, in so happy a manner, the vir 
 tues and obligations both of private and public life, and 
 who has afforded so suitable an example for imitation in 
 those virtues and obligations, on the part of every citizen, 
 from the most secluded member of society to the most con 
 spicuous man of mark in council or in the field. 
 
 One of the most eminent living statesmen of England 
 has said, " He was the greatest man of our own or any 
 age ; the only one upon whom an epithet so thoughtlessly 
 lavished by men, to foster the crimes of their worst ene 
 mies, may be innocently and justly bestowed." " It will 
 be the duty of the historian and the sage, in all ages, to let 
 no occasion pass of commemorating this illustrious man ; 
 and, until time shall be no more, will a test of the progress 
 which our race has made in wisdom and in virtue, be 
 
2 WASHINGTON. 
 
 'derived from the veneration paid to the immortal name of 
 Washington."* And one of the chief of our Revolutionary 
 worthies, who enjoyed every opportunity to form a proper 
 estimate of the qualities which he commends, says : " If 
 we look over the catalogue of the first magistrates of 
 nations, whether they have been denominated presidents 
 or consuls, kings or princes, where shall we find one whose 
 commanding talents and virtues, whose overruling good 
 fortune, have so completely united all hearts and voices 
 in his favor, who enjoyed the esteem and admiration of 
 foreign nations and fellow citizens with equal unanimity? 
 Qualities so uncommon are no^ common blessings to the 
 country that possesses them. By these great qualities and 
 their benign effects has Providence marked out the head 
 of this nation, with a hand so distinctly visible as to have 
 been seen by all men and mistaken by none." " His ex 
 ample is complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue to 
 magistrates, citizens, and men not only in the present age, 
 but in future generations, as long as our history shall be 
 read."f 
 
 It was a happy hour for America when, by the divine 
 ordering of human affairs, she gave birth to the future 
 " Father of his Country." He was born on the 22dJ 
 day of February, and citizens of the United States have 
 good reason to celebrate, with lively enthusiasm, every 
 annual recurrence of the memorable day. 
 
 The period of his birth and boyhood was that during 
 which occurred, as will appear in the sequel, some of the 
 
 * Lord Brougham's Sketch of Washington, in his " Historical 
 Sketches of Statesmen who flourished in the Time of George III." 
 Second Series, Vol. II, last sketch. 
 
 t John Adams's speech to the Senate of the United States, April, 
 1789, and his " Special Message to the Senate, December 23, 1799." 
 
 $ The day was the eleventh (Old Style), 1732. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 3 
 
 most extraordinary and oppressive of the proceedings of 
 the British Parliament, in relation to the American- colo 
 nies. And it is a reflection which cannot escape the notice 
 of intelligent students of history that often, at the very 
 time when oppression has been pushing its exactions to 
 their climax, deliverance and a deliverer have been 
 revealed. 
 
 In November of the very year (1732) when Washington 
 was born, the benevolent and brave Oglethorpe, with 
 120 emigrants, was crossing the Atlantic with his charter 
 to found the colony of Georgia, the future thirteenth State 
 of the original American Confederacy, destined, when the 
 infant energies of Washington should be matured for the 
 exploit, to take part in achieving our national independ 
 ence. 
 
 It was when he was a child (1733) that England imposed 
 a tax on the importation of sugar into North America. 
 Then too, in the full exercise of the exclusive privilege* 
 to import negro slaves from Africa into the Spanish col 
 onies in America, she sent her Asiento ships to these 
 colonies, until her abuse of her privileges led eventually 
 to a war with Spain. And it was during this war (1739), 
 the first war waged for colonial interests, that Porto Bello, 
 the grand mart of Peruvian and Chilian commerce, was 
 captured by the daring Admiral Vernon, whose name 
 afterward became associated with the rural home of our 
 great champion of civil, social, and religious liberty. 
 
 The state of civil affairs in England at this period was 
 extraordinary. 
 
 The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, produced his 
 
 * The treaty for the exclusive right to import negroes, " El 
 Asiento de los Negros," was made by England with Spain, in 
 1713, and was to continue thirty years. 
 
4 WASHINGTON. 
 
 excise scheme (1733), which occasioned an intense feeling 
 of repugnance throughout the realm. Not only was the 
 offensive measure denounced in Parliament, as a " plan 
 of arbitrary power," but the people at large, in the provin 
 cial towns, as well as in the metropolis, bent on protecting 
 their civil rights from what they deemed the grasp of 
 tyranny, indulged in loud protestations against the prin 
 ciple of the scheme, burnt the minister in effigy, wore 
 cockades with the motto, " Liberty, Property, and no 
 Excise," and, by the power of the popular will, drove 
 Walpole to relinquish his measure, with the memorable 
 declaration that " there would^ be an end of the liberty 
 of England if supplies were to be raised by the sword." 
 
 The European continent also was at this time greatly 
 agitated by the War of the Polish Succession, in which 
 France, Spain, Sardinia, and a majority of the people of 
 Poland, maintained the claims of Stanislaus, Leczinski ; 
 and the Czarina Anne, of Russia, supported by Austria, 
 occupied Poland with foreign troops, placed on the throne 
 Frederick Augustus, in direct opposition to the proclaimed 
 will of the nation, and reasserted what the infant Wash 
 ington was destined, in less than fifty years, to condemn 
 with greater eloquence than that of words, while he vindi 
 cated our natural and inalienable rights in opposition to 
 the humiliating dogma, that popular privilege must yield 
 to royal prerogative and the voice of the people to the 
 will of kings. 
 
 Stanislaus II, Poniatowski, born but a few weeks before 
 Washington (January 17, 1732), was the last King of Po 
 land. The humiliating measures of the Czarina Catha 
 rine II, caused the kingdom rapidly to degenerate, until 
 at length, during the Presidency of Washington, Stanis 
 laus was dethroned, and his country dismembered and 
 partitioned by Russia, Austria, and Prussia. This bold 
 
LIRE AND TIMES. 5 
 
 illustration of monarchical tyranny, by which the political 
 existence of an ancient kingdom was annihilated, was ex 
 hibited in the sight of all Europe, while princes and courts 
 that had waged protracted wars to settle punctilios of 
 state etiquette were content to view the solemn spectacle, 
 without indulging one generous impulse in behalf of ill- 
 fated Poland. 
 
 Not many days after Washington's birth, his parents, 
 devout members of the Church of England, which at that 
 time was almost universal in Virginia, dedicated him to 
 God in baptism, and provided for him two godfathers and 
 a godmother, according to the rubric in the baptismal 
 office. The family Bible contains this record : " George 
 Washington, Son of Augustine and Mary, his Wife, was 
 born the nth day of February, 1731-2, about 10 in the 
 morning; and was baptized the 5th of April following: 
 Mr. Beverly Whiting and Captain Christopher Brooks, 
 Godfathers; and Mrs. Mildred Gregory, Godmother." 
 
 This scrupulous conformity to sponsoral provisions im 
 plies a decent regard also for the solemn vow, promise, 
 and profession made in the baptismal sacrament. And it 
 may reasonably be inferred that the nature of the solemn 
 service was in due time explained and its obligations set 
 forth by the parents and sponsors to the child thus dedi 
 cated unto God. 
 
 It may be regarded as of special interest that Washing 
 ton was a son of Virginia, the " Mother of Presidents."* 
 The county of Westmoreland, his birthplace, in the east 
 ern part of the State, and bordering on the Potomac and 
 Rappahannock rivers, is celebrated as the birthplace of 
 many other distinguished men. President Monroe was 
 
 * Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Harrison, and Tyler, Presidents 
 of the United States, were citizens or natives of Virginia. 
 
6 WASHINGTON. 
 
 born there, and also Richard Henry Lee and Thomas 
 Lightfoot Lee, signers of the Declaration of Independ 
 ence; Thomas, Francis, and Arthur Lee, brothers of Rich 
 ard Henry ; Gen. Henry Lee, who was known during the 
 Revolution as " Light Horse Harry," and Judge Bushrod 
 Washington. [The son of Gen. Henry Lee was Robert E. 
 Lee of the Civil war.] 
 
 The house in which Washington was born, a single- 
 story, low-pitched, frame building, is no longer standing. 
 It was a ruin before the Revolutionary War. Its site 
 however, half a mile from the, junction of Pope's creek 
 with the Potomac, in Washington parish, is indicated by 
 a few remaining fragments and by a clump of decayed 
 fig trees. A few vines and shrubs and a few gentle flowers 
 also seem to delight in decorating, year after year, the 
 hallowed spot and in enlivening its desolation with pleas 
 ing and suggestive sentiments. The majestic river scen 
 ery of the Potomac and the neighboring lawns with their 
 velvet greensward, associated with the infancy of Wash 
 ington, contribute their charm to enliven the patriot pil 
 grim, who mingles with his delight in these beauties of 
 nature a predominant feeling by which that majestic 
 stream is converted into a lively expression of the pre 
 vailing emotion of his mind. 
 
 The site of the house which was built by Washington's 
 great-grandfather in the year 1657, when he emigrated to 
 America, was for many years marked by only a simple 
 monumental stone,* bearing the inscription: "Here, the 
 nth of February, 1732, George Washington was born." 
 A suitable monument was erected in 1895. 
 
 Seven years after his birth (1739), the family removed 
 from Westmoreland to a house which was the property 
 
 * It is a slab of freestone, lying horizontally, and it was placed 
 there by George W. P. Custis, Esq., in June, 1815. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 7 
 
 of his father, on the Rappahannock river, nearly opposite 
 Fredericksburg, in Suffolk county. Of this too nothing 
 now remains except a few scattered pieces of brick, wood, 
 and plaster. But the visitor to the spot is naturally 
 prompted to fancy many interesting pictures of youthful 
 sports in and around the homestead. 
 
 A tale still current in Washington's old home neighbor 
 hood in Virginia recounts how once as a stripling he sat 
 reading under the shade of an oak tree near his school. 
 Some of his friends had engaged a champion wrestler of 
 the county to test their strength in an impromptu ring. 
 One after another fell a victim to the champion's skill, till, 
 grown bold at last, he strode back and forth like one of 
 the giants of old-time romance, daring the only boy who 
 had not wrestled with him either to put his book down 
 and come into the ring or own himself afraid. 
 
 This was more than the self-contained Washington could 
 stand. Quietly closing his book, he accepted the chal 
 lenge. Long after, when the student under the oak tree 
 had become the conqueror with whose honored name the 
 whole civilized world resounded, the ex-champion told 
 what followed. After a " fierce, short struggle," he said, 
 " I felt myself grasped and hurled upon the ground with 
 a jar that shook the marrow of my bones." 
 
 It does not concern American citizens, as it does the 
 subjects of European princes, to trace a line of descent 
 from ancestors who wore crowns or coronets, and were 
 adorned with garters, stars, and other such badges of 
 honorable eminence. It is rather a subject of self-gratu- 
 lation on our part that a remote forefather was one of a 
 band of untitled voluntary exiles, who fled from persecu 
 tion to the rock-bound shore of a new country; or, one 
 of the sturdy adventurers or gallant cavaliers who sought 
 their fortunes among the early colonists of our southern 
 
8 WASHINGTON. 
 
 country. Yet it is, in all cases, a legitimate object of 
 inquiry with us to ascertain the national origin of a 
 family and the time and circumstances of its emigration. 
 
 The first of Washington's paternal ancestors who came 
 to America was his great-grandfather, John Washington. 
 He and his brother Lawrence emigrated from England 
 to the colony of Virginia in the year 1657, while the royal 
 ists, republicans, and fifth-monarchy men were- in the 
 melee of their opposition to the scheme of making Crom 
 well king, and while many loyal British subjects, eschew 
 ing the assumptions of the protectorate, were fleeing for 
 refuge to other lands. 
 
 The brothers, John and Lawrence, both purchased es 
 tates in Westmoreland county. John married, and had 
 several children, one of whom, Lawrence, was the grand 
 father of our Washington. This Lawrence had several 
 children; and his second son, Augustine, was our Wash 
 ington's father, who married twice. His first wife, Jane 
 Butler, was the mother of four children, two of whom 
 were Lawrence and Augustine ; and his second wife, Mary 
 Ball, celebrated for her beauty, was the mother of six 
 children, of whom our Washington was the first-born.* 
 
 The two brothers who emigrated to America, John and 
 Lawrence, could trace their family, through several gen 
 erations, to William de Hertburn, a powerful and noble 
 knight, who lived a century after the time of William the 
 Conqueror, and who purchased, in the year 1183, the 
 manor and village of Wessyngton, in the diocese of Dur 
 ham. From that period, the de Hertburn family took, as 
 then was usual, the name of the estate, and was called 
 
 * There were three other sons, Samuel, John Augustine, and 
 Charles; and there were two daughters, Mildred, who died in in 
 fancy, and Betty, who married Fielding Lewis, Esq., afterward a 
 devoted patriot of the Revolutionary times. [Betty was of the 
 same grand figure and countenance as her brother George.] 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 9 
 
 de Wessyngton. The orthography of the name, passing 
 through various modifications,* eventually attained its 
 familiar modern form. 
 
 So little interest did our Washington himself evince 
 in relation to his pedigree that he never gave it his serious 
 attention until he received, after his elevation to the Presi 
 dency, a letter on the subject from Sir Isaac Heard, then 
 Garter King at Arms in London, who was, from his office, 
 naturally led to inquire into the ancestry of the illustrious 
 American, who was at that time the observed of all ob 
 servers. Washington's reply to Sir Isaac's letter is a 
 characteristic effusion. 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, 2 May, 1792. 
 
 " Sir. Your letter of the 7th of December was put 
 into my hands by Mr. Thornton, and I must request that 
 you will accept my acknowledgments, as well for the polite 
 manner in which you express your wishes for my happi 
 ness, as for the trouble you have taken in making genea 
 logical collections relative to the family of Washington. 
 
 " This is a subject to which, I confess, I have paid very 
 little attention. My time has been so much occupied in 
 the busy and active scenes of life, from an early period of 
 it, that but a small portion could have been devoted to 
 researches of this nature, even if my inclination or par 
 ticular circumstances should have prompted to the inquiry. 
 I am therefore apprehensive, that it will not be in my 
 power, circumstanced as I am at present, to furnish you 
 with materials to fill up the sketch which you have sent 
 me, in so accurate a manner as you could wish. We have 
 no office of record in this country, in which exact genea 
 logical documents are preserved; and very few cases, I 
 believe, occur, where a recurrence to pedigree, for any 
 
 * Among these modifications are Wessington, Wassington, 
 Weschington, and Wasshington. 
 
10 WASHINGTON. 
 
 considerable distance back, has been found necessary to 
 establish such points as may frequently arise in older 
 countries. 
 
 "On comparing the tables, which you sent, with such 
 documents as are in my possession, and which I could 
 readily obtain from another branch of the family with 
 whom I am in the habit of correspondence, I find it to be 
 just. I have often heard others of the family, older than 
 myself, say, that our ancestor who first settled in this 
 country came from some one of the northern counties of 
 England ; but whether from Lancashire, Yorkshire, or one 
 still more northerly, I do not precisely remember. 
 
 " The arms inclosed in your letter, are the same that are 
 held by the family here ; though I have also seen, and have 
 used, as you may perceive by the seal to this packet, a 
 flying griffin for the crest.* 
 
 " If you can derive any information from the inclosed 
 lineage, which will enable you to complete your table, I 
 shall be well pleased in having been the means of assist 
 ing you in those researches, which you have had the 
 politeness to undertake ; and shall be glad to be informed 
 of the result, and of the ancient pedigree of the family, 
 some of whom I find intermixed with that of Ferrers. 
 
 " Lawrence Washington, from whose will you inclosed 
 an abstract, was my grandfather. The other abstracts 
 which you sent do not, I believe, relate to the family of 
 Washington in Virginia; but, of this I cannot speak 
 positively. 
 
 *The Washington coat of arms, in the families of Buckingham 
 shire, Kent, Warwickshire, and Northamptonshire, and in the Vir 
 ginia families, is argent, two bars gules in chief, three mullets of 
 the second. Crest, a raven with wings indorsed proper, issuing 
 out of a ducal coronet or. In Edmondson's Heraldry, are given 
 other arms for other branches of the family. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 11 
 
 " With due consideration, I am, sir, your most obe 
 dient servant, 
 
 " GEORGE WASHINGTON." 
 
 In this letter were inclosed particulars respecting the 
 family. " In the year 1657, or thereabouts, and during 
 the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell, John and Lawrence 
 Washington, brothers, emigrated from the north of Eng 
 land, and settled at Bridge's Creek, on the Potomac river, 
 in the county of Westmoreland. But from whom they 
 descended, the subscriber is possessed of no document 
 to ascertain." * Then follows an account of John, who 
 was Washington's great-grandfather, and of his descend 
 ants ki America. 
 
 While he heeded not the suggestions by which pride 
 and ambition allure so many to genealogical records, 
 Washington did however obey the promptings of benevo 
 lence, when, on making his will, he desired that a list 
 should be furnished of his blood-relations, both in Europe 
 and America, with a view to his bestowing upon each 
 one of them a gift or souvenir. 
 
 To such inquirers as may be curious on the subject of 
 the remote English ancestors of our Washington's first 
 American progenitor, John, of Virginia, it may be inter 
 esting to know that he descended lineally from John, of 
 Whitfield, in the county of Lancaster, whose son John, 
 also of Whitfield, was father of John, of Warton, in the 
 same county ; and the eldest son of this John, of Warton, 
 Lawrence, was mayor of Northampton, and had a grant 
 of the manor of Sulgrave, with other valuable lands there, 
 after Henry VIIFs dissolution of the priories. f This 
 
 * It has been recently found that the immediate English an 
 cestor, father of the emigrants to America, was a Rev. Lawrence 
 Washington, of Essex, in England. 
 
 t In 30 Henry VIII, 1538-1539- 
 
12 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Lawrence, of Northampton, was the great-grandfather of 
 the first American Washington; his son Robert, of Sul- 
 grave, being the father of Lawrence, of Sulgrave, of whom 
 John, of Virginia, was the second son.* 
 
 Among the many reflections awakened by these genea 
 logical memoranda, one of the most interesting is, that 
 they are a key to what is far more worthy of attention 
 than the mere branches, withered or budding, of a family 
 tree. Among the Washingtons are found many persons 
 of note in the learned professions, in council, and in the 
 field of war; men who won the fame of scholars, the 
 honors of knighthood, the rewards of skill and industry, 
 and the praise of virtue, valor, and high resolve. 
 
 Among the English Washingtons were the noble knight 
 William de Hertburn, a conspicuous chevalier in the train 
 of the princely Count Palatinate, the Bishop of Durham ; 
 William Weshington, a loyal defender of Henry III, in 
 the wars of the barons; Sir Stephen de Wessington, one 
 of the chevaliers of Edward III ; Sir William, of the privy 
 council of Durham; John, the learned f and energetic 
 prior of the Benedictines ; Lieutenant-Colonel James 
 Washington, one of the loyal subjects of Charles I, in 
 whose cause he was slain at the siege of Pontefract ; 
 Joseph, an eminent lawyer, who translated one of Milton's 
 political treatises;^ and Sir Henry, famous for his daring 
 
 * [The error of this account has been recently demonstrated, 
 showing that the Lawrence of Sulgrave had a son, Lawrence, who 
 was the father of the John and Lawrence who came to America.] 
 t Author of " De Juribus et Possessionibus Ecclesse Dunelm." 
 t The " Defensio pro Populo Anglicano." He wrote also a trans 
 lation of part of " Lucian's Dialogues," " Observations upon the 
 Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Kings of England," an " Abridge 
 ment of the Statutes" to 1687, and the first volume of " Modern 
 Reports." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 13 
 
 achievement at the storming of Bristol, and for his de 
 voted loyal constancy at the siege of Worcester. Re 
 ferring to Sir Henry's exploit at Bristol, Lord Clarendon 
 says, " On Prince Rupert's side, it was assaulted with 
 equal courage ; for, though that division led on by the 
 Lord Grandison, colonel-general of the foot, was beaten 
 off, the Lord Grandison himself being hurt, and the other, 
 led by Colonel Bellasis, likewise had no better fortune; 
 yet Colonel Washington, with a less party finding a place 
 in the curtain (between the places assaulted by the other 
 two) weaker than the rest, entered, and quickly made 
 room for the horse to follow."* 
 
 The military qualities of the European ancestors were 
 perpetuated by their American descendants, from the very 
 first who emigrated to this country John Washington. 
 Tradition says that this American progenitor, before his 
 migration to Virginia, held military rank. After his ar 
 rival in Virginia he certainly wore the name and performed 
 the duties of a military officer ; his will is indorsed " The 
 will of Lieutenant-Colonel Washington," and when the 
 shores of the Potomac were threatened with an incursion 
 of hostile Indians of the Seneca tribe, Col. John Wash 
 ington led the Virginia forces which combined with those 
 of Maryland in repelling the savages. He was also a 
 successful and wealthy planter, a magistrate, and a mem 
 ber of the Virginia House of Burgesses; and the parish 
 in which he resided received, in honor of him, and still 
 retains, his name. 
 
 Col. William Augustine Washington, son of Baily, of 
 Stafford county, Virginia, was commander of a celebrated 
 regiment of cavalry in the Revolutionary War, and 
 
 * Lord Clarendon's " History of the Rebellion," Book VII, 
 vol. IV, p. 134. Oxf. 1839. 
 
14 WASHINGTON. 
 
 achieved such remarkable exploits of valor that Congress 
 awarded to him, after the battle of Cowpens, a silver 
 medal ; and he was familiarly known as " The modern 
 Marcellus," and " The Sword of his Country." 
 
 From the conquest of Britain in the twelfth century 
 to the independence of its American colonies, seven cen 
 turies after that epoch, a martial spirit, associated with 
 energy, endurance, resolution, constancy, and valor, ap 
 pears to have been the prevailing family characteristic 
 of the Washingtons. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EARLY DAYS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 1739-1748. 
 
 IT was while Washington was a boy of about seven 
 years of age (1739), that his father removed from 
 the old homestead. His estate which he now occu 
 pied was in Stafford county, on the Rappahannock, and 
 in a region remarkable for its salubrity. The new house 
 was very pleasantly situated, and it commanded an ex 
 tensive land and water prospect. At this rural home, 
 several years of young Washington's boyhood were spent 
 in study and in sports, from his seventh to his eleventh 
 year. 
 
 As an infant and as a youth, he possessed unusual bod 
 ily health and vigor. He was ever active, hardy, and 
 adventurous, fond of open-air employments and recrea 
 tions, of athletic exercises, and of the horse, the gun, 
 and the chase. 
 
 His father, who was a good man, and deeply interested 
 in his children's moral and religious education, employed, 
 among other means, several ingenious methods to engage 
 the feelings of his son George, so as to kindle in his mind 
 generous and liberal sentiments, a love of truth, and an 
 habitual and influential recognition of the existence and 
 the providence of God.* 
 
 * Anecdotes illustrating this may be found in the second chapter 
 of the Life of Washington, by the Rev. M. L. Weems, formerly 
 rector of Mount Vernon parish. 
 
 (15) 
 
16 WASHINGTON. 
 
 When George would commit a fault, and, being de 
 tected, would not meanly shrink from confessing it, but 
 would at once tell the honest truth, his father would 
 warmly and affectionately commend him for his magna 
 nimity and integrity. 
 
 He would point out to him the riches of God's bounty 
 in the abundant fruits of the earth, and from this copious 
 text inculcate precepts of ungrudging liberality. 
 
 On a certain occasion he planted seeds in one of his 
 garden beds, so disposed as to exhibit, when they sprung 
 up, the words George Washington. The first discovery 
 of a spectacle so novel, and to him utterly unaccountable 
 and marvelous, naturally awakened in George's mind pro 
 found astonishment. He repaired to his father, told him 
 of the strange sight, and conducted him to the spot where 
 the wonder might be seen. The father now availed him 
 self of the absorbing incident to lead his little son to trace 
 the phenomenon to an intelligent cause. He told the 
 secret of his being himself the agent in producing it. 
 And he then explained, in a striking and impressive man 
 ner, the pervading indications of contrivance and design 
 in the whole visible creation and the wonderful and con 
 vincing proofs of an intelligent and benevolent Great First 
 Cause. 
 
 This paternal care and discipline was destined however 
 to be of short continuance." The son, when about eleven 
 years of age, was on a visit at Chotanck, where he was 
 enjoying the Easter holidays with Lawrence and Robert 
 Washington, whom he calls, in his will, " the acquaint 
 ances and friends of my juvenile years," when he was 
 hastily summoned from the happy home of these cousins 
 to change the joys of a holiday with them for the sorrows 
 of a last look in the chamber of death, where lay his ex 
 piring father, prostrated by a sudden and fatal attack of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 1? 
 
 gout in the stomach. It was also his lot to reach home 
 too late to hear him utter a blessing or a farewell, or to 
 receive any expression of his love, except what affection 
 could fondly associate with a feeble glance of recognition.* 
 
 Augustine Washington was a Virginia planter of the 
 best class. He brought with him from England the char 
 acteristic qualities of an English gentleman and an intelli 
 gent and devout attachment to the English Church. In 
 person he was remarkably tall and manly. He was also 
 a man of strong mind, with great energy of purpose ; and 
 his thoughts and feelings were habitually under the con 
 trol of practical religion. In common with the Virginia 
 planters of his day, he delighted in field sports. His long, 
 heavy gun, still preserved, suggests the thought of a 
 huntsman of extraordinary size of body and power of 
 arm, and warrants the reports which tradition has handed 
 down to us, respecting the large frame and great muscu 
 lar strength which his distinguished son inherited. 
 
 One who knew him personally, Mr. Withers, of Staf 
 ford county, has described him as a man of uncommon 
 height, noble appearance, manly proportions, and extraor 
 dinary muscular power. At the Principio Iron Works 
 on the Rappahannock, he once lifted and placed in a 
 wagon, " a mass of iron which two ordinary men could 
 barely raise from the ground/' Yet this gigantic might 
 of muscle never tempted him to take any part in the fre 
 quent combats which occurred in Virginia in his day, 
 except to stay savage violence by separating combatants. 
 And such was his character for magnanimity, justice, and 
 
 * He died April 12, 1743, at the age of forty-nine years. [At 
 eleven years and nearly two months of age, his oldest son had 
 probably had fully four years of as careful and thorough educa 
 tion as any boy in any age could have had, or can have in our 
 own time.] 
 
 2 
 
18 WASHINGTON. 
 
 moral worth that he commanded, wherever he appeared 
 and in whatever he engaged, universal and unhesitating 
 deference. 
 
 His disposition was mild, his manners were courteous, 
 and his private character was without reproach. And 
 as he lay on his deathbed, he uttered a declaration that 
 does honor to his memory. " I thank God," said he, 
 "that in all my life I never struck a man in anger; for 
 if I had, I am sure that from my remarkable muscular 
 powers I should have killed my antagonist, and then his 
 blood, at this awful moment, would have lain heavily upon 
 my soul. As it is, I die at peace with all mankind."* 
 
 The success with which he accumulated property and 
 added field to field, until he could provide plantations for 
 his sons and an independent maintenance for his surviving 
 daughter, illustrates his exemplary diligence and industry, 
 so conspicuous also in the character of his son George. 
 
 Upon the widowed mother now devolved the care of 
 her five children. The eldest, George, was eleven years 
 of age ; and the youngest, Charles, was five. But she was 
 eminently qualified, by nature and religion, to fulfil all 
 her duties to her family. A lady "of the old school," 
 possessed of a strong mind and sound judgment, she 
 united with great simplicity of manners, energy, honesty, 
 and truthfulness. Her house, the home of hospitality, 
 was also the home of order, neatness, economy, and do 
 mestic industry. She was a strict disciplinarian; and, by 
 her decision and consistency of character, she obtained 
 over her children and dependents an uncompromising, but 
 benign, control. 
 
 * Letter from George W. P. Custis to Charles Brown, of Boston, 
 April 24, 1851, reprinted in the New England Historical and Genea 
 logical Register, January, 1857. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 19 
 
 Tradition tells that she was deeply interested in form 
 ing the minds and hearts of her children according to the 
 teachings of the Gospel, and that she daily read to them 
 select parts of Sir Matthew Hale's Contemplations,* a 
 work which abounds in golden maxims of sound wisdom 
 and pure piety. The very volume which she used, and 
 which has her name in it, " Mary Washington/' written 
 by herself, is still preserved among the family relics. And 
 the precepts contained in those portions of the work 
 which appear to have been read most frequently, were 
 so admirably, as well as faithfully, exemplified by her son 
 George throughout his life, that one might almost think 
 that they were written at the close of his career, and 
 were designed as a delineation of his character and a 
 record of his principles. 
 
 Several portions of the work, it is evident, were the 
 familiar lessons of the family; and so happily do these 
 represent Washington's marked moral lineaments that 
 they may be regarded as a striking portrait of him. 
 
 In the portion entitled "The Great Audit," the good 
 steward is represented as giving his account to God. And 
 he says: 
 
 "As to all the blessings and talents wherewith thou hast 
 intrusted me, I have looked up to thee with a thankful 
 heart, as the only Author and Giver of them. I have 
 looked upon myself as unworthy of them. I have looked 
 upon them as committed to my trust and stewardship, 
 to manage them for the ends that they were given, the 
 honor of my Lord and Master. I have therefore been 
 watchful and sober in the use and exercise of them, lest 
 I should be unfaithful in them. If I have at any time, 
 
 * " Contemplations, Moral and Divine," by Sir Matthew Hale, 
 Knight, late Chief Justice of the King's Bench." 
 
20 WASHINGTON. 
 
 through weakness, or inadvertence, or temptation, mis 
 employed any of them, I have been restless, till I have 
 in some measure rectified my miscarriage, by repentance 
 and amendment. 
 
 "As touching my Conscience, and the light thou hast 
 given me in it it has been my care to improve that 
 natural light and to furnish, it with the best principles I 
 could. Before I had the knowledge of thy Word, I got 
 as much furniture as I could from the writings of the best 
 moralists and the examples of the best men; after I had 
 the light of thy Word, I furnished it with those pure and 
 unerring principles that I found in it. 
 
 " I have been very jealous either of wounding, or griev 
 ing, or discouraging, or deadening my Conscience. I 
 have therefore chosen, rather to forbear that which 
 seemed but indifferent, lest there might be somewhat in 
 it that might be unlawful ; and would rather gratify my 
 conscience with being too scrupulous, than displease, dis 
 quiet, or flat it by being too venturous : I have still chosen 
 rather to forbear what might be probably lawful, than 
 to do that which might be possibly unlawful; because, 
 could I not err in the former, I might in the latter. If 
 things were disputable whether they might be done, I 
 rather chose to forbear, because the lawfulness of my 
 forbearance was unquestionable. 
 
 " Concerning my Speech, I have always been careful 
 that I offend not with my tongue ; my words have been 
 few, unless necessity or thine honor required more speech 
 than ordinary. My words have been true, representing 
 things as they were; and sincere, bearing conformity to 
 my heart and mind." 
 
 " I have esteemed it the most natural and excellent 
 use of my tongue, to set forth thy glory, goodness, power, 
 wisdom, and truth; to instruct others, as I had oppor- 
 
UFE AND TIMES. 21 
 
 tunity, in the knowledge of thee, in their duty to thee, to 
 themselves, and others ; to reprove vice and sin, to en 
 courage virtue and good living ; to convince of errors ; 
 to maintain the truth; to call upon thy name, and, by 
 vocal prayers, to sanctify my tongue, and to fix my 
 thoughts to the duty about which I was; to persuade to 
 peace and charity and good works." 
 
 " Concerning Human Prudence, and understanding in 
 affairs, and dexterity in the managing of them, I have 
 been always careful to mingle justice and honesty with 
 my prudence ; and have always esteemed Prudence, actu 
 ated by injustice and falsity, the arrantest and most devil 
 ish practice in the world; because it prostitutes thy gift 
 to the service of hell, and mingles a beam of thy Divine 
 Excellence with an extract of the devil's furnishing, mak 
 ing a man so much the worse by how much he is wiser 
 than others. 
 
 " I always thought that wisdom which, in a tradesman 
 and in a politician, was mingled with deceit, falsity, and 
 injustice, and deserved the same name; only, the latter is 
 so much the worse, because it was of the more public and 
 general concernment. Yet, because I have often observed 
 great employments, especially in public affairs, are some 
 times under great temptations of mingling too much craft 
 and prudence, and then miscall it Policy, I have, as much 
 as may be, avoided such temptations, and if I have met 
 with them, I have resolutely rejected them. 
 
 " I have always observed, that Honesty and Plain-deal 
 ing in transactions, as well public as private, is the best 
 and soundest prudence and policy; and commonly, at the 
 long run, overmatcheth craft and subtlety, Job xii, 16; 
 for, the deceived and deceiver are thine, and thou art 
 privy to the subtlety of the one, and the simplicity of the 
 other; and thou, as the great Moderator and Observer 
 
22 WASHINGTON. 
 
 of men, dost dispense success and disappointments 
 accordingly. 
 
 "As Human Prudence is abused, if mingled with falsity 
 and deceit, though the end be ever so good, so it is much 
 more debased, if directed to a bad end; to the dishonor 
 of thy name, the oppression of thy people, the corrupting 
 of thy worship or truth, or to execute any injustice to 
 wards any person. 
 
 " It hath been my care, as not to err in the manner, so 
 neither in the end, of the exercising of my Prudence. I 
 have ever esteemed my prudence then best employed, 
 when it was exercised in the preservation and support of 
 thy truth, in the upholding of thy faithful ministers, in 
 countermining, discovering, and disappointing the designs 
 of evil and treacherous men, in delivering the oppressed, 
 in righting the injured, in preventing of wars and dis 
 cords, in preserving the public peace and tranquillity of 
 the people where I live, in faithful advising of my prince ; 
 and in all those offices incumbent upon me, by thy Provi 
 dence, under every relation. 
 
 " When my End was most unquestionably good, I ever 
 then took most heed that the Means were suitable and 
 justifiable, i. Because, the better the end was, the more 
 easily are we cozened into the use of ill means to effect 
 it. We are too apt to dispense with ourselves in the 
 practice of what is amiss, in order to the accomplishing 
 of an end that is good; we are apt, while with great in 
 tention of mind we gaze upon the end, not to take care 
 what course we take so we attain it ; and we are apt to 
 think that God will dispense with, or at least overlook, 
 the miscarriages in our attempts, if the end be good. 
 
 " 2. Because many times, if not most times, thy name 
 and honor do more suffer by attempting a good end by 
 bad means, than by attempting both a bad end and also 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 23 
 
 by bad means; for, bad ends are suitable to bad means; 
 they are alike; and it doth not immediately, as such, 
 concern thy honor. But every thing that is good hath 
 somewhat of thee in it ; thy name and thy nature and thy 
 honor is written upon it; and the blemish that is cast 
 upon it is, in some measure, cast upon thee; and the 
 evil and scandal and infamy and ugliness that is in the 
 means, is cast upon the end, and doth disparage and 
 blemish it; and consequently it dishonors thee. To rob 
 for burnt-offerings and to lie for God, is a greater dis 
 service to thy majesty, than to rob for rapine or to lie 
 for advantage." 
 
 " Touching my eminence of Place or Power, in this 
 world, this is my account. I never sought or desired it, 
 and that for these reasons : i. Because I easily saw, that 
 it was rather a burden than a privilege. It made my 
 charge and my accounts the greater, my contentment and 
 rest the less. I found enough in it to make me decline 
 it in respect of myself, but not any thing that could invite 
 me to seek or desire it. 
 
 " 2. The external glory and splendor also that attended 
 it, I esteemed as vain and frivolous in itself, a bait to 
 allure vain and inconsiderate persons to affect and de 
 light, not valuable enough to invite a considerate judg 
 ment to desire or undertake it. I esteemed them as the 
 gilt that covers a bitter pill, and I looked through this 
 dress and outside, and easily saw that it covered a state 
 obnoxious to danger, solicitude, care, trouble, envy, dis 
 content, unquietness, temptation, and vexation. 
 
 " I esteemed it a condition which, if there were any 
 distempers abroad, they would infallibly be hunting and 
 pushing at it, and if it found any corruptions within, either 
 of pride, vain-glory, insolence, vindictiveness, or the like, 
 it would be sure to draw the-m out and set them to work." 
 
94 WASHINGTON. 
 
 "And if they prevailed, it made my power and greatness 
 not only my burden but my sin; if they prevailed not, 
 yet it required a most watchful, assiduous, and severely 
 vigilant labor and industry, to suppress them. 
 
 " When I undertook any place of power or eminence 
 First, I looked to my call thereunto to be such as I might 
 discern to be thy call, not my own ambition. Second, 
 that the place were such as might be answered by suit 
 able abilities in some measure to perform. Third, that 
 my end in it might not be the satisfaction of any pride, 
 ambition, or vanity in myself, but to serve thy Providence 
 and my generation, honestly and faithfully. In all. which, 
 my undertaking was not an act of my choice, but of my 
 duty. 
 
 " 3. In the holding or exercising of these places, I 
 kept my heart humble; I valued not myself one rush the 
 more for it. First, because I easily found that that base 
 affection of pride, which commonly is the fly that haunts 
 such employments, would render me dishonorable to thy 
 Majesty, or disserviceable in the employment. Second, 
 because I easily saw great places were slippery places, 
 the mark of envy. It was, therefore, always my care so 
 to behave myself in them, as I might be in a capacity to 
 leave them, and so to leave them, that, when I had left 
 them, I might have no scars and blemishes stick upon 
 me. I carried, therefore, the same evenness of temper 
 in holding them, as might become me if I were without 
 them. Third, I found enough, in great employments, to 
 make me sensible of the danger, troubles, and cares of it ; 
 enough to make me humble, but not enough to make me 
 proud and haughty. 
 
 " 4. I never made use of my power or greatness, to 
 serve my own turns; either to heap up riches, or to op 
 press my neighbor, or to revenge injuries, or to uphold 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 25 
 
 or bolster out injustice. For, though others thought me 
 great, I knew myself to be still the same ; and in all things, 
 besides the due execution of my place, my deportment 
 was just the same as if I had been no such man ; for, first, 
 I knew that I was but thy steward and minister, and 
 placed there to serve thee and those ends which thou 
 proposedst in my preferment, and not to serve myself, 
 much less my passions or corruptions. And, further, I 
 very well and practically knew, that place and honor and 
 preferment are things extrinsical, and have no ingredi- 
 ence into the man. His value and estimate, before, and 
 under, and after his greatness, is still the same in itself; 
 as the counter that now stands for a penny, anon for six 
 pence, and then for twelve-pence, is still the same counter, 
 though its place and extrinsical denomination be changed. 
 
 " 5. I improved the opportunity of my place, eminence, 
 and greatness, to serve thee and my country in it, with 
 all vigilance, diligence, and fidelity. I protected, counte 
 nanced, and encouraged thy worship, name, day, and 
 people. I did faithfully execute justice, according to that 
 station I had. I rescued the oppressed from the cruelty, 
 malice, and insolence of their oppressors. I cleared the 
 innocent from unjust calumnies and reproaches. I was 
 instrumental to place those in offices, places, and employ 
 ments of trust and consequence, that were honest and 
 faithful. I removed those that were dishonest, irreligious, 
 false, or unjust." 
 
 " Touching my Reputation and Credit, I. I never af 
 fected the reputation of being rich, great, crafty, or politic ; 
 but I esteemed much a deserved reputation of justice, 
 honesty, integrity, virtue, and piety. 
 
 " 2. I never thought that reputation was the thing pri 
 marily to be looked after in the exercise of virtue; for, 
 that were to affect the substance for the sake of the 
 
26 WASHINGTON. 
 
 shadow, which had been a kind of levity and impotence 
 of mind; but I looked at virtue, and the worth of it, as 
 that which was the first desirable, and reputation as a 
 handsome and useful accession to it. 
 
 " 3. The reputation of justice and honesty I was always 
 careful to keep untainted, upon these grounds. First, 
 because a blemish in my reputation would be dishonor 
 able to thee. Second, it would be an abuse of a talent 
 which thou hadst committed to me. Third, it would be 
 a weakening of an instrument which thou hadst put into 
 my hands, upon the strength whereof much good might 
 be done by me. 
 
 " Though I have loved my reputation, and have been 
 vigilant not to lose or impair it, by my own default or 
 neglect, yet I have looked upon it as a brittle thing, 
 a thing that the devil aims to hit in a special manner, 
 a thing that is much in the power of a false report, a 
 mistake, a misapprehension, to wound and hurt ; and, not 
 withstanding all my care, I am at the mercy of others, 
 without God's wonderful overruling* providence. And as 
 my reputation is the esteem that others have of me; so, 
 that esteem may be blemished without my default. I have, 
 therefore, always taken this care, not to set my heart 
 upon my reputation. 
 
 " I will use all fidelity and honesty, and take care it 
 shall not be lost by any default of mine; and if, notwith 
 standing all this, my reputation be soiled, by evil or en 
 vious men or angels, I will patiently bear it, and content 
 myself with the serenity of my own conscience. Hie 
 murus aheneus esto. 
 
 ""When thy honor or the good of my country was 
 concerned, I then thought it was a seasonable time to 
 lay out my reputation for the advantage of either; and 
 to act, it, and by and upon it, to the highest, in the use 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 27 
 
 of all lawful means. And upon such an occasion, the 
 counsel of Mordecai to Esther was my encouragement, 
 Esther iv, 14. Who knoweth whether God hath not given 
 thee this reputation and esteem for such a time as this ? " 
 
 Would American mothers more generally follow the 
 example of the mother of Washington, and, instead of 
 gratifying their children's morbid appetite for popular 
 light literature, cultivate a taste for the teachings of such 
 devout philosophers as Sir Matthew Hale, full many a 
 youthful mind, now sacrificed to sinful folly, might be 
 molded to virtue, piety, and wisdom, and bless our coun 
 try and mankind. 
 
 [Sir Matthew Hale was from 1637 to 1676 one of the 
 greatest of English lawyers, a judge in the Court of Com 
 mon Pleas from 1653, chief baron of the exchequer (one 
 of the chief courts of the realm), 1660-1671, and lord chief 
 justice till February, 1676. He began to study for the 
 church, with strong Puritanical leanings, but broke away 
 from severe studies to pursue a life of pleasure, and 
 planned to go as a soldier on the Continent, when a visit 
 to London led to his adoption of the law, in which his 
 studies were exceptionally thorough and his attainments 
 brilliant. He was, moreover, an ardent student of mathe 
 matics, physics, and chemistry, and even anatomy and 
 architecture. In intellectual distinction he was at the 
 highest level of English culture and in pure and noble 
 character one of the finest examples of English genius 
 for the conduct of life. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says 
 of his career : 
 
 " Hale was called to the bar in 1637, and almost at once 
 found himself in full practice. Though neither a fluent 
 speaker nor bold pleader, in a very few years he was at the 
 head of his profession. He entered public life at perhaps 
 the most critical period of English history. Two parties 
 
23 WASHINGTON. 
 
 were contending in the state, and their obstinacy could not 
 fail to produce a most direful collision. But amidst the 
 confusion Hale steered a middle course, rising in reputa 
 tion, and an object of solicitation from both parties. Tak 
 ing Pomponius Atticus as his political model, he was per 
 suaded that a man, a lawyer, and a judge could best serve 
 his country and benefit his countrymen by holding aloof 
 from partisanship and its violent prejudices, which are so 
 apt to distort and confuse the judgment. But he is best 
 vindicated from the charges of selfishness and cowardice 
 by the thoughts and meditations" contained in his private 
 diaries and papers, where the purity and honor of his 
 motives are clearly seen. Among his numerous religious 
 writings the " Contemplations, Moral and Divine," occupy 
 the first place. Others are " The Primitive Origination 
 of Man," 1677; "Of the Nature of True Religion," etc., 
 1684; "A Brief Abstract of the Christian Religion," 1688. 
 One of his most popular works is the collection of " Letters 
 of Advice to His Children and Grandchildren." 
 
 A woman disposed to read his " Contemplations " must 
 have been thoroughly initiated in the best English culture ; 
 a mother who thought it worth while to read Hale's deeply 
 thoughtful pages to a son was at the level (for our time) 
 of John Stuart Mill or Matthew Arnold. Hale's revolt 
 from his study at Oxford of Aristotle and Calvin left him 
 a Humanist on a broad ethical culture platform, but with 
 some survival of Puritan pietism (enough, unhappily, to 
 betray him into securing the condemnation and execu 
 tion of two poor women tried before him in 1664 upon 
 the charge of being witches, liable under Bible law, Exodus 
 22 : 18, " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.") In Wash 
 ington (as very clearly in his brother Lawrence), the finest 
 humanism was without taint of the Puritan pietism.] 
 
 Another interesting volume of the Washington family 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 29 
 
 library is still preserved,* and may have exerted a whole 
 some influence upon the mind of Washington in childhood. 
 It is entitled " Short Discourses upon the Whole Common 
 Prayer; abridged to inform the Judgment and excite the 
 Devotion of such as daily use the same." Its title page 
 bears the autograph of Augustine Washington ; and upon 
 the cover leaves of the volume this name of -the father is 
 written again and again by his son George in the bold and 
 marked style of his chirography. 
 
 It was the lot of Washington to receive from his father, 
 as well as from his mother, the advantages of a sound re 
 ligious education; but, in common with many worthies 
 who have adorned our race, he points the world to the chief 
 earthly source of his successes, home influence, directed by 
 a mother. 
 
 It was a precept of classical mythology, that all who are 
 earth-born are bound to make, on every suitable occasion, 
 an offering to Earth, their good mother, as a tribute of 
 gratitude for her manifold gifts. Beautiful exhibition of 
 filial duty! And it is recorded of Washington that in the 
 spirit of this precept, and actuated by a sacred domestic 
 feeling of love and reverence, he ever remembered his 
 obligations to his " honored " mother, as he habitually en 
 titled her in his letters and in conversation, and that he 
 delighted to associate his regard for her with his life's most 
 eventful epochs, and with its chief honors and successes 
 with the wreath upon his brow and the flowers strewed 
 along his path.f 
 
 On returning from the battle of the Monongahela, he 
 addressed an affectionate letter to her. Before receiving 
 
 * In the collection of the Boston Athenaeum, 
 t His letters to Major-General Knox, February 20, 1784, and 
 'June 17, 1788. 
 
30 WASHINGTON. 
 
 his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the armies of 
 Virginia, he informed her by letter of his probable eleva 
 tion to that rank. And just before his departure for New 
 York, to be inaugurated President of the United States, 
 he repaired to Fredericksburg to take leave of his " aged 
 mother." It was their last interview. She died a few 
 months after.* 
 
 [Of John Washington, the immediate English ancestor 
 of George Washington, who came out of England when 
 the Puritan Calvinist rage was on, in Cromwell's time, 
 Lodge says : " He made complaint to the Maryland au 
 thorities, soon after his arrival, against Edward Prescott, 
 merchant, and captain of the ship in which he had come 
 over, for hanging a woman during the voyage for witch 
 craft. We have a letter of his, explaining that he could 
 not appear at the first trial because he was about to bap 
 tize his son, and had bidden the neighbors and gossips to 
 the feast. A little incident this, dug out of the musty 
 records, but it shows us an active, generous man, intolerant 
 of oppression, public-spirited and hospitable, social, and 
 friendly in his new relations. He soon after was called to 
 mourn the death of his English wife and of two children, 
 but he speedily consoled himself by taking a second wife, 
 Anne Pope, by whom he had three children, Lawrence, 
 John, and Anne. According to the Virginian tradition, 
 John Washington the elder was a surveyor, and made a 
 location of lands which was set aside because they had 
 been assigned to the Indians. It is quite apparent that 
 he was a forehanded person who acquired property and 
 impressed himself upon his neighbors. In 1667, when he 
 had been but ten years in the Colony, he was chosen to 
 the House of Burgesses ; and eight years later he was 
 
 * August, 1789, at the age of eighty-three years. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 31 
 
 made a colonel and sent with a thousand men to join the 
 Marylanders in destroying the ' Susquehannocks/ at the 
 ' Piscataway ' fort, on account of some murdering begun 
 by another tribe. As a feat of arms, the expedition was 
 not a very brilliant affair. The Virginians and Maryland 
 ers killed half a dozen Indian chiefs during a parley, and 
 then invested the fort. After repulsing several sorties, they 
 stupidly allowed the Indians to escape in the night and 
 carry murder and pillage through the outlying settle 
 ments, lighting up first the flames of savage war and then 
 the fiercer fire of domestic insurrection." 
 
 The note of humanist liberality in the matter of the 
 witch is an important indication of the Washington char 
 acter from the beginning. 
 
 " In the next year," Lodge continues, " we hear again 
 of John Washington in the House of Burgesses, when 
 Sir William Berkeley assailed his troops for the murder 
 of the Indians killed during a parley. Popular feeling, 
 however, was clearly with the colonel, for nothing was 
 done, and the matter dropped. At that point, too, in 
 1676, John Washington disappears from sight, and we 
 know only that as his will was proved in 1677, he must 
 have died soon after the scene with Berkeley. He was 
 buried in the family vault at Bridges Creek, and left a good 
 estate to be divided among his children. The colonel was 
 evidently both a prudent and popular man, and quite dis 
 posed to bustle about in the world in which he found 
 himself. He acquired lands, came to the front at once as 
 a leader, although a newcomer in the country, was evidently 
 a fighting man, as is shown by his selection to command 
 the Virginian forces, and was honored by his neighbors, 
 who gave his name to the parish in which he dwelt. Then 
 he died and his son Lawrence reigned in his stead, and 
 
32 WASHINGTON. 
 
 became by his wife, Mildred Warner, the father of John, 
 Augustine, and Mildred Washington. 
 
 " This second son, Augustine, farmer and planter like his 
 forefathers, married first Jane Butler, by whom he had 
 three sons and a daughter, and second, Mary Ball, by 
 whom he had four sons and two daughters. The eldest 
 child of these second nuptials was named George, and 
 was born on February n (O. S.), 1732, at Bridges Creek. 
 The house in which this event occurred was a plain, wooden 
 farmhouse of the primitive Virginian pattern, with four 
 rooms on the 'ground floor, an attic story with a long, 
 sloping roof, and a massive brkk chimney. Three years 
 after George Washington's birth it was burned, and the 
 family removed to another estate in Stafford county. The 
 second house was like the first, and stood on rising 
 ground looking across a meadow to the Rappahannock, 
 and beyond the river to the village of Fredericksburg, 
 which was nearly opposite. Here, in 1743, Augustine 
 Washington died somewhat suddenly, at the age of forty- 
 nine, from an attack of gout brought on by exposure in 
 the rain, and was buried with his fathers in the old vault 
 at Bridges Creek. Here, too, the boyhood of Washing 
 ton was passed, and therefore it becomes necessary to 
 look about us and see what we can learn of this important 
 period of his life. 
 
 " We know nothing about his father, except that he was 
 kindly and affectionate, attached to his wife and children, 
 and apparently absorbed in the care of his estates. On 
 his death the children came wholly under the maternal 
 influence and direction." 
 
 The sudden fatal illness of Augustine Washington, like 
 that of his illustrious son, from exposure to chill, shows 
 physical refinement and delicacy, along with the robust 
 vigor of body known to have belonged to both. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 33 
 
 " Much has been written about the ' mother of Wash 
 ington,' " Lodge goes on to say, " but as a matter 
 of fact, although she lived to an advanced age, we 
 know scarcely more about her than we do about her 
 husband. She was of gentle birth, and possessed a vigor 
 ous character and a good deal of business capacity. The 
 advantages of education were given in but slight measure 
 to the Virginian ladies of her time, and Mrs. Washington 
 offered no exception to the general rule. Her reading 
 was confined to a small number of volumes, chiefly of a 
 devotional character, her favorite apparently being Hale's 
 ' Moral and Divine Contemplations/ She evidently knew 
 no language but her own, and her spelling was extremely 
 bad even in that age of uncertain orthography. Certain 
 qualities, however, are clear to us even now through all 
 the dimness. We can see that Mary Washington was 
 gifted with strong sense and had the power of conducting 
 business matters providently and exactly. She was an 
 imperious woman, of strong will, ruling her kingdom 
 alone. Above all she was very dignified, very silent, and 
 very sober-minded. That she was affectionate and loving 
 cannot be doubted, for she retained to the last a profound 
 hold upon the reverential devotion of her son, and yet as 
 he rose steadily to the pinnacle of human greatness, she 
 could only say that ' George had been a good boy, and she 
 was sure he would do his duty/ Not a brilliant woman, 
 evidently, not one suited to shine in courts, conduct in 
 trigues, or adorn literature, yet able to transmit moral 
 qualities to her oldest son, which, mingled with those of 
 the Washingtons, were of infinite value in the foundation 
 of a great Republic. She found herself a widow at an 
 early age, with a family of young children to educate and 
 support. Her means were narrow, for although Au 
 gustine Washington was able to leave what was called a 
 3 
 
34 WASHINGTON. 
 
 landed estate to each son, it was little more than idle cap 
 ital, and the income in ready money was by no means so 
 evident as the acres." 
 
 Lodge errs grievously in implying that we know very 
 little about either the father or the mother of George 
 Washington. For the purpose of the latter's biography 
 we know the most essential facts. Not that they can be 
 read off-hand by the uninstructed student, inexpert in 
 noting the significance of what he reads. It is ignorance 
 of history, in examples like Lord Bacon and William 
 Shakespeare, which permits making anything whatever of 
 the bad spelling of a cultivated lady in the first half of the 
 eighteenth century. Besides, the mistake is singularly 
 unfortunate of saying that we know very little, while yet 
 telling much more than a little which is not only of ex 
 treme interest but of decisive importance. The parentage 
 of George Washington, in the light of the " good few " 
 facts which are given, can be read to no small extent 
 through carefully instructed study of the character of the 
 son ; but such instruction turns on knowledge of the physio 
 logical and psychical complex which a human being com 
 monly is. Lodge further says: 
 
 " Many are the myths, and deplorably few the facts, that 
 have come down to us in regard to Washington's boyhood. 
 For the former we are indebted to the illustrious Weems, 
 and to that personage a few more words must be devoted. 
 Weems has been held up to the present age in various 
 ways, usually, it must be confessed, of an unflattering na 
 ture, and ' mendacious ' is the adjective most commonly 
 applied to him. There has been in reality a good deal of 
 needless confusion about Weems and his book, for he was 
 not a complex character, and neither he nor his writings 
 are difficult to value or understand. By profession a 
 clergyman or preacher, by nature an adventurer, Weems 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 35 
 
 loved notoriety, money, and a wandering life. So he 
 wrote books which he correctly believed would be popular, 
 and sold them not only through the regular channels, but 
 by peddling them himself as he traveled through the coun 
 try. In this way he gratified all his propensities, and no 
 doubt derived from life a good deal of simple pleasure. 
 Chance brought him near Washington in the closing days, 
 and his commercial instinct told him that here was the sub 
 ject of all others for his pen and his market. He accord 
 ingly produced the biography which had so much success. 
 Judged solely as literature, the book is beneath contempt. 
 The style is turgid, overloaded, and at times silly. The 
 statements are loose, the mode of narration confused and 
 incoherent, and the moralizing is flat and commonplace to 
 the last degree. Yet there was a certain sincerity of feel 
 ing underneath all the bombast and platitudes, and this 
 saved the book. The biography did not go, and was not 
 intended to go, into the hands of the polite society of the 
 great eastern towns. It was meant for the farmers, the 
 pioneers, and the backwoodsmen of the country. It went 
 into their homes, and passed with them beyond the Alle- 
 ghanies and out to the plains and valleys of the great 
 West. The very defects of the book helped it to success 
 among the simple, hard-working, hard-fighting race en 
 gaged in the conquest of the American continent. To 
 them its heavy and tawdry style, its staring morals, and its 
 real patriotism all seemed eminently befitting the national 
 hero, and thus Weems created the Washington of the 
 popular fancy. The idea grew up with the country, and 
 became so ingrained in the popular thought that finally 
 everybody was affected by it, and even the most stately 
 and solemn of the Washington biographers adopted the 
 unsupported tales of the itinerant parson and book-peddler. 
 
36 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " In regard to the public life of Washington, Weems 
 took the facts known to every one, and drawn for the most 
 part from the gazettes. He then dressed them up in his 
 own peculiar fashion and gave them to the world. All 
 this, forming of course nine-tenths of his book, has passed, 
 despite its success, into oblivion. The remaining tenth 
 described Washington's boyhood until his fourteenth or 
 fifteenth year, and this, which is the work of the author's 
 imagination, has lived. Weems, having set himself up as 
 absolutely the only authority as to this period, has been 
 implicitly followed, and has thus come to demand serious 
 consideration. Until Weems is weighed and disposed of, 
 we cannot even begin an attempt to get at the real Wash 
 ington." 
 
 Mr. Lodge could hardly have done worse than in this 
 setting up that we know very little of the facts of Wash 
 ington's boyhood, when in fact we could not well know 
 more; that the "Life" by Weems created the popular 
 Washington, when in fact Washington with Weems was 
 known as no other man in history has ever been known dur 
 ing his own time ; and that we cannot even begin to get at 
 the real Washington until we have critically disposed of the 
 myths of Weems, when in fact, Weems or no Weems, the 
 large and exact knowledge of the real Washington possible 
 to study without taking account of Weems at all, and of 
 Washington in youth as well as maturity, leaves nothing 
 to be desired, except a general casting upon a rubbish 
 heap of the numerous attempts to tell the story of Wash 
 ington without anything like real study.] 
 
 The planters of Virginia being at that period without 
 colleges and academies were compelled to employ private 
 tutors for their children or to content themselves with the 
 very meager instructions to be obtained at common 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 37 
 
 country schools.* The masters of these schools moreover 
 possessing, not unfrequently, the smallest supposable modi- 
 
 *[The famous declaration of Sir William Berkeley, " I thank God 
 that there are no free schools," has been misunderstood. It was 
 said partly in view of the system of home teaching by private tutors, 
 which was maintained, for lack of tutors, on the plan referred to 
 by Berkeley in saying : " Every man teaches his own children." By 
 " free schools " Berkeley meant what we should call " ragged 
 schools," or " mission schools," and his idea was that no respectable 
 man wanted such for his own children instead of home teaching by 
 private tutors or by the parent himself. In fact he assumed that no 
 respectable father would so much as think of schooling by the side 
 of the young of the neglected class for his own sons, and the point 
 of his reason for not wanting " free schools " at all was his convic 
 tion that "learning" given to the lower class chiefly resulted in 
 making them smarter for evil less submissive to order. The 
 Sunday schools started by Robert Raikes at Gloucester in England 
 towards the close of the i8th century had for their sole object 
 schooling for the lowest class who could get none on week days, and 
 a hundred years later a Sunday school, even if carried on in con 
 nection with the service of worship, and not as a mission apart, 
 was frequently not used for children of good families, who could 
 have instruction at home, but only for the poor; and as under the 
 system as originated teachers were hired on very low pay, and were 
 very inferior in qualifications, young ladies of any social position 
 commonly thought the service beneath them. American adoption of 
 Sunday schools was on very different lines from the first, because 
 of the extent to which children generally could enjoy common 
 schooling during the week, and only needed for Sunday some va 
 riety of religious instruction. In George Washington's youth in 
 struction by his father while he lived was undoubtedly better a great 
 deal than the pretentious, and largely preposterous schooling of 
 which children are the victims at the capital of the state of New 
 York in the first years of the 2Oth century. And after his father's 
 death the Academy schooling which George Washington had was 
 supplemented by tutoring given him by three or four persons hardly 
 less interested than his father to see him well fitted for the position 
 which he would have in his Virginia life.] 
 
38 WASHINGTON. 
 
 cum of qualifications, had little more capital than self- 
 assurance, a rod and a ferule. And unable to subsist upon 
 the pittance afforded by their school duties, they would 
 add to their literary offices others which sometimes were 
 singularly incongruous. 
 
 A rural pedagogue of this motley class, Washington's 
 first preceptor, a tenant of his father's when the family was 
 residing in Westmoreland, was Mr. Hobby, a pretentious, 
 jovial wight, who kept what was called " the old field 
 school ; " and who in the comprehensive range of his em 
 ployments was busied both with the minds and the bodies 
 of his neighbors, combining the functions of schoolmaster, 
 parish sexton, and undertaker. It was his joy to see his 
 most honored pupil rise to the greatest height of his renown ; 
 and he would often boast as he recounted anecdotes of the 
 old field school " It was I who laid the foundation of his 
 greatness ! " 
 
 Soon after his father's death, Washington was sent from 
 the family residence in Suffolk to the old homestead in 
 Westmoreland county, the house in which he was born, 
 and which was then occupied by his half-brother Augus 
 tine. The object had in view was to provide for him a 
 schoolmaster of .a higher grade than he who " laid the 
 foundation of his greatness." He was accordingly placed 
 under the care of Mr. Williams, an excellent teacher of the 
 usual branches of an English education, and, in particular, 
 of geography, bookkeeping, and surveying. 
 
 Under the guidance of this competent master and worthy 
 man our young pupil vigorously pursued his studies until 
 his fourteenth year (1746), when an incident occurred worthy 
 of especial notice from its important bearing on the future 
 of his history. 
 
 This was, his purpose to obtain a midshipman's warrant 
 in the British navy. His half-brother Lawrence who was 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 39 
 
 at that time a man of consideration in Virginia, being a 
 member of the House of Burgesses and adjutant-general 
 of his district, had served under Admiral Vernon and Gen 
 eral Wentworth in the West Indies. As captain in the 
 American regiment under command of Col. Alexander 
 Spotswood, raised expressly for the West India service, 
 and for co-operating with the British troops in Vernon's 
 expedition, he was with Wentworth when he undertook 
 in the year 1741 the disastrous siege of Carthagena.* 
 
 A midshipman's warrant, obtained through the influence 
 of this half-brother, was put into the hands of our young 
 naval aspirant, greatly to his delight. He made immediate 
 arrangements to embark on board a man-of-war then rid 
 ing in the Potomac. His baggage was on the ship. All 
 that remained to be done before his departure was to re 
 ceive his mother's approbation and her blessing. But she 
 had doubts of the advantage of the project. She looked 
 at the many evils associated with scenes of naval service ; 
 and she dwelt upon the thought of a separation by which 
 her son, so young in years and in experience, would 
 be taken away forever from the family manse, and from 
 the shrine of its sacred home influences. She refused her 
 consent to his separation from her. And maternal solici 
 tude and filial affection soon blended in deciding that the 
 proposed measure should be relinquished. 
 
 [The matter was not decided by the mother upon her 
 own feeling alone. She consulted her brother Joseph in 
 London, who very urgently advised her against the navy 
 as a place for her son, and against sacrificing the promise 
 of his inherited position as a future man of estate in Vir 
 ginia.] 
 
 * Smollett's " History of England," chap. IV, at the beginning; 
 and his " Roderick Random." 
 
40 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The dutiful son's unmurmuring acquiescence, and his 
 surrender in such circumstances of his heart's joy, are a 
 beautiful comment on his mental and moral discipline. 
 And his filial obedience was in harmony with a divine in 
 tention. The Unseen was present in the sympathies of 
 that domestic incident. He who controls the fates of men 
 and nations had a higher service than that of a midship 
 man in reserve for this noble boy. 
 
 [The chief agent in getting young Washington a chance 
 to go to sea was a notable neighbor of Lawrence Wash 
 ington, whose estate of Belvoir was on the Potomac five 
 miles below Mt. Vernon. This neighbor of Lawrence 
 was Hon. William Fairfax, cousin to the sixth Lord 
 Fairfax, whose inheritance from his mother embraced 
 about a fourth part of the whole of Virginia. He was the 
 son of Henry Fairfax, whose wife, Anna Harrison, was 
 sister to the wife of Henry Washington, one of the Eng 
 lish Washingtons. Henry Fairfax was the second son 
 of the fourth Lord Fairfax, and in 1691, the year of his 
 son William's birth, he became high sheriff of Yorkshire. 
 The son William was educated at a collegiate school, and 
 went to sea when very young; then served in the British 
 army in Spain ; was stationed at St. Helena for a time ; 
 and subsequently at the Bahamas, where he married, in 
 1723, Sarah Walker, a daughter of Major Walker, and 
 was appointed chief justice of the island. About the 
 year 1725, on account of the unhealthiness of the climate, 
 he removed to New England, having received the ap 
 pointment of collector of the customs at Salem and 
 Marblehead. Here the death of his wife in 1731 left him 
 with four children, George William, born at the Baha 
 mas ; Thomas, Anne, and Sarah, born in Salem. He sub 
 sequently married Deborah Clarke of Salem, an intimate 
 friend of his first wife, who had expressed, on her death- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 41 
 
 bed, the wish that this might take place for the sake of 
 her children. Thomas, the sixth Lord Fairfax, hearing 
 that the agent in charge of his American estates was not 
 faithful to his interests, invited his cousin William to leave 
 New England and become the superintendent of his es 
 tates. The offer was accepted in 1734, and he at first took 
 up his residence in Westmoreland county, but subsequently 
 removed to Belvoir, a plantation fourteen miles below 
 Alexandria. His daughter Anne, born in Salem, Mass., 
 about 1726 or 1727, became the wife of Lawrence Wash 
 ington, whose brother George, fourteen years younger, 
 thus came under the direct influence of William Fairfax, 
 then about fifty-two years of age. A letter of William 
 Fairfax to Lawrence Washington, dated September 10, 
 1746, when George was fourteen years and six months of 
 age, says : " George has been with us, and says he will 
 be steady, and thankfully follow your advice as his best 
 friend." 
 
 It was William Fairfax who " had used his influence to 
 obtain a position for George in the navy, but the mother 
 would not consent to his going to sea, for ' several persons 
 told her it was a bad scheme/ ' Mrs. Washington's chief 
 adviser in the matter was her brother, Joseph Ball, resid 
 ing in London, who wrote as follows : 
 
 " I understand you are advised, and have some thoughts 
 of putting your son to sea. I think he had better be put 
 apprentice to a trade, for a common sailor before the mast 
 has by no means the common liberty of the subject; for 
 they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings 
 a month, and make him take twenty-three, and cut and 
 beat him like a negro, or rather like a dog. And as to 
 any considerable promotion in the navy it is not to be ex 
 pected, as there are always so many gaping for it here who 
 have influence, and he has none " (in Meade). p. 50.] 
 
42 WASHINGTON. 
 
 He resumed his studies at the school of Mr. Williams. 
 And he continued to pursue them two years longer until 
 he had almost attained to his sixteenth year. This was an 
 early season for his leaving school, but it was the limit of 
 his opportunities. The schoolboy and the college-student 
 of our day, who bask in the broad light afforded by 
 thoroughly furnished educators and the latest and most im 
 proved text-books,, too seldom think how few and fitful 
 were the rays which glimmered on the path of our youthful 
 countrymen in the middle of the last century. Yet a com 
 pensation for the want of modern artificial helps to learn 
 ing was afforded by a prevailing stalwart vigor and power 
 ful grasp of thought. And there was then a freedom from 
 the influence of our literary luxuries, which are so tempt 
 ing to a relaxation of industry in the pursuit of truth. 
 
 [It is upon less than adequate discrimination that the 
 view is entertained of a short and meagre schooling of 
 young Washington. For what his natural powers and 
 impulses were, and what his father, mother, brother Law 
 rence, Mr. William Fairfax, Lord Fairfax, and the school 
 he attended were, it may be doubted whether one in twenty 
 of the university graduates of the present time, in either 
 England or America, stand upon the threshold of active 
 life as well disciplined for it as George Washington was, 
 if not at sixteen, at least at his first encounter with the 
 demands and responsibilities of a career. Even if four- 
 fifths of what the student in school and college to-day 
 spends much time but scant attention upon were not of 
 absolutely no educational account, yet the instances are 
 exceptional in which a boy of rare character and fine mind 
 gets as good personal training during eight years as 
 George Washington got before he entered upon active 
 life. In proportion as we understand what real educa- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 43 
 
 tion is, and how much self-education counts, we can see 
 that Washington's actual advantages, with his use of them, 
 brought him out upon the stage of his time remarkably 
 well educated and very exceptionally disciplined.] 
 
 At the early period of his schooldays Washington af 
 forded one of the numerous illustrations of a fact which 
 gives such interest to the history of the childhood of great 
 men. With all due allowance for the propensity of imagi 
 nation to color with bright tints its pictures of early genius 
 it must be admitted that in many cases the mind does, in 
 its first developments, disclose the secret of its leading 
 bent. At the beginning of life's spring, incipient tendrils 
 indicate the nature of a plant formed to climb. 
 
 Among his playmates our schoolboy was their umpire 
 and their leader. He won their confidence by his native 
 ingenuousness and his strict regard for truth. He was 
 generous and just, he was proverbially a peacemaker, and 
 his word of honor was a bond. His military predilections 
 also now appeared, not only in his delighting when eleven 
 years of age, as boys so generally do, to play " soldiers," 
 but in his being the master-spirit in many a mimic battle 
 between " the English " and " the French." 
 
 He was conspicuous moreover in their sports on account 
 of his feats of strength and agility. Among his favorite 
 recreations, in which he was almost without a rival, were 
 lifting and throwing heavy weights, jumping with a pole, 
 and wrestling. He was celebrated too for fleetness like 
 the swift-footed hero of the Iliad; and in racing with his 
 schoolfellows he surpassed them all. And so great was 
 the power of his arm in youth that he would often throw 
 a stone across the Rappahannock at the lower ferry of 
 Fredericksburg a feat which few men were able to per 
 form. 
 
44 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " More than fifty years ago," says Mr. Custis,* " I be 
 came acquainted with two aged and highly estimable gen 
 tlemen, Lawrence and Robin Washington who were dis 
 tantly related to and had been companions of the Chief 
 in his juvenile days. They spoke of the fine, manly youth ; 
 and of his gallant demeanor and daring exploits in horse 
 manship, and the athletic exercises of that remote period." 
 But the manly exercise in which he most excelled was 
 horsemanship. When a boy of but twelve years of age he 
 resolved to ride a spirited, unbroken colt of his mother's 
 her favorite sorrel which had hitherto successfully re 
 sisted all attempts of " horse-tamers." He informed his 
 playmates of his purpose, and accordingly a party of them 
 assembled soon after sunrise on the appointed day to see 
 the sport. With great difficulty they penned the mettle 
 some and fiery animal and after many unsuccessful efforts 
 at length bridled him. The youthful horseman then seized 
 the reins and with a single effort vaulted on the colt's back. 
 Then followed a desperate struggle between horse and 
 rider. The colt could not and would not brook restraint. 
 He had prevailed hitherto and he would prevail again. In 
 all the freedom of his noble nature he had at pleasure 
 ranged the field, snuffed the wind, and thrown off by a 
 bound or leap his waste exuberance. He now reared and 
 sprang. He started violently and suddenly from side to 
 side. He used every instinctive contortion with a view to 
 throw his rider and to regain liberty. It was in vain ; his 
 efforts became frantic when he found his master unmoved 
 from his seat, and with a violent, convulsive, furious plunge 
 he fell down dead. 
 
 Conscious of the pain which this result would cause his 
 mother Washington frankly told her the story of his con- 
 
 * Letter to Charles Brown, April 24, 1851. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 45 
 
 duct, and she, in her characteristic manner, said in reply: 
 " I regret the loss of my favorite, but I rejoice in my son 
 who always speaks the truth." 
 
 As proofs of his diligence and industry at school, manu 
 scripts written by him in boyhood and filling several quires 
 of paper, exhibit records of his studies in geometry, 
 trigonometry, and surveying; and evince the same regard 
 to neatness and method, and the same care and accuracy 
 which were afterward so conspicuous in his letters, his plans 
 of military operations, and his official documents. There are 
 extant also specimens of his ornamental penmanship, and 
 of his fancy pen-sketch creations of heads half-human, and 
 of nondescript birds, and " gorgons dire." 
 
 In a manuscript book which he wrote at the age of thir 
 teen years are copies of notes of hand, bills of exchange, re 
 ceipts, bonds, indentures, bills of sale, land warrants, leases, 
 deeds, and wills, designed to familiarize him with proper 
 forms for transacting business. 
 
 He seems however to have devoted himself in boyhood 
 not merely to intellectual acquirements. He collected and 
 copied out in one of his manuscripts, " Rules of Behavior 
 in Company and Conversation." And the general char 
 acter of these rules, by which he sought to regulate his 
 demeanor, affords the best evidence of his desire to culti 
 vate the elegant courtesies and to practice the moral duties 
 
 which give refined society its peculiar charm. 
 
 , .,. 
 
 Among his rules are the following : 
 
 " i. Read no letters, books, or papers in company; but 
 when there is a necessity for doing it you must ask leave. 
 Come not near the books or writings of any one so as to 
 read them unless desired; nor give your opinion of them 
 unasked. Also look not nigh when another is writing a 
 letter. 
 
46 WASHINGTON. 
 
 "2. Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of an 
 other, though he were your enemy. 
 
 " 3. When you meet with one of greater quality than 
 yourself, stop and retire, especially if it be at a door or any 
 strait place, to give way for him to pass. 
 
 " 4. Let your discourse with men of business be short 
 and comprehensive. 
 
 " 5. In writing or speaking give to every person his due 
 title, according to his degree, and the custom of the place. 
 
 " 6. Wherein you reprove another, be unblamable your 
 self ; for example is more prevalent than precepts. 
 
 " 7. Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the dis 
 paragement of any. 
 
 " 8. In your apparel be modest, and endeavor to accom 
 modate nature rather than to procure admiration. 
 
 " 9. Associate yourself with men of good quality if you 
 esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone 
 than in bad company. 
 
 " 10. Deride no man's misfortune though there seem to 
 be some cause. 
 
 " ii. Whisper not in the company of others. 
 
 " 12. Be not apt to relate news if you know not the 
 truth thereof. 
 
 " 13. Be not curious to know the affairs of others ; neither 
 approach to those that speak in private. 
 
 " 14. Undertake not what you cannot perform ; but be 
 careful to keep your promise. 
 
 " 15. Speak not evil of the absent for it is unjust. 
 
 " 16. Be not angry at table whatever happens ; and if you 
 have reason to be so show it not. Put on a cheerful 
 countenance, especially if there be strangers, for good 
 humor makes one dish of meat a feast. 
 
 " 17. When you speak of God or his attributes let it be 
 seriously, in reverence. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 47 
 
 " 1 8. Honor and, obey your natural parents though they 
 be poor. 
 
 " 19. Let your recreations be manful, not sinful. 
 
 " 20. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark 
 of celestial fire called Conscience." 
 
 These and similar memoranda of the conventionalities of 
 elegant, social intercourse enabled him to control himself 
 by a well-provided formulary instead of trusting to the 
 hazard of mere impromptu impulses. They were the trellis- 
 work that secured an order, regularity, and beauty which 
 imparted a remarkable propriety and decorum to his con 
 duct at all times and in all circumstances. 
 
 There are also extant certain selections in verse, chiefly 
 of a religious character, made by him at this dawning 
 period of his life. They are of little merit as exhibitions of 
 genius in their author, or of poetic taste in their compiler ; 
 yet they are indicative of what may be regarded as not less 
 desirable in an intelligent and ingenuous lad of thirteen 
 years of age, an interest in devout sentiments. 
 
 He did not enjoy the advantages of a classical education. 
 And not only was he unable to read either Greek or Latin, 
 but he could neither speak nor write in any modern for 
 eign language. While in daily intercouse with French 
 officers, at one period of the Revolution, he was compelled 
 in interchanging opinions with them to rely in general upon 
 the aid of an interpreter. 
 
 His decided predilection was for mathematics. The 
 exactness, order, and certainty of its processes always were 
 more congenial to the nature of his mind than any of the 
 charms of belles-lettres. 
 
 The only occasion of his being beguiled to compose 
 poetic strains was when, about two years before leaving 
 school, and when the down upon his cheek and chin gave 
 its first distinct hints of his adolescence, he felt some 
 
48 WASHINGTON. 
 
 throbbings of the tender passion. In one. of his early manu 
 scripts are found plaintive breathings of this nature, ut 
 tered for the relief of his " poor restless heart." 
 The object of his attachment it is said was Miss Grimes,* 
 
 * Or perhaps Mary Bland. [More probably Miss Betsy Fauntle- 
 roy. In a communication to " Harper's Weekly," of May 4, 1889, 
 the writer answered as follows the question who was Washington's 
 " Lowland beauty: " 
 
 Of late years the opinion has gained that the lady was Sally 
 Gary, who became the wife of George William Fairfax. This has 
 been hitherto my own conviction, based on certain letters found 
 among the papers of Mrs. Fairfax at her death, at Bath, England 
 (1811), at the age of eighty-one. It now appears to me certain that 
 the "Lowland beauty " Washington's first love was Miss 
 Betsy Fauntleroy. Under date of 20th May, 1752, Washington 
 writes to " William Fauntleroy, Sr. : " 
 
 " SIR. I should have been down long before this, but my busi 
 ness in Frederick detained me somewhat longer than I expected* 
 and immediately upon my return from thence I was taken with a 
 violent pleurise, which has reduced me very low; but purpose, as 
 soon as I recover my strength, to wait on Miss Betsy, in hopes of 
 a revocation of the former cruel sentence, and see if I can meet 
 with any alteration in my favor. I have enclosed a letter to her, 
 which should be much obliged to you for the delivery of it. I 
 have nothing to add but my best respects to your good lady and 
 family." 
 
 As William Fauntleroy, Sr., had a granddaughter named Eliza 
 beth, it is a fair inference that she was the Betsy referred to. 
 That she was the " Lowland beauty " may be inferred from the fact 
 that the letter in which this phrase occurs, though undated, bears 
 evidence of having been written about the time which the prob 
 abilities of such explanation suggest. The letter is addressed 
 ' Dear Friend Robin " possibly Robert Washington of Chotauk, 
 affectionately remembered in his will and the material part is as 
 follows: "My place of residence is at present at his lordship's, 
 where I might, was my heart disengaged, pass my time very pleas 
 antly, as there's a very agreeable young lady lives in the same house 
 (Col. George Fairfax's wife's sister). But as that's only adding 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 49 
 
 of Westmoreland, whom he calls his " lowland beauty," and 
 who afterward, as Mrs. Lee, was the mother of Gen. Henry 
 Lee, so famous in the Revolutionary War as " Light 
 Horse Harry," and always regarded by Washington with 
 particular favor. But his " young love " was not declared, 
 although it occasioned for more than two years the in 
 quietude and depression of spirits usual in such cases. 
 
 [With the letter of May 20, 1752, to William Fauntleroy, 
 Sr., in regard to a " purpose to wait on Miss Betsy 
 [Fauntleroy], in hopes of a revocation of the former cruel 
 sentence, and see if I can meet with any alteration in my 
 favor," and with " a letter enclosed to her," it seems un 
 necessary to look in any other direction for the object of 
 young Washington's interest. It can be readily under 
 stood that he was not a lady's man as the average good- 
 looking youth may readily be. He was large, awkward, 
 emotional, and bashful, with nothing to give him self- 
 possession with people beyond the circle of his familiar 
 friends. He was not long in acquiring the poise of self- 
 command and self-carriage, but the earliest falling in love 
 antedated that particular discipline.] 
 
 Writing to a young companion whom he calls his " dear 
 
 fuel to fire, it makes me the more uneasy, for by often and un 
 avoidably being in company with her revives my former passion for 
 your Lowland beauty; whereas, was I to live more retired from 
 young women, I might deviate in some measure my sorrows by 
 burying that chaste and troublesome passion in the grave of ob 
 livion or etearnall forgetfulness, for as I am very well assured, 
 that's the only antidote or remedy that I ever shall be relieved by 
 or only recess that can administer any cure or help to me, as I 
 am well convinced, was I ever to attempt anything, I should only 
 get a denial which would be only adding grief to uneasiness." 
 This letter, written after George Fairfax's marriage (i7th Decem 
 ber, 1748), and before the journey to the Barbadoes (September, 
 1751), was probably written in the earlier part of 1751-] 
 4 
 
50 WASHINGTON. 
 
 friend Robin," he remarks that female society tended to 
 keep alive his passion, whereas, says he, by living " more 
 retired from young women, I might, in some measure, 
 alleviate my sorrows, by burying that chaste and trouble 
 some passion in the grave of oblivion." 
 
 This natural and venial indulgence in youthful romancing 
 although rather precocious in a boy of fourteen years 
 would not perhaps deserve to be mentioned, did it not 
 show that Washington's mind, even at that period of his 
 deepest interest in his studies, was not so absorbed in 
 theorems and computations as to be unconscious of na 
 ture's gentlest sympathies, and insensible to impressions 
 associated with life's purest and most refined delights. His 
 mind was sturdy, but his heart was ever gentle and sus 
 ceptible. 
 
 In the estimate we form of the illustrious and the great, 
 we are apt to be misled by the supposition, that, in the 
 range of their passions and emotions, they are not as 
 other men. And the dazzling halo of this illusion often 
 imparts to them vague and mysterious associations, by 
 which their example is often greatly diminished in its 
 influence. It is pleasing therefore to record in the his 
 tory of Washington that he was no ideal and unreal crea 
 tion ; that he had, as we have, a heart as well as a head ; 
 that he, as all other children, in their development of man 
 hood, passed through the metamorphoses of child, little 
 man, boy soldier, lad, youth, lover; and that he is to be 
 regarded not as an inimitable paragon, to excite wonder 
 and admiration, but as a beautiful model, for all young 
 persons who would practice filial obedience, truth, and 
 honesty, diligence in study, decorum in behavior, and 
 whatever else is commendable in a lad or young man, 
 at home and at school, in sports among playmates, and 
 in amusements and recreations of the social circle. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 51 
 
 They who would emulate the achievements of his man 
 hood should study and imitate the virtues of his early 
 youth. When, at the close of the Revolutionary War, 
 Lafayette, about to depart for France, paid a farewell 
 visit to the mother of Washington, and mingled with his 
 adieus a glowing encomium on her illustrious son, she 
 replied, in her characteristic manner and in memorable 
 words, " I am not surprised at what George has done, 
 for he was always a good boy." 
 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 INCIDENTS OF HIS YOUTH. 
 
 1748-1752. 
 
 SOON after leaving school (1748), Washington be 
 came for a time an inmate in the family of his 
 eldest half-brother Lawrence, on his large patri 
 monial estate, which then comprised 2,500 acres, and 
 which he called Mount Vernon, in compliment to the 
 admiral under whom he served in the West Indies. 
 
 This half-brother, whom his father sent to England for 
 his education, had enjoyed what were at that time un 
 common advantages, social and intellectual; and his im 
 provement of them appeared in his mental acquirements, 
 his cultivated manners, and his elegant accomplishments. 
 He was very affectionately attached to his half-brother 
 George; and it was his ambition and delight to aid and 
 counsel him in all his studies, and to contribute in every 
 way to his welfare and advancement, while he now prose 
 cuted his mathematical studies and prepared himself for 
 the duties of a scientific practical surveyor. The daily 
 conversation and the countless little hints and suggestions 
 of such a mentor as his highly-educated brother Law 
 rence were to our ingenuous young student, then in his 
 seventeenth year, heaven's special provision suited to his 
 case, as refreshing, fertilizing dew to the surrounding 
 green pastures. 
 
 Three years before this time, Lawrence had married 
 'Anne Fairfax, eldest daughter of William Fairfax, of 
 
 (52) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 53 
 
 Fairfax county, Virginia, who had served in the British 
 army in Spain, the East Indies, and New Providence. 
 He had been also Governor of New Providence, Chief 
 Justice of the Bahamas, and President of His Majesty's 
 council in Virginia. 
 
 [From New Providence in the West Indies, after some 
 years of service there, William Fairfax had been trans 
 ferred to Salem, Massachusetts, upon his request for a 
 change from the unfavorable climate of the Bahamas; 
 and there his daughter Anne was born a Massachusetts 
 girl therefore ; there also Anne's mother died, and a 
 Salem lady, who had been her intimate friend, became 
 in due time her father's second wife. After nine years at 
 Salem, in charge of the customs there, William Fairfax 
 was persuaded by Lord Thomas Fairfax, of whom he 
 was a cousin, to settle in Virginia, as agent for the sur 
 vey, sale, and general care of the lands held by Lord 
 Fairfax. The fine estate of Belvoir, five miles down the 
 Potomac from Mount Vernon, was the home of William 
 Fairfax, with his Massachusetts wife, while his Massa 
 chusetts daughter was the mistress of Mount Vernon. In 
 both of these houses George Washington was at home, as 
 he also was with Lord Fairfax at Greenway Court, a 
 house which he occupied.] 
 
 The alliance of Lawrence Washington with a daughter 
 of such a person opened the way for his brother George's 
 acquaintance with the Fairfax family, and eventually for 
 his intimate friendship with the most prominent member 
 of the family, Thomas, the sixth Lord Fairfax, who was 
 a man of education and of great moral worth. He was 
 a graduate of Oxford University, and the contributor, it 
 is said, of some of the papers in Addison's Spectator. 
 He held a commission also in a regiment of horse. 
 
 Descended from an ancient baronial family, and in- 
 
54 WASHINGTON. 
 
 heriting a large fortune, his lordship had moved in the 
 best circles of English society. It was his lot however 
 to be grievously disappointed in an affair of the heart. 
 He sought seclusion from the gay world. On visiting 
 his American estates in Virginia, which he inherited from 
 his mother, he was charmed with the people, the country, 
 and the climate; and he resolved to bid adieu to old 
 associates and to settle in the New World. 
 
 His mother was Catharine, daughter of Thomas, Lord 
 Culpeper, and the estates in Virginia, which he inherited 
 from her, comprehended, according to the original grant 
 which Lord Culpeper received from Charles II, all the 
 lands between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. 
 These lands, it was estimated, contained 5,700,000 acres.* 
 They included a tract of country comprising about a sev 
 enth part of the present area of Virginia, and are now 
 divided into twenty-one counties, f For several years 
 William Fairfax, as his lordship's agent, superintended 
 these estates. 
 
 Lord Thomas, as he was called, was a man of remark 
 able appearance. He was tall, muscular, and swarthy, 
 with prominent features, and of an uncommonly large 
 frame. He took up his permanent residence on a domain 
 which he named " Greenway Court," thirteen miles south 
 east of Winchester, capital of Frederick county. There 
 he lived upon his rents, paying little attention to the 
 
 * Barnaby's " Travels through the Middle Settlements in America 
 in the years 1759 and 1760, with Observations upon the State of the 
 Colonies," p. 159. The whole State comprises thirty-nine millions 
 two hundred and sixty-five thousand acres. 
 
 t The counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, West 
 moreland, Stafford, King George, Prince William, Fairfax, Loudon, 
 Fauquier, Culpeper, Clarke, Madison, Page, Shenandoah, Hardy, 
 Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson, and Frederick. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 55 
 
 cultivation of his grounds, for he preferred the wildness 
 of primeval forest scenery. He led the life of a bachelor 
 and occupied a single clapboard story-and-a-half house.* 
 From the abundance of his pecuniary means, he dis 
 pensed his hospitalities and benefactions, especially among 
 the middle and lower classes of the community, in so 
 liberal a manner and in so noble a spirit that he won for 
 himself universal admiration and esteem. He became the 
 principal magistrate of Frederick county, and presided at 
 the Winchester provincial courts ; and, in the French and 
 Indian War, he led the troops of his county to the aid 
 of Washington, then Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial 
 Army of Virginia. 
 
 During the war for independence however he had no 
 sympathy with his gallant young friend, for he continued 
 to the last hour of his long life having attained to the 
 age of ninety-two a loyal subject of Great Britain. 
 
 His death occurred soon after the capture of Corn- 
 wallis, and, it is said, was hastened by the effect produced 
 upon his mind by that event. He had scarcely heard the 
 tidings, when he said to his body-servant, " Come, Joe, 
 carry me to my bed; for I'm sure 'tis high time for me 
 to die." 
 
 He gave the land on which was erected, at Winchester, 
 the first Episcopal church built in the Valley of Virginia. 
 Under the chancel of that church his body was deposited 
 in a coffin mounted with massive silver; and when the 
 old church was taken down and replaced by the new one, 
 his remains were removed, and honored with a renewal 
 of the special mark of distinction previously bestowed 
 
 * [Precisely the style of house in which George Washington was 
 born.] 
 
56 WASHINGTON. 
 
 on them. A monumental slab was also erected to his 
 memory. 
 
 When first he met the future chief, he had just come 
 to America, at the age of fifty-seven years, to reside on 
 his domain. He was, at this time, an inmate at Belvoir, 
 the residence of his kinsman and agent, a short distance 
 from Mount Vernon. There, in addition to other sons 
 and daughters in the family, was the highly-educated eld 
 est son of William Fairfax, George William, then about 
 twenty-two years of age, with his bride and her sister, 
 accomplished daughters of Colonel Carey, of Virginia. 
 
 In the almost daily society of such persons, young 
 Washington enjoyed rare opportunities for intellectual 
 and social culture. His character was appreciated by 
 them. He won their esteem by his sterling integrity, his 
 ingenuousness, and his sound good sense. And Lord 
 Thomas was particularly attached to him. 
 
 His lordship, fond of hunting, kept his horses and his 
 hounds. And his young American friend, also greatly 
 delighting in the chase, became the companion of the old 
 nobleman in his favorite sport, and shared with him many 
 of his adventures " by field and flood." 
 
 When his lordship soon after resolved to reclaim large 
 portions of the choicest of his lands from settlers who 
 occupied them without right or title, it was an essential 
 prerequisite that the property should be surveyed and 
 divided into. lots. Washington's exercises, from time to 
 time, in the practical use of his surveyor's instruments, 
 on his brother's grounds, not only were observed with 
 interest by the families at Mount Vernon and Belvoir, but 
 led Lord Fairfax to entertain a very favorable opinion 
 of his young friend's acquirements. To him therefore he 
 confided the proposed important and laborious service. 
 
 Washington was then just entering his seventeenth 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 57 
 
 year (March, 1748). But he was remarkable for his 
 knowledge and skill as a practical surveyor; and not less 
 for other qualifications, personal and moral, just as neces 
 sary for the due performance of his task. 
 
 It was, on many accounts, an arduous and perilous 
 undertaking. But our youthful adventurer, accompanied 
 by the Hon. William Fairfax's son, George William, set 
 out for the Alleghany mountains and the South Branch 
 of the Potomac on his hazardous expedition, the priva 
 tions and fatigues of which are recorded in a journal 
 written by him at the time. The entries are often very 
 brief and general ; but they afford striking pictures of the 
 scenes through which he passed, and give many interest 
 ing details of his experiences in border life, and in the 
 hardships of the backwoodsman. 
 
 [The surveys had been going on for some time in charge 
 of a regularly-licensed surveyor, and Washington did no 
 more than to take part in them. He was not at first in 
 possession of a license, which was necessary to make a 
 survey legal. He merely assisted therefore, or, having 
 made a special survey, secured the signature on it of a 
 licensed surveyor. In due time he obtained a license 
 and was able to authenticate with his own name the sur 
 veys which he made. See the more full statement later on.] 
 
 JOURNAL OF JOURNEY OVER THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 "March I3th (1748). Rode to his lordship's quarter. 
 'About four miles higher up the river Shenandoah, we went 
 through most beautiful groves of sugar-trees, and spent 
 the best part of the day in admiring the trees, and the 
 richness of the land. 
 
$8 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " I4th. We sent our baggage to Captain Kite's, near 
 Fredericktown, and went ourselves down the river about 
 sixteen miles the land exceedingly rich all the way, 
 producing abundance of grain, hemp, and tobacco in 
 order to lay off some land on Gate's Marsh and Long 
 Marsh. 
 
 " 1 5th. Worked hard till night, and then returned. 
 After supper we were lighted into a room; and I, not 
 being so good a woodsman as the rest, stripped myself 
 very orderly and went into the bed, as they called it, when, 
 to my surprise, I found it to be^ nothing but a little straw 
 matted together, without sheet or any thing else but only 
 one threadbare blanket, with double its weight of vermin. 
 I was glad to get up and put on my clothes and lie as 
 my companions did. Had we not been very tired, I am 
 sure we should not have slept much that night. I made 
 a promise to sleep so no more, choosing rather to sleep 
 in the open air before a fire. 
 
 " i8th. We traveled to Thomas Berwick's on the Poto 
 mac, where we found the river exceedingly high by reason 
 of the great rains that had fallen among the Alleghanies. 
 They told us it would not be fordable for several days, 
 it being now six feet higher than usual, and rising. We 
 agreed to stay till Monday. We this day called to see 
 the famed Warm Springs.* We camped out in the field 
 this night. 
 
 " 2oth. Finding the river not much abated we in the 
 evening swam our horses over to the Maryland side. 
 
 "21 st. We went over in a canoe, and traveled up the 
 Maryland side all day, in a continued rain, to Colonel 
 Cresap's, over against the mouth of the South Branch, 
 about forty miles from our place of starting in the 
 
 * In Bath county, in the central part of Virginia. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 59 
 
 morning, and over the worst road, I believe, that ever 
 was trod by man or beast. 
 
 " 23d. Rained till about 2 o'clock, and then cleared up, 
 when we were agreeably surprised at the sight of more 
 than thirty Indians coming from war, with only one scalp. 
 We had some liquor with us, of which we gave them a 
 part. This, elevating their spirits, put them in the humor 
 of dancing. We then had a war dance. After clearing 
 a large space and making a great fire in the middle, the 
 men seated themselves around it, and the speaker made 
 a grand speech, telling them in what manner they were 
 to dance. After he had finished, the best dancer jumped 
 up as one awaked from sleep and ran and jumped about 
 the ring in a most comical manner. He was followed by 
 the rest. Then began their music, which was performed 
 with a pot half full of water and a deerskin stretched tight 
 over it, and a gourd with some shot in it to rattle, and a 
 piece of horse's tail tied to it to make it look fine. One 
 person kept rattling and another drumming all the while 
 they were dancing. 
 
 " 25th. Left Cresap's and went up to the mouth of Pat 
 terson's creek. There we swam our horses over the 
 Potomac, and went over ourselves in a canoe, and traveled 
 fifteen miles, where we camped. 
 
 " 26th. Traveled up to Solomon Hedge's, Esquire, one 
 of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace in the county of 
 Frederick, where we camped. When we came to supper, 
 there was neither a knife on the table nor a fork, to eat 
 with; but, as good luck would have it, we had knives of 
 our own. 
 
 "28th. Traveled up the South Branch having come 
 to that river yesterday about thirty miles to Mr. J. R/s 
 (horse-jockey), and about seventy miles from the mouth 
 of the river. 
 
60 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " 29th. This morning went out and surveyed 500 acres 
 of land. Shot two wild turkeys. 
 
 " 30th. Began our intended business of laying off lots. 
 
 "April 2d. A blowing, rainy night. Our straw, upon 
 which we were lying, took fire; but I was luckily pre 
 served by one of our men's awaking when it was in a 
 flame. We have run off four lots this day. 
 
 " 4th. This morning Mr. Fairfax left us with the inten 
 tion to go down to the mouth of the river. We surveyed 
 two lots and were attended with a great company of 
 people men, women, and children who followed us 
 through the woods, showing their antic tricks. They 
 seem to be as ignorant a set of people as the Indians. 
 They would never speak English, but when spoken to 
 they all spoke Dutch. This day our tent was blown down 
 by the violence of the wind. 
 
 " 6th. The last night was so intolerably smoky that we 
 were obliged to leave our tent to the mercy of the wind 
 and fire. Attended this day by the aforesaid company. 
 
 " 7th. This day one of our men killed a wild turkey that 
 weighed twenty pounds. We surveyed 1,500 acres of land 
 and returned to Vanmeter's about I o'clock. I took my 
 horse and went up to see Mr. Fairfax. We slept in Cas- 
 sey's house, which was the first night I had slept in a house 
 since we came to the Branch. 
 
 " 8th. We breakfasted at Cassey's and rode down to 
 Vanmeter's to get our company together, which, when we 
 had accomplished, we rode down below the Trough to 
 lay off lots there. The Trough is a couple of ledges of 
 mountains, impassable, running side by side for seven or 
 eight miles and the river between them. You must ride 
 round the back of the mountains to get below them. We 
 camped in the woods and after we had pitched our tent and 
 made a large fire, we pulled out our knapsack to recruit 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 61 
 
 ourselves. Every one was his own cook. Our spits were 
 forked sticks, our plates were large chips. As for dishes 
 we had none. 
 
 " loth. We took our farewell of the Branch and traveled 
 over hills and mountains to Coddy's, on Great Cacapehon, 
 about forty miles. 
 
 " I2th. Mr. Fairfax got safe home; and I to my brother's 
 house at Mount Vernon; which concludes my journal." 
 
 He received, the year after the time of this excursion 
 (1749), the appointment of public surveyor. And he 
 prosecuted the duties of this office with diligence, travers 
 ing wild lands between the Potomac and the Rappahan- 
 nock. 
 
 The original record of his appointment is still extant 
 in one of the books in the county clerk's office at the town 
 of Fairfax, the county-seat of Culpeper. It is in these 
 words : 
 
 " 2oth July, 1749 (o. s.) George Washington, Gent., pro 
 duced a commission from the president and master of 
 William and Mary College appointing him to be surveyor 
 'of this county, which was read, and thereupon he took the 
 usual oaths to his Majesty's person and government and 
 took and subscribed the abjuration oath and test and then 
 took the oath of surveyor according to law." 
 
 The privations and rough fare of his life in the woods 
 continued for three years. Writing to a friend he says: 
 " Since you received my letter in October last, I have 
 not slept above three or four nights in a bed; but, after 
 walking a good deal all day I have lain down before the 
 fire upon a little hay, straw, fodder, or a bear's-skin, which 
 ever was to be had with man, wife, and children, like dogs 
 and cats, and happy is he who gets the berth nearest the 
 
6 2 WASHINGTON. 
 
 fire. Nothing would make it pass off tolerably but a good 
 reward. A doubloon is my constant gain every day that 
 the weather will permit my going out, and sometimes six 
 pistoles.* The coldness of the weather will not allow of 
 my making a long stay as the lodging is rather too cold 
 for the time of year. I have never had my clothes off, 
 but have lain and slept in them, except the few nights I 
 have been in Fredericktown."f 
 
 [There is no indication to what time this letter applies ; 
 but probably the early winter (perhaps of 1749) * n con 
 nection with an expedition " To Survey the Land at the 
 mouth of the Little Cacapehon and the mouth of Fifteen 
 Mile Creek for the Gentlemen of the Ohio," as a " Mem." 
 set down by Washington, later than his record of surveys 
 made in the expedition of March and April, 1748. This 
 "Mem." we shall refer to again presently, in the account 
 given below of the record of travel and surveys made by 
 Washington. There is no ground for assuming that for 
 three years the surveying work was going on all the time, 
 or the most of the time. In the letter to " Dear Friend 
 Robin," without date, but in the "surveying" period, 
 young Washington writes that his " place of residence at 
 present is at his Lordship's " (then at the Belvoir Fairfax 
 house), and he talks of passing his time there, evidently 
 not just then engaged in surveying. 
 
 The quotations given above do not adequately reflect 
 the real facts, not only from omission of important items, 
 but from failure to note the significance of the whole rec 
 ord. The first entry is: "Friday, March nth. Began 
 my journey in company with Mr. George Fairfax, Esq.: 
 
 * Equivalent to $20. 
 
 t Manuscript letter appended to his journal, and addressed to a 
 friend whom he calls "Dear Richard." It is evidently a rough 
 draft of what he sent to his friend. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 63 
 
 we travelled this day 40 miles." The second entry is: 
 " Saturday, March I2th. Mr. James Genn, the surveyor, 
 Came to us: we travelled over the Blue Ridge to Capt. 
 Ashby's on Shenandoah River." Then follows : " Sunday, 
 March 13. Rode to his Lordship's Quarter," etc. 
 
 Mr. James Genn, it will be seen, was "the surveyor," 
 and the party, having travelled thus far in three days, went 
 on sixteen miles farther, " in order to lay off some Land 
 on Gates Marsh and Long Marsh." On Tuesday, " We 
 set out early with intent to run round the said Land, but 
 being taken in a rain, and it increasing very fast obliged 
 us to return. It clearing about one o'clock, we a second 
 time ventured out and worked hard till night, then re 
 turned to Pennington's (Capt. Isaac Pennington's, where 
 they had put up the day before.) This was a single sur 
 vey, the mere laying off of a large plot of land. On the 
 i6th the party " set out early and finished about one 
 o'clock, and then travelled up to Fredericktown ; took a 
 review of the town, and returned to our Lodgings where 
 we had a good dinner prepared for us: wine and rum 
 punch in plenty ; and a good feather bed with clean sheets." 
 The next day rain detained them, but on clearing they 
 went on twenty-five miles, and that night " had a tolerable 
 good bed to lay on." The following day travelled thirty- 
 five miles to the Potomac, " then about six foot higher 
 than usual by reason of the great rains," and " camped 
 out in the field " that night. The 2Oth was Sunday, with 
 the river not much abated, and in the evening they " swam 
 their horses over and carried them to Charles Polks in 
 Maryland for pasturage till the next morning." Travelled 
 the next day up the Maryland side of the Potomac about 
 forty miles to Colonel Cresaps, " right against the mouth 
 of the South Branch." The continued rain on the next 
 day kept the party at Cresaps. The next day's report 
 
64 WASHINGTON. 
 
 was of more rain and seeing a party of Indians ; and noth 
 ing more than the Indians again on the following day, the 
 24th. On the 25th an advance to Paterson's creek, and 
 thence fifteen miles up that stream, and camped out. Fur 
 ther up the stream the next day to Solomon Hedges ; then 
 on Sunday, the day after, travelled from Hedges over to 
 the South Branch, " in order to go about intended work 
 of lots." On Monday went on up the South Branch 
 " about 30 miles to Mr. James Rutlidges ; " and Tuesday, 
 29th, " This morning went out and surveyed 500 acres of 
 land, and went down to one Michael Stumps on the South 
 Fork of the Branch." On Wednesday, 3Oth: "This 
 morning began our intended business of laying off lots. 
 We began at the boundary line of the northern 10 miles 
 above Stumps, and run off two lots and returned to 
 Stumps." Thursday, 3ist, " run off three lots, and re 
 turned to our camping place at Stumps." Friday, April 
 ist, " run off three lots and returned to camp." Saturday, 
 April 2d, " run off four lots this day which reached below 
 Stumps." On Sunday, the 3d, after a night in which the 
 wind carried quite off their tent, so that they were 
 " obliged to lie the latter part of the night without cover 
 ing," " several persons came to see us," and " one of our 
 men shot a wild turkey." Monday, April 4th : " This 
 morning Mr. Fairfax left us with intent to go down by 
 the mouth of the Branch. We did two lots, and was at 
 tended by a great company of people as we went through 
 the woods. They speak all Dutch. This day our tent was 
 blown down by the violentness of the wind." Tuesday, 
 5th, " we went out and did four lots, attended by the same 
 company of people." That night "was so intolerably 
 smoky that we were obliged all hands to leave the tent to 
 the mercy of the wind and fire." On Wednesday, 6th, 
 attended by the same company until about twelve o'clock, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 65 
 
 " when we finished," and travelled down the Branch about 
 thirty miles. Caught in a very heavy rain, they " got un 
 der a straw house until the worst of it was over." The 
 next morning " surveyed 1,500 acres of land and returned 
 about one o'clock." About two " heard that Mr. Fairfax 
 was at Peter Cassey's about two miles off; took my horse 
 and went up to see him; slept in Cassey's house which 
 was the first night I had slept in a house since I came up 
 to the Branch." Friday, 8th, " We breakfasted at Cas 
 sey's (Washington and Fairfax) and rode down together 
 to Van Metris's to get all our company together. Rode 
 down below the Trough in order to lay off lots there. 
 Laid off one this day. Camped this night in the woods 
 (instead of at some settler's place). After we had pitched 
 our tent and made a very large fire, we pulled out our 
 knapsack, in order to recruit ourselves. Every one was 
 his own cook. Our spits was forked sticks, our plates a 
 large chip." This exceptional experience is used by Ban 
 croft to show what sort of hard life Washington had to 
 live as a surveyor. The record shows how they com 
 monly camped where a settler's house was available for 
 their meals, if not for beds, and how in one house there 
 were no knives, " but, as good luck would have it, we had 
 knives of our own " (at Solomon Hedges, March 26th). 
 Moreover, the very next day, the record is, " Saturday, 
 9th: Set the surveyors to work, whilst Mr. Fairfax and 
 myself stayed at the tent." Their rations were exhausted, 
 and they had to go without until, at four or five in the 
 evening, they " could get some from the neighbors," as 
 they had all along done until these two days deep in the 
 woods. The two young gentlemen, Washington and Fair 
 fax, were in charge of a party of surveyors ; and on this 
 day the former says of himself and his companion, after 
 they got something to eat in the evening, " We then took 
 5 
 
66 WASHINGTON. 
 
 leaves of the rest of our company, and rode down to John 
 Colins in order to set off the next day homewards." The 
 next day was Sunday, April loth, and the two young men 
 "travelled over hills and mountains to Coddy's, on Great 
 Cacapehon, about forty miles." The next day they trav 
 elled to Fredericktown, and the day after a further long 
 journey to get over the Ridge. A third day brought them 
 home. 
 
 These records show twelve days of surveying in thirty- 
 four days, and in four special places, without the least at 
 tempt anywhere at a general survey. They do not show 
 Washington acting as a surveyor, but merely taking a 
 hand in the work being done by a party of surveyors. It 
 was a year and four months after this before Washington 
 had a license under which he could himself act as a sur 
 veyor, and even then he did no more than to execute 
 special surveys. In one only of the four situations men 
 tioned above were any considerable number of lots sur 
 veyed, and only seven days were necessary for this; nor 
 was it Washington's work; it was the work of a party of 
 surveyors under Mr. Genn, " the surveyor," in which 
 Washington assisted in only a minor way. The whole 
 story of Lord Fairfax wanting his domain surveyed, and 
 intrusting Washington at sixteen with the work, and the 
 latter going on as a surveyor for three years, until he 
 was nineteen, is unhistorical. For the first half nearly of 
 the three years, until July, 1749, Washington was not a 
 surveyor and could only work at it under some one who 
 was. For the second half, and a little more, of the three 
 years, he did no more than to execute special surveys, 
 laying off an estate here, and a group of lots there. The 
 record of the early work, as given above, has never been 
 fully and correctly given. Even Mr. W. C. Ford's edi- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 67 
 
 tion, with all its pretension to reproduce the original, 
 leaves the whole matter in confusion. 
 
 There is in the Department of State at Washington an 
 ancient blank-book, originally of very nice quality, which 
 has in it the record which Washington made of the first 
 weeks of his active life, in March and April, 1748, when 
 he was a youth of sixteen. The new edition of "Wash 
 ington's Writings " draws first from this book, and by 
 comparison with the original we soon see how Mr. Ford 
 works. 
 
 Mr. Ford omits, at the top of page i, volume I, the title 
 to what he calls "the earliest manuscript that I have 
 found, except his studies in surveying and summaries of 
 his reading," and of which he says that it " is printed from 
 the original in the Department of State." The original 
 begins: "A Journal of my Journey over the Mountains, 
 began Fryday the nth of March 1747-8." Mr. Ford omits 
 this, and gives in place of it, "Journal of a Survey, 1748," 
 which is not in the original. Not only so, but Mr. Ford 
 is entirely wrong in putting the title " Journal of a Sur 
 vey " to the document which Washington called " Jour 
 nal of my Journey." 
 
 The original which Mr. Ford has used is in a small 
 blank-book, on the front cover of which is a remnant of 
 the clasp, showing this to be the front cover, and the in 
 scription written with a pen, 
 
 Journey over the Moun 
 tains in 1747 
 
 Survey Notes 
 Youthful letters 
 
 Mem s &c. 
 
 A little scrutiny shows that at one and the same time 
 Washington made a double use of the book. On the first 
 page, in the front of the book, he begins a Journal-Record 
 
68 WASHINGTON. 
 
 of his Surveys, as follows: " March ye I5th, 1747-8 Sur 
 veyed for George Fairfax, Esq.r. a Tract of Hand lying 
 on Cotes Marsh and Long Marsh beginning at three Red 
 Oaks Fx on a Ridge the No. side a spring Branch being 
 corner to the 623 acre Tract/' etc. The record of this 
 survey fills the first page and two-thirds of the second. 
 The third page has the record of another survey, begin 
 ning: "March 29, 1/48, Surveyed for Mr James Rut- 
 lidge ye following a piece of Land Beginning at 3 W. O. 
 in ye Manner Line by a Path leading to ye Clay Lick," etc. 
 
 On page 4 begins a record of Surveys of lots, numbered 
 Lot i, Lot 2, etc., to Lot 20, and ending at the top of page 
 12. This record has the heading " The Courses and Dis 
 tances of ye Several Lots lay'd of on ye So Fork of Wap- 
 pacomo Began March 3oth 1748." Lots i and 2 are placed 
 under March 3Oth, Lots 3 to 8 under March 3ist, Lots 
 9 to 12 under April 2d, Lots 13 and 14, and the " Courses 
 of ye Fork/' under April 4th, Lots 15 to 18 under April 
 5th, and Lots 19 and 20 under April 6th. 
 
 On page 13 of the book follows a memorandum of " The 
 Manner how to Draw up a Return when Surveyed for 
 His Lordship or any of ye Family." It begins : " March 
 1 5th, 1747-8 Then Surveyed for George Fairfax Esqr. 
 Three Thousand and Twenty Three Acres of Land lying 
 in Frederick County on Long Marsh Joyning Thomas 
 Johnstones Land and bounded as follows." The descrip 
 tion follows, five lines on page 13, to the top of page 15. 
 The memorandum indicates that the return was to be 
 signed as follows : 
 
 JAMES GENN 
 GEORGE ASHBY 
 RXCHARD TAYLOR 
 ROBERT ASHBY Marker 
 WM. LINDSEY Pilot 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 69 
 
 Germ was, as we have seen, an authorized surveyor, 
 which Washington at the time was not, although he be 
 came so later by obtaining a license from William and 
 Mary College, upon an examination duly passed. 
 
 The three following leaves, pages 16-21, are torn out, 
 with the writing on them. Page 22 has, on the top half, 
 "The Courses of the Town of Alexandria," and "The 
 Measures of the River," with half a dozen lines under the 
 latter head. Then begins a series of letters, or drafts, the 
 first, addressed to " Dear Sir," breaking off at the top of 
 the next page, and directly followed, to the middle of page 
 25, with a letter addressed, " Dear Friend John." Sub 
 stantially the same letter, addressed, " Dear Friend Robin," 
 follows, from the top of page 26 to the middle of page 28. 
 A letter, addressed " Dear Sally," follows on pages 29 and 
 30. At the top of page 31 a letter was begun, " Dear Sir 
 It would be the greatest satisfaction," and then broken 
 off, but these few words show a care with the pen distinctly 
 better than the usual hand of the writer, but not another 
 hand. There comes next a " Memorandum to have my 
 Coat made by the following Directions," which extends 
 to the middle of page 32. Thence forward pages 33 to 50 
 are blank. Pages 52 to 55 had been torn out, apparently 
 blank, and a letter, addressed " Dear Richard," is written 
 on pages 51 and 56. At the top of page 57 is written: 
 " Mem. To Survey the Land at the Mouth of the Little 
 Cacapehon and the Mouth of Fifteen Mile Creek for the 
 gentlemen of the Ohio Com : " Two-thirds of the next page, 
 the 58th, contains a letter beginning: "I heartily con 
 gratulate you on the happy news of my Brother's safe ar 
 rival in health in England, and am joy'd to hear that his 
 stay is likely to be so short." The next thirty-five pages 
 are blank, counting two in one place, and eight in another, 
 torn out. 
 
70 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Then we come to writing which is the other side up, 
 being thirty-four pages, and two or three blank pages, 
 which begin from the other end of the volume, the back 
 end. On pages I to 24 occurs what Washington entitled, 
 "A Journal of my Journey over the Mountains, began 
 Fryday the nth of March 1747-8." It is very plain that 
 while entering in the front of the book his Surveys, in the 
 form both of records and of a journal, Washington turned 
 the book round and entered his journal of travel. Mr. 
 Ford copies the journal of travel (as we have done above\ 
 omits the title which stands at the head of the first page 
 of the document itself, and puts to it the title properly 
 belonging to the document in the front end of the book, 
 which he does not copy, the journal-record of surveys. 
 Mr. Ford's first page thus begins with an inexcusable omis 
 sion of what Washington wrote, and a substitution of 
 something written by himself, which is inapplicable and 
 untrue. 
 
 In a note to his false title, Mr. Ford carries error and 
 misstatement still further. He says : " This is the earliest 
 manuscript of Washington's that I have found, except his 
 studies in surveying and his summaries of his reading, and 
 is printed from the original in the Department of State. 
 It possesses little interest apart from its early date. Lord 
 Fairfax claimed under a patent of James II all of what 
 is now the lower end of the Shenandoah valley, and it was 
 by his directions that Washington surveyed it." There 
 are about as many errors as phrases in this note. The 
 claim of Lord Fairfax was simply that of inheritance from 
 his mother, daughter of Lord Thomas Culpeper, who 
 finally held a limited, though still immense, estate, under 
 an agreement on his part which very greatly modified the 
 effect of the original patent. The limit, however, of the 
 estate, as Culpeper's daughter left it to her son, is very 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 71 
 
 inadequately described by saying " the lower end of the 
 Shenandoah valley," since it went well into the Alleghany 
 mountains beyond. And, whatever were the limits, it is 
 most incorrect to say that " Washington surveyed it." 
 One of the earliest letters of Washington speaks of " the 
 other Surveyors," in connection with his request for direc 
 tions as to " the Surveying of Cacapehon." Both before 
 Washington began, and while he was engaged, there were 
 " other surveyors," who must have done much more than 
 he did; and in this first instance Washington, even if he 
 had general direction as well as gave assistance, was not 
 himself the surveyor. His journal of the second day says, 
 as we have seen, " Mr. James Genn, the Surveyor, came 
 to us." His memorandum of a proper return of one of 
 the surveys shows that it was to bear the signature of 
 Genn as surveyor, and the names of four others, two 
 chainmen, a marker and a pilot, and not Washington's 
 name at all. The journal of April Qth says : " Set the 
 Surveyors to work, whilst Mr. Fairfax and myself stayed 
 at the tent." The fact was that Washington was not yet 
 a surveyor; and that when, nearly a year and a half later, 
 he took out a license and thus became one, he was by no 
 means the only one, and did not anything like survey the 
 domain at large of Lord Fairfax. No one in fact " sur 
 veyed it," in the sense of a general survey. Here and 
 there estates, farms, or lots were marked off by reference 
 only to arbitrarily chosen points and bounds. 
 
 Mr. Ford says that the Journal of a Journey is the earli 
 est manuscript, etc.; but this leaves out of view the much 
 greater amount of matter which Washington wrote in the 
 front of the volume, at the back end of which, reversing 
 the book, he wrote the journal of his journey. This mat 
 ter consists of a record of the surveys made, and of the 
 series of letters, some idea of which we have given. With 
 
72 WASHINGTON. 
 
 very slight exceptions the whole is of extreme interest, 
 and ought to have been printed, with ample notes of ex 
 planation. It is certainly of interest to find from two por 
 tions of what Mr. Ford leaves out, that the first survey 
 made was to mark off for George William Fairfax an 
 estate of 3,023 acres, on Long Marsh. Every word of the 
 letters which follow the record of surveys should be given, 
 as only by seeing all can one judge what they really are, 
 whether they are mere drafts never used, or actual letters, 
 and what autobiographical significance they have. 
 
 Mr. Ford says that he has printed from the original. 
 His preface tells us of his rule that " wherever possible, 
 the original is used," and he further says, " I have been 
 specially fortunate in my copyist, to whose industry and 
 accuracy I gladly pay some tribute." But as early as the 
 tenth line on the first page there is the palpable blunder of 
 reading " spent the last part of the Day in admiring the 
 Trees and Richness of the Land," when the original most 
 plainly has " best part of the Day." In the thirteenth line 
 of page 2, in " Had we not have been," the " have " is care 
 lessly left out. At the twentieth and twenty-sixth lines 
 on page 3, " men " is read for " they," and " full " is in 
 serted into " Pot half of water." In line 6, page 4, " our " 
 is inserted into " knives of own," and " own " bracketed 
 as not in the text, when it is there most plainly. At line 
 4, page 5, " by " is carelessly put for " to the mouth of the 
 Branch ; " at line 18 we have " up till about 12 o'clock," 
 for "untill." On page 6, at line 18, "untill about 4" has 
 the " about " left out, while the next line omits the " our " 
 in " We then took our leaves." 
 
 These half score of perfectly palpable and needless mis 
 takes, within half a dozen pages, bring us to page 7, twenty- 
 five lines of which are occupied with the " Dear Richard " 
 letter, " printed from the original," and, as Mr. Ford's 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 73 
 
 preface promises, with " the fulness and accuracy of detail 
 even to an extreme/' every letter, punctuation, or want 
 of it, use of capital letters, bad spelling, etc., etc., to meet 
 " the requirements of the modern historical method/' The 
 " industry and accuracy " of " my copyist," in this letter 
 of twenty-five lines, must have gone on a vacation, as the 
 copy printed by Mr. Ford contains eighty-five variations 
 from the perfectly legible and plain original. It is in fact 
 from some previously printed copy, which a corrector had 
 altered throughout, and not even a glance at the original 
 has been taken, sufficient to detect so large an omission 
 as that of the words " like a Negro," in the close of the 
 letter. The original has, " I have never had my Cloths 
 of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except the few 
 Nights I have lay'n in Frederick Town." Mr. Ford has it, 
 " I have never had my clothes off, but lay & sleep in 
 them, except the few nights I have lay'n in Frederic Town." 
 An editor and copyist who can't together see a Negro so 
 conspicuously manifest will have to be content with being 
 a mutual admiration society of two. The other chief errors 
 of Mr. Ford's copy of this letter are hardly less excusable. 
 The original says, " Dubbleloon," " Birth nearest the fire," 
 " Parcel of Doggs or Catts," " Little Hay Straw Fodder 
 or bairskin," but Mr. Ford has " doubloon," " berth," " par 
 cel of dogs and cats," and "little hay, straw, fodder, or 
 bearskin," quite as if young Master Washington had not 
 only written more correctly than Lord Bacon and Shakes 
 peare, but as correctly as we do now. 
 
 Mr. Ford next gives the " Dear Friend Robin " letter ; 
 twenty-six lines of text, which again is not printed from 
 the original, but from a copy altered from that. Pretend 
 ing that it is accurately copied, Mr. Ford yet gives it to 
 us with fifty-one variations from the original. Thus 
 
74 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " makes me endeavour " is read " I make one endeavor ; " 
 and although most of the other words are as in the orig 
 inal, the spelling, punctuation, and use of capitals are ac 
 cording to a corrected copy. A note to this letter gives 
 "A curious memorandum," that about the making of a 
 coat, and in ten lines there are fifty-one variations from 
 the original. Mr. Ford says of this memorandum that it, 
 "judging from the hand-writing, belongs to this period." 
 He does not tell us whether his accurate copyist concurs 
 in this sapient judgment. The simple fact is that the 
 memorandum occurs as one item among the others in this 
 early little book, like a brick laid into a wall, and there is 
 not the smallest chance to judge about it, it so manifestly 
 goes with the other items. And this is but one slight 
 illustration of the false pretenses made by Mr. Ford as 
 an editor, collector, annotator, etc. He says of the " Jour 
 nal," as we have seen : " This is the earliest manuscript 
 that / have found." These three last words are pure false 
 pretense. The manuscript in question, and the other early 
 manuscripts, were all " found " before Mr. Ford's time 
 and labors. They repose in the library of the Department 
 of State, and Mr. Ford has the leave to see them, which any 
 one can have. Not only has Mr. Ford not looked up any 
 of the material to which he thus refers, but he has not 
 looked at it enough to reproduce it correctly. The manu 
 script book which he pretends to have " found," with its 
 double character (i) a Journal of Surveys, followed by 
 other papers, reading from the front of the book through 
 about sixty pages, and (2) a " Journal of my Journey over 
 the Mountains," reading from the back end of the book 
 through twenty-four pages, Mr. Ford sees in only its sec 
 ond character, and copying this he puts to it, not its own 
 title, but that belonging to the book in its other character. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 75 
 
 These experiences in the wilderness essentially served 
 important purposes which were to be accomplished in the 
 future ordering of events, and in which America and 
 humanity at large were interested. 
 
 They established his reputation as a young man of 
 energy, diligence, ability, and integrity. He might have 
 lingered, without reproach, among the pleasures of Mount 
 Vernon and of Belvoir ; for his society ever was the delight 
 of his brother Lawrence, and at the hospitable mansion and 
 in the elegant society of the Fairfaxes he would always have 
 received a hearty welcome. But it was his manly choice 
 faithfully to fulfil the duties of his chosen occupation as a 
 land surveyor, although required by them to brave the dan 
 gers and endure the hardships and privations of life in 
 the woods. None that knew him needed any further proofs 
 of his title to their esteem and confidence. 
 
 Another important result of his forest discipline was the 
 development of his naturally vigorous frame. He was re 
 quired to ride for days together on horseback through wild 
 regions, or to traverse them afoot, continually encounter 
 ing difficulties which put to a severe test his agility and 
 strength, and thus so exercised his physical powers that 
 while he was yet in youth he had the aspect, the port, and 
 the muscle of maturity. 
 
 The nature of his occupation contributed also to his 
 ability, when casting his eye over an extensive region to 
 form at a glance a correct estimate of distances, which to 
 any one who was inexpert seemed marvelous. And he 
 learned by long practice to discover in the dim disance and 
 identify objects which no common eye could see. 
 
 In his forest experience he made yet another valuable 
 acquisition. This was his familiar acquaintance with the 
 habits and opinions of backwoodsmen. He met them in 
 their rambles, took part with them in their hunting excur- 
 
76 WASHINGTON. 
 
 sions, camped with them in the woods, sat with them in 
 their log cabins, partook of their coarse fare, and formed 
 from his own observation a just estimate of their true char 
 acter, so that afterward when they became soldiers of his 
 armies he thoroughly understood the secret of commanding 
 and directing their best energies. 
 
 And he enjoyed in his surveying expeditions and in his 
 intercourse with borderers and red men, very favorable 
 opportunities for gaining a knowledge of Indian life in its 
 best and its worst phases. He heard from the lips of the 
 backwoodsman, his spirit-stirring tales of the savage 
 cruelties and of the cunning and the treachery which made 
 the word Indian a signal of alarm. He ascertained also 
 by means of his personal intercourse with these wild men, 
 that there were combined with their worst traits some of 
 a far less repugnant nature. A knowledge of their social 
 habits, their opinions, their prejudices, predilections, and 
 superstitions, their artifices in war, and the best modes 
 of conciliating and controlling or of contending with and 
 overpowering them, he acquired in the very regions where 
 they made their haunts. 
 
 There was moreover an important mental influence de 
 rived from his frequenting primeval forests and moving 
 among the sights and sounds associated with them. Such 
 sights and sounds do not affect only the poetic and im 
 aginative, they find a ready response in every ingenuous 
 and susceptible mind. The very silence of the deep woods 
 is significant, and when night shuts out all that the eye 
 finds in them that is of interest, their solemn gloom broken 
 only by the glare of the camp-fire or by the light of the 
 pale moon and twinkling stars, awakens thoughts and 
 emotions which produce a deep and durable impression on 
 the soul. A familiarity with nature, especially in the wild 
 grandeur of her mountain and forest scenerv ever has 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 77 
 
 exerted a powerful influence upon the human mind and 
 heart. 
 
 While making his surveys Washington was frequently 
 led to visit Greenway Court, and he would sometimes tarry 
 there for a few days. On these occasions he indulged 
 with his lordship in his favorite field sports, availed him 
 self of the rare advantages afforded by his well-selected 
 library, and enjoyed the benefit of his edifying and instruc 
 tive conversation. It appears from the young surveyor's 
 diary and it is a significant record, that instead of light 
 literature, he now devoted his hours for reading chiefly to 
 Addison's Spectator and the History of England. 
 
 During occasional intermissions of severe duty, he re 
 sorted either to his loved home at his mother's, or to the 
 delightful residence of his brother Lawrence, at Mount 
 Vernon. His attachment to this brother was always 
 ardent and devoted. Lawrence was not only an accom 
 plished gentleman, possessed of those qualities which com 
 mand deference, excite regard, and kindle affection, but 
 he had the practical experience of a soldier's life; and, as 
 an active member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 
 he was familiarly acquainted with political affairs. From 
 intercourse with him, his brother George continued to 
 gather stores of valuable knowledge. 
 
 His employment as a surveyor kept him busily, use 
 fully, and profitably occupied. And he relied upon this 
 employment for his support, not anticipating by loans the 
 revenues to be derived from his patrimonial inheritance. 
 
 His father had bequeathed to the eldest son, Lawrence, 
 the estate afterward called Mount Vernon. To Augustine, 
 the second son of his first wife, he had given the old 
 homestead in Westmoreland county. And George, at the 
 age of twenty-one, was to inherit the house and lands in 
 Suffolk county. As yet however he derived no benefit 
 
78 WASHINGTON. 
 
 from this landed property. But his industry and diligence 
 in his laborious occupation supplied him with abundant 
 pecuniary means. His habits of life were simple and eco 
 nomical; he indulged in no gay and expensive pleasures; 
 in early youth a good boy, he had now become an indus 
 trious young man, and he was maturing his discipline for 
 a step yet higher. 
 
 When, in due course of time, he received his inheritance, 
 unimpaired and unencumbered, and in addition to it the 
 large estate of Mount Vernon, bequeathed to him by his 
 brother Lawrence, and also of valuable lands in Berkeley 
 county, he was intellectually and morally qualified to enter 
 upon the duties, fulfil the obligations, and dispense the 
 hospitalities and bounties of an opulent planter; intelli 
 gent, honorable, and every way exemplary. 
 
 [Washington did not receive the full property interest 
 of Mount Vernon until the life interest in it of the widow 
 of Lawrence Washington had expired. He made an ar 
 rangement for possession under which he paid to her and 
 her second husband an annual sum sufficient to materially 
 draw upon his resources. 
 
 Lodge says of the early developments of character in 
 Washington and of the means by which they were brought 
 about : 
 
 "While Washington was working his way through the 
 learning purveyed by Mr. Williams, he was also receiving 
 another education, of a much broader and better sort, 
 from the men and women among whom he found himself, 
 and with whom he made friends. Chief among them was 
 his eldest brother, Lawrence, fourteen years his senior, 
 who had been educated in England, had fought with Ver 
 non at Carthagena, and had then returned to Virginia, to 
 be to him a generous father and a loving friencL As the 
 head of the family, Lawrence Washington had received 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 79 
 
 the lion's share of the property, including the estate at 
 Hunting Creek, on the Potomac, which he christened 
 Mount Vernon, after his admiral, and where he settled 
 down and built him a goodly house. To this pleasant spot 
 George Washington journeyed often in vacation time, and 
 there he came to live and further pursue his studies, after 
 leaving school in the autumn of 1747. 
 
 " Lawrence Washington had married the daughter of 
 William Fairfax, the proprietor of Belvoir, a neighboring 
 plantation, and the agent for the vast estates held by his 
 family in Virginia. George Fairfax, Mrs. Washington's 
 brother, had married a Miss Carey, and thus two large 
 and agreeable family connections were thrown open to the 
 young surveyor when he emerged from school. The chief 
 figure, however, in that pleasant winter of 1747-48, so far 
 as an influence upon the character of Washington is con 
 cerned, was the head of the family into which Lawrence 
 Washington had married. Thomas, Lord Fairfax, then 
 sixty years of age, had come to Virginia to live upon and 
 look after the kingdom which he had inherited in the wilder 
 ness. He came of a noble and distinguished race. Grad 
 uating at Oxford with credit, he served in the army, dab 
 bled in literature, had his fling in the London world, and 
 was jilted by a beauty who preferred a duke, and gave her 
 faithful but less titled lover an apparently incurable wound. 
 His life having been thus early twisted and set awry, Lord 
 Fairfax, when well past his prime, had determined finally 
 to come to Virginia, bury himself in the forests, and look 
 after the almost limitless possessions beyond the Blue 
 Ridge, which he had inherited from his maternal grand 
 father, Lord Culpeper, of unsavory Restoration memory. 
 It was a piece of great good fortune which threw in Wash 
 ington's path this accomplished gentleman, familiar with 
 courts and camps, disappointed, but not morose, disillu- 
 
80 WASHINGTON. 
 
 sioned, but still kindly and generous. From him the boy 
 could gain that knowledge of men and manners which no 
 school can give, and which is as important in its way as 
 any that a teacher can impart. 
 
 " Lord Fairfax and Washington became fast friends. 
 They hunted the fox together, and hunted him hard. They 
 engaged in all the rough sports and perilous excitements 
 that Virginia winter life could afford, and the boy's bold 
 and skilful riding, his love of sports, and his fine temper, 
 commended him to the warm and affectionate interest of 
 the old nobleman. Other qualities, too, the experienced 
 man of the world saw in his young companion, a high and 
 persistent courage, robust and calm sense, and, above all, 
 unusual force of will and character. Washington im 
 pressed profoundly everybody with whom he was brought 
 into personal contact, a fact which is one of the most 
 marked features of his character and career, and one which 
 deserves study more than almost any other. Lord Fair 
 fax was no exception to the rule. He saw in Washington 
 not simply a promising, brave, open-hearted boy, diligent 
 in practicing his profession, and whom he was anxious to 
 help, but something more ; something which so impressed 
 him that he confided to this lad a task which, according 
 to its performance, would affect both his fortune and his 
 peace. In a word, he trusted Washington, and told him, 
 as the spring of 1748 was opening, to go forth and survey 
 the vast Fairfax estates beyond the Ridge, define their 
 boundaries, and save them from future litigation. With 
 this commission from Lord Fairfax, Washington entered 
 on the first period of his career. He passed it on the fron 
 tier, fighting nature, the Indians, and the French. He 
 went in a schoolboy; he came out the first soldier in the 
 Colonies and one of the leading men of Virginia. Let us 
 pause a moment and look at him as he stands on the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 81 
 
 threshold of this momentous period, rightly called mo 
 mentous because it was the formative period in the life of 
 such a man. 
 
 " He had just passed his sixteenth birthday. He was 
 tall and muscular, approaching the stature of more than 
 six feet which he afterward attained. He was not yet 
 filled out to manly proportions, but was rather spare, after 
 the fashion of youth. He had a well-shaped, active figure, 
 symmetrical except for the unusual length of the arms, 
 indicating uncommon strength. His light brown hair was 
 drawn back from a broad forehead, and grayish-blue eyes 
 looked happily, and perhaps a trifle soberly, on the pleas 
 ant Virginia world about him. The face was open and 
 manly, with a square, massive jaw, and a general expres 
 sion of calmness and strength. " Fair and florid/' big 
 and strong, he was, take him for all in all, as fine a speci 
 men of his race as could be found in the English Colonies. 
 
 " Let us look a little closer through the keen eyes of one 
 who studied many faces to good purpose. The great 
 painter of portraits, Gilbert Stuart, tells us of Washing 
 ton that he never saw in any man such large eye-sockets, 
 or such a breadth of nose and forehead between the eyes, 
 and that he read there the evidence of the strongest pas 
 sions possible to human nature. John Bernard, the actor, 
 a good observer, too, saw in Washington's face, in 1797* 
 the signs of an habitual conflict and mastery of passions, 
 witnessed by the compressed mouth and deeply indented 
 brow. The problem had been solved then; but in 1748, 
 passion and will alike slumbered, and no man could tell 
 which would prevail, or whether they would work together 
 to great purpose or go jarring on to nothingness. He 
 rises up to us out of the past in that early springtime a 
 fine, handsome, athletic boy, beloved by those about him, 
 who found him a charming companion and did not guess 
 6 
 
go WASHINGTON. 
 
 that he might be a terribly dangerous foe. He rises up 
 instinct with life and strength, a being capable, as we 
 know, of great things, whether for good or evil, with hot 
 blood pulsing in his veins and beating in his heart, with 
 violent passions and relentless will still undeveloped, and 
 no one in all that jolly, generous Virginian society even 
 dimly dreamed what that development would be, or what 
 it would mean to the world. 
 
 " Lord Fairfax was so much pleased by the report that 
 he moved across the Blue Ridge, built a hunting lodge 
 preparatory to something more splendid which never came 
 to pass, and laid out a noble manor, to which he gave the 
 name of Greenway Court. He also procured for Wash 
 ington an appointment as a public surveyor, which con 
 ferred authority on his surveys and provided him with 
 regular work. Thus started, Washington toiled at fiis 
 profession for three years, living and working as he did 
 on his first expedition. . . . And while he worked and 
 earned he kept an observant eye upon the wilderness, and 
 bought up when he could the best land for himself and 
 his family, laying the foundations of the great landed 
 estate of which he died possessed. 
 
 " There was also a lighter and pleasanter side to this 
 hard-working existence, which was quite as useful and 
 more attractive than toiling in the woods and mountains. 
 The young surveyor passed much of his time at Green- 
 way Court, hunting the fox and rejoicing in all field sports 
 which held high place in that kingdom, while at the same 
 time he profited much in graver fashion by his friendship 
 with such a man as Lord Fairfax. There, too, he had a 
 chance at a library, and his diaries show that he read care 
 fully the history of England and the essays of the ' Spec 
 tator/ Neither in early days nor at any other time was 
 he a student, for he had few opportunities, and his life from 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 83 
 
 the beginning was out of doors and among men. But the 
 idea sometimes put forward that Washington cared noth 
 ing for reading or for books is an idle one. He read at 
 Greenway Court and everywhere else when he had a 
 chance, and he read well and to some purpose, studying 
 men and events in books as he did in the world, and though 
 he never talked of his reading, preserving silence on that 
 as on other things concerning himself, no one ever was 
 able to record an instance in which he showed himself 
 ignorant of history or of literature. He was never a 
 learned man, but so far as his own language could carry 
 him he was an educated one. Thus while he developed 
 the sterner qualities by hard work and a rough life, he did 
 not bring back the coarse habits of the backwoods and the 
 camp-fire, but was able to refine his manners and improve 
 his mind in the excellent society and under the hospitable 
 roof of Lord Fairfax." 
 
 Lodge's assumption that " another education " than that 
 of his four years' schooling played a part of importance 
 in the preparation of Washington for his career is as just 
 as it is important ; and it is correct to make great account 
 of the brotherly tutorship of Lawrence, the fine quality 
 and large variety of the influences represented by the elder 
 William Fairfax and his family at Belvoir ; and the weight 
 of services rendered by Lord Fairfax; but the statement 
 that the latter, out of special trust, commissioned him, in 
 the spring of 1748, " to go forth and survey the vast Fair 
 fax estates, define their boundaries, and save them from 
 future litigation," is a deplorable example of ignorance 
 and credulity setting the imagination at work upon an 
 utterly baseless tradition. Lord Fairfax had already put 
 his trust in plain " Mr. Genn, the Surveyor," as young 
 Washington's own report calls him, with four other per 
 sons required, with the surveyor, to make a legal survey 
 
84 WASHINGTON. 
 
 party, and by their five signatures authentic a survey. 
 The part played by Washington was that of going along 
 with the surveying party, and giving such assistance as 
 the circumstances permitted, which cannot have been 
 much more than general oversight and some minor ser 
 vice, because the law required the essential running of 
 lines and making of measurements to be done by the 
 legally qualified surveyor's men. Washington tells how 
 a survey, and all surveys, made for Lord Fairfax, must be 
 reported, and the five names required to be signed do not 
 include his own. 
 
 We know, moreover, from Washington's own account, 
 that the surveys executed in the spring of 1748 amounted 
 to only a laying off of special lots, only one large one in 
 the first place reached, and only a few in each of two other 
 places, while the most considerable work lasted only seven 
 days and covered the survey of only a comparatively small 
 fragment of the vast Fairfax estate. Not only was there 
 no trust in Washington for the month's job of travel and 
 surveying, but there was no such task contemplated as a 
 general " survey of the vast Fairfax estates ; " and if there 
 had been there could not possibly have been any thought 
 of giving the task to young Washington, a mere young 
 gentleman amateur, whose work, however well done, 
 would have had no legal value; nor could a large corps 
 of surveyors have reported in thirty-two days, as Lodge 
 says that Washington did, in a way to give Lord Fairfax 
 satisfaction over an executed survey of his millions of 
 acres of Virginia valleys and mountain wilderness. 
 
 Lodge most unfortunately appears to say that Wash 
 ington went into the surveying business a schoolboy and 
 came out the first soldier in the Colonies. This, however, 
 is mere unlucky carelessness. He means to count the 
 surveying years as the threshold of the first period of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 85 
 
 about ten years, but reference to any such first period is 
 misleading. That first period began after the surveying 
 years, which were years of preparation far more than they 
 were of employment, and of preparation with which the 
 surveying work, which was the merest occasional bread 
 and butter work, had very little to do. The statement that 
 Lord Fairfax procured for Washington an appointment 
 as a public surveyor, in consequence of the pleasure given 
 him by the surveys made in March- April, 1748, by Wash 
 ington is wholly an error. " Mr. Genn, the surveyor," 
 had made the surveys, and the whole was too small and 
 commonplace a matter to call for special recognition. It 
 was a year and three months later that Washington got, 
 not an appointment to the office, but a license, such as 
 various persons held, to act as a legally qualified surveyor. 
 As Washington was at the date of getting his license seven 
 teen years and five months old, he did not from that date 
 " toil at his profession for three years." Moreover, there 
 was no " profession " in the case. Lord Fairfax himself 
 held a license, which was no more than a permit to direct 
 the running of lines and measuring of lands, and authenti 
 cate the record by an official signature. What Lodge 
 himself says of how Washington passed his time, shows 
 very plainly that he was not primarily a working surveyor, 
 and that he did not " toil for three years, living and work 
 ing as he did on his first expedition." One other such 
 expedition he probably took part in, in the autumn of 
 1749, in surveying lands for the Ohio Company, and quite 
 likely he was himself " the surveyor " in this case, and 
 was out a longer time than one the expedition of March- 
 April, 1748. 
 
 Lodge's attempt to throw light on Washington's char 
 acter at his entrance upon his seventeenth year would have 
 been to the purpose if he had stopped with the very just 
 
86 WASHINGTON. 
 
 sketch of what Washington as a youth of sixteen appeared 
 to be; but the references to Stuart and to Bernard could 
 not be more wide of the mark. The Bernard incident 
 brings out most delightfully the charm and beauty of 
 Washington's humanism, and the single touch about signs 
 of an habitual conflict and mastery of passions was a de 
 plorably false, as it was a scandalously venturesome, guess. 
 All that Bernard saw, or could see, were indications of ex 
 treme sensibility, and it needed knowledge far beyond 
 Bernard's to tell in what form that depth of feeling would 
 come out in conduct and character. The whole career 
 of Washington gives the lie to no matter whose charge 
 that there were any passions in his nature calculated to 
 lower his character or cause a moment of blameworthy 
 conduct. Extreme outburst of feeling was no more than 
 a rare possibility, and never then of feeling not profoundly 
 just and perfectly natural to a noble nature. As to what 
 Stuart read, it was as ignorant and baseless a reading as 
 could well be made. The student who can quote Stuart 
 to any such purpose as Lodge does loses through his eye 
 for an anecdote Andes and Alps of evidence, attestations 
 filling both America and Europe, to the almost divine 
 perfection of the temper of Washington. 
 
 The assumption under which Lodge speaks of Wash 
 ington in his youth as " a being capable of great things, 
 whether for good or evil, with hot blood pulsing in his 
 veins and beating in his heart, with violent passions and 
 relentless will still undeveloped," while " no one even 
 dimly dreamed what that development would be," is con 
 trary absolutely to all that the latest science can tell us 
 and all that the most certain history can testify. No fact 
 of knowledge carries greater significance or bears a more 
 sure character than the origin from birth of great genius, 
 of remarkable powers, of all the great things, whether for 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 87 
 
 good or evil, of the human being ; and no fact of the story 
 of Washington means more for his history or rests on 
 ampler testimony than the possession by him from his 
 birth of the self-control, the balance of character, the large 
 and genial humanism which were the glory of his meridian. 
 There was no impression from his later life in what Gen 
 eral Braddock saw in Washington on the threshold of his 
 great career, and set down as follows, shortly before that 
 bloody battle in which he fell : 
 
 "Is Mr. Washington among your acquaintances? If 
 not, I recommend you to embrace the first opportunity to 
 form his friendship. He is about twenty-three years of 
 age; with a countenance both mild and pleasant, prom 
 ising both wit and judgment. He is of comely and digni 
 fied demeanor, at the same time displays much self-reliance 
 and decision. He strikes me as being a young man of 
 extraordinary and exalted character, and is destined to 
 make no inconsiderable figure in our country." 
 
 The "hot blood," "violent passions," and "relentless 
 will " might have come through inheritance from one 
 parent, but if they had so come they would have persisted 
 through life ; and the evidence is complete that neither 
 the later years nor the earlier knew anything of the kind. 
 Lodge himself says of Washington as Braddock saw him : 
 
 "He also made warm friends with the English officers, 
 and was treated with consideration by his commander. 
 The universal practice of all Englishmen was to behave 
 contemptuously to the colonists, but there was something 
 about Washington which made this impossible. They all 
 treated him with the utmost courtesy, vaguely conscious 
 that beneath the pleasant, quiet manner there was a 
 strength of character and ability such as is rarely found, 
 and that this was a man whom it was unsafe to affront. 
 There is no stronger instance of Washington's power of 
 
88 WASHINGTON. 
 
 impressing himself upon others than that he commanded 
 now the respect and affection of his general, who was the 
 last man to be easily or favorably affected by a young pro 
 vincial officer." 
 
 It is entirely without warrant, and with the worst pos 
 sible discrimination, that Lodge adds to his thoroughly 
 fine indication of the rare gentleman that Washington was 
 seen to be, that he also appeared to be " a man whom it 
 was unsafe to affront." Braddock and his companions 
 could not possibly have thought that any course they 
 chose to take might prove " unsafe," and the evidence 
 shows beyond question that they saw only what Braddock 
 expressed.] 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HIS VOYAGE TO BARBADOES. 
 
 1751-1752. 
 
 THE health of Lawrence Washington awakened at 
 this time saddening apprehensions. A deeply- 
 seated lung affection, from which he long suffered, 
 had induced him to take a voyage to England. This gave 
 no relief. He then resorted, but in vain, to the Bath 
 Springs of Virginia. And now, at the instance of his medi 
 cal advisers, he proposed to sail for Barbadoes, which was 
 deemed at that time the healthiest island in the West In 
 dian archipelago. 
 
 He sailed September 28 (1751), accompanied by his 
 brother George, and reached the island on the third day 
 of November. But the experiment of a few weeks' resi 
 dence proved utterly unavailing. It was determined there 
 fore to try the delightful climate of the Bermudas (Feb 
 ruary, 1752.) George was in the mean time to repair to 
 Virginia, and to return with Lawrence's wife, that she 
 might join her husband in the spring. 
 
 Lawrence accordingly sailed to the Bermudas (March, 
 1752). Before the lapse of many days after his arrival how 
 ever he wrote discouragingly : " I have now got to my 
 last refuge, where I must receive my final sentence. If I 
 grow worse, I shall hurry Tiome to my grave." Soon con 
 vinced that he should no longer listen to the flattery of 
 
90 WASHINGTON. 
 
 hope, he did not tarry at the Bermudas for his wife and 
 brother, but he informed them of his intention to return 
 home without delay. This he happily accomplished. But 
 it was only to linger for a little while, and then (July 26, 
 1752), at the early age of thirty-four years to be removed 
 by death from his wife and his only child, an infant 
 daughter. 
 
 To this daughter he bequeathed Mount Vernon. But 
 she died at an early age, and the estate, according to 
 provisions of the bequest in that event, descended to the 
 favorite brother, George. Their father, Augustine Wash 
 ington, had expressed a desire in his will, that should Law 
 rence die without issue, George might inherit this estate. 
 Such a parental preference was calculated to throw around 
 it a sacred interest. And it thus became forever associated 
 with the august name of the Father of his Country. It was 
 his happy home, his calm retreat from life's cares and trials, 
 and his place of sepulture. 
 
 While at Barbadoes with his brother he contracted the 
 small-pox, from which he suffered severely. He bore with 
 him through life, some of the familiar marks usually left 
 by that disease. But his voyage to the island, his short 
 residence there, and his voyage home left far more pleasing 
 reminiscences. 
 
 In the exercise, both of his habitual intelligent observa 
 tion of men and things and of his characteristic diligence 
 and industry, he kept a journal in which he entered, while 
 at sea, a daily copy of the ship's log-book together with his 
 own remarks; and, while on land, a brief notice of every 
 thing that arrested his attention. 
 
 At Barbadoes he took notes of the state of civil and 
 military affairs ; of agriculture, commerce, and social life ; 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 91 
 
 and many of his observations are indicative of qualities 
 and attainments rarely to be met with in a young man of 
 but nineteen years of age. 
 
 The following are among his records at the island: 
 
 " November 4, 1751. This morning received a card from. 
 Major Clarke, welcoming us to Barbadoes with an in 
 vitation to breakfast and dine with him. We went ; myself 
 with some reluctance as the small-pox was in the family. 
 We were received in the most kind and friendly manner 
 by him. Mrs. Clarke was much indisposed, insomuch that 
 we had not the pleasure of her company. But in her place 
 officiated Miss Roberts, her niece, and an agreeable young 
 lady. After drinking tea we were again invited to Mr. 
 Carter's, and were desired to make his house ours till we 
 could provide lodgings agreeable to our wishes; which 
 offer we accepted. 
 
 " 5th. Early this morning came Dr. Hilary, an eminent 
 physician, recommended by Major Clarke, to pass his 
 opinion on my brother's disorder ; which he did in a favor 
 able light, giving great assurances that it was not so fixed 
 but that a cure might be effectually made. In the cool of 
 evening we rode out accompanied by Mr. Carter, to seek 
 lodgings in the .country as the Doctor advised ; and we 
 were perfectly enraptured with the beautiful prospects 
 which every side presented to our view the fields of cane, 
 corn, fruit-trees, etc., in a delightful green. We returned 
 without accomplishing our intentions. 
 
 " 7th. Dined with Major Clarke and by him was intro 
 duced to the surveyor-general and the judges, who likewise 
 dined there. In the evening they complaisantly accom 
 panied us in another excursion into the country to choose 
 lodgings. We pitched on the house of Captain Croftan, 
 
92 WASHINGTON. 
 
 commander of James's Fort. He was desired to come to 
 town next day to propose terms. We returned by the way 
 of Needham's Fort. 
 
 "8th. Came Captain Croftan with his proposals, which, 
 though extravagantly dear, my brother was obliged to ac 
 cept. Fifteen pounds a month were his terms, exclusive of 
 liquor and washing, which we find. In the evening we 
 removed some of our things up and went ourselves. It is 
 very pleasantly situated near the sea and about a mile from 
 town. The prospect is extensive by land and pleasant by 
 sea, as we command a view of Garlyle Bay and the shipping. 
 
 " 9th. Received a card from Major Clarke, inviting us 
 to dine with him at Judge Maynard's to-morrow. He had 
 a right to ask, being a member of a club called ' The Beef 
 steak and Tripe/ instituted by himself. 
 
 if loth. We were genteelly received by Judge Maynard 
 and his lady, and agreeably entertained by the company. 
 They have a meeting every Saturday this being Judge 
 Maynard's day. After dinner there was the greatest collec 
 tion of fruits set on the table that I have yet seen the 
 granadilla, sapadilla, pomegranate, sweet orange, water 
 melon, forbidden fruit, apples, guavas, etc., etc. We re 
 ceived invitations from every gentleman there. Mr. War 
 ren desired Major Clarke to show us the way to his house. 
 Mr. Hacket insisted on our coming Saturday next to his, 
 it being his day to treat with beefsteak and tripe. But 
 above all, the invitation of Mr. Maynard was most 
 kind and friendly. He desired and even insisted, as 
 well as his lady, on our coming to spend some weeks 
 with him, and promised that nothing should be wanting to 
 render our stay agreeable. My brother promised he would 
 accept the invitation as soon as he should be a little dis 
 engaged from the doctors. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 93 
 
 " 1 5th. Was treated with a ticket to see the play of 
 ' George Barnwell ' acted. The characters of Barnwell and 
 several others were said to be well performed. There was 
 music adapted and regularly conducted. 
 
 " i /th. Was strongly attacked with the smallpox. Sent 
 for Dr. Lanahan, whose attendance was very constant till 
 my recovery and going out which was not till Thursday, 
 the twelfth of December. 
 
 " December i2th. Went to town and called on Major 
 Clarke's family who had kindly visited me in my illness, 
 and contributed all they could in sending me the neces 
 saries which the disorder required. On Monday last began 
 the Grand Session ; and this day was brought on the trial 
 of Colonel C, a man of opulence and of infamous char 
 acter. He was brought in guiltless and saved by a single 
 evidence, who was generally reckoned to have been 
 suborned. 
 
 " 22d. Took leave of my brother, Major Clarke, and 
 others, and embarked on board the ' Industry ' for Virginia. 
 Weighed anchor and got out of Carlyle Bay about twelve 
 o'clock. 
 
 " The Governor of Barbadoes seems to keep a proper 
 state, lives very retired and at little expense, and is a gen 
 tleman of good sense. As he avoids the error of his pre 
 decessor, he gives no handle for complaint ; but, at the same 
 time, by declining much familiarity he is not over-zealously 
 beloved. 
 
 " There are several singular risings in this island, one 
 above another, so that scarcely any part is deprived of 
 a beautiful prospect, both of sea and land; and what is 
 contrary to observation in other countries, each elevation 
 is better than the next below. 
 
94 WASHINGTON. 
 
 "There are many delicious fruits, but as they are par 
 ticularly described by Mr. Hughes in his Natural History 
 of the island, I shall say nothing further than that the China 
 orange is good. The avagavo pear is generally much ad 
 mired, though none pleases my taste so well as the pine. 
 
 " The earth in most parts is extremely rich and as black 
 as our richest marsh-meadows. The common produce of 
 the cane is from forty to seventy polls of sugar, each poll 
 valued at twenty shillings, out of which a third is deducted 
 for expenses. Many acres last year produced in value 
 from one hundred and forty to one hundred and seventy 
 pounds, as I was informed by credible authority ; though 
 that was in ginger, and a very extraordinary year for the 
 sale of that article. 
 
 " How wonderful that such a people should be in debt, 
 and not be able to indulge themselves in all the luxuries 
 as well as necessaries of life ! Yet so it happens. Estates 
 are often alienated for debts. How persons, coming to 
 estates of two, three, or four hundred acres which are 
 the largest can want, is to me most wonderful. One- 
 third of their land, or nearly that portion, is generally in 
 train for harvest. The rest is in young cane, Guinea-corn 
 which greatly supports their negroes ^- yams, plantains, 
 potatoes, and the like ; and some part is left waste for stock. 
 Provisions are generally very indifferent, but much better 
 than the same quantity of pasturage would afford in Vir 
 ginia. The very grass that grows among their corn is not 
 lost, but carefully gathered for provender for their stock. 
 
 " Hospitality and a genteel behavior are shown to every 
 gentleman stranger by the gentlemen inhabitants. Taverns 
 they have none, except in the towns, so that travelers are 
 obliged to go to private houses. The people are said to 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 95 
 
 live to a great age where they are not intemperate. They 
 are however very unhappy in regard to their officers' fees, 
 which are not paid by any law. They complain particularly 
 of the provost-marshal or sheriff-general of the island, 
 patented at home and rented at eight hundred pounds a 
 year. Every other officer is exorbitant in his demands. 
 
 " There are few who may be called middling people. 
 They are very rich or very poor ; for by a law of the island, 
 every gentleman is obliged to keep a white person for every 
 ten acres, capable of acting in the militia, and consequently 
 the persons so kept cannot be very poor. They are well 
 disciplined, and appointed to their several stations so that 
 in any alarm, every man may be at his post in less than two 
 hours. They have large intrenchments cast up wherever 
 it is possible to land, and as nature has greatly assisted, 
 the island may not improperly be said to be one entire forti 
 fication." 
 
 Among the illustrations of character afforded by these 
 minutes may be particularly noted, a lively sense of gen 
 erous and kind hospitalities, a practical interest in agricul 
 tural pursuits, a soldier's observation of military works, and 
 sagacious views of the moral and political state of society. 
 It may be remarked also, that the journalist's usual calm 
 ness of mind is at once changed to a glow of emotion by the 
 charms of natural scenery, so that he could indite, " We 
 were perfectly enraptured with the beautiful prospects 
 which every side presented to our view." And we have 
 here, in striking contrast to this, an instance of his char 
 acteristic slight regard to personal inconvenience and dis 
 comfort, by his mentioning in brief and general terms the 
 fact of his being assailed by a malignant and deforming 
 contagion : " Was strongly attacked with the smallpox. 
 
96 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Sent for Dr. Lanahan, whose attendance was very con 
 stant till my recovery and going out." 
 
 In all this there are discoverable in embryo, those very 
 qualities of sound good sense and refined emotion which 
 ever after were prominent in him, as the gentleman, the 
 soldier, and the planter; and especially, a concern for the 
 welfare of others, and a reserve in what related to self, in 
 all his public, social, and domestic occupations, and 
 eventually, in his rural retirement at the close of his career. 
 
PART II. 
 
 HIS MILITARY APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WASHINGTON A MAJOR. 
 
 1751-1754. 
 
 IT was in the year 1751 that Washington received his 
 first military appointment. This was occasioned by 
 preparations in Virginia to meet an emergency 
 created by French claims to a great part of the British 
 territories in America. 
 
 At the time when Edward III of England asserted his 
 right to the French throne, at the beginning of the four 
 teenth century, a spirit of implacable alienation was en 
 gendered between the two rival powers; and, fostered by 
 their rancorous altercations and sanguinary wars, it at 
 length reached the climax of their settled national 
 antipathy. 
 
 Four hundred years had now elapsed. During this 
 period America was discovered and colonies of the two 
 nations settled on its soil. The British occupied the 
 Atlantic coast and the mouths of rivers, and were in pos 
 session of all the harbors of the Continent. The French 
 settlements were on the banks of the St. Lawrence and 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 Had it been the policy of both nations simply to pro- 
 7 (97) 
 
98 WASHINGTON. 
 
 mote the welfare of their respective colonies, the time 
 would have been far distant when national rancor could 
 devise the pretext for a bloody conflict. But while the 
 policy of Great Britain was to strengthen her settlements 
 along the seaboard, that of France was to make acquisi 
 tions of regions in the interior, and eventually to limit 
 her rival's western progress by the natural cordon of the 
 Alleghanies. 
 
 So unscrupulous was the ambition of France in the 
 adoption of measures to attain her object, that, finding 
 herself excluded from all the harbors, it was seriously 
 proposed and that too at a time when the rival nations 
 were in comparative amity to make conquest of the 
 city of New York. It was unhesitatingly admitted that 
 this would be a flagrant outrage of the law of nations; 
 but, said De Callieres, who recommended the measure to 
 his countrymen, it has the sanction of necessity.* Thus 
 the contest was in reality between social progress and 
 territorial aggrandizement. 
 
 On three occasions between the middle of the seven 
 teenth and eighteenth centuries, when the parent coun 
 tries were in arms against each other, their respective 
 colonists in America were tempted to engage in bloody 
 conflict. 
 
 James II of England, driven from his throne by subjects 
 of strongly Protestant prejudices, and supplanted by 
 William, Prince of Orange, and his Queen, Mary, found 
 a refuge at the court of Louis XIV of France, who 
 not only extended to him cordial sympathy, but espoused 
 his cause in the seven years' contest, known as 
 " King William's War."* During this period the tragic 
 
 * L^gitime par la necessite. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 99 
 
 deeds perpetrated by the French and Indians in America, 
 were marked with great ferocity and cruelty. And the 
 retaliation which these deeds provoked was, although far 
 less abhorrent, fearfully desolating. Port Royal in Acadie 
 was captured and twice plundered. Vigorous measures 
 were adopted also for the conquest of all the French pos 
 sessions in Canada. At length however the Treaty of 
 Ryswick (1697) stayed for a time the malignant strife in 
 which both parties had associated with themselves hordes 
 of fierce, merciless savages. 
 
 The death of James II gave occasion for another rup 
 ture between France and England. The claim to the 
 British throne inherited by James's son, James Francis 
 Edward, Prince of Wales, was maintained by Louis XIV, 
 who desired that Queen Anne, who was James's daughter 
 and England's choice, should be supplanted by the 
 Prince, commonly known as the " Pretender." Now 
 began " Queen Anne's War" (1702), which continued for 
 eleven years to embroil the colonists. The sanguinary 
 scenes of the preceding war were re-enacted by the 
 French and Indians. And the English colonists once 
 more engaged in a successful expedition against Port 
 Royal, which had been restored to France. But peace 
 once more was proclaimed after the Treaty of Utrecht 
 (1713); and now, for almost half a century, British col 
 onists were relieved from the visitation of calamities such 
 as once had desolated their happy homes. 
 
 But a new disagreement arrayed England and France 
 against each other, and their colonies in America partook 
 of the evils of another war. The powers of Europe had 
 formally stipulated, in the terms of the Pragmatic Sanc 
 tion (1744), to secure the Austrian succession to the 
 Archduchess Marie Theresa, Queen of Hungary. George 
 II strictly kept the pledge given by Great Britain. Louis. 
 
10 WASHINGTON. 
 
 XIV of France disregarded it. And moreover he 
 covertly abetted Spain in a war with England respecting 
 certain rights of commerce; and also encouraged and 
 assisted the young Pretender, Prince Charles Edward, 
 grandson of James II, in asserting his father the elder 
 Pretender's claim to the British scepter. Hence the two 
 great nations were involved once more in war; and their 
 subjects in America were soon again committing hostili 
 ties which constituted what is known among us as " King 
 George's War." The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) 
 brought this to a close and restored to France Louisburg 
 and the Island of Cape Breton; important acquisitions 
 made by the British-American colonists three years 
 before. 
 
 The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was however as inef 
 fectual as all others made to arrest and quench the heredi 
 tary feuds which set at irreconcilable variance nations 
 whose opinions, predilections, and religious doctrines and 
 worship, as well as their habitual antipathies, conspired 
 to make them natural enemies. 
 
 As early as the year 1715 Colonel Spottiswoode, then 
 Governor of Virginia, urged, with great earnestness, upon 
 the British government the absolute necessity of making 
 vigorous resistance to the aggressive policy of France. 
 But his representations, deemed extravagant, were then 
 unheeded. In the year 1751 however such was the 
 progress of the adventurous intruders that it was found 
 advisable in Virginia to take precautionary measures of 
 defense. The colony was, with a view to this, divided 
 into districts, in each of which there was an adjutant- 
 general or military inspector with the rank of major, who 
 was to keep the militia in constant readiness for action. 
 
 One of these military districts was intrusted to Wash 
 ington. He was then but nineteen years of age ; yet his 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 101 
 
 early predilections had induced him to study some of the 
 best popular treatises on the art of war. His brother 
 Lawrence, Adjutant Muse of Westmoreland, who was a 
 comrade of Lawrence's in the West Indies, Jacob Van- 
 braam, a skilful fencer, and other soldiers of experience, 
 had already imparted to him a knowledge of tactics, of 
 the manual exercise, and of the use of the sword ; and he 
 was recognized as a well-educated officer. 
 
 He entered with great zeal upon his duties. When 
 Robert Dinwiddie the next year became Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Virginia, the colony was divided into four 
 military districts. Major Washington's conduct had al 
 ready won for him a good report. He was appointed for 
 the northern division. The counties comprehended in 
 this division he promptly and statedly traversed; and he 
 soon effected the thorough discipline of their militia for 
 warlike operations. 
 
 It was amid the various and peculiar duties required 
 by this position that his characteristic qualities first had 
 free exercise. His natural dignity commanded a ready 
 tribute of respect; his ability was universally acknowl 
 edged with deference ; and his integrity, industry, and 
 devotion to the duties of his office exerted that magic 
 and authoritative influence, which is accorded to an hon 
 ored leader, whom, it was now manifest, a high destiny 
 awaited. And his present military discipline proved to 
 be the very schooling for the great exploits by which he 
 was to be qualified to act as chief defender of the cause 
 of the united colonies and to protect them from the ter 
 rific bolts of vengeance with which they were to be 
 assailed. By a remarkable synchronism Dr. Franklin 
 this very year made his memorable experiments in elec 
 tricity by which he discovered that, in the ordering of 
 Providence, means are provided to divest the thunder- 
 
102 WASHINGTON. 
 
 cloud of its destructive power, and to render its frowns 
 and threats harmless.* 
 
 When Major Washington had for two years been busily 
 occupied in his office the Lieutenant-Governor and his 
 council were informed of new and formidable operations 
 of the French ; of their preparation to establish posts and 
 erect fortifications on the western border ; of their troops 
 having crossed the northern lakes on the way to the Ohio, 
 and having ascended the Mississippi from New Orleans; 
 and of their bold and avowed purpose to adopt all neces 
 sary measures to possess themselves of the whole extent 
 of territory from Louisiana to Canada. 
 
 The hearts of the people of the Old Dominion throbbed 
 with an intense feeling. The Lieutenant-Governor, who 
 had received orders from the Right Honorable Earl of 
 Holdernesse and instructions from the King, resolved to 
 depute at once a special commissioner to the commandant 
 of the French on the Ohio, for the purpose of learning 
 from him his intentions and ascertaining his authority. 
 
 It was an expedition of more than 500 miles, chiefly 
 through an inhospitable wilderness, and among savages. 
 The difficulty and the danger to be encountered required 
 great caution in selecting the person to whom the com 
 mission was to be intrusted. The Lieutenant-Governor 
 did not hesitate however to appoint Major Washington, 
 who cheerfully consented to perform, to the best of his 
 ability, the arduous services required. He was now but 
 twenty-one years of age. Yet his discipline as a surveyor 
 of wild lands and his military experience as an adjutant, 
 eminently fitted him for this particular duty. The Gov- 
 
 * Dr. Franklin's experiments were made in June, 1752. See his 
 Works, vol. V, p. 177. Boston, 1844. 
 
LIRE AND TIMES. 103 
 
 ernor, who was a Scotchman, facetiously said on the occa 
 sion when he observed the alacrity of the young major: 
 " Ye're a braw lad, and gin you play your cards weel, my 
 boy, ye shall hae nae cause to rue your bargain." 
 
 His instructions to the major explain the nature of the 
 commission, and comprehensively set forth the existing 
 state of things: 
 
 " Whereas I have received information of a body of 
 French forces being assembled in a hostile manner on 
 the river Ohio, intending by force of arms to erect certain 
 forts on the said river within this territory and contrary 
 to the dignity and peace of our sovereign, the King of 
 Great Britain: 
 
 " These are therefore to require and direct you, the 
 said George Washington, forthwith to repair to Logstown 
 on the said river Ohio ; and, having there informed your 
 self where the said French forces have posted themselves, 
 thereupon to proceed to such place ; and being there ar 
 rived, to present your credentials together with my letter 
 to the chief commanding officer, and in the name of his 
 Britannic Majesty to demand an answer thereto. 
 
 " On your arrival at Logstown you are to address your 
 self to the Half-King, to Manacatoocha, and other the 
 sachems of the Six Nations; acquainting them with your 
 orders to visit and deliver my letter to the French com 
 manding officer, and desiring the said chiefs to appoint 
 you a sufficient number of their warriors to be your safe 
 guard as near the French as you may desire, and to wait 
 your further direction. 
 
 " You are diligently to inquire into the numbers and 
 force of the French on the Ohio and the adjacent country ; 
 how they are likely to be assisted from Canada ; and what 
 are the difficulties and conveniences of that communica 
 tion, and the time required for it. 
 
10 4 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " You are to take care to be truly informed what forts 
 the French have erected, and where; how they are gar 
 risoned and appointed, and what is their distance from 
 each other, and from Logstown ; and, from the best intel 
 ligence you can procure, you are to learn what gave occa 
 sion to this expedition of the French ; how they are likely 
 to be supported, and what their pretensions are. 
 
 " When the French commandant has given you the 
 required and necessary dispatches, you are to desire of 
 him a proper guard to protect you, as far on your return 
 as you judge for your safety, against any straggling In 
 dians or hunters that may be ignorant of your character 
 and molest you. 
 
 " Wishing you good success in your negotiation, and a 
 safe and speedy return, I am, &c. 
 
 " ROBERT DINWIDDIE. 
 
 " WILLIAMSBURG, $oth October. 
 
 The Governor furnished him at the same time with 
 credentials, in which he speaks of " reposing especial trust 
 and confidence " in his " ability, conduct, and fidelity." 
 And he furnished also a passport, commanding all his 
 Majesty's subjects, and requiring " all in alliance and 
 amity with the crown of Great Britain," " to be aiding 
 and assisting as a safeguard " to his express messenger. 
 
 Only twenty-four hours for preparation had elapsed 
 when the " braw lad " set out on the last day of October, 
 1753. His attendants at first were his old fencing-master, 
 Vanbraam, and two servants. Vanbraam, acquainted 
 with the French language, was to be interpreter. They 
 were afterward joined by an interpreter of Indian lan 
 guages, John Davidson; by an experienced backwoods 
 man, Christopher Gist, as guide; and by four other 
 persons hired as " servitors." 
 
MARTHA WASHINGTON. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 105 
 
 Major Washington's journal of his tour on this occa 
 sion, brief as it is, is a document of great and general 
 interest. It tells, in terms pleasingly characteristic, his 
 experience and observations in his important mission. 
 
 The subjoined extracts, while they illustrate the course 
 of our narrative, afford specimens of his unpretending 
 but significant daily records. 
 
 TOUR OVER THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " I was commissioned and appointed by the Honorable 
 Robert Dinwiddie, Esq., Governor of Virginia, to visit and 
 deliver a letter to the commandant of the French forces 
 on the Ohio, and set out on the intended journey on the 
 same day. The next I arrived at Fredericksburg and en 
 gaged Mr. Jacob Vanbraam to be my French interpreter, 
 and proceeded with him to Alexandria, where we provided 
 necessaries. From thence we went to Winchester and 
 got baggage, horses, etc.; and from thence we pursued 
 the new road to Wills Creek, where we arrived on the 
 I4th of November. * * * 
 
 " The excessive rains and vast quantity of snow which 
 had fallen prevented our reaching Mr. Frazier's, an Indian 
 trader, at the mouth of Turtle creek, on the Monongahela 
 river, until Thursday the twenty-second. * * * 
 
 " The waters were quite impassable without swimming 
 our horses, which obliged us to get the loan of a canoe 
 from Frazier, and to send Barnaby Currin and Henry 
 Steward* down the Monongahela with our baggage, to 
 meet us at the Fork of the Ohio, about ten miles; there to 
 cross the Alleghany. 
 
 * These persons were two of the four hired " servitors." Barnaby 
 Currin was an Indian trader. 
 
106 WASHINGTON. 
 
 "As I got down before the canoe, I spent some time in 
 viewing the rivers and the land in the Fork, which I think 
 extremely well situated for a fort, as it has the absolute 
 command of both rivers. The land at the point is twenty 
 or twenty-five feet above the common surface of the water, 
 and a considerable bottom of flat, well-timbered land 
 around it, very convenient for building. The rivers are 
 each a quarter of a mile or more across, and run here very 
 nearly at right angles; Alleghany bearing northeast, and 
 Monongahela southeast. The former of these two is a 
 very rapid and swift-running water; the other deep and 
 still, without any perceptible fall. 
 
 "About two miles from this, on the southeast side of 
 the river, at the place where the Ohio Company intended 
 to erect a fort, lives Shingiss, King of the Delawares. We 
 called upon him to invite him to council at Logstown. 
 
 "As I had taken a good deal of notice yesterday of the 
 situation at the Fork, my curiosity led me to examine 
 this more particularly, and I think it greatly inferior, either 
 for defense or advantages especially the latter. For 
 a fort at the Fork would be equally well situated on the 
 Ohio and have the entire command of the Monongahela, 
 which runs up our settlement, and is extremely well 
 designed for water carriage as it is of a deep, still nature. 
 Besides, a fort at the Fork* might be built at much less 
 expense than at the other places. * * * 
 
 " Shingiss attended us to the Logstown, where we ar 
 rived between sunsetting and dark, the twenty-fifth day 
 after I left Williamsburg. * * * 
 
 "As soon as I came into town, I went to Monacatoocha 
 (as the Half-King was out at his hunting cabin on Little 
 Beaver creek, about fifteen miles off), and informed him 
 
 * The spot here designated is the site of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 107 
 
 by John Davidson, my Indian interpreter, that I was sent 
 a messenger to the French general, and was ordered to 
 call upon the sachems of the Six Nations, to acquaint 
 them with it. I gave him a string of wampum and a 
 twist of tobacco, and desired him to send for the Half- 
 King (which he promised to do, by a runner, in the morn 
 ing), and for other sachems. I invited him and the other 
 great men present to my tent, where they stayed about 
 an hour and returned. * * * 
 
 " November 25th. Came to town four of ten French 
 men, who had deserted from a company at the Kuskuskas, 
 which lies at the mouth of this river. * * * 
 
 " I inquired into the situation of the French on the 
 Mississippi, their numbers and what forts they had built. 
 They informed me that there were four small forts be 
 tween New Orleans and the Black Islands, garrisoned 
 with about thirty or forty men and a few small pieces in 
 each* ; that at New Orleans, which is near the mouth of the 
 Mississippi, there are thirty-five companies of forty men 
 each, with a pretty strong fort mounting eight carriage 
 guns; and at the Black Islands there are several com 
 panies and a fort with six guns. 
 
 " The Black Islands are about 130 leagues above the 
 mouth of the Ohio, which is about 350 above New 
 Orleans. They also acquainted me that there was a 
 small palisadoed fort on the Ohio at the mouth of 
 the Obaish, about sixty leagues from the Mississippi. 
 The Obaish heads near the west end of Lake Erie and 
 affords the communication between the French on the 
 Mississippi and those on the lakes. The deserters came 
 up from the lower Shannoah town with one Brown, an 
 Indian trader, and were going to Philadelphia. 
 
 "About 3 o'clock this evening the Half-King came to 
 
108 WASHINGTON. 
 
 town. * * * He told me he was received in a very 
 stern manner by the late [French] commander. 
 
 "26th. We met in council at the long house about 9 
 o'clock where I spoke to them as follows : 
 
 " ' Brothers. I have called you together in council 
 by order of your brother, the Governor of Virginia, to 
 acquaint you that I am sent with all possible dispatch to 
 visit and deliver a letter to the French commandant of 
 very great importance to your brothers, the English, and 
 I dare say to you, their friends and allies. 
 
 " ' I was desired, brothers, by your brother, the Gov 
 ernor, to call upon you, the sachems of the nations, to 
 inform you of it and to ask your advice and assistance 
 to proceed the nearest and best road to the French. You 
 see, brothers, I have gotten thus far on my journey. 
 
 " ' His Honor likewise desired mei to apply to you for 
 some of your young men to conduct and provide provi 
 sions for us on our way and be a safeguard against those 
 French Indians who have taken up the hatchet against 
 us. I have spoken thus particularly to you, brothers, 
 because his Honor, our Governor, treats you as good 
 friends and allies, and holds you in great esteem. To 
 confirm what I have said I give you this string of 
 wampum.' 
 
 " After they had considered for some time on the above 
 discourse the Half-King got up and spoke: 
 
 ' Now, my brother, in regard to what my brother, the 
 Governor, had desired of me I return you this answer : 
 
 ' I rely upon you as a brother ought to do, as you 
 say we are brothers and one people. We shall put heart 
 in hand and speak to our fathers, the French, concerning 
 the speech they made to me and you may depend that we 
 will endeavor to be your guard. 
 
 ' Brother, as you have asked my advice, I hope you 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 109 
 
 will be ruled by it and stay until I can provide a company 
 to go with you. The French speech belt is not here; I 
 have to go for it to my hunting cabin. Likewise the 
 people whom I have ordered in are not yet come and can 
 not until the third night from this; until which time, 
 brother, I must beg you to stay. 
 
 ' ' I intend to send the guard of Mingoes, Shannoahs r 
 and Delawares, that our brothers may see the love and 
 loyalty we bear them.' 
 
 "As I had orders to make all possible dispatch and 
 waiting here was very contrary to my inclination, I 
 thanked him in the most suitable manner I could, and told 
 him that my business required the greatest expedition, 
 and would not admit of that delay. * * * 
 
 " 30th. We set out about 9 o'clock with the Half-King, 
 Jeskakatke, White Thunder, and the Hunter, and traveled 
 on the road to Venango, where we arrived on the fourth 
 of December, without anything remarkable happening 
 but a continued series of bad weather. 
 
 " This is an old Indian town situated at the mouth of 
 French creek, on the Ohio, and lies near north, about 
 sixty miles from the Logstown, but more than seventy 
 the way we were obliged to go. 
 
 " We found the French colors hoisted at a house from 
 which they had driven Mr. John Frazier, an English 
 subject. I immediately repaired to it to know where the 
 commander resided. There were three officers, one of 
 whom, Captain Joncaire, informed me that he had the 
 command on the Ohio, but that there was a general 
 officer at the near fort, where he advised me to apply for 
 an answer. He invited us to sup with them and treated 
 us with the greatest complaisance. 
 
 " The wine, as they dosed themselves pretty plentifully 
 with it, soon banished the restraint which at first appeared 
 
HO WASHINGTON. 
 
 in their conversation and gave a license to their tongues 
 to reveal their sentiments more freely. 
 
 " They told me that it was their absolute design to take 
 possession of the Ohio, and by G d they would do it, 
 for, that although they were sensible the English could 
 raise two men for their one, they knew their motions 
 were too slow and dilatory to prevent any undertaking 
 of theirs. 
 
 " They pretend to have an undoubted right to the river 
 from a discovery made by one La Salle sixty years ago ; 
 and the rise of this expedition is to prevent our settling 
 on the river or waters of it, as they heard of some fami 
 lies moving out in order thereto. 
 
 " From the best intelligence I could get there have been 
 1,500 men on this side of Ontario lake. But upon the 
 death of the general all were recalled to about 600 or 700, 
 who were left to garrison four forts, 150 or thereabout in 
 <each. The first* of them is on French creek, near a small 
 lake about sixty miles from Venango near north-north 
 west; the next lies on Lake Erie, where the greater part 
 of their stores is kept, about fifteen miles from the other. 
 From this it is 120 miles to the carrying-place at the Falls 
 of Lake Erie, where there is a small fort at which they 
 lodge their goods in bringing them from Montreal, the 
 place from which all their stores are brought. 
 
 "The next fort lies about twenty miles from this on 
 Ontario lake. Between this fort and Montreal there are 
 three others, the first of which is nearly opposite to the 
 English fort Oswego. From the fort on Lake Erie to 
 Montreal is about 600 miles, which, they say, requires no 
 
 *[This first fort, within fifteen miles of Lake Erie, was the final 
 point of the journey; it was about 560 miles from Williamsburg. 
 The journey to it had taken forty-one days.] 
 
UFE AND TIMES. HI 
 
 more (if good weather) than four weeks' voyage if they 
 go in barks or large vessels so that they may cross 
 the lake, but if they come in canoes it will require 
 five or six weeks, for they are obliged to keep under 
 the shore. * * * 
 
 " December 7th. Monsieur La Force, commissary of 
 the French stores, and three other soldiers, came over to 
 accompany us up. We found it extremely difficult to get 
 the Indians off to-day, as every stratagem had been used 
 to prevent their going up with me. * * * 
 
 "At 12 o'clock we set out for the fort and were pre 
 vented arriving there until the eleventh by excessive rains, 
 snows, and bad traveling through many mires and 
 swamps. * * * 
 
 " I2th. I prepared early to wait upon the commander 
 and was received and conducted to him by the second 
 officer in command. I acquainted him with my business 
 and offered my commission and letter, both of which he 
 desired me to keep until the arrival of Monsieur Reparti, 
 captain at the next fort, who was sent for and expected 
 every hour. 
 
 " This commander is a knight of the Military Order of 
 St. Louis and named Legardeur de St. Pierre. He is an 
 elderly gentleman and has much the air of a soldier. He 
 was sent over to take the command immediately upon the 
 death of the late general and arrived here about seven 
 days before me. 
 
 "At 2 o'clock the gentleman who was sent for arrived, 
 when I offered the letter, etc., again, which they received, 
 and adjourned into a private apartment for the captain 
 to translate, who understood a little English. After he 
 had done it the commander desired I would walk in and 
 bring my interpreter to peruse and correct it, which I 
 did. 
 
112 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " 1 3th. The chief officers retired to hold a council of 
 war which gave me an opportunity of taking the dimen 
 sions of the fort and making what observations I could. 
 
 " It is situated on the south or west fork of French 
 creek, near the water, and is almost surrounded by the 
 creek and a small branch of it, which form a kind of 
 island. Four houses compose the sides. The bastions 
 are made of piles driven in the ground, standing more 
 than twelve feet above it and sharp at top with port holes 
 cut for cannon, and loop holes for the small arms to fire 
 through. There are eight six-pound pieces mounted in 
 each bastion and one piece of four pound before the gate. 
 In the bastions are a guardhouse, chapel, doctor's lodg 
 ing, and the commander's private store, round which are 
 laid platforms for the cannon and men to stand on. There 
 are several barracks without the fort for the soldiers* 
 dwellings, covered, some with bark and some with boards, 
 made chiefly of logs. There are also several other houses, 
 such as stables, smith's shop, etc. 
 
 " I could get no certain account of the number of men 
 here, but, according to the best judgment I could form, 
 there are a hundred, exclusive of officers, of whom there 
 are many. * * * 
 
 " I4th. As the snow increased very fast, and our horses 
 daily became weaker, I sent them off unloaded, * * * 
 intending myself, to go down by water. * * * 
 
 [The return from the French station was with a canoe, 
 plentifully stocked with provisions, liquors, and all needed 
 supplies, through the courtesy of the French com 
 mandant.] 
 
 " I was inquiring of the commariBer by what authority 
 he had made prisoners of several of our English subjects : 
 He told me that the country belonged to them, that no 
 Englishman had a right to trade upon those waters, and 
 
LIRE AND TIMES. 113 
 
 that he had orders to make every person prisoner who at 
 tempted it on the Ohio or the waters of it. * * * 
 
 " This evening I received an answer to his Honor the 
 Governor's letter, from the commandant. 
 
 " 1 5th. The commandant ordered a plentiful store of 
 liquor and provisions to be put on board our canoes, and 
 appeared to be extremely complaisant, though he was ex 
 erting every artifice that he could invent to set our Indians 
 at variance with us and prevent their going until after our 
 departure, presents, rewards, and everything that could be 
 suggested by him or his officers. 
 
 " I cannot say that ever in my life I suffered so much 
 anxiety as I did in this affair. I saw that every stratagem 
 which the most fruitful brain could invent was practiced to 
 win the Half-King to their interest. * * * 
 
 " i6th. We had a tedious and very fatiguing passage 
 down the creek. Several times we had like to have been 
 staved against rocks, and many times were obliged, all 
 hands, to get out and remain in the water half an hour or 
 more, getting over the shoals. At one place the ice had 
 lodged and made it impassable by water ; we were therefore 
 obliged to carry our canoe across the neck of land, a quarter 
 of a mile over. We did not reach Venango until the twenty- 
 second, where we met with our horses. * * * 
 
 " 23d. Our horses were now so weak and feeble and the 
 baggage so heavy (as we were obliged to provide all the 
 necessaries which the journey would require), that we 
 doubted much their performing it. Therefore myself and 
 others, except the drivers who were obliged to ride, gave 
 up our horses for packs to assist along with the baggage. 
 
 " I put myself in an Indian walking dress and continued 
 
 with them three days, until I found there was no probability 
 
 of their getting home in any reasonable time. The horses 
 
 became less able to travel every day, the cold increased 
 
 8 
 
114 WASHINGTON. 
 
 very fast, and the roads were becoming much worse by a 
 deep snow continually freezing, therefore as I was un 
 easy to get back to make report of my proceedings to 
 his Honor the Governor, I determined to prosecute my 
 journey the nearest way through the woods on foot. 
 
 "Accordingly I left Mr. Vanbraam in charge of our bag 
 gage, with money and directions to provide necessaries 
 from place to place for themselves and horses and to make 
 the most convenient dispatch in traveling. 
 
 " I took my necessary papers, pulled off my clothes, and 
 tied myself up in a matchcoat. ^Then with gun in hand and 
 pack on my back in which were my papers and provisions, 
 I set out with Mr. Gist, fitted in the same manner, on Wed 
 nesday, the twenty-sixth. 
 
 " The day following just after we had passed a place 
 called Murdering Town (where we intended to quit the path 
 and steer across the country for Shannopin's Town), we 
 fell in with a party of French Indians who had lain in wait 
 for us. One of them fired at Mr. Gist or me not fifteen 
 steps off but fortunately missed. We took this fellow into 
 custody and kept him until about 9 o'clock at night, then 
 let him go and walked all the remaining part of the night 
 without making any stop that we might get the start so far 
 as to be dut of the reach of their pursuit the next day, since 
 we were well assured they would follow our track as soon 
 as it was light. 
 
 " The next day we continued traveling until quite dark, 
 and got to the river about two miles above Shannopin's. 
 We expected to find the river frozen, but it was not, only 
 about fifty yards from each shore. The ice, I suppose, had 
 broken up above for it was driving in vast quantities. 
 
 " There was no way for getting over but on a raft which 
 we set about with but one poor hatchet and finished just af 
 ter sunsetting. This was a whole day's work, we next got 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 115 
 
 it launched then went on board of it and set off. But be 
 fore we were half way over we were jammed in the ice in 
 such a manner that we expected every moment our raft to 
 sink and ourselves to perish. I put out my setting pole 
 to try to stop the raft that the ice might pass by, when the 
 rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence against 
 the pole that it jerked me out into ten feet of water, but I 
 fortunately saved myself by catching hold of one of the 
 raft logs. Notwithstanding all our efforts we could not 
 get to either shore but were obliged as we were near an 
 island to quit our raft and make to it. 
 
 " The cold was so extremely severe that Mr. Gist had 
 all his ringers and some of his toes frozen, and the water 
 was shut up so hard that we found no difficulty in getting 
 off the island on the ice in the morning and went to Mr. 
 Frazier's. We met here with twenty warriors who were 
 going to the southward to war, but coming to a place on 
 the head of the Great Kenhawa where they found seven 
 people killed and scalped (all but one woman with very 
 light hair), they turned about and ran back for fear the in 
 habitants should rise and take them as the authors of the 
 murder. They report that the bodies were lying about the 
 house and some of them much torn and eaten by the hogs. 
 By the marks which were left they say they were French 
 Indians of the Ottaway nation who did it. 
 
 "As we intended to take horses here and it required 
 some time to find them, I went up about three miles to the 
 mouth of the Youghiogheny to visit Queen Aliquippa, who 
 had expressed great concern that we passed her in going 
 to the fort. I made her a present of a matchcoat and a 
 bottle of rum, which latter was thought much the better 
 present of the two. 
 
 " Tuesday, the ist of January (1754), we left Mr. Frazier's 
 house and arrived at Mr. Gist's, at Monongahela, the 
 
H 6 WASHINGTON. 
 
 second, where I bought a horse and saddle. The sixth, we 
 met seventeen horses loaded with materials and stores for 
 a fort at the Fork of the Ohio, and the day after some 
 families going out to settle. This day we arrived at Wills 
 Creek, after as fatiguing a journey as it is possible to con 
 ceive, rendered so by excessive bad weather. 
 
 " From the first day of December to the fifteenth there 
 was but one day on which it did not rain or snow inces 
 santly, and throughout the whole journey we met with noth 
 ing but one continued series of cold, wet weather, which 
 occasioned very uncomfortable lodgings, especially after we 
 had quitted our tent, which was some screen from the in 
 clemency of it. 
 
 " On the eleventh, I got to Belvoir where I stopped one 
 day to take necessary rest, and then set out and arrived in 
 Williamsburg the sixteenth, when I waited upon his Honor 
 the Governor, with the letter I had brought from the French 
 commandant, and to give an account of the success of my 
 proceedings." 
 
 Captain Gist also kept a journal of this expedition.* And 
 some passages of it afford an interesting commentary on 
 what Washington has more briefly recorded : 
 
 " Wednesday, 26th. The major desired me to set out on 
 foot and leave our company as the creeks were frozen and 
 our horses could make but little way. Indeed, I was un 
 willing he should undertake such a travel who had never 
 been used to walking before this time. But as he insisted 
 on it we set out with our packs, like Indians, and traveled 
 eighteen miles. That night we lodged at an Indian cabin 
 and the major was much fatigued. It was very cold. All 
 
 * Published by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, 
 vol. V. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 117 
 
 the small runs were frozen so that we could hardly get water 
 to drink. 
 
 " Thursday, 27th. We rose early in the morning and set 
 out about 2 o'clock. Got to Murdering Town, on the 
 southeast fork of Beaver creek. Here we met with an In 
 dian whom I thought I had seen at Joncaire's, at Venango, 
 when on our journey up to the French fort. This fellow 
 called me by my Indian name and pretended to be glad to 
 see me. He asked us several questions, as, how we came 
 to travel on foot, when we left Venango, where we parted 
 with our horses, and when they would be there. Major 
 Washington insisted on traveling the nearest way to the 
 forks of the Alleghany. We asked the Indian if he could 
 go with us and show us the nearest way. The Indian 
 seemed very glad and ready to go with us. Upon which 
 we set out, and the Indian took the major's pack. We 
 traveled very briskly for eight or ten miles when the major's 
 feet grew sore and he very weary, and the Indian steered 
 too much northeastwardly. 
 
 " The major desired to encamp on which the Indian 
 asked to carry his gun. But he refused that and then 
 the Indian grew churlish and pressed us to keep on, 
 telling us that there were Ottawa Indians in these woods 
 and that they would scalp us if we lay out, but to go to 
 his cabin and we should be safe. I thought very ill of the 
 fellow but did not care to let the major know I mistrusted 
 him. But soon he mistrusted him as much as I. He said 
 he could hear a gun to his cabin and steered us more 
 northwardly. We grew uneasy, and then he said that two 
 whoops might be heard to his cabin. We went two miles 
 farther. Then the major said he would stay at the next 
 water, and we desired the Indian to stop at the next 
 water. But before we came to water we came to a clear 
 meadow. It was very light and there was snow on the 
 
118 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ground. The Indian made a stop and turned about. The 
 major saw him point his gun toward us and fire. Said 
 the major, ' Are you shot? ' ' No/ said I. Upon this the 
 Indian ran forward to a big standing white oak and went 
 to loading his gun, but we were soon with him. I would 
 have killed him but the major would not suffer me to kill 
 him. 
 
 " We let him charge his gun. We found he put in a 
 ball. Then we took care of him. The major or I always 
 stood by the guns. We made the Indian make a fire for us 
 by a little run, as if we intended to sleep there. I said to 
 the major, 'As you will not have him killed we must get 
 him away and then we must travel all night/ Upon this 
 I said to the Indian, ' I suppose you were lost, and fired 
 your gun/ He said that he knew the way to his cabin and 
 that it was but a little way. ' Well/ said I, ' do you go 
 home, and as we are much tired, we will follow your track 
 in the morning, and here is a cake of bread for you and 
 you must give us meat in the morning.' He was glad to 
 get away. I followed him and listened until he was fairly 
 out of the way. Then we set out about half a mile, when 
 we made a fire, set our compass and fixed our course, and 
 traveled all night. In the morning we were at the head of 
 Piney creek. 
 
 " Friday, 28th. We traveled all the next day down the 
 said creek, and just at night we found some tracks where 
 Indians had been hunting. We parted and appointed a 
 place, a distance off where to meet, it being then dark. We 
 encamped and thought ourselves safe enough to sleep. 
 
 " Saturday, 29th. We set out early, got to Alleghany, 
 made a raft and with much difficulty got over to an island 
 a little above Shannopin's Town. The major having fallen 
 in from off the raft, and my fingers being frost-bitten, and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 119 
 
 the sun down and it being very cold, we contented our 
 selves to encamp upon the island. It was deep water be 
 tween us and the shore, but the cold did us some service 
 for in the morning it was frozen hard enough for us to pass 
 over on the ice." 
 
 Thus was this expedition accomplished through rain and 
 snow, in mid-winter, in, intensely cold weather, and amid 
 sufferings and perils that required the constant exercise 
 of extraordinary resolution, fortitude, and endurance. 
 
 The future chief, habited like an Indian, with his gun in 
 his hand and his pack on his back, traversing the trackless 
 wilderness, attended by only one companion, making his 
 way through " many mires and swamps," fording streams, 
 struggling for his life in the rapid current of a river, 
 sometimes carrying his canoe, and " many times obliged 
 to remain in the water half an hour or more, getting over 
 shoals," camping out in the woods and fields, encompassed 
 by hostile savages, amid hardships almost beyond the 
 power of his iron constitution to endure, and exposed 
 to the danger of instant death by the rifle of his treacherous 
 Indian guide ! Who can fail to recognize here the Divine 
 Hand that preserved him amid all his sufferings and dan 
 gers, and that turned aside the deadly ball aimed at him? 
 And who can fail to admire in his treatment of a mur 
 derous savage his noble generosity of soul. 
 
 Washington's Journal was submitted to Governor Din- 
 widdie. The conduct of the young major met with his Ex 
 cellency's entire approval, and created also a general senti 
 ment of admiration. 
 
 [Washington's journal of his expedition to the Ohio 
 to challenge the right of French troops to trespass on 
 ground claimed by England was at once printed, in Vir 
 ginia and in England, and made him known to all who 
 
120 WASHINGTON. 
 
 took note in Europe of world movements. Sparks says 
 here: 
 
 " To make an impression on the minds of the people, 
 and if possible to work them up to some degree of enthu 
 siasm, and excite their indignation against the invaders, 
 Governor Dinwiddie caused Major Washington's journal 
 to be published. It was copied into nearly all the news 
 papers of the other Colonies. In London it was reprinted, 
 under the auspices of the government, and accounted a 
 document of much importance, as unfolding the views of 
 the French, and announcing the iirst positive proof of their 
 hostile acts in the disputed territory." 
 
 Governor Dinwiddie was convinced by the report of his 
 emissary that the French were preparing to appear in 
 force on the Ohio the next spring, and that prompt meas 
 ures to anticipate the French movements were necessary. 
 He summoned the Virginia Legislature to meet at an 
 early day, to provide for the safety of the Dominion, as 
 Virginia was then called. He also wrote letters to the 
 governors of the other provinces calling on them for aid, 
 in view of the common danger. To New York and the 
 New England Colonies he suggested the sending of troops 
 toward Canada, for the effect that it might have to pre 
 vent the French commander there from sending reinforce 
 ments to the Ohio. The proceeding looked in the direc 
 tion of union, not to say distinct confederation. 
 
 " These appeals," says Sparks, " were of little avail ; the 
 governors had received no instructions ; funds for military 
 objects were not at their disposal ; and the assemblies were 
 slow to impose taxes even for the support of their own 
 governments. Some persons doubted the authority of the 
 Governor of Virginia to meddle in so grave a matter; 
 others were not convinced that the French had encroached 
 upon the King's lands ; and others regarded it as a national 
 
WASHINGTON ON HIS MISSION TO THE OHIO. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 121 
 
 concern, in which the Colonies had no right to interfere 
 without direct orders and assistance from the King. If 
 treaties have been violated, said they, it is not for us to 
 avenge the insult and precipitate a war by our zeal and 
 rashness. 
 
 " In short, the call was premature, and there was little 
 hope of co-operation from the other Colonies. Messen 
 gers were dispatched to the southern Indians, the Catawbas 
 and Cherokees, inviting them to join in repelling a com 
 mon enemy, who had already engaged in their behalf the 
 powerful nations of Chippewas and Ottowas. Reliance 
 was also placed on the friendship of the Twigtwees, Dela- 
 wares, and other tribes beyond the Ohio. 
 
 " When the Assembly met, a difference of opinion pre 
 vailed as to the measures that ought to be pursued; but 
 10,000 were finally voted for the defense of the Colony, 
 cloaked under the title of an act " for the encouragement 
 and protection of the settlers on the Mississippi." The 
 Governor's equanimity was severely tried. The King's 
 prerogative and his own dignity he thought were not 
 treated with due respect. So obtuse were some of the 
 burgesses that they could not perceive the justice of the 
 King's claims to the lands in question, and they had the 
 boldness to let their doubts be known in a full assembly. 
 " You may well conceive," said the Governor in writing 
 to a friend, " how I fired at this ; that an English Legisla 
 ture should presume to doubt the right of His Majesty 
 to the interior parts of this continent, the back of his do 
 minions." And, alluding to one of the members, he added, 
 " How this French spirit could possess a person of his high 
 distinction and sense, I know not." Another point was 
 still more annoying to him. The Assembly appointed 
 commissioners to superintend the appropriation of the 
 funds. This act he took as a slight to himself, since by 
 
122 WASHINGTON. 
 
 virtue of his office the disposal of money for public uses 
 ougKt to rest exclusively with the Governor. Such was 
 his view of the matter, and he declared that nothing but 
 the extreme urgency of the case should have induced him 
 to sign the bill. 
 
 " To the Earl of Holdernesse he complained of the way 
 ward temper and strange doings of the Assembly. " I am 
 sorry to find them," said he, " very much in a republican 
 way of thinking; and, indeed, they do not act in a proper 
 constitutional way, but make encroachments on the pre 
 rogative of the crown, in which some former governors 
 have submitted too much to them; and, I fear, without a 
 very particular instruction, it will be difficult to bring 
 them to order."] 
 
 By order of the Governor and council two companies of 
 a hundred men each were raised in the northern countries 
 and Major Washington was intrusted with the chief com 
 mand of them. His journal was published by order of the 
 Governor, was widely circulated in Virginia and other col 
 onies, and was reprinted in England, at the instance of the 
 British government as an unmasking of the secret and un 
 warrantable designs of France. 
 
 Supplied with the appropriation for " the encourage 
 ment and protection of settlers on the Mississippi, the 
 Governor increased the number of companies to six, of 
 fifty men each. Major Washington was spoken of as the 
 most suitable leader of the proposed enterprise in which 
 these companies were to be engaged, but in a manner 
 worthy of his character, he declined the post. 
 
 In a letter to Richard Corbin, a member of the Governor's 
 council, he says (March, 1754): 
 
 " In a conversation with you at Green Spring you gave 
 me some room to hope for a commission above that of 
 major, and to be ranked among the chief officers of this 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 123 
 
 expedition. The command of the whole forces is what I 
 neither look for, expect, nor desire, for I must be impartial 
 enough to confess it is a charge too great for my youth 
 and inexperience to be intrusted with. 
 
 " Knowing this, I have too sincere a love for my country 
 to undertake that which may tend to the prejudice of it. 
 But if I could entertain hopes that you thought me worthy 
 of the post of lieutenant-colonel, and would favor me so far 
 as to mention it at the appointment of officers I could not 
 but entertain a true sense of the kindness. 
 
 " I flatter myself that under a skillful commander, or 
 man of sense whom I most sincerely wish to serve under 
 with my own application and diligent study of my duty 
 I shall be able to conduct my steps without censure and 
 in time render myself worthy of the promotion that I 
 shall be favored with now.'** 
 
 [The reply of Mr. Corbin, acknowledged by Washing 
 ton from Alexandria, March 20, 1754, was : " Dear 
 George: I enclose you your commission. God prosper 
 you with it. Your Friend, Richard Corbin."] 
 
 The newly raised companies were placed under Col. 
 Joshua Fry and Lieutenant-Colonel Washington. 
 
 Large grants of land on the Ohio river were promised 
 as a bounty to the troops. The British ministry also au 
 thorized the Governor to summon two companies from 
 New York and one from South Carolina, and North Caro 
 lina voted supplies and troops. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Washington having collected at Al 
 exandria by enlistment, two companies, set out with them 
 on the second day of April (1754), and at Wills Creek he 
 was joined on the twentieth by Captain Stephen with an* 
 other company. 
 
 But soon intelligence of a daring outrage committed 
 by the French was conveyed to him. They had descended 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 the river from Venango, with a military force said to be 
 " upwards of a thousand men," with eighteen pieces of 
 cannon, sixty bateaux, and three hundred canoes, under 
 command of Captain Contrecceur, and had expelled from 
 their post a party acting under the direction of the Ohio 
 Company. 
 
 This company, an association of Virginia and Maryland 
 planters and London merchants, who proposed to settle 
 lands on the Ohio, had received from the King in the year 
 1749 a grant of 600 acres, with the exclusive right of trade 
 with the neighboring Indians ; and had sent out a party of 
 thirty men to build a fort at or near the Fork of the Ohio. 
 
 [This company was under the command of Captain 
 Trent, an officer closely connected with the trader Cro- 
 ghan.] 
 
 Captain Trent also was occupied there in enlisting men 
 from among the traders to form a company that should 
 co-operate with the troops under Major Washington. But 
 at the time when Captain Contrecceur appeared Captain 
 Trent and his lieutenant, Frazier, were absent and Ensign 
 Ward was in command. He had with him no more than 
 forty-one men, including the Ohio Company's party. The 
 rash thought of resistance he could not entertain. At the 
 threatening as well as peremptory summons of the French 
 captain, who allowed him but an hour for consideration, he 
 capitulated. On the next day he proceeded with 'his men 
 to the mouth of Redstone creek. 
 
 The French now seized the post thus vacated ; they com 
 pleted the unfinished work, and they named it, in honor of 
 the Governor-General of Canada, " Fort Duquesne/' 
 
 This flagrant act, the warrant and the signal for a de 
 cided opposition, was the commencement of hostilities 
 which continued for seven years and which constitute what 
 is known as the Seven Years' War (1754-1761), or the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 125 
 
 French and Indian War, an important period in our ante- 
 revolutionary annals. 
 
 [The imperialism which has characterized English de 
 velopments throughout* the world came into play for de 
 termination of the destiny of North America at the mo 
 ment when young Washington was just over the threshold 
 of active life. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, signed Octo 
 ber 18, 1748, in confident hope of the peace of Europe, 
 left open an immense possibility of contest in America 
 for dominion throughout the vast unsettled region over 
 which hung the star of empire beyond the Alleghanies 
 and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. Within the limits 
 of what England claimed as her domain, France had 
 planted not only trading posts and block-houses, but a 
 score of forts, and the eagles of conquest were on the 
 wing over the forests from Canada to the Ohio. A num 
 ber of London merchants and Virginia adventurers had 
 secured, in 1749, a charter granting to them, under the 
 name of " the Ohio Company," half a million acres of 
 land on the Ohio, upon condition of the settlement within 
 seven years of 100 families, the building of a fort at their 
 own cost, and -the maintenance of defense against the In 
 dians. Thomas Lee, president of the council of Vir 
 ginia, was its first manager; Augustine and Lawrence 
 Washington, older half-brothers of George Washington, 
 were in it, and on Mr. Lee's death the management was 
 in the hands of Lawrence Washington. But before the 
 company could begin operations the French, early in 1749, 
 had begun to assert possession through a deputy of the 
 Governor of Canada, Celeron de Bienville, at the head of 
 300 men. To emphasize this invasion the French fastened 
 upon trees, anH also buried in the earth, leaden plates in 
 scribed with tEe claims of France to all the lands on the 
 Ohio and its tributaries. They also gave to the Indians 
 
12$ WASHINGTON. 
 
 presents and speeches of good-will, and warned them not 
 to trade with the English. Traders from Pennsylvania 
 found in the region they challenged as intruders, and sent 
 notifications to Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, that 
 English traders would be vigorously dealt with for tres 
 pass on French domain. It was of importance to Penn 
 sylvania to preserve friendship and trade with the Indian 
 tribes, and early in October, 1749, Governor Hamilton 
 sent George Croghan, an old and capable trader, to un 
 dertake to put in execution plans for a general council of 
 all the Indian tribes at Logstown, on the Ofiio, in the 
 spring of 1750. About the same time the Ohio Company 
 dispatched a noted pioneer and experienced woodsman, 
 Christopher Gist, to make exploration for lands on the 
 Ohio and its branches, to get information of value to set 
 tlers, and to deal with the Indian tribes. 
 
 Both Croghan and Gist made their way to Logstown, 
 an Indian village a little farther down the Ohio than the 
 site where Pittsburg now is, and the seat of a Seneca chief 
 of great note, who was known as the Half-King, because 
 of his subordinate relation to the great Iroquois confed 
 eracy and his headship of the mixed tribes which had 
 " gone West " to the Ohio and its branches from the more 
 eastern seats of Indian power and population. Croghan 
 was at Logstown before Gist, and had gone thence into 
 the heart of the Ohio lands, to Muskingum, and brought 
 together there under the English flag all the agents of his 
 extensive trade among the Indians. Gist overtook Cro 
 ghan at Muskingum, and at a council of the natives held 
 there gave them an invitation from the Governor of Vir 
 ginia to visit him and receive a large present of goods 
 sent by the great English King to his Ohio children. 
 Visits by the two English emissaries to the Delawares 
 and the Shawnees on the Scioto met with equal welcome, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 12? 
 
 and from thence the two went north 200 miles to the In 
 dian town of Piqua, beyond the Miami river, the seat of 
 the four tribes who formed the most powerful confederacy 
 of the Great West. Here Croghan secured engagements 
 of friendship with Pennsylvania, and Gist took pledges 
 from the chiefs that they would attend the council at Logs- 
 town the next spring. 
 
 During the proceedings here, two Ottawas, sent from 
 the French, appeared on the scene with two kegs of 
 " milk " (i. e., brandy) and a roll of ten pounds of tobacco ; 
 but no impression was made by these ambassadors; on 
 the contrary they were served with notice that the tribes 
 on the Ohio would join the great Six Nations Indian con 
 federacy, bordering on Lake Ontario, in maintaining 
 friendship with the English. The Ottawas, therefore, tak 
 ing the " milk " and tobacco, and leaving their curses, re 
 turned whence they came. 
 
 The Six Nations had represented to the English that at 
 some former time they had conquered all the way to the 
 Mississippi on the north of the Ohio, and on the basis of 
 this figment of imperialism they had made over that region 
 to the English for " milk," tobacco, and other luxuries of 
 civilization. The dwellers in the region were not con 
 sulted, and ignorance of any conquest such as the Six 
 Nations alleged was universal among them. 
 
 The French, on their part, alleged discovery and occu 
 pation. Father Marquette, one of the heroic characters 
 of missionary exploration, had come to Canada in 1666; 
 had founded a mission at the eastern end of Lake Superior ; 
 had gone the next year to the Hurons and Ottawas ; upon 
 their break-up under Sioux attack, had accompanied the 
 Hurons to Mackinaw and established there a mission with 
 a chapel; and, on hearing here of the great river in the 
 West, had, in 1669, prepared to go in search of it. Pend- 
 
128 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ing the execution of this purpose, orders came to him to 
 join a younger explorer, of Canadian birth, Louis Joliet, 
 in a thorough exploration of the whole course of the 
 unknown stream. 
 
 The two explorers, with five companions, set off in May 
 in two canoes, their course being by way of Green Bay, 
 Fox river, and a portage, to the Wisconsin river, and down 
 that stream to its mouth thus entering the Mississippi 
 June 17, 1673. Near the mouth of the Ohio, as they went 
 south, savages told them that a ten days' journey would 
 bring them to the sea; and upon reaching the mouth of 
 the Arkansas it was evident to them that the stream led 
 to the Gulf of Mexico, and that its lower course might 
 bring them within reach of Spanish capture. Here, there 
 fore, having made a journey of 2,500 miles, they returned 
 up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Illinois, and, pass 
 ing up that river, reached Green Bay in September. After 
 detention there by sickness for a year, Marquette set out 
 on a journey to Kaskaskia, on the river of that name in the 
 Illinois country, five miles above its mouth and only two 
 miles from the Mississippi, one of the six Illinois points 
 where the French built up settlements. Marquette's jour 
 ney to this point was interrupted by his infirmities and 
 the severe December cold, at the portage on the Chicago ; 
 and only after staying there over the winter was he able 
 to go on at the close of March, 1675, and reach Kaskaskia 
 in April. Erecting a chapel and celebrating Easter in it, 
 the now infirm, worn-out explorer set out to return to 
 Mackinaw, but having gone so far as the passage across 
 Lake Michigan, to the mouth of a small stream, which 
 later bore his name, his rest on a bed of leaves in the 
 shadow of forest trees was the end, May 18, 1675. 
 
 In 1680 Father Hennepin explored the Mississippi from 
 the mouth of the Illinois to the Falls of St. Anthony, and 
 
L/FE AND TIMES. 
 
 in 1682, La Salle, who had come to Canada as an ad 
 venturer in 1666, made a journey covering the Mississippi 
 from the mouth of the Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. La 
 Salle had in August, 1679, sailed with De Tonti, a vet 
 eran Italian, through the chain of lakes to Green Bay, in 
 the northwestern part of Lake Michigan; and had gone 
 thence to the mouth of the St. Joseph river, at the south 
 eastern part of the lake, and established there a trading 
 post, which he called Fort Miami. From this point he 
 went up the St. Joseph, crossed over to the Kankakee, 
 paddled down that stream until he reached an Illinois 
 Indian village, and attempted the establishment of a trad 
 ing post, in January, 1680, on the site of the present 
 Peoria, to which he gave the name Fort Crevecoeur. After 
 putting De Tonti in charge of the fort, and having dis 
 patched Hennepin to explore the Illinois and the Missis 
 sippi northward, La Salle started back for Canada, crossed 
 Michigan from the mouth of the St. Joseph to a stream 
 flowing into the Detroit, and, passing thence overland to 
 Lake Erie, navigated that lake to Niagara in a canoe, and 
 organized a party of twenty-three Frenchmen and eigh 
 teen New England Indians for a journey with supplies to 
 Fort Crevecoeur. 
 
 An attack by the Iroquois on the Illinois settlement had 
 compelled De Tonti to abandon the fort and return to 
 Green Bay. La Salle conducted his party by way of Fort 
 Miami, at the mouth of the St. Joseph, along the southern 
 coast of Lake Michigan, through the Chicago river and 
 across the Illinois, and thence down that stream to the 
 Mississippi. Descending the Mississippi to its separation 
 into three channels, La Salle explored these to the Gulf 
 of Mexico, De Tonti conducting the exploration of the 
 great middle channel. At a suitable spot near the Gulf, 
 a cross and a column were set up with the inscription, 
 9 
 
13 Q WASHINGTON. 
 
 " Louis the Great, King of France and Navarre, April 9, 
 1682," and La Salle proclaimed the whole valley of the 
 Mississippi and the region of its tributaries as a part of 
 the dominion of France, with the name Louisiana. 
 
 The next year La Salle ascended the Mississippi, re 
 turned to Quebec in November, went to France, and pro 
 posed to the King's government that a settlement be made 
 on the lower Mississippi and that steps be taken to secure 
 to France the rich mining country in northern Mexico, 
 A patent was granted, making La Salle commandant of 
 the region from the present State of Illinois to Mexico 
 and westward indefinitely. Four ships, with Beaujeu as 
 navigator, sailed August I, 1684, with a company of 280 
 persons, but through the miscalculations of Beaujeu and 
 his stupid insistence on his own views against La Salle's 
 better knowledge/ the fleet got as far beyond the mouth 
 of the Mississippi as the entrance to Matagorda Bay, and 
 with the wreck there of the storeship on which most of 
 the supplies were, the debarkation of the colonists, of 
 whom not a few were characters more fit for a prison than 
 a plantation, was followed by Beaujeu's desertion, leaving 
 only a small ship. The efforts of La Salle to begin agri 
 culture and trade, after the erection of a fort, were de 
 feated by the hostility of the Indians, and with what set- 
 tiers were killed, and many perishing by disease, less than 
 forty souls were left at the end of the first year. Half of 
 these, including women and children, La Salle left at the 
 beginning of 1688, while, with his brother, two nephews, 
 and thirteen others, he set off to make his way through 
 what is now Texas to the Illinois. A revolt, however, 
 breaking out very soon, two of the ringleaders stealthily 
 murdered one of the explorer's nephews, and when 
 La Salle turned back to look for him he also was treach 
 erously killed, March 20, 1688. The remnant of the col- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 131 
 
 ony were either massacred by the Indians or made prison 
 ers by Spaniards sent to drive out the French. 
 
 The successor to La Salle in French occupation was 
 Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Bienville, a brother of Le Moyne 
 Iberville, who founded a French settlement at Biloxi, near 
 the mouth of the Mississippi, in 1698. Sauville, another 
 brother, was appointed Governor of Louisiana in 1699, 
 and the next year Bienville constructed a fort fifty-four 
 miles above the mouth of the river. The death of Sau 
 ville in 1701 left Bienville in charge of the colony, and he 
 settled the seat of government at Mobile, and soon after 
 was joined by his brother Chateaugay, with seventeen set 
 tlers from France. A further instalment of settlers ar 
 rived a little later, a score of young women as wives for 
 colonists. Bienville was superseded as Governor by 
 Cadillac in 1713, and the latter by Epinay in 1717. The 
 next year Bienville founded New Orleans, and upon war 
 breaking out between France and Spain he seized Pensa- 
 cola and put his brother Chateaugay in command there. 
 From 1724 to 1733 Bienville was in France, and then for 
 ten years he was again Governor of Louisiana. 
 
 At the date of the treaty of Utrecht (1713), which se 
 cured an enlargement of the conceded colonial claims of 
 England (against the French) in America, there were not 
 over 500 Europeans in the whole region from the Illinois 
 to the Gulf. Immediately after the treaty the King of 
 France granted proprietary rights in all the territories 
 watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries below the 
 mouth of the Illinois to Antoine Crozat, and it was Crozat 
 who sent out Cadillac as Governor. Matters went badly, 
 and Crozat got rid of his interest to the celebrated specu 
 lative financier, John Law, who worked the disastrous 
 Mississippi scheme with Bienville (as stated above) as 
 Governor. After the founding of New Orleans, in 1718, 
 
132 WASHINGTON. 
 
 seven vessels came the same year with stores and about 
 1,500 emigrants; and the next year eleven vessels, in 
 cluding an importation of 500 negroes from the Guinea 
 coast. In 1721 the arrivals were 1,000 white settlers and 
 1,367 slaves. This was in the year following the bursting 
 of Law's financial bubble, but the misfortunes incident to 
 that failed to check the prosperity of the colony. 
 
 In 1732 the grant came to an end, and the province re 
 verted to the crown. There were at that time not less than 
 4,000 white colonists and 2,000 slaves. By a secret treaty 
 in 1762, made public a year and a half later, and its pro 
 visions carried into effect in 1769, France transferred 
 Louisiana to Spain. Meanwhile, by a treaty made in Feb 
 ruary, 1763, Louisiana east of the Mississippi, from the 
 .sources of that river to the sea, was ceded to Great Brit 
 ain, the line, however, to the sea passing along the middle 
 of the Iberville river through the lakes Maurepas and Pont- 
 chartrain, thus leaving out all of what is now Louisiana 
 except the very small part east of the Mississippi and north 
 of the Iberville and lakes line. This was after the war of 
 .seven years' duration which we see Washington at the 
 beginning of in 1754, and which closed with the French 
 surrender of Montreal and of all Canada, September 8, 
 1760. It seems pretty evident that France had, before 
 1754, carried on exploration and settlement, from the lakes 
 through the Illinois river prairies and down to the mouth 
 of the Mississippi, which would have warranted insisting 
 .that English claims beyond the Alleghanies leave her what 
 -is now Michigan and Illinois, and the line of the Missis 
 sippi to the Gulf; and had French operations kept those 
 limits there would have gone on peaceful developments 
 'carrying French-Canadian power from tEe east end of 
 Lake Erie across the Michigan and Illinois lands, and 
 down to the Gulf without the slightest occasion for con- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 133 
 
 flict with England on the Ohio. But when France, car 
 rying a purely nominal claim up stream along a tributary 
 of the reach and territorial sweep of the Ohio, without 
 action of any sort in pursuance of her claim," made the 
 natural course of English advance of colonial occupation 
 westward an occasion for purely military descent from 
 Canada, with no pretense of colonization purposes, but, 
 on the contrary, with attempts to rouse the savages against 
 English colonization, there was a face of impudence and 
 wickedness 4 n it, the smashing of which, begun by Wash 
 ington and finished seven years later at Montreal, was 
 richly deserved. The claim of France across Michigan 
 and Illinois, and on the immediate banks of the Mississippi 
 to its mouth, may have been of the best in every respect, 
 and its maintenance might have resulted in a French 
 America carried to the Pacific, with English extension 
 nowhere reaching to the Mississippi, yet the rascal outrage 
 of appearing in arms on the upper Ohio, against English 
 colonization begun by the Ohio Company, and with 
 " milk " and tobacco to buy Indian massacre service, was 
 not only criminal to the last degree, but a blunder of the 
 worst sort. French mission, exploration, and . coloniza 
 tion plans may stand forever to her credit, and pursued 
 on lines of justice and wisdom they might have made 
 North America predominantly French, but French mili 
 tary attack upon English colonization, and appeal to the 
 murdering savages to help carry on a war of desolation, 
 can only come to judgment as of that madness sent by 
 the gods upon those whose steps take hold on destruction. 
 If now we turn to England's historic claim, in contrast 
 with that of France, it is not writing history to take any 
 notice of so slight and so recent a matter as some trumpery 
 dealing with the Indians south of Ontario, or with any 
 
134 WASHINGTON. 
 
 such aboriginal occupiers, never more than human vermin 
 infesting lands which they not only could not in any re 
 spectable sense occupy, but which they made the stamp 
 ing ground of filthy carousal and fearful massacre nearer 
 the level of incarnate devils than of creatures fit to be 
 dealt with as human. The history with which we are con 
 cerned is that of Washington as a scion of England, and 
 of England making armed contest for continental sway; 
 and the necessary background lies in that past to which 
 Washington and Virginia, Washington and England in 
 America, were the sequel. The hero of our narrative is 
 on the way to become, on the top of the world, the great 
 est figure of the English race, and to note the lines which 
 meet in him we must look back to the times, the scenes, 
 and the historical figures, which made Washington and 
 his career possible. 
 
 The Fourth of July, which we celebrate as Independence 
 Day, ought to be no less celebrated as Discovery Day for 
 America. It is the anniversary of the discovery which 
 resulted in an English North America. 
 
 John Cabot, of Genoa by birth, and later of Venice, had 
 become an Englishman by residence in the last half of the 
 fifteenth century, at Bristol, on the Avon, near the head 
 of Bristol Channel the great southwestern Seagate to 
 England. 
 
 It was in 1496, on the 5th of March, that Henry VII of 
 England, in the eleventh year of his reign, granted to John 
 Cabot and his sons a patent empowering them to seek out, 
 subdue, and occupy, at their own charges, any regions 
 which before had " been unknown to all Christians." And 
 under this patent the Cabots sailed, on the 2d of May of 
 the next year, 1497, to attempt discovery in the far west 
 of the North Atlantic. A record not long since brought 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 135 
 
 to light at Bristol, made this reference to the voyage of 
 the Cabots across the North Atlantic: 
 
 " This year, 1497, on St. John the Baptist's Day (June 
 24, old style, now July 4), the land of America was found 
 by the merchants of Bristowe (Bristol ; Brigstow or Bridge- 
 place, Bristow) in a ship of Bristol called the Matthew, 
 the which said ship departed from the port of Bristowe 
 the 2d of May and came home again 6th August following." 
 
 A royal privy purse record of August 10, 1497, "To 
 him that found the New Isle, 10," appears to show, 
 when taken in connection with other records, that the 
 head of the expedition, John Cabot, was awarded 10, on 
 his return from discovering some island like Newfound 
 land. The terms of a second patent show that the main 
 land as well as the island had been discovered. This sec 
 ond patent, dated February 3, 1498, authorized John Cabot 
 to take six English ships, "and them convey and lede to 
 the Land and Isles of late found by the said John in oure 
 name and by oure commandment." 
 
 Exactly what the discovery thus referred to was we may 
 see from an early notice, which said : 
 
 " In the year of our Lord 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, 
 and his son Sebastian, discovered that country which no 
 one before his time had ventured to approach, on the 24th 
 of June, about 5 o'clock in the morning. He called the 
 land Terra primum visa, because, as I conjecture, this was 
 the place that first met his eye in looking from the sea. 
 On the contrary, the island which lies opposite the land 
 he called the island of St. John, as I suppose because it 
 was discovered on the festival of St. John the Baptist." 
 
 The common tradition has been that a second expedition 
 set sail from Bristol in May, 1498, and after searching the 
 coast of the new land far to the north turned about and 
 followed the coast south for some 1,800 miles, or down 
 
136 WASHINGTON. 
 
 past the New England of a future day to what we know as 
 Virginia; and that thus a large discovery of continental 
 land to the west of the North Atlantic was made by Cabot 
 on his two voyages. Both of these voyages had been 
 made before Columbus had anywhere discovered any part 
 of the continental mainland. To a date as late as August, 
 1498, Columbus had not found any land except islands. 
 And when, August i, 1498, he saw land, near the mouths 
 of the Orinoco river in South America, he raised the ques 
 tion whether it was a continental mainland and a new 
 world, and very confidently decided that it was not. At 
 a later date he again saw a point of the coast of the con 
 tinent, and he took this also to be the coast of an island ; 
 and at his death he was entirely unconscious that he had 
 seen anything but the islands which he so falsely claimed 
 to be "the Isles of India beyond the Ganges," and upon 
 which he fixed the wholly false name of " West Indies." 
 
 The questions of history which arise in this connection 
 are conclusively dealt with in an admirable study recently 
 published by Henry Harrisse, an elegant volume of 500 
 pages, the title of which we give below.* The volume is 
 notable, not only for the justice of recognition which it 
 gives to John Cabot as alone the discoverer of North 
 America, but for the justice of exposure of the free-and- 
 easy mendacity of the son, Sebastian, in pretending to have 
 been himself the author of what was accomplished entirely 
 without him by his father. Harrisse's own summary of 
 the situation, as he finds it through researches that leave 
 nothing to be desired, is as follows : 
 
 " In the year 1497 a Venetian citizen, called Giovanni 
 
 * " John Cabot, the Discoverer of North America, and Sebastian 
 his Son. A chapter of the Maritime History of England under 
 the Tudors, 1496-1557." By Henry Harrisse. London: Benjamin 
 Franklin Stevens. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. $7.50. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 137 
 
 Caboto, having obtained letters-patent from Henry VII 
 the year previous for a voyage of discovery, crossed the 
 Atlantic ocean, and, under the British flag, discovered the 
 continent of North America. 
 
 " In 1498, he fitted out, in Bristol, a new expedition, 
 and again sailed westward; but scarcely anything further 
 is known of that enterprise." 
 
 Who was John Cabot? He is commonly said to have 
 been a Venetian settled at Bristol in England ; and his son 
 Sebastian is often said to have been an Englishman by 
 virtue of birth in England. Harrisse shows conclusively 
 that John Cabot was, like Columbus, a Genoese ; that he 
 was naturalized in Venice under a provision permitting 
 this to one who had been a resident in Venice for fifteen 
 years ; and that Sebastian was born, not in England, but 
 in Venice. Harrisse further expresses his belief that John 
 Cabot removed with his entire family to England in 1490; 
 that Sebastian, when he first came to England, was a lad 
 of about sixteen; and that when the elder Cabot under 
 took his memorable voyage of 1497, ne was forty-six years 
 of age, and his son, Sebastian (left at home), was about 
 twenty-three. Harrisse thinks it not unlikely that the 
 Cabots came from Venice to London. 
 
 Bristol was known to Columbus in 1477 as a P ort ^ rom 
 which bold expeditions were sent forth on the Atlantic 
 to the north and west. To all appearance, as the facts are 
 given by Harrisse, John Cabot's ideas may have antedated 
 the first voyage of Columbus. It was as early as 1474, 
 when John Cabot was still a resident of Venice, that Tos- 
 canelli, upon whose suggestions Columbus acted, was ad 
 vocating the project of reaching Asia by sailing constantly 
 westward. Evidence exists that Toscanelli's notions with 
 regard to lands across the Atlantic were pretty well cur 
 rent in Italy, and as likely to have been known to Cabot 
 
13 8 WASHINGTON. 
 
 as to Columbus. The statement commonly made that 
 John Cabot conceived the notion of a voyage of discovery 
 upon hearing of the success of the first voyage of Colum 
 bus, is a statement of Sebastian, intrinsically more likely 
 to be false than to be true. A trustworthy testimony is 
 to the effect that John Cabot related, in speaking of his 
 first voyage across the Atlantic, that when he was at Mecca, 
 in Arabia, he inquired from the caravans which brought 
 spice to Europe whence the article came, and that in con 
 sequence of his belief in the sphericity of the earth, he in 
 ferred from their reply that it came from a land which lay 
 to the west, and that the project of his voyage was based 
 on the expectation of finding a shorter route to Cathay, 
 by sailing west. Harrisse quotes a dispatch from Lon 
 don of July 25, 1498, by Pedro de Ayala, which said: 
 " For the last seven years Bristol people have sent out 
 every year two, three, or four caravels in search of the 
 island of Brazil and the Seven Cities, according to the 
 fancy of this Genoese." That the Genoese referred to was 
 not Columbus, and must have been John Cabot, is shown 
 by another part of the dispatch, in which Ayala said : " I 
 have seen the map which was made by the discoverer, who 
 is another Genoese like Columbus." When Ayala wrote 
 this dispatch nearly a year had elapsed from John Cabot's 
 return from his voyage of discovery, and manifestly the 
 reference was to him. Harrisse remarks in view of this 
 reference to what the people of Bristol had been engaged 
 in through the suggestion of John Cabot: 
 
 " Efforts of the kind were not unfrequent in those days. 
 We have cited in another work authentic documents re 
 ferring to eighteen similar enterprises, projected or at 
 tempted, between the years 1431 and 1492; that is, an 
 terior to the memorable voyage of Columbus. Ayala re 
 fers to attempts of this kind annually renewed, and of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 139 
 
 which the expedition sent out from Bristol by John Jay, 
 Jr., in July, 1480, under the command of Thomas Lloyd, 
 gives us a pretty clear idea. John Cabot doubtless ad 
 vised, and may even have laid out plans for such voyages 
 of discovery between 1490, which we suppose to be the 
 date of his first coming to England to settle, and the close 
 of 1495, when he submitted his plans to Henry VII. Be 
 lief in the existence of the island of Brazil and of a great 
 island called Antilla, or the Seven Cities, had existed be 
 fore the time of Columbus, and had led to voyages west 
 ward from Ireland earlier than the time of the Cabots." 
 
 It is more than probable, therefore, that the only service 
 rendered to English exploration by the report of islands 
 reached by Columbus was that of making it easier to se 
 cure the ear of the English monarch. 
 
 When Henry VII granted the petition of John Cabot, 
 who probably inserted the names of his sons with a view 
 to their inheritance of the interest and to any future prose 
 cution of it which might be made by them, they were au 
 thorized, " upon their own proper costs and charges, to 
 seek out, discover, and find whatsoever isles, countries, 
 regions, or provinces of the heathens or infidels, whatso 
 ever they be, and in what part of the worlcl soever they 
 be, which before this time have been unknown to all 
 Christians." 
 
 Although authorized so early as March 5, 1496, the ex 
 pedition did not sail until May of 1497, about the middle 
 of the month, Harrisse thinks, and consisted of but " one 
 small ship, manned by eighteen men." 
 
 We hear nothing of any terrors of the unknown Atlantic 
 preventing the bold venture of a voyage with so small a 
 craft and a crew so few in number. For more than 500 
 years the path of the sea from Ireland west to whatever 
 might be beyond had been more or less open, and the 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 expedition under John Cabot, small as it was, was no 
 more than average English courage was equal to. Cabot, 
 proceeding to the west coast of Ireland, sailed toward the 
 north and then west, until a mainland was reached, where 
 the country was fine and temperate; where the sea along 
 the shore was filled with fishes; where the inhabitants 
 used snares to catch game and needles for making nets; 
 where the tides were slack and did not rise as in England ; 
 and returning from which were seen two very large and 
 fertile islands. To Harrisse these points of description 
 imply Labrador inhabited by the Eskimo, in perhaps the 
 vicinity of Cape Chudleigh ; and further Harrisse says, 
 referring to what John Cabot reported : 
 
 " It is evident that the Venetian adventurer and his 
 companions were greatly struck with the enormous quan 
 tity of fish which they found in that region. It surpassed 
 anything of the kind they had ever seen, even in the Ice 
 landic sea, where cod was then marvelously plentiful. He 
 dwells at length and with evident complacency on that 
 fortunate peculiarity, ' that sea is covered with fishes, 
 which are taken not only with the net, but also with a 
 basket, in which a stone is put so that the basket may 
 plunge into water. They say that they will bring thence 
 such a quantity of fish that England will have no further 
 need of Iceland, from which a very great commerce of 
 fish called stockfish is brought/ It is clear that the exist 
 ence of vast quantities of cod is a circumstance which is 
 applicable to the entire transatlantic coast north of New 
 England. Yet, however plentiful that species of fish may 
 be on the banks of Newfoundland, the quantity is sur 
 passed near the entrance of Hudson's strait. Modern ex 
 plorers report that there cod and salmon ' form in many 
 places a living mass, a vast ocean of living slime, which 
 accumulates on the banks of northern Labrador ; ' and the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 141 
 
 spot noted for its ' amazing quantity of fish ' is the vicinity 
 of Cape Chudleigh, which the above details and other rea 
 sons seem to indicate as the place visited by John Cabot 
 in 1497." 
 
 The mention of the enormous amount, the immense 
 mass of codfish in the sea, is of very special significance. 
 This feature of the North Atlantic, clear across from the 
 north of Scotland to Labrador, may be said to have deter 
 mined the progress of sailing west, first far out into the 
 Atlantic, then to Iceland, then from Iceland to Greenland, 
 and thence to Labrador. For hundreds of years before 
 Columbus the cod in the sea had paved the way from the 
 west coast of Ireland to the codfish coast of America. 
 They tempted and trained the hardy fishermen to bold 
 voyaging, until the bold voyaging, by chance of the storms 
 and stress of weather, carried involuntary explorers as far 
 as Iceland. 
 
 A very interesting paper was recently presented to the 
 Viking Club of London setting forth facts going to show 
 that the original ancient " Thule " was Iceland ; that the 
 name was given by Celtic settlers from the British Isles; 
 and that the meaning of the name was " Isle of the Sun," 
 or island where the sun does not go down. When the 
 Scandinavians first discovered Iceland, about A. D. 850, 
 it had been colonized long before, to some small extent 
 at least, by Irish monks, who, observing how the sun re 
 mained above the horizon, even at midnight, naturally 
 gave it a name which meant Sun-Land. At least 700 
 years before Columbus, adventurers by sea from the coast 
 of Ireland, to whom fishing for cod had made familiar the 
 perils of the deep, were accustomed to strike boldly out 
 into the Atlantic with small regard to what might be 
 before them, and whether making long voyages delib 
 erately or being driven far away in spite of themselves, they 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 ultimately made the distance from Great Britain to Ice 
 land and later that from Iceland to Greenland, not to 
 speak of the further step from Greenland to Labrador. 
 The distance from the north of Scotland to Iceland is 500 
 miles; that from Norway to Iceland is 600 miles. The 
 greatest length of Iceland from east to west is 300 miles, 
 and from the west coast of Iceland to Greenland is 250 
 miles. Greenland is continental in extent, but it comes 
 to a point in the south, and this point about breaks in the 
 middle the sea passage from Iceland to Labrador. 
 Through the entire sea from Norway to Labrador the cod 
 have been a bridge from the old world to the new. 
 
 Beyond a doubt the codfish made the destiny of North 
 America. The day of discovery, in which both the United 
 States and British America are alike interested, ought to 
 be celebrated within all the metes and bounds of the con 
 tinent, from the Arctic coasts to the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with a festival of codfish. 
 The cod in the sea were the stepping-stones by which 
 Irish adventure and English enterprise made the trans 
 atlantic passage to the possession of the northern conti 
 nent of the new world. 
 
 That Cabot was back in England early in August is 
 proven by the fact of an official record of August 10, 1497, 
 showing that Henry VII gave 10 as a reward " to hym 
 that founde the new isle." What John Cabot actually 
 found, however, is more accurately mentioned in the new 
 letters-patent given him by Henry VII February 3, 1498, 
 and authorizing him " to take at his pleasure VI Englisshe 
 shippes and them convey and lede to the Londe and Isles 
 of late founde by the seid John." 
 
 For his second expedition Cabot had no difficulty in 
 finding men to accompany him. An Italian, writing home 
 from England at the time, said : " He can enlist as many 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 143 
 
 Englishmen as he pleases and many of our own rascals 
 besides." Harrisse says: "There is no ground whatever 
 for the assertion, frequently repeated, that John Cabot did 
 not command this second expedition, or that it was under 
 taken after his death by his son. The name of Sebastian 
 Cabot, who was not one of the grantees in these new 
 letters-patent, appears for the first time, in connection 
 with these voyages, in Peter Martyr's account, printed 
 twenty years after the event, and taken exclusively from 
 Sebastian's own lips, which, as we have shown, is not a 
 recommendation." 
 
 The second expedition sailed early in the spring of 1498, 
 and at the end of July following the first news relative to 
 its progress was received in England. Harrisse thinks 
 that the fleet sailed later than April i, 1498, because of 
 a record which shows that the King loaned 30 on 
 that day to two persons who were " going to the New 
 Isle." The only direct news concerning the expedition 
 after it left Bristol is a statement by Pedro de Ayala in a 
 dispatch of July 25, 1498, that " News has been received 
 of the fleet of five ships." We do not know when the fleet 
 returned to England, nor do w r e know where the fleet went, 
 nor what discoveries it made, nor whether John Cabot 
 survived the expedition. Our only information bearing 
 upon the matter is that one of the men who borrowed 
 money of the King for " going to the New Isle " repaid 
 the loan in London, June 6, 1501. 
 
 As to the regions visited by John Cabot in the course 
 of his second voyage of discovery, we can only form an 
 opinion by inference from what appears to have been 
 known a little later, as in the year 1501, and which cannot 
 have been known except through John Cabot's discoveries. 
 A celebrated map, that of Juan de la Cosa, made in 1500, 
 indicates points discovered by the English. Harrisse in- 
 
144 WASHINGTON. 
 
 fers that the northernmost represent those noted by Cabot 
 during his first voyage, and that those further south nec 
 essarily indicate the discoveries of the expedition of 1498. 
 In this view, Cabot must have reached a vicinity south of 
 the Carolinas. Harrisse constructs a map of the second 
 voyage of John Cabot, which indicates that he sailed south 
 from Newfoundland past Nova Scotia and the whole At 
 lantic coast to Florida, and thence took his course back 
 to Bristol. 
 
 A point of great interest in the story of John Cabot's 
 discovery of North America is the question of the month 
 and the day of the original discovery in 1497. The only 
 report which we have makes it to have been in June and 
 on the 24th day of the month, which, allowing for the 
 difference between the old style and the new style, would 
 be on our July 4th. Unfortunately the report comes in 
 directly from Sebastian Cabot, with more than an indica 
 tion of its doubtful character. Harrisse discusses the facts 
 and comes to the conclusion that the date June 24th was 
 invented in consequence of finding the name of St. John 
 existing on maps of that region, and that the story was 
 told that the name was given because the spot was dis 
 covered on St. John's Day, June 24th ; but of this we can 
 not have an approach to positive knowledge, and one 
 may hesitate, if he chooses, to give up the date. It seems 
 to have been a possible date, if we suppose that on the 
 first voyage only a very limited portion of the coast was 
 visited, and in the entire absence of decisive evidence it 
 seems not unreasonable to continue the use of the date 
 and to let July 4th serve as the anniversary of Cabot's 
 original discovery. 
 
 It is customary to assume that the voyages of Cabot 
 were a result of the voyage of Columbus ; that he broke 
 the ice and showed the way; that he, first in time and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 145 
 
 greatest in genius and courage, set forth into the immense 
 unknown seas, and gave the impulse by which all others 
 sailed ; and that to him, because of a supremely great initia 
 tion, belongs the comprehensive honor of all the discover 
 ies by which a new world was added to the old. So ram 
 pant everywhere has been this view that even our best 
 historical accounts are marred by it, and not even our 
 best authorities get the facts in a right light. 
 
 It is a grotesquely false representation on which all the 
 honoring of Columbus and of Spain has proceeded, to the 
 neglect of other and far higher claims. It is not so much 
 the Norse claims, going back to about looo A. D., when 
 the whole seaway by Iceland and Greenland to whatever 
 lay beyond was familiar to many adventurous keels. It 
 is far more the claims which the viking-ship development 
 of a later time, in England and in half-English Portugal, 
 presents ; when adventure free and fearless stood not upon 
 royal subsidies and patents of dominion, and had no de 
 sire to plead the darkness and dread disasters of the seas 
 in apology for blasted expectations. There had been 500 
 years of dauntless breasting of all seas and plunging into 
 unknown deeps, by Saxon, or Celtic, or Norse adventurers 
 before Columbus mustered a trembling courage to run 
 before a favoring wind across the Atlantic. 
 
 The fact is that ignorance and imagination have far too 
 much shaped the popular representation of Columbus. 
 The place of the Genoese sailor in the great age of dis 
 covery has been grossly exaggerated. He is in reality 
 the fourth, and the least worthy, of the four heroes of dis 
 covery by whose lives a new world was added to the old 
 world. Before him and above him were Vespucius, Cabot, 
 and Prince Henry of Portugal, known for immortal honor 
 as Prince Henry the Navigator. 
 
 In one of our best historical handbooks the index has 
 10 
 
146 WASHINGTON. 
 
 this correct word " Columbus discovered the West In 
 dies " and the text says of the general facts : 
 
 " Portugal at the end of the fourteenth century (or about 
 1400 A. D. ; it was in fact from about 1418 or 1420, seventy 
 years before Columbus) had led the way in maritime ad 
 venture, and Portuguese navigators discovered a way to 
 India round the Cape of Good Hope [after attempts cov 
 ering the whole period 1433-1498]. Spain was anxious 
 to do as much, and in 1492 Columbus had discovered the 
 West Indies." 
 
 The Portuguese navigators, trained and sent forth by 
 Prince Henry, had succeeded, through more than half a 
 century of daring endeavor (1433-1486), in sailing down 
 the entire west coast of Africa and around the stormy cape 
 at its southern extremity, six years before Columbus car 
 ried out his utterly baseless scheme for getting to India 
 by sailing west on the South Atlantic; and they actually 
 reached India, at Calicut on its southwest coast, ten days 
 before Columbus set sail on his third voyage, in which 
 he first saw the continental mainland, but did not explore 
 it or even discover what it was, his opinion being that it 
 was not a new continent or a new world. 
 
 The true course of events in the century of discovery, 
 and the true place of persons in it, may be seen from these 
 Britannica passages; which correctly refer the great start 
 made all over the world, not to Columbus and Spain, but 
 to Portugal and the great Portuguese initiator, far behind 
 whom came the Genoese sailor : 
 
 " In the fifteenth century the time was approaching 
 when the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope was almost 
 indefinitely to widen the scope of geographical enterprise. 
 The great event was preceded by the construction of the 
 mariner's compass. Encouraged by the possession of this 
 sure guide, by which, at all times and in all places, he 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 147 
 
 could with certainty steer his course, the navigator gradu 
 ally abandoned the method of sailing along the shore, and 
 boldly committed his bark to the open sea. Navigation 
 was then destined to make rapid progress. The growing 
 spirit of enterprise, combined with the increasing light of 
 science, prepared the states of Europe for entering upon 
 that great career of discovery, of which the details con 
 stitute the materials for the history of modern geography. 
 
 " Portugal took the lead in this new and brilliant path, 
 and foremost in the front rank of the worthies of this little 
 hero-nation stands the figure of Prince Henry the Navi 
 gator. Until his day the pathways of the human race had 
 been the mountain, the river, and the plain, the strait, the 
 lake, and the inland sea. It was he who first conceived 
 the thought of opening a road through the unexplored 
 ocean, a road replete with danger but abundant with 
 promise. Prince Henry, born March 4, 1394, relinquished 
 the pleasures of the court, and took up his abode on the 
 inhospitable promontory of Sagres, at the extreme south 
 western angle of Europe. To find the seapath to the 
 ' thesauris Arabum et divitiis Indies ' was the object to which 
 he devoted his life. He collected the information sup 
 plied by ancient geographers, unweariedly devoted him 
 self to the study of navigation and cartography, and in 
 vited, with princely liberality of reward, the co-operation 
 of the boldest and most skilful navigators of every 
 country." 
 
 The sweep of Prince Henry's early work to the west 
 reached a thousand miles into the Atlantic and made the 
 Azores and the Madeira islands integral parts of Portugal. 
 To the south, down the coast of Africa, to and beyond the 
 Canaries, progress was very slow, but the efforts of Henry 
 not less persistent and hopeful. The Mohammedan re 
 ligion had propagated cowardly terror of the sea, and had 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 impressed this on the ignorance and superstition of Christ 
 endom. To Prince Henry this paralyzing cowardice was 
 despicable, and in 1433 one of his captains, an Englishman 
 named Giles Jones, or Gil Eannes, carried his ship past 
 Cape Bojador on the African coast, where the dangers 
 had been supposed to be too great for mortal hazard. 
 
 The advance southward was now unsparingly pressed , 
 and by 1446 more than fifty caravels had reached the 
 Guinea coast. Prince Henry died in 1460, but his great 
 work did not die with him; and in a marvelous voyage r 
 lasting from August, 1486, to December, 1487, Bartholo 
 mew Dias, sailing 13,000 miles with two little fifty-ton 
 craft, went storm-driven far beyond the south end of 
 Africa, and thence back to its east coast, and home again 
 by rounding the cape, named by him Tormentoso. 
 
 This cape of storms, where, on a later voyage, the same 
 Dias went down with his ship, was called by the King of 
 Portugal the Cape of Good Hope, because of the expecta 
 tion now so strong of reaching India by that way, as 
 Prince Henry had planned to do. It was because of wise 
 plans and confident, just expectations, so long patiently 
 pursued, that Portugal let Columbus turn to Spain with 
 his crazy dream of reaching India by sailing west. 
 
 India was reached by the Portuguese navigator, Vasco 
 da Gama, in a voyage lasting from July, 1497, to May, 
 
 1498. When Da Gama got back to Lisbon in August, 
 
 1499, another expedition was sent, a fleet of thirteen ships, 
 commanded by Pedro Alvarez Cabral. It sailed March 
 9th in the year 1500, and through stress of Atlantic storms 
 was carried to the coast of the great southern continent, 
 across the Atlantic from Africa ; and on the 22d of April, 
 1500 A. D., or May ist by new style, its commander 
 Cabral, took possession for Portugal of the great con 
 tinental mainland which we know as Brazil. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 149 
 
 It was a discovery which belonged in the course of 
 events set in motion by Prince Henry eighty years before. 
 It would have been made exactly the same if Columbus 
 had never sailed. It gave the first news to Europe of 
 continental regions discovered where Columbus had 
 found and had reported only islands. 
 
 Cabral sent the great news back to Portugal, and then 
 turned his prows toward the Cape of Good Hope to make 
 his voyage to India. The fleet met at sea an expedition 
 which had on board Amerigo Vespucius, and which fol 
 lowed up Cabral's discovery with prolonged coastwise ex 
 ploration of the new continent. Vespucius got from 
 Cabral news of the finding of a continent, and, after amply 
 verifying it by prolonged explorations, he made a report, 
 in which he told how a " new world " had been discovered ; 
 just what Columbus might have done fully two years earlier 
 if he had not been too stupid to see and follow up the real 
 facts. The inevitable result followed. Vespucius was the 
 reporter of news of a new world, and because he got a 
 scoop on Columbus, as newspaper men say, he was justly 
 honored, by those who printed the news, with having the 
 new world called Amerige, or America. 
 
 It was thus in the line of Prince Henry, and not in the 
 line of Columbus, that there came into view a new world. 
 Prince Henry was the supreme hero of the age of discov 
 ery. The mother of the prince was Philippa of Lancaster, 
 daughter of that Duke of Lancaster, son to Edward III 
 of England, who was at one time the patron of John 
 Wyclif. The prince was thus half an Englishman. He 
 was one of the finest minds and fairest characters of his 
 time. At the age of twenty-one he had won European 
 fame as a soldier, and when he began at twenty-two his 
 matchless devotion to science as a means of human prog 
 ress he was a figure, as a young man, hardly paralleled in 
 
150 WASHINGTON. 
 
 history. The Britannica article devoted to him (Vol. XT, 
 672), says : 
 
 " Henry Prince of Portugal, surnamed the Navigator, 
 to whose enlightened foresight and perseverance the hu 
 man race is indebted for the maritime discovery, within 
 one century, of more than half of the globe, was born at 
 Oporto on the 4th of March, 1394. Prince Henry and 
 his elder brothers, Duarte and Pedro, were sent out in 
 1415 on an expedition against the important Moorish city 
 of Ceuta, which, after much hard fighting, they succeeded 
 in taking one day. Prince Henry pre-eminently distin 
 guished himself at the siege. His renown after this be 
 came so high that he was invited severally by the Pope, 
 the Emperor, and the Kings of Castile and England, to 
 take the command of their respective armies. The Prince, 
 however, had set his mind on other and larger plans, in 
 volving no less than the hope of reaching Inclia by the 
 south point of Africa. Accordingly, in 1418-19, he took 
 up his abode on the extreme southwestern point of Europe, 
 with the purpose of devoting himself to study, and to the 
 direction and encouragement of the expeditions which he 
 proposed to send forth. There he erected an observatory, 
 and at great expense procured the services of a man very 
 skilful in the art of navigation and in the making of maps 
 and instruments, to instruct the Portuguese officers in 
 those sciences. 
 
 "At first his efforts seemed to be crowned with little 
 success, and his various expeditions called down upon him 
 much obloquy from the nobles, who complained of such 
 an amount of useless expenditure; but on the Prince 
 vituperation fell harmless. 
 
 "The glory attaching to the name of Prince Henry 
 does not rest merely on the achievements effected during 
 his own lifetime, but on the stupendous subsequent results 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 151 
 
 in maritime discovery to which his genius and perseverance 
 had lent the primary inspiration. The marvelous results 
 effected within a century from the rounding of Cape Boja- 
 dor in 1433 [nearly sixty years before Columbus], formed 
 one unbroken chain of discovery, which originated in the 
 genius and the efforts of one man. They were the stupen 
 dous issue of a great thought and of indomitable perse 
 verance, in spite of twelve years [1420-1432] of costly 
 failure and disheartening ridicule. Had that failure and 
 that ridicule produced on Prince Henry the effect which 
 they ordinarily produce on other men, it is impossible to 
 say what delays would have occurred before these mighty 
 events would have been realized ; for it must be borne in 
 mind that the ardor, not only of his own soldiers, but of 
 surrounding nations, owed its impulse to this pertinacity 
 of purpose in him." 
 
 Such is the testimony going to show that the age of 
 discovery not only dates from Prince Henry long before 
 Columbus, but was created by him, and was in full course 
 to the true discovery in the southern quarter of a new world 
 when Columbus came upon the scene with claims and plans 
 widely out of line with truth, however successful in hap 
 pening on the islands which he falsely designated the 
 " West Indies." 
 
 And there follows from these facts the manifest con 
 clusion that when John Cabot sailed, and effected a dis 
 covery of continental mainland fourteen months before 
 Columbus fooled away at the mouths of the Orinoco his 
 chance to report, or at least record a true discovery of a 
 new continent, he was doing what he might no less have 
 done if Columbus had not " discovered the West Indies." 
 
 Venezuela is of special interest, from the fact of which 
 the Britannica speaks as follows : 
 
 " The coast of Venezuela was the first part of the Amen- 
 
152 WASHINGTON. 
 
 can mainland sighted by Columbus, who during his third 
 voyage, in 1498, entered the Gulf of Paria and sailed along 
 the coast of the delta of the Orinoco. In the following- 
 year a much greater extent of coast was traced out by 
 Alonzo de Ojeda, who was accompanied by the more cele 
 brated Amerigo Vespucci." 
 
 This brief mention touches the two men between whom 
 lay the opportunity to notify the world that a new con 
 tinent had been discovered, Columbus on his third voy 
 age and Vespucius a year later on his first. Columbus 
 had every advantage, and Vespucius was at every disad 
 vantage, for giving out to Europe and to all history new 
 continental discoveries. Yet Columbus lost his chance ; 
 deliberately threw it away ; turned his back on what should 
 have been the climax of his career, and went steadily 
 downward and backward, discredited by apparent failure 
 and detested as a fraud ; while Vespucius, seizing his oppor 
 tunity, although a later one, turned in the news to a news 
 paper man, one of the very earliest that ever had the 
 handling of a printing-press, and by doing so, happened on 
 the great luck of having it suggested that what he had 
 himself called a new world should be given the name, from 
 his own name, of America. 
 
 In the " Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella," describing 
 his third voyage to America, for which he sailed May 30, 
 1498, Columbus relates how he " saw land at noon of Tues 
 day, the 3 ist of July," and, putting in for the land, reached 
 a cape which proved to be the southeastern point of the 
 large island of Trinidad, lying opposite the mouths of the 
 Orinoco. Heretofore Columbus had seen nothing but 
 islands ; now he was to see for the first time a continental 
 coast. Sailing along the south coast of this island, Colum 
 bus passed through the strait between the southwestern 
 point of the island and the coast* of the continent into the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 153 
 
 great gulf, lying between the island and the delta of the 
 Orinoco. Here he found tremendous currents caused by 
 the floods in the river at, as is supposed, its northern 
 mouths. The delta includes about 200 miles of coast, and 
 that part where Columbus tarried about two weeks seems 
 to have been on the north. The main channel and mouth 
 of the river was discovered by Ojeda later. Columbus 
 took no pains to explore the coast or even to ascertain 
 whether it was more than the coast of an island. 
 
 He had a peculiar reason for failing to clo this, a reason 
 which turned upon certain theories of his. He had always 
 read, he tells us, that the world was spherical, as testified 
 by Ptolemy and others, but, he declares, " I have come to 
 another conclusion respecting the earth, namely, that it 
 is not round, as they describe, but of the form of a pear, 
 which is very round except where the stalk grows, at which 
 part it is most prominent, this protusion being the highest 
 and nearest the sky ; " or, as he said again, " THis western 
 half of the world, I maintain, is like the half of a very 
 round pear having a raised projection for the stalk." He 
 inferred that " the extreme blandness of the temperature " 
 must arise " from this country being the most elevated 
 in the world and the nearest to the sky." He had not 
 learned that elevation, as by ascent of a mountain, brings 
 us into a region of cold even in the hottest climate and 
 under the most intense heat of the sun. 
 
 Having thus made out in his own thoughts that he had 
 reached the stem of the globe where, if he coulH proceed, 
 he would come upon the topmost elevation of the world, 
 he gave utterance to this conviction : " I believe it is im 
 possible to ascend thither, because I am convinced that it 
 is the spot of the earthly paradise, whither no one can go 
 but by God's permission." He went on to explain that 
 he supposed the earthly paradise to be " on the summit of 
 
15 4 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the spot which I have described as being in the form of 
 the stalk of a pear," the approach to it being by a constant 
 and gradual ascent, such that " no one could ever reach 
 the top; " while the floods which he had seen he regarded 
 as the abundance of waters pouring down from this top 
 most spot of the world. He thought that the site coin 
 cided with the opinion of learned theologians, and further 
 more he said : " The other evidences agree with the sup 
 position, for I have never either read or heard of fresh 
 water coming in so large a quantity in close conjunction 
 with the water of the sea ; the idea is also corroborated 
 by the blandness of the temperature; and if the water of 
 which I speak does not proceed from the earthly paradise, 
 it appears to be still more marvelous, for I do not believe 
 that there is any river in the world so large or so deep." 
 Columbus pronounced here his opinion that the waters of 
 the sea, by holding a more rapid course just there, had 
 " thus carried away large tracts of land and that from 
 hence has resulted this great number of islands." He fur 
 ther said in support of his idea that the islands had been 
 washed out to sea from the mainland. " These islands 
 themselves afford an additional proof of it, for all of them, 
 without exception, run lengthwise from west to east, and 
 from the northwest to the southeast." 
 
 The possibility, if not certainty, of an immense mainland 
 open to discovery distinctly presented itself to Columbus. 
 Thus he said : " This land which Your Highnesses have 
 now sent me to explore is very extensive, and I think there 
 are many other countries in the south of which the world 
 has never had any knowledge." Had Columbus sailed off 
 to the south, instead of leaving it to Ojeda, Vespucius, and 
 others, he would have made and reported the discovery 
 of continental mainland. This he did not do, even with 
 the overwhelming suggestion afforded by the flood from 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 155 
 
 the Orinoco of a great river pouring out from a great 
 continent. He finally expressed himself in these terms : 
 " I tHink that if the river mentioned does not proceed from 
 the terrestrial paradise, it comes from an immense tract 
 of land situated in the south, of which no knowledge has 
 been hitherto obtained. But the more I reason on the 
 subject the more satisfied I become that the terrestrial 
 paradise is situated in the spot I have described." 
 
 So satisfied was Columbus with what seemed to him a 
 pious conclusion that he made no effort to verify either 
 then or later the possibility of " an immense tract of land 
 situated in the south of which no knowledge has hitherto 
 been obtained." He said on the last page of his letter: 
 "And now, during the dispatch of the information respect 
 ing these lands which I have recently discovered, and where 
 I believe in my soul the earthly paradise is situated, the 
 Adelantado (his brother Bartholomew) will proceed with 
 three ships well stocked with provisions on a further in 
 vestigation, and will make all the discoveries he can about 
 these parts." Whatever this promise referred to, nothing 
 in the important direction of southern exploration was un 
 dertaken. It is the more remarkable that he did nothing 
 because the plan of this third voyage had been to take a 
 more southerly course with a view to the possibility of 
 discovering continental land. The turn which both his 
 thoughts and his actions took at the critical moment may 
 have been determined by the fact that he lay helpless and 
 blind at the time under the double stroke of agonizing 
 gout and a malady of the eyes. At any rate, possessed 
 by an entirely false conclusion, he sailed away for Hayti 
 about August I5th, and found both himself and his brother 
 with other things to attend to than the prosecution of new 
 discovery to the south. 
 
 One thing, however, which proved his undoing he thor- 
 
15 G WASHINGTON. 
 
 oughly attended to ; he sent home to Spain the most glow 
 ing account that he could of new discoveries and sent speci 
 mens of pearls which had been found on the Orinoco coast. 
 This led to voyages permitted by the Spanish crown with 
 out reference to Columbus and for the special purpose of 
 following up the new discoveries which Columbus had 
 promised to further prosecute. The first of these voyages 
 was that of Ojeda, who sailed May 20, 1499, and Americus 
 Vespucius with him. Ojeda had the charts which Colum 
 bus sent home, and followed his track along the Orinoco 
 coast, until they entered a gulf-where some pile dwellings 
 of the natives suggested to them to leave the name 
 Venezuela, in reference to Venice. This was the earliest 
 christening of any part of the South American continent. 
 Ojeda returned to Spain in June, 1500. Meanwhile Pedro 
 Alonzo Nino, who had been pilot with Columbus on his 
 first voyage, got leave to sail, and did sail early in June, 
 1499, to see wnat ne could discover. He reached the Ori 
 noco coast only fifteen days later than Ojeda, and, wasting 
 no time in exploration, gathered a rich store of pearls and 
 got back to Spain as early as April, 1500, the first real 
 evidence of wealth which could be had by sailing to the 
 newly-discovered lands. 
 
 A third voyage was that of Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who 
 had been with Columbus on his first voyage. He got 
 away from Palos with four caravels early in December, 
 1499. Pinzon sailed eager to explore, and accomplished 
 what Columbus had failed to do. He stood boldly to the 
 southwest, crossed the equator, and on January 20, 1500, 
 saw a cape which was probably the most easterly cape of 
 the great southern continent. Pinzon then sailed north, 
 passed the mouth of the Amazon, and passed the Orinoco 
 coast, and after losing two of his ships, got back to Spain 
 in September, 1500. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 157 
 
 Once more, Diego de Lepe, sailing from Palos with 
 two caravels in January, 1500, discovered still farther to 
 the south the coast of the great south continent. And 
 finally, the Portuguese commander, Cabral, after De Gama 
 had succeeded in sailing round Africa to India, set out, 
 March 9, 1500, with a fleet to repeat De Gama's voyage. 
 The fleet took a course or else was driven out of its way, 
 so far to the southwest as to be brought, on April 22d, to 
 what is now the coast of Brazil. After examining the coast 
 Cabral took possession for Portugal, May i, 1500, and 
 sent a caravel to Portugal with a letter carrying the news 
 of what he had found and what he had done. 
 
 May I3th of the next year, 1501, a new Portuguese fleet 
 sailed for the coast which Cabral had discovered. It met 
 at the Cape de Verde Islands Cabral's fleet, which had been 
 to India, and was then on its return to Portugal. Vespu- 
 cius was with the west-bound fleet, and Cabral's discoveries 
 were now reported to him by Cabral's secretary or inter 
 preter, Gaspero. This new Portuguese expedition, which 
 Vespucius accompanied, made extended exploration far 
 down the coast of the new continent. By the 3d of April, 
 1502, they had reached the latitude of 52 degrees south, 
 and from thence, being driven off the coast by a gale, they 
 sailed east to Africa, and thence to Lisbon, which they 
 reached September j y 1502. Vespucius wrote an account 
 in 1503 of this voyage. The Italian original of this ac 
 count is lost, but a Latin translation of it bore the title, 
 *' Mundus Novus." The idea of it was that far to the 
 south of the islands, to which Columbus had exclusively 
 given attention, there was a new world. This account, 
 extensively printed in 1504 and 1505, not only in Latin, 
 but in Italian, German, and Dutch, was the foundation of 
 the fame of Vespucius. 
 
 The press of the world did not at that time amount to 
 
158 WASHINGTON. 
 
 much, but with all that there was Vespucius got in the 
 greatest " scoop," as the modern reporter says, in all his 
 tory. He effectively reported the discovery of a new 
 world. It was entirely without reference to the altogether 
 different discoveries of Columbus, and Vespucius himself 
 had nothing to do with the naming of the new world. It 
 was from those who printed his story that the suggestion 
 came to name it from the reporter, and the suggestion 
 proved a successful one. The new world, referring solely 
 to a great continental south mainland, was named America, 
 quite separate from the islands to which Columbus had 
 given the name of the Indies. The designation was later 
 extended to include the north continent with the south, 
 but still leaving to Columbus the islands on which he had 
 taken the greatest pains to fasten the name of Indies. 
 
 Columbus, meanwhile, by entirely failing to prove his 
 assertions in regard to gold and other wealth in the Indies, 
 and by sending home natives to be sold as slaves, had so 
 lost the confidence of Isabella as to occasion the sending 
 out an officer of the royal household, Francisco de Boba- 
 dilla, with a commission which resulted in sending Colum 
 bus back to Spain as a criminal in chains; and, although 
 he succeeded in making his peace with the Spanish crown, 
 and, after two years of disheartening neglect, was permit 
 ted to make a fourth voyage, nothing ever came of it 
 toward procuring for Columbus a contemporary relation 
 to any discoveries except those on which he had concen 
 trated his own interests, the islands which he so confidently 
 pronounced to be " The Isles of India beyond the Ganges.'* 
 
 It is a circumstance of no little interest that experts have 
 expressed the opinion that 400 miles above the mouth of 
 the Orinoco, in southeastern Venezuela, and only thirty 
 miles inland, there is the largest gold mine on earth. If 
 Columbus had been of a sufficiently exploring spirit, had 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 159 
 
 been in health, and had been on the coast at the proper 
 season of the year, he might have found this gold mine, 
 might have reported the discovery of continental land, 
 and might with the greatest certainty have made the world 
 talk about him in connection with a new world, as it but 
 a little later did talk about Vespucius. 
 
 A new and critical Life of Columbus, on lines of the real 
 history of voyages and discoveries, ought to be offered to 
 the world from Chicago, in atonement for the strange 
 ignorance of history, so accessible in the Britannica, with 
 which " Columbian " was written across the whole scene 
 of historical commemoration in 1892-3. 
 
 When John Cabot, on our July 4th, landed on the main 
 land of North America, he set up a great cross, and un 
 furled above it the flag of England and the Venetian ban 
 ner of St. Mark. The England of Queen Elizabeth built 
 on this foundation and made possible the United States of 
 North America. Discovery Day stands above Indepen 
 dence Day, in the larger view of history. 
 
 The London " Times " of March 6th published the fol 
 lowing, under the head of " The Cabot Anniversary : " 
 
 " Yesterday was the four hundredth anniversary of an 
 event which has always been understood to mark the 
 foundation of the British Colonial Empire. On March 5, 
 1496, Henry VII granted a petition preferred by a Bristol 
 captain and his three sons, praying the sanction of the 
 crown to a contemplated voyage in search of unknown 
 countries believed to exist beyond the ocean in northern 
 latitudes. Pursuant to this petition, which is still pre 
 served in the public record office, the privy seal was on the 
 same day affixed to the first charter authorizing its holders 
 to hoist the English flag on shores hitherto unknown to 
 Christian people, and to acquire the sovereignty of them 
 for the English crown. This charter, granted to John 
 
160 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Cabot and his sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus, stipu 
 lates that the grantees shall, after every voyage, return 
 to the port of Bristol; that they shall then and there pay 
 to the crown, in money or merchandise, one-fifth of their 
 net profits; that they shall be permitted to import their 
 merchandise free of customs ; and that no English subject 
 shall frequent the continents, islands, villages, towns, 
 castles, and places discovered by them without their license. 
 The Cabot charter and the voyages made pursuant to it 
 were always regarded as the root of England's title to her 
 American possessions. Charters of a similar kind had 
 been from time to time granted by the Portuguese crown. 
 While the Cabot patent disregards the Pope's partition of 
 the globe between Portugal and Spain, it authorizes no 
 intrusion into the southern seas in which each of these 
 powers had already acquired colonial possessions by actual 
 occupancy. Columbus' discoveries were as yet limited to 
 the chain of islands separating the Caribbean sea from the 
 Atlantic. Cabot's discoveries on his first voyage are dis 
 puted [as to their exact location], but it seems most prob 
 able that in 1497, if not in 1496, he reached the peninsula 
 of Labrador, and coasted a considerable part, if not the 
 whole, of its Atlantic shore, leaving the shores of Newfound 
 land, which he mistook, as he very well might do, for two 
 islands instead of one, to starboard on his return. In any 
 case, his title to be considered the first pioneer of English 
 colonization is indisputable, and it is equally certain that 
 the title of the English crown to the shores which he is 
 generally understood to have reached has never been suc 
 cessfully questioned." 
 
 The recognition thus accorded upon the highest Eng 
 lish authority to John Cabot as the instrument by which 
 the northern continent of the new world was secured to 
 England instead of Spain and the English Colonies, which 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 161 
 
 became the United States, were made possible, is beyond 
 all doubt just and true. The four hundredth anniver 
 sary of the earliest event to which our North America 
 looks back is that noted by the London " Times." The 
 more important four hundredth anniversary in 1897, 
 on the day, as far as it can now be known, which was 
 counted four centuries ago as June 24th, but the present 
 anniversary of which is our July 4th. It is entirely with 
 out coming into conflict in any way with the claims of 
 Columbus, and doing no wrong to whatever credit his 
 tory should give to Columbus, that English-speaking peo 
 ple interested in North America must, if they care any 
 thing for the truth of history, refer the North America 
 which now exists to John Cabot's historically separate 
 discovery and to 1497 as the true earliest North American 
 date. But it was in the sequel to Cabot's work that Eng 
 land set a seal of imperial claim across the great north 
 continent. 
 
 The Tudors, who reigned in England from 1485 to 
 1603, were a most remarkable race. They began with 
 Henry VII, 1485-1509, under whom the Cabots discov 
 ered North America. As early as 1491 the age of new 
 learning had fully dawned in England. The Utopia of 
 Sir Thomas More, written a little later, represents this 
 learning on lines which our best advance in culture of 
 every kind has not yet overtaken ; and for a plan the story 
 is credited to a Portuguese who, "for the desire that he 
 had to see and know the far countries of the world, had 
 joined himself in company with Amerike Vespuce, and 
 in the three last voyages of the four that be now in print 
 and abroad in every man's hands, had continued still in his 
 company." This reference of the greatest writer at that 
 date, 1516, shows what figure " Mayster Amerike," or 
 IT 
 
162 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " Mayster Vespuce," had cut before the world, and how 
 the narrative put forth by him had excited the universal 
 interest which very naturally and very justly suggested 
 calling the novus mundus, the news of which he gave, 
 America. 
 
 Political exigencies drove Henry VII from the first into 
 close relations with Spain, and these were cemented in 
 1501 by the marriage of the Infanta Catharine, daughter 
 of Ferdinand and Isabella, to Arthur, Henry's eldest son. 
 The death of Arthur left the Infanta a widow, but circum 
 stances in Europe caused Spain to so much desire English 
 good-will that Isabella, contrary to Catholic principle and 
 contrary to the English King's feeling, strongly urged 
 the union of Catharine with Arthur's brother Henry. The 
 wishes of Isabella, a faithful Catholic, secured the consent 
 of the Pope and a betrothal of the Infanta and the Prince 
 took place. He was six years the younger, but when he 
 came to the throne in 1509, her passionate love was, within 
 two months, rewarded by the marriage which a cruel fate 
 would turn to bitterness. Henry VIII was thus the son- 
 in-law of Fedinand, and England a dependent of Spain. 
 Henry promised that he would obey Ferdinand as he had 
 obeyed his own father, and Catharine spoke of Henry and 
 herself as Ferdinand's subjects. 
 
 Isabella had died in 1504, leaving a daughter married 
 to Philip, the son of the Emperor Maximilian. Their son 
 was Charles, who became the Emperor Charles V, and 
 whose son Philip was to fill so large and so dark a place 
 in the history of Europe. Ferdinand died in 1516, and 
 was succeeded by his daughter's son, Charles V, who be 
 came Emperor in 1519, having been elected after his 
 father's death. 
 
 The son of Charles V, Philip II of Spain, came to the 
 Spanish throne in 1556. The life of Henry VIII of Eng- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 163 
 
 land had run out in 1547; his son Edward had ruled under 
 anti-Catholic guidance, 1547-53; and Mary had come to 
 the English throne in 1553. To Mary, Philip II, the heir 
 to Spain, was married in 1554, and when he left her in 
 1555 to prepare to succeed the next year to the throne 
 of Spain, nothing seemed more unlikely than English de 
 fiance, defeat, and destruction of Spanish supremacy. 
 
 Mary was in many ways ardently Spanish, and by so 
 much unpopular with those of her subjects who were every 
 day becoming more and more prejudiced against Spanish 
 power, and most of all against Philip, Mary's Spanish hus 
 band, who now wore the title of King, while the coin of 
 the realm, bearing the name of Philip with that of Mary, 
 made England seem apparently a part of Spain. And the 
 situation thus unfortunately created by the antagonism of 
 pro-English and pro-Spanish sympathies, became greatly 
 aggravated when it appeared that Mary, who was twelve 
 years older than her husband and in very poor health was 
 childless, and that the marriage virtually gave England to 
 Spain. The death of Mary changed everything. England 
 became the inheritance of her half-sister Elizabeth. 
 
 Henry VIII, to whom the Infanta Catharine, though 
 an excellent and faithful wife, had become a doubtful 
 spouse when he saw no male child survive to be his heir, 
 had been fascinated by a girl of sixteen about 1522, and 
 January 25, 1533, he was secretly married to her, after a 
 long scandal of shameless divorce proceedings to get rid 
 of Catharine. It turned out badly for Anne Boleyn, wife 
 and Queen though she became, because Henry found out, 
 or rather supposed that he did, that she had misbehaved 
 before her marriage, and for that he ruthlessly put her 
 to death. But she had borne to him a daughter, Eliza 
 beth, a woman destined to the greatest place and the grand 
 est fortune Engand from first to last has known. Like 
 
1(34 WASHINGTON. 
 
 George Eliot, the woman-Socrates of our time, she got 
 from her mother some points of weakness or wayward 
 ness of character, but all the same the motherhood of which 
 she came, queenly and powerful for the moment, with what 
 of greatest there was in her father, had served to create, 
 beneath superficial frailties sufficiently scandalous, a lion- 
 hearted mother-monarch the greatest that ever sat on a 
 throne. 
 
 And in the events of her career lay more of the future 
 of the world than in any other life ever known. There 
 would have been no such North America as gave the 
 United States but for the changes which her great reign 
 effected. It has not been noted in history, but the un 
 questioned fact is that there would have been no Pilgrim 
 Fathers and no planting by them of New England, but 
 for the train of events set in motion by her peculiar course 
 in the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. The defiance, 
 defeat, and destruction of the supremacy of Spain, in both 
 the old world and the new, was the greatest work of Eliza- 
 "beth, due to the might of her spirit and to the masterly 
 skill and courage of her seamen. 
 
 Philip II had reached inordinate greatness, in territory, 
 an arms by land and sea, and in wealth, when the struggle 
 came. Naples and Milan, the best parts of Italy, were 
 his. He ruled the Low Countries, and was master of 
 Flanders, where manufactures were more developed than 
 anywhere else in Europe, and of Antwerp, then the great 
 est center of commerce of the world. In 1580 he absorbed 
 Portugal and doubled thereby his naval power. Cortez 
 and Pizarro had given him Mexico and Peru, the wealth 
 of which realized those dreams of Columbus which were 
 his ruin in the " West Indies." Spain itself put into the 
 field the best soldiers the world had seen since the legions 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 165 
 
 of Rome, and generals as marvelously able as they were 
 ruthlessly cruel. 
 
 The ancestor of Philip, Ferdinand, had very early blot 
 ted out popular liberty in Castile, Isabella's kingdom, and 
 Philip served that of Aragon in the same way. He set the 
 Duke of Alva, whose niece the son of Columbus married, 
 to crush out both liberty and heresy in the Low Countries ; 
 and when the Thirty Years' War fell with its terrible 
 blight on Germany, it was by the malignity of Spain. 
 There seemed nothing to hinder dealing with England on 
 the same lines of relentless Spanish despotism ; and there 
 was nothing but the spirit of Elizabeth and the skill and 
 courage of her fighting seamen. 
 
 So early as in the reign of Mary, three ships under 
 Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor had struck 
 west and north in quest of a passage to Asia. The com 
 mander and two of the ships were frozen on the coast of 
 Lapland, but Chancellor got through to the White Sea 
 and opened at Archangel trade with Russia. Again, in 
 1576, Martin Frobisher, representing English thoughts 
 of the new world, sailed to the coast of Labrador in hope 
 of a northwestern passage to India. 
 
 From the time of the Cabots, 1497-8, and notably under 
 Henry VIII, Englishmen sought the North American coast 
 for fish, and found therein a school of hardy seamanship. 
 And as the politics of Spain, aimed to destroy Elizabeth 
 in the interests of Spain and the papacy, gradually de 
 veloped a desperate antagonism, though without open war, 
 between the two powers, there grew into wide vigor and 
 daring an effort of England, its people rather than its gov 
 ernment, and by sea rather than land, to do harm to Spain,, 
 and especially to Spanish monopoly of the new world. 
 
 When Charles V came to the throne, at the death of 
 Ferdinand of Aragon, in 1516, twelve years later than the 
 
166 WASHINGTON. 
 
 death of Isabella, " Spanish rule," in the words of Greene, 
 whose authority cannot be questioned, " had hardly spread 
 beyond the island of St. Domingo, which Columbus had 
 discovered twenty years before," so little true is it that 
 Columbus gave to Spain a new world. All that was later 
 work by other hands. Mr. Greene goes on after the state 
 ment just quoted, as follows : 
 
 " But greed and enterprise drew Cortez to the mainland, 
 and in 1521 his conquest of Mexico added a realm of gold 
 to the dominions of the Empejor. Ten years later the 
 great Empire of Peru yielded to the arms of Pizarro. 
 With the conquest of Chili the whole western coast of 
 South America passed into the hands of Spain ; and suc 
 cessive expeditions planted the Spanish flag at point upon 
 point along the coast of the Atlantic from Florida to the 
 river Plate (south of Brazil). A papal grant had con 
 veyed the whole of America to the Spanish crown, and 
 fortune seemed for long years to ratify the judgment of 
 the Vatican. No European nation save Portugal disputed 
 the possession of the new world, and Portugal was too 
 busy with its discoveries in Africa and India to claim more 
 than the territory of Brazil. A Huguenot colony which 
 settled in Florida was cut to pieces by the Spaniards. Only 
 in the far north did a few French settlers find rest beside 
 the waters of the St. Lawrence. England had reached the 
 mainland even earlier than Spain, for before Columbus 
 touched its shores [in the south] Sebastian Cabot sailed 
 with an English crew from Bristol in 1497. But no Eng 
 lishman followed on the track of this bold adventurer ; and 
 while Spain built up her empire in the new world, the 
 English seamen reaped a humbler harvest in the fisheries 
 of Newfoundland. The one result of the first discovery 
 of the western continent was to give an enormous impulse 
 to the most bigoted and tyrannical among the powers of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 167 
 
 Europe, and to pour the gold of Mexico and Peru into 
 the treasury of Spain." 
 
 Four years had hardly passed from Elizabeth's accession 
 before English seadogs, under one plea or another, were 
 swarming in the English Channel. It became in due time 
 a quest of Spanish booty wherever it could be found ; and 
 that soon meant ripping open the veil thrown by Spain 
 over the seas and shores of America. 
 
 The genuius of Drake led him to set on foot schemes for 
 every possible undoing of Spain in America. In 1572 he 
 sailed to the Isthmus of Panama, where, once a year, were 
 brought the gold and silver from the mines of Peru, and 
 bursting with his handful of men into the Governor's 
 house, he said to his companions : " I have brought you 
 to the mouth of the treasury of the world." Wounded and 
 beaten off, he frankly proclaimed somewhat later to a 
 Spaniard : " I am resolved, by the help of God, to reap 
 some of the golden harvest which you have got out of the 
 earth and sent to Spain to trouble the earth." He was 
 shown by some natives where to climb a tree, from which, 
 first of Englishmen, he saw the waters of the Pacific, and 
 throwing himself on his knees he prayed to God to allow 
 him to live to sail an English vessel on those seas. 
 
 In 1577 he set sail for a skirmish clear round South 
 America and entirely round the world, with three ships, 
 of which his own, the largest, was of but 100 tons. In 
 the stormy Straits of Magellan he alone passed through, 
 but, ranging up the coast he easily caught the Spaniards 
 everywhere off their guard, and made many captures of 
 precious booty, including the cargo of a great vessel, from 
 which he got a large store of jewels, thirteen chests of 
 silver coin, eighty pounds' weight of gold, and twenty-six 
 tons of silver. 
 
 Going north as high as California he made a landing 
 
168 WASHINGTON. 
 
 in the harbor now that of San Francisco, took possession 
 in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and planted the name 
 " New Albion." A monument recently erected marks the 
 spot of this prophetic defiance of Spain on the coast thus 
 far exclusively Spanish. 
 
 Drake struck thence directly across the Pacific, reached 
 the true Isles of India beyond- the Ganges, 7,000 miles 
 beyond the goal of the voyages of Columbus, and thence 
 took his course home by the way of the south cape of 
 Africa, and came to England in 1580, the first commander 
 who had circumnavigated the globe. Magellan's expedi 
 tion had gone clear round before him, but the commander 
 had died on the way. 
 
 The King of Spain in a great fury demanded from Eliza 
 beth the surrender of Drake. Her reply was to make 
 him Sir Francis Drake. Philip angrily insisted on the 
 return of the half million sterling of wealth which the bold 
 sailor had gleaned in Pacific waters. Her reply was to 
 have the jewels which Drake had presented to her set in 
 the crown which she wore. The Spanish ambassador 
 thought to move her by saying that " matters would come 
 to the cannon," and to this threat her answer was that if 
 he talked in that way to her she would fling him into a 
 dungeon. The official wrote to his master describing how 
 " she quietly, in her most natural voice, as if she were 
 telling a common story, replied that if I used threats of 
 that kind she would fling me into a dungeon." 
 
 This defiance was flung at Philip just as he was reach 
 ing his highest position of resources and power and ad 
 vantage. His general in the Netherlands was winning 
 both military and diplomatic success. At the death, in 
 the year of Drake's return, of the King of Portugal, Philip's 
 claim to absorb it was successfully backeH by Alva march 
 ing upon Lisbon, and thus Spain almost doubled her 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 169 
 
 power, more than doubled her naval strength, secured 
 colonies richer than her own, and got the richest trade 
 in the world. With the close of 1583 Spanish successes 
 left Elizabeth face to face with the master of what 
 seemed irresistible forces, to whom it was becoming a 
 necessity to crush England, in order to final defeat of 
 Dutch revolt, and to preserve his monopoly of the new 
 world by disabling the power that suffered Drake to 
 sweep the seas. In August, 1585, Antwerp, the seat of 
 European commerce, which London had not yet become, 
 became the last splendid prize of Spanish victory. 
 
 Yet Elizabeth and her seadogs held their course of cool 
 defiance undaunted. English freebooters dashed boldly 
 into the Spanish seas of the new world, full of hatred of 
 Spain and resolved to win English dominion beyond the 
 Atlantic. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Raleigh's brother-in- 
 law, and one of nature's noblemen, sought the coast of 
 North America to plant a colony, and, returning from de 
 feat of his plans, was overtaken in his ship of only ten tons 
 by a terrible storm at night. The companions of his voy 
 age, sailing near when wreck threatened his little craft, 
 heard him cry, " We are as near to heaven by sea as by 
 land." Raleigh himself sent an expedition which planted 
 at least a great name on the continent of North America, 
 that of " Virginia," a compliment to the Virgin Queen of 
 England. 
 
 Drake in 1585 was permitted to sail to the Spanish Main 
 with a fleet of twenty-five vessels, where he burned the 
 cities of St. Domingo and Carthagena to revenge Spanish 
 treatment of English sailors; plundered the coasts of 
 Cuba and Florida; and gathered a heavy booty, with 
 which he returned home in the summer of 1586. On the 
 continent Elizabeth had taken an open hand with troops 
 as well as money in the stout resistance of the Dutch to 
 
170 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the prodigious pounding kept up by the generals of Philip ; 
 and with this English army in Flanders and Drake defiant 
 and destructive in the West Indies, it was but too clear to 
 Philip that he must strike with all his might at England. 
 The fight was one of intense antagonism between the two 
 parties into which England was broken by bitter religious 
 differences, and by consequence it was less what the hapless 
 Mary had intended than what the respective parties sought 
 to accomplish, the one by using her claims against those 
 of Elizabeth, and the other by making the seat of Eliza 
 beth more secure through compassing the death of Mary 
 (February 8, 1587). 
 
 The reply of Philip was the Spanish Armada, to all ap 
 pearance as irresistible as it was immense and magnificent, 
 132 vessels covering seven miles of sea as they swept in 
 a broad crescent past Plymouth harbor, where the 
 English fleet of but eighty vessels lay ready to fall on 
 their rear. Of the thirty larger Queen's ships only four 
 were equal in tonnage to the smallest of the Spanish gal 
 leons, and the other fifty craft of the eighty were not 
 bigger than the common pleasure yachts of a later time. 
 Spain had sixty-five great galleons; four gigantic gal 
 leasses carrying fifty guns apiece; fifty-six armed mer 
 chantmen, and twenty pinnaces ; with 2,500 cannon, 20,000 
 soldiers, and 8,000 seamen. 
 
 But the English shipwrights had put their skill into 
 ships that could be handled better than the Spanish; 
 English seamanship was vastly better than Spanish ; the 
 marine artillery of England made the Spanish method of 
 getting to close quarters and letting musketry do the 
 work almost useless ; and English commanders thoroughly 
 knew the trade of sea fighting, while Philip had put the 
 Armada under a Spanish duke who knew nothing of the 
 sea and nothing of war. The faster English ships, carry- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 171 
 
 ing more and heavier cannon than the Spanish, and 
 marines and sailors, rather than soldiers, made easy game 
 of the lumbering magnificence, the small-shotted cannon, 
 and the throng of useless musketeers on the great decks 
 of Spain's big Armada. 
 
 Letting the seven miles of Spanish bravery go by be 
 fore the west wind, Drake and the English captains tore 
 furiously at the rear of the enemy, until with the loss of 
 several ships, they were glad to put into Calais for refuge ; 
 a refuge from the which English fire-ships sent in speedily 
 drove them, and brought on a pitched battle off Grave- 
 lines, in which the English did all the pitching, their 
 swifter ships, and guns of longer range, and heavier shot, 
 riddling unmercifully the helpless bulk of the clumsy Ar 
 mada. 
 
 Wind and storm came to the aid of the English victors, 
 driving the fleets past the coast of Flanders, where Philip's 
 ablest general, the Duke of Parma, with an army, lay 
 ready for the Armada to fall on the Dutch fleet block 
 ading his port and to convey him over to the conquest of 
 England. As the tall galleons and gigantic galleasses of 
 Spain swept on before the storm, hard pressed by Eliza 
 beth's seadogs, Parma saw that it was a worse than Dutch 
 business. With sails torn, masts shot away, and 4,000 
 dead or dying on their crowded decks, the Spanish cap 
 tains saw no hope but to beat a retreat up the North Sea, 
 around Scotland to the west of Ireland, and so back to 
 Spain. 
 
 Over the top of Scotland the northern storms completed 
 the destruction which Drake's well-handled ships and guns 
 had begun. The flower of Spain's nobility were swallowed 
 by the pitiless sea. Eight thousand Spaniards perished on 
 a storm-swept coast. On a single strand the sea cast up 
 1,100 of the dead. Only fifty ships at last reached Co- 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 runna, and these brought 10,000 men dying of the pesti 
 lence which had smitten the suffering ships. 
 
 The question of England and of Spain, on the sea and 
 the land, in the old world and the new, was settled forever. 
 England rose beyond the reach of any foe, and Spain fell, 
 to lose the Netherlands in the near future, to be stripped 
 of her holdings in Italy in the next century, and at last 
 to find all of America gone save the island of Cuba. 
 
 In 1604, after the death of Elizabeth, a treaty of peace 
 with Spain, left England secure of North America. The 
 settlement of Virginia was begun in 1607, and that of 
 New England in 1620. The work begun by Cabot on that 
 day of discovery, which is our July 4, in the year 1497, 
 gave at last the hope of our America. If Queen Elizabeth 
 had been the mere creature of scandalous faults which in 
 every-day externals of character she seems to have been ; 
 if she had not been in her deeper nature and better self 
 colossal in mother concern for her people and in the 
 courage of her race and her throne, there might have 
 long hung across the whole breadth of our South, the 
 Spanish cloud of corroding despotism, which is to this 
 hour the infamy of civilization. If adequate learning had 
 attended the celebration by the United States of what 
 our America has become, and what acknowledgments 
 are due from the land of the Pilgrim Fathers and of 
 Washington, there would have arisen above every other 
 monument of the splendid scene, the memorial figure of 
 the woman-monarch whose captains planted New Albion 
 on the Pacific southwest of our continent, and " Virginia," 
 the Virginia of that time being an empire of which New 
 England was the northeastern part. 
 
 Recurrence to facts such as these more than suggests 
 that " New France " was planted on English domain, that 
 Jacques Cartier, entering the St. Lawrence in 1534, was a 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 173 
 
 French intruder, that all that followed from the mouth 
 of the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi tram 
 pled upon English rights, and that Spain unadvisedly and 
 unwarrantably encroached in attempting any hold what 
 ever upon soil north of the Gulf. That the gods of world- 
 destiny thought so, is writ large on the history of the end 
 of the nineteenth century.] 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S FIRST BATTLE. 
 
 . I754- 
 
 CAPTAIN CONTRECGEUR and his troops were 
 now in full possession of the military work com 
 menced by Captain Trent, whom they had driven 
 from this post at the Fork of the Ohio. 
 
 With but three companies, consisting of 150 men, 
 Colonel Washington could not prudently proceed to the 
 fort to attack a force so very greatly superior to his own in 
 numbers and equipment. He wrote therefore to the Gov 
 ernors of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and asked 
 for additions to his little band. 
 
 He resolved to march on however while the proposed 
 enlistment was in progress ; to repair to the mouth of Red 
 stone creek, which was thirty-seven miles from the cap 
 tured post; to erect a fort there, and to wait for reinforce 
 ments ; but, in the event of their not reaching him in time, 
 to be prepared for a retreat. 
 
 [To Governor Sharpe of Maryland, Washington wrote 
 from Will's Creek April 24, of Captain Trent's surrender 
 of " his small fortress in the Forks of the Monongahela ; " 
 -of his arrival thus far with a detachment of 159 men; 
 of Colonel Fry, expected to follow with the remainder of 
 the regiments and artillery; of the work being done upon 
 roads fit for the carriage of the great guns; and of the 
 design to proceed as far as the mouth of Red Stone Creek 
 on the Monongahela, thirty-seven miles above the fort 
 
 (174) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 175 
 
 surrendered to the French, where a storehouse built by 
 the Ohio Company would, for the present, serve to re 
 ceive their ammunition and provisions. In apology for 
 writing to one whose acquaintance he had never made, 
 Washington said : " It was the glowing zeal I owe my 
 country that influenced me to impart these advices that 
 should rouse from the lethargy we have fallen into, the 
 heroic spirit of every freeborn Englishman." A letter 
 of similar import was sent to Governor Hamilton of Penn 
 sylvania, and laid before the Legislature of that Colony. 
 To Governor Dinwiddie he had written April 15, report 
 ing the steps he had taken, and saying. " I hope my pro 
 ceedings will be satisfactory to your Honor, as I have, 
 to the utmost of my knowledge, consulted the interest 
 of the expedition and good of my country; whose rights, 
 while they are asserted in so just a cause, I will defend 
 to the last remains of my life." He further says that at 
 Red Stone Creek " we will fortify ourselves as strongly 
 as the short time will allow."] 
 
 On the ist day of May he set out from Wills Creek. His 
 march was however very tedious. Many and great diffi 
 culties were encountered in his course through woods and 
 marshes and among rocks with an inadequate supply of 
 provisions for his men. Having on the 2Oth day of May 
 (1754), reached the Youghiogheny, a branch of the 
 Monongahela, he found it impossible to convey his troops 
 across but by the tardy process of building a bridge. His 
 effort to avoid this resort he has himself described. And 
 his account affords a new and happy illustration of his char 
 acteristic qualities : 
 
 " On the 2Oth of May I embarked in a canoe with Lieu 
 tenant West, three soldiers, and an Indian. Having fol 
 lowed the river for about half a mile we were obliged to 
 go ashore, where we found a trader who seemed to dis- 
 
176 WASHINGTON. 
 
 courage my attempt to seek a passage by water, which 
 caused me to change my intention of having canoes made. 
 
 " I ordered the troops to wade the river, as the waters 
 had now sufficiently subsided. I continued to descend the 
 river, but finding our canoe too small for six persons we 
 stopped to construct a bark, with which and the canoe we 
 reached Turkey Foot just as the night began. Eight or 
 ten miles farther onward we encountered several difficulties 
 which were of little consequence. At this point we stopped 
 some time to examine the position and found it well suited 
 for a fort, being at the mouth of three branches or small 
 rivers and having a gravelly foundation. 
 
 " We went down about two miles to examine the course 
 of the river which is straight with many currents and full 
 of rocks and rapids. We crossed it, though the water was 
 high, which induced me to believe the canoes would easily 
 pass, but this was not effected without difficulty. 
 
 " Besides these rapids we met with others, but the water 
 being more shallow and the current smoother, we passed 
 them easily. We then found the water very deep and 
 mountains rising on both sides. After proceeding ten 
 miles we came to a fall in the river which arrested our 
 progress and compelled us to go ashore and desist from, 
 any further attempt."* 
 
 On returning to his men (May 24, 1754) he learned from 
 friendly Indians, sent to him by his ally the Half-King, 
 Tanacharison, that the French, rapidly marching toward 
 him and now near at hand, were resolved on an encounter. 
 He took a favorable position at a level spot in a glade, near 
 a creek, and amid gently rising hills. The glade was known 
 
 *This extract is from a journal of Washington's, which was 
 taken by the French at the battle of the Monongahela, and parts of 
 which were published at Paris, in 1756. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 177 
 
 as " The Great Meadows." " I hurried to this place," says 
 he, " as a convenient spot. We have, with nature's as 
 sistance, made a good intrenchment, and by clearing the 
 bushes out of these meadows prepared a charming field for 
 an encounter."* 
 
 Mr. Gist, who now visited the camp, reported, that the 
 day before (May 27, 1754), at his plantation, thirteen miles 
 distant, he had seen M. La Force, a French officer, with 
 fifty men, whose footsteps he traced to a spot five miles 
 from the Great Meadows. Seventy-five of Washington's 
 men were sent in pursuit but could not find the French 
 roving party. 
 
 Tanacharison, together with a number of his warriors, 
 was but six miles from the spot. He also sent, after 8 
 o'clock on the night of the same day, intelligence of a 
 French detachment's being near. With forty of his men, 
 Colonel Washington, at once, before 10 o'clock, hastened 
 to the Indian camp, regardless of a heavy rain and a night 
 of intense darkness and of obstacles offered by an almost 
 impenetrable forest. " We were," says he, " frequently 
 tumbled one over another, and often so lost that fifteen 
 or twenty minutes' search would not find the path again."f 
 
 At early dawn he met in council with his Indian ally. 
 It was agreed to unite in an attack upon the enemy; 
 Washington to be on the right and Tanacharison on the 
 left. 
 
 The French were soon traced to a secluded nook 
 among rocks half a mile distant from the common road. 
 They were surprised in their lurking place. They were 
 attacked (May 28, 1754). And in the skirmish which 
 
 . * Letter to Governor Dinwiddie, from Great Meadows, May 27, 
 1754- 
 
 t Letter to Governor Dinwiddie, May 29, 1754, 
 12 
 
178 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ensued, and which lasted about fifteen minutes, the French 
 party was defeated, eleven of their number being killed 
 and one wounded. Twenty-one were captured. Of Wash 
 ington's party only one was killed and two or three were 
 wounded. The Indians sustained no loss, as the enemy's 
 fire was aimed exclusively at the band led by Washington. 
 The prisoners were forthwith sent to Governor Dinwiddie. 
 
 Of the slain among the French one was their com 
 mander, M. de Jumonville. And as the alleged particulars 
 of his death have given cause to an unfortunate and false 
 representation of the fact, and as French writers have, in 
 works of history, biography, and poetry,* put on record 
 sentiments which would detract from the fair fame of 
 Washington, it is proper that the means should be fur 
 nished for his vindication. 
 
 It has been said that Jumonville, having been surprised 
 and twice fired upon by the English, " made a sign that 
 he was the bearer of a letter from his commandant," and 
 that " he caused the summons to be read, but the reading 
 was not finished when the English repeated their fire, and 
 killed him."f It has been said that " the English ranged 
 in a circle round him, listened to the representations which 
 he came to make." "They assassinated Jumonville and 
 immolated eight soldiers, who fell bleeding by the side of 
 their chief." " The detachment of the English who com 
 mitted this atrocity was commanded by Washington. 
 This officer, who afterward displayed the purest virtues 
 of the warrior, the citizen, and the sage, was then no more 
 
 * M. Thomas composed and published, in 1759, a poem on the 
 subject, remarkable for its extravagance, entitled " L'Assassinat de 
 M. de Jumonville, en Amerique, et la Vengeance de ce Muertre." 
 
 t M. Flassan's " Histoire de la Diplom. Franchise." Tom. VI, 
 p. 28. Paris, 1811. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 179 
 
 than twenty-two years old. He could not restrain the 
 wild and undisciplined troops who marched under his 
 orders."* Many other French writers have reiterated this 
 representation and have indulged in strictures marked 
 with great severity. But eloquence and poetry have on 
 this occasion been expended upon a fictitious scene. 
 
 The origin of the false picture may be traced to a Can 
 adian, Mouceau, one of Jumonville's party, who escaped 
 from the scene of the engagement and to some savages 
 who said that they were present with the French. But 
 no savages whatever were seen with Jumonville at the 
 time, and Mouceau's account has no confirmation from 
 any source. 
 
 When Washington first heard of the allegation, he wrote 
 a letter to Governor Dinwiddie, and declared that the 
 report was " absolutely false." " These officers," says he, 
 alluding to Major Drouillon and M. La Force, who were 
 among the captives on the occasion, " pretend they were 
 coming on an embassy; but the absurdity of this pretext 
 is too glaring, as you will see by the instructions and 
 summons inclosed. Their instructions were to recon- 
 noiter the country, roads, creeks, and the like, as far as 
 the Potomac, which they were about to do. 
 
 " These enterprising men were purposely chosen out 
 to procure intelligence which they were to send back by 
 some brisk dispatches, with the mention of the day that 
 they were to serve the summons, which could be with 
 no other view than to get a sufficient reinforcement to 
 fall upon us immediately after. This, with several other 
 reasons, induced all the officers to believe firmly that they 
 were sent as spies rather than anything else, and has 
 
 * M. Lacretelle's " Hist, de France." Tom. II, p. 234. Paris, 
 1809. 
 
180 WASHINGTON. 
 
 occasioned my detaining them as prisoners, though they 
 expected, or at least had some faint hope, that they should 
 be continued as ambassadors. 
 
 " They, rinding that we were encamped, instead of com 
 ing up in a public manner, sought out one of the most 
 secret retirements, fitter for a deserter than an ambassa 
 dor to encamp in, and stayed there two or three days, 
 sending spies to reconnoiter our camp, as we are told, 
 though they deny it. Their whole body moved back near 
 two miles ; and they sent off two runners to acquaint Con- 
 trecceur with our strength and where we were encamped. 
 Now, thirty-six men would almost have been a retinue 
 for a princely ambassador instead of a petit. 
 
 " Why did they, if their designs were open, stay so long 
 within five miles of us without delivering their message 
 or acquainting me with it? Their waiting could be with 
 no other design than to get detachments to enforce the 
 summons as soon as it was given. 
 
 " They had no occasion to send out spies, for the name 
 of an ambassador is sacred among all nations ; but it was 
 by the track of those spies that they were discovered 
 and that we got intelligence of them. They would not 
 have retired two miles back without delivering the sum 
 mons and sought a skulking-place (which, to do them 
 justice, was done with great judgment), but for some 
 special reason. Besides, the summons is so insolent, and 
 savors so much of gasconade, that if two men only had 
 come to deliver it openly, it would have been too great 
 an indulgence to send them back."* 
 
 In two other letters to the Governor, he refers to the 
 subject. " I have heard," says he, " since they went away, 
 
 * Letter to Governor Dinwiddie, from the camp at the Great 
 Meadows, May 29, 1754. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 181 
 
 that they should say they called to us not to fire; but 
 that I know to be false, for I was the first man that ap 
 proached them and the first whom they saw; and imme 
 diately upon it, they ran to their arms and fired briskly 
 till they were defeated.'* "These deserters corroborate 
 what the others said and we suspected. La Force's party 
 were sent out as spies, and were to show that summons 
 if discovered or overpowered by a superior party of 
 ours."* 
 
 In his journal which was taken by the French and 
 published at Paris, he says: " They pretend that they 
 called to us as soon as we were discovered, which is abso 
 lutely false; for I was at the head of the party in ap 
 proaching them, and I can affirm that as soon as they 
 saw us they ran to their arms without calling, which I 
 should have heard had they done so." 
 
 The Half-King, expressing his opinion of the real inten 
 tions of Jumonville and his party, said that they had 
 " bad hearts," and that they " never designed to come 
 but in a hostile manner." 
 
 The fate of Jumonville surely cannot, in the face of 
 Washington's arguments and averment, be termed an " as 
 sassination," without an utter disregard both of the im 
 port of the word and of the claims of truth. And it is 
 incumbent upon grave historians and biographers of 
 France to cease from reiterating and perpetuating so flag 
 rant a falsehood, calculated to tarnish the character of 
 one whose name History has enrolled among those of 
 the wisest and the best that have adorned humanity. 
 
 * Letter to Governor Dinwiddie, without date; and a letter to 
 him. dated Great Mea'dows, June 10, 1754. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S CAPITULATION OF FORT NECESSITY. 
 
 I754- 
 
 WASHINGTON was now encamped at the Great 
 Meadows. Colonel Fry, who had long been 
 prevented by sickness from joining him, died 
 at Wills Creek on the last day of May (1754) ; and Lieu 
 tenant-Colonel Washington, next to him in rank, suc 
 ceeded in command. 
 
 A pleasing moral and religious association with Wash 
 ington and his men at their Fort Necessity is 4< his custom 
 to have prayers in the camp." His affectionate friend, the 
 Hon. William Fairfax, of Belvoir, wrote to him while 
 at the Great Meadows : " I will not doubt your having 
 public prayers in the camp, especially when the Indian 
 families are your guests ; that they, seeing your plain 
 manner of worship, may have their curiosity excited to 
 be informed why we do not use the ceremonies of the 
 French, which, being well explained to their understand 
 ing, will more and more dispose them to receive our 
 baptism and unite in strict bonds of cordial friendship." 
 
 As to religious influences upon the red men, which 
 may have been exerted in this manner, we are not in 
 formed, but the fact of there being stated religious ser 
 vices at the camp is well known. A public recognition 
 of the providence of God, and of the duty of prayer to 
 him, was the rule of Washington throughout his military 
 career. 
 
 (182) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 183 
 
 A trial of his principles and a severe test of his forti 
 tude and prudence occurred at this time. 
 
 The brave officers of his little band, while they were 
 encountering the peculiar trials of wilderness warfare, 
 were so very poorly compensated, in comparison with 
 officers of the King's troops, that dissatisfaction, murmur- 
 ings, and at length loud complaints ensued. Then fol 
 lowed as a natural consequence irrepressible emotions of 
 jealousy and threats of abruptly abandoning the service. 
 It was a crisis which called for the exercise of great tact 
 and talent. But the emergency served to exemplify the 
 sterling qualities of the future Father of his Country. In 
 letters to the Governor, he set forth, with great earnest 
 ness and in explicit terms, the fact, the causes, and the 
 only effectual remedy of the discontent. And at the same 
 time he quieted, in a good measure, the prevailing turbu 
 lence by skillfully touching those chords in the hearts of 
 his comrades which he well knew would respond to senti 
 ments of honor, patriotism, and loyalty. 
 
 [Washington wrote May 18, 1754, to Dinwiddie of com 
 plaint by the officers of " the committee's resolves," and 
 of rinding himself inclined "to second their just griev 
 ances." Nothing, he said, prevented their throwing up 
 their commissions except the near danger from the French. 
 The committee had refused to make their pay reasonable, 
 but had allowed a gratuity, and the officers preferred to 
 give their services, taking neither the gratuity nor the 
 scant pay. For himself Washington said : " Giving up my 
 commission is quite contrary to my intention. But let 
 me serve voluntarily ; then I will, with the greatest pleas 
 ure in life, devote my services to the expedition without 
 a.ny other reward than the satisfaction of serving my 
 country; but to be slaving dangerously for trie shadow 
 of pay, through woods, rocks, mountains, I would rather 
 
184 WASHINGTON. 
 
 prefer the great toil of a daily laborer and dig for a main 
 tenance, provided I were reduced to the necessity, than 
 serve upon such ignoble terms " [as " the present pay/' 
 hardly more than half what was paid elsewhere] ; " the 
 most trifling pay that ever was given to English officers," 
 with " the glorious allowance of solider's diet a pound 
 of pork, with bread in proportion, per day/' Dinwiddie 
 expressed great surprise and concern to find Washington 
 " countenancing in any sort, the discontent that could 
 never be more unreasonable or pernicious than at present." 
 To this Washington replied that when he was informed 
 that the pay of a colonel was to be only fifteen shillings 
 a day, and of a lieutenant-colonel only twelve shillings 
 and sixpense, the fact that it was " less than the British " 
 (by nearly one-half), led him to acquaint Colonel Fairfax 
 with his intention of resigning, and that he was dissuaded 
 from doing so by the promise of Colonel Fairfax " to 
 represent the trifling pay " in the proper quarter and have 
 it enlarged. The number that applied for commissions, 
 he said, would not have been troublesomely large, if the 
 difficulties that would attend a campaign had been known 
 to others as they were known to him. Not that he would 
 resign, he said, because of any difficulties. " For my own 
 part I can answer/' he declared, " I have a constitution 
 hardy enough to encounter and undergo the most severe 
 trials, and I flatter myself, resolution to face what any 
 man durst, as shall be proved when it comes to the test, 
 which I believe we are on the borders of. 
 
 " There is nothing, sir (I believe), than that the officers 
 on the Canada expedition [projected by General Shirley 
 in 1746, during the previous war with France] had British 
 pay allowed whilst they were in the service. Therefore as 
 this can't be allowed, suffer me to serve as a volunteer, 
 which I assure you, will be the next reward to British 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 185 
 
 pay; for as my services, so far as I have knowledge, will 
 equal those of the best officer, I make it a point of honor 
 not to serve for less and accept a medium. Nevertheless 
 I have communicated your Honor's sentiments to them 
 [the officers serving with him], and as far as I could put 
 on the hypocrite, set forth the advantages that may ac 
 crue, and advised them to accept the terms, as a refusal 
 might reflect dishonor on their character, leaving it to 
 the world to assign what reasons they please for their 
 quitting the service. They have promised to consider of 
 it and give your Honor an answer, though I really be 
 lieve there are some that will not remain long without an 
 alteration. 
 
 " I believe it is well known that we have been at the 
 expense of regimentals, and it is still better known, that 
 under an indispensable necessity of purchasing for this 
 expedition, regimentals and every other necessary were 
 not to be bought for less Virginia currency than British 
 officers could get for sterling money. 
 
 " We are debarred the pleasure of good living ; which, 
 sir (I dare say with me you will concur), to one who has 
 always been used to it, must go somewhat hard, to be 
 confined to a little salt provision and water, and do duty, 
 hard, laborious duty, that is almost inconsistent with that 
 of a soldier, and yet the same reductions (of pay) as if 
 we were allowed to live luxuriously. My pay, according 
 to the British establishment and common exchange, is 
 near twenty-two shillings per day; in the room of that 
 the committee (for I can't in the least imagine your Honor 
 had any hand in it) has provided twelve shillings and six- 
 pense; so long as the service requires me, whereas one- 
 half of the other is ascertained to British officers forever. 
 If we should be fortunate enough to drive the French 
 
186 WASHINGTON. 
 
 from the Ohio, our pay will not be sufficient to discharge 
 our first expenses. 
 
 " I would not have your Honor imagine from this that 
 I have said all these things to have the pay increased, but 
 to justify myself and show your Honor that our com 
 plaints are not frivolous, but are founded upon strict 
 reason. For my own part, it is a matter almost indif 
 ferent whether I serve for full pay or as a generous vol 
 unteer. Indeed, did my circumstances correspond with 
 my inclination, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer 
 the latter; for the motives that led me here were pure and 
 noble; I had no view of acquisition but that of honor, by 
 serving faithfully my King and country." 
 
 Washington having thus answered Dinwiddie's criti 
 cism of his report of complaints, and added an account of 
 the battle with the Jumonville detachment, further says : 
 " I shall expect every hour to be attacked, and by unequal 
 numbers, which I must withstand if there are five to one 
 * * * . Your Honor may depend I will not be sur 
 prised, let them come at what hour they will; and this is 
 as much as I can promise. But my best endeavors shall 
 not be wanting to deserve more. I doubt not but if you 
 hear I am beaten, you will at the same time hear that we 
 have done our duty in fighting as long as there was a 
 possibility of hope. 
 
 " I have sent Lieutenant West to conduct the prisoners 
 in. I have showed them [the two French officers] all 
 the respect I could, and have given some necessary 
 clothing, by which I have disfurnished myself; for having 
 brought no more than two or three shirts from Wills 
 Creek, that we might be light, I was ill provided to fur 
 nish them." 
 
 The revelations of character in this episode show a 
 preparation, a score of years before the event, for the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 18? 
 
 stand taken by Washington when he was chosen Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the army of the United Colonies, and 
 the condition that he made that he should have his ex 
 penses paid, and beyond that should not be upon a footing 
 of pay for his services.] 
 
 Another incident occurred soon after which he con 
 trolled with the consummate skill of an experienced 
 master in the management of human passions. 
 
 It was a rule adopted by the British ministry, in order 
 ing military affairs in the Colonies, that officers with royal 
 commissions should take precedence of all others. The 
 operation however of the principle involved in this always 
 tended to provoke jealousy and create discord. 
 
 When an independent company of a hundred men un 
 der command of Captain Mackay, who had a royal com 
 mission, went from South Carolina to the Great Meadows, 
 a case presented itself which was exceedingly embarrassing. 
 According to the established rule, he took rank of Col 
 onel Washington, who, as a Colonial officer, had received 
 his commission from Governor Dinwiddie. The captain, 
 although on terms of perfect harmony with Washington, 
 could not consistently receive orders from him as a su 
 perior officer. The encampment also of the King's cap 
 tain and his company was quite apart from that of the 
 troops under the Colonial colonel. In the event of a con 
 flict with the enemy and one was constantly expected 
 this point of rank might be the cause of serious evils. 
 
 The colonel wrote to the Governor, asking him 
 promptly to decide the matter. The Governor expressed 
 doubts. The embarrassment increased. The colonel's 
 officers and men could not brook the thought of their 
 commander's deposition from his grade; and they cher 
 ished angry party feelings, which must have led to ruinous 
 
188 WASHINGTON. 
 
 results, had they not been immediately and judiciously 
 controlled. 
 
 In these circumstances Washington, with a bold hand, 
 cut what could not be united. After enlarging and 
 strengthening his Fort Necessity, he resolved to leave 
 Captain Mackay and his men in charge of it and to pro 
 ceed with his regiment to the Monongahela. 
 
 He accordingly set out and advanced thirteen miles to 
 Gist's plantation. But before he reached this spot, he 
 met with unexpected formidable difficulties in making a 
 road for his artillery and in quieting the noisy cupidity 
 and eluding the sly artifices of pretended Indian allies, 
 who proved to be French spies. He advised with his 
 officers; he concluded, instead of marching farther, to 
 wait there for the enemy; and he prepared for an en 
 counter, as he learned that the French might be expected 
 very soon. 
 
 At his request Captain Mackay joined him with his 
 company. Credible accounts of the enemy's reinforce 
 ment and great strength, it was agreed, however, rendered 
 a retreat advisable. The troops too were quite exhausted 
 with fatigue, having borne on their backs heavy burdens 
 and having dragged over rough roads nine swivels. So 
 poorly moreover were they supplied with horses that the 
 colonel himself, having dismounted and having laden his 
 war-steed with public stores, went on foot, sharing the 
 hardships of the common soldiers. 
 
 The troops succeeded with great difficulty in reaching 
 the Great Meadows, after two days' march. They were 
 compelled to halt there (July i, 1754). For eight days 
 they had eaten no bread and had taken little of any other 
 food. They could not retreat farther. Here then it was 
 resolved to make a stand. Trees were felled, and a log 
 breastwork was raised at the fort. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 189 
 
 Two days elapsed, and then early in the morning, a 
 sentinel, wounded by the enemy, gave the signal of their 
 approach. Before noon distant firing was heard, and 
 the enemy, consisting of French troops and of Indians, 
 reached a wood the third of a mile from Fort Necessity. 
 Washington drew up his regiment of 305 men, including 
 officers, and waited for an assault. 
 
 For nine hours the rain, without intermission, pour 
 ing down in torrents both parties kept up a desultory 
 fire of small-arms. By that time the French had killed 
 all the horses and the cattle at the fort; the rain had 
 filled all the trenches; the firearms of many of the Vir 
 ginia troops were out of order ; twelve men of these troops 
 were killed and forty-three wounded. 
 
 At 8 o'clock the French proposed a parley. Washing 
 ton declined ; they urged, and Captain Vanbraam was then 
 deputed to them. Very soon he brought with him from 
 M. de Villiers, the French commander, proposed articles 
 of capitulation. 
 
 The overpowering number of the enemy induced Wash 
 ington to come to terms. He consented, after a modi 
 fication of the proposed articles, to leave his fort the next 
 morning (July 4, 1754) ; but he was to leave it with the 
 honors of war, and with the understanding that he should 
 surrender nothing but his artillery. The prisoners of 
 Jumonville's party, it was stipulated, should be returned; 
 and for a year's time no fort should be built at this post, 
 or anywhere beyond the Alleghanies on lands belonging 
 to France. 
 
 . The articles of capitulation, written in the French lan 
 guage, were professedly interpreted by Vanbraam. But 
 they were read by him hastily at night in the open air by 
 the flickering light of a candle during a violent rain. The 
 transaction was altogether a confused and hurried one. And 
 
190 WASHINGTON. 
 
 so bungling and blind was Vanbraam's English oral inter 
 pretation the interpretation made by a Dutchman, im 
 perfectly acquainted with either English or French that 
 not perhaps through any treachery of his, but rather 
 through the vindictive feelings and artful contrivance of 
 M. de Villiers, brother of Jumonville Washington and 
 his officers were betrayed into a pledge which they would 
 never have consented to give, and an act of moral suicide 
 which they could never have deliberately committed. They 
 understood from Vanbraam's interpretation that no fort was 
 to be built beyond the mountains on lands belonging to the 
 King of France; but the terms of the articles are "neither 
 in this place, nor beyond the mountains."* They under 
 stood, from Vanbraam's interpretation, that the prisoners 
 were to be returned who had been taken at the time of the 
 death of Jumonville; but the terms of the article are 
 "prisoners taken at Jumonville's assassination. "f 
 
 The terms in which M. de Villiers afterward boasted of 
 his diplomacy on the occasion are at once an exposure of 
 his artifice and a vindication of the character of those whom 
 he attempted to confound with self-condemnation. 
 
 When the account which de Villiers gave of the battle 
 was communicated to Washington he made these com 
 ments upon it: 
 
 " It is very extraordinary and not less erroneous than 
 inconsistent. He says the French received the first fire. 
 It is well known that we received it at 600 paces' distance. 
 He also says our fears obliged us to retreat in a most dis 
 orderly manner after the capitulation. How is this con 
 sistent with his other account? He acknowledges that we 
 sustained the attack warmly from 10 in the morning un- 
 
 * Dans ce lieu-ci, ni dega de la hauteur des terres. 
 
 t Les prisonniers fait dans 1'assassinat du Sieur de Jumonville. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 191 
 
 til dark, and that he called first to parley, which strongly 
 indicates that we were not totally absorbed in fear. If the 
 gentleman in his account had adhered to the truth he must 
 have confessed that we looked upon his offer to parley as 
 an artifice to get into and examine our trenches, and re 
 fused on that account, until they desired an officer might 
 be sent to them and gave their parole for his return. He 
 might also, if he had been as great a lover of truth as he 
 was of vainglory, have said that we absolutely refused their 
 first and second proposals and would consent to capitulate 
 on no other terms than such as we obtained. 
 
 " That we were willfully or ignorantly deceived by our 
 interpreter in regard to the word ' assassination ' I do aver 
 and will to my dying moment; so will every officer who 
 was present. The interpreter was a Dutchman little ac 
 quainted with the English tongue, and therefore might not 
 advert to the tone and meaning of the word in English; 
 but whatever his motives were for so doing, certain it is he 
 called it the ' death ' or the * loss ' of the Sieur Jumonville. 
 So we received and so we understood it until, to our great 
 surprise and mortification, we found it otherwise in a literal 
 translation."* 
 
 On the morning (July 4, 1754) after the signing of the 
 articles of capitulation Washington, amid the beating of 
 his drums and with his colors flying, set out for Wills 
 Creek. He had however scarcely left the Meadows when 
 he encountered 100 Indians, allies of the French, who 
 greatly annoyed him with their hostile purposes and their 
 rapacity. 
 
 On reaching Wills Creek he hastened with Captain 
 Mackay to the Governor at Williamsburg, whom they par 
 ticularly informed of the events of their expedition. Both 
 
 * Writings of Washington, vol. II, pp. 463, 464. 
 
192 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the Governor and council highly approved of the conduct 
 of the commander, officers, and men. The House of 
 Burgesses voted thanks to them for their bravery, and a 
 pistole a Spanish gold coin worth about $3.50 was 
 presented as a gratuity to every soldier. 
 
 The Governor, glowing with intense feelings of loyalty, 
 but quite uneducated in the art of war, projected a new ex 
 pedition against the French intruders. Colonel Washing 
 ton was to complete the companies in his regiment and to 
 hasten then as fast as possible Jto Colonel Innes at Wills 
 Creek, and there uniting his forces with the troops from 
 North Carolina and New York to cross the mountains and 
 capture Fort Duquesne. 
 
 This project Washington earnestly opposed and it was 
 abandoned. 
 
 Among the many striking pictures in the gallery which 
 illustrate his life and character there is not another more 
 expressive of his distinguishing traits. His letter on the 
 subject of the expedition, addressed to the Hon. William 
 Fairfax, then a member of the council, is a remarkable pro* 
 duction. His manner is respectful but his reasoning severe. 
 He sets forth the Governor's scheme as unadvisable and 
 impracticable. 
 
 [Governor Dinwiddie's orders to Washington by letter of 
 August i, 1754, were to get his regiment completed to 
 300 men, and march directly to Wills Creek, to join 
 other forces, in order to immediately march over the Alle- 
 ghany mountains, and either dispossess the French of 
 their fort or build a fort for British occupation; and to 
 have no 3elay, he was to at once march with what com 
 panies fie had complete, leaving to officers remaining to 
 fill up the other companies and follow with them. What 
 ammunition would be wanted he would send immediately. 
 " I depend," the Governor said, " upon your former usual 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 193 
 
 diligence and spirit to encourage your people to be active 
 on this occasion ; " and again, " I trust much to your dili 
 gence and despatch in getting your regiment to Wills 
 Creek as soon as possible." 
 
 Washington assured Mr. Fairfax that it was as imprac 
 ticable to get the regiment to Wills Creek as it would be 
 to dispossess the French of their fort; both were morally 
 impossible. The Governor had said that the plan was 
 resolved on, " considering the state of our forces ; " and 
 Washington declares that " the state of our forces " is 
 the most decisive reason why nothing of the kind can be 
 done ; the men at present are in circumstances so un 
 happy and their number is so inconsiderable compared 
 with the number of the enemy. " Before our force can 
 be collected/' he goes on to say, " with proper stores of 
 provisions, ammunition, working tools, etc., it would bring 
 on a season in which horses cannot travel over the moun 
 tains on account of snows, want of forage, slipperiness 
 of the roads, high waters, etc. ; neither can men unused to 
 that life, live there, without some other defense from the 
 weather than tents. This I know of my own knowledge, 
 as I was out last winter from the ist of November till 
 some time in January [on the journey to the Ohio, Octo 
 ber 31, 1 753- January n, 1754]; and notwithstanding I 
 had a good tent, was as properly prepared, and as well 
 guarded in every respect as I could be against the weather, 
 yet the cold was so intense that it was scarcely support 
 able. I believe, out of the five or six men that went with 
 me, three of them, though they were as well clad as they 
 could be, were rendered useless by the frost, and were 
 obliged to be left upon the road. But the impossibility 
 of supporting us with provisions is alone sufficient to dis 
 courage the attempt. 
 
 " I shall only add some of the difficulties which we are 
 13 
 
194 WASHINGTON. 
 
 particularly subjected to in the Virginia regiment. And 
 to begin, sir, you are sensible of the sufferings our soldiers 
 underwent in the last attempt, in a good season, to take 
 possession of the Fork of the Alleghany and Mononga- 
 hela. You also saw the disorders those sufferings pro 
 duced among them at Winchester after they returned. 
 They are still fresh in their memories, and have an irri 
 table effect. Through the indiscretion of Mr. Spitdorph 
 [the bearer of the Governor's orders] they got some inti 
 mation that they were again ordered out, and it immedi 
 ately occasioned a general clamor, and caused six men to 
 desert last night. 
 
 " In the next place I have orders to complete my regi 
 ment, and not a sixpence is sent for that purpose. Can 
 it be imagined that subjects fit for this purpose, who 
 have been so much impressed with, and alarmed at, our 
 want of provisions (which was a main objection to en 
 listing before), will more readily engage now without 
 money, than they did before with it ? We were then from 
 the ist of February till the ist of May, and could not 
 complete our 300 men "by 40 ; and the officers suffered so 
 much by having their recruiting expenses withheld, that 
 they unanimously refuse to engage in that duty again, 
 without they are refunded for the past, and a sufficient 
 allowance made them in the future. 
 
 " I have in the next place (to show the state of the 
 regiment) sent you a report by which you will see what 
 great deficiencies there are of men, arms, tents, kettles, 
 screens (which was a fatal want before), bayonets, car- 
 touch-boxes, etc., etc. 
 
 "Again, were our men ever so willing to go, for want 
 of the proper necessaries of life, they are unable to do it. 
 The chief part are almost naked, and scarcely a man has 
 either shoes, stockings, or hat. These things the mer- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 195 
 
 chants will not credit them for. The country has made 
 no provision; they have not money themselves; and it 
 cannot be expected that the officers will engage for them 
 again personally, having suffered greatly already on this 
 head; especially now, when we have all the reason in the 
 world to believe they will desert whenever they have an 
 opportunity. There is not a man that has a blanket to 
 secure him from cold or wet. 
 
 "Ammunition is a material article, and that is to come 
 from Williamsburg, or wherever the Governor can pro 
 cure it * * * . The promise of those traders who 
 offer to contract for large quantities of flour, are not to 
 be depended upon * * * . If we depend on Indian 
 assistance, we. must have a large quantity of proper In 
 dian goods to reward their services and make ithem 
 presents. It is by this means alone that the French com 
 mand such an interest among them, and that we had so 
 few. This, with the scarcity of provisions, was proverbial ; 
 [and] would induce them to ask, when they were to join, 
 if we meant to starve them as well as ourselves."] 
 
 As he was then little more than twenty-two years of age 
 (August, 1754) his firm opposition to the will of his su 
 periors might seem presumptuous, but so proper was the 
 conduct of his procedure, and so cogent and conclusive 
 were his reasonings, that the Governor and council yielded 
 to the control of his master-spirit. 
 
 Yet the fire of the Governor's flaming zeal was not ex 
 tinguished. As the British government granted to him 
 10,000 sterling, with the promise of an additional grant 
 of the same amount and 2,000 stand of arms, and as the 
 Burgesses voted 20,000 for the public exigencies his de 
 termination led him to form yet another scheme. 
 
 [There was however a very serious breach between the 
 
196 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Governor and the Burgesses, the significance of which 
 it is important to note. Mr. Sparks says here: 
 
 " The Governor was destined to struggle with difficulties, 
 and to have his hopes defeated. The Assembly were so 
 perverse, as not to yield to all his demands, and he never 
 ceased to complain of their ' republican way of thinking/ 
 and to deplore their want of respect for the authority of 
 his office and the prerogative of the crown. He had 
 lately prorogued them, as a punishment for their ob 
 stinacy, and written to the ministry that the representa 
 tives of the people seemed to him infatuated, and that 
 he was satisfied ' the progress of the French would never 
 be effectually opposed, but by means of an act of Parlia 
 ment to compel the Colonies to contribute to the common 
 cause independently of assemblies.' When the Burgesses 
 came together again, however, he was consoled by their 
 good nature in granting 20,000 for the public service ; 
 and he soon received 10,000 in specie from the govern 
 ment in England for the same object. 
 
 Thus encouraged he formed new plans, and as the gift 
 of 10,000 was under his control he could appropriate it 
 as he pleased/'] 
 
 He resolved to raise an army consisting of ten independ 
 ent companies of 100 men each. No officer of the late Vir 
 ginia regiment was to hold rank higher than a captain, and 
 in addition to this injudicious and unjust provision every 
 Colonial captain was to yield precedence to a captain royally 
 commissioned. By this scheme Washington was to rank 
 but as the captain of a company and was to be the inferior 
 of certain officers who had been under his command. With 
 due regard to self-respect he could not thus do violence to 
 his sentiments as a man and a soldier. He resigned his 
 commission. 
 
 With a view to prosecute the war the King soon after 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 197 
 
 appointed Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, his Commander- 
 in-Chief, and Colonel Fitzhugh, at General Sharpens in 
 stance, earnestly requested Washington to return to the 
 army. " I am confident," said Colonel Fitzhugh, " that the 
 general has a very great regard for you and will by every 
 circumstance in his power make you happy. For my part 
 I shall be extremely fond of your continuing in the ser 
 vice and would advise you by no means to quit it. In re 
 gard to the independent companies they will in no shape 
 interfere with you, as you will hold your post during their 
 continuance here, and when the regiment is reduced will 
 have a separate duty." 
 
 In reply to this Washington wrote with great respect 
 but in a tone of deep emotion and in terms memorably em 
 phatic : " You make mention," said he, " of my continuing 
 in the service and retaining my colonel's commission. The 
 idea has filled me with surprise, for if you think me capable 
 of holding a commission that has neither rank nor emolu 
 ment annexed to it you must entertain a very contemptible 
 opinion of my weakness, and believe me to be more empty 
 than the commission itself. Besides, sir, if I had time I 
 could enumerate many good reasons that forbid all thoughts 
 of my returning, and which to you or any other person 
 would, upon the strictest scrutiny, appear to be well 
 founded. I must be reduced to a very low command, and 
 subjected to that of many who have acted as my inferior 
 officers. In short, every captain, bearing the King's com 
 mission, every half-pay officer or others appearing with 
 such commission, would rank before me. For these rea 
 sons I choose to submit to the loss of health which I 
 have already sustained, and the fatigue I have undergone 
 in our first efforts [without the reward of advancement, 
 he means], rather than subject myself to the same incon 
 veniences and run the risk of a second disappointment. 
 
198 WASHINGTON. 
 
 I shall at least have the consolation of knowing that I 
 have opened the way, when the smallness of our numbers 
 exposed us to the attacks of a superior enemy ; that I 
 have hitherto stood the heat and brunt of the day, and 
 escaped untouched in time of extreme danger; and that 
 I have the thanks of my country for the services I have 
 rendered it."* 
 
 So fully was he aware of disingenuousness and unfair 
 dealing in the concocting of the Governor's extraordinary 
 scheme of independent companies by which Colonial su 
 perior officers were to be set aside, regardless of the ser 
 vices which they had rendered, and of all conventionalities 
 of military life, that he added in the same letter to Colonel 
 Fitzhugh, " The information I have received shall not sleep 
 in silence that those peremptory orders from home, which 
 you say could not be dispensed with, for reducing the 
 regiment into independent companies, were generated and 
 hatched at Wills Creek. Ingenuous treatment and plain 
 dealing I at least expected. It is to be hoped the project 
 will answer; it shall meet with my acquiescence in every 
 thing except personal services. I herewith enclose Gov. 
 Sharpe's letter, which I beg you will return to him, with 
 my acknowledgments for the favor he intended me. Assure 
 him, sir, as you truly may, of my reluctance to quit the 
 service, and of the pleasure I should have received in at 
 tending his fortunes. Also inform him, that it was to 
 obey the call of honor, and the advice of my friends, that 
 I declined it, and not to gratify any desire I had to leave 
 the military line. My inclinations are strongly bent to 
 arms."t 
 
 * Letter to Col. William Fitzhugh, November 15, 1754. 
 t The " peremptory orders from home " were a fiction, as was 
 afterward proved. 
 
LIRE AND TIMES. 199 
 
 The step which Washington took in resigning his com 
 mission is by no means to be regarded as an impulse of 
 extreme sensitiveness, or of wounded pride. In the meas 
 ure adopted by the Governor, there was involved a prin 
 ciple which could not be practically sanctioned by the 
 Colonies, without a dereliction of self-respect, as well as 
 a humiliating indifference to the claims of common justice 
 and of honor. 
 
 Washington's suspicion of unfairness was also the more 
 manifest as the King's order did not arrive until the fol 
 lowing spring. But the language of this order exhibited 
 then, in a stronger light than ever, the odiousness as well 
 as unreasonableness of the required humiliation. " All 
 troops," says the order, " serving by commission signed by 
 us, or by our general commanding in chief in North 
 America, shall take rank before all troops which may serve 
 by commission from any of the Governors, Lieutenant or 
 Deputy Governors, or President for the time being. And 
 it is our further pleasure that the general and field officers 
 of the provincial troops shall have no rank with the general 
 and field officers who serve by commission from us; but 
 that all captains and other inferior officers of our forces, 
 who are or may be employed in North America, are on all 
 detachments, courts-martial, and other duty wherein they 
 may be joined with officers serving by commission from the 
 Governors, Lieutenant or Deputy Governors, or President 
 for the time being of the said provinces, to command and 
 take post of the said provincial officers of the like rank, 
 though the commissions of the said provincial officers of 
 like rank should be of elder date."* 
 
 [As Sharpe, the Governor of Maryland, had been ap 
 pointed "general commanding-in-chief," the indignity of 
 
 * Order of the King, dated St. James's, November 12, 1754. 
 
200 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the treatment of Washington appointed by the Governor 
 of Virginia, the " Dominion " Colony, was greater than 
 if the King's commander-in-chief had been an eminent 
 soldier. The animus of the order of the King was that 
 of thoroughly rascal malignity toward colonials tainted 
 with " republican " feeling, such as Dinwiddie's complaints 
 had referred to.] 
 
 The natural consequence of such an expressipn of royal 
 authority was, as might have been expected, the alienation 
 of many a good and true colonist's loyal feeling. And in 
 the American heart there was thus fostered more and more, 
 by innumerable temptations to jealousy, and provocations 
 to an indignant sense of injustice and wrong, that deep, 
 prevailing, and powerful emotion which eventually drove 
 the Colonies, "appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world 
 for the rectitude of their intentions," to assert their rights 
 and declare their national independence. 
 
 [An incident of Washington's experience at this time 
 was the refusal of Dinwiddie to execute his engagement, 
 made at the surrender of Fort Necessity, for the return 
 to the French of the prisoners taken in the Jumonville 
 affair. Dinwiddie was stupid (in the English sense of 
 that word), not only failing to see, but resolute against 
 seeing, while Washington ever had the quick vision of 
 genius and determination not less quick to act upon all 
 the light he had. Dinwiddie insisted on disregarding the 
 engagement made by Washington, because of captures 
 which the French had made at a later date. The French 
 were holding Captains Stobo and Vanbraam, as hostages, 
 for the return of the two French officers, Drouillon and 
 La Force, with two cadets and about twenty private sol 
 diers. Dinwiddie sent proposals to the French for the re 
 turn of Drouillon and the two cadets in exchange for Stobo 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 
 
 and Vanbraam; and was refused. La Force was kept in 
 close prison, while Drouillon and the two cadets were al 
 lowed to go at large, and when Washington learned this 
 his protest to Dinwiddie was as indignant as it was honor 
 able, but it was of no avail. The result was serious to 
 Stobo and Vanbraam, thrust into prison in Quebec, al 
 though the former managed to escape, while the latter 
 was shipped to Europe and never returned to Virginia.] 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DEFENSE OF THE COLONIES. 
 
 1754, 1755- 
 
 r I ^HE same year that Washington was occupied at the 
 Great Meadows resisting French encroachments 
 there was held at Albany a convention of commis 
 sioners, convened (June 19, 1754) by order of the British 
 Board of Trade, with a view to conciliate and secure as 
 allies of Great Britain the most powerful of the Indian 
 tribes, the Six Nations. 
 
 These were New York tribes of the Iroquois and con 
 sisted of the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, 
 Cayugas, and Tuscaroras, all of whom spoke the same lan 
 guage. An ancient confederacy of the first five tribes was 
 formed about the middle of the sixteenth century ; and the 
 Tuscaroras, driven from North Carolina in 1714, joined at 
 that period their Iroquois brothers in New York. These 
 six kindred nations thus leagued were very formidable. 
 And as they were implacable enemies of the Algonquin 
 allies of the French, it was now deemed important to se 
 cure their friendship and co-operation on the eve of an 
 other war with France. It was accordingly proposed to 
 make presents to them and effect the renewal of an existing 
 treaty. 
 
 The Colonies represented in the convention were those 
 of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con 
 necticut, New York, and Maryland. The Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia did not deem it advisable to send dele- 
 
 (202) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 203 
 
 gates, preferring to take an independent, and as he thought, 
 more expeditious course; and indulging the thought that 
 he could effect, in his own way, " a peace between the north 
 ern and southern Indians and a strict alliance between them 
 and all British subjects on the Continent/' It was the vain 
 and illusive hope of a mind unwisely sanguine. 
 
 The delegates, as was proposed, held conferences with 
 the Indians and distributed among them the numerous and 
 gaudy presents which the several Colonies provided. But 
 they received from the eloquent lips of the Mohawk sachem 
 Hendrick a cutting rebuke for the prevailing neglect of 
 warlike defenses. " It is your fault, brethren," said he, 
 " that we are not strengthened by conquest. We would 
 have gone and taken Crown Point but you hindered us. 
 We had concluded to go and take it, but we were told that 
 it was too late, and that the ice would not bear us. Instead 
 of this you burnt your own fort at Saratoga and ran away 
 from it, which was a shame and a scandal. Look around 
 your country and see : you have no fortifications about you 
 no, not even to this city. It is but one step from Canada 
 hither and the French may easily come and turn you out 
 of your doors. You are desirous that we should open our 
 minds and our hearts to you. Look at the French ! They 
 are men; they are fortifying everywhere. But, we are 
 ashamed to say it, you are like women; bare and open, 
 without any fortifications." 
 
 The subject of devising a plan of colonial union and 
 confederation for security and defense was submitted to the 
 convention. The delegates unanimously agreed that such a 
 measure was " absolutely necessary," and a committee was 
 appointed to receive proposed schemes and to digest a plan. 
 
 A distinguished pre-eminence in the convention was now 
 won by a delegate from Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin, 
 
204 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the committee having selected and approved the plan which 
 he devised and having recommended its adoption. 
 
 The whole number of delegates appointed was twenty- 
 five, every one of whom was in attendance.* And there 
 were among them a number of the master-spirits of the 
 times men who subsequently exerted a memorable in 
 fluence in the direction of political affairs. But among 
 them all there was not one other around whom clustered 
 destinies so remarkable as those which awaited the career 
 of Franklin. With his manly presence, his large frame, 
 his ample forehead, and his expressive countenance, 
 mingling blandness with firmness, his eye sparkling with 
 intelligence, and his lip curved with good-nature, he ever 
 was a conspicuous object of attraction and kind interest. 
 
 And his personal history possessed a charm from its 
 pleasing illustration of the true secret of success in life. 
 
 He had risen from poverty and obscurity in his native 
 city of Boston to great prominence among the politicians 
 of Pennsylvania and the literary and scientific men of his 
 time. And he had accomplished this by dint of his ex 
 traordinary force of character. His forefathers were 
 Englishmen, mechanics, residing in the village of Ecton, 
 Northamptonshire. All his brothers were put to trades 
 in Boston. His father, a man of strong mind and solid 
 
 * The delegates were : Theodore Atkinson, Richard Wibird, 
 Meshech Weare, and Henry Sherburne, of New Hampshire; Sam 
 uel Welles, John Chandler, Thomas Hutchinson, Oliver Partridge, 
 and John Worthington, of Massachusetts; William Pitkin, Roger 
 Wolcott, and Elisha Williams, of Connecticut; Stephen Hopkins 
 and Martin Howard, of Rhode Island; James Delancey, Joseph 
 Murray, William Johnson, John Chambers, and William Smith, of 
 New York; John Penn, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benja 
 min Franklin, of Pennsylvania; Benjamin Tasker and Abraham 
 Barnes, of Maryland. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 
 
 judgment, who migrated to America in the year 1685, was 
 a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler; and Benjamin, the 
 youngest of his sons, was employed in cutting candle- 
 wicks, filling molds, attending shop, and going on errands. 
 But the boy's active mind could not long brook drudgery 
 like this. He was apprenticed to his brother James, a 
 printer. He now began to indulge his passion for litera 
 ture. He wrote ballads and songs, which his brother 
 printed, and which he was sent about the town to sell. 
 
 To a newspaper published by his brother, and called 
 The New England Courant, Benjamin secretly contrib 
 uted articles which were well received. As an author, 
 and very soon himself a printer and editor, he now rose 
 rapidly in favor with the public. 
 
 He removed to Philadelphia. By industry, thrift, and 
 stern integrity of character he accumulated property. He 
 took a lively interest in the establishment of literary, 
 scientific, and benevolent institutions, and in providing a 
 system of military discipline for Pennsylvania. He made 
 important discoveries in science, especially in relation to 
 electricity and lightning, and attracted the attention of 
 European savants. 
 
 He was chosen clerk to the General Assembly of Penn 
 sylvania, was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia, and 
 was elected a member of the Provincial Legislature. He 
 now gave his thoughts more and more to public affairs. 
 In the year 1753 he was appointed Postmaster-General 
 of America, and the next year he was one of the delegates 
 from Pennsylvania to the Albany Convention, where we 
 now find him with his plan of a colonial union. 
 
 He was not a novice as a politician and legislator. The 
 vital importance of a union of the Colonies he had already 
 urged in a spirited article published in his paper, The 
 Pennsylvania Gazette. To this article he appended, in 
 
306 WASHINGTON. 
 
 his favorite style of speaking by symbols, a wood cut 
 which became a very popular device in the Revolutionary 
 War representing a snake in separate parts, the parts 
 designated by the initial letters of the names of the re 
 spective Colonies, with a motto in large capitals, "JOIN 
 OR DIE." 
 
 The plan proposed a general government to be admin 
 istered by a governor-general appointed and supported by 
 the King; and a council chosen by the Colonial As 
 semblies, for ordering all Indian treaties, and for the 
 defense, support, increase, and .extension of the Colonies 
 the plan to receive the sanction of an act of Parlia 
 ment. "The Colonies so united," he justly remarks, 
 " would have been sufficiently strong to defend them 
 selves. There would then have been no need of troops 
 from England; of course the subsequent pretext for tax 
 ing America, and the bloody contest it occasioned, would 
 have been avoided. But such mistakes are not new; his 
 tory is full of the errors of states and princes. 
 
 ' Look round the habitable world, how few 
 Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue.' " 
 
 Franklin's plan, with a few modifications, was adopted 
 by the convention; and there were appended to it rea 
 sons and motives for each article. But, on its being sub 
 mitted to the Assemblies, it was rejected by them all on 
 the ground of its savoring too much of royal prerogative. 
 And when it was received in England by the Board of 
 Trade, they thought, on the other hand, that it was quite 
 too deeply tinctured with popular privilege. It was 
 therefore not even submitted to the notice of the King. 
 
 * Franklin's " Autobiography," in his Works, vol. I, ch. x, p. 178. 
 
UF.E AND TIMES. 207 
 
 The proposal that the united Colonies should be their 
 own defenders, without the aid of the mother country, 
 was viewed with suspicion and jealousy. They would 
 thus be led, it was supposed, to indulge, unduly, feelings 
 of self-importance and of confidence in their own strength, 
 and perhaps, as was apprehended, grow quite too military. 
 
 There was devised therefore a new mode of accomplish 
 ing the various objects had in view. This was a recourse 
 to occasional meetings of the Governors, attended by 
 one or two members of their respective councils to con 
 cert measures, erect forts, and raise troops and to be 
 supplied with means derived from a tax on the Colonies 
 by act of Parliament. 
 
 Thus the cardinal principle on which turned the destiny 
 of a mighty empire in the new world was distinctly set 
 forth at that time. But from its first promulgation to the 
 period of our national independence, the voice of the 
 people loudly and perseveringly condemned it, refusing 
 to submit to any measure whatever by which their lib 
 erties would be impaired by taxation without representation. 
 
 It is a coincidence worthy of being noted that not only 
 the same year, but the same month, that dates Washing 
 ton's engagement in his first important military opera 
 tions, by which he was prepared for the part he was to 
 take in our War of the Revolution, Franklin was busied 
 with his plan, which was the embryo of our national 
 confederation and our union of States. It was on the 
 4th day of July, 1754, that Washington surrendered Fort 
 Necessity, and that Franklin's plan was considered; and 
 on the 4th day of July, 1776, after an interval of just 
 twenty-two years, Washington was at the head of the 
 Army of the United States of America, and Franklin was 
 signing the Declaration of American Independence! 
 
 Franklin was twenty-six years older than Washington, 
 
208 WASHINGTON. 
 
 being born January 6, 1706, old style; and at the time of 
 the Albany Convention he was at the age of forty-eight. 
 
 Another scheme proposed by him the same year, with 
 a view to the security and defense of the Colonies on the 
 Atlantic border, was the proposal to found two strong 
 western colonies. 
 
 With his sagacious mind he foresaw and confidently 
 predicted what would inevitably result from the occupa 
 tion of the region which the western colonies were to 
 occupy. " The great country/' said he, " back of the 
 Appalachian mountains, on both sides of the Ohio, and 
 between that river and the lakes, is now well known, both 
 to the English and French, to be one of the finest in 
 North America for the extreme richness and fertility of 
 the land; the healthy temperature of the air and mildness 
 of the climate ; the plenty of hunting, fishing, and fowling ; 
 the facility of trade with the Indians; and the vast con 
 venience of inland navigation or water-carriage by the 
 lakes and great rivers many hundred leagues around. 
 
 " From these natural advantages it must undoubtedly 
 perhaps in less than another century become a popu 
 lous and powerful dominion, and a great accession of 
 power either to England or France."* 
 
 It was his scheme therefore to anticipate, frustrate, and 
 effectually control the ambitious purposes of the French 
 Government and at the same time to secure the friend 
 ship and trade of all the neighboring powerful Indian 
 tribes. 
 
 It was a noble scheme. But the policy of Great Brit 
 ain, dictated by an undue regard to the interests of trade 
 and commerce, was to occupy the Atlantic coast and not 
 the interior of the country ; and the suspicion and jealousy 
 
 * Works of Franklin, vol. Ill, p. 70. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 209 
 
 which frowned upon the Albany plan of union assumed 
 a more decided expression against inland settlements. 
 
 The British Government concluded to take into its own 
 hands the work of repelling and chastising French in 
 truders, and to accomplish this neither by a colonial union 
 nor by inland settlements. It resolved however to adopt 
 prompt and vigorous measures for maintaining its claim 
 to the Ohio lands. The French, on the other hand, were 
 just as resolute in asserting prior claims. The settle 
 ment on the Ohio being calculated, as they thought, to 
 despoil them of the harvest of their Indian trade, to break 
 the chain of their communication between Canada and 
 Louisiana, and to nip the flattering promise of their am 
 bitious projects, the Governor of Canada had written to 
 the Governors of New York and Pennsylvania, threaten 
 ing to seize all British subjects who encroached upon the 
 Indian trade. 
 
 In the year 1753 the French seized certain British 
 traders found among the Miamis and Piankeshaws, or, as 
 they were called by the English, Twightwees. Upon this 
 the Twightwees, allies of Great Britain, seized several 
 French traders and sent them to Pennsylvania as repris 
 als; but at the same time they expressed great dissatis 
 faction at the Ohio Company's unceremonious settlement 
 among them without permission, and upon lands not pur 
 chased. The exclusive right also which the company 
 claimed excited the jealousy and caused the opposition 
 of private traders, who were not inactive in fanning the 
 flame of dissatisfaction which had already been kindled 
 among the Indian tribes. 
 
 An impending conflict with France, a threatened rup 
 ture with the Twightwees, the claims of the Ohio Com 
 pany, and the rights of Indian trade were subjects which 
 demanded the immediate attention of the Governor of 
 14 
 
210 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Virginia, whose jurisdiction then extended to the Ohio 
 and the Twightwee country. 
 
 The proceedings of the French in dispossessing Captain 
 Trent of his post at the forks of the Ohio, and themselves 
 building a fort there, and in compelling Colonel Wash 
 ington to surrender Fort Necessity, greatly added to the 
 excitement which the subject created in the mother 
 country. 
 
 [The British ambassador at Paris was instructed to com 
 plain of the proceedings as in violation of the peace, and 
 the French court protested that^no violation was intended. 
 
 " Their ambassador at the court of St. James, gave the 
 same assurances. In the meantime however French ships 
 were fitted out, and troops embarked, to carry out the 
 schemes of the government in America. So profound 
 was the dissimulation of the court of Versailles, that even 
 their own ambassador is said to have been kept in ig 
 norance of their real designs, and of the hostile game they 
 were playing, while he was exerting himself in good faith 
 to lull the suspicions of England, and maintain inter 
 national peace. When his eyes however were opened, he 
 returned indignantly to France, and upbraided the cabinet 
 with the duplicity of which he had been made the uncon 
 scious instrument. 
 
 " The British Government now prepared for military 
 operations in America; none of them professedly aggres 
 sive, but rather to resist and counteract aggressions. A 
 plan of campaign was devised for 1755, having four ob 
 jects. 
 
 " To eject the French from lands which they held un 
 justly, in the province of Nova Scotia. 
 
 " To dislodge them from a fortress which they had 
 erected at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, within what 
 was claimed as British territory. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 211 
 
 " To dispossess them of the fort which they had con 
 structed at Niagara, between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. 
 
 " To drive them from the frontiers of Pennsylvania and 
 Virginia, and recover the valley of the Ohio."*] 
 
 The Government voted a million of pounds sterling for 
 the defense of the American Colonies. Admiral Boscawen 
 sailed with a fleet to the banks of Newfoundland. Sir 
 Edward Hawke, Admiral Holborne, and Admiral Byng 
 also took the sea with three squadrons. And British 
 cruisers and privateers made fearful havoc with the French 
 West India trade. During the year (1755), 300 French 
 merchant ships and 8,000 French seamen were captured. 
 On the American lakes also and on the frontiers of Vir 
 ginia and Pennsylvania, there was waged a desultory but 
 fearfully afflictive warfare, accompanied with all the 
 atrocity of savage massacres. 
 
 The arrangements for a campaign against the French 
 in America were committed to Prince William Augustus, 
 Duke of Cumberland, surviving son of the King, and at 
 that time chief manager of British military operations. 
 
 Holding a commission in the Guards, and being well 
 acquainted with their thorough discipline, he chose, as 
 the major-general for the proposed expedition, an officer 
 for forty years connected with them and celebrated as a 
 disciplinarian and tactician. The Duke, stern, harsh, and 
 tyrannous, was the object of general fear and hatred. 
 But discipline was his boast uncompromising discipline. 
 
 He found an officer after his own heart in Major- 
 General Edward Braddock, who had served under him 
 in Scotland, in his expedition against the Pretender, 
 Charles Edward, in 1746. Braddock was accordingly ap 
 pointed Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in 
 
 * Irving, vol. I, p. 189. 
 
212 WASHINGTON. 
 
 America. The Duke then conveyed to him a set of in 
 structions on the conduct of his expedition, and repeatedly 
 cautioned him, orally and in writing, to beware of an 
 ambuscade. 
 
 Flushed with the hope of making short work with the 
 French and their savage allies, General Braddock sailed 
 from Cork, in Ireland, on the I4th day of January (1755), 
 with two regiments of foot, consisting each of 500 British 
 regulars, under Colonel Dunbar and Col. Sir Peter Hal- 
 kett, officers of high repute for ability and experience. 
 
 [Previous to Braddock's arrival, Lieut.-Col. Sir John 
 St. Clair, deputy quartermaster-general, had come from 
 England, and made a tour of inspection in company with 
 Governor Sharpe, of Maryland. The sight of the moun 
 tain wilderness where Washington's operations had been 
 conducted rilled him with dismay ; and he sent word to 
 the Governor of Pennsylvania from Wills Creek, on the 
 border beyond which began the pathless forest, that there 
 could be no campaign until a road should be cut, or re 
 paired where rudely cut, toward the destination of the 
 expedition, and at the same time another put in good con 
 dition for bringing supplies from Philadelphia. The Gov 
 ernor of Pennsylvania could command no money, except 
 with the good-will of an Assembly which he described as 
 "a set of men quite unacquainted with every kind of mili 
 tary service, and exceedingly unwilling to part with money 
 upon any terms." It was with difficulty that he secured 
 the appointment of commissioners to make the necessary 
 exploration, and survey and lay out the proper roads. Sir 
 John St. Clair, after completing his tour of inspection, 
 traveled by canoe 200 miles down Wills Creek and the 
 Potomac to Alexandria, where Braddock made his head 
 quarters, where the troops disembarked and encamped, 
 and where colonial levies were to repair. It was but nine 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 213 
 
 miles from Mount Vernon. The levies for augmenting 
 the two British regiments from 500 to 700 each were 
 selected by Sir John St. Clair from Virginia companies 
 recently raised, and after being supplied with their uni 
 forms were marched to Winchester for their arms, in 
 charge of a British ensign under orders from Braddock 
 " to make them as like soldiers as possible/'] 
 
 Before the end of February Braddock reached Virginia 
 (February 20, 1755) ; and soon after the transports which 
 carried the troops arrived at Alexandria; the squadron, 
 under Commodore Keppel, including also two ships of 
 war. 
 
 Never before had such an army been seen in the Col 
 onies. Their appearance and movements the perfec 
 tion of military discipline created universal admiration 
 and inspired very great confidence in the triumphant issue 
 of the expedition. All colonial jealousies and sectional 
 disagreements were merged in the general and heart- 
 cheering sentiment that the long-subsisting and vexatious 
 altercations with the French and their savage allies were 
 about to be effectually terminated, to the future peace 
 and comfort of His Majesty's loyal subjects in America. 
 So great was the confidence reposed in the skill and prow 
 ess of British regulars. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 WASHINGTON AT THE BATTLE OF THE MONONQAHELA. 
 
 1754, 1755- 
 
 HAVING resigned his commission, Washington was 
 without employment as- a military man. But 
 there was slumbering in his bosom many a high 
 resolve, which needed only a suitable occasion for its in 
 dulgence. And he felt instinctively that it was not yet 
 the hour for his repose from public duty. He spoke of 
 his " reluctance to quit the service," and said, " My in 
 clinations are strongly bent to arms."* Ill at ease in his 
 retirement, he was ready therefore to meet with cheerful 
 ness the summons which soon called him once more to 
 the camp. 
 
 Not long after Braddock's arrival in Virginia, he sought 
 out Washington, well known to him by fame ; he learned 
 the story of his retirement from the service; he heartily 
 commended his spirited conduct on the occasion; and 
 he invited him to become one of his aids, retaining his 
 rank as colonel, and acting as a volunteer. This propo 
 sition fully met the views and wishes of Washington. 
 He promptly accepted Braddock's invitation, and he be 
 came a member of the general's military family. 
 
 Captain Robert Orme, one of the aids of Braddock, 
 had written to Washington in these words: 
 
 * Letter to Colonel Fitzhugh, November 15, 1754. 
 (214) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 215 
 
 WILLIAMSBURG, March 2, 1755. 
 
 SIR. The general having been informed that you ex 
 pressed some desire to make the campaign, but that you 
 declined it upon some disagreeableness which you thought 
 might arise from the regulations of command, has ordered 
 me to acquaint you that he will be very glad of your com 
 pany in his family, by which all inconveniences of that kind 
 will be obviated. I shall think myself very happy, to form 
 an acquaintance with a person so universally esteemed, and 
 shall use every opportunity of assuring you how much I 
 am, sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT ORME, 
 
 Aide-de-Camp. 
 
 [In reply to Braddock's invitation, Washington wrote to 
 Orme letters of March 15, 1755, and of April 2, in which 
 these expressions occur : 
 
 " I wish earnestly to attain some knowledge in the mili 
 tary profession, and, believing a more favorable oppor 
 tunity cannot offer than to serve under a gentleman of 
 General Braddock's abilities and experience, it does not a 
 little contribute to influence my choice. The only bar 
 which can check me in the pursuit of this object is the 
 inconveniences that must necessarily result from some pro 
 ceedings which happened a little before the General's ar 
 rival, and which, in some measure, had abated the ardor 
 of my desires, and determined me to lead a life of retire 
 ment, into which I was just entering at no small expense 
 when your favor was presented to me. I shall do myself 
 the honor of waiting upon his Excellency as soon as I 
 hear of his arrival at Alexandria. I should have embraced 
 this opportunity of writing to him had I not recently ad 
 dressed a congratulatory letter to him on his safe arrival 
 in this country. 
 
216 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " You do me a singular favor in proposing an acquaint 
 ance. It cannot but be attended with the most flattering 
 prospects of intimacy on my part, as you may already per 
 ceive by the familiarity and freedom with which I now 
 enter upon this correspondence. 
 
 " I find myself much embarrassed with my affairs 
 [April 2d], having no person in whom I can confide, to 
 entrust the management of them with. Notwithstanding, 
 I am determined to do myself the honor of accompanying 
 you, upon this proviso, that the General will be kind 
 enough to permit my return as soon as the active part of 
 the campaign is at an end, if it is desired [i. e., if he should 
 desire it] ; or, if there should be a space of inaction, long 
 enough to admit a visit to my home, that I may be in 
 dulged in coming to it. I need not add how much I 
 should be obliged by joining you at Wills Creek, instead 
 of doing it at an earlier period and place. These things 
 will not, I hope, be thought unreasonable, when it is con 
 sidered how unprepared I am at present to quit a family 
 and an estate I was just about to settle, and which is in 
 the utmost confusion." 
 
 To John Robinson, at that time and for many years 
 Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses and Colonial 
 Treasurer, Washington wrote, April 20, 1755: 
 
 "The sole motive which invites me to the field is the 
 laudable desire of serving my country, and not the grati 
 fication of any ambitious or lucrative plans. * * * I 
 expect to be a considerable loser in my private affairs by 
 going. It is true I have been importuned to make this 
 campaign by General Braddock, conceiving, I suppose, 
 that the small knowledge I have had an opportunity of 
 acquiring of the country, Indians, etc., was worthy of his 
 notice, and might be useful to him in the progress of his 
 expedition." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 217 
 
 The matter of 50 odd pounds which he had made good 
 upon a loss which occurred, Washington touches upon, 
 in view of a proposal by the chairman of the military com 
 mittee that he apply to be reimbursed, and further says : 
 
 " I should not have asked this had it not proposed, and 
 had I not been so considerable a loser in the service, in 
 valuable papers, clothing, horses and several other things, 
 some of which, and of no inconsiderable value, I carried 
 out entirely for the public use. I had unfortunately got 
 my baggage from Wills Creek but a few days before the 
 engagement, in which I also had a valuable servant 
 wounded, who died soon after." 
 
 To William Byrd Washington wrote, also on the 2Oth 
 of April, of Braddock's offer, and said of this, a a circum 
 stance which will ease me of expenses that otherwise must 
 had accrued in furnishing stores, camp equipage, etc., 
 whereas the cost will now be easy (comparatively), as 
 baggage, horses, tents, and some other necessaries, will 
 constitute the whole of the charge. Yet to have a family 
 just settling, and in the confusion and disorder mine is 
 in at present, is not a pleasing thing and may be hurtful. 
 But be this as it may, it shall be no hindrance to my mak 
 ing this campaign."] 
 
 A few days after the general held a meeting at his head 
 quarters in Alexandria with six of the colonial Governors : 
 Dinwiddie, of Virginia; Delancey, of New York; Sharpe, 
 of Maryland; Dobbs, of North Carolina ; Shirley, of Massa 
 chusetts ; and Morris, of Pennsylvania. At this meeting a 
 plan for concert in action was devised. Braddock was to 
 proceed against Fort Duquesne, Shirley against Niagara, 
 and Sir William Johnson against Crown Point. The sub 
 jects discussed and the arrangements made by the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief and the council of Governors possessed a 
 momentous interest. 
 
218 WASHINGTON. 
 
 At this meeting Washington was by invitation present. 
 He was introduced to the Governors, and they accorded to 
 him marked expressions of esteem. Referring to the oc 
 casion he says: 
 
 " I have had the honor to be introduced to several Gov 
 ernors and of being well received by them, especially Mr. 
 Shirley, whose character and appearance have perfectly 
 charmed me. I think his every word and action discover 
 in him the gentleman and politician. I heartily wish the 
 same unanimity may prevail among us as appeared to exist 
 between him and his Assembly ^when they, to expedite the 
 business and to forward his journey hither, sat till n and 
 12 o'clock eyery night."* 
 
 Braddock proceeded on his way toward Wills Creek, 
 where the several divisions of his troops which had pur 
 sued different routes, afterward united, and, including the 
 provincials, formed an army of 2,000 men. 
 
 Washington, detained at home for a few days by private 
 duties there, overtook the general at Fredericktown, Mary 
 land, and was now with him. But the army, to the annoy 
 ance and vexation of Braddock, was at a stand. Contracts 
 for provisions and for horses and baggage-wagons were un 
 fulfilled, and to advance without these was deemed utterly 
 impracticable. 
 
 Braddock was exasperated. He proposed to send dn 
 armed force into the counties of Lancaster, York, and 
 Cumberland, Pennsylvania, " to seize as many of the best 
 carriages and horses as should be wanted, and to compel 
 as many persons into the service as would be necessary to 
 drive and take care of them." In this emergency suitable 
 measures of relief were devised by Franklin. " Our As 
 sembly ," says he, " apprehending, from some information, 
 
 * Letter to William Fairfax, April 23, 1755. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 219 
 
 that the general had received violent prejudices against 
 them as averse to the service, wished me to wait upon him, 
 not as from them, but as Postmaster-General, under the 
 guise of proposing to settle with him the mode of conduct 
 ing with most celerity and certainty the dispatches between 
 him and the Governors of the several provinces, with whom 
 he must necessarily have continual correspondence, and of 
 which they proposed to pay the expense. My son accom 
 panied me on this journey. 
 
 " We found the general at Fredericktown waiting im 
 patiently for the return of those he had sent through the 
 back parts of Maryland and Virginia to collect wagons. I 
 stayed with him several days, dined with him daily, and had 
 full opportunities of removing his prejudices by the infor 
 mation of what the Assembly had before his arrival actually 
 done and were still willing to do to facilitate operations. 
 When I was about to depart the returns of the wagons to 
 be obtained were brought in, by which it appeared that 
 they amounted only to twenty-five, and not all of these were 
 in serviceable condition. The general and all the officers 
 were surprised; declared the expedition was at an end, 
 being impossible ; and exclaimed against the ministers for 
 ignorantly sending them into a country destitute of the 
 means of conveying their stores and baggage, not less 
 than 150 wagons being necessary. 
 
 " I happened to say I thought it was a pity they had not 
 been landed in Pennsylvania, as in that country almost 
 every farmer had his wagon. The general eagerly laid hold 
 of my words and said, ' Then you, sir, who are a man of 
 interest there, can probably procure them for us, and I 
 beg you to undertake it.' I asked what terms were to be 
 offered the owners of the wagons ; and I was desired to put 
 on paper the terms that appeared to me necessary. This 
 
220 WASHINGTON. 
 
 I did and they were agreed to, and a commission and in 
 structions were prepared immediately." 
 
 The energy and personal influence of Franklin soon pro 
 duced the most cheering results. He published an adver 
 tisement and an address to the inhabitants of the counties 
 of Lancaster, York, and Cumberland, appealing to their 
 self-interest and to their loyalty. " I received from the 
 general," says he, " about 800 to be disbursed in advance 
 money to the wagon-owners, but that sum being insuffi 
 cient I advanced upward of 200 more; and in two weeks 
 the 150 wagons, with 259 carrying-horses were on their 
 way to the camp." " The owners however, alleging they 
 did not know General Braddock, nor what dependence 
 might be had on his promise, insisted on my bond for the 
 performance which I accordingly gave them."* 
 
 But for the timely services thus rendered by Franklin 
 disastrous consequences must inevitably have ensued from 
 the general's exasperation and rashness. 
 
 He was not devoid of noble sentiments and generous im 
 pulses, but his temper and conduct afforded ample proof 
 that he was very deficient in some of the essential qualities 
 upon which depend the influence and success of a military 
 chief. 
 
 Washington saw this and in one of his letters f he says: 
 " The general, from frequent breaches of contract, has lost 
 all patience; and for want of that temper and moderation 
 which should be used by a man of sense upon these occa 
 sions, will, I fear, represent us in a light we little deserve; 
 for instead of blaming the individuals, as he ought, he 
 charges all his disappointments to public supineness and 
 looks upon the country I believe as void of honor and 
 
 * Franklin's " Autobiography " in his Works, vol. I, ch. x, pp. 182, 
 183, 187. 
 t Letter to William Fairfax, June 7, 1755. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 221 
 
 honesty. We have frequent disputes on this head which 
 are maintained with warmth on both sides, especially on 
 his, as he is incapable of arguing without it, or giving up 
 any point he asserts, be it ever so incompatible with reason 
 or common sense." 
 
 William Shirley, son of the Governor, was Braddock's 
 secretary. In a letter to Governor Morris he says : " We 
 have a general most judiciously chosen for being disquali 
 fied for the service he is employed in in almost every 
 respect."* 
 
 He was haughty, self-conceited, self-willed, imperious, 
 and obstinate. He was also excessively severe. And he 
 greatly lacked the prudence and caution which, in such 
 a warfare as he was about to wage, were absolutely essential 
 to his success. In the temper of his patron, the Duke of 
 Cumberland, who refused to accept the loyal offers of the 
 Scotch lowland lords before the battle of Culloden, Brad- 
 dock now spurned the thought of employing Indian allies ; 
 and regardless of the dangers against which he had been 
 cautioned he trusted implicitly to the prowess of his brave 
 troops. 
 
 " He was, I think, a brave man," says Franklin, " and 
 might probably have made a figure as a good officer in 
 some European war. But he had too much self-confidence, 
 too high an opinion of the validity of regular troops, and 
 too mean a one of both Americans and Indians. George 
 Croghan, our Indian interpreter, joined him on his march 
 with loo of those people, who might have been of great 
 use to his army as guides and scouts if he had treated them 
 kindly, but he slighted and neglected them and they 
 gradually left him. 
 . " In conversation with him one day he was giving me 
 
 * Colonial Records, vol. VI, p. 405. 
 
222 WASHINGTON. 
 
 some account of his intended progress. ' After taking Fort 
 Duquesne,' said he, ' I am to proceed to Niagara ; and hav 
 ing taken that to Frontenac, if the season will allow time, 
 and I suppose it will, for Duquesne can hardly detain me 
 above three or four days, and then I see nothing that can 
 obstruct my march to Niagara/ Having before revolved 
 in my mind the long line his army must make in their 
 march by a very narrow road to be cut for them through 
 the woods and bushes, and also what I had read of a former 
 defeat of 1,500 French who invaded the Illinois country, I 
 had conceived some doubts and: some fears for the event 
 of the campaign. But I ventured only to say : * To be sure, 
 sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne with these fine 
 troops, so well provided with artillery, the fort, though com 
 pletely fortified and assisted with a strong garrison, can 
 probably make but a short resistance. The only danger I 
 apprehend of obstruction to your march is from the am 
 buscades of the Indians who, by constant practice, are 
 dexterous in laying and executing them ; and the slender 
 line, near four miles long, which your army must make, 
 may expose it to be attacked by surprise in its flanks, and 
 to be cut like a thread into several pieces which, from their 
 distance, cannot come up in time to support each other.' 
 
 " He smiled at my ignorance and replied : ' These 
 savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your raw 
 American militia, but upon the King's regular and dis 
 ciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make any 
 impression/ "* 
 
 [May 6th Washington wrote to his younger brother, 
 John A. Washington: 
 
 " I hope you will have frequent opportunities to par 
 ticularize the state of my affairs, which will administer 
 much satisfaction to a person in my situation." 
 
 * Franklin's " Autobiography " in his Works, vol. I, ch. x, pp. 189, 
 190. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 223 
 
 The younger brother evidently was left in charge at 
 Mt. Vernon. May 25th Washington wrote again : 
 
 " I should be glad to hear that you live in perfect har 
 mony and good fellowship with the family at Belvoir, 
 as it is in their power to be very serviceable to us, as 
 young beginners. I would advise your visiting there of 
 ten, as one step towards it ; the rest, if any more is neces 
 sary, your own good sense will sufficiently dictate, for 
 to that family I am under many obligations, particularly 
 to the old gentleman." 
 
 The " young beginners " reference is to the getting un 
 der way with the care of the Mt. Vernon estate. 
 
 In a postscript to the same letter Washington appears 
 cherishing political ambition, to the extent of wishing to 
 be elected to the House of Burgesses. Thus he writes 
 to his brother John: 
 
 "As I understand the county of Fairfax is to be divided, 
 and that Mr. Alexander intends to decline serving in it, 
 I should be glad if you could come at Colonel Fairfax's 
 intentions, and let me know whether he purposes to offer 
 himself as a candidate. If he does not, I should be glad 
 to take a poll, if I thought my chance tolerably good. 
 Major Carlyle mentioned it to me in Williamsburgh in a 
 bantering way, and asked how I would like it, saying, at 
 ttite same time, he did not know but they might send me, 
 for one or t'other of the counties, when I might know 
 nothing of the matter. I must confess I should like to 
 go for either in that manner, but more particularly for 
 Fairfax, as I am a resident there. I should be glad if 
 you could discover Major Carlyle's real sentiments on 
 this head ; also those of Mr. Dalton, Ramsay, Mason, etc., 
 which I hope and think you may do without disclosing 
 much of mine, as I know your own good sense can fur 
 nish you with contrivances. If you should attempt any- 
 
224: WASHINGTON. 
 
 thing in this matter, pray let me know by the first op 
 portunity how you have succeeded in it, and how those 
 gentlemen stand affected. If they seem inclinable to pro 
 mote my interest, and things should be drawing to a 
 crisis, you then may declare my intentions, and beg their 
 assistance. If, on the contrary, you find them more in 
 clined to favor some other, I would have the affair en 
 tirely dropped. The Revd. Mr. Green's and Capt. Mc- 
 Carty's interests in this matter would be of consequence, 
 and I should be glad if you could sound their pulse upon 
 that occasion. Conduct the whole, 'till you are satisfied 
 of the sentiments of those I have mentioned, with an air 
 of unconcern; after that you may regulate your conduct 
 according to circumstances. Capt. West, the present Bur 
 gess, and our friend Jack West, could also be serviceable, 
 if they had a mind to assist the interest of, Dear Jack, 
 Your loving brother/'] 
 
 The army provided with wagons, horses, and every nec 
 essary supply now moved on. But the month of June 
 (1755) had already arrived. And so many and great de 
 lays occurred, chiefly from rough roads, that the general 
 indulged serious doubts of the feasibility of reaching the 
 French fort before the close of the season. He consulted 
 privately with Washington, who advised him to proceed. 
 " I urged him in the warmest terms I was able," says Wash 
 ington, " to push forward, if he even did it with a small but 
 chosen band, with such artillery and light stores as were 
 necessary; leaving the heavy artillery, baggage, and the 
 like with the rear division of the army, to follow by slow 
 and easy marches, which they might do safely while we 
 were advanced in front. As one reason to support this 
 opinion, I urged, that if we could credit our intelligence, the 
 French were weak at the Fork at present, but hourly ex 
 pected reinforcements which, to my certain knowledge, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 225 
 
 could not arrive with provisions or any supplies during the 
 continuance of the drought, as the Buffalo river, down 
 which was their only communication to Venango, must be 
 as dry as we now found the great crossing of the Youg- 
 hiogheny, which may be passed dryshod."* 
 
 In a council of war, held on the occasion, the advice of 
 Washington prevailed. The general with 1,200 men, carry 
 ing a small supply of necessary stores and a few pieces of 
 light artillery, moved forward, and Colonel Dunbar with 
 600 men and the heavy baggage followed by slow marches. 
 
 Washington accompanied the general in the advanced 
 corps. But when four days had passed and the general 
 with his corps had reached a spot but nineteen miles from 
 the Little Meadows a painful incident occurred (June 14, 
 1755) which greatly distressed the mind of Washington, 
 yet served to exhibit in a strong light his energy and de 
 termination 
 
 When the army had advanced about ten miles from Wills 
 Creek he was seized with a violent fever by which he was 
 prostrated. Yet he continued with the army. Too feeble 
 to ride on horseback he was carried in a covered wagon 
 until his physician advised, and the general required, that 
 he should not continue with the advanced division. To 
 this he yielded his reluctant consent on the absolute con 
 dition that before the army's reaching the French fort ar 
 rangements should be made for his rejoining it. " I had," 
 says he, " the general's word of honor, pledged in the most 
 solemn manner, that I should be brought up before he ar 
 rived at Fort Duquesne."* 
 
 Attended by a small guard and awaiting the arrival of 
 Colonel Dunbar with the rear army, he continued for some 
 days in a state of extreme debility. Colonel Dunbar's 
 
 * Letter to John A. Washington, June 28, 1755. 
 15 
 
226 WASHINGTON. 
 
 division did not reach him for eight days. His fever 
 moderated at this time, but his weakness, as he himself ad 
 mitted, was excessive. 
 
 [Of this Washington said in a letter of June 28, 1755: 
 " On the I4th instant I was seized with violent fevers and 
 pains in my head, which continued without intermission 
 'till the 23d following, when I was relieved, by the Gen 
 eral's absolutely ordering the physicians to give me 
 Dr. James's powders (one of the most excellent medicines 
 in the world), for it gave me immediate ease, and removed 
 my fevers and other complaints in four days time. My 
 illness was too violent to suffer me to ride; therefore I 
 was indebted to a covered wagon for some part of my 
 transportation; but even in this I could not continue far, 
 for the jolting was so great. I was left upon the road, 
 with a guard and necessaries, to wait the arrival of Col 
 onel Dunbar's detachment, which was two days' march 
 behind us, the General giving me his word of honor, that 
 I should be brought up before he reached the French 
 fort. This promise, and the doctor's threats that, if I per 
 severed in my attempts to get on, in the condition I was, 
 my life would be endangered, determined me to halt for 
 the above detachment." 
 
 It was on the iQth (June), when he had been ill five 
 days, that the advance of Braddock with part of the army 
 began, while Dunbar " with the residue of the two regi 
 ments, some independent companies (of colonial troops), 
 most of the women, and in short everything not abso 
 lutely necessary," remained behind. Washington says of 
 the advance : " We set out with less than 30 carriages 
 (including those that transported the ammunition for the 
 howitzers, twelve-pounders, and six-pounders, etc.), and 
 all of them strongly horsed; which was a prospect that 
 conveyed infinite delight to my mind, though I was ex- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 227 
 
 cessively ill at the time. But this prospect was soon 
 clouded, and my hopes brought very low indeed, when I 
 found that instead of pushing on with vigor, without re 
 garding a little rough road, they were halting to level 
 every molehill, and to erect bridges over every brook, by 
 which means we were four days getting twelve miles. 
 
 " At this camp I was left by the doctor's advice, and the 
 General's absolute orders, without which I should not have 
 been prevailed upon to remain behind ; as I then imagined, 
 and now believe, I shall find it no easy matter to join my 
 own corps again, which is 25 miles advanced before us. 
 
 " I have been now six days with Colonel Dunbar's 
 corps, who are in a miserable condition for want of horses, 
 not having enough for their wagons; so that the only 
 method he has of proceeding, is to march with as many 
 wagons as those will draw, and then halt till the remain 
 der are brought up with the same horses, which requires 
 two days more ; and shortly, I believe, he will not be able 
 to stir at all. 
 
 " My strength will not admit me to say more, though 
 I have not said half what I intended concerning our affairs 
 here. Business I shall not think of, but depend solely 
 upon your management of all my affairs, not doubting but 
 that they will be well conducted." 
 
 The next paragraph is an interesting indulgence in genial 
 sarcasm : 
 
 " You may thank my friends for the letters I have re 
 ceived from them, which, tell them has not been one from 
 any mortal since I left Fairfax, except yourself and Mr. Dai- 
 ton. It is a specimen of their regard and kindness which 
 I should endeavor to acknowledge and thank them for, 
 was I able and suffered to write." 
 
 " July 2nd. We are advanced almost as far as the 
 Great Meadows, and I shall set out tomorrow morning 
 
22S WASHINGTON. 
 
 for my own corps, witn an escort of 100 men, which is 
 to guard some provisions up, so that my fears and doubts 
 on that head are now removed." 
 
 June 30, Washington had written to Robert Orme, one 
 of Braddock's aides : " I came to this camp on Thurs 
 day last, with the rear of Colonel Dunbar's detachment, 
 and should have continued on with his front today, but 
 was prevented by rain. My fevers are very moderate, and, 
 I hope, near terminating; when I shall have nothing to 
 encounter but weakness which is excessive, and the diffi 
 culty of getting to you, arising therefrom ; but this I 
 would not miss doing, before you reach Duquesne, for five 
 hundred pounds. However, I have no doubt now of doing 
 this, as I am moving on slowly, and the General has given 
 me his word of honor, in the most solemn manner, that 
 it shall be effected. The doctor thinks it imprudent for 
 me to use much exercise for two or three days."] 
 
 One of the general's aides-de-camp, Capt. Roger Morris, 
 had written to him from the great crossing of the Youg- 
 hiogheny, " I am desired by the general to let you know 
 that he marches to-morrow and next day, but that he 
 shall halt at the Meadows two or three days. It is the de 
 sire of every individual in the family, and the general's 
 positive commands to you, not to stir but by the advice of 
 the person under whose care you are till you are better, 
 which we all hope will be very soon." On the 3Oth day of 
 June he said, in a letter to Captain Orme, one of the gen 
 eral's aides : " As the doctor thinks it imprudent for me 
 to use much exercise for two or three days my movements 
 will be retarded."* But he husbanded his strength; he 
 took advantage of every moment possible for him to pro 
 ceed; when prevented by rain from continuing with the 
 
 * Letter to John A. Washington, June 28, 1755. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 229 
 
 front of Colonel Dunbar's detachment he joined the rear, 
 yet he moved onward. 
 
 It was with great effort and with pain that he persevered 
 in his purpose; but he at length succeeded, to his own 
 great satisfaction and to the surprise of the general, in 
 reaching the advanced detachment (July 8, 1755) near the 
 junction of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela rivers, 
 within fifteen miles of the French fort. " On the 8th day 
 of July," says he, in a memorandum, " I rejoined in a cov 
 ered wagon the advanced division of the army under the 
 immediate command of the general. On the 9th I attended 
 him on horseback, though very low and weak." 
 
 This however was an eventful day long to be remem 
 bered, which, while it veiled others with the gloom of mis 
 fortune and calamity, shed around him and his exploits the 
 brightness of a glorious halo. 
 
 [In the memorandum just quoted Washington added to 
 the above : " On this day he was attacked, and defeated, 
 by a party of French and Indians, adjudged not to exceed 
 300. When all hope of rallying the dismayed troops, and 
 recovering the ground, was expired (our provisions and 
 stores being given up) I was ordered to Dunbar's camp."] 
 
 Early in the morning the army advanced in good health 
 and high spirits, and in perfect military order, on the north 
 bank of the majestic Monongahela. To reach the French 
 fort it was necessary first to ford the river and march for 
 some distance on its south bank; then to return to the 
 north bank by fording the stream again. This the well-dis 
 ciplined troops successfully accomplished. And the man 
 ner of their doing it was so truly admirable that Washing 
 ton, who beheld the scene with intense interest, often re 
 curred to it with the deepest emotion. 
 
 After crossing to the northern margin of the river, ten 
 miles from the fort, an advanced column of the troops 
 
230 WASHINGTON. 
 
 marched over a plain and up an ascent between two ravines. 
 But the remaining columns had scarcely forded the 
 stream when on a sudden heavy discharges of musketry 
 were heard on the front and on the right flank of the ad 
 vanced party. The hostile forces, consisting of French 
 troops and of Indians, concealed in the ravines and behind 
 trees, kept up a destructive fire, deliberately singling out 
 their victims, and prostrating on the field, among the killed 
 and wounded, more than half of the whole army which so 
 lately presented a model of military order, discipline, and 
 prowess. 
 
 The advanced column, panic-struck, had retreated in dis 
 may, falling back upon the detachment which next followed. 
 The contagion of alarm here seized the regular troops who, 
 for the first time, heard the Indian yell and war-whoop, 
 and were standing in platoons and receiving the deadly fire 
 of foes who were invisible. 
 
 Of the whole army no part, excepting only the Virginia 
 troops, manifested the presence of mind called for by the 
 emergency. They scattered and betook themselves to trees 
 from behind which they assailed the enemy after the man 
 ner of the Indian warfare. 
 
 In an account of the battle given by Captain Orme he 
 says : " The men were so extremely deaf to the exhorta 
 tion of the general and the officers that they fired away 
 in the most irregular manner all their ammunition, and 
 then ran off, leaving to the enemy the artillery, ammuni 
 tion, provision, and baggage ; nor could they be persuaded 
 to stop till they got as far as Gist's plantation; nor there 
 only in part, many of them proceeding as far as Colonel 
 Dunbar's party, who lay six miles on this side. The offi 
 cers were absolutely sacrificed by their good behavior, 
 advancing sometimes in bodies, sometimes separately, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES, 231 
 
 hoping by such example to engage the soldiers to follow 
 them, but to no purpose. The general had five horses 
 shot under him, and at last received a wound through the 
 right arm into his lungs of which he died on the I3th 
 instant. Secretary Shirley was shot through the head; 
 Captain Morris wounded. Colonel Washington had two 
 horses shot under him and his clothes shot through in 
 several places, behaving the whole time with the greatest 
 courage and resolution. Sir Peter Halket was killed 
 upon the spot. Colonel Burton and Sir John St. Clair 
 were wounded/'* 
 
 Our " well-armed troops, chiefly regulars, were struck 
 with such a panic," says Washington, " that they behaved 
 with more cowardice than it is possible to conceive. The 
 officers behaved gallantly in order to encourage their men, 
 for which they suffered greatly, there being nearly sixty 
 killed and wounded; a large proportion of the number we 
 had." " In despite of all the efforts of the officers to the 
 contrary they ran as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was im 
 possible to rally them." " The general was wounded, of 
 which he died three days after. Sir Peter Halket was killed 
 in the field, where died many other brave officers. I 
 luckily escaped without a wound, though I had four bul 
 lets through my coat and two horses shot under me. 
 Captains Orme and Morris, two of the aides-de-camp, 
 were wounded early in the engagement, which rendered 
 the duty harder upon me, as I was the only person then 
 left to distribute the general's orders, which I was scarcely 
 able to do, as I was not half recovered from a violent ill 
 ness that had confined me to my bed and a wagon for 
 above ten days. I am still in a weak and feeble condition 
 which induces me to halt here two or three days in the 
 
 * Letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania, July, .1755. 
 
232 WASHINGTON. 
 
 hope of recovering a little strength to enable me to pro 
 ceed homeward/'* 
 
 The whole number of British officers was eighty-six, 
 twenty-six of whom were killed and thirty-seven wounded. 
 The killed and wounded of the British army was 714. The 
 French had but three officers killed and four wounded, and 
 about sixty soldiers and Indians killed and wounded. 
 Braddock's official papers were taken by the enemy and 
 also Washington's private journal, and his official corre 
 spondence during the preceding year's campaign. 
 
 [To Governor Dinwiddie Washington wrote July i8th, 
 from Fort Cumberland: 
 
 " When we came to within 7 miles of Duquesne, we 
 were attacked (very unexpectedly) by about 300 French 
 and Indians. Our numbers consisted of about 1,300 well- 
 armed men, chiefly Regulars, who were immediately struck 
 with such an inconceivable panic, that nothing but con 
 fusion and disobedience of orders prevailed among them. 
 The officers, in general, behaved with incomparable brav 
 ery, for which they greatly suffered, there being near 60 
 killed and wounded, a large proportion out of the num 
 ber we had. 
 
 " The Virginia companies behaved like men and died like 
 soldiers; for I believe out of three companies that were 
 on the ground that day scarce 30 men were left alive. 
 Capt. Peyroney and all his officers, down to a corporal, 
 were killed; Capt. Poison had almost as hard a fate, for 
 only one of his escaped. In short, the dastardly behavior 
 of the Regular troops (so-called) exposed those who were 
 inclined to do their duty to almost certain death; and, at 
 length, in despite of every effort to the contrary, broke 
 and ran as sheep before hounds, leaving the artillery, am- 
 * Letter to Mrs. Mary Washington, July 16, 1755. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 233 
 
 munition, provisions, baggage, and, in short, everything, 
 a prey to the enemy. And when we endeavored to rally 
 them, in hopes of regaining the ground and what we had 
 left upon it, it was with as little success as if we had at 
 tempted to have stopped the wild bears of the mountains, 
 or rivulets with our feet ; for they would break by, in de 
 spite of every effort that could be made to prevent it. 
 
 " The General was wounded in the shoulder and breast, 
 of which he died three days after ; his two aides were both 
 wounded [Captains Orme and Morris], but are in a fair 
 way of recovery; Colonel Burton and Sir John St. Clair 
 are also wounded, and I hope will get over it; Sir Peter 
 Halket, with many other brave officers, were killed in the 
 field. It is supposed that we had 300 or more killed; 
 about that number we brought off wounded, and it is con 
 jectured (I believe, with much truth) that two-thirds of 
 both received their shot from our own cowardly Regulars, 
 who gathered themselves into a body, contrary to orders, 
 ten or twelve deep ; would then level, fire, and shoot down 
 the men before them. 
 
 " I tremble at the consequences that this defeat may 
 have upon our back settlers, who, I suppose, will leave 
 their habitations unless there are proper measures taken 
 for their security. Colonel Dunbar, who commands at 
 present, intends, as soon as his men are recruited, to con 
 tinue his march to Philadelphia for winter quarters ; con 
 sequently there will be no men left here, unless it is the 
 shattered remains of the Virginia troops, who are totally 
 inadequate to the protection of the frontiers." 
 
 To his brother John, Washington wrote on the same 
 day: 
 
 " As I have heard, since my arrival at this place, a cir 
 cumstantial account of my death and dying speech, I take 
 this early opportunity of contradicting the first, and of 
 
$34: WASHINGTON. 
 
 assuring you that I have not composed the latter. But, 
 by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have 
 been protected beyond all human probability, or expec 
 tation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two 
 horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, though death 
 was leveling my companions on every side of me! 
 
 " We have "been most scandalously beaten by a trifling body 
 of men; but fatigue and want of time prevent me from 
 giving you any of the details, until I have the happiness 
 of seeing you at Mount Vernon, which I now most ear 
 nestly wish for, since we are driven in thus far. A feeble 
 state of health obliges me to halt here for two or three 
 days to recover a little strength, that I may thereby be 
 enabled to proceed homeward with more ease."] 
 
 The story of Braddock's ill-fated expedition was at first 
 scarcely credited. The thought of a possibility of his de 
 feat had not been harbored. Arrangements had actually 
 been made in Philadelphia for the celebration of his antici 
 pated valiant achievement, and money had been raised 
 there by subscription for bonfires and illuminations. 
 
 Washington arrived home July 26th, and August 2d 
 wrote from Mt. Vernon to Robert Jackson: 
 
 " It is true we have been beaten shamefully beaten by a 
 handful of men who only intended to molest and disturb our 
 march. Victory was their smallest expectation. But see 
 the wondrous works of Providence and the uncertainty of 
 human things ! We but a few moments before believed our 
 numbers almost equal to the Canadian force ; they only ex 
 pected to annoy us. Yet contrary to all expectation and 
 human probability, and even to the common course of 
 things, we were totally defeated and sustained the loss of 
 every thing. This, as you observe, must be an affecting 
 story to the colony, and will, no doubt, license the tongues 
 of people to censure those whom they think most blamable ; 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 235 
 
 which, by the by, often falls very wrongfully. I join very 
 heartily with you in believing, that when this story comes 
 to be related in future annals, it will meet with unbelief and 
 indignation, for had I not been witness to the fact on that 
 fatal day, I should scarce have given credit to it even now." 
 
 Washington's wonderful preservation and escape with 
 out a wound, amid so many and great dangers, became 
 very naturally a general topic of conversation throughout 
 the Colonies. 
 
 The divine purpose in the preservation of his life was 
 also recognized by an Indian chief and his warriors who 
 were present at Monongahela and in the battle. Washing 
 ton having occasion to explore some western wild lands 
 about fifteen years after the time of the battle went in com 
 pany with his friend, Dr. Craik, to a spot near the junction 
 of the Great Kenhawa and Ohio rivers. While there he 
 was visited by a sachem and his party, who had heard of 
 his arrival in the forest, and who came to him with a tribute 
 of their homage. 
 
 The old chief said that he was present at the battle and 
 among the Indian allies of the French; that he singled him 
 out and repeatedly fired his rifle at him ; that he ordered his 
 young warriors also to make him their only mark ; but that 
 on finding all their bullets turned aside by some invisible 
 and inscrutable interposition he was convinced that the hero 
 at whom he had so often and so truly aimed must be, for 
 some wise purpose, specially protected by the Great Spirit. 
 He now came therefore to testify his veneration. 
 
 When Braddock's troops, retreating from the scene of 
 action, recrossed the Monongahela, Washington has 
 tened to the rear detachment under Dunbar and ordered 
 vehicles for carrying the wounded from the field. 
 
 The general had already been removed in a wagon 
 and then put on horseback; but it was soon discovered 
 
236 WASHINGTON. 
 
 that he could not ride, and he was borne upon a litter, 
 first to the rear detachment and then toward the Great 
 Meadows. 
 
 On the fourth day he died; and, to conceal his body 
 from hostile savages, it was wrapped in his cloak and 
 interred at night at a spot about a mile west of Fort 
 Necessity. But it was not committed to the earth with 
 out the rite of sepulture. There was, it is true, no min 
 ister of the Gospel in attendance. It was customary how 
 ever, in the absence of a clergyman, for the laity in such 
 emergencies to read the Church of England's office for 
 the burial of the dead. And now Washington, standing 
 near the lifeless body about to be consigned " dust to 
 dust," read by the light of a torch the words of the solemn 
 burial service. 
 
 [ Irving' s narrative of the return of Washington to duty 
 with Braddock, and of the terrible disaster of July Qth, 
 may be quoted here as one of his many matchless sketches 
 of forever memorable scenes : 
 
 " Washington was warmly received on his arrival, espe 
 cially by his fellow aides-de-camp, Morris and Orme. He 
 was just in time, for the attack upon Fort Duquesne was 
 to be made on the following day. The neighboring coun 
 try had been reconnoitered to determine upon a plan of 
 attack. The fort stood on the same side of the Mononga- 
 hela with the camp ; but there was a narrow pass between 
 them of about two miles, with the river on the left and 
 a very high mountain on the right, and in its present state 
 quite impassable for carriages. The route determined on 
 was to cross the Monongahela by a ford immediately op 
 posite to the camp; proceed along the west bank of the 
 river, for about five miles, then recross by another ford to 
 the eastern side, and push on to the fort. The river at 
 these fords was shallow, and the banks were not steep. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 237 
 
 "According to the plan of arrangement, Lieutenant-Col 
 onel Gage, with the advance, was to cross the river before 
 daybreak, march to the second ford, and recrossing there, 
 take post to secure the passage of the main force. The 
 advance was to be composed of two companies of grena 
 diers, one hundred and sixty infantry, the independent com 
 pany of Captain Horatio Gates, and two six-pounders. 
 
 " Washington, who had already seen enough of regular 
 troops to doubt their infallibility in wild bush-fighting, and 
 who knew the dangerous nature of the ground they were 
 to traverse, ventured to suggest, that on the following day 
 the Virginia rangers, being accustomed to the country 
 and to Indian warfare, might be thrown in the advance. 
 The proposition drew an angry reply from the general, 
 indignant very probably, that a young provincial officer 
 should presume to school a veteran like himself. 
 
 " Early next morning (July Qth), before daylight, Colonel 
 Gage crossed with the advance. He was followed at some 
 distance by Sir John St. Clair, quartermaster-general, with 
 a working party of 250 men, to make roads for the artillery 
 and baggage. They had with them their wagons of tools, 
 and two six-pounders. A party of about thirty savages 
 rushed out of the woods as Colonel Gage advanced, but 
 were put to flight before they had done any harm. 
 
 " By sunrise the main body turned out in full uniform, 
 at the beating of 'the general/ their arms, which had 
 been cleaned the night before, were charged with fresh 
 cartridges. The officers were perfectly equipped. All 
 looked as if arrayed for a fete, rather than a battle. Wash 
 ington, who was still weak and unwell, mounted his horse 
 and joined the staff of the general, who was scrutinizing 
 everything with the eye of a martinet. As it was sup 
 posed the enemy would be on the watch for the crossing 
 of the troops, it had been agreed that they should do it 
 
238 WASHINGTON. 
 
 in the greatest order, with bayonets fixed, colors flying, 
 and drums and fifes beating and playing.* They accord 
 ingly made a gallant appearance as they forded the Mon- 
 ongahela, and wound along its banks and through the 
 open forests, gleaming and glittering in morning sunshine 
 and stepping buoyantly to the ' Grenadiers' March/ 
 
 " Washington, with his keen and youthful relish for mili 
 tary affairs, was delighted with their perfect order and 
 equipment, so different from the rough bush-fighters, to 
 which he had been accustomed. Roused to new life, he 
 forgot his recent ailments, and broke forth in expressions 
 of enjoyment and admiration as he rode in company with 
 his fellow aides-de-camp, Orme and Morris. Often, in 
 after life, he used to speak of the effect upon him of the 
 first sight of a well-disciplined European army, marching 
 in high confidence and bright array, on the eve of a battle. 
 
 " About noon they reached the second ford. Gage, with 
 the advance, was on the opposite side of the Monongahela, 
 posted according to orders; but the river bank had not 
 been sufficiently sloped. The artillery and baggage drew 
 up along the beach and halted until one, when the second 
 crossing took place, drums beating, fifes playing, and 
 colors flying as before. When all had passed, there was 
 again a halt close by a small stream called Frazier's Run, 
 until the general arranged the order of march. 
 
 " First went the advance, under Gage, preceded by the 
 engineers and guides and six light horsemen. 
 
 " Then Sir John St. Clair and the working party, with 
 their wagons and the two six-pounders. On each side 
 were thrown out four flanking parties. 
 
 " Then, at some distance, the general was to follow with 
 the main body, the artillery and baggage were preceded 
 
 * Orme's Journal. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 239 
 
 and flanked by light horse and squads of infantry; while 
 the Virginian and other provincial troops were to form 
 the rearguard. 
 
 " The ground before them was level until about half a 
 mile from the river, where a rising ground, covered with 
 long grass, low bushes, and scattered trees, sloped gently 
 up to a range of hills. The whole country, generally 
 speaking, was a forest, with no clear opening but the 
 road, which was about twelve feet wide, and flanked by 
 two ravines, concealed by trees and thickets. 
 
 " Had Braddock been schooled in the warfare of the 
 woods, or had he adopted the suggestions of Washington, 
 which he rejected so impatiently, he would have thrown 
 out Indian scouts or Virginian rangers in the advance, and 
 on the flanks, to beat up the woods and ravines; but as 
 has been sarcastically observed, he suffered his troops to 
 march forward through the center of the plain, with merely 
 their usual guides and flanking parties, ' as if in a re 
 view in St. James's Park/ 
 
 " It was now near 2 o'clock. The advanced party and 
 the working party had crossed the plain and were ascend 
 ing the rising ground. Braddock was about to follow with 
 the main body, and had given the word to march, when 
 he heard an excessively quick and heavy firing in front. 
 Washington, who was with the general, surmised that the 
 evil he had apprehended had come to pass. For want of 
 scouting parties ahead, the advance parties were suddenly 
 and warmly attacked. Braddock ordered Lieutenant-Col 
 onel Burton to hasten to their asistance with the vanguard 
 of the main body, 800 strong. The residue, 400, were 
 halted, and posted to protect the artillery and baggage. 
 
 " The firing continued with fearful yelling. There was a 
 terrible uproar. By the general's orders an aide-de-camp 
 spurred forward to bring him an account of the nature of 
 
240 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the attack. Without waiting for his return, the general 
 himself, finding the turmoil increase, moved forward, leav 
 ing Sir Peter Halket with the command of the baggage. 
 
 The van of the advance had indeed been taken by sur 
 prise. It was composed of two companies of pioneers to 
 cut the road, and two flank companies of grenadiers to 
 protect them. Suddenly the engineer who preceded them 
 to mark out the road gave the alarm, " French and In 
 dians ! " A body of them was approaching rapidly, cheered 
 on by a Frenchman in gayly fringed hunting-shirt, whose 
 gorget showed him to be an officer. There was sharp fir 
 ing on both sides at first. Several of the enemy fell; among 
 them their leader; but a murderous fire broke out from 
 among trees and a ravine on the right, and the woods re 
 sounded with unearthly whoops and yellings. The Indian 
 rifle was at work, leveled by unseen hands. Most of the 
 grenadiers and many of the pioneers were shot down. 
 The survivors were driven in on the advance. 
 
 Gage ordered his men to fix bayonets and form in order 
 of battle. They did so in hurry and trepidation. He 
 would have scaled a hill on the right whence there was 
 the severest firing. Not a platoon would quit the line of 
 march. They were more dismayed by the yells than by 
 the rifles of the unseen savages. The latter extended 
 themselves along the hill and in the ravines; but their 
 whereabouts was only known by their demoniac cries and 
 the puffs of smoke from their rifles. The soldiers fired 
 wherever they saw the smoke. Their officers tried in vain 
 to restrain them until they should see their foe. All 
 orders were unheeded; in their fright they shot at ran 
 dom, killing some of their own flanking parties, and of 
 the vanguard, as they came running in. The covert fire 
 grew more intense. In a short time most of the officers 
 and many of the men of the advance were killed or 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 241 
 
 wounded. Colonel Gage himself received a wound. The 
 advance fell back in dismay upon Sir John St. Clair's 
 corps, which was equally dismayed. The cannon belong 
 ing to it were deserted. 
 
 Colonel Burton had come up with the reinforcement, 
 and was forming his men to face the rising ground on the 
 right, when both of the advanced detachments fell back 
 upon him, and all now was confusion. 
 
 By this time the general was upon the ground. He 
 tried to rally the men. " They would fight," they said, 
 " if they could see their enemy ; but it was useless to fire 
 at trees and bushes, and they could not stand to be shot 
 down by an invisible foe." 
 
 The colors were advanced in different places to separate 
 the men of the two regiments. The general ordered the 
 officers to form the men, tell them off into small divisions, 
 and advance with them; but the soldiers could not be 
 prevailed upon either by threats or entreaties. The Vir 
 ginia troops, accustomed to the Indian mode of fighting, 
 scattered themselves, and took post behind trees, whence 
 they could pick off the lurking foe. In this way they, in 
 some degree, protected the regulars. Washington advised 
 General Braddock to adopt the same plan with the regu 
 lars ; but he persisted in forming them into platoons ; 
 consequently they were cut down from behind logs and 
 trees as fast as they could advance. Several attempted to 
 take to the trees without orders, but the general stormed 
 at them, called them cowards, and even struck them with 
 the flat of his sword. Several of the Virginians, who had 
 taken post and were doing good service in this manner, 
 were slain by the fire of the regulars, directed wherever a 
 smoke appeared among the trees. 
 
 The officers behaved with consummate bravery; and 
 Washington beheld with admiration those who, in camp 
 16 
 
242 WASHINGTON. 
 
 or on the march, had appeared to him to have an almost 
 effeminate regard for personal ease and convenience, now 
 exposing themselves to imminent death, with a courage 
 that kindled with the thickening horrors. In the vain 
 hope of inspiriting the men to> drive off the enemy from 
 the flanks and regain the cannon, they would dash for 
 ward singly or in groups. They were invariably shot 
 down; for the Indians aimed from their coverts at every 
 one on horseback, or who appeared to have command. 
 
 Some were killed by random shot of their own men, 
 who, crowded in masses, fired with affrighted rapidity, 
 but without aim. Soldiers in the front ranks were killed 
 by those in the rear. Between friend and foe, the slaughter 
 of the officers was terrible. All this while the woods re 
 sounded with the unearthly yellings of the savages, and 
 now and then one of them, hideously painted, and ruffling 
 with feathered crest, would rush forth to scalp an officer 
 who had fallen, or seize a horse galloping wildly without 
 a rider. 
 
 Throughout this disastrous day, Washington distin 
 guished himself by his courage and presence of mind. His 
 brother aides, Orme and Morris, were wounded and dis 
 abled early in the action, and the whole duty of carrying 
 the orders of the general devolved on him. His danger 
 was imminent and incessant. He was in every part of 
 the field, a conspicuous mark for the murderous rifle. Two 
 horses were shot under him. Four bullets passed through 
 his coat. His escape without a wound was almost miracu 
 lous. Dr. Craik, who was on the field attending to the 
 wounded, watched him with anxiety as he rode about in 
 the most exposed manner, and used to say that he ex 
 pected every moment to see him fall. At one time he was 
 sent to the main body to bring the artillery into action. 
 All there was likewise in confusion; for the Indians had 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 243 
 
 extended themselves along the ravine so as to flank the 
 reserve and carry slaughter into the ranks. Sir Peter Hal- 
 ket had been shot down at the head of his regiment. The 
 men who should have served the guns were paralyzed. 
 Had they raked the ravines with grape-shot the day might 
 have been saved. In his ardor Washington sprang from 
 his horse, wheeled and pointed a brass field-piece with his 
 own hand, and directed an effective discharge into the 
 woods; but neither his efforts nor example were of avail. 
 The men could not be kept to the guns. 
 
 Braddock still remained in the center of the field, in the 
 desperate hope of retrieving the fortunes of the day. The 
 Virginia rangers, who had been most efficient in covering 
 his position, were nearly all killed or wounded. His sec 
 retary, Shirley, had fallen by his side. Many of his officers 
 had been slain within his sight, and many of his guard 
 of Virginia light horse. Five horses had been killed under 
 him ; still he kept his ground, vainly endeavoring to check 
 the flight of his men, or at least to effect their retreat 
 in good order. At length a bullet passed through his 
 right arm and lodged itself in his lungs. He fell from 
 his horse, but was caught by Captain Stewart of the 
 Virginia guards, who, with the assistance of another 
 American, and a servant, placed him in a tumbril. It 
 was with much difficulty they got him out of the field 
 in his despair he desired to be left there. 
 
 The rout now became complete. Baggage, stores, ar 
 tillery, everything was abandoned. The wagoners took 
 each a horse out of his team and fled. The officers were 
 swept off with the men in this headlong flight. It was 
 rendered more precipitate by the shouts and yells of the 
 savages, numbers of whom rushed forth from their cov 
 erts, and pursued the fugitives to the river side, killing 
 several as they dashed across in tumultuous confusion. 
 
244 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Fortunately for the latter, the victors gave up the pursuit 
 in their eagerness to collect the spoil. 
 
 The shattered army continued its flight after it had 
 crossed the Monongahela, a wretched wreck of the brilliant 
 little force that had recently gleamed along its banks, 
 confident of victory. Out of eighty-six officers, twenty- 
 six had been killed, and thirty-six wounded. The number 
 of rank and file killed and wounded was upward of seven 
 hundred. The Virginia corps had suffered the most ; one 
 company had been almost annihilated, another, beside 
 those killed and wounded in the ranks, had lost all its 
 officers, even to the corporal. 
 
 About a hundred men were brought to a halt about a 
 quarter of a mile from the ford of the river. Here was 
 Braddock, with his wounded aides-de-camp and some of 
 his officers, Dr. Craik dressing his wounds, and Washing 
 ton attending him with faithful assiduity. Braddock was 
 still able to give orders, and had a faint hope of being 
 able to keep possession of the ground until reinforced. 
 Most of the men were stationed in a very advantageous 
 spot about two hundred yards from the road; and Lieu 
 tenant-Colonel Burton posted out small parties and sen 
 tinels. Before an hour had elapsed most of the men had 
 stolen off. Being thus deserted, Braddock and his officers 
 continued their retreat ; he would have mounted his horse, 
 but was unable, and had to be carried by soldiers. Orme 
 and Morris were placed on litters borne by horses They 
 were subsequently joined by Colonel Gage with eighty 
 men whom he had rallied. 
 
 Washington, in the meantime, notwithstanding his weak 
 state, being found most efficient in frontier service, was 
 sent to Colonel Dunbar's camp, forty miles distant, with 
 orders for him to hurry forward provisions, hospital stores, 
 and wagons for the wounded, under the escort of two 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 245 
 
 grenadier companies. It was a hard and a melancholy 
 ride throughout the night and the following day. The 
 tidings of the defeat preceded him, borne by the wagoners, 
 who had mounted their horses on Braddock's fall, and 
 fled from the field of battle. They had arrived, haggard, 
 at Dunbar's camp at midday; the Indians yells still ring 
 ing in their ears. "All was lost ! " they cried. " Brad- 
 dock was killed! They had seen wounded officers borne 
 off from the field in bloody sheets! The troops were all 
 cut to pieces ! " A panic fell upon the camp. The drums 
 beat to arms. Many of the soldiers, wagoners, and at 
 tendants, took to flight; but most of them were forced 
 back by the sentinels. 
 
 Washington arrived at the camp in the evening, and 
 found the agitation still prevailing. The orders which he 
 brought were executed during the night, and he was in 
 the saddle early in the morning accompanying the convoy 
 of supplies. At Gist's plantation, about thirteen miles off, 
 he met Gage and his scanty force escorting Braddock and 
 his wounded officers. Captain Stewart and a sad remnant 
 of the Virginia light horse still accompanied the general 
 as his guard. The captain. had been unremitting in his 
 attentions to him during the retreat. There was a halt of 
 one day at Dunbar's camp for the repose and relief of 
 the wounded. On the I3th they resumed their melancholy 
 march, and that night reached the Great Meadows. 
 
 The proud spirit of Braddock was broken by his de 
 feat. He remained silent the first evening after the battle, 
 only ejaculating at night, " Who would have thought it! " 
 He was equally silent the following day; yet hope still 
 seemed to linger in his breast, from another ejaculation : 
 ".We shall better know how to deal with them another 
 time!" 
 
 He was grateful for the attentions paid to him by Cap- 
 
246 WASHINGTON. 
 
 tain Stewart and Washington, and more than once, it is 
 said, expressed his admiration of the gallantry displayed 
 by the Virginians in the action. It is said, moreover, that 
 in his last moments he apologized to Washington for the 
 petulance with which he had rejected his advice, and be 
 queathed to him his favorite charger, and his faithful ser 
 vant, Bishop, who had helped to convey him from the field. 
 
 Some of these facts, it is true, rest on tradition, yet we 
 are willing to believe them, as they impart a gleam of 
 just and generous feeling to his closing scene. He died 
 on the night of the I3th, at the Great Meadows, the place 
 of Washington's discomfiture in the previous year. His 
 obsequies were performed before break of day. The 
 chaplain having been wounded, Washington read the fu 
 neral service. All was done in sadness, and without pa 
 rade, so as not to attract the attention of lurking savages, 
 who might discover and outrage his grave."]* 
 
 Before the occurrence of the disastrous affair at the 
 Monongahela, Braddock received an offer of the services 
 of a hundred friendly Indians. But so self-confident was 
 he, and so contemptuous was his opinion of the savages 
 and their mode of warfare, that, regardless of Washing 
 ton's counsels on the subject, he treated their offer with 
 cold and even offensive indifference. Had he employed 
 them as scouts, they would undoubtedly have discovered 
 the enemy's ambuscade and have enabled him to antici 
 pate their fatal stratagem; and, by means of the grape- 
 shot of a few field pieces, not only to reveal the hiding 
 places of the invisible foe, but to convert their ravines 
 from places of security into vast repositories of the dead. 
 
 In the confidence of power, he appears to have dis 
 dained the customary prudential measures for discovering 
 the enemy's plans and detecting their machinations. 
 
 * See Irving, Vol. I, p. 230. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 247 
 
 On the other hand, M. Contrecoeur, commandant of 
 the French fort, resorted to every practicable expedient 
 to ascertain, in detail, whatever he required to know re 
 specting Braddock's army and its movements. He was 
 convinced that the thought of contending with the British 
 army in a pitched battle was preposterous. He was at 
 a loss to decide in what manner he could most judiciously 
 receive it. At this crisis one of his captains, M. Beaujeu, 
 volunteered, with a mixed party of French, Canadians, 
 and Indians, to annoy the British forces while crossing 
 the Monongahela and to retard their progress toward 
 the fort. Arriving too late to effect their purpose at the 
 river, Beaujeu and his party betook themselves to the 
 ravines, and lay in ambush behind trees and in the long 
 grass with which the ravines were skirted. They were 
 in all but about 850 men, including 600 Indians. They 
 thought not for a moment of being able to put to rout 
 the British army. But on this occasion as on many 
 others in the history of war, presumptuous confidence 
 was suddenly converted into dismay; and inferior num 
 bers were awarded the success of a triumph, alike unex 
 pected and wonderful. 
 
 Amid the prevailing gloom of this melancholy scene, 
 the mind finds a pleasing relief in contemplating the char 
 acter and conduct of Washington. When all the other 
 mounted officers of Braddock's army were, without ex 
 ception, slain or disabled, the Virginian aide-de-camp, 
 mysteriously protected with a view to the fulfillment of 
 a high destiny, was preserved from death and was not 
 even wounded. His friend, Dr. Craik, who was a witness 
 of this remarkable divine interposition, observed : " I ex 
 pected every moment to see him fall. His duty and situa 
 tion exposed him to every danger. Nothing but the 
 
248 WASHINGTON. 
 
 superintending care of Providence could have saved him 
 from the fate of all around him." He was suffering from 
 the effect of his debilitating fever, and he was then on 
 horseback for the first time after his partial recovery; 
 but he displayed, as if acting under the control of a super 
 human impulse, the most extraordinary presence of mind, 
 accompanied with intrepidity, firmness, discretion, and 
 sound judgment. 
 
 And his generous and kind sympathies also were in 
 active exercise. He had been assisted by Captain Stew 
 art, of the Virginia Guards, and by a servant, in bearing 
 the wounded general from the field; but, on consigning 
 him to the captain's special care, he had immediately re 
 turned to his post of duty and of danger. With spirit 
 and skill he rallied the panic-stricken troops after their 
 having crossed the Monongahela. It now devolved upon 
 him to hasten to the rear detachment of the army and 
 order wagons for the wounded ; and he accomplished this, 
 to the relief of many a suffering officer and soldier. 
 
 The particular and important duties which, in the order 
 ing of events, were successively assigned to him, and 
 which he faithfully performed, conspired to commend his 
 character and conduct to universal admiration. The story 
 spread of his being endowed with a charmed life; and 
 his friends and countrymen spontaneously indulged in 
 glowing anticipations of the future of his history. An 
 eloquent preacher of the time, the Rev. Samuel Davies, 
 afterward president of Princeton College, in a sermon 
 preached before one of the volunteer companies, com 
 mented upon the prevailing military spirit, and said: "As 
 a remarkable instance of this, I may point out to the 
 public that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I 
 cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 249 
 
 signal a manner for some important service to his 
 country."* 
 
 [One author, with surprising misinformation and depend 
 ence on imagination, garnishes a meager sketch of Brad- 
 dock's defeat with these amazingly false references to 
 Washington : 
 
 " As soon as his fever abated a little, he left Colonel 
 D unbar, and being unable to sit on a horse, was conveyed 
 to the front in a wagon. 
 
 " Washington at the outset, flung himself headlong into 
 the fight. * * * All through that dreadful carnage he 
 rode fiercely about, raging with the excitement of battle. 
 
 " Splendidly reckless on the day of battle, * * * he 
 comes before us, above all things the fighting man, hot- 
 blooded and fierce in action." 
 
 Washington's fever had abated as early as June 23, and 
 it was not until July 3, that he started to overtake Brad- 
 dock. On July 9 he did no flinging of himself headlong 
 into the battle. He was Braddock's aide, strictly confined 
 to carrying Braddock's orders, except as some action came 
 within his reach, as when he was sent to order the artil 
 lery to get at work, and sprang from his horse to wheel 
 and point a brass field-piece. He did no riding fiercely 
 about, raging with the excitement of battle, and the writer 
 had no more reason for putting up stuff of this kind than he 
 would have had for saying that Washington took to the 
 woods in mad fool-fury to get a swordcut at the savages, 
 and yelled so loud that he was heard at Mount Vernon. 
 "Above all things, the fighting man, hot-blooded and fierce 
 in action," is a description of Washington which could not 
 well be more grotesquely and thoroughly false.] 
 
 * " Religion and Patriotism the Constituents of a Good Soldier," 
 a sermon preached August 17, 1755. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WASHINGTON, THE VIRGINIA COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 
 
 1755-1757. 
 
 THE deplorable result of Braddock's formidable ex 
 pedition not only created a general and startling 
 sensation throughout the Colonies, but prompted 
 new and powerful emotions of self-reliance. 
 
 And the subsequent conduct of Colonel Dunbar in aban 
 doning the Colonies tended greatly to increase this state 
 of feeling. In command of the rear detachment of Brad- 
 dock's army he was forty miles from the scene of action 
 during the battle of the Monongahela. But the retreating 
 troops of the advanced detachment fell back upon his 
 party, and in the consternation of their flight they spread 
 the contagion of their panic. 
 
 To disappoint the French and Indians should they con 
 tinue in pursuit, the artillery and all the stores that could 
 not be removed were now destroyed, and the colonel hur 
 ried on his march. He was at that time in command of 
 more than 1,000 men. The important obligation devolved 
 upon him to protect the settlements. He received urgent 
 communications from the Governors of Virginia, Mary 
 land, and Pennsylvania, requesting that detachments of his 
 army might be posted on their frontiers, now in a state of 
 great alarm. But regardless of their appeals and adopting 
 no measures of resistance nor of defense in behalf of the 
 Colonies, he rapidly pursued his march to Philadelphia to 
 
 (250) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 251 
 
 what he called his winter quarters, for the purpose, it would 
 appear, rather of receiving than of affording protection. 
 
 The complaints created by this proceeding were of course 
 loud and general. In the irritation which it produced the 
 intrepidity of brave Virginia troops was invidiously con 
 trasted with the cowardly conduct of professed veterans. 
 In some terse remarks on the subject Dr. Franklin says: 
 " This whole transaction gave us Americans the first sus 
 picion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regu 
 lar troops had not been well founded."* 
 
 The news of Dunbar's conduct was received while the 
 Virginia Assembly was in session. And it convinced the 
 minds of members of the Assembly that the time had come 
 for a resort to vigorous measures of self-preservation. 
 
 [General Braddock's expedition had been especially 
 aimed at the operations of the French on the Ohio, but in 
 connection therewith plans had been determined upon at 
 the meeting of the Governors, April 14, 1755, with Brad- 
 dock and Commodore Keppel, for expeditions against the 
 French, both at Niagara and at Crown Point. Governor 
 Shirley, with Sir William Pepperell's regiments and some 
 New York companies, was to attack the force of Indians 
 ami French at Niagara, about the end of June, and Col. 
 Wm. Johnson, the rich Mohawk country potentate, with 
 a large force of the warriors of the Six Nations, was to 
 proceed against Crown Point. 
 
 But with Braddock's overthrow, and the slaughter of 
 his army which sent terror everywhere thai: the news came, 
 the plans of Shirley against Niagara went to pieces; the 
 men engaged for river transportation of stores evaded 
 serving ; it was near the end of August before the expedi 
 tion was in force at Oswego ; and with delays and troubles 
 
 * Dr. Franklin's " Autobiography," near the close of chap, x ; 
 Works, vol. I, p. 192. 
 
252 WASHINGTON. 
 
 there, Shirley did no more than to commence fortifying, 
 and leaving 700 men as a garrison, returned to Albany in 
 October with the main part of his forces. 
 
 The plans for Johnson's attack upon Crown Point were 
 hardly more successful. The expedition ascended the 
 Hudson to the point from which land carriage crossed to 
 the lower end of the lake, to which Johnson gave the name 
 of Lake George. Here a fort was begun, to which was 
 given later the name of Fort Edward. Leaving General 
 Lyman to complete and defend the fort, Johnson pro 
 ceeded to Lake George with a force of 5,000 to 6,000 
 troops of New York and New England, and a very large 
 contingent of Mohawk Indians. The French commander 
 recently arrived at Quebec, Baron de Dieskau, with a force 
 of 3,000 men, was aiming at Oswego, and had gone to 
 Montreal, and sent forward 700 of his troops, when the 
 news came of Johnson's formidable expedition on the 
 way to Crown Point, and perhaps to Canada. The Baron 
 took post at Crown Point with regular troops, 800 Ca 
 nadians, and 700 Indians, and he thence set off for Fort 
 Edward, from which Johnson had advanced to Lake 
 George. He hoped to surprise the fort, and make a dash 
 south for the destruction of Albany and Schenectady, and 
 thus cut off all communication with Oswego. Johnson 
 meanwhile, in camp at the south end of Lake George, 
 awaiting the boat service for proceeding north, learned 
 September 7th, of the peril of French attack at Fort Ed 
 ward, and the next morning sent Colonel Williams with 
 1,000 men and 200 Indians, to intercept the French. 
 Within two hours, heavy firing, which soon indicated that 
 Williams was retreating, caused Johnson's command to 
 take measures for defense, such as were possible with only 
 a breastwork of trees, some heavy cannon on the front, 
 and a field-piece on an eminence on the left flank. The 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 253 
 
 fleeing troops of Williams arriving in wild confusion, 
 with the enemy in close pursuit, and soon after the French 
 regulars in battle line, with Canadians and Indians, seemed 
 to portend overwhelming defeat for Johnson's command, 
 and the capture of his camp. In the moment of extremest 
 peril, however, Dieskau's Canadians and Indians flinched 
 from direct assault, took to bush-fighting, and left the 
 baron with 200 grenadiers a compact target for the artil 
 lery and musketry fire of Johnson's garrison, and at a 
 distance short of any serious effect of their platoon firing. 
 The action became more and more one of British success, 
 until the French grenadiers, terribly cut up, gave way, 
 and Johnson's men with the Mohawks issued from their 
 camp in a fierce onset, which became a slaughter of the 
 assailants, an utter rout or capture of the French, with 
 their gallant commander so severely wounded as to result 
 in his death. It appeared that the plan of Dieskau for 
 surprising Fort Edward he was obliged to change because 
 his Canadians and Indians, fearing the fire of cannon, re 
 fused to make the assault; and when he turned back to 
 surprise Johnson's camp the same hesitation of his Cana 
 dian troops and Indian allies caused the disaster with which 
 his expedition ended. 
 
 Johnson, on his part, hesitating to advance upon Crown 
 Point until he could leave a strong fort on the site of 
 his camp, consumed the season in building a stockaded 
 fort, which he named Fort William Henry.] 
 
 Washington, still suffering from the effects of his fever, 
 remained at Mount Vernon for at least temporary relief 
 from toil, and for the recruiting of his energies. He felt, 
 with the whole community, that an important crisis had 
 arrived. The military spirit was abroad. The sound of 
 martial music and the signs of warlike preparations were 
 heard and seen at every step. 
 
254 WASHINGTON. 
 
 [Augustine Washington, the older half-brother of 
 George, was at this time a member of the House of Bur 
 gesses in session at Williamsburg, and to him Washing 
 ton wrote, August 2, 1755: 
 
 " The pleasure of your company at Mount Vernon al 
 ways did, and always will, afford me infinite satisfaction; 
 but at this time, I am too sensible how needful the country 
 is of all its members, to have a wish to hear that any are 
 absent from the Assembly. I most sincerely wish that 
 unanimity may prevail in all your councils, and that a 
 happy issue may attend your deliberations at this im 
 portant crisis. 
 
 " I am not able, were I ever so willing, to meet you in 
 town, for I assure you it is with some difficulty, and with 
 much fatigue, that I visit my plantations in the Neck; so 
 much has a sickness of 5 weeks' continuance reduced 
 me. But though it is not in my power to meet you 
 there, I can nevertheless assure you that I am so little 
 dispirited at what has happened, that I am always ready 
 and always willing, to render my country any services 
 that I am capable of, but never upon the terms I have 
 done; having suffered much in my private fortune, be 
 sides impairing one of the best of constitutions. I was 
 employed to go a journey in the winter, when I believe 
 few or none would have undertaken it, and what did I 
 get by it ? my expenses borne ! I was then appointed, 
 with trifling pay, to conduct a handful of men to the 
 Ohio. What did I get by this ? Why, after putting my 
 self to a considerable expense in equipping and providing 
 necessaries for the campaign, I went out, was soundly beaten, 
 and lost all! Came in, and had my commission taken from 
 me, or in other words, my command reduced, under pre 
 tense of an order from home (England). I then went 
 out a volunteer with General Braddock, and lost all my 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 255 
 
 horses, and many other things. But this being a volun 
 tary act, I ought not to have mentioned it; nor should 
 I have done it, were it not to show that I have been on 
 the losing order ever since I entered the service, which is now 
 nearly two years. 
 
 " So that I think I cannot be blamed, should I, if I 
 leave my family again, endeavor to do it upon such terms 
 as to prevent my suffering; to gain by it being the least 
 of my expectation. 
 
 " I doubt not but you have heard the particulars of our 
 shameful defeat, which really was so scandalous that I 
 hate to mention it. You desire to know what artillery 
 was taken in the late engagement. It is easily told. We 
 lost all that we carried out, excepting two six-pounders, 
 and a few cohorns, that were left with Col. Dunbar; and 
 tHe cohorns have since been destroyed to expedite his 
 flight. You also ask, whether I think the forces can march 
 out again this fall. I answer, I think it impossible, at 
 least, for them to do the French any damage (unless it 
 be by starving them), for want of a proper train of artil 
 lery; yet they may be very serviceable in erecting small 
 fortresses at convenient places to deposit provisions in, 
 by which means the country will be eased of an immense 
 expense in the carriage, and it will also be a means of 
 securing retreat, if we should be put to the rout again. 
 The success of this though will depend greatly upon what 
 Gov. Shirley does at Niagara; for, if he succeeds, their 
 communication with Canada will be entirely cut off. 
 
 " It is impossible for me to guess at the number of re 
 cruits that may be wanting, as that must depend altogether 
 upon the strength of the French on the Ohio, which, to 
 my great astonishment, we were always strangers to. 
 
 " I thank you very heartily for your kind offer of a 
 chair, and for your goodness in sending my things; and, 
 
256 WASHINGTON. 
 
 after begging you to excuse the imperfections of the 
 above, (which are, in part, owing to my having much 
 company that hurries me,) I shall conclude, Dear Sir, your 
 most affectionate brother." 
 
 It was with this older half-brother that Washington had 
 spent the four years of schooling after his father's death. 
 The terms of cordial pleasure and affection used by Wash 
 ington do not preclude formal respect. 
 
 The results of Washington's venture with Braddock, to 
 his health, as well as exposure to perils of battle, naturally 
 prompted the young soldier's ^mother to give expression 
 to her anxiety not to have him venture again ; and to her 
 he replied as follows : 
 
 " Honored Madam : If it is in my power to avoid going 
 to the Ohio again, I shall; but if the command is pressed 
 upon me by the general voice of the country, and offered upon 
 such terms as cannot be objected against, it would reflect 
 dishonor on me to refuse it; and that, I am sure, must, 
 and ought, to give you greater uneasiness than my going 
 in an honorable command. Upon no other terms will I 
 accept it. At present I have no proposals made to me, 
 nor have I any advice of such an intention, except from 
 private hands." 
 
 At the Virginia capital the question of recognition of 
 Washington's military abilities and services was much agi 
 tated, and while it was known that Gov. Dinwiddie's per 
 sonal favorite was Colonel Innes,* it was understood that 
 
 * Colonel James Innes was from Scotland, a settler in New 
 Hanover, North Carolina. He had seen service in the British ex 
 pedition of 1740-1741 against Carthagena. In 1754 he marched 
 from North Carolina with 350 men, reaching Winchester June 
 3Oth, and upon Colonel Fry's death Dinwiddie gave him the com 
 mand of the Ohio expedition, at the same time giving Washington 
 the command of the Virginia troops. The North Carolina troops 
 disbanded before joining Washington's. Dinwiddie wrote to 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 257 
 
 the weight of Washington's claims was conceded by his 
 excellency; and Washington's friends wrote urging him 
 to appear on the scene, with a view to its being known 
 that he would not refuse to serve as comcnander-in-chief 
 of the Virginia forces, if the terms insisted on by him 
 were complied with. To Mr. Warner Lewis, one of the 
 friends in correspondence with Washington, he wrote, Au 
 gust i4th, as follows: 
 
 " After returning you my most sincere and grateful 
 thanks for your kind condolence on my late indisposition, 
 and for the generous (and give me leave farther to say) 
 partial opinion you have entertained of my military abili 
 ties, I must express my concern for not having, it in my 
 power to meet you, and other friends who have signified 
 their desire of seeing me in Williamsburg. 
 
 " Your letter only came to hand at nine last night, 
 and you inform me that the Assembly will break up the 
 latter end of the week, which allows a time too short in 
 which to perform a journey of a hundred and sixty miles, 
 especially by a person in my weak and feeble condition; 
 for, although I am happily recovered from the disorder, 
 which brought me to so low an ebb, by a sickness of 
 nearly five weeks continuance, yet my strength is not re 
 turned to me. Had I got timely notice, I would have at 
 tempted the ride, by slow and easy journeys, if it had 
 
 Washington, June 25, 1754, that in view of the fact that some of 
 the troops were organized as independent companies, he had or 
 dered Colonel Innes to command in chief, and Washington to be 
 second in command. About a year later, when Washington had 
 resigned from the army, and was serving as a volunteer aide with 
 Braddock, he said in a letter of June 7, 1755, to William Fairfax: 
 " General Innes has accepted a commission to be Governor of 
 Fort Cumberland, where he is to reside; and will shortly receive 
 another to be hangman, or something of that kind, and for which 
 he is equally qualified." 
 17 
 
258 WASHINGTON. 
 
 been only for the satisfaction of seeing my friends, who, 
 I flatter myself, from- what you say, are kind enough to 
 sympathize in my good and evil fortunes. 
 
 " The chief reason (next to indisposition), that prevented 
 me from coming down to this Assembly, was a determina 
 tion not to offer my services ; and that determination pro 
 ceeded from the following reasons: First, a belief that 
 I could not get a command upon such terms as I should 
 incline to accept; for I must confess to you, that I never 
 will quit my family, injure my fortune, and (above all) 
 impair my health, to run the risk of such changes and 
 vicissitudes as I have met with, but shall expect, if I am 
 employed again, to have something certain. 
 
 " Again, was I to accept the command, I should insist 
 upon some things which ignorance and inexperience made 
 me overlook before, particularly that of having the offi 
 cers appointed, in some measure, with my advice and with 
 my concurrence; for, I must add, I think a commanding 
 officer's not having this liberty appears to me to be a 
 strange thing, when it is considered how much the con 
 duct and bravery of an officer influence the men, how 
 much a commanding officer is answerable for the behavior 
 of the inferior officers, and how much his good or ill suc 
 cess, in time of action, depends upon the conduct of each 
 particular one, especially too, in this kind of fighting, 
 where, being dispersed, each and every one of them at 
 that time has a greater liberty to misbehave than if he 
 were [in a body of men] regularly and compactly drawn 
 up under the eyes of his superior officer. 
 
 " On the other hand, how little credit is given to a com 
 mander, who, after a defeat, in relating the cause of it, 
 justly lays the blame on some individual, whose cowardly 
 behavior betrayed the whole to ruin! How little does 
 the world consider the circumstances, and how apt are 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 259 
 
 mankind to level their vindictive censures against the un 
 fortunate chief, who perhaps merited least of the blame! 
 
 " Does it not then appear that the appointing of offi 
 cers is a thing of the utmost consequence; a thing that 
 requires the greatest circumspection ? Ought it to be left 
 to blind chance, or, what is still worse, to. partiality? 
 Should it not be left to a man whose life (and what is 
 still dearer, his honor) depends upon their good behavior? 
 
 " There are necessary officers yet wanting, for whom no 
 provision has been made. A small military chest is so 
 absolutely necessary, that it is impossible to do without, 
 nor can any man conduct an affair of this kind who has 
 it not. 
 
 " These things I should expect if the appointment fell 
 upon me. 
 
 " But, besides all these, I had other reasons, which 
 withheld me from offering my services. I believe our cir 
 cumstances are brought to that unhappy dilemma, that 
 no man can gain any honor by conducting our forces at 
 this time, but will rather lose in his reputation if he at 
 tempts it. For I am confident, the progress of military 
 movements must be slow, for want of conveniences to 
 transport our provisions, ammunition, and stores over the 
 mountain; occasioned, in a great measure, by the late ill- 
 treatment of the wagoners and horsedrivers, who have 
 received little compensation for their labor, and nothing 
 for their lost horses and wagons; which will be an infal 
 lible cause of preventing all from assisting that are not 
 compelled. So that I am fully sensible, whoever under 
 takes this command will meet with such insurmountable 
 obstacles that he will soon be viewed in the light of an 
 idle, indolent body ; have his conduct criticised ; and meet 
 perhaps with opprobrious abuse, when it may be as much 
 
260 WASHINGTON. 
 
 out of his power to avoid delays as it would to command 
 the raging seas in a storm. 
 
 " Viewing these things in the light I do has no small 
 influence upon me, as I am very apprehensive I should 
 lose what at present constitutes the chief part of my hap 
 piness, i. c., the esteem and notice which the country has 
 been pleased to honor me with. 
 
 " It is possible you may infer from what I have said 
 that my intentions are to decline at all events; but my 
 meaning is not so. I am determined not to offer; because 
 to solicit the command, and at the same time to make 
 my proposals, would be a little incongruous and would 
 carry with it the face of self-sufficiency. But if the com 
 mand should be offered, the case is then altered, as I 
 should be at liberty to make such objections as reason 
 and my small experience had pointed out. I hope you 
 will make my compliments to all enquiring friends. 
 
 " I am, dear Warner, your most affectionate friend, and 
 obedient servant."] 
 
 The House of Burgesses made a liberal appropriation 
 for the public service. They voted to Colonel Washington 
 and to all the surviving officers and privates with him at 
 the Monongahela, a liberal grant, in consideration of " their 
 gallant behavior and their losses." They increased the regi 
 ment to sixteen companies, and they appointed Colonel 
 Washington to the chief command with unusual evidences 
 of their consideration. 
 
 His character and talents were appreciated more highly 
 than ever. He was the favorite soldier and the military 
 master-spirit of Virginia. The House of Burgesses au 
 thorized him to name his field officers; they allowed him 
 an aide-de-camp and secretary, and they entitled him in his 
 commission " Commander-in-Chief of all the forces raised, 
 or to be raised, in the Colony of Virginia." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 261 
 
 [The date of the governor's commission and instructions 
 to Washington, upon his appointment as Virginian com- 
 mander-in-chief, was August 14, 1755, when Washington 
 was twenty-three years and six months of age. The gov 
 ernor's action had provided for raising sixteen companies, 
 making the force 1,000 men, to be incorporated into a 
 regiment. 
 
 To Charles Lewis, at this time, Washington wrote (Au 
 gust 14, 1755) : " I wish, my Dear Charles, it was more 
 in my power than it is, to answer the favorable opinion 
 my friends have conceived of my military abilities. Let 
 them not be deceived; I am unequal to the task, and do 
 assure you that it requires more experience than I am 
 master of, to conduct an affair of the importance that 
 this is now arisen to."] 
 
 Governor Dinwiddie, in one of his official communica 
 tions to the British Government, spoke of the Virginia 
 colonel as " a man of great merit and resolution ; " and he 
 added : " I am convinced had Braddock survived he would 
 have recommended him to royal favor." But the universal 
 sentiment of the people was far more efficacious in promot 
 ing his influence and in forwarding his ultimate purposes 
 than all that could have been derived from royal favor. It 
 is a memorable fact that Washington, with all his acknowl 
 edged merits, was never favored with even one testimony 
 of approbation from the King or the ministry. 
 
 [Dinwiddie wrote in the official communication men 
 tioned: " Our officers are greatly dispirited for want of 
 his majesty's commissions, that, when they join the regu 
 lars, they may have some rank; and I am persuaded it 
 would be of infinite service, if his Majesty would graciously 
 please to honor them with his commissions, the same as 
 Gen. Shirley's and Sir William Peppereirs regiments."] 
 
 It was but a month after his return from the Mononga- 
 
2G2 WASHINGTON. 
 
 hela that he received his new commission. But he entered 
 upon the duties of his office promptly and energetically. 
 He visited all the outposts, even to Fort Dinwiddie, and 
 acquired a particular knowledge of his field of labor. 
 
 At this time an incursion of the Indians on the western 
 border of the province created great alarm. Their ravages 
 were bloody and dreadful, and the fears which they created 
 were not less desolating to many a happy home on the 
 frontier. A detachment of the militia was sent against the 
 invaders; a prompt and severe infliction taught them that 
 their depredations and massacres would meet with speedy 
 vengeance, and thus they were effectually restrained for a 
 time from the repetition of atrocities. 
 
 The militia accomplished an important object. Their ex 
 pedition was attended however with many and painful evi 
 dences of a want of military subordination and control. 
 In the whole militia system there were imperfections and 
 difficulties, numerous and formidable, arising chiefly from 
 the impotence of the existing army regulations. 
 
 As a measure of supreme importance the revision and 
 remodeling of these regulations now engaged the thoughts 
 of Washington. He made it the constant theme of his com 
 munications to the Governor and the Assembly; he rallied 
 round it the thoughts and feelings of many influential men ; 
 and he had at last the great satisfaction of seeing it re 
 garded with the attention which it deserved, and of finding 
 every desirable provision made for a proper military code. 
 
 [To John Robinson, speaker erf the House of Burgesses 
 and of very exceptional eminence as a Virginian of wealth, 
 social distinction, and political importance, Washington 
 wrote from Alexandria, September n, 1755: 
 
 " After a small halt at Fredericksburg, to issue out or 
 ders to the recruiting officers appointed to that rendez 
 vous, I proceeded to this place, in order to collect a return 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 263 
 
 of the provisions, clothing, etc., that were lodged here, 
 an exact copy of which I herewith send you. I find, after 
 the soldiers have their short allowances, there will arise 
 great inconveniences, if stores of clothing are not laid 
 in to supply their wants; particularly shoes, stockings, 
 and shirts, for these are the least durable and mostly 
 needed. 
 
 " The method I would recommend is, for the country 
 to provide these things, and lodge them, or a convenient 
 part thereof, in the hands of the quartermaster, who may 
 be appointed to receive and deliver them to the soldiers, 
 by particular orders from their captains, taking care to 
 produce these orders, and proper vouchers for the deliv 
 ery, each pay-day, when it must be deducted out of the 
 soldier's pay who receives it. And then this, I think, 
 will be a means of keeping them always provided and fit 
 for duty, preventing the officers from supplying the men, 
 which is generally attended with misunderstandings; and 
 will also be a means of discouraging followers of the army 
 from demanding such exorbitant prices, as is usually prac 
 ticed on these occasions. However, I only offer this as 
 the most efficacious method I can at present think of. If 
 any other more eligible can be found, I should be glad 
 to see it executed, as something of the kind must be done, 
 otherwise the soldiers will be barefoot, etc., which al 
 ways pleads for exemption from duty, and, indeed, in 
 the approaching season, will be a very just one. You 
 will be a judge, when you see the returns, what had best 
 be done with the provisions. The quantity is too great 
 for the present consumption, and to wagon it up can never 
 answer the expense. 
 
 " Major Carlyle thinks the West India market best, as 
 the returns will be in rum, which he can soon turn into 
 flour at the camp. 
 
264 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " I am afraid I shall not be able to push things with 
 vigor this fall, for want of a commissary who will act with 
 spirit. Mr. Dick seems determined not to enter into any 
 further contracts, unless he is better supported, or till 
 he meets the committee in October, by which time the 
 best season for engaging beef will be almost over. And 
 the Governor, by the advice of Sir John St. Clair, ex 
 pressed, just as I was coming away, his desire of hav 
 ing him continued; so that I am entirely ignorant how 
 to act. The making of contracts is foreign to my duty; 
 neither have I time; and to^ see the service suffer will 
 give me infinite uneasiness, as I would gladly conduct 
 everything, as I am capable, with life and spirit, which 
 never can be done without a fund of money is lodged in 
 camp for defraying the contingent charges. As I believed 
 it difficult to get all the clothing in any one part of the 
 country, I engaged it where I could, and have got shoes, 
 stockings, shirts, and hats enough upon tolerably good 
 terms, as you may see by the enclosed. 
 
 " Major Carlyle is also willing to engage 100 complete 
 suits, as good as those imported, for 3, or less; which 
 I Have acquainted the Governor of, and I believe it to be 
 as cheap as can be got below, as it is the making chiefly 
 that occasions the difference between the imported and 
 those provided here." 
 
 On the same date as the above Washington wrote to 
 Governor Dinwiddie, that he was afraid the recruiting 
 would be greatly delayed; that at the general muster in 
 the county an attempt failed ; and that even a draft would 
 answer no end under the existing regulations, which had 
 no effect to keep men from deserting. 
 
 After despatching the business at Alexandria, Wash 
 ington went on to Winchester, September I4th; from 
 thence proceeded to Fort Cumberland and took com- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 265 
 
 mand of the troops there ; went on from Fort Cumberland 
 to Fort Dinwiddie, on Jackson's river, September 24th; 
 and thence returned to Alexandria, where he arrived Oc 
 tober 2d. Proceeding thence he was at Fredericksburg, 
 October 5th, on his way to Williamsburg, and went for 
 ward on the 7th. He continued on to Colonel Baylor's 
 and was there overtaken by an express messenger with 
 information of a massacre of settlers by Indians. After 
 a letter to the governor, he hurried back to Fredericks- 
 burg, and wrote again to Dinwiddie, as follows, October 
 
 8, 1755: 
 
 " I arrived at this place in less than three hours after I 
 wrote you from Colonel Baylor's; and some small time 
 after, arrived also Colonel Stephen, who gives a worse ac 
 count than he related in his letter ; but as he is the bearer 
 of this, I shall be less prolix, referring to him for 
 particulars. 
 
 " I shall set out this evening for Winchester, where I 
 expect to be joined by the recruits from Alexandria and 
 this place, as soon as they can possibly march that dis 
 tance ; also, by 100 men from Prince William and Fred 
 erick [counties]. And I have written to Fairfax county, 
 desiring that a troop of horse may hold themselves in 
 readiness to march at an hour's warning. So that I doubt 
 not, but with the assistance of these, I shall be able to 
 repulse the enemy, if they are still committing their out 
 rages upon the inhabitants. We are at a loss for a want 
 of almost every necessary. Tents, kettles, arms, ammu 
 nition, cartridge-paper, etc., etc., we are distressed for. 
 Therefore, I hope, as your Honor did not send to Phila 
 delphia for them, you will, if possible, endeavor to get 
 them below, and send them by the first opportunity to this 
 place, or Alexandria, with orders that they may be for 
 warded immediately to Winchester. 
 
266 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " I must again take the liberty of mentioning to your 
 Honor the necessity there is of putting the militia, when 
 they are drawn out into actual service, under better regu 
 lation than they are at present, as well as there is of put 
 ting us under a military law. Otherwise we shall only be 
 a burdensome charge to the country, and the others will 
 prove its ruin. That this may not appear an unmeaning 
 expression, I shall refer your Honor to Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Stephen, who can give you some late proofs of their diso 
 bedience and inconsistent behavior. 
 
 " I find I cannot possibly he in Williamsburg, as these 
 affairs will engage some time, till the 6th, 7th, or 8th 
 of November, when I should be glad to meet a committee, 
 in order to settle with them and your Honor some points 
 that are very necessary for the good of the expedition. 
 
 " Colonel Stephen has orders to receive some money 
 below (if he can), that we may be enabled to pay the 
 troops, and to keep them in spirits, and to answer such 
 immediate charges as cannot be dispensed with, until I 
 come down. And I should be glad if your Honor would 
 order him to repair therewith (as soon as he has done his 
 business with the committee) to Winchester; and from 
 thence, with a proper guard to Fort Cumberland. I hope 
 the treasury will have a sufficient sum of money prepared 
 against I come down, that I meet with no great delay. 
 
 " I should be glad your Honor would give Colonel 
 Stephen all the assistance you can in getting the money. 
 There are about 70 recruits at this place, and I left 25 at 
 Alexandria, which I suppose are augmented before this 
 by officers, who, I am sorry to say, have paid slight regard 
 to orders, in not being in at the time appointed (Oct. ist). 
 The most flagrant proof of this is Captain Harrison, whom 
 I have heard nothing of, though he had positive orders to 
 be here at the aforesaid time." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 2(57 
 
 The matter of securing Indians to fight Indians, Indian 
 allies of the English to oppose to the murdering savages 
 set on against the English by the French, very particularly 
 engaged the attention of Washington. He wrote from 
 Winchester, October 10, 1755, to Andrew Montour, a man 
 of note in dealings with the Indians on the Ohio, the fol 
 lowing letter : 
 
 " Dear Montour 
 
 " I wrote, some time ago, a letter of invitation from 
 Fort Cumberland, desiring yourself, your family, and 
 friendly Indians, to come and reside among us, but that 
 letter not coming to hand, I am induced to send a second 
 express, with the same invitation, being pleased that I 
 have it in my power to do something for you on a better 
 footing than ever it has been done. I was greatly en 
 raptured when I heard you were at the head of 300 In 
 dians on a march toward Venango, being satisfied that 
 your hearty attachment to our glorious cause, your cour 
 age, of which I have had very great proofs, and your 
 presence among the Indians, would animate their just in 
 dignation to do something noble, something worthy them 
 selves, and honorable to you. I hope you will use your 
 interest (as I know you have much) in bringing our 
 Brothers once more to our service; assure them, as you 
 truly may, that nothing which I can do shall be wanting 
 to make them happy ; assure them, also, that as I have 
 the chief command, I am invested with power to treat 
 them as Brethren and Allies, which, I am sorry to say, 
 they have not been of late. Recommend me kindly to 
 our good friend, Monocatoocha, and others; tell them 
 how happy it would make Conotocaurius to have an op 
 portunity of taking them by the hand at Fort Cumber 
 land, and how glad he would be to treat them as Brothers 
 of our Great King beyond the waters. Flattering myself 
 
268 WASHINGTON. 
 
 that you will come, I doubt not but you'll bring as many 
 of them with you as possible, as that will afford Me what 
 alone I want ; that is, an opportunity of doing something 
 equal to your wishes. 
 
 " I am, Dear Montour, your real friend and assured 
 humble servant. 
 
 " N. B. I doubt not but you have heard of the ravages 
 committed on our frontiers by the French Indians, and, 
 I suppose, the French themselves. I am now on my 
 march against them, and hope to give them cause of re 
 penting of their rashness." 
 
 To another frontiersman, Gist, Washington gave instruc 
 tions to visit Montour and use his utmost influence with 
 him to induce him to bring in Indians for service against 
 the French Indians. To Gist he wrote : " I will promise 
 if he brings many to do something handsome for him. 
 You had better be silent on this head though, lest where 
 you are measures may be taken by the Pennsylvanians 
 to prevent him from bringing any Indians." 
 
 On Oct. nth, Washington wrote at length on the state 
 of things with the people on the frontier and in the 
 army which he was trying to get together and to march 
 with to the scene of the disturbances and perils. Thus 
 he said: 
 
 " Honorable Sir : As I think it my indispensable duty 
 to inform you particularly of my proceedings, and to give 
 the most plain and authentic account, from time to time, 
 of our situation, I must acquaint your Honor that, imme 
 diately after giving the necessary orders at Fredericks- 
 burg, and despatching expresses to hurry the recruits from 
 Alexandria, I rode post to this place, passing by Lord 
 Fairfax's, who was not at home, but here, where I arrived 
 yesterday about noon, and found everything in the great 
 est hurry and confusion, by the back inhabitants flocking 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 269 
 
 in, and those of the town removing out, which I have 
 prevented as far as it was in my power. I was desirous 
 of proceeding immediately, at the head of some militia, to 
 put a stop to the ravages of the enemy, believing their 
 numbers to be few; but was told by Colonel Martin, who 
 had attempted to raise the militia for the same purpose 
 that it was impossible to get above 20 or 25 men, they 
 having absolutely refused to stir, choosing, as they say, 
 to die with their wives and families. 
 
 " Finding this expedient likely to prove abortive, I sent 
 off expresses to hurry the recruits from below, and the 
 militia from Fairfax, Prince William, etc., which Lord 
 Fairfax had ordered out, and I also hired spies to go out 
 and see, to discover the numbers of the enemy, and to en 
 courage the rangers, who, we were told, are blocked up by 
 the Indians in small fortresses. But, if I may offer my 
 opinion, I believe thev are more encompassed by fear than 
 by the enemy. 
 
 " I have also impressed wagons and sent them to Cono- 
 cocheague, for flour, musket-shots, and flints, powder, 
 and trifling quantity of paper, bought at extravagant 
 prices, for cartridges. I expect from below six or eight 
 smiths who are now at work, repairing the firearms that 
 are here, which are all that we have to depend on. A 
 man was hired, the 24th of last month, to do the whole, 
 but neglected and was just moving off in wagons to Penn 
 sylvania. I impressed his wagons and compelled him by 
 force to assist in this work. In all things I meet with 
 the greatest opposition. No orders are obeyed, but what 
 a party of soldiers, or my own drawn sword, enforces; 
 without this a single horse, for the most urgent occa 
 sion, cannot be had, to such a pitch has the insolence of 
 these people arrived, by having every point hitherto sub 
 mitted to them. However, I have given up none, where 
 
270 WASHINGTON. 
 
 his Majesty's service requires the contrary, and where my 
 proceedings are justified by my instructions; nor will I do 
 it, unless they execute what they threaten, i. e., 'to blow 
 out my brains.' 
 
 " I have invited the poor distressed people (driven from 
 their habitations) to lodge their families in some place of 
 security, and to join our parties in scouring the woods 
 where the enemy lie, and believe some will cheerfully as 
 sist. I also have taken and shall continue to take every 
 previous step to forward the march of the recruits, etc., 
 so soon as they arrive here, and your Honor may depend 
 that nothing that is in my power to do shall be wanting 
 for the good of the service. 
 
 " I would again hint the necessity of putting the militia 
 under a better regulation, had I not mentioned it twice 
 before, and a third time may seem impertinent ; but I must 
 once more beg leave to declare, (for here I am more im 
 mediately concerned,) that, unless the Assembly will enact 
 a law to enforce the military law in all its parts, that I 
 must, with great regret, decline the honor that has been 
 so generously intended me, and for this only reason I 
 do it the foreknowledge I have of failing in every point 
 that might justly be expected from a person invested with 
 full power to exert this authority. I see the growing in 
 solence of the soldiers, the indolence and inactivity of the 
 officers, who are all sensible how confined their punish 
 ments are, in regard to what they ought to be. In fine, 
 I can plainly see, that under our present establishment we 
 shall become a nuisance, an insupportable charge to our 
 country, and never answer any one expectation of the 
 Assembly. 
 
 " And here I must assume the freedom to express some 
 surprise, that we alone should be so tenacious of our lib 
 erty as not to invest a power where interest and politics 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 271 
 
 so unanswerably demand it, and from whence so much 
 good must consequently ensue. Do we not see that every 
 nation under the sun find their account therein, and with 
 out it no order, no regularity can be observed? Why 
 then should it be expected from us, (who are all young 
 and inexperienced,) to govern and keep up a proper spirit 
 of discipline without laws, when the best and most expe 
 rienced can scarcely do it with them ? Then if we consult 
 our interest, I am sure it is loudly called for; for I can 
 confidently assert, that money expended in recruiting, 
 clothing, arming, maintaining, and subsisting soldiers, 
 who have deserted, has cost the country an immense sum, 
 which might have been prevented, were we under restraints 
 that would terrify the soldiers from such practices. 
 
 " One thing more on this head I will recommend, and 
 then quit the subject; i. e. to have the inhabitants liable 
 to certain heavy fines, or corporal punishments, for en 
 tertaining of deserters, and a reward for taking them up. 
 If this was done it would be next to an impossibility for 
 a soldier to escape; but, on the contrary, as things now 
 stand, they are not only seduced to run away, but are 
 also harbored, and assisted with every necessary means 
 to do it. 
 
 " Sunday Noon. Last night arrived an express, just 
 spent with fatigue and fear, reporting that a party of In 
 dians were about 12 miles off, at the plantation of one 
 Isaac Julian, and that the inhabitants were flying in the 
 most promiscuous manner from their dwellings. I imme 
 diately ordered the town guards to be strengthened ; Per 
 kins's lieutenant to be in readiness with his companies; 
 some recruits, who had only arrived about half an hour 
 before, to be armed; and sent two men, well acquainted 
 with the roads, to go up that road and lay in wait, to see 
 if they could discover the number and motion of the In- 
 
272 WASHINGTON. 
 
 dians, that we might have timely notice of their approach. 
 This morning, before we could parade the men, to march 
 upon the last alarm, arrived a second express, ten times 
 more terrified than the former, with information that the 
 Indians had got within four miles of the town, and were 
 killing and destroying all before them, for that he himself 
 had heard constant firing and shrieks of the unhappy mur 
 dered. Upon this I immediately collected what force I 
 could, which consisted of 22 men recruited for the rangers 
 and 19 of the militia, and marched directly to the place 
 where these horrid murders were said to be committed. 
 When we came there, whom should we find occasioning 
 all this disturbance but three drunken soldiers of the light- 
 horse, carousing, firing their pistols, and uttering the most 
 unheard of imprecations ! These we took and marched 
 prisoners to town [Winchester], where we met the men 
 I sent out last night, and learned that the party of Indians, 
 discovered by Isaac Julian, proved to be a mulatto and 
 negro, seen hunting of cattle by his child, who alarmed 
 the father, and the father the neighborhood. These cir 
 cumstances are related only to show what a panic prevails 
 among the people ; how much they are alarmed at the 
 most usual and customary cries ; and yet how impossible 
 it is to get them to act in any respect for their common 
 safety. As an instance of this Colonel Fairfax, who ar 
 rived in town when we were upon a scout, immediately 
 sent to a noble captain, not far off, to repair with his com 
 pany forthwith to Winchester. With coolness and mode 
 ration this great captain answered that his wife, family, 
 and corn were all at stake ; so were his soldiers ; there 
 fore it was impossible for him to come. Such is the ex 
 ample of the officers; such the behavior of the men; and 
 upon such circumstances depends the safety of our 
 country ! " 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 273 
 
 The date of the continuance of this communication the 
 next day shows that Washington began it Sunday morn 
 ing, and went on with it Sunday noon. He went on 
 further the next morning as follows: 
 
 "Monday morning, I2th The men I hired to bring 
 intelligence from the Branch returned last night, with let 
 ters from Captain Ashby, and the other parties there ; by 
 which I learn that the Indians are gone off ; scouts having 
 been dispersed upon those waters for several days, with 
 out discovering tracks or other signs of the enemy. 
 
 " I am also informed that it is believed their numbers 
 amounted to about 150; that 70 of our men are killed and 
 missing, and that several houses and plantations are de 
 stroyed, but not so great havoc made as was represented 
 at first. The rangers, and a small company of militia, or 
 dered there by Lord Fairfax, I am given to understand, 
 intend to march down on Monday next, who will be imme 
 diately followed by all the inhabitants of those parts, that 
 had gathered together under their protection. I have, 
 therefore, sent peremptory orders to the contrary, but 
 what obedience will be paid to them a little time will re 
 veal. I have ordered those men, that were recruited for 
 the rangers, to join their respective companies. And there 
 is also a party of militia marched with them under the 
 command of Captain Harden. Captain Waggener is this 
 instant arrived with 30 recruits, which he marched from 
 Bellhaven in less than three days a great march indeed ! 
 Major Lewis and his recruits from Fredericksburg I ex 
 pect in tomorrow, when, with these and 22 of Captain 
 Bell's now here, I shall proceed by quick marches to Fort 
 Cumberland, in order to strengthen that garrison. Be 
 sides these, I think it absolutely necessary that there should 
 be two or three companies (exclusively) of rangers, to 
 guard the Potomac waters until such time as our regiment 
 18 
 
274 WASHINGTON. 
 
 is completed. And, indeed, these rangers and volunteer 
 companies in Augusta (county) with some of their militia, 
 should be properly disposed of on these frontiers, for 
 fear of an attack from that quarter. This though is sub 
 mitted to your honor's judgment, and waits your orders 
 for execution if thought expedient. 
 
 " Captain Waggener informs me, that it was with diffi 
 culty he passed the Ridge for the crowds of people who 
 were flying as if every moment was death. He endeavored, 
 but in vain, to stop them ; they firmly believing that Win 
 chester was in flames. I shall send expresses down the 
 several roads in hopes of bringing back the inhabitants, 
 who are really frightened out of their senses. I despatched 
 an express immediately upon my arrival at this place, with 
 a copy of the enclosed to Andrew Montour, who I heard 
 was at a place called Long Island with 300 Indians, to 
 see if he could engage him and them 1 to join us. The 
 letter savors a little of flattery, etc., etc., but this, I hope, 
 is justifiable on such occasions. I also wrote to Gist, ac 
 quainting him with the favor you intended him, and de 
 sired he would repair home in order to raise his com 
 panies of scouts (he having been commissioned Captain 
 of a company of scouts). 
 
 " I shall defer writing to the Speaker and Committee 
 upon any other head than that of commissary, still hoping 
 to be down by the time mentioned in my last (provided 
 no new disturbances happen,) having some points to set 
 tle that I am uneasy and urgent about. I have been 
 obliged to do duty very foreign to my own; but that I 
 shall never hesitate about, when the good of the service 
 requires it. 
 
 " In a journey from Fort Cumberland to Fort Dinwiddie, 
 which I made purposely to see the situation of our fron 
 tiers, how the rangers were posted and how troops might 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 275 
 
 be disposed of for the defense of the country, I purchased 
 650 beeves, to be delivered at Fort Cumberland by the 
 ist of November, at 10 shillings per hundred weight, ex 
 cept a few that I was obliged to give eleven shillings for ; 
 and have my own bonds now out for the performance of 
 covenants, this being the commissary's business, who, I 
 am sorry to say, has hitherto been of no use, but of dis 
 service to me, in neglecting my orders, and leaving this 
 place without flour, and Fredericksburg without any pro 
 visions for the recruits, although he had timely notice 
 given. I must beg that, if Mr. Dick will not act, some 
 other person may be appointed that will ; for, if things 
 remain in this uncertain situation, the season will pass 
 without having provision made for the winter, or sum 
 mer's campaign. Whoever acts as commissary should be 
 sent up immediately about salting the provisions, etc. It 
 will be difficult, I believe, to provide a quantity of pork. 
 I enquired as I rode through Hampshire, Augusta, etc., 
 and could not hear of much for sale. 
 
 " Most of the new appointed officers have been ex 
 tremely deficient in their duties by not repairing to their 
 rendezvous according to appointment. Capt. McKenzie, 
 Lieut. King and Ensigns Miller and Dean, who were or 
 dered to send their recruits to Alexandria by the first of 
 October, were not arrived when Capt. Waggener left that 
 place, nor have we heard anything of Capt. Harrison, 
 whose recruits should have been at Fredericksburg by 
 the same time ; and Capt. Bell only sent his here on Sat 
 urday last. If these practises are allowed of, we may as 
 well quit altogether, for no duty can ever be carried on 
 if there is not the greatest punctuality observed, one thing 
 always depending so immediately upon another. 
 
 " I have appointed Capt. George Mercer (whose se 
 niority entitled him to it) my aide-de-camp ; and Mr. Kirk- 
 
276 WASHINGTON. 
 
 patrick of Alexandria, my secretary, a young man bred 
 to business, of good character, well recommended, and 
 a person of whose abilities I had not the least doubt. 
 
 " I hope your Honor will be kind enough to despatch 
 Colonel Stephen, with orders to repair hither immediately, 
 and excuse the prolixity of this. I was willing to give 
 a circumstantial account of our situation, that you may 
 be the better enabled to judge what orders are necessary 
 to give." 
 
 "Winchester, Oct. 13, 1755: Major Lewis is just ar 
 rived, and on Thursday I shall begin my march to Fort 
 Cumberland, allowing the recruits one day to refresh 
 themselves." 
 
 Either the same day or the next Washington issued the 
 following " Advertisement " to warn people not to give 
 way to panic fear so far as to forsake their homes and 
 leave their plantations to go to ruin: 
 
 " Advertisement. Whereas divers timorous persons 
 run through the country and alarm its inhabitants by false 
 reports of the Indians having attacked and destroyed the 
 country even Winchester itself, and that they are still 
 proceeding : 
 
 " This is to give notice to all people, that I have great 
 reason to believe that the Indians who committed the late 
 cruelties (though no lower than the South Branch) are re 
 turned home, as I have certain accounts that they have 
 not been seen nor heard of these ten days past. And I 
 do advise all my countrymen not to be alarmed on every 
 false report they may hear, as they must now be satisfied, 
 from the many false ones that have been made ; but to 
 keep to their homes, and take care of their crops, as I 
 can ventured to assure them that in a short time the fron 
 tiers will be so well guarded that no mischief can be done, 
 either to them or their plantations, which must of course 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 277 
 
 be destroyed, if they desert them in so shameful a 
 manner." 
 
 The views of Washington in regard to maintenance of 
 a good hold upon Indians not engaged by the French, 
 he expressed in a letter of October 17, 1755, to Governor 
 Dinwiddie : 
 
 " Last night by the return of the express, who went 
 to Capt. Montour, I received the enclosed from Mr. Har 
 ris at Susquehanna. I think no means should be neg 
 lected to preserve what few Indians still remain in our 
 interest. For which reason I shall send Mr. Gist, as soon 
 as he arrives (which I expect will be to-day), to Harris's 
 Ferry, in hopes of engaging and bringing with him the 
 Belt of Wampum and other Indians that are at that place. 
 I shall further desire him to send an Indian express to 
 Andrew Montour, to try if he cannot be brought with 
 them. 
 
 " In however trifling a light the French attempting to 
 alienate the affections of our southern Indians may at 
 first appear, I must look upon it as a thing of the utmost 
 consequence, that requires our greatest and most immedi 
 ate attention. I have often wondered at not hearing this 
 was attempted before, and had it noted among other memo 
 randums to acquaint your Honor with when I should come 
 down. 
 
 " The French policy in treating with the Indians is so 
 prevalent, that I should not be in the least surprised, were 
 they to engage the Cherokees, Catawbas, etc., unless 
 timely and vigorous measures are taken to prevent it. A 
 pusillanimous behavior now will ill suit the times ; and trust 
 ing to traders and common interpreters, who will sell their 
 integrity to the highest bidder, may prove the destruction 
 of these affairs. I therefore think that if a person of dis 
 tinction, acquainted with their language is to be found, 
 
278 WASHINGTON. 
 
 his price should be come to at any rate. If no such person 
 can be had, a man of sense and character, to conduct the 
 Indians to any council that may be held, or superintend 
 any other matters will be found extremely necessary. It 
 is impertinent, I own, in me to offer my opinion in these 
 affairs, when better judges may direct ; but my steady and 
 hearty zeal for the cause, and the great impositions I 
 have known practised by the traders, etc., upon these 
 occasions would not suffer me to be quite silent. I have 
 heard from undoubted authority, that some of the Chero- 
 kees, who have been introduced to us as Sachems and 
 Princes by this interpreter, who shares the profits, have 
 been no other than common hunters, and bloodthirsty 
 villains. 
 
 " We have no accounts yet of the militia from Fairfax, 
 etc. This day I marched with about one hundred men to 
 Fort Cumberland. Yesterday an express informed me of 
 eighty odB recruits at Fredericksburg, which I have 
 ordered to proceed to this place; but, for want of that 
 regularity being observed by which I should know where 
 every officer, etc., is, my orders are only conditional, and 
 always confused. The commissary is much wanted ; there 
 fore I hope your Honor will send him up immediately ; if 
 not, things will greatly suffer here. Whatever necessaries 
 your Honor gets below I should be glad to have sent to 
 Alexandria; from whence they are much more handy than 
 from Fredericksburg. Besides, as provision is lodged there, 
 and none at any other place, it will be better for the men, 
 to be all sent there that can anyways conveniently. For 
 we have met with insufferable difficulties at Fredericksburg, 
 and in our march from thence, through neglect of the 
 commissary, who is greatly wanted up here. Therefore, 
 I hope your Honor will order him." 
 
 After the journey to Fort Cumberland, and returning 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 279 
 
 from Williamsburg to headquarters at Winchester, Wash 
 ington was at Fredericksburg, and there wrote, Novem 
 ber 18, 1755, to Lieuf.-Col. Adam Stephen: 
 
 " I came to this place on Sunday last, and intended to 
 proceed immediately up; but receiving yours and other 
 letters contradicting the reports lately transmitted, deter 
 mined me to go to Alexandria, where I shall wait a few 
 days, hoping to meet the express from General Shirley, to 
 whom the Governor sent for commissions for the field 
 officers. 
 
 " I beg that you will be particularly careful in seeing 
 strict order observed among the soldiers, as that is the 
 life of military discipline. We now have it in our power 
 to enforce obedience [through a military law recently 
 passed by the Assembly of the colony] ; and obedience will 
 be expected from us, the men being subject to death as 
 in military law. The Assembly have also offered a reward 
 to all who will apprehend deserters, and a severe punish 
 ment upon those who shall entertain or suffer them to pass ; 
 also upon any constable who refuses to convey them to 
 the company or troop to which they belong, or shall suffer 
 them to escape after such deserters are committed to his 
 custody. 
 
 "These things, with the articles of war and a proper 
 exhortation, I would have you read immediately to the 
 men, and see that it is frequently done hereafter. I must 
 desire tEat you will use all possible means to facilitate the 
 salting our provisions, and give the commissary such as 
 sistance of men, etc., as he shall reasonably require. The 
 Governor approves of the committee's resolve, in not al 
 lowing either the Maryland or Carolina companies to be 
 supported out of our provisions. This you are to make 
 them acquainted with, and, in case any of the compa 
 nies should be discharged to use your utmost endeavors 
 
280 WASHINGTON. 
 
 to enlist as many of the men as you can. Lieutenant Mc- 
 Manners has leave to go to Carolina if he desires it. The 
 Assembly would make no alteration in our militia law; 
 nor would the Governor order them to be drafted to com 
 plete our regiment, so that the slow method of recruiting 
 is likely to be our only means to raise the men. I think, 
 could a brisk officer, and two or three sergeants, be 
 sent among the militia stationed on the South Branch, 
 they would have a probable chance of engaging many, as 
 some were inclinable in Winchester to list. Doctor Craik 
 is expected round to Alexandria in a vessel, with medicines 
 and other stores for the regiment. So soon as he arrives, 
 I shall take care to despatch him to you. 
 
 "The Colonels Byrd and Randolph [members of the 
 Governor's Council and gentlemen of distinction] are ap 
 pointed commissioners [to visit and conciliate the south 
 ern Indians], and will set out very shortly, with a present, 
 etc., to the country of the Cherokees, in order to engage 
 them to our interest." 
 
 To the same officer Washington wrote again November 
 28, 1755, from Alexandria: 
 
 " I received your two letters by Jenkins last night, and 
 was greatly surprised to hear that Commissary Walker 
 was not arrived at camp when he came away. He set 
 out from Williamsburg about the I2th instant, with orders 
 to proceed immediately up; but such disobedience of 
 commands, as I have generally met with, is insufferable, 
 and shall not go unpunished. The account you enclosed 
 of the method of receiving the beef, I suppose is custom 
 ary; but for want of judgment in those affairs, I can 
 neither applaud nor condemn it. I am as much astonished 
 as you were surprised at the quantity of salt said to be 
 wanted for the provision, but certain it is, that if it, or a 
 greater quantity, is necessary, it must be had. I have 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 281 
 
 left a discretionary power in Commissary Walker to kill 
 or winter the Carolina beeves as the interest of the ser 
 vice requires. Pray assist him with your advice, and urge 
 him on to make the necessary purchases of flour and pork 
 fn time. 
 
 " The Governor did not seem inclinable to promote the 
 removal of the fort; however, the Committee have lodged 
 a discretionary power in my hands, and have resolved to 
 pay for all extraordinary labor. I would, therefore, have 
 as little labor lost at Fort Cumberland as possible ; at 
 least until I come up, which will 5e very shortly, my stay 
 here being only for a few days, in order to receive re 
 cruits, and hurry up the stores to Winchester. 
 
 " I believe those who say Governor Sharpe [of Mary 
 land] is to command, can only wish it. I do not know 
 that Governor Shirley [at Boston, in chief command for 
 the King's regular troops in America] has a power to ap 
 point a chief to our forces, to regulars he may. As to 
 that affair of turning the storehouse into a dwelling-room, 
 I do not know what better answer to give than saying 
 that this is one among the many instances that might 
 be offered of the inconvenience of having a fort in Mary 
 land. As soon as I hear from Gov. Shirley, which is 
 hourly expected, I can give a more determined answer. 
 
 " There has been such total negligence among the re 
 cruiting officers in general, such disregard of the service 
 they were employed in, and such idle proceedings, that I 
 am determined to send out none until we all meet, when 
 each officer shall have his own men, and have only this 
 alternative, either to complete his number or lose his com 
 mission. There are several officers who have been out 
 six weeks, or two months, without getting a man, spend 
 ing their time in all the gayety of pleasurable mirth, with 
 their relations and friends; not attempting, nor having a 
 
282 WASHINGTON. 
 
 possible chance of recruiting any but those who, out of 
 their inclination to the service, will proffer themselves. 
 
 " I should be glad to have ten or twelve wagons sent 
 to this place, for salt enough may be had here to load 
 that number, and it comes upon easier terms than at 
 Fredericksburg, by sixpence or eightpence per bushel. 
 Those stores at Watkins Ferry should be hurried up as 
 fast as the water affords opportunities, if it were only to 
 prevent disputes. 
 
 " If the paymaster is at Winchester, and not on his way 
 to Fort Dinwiddie, order him tlown here immediately. If 
 he should be going with pay to Captain Hogg [whose 
 unpaid men had mutinied] , he is to proceed with despatch ;' 
 but if he is at Fort Cumberland, order him down to Win 
 chester, to wait there until I arrive." 
 
 December 5, 1755, Washington wrote to Governor Din 
 widdie from Alexandria : 
 
 " I have sent the bearer, Captain John Mercer (who has 
 accounts to settle with the Committee), to the Treasurer 
 for the balance of that ^10,000; and to acquaint your 
 Honor, that, meeting with letters at Fredericksburg, in 
 forming me that all was peaceable above, and that noth 
 ing was so immediately wanting as salt, I got what I could 
 at that place, and hastened on here to engage more, to 
 receive the recruits expected in, and to wait the arrival of 
 the vessel with arms, etc., from James River, in order to 
 forward them up with the greater despatch. The vessel 
 is not yet arrived. 
 
 " I have impatiently expected to hear the result of your 
 Honor's letter to Governor Shirley, and wish that the 
 delays may not prove ominous. In that case, I shall not 
 know how to act ; for I can never submit to the command 
 of Captain Dagworthy, since you have honored me with 
 the command of the Virginia regiment, etc. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 283 
 
 " The country has sustained inconceivable losses, by de 
 laying the commissaries at Williamsburg. Many of the 
 beeves are dead, through absolute poverty, and the chief 
 part of them too poor to slaughter. We are at a loss how 
 to act, for want of the mutiny bill ; and should be obliged 
 to your Honor, if you will have fifty or a hundred printed, 
 and sent by the bearer. There is a clause in that bill, 
 which, if you are not kind enough to obviate it, will pre 
 vent entirely the good intention of it, that is, delaying the 
 execution of sentences, until your Honor shall be made 
 acquainted with the proceedings of the court. This, at 
 times when there is the greatest occasion for examples, 
 will be morally impossible; I mean, when we are on our 
 march, perhaps near the Ohio, when none but strong par 
 ties can pass with safety. At all times it must be attended 
 with great expense, trouble, and inconveniency. This I 
 represented to Col. Corbin, and some other gentlemen of 
 the Council, when I was down, who said that the objec 
 tion would be removed, by your Honor's giving blank 
 warrants, to be filled up as occasion should require. This 
 would effectually remedy all those evils, and put things 
 in their proper channel. 
 
 " We suffer greatly for want of kettles ; those sent from 
 below, being tin, are of short duration. We shall also, in 
 a little time, suffer as much for the want of clothing ; none 
 can be got in these parts ; those which Major Carlyle and 
 Dalton contracted to furnish we are disappointed of. 
 Shoes and stockings we have, and can get more if wanted, 
 but nothing else. I should be glad your Honor would 
 direct what is to be done in these cases; and that you 
 would be kind enough to desire the treasurer to send some 
 part of the money in gold and silver. Were this done we 
 might often get necessaries for the regiment in Maryland, 
 
284 WASHINGTON. 
 
 or Pennsylvania, when they cannot be had here. But with 
 our money it is impossible ; our paper not passing there. 
 
 " The recruiting service goes on extremely slow. Yes 
 terday being a day appointed for rendezvousing at this 
 place, there came in ten officers with twenty men only. If 
 I had any other than paper money, and you approved of 
 it, I would send to Pennsylvania and the borders of Caro 
 lina. I am confident men might be had there. Your 
 Honor never having given any particular directions about 
 the provisions, I should be glad to know, whether you 
 would have more laid in than what will serve for 1200 men, 
 that I may give orders accordingly. 
 
 "As I cannot now conceive that any great danger can 
 be apprehended at Fort Cumberland this winter, I am sensi 
 ble that my constant attendance there cannot be so ser 
 viceable as riding from place to place, making the proper 
 dispositions, and seeing that all our necessaries are for 
 warded up with despatch. I therefore think it advisable 
 to inform your Honor of it, hoping it will correspond with 
 your own opinion. 
 
 " I forgot to mention when I was down, that Mr. Living 
 ston, the Fort Major, was appointed adjutant to our regi 
 ment. I know of none else whose long servitude in a 
 military way had better qualified for the office. He was 
 appointed the I7th of September. 
 
 " Captain Mercer's pay as aid-de-camp seems yet doubt 
 ful. I should be glad if your Honor would fix it ; as so 
 is Captain Stewart's. If Captain Stewart's is increased, 
 I suppose all the officers belonging to the light-horse will 
 expect to have theirs augmented also. Colonel Stephen, 
 in a late letter, discovered an inclination to go to the Creek 
 and Cherokee Indians this winter. I told him where to 
 apply, if he had any such thoughts. I believe, on so useful 
 a business, he might be spared until the spring. If your 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 285 
 
 Honor think proper to order the Act of Assembly for 
 apprehending deserters, and against harboring them, to be 
 published every Sunday in each parish church, until the 
 people are made acquainted with the law, it would have 
 a very good effect. The commonalty in general err more 
 through ignorance than design. Few of them are acquainted 
 that such a law exists, and there is no other certain way 
 of bringing it to their knowledge. There are a great many 
 of the men that did once belong to our companies, de 
 serted from the regiments into which they were drafted, 
 that would now gladly return, if they could be sure of 
 indemnity. If your Honor would be kind enough to in 
 timate this to General Shirley, or the colonels of those 
 regiments, it would be of service to us. Without leave, 
 we dare not receive them." 
 
 December 28, 1755, Washington wrote from Winchester 
 to Lieut.-Col. Adam Stephen : 
 
 " Captain John Mercer only returned last night from 
 Williamsburg, and brings no satisfactory answers to any 
 thing I questioned the Governor upon. 
 
 " The express, that was sent to General Shirley, is re 
 turned without seeing him ; however, the Governor writes 
 that he expects answers to his letters by Colonel Hunter, 
 who is now at New York, and waits the arrival of the 
 General at that place. The Governor is very strongly of 
 the opinion, that Captain Dagworthy has no right to con 
 tend for the command ; and in his letter he says, after men 
 tioning the return of the express, and his expectancy of 
 satisfactory letters, ' But I am of opinion you might have 
 obviated the inconsistent dispute with Captain Dag- 
 worthy, by asking him if he did not command a provincial 
 company by virtue of Governor Sharpe's commission; as 
 that he had formerly from his Majesty now ceases, as he is 
 not on the half-pay list ; if so, the method you are to take 
 
286 WASHINGTON. 
 
 is very obvious, as your commission from me is greater 
 than what he has/ And in Williamsburg, when I was 
 down there, both he and Colonel Fitzhugh told me, that 
 Dagworthy could have no more pretensions to command 
 me, or either of the field-officers of the Virginia regiment, 
 than we have to command General Shirley; and further 
 gave it as their opinion, that as Dagworthy's was only a 
 botched-up commission at best, and as he commanded a 
 provincial company, and by virtue of a governor's commis 
 sion, that he ought to be arrested for his presumption. 
 They say, allowing his commission from the King to be 
 valid, yet, as he is not there by order of his Majesty, he 
 can have no better pretensions than a visiting half-pay offi 
 cer, who transiently passes through the camp, to assume 
 the command. 
 
 " I wish you would sound him on this head, and hear 
 how he will answer these things, and let me know when 
 you come down, which I desire may be immediately, as 
 I want much to consult you upon several accounts. The 
 paymaster and commissary (if he is not very much en 
 gaged) must accompany you. Desire both to have their 
 accounts settled, and brought with them, as that is neces 
 sary before I can give more money. 
 
 " I have sent you one of the mutiny bills which I re 
 ceived from below, but I think, indeed I believe it is abso 
 lutely necessary, as we still want the power, to postpone 
 trials until after your return. Also desire all the officers 
 who have received money for recruiting, to make up their 
 accounts immediately; and charge for no more men than 
 have actually been received at the several rendezvous. 
 Allowance will be made for no others. The arrears of pay 
 for these officers and soldiers who have not received for 
 the months of January and February, are immediately to 
 be made out, and sent down by you with the recruiting ac- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 287 
 
 counts. Desire them to charge for no men but what are 
 present, as I can pay for no others now. 
 
 " Enclosed is a commission for Captain Waggener, which 
 I have neglected giving before ; so long as I have had it. 
 Desire him, as the command upon your leaving the place 
 will devolve upon him, to be very circumspect in his duty, 
 and to see that the troops are duly drawn out and trained 
 to their exercise, and practised to bush-fighting." 
 
 To Governor R. H. Morris, of Pennsylvania, Washing 
 ton wrote from Winchester, January 5, 1756: 
 
 " I am sorry it has not been in my power to acknowledge 
 the receipt of yours until now. At the time that your 
 letter came to Winchester, I was at Williamsburg ; before 
 I got back it was conveyed thither; and so from place to 
 place has it been tossing almost till this time. 
 
 " There is nothing more necessary than good intelli 
 gence to frustrate a designing enemy, and nothing that 
 requires greater pains to obtain. I shall, therefore, cheer 
 fully come into any measures you can propose to settle a 
 correspondence for this salutary end; and you may de 
 pend upon receiving (when the provinces are threatened) 
 the earliest and best intelligence that I can procure. 
 
 " I sympathized in general concern to see the inactivity 
 of your province in a time of eminent danger; but am 
 pleased to find, that a feeling sense of wrongs has roused 
 the spirit of your martial Assembly to vote a sum which, 
 with your judicious application, will turn to a general good. 
 
 " We took some pretty vigorous measures to collect a 
 force upon our frontiers upon the first alarm, which has 
 kept us peaceable ever since. How long this may last is 
 uncertain, since that force, which were militia, are dis 
 banded, and the recruiting service almost stagnated. 
 
 " If you propose to levy troops, and their designation is 
 not a secret, I should be favored were I let into the scheme, 
 
288 WASHINGTON. 
 
 that we may act conjointly, so far as the nature of things 
 will admit. 
 
 " Pray direct to me at Alexandria, to which place I de 
 sign to go in about ten days from this." 
 
 In communicating to the officers of the Virginia regi 
 ment the fact that an officer had been tried by court-martial 
 and suspended, Washington made this address, January 8, 
 1756: 
 
 " This timely warning of the effects of misbehavior will, 
 I hope, be instrumental in animating the younger officers 
 to a laudable emulation in the service of their country. 
 Not that I apprehend any of them can be guilty of of 
 fences of this nature; but there are many other misde 
 meanors, that will, without due circumspection, gain upon 
 inactive minds, and produce consequences equally dis 
 graceful. 
 
 " I would, therefore, earnestly recommend, in every 
 point of duty, willingness to undertake, and intrepid reso 
 lution to execute. Remember that it is the actions, and 
 not the commission, that make the officer, and that there 
 is more expected from him than the title. Do not forget 
 that there ought to be a time appropriated to attain this 
 knowledge, as well as to indulge pleasure. And as we 
 now have no opportunities to improve from example, let 
 us read for this desirable end. There are Eland's and 
 other treatises which will give the wished-for information. 
 
 " I think it my duty, gentlemen, as I have the honor to 
 preside over you, to give this friendly admonition ; especi 
 ally as I am determined, as far as my small experience in 
 service, my abilities, and interest of the service may dic 
 tate, to observe the strictest discipline through the whole 
 economy of my behavior. On the other hand, you may 
 as certainly depend upon having the strictest justice admin 
 istered to all, and that I shall make it the most agreeable 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 289 
 
 part of my duty to study merit, and reward the brave and 
 deserving. I assure you, gentlemen, that partiality shall 
 never bias my conduct, nor shall prejudice injure any; 
 but, throughout the whole tenor of my proceedings, I shall 
 endeavor, as far as I am able, to reward and punish, with 
 out the least diminution." 
 
 January 14, 1756, Washington wrote to Governor Din- 
 widdie from Alexandria : 
 
 " Major Lewis, being at Winchester when your letter 
 came to hand, was immediately despatched to Augusta, 
 to take upon him the command of the troops destined 
 against the Shawnese Town; with orders to follow such 
 directions as he should receive from you. This scheme, 
 though, I am apprehensive will prove abortive, as we are 
 told that those Indians are removed up the river, into the 
 neighborhood of Fort Duquesne. 
 
 " I have given all necessary orders for training the men 
 to a proper use of their arms, and the method of Indian 
 fighting, and hope in a little time to make them expert. 
 And I should be glad to have your Honor's express com 
 mands, either to prepare for taking the field, or for guard 
 ing our frontiers, in the spring, because the steps for these 
 two are very different. I have already built two forts on 
 Patterson's Creek, which have engaged the chief of the 
 inhabitants to return to the plantations; and have now 
 ordered Captain Waggener with 60 men to build and 
 garrison two others, on places I have pointed out high 
 up on the South Branch, which will be a means of securing 
 near a hundred miles of our frontiers, exclusive of the 
 command at Fort Dinwiddie, on Jackson's river. And, 
 indeed, without a much greater number of men than we 
 have a visible prospect of getting, I do not see how it is 
 possible to think of passing the mountains, or acting more 
 than defensively. This seems to be the full determination 
 19 
 
290 WASHINGTON. 
 
 of the Pennsylvanians ; so that there can be no hope o! 
 assistance from that quarter. If we only act defensively, 
 I would most earnestly recommend the building of a 
 strong fort at some convenient place in Virginia, as that 
 in Maryland, not to say anything of its situation, which 
 is extremely bad, will ever be an eyesore to this colony, 
 and attended with more inconvenience than it is possible 
 to enumerate. One instance of this I have taken notice 
 of, in a letter that accompanies this, and many more I 
 could recite, were it necessary. 
 
 " If we take the field there is no time to carry on a work 
 of this kind, but we should immediately set about engag 
 ing wagons, horses, forage, pack-saddles, etc. And here 
 I cannot help remarking, that I believe it will be impossible 
 to get wagons or horses sufficient, without the old score 
 is paid off ; as the people are really ruined for want of their 
 money, and complain justly of their grievances. 
 
 " I represented in my last the inconveniences of the 
 late act of Assembly, which obliges us first to send to 
 your Honor for a commission to hold general courts- 
 martial, and then to delay execution until a warrant can 
 be had from Williamsburg ; and I hope you will take the 
 thing into consideration. We have several deserters now 
 on hand, whom I have taken by vigorous measures, and 
 who should be made examples to others, as this practice 
 is continued with greater spirit than ever. 
 
 " Unless clothing is soon provided, the men will be un 
 fit for any kind of service. And I know of no expedient 
 to procure them, but by sending to the northward, as 
 cloth cannot be had here. I left, among other returns, an 
 exact account of the clothing at every place, when I was 
 in Williamsburg. I shan't care to lay in provisions for 
 more than 1000 men, unless I have your Honor's orders. 
 We have put out such of the beeves as were unfit for 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 291 
 
 slaughtering. If they survive the winter they may be 
 useful in the summer. 
 
 " Ensign Poison having received a commission in Col 
 onel Gage's regiment, makes a vacancy here which, with 
 your approbation, will be rilled by Mr. Dennis McCarthy, 
 whom you once appointed a captain. He has continued 
 a volunteer ever since, and has recruited several men into 
 the service, and I hope your Honor will allow me the 
 liberty, as you once promised me, of filling up the vacan 
 cies as they happen, with the volunteers, who serve with 
 that expectation. We have several with us, that seem 
 to be very deserving young gentlemen. I shall observe 
 the strictest justice in promoting them according to their 
 merit, and their time of entering the service I have or 
 dered Capt. Hog to render immediately a fair account to 
 the company of the money sent him. He was ordered to 
 lay in provisions for only 12 months. Capt. Stewart has 
 recruited his complement of men. I should be glad to 
 know whether he is to complete his horse against the 
 spring and provide accoutrements. 
 
 "I have been obliged to suspend Ensign Dekeyser for 
 misbehavior until your pleasure is known. See the pro 
 ceedings of the enquiring courts. His character in many 
 other respects has been infamous. I have also been 
 obliged to threaten, in your name, the new appointed offi 
 cers with the same fate if they are not more diligent in 
 recruiting the companies, as each received his commission 
 upon those terms. Capt. Mercer comes down for more 
 money and to satisfy how the 10,000 has been applied. 
 
 " The skipper of the vessels has embezzled some of the 
 stores; but for want of a particular invoice of them, we 
 cannot ascertain the loss. He is kept in confinement until 
 your Honor's pleasure is known." 
 
292 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Under the same date Washington wrote again to Gov. 
 Dinwiddie from Alexandria: 
 
 " When I was down the Committee among- other things 
 resolved, that the Maryland and Carolina companies 
 should not be supported with our provisions. This re 
 solve (I think) met with your approbation; upon which I 
 wrote to Colonel Stephen, desiring him to acquaint Cap 
 tain Dagworthy thereof, who paid slight regard to it, 
 saying it was in the King's garrison, and all the troops 
 had an equal right to draw provisions with us, by his 
 order as commanding officer, and that we, after it was 
 put there, had no power to remove it without his leave. 
 I should, therefore, be glad of your Honor's peremptory 
 orders what to do in this case, as I do not care to act 
 without instructions, lest it should appear to proceed from 
 pique and resentment at having the command disputed. 
 This is one among the numberless inconveniences of hav 
 ing the fort in Maryland. Captain Dagworthy, I dare 
 venture to affirm, is encouraged to say this by Governor 
 Sharpe, who we know has wrote to him to keep the com 
 mand. This Captain Dagworthy acquainted Colonel 
 Stephen of himself. As I have not yet heard how Gen 
 eral Shirley has answered your Honor's request, I fear 
 the success, especially as it is next to an impossibility (as 
 Governor Sharpe has been there to plead Captain Dag- 
 worthy's cause) by writing to make the General ac 
 quainted with the nature of the dispute. The officers 
 have drawn up a memorial to be presented to the Gen 
 eral, and, that it may be properly strengthened, they hum 
 bly beg your solicitation to have us (as we have certain 
 advices that it is in his power) put upon the establish 
 ment. This would at once put an end to contention, 
 which is the root of evil, and destructive to the best of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 293 
 
 operations; and turn all our movements into a free, easy 
 channel. 
 
 " They have urged it in the warmest manner to me, to 
 appear personally before the General for that end, which 
 I would, at this disagreeable season, gladly do, things be 
 ing thus circumstanced, if I had your permission; which 
 I more freely ask, since I am determined to resign a com 
 mission, which you were generously pleased to offer me, 
 (and for which I shall always retain a grateful sense of 
 the favor), rather than submit to the command of a per 
 son, who, I think, has not such superlative merit to bal 
 ance the inequality of rank, however he adheres to what 
 he calls his right, and in which I know he is supported 
 by Governor Sharpe. He says, that he has no commis 
 sion from the province of Maryland, but acts by virtue 
 of that from the King; that this was the condition of his 
 engaging in the Maryland service ; and when he was sent 
 up there the ist of last October, was ordered by Governor 
 Sharpe and Sir John St. Clair not to give up his right. 
 To my certain knowledge his rank was disputed before 
 General Burgoyne, who gave it in his favor; and he ac 
 cordingly took place of every captain upon the expedition, 
 except Capt. James Mercer and Capt. Rutherford, whose 
 commissions were older than his ; so that I should not by 
 any means choose to act, as your Honor hinted in your 
 last, lest I should be called to an account myself. 
 
 " I have, during my stay above (at Winchester) from 
 the ist of December to this, disposed of all the men and 
 officers (that are not recruiting and can be spared from 
 the fort) in the best manner I can for the defence of the 
 inhabitants, and they will need no further orders till I 
 could return. And the recruiting officers are allowed till 
 the first of March to repair to their rendezvous, which 
 leaves at present nothing to do at the Fort, but to train 
 
294 WASHINGTON. 
 
 and discipline the men, and prepare and salt the provi 
 sions. For the better perfecting both these, I have left 
 full and clear directions. 
 
 " Besides, in other respects, I think my going to the 
 northward might be of service, as I should thereby, so 
 far as they thought proper to communicate, be acquainted 
 with the plan of operations, especially the Pennsylvanians ', 
 so as to act, as much as the nature of things would admit, 
 in concert. 
 
 " If you think proper to comply with my request, I 
 should be glad of any letters, such as you think would 
 enforce the petition to the General, or any of the Gov 
 ernors in my way there." 
 
 Two weeks later, February I, 1756, Washington wrote 
 from Alexandria to Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen : 
 
 " Looking upon our affairs at this crtical juncture to 
 be of such importance, and having a personal acquaintance 
 with General Shirley, which I thought might add some 
 weight to the strength of our memorial, I solicited leave, 
 which is obtained, to visit him in person, and accordingly 
 set out in two days for Boston, having procured letters, 
 etc., from the Governor, which was the result of a Council 
 for the purpose called. You may depend upon it, I shall 
 leave no stone unturned for this salutary end ; and, I think, 
 if reason, justice, and every other equitable right can claim 
 attention, we deserve to be heard. 
 
 "As I have taken the fatigue, etc., of this tedious jour 
 ney upon myself, (which I never thought of until I had left 
 Winchester), I hope you will conduct everything in my 
 absence for the interest and honor of the service. And 
 I must exhort you in the most earnest manner to strict 
 discipline and due exercise of arms. 
 
 ft You may tell Mr. Livingston from me, that, if the 
 soldiers are not skilled in arms equal to what may reason- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 295 
 
 ably be expected, he most assuredly shall answer it at my 
 return. And I must ingenuously tell you, that I also ex 
 pect to find them expert at bush-fighting. 
 
 "The Governor seems determined to make the officers 
 comply with the terms of getting their commissions, or 
 forfeit them, and approves of Dekeyser's suspension, and 
 orders that he shall not be admitted into the camp. He 
 seems uneasy at what I own gives me much concern, i. e., 
 that gaming seems to be introduced into the camp. I 
 am ordered to discourage it, and must desire that you will 
 intimate the same. 
 
 " Things not being rightly settled for punishing de 
 serters according to their crimes, you must go on in the 
 old way of whipping stoutly." 
 
 To Governor Dinwiddie, Washington wrote from Alex 
 andria, February 2, 1756: 
 
 " I can but return my hearty thanks for your kind con 
 descension in suffering me to wait upon General Shirley, 
 as I am very well assured it was done with the intention 
 to favor my suit. 
 
 " There is as yet an unanswerable argument against our 
 taking the field, which I forgot to mention in my last ; that 
 is, the want of a train of artillery, and, what is full as nec 
 essary, engineers to conduct the affair, if we hope to ap 
 proach Fort Duquesne. By the advices, which we have 
 received hitherto from the northward, the Pennsylvanians 
 are determined to act defensively. For that purpose they 
 have posted their new raised levies upon their frontiers 
 at different passes, and have received the additional 
 strength and favor of a detachment or two from the regu 
 lars. I have ordered, besides the forts that are built and 
 are now building, that a road which I had reconnoitred, 
 and which proves nearer and better, to be immediately 
 opened for the more easy transportation of stores, etc., 
 
296 WASHINGTON. 
 
 from Winchester to Fort Cumberland ; so there is not the 
 ieast fear of the soldiers being corrupted through 
 idleness." 
 
 After explaining that the commission for calling gen 
 eral courts-martial did not empower the commander to 
 act without first receiving an order from the Governor 
 to do so, Washington further said : 
 
 " I have always, so far as it was in my power, en 
 deavored to discourage gaming in the camp ; and always 
 shall so long as I have the honor to preside there. 
 
 " I cannot help observing that your Honor, if you have 
 not seen the clothing lately sent up, has been imposed 
 upon by the contractors, for they are really unfit for use ; 
 at least, will soon be so."] 
 
 The chronic difficulty of the old contest between royal 
 and provincial officers had not yet been laid. At Fort 
 Cumberland a royally commissioned officer, Captain Dag- 
 worthy, with a small company of Maryland militia, refused 
 obedience to the Virginia provincial commander-in-chief, 
 and according to the King's order in the case of royal and 
 provincial officers, he even claimed precedency in rank. 
 The commander appealed to Governor Dinwiddie but could 
 not induce him to take decisive measures in the case, and 
 the Governor of Maryland actually sustained the claim of 
 Dagworthy. To settle this annoying and embarrassing dis 
 pute Washington, at the request of his officers, with the 
 approval of Governor Dinwiddie and with commendatory 
 letters from him (Feb. 4, 1756), repaired to Boston to 
 General Shirley, who then was Commander-in-Chief of 
 the British troops in America. It was now midwinter, 
 but attended by Captain Mercer, who was his aide, and 
 by Captain Stewart, he performed the journey of 500 
 miles on horseback. 
 
 General Shirley's decision on the subject was ready and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 297 
 
 positive. He issued an order requiring Captain Dagworthy 
 to yield obedience to the Virginia commander. Washing 
 ton he received in the kindest manner, and he acquainted 
 him with the details of his plan of the next season's cam 
 paign. 
 
 The journey to Boston by way of Philadelphia, New 
 York, and Ocher principal cities, little as such results 
 could have been anticipated or could be desired by sticklers 
 for the superiority of royal commissions, essentially con 
 tributed to Washington's celebrity, influence, and knowl 
 edge of affairs. In less than two months' time he was 
 again engrossed with measures for repelling intrusions of 
 the French and for staying depredations and incursions of 
 the savages, which had become frequent and very daring. 
 
 [Washington left Alexandria for Boston, February 4, 
 1756. He was in Philadelphia on the 8th, where the old 
 campaigner, Gist, had found reason the autumn before 
 to write to him : " Your name is more talked of in Phila 
 delphia than that of any other person in the army, and 
 everybody seems willing to venture under your com 
 mand." The New York Mercury of February i6th re 
 corded his arrival in New York on the I5th, and on the 
 26th he had left for Boston on the Friday previous, the 
 25th. He passed through New London, Newport, and 
 Providence, and was in Boston February 27th-March loth. 
 He was in New York on the return March I4th; was in 
 Philadelphia March I7th; and March 23d was at Alexan 
 dria, to resume his duties as Commander-in-Chief on the 
 frontier. April 7, 1756, he wrote from Winchester to 
 Governor Dinwiddie: 
 
 " I arrived here yesterday, and think it advisable to 
 despatch an express to inform you of the unhappy situa 
 tion of affairs in this quarter. The enemy have returned 
 in greater numbers, committed several murders not far 
 
298 WASHINGTON. 
 
 from Winchester, and even are so daring as to attack our 
 forts in open day, as your Honor may see by the enclosed 
 letters and papers. Many of the inhabitants are in a 
 miserable situation by their losses, and so apprehensive 
 of danger that, I believe, unless a stop is put to the depre 
 dations of the Indians, the Blue Ridge will soon become 
 our frontier. 
 
 " I find it impossible to continue on to Fort Cumber 
 land, until a body of men can be raised, in order to do 
 what I have advised with Lord Fairfax, and other officers 
 of the militia, who have ordered each captain to call a 
 private muster, and to read the exhortation enclosed (for 
 orders are no longer regarded in this county), in hopes 
 that this expedient may meet with the wished-for success. 
 If it should, I shall with such men as are ordered from 
 Fort Cumberland to join these, scour the woods and sus 
 pected places, in all the mountains, valleys, etc., on this 
 part of our frontiers, and doubt not but I shall fall in with 
 the Indians and their more cruel associates! I hope the 
 present emergency of affairs, assisted by such good news 
 as the Assembly may by this time have received from 
 England, and the Commissioners, will determine them 
 to take vigorous measures for their own and country's 
 safety, and no longer depend on an uncertain way of rais 
 ing men for their own protection. However absurd it 
 may appear, it is nevertheless certain, that 500 Indians 
 have it more in their power to annoy the inhabitants than 
 ten times their number of regulars. For besides the ad 
 vantageous way they have of fighting in the woods, their 
 cunning and craft are not to be equalled, neither their 
 activity and indefatigable sufferings. They prowl about 
 like wolves, and, like them, do their mischief by stealth. 
 They depend upon their dexterity in hunting and upon 
 the cattle of the inhabitants for provisions. For which 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 299 
 
 reason, I own, I do not think it unworthy the notice of 
 the legislature to compel the inhabitants (if a general war 
 is likely to ensue, and things to continue in this un 
 happy situation for any time), to live in townships, work 
 ing at each others farms by turns, and to drive their cattle 
 into the thickly settled parts of the country. Were this 
 done, they could not be cut off by small parties, and large 
 ones could not subsist without provisions." 
 
 To Speaker Robinson, Washington also wrote: 
 
 "If the fears of the people do not magnify numbers, 
 those of the enemy are not inconsiderable. They have 
 made many ineffectual attempts upon several of our forts, 
 destroyed cattle, burned plantations, and this in defiance 
 of our smaller parties, while they dexterously avoid the 
 larger. Our detachments, by what I can learn, have 
 sought them diligently, but the cunning and vigilance of 
 Indians in the woods are no more to be conceived, than 
 they are to be equalled by our people. Indians are only 
 match for Indians ; and without these, we shall ever fight 
 upon unequal terms. I hope the Assembly since they 
 see the difficulty of getting men by enlistment, will no 
 longer depend upon that uncertain way of raising them, 
 but make each of the lower Counties furnish its full pro 
 portion." 
 
 The work of the recruiting officers for the whole win 
 ter had only secured 600 men. In the letter to Dinwiddie 
 of April 7th, Washington went on to say: 
 
 " It seemed to be the sentiment of the House of Bur 
 gesses when I was down, that a chain of forts should be 
 erected upon our frontiers, for the defence of the people. 
 This expedient, in my opinion, without an inconceivable 
 number of men, will never answer their expectations." 
 
 The House had voted in the spring session to erect a 
 chain of forts beginning at Harry Enochs, on Great 
 
300 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Cape-capon, in the county of Hampshire, and extending 
 to the south fork of Mayo-river in Halifax county, the 
 number and distance from each other to be such as the 
 governor or the commander-in-chief of the colony should 
 think necessary." 
 
 After a reference to Major Lewis's expedition, intended 
 to reach the Indian Shawanes Town, but prevented by the 
 state of the rivers, swollen by heavy rains and melting 
 snow, Washington goes on to say: 
 
 " It was an expedition, from which, on account of the 
 length of the march down, I always had little expectation 
 of, and often expressed my uneasy apprehensions on that 
 head. But since they are returned, with the Indians that 
 accompanied them, I think it would be a very happy step 
 to prevail upon the latter to proceed as far as Fort Cum 
 berland. It is in their power to be of infinite use to us ; 
 and without Indians, we shall never be able to cope with 
 those cruel foes to our country. 
 
 " I would therefore beg leave to recommend in a very 
 earnest manner, that your Honor would send an express 
 to them immediately for this desirable end. I should 
 have Hone it myself, but was uncertain whether it might 
 prove agreeable or not. I also hope your Honor will 
 order Major Lewis to secure his guides, as I understand 
 he attributes all his misfortunes to their misconduct. Such 
 offences as those should meet with adequate punishment, 
 else we may ever be misled by designing villains. 
 
 " Since writing the above, Mr. Pearis, who commanded 
 a party as per enclosed list, is returned, who relates, that, 
 upon the North River, he fell in with a small body of In 
 dians which he engaged, and, after a dispute of half an 
 hour, put them to flight. M. Douville, commander of the 
 party, was killed and scalped, and his instructions found 
 about him, which I enclose. We had one man killed, and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 301 
 
 two wounded. Mr. Pearls sends the scalp by Jenkins ; 
 and I hope, although it is not an Indian's, they will meet 
 with an adequate reward at least, as the Monsieur's is of 
 much more consequence. The whole party jointly claim 
 the reward, no person pretending solely to assume the 
 merit." 
 
 The Assembly had offered, in August, 1755, a reward of 
 10 for every scalp of a male Indian above the age of 
 twelve. This reward was increased to 15 in April, 1757, 
 and a further sum of 30 for each scalp taken within the 
 next two years. Maryland had, in September, 1756, made 
 the reward for an Indian scalp 50. 
 
 The letter to Dinwiddie continues: 
 
 " Your Honor may in some measure penetrate into the 
 daring designs of the French by their instructions, where 
 orders are given to burn, if possible, our magazine at 
 Conococheague, a place that is in the midst of a thickly 
 settled country." 
 
 The orders in question were given by Dumas, who had 
 succeeded Contrecoeur as French commandant at Fort 
 Duquesne. In translation they read as follows : " Fort 
 Duquesne, March 23, 1756. The Sieur Douville, at the 
 head of a detachment of 50 savages, is ordered to go and 
 observe the motions of the enemy in the neighborhood 
 of Fort Cumberland. He will endeavor to harass their 
 convoys, and burn their magazines at Conococheague, 
 should this be practicable. He must use every effort to 
 take prisoners, who may confirm what we already know 
 of the enemies designs. The Sieur Douville will employ 
 all his talent and all his credit to prevent the savages from 
 committing any cruelties on those who may fall into their 
 hands. Honor and humanity ought, in this respect, to 
 serve as our guide." 
 
 These last words Mr. W. C. Ford says, " at least give a 
 
302 WASHINGTON. 
 
 favorable indication of the commandant's humanity," the 
 fact having been that the words in no way operated to 
 hold the hand of savage massacre, and most manifestly 
 were neither intended nor expected to have any such 
 result. Washington's letter goes on to say of the threat 
 ened magazine: 
 
 n I have ordered the party there to be made as strong 
 as time and our present circumstances will afford, for fear 
 they should attempt to execute the orders of Dumas. I 
 have also ordered up an officer and 20 recruits to assist 
 Joseph Edwards, and the people on those waters (the 
 Great Cacapehon). The people of this town are under 
 dreadful apprehensions of an attack, and all the roads 
 between this and Fort Cumberland are much infested. As 
 I apprehend you will be obliged to draft men, I hope care 
 will be taken that none shall be chosen but active, reso 
 lute men, men, who are practised to arms, and are 
 marksmen. 
 
 " I also hope that a good many more will be taken than 
 what are requisite to complete our numbers to what the 
 Assembly design to establish; as many of those we have 
 got are really in a manner unfit for duty; and were re 
 ceived more through necessity than choice; and will very 
 badly bear a re-examination. Another thing I would beg 
 leave to recommend; and that is, that such men as are 
 drafted, should be only taken for a time, by which means 
 we shall get better men, and which will in all probability 
 stay with us." 
 
 " I think it not amiss," Washington said in a letter to 
 Speaker Robinson, " that they should serve only 18 or 20 
 months, and then be discharged. Twenty months will 
 embrace two full campaigns, which will, I apprehend, 
 bring matters to a crisis one way or another." 
 
 In a letter of April 9, 1756, to Governor Morris, of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 303 
 
 Pennsylvania, Washington related the success of the party 
 which encountered Douville with his detachment of sav 
 ages, and then went on to say : 
 
 "The accident that has determined the fate of M. Dou 
 ville has, I believe, dispersed his party, for I don't hear of 
 any mischief done in this colony since, though we are not 
 without numbers who are making hourly discoveries. 
 
 " I have sent you a copy of the instructions that were 
 found about this officer, that you may see how bold and 
 enterprising the enemy have grown, how unconfmed are 
 the ambitious designs of the French, and how much it will 
 be in their power (if the Colonies continue in their fatal 
 lethargy) to give a final stab to liberty and property. 
 
 " Nothing I more sincerely wish than a Union to the 
 Colonies in this time of eminent danger, and that you may 
 find your Assembly in a temper of mind to act consist 
 ently with their preservation. What Maryland has done 
 or will do, I know not, but this I am certain of, that 
 Virginia will do everything that can be expected to promote the 
 public good. 
 
 " I went to Williamsburg fully resolved to resign my 
 commission, but was disuaded from it at least for a time. 
 
 " P. S. A letter this instant arriving from Williamsburg 
 informs that our Assembly have voted 20,000 more, and 
 that their forces should be increased to 2000 men. A 
 laudable example this, and I hope not a singular one." 
 
 In a letter of April 10, 1756, Governor Sharpe of Mary 
 land said to Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, who was 
 British Commander-in-Chief for America: 
 
 "The enclosed letter I am desired to forward to your 
 Excellency from Colonel Washington, and to request you 
 to commission and appoint him second in command, in 
 case these colonies shall raise a sufficient number of troops 
 for carrying on an expedition or making a diversion to 
 
304: WASHINGTON. 
 
 the westward this summer. As Mr. Washington is much 
 esteemed in Virginia, and really seems a gentleman of 
 merit, I should be exceedingly glad to learn that your 
 Excellency is not averse to favoring his application and 
 request." 
 
 To John Robinson, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, 
 Washington wrote from Winchester, April 16, 1756: 
 
 " When I wrote you last, I was in high hopes of being 
 by this time at the head of a large party scouring the 
 Alleghany Hills. But the timidity of the inhabitants of 
 this county is to be equalled by nothing but their perverse- 
 ness. Yesterday was the time appointed for all to meet 
 who were inclined to join for this desirable end, and only 
 15 came, some of whom refused to go but upon terms 
 such as must have rendered their services burthensome 
 to the country. Therefore, I am again reduced to the 
 necessity of waiting the arrival of a party from Fort Cum 
 berland before I can leave this place. There has been 
 no mischief done since I wrote you last, which I attribute 
 in some measure to the frequent parties I have ordered 
 out in pursuit of the enemy. Yesterday I received an 
 account which made me suspect that the Indians rendez 
 voused upon the back of the Warm Spring Mountain. I 
 have, therefore, sent orders to an officer who is out with 
 a party of 100 men, to proceed thither with the best 
 guides he can procure, and search that mountain well; 
 which, if the intelligence be true, I hope he will render 
 a good account of them. 
 
 " Nothing, Sir, equals the pleasure I felt at hearing of 
 the generous supplies the Assembly have voted. But to 
 find that the men and money which they have given are 
 properly disposed of, and that the men are formed for the 
 service of the country, and not to make commissions to 
 serve individuals, I have sent the Governor a plan or 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 305 
 
 scheme, of which you have a copy ; to form the 2000 men 
 into one regiment, consisting of two battalions, of ten 
 companies each ; with five field officers each having a com 
 pany, and every company to consist of one captain, two 
 lieutenants, one ensign, four sergeants, four corporals, 
 two drummers, and 87 private men: which will save the 
 country the annual expense of 5006 i6s. and 8d., as you 
 may see by the enclosed. And we at the same time be 
 better appointed, and established more after the British 
 custom than we now are, or shall be if formed into two 
 regiments, or one regiment with only 50 men in a com 
 pany. The difference, 5006 i6s. 8d., would go a great 
 length either in clothing, or defraying incident charges 
 of the regiment. Another difference is that of giving the 
 field officers companies, which is practised in all parts of 
 the world but this, and here discontinued evidently to 
 the disadvantage of the country, as the field officers who 
 have no companies are allowed in the same proportion 
 as if they had, and three captains are paid to do this duty. 
 
 " I have made bold, Sir, to offer my opinion freely, and 
 if it meets with the approbation of your House, I should 
 be glad if you would help it into execution. Otherwise, 
 as I am sensible the Governor may be strongly impor 
 tuned for commissions, he may good-naturedly grant 
 them without considering how manifest an injury it will 
 be to the country and service in general. 
 
 "As I am convinced that no other method can be used 
 to raise 2000 men, but by drafting, I hope to be excused 
 when I again repeat, how great care should be observed 
 in choosing active marksmen. The manifest inferiority of 
 inactive persons, unused to arms, in this kind of service, 
 although equal in numbers, to lively persons who have 
 practised hunting, is inconceivable. The chance against 
 them is more than two to one. Another thing I hope will 
 20 
 
306 WASHINGTON. 
 
 merit the consideration of the Assembly, and that is, that 
 they will put all such men as are raised for the expedition 
 in actual pay, and under the same dicipline that ours are 
 at present ; otherwise, I am very well convinced their good 
 intentions will prove abortive, and all the drafts quit the 
 service as soon, or before, they are brought into it. 
 
 " I do not conceive it to be a hardship to put even drafts 
 under martial law, if they are only taken for a certain time, 
 which I could wish to be the case, as I thereby hope for 
 better men." 
 
 To Governor Dinwiddie in this connection Washington 
 wrote : 
 
 " I have a brother that has long discovered an inclina 
 tion to enter the service, but has till this been dissuaded 
 from it by my mother, who now, I believe, will give consent. 
 I must, therefore, beg that, if your Honor should issue any 
 new commission before I come down, you will think of 
 him and reserve a Lieutenancy. I flatter myself that he 
 will endeavor to deserve it as well as some that have, and 
 others that may get (commissions)." 
 
 April 1 8, 1756, Washington wrote from Winchester to 
 Dinwiddie : 
 
 " It gave me infinite concern to find in yours by Gov 
 ernor Innes, that any representations should inflame the 
 Assembly against the Virginia regiment, or give cause 
 to suspect the morality and good behavior of the officers. 
 (Dinwiddie had reported " that the Assembly were greatly 
 inflamed, being told that the greatest immoralities and 
 drunkenness have been much countenanced and proper 
 discipline neglected "). How far any of the individuals 
 may have deserved such invidious reflections, I will not 
 take it upon me to determine, but this I am certain of, 
 and can call my conscience, and what, I suppose, will be a 
 still more demonstrable proof in the eyes of the world, my 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 307 
 
 orders, to witness how much I have, both by threats and 
 persuasive means, endeavored to discountenance gaming, 
 drinking, swearing, and irregularities of every other kind; 
 while I have, on the other hand, practised every artifice 
 to inspire a laudable emulation in the officers for the ser 
 vice of their country, and to encourage the soldiers in 
 the unerring exercise of their duty. How far I have failed 
 in this desirable end I cannot pretend to say. But it is 
 nevertheless a point, which does in my opinion merit 
 some scrutiny, before it meets with a final condemnation. 
 Yet I will not undertake to vouch for the conduct of many 
 of the officers, as I know there are some who have the 
 seeds of idleness very strongly engrafted in their natures ; 
 and I also know that the unhappy difference about the 
 command, which has kept me from Fort Cumberland, has 
 consequently prevented me from enforcing the orders 
 which I never failed to send. 
 
 " However, if I continue in the service, I shall take care 
 to act with a little more vigor than has hitherto been 
 practised, since I find it so necessary. 
 
 " I wrote your Honor in my last how unsuccessfully we 
 attempted to raise the militia, and that I was reduced to 
 the necessity of waiting here the arrival of an escort from 
 Fort Cumberland. 
 
 " The garrison at Fort Cumberland is barely manned. 
 The rest are out on parties; yet the Indians continue to 
 hunt the roads, and pick up straggling persons." 
 
 On the next day Washington further wrote to Din- 
 widdie : 
 
 " Since writing my letter of yesterday's date, the en 
 closed came to hand, by which your Honor will be in 
 formed of a very unlucky affair (a skirmish with the In 
 dians at Edwards's Fort, in which Captain J. Mercer and 
 several of his party were killed). 
 
308 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " I immediately consulted Governor Innes, and such 
 officers of my regiment as were at this place, on the neces 
 sary steps to be taken. They unanimously advised that I 
 should remain here with the 50 recruits that are in town, 
 for the defence of the place, until the militia be raised, 
 that we may thereby be enabled to compose a formidable 
 body and march out against the enemy. This engagement 
 happened within 20 miles of Winchester, and the sergeant, 
 who brought the letter, assures me that they have reason 
 to imagine, that their numbers are greater than the letter 
 informs. He says that there were many French amongst 
 them, and that the chief part of the whole were mounted 
 on horseback; so that there is a great probability that 
 they may have a design upon this place. 
 
 " I have sent an express to Lord Fairfax, with a copy 
 of Stark's letter, and have desired, in the most earnest 
 manner, that he will be expeditious in calling the militia; 
 but, alas! that is an unhappy dependence; yet the only 
 one we have at present." 
 
 "Washington's old friend, Lord Fairfax/' says Irving, 
 had " found himself no longer safe in his rural abode. 
 Greenway Court was in the midst of a woodland region, 
 affording a covert approach for the stealthy savage. His 
 lordship was considered a great chief, whose scalp would 
 be an inestimable trophy for an Indian warrior. Fears 
 were entertained, therefore, by his friends, that an attempt 
 would be made to surprise him in his greenwood castle. 
 His nephew, Colonel Martin of the militia, who resided 
 with him, suggested the expediency of a removal to the 
 lower settlements, beyond Blue Ridge. The high-spirited 
 old nobleman demurred; his heart cleaved to the home 
 which he had formed for himself in the wilderness. 'I 
 am an old man/ said he, 'and it is of little importance 
 whether I fall by the tomahawk or die of disease and old 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 309 
 
 age ; but you are young, and, it is to be hoped, have many 
 years before you, therefore decide for us both; my only 
 fear is, that if we retire, the whole district will break up 
 and take to flight ; and this fine country, which I have been 
 at such cost and trouble to improve, will again become 
 a wilderness.' 
 
 " Colonel Martin took but a short time to deliberate. 
 He knew the fearless character of his uncle, and perceived 
 what was his inclination. He considered that his lordship 
 had numerous retainers, white and black, with hardy hunts 
 men and foresters to rally round him, and that Greenway 
 Court was at no great distance from Winchester; he de 
 cided, therefore, that they should remain and abide the 
 course of events." 
 
 To Lord Fairfax, April iQth, Washington wrote : 
 
 " Unless I can throw some ammunition into Edwards's 
 Fort to-night, the remainder of our party, and the inhab 
 itants that are there, will more than probably fall a sacri 
 fice to the Indians, as the bearer, who came off with the 
 enclosed, assures me that the fort was surrounded, and 
 that an assault was expected to-day."] 
 
 They had waylaid and massacred scouting parties. They 
 had attacked forts. In a skirmish they had routed a party 
 of Americans and had killed Captain Mercer. They had 
 also slain other military officers, and they had robbed and 
 murdered occupants of villages and plantations but a few 
 miles from large towns, and even within twenty miles of 
 the Commander-in-Chief's headquarters at Winchester. 
 
 The whole frontier of Virginia for the distance of more 
 than 350 miles was exposed to the encroachments of the 
 savages. And the sufferings of the settlers, throughout 
 that range of border territory, were peculiarly afflictive at 
 this crisis. Their once happy homes were now haunted by 
 continual apprehensions of scenes of blood. While at the 
 
310 WASHINGTON. 
 
 plough or while gathering the fruits yielded by their 
 orchards or gardens they were liable to be surprised by the 
 demoniac red man, seen coming at a distance, or discov 
 ered lurking behind trunks of trees, or crouching in high 
 grass and among underwood. The cheerful harvest song 
 of the borderer might, at any moment, be interrupted and 
 hushed by the Indian whoop or yell. And the engaging 
 pictures of rural domestic life, afforded by the mother at 
 her spinning-wheel or in her household duties, her children 
 in their gleeful sports, and her infant in the cradle, might 
 suddenly be transformed into tragic scenes of blood, which 
 none but fiends in the human form could have the heart 
 to create or could look upon without remorse. 
 
 At the signal of Indians coming the borderers would 
 sometimes be able to flee unharmed, but it was to surrender 
 life's comforts and often common necessaries. They might 
 resort for protection, as they frequently did, to stockade 
 forts, but there, surrounded by their pursuers, they were 
 generally reduced to extreme thirst and hunger, and on at 
 tempting to escape for their lives, were hunted down and 
 slain. And to these evils were added those of captivity 
 and torture, for the fierce and bloodthirsty red man of the 
 woods seizes ruthlessly and indiscriminately men, women, 
 children, and even tender babes, and, not content with 
 slaughter, delights at times in protracted merciless cruelty, 
 and exults at shrieks of anguish extorted from his victims. 
 
 The want of suitable legislative measures providing for 
 this state of things was felt and lamented. Unfurnished 
 with the necessary men and means for defense the com- 
 mander-in-chief appealed to Governor Dinwiddie in touch 
 ing terms. In one of his appeals he uses these glowing 
 words : " Your honor may see to what unhappy straits the 
 distressed inhabitants and myself are reduced. I am too 
 little acquainted, sir, with pathetic language, to attempt a 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 311 
 
 description of the people's distresses, though I have a 
 generous soul sensible of wrongs and swelling for redress. 
 But what can I do? If bleeding, dying! would glut their 
 insatiate revenge, I would be a willing offering to savage 
 fury, and die by inches to save a people. I see their situa 
 tion, know their danger, and participate their sufferings, 
 without having it in my power to give them further relief 
 than uncertain promises. In short, I see inevitable de 
 struction in so clear a light that unless vigorous measures 
 are taken by the Assembly and speedy assistance sent 
 from below, the poor inhabitants that are now in forts 
 must unavoidably fall while the remainder are fleeing be 
 fore the barbarous foe. 
 
 " In fine, the melancholy situation of the people, the 
 little prospect of assistance, the gross and scandalous 
 abuse cast upon the officers in general, which is reflecting 
 upon me in particular, for suffering misconduct of such 
 extraordinary kinds, and the distant prospect, if any, of 
 gaining honor and reputation in the service, cause me to 
 lament the hour that gave me a commission and would 
 induce me, at any other time than this of imminent dan 
 ger, to resign, without one hesitating moment, a command 
 from which I never expect to reap either honor or benefit, 
 but on the contrary, have almost an absolute certainty of 
 incurring displeasure below, while the murder of helpless 
 families may be laid to my account here ! 
 
 " The supplicating tears of the women, and moving peti 
 tions of the men, melt me into such deadly sorrow that I 
 solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer 
 myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided 
 that would contribute to the people's ease. 
 
 [" Lord Fairfax has ordered men from the adjacent 
 counties, but when they will come, or in what numbers, I 
 cannot pretend to determine. If I may judge from the sue- 
 
312 WASHINGTON. 
 
 cess we have met with here, I have but little hopes, as 
 three days incessant endeavors have produced but 20 men. 
 
 " I have too often urged my opinion for vigorous meas 
 ures ; therefore I shall only add, that, besides the accounts 
 you will receive in the letters, we are told from all parts 
 that the woods seem to be alive with Indians, who feast 
 upon the fat of the land. As we have not more than a 
 barrel or two of powder at this place (Winchester), the 
 rest being at Fort Cumberland, I could wish your Honor 
 would send some up. I have written to Alexandria and 
 Fredericksburg, desiring that - two barrels may be sent 
 from each place, but whether there is any at either, I 
 know not. I have sent orders to Captain Harrison to 
 be diligent on the waters where he is poste_d, and to use 
 his utmost endeavors to protect the people ; and, if possi 
 ble, to surprise the enemy at their sleeping places Ashby's 
 letter is a very extraordinary one (reporting that 400 In 
 dians had demanded the surrender of his fort, 1500 had 
 gone to Fort Cumberland and 2000 to the Juniata). The 
 design of the Indians was only, in my opinion, to intimi 
 date him into a surrender. For which reason I have writ 
 ten him word, that if they do attack him, he must defend 
 that place to the last extremity, and when he is bereft of 
 hope, then to lay a train to blow up the fort, and retire 
 by night to Fort Cumberland. A small fort, which we 
 have at the mouth of Patterson's Creek, containing an 
 officer and 30 men guarding stores, was attacked smartly 
 by the French and Indians ; they were as warmly received, 
 upon which they retired. Our men at present are dis 
 persed into such small bodies, guarding the people and 
 public stores, that we are not able to make, or even form 
 a body."]* 
 
 His heartfelt concern for the people's welfare could not 
 * Letter to Governor Dinwiddie, April 22, 1756. 
 
SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 313 
 
 find utterance in words more glowing. He was willing to 
 surrender his life for their sake. Yet at the very period 
 when thus, in the spirit of the Roman Decii, he was in 
 dulging intense emotions of self-sacrifice, his feelings were 
 subjected to a severe torture. A plot was formed to effect 
 his removal from his post. Numerous reports to the dis 
 credit of the army, the officers, and the commander, were 
 industriously circulated through the columns of a news 
 paper. 
 
 The keen sensibilities of the commander were of course 
 deeply wounded, especially as the authors of the libelous 
 reports did not meet with prompt rebukes in his behalf. 
 Indulging the noble independence of his mind he thought 
 of at once resigning his commission. This was the secret 
 hope of his calumniators. But it was doomed to bitter 
 disappointment. The faction which sought by means oi 
 his retirement and of their favor with their Scotch country 
 man, Governor Dinwiddie, to gain rank and emolument, 
 was detected and rewarded to the full measure with deserved 
 obloquy, and Colonel Washington gave free utterance to 
 such sentiments as the occasion demanded and caused his 
 merits to shine with increased luster. Robinson, the 
 Speaker of the House of Burgesses, said: "Our hopes, 
 Dear George, are all fixed on you for bringing our affairs 
 to a happy issue. Consider of what fatal consequences 
 to your country your resigning the command at this time 
 may be; more especially as there is no doubt that most 
 of the officers would follow your example. I hope you 
 will allow your ruling passion, the love of your country, 
 to stifle your resentment at least till the arrival of Lord 
 Loudoun, or the meeting of the Assembly, when you 
 may be sure of having justice done. Who those of 
 your pretended friends are who give credit to the ma 
 licious reflections in that scandalous libel I assure you I 
 
314 WASHINGTON. 
 
 am ignorant; and I do declare that I never heard any man 
 of honor or reputation speak the least disrespectful of you, 
 or censure your conduct, and there is no well-wisher of his 
 country that would not be greatly concerned to hear of 
 your resigning." 
 
 An affectionate friend wrote to him : " You cannot but 
 know that nothing but want of power in your country has 
 prevented it from adding every honor and reward that per 
 fect merit could have entitled itself to. How are we grieved 
 to hear Col. George Washington hinting to his country 
 that he is willing to retire! Give me leave, as your most 
 intimate friend, to persuade you to forget that anything 
 has been said to your dishonor; and recollect that it could 
 not have come from any man that knew you. And as it 
 may have been the artifice of one in no esteem among your 
 countrymen to raise in you such unjust suspicions as would 
 induce you to desert the cause that his own preferment 
 might meet with no obstacle, I am confident you will 
 endeavor to give us the good effects, not only of duty but 
 of great cheerfulness and satisfaction in such a service. 
 No, sir; rather let Braddock's bed be your aim than any 
 thing that might discolor those laurels which I promise 
 myself are kept in store for you."* 
 
 Another friend wrote : " From my constant attendance 
 in the House (of Burgesses), I can with great truth say, 
 I never heard your conduct questioned. Whenever you 
 are mentioned, it is with the greatest respect. Your or 
 ders and instructions appear in a light worthy of the most 
 experienced officer. I can assure you that a very great 
 majority of the House prefer you to any other person." 
 
 Colonel William Fairfax, a member of the Governor's 
 council, thus eloquently appealed to him : " Your endeavors 
 in the service and defense of your country must redound 
 
 * Letter "from Landon Carter. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 315 
 
 to your honor; therefore do not let any unavoidable inter 
 ruptions sicken your mind in the attempts you may pursue. 
 Your good health and fortune are the toast of every table. 
 Among the Romans, such a general acclamation and pub 
 lic regard, shown to any of their chieftains, were always 
 esteemed a high honor and gratefully accepted."* 
 
 [Sparks says of this plot against Washington: "The 
 Governor, being a Scotchman, was surrounded by a knot 
 of Caledonian friends, who wished to profit by this alli 
 ance, and obtain for themselves a larger share of consid 
 eration than they could command in the present order of 
 things. The discontented, and such as thought their 
 merits undervalued, naturally fell into this faction. To 
 create dissatisfaction in the army, and cause the officers 
 to resign from disgust, would not only distract the coun 
 sels of the ruling party, but make room for new promo 
 tions. Colonel Innes, the governor's favorite, would 
 ascend to the chief command, and the subordinate places 
 would be reserved for his adherents. Hence false rumors 
 were set afloat, and the pen of detraction was busy to dis 
 seminate them. Stories were circulated to the disparage 
 ment of the army, charging the officers with gross irregu 
 larities and neglect of duty, and indirectly throwing the 
 blame upon the commander. A malicious person filled a 
 gazette with tales of this sort, which seemed for the mo 
 ment to receive public countenance. But the artifice was 
 easily seen through, and its aims were defeated, by the 
 leaders on the patriotic side, who looked to Colonel Wash 
 ington as a pillar of support to their cause."] 
 
 These powerful appeals addressed to the noble and gen 
 erous mind of Washington could not fail of success. He 
 continued in his office. And he was even cheered to pur 
 sue its duties with increased alacrity. 
 
 * Letter to Washington. 
 
316 WASHINGTON. 
 
 At this time (1756) the Assembly resolved to increase 
 the army to 1,500 men and to establish a line of twenty- 
 three forts which, extending from the Potomac to North 
 Carolina, would constitute a frontier defense for about 300 
 miles. But this, in the opinion of the commander, was an 
 inadequate provision for the existing exigency. He urged 
 the House of Burgesses to increase the army to 2,000 men. 
 He pointed to the great extent of the frontier to be pro 
 tected; he pointed to the forts which required to be gar 
 risoned; and he pointed to the inhabitants of the border 
 country retiring before the enemy until they were about 
 even to cross the Blue Ridge. 
 
 The powerful eloquence of his appeal was not without 
 effect. There prevailed a general and intense feeling. The 
 Burgesses requested the Governor to summon half the 
 militia of the adjoining counties to co-operate in meeting 
 the fearful emergency. And the Attorney-General, Mr. 
 Peyton Randolph, in the ardor of his military zeal on the 
 occasion, formed a company of 100 gentlemen to act as 
 volunteers in the approaching campaign. His conduct was 
 an expressive indication of the spirit of the times. But the 
 measure which he adopted was evidently far more credit 
 able to his heart than to his head. Judge Marshall, allud 
 ing to the incident, very judiciously observes " Ten well- 
 trained woodsmen or Indians would have rendered more 
 service." 
 
 The House of Burgesses' scheme to establish a line of 
 forts from the Potomac to North Carolina was disapproved 
 of by the Governor. Washington, also, for reasons which 
 he assigned, preferred a few strong to many feeble gar 
 risons ; yet in obedience to the Assembly's will he planned 
 and constructed the proposed military works. In doing 
 this however he encountered many and perplexing annoy 
 ances, arising chiefly from Governor Dinwiddie's exer- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 317 
 
 else of his prerogative in military matters, and from the 
 Governor of Maryland's deranging the Virginia Assembly's 
 plans. 
 
 To provide effectually for relief from all existing evils 
 Washington sent a full narrative of the state of things to 
 the Earl of Loudoun, who had succeeded General Shirley 
 as commander-in-chief, and was then at New York. It 
 was the first intention of Lord Loudoun to go to Virginia. 
 This intention however he did not fulfill. But he held at 
 Philadelphia a meeting of the Governors of Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. Washington, who 
 was present at the meeting, was favorably regarded by the 
 Governors in their consultations. 
 
 It was his wish that the Virginia troops should be put 
 upon the regular establishment and that he and his officers 
 should hold royal commissions. In this wish however he 
 was disappointed; yet, by an arrangement agreeable to 
 him, he and all the provincial officers not comprehended 
 in the northern army, were to conduct their operations 
 under the general orders of Colonel Stanwix, an accom 
 plished British officer stationed in the interior of Penn 
 sylvania, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the mid 
 dle and southern provinces. 
 
 The thoughts of the Governors were directed particu 
 larly toward Canada and the northern lakes, and they re 
 solved to take no offensive measures in the South. Fort 
 Cumberland, being situated in Maryland, they agreed to 
 commit to that province's keeping. The defense of Vir 
 ginia against savages was to be provided for by Colonel 
 Stanwix. 
 
 It was a welcome communication which Washington re 
 ceived from Governor Dinwiddie, instructing him to look 
 to the British colonel for orders. " Colonel Stanwix," said 
 the Governor, " being appointed commander-in-chief, you 
 
318 WASHINGTON. 
 
 must submit to his orders without regard to any you may 
 receive from me ; he being near the place can direct affairs 
 better than I can." 
 
 The intercourse of Washington with this accomplished 
 military officer was always of the most agreeable nature. 
 Colonel Stanwix was a gentlemen of education and refine 
 ment. He was promoted in the year 1758 to the rank of 
 brigadier-general, and, being sent to an important post at 
 the head of boat navigation on the Mohawk, he built a 
 fort there, called, in honor of his name, Fort Stanwix. 
 This military work, afterward called Fort Schuyler, was 
 greatly celebrated during the Revolutionary War. 
 
 [The extraordinary interest and importance of the pas 
 sage in Washington's life covering his military service on 
 the frontiers to the west and northwest of Virginia, are 
 very inadequately shown by any narrative of the general 
 facts, without large reproduction of his own account of 
 particulars. The interest, in fact, of what he said, in vari 
 ous letters and elaborate communications, far exceeds 
 that of anything that was done, and it is most surprising 
 that no story of the years 1756 and 1757, in his own words, 
 has ever been attempted. That story we add here as 
 of the greatest importance for knowledge of Washington 
 at 24 and 25 years of age. 
 
 April 24, 1756, Washington wrote from Winchester to 
 Governor Dinwiddie: 
 
 " Not an hour, nay scarcely a minute passes, that does 
 not produce fresh alarms and melancholy accounts; so 
 that I am distracted what to do. Nor is it possible for 
 me to give the people the necessary assistance for their 
 defense, upon account of the small number we have, or 
 are likely to be here for some time. The inhabitants are 
 removing daily, and in a short time will leave this county 
 as desolate as Hampshire, where scarce a family lives. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 319 
 
 "Three families were murdered the night before last 
 within 12 miles from this place; and every day we have 
 accounts of such cruelties and barbarities as are shocking 
 to human nature. Nor is it possible to conceive the situa 
 tion of this miserable country. Such numbers of French 
 and Indians are all around, no road is safe to travel; 
 and here we know not the hour how soon we may be 
 attacked. 
 
 " I have written for the militia of Fairfax, Prince Wil 
 liam, and Culpeper (counties), and expect them here in 
 a very few days. But how they are to be supplied with 
 ammunition and provision, I am quite at a loss. The 
 distance of Fort Cumberland from us, where these sup 
 plies are, renders them useless, in a manner, and puts 
 us to the greatest straits; and the inhabitants leaving their 
 farms will make it impossible for the militia to subsist 
 without provisions, which are now very scarce, and will 
 be more so. I should therefore be glad your Honor 
 would send up arms, ammunition, and provisions, and 
 give immediate orders for the Irish beef at Alexandria, 
 which cannot be had without your consent. 
 
 11 Your Honor spoke of sending some Indians to our 
 assistance, in which no time should be lost, nor means 
 omitted to engage all the Catawbas and Cherokees that 
 can possibly be gathered together, and immediately dis 
 patched hither. For without Indians to oppose Indians, 
 we may expect but small success. And I should think 
 it no bad scheme, (while the Indians remain here in such 
 numbers,) to have a detachment sent out with some 
 friendly Indians to make an attempt upon their towns, 
 though this should be executed with all imaginable secrecy. 
 
 " I have been just now informed, that numbers about 
 the neighborhood hold councils and cabals to very dis 
 honorable purposes, and unworthy the thoughts of a Brit- 
 
320 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ish subject. Despairing of assistance and protection from 
 below (as they foolishly conjecture), they talk of capitu 
 lating and coming upon terms with the French and 
 Indians, rather than lose their lives and fortunes through 
 obstinacy. My force, at present, is very weak, and un 
 able to take the necessary measures with those suspected; 
 but, as soon as the militia arrive, be assured I will do 
 my utmost to detect and secure such pests of society, 
 if my information is not groundless, which I should be 
 pleased to find so." 
 
 Reporting that a council of war had determined that 
 " Enoch's " fort should be abandoned and that all of the 
 garrison possible to be spared at Fort Edwards should 
 march to Winchester; and also that there had been a 
 fight with the French and Indians at Fort Hopewell, on 
 the South Branch, with the waters so high that assist 
 ance could not be sent, Washington added: 
 
 " From these and other circumstances, you may form 
 but a faint idea of the wretched and unhappy situation 
 of this country, nor can it be conceived. 
 
 " My extreme hurry, confusion, and anxiety must 
 plead an excuse for incorrectness, &c." 
 
 To John Robinson, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, 
 an ardent friend, and the recognized political chief of the 
 colony, Washington wrote the same day, from Winchester: 
 
 " The deplorable situation of this people is no more 
 to be described than my anxiety and uneasiness for their 
 relief. And I see in so clear a light the inevitable de 
 struction of this county without immediate assistance, 
 that I cannot look forward but with the most poignant 
 sorrow. 
 
 "You may expect, by the time this comes to hand, 
 that, without a considerable reinforcement, Frederick 
 county will not be mistress of fifteen families. They are 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 321 
 
 now retreating to the securest parts in droves of fifties. 
 In short, everything has too melancholy an appearance 
 for pen to communicate. I have therefore sent an officer, 
 whose good sense and judicious observations will be a 
 more effectual way of transmitting an account of the peo 
 ple's distresses. 
 
 " I wish the Assembly had given 2000 men, instead of 
 1500, and that I had been acquainted with the dispositions 
 they intended to make. Since I am ignorant of this, I 
 hope it will not be thought presuming when I offer my 
 sentiments upon the subject. 
 
 " We are, Sir, first to consider, that if a chain of forts 
 is to be erected upon our frontiers, it is done with a de 
 sign to protect the people. Therefore, if these forts are 
 more than 15 and 18 miles, or a day's march, asunder, and 
 garrisoned with less than 80 or 100 men each, the intention 
 is lost, and for these reasons, ist, if they are greater dis 
 tances, it is inconvenient for the soldiers to scout, and 
 allows the enemy to pass between without being easily dis 
 covered, and when discovered so soon pursued. And sec 
 ondly, if they are garrisoned with less than 80 or 100 men 
 each, the number will be too few to afford detachments. 
 Then, again, our frontiers are so extensive, that, were the 
 enemy to attack us on the one side, before the troops on 
 the other could get to their assistance, they might overrun 
 and destroy half the country. And it is more than proba 
 ble, if they had a design upon the first, they would make 
 a feint upon the other. Then we are to consider what 
 sums the building of 20 forts would cost, and the remov 
 ing stores and provisions to each; and in the last place, 
 we. are to consider where and when this expense is to 
 end. For, if we do not endeavor to remove the cause, 
 we are as liable to the same incursions seven years hence 
 
 21 
 
323 WASHINGTON. 
 
 as now, if the war continues, and they are allowed to re 
 main on the Ohio. 
 
 " I shall next give the reasons, which I think make 
 for a defensive plan. If the neighboring Colonies refuse 
 us their assistance, we have neither strength or abilities 
 of ourselves to conduct an expedition; or, if we had, and 
 were the whole to join us, I do not see to what pur 
 pose, since we have neither a train of artillery, artillery 
 men, engineers, &c., to execute any scheme beyond the 
 mountains against a regular fortress. Again, we have 
 not, that I can see either stores or provisions, arms or 
 ammunition, wagons or horses, in any degree propor 
 tioned to the service; and to undertake an affair, where 
 we are sure to fall through, would be productive of the 
 worst consequences, and another defeat would entirely 
 lose us the interest of every Indian. 
 
 " If, then, we cannot act offensively with a prospect 
 of success, we must be upon the defensive; and that there 
 is no way to protect the people, or save ourselves, but 
 by a chain of forts, is evidently certain. 
 
 " I would beg leave, in that case, to propose that there 
 should be a strong fort erected at this place (Winches 
 ter) for a general receptacle of all the stores, &c., and 
 a place of residence for the commanding officers, to be 
 garrisoned with one company for the security of the 
 stores, and to serve as escorts for all wagons that are 
 going higher up, because it is the most public and most 
 convenient for intelligence of any in the country, and the 
 most convenient to the part that will ever be attacked by 
 numbers, it lying directly on the road to Fort Duquesne, 
 from whence, and their Indian allies, who are still higher 
 up, we have the greatest reason to apprehend danger. It 
 also lies convenient to the inhabitants for raising the mili 
 tia when occasion requires. 
 
LIFE^AND TIMES. 323 
 
 " I have found by experience, that being just within the 
 inhabitants is absolutely necessary to give orders for the 
 defense of the people; and that Fort Cumberland is of no 
 more use towards the defence of the country than Fort 
 George at Hampton, and know as little what is doing, 
 For the people so soon as they are alarmed, immediately 
 fly towards, and at this time there is not an inhabitant 
 living between here and Fort Cumberland, except a few 
 settlements upon the Manor about a fort we built there, 
 and a few families at Edwards's, on Cacapehon, with a 
 guard of ours; which makes this very town at present the 
 outmost frontiers, and though a place trifling in itself, 
 is yet of the utmost importance, as it commands the com 
 munication from east to west, as well as from north to 
 south; for at this place do almost all the roads center; 
 and secures the great roads of one half of our frontiers 
 to the markets of the neighboring colonies, as well as 
 to those on Rappahannock and Potomack. At Fort Cum 
 berland I would have one company garrisoned to secure 
 the place, to procure the earliest intelligence, and to cover 
 all detachments that may be sent towards the Ohio, 
 which is all the use that it can ever be of. In the next 
 place, I would propose, that a good fort should be erected 
 between this and Fort Cumberland, which shall be in a 
 line with the chain of forts across the country, and be 
 garrisoned with two companies. This I would advise, 
 because, as I before observed, if we are ever attacked 
 by a large body, it must be here, as they have no other 
 road to our frontiers, either to transport men or neces 
 saries. 
 
 " These three forts that I have already spoken of will em 
 ploy four companies, which will be a tolerable body, if the 
 companies are large, which they would be according to the 
 plan I sent you. And it would be a trifling expense to 
 
324 WASHINGTON. 
 
 augment each company to 100 privates, which will make 
 2000 exclusive of officers, which were included in the 
 scheme last sent. 
 
 " After this is done, I would post the remaining com 
 panies equidistant, or at proper passes, along our fron 
 tiers, agreeable to the enclosed sketch, and order com 
 munications to be opened between fort and fort, and large 
 detachments scouting to discover the tracks of the enemy. 
 
 " And now, Sir, one thing to add, which requires the 
 Assembly's attention, and that is, in what vale, or upon 
 what part of our frontiers these forts are to be built? 
 For I am to tell you that the Great Ridge or North Moun 
 tain, so called in Evans's map, to which I refer, is now 
 become our exterior bound, there not being one inhabitant 
 beyond that on all the Potomack waters, except a few 
 families on the South Branch, and at Joseph Edwards's, 
 on Cacapehon, guarded by a party of ours. So that it 
 requires some consideration to determine whether we are 
 to build near this to protect the present inhabitants; or 
 on the South Branch, or Patterson's Creek, in the hopes 
 of drawing back those who have forsaken their dwellings. 
 
 " If we do not build there, that country will ever want 
 settlers; and if we do, there is so great a blank, with such 
 a series of mountains between, that it will be next to im 
 possible to guard the people effectually. I could again 
 wish that the Assembly had given 2000 men, exclusive of 
 officers, to be formed into two battalions of ten companies 
 each, with four field officers. Indeed, 1500 men are a 
 greater number than ever was in a regiment of only one 
 battalion, and they should be divided into two, with four 
 field officers, who should be posted so as to have the im 
 mediate care of a certain number of forts, with orders to 
 draw from one to another, as occasion should require. 
 
 " I could add more on this subject, but I am so hurried 
 
LIFE' AND TIMES. 325 
 
 that I am obliged to refer for further particulars to the 
 bearer, who will tell you that, to carry on all these works, 
 a number of tools, as well as many other necessaries, will 
 be absolutely wanted. 
 
 " I have given my opinion with candor, and submit to 
 correction with the greatest pleasure. Confusion and 
 hurry must apoligize for the incoherence and incorrect 
 ness hereof." 
 
 In the same letter to Robinson, Washington said: 
 
 " I am sorry to hear the reflections upon the conduct 
 of the officers. I could wish that their names had been 
 particularized, that justice might be done to the inno 
 cent and guilty! for it is extremely hard, that the whole 
 corps should suffer the most ungenteel reproaches for the 
 inadvertence and misconduct of a few." 
 
 The orders of Washington were as strict as language 
 could make them, and as severe in the penalties threat 
 ened as could be ventured. A soldier found drunk was 
 liable to 100 lashes, and one presuming to quarrel or 
 fight to 500 lashes, a figure more meant for terror by 
 threat than for execution. 
 
 April 27, 1756, in a second letter to Robinson, Wash 
 ington added further observations on the defense of the 
 frontiers by a chain of forts. Thus he said: 
 
 " If the province of Maryland makes no provision for 
 its frontiers, we shall have a long, unguarded space quite 
 open and defenceless from Wills Creek to the mouth of 
 Shanandoah, where the enemy may have, and have already 
 given proof of, free egress and regress in crossing Poto- 
 mack; plundering, burning, murdering and destroying all 
 before them. It is matter of moment, and worthy the 
 Assembly's notice. For we must secure that weak side, 
 if our neighbors are so indifferent as to disregard their 
 own safety, because of its connexion with ours. In this 
 
326 WASHINGTON. 
 
 case the number of forts will be increased to two or three 
 more. Another material point to be regarded by the As 
 sembly, and of very great importance to the inhabitants, 
 is the situation of these forts intended along the frontiers. 
 As I mentioned to you before, placing them on the for 
 mer utmost frontiers would be of small service to defend 
 the present frontier settlements, now so remote from the 
 former. -." s 
 
 " I would again urge the necessity of a large and strong 
 fort at this town. It being the center of all the public 
 roads, it will be the sole refuge for the inhabitants upon 
 any alarm. Had such a place of defence been here, it 
 would have hindered some hundreds of families from mov 
 ing further than this that are now lost to the country. 
 The women and children might have been secure, while 
 the men would have gone in a body against the savages, 
 whereas the number of men now left is so small that no 
 assistance or defence can be made to any purpose. Win 
 chester is now the farthest boundary of this cpunty no 
 inhabitants beyond it; and if measures are not taken to 
 maintain it, we must retire below the Blue Ridge in a 
 very short time. Should this panic and fear continue, 
 not a soul will be left on this side the Ridge; and what 
 now remain are collected in small forts (out of which 
 there is no prevailing on them to stir) and every planta 
 tion deserted. 
 
 " I have exerted every power for the protection and 
 peace of this distressed, unhappy people, and used my 
 utmost to persuade them to continue, until assistance 
 come, though to little effect. I have repeatedly urged 
 Lord Fairfax to send for the militia of the adjacent coun 
 ties, and have sent myself several expresses to hurry 
 them on." 
 
 In pursuance of the urgent advice thus given, a fort 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 327 
 
 was ordered to be built at Winchester for the defense of 
 Frederick county. Another letter of the same date (April 
 27, 1756), addressed to Governor Dinwiddie, Washing 
 ton said: 
 
 " Desolation and murder still increase, and no pros 
 pects of relief. The Blue Ridge is now our frontier, no 
 men being left in this county, except a few that keep close 
 with a number of women and children in forts, which 
 they have erected for that purpose. There are now no 
 militia in this county; when there were they could not 
 be brought to action. If the inhabitants of the adjacent 
 counties pursue the same system of disobedience, the 
 whole must fall an inevitable sacrifice; and there is room 
 to fear they have caught the infection, since I have sent 
 (besides divers letters to Lord Fairfax) express after ex 
 press to hurry them on, and yet have no tidings of their 
 march. We have the greatest reason to believe that the 
 number of the enemy is very considerable, and as they are 
 spread all over this part of the country; and that their 
 success, and the spoils with which they have enriched 
 themselves, dished up with a good deal of French policy, 
 will encourage the Indians of distant nations to fall upon 
 our inhabitants in greater numbers, and, if possible, with 
 greater rapidity. They enjoy the sweets of a profitable 
 war, and will no doubt improve the success which ever 
 must attend their arms, without we have Indians to op 
 pose theirs. I would therefore advise, as I often have 
 done, that there should be neither trouble nor expense 
 omitted to bring the few who are still inclined into our 
 service, and that too with the greatest care and expedition. 
 A small number, just to point out the wiles and tracks of 
 the enemy, is better than none; for which reason I must 
 earnestly recommend that those who accompanied Major 
 Lewis should be immediately sent up, and such of the 
 
328 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Catawbas as can be engaged in our interest. If such an 
 other torrent as this has been, (or may be ere it is done,) 
 should press upon our settlements, there will not be a 
 living creature left in Frederick county; and how soon 
 Fairfax and Prince William may share its fate is easily 
 conceived, if we only consider a cruel and bloodthirsty 
 enemy, conquerors already possessed of the finest parts 
 of Virginia, plenteously filled with all kinds of provisions, 
 pursuing a people overcome with fear and consternation 
 at the inhuman murders of these barbarous savages. 
 
 "The inhabitants, who are ^ now in forts, are greatly 
 distressed for the want of ammunition and provision, and 
 are incessantly importuning me for both; neither of which 
 have I at this place to spare. To hear the cries of the 
 hungry, who have fled for refuge to these places, with 
 nothing more than they carry on their backs, is exceed 
 ingly moving. 
 
 " I have been formerly, and am at present, pretty full 
 in offering my opinion and counsel upon matters which 
 regard the public interest and safety. These have been 
 solely the object of all my thoughts, words, and actions; 
 and, in order to avoid censure in every part of my con 
 duct, I make it a rule to obey the dictates of your Honor, 
 the Assembly, and a good conscience." 
 
 May 3, 1756, Washington wrote to Governor Din- 
 widdie from Winchester: 
 
 " We have some reason to believe the Indians are re 
 turned to Fort Duquesne, as some scouts from Fort Cum 
 berland saw their tracks that way; and many corroborat 
 ing accounts affirm that the roads over the Alleghaney 
 mountains are as much beaten as they were last year by 
 General Braddock's army. From these and other cir 
 cumstances we may judge their numbers were considera- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 329 
 
 ble. Whether they are gone for the season, or only to 
 bring in a larger party, I am at a loss to determine. 
 
 " Though I have often troubled you on this head, I 
 must again beg leave to desire your particular instruc 
 tions, and information of what is to be done, as, being 
 in a state of uncertainty, without knowing the plan of 
 operations, or what scheme to go upon, reduces me to 
 the greatest straits, and leaves me to guess at everything. 
 Orders that are absolutely necessary to be despatched to 
 the officers one day, appear the next as necessary to be 
 contradicted. * * * So much am I kept in the dark 
 that I do not know whether to prepare for the offensive 
 or defensive; and what might be absolutely necessary in 
 the one would be quite useless in the. other. 
 
 " There are now in town about 150 of the Fairfax mili 
 tia; 300 are expected from Prince William; and with the 
 soldiers and militia now here, I intend to go out and 
 scour the woods hereabouts for three or four days until 
 the others arrive. 
 
 " I want very much to go to Fort Cumberland to regu 
 late affairs there, but fear I cannot spare time, as my 
 presence will be very necessary here. 
 
 " Clothes for the men are very much wanted. There 
 are none in store, and some men, who have been en 
 listed these two months, to whom we could give nothing 
 but a blanket, shoes, and shirt, are justly dissatisfied at 
 having two pence per day stopped from them [out of a 
 wage of eight pence per day, the purpose being to pay 
 for clothes]. Provision here is scarce, and the commis 
 sary much wanted to lay in more. I have been, and still 
 am, obliged to do this duty, as well as most others, which 
 I would take upon me, rather than let anything be want 
 ing for the good of the country, which I could do." 
 
 Colonel William Fairfax, Washington's early friend, 
 
330 WASHINGTON. 
 
 wrote to him at this time in regard to the trouble he had 
 with the militia assembled at Winchester: 
 
 " I am sensible that such a medley of undisciplined mili 
 tia must create you various troubles, but, having Caesar's 
 Commentaries, and perhaps Quintus Curtius, you have 
 therein read of greater fatigues, murmurings, mutinies, 
 and defections, than will probably come to your share; 
 though, if any of those casualties should interrupt your 
 quiet, I doubt not you would bear them with a magnanim 
 ity equal to that of any of the heroes of those times. The 
 Council and Burgesses are mostly your friends; so that 
 if you have not always particular instructions from the 
 Governor, which you think necessary and desire, the omis 
 sion, or neglect, may proceed from the confidence enter 
 tained in your ability and discretion to do what is fit and 
 praiseworthy." 
 
 May 23, 1756, Washington wrote to Governor Dinwid- 
 die from Winchester: 
 
 " The spirit of desertion was so remarkable in the mili 
 tia, that it had a surprising effect upon the regiment, and 
 encouraged many of the soldiers to desert. 
 
 " I found it absolutely impossible to go to Fort Cum 
 berland at this time, without letting matters of greater 
 importance suffer in my absence here; such a multiplicity 
 of different kinds of business am I engaged in. 
 
 " I am heartily glad your Honor has fixed upon the 
 gentlemen Associators to point out the place for erect 
 ing of forts, but am sorry to find their motions so slow. 
 
 " Your Honor approved the scheme I sent down for 
 forming the regiment into two battalions of twenty com 
 panies, but never gave any directions concerning the ap 
 pointment. Nor do I think there can be any plan judi 
 ciously concerted, until we know what number of forts are 
 to be built upon our frontiers. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 331 
 
 " At this place I have begun the fort according to your 
 orders, and found that the work would not be conducted 
 if I was away, which was one among many reasons that 
 detained me here." 
 
 The gentlemen Associators referred to in the above 
 were about one hundred leading gentlemen of the colony, 
 headed by Peyton Randolph, the Attorney-General. They 
 organized as volunteers upon the special alarm of great 
 peril on the frontier, and marched towards Winchester, 
 but undertook no further service when the alarm subsided. 
 When Robinson, the Speaker of the Assembly, gave no 
 tice to Washington of the organization of the company 
 of gentlemen volunteers, he said further: 
 
 " The Council and House of Burgesses have agreed on 
 a representation to his Majesty, in which you and the 
 other officers are recommended to his Majesty's favor. 
 Our hopes, Dear George, are all fixed on you for bring 
 ing our affairs to a happy issue." 
 
 Governor Dinwiddie wrote, May 28, 1756, to Major-Gen 
 eral Abercrombie: 
 
 " As we are told the Earl of Loudoun is to raise three 
 regiments on this continent, on the British establishment, 
 I dearn't venture to trouble him immediately on his arri 
 val with any recommendations; but, good Sir, give me 
 leave to pray your interest with his Lordship in favor of 
 Colonel George Washington, who, I will venture to say, 
 is a very deserving gentleman, and has from the begin 
 ning commanded the forces of this dominion. General 
 Braddock had so high an esteem for his merit, that he 
 made him one of his aid-de-camps, and, if he had sur 
 vived, I believe he would have provided handsomely for 
 him in the regulars. He is a person much beloved here, 
 and he has gone through many hardships in the service; 
 and I really think he has great merit, and believe he can 
 
332 WASHINGTON. 
 
 raise more men here than any one present that I know. 
 If his Lordship will be so kind as to promote him in the 
 British establishment, I think he will answer my recom 
 mendation." 
 
 June 25, 1/56, Washington wrote to Governor Din- 
 widdie from Winchester: 
 
 " I intend to take the advice of a council of war about 
 the line on which these forts are to be erected, and shall 
 visit all the ground that I conveniently can, and direct 
 the building. 
 
 " It is a work that must be conducted tedious, for these 
 reasons: the scarcity of tools, smallness of our numbers, 
 and want of conductors. We can only attempt to build 
 fort after fort, not attempting too many at a time. 
 
 " Two hundred and forty six drafts are the total number 
 brought in, out of which number several have deserted. 
 
 " I was in hope that by garrisoning the forts with 
 part of the militia, we should have been able to have mus 
 tered a greater number of soldiers to work upon the forts 
 that are to be built But I am under the greatest appre 
 hensions that all who are now up will desert. They go 
 off in twenties, and all threaten to return [home] if they 
 are not relieved in a very short time or discharged. 
 * * * If they should go, as I suppose they will, we 
 shall again be much exposed, and cannot defend so ex 
 tensive a frontier. 
 
 " Governor Sharpe is building a fort on Potomac river, 
 which may be of great service towards the protection of 
 our people on that side." 
 
 In a letter of July 13, 1756, from Fort Cumberland, to 
 Captain Waggener, Washington said: 
 
 " From the great confidence I repose in your diligence, 
 I have appointed you to a command on which much de 
 pends; and I doubt not you will see the work carried on 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 333 
 
 with expedition. And I must particularly recommend it 
 to you to keep up a strict command, both over officers 
 and men, as you will be answerable for any delays or 
 neglect which may happen for want of due discipline; and 
 I would not wish your good nature should occasion you 
 to overlook a fault in an officer, who may be our best 
 friend. 
 
 " The Governor has ordered the militia to be discharged 
 as soon as harvest is over, since they are so unwilling to 
 continue until December." 
 
 Captain Waggener was ordered to see whether a fort 
 erected by the people would answer for a public fort, and 
 if so to garrison it; and then go on to the next place in 
 the proposed chain of forts; get all the timbers ready, and 
 by that time a plan of the kind of forts to be built would 
 reach him. 
 
 To Captain Peter Hog orders were given to attend to 
 the building of forts southward from Fort Dinwiddie 
 towards Mayo river. He was to secure at Augusta Court 
 house expeditions calling out the militia of Augusta county 
 to aid the soldiers in building the forts. These orders were 
 given at Winchester, July 21, 1756; and on the same day, 
 in a letter to Captain Hog, Washington said: 
 
 " There is a part of your recruiting account which much 
 astonishes me, and I thought you nor no officer who 
 valued his character, would have presumed to have done 
 such a thing, as he must be certain it would appear as a 
 palpable fraud in him." 
 
 Washington had provided both money and provision for 
 sending to Waggener some enlisted men, and the latter 
 had charged for the subsistence of these men before he 
 received them, when he had been at no cost on their 
 account. 
 
 July 22, 1756, Washinton wrote to Captain Stewart from 
 
334 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Winchester, giving directions in regard to the construc 
 tion of forts, and the tools which he had secured, and 
 other tools which he must borrow, hire, or buy from the 
 inhabitants. He further said: 
 
 " I have too great an opinion of your good sense and 
 discretion to think you need any admonition to induce 
 you to a diligent discharge of your duty. You see our 
 situation, know our danger, and bear witness of the peo 
 ple's sufferings, which are sufficient excitements to a gen 
 erous mind. 
 
 " This instant I received yours of yesterday's date, and 
 am extremely sorry that the Indians have visited us at 
 this critical juncture of harvesting, especially as it will 
 prevent your proceedings in the operations ordered. 
 
 " If you can learn from good intelligence that their num 
 bers are great and motions designed for Virginia, endeavor 
 to give the inhabitants notice, that they may lodge their 
 women and children, and assist against the enemy. 
 
 " If you find they are only flying parties of the Indians, 
 I would advise the settlers by no means to neglect their 
 harvest, as their whole support depends upon it, and your 
 assistance to get it in. 
 
 " I have sent you two barrels of powder, and four boxes 
 of ball. As to cartridge paper, I neither have nor can 
 get any upon any terms. You must get horns and 
 pouches, if you send over the neighborhood for them." 
 
 August 4, 1756, Washington wrote to Dinwiddie from 
 Winchester that the necessary orders and directions for 
 the chain of forts to be built on the frontiers had been 
 attended to, and plans and tools despatched with the or 
 ders to all the officers appointed to the work. The Coun 
 cil and himself had not wholly followed the act of the As 
 sembly, some changes being required by the situation of 
 the country, but the scheme adopted would undoubtedly 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 335 
 
 give " the best chain that can possibly be erected for the 
 defence of the people." 
 
 " I make no doubt your Honor has ere this heard of the 
 defeat of Lieutenant Rutherford of the Rangers, escort 
 ing an express to me at Fort Cumberland, and of the das 
 tardly behavior of the militia, who ran off without one 
 half of them having discharged their pieces, although they 
 were apprised of the ambuscade by one of their flanking 
 parties, before the Indians fired upon them; and ran back 
 to Ashby's Fort, contrary to orders, persuasions, threats, 
 &c. They are all ordered in (from detachment duty as 
 guards to the plantations), as soon as the people have se 
 cured their harvest. Through the passive behavior of their 
 officers they have been very refractory. 
 
 " I think with the number of men we have, there is but 
 a poor prospect of our finishing our forts in time, and a 
 much worse of defending our frontiers properly, and I 
 would be glad if some expedient could be fallen upon to 
 augment it. 
 
 " There is an act of Parliament to allow all servants to 
 enlist, and the owners to be paid a reasonable allowance 
 for them. If we had this privilege, we could soon com 
 plete the regiment. * * * If we have not this liberty 
 granted us, the servants will all run off to the regular 
 officers who are recruiting about us ; and that would be to 
 weaken our colony much. For my part I see no other 
 expedient. 
 
 " Your Honor sees plainly how little our strength has 
 been augmented by the drafts, and in three or four months 
 they are to be discharged. 
 
 " I could wish we were clear of Fort Cumberland. It 
 takes a great part of our small force to garrison it, and I 
 see no service that it is to our colony; for since the In 
 dians have driven the inhabitants so low down, they do 
 
336 WASHINGTON. 
 
 not hestiate to follow them as far as this place. There 
 have been several families murdered, on the Maryland 
 side, this week ; and P'ort Cumberland is now so much out 
 of the way that they seldom hear of those things within 
 a month after they are done. Our men want many neces 
 saries, until the arrival of their regimentals, which cannot 
 be had without sending to Philadelphia ; and the great loss 
 we shall suffer by sending them our paper money, has 
 prevented my purchasing these things, until the men are 
 almost naked. 
 
 "We cannot afford to put up with the loss of sending 
 paper money, which I am credibly informed may be bought 
 up in Philadelphia for fifteen per cent their currency. 
 
 ""We are in great want of drums here, and none can 
 be bought. We now have many young drummers learn 
 ing here. 
 
 " I could by no means bring the Quakers to any terms. 
 They chose rather to be whipped to death than. bear arms, 
 or lend us any assistance whatever upon the fort, or any 
 thing of self-defence. Some of their friends have been 
 security for their appearance, when they are called for; 
 and I have released them from the guard house until 1 
 receive further orders from your Honor, which they have 
 agreed to apply for. 
 
 " I observe your Honor's proposal of carrying on an 
 expedition against the Ohio. I have always thought it 
 the best and only method to put a stop to the incursions 
 of the enemy, as they would then be obliged to stay at 
 home to defend their own possessions. But we are quite 
 unprepared for such an undertaking. If it is fixed upon, 
 now is the time for buying up provisions, and laying them 
 in at the most convenient place. The Pennsylvania butch 
 ers are buying quantities of beef here, which should be put 
 a stop to, if we are to march towards the Ohio. If we 
 
LIFE AND TIMES 337 
 
 are still to remain on the defensive, and garrison the chain 
 of forts, provisions must be laid in at each of them; and 
 I much fear, if we march from the frontiers, all the inhab 
 itants will quit their plantations." 
 
 An English letter of May n, 1756, to the Governor of 
 Pennsylvania, stated that the King had appointed the 
 Earl of Loudoun to succeed Governor Shirley as British 
 Commander-in-Chief for America, a bad choice, on ac 
 count of the Earl's incompetency. When Pitt came into 
 power he was recalled. Loudoun was empowered to raise 
 in the Colonies a Royal American regiment, to consist 
 of four battalions and be commanded by officers commis 
 sioned by the King. Permission to enlist servants was 
 given, and the consequent recruiting made trouble with 
 the colonial service. By servants were meant whites " in 
 dented " to service for a term of years, not negro slaves, 
 unless in exceptional cases. The Virginia drafting of men 
 was made a farce almost by permitting a person drafted 
 to escape service upon paying 10, and by making the 
 term of service too short. The Quakers got off easily, 
 through Dinwiddie's orders to " use them with lenity/' 
 merely holding them, " at their own expense," to the end 
 of the term for which they were drafted. 
 
 August 5, 1756, Washington addressed a very long let 
 ter to his most influential friend, John Robinson, Speaker 
 of the Assembly. In this he said : 
 
 " Captain Gist has at divers times entreated me, in the 
 most interesting manner, to intercede in his behalf, that 
 he may get the balance of his account, his distresses calling 
 aloud for all the assistance that all these sums can con 
 tribute. I do not know really who to apply to for this 
 purpose, or whose right it is to pay the account, but it 
 is certainly wrong not to pay him at all. If a hearty zeal 
 for the interest of this colony, many losses in serving it 
 
 22 
 
338 WASHINGTON. 
 
 and true distress, can recommend him to any favor, he 
 certainly merits indulgence. The Governor bids him go 
 to the Committee, and the Committee think the Governor 
 should pay it. So that the poor man suffers greatly and 
 would be glad to know his doom at once, as it has been 
 so long depending. 
 
 " I could heartily wish the Governor and Committee 
 would resolve me, whether Fort Cumberland is to be gar 
 risoned with any of the Virginia forces or not. It lies in 
 a most defenceless posture, and I do not care* to be at 
 expense in erecting new, or repairing old works, until I 
 am satisfied on this point. 
 
 " The place at present contains all our provisions and 
 valuable stores, and is not capable of an hour's defence, 
 if the enemy were to bring only one single half-pounder 
 against it; which they might do with great ease on horse 
 back. It lies so remote now from this, as well as the 
 neighboring inhabitants, that it requires as much force 
 to keep the communication open to it, as a fort at the 
 Meadows would do, and employs 150 men, who are a dead 
 charge to the country, as they can be of no other use than 
 just to protect and guard the stores, which might as well 
 be lodged at Cox's [on Patterson's Creek, 25 miles nearer 
 to Winchester] ; indeed better. A strong guard there 
 would not only protect the stores, but also the few re 
 maining inhabitants at the Branch [south Branch of 
 Potomac], and at the same time waylay and annoy the 
 enemy, as they pass and repass the mountains; whereas 
 those at Fort Cumberland, lying out in a corner, quite 
 remote from the inhabitants to where the Indians always 
 repair to do their murders, can have no intelligence of 
 anything that is doing, but remain in total ignorance of 
 all transactions. When I was down I applied to the Gov 
 ernor for his particular and positive directions in this af- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 339 
 
 fair. The following is an exact copy of his answer. 
 ' Fort Cumberland is a King's fort, and built chiefly at 
 the charge of the colony, therefore properly under our 
 direction, until a governor is appointed/ Whether I am 
 to understand this ay or no to the question, * Is the fort 
 to be continued ? ' I know not. But in all important 
 matters I am directed in this ambiguous and uncertain 
 way/' 
 
 In a written expression of his view Dinwiddie appears 
 as saying, " Its a King's fort and a magazine for stores ; 
 its not in my power to order it to be deserted * * * 
 at present it must be properly supported with men/' 
 Robinson said on this matter in reply to Washington, 
 "The Committee were all of opinion with you, that the 
 keeping Fort Cumberland was an unnecessary expense ; 
 but, upon my mentioning their opinion to the Governor, 
 he appeared very warm, and said my Lord Loudoun 
 might do what he pleased, but for his part he would no1 
 remove the garrison, or order the fort to be demolished, 
 for his right hand." 
 
 The letter of Washington to Robinson touched upoi> 
 other points : 
 
 " Great and inconceivable difficulties arise in the execu 
 tion of my commands, as well as infinite loss and disrepute 
 to the service, by my not having power to pay for [the 
 return of] deserters. Many of our deserters are appre 
 hended in Maryland, and some in Pennsylvania, and, for 
 the sake of a reward, are brought hither. But when they 
 [who bring them] are to receive certificates only, that 
 they are entitled to 200 pounds of tobacco, and those 
 certificates are to be given in to a court of claims, there 
 to lie perhaps till they are quite forgot, gives so much 
 dissatisfaction, that many, I believe, rather than appre- 
 
340 WASHINGTON. 
 
 hend one, would aid fifty to escape, and this too among 
 our own people. 
 
 " I should be glad to know whether the act of the As 
 sembly prohibits the forces from marching out of the col 
 ony. If we cannot take any of the forces out of the col 
 ony, the disadvantages the country may labor under are 
 not to be described; for the enemy may commit the most 
 unheard of cruelties, and by stepping across the Potomac 
 evade pursuit, and mock our best endeavors to scourge 
 them. 
 
 " The inconveniences that arise from paying the soldiers 
 in large bills are not to be conceived. We are obliged 
 afterwards to give the pay of two or three soldiers to one 
 man. He, ten to one, drinks, games, or pays it away; 
 by which means the parties are all dissatisfied, and per 
 petually complaining for want of their pay. It also pre 
 vents them from laying out their pay for absolute neces 
 saries, and obliges them many times to drink it out; for 
 they put it into the tavern-keeper's hands, who will give 
 no change, unless they consent to take the greatest part 
 in liquor. In short, for five shillings cash you may at any 
 time purchase a month's pay from the soldiers; in such 
 contempt do they hold the currency. Besides small bills 
 (if the thing is practicable) I should be extremely glad to 
 receive some part of the money in Spanish and Portugal 
 gold and silver. There are many things wanted for the 
 use of the regiment which cannot be had here and may 
 be had at Philadelphia; but their undervaluing of our 
 [paper] money has prevented my sending thither. 
 
 "At the repeated instances of the soldiers, I must pay 
 so much regard to their representations as to transmit 
 their complaints. They think it extremely hard, as it is 
 indeed, Sir, that they, who perhaps do more duty, and 
 undergo more fatigue and hardship, from the nature of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 341 
 
 the service and situation of the country, than any troops 
 upon the continent, should be allowed the least pay, and 
 the smallest encouragements in other respects. The 
 Carolinians received British pay; the Marylanders, I be 
 lieve, do the same; Pennsylvania is exorbitant in reward 
 ing their soldiers [i8d. a day and subsistence, to 8d. a day 
 in Virginia] ; the Jerseys and New Yorkers I do not re 
 member what it is they give; but the New England gov 
 ernments give more than a shilling per day, our money, 
 besides an allowance of rum, peas, tobacco, ginger, vine 
 gar, etc., etc. 
 
 " Our soldiers complain that their pay is insufficient 
 even to furnish shoes, shirts, stockings, etc., which their 
 officers, in order to keep them fit for duty, oblige them 
 to provide. This, they say, deprives them of the means 
 of purchasing any of the necessaries of life, and obliges 
 them to drag through a disagreeable service in the most 
 disagreeable manner. That their pay will not afford more 
 than enough (if that) to keep' them in clothes, I should 
 be convinced of for these reasons, if experience had not 
 taught me. The British soldiers are allowed eight pence 
 sterling per day, with many necessaries that ours are not, 
 and can buy what is requisite upon the cheapest terms; 
 and lie one half the year in camp, or garrison, when they 
 cannot consume the fifth part of what ours do in continual 
 marches over mountains, rocks, rivers, etc. Then, Sir, 
 is it possible that our men, who receive a fourth less, have 
 two pence per day stoppages for their regimental clothing, 
 and all other stoppages that British soldiers have, and 
 are obliged, by being in continual action, to lay in triple 
 the quantity of ammunition and clothes, and at double the 
 .price, should be able to clear quarters? It is not to be 
 done, and this is the reason why the men have always 
 been so naked and bare of clothes. 
 
343 WASHINGTON. 
 
 "And I dare say you will be candid enough to allow, 
 that there are few men who would choose to have their 
 lives exposed, without some view or hope of reward, to 
 the incessant assaults of a merciless enemy. 
 
 "Another thing there is which gives them great uneasi 
 ness, and that is, seeing no regular provision made for the 
 maimed and wounded. They acknowledge the generosity 
 of the Assembly, and have the highest veneration for that 
 respectable House; they look with gratitude on the care 
 that has been taken of their brother soldiers ; but say this 
 is only an act of will, and another Assembly may be much 
 less liberal. We have no certainty that this generosity 
 may continue, consequently can have nothing in view but 
 the most gloomy prospects, and no encouragement to be 
 bold and active; and the probable effects of which are 
 wounds, which no sooner happen, and they unfit for ser 
 vice, than they are discharged, and turned upon an un 
 charitable world to beg, steal, or starve. In short, they 
 have a true sense of all that can happen, and do not think 
 slightly of the fatigues they encounter in scouring these 
 mountains with their provisions on their backs, lying out 
 and watching for the enemy, with no other covering or 
 conveniency, to shelter them from the inclemency of the 
 weather than trees and rocks! The old soldiers are af 
 fected, and complain of their hardships and little encour 
 agement, in piteous terms ; and they give these as reasons 
 for so much desertion. The money that is given in pay 
 ing for deserters, expresses, horse-hire, losses and abuse 
 of horses, would go a great length toward advancing their 
 pay, which I hope would contribute not a little to remove 
 the cause of this expense. I would not have it here un 
 derstood, though, that I mean to recommend anything 
 extraordinary; no, I would give them British pay, and 
 entitle them to the same privileges during their stay in 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 343 
 
 the service, and as a reward or compliment for their toil, 
 rather than a matter of right. Were the country to give 
 them one suit of regimental clothes a year, without receiv 
 ing the two pence stoppage, it would be a full allowance, 
 and give great content and satisfaction. All they want 
 (they say) is to be entitled to the privileges and immuni 
 ties of soldiers, of which they are well informed by some 
 who have been a number of years in the army, then they 
 should think it no hardship to be subject to the punish 
 ments and fatigues. 
 
 " Were this done, and an order given by the Committee 
 empowering me to provide for them, according to the 
 rules and customs of the army, then I should know what 
 I was about, and I could do it without hesitation or fear, 
 and, am convinced, to the satisfaction and interest of the 
 country. 
 
 "As the case now stands, we are upon such odd estab 
 lishment, under such uncertain regulations, and subject to 
 so much inconvenience, that I am wandering in a wilder 
 ness of difficulties, and am ignorant of the ways to extri 
 cate myself, and to steer for the satisfaction of the coun 
 try, of the soldiers, or of myself. Having no certain rules 
 for the direction of my conduct, I am afraid to turn to 
 this hand or to that, lest it should be censured. 
 
 " If such an order, as I before spoke of, was to issue 
 from your Board, I would then immediately provide upon 
 the best terms a quantity of all kinds of ammunition, 
 clothes, etc., for the use of the regiment, and deliver them 
 out to each company as their wants required, taking care 
 to deduct the value of all such things from their pay. By 
 this means the soldiers would be always provided and fit 
 for duty, and do it cheerfully, and the country sustains no 
 other loss than advancing, and lying out of, the money 
 for a few months to lay in those stores, as this money is 
 
344 WASHINGTON. 
 
 always restored by the soldiers again. I have hitherto 
 been afraid to advance any sums of money for this pur 
 pose, and always bought at extravagant prices, and have 
 been obliged to send to different parts, ere they could be 
 had, which has also contributed to the cause of their 
 nakedness. 
 
 " The officers are almost as uneasy and dispirited as the 
 men, doing every part of duty with languor and indiffer 
 ence. When they are ordered to provide themselves with 
 suitable necessaries, they complain of an uncertain estab 
 lishment, and the probability of being disbanded, and, so, 
 things rendered useless. So that I really most heartily 
 wish for a change. The surgeon has entreated me to 
 mention his case, which I shall do by enclosing his letters. 
 He has behaved extremely well, and discharged his duty 
 in every capacity since he came into the regiment. He 
 has long discovered an inclination to quit the service, the 
 encouragement being so small; and I believe would have 
 done it, had not the officers, to show their regard and will 
 ingness to detain him, subscribed each one day's pay in 
 every month. This, as they are likely to be so much dis 
 persed, and can receive no benefit from him, they intend 
 to withdraw (he says) and therefore begs me to solicit 
 the gentlemen of the committee on his behalf; otherwise 
 he will be obliged to seek some other method of getting 
 his livelihood. 
 
 " If it is thought necessary to establish an hospital, I 
 believe there can scarcely be a doubt but that this is the 
 place ; and then I hope he will be appointed director, with 
 advanced pay. Whether or not, I could really wish his 
 pay or perquisites was increased, for the reasons he gives. 
 
 " I beg, Sir, with very great earnestness, that the gentle 
 men of the Committee will communicate their sentiments 
 fully upon all these several matters, and approve or dis- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 345 
 
 approve of everything therein. I only wait to know their 
 intention, and then act in strict conformity thereto. 
 
 " If the Committee find my account satisfactory and 
 distinct, as I have no doubt of it, it would be a great obli 
 gation if they would make a final settlement to that date, 
 and "begin a new account. They will find little trouble, or 
 difficulty, in overhauling short accounts, kept in a regular 
 method, plain and perspicuous, which is the very life of, 
 business." 
 
 It will be seen that on August 4th Washington wrote a 
 long letter to Governor Dinwiddie, and on August 5th 
 another and very long letter to Speaker Robinson, the 
 former making nine printed pages, and the latter thirteen. 
 On August 5th he also wrote letters to Captain Waggener 
 and to Colonel Stephen. To Waggener he said : 
 
 " I have so many places and people to defend ; so great 
 calls from every quarter for men; and so little prospects 
 for getting any, that I find it impossible to comply with 
 the act of Assembly, and opinion of the Council of War, 
 in building the chain of forts on the frontiers. You must, 
 therefore, notwithstanding all the orders which have here 
 tofore been given, immediately despatch Capt. Bell, with 
 his whole company to Capt. Cox's fort. * * * Your 
 own and the two remaining companies, you are to dis 
 pose of in the most eligible manner for the protection of 
 the inhabitants above the Trough ; and I could most ear 
 nestly wish that you would, if the thing is practicable, 
 erect a fort in that settlement, twenty miles above your 
 upper fort." 
 
 To Colonel Stephen he said : 
 
 " The views of the enemy are designed against the lower 
 inhabitants. They have laid Maryland and Pennsylvania 
 waste, as low as Carlisle, the inhabitants of which place 
 we are told are flying with the utmost consternation. 
 
346 WASHINGTON. 
 
 They have made an attempt on the Virginia side, killed 
 one and captivated another four miles hitherwards, but 
 retreated back, for how long a time, God knows. 
 
 "Yesterday I wrote you [and*the same to Waggener], 
 and desired that all the captains would be punctual in 
 making me weekly returns, signed by themselves and offi 
 cers, signifying the state and strength of their companies, 
 and shall here repeat these orders, because I am fully 
 resolved to suspend the first Captain (or commander of 
 a company) that fails in this^ point, or that is negligent 
 and incorrect in making them out, tho' they may err but 
 in one man. By my returns of the regiment including 
 drafts, scouts, and rangers, I can only make 926 men; 
 while Mr Boyd, exclusive of Captain Hog's company, has 
 issued pay for 1080." 
 
 To Governor Dinwiddie Washington wrote from Win 
 chester August 14, 1756: 
 
 "We have built some and altered other forts, as far 
 south on the Potomac waters as any settlers have been 
 molested; and there only remains one body of inhabitants, 
 at a place called the Upper Tract, which needs a guard 
 upon these waters, and thither I have ordered a party. 
 
 " There have been two or three men killed and scalped 
 at different places since my last, though every precaution 
 has been taken to prevent it. The fatiguing service, low 
 pay, and great hardships in which our men have been en 
 gaged, cause, notwithstanding the greatest care and vigil 
 ance to the contrary, great and scandalous desertions. 
 Yesterday I received an account from Captain Stewart 
 of sixteen men deserting in a party. Frequently two or 
 three went off before, as they have done from this place. 
 We never fail to pursue, and use all possible means to 
 apprehend them; but seldom with success, as they are 
 generally aided and assisted off by the inhabitants. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 347 
 
 "A report prevailed in town yesterday that a large body 
 of Indians, headed by some French, intended to attack 
 Fort Cumberland this fall. The consequence of a success 
 ful enterprise, and the absolute impossibility (considering 
 the weakness of the place, badness of situation, and divi 
 sion of our force) of preventing its falling, are motives 
 sufficient to apprehend the worst, especially when we con 
 sider that our provision, and, what is still more valuable, 
 all our ammunition and stores, are lodged in that defence 
 less place. 
 
 "All the militia are returned [home] save 30 from Cul- 
 peper, who stay willingly with Captain Fields." 
 
 To Lord Thomas Fairfax, August 29, 1756, Washington 
 wrote from Winchester : 
 
 " It is with infinite concern I see the distresses of the 
 people, and hear their complaints, without being able to 
 afford them relief. I have so often troubled your Honor 
 for aid from the militia, that I am almost ashamed to re 
 peat my demands; nor should mention them again, did 
 I not think it absolutely necessary at this time to save the 
 most valuable and flourishing part of this county from 
 immediate desertion. And how soon the remainder part, 
 as well as the adjacent counties, may share the same fate, 
 is too obvious to reason, and to your Lordship's good 
 sense for me to demonstrate. The whole settlement of 
 Conococheague in Maryland is fled, and there now remain 
 only two families from thence to Fredericktown, which 
 is several miles below the Blue Ridge. By which means 
 we are quite exposed, and have no better security on that 
 side than the Potomac river for many miles below the 
 Shenandoah; and how great security that is to us may 
 .easily be discerned when we consider with what facility 
 the enemy have passed and repassed it already. That the 
 Maryland settlements are all abandoned is certainly fact. 
 
348 WASHINGTON. 
 
 1 thought it expedient to inform your Lordship of the 
 reasons for asking succours for these unhappy people, 
 and how absolutely necessary it is to use without delay 
 such vigorous measures as will save that settlement from 
 total desolation. 
 
 " When Hampshire [county] was invaded, and called 
 on Frederick for assistance, the people of the latter re 
 fused their aid, answering, ' Let them defend themselves, 
 as we shall do if they come to us.' Now the enemy have 
 forced through that county, and begin to infest this, those 
 a little removed from danger are equally infatuated; and 
 will be, I fear, until all in turn fall a sacrifice to an insult 
 ing and merciless enemy. 
 
 " I am so weak-handed here that I could not, without 
 stagnating the public works, spare a man to these peo 
 ples assistance. Yet I look upon the retaining of them 
 to be so essential to the well-being of the county in gen 
 eral, that I have ordered all the men that can possibly be 
 spared, to march thitherwards ; to remain there until your 
 Lordship can relieve them to return to these works. I 
 hope your Lordship will exert your authority in raising 
 men. This will redress the complaints of the people, be 
 low, who say they cannot leave their families to the mercy 
 of the enemy while they are scouring the woods." 
 
 To Colonel Stephen, Washington wrote September 6, 
 1765, from Winchester: 
 
 " I am in hopes our men for the future will be better 
 satisfied, as the Committee have allowed them eight pence 
 per day and their clothes without any stoppages or deduc 
 tions. 
 
 " The Governor informs me that he just received an 
 express from Major Lewis, acquainting him that he might 
 expect 150 Cherokees to be at this place in a fortnight; 
 and that the Catawba king had engaged to send 50 war- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 349 
 
 riors to our assistance. This will be a considerable help 
 to us, as we shall be able to carry the war into their own 
 country, and use them in the same manner they have 
 us for 12 months past. He adds that the Catawbas and 
 Cherokees are very firmly attached to our interest, and 
 will still furnish us with more assistance when the fort in 
 that country is completed. It is already in great for 
 wardness. 
 
 " I have got orders from the Governor to enlist ser 
 vants, the masters to be paid a reasonable price upon 
 the first purchase, deducting for the time they have served. 
 Complaint has been made that the officers and soldiers 
 upon party [a recruiting party] take up the strays they 
 find in the woods. Let these practices be discouraged. 
 Ensign Roy had my promise to be appointed to my com 
 pany, as it is the company he before belonged to, in case 
 my brother did not accept, and he has declined it. 
 
 " Waters and Burrass behaved extremely ill when they 
 were sent down last. If I could lay my hands on them, 
 I would try the effect of 1000 lashes on the former, and 
 whether a general court martial would not condemn the 
 latter to the life eternal. 
 
 " Capt. Peachy applied to me for leave to take up 
 strays, etc., and said it was practised by the Marylanders 
 and Pennsylvanians. If the people of those provinces are 
 guilty of unlawful practices, I cannot think it should be 
 any excitement to us to follow their example : for under 
 that pretence of getting strays in the mountains, is car 
 ried on a scene of the greatest iniquity that can be im 
 agined. The horses of our deserted settlements are taken 
 up, sold, and made away with, to the infinite detriment 
 and oppression of the people, who complain of these griev 
 ances in the most sensible manner, and urge that they 
 
350 WASHINGTON. 
 
 are more oppressed by their own people than by the 
 enemy." 
 
 To Governor Dinwiddie, Washington wrote September 
 8, 1756, of this enlisting of servants : 
 
 " It is the best, most expeditious, nay, only method, I 
 know of now to recruit the forces. It will occasion great 
 murmuring and discontent to the masters, if they are not 
 paid immediately for their servants. 
 
 " The men are much satisfied with the augmentation of 
 their pay, but nothing will prevent their desertion while 
 they are kindly received and entertained through the Col 
 ony, and even under the eye of the civil magistrate. Those 
 delivered to the constables are always suffered to escape, 
 and no notice taken of it. 
 
 " The Indians are a very covetous people, and expect 
 to be well rewarded for the least service. 
 
 " People here in general are very selfish ; every person- 
 expects forces at his own door, and is angry to see them 
 at his neighbors. 
 
 " The number of tipling houses kept here is a great 
 grievance. 
 
 "All the efforts which have been made here to raise the 
 militia have been ineffectual. 
 
 " I am glad the Cherokees have determined to come 
 to our assistance, and to hear of the firm attachment of 
 them and the Catawbas to our interest. They will be of 
 particular service more than twice their number of white 
 men. When they arrive, which I pray may be soon, we 
 may deal with the French in their own way ; and, by visit 
 ing their country, will keep their Indians at home. 
 
 "We have been happy in being tolerable peaceable of 
 late, and holding our own, while Maryland and Pennsyl 
 vania fly in the utmost consternation. The frontiers of 
 Maryland are abandoned for many miles below the Blue 
 
UFR AND TIMES. 351 
 
 Ridge, as low as Fredericktown, through which place I 
 am credibly informed no less than 350 waggons, trans 
 porting the affrighted families, passed in the space of three 
 days. The Potomac is deserted on the Maryland side 40 
 miles below Conococheague, and as much in a parallel 
 below Winchester, and is now more than any the theatre 
 of bloodshed and cruelty. 
 
 " Those Indians who are now coming should 5e showed 
 all possible respect, and the greatest care taken of them, 
 as upon them much depends. It is a critical time, they 
 are very humorsome, and their assistance very necessary ! 
 One false step might not only lose us that, but even turn 
 them against us. All kinds of necessary goods, etc., 
 should be got for them. 
 
 " If your Honor does not care to trouble yourself about 
 it, and please to give me orders, and furnish me with 
 money or letters of credit (for our paper money passes to 
 great disadvantage), I will get them immediately from 
 Philadelphia, which is the only place that I know of that 
 we can possibly be supplied from. 
 
 "As the most of our present corps [of officers] are 
 gentlemen of family, and have now been sometime in the 
 service, I fear we should exchange for the worse, if we 
 aim at a change." 
 
 In a letter of August 14, 1756, Washington had said to 
 the Governor: 
 
 "As a general meeting of all the persons concerned in 
 the estate of my deceased brother is appointed to be held 
 at Alexandria, about the middle of September next, for 
 making a final settlement of all his affairs; and as I am 
 deeply interested, not only as an executor and heir to 
 part of his estate, but also in a very important dispute, 
 subsisting between Colonel [George] Lee, who married 
 the widow, and my brothers and self, concerning advice 
 
352 WASHINGTON. 
 
 in the will, which brings the whole personal estate in 
 question, I say, as this is a matter of very great mo 
 ment to me, I hope your Honor will readily consent to 
 my attending this meeting, provided no disadvantage is 
 likely to arise during my absence; in which case, I shall 
 not offer to quit my command." 
 
 On this matter Washington wrote to the Governor from 
 Mount Vernon, September 23, 1756: 
 
 " Under your kind indulgence I came to this place a few 
 days ago, expecting to meet the executors of my deceased 
 brother, in order to make a final settlement of his affairs. 
 I was disappointed though in this design, by the Assem 
 bly having called away the principal persons concerned." 
 
 On public matters, Washington further said in this 
 letter: 
 
 " I have often urged the necessity of enforcing the 
 articles of war in all their parts, where it is not incompati 
 ble with the nature of this service. 
 
 " We are under a kind of regulation at present that ren 
 ders command extremely difficult and precarious, as no 
 crimes are particularly notified but mutiny and desertion. 
 
 " I beg leave to observe in regard to Fort Cumberland, 
 that if it is continued we must be confined to act defen 
 sively, and keep our forces dispersed as they now are. The 
 place must be fortified with strong works, or else inevi 
 tably fall, garrison and stores, into the enemy's hands. 
 How fatal a stroke ! And what noise this will make, the 
 censure of mankind will speedily declare. 
 
 " I did, from the beginning, express my sentiments 
 against having small garrisons in a chain of forts along 
 our frontiers. 
 
 " The most effectual way that I can see, though none 
 can answer while we act defensively, is to have no more 
 than three or four large, strong forts, built at convenient 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 353 
 
 distances, upon our frontiers; in which strong garrisons 
 must be maintained. 
 
 " Unless the Assembly concerts some measures to aug 
 ment their force, the country, I fear, must inevitably fall. 
 The frontiers, since this time a twelve month, are totally 
 deserted for 50 miles and upwards quite from north to 
 south, and all below that greatly thinned by the removal 
 of numbers; occasioned in some measure by Maryland 
 and Pennsylvania giving ground so much faster than we 
 do, which exposes a very fine country of ours on that side, 
 as low as Monocacy, in Maryland, several miles on this 
 side of the Blue Ridge. 
 
 " I believe I might also add, that no person who re 
 gards his character, will undertake a command without 
 the means of preserving it; since his conduct Is culpable 
 for all misfortunes, and never right but when successful. 
 
 " I cannot think any number under 2000 men sufficient 
 to cover our extensive frontiers, and with them it is im 
 possible to prevent misfortunes, however easy the world 
 may think it. What means can be used to raise these 
 men, I know not, unless the listing servants is thought 
 expedient; and that alone will prove ineffectual. 
 
 " I apprehend it will be thought advisable to keep a 
 garrison always at Fort Loudoun [Winchester] ; for which 
 reason I would beg leave to represent the great nuisance 
 the number of tippling-houses in Winchester are to the 
 soldiers, who, by this means, in despite of the utmost care 
 and vigilance, are, so long as their pay holds good, in 
 cessantly drunk, and unfit for service. 
 
 "The rates of their liquor are immoderately high, and 
 the publicans throughout the country charge one shilling 
 per meal, currency, for soldier's diet ; and the country only 
 allows the recruiting officer eight pence per day for the 
 maintenance of a soldier. 
 23 
 
3M WASHINGTON. 
 
 " The want of a chaplain does, I humbly conceive, re 
 flect dishonor upon the regiment, as all other officers are 
 allowed. The gentlemen of the corps are sensible of this, 
 and did propose to support one at their private expense." 
 
 September 28, 1756, Washington wrote from Winches 
 ter to Governor Dinwiddie: 
 
 " I arrived here last night, * * * and set out to 
 morrow for Augusta." 
 
 October 10, 1756, Washington wrote from Halifax, 
 where the southernmost fort was, that he had met within 
 five miles of the Carolina line, the commissioner to secure 
 some hundreds of Indian allies, Major Lewis, and the 
 result of his trip to the Cherokees was seven men and 
 three women, instead of the expected 400. At Augusta 
 Courthouse, hearing of Indian depredations, Washington 
 had applied to Colonel Stewart to raise a party of the 
 militia with which to himself march to Jackson's river, 
 to scour the woods there, and if possible fall in with the 
 enemy; and the best Stewart had been able to do, with 
 Washington waiting five days, was only five men. In this 
 situation Washington had proceeded sixty miles to 
 Luney's Ferry on the James river, in hope of getting men 
 from Colonel Buchanan, and this officer had told him with 
 very great concern that he was finding it utterly impos 
 sible to raise men by -any orders that he could give. The 
 only service Buchanan had been able to render was that 
 of accompanying Washington to Voss's, on the Roanoke, 
 where Captain Hog was building a fort ; and here they had 
 found Captain Hog engaged in building a fort with only 
 eighteen of his company while a militia Captain Hunt with 
 thirty men would not strike a stroke unless upon a guar 
 antee of being paid forty pounds of tobacco per day for 
 each man. The place was " a pass of very great import 
 ance, being a very great inroad of the enemy," where a 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 355 
 
 fort would protect an extensive country. Washington 
 had hardly passed from this point, on the way " to visit 
 the range of forts in this country," when " two men were 
 killed along the same road.'! Not one of the inhabitants 
 dared stay with only militia protection. " The militia," 
 said Washington, " are in such bad order and discipline, 
 that they will go and come when and where they please, 
 without regarding time, their officers, or the safety of 
 the inhabitants, but consulting solely their own inclina 
 tions." Where one-third should be out on .duty hardly 
 one-thirteenth obeyed the order, and being to be relieved 
 every month " they are more than that time marching to 
 and from their stations, and will not wait one day longer 
 than the limited time, let the necessity for it be ever so 
 urgent." And in fact, even if their month was not out, 
 an urgent necessity for action would send them away, leav 
 ing Captain Hog and his only eighteen men, for example, 
 to face Indian attack alone. 
 
 " Perhaps it may be thought that I reflect unjustly," 
 Washington went on to say. " I really do not, Sir; I 
 scorn to make unjust remarks on the behavior of the 
 militia, as much as I despise and contemn the persons 
 who detract from mine and the character of the regiment. 
 Were it not that I consulted the good of the public, and 
 thought these garrisons merited redress, I should not think 
 ii worth my mention. I only want to make the country 
 sensible how ardently I have studied to promote her cause, 
 and wish very sincerely my successor may fill my place 
 more to their satisfaction in every respect than I have 
 been able to do. 
 
 " I mentioned in my last that I did not think a less 
 number than 2000 men would be sufficient to defend our 
 extensive and much exposed frontiers from the ravages 
 of the enemy. I have not had one reason to alter my 
 
356 WASHINGTON. 
 
 opinion, but many to strengthen and to confirm it. And 
 I flatter myself the country will, when they know my mo 
 tives, be convinced that I Jiave had no sinister views, no 
 vain motives of commanding a number of men, that urge 
 me to recommend this number to your Honor, but that 
 it proceeds from the knowledge I have acquired of the 
 country, people, &c., to be defended. 
 
 " I set out this day on my return to the fort at the head 
 of Catawba, where Colonel Buchanan promised to meet 
 me with a party to conduct me along our frontiers, up 
 Jackson's River to Fort Dinwiddie, and higher if needful." 
 
 The reference above to " my successor " was due to 
 Washington's intention of resigning in consequence of ma 
 lignant charges against his regiment in a communication 
 to the Virginia Gazette. The complaints referred to in 
 Washington's letter of April 18, 1756, to Governor Din 
 widdie, had been renewed, and a broadside of scurrilous 
 abuse launched in the communication mentioned. 
 
 In a letter of October 23, 1756, to Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Stephen, in command at Fort Cumberland, Washington 
 referred to this officer an order from Governor Dinwiddie 
 to have a council of officers pass upon the question of 
 keeping up or giving up that fortress This council of 
 war, held October 30, 1756, consisted of fifteen officers, 
 and its president, Colonel Stephen; and their decision was 
 to call on Washington for an immediate reinforcement 
 to the garrison; to have some of the most valuable stores 
 removed to Winchester; to go on with the works for 
 strengthening the fort; and to refer to Lord Loudoun the 
 question of a more adequate strengthening of the place 
 and reinforcing of the garrison. 
 
 Washington's letter to Colonel Stephen had announced 
 his intention to urge upon the Assembly the advantages 
 and necessity of an offensive campaign; an attempt against 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 357 
 
 Fort Duquesne, " as you and everybody else must allow 
 that carrying the war into the enemy's country is the sur 
 est method of peace at home and success abroad." " The 
 policy of the French," he continued, " is so subtle that 
 not a friendly Indian will we have on the continent if we 
 do not soon dislodge them from the Ohio. I shall exert 
 every power to make this plan go down with the Assem 
 bly, and press them to vigorous measures for the safety 
 and interest of the Country, preferably to the defensive, 
 and demonstrate fully to them everything I think demands 
 their concern, as to the frontiers. I also would have you 
 collect whatever comes under your own observation in 
 these respects, that we may omit nothing requisite for 
 the Assembly's regard." 
 
 In view of the decision of the council of war as to Fort 
 Cumberland, Washington expressed this opinion: 
 
 " The situation of Fort Cumberland is extremely un 
 suitable for defence, and in no ways fit for fortification 
 and a fort somewhere in that neighborhood rather more 
 advanced to the westward, well-fortified and strongly gar 
 risoned would contribute much to the mutual safety and 
 interest of the three colonies. Because it secures the 
 only gap of the Alleghany at present made passable for 
 wheel-carriages and which would forward an Expedition 
 to the Ohio. Now would the three colonies consent to 
 furnish proportionable supplies, I should think it highly 
 expedient to maintain that pass by erecting a Fortress of 
 strength towards the Little Meadows, in advance to the 
 Enemy, which would give us yet more advantages, and 
 Fort Cumberland would still answer its present purpose 
 without attempting its improvement while covered by the 
 other. Or should Virginia herself take the weight of this 
 Enterprise or could it be accomplished by any means 
 whatever I should be extremely fond of the expedient. 
 
358 WASHINGTON. 
 
 But to view Fort Cumberland in its present defenseless 
 posture, relative to Virginia in particular, and at this 
 gloomy juncture of affairs I can not entertain very fav 
 orable sentiments of supporting it. 
 
 11 As to the address of the council to me for reinforce 
 ment, they must have known that it was out of my power 
 to grant it. 
 
 " Upon the whole, were it at any other time than this 
 knowing the weakness of our strength, doubting the as 
 sistance of our neighbors, and dreading the consequence 
 of leaving the place longer exposed, although great part of 
 the stores is already removed, I should vote for demol 
 ishing it. But the affair being of great importance, I only 
 offer my sentiments; and submit to his Honor the Gov 
 ernor, and the Assembly, for the determination of the 
 case." 
 
 This fort was " built of stockades about nine feet high 
 above ground and never intended for defence against ar 
 tillery;" also it was "commanded by a rising ground 
 about 150 yards northwest of the stockades, and over 
 looked by several hills within cannon shot ; " also the bar 
 racks were " without the fort, ill-built, and easily set on 
 fire by the enemy; as any number of men can come under 
 the banks of the Potomac and Will's Creek, within pistol 
 shot of the barracks, and the fort itself, without being 
 exposed to a shot from cannon or small arms : " and finally, 
 the roads here made it the only place south of Albany 
 exposed to an attack from carriage guns. 
 
 November 9, 1756, Washington wrote from Winchester 
 to Governor Dinwiddie: 
 
 " From Fort Trial on Smith's River, I returned to Fort 
 William on the Catawba, where I met Colonel Buchanan 
 with about 30 men, chiefly officers, to conduct me up 
 Jackson's river, along the range of forts. With this small 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 359 
 
 company of irregulars [militia], with whom order, regu 
 larity, circumspection, and vigilance were matters of de 
 rision and contempt, we set out, and, by the protection 
 of Providence, reached Augusta Court-House in seven 
 days, without meeting the enemy; otherwise we must have 
 fallen a sacrifice, through the indiscretion of these whoop 
 ing, hallooing gentlemen soldiers! 
 
 " The jaunt afforded me an opportunity of seeing the 
 bad regulation of the militia, the disorderly proceedings 
 of the garrisons, and the unhappy circumstances of the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 " For want of proper laws to govern the militia by (for 
 I cannot ascribe it to any other cause), they are obstinate, 
 self-willed, perverse, of little or no service to the people, 
 and very burthensome to the country. Every mean indi 
 vidual has his own crude notions of things, and must un 
 dertake to direct. If his advice is neglected, he thinks 
 himself slighted, abused, and injured; and, to redress his 
 wrongs will depart for home. 
 
 " I found the garrisons [militia] very weak for want of 
 men; but more so by indolence and irregularity. None 
 I saw in a posture of defence, and few that might not be 
 surprised with the greatest ease. They keep no guard, 
 but just when the enemy is about. So that the neighbor 
 hood may be ravaged by the enemy, and they not the 
 wiser. Of the ammunition they are as careless as of the 
 provisions, firing it away frequently at targets for wagers. 
 Of the many forts which I passed by, I saw but one or 
 two that had their captains present, they being absent 
 chiefly on their own business. 
 
 " These men afford no assistance to the unhappy settlers 
 Who are driven from their plantations, either in securing 
 their harvests or gathering in their corn. The wretched 
 inhabitants feel their insecurity from militia preservation, 
 
360 WASHINGTON. 
 
 who are slow in coming to their assistance, indifferent 
 about their preservation, unwilling to continue, and re 
 gardless of everything but their own ease. In short, they 
 are so affected with approaching ruin, that the whole back 
 country is in motion towards the southern colonies. They 
 petitioned me in the most earnest manner for companies 
 of the regiment. But, alas! it is not in my power to 
 assist them with any, except I leave this dangerous quar 
 ter [about Winchester] more exposed than they are." 
 
 It will be noted that this account refers to forts wholly 
 in charge of militia, and not under Washington's direc 
 tion. He points out the contrast between service such as 
 his enlisted soldiers could give and that of the militia. To 
 a large extent the Governor managed the militia move 
 ments, and Washington's exposure of the system was none 
 too pleasant for him. He sent orders to Washington, by 
 a letter of November i8th, resenting criticism that seemed 
 to touch him, and requiring Washington " to march im 
 mediately loo men to Fort Cumberland from the forces at 
 Winchester," and to remain there himself in command. 
 Washington wrote in reply from Alexandria, on his way 
 down to Williamsburg, November 24, 1756: 
 
 " At this place I received your Honor's letter of the 
 i8th, and shall take care to pay the strictest obedience 
 to your orders, and the opinion [that Fort Cumberland 
 should not be given up, but should be reinforced from 
 Winchester], as far as I can. The detachment ordered 
 from Winchester exceeds, I believe the number of enlisted 
 men we have there; and the drafts, which made our 
 strength at that place to consist of about 160 men, will 
 leave us in seven days. I have no hope of enlisting any, nor 
 prolonging their stay, as we have heretofore engaged those 
 who were willing to serve. However, my true endeavors 
 
JOSEPH WARREN. 
 
LIFE AtiD TIM&S. $61 
 
 shall be strictly aiding for this (more than ever) neces 
 sary purpose. 
 
 " I am very sorry if any expression in my letter should 
 be deemed unmannerly. I have endeavored to demean 
 myself in that proper respect due to superiors; and in the 
 instance mentioned I can truly say, so far from intending 
 a charge or affront of any kind, it was distant from my 
 thoughts. 
 
 " I seem also to be reprimanded for giving a vague 
 account of my tour to the southward. I was rather fear 
 ful of blame for meddling with matters I had no imme 
 diate concern with the [the militia garrisons in the quarter 
 of which he spoke not being under his immediate com 
 mand; yet Dinwiddie complained that he had not reported 
 the officers by name, the same as if they had been under 
 his command; and he testily declared it "unmannerly" 
 to speak of failure with the Indians, as if incompetent 
 persons had been sent on this mission by himself]. I 
 related the situation of our frontiers as well as I was capa 
 ble, with a design, from which I have never intention 
 ally swerved,' to serve my country; and am sorry to find 
 that this, and my best endeavors of late, meet with unfav 
 orable constructions. What it proceeds from I know not. 
 
 " So soon as I march from Winchester, which will im 
 mediately happen, as I am setting out thence, I shall write 
 your Honor a more distinct account of the situation at 
 that place, which will be left entirely destitute of all pro 
 tection, notwithstanding it now contains all the public 
 stores of any importance, as they were removed from Fort 
 Cumberland, and in the most dangerous part of our fron 
 tiers. The works, which have been constructed, and 
 conducted on, with infinite pains and labor will be unfin 
 ished and exposed; and the materials for completing the 
 building, which have been collected with unspeakable dif- 
 
362 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ficulty and expense, left to be pillaged and destroyed by 
 the inhabitants of the town; because, as I before observed, 
 100 men will exceed the number, I am pretty confident, 
 which we have there, when the drafts go off. So, to com 
 ply with my orders (which I shall literally do, if I can,) 
 not a man will be left there to secure the works, or defend 
 the King's stores." 
 
 A week later, December 2, 1756, Washington wrote to 
 the Governor from Winchester (Fort Loudoun), that 
 " wagons and provisions in readiness to go up with this 
 escort" the commissary had been unable to supply; and 
 further he said: 
 
 " The return of our strength, which I called in so soon 
 as I arrived, is herewith sent, signed by the adjutant, 
 amounting, exclusive of the drafts, to 81 effectives, in 
 cluding the sick, and young drummers, who were sent 
 here to learn. 
 
 11 Your Honor's late and unexpected order has caused 
 the utmost terror and consternation in the people, and 
 will, I fear, be productive of numberless evils, not only 
 to this place, but to the country in general, who seem to 
 be in the greatest dread for the consequences. The stores 
 of every kind have all been brought from Fort Cumber 
 land, save those indispensably necessary there, at a very 
 great expense, and lie in the court-house and other pub 
 lic buildings, to the no small inconvenience and detri 
 ment of the county. I am convinced, if your Honor were 
 truly informed of the situation of this place, in every 
 degree our utmost and most exposed frontier, there be 
 ing no inhabitants between this and the Branch, and none 
 there but what are forted in, you would not think it 
 prudent to leave such a quantity of valuable stores ex 
 posed to the insults of a few; for a very few indeed might 
 reduce them, and the town too, to ashes. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 363 
 
 " In the next place, the works, which have been begun 
 and continued with labor and hardship, lie open, untena 
 ble, and exposed to the weather, to say no more; and 
 the materials, which have been collected with cost and 
 infinite difficulty, to the mercy of every pillager; our tim 
 ber and scantling, used and burnt by the town's people; 
 our plank, which has been brought from far, stolen and 
 destroyed; and the lime, if not stolen, left to be wasted, 
 &c., &c. And, this is not the worst. A building, which 
 in time might and would have been very strong and de 
 fensible, and an asylum in the greatest danger, in a man 
 ner totally abandoned. As the case now stands, we have 
 no place tenable, no place of safety; all is exposed and 
 open to attacks; and by not having a garrison at this 
 place, no convoys can get up to us, and the communication 
 with the inhabitants entirely cut off, so that soldiers and 
 inhabitants cannot be assisting each other. 
 
 " My residing at Fort Cumberland, lying more ad 
 vanced, and wide of all other forts, will prevent me from 
 having the immediate direction of any but that; will ren 
 der it impossible to deliver stores regularly; a total stag 
 nation of business must ensue, because no person will or 
 can come to me there [for payment of contingent ex 
 penses] ; and receiving intelligence and distributing orders, 
 so convenient at Winchester, will be impossible. 
 
 " I declare, upon my honor, that I am not loath to 
 leave this, but had rather be at Fort Cumberland (if I 
 could do my duty fliere) a thousand times over; for I 
 am tired of the place, the inhabitants, the life I lead here; 
 and if, after what I have said, you should think it neces 
 sary that I reside at that place, I shall acquiesce with 
 pleasure and cheerfulness, and be freed from much anxiety, 
 plague, and business. To be at Fort Cumberland some- 
 
364 WASHINGTON. 
 
 times I think highly expedient, and have hitherto done 
 it. Three weeks ago I came from that place." 
 
 December 19, 1756, Washington wrote from Fort Lou- 
 doun to Dinwiddie: 
 
 "Your letter of the loth came to hand the I5th; in 
 consequence of which I despatched orders immediately 
 to all the garrisons on the Branch to evacuate their forts 
 and repair to Pearsall's, where they would meet the flour, 
 &c., from this place and escort it to Fort Cumberland. 
 1 expect the provisions purchased for the support of these 
 forts, and now lying in bulk, will be wasted and destroyed, 
 notwithstanding I have given directions to the assistant 
 commissary on the Branch, and to Waggener's company, 
 to use their utmost diligence in collecting the whole, and 
 securing them where his company is posted. An escort, 
 with all the flour we have been able to procure, sets out 
 from this on Tuesday next. I expect to depart sooner 
 myself, after leaving directions with Captain Mercer, 
 whom I have appointed to command here, and shall repair 
 as expeditiously as possible to Fort Cumberland. 
 
 " I am at a loss to understand the meaning of your 
 Honor's orders, and the opinion of the Council, when I 
 am directed to evacuate all the stockade forts, and at 
 the same time to march only 100 men to Fort Cumber 
 land, and to continue the like number here to garrison 
 Fort Loudoun. If the stockade forts are all abandoned, 
 there will be more men than are required for these two 
 purposes, and the communication between them, of near 
 80 miles, will be left without a settler, unguarded and 
 exposed." 
 
 In his orders to the several commanders of forts now 
 evacuated Washington wrote: 
 
 " I heartily commiserate the poor, unhappy inhabitants, 
 left by this means exposed to every excursion of a 'mer- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 365 
 
 ciless enemy, and wish it were in my power to offer them 
 better support than good wishes (merely) will afford. 
 You may assure the settlement that this unexpected, and f 
 if I may be allowed to say, unavoidable step was taken 
 without my concurrence and knowledge; that it is an ex 
 press order from the Governor, and can neither be evaded 
 nor delayed. Therefore, any representations to me of 
 their danger, and the necessity of continuing troops 
 among them, will be fruitless; I have inclination, but no 
 power left, to serve them. It is also the Governor's or 
 der, that the forts be left standing for the inhabitants to 
 possess if they think proper." 
 
 Washington's letter to Dinwiddie of December iQth 
 continued as follows: 
 
 " I have read that paragraph in Lord Loudoun's letter, 
 which your Honor was pleased to send me, over and 
 over again, but am unable to comprehend the meaning 
 of it. What scheme it is, I was carrying into execution 
 without waiting advice, I am at a loss to know, unless it 
 was building the chain of forts along our frontiers, which 
 I not only undertook conformably to an act of Assembly, 
 and by your own orders, but, with respect to the places, 
 in pursuance of a council of war. 
 
 " I see with much regret that his Excellency Lord Lou- 
 doun seems to have prejudged my proceedings, without 
 being thoroughly informed what were the springs and mo 
 tives that have actuated my conduct. How far I have 
 mistaken the means to recommend my services, I know 
 not, but I am certain of this, that no man ever intended 
 better, or studied the interest of his country with more 
 affectionate zeal, than I have done. 
 
 " I believe we are the only troops upon the continent, 
 that are kept summer and winter to the severest duty, 
 with the least respite or indulgence. The delay of the 
 
366 WASHINGTON. 
 
 soldiers' clothes occasions unaccountable murmurs and 
 complaints, and I am very much afraid we shall have few 
 men left, if they arrive not in a week or two. Your Honor 
 would be astonished to see the naked condition of the 
 poor wretches; and how they possibly can subsist, much 
 less work, in such severe weather. Had we but blankets 
 to give them, or anything to defend them from the cold, 
 they might perhaps be easy/' 
 
 Of the same date as this letter to Dinwiddie, December 
 19, 1756, is one to Speaker Robinson, in which Washing 
 ton said: 
 
 " All the stockade forts on the Branch are to be evacu 
 ated, and in course all the settlements abandoned, except 
 what lie under the immediate protection of Captain Wag- 
 gener's fort, the only place exempted in their resolve. 
 Surely his Honor and the Council are not fully acquainted 
 with the situation and circumstances of the unhappy fron 
 tiers, thus to expose so valuable a tract as the Branch, 
 in order to support a fortification in itself of very little 
 importance to the inhabitants or the colony. The former 
 order of Council would have endangered not only the 
 loss of Fort Loudoun [being built at Winchester, extra 
 large and strong, under Washington's own direction], the 
 stores, and Winchester, but a general removal of the set 
 tlers of this valley, even to the Blue Ridge. This last 
 hath the same object in view, vizt., Fort Cumberland, and, 
 to maintain it, the best lands in Virginia are laid open 
 to the mercy of a cruel and inhuman enemy. These peo 
 ple have long struggled with the dangers of savage in 
 cursions, daily soliciting defence, and willing to keep their 
 ground. To encourage them, all my little help has been 
 administered, and they seemed satisfied with my inten 
 tions, resolving to continue while any probability of sup 
 port remained. The disposition I had made of our small 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 367 
 
 regiment gave general satisfaction to the settlements, and 
 content began to appear everywhere. The necessary 
 measures for provisions and stores were agreeably con 
 certed, and every regulation established for the season. 
 But the late command reverses, confuses, and incom 
 modes everything; to say nothing of the extraordinary 
 expense of carriage, disappointments, losses, and altera 
 tions, which must fall heavy on the country. Whence 
 it arises, or why, I am truly ignorant; but my strongest 
 representations of matters relative to the peace of the 
 frontiers are disregarded as idle and frivolous; my propo 
 sitions and measures as partial and selfish; and all my 
 sincerest endeavors for the service of my country per 
 verted to the worst purposes. My orders are dark, doubt 
 ful, and uncertain; today approved, tomorrow condemned. 
 Left to act and proceed at hazard, accountable for the 
 consequences, and blamed without the benefit of defence, 
 if you can think my situation capable to excite the small 
 est degree of envy, or afford the least satisfaction, the 
 truth is yet hid from you, and you entertain notions very 
 different from the reality of the case. However, I am de 
 termined to bear up under all these embarrassments some 
 time longer, in hope of better regulation on the arrival 
 of Lord Loudoun, to whom I look for the future fate of 
 Virginia. 
 
 " His Lordship, I think, has received impressions tend 
 ing to prejudice, by false representation of facts, if I may 
 judge from a paragraph of one of his letters to the Gov 
 ernor, and on which is founded the resolve to support 
 Fort Cumberland at all events. The severity of the sea 
 son, and nakedness of the soldiers, are matters of much 
 compassion, and give rise to infinite complaints. Nor is 
 i: possible to obviate them, unless their clothing should 
 come in immediately. You would be surprised how the 
 
368 WASHINGTON. 
 
 poor creatures live, much more how they can do duty. 
 Had we but blankets, they might be appeased for a little 
 time; and as we have not, I fear many will desert." 
 
 In reply to this Speaker Robinson wrote to Washington : 
 
 " I am truly concerned at the uneasiness you are under 
 in your present situation, and the more so as I am sensi 
 ble you have too much reason for it. The resolution of 
 defending Fort Cumberland, and evacuating the other 
 forts, was taken before I knew or mistrusted anything of 
 the matter. I must confess I was not a little surprised 
 at it, and took the liberty to expostulate with many of the 
 Council upon it, who gave me in answer, that Lord Lou- 
 doun had insisted that Fort Cumberland should be pre 
 served, and, as we had so few troops, it could not be 
 done without breaking up the small forts, and taking the 
 men from them. 
 
 " It was to no purpose to tell them that our frontiers 
 would thereby be entirely exposed to our cruel and savage 
 enemy, and that they could receive no protection from 
 Fort Cumberland, as it was in Maryland, and so remote 
 from any of our inhabitants; and further, that the act 
 of Assembly, which gave the money solely for the de 
 fence and protection of our frontiers, would be violated, 
 and the money applied otherwise than the Assembly in 
 tended. Yet, notwithstanding all I could say, they per 
 sisted in their resolution, without alleging any other rea 
 son than that it was in pursuance of Lord Loudoun's 
 desire. 
 
 " It cannot be a difficult matter to guess, who was the 
 author and promoter of this advice and resolution, or by 
 whom Lord Loudoun has been persuaded that the place 
 is of such importance. But supposing it were really so, 
 it ought to be defended by the people in whose province 
 it is, or at least at the expense of the three colonies 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 369 
 
 jointly, and our own frontiers not left exposed for the de 
 fence of a place from which we cannot receive the least ad 
 vantage or protection. The present unhappy state of our 
 country [Virginia only is meant] must fill the mind of every 
 well-wisher to it with dismal and gloomy apprehensions; 
 and without some speedy alterations in our counsels, 
 which may God send, the fate of it must be soon 
 determined." 
 
 About this time, December, 1756, Washington ad 
 dressed a formal letter to Robinson, inscribed, " To the 
 Speaker of the House of Burgesses/' in which he renewed 
 his protest of the previous May (the i8th) against what 
 he heard by several letters, " that the Assembly are in 
 censed against the Virginia regiment; and think they have 
 cause to accuse the officers of all inordinate vices; but 
 more especially of drunkenness and profanity ! " As in 
 his letter of May 18, 1756, Washington protested the 
 abundant proofs going "to show on the one hand that 
 my incessant endeavors have been directed to discounte 
 nance gaming, drinking, swearing, and other vices, with 
 which all camps too much abound; while, on the other, 
 I have used every expedient to inspire a laudable emula 
 tion in the officers, and an unerring exercise of Duty in the 
 Soldiers. 
 
 " I can not help observing, that if the country think they 
 have cause to condemn my conduct, and have a person 
 in view that will act, that he may do. But who will en 
 deavor to act more for her Interests than I have done? 
 It will give me the greatest pleasure to resign a com 
 mand which I solemnly declare I accepted against my 
 will. 
 
 ."I know, Sir, that inexperience may have led me into 
 innumerable errors. For which reason I should think 
 myself an unworthy member of the community and 
 24 
 
370 WASHINGTON. 
 
 greatly deficient in the love I owe my country, which has 
 ever been the first principle of my actions, were I to re 
 quire more than a distant hint of its dissatisfaction to re 
 sign a commission which I confess to you I am no ways 
 fond of keeping. 
 
 " These sentiments I communicate to you, Sir, not only 
 as to a Gentleman for whom I entertain the highest re 
 spect and greatest friendship; but also as a member of 
 the Assembly, that the contents, if you think proper, may 
 be communicated to the whole. For, be assured, I shall 
 never wish to hold a Commission, when it ceases to be 
 by unanimous consent. 
 
 " I am far from attempting to vindicate the characters 
 of all the officers. There are some who have the seeds of 
 Idleness too strongly instilled into their constitution, 
 either to be serviceable to themselves, or beneficial to the 
 Country. Yet even those have not missed my best ad 
 vice : nor have my unwearied endeavors ever been want 
 ing to serve my country with the highest integrity. No 
 sordid views have influenced my conduct, nor have the 
 hopes of unlawful gains swerved me in any measure from 
 the strictest dictates of Honor! I have diligently sought 
 the public welfare; and have endeavored to inculcate the 
 same principles on all that are under me." 
 
 January 12, 1757, Washington wrote to Governor Din- 
 widdie from Fort Cumberland: 
 
 " We have as many men at work here, preparing timber 
 to strengthen the works, as tools will supply; but I wish 
 I had been ordered to build a new fort rather than at 
 tempt to repair the old one. 
 
 " No more forts were evacuated than were requisite to 
 reinforce this Garrison with 100 men, and to continue 100 
 at Fort Loudoun (Winchester), according to order. The 
 others are continued at their former posts." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 371 
 
 In February, 1757, Washington sent to Lord Loudoun 
 a letter, reviewing at considerable length the course of 
 events, and his own experience, since the outbreak of hos 
 tilities between the French and English. The document 
 is a masterly presentation, fit in both matter and style to 
 be compared with the ablest state papers from our pres 
 ent Secretary of War or Secretary of State, whose work 
 is at the highest level of intelligence, judgment, and ability. 
 As Lord Loudoun's secretary acknowledged receiving the 
 letter February 27, 1757, it must have been written just 
 as Washington became twenty-five years of age. The 
 more notable paragraphs of this expert recital of war pro 
 ceedings and experiences are the following: 
 
 " The sums of money, my Lord, which have been 
 granted by this colony to carry on war, have been very 
 considerable ; and to reflect to what little purpose is mat 
 ter of great concern, and will seem surprising to those 
 who are not acquainted with the causes, and the con 
 fusion with which all our affairs Rave hitherto been con 
 ducted, owing to our having no fixed object or pursuing 
 any regular system, or plan of operation. 
 
 "As I have studied with attention and care the nature 
 of the service in which we are engaged, have been engaged 
 therein from the beginning of the present broils, and have 
 been an eye-witness to all the movements and various 
 proceedings, I beg leave to offer a concise and candid 
 account of our circumstances to your Lordship; from 
 which many errors may be discovered, that merit redress 
 in a very high degree. 
 
 " It was not until it was too late, we discovered that 
 the French were on the Ohio ; or rather, that we could be 
 persuaded they came there with a design to invade his 
 Majesty's dominions. Nay, after I was sent out in De 
 cember, 1753, and brought undoubted testimony even 
 
373 WASHINGTON. 
 
 from themselves of their avowed design, it was yet 
 thought a fiction, and a scheme to promote the interest of 
 a private company, even by some who had a share in the 
 government. These unfavorable surmises caused great 
 delay in raising the first men and money, and gave the 
 active enemy time to take possession of the Fork of Ohio 
 (which they now call Duquesne), before we were in suffi 
 cient strength to advance thither, which has been the chief 
 source of all our past and present misfortunes. For by 
 this means, the French getting between us and our In 
 dian allies, they fixed those In their interests who were 
 wavering, and obliged the others to neutrality, 'till the 
 unhappy defeat of his (late) Excellency General Braddock. 
 
 "The troops under Colonel Dunbar going into quar 
 ters in July, and the inactivity of the neighboring col 
 onies, and the incapacity of this, conspired to give the 
 French great room to exult, and the Indians little reason 
 to expect a vigorous offensive war on our side. 
 
 " Virginia, it is true, was not inactive all this time ; on 
 the contrary, voted a handsome supply for raising men 
 to carry on the war, or, more properly, to defend herself. 
 But even in this she signally failed. 
 
 " The men first levied to repel the enemy marched for 
 Ohio the beginning of April, 1754, without tents, without 
 clothes, in short without any conveniences to shelter 
 them, in that remarkably cold and wet season, from the 
 inclemency of the weather, or to make the service tolerably 
 agreeable. In this state did they, notwithstanding, con 
 tinue, till the battle of the Meadows, in July following, 
 never receiving in all that space any subsistence; and 
 were very often under the greatest straits and difficulties 
 for want of provisions. 
 
 "These things were productive of great murmurings 
 and discontent, and rendered the service so distasteful to 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 373 
 
 the men that, not being paid immediately upon coming 
 in, they thought themselves bubbled, and that no reward 
 for their services was ever intended. This caused great 
 desertion; and the deserters, spreading over the country, 
 recounting their sufferings and want of pay, which rags 
 and poverty sufficiently testified, fixed in the mind of the 
 populace such horrid impressions of the hardships they 
 had encountered, that no arguments could remove these 
 prejudices, or facilitate the recruiting service. 
 
 " This put the Assembly upon enacting a law to im 
 press vagrants, which added to our difficulties, for, com 
 pelling these abandoned miscreants into the service, they 
 embraced every opportunity to effect their escape, gave 
 a loose rein to their vicious principles, and invented the 
 most unheard of stories to palliate desertion and gain 
 compassion; in which they not only succeeded, but ob 
 tained protection also. So that it was next to impossible, 
 after this, to apprehend deserters, while the civil officers 
 rather connived at their escape than aided in securing 
 them. 
 
 " Thus were affairs situated, when we were ordered, in 
 September, 1755, to recruit our force to 1200 men. Tis 
 easy therefore to conceive, under these circumstances, 
 why we did not fulfil the order, especially when the offi 
 cers were not sufficiently allowed for this arduous task. 
 We continued, however, using our endeavors until March 
 following, without much success. 
 
 " The Assembly, meeting about that time, came to a 
 resolution of augmenting our numbers to 1500 men, by 
 drafting the militia, (who were to continue in the service 
 until December only) ; and by a clause in the act, exempt 
 ing all those who should pay ten pounds, our numbers 
 were very little increased, one part of the people paying 
 that sum, and many of the poorer sort absconding. The 
 
374: WASHINGTON. 
 
 funds arising from these forfeitures were thrown into the 
 treasury; whereas, had they been deposited in proper 
 hands for recruiting, the money might have turned to 
 good account. But a greater grievance than either of 
 these was restraining the forces from marching out of 
 the colony, or acting offensively, and ordering them to 
 build forts, and garrison them, along our frontiers (of 
 more than 300 miles in extent). How equal they, or any 
 like number, are to the task, and how repugnant a de 
 fensive plan is to the true interest and welfare of the col 
 ony, I submit to any judge to determine who will con 
 sider tfie following particulars. 
 
 " First, that erecting forts at greater distances than 15 
 or 1 8 miles, or a day's march asunder, and garrisoning 
 them with less than 80 or 100 men, is not answering the 
 intention. 
 
 " Indian parties are generally intermixed with some 
 Frenchmen, and are so dexterous at skulking, that their 
 spies, lying about these small forts for some days and 
 taking a prisoner, make certain discoveries of the strength 
 of the garrison ; and then, upon observing a scouting party 
 coming out, will first cut it off, and afterwards attempt 
 the fort. Instances of this have lately happened. 
 
 " Secondly, our frontiers are of such extent, that if the 
 enemy were to make a formidable attack on one side, be 
 fore the troops on the other could get to their assistance, 
 they might overrun the country. 
 
 " Thirdly, what it must cost the country to build these 
 forts, and to remove stores and provisions into them ; and 
 
 " Fourthly, and lastly, where and when this expense 
 will end. For we may be assured, if we do not endeavor 
 to remove the cause, we shall be as liable to the same 
 incursions seven years hence as now ; indeed more so. 
 Because, if the French are allowed to possess those lands 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 375 
 
 in peace [to the westwards and on the Ohio], they will 
 have the entire command of the Indians, and grow stronger 
 in their alliance ; while we, by our defensive schemes and 
 pusillanimous behavior, will exhaust our treasury, reduce 
 our strength, and become the contempt of these savage 
 nations, who are every day enriching themselves with the 
 plunder and spoils of our people. 
 
 " It will evidently appear from the whole tenor of my 
 conduct, but more especially from reiterated representa 
 tions, how strongly I have urged the Governor and Assem 
 bly to pursue different measures, and to convince them, 
 by all the reasonings I was capable of offering, of the im 
 possibility of covering so extensive a frontier from Indian 
 incursions, without more force than Virginia can main 
 tain. I have endeavored to demonstrate, that it would 
 require fewer men to remove the cause than to prevent 
 the effects while the cause subsists. This, notwithstand 
 ing, was the measure adopted, and the plan under which 
 we have acted for eight months past, with the disagreeable 
 reflection of doing no essential service to our country, nor 
 gaining honor to ourselves, or reputation to our regi 
 ment. However, under these disadvantageous restraints, 
 the regiment has not been inactive ; on the contrary, it 
 has performed a vast deal of work, and has been very 
 alert in defending the people, which will appear by ob 
 serving that, notwithstanding we are more contiguous to 
 the French and their Indian allies, and more exposed to 
 their frequent incursions than any of the neighboring 
 colonies, we have not lost half the inhabitants which 
 others have done, but considerably more soldiers in their 
 defence. In the course of this campaign, since March, 
 I mean fMarch, 1756, to end of February, 1757, a full 
 twelve month], (as we have had but one constant cam 
 paign, and continued scene of action, since we first en- 
 
tered the service), our troops have been engaged in up 
 wards of twenty skirmishes, and we have had near an 
 hundred men killed and wounded from a small regi 
 ment dispersed over the country, and acting upon the 
 defensive, as ours is by order. This, I conceive, will not 
 appear inconsiderable to those who are in the least de 
 gree acquainted with the nature of this service, and the 
 posture of our affairs ; however it may seem to chimney 
 corner politicians, who are thirsting for news, and expect 
 ing by every express to hear in what manner Fort Du- 
 quesne was taken and the garrison led away captive by 
 our small numbers ; although we are restrained from mak 
 ing the attempt, were our hopes of success ever so rational ! 
 
 " The first men raised, if I rightly remember, were 
 under no law; if any, the militia law, which was next of 
 kin to it. But under this we remained a short time, and, 
 instilling notions into the soldiers, who knew no better, 
 that they were governed by the articles of war [Governor 
 Dinwiddie held this view], we felt little inconvenience; and 
 the next campaign we were joined by the regulars, and 
 made subject to their laws. After the regulars left us 
 the Assembly passed an act in September, as before men 
 tioned, to raise 1200 men, and, in order (I suppose) to 
 improve upon the act of Parliament, prepared a military 
 code of their own, but such a one as no military discipline 
 could be preserved by while it lasted. This being repre 
 sented by the most pressing and repeated remonstrances, 
 induced the Assembly to pass a bill in October following, 
 for one year only, making mutiny and desertion death, 
 but took no cognizance of many other crimes equally 
 punishable by act of Parliament." 
 
 After mention of other grievances, especially the 
 wretched character of the service rendered by the militia, 
 
WASHIXGTON TAKING COMMAXD OF THE ARMY. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 377 
 
 and the effect which all these things had had to make 
 him sick of the service, Washington said in conclusion : 
 
 " I do not know, my Lord, in what light this short and 
 disinterested relation may be received by your Lordship; 
 but with the utmost candor and submission it is offered. 
 It contains no misrepresentations, nor aggravated rela 
 tion of facts, nor unjust reflections. 
 
 " Virginia is a country young in war, and, till the break 
 ing out of these disturbances, has remained in the most 
 profound and tranquil peace, never studying war nor war 
 fare. It is not, therefore, to be imagined that she can fall 
 into proper measures at once. All that can be expected 
 at her hands she cheerfully offers, the sinews of war, 
 and those only want your Lordship's ability and experi 
 ence to be properly applied and directed." 
 
 The secretary who sent an acknowledgment of the re 
 ceipt of this communication wrote : " His Lordship seems 
 very much pleased with the accounts you have given him 
 of the situation of affairs to the southward." 
 
 Lord Loudoun calle'd a meeting of all the southern gov 
 ernors at Philadelphia, and Washington attended a nine 
 days' conference, March 15-24, 1757. He had established 
 himself in command and fort-building at Fort Cumber 
 land, but at the Philadelphia conference it was decided to 
 have the Virginia troops there withdraw as soon as Mary 
 land could garrison the fort, and this permitted Washing 
 ton to return to Fort Loudoun (Winchester). From that 
 place he wrote to Richard Washington, a merchant of 
 London, England, April 15, 1757: 
 
 " I have been posted for 20 months past upon our cold 
 ancl barren frontiers, to perform, I think I may say, im 
 possibilities ; that is, to protect from the cruel incursions 
 of a crafty, savage enemy a line of inhabitants of more than 
 350 miles in extent, with a force inadequate to the task," 
 
378 WASHINGTON. 
 
 April 29, 1757, Washington sent a letter to Governor 
 Dinwiddie, in which he carefully reviewed the urgent 
 needs of the service, and the situation at Winchester, and 
 inquired in regard to a proposed change in the terms of 
 his service, which had been 30 shillings a day as pay, and 
 2 per cent, commissions for examining, settling, and pay 
 ing off accounts, out of which were met the expenses of 
 his table. The Governor discontinued the 2 per cent, 
 commission, but allowed in place of it a special sum of 
 200 for table expenses, etc. 
 
 To Robinson, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, 
 Washington wrote May 3Oth, and again June 10, 1757, 
 urgently representing the bad system in use for securing 
 and employing Indian allies. The French had an agent, 
 with an ample supply of Indian goods, whose sole busi 
 ness it was to manage the Indians under employment. 
 " Unless some person," said Washington, " is appointed 
 to manage the Indian affairs of this colony, under the 
 direction of the Governor, or the southern agent, a vast 
 expense and but little advantage will accrue from the 
 coming of these Indians among us. And I know of no 
 person so well qualified for an undertaking of this sort as 
 the bearer, Captain Gist. He has had extensive dealings 
 with the Indians, is in great esteem among them, well 
 acquainted with their manners and customs, is indefatiga 
 ble, and patient, most excellent qualities indeed where 
 Indians are concerned. And for his capacity, honesty, and 
 zeal, I dare venture to engage." The " southern agent," 
 a Mr. Atkin, proposed to appoint Gist to the care of In 
 dian affairs in Virginia, but in the letter of June loth, 
 Washington said : "A person of a readier pen, and hav 
 ing more time than myself, might amuse you with the 
 vicissitudes of Indian affairs since Mr. Atkin came up." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 379 
 
 On another matter Washington declared to Robinson in 
 this letter of June 10, 1757: 
 
 " Unless you will interest yourself in sending money to 
 me to discharge the public debts, I must inevitably suffer 
 very considerably, as the country people all think me 
 pledged to them, let what will happen. They are grown 
 very clamorous, and will be more than ever incensed if 
 there should come an inadequate sum, and that sum be 
 appropriated to the payment of the soldiers. 
 
 " I am convinced it would give pleasure to the Gov 
 ernor to hear that I was involved in trouble, however 
 undeservedly, such are his dispositions toward me." 
 
 Washington found himself about this time under a sec 
 ond commander, besides Governor Dinwiddie, a Colonel 
 Stanwix, appointed by Lord Loudoun to the chief com 
 mand of the forces of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vir 
 ginia. Dinwiddie recognized in a notification to Wash 
 ington that he was to take his orders from Stanwix, and 
 yet he went on giving orders himself all the same. Wash 
 ington wrote to Stanwix June 15, 1757, and after reporting 
 a success against a small French and Indian party, further 
 said: 
 
 " Our Assembly have granted a further sum of 80,000 
 for the service of the ensuing year, and have agreed (I 
 believe) to complete their regiment of this colony to 1200 
 men, besides three companies of rangers of 100 each. Our 
 strength, since the detachment to South Carolina has em 
 barked [200 men, by order of Lord Loudoun], is reduced 
 to 420 rank and file only and these much weakened by 
 the number of posts we hold." 
 
 June 2Oth Washington wrote to Stanwix : " We work 
 on this Fort [at Winchester], both night and day, intend 
 ing to make it tenable against the worst event." Again 
 June 28th he wrote : " We were reinforced, upon the late 
 
380 WASHINGTON. 
 
 alarm, by 170 militia from the adjacent counties, one half 
 of them unarmed, and the whole without ammunition or 
 provisions." There had been, June i6th, what a few days 
 proved to be a false report, that a large French and Indian 
 force was on the way from Fort Duquesne with a train 
 of artillery, evidently making for Fort Cumberland, and 
 probably aimed at Fort Loudoun at Winchester. 
 
 In a letter of July n, 1757, Washington reported to 
 Governor Dinwiddie that no less than twenty-four more 
 of the drafted men, after receiving their money and clothes, 
 had deserted the night before; and of one party of seven, 
 two had been captured. It seemed to Washington that 
 nothing but the most rigorous measures would have any 
 effect, and he asked the Governor to supply him with 
 blank warrants to execute courts-martial sentences. By 
 a letter of July 2Oth to Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, 
 Washington complained that many deserters from Virginia 
 were harbored in Maryland, and that " some in authority, 
 either from an ill-placed compassion, or from that spirit 
 of opposition to the service which is too prevalent through 
 the continent, have not only countenanced those deserters, 
 but made use of your Excellency's name for that purpose." 
 
 To Colonel Stanwix Washington reported July 15, 1757, 
 that out of 400 drafts that he had received 114 had de 
 serted ; and that for terror of the rascals he had caused to 
 be erected " a Gallows near 40 feet high," and was deter 
 mined to hang two or three on it, if he could be justified 
 in it. To the same Washington reported July 30th that 
 of twenty-two deserters who had been apprehended he had 
 caused two to be hanged, but August 27th he wrote to the 
 Governor: 
 
 "As your Honor was pleased to leave to my discretion 
 to punish or pardon the criminals, I have resolved on the 
 latter, since I find example of so little weight, and since 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 381 
 
 those poor unhappy criminals have undergone no small 
 pain of body and mind, in a dark prison, closely ironed." 
 
 September 17, 1757, Washington said in a letter to 
 Dinwiddie : " Lenity, so far from producing its desired 
 effects, rather emboldens them in these villainous under 
 takings. One of those who were condemned to be 
 hanged, deserted immediately upon receiving his pardon. 
 In short, they tire my patience, and almost weary me to 
 death." 
 
 Under date of July 29, 1757, Washington issued " Gen 
 eral Instructions to all the Captains of Companies " a 
 document carefully written, from exact and complete 
 knowledge of military duties, and of the special needs of 
 the Virginia situation, and with full manifestation of the 
 highest ideals. In a letter of July 30, 1757, Washington 
 asked Colonel Stanwix for leave of absence August 1st, to 
 attend a " meeting of the executors of an estate that I am 
 much interested in a dividend of, and have suffered much 
 already by the unsettled state it has remained in." In 
 reply Stanwix wrote that he was to act in any such matter 
 at his own discretion, without asking leave. At" the same 
 time Dinwiddie, applied to in the same way, was disagree 
 able enough to refuse leave. August 27th, in a letter to 
 Dinwiddie, Washington said: 
 
 " It is with concern I remark that my best endeavors 
 lose their reward, and that my conduct, although I have 
 uniformly studied to make it as unexceptionable as I could, 
 does not appear to you in a favorable point of Tight." 
 
 In his letter of September 17, 1757, to Dinwiddie, Wash 
 ington said, in regard to an application made directly to 
 the Governor for a commission as lieutenant for William 
 Henry Fairfax: 
 
 " If you please to bestow it on Mr. Fairfax, I should 
 take it infinitely kind if you would oblige me so far as to 
 
382 WASHINGTON. 
 
 send the commission immediately from yourself to that 
 gentleman. For although I esteem him greatly on ac 
 count of his father, for whose memory and friendship I 
 shall ever retain a most grateful sense, yet, making him 
 lieutenant over many old ensigns will occasion great con 
 fusion in the corps, and bring censure on me ; for the offi 
 cers will readily conceive that my friendship and partiality 
 for the family were the causes of it. If Mr. Fairfax would 
 accept an ensigncy, the matter might pretty easily be ac 
 commodated." 
 
 In a second letter of September I7th to Dinwiddie, 
 Washington enclosed a written report of what Mr. Carter 
 said Mr. Robinson told him that he heard Col. Richard 
 Corbin say that Captain Peachy affirmed to him, that the 
 alarm about Indians on the frontier was a baseless scare, 
 in execution of a scheme by which Washington sought 
 to cause the Assembly to levy largely both in men and 
 money. The communication was from Peachy, who pro 
 nounced the report scandalous and its author a scoundrel 
 thus leaving the matter upon Corbin if what Carter 
 said Robinson said, could be trusted. Washington said 
 of it to Dinwiddie: 
 
 " I should take it infinitely kind if your Honor would 
 please to inform me whether a report of this nature was 
 ever made to you ; and, in that case, who was the author 
 of it? 
 
 " It is evident, from a variety of circumstances, and 
 especially from the change in your Honor's conduct 
 towards me, that some person, as well inclined to detract, 
 but better skilled in the art of detraction, than the author 
 of the above stupid scandal, has made free with my char 
 acter. For I cannot suppose that malice so absurd, so 
 barefaced, so diametrically opposite to truth, to common 
 policy, and, in short, to everything but villainy, as the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 383 
 
 above report is, could impress you with so ill an opinion 
 of my honor and honesty. 
 
 " If it be possible that Colonel Corbin (for my belief 
 is staggered, not being conscious of having given the least 
 cause to any one, much less to that gentleman, to reflect 
 so grossly), I say, if it be possible that Colonel Corbin 
 could descend so low as to be the propagator of this story, 
 he must either be vastly ignorant in the state of affairs in 
 this county [Frederick] at that time, or else he must sup 
 pose that the whole body of the inhabitants had combined 
 with me in executing the deceitful fraud. 
 
 It is uncertain in what light my services may have 
 appeared to your Honor; but this I know, and it is the 
 highest consolation I am capable of feeling, that no 
 man, that ever was employed in a public capacity, has 
 endeavored to discharge the trust reposed in him with 
 greater honesty, and more zeal for the country's interest, 
 than I have done ; and if there is any person living, who 
 can say with justice, that I have offered any intentional 
 wrong to the public, I will cheerfully submit to the most 
 ignominious punishment that an injured people ought to 
 inflict. On the other hand, it is hard to have my character 
 arraigned, and my actions condemned, without a hearing. 
 
 " I must therefore again beg in more plain, and in very 
 earnest terms, to know if Col. Corbin has taken the liberty 
 of representing my character to your Honor with such 
 ungentlemanly freedom as the letter [of Capt. Peachy] 
 implies." 
 
 Dinwiddie replied that the report to Washington's dis 
 credit he had never heard of before; that he could not 
 think Colonel Corbin guilty of having started it ; and that he 
 had never known of anything to justify it. " But you 
 know," Dinwiddie added, " I had great reason to suspect 
 you of ingratitude, which I am convinced your own con- 
 
384 WASHINGTON. 
 
 science and reflection must allow I had reason to be angry ; 
 but this I endeavor to forget. As I have his Majesty's 
 leave to go for England, I propose leaving this in Novem 
 ber, and I wish my successor may show you as much 
 friendship as I have done." 
 
 To Captain Peachy Washington wrote September 18, 
 
 1757: 
 
 " In answer to that part [of your letter] which relates 
 to Colonel Corbin's gross and infamous reflections on my 
 conduct last spring, it will be needless, I dare say, to ob 
 serve further at this time, than that the liberty which he 
 has been pleased to allow himself in sporting with my 
 character, is little else than a comic entertainment, discov 
 ering at one view his passionate fondness for your friend, 
 his inviolable love of truth, his unfathomable knowledge, 
 and the masterly strokes of his wisdom in displaying it." 
 
 To Governor Dinwiddie Washington wrote from Fort 
 Loudoun (Winchester) September 24, 1757: 
 
 " The inhabitants of this valuable and fertile valley are 
 terrified beyond expression [because of " the late depreda 
 tions in this neighborhood"]. Some have abandoned 
 their plantations, and many are packing up their most 
 valuable effects in order to follow them. Another irrup 
 tion into the heart of this settlement will, I am afraid, 
 be of fatal consequence to it. I was always persuaded, 
 and almost every day affords new matter for confirming 
 me in the opinion, that the enemy can, with the utmost fa 
 cility, render abortive every plan which can be concerted, 
 upon our present system of defence; and that the only 
 method of effectually defending such a vast extent of 
 mountains covered with thick woods, as our frontiers, 
 against such an enemy, is by carrying the war into their 
 country. And I think I may, without assuming uncom 
 mon penetration, venture to affirm, that, unless an expe- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 385 
 
 dition is carried on against the Ohio next spring, this 
 country will not be another year in our possession." 
 
 October 5th Washington further said: " As I have neg 
 lected nothing in my power, it is very evident that nothing 
 but vigorous offensive measures (next campaign) can 
 save the country, at least all west of the Blue Ridge, from 
 inevitable desolation." And of a personal matter he said: 
 
 " I do not know that I ever gave your Honor cause 
 to suspect me of ingratitude, a crime I detest, and would 
 most carefully avoid. If an open, disinterested behavior 
 carries offence, I may have offended; because I have all 
 along laid it down as a maxim, to represent facts freely 
 and impartially, but no more to others than I have to 
 you, Sir. If instances of my ungrateful behavior had 
 been particularized, I would have answered to them. But 
 I have long been convinced, that my actions and their 
 motives have been maliciously aggravated." 
 
 To Colonel Stanwix Washington wrote, October 8, 
 1757, from Fort Loudoun: 
 
 " I exert every means in my power to protect a much 
 distressed country, but it is a task too arduous. To think 
 of defending a frontier, as ours is, of more than 350 miles 
 extent, with only 700 men, is vain and idle, especially 
 when that frontier lies more contiguous to the enemy 
 than any other. I am, and have for a long time been, 
 fully convinced that, if we continue to pursue a defensive 
 plan, the country must be inevitably lost." 
 
 October 9, 1757, Washington wrote to Dinwiddie of 
 the lawless thieving practiced by the Tippling-House keep 
 ers, receiving and concealing stores, arms, etc., belonging 
 to the regiment, and of the rascally, illegal conduct of the 
 justices in giving no redress through the courts. Again, 
 October 24th, he wrote to Dinwiddie of the inevitable 
 destruction of the country about Winchester unless a new 
 25 
 
386 WASHINGTON. 
 
 policy could be put in execution. To Speaker Robinson 
 he urged the same views in a letter of October 25th. His 
 last letter to Dinwiddie was one of November 5th, in re 
 gard to Indian affairs under the very bad system admin 
 istered by the agent, Atkin. Dinwiddie sailed for Eng 
 land in January, after Washington had gone home to 
 Mount Vernon under a severe indisposition which brought 
 him so low with dysentery and fever that it was more 
 than four months before he was able to resume his com 
 mand. Speaker Robinson wrote to him in reply to his 
 letter of October 25th: 
 
 " We have not yet heard who is to succeed him. God 
 grant it may be somebody better acquainted with the un 
 happy business we have in hand, and who, by his con 
 duct and counsel, may dispel the cloud now hanging over 
 this distressed country. Till that event, I beg, my dear 
 friend, that you will bear, so far as a man of honor ought, 
 the discouragements and slights you have too often met 
 with, and continue to serve your country, as I am con 
 vinced you have always hitherto done, in the best man 
 ner you can with the small assistance afforded you."] 
 
 The laborious and unintermitted devotion to his duties 
 proved at the close of the year 1757 so injurious to the 
 health of Washington that he yielded to the entreaties of 
 his physician, withdrew from the army, and retired to 
 Mount Vernon (1757). But it was not his fortune to 
 enjoy, even there, a refreshing repose that might reno 
 vate his strength. Prostrated by a lingering and debili 
 tating fever he was disqualified for duty, and he was 
 unable to return to the army until after the lapse of four 
 months. 
 
 It was a source of pleasing reflection to him however as 
 he lay on his bed of sickness, or enjoyed the calm delights 
 of his retreat at Mount Vernon, that his efforts in his 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 387 
 
 country's cause had not been altogether ineffectual. He 
 had traversed the whole frontier and become familiarly 
 acquainted with its condition and its wants; he had suc 
 ceeded in awakening a general and deep feeling in be 
 half of the suffering borderers; he had vindicated himself 
 from the unfavorable insinuations of secret enemies; he 
 had induced the Assembly to erect at Winchester a large 
 fort called Fort Loudoun, in honor of the British com- 
 mander-in-chief; and he had promptly and vigorously 
 constructed the military works proposed by the Burgesses, 
 visiting these works in person, and amid many perils in 
 the wilderness bringing his labors in great part to a suc 
 cessful issue. He had also, by his earnest recommenda 
 tion, directed the public mind to the importance of cap 
 turing Fort Duquesne and to the necessity of speedy 
 measures for this purpose. 
 
 In his retirement his mind dwelt continually upon the 
 interesting subjects associated with the defenses of the 
 frontier, and especially upon the capture of Fort Duquesne 
 as a grand climacteric. In the progress of events, during 
 the next year, it was his good fortune and great joy to see 
 that stronghold of his country's cruel enemies reduced, and 
 to take an active and prominent part in measures which re 
 stored peace and prosperity to those regions where a savage 
 and merciless warfare had so long been spreading desolation. 
 
 [Sparks remarks as follows on the campaign from which 
 Washington retired worn out and dangerously sick: 
 
 " The campaign, being a defensive one, presented no 
 opportunities for acquiring glory; but the demands on 
 the resources and address of the commander were not the 
 less pressing. The scene varied little from that of the 
 preceding year, except that the difficulties were more nu 
 merous and complicatd. There were the same unceasing 
 incursions of the savages, but more sanguinary and terri- 
 
388 WASHINGTON. 
 
 fying, the same tardiness in the enlistments, the same 
 troubles with the militia, the same neglect in supplying 
 the wants of the army; and on every side were heard 
 murmurs of discontent from the soldiers, and cries of dis 
 tress from the inhabitants. 
 
 " And what increased these vexations was, that the gov 
 ernor, tenacious of his authority, intrusted as little power 
 as possible to the head of the army. Totally unskilled 
 in military affairs, and residing two hundred miles from 
 the scene of action, he yet undertook to regulate the prin 
 cipal operations, sending expresses back and forth, and 
 issuing vague and contradictory orders, seldom adapted to 
 circumstances, frequently impracticable. This absurd in 
 terference was borne with becoming patience and forti 
 tude by the Commander-in-Chief; but not without keen 
 remonstrance to the Speaker of the Assembly and other 
 friends, against being made responsible for military events, 
 while the power to control them was withheld, or so 
 heavily clogged as to paralyze its action. The patriotic 
 party in the legislature sympathized with him, and would 
 gladly have procured redress, had not the governor pos 
 sessed prerogatives, which they could not encroach upon, 
 and which he seemed ambitious to exercise; the more so, 
 perhaps, as the leaders of the majority, learning his foible 
 in this respect, had thwarted many of his schemes, and 
 especially had assumed to themselves the appropriation of 
 the public moneys, which by ancient usage had been un 
 der the direction of the Governor and Council." 
 
 The muddle created by the senseless meddling of Din- 
 widdie, after Colonel Stanwix had come into chief British 
 command, and the contrast between Dinwiddie and Stan 
 wix, are brought out by Sparks in the following: 
 
 " During the summer of 1757, Colonel Washington was 
 in some sort under the command of Colonel Stanwix, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 389 
 
 but to what extent he did not know, as he had received 
 no instructions on that head, and the Governor continued 
 to issue his orders as formerly. At length the Governor 
 wrote as follows ; ' Colonel Stanwix being appointed 
 Commander-in-Chief [of the middle and southern prov 
 inces], you must submit to his orders, without regard to 
 any you may receive from me; he, being near the place, 
 can direct affairs better than I can.' This was peculiarly 
 agreeable to the Commander of the Virginia regiment; 
 for Colonel Stanwix was a military man, and a gentle 
 man of an elevated and liberal spirit. His letters bear a 
 high testimony to his good sense, as well as to the delicacy 
 of his feelings, the amenity of his temper, and the gener 
 osity of his character. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the above direction, the Governor did 
 not cease to write, give commands, require returns, and 
 utter complaints as usual, thereby increasing the endless 
 perplexities and bewildering doubts, with which Colonel 
 Washington was harassed in all his plans and operations. 
 
 " He had requested leave of absence from Governor Din- 
 widdie for a few days to attend to certain private affairs, of 
 a very pressing nature, at Mount Vernon. He afterwards 
 repeated this request, and, as he seemed to be under two 
 commanders, he thought it expedient to consult them 
 both. The Governor answered; 'As to the settlement 
 of your brother's estate, your absence on that account 
 from Fort Loudoun must be suspended, till our affairs 
 give a better prospect.' Colonel Stanwix replied to the 
 same request; 'More than two weeks ago I answered 
 your letter, in which you mentioned its being convenient 
 to your private affairs to attend to them for a fortnight. 
 In that answer I expressed my concern, that you should 
 think such a thing necessary to mention to me, as I am 
 sure you would not choose to be out of call, should the 
 
390 WASHINGTON. 
 
 service require your immediate attendance; and I hope 
 you will always take that liberty upon yourself, which I 
 hope you will now do." 
 
 In closing the Dinwiddie chapter of Washington's ca 
 reer Sparks remarks very justly: 
 
 "As a school of experience it ultimately proved ad 
 vantageous to him. It was his good fortune, likewise, to 
 gain honor and reputation even in so barren a field, by 
 retaining the confidence of his fellow citizens, and ful 
 filling the expectations of his friends in the legislature, 
 who had pressed upon him the command, and urged his 
 holding it. 
 
 " But the fatigue of body and mind, which he suffered 
 from the severity of his labors, gradually undermined his 
 strength, and his physician insisted on his retiring from 
 the army. He went to Mount Vernon, where his disease 
 settled into a fever, and reduced him so low, that he was 
 confined four months, till the 1st of March, 1758, before 
 he was able to resume his command."] 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CAHPAIGN OF 1758 -WASHINGTON'S MARRIAGE. 
 
 1758. 
 
 WASHINGTON was at Fredericksburg, January 
 31, 1758, and wrote to his cordial friend, John 
 Blair, president of the Council and acting Gov 
 ernor, in regard to the inopportune arrival then expected 
 of a considerable party of Indians. Twenty days later 
 he wrote again: 
 
 " I set out for Williamsburg the day after the date of 
 my letter, but found I was unable to proceed, my fever 
 and pain increasing upon me to a high degree; and the 
 physicians assured me, that I might endanger my life by 
 prosecuting the journey." 
 
 From Mount Vernon, March 4, 1758, Washington wrote: 
 
 " I have never been able to return to my command, 
 since I wrote to you last, my disorder at times returning 
 obstinately upon me, in spite of the efforts of all the sons 
 of ^Esculapius, whom I have hitherto consulted. At cer 
 tain periods I have been reduced to great extremity, and 
 have now too much reason to apprehend an approaching 
 decay, being visited with several symptoms of such a 
 disease. 
 
 " I am now under a strict regimen, and shall set out 
 tomorrow for Williamsburg to receive the advice of the 
 best physicians there. My constitution is certainly greatly 
 impaired, and as nothing can retrieve it but the greatest 
 care and the most circumspect conduct; as I now have 
 
 (391) 
 
392 WASHINGTON. 
 
 no prospect left of preferment in the military way; and 
 as I despair of rendering that immediate service which 
 my country may require from the person commanding 
 their troops, I have some thoughts of quitting my com 
 mand, and retiring from all public business, leaving my 
 post to be rilled by some other person more capable of 
 the task, and who may, perhaps, have his endeavors 
 crowned with better success than mine have been/'] 
 
 The campaign of 1758 was destined to terminate Wash 
 ington's doubts and anxieties. In April of this year he 
 was in command at Fort Loudoun with improved health. 
 His old enemy, the wrong-headed and pragmatical Gov 
 ernor Dinwiddie, had yielded his place to Mr. Francis Fau- 
 quier, until whose arrival from England an old friend of 
 Washington, Mr. John Blair, president of Council, was act 
 ing Governor. 
 
 A change not less auspicious had taken place in the ad 
 ministration of affairs in the mother country. The activity 
 of the French and the supineness of the English in the 
 recent campaigns in America seemed to threaten the loss 
 of the Colonies. The British nation had become alarmed 
 and indignant and the King had found it necessary to 
 change his councils. At the head of the new ministry he 
 placed the celebrated William Pitt, afterward Earl of Chat 
 ham, pre-eminently a man of action, who from the humble 
 post of ensign in the Guards had raised himself to his pres 
 ent elevated position. Under his administration, public 
 confidence, not only in England, but in the Colonies, at once 
 revived and all were inspired with new life and vigor. He 
 was equally popular in both hemispheres, and so promptly 
 did the Governors of the northern Colonies obey the requi 
 sitions of his circular letter of 1757 that by May, in the fol 
 lowing year Massachusetts had 7,000, Connecticut 5,000, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 393 
 
 and New Hampshire 3,000 troops prepared to take the 
 field.* The authorities of the mother country were not less 
 active. While British fleets were blockading or capturing 
 the French armaments intended for America, Admiral Bos- 
 cawen was dispatched to Halifax with a formidable squad 
 ron of ships and an army of 12,000 men. The imbecile and 
 dilatory Lord Loudoun was recalled and General Aber- 
 crombie placed in the chief command who, early in the 
 spring, was ready to enter upon the campaign with an army 
 of 50,000 men, the largest ever embodied in America. 
 
 Three points of attack were marked out for this cam 
 paign : The first, Louisburg ; the second, Ticonderoga and 
 Crown Point ; and the third, Fort Duquesne. In the last 
 of these expeditions, Washington, to his great joy, was 
 destined to take a part ; but as its success was entirely de 
 pendent, in the sequel, on the operations of the other two, 
 it becomes necessary first to notice them somewhat in detail. 
 
 The expedition against Louisburg was conducted by Gen 
 eral Amherst, assisted by the remarkable military skill and 
 daring enterprise of General Wolfe, destined, in the next 
 
 * The arrangements made by Pitt with reference to the relative 
 rank of royal and provincial troops, and the relative expenses of 
 the crown and the colonies, were not less satisfactory than his 
 prompt and energetic measures for carrying on the campaign. 
 
 " He stipulated that the colonial troops raised for this purpose 
 should be supplied with arms, ammunition, tents, and provisions 
 in the same manner as the regular troops, and at the King's ex 
 pense; so that the only charge to the Colonies would be that of 
 levying, clothing, and paying the men. The Governors were also 
 authorized to issue commissions to provincial officers, from col 
 onels downward, and these officers were to hold rank in the united 
 army according to their commissions. Had this liberal and just 
 system been adopted at the outset, it would have put a very different 
 face upon the military affairs of the Colonies." Sparks's " Writings 
 of Washington," vol. II, p. 289, note. 
 
394 WASHINGTON. 
 
 campaign, to become the conqueror of Quebec. Richard 
 Montgomery, whose immortality was afterward won under 
 other auspices before the same city, also served in this ex 
 pedition as a subaltern, and gained promotion from Wolfe 
 for his gallantry. 
 
 On the 28th of May (1758) the expedition sailed from 
 Halifax, the fleet under command of Admiral Boscawen 
 being composed of twenty ships-of-the-line and eighteen 
 frigates, and the army, under General Amherst, of 14,000 
 men. They arrived in Cabarus bay on the 2d of June. 
 The garrison of Louisburg, commanded by the Chevalier 
 Drucour, an officer of courage and experience, was com 
 posed of 2,500 regulars, aided by 600 militia and Indians. 
 The harbor being secured by five ships-of-the-line, one fifty- 
 gtm ship, and five frigates, three of which were sunk across 
 the mouth of the basin, it was found necessary to land at 
 some distance from the town. Prevented from landing by 
 a heavy surf until the 8th, the brave Wolfe then led the army 
 in three divisions of boats to nearly the same place where 
 the small army of New England men, under the command 
 of the able and courageous Lieut.-Gen. William Pepperrell, 
 had landed to besiege and capture Louisburg in 1745. 
 
 The enemy were arrayed along the shore, and, after mak 
 ing some resistance to the impetuous onset of Wolfe, fled 
 to the city. The British lost in killed or drowned forty- 
 three regulars and six provincials, and the French lost two 
 lieutenants killed and seventy prisoners. Two large guns 
 and thirty-two small ones, planted along the shore, were 
 taken, with their ammunition. The French destroyed the 
 fortress to which they had given the name of Royal Bat 
 tery and called in their outposts. The artillery and stores 
 were now brought on shore, and General Wolfe with 1,800 
 men marched around Green Hill and the northeast harbor 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 395 
 
 to the lighthouse, which the enemy deserted, destroying 
 their cannon. Several strong batteries were forthwith 
 added to those erected by the enemy on this spot, which 
 commanded the eastern side of the harbor. Approaches 
 were also made on the opposite side of the town and the 
 siege was steadily though cautiously continued. A French 
 frigate attempting to escape from the harbor was captured. 
 A heavy cannonade being kept up against the town and the 
 vessels in the harbor, a bomb set on fire and blew up one 
 of the largest ships, and the flames were communicated to 
 two others, which shared the same fate (July 21, 1758). 
 The batteries erected at the lighthouse meantime had 
 silenced the battery of the enemy, situated on one of the 
 islands at the entrance of the harbor. 
 
 On July 25th the admiral sent in 600 men in the night 
 to destroy the two remaining ships-of-the-line, who burnt 
 the Prudent, a seventy-four, and towed off the Bienfaisant, 
 a sixty-four, to the northeast harbor. This gallant exploit 
 putting the English in complete possession of the harbor, 
 and several breaches having been made practicable in the 
 works, the brave Drucour, finding the place no longer 
 tenable, proposed terms of capitulation. The English com 
 manders, who were on the point of sending six ships into 
 the harbor to aid in an assault, required that the garrison 
 should surrender as prisoners of war. Drucour at first re 
 jected these humiliating terms and determined to hold out 
 to the last, but overcome by the importunities of the suf 
 fering inhabitants of the town he at length acceded to the 
 conditions prescribed ; and Louisburg, with all its artillery, 
 provisions, and military stores, together with Island Royal, 
 St. Johns, and their dependencies, were placed in the hands 
 of the English, who at once took possession of the island 
 of Cape Breton. They found 221 pieces of cannon and 
 
396 WASHINGTON. 
 
 eighteen mortars, with a very large quantity of stores and 
 ammunition in the fortress. The inhabitants of Cape Bre 
 ton were sent to France in English ships, but the garrison, 
 sea officers, sailors, and marines, amounting collectively to 
 3,291 men, were carried prisoners to England. The news 
 of the brilliant success of the expedition was received with 
 great rejoicing throughout the Colonies, and the event was 
 triumphantly celebrated in London. 
 
 Soon after the surrender of Louisburg, General Wolfe 
 returned to England, while Gfneral Amherst* sailed with 
 part of his army to Boston and from thence marched to 
 Fort William Henry to take part in the second expedition 
 of the campaign, the leading incidents of which we now 
 proceed to notice. 
 
 The force destined for the expedition against Ticonderoga 
 and Crown Point consisted of 16,000 men, attended by a 
 powerful train of artillery, and led by the commander-in- 
 chief, General Abercrombie. Subordinate to him, in com 
 mand of 5,000 of these men, was George Howe, lord vis 
 count, the most popular of all the British officers who ever 
 
 * Like Wolfe, Amherst was selected by Chatham to aid in the 
 execution of that eminent statesman's great military designs; and 
 his success proved that the minister had formed a just estimate of 
 his courage and ability. The services which he rendered to Great 
 Britain in America fully entitled him to the honors with which he 
 was afterward rewarded. He was described as having been "a 
 thorough good soldier: " cautious but enterprising; temperate and 
 collected in the greatest difficulties; strict in the enforcement of 
 discipline, yet averse to mere military parade, and particularly 
 kind to the men under his command. He erected a column, near 
 his residence at Riverhead, commemorating the escape of himself 
 and his two brothers, Lieutenant-General and Admiral Amherst, 
 from the perils of war; and recording those successes of the British 
 forces in Canada, to which he had materially contributed by his 
 bravery and skill. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 397 
 
 served in the Colonies. Abercrombie was as remarkable 
 for timidity and imbecility as Howe was for courage and 
 enterprise. 
 
 On the 5th of July (1758) Abercrombie embarked his 
 troops on Lake George on board of 125 whale-boats and 
 900 batteaux, with rafts for the artillery, and passing down 
 the lake landed on the west side near its outlet. The troops 
 were formed into four columns, the British in the center 
 and the provincials on the flanks. In this order they 
 marched toward the advanced guard of the French which, 
 consisting of one battalion only, posted in a log breast 
 work, set fire to their camp and made a precipitate retreat. 
 
 While Abercrombie was urging forward his march 
 through the woods toward Ticonderoga, the columns were 
 thrown into confusion and in some degree entangled with 
 each other. At this juncture Lord Howe, at the head of 
 the right center column, fell in with a part of the advanced 
 guard of the enemy, who had lost their way in the woods 
 in retreating from Lake George, and immediately attacked 
 and dispersed it, killing 300 of the enemy and taking 148 
 prisoners. This success however was dearly purchased by 
 the death of Lord Howe* himself, who fell at the first fire. 
 
 Abercrombie ordered the troops to fall back to the land^ 
 ing place on Lake George and bivouac for the night. The 
 
 * George Howe, Lord Viscount, was the eldest son of Sir E. 
 Scrope, second lord viscount in Ireland. He commanded five 
 thousand British troops, which arrived at Halifax in July, 1757. 
 The next year, when Abercrombie marched against Ticonderoga, 
 in an attack on the advanced guard of the French posted in the 
 woods, Lord Howe fell at the first fire, in July, 1758, aged 33. " In 
 him," says Manto, " the soul of the army seemed to expire." By 
 his- military talents and rnany virtues, he had acquired esteem and 
 affection. Massachusetts erected a monument to his memory in 
 Westminster Abbey, at an expense of 250. 
 
398 WASHINGTON. 
 
 master-spirit of the enterprise was no more, and the in 
 capable Abercrombie was left to encounter the able and 
 indefatigable Montcalm. This officer, who was in com 
 mand at Ticonderoga, had caused trees to be felled in front 
 of the breastwork of the fortress at some distance, having 
 some of their branches sharpened to a point, so as to retard 
 assailants and entangle them in the branches. 
 
 The engineer sent forward by Abercrombie the next 
 morning to reconnoiter the works seems not to have no 
 ticed the character of this abattis as, on his return, he re 
 ported that the works were unfinished and might easily be 
 taken. Abercrombie, posted at some sawmills two miles 
 from the fort, without waiting for his artillery, ordered an 
 immediate assault (July 8, 1758). The contest lasted four 
 hours. The soldiers fought bravely, but were cut down by 
 the merciless fire of the French, securely posted behind 
 their works, and the result was a defeat, with the loss of 
 2,000 men and 2,500 stand of arms. Abercrombie ordered 
 a retreat to his former camp on the south side of Lake 
 George, whence he immediately recrossed the lake, and en 
 tirely abandoned the project of capturing Ticonderoga.* 
 
 The only success accomplished by this portion of the 
 army during the campaign is due to the enterprise of one 
 of the heroes of Louisburg. 
 
 Col. John Bradstreet, who had served as captain in 
 Lieutenant-General Pepperrell's regiment at Louisburg in 
 1745, and his intimate friend and protege, was in this dis 
 astrous engagement against Ticonderoga with Aber 
 crombie, and immediately afterward earnestly solicited per 
 mission to march against Fort Frontenac, near the head 
 
 *This defeat induced Pitt to order Abercrombie home, and to 
 give the command to Amherst, who had returned from Louisburg. 
 Amherst marched back, and commanded the army on Lake Cham- 
 plain to the end of the war. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 399 
 
 of Lake Ontario, with a force of 3,000 men, chiefly pro 
 vincial militia,* carrying eight pieces of cannon and two 
 mortars. The troops embarked at Oswego on the evening 
 of the 25th of August (1758), and landed within a mile of 
 Fort Frontenac which, after a spirited assault of two days, 
 surrendered at discretion. The Indians having previously 
 deserted left but no prisoners of war. But the captors 
 found in the fort sixty pieces of cannon, sixteen small 
 mortars, a large number of small arms, a vast quantity 
 of provisions, military stores, and merchandise, and nine 
 armed vessels. Having destroyed the fort, vessels, and 
 stores, Colonel Bradstreet returned to the main army. 
 For this noble achievement,! he was subsequently pro- 
 
 * The proportions, as given by Dr. Parsons in his " Life of Sir 
 William Pepperrell," are as follows: 
 
 Regulars 135 
 
 New York Provincial Militia 1,112 
 
 New Jersey Provincial Militia 412 
 
 Boston Provincial Militia 675 
 
 Rhode Island Provincial Militia 318 
 
 Batteau men 300 
 
 2,952 
 
 tjohn Bradstreet was born in England. He was Lieutenant- 
 Governor of St. Johns, Newfoundland, in 1746. He was afterward 
 renowned for his military services. In the year 1756, it being 
 deemed of the highest importance to keep open the communica 
 tion with Fort Oswego, on Lake Ontario, General Shirley enlisted 
 forty companies of boatmen, and placed them under the command 
 of Bradstreet, to effect this object. In the spring of this year, a 
 well-stockaded post of twenty-five men had been cut off. The 
 enemy having possession of the passage through the Onondaga 
 river, rendered it necessary to transport the requisite boats across 
 the country. On his return from Oswego in July, 1756, Colonel 
 Bradstreet, who was apprehensive of being surprised, ordered the 
 several divisions to keep as close together as possible. He was at 
 the head of about three hundred boatmen in the first division, when, 
 
400 WASHINGTON. 
 
 moted to the rank of brigadier-general in the royal army r 
 to the great joy and satisfaction of his old commander 
 and patron, Sir William Pepperrell. 
 
 The fall of Frontenac cut off the supplies intended for 
 Fort Duquesne and hastened its reduction. 
 
 We now proceed to notice the operations of the third 
 expedition of the campaign of 1758, that, namely, which was 
 intended for the reduction of Fort Duquesne, in which 
 Washington took a very active part. We left him at Fort 
 Loudoun, writing to the Speaker of the House of Burgesses 
 on the importance of carrying the war into the enemy's 
 country. His wishes in this respect were now to be grati 
 fied, and that on an extensive scale, and yet perhaps there 
 is not a period in the whole career of Washington during 
 which his patience and patriotism were more severely tried 
 than during the progress of this expedition. The army 
 destined to operate against Fort Duquesne was placed un 
 der the command of General Forbes, and the force at his 
 disposal was more than sufficient for the purpose, but the 
 measures adopted by him were as badly conceived as if they 
 had been expressly intended to defeat the expedition.* 
 
 at the distance of nine miles from the fort, the enemy issued from 
 an ambuscade and attacked him. He instantly landed upon a small 
 island, and, with only six men, maintained his position until he 
 was reinforced. A general engagement ensued, in which Brad- 
 street gallantly attacked a more numerous enemy, and entirely 
 routed them, killing and wounding about two hundred men. His 
 own loss was about thirty. In the year 1758, he planned an expedi 
 tion against Fort Frontenac, and being intrusted with the command 
 of 3,000 men, he invested the fort and compelled the garrison to 
 surrender on the 27th of August. In 1764, he compelled the Dela- 
 wares, Shawnees, and other Indians, to conclude treaties of peace. 
 He was appointed general in 1772, and died in 1774. 
 
 " The troops actually employed under General Forbes were 1,200 
 Highlanders, 350 Royal Americans, about 2,700 provincials from 
 Pennsylvania, 1,600 from Virginia, two or three hundred from Mary- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 401 
 
 The Virginia Assembly promptly complied with the 
 requisition of the minister, furnishing two regiments, 
 amounting to 1,800 men as their contingent. One of these 
 was commanded by Colonel Washington, who still retained 
 his rank as commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces. The 
 other was under the command of Colonel Byrd. Washing 
 ton warmly recommended an early campaign for this among 
 other reasons : Seven hundred Indians had in April (1758) 
 assembled at Winchester, whose patience would be ex 
 hausted unless they were promptly employed, and in the 
 event of their desertion he observes : " No words can tell 
 how much they will be missed." He was at length ordered 
 to collect the Virginia troops at Winchester, and hold them 
 in readiness for active service. At this late moment, when 
 the duties of the field demanded all his attention, he was 
 under the necessity of making a journey to Williamsburg, 
 the seat of government, in order to obtain a supply of arms, 
 clothing, and money for his regiment, and to secure for 
 his own veteran soldiers the same pay which the Assembly, 
 in their recent session, had voted for the new regiment 
 raised for the present campaign. While he was training 
 the newly-enlisted soldiers and preparing supplies and the 
 means of transportation the soldiers were becoming im 
 patient, and the Indians, as he had anticipated, grew dis 
 contented, and nearly all of them returned to their homes. 
 
 While Washington was thus occupied at Winchester, 
 General Forbes was detained by illness at Philadelphia, and 
 
 land, who had been stationed in garrison at Fort Frederic, under 
 Colonel Dagworthy, and also two companies from North Carolina, 
 making in all, including the wagoners, between six and seven 
 thousand men. This army was more than five months penetrating 
 to the Ohio, where it was found, at last, that they had to oppose 
 only five hundred of the enemy." Sparks's " Writings of Washing 
 ton," vol. II, p. 289, note. 
 26 
 
402 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Colonel Bouquet was in command at Raystown, thirty 
 miles from Fort Cumberland. The intermediate place be 
 tween this point and Washington's quarters at Winchester 
 was designated for conferences between him, Colonel 
 Bouquet, and the quartermaster-general, Sir John St. Clair, 
 in order to determine a uniform, plan of action and make 
 the necessary arrangements. 
 
 [In view of an offensive campaign against the French 
 and Indians on the Ohio, a repetition of the design 
 which Braddock's terrible defeat interrupted, Washington 
 wrote to one of Braddock's officers, Major Halket, April 
 12, 1758: 
 
 "Are we to have you once more among us? And shall 
 we revisit together a hapless spot, that proved so fatal to 
 many of our (former) brave companions? Yes; and I 
 rejoice at it, hoping it will now be in our power to tes 
 tify a just abhorrence of the cruel butchery exercised on 
 our friends in the unfortunate day of Braddock's defeat; 
 and, moreover, to show our enemies, that we can practise 
 all that lenity of which they only boast, without affording 
 any adequate proofs at all." 
 
 In a letter of April 17, 1758, to the President of the 
 Council, Washington said: 
 
 "The last Assembly, in their Supply Bill, provided for 
 a chaplain to our regiment, for whom I had often very 
 unsuccessfully applied to Governor Dinwiddie. I now 
 flatter myself, that your Honor will be pleased to appoint 
 a sober, serious man for this duty. Common decency, 
 Sir, in a camp calls for the services of a divine, and which 
 ought not to be dispensed with, although the world should 
 be so uncharitable as to think us void of religion, and 
 incapable of good instructions." 
 
 At Williamsburg, May 28, 1758, Washington wrote a 
 long statement of the needs of his troops, and of the ser- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 403 
 
 vice to be required of them. He began: " I came here 
 at this critical juncture, by the express order of Sir John 
 St. Clair, to represent in the fullest manner the posture of 
 our affairs at Winchester, and to obviate any doubts that 
 might arise from the best written narrative. I shall make 
 use of the following method, as the most effectual I 
 can at present suggest, to lay sundry matters before you, 
 for your information, approbation, and direction." The 
 letter goes on with a statement under twelve heads, for 
 the first of which a letter from Sir John St. Clair is sub 
 mitted. 
 
 It was an incident of this journey to Williamsburg, and 
 the stay there which the business required, which led 
 to Washington's marriage engagement. Irving tells the 
 story as follows, after an account of the gathering at Win 
 chester of the troops which were to be under Washington's 
 command: 
 
 " The force thus assembling was in want of arms, tents, 
 field-equipage, and almost every requisite. Washington 
 had made repeated representations, by letter, of the des 
 titute state of the Virginia troops, but without avail; he 
 was now ordered by Sir John St. Clair, the quartermas 
 ter-general of the forces, under General Forbes, to repair 
 to Williamsburg, and lay the state of the case before the 
 council. He set off promptly on horseback attended by 
 Bishop, the well-trained military servant, who had served 
 the late General Braddock. It proved an eventful jour 
 ney, though not in a military point of view. In crossing 
 a ferry of the Pamunkey, a branch of York River, he fell 
 in company with a Mr. Chamberlayne, who lived in the 
 neighborhood, and who, in the spirit of Virginian hospi 
 tality, claimed him as a guest. It was with difficulty 
 Washington could be prevailed on to halt for dinner, so 
 
404 WASHINGTON. 
 
 impatient was he to arrive at Williamsburg, and accom 
 plish his mission. 
 
 " Among the guests at Mr. Chamberlayne's was a young 
 and blooming widow, Mrs. Martha Custis, daughter of 
 Mr. John Dandridge, both patrician names in the prov 
 ince. Her husband, John Parke Custis, had been dead 
 about three years, leaving her with two young children, 
 and a large fortune. She is represented as being rather 
 below the middle size, but extremely well shaped, with 
 an agreeable countenance, dark hazel eyes and hair, and 
 those frank, engaging manners,^ so captivating in Southern 
 women. We are not informed whether Washington had 
 met with her before; probably not during her widow 
 hood, as during that time he had been almost continually 
 on the frontier. 
 
 " It was not until the next morning that he was again 
 in the saddle, spurring for Williamsburg. Happily the 
 White House, the residence of Mrs. Custis, was in New 
 Kent County, at no great distance from that city, so that 
 he had opportunities of visiting her in the intervals of 
 business. 
 
 " Before returning to Winchester, Washington was 
 obliged to hold conferences with Sir John St. Clair and 
 Colonel Bouquet, at an intermediate rendezvous, to give 
 them information respecting the frontiers, and arrange 
 about the marching of his troops." 
 
 It was on the I3th of June, after about three weeks' 
 stay at Williamsburg, that Washington returned to his 
 command; and on the 24th he marched from Winchester 
 for Fort Cumberland. A month later, July 2Oth, he sent 
 the following letter from Fort Cumberland: 
 
 " To Martha Custis. 
 
 " We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier 
 is starting for Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportun- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 405 
 
 ity to send a few words to one whose life is now insepara 
 ble from mine. Since that happy hour when we made our 
 pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually 
 going to you as to another self. That an All Powerful 
 Providence may keep us both in safety is the prayer of 
 your ever faithful & Ever affectionate Friend, 
 
 G. Washington." 
 
 June 19, 1758, Washington wrote to General Forbes 
 a letter of suggestions in regard to the employment of 
 Indian allies. The march, he said, " of more than 100 
 miles from our advanced post [at Fort Cumberland], be 
 fore we shall arrive at Fort Duquesne; a great part of 
 which will be over mountains and rocks, and through de 
 files; will enable the enemy, with their superior knowledge 
 of the country, to render extremely arduous, unsafe, and, 
 at best, tedious, our intended expedition, unless we also 
 can be assisted by a body of Indians, the best, if not 
 the only troops fit to cope with Indians in such grounds." 
 In view, therefore, of the extreme importance of Indian 
 aid, Washington proposed that " A person of abilities and 
 address be sent immediately to the Cherokee nation to 
 get a number of the Indians to our assistance," while the 
 plan of army advances was being worked out. 
 
 The same day Washington sent a letter to Fauquier, 
 the new Governor, calling his attention to the scandalous 
 fashion in which an order calling out 100 militia had been 
 complied with. " 73 only came ; and not one of them pro 
 vided, as the law directs, with arms and ammunition." 
 Upon representation of the matter in the proper quarter, 
 " near 100 arms were sent, out of which number scarce 
 five were serviceable, and not more than 30 could be 
 made to fire." Washington adds: "I immediately set 
 smiths to repairing the arms, and I have, with the assist 
 ance of 35 old muskets, which I caused to be delivered 
 
406 WASHINGTON. 
 
 out of the store here, got this company at last completed 
 [in outfit not in numbers, as there were but 68, when 
 there ought to have been 100.]. Till this time they have 
 been a dead expense to the public, and of no service to 
 the inhabitants. This, Sir, is a true statement of facts, 
 and really merits reprehension: for, if such behavior is 
 suffered to escape unnoticed, the most destructive conse 
 quences may accrue."] 
 
 At length Washington received the long-desired order to 
 advance with the Virginia regiments from Winchester to 
 Fort Cumberland, where he arrived early in July (1758).* 
 
 [Marching from Winchester, June 24th, " with five com 
 panies of the First Virginia regiment, and a company of 
 artificers of the Second," Washington, " much delayed by 
 
 *The following extract from a letter of Robert Munford to 
 Colonel Bland, dated Fort Cumberland, July 6, 1758, gives us a 
 glimpse of camp life, and of the estimation in which Washington 
 was held, at that time, by the officers serving under his command: 
 
 "After being delayed at Winchester five or six weeks longer 
 than expected (in which time, I was ordered express to Williams- 
 burg, and allowed but a day after my return to prepare), we pushed 
 off into the wide ocean. I was permitted to walk every step of 
 the way to this humble fort, to eat little, and lay hard, over moun 
 tain, through mud and water, yet as merry and hearty as ever. 
 Our flankers and sentries pretend they saw the enemy daily, but 
 they never approached us. A detachment is this moment ordered 
 off to clear a road thirty miles, and our companies to cover the 
 working party. We are in fine scalping-ground, I assure you; the 
 guns pop about us, and you may see the fellows prick up their 
 ears, like deer, every moment. Our colonel (Washington) is an 
 example of fortitude in either danger or hardships, and by his 
 easy, polite behavior, has gained not only the regard but affection 
 of both officers and soldiers. He has kindly invited me to his 
 table for the campaign, offered me any sum of money I may have 
 occasion for, without charging either principal or interest, and 
 signified his approbation of my conduct hitherto in such a manner 
 as is to me of advantage." Bland Papers, p. 9. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 407 
 
 bad teams and bad roads," arrived at camp near Fort 
 Cumberland, July 2d, in the afternoon. 
 
 July I9th, Washington said in a letter to Colonel Bou 
 quet, the commander of the expedition: 
 
 " I am excessively obliged by the very handsome and 
 polite manner, by which you are pleased to give me leave 
 to attend the election at Winchester. Though my being 
 there on that occasion would, at any other time, be very 
 agreeable to me, yet at this juncture I can hardly per 
 suade myself to think of being absent from my more im 
 mediate duty, even for a few days." 
 
 This refers to Washington's standing for election as 
 one of the two members of the House of Burgesses for 
 Frederick county. The election took place July 24th, and 
 the result of the poll was, Washington, 307; Colonel Mar 
 tin, a nephew of Lord Fairfax, 240; and two others, 199 
 and 45, respectively. These same two now defeated had 
 been elected on a previous occasion with 271 and 270 
 votes, while Washington, who was also a candidate, got 
 only 40 votes. At least such an election report was found 
 among his papers, but with no indication of date. It was 
 in a letter of May 25, 1755, that Washington asked his 
 brother, John A. Washington, to ascertain how matters 
 stood, favorable or unfavorable to his standing as a 
 candidate. 
 
 To one of his supporters in the election, Washington 
 wrote, July 29, 1758: 
 
 " Permit me to return you my sincerest thanks for your 
 great assistance at the late election, and to assure you 
 that I shall ever retain a lively sense of the favor. 
 . " Our expedition seems overcast with too many ills to 
 give you any satisfaction in a transient relation of them. 
 God knows what's intended; for nothing seems ripe for 
 
408 WASHINGTON. 
 
 execution; backwardness, and I would if I dare say more, 
 appears in all things all but the approach of winter." 
 
 To Colonel James Wood, who was known in the " far 
 west " of Virginia as the " founder " of Winchester, and 
 who had personally represented Washington in the elec 
 tion proceedings, Washington wrote: 
 
 " If thanks from a heart replete with joy and grati 
 tude can in any measure compensate for the fatigue, 
 anxiety, and pain, you had at my election, be assured 
 you have them. 
 
 " How I shall thank Mrs. Wood for her favorable wishes, 
 and how acknowledge my sense of obligations to the peo 
 ple in general for their choice of me, I am at a loss to 
 resolve on. But why? Can I do it more effectually than 
 by making their interest (as it really is) my own, and doing 
 everything that lies in my little power for the honor and 
 welfare of the country? I think not; and my best endeav 
 ors they may always command. I promise this now, when 
 promises may be regarded; before they might pass as 
 words of course. 
 
 " I am extremely thankful to you and my other friends 
 for entertaining the freeholders in my name. I hope no 
 exception was taken to any that voted against me, but 
 that all were alike treated and all had enough. My only 
 fear is that you spent with too sparing a hand." 
 
 One of Washington's friends had said in a letter to him 
 immediately after the election: 
 
 " The punctual discharge of every trust, your humane 
 and equitable treatment of each individual, and your ardent 
 zeal for the common cause, have gained your point with 
 credit; as your friends could, with the greatest warmth 
 and truth, urge the worth of those noble endowments and 
 principles, as well as your superior interest both here and 
 in the House." " Considering the command," says Sparks, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 409 
 
 " which he had been obliged to exercise in Frederic County 
 for near five years, and the restraints which the exigency of 
 circumstances required him occasionally to put upon the in 
 habitants, this result was deemed a triumphant proof of 
 his abilities, address, and power to win the affections and 
 confidence of the people." 
 
 " From this time till the beginning of the revolution, a 
 period of fifteen years, Washington was constantly a mem 
 ber of the House of Burgesses, being returned by a large 
 majority of votes at every election. For seven years he 
 represented, jointly with another delegate, the County of 
 Frederic, in which Winchester was, and afterwards the 
 County of Fairfax, in which he resided. There were 
 commonly two sessions in a year, and sometimes three. 
 It appears, from a record left in his handwriting, that he 
 gave his attendance punctually, and from the beginning 
 to the end of almost every session. It was a maxim with 
 him through life, to execute punctually and thoroughly 
 every charge which he undertook. 
 
 " His influence in public bodies was produced more by 
 the soundness of his judgment, his quick perceptions, and 
 his directness and undeviating sincerity, than by eloquence 
 or art in recommending his opinions. He seldom spoke, 
 never harangued, and it is not known that he ever made 
 a set speech, or entered into a stormy debate. But his 
 attention was at all times awake. He studied profoundly 
 the prominent topics of discussion, and, whenever occasion 
 required, was prepared to deliver his sentiments clearly, 
 and to act with decision and firmness. His practice may 
 be inferred from the counsel he gave to a nephew, who 
 had just taken his seat for the first time in the Assembly. 
 
 ." ' The only advice I will offer,' said he, ' if you have 
 a mind to command the attention of the House, is to 
 speak seldom but on important subjects, except such as 
 
410 WASHINGTON. 
 
 particularly relate to your constituents ; and, in the former 
 case, make yourself perfectly master of the subject. Never 
 exceed a decent warmth, and submit your sentiments with 
 diffidence. A dictatorial style, though it may carry con 
 viction, is always accompanied with disgust.' ' 
 
 Sparks gives an account of Washington's action in a 
 meeting of the parish of Truro, which shows exactly what 
 kind of speaker he was. Sparks says: 
 
 " In the affairs of Truro Parish, to which Mount Ver- 
 non belonged, he took a lively concern and exercised a 
 salutary control. He was a~ vestryman of that parish. 
 On one occasion he gained a triumph of some moment, 
 which Mr. Massey, the clergyman, who lived to an ad 
 vanced age, used to mention as an instance of his address. 
 The old church was falling to ruin, and it was resolved 
 that another should be built. Several meetings were held, 
 and a warm dispute arose respecting its location, the old 
 one being remote from the center, and inconveniently 
 situated for many of the parishoners. A meeting for set 
 tling the question was finally held. George Mason, who 
 led the party that adhered to the ancient site, made an 
 eloquent harangue, in which he appealed with great effect 
 to the sensibilities of the people, conjuring them not to 
 desert the spot consecrated by the bones of their ances 
 tors and the most hallowed associations. Mr. Massey 
 said every one present seemed moved by this discourse, 
 and for the moment, he thought there would not be a 
 dissenting voice. Washington then rose and drew from 
 his pocket a roll of paper, containing an exact survey of 
 Truro Parish, on which was marked the site of the old 
 church, the proposed site of the new one, and the place 
 where each parishoner resided. He spread this map be 
 fore the audience, explained it in a few words, and then 
 added, that it was for them to determine, whether they 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 411 
 
 would be carried away by an impulse of feeling, or act 
 upon the obvious principles of reason and justice. The 
 argument, thus confirmed by ocular demonstration, was 
 conclusive, and the church was erected on the new site." 
 
 George Mason, of Gunston Hall, was a neighbor and in 
 timate friend of Washington; and intellectually at the head 
 of the citizenship of Virginia, until Washington rose to a 
 height reached by no one who, at any time or anywhere, 
 came into comparison with him. The common impression 
 that he was no speaker, or at least had no habit of speak 
 ing, is entirely erroneous. Both as a writer and as a 
 speaker he was head and shoulders above the most notable 
 of his time, with the difference that in speaking he went 
 right to the point, put the matter unanswerably, and had 
 carried conviction before an orator would have got his 
 eloquence under way.] 
 
 Through the month the troops were employed in open 
 ing a new road from Fort Cumberland to Raystown, and 
 repairing the old one leading toward the Great Meadows. 
 As they were greatly annoyed in this service by flying par 
 ties of the enemy it was proposed to send a considerable 
 detachment over the mountains to restrain the French and 
 Indians from this annoyance; but Colonel Washington 
 strongly objected to this measure because the detachment 
 would be exposed to the whole force of the enemy on the 
 Ohio and must be defeated. The plan was in consequence 
 given up, and by his advice frequent scouts were substituted. 
 
 Washington's excellent judgment in this matter was 
 fully illustrated by the subsequent disaster which befel the 
 detachment of Colonel Grant. 
 
 .While Colonel Washington was posted at Fort Cumber 
 land he adopted a style of dress for the soldiers which is 
 supposed by Mr. Irving to have given rise to the dress 
 
412 WASHINGTON. 
 
 worn by American riflemen in the subsequent wars. It 
 was the Indian dress. In a letter to Colonel Bouquet dated 
 July 3, 1758, he thus alludes to it : 
 
 " My men are very bare of regimental clothing, and I 
 have no prospect of a supply. So far from regretting this 
 want during the present campaign, if I were left to pursue 
 my own inclinations, I would not only order the men to 
 adopt the Indian dress but cause the officers to do it also, 
 and be the first to set the example myself. Nothing but 
 the uncertainty of obtaining the general approbation causes 
 me to hesitate a moment to leave my regimentals at this 
 place and proceed as light as any Indian in the woods. It 
 is an unbecoming dress I own for any officer, but con 
 venience, rather than show, I think, should be consulted. 
 The reduction of bat-horses alone would be sufficient to 
 recommend it, for nothing is more certain than that less 
 baggage would be required and the public benefited in pro 
 portion." 
 
 From a letter addressed by him to Colonel Bouquet dated 
 July Qth we learn that his plan was adopted, and found to 
 answer an excellent purpose. In this letter he thus ex 
 presses himself: 
 
 " It gives me great pleasure to find that you approve the 
 dress I have put my men into. It is evident that soldiers 
 in that trim are better able to carry their provisions, are 
 fitter for the active service we must engage in, less liable 
 to sink under the fatigues of a march, and we thus get rid 
 of much baggage which would lengthen our line of march. 
 These and not whim or caprice were my reasons for order 
 ing this dress." 
 
 A practicable military road having been opened for the 
 passage of General Braddock's army to Fort Duquesne, 
 Colonel Washington had taken it for granted that this 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 413 
 
 would be the route taken by General Forbes' army in the 
 present campaign. We may imagine therefore his surprise 
 and mortification when late in July (1758) he received a 
 letter from Colonel Bouquet asking an interview with him 
 in order to consult on opening a new road from Raystown, 
 and requesting his opinion on that route. 
 
 " I shall/' says he, in answer to this letter, " most cheer 
 fully work on any road, pursue any route, or enter upon 
 any service, that the general or yourself may think me use 
 fully employed in, or qualified for, and shall never have a 
 will of my own when a duty is required of me. But since 
 you desire me to speak my sentiments freely, permit me to 
 observe that after having conversed with all the guides, 
 and having been informed by others acquainted with the 
 country, I am convinced that a road, to be compared with 
 General Braddock's, or indeed that will be fit for trans 
 portation even by pack-horses, cannot be made. I own 
 I have no predilection for the route you have in contem 
 plation for me." 
 
 In the interview with Colonel Bouquet, which took place 
 a few days after his writing this letter, Colonel Washing 
 ton found that officer strongly in favor of opening the new 
 route. After their separation he, with the permission of 
 Colonel Bouquet, addressed to him a letter which was to 
 be laid before General Forbes, setting forth his reasons 
 against making a new road. He was apprehensive that the 
 loss of time occasioned by attempting it would be so great 
 that they would be able to do nothing more than fortify 
 some post on the other side of the Alleghany and prepare 
 for another campaign. He was equally opposed to another 
 scheme which had been proposed of dividing the army and 
 marching by two different routes. 
 
 In the following letter to Colonel Bouquet, Colonel 
 
414 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Washington produces unanswerable arguments in support 
 of his own views on both these questions : 
 
 " CAMP AT FORT CUMBERLAND, 
 " August 2, 1758. 
 
 " SIR. The matters of which we spoke relative to the 
 roads, have, since our parting, been the subject of my closest 
 reflection, and so far am I from altering my opinion that 
 the more time and attention I bestow the more I am con 
 firmed in it, and the reasons for taking Braddock's road 
 appear in a stronger point of view. To enumerate the 
 whole of these reasons would be tedious, and to you, who 
 are so much master of the subject, unnecessary. I shall 
 therefore briefly mention a few only, which I think so ob 
 vious in themselves, that they must effectually remove ob 
 jections. 
 
 " Several years ago the Virginians and Pennsylvanians 
 commenced a trade with the Indians settled on the Ohio, 
 and to obviate the many inconveniences of a bad road they,, 
 after reiterated and ineffectual efforts to discover where a 
 good one might be made, employed for the purpose several 
 of the most intelligent Indians who, in the course of many 
 years hunting, had acquired a perfect knowledge of these 
 mountains. The Indians having taken the greatest pains 
 to gain the rewards offered for this discovery declared that 
 the path leading from Wills Creek was infinitely preferable 
 to any that could be made at any other place. Time and 
 experience so clearly demonstrated this truth that the 
 Pennsylvania traders commonly carried out their goods by 
 Wills Creek. Therefore the Ohio Company, in 1753, at 
 a considerable expense, opened the road. In 1754 the 
 troops whom I had the honor to command greatly repaired 
 it as far as Gist's plantation ; and in 1755 it was widened 
 and completed by General Braddock to within six miles 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 415 
 
 of Fort Duquesne. A road that has so long been opened, 
 and so well and so often repaired, must be firmer and bet 
 ter than a new one, allowing the ground to be equally good. 
 
 " But supposing it were practicable to make a road from 
 Raystown quite as good as General Braddock's, I ask have 
 we time to do it? Certainly not. To surmount the diffi 
 culties to be encountered in making it over such moun 
 tains, covered with woods and rocks, would require so much 
 time as to blast our otherwise well-grounded hopes of 
 striking the important stroke this season. 
 
 " The favorable accounts that some give of the forage 
 on the Raystown road, as being so much better than that 
 on the other, are certainly exaggerated. It is well known 
 that on both routes the rich valleys between the mountains 
 abound with good forage, and that those which are stony 
 and bushy are destitute of it. Colonel Byrd and the engi 
 neer who accompanied him confirm this fact. Surely the 
 meadows on Braddock's road would greatly overbalance 
 the advantage of having grass to the foot of the ridge on 
 the Raystown road, and all agree that a more barren road 
 is nowhere to be found than that from Raystown to the in 
 habitants, which is likewise to be considered. 
 
 "Another principal objection made to General Brad- 
 dock's road is in regard to the waters. But these seldom 
 swell so much as to obstruct the passage. The Youghiog- 
 heny river, which is the most rapid and soonest filled, I 
 have crossed with a body of troops after more than thirty 
 days' almost continual rain. In fine, any difficulties on this 
 score are so trivial that they really are not worth mention 
 ing. The Monongahela, the largest of all these rivers, may, 
 if necessary, easily be avoided, as Mr. Frazer, the principal 
 guide, informs me, by passing a defile; and even that, he 
 says, may be shunned. 
 
 "Again, it is said, there are many defiles on this road. I 
 
416 WASHINGTON. 
 
 grant that there are some, but I know of none that may 
 not be traversed, and I should be glad to be informed 
 where a road can be had over these mountains not subject 
 to the same inconvenience. The shortness of the distance 
 between Raystown and Loyal Hanna is used as an argu 
 ment against this road, which bears in it something unac 
 countable to me; for I must beg leave to ask whether it 
 requires more time or is more difficult and expensive to 
 go 145 miles in a good road already made to our hands 
 than to cut 100 miles anew, and a great part of the way 
 over impassable mountains. 
 
 " That the old road is many miles nearer Winchester, in 
 Virginia, and Fort Frederick, in Maryland, than the con 
 templated one, is incontestable ; and I will here show the 
 distances from Carlisle by the two routes, fixing the differ 
 ent stages, some of which I have from information only, 
 but others I believe to be exact.* From this computation 
 there appears to be a difference of nineteen miles only. 
 Were all the supplies necessarily to come from Carlisle, it 
 is well known that the goodness of the old road is a suffi 
 cient compensation for the shortness of the other, as the 
 wrecked and broken wagons there clearly demonstrate. 
 
 " I shall next give you my reasons against dividing the 
 army in the manner you propose. 
 
 *From Carlisle to Fort Duquesne, by way of Raystown: 
 
 Miles. 
 
 From Carlisle to Shippensburg 21 
 
 From Shippensburg to Fort Loudoun 24 
 
 From Fort Loudoun to Fort Littleton 20 
 
 From Fort Littleton to Juniata Crossing 14 
 
 From Juniata Crossing to Raystown 14 
 
 93 
 From Raystown to Fort Duquesne 100 
 
 193 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 41? 
 
 " First, then, by dividing our army we shall divide our 
 strength, and by pursuing quite distinct routes put it en 
 tirely out of the power of each division to succor the other, 
 as the proposed new road has no communication with the 
 old one. 
 
 " Secondly, to march in this manner will be attended 
 with many inconveniences. If we depart from our ad 
 vanced posts at the same time, and make no deposits by 
 the way, those troops that go from Raystown, as they will 
 be light, with carrying-horses only, will arrive at Fort 
 Duquesne long before the others and must, if the enemy 
 are strong there, be exposed to many insults in their ad 
 vance and in their intrenchments from the cannon of the 
 enemy, which they may draw out upon them at pleasure. 
 If they are not strong enough to do this, we have but little 
 to apprehend from them in whatever way we may go. 
 
 " Thirdly, if that division which escorts the convoy is 
 permitted to march first we risk our all in a manner, and 
 shall be ruined if any accident happens to the artillery and 
 the stores. 
 
 " Lastly, if we advance on both roads by deposits, we 
 must double our number of troops over the mountains and 
 distress ourselves by victualing them at these deposits, be- 
 
 From Carlisle to Fort Duquesne, by way of Forts Frederick and 
 Cumberland: 
 
 Miles. 
 
 From Carlisle to Shippensburg 21 
 
 From Shippensburg to Chambers's 12 
 
 From Chambers's to Pacelin's 12 
 
 From Pacelin's to Fort Frederick 12 
 
 From Fort Frederick to Fort Cumberland 40 
 
 97 
 From Fort Cumberland to Fort Duquesne 115 
 
 212 
 27 = 
 
418 WASHINGTON. 
 
 sides losing the proposed advantage, that of stealing a 
 march. For we cannot suppose that the French, who have 
 their scouts constantly out, can be so deficient in point of 
 intelligence as to be unacquainted with our motions while 
 we are advancing by slow degrees toward them. 
 
 " From what has been said relative to the two roads, it 
 appears to me very clear that the old one is infinitely better 
 than the other can be made, and that there is no room to 
 hesitate in deciding which to take, when we consider the 
 advanced season and the little time left to execute our plan. 
 
 " I shall therefore in the last place offer, as desired, my 
 sentiments on advancing by deposits. The first deposit I 
 should have proposed to be at the Little Meadows had time 
 permitted ; but as the case now stands I think it should be 
 at the Great Crossing or the Great Meadows. The Great 
 Crossing I esteem the most advantageous post on several 
 accounts, especially on those of water and security of pas 
 sage; but then it does not abound with forage, as the 
 Meadows do, nor with so much level land fit for culture. 
 To this latter place a body of 1500 men may march with 
 300 wagons (or with carrying-horses, which would be 
 much better), allowing each wagon to carry eight hundred 
 weight of flour and four hundred of salt meat. 
 
 " Our next deposit will probably be at Salt Lick, about 
 thirty-five miles from the Meadows. To this place I think 
 it necessary to send 2,500 men to construct some post, tak 
 ing six days' provisions only, which is sufficient to serve 
 them till the convoy comes up, by which time an intrenched 
 camp, or some other defensive work may be effected. From 
 hence I conceive it highly expedient to detach three or four 
 thousand of the best troops to invest the fort, and to pre 
 vent, if possible, an engagement in the woods, which of all 
 things ought to be avoided. The artillery and stores may 
 be brought up in four days from Salt Lick. From that time 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 419 
 
 I will allow eighteen days more, for the carrying-horses to 
 make a trip to Raystown for provisions, passing along the 
 old path by Loyal Hanna. They may do it in this time, as 
 the horses will go down light. 
 
 " From this statement and by my calculations, in which 
 large allowance is made for the quantity of provisions, as 
 well as for the time of transporting them, it appears that 
 from the day on which the front division begins its march 
 till the whole army arrives before Fort Duquesne will be 
 thirty-four days. There will be also eighty-seven days' pro 
 vision on hand, allowing for the consumption on the march- 
 Eighteen days added to the above will make fifty-two in all,, 
 the number required for our operations. These ought to 
 be finished, if possible, by the middle of October (1758)."* 
 
 In a letter addressed to Major Halket, aide of General 
 Forbes, Colonel Washington expressed himself as follows, 
 in relation to the new route : 
 
 " I am just returned from a conference held with Colonel 
 Bouquet. I find him fixed I think I may say unalterably 
 fixed to lead you a new way to the Ohio through a road 
 every inch of which is to be cut at this advanced season, 
 when we have scarcely time left to tread the beaten track 
 universally confessed to be the best passage through the 
 mountains. 
 
 " If Colonel Bouquet succeeds in this point with the 
 general all is lost ! all is lost, indeed ! our enterprise is 
 ruined! and we shall be stopped at the Laurel Hill this 
 winter; but not to gather laurels, except of the kind which 
 cover the mountains. The southern Indians will turn 
 against us and these Colonies will be desolated by such an 
 accession to the enemy's strength. These must be the con 
 sequences of a miscarriage, and a miscarriage the almost" 
 necessary consequence of an attempt to march the army by 
 
 * Sparks's " Writings of Washington," vol. II, p. 392. 
 
420 WASHINGTON. 
 
 this new route. I have given my reasons at large to 
 Colonel Bouquet. He desired that I should do so, that 
 he might forward them to the General. Should this hap 
 pen you will be able to judge of their weight. I am unin 
 fluenced by prejudice, having no hopes or fears but for 
 the general good." 
 
 Colonel Washington's arguments and remonstrances on 
 the subject of dividing the army and advancing on two 
 different routes had their due weight and that scheme was 
 abandoned. But on the question regarding the new route, 
 his powerful influence was unavailing. The Pennsyl- 
 vanians* wanted a new road to the western country made 
 
 * How this selfish conduct of the Pennsylvanians was regarded 
 "by the Virginians under Washington's command is illustrated by 
 the following extract from a letter of Robert Munford to Colonel 
 Bland, dated camp near Fort Cumberland, May 4, 1758: 
 
 41 If 'tis honorable to be in the service of one's country, 'tis a 
 reputation gained by the most cruel hardships you can imagine, 
 occasioned more by a real anxiety for its welfare than by what the 
 poor carcass suffers. Every officer seems discontented in camp, 
 happy on command, so deep is the interest of our country implanted 
 in the minds of all. Sometimes the army wears a gloomy, then 
 a joyous aspect, just as the news either confirms our stay here, or 
 immediate departure. The general (Forbes), with the smallpox 
 in one, the flux in the other division of our forces, and no pro 
 visions ready, are indeed excuses for our being here at present; 
 yet all might have been prevented. A few hearty prayers are every 
 moment offered up for those self-interested Pennsylvanians, who 
 endeavor to prevail on our general to cut a road for their con 
 venience from Raystown to Fort Duquesne. That a trifling good 
 to particulars should retard what would conduce to the general 
 welfare! 'Tis a set of dirty Dutchmen, they say, that keep us here! 
 It would be impertinent to condemn, yet I must think our leaders 
 too deliberate at this important juncture, when all are warm for 
 action, all breathing revenge against an enemy that has even dared 
 to scalp our men before our eyes. The amusement we have in 
 the mean time is only following the brave dogs over the moun 
 tains for some miles, and our sole satisfaction sufficient fatigue 
 to make us sleep sound." Bland Papers, p. 13. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 421 
 
 at the expense of the Crown, and at the risk of defeating 
 the object of the campaign, they carried their point with 
 General Forbes, who, as commander-in-chief had full 
 power to decide the question. How this decision affected 
 Washington may be seen by the following letters: 
 
 [August 5th Washington wrote to Governor Fauquier 
 from the Fort Cumberland camp : 
 
 "I am sorry to inform you that we are still encamped 
 here, and have little prospect of de-camping, unless a 
 fatal resolution takes place, of opening a new road from 
 Rays Town to Fort Duquesne. In this event, I have no 
 doubt that the Virginia troops will be honored with a full 
 share of the labor, as they have already been in opening 
 a communication from hence to Rays Town, and doing the 
 principal part of the work at that place. 
 
 " I am just returned from a conference held with Col. 
 Bouquet. In this conference I urged, in the most forcible 
 terms I was master of, the advanced season as an argu 
 ment against new discoveries. I pressed also the diffi 
 culties attending the cutting a road over these mountains, 
 known to me from experience; the length of time it 
 must require to do it ; the little time left for that service ; 
 the moral certainty of its obstructing our march, beyond 
 what the advanced season will admit and the probable 
 miscarriage of the expedition from that cause ; and lastly 
 I endeavored to represent the distressed condition the col 
 onies would be reduced to consequent thereon. In fine, 
 I said everything which the importance of the subject sug 
 gested to me, to avert a measure that seemed to forebode 
 the manifest rum of the expedition. 
 
 " This is the light in which it presents itself to my 
 mind. I pray Heaven my fears may not be realized! But 
 the thoughts of opening a road TOO miles, over mountains 
 almost inaccessible, at this advanced season, when there 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 is already a good road made, a road universally con 
 fessed to be the best that either is or can be found any 
 where through these mountains, prognosticates something 
 not quite favorable. 
 
 " I Have now drawn up a representation of real facts to 
 be presented to the General; in which I think the advan 
 tages of going the old road, and moral certainty of failing 
 in the new are so clearly demonstrated that they must 
 strike every unbiassed mind. 
 
 " The small-pox getting among the troops is another 
 unpromising circumstance. An officer and two men of 
 my regiment are now confined with it at Rays Town. 
 
 " From this narrative of our affairs your Honor may 
 draw conclusions. You may depend the statement is true ; 
 free from exaggerations and flowing from a mind deeply 
 affected at the prospect before us. I hope, as I once said 
 before, that I see matters in too strong a point of view 
 and that my apprehensions for the consequences of open 
 ing a new road are groundless." 
 
 " P. S. I was this moment presented with a letter from 
 Col. Bouquet telling me, that the General had directed 
 the other road to be opened. I expect, therefore, to be 
 ordered that way immediately." 
 
 The next day Washington again wrote to Colonel Bou 
 quet, his immediate commanding officer: 
 
 " The General's orders, or the order of any superior 
 officer, will, when once given, be a law to me. I shall 
 never hesitate in obeying them; but, till this order came 
 out [from General Forbes, * lying indisposed at Carlyle'], 
 I thought it incumbent on me to say what I could to 
 divert you (the Commanding Officer present) from a reso 
 lution of opening a new road, of which I had the most 
 unfavorable reports, and believe from the height of the 
 hills, the steepness of them, the unevenness of the ground 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 423 
 
 in general, and, what above all principally weighed with 
 me, the shortness of the season, that it was impossible tc? 
 open a road in time to answer our purpose. I am still 
 in this opinion, partly from my own observations of the 
 country, and partly from the information of as good judges 
 as any that will be employed. My duty therefore obliged 
 me to declare my sentiments upon the occasion with that 
 candor and freedom of which you are witness. If I am 
 deceived in my opinion, I shall acknowledge my error as 
 becomes a gentleman led astray from judgment, and not 
 by prejudice, in opposing a measure so conducive to the 
 public weal as you seem to have conceived this to be. If 
 I, unfortunately, am right, my conduct will acquit me of 
 having discharged my duty on this important occasion; 
 on the good success of which our all, in a manner, de 
 pends." 
 
 August 18, 1758, in view of a possible order " to proceed 
 with a body of troops on General Braddock's road," Wash 
 ington remarked in a letter to Bouquet on what this 
 would require, and further said: 
 
 " The greatest part of my regiment is on the other road ; 
 so that I have but few remaining with me of the First 
 regiment, and 8 companies of the Second only, whose 
 officers and men can be supposed to know little of the 
 service, and less of the country; and near, or I believe, 
 quite a fifth of them sick. 
 
 "With regard to keeping out a succession of strong 
 parties on this road from our troops here, I must beg 
 leave to observe, that we have not so much as one carry 
 ing horse to take provisions out upon, being under a 
 necessity t'other day of pressing five horses from some 
 countrymen (that came to camp on business) before I 
 could equip Capt. McKenzie's party [four officers and 
 75 rank and file] for a 14 days march. That we have 
 
424 WASHINGTON. 
 
 not an ounce of salt provisions of any kind here, and that 
 it is impossible to preserve the fresh, (especially as we 
 have no salt) by any other means than barbacuring it in 
 the Indian manner. 
 
 "A great many of Col. Byrd's men [the Second regi 
 ment] are, as I before remarked, very sickly; the rest 
 became low spirited and dejected. Of course the greatest 
 share of the service must fall upon the four companies 
 of the First Regiment. This sickness and depression of 
 spirits cannot arise, I conceive, from the situation of our 
 camp, which is undoubtedly the most healthy and best 
 aired in this vicinity, but is caused, I apprehend, by the 
 change in their way of living, (most of them till now 
 having lived in ease and affluence), and by the limestone 
 water. The soldiers of the 1st regiment would be sickly, 
 like those of the 2nd, was it not owing to some such 
 causes as these." 
 
 To Colonel Bouquet Washington wrote, August 28, 
 1758: 
 
 " Your favor by Mr. Hoops has in some measure re 
 vived a hope that was almost extinguished, of doing some 
 thing this campaign. We must doubtless expect to en 
 counter many difficulties in opening a new road through 
 bad grounds in a woody country of which the enemy are 
 possesst, but since you hope our point may be carried I 
 would feign expect the surmounting these obstacles. 
 
 1 Tis a melancholy reflection, though, to find there is 
 even a doubt of success, when so much is depending, and 
 when, in all human probability, we might have been in 
 full possession of the Ohio by now, if, rather than running 
 ourselves into difficulties and expense of cutting an entire 
 new road the distance we have, first and last Braddock's 
 had been adopted. 
 
 " I could wish most sincerely that our route was fixed 
 
RICHARD MONTGOMERY. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 425 
 
 that we might be in motion; for we are all ot us most 
 heartily tired and sick of inactivity." 
 
 "We are still encamped here, very sickly and dispirited at 
 the prospect before us. The appearance of glory which we 
 once had in view that hope that laudable ambition of 
 serving our country and meriting its applause are now no 
 more, all is dwindled into ease, sloth, and fatal inactivity. 
 In a word, all is lost, if the ways of men in power like cer 
 tain ways of Providence are not inscrutable. But we who 
 view the actions of great men at a distance can only form 
 conjectures agreeably to a limited perception, and being 
 ignorant of the comprehensive schemes which may be in 
 contemplation might mistake egregiously in judging from 
 appearances, or by the lump. Yet every fool will have his 
 notions will prattle and talk away, and why may not I? 
 We seem then in my opinion, to act under the guidance of 
 an evil genius. The conduct of our leaders, if not actuated 
 by superior orders, is tempered with something I do not 
 care to give a name to. Nothing now but a miracle can 
 bring this campaign to a happy issue. 
 
 " In my last I told you that I had employed my small 
 abilities in opposing the measures then concerting. To 
 do this, I not only represented the advanced season, the 
 difficulty of cutting a new road over these mountains, the 
 little time left for that service, the moral certainty of its 
 obstructing our march, and the miscarriage of the expe 
 dition consequent thereupon. But I endeavored to rep 
 resent, also, the great struggle Virginia had made this 
 year in raising a second regiment upon so short a notice, 
 and the great expense of doing it, and her inability for a 
 future exertion in case of need. I spoke my fears con 
 cerning the southern Indians, in the event of a miscar 
 riage; and in fine I spoke all wwavailingly, for the road 
 was immediately begun, and since then from one to two 
 
426 WASHINGTON. 
 
 thousand men have constantly wrought upon it. By the 
 last accounts I have received, they had cut it to the foot of 
 the Laurel Hill, about thirty-five miles, and I suppose by 
 this time 1,500 men have taken post about ten miles far 
 ther at a place called Loyal Hanna, where our new fort 
 is to be constructed. 
 
 " We have certain intelligence that the French strength 
 at Fort Duquesne did not exceed 800 men the thirteenth 
 ultimo, including about three or four hundred Indians. See 
 how our time has been misspent, behold how the golden 
 opportunity is lost, perhaps never to be regained! How 
 is it to be accounted for ? Can General Forbes have orders 
 for this ? Impossible ! Will then our injured country pass- 
 by such abuses ? I hope not. Rather let a full represen 
 tation of the matter go to His Majesty, let him know how 
 grossly his interests and the public money have been 
 prostituted. I wish I were sent immediately home, as 
 an aid to some other on this errand. I think, without 
 vanity, I could set the conduct of this expedition in its 
 true colors, having taken some pains, perhaps more than 
 any other man, to dive to the bottom of it. 
 
 " It hath long been the luckless fate of Virginia to fall 
 a victim to the views of her crafty neighbors, and yield 
 her honest efforts to promote their common interests, at 
 the expense of much blood and treasure ! whilst openness 
 and sincerity have governed her measures. We now can 
 only bewail our prospects, and wish for happier times, 
 but these seem at so remote a distance that they are 
 indeed rather to be wished than expected."] 
 
 Well might Washington complain. When this letter 
 was written, parties had been sent forward by Colonel 
 Bouquet to work upon the new road, and six weeks had 
 already been wasted in this fruitless labor, forty-five miles 
 only being gained in that time. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 42T 
 
 [September 2, 1758, two months after his arrival there, 
 Washington wrote from the Fort Cumberland camp, to 
 Governor Fauquier: 
 
 " If you are surprised to find us still encamped at this 
 place, I shall only remark that your surprise cannot well 
 exceed my own. 
 
 " In my last I informed your Honor that a resolution 
 was taken to open a new road from Rays Town to Fort 
 Duquesne. It was instantly begun, and since that time 
 from one to two thousand men have wrought on it con 
 tinually [from August 5]. They had, by the last accounts 
 I received, cut it to the foot of Laurel Hill, about 35 miles, 
 and I suppose by this time have taken posts at Loyal 
 Hanna, 10 miles farther, where I understand another fort 
 is to be built. 
 
 " What time it will require to build a fort at Loyal 
 Hanna, and, after that is accomplished, what further 
 time is necessary to cut the road through very rugged 
 grounds to Fort Duquesne, I must leave to time to reveal. 
 
 " The first division of the Artillery has passed the Alle- 
 ghany hill, and I suppose may by now be got up with the 
 advanced working party. The second division I believe 
 may have marched by this; and they talk of putting all 
 the troops in motion immediately. We have not in our 
 stores at Rays Town two months' provisions for the army; 
 and if the best judges are to be credited, the nipping 
 frosts will soon destroy the herbage on the mountains; 
 and then, although the communication be not quite 
 stopped, the subsistence for horses is rendered very diffi 
 cult, till snows and frosts prevent all intercourse with the 
 Ohio, and these set in early in November. The road 
 from Rays Town to Carlyle, whence the provisions and 
 stores chiefly come, is perhaps worse than any other on the 
 continent, infinitely worse than any part of the road 
 
428 WASHINGTON. 
 
 from hence to Fort Duquesne, along General Braddock's 
 road, and hath already worn out the greatest part of the 
 horses that have been employed in transporting the 
 provisions. 
 
 " I can give your Honor no satisfactory account of the 
 General. He lay ill at Carlyle a long time; from thence 
 (gathering a little strength) he moved to Shippensburgh, 
 where his disorder returned, and where I am told he now 
 is. By a letter received from him he hopes soon to be 
 at Rays Town, where he desires to see Col. Byrd and 
 myself. But alas, the Expedition must either stand or 
 fall by the present plan. 
 
 " In the conference which I had with Colonel Bouquet, 
 I did, among other things, to avert the resolve of opening 
 a new road, represent the great expense the colony of 
 Virginia had been at to support the war; the charge of 
 raising a second regiment at so short notice; the time 
 limited for its service; and therefore the cruelty of risk 
 ing the success of an expedition upon such precarious 
 measures, when so much depends on it, and our inability 
 to do more. 
 
 " But I urged in vain. The Pennsylvanians, whose pres 
 ent as well as future interest it was to conduct the expe 
 dition through their Government, and along that way, be 
 cause it secures their frontiers at present and the trade 
 hereafter a chain of forts being erected had preju 
 diced the General absolutely against this road; made him 
 believe we were the partial people; and determined him 
 at all events to pursue that route. So that their sentiments 
 are already known on this matter and to them, as instiga 
 tors, may be attributed the great misfortune of this mis 
 carriage. 
 
 "The contractor has orders to lay in, at Loyal Hanna, 
 for 4000 men the winter. Whence it is imagined that 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 429 
 
 our expedition for this campaign will end there. Should 
 we serve to make up the troops which garrison that place, 
 our frontiers will thereby not only be exposed, but the 
 soldiers, for want of clothing and proper conveniences 
 must absolutely perish, few of them having a whole coat 
 to their backs, and many none at all. 
 
 " I have thus given your Honor a full and impartial 
 account of the present posture of affairs here; of which 
 any use may be made you shall think proper. I may pos 
 sibly be blamed for expressing my sentiments so freely, 
 but never can be ashamed of urging the truth; and none 
 but obvious facts are stated here. The General, I dare 
 say from his good character, can account fully, and no 
 doubt satisfactorily, for these delays that surprise all who 
 judge from appearances; but I really cannot." 
 
 In a private letter of September 12, 1758, a thought, in 
 close line with one of the most striking of Shakespeare's 
 utterances, appears in Washington's avowal of " an opin 
 ion, which I have long entertained, that there is a Destiny 
 which has the control of 'our actions, not to be resisted 
 by the strongest efforts of Human Nature/' The letter 
 is most plainly to one who had been so completely the 
 object of Washington's earlier affection that no other per 
 son could so deeply command his devotion and create his 
 happiness. It is said that Mrs. Custis, when Washington 
 met her, strikingly resembled the person who might have 
 been Mrs. Washington if she had not already provided 
 herself with a husband in Colonel William Fairfax's son, 
 George William Fairfax, who was eight years older than 
 Washington. If Mrs. George William Fairfax was the per 
 son upon whom Washington's earliest sense of perfect 
 womanly charm had rested, there seems no reason to 
 doubt that it was when hardly more than upon the thresh 
 old of manhood, with his home about as much at Belvoir, 
 
430 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the mansion of the Fairfaxes, as at his brother Law 
 rence's Mount Vernon mansion, that the interchange of 
 interest in each other began, with the amplest security 
 for conventional and actual propriety on both sides, with 
 the occasions of kindness to, and regard for, a young 
 friend appealing most naturally to her, and with the very 
 exceptional rise of feeling in him natural to maturity be 
 yond his years, and to the rarest genius for deep, pure, 
 and powerful emotion; until both the one and the other 
 found interest in each other awakened, far beyond what 
 could be carried into effect, or could be expressed from 
 one to the other, save as correspondence might venture 
 a little way. The letter was as follows: 
 
 " Yesterday I was honored with your short but very 
 agreeable favor of the first inst. How joyfully I catch 
 at the happy occasion of renewing a correspondence 
 which I feared was disrelished on your part, I leave to 
 time, that never failing expositor of all things, and to a 
 monitor equally faithful in my own breast, to testify. In 
 silence I now express my joy; silence, which, in some 
 cases, I wish the present, speaks more intelligently than 
 the sweetest eloquence. 
 
 " If you allow that any honor can be derived from my 
 opposition to our present system of management [in the 
 expedition matters], you destroy the merit of it entirely 
 in me by attributing my anxiety [for the better conduct 
 and earlier success of the campaign] to the animating 
 prospect of possessing Mrs. Custis, when I need not 
 tell you, guess yourself [meaning apparently, to say, yet 
 not say, "when, to return to the happiness of Belvoir, 
 of your society, would not less have been an animating 
 prospect."] Should not my own honor and country's wel 
 fare be the excitement? Tis true, I profess myself a votary 
 of Love. I acknowledge that a lady is in the case, and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 431 
 
 further I confess that this lady is known to you. Yes, 
 Madame, as well as she is to one who is too sensible 
 of her charms to deny the power whose influence he 
 feels and must ever submit to. I feel the force of her 
 amiable beauties in the recollection of a thousand tender 
 passages that I could wish to obliterate, till I am bid to 
 revive them. But experience, alas! sadly reminds me how 
 impossible this is, and evinces an opinion which I have 
 long entertained, that there is a Destiny which has the 
 control of our actions, not to be resisted by the strongest 
 efforts of Human Nature. 
 
 " You have drawn me, Dear Madame, or rather I have 
 drawn myself, into an honest confession of a simple fact. 
 Misconstrue not my meaning; doubt it not, nor expose it. 
 The world has no business to know the object of my Love, 
 declared in this manner to you, when I want to conceal it. 
 One thing above all things in this world I wish to know, 
 and only one person of your acquaintance can solve me 
 that, or guess my meaning. But adieu to this till happier 
 times, if 1 ever shall see them. The hours at present are 
 melancholy dull. I dare believe you are as happy as you 
 say. I wish I was happy also. Mirth, good humor, ease 
 of mind, and what else? cannot fail to render you so. 
 
 " I cannot easily forgive the unseasonable haste of my 
 last express [messenger], if he deprived me thereby of 
 a single word you intended to add. The time of the pres 
 ent messenger is, as the last might have been, entirely 
 at your disposal. I can't expect to hear from my friends 
 more than this once [i. e. by the return of his messenger] 
 before the fate of this expedition will some how or other 
 be determined. I therefore beg to know when you set 
 out for Hampton, and when you expect to return to Bel- 
 voir again. And I should be glad also to hear of your 
 speedy departure, as I shall thereby hope for your return 
 
432 WASHINGTON. 
 
 before I get down. The disappointment of seeing your 
 family [i. e. to be disappointed of seeing], would give 
 me much concern. From anything I can yet see 'tis 
 hardly possible to say when we shall finish. I don't think 
 there is a possibility of it till the middle of November. 
 Your letter to Captain Gist I forwarded by a safe hand 
 the moment it came to me. His answer shall be carefully 
 transmitted. 
 
 " Col. Mercer, to whom I delivered your message and 
 compliments, joins me very heartily in wishing you and 
 the Ladies of Belvoir the perfect enjoyment of every hap 
 piness the world affords. Be assured that I am, Dear 
 Madame, with the most unfeigned regard, your most 
 obedient and most obliged humble servant." 
 
 If, as seems undeniable, there is in the expressions used 
 in this letter a bold, yet veiled avowal that the person ad 
 dressed had engaged his feelings to the utmost possible, 
 it seems no less certain that the expressions used imply 
 that there had never been any understanding between 
 the two, through which he could have been sure what her 
 feelings were, and that he wished, " above all things in 
 this world," to be allowed to know it if the interest which 
 he felt was similarly felt by her. It seems impossible not 
 to assume that she had not found an ideal satisfaction in 
 her marriage, yet maintained her position in it all the 
 same, while yet finding in her husband's younger comrade 
 the grounds of such satisfaction, and not wholly conceal 
 ing it from the object of her interest. And strongly as 
 Washington expressed his " wish to know " the one thing 
 of greatest interest to his feelings, as he turned back to 
 his Belvoir experiences, there seems not the slightest 
 reason to suppose that it could have meant to him anything 
 more than a mental satisfaction, or could have given 
 him even a thought of pause in the matter of his engage- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 433 
 
 ment to Mrs. Custis. That Washington was not a little 
 in the dark as to what might be true of the feelings of 
 Mrs. Fairfax, from the avoidance on her part of giving 
 him any indication adequate to satisfy his " wish to know," 
 appears very plainly from his recurring to the matter in 
 a second letter, September 25, but only to the extent of 
 these *ew words: 
 
 " Do we still misunderstand the meaning of each other's 
 letters? I think it must appear so, though I would feign 
 hope the contrary, as I cannot speak plainer without. But 
 I'll say no more, and leave you to guess the rest." 
 
 In this letter Washington says : " I am extremely glad 
 to find that Mr. Fairfax has escaped the dangers of the 
 siege at Louisberg." The younger brother of George 
 William Fairfax was in the army with Wolfe, and was 
 killed at the siege of Quebec. If George William Fairfax 
 had fallen at Louisberg, the personal story of Washington 
 might have been different but for the fact that the engage 
 ment already made was as binding to his honor, and as 
 satisfactory to judgment and feeling, as the earlier interest 
 was in some degree deeper after the manner of such first 
 exceptionally deep interest 
 
 If we recur to the interest of the mere youth in " Miss 
 Betsy," an account of which is given at page 48, it will 
 be seen that the youth of twenty showed very deep feeling 
 under the impression made upon him by Miss Betsy 
 Fauntleroy; that while this feeling was strongest his " place 
 of residence " was with the Fairfaxes, where the family 
 included Mrs. George William Fairfax and her sister, " a 
 very agreeable young lady;" and that he avoided becoming 
 interested in the young lady, partly because of the strength 
 of his feeling for Miss Betsy, and partly because he felt 
 convinced that he would " only get a denial," if he ven 
 tured anything. In this situation Mrs. Fairfax and her 
 28 
 
434 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Husband's comrade could hardly fail to unconsciously 
 come into a relation of perhaps unguarded interest on her 
 part, and of unguarded self-disclosure on his part, the 
 almost inevitable result of which, to her, would be to know, 
 as no one else could, the depth, purity, charm, and strength 
 of his nature, not yet revealed to common observation; 
 while to him would come the consciousness of attraction 
 and satisfaction, in a singularly sympathetic and beautiful 
 woman, very much beyond anything through which any 
 "young lady" could appeal to him. Mrs. Fairfax was 
 but two years his senior; she had been married four years 
 in I75 2 ; an d with no more than commonplace gifts and 
 excellence in Mr. Fairfax, a deeply sympathetic knowledge 
 of Washington, in the rarest promise of his genius and 
 character, may well have made an impression as profound, 
 beyond every other known to her experience, as it was 
 necessarily pathetic. There is no evidence that to either 
 the whole 'experience was more than a transaction of 
 silence or of dumb distance signals, with no effect what 
 ever upon the actual life of either. It should be plain, 
 however, that there were three stages in the emotional 
 experience of Washington, in relation with three persons, 
 Betsy Fauntleroy, Mrs. Fairfax, and Mrs. Custis, and that 
 upon the latter fell all the conscience, honor, and fidelity 
 of the mature man.] 
 
 General Forbes had at length arrived at his headquarters 
 at Raystown (September 15, 1758). The advanced party 
 were constructing a fort at Loyal Hanna, most of the Vir 
 ginia troops were still at Fort Cumberland, whereas, if the 
 old route by Braddock's road had been adopted, General 
 Forbes with his army of 6,000 men might already have 
 reached Fort Duquesne, at that time garrisoned by only 
 800 men. 
 
 So much dissatisfied were the Virginia House of Bur- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 435 
 
 gesses with this state of affairs, that they were on the point 
 of recalling the forces of that Colony and placing them on 
 their own frontier, but the apprehension that the failure of 
 the expedition might be ascribed to this proceeding in 
 duced them to extend the period of service for their troops 
 to the end of the year. 
 
 We have already seen that Washington disapproved of 
 the scheme of sending forward detachments of any con 
 siderable force in advance of the main body of the army. 
 His excellent judgment on this head was fully evinced by 
 the disastrous fate of Major Grant's detachment. This 
 officer was detailed from the advanced post at Loyal Hanna 
 on the 2ist of September (1758), with 800 men, for the 
 purpose of reconnoitering the enemy's position at Fort 
 Duquesne. His proceedings were singularly imprudent. 
 Having arrived, without molestation, at a hill near the fort, 
 in the night, he sent forward a small party to make observa 
 tions, who burnt a log cabin and returned. 
 
 Next morning Major Grant having ordered Major Lewis, 
 of Washington's Virginia regiment, with a baggage-guard 
 to a point two miles in his rear, sent forward an engineer 
 with a covering party within full view of the garrison to 
 take a plan of the works. As if all these proceedings were 
 not sufficient to give the enemy notice of his presence, he 
 ordered the reveille to be beaten in several places. 
 
 The intelligent French commander of Fort Duquesne 
 observed and duly appreciated this silly and impudent 
 bravado and took speedy measures to punish it. Having 
 posted Indians in ambuscade on his enemy's flanks he made 
 a sudden sally from the fort, and soon spread dismay and 
 confusion among the ranks of the British soldiers. The 
 Highlanders, who composed a part of the detachment, stood 
 their ground well for some time before they broke and 
 fled. The Virginians from Washington's regiment gave 
 
436 WASHINGTON. 
 
 evidence of the thorough manner in which they had been 
 trained for border warfare. They bore the brunt of the 
 battle, losing out of eight officers, five killed, one wounded, 
 and one taken prisoner, while of the rank and file, out of 
 162, sixty-two were killed and two wounded. 
 
 On hearing the firing, Major Lewis left Captain Bullitt 
 with fifty Virginians to guard the baggage, and hastened 
 to join in the fight. He was speedily engaged with the 
 Indians who had emerged from their ambuscade in the 
 woods. Surrounded and nearly overpowered, he surren 
 dered to a French officer. Major Grant was also taken 
 prisoner. The main body of the detachment was routed, 
 and sought safety in the neighboring forest. 
 
 Captain Bullitt after sending off a portion of the baggage- 
 wagons made a stand behind a breastwork formed of the 
 remaining ones and drove back the Indians who were 
 rushing forward to secure the plunder. He then effected 
 a rapid retreat with the remnant of the detachment. Scat 
 tered fugitives from the main body who had been dis 
 persed slowly found their way through the woods to Loyal 
 Hanna. The total loss was 270 killed and 42 wounded. 
 
 Washington received, in the compliments of the general, 
 a satisfactory intimation that the conduct of the portion 
 of his regiment engaged in this action was duly appreciated 
 at headquarters, and Captain Bullitt's promotion to the 
 rank of major was a further testimony to the courage and 
 good behavior of the Virginians. 
 
 [Washington wrote September 25, 1758, to Governor 
 Fauquier, of this affair: 
 
 " The i2th instant Major Grant, of the Highland bat 
 talion, with a chosen detachment of 800 men marched 
 from our advanced post, at Loyal Hannan, for Fort Du- 
 quesne; what to do there (unless to meet the fate he did) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 437 
 
 I cannot certainly inform you. However, to get intelli 
 gence and annoy the Enemy, was the ostensible plan. 
 
 " On the I3th, in the night, they arrived near that place; 
 formed upon the hill in two columns; and sent a party 
 to the fort to make discoveries, which they accomplished 
 accordingly and burned a log-house not far from the 
 walls without interruption. Stimulated by this success the 
 major kept his post and disposition until day; then de 
 tached Major Lewis and part of his command two miles 
 back to their baggage guard and sent an engineer with a 
 covering party in full view of the fort, to take a plan of 
 the works at the same time causing the reveille to beat 
 in several different places. 
 
 "The Enemy hereupon sallied out, and an obstinate 
 Engagement began, for the particulars of which I beg 
 leave to refer your Honor to the enclosed letters and re 
 turn of the regiment. Major Lewis, it is said, met his 
 fate in bravely advancing to sustain Major Grant. Our 
 officers and men have acquired very great applause for 
 their gallant behavior during the action. I had the honor 
 to be publicly complimented yesterday by the General on 
 the occasion. The havock that was made of them is a 
 demonstrable proof of their obstinate defence, having six 
 officers killed, and a seventh wounded, out of eight. Major 
 Lewis who cheerfully went upon this enterprise (when he 
 found there was no dissuading Colonel Bouquet from the 
 attempt, desired his friends to remember that he had op 
 posed the undertaking to the utmost. 
 
 " What may be the consequence of this affair, I will not 
 take upon me to decide, but this I may venture to declare, 
 that our affairs in general appear with a greater gloom 
 than ever; and I see no probability of opening the road 
 this campaign. How then can we expect a favorable issue 
 to the expedition. I have used my best endeavors to sup- 
 
438 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ply my men with the necessaries they want. Seventy 
 blankets I got from the General upon a promise to return 
 them again." 
 
 In the letter to Mrs. Fairfax of the same date, the few 
 personal words of which have been quoted above, Wash 
 ington said, of Major Grant's further proceedings making 
 observations, etc. : 
 
 " Egg'd on rather than satisfied by this success, Major 
 Grant must needs insult the Enemy next morning by 
 beating the reveille in different places in view. This 
 caused a great body of men to sally from the Fort, and an 
 obstinate engagement to ensue, which was maintained on 
 our side with the utmost efforts that bravery could yield, 
 till, being overpowered and quite surrounded, they were 
 obliged to retreat with the loss of 22 officers killed and 278 
 men, besides wounded. 
 
 " This is a heavy blow to our affairs here, and a sad 
 stroke upon my regiment, that has lost out of 8 officers, 
 and 168 that were in the action, 6 of the former killed and 
 a 7th wounded. Among the slain was our dear Major 
 Lewis. 
 
 " Thus it is the lives of the brave are often disposed of. 
 But who is there that does not rather envy than regret 
 a death that gives birth to honor and glorious memory? 
 
 " I am extremely glad to find that Mr. Fairfax has 
 escaped the dangers of the siege of Louisberg. Already 
 have we experienced greater losses than our army sus 
 tained at that place, and have gained not one obvious 
 advantage. So miserably has this expedition been man 
 aged that I expect after a month's further trial, and the 
 loss of many more men by the sword, cold, and famine, 
 we shall give the expedition over as impracticable this 
 season, and retire to the inhabitants [i. e. the settlements 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 439 
 
 on the frontier from which they had marched], condemned 
 by the world and derided by our friends." 
 
 September 28th Washington further wrote that by a 
 flag of truce sent to Fort Duquesne it had been " learned 
 with certainty that Major Grant with two other Highland 
 officers, and Major Lewis," with some other officers and 
 thirty privates, " were made prisoners in the late action, 
 and sent immediately to Montreal." The letter also said: 
 " We find that the frosts have already changed the face of 
 nature among these mountains. We know there is not 
 more than a month left for enterprise; we know also that 
 a number of horses cannot subsist after that time on a road 
 stripped of its herbage and very few there are who ap 
 prehend that our affairs can be brought to favorable issue 
 by that period, nor do I see how it is possible, if everything 
 else answered, that men half naked can live in tents much 
 longer."] 
 
 At length the main body of the army received orders to 
 advance from Raystown. The general called on the 
 colonels of regiments to submit severally, for his considera 
 tion, a plan for his march. The plan submitted by Wash 
 ington is given by Mr. Sparks,* and evinces sound judg 
 ment and practical acquaintance with frontier warfare. 
 
 [From camp at Rays Town, October 8, 1758, Washing 
 ton sent to General Forbes plans for a line of march, of 
 which he said: 
 
 " They express my thoughts on a line of march through 
 a country covered with woods, and how that line of 
 march may be formed in an instant into an order of battle. 
 The plan is calculated for a forced march with field-pieces 
 only, unincumbered with wagons. It represents, first, a 
 line of march; and, secondly, how that line of march may 
 in an instant be thrown into an order of battle in the 
 
 * Washington's "Writings," vol. II, p. 313. 
 
440 WASHINGTON. 
 
 woods. This plan supposes 4,000 privates, 1,000 of whom, 
 (picked men), are to march in the front in three divisions, 
 each division having a field-officer to command it, besides 
 the commander of the whole ; and is always to be in readi 
 ness to oppose the enemy, whose attack, if the necessary 
 precautions are observed, must always be in front/' 
 
 The statement of particulars of the operation of the 
 plan gives clear proof of thorough knowledge of the style 
 of warfare required in service such as that of the expedi 
 tion in hand.] 
 
 Washington at his own request was put in the advance. 
 He was placed at the head of a division numbering 1,000 
 men, with the temporary rank of brigadier-general, and 
 ordered to move in front of the main army, clear the road, 
 and take precautions against a surprise by the enemy. The 
 main body did not reach Loyal Hanna till the 5th of No 
 vember (1758). The road was indescribably bad, and frost 
 and snow were already announcing the near approach of 
 winter. The soldiers were dispirited, as well they might be, 
 for they were ill-clad for the season, surrounded by a wilder 
 ness of forests, and still at the distance of fifty miles from 
 Fort Duquesne. 
 
 A council of war was now held in which, as Washington 
 had foreseen and predicted, it was decided that it was in 
 expedient to proceed further in the campaign. To winter 
 on the ground was nearly impossible. The alternative was 
 to retreat or suffer hardships similar to those which the 
 army under Washington's command subsequently suffered 
 at Valley Forge. 
 
 Fortunately, we should rather say, providentially, three 
 prisoners were taken from whom information was obtained 
 of the actual condition of Fort Duquesne. The garrison 
 was greatly reduced. The Indians had all deserted them. 
 The usual supplies of provisions and the expected reinforce- 
 
WASHINGTON IN 1775- 
 period of his taking command of the Army. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 441 
 
 ments from Canada had failed. A single well-directed blow 
 would accomplish the object of the campaign. 
 
 This report determined General Forbes to prosecute the 
 expedition. Washington was advanced in front as before, 
 to open a road for the main body of the army and establish 
 deposits. The tents and heavy baggage were left at Loyal 
 Hanna and only a light train of artillery was taken forward 
 with the army. Inspirited with the prospect of final success 
 both officers and men now performed their duty with 
 alacrity. 
 
 . The road however was long and difficult, and it was not 
 till the 25th of November that the army arrived at Fort 
 Duquesne. Instead of having to prosecute a siege and 
 assault, General Forbes took quiet possession of the fort, 
 which was already abandoned by the enemy. 
 
 Colonel Bradstreet's capture of Fort Frontenac had cut 
 off the usual supplies and reinforcements intended for this 
 post, and the garrison consisting of only 500 men had on 
 the preceding night evacuated the place, after setting it on 
 fire, and proceeded down the Ohio in boats. 
 
 [October 30, 1758, Washington wrote to Governor Fau- 
 quier from the camp at Loyal Hanna, explaining how he 
 had made a sudden march" from Rays Town, and further 
 saying: 
 
 " My march to this post gave me an opportunity of 
 forming a judgment of the road, and I can truly say that 
 it is indescribably bad. Had it not been for an accidental 
 discovery of a new passage over the Laurel Hill, the car 
 riages must inevitably have stopped on the other side. 
 This is a fact nobody here takes it upon him to deny. 
 The general, and great part of the troops, etc., being yet 
 behind, and the weather growing very inclement, must, 
 I apprehend, terminate our expedition for this year at this 
 place. But as our affairs are now drawing to a crisis, and 
 
448 WASHINGTON. 
 
 a good or bad conclusion of them will shortly ensue, I 
 choose to suspend my judgment, as well as a further ac 
 count of the matter, to a future day." 
 
 November 5th Washington further wrote to Fauquier: 
 
 " The General being arrived, with most of the artillery 
 and troops, we expect to move forward in a very few days, 
 encountering every hardship that an advanced season, 
 want of clothes, and a small stock of provisions will ex 
 pose us to. But it is no longer a time for pointing out 
 difficulties, and I hope my next will run in a more agree 
 able strain." 
 
 The circumstances under which the forward movement 
 was being made are not mentioned in Washington's letters 
 until that of November 28th, reporting arrival at Fort 
 Duquesne on the 25th, after the French had burned down 
 the fort and gone down the Ohio. In the letter referred 
 to, Washington said: 
 
 " The possession of this fort has been a matter of sur 
 prise to the whole army, and we cannot attribute it to more 
 probable causes than those of weakness, want of pro 
 visions, and desertion of their Indians. Of these circum 
 stances we were luckily informed by three prisoners who 
 providentially fell into our hands at Loyal Hanna, at a 
 time when we despaired of proceeding, and a council of 
 war had determined that it was not advisable to advance 
 further this season; but the information above caused us 
 to march on without tents or baggage, and with a light 
 train of artillery only, with which we have happily suc 
 ceeded." 
 
 Of the particulars of this success Washington wrote to 
 General Forbes, November 17, from camp near Bushy 
 Run: 
 
 "After the most constant labor from daybreak till night, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 443 
 
 we were able to open the road to this place, only about 
 six miles from our last camp. 
 
 " I shall struggle hard to be up with Colonel Armstrong 
 tonight, being but two and a half miles from his last camp." 
 
 That night he wrote further: 
 
 " I have opened the road between seven and eight miles 
 today, and am yet three miles short of Colonel Armstrong, 
 who marched at 8 o'clock." 
 
 The next day he wrote from Armstrong's camp that he 
 had arrived there about 1 1 o'clock, having opened the road 
 before him; that he halted there to slaughter and dress 
 beef for the troops; and that he should go forward with 
 1,000 men at 3 the next morning. The march thus re 
 newed led directly on to Fort Duquesne, possession of 
 which, or rather of the spot on which it had stood, was 
 had November 25th. In the letter reporting this to Gov 
 ernor Fauquier, Washington said: 
 
 " I cannot help premising, in this place, the hardships 
 the troops have undergone, and the naked condition they 
 now are in, in order that you may judge if it is not neces 
 sary that they should have some little recess from fatigue, 
 and time to provide themselves with necessaries, for at 
 present they are destitute of every comfort of life. If I 
 do not get your orders to the contrary, I shall march the 
 troops under my command directly to Winchester. 
 
 " This fortunate, and indeed unexpected success of our 
 arms will be attended with happy effects. The Delawares 
 are suing for peace, and I doubt not that other tribes on 
 the Ohio will follow their example. A trade, free, open, 
 and upon equitable terms, is what they seem much to 
 stickle for, and I do not know so effectual a way of rivet 
 ing them to our interest, as sending out goods immediately 
 to this place for that purpose. It will, at the same time, 
 be a means of supplying the garrison with such necessaries 
 
444 WASHINGTON. 
 
 as may be wanted; and I think, those Colonies which are 
 as greatly interested as Virginia is, should neglect no 
 means in their power to establish and support a strong 
 garrison here. Our business, wanting this, will be but half 
 finished; while, on the other hand, we obtain a firm and 
 lasting peace, if this end is once accomplished. 
 
 " General Forbes is very assiduous in getting these 
 matters settled upon a solid basis, and has great merit 
 (which I hope will be rewarded) for the happy issue which 
 he has brought our affairs to, infirm and worn down as 
 he is." 
 
 The general had followed in the rear of his army in a 
 litter, and a few weeks later he died at Philadelphia.] 
 
 After taking possession of the fort General Forbes* 
 caused the works to be repaired and gave it the name of 
 Fort Pitt, in honor of the Prime Minister. The flourishing 
 city of Pittsburg now stands near the ruins of " Old Fort 
 Duquesne." 
 
 Two hundred men from Washington's regiment formed 
 the garrison of Fort Pitt. This measure was adopted against 
 his remonstrances, General Forbes declining to leave a 
 detachment from the regular army in consequence of an 
 opinion he had formed that by such a step he would exceed 
 his authority. 
 
 Washington marched back with the remainder of his com- 
 
 *John Forbes was a native of Petincrief, Fifeshire, Scotland, 
 and was educated as a physician. He abandoned his profession, 
 entered the army, and in 1745 was advanced to the rank of lieu 
 tenant-colonel. He acted as quartermaster-general of the army 
 under the Duke of Cumberland, and in 1757 was appointed briga 
 dier-general, and sent to America. He was successful in the expe 
 dition against Fort Duquesne the works being abandoned on 
 his approach. After having concluded treaties with the Indian 
 tribes on the Ohio, he returned to Philadelphia, and died in that 
 city, March 13, 1759, aged 49. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 445 
 
 mand to Winchester. On his way he stopped at Loyal 
 Hanna whence he addressed a circular letter to the frontier 
 inhabitants, requesting them to forward supplies to the 
 Virginians at Fort Pitt, and promising remuneration. 
 Leaving his troops at Winchester, he proceeded to Wil- 
 liamsburg, to take his seat in the Legislature of Virginia, of 
 which he had been elected a member while he was on duty 
 at Fort Cumberland. 
 
 [December 2, 1758, Washington wrote from Loyal 
 Hanna that he had made the attempt to proceed to Vir 
 ginia at once to represent the situation on the Ohio to 
 Governor Fauquier, and had been prevented by want of 
 horses, those which he had being " entirely knocked up." 
 He further said: 
 
 " The General has, in his letters, told you what gar 
 rison he proposed to leave at Fort Duquesne, but the want 
 of provisions rendered it impossible to leave more than 
 200 men in all there. These, without great exertions, 
 must, I fear, abandon the place or perish. To prevent, as 
 far as possible, either of these events happening, I have 
 by this conveyance written a circular letter to the back 
 inhabitants of Virginia, setting forth the great advantages 
 of keeping that place; the improbability of doing it with 
 out their immediate assistance ; that they may travel safely 
 out while we hold that post; and that they will be allowed 
 good prices for such species of provisions as they shall 
 carry. 
 
 " Unless the most effectual measures are taken early in 
 the spring to reinforce the garrison at Fort Duquesne, the 
 place will inevitably be lost, and then our frontiers will 
 fall into the same distressed condition that they have been 
 in for some time past. For I can very confidently assert, 
 that we never can secure them properly, if we again lose 
 our footing on the Ohio, as we consequently lose the in- 
 
446 WASHINGTON. 
 
 terest of the Indians. I therefore think that every neces 
 sary preparation should be making, not a moment should 
 be lost in taking the most speedy and efficacious steps 
 in securing the infinite advantages which may be derived 
 from our regaining possession of that important country. 
 
 " That the preparatory steps should immediately be 
 taken for securing the communication from Virginia, by 
 constructing a post at Redstone Creek, which would 
 greatly facilitate the supplying of our troops on the Ohio, 
 where a formidable garrison should be sent as soon as the 
 season will admit of it. 
 
 " That a trade with the Indians should be upon such 
 terms, and transacted by men of such principles, as would 
 at the same time turn out to the reciprocal advantage of 
 the colony and the Indians, and which would effectually 
 remove those bad impressions that the Indians received 
 from the conduct of a set of rascally fellows, divested of 
 all faith and honor; and give us such an early opportunity 
 of establishing an interest with them as would be pro 
 ductive of the most beneficial consequences, on getting a 
 large share of the fur trade, not only of the Ohio Indians, 
 but, in time, of the numerous nations possessing the back 
 country westward of it. And to prevent this advantageous 
 commerce from suffering in its infancy, by the sinister 
 views of designing, selfish men of the different provinces, I 
 humbly conceive it absolutely necessary that commissioners 
 from each of the colonies be appointed to regulate the 
 mode of that trade, and to fix it on such a basis that all 
 the attempts of one colony undermining another, and 
 thereby weakening and diminishing the general system,. 
 might be frustrated. 
 
 "Although none can entertain a higher sense of the great 
 importance of maintaining a post on the Ohio than myself, 
 yet, under the present circumstances of my regiment, I 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 447 
 
 would by no means have agreed to leave any part of it 
 there, had not the General given an express order for it. 
 Our men that are left there are in such a miserable situa 
 tion, having hardly rags to cover their nakedness, that un 
 less provision is made by the country for supplying them 
 immediately they must inevitably perish; and if the First 
 Virginia Regiment is to be kept up any longer, or any 
 services are expected therefrom, they should forthwith be 
 clothed as they are. By their present shameful nakedness, 
 the advanced season, and the inconceivable fatigues of an 
 uncommonly long and laborious campaign, they are ren 
 dered totally incapable of any kind of service ; and sickness, 
 death, and desertion must, if their wants are not speedily 
 supplied, greatly reduce its numbers. To replace them 
 with equally good men will, perhaps, be found impos 
 sible."] 
 
 As the frontier of Virginia was now relieved from the 
 incursions of the French and Indians, Washington's 
 patriotic motives for continuing in the military service had 
 ceased to operate. No royal commission such as had 
 been tendered to Sir William Pepperrell for his single suc 
 cessful campaign at Louisburg was offered for his accept 
 ance and his military career for the present was closed. 
 About the end of the year (1758), he resigned his com 
 mission as colonel of the first Virginia regiment and com- 
 mander-in-chief of all the troops raised in the Colony. 
 
 " The officers whom he commanded," says Marshall,* 
 " were greatly attached to him. They manifested their 
 esteem and their regret at parting by a very affectionate 
 address, expressive of the high opinion they entertained 
 both of his military and private character. 
 
 ".This opinion was not confined to the officers of his 
 regiment ; it was common to Virginia and had been adopted 
 *Life of Washington, chapter I. 
 
448 WASHINGTON. 
 
 by the British officers with whom he served. The duties 
 he performed though not splendid, were arduous, and were 
 executed with zeal and with judgment. The exact disci 
 pline he established in his regiment when the temper of 
 Virginia was extremely hostile to discipline does credit to 
 his military character, and the gallantry the troops dis 
 played whenever called into action, manifests the spirit in 
 fused into them by their commander. 
 
 " The difficulties of his situation while unable to cover 
 the frontier from the French and Indians who were spread 
 ing death and desolation in>very quarter were incalculably 
 great, and no better evidence of his exertions under these 
 distressing circumstances can be given than the undimin- 
 ished confidence still placed in him by those whom he was 
 unable to protect. 
 
 " The efforts to which he incessantly stimulated his 
 country for the purpose of obtaining possession of the Ohio ; 
 the system for the conduct of the war which he continually 
 recommended; the vigorous and active measures always 
 urged upon those by whom he was commanded; manifest 
 an ardent and enterprising mind, tempered by judgment, 
 and quickly improved by experience." 
 
 In a former part of this chapter, we have mentioned a 
 visit of Washington to the seat of government at Williams- 
 burg for the purpose of obtaining supplies and an augmen 
 tation of pay for the soldiers of his regiment. It was during 
 this journey that he became acquainted with the lady with 
 whom he was afterward united in marriage. Her maiden 
 name was Martha Danbridge. She was descended from an 
 ancient family that migrated to the Colony. She was born 
 in the county of New Kent, May, 1732. At the age of 
 seventeen she had been married to Col. Daniel Parke 
 Custis, a planter of the same county, and resided at the 
 "White House," on the banks of Pamunkey river. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 449 
 
 Mrs. Custis was early left a widow with two children* 
 and a large fortune. She was on a visit to the family of a 
 neighbor, Mr. Chamberlayne, when Washington first met 
 her on his journey from Winchester to Williamsburg.t 
 
 " It was in 1758," says her biographer, J " that an officer 
 attired in a military undress and attended by a body servant 
 tall and militaire as his chief, crossed the ferry called Wil 
 liams', over the Pamunkey, a branch of the York river. On 
 the boat touching the southern or New Kent side, the 
 soldier's progress was arrested by one of those personages 
 who give the beau ideal of the Virginia gentleman of the 
 old regime the very soul of kindness and hospitality. He 
 would hear of no excuse on the officer's part for declining 
 the invitation to stop at his house. In vain the colonel 
 pleaded important business at Williamsburg ; Mr. Chamber 
 layne insisted that his friend must dine with him at the 
 very least. He promised as a tempation to introduce him 
 to a young and charming widow who chanced then to be 
 an inmate of his dwelling. At last the soldier surrendered 
 at discretion, resolving however to pursue his journey the 
 same evening. They proceeded 'to the mansion. Mr. 
 Chamberlayne presented Colonel Washington to his various 
 guests among whom was the beautiful Mrs. Custis. Tradi 
 tion says that the two were favorably impressed with each 
 other at the first interview. 
 
 The acquaintance thus auspiciously commenced was fol 
 lowed by an engagement soon after, the marriage being 
 deferred till the close of the campaign. It took place at the 
 lady's residence, the " White House," on the 6th of January, 
 
 1759- 
 The mansion of Mount Vernon, which became their resi- 
 
 * Martha, who died at Mount Vernon, 1777, and John, who died 
 in 1781. 
 
 f Custis, " Memoir of Martha Washington." 
 t Mrs. Ellet, " Women of the Revolution." 
 
 20 
 
450 WASHINGTON. 
 
 dence soon after the marriage, was then a very small build 
 ing compared with its present extent, and the numerous out 
 buildings attached to it. The mansion-house consisted of 
 four rooms on a floor forming the center of the present 
 building, and remained pretty much in that state up to 1774, 
 when Colonel Washington repaired to the first Congress in 
 Philadelphia, and from thence to the command-in-chief 
 of the armies of his country assembled before Cambridge, 
 July, 1775. The commander-in-chief returned no more to 
 reside at Mount Vernon till after the peace of 1783. Mrs. 
 Washington accompanied the general to the lines before 
 Boston and witnessed its siege and evacuation. She then 
 returned to Virginia, the subsequent campaigns being of 
 too momentous a character to allow of her accompanying 
 the army. 
 
 At the close of each campaign an aide-de-camp repaired 
 to Mount Vernon to escort her to the headquarters. The 
 arrival of Mrs. Washington at camp was an event much 
 anticipated and was always the signal for the ladies of the 
 general officers to repair to the bosoms of their lords. The 
 arrival of the aide-de-camp escorting the plain chariot with 
 the neat postillions in their scarlet and white liveries was 
 deemed an epoch in the army and served to diffuse a cheer 
 ing influence amid the gloom which hung over our destinies 
 at Valley Forge, Morristown, and West Point. Mrs. Wash 
 ington always remained at the headquarters till the opening 
 of the campaign, and often remarked in after life that it had 
 been her fortune to hear the first cannon at the opening 
 and the last at the closing of all the campaigns of the 
 Revolutionary War. During the whole of that mighty 
 period when we struggled for independence, Mrs. Wash 
 ington preserved her equanimity, together with a degree 
 of cheerfulness that inspired all around her with the bright 
 est hopes for our ultimate success.* 
 
 * Custis, " Memoir of Martha Washington." 
 
PART III. 
 OPENING SCENES OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WASHINGTON IN RETIREMENT-CAMPAIGN OF 1759- 
 
 1759- 
 
 THE marriage of Washington to Mrs. Custis brought 
 with it a large accession to his fortune. By it he 
 became entitled to a third part of the estate of the 
 deceased Daniel Parke Custis, and he was invested with the 
 care of the other two-thirds by a decree of the general court 
 which he obtained in order to strenghten the power he pre 
 viously had in consequence of his wife's administration of 
 the whole estate.* 
 
 The addition thus made to Washington's estate was not 
 less than $100,000. He had also the estate of Mount Ver- 
 non and considerable tracts of land in various parts of 
 Virginia, selected while he was employed in surveying. 
 
 Mrs. Custis at the time of her second marriage had two 
 children, a son six years old and a daughter four, to each 
 of whom was left a third of the estate of their father. 
 Washington became guardian of these children, an office 
 which he discharged with strict fidelity and paternal af 
 fection. 
 
 * Letter to Robert Gary. Sparks' "Writings of Washington," 
 vol. II, p. 328. 
 
 (451) 
 
452 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The newly-married couple remained at the " White 
 House/' the late residence of the Custis family for three 
 months after their marriage, during which time Washing 
 ton appears to have given his attention to the affairs of the 
 estate. They then retired to Washington's favorite resi 
 dence, Mount Vernon. 
 
 During the first year of their residence in this delightful 
 home occurred the campaign of 1759, which, although 
 Washington took no active part in it, forms too important 
 and influential a portion of the history of his " Times/' to 
 be passed over in silence. We shall therefore notice briefly 
 its more important events. 
 
 The plan of the campaign was that three powerful armies 
 should enter the French possessions by three different 
 routes and attack all their strongholds at nearly the same 
 time. At the head of one division of the army, Brigadier- 
 General Wolfe, who had so recently signalized himself at 
 the siege of Louisburg, was to ascend the St. Lawrence and 
 lay siege to Quebec, escorted by a strong fleet to co-operate 
 with his troops. 
 
 The central and main body composed of British and pro 
 vincials was to be conducted against Ticonderoga and 
 Crown Point, by the able, but cautious, General Amherst, 
 the new commander-in-chief, who, after making himself 
 master of these places, was to proceed over Lake Champlain 
 and by the way of Richelieu river to the St. Lawrence, and 
 descending that river form a junction with General Wolfe 
 before the walls of Quebec. This latter service however 
 he was not destined to accomplish in season to render any 
 assistance to Wolfe. 
 
 The third army to be composed principally of provincials 
 reinforced by a strong body of friendly Indians under 
 the direction of Sir William Johnson was to be commanded 
 by General Prideaux, who was to lead this division first 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 453 
 
 against Niagara and after the reduction of that place, to 
 embark on Lake Ontario and proceed down the St. Law 
 rence against Montreal. 
 
 Early in the winter, General Amherst commenced prepa 
 rations for his part of the enterprise, but it was not till the 
 last of May that his troops, 12,000 in number, were as 
 sembled at Albany, and it was as late as the 22d of July 
 (1759), when after crossing Lake George in boats, batteaux, 
 and rafts, he appeared before Ticonderoga. 
 
 Montcalm, who had so successfully resisted the attack 
 of Abercrombie in the preceding year, was no longer in 
 command at Ticonderoga being engaged in preparations 
 for the defense of Quebec. The garrison consisting of only 
 400 men was under the command of Bourlamarque. Per 
 ceiving the utter folly of attempting a defense against such 
 fearful odds, he dismantled the fortifications and abandoned 
 them as well as those at Crown Point, and retreated to Isle 
 aux Noix, a convenient point for concentrating a force for 
 the defense of Montreal and the province. 
 
 Instead of pursuing him with a view to a speedy junction 
 of his forces with those of General Wolfe, General Amherst 
 committed the grave error of wasting time in repairing the 
 works at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Meantime the 
 enemy were assembling a force of between three and four 
 thousand at Isle aux Noix. 
 
 The result of General Amherst's extreme caution and 
 delay was that he failed to effect a junction of his forces 
 with those of General Wolfe, and his army at the close of 
 the season went into winter quarters at Crown Point. 
 
 In the prosecution of the enterprise against Niagara, Gen 
 eral Prideaux had embarked with an army on Lake Ontario, 
 and on the 6th of July (1759), landed without opposition 
 within about three miles from the fort which he invested in 
 form. While directing the operations of the siege he was 
 
454 WASHINGTON. 
 
 killed by the bursting of a cohorn, and the command de 
 volved on Sir William Johnson.* That general, prosecuting 
 with judgment and vigor the plan of his predecessor, pushed 
 the attack of Niagara with an intrepidity that soon brought 
 the besiegers within 100 yards of the covered way. 
 
 Meanwhile, the French, alarmed at the danger of losing 
 a post which was a key to their interior empire in America, 
 had collected a large body of regular troops from the neigh 
 boring garrisons of Detroit, Venango, and Presqu' Isle, 
 with which and a party of Indians they resolved if possible 
 to raise the siege. Apprised of their intention to hazard 
 a battle, General Johnson order his light infantry, sup 
 ported by some grenadiers and regular foot, to take post 
 between the cataract of Niagara and the fortress ; placed the 
 
 * Sir William Johnson was born in Ireland, about the year 1715. 
 Early in life he went to America with his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, 
 and, after hesitating for some time as to what profession he should 
 adopt, at length entered the army, in which he gradually rose to 
 the rank of major-general. In 1755 he was placed at the head of 
 an expedition against Crown Point, which however he did not 
 succeed in capturing, although he obtained a brilliant victory 
 over the French under General Dieskau, whom he took prisoner. 
 Parliament testified its approbation of Johnson's conduct on this 
 occasion by voting him 5,000. In 1759 he commanded the pro 
 vincials of New York, and acted under Prideaux at the siege of 
 Niagara, as related in the text. 
 
 He now devoted his attention to the establishment of a more 
 permanent and extensive communion than had previously existed 
 between the British and the Indians, and effected several advan 
 tageous treaties with the Senecas and other tribes. In June, 1760, 
 he induced 1,000 of the Iroquois to join General Amherst at 
 Oswego; and, subsequently, encouraged the colonists to intermarry 
 with the aboriginal inhabitants. He was at length chosen colonel 
 of the Six Nations, as well as superintendent of Indian affairs for 
 the northern parts of America; and settling on the banks of the 
 Mohawk river, he soon became well acquainted with the manners 
 and language of the Indians, relative to which he sent an inter- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 455 
 
 auxiliary Indians on his flanks, and together with this 
 preparation for an engagement took effectual measures for 
 securing his lines and bridling the garrison. 
 
 About nine in the morning of the 24th of July (1759), 
 the enemy appeared and the horrible sound of the warwhoop 
 from the hostile Indians was the signal of battle. The 
 French charged with great impetuosity but were received 
 with firmness, and in less than an hour were completely 
 routed. 
 
 This battle decided the fate of Niagara. Sir William 
 Johnson the next morning opened negotiations with the 
 French commandant, and in a few hours a capitulation was 
 signed. The garrison consisting of 607 men were to march 
 out with the honors of war to be embarked on the lake 
 and carried to New York, and the women and children 
 were to be carried to Montreal. The reduction of Niagara 
 
 esting communication to the Royal Society, in November, 1772. 
 He died about two years afterward, leaving a son, who succeeded 
 to the baronetage. 
 
 Brave, energetic, and enterprising, Johnson was particularly 
 well qualified for the services on which he was employed. He is 
 described as having possessed such a genius for acquiring popu 
 larity among all kinds of men that the regular troops respected, 
 the provincials loved, and the Indians almost adored him. It is 
 added that he was a man of perfect integrity, and employed his 
 talents solely for the benefit of his country. The victory which 
 he obtained over Dieskau, although it did not lead to the result 
 that had been expected, infused confidence into the British, who 
 appear to have been greatly disheartened by the recent defeat, 
 by the French and Indians, of General Braddock's forces near 
 Fort Duquesne. The capture of Niagara effectually broke off, 
 according to the Annual Register of the period, "that communi 
 cation so much talked of, and so much dreaded, between Canada 
 and Louisiana; and by this stroke, one of the capital political 
 designs of the French, which gave occasion to the war, was 
 defeated in its direct and immediate object." 
 
456 WASHINGTON. 
 
 effectually cut off the communication between Canada and 
 Louisiana. 
 
 The expedition against the capital of Canada was the 
 most daring and important. Strong by nature and still 
 stronger by art, Quebec had obtained the appellation of the 
 Gibraltar of America, and every attempt against it had 
 failed. It was now commanded by Montcalm, an officer of 
 distinguished reputation, and its capture must have appeared 
 chimerical to any one but Pitt. He judged rightly however 
 that the boldest and most dangerous enterprises are often 
 the most successful, especially when committed to ardent 
 minds glowing with enthusiasm and emulous of glory. Such 
 a mind he had discovered in General Wolfe, whose conduct 
 at Louisburg had attracted his attention. He appointed 
 him to conduct the expedition and gave him for assistants, 
 Brigadier-Generals Monckton, Townshend, and Murray; 
 all, like himself, young and ardent. 
 
 Early in the season he sailed from Halifax with 8,000 
 troops, and near the last of June (1759) landed the whole 
 army on the island of Orleans, a few miles below Quebec. 
 From this position he could take a near and distinct view 
 of the obstacles to be overcome. These were so great that 
 even the bold and sanguine Wolfe perceived more to fear 
 than to hope. 
 
 " When," he says in a letter to Pitt, " that succors of all 
 kinds had been thrown into Quebec, that five batteries of 
 regular troops, some of the troops of the Colony, and every 
 Canadian that was able to bear arms, besides several nations 
 of savages had taken the field in A very advantageous 
 situation, I could not flatter myself that I should be able 
 to reduce the place. I sought however an occasion to at 
 tack their army knowing well that with these troops I was 
 able to fight and that a victory might disperse them." 
 
 Quebec stands on the north side of the St. Lawrence 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 457 
 
 and consists of an upper and lower town. The lower town 
 lies between the river and a bold and lofty eminence which 
 runs parallel to it far to the westward. 
 
 At the top of this eminence is a plain upon which the 
 upper town is situated. Below or east of the city is the river 
 St. Charles, whose channel is rough and whose banks are 
 steep and broken. At a short distance farther down is the 
 Montmorency, and between these two rivers and reaching 
 from one to the other was encamped the French army, 
 strongly intrenched, and superior in number to that of the 
 English, but they were chiefly Canadians. There was also 
 a large auxiliary force of Indians. 
 
 General Wolfe took possession of Point Levi on the 
 southern bank of the St. Lawrence, and there erected bat 
 teries against the town. The cannonade which was kept 
 up, though it destroyed many houses, made but little im 
 pression on the works which were too strong and too re 
 mote to be materially affected, their elevation at the same 
 time placing them beyond the reach of the fleet. Convinced 
 of the impossibility of reducing the place unless he could 
 erect batteries on the north side of the St. Lawrence, Wolfe 
 soon decided on more daring measures. 
 
 The northern shore of the St. Lawrence to a considerable 
 distance above Quebec is so bold and rocky as to render 
 a landing in the face of an enemy impracticable. If an 
 attempt were made below the town, the river Montmorency 
 passed, and the French driven from their intrenchments, 
 the St. Charles would present a new and perhaps insuper 
 able barrier. 
 
 With every obstacle fully in view, Wolfe heroically ob 
 serving that a " victorious army finds no difficulties," re 
 solved to pass the Montmorency and bring Montcalm to 
 an engagement. In pursuance of this resolution thirteen 
 companies of English grenadiers and part of the second 
 
458 WASHINGTON. 
 
 battalion of Royal Americans were landed at the mouth 
 of that river, while two divisions under Generals Townshend 
 and Murray prepared to cross it higher up. Wolfe's plan 
 was to attack first a redoubt close to the water's edge, ap 
 parently beyond reach of the fire from the enemy's intrench- 
 ments, in the belief that the French by attempting to 
 support that fortification would put it in his power to 
 bring on a general engagement, or if they should submit 
 to the loss of the redoubt, that he could afterward ex 
 amine their situation with coolness and advantageously 
 regulate his future operations. 
 
 On the approach of the British troops the redoubt was 
 evacuated, and the general observing some confusion in the 
 French camp changed his original plan and determined 
 not to delay an attack. Orders were immediately dis 
 patched to the Generals Townshend and Murray to keep 
 their divisions in readiness for fording the river, and the 
 grenadiers and Royal Americans were directed to form on 
 the beach until they could be properly sustained. 
 
 These troops however not waiting for support rushed im 
 petuously toward the enemy's intrenchments, but they were 
 received with so strong and steady a fire from the French 
 musketry that they were instantly thrown into disorder and 
 obliged to seek shelter at the redoubt which the enemy 
 had abandoned. Detained here awhile by a dreadful thun 
 derstorm they were still within reach of a severe fire from 
 the French, and many gallant officers exposing their persons 
 in attempting to form their troops were killed, the whole loss 
 amounting to nearly 500 men. The plan of attack being 
 effectually disconcerted, the English general gave orders 
 for repassing the river and returning to the Isle of Orleans. 
 
 Compelled to abandon the attack on that side, Wolfe 
 deemed that advantage might result from attempting to 
 destroy the French fleet, and by distracting the attention 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 459 
 
 of Montcalm with continual descents upon the northern 
 shore. General Murray with 1,200 men in transports made 
 two vigorous but abortive attempts to land, and though 
 more successful in the third he did nothing more than burn 
 a magazine of warlike stores. The enemy's fleet was effectu 
 ally secured against attacks, either by land or water, and the 
 commander-in-chief was again obliged to submit to the 
 mortification of recalling his troops. 
 
 At this juncture, intelligence arrived that Ticonderoga 
 and Crown Point had been abandoned, but that General 
 Amherst, instead of pressing forward to their assistance, 
 was preparing to attack the Isle aux Noix. 
 
 While Wolfe rejoiced at the triumph of his brethren in 
 arms he could not avoid contrasting their success with his 
 own disastrous efforts. His mind, alike lofty and suscep 
 tible, was deeply impressed by the disasters at Mont- 
 morency; and his extreme anxiety, preying upon his deli 
 cate frame, sensibly affected his health. He was observed 
 frequently to sigh, and as if life was only valuable while it 
 added to his glory, he declared to his intimate friends that 
 he would not survive the disgrace which he imagined would 
 attend the failure of his enterprise. 
 
 In a letter written to Mr. Pitt at this time he says : " The 
 French did not attempt to interrupt us, but some of their 
 savages came down to murder such wounded as could not 
 be brought off, and to scalp the dead, as their custom is." 
 His situation seemed growing desperate and his health be 
 gan to fail him. In his letter to Pitt, which was written 
 from his headquarters at Montmorency on the 2d of Sep 
 tember (1759), more than a month after this failure, he con 
 fessed that he had descended to the dubiousness and de 
 spondency of consulting a council of war. After saying 
 that he had been suffering by a fever, he adds : " I found 
 
460 WASHINGTON. 
 
 myself so ill and am still so weak that I begged the general 
 officers to consult together for the public utility. * * * 
 To the uncommon strength of this country the enemy have 
 added, for the defense of the river, a great number of float 
 ing batteries and boats. By the vigilance of these and the 
 Indians round our posts, it has been impossible to execute 
 anything by surprise. * * * We have the whole force 
 of Canada to oppose. In the situation there is such a choice 
 of difficulties that I own myse/f at a loss how to determine. 
 The affairs of Great Britain -require the most vigorous 
 measures, but then the courage of a handful of brave men 
 should be exerted only where there is some hope of a favor 
 able event." When this letter reached England it excited 
 consternation and anger. Pitt feared that he had been mis 
 taken in his favorite general, and that the next news would 
 be either that he had been destroyed or had capitulated. 
 But in the conclusion of his melancholy epistle Wolfe had 
 said he would do his best and that best turned out 
 a miracle in war. He declared that he would rather die 
 than be brought to a court-martial for miscarrying. 
 
 Nothing however could shake the resolution of this 
 valiant commander or induce him to abandon the attempt. 
 In a council of his principal officers, called on this critical 
 occasion, it was resolved that all the future operations 
 should be above the town. The camp at the Isle of Or 
 leans was accordingly abandoned, and the whole army hav 
 ing embarked on board the fleet, a part of it was landed 
 at Point Levi and a part higher up the river. 
 
 Montcalm, apprehending from this movement that the 
 invaders might make a distant descent and come on the 
 back of the city of Quebec, detached M. de Bougainville, 
 with 1,500 men, to watch their motions and prevent their 
 landing. 
 
 Baffled and harassed in all his previous assaults General 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 461 
 
 Wolfe seems to have determined to finish the enterprise by 
 a single bold and determined effort. The admiral sailed 
 several leagues up the river, making occasional demonstra 
 tions of a design to land troops, and during the night 
 a strong detachment in flat-bottomed boats fell silently 
 down the stream to a point about a mile above the city. 
 
 The beach was shelving, the bank high and precipitous, 
 and the only path by which it could be scaled was now de 
 fended by a captain's guard and a battery of four guns. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Howe,* with the van, soon clambered 
 up the rocks, drove away the guard, and seized upon the 
 battery. 
 
 The army landed about an hour before day and by day 
 break was marshaled on the Heights of Abraham. 
 
 Montcalm could not at first believe this intelligence, but 
 as soon as assured of its truth, he made all prudent haste 
 to decide a battle which it was no longer possible to avoid. 
 Leaving his camp at Montmorency he crossed the river St. 
 Charles with the intention of attacking the English army. 
 
 No sooner did Wolfe observe this movement than he be 
 gan to form his order of battle. His troops consisted of 
 six battalions and the Louisburg grenadiers. The right 
 wing was commanded by General Monckton and the left 
 by General Murray. The right flank was covered by the 
 Louisburg grenadiers and the rear and left by Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Howe's light infantry. 
 
 The form in which the French advanced, indicating an 
 intention to outflank the left of the English army, General 
 Townshend was sent with the battalion of Amherst and 
 the two battalions of Royal Americans to that part of the 
 line, and they were formed en potence, so as to present a 
 double front to the enemy. The body of reserve consisted 
 
 * Sir William Howe, subsequently distinguished in the Revolu 
 tionary War. 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 of one regiment drawn up in eight divisions with large in 
 tervals. 
 
 The dispositions made by the French general were not 
 less masterly. The right and left wings were composed 
 about equally of European and Colonial troops. The center 
 consisted of a column formed of two battalions of regulars. 
 Fifteen hundred Indians and Canadians, excellent marks 
 men, advancing in front, screened by surrounding thickets, 
 began the battle. Their irregular fire proved fatal to many 
 British officers, but it was soon silenced by the steady fire 
 of the English. 
 
 About 9 in the morning the main body of the French 
 advanced briskly to the charge and the action soon became 
 general. Montcalm having taken post on the left of the 
 French army and Wolfe on the right of the English, the 
 two generals met each other where the battle was most 
 severe. The English troops reserved their fire until the 
 French had advanced within forty yards of their line, and 
 then by a general discharge made terrible havoc among 
 their ranks. The fire of the English was vigorously main 
 tained and the enemy everywhere yielded. 
 
 General Wolfe who, exposed in the front of his battalions, 
 had been wounded in the wrist, betraying no symptoms of 
 pain wrapped a handkerchief round his arm and continued 
 to encourage his men. Soon after he received a shot in the 
 groin, but concealing the wound he was pressing on at the 
 head of his grenadiers with fixed bayonets, when a third 
 ball pierced his breast. 
 
 Perceiving that his wound was mortal his only anxiety 
 appears to have been that the soldiers might not be dis 
 heartened by seeing him fall. Leaning on a lieutenant for 
 support, he said " Let not my brave fellows see me drop." 
 He was conveyed to the rear, where, careless about himself, 
 he discovered in the agonies of death the greatest solicitude 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 463 
 
 concerning the result of the battle. Faint and exhausted 
 with the pain of his wounds he rested his head on the arm 
 of an officer. He was aroused by cries of " They fly, they 
 fly ! see them fly ! " " Who fly ? " exclaimed the dying hero. 
 "The French," answered his attendant. Nerving himself 
 to a last effort of duty he gave a hasty order for cutting 
 off the enemy's retreat, and then turning on his side, he 
 said " Now, God be praised, I will die in peace," and ex 
 pired. 
 
 We cannot forbear quoting in this connection the simple 
 and feeling observations of General Townshend respecting 
 his heroic friend, whose fate threw so affecting a luster on 
 this memorable victory : " I am not ashamed to own to 
 you that my heart does not exult in the midst of this suc 
 cess. I have lost but a friend in General Wolfe; our 
 country has lost a sure support and a perpetual honor. If 
 the world were sensible at how dear a price we have pur 
 chased Quebec in his death, it would damp the public joy. 
 Our best consolation is that Providence seemed not to 
 promise that he should remain long among us. He was 
 himself sensible of the weakness of his constitution and 
 determined to crowd into a few years actions that would 
 have adorned length of life." 
 
 The army, not disconcerted by the fall of their general, 
 continued the action under Monckton on whom the com 
 mand now devolved, but who, receiving a ball through his 
 body, soon yielded the command to General Townshend. 
 
 Montcalm, fighting in front of his battalions, received a 
 mortal wound* about the same time, and General Senezer- 
 gus, the second in command, also fell. The British grena 
 diers pressed on with their bayonets. General Murray, 
 
 * Montcalm was every way worthy to be a competitor of Wolfe. 
 He had the truest military genius of any officer whom the French 
 had ever employed in America. After he had received his mortal 
 
464 WASHINGTON. 
 
 briskly advancing with the troops under his direction, broke 
 the center of the French army. 
 
 The Highlanders drawing their broadswords completed 
 the confusion of the enemy, and after having lost their first 
 and second in command the right and center of the French 
 were entirely driven from the field, and the left was follow 
 ing their example when Bougainville appeared in the rear, 
 with the 1,500 men who had been sent to oppose the land 
 ing of the English. Two battalions and two pieces of ar 
 tillery were detached to meet him, but he retired and the 
 British troops were left the undisputed masters of the field. 
 The loss of the French was much greater than that of the 
 English. The corps of French regulars was almost entirely 
 annihilated;- The killed and wounded of the English army 
 did not amount to 600 men. 
 
 Although Quebec was still strongly defended by its fortifi 
 cations, and might possibly be relieved by Bougainville or 
 from Montreal, yet General Townshend had scarcely 
 finished a road in the bank to get his heavy artillery for a 
 siege, when the inhabitants capitulated, on condition that 
 during the war they might still enjoy their own civil and 
 religious rights. A garrison of 5,000 men was left under 
 General Murray, and the fleet sailed out of the St. Law 
 rence. 
 
 The fall of Quebec did not immediately produce the sub 
 mission of Canada. The main body of the French army, 
 which, after the battle on the Plains of Abraham, retired 
 to Montreal, and which still consisted of ten battalions of 
 regulars, had been reinforced by 10,000 Canadian militia 
 and a body of Indians. 
 
 wound he was carried into the city; and when informed that it 
 was mortal his reply was, " I am glad of it." On being told that 
 he could survive but a few hours, " So much the better," he 
 replied, " I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 465 
 
 With these forces M. de Levi, who had succeeded the 
 Marquis of Montcalm in the chief command, resolved to 
 attempt the recovery of Quebec. He had hoped to carry 
 the place by a coup de main, during the winter, but on recon- 
 noitering he found the outposts so well secured, and the 
 Governor so vigilant and active, that he postponed the en 
 terprise until spring. 
 
 In the month of April (1760), when the upper part of the 
 St. Lawrence was so open as to admit of transportation by 
 water, his artillery, military stores, and heavy baggage 
 were embarked at Montreal and fell down the river under 
 convoy of six frigates, and M. de Levi, after a march of 
 ten days arrived with his army at Point au Tremble, within 
 a few miles of Quebec. 
 
 General Murray, to whom the care of maintaining the 
 English conquest had been intrusted, had taken every pre 
 caution to preserve it, but his troops had suffered so much 
 by the extreme cold of the winter, and by the want of vege 
 tables and fresh provisions that instead of 5,000, the origi 
 nal number of his garrison, there were not at this time 
 above 3,000 men fit for service. 
 
 With this small but valiant body the English general re 
 solved to meet the enemy in the field, and on the 28th of 
 April marched out to the Plains of Abraham where, near 
 Sillery, he attacked the French under M. de Levi with great 
 impetuosity. He was received with firmness, and after a 
 fierce encounter, finding himself outflanked and in danger 
 of being surrounded by superior numbers, he called off his 
 troops and retired into the city. 
 
 In this action the loss of the English was near 1,000 men, 
 and that of the French still greater. The French general 
 lost no time in improving his victory. On the very even 
 ing of the battle he opened trenches before the town, but 
 30 
 
466 WASHINGTON. 
 
 it was the nth of May before he could mount his batteries 
 and bring his guns to bear on the fortifications. 
 
 By that time General Murray, who had been indefati 
 gable in his exertions, had completed some outworks and 
 planted so numerous an artillery on his ramparts that his 
 fire was very superior to that of the besiegers, and in a 
 manner silenced their batteries. A British fleet arriving 
 most opportunely a few days after, M. de Levi immediately 
 raised the siege and precipitately retired to Montreal. 
 
 Here the Marquis of Vaudreuil, Governor-General of 
 Canada, had fixed his headquarters and determined to make 
 his last stand. For this purpose he called in all his detach 
 ments and collected around him the whole force of the 
 Colony. 
 
 The English, on the other hand, were resolved on the 
 total annihilation of the French power in Canada, and Gen 
 eral Amherst prepared to overwhelm it with an irresistible 
 superiority of numbers. 
 
 Almost on the same day the armies from Quebec, from 
 Lake Ontario, and from Lake Champlain were concen 
 trated before Montreal, and M. de Vaudreuil found him 
 self obliged on the 8th of September, 1760, to sign a 
 capitulation by which that city and the whole of Canada 
 were transferred to British dominion. He obtained liberal 
 stipulations for the good treatment of the inhabitants, and 
 particularly the free exercise of the Catholic faith, and the 
 preservation of the property belonging to the religious 
 communities. He even demanded that the bishop should 
 continue to be appointed by the French monarch, but this 
 was of course refused. The possession of Canada, as well 
 as of all the adjoining countries, was confirmed to Britain 
 by the peace of Paris, signed on the loth of February, 
 1763. 
 
 The population at the time of the conquest was stated by 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 467 
 
 Governor Murray to amount to 69,275, consisting mostly 
 of cultivators, a frugal, industrious, and moral race; with a 
 noblesse, also very poor, but much respected, among them. 
 The Indians converted to Catholics were estimated at 7,400. 
 The inhabitants were involved in great calamity by the re 
 fusal of the French Government to pay the bills drawn and 
 the paper currency issued by M. Bigot, the late intendant, 
 who had been guilty of most extensive peculation. The 
 gross sum is stated by Raynal at 80,000,000 livres 
 (3,333,000 sterling), but considering the small number and 
 poverty of the people we cannot help suspecting it to 
 be much exaggerated. It is said that the claims were, on 
 grounds of equity, reduced to 38,000,000; though, accord 
 ing to M'Gregor, no more was received in turn for them 
 than 250,000 in money, and 125,000 in bonds, which 
 never became effective. 
 
 The terms in favor of the French residents were faith 
 fully and even liberally fulfilled by the British Government. 
 All offices however were conferred on British subjects, who 
 then consisted only of military men, with not quite 500 
 petty traders, many of whom were ill-fitted for so import 
 ant a situation. They showed a bigoted spirit and an offen 
 sive contempt of the old inhabitants, including even their 
 class of nobles. General Murray, notwithstanding, strenu 
 ously protected the latter, without regard to repeated com 
 plaints made against him to the ministry at home, and by 
 this impartial conduct he gained their confidence in a de 
 gree which became conspicuous on occasion of the great 
 revolt of the united Colonies. 
 
 During that momentous period, though pressingly in 
 vited to assist the latter, the Canadians never swerved from 
 their allegiance. With a view to conciliate them the " Que 
 bec Act," passed in 1774, changed the English civil law, 
 which had been at first introduced, for the ancient system 
 
468 WASHINGTON. 
 
 called the Coutume de Paris. The French language was also 
 directed to be employed in the law courts, and other changes 
 made with the view of gratifying that nation. These con 
 cessions did not however give universal satisfaction, es 
 pecially as they were not attended with any grant of a na 
 tional representation. 
 
 In the prosecution of the war between Great Britain and 
 France, which was terminated by the peace of Paris Feb 
 ruary 10, 1763, after a conflict lasting seven years the ad 
 vantages which Great Britain derived from the Colonies 
 were severely felt by her enemies. Upward of 400 priva 
 teers which were fitted out of the ports of the British 
 Colonies successfully cruised on French property. These 
 not only ravaged the West India islands belonging to his 
 most Catholic Majesty, but made many captures on the 
 coast of France. Besides distressing the French nation by 
 privateering, the Colonies furnished 23,800 men to co-oper 
 ate with the British regular forces in North America. They 
 also sent powerful aids, both in men and provisions, out 
 of their own limits, which facilitated the reduction of Mar 
 tinique and of Havana. The success of their privateers 
 the co-operation of their land forces the convenience of 
 their harbors, and the contiguity to the West India islands, 
 made the Colonies great acquisitions to Britain and for 
 midable adversaries to France. From their growing im 
 portance the latter had much to fear. Their continued 
 union with Great Britain threatened the subversion of the 
 commerce and American possessions of France. 
 
 After hostilities had raged nearly eight years, a general 
 peace was concluded, on terms by which France ceded 
 Canada to Great Britain. The Spaniards having also taken 
 part in the war were, at the termination of it, induced to re 
 linquish to the same power both East and West Florida. 
 This peace gave Great Britain possession of an extent of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 469 
 
 country equal in dimensions to several of the kingdoms of 
 Europe. The possession of Canada in the north and of the 
 two Floridas in the south, made her almost sole mistress 
 of the North American continent. 
 
 This laid a foundation for future greatness which ex 
 cited the envy and the fears of Europe. Her navy, her 
 commerce, and her manufactures had greatly increased 
 when she held but a part of the continent, and when she 
 was bounded by the formidable powers of France and Spain. 
 Her probable future greatness, when without a rival, and 
 with a growing vent for her manufactures and increasing 
 employment for her marine, threatened to destroy that bal 
 ance of power which European sovereigns had for a long 
 time endeavored to preserve. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 LIFE AT MOUNT VERNON. 
 
 1759-1763. 
 
 DURING the stirring events which are recorded in the 
 preceding chapter, Washington remained at Mount 
 Vernon, busily engaged in the care of his extensive 
 plantation. He occasionally refers to them however in his 
 letters. Writing to his London agent in September, 1759, 
 he says : " The scale of fortune in America is turned 
 greatly in our favor, and success has become the companion 
 of our fortunate generals. It would be folly in me to at 
 tempt particularizing their actions, since you receive ac 
 counts in a channel so much more direct than from hence." 
 In another letter to the same correspondent (May 10, 1760) 
 he says : " The French are so well drubbed, and seem so 
 much humbled in America that I apprehend our generals 
 will find it no difficult matter to reduce Canada to our 
 obedience this summer. But what may be Montgomery's 
 fate in the Cherokee country I cannot so readily deter 
 mine. It seems he has made a prosperous beginning, hav 
 ing penetrated into the heart of the country, and he is now 
 advancing his troops in high health and spirits to the re 
 lief of Fort Loudoun. But let him be wary. He has a 
 crafty, subtle enemy to deal with that may give him most 
 trouble when he least expects it." 
 
 No man ever understood the character of the Indians 
 more thoroughly than Washington. His intercourse with 
 them during that portion of the Seven Years' War, in 
 
 (470) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 471 
 
 which he took an active part, had made him well acquainted 
 with their native disposition and their peculiar tactics in 
 war. How justly his apprehensions for the safety of Mont 
 gomery and his detachment were conceived, will appear 
 from the following account of his expedition, extracted from 
 Dr. Holmes's American Annals. 
 
 During these decisive operations in the north, the Eng 
 lish colonists in the south sustained no small calamity from 
 the natives. The French were no sooner driven from Fort 
 Duquesne than their baleful influence appeared among the 
 Upper Cherokees. Unhappily, at that time, a quarrel with 
 the Virginians contributed to alienate those Indian tribes 
 from the English, with whom they had long been in alliance. 
 The Cherokees, agreeably to treaty, had sent considerable 
 parties of their warriors to assist the British in their ex 
 peditions against Fort Duquesne. Many of these warriors, 
 on their return home through the back parts of Virginia, 
 losing their horses, laid hold on such as they found run 
 ning wild in the woods, without supposing them to belong 
 to any individuals. The Virginians, resenting this injury, 
 killed twelve or fourteen of the unsuspicious warriors and 
 took several prisoners. The Cherokees, highly provoked 
 at this ungrateful usage from allies whose frontiers they had 
 been helping to defend, determined to take revenge. The 
 French inflamed their vindictive rage by telling them that 
 the English intended to kill every man of them, and to 
 make their wives and children slaves, and at the same time 
 furnished them with arms and ammunition. The frontiers 
 of Carolina soon feeling the horrible effects of their incur 
 sions, Governor Littleton, toward the close of the last year 
 (1759), had marched at the head of 800 militia and 300 regu 
 lars into the country of the Cherokees where, without any 
 bloodshed, a treaty of peace was concluded. 
 
 Early in the present year, when joyous celebrations of the 
 
472 WASHINGTON. 
 
 peace were scarcely concluded, the Governor was informed 
 that fresh hostilities had been committed by the Chero- 
 kees, who had killed fourteen men within a mile of Fort 
 Prince George. The war soon becoming general an ex 
 press was sent to General Amherst, the commander-in- 
 chief in America, acquainting him with the distressed state 
 of Carolina and imploring his assistance. A battalion of 
 Highlanders and four companies of the Royal Scots were 
 accordingly sent under the command of Colonel Montgom 
 ery for the relief of that province. Before the end of April 
 (1760) Montgomery landed his troops in Carolina and 
 encamped at Monk's Corner. A few weeks after his arrival 
 he marched to the Congaree, where he was joined by the 
 whole force of the province, and immediately set out for the 
 Cherokee country. After burning all the towns in the 
 lower nation, in which sixty Indians were killed and forty 
 made prisoners, he marched to the relief of Fort Prince 
 George, which was invested by the savages. After reliev 
 ing that fort, finding the Indians not disposed to listen to 
 proposals of accommodation, he marched forward through 
 the dismal wilderness, where he encountered many hard 
 ships and dangers, until he came within five miles of 
 Etchoe, the lowest town in the middle settlements. Here 
 he found a deep valley covered with bushes, in the middle 
 of which was a muddy river, with steep clay banks. Col 
 onel Morrison, who commanded a company of rangers, 
 had orders to advance and scour the thicket, but scarcely 
 had he entered it, when the Indians, springing from their 
 covert, fired upon them and killed the captain and many 
 of his men. The light infantry and grenadiers being now 
 ordered to advance against the invisible enemy, a heavy 
 fire began on both sides. Colonel Montgomery, finding 
 the number of the Indians to be great, and their determina 
 tion to dispute this pass obstinate, ordered the Royal Scots 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 473 
 
 to advance between the enemy and a rising ground on the 
 right, while the Highlanders marched toward the left, to 
 sustain the infantry and grenadiers. The Indians at length 
 giving way, and having taken possession of a hill, con 
 tinued still to retreat as the army advanced. Montgomery 
 gave orders to the line to face about and march directly 
 for Etchoe. The enemy, observing this movement, got be 
 hind the hill and ran to alarm their wives and children. 
 Perceiving the difficulty and hazard of a further pursuit the 
 English commander gave orders for a retreat, which was 
 conducted with great regularity to Fort Prince George. 
 During this action, which continued above an hour, Colonel 
 Montgomery had twenty men killed and seventy-six 
 wounded. 
 
 To revenge this invasion, the Cherokees blockaded Fort 
 Loudoun, situated near the confines of Virginia. This post, 
 consisting of 200 men commanded by Captain Demere, 
 being 150 miles from Charleston, was cut off from all com 
 munication with the English. The garrison, having sub 
 sisted some time on horseflesh, was ultimately reduced to 
 such extremity as to be obliged to surrender the place on 
 capitulation. The troops were to march out with their 
 ammunition and baggage, and to be conducted to Virginia 
 or Fort Prince George, but after marching about fifteen 
 miles from the fort they were at night deserted by their 
 attendants, and the next morning surrounded by the In 
 dians, who poured in a heavy fire upon them, accompanied 
 with the most hideous yells. Captain Demere, with three 
 other officers and about twenty-six privates, fell at the first 
 onset. The rest were made prisoners, and after being kept 
 some time in a miserable state of captivity were redeemed 
 by the province at a great expense. The Cherokees could 
 at this time bring into the field 3,000 warriors. 
 
474: WASHINGTON. 
 
 We have already noticed the election of Washington as 
 a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, while he 
 was engaged in his military duties during the campaign of 
 1758. Being solicited by some of his friends to obtain 
 leave of absence and join in the electioneering contest, he 
 had declined leaving his post, but the result was not the 
 less triumphant and gratifying on this account. Great mili 
 tary services had already become in America the best pass 
 port to political honors. 
 
 [In a letter of September 20, 1759, to Richard Wash 
 ington, of London, England, a relative who attended to 
 English business for him, Washington wrote: 
 
 "My brother is safe arrived; but little benefited in 
 point of health by his trip to England. The longing desire 
 which for many years I have had of visiting the great 
 metropolis of that kingdom, is not in the least abated by 
 his prejudices, because I think the small share of health 
 he enjoyed there must have given a sensible check to any 
 pleasures he might figure to himself, and would render any 
 place irksome but I am now tied by the leg and must 
 set inclination aside. 
 
 "The scale of fortune in America is turned greatly in 
 our favor, and Success is become the boon companion of 
 our Fortunate Generals. ' Twould be folly in me to attempt 
 particularizing their actions since you receive accounts in 
 a channel so much more direct than from hence. 
 
 " I am now, I believe, fixed at this seat (Mount Vernon) 
 with an agreeable consort for life; and hope to find more 
 happiness in retirement than I ever experienced amidst 
 a wide and bustling world. I thank you heartily for your 
 affectionate wishes. Why wont you give me an occasion 
 of congratulating you in the same manner? None would 
 do it with more cordiality and true sincerity." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 475 
 
 To Robert Gary & Co., of London, English merchants, 
 Washington stated, in a letter of September 20, 1759: 
 
 " I am possessed of several plantations on this river 
 (Potomac) and the fine lands of Shenandoah, and should 
 be glad if you would ingenuously tell me what prices I 
 might expect you to render for tobaccos made thereon, of 
 the same seed as that of the estate's, and managed in every 
 respect in the same manner as the best tobaccos on James 
 and York rivers are." 
 
 In a very large order for goods to be sent from London, 
 the following items appear: Busts of Alexander the 
 Great, of Julius Caesar, of Charles XII. of Sweden, and of 
 the King of Prussia; these not to exceed fifteen inches in 
 height; and two smaller busts, of Prince Eugene and the 
 Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 In a letter of August 10, 1760, Washington speaks of 
 " Colonel Fairfax's departure for England in a ship for 
 London/' and in the same letter he says to his correspond 
 ent, Richard Washington : 
 
 "My indulging myself in a trip to England depends upon 
 so many contingencies, which, in all probability, may never 
 occur, that I dare not even think of such a gratification. 
 Nothing, however, is more ardently desired. But Mrs. 
 Washington and myself would both think ourselves very 
 happy in the opportunity of showing you the Virginia 
 hospitality, which is the most agreeable entertainment we 
 can give, or a stranger expect to find, in an infant, woody 
 country like ours." 
 
 About a year later Washington wrote : " Colonel Fairfax 
 very much surprises his friends in Virginia by not writing 
 to any of them. Just upon his arrival at London he 
 favored a few with a short letter advertising them of that 
 agreeable circumstance, and I have heard of no other 
 letter that has come from him since, although I have seen 
 
476 WASHINGTON. 
 
 some from the ladies, the superscription of which has been 
 in his handwriting." 
 
 At this date Washington speaks of " a valuable purchase 
 I have just made of about 2,000 acres of land adjoining this 
 seat," and then adds: " Since writing the foregoing I have 
 added to my landed purchase." He remarks on the possi 
 bility of somewhat overdrawing his account in case of a 
 special " prospect of advantage," and yet says: " My own 
 aversion to running in debt will always secure me against 
 a step of this nature, unless a manifest advantage is likely 
 to be the result of it."] 
 
 While he was still residing at the "White House," before 
 returning to Mount Vernon, a session of the House of 
 Burgesses took place, which he attended. An incident, re 
 ferred to by all his biographers, took place during this 
 session, which is thus described by Mr. Wirt in his " Life 
 of Patrick Henry : " 
 
 By a vote of the House, the Speaker, Mr. Robinson, was 
 directed to return their thanks to Colonel Washington, on 
 behalf of the Colony, for the distinguished military services 
 which he had rendered to his country. As soon as Colonel 
 Washington took his seat, Mr. Robinson, in obedience to 
 this order, and following the impulse of his own generous 
 and grateful heart, discharged the duty with great dignity, 
 but with such warmth of coloring and strength of expres 
 sion as entirely confounded the young hero. He rose to 
 express his acknowledgments for the honor, but such was 
 his trepidation and confusion that he could not give dis 
 tinct utterance to a single syllable. He blushed, stam 
 mered, and trembled for a second, when the Speaker re 
 lieved him by a stroke of address that would have done 
 honor to Louis XIV in his proudest and happiest moment : 
 " Sit down, Mr. Washington," said he, with a conciliating 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 477 
 
 smile, " your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses 
 the power of any language that I possess." 
 
 Washington by repeated elections retained his seat in the 
 House of Burgesses till the commencement of the Revolu 
 tionary War, a period of fifteen years ; discharging his legis 
 lative duties with that scrupulous fidelity which, through 
 life, he observed in fulfilling every engagement upon which 
 he entered. His career as a legislator was precisely such 
 as might have been anticipated from his general character. 
 His decisions were formed upon a thorough and careful 
 investigation of facts, and his course was marked by firm 
 ness and candor. The few words which, on rare occasions, 
 he deemed it worth while to address to the House in de 
 bate, were consequently always listened to with a degree 
 of attention and deference which was the best tribute to 
 his sound judgment and weight of character. In the stormy 
 times which immediately preceded the Revolution, he was 
 ever found taking part with the patriotic members of the 
 House. 
 
 Washington was extremely fond of agriculture and of 
 rural pleasures and pursuits, and on taking up his residence 
 at Mount Vernon, it was his settled purpose to pass in these 
 the remainder of his life. But Providence had in reserve 
 for him a higher destiny than that of farming, hunting, 
 fishing, and interchanging hospitalities with other country 
 gentlemen. Such however were his pursuits during a con 
 siderable part of his prime of life no less than fifteen 
 years. 
 
 It must be observed however that while he was engaged 
 in these rural pursuits he devoted his whole attention to 
 them ; it being a maxim with him that whatever is worth 
 doing at all is worth doing well and thoroughly. He su 
 perintended personally all the agricultural operations on his 
 estate, kept his own accounts, shipped the produce of his 
 
478 WASHINGTON. 
 
 plantation to London, Bristol, or Liverpool, and received 
 from thence his supplies in his own name. All the details 
 of these operations were attended to by him with the most 
 scrupulous care, nothing being too trivial to escape his 
 attention. 
 
 The staple article of culture in Virginia at that time was 
 tobacco, and this formed the chief product of Washington's 
 plantation. He exported it to England, putting it on board 
 of vessels which came up the Potomac to Mount Vernon to 
 receive it. 
 
 In the colonial times it was the policy of the mother 
 country to discourage every species of American manufac 
 tures, and not only agricultural implements and clothing, 
 but almost everything required for the daily use of a family, 
 was imported from Great Britain. These it was Washing 
 ton's practice to order twice a year from his agent in Lon 
 don, and the minuteness and particularity of his orders show 
 his habitual accuracy and somewhat of fondness for detail. 
 
 In a letter to his London agent dated loth August, 1760, 
 Washington says : " My indulging myself in a trip to Eng 
 land depends upon so many contingencies which in all 
 probability may never occur that I dare not even think 
 of such a gratification." If the visit thus referred to 
 had ever taken place we cannot doubt of the cordiality of 
 his reception. His character and public services were well 
 known in the mother country, but we cannot admit the 
 probability suggested by some writers that any tokens of 
 royal favor which he might have received, would have at 
 tached him to the cause of Great Britain in the approaching 
 contest between her and her American Colonies. Wash 
 ington notwithstanding the conspicuous positions which 
 he occupied at different periods of his life appears to have 
 been by no means ambitious of public tokens of applause, 
 and if he had a strong desire to visit Europe it was un- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 479 
 
 doubtedly with a view to enlarge his knowledge by personal 
 observation of European life. 
 
 He had, it must be admitted, many strong reasons for 
 declining to travel abroad. Every imaginable external 
 means of happiness appears to have been at his disposal. 
 An independent fortune, a beautiful and amiable wife, in 
 teresting and lovely children to whom, though not his own, 
 he stood in a paternal relation, agreeable and distinguished 
 neighbors, an employment peculiarly suited to his taste, and 
 a residence which has always been admired as one of the 
 most delightful in the world and which was endeared to him 
 by recollections of his early life. 
 
 Of Mount Vernon he speaks in strong terms of praise in 
 a letter to Arthur Young (1783). " No estate," he says, 
 " in United America is more pleasantly situated than this. 
 It lies in a high, dry, and healthy country 300 miles by 
 water from the sea, and as you will see by the plan on one 
 of the finest rivers in the world. Its margin is washed by 
 more than ten miles of tide-water, from the bed of which 
 and the innumerable coves, inlets, and small marshes with 
 which it abounds an inexhaustible fund of rich mud may be 
 drawn as a manure, either to be used separately or in a 
 compost, according to the judgment of the farmer. It is 
 situated in a latitude between the extremes of heat and 
 cold, and is the same distance by land and water with good 
 roads and the best navigation to and from the Federal city, 
 Alexandria, and Georgetown, distant from the first twelve, 
 
 from the second nine, and from the last sixteen miles. 
 
 * * * * * * 
 
 " This river which encompasses the land the distance 
 above mentioned, is well supplied with various kinds of fish 
 at all seasons of the year, and in the spring, with the 
 greatest profusion of shad, herrings, bass, carp, perch, stur- 
 
480 WASHINGTON. 
 
 geon, etc. Several valuable fisheries appertain to the es 
 tate ; the whole shore, in short, is one entire fishery/' 
 
 [In a letter of July 14, 1761, to Richard Washington in 
 London, Washington reported that " a mixture of bad 
 health and indolence together " had kept him from answer 
 ing letters; and August 26th he writes from " The Warm 
 Springs " : 
 
 " They are situated very badly on the east side of a steep 
 mountain, and inclosed by hills on all sides, so that the 
 afternoon's sun is hid by 4 o'clock and the fogs hang over 
 us till 9 or 10, which occasions great damps, and the morn 
 ings and evenings to be cool. 
 
 " Lodgings can be had on no terms, but building for 
 them; and I am of opinion that numbers get more hurt, 
 by their manner of lying, than the waters can do them 
 good. Had we not succeeded in getting a tent and marquee 
 from Winchester we should have been in a most miserable 
 situation here. 
 
 " In regard to myself I must beg leave to say, that I 
 was much overcome with the fatigue of the ride and 
 weather together. Our journey was not of the most 
 agreeable sort, through such weather and such roads as 
 we had to encounter; these last for twenty or twenty-five 
 miles from hence are almost impassable for carriages, not 
 so much from the mountainous country (but this in fact 
 is very rugged) as from) trees that have fallen across the 
 road and rendered the way intolerable. However, I think 
 my fevers are a good deal abated, although my pains grow 
 rather worse, and my sleep equally disturbed. What ef 
 fect the waters may have upon me I can't say at present, 
 but I expect nothing from the air this certainly must be 
 unwholesome. I purpose to stay here a fortnight and 
 longer if benefited. 
 
 " P. S. If I could be upon any certainty of your coming, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 481 
 
 or could only get four days previous notice of your arrival, 
 I would get a house built, such as are here erected, for 
 your reception. 
 
 "August 3Oth. Since writing the above I have hired a 
 person, a Fairfax man returning home for his wife to 
 carry some letters to Mrs. Washington, under whose cover 
 this goes. I think myself benefited by the waters, and 
 am now with hopes of their making a cure of me." 
 
 October 20, 1761, Washington wrote to his London 
 friend, Richard Washington: 
 
 " Since my last, of the I4th July, I have in appearance 
 been very near my last gasp. The indisposition then 
 spoken of increased upon me, and I fell into a very low 
 and dangerous state. I once thought the grim king would 
 master my utmost efforts, and that I must sink, in spite 
 of a noble struggle; but, thank God, I have now got the 
 better of the disorder, and shall soon be restored, I hope, 
 to perfect health again." 
 
 In a letter of April, 1763, to Robert Stewart, who had 
 written asking for a loan of 400, Washington alleged the 
 state of his affairs as making it impossible for him to raise 
 more than 300, and that only by using funds which he 
 had intended sending to his London creditors; and to this 
 he added: 
 
 " This is a genuine account of my affairs in England. 
 Here they are a little better, because I am not much in 
 debt. I doubt not but you will be surprised at the badness 
 of their condition unless you will consider under what 
 terrible management and disadvantages I found my estate 
 when I retired from the public service of this colony; and 
 that, besides some purchases of lands and negroes I was 
 necessitated to make adjoining me (in order to support 
 the expenses of a large family), I had provisions of all 
 kinds to buy for the first two or three years; and my 
 3i 
 
482 WASHINGTON. 
 
 plantation to stock in short with everything; buildings to 
 make, and other matters, which swallowed up, before I 
 well knew where I was, all the money I got by marriage, 
 nay more, brought me in debt and I believe I may ap 
 peal to your knowledge of my circumstances before."] 
 
 At the time when Washington was passing his time in 
 cultivating the fertile lands of Mount Vernon, the neigh 
 boring estates were large and their owners wealthy, and 
 among them the practice of a liberal hospitality was uni 
 versal. Many of the planters were connected with the old 
 cavalier families in England, descendants of the men who 
 in Governor Berkeley's time were the first to proclaim 
 the accession of Charles II to the throne. It is not sur 
 prising that among them it was a common practice to send 
 their sons to England to receive their education. The tone 
 of society was English, and to tell the truth rather aristo 
 cratic. The Episcopal Church was as firmly established in 
 Virginia as that of the Congregational Puritans in New 
 England. The parishes were large, being in proportion to 
 the large plantations of which they were composed. Wash 
 ington held the office of vestrymen in two of them, Truro 
 and Fairfax. The place of worship of Truro parish was at 
 Pohick, seven miles distant from the mansion of Mount 
 Vernon, and the pastor during a part of the time when 
 Washington was a vestryman was the Rev. Mason L. 
 Weems, so well and extensively known through his lively 
 and eccentric biography of his illustrious parishioner. The 
 place of worship for Fairfax county was Alexandria, ten 
 miles from Mount Vernon. 
 
 Washington took a lively interest in the affairs of the 
 church at Pohick. 
 
 About 1764 the old church which stood in a different 
 part of the parish had fallen into decay and it was re 
 solved to build a new one. Its location became a matter 
 
LIFE AND TIMES 483 
 
 of considerable excitement in the parish, some contending 
 for the site on which the old edifice stood and others for one 
 near the center of the parish and more conveniently situ 
 ated. Among the latter was Washington. A meeting for 
 settling the question was finally held. George Mason, who 
 led the party favorable to the old site, made an eloquent 
 harangue, conjuring the people not to desert the sacred 
 spot consecrated by the bones of their ancestors. It had a 
 powerful effect and it was thought that there would not be a 
 dissenting voice. Washington then arose and drew from his 
 pocket an accurate survey which he had made of the whole 
 parish, in which was marked the site of the old church 
 and the proposed location of the new one together with the 
 place of residence of each parishioner. He spread this 
 map before the audience, briefly explained it, expressed his 
 hope that they would not allow their judgments to be 
 guided by their feelings and sat down. This mode of argu 
 ment so perfectly characteristic of Washington decided 
 the question. The new site was adopted by a decisive 
 majority and Pohick church was built in 1765. 
 
 Among the neighbors and occasional visitors of Wash 
 ington were George Mason, of Gunston Hall, his fellow 
 vestryman mentioned above, Lord Fairfax, his early friend 
 and patron, Capt. Hugh Mercer, already noted for his ad 
 ventures among the Indians,* and Dr. Craik, who had at 
 tended Washington in Braddock's expedition and was his 
 family physician through life. 
 
 With these and others he exchanged those liberal and 
 rather magnificent hospitalities so prevalent in Virginia in 
 the old colonial times. In their spacious mansions, guests 
 were entertained in the English style for weeks together, 
 and the English nobility were rivaled in the gentlemanly 
 
 * Afterward General Mercer. He was killed at the battle of 
 Princeton. 
 
484 WASHINGTON. 
 
 amusements of hunting and horse-racing. Washington 
 himself took delight in hunting and always kept a splendid 
 stud of horses, many of them of high blood and breeding 
 imported from the mother country. He sometimes visited 
 Lord Fairfax at Greenway Court and joined in the hunting 
 expeditions of that eccentric but accomplished and courte 
 ous nobleman. " Lord Fairfax was passionately fond of 
 hunting and often passed weeks together in the pleasures 
 of the chase. When on these expeditions he made it a 
 rul'e that he who got the fox, cut off his tail and held it up, 
 should share in the jollification which was to follow free of 
 expense. Soon as the fox was started the young men of 
 the company dashed after him with great impetuosity, while 
 Fairfax leisurely waited behind with a favorite servant who 
 was familiar with the watercourses and of a quick ear to 
 discover the course of the fox. Following his directions 
 his lordship would start after the game, and in most in 
 stances secure the prize and stick the tail of the fox in his 
 hat in triumph."* 
 
 Lord Fairfax returned the visits of Washington and 
 often joined the numerous company who were entertained 
 at Mount Vernon, and engaged with them in hunting over 
 the extensive domain of that and the neighboring estates. 
 
 Washington occasionally amused himself with the sport 
 so distasteful to Franklin. He sometimes engaged in fish 
 ing. The waters about Mount Vernon as we have already 
 seen were stocked with fish in great abundance and variety. 
 Fowling and duck shooting in particular were also favorite 
 amusements with him, and in the late and winter months 
 the waters of the Potomac river abounded with flocks of 
 canvas-back ducks the favorite object of the sportsman in 
 that region. 
 
 *Lossing, "Field-Book of the Revolution." Howe, Hist. Coll. 
 of Virginia. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES 485 
 
 [Sparks says of the social position of Washington at 
 this time: 
 
 " During the periods of his attending the House of 
 Burgesses at Williamsburg, he met on terms of intimacy 
 the eminent men of Virginia, who, in imitation of the gov 
 ernors (sometimes noblemen, and always from the higher 
 ranks of English society), lived in a style of magnificence, 
 which has long since passed away, and given place to the 
 republican simplicity of modern times. He was a frequent 
 visitor at Annapolis, the seat of government in Maryland, 
 renowned as the resort of the polite, wealthy, and fashion 
 able. At Mount Vernon he returned the civilities he had 
 received, and practised, on a large and generous scale, the 
 hospitality for which the southern planters have ever been 
 distinguished. When he was at home, a day seldom 
 passed without the company of friends or strangers at his 
 house. In his diaries the names of these visitors are often 
 mentioned, and we find among them the Governors of 
 Virginia and Maryland, and nearly all the celebrated men 
 of the southern and middle colonies, who were at that 
 time and afterward conspicuous in the history of the 
 country. 
 
 " One of his nearest neighbors was George Mason, of 
 Gunston Hall, a man possessing remarkable intellectual 
 powers, deeply conversant with political science, and 
 thoroughly versed in the topics of dispute then existing 
 between England and America. Lord Fairfax was also a 
 constant guest at Mount Vernon, who, although eccentric 
 in his habits, possessed a cultivated mind, social quali 
 ties, and a perfect knowledge of the world. To these may 
 be added a large circle of relatives and acquaintances, who 
 sought his society, and to whom his house was always 
 open."] 
 
 One of Washington's habits shows the same disinter 
 ested character which marked his great public acts. This 
 
486 WASHINGTON. 
 
 is his invariable willingness to make himself useful to his 
 friends and neighbors by acts of kindness. His corre 
 spondence abounds with evidence of the readiness with 
 which he undertook trusts, acted in arbitrations, executed 
 commissions for persons at a distance, gave information 
 on disputed points, and answered with courtesy the letters 
 of persons who really had no particular claim to his at 
 tention. All such offices of kindness he found time to dis 
 charge notwithstanding the many and various demands 
 upon his time arising from the personal oversight of his 
 estate, the management of hfs shipments abroad, and im 
 ports of his own supplies, and the keeping of his own ac 
 counts to say nothing of his duties as host to the many 
 visitors whom his well-known hospitality attracted to 
 Mount Vernon. 
 
 Among the tasks which he voluntarily imposed upon 
 himself in this spirit of disinterested kindness was that of 
 taking care that justice was done to the Virginia soldiers 
 who had served under his command in the Seven Years' 
 War, and who had thus become entitled to certain grants 
 of land. His office of commissioner for settling the mili 
 tary accounts of the Colony enabled him to exert himself 
 effectually in this matter. 
 
 During the early part of the period which followed his 
 marriage and settlement at Mount Vernon, he joined a 
 company who had undertaken to drain the Great Dismal 
 swamp on the borders of Virginia and North Carolina, 
 with a view of using the land for agricultural purposes, 
 and he actually visited and explored this formidable and 
 almost inaccessible tract. The chartering of the Dismal 
 Swamp Company by the Virginia House of Burgesses 
 at its next session led to important results. We shall see 
 in the sequel that this was by no means the only instance 
 of Washington's active promotion of the cause of internal 
 improvement. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 1763-1766. 
 
 AT the time when Washington was interesting himself 
 in the project for draining the Great Dismal swamp, 
 a new Indian war broke out on the western border. 
 This took place just after the news of the definitive treaty 
 of Fontainebleau between France and England had been 
 signed, and the colonists of North America were flattering 
 themselves with the prospect of a long course of peace and 
 tranquillity. In order to understand the origin of this new 
 Indian war, it is necessary to go back to a review of their 
 affairs for the previous two years. 
 
 In a conference between several American Governors 
 and the Six Nations soon after the peace of 1761, a warm 
 dispute arose concerning certain lands which the Indians 
 asserted had been seized by some English settlers under 
 a fraudulent conveyance. Population too augmented so 
 rapidly during peace that the colonists overran their pre 
 scribed limits, and as a chain of forts had been constructed 
 around the most important hunting lands of the Indians, 
 they perceived that the English by fate or by design were 
 about to extirpate them and take possession of their terri 
 tory. The Shawanese, Delawares, the tribes along the Ohio, 
 this side of the Mississippi, and about Detroit, concerted a 
 plan in 1763 to attack at one and the same time all the 
 English posts and settlements in their neighborhood. Har 
 vest was the time agreed upon, and so effectually was the 
 
488 WASHINGTON. 
 
 design concealed that the first notice was in the yells of the 
 Indians. The settlers were surprised at work in the field, 
 their crops devastated and their houses burnt. The Indians 
 made themselves masters of Forts Le Bceuf, Venango, 
 Presqu' He, and Michilimackinack, and attempted to re 
 duce Pitt, Detroit, and Niagara. 
 
 General Amherst immediately detached strong reinforce 
 ments to the three latter forts. The one destined for 
 Detroit was put under the command of Captain Dalyell, 
 who was so little acquainted with Indians as to imagine 
 that he might take them by surprise and at once relieve the 
 fort from further annoyance. About 2 o'clock in the 
 morning he started from the fort with 270 men, and while 
 he supposed he was advancing entirely unobserved received 
 a fire in his front and before his men had recovered the 
 shock, another in the rear and immediately after one on 
 each flank. He fell and the command devolved upon Cap 
 tain Grant who extricated himself by a resolute charge, and 
 was enabled to make his way back to the fort. The Indians 
 knew that the garrison was now strong and well supplied, 
 and as they could not endure a protracted siege the enter 
 prise was abandoned. 
 
 The reinforcement for Fort Pitt was intrusted to Colonel 
 Bouquet who started about the end of July with a large 
 quantity of provisions and military stores. Like Captain 
 Dalyell he fancied it possible to elude the observation of 
 the enemy, and the more effectually to secure his purpose 
 he resolved to pass the defile of Turtle creek in the night. 
 On the 5th of August (1763), his men had marched seven 
 teen miles over a rough and mountainous country, and 
 were just preparing to rest and refresh themselves when a 
 sudden yell and fire in front announced the presence of the 
 savages and threw the army again upon their legs. A 
 vigorous charge drove back the Indians but it was only to 
 
GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 489 
 
 lead the troops into an ambuscade, and whatever might be 
 the glory of the conquest they were satisfied to regain 
 their former position. Similar charges were made in every 
 direction but the troops seemed only to beat the air or 
 fight an invisible enemy. The Indians gave way in one 
 place merely to fall on in another, and what would have 
 been defeat to others was victory to them. The action was 
 continued from i in the afternoon till evening, and though 
 the troops were successful in every attack they gained 
 nothing in the end. 
 
 The men slept little during the night, and on the first 
 dawn of the morning the Indians aroused them with the 
 whoop of battle and the roar of their guns. The taste of 
 blood seemed to have given them new ferocity, and even 
 the English themselves, exhausted as they were, recom 
 menced the action with additional vigor some stimulated 
 by the hopes of revenge and others by a spirit of despera 
 tion. The Indians were regularly driven at the point of 
 the bayonet and as regularly turned upon their pursuers 
 as soon as the chase was over. These efforts were repeated 
 till the men became hopeless, they saw their strength 
 thrown away, and their courage exerted in vain, and they 
 stood remembering the fate of Rraddock and perhaps 
 trembling at their own when Colonel Bouquet, availing 
 himself of his dear-bought experience, resolved to fight 
 the Indians in their own way. 
 
 The army was encamped in a circle. Two companies who 
 had been posted without the circumference were ordered 
 to retire within, the two ends of the broken circle to close 
 up in their rear, and after making a show of resistance to 
 give way and retreat. The two first companies at the 
 same time were joined by one company of grenadiers and 
 another of light infantry. The thin ranks gave ground 
 according to orders, the Indians followed with headlong im- 
 
490 WASHINGTON. 
 
 petuosity and supposing themselves masters of the field 
 began what they meant for a slaughter rather than an 
 action. Two of the companies already mentioned made a 
 sudden turn upon their flank, while the two remaining 
 attacked them in front. For a moment they were not un 
 deceived and returned the fire with activity and resolution. 
 But a short time served to convince them of their mistake ; 
 they betook themselves to their swiftness of foot and the 
 four companies pursued them so closely that they never 
 looked behind until they got beyond the probability of an 
 noyance. But this conquest was in truth a defeat. The 
 great object of the expedition was to supply Fort Pitt with 
 stores, and so many of the pack-horses were killed in these 
 several engagements that Colonel Bouquet was obliged to 
 destroy the greatest part of the provisions. The army ad 
 vanced about two miles, pitched their tents, and imagined 
 that they might take some rest. Scarcely had they finished 
 their preparations when the Indians again made their ap 
 pearance. They seemed not to be yet certain that they 
 were the weakest, but a few discharges completed their con 
 viction, and for the four remaining days they suffered the 
 troops to march unmolested. 
 
 Having succeeded so ill against Forts Detroit and Pitt, 
 the Indians now concentrated their forces for an attack upon 
 Niagara. Their object was to isolate the fort and intercept 
 its reinforcements and supplies. On the I4th of September, 
 1764, they annihilated a convoy which was marching to its 
 relief, and not long after made an unsuccessful attack in 
 canoes upon a schooner which was carrying provisions to 
 Detroit. All the nothern Colonies were called upon to con 
 tribute their quotas of men for the prosecution of the war, 
 and among the rest Connecticut raised a battalion and put 
 it under the command of Col. Israel Putnam. Strengthened 
 by these reinforcements, Colonels Bouquet and Bradstreet 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 491 
 
 so harassed the Indians during the spring and summer of 
 1765, that in September they were willing to bury the 
 hatchet and conclude a peace. 
 
 Washington holding no military command at the time 
 took no active part in this war, although the Indians who 
 were concerned in it were the same who had been en 
 gaged either as his allies or enemies in the former wars in 
 which he had served, and the theater of their operations 
 was not unfamiliar to him. 
 
 While this war was still in progress, the course of 
 public affairs was gradually tending toward that far more 
 important contest in which Washington was destined to 
 act so conspicuous a part the War of the Revolution. 
 Mr. Sparks, than whom there can be no more competent 
 authority, assures us that notwithstanding the contrary as 
 sertions of certain British writers who question his patriot 
 ism at the beginning of the dispute, " no man in America 
 took a more early, open, and decided part in asserting and 
 defending the rights of the Colonies and opposing the pre 
 tensions set up by the British Government.''' 
 
 As a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, he was 
 placed in a position where his political sentiments could 
 not but be publicly known, and the record of the proceed 
 ings shows that he acted with Henry, Randolph, Lee, 
 Wythe, Pendleton, and other patriotic opponents of the 
 oppressive measures of the British Parliament. It is neces 
 sary, for a proper understanding of the origin of these 
 measures, to examine the history and character of the con 
 nection between the Colonies and the mother country for 
 a considerable period. 
 
 From the first settlement of the English Colonies in 
 America till the close of the year 1755, the conduct of Great 
 Britain toward them was that of a kind parent toward 
 dutiful children. As her main object was commerce, with- 
 
492 WASHINGTON. 
 
 out charging herself with the care of their internal police 
 or seeking a revenue from them, she contented herself with 
 a monopoly of their trade. They shared in the privileges 
 of native subjects, and felt but slight inconvenience from 
 the regulations imposed by the mother country. 
 
 Until 1759, ^e only acts of Parliament which were con 
 sidered grievances were such as a prohibition of cutting 
 down pitch and tar trees not within a fence or inclosure, 
 and certain restrictions which acted against colonial manu 
 factures, particularly those ~of iron and woollen. 
 
 Though these restrictions were a species of affront, by 
 their implying that the colonists had not sense enough to 
 discover their own interest, and though they seemed cal 
 culated to crush their native talents and to keep them in a 
 constant state of inferiority without any hope of arriving 
 at those advantages, to which by the native riches of their 
 country they were prompted to aspire; yet, if no other 
 grievances had been superadded to what existed in 1763, 
 these would have been soon forgotten for their pressure 
 was neither great nor universal. The good resulting to 
 the Colonies from their connection with Great Britain in 
 finitely outweighed the evil. 
 
 Till the year 1764, the colonial regulations seemed to 
 have no other object but the common good of the whole 
 empire. Exceptions to the contrary were few and had no 
 appearance of system. When the approach of the Colonies 
 to manhood made them more capable of resisting imposi 
 tion, Great Britain changed the ancient system under which 
 her Colonies had long flourished. When policy would 
 rather have dictated a relaxation of authority, she rose in 
 her demands and multiplied her restraints. 
 
 For some time before and after the termination of the 
 War of 1755, a considerable trade had been carried on be 
 tween the British and Spanish Colonies in the manufactures 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 493 
 
 of Great Britain, imported by the former and sold by the 
 latter, by which the British Colonies acquired gold and 
 silver and were enabled to make remittances to the mother 
 country. This trade, though it did not clash with the 
 spirit of the British navigation laws, was forbidden by their 
 letter. 
 
 On account of the advantage which all parties and par 
 ticularly Great Britain reaped from this trade, it had long 
 been winked at by persons in power, but at the period be 
 fore mentioned some new regulations were adopted by 
 which it was almost destroyed. This was effected by armed 
 cutters whose commanders were enjoined to take the usual 
 custom-house oaths and to act in the capacity of revenue 
 officers. 
 
 The officers of the customs began to enforce with strict 
 ness all the acts of Parliament regulating the trade of the 
 Colonies, several of which had been suspended or had be 
 come obsolete. Governor Bernard, of Massachusetts, who 
 was always a supporter of the royal prerogative, appears 
 to have entered fully into these views and to have indi 
 cated by his appointment of confidential advisers, that his 
 object would be to extend the power of the Government 
 to any limits which the ministry might require. The first 
 demonstration of the new course intended to be pursued, 
 was the arrival of an order in council to carry into effect 
 the acts of trade, and to apply to the supreme judicature of 
 the province for writs of assistance to be granted to the 
 officers of the customs. According to the ordinary course 
 of law, no searches or seizures could be made without a 
 special warrant issued upon probable cause, supported by 
 oath or affirmation, particularly designating the place to 
 be searched and the goods to be seized. But the writ of 
 assistance was to command all sheriffs and other civil 
 officers to assist the person to whom it was granted, in 
 
494 WASHINGTON. 
 
 breaking open and searching every place where he might 
 suspect any prohibited or uncustomed goods to be con 
 cealed. It was a sort of commission, during pleasure, to 
 ransack the dwellings of the citizens, for it was never to be 
 returned, nor any account of the proceedings under it ren 
 dered to the court whence it issued. Such a weapon of 
 oppression in the hands of the inferior officers of the cus 
 toms might well alarm even innocence and confound the 
 violators of the law. 
 
 The mercantile part of the community united in opposing 
 the petition, and was in a state of great anxiety as to the 
 result of the question. The officers of the customs called 
 upon Mr. Otis* for his official assistance as advocate- 
 general to argue their cause, but as he believed these writs to 
 be illegal and tyrannical, he resigned the situation, though 
 very lucrative, and if filled by a compliant spirit leading to 
 
 * James Otis, a distinguished patriot and statesman, was the 
 son of the Honorable James Otis, of Barnstable, Massachusetts, 
 and was graduated at Harvard College in 1743. After pursuing 
 the study of the law under Mr. Gridley, the first lawyer and ci 
 vilian of his time, at the age of twenty-one he began the practice 
 at Plymouth. In 1761 he distinguished himself by pleading 
 against the writs of assistance, which the officers of the customs 
 had applied for to the judges of the Supreme Court. His antag 
 onist was Mr. Gridley. He was in this or the following year 
 chosen a member of the Legislature of Massachusetts, in which 
 body the powers of his eloquence, the keenness of his wit, the 
 force of his arguments, and the resources of his intellect, gave 
 him a most commanding influence. When the arbitrary claims of 
 Great Britain were advanced he warmly engaged in defense of 
 the Colonies, and was the first champion of American freedom 
 who had the courage to affix his name to a production that stood 
 forth against the pretensions of the parent State. He was a 
 member of the Congress which was held at New York in 1765, 
 in which year his " Rights of the Colonies Vindicated," a pam 
 phlet, occasioned by the Stamp Act, and which was considered 
 as a masterpiece both of good writing and of argument, was pub- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 495 
 
 the highest favors of government. The merchants of Salem 
 and Boston applied to Otis and Thacher, who engaged to 
 make their defense. The trial took place in the council- 
 chamber of the old Town House in Boston (1761). The 
 judges were five in number including Lieutenant-Governor 
 Hutchinson, who presided as chief justice, and the room 
 was filled with all the officers of government and the prin 
 cipal citizens, to hear the arguments in a cause that in 
 spired the deepest solicitude. The case was opened by Mr. 
 Gridley, who argued it with much learning, ingenuity, and 
 dignity, urging every point and authority that could be 
 found after the most diligent search, in favor of the custom 
 house petition, making all his reasoning depend on this 
 consideration " if the Parliament of Great Britain is the 
 sovereign legislator of the British empire." He was fol 
 lowed by Mr. Thacher on the opposite side, whose reason 
 ing was ingenious and able, delivered in a tone of great 
 mildness and moderation. " But/' in the language of Presi 
 dent Adams, " Otis was a flame of fire, with a promptitude 
 of classical allusion, a depth of research, a rapid summary 
 of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authori 
 ties, a prophetic glance into futurity, and a rapid torrent 
 of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him. 
 American independence was then and there born. The 
 seeds of patriots and heroes, to defend the Non sine Diis 
 animosus infans, to defend the vigorous youth, were then 
 and there sown. Every man of an immense crowded 
 
 lished in London. For the boldness of his opinions he was 
 threatened with arrest; yet he continued to support the rights of 
 his fellow citizens. He resigned the office of judge-advocate in 
 1767, and renounced all employment under an administration 
 which had encroached upon the liberties of his country. His warm 
 passions sometimes betrayed him into unguarded epithets that gave 
 his enemies an advantage, without benefit to the cause which lay 
 nearest his heart. 
 
496 WASHINGTON. 
 
 audience appeared to me to go away as I did, ready to take 
 arms against writs of assistance. Then and there was the 
 first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary 
 claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Inde 
 pendence was born. In fifteen years, *'. e. in 1776, he grew 
 up to manhood and declared himself free." 
 
 The restrictions on the trade of the colonists and the 
 unusual mode of enforcing them, which Otis so eloquently 
 opposed, awakened a spirit of resistance that never was al 
 layed. Nor should this be a matter of surprise. 
 
 So sudden a stoppage of ~an accustomed and beneficial 
 commerce by an unusually rigid execution of old laws was 
 a serious blow to the northern Colonies. It was their 
 misfortune that though they stood in need of vast quan 
 tities of British manufactures, their country produced very 
 little that afforded a direct remittance to pay for them. 
 They were therefore under a necessity of seeking else 
 where a market for their produce, and by a circuitous route, 
 acquiring the means of supporting their credit with the 
 mother country. This they found by trading with the 
 Spanish and French Colonies in their neighborhood. From 
 them they acquired gold, silver, and valuable commodities, 
 the ultimate profits of which centered in Great Britain. 
 
 This intercourse gave life to business of every denomina 
 tion, and established a reciprocal circulation of money and 
 merchandise to the benefit of all parties concerned. Why 
 a trade essential to the Colonies, and which so far from 
 being detrimental, was indirectly advantageous to Great 
 Britain should be so narrowly watched and so severely re 
 strained, could not be accounted for by the Americans with 
 out supposing that the rulers of Great Britain were jealous 
 of their adventurous commercial spirit, and of their in 
 creasing number of seamen. 
 
 Their actual sufferings were great but their apprehen- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 497 
 
 sions were greater. Instead of viewing the parent state 
 as formerly in the light of an affectionate mother, they con 
 ceived her as beginning to be influenced by the narrow views 
 of an illiberal step-dame. 
 
 After the 2Qth of September, 1764, the trade between 
 the British and the French and Spanish Colonies was in 
 some degree legalized, but under circumstances that 
 brought no relief to the colonists, for it was loaded with 
 such enormous duties as were equivalent to a prohibition. 
 
 While Great Britain attended to her first system of coloni 
 zation, her American settlements though exposed in un 
 known climates and unexplored wildernesses grew and 
 flourished, and in the same proportion the trade and riches 
 of the mother country increased. Some estimate may be 
 made of this increase from the following statement: the 
 whole export trade of England, including that to the Col 
 onies in the year 1704, amounted to 6,509,000 sterling; 
 but so immensely had the Colonies increased that the ex 
 ports to them alone in the year 1772, amounted to 6,022,132 
 and they were yearly increasing. 
 
 In the short space of sixty-eight years the Colonies added 
 nearly as much to the export commerce of Great Britain, 
 as she had grown to by a progressive increase of improve 
 ment in 1700 years. And this increase of colonial trade 
 was not at the expense of the general trade of the kingdom, 
 for that increased at the same time from 6,000,000 to 
 16,000,000. 
 
 In this auspicious period, the mother country contented 
 herself with exercising her supremacy in superintending the 
 general concerns of the Colonies, and in harmonizing the 
 commercial interest of the whole empire. To this the most 
 of them bowed down with such filial submission as demon 
 strated that they, though not subjected to parliamentary 
 
498 WASHINGTON. 
 
 taxes, could be kept in subordination and in perfect sub 
 serviency to the grand views of colonization. 
 
 Immediately after the peace of Paris, 1763, a new scene 
 was opened. The national debt of Great Britain then 
 amounted to 148,000,000, for which an interest of nearly 
 5,000,000 was annually paid. While the British minister 
 was digesting plans for diminishing this amazing load of 
 debt, he conceived the idea of raising a substantial revenue 
 in the British Colonies fromi taxes laid by the Parliament 
 of the parent State. On the one hand it was urged that 
 the late war originated on account of the Colonies that 
 it was reasonable, more especially as it had terminated in 
 a manner so favorable to their interest that they should 
 contribute to the defraying of the expenses it had occa 
 sioned. 
 
 Thus far both parties were agreed, but Great Britain con 
 tended that her Parliament, as the supreme power, was con 
 stitutionally vested with an authority to lay them on every 
 part of the empire. This doctrine, plausible in itself, and 
 conformable to the letter of the British Constitution, when 
 the whole dominions were represented in one assembly, was 
 reprobated in the Colonies as contrary to the spirit of the 
 same government, when the empire became so far ex 
 tended as to have many distinct representative assemblies. 
 The colonists believed that the chief excellence of the 
 British Constitution consisted in the right of the subjects to 
 grant or withhold taxes, and in their having a share in en 
 acting the laws by which they were to be bound. 
 
 The English Colonies were originally established, not 
 for the sake of revenue, but on the principles of a commer 
 cial monopoly. While England pursued trade and forgot 
 revenue her commerce increased at least fourfold. The 
 Colonies took off the manufactures of Great Britain and 
 paid for them with provisions or raw materials. They 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 499 
 
 united their arms in war, their commerce and their councils 
 in peace, without nicely investigating the terms on which 
 the connection of the two countries depended. 
 
 A perfect calm in the political world is not long to be 
 expected. The reciprocal happiness, both of Great Britain 
 and of the Colonies, was too great to be of long duration. 
 The calamities of the war of 1755 had scarcely ended when 
 the germ of another war was planted, which soon grew up 
 and produced deadly fruit. 
 
 At that time sundry resolutions passed the British Parlia 
 ment relative to the imposition of a stamp duty in America 
 which gave general alarm. By them the right, the equity, 
 the policy, and even the necessity of taxing the Colonies 
 was formally avowed. These resolutions, being considered 
 as the preface of a system of American revenue, were 
 deemed an introduction to evils of much greater magnitude. 
 They opened a prospect of oppression, boundless in extent 
 and endless in duration. They were nevertheless not im 
 mediately followed by any legislative act. Time and an 
 invitation were given to the Americans to suggest any other 
 mode of taxation that might be equivalent in its produce 
 to the stamp act, but they objected not only to the mode 
 but the principle, and several of their assemblies, though 
 in vain, petitioned against it. 
 
 An American revenue was in England a very popular 
 measure. The cry in favor of it was so strong as to con 
 found and silence the voice of petitions to the contrary. 
 The equity of compelling the Americans to contribute to 
 the common expenses of the empire satisfied many, who, 
 without inquiring into the policy or justice of taxing their 
 unrepresented fellow subjects, readily assented to the 
 measures adopted by the Parliament for this purpose. 
 
 The prospect of easing their own burdens at the ex 
 pense of the colonists dazzled the eyes of gentlemen of 
 
500 WASHINGTON. 
 
 landed interest, so as to keep out of their view the probable 
 consequences of the innovation. The omnipotence of 
 Parliament was so familiar a phrase on both sides of the 
 Atlantic that few in America, and still fewer in Great 
 Britain, were impressed in the first instance with any idea 
 of the illegality of taxing the colonists. 
 
 The illumination on that subject was gradual. The reso 
 lutions in favor of an American stamp act, which passed in 
 March, 1764, met with no opposition. In the course of the 
 year which intervened between these resolutions and the 
 passing of a law grounded upon them, the subject was better 
 understood, and constitutional objections against the 
 measure were urged by several, both in Great Britain and 
 America. This astonished and chagrined the British min 
 istry, but as the principle of taxing America had been for 
 some time determined upon, they were unwilling to give 
 it up. 
 
 Impelled by partiality for a long-cherished idea, Mr. 
 Grenville brought into the House of Commons his long- 
 expected bill for imposing a stamp duty on America. By 
 this act, after passing through the usual forms, it was en 
 acted that the instruments of writing which are in daily use 
 among a commercial people should be null and void unless 
 they were executed on stamp paper or parchment, charged 
 with a duty imposed by the British Parliament. 
 
 During the debate on the bill the supporters of it insisted 
 much on the Colonies being virtually represented in the 
 same manner as Leeds, Halifax, and some other towns were, 
 A recurrence to that plea was a virtual acknowledgment 
 that there ought not to be taxation without representation. 
 It was replied that the connection between the electors and 
 non-electors of Parliament in Great Britain were so inter 
 woven, from both being equally liable to pay the same com 
 mon tax as to give some security of property to the latter, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 501 
 
 but with respect to taxes laid by the British Parliament and 
 paid by the Americans, the situation of the parties was re 
 versed. Instead of both parties bearing a proportionable 
 share of the same common burden, what was laid on the 
 one was exactly so much taken off the other. 
 
 The bill met with no opposition in the House of Lords, 
 and on the 22d of March (1765), it received the royal 
 assent. The night after it passed, Dr. Franklin wrote to 
 Mr. Charles Thomson : " The sun of liberty is set, you must 
 light up the candles of industry and economy." Mr. 
 Thomson answered : " He was apprehensive that other 
 lights would be, the consequence," and foretold the oppo 
 sition that shortly took place. 
 
 On its being suggested from authority that the stamp 
 officers would not be sent from Great Britain, but selected 
 from among the Americans, the colonial agents were de 
 sired to point out proper persons for the purpose. They 
 generally nominated their friends, which affords a presump 
 tive proof that they supposed the act would be carried into 
 effect. In this opinion they were far from being singular. 
 
 That the colonists would be ultimately obliged to submit 
 to the stamp act was at first commonly believed both in 
 England and America. The framers of it in particular flat 
 tered themselves that the confusion which would arise upon 
 the disuse of writings and the insecurity of property, which 
 result from using any other than those required by law, 
 would compel the Colonies, however reluctant, to use the 
 stamp paper and consequently to pay the taxes imposed 
 thereon. They therefore boasted that it was a law that 
 would execute itself. 
 
 By the terms of the stamp act it was not to take effect 
 till the first day of November (1764), a period of more than 
 seven months after its passing. This gave the colonists an 
 opportunity for leisurely canvassing the new subject and 
 examining it fully on every side. 
 
502 WASHINGTON. 
 
 In the first part of this interval, struck with astonishment, 
 they lay in silent consternation, and could not determine 
 what course to pursue. By degrees they recovered their 
 self-possession. 
 
 The first strong and decisive opposition to the stamp 
 act took place in Virginia. On the 2oth of May (1765), 
 the subject was brought forward in the House of Bur 
 gesses by the introduction of the celebrated resolutions 
 of Patrick Henry, claiming for the local government of 
 that Colony the exclusive right of taxing its inhabitants. 
 These resolutions were in fact an expression of the public 
 sentiment throughout all the Colonies, and their publica 
 tion instantly set the country in a flame. 
 
 [Henry's resolutions were as follows: 
 
 " i. Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of 
 this, his majesty's colony and dominion, brought with 
 them and transmitted to their posterity, and all other his 
 majesty's subjects, since inhabiting in this, his maj 
 esty's said colony, all the privileges, franchises, and 
 immunities that have at any time been held, enjoyed, and 
 possessed, by the people of Great Britain. 
 
 " 2. Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by 
 king James the First, the colonists aforesaid are declared 
 entitled to all the privileges, liberties, and immunities of 
 denizens and natural born subjects, to all intents and pur 
 poses, as if they had been abiding and born within the 
 realm of England. 
 
 " 3. Resolved, That the taxation of the people by them 
 selves or by persons chosen by themselves to represent 
 them, who can only know what taxes the people are able 
 to bear, and the easiest mode of raising them, and are 
 equally affected by such taxes themselves, is the distin 
 guishing characteristic of British freedom, and without 
 which the ancient constitution cannot subsist. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 503 
 
 " 4. Resolved, That his majesty's liege people of this most 
 ancient colony have uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of 
 being thus governed by their own assembly in the article 
 of their taxes and internal police, and that the same hath 
 never been forfeited, or any other way given up, but hath 
 been constantly recognized by the kings and people of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 " 5. Resolved, therefore, That the general assembly of 
 this colony have the only and sole exclusive right and 
 power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants 
 of this colony; and that every attempt to vest such power 
 in any person or persons whatsoever, other than the gen 
 eral assembly aforesaid, has a manifest tendency to de 
 stroy British as well as American freedom."] 
 
 As a member of the House of Burgesses it was Wash 
 ington's good fortune to witness the splendid and 
 momentous debate which followed the moving of these 
 resolutions. His position as a wealthy planter would 
 naturally have led him to take part with the aristocratic 
 and loyal party who opposed them. But his habits and 
 character were such as to produce an earnest sympathy 
 with the people. Like Henry himself, he was a born 
 patriot, and like him he was what is called a self-made 
 man. His opinions on the stamp act are expressed without 
 reserve in his correspondence, and though no record of 
 his vote on this occasion is preserved, there can be no 
 doubt that it was cast on the popular side. We may 
 therefore easily imagine what his feelings must have been 
 in witnessing the debate which is thus described by Mr. 
 Wirt :* 
 
 "By these resolutions," says Mr. Jefferson, "and his 
 manner of supporting them, Mr. Henry took the lead out of 
 the hands of those who had theretofore guided the pro- 
 
 * Life of Patrick Henry. 
 
504 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ceedings of the House ; that is to say, of Pendleton, Wythe, 
 Bland, and Randolph." It was indeed the measure which 
 raised him to the zenith of his glory. He had never be 
 fore had a subject which entirely matched his genius, and 
 was capable of drawing out all the powers of his mind. 
 It was remarked of him; throughout his life that his 
 talents never failed to rise with the occasion and in pro 
 portion with the resistance which he had to encounter. 
 The nicety of the vote on his last resolution proves that 
 this was not a time to hold in reserve any part of his 
 forces. It was indeed an Alpine passage under circum 
 stances even more unpropitious than those of Hannibal, 
 for he had not only to fight hand to hand the powerful 
 party who were already in possession of the heights, but 
 at the same instant to cheer and animate the timid band 
 of followers that were trembling, fainting, and drawing 
 back below him. It was an occasion that called forth 
 all his strength, and he did put it forth in such a manner 
 as man never did before. The cords of argument with 
 which his adversaries frequently flattered themselves they 
 had bound him fast, became packthreads in his hands. He 
 burst them with as much ease as the unshorn Samson 
 did the bands of the Philistines. He seized the pillars of 
 the temple, shook them terribly, and seemed to threaten 
 his opponents with ruin. It was an incessant storm of 
 lightning and thunder which struck them aghast. The 
 faint-hearted gathered courage from his countenance, 
 and cowards became heroes while they gazed upon his 
 exploits. 
 
 It was in the midst of this magnificent debate, while 
 he was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, 
 that he exclaimed in a voice of thunder and with the look 
 of a god, " Caesar had his Brutus Charles I his Crom 
 welland George III " (" Treason !" cried the 
 
DRAFTING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 The Committee Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Livingston, and Sherman. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 505 
 
 Speaker " treason ! treason ! " echoed from every part 
 of the House. It was one of those trying moments which 
 is decisive of character. Henry faltered not an instant, 
 but rising to a loftier attitude and fixing on the Speaker 
 an eye of the most determined fire, he finished his sen 
 tence with the firmest emphasis) " may profit by their ex 
 ample! If this be treason, make the most of it." 
 
 [It is of importance to understand the relation of Pat 
 rick Henry at this time to the situation in Virginia. Many 
 of the gentlemen of the Colony had become involved in 
 a state of indebtedness which later ended in a general 
 crash of their fortunes. The Speaker of the Assembly, 
 Mr. John Robinson, who had long been at the head of the 
 citizenship of Virginia, was also the Colony Treasurer. 
 A man of the highest character, of great estate, wide 
 acquaintance, and liberal disposition, he had been drawn 
 in to lend on his own account great sums of money to 
 planters, especially those who were members of the As 
 sembly. He used freely for this purpose the public money, 
 confiding for its replacement in his own means together 
 with the securities he had taken on these loans. The 
 time had come however when it became manifest to him 
 and to his friends whom he had accommodated, that his 
 deficit had become far too large to be dealt with in the 
 ordinary way, and that a painful disclosure of the use that 
 had been made of public money was inevitable. To meet 
 the situation in a way to escape this, Mr. Robinson with 
 his involved friends proposed to carry through the As 
 sembly a plan for a public loan office from which moneys 
 could be lent on public account and on good landed se 
 curity to individuals. An account of the proposed plan 
 was published on the I7th of May, 1765, and between that 
 date and the 3Oth, the date of Mr. Henry's resolutions 
 on the stamp act, the motion for a loan office was 
 
506 WASHINGTON. 
 
 brought forward in the House of Burgesses. It was 
 urged in support of the plan that in consequence of un 
 fortunate circumstances in the Colony, men of substantial 
 property had contracted debts, which must ruin them and 
 their families unless time could be given them to suffi 
 ciently recover their fortunes and meet their obligations. 
 Mr. Henry was not of the aristocratic clique, he was in 
 fact from the common people by an election which had 
 just introduced him into the Assembly, and his appear 
 ance is said by Wirt to have been that of " an obscure and 
 unpolished rustic." Nevertheless new as he was to the 
 position, with the impulsive courage and energy charac 
 teristic of his genius, and in fact ignorant of the situation 
 of Robinson and his friends, Henry vigorously attacked 
 the loan office scheme on sufficiently just general 
 grounds, and for a climax of the eloquence which speedily 
 made him famous, electrified his hearers by exclaiming: 
 " What, sir ! Is it proposed then to reclaim the spend 
 thrift from his dissipation and extravagance by filling 
 his pockets with money?" The pith and point of 
 Henry's attack on the loan office proposition, his ex 
 position of the spirit of favoritism on which the proposi 
 tion was founded, and the abuses to which it would lead, 
 so far won the suffrages of the Assembly as to leave the 
 needy aristocracy of the Colony in a hopeless minority. 
 Wirt strongly pictures the mortification and anger of the 
 colonial gentlemen, the envy and terror with which they 
 looked upon him, scornful of his rustic coarseness and yet 
 forced to praise his genius, and in contrast with this aris 
 tocratic disfavor the extraordinary popular favor into 
 which he had sprung upon his first appearance in the 
 Assembly. It was in this wholly accidental state of things 
 that Mr. Henry when the session was within three days 
 of its expected close and there seemed no prospect of any 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 507 
 
 step being taken on the aristocratic and conservative side 
 of the House, brought forward his resolutions on the 
 stamp act. On the back of Henry's own paper con 
 taining the resolutions, he himself wrote as follows : 
 " The within resolutions passed the House of Burgesses 
 in May, 1765. They formed the first opposition to the 
 stamp act, and the scheme of taxing America by the 
 British Parliament. All the Colonies, either through fear 
 or want of opportunity to form an opposition, or from 
 influence of some kind or other, had remained silent. I 
 had been for the first time elected a burgess a few days 
 before, was young, inexperienced, unacquainted with the 
 forms of the House and the members that composed it. 
 Finding the men of weight averse to opposition, and the 
 commencement of the tax at hand, and that no person 
 was likely to step forth I determined to venture, and 
 alone, unadvised, and unassisted, on a blank leaf of an 
 old law-book wrote the within. Upon offering them to the 
 House violent debates ensued. Many threats were ut 
 tered and much abuse cast on me by the party for sub 
 mission. After a long and warm contest the resolutions 
 passed by a very small majority, perhaps of one or two 
 only. The alarm spread throughout America with aston 
 ishing quickness and the ministerial party were over 
 whelmed. The great point of resistance to British taxa 
 tion was universally established in the Colonies. This 
 brought on the war which finally separated the two 
 countries and gave independence to ours." 
 
 Two members only were shown the resolutions before 
 they were offered to the Assembly: John Fleming, a 
 member for Cumberland county, and George Johnston, 
 for Fairfax. Of the five resolutions as given in Henry's 
 own copy, the first four did little more than to reaffirm 
 the principles advanced in the address, memorial, and 
 
508 WASHINGTON. 
 
 remonstrance of the preceding year, asserting the exclu 
 sive right of the Colony to tax itself, but the stamp act 
 having been meanwhile passed, they necessarily became 
 not a plea against contemplated wrong but bold con 
 demnation of it already accomplished, while the fifth and 
 last resolution, declaring that the action taken by the 
 British Parliament had " a manifest tendency to destroy 
 British as well as American freedom," amounted to a 
 direct charge of tyranny and despotism against the gov 
 ernment of King George. Action so broad and bold went 
 beyond what many ardent advocates of colonial right, in 
 view of the feeble and defenseless condition of the Colonies, 
 hardly dared to take, and not only the aristocracy in the 
 Assembly but many who later became leading spirits of 
 the Revolution resisted the adoption of the resolutions. 
 Mr. Jefferson writing of the matter from memory said : 
 " Mr. Henry moved and Mr. Johnston seconded these 
 resolutions successively. They were opposed by Messrs. 
 Randolph, Bland, Pendleton, Wythe, and all the old mem* 
 bers whose influence in the House had till then been un 
 broken. They did it not from any question of our rights, 
 but on the ground that the same sentiments had been at 
 their preceding session expressed in a more conciliatory 
 form to which the answers were not yet received. But 
 torrents of sublime eloquence from Henry, backed by the 
 solid reasoning of Johnston, prevailed. The last, however, 
 and strongest resolution was carried but by a single vote, 
 and I well remember that after the numbers on the divi 
 sion were told and declared from the chair, Peyton Ran 
 dolph, the Attorney-General, came out at the door where 
 I was standing and said as he entered the lobby : * By 
 G d, I would have given 500 guineas for a single vote;' 
 for one vote would have divided the House, and Robinson 
 was in the chair, who, he knew, would have negatived the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 509 
 
 resolution." Jefferson was at this time only an onlooker, 
 a young man 22 years of age, with no such early maturity 
 as Washington's.] 
 
 The importance of this debate and of the vote by which 
 the resolutions were passed was shown by their effects. 
 They were forthwith " adopted everywhere with progress 
 ive variations." The spirit of resistance became stronger 
 and stronger, and by the ist of November, when the stamp 
 act was, according to its provisions, to have taken effect", 
 its execution had become utterly impracticable. 
 
 [Two other resolutions went out with Patrick Henry's 
 as the utterance of Virginia. They were offered, but not 
 by Henry, nor were they acted on. Henry's fifth resolu 
 tion was rescinded the next day after he had gone home. 
 The vote had been 20 to 19, and Speaker Robinson against 
 them. In Henry's absence, the next day, a motion to re 
 scind was made but succeeded with only the fifth. All 
 the same the five resolutions went everywhere together, 
 and with them the two which had been offered, but on 
 which no action had been taken. They were as follows : 
 
 " Resolved, That his majesty's liege people, the inhabi 
 tants of this colony, are not bound to yield obedience to 
 any law or ordinance whatever, designed to impose any 
 taxation whatsoever upon them, other than the laws or 
 ordinances of the general assembly aforesaid. 
 
 " Resolved, That any person who shall, by speaking or 
 writing, assert or maintain that any person or persons, 
 other than the general assembly of this colony, have any 
 right or power to impose or lay any taxation on the 
 people here, shall be deemed an enemy to his majesty's 
 colony."] 
 
 Immediately after the passage of Mr. Henry's resolu 
 tions the Lieutenant-Governor (Fauquier) dissolved the 
 Assembly and issued writs for a new election. But this 
 
510 WASHINGTON. 
 
 was only a fruitless opposition to the popular will which 
 was bearing down all before it. In point of fact, " the 
 minds of the Americans underwent a total transformation. 
 Instead of their late peaceable and steady attachment to 
 the British nation, they were daily advancing to the oppo 
 site extreme." 
 
 [At the election for Fairfax county, in which Mount 
 Vernon lies, Washington was elected for that county, July 
 16, 1765, by 201 votes, to 148 for the other Burgess elected. 
 Washington wrote to a friend, August 2, 1765: " I changed 
 the scene from Frederick to this county and had an easy 
 and creditable pool." When Washington was first elected 
 to the House of Burgesses he was at the head of the 
 Virginia troops on the frontier, with headquarters at Win 
 chester in Frederick county, and it was the Winchester 
 people who first took in hand to have him elected a Bur 
 gess, and of course for their own county.] 
 
 The historian, Dr. Ramsay, who was a student at 
 Princeton College when the stamp act was passed, thus 
 records the manner of its reception by the colonists: 
 
 A new mode of displaying resentment against the 
 friends of the stamp act began in Massachusetts and was 
 followed by the other Colonies. A few gentlemen hung 
 out early in the morning (August 14, 1765), on the limb of 
 a large tree toward the entrance of Boston, two effigies, 
 one designed for the stamp master, the other for a jack 
 boot with a head and horns peeping out at the top. Great 
 numbers, both from town and country, came to see them. 
 A spirit of enthusiasm was diffused among the spectators. 
 In the evening the whole was cut down and carried in pro 
 cession by the populace, shouting " liberty and property 
 forever, no stamps." They next pulled down a new build 
 ing, lately erected by Mr. Oliver, the stamp master. They 
 then went to his house, before which they beheaded his 
 effigy and at the same time broke his windows. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 511 
 
 Eleven days after, similar violences were repeated. The 
 mob attacked the house of Mr. William Story, deputy 
 register of the court of admiralty, shattered his win 
 dows, broke into his dwelling-house, and destroyed the 
 books and files belonging to the said court, and ruined a 
 great part of his furniture. They next proceeded to the 
 house of Benjamin Hallowel, comptroller of the customs, 
 and repeated similar excesses and drank and destroyed his 
 liquors. They afterward proceeded to the house of Mr. 
 Hutchinson and soon demolished it. They carried off his 
 plate, furniture, and apparel, and scattered or destroyed 
 manuscripts and other curious and useful papers, which 
 for thirty years he had been collecting. About half a 
 dozen of the meanest of the mob were soon after taken up 
 and committed, but they either broke jail or otherwise 
 escaped all punishment. The town of Boston condemned 
 these proceedings, and for some time private gentlemen 
 kept watch at night to prevent further violence. 
 
 Similar disturbances broke out in the adjacent Colonies 
 nearly about the same time. On the 27th of August 
 (1765), the people of Newport, in Rhode Island, exhibited 
 three effigies intended for Messrs. Howard, Moffatt, and 
 Johnson, in a cart with halters about their necks, and 
 after hanging them on a gallows for some time, cut them 
 down and burnt them amid the acclamations of thousands. 
 On the day following, the people collected at the house of 
 Mr. Martin Howard, a lawyer who had written in defense 
 of the right of Parliament to tax the Americans, and de 
 molished everything that belonged to it. They proceeded 
 to Dr. Moffatt's, who in conversation had supported the 
 same right, and made a similar devastation of his property. 
 
 In Connecticut they exhibited effigies in various places, 
 and afterward committed them to the flames. 
 
512 WASHINGTON. 
 
 In New York the stamp master having resigned, the 
 stamp papers were taken into Fort George by Lieutenant- 
 Governor Golden (November I, 1765). The people, dis 
 liking his political sentiments, broke open his stable, took 
 out his coach, and carried it in triumph through the prin 
 cipal streets to the gallows. On one end of this they sus 
 pended the effigy of the Lieutenant-Governor, having in 
 the right hand a stamped bill of lading and in the other 
 a figure of the devil. After some time they carried the 
 apparatus to the gate of the fort and from thence to the 
 bowling green, under the muzzles of the guns, and burned 
 the whole amid the acclamations of many thousands. 
 They went thence to Major James's house, stripped it of 
 every article, and consumed the whole because he was a 
 friend to the stamp act. 
 
 The next evening the mob reassembled and insisted 
 upon the Lieutenant-Governor delivering the stamped 
 papers into their hands, and threatened, in case of a re 
 fusal, to take them by force. After some negotiation it was 
 agreed that they should be delivered to the Corporation, 
 and they were deposited in the City Hall. Ten boxes of 
 the same, which came by another conveyance, were burned. 
 
 The stamp act was not less odious to many of the in 
 habitants of the British West India Islands than to those 
 on the continent of North America. The people of St. 
 Kitts obliged the stamp officer and his deputy to resign. 
 Barbadoes, Canada, and Halifax submitted to the act. 
 
 When the ship which brought the stamp papers to 
 Philadelphia first appeared round Gloucester point, all the 
 vessels in the harbor hoisted their colors half-mast high. 
 The bells were rung muffled till evening, and every coun 
 tenance added to the appearance of sincere mourning. 
 A large number of people assembled and endeavored to 
 procure the resignation of Mr. Hughes, the stamp dis- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 513 
 
 tributor. He held out long, but at length found it neces 
 sary to comply. 
 
 As opportunities offered, the Assemblies generally 
 passed resolutions asserting their exclusive right to lay 
 taxes on their constituents. The people in their town 
 meetings instructed their representatives to oppose the 
 stamp act. 
 
 The expediency of calling a continental congress, to be 
 composed of deputies from each of the provinces, had 
 early occurred to the people of Massachusetts. The As 
 sembly of that province (June 6, 1765) passed a resolu 
 tion in favor of that measure, and fixed on New York 
 as the place and the second Tuesday of October as th* 
 time for holding the same. Soon after they sent circuU* 
 letters to the speakers of the several Assemblies request 
 ing their concurrence. This first advance toward con 
 tinental union was seconded in South Carolina before it 
 had been agreed to by any Colony to the southward of 
 New England. The example of this province had con 
 siderable influence in recommending the measure to 
 others who were divided in their opinions on the propriety 
 of it. 
 
 The Assemblies of Virginia, North Carolina, and 
 Georgia wrere prevented by their Governors from sending 
 a deputation to this congress. Twenty-eight deputies 
 from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New 
 York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
 and South Carolina met at New York, and after mature 
 deliberation agreed on a declaration of their rights and on 
 a statement of their grievances (October 7, 1765). They 
 asserted in strong terms their exemption from all taxes 
 not imposed by their own representatives. They also con 
 curred in a petition to the King, and memorial to the 
 House of Lords, and a petition to the House of Commons. 
 33 
 
514 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The Colonies that were prevented from sending represen 
 tatives to this congress forwarded petitions similar to 
 those which were adopted by the deputies which attended. 
 
 While a variety of legal and illegal methods were 
 adopted to oppose the stamp act, the 1st of November 
 (1765), on which it was to commence its operation, ap 
 proached. The day in Boston was ushered in by a funeral 
 tolling of bells. Many shops and stores were shut. The 
 effigies of the planners and friends of the stamp act were 
 carried about the streets in public derision and then torn 
 in pieces by the enraged^ populace. It was remarkable 
 that though a large crowd was assembled there was not 
 the least violence or disorder. 
 
 At Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, the morning (No 
 vember I, 1765) was ushered in with tolling all the bells 
 in town. In the course of the day notice was given to 
 the friends of Liberty to attend her funeral. A coffin 
 neatly ornamented, inscribed with the word Liberty in large 
 letters was carried to the grave. The funeral procession 
 began from the State House attended with two unbraced 
 drums. While the inhabitants who followed the coffin 
 were in motion, minute guns were fired and continued 
 till the corpse arrived at the place of interment. Then 
 an oration in favor of the deceased was pronounced. It 
 was scarcely ended before the corpse was taken up, it 
 having been perceived that some remains of life were left, 
 at which the inscription was immediately altered to 
 " Liberty revived." The bells immediately exchanged 
 their melancholy for a more joyful sound, and satisfaction 
 appeared in every countenance. The whole was conducted 
 with decency and without injury or insult to any man's 
 person or property. 
 
 In Maryland the effigy of the stamp master, on one 
 side of which was written " Tyranny," on the other " Op- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 515 
 
 pression," was carried through the streets from the place 
 of confinement to the whipping-post and from thence to 
 the pillory. After suffering many indignities, it was first 
 hanged and then burnt. 
 
 The general aversion to the stamp act was by similar 
 methods in a variety of places demonstrated. It is re 
 markable that the proceedings of the populace on these 
 occasions were carried on with decorum and regularity. 
 They were not ebullitions of a thoughtless mob, but for 
 the most part planned by leading men of character and 
 influence, who were friends to peace and order. These, 
 knowing well that the bulk of mankind are more led by 
 their feelings than by their reason, conducted the public 
 exhibitions on that principle with a view of making the 
 Stamp Act and its friends both ridiculous and odious. 
 
 Though the Stamp Act was to have operated from the 
 ist of November (1765), yet legal proceedings in the 
 courts were carried on as before. Vessels entered and 
 departed without stamped papers. The printers boldly 
 printed and circulated their newspapers, and found a 
 sufficient number of readers though they used common 
 paper in defiance of the act of Parliament. In most de 
 partments, by common consent, business was carried on 
 as though no Stamp Act had existed. This was accom 
 panied by spirited resolutions to risk all consequences, 
 rather than submit to use the paper required by law. 
 While these matters were in agitation the colonists en 
 tered into associations against importing British manufac 
 tures till the Stamp Act should be repealed. In this man 
 ner British liberty was made to operate against British 
 tyranny. Agreeably to the free Constitution of Great 
 Britain, the subject was at liberty to buy or not to buy 
 as he pleased. 
 
 By suspending their future purchases on the repeal of 
 
516 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the Stamp Act, the colonists made it the interest of mer 
 chants and manufacturers to solicit for that repeal. They 
 had usually taken off so great a proportion of British 
 manufactures, that the sudden stoppage of all their orders, 
 amounting annually to several millions sterling, threw 
 some thousands in the mother country out of employ 
 ment, and induced them, from a regard to their town in 
 terest, to advocate the measures wished for by America. 
 The petitions from the Colonies were seconded by peti 
 tions from the merchants and manufacturers of Great 
 Britain. What the former prayed for a^ a matter of right 
 and connected with their liberties, the latter also solicited 
 from motives of immediate advantage. 
 
 In order to remedy the deficiency of British goods, 
 the colonists betook themselves to a variety of necessary 
 domestic manufactures. In a little time large quantities 
 of coarse and common cloths were brought to market, 
 and these, though dearer and of a worse quality, were 
 cheerfully preferred to similar articles imported from 
 Britain. That wool might not be wanting, they entered 
 into resolutions to abstain from eating lamb. Foreign 
 elegancies were generally laid aside. 
 
 The women were as exemplary as the men in various 
 instances of self-denial. With great readiness they re 
 fused every article of decoration for their persons, and of 
 luxury for their tables. These restrictions which the 
 colonists had voluntarily imposed on themselves were 
 so well observed that multitudes of artificers in England 
 were reduced to great distress, and some of their most 
 flourishing manufactories were in a great measure at a 
 stand. An association was entered into by many of the 
 Sons of Liberty, the name given to those who were op 
 posed to the Stamp Act, by which they agreed " to march 
 with the utmost expedition, at their own proper cost and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 517 
 
 expense, with their whole force, to the relief of those that 
 should be in danger from the Stamp Act or its promoters 
 and abettors, or anything relative to it, on account of any 
 thing that may have been done in opposition to its 
 obtaining." This was subscribed by so many in New 
 York and New England that nothing but a repeal could 
 have prevented the immediate commencement of a civil 
 war. 
 
 From the decided opposition to the Stamp Act which 
 had been adopted by the Colonies, it became necessary for 
 Great Britain to enforce or to repeal it. Both methods 
 of proceeding had supporters. The opposers of a repeal 
 urged arguments drawn from the dignity of the nation, 
 the danger of giving way to the clamors of the Americans, 
 and the consequences of weakening parliamentary author 
 ity over the Colonies. 
 
 On the other hand it was evident from the determined 
 opposition of the Colonies, that it could not be enforced 
 without a civil war by which in every event the nation 
 must be a loser. In the course of these discussions, Dr. 
 Franklin was examined at the bar of the House of Com 
 mons, and gave extensive information on the state of 
 American affairs and the impolicy of the Stamp Act, which 
 contributed much to remove prejudices and to produce a 
 disposition that was friendly to a repeal. 
 
 Some speakers of great weight in both Houses of Parlia 
 ment denied their right of taxing the Colonies. The most 
 distinguished supporters of this opinion were Lord Cam- 
 den, in the House of Peers, and Mr. Pitt, in the House of 
 Commons. The former in strong language said: "My 
 position is this, I repeat it, I will maintain it to my last 
 hour : Taxation and representation are inseparable. This 
 position is founded on the laws of nature. It is more, it 
 is itself an eternal law of nature. For whatever is 
 
518 WASHINGTON. 
 
 a man's own is absolutely his own. No man has a right 
 to take it from him without his consent. Whoever at 
 tempts to do it attempts an injury, whoever does it com 
 mits a robbery." 
 
 Mr. Pitt, with an original boldness of expression, justi 
 fied the colonists in opposing the Stamp Act. " You have 
 no right," said he, " to tax America. I rejoice that 
 America has resisted. Three millions of our fellow sub 
 jects, so lost to every sense of virtue as tamely to give up 
 their liberties, would be fit .instruments to make slaves 
 of the rest." He concluded with giving his advice that 
 the Stamp Act be repealed absolutely, totally, and imme 
 diately that the reason for the repeal be assigned, that 
 it was founded on an erroneous principle. "At the same 
 time," said he, " let the sovereign authority of this country 
 over the Colonies be asserted in as strong terms as can 
 be devised, and be made to extend to every point of legis 
 lation whatsoever, that we may bind their trade, confine 
 their manufactures, and exercise every power except that 
 of taking their money out of their pockets without their 
 consent." 
 
 The approbation of this illustrious statesman, whose 
 distinguished abilities had raised Great Britain to the 
 highest pitch of renown, inspired the Americans with ad 
 ditional confidence in the rectitude of their claims of ex 
 emption from parliamentary taxation, and emboldened 
 them to further opposition, when, at a future day, as shall 
 be hereafter related, the project of an American revenue 
 was resumed. 
 
 After much debating and two protests in the House of 
 Lords, and passing an act " for securing the dependence 
 of America on Great Britain," the repeal of the Stamp 
 Act was finally carried (March 18, 1766). 
 
 This event gave great joy in London. Ships in the river 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 519 
 
 Thames displayed their colors, and houses were illumi 
 nated in every part of the city. It was no sooner known 
 in America than the colonists rescinded their resolutions 
 and recommenced their mercantile intercourse with the 
 mother country. They presented their homespun clothes 
 to the poor and imported more largely than ever. The 
 churches resounded with thanksgivings, and their public 
 and private rejoicings knew no bounds. By letters, ad 
 dresses, and other means, almost all the Colonies showed 
 unequivocal marks of acknowledgment and gratitude. 
 
 So sudden a calm recovered after so violent a storm is 
 without a parallel in history. By the judicious sacrifice 
 of one law, the Parliament of Great Britain procured an 
 acquiescence in all that remained. 
 
 There were enlightened patriots fully impressed with an 
 idea that the immoderate joy of the colonists was dis- 
 proportioned to the advantage they had gained. 
 
 The Stamp Act, though repealed, was not repealed on 
 American principles. The preamble assigned as the reason 
 thereof, " That the collecting the several duties and 
 revenues, as by the said act was directed, would be at 
 tended with many inconveniences and productive of con 
 sequences dangerous to the commercial interests of these 
 kingdoms." 
 
 Though this reason was a good one in England it was 
 by no means satisfactory in America. At the same time 
 that the Stamp Act was repealed, the absolute, unlimited 
 supremacy of Parliament was, in words, asserted. The 
 opposers of the repeal contended for this as essential ; the 
 friends of that measure acquiesced in it to strengthen 
 their party and make sure of their object. Many of both 
 sides thought that the dignity of Great Britain required 
 something of the kind to counterbalance the loss of au 
 thority that might result from her yielding to the demands 
 
520 WASHINGTON. 
 
 of the colonists. The act for this purpose was called the 
 Declaratory Act, and was in principle more hostile to 
 American rights than the Stamp Act, for it annulled those 
 resolutions and acts of the provincial assemblies in which 
 they had asserted their right to exemption from all taxes 
 not imposed by their own representatives, and also en 
 acted: "That the Parliament had, and of right ought to 
 have, power to bind the Colonies in all cases whatsoever." 
 The bulk of the Americans, intoxicated with the advan 
 tage they had gained, overlooked this statute which in 
 one comprehensive sentence not only deprived them of 
 liberty and property, but of every right incident to hu 
 manity. They considered it as a salvo for the honor of 
 Parliament, in repealing an act which had so lately received 
 their sanction, and flattered themselves it would remain a 
 dead letter, and that although the right of taxation was 
 in words retained, it would never be exercised. Unwilling 
 to contend about paper claims of ideal supremacy, they 
 returned to their habits of good humor with the parent 
 State. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE REVOLUTIONARY STORM INCREASING. 
 
 1766-1768. 
 
 DURING the period which has just been passed in 
 review, Washington was quietly residing with his 
 family at Mount Vernon, his pursuits as a planter 
 being varied by occasional visits to his friends in the neigh 
 borhood, and to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, as 
 well as to Williamsburg, where his attendance on the ses 
 sions of the House of Burgesses was constant and as 
 siduous. In his visits to Annapolis during the season of 
 gayety he was accompanied by Mrs. Washington, and both 
 enjoyed in a high degree the cultivated and refined society 
 of that capital. 
 
 Still Washington was by no means an unobservant or 
 uninterested spectator of what was passing in the political 
 world at this time. That his views were coincident with/ 
 those of the leading patriots of the time is apparent in his 
 correspondence. Writing to Francis Dandridge, London, 
 in September, 1765, when the Stamp Act was the principal 
 topic in all political circles, he says :* " The Stamp Act im 
 posed on the Colonies by the Parliament of Great Britain 
 engrosses the conversation of the speculative part of the 
 colonists, who look upon this unconstitutional method of 
 taxation as a direful attack upon their liberties and loudly 
 exclaim against the violation. What may be the result of 
 
 * Sparks, " Writings of Washington," vol. II, p. 343. 
 
 (521) 
 
522 WASHINGTON. 
 
 this and of some other (I think I may add ill-judged) meas 
 ures I will not undertake to determine, but this I may 
 venture to affirm, that the advantage accruing to the 
 mother country will fall greatly short of the expectations 
 of the ministry: for certain it is that our whole substance 
 in a manner flows to Great Britain, and that whatsoever 
 contributes to lessen our importations must be hurtful to 
 her manufacturers. The eyes of the people already begin 
 to be opened, and they will perceive that many luxuries 
 for which we lavish our substance in Great Britain can 
 well be dispensed with, whilst the necessaries of life are 
 mostly to be had within ourselves. This consequently 
 will introduce frugality, and be a necessary incitement to 
 industry. If Great Britain therefore loads her manufac 
 turers with heavy taxes, will it not facilitate such results ? 
 They will not compel us I think to give our money for 
 their exports whether we will or not, and I am certain that 
 none of the traders will part with them without a valuable 
 consideration. Where then is the utility of these restric 
 tions? 
 
 " As to the Stamp Act regarded in a single view, one and 
 the first bad consequence attending it is, that our courts 
 of judicature must inevitably be shut up, for it is impossi 
 ble or next to impossible, under our present circum 
 stances, that the act of Parliament can be complied with, 
 were we ever so willing to enforce its execution. And not 
 to say (which alone would be sufficient) that we have not 
 money to pay for the stamps, there are many other cogent 
 reasons which prove that it would be ineffectual. If a 
 stop be put to our judicial proceedings, I fancy the mer 
 chants of Great Britain trading to the Colonies will not 
 be among the last to wish for a repeal of the act." 
 
 The same opinion of the Stamp Act is expressed in a 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 523 
 
 letter (July 25, 1767) to a London correspondent after 
 the repeal : " Unseasonable as it may be to take any notice 
 of the repeal of the Stamp Act at this time, yet I cannot 
 help observing that a contrary measure would have intro 
 duced very unhappy consequences. Those therefore who 
 wisely foresaw such an event, and were instrumental in 
 procuring the repeal of the act, are, in my opinion, de 
 servedly entitled to the thanks of the well-wishers of 
 Britain and her Colonies, and must reflect with pleasure 
 that through their means many scenes of confusion and 
 distress may have been prevented. Mine they accordingly 
 have and always shall have for their opposition to any 
 act of oppression, and that act could be looked upon in 
 no other light, by every person who would view it in its 
 proper colors. I could wish it were in my power to con 
 gratulate you on the success of having the commercial 
 system of these Colonies put upon a more enlarged and 
 extensive footing than it is, because I am well satisfied 
 that it would ultimately redound to the advantage of the 
 mother country so long as the Colonies pursue trade and 
 agriculture, and would be an effectual let to manufacturing 
 among them. The money which they raise would center 
 in Great Britain as certainly as the needle will settle to 
 the pole." 
 
 The last passages of this letter show that Washington 
 was by no means satisfied with the existing state of things. 
 He evinces a foreboding of trouble with respect to the 
 commerce of the Colonies. As usual his presentiment was 
 verified. The clause in the repeal of the Stamp Act, de 
 claring that the King and Parliament had power and au 
 thority to make laws which should bind the Colonies and 
 people of America in all cases whatever, was reduced to 
 practice in 1767. 
 
 As early as the month of January, George Grenville, the 
 
524 WASHINGTON. 
 
 foster-father of the Stamp Act, had proposed " saddling 
 America with 400,000 per annum for the support of the 
 troops," etc. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles 
 Townshend, in answering him, fully agreed as to the prin 
 ciple of the Stamp Act itself, only adding that the heats 
 which had prevailed had made it an improper time to press 
 that tax. He treated the distinction between external and 
 internal taxation as ridiculous in the opinion of everybody 
 except the Americans; and he, in short, pledged himself to 
 the House to find a revenue in the Colonies to meet the 
 expenses. Lord Shelburne, ^like others, was at a loss to 
 conceive what he meant. His lordship however heard 
 from general conversation that Mr. Townshend had a plan 
 for establishing a board of customs in America, and by a 
 new regulation of the tea duty in England and some other 
 alterations, to produce a revenue on imports in America. 
 
 " This," added Lord Shelburne, " in many views appears 
 a matter that will require the deepest consideration, at this 
 time especially. Besides I believe the speech I have just 
 mentioned is not the way to make anything go down well 
 in North America." 
 
 In fact, at this moment, the Colonies, having had time 
 to consider the Earl of Chatham's declaratory bill, were 
 still more dissatisfied with its extreme principles and 
 strong expressions. Lord Shelburne had letters from the 
 King's Governors inveighing against the insubordinate 
 spirit of the people, and complaining of the resolutions 
 of the Houses of Assembly not to provide the troops with 
 vinegar and other articles, lest their compliance should be 
 deemed a precedent for some new Tax Act. 
 
 Chatham, excited by the communication of this intelli 
 gence, replied to Lord Shelburne in a violent passion 
 against the Americans, and without expressing any dis 
 approbation of Townshend's exasperating speech and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 525 
 
 avowed determination of a new taxation scheme. 
 " America," he says, " affords a gloomy prospect ; a spirit 
 of infatuation has taken possession of New York. * * * 
 I foresee confusion will ensue. * * * What demon of 
 discord blows the coals in that devoted province I know 
 not; but they are doing the work of their worst enemies 
 themselves. The torrent of indignation in Parliament will, 
 I apprehend, become irresistible, and they will draw upon 
 their heads national resentment by their ingratitude, and 
 ruin, I fear, upon the whole State by the consequences. 
 But I will not run before the event, as it is possible your 
 lordship may receive an account more favorable." 
 
 Meanwhile fresh petitions and remonstrances, and bit 
 ter complaints against a new Mutiny Act kept pouring in 
 from the Colonies. Shelburne found himself obliged to 
 speak of the Declaratory Act in a style which could not 
 have been very agreeable to the Earl of Chatham : 
 
 *' That act," says his lordship, " asserting the right of 
 Parliament, has certainly spread a most unfortunate 
 jealousy and diffidence of government throughout 
 America, and makes them jealous of the least distinction 
 between this country and that, lest the same principle 
 may be extended to taxing them." 
 
 Replying, from his easy-chair at Bath, Chatham was 
 more irate than before against the Americans; but he 
 seems to have discovered nothing wrong either in the 
 declaratory bill or in the scheme of his colleague and nomi 
 nee Townshend. He threw the whole blame upon George 
 Grenville : " The advices from America," he says, " af 
 ford unpleasing views. New York has drunk the deepest 
 of the baneful cup of infatuation ; but none seem to be 
 quite sober and in full possession of reason. It is a literal 
 truth to say that the Stamp Act, of most unhappy memory, 
 has frightened those irritable and umbrageous people out 
 
526 WASHINGTON. 
 
 of their senses. I foresee that determined not to listen to 
 their real friends, a little more frenzy and a little more 
 time will put them into the hands of their enemies." 
 
 His friend Beckford joined in these sentiments, and in 
 the belief, implied by Chatham, that the Americans in mak 
 ing any attempt at resistance would only seal their ruin, 
 Beckford they all seem to have regarded the matter in 
 a frenzy of passion exclaims, " The devil has possessed 
 the minds of the North Americans. George Grenville and 
 his Stamp Act raised the fouljiend; a prudent firmness will 
 lay him, I hope, forever." 
 
 But there was one public man who took a more correct 
 view of the spirit and power of the American people. He 
 calculated that there were in the provinces at least 200,000 
 men fit to bear arms, and not only to bear arms, but hav 
 ing arms in their possession, unrestrained by any game 
 laws. : " In the Massachusetts government in particular," 
 writes Gerard Hamilton* to Mr. Calcraft, " there is ex 
 press law, by which every man is obliged to have a musket, 
 a pound of powder, and a pound of bullets always by him, 
 so there is nothing wanting but knapsacks (or old stock 
 ings, which will do as well), to equip an army for march 
 ing, and nothing more than a Sartorius or a Spartacus at 
 their head requisite to beat your troops and your custom 
 house officers out of the country, and set your laws at 
 defiance. There is no saying what their leaders may put 
 them upon; but if they are active, clever people, and love 
 mischief as well as I do peace and quiet, they will furnish 
 matter of consideration to the wisest among you, and per 
 haps dictate their own terms at last, as the Roman peo 
 ple formerly in their famous secession upon the Sacred 
 Mount. For my own part, I think you have no right to 
 tax them, and that every measure built upon this supposed 
 
 *This is the gentleman known as Single Speech Hamilton. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 
 
 right stands upon a rotten foundation, and must conse 
 quently tumble down, perhaps upon the heads of the 
 workmen." 
 
 But few Englishmen, either in Parliament or out, felt 
 these convictions; and though Lord Shelburne clearly 
 foresaw that if the Americans should be driven into in 
 surrection there was every probability that France and 
 Spain would break a peace, the days of which they had 
 already begun to count, Townshend's bill, imposing duties 
 on glass, paper, pasteboard, white and red lead, painters* 
 colors, and tea, payable upon the importation into the 
 Colonies, and to be applied to the purposes specified in 
 the Stamp Act, was carried through both houses of Par 
 liament with as much ease as if it had been a turnpike bill. 
 And the same facility attended another act by which these 
 duties, and all other customs and duties in the American 
 Colonies, were put under the management of the King's 
 resident commissioners. Moreover a third bill was 
 passed, prohibiting the Governor, Council, and Assembly 
 of New York from passing any legislative act for any 
 purposes whatsoever, till satisfaction should be given as 
 to the treatment of the commissioners and troops, and 
 submission paid to the Mutiny Act. 
 
 The reader has seen how little the Americans were satis 
 fied with the declaratory bill which accompanied the re- 
 peai of the Stamp Act. " The discontents," says a recent 
 writer, "were increased by the endeavors of government 
 to enforce what was styled the Mutiny Act, but what was 
 more properly an act for quartering and better providing 
 for the troops at the expense of the Colonies." 
 
 It was an act carried through in a hurry at the fag-end 
 of a session, and yet blindly persevered in. 
 
 Lord Shelburne thus describes it in 1767: " It was first 
 suggested by the military, and intended to give a power 
 
528 WASHINGTON. 
 
 of billeting on private houses, as was done in the war. It 
 was altered by the merchants and agents, who substituted 
 empty houses, provincial barracks, and barns in their 
 room, undertaking that the Assembly should supply them 
 with the additional necessaries; and it passed, I believe, 
 without that superintendence or attentive examination on 
 the part of government, which is so wanting in all cases 
 where necessity requires something different from the 
 general principles of the Constitution. I am told that it 
 was carried through by Mr. Ellis without the entire con 
 viction or cordial support of Mr. Grenville, who made it 
 a separate bill, lest it might embarrass the general Mutiny 
 Act." 
 
 In depriving the Assembly of New York of its legisla 
 tive faculties for opposing this act, ministers threw fresh 
 materials into the black cauldron; and then came Charles 
 Townshend's taxes to make it boil over; and then again, 
 as fuel to keep up the fire beneath it, there arrived at Bos 
 ton the newly-formed American board of commissioners 
 to enforce the payment of the new duties, and to put an 
 end to all smuggling. 
 
 Had the Americans admitted the propriety of raising 
 a parliamentary revenue from the Colonies, the appoint 
 ment of an American board of commissioners among them 
 for managing it would have been a convenience rather 
 than an injury. But, regarding the tax itself as oppres 
 sive and illegal, they were offended at the new mode of 
 collecting it. As it was coeval with the new duties, they 
 considered it as a certain evidence that the project of an 
 extensive American revenue, notwithstanding the repeal 
 of the Stamp Act, was still in contemplation. A dislike 
 to British taxation naturally produced a dislike to a board 
 which was to be instrumental in that business, and occa 
 sioned many insults to the commissioners. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 529 
 
 These commissioners could not possibly have been sent 
 to a worse place than Boston. New York, for many rea 
 sons, was preferable; but whenever there was a choice to 
 make the Cabinet committed a blunder. The colonists 
 read in the preamble to Charles Townshend's act that the 
 duties were laid for " the better support of government 
 and the administration of the Colonies;" and they de 
 tected a clause in the bill which seemed to enable the 
 King, by sign-manual, to establish a general civil list in 
 every province in North America, with salaries, pensions, 
 etc., etc. They instantly declared that all this was un 
 necessary, unjust, and dangerous to their most important 
 rights; and they insisted that the establishment of any 
 civil list in America, independent of the Assemblies, was 
 altogether illegal. 
 
 Charles Townshend, who became very conspicuous 
 among the contemporaries of Washington by originating 
 the duties on tea, painters' colors, etc., which caused so 
 much trouble, had been, in June, 1749, appointed a com 
 missioner of trade and plantations; in the following year, 
 a commissioner for executing the office of lord high ad 
 miral; in 1756, a member of the privy council; in March, 
 1761, secretary at war; in February, 1763, first lord of 
 trade and plantations; in June, 1765, paymaster-general 
 and chancellor of the exchequer; and a lord of the treasury 
 in August, 1766, from which period he remained in office 
 until his decease, which took place on the 4th of Septem 
 ber, 1767. Burke, in his great speech on American taxa 
 tion, said of him: " Perhaps there never arose in this 
 country, nor in any country, a man of more pointed and 
 finished wit, and (where his passions were not concerned) 
 of a more refined, exquisite, and penetrating judgment. 
 If he had not so great a stock, as some have had who 
 flourished formerly, of knowledge long treasured up, he 
 34 
 
530 WASHINGTON. 
 
 knew better by far than any man I ever was acquainted 
 with, how to bring together, within a short time, all that 
 was necessary to establish, to illustrate, and to decorate 
 that side of the question he supported. He stated his 
 matter skilfully and powerfully; he particularly excelled in 
 a most luminous explanation and display of his subject. 
 His style of argument was neither trite and vulgar, nor 
 subtle and abstruse. He hit the House just between wind 
 and water, and, not being troubled with too anxious a 
 zeal for any matter in question, he was never more tedious 
 or more earnest than the preconceived opinions and pres 
 ent temper of his hearers required, with whom he was al 
 ways in perfect unison. He conformed exactly to the 
 temper of the House, and he seemed to guide, because 
 he was always sure to follow it. He had voted and, in 
 the year 1765, had been an advocate for the Stamp Act. 
 He therefore attended at the private meeting in which 
 resolutions leading to its repeal were settled ; and he would 
 have spoken for that measure too if illness had not pre 
 vented him. The very next session, as the fashion of this 
 world passeth away, the repeal began to be in as bad odor 
 as the Stamp Act had been before. To conform to the 
 temper which began to prevail, and to prevail mostly 
 among those most in power, he declared that revenue must 
 be had out of America. Instantly he was tied down to 
 his engagements and the whole body of courtiers drove 
 him onward. Here this extraordinary man, then Chan 
 cellor of the Exchequer, found himself in great straits : 
 to please universally was the object of his life; but to tax 
 and to please, no more than to love and be wise, is not 
 given to men. However he attempted it." 
 
 On the 28th of October, 1767, a few gentlemen met at 
 a private club in Boston, the great center of discontent 
 and pivot of resistance, and arranged plans for making 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 531 
 
 real and effectual the nonimportation agreements which 
 had been before suggested. They drew up a bond or 
 subscription paper, whereby the parties signing engaged 
 to encourage the use and consumption of native manu 
 factures only, and to cease importing, buying, or selling 
 anything from Great Britain except a few named indis 
 pensable articles; and they appointed a committee to ob 
 tain subscriptions to this agreement. In this they were 
 successful; but in some instances they found it necessary 
 to employ means for obtaining subscriptions which were 
 decidedly coercive. 
 
 In the meantime various individuals took up the pen 
 and employed the press to demonstrate the iniquity of 
 the taxing acts and the little that the American people 
 had to expect from a corrupt and subservient British Par 
 liament. The. foremost of these writers was Mr. John 
 Dickinson,* whose " Letters from a Farmer in Pennsyl 
 vania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies " made 
 a deep and lasting impression. Dickinson however rec- 
 
 * Dickinson was a Pennsylvania representative of hesitation to 
 follow in the steps of Patrick Henry. 
 
 In June, 1776, he opposed openly, and upon principle, the 
 Declaration of Independence, when the motion was considered by 
 Congress. His arguments were answered by John Adams, Richard 
 Henry Lee, of Virginia, and others, who advocated a separation 
 from Great Britain. The part which Mr. Dickinson took in this 
 debate occasioned his recall from Congress, as his constituents 
 did not coincide with him in political views, and he was absent sev 
 eral years. Perceiving, at length, that his countrymen were unal 
 terably fixed in their system of independence, he fell in with it, and 
 was as zealous in supporting it in Congress, about the year 1780, 
 as any of the members. He was President of Pennsylvania from 
 November, 1782, to October, 1785, and was succeeded in this 
 office by Dr. Franklin. Soon after 1785, it is believed, he removed 
 to Delaware, by which State he was appointed a member of the 
 old Congress, and of which State he was President. 
 
532 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ommended his countrymen still to have recourse to peti 
 tions to the Crown and Parliament, and to strong in 
 structions to their agents in England, which, in his opin 
 ion, would have the same effect now as they had at the 
 time of the Stamp Act. Other writers suggested more 
 violent measures, but not one of them ventured to hint 
 at the disseverance of the Colonies from the mother 
 country. 
 
 On the 1 5th of February, 1768, the Assembly of Massa 
 chusetts addressed a circular letter to all the other Col 
 onies, inviting them to combine in taking measures to de 
 feat the obnoxious act. The Speaker of the New Hamp 
 shire Assembly immediately replied, by order of his House, 
 that the sentiments contained in the circular letter were 
 highly approved of; but that, as the time of that House's 
 existence was near expiring, they could not engage for 
 their successors. But other Colonies readily adopted 
 the sentiments and the plan contained in the letter, and 
 passed votes of thanks to the authors of it. 
 
 In the month of April (1768), Lord Hillsborough in 
 structed Bernard, the Governor of Massachusetts, to re 
 quire the House of Representatives, in the King's name, 
 to rescind the resolution which gave birth to the circular 
 letter, and to declare their disapprobation of that rash and 
 hasty proceeding. The House refused compliance, and 
 sent this answer to the Governor : " If the votes of this 
 House are to be controlled by the direction of a minister, 
 we have left us but a vain semblance of liberty. We have 
 now only to inform you that this House has voted not to 
 rescind, and that on a division of the question there were 
 ninety-two nays and seventeen yeas." 
 
 The very next day, Governor Bernard, in pursuance of 
 Lord Hillsborough's positive instructions, dissolved the 
 Assembly. By this time associations and committees 
 were formed in most of the provinces. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 533 
 
 In the month of June (1768), the sloop Liberty arrived 
 at Boston with a cargo of choice Madeira. The com 
 missioners sent an excise officer on board, but the skipper 
 and his crew confined the man below deck, and smuggled 
 the wine on shore, without entering at the custom-house 
 or any other formula. The officer was then liberated; 
 and the following morning the skipper of the sloop en 
 tered at the custom-house four or five pipes, swearing 
 that that was all his cargo. But the commissioners, aware 
 of the truth, ordered a comptroller to seize the sloop 
 and clap the King's broad arrow upon her. As a crowd 
 assembled on the wharves, the comptroller made signals 
 to the Romney man-of-war, which was lying at anchor 
 off Boston, and the captain manned his boats and sent 
 them to assist the excise. 
 
 A mob of people attempted to prevent the seizure of 
 the sloop, and pelted the exciseman and the sailors with 
 stones and dirt; but the man-of-war's boats presently cut 
 the sloop from her moorings and carried her under the 
 guns of the Romney. 
 
 The mob on shore continued their riot, beating and 
 nearly killing several of the revenue officers. The com 
 missioners applied to the Governor for protection ; but the 
 Governor told them he had no troops, no force of any 
 kind, and thereupon they fled on board the Romney. The 
 capture of the sloop Liberty was made on a Friday; Sat 
 urday was a busy day, and Sunday was kept very strictly 
 by the New Englanders ; but on Monday an immense mob 
 gathered in the streets of Boston, and in the afternoon 
 of that day placards were stuck up to call a meeting of 
 " The Sons of Liberty " on Tuesday, at 10 o'clock. At 
 this meeting they appointed a committee to wait upon the 
 Governor, to inquire why the sloop had been seized in so 
 arbitrary a manner, which they declared to be an affront 
 
534 WASHINGTON. 
 
 to the town of Boston. They declared that she might 
 have been left with perfect safety at the wharf. 
 
 The leading men of the town expressed disapprobation 
 of a riot, which not a few of them were suspected of hav 
 ing promoted; but they took care to mention, in extenua 
 tion, the extraordinary circumstances of the said seizure, 
 and the violence and unprecedentedness of that procedure. 
 They offered a reward for the discovery of the ringleaders, 
 and a few persons were pointed out, but the grand jury 
 quashed all prosecution. It was this fact which seems to 
 have persuaded the British ministry that offenses in 
 America would not be punished by American juries, and 
 which seems to have recommended to their attention the 
 Statute of Henry VIII, by virtue of which the offenders 
 might be removed to Great Britain and tried there. 
 
 The commissioners, who had left the Romney man-of- 
 war to take up their quarters in Castle William, now ap 
 plied to General Gage, Colonel Dalrymple, and Commo 
 dore Wood for troops to support them in their office. 
 
 Previously however to this application, and even a 
 month or six weeks before the news of these Boston riots 
 could have reached London, ministers had resolved to 
 employ force, and Lord Hillsborough, in a secret and 
 confidential letter, had told General Gage that it was His 
 Majesty's pleasure that he should forthwith send from 
 Halifax one regiment or more to Boston, to be quartered 
 in that town, to assist the civil magistrates and the offi 
 cers of revenue. 
 
 This letter was dated on the 8th of June (1758); and 
 on the nth his lordship informed Governor Bernard 
 that His Majesty had directed one regiment at least to 
 be stationed in Boston, and had ordered a frigate, two 
 sloops, and two armed cutters to repair to and remain 
 in the harbor of Boston, in order to support and assist 
 the officers of the customs. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 535 
 
 Fresh appeals were made by those who had put them 
 selves in the van of the movement, to the hopes, fears, 
 and strongest passions of the American people; and these 
 addresses usually concluded with the significant truism: 
 " United we conquer, divided we fall." They called upon 
 all the Colonies to resist to the utmost the Mutiny Act, 
 which granted power to every officer, upon obtaining a 
 warrant from any justice, to break into any house by 
 day or by night in search of deserters. They represented 
 that, if the colonists would only cordially agree as to the 
 nonimportation, multitudes in Great Britain, who lived 
 and thrived by their trade, would be reduced to want, and 
 would then, in their desperation, force from Parliament 
 the repeal of the acts. 
 
 In the month of August, the merchants and traders of 
 Boston agreed upon a new subscription paper to this ef 
 fect: " We will not send for, or import from, Great Brit 
 ain, either upon our own account, or upon commission 
 this fall, any other goods than what are already ordered 
 for the fall supply. We will not send for or import any 
 kind of goods or merchandise from Great Britain, etc., 
 from the 1st of January, 1769, to the ist of January, 1770, 
 except salt, coals, fish-hooks and lines, hemp and duck, 
 bar-lead and shot, wool-cards, and card-wire. We will 
 not purchase of any factor or others any kind of goods 
 imported from Great Britain, from January, 1769, to Janu 
 ary, 1770. We will not import on our own account or on 
 commission, or purchase of any who shall import from 
 any other Colony in America, from January, 1769, to Janu 
 ary, 1770, any tea, paper, glass, or other goods, commonly 
 imported from Great Britain. We will not, from and after 
 the ist of January, 1769, import into this province any 
 tea, glass, paper, or painters' colors, until the act impos 
 ing duties on these articles shall be absolutely repealed." 
 
536 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Although this paper was generally subscribed, several 
 respectable merchants refused their signatures. In the 
 course of the same month the merchants of Connecticut 
 and New York made similar agreements, and in the be 
 ginning of September (1768) the merchants of Salem did 
 the same. It appears that it was not till the beginning 
 of September that the people of Boston became fully 
 aware of the intention of government to send troops. On 
 the I2th of that month a meeting was called, and a com 
 mittee appointed to make inquiries of the Governor, and 
 to pray him at the same time to convene a General As 
 sembly. 
 
 Governor Bernard said that he had intelligence, of a 
 private nature, that a military force was coming; and 
 that, as to the calling of another Assembly, it was a meas 
 ure not to be complied with till he had received the com 
 mands of His Majesty. It was then resolved, " That the 
 freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Boston 
 will, at the peril of their lives and fortunes, take all legal 
 and constitutional measures to defend the rights, liberties, 
 privileges, and immunities granted in their royal charter." 
 
 The inhabitants further agreed that a suitable number 
 of persons should now be chosen to act for them as a 
 committee in convention, and to consult and to advise 
 with such as might be sent to join them from the other 
 towns of the province. They fixed a convention to be 
 held at Faneuil Hall, in Boston, on the 22d of September 
 (1768); and, before breaking up, they voted, "That as 
 there is an apprehension in the minds of many of an ap 
 proaching war with France, those inhabitants who are not 
 provided, be requested to furnish themselves forthwith 
 with arms." This was significant ! The approaching war 
 with France was nothing but an ingenious device. 
 
 On the 22d of September, the day appointed, the con- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 537 
 
 vention, consisting of deputies from eight districts and 
 ninety-six towns, met at Faneuil Hall; but the day before 
 the men-of-war and transports had arrived in Nantasket 
 Roads, a few miles below Boston. The convention merely 
 conferred and consulted, petitioned the Governor, ex 
 pressed their aversion to standing armies, tumults, and 
 disorders of all kinds, and then adjourned. 
 
 Governor Bernard then attempted to prevail upon the 
 town council to provide quarters for the troops in Bos 
 ton; but they refused, and stated that the troops, by act 
 of Parliament, were to be quartered in the barracks; that 
 there were barracks enough at Castle William to hold 
 them all, and that it was against law to bring any of them 
 into the town. 
 
 Colonel Dalrymple, who held the command, had posi 
 tive orders to land at least one regiment at Boston, and 
 he of himself concluded it would be better not to separate 
 his small force. Accordingly, on the last day of Septem 
 ber, he left Nantasket Roads and sailed up to Boston. 
 The ships-of-war, consisting of the Romney of sixty guns, 
 the Luancester of forty, the Mermaid of twenty-eight, the 
 Beaver of fourteen, the Senegal of fourteen, the Boreta 
 of ten, and several armed schooners, came to anchor with 
 springs on their cables, with their guns ready shotted, 
 and their broadsides covering the town. 
 
 Resistance was expected, but none offered; and on the 
 following day, the ist of October, 1768, Colonel Dalrymple 
 landed the two regiments he had brought with him, the 
 Twenty-seventh and the Fourteenth, who, with train of 
 artillery and all, did not much exceed 700 men. They 
 marched from the landing place up to the Common, on 
 the outside of Boston, with drums beating, fifes playing, 
 and colors flying. 
 
 In the evening the town council was again required to 
 
538 WASHINGTON. 
 
 quarter the two regiments in the town, and again they 
 refused, quoting charters and acts of Parliament. One 
 of the regiments, who had brought with them no tents or 
 camp equipage of any kind, were permitted, or, which is 
 more probable, took permission themselves, to occupy 
 Faneuil Hall; the other regiment lay out all night on the 
 cold Common. The following being the Lord's day, no 
 business could be done; and the puritanical Bostonians 
 were seriously annoyed at the desecration of the Sabbath 
 day by drums and fifes sounds hitherto unknown on 
 that day in the provinces of New England. 
 
 Pressed by Colonel Dalrymple and his officers, the Gov 
 ernor, toward evening, ordered the State House to be 
 opened to the regiment which was encamped on the Com 
 mon. The soldiers instantly came in and took possession 
 of every part of that public building except the great coun 
 cil chamber. Two field pieces were placed in front of the 
 edifice, and the main guard was posted at a few yards' 
 distance. 
 
 These proceedings excited deep resentment and caused, 
 besides, many inconveniences, for the lower part of the 
 State House had been used by the merchants as an ex 
 change, and the members of the town council could no 
 longer get to their hall to transact their business without 
 passing through files of soldiers. Having thus obtained 
 quarters, the Governor and Colonel Dalrymple required 
 the council to provide barrack provisions, as regulated by 
 the Mutiny Act. The council resolutely replied that they 
 would furnish nothing and do nothing that might be con 
 strued into a submission to that obnoxious law. 
 
 For the present the Bostonians and their neighbors sup 
 pressed their vindictive feelings, but the tranquillity was 
 every moment exposed to the chances of sudden inter 
 ruption and bloodshed; every one of them looked upon the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 539 
 
 soldiers as forcible intruders, slavish instruments of 
 tyranny, men without faith or morals; and every soldier 
 had been taught to consider the colonists as smugglers, 
 canting hypocrites, and rebels to a most gracious King. 
 
 At the same time, all possible care was taken by the 
 Bostonians to impart a highly-colored picture of the in 
 juries and insults they endured to every part of British 
 America. Philadelphia, which had hitherto been in 
 clined to moderation and compromises, now spoke in a 
 louder tone; and other towns which had been violent from 
 the beginning now became still more decided in their oppo 
 sition to the acts of Parliament. 
 
 Meanwhile the storm thickened at Boston. At the end 
 of May the Assembly, being called together, a committee 
 from the House of Representatives remonstrated with the 
 Governor, complaining of an armament investing their 
 metropolis, of the military guard, of cannon pointed at 
 the door of their State House, and requesting his excel 
 lency, as His Majesty's representative, to give effectual 
 orders for the removal of the ships and troops. Governor 
 Bernard, who had certainly become less courteous since 
 the arrival of the armament, replied, dryly: " Gentlemen, 
 I have no authority over His Majesty's ships in this port, 
 or over his troops within this town." 
 
 A few days after, the House declared that the use of 
 the military power to enforce the execution of the laws 
 was inconsistent with the spirit of a free Constitution, 
 and that they would not do any business, surrounded as 
 they were with an armed force, threatening their privi 
 leges and their personal security. The Governor thought 
 to remove the latter strong objection by adjourning the 
 Assembly to Cambridge, a village situated at a distance 
 of three miles from Boston, in which there were no troops. 
 But they were not likely to be more compliant at Cam- 
 
540 WASHINGTON. 
 
 bridge than they had been at Boston. They voted, " That 
 the establishment of a standing army in this Colony, in 
 time of peace, is an invasion of natural rights; that a 
 standing army is not known as a part of the British Con 
 stitution; that sending an armed force into the Colony, 
 under a pretence of assisting the civil authority, is highly 
 dangerous to the people, unprecedented, and unconstitu 
 tional." 
 
 They refused to make any provision for the troops, and 
 they were thereupon prorogued by the Governor, to meet 
 at Boston in the month of January, 1770. 
 
 The King, to testify his approbation, created Governor 
 Bernard a baronet, and took upon himself the whole ex 
 pense of passing the patent. Sir Francis left the Colony 
 on the ist of August, as poor as when he came there 
 eleven years before, and followed by few regrets. His 
 departure for England was signalized in Boston by public 
 rejoicings, the firing of cannon, bonfires, ringing of bells, 
 and display of flags.* 
 
 * Mr. Bancroft, in his " History of the United States," gives 
 Governor Bernard a very bad character, charging him with 
 avarice, duplicity, and bad faith toward' his own government as 
 well as the colonists. His bad conduct in the government was 
 ultimately serviceable however by widening the breach between 
 the colonists, and the mother country. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S PLAN OF ASSOCIATION. 
 
 1769. 
 
 IT will have been observed by the reader that the prin 
 cipal means upon which the colonists relied for co 
 ercing the British Government into a repeal of 
 Townshend's oppressive revenue bill was the forming of 
 associations, bound by voluntary engagement, not to im 
 port or use the articles which were loaded with the ob 
 noxious duty. This was more efficient than petitions and 
 remonstrances, or even mobs and riots in resistance to the 
 law. It was carrying the war into the enemy's country 
 by bringing loss and distress on British manufacturers 
 and merchants, and thus rendering the revenue laws un 
 popular in the mother country. 
 
 This nonimportation system was cordially approved by 
 Washington, as we shall presently see. He and his friend, 
 George Mason, were in favor of going a step farther and 
 establishing what would nearly have amounted to com 
 plete nonintercourse with England, by refusing to export 
 to that country the commodities which they were accus 
 tomed to receive from this country, and especially to 
 bacco, from which the British Government derived an 
 immense revenue. 
 
 Washington, writing to George Mason under date of 
 April 5, 1769, thus expressed himself: 
 
 "At a time when our lordly masters in Great Britain 
 
 (54i) 
 
543 WASHINGTON. 
 
 will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of 
 American freedom, it seems highly necessary that some 
 thing should be done to avert the stroke and maintain the 
 liberty which we have derived from our ancestors. But 
 the manner of doing it, to answer the purpose effectually, 
 is the point in question. 
 
 "That no man should scruple or hesitate a moment to 
 use arms in defense of so valuable a blessing is clearly 
 my opinion. Yet arms, I would beg leave to add, should 
 be the last resource, the dernier resort. We have already, 
 it is said, proved the inefncacy of addresses to the throne, 
 and remonstrances to Parliament. How far then their 
 attention to our rights and privileges is to be awakened 
 or alarmed, by starving their trade and manufacturers, 
 remains to be tried. 
 
 " The northern Colonies, it appears, are endeavoring 
 to adopt this scheme. In my opinion it is a good one, and 
 must be attended with salutary effects, provided it can be 
 carried pretty generally into execution. But to what ex 
 tent it is practicable to do so I will not take upon me to 
 determine. That there will be a difficulty attending the 
 execution of it everywhere, from clashing interests, and 
 selfish, designing men, ever attentive to their own gain, 
 and watchful of every turn that can assist their lucrative 
 views, cannot be denied; and in the tobacco Colonies, 
 where the trade is so diffused, and in a manner wholly 
 conducted by factors for their principals at home (in 
 England), these difficulties are certainly enhanced, but 
 I think not insurmountably increased, if the gentlemen 
 in their several counties will be at some pains to explain 
 matters to the people, and stimulate them to cordial agree- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 543 
 
 ments to purchase none but certain enumerated articles 
 out of any of the stores after a definite period, and neither 
 import nor purchase any themselves. This, if it should 
 not effectually withdraw the factors from their importa 
 tions, would at least make them extremely cautious in 
 doing it, as the prohibited goods could be vended to none 
 but the nonassociators, or those who would pay no regard 
 to their association; both of whom ought to be stigmatized 
 and made the objects of public reproach. 
 
 " The more I consider a scheme of this sort, the more 
 ardently I wish success to it, because I think there are 
 private as well as public advantages to result from it 
 the former certain, however precarious the other may 
 prove. In respect to the latter, I have always thought 
 that, by virtue of the same power which assumes the right 
 of taxation, the Parliament may attempt, at least, to re 
 strain our manufacturers, especially those of a public na 
 ture, the same equity and justice prevailing in the one 
 case as the other, it being no greater hardship to forbid 
 my manufacturing than it is to order me to buy goods 
 loaded with duties, for the express purpose of raising a 
 revenue. But as a measure of this sort would be an addi 
 tional exertion of arbitrary power, we cannot be placed in 
 a worse condition, I think, by putting it to the test. 
 
 " On the other hand, that the Colonies are considerably 
 indebted to Great Britain is a truth universally acknowl 
 edged. That many families are reduced almost, if not 
 quite, to penury and want by the low ebb of their for 
 tunes, and that estates are selling for the discharge of 
 debts, the public papers furnish too melancholy proofs. 
 That a scheme of this sort will contribute more effectually 
 than any other that can be devised to extricate the coun 
 try from the distress it at present labors under, I most 
 firmly believe, if it can be generally adopted. And I can 
 
544 WASHINGTON. 
 
 see but one class of people, the merchants excepted, who 
 will not, or ought not, to wish well to the scheme, namely, 
 they who live genteelly and hospitably on clear estates. 
 Such as these, were they not to consider the valuable ob 
 ject in view and the good of others, might think it hard 
 to be curtailed in their living and enjoyments. As to the 
 penurious man, he would thereby save his money and his 
 credit, having the best plea for doing that which before 
 perhaps he had the most violent struggles to refrain from 
 doing. The extravagant and expensive man has the same 
 good plea to retrench his- expenses. He would be fur 
 nished with a pretext to live within bounds and embrace 
 it. Prudence dictated economy before, but his resolution 
 was too weak to put it in practice; ' For how can I/ says 
 he, ' who have lived in such and such a manner, change 
 my method? I am ashamed to do it, and besides such 
 an alteration in the system of my living will create sus 
 picions of the decay of my fortune, and such a thought 
 the world must not harbor.' He continues his course till 
 at last his estate comes to an end, a sale of it being the 
 consequence of his perseverance in error. This, I am sat 
 isfied, is the way that many who have set out in the wrong 
 track have reasoned till ruin has stared them in the face. 
 And in respect to the needy man, he is only left in the 
 same situation that he is found in better, I may say, 
 because, as he judges from comparison, his condition is 
 amended in proportion as it approaches nearer to those 
 above him. 
 
 " Upon the whole therefore I think the scheme a good 
 one, and that it ought to be tried here, with such altera 
 tions as our circumstances render absolutely necessary. 
 But in what manner to begin the work is a matter worthy 
 of consideration. Whether it can be attempted with pro 
 priety or efficacy, further than a communication of senti- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 545 
 
 ments to one another before May (1769), when the court 
 and Assembly will meet at Williamsburg, and a uniform 
 plan can be concerted, and sent into the different coun 
 ties to operate at the same time and in the same manner 
 everywhere, is a thing upon which I am somewhat in 
 doubt, and I should be glad to know your opinion."* 
 
 The following is an extract from Mr. Mason's reply to 
 this letter, dated the same day: 
 
 " I entirely agree with you that no regular plan of the 
 sort proposed can be entered into here, before the meet 
 ing of the General Court at least, if not of the Assembly. 
 In the meantime, it may be necessary to publish some 
 thing preparatory to it in our gazettes, to warn the peo 
 ple of the impending danger and induce them the more 
 readily and cheerfully to concur in the proper measures to 
 avert it; and something of this sort I had begun, but am 
 unluckily stopped by a disorder which affects my head 
 and eyes. As soon as I am able I shall resume it, and 
 then write you more fully or endeavor to see you. In 
 the meantime, pray commit to writing such hints as may 
 occur. 
 
 " Our all is at stake, and the little conveniences and com 
 forts of life, when set in competition with our liberty, 
 ought to be rejected, not with reluctance, but with pleas 
 ure. Yet it is plain that in the tobacco Colonies we can 
 not at present confine our importations within such nar 
 row bounds as the northern Colonies. A plan of this 
 kind, to be practicable, must be adapted to our circum 
 stances; for if not steadily executed, it had better have 
 remained unattempted. We may retrench all manner of 
 superfluities, finery of all descriptions, and confine pur- 
 selves to linens, woollens, etc., not exceeding a certain 
 
 * Sparks, " Writings of Washington," vol. II, p. 351. 
 35 
 
546 WASHINGTON. 
 
 price. It is amazing how much this practice, if adopted 
 in all the Colonies, would lessen the American imports 
 and distress the various traders and manufacturers in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 " This would awaken their attention. They would see, 
 they would feel, the oppressions we groan under, and ex 
 ert themselves to procure us redress. This once obtained, 
 we should no longer discontinue our importations, con 
 fining ourselves still not to import any article that should 
 hereafter be taxed by act of Parliament for raising a rev 
 enue in America; for, however singular I may be in my 
 opinion, I am thoroughly convinced that, justice and har 
 mony happily restored, it is not the interest of these Col 
 onies to refuse British manufactures. Our supplying our 
 mother country with gross materials and taking her manu 
 factures in return is the true chain of connection between 
 us. These are the bands, which, if not broken by oppres 
 sion, must long hold us together by maintaining a con 
 stant reciprocation of interest. Proper caution should 
 therefore be used in drawing up the proposed plan of 
 association. It may not be amiss to let the ministry un 
 derstand that, until we obtain a redress of grievances, we 
 will withhold from them our commodities, and particularly 
 refrain from making tobacco, by which the revenue would 
 lose fifty times more than all their oppressions could raise 
 here. 
 
 " Had the hint which I have given with regard to taxa 
 tion of goods imported into America been thought of by 
 our merchants before the repeal of the Stamp Act, the 
 late American Revenue Acts would probably never have 
 been attempted."* 
 
 Mason was not a member of the House of Burgesses 
 * Sparks, " Writings of Washington," vol. II, p. 354, note. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 547 
 
 at this time, but Washington held a seat in that Assembly, 
 and, soon after expressing these opinions, he was to sup 
 port them there by public acts. The result of this con 
 ference with Mason was a scheme, prepared by him to be 
 offered by Washington at the coming session of the 
 House of Burgesses.* 
 
 The Governor of Virginia at this time was the liberal 
 and courteous Lord Botetourt.f Governor Fauquier, of 
 
 * Bancroft, " History of the United States," vol. VI, p. 273. 
 
 [At an election of Burgesses for Fairfax county, December i, 1768, 
 Washington polled 185 votes, Col. John West, 142, and Capt. John 
 Posey, 87; the two former securing the seats. 
 
 George Mason, born in Fairfax county in 1725, author of the 
 nonimportation resolutions which Washington presented in the 
 Virginia Assembly, and which were unanimously adopted, was a 
 neighbor and intimate friend of Washington. He later wrote a 
 powerful tract against the claim of the British Parliament to tax 
 the Colonies without their consent. At a Fairfax county meeting, 
 July 18, 1774, he offered twenty-four resolutions reviewing the 
 whole ground of the controversy with Great Britain; recommend 
 ing a general congress ; and urging the nonintercourse policy. In 
 1775 he was a member of the Virginia Committee of Safety, and 
 in 1776 he drafted the Declaration of Rights! and State Constitu 
 tion of Virginia, unanimous adoption of which attested universal 
 confidence in his statesmanship. In 1777 he was elected to the 
 Continental Congress, and in 1787 he was one of the leaders of the 
 Virginia delegation in the convention which framed the national 
 Constitution. In that body he opposed every measure which im 
 plied the perpetuation of negro slavery. From this point he, to 
 gether with Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, fell off from 
 the party of the Constitution headed by Washington, standing out 
 against the proposed Union, as involving peril to State sover 
 eignty; and on this ground he refused election as a member of the 
 United States Senate. He was older than Washington by seven 
 years, one of the best and strongest of Washington's supporters 
 for twenty years, and one of the great names of the Virginia of 
 Washington's time.] 
 
 t Botetourt, appointed Governor of Virginia in July, 1768, en- 
 
548 WASHINGTON. 
 
 whom we have frequently made mention, died early in 
 1768, and Lord Botetourt was his successor. He was 
 extremely anxious to promote a reconciliation between 
 Great Britain and the Colonies. He had become the most 
 popular of all the royal Governors, from not seeming to 
 make the matter at present in dispute personal to him 
 self, or losing his temper, or acting unwisely or unjustly 
 toward the Colonies. As a servant of the Crown he did 
 his duty; but always courteously and with an honest 
 endeavor to allay excitement and prevent those overt acts 
 which his position would require him to censure. We 
 shall presently see him placed in circumstances which 
 called for the exercise of all his good qualities. Had the 
 
 tered upon the position in October of the same year and made a 
 popular Governor until his death, October 15, 1770. 
 
 In a description of Williamsburg in Howe's " Historical Col 
 lections of Virginia," is the following notice of Lord Botetourt's 
 statue in that town: 
 
 " In a beautiful square fronting the college, stands the statue of 
 Lord Botetourt, one of the Colonial Governors. It is much muti 
 lated, though still presenting a specimen of elegant sculpture. He 
 appears in the court dress of that day, with a short sword at his 
 side. It was erected in 1774, at the expense of the Colony, and re 
 moved in 1797, from the old capitol to its present situation. Its 
 pedestal bears the following inscription: 
 
 The Right Honorable Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, 
 his majesty's late lieutenant, and governor-general of the colony 
 and dominion of Virginia. 
 
 [Right side.] Deeply impressed with the warmest sense of 
 gratitude for his Excellency's, the Right Honorable Lord Bote 
 tourt's, prudent and wise administration, and that the remembrance 
 of those many public and social virtues which so eminently adorned 
 his illustrious character might be transmitted to posterity, the 
 General Assembly of Virginia, on the xx. day July, Ann. Dom., 
 M.DCC.LXXI, resolved, with one united voice, to erect this statue 
 to his lordship's memory. Let wisdom and justice preside in any 
 country, the people must and will be happy. 
 
 [Left side.] America! behold your friend, who, leaving his 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 549 
 
 British Parliament adopted his policy toward the col 
 onists, the controversy might have terminated peacefully. 
 But the members of this body seemed bent upon sustain 
 ing their oppressive system by force. 
 
 In February, 1769, both Houses of Parliament went 
 one step beyond all that had preceded. They then con 
 curred in a joint address to His Majesty, in which they 
 expressed their satisfaction in the measures His Majesty 
 had pursued gave the strongest assurances that they 
 would effectually support him in such further measures 
 as might be found necessary to maintain the civil magis 
 trates in a due execution of the laws in Massachusetts 
 Bay, and besought him " to direct the Governor to take 
 the most effectual methods for procuring the fullest infor 
 mation touching all treasons, or misprisions of treason, 
 committed within the government since the 3Oth day of 
 December, 1767; and to transmit the same, together with 
 the names of the persons who were most active in the 
 commission of such offenses, to one of the Secretaries of 
 State, in order that His Majesty might issue a special com 
 mission for inquiring of, hearing, and determining the 
 said offenses within the realm of Great Britain, pursuant 
 to the provision of the Statute of the 35th of King 
 Henry VIII."* The latter part of this address, which 
 proposed the bringing of delinquents from Massachusetts 
 
 native country, declined those additional honors which were there 
 in store for him, that he might heal your wounds and restore 
 tranquillity and happiness to this extensive continent. With what 
 zeal and anxiety he pursued these glorious objects, Virginia thus 
 bears her grateful testimony." 
 
 *The real object of this proposed revival of the Act of 35th 
 of King Henry VIII, was believed to be the arrest of the New 
 England leaders, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, James Otis, 
 Josiah Quincy, Jr., and others, and their transportation to Eng 
 land, thus removing them effectually from the scene of action. 
 
550 WASHINGTON. 
 
 to be tried at a tribunal in Great Britain for crimes com 
 mitted in America, underwent many severe animadver 
 sions. 
 
 It was asserted to be totally inconsistent with the spirit 
 of the Constitution; for in England, a man charged with a 
 crime had a right to be tried in the county in which his 
 offense was supposed to have been committed. " Justice 
 is regularly and impartially administered in our courts," 
 said the colonists, " and yet by direction of Parliament, 
 offenders are to be taken by force, together with all such 
 persons as may be pointed out as witnesses, and carried to 
 England, there to be tried in a distant land, by a jury of 
 strangers, and subject to all the disadvantages which result 
 from want of friends, want of witnesses, and want of 
 money." 
 
 The House of Burgesses of Virginia, met soon after 
 official accounts of the joint address of Lords and Com 
 mons on this subject reached America; and in a few days 
 after their meeting, passed resolutions* expressing " their 
 exclusive right to tax their constituents, and their right 
 to petition their sovereign for redress of grievances, and 
 the lawfulness of procuring the concurrence of the other 
 Colonies in praying for the royal interposition in favor 
 of the violated rights of America; and that all trials for 
 treason, or for any crime whatsoever committed in that 
 Colony, ought to be before His Majesty's courts within 
 the said Colony; and that the seizing any person residing 
 in the said Colony, suspected of any crime whatsoever, 
 committed therein, and sending such person to places 
 beyond the sea to be tried, was highly derogatory of the 
 rights of British subjects." The next day Lord Botetourt 
 sent for the House of Burgesses, and addressed them as 
 
 * These resolutions were drafted by Thomas Jefferson, who had 
 just been elected to a seat in the House of Burgesses. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 551 
 
 follows : " Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the House of 
 Burgesses, I have heard of your resolves, and augur ill 
 of their effects. You have made it my duty to dissolve 
 you, and you are dissolved accordingly." 
 
 Not in the least degree deterred from their purpose by 
 this act of duty on the part of the Governor, on the very 
 next day the Burgesses repaired to the Raleigh tavern, 
 and in a room which bore the name of Apollo, they entered 
 into the articles of agreement already referred to as Wash 
 ington and Mason's scheme, by which they pledged their 
 honor not to import British merchandise so long as the 
 acts of Parliament for raising a revenue in America re 
 mained unrepealed. 
 
 Among the eighty-eight signatures to this Virginia asso 
 ciation were those of George Washington, Peyton Ran 
 dolph, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jef 
 ferson, and others, who afterward took the lead in the 
 great struggle. On returning to their respective counties, 
 all these Virginia members were re-elected for the next 
 Assembly; and the small minority who had opposed the 
 resolutions were rejected to a man. 
 
 The gentlemen and merchants of Maryland and South 
 Carolina followed the example of Virginia, and adopted 
 the articles of association. Pennsylvania, through her 
 merchants, expressed her approval. The Assembly of 
 Delaware adopted the Virginia resolves, " and every 
 Colony south of Virginia." says Bancroft, " in due time 
 followed the example." 
 
 Thus Virginia, under the leading of Washington, had 
 nobly come forward to the aid of the New England Col 
 onies, who had recently borne the brunt of parliamentary 
 indignation. This was done too, in defiance of the recent 
 threat of military coercion, and extradition of offenders 
 against the Revenue Acts for trial in England. 
 
552 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " The nonimportation agreement," says Ramsay, " was 
 in this manner forwarded by the very measures which 
 were intended to curb the spirit of American freedom, 
 from which it sprung. Meetings of the associators were 
 regularly held in the various provinces. Committees 
 were appointed to examine all vessels arriving from 
 Britain. Censures were freely passed on such as refused 
 to concur in these associations, and their names published 
 in the newspapers as enemies to their country. The regu 
 lar acts of the provincial Assemblies were not so much 
 respected and obeyed as the decrees of these committees; 
 the associations were in general, as well observed as could 
 be expected; but nevertheless there were some collusions. 
 The fear of mobs, of public resentment, and contempt, 
 co-operating with patriotism, preponderated over private 
 interest and convenience." 
 
 Washington scrupulously observed this agreement; and 
 enjoined upon his London factor to send him none of the 
 interdicted goods, unless the offensive acts of Parliament 
 should in the meantime be repealed. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DISCONTENTS PRODUCE VIOLENCE AND BLOODSHED. 
 
 1769-1770. 
 
 WHILE British troops were menacing the Bos- 
 tonians without effect, and Virginia was leading 
 the southern Colonies on to the support of re 
 fractory New England, the British Government, still vacil 
 lating and uncertain, was already beginning to retract 
 her late proceedings. It was on the ist of August, 1769, 
 that Sir Francis Bernard was recalled from the govern 
 ment of Massachusetts. A few days before his departure 
 he received letters from the Secretary of State, which, being 
 circular to the several Governors of the continent, were 
 apparently intended to be made public. One of the last 
 acts of his administration was his directing, or author 
 izing, the publication of the assurance to the people of 
 the Colonies in those letters, " that the administration is 
 well disposed to relieve the Colonies from all ' real ' 
 grievances arising from the late acts of revenue. And 
 through the present ministers have concurred in the 
 opinion of the whole Legislature, that no measure ought 
 to be taken which can derogate from the legislative au 
 thority of Great Britain over the Colonies, yet they have 
 declared that they have at no time entertained a design 
 to propose any further taxes upon America for the pur 
 pose of a revenue ; and it is their intention to propose, in 
 the next session of Parliament, to take off the duties upon 
 
 (553) 
 
554 WASHINGTON. 
 
 glass, paper, and colors, upon consideration of such duties 
 being contrary to the true principles of commerce." 
 
 Government in England expected, by this assurance 
 of intended favor, to incline the people to abate their 
 opposition. But it had a very different effect. It was 
 immediately the common language among the candidates 
 for liberty: " Repealing the act upon principles of com 
 merce is a mere pretence, calculated to establish the 
 grievance we complain of. The true reason why the duty 
 upon tea is to continue is tp save the ' right ' of taxing. 
 Our acquiescing in the repeal of the rest will be construed 
 into an acknowledgment of this ' right.' The fear of 
 trouble, from the discontent of merchants and manufac 
 turers upon our nonimportation agreements, has brought 
 the ministry to consent to this partial repeal. A vigorous 
 enforcement of these agreements will increase the fear, 
 and we shall certainly carry the point we contend for, and 
 obtain a repeal of the whole." 
 
 A meeting of the trading classes was called in Boston. 
 The repeal of only part of the act was unanimously re 
 solved to be a measure intended merely to quiet the manu 
 facturers in Great Britain, and to prevent the setting up 
 of manufactures in the Colonies, and one that would by 
 no means relieve trade from its difficulties; it was there 
 fore further resolved, to send for no more goods from 
 Great Britain, a few specified articles excepted, unless the 
 Revenue Acts should be repealed. 
 
 A committee was appointed to procure a written pledge 
 from the inhabitants of the town, not to purchase any 
 goods from persons who have imported them, or who shall 
 import them, contrary to the late agreement; and another 
 committee to inspect the manifests of the cargoes of all 
 vessels arriving from Great Britain, and to publish the 
 names of all importers, unless they immediately delivered 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 555 
 
 their goods into the hands of a committee appointed to 
 receive them. 
 
 The intimations of a relaxation in the British system of 
 oppression was received in a different spirit by the Vir 
 ginians, who at first were effectually deceived by the bland 
 professions of the ministry. 
 
 On the Qth of May, 1769, the King in his speech to 
 Parliament highly applauded their hearty concurrence, in 
 maintaining the execution of the laws in every part of his 
 dominions. Five days after this speech, Lord Hills- 
 borough, Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote to 
 Lord Botetourt: " I can take upon me to assure you, not 
 withstanding informations to the contrary, from men with 
 factious and seditious views, that His Majesty's present 
 administration have at no time entertained a design to 
 propose to Parliament, to lay any further taxes upon 
 America for the purpose of raising a revenue, and that 
 it is at present their intention to propose to the next ses 
 sion of Parliament, to take off the duties upon glass, paper, 
 and colors, upon consideration of such duties having been 
 laid contrary to the true principles of commerce." The 
 Governor was also informed, that " His Majesty relied 
 upon his prudence and fidelity to make such an explana 
 tion of His Majesty's measures as would tend to remove 
 prejudices, and to re-establish mutual confidence and 
 affection between the mother country and the Colonies." 
 In the exact spirit of his instructions, Lord Botetourt ad 
 dressed the Virginia Assembly as follows : " It may pos 
 sibly be objected, that as His Majesty's present adminis 
 tration are not immortal, their successors may be inclined 
 to attempt to undo what the present ministers shall have 
 attempted to perform, and to that objection I can give 
 but this answer, that it is my firm opinion, that the plan I 
 have stated to you will certainly take place, and that it 
 
556 WASHINGTON. 
 
 will never be departed from; and so determined am I 
 forever to abide by it, that I will be content to be declared 
 infamous, if I do not to the last hour of my life, at all 
 times, in all places, and upon all occasions, exert every 
 power with which I either am, or ever shall be, legally in 
 vested, in order to obtain and maintain for the continent 
 of America that satisfaction which I have been authorized 
 to promise this day, by the confidential servants of our 
 gracious sovereign, who to my certain knowledge rates his 
 honor so high that he would rather part with his crown 
 than preserve it by deceit." 
 
 These assurances were received with transports of joy 
 by the Virginians. They viewed them as pledging His 
 Majesty for security, that the late design for raising a rev 
 enue in America was abandoned, and never more to be 
 resumed. The Assembly of Virginia, in answer to Lord 
 Botetourt, expressed themselves thus (July, 1769): "We 
 are sure our most gracious sovereign, under whatever 
 changes may happen in his confidential servants, will re 
 main immutable in the ways of truth and justice, and that 
 he is incapable of deceiving his faithful subjects; and we 
 esteem your lordship's information not only as warranted, 
 but even sanctified by the royal word." 
 
 How far these promises made by Lord Hillsborough to 
 the Governor of Virginia, and by the Governor to the 
 Assembly, were founded in sincerity and good faith, will 
 be demonstrated by subsequent events. They were prob 
 ably made with a design to detach the Virginians from 
 the earnest support which they had hitherto given to the 
 people of Massachusetts, who were still the most decided 
 opponents of the British ministry. 
 
 Of Lord Hillsborough, who as Colonial Secretary, had 
 written to Lord Botetourt in the conciliatory vein, Dr. 
 Franklin thus speaks in a letter to Samuel Cooper: " His 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 557 
 
 character is conceit, wrong-headedness, obstinacy, and 
 passion. Those who would speak most favorably of him 
 allow all this; they only add, that he is an honest man, 
 and means well. If that be true, as perhaps it may, I 
 wish him a better place, where only honesty and well- 
 meaning are required, and where his other qualities can 
 do no harm. * * * I hope however that our affairs 
 will not much longer be perplexed and embarrassed by 
 his perverse and senseless management." 
 
 The policy of Lord Hillsborough toward the Colonies, 
 bad as it was, was destined to be supported by Lord 
 North, who came into the office of Prime Minister on the 
 28th of January, 1770. 
 
 Having been Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Duke 
 of Grafton's administration, on his grace's resignation, 
 which took place in the end of January, he succeeded him 
 as First Lord of the Treasury, a pre-eminence he held till 
 the close of the American Revolution. His administration 
 will ever be celebrated by the fact, that during its ex 
 istence Great Britain lost more territory and acquired 
 more debt than in any previous period of her history. His 
 first measure was partially, and unhappily, only partially, 
 of a conciliatory character a motion for the repeal of 
 the port duties of 1767, with the exception of the duty on 
 tea, which his lordship expressly declared he desired to 
 keep on as an assertion of the supremacy of the Parlia 
 ment. In vain it was contended that the reservation of 
 this single article would keep up the contention which it 
 was so desirable to allay; that after giving up the prospect 
 of a revenue from the Colonies, it was absurd and im 
 politic to persevere in the assertion of an abstract claim 
 of right, which, if attempted in any mode to be carried 
 into practice, would produce nothing but civil discord and 
 interminable opposition; that in short, if nothing more 
 
558 WASHINGTON. 
 
 was meant by this omission of the tea in the repeal, then 
 the mere declaration of Parliamentary supremacy, the law 
 already in existence under the title of the Declaratory Act, 
 was abundantly sufficient for this purpose, and that the 
 Americans had hitherto silently acquiesced in that law. 
 To all these arguments Lord North replied: "Has the 
 repeal of the Stamp Act taught the Americans obedience? 
 Has our lenity inspired them with moderation? Can it 
 be proper, while they deny our legal power to tax them, 
 to acquiesce in the argument of illegality, and by the re 
 peal of the whole law, to give up that power? No! the 
 most proper time to exert our right of taxation is when 
 the right is denied. To temporize is to yield; and the 
 authority of the mother country, if it is now unsupported, 
 will, in reality, be relinquished forever. A total repeal 
 cannot be thought of till America is prostrate at our feet." 
 Governor Pownall, who moved as an amendment, to 
 include the duty on tea, acknowledged, that even the total 
 repeal of the duties in question, though it might be ex 
 pected to do much, would not restore satisfaction to 
 America. " If," said he, " it be asked, whether it will re 
 move the apprehensions excited by your resolutions and 
 address of the last year, for bringing to trial in England, 
 persons accused of treason in America? I answer, No. 
 If it be asked, if this commercial concession would quiet 
 the minds of the Americans as to the political doubts and 
 fears which have struck them to the heart, throughout the 
 continent? I answer, No. So long as they are left in 
 doubt whether the Habeas Corpus Act, whether the bill of 
 rights, whether the common law as now existing in Eng 
 land have any operation and effect in America, they cannot 
 be satisfied. At this hour they know not whether the 
 civil Constitutions be not suspended and superseded by 
 the establishment of a military force. The Americans 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 559 
 
 think that they have, in return to all their applications, 
 experienced a temper and disposition that is unfriendly, 
 and that the enjoyment and exercise of the common rights 
 of freemen have been refused to them. Never with these 
 views will they solicit the favor of this House ; never more 
 will they wish to bring before Parliament, the grievances 
 under which they conceive themselves to labor. Deeply 
 as they feel, they suffer and endure with a determined 
 and alarming silence; for their liberty, they are under no 
 apprehensions. It was first planted under the auspicious 
 genius of the Constitution; it has grown up into a verdant 
 and flourishing tree; and should any severe strokes be 
 aimed at the branches, and fate reduce it to the bare stock, 
 it would only take deeper root, and spring out again more 
 durable than before. They trust to Providence, and wait 
 with firmness and fortitude the issue." 
 
 The event proved that Mr. Pownall knew, incompar 
 ably better than Lord North, the character and state of 
 the Colonies. During his residence in America, while 
 successively Governor of two of the provinces, he had 
 acquired that knowledge which the British ministry could 
 not, and some provincial Governors would not, acquire. 
 
 It might have been supposed, that the very unsatisfac 
 tory result of the previous half-measures of this kind 
 would have deterred any minister from a repetition of 
 them. It displays as little knowledge of the construction 
 of the human mind, as attention to the history of popular 
 agitations, to intermingle professions of kindness with 
 threats, or concessions with expressions of insult. 
 
 The Colonies however would probably have assumed a 
 less agitated aspect had not other circumstances existed 
 to ferment and perpetuate feelings of hostility. .Among 
 these, the continued presence of troops of the line in Bos 
 ton was one of the most aggravating. The inhabitants 
 
560 WASHINGTON. 
 
 felt that their remaining stationed in the place was designed 
 to overawe and control the expression of their sentiments, 
 and the military appear to have viewed the matter in the 
 same light. Under the excitement that was thus occa 
 sioned, affrays were frequently occurring between the 
 populace and the soldiers; and it would appear that, as 
 might be expected, neither party conducted themselves 
 with prudence or forbearance. On the one hand, the sol 
 diers are represented as parading the town armed with 
 heavy clubs, insulting and seeking occasion to quarrel 
 with the people;* while on the other, the populace are 
 declared to be the aggressors, and the military to have 
 acted on the defensive.! It was proposed by Samuel 
 Adams, the most resolute and daring of the Boston pa 
 triots, that the General Court should have the soldiers 
 removed to Castle William; but the meeting of that body 
 appointed for the loth of January (1770), was prorogued 
 by Hutchinson to the middle of March. This was said to 
 be done under an arbitrary instruction of Lord Hills- 
 borough. 
 
 A quarrel took place between the merchants who had 
 signed the nonimportation agreement and Hutchinson, 
 whose sons had signed and broken it, by selling tea, in 
 which the Lieutenant-Governor was obliged to yield. This 
 was thought by the British party to furnish a good occa 
 sion for an attack on the people by the troops; and Colonel 
 Dalrymple prepared his men for the purpose. But al 
 though repeated assemblages took place among the mer 
 chants and the people, Hutchinson was afraid to order an 
 attack on them. 
 
 Intelligence received from New York of repeated affrays 
 between the people and the soldiers stationed there served 
 
 * Bradford, " History of Massachusetts," p. 205. 
 t Hutchison, p. 270. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 561 
 
 to increase the ferment in Boston. The soldiers in the 
 latter place were more licentious, and under less restraint 
 from their officers, than they had ever been before; and 
 the boys and idlers exasperated them by calling them 
 rascals, bloody backs, and lobster scoundrels. Matters 
 were rapidly drawing to a crisis. 
 
 On the 2d of March (1770), a private soldier of the 
 Twentieth regiment, applying for employment at Gray's 
 rope-walk, was refused in an insulting manner, which led 
 to a boxing-match with one of the ropemakers, in which 
 the soldier was beaten and driven away. He returned with 
 other soldiers. A riot ensued, in which clubs and cutlasses 
 were employed, which was terminated by the interference 
 of Mr. Gray and others. This trifling affair undoubtedly 
 had an influence in producing the more serious collision 
 which took place a few days afterward. In the meantime, 
 the people of the surrounding country sympathized deeply 
 with the Bostonians, and were ready to support them 
 against the soldiers. A great part of the people of Massa 
 chusetts had been engaged in military service in the colo 
 nial wars. 
 
 Early in the evening of the 5th of March, the inhabitants 
 were observed to assemble in different quarters of the 
 town; parties of soldiers were also driving about the 
 streets, as if both the one and the other had something 
 more than ordinary upon their minds. About 8 o'clock, 
 one of the bells of the town was rung in such a manner as 
 if for an alarm of fire. This called the people into the 
 streets. A large number assembled in the market place, 
 not far from King street, armed with bludgeons or clubs. 
 
 A small affray between some of the inhabitants and the 
 
 soldiers arose at or near the barracks, at the west part of 
 
 the town, but it was of little importance and was soon 
 
 over. A sentinel who was posted at the custom-house, 
 
 36 
 
562 WASHINGTON. 
 
 not far from the main guard, was next insulted, and pelted 
 with ice and other missiles, which caused him to call to 
 the main guard to protect him. 
 
 Notice was soon given to Captain Preston, whose com 
 pany was then on guard, and a sergeant with six men was 
 sent to protect the sentinel; but the captain, to prevent 
 any precipitate action, followed them himself. There 
 seem to have been but few people collected when the as 
 sault was first made on the sentinel; but the sergeant's 
 guard drew a greater number together, and they were 
 more insulted than the sentinel had been, and received fre 
 quent blows from snowballs and lumps of ice. Captain 
 Preston thereupon ordered them to charge; but this was 
 no discouragement to the assailants, who continued to 
 pelt the guard, daring them to fire. Some of the people 
 who were behind the soldiers, and observed the abuse of 
 them, called on them to do so. At length one received a 
 blow with a club, which brought him to the ground; but 
 rising again he immediately fired, killing a mulatto named 
 Crispus Attucks ; all the rest of the soldiers fired, except one. 
 
 This seems, from the evidence on the trials, and the 
 observation of persons present, to have been the course of 
 the material facts. Three men were killed, two mortally 
 wounded, who died soon after, and several slightly 
 wounded. The soldiers immediately withdrew to the main 
 guard, which was strengthened by additional companies. 
 Two or three of the persons who had seen the action ran 
 to the Lieutenant-Governor's (Hutchinson's) house,* 
 
 * Hutchison, as Lieutenant-Governor, had succeeded Sir Fran 
 cis Bernard in the administration of affairs in Massachusetts. He 
 was subsequently appointed Governor. Although an American 
 by birth he was a bitter Tory; and excelled even the Earl of 
 Strafford himself in tyranny and duplicity. His character is well 
 described by Mr. Bancroft in his " History of the United States," 
 vol. VI, pp. 303-306. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 563 
 
 which was about half a mile distant, and begged he would 
 go to King street,* where they feared a general action 
 would come on between the troops and the inhabitants. 
 He went immediately; and to satisfy the people, called for 
 Captain Preston, and inquired why he had fired upon the 
 inhabitants without the direction of a civil magistrate. 
 The noise was so great that his answer could not be under 
 stood; and some persons, who were apprehensive of the 
 Lieutenant-Governor's danger from the general confusion 
 called out: "The town-house! The town-house!" when, 
 with irresistible violence, he was forced up by the crowd 
 into the council chamber. 
 
 There demand was immediately made of him to order the 
 troops to withdraw from the town-house into their bar 
 racks. He refused; but calling from the balcony to the 
 great body of people who remained in the street, he ex 
 pressed his great concern at the unhappy event; assured 
 them he would do everything in his power to obtain a 
 full and impartial inquiry, that the law might have its 
 course; and advised them) to go peaceably to their homes. 
 Upon this there was a cry, " Home, home! " and a great 
 part separated and went home. He then signified his 
 opinion to Lieutenant-Colonel Carr, that if the companies 
 in arms were ordered to their barracks the streets would 
 be cleared, and the town in quiet for that night. Upon 
 their retiring, the rest of the inhabitants, except those in 
 the council chamber, retired also. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, at the desire of the Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor, came to the council chamber, where 
 several justices were examining persons who were present 
 at the transaction of the evening. From the evidence, it 
 was apparent that the justices would commit Captain 
 Preston, if taken. Several hours passed before he could 
 *Now called State street. 
 
564 WASHINGTON. 
 
 be found, and the people suspected that he would not run 
 the hazard of a trial; but at length he surrendered himself 
 to a warrant for apprehending him, and having been ex 
 amined, was committed to prison. The next morning, the 
 soldiers who were upon guard surrendered also, and were 
 committed. 
 
 This was not sufficient to satisfy the people, and early 
 in the forenoon they were in motion again. The Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor caused his council to be summoned, and 
 desired the two lieutenant-colonels of the regiments to be 
 present. The selectmen of Boston were waiting for the 
 Lieutenant-Governor's coming to council, and being ad 
 mitted, made their representation, that from the conten 
 tions arising from the troops quartered in Boston, and 
 above all, from the tragedy of the last night, the minds of 
 the inhabitants were exceedingly disturbed; that they 
 would presently be assembled in a town meeting; and that 
 unless the troops should be removed, the most terrible 
 consequences were to be expected. 
 
 The justices, also of Boston, and several of the neigh 
 boring towns, had assembled and desired to signify their 
 opinion, that it would not be possible to keep the people 
 under restraint if the troops remained in town. The Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor acquainted both the selectmen and the 
 justices, that he had no authority to alter the place of desti 
 nation of the King's troops; but that he had expected the 
 commanding officers of the two regiments, and would let 
 them know the applications which had been made. Pres 
 ently after their coming, a large committee from the town 
 meeting presented an address to the Lieutenant-Governor, 
 declaring it to be the unanimous opinion of the meeting, 
 that nothing could rationally be expected to restore the 
 peace of the town, " and prevent blood and carnage," but 
 the immediate removal of the troops. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 565 
 
 The committee withdrew into another room to wait for 
 an answer. Some of the council urged the necessity of 
 complying with the people's demand; but the Lieutenant- 
 Governor declared that he would, upon no consideration 
 whatever, give orders for their removal. Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Dalrymple then signified, that as the Twenty-ninth 
 regiment had originally been designed to be placed at the 
 castle, and was now peculiarly obnoxious to the town, he 
 was content that it should be removed to the castle until 
 the general's pleasure should be known. 
 
 The committee was informed of this offer, and the Lieu 
 tenant-Governor rose from council, intending to receive 
 no further application upon this subject; but the council 
 prayed that he would meet them again in the afternoon, 
 and Colonel Dalrymple desiring it also, he complied. 
 
 Before the council met again, it had been intimated to 
 them, that the " desire " of the Governor and council to 
 the commanding officer to remove the troops would cause 
 him to do it, though he should receive no* authoritative 
 " order." As soon as they met, a committe t e from the town 
 meeting attended with a second message, to acquaint the 
 Lieutenant-Governor that it was the unanimous voice of 
 the people assembled, consisting as they said, of near three 
 thousand persons, that nothing less than a total and im 
 mediate removal of the troops would satisfy them.* Ulti 
 mately the scruples of the Lieutenant-Governor were over 
 come, and he expressed his desire that the troops should 
 be wholly withdrawn from the town to the castle, which 
 was accordingly done. The funeral of the victims was at 
 tended with extraordinary pomp. Most of the shops were 
 closed, all the bells of the town tolled on the occasion, and 
 the corpses were followed to the grave by an immense con 
 course of people, arranged six abreast, the procession 
 * Hutchison, pp. 272-275. 
 
566 WASHINGTON. 
 
 being closed by a long train of carriages belonging to 
 the principal gentry of the town.* Captain Preston and 
 the party of soldiers were afterward tried. The captain 
 and six of the men were acquitted, and two were brought 
 in guilty of manslaughter; a result which reflected great 
 honor on John Adams and Josiah Quincy, the counsel for 
 prisoners, and on tHe jury.f 
 
 The General Court met in March (1770), soon after the 
 affair of the Boston massacre. Hutchinson had appointed 
 Cambridge as the place of meeting, and a great part of 
 the session, which lasted till November, was consumed 
 in altercations between him and the members in discussions 
 on the constitutionality of his changing the place where 
 the session was to be held. At length the General Court 
 closed its session by prorogation, after having resolved, 
 among other things, to promote industry and frugality, and 
 to encourage the use of domestic manufactures through 
 out the province; and having appointed a committee of 
 correspondence to communicate with the agents of Great 
 Britain, and with the committees of the Colonies. The 
 first of these resolutions of the Massachusetts Assembly, 
 namely, to discourage the use of foreign articles, had been 
 adopted in consequence of a determination 7 of the mer 
 chants of Boston, made during the present session, by 
 which they agreed to alter their nonimportation agree 
 ment, and to adopt the plan, which had been for some 
 time followed in New York and in Philadelphia, of im 
 porting all the usual articles of trade except tea, which it 
 was unanimously agreed should not be brought into the 
 country unless it could be smuggled. 
 
 The same month that witnessed the close of this session 
 of the Massachusetts General Court was marked by the 
 
 * Gordon's " History," vol. I, p. 290. 
 
 t Quincy's " Life of Josiah Quincy," pp. 31-66. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 567 
 
 decease of the celebrated George Grenville, who had made 
 himself so conspicuous as the originator of the Stamp Act. 
 Lord Botetourt, Governor of Virginia, also died in the 
 autumn of this year (October 15). The close of his admin 
 istration was darkened by events which gave him great 
 uneasiness. The Virginians, who had received with so 
 much gratification the announcement made through him 
 of the good intentions of the ministry toward the Colonists, 
 were deeply disgusted with the partial repeal of the revenue 
 laws, and loudly expressed their discontent. Lord Botf 
 tourt, conceiving himself to have been deceived by the 
 ministry, demanded his discharge; but before its arrival, 
 he fell sick of a bilious fever which soon terminated his 
 life. The statue erected to his memory by order of the 
 House of Burgesses, is still standing at Williamsburg. 
 
 Note. Francis Bernard, Governor of Massachusetts, frequently 
 mentioned in this chapter, was the Governor of New Jersey after 
 Governor Belcher, in 1758. He succeeded Governor Pownall, of 
 Massachusetts, in 1760. He governed the province for nine years, 
 during one of the most interesting periods of American history. 
 The first part of his administration was very agreeable to the 
 General Court, and much harmony prevailed for two or three 
 years. 
 
 Two parties had long existed in the province, the advocates of 
 the crown, and the defenders of the rights of the people. Gov 
 ernor Bernard was soon classed with those who were desirous of 
 strengthening the royal authority in America; the Sons of Liberty 
 therefore uniformly opposed him. His indiscretion in appoint 
 ing Mr. Hutchison chief justice, instead of giving that office to 
 Colonel Otis, of Barnstable, to whom it had been promised by 
 Shirley, proved very injurious to him. In consequence of this 
 appointment he lost the influence of Colonel Otis, and by yield 
 ing himself to Mr. Hutchison, drew upon himself the hostility 
 of James Otis, the son, a man of great talents, who soon became 
 the leader on the popular side. 
 
 The causes which finally brought on the American Revolution 
 
568 WASHINGTON. 
 
 were then operating. Governor Bernard possessed no talent for 
 conciliation; he endeavored to accomplish ministerial purposes 
 by force; and the spirit of freedom gained strength from the open 
 manner in which he attempted to crush it. He was the principal 
 means of bringing the troops to Boston, that he might overawe 
 the people; and it was owing to him that they were retained in 
 the town. He endeavored to obtain an alteration of the charter, 
 in order to transfer the right of electing the council from the 
 General Court to the crown. 
 
 This attempt, though it drew upon him the indignation of the 
 province, was so pleasing to the ministry that he was created a 
 baronet in 1769. One of his last public measures was the pro 
 roguing of the General Court, in consequence of their refusing 
 to make provision for the support of the troops. It was found 
 necessary to recall him. He died in England in June, 1779. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WASHINGTON VISITS THE WESTERN COUNTRY. 
 
 1770. 
 
 IN the autumn of 1770, Washington made a tour in the 
 western country which lasted nine weeks (October 
 5, to December). His immediate object was to in 
 spect certain lands which had been designated to be 
 granted to the officers and soldiers of Virginia, who had 
 served in the French War. 
 
 An order of council of the i8th of February, 1754, 
 followed by a proclamation of Governor Dinwiddie, 
 promising some 200,000 acres of what we now call military 
 bounty lands, had its effect in inducing the enlistment oi 
 soldiers who had subsequently " behaved so much to the 
 satisfaction of the country, as to be honored with the most 
 public acknowledgments of it by the Assembly."* The 
 claims of the officers and soldiers to these lands had long 
 been resisted by the British ministry and the authorities 
 in Virginia; and were now threatened with defeat by a 
 proposed grant of land to a Mr. Walpole (a British banker) 
 and others, which would have comprehended at least four- 
 fifths of this very land, properly belonging to the officers 
 and soldiers, for the purchase and survey of which the 
 government had recently voted 2,500 sterling.! 
 
 'Washington's letter to Lord Botetourt, April 15, 1770. See 
 Sparks, " Writings of Washington," vol. II, p. 358. 
 
 t Washington's letter to Lord Botetourt, April 15, 1770. See 
 Sparks, " Writings of Washington," vol. II, p. 357. 
 
 (569) 
 
70 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Washington had used great exertions, and spent a 
 large sum of money in urging these claims. He had set 
 forth their justice and equity in a correspondence with 
 Lord Botetourt, whose intercession with the ministry he 
 strongly solicited; and at a subsequent period (June 15, 
 1771), it formed the subject of a letter to Lord Dunmore, 
 in which he requests to be informed respecting the truth 
 of a report that the " Walpole Grant " had actually been 
 made. 
 
 Washington's exertions in this good cause were crowned 
 with success, and every officer and soldier received his 
 proper share of the land. " Even Vanbraam," says Mr. 
 Sparks,* "who was believed to have deceived him at the 
 Great Meadows, and who went as a hostage to Canada, 
 thence to England, and never returned to America, was not 
 forgotten in the distribution. His share was reserved, 
 and he was informed that it was at his disposal." 
 
 It was while this affair was in progress, that Washing 
 ton made his tour to the West for the purpose of inspect 
 ing the bounty lands, and selecting for the surveys such 
 tracts as were really valuable. It was one of those disin 
 terested and public spirited actions, which abound through 
 out his whole career. 
 
 In this tour he was accompanied by his friend and 
 physician, Dr. Craik, who had been with him in Braddock's 
 expedition. They were attended by three negro servants, 
 and the whole party was mounted. They set out on the 
 5th of October (1770), and in twelve days arrived at Fort 
 Pitt (old Fort Duquesne). The following extract from 
 Washington's journal of the tour informs us how the party 
 were entertained at Fort Pitt, and in its neighborhood 
 during their stay, by the officers of the garrison and Wash- 
 
 * Life of Washington." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 571 
 
 ington's old acquaintance, George Croghan, now Colonel 
 Croghan, deputy agent to Sir William Johnson :* 
 
 " October i/th. Dr. Craik and myself, with Captain 
 Crawford and others, arrived at Fort Pitt, distant from the 
 Crossing, forty-three and a half measured miles. In riding 
 this distance we passed over a great deal of exceedingly 
 fine land, chiefly white oak, especially from Sewickly Creek 
 to Turtle Creek; but the whole broken, resembling as I 
 think all the lands in this country do, the Loudoun lands. 
 We lodged in what is called the town, distant about 300 
 yards from the fort, at one Mr. Semple's, who keeps a very 
 good house of public entertainment. The houses, which 
 are built of logs and ranged in streets, are on the Monon- 
 gahela, and I suppose may be about twenty in number, and 
 inhabited by Indian traders. The fort is built on the point 
 between the rivers Alleghany and Monongahela, but not 
 so near the pitch of it as Fort Duquesne stood. It is 
 five-sided and regular, two of which, near the land, are of 
 brick; the others stockade. A moat encompasses it. The 
 garrison consists of two companies of Royal Irish, com 
 manded by Captain Edmondson. 
 
 " 1 8th. Dined in the fort with Colonel Croghan and the 
 officers of the garrison; supped there also, meeting with 
 great civility from the gentlemen, and engaged to dine 
 with Colonel Croghan the next day at his seat, about four 
 miles up the Alleghany. 
 
 " iQth. Received a message from Colonel Croghan, that 
 the White Mingo and other chiefs of the Six Nations had 
 something to say to me, and desiring that I would be at 
 his house about u, where they were to meet. I went 
 up and received a speech, with a string of wampum, from 
 the White Mingo to the following effect: 
 
 * The " Journal " is given in Sparks, " Writings of Washington," 
 vol. II, p. 516. 
 
572 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " ' That as I was a person whom some of them remem 
 ber to have seen when I was sent on an embassy to the 
 French, and most of them had heard of, they were come to 
 bid me welcome to this country, and to desire that the peo 
 ple of Virginia would consider them as friends and broth 
 ers, linked together in one chain ; that I would inform the 
 Governor, that it was their wish to live in peace and har 
 mony with the white people, and that though there had 
 been some unhappy differences between them and the 
 people upon our frontiers, they were all made up, and they 
 hoped forgotten; and concluded with saying, that their 
 brothers of Virginia did not come among them and trade 
 as the inhabitants of the other provinces did, from whence 
 they were afraid that we did not look upon them with so 
 friendly an eye as they could wish/ 
 
 "To this I answered, after thanking them for their 
 friendly welcome, ' that all the injuries and affronts that 
 had passed on either side were now totally forgotten, and 
 that I was sure nothing was more wished and desired by 
 the people of Virginia, than to live in the strictest friend 
 ship with them; that the Virginians were a people not so 
 much engaged in trade as the Pennsylvanians, which was 
 the reason of their not being so frequently among them ; 
 but that it was possible they might, for the time to come, 
 have stricter connections with them, and that I would ac 
 quaint the government with their desires/ 
 
 'After dining at Colonel Croghan's we returned to Pitts- 
 burg, Colonel Croghan with us, who intended to accom 
 pany us part of the way down the river, having engaged an 
 Indian called The Pheasant, and one Joseph Nicholson, an 
 interpreter, to attend us the whole voyage; also a young 
 Indian warrior." 
 
 The party were now obliged to leave their horses, and 
 descend the Ohio some 265 miles to the Great Kenhawa. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 573 
 
 This part of the journey was through a perfect wilderness. 
 There were no settlers on the Ohio river below Pittsburg. 
 The Indians were sole possessors of the country. A few 
 adventurers in search of lands had been the only visitors 
 to what is now one of the most cultivated, rich, and beauti 
 ful regions in the United States. 
 
 As they proceeded down the river in a large open canoe, 
 entirely unprotected from the inclemency of the autumn 
 weather, they were under the necessity of landing every 
 night, and encamping in the woods. Occasionally they left 
 the canoe in the daytime, for the purpose of examining 
 the lands or for hunting. This thickly wooded region at 
 that early time abounded in choice game. Deer, buffaloes, 
 wild turkeys, ducks, and geese were found in plenty; and 
 Washington, who delighted in hunting, had ample oppor 
 tunities for enjoying his favorite recreation. 
 
 The first two days of the voyage down the river are 
 thus noticed in the journal: 
 
 " October 2Oth (1770). We embarked in a large canoe, 
 with sufficient store of provision and necessaries, and the 
 following persons, besides Dr. Craik and myself, to wit, 
 Captain Crawford, Joseph Nicholson, Robert Bell, Wil 
 liam Harrison, Charles Morgan, and Daniel Rendon, a boy 
 of Captain Crawford's, and the Indians, who were in a 
 canoe by themselves. From Fort Pitt we sent our horses 
 and boys back to Captain Crawford's, with orders to meet 
 us there again on the I4th day of November. Colonel 
 Croghan, Lieutenant Hamilton, and Mr. Magee set out 
 with us. At 2 we dined at Mr. Magee's, and encamped 
 ten miles below, and four above Logstown. We passed 
 several large islands which appeared to be very good, as 
 the bottoms also did on each side of the river alternately; 
 the hills on one side being opposite to the bottoms on 
 
574 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the other, which seemed generally to be about three or 
 four hundred yards wide, and so vice versa. 
 
 " 2 1 st. Left our encampment about 6 o'clock and break 
 fasted at Logstown, where we parted with Colonel Cro- 
 ghan and company about 9 o'clock. At n we came to 
 the mouth of the Big Beaver creek, opposite to which is 
 a good situation for a house, and above it on the same 
 side, that is, the west, there appears to be a body of fine 
 land. About five miles lower down, on the east side, 
 comes in Raccoon creek, at the mouth of which and up it 
 appears to be a body of good land also. All the land 
 between this creek and the Monongahela and for fifteen 
 miles back is claimed by Colonel Croghan under a pur 
 chase from the Indians, which sale, he says, is confirmed 
 by His Majesty. On this creek, where the branches 
 thereof interlock with the water of Shurtees creek, there 
 is, according to Colonel Croghan's account, a body of fine, 
 rich, level land. This tract he wants to sell, and offers it 
 at 5 sterling per hundred acres, with an exemption of 
 quit-rents for twenty years; after which, to be subject to 
 the payment of 45. and 2 sterling per hundred acres ; pro 
 vided he can sell it in ten-thousand-acre lots. At present 
 the unsettled state of this country renders any purchase 
 dangerous. From Racoon creek to Little Beaver creek 
 appears to me to be little short of ten miles, and about 
 three miles below this we encamped, after hiding a barrel 
 of biscuit in an island to lighten our canoe." 
 
 In these extracts from the journal, as well as in those 
 that follow, it will be observed that Washington does not 
 forget the main object of the tour, the selection, namely, 
 of good lands for the soldiers of the Seven Years' War. 
 His usual prudence is apparent in the remark on Cro 
 ghan's offer of an opportunity for speculating in land. 
 Washington was by no means averse however to invest- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 575 
 
 ing his money in wild lands; and he subsequently, as we 
 shall have occasion to remark, bought large tracts and 
 became interested in companies whose object it was to 
 form settlements in the rich and beautiful region which 
 he was now visiting. 
 
 The next extract from the journal refers to the dan 
 gers, but the writer does not complain, as travelers gen 
 erally do, of the discomforts and hardships of the voyage. 
 It also gives us a glimpse of the Indians and a specimen 
 of the hunting excursions of the voyagers. It also refers 
 to an alarm of Indian, hostility, which happily proved 
 groundless : 
 
 " October 22d. As it began to snow about midnight 
 and continued pretty steadily, it was about 7:30 before 
 we left our encampment. At the distance of about eight 
 miles we came to the mouth of Yellow creek, opposite 
 to, or rather, below which, appears to be a long bottom 
 of very good land, and the ascent to the hills apparently 
 gradual. There is another pretty large bottom of very 
 good land about two or three miles above this. About 
 eleven or twelve miles from this, and just above what is 
 called the Long Island (which, though so distinguished, 
 is not very remarkable for length, breadth, or goodness), 
 comes in on the east side of the river a small creek or 
 run, the name of which I could not learn; and a mile or 
 two below the island, on the west side, comes in Big Stony 
 creek (not larger in appearance than the other), on neither 
 of which does there seem to be any large bottoms or 
 bodies of good land. About seven miles from the last- 
 mentioned creek, twenty-eight from our last encampment, 
 and about seventy-five from Pittsburg, we came to the 
 Mirigo town, situate on the west side of the river, a little 
 above the Cross creeks. This place contains about twenty 
 cabins and seventy inhabitants of the Six Nations. Had 
 
576 WASHINGTON. 
 
 we set off early and kept constantly at it we might have 
 reached lower than this place to-day, as the water in many 
 places ran pretty swift, in general more so than yester 
 day. The river from Fort Pitt to Logstown has some 
 ugly rifts and shoals, which we found somewhat difficult 
 to pass, whether from our inexperience of the channel or 
 not I cannot undertake to say. From Logstown to the 
 mouth of Little Beaver creek is much the same kind of 
 water; that is, rapid in some places, gliding gently along 
 in others, and quite still in many. The water from Little 
 Beaver creek to the Mingo town in general is swifter 
 than we found it the preceding day, and without any shal 
 lows; there being some one part or another always deep, 
 which is a natural consequence, as the river in all the dis 
 tance from Fort Pitt to this town has not widened at all, 
 nor do the bottoms appear to be any larger. The hills 
 which come close to the river opposite to each bottom 
 are steep, and on the side in view, in many places rocky 
 and cragged, but said to abound in good land on the tops. 
 These are not a range of hills, but broken and cut in two, 
 as if there were frequent watercourses running through, 
 which however we did not perceive to be the case. The 
 river abounds in wild geese and several kinds of ducks, 
 but in no great quantity. We killed five wild turkeys to 
 day. Upon our arrival at the Mingo town we received the 
 disagreeable news of two traders being killed at a town 
 called the Grape-Vine town, thirty-eight miles below this, 
 which caused us to hesitate whether we should proceed 
 or wait for further intelligence." 
 
 The sequel of this affair is thus noticed in the record 
 of events on the 24th and 25th of October: 
 
 " Two or three miles below the Pipe creek is a pretty 
 large creek on the west side, called by Nicholson, Fox- 
 Grape Vine, by others Captema, creek, on which, eight 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 577 
 
 miles up, is the town called the Grape- Vine town; and at 
 the mouth of it is the place where it is said the trader was 
 killed. To this place we came about 3 o'clock in the 
 afternoon, and finding nobody there we agreed to encamp, 
 that Nicholson and one of the Indians might go up to the 
 town and inquire into the truth of the report concerning 
 the murder. 
 
 " 25th. About 7 o'clock Nicholson and the Indian re 
 turned ; they found nobody at the town but two old Indian 
 women (the men being a hunting) ; from these they learned 
 that the trader was not murdered, but drowned hi at 
 tempting to cross the Ohio; and that only one boy, be 
 longing to the traders, was in these parts; the trader, his 
 father, being gone for horses to take home their skins. 
 About half an hour after 7 we set out from our encamp 
 ment, around which and up the creek is a body of fine 
 land. In our passage down to this place we saw innu 
 merable quantities of turkeys, and many deer watering 
 and browsing on the shore side, some of which we killed." 
 
 On the next day, near Long Reach, the party encoun 
 tered traders, from whom they learn more particulars 
 about the false alarm: 
 
 "At the end of this reach we found Martin and Lindsay, 
 two traders, and from them learnt that the person drowned 
 was one Philips, attempting, in company with Rogers, 
 another Indian trader, to swim the river with their horses 
 at an improper place; Rogers himself narrowly escaping." 
 
 In the following record of the proceedings on the 28th 
 of October, we find an exquisite picture of Indian life and 
 manners : 
 
 " 28th. Left our encampment about 7 o'clock. Two 
 miles below, a small run comes in on the east side, through 
 a piece of land that has a very good appearance, the bot 
 tom beginning above our encampment and continuing in 
 27 
 
578 WASHINGTON. 
 
 appearance wide for four miles down, where we found 
 Kiashuta and his hunting party encamped. Here we were 
 under the necessity of paying our compliments, as this 
 person was one of the Six Nation chiefs, and the head 
 of those upon this river. In the person of Kiashuta I 
 found an old acquaintance, he being one of the Indians 
 that went with me to the French in 1753. He expressed 
 a satisfaction at seeing me, and treated us with great 
 kindness, giving us a quarter of very fine buffalo. He 
 insisted upon our spending ^that night with him, and, in 
 order to retard us as little as possible, moved his camp 
 down the river just below the mouth of a creek, the name 
 of which I could not learn. At this place we all encamped. 
 After much counseling over night, they all came to my 
 fire the next morning with great formality, when Kia 
 shuta, rehearsing what had passed between me and the 
 sachems at Colonel Croghan's, thanked me for saying 
 that peace and friendship with them were the wish of the 
 people of Virginia, and for recommending it to the traders 
 to deal with them upon a fair and equitable footing; and 
 then again expressed their desire of having a trade opened 
 with Virginia, and that the Governor thereof might not 
 only be made acquainted therewith, but with their friendly 
 disposition toward the white people. This I promised 
 to do. 
 
 " 29th. The tedious ceremony which the Indians ob 
 serve in their counselings and speeches detained us till 
 9 o'clock." 
 
 In the following record of the 3ist of October, and the 
 two following days, we find the travelers at the farthest 
 point they had proposed to visit, the Great Kenhawa 
 river : 
 
 " 3 1 st. I sent the canoe down about five miles to the 
 junction of the two rivers, that is, the Kenhawa with the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 579 
 
 Ohio, and set out upon a hunting party to view the land. 
 We steered nearly east for about eight or nine miles, then 
 bore southwardly and westwardly till we came to our 
 camp at the confluence of the rivers. The land from the 
 rivers appeared but indifferent and very broken; whether 
 these ridges may not be those that divide the waters of 
 the Ohio from the Kenhawa is not certain, but I believe 
 they are; if so, the lands may yet be good; if not, that 
 which lies beyond the river bottoms is worth little. 
 
 " November ist (1770). Before 8 o'clock we set off with 
 our canoe up the river, to discover what kind of lands lay 
 upon the Kenhawa. The land on both sides this river, 
 just at the mouth, is very fine, but on the east side, when 
 you get toward the hills, which I judge to be about 600 
 or 700 yards from the river, it appears to be wet, and 
 better adapted for meadow than tillage. This bottom 
 continues up the east side for about two miles; and by 
 going up the Ohio a good tract might be got of bottom 
 land, including the old Shawnee town, which is about 
 three miles up the Ohio, just above the mouth of a creek. 
 We judged we went up the Kenhawa about ten miles to 
 day. On the east side appear to be some good bottoms, 
 but small, neither long nor wide, and the hills back of 
 them rather steep and poor. 
 
 " 2d. We proceeded up the river with the canoe about 
 four miles farther, and then encamped and went a hunting; 
 killed five buffaloes and wounded some others, three deer, 
 etc. This country abounds in buffaloes and wild game 
 of all kinds, as also in all kinds of wild fowl, there being 
 in the bottoms a great many small, grassy ponds or lakes, 
 which are full of swans, geese, and ducks of different 
 kinds." 
 
 The following notice of the first day on tihe return voy- 
 
580 WASHINGTON. 
 
 age is exceedingly characteristic of Washington's methodi 
 cal and business-like habits: 
 
 " 3d. We set off down the river on our return home 
 ward and encamped at the mouth. At the beginning of 
 the bottom above the junction of the rivers, and at the 
 mouth of a branch on the east side, I marked two maples, 
 an elm, and hoop-wood tree as a corner of the soldiers' 
 land (if we can get it), intending to take all the bottom 
 from hence to the rapids in the Great Bend into one 
 survey. I also marked at the mouth of another run lower 
 down on the west side, at the lower end of the long bot 
 tom, an ash and hoop-wood for the beginning of another 
 of the soldiers' survey, to extend up so as to include all 
 the bottom in a body on the west side. In coming from 
 our last encampment up the Kenhawa, I endeavored to 
 take the courses and distances of the river by a pocket- 
 compass and by guessing." 
 
 In the following memorandum Kiashuta again comes 
 upon the stage: 
 
 " 6th. We left our encampment a little after daylight, 
 and after about five miles we came to Kiashuta's hunting 
 camp, which was now removed to the mouth of that creek, 
 noted October 2Qth for having fallen timber at the mouth 
 of it, in a bottom of good land. By kindness and idle 
 ceremony of the Indians, I was detained at Kiashuta's 
 camp all the remaining part of this day." 
 
 From Kiashuta, Washington, on this occasion, obtained 
 much valuable information respecting the topography of 
 that part of the neighboring country which he had not 
 seen; and this information is entered in detail on the jour 
 nal evidently for future reference. The portion of the 
 journal from the Qth to the i7th of November was so 
 much injured by an accident that it could not be tran 
 scribed for publication; but the record for the I7th, the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 581 
 
 day of their arrival at Mingo town, contains an extended 
 notice of the rivers and lands the party had visited, as 
 well as of the Indians and their disposition toward land 
 speculators and squatters, who had already commenced 
 operations on the land lying between the Ohio river and 
 the recognized boundary of Virginia. 
 
 At Mingo town the party brought their boating excur 
 sion to an end. On the i8th of November, Washington 
 agreed with two Delaware Indians to take the canoe up 
 to Fort Pitt, and on the 2Oth, their horses having been 
 brought to them, the party set forward for Fort Pitt, 
 where they arrived the next day. 
 
 The record of the 22d mentions Dr. Connolly, after 
 ward distinguished in the history of the western country 
 as a large operator in lands and in colonization. The 
 reader will notice that in this and several previous ex 
 tracts Pittsburg is mentioned; this name, it seems, being 
 already given to the little cluster of log cabins just com 
 menced near the site of Fort Pitt (old Fort Duquesne) : 
 
 " 22d. Stayed at Pittsburg all day. Invited the officers 
 and some other gentlemen to dinner with me at Semple's, 
 among whom was one Dr. Connolly, nephew to Colonel 
 Croghan, a very sensible, intelligent man, who had trav 
 eled over a good deal of this western country both by 
 land and water, and who confirms Nicholson's account of 
 the good land on the Shawnee river, up which he had 
 been near 400 miles. This country (I mean on the Shaw- 
 nee river), according to Dr. Connolly's description, must 
 be exceedingly desirable on many accounts. The climate 
 is fine, the soil remarkably good, the lands well watered 
 with good streams, and level enough for any kind of cul 
 tivation. Besides these advantages from nature, it has 
 others not less important to a new settlement, particu 
 larly game, which is so plentiful as to render the trans- 
 
582 WASHINGTON. 
 
 portation of provisions thither, bread only excepted, alto 
 gether unnecessary. Dr. Connolly is so much delighted 
 with the lands and climate on that river that he wishes for 
 nothing more than to induce 100 families to go there and 
 live, that he might be among them. A new and most de 
 sirable government might be established there, to be 
 bounded, according to his account, by the Ohio north 
 ward and westward, by the ridge that divides the waters 
 of the Tennessee or Cherokee river southward and west 
 ward, and a line to be run from the Falls of the Ohio, or 
 above, so as to cross the Shawnee river above the fork 
 of it. Dr. Connolly gives much the same account of the 
 land between Fort Chartres, in the Illinois country, and 
 Post St. Vincent that Nicholson does, except in the article 
 of water, which the doctor says is bad and in the summer 
 scarce, there being little else than stagnant water to be 
 met with." 
 
 On the 23d of November (1770), Washington set out 
 on his return to Mount Vernon, which he reached on the 
 ist of December, after an absence of nine weeks and one 
 day. The journal of his tour, from which we have made 
 such copious extracts, shows the laborious and fatiguing 
 nature of traveling in the wilderness; but it was also at 
 tended with a species of danger still more formidable than 
 any which he actually encountered. This was the hostility 
 of the Indians, who had recently been engaged in war 
 with the British colonists, and who, soon after this tour 
 of Washington, again attacked them, and a bloody war 
 ensued, of which the principal battle took place on the 
 banks of the Great Kenhawa, which had so recently been 
 visited by Washington and his party. 
 
 Washington intended to make another tour to the West 
 shortly after his return, in company with Lord Dunmore, 
 Governor of Virginia, successor to Lord Botetourt. But 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 583 
 
 he was prevented by severe domestic affliction from ful 
 filling his purpose. This was occasioned by the death of 
 Miss Custis, the only daughter of Mrs. Washington. 
 
 " The long, severe, and fatal illness of Mrs. Washing 
 ton's daughter," says Mrs. Kirkland,* " was the darkest 
 cloud that overspread Mount Vernon for many years of 
 quiet time. The feeble child was the darling of her mother; 
 and her prolonged suffering made large drafts, not only 
 upon the tender mother, but upon the kind stepfather; 
 and when at length she died, Washington, who was just 
 setting out upon a long journey of exploration, prepara 
 tory to the purchase of some tracts of land at the West, 
 gave up the expedition and staid at home to comfort and 
 cheer his wife under her great affliction. Mrs. Lewis, 
 granddaughter of Mrs. Washington, says that on the occa 
 sion of this young lady's death, Washington exhibited a 
 passionate excess of feeling falling on his knees at the 
 bedside and praying aloud and with tears that she might 
 be spared, unconscious that, even as he spoke, life had 
 departed. We find by his diary after this time that he 
 took Mrs. Washington out every day, driving about the 
 neighborhood and calling on intimate friends, endeavoring 
 by exercise in the open air and by the society of those she 
 loved to turn her thoughts from the too constant con 
 templation of her loss. She was a woman of strong af 
 fections, very quiet and retiring in her habits, and de 
 voted to her family; and Washington's sympathy was 
 never wanting when she suffered from loss or separation." 
 *" Memoirs of Washington/' p. 202. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 POLITICAL UNION OF THE COLONIES. 
 
 I77I-I773. 
 
 IN March, 1771, Hutchinson received his commission 
 as Governor of Massachusetts. It was unfortunate 
 for his character that he accepted it, as it was des 
 tined to bring him nothing but disappointment and dis 
 grace; but his maladministration was ultimately service 
 able to the Colonies, as it undoubtedly served to hasten 
 the period of open hostilities and of consequent independ 
 ence. One of the first incidents which followed his ap 
 pointment was the announcement of a fresh attack on the 
 chartered rights of the Colony by the ministry. 
 
 He had enjoyed his commission as Governor but a very 
 short time when he acquainted the provincial Assembly 
 that he no longer required a salary from them, as the King 
 had mad-e provision for his support. By this measure the 
 British court expected gradually to introduce into practi 
 cal operation the principle for which it had already con 
 tended, of rendering the emoluments, as well as the com 
 munication and endurance, of executive functions in 
 America wholly dependent on the pleasure of the Crown; 
 and probably it was supposed that the Americans would 
 give little heed to the principle of an innovation of which 
 the first practical effect was to relieve them from a con 
 siderable burden. 
 
 But the Americans valued liberty more than money, 
 
 (584) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 585 
 
 and justly accounted it the political basis on which re 
 posed the stability of every temporal advantage. Hutch- 
 inson's communication was deliberately examined and dis 
 cussed, and a month afterward (July 10, 1771), the As 
 sembly, by a message, declared to him that the royal pro 
 vision for his support and his own acceptance of it was 
 an infraction of the rights of the inhabitants recognized 
 by the provincial charter, an insult to the Assembly, and 
 an invasion of the important trust which from the founda 
 tion of their Commonwealth they had ever continued to 
 exercise. 
 
 Hutchinson, who, like many scholars, entertained senti 
 ments rather kindly than respectful of the mass of man 
 kind, and never justly appreciated the fortitude, resolution, 
 and foresight of his countrymen, appears to have been 
 struck with surprise at their conduct on this occasion. 
 This, at least, is the most intelligible explanation of his 
 behavior, when, some time after, they desired his assent 
 to the usual provision they made for the salaries of the 
 judges. Instead of frankly granting or withholding his 
 sanction, he continued to hesitate and temporize, until 
 a remonstrance from the Assembly elicited from him the 
 avowal, for which they were quite prepared, that he could 
 no longer authorize a provincial provision for the judges, 
 as the King had undertaken to provide for their remu 
 neration also. 
 
 The Assembly instantly passed a resolution declaring 
 that this measure tended to the subversion of justice and 
 equity; and that, while the tenure of judicial office con 
 tinued to depend on the pleasure of the King, " any of 
 the judges who shall accept of and depend upon the pleas 
 ure of the Crown for his support, independent of the 
 grants of the Assembly, will discover that he is an enemy 
 
586 . WASHINGTON. 
 
 to the Constitution, and has it in his heart to promote the 
 establishment of arbitrary power in the province." 
 
 We shall here so far overstep the march of time and 
 order of events as to notice the issue of this particular 
 dispute, which did not occur till the commencement of the 
 year 1774, when four of the judges acquainted the As 
 sembly that they had received the salary voted to them 
 by the representatives of the people, and refused to accept 
 emolument from any other quarter; but Oliver, the Chief 
 Justice, announced that he had received the King's salary, 
 and without His Majesty's permission could not accept 
 any other emolument. The Assembly thereupon tendered 
 an impeachment against Oliver to the Governor and coun 
 cil, and as Hutchinson refused to receive it, they protested 
 that his refusal was occasioned by his own dependence 
 on the Crown. They had never indeed any hope that it 
 would be received, and were incited to these measures by 
 the desire of rendering Hutchinson and Oliver additionr- 
 ally unpopular. 
 
 In the close of the present year (1772), Samuel Adams 
 suggested to his countrymen the expediency of a meas 
 ure fitted to counteract the representations of Hutchin 
 son and his adherents, who gave out that the popular op 
 position was more formidable in appearance than in reality 
 and was at bottom merely an intrigue of a few factious 
 men; and in conformity with his suggestion, .the inhab 
 itants of Boston (November 22, 1772) elected twenty-one 
 of their fellow-citizens as a committee empowered to cor 
 respond with the rest of the inhabitants of the province, to 
 consider and represent the common grievances, and to 
 publish to the world an account of their transactions. 
 The committee thus elected prepared and dispersed 
 throughout the province a report of all the encroachments 
 that had been attempted or committed upon American 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 58? 
 
 liberty, together with a circular letter which concluded 
 in these terms: " Let us consider, brethren, that we are 
 struggling for our best birthright and inheritance, of which 
 the infringement renders all other blessings precarious 
 in their enjoyment and consequently trifling in their value. 
 We are not afraid of poverty, but we disdain slavery. 
 Let us disappoint the men who are raising themselves on 
 the ruin of this country. Let us convince every invader 
 of our freedom that we will be as free as the Constitution 
 which our fathers recognized will justify." 
 
 The powerful influence of this measure was not confined 
 to the province of Massachusetts, nor even to the States 
 of New England. It will be seen in the sequel that it 
 was adopted by all the Colonies. 
 
 The following extract, from a British writer, evinces 
 how well the importance of Samuel Adams's invention of 
 committees of correspondence was understood in Eng 
 land, where it was attributed to their " favorite aversion," 
 Dr. Franklin: 
 
 " The Americans declared that the design of the British 
 Government was to impose its own arbitrary instruments 
 upon them, to destroy the very essence of their charters 
 and liberties, by making the judges and governors wholly 
 independent of the people, and wholly dependent upon 
 the Crown. A series of protests, begun at Boston, where 
 the Assembly of Massachusetts had returned to sit, soon 
 ran through all the Colonies ; and a general corresponding 
 committee was established, with branches and ramifica 
 tions reaching to nearly every town and village in the Col 
 onies. This committee of correspondence proved the 
 great lever of revolution. The invention of it has been 
 attributed to Franklin, but the thing itself, the uses to 
 which it might be applied, and its absolute necessity in a 
 country where the population was scattered over such im- 
 
588 WASHINGTON. 
 
 mense tracts of land, with mighty rivers and forests, moun 
 tains and deserts intervening, were all so obvious that they 
 must have struck the dullest apprehension, and the idea 
 no doubt sprung up spontaneously in thousands of minds 
 at once. The effect was soon seen in a general combina 
 tion of measures, a unanimity of language, and a general 
 avoidance or persecution of all who presumed to side with 
 the British Government. The words and deeds of an in 
 dividual at Boston were made known everywhere, and the 
 Tories, as they were called, could not travel or show their 
 faces anywhere without being reviled and threatened as 
 enemies to their country. Liberty has its arbitrary de 
 vices as well as despotism. Description of persons, like 
 the slgnalemens on a French passport, were scattered far 
 and wide, so that the traveling Tories found themselves 
 recognized even where they least expected to be known." 
 During the month (October, 1770) before Washington 
 commenced his journey to the western country another 
 important change had taken place in the measures adopted 
 by the British ministry for reducing the people of Massa 
 chusetts to obedience. While the General Court were in 
 session for the third time at Cambridge, the Lieutenant- 
 Governor (Hutchinson) had received an order which had 
 been adopted by the King in council,* making the harbor 
 of Boston the rendezvous of all ships stationed in North 
 America, and the fortress (Castle William), which com 
 manded it, was to be delivered up to such officer as Gen 
 eral Gagef should appoint, to be garrisoned by regular 
 troops and put into a respectable state of defense. Gage 
 directed Hutchinson to deliver up Castle William to Col 
 onel Dalrymple. 
 
 * Bancroft. " History of the United States," vol. VI, p. 369. 
 t Commander-in-Chief of the royal forces in America; at this 
 time he was in England. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 589 
 
 This command of the King, Hutchinson, after one day's 
 hesitation, carried into effect by a sort of stratagem, thus 
 violating the charter of Massachusetts, which confided the 
 military force of the Colony and its forts to the Governor 
 alone. The civil power was thus brought into subjection 
 to the military, and " the act," says Bancroft, " was a com 
 mencement of civil war." 
 
 No attempt was made by the Bostonians to displace the 
 royal troops. The people understood the menace, but 
 "bided their time." The General Court protested; and 
 then proceeded to institute an inquiry into the state of the 
 province, with a view to the redress of grievances. Hutch 
 inson, in the meantime, was secretly urging Lord Hills- 
 borough the complete subversion of the charter of Massa 
 chusetts and the remodeling of its government on the 
 principles of despotism. 
 
 In June, 1772, Hutchinson, for the fourth time, ordered 
 the General Court to assemble in Cambridge. He per 
 sisted in this course, so vexatious to the members, merely 
 as an assertion of prerogative, and it was precisely on 
 this ground that the Legislature remonstrated against 
 being exiled from the proper seat of government for the 
 province. Weary of the contest, he now put an end to 
 discussion by adjourning the session to Boston. 
 
 Soon after, the famous affair of the schooner Gaspee 
 took place. This vessel was commanded by Lieutenant 
 Dudingston, who was loudly complained of by the people 
 of Providence, R. I., for obstructing the commerce of 
 the place without having shown any evidence of his au 
 thority. Chief Justice Hopkins pronounced this conduct 
 a trespass, if not piracy; but he was sustained by the ad 
 miral, who threatened those persons who should rescue 
 a vessel from any of the King's officers with being hung 
 as pirates. Thus supported, Dudingston " insulted the in- 
 
590 WASHINGTON. 
 
 habitants, plundered the island of sheep and hogs, cut 
 down trees, fired at market boats, detained vessels with 
 out a colorable pretext, and made illegal seizures of goods, 
 of which the recovery cost more than they were worth."* 
 
 On the 9th of June (1772), the Providence packet was 
 sailing into the harbor of Newport, and Lieutenant Dud- 
 ingston thought proper to require the captain to lower 
 his colors. This the captain of the packet deemed repug 
 nant to his patriotic feelings, and the Gaspee fired at the 
 packet to bring her to; the American however still per 
 sisted in holding on her course, and, by keeping in shoal 
 water, dexterously contrived to run the schooner aground 
 in the chase. 
 
 As the tide was upon the ebb, the Gaspee was set fast 
 for the night, and afforded a tempting opportunity for 
 retaliation; and a party of men led by John Brown and 
 Joseph Brown, of Providence, and Simeon Potter, of Bris 
 tol, being determined to rid themselves of so uncivil an 
 inspector, in the middle of the night manned several boats 
 and boarded the Gaspee. The lieutenant was wounded 
 in the affray, but, with everything belonging to him, he 
 was carefully conveyed on shore, as were all his crew. 
 The vessel, with her stores, was then burnt, and the party 
 returned unmolested to their homes. When the Governor 
 became acquainted with this event, he offered a reward 
 of 500 for the discovery of the offenders, and the royal 
 pardon to those who would confess their guilt. Com 
 missioners were appointed also to investigate the offense 
 and bring the perpetrators to justice; but, after remain 
 ing some time in session, they reported that they could 
 obtain no evidence, and thus the affair terminated; a cir 
 cumstance which forcibly illustrates the inviolable brother- 
 
 * Bancroft, " History of the United States," vol. VI, p. 413. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 591 
 
 hood which then united the people against the govern 
 ment. 
 
 Governor Hutchinson was anxious to have the persons 
 concerned in the destruction of the Gaspee sent to Eng 
 land for trial and hung at Execution Dock, under an act 
 recently passed for the protection of the King's dockyards, 
 ships, and stores; and Lord Sandwich wished to have the 
 charter of Rhode Island revoked. 
 
 Meantime the General Court were examining the sub 
 ject of the recent attacks on the charter, in the provision 
 for rendering civil officers independent of the people by 
 making them dependent on the Crown for their salaries. 
 The House declared " that the innovation was an important 
 change in the Constitution, and exposed the province to a 
 despotic administration of the government." 
 
 Lord Hillsborough, who had been greatly influenced 
 in his despotic measures against the Colonies by the 
 letter of Hutchinson, resigned his office of Secretary for the 
 Colonies, and was succeeded by Lord Dartmouth,* an 
 amiable and candid man, sincerely desirous of concilia 
 tion and peace, but like the other members of the British 
 ministry, by no means well informed on the actual condi 
 tion of the Colonies, and the real disposition of the people. 
 
 A personal animosity between Governor Hutchinson 
 and some distinguished patriots in Massachusetts con 
 tributed to perpetuate a flame of discontent in that 
 province, after it had elsewhere visibly abated. This was 
 worked up in the year 1773, to a high pitch by a singular 
 combination of circumstances. Some letters had been 
 written in the course of the dispute by Governor Hutch 
 inson, Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, and others in Boston, 
 to persons in power and office in England, which contained 
 a very unfavorable representation of the state of public 
 * Bancroft, "History of the United States." 
 
592 WASHINGTON. 
 
 affairs, and tended to show the necessity of coercive 
 measures, and of changing the chartered system of gov 
 ernment, to secure the obedience of the province. These 
 letters fell into the hands of Dr. Franklin, agent of the 
 province, who transmitted them to Boston. The indig 
 nation and animosity which was excited on the receipt 
 of them knew no bounds. The House of Assembly 
 agreed on a petition and remonstrance to His Majesty, 
 in which they charged their Governor and Lieutenant- 
 Governor with being betrayers of their trusts, and of the 
 people they governed, and of giving private, partial, and 
 false information. They also declared them enemies to 
 the Colonies, and prayed for justice against them, and 
 for their speedy removal from their places. These charges 
 were carried through by a majority of eighty-two to 
 twelve. 
 
 This petition and remonstrance being transmitted to 
 England, the merits of it were discussed before His 
 Majesty's privy council. After a hearing before that 
 board, in which Dr. Franklin represented the province 
 of Massachusetts, the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor 
 were acquitted. Mr. Wedderburne, who defended the 
 accused royal servants, in the course of his pleadings, 
 inveighed against Dr. Franklin in the severest language, 
 as the fomenter of the disputes between the two countries. 
 It was no protection to this venerable sage, that being the 
 agent of Massachusetts, he conceived it his duty to inform 
 his constituents of letters, written on public affairs, calcu 
 lated to overturn their chartered Constitution. The age, 
 respectability, and high literary character of the subject 
 of Mr. Wedderburne's philippic, turned the attention of 
 the p-ublic on the transaction. The insult offered to one 
 of their public agents, and especially to one who was 
 both the idol and ornament of his native country, sunk 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 593 
 
 deep in the minds of the Americans. That a faithful 
 servant, whom they loved and almost adored, should be 
 insulted for discharging his official duty rankled in their 
 hearts. Dr. Franklin was also immediately dismissed from 
 the office of Postmaster-General, which he held under the 
 Crown. It was not only by his transmission of these 
 letters that he had given offense to the British ministry, 
 but by his popular writings in favor of America. Two 
 pieces of his in particular had lately attracted a large 
 share of public attention, and had an extensive influence 
 on both sides of the Atlantic. The one purported to be an 
 edict from the King of Prussia, for taxing the inhabitants 
 of Great Britain, as descendants of emigrants from his 
 dominions; the other was entitled: " Rules for reducing 
 a great empire to a small one," in both of which he had 
 exposed the claims of the mother country, and the pro 
 ceedings of the British ministry, with the severity of poig 
 nant satire. 
 
 The system of committees of correspondence, invented 
 by Samuel Adams, had hitherto been confined to the towns 
 of Massachusetts. To Virginia, the credit is due of having 
 extended it to all the Colonies. The House of Burgesses, 
 after being repeatedly prorogued by proclamations of 
 the Governor, Lord Dunmore, met on the 4th of March, 
 1773 . On the I2th of the same month, the Assembly 
 unanimously adopted a series of resolutions, moved by 
 Dabney Carr,* providing for the appointment of a com 
 mittee of the Legislature to correspond with the Legisla 
 tures of the other Colonies, and recommending the same 
 measure to be adopted by them, "thereby establishing 
 channels of intelligence and a bond of union, which proved 
 of the utmost importance to the general cause. Washing- 
 
 * Alexander H. Everett, Life of Patrick Henry, in Sparks's 
 "American Biography," 2d series, vol. I, p. 280. 
 38 
 
594 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ton was present and gave his hearty support to these 
 resolves."* They were also supported with great eloquence 
 by Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee. Among the 
 names of the Virginia committee of correspondence then 
 appointed are those of Bland, Lee, Henry, Carr, and Jef 
 ferson, f 
 
 This measure, which produced an important effect in 
 animating the resolution and harmonizing the proceedings 
 of the Americans, was so grateful in particular to the 
 citizens of Boston, that in ajetter of instructions which 
 they addressed shortly after to their representatives in the 
 Assembly, they desired them seriously to consider if the 
 salvation of American liberty and the restoration of friend 
 ship between America and Britain did not demand an im 
 mediate concurrence with the wise and salutary proposal of 
 our noble patriotic sister Colony of Virginia. 
 
 The recommendation of the citizens of Boston was 
 favorably received by the Assembly of Massachusetts, 
 which instantly appointed a committee of correspondence 
 with the other Colonies. In a circular letter published 
 shortly after by this oommittee, the prospect of a quarrel 
 between England and Spain was remarked in these terms: 
 " Should a war take place, which by many is thought to 
 be probable, America will be viewed by the administration 
 as important to Great Britain. Her aid will be deemed 
 necessary; her friendship will be courted. Would it not 
 then be wise in the several American governments to with 
 hold all kind of aid in a general war, till their rights and 
 liberties are permanently restored and secured?" "With 
 regard to the extent of rights," they added, "which the 
 Colonies ought to insist upon, it is a subject which requires 
 the greatest attention and deliberation.. This is a strong 
 reason why it should claim the earliest consideration of 
 
 * Sparks, "Life of Washington," p. 113. 
 
 t Bancroft, " History of the United States," vol. VI, p. 453. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 595 
 
 every comrrittee, that we may be prepared, when time and 
 circumstances shall give to our claim the surest prospect 
 of success. And when we consider how one great event 
 has hurried on after another, such a time may come sooner 
 than we suppose." 
 
 Hutchinson, about this time, with a rash confidence in his 
 own talents and an eager hope of recommending him 
 self to the British court, undertook in his speeches to the 
 Assembly of Massachusetts to support by argument the 
 legislative supremacy of Parliament a doctrine which 
 we have seen that his own original opinions outstripped 
 those of his countrymen in opposing. This misplaced exer 
 tion of zeal was generally disapproved, even in England, 
 where it was remarked with displeasure that principles 
 solemnly established by the Crown and Parliament were 
 at once unhinged and degraded by the presumptuous argu 
 mentative patronage of a provincial Governor. 
 
 Thomas Hutchinson, who thus arraigned himself on the 
 side of the Crown and Parliament of England, had gradu 
 ated at Harvard College in 1727, and had studied law with 
 a view to the public service. 
 
 For ten years he was a representative from Boston in the 
 General Court, and was three times chosen speaker. In 
 1752 he was appointed Judge of Probate; was a member 
 of the council from 1749 to 1766; Lieutenant-Go vernor 
 from 1758 to 1771; and in 1760 was appointed Chief Jus 
 tice. At one time he held the offices of Councillor, Judge 
 of Probate, Chief Justice, and Lieutenant-Governor. By 
 siding with the mother country in her attempts to raise a 
 revenue from the Colonies, he became extremely obnoxious 
 to the people. A brother-in-law of Mr. Hutchinson being 
 appointed Distributor of Stamps, the people, or rather the 
 mob, after compelling him to resign his office, paid a visit 
 to Governor Hutchinson's house, in consequence of a re 
 port that he had written letters in favor of the Act ; but the 
 
596 WASHINGTON. 
 
 chief damage done on this occasion consisted in breaking 
 his windows. A few evenings subsequently there was a 
 more formidable assault. The merchants being displeased 
 with the officers of the customs and the admiralty, a mob 
 was collected in the evening of August 26, 1765, in King 
 street, and well supplied with strong drink. They first 
 plundered the cellar of the Comptroller of Customs of the 
 wine and spirits, and then proceeded with intoxicated rage 
 to the house of Mr. Hutchinson, where splitting the doors 
 to pieces with broad-axes, they destroyed or cast into the 
 street everything which was in the house, retaining posses 
 sion until daylight. The damage was estimated at 2,500, 
 besides the loss of a great collection of public and private 
 papers. He received a compensation for his losses. The 
 Governor was that night at the castle. The citizens the 
 next day passed a vote of censure on the rioters, but no 
 person was punished; even six or eight persons, who were 
 imprisoned for participation in the disturbance, were re 
 leased by another mob, who by threats obtained the keys 
 of the prison from the prison keeper. In 1768, the arrival 
 of the troops at Boston increased the popular excitement 
 against the Lieutenant-Governor. When Governor Ber 
 nard left the province in 1769, the administration devolved 
 on the Lieutenant-Governor, and in the next year, the 
 Boston massacre, as it was called, occurred, inflaming the 
 public mind. He had a long controversy with the General 
 Court, caused by his prorogation of it to Cambridge by 
 order of the King. At this period, in meditating on the 
 future, he concluded that it would be prudent for him to 
 remain in the office of Chief Justice and pass his days 
 in peace. In the meantime however (March, 1771), his com 
 mission as Governor was received. Unfortunately for him 
 self, he accepted the appointment; for from this time till 
 his departure for England in 1774, he was in constant dis 
 pute with the Assembly and Council. The discovery of his 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 597 
 
 confidential letters to the British Government, giving de 
 tails of the position of affairs in the Colony, accompanied 
 by advice as to the measures to be pursued for coercion, 
 caused him not a little trouble and uneasiness. The last 
 public difficulty was the affair of the tea, a part of which 
 had been consigned to two of his sons. At this time the 
 Sons of Liberty, as they were called, had nullified all the 
 powers of government. No officer dared to issue or serve 
 a precept. February 24, 1774, the Governor informed the 
 Legislature by message that he had obtained His Majesty's 
 leave to return to England, and that he would soon avail 
 himself of it; accordingly he sailed for England June ist. 
 After the publication of the letters in 1773, the Council and 
 the House voted an address asking for the removal of the 
 Governor. A hearing was had before the privy-council 
 relative to the subject of their petition, who gave a decision 
 in favor of " the honor, integrity, and conduct of the Gov 
 ernor," which indorsement of his official acts was approved 
 by the King. He was deprived of all his offices in America, 
 but received in lieu therefor a pension from the British 
 Government. He died in 1780, aged 69. He published 
 "A Brief State of the Claim of the Colonies, 1764; " " The 
 History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, from the First 
 Settlement Thereof in 1628, until the year 1750," in 2 vols. 
 8vo., the first issued in 1760, and the second in 1767; "A 
 Collection of Original Papers Relative to the History of the 
 Colony of Massachusetts Bay," 8vo., 1769. These works 
 are highly esteemed by those who are engaged in investi- 
 Collection of Original Papers Relative to the History of the 
 " History of Massachusetts from 1749 to 1774," was pub 
 lished from his manuscripts by his grandson. London, 
 8vo., 1828. 
 
 Thomas Gage, the last Governor of Massachusetts ap 
 pointed by the King, had been Governor of Montreal in 
 
598 WASHINGTON. 
 
 1760, and in 1763, at the departure of Amherst from 
 America, commissioned Commander-in-Chief of the British 
 forces in that country. In 1774 he superseded Hutchinson 
 as Governor of Massachusetts, and arrived at Boston, May 
 1 3th. Several regiments soon followed him, and he began 
 to repair the fortifications on Boston Neck. As precau 
 tionary measures, he caused the powder in the arsenal at 
 Charlestown to be seized, and sent detachments of troops 
 to take possession of the military stores deposited in Salem 
 or its vicinity, and others were directed to proceed to 
 Concord. The detachment sent to Concord encountered 
 the Americans at Lexington early in the morning of April 
 19, 1775, when hostilities commenced, which were renewed 
 at Concord, and continued till the British troops reached 
 their encampment at Charlestown, toward evening. In 
 May, the Provincial Congress declared Gage to be an in 
 veterate enemy of the country, disqualified to serve the 
 Colony as Governor, and unworthy of obedience. It was 
 his misfortune to enter upon the duties of his office at a 
 time when it became necessary for him, as a faithful servant 
 of his King, to execute laws framed expressly for the in 
 fliction of chastisement upon the people of the Colony over 
 which he was placed. He possessed a naturally amiable 
 disposition, and his benevolence often outweighed his jus 
 tice in the scale of duty. Under other circumstances, his 
 name might have been sweet in the recollection of the 
 Americans; now it is identified with oppression and hatred 
 of freedom. In June, he issued a proclamation, offering 
 pardon to all the rebels, excepting Samuel Adams and John 
 Hancock, and establishing martial law. An answer to this 
 proclamation was prepared by Congress; but before its 
 publication the battle of Bunker Hill put an end to the 
 paper war. In October, 1775, he went to England, where 
 he died in April, 1787. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WASHINGTON A POLITICIAN. 
 
 1773-1774. 
 
 WE have now arrived at a period when the spirited 
 resistance of the Bostonians to the introduction 
 of tea into the Colony of Massachusetts gave an 
 entirely new aspect to the American controversy, and 
 rapidly brought affairs to the crisis which they had fore 
 seen, and for which they were prepared. To understand 
 this in its origin, it is necessary to recur to the period 
 when the solitary duty on tea was excepted from the par 
 tial repeal of the Revenue Act of 1767. When the duties 
 which had been laid on glass, paper, and painters' colors 
 were taken off, a respectable minority in Parliament con 
 tended that the duty on tea should also be removed. To 
 this it was replied: ''That as the Americans denied the 
 legality of taxing them, a total repeal would be a virtual 
 acquiescence in their claims; and that in order to preserve 
 the rights of the mother country it was necessary to retain 
 the preamble and at least one of the taxed articles." It 
 was answered that a partial repeal would be a source of 
 endless discontent that the tax on tea would not defray 
 the expenses of collecting it. The motion in favor of a 
 total repeal was thrown out by a great majority. 
 
 As the Parliament thought fit to retain the tax on tea 
 for an evidence of their right of taxation, the Americans 
 in like manner, to be consistent with themselves in denying 
 
 (599) 
 
600 WASHINGTON. 
 
 that right, discontinued the importation of that commo 
 dity. While there was no attempt to introduce tea into 
 the Colonies against this declared sense of the inhabitants, 
 these opposing claims were in no danger of collision. In 
 that case the mother country might have solaced herself 
 with her ideal rights, and the Colonies, with their favorite 
 opinion of a total exemption from Parliamentary taxes, 
 without disturbing the public peace. This mode of com 
 promising the dispute, which seemed at first designed as a 
 salvo for the honor and consistency of both parties, was 
 by the interference of the East India Company, in com 
 bination with the British ministry, completely overset. 
 
 The expected revenue from tea failed in consequence of 
 the American association to import none on which a duty 
 was charged. This, though partially violated in some of 
 the Colonies, was well observed in others, and particularly 
 in Pennsylvania, where the duty was never paid on more 
 than one chest of that commodity. This proceeded as 
 much from the spirit of gain as of patriotism. The mer 
 chants found means of supplying their countrymen with 
 tea, smuggled from countries to which the power of 
 Britain did not extend. They doubtless conceived them 
 selves to be supporting the rights of their country by 
 refusing to purchase tea from Britain, but they also re 
 flected that if they could bring the same commodity to 
 market free of duty, their profits would be proportion 
 ately greater. 
 
 The love of gain was not peculiar to the American mer 
 chants. From the diminished exportation to the Colonies, 
 the warehouses of the British East India Company had in 
 them about 17,000,000 pounds of tea, for which a market 
 could not readily be procured. The ministry and the East 
 India Company, unwilling to lose, the one the expected rev 
 enue from the sale of tea in America, the other their usual 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 601 
 
 commercial profits, agreed on a measure t>y which they sup 
 posed both would be secured. 
 
 The East India Company were by law authorized to ex 
 port their tea free of duties to all places whatsoever. By 
 this regulation, tea, though loaded with an exceptionable 
 duty, would come cheaper to the Colonies than before it 
 had been made a source of revenue; for the duty when 
 taken off it, when exported from Great Britain, was greater 
 than what was to be paid on its importation into the Colo 
 nies. Confident of success in finding a market for their 
 tea, thus reduced in its price, and also of collecting a duty 
 on its importation and sale in the Colonies, the East India 
 Company freighted several ships with teas for the different 
 Colonies, and appointed agents for the disposal thereof. 
 This measure united several interests in opposition to its 
 execution. The patriotism of the Americans was corrobo 
 rated by several auxiliary aids, no way connected with 
 the cause of liberty. 
 
 The merchants in England were alarmed at the losses 
 that must accrue to themselves, from the exportations of 
 the East India Company, and from the sales going through 
 the hands of consignees. Letters were written from that 
 country to colonial patriots, urging that opposition to 
 which they of themselves were prone. 
 
 The smugglers, who were both numerous and powerful, 
 could not relish a scheme which by underselling them, and 
 taking a profitable branch of business out of their hands, 
 threatened a diminution of their gains. The colonists 
 were too suspicious of the designs of Great Britain to be 
 imposed upon. 
 
 The cry of endangered liberty once more excited an 
 alarm from New Hampshire to Georgia. The first opposi 
 tion to the execution of the scheme adopted by the East 
 India Company began with the American merchants. 
 
602 WASHINGTON. 
 
 They saw a profitable branch of their trade 'likely to be 
 lost, and the benefits of it to be transferred to people in 
 Great Britain. They felt for the wound that would be in 
 flicted on their country's claim of exemption from Parlia 
 mentary taxation, but they felt with equal sensibility for the 
 losses they would sustain by the diversion of the streams 
 of commerce into unusual channels. The great body of 
 the people, from principles of the purest patriotism, were 
 brought over to second their wishes. They considered the 
 whole scheme as calculated Jo seduce them into an ac 
 quiescence with the views of Parliament, for raising an 
 American revenue. Much pains were taken to enlighten 
 the colonists on this subject, and to convince them of the 
 imminent hazard to which their liberties were exposed. 
 
 The provincial patriots insisted largely on the perse 
 vering determination of the parent State to establish her 
 claim of taxation, by compelling the sale of tea in the 
 Colonies against the solemn resolutions and declared sense 
 of the inhabitants, and that at a time when the commer 
 cial intercourse of the two countries was renewed, and 
 their ancient harmony fast returning. The proposed ven 
 ders of the tea were represented as revenue officers, em 
 ployed in the collection of an unconstitutional tax imposed 
 by Great Britain. The colonists reasoned with them 
 selves that as the duty and the price of the commodity 
 were inseparably blended, if the tea was sold, every pur 
 chaser would pay a tax imposed by the British Parliament, 
 as part of the purchase money. To obviate this evil, and 
 to prevent the liberties of a great country from being sac 
 rificed by inconsiderate purchasers, sundry town meetings 
 were held in the capitals of the different provinces, and 
 combinations were formed to obstruct the sales of the tea 
 sent by the East India Company. 
 
 The resolutions entered into by the inhabitants of Phila- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 603 
 
 delphia, on October 18, 1773, afford a good specimen of 
 the whole. These were as follows: 
 
 " i. That the disposal of their own property is the in 
 herent right of freemen; that there can be no property in 
 that which another can, of right, take from us without our 
 consent; that the claim of Parliament to tax America is, in 
 other words, a claim of right to levy contributions on us 
 at pleasure. 
 
 2. That the duty imposed by Parliament upon tea landed 
 in America is a tax on the Americans, or levying contri 
 butions on them without their consent. 
 
 3. That the express purpose for which the tax is levied 
 on the Americans namely, for the support of govern 
 ment, administration of justice, and defense of His Maj 
 esty's dominions in America, has a direct tendency to 
 render Assemblies useless, and to introduce arbitrary gov 
 ernment and slavery. 
 
 4. That a virtuous and steady opposition to this minis 
 terial plan of governing America, is absolutely necessary 
 to preserve even the shadow of liberty, and is a duty which 
 every freeman in America owes to his country, to him 
 self, and to his posterity. 
 
 5. That the resolution lately entered into by the East 
 India Company to send out their tea to America, subject 
 to the payment of duties on its being landed here, is an 
 open attempt to enforce this ministerial plan, and a violent 
 attack upon the liberties of America. 
 
 6. That it is the duty of every American to oppose this 
 attempt. 
 
 7. That whoever shall directly or indirectly countenance 
 this attempt, or in any wise aid or abet in unloading, re 
 ceiving, or vending the tea sent, or to be sent out by the 
 East India Company, while it remains subject to the pay 
 ment of a duty here, is an enemy to his country. 
 
604 WASHINGTON. 
 
 8. That a committee be immediately chosen to wait on 
 those gentlemen, who, it is reported, are appointed by the 
 East India Company to receive and sell said tea, and re 
 quest them, from a regard to their own character and the 
 peace and good order of the city and province, immedi 
 ately to resign their appointment." 
 
 As the time approached when the arrival of the tea 
 ships might be soon expected, such measures were adopted 
 as seemed most likely to prevent the landing of their car 
 goes. The tea consignees appointed by the East India 
 Company were, in several places, compelled to relinquish 
 their appointments, and no others could be found hardy- 
 enough to act in their stead. The pilots in the river 
 Delaware were warned not to conduct any of the tea ships 
 into their harbor. In New York, popular vengeance was 
 denounced against all who would contribute, in any 
 measure, to forward the views of the East India Company. 
 The captains of the New York and Philadelphia ships, 
 being apprised of the resolution of the people, and fearing 
 the consequences of landing a commodity, charged with 
 an odious duty, in violation of their declared public senti 
 ments, concluded to return directly to Great Britain, with 
 out making any entry at the custom house. 
 
 It was otherwise in Massachusetts. The tea ships de 
 signed for the supply of Boston were consigned to the sons, 
 cousins, and particular friends of Governor Hutchinson. 
 When they were called upon to resign, they answered 
 " that it was out of their power." The collector refused 
 to give a clearance, unless the vessels were discharged of 
 dutiable articles. The Governor refused to give a pass 
 for the vessels, unless properly qualified from the custom 
 house. The Governor also requested Admiral Montagu 
 to guard the passages out of the harbor, and gave order.s 
 to suffer no vessels, coasters excepted, to pass the fortress 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 605 
 
 from the town without a pass signed by himself. From a 
 combination of these circumstances, the return of the tea 
 vessels from Boston was rendered impossible. The in 
 habitants then had no option but to prevent the landing 
 of the tea or to suffer it to be landed, and depend on 
 the unanimity of the people not to purchase it, or to de 
 stroy the tea, or to suffer a deep-laid scheme against their 
 sacred liberties to take effect. The first would have re 
 quired incessant watching by night as well as by day for a 
 period of time, the duration of which no one could com 
 pute. The second would have been visionary to childish 
 ness, by suspending the liberties of a growing country on 
 the self-denial and discretion of every tea drinker in the 
 province. They viewed the tea as the vehicle of an uncon 
 stitutional tax, and as inseparably associated with it. To 
 avoid the one, they resolved to destroy the other. 
 
 This decision was not arrived at without considerable 
 delay and preparation on the part of the people. Much 
 time had already been consumed in town meetings, and 
 conferences of the committee of correspondence in Boston 
 with those of the neighboring towns. The first of the tea 
 ships, the Dartmouth, owned by Rotch, a Quaker mer 
 chant, had arrived on the 28th of November. 
 
 On the ist of December (1773), Captain James Bruce, 
 in the ship Eleanor, arrived with another portion of the 
 tea. On the 3d, he was ordered to attend the next day 
 on a committee of the people in Faneuil Hall, where he 
 was commanded by Samuel Adams and Jonathan Wil 
 liams, assembled with John Rowe, John Hancock, William 
 Phillips, and John Pitts, Esqrs., and a great number of 
 others, not to land any of the said tea, but to proceed to 
 Griffin's wharf and there discharge the rest of his cargo. 
 Captain Coffin arrived in the brig Beaver near the same 
 time, and was ordered to pursue the same course. 
 
606 WASHINGTON. 
 
 It being perceived that Mr. Rotch rather lingered in 
 his preparations to return the Dartmouth to London, and 
 the twenty days being nearly expired, after which the col 
 lector might seize the ship and cargo, Mr. Rotch was sum 
 moned before the committee when he stated to them that 
 it would prove his entire ruin if he should comply with the 
 resolutions of the 29th and 3Oth of November, and there 
 fore he could not do it. A meeting of the people was 
 assembled at the Old South on Tuesday, December I4th, 
 when Mr. Rotch appeared, and was enjoined forthwith to 
 demand a clearance. It was ascertained that one could 
 not be obtained till the next day, and therefore the meeting 
 was adjourned to Thursday, at the same place. 
 
 On Thursday, December 16, 1773, the meeting was im 
 mense. In addition to the inhabitants of Boston, 2,000 men 
 at least were present from the country. Samuel Phillips 
 Savage, Esq., of Weston, was appointed moderator. Mr. 
 Rotch reported that the collector would not give him a 
 clearance. He was then ordered upon his peril to get his 
 ship ready for sea this day, enter a protest immediately 
 against the custom house, and proceed directly to the Gov 
 ernor (then at Milton, seven miles distant), and demand a 
 pass for his ship to go by the castle. An adjournment to 
 3 P. M. then took place. At 3, having met, they 
 waited very patiently till 5 o'clock, when finding that 
 Mr. Rotch did not return, they began to be very uneasy, 
 called for a dissolution of the meeting, and obtained a 
 vote for it. But the more judicious, fearing what would 
 be the consequences, begged for a reconsideration of that 
 vote, for this reason, " that they ought to do everything 
 in their power to send the tea back, according to their 
 resolves." This touched the pride of the assembly, and they 
 agreed to remain together one hour. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 607 
 
 This interval was improved by Josiah Quincy, Jr.,* to 
 apprise his fellow citizens of the importance of the crisis, 
 and direct their attention to the probable results of this 
 controversy. " It is not, Mr. Moderator/' he said, " the 
 
 * Josiah Quincy, Jr., a distinguished lawyer, orator, and patriot 
 of Boston, Massachusetts, was born in that city February 23, 1744. 
 He was educated at Harvard College, where he was remarkably 
 persevering, and graduated with unblemished reputation in 1763. 
 He early became eminent in the practice of the law; and the cir 
 cumstances of the time turning his thoughts to political topics, he 
 took sides with the most eminent leaders in the cause of free 
 dom against the aggressive policy of Britain. His boldness of 
 speech was remarkable. As early as 1768 he used this language: 
 " Did the blood of the ancient Britons swell our veins, did the 
 spirit of our forefathers inhabit our breasts, should we hesitate 
 a moment in preferring death to a miserable existence in bond 
 age?" Again, in 1770, he declared: " I wish to see my country 
 men break off off forever! all social intercourse with those 
 whose commerce contaminates, whose luxuries poison, whose 
 avarice is insatiable, and whose unnatural oppressions are not to 
 be borne." He was associated with John Adams in the defense 
 of the perpetrators of the " Boston Massacre," and did not by 
 that defense alienate the good opinion of the people. In 1771 
 he was obliged to go south on account of a pulmonary complaint. 
 At Charleston he formed an acquaintance with Pinckney, Rut- 
 ledge, and other patriots; and, returning by land conferred with 
 other leading Whigs in the several Colonies. Continued ill-health 
 and a desire to make himself acquainted with English statesmen 
 induced him to make a voyage to England in 1774, where he had 
 personal interviews with most of the leading men. Becoming 
 fully acquainted with the feelings and intentions of the King and 
 his ministers, and hopeless of reconciliation Mr. Quincy determined 
 to return and arouse his countrymen to action. He embarked for 
 Boston with declining health in March, and on the 26th of April, 
 1775, when the vessel was in the harbor of Cape Ann, in sight of 
 land, he died. Mr. Quincy's eminent talents and zealous attach 
 ment to the cause of freedom, as well as his amiable and interest 
 ing manners, made his early death a subject of universal 
 lamentation. 
 
608 WASHINGTON. 
 
 spirit that vapors within these walls that must stand us in 
 stead. The exertions of this day will call forth events 
 which will make a very different spirit necessary for our 
 salvation. Whoever supposes that shouts and hosannas 
 will terminate the trials of this day entertains a childish 
 fancy. He must be grossly ignorant of the importance 
 and value of the prize for which we contend; we must be 
 equally ignorant of the power of those who have combined 
 against us; we must be blind to that malice, inveteracy, 
 and insatiable revenge which actuate our enemies, public 
 and private, abroad and in our bosoms, to hope that we 
 shall end this controversy without the sharpest conflicts 
 to flatter ourselves that popular resolves, popular haran 
 gues, popular acclamations, and popular vapor will van 
 quish our foes. Let us consider the issue. Let us look to 
 the end. Let us weigh and consider before we advance to 
 those measures which must bring on the most trying and 
 terrible struggle this country ever saw." He succeeded in 
 holding them in attentive silence till Mr. Rotch's return, 
 at three-quarters past 5 o'clock. The answer which he 
 brought from the Governor was, " that for the honor of 
 the laws, and from duty toward the King, he could not 
 grant the permit until the vessel was regularly cleared." 
 A violent commotion immediately ensued. A person who 
 was in the gallery, disguised after the manner of the In 
 dians, shouted at this juncture the cry of war; it was 
 answered by about thirty persons disguised in like man 
 ner, at the door. The meeting was dissolved in the twink 
 ling of an eye. The multitude rushed to Griffin's wharf. 
 The disguised Indians went on board the ships laden with 
 the tea. In less than two hours 240 chests and 100 half 
 chests were staved and emptied into the dock. The affair 
 was concluded without any tumult; no damage was done 
 to the vessels or to any other effects whatever. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 609 
 
 This was executed in the presence of several ships-of- 
 war lying in the harbor, and almost under the guns of the 
 castle, where there was a large body of troops at the com 
 mand of the commissioners. We are left to conjecture for 
 the reasons why no opposition was made to this bold ad 
 venture. 
 
 The promptness of the Bostonians in destroying the tea 
 as soon as the meeting adjourned was fortunate for the 
 cause of liberty. If they had delayed acting till the next 
 day, the tea would have been placed under the protection 
 of the admiral at the castle. After the work of destruction 
 was completed the town became perfectly quiet, and the 
 men from the country carried the news to their homes; 
 and on the following day the committee of correspondence 
 sent off an express, with their own account of what had 
 been done, to New York and Philadelphia. The news was 
 also speedily conveyed to England, and we now proceed 
 to notice its effects in that country. 
 
 The British ministry appear to have been highly grati 
 fied that the town of Boston, which they ever regarded as 
 the focus of sedition in America, had rendered itself, by 
 the violent destruction of the property of the East India 
 Company, obnoxious to their severest vengeance. On the 
 7th of March (1774), Lord North presented a message 
 from the King to both houses of Parliament, in which it 
 was stated, that " in consequence of the unwarrantable 
 practices carried on in North America, and particularly of 
 the violent and outrageous proceedings at the town and 
 port of Boston, with a view of obstructing the commerce 
 of this kingdom, and upon grounds and pretenses imme 
 diately subversive of its Constitution, it was thought fit to 
 lay the whole matter before Parliament, recommending it 
 to their serious consideration, what further regulations or 
 39 
 
610 WASHINGTON. 
 
 permanent provisions might be necessary to be estab 
 lished." 
 
 On presenting the papers, Lord North represented the 
 conduct of Boston in the darkest colors. He said, " that 
 the utmost lenity on the part of the Governor, perhaps too 
 much, had been already shown; and that this town, by its 
 late proceedings, had left the government perfectly at lib 
 erty to adopt any measures they should ithink convenient, 
 not only for redressing the wrong sustained by the East In 
 dia Company, but for inflicting such punishment as their 
 factious and criminal conduct merited; and that the aid of 
 Parliament would be resorted to for this purpose, and for 
 vindicating the honor of the Crown, so daringly and wan 
 tonly attacked and contemned." In reply to the royal 
 message, the House voted " that an address of thanks 
 should be presented to the King, assuring His Majesty 
 that they would not fail to exert every means in their 
 power of effectually providing for the due execution of 
 the laws, and securing the dependence of the Colonies upon 
 the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain." In a few days 
 a bill was introduced " for the immediate removal of the 
 officers concerned in the collection of customs from Boston, 
 and to discontinue the landing and discharging, lading and 
 shipping of goods, wares, and merchandise at Boston, or 
 within the harbor thereof." The bill also levied a fine 
 upon the town, as a compensation to the East India Com 
 pany for the destruction of their teas, and was to continue 
 in force during the pleasure of the King. The opposition 
 to this measure was very slight, and it was finally carried 
 in both houses without a division. 
 
 This however was only a part of Lord North's scheme 
 of coercion. He proposed two other bills which were in 
 tended to strike terror into the province of Massachusetts, 
 and to deter the other Colonies from following her exam- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 611 
 
 pie. By one of these, the Constitution and charter of the 
 province were completely subverted, all power taken out 
 of the hands of the people and placed in those of the ser 
 vants of the Crown. The third scheme of Lord North was 
 the introduction of " a bill for the impartial administration 
 of justice in Massachusetts." By this act, persons informed 
 against or indicted for any act done in opposition to the 
 laws of the revenue, or for the suppression of riots in 
 Massachusetts, might by the Governor, with the advice of 
 the council, be sent for trial to any other Colony, or to 
 Great Britain; an enactment which, in effect, conferred 
 impunity on the officers of the Crown, however odious 
 might be their violations of the law. 
 
 Some distinguished statesmen opposed these plans of 
 the administration with great eloquence and zeal. The 
 celebrated Burke declared that " it was only oppressive and 
 unjust laws which the people had opposed; that it was most 
 unreasonable to condemn them without a hearing; and that 
 constitutional principles were not to be settled by the mili 
 tary arm." Pownall observed that " it was no longer a 
 matter of opinion with the citizens of Massachusetts; that 
 things had come to action; that the Americans would re 
 sist all attempts to coerce them, and were prepared to da it; 
 and that if there should be a rebellion in the province, the 
 question would be, who caused it? " 
 
 The Duke of Richmond, the Marquis of Rockingham, 
 and other peers insisted that the charter was a solemn 
 contract, which neither the King nor Parliament could 
 justly annul or alter without the consent of the subjects 
 in Massachusetts, unless they had forfeited their rights by 
 an infraction of its provisions. Lord Chatham also opposed 
 these plans of the administration, with all his former energy 
 and spirit; although at this time he was in such a debili 
 tated state that he seldom took part in the debates of 
 
612 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Parliament. He declared himself most decidedly in favor 
 of conciliatory measures; for he was of opinion that the 
 province had been oppressed, and the liberties of the sub 
 ject therein most flagrantly violated. He believed that 
 just measures on the part of ministers would quiet the 
 Colonies and restore harmony between them and the parent 
 state. He denounced the proposed system as unconsti 
 tutional and tyrannical, and predicted that the people of 
 Massachusetts would never submit to such palpable and 
 repeated violations of their political rights. 
 
 Colonel Barre also addressed the ministry on the last 
 bill in the following bold and energetic language : " You 
 have changed your ground. You are become the aggres 
 sors, and offering the last of human outrages to the people 
 of America, by subjecting them to military execution. 
 Instead of sending them the olive-branch, you have sent 
 the naked sword. By the olive-branch I mean a repeal 
 of all the late laws, fruitless to you and oppressive to them. 
 Ask their aid in a constitutional manner, and they will 
 give it to the utmost of their ability. They never yet 
 refused it when properly required. Your journals bear the 
 recorded acknowledgments of the zeal with which they 
 have contributed to the general necessities of the state. 
 What madness is it that prompts you to attempt obtaining 
 that by force, which you may more certainly procure by 
 requisition? They may be flattered into anything, but 
 they are too much like yourselves to be driven. Have 
 some indulgence for your own likeness; respect their 
 sturdy English virtue; retract your odious exertions of au 
 thority; and remember that the first step toward making 
 them contribute to your wants is to reconcile them to your 
 government." 
 
 These measures of the British ministers originated partly 
 in mistaken views of the opinions and temper of the people. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 613 
 
 Great misrepresentation had been made for several years 
 to the administration in England respecting the state of 
 the Colonies. It was declared by the officers of the Crown 
 and some other individuals, that it was only a few ambi 
 tious persons who objected to the policy of the parent 
 state, while the friends and agents of the people were not 
 permitted to be heard in their attempts to show the gen 
 eral dissatisfaction. 
 
 It is also true that Lord North and several other mem 
 bers of the British cabinet at this period possessed high 
 notions of the supremacy of Parliament, and of the sover 
 eign power of the King; the more correct and just prin 
 ciples of civil liberty, recognized in 1689, and still received 
 by many eminent statesmen in England, were not in fashion 
 with the court party. 
 
 Assuming the doctrine of the supreme and unlimited 
 authority of Parliament over all parts of the empire (which, 
 in a certain sense, restricted and qualified, however, by 
 great constitutional principles, had been generally admitted 
 in the Colonies), ministers insisted that the power of the 
 parent government was entirely without control; and con 
 tended for the legitimacy of measures which the patriots 
 in both countries considered most arbitrary, and wholly 
 destructive of the liberties of the subject. 
 
 With these views of government, they maintained that 
 any measures were justifiable for supporting the authority 
 of the King and Parliament; and they calculated upon 
 bringing the refractory and disaffected to ready submission 
 by severity and force. It will soon be apparent however, 
 that it was not a faction in Boston by which opposition was 
 kept alive in America; and that throughout this and other 
 provinces but one sentiment prevailed as to the oppressive 
 and arbitrary conduct of the parent government, and one 
 
614 WASHINGTON. 
 
 determination to oppose and prevent the continuance of 
 such a system of policy. 
 
 Notwithstanding these successive measures, from which 
 such important results were professedly expected, it is 
 evident that the government entertained serious appre 
 hensions that an appeal to arms was by no means improb 
 able. The English cabinet sought therefore to ingratiate 
 themselves with the newly acquired provinces of Canada, 
 and the proceedings they adopted with this view appear 
 to have been the only measures which were characterized 
 by the slightest indications of wisdom. 
 
 The Canadian noblesse had enjoyed great authority 
 under the dominion of their native country, and they had 
 recently been complaining of the abridgement of their 
 privileges, while the inhabitants, who were chiefly Catholic, 
 had been viewing with jealousy the superior privileges of 
 the Protestants; Lord North therefore did not suffer the 
 session to close without introducing a bill calculated to 
 insure the affections of the Canadians. It erected a Legis 
 lative council, nominated by the Crown, on whom very ex 
 tensive powers were conferred, which was very gratifying 
 to the Canadian nobility; the Catholic clergy were estab 
 lished in their privileges, and a perfect equality between 
 their religion and that of the Protestants was established; 
 the French laws were confirmed, and trial without jury 
 permitted in all except criminal cases. To afford a wider 
 field for ministerial maneuvers, the limits of the province 
 of Quebec were extended to the river Ohio. 
 
 To these prudent concessions to the sentiments of the 
 Canadians may be attributed, in a great measure, the sin 
 gular fact of their remaining attached to the British Gov 
 ernment during the Revolutionary contest, when it might 
 not unreasonably have been anticipated that they would 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 615 
 
 have been the first to throw off a foreign yoke, and declare 
 their independence. 
 
 As a measure indicative of a determination to conduct the 
 proceedings against the refractory colonists with the 
 utmost vigor, General Gage was appointed, with powers 
 of the most unlimited extent, to supersede Governor 
 Hutchinson. The offices of governor of the province of 
 Massachusetts and commander of His Majesty's forces 
 in America were united in his person. The intelligence 
 of the passing of the Boston Port Bill had preceded Gen 
 eral Gage a few days. The new Governor, though it 
 appeared that he entertained serious apprehensions of 
 some disorderly or disrespectful conduct on the part of the 
 people, was received by them with every mark of civility. 
 He had soon occasion to perceive however that their 
 politeness to him did not proceed from any fear of his au 
 thority, or from any relaxation in their purposes of re 
 sistance. On the day after his arrival (1774), the General 
 Court having been dissolved by the late Governor, a town 
 meeting was convened and very numerously attended. 
 They declared and resolved, " that the impolicy, injustice, 
 inhumanity, and cruelty of the act exceed all their powers 
 of expression; and therefore," they said, " we leave it to 
 the censure of others, and appeal to God and the world." 
 
 They also declared it as their opinion, that " if the other 
 Colonies came into a joint resolution to stop all importa 
 tions from, and exportations to, Great Britain and every 
 part of the West Indies, till the act be repealed, the same 
 would prove the salvation of North America, and her 
 liberties." 
 
 The idea was probably entertained by the British min 
 istry that the other Colonies would be inclined rather to 
 avail themselves of the commercial advantages which the 
 closing of one of the chief seaports would open to them 
 
616 WASHINGTON. 
 
 than to make common cause with Boston at the hazard 
 of incurring a similar penalty. In this instance, as in 
 most others, the government made a great miscalculation 
 of the American character. The several Colonies lost no 
 time in expressing the deepest sympathy for the suffer 
 ings of the inhabitants of Boston, and in contributing to 
 their pecuniary necessities, as well as in affording them 
 moral countenance. 
 
 The House of Burgesses in Virginia was in session 
 when the bill for closing the^port of Boston arrived. On 
 May 24, 1774, they passed the following order: "This 
 House, being deeply impressed with apprehension of the 
 great dangers to be derived to British America from the 
 hostile invasion of the city of Boston, in our sister Colony 
 of Massachusetts Bay, whose commerce and harbor are, 
 on the ist day of June next, to be stopped by an armed 
 force, deem it highly necessary that the said ist day of 
 June next be set apart by the members of this House as 
 a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, devoutly to im 
 plore the Divine interposition for averting the heavy 
 calamity which threatens destruction to our civil rights, 
 and the evils of civil war; to give us one heart and one 
 mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, 
 every injury to American rights; and that the minds of 
 His Majesty and his Parliament may be inspired from 
 above with wisdom, moderation, and justice to remove 
 from the loyal people of America all cause of danger from 
 a continued pursuit of measures pregnant with their ruin. 
 Ordered, therefore, that the members of this House do 
 attend in their places, at the hour of 10 in the forenoon, 
 on the said ist day of June next, in order to proceed with 
 Speaker and the mace to the church in this city, for the 
 purposes aforesaid; and that the Rev. Mr. Price be ap- 
 
FIRST MEETING OF WASHINGTON AND HAMILTON. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. C17 
 
 pointed to read prayers and to preach a sermon suitable 
 to the occasion." 
 
 The next day (May 25th) the House, for this independ 
 ent conduct, was dissolved by the Governor, Lord Dun- 
 more. Thereupon the members, eighty-nine in number, 
 immediately repaired to the Raleigh Tavern, and, forming 
 themselves into a vigilance committee, adopted a spirited 
 declaration of their views, denouncing the Boston Port 
 Bill as a most dangerous attempt to destroy the constitu 
 tional liberty and rights of all North America; recom 
 mending their countrymen to desist from the use, not 
 merely of tea, but of all kinds of East Indian commodities; 
 pronouncing an attack on one of the Colonies to enforce 
 arbitrary taxes an attack on all; and ordering the com 
 mittee of correspondence to communicate with the other 
 corresponding committees on the expediency of appointing 
 deputies from the several Colonies of British America, to 
 meet annually in General Congress, at such place as might 
 be deemed expedient, to deliberate on such measures as 
 the united interests of the Colonies might require. 
 
 This was the first recommendation of a General Con 
 gress by any public assembly, though it had been pre 
 viously proposed in town meetings at New York and 
 Boston. A resolution to the same effect was passed in the 
 Assembly of Massachusetts before it was aware of the pro 
 ceedings of the Virginia Legislature. The measure rec 
 ommended met with prompt and general concurrence 
 throughout the Colonies, and the $th day of September 
 next ensuing was fixed upon for the first Congress, which 
 was to be held at Philadelphia. 
 
 Washington, at his post as a member of the House, 
 took a full share in its patriotic proceedings, and proved 
 himself no idle spectator of this important progress of 
 events. His whole soul was deeply interested in the mo- 
 
618 
 
 mentous questions at issue; and, although on intimate 
 terms with Lord Dunmore, he was prepared to join his 
 countrymen with all his energies in resisting the tyran 
 nous course of Parliament.* 
 
 Before all the members of the House of Burgesses left 
 Williamsburg, news came from Boston of a town meet 
 ing in that place, in which it was resolved to invite the 
 people of all the Colonies to unite in an agreement to 
 hold no further commercial intercourse with Great Brit 
 ain, either by imports or exports. Washington was one 
 of the twenty-five delegates still at the seat of government. 
 As there was some difference of opinion among them as 
 to the proper course to be pursued, they went no farther 
 than to issue a circular letter, recommending a meeting 
 of delegates at Williamsburg on the ist of August, to 
 deliberate on the subject. This circular was printed and 
 distributed throughout Virginia. f 
 
 The difference of opinion among the delegates was in 
 relation to the withholding of exports to Great Britain. 
 To the nonimportation agreement they were already com 
 mitted, and all were willing to adhere strictly to it. But 
 the withholding of exports would involve the practical 
 repudiation of large debts to merchants in England, which 
 
 * [Washington had dined with Lord Dunmore May i6th, at Wil 
 liamsburg, then a gay, aristocratic capital, where social pretension 
 was at its best, and none more distinguished than himself. It was 
 for the opening of the House of Burgesses that he had come. On 
 the 24th of May, three days before the date on which a splendid 
 ball was appointed to be given in honor of Lady Dunmore, news 
 of the closing of the port of Boston was received, and energetic 
 action taken, as stated above. Washington dined again at Lord 
 Dunmore's and spent the evening on the 25th ; he rode out with 
 him to his farm and breakfasted there with him on the 26th; 
 and on the 27th he attended the ball in honor of her ladyship. 
 But these courtesies had no effect to give pause to his patriotism.] 
 
 t Sparks, "Life of Washington," p. 115. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 619 
 
 could only be paid by sending out the productions of the 
 country, particularly the staple of Virginia tobacco. 
 
 On this head, Washington, in strict consistency with 
 his uniform character for honor and integrity, took a 
 decisive stand. Writing to his friend, Bryan Fairfax, July 4, 
 1774, he says: ["As to your political sentiments, I would 
 heartily join you in them, so far as relates to a humble 
 and dutiful petition to the throne, provided there was 
 the most distant hope of success. But have we not tried 
 this already? Have we not addressed the Lords, and re 
 monstrated to the Commons? And to what end? Did 
 they deign to look at our petitions? Does it not appear 
 as clear as the sun in its meridian brightness, that there 
 is a regular, systematic plan formed to fix the right and 
 practice of taxation upon us? Does not the uniform con 
 duct of Parliament for some years past confirm this? Do 
 not all the debates, especially those just brought to us, 
 in the House of Commons on the side of the government, 
 expressly declare that America must be taxed in aid of 
 British funds, and that she has no longer resources within 
 herself? Is there anything to be expected from petition 
 ing after this? Is not the attack upon the liberty and 
 property of the people of Boston, before restitution of the 
 loss to the India Company was demanded, a plain and 
 self-evident proof of what they are aiming at? Do not 
 the subsequent bills (now I dare say acts), for depriving 
 the Massachusetts Bay of its charter, and for transport 
 ing offenders into other colonies or to Great Britain for 
 trial, where it is impossible from the nature of the thing 
 that justice can be obtained, convince us that the admin 
 istration is determined to stick at nothing to carry its point? 
 
 " Ought we not then, to put our virtue and fortitude to 
 the severest test?] 
 
 "With you I think it folly to attempt more than 
 
620 WASHINGTON. 
 
 we can execute, as that will not only bring disgrace upon 
 us, but weaken our cause; yet I think we may do more 
 than is generally believed, in respect to the nonimporta 
 tion scheme. As to the withholding of our remittances, 
 that is another point in which I own I have my doubts 
 on several accounts, but principally on that of justice; for 
 I think, whilst we are accusing others of injustice, we 
 should be just ourselves; and how this can be, whilst we 
 owe a considerable debt, and refuse payment of it, to 
 Great Britain, is to me inconceivable. Nothing but the 
 last extremity, I think, can justify it. Whether this is 
 now come is the question." 
 
 [To this Bryan Fairfax replied by a letter of July 17, 
 1774. Meanwhile, or before this letter was delivered, the 
 inhabitants of the county had met, first on the 5th of July, 
 and again on the i8th; had appointed a committee, of 
 which Washington was chairman, as well as moderator of 
 the meetings held, to prepare resolutions; and these reso 
 lutions, " revised, altered, and corrected in the committee," 
 were being adopted. The letter of Bryan Fairfax, a long 
 one, particularly objecting to any denial of the authority 
 of Parliament, came to Washington when the resolutions 
 were before the meeting over which he was presiding. 
 Hastily looking it through, he " handed it round to the 
 gentlemen on the bench,* of which there were many," 
 " the first people in the country," and found it so little 
 acceptable as to make it inadvisable to have it read, as 
 Mr. B. Fairfax requested.] In reply to it Washington 
 wrote, July 20, 1774: 
 
 " That I differ very widely from you," said he, " in re 
 spect to the mode of obtaining a repeal of the acts so much 
 
 *[The terms used here show how the English custom of a bench 
 of magistrates, at the courthouse, was the usage of Virginia, as 
 it was the usage of New England.] 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 621 
 
 and so justly complained of, I shall not hesitate to ac 
 knowledge; and that this difference in opinion probably 
 proceeds from the different constructions we put upon 
 the conduct and intentions of the ministry may also be 
 true; but, as I see nothing, on the one hand, to induce a 
 belief that the Parliament would embrace a favorable 
 opportunity for repealing acts which they go on with 
 great rapidity to pass, in order to enforce their tyrannical 
 system; and, on the other, I observe, or think I observe, 
 that government is pursuing a regular plan, at the ex 
 pense of law and justice, to overthrow our constitutional 
 rights and liberties, how can I expect any redress from 
 a measure which has been ineffectually tried already? 
 For, sir, what is it we are contending against? Is it 
 against paying the duty of three pence per pound on tea 
 because burdensome? No, it is the right only that we 
 have all along disputed; and to this end we have already 
 petitioned His Majesty in as humble and dutiful a man 
 ner as subjects could do. Nay, more, we applied to the 
 House of Lords and House of Commons, in their differ 
 ent legislative capacities, setting forth that, as English 
 men, we could not be deprived of this essential and valu 
 able part of our Constitution. If, then, as the fact really 
 is, it is against the right of taxation that we now do, and, 
 as I before said, all along have contended, why should 
 they suppose an exertion of this power would be less ob 
 noxious now than formerly? And what reason have we 
 to believe that they would make a second attempt, whilst 
 the same sentiments fill the breast of every American, if 
 they did not intend to enforce it if possible? 
 
 [" The conduct of the Boston people could not justify the 
 rigor of their measures, unless there had been a requisi 
 tion of payment and refusal of it; nor did that measure 
 require an act to deprive the government of Massachu- 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 setts Bay of their charter, or to exempt offenders from 
 trial in the place where offences were committed, as there 
 could not be a single instance produced to manifest 
 the necessity of it. Are not all these things self evident 
 proofs of a fixed and uniform plan to tax us? If we want 
 further proofs, do not all the debates in the House of 
 Commons serve to confirm this? And has not General 
 Gage's conduct since his arrival (in stopping the address 
 of his Council, and publishing a proclamation more be 
 coming a Turkish bashaw than an English Governor, de 
 claring it treason to associate in any manner by which 
 the commerce of Great Britain is to be affected,) exhibited 
 an unexampled testimony of the most despotic system of 
 tyranny that ever was practiced in a free government? 
 
 " In short, what further proofs are wanting to satisfy 
 any one of the designs of the ministry than their own acts, 
 which are uniform and plainly tending to the same point, 
 nay, if I mistake not, avowedly to fix the right of taxation? 
 What hope have we then fiom petitioning, when they tell 
 us that now or never is the time to fix the matter? Shall 
 we, after this, whine and cry for relief, when we have 
 already tried it in vain? Or shall we supinely sit and see 
 one province after another fall a sacrifice to despotism? 
 
 " If I were in any doubt as to the right which the Par 
 liament of Great Britain had to tax us without our con 
 sent, I should most heartily coincide with you in opinion 
 that to petition, and petition only, is the proper method 
 to apply for relief; because we should then be asking a 
 favor, and not claiming a right, which, by the law of na 
 ture and by our Constitution, we are, in my opinion, in 
 dubitably entitled to. I should even think it criminal to 
 go further than this under such an idea ; but I have none 
 such. I think the Parliament of Great Britain have no 
 more right to put their hands into my pocket without my 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 62J 
 
 consent than I have to put my hands into yours; and, this 
 being already urged to them in a firm but decent manner, 
 by all the Colonies, what reason is there to expect any 
 thing from their justice?" 
 
 " As to the resolution for addressing the throne, I own 
 to you, Sir, I think the whole might as well have been 
 expunged. I expect nothing from the measure, nor should 
 my voice have accompanied it, if the non-importation 
 scheme was intended to be retarded by it; for I am con 
 vinced, as much as I am of my existence, that there is no 
 relief for us but in their distress; and I think, at least I 
 hope, that there is public virtue enough left among us to 
 deny ourselves everything but the bare necessaries of life 
 to accomplish this end. This we have a right to do, and 
 no power upon earth can compel us to do otherwise till 
 it has first reduced us to the most abject state of slavery. 
 The stopping of our exports would, no doubt, be a shorter 
 method than the other to effect this purpose; but, if we 
 owe money to Great Britain, nothing but the last neces 
 sity can justify the nonpayment of it; and therefore I have 
 great doubts upon this head, and wish to see the other 
 method first tried, which is legal and will facilitate these 
 payments. 
 
 " I cannot conclude without expressing some concern 
 that I should differ so widely in sentiment from you, in 
 a matter of such great moment and general import; and 
 should much distrust my own judgment upon the occasion, 
 if my nature did not recoil at the thought of submitting 
 to measures which I think subversive of everything that I 
 ought to hold dear and valuable, and did I not find at the 
 same time, that the voice of mankind is with me." 
 
 Mr. B. Fairfax replied to the above, and Washington 
 wrote further, August 24, 1774: 
 
 " I can only in general add that an innate spirit of free- 
 
624 WASHINGTON. 
 
 dom first told me that the measures which [the King's] 
 administration hath for some time been and now are most 
 violently pursuing, are repugnant to every principle of 
 natural justice; whilst much abler heads than my own have 
 fully convinced me, that it is not only repugnant to natu 
 ral right; but subversive of the laws and constitution of 
 Great Britain itself, in the establishment of which some 
 of the best blood in the kingdom hath been spilt. Satis 
 fied, then, that the acts of a British Parliament are no 
 longer governed by the principles of justice; that it is 
 trampling upon the valuable rights of Americans con 
 firmed to them by charter, and by the constitution they 
 themselves boast of; and convinced beyond the smallest 
 doubt, that these measures are the result of deliberation, 
 and attempted to be carried into execution by the hand 
 of power, is it a time to trifle, or risk our cause upon 
 petitions, which with difficulty obtain access, and after 
 wards are thrown by with the utmost contempt? Or 
 should we, because heretofore unsuspicious of design, and 
 then unwilling to enter into disputes with the mother coun 
 try* g on to bear more, and forbear to enumerate our 
 just causes of complaint? 
 
 " For my own part, I shall not undertake to say where 
 the line between Great Britain and the Colonies should be 
 drawn, but I am clearly of opinion that one ought to be 
 drawn and our rights clearly ascertained. I could wish, 
 I own, that the dispute had been left for posterity to de 
 termine, but the crisis is arrived when we must assert our 
 rights or submit to every imposition that can be heaped 
 upon us, till custom shall make us as tame and abject 
 slaves as the blacks we rule over with such arbitrary sway. 
 
 " If you disavow the right of Parliament to tax us, (un 
 represented as we are), we only differ in respect to the 
 mode of opposition, and this difference principally arises 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 625 
 
 from your belief that they the Parliament want a de 
 cent opportunity to repeal the acts; whilst I am as fully 
 convinced, as I am of my own existence, that there has 
 been a regular systematic plan formed to enforce them, 
 and that nothing but unanimity in the colonies (a stroke 
 they did not expect) and firmness, can prevent it. It seems 
 from the best advices from Boston, that General Gage 
 is exceedingly disconcerted at the quiet and steady conduct 
 of the people of Massachusetts Bay, and at the measures 
 pursuing by the other governments; as I dare say he ex 
 pected to have forced those oppressed people into compli 
 ance, or irritated them to acts of violence, before this, for 
 a more colorable pretense of ruling that and the other 
 colonies with a high hand. But I am done. 
 
 " I shall set off on Wednesday next for Philadelphia."] 
 Lord Chatham, in his celebrated speech in the House 
 of Lords, on the 2Oth of January, 1775, on the motion for 
 removing the troops from Boston, uttered the following 
 sentiments, which seem like an echo of those expressed 
 by Washington in the letter above quoted: 
 
 " This glorious spirit of whiggism animates three mil 
 lions in America, who prefer poverty with liberty to gilded 
 chains and sordid affluence; and who will die in defense 
 of their rights as men, as freemen. What shall oppose 
 this spirit, aided by the congenial flame glowing in the 
 breast of every Whig in England, to the amount, I hope, 
 of double the American numbers? Ireland they have to 
 a man. In that country, joined as it is with the cause of 
 Colonies, and placed at their head, the distinction I con 
 tend for is and must be observed. This country superin 
 tends and controls their trade and navigation; but they 
 tax themselves. And this distinction between external 
 and internal control is sacred and insurmountable; it is 
 involved in the abstract nature of things. Property is 
 40 
 
626 WASHINGTON. 
 
 private, individual, absolute. Trade is an extended and 
 complicated consideration; it reaches as far as ships can 
 sail, or winds can blow; it is a great and various machine. 
 To regulate the numberless movements of its several 
 parts and combine them into effect, for the good of the 
 whole, requires the superintending wisdom and energy 
 of the supreme power in the empire. But this supreme 
 power has no effect toward internal taxation; for it does 
 not exist in that relation; there is no such thing, no such 
 idea in this Constitution, as a supreme power operating 
 upon property. Let this distinction then remain forever 
 ascertained; taxation is theirs, commercial regulation is 
 ours. As an American, I would recognize to England 
 her supreme right of regulating commerce and naviga 
 tion; as an Englishman by birth and principle, I recognize 
 to the Americans their supreme inalienable right in their 
 property; a right which they are justified in the defense 
 of to the last extremity. To maintain this principle is the 
 common cause of the Whigs on the other side of the 
 Atlantic and on this. ' Tis liberty to liberty engaged/ 
 that they will defend themselves, their families, and their 
 country. In this great cause they are immovably allied; 
 it is the alliance of God and nature immutable, eternal, 
 fixed as the firmament of heaven. 
 
 "To such united force, what force shall be opposed? 
 What, my lords! A few regiments in America and 17,000 
 or 18,000 men at home ! The idea is too ridiculous to 
 take up a moment of your lordships' time. Nor can such 
 a national and principled union be resisted by the tricks 
 of office, or ministerial maneuver. Laying of papers on 
 your table, or counting numbers on a division, will not 
 avert or postpone the hour of danger. It must arrive, 
 my lords, unless these fatal acts are done away; it must 
 arrive in all its horrors, and then these boastful ministers, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 627 
 
 spite of all their confidence and all their maneuvers, shall 
 be forced to hide their heads. They shall be forced to a 
 disgraceful abandonment of their present measures and 
 principles which they avow, but cannot defend; measures 
 which they presume to attempt, but cannot hope to ef 
 fectuate. They cannot, my lords, they cannot stir a step; 
 they have not a move left; they are checkmated. 
 
 " But it is not repealing this act of Parliament, it is not 
 repealing a piece of parchment, that can restore America 
 to our bosom. You must repeal her fears and her re 
 sentments, and you may then hope for her love and grati 
 tude. But now, insulted with an armed force posted at 
 Boston, irritated with a hostile array before her eyes, her 
 concessions, if you could force them, would be suspicious 
 and insecure; they will be irato animo; they will not be the 
 sound, honorable passions of freemen; they will be the 
 dictates of fear and extortions of force. But it is more 
 than evident that you cannot force them, united as they 
 are, to your unworthy terms of submission; it is impossi 
 ble. And when I hear General Gage censured for inac 
 tivity, I must retort with indignation on those whose 
 intemperate measures and improvident councils have be 
 trayed him into his present situation." 
 
 Washington was present in the convention at Williams- 
 burg as a member from Fairfax county, which met on 
 the ist of August (1774), and presented the elaborate reso 
 lutions prepared by Mason. His speech in support of 
 them was spoken of at the time as remarkably eloquent. 
 The importance of the crisis no doubt awakened all his 
 powers of oratory. In the height of his enthusiasm he 
 even expressed a willingness to raise 1,000 men and march 
 at their head to the relief of Boston. 
 
 The resolutions thus presented remained among Wash 
 ington's papers. Their substance was as follows: 
 
628 WASHINGTON. 
 
 "At a general meeting of the freeholders and inhab 
 itants of the county of Fairfax, on Monday, the i8th day 
 of July, 1774, at the courthouse, George Washington, 
 chairman, and Robert Harrison, clerk, of the said meeting: 
 
 " 1st. Resolved, That this Colony and Dominion of Vir 
 ginia cannot be considered as a conquered country; and 
 if it was, that the present inhabitants are the descendants, 
 not of the conquered, but of the conquerors. That the same 
 was not settled at the national expense of England, but 
 at the private expense of the^ adventurers, our ancestors. 
 by solemn compact with, and under the auspices and pro 
 tection of, the British Crown; upon which we are, in every 
 respect, as dependent as the people of Great Britain, and 
 in the same manner subject to all His Majesty's just, legalj 
 and constitutional prerogatives. That our ancestors, 
 when they left their native land and settled in America, 
 brought with them (even if the same had not been con 
 fined by charters) the civil Constitution and form of gov 
 ernment of the country they came from; and were, by the 
 laws of nature and nations, entitled to all its privileges, 
 immunities, and advantages, which have descended to us, 
 their posterity, and ought of right to be as fully enjoyed 
 as if we had still continued within the realm of England. 
 
 " 2d. Resolved, That the most important and valuable 
 part of the British Constitution, upon which its very exist 
 ence depends, is the fundamental principle of the people's 
 being governed by no laws to which they have not given 
 their consent by representatives freely chosen by them 
 selves; who are affected by the laws they enact equally 
 with their constituents; to whom they are accountable, 
 and whose burdens they share. 
 
 " 3d. Resolved, Therefore, as the inhabitants of the 
 American Colonies are not, and, from their situation, can 
 not be represented in the British Parliament, that the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 629 
 
 legislative power here can of right be exercised only by 
 our own provincial assemblies or parliaments, subject to 
 the assent or negative of the British Crown, to be declared 
 within some proper limited time. But as it was thought 
 just and reasonable that the people of Great Britain should 
 reap advantages from these Colonies adequate to the pro 
 tection they afforded them, the British Parliament have 
 claimed and exercised the power of regulating our trade 
 and commerce, so as to restrain our importing from for 
 eign countries such articles as they could furnish us with 
 of their own growth or manufacture; or exporting to for 
 eign countries such articles and portions of our produce 
 as Great Britain stood in need of for her own consumption 
 or manufactures. Such a power, directed with wisdom 
 and moderation, seems necessary for the general good of 
 that great body politic, of which we are a part; although 
 in some degree repugnant to the principles of the Consti 
 tution. Under this idea our ancestors submitted to it; the 
 experience of more than a century during the government 
 of His Majesty's royal predecessors has proved its utility, 
 and the reciprocal benefits flowing from it produced mu 
 tual uninterrupted harmony and good-will between the in 
 habitants of Great Britain and her Colonies, who, during 
 that long period, always considered themselves as one and 
 the same people. 
 
 " 4th. Resolved, That it is the duty of these Colonies on 
 all emergencies to contribute, in proportion to their abili 
 ties, situation, and circumstances, to the necessary charge 
 of supporting and defending the British Empire, of which 
 they are a part. 
 
 " 5th. Resolved, That the claim lately assumed and exer 
 cised by the British Parliament, of making all such laws 
 as they think fit to govern the people of these Colonies, 
 and to extort from us our money without our consent, is 
 
630 WASHINGTON. 
 
 not only diametrically contrary to the first principles of 
 the Constitution and the original compacts by which we 
 are dependent upon the British Crown and Government, 
 but is totally incompatible with the privileges of a free 
 people and the natural rights of mankind. 
 
 " 6th. Resolved, That taxation and representation are in 
 their nature inseparable. 
 
 " 7th. Resolved, That the powers over the people of 
 America, now claimed by the British House of Commons, 
 in whose election we have no share, on whose determina 
 tions we can have no influence, whose information must 
 be always defective and often false, who in many instances 
 may have a separate, and in some an opposite, interest to 
 ours, and who are removed from those impressions of 
 tenderness and compassion arising from personal inter 
 course and connection, which soften the rigors of the 
 most despotic governments, must, if continued, establish 
 the most grievous and intolerable species of tyranny and 
 oppression that ever was inflicted upon mankind. 
 
 " 8th. Resolved, That it is our greatest wish and inclina 
 tion, as well as interest, to continue our connection with 
 and dependence upon the British Government ; but though 
 we are its subjects, we will use every means which heaven 
 hath given us to prevent our becoming its slaves. 
 
 " Qth. Resolved, That there is a premeditated design and 
 system formed and pursued by the British ministry to 
 introduce an arbitrary government into His Majesty's 
 American dominions 
 
 " loth. Resolved, That the several acts of Parliament for 
 raising a revenue upon the people of America without 
 their consent, the creating new and dangerous jurisdic 
 tions here, the taking our trials by jury, the ordering per 
 sons, upon criminal accusations, to be tried in another 
 country than that in which the act is charged to have 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 631 
 
 been committed, the act inflicting ministerial vengeance 
 upon the town of Boston, and the two bills lately brought 
 into Parliament for abrogating the charter of the province 
 of Massachusetts Bay, and for the protection and en 
 couragement of murderers in said province, are part of the 
 above-mentioned iniquitous system. 
 
 " nth. Resolved, That we will cordially join with our 
 friends and brethren of this and the other Colonies in such 
 measures as shall be judged most effectual for procuring 
 redress of our grievances, and that upon obtaining such 
 redress, if the destruction of the tea at Boston be regarded 
 as an invasion of private property, we shall be willing to 
 contribute toward paying the East India Company the 
 value. 
 
 " 1 2th. Resolved, That nothing will so much contribute 
 to defeat the pernicious designs of the common enemies 
 of Great Britain and her Colonies as a firm union of the 
 latter, who ought to regard every act of violence or op 
 pression inflicted upon any one of them as aimed at all; 
 and to effect this desirable purpose, that a Congress should 
 be appointed, to consist of deputies from all the Colonies, 
 to concert a general and uniform plan for the defense and 
 preservation of our common rights, and continuing the 
 connection and dependence of the said Colonies upon 
 Great Britain, under a just, lenient, permanent, and con 
 stitutional form of government. 
 
 " 1 3th. Resolved, That our most sincere and cordial 
 thanks be given to the patrons and friends of liberty in 
 Great Britain for their spirited and patriotic conduct in 
 support of our constitutional rights and privileges, and 
 iheir generous efforts to prevent the present distress and 
 calamity of America. 
 
 " I4th. Resolved, That every little jarring interest and 
 dispute which has ever happened between these Colonies 
 
632 WASHINGTON. 
 
 should be buried in eternal oblivion; that all manner of 
 luxury and extravagance ought immediately to be laid 
 aside as totally inconsistent with the threatening and 
 gloomy prospect before us; that it is the indispensable 
 duty of all the gentlemen and men of fortune to set exam 
 ples of temperance, frugality, and industry, and give every 
 encouragement in their power, particularly by subscrip 
 tions and premiums, to the improvement of arts and manu 
 factures in America; that great care and attention should 
 be had to the cultivation of flax, cotton, and other ma 
 terials for manufactures; and we recommend it to such 
 of the inhabitants as have large stocks of sheep to sell to 
 their neighbors at a moderate price, as the most certain 
 means of speedily increasing our breed of sheep and quan 
 tity of wool. 
 
 " 1 5th. Resolved, That until American grievances be re 
 dressed, by restoration of our just rights and privileges, 
 no goods or merchandise whatever ought to be imported 
 into this Colony, which shall be shipped from Great Brit 
 ain or Ireland after the ist day of September next, except 
 linens not exceeding fifteen pence per yard, coarse 
 woollen cloth not exceeding two shillings sterling per 
 yard, nails, wire and wire cards, needles and pins, paper, 
 saltpetre, and medicines, which may be imported until 
 the ist day of September, 1776. 
 
 " :6th. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting 
 that the merchants and vendors of goods and merchandise 
 within this Colony should take an oath not to sell or dis 
 pose of any goods or merchandise whatsoever, which may 
 be shipped from Great Britain after the ist day of Sep 
 tember next, as aforesaid, except the articles before ex- 
 cepted. 
 
 " 1 7th. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting 
 that during our present difficulties and distress no slaves 
 

LIFE AND TIMES. 633 
 
 ought to be imported into any of the British Colonies on 
 this continent; and we take this opportunity of declaring our 
 most earnest ivishes to see an entire stop forever put to such 
 a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade. 
 
 " 1 8th. Resolved, That no kind of lumber should be ex 
 ported from this Colony to the West Indies until America 
 be restored to her constitutional rights and liberties, if 
 the other Colonies will accede to a like resolution. 
 
 " iQth. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, 
 if American grievances be not redressed before the ist 
 day of November, 1775, that all exports of produce from 
 the several Colonies to Great Britain should cease; and 
 to carry the said resolution more effectually into execu 
 tion, that we will not plant or cultivate any tobacco after 
 the crop now growing. 
 
 " 2oth. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting 
 that a solemn covenant and association should be entered 
 into by the inhabitants of all the Colonies upon oath, that 
 they will not, after the times which shall be respectively 
 agreed on at the General Congress, export any manner 
 of lumber to the West Indies, nor any of their produce to 
 Great Britain, or sell or dispose of the same to any per 
 son who shall not have entered into the said covenant 
 and association; and also, that they will not import or re 
 ceive any goods or merchandise which shall be shipped 
 from Great Britain after the ist day of September next, 
 other than the before-enumerated articles, nor buy or pur 
 chase any goods, except as before excepted, of any person 
 whatsoever, who shall not have taken the oath hereinbe 
 fore recommended to be taken by the merchants and ven 
 ders of goods, nor buy or purchase any slaves hereafter 
 imported into any part of this continent, until a free ex 
 portation and importation be again resolved on by a ma 
 jority of the representatives or deputies of the Colonies. 
 
634 WASHINGTON. 
 
 And that the respective committees of the counties in each 
 Colony, so soon as the covenant and association becomes 
 general, publish by advertisements in their several coun 
 ties, a list of the names of those (if any such there be) who 
 will not accede thereto; that such traitors to their country 
 may be publicly knozvn and detested. 
 
 " 2 1 st. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting 
 that this and the other associating Colonies should break 
 off all trade, intercourse, and dealings with that Colony, 
 province, or town which shaH decline or refuse to agree 
 to the plan which shall be adopted by the General Con 
 gress. 
 
 " 22d. Resolved, That should the town of Boston be 
 forced to submit to the late cruel and oppressive meas 
 ures of government, that we should not hold the same to 
 be binding upon us, but will, notwithstanding, religiously 
 maintain and inviolably adhere to such measures as shall 
 be concerted by the General Congress for the preserva 
 tion of our lives, liberties, and fortunes. 
 
 " 23d. Resolved, That it be recommended to the depu 
 ties of the General Congress to draw up and transmit an 
 humble and dutiful petition and remonstrance to His Ma 
 jesty, asserting with decent firmness our just and consti 
 tutional rights and privileges; lamenting the fatal neces 
 sity of being compelled to enter into measures disgusting 
 to His Majesty and to his Parliament, or injurious to our 
 fellow-subjects in Great Britain; declaring, in the strong 
 est terms, our duty and affection to His Majesty's person, 
 family, and government, and our desire to continue our 
 dependence upon Great Britain; and most humbly con 
 juring and beseeching His Majesty not to reduce his faith 
 ful subjects of America to a state of desperation, and to 
 reflect that from our sovereign there can be but one appeal. 
 And it is the opinion of this meeting that after such peti- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 635 
 
 tion and remonstrance shall have been presented to His 
 Majesty, the same should be printed in the public papers 
 in all the principal towns in Great Britain. 
 
 " 24th. Resolved, That George Washington and Charles 
 Broadwater, lately elected our representatives to serve in 
 the General Assembly, be appointed to attend the con 
 vention at Williamsburg, on the ist day of August next, 
 and present these resolves, as the sense of the people of 
 this county, upon the measures proper to be taken in the 
 present alarming and dangerous situation in America." 
 
 The convention adopted a new association, in which a 
 middle course was taken in the matter of exports, which 
 had been so much discussed in Virginia, certain times 
 being fixed when all intercourse with the mother country, 
 both by imports and exports, should be suspended unless 
 the obnoxious acts of Parliament should be previously 
 repealed. 
 
 The convention remained in session six days, passed 
 resolutions breathing the same spirit as that of the Fair 
 fax county resolves, and appointed and gave instructions 
 to the following gentlemen as delegates to the General 
 Congress: Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George 
 Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin 
 Harrison, Edward Pendleton. 
 
 [The earliest reputation of Jefferson as a writer was 
 made by his "A Summary View of the Rights of British 
 America: Set forth in some Resolutions intended for the 
 inspection of the present Delegates of the People of Vir 
 ginia now in Convention." Jefferson had been elected a 
 member of the convention, and prepared the " Resolu 
 tions " for submission to the delegates in connection with 
 their election of Virginia delegates to the First Continental 
 Congress. An accidental illness rendered him unable to 
 be present at the convention, and he sent copies of his 
 
636 WASHINGTON. 
 
 document to Patrick Henry and Peyton Randolph. The 
 latter laid the document before the convention, which 
 however preferred adopting a statement less sharply and 
 sternly critical of British treatment of the Colonies. 
 Knowing however that Jefferson's resolutions more ex 
 actly fitted the case than those of the convention, his 
 friends immediately printed the document, with the frank 
 admission that but for motives of policy, on the part of 
 the more moderate and conservative members of the con 
 vention, it would have been accepted, on the ground that 
 " In it the sources of our unhappy differences are traced 
 with such faithful accuracy, and the opinions entertained 
 by every free American expressed with such manly firm 
 ness, that it must be pleasing to the present and may be 
 useful to future ages." Edmund Randolph relates that 
 he distinctly recollected the applause bestowed on the 
 greater number of Jefferson's resolutions by a large com 
 pany to whom they were read at the house of Peyton 
 Randolph, although others were not equally approved. 
 Randolph explains that Dickinson, in the celebrated 
 " Pennsylvania Farmer " letters, had urged some measure 
 of concession to British taxation of the Colonies, and that 
 while the younger men were with Jefferson, the older were 
 with Dickinson. Jefferson's resolutions boldly proposed 
 that the deputies to be sent to a Continental Congress 
 should present to the English King " their joint address, 
 penned in the language of truth, and divested of those ex 
 pressions of civility which would persuade His Majesty 
 that we are asking favors and not rights." After reviewing 
 those less alarming violations of American right which 
 had been repeated at more distant intervals through the 
 reigns which preceded His Majesty's, and having re 
 marked on the " Rapid and Bold Succession of Injuries " 
 of the King's own time, characterizing it as "A Series of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 637 
 
 Oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pur 
 sued unalterable through every change of ministers, too 
 plainly proving a deliberate and systematical plan of re 
 ducing us to slavery/' Jefferson's summary of sugges 
 tions for an address went on to say: 
 
 " Not only the principles of common sense, but the com 
 mon feelings of human nature, must be surrendered up 
 before His Majesty's subjects here can be persuaded to 
 believe that they hold their political existence at the will 
 of a British Parliament." Having indicated, in thus scor 
 ing the King's ministry, that he looked through ministers 
 and ministerial acts to the monarch himself for the au 
 thorship of "A Series of Oppressions," dating from his 
 accession, Jefferson's document next proceeded to con 
 sider the conduct of His Majesty. Speaking of the veto 
 power, and pronouncing without excuse " the wanton ex 
 ercise of this power which we have seen His Majesty prac 
 tice on the laws of the American Legislatures," the com 
 plaint went on to say: "For the most trifling reasons, 
 and sometimes for no conceivable reason at all, His Ma 
 jesty has rejected laws of the most salutary tendency. The 
 abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in 
 those Colonies ivhere it zvas unhappily introduced in their in 
 fant state. But, previous to the enfranchisement of the 
 slaves we have, it is necessary to exclude all further im 
 portations from Africa; yet our repeated attempts to ef 
 fect this by prohibitions, and by imposing duties which 
 might amount to a prohibition, have been hitherto de 
 feated by His Majesty's negative, thus preferring the im 
 mediate advantages of a few African corsairs to the lasting 
 interest of the American States, and to the right of human 
 nature, deeply wounded by this infamous practice." Con 
 cluding his recital of grievances, Jefferson said, in respect 
 to the freedom of language and sentiment used in it : " Let 
 
638 WASHINGTON. 
 
 those flatter who fear; it is not an American art. To give 
 praise which is not due might be well from the venal, but 
 would ill beseem those who are asserting the rights of 
 human nature. They know, and will therefore say, that 
 Kings are the servants not the proprietors of the people. 
 Open your breast, Sire, to liberal and expanding thought. 
 Let not the name of George III be a blot in the page of history. 
 You are surrounded by British counsellors, but remember 
 that they are partisans. You have no ministers for Ameri 
 can affairs, because you hav none taken from among us, 
 nor amenable to the laws on which they are to give you 
 advice. It behooves you therefore to think and act for 
 yourself and your people. The great principles of right 
 and wrong are legible to every reader; to pursue them 
 requires not the aid of many counsellors. The whole art 
 of government consists in the art of being honest. Only 
 aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit 
 where you fail. No longer persevere in sacrificing the 
 rights of one part of the empire to the inordinate desires 
 of another; but deal out to all equal and impartial right. 
 Let no act be passed by any one Legislature which may 
 infringe on the rights and liberties of another. This is 
 the important post in which fortune has placed you, hold 
 ing the balance of a great, if a well-poised, empire. This, 
 Sire, is the advice of your great American council, on the 
 observance of which may perhaps depend you felicity and 
 future fame, and the preservation of that harmony which 
 alone can continue both to Great Britain and America 
 the reciprocal advantages of their connection. It is 
 neither our wish nor our interest to separate from her. 
 We are willing, on our part, to sacrifice everything which 
 reason can ask to the restoration of that tranquillity for 
 which all must wish. On their part, let them be ready to 
 establish union and a generous plan. Let them name 
 
LIFE AND TIMES 639 
 
 their terms, but let them be just. Accept of every com 
 mercial preference it is in our power to give for such things 
 as we can raise for their use, or they make for ours. But 
 let them not think to exclude us from going to other mar 
 kets to dispose of those commodities which they cannot 
 use, or to supply those wants which they cannot supply. 
 Still less, let it be proposed that our properties within our 
 own territories shall be taxed or regulated by any power 
 on earth but our own. The God who gave us life gave 
 us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, 
 but cannot disjoin them. This, Sire, is our last, our de 
 termined resolution."] 
 
 Virginia was not alone in her sympathy for the inhab 
 itants of Boston, nor in active measures for sustaining 
 the noble cause in which she was engaged. The news of 
 the passage of the Boston Port Bill was received in that 
 town on the loth of May (1774), and its operation was to 
 commence on the first of the next month. We have al 
 ready noticed the resolutions of the Boston town meeting 
 of May I3th and its effect on the House of Burgesses of 
 Virginia. 
 
 On their reception in South Carolina, a number of the 
 leading citizens of Charleston unanimously agreed to call 
 a meeting of the inhabitants of the whole province. 
 
 That this might be as general as possible, letters were 
 sent to every parish and district, and the people were in 
 vited to attend, either personally or by their representa 
 tives, at a general meeting. A large number assembled, 
 in which were some from almost every part of the province. 
 The proceedings of Parliament against Massachusetts 
 were distinctly related to this convention. 
 
 Without one dissenting voice they passed sundry reso 
 lutions expressive of their rights and of their sympathy 
 with the people "of Boston. They also chose five dele- 
 
640 WASHINGTON. 
 
 gates to represent them in a Continental Congress, and 
 invested them " with full powers and authority, in behalf 
 of them and their constituents, to concert, agree to, and 
 effectually to prosecute such legal measures as in their 
 opinion, and the opinion of the other members, would be 
 most likely to obtain a redress of American grievances." 
 
 The events of this time, says Ramsay, may be transmit 
 ted to posterity, but the agitation of the public mind can 
 never be fully comprehended, but by those who were wit 
 nesses of it. 
 
 In the counties and towns of the several provinces, as 
 well as in the cities, the people assembled and passed reso 
 lutions expressive of their rights and of their detestation 
 of the late American acts of Parliament. These had an in 
 stantaneous effect on the minds of thousands. Not only the 
 young and impetuous, but the aged and temperate, joined 
 in pronouncing them to be unconstitutional and oppres 
 sive. They viewed them as deadly weapons aimed at the 
 vitals of that liberty which they adored; as rendering abor 
 tive the generous pains taken by their forefathers to pro 
 cure for them, in a new world, the quiet enjoyment of 
 their rights. They were the subjects of their meditation 
 when alone, and of their conversation when in company. 
 
 Within little more than a month, after the news of the 
 Boston Port Bill reached America, it was communicated 
 from State to State, and a flame was kindled in almost 
 every breast through the widely-extended provinces. The 
 committees of correspondence were at work in every part 
 of the country. Every political act of one province be 
 came speedily known to every other. 
 
 In the first three months which followed the shutting 
 up of the port of Boston, the inhabitants of the Colonies, 
 in hundreds of small circles, as well as in their provincial 
 assemblies and congresses, expressed their abhorrence of 
 the late proceedings of the British Parliament against 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 641 
 
 Massachusetts their concurrence in the proposed meas 
 ure of appointing deputies for a general congress, and 
 their willingness to do and suffer whatever should be 
 judged conducive to the establishment of their liberties. 
 
 A patriotic flame, created and diffused by the contagion 
 of sympathy, was communicated to so many breasts and 
 reflected from such a variety of objects as to become too 
 intense to be resisted. 
 
 While the combination of the other Colonies to sup 
 port Boston was gaining strength, new matter of dissen 
 sion daily took place in Massachusetts. The resolution 
 for shutting the port of Boston was no sooner taken than 
 it was determined to order a military force to that town. 
 General Gage had arrived in Boston on the third day after 
 the inhabitants received the first intelligence of the Bos 
 ton Port Bill. Though the people were irritated by that 
 measure, and though their republican jealousy was hurt 
 by the combination of the civil and military character in 
 one person, yet the General, as we have seen, was received 
 with all the honors which had been usually paid to his 
 predecessors. Soon after his arrival, two regiments of 
 foot, with a detachment of artillery and some cannon, were 
 landed in Boston. These troops were by degrees rein 
 forced with others from Ireland, New York, Halifax, and 
 Quebec. 
 
 The Governor announced that he had the King's par 
 ticular command for holding the General Court at Salem 
 after the 1st of June. When that eventful day arrived 
 the act for shutting up the port of Boston commenced its 
 operation. 
 
 It was devoutly kept at Williamsburg as a day of fast 
 ing and humiliation.* In Philadelphia it was solemnized 
 
 * Washington writes in his diary that he " went to church and 
 fasted all day." Sparks. 
 41 
 
642 WASHINGTON. 
 
 with every manifestation of public calamity and grief. 
 The inhabitants shut up their houses. After divine ser 
 vice a stillness reigned over the city, which exhibited an 
 appearance of the deepest distress. 
 
 In Boston a new scene opened on the inhabitants. 
 Hitherto that town had been the seat of commerce and 
 of plenty. The immense business carried on there af 
 forded a comfortable subsistence to- many thousands. The 
 necessary, the useful, and even some of the elegant arts 
 were cultivated among them. The citizens were polite 
 and hospitable. In this happy state they were sentenced, 
 on the short notice of twenty-one days, to a total depri 
 vation of all means of subsisting. The blow reached every 
 person. The rents of the landholders either ceased or 
 were greatly diminished. The immense property in 
 stores and wharves was rendered comparatively useless. 
 Laborers, artificers, and others employed in the numerous 
 occupations created by an extensive trade partook in the 
 general calamity. They who depended on a regular in 
 come flowing from previous acquisitions of property, as 
 well as they who, with the sweat of their brow, earned 
 their daily subsistence, were equally deprived of the means 
 of support; and the chief difference between them was 
 that the distresses of the former were rendered more in 
 tolerable by the recollection of past enjoyments. All these 
 inconveniences and hardships were borne with a passive 
 but inflexible fortitude. Their determination to persist 
 in the same line of conduct which had been the occasion 
 of their suffering was unabated. 
 
 The authors and advisers of the resolution for destroy 
 ing the tea were in the town and still retained their popu 
 larity and influence. The execrations of the inhabitants 
 fell not on them, but on the British Parliament. Their 
 countrymen acquitted them of all selfish designs, and be- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 643 
 
 lieved that in their opposition to the measures of Great 
 Britain they were actuated by an honest zeal for consti 
 tutional liberty. The sufferers in Boston had the conso 
 lation of sympathy from the other colonists. Contribu 
 tions were raised in all quarters for their relief. Letters 
 and addresses came to them from corporate bodies, town 
 meetings, and provincial conventions, applauding their 
 conduct and exhorting them to perseverance. 
 
 The people of Marblehead, who, by their proximity, 
 were likely to reap advantage from the distresses of Bos 
 ton, generously offered the merchants of that place the 
 use of their harbor, wharves, warehouses, and also their 
 personal attendance on the lading or unlading of their 
 goods, free of all expense. 
 
 The inhabitants of Salem, in an address to Governor 
 Gage, concluded with these remarkable words: " By shut 
 ting up the port of Boston some imagine that the course 
 of trade might be turned hither and to our benefit; but 
 nature, in the formation of our harbor, forbade our be 
 coming rivals in commerce with that convenient mart; 
 and, were it otherwise, we must be dead to every idea of 
 justice, lost to all feelings of humanity, could we indulge 
 one thought to seize on wealth and raise our fortunes on 
 the ruins of our suffering neighbors." 
 
 The Massachusetts General Court met at Salem, ac 
 cording to adjournment, on the 7th of June, 1774. Sev 
 eral of the popular leaders took, in a private way, the 
 sense of the members on what was proper to be done. 
 Finding they were able to carry such measures as the pub 
 lic exigencies required, they prepared resolves and moved 
 for their adoption. But before they went on the latter 
 business their door was shut. 
 
 One member nevertheless contrived means of sending 
 information to Governor Gage of what was doing. His 
 
644 WASHINGTON. 
 
 secretary was sent off to dissolve the General Court, but 
 was refused admission. As he could obtain no entrance, 
 he read the proclamation at the door and immediately 
 after in council, and thus dissolved the General Court. 
 The House, while sitting with their doors shut, appointed 
 five of the most respectable inhabitants as delegates to the 
 General Congress, which was to meet on the ist of Sep 
 tember at Philadelphia, voted them 75 sterling each, and 
 recommended to the several towns and districts to raise 
 the said sum by equitable proportions. By these means 
 the designs of the Governor were disappointed. His situ 
 ation in every respect was truly disagreeable. It was his 
 duty to forward the execution of laws which were uni 
 versally execrated. Zeal for his master's service prompted 
 him to endeavor that they should be carried into full ef 
 fect, but his progress was retarded by obstacles from every 
 quarter. He had to transact his official business with a 
 people who possessed a high sense of liberty and were 
 uncommonly ingenious in evading disagreeable acts of 
 Parliament. It was a part of his duty to prevent the call 
 ing of the town meetings after the ist of August, 1774. 
 These meetings were nevertheless held. On his proposing 
 to exert authority for the dispersion of the people, he was 
 told by the selectmen that they had not offended against 
 the act of Parliament, for that only prohibited the calling 
 of town meetings, and that no such call had been made; 
 a former constitutional meeting before the ist of August 
 having only adjourned themselves from time to time. 
 Other evasions, equally founded on the letter of even the 
 late obnoxious laws, were practiced. 
 
 As the summer advanced the people of Massachusetts 
 received stronger proofs of support from the neighboring 
 province. They were therefore encouraged to further op 
 position. The inhabitants ^ of the Colonies at this time, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 645 
 
 with regard to political opinions, might be divided into 
 three classes. Of these, one was for rushing precipitately 
 into extremities. They were for immediately stopping 
 all trade, and could not even brook the delay of waiting 
 till the proposed Continental Congress should meet. An 
 other party, equally respectable both as to character, 
 property, and patriotism, was more moderate, but not less 
 firm. These were averse to the adoption of any violent 
 resolutions till all others were ineffectually tried. They 
 wished that a clear statement of their rights, claims, and 
 grievances should precede every other measure. A third 
 class disapproved of what was generally going on a few 
 from principle and a persuasion that they ought to submit 
 to the mother country, some from the love of ease, others 
 from self-interest, but the bulk from fear of the mischievous 
 consequences likely to follow. All these latter classes, for 
 the most part, lay still, while the friends of liberty acted 
 with spirit. If they or any of them ventured to oppose 
 popular measures they were not supported, and therefore 
 declined further efforts. The resentment of the people 
 was so strong against them that they sought for peace by 
 remaining quiet. The same indecision that made them 
 willing to submit to Great Britain made them apparently 
 acquiesce in popular measures which they disapproved. 
 The spirited part of the community being on the side of 
 liberty, the patriots had the appearance of unanimity, 
 though many either kept at a distance from public meet 
 ings or voted against their own opinion, to secure them 
 selves from resentment and promote their present ease 
 and interest. 
 
 Under the influence of those who were for the imme 
 diate adoption of efficacious measures, an agreement by 
 the name of the solemn league and covenant was adopted 
 by numbers. The subscribers of this bound themselves 
 
64G WASHINGTON. 
 
 to suspend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain 
 until the late obnoxious laws were repealed and the Col 
 ony of Massachusetts restored to its chartered rights. 
 
 General Gage published a proclamation in which he 
 styled this solemn league and covenant "An unlawful, hos 
 tile, and traitorous combination." , And all magistrates 
 were charged to apprehend and secure for trial such as 
 should have any agency in publishing or subscribing the 
 same or any similar covenant. This proclamation had no 
 other effect than to exercise the pens of the lawyers in 
 showing that the association did not come within the de 
 scription of legal treason, and that therefore the Gov 
 ernor's proclamation was not warranted by the principles 
 of the Constitution. 
 
 The late law for regulating the government of the prov 
 ince arrived near the beginning of August, 1774, and was 
 accompanied with a list of thirty-six new councillors ap 
 pointed by the Crown and in a mode variant from that 
 prescribed by the charter. Several of these in the first 
 instance declined an acceptance of the appointment. Those 
 who accepted of it were everywhere declared to be ene 
 mies to their country. The new judges were rendered 
 incapable of proceeding in their official duty. Upon open 
 ing the courts the juries refused to be sworn or to act in 
 any manner, either under them or in conformity to the 
 late regulations. In some places the people assembled 
 and filled the courthouses and avenues to them in such a 
 manner that neither the judges nor their officers could 
 obtain entrance; and upon the sheriff's commanding them 
 to make way for the court, they answered: "That they 
 knew no court independent of the ancient laws of their 
 country, and to none other would they submit." 
 
 In imitation of his royal master, Governor Gage issued 
 a proclamation " for the encouragement of piety and vir- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 647 
 
 tue, and for the prevention and punishing vice, profane- 
 ness, and immorality." In this proclamation hypocrisy 
 was inserted as one of the immoralities against which the 
 people were warned. This was considered by the inhab 
 itants, who had often been ridiculed for their strict atten 
 tion to the forms of religion, to be a studied insult, and 
 as such was more resented than an actual injury. It 
 greatly added to the inflammation which had already taken 
 place in their minds. 
 
 The proceedings and apparent dispositions of the peo 
 ple, together with the military preparations which were 
 daily made through the province, induced General Gage 
 to fortify that neck of land which joins the peninsula of 
 Roxbury to Boston. 
 
 He also seized upon the powder which was lodged in the 
 arsenal at Charlestown. 
 
 This excited a most violent and universal ferment. Sev 
 eral thousands of the people assembled at Cambridge, and 
 it was with difficulty they were restrained from marching 
 directly to Boston to demand a delivery of the powder, 
 with a resolution, in case of refusal, to attack the troops. 
 
 The people thus assembled proceeded to Lieutenant- 
 Governor Oliver's house and to the houses of several of 
 the new councillors, and obliged them to resign and to de 
 clare that they would no more act under the laws lately 
 enacted. In the confusion of these transactions a rumor 
 went abroad that the royal fleet and troops were firing 
 upon the town of Boston. This was probably designed 
 by the popular leaders on purpose to ascertain what aid 
 they might expect from the country in case of extremities. 
 The result exceeded their most sanguine expectations. 
 In less than twenty-four hours there were upward of 
 30,000 men in arms and marching toward the capital. 
 Other risings of the people took place in different parts 
 
648 WASHINGTON. 
 
 of the Colony, and their violence was such that in a short 
 time the new councillors, the commissioners of the cus 
 toms, and all who had taken an active part in favor of 
 Great Britain were obliged to screen themselves in Bos 
 ton. The new seat of government at Salem was aban 
 doned, and the officers connected with the revenue were 
 obliged to consult their safety by taking up their residence 
 in a place which an act of Parliament had proscribed from 
 all trade. 
 
 About this time delegates from every town and district 
 in the county of Suffolk, of which Boston is the county 
 town, had a meeting, at which they prefaced a number of 
 spirited resolutions, containing a detail of the particulars 
 of their intended opposition to the late acts of Parliament, 
 with a general declaration, " That no obedience was due 
 from the province to either or any part of the said acts, 
 but that they should be rejected as the attempts of a 
 wicked administration to enslave America." The resolves 
 of this meeting were sent on to Philadelphia for the infor 
 mation and opinion of the Congress, which, as shall be 
 hereafter related, had met there about this time. 
 
 The people of Massachusetts rightly judged that from 
 the decision of Congress on these resolutions they would 
 be enabled to determine what support they might expect. 
 Notwithstanding present appearances, they feared that the 
 other Colonies, who were no more than remotely con 
 cerned, would not hazard the consequences of making a 
 common cause with them should subsequent events make 
 it necessary to repel force by force. The decision of Con 
 gress exceeded their expectations, as we shall presently 
 see. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 WASHINGTON A MEMBER OP CONGRESS. 
 
 I774- 
 
 r I ^ HE time had now arrived when Washington was to 
 take a distinguished part in the proceedings of the 
 celebrated Continental Congress of 1774. He was 
 accompanied on his journey from Mount Vernon by two 
 of his colleagues, Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton. 
 As they pursued their journey, which was performed on 
 horseback, we may imagine them to have communed with 
 each other on the momentous character of the work upon 
 which they were about to enter. Whether aware of it or 
 not, they were in fact destined that very session of Con 
 gress to lay securely the foundations of the American Re 
 public. It was fit and proper that Washington should 
 take a leading part in the deliberations of that remarkable 
 assemblage of illustrious men.* 
 
 * The instructions given by the Virginia convention of August 
 1-6 to the delegates to the Congress of 1774 were as follows: 
 
 " The unhappy disputes between Great Britain and her Ameri 
 can Colonies, which began about the third year of the reign of his 
 present majesty, and since continually increasing, have proceeded 
 to lengths so dangerous and alarming as to excite just apprehen 
 sions in the minds of His Majesty's faithful subjects of the Colony 
 that they are in danger of being deprived of their natural, ancient, 
 constitutional, and chartered rights, have compelled them to take 
 the. same into their most serious consideration; and being de 
 prived of their usual and accustomed mode of making known their 
 grievances, have appointed us their representatives, to consider 
 what is proper to be done in this dangerous crisis of American 
 
 (649) 
 
650 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The day appointed for the opening of Congress was the 
 5th of September, 1774. The place of this meeting was 
 Carpenter's Hall in Carpenter's Court, Chestnut street, 
 Philadelphia. Punctual to the hour, the deputies from 
 eleven provinces presented themselves, and shortly after, 
 by the arrival of the delegates from North Carolina, there 
 was a complete representation of all the thirteen Colonies, 
 
 affairs. It being our opinion that the united wisdom of North 
 America should be collected in a general congress of all the Col 
 onies, we have appointed the Hon. Peyton Randolph, Richard 
 Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, 
 Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, Esqs., deputies to 
 represent this Colony in the said Congress, to be held at Phila 
 delphia on the first Monday in September next. And that they 
 may be the better informed of our sentiments touching the con 
 duct we wish them to observe on this important occasion, we 
 desire that they will express, in the first place, our faith and true 
 allegiance to His Majesty, King George III, our lawful and right 
 ful sovereign; and that we are determined, with our lives and 
 fortunes, to support him in the legal exercise of all his just rights 
 and prerogatives. And, however misrepresented, we sincerely ap 
 prove of a constitutional connection with Great Britain and wish 
 most ardently a return of affection and commercial connection 
 that formerly united both countries, which can only be effected 
 by a removal of those causes of discontent which have of late 
 unhappily divided us. 
 
 " It cannot admit of a doubt but that British subjects in America 
 are entitled to the same rights and privileges as their fellow- 
 subjects possess in Britain, and therefore that the power assumed 
 by the British Parliament to bind America by their statutes, in 
 all cases whatsoever, is unconstitutional and the source of these 
 unhappy differences. 
 
 " The end of government would be defeated by the British Par 
 liament exercising a power over the lives, the property, and the 
 liberty of American subjects who are not, and from their local 
 circumstances cannot, be there represented. Of this nature we 
 consider the several acts of Parliament for raising a revenue in 
 America, for extending the jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty, 
 for seizing American subjects and transporting them to Britain 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 651 
 
 Georgia alone excepted. The whole number of delegates 
 was fifty-four. 
 
 Congress was organized by the choice of Peyton Ran 
 dolph, of Virginia, as president, and Charles Thomson, of 
 Pennsylvania, as secretary. The credentials of the various 
 delegates were then presented. 
 
 In respect to the number of their delegates, the Colonies 
 were unequally represented: and as their relative import 
 ance was not accurately known, it was arranged that the 
 
 to be tried for crimes committed in America, and the several late 
 oppressive acts concerning the town of Boston and province of 
 Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 " The original Constitution of the American Colonies possess 
 ing their Assemblies with the sole right of directing their internal 
 polity, it is absolutely destructive of the end of their institution 
 that their Legislatures should be suspended, or prevented by hasty 
 dissolutions, from exercising their legislative powers. 
 
 " Wanting the protection of Britain, we have long acquiesced 
 in their acts of navigation, restrictive of our commerce, which we 
 consider as an ample recompense for such protection; but as those 
 acts derive their efficacy from that foundation alone, we have 
 reason to expect they will be restrained so as to produce the 
 reasonable purposes of Britain and not be injurious to us. 
 
 " To obtain redress of these grievances, without which Ihe 
 people of America can neither be safe, free, nor happy, they are 
 willing to undergo the great inconvenience that will be derived 
 to them from stopping all imports whatsoever from Great Britain, 
 after the 1st day of November next, and also to cease exporting 
 any commodity whatsoever to the same place after the loth day 
 of August, 1775. The earnest desire we have to make as quick 
 and full payment as possible of our debts to Great Britain, and 
 to avoid the heavy injury that would arise to this country from 
 an earlier adoption of the nonexportation plan, after the people 
 have already applied so much of their labor to the perfecting of 
 their present crop, by which means they have been prevented 
 from pursuing other methods of clothing and supporting their 
 families, have rendered it necessary to restrain you in this article 
 of nonexportation; but it is our desire that you cordially co- 
 
652 WASHINGTON. 
 
 representatives of each province should give one single 
 vote upon every question discussed by the Congress. It 
 was further determined that the meetings of the Congress 
 should be held with closed doors, and that not a syllable 
 of its transactions should be published except by order of 
 a majority of the Colonies. This judicious regulation, 
 among other advantageous results, withheld from public 
 view every symptom of doubt or divided purpose and opin 
 ion among the members of the Congress. What we know 
 
 operate with our sister Colonies in general Congress in such other 
 just and proper methods as they, or the majority, shall deem 
 necessary for the accomplishment of these valuable ends. 
 
 "The proclamation issued by General Gage in the government 
 of the province of Massachusetts Bay, declaring it treason for the 
 inhabitants of that province to assemble themselves to consider 
 of their grievances, and form associations for their common con 
 duct on the occasion, and requiring the civil magistrates and 
 officers to apprehend all such persons to be tried for their sup 
 posed offenses, is the most alarming process that ever appeared 
 in a British Government; the said General Gage has thereby as 
 sumed and taken upon himself powers denied by the Constitution 
 to our legal sovereign, he not having condescended to disclose 
 by what authority he exercises such extensive and unheard-of 
 powers, we are at a loss to determine whether he intends to justify 
 himself as the representative of the King, or as the Commander- 
 in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in America. If he considers him 
 self as acting in the character of His Majesty's representative, we 
 would remind him that the statute 25, Edward III, has expressed 
 and defined all treasonable offenses, and that the Legislature of 
 Great Britain hath declared that no offense shall be construed to 
 be treason but such as is pointed out by that statute; and that this 
 was done to take out of the hands of tyrannical kings and of 
 weak and wicked ministers that deadly weapon which constructive 
 treason hath furnished them with, and which had drawn the blood 
 of the best and honestest men in the kingdom; and that the 
 King of Great Britain hath no right by his proclamation to sub 
 ject his people to imprisonment, pains, and penalties. 
 
 "That if the said General Gage conceives he is empowered to 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 653 
 
 of the details of its proceedings is sufficiently meager and 
 scanty. It has been gathered from the testimony of those 
 who were present, communicated long after in conversa 
 tion and in letters. 
 
 Of the whole number of deputies which formed the Con 
 tinental Congress of 1774, one-half were lawyers. Gentle 
 men of that profession had acquired the confidence of the 
 inhabitants by their exertions in the common cause. The 
 previous measures in the respective provinces had been 
 planned and carried into effect more by lawyers than by 
 any other order of men. Professionally taught the rights 
 of the people, they were among the foremost to descry 
 every attack made on their liberties. Bred in the habits 
 of public speaking, they made a distinguished figure in the 
 meetings of the people, and were particularly able to ex 
 plain to them the tendency of the late acts of Parliament. 
 Exerting their abilities and influence in the cause of their 
 country, they were rewarded with its confidence. 
 
 The most eminent men of the various Colonies were 
 now for the first time brought together. They were known 
 to each other by fame, but they were personally strangers. 
 The meeting was awfully solemn. The object which had 
 called them together was of incalculable magnitude. The 
 liberties of no less than 3,000,000 people, with that of all 
 their posterity, were staked on the wisdom and energy of 
 their councils. No wonder then at the long and deep 
 silence which is said to have followed upon their organiza- 
 
 act in this manner, as the Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's 
 forces in America, this odious and illegal proclamation must be 
 considered as a full and plain declaration that this despotic viceroy 
 will be bound by no law, nor regard the constitutional rights of 
 His Majesty's subjects whenever they interfere with the plan he 
 has formed for oppressing the good people of Massachusetts Bay, 
 and therefore that the executing, or attempting to execute, such 
 proclamation will justify resistance and reprisal." 
 
654 WASHINGTON. 
 
 tion; at the anxiety with which the members looked around 
 upon each other; and the reluctance which every individual 
 felt to open a business so fearfully momentous. 
 
 In the midst of this deep and death-like silence and just 
 when it was beginning to become painfully embarrassing, 
 Patrick Henry arose slowly, as if borne down with the 
 weight of the subject. After faltering, according to his 
 habit, through a most impressive exordium, in which he 
 merely echoed back the consciousness of every other heart, 
 in deploring his inability to- do justice to the occasion, he 
 launched gradually into recital of the colonial wrongs. 
 Rising, as he advanced, with the grandeur of his subject, 
 and glowing at length with all the majesty and expecta 
 tion of the occasion, his speech seemed more than that of 
 mortal man. Even those who had heard him in all his 
 glory in the House of Burgesses of Virginia were aston 
 ished at the manner in which his talents seemed to swell 
 and expand themselves to fill the vaster theater in which he 
 was now placed. There was no rant, no rhapsody, no 
 labor of the understanding, no straining of the voice, no 
 confusion of the utterance. His countenance was erect, 
 his eye steady, his action noble, his enunciation clear and 
 firm, his mind poised on its center, his views of his subject 
 comprehensive and great, and his imagination coruscating 
 with a magnificence and a variety which struck even that 
 assembly with amazement and awe. He sat down amidst 
 murmurs of astonishment and applause, and as he had 
 been before proclaimed the greatest orator of Virginia, 
 he was now, on every hand, admitted to be the first orator 
 of America.* 
 
 * [Henry himself declared, in one of his most notable utterances, 
 that of the members of the Congress, " If you speak of eloquence, 
 Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina is by far the greatest orator." 
 The eminent jurist, John Rutledge, who rose to eminence as a 
 !awyer while still a young man, was a member of the Congress; so, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 655 
 
 He was followed by Richard Henry Lee, who charmed 
 the House with a different kind of eloquence, chaste, classi 
 cal, beautiful, his polished periods rolling along without 
 effort, rilling the ear with the most bewitching harmony, 
 and delighting the mind with the most exquisite imagery. 
 The cultivated graces of Lee's rhetoric received and at 
 the same time reflected beauty by their contrast with the 
 wild and grand effusions of Henry, just as those noble 
 monuments of art which lie scattered through the cele 
 brated landscape of Naples at once adorn and are in their 
 turn adorned by the surrounding majesty of nature. 
 
 Two models of eloquence, each so perfect in its kind 
 and so finely contrasted, could not but fill the House with 
 the highest admiration; and as Henry had before been 
 proclaimed the Demosthenes, it was conceded on every 
 hand that Lee was the Cicero, of America. 
 
 It is due however to historic truth to record that the 
 superior powers of these great men were manifested only 
 in debate. On the floor of the House and during the first 
 days of the session, while general grievances were the 
 topic, they took the undisputed lead in the assembly and 
 were confessedly primi inter pares. But when called down 
 from the heights of declamation to that severer test of 
 intellectual excellence, the details of business, they found 
 themselves in a body of cool-headed, reflecting, and most 
 able men, by whom they were, in their turn, completely 
 thrown into the shade. 
 
 A petition to the King, an address to the people of 
 Great Britain, and a memorial to the people of British 
 America were agreed to be drawn. Mr. Lee, Mr. Henry, 
 
 also, was his son, Edward Rutledge, who had been admitted to 
 practice at the Charleston bar in 1773, and in the Congress (from 
 1774 to 1777) was eminent as a debater and was one of the signers 
 of the Declaration.] 
 
656 WASHINGTON. 
 
 and others were appointed for the first; Mr. Lee, Mr. Liv 
 ingston, and Mr. Jay for the two last. The splendor of 
 their debut occasioned Mr. Henry to be designated by his 
 committee to draw the petition to the King with which 
 they were charged, and Mr. Lee was charged with the 
 address to the people of England. The last was first 
 reported. On reading it great disappointment was ex 
 pressed in every countenance and a dead silence en 
 sued for some minutes. At length it was laid on the 
 table for perusal and consideration till the next day, 
 when first one member and then another arose and, 
 paying some faint compliment to the composition, ob 
 served that there were still certain considerations, not 
 expressed, -which should properly find a place in it. The 
 address was therefore committed for amendment; and one 
 presented by Mr. Jay and offered by Governor Livingston 
 was reported and adopted with scarcely an alteration. 
 These facts are stated by a gentleman, to whom they were 
 communicated by Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Harrison, of 
 the Virginia delegation (except that Mr. Harrison erro 
 neously ascribed the draft to Governor Livingston), and 
 to whom they were afterward confirmed by Governor Liv 
 ingston himself. Mr. Henry's draft of a petition to the 
 King was equally unsuccessful, and was recommitted for 
 amendment. Mr. John Dickinson (the author of the 
 " Farmer's Letters ") was added to the committee, and a 
 new draft prepared by him was adopted.* 
 
 In connecting these proceedings with the opening 
 speeches of Henry and Lee, we have passed over a char- 
 
 * [History has not adequately noted the fact that Patrick Henry 
 and Richard Henry Lee, brilliant orators and ardent patriots 
 though they were, came very much short of able statesmanship, 
 both in the Continental Congress and in the great crisis of 
 American development when they bitterly opposed the adoption 
 of the Constitution.] 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 657 
 
 acteristic incident which took place on the first day of the 
 session. 
 
 " When the Congress met/' writer John Adams to his 
 wife, " Mr. Gushing made a motion that it should be 
 opened with prayer. It was opposed by Mr. Jay, of New 
 York, and Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, because we 
 were so divided in religious sentiments some Episco 
 palians, some Quakers, ~some Anabaptists, some Presby 
 terians, and some Congregationalists that we could not 
 join in the same act of worship. Mr. Samuel Adams arose 
 and said, ' that he was no bigot, and could hear a prayer 
 from any gentleman of piety and virtue, who was at the 
 same time a friend to his country. He was a stranger in 
 Philadelphia, but had heard that Mr. Duche deserved that 
 character, and therefore he moved that Mr. Duche, an 
 Episcopal clergyman, might be desired to read prayers 
 before the Congress to-morrow morning.' The motion 
 was seconded and passed in the affirmative. Mr. Ran 
 dolph, our president, waited on Mr. Duche, and received 
 for answer that if his health would permit he certainly 
 would. Accordingly, next morning, he appeared with his 
 clerk and in pontificals, and read several prayers in the 
 established form, and then read the Psalter for the 7th 
 day of September, a part of which was the Thirty-fifth 
 Psalm. You must remember this was the next morning 
 after we heard the rumor of the horrible cannonade of 
 Boston. It seemed as if heaven had ordained that Psalm 
 to be read on that morning. 
 
 "After this, Mr. Duche, unexpectedly to everybody, 
 struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the 
 bosom of every man present. I must confess I never 
 heard a better prayer or one so well pronounced. Episco 
 palian as he is, Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such 
 fervor, such ardor, such correctness, such pathos, and in 
 42 
 
658 WASHINGTON. 
 
 language so elegant and sublime, for Congress, for the 
 province of Massachusetts Bay, especially the town of 
 Boston. It had an excellent effect upon everybody here. 
 I must beg you to read that Psalm. If there is any faith 
 in the Sortes Virgillianse, or Sortes Homericae, or especi 
 ally the Sortes Biblicae, it would be thought providential." 
 
 Bishop White, who was present, says that Washington 
 was the only member who knelt on that occasion.* 
 
 Congress, soon after their meeting, agreed upon a decla 
 ration of rights, by which it was among other things de 
 clared that the inhabitants of the English Colonies in 
 North America, by the immutable laws of nature, the prin 
 ciples of the English Constitution, and the several charters 
 or compacts were entitled to life, liberty, and property; 
 and that they had never ceded to any sovereign power 
 whatever a right to dispose of either, without their con 
 sent. That their ancestors, who first settled the Colonies, 
 were entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of 
 free and natural-born subjects within the realm of Eng 
 land, and that by their migrating to America they by no 
 means forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights; 
 that the foundation of English liberty and of all free gov 
 ernment was a right in the people to participate in their 
 legislative councils, and that as the English colonists were 
 
 * Mr. Duche, at the time of the first Congress, was an ardent 
 Whig, but afterward left the patriotic cause. When the British 
 took possession of Philadelphia, Mr. Duche, alarmed, forsook the 
 American cause and wrote an ardent letter to Washington, en 
 deavoring to persuade him to do the same. Washington imme 
 diately transmitted this letter to Congress, and Duche was obliged 
 to leave America. In 1790 he returned to America, and in 1794 
 died in Philadelphia, when about sixty years of age. His wife 
 was a sister of Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the 
 Declaration of Independence. He was buried at St. Peter's 
 Church, in Third street, Philadelphia, and a tablet to his memory 
 may still be seen inserted in the wall of the building. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 659 
 
 not and could not be properly represented in the British 
 Parliament, they were entitled to a free and exclusive 
 power of legislation in their several provincial Legisla 
 tures, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject 
 only to the negative of their sovereign. They then run 
 the line between the supremacy of Parliament and the in 
 dependency of the colonial Legislatures, by provisos and 
 restrictions expressed in the following words : " But from 
 the necessity of the case, and a regard to the mutual in 
 terests of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the 
 operation of such acts of the British Parliament as are 
 bona fide restrained to the regulation of our external com 
 merce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advan 
 tages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the 
 commercial benefits of its respective members, excluding 
 every idea of taxation, internal and external, for raising a 
 revenue on the subjects in America without their consent." 
 
 This was the very hinge of the controversy. The abso 
 lute, unlimited supremacy of the British Parliament, both 
 in legislation and taxation, was contended for on one side; 
 while on the other, no further authority was conceded than 
 such a limited legislation, with regard to external com 
 merce, as would combine the interests of the whole em 
 pire. In government as well as in religion there are mys 
 teries, from the close investigation of which little advan 
 tage can be expected. From the unity of the empire it 
 was necessary that some acts should extend over the 
 whole. From the local situation of the Colonies, it was 
 equally reasonable that their Legislatures should at least, 
 in some matters, be independent. Where the supremacy 
 of the first ended and the independency of the last began 
 was to the best informed a puzzling question. 
 
 Congress also resolved that the colonists were entitled 
 to the common law of England, and more especially to the 
 
660 WASHINGTON. 
 
 privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage; that 
 they were entitled to the benefit of such of the English 
 statutes as existed at the time of their colonization, and 
 which they had found to be applicable to their local cir 
 cumstances, and also to the immunities and privileges 
 granted and confirmed to them by royal charters or se 
 cured by provincial laws; that they had a right peaceably 
 to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the 
 King; that the keeping a standing army in the Colonies, 
 without the consent of the Legislature of the Colony where 
 the army was kept, was against law. That it was indis 
 pensably necessary to good government, and rendered 
 essential by the English Constitution, that the constituent 
 branches of the Legislature be independent of each other, 
 and that therefore the exercise of legislative power in 
 several Colonies by a council appointed during pleasure 
 by the Crown was unconstitutional, dangerous, and de 
 structive to the freedom of American legislation. All of 
 these liberties, Congress, in behalf of themselves and their 
 constituents, claimed, demanded, and insisted upon as their 
 indubitable rights, which could not be legally taken from 
 them, altered, or abridged by any power whatever with 
 out their consent. Congress then resolved that sundry 
 acts, which had been passed in the reign of George III, 
 were infringements and violations of the rights of the 
 colonists, and that the repeal of them was essentially nec 
 essary in order to restore harmony between Great Britain 
 and the Colonies. The acts complained of were as fol 
 lows : The several acts which imposed duties for the pur 
 pose of raising a revenue in America; extended the power 
 of the Admiralty Courts beyond their ancient limits; de 
 prived the American subject of trial by jury; authorized 
 the judge's certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from 
 damages that he might otherwise be liable to; requiring 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 661 
 
 oppressive security from a claimant of ships and goods 
 seized before he was allowed to defend his property. 
 
 Also "An act for the better securing His Majesty's dock 
 yards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores," which 
 declares a new offense in America, and deprives the Ameri 
 can subject of a constitutional trial by jury of the vicinage, 
 by authorizing the trial of any person charged with the 
 committing any offense described in the said act out of the 
 realm to be indicted and tried for the same in any shire or 
 county within the realm. 
 
 Also the three acts passed in the last session of Parlia 
 ment for stopping the port and blocking up the harbor of 
 Boston; for altering the charter and government of Massa 
 chusetts Bay; and that which is entitled, "An act for the 
 better administration of justice," etc. 
 
 Also the act passed in the same session, for establishing 
 the Roman Catholic religion in the province of Quebec, 
 abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erect 
 ing a tyranny there to the great danger (from so total a 
 dissimilarity of religion, law, and government) of the neigh 
 boring British Colonies, by the assistance of whose blood 
 and treasure the said country had been conquered from 
 France. 
 
 Also the act passed in the same session, for the better 
 providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in His 
 Majesty's service in North America. 
 
 Also, that the keeping a standing army in several of 
 these Colonies in time of peace, without the consent of the 
 Legislature of that Colony in which such army was kept, 
 was against law. 
 
 Congress declared that they could not submit to these 
 grievous acts and measures. In hopes that their fellow- 
 subjects in Great Britain would restore the Colonies to 
 that state in which both countries found happiness and 
 
662 WASHINGTON. 
 
 prosperity, they resolved for the present only to pursue 
 the following peaceable measures: I. To enter into a non 
 importation, nonconsumption, and nonexportation agree 
 ment or association. 2. To prepare an address to the peo 
 ple of Great Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of 
 British America. 3. To prepare a loyal address to His 
 Majesty. 
 
 -By the association they bound themselves and their con 
 stituents, " from and after the ist day of December next 
 (1774), not to import into British America, from Great 
 Britain or Ireland, any goods, wares, or merchandise what 
 soever; not to purchase any slave imported after the said 
 ist day of December; not to purchase or use any tea 
 imported on account of the East India Company, or any 
 on which a duty hath been or shall be paid; and from 
 and after the first day of the next ensuing March, neither 
 to purchase or use any East India tea whatever. That 
 they would not, after the loth day of the next September, 
 if their grievances were not previously redressed, export 
 any commodity whatsoever to Great Britain, Ireland, or 
 the West Indies, except rice to Europe. That the mer 
 chants should, as soon as possible, write to their corre 
 spondents in Great Britain and Ireland, not to ship any 
 goods to them on any pretense whatever; and if any mer 
 chant there should ship any goods for America in order 
 to contravene the nonimportation agreement, they would 
 not afterward have any commercial connection with such 
 merchant; that such as were owners of vessels should 
 give positive orders to their captains and masters not to 
 receive on board their vessels any goods prohibited by 
 the said nonimportation agreement; that they would use 
 their endeavors to improve the breed of sheep and increase 
 their numbers to the greatest extent; that they would 
 encourage frugality, economy, and industry, and promote 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 663 
 
 agriculture, arts, and American manufactures; that they 
 would discountenance and discourage every species of ex 
 travagance and dissipation, and that on the death of rela 
 tions or friends, they would wear no other mourning than 
 a small piece of black crape or ribbon; that such as were 
 venders of goods should not take any advantage of the 
 scarcity so as to raise their prices; that if any person 
 should import goods after the ist day of December, and 
 before the ist day of February then next ensuing, the same 
 ought to be immediately reshipped or delivered up to a 
 committee to be stored or sold; in the last case, all the 
 clear profits to be applied toward the relief of the inhabi 
 tants of Boston; and that if any goods should be imported 
 after the ist day of February then next ensuing, they 
 should be sent back without breaking any of the packages ; 
 that committees be chosen in every county, city, and town 
 to observe the conduct of all persons touching the Asso 
 ciation, and to publish in gazettes the names of the violators 
 of it, as foes to the rights of British America; that the 
 committees of correspondence in the respective Colonies 
 frequently inspect the entries of their custom-houses, and 
 inform each other from time to time of the true state 
 thereof; that all manufactures of America should be sold 
 at reasonable prices, and no advantages to be taken of a 
 future scarcity of goods; and lastly, that they would have 
 no dealings or intercourse whatever with any province or 
 Colony of North America, which should not accede to or 
 should violate the aforesaid Associations." These several 
 resolutions they bound themselves and their constituents, 
 by the sacred ties of virtue, honor, and love of their 
 country, to observe till their grievances were redressed. 
 
 In their address* to the people of Great Britain, they 
 complimented them for having at every hazard maintained 
 
 *This address was written by John Jay. 
 
664 WASHINGTON. 
 
 their independence, and transmitted the rights of man 
 and the blessings of liberty to their posterity, and requested 
 them not to be surprised, that they who were descended 
 from the same common ancestors should refuse to sur 
 render their rights, liberties, and Constitution. They pro 
 ceeded to state their rights and grievances, and to vindicate 
 themselves of the charges of being seditious, impatient of 
 government, and desirous of independency. They summed 
 up their wishes in the following words: " Place us in the 
 same situation that we were -at the close of the last war, 
 and our former harmony will be restored." 
 
 In the memorial* of Congress to the inhabitants of the 
 British Colonies, they recapitulated the proceedings of 
 Great Britain against them since the year 1763, in order 
 to impress them with a belief that a deliberate system was 
 formed for abridging their liberties. They then proceeded 
 to state the measures they had adopted to counteract this 
 system, and gave the reasons which induced them to adopt 
 the same. They encouraged them to submit to the in 
 conveniences of nonimportation and nonexportation, by 
 desiring them " to weigh in the opposite balance the end 
 less miseries they and their descendants must endure from 
 an established arbitrary power." They concluded with 
 informing them, " that the schemes agitated against the 
 Colonies had been so conducted as to render it prudent 
 to extend their views to mournful events, and to be in all 
 respects prepared for every contingency." 
 
 In the petition of Congress to the King, they begged 
 leave to lay their grievances before the throne. After a 
 particular enumeration of these, they observed that they 
 wholly arose from a destructive system of colonial admin 
 istration, adopted since the conclusion of the last war. They 
 assured His Majesty that they had made such provision 
 
 *This paper was the composition of Richard Henry Lee. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 665 
 
 for defraying the charges of the administration of justice, 
 and the support of civil government as had been judged 
 just and suitable to their respective circumstances; and 
 that for the defense, protection, and security of the Col 
 onies their militia would be fully sufficient in time of peace, 
 and in case of war they were ready and willing, when con 
 stitutionally required, to exert their most strenuous efforts 
 in granting supplies and raising forces. They said, " We 
 ask but for peace, liberty, and safety. We wish not a 
 diminution of the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant 
 of any new right in our favor. Your royal authority over 
 us, and our connection with Great Britain, we shall al 
 ways carefully and zealously endeavor to support and main 
 tain." They then solicited for a redress of their grievances, 
 which they had enumerated, and appealing to that Being 
 who searches thoroughly the hearts of his creatures, they 
 solemnly professed " that their councils had been influenced 
 by no other motives that a dread of impending destruction." 
 They concluded with imploring His Majesty, " for the 
 honor of Almighty God, for his own glory, for the interests 
 of his family, for the safety of his kingdom and dominions, 
 that as the loving father of his whole people, connected by 
 the same bonds of law, loyalty, faith, and blood, though 
 dwelling in various countries, he would not suffer the trans 
 cendent relation formed by these ties to be further violated 
 by uncertain expectation of effects, that if attained never 
 could compensate for the calamities through which they 
 must be gained." 
 
 The Congress also addressed the French inhabitants of 
 Canada. In this they stated the right they had, on becoming 
 English subjects, to the benefit of the English Constitu 
 tion. They explained what these rights were, and pointed 
 out the difference between the Constitution imposed 
 on them by act of Parliament, and that to which as British 
 
666 WASHINGTON. 
 
 subjects they were entitled. They introduced their country 
 man, Montesquieu, as reprobating their parliamentary con 
 stitution, and exhorting them to join their fellow colonists 
 in support of their common rights. They earnestly in 
 vited them to join with the other Colonies in one social 
 compact, formed on the generous principles of equal lib 
 erty, and to this end recommended that they would choose 
 delegates to represent them in Congress. 
 
 All these addresses were written with uncommon ability. 
 Coming from the heart, they were calculated to move it. 
 Inspired by a love of liberty, and roused by a sense of com 
 mon danger, the patriots of that day spoke, wrote, and 
 acted with an animation unknown in times of public tran 
 quillity; but it was not so much on the probable effect of 
 these addresses that Congress founded their hopes of ob 
 taining a redress of their grievances, as on the conse 
 quences which they expected from the operation of their 
 nonimportation and nonexportation agreement. The suc 
 cess that had followed the adoption of a measure similai 
 to the former, in two preceding instances, had encouraged 
 the colonists to expect much from a repetition of it. They 
 indulged in extravagant opinions of the importance of 
 their trade to Great Britain. The measure of a nonexporta 
 tion of their commodities was a new expedient, and from 
 that even more was expected than from the nonimporta 
 tion agreement. They supposed that it would produce such 
 extensive distress among the merchants and manufacturers 
 of Great Britain, and especially among the inhabitants of 
 the British West India Islands, as would induce their gen 
 eral co-operation in procuring a redress of American griev 
 ances. Events proved that young nations, like young peo 
 ple, are prone to overrate their own importance. 
 
 Congress having finished all this important business in 
 fifty-one days dissolved themselves, after giving their 
 
LIVE AND TIMES. 667 
 
 opinion, " that another Congress should be held on the 
 loth of May next ensuing, at Philadelphia, unless the re 
 dress of their grievances should be previously obtained," 
 and recommending to all the Colonies to choose deputies 
 as soon as possible, to be ready to attend at that time and 
 place, should events make their meeting necessary. 
 
 In a speech delivered in the House of Lords in the en 
 suing January, the great Earl of Chatham thus spoke of 
 the Continental Congress of 1774, and thus defends the 
 position which it had assumed: 
 
 " When your lordships look at the papers transmitted 
 us from America; when you consider their decency, firm 
 ness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause and 
 wish to make it your own. For myself, I must declare and 
 avow, that in all my reading and observation and it has 
 been my favorite study I have read Thucydides, and 
 have studied and admired the master states of the world 
 that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom 
 of conclusion, under such a complication of difficult cir 
 cumstances, no nation, or body of men, can stand in prefer 
 ence to the General Congress at Philadelphia. I trust it 
 is obvious to your lordships, that all attempts to impose 
 servitude on such men, to establish deposition over such 
 a mighty continental nation, must be vain, must be fatal. 
 We shall be forced, ultimately, to retract; let us retract 
 while we can, not when we must. 
 
 I say we must necessarily undo these violent, oppres 
 sive acts; they must be repealed you will repeal them; 
 I pledge myself for it, that you will in the end repeal them ; 
 I stake my reputation on it I will consent to be taken 
 for an idiot, if they are not finally repealed. Avoid, then, 
 this humiliating, disgraceful necessity. With a dignity be 
 coming your exalted situation, make the first advances to 
 concord, to peace, and happiness; for that is your true 
 
668 WASHINGTON. 
 
 dignity, to act with prudence and justice. That you should 
 first concede is obvious from sound and rational policy. 
 Concession comes with better grace and more salutary 
 effect from superior power. It reconciles superiority of 
 power with the feelings of men, and establishes solid con 
 fidence on the foundations of affection and gratitude. 
 
 So thought a wise poet and a wise man in political 
 sagacity, the friend of Maecenas, and the eulogist of Au 
 gustus. To him the adopted son and successor of the first 
 Caesar; to him, the master of the world, he wisely urged 
 this conduct of prudence and dignity: ' Tuque prior, tu 
 parce; projice tela manu.' 
 
 Every motive therefore of justice and of policy, of dig 
 nity and of prudence, urges you to allay the ferment in 
 America, by a removal of your troops from Boston, by a 
 repeal of your acts of Parliament, and by demonstrations 
 of amicable dispositions toward your Colonies. On the 
 other hand, every danger and every hazard impend to 
 deter you from perseverance in your present ruinous 
 measure. Foreign war hanging over your heads by a 
 slight and brittle thread. France and Spain watching your 
 conduct and waiting for the maturity of your errors, with 
 a vigilant eye to America, and the temper of your Col 
 onies, more than to their own concerns, be they what they 
 may. 
 
 To conclude, my lords, if the ministers thus persevere 
 in misadvising and misleading the King, I will not say that 
 they can alienate the affections of his subjects from his 
 crown, but I will affirm, that they will make the crown not 
 worth his wearing. I will not say that the King is betrayed ; 
 but I will pronounce that the kingdom is undone." 
 
 Of the speeches of Washington in the Congress of 1774, 
 we have no reports, in consequence of the sessions being 
 held with closed doors, and an injuction of secrecy being 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 669 
 
 laid on the members; but of the active and decided part 
 which he took in its proceedings, the following anecdote 
 from the life of Patrick Henry affords the most decisive 
 evidence. 
 
 Congress arose in October, 1774, and Mr. Henry re 
 turned to his native county. Here, as was natural, he was 
 surrounded by his neighbors, who were eager to hear not 
 only what had been done, but what kind of men had com 
 posed that illustrious body. He answered their inquiries 
 with all his wonted kindness and candor; and having been 
 asked by one of them " whom he thought the greatest 
 man in Congress? " he replied: " If you speak of eloquence, 
 Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina is by far the greatest 
 orator; but if you speak of solid information and sound 
 judgment, Colonel Washington was unquestionably the 
 greatest man on that floor." 
 
 " This opinion," says Mr. Sparks, " was verified by every 
 act of his life. His knowledge on the subject to which 
 he gave his attention was most thorough and exact; and 
 all the world has agreed that no other man has given such 
 proofs of the soundness of his judgment." 
 
 Washington had a personal friend, Capt. Robert Mac 
 kenzie, who had served under him in the French War, 
 and during the session of Congress was holding a com 
 mission in the regular army of Great Britain, and engaged 
 in actual service under General Gage at Boston. From 
 this place he wrote to Washington, expressing very de 
 cided tory sentiments, accusing the people of Massachu 
 setts of aiming at independence, and condemning their 
 proceedings in detail, while he expressed the conviction 
 that Gage would speedily subdue them. 
 
 The following reply to Mackenzie's letter shows that 
 Washington, at that time, sincerely held the opinions, and 
 
670 WASHINGTON. 
 
 felt the desire expressed by Congress, for a reconciliation 
 to the mother country on just and honorable terms. 
 
 " Permit me," he writes, " the freedom of a friend (for 
 you know I always esteemed you) to express my sorrow, 
 that fortune should place you in a service that must fix curses 
 to the latest posterity upon the contrivers, and if success (which 
 by the by, is impossible) accompanies it, execrations upon 
 all those who have been instrumental in the execution. 
 I do not mean by this to insinuate that an officer is not to 
 discharge his duty, even when chance, not choice, has 
 placed him in a disagreeable situation; but I conceive, 
 when you condemn the conduct of the Massachusetts peo 
 ple, you reason from effects, not causes; otherwise you 
 would not wonder at a people who are every day receiving 
 fresh proofs of a systematic assertion of an arbitrary power 
 deeply planned to overturn the law and Constitution of 
 their country, and to violate the most essential and valu 
 able rights of mankind, being irritated, and with difficulty 
 restrained, from acts of the greatest violence and intem 
 perance. For my own part, I confess to you candidly, that 
 I view things in a very different point of light from the 
 one in which you seem to consider them; and though you 
 are led to believe by venal men for such I must take 
 the liberty of calling these new-fangled counselors who 
 fly to and surround you, and all others, who for honors 
 and pecuniary gratifications will lend their aid to over 
 turn the Constitution, and introduce a system of arbitrary 
 government although you are taught, I say, by discours 
 ing with such men, to believe that the people of Massachu 
 setts are rebellious, setting up for independency, and what 
 not, give me leave, my good friend, to tell you that you 
 are abused, grossly abused. This I advance with a degree 
 of confidence and boldness, which may claim your belief, 
 having better opportunities of knowing the real sentiments 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 671 
 
 of the people you are among, from the leaders of them, 
 in opposition to the present measures of the administra 
 tion, than you have from those whose business it is not to 
 disclose truths, but to misinterpret facts, in order to jus 
 tify as much as possible to the world their own conduct. 
 Give me leave to add, and I think I can announce it as a 
 fact, that it is not the wish or interest of that government, 
 or any other upon this continent, separately or collectively, 
 to set up for independence; but this you may at the same 
 time rely on, that none of them will ever submit to the 
 loss of those valuable rights and privileges which are 
 essential to the happiness of every free State, and without 
 which, life, liberty, and property are rendered totally in 
 secure. 
 
 " These, sir, being certain consequences, which must nat 
 urally result from the late acts of Parliament relative to 
 America in general, and the government of Massachusetts 
 Bay in particular, is it to be wondered at, I repeat, that 
 men who wish to avert the impending blow should attempt 
 to oppose it in its progress, or prepare for their defense 
 if it cannot be averted? Surely I may be allowed to answer 
 in the negative; and again give me leave to add as my 
 opinion, that more blood will be spilled on this occasion, if the 
 ministry are determined to push matters to extremity, than 
 history has ever yet furnished instances of in the annals of 
 North America, and such a vital wound will be given to the 
 peace of this great country, as time itself cannot cure or eradi 
 cate the remembrance of. 
 
 " But I have done. I was involuntarily led into a short 
 discussion of this subject by your remarks on the conduct 
 of the Boston people, and your opinion of their wishes to 
 set up for independency. I am well satisfied that no such 
 thing is desired by any thinking man in all North America; 
 on the contrary, that it is the ardent wish of the warm- 
 
672 WASHINGTON. 
 
 est advocates for liberty, that peace and tranquillity, upon 
 constitutional grounds, may be restored, and the horrors 
 of civil discord prevented." 
 
 This letter of Washington to Captain Mackenzie is very 
 significant. It shows that the determination to push mat 
 ters to extremes and bring about a declaration of indepen 
 dence was not his aim or expectation at that time; and it 
 leaves us no room to doubt that the Congress itself was 
 sincere, in its expressions of loyalty, throughout those 
 able State papers so warmly commended by Chatham. 
 It is true that Samuel Adams, John Adams, and others 
 were secretly aiming at national independence even at an 
 earlier period; but it is equally true that they clearly per 
 ceived by the movements of the leaders in Congress that 
 the time had not yet arrived for them to speak out. 
 
 [A striking indication of the attitude assumed toward 
 England by Washington appears in the frequent reference 
 which he made to English injustice toward America, as 
 representing only the ministry through whom the meas 
 ures of the King's government were put in execution. The 
 general feeling toward England was still that of recogni 
 tion of a mother and of home, and great pains was taken 
 to have it appear that the Colonies did not wish a quarrel 
 with England, and that they considered themselves harshly 
 dealt with by a ministry which, in its very harshness, wholly 
 failed to be really English. In Virginia especially the 
 sending of sons to England for some part of their educa 
 tion; the return also of some member of a large family con 
 nection to residence in England; and visiting for a season 
 or a year or two with English friends, had kept up the 
 tradition of close attachment to the Old Home across the 
 Atlantic. It was therefore with strong sense of the pro 
 priety of distinguishing between England itself and the 
 ministry then in power, that Washington set the example 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 673 
 
 of pointedly designating as ministerial all the British 
 operations against America. 
 
 It was to " ministerial oppression " that Washington 
 referred Colonial troubles, when he took command of the 
 forces gathered at Cambridge; the British forces he desig 
 nated as "ministerial troops;" of Massachusetts he said 
 that allowances must be made in the matter of raising 
 troops, " the yoke of ministerial oppression has been laid 
 so heavily on it;" he gave orders "not to enlist any de 
 serter from the ministerial army;" he reported "the loss 
 of the ministerial troops " in the British attacks on Breed's 
 Hill; in urging General Thomas not to quit the service, 
 it was that he ought not to leave his country " a prey to a 
 cruel and perfidious ministry;" "the ministry," he said, 
 " will never agree to relinquish the dispute unless com 
 pelled to; " writing to Schuyler, July 28, 1775, he says that 
 " happily the ministerial troops have not availed them 
 selves of their advantages; " when the news of the British 
 hard fight for Breed's Hill reached England " the minis 
 try affected to treat it as a fiction; " August 8th he speaks 
 of having " heard that the distresses of the ministerial 
 troops for fresh provisions and many other necessaries at 
 Boston were very great ; " and two days later he writes to 
 Congress, that " we have great reason to suspect a part or 
 the whole of the ministerial troops are about to remove; " 
 August 2Oth, he writes to Schuyler of the chance that " the 
 ministerial agents would engage the Indians in hostilities; " 
 on the same day a letter to Gage declined to raise the 
 question of " British or American mercy," said that " your 
 officers and soldiers have been treated with a tenderness 
 due to fellow citizens and brethren," and referred to " the 
 ministerial views, which precipited the present crisis ; " 
 September 6, 1775, in a letter to the people of Bermuda, 
 touching " the great conflict which agitates this continent," 
 43 
 
674 WASHINGTON. 
 
 he said that " the violence and rapacity of a tyrannic min 
 istry have forced the citizens of America, your brother 
 Colonists, into arms;" September loth he writes, that 
 " unless the ministerial troops in Boston are waiting for 
 reinforcements, I cannot devise what they are staying there 
 for, nor why, as they affect to despise the Americans, they 
 do not come forth and put an end to the contest at once; '' 
 the same letter refers to his dispatching Arnold with a 
 small army to Canada, to interfere with " the ministry's 
 plan" there; September I4th he refers in the letter to 
 Arnold, to " this unhappy contest between Great Britain 
 and America; " and in the address to the people of Canada 
 he again says " this unnatura} contest between the English 
 Colonies and Great Britain;" September 26th he refers 
 to " the ministerial officers," as " the voluntary instruments 
 of an avaricious and vindictive ministry;" October 4th 
 he writes to Schuyler, upon news from England, that 
 " there does not seem the least probability of a change 
 of measures or of ministers;" and the next day to 
 Congress, that " there seems to be no prospect of 
 an accommodation, but the ministry determined to push 
 the war to the utmost;" October I3th he writes to his 
 brother, John Augustine, that " a plenty of arms, and 
 unanimity and fortitude among ourselves, must defeat 
 every attempt that a diabolical ministry can invent to en 
 slave this great continent;" and further says, if Arnold 
 does get Quebec, " what a pretty hand the ministry have 
 made of their Canada bill; " October 24th, it is to " minis 
 terial vengeance," that he refers the " desolation and 
 misery " brought upon Falmouth,by "despotic barbarity."] 
 On the publication of the proceedings of Congress, the 
 people obtained that information which they desired. 
 Zealous to do something for their country, they patiently 
 waited for the decision of that body, to whose direction 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 675 
 
 they had resigned themselves. Their determinations were 
 no sooner known, than they were cheerfully obeyed. 
 Though their power was only advisory, yet their recom 
 mendations were more generally and more effectually car 
 ried into execution, than the laws of the best regulated 
 States. Every individual felt his liberties endangered, and 
 was impressed with an idea that his safety consisted in 
 union. A common interest in warding off a common dan 
 ger proved a powerful incentive to the most implicit sub 
 mission. Provincial Congresses and subordinate commit 
 tees were everywhere instituted. The resolutions of the 
 Continental Congress were sanctioned with the universal 
 approbation of these new representative bodies, and insti 
 tutions were formed under their direction to carry them 
 into effect. 
 
 The regular constitutional Assemblies also gave their 
 assent to the measures recommended. The Assembly of 
 Nezv York was the only Legislature which withheld its appro 
 bation. Their metropolis had long been the headquarters 
 of the British army in the Colonies, and many of their 
 best families were connected with people of influence in 
 Great Britain. The unequal distribution of their land 
 fostered an aristocratic spirit. From the operation of these 
 and other causes, the party for royal government was both 
 more numerous and respectable in New York than in any of 
 the other Colonies. 
 
 The Assembly of Pennsylvania, though composed of a 
 majority of Quakers, or of those who were friendly to their 
 interest, was the first legal body of representatives that 
 ratified unanimously the acts of the General Congress. 
 They not only voted their approbation of what that body 
 had done, but appointed members to represent them in 
 the new Congress, proposed to be held on the loth day of 
 
676 WASHINGTON. 
 
 May next ensuing (1775), and took sundry steps to put the 
 province in a posture of defense. 
 
 To relieve the distresses of the people of Boston, liberal 
 collections were made throughout the Colonies, and for 
 warded for the supply of their immediate necessities. 
 Domestic manufactures were encouraged, that the wants 
 of the inhabitants from the nonimportation agreement 
 might be diminished; and the greatest zeal was discovered 
 by a large majority of the people, to comply with the deter 
 minations of these new-made representative bodies. In 
 this manner, while the forms of the old government sub 
 sisted, a new and independent authority was virtually 
 establshed. It was so universally the sense of the people 
 that the public good required a compliance with the recom 
 mendations of Congress, that any man who discovered any 
 anxiety about the continuance of trade and business was 
 considered as a selfish individual, preferring private inter 
 est to the good of his country. Under the influence of 
 these principles, the intemperate zeal of the populace trans 
 ported them frequently so far beyond the limits of modera 
 tion as to apply singular punishments to particular per 
 sons who contravened the general sense of the community. 
 
 On the termination of the session of Congress, Wash 
 ington returned to Mount Vernon to resume again his 
 agricultural pursuits, and to confer with George Mason 
 and his other patriotic neighbors on the portentous aspect 
 of public affairs. He was still, as was his wont, much 
 occupied with various private trusts and duties which his 
 disinterested kindness of heart had imposed on him. In 
 writing to a neighbor, who had wished to appoint him in 
 his will to the guardianship of his son, he says: "I can 
 solemnly declare to you, that for a year or two past there 
 has been scarce a moment that I could properly call my 
 own. What with my own business, my present ward's, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 677 
 
 my mother's, which is wholly in my hands, Colonel Col- 
 vill's, Mrs. Savage's, Colonel Fairfax's, Colonel Mercer's, 
 and the little assistance I have undertaken to give in the 
 management of my brother Augustine's concerns (for I 
 have absolutely refused to qualify as an executor), together 
 with the share I take in public affairs, I have been kept 
 constantly engaged in writing letters, settling accounts, 
 and negotiating one piece of business or another; by 
 which means I have really been deprived of every kind oi 
 enjoyment, and had almost fully resolved to engage in no 
 fresh matter till I had entirely wound up the old." 
 
 In addition to the amount of business demanding his 
 attention at this time, there was a demand for his aid in the 
 military affairs of Virginia, to which we shall presently 
 call the reader's attention. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 WASHINGTON A MEMBER OF CONVENTION. 
 
 1775- 
 
 DURING the session of the Continental Congress the 
 march of events in Massachusetts had frequently 
 commanded the attention of the members. Gen 
 eral Gage, with his positive orders from the ministry to 
 overawe and subdue the people, and the Massachusetts 
 men, with a dogged determination neither to be overawed 
 nor subdued, were engaged in a struggle which was 
 destined speedily to bring the controversy to the arbitra 
 ment of the sword. The leaders, such as Samuel Adams, 
 John Hancock, and Joseph Warren, were by no means 
 intimidated by the menacing attitude of Gage; but perse 
 vered steadily in the execution of their purpose. 
 
 Observing the firm attitude of the people, and their 
 evident determination no longer to submit to the commer 
 cial regulations of Great Britain, the officers of the revenue, 
 who had been acting at Salem since the shutting up of 
 the port of Boston, quitted their posts and repaired to 
 the latter place for safety; so that the whole apparatus of 
 a custom house was transferred to a port, which an act of 
 Parliament had pronounced it unlawful for any vessel to 
 enter. 
 
 Gage had issued writs for assembling the General Court 
 at Salem, on the 5th of October (1774); but seemingly ap 
 prehensive of a turbulent session, he had countermanded 
 the elections and suspended the meetings of the members 
 
 (678) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 679 
 
 already returned. The people pronounced the second 
 proclamation illegal, and utterly disregarding it, chose 
 their representatives in obedience to the first. 
 
 The Assembly, to the number of ninety, met at the time 
 and place appointed. They waited a day for the Governor 
 to open the session; but finding that he did not appear, 
 they, on the third day, resolved themselves into a Provin 
 cial Congress, and adjourned to Concord, a town about 
 twenty miles distant from Boston. They chose John 
 Hancock president, and appointed a committee to wait on 
 the Governor with a remonstrance, in which they ac 
 counted for their meeting by representing the distressed 
 state of the Colony; mentioned the grievous apprehensions 
 of the people; asserted that the rigor of the Boston Port 
 Bill was increased by the manner of its execution; com 
 plained of the late laws, and of the hostile preparations on 
 Boston Neck; and adjured him to desist immediately from 
 the construction of a fortress there. 
 
 Gage was at a loss how to act. He could not recognize 
 the meeting at Concord as a legal assembly, and was sen 
 sible of the imprudence of increasing the public irritation 
 by declining to take notice of their remonstrance. He 
 was constrained by the pressure of circumstances to re 
 turn an answer; and in that answer, he expressed his in 
 dignation at the suspicion that the lives, liberty, or prop 
 erty of any but avowed enemies were in danger from 
 English troops; and observed that notwithstanding the 
 hostile dispositions manifested toward them, by withhold 
 ing almost every necessary accommodation, they had not 
 discovered that resentment which such unfriendly treat 
 ment was calculated to provoke. He told them that, while 
 they complained of alterations in their charter by act of 
 Parliament, they were themselves, by their present assem 
 bling, subverting that charter, and acting in direct viola- 
 
680 WASHINGTON. 
 
 tion of their own Constitution; he therefore warned them of 
 their danger, and called on them to desist from such un 
 constitutional proceedings. 
 
 But the warnings of the Governor made no impression 
 on the Provincial Congress. On the I7th of October, 
 1774, that Assembly adjourned to Cambridge, about four 
 miles from Boston. They resolved to purchase military 
 stores, and to enlist a number of minute-men, so named 
 from their engaging to take the field in arms on a minute's 
 warning. 
 
 They also appointed a committee of safety, with authority 
 to call out the militia when thought necessary for the 
 defense of the inhabitants of the province; and a committee 
 of supplies, to purchase ammunition, ordnance, and other 
 military stores. They elected Jedidiah Pribble, Artemas 
 Ward, and Colonel Pomeroy, who had seen some service 
 in the late war, general officers, and appointed them to the 
 chief command of the minute-men and militia, if they 
 be called into actual service. On the 27th of October, the 
 Congress adjourned to the 23d of November. 
 
 On the approach of winter, the Governor ordered tem 
 porary barracks for the troops to be erected; but he found 
 much difficulty in the execution of his purpose, as, through 
 the influence of the selectmen and committees, the me 
 chanics were unwilling or afraid to engage in the work, 
 and the merchants declined to execute his orders. 
 
 The mutual suspicions of the Governor and people of 
 Massachusetts were now so strong that every petty inci 
 dent increased the irritation. Each party made loud pro 
 fessions of the best intentions, and each watched the other 
 with a jealous eye. In a proclamation the Governor for 
 bade the people to pay any regard to the requisitions, 
 directions, or resolutions of the Provincial Congress, and 
 denounced that body as an illegal assembly; but the proc- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 681 
 
 lamation was disregarded and the recommendations of 
 Congress were revered and promptly obeyed. 
 
 Instead of being intimidated by the Governor's procla 
 mation, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, on 
 reassembling after their adjournment, proceeded with 
 greater boldness than ever and gave decisive evidence of 
 their determination to carry matters to extremities rather 
 than submit to the late acts of Parliament. They resolved 
 to have 12,000 men in readiness to act on any emergency, 
 and ordered a fourth of the militia to be enlisted as min 
 ute-men, and empowered them to choose their own officers. 
 They dispatched agents to New Hampshire, Rhode Island, 
 and Connecticut to concert measures with the leading men 
 in those provinces and to engage them to provide their 
 contingents for an army of 20,000 men. They resolved to 
 bring their force into action and to oppose General Gage 
 whenever he should march his troops out of Boston, with 
 their baggage, ammunition, and artillery; and they ap 
 plied to the ministers of religion throughout the province, 
 desiring their countenance and co-operation. They also 
 added Colonels Thomas and Heath to the number of gen 
 erals whom they had formerly nominated. Toward the 
 end of November the Congress dissolved itself, having ap 
 pointed another to be held in the month of February. 
 
 Alarmed by the proceedings in the several provinces, 
 the ministry had issued a proclamation prohibiting the ex 
 portation of military stores from Britain. On hearing of 
 this proclamation, the inhabitants of Rhode Island removed 
 above forty pieces of cannon from the batteries about the 
 harbor, for the avowed purpose of preventing them from 
 falling into the hands of the King's troops, and of employ 
 ing them against such persons as might attempt to in 
 fringe their liberties. About the same time the Assembly 
 of the province passed resolutions for purchasing arms 
 
682 WASHINGTON. 
 
 and military stores at the public expense, and for carefully 
 training the militia in military exercises. 
 
 The people of New Hampshire, who had hitherto been 
 moderate, were excited to insurrection by the proclama 
 tion and by the example of their neighbors in Rhode Island. 
 They surprised a small fort at Portsmouth and carried off 
 the military stores which it contained. 
 
 The beginning of the year 1775 presented a gloomy 
 prospect to America; all the Provincial Assemblies, except 
 that of New York, approved of the resolutions of the 
 General Congress, and even the Assembly of New York 
 joined in the complaints of the other provinces, although 
 it was less resolute in its opposition to the obnoxious 
 laws. The passions of the people were everywhere roused 
 and great agitation prevailed. The inhabitants were all 
 in motion, forming county meetings, entering into asso 
 ciations, recommending measures for carrying into execu 
 tion the resolutions of the General Congress, and choos 
 ing committees of inspection and observation to take care 
 that the public resolutions should be universally attended 
 to, and to guard against the practices of those selfish in 
 dividuals, who, for interested purposes, might wish to 
 elude them. In the midst of all this bustle the militia were 
 everywhere carefully trained. 
 
 Meanwhile the privations and sufferings of the inhab 
 itants of Boston were grievous, and their passions were 
 highly excited ; but their turbulent spirit was kept in check 
 by the presence of the troops. Supplies and provisions 
 were sent them from the other Colonies; these however 
 formed but a partial and precarious resource; but the peo 
 ple were encouraged by the sympathy of their brethren, 
 and by the thought that they were considered martyrs 
 in the common cause. 
 
 Notwithstanding the portentous aspect of affairs, many 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 683 
 
 of the colonists still believed that there would be no appeal 
 to arms. Formerly their nonimportation associations had 
 produced the desired effect, and they flattered themselves 
 that similar measures would again be followed by similar 
 results; that the British ministry would never come to an 
 open rupture with the best customers of their merchants 
 and manufacturers, but would recede from their preten 
 sions when convinced of the determined opposition of the 
 Americans. On the other hand, the British ministry ex 
 pected the colonists would yield; and thus both parties 
 persisted in their claims till neither could easily give way. 
 
 In the provinces, although there was much apparent 
 unanimity in opposing the late acts of Parliament, yet not 
 a few secretly wished to submit peaceably to British au 
 thority ; some from a conviction that it was right to do so ; 
 more from timidity and selfishness; but both of these 
 classes were overawed by the more active and audacious 
 partisans of American freedom. 
 
 While matters were in this critical state in America, 
 many of the people of Britain took little interest in the 
 affairs of the Colonies. They did not feel their own in 
 terests immediately affected, and consequently their sensi 
 bility was not awakened. They had long been accus 
 tomed to hear of American quarrels, and satisfied them 
 selves with thinking that the present one would pass away 
 as those before it had done. While the nation was indif 
 ferent, the ministry were irritated but irresolute. In his 
 speech at the opening of Parliament, the King informed 
 the two Houses " that a most daring spirit of resistance 
 and disobedience still prevailed in Massachusetts, and had 
 broken out in fresh violences of a very criminal nature; 
 but that the most proper and effectual measures had been 
 taken to prevent those mischiefs; and that they might de 
 pend on a firm resolution to withstand every attempt to 
 
684 WASHINGTON. 
 
 weaken or impair the supreme authority of the Legisla 
 ture over all the dominions of the Crown." 
 
 In the debates on American affairs the partisans of the 
 ministry spoke of the colonists in the most contemptuous 
 manner; affirmed that they were undisciplined and incapa 
 ble of discipline, and that their numbers would only in 
 crease their confusion and facilitate their defeat. 
 
 Meanwhile the colonists were not idle. On the ist of 
 February, 1775, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts 
 met at Cambridge, and, apprehensive of being too much 
 within the reach of General Gage, toward the middle of 
 the month they again adjourned to Concord. They there 
 took decisive measures for resisting the obnoxious acts 
 of Parliament. They earnestly exhorted the militia in gen 
 eral, and the minute-men in particular, to be indefatigable 
 in improving themselves in military discipline; they recom 
 mended the making of firearms and bayonets; and they 
 dissuaded the people from supplying the troops in Boston 
 with anything necessary for military service. The com 
 mittee of safety resolved to purchase powder, artillery, 
 provisions, and other military stores, and to deposit them 
 partly at Worcester and partly at Concord. 
 
 In this alarming posture of public affairs, General Gage 
 conceived it to be his duty to seize the warlike stores of 
 the colonists wherever he could find them. With this view 
 he ordered a small detachment, under the command of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Leslie, on Sunday, the 26th of Febru 
 ary, to bring off some field pieces which he understood the 
 Provincial Congress had at Salem. The party landed at 
 Marblehead and marched to Salem, but found no cannon 
 there. Believing they had been removed only a short time 
 before, the commanding officer determined on pursuit. He 
 reached a small river, on the way to Danvers, over which 
 was a drawbridge; but on his approach some people on 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 685 
 
 the other side drew it up, and alleged that, as both the 
 bridge and road were private property, the soldiers had 
 no right to pass that way. The party were about to use 
 some boats, but the owners instantly scuttled them. The 
 bridge was at length let down; but the day was so far 
 spent that Colonel Leslie, deeming it inexpedient to pro 
 ceed much farther, returned to Boston. This ineffectual 
 attempt showed the designs of the Governor, and gave 
 fresh activity to the vigilance of the people. 
 
 The Colonies were now all in commotion, and prepara 
 tions were everywhere making for the General Congress, 
 which was to assemble in the month of May. New York 
 was the only place which discovered much backwardness 
 in the matter; and perhaps the timid and selfish policy of 
 that province contributed no less to the war than the 
 boldness of the people of Massachusetts; for the British 
 ministry were encouraged by the irresolution of the people 
 of New York to persist in their plan of coercion, from 
 which they had been almost deterred by the firm attitude 
 and united counsels of the other Colonies. But hoping, 
 by the compliance of New York with their designs, to 
 separate the middle and southern from the northern prov 
 inces, and so easily subjugate them all, they determined 
 to persevere in strong measures. The active exertions 
 however of the adherents of the British ministry were de 
 feated, even in New York, by the resolute conduct of their 
 opponents, and that province sent deputies to the General 
 Congress. 
 
 It was in the interval between the First and Second Con 
 tinental Congresses that Alexander Hamilton, a youth of 
 uncommonly developed intellectual power, put in his first 
 appearance in the political history of New York. About 
 two months after the adjournment (October 26, 1774) of 
 the First Continental Congress, a clergyman of Royalist 
 
686 WASHINGTON. 
 
 proclivities by the name of Seabury, who was ten years 
 later made a bishop in Scotland and became from 1784 
 the first Episcopal bishop of Connecticut, published a 
 couple of pamphlets, entitled " Free Thoughts on the Pro 
 ceedings of the Continental Congress/'* and " Congress 
 Canvassed by a Westchester Farmer."! Within a fort 
 night after the appearance of the second tract appeared 
 "A Full Vindication." A reply to this was published, and 
 then a month later came a still more elaborate pamphlet, 
 entitled " The Farmer Refuted." These two productions 
 in the patriot interest excited much attention, were widely 
 read, and were attributed to Jay. They are not now much 
 more entertaining than other like essays of their period 
 and class, but they take high rank among the writings of 
 a period remarkable for the ability of its political discus 
 sions. They have certain marks of youth about them, but 
 are singularly free from such defects; are little short of 
 wonderful when we remember that they are the work of 
 a boy not 18 years old. 
 
 The first of Hamilton's pieces rests upon this ground: 
 " I verily believe a nonimportation and a nonexportation 
 will effect all the purposes they are intended for" (p. 20). 
 " Thus have I clearly proved that the plan of opposition 
 concerted by Congress is perfectly consonant with justice 
 and sound policy, and will, in all human probability, se 
 cure our freedom against the assaults of our enemies " 
 (p. 30). "All that we aim at is to convince the ministry 
 that we are not such asses as to let them ride us as they 
 please " (p. 31). " We cannot submit to the principle, 
 a right to tax us in all cases whatsoever " (p. 35). " Your 
 lives, your property, your religion are all at stake " (p. 38). 
 " Give me the steady, uniform, unshaken security of con- 
 
 * December 15, 1774. 
 
 t February, 1775. The first was of forty-eight pages and the 
 second of 117 pages. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 687 
 
 s.titutional freedom. Give me the right to be tried by a 
 jury of my own neighbors, and to be taxed by my own 
 representatives only " (p. 47). 
 
 In his second performance the point is argued that " the 
 representatives of Great Britain have no right to govern us " 
 (p. 71). " If the authority of the House of Commons over 
 America be proved not to exist, the dispute is at an end " 
 (p. 74). " The King is the only sovereign of the empire. 
 * * * Imagine the Legislature of New York independ 
 ent on that of Great Britain. * * * The King will be 
 the great connecting principle. The several parts of the 
 empire, though otherwise independent on each other, will 
 all be dependent on him " (p. 77). " The authority of the 
 British Parliament over America would, in all probability, 
 be a more intolerable and excessive species of despotism 
 than an absolute monarchy " (p. 78). " The several parts 
 of the empire may each enjoy a separate, independent 
 Legislature with regard to each other, under one common 
 head, the King " (p. 81). " The right of colonists to exer 
 cise a legislative power is an inherent right, founded upon 
 the rights of all men to freedom and happiness, [to] civil 
 liberty [which] cannot possibly have any existence where 
 the society for whom laws are made have no share in 
 making them, and where the interest of their legislators is 
 not inseparably interwoven with theirs " (p. 84). " The 
 foundation of the English Constitution rests upon this 
 principle, that no laws have any validity or binding force 
 without the consent and approbation of the people, given 
 in the persons of their representatives, periodically elected 
 by themselves [exception only being made, in the words of 
 Blackstone, of ' such persons as are in so mean a situation 
 that they are esteemed to have no will of their own/ but, 
 ' if they had votes, would be tempted to dispose of them 
 under some undue influence or other '] " (p. 85). " To 
 
688 WASHINGTON. 
 
 take such a survey of the political history of the Colonies 
 as may be necessary to cast a full light upon their present 
 contest " would show that " the sole right of the territories 
 in America was vested in the Crown " (pp. 88, 89). " In 
 April, 1621, the House of Commons was informed by order 
 of King James, that 'America zvas not annexed to the realm, 
 and that it was not fitting that Parliament should make laws 
 for those countries ' " (p. 96). " Charles I, who granted the 
 Massachusetts and Maryland charters, in like manner re 
 fused the royal assent [to a fishing bill], with the declara 
 tion that ' the Colonies were without the realm and jurisdic 
 tion of Parliament ' " (p. 96). " The American charters are 
 entirely discordant with the sovereignty of Parliament; 
 * * * the Parliament of Great Britain has no sov 
 ereign authority over America; * * * the voice of na 
 ture, the spirit of the British Constitution, and the charters 
 of the Colonies in general demonstrate the absolute non- 
 existence of parliamentary supremacy " (pp. 108, 109). 
 " There is no need however of this plea. THE sacred 
 rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old 
 parchments or musty records. They are written, as with 
 a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the 
 hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or 
 obscured by mortal POWER " (p. 108). 
 
 " If Great Britain is determined to enslave us, it must 
 be by force of arms; and to attempt this would be nothing 
 less than the grossest infatuation, madness itself. What 
 ever may be said of the disciplined troops of Great Britain, 
 the event of the contest must be extremely doubtful. There 
 is a certain enthusiasm in liberty that makes human na 
 ture rise above itself in acts of bravery and heroism. It 
 cannot be expected that America would yield without a 
 magnanimous, persevering, and bloody struggle. * 
 Great Britain could not spare an army of above 15,000 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 689 
 
 men, * * * to subdue near 600,000. * * * Forty 
 thousand will be a sufficient number to make head at a 
 time. * * * The circumstances of our country put it 
 in our power to evade a pitched battle. It will be better 
 policy to harass and exhaust the soldiery by frequent skir 
 mishes and incursions than to take the open field with 
 them " (pp. 155, 156, 158, 159). "There are many officers 
 who have served in the last war with reputation dispersed 
 through the Colonies. These might have the superior 
 direction of matters; and there are men enough of known 
 sense and courage who would soon make excellent offi 
 cers " (p. 160). " You ask me, What resources have the 
 Colonies to pay, clothe, arm, and feed their troops? * * * 
 France, Spain, and Holland would find means to supply 
 us with whatever we wanted. Let it not be said that this 
 last is a bare possibility. There is the highest degree of 
 probability in the case. A more desirable object to France 
 and Spain than the disunion of these Colonies from Great 
 Britain cannot be imagined. Every dictate of policy and 
 interest would prompt them to forward it by every possi 
 ble means. * * * They would not neglect anything 
 in their power to make the opposition on our part as vigor 
 ous and obstinate as our affairs would admit of " (pp. 161, 
 162). " I affirm that nothing but the most frantic extrava 
 gance can influence the administration to attempt the re 
 duction of America by force of arms " (p. 164). " I am 
 a warm advocate for limited monarchy, and an unfeigned 
 well-wisher to the present royal family. * * * I verily 
 believe that the best way to secure a permanent and happy 
 union between Great Britain and the Colonies is to permit 
 the latter to be as free as they desire " (pp. 168, 169). 
 
 [February 2, 1775, the citizens of Fairfax county as 
 sembled with Washington as president, and voted to en 
 roll the county militia, and to pay a tax of three shillings 
 44 
 
690 WASHINGTON. 
 
 per poll to meet the cost of equipping them for service. 
 Washington wrote February 25, 1775, to John Connolly: 
 
 "I confess the state of affairs is sufficiently alarming; 
 which our critical situation with regard to the Indians does 
 not diminish. I have only to express my most ardent 
 wishes that every measure, consistent with reason and 
 sound policy, may be adopted to keep those people at this 
 time in good humor; for another rupture would not only 
 ruin the external but the internal parts of this government. 
 If the journal of your proceedings in the Indian war is to 
 be published, I shall have an opportunity of seeing what I 
 have long coveted. 
 
 "With us here things wear a disagreeable aspect; and 
 the minds of men are exceedingly disturbed at the measures 
 of the British government. The King's speech and ad 
 dress of both Houses, prognosticate nothing favorable to 
 us; but by some subsequent proceeding thereto, as well 
 as by private letters from London, there is reason to be 
 lieve the ministry would willingly change their ground, 
 from a conviction the forcible measures will be inadequate 
 to the end designed."] 
 
 Although some of the persons most obnoxious to the 
 British Government had withdrawn from Boston, yet many 
 zealous Americans still remained in the town, observed 
 every motion of General Gage with a vigilant eye, and 
 transmitted to their friends in the country notices of his 
 proceedings and probable intentions. The American 
 stores at Concord had attracted the General's attention, 
 and he determined to seize them. But, although he had 
 been careful to conceal his intention, yet some intimations 
 of it reached the ears of the colonists, who took their 
 measures accordingly. 
 
 At ii o'clock at night, on the i8th of April, 1775, Gen 
 eral Gage embarked 800 grenadiers and light infantry, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 691 
 
 the flower of his army, under the command of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, on Charles river at 
 Boston Neck. 
 
 They sailed up the river, landed at Phipps's farm, ana 
 advanced toward Concord. Of this movement some of the 
 friends of the American cause got notice just before the 
 embarkation of the troops, and they instantly dispatched 
 messengers by different routes with the information. The 
 troops soon perceived, by the ringing of bells and firing 
 of musketry, that, notwithstanding the secrecy with which 
 they had quitted Boston, they had been discovered, and 
 that the alarm was fast spreading throughout the country. 
 Between 4 and 5 o'clock, on the morning of the I9th of 
 April, the detachment reached Lexington, thirteen miles 
 from Boston. Here about seventy of the militia were as 
 sembled, and were standing near the road; but their num 
 ber being so small, they had no intention of making any 
 resistance to the military. Major Pitcairn, who had been 
 sent forward with the light infantry, rode toward them, 
 calling out, " Disperse, you rebels! throw down your arms 
 and disperse!" The order was not instantly obeyed. 
 Major Pitcairn advanced a little farther, fired his pistol, 
 and flourished his sword, while his men began to fire, with 
 a shout. Several Americans fell; the rest dispersed, but 
 the firing on them was continued; and, on observing this, 
 some of the retreating colonists returned the fire. Eight 
 Americans remained dead on the field. 
 
 At the close of this rencounter the rest of the British 
 detachment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, came up; 
 and the party, without further violence, proceeded to Con 
 cord. On arriving at that place they found a body of 
 militia drawn up, who retreated across the bridge before 
 the British light infantry. The main body of the royal 
 troops entered the town, destroyed two pieces of cannon, 
 
692 WASHINGTON. 
 
 with their carriages, and a number of carriage wheels; 
 threw 500 pounds of balls into the river and wells, and 
 destroyed about sixty barrels of flour. These were all 
 the stores they found. 
 
 While the main body of the troops was engaged an these 
 operations, the light infantry kept possession of the bridge, 
 the Americans having retired to wait for reinforcements. 
 Reinforcements arrived, and John Butterworth, of Con 
 cord, who commanded the Americans, ordered his men to 
 advance; but, ignorant of what had happened at Lexing 
 ton, enjoined them not to fire unless the troops fired first. 
 The matter did not long remain in suspense. The Ameri 
 cans advanced; the troops fired on them; the Americans 
 returned the fire; a smart skirmish ensued and a number 
 of men fell on each side. 
 
 The troops, having accomplished the object of their 
 expedition, began to retire. But blood had been shed, 
 and the aggressors were not to be allowed to escape with 
 impunity. The country was alarmed; armed men crowded 
 in from every quarter, and the retreating troops were as 
 sailed with an unceasing but irregular discharge of mus 
 ketry. 
 
 General Gage had early information that the country 
 was rising in arms, and, about 8 in the morning, he dis 
 patched 900 men, under the command of Earl Percy, to 
 support his first party. According to Gordon, this de 
 tachment left Boston with their music playing " Yankee 
 Doodle," a tune composed in derision of the inhabitants 
 of the northern provinces; an act which had no tendency 
 to subdue, but which was well calculated to irritate, the 
 colonists. 
 
 Earl Percy met Colonel Smith's retreating party at Lex 
 ington much exhausted; and, being provided with two 
 pieces of artillery, he was able to keep the Americans in 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 693 
 
 check. The whole party rested on their arms till they 
 took some refreshment, of which they stood much in need. 
 But there was no time for delay, as the militia and minute- 
 men were hastening in from all quarters to the scene oi 
 action. When the troops resumed their march the at 
 tack was renewed, and Earl Percy continued the retreat 
 under an incessant and galling fire of smallarms. By 
 means of his field pieces and musketry however he was 
 able to keep the assailants at a respectful distance. The 
 colonists were under no authority, but ran across the fields 
 from one place to another, taking their station at the 
 points from which they could fire on the troops with most 
 safety and effect. Numbers of them, becoming weary 
 of the pursuit, retired from the contest; but their place 
 was supplied by newcomers; so that, although not more 
 than 400 or 500 of the provincials were actually engaged 
 at any one time, yet the conflict was continued without 
 intermission till the troops, in a state of great exhaustion, 
 reached Charlestown Neck, with only two or three rounds 
 of cartridges each, although they had thirty-six in the 
 morning. 
 
 On this momentous day the British had 65 men killed, 
 180 wounded, and 28 taken prisoners. The provincials 
 had 50 men killed, 34 wounded, and 4 missing. 
 
 Washington's opinion of the battle of Lexington is thus 
 expressed in a letter of May 31, 1775, to George William 
 Fairfax, then residing in England: 
 
 " Before this letter will come to hand, you must un 
 doubtedly have received an account of the engagement 
 in the Massachusetts Bay, between the ministerial troops 
 (for we do not, nor can we yet prevail upon ourselves to 
 call them the King's troops) and the provincials of that 
 government. But as you may not have heard how that 
 
594 WASHINGTON. 
 
 affair began, I inclose the several affidavits, which were 
 taken after the action. 
 
 " General Gage acknowledges that the detachment un 
 der Lieutenant-Colonel Smith was sent out to destroy pri 
 vate property; or, in other words, to destroy a magazine 
 which self-preservation obliged the inhabitants to estab 
 lish. And he also confesses, in effect at least, that his 
 men made a very precipitate retreat from Concord, not 
 withstanding the reinforcement under Lord Percy; the last 
 of which may serve to convince Lord Sandwich, and others 
 of the same sentiment, that the Americans will fight for 
 their liberties and property, however pusillanimous in his 
 lordship's eye they may appear in other respects. 
 
 " From the best accounts I have been able to collect of 
 that affair, indeed from every one, I believe the fact, 
 stripped of all coloring, to be plainly this, that if the retreat 
 had not been as precipitate as it was God knows it could 
 not well have been more so the ministerial troops must 
 have surrendered, or been totally cut off; for they had not 
 arrived at Charlestown (under cover of their ships) half 
 an hour before a powerful body of men from Marblehead 
 and Salem was at their heels, and must, if they had hap 
 pened to be up one hour sooner, inevitably have inter 
 cepted their retreat to Charlestown. Unhappy it is, 
 though, to reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed 
 in a brother's breast, and that the once happy and peace 
 ful plains of America are either to be drenched with blood 
 or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a vir 
 tuous man hesitate in his choice? " 
 
 On Monday, the 2Oth of March, 1775, the convention 
 of delegates from the several counties and corporations 
 of Virginia met for the second time. This assembly was 
 held in the old church in the town of Richmond. Wash 
 ington and Patrick Henry were members of that body. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 695 
 
 The reader will bear in mind the tone of the instructions 
 given by the convention of the preceding year to their 
 deputies in Congress. He will remember that, while 
 they recite with great feeling the series of grievances 
 under which the Colonies had labored, and insist with 
 firmness on their constitutional rights, they give nev 
 ertheless the most explicit and solemn pledge of their 
 faith and true allegiance to His Majesty, King George 
 III, and avow their determination to support him 
 with their lives and fortunes, in the legal exercise 
 of all his just rights and prerogatives. He will re 
 member that these instructions contain also an expres 
 sion of their sincere approbation of a connection with 
 Great Britain, and their ardent wishes for a return of that 
 friendly intercourse from which this country had derived 
 so much prosperity and happiness. 
 
 These sentiments still influenced many of the leading 
 members of the convention of 1775. They could not part 
 with the fond hope that those peaceful days would again 
 return, which had shed so much light and warmth over 
 the land; and the report of the King's gracious reception 
 of the petition from Congress tended to cherish and foster 
 that hope, and to render them averse to any means of 
 violence. But Patrick Henry saw things with a steadier 
 eye and a deeper insight. His judgment was too solid to 
 be duped by appearances, and his heart too firm and manly 
 to be amused by false and flattering hopes. He had long 
 since read the true character of the British court, and 
 saw that no alternative remained for his country but abject 
 submission or heroic resistance. It was not for a soul 
 like Henry's to hesitate between these courses. He had 
 offered upon the altar of liberty no divided heart. The 
 gulf of war which yawned before him was indeed fiery 
 and fearful, but he saw that the awful plunge was inevi- 
 
696 WASHINGTON. 
 
 table. The body of the convention however hesitated. 
 They cast around " a longing, lingering look " on those 
 flowery fields on which peace, and ease, and joy were still 
 sporting, and it required all the energies of a mentor like 
 Henry to prepare their minds for the dread alternative of 
 open hostilities. 
 
 The convention being formed and organized for busi 
 ness proceeded, in the first place, to express their unquali 
 fied approbation of the measures of Congress, and to de 
 clare that they considered " this whole continent as under 
 the highest obligations to that respectable body, for the 
 wisdom of their counsels, and their unremitted endeavors 
 to maintain and preserve inviolate the just rights and lib 
 erties of His Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects in 
 America." 
 
 They next resolved, that " the warmest thanks of the 
 convention, and of all the inhabitants of this Colony, were 
 due, and that this just tribute of applause be presented to 
 the worthy delegates, deputed by a former convention to 
 represent this Colony in General Congress, for their cheer 
 ful undertaking and faithful discharge of the very important 
 trust reposed in them." 
 
 The morning of the 23d of March, 1775, was opened 
 by reading a petition and memorial from the Assembly 
 of Jamaica to the King's most excellent majesty, where 
 upon it was 
 
 " Resolved, That the unfeigned thanks and most grateful 
 acknowledgments of the convention be presented to that 
 very respectable Assembly, for the exceeding generous 
 and affectionate part they have so nobly taken in the un 
 happy contest between Great Britain and her Colonies, 
 and for their truly patriotic endeavors to fix the just claim 
 of the colonists upon the most permanent constitutional 
 principles; that the Assembly be assured that it is the most 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 697 
 
 ardent wish of this Colony (and they were persuaded of 
 the whole continent of North America) to see a speedy 
 return of those halcyon days, when we lived a free and 
 happy people." 
 
 These proceedings were not adapted to the taste of Pat 
 rick Henry; on the contrary, they were "gall and worm 
 wood " to him. The House required to be wrought up 
 to a bolder tone. He rose therefore and moved the follow 
 ing manly resolutions: 
 
 " Resolved, That a well-regulated militia, composed of 
 gentlemen and yeomen, is the natural strength and only 
 security of a free government; that such a militia in this 
 Colony would forever render it unnecessary for the mother 
 country to keep among us, for the purpose of our defense, 
 any standing army of mercenary soldiers, always subver 
 sive of the quiet, and dangerous to the liberties of the 
 people, and would obviate the pretext of taxing us for 
 their support. 
 
 " That the establishment of such militia is, at this time, 
 peculiarly necessary, by the state of our laws, for the pro 
 tection and defense of the country, some of which are al 
 ready expired and others will shortly be so; and that the 
 known remissness of government in calling us together in 
 legislative capacity renders it too insecure, in this time 
 of danger and distress, to rely that opportunity will be 
 given of renewing them in General Assembly, or making 
 any provision to secure our inestimable rights and liber 
 ties from those further violations with which they are 
 threatened. 
 
 " Resolved, therefore, That this Colony be immediately 
 
 put into a state of defense, and that be a committee 
 
 to prepare a plan for embodying, arming, and disciplining 
 such a number of men as may be sufficient for that pur 
 pose." 
 
698 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The alarm which such a proposition must have given 
 to those who had contemplated no resistance of a charac 
 ter more serious than petition, nonimportation, and passive 
 fortitude, and who still hung with suppliant tenderness on 
 the skirts of Britain, will be readily conceived by the re 
 flecting reader. The shock was painful. It was almost 
 general. The resolutions were opposed as not only rash 
 in policy, but as harsh and wellnigh impious in point of 
 feeling. Some of the warmest patriots of the convention 
 opposed them. Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and 
 Edmund Pendleton, who had so lately drank of the foun 
 tain of patriotism in the Continental Congress, and Robert 
 C. Nicholas, one of the best as well as ablest men and 
 patriots in the State, resisted them with all their influence 
 and abilities. 
 
 They urged the late gracious reception of the congres 
 sional petition by the throne; they insisted that national 
 comity, and much more, filial respect, demanded the exer 
 cise of a more dignified patience. That the sympathies of 
 the parent country were now on our side. That the friends 
 of American liberty in Parliament were still with us, and 
 had, as yet, had no cause to blush for our indiscretion. 
 That the manufacturing interests of Great Britain, already 
 smarting under the effects of our nonimportation, co 
 operated powerfully toward our relief. That the sovereign 
 himself had relented, and showed that he looked upon our 
 sufferings with an eye of pity. "Was this a moment/' 
 they asked, " to disgust our friends, to extinguish all the 
 conspiring sympathies which were working in our favor, 
 to turn their friendship into hatred, their pity into revenge? 
 And what was there/' they asked, " in the situation of the 
 Colony, to tempt us to this? Were we a great military 
 people? Were we ready for war? Where were our stores, 
 where were our arms, where our soldiers, where our gen- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 699 
 
 erals, where our money, the sinews of war? They were 
 nowhere to be found. In truth, we were poor, we were 
 naked, we were defenseless. And yet we talk of assuming 
 the front of war! of assuming it too against a nation, one 
 of the most formidable in the world! A nation ready and 
 armed at all points! Her navies riding triumphant in 
 every sea; her armies never marching but to certain vic 
 tory ! What was to be the issue of the struggle we were 
 called upon to court? What could be the issue in the com 
 parative circumstances of the two countries, but to yield 
 up this country an easy prey to Great Britain, and to con 
 vert the illegitimate right which the British Parliament 
 now claimed into a firm and indubitable right by conquest? 
 The measure might be brave, but it was the bravery of 
 madmen. It had no pretension to the character of pru 
 dence, and as little to the grace of genuine courage. It 
 would be time enough to resort to measures of despair 
 when every well-founded hope had entirely vanished." 
 
 To this strong view of the subject, supported as it was 
 by the stubborn fact of the well-known helpless condition 
 of the Colony, the opponents of these resolutions super- 
 added every topic of persuasion which belonged to the 
 cause : 
 
 " The strength and luster which we have derived from 
 our connection with Great Britain, the domestic comforts 
 which we had drawn from the same source, and whose 
 value we were now able to estimate by their loss; that 
 ray of reconciliation which was dawning upon us from the 
 east, and which promised so fair and happy a day; with 
 this they contrasted the clouds and storms which the meas 
 ure now proposed was so well calculated to raise, and in 
 which we should not have even the poor consolation of 
 being pitied by the world, since we should have so need 
 lessly and rashly drawn them upon ourselves." 
 
700 WASHINGTON. 
 
 These arguments and topics of persuasion were so well 
 justified by the appearance of things, and were moreover 
 so entirely in unison with that love of ease and quiet which 
 is natural to man, and that disposition to hope for happier 
 times, even under the most forbidding circumstances, that 
 an ordinary man, in Mr. Henry's situation, would have 
 been glad to compound with the displeasure of the House 
 by being permitted to withdraw his resolutions in silence. 
 
 Not so Mr. Henry. His was a spirit fitted to raise the 
 whirlwind, as well as to ride^in and direct it. His was that 
 comprehensive view, that unerring prescience, that per 
 fect command over the actions of men, which qualified him 
 not merely to guide, but almost to create the destinies of 
 nations. 
 
 He rose at this time with a majesty unusual to him in 
 an exordium, and with all that self-possession by which 
 he was so invariably distinguished: "No man," he said, 
 " thought more highly than he did of the patriotism, as 
 well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who had 
 just addressed the House. But different men often saw 
 the same subject in different lights; and therefore he hoped 
 it would not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, 
 if, entertaining as he did, opinions of a character very op 
 posite to theirs, he should speak forth his sentiments 
 freely and without reserve. This," he said, " was no time 
 for ceremony. The question before this House was one 
 of awful moment to the country. For his own part, he 
 considered it as nothing less than a question of freedom 
 or slavery. And in proportion to the magnitude of the 
 subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It was 
 only in this way that they could hope to arrive at truth 
 and fulfil the great responsibility which they held to God 
 and their country. Should he keep back his opinions at 
 such a time, through fear of giving offense, he should con- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 701 
 
 sider himself as guilty of treason toward his country, and 
 of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of Heaven, 
 which he revered above all earthly kings. 
 
 " Mr. President," said he, " it is natural to man to in 
 dulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our 
 eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that 
 siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this," he asked, 
 " the part of wise men engaged in a great and arduous 
 struggle for liberty? Were we disposed to be of the num 
 ber of those, who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, 
 hear not, the things which so nearly concern their tem 
 poral salvation? " For his part, whatever anguish of spirit 
 it might cost, he was willing to know the whole truth; to 
 know the worst and to provide for it. 
 
 " He had," he said, " but one lamp by which his feet 
 were guided, and that was the lamp of experience. He 
 knew no way of judging of the future but by the past. 
 And, judging by the past, he wished to know what there 
 had been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last 
 ten years to justify those hopes with which these gentle 
 men had been pleased to solace themselves and the House? 
 Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been 
 lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to 
 your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a 
 kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our 
 petition comports with those warlike preparations which 
 cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and 
 armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? 
 Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled 
 that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us 
 not deceive ourselves, sir. What means this martial array 
 if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can the 
 gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has 
 Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to 
 
702 WASHINGTON. 
 
 call for this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, 
 she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant 
 for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon 
 us those chains which the British ministry have been so 
 long forging. And what have we to oppose them? Shall 
 we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the 
 last ten years. Have we anything new to offer on the sub 
 ject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every 
 light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. 
 Shall we resort to entreajty and humble supplication? 
 What terms shall we find which have not been already 
 exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive our 
 selves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could 
 be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We 
 have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have suppli 
 cated, we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and 
 have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical 
 hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have 
 been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional 
 violence and insult; our supplications have been disre 
 garded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from 
 the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may 
 we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. 
 There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be 
 free; if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable 
 privileges for which we have been so long contending; if 
 we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which 
 we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged 
 ourselves never to abandon, until the glorious object of 
 our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, 
 sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of 
 Hosts is all that is left us! 
 
 " They tell us, sir," continued Mr. Henry, " that we are 
 weak unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 703 
 
 But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week 
 or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, 
 and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? 
 Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? 
 Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying 
 supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom 
 of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and 
 foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of 
 those means which the God of nature hath placed in our 
 power. Three millions of people armed in the holy cause 
 of liberty, and in a country such as we possess, are invin 
 cible by any force which our enemy can send against us. 
 Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There 
 is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, 
 and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. 
 The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigi 
 lant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no elec 
 tion. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too 
 late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but 
 in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their 
 clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war 
 is inevitable, and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come! 
 " It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen 
 may cry peace, peace; but there is no peace. The war is 
 actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the north 
 will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!* Our 
 brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? 
 What is it that gentlemen wish? W r hat would they have? 
 Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the 
 price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! 
 I know not what course others may take, but as for me," 
 cried. he, with both his arms extended aloft, his brows knit, 
 
 * This speech was delivered a few days before the battle of 
 Lexington. 
 
704 WASHINGTON. 
 
 every feature marked with the resolute purpose of his soul, 
 and his voice swelled to its boldest note of exclamation, 
 " give me liberty or give me death ! " 
 
 He took his seat. No murmur of applause was heard. 
 The effect was too deep. After the trance of a moment, 
 several members started from their seats. The cry " to 
 arms!" seemed to quiver on every lip and gleam from 
 every eye! Richard H. Lee arose and supported Mr. 
 Henry with his usual spirit and elegance. But his melody 
 was lost amid the agitations of that ocean which the master 
 spirit of the storm had raised up on high. That supernat 
 ural voice still sounded in their ears and shivered along 
 their arteries. They heard, in every pause, the cry of lib 
 erty or death. They became impatient of speech; their 
 souls were on fire for action. 
 
 The resolutions were adopted, and Patrick Henry, Rich 
 ard H. Lee, Robert C. Nicholas, Benjamin Harrison, 
 Lemuel Riddick, George Washington, Adam Stevens, 
 Andrew Lewis, William Christian, Edmund Pendleton, 
 Thomas Jefferson, and Isaac Lane, esquires, were ap 
 pointed a committee to prepare the plan called for by the 
 last resolution. 
 
 The plan for embodying, arming, and disciplining the 
 militia proposed by the committee which has just been 
 mentioned was received and adopted. 
 
 The convention having adopted a plan for the encour 
 agement of arts and manufactures in the Colony of Vir 
 ginia and reappointed their former deputies to the Con 
 tinental Congress, with the substitution of Mr. Jefferson 
 for Mr. Peyton Randolph, in case of the nonattendance of 
 the latter, and having also provided for a re-election of 
 delegates to the next convention, came to an adjournment. 
 
 How entirely Washington concurred in the views of 
 Patrick Henry on this momentous occasion is clearly ap- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 705 
 
 parent by the activity with which he at once entered into 
 the spirit of the resolutions for placing the militia on a 
 respectable footing with regard to discipline and efficiency. 
 He was one of the committee for drafting and reporting 
 the plan for putting the resolutions in execution. Before 
 the convention rose he wrote as follows to his brother, 
 John Augustine Washington: 
 
 " I had like to have forgotten to express my entire ap 
 probation of the laudable pursuit you are engaged in, of 
 training an independent company. I have promised to re 
 view the independent company of Richmond some time this 
 summer, they having made me a tender of the command 
 of it. At the same time I could review yours, and shall 
 very cheerfully accept the honor of commanding it, if oc 
 casion require it to be drawn out, as it is my full intention 
 to devote my life and fortune in the cause we are engaged in, if 
 needful." 
 
 This last expression of Washington shows that, after 
 considering the whole subject with his usual calm delibera 
 tion, he had come to the same conclusion with Henry, that 
 the war was inevitable, and that he had adopted the firm 
 determination to devote himself with all his energies to 
 its prosecution whenever the time for action should arrive. 
 
 On his return to Mount Vernon, after the adjournment 
 of the convention, he took an active part in the military 
 preparations which had been enjoined on the people by 
 that body. The system of independent militia companies 
 was no novelty in Virginia. The people of that Colony 
 had long been accustomed to associate in such companies 
 for the purpose of military discipline. They chose their 
 own officers, provided themselves with uniforms, arms, 
 and colors, and were governed by the militia laws. Dun- 
 more, at that time Governor of Virginia, had encouraged 
 this system, having occasion for the service of the inde- 
 45 
 
706 WASHINGTON. 
 
 pendent companies in an Indian war which had broken 
 out on the western border. 
 
 Washington, confessedly the most distinguished mili 
 tary officer in the Colony, forthwith interested himself in 
 the work of disciplining the militia, attending reviews, 
 giving advice and direction, and infusing his own spirit of 
 activity and order into their proceedings. Indeed, he was 
 generally regarded as the person destined to lead the forces 
 of that Colony, in case of hostilities, as he had done in the 
 last war. But he was reserved for a higher destiny. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PARTISAN WARFARE. 
 
 1775- 
 
 IT must be confessed that at the period at which we 
 have now arrived, the state of affairs in the Colonies 
 was anything but cheering. A few Colonies, scat 
 tered along the whole Atlantic coast, had provoked the 
 resentment of one of the most powerful nations in the 
 world; and they were now about to experience the full 
 effects of that resentment. 
 
 But, unpromising as their prospects were, the people 
 determined not to be wanting to themselves, and took 
 their measures with promptitude and vigor. Intelligence 
 of the events of the iQth of April spread rapidly over the 
 country; and the militia, from every quarter, hastened 
 toward Boston. On the 2Oth, the Provincial Congress 
 chose Gen. Artemas Ward Commander-in-Chief of the 
 forces in Massachusetts Bay, and soon afterward named 
 John Thomas Lieutenant-General. Both of those officers 
 had seen some service during the preceding war. 
 
 The Provincial Congress, having adjourned from Con 
 cord to Watertown, resolved that an army of 30,000 men 
 be immediately raised, and wrote to the Colonies of New 
 Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, informing 
 them of the events of the iQth, and earnestly requesting 
 them to send forward as many troops as they could spare, 
 with provisions, arms, and military stores. Gen. Israel 
 Putnam, then sixty years of age, left his plough in the 
 
 (707) 
 
708 WASHINGTON. 
 
 field, and, with the Connecticut militia, hastened to join 
 his countrymen in arms; and Capt. Benedict Arnold, of 
 New Haven, afterward of so much notoriety, was soon 
 in camp with his company. The provincial headquarters 
 were at Cambridge. 
 
 A large body of men was soon collected before Boston, 
 but they were in great want of everything necessary for 
 the equipment of an army. They had muskets, many of 
 them old and rusty, but were ill-provided with bayonets. 
 They had a few pieces of artillery and a few mortars, with 
 some balls and shells, but had only forty-one barrels of 
 gunpowder in the public store. 
 
 The battle of Lexington operated like an electrical shock 
 throughout the provinces. On hearing of that event, even 
 in New York, where the friends of the ministry were more 
 numerous than in any other place, the people laid aside 
 their indecision and espoused the cause of their country 
 men. They shut up the custom house and stopped all ves 
 sels preparing to sail to Quebec, Newfoundland, Georgia,* 
 or Boston. They also addressed a letter to the lord mayor, 
 aldermen, and common council of the city of London, in 
 which they declared that all the horrors of civil war would 
 not compel the Americans to submit to taxation by au 
 thority of the British Parliament; and expressed a confi 
 dent hope that the citizens of London would exert them 
 selves to restore union and peace to the empire. 
 
 The colonists of New Jersey took possession of the 
 treasury of the province, containing about 20,000, to em 
 ploy it in their own defense. The inhabitants of Philadel 
 phia followed the example of New York, and prevented 
 the sailing of vessels to any port on the continent that 
 acknowledged the authority or was subject to the power 
 of Britain. 
 
 * Georgia at that time had not yet joined the united colonies 
 t>y sending delegates to the Continental Congress. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 709 
 
 In the space of six days intelligence of the battle of Lex 
 ington reached Baltimore in Maryland. The people in 
 stantly seized the provincial magazine, containing about 
 1,500 stand of arms, and stopped all exports to the fishing 
 islands, to such of the Colonies as had declined to join the 
 confederacy, and to the British army and navy at Boston. 
 
 In Virginia, a Provincial Congress had met, as we have 
 seen, in the month of March, which took measures for 
 training the militia, and recommended to each county to 
 raise a volunteer company for the better defense of the 
 country. At Williamsburg, the capital of the Colony, 
 there was a small provincial magazine, containing upward 
 of 1,000 pounds of gunpowder. On the night of the 2oth 
 of April, 1775, Lord Dunmore, the Governor, employed 
 Henry Collins, the captain of an armed vessel, to convey 
 the greater part of that powder on board his ship. Hav 
 ing got notice of the transaction, the citizens took the 
 alarm, and the mayor and corporation addressed his lord 
 ship on the subject. He answered that he had removed 
 the powder to a place of security, and assured them that, 
 if it should be needed in order to suppress an insurrection, 
 he would restore it in half an hour. 
 
 On this occasion Patrick Henry showed himself as 
 prompt to act as he was earnest in exhorting others to 
 action. He, as well as Washington, had taken part in 
 training the militia, and had accepted the command of a 
 company. 
 
 When news of Lord Dunmore's aggressive proceeding 
 reached Hanover county, Henry, at the head of more than 
 150 volunteers, marched toward Williamsburg to demand 
 restitution of the powder, and to protect the public treasury 
 against a similar depredation. When within about fifteen 
 miles of the capital, he was assured that the receiver-gen 
 eral would pay for the powder, and that the citizens would 
 
710 WASHINGTON. 
 
 guard the public treasury and magazine. The party then 
 dispersed. 
 
 Lord Dunmore, greatly alarmed by Henry's march, con 
 verted his palace into a garrison, and issued a proclama 
 tion, charging the people with the design of altering the 
 established Constitution. This was a new cause of exas 
 peration; and the people, in their county meetings, not 
 only approved Mr. Henry's proceedings, but retorted upon 
 the Governor, attributing all the disturbances to his mis 
 conduct, and declaring that- they only vindicated their 
 rights, and opposed innovation. While the public mind 
 was in this feverish state, intelligence of the battle of Lex 
 ington arrived in Virginia. It greatly increased the appre 
 hensions and irritations of the people, and made them far 
 more active in arming and training the militia and volun 
 teer companies than they had formerly been. In Virginia, 
 as well as in the other Colonies, many were much alarmed; 
 but the apprehensions of impending danger were over 
 powered by feelings of indignation. 
 
 In this critical posture of affairs, Lord Dunmore con 
 vened the House of Burgesses.* His intention was to pro 
 cure their approbation of Lord North's conciliatory plan; 
 and in his speech at the opening of the session, he employed 
 all his address to gain his end. But instead of complying 
 with his recommendations, the House immediately ap 
 pointed a committee to inquire into the causes of the late 
 disturbances, and to examine the state of the public maga 
 zine. For the defense of the magazine, Lord Dunmore had 
 ordered spring guns to be placed in it, without giving any 
 public warning of the measure. Some inconsiderate young 
 men, unapprised of their danger, attempted to furnish 
 
 * Washington, being at this time engaged in his duties at the 
 second session of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, was 
 not present at this meeting of the House of Burgesses. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 711 
 
 themselves with arms out of it; and one of them was 
 wounded. This circumstance occasioned a violent ferment. 
 A multitude of people assembled, broke into the magazine, 
 and took out many of the arms; but some members of the 
 House of Burgesses, having repaired to the spot, by their 
 remonstrances prevailed on the people to restore them. 
 
 On the 7th of June, 1775, a report was spread about 
 Williamsburg, that Captain Collins, of His Majesty's ship 
 Magdalen, was coming up the river with about 100 men 
 in several boats, to take possession of the town. A 
 number of armed persons instantly assembled to defend 
 the place and its inhabitants; but on learning that there 
 was no occasion for their services, they quietly dispersed. 
 The circumstance however made such a deep impression 
 on the Governor's mind, that, with his lady and family, 
 he quitted Williamsburg and proceeded to Yorktown, and 
 went on board the Fowey man-of-war. 
 
 A correspondence, in some instances not a little acri 
 monious, now took place between his Lordship and the 
 Council and Burgesses. He accused: they recriminated. 
 They rejected Lord North's conciliatory plan; but passed 
 the necessary bills, and entreated the Governor's attend 
 ance to give his assent to them, and to close the session. 
 His lordship declined meeting them in the capital, and 
 they did not choose to wait upon him on board a man-of- 
 war. The correspondence terminated about the middle of 
 July, when the Burgesses were obliged to separate, in order 
 to attend to their private affairs ; but they appointed a con 
 vention of delegates to meet and supply their place. 
 
 We must now advance a little beyond the general marcl; 
 of events, in order to make a final disposition of the admin 
 istration of Lord Dunmore in Virginia. 
 
 In August, 1775, the convention met, and showed itself 
 animated by the common spirit of the country. About the 
 
712 WASHINGTON. 
 
 middle of the month, a petition from a number of mer 
 chants and others, chiefly natives of Scotland, praying that 
 they might not be obliged to bear arms against their 
 countrymen, and promising a strict neutrality in case the 
 province should be invaded by British troops, was pre 
 sented to the convention. That assembly recommended 
 to the committees, and to the Colony in general, to treat 
 with lenity and kindness all the inhabitants of the country 
 who did not show themselves enemies of the American 
 cause, and to cherish union and harmony among all ranks 
 of people. But many of those petitioners having, contrary 
 to their plighted faith, manifested a decided preference to 
 the royal cause, the recommendation in their favor was 
 soon revoked. Before dissolving itself, the convention is 
 sued a declaration setting forth the reasons of its meeting, 
 and showing the necessity of immediately putting the 
 country in a posture of defense. 
 
 Having been joined by a number of loyal colonists and 
 fugitive slaves, Lord Dunmore very imprudently began a 
 system of predatory warfare. By mutual insults and in 
 juries, the minds of both parties became much exasperated. 
 At length the Governor attempted to burn the town of 
 Hampton; but on the morning of the 27th of October, 
 1775, just as he began a furious cannonade upon it, a 
 body of riflemen from Williamsburg, who had marched all 
 night, entered the place, and being joined by some of their 
 countrymen, took such an advantageous position, that with 
 their smallarms, they compelled his lordship to retreat, 
 with the loss of some of his men and one of his vessels. 
 
 Infuriated by this repulse, Lord Dunmore had recourse 
 to a measure more expressive of his exasperated feelings 
 than of loyal zeal or patriotic wisdom. He issued a proc 
 lamation declaring the province under martial law; requir 
 ing all persons capable of bearing arms to repair to the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 713 
 
 royal standard, under the penalty of being considered 
 traitors if they disobeyed, and promising freedom to all 
 indented servants, negroes, and others belonging to rebels, 
 on their joining His Majesty's troops. 
 
 In consequence of this proclamation, his lordship soon 
 found himself at the head of some hundreds of fugitive 
 negroes and others at Norfolk; but the proclamation highly 
 incensed the great body of the Virginians, and alienated 
 the minds of many who had hitherto been friendly to the 
 British claims. Being informed that a number of armed 
 colonists was rapidly advancing against him, Lord Dun- 
 more took possession of the great bridge near Norfolk; a 
 post of much importance for protecting his friends, and 
 frustrating the designs of his enemies. On arriving near 
 the bridge, the Virginians, commanded by Colonel Wood- 
 ford, instead of attempting to force a passage, fortified 
 themselves at a short distance on the other side of Eliza 
 beth River; and in this position the two parties faced each 
 other for several days. 
 
 The impatient impetuosity of Lord Dunmore's temper 
 could ill brook to be thus braved by the colonists, whom! 
 he despised; and he determined to dislodge them. Accord 
 ingly, early in the morning of the 8th of December, 1775, 
 Captain Fordyce of the Fourteenth Regiment, at the head 
 of a royalist detachment, left Norfolk, and reached the 
 bridge before daybreak. He silently replaced the planks 
 of the bridge which had been removed. The road between 
 the bridge and the American breastwork, which was on the 
 south of the river, was a narrow causeway, through 
 swampy ground; and on the right, within musket-shot of 
 the causeway, was a thicket, where the Americans had 
 posted a small party. At daybreak Captain Fordyce, at 
 the head of his detachment, with fixed bayonets, passed 
 the bridge and proceeded rapidly toward the enemy. But 
 
714 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the Americans were not unprepared; they however allowed 
 the troops to advance a good way without molestation, and 
 when near the works, poured upon them a destructive 
 discharge of musketry, both from the intrenchment and 
 thicket at the same time. Undismayed by this warm re 
 ception, Captain Fordyce steadily advanced; but on the 
 second fire he fell dead within a few yards of the Ameri 
 can works. His party instantly retreated, sixty-two of 
 their number being killed or wounded, while the Americans 
 had only one man slightly hurt. 
 
 Next night Lord Dunmore quitted his post and with 
 his adherents sought refuge on board the shipping in the 
 river. The Americans took possession of the town and 
 refused to supply the ships with provisions. Exasperated 
 by this refusal, early in the morning of the ist of January, 
 1776, Lord Dunmore began a furious cannonade on the 
 town, and sent parties of sailors and marines ashore, who 
 set fire to the houses nearest the water. The flames spread 
 rapidly among the wooden buildings; a great part of the 
 town was consumed; and the Americans themselves after 
 ward destroyed the rest of it, that it might afford no shelter 
 to the royal troops. Thus perished Norfolk, the most 
 flourishing commercial town of Virginia. 
 
 While these operations were going on, Lord Dunmore 
 entertained hopes of subduing the Colony by the agency 
 of an adventurer named John Connelly, a native of Penn 
 sylvania. This man, having concerted measures with his 
 lordship, and having received encouragement from Gen 
 eral Gage also, communicated with such militia officers as 
 he thought most likely to enter into his views, promising 
 them, in the name of his lordship, ample rewards. He en 
 gaged the Indians on the Ohio to act in concert with him ; 
 and he was to be assisted by the garrisons of Fort Detroit, 
 and Fort Gage in the Illinois. Having collected a force 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 715 
 
 on the western frontier, he was to penetrate through Vir 
 ginia, and meet his lordship at Alexandria, on the Potomac, 
 in April, 1776. But about ten days after taking leave of 
 Lord Dunmore, Connelly was apprehended; his papers 
 were seized; the plot was fully discovered, and entirely 
 frustrated. Lord Dunmore, finding all his efforts ineffect 
 ual, and being unable to remain any longer on the coast, 
 sailed with the force under his command to join General 
 Howe. 
 
 We now return to the seat of active operations in the 
 Northern Colonies. The battle of Lexington had given a 
 powerful impulse to the persecution of hostilities against 
 the British forces wherever they might be found, and the 
 forts, magazines, and arsenals were speedily seized upon 
 by the people in all directions. One of the most important 
 of these enterprises, undertaken by volunteers, was that 
 by which the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point 
 was effected. The idea of seizing upon these fortresses, 
 which were full of munitions of war, and very feebly gar 
 risoned, had been conceived by two remarkable men at 
 about the same time. These were Col. Ethan Allen and 
 Benedict Arnold. The former was a native of Connecticut, 
 brought up in the region then called the New Hampshire 
 Grants (the future State of Vermont), where he was a 
 leading man among the " Green Mountain Boys." The 
 latter had already been promoted to the rank of colonel 
 DV the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. 
 
 On the 2d of May, 1775, a party of volunteers, 270 
 strong, assembled at Castleton, near Lake Champlain, and 
 chose Ethan Allen for their leader, with James Easton and 
 Seth Warner as second and third in command. After 
 taking measures to secure the boats on the lake, they were 
 joined by Arnold, who as he had a colonel's commission 
 from Massachusetts, claimed the command; but the Ver- 
 
716 WASHINGTON. 
 
 monters refused flatly, and he was forced to serve as volun 
 teer or not at all. 
 
 The party arrived at Shoreham, opposite Ticonderoga, 
 on the night of the 9th of May. Never dreaming of such 
 a thing as an attack, the vigilance of the garrison was quite 
 relaxed. Having obtained a boy named Nathan Beman as 
 a guide, Allen and Arnold crossed over during the night 
 with only eighty-three of their men, the rest being unable 
 to follow them for want of a supply of boats. 
 
 Landed under the walls of the fort, they found their 
 position extremely critical; the dawn was beginning to 
 break, and unless they could succeed in instantly surprising 
 the garrison, they ran themselves the most imminent risk 
 of capture. 
 
 Ethan Allen did not hesitate a moment, but drawing up 
 his men, briefly explained to them the position of affairs, 
 and then with Arnold by his side, hurried up immediately 
 to the sally port. The sentinel snapped his fusee at them, 
 and rushing into the fort, the Americans followed close 
 at his heels, and entering the open parade, awoke the 
 sleeping garrison with three hearty cheers. The English 
 soldiers started from their beds, and rushing below, were 
 immediately taken prisoners. Meanwhile Allen attended 
 by his guide, hurried up to the chamber of the command 
 ant, Captain Delaplace, who was in bed, and knocking at 
 his door with the hilt of his huge sword, ordered him in 
 a stentorian voice to make his instant appearance, or the 
 entire garrison should immediately be put to death. The 
 commandant appeared at his door half dressed, "the 
 frightened face of his pretty wife peering over his shoulder." 
 Gazing in bewildered astonishment at Allen, he exclaimed: 
 " By whose authority do you act? " " In the name of the 
 Great Jehovah, and the Continental Congress!" replied 
 Allen. There was no alternative, and Delaplace surren- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 717 
 
 dered. Two days afterward Crown Point was surprised 
 and taken. More than two hundred pieces of artillery, and 
 a large and valuable supply of powder, which was greatly 
 needed, fell into the hands of the Americans. Ethan Allen 
 next surprised and captured Skenesborough, now White 
 hall. 
 
 Arnold now insisted upon taking the command of Fort 
 Ticonderoga, by virtue of his commission from Massachu 
 setts. But he was again resisted by the " Green Mountain 
 Boys;" and a committee of the Connecticut Legislature 
 gave the command to Allen, till the determination of Con 
 gress on the subject could be had; while Arnold sent a pro 
 test to the Massachusetts Legislature. The two com 
 manders however engaged together in the project for 
 capturing St. John's on the Sorel river, the frontier post 
 of Canada. This they had nearly accomplished by means 
 of an armed schooner and some batteaux, in which 
 they crossed the lake; but the arrival of strong reinforce 
 ments from Montreal and Chamblee defeated this project. 
 Nevertheless, by the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown 
 Point, Allen and Arnold, as a British writer admits, " had 
 got into their hands the keys of Canada." 
 
PART IV. 
 
 WASHINGTON COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 WASHINGTON AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 
 
 1775- 
 
 IT has already been mentioned that Congress, previous 
 to its dissolution on the 26th of October, 1774, recom 
 mended the Colonies to choose members for another 
 to meet on the loth of May, 1775, unless the redress of 
 their grievances should previously be obtained. A circular 
 letter had been addressed by Lord Dartmouth to the sev 
 eral Colonial Governors, requesting their interference to 
 prevent the meeting of this second Congress; but minis 
 terial requisitions had lost their influence. Delegates were 
 elected, not only for the twelve Colonies that were before 
 represented, but also for the parish of St. John's, in Geor 
 gia, and in July following, for the whole province. 
 
 The time of the meeting of this second Congress was 
 fixed at so distant a day that an opportunity might be 
 afforded for obtaining information of the plans adopted 
 "by the British Parliament in the winter of 1774-75. Had 
 these been favorable, the delegates would either not have 
 met,. or dispersed after a short session; but as the resolu 
 tion was then fixed to compel the submission of the Col- 
 
 (7i8) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 719 
 
 onies, and hostilities had already commenced, the meeting 
 of Congress on the loth of May, which was at first eventual, 
 became fixed. 
 
 On their meeting (May 10, 1775), they chose Peyton 
 Randolph for their president, and Charles Thompson for 
 their secretary. On the next day, Hancock laid before 
 them a variety of depositions, proving that the King's 
 troops were the aggressors in the late battle at Lexington, 
 together with sundry papers relative to the great events 
 which had lately taken place in Massachusetts; whereupon 
 Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole to 
 take into consideration the state of America. They pro 
 ceeded in the same line of moderation and firmness which 
 marked the acts of their predecessors in the past year. 
 
 The city and county of New York having applied to 
 Congress for advice, how they should conduct themselves 
 with regard to the troops expected to land there, they 
 were advised " to act on the defensive so long as might be 
 consistent with their safety; to permit the troops to remain 
 in the barracks so long as they behaved peaceably, but 
 not to suffer fortifications to be erected, or any steps to 
 be taken for cutting off the communications between the 
 town and country." Congress also resolved: "That ex 
 portation to all parts of British America, which had not 
 adopted their association, should immediately cease; " and 
 that " no provision of any kind, or other necessaries, be 
 furnished to the British fisheries on the American coasts." 
 And " that no bill of exchange, draft, or order, of any 
 officer in the British army or navy, their agents or con 
 tractors, be received or negotiated, or any money supplied 
 them, by any person in America; that no provisions or 
 necessaries of any kind be furnished or supplied, to or for 
 the use of the British army or navy, in the Colony of Massa 
 chusetts Bay; that no vessel employed in transporting 
 
720 WASHINGTON. 
 
 British troops to America, or from one part of North 
 America to another, or warlike stores or provisions for 
 said troops, be freighted or furnished with provisions or 
 any necessaries." 
 
 These resolutions may be considered as the counterpart 
 of the British acts for restraining the commerce, and pro 
 hibiting the fisheries of the Colonies. They were calculated 
 to bring distress on the British islands in the West Indies, 
 whose chief dependence for subsistence was on the im 
 portation of provisions from the American continent. 
 
 They also occasioned new difficulties in the support of 
 the British army and fisheries. The colonists were so much 
 indebted to Great Britain, that government bills for the 
 most part found among them a ready market. A war in 
 the Colonies was therefore made subservient to commerce, 
 by increasing the sources of remittance. This enabled the 
 mother country, in a great degree, to supply her troops 
 without shipping money out of the kingdom. 
 
 From the operation of these resolutions, advantages of 
 this nature were not only cut off, but the supply of the 
 British army rendered both precarious and expensive. In 
 consequence of the interdiction of the American fisheries, 
 great profits were expected by British adventurers in that 
 line. Such frequently found it most convenient to obtain 
 supplies in America for carrying on their fisheries; but 
 as Great Britain had deprived the colonists of all benefits 
 from that quarter, they now, in their turn, interdicted all 
 supplies from being furnished to British fishermen. To 
 obviate this unexpected embarrassment, several of the ves 
 sels employed in this business were obliged to return home, 
 to bring out provisions for their associates. These restrict 
 ive resolutions were not so much the effect of resentment 
 as of policy. The colonists conceived that by distressing 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 721 
 
 the British commerce they would increase the number of 
 those who would interest themselves in their behalf. 
 
 The new Congress had convened but a few days when 
 their venerable president, Peyton Randolph, was under a 
 necessity of returning home, to occupy his place as speaker 
 of the Virginia Assembly. On his departure, John Han 
 cock was unanimously chosen his successor. The objects 
 of deliberation presented to this new Congress were, if 
 possible, more important than those of the preceding year. 
 The colonists had now experienced the inefficacy of those 
 measures from which relief had been formerly obtained. 
 They found a new Parliament disposed to run all risks 
 in enforcing their submission. They also understood that 
 administration was united against them, and its members 
 firmly established in their places. Hostilities were com 
 menced. Reinforcements had arrived, and more were daily 
 expected. Added to this, they had information that their 
 adversaries had taken measures to secure the friendship 
 and co-operation of the Indians, and also of the Canadians. 
 
 The coercion of the Colonies being resolved upon, and 
 their conquest supposed to be inevitable, the British min 
 istry judged that it would be for the interest of both coun 
 tries to proceed in that vigorous course, which bid fairest 
 for the speediest attainment of their object. They hoped 
 by pressing the colonists on all quarters to intimidate 
 opposition, and ultimately to lessen the effusion of human 
 blood. 
 
 In this awful crisis, Congress had but a choice of diffi 
 culties. The New England States had already organized 
 an army and blockaded General Gage. To desert them 
 would have been contrary to plighted faith and to sound 
 policy. To support them would make the war general, 
 and involve all the provinces in one general, promiscuous 
 state of hostility. 
 46 
 
722 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The resolution of the people in favor of the latter was 
 fixed, and only wanted public sanction for its operation. 
 Congress therefore resolved, " that for the express purpose 
 of defending and securing the Colonies, and preserving 
 them in safety, against all attempts to carry the late acts 
 of Parliament into execution, by force of arms, they be 
 immediately put in a state of defense; but as they wished 
 for a restoration of the harmony formerly subsisting be 
 tween the mother country and the Colonies, to the promo 
 tion of this most desirable reconciliation, an humble and 
 dutiful petition be presented to His Majesty." To resist and 
 to petition were coeval resolutions. As freemen they could 
 not tamely submit; but as loyal subjects, wishing for peace 
 as far as was compatible with their rights, they once more, 
 in the character of petitioners, humbly stated their griev 
 ances to the common sovereign of the empire. 
 
 To dissuade the Canadians from co-operating with the 
 British, they again addressed them, representing the per 
 nicious tendency of the Quebec act, and apologizing for 
 their taking Ticonderoga and Crown Point, as measures 
 which were dictated by the great law of self-preservation. 
 About the same time, Congress took measures for ward 
 ing off the danger that threatened their frontier inhabitants 
 from Indians. Commissioners to treat with them were 
 appointed, and a supply of goods for their use was ordered. 
 A talk, was also prepared by Congress, and transmitted 
 to them, in which the controversy between Great Britain 
 and her Colonies was explained, in a familiar Indian style. 
 They were told that they had no concern in the family 
 quarrel, and were urged by the ties of ancient friendship 
 and a common birthplace, to remain at home, keep their 
 hatchet buried deep, and to join neither side. 
 
 The novel situation of Massachusetts made it necessary 
 for the ruling powers of that province to ask the advice of 
 Congress on a very interesting subject: "The taking up 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 723 
 
 and exercising the powers of civil government." For many 
 months they had been kept together in tolerable peace 
 and order by the force of ancient habits, under the simple 
 style of recommendation and advice from popular bodies, 
 invested with no legislative authority. But as war now 
 raged in their borders, and a numerous army was actually 
 raised, some more efficient form of government became 
 necessary. At this early day it neither comported with 
 the wishes nor the designs of the colonists to erect forms 
 of government independent of Great Britain. Congress 
 therefore recommended only such regulations as were im 
 mediately necessary, and these were conformed as near as 
 possible to the spirit and substance of the charter, and 
 were only to last till a Governor of His Majesty's appoint 
 ment would consent to govern the Colony according to its 
 charter. 
 
 On the same principles of necessity, another assump 
 tion of new powers became unavoidable. The great inter 
 course that daily took place throughout the Colonies 
 pointed out the propriety of establishing a general post- 
 office. This was accordingly done, and Dr. Franklin, who 
 had by royal authority been dismissed from a similar em 
 ployment about three years before, was appointed by his 
 country the head of the new department. 
 
 While Congress was making arrangements for their pro 
 posed continental army, it was thought expedient once 
 more to address the inhabitants of Great Britain, and to 
 publish to the world a declaration setting forth their rea 
 sons for taking up arms; to address the speaker and gen 
 tlemen of the Assembly of Jamaica, and the inhabitants of 
 Ireland, and also to prefer a second humble petition to 
 the King. In their address to the inhabitants of Great 
 Britain, they again vindicated themselves from the charge 
 of aiming at independence, professed their willingness to 
 
7M WASHINGTON. 
 
 submit to the several acts of trade and navigation which 
 were passed before the year 1763, recapitulated their 
 reasons for rejecting Lord North's conciliatory motion, 
 stated the hardships they suffered from the operations of 
 the royal army in Boston, and insinuated the danger the 
 inhabitants of Britain would be in of losing their freedom, 
 in case their American brethren were subdued. 
 
 In their declaration setting forth the causes and necessity 
 of their taking up arms, they enumerated the injuries they 
 had received, and the methods taken by the British min 
 istry to compel their submission, and then said: " We are 
 reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional 
 submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resist 
 ance by force. The latter is our choice. We have counted 
 the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as 
 voluntary slavery." They asserted " that foreign assistance 
 was undoubtedly attainable." This was not founded on 
 any private information, but was an opinion derived from 
 their knowledge of the principles of policy by which States 
 usually regulate their conduct toward each other. 
 
 In their address to the speaker and gentlemen of the 
 Assembly of Jamaica, they dilated on the arbitrary systems 
 of the British ministry, and informed them that in order to 
 obtain a redress of their grievances, they had appealed to 
 the justice, humanity, and interest of Great Britain. They 
 stated that to make their schemes of nonimportation and 
 nonexportation produce the desired effects, they were 
 obliged to extend them to the islands. " From that neces 
 sity, and from that alone," they said, " our conduct has 
 proceeded." They concluded with saying, " The peculiar 
 situation of your island forbids your assistance, but we 
 have your good wishes ; from the good wishes of the friends 
 of liberty and mankind we shall always derive consolation." 
 
 In their address to the people of Ireland they recapitu- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 725 
 
 lated their grievances, stated their humble petitions, and 
 the neglect with which they had been treated. " In defense 
 of our persons and properties under actual violations," 
 said they, " we have taken up arms. When that violence 
 shall be removed, and hostilities cease on the part of the 
 aggressors, they shall cease on our part also." 
 
 These several addresses were executed in a masterly 
 manner, and were well calculated to make friends to the 
 Colonies. But their petition to the King, which was drawn 
 up at the same time, produced more solid advantages in 
 favor of the American cause than any other of their pro 
 ductions. This was, in a great measure, carried through 
 Congress by John Dickinson. Several members, judging 
 from the violence with which Parliament proceeded against 
 the Colonies, were of opinion that further petitions were 
 nugatory; but this worthy citizen, a friend to both coun 
 tries, and devoted to a reconciliation on constitutional 
 principles, urged the expediency and policy of trying once 
 more the effect of an humble, decent, and firm petition, to 
 the common head of the empire. .The high opinion that 
 was conceived of his patriotism and abilities induced the 
 members to assent to this measure, though they generally 
 conceived it to be labor lost. 
 
 The petition agreed upon was the work of Dickinson's 
 pen. In this, among other things, it was stated, " that 
 notwithstanding their sufferings, they had retained too 
 high a regard for the kingdom from which they derived 
 their origin, to request such a reconciliation as might in 
 any manner be inconsistent with her dignity and welfare. 
 Attached to His Majesty's person, family, and government, 
 with all the devotion that principle and affection can in 
 spire; connected with Great Britain by the strongest ties 
 that can unite society, and deploring every event that 
 tended in any degree to weaken them, they not only most 
 
726 WASHINGTON. 
 
 fervently desired the former harmony between her and the 
 Colonies to be restored, but that a concord might be estab 
 lished between them upon so firm a basis as to perpetuate 
 its blessings, uninterrupted by any future dissensions, to 
 succeeding generations, in both countries. 
 
 " They therefore besought that His Majesty would be 
 pleased to direct some mode by which the united applica 
 tions of his faithful colonists to the throne, in pursuance of 
 their common councils, might be improved into a happy 
 and permanent reconciliation." By this last clause Con 
 gress meant that the mother country should propose a 
 plan for establishing by compact something like Magna 
 Charta for the Colonies. They did not aim at a total ex 
 emption from the control of Parliament, nor were they 
 unwilling to contribute, in their own way, to the expenses 
 of government; but they feared the horrors of war less than 
 submission to unlimited parliamentary supremacy. They 
 wished for an amicable compact, in which doubtful, unde 
 fined points should be ascertained so as to secure that 
 proportion of authority and liberty which would be for 
 the general good of the whole empire. They fancied them 
 selves in the condition of the barons at Runnymede; but 
 with this difference, that in addition to opposing the King 
 they had also to oppose the Parliament. This difference 
 was more nominal than real, for in the latter case the King 
 and Parliament stood precisely in the same relation to 
 the people of America which subsisted in the former be 
 tween the King and people of England. In both, popular 
 leaders were contending with the sovereign for the privi 
 leges of subjects. 
 
 This well-meant petition was presented on September I, 
 T 775> by Mr. Penn and Mr. Lee, and on the 4th, Lord 
 Dartmouth informed them, " that to it no answer would 
 be given." This slight contributed not a little to the union 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 727 
 
 and perseverance of the colonists. When pressed by the 
 calamities of war, a doubt would sometimes arise in the 
 minds of scrupulous persons, that they had been too hasty 
 in their opposition to their protecting parent State. To 
 such it was usual to present the second petition of Con 
 gress to the King, with the remark, that all the blood and 
 all the guilt of the war must be charged on British, and not 
 on American, councils. Meantime the colonists were ac 
 cused in a speech from the throne, on October 26th, as 
 meaning only " to amuse by vague expressions of attach 
 ment to the parent State, and the strongest protestations 
 of loyalty to their King, while they were preparing for a 
 general revolt, and that their rebellious war was manifestly- 
 carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent 
 empire." 
 
 Yet at that time, and for months after, a redress of 
 grievances was their ultimate aim. Conscious of this in 
 tention, and assenting in the sincerity of their souls to the 
 submissive language of their petition, they illy brooked the 
 contempt with which their joint supplication was treated, 
 and still worse, that they should be charged from the 
 throne with studied duplicity. 
 
 Nothing contributes more to the success of revolutions 
 than moderation. Intemperate zealots overshoot them 
 selves, and soon spend their force, while the calm and dis 
 passionate persevere to the end. The bulk of the people 
 in civil commotions are influenced to a choice of sides by 
 the general complexion of the measures adopted by the 
 respective parties. When these appear to be dictated by 
 justice and prudence, and to be uninfluenced by passion, 
 ambition, or avarice, they are disposed to favor them. 
 Such was the effect of this second petition, through a long 
 and trying war, in which men of serious reflection were 
 often called upon to examine the rectitude of their con 
 duct. 
 
728 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The time had now arrived when the several middle and 
 southern provinces were required definitively to resolve, 
 and unequivocally to declare, whether they would make 
 common cause with the New England provinces in actual 
 war, or, abandoning them and the object for which they 
 had all so long jointly contended, submit to the absolute 
 supremacy of the British Parliament. The Congress, as 
 we have just seen, did not hesitate which part of the alterna 
 tive to embrace, but had already (May 26, 1775), unani 
 mously determined, that as hostilities had actually com 
 menced, and large reinforcements of the British army were 
 expected, the several provinces should be immediately put 
 in a state of defense. 
 
 Accordingly, the necessary committees were appointed 
 to prepare reports on this most important of all subjects. 
 A very significant token that the real character and abili 
 ties of Washington were understood and appreciated by 
 Congress is afforded in the fact that he was named as 
 chairman of all these committees. One of them was to 
 designate the posts to be occupied in New York; another, 
 to recommend methods for raising ammunition and mili 
 tary stores; a third, to estimate the amount of money neces 
 sary to be raised for purposes of defense; and a fourth, to 
 prepare rules and regulations for the government of the 
 army.* 
 
 Congress thus very properly took the whole system of 
 national defense into its own hands; and thenceforward the 
 forces under its direction were styled the Continental Army, 
 while the British forces under General Gage were called the 
 Ministerial Army. 
 
 The next subject which received the attention of Con 
 gress was the appointment of a Commander-in-Chief of 
 the American armies. This was a matter of great diffi 
 culty and delicacy, involving not only personal but political 
 
 * Sparks. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 729 
 
 considerations. The facts that war was actually raging in 
 New England, that a large army was embodied in the 
 neighborhood of Boston, and that General Ward, an officer 
 of experience and ability, was in command of it, as well as 
 the leading part which Massachusetts had taken since the 
 opening of the contest, seemed to establish the propriety 
 of taking a Commander-in-Chief from that part of the 
 country; and that General Ward should be the man. His 
 name was accordingly among the first which were sug 
 gested and canvassed by the members in their private con 
 sultations on the subject. In fact, to supersede him in the 
 command of the army before Boston, where the Com 
 mander-in-Chief would necessarily commence his opera 
 tions, might seem uncourteous, and might even give offense 
 to the army, and to the eastern Colonies. 
 
 On the other hand, Washington, from the circumstance 
 of his having taken so active a part in the first Congress, 
 was personally well known to most of the members of the 
 second, and his superior administrative talents could not 
 have escaped their notice; while his great abilities as a 
 military commander, his courage, coolness, and presence 
 of mind in great emergencies, were known to all the world. 
 He was known also to be man of large fortune, which 
 would all be staked on the success of the cause of liberty. 
 
 To these personal qualities in his favor, were added cer 
 tain political considerations of no ordinary weight. Vir 
 ginia was a large, wealthy, and powerful State; she had 
 ever been foremost in sustaining New England up to the 
 present stage of the contest. Her generous devotion to 
 the cause of liberty had ever been conspicuous, and her 
 commanding influence had carried the whole South with 
 her/ The far-sighted New England statesmen saw that to 
 place her favorite at the head of the armies would be a 
 master-stroke of policy; binding her and the other southern 
 Colonies most firmly to the cause. 
 
730 WASHINGTON. 
 
 John Adams, in his diary, informs us that there was a 
 southern party in Congress opposed to giving the com 
 mand to any New England officer. 
 
 " Whether this jealously was sincere," writes he, " or 
 whether it was mere pride, and a haughty ambition of fur 
 nishing a southern general to command a northern army, 
 I cannot say; but the intention was very visible to me, that 
 Colonel Washington was their object; and so many of our 
 stanchest men were in the plan, that we could carry noth 
 ing without conceding to- it. There was another embarrass 
 ment which was never publicly known, and which was care 
 fully concealed by those who knew it; the Massachusetts 
 and other New England delegates were divided. Mr, 
 Hancock and Mr. Cushing hung back; Mr. Paine did not 
 come forward, and even Mr. Samuel Adams was irresolute. 
 Mr. Hancock himself had an ambition to be appointed 
 Commander-in-Chief. Whether he thought an election a 
 compliment due to him, and intended to have the honor of 
 declining it, or whether he would have accepted it, I know 
 not. To the compliment, he had some pretensions; for at 
 that time his exertions, sacrifices, and general merits in 
 the cause of his country, had been incomparably greater 
 than those of Colonel Washington. But the delicacy of 
 his health, and his entire want of experience in actual ser 
 vice, though an excellent militia officer, were decisive ob 
 jections to him in my mind." 
 
 Adams, after ample opportunities of consultation with 
 the other members from the North, in which he demon 
 strated the true policy of choosing Washington, consider 
 ing the matter in a political point of view, and no doubt 
 very fully convinced of the superiority of the Virginian 
 officer's personal claims, at length felt sure of his ground, 
 and ventured to allude to the matter in open debate. Ac 
 cordingly, while discussions were going on in Congress 
 respecting military preparations, he rose in his place, and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 731 
 
 moved that the army then besieging the British troops 
 in Boston should forthwith be adopted by Congress as a 
 continental army, and a general appointed. The time for 
 naming the pers/on, he said, was not come. 
 
 " Yet," says he, " as I had reason to believe this was a 
 point of some difficulty, I had no hesitation to declare, 
 that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important 
 command, and that was a gentleman from Virgina, who 
 was among us, and very well known to all of us; a gen 
 tleman whose skill and experience as an officer, whose 
 independent fortune, great talents, and excellent universal 
 character, would command the approbation of all America, 
 and unite the cordial exertions of all the Colonies better 
 than any other person in the Union. Mr. Washington, 
 who happened to sit near the door, as soon as he heard 
 me allude to him, from his usual modesty, darted into the 
 library room. Mr. Hancock, who was our president, which 
 gave me an opportunity to observe his countenance while 
 I was speaking of the state of the Colonies, the army at 
 Cambridge, and the enemy, heard me with visible pleasure; 
 but when I came to describe Washington for the com 
 mander, I never remarked a more sudden and striking 
 change of countenance. Mortification and resentment 
 were expressed as forcibly as his face could exhibit them." 
 
 When the subject came under debate, several delegates 
 opposed the appointment of Washington; not from per 
 sonal objections, but because the army were all from New 
 England, and had a general of their own, Gen. Artemas 
 Ward, with whom they appeared well satisfied, and under 
 whose command they had proved themselves able to im 
 prison the British army in Boston which was all that was 
 to be expected or desired. 
 
 On a subsequent day, Washington was nominated by 
 Mr. Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, and he was unani 
 mously chosen by ballot (June 15, 1775). Immediately 
 
732 WASHINGTON. 
 
 after the result was declared, the House adjourned. As 
 soon as the session was opened on the following day, the 
 president communicated to him officially the notice of 
 his appointment. Washington immediately rose in his 
 place, and made the following reply: 
 
 " MR. PRESIDENT. Though I am truly sensible of the 
 high honor done me in this appointment, yet I feel great 
 distress from a consciousness that my abilities and mili 
 tary experience may not be equal to the extensive and 
 important trust; however, as- the Congress desire it, I 
 will enter upon the momentous duty, and exert every power 
 I possess in their service and for support of the glorious 
 cause. I beg they will accept my most cordial thanks for 
 this distinguished testimony of their approbation. 
 
 " But, lest some unlucky event should happen unfavor 
 able to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by 
 every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare with 
 the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the 
 command I am honored with. 
 
 "As to pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress, that 
 as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to 
 accept this arduous employment, at the expense of my 
 domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any 
 profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. 
 Those, I doubt not, they will discharge, and that is all I 
 desire." 
 
 A special commission* was drawn up and presented to 
 
 * Washington's Commission from the Continental Congress of 
 I 775> a s Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 The delegates of the United Colonies of New Hampshire, Massa 
 chusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 
 Pennsylvania, the counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on 
 Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina: 
 
 To George Washington, Esq.: 
 
 We, reposing special trust and confidence in your patriotism, 
 valor, conduct, and fidelity, do by these presents constitute and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 733 
 
 him, and at the same time a unanimous resolution was 
 adopted by Congress: "That they would maintain and 
 assist him, and adhere to him with their lives and fortunes, 
 in the cause of American liberty/' Instructions were also 
 given him for his government, by which, after reciting 
 various particulars, he was directed "to destroy or make 
 prisoners of all persons who now are, or who hereafter 
 shall appear, in arms against the good people of the Col 
 onies; " but the whole was summed up in authorizing him 
 " to order and dispose of the army under his command as 
 might be most advantageous for obtaining the end for 
 which it had been raised, making it his special care in the 
 discharge of the great trust committed to him that the 
 liberties of America received no detriment." About the 
 same time, twelve companies of riflemen were ordered to 
 be raised in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The 
 
 appoint you to be General and Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
 of the United Colonies, and of all the forces now raised, or to be 
 raised, by them, and of all others who shall voluntarily offer their 
 service, and join the said army for the defense of American liberty, 
 and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof; and you are hereby 
 invested with full power and authority to act as you shall think 
 for the good and welfare of the service. 
 
 And we do hereby strictly charge and require all officers and 
 soldiers under your command to be obedient to your orders and 
 diligent in the exercise of their several duties. 
 
 And we also enjoin and require you to be careful in executing 
 the great trust reposed in you, by causing strict discipline to be 
 observed in the army, and that the soldiers be duly exercised and 
 provided with all convenient necessaries. 
 
 And you are to regulate your conduct in every respect by the 
 rules and discipline of war (as herewith given you), and punctually 
 to observe and follow such orders and directions from time to time 
 as .you shall receive from this or a future Congress of these United 
 Colonies, or by committee of Congress. 
 
 This commission to continue in force until revoked by us, or 
 by a future Congress. 
 
734 WASHINGTON. 
 
 men to the amount of 1,430 were procured and forwarded 
 with great expedition. They had to march from 400 to 700 
 miles, and yet the whole business was completed, and they 
 joined the American army at Cambridge, in less than two 
 months from the day on which the first resolution for 
 raising them was agreed to. 
 
 Coeval with the resolution for raising an army, on June 
 22, 1775, was another for emitting a sum not exceeding 
 two millions of Spanish milled dollars in bills of credit for 
 the defense of America, and^ the Colonies were pledged 
 for the redemption of them. This sum was increased from 
 time to time by further emissions. The Colonies, having 
 neither money nor revenues at their command, were forced 
 to adopt this expedient, the only one which was in their 
 power for supporting an army. No one delegate opposed 
 the measure. So great had been the credit of the former 
 emissions of paper in the greater part of the Colonies, that 
 very few at that time foresaw or apprehended the conse 
 quences of unfunded paper emissions; but had all the 
 consequences which resulted from this measure in the 
 course of the war been foreseen, it must, notwithstanding, 
 have been adopted, for it was a less evil that there should 
 be a general wreck of property, than that the essential 
 rights and liberties of a growing country be lost. A happy 
 ignorance of future events, combined with the ardor of the 
 times, prevented many reflections on this subject, and gave 
 credit and circulation to these bills of credit. 
 
 Soon after General Washington was appointed Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the American army, four major-gen 
 erals, one adjutant-general, with the rank of a brigadier, 
 and eight brigadier-generals were appointed in subordina 
 tion to him, which were as follows : 
 
 ist, Maj.-Gen. Artemas Ward; 2d, Charles Lee; 3d, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 735 
 
 Philip Schuyler; 4th, Israel Putnam; adjutant-general, 
 Horatio Gates. 
 
 The eight brigadiers were: 1st, Seth Pomeroy; 2d, Rich 
 ard Montgomery; 3d, David Wooster; 4th, William 
 Heath; 5th, Joseph Spencer; 6th, John Thomas; 7th, John 
 Sullivan; 8th, Nathaniel Greene. 
 
 We forbear at this time to comment upon these appoint 
 ments, more especially as every name in the list will here 
 after claim the reader's attention in connection with illus 
 trious actions performed during the Revolutionary War. 
 
 Washington's inmost feelings in regard to the import 
 ant and arduous duties which he was about to undertake 
 as Gommander-in-Chief are expressed in the following 
 letter to Mrs. Washington: 
 
 " MY DEAREST. I am now set down to write to you 
 on a subject which fills me with inexpressible concern, 
 and this concern is greatly aggravated and increased when 
 I reflect upon the uneasiness I know it will give you. It 
 has been determined in Congress that the whole army 
 raised for the defense of the American cause shall be put 
 under my care, and that it is necessary for me to proceed 
 immediately to Boston to take upon me the command. 
 
 " You may believe me, my dear Patsy, when I assure 
 you in the most solemn manner, that, so far from seeking 
 this appointment, I have used every endeavor in my power 
 to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with 
 you and the family, but from a consciousness of its being a 
 trust too great for my capacity, .and that I should enjoy 
 more real happiness in one month with you at home than 
 I have the most distant prospect of finding abroad, if my 
 stay were to be seven times seven years. But as it has 
 been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this ser 
 vice, I shall hope that my undertaking is designed to 
 answer some good purpose. You might, and I suppose 
 
736 WASHINGTON. 
 
 did, perceive, from the tenor of my letters, that I was ap 
 prehensive I could not avoid this appointment, as I did 
 not pretend to intimate when I should return. That was 
 the case. It was utterly out of my power to refuse this 
 appointment without exposing my character to such cen 
 sures as would have reflected dishonor upon myself and 
 given pain to my friends. This, I am sure, could not and 
 ought not to be pleasing to you, and must have lessened 
 me considerably in my own esteem. I shall rely therefore 
 confidently on that Providence, which has heretofore pre 
 served and been bountiful to me, not doubting but that 
 I shall return safe to you in the fall. I shall feel no pain 
 from the toil or the danger of the campaign ; my unhappi- 
 ness will flow from the uneasiness I know you will feel 
 from being left alone. I therefore beg that you will sum 
 mon your whole fortitude and pass your time as agreeably 
 as possible. Nothing will give me so much sincere satis 
 faction as to hear this, and to hear it from your own pen. 
 My earnest and ardent desire is that you would pursue 
 any plan that is most likely to produce content and a 
 tolerable degree of tranquillity; as it must add greatly to 
 my uneasy feelings to hear that you are dissatisfied or 
 complaining at what I really could not avoid." 
 
 [To John Parke Custis, his stepson, who had married 
 Miss Nelly Calvert, Washington said in a letter of June 
 
 " My great concern upon this occasion is the thought of 
 leaving your mother under the uneasiness which this af 
 fair will throw her into. I therefore hope, expect, and in 
 deed have no doubt, of your using every means in your 
 power to keep up her spirits, by doing everything in your 
 power to promote her quiet. I have, I must confess, very 
 uneasy feelings on her account, but as it has been a kind of 
 unavoidable necessity which has led me into this appoint- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 737 
 
 ment, I shall more readily hope that success will attend 
 it and crown our meetings with happiness. 
 
 "At any time, I hope it is unnecessary for me to say, 
 that I am always pleased with your and Nelly's abidance 
 at Mount Vernon; much less upon this occasion, when I 
 think it absolutely necessary for the peace and satisfac 
 tion of your mother; a consideration which I have no 
 doubt will have due weight with you both, and require no 
 arguments to enforce. 
 
 " You must now take upon yourself the entire manage 
 ment of your own estate; it will no longer be in my power 
 to assist you, nor is there any occasion for it, as you have 
 never discovered a disposition to put it to a bad use. 
 
 " Great Britain seems determined to enforce us into war, 
 and there will be at least 15,000 raised as a continental 
 army." 
 
 To his friend and neighbor, Colonel Bassett, Washing 
 ton wrote: 
 
 " May God grant that my acceptance may be attended 
 with some good to the common cause, and without injury 
 (from want of knowledge) to my own reputation. I can 
 answer for but three things a firm belief of the justice of 
 our cause, close attention in the prosecution of it, and the 
 strictest integrity. If these cannot supply the place of 
 ability and experience, the cause will suffer, and more than 
 probable my character along with it, as reputation derives 
 its principal support from success; but it will be remem 
 bered, I hope, that no desire or insinuation of mine placed 
 me in this situation. I shall not be deprived, therefore, 
 of a comfort in the worst event, if I retain a consciousness 
 of having acted to the best of my judgment." 
 
 To the captains of several independent companies in 
 Virginia, Washington wrote, June 20, 1775: 
 47 
 
738 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " I am now about to bid adieu to the companies under 
 your respective commands, at least for a while. I have 
 launched into a wide and extensive field, too boundless 
 for my abilities, and far, very far, beyond my experience. 
 I am called, by the unanimous voice of the colonies, to 
 the command of the continental army; an honor I did 
 not aspire to; an honor I was solicitous to avoid, upon a 
 full conviction of my inadequacy to the importance of the 
 service. The partiality of the Congress, however, assisted 
 by a political motive, rendered my reasons unavailing, 
 and I shall tomorrow set out for the camp near Boston." 
 
 Mr. W. C. Ford very justly says here : 
 
 " The reply of the Independent Company of Alexandria 
 to this letter is an evidence of the warm attachment of 
 his friends, at the same time that it is remarkable for the 
 sentiments it expresses, even at so late a day, in regard to 
 conciliation with Great Britain: 'Your favor of the 2oth 
 ultimo/ they said, ' notifying us of your intended departure 
 for the camp, we received, and, after transmitting copies 
 to the different officers, to whom it was directed, we laid 
 it before a full meeting of your company this day. At 
 the same time that they deplore the unfortunate occasion 
 that calls you, their patron, friend, and worthy citizen, 
 from them and your more tender connexions, they beg 
 your acceptance of their most hearty congratulations upon 
 your appointment to the supreme military command of the 
 American confederate forces. Firmly convinced, Sir, of 
 your zealous attachment to the rights of your country, and 
 those of mankind, and of your earnest desire that harmony 
 and good will should again take place between us and our 
 parent State, we well know that your every exertion will 
 be invariably employed to preserve the one and effect the 
 other. 
 
 " * We are to inform you, Sir, by desire of the company, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 739 
 
 that if at any time you shall judge it expedient for them 
 to join the troops at Cambridge, or to inarch elsewhere, 
 they will cheerfully do it. We now recommend you to 
 the favor of Him, by whom kings reign and princes de 
 cree justice, wishing all your counsels and operations to be 
 directed by his gracious providence to a happy and lasting 
 union between us and Great Britain.' The publication of 
 this letter called out the following: 
 
 'Go, gallant Washington, 
 And when (all milder means withstood) 
 Ambition, tam'd by loss of blood, 
 Regains her reason ; then on angels' wings, 
 Shall peace descend, and shouting greet, 
 With peals of joy, these happy climes/ 
 
 Pennsylvania Gazette, 26 July, 1775" 
 
 To his brother, John A. Washington, the new Com- 
 mander-in-Chief wrote, June 20, 1775: 
 
 " I am now to bid adieu to you and to every kind of 
 domestic ease for a while. I am embarked on a wide 
 ocean, boundless in its prospect, and in which perhaps 
 no safe harbor is to be found. I have been called upon 
 by the unanimous voice of the Colonies to take the com 
 mand of the Continental Army, an honor I neither sought 
 after nor desired, as I am thoroughly convinced that it 
 requires greater abilities and much more experience than 
 I am master of to conduct a business so extensive in its 
 nature and arduous in the execution. But the partiality 
 of the Congress, joined to a political motive, left me with 
 out a choice; and I am now commissioned a general and 
 Commander-in-Chief of all the forces now raised, or to 
 be raised, for the defense of the united Colonies. That I 
 may discharge the trust to the satisfaction of my employ 
 ers is my first wish; that I shall aim to do it, there remains 
 
740 WASHINGTON. 
 
 little doubt. How far I may succeed is another point; 
 but this I am sure of, that in the worst event I shall have 
 the consolation of knowing, if I act to the best of my 
 judgment, that the blame ought to lodge upon the appoint- 
 ers, not the appointed, as it was by no means a thing of 
 my own seeking, or proceeding from any hint of my 
 friends. 
 
 " I am at liberty to inform you that the Congress, in a 
 committee (which will I dare say be agreed to when re 
 ported), have consented to a Continental currency; have 
 ordered two millions of dollars to be struck for the payment 
 of the troops, etc.; and have voted 15,000 men as a Con 
 tinental army, which number will be augmented, as the 
 strength of the British troops will be greater than was ex 
 pected at the time of passing that vote. I expect to set 
 out tomorrow for Boston, and hope to be joined there in 
 a little time by ten companies of riflemen from this prov 
 ince, Maryland, and Virginia. 
 
 " I shall hope that my friends will visit, and endeavor 
 to keep up the spirits of my wife, as much as they can, 
 as my departure will, I know, be a cutting stroke to her; 
 and on this account alone I have many disagreeable sen 
 sations. I hope you and my sister, although the distance 
 is great, will find as much leisure this summer as to spend 
 a little time at Mount Vernon. 
 
 " My sincere regards attend you both, and the little 
 ones, and I am your most affectionate brother."] 
 
 After receiving his commission as Commander-in-Chief, 
 Washington lost no time in joining the army before Bos 
 ton; but before following him to his post it is necessary to 
 notice the important events which had transpired in that 
 quarter during the session of Congress. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 BUNKER HILL. 
 
 1775- 
 
 WHILE Congress was in session the march of pub 
 lic sentiment toward the adoption of more de 
 cisive measures of hostility than had previously 
 been deemed possible was steady and constant. 
 
 From a variety of circumstances the Americans had 
 good reason to conclude that hostilities would 1 soon be 
 carried on vigorously in Massachusetts, and also to ap 
 prehend that, sooner or later, each province would be the 
 theater of war. " The more speedily therefore," said they, 
 " we are prepared for that event, the better chance we 
 have for defending ourselves." 
 
 Previous to this period, or rather to the iQth of April, 
 1775, the dispute had been carried on by the pen, or at 
 most, by associations and legislative acts; but from this 
 time forward it was conducted by the sword. The crisis 
 was arrived when the Colonies had no alternative but 
 either to submit to the mercy or to resist the power of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 An unconquerable love of liberty could not brook the 
 idea of submission, while reason, more temperate in her 
 decisions, suggested to the people their insufficiency to 
 make effectual opposition. They were fully apprised of 
 the power of Britain; they knew that her fleets covered 
 the ocean, and that her flag had waved in triumph through 
 the four quarters of the globe ; but the animated language 
 
 (74i) 
 
742 WASHINGTON. 
 
 of the time was, " It is better to die freemen than to live 
 slaves." Though the justice of their cause and the inspira 
 tion of liberty gave, in the opinion of disinterested judges, 
 a superiority to the writings of Americans, yet, in the art 
 of literary composition, the candid among themselves ac 
 knowledged an inferiority. Their form of government 
 was deficient in that decision, dispatch, and coercion which 
 are necessary to military operations. 
 
 Europeans, from being generally unacquainted with fire 
 arms, are less easily taught the use of them than Ameri 
 cans, who are, from their youth, familiar with these instru 
 ments of war; yet, on other accounts, they are more 
 susceptible of military habits. The proportion of neces 
 sitous men in the New World is small to that in the Old. 
 
 To procure subsistence is a powerful motive with a 
 European to enlist, and the prospect of losing it makes 
 him afraid to neglect his duty; but these incitements to 
 the punctual discharge of military services are wanting 
 in America. In old countries, the distinction of ranks 
 and the submission of inferiors to superiors generally 
 takes place, but in the New World an extreme sense of 
 liberty and equality indisposes to that implicit obedience 
 which is the soul of an army. The same causes which 
 nurtured a spirit of independence in the Colonies were 
 hostile to their military arrangements. 
 
 It was not only from the different state of society in the 
 two countries, but from a variety of local causes, that the 
 Americans were not able to contend in arms on equal 
 terms with their parent State. From the first settlement 
 of the British Colonies agriculture and commerce, but 
 especially the former, had been the favorite pursuits of 
 the inhabitants. War was a business abhorrent from their 
 usual habits of life. They had never engaged in it from 
 their own motion, nor in any other mode than as append- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 743 
 
 ages to British troops and under British establishments. 
 By these means the military spirit of the Colonies had no 
 opportunity of expanding itself. 
 
 At the commencement of hostilities the British troops 
 possessed a knowledge of the science and discipline of 
 war which could be acquired only by a long course of 
 application and substantial establishments. Their equip 
 ments, their artillery, and every other part of their ap 
 paratus for war approached perfection. To these import 
 ant circumstances was added a high national spirit of 
 pride, which had been greatly augmented by their suc 
 cesses in their last contest with France and Spain. 
 
 On the other hand, the Americans were undisciplined, 
 without experienced officers, and without the shadow of 
 military establishments. In the wars which had been pre 
 viously carried on, in or near the Colonies, the provincials 
 had been, by their respective Legislatures, frequently 
 added to the British troops; but the pride of the latter 
 would not consider the former, who were without uni 
 formity of dress or the pertness of military airs, to be their 
 equals. The provincial troops were therefore for the most 
 part assigned to services which, though laborious, were 
 not honorable. 
 
 The ignorance of British generals, commanding in the 
 woods of America, sometimes involved them in difficulties 
 from which they had been more than once relieved by the 
 superior local knowledge of the colonial troops. These 
 services were soon forgotten, and the moment the troops 
 who performed them could be spared they were disbanded. 
 Such obstacles had hitherto depressed military talents in 
 America, but they were now overcome by the ardor of the 
 people. 
 
 In the year 1775 a martial spirit pervaded all ranks of 
 men in the Colonies. They believed their liberties to be 
 
744 WASHINGTON. 
 
 in danger and were generally disposed to risk their lives 
 for their establishment. Their ignorance of the military 
 art prevented their weighing the chances of war with that 
 exactness of calculation which, if indulged, might have 
 damped their hopes. They conceived that there was little 
 more to do than fight manfully for their country. They 
 consoled themselves with the idea that though their first 
 attempt might be unsuccessful, their numbers would admit 
 of a repetition of the experiment till the invaders were 
 finally exterminated. Not considering that in modern 
 war the longest purse decides often-er than the longest 
 sword, they feared not the wealth of Britain. They both 
 expected and wished that the whole dispute would be 
 speedily settled in a few decisive engagements. 
 
 Elevated with the love of liberty and buoyed above the 
 fear of consequences by an ardent military enthusiasm, 
 unabated by calculations about the extent, duration, or 
 probable issue of the war, the people of America seconded 
 the voice of their rulers in an appeal to Heaven for the 
 vindication of their rights. At the time the Colonies 
 adopted these spirited resolutions they possessed not a 
 bingle ship of war nor so much as an armed vessel of arty 
 kind. It had often been suggested that their seaport 
 towns lay at the mercy of the navy of Great Britain; this 
 was both known and believed, but disregarded. The love 
 of property was absorbed in the love of liberty. 
 
 The animated votaries of the equal rights of human na 
 ture consoled themselves with the idea that though their 
 whole seacoast should be laid in ashes, they could retire 
 to the western wilderness and enjoy the luxury of being 
 free; on this occasion it was observed in Congress by 
 Christopher Gadsden, one of the South Carolina delegates : 
 " Our houses being constructed of brick, stone, and wood, 
 
WASHINGTON AT THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES., 745 
 
 though destroyed, may be rebuilt; but liberty once gone 
 is lost forever." 
 
 The sober discretion of the present age will more readily 
 censure than admire, but can more easily admire than 
 imitate, the fervid zeal of the patriots of 1775, who in idea 
 sacrificed property in the cause of liberty with the ease 
 that they now sacrifice almost every other consideration 
 for the acquisition of property. 
 
 The revenues of Britain were immense, and her people 
 were habituated to the payment of large sums in every 
 form which contributions to government have assumed; 
 but the American Colonies possessed neither money nor 
 funds, nor were their people accustomed to taxes equal 
 to the exigencies of war. The contest having begun about 
 taxation, to have raised money by taxes for carrying it on 
 would have been impolitic. The temper of the times pre 
 cluded the necessity of attempting the dangerous expedi 
 ent; for such was the enthusiasm of the day that the col 
 onists gave up both their personal services and their prop 
 erty to the public on the vague promises that they should 
 at a future time be reimbursed. 
 
 Without inquiring into the solidity of funds or the pre 
 cise period of payment, the resources of the country were 
 commanded on general assurances that all expenses of 
 the war should ultimately be equalized. The parent State 
 abounded with experienced statesmen and officers, but the 
 dependent form of government exercised in the Colonies 
 precluded their citizens from gaining that practical knowl 
 edge which is acquired from being at the head of public 
 departments. There were very few in the Colonies who 
 understood the business of providing for an army, and 
 still fewer who 'had experience and knowledge to direct 
 its operations. The disposition of the finances of the 
 country and the most effectual mode of drawing forth its 
 
746 WASHINGTON. 
 
 resources were subjects with which scarce any of the in 
 habitants were acquainted. Arms and ammunition were 
 almost wholly deficient, and though the country abounded 
 with the materials of which they are manufactured, yet 
 there was neither time nor artists enough to supply an 
 army with the means of defense. The country was desti 
 tute both of fortifications and engineers. 
 
 Amidst so many discouragements there were some flat 
 tering circumstances. The war could not be carried on 
 by Great Britain but to a great disadvantage, and at an 
 immense expense. It was easy for ministers at St. James's 
 to plan campaigns, but hard was the fate of the officer 
 from whom the execution of them, in the woods of 
 America, was expected. The country was so extensive 
 and abounded so much with defiles that by evacuating and 
 retreating the Americans, though they could not conquer, 
 yet might save themselves from being conquered. 
 
 The authors of the acts of Parliament for restraining 
 the trade of the Colonies were most excellent recruiting 
 officers for the Congress. They imposed a necessity on 
 thousands to become soldiers. All other business being 
 suspended, the whole resources of the country were ap 
 plied in supporting an army. 
 
 Though the colonists were without discipline, they pos 
 sessed native valor. Though they had neither gold nor 
 silver, they possessed a mine in the enthusiasm of their 
 people. Paper, for upward of two years, produced to them 
 more solid advantages than Spain derived from her super- 
 abounding precious metals. Though they had no ships 
 to protect their trade or their towns, they had simplicity 
 enough to live without the former and enthusiasm enough 
 to risk the latter rather than submit to the power of Brit 
 ain. They believed their cause to be just and that Heaven 
 approved their exertions in defense of their rights. Zeal, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 747 
 
 originating from such motives, supplied the place of dis 
 cipline and inspired a confidence and military ardor which 
 overleaped all difficulties. 
 
 Resistance being resolved upon by the Americans, the 
 pulpit, the press, the bench, and the bar severally labored 
 to unite and encourage them. The clergy of New Eng 
 land were a numerous, learned, and respectable body, 
 who had a great ascendency over the minds of their hear 
 ers. They connected religion and patriotism, and, in their 
 sermons and prayers, represented the cause of America 
 as the cause of Heaven. The synod of New York and 
 Philadelphia also sent forth a pastoral letter, which was 
 publicly read in their churches. This earnestly recom 
 mended such sentiments and conduct as were suitable to 
 their situation. 
 
 Writers and printers followed in the rear of the preach 
 ers and next to them had the greatest hand in animating 
 their countrymen. Gentlemen of the bench and of the 
 bar denied the charge of rebellion and justified the resist 
 ance of the colonists. A distinction, founded on law, be 
 tween the King and his ministry, was introduced. The 
 former, it was contended, could do no wrong. The crime 
 of treason was charged on the latter for using the royal 
 name to varnish their own unconstitutional measures. 
 The phrase of a ministerial war became common and was 
 used as a medium for reconciling resistance with alle 
 giance. 
 
 Coeval with the resolutions for organizing an army was 
 one appointing the 2oth day of July, 1775, a day of public 
 humiliation, fasting, and prayer to Almighty God " to 
 bless their rightful sovereign King George, and to inspire 
 him with wisdom to discern and pursue the true interest 
 of his subjects; and that the British Nation might be in 
 fluenced to regard the things that belonged to her peace, 
 
748 WASHINGTON. 
 
 before they were hid from her eyes; that the Colonies 
 might be ever under the care and protection of a kind 
 Providence, and be prospered in all their interests; that 
 America might soon behold a gracious interposition of 
 Heaven for the redress of her many grievances; the resto 
 ration of her invaded rights, a reconciliation with the 
 parent State on terms constitutional and honorable to 
 both." 
 
 The forces which had been collected in Massachusetts 
 were stationed in convenient places for guarding the coun 
 try from further excursions of the regulars from Boston. 
 Breastworks were also erected in different places for the 
 same purpose. While both parties were attempting to 
 carry off stock from the several islands with which the 
 bay of Boston is agreeably diversified, sundry skirmishes 
 took place. These were of real service to the Americans. 
 They habituated them to danger, and perhaps much of the 
 courage of old soldiers is derived from an experimental 
 conviction that the chance of escaping unhurt from en 
 gagements is much greater than young recruits suppose. 
 
 About the latter end of May, 1775, a great part of the 
 reinforcements ordered from Great Britain arrived at Bos- 
 ton. Three British generals, Howe, Burgoyne, and Clin 
 ton, whose behavior in the preceding war had gained them 
 great reputation, also arrived about the same time Gen 
 eral Gage, thus reinforced, prepared for acting with more 
 decision ; but, before he proceeded to extremities, he con 
 ceived it due to ancient forms to issue a proclamation, 
 holding forth to the inhabitants the alternative of peace 
 or war. He therefore offered pardon, in the King's name, 
 to all who should forthwith lay down their arms and return 
 to their respective occupations and peaceable duties, ex 
 cepting only from the benefit of that pardon " Samuel 
 Adams and John Hancock, whose offenses were said to 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 749 
 
 be of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consid 
 eration than that of condign punishment." He also pro 
 claimed that not only the persons above named and ex- 
 cepted, but also all their adherents, associates, and cor 
 respondents should be deemed guilty of treason and re 
 bellion and treated accordingly. 
 
 By this proclamation it was also declared, " that as the 
 courts of judicature were shut, martial law should take 
 place till a due course of justice should be re-established." 
 
 From the movements visible among the British troops, 
 and their apparent preparations for some active enter 
 prise, the Americans were led to believe that Gage de 
 signed to issue from Boston and penetrate into the in 
 terior of Massachusetts; whereupon, with a view to an 
 ticipate or derange the supposed project of attack, the 
 Provincial Congress suggested to General Ward, who held 
 the chief command of the army which blockaded Boston 
 that measures should be taken for the defense of Dorches 
 ter Neck, and that a part of the American force should 
 occupy an intrenched position on Bunker's Hill, which 
 ascends from and commands the entrance of the peninsula 
 of Charlestown. 
 
 Orders were accordingly communicated to Colonel 
 Prescott, with a detachment of 1,000 men, to take pos 
 session of that eminence; but, through some misappre 
 hension, Breed's Hill, instead of Bunker's Hill, was made 
 the site of the projected intrenchment. By his conduct 
 of this perilous enterprise and the heroic valor he dis 
 played in the conflict that ensued, Prescott honorably sig 
 nalized a name which his descendants have further 
 adorned with the highest trophies of forensic and literary 
 renown. 
 
 About 9 o'clock of the evening (June i6th), the detach 
 ment moved from Cambridge and, silently traversing 
 
750 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Charlestown Neck, gained the summit of Breed's Hill un 
 observed. This eminence is situated at the extremity ot 
 the peninsula nearest to Boston, and is so elevated as to 
 overlook every part of that town, and so near it as to be 
 within the reach of cannon shot. 
 
 The American troops, who were provided with intrench 
 ing tools, instantly commenced their work, which they 
 pursued with such diligence that before the morning ar 
 rived they had thrown up a redoubt of considerable dimen 
 sions, and with such deep silence that, although the penin 
 sula was nearly surrounded by British ships of war and 
 transports, their operations were only first disclosed to the 
 astonished army of Britain by the dispersion of the dark 
 ness of night, under whose shade they had been conducted. 
 
 At break of day (June I7th), the alarm was communi 
 cated at Boston by a cannonade, which the Lively, sloop 
 of war, promptly directed against the intrenchments and 
 embattled array of the Americans. A battery of six guns 
 was soon after opened upon them from Copp's Hill, at 
 the north end of Boston. Under an incessant shower of 
 bullets and bombs, the American firmly and indefatigably 
 persevered in their labor until they completed a small 
 breastwork, extending from the east side of the redoubt 
 to the bottom of the hill, toward the River Mystic. 
 
 We have remarked the mistake that occasioned a de 
 parture from the original plan of the American enterprise, 
 and led to the assumption of Breed's Hill instead of the 
 other eminence which it was first proposed to occupy. 
 By a corresponding mistake, the memorable engagement 
 which ensued has received the name of The Battle of 
 Bunker Hill. 
 
 Gage, perceiving the necessity of dislodging the Ameri 
 cans from the position they had so suddenly and daringly 
 assumed, detached, about noon, on this service, the gen- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 751 
 
 erals Howe and Pigot, with ten companies of grenadiers, 
 ten of light infantry and a suitable proportion of field ar 
 tillery. These troops, crossing the narrow bay which 
 lies between Boston and the American position, landed at 
 Moreton's Point and immediately formed in order of bat 
 tle, but perceiving that the Americans, undaunted by this 
 demonstration and with spirit excited to the utmost 
 height firmly waited the attack, they refrained from ad 
 vancing till the arrival of a reinforcement from Boston. 
 
 Meanwhile the Americans were also reinforced by a 
 body of their countrymen, commanded by the generals 
 Warren,* Pomeroy, Putnam, and Stark; and the troops 
 on the open ground, tearing up some adjoining post and 
 railfence and fixing the stakes in a parallel line with a 
 stone and railfence already standing, filled up the space 
 between with new-mown grass and formed for themselves 
 a cover from the musketry of the enemy. Collecting all 
 their courage and undepressed by the advantage which 
 their adversaries derived from the audacity of assault, 
 they stood prepared for an effort which should yield their 
 countrymen, if not victorious liberty, at least a memorable 
 example of what the brave and the free can do to achieve it. 
 
 The British troops, strengthened now by the arrival of 
 the second detachment, and formed in two lines, moved 
 forward to the conflict, having the light infantry on the 
 right wing, commanded by General Howe, and the grena 
 diers on the left, conducted by General Pigot; the former 
 to attack the American lines in flank and the latter the 
 redoubt in front. 
 
 The attack was begun by a heavy discharge of field 
 
 * Warren was President of the Provincial Congress of Massa 
 chusetts, and had just been appointed major-general. He declined 
 taking any command, and served in the redoubt with his musket 
 as a volunteer. 
 
752 WASHINGTON. 
 
 pieces and howitzers, the troops advancing slowly and 
 halting at short intervals to allow time for the artillery 
 to produce effect on the works and on the spirits of their 
 defenders. During their advance General Gage, who sur 
 veyed the field of battle from Copp's Hill, caused the bat 
 tery at this place to bombard and set fire to the village of 
 Charlestown, situated beneath the position of the Ameri 
 cans, whom, from the direction of the wind, he expected 
 to annoy by the conflagration. 
 
 Charlestown, one of the earliest settlements of the Puri 
 tans in New England, a handsome and flourishing village, 
 containing about 400 houses, built chiefly of wood, was 
 quickly enveloped in a blaze of destruction; but a sudden 
 change of the wind occurring at this crisis carried the 
 smoke to a quarter which neither sheltered the approach 
 of the British nor occasioned inconvenience to the Ameri 
 cans. 
 
 The conflagration added a horrid grandeur to the inter 
 esting scene that was now unfolding to the eyes of a 
 countless multitude of spectators, who, thronging all the 
 heights of Boston and its neighborhood, awaited, with 
 throbbing hearts, the approaching battle. 
 
 The American troops, having permitted Howe's division 
 to approach unmolested within a very short distance of 
 their works, then poured in upon them such a deadly and 
 confounding fire of smallarms that the British line was 
 broken in an instant and fell precipitately back in head 
 long rout toward the landing place. This disorder was 
 repaired by the vigorous exertions of the officers, who 
 again brought up the repulsed troops to the attack; but 
 the Americans, renewing their fire with a precision of aim 
 derived from their habits of life, and unexampled perhaps 
 in the conduct of any former battle, again spread such 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 753 
 
 carnage through the hostile ranks that the British were 
 a second time driven back in complete confusion. 
 
 At this critical juncture General Clinton, arriving upon 
 the field from Boston, aided the efforts of Howe and the 
 other officers in rallying the disheartened troops, who, 
 with some difficulty, were a third time led on to the charge. 
 The Americans had been but scantily supplied with cart 
 ridges, partly from an overstrained attention to economy 
 in the consumption of an article urgently needed and 
 sparingly possessed by their countrymen, and partly in 
 deference to the counsels of some old provincial officers, 
 whose ideas of battle were derived from their experience 
 in hunting, and in the system (very similar to that em 
 ployment) of Indian warfare, and who insisted that, as 
 every shot ought to kill a man, so to give the troops any 
 more ammunition than was absolutely necessary to inflict 
 on the enemy a loss that would be tantamount to defeat 
 was to tempt them to neglect accuracy of aim and throw 
 their fire away. 
 
 To the discredit of this counsel the powder of the Ameri 
 cans now began to fail, and consequently their fire to 
 slacken. The British at the same time brought some of 
 their cannons to bear upon the position of the Americans, 
 and raked the inside of the breastwork from end to end; 
 the fire from the ships, batteries, and field artillery was 
 redoubled; and the redoubt, attacked on three sides at 
 once with impetuous valor, was carried at the point of the 
 bayonet. Yet so desperate was the resistance of its de 
 fenders that, even after their officers had commanded a 
 retreat, they continued to fight till the redoubt was half 
 filled with the assailants. 
 
 During these operations Pigot's division was attempting 
 to force the left point of the breastwork, preparatory to 
 an attack on the flank of the American line; but while his 
 48 
 
754 WASHINGTON. 
 
 troops advanced with signal intrepidity, they were re 
 ceived with unyielding firmness and determination. The 
 Americans in this quarter, as well as at the redoubt, re 
 served their fire until the near approach of the enemy, 
 and then poured in their shot with such well-directed aim 
 as to mow down the advancing troops in whole ranks at 
 every volley. But no sooner was the redoubt lost than 
 the breastwork also was necessarily abandoned. 
 
 And now the Americans, beaten but unsubdued, had to 
 perform their retreat over Charlestown Neck, which was 
 completely raked by the guns of the Glasgow man-of-war 
 and of two floating batteries; but, great as was the ap 
 parent danger, the retreat was accomplished with incon 
 siderable loss. 
 
 The British troops were too much exhausted and had 
 suffered too severely to improve their dear-bought vic 
 tory by more than a mere show of pursuit. They had 
 brought into action 3,000 men, and their killed and 
 wounded amounted to 1,054. The number of Americans 
 engaged was 1,500, and their killed, wounded, and missing 
 amounted to 453. They lost some gallant officers, of 
 whom the most generally known and lamented was Gen 
 eral Warren, who, having ably and successfully animated 
 his countrymen to resist the power of Britain, now gal 
 lantly fell in the first battle that their resistance produced. 
 And thus ended a day that showed too late to the infatu 
 ated politicians of Britain how greatly they had underrated 
 the arduous difficulties of the contest they provoked, and 
 how egregiously those men had deceived them who con 
 fidently predicted that the Americans would not fight. No 
 other imagainable result of the conflict could have been 
 more unfavorable to the prospects of Britain, whose 
 troops, neither exhilarated by brilliant victory nor exas 
 perated by disgraceful defeat, were depressed by a success 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 755 
 
 of which it was evident that a few more such instances 
 would prove their ruin. 
 
 [The story of this great battle is commonly very inade 
 quately told. The confusion of two distinct names has 
 been tolerated mainly in consequence of ignorance of the 
 history. And yet the confusion of Breed's Hill with 
 Bunker Hill grew naturally out of the facts of the occa 
 sion and of the scene. To the American troops looking 
 in the direction of the British, Bunker Hill was the height 
 on which it was natural to pause for a position from which 
 to fight ; but on reaching it, Breed's Hill, farther on toward 
 the British and somewhat lower down, was a bolder choice 
 for a daring venture, and a natural point to advance to, 
 after reaching the top of Bunker Hill. On the other hand, 
 to the British looking in the direction of the American 
 forces it would be natural to look forward from the lower 
 Breed's Hill to the higher Bunker Hill; and when the 
 Americans, having fought their main battle at Breed's 
 Hill until, under the third British onset, their ammunition 
 gave out and they were compelled to fall back, the des 
 perate finish of the battle was at the base toward Breed's 
 Hill of Bunker Hill; in fact, the works which they had 
 thrown up were in part at the base of Bunker Hill. His 
 tory however is incorrectly written in calling the battle 
 that of Bunker Hill, and the men who fought it are given 
 less than their due by a designation which fails to recog 
 nize the dash and daring with which, under orders to 
 fortify and hold the top of Bunker Hill, they went down 
 the other side of that eminence and fought to a finish one 
 of the greatest battles of the Revolution. The battle was 
 fought on the I7th of June, and both the scene of it and its 
 success are referred to with historical accuracy in an im 
 portant contemporary record. 
 
 In Dr. James Thacher's Military Journal, the record un- 
 
756 WASHINGTON. 
 
 der July, 1775, says, with italics, as follows: " I improve 
 the interim to record an authentic narrative of the battle on 
 Breed's Hill, on the I7th of June." * * * " It is said 
 that some of the veteran British officers, who have been 
 in some hard-fought battles in Europe, observed that they 
 had never witnessed any one equal in severity to that on 
 Breed's Hill." " It is stated that from Breed's Hill battle 
 to the 25th instant the British have thrown upward of 
 2,000 shot and shell." 
 
 There is no question of where the front of the battle, 
 or that end of the front nearest the British was, and Breed's 
 Hill was undoubtedly the natural and proper designation; 
 at the same time, the works behind which the Americans 
 fought extended to the base of Bunker Hill, and the last 
 severe struggle, and that in which the Americans suffered 
 most, was at this point. None of this was on Bunker Hill 
 however, the top of which is considerably back from its 
 base and not a little higher; and yet a very important 
 feature in the whole position was the highest part of 
 Bunker Hill; this would have been fortified and held by 
 the Americans, if their strength at the moment had been 
 sufficient or if time could have been given to it. It is of 
 interest moreover to note that on the day after the battle 
 the British erected a fort on Bunker Hill to protect them 
 selves from an apprehended renewal of the fight by the 
 Americans. It was, in fact, on the top of Bunker Hill 
 that the last stand of the retiring Americans was attempted 
 to be made, Putnam, if we may trust reports to that effect, 
 having had the work for fortification begun there, and 
 enough done to cause him to try to stop the American 
 retreat there. 
 
 Frothingham, in his " Siege of Boston," speaks of 
 Bunker Hill as, at the time of the battle, " a well-known 
 place the name ' Bunker Hill ' being found in the town 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 757 
 
 records and in deeds from an early period." In a footnote 
 he says Breed's Hill is called " Green's Hill " in a British 
 description of Charlestown in 1775. In alluding to the re 
 mark that has been frequently made, that Breed's Hill 
 has been robbed of the glory that justly belongs to it, he 
 says : " It should be remembered however that the rail- 
 fence was at the base of Bunker Hill, and if not the great 
 post of the day, here a large part of the battle was fought." 
 In speaking of these defenses he says: "The movements 
 of the British, along the margin of Mystic river, indicated 
 an intention of flanking the Americans and of surrounding 
 the redoubt. To prevent this, Colonel Prescott ordered 
 the artillery, with two field pieces, and Captain Knowlton 
 with the Connecticut troops, to leave the intrenchments, 
 march down the hill, and opposite the enemy's right wing. 
 Captain Knowlton took a position near the base of Bunker 
 Hill, 600 feet in the rear of the redoubt, behind a fence, 
 one-half of which was stone, with two rails of wood. He 
 then made, a little distance in front of this, another parallel 
 line of fence, and filled the space between them with the 
 newly-cut grass lying in the fields." Further on he says 
 that while the battle was in progress, " Colonel Gardner 
 arrived on Bunker Hill, when Putnam detained a part of 
 his regiment to labor on the works commenced there, while 
 one company, under Capt. Josiah Harris, took part at the 
 railfence. * * * Colonel Gardner, leading on a part 
 of his regiment, was descending Bunker Hill when he re 
 ceived his death wound." In describing the retreat, 
 Frothingham again alludes to Bunker Hill in these words : 
 " The brow of Bunker Hill was a place of great slaughter. 
 General Putnam here rode to the rear of the retreating 
 troops, and, regardless of the balls flying about him, with 
 his sword drawn and still undaunted in his bearing, urged 
 them to renew the fight in the unfinished works. * Make 
 
758 WASHINGTON. 
 
 a stand here! ' he exclaimed; ' we can stop them yet! ' ' In 
 God's name form, and give them one shot more ! ' It was 
 here that he stood by an artillery piece until the enemy's 
 bayonets were almost upon him. The veteran Pomeroy 
 too, with his shattered musket in his hand, and his face to 
 the foe, endeavored to rally the men. It was not possible 
 however to check the retreat." 
 
 That the glory that now attaches to Breed's Hill was 
 intended for Bunker Hill by the committee of safety is a 
 well-authenticated fact. The order given to Colonel Pres- 
 cott by General Ward was to proceed to Bunker Hill, 
 build fortifications to be planned by Col. Richard Gridley, 
 the chief engineer, and defend them until he should be re 
 lieved. When the body of troops, provided with intrench 
 ing tools, reached the summit of Bunker Hill, a consulta 
 tion was held and it was decided that a position nearer 
 Boston Breed's Hill " seemed better adapted to the 
 objects of the expedition, and better suited the daring 
 spirit of the officers. It was contended however that 
 works ought not to be commenced at this place until- 
 Bunker Hill had been fortified, in order to cover, in case 
 of necessity, a retreat. * * * On the pressing impor 
 tunity of one of the generals it was concluded to proceed 
 to Breed's Hill. At the same time it was determined that 
 works should be erected on Bunker Hill." And this, as 
 appears above, was accordingly done. 
 
 The testimony in support of the claim that the British 
 also fortified Bunker Hill is equally strong and convincing. 
 Drake, in his " Old Landmarks of Middlesex," says that 
 the British erected a very strong fortress " on Bunker 
 Hill." 
 
 J. Finch, F. B. S., in an article published in Silliman's 
 " Journal," in 1822, " On the Forts Around Boston, Which 
 Were Erected During the War of Independence," in which 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 759 
 
 he makes a most earnest plea for the preservation of these 
 historic spots, says of Bunker Hill: "The remains of the 
 British fort are visible; the works must have been very 
 strong and occupied a large extent of ground; they are 
 on the summit and slope of the hill looking toward the 
 peninsula." His description of the appearance of Breed's 
 Hill at that time shows it to have been in no better state 
 of preservation than Bunker Hill. He says: " The re 
 doubt thrown up by the Americans is nearly effaced; 
 scarcely the slightest trace of it remains." All of which 
 tends to show that after nearly half a century the fortifica 
 tions on Bunker Hill [the British however, not the Ameri 
 can, which were never more than incomplete] were as 
 well known as those on Breed's Hill. In confirmation of 
 the statement that the British fortified Bunker Hill is the 
 statement of Frothingham in speaking of the apprehension 
 entertained by the British after battle, that the contest 
 might be renewed. He says : " The British, reinforced 
 by additional troops from Boston, threw up, during the 
 night a line of breastworks on the northern side of Bunker 
 Hill." 
 
 An old resident of Charlestown, who for many years 
 has made a study of the historic landmarks of that district, 
 says that Bunker Hill has always been known as the old 
 fort, and in an article contributed to the Charlestown 
 " Enterprise," in 1882, advocating the taking the hill for 
 a park, he says : " The little park thus formed would be 
 the proper site for the statue of General Stark, which the 
 New Hampshire men now propose to add to the Bunker 
 Hill collection, being exactly the place where his regiment 
 was posted while defending so stubbornly the left of the 
 line of battle, which all know never gave way until the 
 redoubt at the other end was carried and occupied by the 
 British." Continuing, he says: "After all the mutilation 
 
760 WASHINGTON. 
 
 that Bunker Hill has suffered there still remains an oppor 
 tunity to make on its summit one of the most charming 
 places of summer resort possessed by any city in the world, 
 * * * where still may be traced one of the bastions of 
 the old fort they called it a castle built by the British 
 to command the Neck, after they obtained possession of 
 the town." 
 
 The authorities quoted confirm the accuracy of the tra 
 ditions of the people of Charlestown, and the recollection 
 of the old inhabitants not only -in regard to the existence 
 of the fortifications, but as to their exact location. 
 
 It should be noted here that this great battle was fought 
 by the pick of the militia assembled under tHe nominal 
 command of Gen. Artemas Ward, who was himself at the 
 moment under an appointment requiring him to carry out 
 the orders of what was known as the Committee of Safety, 
 orders given out through another body known as the 
 Council of War. He was really in command of Massa 
 chusetts troops only, together with the New Hampshire 
 regiments; and the considerable number of Connecticut 
 troops at Roxbury, under Spencer, and at Cambridge, un 
 der Putnam, might have acted independently had not the 
 field of operations been that of Massachusetts soil. About 
 the middle of May joint action by the Committee of Safety 
 and the Council of War declared for the establishment of 
 a strong redoubt on Bunker Hill, near the northeastern 
 termination of the peninsula of Charlestown, at a point 
 no feet above the water of Boston harbor. From this 
 summit the hill fell away by a gradual slope for about 700 
 yards, and then rose to an elevation of about seventy-five 
 feet just north by east of what was then Charlestown. It 
 was this second elevation which bore the name of Breed's 
 Hill. It was learned in the American camp that the 
 British commander in Boston, General Gage, proposed to 
 
MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 761 
 
 carry into execution, on the i8th of June, a plan for taking 
 possession of Bunker Hill. This the Americans antici 
 pated by orders, on June I5th, for occupying and fortifying 
 the same position, and William Prescott, Colonel of a 
 Middlesex regiment, was put in charge of the enterprise, 
 and a brigade of 1,000 men placed under his command a 
 night and a day only in advance of the purpose of Gage. 
 The command was composed of 300 of Prescott's own 
 regiment, detachments from the regiments of Frye and 
 Bridge, and 200 Connecticut men under Knowlton. Rich 
 ard Gridley, an experienced engineer, was with Prescott. 
 Setting out from Cambridge Common as soon as dark 
 ness favored, and after a fervent prayer by President Lang- 
 don, of Harvard College, who was serving as a chaplain, 
 the march led across the causeway built on a low isthmus 
 separating the Mystic and Charles rivers, and communi 
 cating from the mainland to the Charlestown peninsula, 
 with Bunker Hill a short distance beyond the causeway. 
 Whatever the orders really were, Prescott and his men 
 chose to understand them as justifying going over Bunker 
 Hill to Breed's Hill, as a more favorable position for 
 threatening both Boston and the shipping in the harbor. 
 It was not until midnight that pickaxe and spade were set 
 to work to prepare a redoubt about eight rods square, 
 but before daylight the work was completed. With the 
 dawn of day the guns of the British shipping near at hand 
 and a battery of British heavy guns mounted on Copp's 
 Hill, only 1,200 yards away, rained shot and shell upon 
 the freshly thrown-up fortress of earth; and such was the 
 severity of the cannonade as to prevent what Prescott at 
 tempted an extension of his line from the east side of 
 the redoubt northerly to the bottom of the hill. About 
 twenty rods this had been executed, giving a breastwork 
 outside of the redoubt, when the " intolerable fire " of the 
 
762 WASHINGTON. 
 
 great guns caused its suspension. It was a severe trial 
 to raw soldiers to thus face the fire of artillery. Pres- 
 cott, walking leisurely backward and forward on the top 
 of the earthwork, and one of his captains imitating his 
 example, gave a stimulus to the courage of the Americans, 
 and advertised to the British the fearless character of the 
 venture, which Gage with a telescope watched, while a 
 Tory brother-in-law of Prescott stood at his side. " Will 
 he fight?" said Gage. "To the last drop of his blood," 
 was the reply. By 9 o'clock jn the morning it was evi 
 dent to the British generals that the delay incident to 
 attempting to go round to the rear of the Americans 
 would give them a great advantage, and that the attack 
 must be made immediately on the side that could be soon 
 est reached. It was one of those days of extreme heat 
 which sometimes come in advance of the American sum 
 mer, and Prescott's men were by noon on the verge of 
 exhaustion, save for the indomitable spirit and zeal for 
 action of the commander and the great body of those 
 under him. Messengers repeatedly sent off to report 
 progress and ask for reinforcements and provisions had 
 not at noon brought any relief. The night march and the 
 twelve hours' labor, the larger part of it under the heat 
 of a blazing sun and amid a storm of shot and shells, had 
 been endured with only the refreshment meagerly supplied 
 from their knapsacks, and with not even a cup of cold 
 water to stay their thirst; while hardly less serious was 
 the failure of headquarters to add anything to their very 
 scant supply of powder. The work however in the 
 trenches was done, and the tools piled up in the rear, when 
 Putnam, whom Prescott's second messenger had met 
 hastening from Cambridge to Charleston, rode up to the 
 Breed's Hill redoubt and asked to have the intrenching 
 tools sent back to Bunker Hill for further preparations 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 
 
 there against the British impending effort to get posses 
 sion of the peninsula. The sending back of the intrench 
 ing tools took away a considerable number of Prescott's 
 men, leaving him about 700 or 800, worn with prolonged 
 toil, weakened by hunger, and yet resolute to meet the 
 expected British attack from the force of about 5,000 ef 
 fective troops which the British commander had in Bos 
 ton, together with the British shipping and floating bat 
 teries, the guns of which raked the isthmus by which 
 Charlestown was reached from the American camp, and 
 over which reinforcements must come. 
 
 Apparently nothing could exceed the danger of Pres 
 cott's position. Ward gave no sign of sending either food 
 or powder or men; of powder especially his supply was 
 very limited, and he doubted of burning it just then; nor 
 was he disposed to weaken his own strength at Cambridge, 
 fearing that the real battle would be an attack on his posi 
 tion; the most that he would do was to order the New 
 Hampshire regiments of Stark to march from Medford, 
 and with Reed near the Charlestown isthmus, go to Pres 
 cott's support. Stubbornly inactive all day, not even 
 leaving his house, and even refusing to believe it when 
 word was brought that the British were actually landing 
 to give battle against Prescott, the general in command 
 presented an unhappy contrast to Prescott and Putnam 
 and the work to which they had with so much heart and 
 courage put their hands. 
 
 To meet the landing of the British on a point east by 
 north from the redoubt on Breed's Hill, Prescott ordered 
 his artillery, with two field pieces and the stanch Connec 
 ticut men under Knowlton, to take position in that direc 
 tion. About 200 yards in the rear of his unfinished breast 
 work, east of the redoubt, a low stone wall, over which 
 were two rails of post and fence rail, extended back for 
 
764 WASHINGTON. 
 
 300 yards or more, while an opportune ditch helped to 
 make the line convenient for defense. An abundance of 
 freshly-cut grass was at hand also, and with some further 
 extemporizing of a parallel post and railfence and bring 
 ing all the grass into the line between the two, something 
 like a fighting line was extemporized; and here came such 
 individual reinforcements as the ringing bells and drums 
 beating to arms in Cambridge had sent off without much 
 reference to orders from the timid and hesitating head 
 quarters. Here came venerable Seth Pomeroy of North- 
 hampton, riding a borrowed horse to Charlestown Neck, 
 and thence proceeding on foot, his fowling piece on his 
 shoulder, to take, amid loud cheers, his place at the fence 
 and winrow line. Here came also Joseph Warren, three 
 days before elected a provincial major-general, entreated 
 by Elbridge Gerry not to thus put his life in peril; fully 
 aware of the conditions at headquarters and the dangers 
 to be met at Prescott's redoubt; but, more than all, alive 
 to the possibility of significance beyond expression or esti 
 mate in fighting on that day or even dying for one's coun 
 try in the initial battle for liberty then and there to be 
 fought; it was about 2 o'clock as, with a musket in his 
 hand, the task only of a private soldier in view, he crossed 
 over the top of Bunker Hill alone, stopped for a short 
 time at the railfence and winrow defense to talk with 
 Putnam, and passed on thence to Prescott's redoubt; de 
 clining, both with Putnam and Prescott, to take any other 
 position than that of a man with a gun, and choosing in the 
 line a place of danger and importance. 
 
 Some fragments of Ward's army, or of the troops willing 
 to take his orders, reached the positions of either Pres 
 cott or Putnam before the fight was on; detachments of 
 125 Essex men; 70 Worcester and Middlesex men, under 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Buckminster; above 50 more from the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 765 
 
 same counties under John Nixon; about 40 Worcester 
 county men, under Willard Moore, and about 50 privates 
 from a Lancaster regiment, with no higher officers than 
 captains. Six light field pieces brought upon the ground 
 were of little use from want of ammunition. These 
 reached Prescott before the battle. After the British had 
 landed, and just before they advanced to the attack, Col. 
 John Stark, with New Hampshire levies next in number 
 to the men of Prescott's own regiment, reached Putnam's 
 position and took a hand in completing the fence and grass 
 breastworks and in fighting with Knowlton's Connecticut 
 men on Prescott's flank while Prescott himself fought at 
 the redoubt. 
 
 Howe brought into action the chief strength of the 
 British army, after having distributed refreshments to 
 them in great abundance, and with every effort to send 
 them to their task prepared for energetic action and speedy 
 success. About 2,000 men had been started when rein 
 forcements were hurried after them, and probably from 
 2,500 to 3,000 experienced and disciplined soldiers were 
 launched at the embattled farmers behind Prescott's earth 
 work and the line of stone wall, railfence, and grass, be 
 hind which Stark and Knowlton and Reed mustered their 
 commands. By the time that the news of the concentra 
 tion of the British forces upon the impending battle 
 reached Ward at Cambridge his fear for his own position 
 gave way, and under pressure he ordered reinforcements 
 and supplies, which might, if they had been sent soon 
 enough, have enabled the Americans to drive the British 
 in overwhelming defeat back upon their boats; but Ward's 
 orders came too late. The whole number of Americans 
 in the battle, including all who reached the peninsula in 
 season for the fight at anv part of the American line, did 
 not exceed 1,500 men. 
 
766 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Lord Howe, the British commander, undertook to make 
 the burning of Charlestown promote the success of his 
 advance upon the American works just outside of the 
 town. Gage had threatened, directly after the expedition 
 to Concord, that Charlestown should be burned if Ameri 
 can occupation of the heights contiguous to it should be 
 attempted. Howe now sent to Clinton and Burgoyne a 
 request to put the threat in execution; and with a prompt 
 discharge of shells from Copp's Hill, and a party of men 
 landing to promote a conflagration, the prompt destruc 
 tion of the town was made sure; and at about half-past 2 
 the British advance was made in two columns, one against 
 the redoubt, and the other, led by Howe himself, against 
 the flank, where Howe calculated upon easily surmount 
 ing the railfence and grass defense to get upon the rear 
 of Prescott and force him to a surrender. With Charles- 
 town's 500 edifices of wood going down in a tempest 
 of fire; with the battery on Copp's Hill, the two float 
 ing batteries, and the shipping in the harbor maintaining 
 an incessant fire upon the American position, Howe's col 
 umns, with the splendid bravery of perfect discipline, regu 
 lar uniforms, and burnished weapons, struggled gallantly 
 through the tall grass and across the walls and fences of 
 the hillside fields to the near vicinity of the American 
 works. With some pauses to permit the artillery to 
 operate in advance, and firing with their muskets as they 
 went forward, the show they made was far more impressive 
 than any effect of the shooting, which did but little injury 
 because it was too soon and too high. Prescott is said 
 to have told his men, as he went the rounds at the final 
 moment of preparation to receive the British assault: 
 " The Redcoats will never reach the redoubt if you will 
 but withhold your fire till I give the order, and be careful 
 not to shoot over their heads." A participant in the bat- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 767 
 
 tie, who was probably one of Reed's command, behind, 
 the railfence and grass work with the commands of Stark 
 and Knowlton, is known to the present writer to have told 
 the story of Bunker Hill with the statement that their or 
 ders were not to fire until they could see the whites of the 
 eyes of the advancing enemy and then to aim at the waist 
 of their breeches. However given, this particular of the 
 American action undoubtedly contributed to make their 
 fighting phenomenally effective. Prescott waited until, as 
 he was himself disposed to estimate, the enemy were within 
 eight rods of the muskets of his steady marksmen, and 
 upon giving the word " Fire," the discharge of every gun 
 along the whole front of both redoubt and breastwork cut 
 down as with a scythe nearly every man in the front rank 
 of the British advance, and for the minute which followed 
 before precipitate retreat swept the British back to the 
 foot of the hill and even to their boats, the American 
 marksmen, loading their muskets behind their cover and 
 firing at discretion with perfect marksmanship, made the 
 slaughter exceedingly difficult for any force to stand up 
 against. 
 
 At the other position in the American line, where Howe 
 proposed to himself to brush the American farmers and 
 their grass work out of his way, and pass round to the 
 rear of Prescott, the British advance was confidently and 
 gallantly made, Howe's troops moving into line with the 
 precision of a mere parade when within about eighty or 
 one hundred yards of the American defenses. Here Put 
 nam, in the terms most likely for they sound like him 
 of the report already mentioned, made his men reserve 
 their fire, and without a single instance of disobedience of 
 the order, when the proper moment came, resting their 
 guns on the rails of the fence, the deliberate, accurately 
 aimed, and universally effective discharge cut the British 
 
768 WASHINGTON. 
 
 down so rapidly, and so soon threw the force into com 
 plete confusion as to leave no choice but of retreat out of 
 reach of the remorseless, deadly fire. 
 
 There was no question then behind those American de 
 fenses but of victory, if only headquarters had, with an 
 swerable confidence and courage, soon enough sent on 
 supplies of ammunition and reasonably available reinforce 
 ments. In the British ranks confidence and discipline 
 were shattered, and only with difficulty were the officers 
 able to rally their men for a renewal of the attack. Within 
 about a quarter of an hour however the column which had 
 attempted the assault upon Prescott's redoubt were 
 brought up again in the same order as before, and again 
 the American fire was withheld until the enemy were 
 within five or six rods of the redoubt, and then given with 
 a precision which seemed even more fatal than that by 
 which the earlier attack was made of none effect. Even 
 while the British pressed forward with extreme spirit, the 
 British officers especially exposing themselves fearlessly, 
 the continuous stream of fire from the whole American 
 line blazed so relentlessly, and cut down all before it so 
 thoroughly, that hardly were a few moments of brave en 
 durance passed before again the confident assailants gave 
 way in greater disorder than before, leaving their dead 
 and wounded covering the ground almost up to the front 
 of the redoubt. 
 
 Meanwhile the situation of Howe's column, brought up 
 to a second attack upon the railfence and grass-works 
 line, was still worse. Flimsy as the line was to the eye 
 of a British general, there was nothing flimsy about the 
 line of fire poured out by the steady marksmen behind it. 
 It was but a few moments before the British dead lay 
 spread in front of it as but a day before the grass had lain 
 under the scythe of the mower. It was a line which even 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 769 
 
 Upon the second assault could not be penetrated. Sur 
 vivors of the attempt themselves said: " How could we 
 penetrate it? Most of our grenadiers and light infantry, 
 the moment of presenting themselves, lost three-fourths, 
 and many nine-tenths, of their men. Some had only eight 
 or nine men in a company left, some only five, four, or 
 three." Howe himself, for a few seconds, stood alone 
 among the officers and men killed or wounded around 
 him. And to add to the startlingly impressive features 
 of the scene, the flames of burning Charlestown, and the 
 participation in the battle of the artillery, gave a back 
 ground to this scene of unexpected slaughter which 
 caused Burgoyne to write : " The whole was a complica 
 tion of horror and importance beyond anything it ever 
 came to my lot to be witness to. It was a sight for a 
 young soldier that the longest service may not furnish 
 again." 
 
 Practically however the fight was now over, because 
 the Americans lacked ammunition with which to continue 
 it. Neither Prescott's confidence nor the courage of his 
 men wavered in the least, but during the longer interval 
 that preceded the third attack a council of officers discov 
 ered that there was very little powder left. Prescott had 
 sent in the morning for a supply, but had received none. 
 A few artillery cartridges were discovered and the powder 
 in them distributed for use in the muskets. The alterna 
 tive of the bayonet was out of the question, as there were 
 not fifty bayonets available. The British meanwhile not 
 less stunned than enraged at the sight of such a field of 
 their dead and wounded prepared themselves for a last 
 supreme effort; cannon were brought to bear in such a 
 manner as to rake the inside of the breastworks from one 
 end of it to the other, compelling the American marksmen 
 to crowd within their earthwork, against which Howe now 
 49 
 
770 WASHINGTON. 
 
 concentrated his forces, except the light infantry and part 
 of the grenadiers left to repeat the attack on the railfence. 
 For the third advance, knapsacks were laid aside and 
 fixed bayonets brought into use. Clinton, moreover, who 
 had until now watched the battle from Copp's Hill, under 
 took, without orders, to come up with two battalions on 
 the extreme left of the British advance. Prescott's force 
 within the redoubt thus assailed numbered less than 700 
 men, some of whom had only one round of ammunition 
 left, and none more than four rounds. When therefore, 
 after a single deadly volley from the Americans, which 
 caused the British to waver while yet they sprang forward 
 without returning the fire, the path was clear for their 
 bayonets; the American fire not only slackened, but began 
 to die away, and with neither powder nor bayonets, noth 
 ing more being possible, Prescott, at a little before 4, his 
 redoubt already half filled with British regulars, and he 
 himself on the point of being surrounded, gave the word 
 to retreat. Among the last to leave the fort, his coat and 
 waistcoat rent and pierced by British bayonets, the fatal 
 thrust of which he had parried with his sword, he escaped 
 unhurt. Had the British been less exhausted the close 
 of the battle might have been much more disastrous to 
 the Americans. As it was, the defenders of the redoubt 
 under Prescott would have been cut off had not the Ameri 
 can force at the railfence held in check the third attack 
 there until the main body had left Breed's Hill on their 
 retreat, which was made with a regularity not to be ex 
 pected of troops many of whom had never seen an engage 
 ment. The Connecticut companies under Knowlton and 
 the New Hampshire soldiers under Stark were the last to 
 give way before the British bayonets. At the redoubt; 
 on the brow of Bunker Hill where Putnam exerted him 
 self to have the retreating patriots make a stand; and on 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 
 
 the isthmus leading from the peninsula out toward the 
 American camp, and a point specially exposed to a raking 
 fire from the British, were the three points where Ameri 
 can blood was spilled. Beyond the isthmus the British 
 were unable to pursue adversaries to whose courage the 
 heavy roll of their own dead or wounded, more than a 
 third of those engaged (1,054), bore witness. The Ameri 
 can killed and missing were 145, and the wounded 304. 
 Had Ward been out of Putnam's way, had he fairly stood 
 by Prescott, it would have been not merely a virtual vic 
 tory, but one of the greatest in history.] 
 

 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WASHINGTON TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY. 
 
 I775- 
 
 EVERY necessary arrangement with Congress having 
 been completed, Washington departed from Phila 
 delphia, June 21, 1775, to join the army before 
 Boston. The journey was performed on horseback, and 
 he was escorted as far as Kingsbridge, at the northern 
 extremity of New York island, by a volunteer company 
 of light cavalry, composed of gentlemen, styled the First 
 Troop.* The companions of his journey were General 
 Lee and General Schuyler. 
 
 General Lee was an original genius, possessing the most 
 brilliant talents, great military powers, and extensive in 
 telligence and knowledge of the world; but he was eccen 
 tric and even cynical in his habits. He had seen consider 
 able active service in Europe; had quarrelled with the 
 British ministry. He took a lively interest in the dispute 
 between this country and Great Britain, being, of course, 
 on the side of the colonists. Coming over to this country 
 in November, 1773, he had traveled rapidly through the 
 Colonies, animating the people, both by conversation and 
 
 * This company of volunteers, one of the most respectable in 
 Philadelphia, still retains its organization and performs regular 
 duty. It appears to hold the same position there as the Ancient 
 and Honorable Artillery Company does in Boston. When forming 
 Washington's escort from Philadelphia to New York, the First 
 Troop was commanded by Captain Markoe. 
 
 (772). 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 773 
 
 his eloquent pen, to a determined and persevering resist 
 ance to British tyranny. 
 
 His enthusiasm in favor of the rights of the Colonies 
 was such that, after the battle of Lexington, he accepted, 
 as we have seen, a major-general's commission in the 
 American army, though his ambition had been thought 
 to aim at the post of Commander-in-Chief. Previous to 
 this however, he resigned the commission which he had 
 till then retained in the British service, and relinquished 
 his half pay. This he did in a letter to the British secre 
 tary at war, in which he expressed his disapprobation of 
 the oppressive measures of Parliament, declaring them to 
 be so actually subversive of the rights and liberties of 
 every individual subject, so destructive to the whole em 
 pire at large, and ultimately so ruinous to His Majesty's 
 own person, dignity, and family that he thought himself 
 obliged in conscience, as a citizen, an Englishman, and 
 soldier of a free estate, to exert his utmost to defeat them. 
 
 Lee's devotion to the cause of freedom was apparently 
 sincere, but his rashness and violent temper were destined 
 to darken the close of his career. 
 
 Washington's other companion on the journey was a 
 more genial and amiable as well as a far more exalted 
 character. 
 
 General Schuyler was a native of New York, a member 
 of one of the most respectable families in that State, and 
 highly merits the character of an intelligent and meri 
 torious officer. As a private gentleman, he was dignified 
 but courteous, his manners urbane, and his hospitality un 
 bounded. He was justly considered as one of the most 
 distinguished champions of liberty, and his noble mind 
 soared above despair, even at a period when he experi 
 enced injustice from the public, and when darkness and 
 gloom overspread the land. He was able, prompt, and 
 
774 WASHINGTON. 
 
 decisive, and his conduct, in every branch of duty, marked 
 his active industry and rapid execution. 
 
 With such companions as these two officers, who, as 
 well as Washington, had both served in the old French 
 War, the journey of Washington must have been enlivened 
 by conversation of the most interesting and agreeable 
 kind. 
 
 Before they had proceeded many miles from Philadel 
 phia, they were met by a messenger from the army before 
 Boston bearing dispatches to Congress, 'containing the news 
 of the battle of Bunker Hill. To Washington's eager 
 inquiry, how the militia had behaved in the battle, he of 
 course received the most satisfactory answer; he exclaimed 
 on hearing it: "The liberties of the country are safe!" 
 The moral effect of that battle was not confined to his esti 
 mate of its importance. It was felt through the whole 
 country during the war. 
 
 As the cavalcade passed through the towns of New 
 Jersey, great demonstrations of respect and enthusiastic 
 greetings everywhere met the new Commander-in-Chief. 
 His fine martial figure, and the grave and commanding 
 presence which distinguished him through life, inspired 
 at once a high degree of awe and of confidence; while 
 the splendid appearance of the First Troop, and the attend 
 ance of the famous and popular generals who accompanied 
 him, rendered the spectacle still more attractive and im 
 posing. 
 
 [Washington's commission was signed on the I9th of 
 June, 1775, and on the following day a demonstration of 
 local patriotism was made under the eye of the new Com 
 mander-in-Chief, by a march out to the commons, and 
 organization in brigade of " the three battalions of Phila 
 delphia and the Liberties, together with the artillery com 
 pany, a troop of light horse, several companies of light 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 775 
 
 infantry, rangers, and riflemen, in all about 2,000." This 
 was the first Continental demonstration under the eye 
 of Washington as Continental Commander. The depart 
 ure for New York, then very largely loyal to British 
 views of " the rebellion," was in some sense a venture 
 into the enemy's country, although favorers of the popu 
 lar cause were in sufficient numbers for a demonstration 
 of welcome to the popular chief. Washington set off for 
 his great work on Friday, June 23d, " accompanied a few 
 miles from town by the troop of light horse, and by all the 
 officers of the city militia on horseback," and these, on 
 parting with him, expressed " the most ardent wishes for 
 his success over +he enemies of our liberty and country."* 
 General Schuyler wrote to the New York Provincial or 
 Colony Congress from New Brunswick, on Saturday, June 
 
 24, 1775: 
 
 " General Washington, with his retinue, Is now here, 
 and proposes to be at Newark by 9 tomorrow morn- 
 ing. The situation of the men of war [British] at New 
 York (we are informed) is such as may make it necessary 
 that some precaution should be taken in crossing Hud 
 son's river, and he would take it as a favor if some gen 
 tlemen of your body would meet him tomorrow at 
 Newark, as the advice you may there give him will de 
 termine whether he will continue his proposed route or 
 not." 
 
 The body thus appealed to had on the 23d taken order 
 to have Colonel Lasher, said to have been a German shoe 
 maker, " send one of his field-officers to meet General 
 Washington, and to know when he will be in this city," 
 and " to make such orders as to have his battalion ready 
 to receive General Washington when he shall arrive." 
 
 *Rivington's Gazetteer, June 29, 1775, quoted by Ford, Vol. II, 
 p. 494. 
 
776 WASHINGTON. 
 
 In response to General Schuyler's letter the New York 
 Congress deputed Thomas Smith, John Sloss Hobart, 
 Gouverneur Morris, and Richard Montgomery, " to go 
 immediately to Newark, and recommend to General 
 Washington the place which they shall think most pru 
 dent for him to cross at." Not only were very many of 
 the New York people ardently British in their prejudices 
 and purposes, and the Provincial Congress, representing 
 the popular cause, engaged in considering how to com 
 promise with Great Britain, but for the very day of the 
 coming of the foremost " rebel " leader, the arrival by 
 ship from England of Tryon, the royal governor, was ex 
 pected; he had in fact arrived at the mouth of the harbor 
 and might land at i o'clock. The redoubtable Lasher, 
 with his battalion, was ordered to be as numerous as pos 
 sible with divers companies of militia at divers points 
 and distribute his military manners to either of the emi 
 nent comers as circumstances might require. The event 
 was a reception to Washington early enough to allow of 
 attention to Tryon after the " rebels " had carried out 
 their programme. It was on Sunday, June 25th, and in 
 the first half of the afternoon, when the morning services 
 in the churches were over. One account, given by Gil 
 bert Livingston in a report to Dr. Peter Tappan, was as 
 follows: 
 
 " Last Sunday about 2 o'clock, the Generals Washing 
 ton, Lee, and Schuyler arrived here. They crossed the 
 North river at Hoboken and landed at Colonel Lispe- 
 nard's. There were eight or ten companies under arms, 
 all in uniforms, who marched out to Lispenard's. The 
 procession began from there thus the companies first, 
 the [New York Provincial] Congress next, two of the 
 Continental Congress, general officers next, and a com 
 pany of horse from Philadelphia, who came with the gen- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 777 
 
 eral, brought up the rear. There were an innumerable 
 company of people, men, women, and children present." 
 Another account said that it was with " a greater number 
 of the principal inhabitants of this city than ever appeared 
 here on any occasion before." A staunch Royalist, Judge 
 Thomas Jones, made this record: 
 
 "After 12 o'cloclc the same day Washington, Lee, and 
 Schuyler, three of the first rebel generals appointed by 
 Congress to the command of their army, the two first 
 on their way to Boston, the latter for Albany, to com 
 mand the expedition preparing against Canada, arrived 
 from Philadelphia, and were entertained at the house of 
 Leonard Lispenard, Esq., about two miles out of town. 
 Upon this occasion the volunteer companies raised for 
 the express purpose of rebellion, the members of the 
 Provincial Congress, those of the city committee, the 
 parsons of the dissenting meeting-houses, with all the 
 leaders and partisans of faction and rebellion (including 
 Peter R. Livingston, Esq., ajid Thomas Smith, John 
 Smith, and Joshua Hett Smith, the brother-in-law and 
 brothers of William Smith, Esq.,) waited upon the beach 
 to receive them upon their landing from the Jersey shore, 
 and conducted them up to Lispenard's, amidst the re 
 peated shouts and huzzas of the seditious and rebellious 
 multitude, where they dined, and toward evening were 
 escorted to town, attended and conducted in the same 
 tumultuous and ridiculous manner." 
 
 Washington wrote to the Congress at Philadelphia, 
 after reaching New York: 
 
 " Gentlemen : The rain on Friday afternoon and Sat 
 urday; the advice of several gentlemen of the Jerseys and 
 this city, by no means to cross Hudson's river at the 
 lower ferry; and some other occurrences too trivial to 
 mention (which happened on the road), prevented my 
 
778 WASHINGTON. 
 
 arrival at this place until the afternoon of this day. In 
 the morning, after giving General Schuyler such orders, 
 as, from the result of my inquiry into matters here, ap 
 pear necessary, I shall set out on my journey to the camp 
 at Boston and shall proceed with all the dispatch in my 
 power. Powder is so essential an article that I cannot 
 help again repeating the necessity of a supply. The camp 
 at Boston from the best accounts I can get from thence, 
 is but very poorly supplied. At this place they have 
 scarce any. How they are provided in General Wooster's 
 camp I have not been able yet to learn. 
 
 " Governor Tryon is arrived and General Schuyler di 
 rected to advise you of the line of conduct he moves in. 
 I fear it will not be very favorable to the American cause/' 
 
 General Wooster's command consisted of Connecticut 
 troops posted on tfre southern border of that Colony to 
 protect its water front on Long Island Sound. Ten days 
 before Washington arrived in New York, the Provincial 
 Congress of New York, in view of a report that the 
 landing of a British regiment from Ireland was immi 
 nent, asked General Wooster to come within five miles 
 of the city for its defense, and to come for that purpose 
 under the direction of the Continental Congress, or that 
 of New York. With the approval of the Connecticut 
 authorities, General Wooster fixed himself in camp near 
 New York, having marched for that purpose June 28th. 
 New York had occasion to acknowledge this action by 
 saying: "We beg leave to testify to you our high sense 
 of the readiness which you show to assist our Colony. 
 That honest zeal, which inspirits our countrymen in Con 
 necticut, commands our admiration and praise." 
 
 At 5 P. M. of Sunday, June 25th, Washington further 
 wrote to the Continental Congress: 
 
 " Upon my arrival here this afternoon I was informed 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 
 
 that an express was in town from the provincial camp in 
 Massachusetts Bay, and having seen among other papers 
 in his possession a letter directed to you as president of 
 Congress I have taken the liberty to open it. 
 
 " You will find, Sir, by that letter, a great want of pow 
 der in the provincial army; which I sincerely hope the 
 Congress will supply as speedily and as effectually as is 
 in their power. One thousand pounds in weight were 
 sent to the camp at Cambridge three days ago from this 
 city; which has left this place almost destitute of this 
 necessary article; there being at this time from the best 
 information not more than four barrels of powder in the 
 city of New York." 
 
 On Monday, the 26th of June, the New York Congress 
 approved the draught of an address to General Washing 
 ton, and at 2:30 that afternoon it was presented to him. 
 Its terms were these: 
 
 "At a tinre when the most loyal of his Majesty's sub 
 jects, from a regard to the laws and constitution by which 
 he sits on the throne, feel themselves reduced to the un 
 happy necessity of taking up arms to defend their dearest 
 rights and privileges, while we deplore the calamities of 
 this divided Empire, we rejoice in the appointment of a 
 gentleman from whose abilities and virtue we are taught 
 to expect both security and peace. 
 
 " Confiding in you, Sir, and in the worthy generals im 
 mediately under your command, we have the most flatter 
 ing hopes of success in the glorious struggle for American 
 liberty, and the fullest assurances that whenever this im 
 portant contest shall be decided by that fondest wish of 
 every American soul, an accommodation with our mother 
 country, you will cheerfully resign the important deposit 
 
780 WASHINGTON. 
 
 committed into your hands, and resume the character of 
 our worthiest citizen." 
 
 In reply Washington said: 
 
 "At the same time that with you I deplore the unhappy 
 necessity of such an appointment as that with which I 
 am now honored, I cannot but feel sentiments of the 
 highest gratitude for this affecting instance of distinction 
 and regard. 
 
 " May your warmest wishes be realized in the success 
 of America, at this important "and interesting period ; and 
 be assured that every exertion of my worthy colleagues 
 and myself will be extended to the re-establishment of 
 peace and harmony between the mother country and 
 these Colonies. As to the fatal but necessary opera 
 tions of war, when we assumed the soldier we did 
 not lay aside the citizen, and we shall most sincerely re 
 joice with you in that happy hour, when the re-establish 
 ment of American liberty, on the most firm and solid 
 foundations, shall enable us to return to our private 
 stations, in the bosom of a free, peaceful, and happy 
 country."] 
 
 Washington had already decided that General Schuyler 
 was to remain in New York, to direct the military opera 
 tions in that quarter. His knowledge of the Colony, his 
 extensive influence among its inhabitants, his high posi 
 tion and well-known character for military skill and ex 
 perience, peculiarly fitted General Schuyler for taking the 
 command at this important post. The presence of Gov 
 ernor Tryon, who arrived at this juncture, and the great 
 number of adherents to the royal cause who were residing 
 in various parts of the Colony, and were watching for an 
 opportunity to embarrass the operations of Congress and 
 of the patriotic party, rendered General Schuyler's task 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 781 
 
 one of great difficulty, requiring sound Judgment and 
 policy as well as military skill. 
 
 [To Major-General Philip Schuyler Washington gave 
 the following directions, June 25, 1775: 
 
 " You are to take upon you the command of all the 
 troops destined for the New York department, and see that 
 the orders of the Continental Congress are carried into 
 execution, with as much precision and exactness as pos 
 sible. For your better government therein, you are here 
 with furnished with a copy of the instructions given me 
 by that honorable body. Such parts thereof as are within 
 the line of your duty, you will please to pay particular 
 attention to. Delay no time in occupying the several posts 
 recommended by the Provincial Congress of this Colony, 
 and puting them in a fit posture to answer the end de 
 signed; neither delay any time in securing the stores, 
 which are, or ought to have been, removed from this city 
 by order of the Continental Congress. 
 
 " Keep a watchful eye upon Governor Tryon, and, if 
 you find him attempting, directly or indirectly, any 
 measures inimical to the common cause, use every means 
 in your power to frustrate his designs. It is not in my 
 power, at this time, to point out the mode by which this 
 end is to be accomplished; but if forcible measures are 
 judged necessary, I should have no difficulty in ordering 
 them, if the Continental Congress was not sitting; but 
 as this is the case, and the seizing of governors quite a 
 new thing, and of exceeding great importance, I must 
 refer you to that body for direction if the Governor should 
 make any move toward increasing the strength of the 
 Tory party, or in arming them against the cause we are 
 embarked in. 
 
 " In like manner watch the movements of the Indian 
 Agent, Colonel Guy Johnson, and prevent, as far as you 
 
782 WASHINGTON. 
 
 can, the effect of his influence to our prejudice with the In 
 dians. Obtain the best information you can of the temper 
 and disposition of those people, and also of the Canadians, 
 that a proper line may be marked out to conciliate their 
 good opinion, or facilitate any future operation. 
 
 " The posts on Lake Champlain, &c., you will please to 
 have properly supplied with provisions and ammunition; 
 and this I am persuaded you will aim at doing on the 
 best terms, to prevent our good cause from sinking under 
 a heavy load of expense." 
 
 The Governor for British control of New York, Tryon, 
 had held the position since August, 1771, and was on the 
 return from a visit of some months to England, when he 
 thus came under scrutiny by Washington and Schuyler, 
 because, with great talent for mischief, he was bitterly 
 hostile to the patriots represented by Washington. 
 
 Johnson was a nabob of wealth and large influence with 
 the Indians, at his seat in the valley of the Mohawk river 
 on what was then the frontier of New York.] 
 
 After giving General Schuyler his instructions, Wash 
 ington, still accompanied by General Lee, and escorted by 
 successive companies of volunteers, pursued his journey 
 through Connecticut till he arrived at Springfield, Mass., 
 loo miles from Boston. Here he was met by a committee 
 from the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, who had 
 been directed to provide escorts, and to attend him in 
 person during the remainder of the route. 
 
 On the 2d of July, 1775, he arrived at Watertown, 
 where the Congress of Massachusetts was then sitting. 
 He was received with great cordiality and respect, and 
 greeted with a congratulatory address, in which occurred 
 this statement: 
 
 " We would not presume to prescribe to your Excel 
 lency, but supposing you would choose to be informed of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 783 
 
 the general character of the soldiers who compose the 
 army, we beg leave to represent, that the greatest part of 
 them have not before seen service; and although naturally 
 brave and of good understanding, yet, for want of experi 
 ence in military life, have but little knowledge of divers 
 things most essential to the preservation of health and 
 even life. The youth of the army are not possessed of 
 the absolute necessity of cleanliness in their dress and 
 lodging, continual exercise, and strict temperance, to pre 
 serve them from diseases frequently prevailing in camps, 
 especially among those who from childhood, have been 
 used to a laborious life." 
 
 To this address Washington made the following reply: 
 " Gentlemen, your kind congratulations on my appoint 
 ment and arrival demand my warmest acknowledgments, 
 and will ever be retained in grateful remembrance. In 
 exchanging the enjoyments of domestic life for the duties 
 of my present honorable but arduous station, I only emu 
 late the virtue and public spirit of the whole province of 
 Massachusetts, which, with a firmness and patriotism 
 without example, has sacrificed all the comforts of social 
 and political life, in support of the rights of mankind and 
 the welfare of our common country. My highest ambition 
 is to be the happy instrument of vindicating these rights, 
 and to see this devoted province again restored to peace, 
 liberty, and safety. 
 
 "The short space of time, which has elapsed since my 
 arrival, does not permit me to decide upon the state of 
 the army. The course of human affairs forbids an ex 
 pectation that troops formed under such circumstances 
 should at once possess the order, regularity, and discipline 
 of veterans. Whatever deficiences there may be will, I 
 doubt not, soon be made up by the activity and zeal of 
 the officers, and the docility and obedience of the men. 
 
784 WASHINGTON. 
 
 These qualities, united with their native bravery and 
 spirit, will afford a happy presage of success, and put a 
 final period to those distresses which now overwhelm this 
 once happy country. 
 
 " I most sincerely thank you for your declaration of 
 readiness at all times to assist me in the discharge of the 
 duties of my station. They are so complicated and ex 
 tended that I shall need the assistance of every good man 
 and lover of his country. I therefore repose the utmost 
 confidence in your aid. 
 
 " In return for your affectionate wishes to myself, per 
 mit me to say that I earnestly implore that Divine Being 
 in whose hands are all human events, to make you and 
 your constituents as distinguished in private and public 
 happiness as you have been by ministerial oppression and 
 private and public distress."] 
 
 When the ceremony of this public reception was con 
 cluded, Washington, escorted by a company of light horse 
 and an immense cavalcade of citizens, proceeded to the 
 camp .at Cambridge. We may imagine the enthusiasm 
 with which he was received the huzzas of the multitude, 
 the roar of cannon, the feu de foie of musketry, echoed 
 back by the surrounding hills, while all were eagerly en 
 deavoring to gain a view of that noble form, and calm, 
 dignified countenance, which formed the principal attrac 
 tion of that interesting and exciting scene.* 
 
 * The following description of Washington's appearance is from 
 Thacher's Military Journal, July 20, 1775 : 
 
 " I have been mucii gratified this day with a view of General 
 Washington. His Excellency was on horseback, in company with 
 several military gentlemen. It was not difficult to distinguish him 
 from all others; his personal appearance is truly noble and ma 
 jestic, being tall and well proportioned. His dress is a blue coat 
 with buff-colored facings; a rich epaulette on each shoulder; buff 
 under-dress, and an elegant small sword; a black cockade in his 
 hat." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 785 
 
 It was on the 2d of July, 1775, that Washington arrived 
 at Cambridge, and occupied the headquarters which had 
 been provided for him at the Craigie Mansion.* It was 
 not till the next day that he formally took command of 
 the army. 
 
 The Rev. William Emerson has furnished a graphic 
 description of the camp after the arrival of Washington. 
 " There is great overturning in the camp, as to order and 
 regularity. New lords, new laws. The Generals, 
 Washington and Lee, are upon the lines every day. 
 New orders from His Excellency are read to the re 
 spective regiments every morning after prayers. The 
 strictest government is taking place, and great distinc 
 tion is made between the officers and soldiers. Every 
 one is made to know his place, and to keep it, or 
 be tied up and receive thirty or forty lashes, according to 
 his crime. Thousands are at work every day from 4 
 till ii o'clock in the morning. It is surprising how 
 much work has been done. The lines are extended almost 
 from Cambridge to Mystic river, so that very soon it 
 will be morally impossible for the enemy to get between 
 the works, except in one place, which is supposed to be 
 left purposely unfortified, to entice the enemy out of their 
 fortresses. Who would have thought, twelve months past, 
 that all Cambridge and Charlestown would be covered 
 over with American camps, and cut up into forts and 
 intrenchments, and all the lands, fields, orchards laid 
 common horses and cattle feeding in the choicest mow 
 ing-land, whole fields of corn eaten down to the ground, 
 and large parks of well-regulated locusts cut down for 
 firewood and other public uses? 
 
 * The house is still standing in perfect preservation, and cele 
 brated as having become the residence of the American poet, 
 Longfellow. 
 
 SO 
 
786 WASHINGTON. 
 
 " This, I must say, looks a little melancholy. My quarters 
 are at the foot of the famous Prospect Hill, where such 
 great preparations are made for the reception of the 
 enemy. It is very diverting to walk among the camps. 
 They are as different in their form as the owners are in 
 their dress; and every tent is a portraiture of the temper 
 and taste of the persons who encamp in it. Some are 
 made of boards, and some of sail-cloth. Some partly of 
 one and partly of the other. Again, others are made of 
 stone and turf, brick or brustu Some are thrown up in a 
 hurry; others are cautiously wrought with doors and win 
 dows, done with wreaths and withes, in the manner of a 
 basket. Some are your proper tents and marquees, look 
 ing like the regular camp of the enemy. In these are the 
 Rhode Islanders, who are furnished with tent equipage, 
 and everything in the most exact English style. However, 
 I think this great variety is rather a beauty than a blemish 
 in the army." 
 
 Early in July (1775), a correspondence between Generals 
 Lee and Burgoyne attracted much attention. General Lee 
 had served with General Burgoyne in Portugal, and an 
 intimate friendship had long existed between them. On 
 the arrival of the latter in Boston, General Lee, then in 
 Philadelphia, wrote to his friend a letter full of invectives 
 against the British ministry, and containing an elaborate 
 statement of his views of the merits of the contest. Though 
 written with a warmth approaching to violence, General 
 Burgoyne replied to it courteously, and proposed an 
 interview with General Lee at Brown's House, on Boston 
 Neck. This was sent out (July 8th) by a trumpeter. The 
 letter and the expediency of the proposed interview were 
 laid before the Provincial Congress. Though Congress, 
 to prevent jealousy, appointed Elbridge Gerry to attend 
 General Lee, they suggested whether it " might not have 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 787 
 
 a tendency to lessen the influence which the Congress 
 would wish to extend to the utmost of their power, to 
 facilitate and succeed the operations of the war." In con 
 sequence of this hint, General Lee, in a note to General 
 Burgoyne, declined to meet him. The correspondence be 
 tween the two generals was published, and was commented 
 on in the journals.* 
 
 Washington's first care on taking the command was to 
 ascertain the actual condition and position of the army, 
 and to obtain a knowledge of the numbers and designs of 
 the enemy. This with his usual activity and perseverance, 
 he had accomplished in a week to such an extent as to 
 make the following report to the President of Congress : 
 
 CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE, July 10, 1775. 
 
 " SIR. I arrived safe at this place on the third instant, 
 after a journey attended with a good deal of fatigue, and 
 retarded by necessary attentions to the successive civilities 
 which accompanied me in my whole route. 
 
 " Upon my arrival, I immediately visited the several 
 posts occupied by our troops; and as soon as the weather 
 permitted, reconnoitered those of the enemy. I found 
 the latter strongly intrenched on Bunker's Hill, about a 
 mile from Charlestown, and advanced about half a mile 
 from the place of the late action, with their sentries ex 
 tended about 150 yards on this side of the narrowest part 
 of the neck leading from this place to Charlestown. Three 
 floating batteries lie in Mystic river near their camp, and 
 one twenty-gun ship below the ferry-place, between Boston 
 and Charlestown. They also have a battery on Copp's 
 Hill, on the Boston side, which much annoyed our troops 
 in the late attack, f Upon the Neck, they have also deeply 
 
 * Frothingham, " Siege of Boston." 
 tAt Bunker's Hill. 
 
788 WASHINGTON. 
 
 intrenched and fortified. These advanced guards, till last 
 Saturday morning, occupied Brown's houses, about a mile 
 from Roxbury meeting-house, and twenty rods from their 
 lines; but at that time, a party from General Thomas's 
 camp surprised the guard, drove them in, and burned the 
 houses. The bulk of their army, commanded by Gen 
 eral Howe, lies on Bunker's Hill, and the remainder on 
 Roxbury Neck, except the light horse, and a few men in 
 the town of Boston. 
 
 " On our side, we have thrown up intrenchments on 
 Winter and Prospect Hills the enemy's camp in full 
 view, at the distance of little more than a mile. Such 
 intermediate points as would admit a landing, I have since 
 my arrival taken care to strengthen down to Sewall's 
 farm, where a strong intrenchment has been thrown up. 
 At Roxbury, General Thomas has thrown up a strong 
 work on the hill, about 200 yards above the meeting-house; 
 which with the brokenness of the ground, and a great 
 number of rocks, has made that pass very secure. The 
 troops raised in New Hampshire, with a regiment from 
 Rhode Island, occupy Winter Hill; a part of those from 
 Connecticut, under General Putnam, are on Prospect 
 Hill. The troops in this town are entirely of the Massa 
 chusetts; the remainder of the Rhode Island men are at 
 Seawall's farm. Two regiments of Connecticut, and nine 
 of the Massachusetts, are at Roxbury. The residue of 
 the army, to the number of about 700, are posted in 
 several small towns along the coast, to prevent the depre 
 dations of the enemy. 
 
 " Upon the whole, I think myself authorized to say, 
 that considering the great extent of line, and the nature 
 of the ground, we are as well secured as could be expected 
 in so short a time, and under the disadvantages we labor. 
 These consist in a want of engineers to construct proper 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 789 
 
 works and direct the men, a want of tools, and a suffi 
 cient number of men to man the works in case of an 
 attack. You will observe by the proceedings of the coun 
 cil of war, which I have the honor to inclose, that it is 
 our unanimous opinion, to hold and defend these works 
 as long as possible. The discouragement it would give 
 the men, and its contrary effects on the ministerial troops, 
 thus to abandon our encampment in their face, formed 
 with so much labor, added to the certain destruction of a 
 considerable and valuable extent of country, and our 
 uncertainty of finding a place in all respects so capable 
 of making a stand, are leading reasons for this determina 
 tion. At the same time, we are very sensible of the diffi 
 culties which attend the defense of lines of so great 
 extent,* and the dangers which may ensue from such a 
 division of the army. 
 
 " My earnest wish to comply with the instructions of 
 the Congress in making an early and complete return of 
 the state of the army has led into an involuntary delay 
 of addressing you, which has given me much concern. 
 Having given orders for this purpose immediately on my 
 arrival, and unapprised of the imperfect disobedience 
 which had been paid to those of the like nature from 
 General Ward, I was led from day to day to expect they 
 would come in, and therefore detained the messenger. 
 They are not now so complete as I could wish; but much 
 allowance is to be made for inexperience in forms, and a 
 liberty which had been taken (not given) on this subject. 
 These reasons, I flatter myself, will no longer exist; and 
 of consequence, more regularity and exactness will in 
 future exist. This with a necessary attention to the lines, 
 the movements of the ministerial troops, and our im 
 mediate security, must be my apology, which I beg you 
 
 * Twelve miles. 
 
790 WASHINGTON. 
 
 to lay before Congress with the utmost duty and re 
 spect. 
 
 " We labor under great disadvantages for want of 
 tents; for though they have been helped out by a collec 
 tion of now useless sails from the seaport towns, the 
 number is far short of our necessities. The colleges and 
 houses of this town are necessarily occupied by the troops, 
 which affords another reason for keeping our present 
 situation. But I most sincerely wish the whole army 
 was properly provided to take the field, as I am well 
 assured, that (besides greater expedition and activity in 
 case of alarm) it would highly conduce to health and 
 discipline. As materials are not to be had here, I would 
 beg leave to recommend the procuring a further supply 
 from Philadelphia as soon as possible. 
 
 " I should be extremely deficient in gratitude as well 
 as justice, if I did not take the first opportunity to ac 
 knowledge the readiness and attention which the Provin 
 cial Congress and different committees have shown, to 
 make everything as convenient and agreeable as possible. 
 But there is a vital and inherent principle of delay incom 
 patible with military service, in transacting business 
 through such numerous and different channels. I esteem 
 it therefore my duty to represent the inconvenience which 
 must unavoidably ensue from a dependence on a number 
 of persons for supplies, and submit it to the consideration 
 of Congress, whether the public service will not be best 
 promoted by appointing a commissary-general for these 
 purposes. We have a striking instance of the preference 
 of such a mode in the establishment of Connecticut, as 
 their troops are extremely well provided under the direc 
 tion of Mr. Trumbull, and he has at different times assisted 
 others with various articles. Should my sentiments hap 
 pily coincide with those of your honors on this subject, 
 I beg leave to recommend Mr. Trumbull as a very proper 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 791 
 
 person for this department. In the arrangement of troops 
 collected under such circumstances, and upon the spur 
 of immediate necessity, several appointments are omitted, 
 which appear to be indispensably necessary for the good 
 government of the army particularly a quartermaster- 
 general, a commissary of musters, and a commissary of 
 artillery. These I must earnestly recommend to the notice 
 and provision of the Congress. 
 
 " I find myself already much embarrassed for want of 
 a military chest. The embarrassments will increase every 
 day; I must therefore request that money may be for 
 warded as soon as possible. The want of this most neces 
 sary article will (I fear) produce great inconveniences, if 
 not prevented by an early attention. I find the army in 
 general, and the troops raised in Massachusetts in par 
 ticular, very deficient in necessary clothing. Upon in 
 quiry, there appears no probability of obtaining an> 
 supplies in this quarter; and on the best consideration of 
 this matter I am able to form, I am of opinion that a 
 number of hunting shirts (not less than 10,000), would, 
 in a great degree, remove this difficulty in the cheapest 
 and quickest manner. I know nothing, in a speculative 
 view, more trivial, yet, if put in practice, would have a 
 happier tendency to unite the men, and abolish those pro 
 vincial distinctions which lead to jealously and dissatis 
 faction. 
 
 " In a former part of this letter I mentioned the want 
 of engineers. I can hardly express the disappointment 
 I have experienced on this subject the skill of those 
 we have being very imperfect, and confined to the mere 
 manual exercise of cannon, whereas the war in which. we 
 are engaged requires a knowledge comprehending the 
 duties of the field and fortification. If any persons thus 
 qualified are to be found in the southern Colonies, it 
 
792 WASHINGTON. 
 
 would be of great public service to forward them with all 
 expedition. 
 
 " Upon the article of ammunition I must re-echo the 
 former complaints on this subjects. We are so exceed 
 ingly destitute that our artillery will be of little use with 
 out a supply both large and seasonable. What we have 
 must be reserved for the smallarms, and that managed 
 with the utmost frugality. * * * 
 
 " The state of the army you will find ascertained with 
 tolerable precision in the returns which accompany this 
 letter. Upon finding the number* of men to fall so far 
 short of the establishment, and below all expectation, I 
 immediately called a council of the general officers, whose 
 opinion (as to the mode of filling up the regiments, and 
 providing for the present exigency) I have the honor of 
 inclosing, together with the best judgment we are able to 
 form of the ministerial troops. From the number of boys, 
 deserters, and negroes, that have been enlisted in the 
 troops of this province, I entertain some doubts whether 
 the number required can be raised here; and all the gen 
 eral officers agree that no dependence can be put on the 
 militia for a continuance in camp, or regularity and dis 
 cipline during the short time they may stay. This un 
 happy and devoted province has been so long in a state 
 of anarchy, and the yoke has been laid so heavily on it, 
 that great allowances are to be made for troops raised 
 under such circumstances. The deficiency of numbers, 
 discipline, and stores, can only lead to the conclusion, 
 that their spirit has exceeded their strength. But at the 
 same time, I would humbly submit to the consideration of 
 Congress the propriety of making some further provision 
 of men from the other Colonies. If these regiments 
 should be completed to their establishment, the dismission 
 * The actual number at this time was 14,500. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 793 
 
 of those unfit for duty on account of their age or character 
 would occasion a considerable reduction; and at all events, 
 they have been enlisted upon such terms that they may 
 be disbanded when the other troops arrive. But should 
 my apprehensions be realized, and the regiments here not 
 filled up, the public cause would suffer by an absolute 
 dependence upon so doubtful an event, unless some pro 
 vision is made against such a disappointment. 
 
 " It requires no military skill to judge of the difficulty 
 of introducing proper discipline and subordination into an 
 army, while we have the enemy in view, and are in daily 
 expectation of an attack; but it is of so much importance 
 that every effort will be made which time and circum 
 stances will admit. In the meantime I have a sincere 
 pleasure in observing that there are materials for a good 
 army a great number of able-bodied men, active, zeal 
 ous in the cause, and of unquestionable courage. * * * 
 
 " Generals Gates and Sullivan have both arrived in 
 good health. 
 
 " My best abilities are at all times devoted to the service 
 of my country; but I feel the weight, importance, and vari 
 ety of my present duties too sensibly, not to wish a more 
 immediate and frequent communication with the Congress. 
 I fear it may often happen in the course of our present 
 operations that I shall need that assistance and direction 
 from them which time and distance will not allow me to 
 receive."* 
 
 We have copied nearly the whole of this letter, in order 
 not only to give the details of the condition of the army 
 at this time on Washington's own authority, but also to 
 show the style which he then thought proper to adopt in 
 his communications to Congress. At a later period less 
 deference was expressed, from the necessity of the case. 
 
 * Washington's Official Letters. 
 
794 WASHINGTON. 
 
 In his letter above quoted, Washing-ton by no means 
 exaggerated the disorderly and destitute condition of the 
 army. Though the rolls showed 17,000 men, including the 
 sick and absent, the number present fit for duty was only 
 14,500; so that new recruits had to be sought from the 
 governments of the New England Colonies. The irregu 
 larities in dress were soon remedied in part by the adop 
 tion of the hunting shirt as recommended by Washington 
 in his letter. The want of a system for obtaining supplies 
 was severely felt. The troops from Connecticut had a 
 proper commissariat, under Mr. Trumball's direction, as 
 we have seen; but those who came from the other Col 
 onies were not so well furnished. Individuals brought to 
 camp their own provisions on their own horses. In some 
 parts committees of supplies were appointed who pur 
 chased necessaries at the public expense, sent them on to 
 camp, and distributed them to such as were in want, 
 without any regularity or system; the country afforded 
 provisions, and nothing more was wanting to supply the 
 army than proper systems for their collection and dis 
 tribution. 
 
 Other articles, though equally necessary, were almost 
 wholly deficient, and could not be procured but with 
 difficulty. On the 4th of August (1775), the whole stock 
 of powder in the American camp, and in the public maga 
 zines of the four New England provinces, would make 
 but little more than nine rounds a man. 
 
 The continental army remained in this destitute con 
 dition for a fortnight or more. This was generally known 
 among themselves, and was also communicated to the 
 British by a deserter; but they, suspecting a plot, would 
 not believe it. 
 
 A supply of a few tons was sent on to them from the 
 committee of Elizabethtown, but this was done privately, 
 lest the adjacent inhabitants, who were equally destitute, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 795 
 
 should stop it for their own use. The public rulers in 
 Massachusetts issued a recommendation to the inhabi 
 tants not to fire a gun at beast, bird, or mark, in order 
 that they might husband their little stock for the more 
 necessary purpose of shooting men. A supply of several 
 thousand pounds weight of powder was soon after ob 
 tained from Africa, in exchange for New England rum. 
 This was managed with so much address, that every ounce 
 for sale in the British forts on the African coasts, was 
 purchased up and brought off for the use of the Americans. 
 
 Embarrassments from various quarters occurred in the 
 formation of a continental army. The appointment of 
 general officers made by Congress was not satisfactory. 
 Enterprising leaders had come forward with their fol 
 lowers on the commencement of hostilities, without 
 scrupulous attention to rank. When these were all 
 blended together, it was impossible to assign to every 
 officer the station which his services merited, or his vanity 
 demanded. Materials for a good army were collected. 
 The husbandmen who flew to arms were active, zealous, 
 and of unquestionable courage; but to introduce discipline 
 and subordination among freemen, who were habituated 
 to think for themselves, was an arduous labor. 
 
 The want of system and of union, under proper hands, 
 pervaded every department. From the circumstance that 
 the persons employed in providing necessaries for the 
 army were unconnected with each other, much waste and 
 unnecessary delays were occasioned. The troops of the 
 different Colonies came into service under variant estab 
 lishments some were enlisted with the express condition 
 of choosing their officers. The rations promised by the 
 local Legislatures varied both as to quantity, quality, and 
 price. To form one uniform mass of these discordant 
 materials, and to subject the licentiousness of independent 
 
796 WASHINGTON. 
 
 freemen to the control of military discipline, was a delicate 
 and difficult business. 
 
 Washington however, not discouraged by the arduous 
 nature of the task, at once began to mature his plans for 
 bringing order out of confusion. He arranged the army 
 into six brigades of six regiments each, in such a manner 
 that the troops from the same Colony should be brought 
 together, as far as practicable, and act under a commander 
 from that Colony.* The whole force was thrown into 
 three grand divisions. General Ward commanded the 
 right wing at Roxbury; General Lee, the left at Winter 
 Hill; and the center was commanded by General Putnam. 
 General Washington, from his headquarters at Cambridge, 
 directed the whole. Method and punctuality were intro 
 duced. The officers and privates were taught to know 
 their respective places, and to have the mechanism and 
 movements as well as the name of an army. 
 
 Gates, who had served with Washington in the unfor 
 tunate expedition of Braddock, and had been appointed by 
 Congress adjutant-general, was now performing excellent 
 service in disciplining the army, and accustoming the 
 soldiers to habits of order and regularity. He was a 
 Briton by birth, and since the French War had resided in 
 Virginia, where he owned an estate. He had been a 
 frequent visitor at Mount Vernon, but had recently 
 adopted habits of distance and reserve toward Wash 
 ington. 
 
 Among the members of Washington's military family 
 were his first aid, Colonel Mifflin, of Philadelphia, recently 
 appointed; his second aid, John Trumbull, son of the 
 Governor of Connecticut; and Joseph Reed, his secretary, 
 a lawyer of Philadelphia, who had received a part of his 
 education in England, had taken an early part in the 
 
 * Sparks, " Life of Washington," p. 136. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 797 
 
 revolutionary controversy, and exerted much influence on 
 the patriotic side. On these gentlemen devolved a prin 
 cipal part of the duty of entertaining the numerous vis 
 itors who resorted to the headquarters of the Commander- 
 in-Chief at Craigie House. Washington cared little for 
 the convivialities of the table, and it was his habit, after 
 remaining at it a short time, to leave the company with 
 his aids and secretary, and retire to his private apartment, 
 where the labor of thinking and writing on the immense 
 and complicated business of his station awaited him. 
 
 He had already planted the " original germ of the Con 
 tinental Army," and was carefully fostering its growth. 
 The officers were commissioned anew by Congress, and 
 the system of uniform organization was gradually acquir 
 ing form and consistency. When the rules and regula 
 tions prescribed by Congress were presented to the sol 
 diers, they objected to them as inconsistent with the terms 
 of their original enlistment. Washington reasoned with 
 them, but wisely abstained from coercion, leaving it 
 optional with the men to subscribe the articles or not; 
 but making the subscription a necessary condition with 
 all new recruits. 
 
 His intercourse with the Continental Congress was a 
 more difficult affair. This body possessed very limited 
 powers. Unlike the present Congress, it had no direct 
 control over the people, and could only obtain men, 
 money, and supplies, by recourse to the Provincial Legis 
 latures, whose compliance with its requisitions depended 
 on their resources, and their attachment to the cause of 
 liberty. Still it had the supreme disposal of affairs, and 
 its directions were never openly resisted. The members 
 of Congress however were at this time divided in opinion 
 as to the means of obtaining redress for those grievances 
 which were the cause of the war. Some were timid, and 
 
798 WASHINGTON. 
 
 longed for returning peace on any reasonable terms, but 
 the majority were resolute in opposition to the mother 
 country. Most of the members were distrustful of mili 
 tary power as dangerous to the very liberties for which 
 they were contending. 
 
 Washington perceived this feeling in Congress, and 
 respected it for its motive. It interfered with the active 
 and comprehensive measures which he desired to pursue, 
 but it caused no relaxation in his efforts for the general 
 welfare; nor was any feeling on this delicate subject ever 
 permitted to appear in his conversation or correspondence. 
 
 The formation of the whole military system of the 
 country devolved upon him. His correspondence with 
 Congress shows that almost invariably important meas 
 ures originated with him, were suggested by him, and 
 were sanctioned and aided by them. His letters were read 
 to the House when in session, and almost every important 
 resolution respecting the army was the result of his 
 recommendation. Every attentive reader of American his 
 tory is acquainted with this fact. But although conscious 
 of power, Washington was conscientiously scrupulous in 
 its exercise. He referred everything to Congress on 
 which it was proper for them to take action; and was 
 careful to avoid the slightest appearance of usurping 
 powers not belonging properly to his office. It often 
 happened therefore that the service was embarrassed, and 
 the Commander-in-Chief greatly perplexed, by the dis 
 tance of Congress from the scene of action and the slow 
 ness of its movements even in times of great danger and 
 emergency. 
 
 In addition to his intercourse with Congress, Wash 
 ington corresponded with the local authorities of the sev 
 eral Colonies, in whom was lodged, as we have already 
 seen, the real power of aiding his operations by furnish- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 799 
 
 ing men and supplies. This intercourse with the different 
 Governors, Legislatures, conventions, and committees of 
 safety, however, made him well acquainted with the actual 
 condition of the country in all its details, and enabled him 
 to apply his own admirable administrative talents with 
 precision and effect, as well as to make his real character 
 and noble designs thoroughly known to the people, in 
 whose cause he was laboring with so much zeal, assiduity, 
 and effect. " They saw that he was the very man whom 
 the exigencies of the service and the country demanded; 
 and they felt safe in listening to counsels, and obeying 
 commands, which evidently proceeded from one whose 
 spirit was as just, and enlightened, and candid, as it was 
 noble and majestic, and in which moderation, wisdom, 
 and firmness of the highest order, were harmoniously com 
 bined with the deepest and most glowing enthusiasm of 
 the patriot and the hero/'* 
 
 One of the earliest instances of Washington's corre 
 spondence with the provincial authorities took place soon 
 after his taking the com'mand at Cambridge, and it was 
 in an affair of the utmost importance to the welfare of 
 the country. The Legislature of Massachusetts and the 
 Governor of Connecticut applied to him for detachments 
 from the army for the protection of such parts of their 
 sea-coast as were exposed to predatory attacks from the 
 British cruisers. This brought up the question as to the 
 whole system on which the war was to be conducted. 
 Should the army be liable to have detachments taken 
 from it and distributed over the country on application 
 from the local authorities, or should it be retained in one 
 compact body, always ready for attack or defense. 
 
 Washington at once perceived the fatal consequences 
 of establishing so bad a precedent in the outset of the 
 
 * C. W. Upham, " Life of General Washington." 
 
800 WASHINGTON. 
 
 contest as that which was desired by Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut; and the following answer which he addressed 
 (July 31, 1775) to the speaker of the General Assembly of 
 Massachusetts evinces that, as usual, he was equal to the 
 occasion : 
 
 " SIR. I have considered the application made to me 
 yesterday from the General Court, with all the attention 
 due to the situation of the people in whose behalf it is 
 made, and the respect due to such a recommendation. 
 Upon referring to my instructions, and consulting with 
 those members of Congress who are present, as well as 
 the general officers, they all agree that it would not be 
 consistent with my duty to detach any part of the army 
 now here on any particular provincial service. It has 
 been debated in Congress and settled, that the militia, or 
 other internal strength of each province, is to be applied 
 for defense against those small and particular depreda 
 tions, which were to be expected, and to which they were 
 supposed to be competent. This will appear the more 
 proper, when it is considered that every town, and indeed 
 every part of our sea-coast, which is exposed to these 
 depredations, would have an equal claim upon this army. 
 
 " It is the misfortune of our situation which exposes us 
 to these ravages, and against which, in my judgment, no 
 such temporary relief could possibly secure us. The great 
 advantage the enemy have of transporting troops, by being 
 masters of the sea, will enable them to harass us by diver 
 sions of this kind; and should we be tempted to pursue 
 them upon every alarm, the army must either be so 
 weakened as to expose it to destruction, or a great part 
 of the coast be still left unprotected. Nor, indeed, does 
 it appear to me that such a pursuit would be attended with 
 the least effect. The first notice of such an excursion 
 would be its actual execution; and long before any troops 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 801 
 
 could reach the scene of action, the enemy would have 
 an opportunity to accomplish their purpose and retire. 
 It would give me great pleasure to have it in my power 
 to extend protection and safety to every individual; but 
 the wisdom of the General Court will anticipate me in the 
 necessity of conducting our operations on a general and 
 impartial scale, so as to exclude any just cause of com 
 plaint and jealousy. 
 
 " I beg, sir, you will do me the honor to communicate 
 these sentiments to the General Court, and to apologize 
 for my involuntary delay, as we were alarmed this morning 
 by the enemy, and my time was taken up in giving the 
 necessary directions. 
 
 " I shall be happy in every opportunity of showing my 
 very great respect and regard for the General Court of 
 Massachusetts Bay, and am, sir, etc/' 
 
 This letter could not be otherwise than satisfactory to 
 Massachusetts and the whole country. It settled the 
 question, and established the precedent which was fol 
 lowed throughout the war. " It was established as a rule, 
 that attacks of the enemy at isolated points along the 
 coast must be repelled by the militia in the vicinity, ex 
 cept when the continental army was in a condition to 
 make detachments without jeopardizing the common 
 cause."* 
 
 The necessity of keeping the army unbroken by detach 
 ments was sufficiently apparent at this time, from the 
 really formidable force opposed to it. General Gage's 
 army in Boston number full 11,000 regular troopsf in fine 
 
 * Sparks, " Life of Washington." 
 
 t In the last week in July, 1775, the number of inhabitants was 
 stated at 6,753; the number of troops, with their dependents, 
 women, and children, at 13,600. The town became sickly, both 
 among the people and the troops, for neither had been accustomed 
 
802 WASHINGTON. 
 
 condition, burning for action; and he was assisted by Gen 
 erals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, who were justly re 
 garded as among the ablest officers in the service of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 General Gage had served as a colonel in Braddock's 
 expedition; and there had subsisted between him and 
 Washington a warm friendship, until the recent active part 
 which both had taken on opposite sides in the revolu 
 tionary contest, had thrown them widely apart. An inci 
 dent of the siege estranged them forever. 
 
 Certain officers and men, taken by the British in the 
 battle of Bunker's Hill, had been thrown into the prison 
 for common felons in Boston, and as report said, very ill- 
 treated. When intelligence of this affair reached Wash 
 ington, August nth, he promptly transmitted the follow 
 ing letter to General Gage: 
 
 " SIR. I understand that the officers engaged in the 
 cause of liberty and their country, who, by the fortune of 
 war, have fallen into your hands, have been thrown, in 
 discriminately, into a common jail, appropriated for felons ; 
 that no consideration has been had for those of the most 
 respectable rank, when languishing with wounds and 
 sickness; and that some have been amputated in this un 
 worthy situation. 
 
 " Let your opinion, sir, of the principles which actuate 
 them, be what it may, they suppose that they act from 
 the noblest of all principles, a love of freedom and their 
 country. But political principles, I conceive, are foreign 
 
 to live on salt provisions. " We are in the strangest state in the 
 world," a lady writes, August loth, " surrounded on all sides. The 
 whole country is in arms, and intrenched. We are deprived of 
 fresh provisions, subject to continual alarms and cannonadings, the 
 Provincials being very audacious, and advancing near to our lines, 
 since the arrival of Generals Washington and Lee to command 
 them." Frothingham, Siege of Boston. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 803 
 
 to this point. The obligations arising from the right of 
 humanity, and claims of rank, are universally binding and 
 extensive, except in case of retaliation. These, I should 
 have hoped, would have dictated a more tender treatment 
 of those individuals, whom chance of war had put in your 
 power. Nor can I forbear suggesting its fatal tendency 
 to widen that unhappy breach, which you, and those 
 ministers under whom you act, have repeatedly declared 
 your wish is to see forever closed. 
 
 " My duty now makes it necessary to apprise you, that 
 for the future, I shall regulate all my conduct toward those 
 gentlemen who are, or may be, in our possession, exactly 
 by the rule you shall observe toward those of ours, now 
 in your custody. 
 
 " If severity and hardship mark the line of your conduct, 
 painful as it may be to me, your prisoners will feel its 
 effects. But if kindness and humanity are shown to ours, 
 I shall with pleasure consider those in our hands as only 
 unfortunate, and they shall receive from me that treat 
 ment to which the unfortunate are ever entitled. 
 
 " I beg to be favored with an answer as soon as possible, 
 and am, sir, your very humble servant." 
 
 General Gage replied to this carefully worded communi 
 cation in the following insolent and insulting terms: 
 
 " SIR. To the glory of civilized nations, humanity and 
 war have been compatible, and humanity to the sub 
 dued has become almost a general system. Britons are 
 pre-eminent in mercy, have outgrown common examples, 
 and overlooked the criminal in the captive. Upon these 
 principles your prisoners, whose lives, by the law of the 
 land, are destined to the cord, have hitherto been treated 
 with care and kindness, and more comfortably lodged 
 than the King's troops, in the hospitals; indiscriminately, 
 
804 WASHINGTON. 
 
 it is true, for I acknowledge no rank that is not derived 
 from the King. 
 
 " My intelligence from your army would justify some 
 recriminations. I understand there are some of the King's 
 faithful subjects, taken some time since by the rebels, 
 laboring like negro slaves to gain their daily subsistence, 
 or reduced to the wretched alternative to perish by famine, 
 or take arms against their King and country. Those who 
 have made the treatment of the prisoners in my hands, or 
 of your other friends in Boston, a pretense for such 
 measures, found barbarity upon falsehood. 
 
 " I would willingly hope, sir, that the sentiments of 
 liberality, which I have always believed you possess, will 
 be exerted to correct these misdoings. Be temperate in 
 political disquisition; give free operation to truth, and 
 punish those who deceive and misrepresent; and not only 
 the effects, but the cause, of this unhappy conflict will be 
 removed. Should those, under whose usurped authority 
 you act, control such a disposition, and dare to call 
 severity retaliation, to God, who knows all hearts, be the 
 appeal of the dreadful consequences," etc. 
 
 Washington's indignation at the receipt of this letter 
 must have been great. His reply however is strictly con 
 sistent with his usual calmness and dignity: 
 
 " I addressed you," he writes, " on the nth instant, in 
 terms which gave the fairest scope for humanity and 
 politeness, which were supposed to form a part of your 
 character. I remonstrated with you on the unworthy 
 treatment shown to the officers and citizens of America, 
 whom the fortune of war, chance, or a mistaken confidence, 
 had thrown into your hands. Whether British or Ameri 
 can, mercy, fortitude, and patience are most pre-eminent; 
 whether our virtuous citizens, whom the hand of tyranny 
 has forced into arms to defend their wives, their children, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 805 
 
 and their property, or the mercenary instruments of law 
 less domination, avarice, and revenge, best deserve the 
 appellation of rebels, and the punishment of that cord, 
 which your affected clemency has forborne to inflict; 
 whether the authority under which I act is usurped, or 
 founded upon the genuine principles of liberty, were alto 
 gether foreign to the subject. I purposely avoided all 
 political disquisition; nor shall I now avail myself of those 
 advantages, which the sacred cause of my country, of 
 liberty, and of human nature, give me over you; much 
 less shall I stoop to retort and invective; but the intelli 
 gence you say you have received from our army requires 
 a reply. I have taken time, sir, to make a strict inquiry, 
 and find it has not the least foundation in truth. Not only 
 your officers and soldiers have been treated with the ten 
 derness due to fellow-citizens and brethren, but even those 
 execrable parricides, whose counsels and aid have deluged 
 their country with blood, have been protected from the 
 fury of a justly enraged people. Far from compelling or 
 permitting their assistance, I am embarrassed with the 
 numbers who crowd to our camp, animated with the purest 
 principles of virtue and love to their country. 
 
 " You affect, sir, to despise all rank not derived from 
 the same source with your own. I cannot conceive one 
 more honorable than that which flows from the uncor- 
 rupted choice of a brave and free people, the purest source 
 and original fountain of all power. Far from making it a 
 plea for cruelty, a mind of true magnanimity and enlarged 
 ideas would comprehend and respect it. 
 
 " What may have been the ministerial views which have 
 precipitated the present crisis, Lexington, Concord, and 
 Charlestown, can best declare. May that God to whom 
 you then appeal judge between America and you. Under 
 his providence, those who influence the councils of America 
 
806 WASHINGTON. 
 
 and all the other inhabitants of the united Colonies, at the 
 hazard of their lives, are determined to hand down to pos 
 terity those just and invaluable privileges which they re 
 ceived from their ancestors. 
 
 " I shall now, sir, close my correspondence with you 
 perhaps forever. If your officers, our prisoners, receive 
 a treatment from me different from that which I wished 
 to show them, they and you will remember the occasion 
 of it." 
 
 General Gage must have felf, on reading this letter, his 
 own utter littleness in comparison with his correspondent. 
 His conduct was as impolitic as it was insolent. By set 
 ting at naught all the rules of honorable warfare, and inti 
 mating that the highest American officers would be treated 
 as criminals, he made retaliation indispensable. Washing 
 ton therefore gave orders that the British prisoners in his 
 hands should receive the same treatment as was known 
 to be practiced on the American prisoners in Boston. 
 They were accordingly marched off to Northampton, to be 
 closely confined in jail. This was in strict compliance 
 with the laws of war. But Washington, unwilling to pun 
 ish the innocent for the crime of the guilty, countermanded 
 the order for their close confinement before they reached 
 Northampton, and directions were sent by Colonel Reed, 
 his secretary, that they should be at liberty to go abroad 
 on their parole, and should have every indulgence con 
 sistent with their security. 
 
 Soon after this affair the companies of riflemen from 
 Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, raised by order of 
 Congress, arrived at the camp in Cambridge. Dr. 
 Thacher thus describes them in his " Military Journal: " 
 
 " Several companies of riflemen, amounting, it is said, 
 to more than 1,400 men, have arrived here from Pennsyl- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 807 
 
 vania and Maryland, a distance of from 500 to 700 miles. 
 They are remarkably stout and hardy men, many of them 
 exceeding six feet in height. They are dressed in white 
 frocks, or rifle shirts, and round hats. These men are 
 remarkable for the accuracy of their aim, striking a mark 
 with great certainty at 200 yards distance. At a review, 
 a company of them, while on a quick advance, fired their 
 balls into objects of seven inches in diameter, at the dis 
 tance of 250 yards. They are now stationed on our lines, 
 and their shot have frequently proved fatal to British offi 
 cers and soldiers who expose themselves to view, even at 
 more than double the distance of common musket shot."* 
 
 * The British officers, about this time, were much annoyed at the 
 success of the American sentinels in dispersing handbills among 
 their rank and file. One was framed, entitled "An Address to the 
 Soldiers;" another contained the following comparison: 
 
 Prospect Hill. Bunker's Hill. 
 
 1. Seven dollars a month. i. Three pence a day. 
 
 2. Fresh provisions, and in 
 
 plenty. 2. Rotten salt pork. 
 
 3. Health. 3. The scurvy. 
 
 4. Freedom, ease, affluence, 
 
 and a good farm. 4. Slavery, beggary, and want. 
 
 " These bills," says a letter, July 24th, " are blown into their 
 camp, and get into the hands of their soldiers, without the officers 
 being able to prevent it. Major Bruce complained, at an inter 
 view the other day, of such usage. We retorted his decoying our 
 sentries from their posts, two rascals having left us a day or two 
 before, by his or some other officer's means. Colonel Reed also 
 sent to General Gage a copy of the declaration of the united Col 
 onies, who pronounced its contents to be ' as replete with deceit 
 and falsehood as most of their (the American's) publications.' " 
 Frothingham, Siege of Boston. 
 
808 WASHINGTON. 
 
 One of these companies was commanded by Daniel 
 Morgan, who was subsequently so much distinguished as 
 a general. His men were so serviceable in the war that 
 the mention of " Morgan's riflemen " has long been 
 familiar to the readers of the revolutionary history. 
 
 In addition to this seasonable addition to his force, 
 Washington was now receiving reinforcements of militia 
 from the New England Colonies. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WASHINGTON SENDS A DETACHMENT TO CANADA. 
 
 i775> 1776. 
 
 WHILE the events which we have just related were 
 passing in the camp before Boston, General 
 Schuyler, who, it will be recollected, had been 
 intrusted with the military command of the province of 
 New York, had been preparing to enter Canada. A reso 
 lution of Congress had authorized him to take possession 
 of St. John's and Montreal as soon as he should find it 
 practicable; and he had written to Washington, from 
 Ticonderoga, on the 3ist of July (1775), informing him of 
 his preparations for crossing the lake. 
 
 Washington proposed to aid him by sending a detach 
 ment from the army at Cambridge, which should march 
 through Maine to attack Quebec. This plan is described 
 in the following extract from his letter to General Schuyler 
 of the 2oth of August: 
 
 " The design of this express is to communicate to you 
 a plan of an expedition which has engaged my thoughts 
 for several days. It is to penetrate into Canada by way 
 of Kennebec river, and so to Quebec, by a route ninety 
 miles below Montreal. I can very well spare a detach 
 ment for this purpose of 1,000 or 1,200 men, and the land 
 carriage by the route proposed is too inconsiderable to 
 make an objection. 
 
 " If you are resolved to proceed, which I gather from 
 your last letter is your intention, it would make a diversion 
 
 (809) 
 
810 WASHINGTON. 
 
 that would distract Carleton and facilitate your views. 
 He must either break up and follow this party to Quebec, 
 by which he will leave you a free passage, or he must 
 suffer that important place to fall into our hands an 
 event that would have a decisive effect and influence on 
 the public interests. There may be some danger that 
 such a sudden incursion might alarm the Canadians and 
 detach them from that neutrality which they have hitherto 
 observed, but I should hope that, with suitable precautions 
 and a strict discipline, any apprehensions and jealousies 
 might be removed. The few wliom I have consulted upon 
 it approve it much, but the final determination is deferred 
 until I hear from you. You will therefore, by the return 
 of this messenger, inform me of your ultimate resolution. 
 If you mean to proceed, acquaint me as particularly as 
 you can with the time and force, what late accounts you 
 have had from Canada, and your opinion as to the senti 
 ments of the inhabitants, as well as those of the Indians, 
 upon a penetration into their country; what number of 
 troops are at Quebec, and whether any men-of-war, with 
 all other circumstances which may be material in the con 
 sideration of a step of such importance. Not a moment's 
 time is to be lost in the preparations for this enterprise, 
 if the advices received from you favor it. With the utmost 
 expedition, the season will be considerably advanced, so 
 that you will dismiss the express as soon as possible/'* 
 
 A month later he writes to Congress an account of the 
 starting of the expedition and its design. 
 
 *Your Excellency's letter of the 8th inst. I received yesterday. 
 I am happy to learn that the troops under the command of Colonel 
 Arnold were to march so soon. I hope our people will commit 
 no depredations in Canada; all possible care will be taken of it; 
 but yet I have many fears on that score, as they stole thirty-two 
 sheep at Isle aux Noix, contrary to the most pointed orders. 
 Sparks, Correspondence of the Revolution. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 811 
 
 " I am now to inform the honorable Congress," he says, 
 " that, encouraged by the repeated declarations of the 
 Canadians and Indians and urged by their requests, I have 
 detached Colonel Arnold, with 1,000 men, to penetrate 
 into Canada by way of Kennebec river, and, if possible, to 
 make himself master of Quebec. By this maneuver I pro 
 posed either to divert Carleton from St. John's, which 
 would leave a free passage to General Schuyler, or, if this 
 did not take effect, Quebec, in its present defenseless state, 
 must fall into his hands an easy prey. I made all possible 
 inquiry as to the distance, the safety of the route, and the 
 danger of the season being too far advanced; but found 
 nothing in either to deter me from proceeding, more 
 especially as it met with very general approbation from 
 all whom I consulted upon it. But, that nothing might 
 be omitted to enable me to judge of its propriety and 
 probable consequences, I communicated it by express to 
 General Schuyler, who approved of it in such terms that 
 I resolved to put it in immediate execution. They have 
 now left this place seven days, and, if favored with a good 
 wind, I hope soon to hear of their being safe in Kennebec 
 river." 
 
 In order to understand thoroughly the object and the 
 history of this expedition of Arnold to Quebec, it is nec 
 essary to give a general sketch of the joint operations of 
 the expedition sent from New York about the same time, 
 which was intended to co-operate with him in occupying 
 Canada. 
 
 Congress had early turned its attention toward Canada 
 and endeavored to gain the co-operation or at least to 
 secure the neutrality of the inhabitants in its dispute with 
 Great Britain. The Congress of the preceding year had 
 circulated an address to the Canadians, evidently intended 
 to render them disaffected to the British administration, 
 
813 WASHINGTON. 
 
 and to make them enter into the sentiments and measures 
 of the other provinces. Although that address did not 
 make on the minds of the Canadians all that impression 
 which was intended and desired, yet it was not altogether 
 without effect, for the great body of the people wished to 
 remain neutral in the contest. 
 
 Congress mistook the reluctance of the Canadians to 
 engage in active operations against them for a decided 
 partiality to their cause, and resolved to anticipate the 
 British by striking a decisive blow in that quarter. In 
 this purpose they were encouraged by the easy success of 
 the enterprise against the forts on the lakes, and by the 
 small number of troops then in Canada. They appointed 
 General Schuyler commander of the expedition, with Gen 
 eral Montgomery under him. 
 
 Early in September (1775), these officers, with about 
 1,000 men, made an attempt on Fort St. John, situated on 
 the River Sorel, which flows from Lake Champlain and 
 joins the St. Lawrence; but found it expedient to retire to 
 Isle aux Noix, at the entrance of the lake, about twelve 
 miles above the fort, and wait for reinforcements. 
 
 Meanwhile General Schuyler was taken ill and returned 
 to Albany, leaving the command in the hands of General 
 Montgomery, with instructions to prosecute the enterprise 
 on receiving the expected reinforcements. The reinforce 
 ments arrived; the attack on Fort St. John was renewed; 
 and, after a vigorous defense, it surrendered about the 
 middle of November. In it the Americans found a con 
 siderable number of brass and iron cannon, howitzers, and 
 mortars, a quantity of shot and small shells, about 800 
 stand of smallarms, and some naval stores; but the powder 
 and provisions were nearly exhausted. 
 
 During the siege of Fort St. John, Fort Chamblee had 
 been taken, which furnished General Montgomery with a 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 813 
 
 plentiful supply of provisions, of which -he stood greatly in 
 need. General Carleton, who was on his way from Mon 
 treal to relieve the garrison, had been defeated, and Col. 
 Ethan Allen, who had made an unauthorized attack on 
 Montreal, was overcome and taken prisoner. 
 
 On the fall of Fort St. John, General Montgomery ad 
 vanced against Montreal, which was in no condition to 
 resist him. Governor Carleton, sensible of his inability 
 to defend the town, quitted it, and next day General Mont 
 gomery entered the place. A body of provincials under 
 Colonel Easton took post at the mouth of the Sorel, and, 
 by means of an armed vessel and floating batteries, com 
 manded the navigation of the St. Lawrence. The British 
 force, which had retreated down the river from Montreal, 
 consisting only of about 120 soldiers, with several officers, 
 under General Prescott, and accompanied by Governor 
 Carleton, in eleven vessels, seeing it impracticable to force 
 the passage, surrendered by capitulation. The vessels 
 contained a considerable quantity of provisions, arms, and 
 ammunition, which furnished a seasonable supply to the 
 Americans. About midnight of the day before the capitu 
 lation, Governor Carleton escaped down the river in a 
 boat with muffled oars and safely reached Quebec. 
 
 It was now the iQth of November (1775), and the severe 
 weather which had set in was very unfavorable to military 
 operations. General Montgomery, a young man of su 
 perior talents and high spirit, found himself in extremely 
 unpleasant circumstances. He was at the head of a body 
 of men, many of whom were not deficient in personal 
 courage, but were strangers to military subordination. 
 The term of service for which numbers of them were en 
 gaged was near an end, and, already weary of the hard 
 ships of war, they clamorously demanded a discharge. 
 Hitherto his career had been successful, and he was ambi- 
 
814 WASHINGTON. 
 
 tious of closing the campaign by some brilliant achieve 
 ment, which might at once elevate the spirits of the Ameri 
 cans and humble the pride of the British ministry. With 
 these views, even at that rigorous season of the year, he 
 hastened toward Quebec, although he found it necessary 
 to weaken his little army, which had never exceeded 2,000 
 men, by discharging such of his followers as had become 
 weary of the service. 
 
 About the middle of September (1775), the detachment 
 of 1,100 men, under Colonel Arnold, was sent, as 
 we have seen, from the camp at Cambridge, by Washing 
 ton, with orders to proceed across the country against 
 Quebec, by a route which had not been explored and was 
 little known. The party embarked at Newbury, steered 
 for the Kennebec, and ascended that river. But their 
 progress was impeded by rapids, by an almost impassable 
 wildernessi, by bad weather, and by want of provisions. 
 They separated into several divisions. After encounter 
 ing many difficulties, the last division, under Colonel Enos, 
 was unwilling to proceed, and returned to the camp at 
 Cambridge.* But the other divisions, under Arnold, 
 pressed forward amidst incredible hardships and priva 
 tions, and triumphed over obstacles nearly insuperable. 
 For a month they toiled through a rough, barren, and un 
 inhabited wilderness, without seeing a human habitation 
 or the face of an individual, except those of their own 
 party, and with very scanty provisions. At length, on the 
 Qth of November, Arnold, with his force much diminished, 
 arrived at Point Levi, opposite Quebec. 
 
 His appearance was not unexpected, for the Lieutenant- 
 
 * Enos, on his arrival at the camp, was put under arrest by Wash 
 ington's orders. He was afterward tried for his defection, and 
 acquitted. He then resigned his commission and retired to Ver 
 mont. Sparks, Writings of Washington. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 815 
 
 Governor had been for some time apprised of his march. 
 In the early part of his progress, Arnold had met an In 
 dian, to whom, although a stranger, he had imprudently 
 intrusted a letter to General Schuyler, under cover to a 
 friend in Quebec. The Indian, instead of faithfully deliv 
 ering the letter according to the directions which he had 
 received, carried it to the Lieutenant-Governor, who, in 
 order to prevent the Americans from passing the river, 
 immediately removed all the canoes from Point Levi, and 
 began to put the city in a posture of defense, which before 
 might easily have* -been surprised. On discovering the 
 arrival of Arnold at Point Levi, the British commander 
 stationed two vessels of war in the river to guard the pas 
 sage; and, at that interesting crisis, Colonel McLean, who 
 had retreated before Montgomery, arrived from the Sorel 
 with about 170 newly-raised troops to assist in the defense 
 of the place. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the vigilance of the British, on the 
 night of the I4th of November Arnold crossed the river 
 with 500 men, in thirty-five canoes, and landed unperceived 
 near the place where the brave and enterprising Wolfe 
 had landed about sixteen years before, thence named 
 Wolfe's Cove. He had provided scaling ladders, but 
 was unable to carry them over the river along with 
 his troops, and consequently was not in a condition to 
 make an immediate attempt on the town. Instead how 
 ever of concealing himself till he could bring forward his 
 scaling ladders, and then make a sudden and unexpected 
 attack by night, he marched part of his troops in military 
 parade in sight of the garrison, and so put the British fully 
 on their guard. He wished to summon them to surrender, 
 but they fired on his flag of truce and refused to hold any 
 intercourse with him. He therefore, on the igth of the 
 month, turned his back on Quebec and marched to Point 
 
816 WASHINGTON. 
 
 aux Trembles, about twenty miles above the city, where 
 General Montgomery, with the force under his command, 
 joined him on the ist of December. 
 
 Soon after Arnold's retreat, Governor Carleton arrived 
 in Quebec and made every exertion to put the place in a 
 state of defense. Having brought the scaling ladders 
 across the river, General Montgomery, with the whole of 
 the American force, appeared before Quebec on the 5th 
 of December (1775). The garrison was then more numerous 
 than the army which came to take the place. So greatly 
 was the American force reduced that it scarcely amounted 
 to 1,000 men, while General Carleton had about 1,500 
 soldiers, militia, seamen, and volunteers under his com 
 mand. 
 
 General Montgomery sent a flag of truce to summon the 
 garrison to surrender, but it was fired upon, as that of 
 Arnold had been. He therefore, in the depth of a Cana 
 dian winter, and in the most intense cold, erected batteries; 
 but his artillery was too light to make any impression on 
 the fortifications. He now determined to storm the town, 
 and the assault was made on the morning of the 3ist of 
 December (1775). 
 
 About 4 o'clock in the morning, in the midst of a violent 
 storm of snow, two feints and two real attacks were simul 
 taneously made. The real attacks were conducted by 
 Montgomery and Arnold. Montgomery, advancing at 
 the head of about 200 men, fell by the first discharge of 
 grapeshot from the works. Several of his best officers 
 being killed, his division retreated. Arnold, at the head 
 of about 300 men, in a different quarter, maintained a fierce 
 and obstinate conflict for some time; but was at last 
 wounded and repulsed. The death of Montgomery was 
 the subject of much regret, as he had been universally 
 loved and esteemed. On assembling after the assault, the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 817 
 
 Americans could not muster many more than 400 effective 
 men, who chose Arnold their commander, and, in the hope 
 of receiving reinforcements, resolved to remain in the 
 vicinity of Quebec. 
 
 Carleton, the Governor, whether from policy or human 
 ity, treated the prisoners with kindness. 
 
 The Americans were not ignorant of their own great in 
 feriority in point of numbers to the garrison, and were 
 not without apprehension of being attacked; but, although 
 the garrison was three times more numerous than the 
 blockading army, yet it was of such a mixed and precarious 
 nature that Carleton did not deem it prudent to march 
 out against the enemy. 
 
 A small reinforcement from Massachusetts reached the 
 American camp, and all the troops that could be spared 
 from Montreal marched to join their countrymen before 
 Quebec; but the month of February (1776) was far ad 
 vanced before the army amounted to 960 men. Arnold 
 however resumed the siege, but his artillery was inade 
 quate to the undertaking and made no impression on the 
 works. Although unsuccessful against the town, he de 
 feated a body of Canadians who advanced to relieve it. 
 
 When the Americans entered the province many of the 
 inhabitants were well disposed toward them, but by their 
 ill-behavior they forfeited the good-will and provoked the 
 hostility of the Canadians. They compelled the people, 
 at the point of the bayonet, to furnish them with articles 
 below the current prices; gave illegal or unsigned certifi 
 cates for goods which they had received, and, in conse 
 quence, many of the certificates were rejected by the quar 
 termaster-general; they made promises and did not per 
 form them; and they insulted and abused the people when 
 they demanded payment of their just debts. By such un 
 worthy conduct they alienated the affections of the Cana- 
 52 
 
818 - WASHINGTON. 
 
 dians, who considered Congress as bankrupt, and their 
 army as a band of plunderers. 
 
 On hearing of such scandalous misconduct, Congress 
 ordered justice to be done to the Canadians, and the strict 
 est military discipline to be observed. But in Canada 
 the tide of popular sentiment and feeling was turned 
 against the Americans, who, by their dishonorable prac 
 tices, had awakened a spirit of indignation and hostility, 
 which all the policy of Governor Carleton had been unable 
 to excite. 
 
 While the American army lay before Quebec the troops 
 caught the smallpox from a woman who had been a nurse 
 in a hospital of the city, and the loathsome disease spread 
 rapidly among them. In order to mitigate the ravages of 
 this destructive malady, many of the men inoculated them 
 selves, regardless of orders to the contrary. The rein 
 forcements which were daily arriving had recourse to the 
 same practice, and so general was the infection that, on 
 the ist of May (1776), although the army amounted to 
 2,000 men, not more than 900 were fit for duty. In this 
 diseased state of the troops, medicines and everything 
 necessary for the sick were wanting. The men were also 
 scattered for want of barracks. Major-General Thomas, 
 who had been appointed to the command of the American 
 army in Canada, arrived in camp on the ist of May. He 
 found the troops enfeebled by disease, ill-supplied with 
 provisions, and with only a small quantity of ammunition. 
 The river was opening below, and he was well aware that 
 as soon as ships could force their way through the ice the 
 garrison would be reinforced. On the 5th of May there 
 fore he resolved to retreat toward Montreal, and on the 
 evening of the same day he received certain information 
 that a British fleet was in the river. Next morning, some 
 of the ships, by great exertion and with much danger, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 819 
 
 pressed through the ice into the harbor, and landed some 
 troops. 
 
 The Americans were preparing to retire. General 
 Carleton marched out to attack them ; but, instead of wait 
 ing his approach, they made a precipitate retreat, leaving 
 behind them their sick, baggage, artillery, and military 
 stores. Many of those who were ill of the smallpox es 
 caped from the hospitals and concealed themselves in the 
 country, where they were kindly entertained by the Cana 
 dians till they recovered and were able to follow their 
 countrymen. General Carleton could not overtake the 
 American army, but he took about 100 sick prisoners, 
 whom he treated with his characteristic humanity. 
 
 The Americans retreated about forty-five miles and then 
 halted a few days, but afterward proceeded to Sorel in a 
 deplorable condition and encamped there. In this inter 
 val some reinforcements arrived, but General Thomas was 
 seized with the smallpox and died. He was succeeded in 
 the command by General Sullivan. 
 
 The British had several military posts in Upper Canada, 
 and the Americans established one at the Cedars, a point 
 of land which projects into the St. Lawrence about forty 
 miles above Montreal. Captain Forster, who had marched 
 from Oswegatchie, appeared before this post with a com 
 pany of regulars and a considerable number of Indians, 
 and the American commanding officer surrendered the 
 place after a short resistance. An American party of 
 about 100 men, under Major Sherburne, left Montreal to 
 assist their countrymen at the Cedars, but as they ap 
 proached that place, on the day after the surrender, and 
 ignorant of that event, they were suddenly and unexpect 
 edly attacked by a body of Indians and Canadians. After 
 defending themselves for some time, the Americans were 
 
820 WASHINGTON. 
 
 overpowered, and many of them fell under the tomahawks 
 of the Indians. The rest were made prisoners. 
 
 Arnold, who in the month of January had been raised 
 to the rank of brigadier-general, and who then commanded 
 at Montreal, was desirous of recovering the Cedars and 
 of relieving the prisoners there; and for these purposes 
 marched toward that place, at the head of about 800 men. 
 But, on his approach, Captain Forster gave him notice 
 that unless he agreed to a cartel, which had already been 
 signed by Major Sherburne and some other officers, the 
 Indians would put all the prisoners to death. In these 
 circumstances, Arnold reluctantly signed the cartel and 
 retired. Congress long hesitated and delayed to sanction 
 this agreement. 
 
 Before the end of May the British force in Canada was 
 greatly increased; and, including the German mercenaries, 
 was estimated at 13,000 men. That force was widely dis 
 persed, but Three Rivers, about ninety miles above Quebec 
 and as much below Montreal, was the general point of 
 rendezvous. A considerable detachment, under General 
 Frazer, had already arrived there. That detachment Gen 
 eral Sullivan wished to surprise, and appointed General 
 Thompson to command the troops in the expedition sent 
 out for that purpose. The enterprise failed; Thompson 
 was made prisoner and his detachment dispersed, but with 
 out any great loss. 
 
 The royal military and naval forces having been col 
 lected at Three Rivers, a long village so named from its 
 contiguity to a river which empties itself into the St. Law 
 rence by three mouths, advanced by land and water toward 
 the Sorel. General Sullivan had retreated up that river, 
 and General Burgoyne, who had left Boston and joined 
 Carleton, was ordered cautiously to pursue him. On the 
 1 5th of June (1776), General Arnold quitted Montreal, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 821 
 
 crossed the river at Longueille, marched on Chamblee, 
 and conducted the army to Crown Point, with little loss 
 in the retreat. Thus terminated the invasion of Canada, 
 in which the American army endured great hardships and 
 sustained considerable loss, without any apparent advan 
 tage to the cause in which it was engaged. 
 
 It is certain nevertheless that Washington acted with 
 his usual good judgment in sending out the expedition 
 under Arnold. It came very near capturing Quebec, and 
 only failed under a combination of unfortunate circum 
 stances, against the occurrence of which no human fore 
 sight could provide. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 WASHINGTON EXPELS THE BRITISH FROM BOSTON. 
 
 1775-1776. 
 
 CONSIDERING the strength of the British army in 
 Boston, it might be matter of surprise that Gen 
 eral Gage had made no serious attack upon the 
 besieging army; but his experience of the valor and de 
 termination of the colonists, as well as of the formidable 
 mode of warfare adopted in the battles of Lexington and 
 Bunker Hill, had taught him to respect them as soldiers. 
 Writing to Lord Dartmouth, he says : " The trials we 
 have had show the rebels are not the despicable rabble too 
 many have supposed them to be, and I find it owing to a 
 military spirit encouraged among them for a few years 
 past, joined with an uncommon degree of zeal and enthu 
 siasm, that they are otherwise." 
 
 Gage was desirous of occupying New York, but would 
 not venture to evacuate Boston without express orders 
 from the government. He therefore determined to winter 
 in Boston, and began to make preparations for occupying 
 the houses in the town as barracks for the soldiery. 
 
 While this was going forward he received a summons 
 from the government commanding his return to England 
 (September 26, 1775), " in order to give His Majesty exact 
 information of everything that it may be necessary to pre 
 pare, as early as possible, for the operations of the next 
 year, and to suggest to His Majesty such matters in rela- 
 
 (822) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 823 
 
 tion thereto as his knowledge and experience of the ser 
 vice enabled him to furnish." 
 
 In replying to Lord Dartmouth, October 1st, General 
 Gage recommended the measure, which the ministry 
 adopted in the ensuing year, of abandoning New England 
 and occupying New York. " I am of opinion," he wrote, 
 " that no offensive operations can be carried on to advan 
 tage from Boston. On the supposition of a certainty of 
 driving the rebels from their intrenchments, no advantage 
 would be gained but reputation; victory could not be im 
 proved, through the want of every necessary to march 
 into the country. The loss of men would probably be 
 great, and the rebels be as numerous in a few days as 
 before their defeat; besides, the country is remarkably 
 strong and adapted to their way of fighting." 
 
 General Gage now prepared to depart for England, ex 
 pecting to return after the King and the ministry should 
 have obtained the " exact information " which they so 
 much desired, and in which they had, sooth to say, been 
 woefully deficient ever since the controversy began. His 
 departure was attended with the usual formalities, such 
 as a fulsomely flattering address from the council, prais 
 ing him for all the virtues which he did not possess; and 
 another from the loyal inhabitants, a little more " reserved 
 in its indorsement of his proceedings." Gage, in his re 
 plies, charged all the troubles of the people on designing, 
 ambitious leaders, who had " erected a tyranny upon the 
 most free, happy, and lenient government." He embarked 
 on the loth of October (1775) for England, and soon found 
 that his services in America for the future would be dis 
 pensed with.* His successor, General Howe,f was an 
 
 * Frothingham, " Siege of Boston." 
 
 t Howe was a brother to Viscount Howe, killed at Ticonderoga 
 in 1758; and also of Lord Howe, the admiral. 
 
824 WASHINGTON. 
 
 abler officer and a more popular man. His views respect 
 ing the military operations to be pursued coincided how 
 ever with those of his predecessor. Writing to Lord 
 Dartmouth, October Qth, he says, " that the opening of 
 the campaign from this quarter would be attended with 
 great hazard, as well from the strength as from the in 
 trenched position the Americans had taken." He recom 
 mended an evacuation of Boston, and desired reinforce 
 ments to arrive early in the spring. 
 
 Meantime Washington, having no knowledge of the 
 enemy's design to remain inactive and to go into winter 
 quarters without attempting offensive operations, was im 
 patient for action. He was prevented however from any 
 attempt on the town by his want of powder. Only small 
 quantities could be collected and in no proportion to the 
 demand. Apprehensive that the enemy might discover 
 this deficiency and attack and disperse his army, he re 
 sorted to a variety of expedients to conceal his situation. 
 His own officers even were not aware how little powder 
 was in store. The proposal to surprise the enemy was 
 nevertheless entertained by him, and referred to a council 
 of war, as early as September. It was induced by com 
 plaints among the people of the inactivity of the army. 
 The eyes of all were fixed on Washington, and it was very 
 unreasonably expected that he would, by a bold exertion, 
 free the town of Boston from the British troops. The 
 dangerous situation of public affairs led him to conceal 
 the real scarcity of arms and ammunition, and with that 
 magnanimity which is characteristic of great minds, to 
 suffer his character to be assailed rather than vindicate 
 himself by exposing his many wants. There were not 
 wanting persons who, judging from the superior numbers 
 of men in the American army, boldly asserted that, if the 
 Commander-in-Chief were not desirous of prolonging his 
 
BARON DE KALB INTRODUCING LAFAYETTE TO SILAS DEANE. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 825 
 
 importance at the head of an army, he might by a vigorous 
 exertion gain possession of Boston. Such suggestions 
 were reported and believed by many, while they were un- 
 contradicted by the General, who chose to risk his fame 
 rather than expose his army and his country. 
 
 In the following extract from his letter to the President 
 of Congress, of September 21 (1775), he refers to the pro 
 posed attack as well as to the destitute condition of the 
 army: 
 
 " The state of inactivity in which this army has lain for 
 some time by no means corresponds with my wishes to 
 relieve my country, by some decisive stroke, from the 
 heavy expense its subsistence must create. After fre 
 quently reconnoitering the situation of the enemy in the 
 town of Boston, collecting all possible intelligence, and 
 digesting the whole, a surprise did not appear to me 
 wholly impracticable, though hazardous. I communi 
 cated it to the general officers some days before I called 
 them to a council, that they might be prepared with their 
 opinions. The result I have the honor of inclosing. I 
 cannot say that I have wholly laid it aside; but new events 
 may occasion new measures. Of this I hope the honor 
 able Congress can need no assurance that there is not 
 a man in America who more earnestly wishes such a ter 
 mination of the campaign as to make the army no longer 
 necessary. 
 
 " It gives me great pain to be obliged to solicit the at 
 tention of the honorable Congress to the state of this 
 army, in terms which imply the slightest apprehension of 
 being neglected. But my situation is inexpressibly dis 
 tressing; to see the winter fast approaching upon a naked 
 army; the time of their service within a few weeks of ex 
 piring, and no provision yet made for such important 
 events. Added to these, the military chest is totally ex- 
 
826 WASHINGTON. 
 
 hausted ; the paymaster has not a single dollar in hand ; 
 the commissary-general assures me he has strained his 
 credit for the subsistence of the army to the utmost. The 
 quartermaster-general is precisely in the same situation, 
 and the greater part of the troops are in a state not far 
 from mutiny, upon the deduction from their stated allow 
 ance. I know not to whom I am to impute this failure, 
 but I am of opinion, if the evil is not immediately remedied, 
 and more punctually observed in future, the army must 
 absolutely break up. I hoped I had so fully expressed 
 myself on this subject (both by letter and to those mem 
 bers of the Congress who honored the camp with a visit), 
 that no disappointment could possibly happen; I there 
 fore hourly expected advice from the paymaster that he 
 had received a fresh supply, in addition to the $172,000 
 delivered him in August; and thought myself warranted 
 to assure the public creditors that in a few days they 
 should be satisfied. But the delay has brought matters 
 to such a crisis as admits of no further uncertain expecta 
 tion. I have therefore sent off this express, with orders 
 to make all possible dispatch. It is my most earnest re 
 quest that he may be returned with all possible expedition, 
 unless the honorable Congress have already forwarded 
 what is so indispensably necessary." 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Warren, Speaker of the Massachu 
 setts Assembly, we find a still more graphic picture of 
 suffering. In this communication he says: 
 
 " I promised the gentlemen who did me the honor to 
 call upon me yesterday, by order of your House, that I 
 would inquire of the quartermaster-general, and let them 
 know to-day, what quantity of wood and hay were neces 
 sary to supply this army through the winter. I accord 
 ingly did so, and desired General Gates this morning to 
 inform you that it was his (the quartermaster's) opinion 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 827 
 
 it would require 10,000 cords of the first and 200 tons of 
 the latter to answer our demands; but the hurry, in which 
 we have been all day engaged, caused him to forget it, till 
 a fresh complaint brought it again to remembrance. 
 
 " When the committee were here yesterday I told them 
 I did not believe we had then more than four days* stock 
 of wood beforehand. I little thought that we had scarce 
 four hours*, and that the different regiments were upon 
 the point of cutting each other's throats for a few stand 
 ing locusts near their encampments to dress their victuals 
 with. This however is the fact; and, unless some expedi 
 ent is adopted by your honorable body to draw more teams 
 into the service, or the quartermaster-general is empow 
 ered to impress them, this army (if there comes a spell of 
 rainy and cold weather) must inevitably disperse, the con 
 sequences of which need no animadversions of mine. 
 
 " It has been a matter of great grief to me to see so 
 many valuable plantations of trees destroyed. I endeav 
 ored (whilst there appeared a possibility of restraining it) 
 to prevent the practice; but it is out of my power to do it. 
 From fences to forest trees, and from forest trees to fruit 
 trees, is a natural advance to houses, which must next 
 follow. This is not all; the distress of the soldiers in the 
 article of wood will, I fear, have an unhappy influence upon 
 their enlisting again. In short, sir, if I did not apprehend 
 every evil that can result from the want of these two cap 
 ital articles, wood especially, I would not be so importu 
 nate. My anxiety on this head must plead my excuse. 
 At the same time I assure you that, with great respect and 
 esteem, I am, sir, your most obedient servant." 
 
 . Washington's humanity and courtesy are finely illus 
 trated by an incident which took place in October, 1775. 
 Two armed vessels, sent to intercept two brigantines, un 
 derstood to be bound from England to Quebec witb arms 
 
828 WASHINGTON. 
 
 and ammunition, failed in that object, but attacked St. 
 John's, plundered the inhabitants, and brought off several 
 prisoners. On their being brought to the camp at Cam 
 bridge, Washington severely reprimanded the captors, 
 set the prisoners at liberty, treated them with the utmost 
 kindness, restored the plundered property, and sent them 
 to their homes. The acting Governor of St. John's, who 
 was one of the prisoners, expressed the liveliest gratitude 
 to Washington for the kind treatment received from him. 
 As the year (1775) drew near a close, Washington found 
 himself embarrassed with a new and very serious difficulty. 
 It had become necessary to form a new army. The term 
 of service of the Connecticut and Rhode Island troops 
 would expire on the 1st of December, and that of the re 
 mainder of the army at the end of that month. Congress 
 had had the matter under consideration, and a committee, 
 consisting of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Harrison, 
 repaired to headquarters at Cambridge (October 18, 1775), 
 and there, in conjunction with Washington, made arrange 
 ments for organizing, regulating, and supporting the con 
 tinental army. It was presumed that the spirit which 
 had hitherto operated on the yeomanry of the country 
 would induce most of the same individuals to engage for 
 another twelvemonth, but on experiment it was found 
 that much of their military ardor had already evaporated. 
 The first impulse of passion, and the novelty of the scene, 
 had brought many to the field who had great objections 
 against continuing in the military line. They found that 
 to be soldiers required sacrifices of which, when they as 
 sumed that character, they had no idea. So unacquainted 
 were the bulk of the people with the mode of carrying on 
 modern war that many of them flew to arms with the de 
 lusive expectation of settling the whole dispute by a few 
 decisive and immediate engagements. Experience soon 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 829 
 
 taught them that to risk life in open fighting was but a 
 part of the soldier's duty. 
 
 The plan of organization proposed by Washington to 
 the committee of Congress was adopted. It was to be 
 twice as large as that of the enemy in Boston, and to con 
 sist of twenty-six regiments of eight companies each, be 
 sides riflemen and artillery, the whole amounting to 20,372 
 men. The term of service was to be for one year an 
 arrangement which, as will be seen, was a source of em 
 barrassment which interfered with Washington's opera 
 tions very seriously. But such was the jealousy of mili 
 tary power among the members of Congress and the peo 
 ple, that this system of short enlistments was persisted in 
 throughout the war. 
 
 The committee of Congress remaining some time in 
 Cambridge, Washington embraced the opportunity of con 
 ferring freely with them and learning what reliance could 
 be placed on the efficient support of Congress in his future 
 operations. This was more satisfactory than the written 
 correspondence which he had hitherto maintained with the 
 Congress, and he was enabled by personal intercourse 
 with the committee to express his own views frankly and 
 freely. All the proceedings of the committee were, on 
 their return, approved by Congress. 
 
 The readiest means of obtaining supplies for the army 
 was the fitting out of armed vessels for intercepting those 
 sent from England for the enemy in Boston. Congress 
 had hitherto made no provision for a navy, and Washing 
 ton took on himself the responsibility of creating one. It 
 was on a small scale indeed, but we should ever remem 
 ber that to the Father of his Country is due the honor of 
 founding the proud and glorious navy of the United States. 
 
 He had no instructions from Congress on the subject, 
 but the public welfare demanded immediate action, and 
 
830 WASHINGTON. 
 
 he did not hesitate to take the necessary measures. He 
 caused vessels to be procured in Salem, Beverly, Marble- 
 head, and Plymouth, fitted out and manned by officers 
 and sailors from the army. And he gave to the captains 
 instructions to cruise against such vessels as were found 
 in the service of the enemy, and seize all such as were 
 laden with soldiers, arms, ammunition, or provisions. In 
 a short time six armed schooners were under sail and 
 cruising off the coast of New England. 
 
 One of these schooners, the Lee, commanded by Cap 
 tain Manly, was particularly successful. On the 2Qth of 
 November (1775) she took the brig Nancy, an ordnance 
 vessel from Woolwich, containing a large brass mortar, 
 several pieces of brass cannon, a large quantity of arms 
 and ammunition, with all manner of tools, utensils, and 
 machines, necessary for camps and artillery. Had Con 
 gress sent an order for supplies they could not have made 
 out a list of articles more suitable to Washington's situ 
 ation than what was thus providentially thrown into his 
 hands. 
 
 In about nine days after, three ships, with various stores 
 for the British army, and a brig from Antigua with rum, 
 were taken by Captain Manly. Before five days more had 
 elapsed, several other storeships were captured. By these 
 means the distresses of the British troops in Boston were 
 increased and supplies for the continental army were pro 
 cured. Naval captures, being unexpected, were matter 
 of triumph to the Americans and of surprise to the British. 
 The latter scarcely believed that the former would oppose 
 them by land with a regular army, but never suspected 
 that a people so unfurnished as they were with many things 
 necessary for arming vessels would presume to attempt 
 anything on the water. A spirit of enterprise, invigo 
 rated by patriotic zeal, prompted the hardy New England- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 831 
 
 men to undertake the hazardous business, and their suc 
 cess encouraged them to proceed. Before the close of 
 the year (1775), Congress determined to build five vessels 
 of thirty-two guns, five of twenty-eight, and three of 
 twenty-four.* While the Americans were fitting out 
 
 * Under date of May 8, 1902, Hon. Arthur D. Osborn, of New 
 Haven, Conn., made an address in that city on "Armed Vessels of 
 Connecticut During the Revolutionary War," in which he said: 
 
 " The more the history of our modest little State is studied, the 
 more those who love Connecticut as the home of their ancestors 
 will find in that history to stimulate their interest and gratify their 
 pride. We. cannot realize in the midst of our abundance with what 
 slender resources our forefathers engaged in the Revolutionary 
 War. In place of the complex machinery which produces for us 
 such astonishing results with lightning speed, they had only the 
 slow handiwork of craftsmen, dependent largely for their tools and 
 materials on the mother country. And yet when the Revolutionary 
 struggle .commenced, the peaceful waters of Long Island Sound 
 even then bore the beginnings of that mighty commerce which now 
 passes through it, exceeding in volume and value all that enters 
 New York harbor from foreign ports. The hardy men who peopled 
 its Connecticut shores had already learned the arts of ship building 
 and navigation, and they fitted out, manned, and equipped a fleet of 
 armed vessels very early in the war. Their number was constantly 
 increased until the Record shows a list of 180 vessels, carrying 
 1,380 guns and more than 6,000 men. This is the statement in the 
 Revolutionary Record of the Naval Service of Connecticut, com 
 piled from the list prepared by Lieutenant, afterward Rear-Ad 
 miral, George F. Emmons. This list does not include all the vessels 
 which were furnished by Connecticut, but it is surprisingly large. 
 
 " Before the outbreak of the Revolution, New England had 
 created a considerable commerce with European countries, with 
 the West Indies, and along the coast, and the vessels, with the 
 crews engaged in it, became the privateers and war vessels referred 
 to by Admiral Emmons. Long Island Sound and especially New 
 London afforded them harbors for rendezvous and refuge, and it 
 is very likely that the attacks which they made upon British com 
 merce instigated the expeditions along the coast of the Sound, 
 which effected the burning of Fairfax. Norwalk, New London, 
 and the capture of New Haven. 
 
832 WASHINGTON. 
 
 armed vessels, and before they had made any captures, an 
 event took place which would have disposed a less deter 
 mined people to desist from provoking the vengeance of 
 the British navy. 
 
 " There were three classes of these vessels. First, the privateers 
 which have already been referred to. The privateers carried from 
 two to twenty guns and crews numbering from 25 to 100, and in 
 a few cases 150 men. The guns were mostly six and twelve- 
 pounders, with a few twenty-four pounders and some smaller guns. 
 The vessels were from less than 100 to 250 tons. 
 
 " In the second class were included the vessels built by the State 
 of Connecticut. In July, 1775, the General Assembly ordered two 
 vessels to be bought and fitted for cruising. These were the 
 ' Minerva ' and the ' Spy.' In December, 1775, the General 
 Assembly ordered a war vessel built, which was completed in May, 
 1776, and named the ' Defence ' and rigged as a brig. She cruised 
 off Boston under the command of Captain Harding, where she 
 captured, after a spirited engagement, two transports with 210 
 soldiers on board, and the next day another transport with 112 
 soldiers. She was afterward chased into New London by two 
 frigates. In 1777, she came under the command of Captain Samuel 
 Smedley. 
 
 " The largest State vessel of Connecticut was the ' Oliver Crom 
 well,' of twenty guns, built at Saybrook in 1776. 
 
 " In the third class were the vessels built in the State under the 
 orders of the Continental Congress. In 1775 the Continental Con 
 gress ordered a number of war vessels to be built; three to carry 
 twenty-four guns, five twenty-eight guns, and five thirty-two guns. 
 One of these was assigned to Connecticut and was built at 
 Chatham, on the Connecticut river. She was named the ' Trum- 
 bull ' and carried twenty-eight guns. Capt. Dudley Saltonstall was 
 appointed to command her and afterward Capt. James Nicholson. 
 
 "Another vessel assigned to Connecticut was the thirty-six-gun 
 ship * Confederacy/ which was built on the Thames river, near 
 Norwich. 
 
 " The havoc which these vessels made with the British merchant 
 marine created consternation among their owners and brought 
 loud remonstrances to the ears of the British ministry. All these 
 vessels, the privateers, the State vessels, and the United States 
 ships, were officered and manned by Connecticut men." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 833 
 
 This was the burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Me.), 
 which was brought about by a previous incident on the 
 coast of Massachusetts. 
 
 The British naval forces were frequently engaged in de 
 stroying the armed American vessels which Washington 
 had fitted out, as we have just seen, for cruisers. At 
 Gloucester the Falcon sloop-of-war, having chased an 
 American vessel into the harbor, dispatched three boats, 
 with about forty men, to bring her off, when the party 
 were so warmly received by the militia, who had collected 
 on the shore, that the captain thought it necessary to send 
 a reinforcement and to commence cannonading the town. 
 A very smart action ensued, which was kept up for several 
 hours, but resulted in the complete defeat of the assail 
 ants, leaving upward of thirty prisoners in the hands of the 
 Americans. 
 
 This repulse excited the British to deeds of revenge 
 upon several of the defenseless towns on the coast, and 
 to declare that many of them should be reduced to ashes, 
 unless the inhabitants consented to an unconditional com 
 pliance with all their demands. The burning of Falmouth 
 seems to have been a consequence of this determination. 
 
 In compliance with a resolution of the Provincial Con 
 gress to prevent Tories from carrying out their effect, the 
 inhabitants of Falmouth had obstructed the loading of a 
 mast ship. The destruction of the town was therefore 
 determined on, as an example of vindictive punishment. 
 Captain Mowat, detached for that purpose with armed 
 vessels* by Admiral Graves, arrived off the place on the 
 
 *The force consisted of a sixty-four, a twenty-gun ship, two 
 sloops of eighteen guns, two transports, and 600 men. They took 
 two mortars, four howitzers, and other artillery a pretty formid 
 able apparatus for setting fire to a small seaport village. The 
 recent conflict at Gloucester had taught the enemy a lesson. 
 53 
 
834 WASHINGTON. 
 
 evening of the I7th of October (1775), and gave notice to 
 the inhabitants that he would allow them two hours " to 
 remove the human species." 
 
 Upon being solicited to afford some explanation of this 
 extraordinary summons, he replied that he had orders to 
 set on fire all the seaport towns from Boston to Halifax, 
 and that he supposed New York was already in ashes. 
 He could dispense with his orders, he said, on no terms 
 but the compliance of the inhabitants to deliver up their 
 arms and ammunition, and thejr sending on board a sup 
 ply of provisions, and four of the principal persons of the 
 town as hostages that they should engage not to unite 
 with their countrymen in any kind of opposition to Brit 
 ain; and he assured them that, on a refusal of these con 
 ditions, he should lay the town in ashes within three hours. 
 Unprepared for the attack, the inhabitants, by entreaty, 
 obtained the suspension of an answer till the morning, 
 and employed this interval in removing their families and 
 effects. 
 
 The next day Captain Mowat commenced a furious can 
 nonade and bombardment, and a great number of people 
 standing on the heights, were spectators of the conflagra 
 tion, which reduced many of them to penury and despair. 
 More than 400 houses and stores were burnt. Newport, 
 R. L, being in a very exposed situation and threatened 
 with a similar attack, was compelled to stipulate for a 
 weekly supply to avert it. 
 
 An event of considerable importance occurred in Octo 
 ber, which occasioned much surprise and speculation. It 
 was the defection of Dr. Benjamin Church, who had long 
 sustained a high reputation as a patriot and son of liberty. 
 He had for some time been a member of the House of 
 Representatives of Massachusetts, and had been appointed 
 surgeon-general and director of the military hospitals at 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 835 
 
 Cambridge. This gentleman was detected in a traitorous 
 correspondence with the enemy in Boston. A letter in 
 cipher, written by him, was intrusted to the care of a 
 female, with whom he was Well acquainted, to be con 
 veyed to Boston. On examination the woman absolutely 
 refused to reveal the name of the writer till she was terri 
 fied by threats of severe punishment, when she named 
 Dr. Church. He was greatly agitated and confounded,, 
 manifested marks of guilt, and made no attempt to vindi 
 cate himself. But after the letter was deciphered, and 
 he had taken time to reflect, he used all his powers of per 
 suasion to make it appear that the letter contained no in 
 formation that would injure the American cause; and 
 made a solemn appeal to heaven that it was written for 
 the purpose of procuring some important intelligence from 
 the enemy. He was tried, convicted, and expelled from 
 the House of Representatives, and Congress afterward 
 resolved, " that he be closely confined in some secure jail 
 in Connecticut, without the use of pen, ink, or paper; and 
 that no person be allowed to converse with him, except 
 in the presence and hearing of a magistrate, or the sheriff 
 of the county." He was finally permitted to depart from 
 the country. He embarked for the West Indies; the ves 
 sel foundered at sea and all were lost.* 
 
 A skirmish occurred at Lechmere's Point on the 9th 
 of November (1775), to which Washington refers in the 
 following extract from a letter to Congress of the nth, 
 in which his situation and that of the army is feelingly 
 described. 
 
 " The trouble I have in the arrangement of the army is 
 really inconceivable. Many of the officers sent in their 
 names to serve in expectation of promotion; others stood 
 aloof, to see what advantage they could make for them- 
 
 *Thacher, "Military Journal." 
 
836 WASHINGTON. 
 
 selves; whilst a number who had declined have again sent 
 in their names to serve. So great has the confusion aris 
 ing from these and many other perplexing circumstances 
 been that I found it absolutely impossible to fix this very 
 interesting business exactly on the plan resolved on in the 
 conference, though I have kept up to the spirit of it as 
 near as the nature and necessity of the case would admit. 
 The difficulty 'with the soldiers is as great, indeed more 
 so, if possible, than with the officers. They will not enlist 
 until they know their colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, 
 and captain ; so that it was necessary to fix the officers the 
 first thing, which is at last in some manner done, and I 
 have given out enlisting orders. 
 
 " You, sir, can much easier judge than I can express the 
 anxiety of mind I must labor under on the occasion, 
 especially at this time, when we may expect the enemy 
 will begin to act on the arrival of their reinforcements, 
 part of which is already come and the remainder daily 
 dropping in. 
 
 " I have other distresses of a very alarming nature. 
 The arms of our soldiery are so exceedingly bad that I 
 assure you, sir, I cannot place a proper confidence in them. 
 Our powder is wasting fast, notwithstanding the strictest 
 care, economy, and attention are paid to it. The long 
 series of wet weather which we have had renders the 
 greater part of what has been served out to the men of 
 no use. Yesterday I had a proof of it, as a part of the 
 enemy, about 400 or 500, taking the advantage of a high 
 tide, landed at Lechmere's Point; we were alarmed, and 
 of course ordered every man to examine his cartouch-box, 
 when the melancholy truth appeared; and we were obliged 
 to furnish the greater part of them with fresh ammunition. 
 
 "The damage done at the Point was the taking of a 
 .man, who watched a few horses and cows; ten of the latter 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 837 
 
 were carried off. Colonel Thompson marched down with 
 his regiment of riflemen and was joined by Colonel Wood- 
 bridge, with a part of his and a part of Patterson's regi 
 ment, who gallantly waded through the water and soon 
 obliged the enemy to embark under cover of a man-of-war, 
 a floating battery, and the fire of a battery on Charlestown 
 Neck. We have two of our men dangerously wounded 
 by grapeshot from the man-of-war, and by a flag sent out 
 this day we are informed the enemy lost two of their men." 
 
 General Putnam, who was on duty during the whole 
 siege of Boston, and who enjoyed in a high degree the 
 confidence of Washington, was intrusted with the bold 
 undertaking of fortifying Cobble Hill, afterward called 
 Barrell's Farm. It is the beautiful eminence which forms 
 the site of the McLean Hospital. Here Putnam, with a 
 strong detachment of the army, broke ground on the night 
 of the 22d of November (1775), without the least annoy 
 ance from the enemy, whose works at Bunker Hill were 
 very near. 
 
 Next day General Heath followed with another detach 
 ment to complete the works. The enemy were expected 
 to sally out and attack the intrenching party, and Colonel 
 Bond's regiment and the picket guard on Prospect Hill 
 were ordered to support General Heath. But General 
 Howe adhered to his policy of inaction till the works were 
 completed. It was considered at the time to be the most 
 perfect piece of fortification constructed by the Americans 
 during the siege, and " on the day of its completion was 
 named Putnam's Impregnable Fortress."* 
 
 Washington, knowing the weakness and destitution of 
 his army in comparison with that of the enemy, consid 
 ered his position at this time as extremely critical. " Our 
 situation," he writes, November 28 (1775), "is truly 
 * Frothingham, " Siege of Boston." 
 
838 WASHINGTON. 
 
 alarming; and of this General Howe is well apprised, it 
 being the common topic of conversation with the people 
 who left Boston last Friday. No doubt when he is rein 
 forced he will avail himself of the information." 
 
 Washington thus describes the works in addition to 
 those at Cobble Hill, which were erected in November: 
 " I have caused two half-moon batteries to be thrown up 
 for occasional use, between Lechmere's Point and the 
 mouth of Cambridge river, and another work at the causey 
 going to Lechmere's Point, to command that pass and 
 rake the little rivulet that runs by it to Patterson's Fort. 
 Besides these I have been and marked out three places 
 between Sewall's Point and our lines on Roxbury Neck, 
 for works to be thrown up, and occasionally manned, in 
 case of a sortie when the bay gets froze." 
 
 In December, 1775, notwithstanding the severe cold 
 and a heavy fall of snow, Washington caused strong forti 
 fications to be erected at Lechmere's Point. The enemy 
 did not fire upon the intrenching party. Washington de 
 clares (December I5th) that he was unable to account for 
 their silence, unless it were to lull him into a fatal security 
 to favor some attempt they might have in view for the last 
 of the month. " If this be their drift," he writes, " they 
 deceive themselves, for, if possible, it has increased my 
 vigilance, and induced me to fortify all the avenues to our 
 camp, to guard against any approaches on the ice." 
 
 The expectation of an assault from the enemy was now 
 general in the army, but the works at Lechmere's Point 
 nevertheless went on. A causeway over the marsh lead 
 ing to this point was completed on the i6th of December, 
 and on the I7th General Putnam, with a detachment of 
 300 men, broke ground near the water side, within half a 
 mile of a British man-of-war. A few shots from Cobble 
 Hill drove one of the enemy's ships down the river below 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 839 
 
 the ferry. General Heath, with a second detachment, 
 going to complete the works begun by Putnam, was as 
 sailed by a cannonade from the enemy's batteries, which 
 lasted several days. 
 
 Washington and his staff visited the spot during this 
 time, and the work was persisted in until it was completed, 
 when it was considered as commanding Boston, so that 
 in the event of the bombardment of the town being deemed 
 advisable, it could easily have been effected from this point. 
 " It will be possible," wrote Colonel Moylan, " to bombard 
 Boston from Lechmere's Point. Give us powder and au 
 thority (for that, you know, we want, as well as the other). 
 I say, give us these, and Boston can be set in flames."* 
 
 On the nth of December, Mrs. Washington arrived at 
 Cambridge, accompanied by her son, John Parke Custis, 
 and his wife. She received a very hospitable welcome 
 from the most distinguished families in Massachusetts. 
 Her presence was, on this as well as on all similar subse 
 quent occasions, hailed with enthusiasm by the army. 
 Her present visit seems to have been induced by an ap 
 prehension of danger from the exposed situation of Mount 
 Vernon, accessible as it was to British ships of war. She 
 had no fears on that head herself, and whatever may have 
 prompted her visit to the camp, the practice was continued 
 through the subsequent campaigns of the war. In the 
 winter time she was thus enabled to enjoy the society of 
 her illustrious husband, and to cheer him in the midst of 
 his labors and cares. Whenever active operations were 
 to commence in the spring, she would return to Mount 
 Vernon. On the present occasion, she remained at head 
 quarters till after the close of the siege. 
 
 Early in December (1775) the Connecticut troops, 
 availing themselves of the expiration of their term of en- 
 
 * Frothingham, " Siege of Boston." 
 
840 WASHINGTON. 
 
 listment, left the army. They had demanded a bounty as 
 a condition of re-enlistment, and when it was refused be 
 came mutinous; "and deaf to the entreaties of their offi 
 cers, and regardless of the contempt with which their own 
 government threatened to treat them on their return, they 
 had resolved to quit the lines on the 6th of December." 
 At a convention, composed of a committee of the General 
 Court of Massachusetts and officers of the army, it was 
 decided to call in 3,000 of the Massachusetts minute-men, 
 and 2,000 from New Hampshire, to man the lines, which 
 would be fearfully -weakened by their defection. They 
 were to arrive on the loth of December. 
 
 The Connecticut men did not wait for the coming in of 
 the militia, but went off, many of them as early as the ist 
 of December. " Several got away," says Washington, 
 " with their arms and ammunition." 
 
 Their places however were speedily filled by the rein 
 forcements from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, who 
 promptly and cheerfully complied with the call for their 
 services. By the i8th of December this arrangement was 
 completed. We may vainly attempt to imagine the in 
 tense anxiety Washington must have felt during the time 
 which intervened between the departure of the old soldiers 
 and the arrival of the fresh reinforcements. His lines, at 
 many important points, were literally deserted. In writ 
 ing to the President of Congress however, dm ing this very 
 interval (December n [1775]), he refers to it, among 
 other matters, as a thing of no very great consequence: 
 " The information I received," he writes, " that the enemy 
 intended spreading the smallpox amongst us, I could not 
 suppose them capable of. I now must give some credit. 
 to it, as it has made its appearance on several of those 
 who last came out of Boston. Every necessary precau 
 tion has been taken to prevent its being communicated 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 841 
 
 to this army; and the General Court will take care that 
 it does not spread through the country. 
 
 " I have not heard that any more troops are arrived at 
 Boston, which is a lucky circumstance, as the Connecticut 
 troops, I now find, are for the most part gone off. The 
 houses in Boston are lessening every day; they are pulled 
 down, either for firewood or to prevent the effects of fire, 
 should we attempt a bombardment or an attack upon the 
 town. Cobble Hill is strongly fortified, without any in 
 terruption from the enemy." 
 
 The reinforcements of Massachusetts and New Hamp 
 shire minute-men was only a temporary resource. The 
 main thing which occupied the attention of Washington 
 at this time was the obtaining of recruits for the Con 
 tinental army. He was always of the opinion that little 
 dependence could be placed upon militia in time of action, 
 and this opinion was confirmed by many incidents of the 
 war. He must therefore have been greatly chagrined 
 and disappointed at the slow progress made in enlisting 
 recruits for the continental service. The causes for this 
 tardiness were sufficiently apparent. 
 
 The period of patriotic enthusiasm had, in some 
 measure, passed away; numbers of officers consented con 
 ditionally to remain in the army, and many made no 
 communication on the subject. Immediate decision was 
 necessary; and in new orders, the Commander-in-Chief 
 solemnly called upon them for a direct and unconditional 
 answer to his inquiry. " The times," he observed, " and 
 the importance of the great cause we are engaged in, allow 
 no room for hesitation and delay. When life, liberty, and 
 property are at stake; when our country is in danger of 
 being a melancholy sense of bloodshed and desolation; 
 when our towns are laid in ashes; innocent women and 
 children driven from their peaceful habitations, exposed 
 
843 WASHINGTON. 
 
 to the rigors of an inclement season, to depend, perhaps, 
 on the hand of charity for support; when calamities like 
 these are staring us in the face, and a brutal enemy are 
 threatening us, and everything we hold dear, with destruc 
 tion from foreign troops, it little becomes the character of 
 a soldier to shrink from danger, and condition for new 
 terms. It is the General's intention to indulge both officers 
 and soldiers who compose the new army, with furloughs 
 for a reasonable time, but this must be done in such a 
 manner as not to injure the service, or weaken the army 
 too much at once." 
 
 The troops were assured that clothes, on reasonable 
 terms, were provided " for those brave soldiers who in 
 tended to continue in the army another year." It was 
 with great difficulty the arrangement of officers had been 
 completed, so that recruiting orders might be issued. 
 Recruiting officers were directed to " be careful not to 
 enlist any persons suspected of being unfriendly to the 
 liberties of America, or any abandoned vagabond, to whom 
 all causes and countries are equal, and alike indifferent. 
 The rights of mankind, and the freedom of America, would 
 have numbers sufficient to support them without resorting 
 to such wretched assistance. Let those who wish to put 
 shackles upon freemen fill their ranks with, and place 
 their confidence in, such miscreants." To aid the cause, 
 popular songs were composed and circulated through the 
 camp, calculated to inspire the soldiers with the love of 
 country, and to induce them to engage anew in the public 
 service. But unfortunately the army at this time was 
 badly supplied with clothing, provisions, and fuel, and 
 the consequent sufferings of the soldiers operating upon 
 their strong desire to visit their homes prevented their 
 enlistment in the expected numbers. 
 
 On the last day of December (1775), when the first term 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 843 
 
 of service expired, only 9,650 men had enlisted for the 
 new army, and many of these were of necessity permitted 
 to be absent on furlough. It was found impossible to 
 retain the old troops a single day after their time expired. 
 Washington, as we have seen, had called upon the govern 
 ments of the neighboring provinces for detachments of 
 militia to man his lines, and he had been highly gratified 
 by the prompt compliance with his demand. In a letter 
 to Congress he wrote: " The militia that are come in, both 
 from this province and New Hampshire, are very fine- 
 looking men, and go through their duty with great alacrity. 
 The dispatch made, both by the people marching, and by 
 the legislative powers in complying with my requisition, 
 has given me infinite satisfaction." 
 
 In the space of time between that of disbanding the old 
 army and of an effective force from the new recruits, the 
 lines were often in a defenseless state; General Howe must 
 have known the fact, but he still adhered to his fixed 
 policy of inaction till the return of spring should permit 
 the removal of the theater of war to New York. Besides 
 these motives of policy, and probably positive instructions 
 from the ministry, as reasons for remaining quiet, Howe 
 had probably retained a very vivid recollection of Gen 
 eral Prescott's defense of the little redoubt on Bunker's 
 Hill, and did not deem it worth while to assail works 
 erected under the auspices of Prescott, Putnam, and 
 Washington, extending from Charlesto-wn to Roxbury, 
 some twelve miles. 
 
 " It is not," says General Washington in his communi 
 cations to Congress, " in the pages of history to furnish a 
 case like ours. To maintain a post, within musket-shot 
 of the enemy, for six months together, without ammunition, 
 and at the same time, to disband one army and recruit 
 another, within that distance of twenty odd British regi- 
 
844 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ments, is more probably than ever was attempted. But 
 if we succeed as well in the last, as we have heretofore 
 in the first, I shall think it the most fortunate event of 
 my whole life." 
 
 To defend the American lines with an incompetent num 
 ber of troops, with defective arms, and without an 
 adequate supply of ammunition; to disband one army 
 and recruit another, in the face of 11,000 British soldiers, 
 will be viewed as a hazardous measure, and will be sup 
 posed, with the organization and discipline of the men, to 
 have employed every active power of the General ; yet this 
 did not satisfy his mind. He knew that Congress with 
 solicitude contemplated more decisive measures, and that 
 the country looked for events of greater magnitude. The 
 public was ignorant of his actual situation, and conceived 
 his means for offensive operations to be much greater 
 than in reality they were; and from him expected the 
 capture or expulsion of the British army in Boston. He 
 felt the importance of securing the confidence of his 
 countrymen by some brilliant action, and was fully sensi 
 ble that his own reputation was liable to suffer, if he 
 confined himself to measures of defense. To publish to 
 his anxious country, in his vindication, the state of his 
 army would be to acquaint the enemy with his weakness, 
 and to involve his destruction. 
 
 The firmness and patriotism of Washington were dis 
 played in making the good of his country an object of 
 higher consideration than the applause of those who were 
 incapable of forming a correct opinion of the propriety 
 of his measures. On this and many other occasions during 
 the war, he withstood the voice of the populace, rejected 
 the entreaties of the sanguine, and refused to adopt the 
 plans of the rash, that he might ultimately secure the great 
 object of contention. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 845 
 
 While he resolutely rejected every measure that in his 
 calm and deliberate judgment he did not approve, he daily 
 pondered over the practicability of a successful attack 
 upon Boston. As a preparatory step, he had taken posses 
 sion of Cobble Hill and Lechmere's Point, and upon them 
 erected fortifications. These posts brought him within 
 half a mile of the enemy's works on Bunker's Hill; and 
 by his artillery, he drove the British floating batteries from 
 their stations in Charles river. He erected floating 
 batteries to watch the movements of his enemy, and to 
 aid in any offensive operations that circumstances might 
 warrant. He took the opinion of his general officers a 
 second time respecting the meditated attack; they again 
 unanimously gave their opinion in opposition to the 
 measure, and this opinion was immediately communicated 
 to Congress. Congress appeared still to favor the attempt, 
 and that an apprehension of danger to the town of Boston 
 might not have an undue influence upon the operations 
 of the army had resolved, in December (1775), "That if 
 General Washington and his council of war should be of 
 opinion that a successful attack might be made on the 
 troops in Boston, he should make it in any manner he 
 might think expedient, notwithstanding the town and 
 property therein might thereby be destroyed." 
 
 The inability of Washington to accomplish the great 
 object of the campaign repeatedly pointed out by Con 
 gress was a source of extreme mortification; but he in 
 dulged in the hope of success in some military operations 
 during the winter that would correspond with the high 
 expectations of his country. In his reply to the president 
 of Congress, on the reception of the resolution author 
 izing an attempt on the fortified posts in Boston, he 
 observed : " The resolution relative to the troops in 
 Boston, I beg the favor of you, sir, to assure Congress, 
 
84:6 WASHINGTON. 
 
 shall be attempted to be put in execution the first moment 
 I see a probability of success, and in such a way as a 
 council of officers shall think most likely to produce it; 
 but if this should not happen as soon as you may expect, 
 or my wishes prompt to, I request that Congress will be 
 pleased to revert to my situation, and do me the justice 
 to believe, that circumstances, and not want of inclina 
 tion, are the cause of delay." 
 
 Early in January (1776) he accordingly summoned a 
 council of war, at which Mr. John Adams, then a member 
 of Congress, and Mr. James Warren, president of the 
 Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, were present; in 
 which it was resolved : " That a vigorous attempt ought to 
 be made on the ministerial troops in Boston before they 
 can be reinforced in the spring, if the means can be pro 
 vided, and a favorable opportunity shall offer." It was 
 also advised: "That thirteen regiments of militia should 
 be asked for from Massachusetts and the neighboring 
 -Colonies, in order to put them in a condition to make the 
 attempt the militia to assemble the ist of February, and 
 to continue, if necessary, until the ist of March." The 
 reinforcements thus obtained amounted to between four 
 and five thousand men; but thus far the winter proved 
 unusually mild, and the waters about Boston were not 
 frozen. The General in his official communication to the 
 National Legislature says: " Congress, in my last, would 
 discover my motives for strengthening these lines with the 
 militia; but whether, as the weather turns out exceedingly 
 .mild, insomuch as to promise nothing favorable from ice, 
 and there is no appearance of powder, I shall be able to 
 attempt anything decisive, time only can determine. No 
 person on earth wishes more earnestly to destroy the 
 nest in Boston than I do; no person would be willing to 
 go greater lengths than I shall to accomplish it, if it shall 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 847 
 
 be thought advisable; but if we have neither powder to 
 bombard with, nor ice to pass on, we shall be in no better 
 situation than we have been in all the year. We shall be 
 worse, because their works are stronger." 
 
 While anxiously waiting to embrace any favorable op 
 portunity that might present to annoy the enemy, Wash 
 ington seriously meditated upon the importance of estab 
 lishing a permanent army. His experience enabled him 
 to anticipate the evils that must ensue at the expiration 
 of the period for which the present troops were engaged, 
 and he bent the whole force of his mind to induce Congress 
 seasonably to adopt measures to prevent them. In a 
 letter to the President of Congress, dated February 9 
 (1776), he entered thus fully into the subject: 
 
 " The disadvantages attending the limited enlistment 
 of troops are too apparent to those who are eye-witnesses 
 of them, to render any animadversions necessary; but to 
 gentlemen at a distance, whose attention is engrossed by 
 a thousand important objects, the case may be otherwise. 
 
 " That this cause precipitated the fate of the brave, and 
 much to be lamented, General Montgomery, and brought 
 on the defeat which followed thereupon, I have not the 
 most distant doubt; for had he not been apprehensive of 
 the troops leaving him at so important a crisis, but con 
 tinued the blockade of Quebec, a capitulation (from the 
 best accounts I have been able to collect) must inevitably 
 have followed. And that we were not at one time obliged 
 to dispute these lines, under disadvantageous circum 
 stances (proceeding from the same cause, to wit, the 
 troops disbanding themselves before the militia could be 
 got in), is to me a matter of wonder and astonishment, 
 and proves that General Howe was either unacquainted 
 with our situation, or restrained by his instructions from 
 
848 WASHINGTON. 
 
 putting anything to a hazard till his reinforcements should 
 arrive. 
 
 " The instance of General Montgomery (I mention it 
 because it is a striking one; for a number of others might 
 be adduced) proves, that instead of having men to take 
 advantage of circumstances, you are in a manner com 
 pelled, right or wrong, to make circumstances yield to a 
 secondary consideration. Since the ist of December 
 (1775) I have been devising every means in my power 
 to secure these encampments ;^and though I am sensible 
 that we never have, since that period, been able to act upon 
 the offensive, and at times not in a condition to defend, 
 yet the cost of marching home one set of men, bringing 
 in another, the havoc and waste occasioned by the first, 
 the repairs necessary for the second, with a thousand in 
 cidental charges and inconveniences which have arisen, 
 and which it is scarce possible to recollect or describe, 
 amount to near as much as the keeping up a respectable 
 body of troops the whole time, ready for any emergency, 
 would have done. To this may be added that you never 
 can have a well-disciplined army. 
 
 " To bring men well acquainted with the duties of a 
 soldier requires time. To bring them under proper disci 
 pline and subordination not only requires time, but is a 
 work of great difficulty; and in this army, where there is 
 so little distinction between the officers and soldiers, re 
 quires an uncommon degree of attention. To expect then 
 the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits as 
 from veteran soldiers is to expect what never did, and 
 perhaps never will, happen. Men who are familiarized to 
 danger meet it without shrinking; whereas those who 
 have never seen service often apprehend danger where no 
 danger is. Three things prompt men to a regular dis 
 charge of their duty in time of action natural bravery, 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 849 
 
 hope of reward, and -fear of punishment. The two first 
 are common to the untutored and the disciplined soldier, 
 but the latter most obviously distinguishes the one from 
 the other. A coward, when taught to believe that if he 
 breaks his ranks and abandons his colors he will be pun 
 ished with death by his own party, will take his chance 
 against the enemy; but a man who thinks little of the one, 
 and is fearful of the other, acts from present feelings, re 
 gardless of consequences. 
 
 "Again, men of a day's standing will not look forward; 
 and from experience, we find that as the time approaches 
 for their discharge, they grow careless of their arms, am 
 munition, camp utensils, etc. Nay, even the barracks 
 themselves lay us under additional expense in providing 
 for every fresh set, when we find it next to impossible to 
 procure such articles as are absolutely necessary in the 
 first instance. To this may be added the seasoning which 
 new recruits must have to a camp and the loss conse 
 quent thereupon. But this is not all; men engage for a 
 short, limited time only, have the officers too much in 
 their power; for to obtain a degree of popularity, in order 
 to induce a second enlistment, a kind of familiarity takes 
 place, which brings on a relaxation of discipline, unlicensed 
 furloughs, and other indulgences, incompatible with order 
 and good government; by which means the latter part 
 of the time for which the soldier was engaged is spent 
 in undoing what you were laboring to inculcate in the 
 first. 
 
 "To go into an enumeration of all the evils we have 
 experienced in this late great change of the army, and the 
 expenses incidental to it to say nothing of the hazard 
 we have run, and must run, between the discharging of 
 one army and the enlistment of another, unless an enor 
 mous expense of militia be incurred would greatly ex- 
 54 
 
850 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ceed the bounds of a letter. What I have already taken 
 the liberty of saying will serve to convey a general idea 
 of the matter; and therefore I shall, with all due reference, 
 take the liberty to give it as my opinion, that if the Con 
 gress have any reason to believe that there will be occasion 
 for troops another year, and consequently of another en 
 listment, they would save money and have infinitely better 
 troops, if they were, even at a bounty of twenty, thirty, 
 or more dollars, to engage the men already enlisted till 
 January next (1777), and such others as may be wanted 
 to complete the establishment, for and during the war. 
 I will not undertake to say that the men can be had 
 upon these terms; but I am satisfied that it will never do 
 to let the matter alone, as it was last year, till the time of 
 service was near expiring. The hazard is too great in the 
 first place; in the next, the trouble and perplexity of dis 
 banding one army, and raising another at the same in 
 stant, and in such a critical situation as the last was, is 
 scarcely in the power of words to describe, and such as 
 no man who has experienced it once will ever undergo 
 again." 
 
 Unhappily, the reasons which first induced Congress to 
 adopt the plan of short enlistments still had influence 
 on that body, and on many of the general officers of the 
 army; nor were they convinced of their error but by the 
 most distressing experience. The ice now became suffi 
 ciently strong for General Washington to march his forces 
 upon it to Boston; and he was himself inclined to risk a 
 general assault upon the British posts, although he had 
 not power to make any extensive use of his artillery; but 
 his general officers in council voted against the attempt, 
 with whose decision he reluctantly acquiesced. In his 
 communication of their opinion to Congress, he observed : 
 " Perhaps the irksomeness of my situation may have given 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 851 
 
 different ideas to me, from those which influence the 
 judgment of the gentlemen whom I consulted, and might 
 have inclined me to put more hazard than was consistent 
 with prudence. If it had this effect I am not sensible of it, 
 as I endeavored to give the subject all the consideration a 
 matter of such importance required. True it is, and I 
 cannot help acknowledging, that I have many disagree 
 able sensations on account of my situation; for to have the 
 eyes of the whole continent fixed on me, with anxious 
 expectation of hearing of some great event, and to be re 
 strained in every military operation for the want of the 
 necessary means to carry it on, is not very pleasing, 
 especially as the means used to conceal my weakness from 
 the enemy conceal it also from my friends, and add to 
 their wonder." 
 
 Late in February (1776) the stock of powder was con 
 siderably increased, and the regular army amounted to 
 14,000 men, which was reinforced by 6,000 of the Massa 
 chusetts militia. Colonel Knox had volunteered to trans 
 port the cannon which had been taken by Allen and 
 Arnold at Ticonderoga to Boston, and with incredible 
 difficulty had at last accomplished his object; so that 
 Washington now found himself comparatively well sup 
 plied with heavy ordnance. 
 
 The part of the harbor of Boston contiguous to Cam 
 bridge and Roxbury was frozen, which greatly facilitated 
 the passage; and for crossing the water that remained 
 up to the walls of Boston, a great number of boats had 
 been provided. In addition to this, two floating batteries 
 were stationed at the mouth of the river of Cambridge. 
 It was known that the garrison suffered severely for the 
 want of provisions, and that it was greatly enfeebled by 
 fatigues and maladies. Washington had, besides, the 
 greatest confidence in the valor and constancy of his sol- 
 
852 WASHINGTON. 
 
 diers. He accordingly assembled all the generals, and 
 proposed to them his plan of attack. Ward and Gates 
 opposed it, alleging that without incurring so great a 
 risk the enemy might be forced to evacuate Boston by 
 occupying the heights of Dorchester, which command the 
 entire city. Washington did not conceal his dissatisfac 
 tion at this opposition, but he was constrained to acquiesce 
 in the opinion of the majority. It was resolved therefore 
 to take the position of the heights. At the suggestion of 
 Generals Ward, Thomas, and- Spencer, a great quantity 
 of fascines and gabions had been prepared for this expe 
 dition. 
 
 The Americans, says Botta,* in order to occupy the 
 attention of the enemy in another part, erected strong 
 batteries upon the shore at Cobb's Hill, at Lechmere's 
 Point, at Phipp's Farm, and at Lamb's Dam, near Rox- 
 bury. They opened a terrible fire in the night of the 2d 
 of March (1776); the bombs, at every instant, fell into 
 the city. The garrison was incessantly employed in ex 
 tinguishing the flames of the houses in combustion, and 
 in all the different services that are necessary in such 
 circumstances. During this time, the Americans prepared 
 themselves with ardor, or rather with joy, to take posses 
 sion of the heights. Companies of militia arrived from 
 all parts to reinforce the army. The night of the 4th of 
 March (1776) was selected for the expedition; the chiefs 
 hoped that the recollection of the events of the 5th of 
 March (1770), when the first blood had been shed in Bos 
 ton by the English, would inflame with new ardor, and a 
 thirst of vengeance, those spirits already so resolute in 
 their cause. 
 
 Accordingly in the evening of the 4th, all the arrange 
 ments being made, the Americans proceeded in profound 
 
 * Botta, " History of the War of Independence," vol. II, p. 36. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 853 
 
 silence toward the peninsula of Dorchester. The obscurity 
 of the night was propitious, and the wind favorable, since 
 it could not bear to the enemy the little noise which it was 
 impossible to avoid. The frost had rendered the roads 
 easy. The batteries of Phipp's Farm, and those of Rox- 
 bury, incessantly fulminated with a stupendous roar. 
 
 Eight hundred men composed the van guard; it was 
 followed by carriages filled with utensils of intrenchment, 
 and 1,200 pioneers led by General Thomas. In the rear 
 guard were 300 carts of fascines, of gabions, and bundles 
 of hay, destined to cover the flank of the troops in the 
 passage of the isthmus of Dorchester, which being very 
 low, was exposed to be raked on both sides by the artillery 
 of the English vessels. 
 
 All succeeded perfectly; the Americans arrived upon the 
 heights, not only without being molested, but even with 
 out being perceived by the enemy. 
 
 They set themselves to work with an activity so prodi 
 gious, that by 10 o'clock at night, they had already con 
 structed two forts, in condition to shelter them from small- 
 arms and grape-shot; one upon the height nearest to the 
 city, and the other upon that which looks toward Castle 
 Island. The day appeared; but it prevented not the 
 provincials from continuing their works, without any 
 movement being made on the part of the garrison. At 
 length, when the haze of the morning was entirely dissi 
 pated, the English discovered with extreme surprise the 
 new fortifications of the Americans. 
 
 The English admiral having examined them declared 
 that if the enemy was not dislodged from this position, 
 his vessels could no longer remain in the harbor without 
 the most imminent hazard of total destruction. The city 
 itself was exposed to be demolished to its foundations 
 at the pleasure of the provincials. The communication 
 
854 WASHINGTON. 
 
 also between the troops that guarded the isthmus of 
 Boston, and those within the town-, became extremely 
 difficult and dangerous. The artillery of the Americans 
 battered the strand, whence the English would have to 
 embark in case of retreat. There was no other choice 
 therefore left them, but either to drive the colonists from 
 this station by dint of force, or to evacuate the city alto 
 gether. 
 
 General Howe decided for the attack and made his dis 
 positions accordingly. Washington on his part, having 
 perceived the design, prepared himself to repel it. The 
 intrenchments were perfected with diligence; the militia 
 were assembled from the neighboring towns, and signals 
 were concerted to be given upon all the eminences which 
 form a sort of cincture about all the shore of Boston, from 
 Roxbury to Mystic river, in order to transmit intelligence 
 and orders with rapidity from one point to the other. 
 
 Washington exhorted his soldiers to bear in mind the 
 5th of March (1770). Nor did he restrict himself to 
 defensive measures; he thought also of the means of falling 
 himself upon the enemy, if during or after the battle any 
 favorable occasion should present itself. If the besieged, 
 as he hoped, should experience a total defeat in the assault 
 of Dorchester, his intention was to embark from Cam 
 bridge 4,000 chosen men, who rapidly crossing the arm 
 of the sea should take advantage of the tumult and con 
 fusion, to attempt the assault of the town. General Sulli 
 van commanded the first division; General Greene, the 
 second. An attack was expected like that of Charlestown, 
 and a battle like that of Breed's Hill. General Howe 
 ordered ladders to be prepared to scale the works of the 
 Americans. He directed Lord Percy to embark at the 
 head of a considerable corps, and to land upon the flats 
 near the point opposite Castle Island. The Americans, 
 excited by the remembrance of the anniversary, and of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 855 
 
 the battle of Breed's Hill, and by the continual exhortations 
 of their chiefs, expected them, not only without fear, but 
 with alacrity; but the tide ebbed, and the wind blew with 
 such violence, that the passage over became impossible. 
 General Howe was compelled to defer the attack to early 
 the following morning. A tempest arose during the night, 
 and when the day dawned, the sea was still excessively 
 agitated. A violent rain came to increase the obstacles; 
 the English general kept himself quiet. But the Americans 
 made profit of this delay; they erected a third redoubt and 
 completed the other works. Colonel Mifflin had prepared 
 a great number of hogsheads, full of stones and sand, in 
 order to roll them upon the enemy, when he should 
 march up to the assault, to break his ranks and throw him 
 into confusion, which might smocth the way to his defeat. 
 Having diligently surveyed all these dispositions, the 
 English persuaded themselves that the contemplated en 
 terprise offered difficulties almost insurmountable. They 
 reflected that a repulse, or even a victory so sanguinary 
 as that of Breed's Hill, would expose to a jeopardy too 
 serious the English interests in America. Even in the case 
 of success, it was to be considered that the garrison was 
 not sufficiently numerous, to be able, without hazard, to 
 keep possession of the peninsula of Dorchester, having 
 already to guard not only the city, but the peninsula of 
 Charlestown. The battle was rather necessary, and vic 
 tory desirable, to save the reputation of the royal arms, 
 than to decide the total event of things upon three shores. 
 The advantages therefore could not compensate the dan 
 gers. Besides, the port of Boston was far from being 
 perfectly accommodated to the future operations of the 
 army that was expected from England; and General Howe 
 himself had, some length of time before, received instruc 
 tions from Lord Dartmouth, one of the Secretaries of 
 
856 WASHINGTON. 
 
 State, to evacuate the city and to establish himself at New 
 York. 
 
 The want of a sufficient number of vessels had hitherto 
 prevented him from executing this order. Upon all these 
 considerations the English generals determined to aban 
 don Boston to the power of the provincials. 
 
 This retreat however presented great difficulties. One 
 hundred and fifty transports, great and small, appeared 
 scarcely adequate to the accommodation of 10,000 men, 
 the number to which the crews and the garrison amounted, 
 without comprehending such of the inhabitants, as having 
 shown themselves favorable to the royal cause, could not 
 with safety remain. The passage was long and difficult; 
 for with these emaciated and enfeebled troops, it could 
 not be attempted to operate any descent upon the coasts. 
 It was even believed to be scarcely possible to effect a 
 landing at New York, although the city was absolutely 
 without defense on the part of the sea. The surest course 
 appeared to be to gain the port of Halifax; but besides 
 the want of provisions, which was excessive, the season 
 was very unfavorable for this voyage, at all times dan 
 gerous. 
 
 The winds that prevailed then blew violently from the 
 northeast, and might drive the fleet off to the West Indies, 
 and the vessels were by no means stocked with provisions 
 for such a voyage. Besides, the territory of Halifax was 
 a sterile country, from which no resource could be ex 
 pected, and no provision could have been previously made 
 there, since the evacuation of Boston and retreat to Hali 
 fax were events not anticipated. Nor could the soldiers 
 perceive without discouragement that the necessity of 
 things impelled them toward the north, apprised, as they 
 were, that the future operations of the English army were 
 to take place in the provinces of the center, and even in 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 857 
 
 those of the south. But their generals had no longer the 
 liberty of choice. The Americans however being able by 
 the fire of their artillery to interpose the greatest obstacles 
 to the embarkation of the British troops, General Howe 
 deliberated upon the means of obviating this inconveni 
 ence. Having assembled the selectmen of Boston, he de 
 clared to them that the city being no longer of any use 
 to the King, he was resolved to abandon it, provided that 
 Washington would not oppose his departure. He pointed 
 to the combustible materials he had caused to be prepared 
 to set fire, in an instant, to the city, if the provincials 
 should molest him in any shape. He invited them to 
 reflect upon all the dangers which might result, for them 
 and their habitations, from a battle fought within the walls; 
 and he assured them that his personal intention was to 
 withdraw peaceably, if the Americans were disposed, on 
 their part, to act in the same manner. He exhorted them 
 therefore to repair to the presence of Washington, and 
 to inform him of what they had now heard. 
 
 The selectmen waited upon the American general, and 
 made him an affecting representation of the situation of 
 the city. It appears, from what followed, that he con 
 sented to the conditions demanded; but the articles of the 
 truce were not written. It has been pretended that one 
 of them was that the besieged should leave their muni 
 tions of war; this however cannot be affirmed with assur 
 ance. The munitions were indeed left; but it is not known 
 whether it was by convention, or from necessity. The 
 Americans remained quiet spectators of the retreat of the 
 English. But the city presented a melancholy spectacle; 
 notwithstanding the orders of General Howe, all was havoc 
 and confusion. Fifteen hundred loyalists, with their 
 families and their most valuable effects, hastened with, 
 infinite dejection of mind, to abandon a residence which 
 
858 WASHINGTON. 
 
 had been so dear to them, and where they had so long 
 enjoyed felicity. The fathers carrying burdens, the 
 mothers their children, ran weeping toward the ships; 
 the last salutations, the farewell embraces of those who 
 departed, and of those who remained, the sick, the 
 wounded, the aged infants, would have moved with 
 compassion the witnesses of their distress, if the care of 
 their own safety had not absorbed the attention of all. 
 
 The carts and beasts of burden were become the occa 
 sion of sharp disputes between the inhabitants who had 
 retained them, and the soldiers who wished to employ 
 them. The disorder was also increased by the animosity 
 that prevailed between the soldiers of the garrison and 
 those of the fleet; they reproached each other mutually, 
 as the authors of their common misfortune. With one 
 accord however they complained of the coldness and in 
 gratitude of their country, which seemed to have aban 
 doned, or rather to have forgotten, them upon these dis 
 tant shores, a prey to so much misery, and to so many 
 dangers. For since the month of October (1775) General 
 Howe had not received from England any order or intelli 
 gence whatever, which testified that the government still 
 existed and had not lost sight of the army in Boston. 
 
 Meanwhile a desperate band of soldiers and sailors took 
 advantage of the confusion to force doors and pillage the 
 houses and shops. They destroyed what they could not 
 carry away. The entire city was devoted to devastation, 
 and it was feared every moment the flames would break 
 out to consummate its destruction. 
 
 The 1 5th of March (1776) General Howe issued a proc 
 lamation forbidding every inhabitant to go out of his 
 house before n o'clock in the morning, in order not to 
 disturb the embarkation of the troops, which was to 
 have taken place on this day. But an east wind prevented 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 859 
 
 their departure; and to pass the time, they returned to 
 pillaging. In the meanwhile, the Americans had con 
 structed a redoubt upon the point of Nook's Hill, in the 
 peninsula of Dorchester, and having furnished it with 
 artillery, they entirely commanded the isthmus of Boston 
 and all the southern part of the town. It was even to be 
 feared that they would occupy Noddle's Island, and estab 
 lish batteries, which sweeping the surface of the water 
 across the harbor would have entirely interdicted the pas 
 sage to the ships and reduced the garrison to the necessity 
 of yielding at discretion. All delay became dangerous; 
 consequently the British troops and the loyalists began 
 to embark the I7th of March (1776) at I in the morning; 
 at 10, all were on board. The vessels were overladen 
 with men and baggage; provisions were scanty, confusion 
 was everywhere. The rear guard was scarcely out of the 
 city when Washington entered it on the other side, with 
 colors displayed, drums beating, and all the forms of vic 
 tory and triumph. He was received by the inhabitants 
 with every demonstration of gratitude and respect due to 
 a deliverer. Their joy broke forth with the more vivacity, 
 as their sufferings had been long and cruel. For more 
 than sixteen months they had endured hunger, thirst, cold, 
 and the outrages of an insolent soldiery, who deemed 
 them rebels. The most necessary articles of food were 
 risen to exorbitant prices. 
 
 Horse flesh was not refused by those who could procure 
 it. For want of fuel, the pews and benches of churches 
 were taken for this purpose; the counters and partitions 
 of warehouses were applied to the same use; and even 
 houses not inhabited were demolished for the sake of 
 the wood. The English left a great quantity of artillery 
 and munitions. Two hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, 
 of different caliber, were found in Boston, in Castle Island, 
 
860 WASHINGTON. 
 
 and in the intrenchments of Bunker's Hill, and the Neck. 
 The English had attempted, but with little success in 
 their haste, to destroy, or to spike these last pieces; others 
 had been thrown into the sea, but they were recovered. 
 There were found, besides, four mortars, a considerable 
 quantity of coal, of wheat, and of other grains, and 150 
 horses. 
 
 The embarkation of the British was attended with many 
 circumstances of distress and embarrassment. On the 
 departure of the royal army from Boston, a great number 
 of the inhabitants, attached to their sovereign, and afraid 
 of public resentment, chose to abandon their country. 
 From the great multitude to depart, there was no possi 
 bility of procuring purchasers for their furniture, neither 
 was there a sufficiency of vessels for its convenient trans 
 portation. Mutual jealousy subsisted between the army 
 and navy; each charging the other as the cause of some 
 part of their common distress. The army was full of dis 
 content. Reinforcements, though long promised, had not 
 arrived. Both officers and soldiers thought themselves 
 neglected. Five months had elapsed since they had re 
 ceived any advice of their destination. Wants and incon 
 veniences increased their ill-humor. Their intended voy 
 age to Halifax subjected them to great dangers. The 
 coast, at all times hazardous, was eminently so at that 
 tempestuous equinoctial season. They had reason to fear 
 they would be blown off to. the West Indies and without 
 a sufficient stock of provisions. They were also going to 
 a barren country. To add to their difficulties, this dan 
 gerous voyage when completed was directly so much out 
 of their way. Their business lay to the southward and 
 they were going northward. Under all these difficulties, 
 and with all these gloomy prospects, the fleet steered for 
 Halifax. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 861 
 
 Contrary to appearances, the voyage thither was both 
 short and prosperous. They remained there for some time 
 waiting for reinforcements and instructions from England. 
 When the royal fleet and army departed from Boston, 
 several ships were left behind for the protection of vessels 
 coming from England, but the American privateers were 
 so alert that they nevertheless made many prizes. Some 
 of the vessels which they captured were laden with arms 
 and warlike stores. Some transports with troops on board 
 were also taken. These had run into the harbor, not 
 knowing that the place was evacuated. 
 
 On taking possession of Boston, Washington found the 
 town in a much better condition than he had anticipated. 
 Some of the meaner wooden buildings had been pulled 
 down in order that the materials might be used for fuel. 
 The Old South Church, greatly reverenced by the in 
 habitants and used for public celebrations as well as for 
 worship, had been converted into a stable for cavalry 
 horses. Some other public buildings had suffered damage; 
 but the houses of the rich had been respected, the fur 
 niture and pictures remained in their old places, and 
 scarcely any wanton mischief had been done by the 
 soldiers. 
 
 The expulsion of the British from Boston was justly 
 regarded as an event of the utmost importance to the 
 cause of freedom. By relieving New England from the 
 immediate presence of the enemy, it enabled the people of 
 that portion of the country to contribute liberally in men 
 and money to the support of the war in the middle and 
 southern Colonies. It gave Washington the opportunity 
 of meeting the British at the point. chosen by them for 
 attack; and it inspirited the patriotic in every part of the 
 country. The promptness with which it had been effected, 
 when the proper time for action arrived, was felt to be 
 
862 WASHINGTON. 
 
 due to the able generalship of Washington; and all were 
 eager to congratulate and honor him. The Massachusetts 
 Council and House of Representatives complimented him 
 in a joint address, in which they expressed their good 
 wishes in the following words: " May you still go on 
 approved by heaven revered by all good men, and 
 dreaded by those tyrants, who claim their fellow-men as 
 their property." 
 
 The following is his reply: 
 
 " GENTLEMEN. I return you my most sincere and 
 hearty thanks for your polite address, and feel myself 
 called upon by every principle of gratitude to acknowledge 
 the honor you have done me in this testimonial of your 
 approbation of my appointment to the exalted station i 
 now fill, and what is more pleasing, of my conduct in dis 
 charging its important duties. 
 
 " When the councils of the British nation had formed 
 a plan for enslaving America and depriving her sons of 
 the most sacred and invaluable privileges against the 
 clearest remonstrances of the Constitution, of justice, and 
 of truth, and to execute their schemes, had appealed to the 
 sword, I esteemed it my duty to take a part in the con 
 test, and more especially on account of my being called 
 thereto by the unsolicited suffrages of the representatives 
 of a free people, wishing for no other reward than that 
 arising from a conscientious discharge of the important 
 trust, and that my services might contribute to the estab 
 lishment of freedom and peace upon a permanent founda 
 tion, and merit the applause of my countrymen and every 
 virtuous citizen. 
 
 " Your acknowledgment of my attention to the civil 
 Constitution of this Colony, whilst acting in the line of 
 my department, also demands my grateful thanks. A re- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 863 
 
 gard to every provincial institution, where not incompati 
 ble with the common interest, I hold a principle of duty 
 and of policy, and it shall ever form a part of my conduct. 
 Had I not learned this before, the happy experience of 
 the advantages resulting from a friendly intercourse with 
 your honorable body, their ready and willing concurrence 
 to aid and to counsel, whenever called upon in cases of 
 difficulty and emergency, would have taught me the use 
 ful lesson. 
 
 " That the metropolis of your Colony is now relieved 
 from the cruel and oppressive invasions of those who were 
 sent to erect the standard of lawless domination and to 
 trample on the rights of humanity, and is again open and 
 free for its rightful possessors, must give pleasure to 
 every virtuous and sympathetic heart; and its being ef 
 fected without blood of our soldiers and fellow-citizens 
 must be ascribed to the interposition of that Providence, 
 which has manifestly appeared in our behalf through the 
 whole of this important struggle, as well as to the measures 
 pursued for bringing about the happy event. 
 
 " May that Being, who is powerful to save, and in whose 
 hands is the fate of nations, look down with an eye of 
 tender pity and compassion upon the while of the united 
 Colonies; may he continue to smile upon their counsels 
 and arms, and crown them with success, whilst employed 
 in the cause of virtue and mankind. May this distressed 
 Colony and its capital, and every part of this wide-ex 
 tended continent, through his Divine favor, be restored to 
 more than former luster and once happy state, and have 
 peace, liberty, and safety secured upon a solid, permanent, 
 and lasting foundation." 
 
 Congress unanimously passed a vote of thanks to Wash 
 ington, appointed a special committee to communicate it 
 to him by letter, prepared by them and signed by the 
 
864 WASHINGTON. 
 
 president, and ordered a gold medal to be struck com 
 memorative of the occasion and in honor of him. 
 
 The committee of Congress appointed to prepare the 
 letter of thanks, and a device for the medal, were John 
 Adams, John Jay, and Stephen Hopkins. Mr. Adams 
 describes the circumstances that led to the appointment 
 of this committee in a private letter to Washington. " I 
 congratulate you," he writes, " as well as all the friends of 
 mankind, on the reduction of Boston; an event which 
 appeared to me of so great and decisive importance, that 
 the next morning after the arrival of the news, I did my 
 self the honor to move for the thanks of Congress to your 
 excellency, and that a medal of gold should be struck in 
 commemoration of it. Congress have been pleased to 
 appoint me, with two other gentlemen, to prepare a device. 
 I should be very happy to have your excellency's senti 
 ments concerning a proper one. I have the honor to be, 
 with very great respect, sir, your most obedient and affec 
 tionate servant." 
 
 The official letter from the Congress was in these words : 
 
 " To General Washington. 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, April 2, 1776. 
 
 " SIR. It gives me the most sensible pleasure to con 
 vey to you, by order of Congress, the only tribute which a 
 free people will ever consent to pay, the tribute of thanks 
 and gratitude to their friends and benefactors. The dis 
 interested and patriotic principles which led you to the 
 field have also led you to glory; and it affords no little 
 consolation to your countrymen to reflect that as a pe 
 culiar greatness of mind induced you to decline any com 
 pensation for serving them, except the pleasure of pro 
 moting their happiness, they may, without your permis- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 865 
 
 sion, bestow upon you the largest share of their affections 
 and esteem. 
 
 " Those pages in the annals of America will record 
 your title to a conspicuous place in the temple of fame, 
 which shall inform posterity that under your direction 
 an undisciplined band of husbandmen, in the course of a 
 few months, became soldiers; and that the desolation 
 meditated against the country by a brave army of veterans, 
 commanded by the most experienced generals, but em 
 ployed by bad men in the worst of causes, was by the 
 fortitude of your troops, and the address of their officers, 
 next to the kind interposition of Providence, confined for 
 near a year within such narrow limits, as scarcely to admit 
 more room than was necessary for the encampments and 
 fortifications they lately abandoned. Accept therefore, 
 sir, the thanks of the united Colonies, unanimously de 
 clared by their delegates to be due to you and the brave 
 officers and troops under your command; and be pleased 
 to communicate to them this distinguished mark of the 
 approbation of their country. The Congress have ordered 
 a golden medal adapted to the occasion to be struck, and 
 when finished to be presented to you. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of es 
 teem, sir, your most obedient and very humble servant, 
 
 " JOHN HANCOCK, President." 
 
 Washington's reply was as follows: 
 
 " To the President of Congress, 
 
 
 " NEW YORK, April 18, 1776. 
 
 " SIR. Permit me, through you, to convey to the 
 honorable Congress the sentiments of gratitude I feel for 
 the high honor they have done me in the public mark of 
 55 
 
866 WASHINGTON. 
 
 approbation contained in your favor of the 2d inst, 
 which came to hand last night. I beg you to assure them 
 that it will ever be my highest ambition to approve myself 
 a faithful servant of the public; and that to be in any 
 degree instrumental in procuring to my American brethren 
 a restitution of their just rights and privileges will con 
 stitute my chief happiness. 
 
 "Agreeably to your request, I have communicated in 
 general orders, to the officers and soldiers under my com 
 mand, the thanks of Congress for their good behavior in 
 the service; and I am happy in having such an opportunity 
 of doing justice to their merit. They were indeed at first 
 ' a band of undisciplined husbandmen; ' but it is, under God, 
 to their bravery and attention to their duty that I am in 
 debted for that success, which has procured me the only 
 reward I wish to receive, the affection and esteem of my 
 countrymen. The medal intended to be presented to me 
 by your honorable body, I shall carefully preserve as a 
 memorial of their regard. I beg leave to return you, sir, 
 my warmest thanks for the polite manner in which you 
 have been pleased to express their sentiments of my con 
 duct; and am, with sincere esteem and respect, sir, your 
 and their most obedient and most humble servant." 
 
 It was generally understood when Howe took his de 
 parture from Boston, that his immediate destination was 
 Halifax. But Washington suspected that his real design 
 was to go at once to New York. He therefore called for 
 2,000 militia from Connecticut, and 1,000 from New Jersey, 
 to aid the force already stationed there in defending the 
 city from the expected attack. On the i8th of March, he 
 sent off an additional force of near 6,000, under General 
 Heath, with the same object; and soon after the whole 
 army followed them, except five regiments left under the 
 command of General Ward for the defense of Boston. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 867 
 
 General Lee who had previously been in command at New 
 York, and had acted with great decision and efficiency in 
 checking Governor Tryon and the tories, and bringing 
 the force stationed there into a state of discipline, had been 
 appointed by Congress to take charge of the southern 
 department, in order to oppose the attempts of General 
 Clinton in that quarter. To supply his place, General 
 Putnam was appointed to the command of the greatly 
 augmented force now concentrated in New York. 
 
 Washington meantime remained in Boston waiting for 
 the actual departure of the British fleet, which had lingered 
 ten days in Nantasket Road before sailing for Halifax. 
 When satisfied that they had left the coast, he departed 
 for New York, where he arrived on the I3th of April.* 
 
 * Extracts from Washington's Official Reports of the Expulsion 
 of the British from Boston. 
 
 The following extracts from the official letters of Washington 
 to John Hancock, president of Congress, serve to explain the 
 motives of many of his movements directed to the expulsion of 
 the British army from Boston, and afford not only the best com 
 mentary on the history narrated in the text, but a lively description 
 of one of the most important and thrilling events of the war. 
 
 The following extract is from a letter, dated February 26, 1776:* 
 
 " We are making every necessary preparation for taking posses 
 sion of Dorchester Heights as soon as possible, with a view of 
 drawing the enemy out. How far our expectations may be an 
 swered, time only can determine; but I should think, if anything 
 will induce them to hazard an engagement, it will be our attempt 
 ing to fortify these heights; as, on that event's taking place, we 
 shall be able to command a great part of the town and almost the 
 whole harbor, and to make them rather disagreeable than other 
 wise, provided we can get a sufficient supply of what we greatly 
 want. 
 
 " Within these three or four days I have received sundry accounts 
 
 * "Official Letters to the Honorable Congress, written during the war between the 
 united Colonies and Great Britain, by his excellency, George Washington, Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Continental forces, now President of the United States. 
 Copied by special permission from the original papers preserved ia the office of the 
 Secretary of State, Philadelphia. London, 1795." 
 
868 WASHINGTON. 
 
 from Boston of such movements there (such as taking the mortars 
 from Bunker's Hill; the putting them, with several pieces of heavy 
 ordnance, on board of ship, with a quantity of bedding; the ships 
 all taking in water; the baking a large quantity of biscuit, etc.) 
 as to indicate an embarkation of the troops from thence. A Mr. 
 Ides, who came out yesterday, says that the inhabitants of the town 
 generally believe that they are about to remove either to New York 
 or Virginia, and that every vessel in the harbor, on Tuesday last, 
 was taken up for government's service, and two months' pay ad 
 vanced them. Whether they really intend to embark, or whether 
 the whole is a feint, is impossible for me to tell. However I have 
 thought it expedient to send an express to General Lee, to inform 
 him of it (in order that he may not be taken by surprise, if their 
 destination should be against New York), and continued him on 
 to you. If they do embark, I think the possessing themselves of 
 that place and of the North river is the object they have in view, 
 thereby securing the communication with Canada, and rendering 
 the intercourse between the northern and southern united Colonies 
 exceedingly precarious and difficult. To prevent them from effect 
 ing their plan is a matter of the highest importance, and will re 
 quire a large and respectable army and the most vigilant and 
 judicious exertions. 
 
 " I shall be as attentive to the enemy's motions as I can and 
 obtain all the intelligence in my power; and, if I find them embark, 
 shall, in the most expeditious manner, detach a part of the light 
 troops to New York, and repair thither myself if circumstances 
 shall require it. I shall be better able to judge what to do when 
 the matter happens. At present I can only say that I will do 
 everything that shall appear proper and necessary." 
 
 In the next letter to Hancock, March 7, 1776, he says: 
 " On the 26th ultimo I had the honor of addressing you and 
 then mentioned that we were making preparations for taking pos 
 session of Dorchester Heights. I now beg leave to inform you 
 that a council of general officers having determined a previous 
 bombardment and cannonade expedient and proper, in order to 
 harass the enemy and divert their attention from that quarter, on 
 Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights last, we carried them on 
 from our posts at Cobble Hill, Lechmere's Point, and Lamb's 
 Dam. Whether they did the enemy any considerable, and what, 
 injury, I have not yet heard, but have the pleasure to acquaint you 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 869 
 
 that they greatly facilitated our schemes, and would have been at 
 tended with success equal to our most sanguine expectations had 
 it not been for the unlucky bursting of two thirteen and three ten- 
 inch mortars, among which was the brass one taken in the ord 
 nance brig. To what cause to attribute this misfortune I know 
 not; whether to any defect in them, or to the inexperience of the 
 bombardiers. 
 
 " But to return; on Monday evening, as soon as our firing com 
 menced, a considerable detachment of our men, under the command 
 of Brigadier-General Thomas, crossed the neck and took posses 
 sion of the two hills without the least interruption or annoyance 
 from the enemy; and by their great activity and industry, before 
 the morning, advanced the works so far as to be secure against 
 their shot. They are now going on with such expedition that in 
 a little time I hope they will be complete and enable our troops 
 stationed there to make a vigorous and obstinate stand. During 
 the whole cannonade, which was incessant the two last nights, we 
 were fortunate enough to lose but two men; one, a lieutenant, by 
 a cannon-ball taking off his thigh; the other, a private, by the 
 explosion of a shell, which also slightly wounded four or five more. 
 
 " Our taking possession of Dorchester Heights is only prepara 
 tory to taking post on Nook's Hill and the points opposite to the 
 south end of Boston. It was absolutely necessary that they should 
 be previously fortified in order to cover and command them. As 
 soon as the works on the former are finished, measures will be 
 immediately adopted for securing the latter and making them as 
 strong and defensible as we can. Their contiguity to the enemy 
 will make them of much importance and of great service to us. 
 As mortars are essential and indispensably necessary for carrying 
 on our operations and for the prosecution of our plans, I have 
 applied to two furnaces to have some thirteen-inch ones cast with 
 all expedition imaginable, and am encouraged to hope, from the 
 accounts I have had, that they will be able to do it. When they 
 are done and a proper supply of powder obtained, I flatter myself, 
 from the posts we have just taken and are about to take, that it 
 will be in our power to force the ministerial troops to an attack, 
 or to dispose of them in some way that will be of advantage to us. 
 I think from these posts they will be so galled and annoyed that 
 they must either give us battle or quit their present possessions. 
 
870 WASHINGTON. 
 
 I am resolved that nothing on my part shall be wanting to effect 
 the one or the other. 
 
 " It having been the general opinion that the enemy would at 
 tempt to dislodge our people from the heights and force their works 
 as soon as they were discovered, which probably might have 
 brought on a general engagement, it was thought advisable that 
 the honorable council should be applied to to order in the militia 
 from the neighboring and adjacent towns. I wrote to them on the 
 subject, which they most readily complied with; and, in justice to 
 the militia, I cannot but inform you that they came in at the ap 
 pointed time and manifested the greatest alerness and determined 
 resolution to act like men engaged in the cause of freedom. 
 
 " When the enemy first discovered our works in the morning, 
 they seemed to be in great confusion and, from their movements, 
 to intend an attack. It is much to be wished that it had been 
 made. The event, I think, must have been fortunate, and nothing 
 less than success and victory on our side, as our officers and men 
 appeared impatient for the appeal and to possess the most ani 
 mated sentiments and determined resolution. On Tuesday evening 
 a considerable number of their troops embarked on board of their 
 transports and fell down to the castle, where part of them landed 
 before dark. One or two of the vessels got aground and were 
 fired at by our people with a field piece, but without any damage. 
 What was the design of this embarkation and landing, I have not 
 been able to learn. It would seem as if they meant an attack; for 
 it is most probable that, if they make one on our works at Dor 
 chester at this time, they will first go to the castle and come from 
 thence. If such was their design, a violent storm that night, which 
 lasted till 8 o'clock the next day, rendered the execution of it im 
 practicable. It carried one or two of their vessels ashore, which 
 they have since got off. 
 
 " In case the ministerial troops had made an attempt to dislodge 
 our men from Dorchester Heights, and the number detached upon 
 the occasion had been so great as to have afforded a probability 
 of a successful attack being made upon Boston, on a signal given 
 from Roxbury for that purpose, agreeably to a settled and con 
 certed plan, 4,000 chosen men, who were held in readiness, were 
 to have embarked at the mouth of Cambridge river in two divis 
 ions, the first under the command of Brigadier-General Sullivan, 
 the second under Brigadier-General Greene the whole to have 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 871 
 
 been commanded by Major-General Putnam. The first division 
 was to land at the powder-house and gain possession of Beacon 
 Hill and Mount Horam; the second, at Barton's Point, or a little 
 south of it, and, after securing that post, to join the other division 
 and force the enemy's gates and works at the Neck, for letting in 
 the Roxbury troops. Three floating batteries were to have pre 
 ceded and gone in front of the other boats and kept up a heavy 
 fire on that part of the town where our men were to land. 
 
 " How far our views would have succeeded had an opportunity 
 offered for attempting the execution, it is impossible for me to say. 
 Nothing less than an experiment could determine with precision. 
 The plan was thought to be well digested; and, as far as I could 
 judge from the cheerfulness and alacrity which distinguished the 
 officers and men who were to engage in the enterprise, I had 
 reason to hope for a favorable and happy issue." 
 
 On the next day but one (March pth), Washington's narrative 
 to President Hancock proceeds as follows: 
 
 " Yesterday evening, a Captain Irvine, who escaped from Boston 
 the night before with six of his crew, came to headquarters and 
 gave the following intelligence: ' That our bombardment and can 
 nonade caused a great deal of surprise and alarm in town; that the 
 cannon shot for the greatest part went through the houses; that 
 early on Tuesday morning, Admiral Shuldham, discovering the 
 works our people were throwing up on Dorchester Heights, imme 
 diately sent an express to General Howe, to inform him that it was 
 necessary they should be attacked and dislodged from thence, or 
 he would be under the necessity of withdrawing the ships from 
 the harbor, which were under his command; and, from 12 to 2 
 o'clock, about 3,000 men embarked on board the transports, which 
 fell down to the castle, with a design of landing on that part of 
 Dorchester next to it and attacking our works on the Heights at 
 5 o'clock next morning; that Lord Percy was appointed to com 
 mand; that it was generally believed the attempt would be made 
 had it not been for the violent storm which happened that night/ 
 
 " He further informs, ' that the army is preparing to leave Bos 
 ton, and that they will do it in a day or two.' 
 
 "The account given by Captain Irvine as to the embarkation 
 and their being about to leave the town, I believe true. There are 
 other circumstances corroborating, and it seems fully confirmed 
 by a paper signed by four of the selectmen of the town (a copy of 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 which I have the honor to inclose to you), which was brought out 
 yesterday evening by a flag, and delivered to Colonel Learned by 
 Major Bassett, of the Tenth Regiment, who desired it might be 
 delivered to me as soon as possible. I advised with such of the 
 general officers upon the occasion as I could immediately assem 
 ble; and we determined it right (as it was not addressed to me, 
 nor to any one else, nor authenticated by the signature of General 
 Howe, or any other act obliging him to a performance of the prom 
 ise mentioned on his part) that I should give it no answer; at the 
 same time that a letter should be returned, as going from Colonel 
 Learned, signifying his having laid it before me, with the reasons 
 assigned for not answering it. A- copy of this is sent. 
 
 " To-night I shall have a battery thrown up on Nook's Hill, 
 Dorchester Point, with a design of acting as circumstances may 
 require, it being judged advisable to prosecute our plans of forti 
 fication as we intended before this information from the selectmen 
 came. It being agreed on all hands that there is no possibility of 
 stopping them in case they determine to go, I shall order look 
 outs to be kept upon all the headlands to discover their movements 
 and course, and moreover direct Commodore Manly and his little 
 squadron to dog them, as well for the same purpose as for pick 
 ing up any of their vessels that may chance to depart from their 
 convoy. From their loading with such precipitancy, it is presum 
 able they will not be in the best condition for sea. 
 
 " If the ministerial troops evacuate the town and leave it stand 
 ing, I have thoughts of taking measures for fortifying the entrance 
 into the harbor, if it shall be thought proper, and the situation of 
 affairs will admit of it. Notwithstanding the report from Boston 
 that Halifax is the place of their destination, I have no doubt but 
 that they are going to the southward, and, I apprehend, to New 
 York. Many reasons lead to this opinion. It is in some measure 
 corroborated by their sending an express ship there, which, on 
 Wednesday week, got on shore and bilged at Cape Cod. The dis 
 patches, if written, were destroyed when she was boarded. She 
 had a parcel of coal and about 4,000 cannon shot, six carriage guns, 
 a swivel or two, and three barrels of powder. 
 
 " I shall hold the riflemen and other parts of our troops in readi 
 ness to march at a moment's warning, and govern my movements 
 by the events that happen, or such orders as I may receive from 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 873 
 
 Congress, which I beg may be ample and forwarded with all pos 
 sible expedition/' 
 
 Ten days after this letter (March 19, 1776), he announces to 
 Hancock the closing of this grand drama of the siege of Boston. 
 His narrative of the intervening events is more clear and vivid 
 than that of any of the historians of the time: 
 
 " It is with the greatest pleasure," he says, " I inform you that, 
 on Sunday last, the I7th inst., about 9 o'clock in the forenoon, 
 the ministerial army evacuated the town of Boston, and that the 
 forces of the united Colonies are now in actual possession thereof. 
 I beg leave to congratulate you, sir, and the Honorable Congress, 
 on this happy event, and particularly as it was effected without 
 endangering the lives and property of the remaining unhappy 
 inhabitants. 
 
 " I have great reason to imagine their flight was precipitated 
 by the appearance of a work which I had ordered to be thrown 
 up last Saturday night, on an eminence at Dorchester, which lay 
 nearest to Boston Neck, called Nook's Hill. The town, although 
 it has suffered greatly, is not in so bad a state as I expected to 
 find it; and I have a particular pleasure in being able to inform 
 you, sir, that your house has received no damage worth mention 
 ing.* Your furniture is in tolerable order, and the family pictures 
 are all left entire and untouched. Captain Cazneau takes charge 
 of the whole until he shall receive further orders from you. As 
 soon as the ministerial troops had quitted the town, I ordered a 
 thousand men (who had had the smallpox), under command of 
 General Putnam, to take possession of the Heights, which I shall 
 endeavor to fortify in such a manner as to prevent their return, 
 should they attempt it. But as they are still in the harbor, I 
 thought it not prudent to march off with the main body of the 
 army, until I should be fully satisfied they had quitted the coast. 
 I have therefore only detached five regiments, besides the rifle 
 battalion, to New York, and shall keep the remainder here till all 
 suspicion of their return ceases. 
 
 " The situation in which I found their works evidently discov 
 ered that their retreat was made with the greatest precipitation. 
 They have left their barracks and other works of wood at Bunker's 
 
 * Mr. Hancock's house was still standing, one of the finest monuments of the olden 
 time in Bo_ston, until, nearly a hundred years after, it had to give way to a more 
 modern building. 
 
874 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Hill, etc., all standing, and have destroyed but a small part of their 
 lines. They have also left a number of fine pieces of cannon, which 
 they first spiked up, also a very large iron mortar; and, as I am 
 informed, they have thrown another over the end of your wharf. 
 I have employed proper persons to drill the cannon, and doubt 
 not I shall save the most of them. I am not yet able to procure 
 an exact list of all the stores they have left. As soon as it can be 
 done, I shall take care to transmit it to you. From an estimate of 
 what the quartermaster-general has already discovered, the amount 
 will be twenty-five or thirty thousand pounds." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WASHINGTON IN NEW YORK. 
 
 1776. 
 
 WHILE Washington was engaged in conducting 
 the siege of Boston, many events had transpired 
 both in America and England, to which it now 
 becomes necessary to advert. 
 
 Notwithstanding the extent to which hostilities had been 
 carried, a large portion of the colonists had hitherto con 
 tinued to entertain some hope of an amicable termination 
 of the dispute; and it is evident from the transactions we 
 are about to record, that many felt sincerely desirous to 
 frustrate such a result, particularly the leading statesmen 
 of New England and Virginia. The want of more regu 
 lar and stable governments had for some time been felt 
 in those Colonies where royal governments had hitherto 
 existed; and in the autumn of 1775, New Hampshire had 
 applied to Congress for their advice and direction on this 
 subject. 
 
 In .November, Congress advised the convention of that 
 Colony to call a full and free representation of the people, 
 when the representatives, if they thought it necessary, 
 should establish such a form of government as, in their 
 judgment, would best promote the happiness of the peo 
 ple and most effectually secure peace and good order dur 
 ing the continuance of the dispute between Great Britain 
 and the Colonies. 
 
 On this question the members of Congress were not 
 (875) 
 
876 WASHINGTON. 
 
 unanimous. It was viewed by some as a step necessarily 
 leading to independence; and by some of its advocates it 
 was probably intended as such. To render the resolution 
 less exceptionable, the duration of the government was 
 limited to the continuance of the dispute with the parent 
 country. Soon afterward similar directions and advice 
 were given to South Carolina and Virginia. 
 
 The last hopes of the Colonies for reconciliation rested 
 on the success of their second petition to the King; and 
 the answer of their sovereign to this application was ex 
 pected with extreme solicitude. Information however 
 was soon received from Mr. Penn, who was intrusted 
 with the petition, that no answer would be given. 
 
 This intelligence was followed by that of great addi 
 tional preparations to subdue the "American rebels." The 
 King, in his speech at the opening of Parliament in Octo- 
 ber (1775), not only accused the colonists of revolt, hos 
 tility, and rebellion, but stated that the rebellion which 
 was carried on by them was for the purpose of establish 
 ing an independent empire. To prevent this, he declared 
 that the most decisive and vigorous measures were neces 
 sary; that he had consequently increased his naval estab 
 lishment, had augmented his land forces, and had also 
 taken measures to procure the aid of foreign troops. He, 
 at the same time, stated his intention of appointing cer 
 tain persons with authority to grant pardons to individuals, 
 and to receive the submission of whole Colonies disposed 
 to return to their allegiance. 
 
 Large majorities in both Houses assured the King of 
 their firm support in his measure for reducing the col 
 onists to obedience. The addresses however in answer 
 to the speech were opposed with great ability. The pro 
 ject of employing foreign troops to destroy American 
 subjects was reprobated by the minority in the strongest 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 877 
 
 terms. The plans of the ministry however were not only 
 approved by Parliament, but by a majority of the nation. 
 The idea of making the colonists share their burdens could 
 not easily be relinquished by the people of Great Britain; 
 and national pride would not permit them to yield the 
 point of supremacy. War was now therefore to be waged 
 against the Colonies, and a force sent out sufficiently pow 
 erful to compel submission, even without a struggle. 
 
 For these purposes the aid of Parliament was requisite, 
 and about the end of December (1775) an act was passed 
 prohibiting all trade and commerce with the Colonies, and 
 authorizing the capture and condemnation, not only of 
 all American vessels, with their cargoes, but all other ves 
 sels found trading in any port or place in the Colonies, as 
 if the same were the vessels and effects of open enemies; 
 and the vessels and property thus taken were vested in the 
 captors. An additional clause of the act provided that the 
 crews were to be compelled to serve in the King's ships. 
 This was impressment of the worst possible kind. 
 
 The passing of this act shut the door against the appli 
 cation of the Colonies for a reconciliation. The last peti 
 tion of Congress to the King had indeed been laid before 
 Parliament, but both Houses refused to hear it, or even 
 to treat upon any proposition coming from such an unlaw 
 ful assembly, or from those who were then in arms against 
 their lawful sovereign. 
 
 In the House of Lords, on the motion of the Duke of 
 Richmond, Mr. Penn was examined on American affairs. 
 He staled, among other things, that the colonists were 
 desirous of reconciliation, and did not aim at independence; 
 that they were disposed to conform to the acts regulating 
 their trade, but not to taxation; and that on this point a 
 spirit of resistance was universal. 
 
 After this examination the Duke of Richmond moved a 
 
878 WASHINGTON. 
 
 resolution declaring that the petition of Congress to the 
 King was a ground for a reconciliation of the differences 
 between the two countries. This motion was negatived, 
 after a warm debate, by 86 to 33. These proceedings of 
 the King and Parliament, with the employment of 16,000 
 foreign mercenaries, convinced the leading men in each 
 Colony that the sword alone must decide the contest, and 
 that the colonists must now declare themselves totally in 
 dependent of Great Britain. 
 
 Time however was still requisite to convince the great 
 mass of the American people of the necessity of a complete 
 separation from their parent country, and the establish 
 ment of an independent government. The ablest pens 
 were employed throughout America in the winter of 
 1775-76 on this momentous subject. 
 
 The propriety and necessity of the measure was enforced 
 in the numerous gazettes and in pamphlets. Among the 
 latter, " Common Sense," from the pen of Thomas Paine, 
 produced a wonderful effect in the different Colonies in 
 favor of independence. Influential individuals in every 
 Colony urged it as a step absolutely necessary to preserve 
 the rights and liberties as well as to secure the happiness 
 and prosperity of the people. 
 
 When the Prohibitory Act reached America, Congress, 
 justly viewing it as a declaration of war, directed reprisals 
 to be made, both by public and private armed vessels, 
 against the ships and goods of the inhabitants of Great 
 Britain found on the high seas or between hign and low- 
 water mark. They also burst the shackles of commercial 
 monopoly, which had so long kept them in bondage, and 
 opened their ports to all the world, except the dominions 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 In this state of things it was preposterous for the col 
 onists any longer to consider themselves as holding or 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 879 
 
 exercising the powers of government under the authority 
 of Great Britain. Congress therefore, on the loth of May 
 (1776), recommended to the assemblies and conventions 
 of the Colonies, where no sufficient government had been 
 established, "to adopt such government as should, in the 
 opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce 
 to. the happiness and safety of their constituents in par 
 ticular and America in general." 
 
 They also declared it necessary that the exercise of 
 every kind of authority under the Crown should be sup 
 pressed, and that all the powers of government should be 
 exercised " under the authority of the people of the Col 
 onies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue, and 
 good order, as well as for the defense of their lives, liber 
 ties, and properties, against the hostile invasions and cruel 
 depredations of their enemies." This was a preliminary 
 step to a general declaration of independence. 
 
 Some of the colonial assemblies and conventions about 
 the same time began to express their opinions on this 
 great question. On the 22d of April (1776), the conven 
 tion of North Carolina empowered their delegates in Con 
 gress " to concur with those in the other Colonies in de 
 claring independency." This, it is believed, was the first 
 direct public act of any colonial assembly or convention 
 in favor of the measure. The convention of Virginia soon 
 afterward expressed itself still more decidedly. After full 
 deliberation the following resolutions were passed unani 
 mously: 
 
 " That the delegates appointed to represent this Colony 
 in General Congress be instructed to propose to that re 
 spectable body to declare the united Colonies free and in 
 dependent States, absolved from all allegiance to or de 
 pendence upon the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain; 
 and that they give the assent of this Colony to such decla- 
 
880 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ration and to whatever measures may be thought proper 
 and necessary by the Congress for forming foreign alli 
 ances and a confederation of the Colonies, at such time 
 and in the manner as to them shall seem best. Provided, 
 that the power of forming governments for and the regu 
 lations of the internal concerns of each Colony be left to 
 the respective colonial Legislatures. 
 
 " That a committee be appointed to prepare a declara 
 tion of rights and to form such a plan of government as 
 will be most likely to maintain peace and order in this Col 
 ony and secure substantial and equal liberty to the people." 
 
 Washington's opinion respecting this resolution is thus 
 expressed in a letter to his brother: " I am very glad to 
 find that the Virginia Convention have passed so noble a 
 vote and with so much unanimity. Things have come to 
 such a pass now as to convince us that we have nothing 
 more to expect from the justice of Great Britain; also that 
 she is capable of the most delusive arts; for I am satisfied 
 that no commissioners were ever designed, except Hes 
 sians and other foreigners, and that the idea was only to 
 deceive and throw us off our guard. The first has been 
 too effectually accomplished, as many members of Con 
 gress, in short, the representation of whole provinces, are 
 still feeding themselves upon the dainty food of reconcilia 
 tion; and, though they will not allow that the expectation 
 of it has any influence upon their judgment with respect 
 to their preparations for defense, it is but too obvious that 
 it has an operation upon every part of their conduct, and 
 is a clog to their proceedings. It is not in the nature of 
 things to be otherwise, for no man that entertains a hope 
 of seeing this dispute speedily and equitably adjusted by 
 commissioners will go to the same expense and run the 
 same hazards to prepare for the worst event as he who 
 believes that he must conquer or submit to unconditional 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 881 
 
 terms and the concomitants, such as confiscation, hanging, 
 and the like." 
 
 The letter was written in May (1776), when Washing 
 ton's visit to Congress, to which we shall presently refer, 
 had enabled him to study the disposition of the members; 
 and when the question of independence was the subject 
 of discussion in all circles of public men. 
 
 Early in the year (1776) the British Government had 
 prepared a considerable expedition to reduce the southern 
 Colonies to obedience. The command was intrusted to 
 Sir Peter Parker and Earl Cornwallis. On the 3d of May 
 Admiral Parker, with twenty sail, arrived at Cape Fear. 
 They found General Clinton ready to co-operate with 
 them. He had left New York and proceeded to Virginia, 
 where he had an interview with Lord Dunmore; but find 
 ing nothing could be effected in that Colony, he repaired 
 to Cape Fear to await the arrival of the armament from 
 England. Meanwhile the Carolinians had been making 
 great exertions. 
 
 In Charleston the utmost energy and activity were 
 evinced. The citizens pulled down the valuable store 
 houses on the wharfs, barricaded the streets, and con 
 structed lines of defense along the shore. Abandoning 
 their commercial pursuits, they engaged in incessant labor 
 and prepared for bloody conflicts. The troops, amount 
 ing to between 5,000 and 6,000 men, were stationed in the 
 most advantageous positions. Amidst all this bustle and 
 preparation, lead was so extremely scarce that the win 
 dows of Charleston were stripped of their weights in order 
 to procure a small supply of that necessary article for bul 
 lets. 
 
 Early in June the armament, consisting of between forty 
 and fifty vessels, appeared off Charleston bay, and thirty- 
 six of the transports passed the bar and anchored about 
 56 
 
882 WASHINGTON. 
 
 three miles from Sullivan's Island. Some hundreds of the. 
 troops landed on Long Island, which lies on the west of 
 Sullivan's Island and which is separated from it by a nar 
 row channel often fordable. 
 
 On the loth of the month the Bristol, a fifty-gun ship, 
 having taken out her guns, got safely over the bar; and 
 on the 25th the Experiment, a ship of equal force, arrived 
 and next day passed in the same way. On the part of the 
 British everything was now ready for action. Sir Henry 
 Clinton had nearly 3,000 mea under his command. The 
 naval force, under Sir Peter Parker, consisted of the Bris 
 tol and Experiment of fifty guns; the Active, Acteon, Sole- 
 bay, and Syren frigates; the Friendship of twenty-two, and 
 the Sphinx of twenty, guns ; the Ranger sloop and Thunder 
 bomb. 
 
 On the forenoon of the 28th of June this fleet advanced 
 against the fort on Sullivan's Island, which was defended 
 by Colonel Moultrie with about 350 regular troops and 
 some militia. The Thunder bomb began the battle. The 
 Active, Bristol, Experiment, and Solebay followed boldly 
 to the attack and a terrible cannonade ensued. The fort 
 returned the fire of the ships slowly, but with deliberate 
 and deadly aim, and the contest was carried on during the 
 whole day with unabating fury. 
 
 The Sphinx, Acteon, and Syren were ordered to attack 
 the western extremity of the fort, which was in a very un 
 finished state ; but as they proceeded for that purpose they 
 got entangled with a shoal called the Middle Ground. Two 
 of them ran foul of each other; the Acteon stuck fast; the 
 Sphinx and Syren got off; but fortunately for the Ameri 
 cans that part of the attack completely failed. It was de 
 signed that Sir Henry Clinton, with his corps, should 
 co-operate with the naval operations by passing the nar 
 row channel which separates Long Island from Sullivan's 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 883 
 
 Island and assail the fort by land, but this the General 
 found impracticable, for the channel, though commonly 
 fordable, was at that time, by a long prevalence of easterly 
 winds, deeper than usual; and even had the channel been 
 fordable the British troops would have found the passage 
 an arduous enterprise, for Colonel Thomson, with a strong 
 detachment of riflemen, regulars, and militia, was posted 
 on the east end of Sullivan's Island to oppose any attack 
 made in that quarter. 
 
 The engagement, which began about n o'clock in the 
 forenoon, continued with unabated fury till 7 in the even 
 ing, when the fire slackened, and about 9 entirely ceased 
 on both sides. During the night all the ships except the 
 Acteon, which was aground, removed about two miles from 
 the island. 
 
 Next morning the fort fired a few shots at the Acteon 
 and she at first returned them, but in a short time her crew 
 set her on fire and abandoned her. She blew up shortly 
 afterward. In this obstinate engagement both parties 
 fought with great gallantry. The loss of the British was 
 very considerable, upward of 60 being killed and 160 being 
 wounded, whilst the garrison lost only 10 men killed and 
 22 wounded. 
 
 Although the Americans were raw troops, yet they be 
 haved with the steady intrepidity of veterans. One cir 
 cumstance may serve to illustrate the cool but enthusiastic 
 courage which pervaded their ranks. In the course of the 
 engagement the flagstaff of the fort was shot away, but 
 Sergeant Jasper leaped down upon the beach, snatched up 
 the flag, fastened it to a sponge-staff, and while the ships 
 were incessantly directing their broadsides upon the fort, 
 he mounted the merlon and deliberately replaced the flag. 
 
 The fate of this expedition contributed greatly to estab 
 lish the popular government it was intended to destroy, 
 
884 WASHINGTON. 
 
 while the news of it spread rapidly through the continent 
 and exercised an equally unfavorable influence on the royal 
 cause; the advocates of the irresistibility of British fleets 
 and armies were mortified and silenced, and the brave de 
 fense of Fort Moultrie saved the Southern States from the 
 horrors of war for several years. 
 
 In South Carolina the government took advantage of 
 the hour of success to conciliate their opponents in the 
 province. The adherents of royal power, who, for a con 
 siderable time, had been closely imprisoned, on promising 
 fidelity to their country, were set at liberty and restored 
 to all the privileges of citizens. The repulse of the British 
 was also attended with another advantage, that of leaving 
 the Americans at liberty to turn their undivided force 
 against the Indians, who had attacked the western frontier 
 of the Southern States with all the fury and carnage of 
 savage warfare. 
 
 In 1775, when the breach between Great Britain and 
 her Colonies was daily becoming wider, one Stuart, the 
 agent employed in conducting the intercourse between the 
 British authorities and the Cherokees and Creeks, used all 
 his influence to attach the Indians to the royal cause, and 
 to inspire them with jealousy and hatred of the Americans. 
 He found little difficulty in persuading them that the 
 Americans, without provocation, had taken up arms 
 against Britain and were the means of preventing them 
 from receiving their yearly supplies of arms, ammunition, 
 and clothing from the British Government. 
 
 The Americans had endeavored to conciliate the good 
 will of the Indians, but their scanty presents were unsatis 
 factory and the savages resolved to take up the hatchet. 
 Deeming the appearance of the British fleet in Charleston 
 bay a fit opportunity, the Cherokees invaded the western 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 885 
 
 frontier of the province, marking their track with murder 
 and devastation. 
 
 The speedy retreat of the British left the savages ex 
 posed to the vengeance of the Americans, who, in separate 
 divisions, entered their country at different points, from 
 Virginia and Georgia, defeated their warriors, burned their 
 villages, laid waste their cornfields, and incapacitated the 
 Cherokees for a considerable time from giving the settlers 
 further annoyance. Thus, in the south, the Americans 
 triumphed over the British and Indians. 
 
 We have seen that before leaving Boston Washington 
 ordered General Putnam to take command of the army in 
 New York. He was directed to fortify the city and the 
 passes of the Hudson, according to the plans of General 
 Lee, his predecessor in the command. Putnam, aware ot 
 the number of Tories in the city, established strict regula 
 tions for preserving order, and sternly interdicting the free 
 intercourse which had hitherto prevailed between the in 
 habitants and the British ships in the neighboring water, 
 in one of which the royal ex-governor Tryon was en 
 gaged in carrying a variety of plots and hostile intrigues 
 by means of emissaries to his numerous adherents in the 
 city and Colony. 
 
 On his arrival at New York, April 13 (1776), Wash 
 ington found that the indefatigable Putnam had exerted 
 his usual energy and ability in completing the fortifica 
 tions, which had been commenced under the direction of 
 General Lee. Those on Brooklyn Heights commanded 
 the city, and, as the possession of them would probably be 
 the first object of General Howe on his arrival, Washing 
 ton placed them under the command of General Greene, 
 of whose superior ability, courage, and prudence he had 
 already become aware. 
 
 Washington found the whole force in New York and its 
 
88(> WASHINGTON. 
 
 neighborhood to consist of little more than 10,000 men; 
 and these were distributed in various posts in the city, 
 Long Island, Staten Island, and elsewhere. Many of the 
 soldiers were new recruits without arms, and others were 
 sick or absent on furlough, thus reducing the available 
 force to between 8,000. and 9,000 Of these, considerable 
 detachments upon request from Congress were sent off 
 to Canada, where the ill-fated expedition of which we have 
 already given the history was not yet brought to a close. 
 Ten regiments were taken from the army at New York, in 
 two detachments, for this purpose. The measure was 
 justified to Washington's mind by the consideration that 
 the portion of the army already engaged in Canada could 
 only be reinforced from New York, while those under his 
 immediate command could receive support, if necessary, 
 by calling in the militia from the surrounding country. 
 
 In May (1776), Washington, at the request of Congress, 
 paid a visit to Philadelphia for the purpose of devising 
 measures for the prosecution of the ensuing compaign. 
 During the fifteen days that his visit lasted General Put 
 nam held the command at New York. Mrs. Washington, 
 who had accompanied him to New York and had since 
 resided there, was with him also during this visit to Phila 
 delphia. They were invited by President Hancock to be 
 his guests during their stay. In a letter from that place 
 to his brother, John Augustine, already quoted, he says: 
 " We expect a very bloody summer at New York and 
 Canada, as it is there, I presume, the grand efforts of the 
 enemy will be aimed; and I am sorry to say that we are 
 not, either in men or arms, prepared for it. However it 
 is to be hoped that, if our cause is just, as I do most re 
 ligiously believe it to be, the same Providence which has 
 in many instances appeared for us will still go on to afford 
 its aid." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 887 
 
 There is every reason to believe that this reliance on 
 Providence was the constant habit of Washington's mind. 
 It would seem that nothing else could have sustained him 
 under the tremendous responsibilitise and emergencies to 
 which he was subject. It is equally clear that relying on 
 Providence under his severe trials never induced him to 
 relax his energy or vigilance. The circumstances in which 
 he was placed at the time when the letter above quoted 
 was written were sufficiently appalling to have deterred 
 any one who had not deliberately placed his whole trust 
 in Providence, for he had already, as the letter shows, 
 divined the real purpose of the British, which was to land 
 an overwhelming force at New York, to take that place, 
 pass up the Hudson river, and meet another powerful 
 army already dispatched to relieve the British forces in 
 Canada, thus dividing the country into two parts, so that 
 it might be easily conquered in detail. There was every 
 human probability of the success of this plan, and Wash 
 ington knew it. Yet he was not moved for an instant 
 from that serene calmness which was his habitual state of 
 mind. Truly he was a man who put his trust in God. 
 
 In his conferences with Congress Washington expressed 
 the opinion that no acceptable terms would be offered by 
 the British, and that a long war must ensue, which would 
 require more men and better regulations. Congress ac 
 cordingly ordered enlistments for the regular army to be 
 made for three years' service, with a bounty of $10 to each 
 soldier, and made provision for reinforcements of militia 
 and the building of gondolas and five rafts for the defense 
 of New York harbor. 
 
 They also determined on a plan to reinforce the army, 
 by bringing into the field a new species of troops that 
 would be more permanent than the common militia and 
 yet more easily raised than regulars. With this view they 
 
888 WASHINGTON. 
 
 instituted a flying camp, to consist of an intermediate 
 corps, between regular soldiers and militia. Ten thou 
 sand men were called for from the States of Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland, and Delaware, to be in constant service to the 
 first day of the ensuing December. Congress at the same 
 time called for 13,800 of the common militia from Massa 
 chusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. The 
 men for forming the flying camp were generally procured, 
 but there were great deficiencies of the militia, and many 
 of those who obeyed their country's call so far as to turn 
 out manifested a reluctance to submit to the necessary 
 discipline of camps. 
 
 The difficulty of providing the troops with arms while 
 before Boston was exceeded by the superior difficulty of 
 supplying them in their new position. By the returns of 
 the garrison at Fort Montgomery, in the Highlands, in 
 April, it appeared that there were 208 privates and only 
 forty-one guns fit for us. In the garrison at Fort Con 
 stitution there were 136 men and only sixty-eight guns 
 fit for use. Flints were also much wanted. Lead would 
 have been equally deficient had not a supply for the mus 
 ketry been obtained by stripping dwelling-houses.* 
 
 The measures necessary to remedy these deficiencies 
 formed a subject of consultation between Washington and 
 Congress, as well as the establishment of a permanent 
 board of war and ordnance, composed of John Adams, 
 Colonel Benjamin Harrison, Roger Sherman, Edward 
 Rutledge, and James Wilson, who were henceforth to act 
 instead of the various military committees of Congress, 
 who had hitherto had charge of military affairs. 
 
 On Washington's return to New York he resumed 
 preparations for receiving the enemy, who were daily ex- 
 
 * " One house," says Gordon, " supplied them with 1,200 pounds 
 and another with 1,000 pounds." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 889 
 
 pected to arrive with a fleet and a powerful army. He was 
 also under the necessity of attending to the various opera 
 tions of the Tories, who infested the province of New York 
 to a fearful extent. 
 
 Mr. Sparks gives an account of the plots of these Tories, 
 Governor Tryon being the mainspring of all their move 
 ments. Washington, after a great deal of urgency, got Con 
 gress to appoint a secret committee to take up and examine 
 suspected persons. It is true that this was a dangerous re 
 sponsibility to be placed in the hands of any man, but the 
 necessity of the case demanded some action. The Tories 
 were bound to take one side or the other in the questions 
 at issue; open enmity could be met, but they who wished 
 to be considered neutrals while they covertly aided and 
 gave intelligence to the enemy could not be suffered to 
 remain in a position which gave them every advantage 
 over the patriots and their cause. The power of appre 
 hending the Tories had wisely been put into the hands of 
 the civil authority of each Colony, and the conventions, 
 assemblies, and committees were authorized to employ, 
 when they thought it necessary for the purpose, a militia 
 force from the Continental army. " Many Tories were 
 apprehended in New York and on Long Island; some 
 were imprisoned; others disarmed. A deep plot, originat 
 ing with Governor Tryon, was defeated by a timely and 
 fortunate discovery. His agents were found enlisting men 
 in the American camp and enticing them with rewards. 
 The infection spread to a considerable extent and even 
 reached the General's guard, some of whom enlisted. A 
 soldier of the guard was proved guilty by a court-martial 
 and executed. It was a part of the plot to seize General 
 Washington and convey him to the enemy."* 
 
 The rumors of these proceedings were spread through 
 
 * Sparks, " Life of Washington," p. 169. 
 
890 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the country and occasioned no small degree of indignation 
 and alarm. Indeed the danger to the cause of freedom 
 by the machinations of the Tories was real and imminent. 
 
 In this crisis of particular danger the people of New 
 York acted with spirit. Though they knew they were to 
 receive the first impression of the British army, yet their 
 convention resolved: " That all persons residing within 
 the State of New York and claiming protection from its 
 laws owed it allegiance, and that any person owing it alle 
 giance and levying war against the State, or being an 
 adherent to the King of Great Britain, should be deemed 
 guilty of treason and suffer death." They also resolved: 
 " That one-fourth of the militia of Westchester, Dutchess, 
 and Orange counties should be forthwith drawn out for 
 the defense of the liberties, property, wives, and children 
 of the good people of the State, to be continued in service 
 till the last day of December," and " that as the inhabitants 
 of King's county had determined not to oppose the enemy, 
 a committee should be appointed to inquire into the au 
 thenticity of these reports, and to disarm and secure the 
 disaffected, to remove or destroy the stock of grain, and 
 if necessary to lay the whole country waste." 
 
 The fleet and army daily expected to arrive when Wash 
 ington returned from Philadelphia were formidable, even 
 had he been at the head of a numerous and well-appointed 
 army. 
 
 The command of the force which was designed to 
 operate against New York was given to Admiral Lord 
 Howe, and his brother, Sir William,* officers who, as well 
 from their personal characters as the known bravery of 
 their family, stood high in the confidence of the British 
 
 * Sir William Howe was the same officer who had held the com 
 mand in Boston after Gage's recall. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 891 
 
 Nation. To this service was allotted a very powerful 
 army, consisting of about 30,000 men. This force was 
 far superior to anything that America had heretofore seen. 
 The troops were amply provided with artillery, military 
 stores, and warlike materials of every kind, and were sup 
 ported by a numerous fleet. The Admiral and General, 
 in addition to their military powers, were appointed com 
 missioners for restoring peace to the Colonies. 
 
 General Howe, having in vain waited two months at 
 Halifax for his brother and the expected reinforcements 
 from England, impatient of further delays, sailed from that 
 harbor with the force which he had previously commanded 
 in Boston, and directing his course toward New York 
 arrived in the latter end of June (1776) off Sandy Hook. 
 Admiral Lord Howe, with part of the reinforcement from 
 England, arrived at Halifax soon after his brother's de 
 parture. Without dropping anchor he followed, but did 
 not arrive at Staten Island till about the middle of July. 
 The British General, on his approach, found every part 
 of New York island and the most exposed parts of Long 
 Island fortified and well defended by artillery. 
 
 About fifty British transports anchored near Staten 
 Island, which had not been so much the object of Wash-! 
 ington's attention. The inhabitants of the island, either 
 from fear, policy, or affection expressed great joy on the 
 arrival of the royal forces. General Howe was there met 
 by Tryon and by several of the loyalists, who had taken 
 refuge with him in an armed vessel. He was also joined 
 by about sixty persons from New Jersey, and 200 of the 
 inhabitants of Staten Island were embodied as a royal 
 militia. From these appearances great hopes were in 
 dulged that as soon as the army was in a condition to 
 penetrate into the country and protect the loyalists such 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 numbers would flock to their standard as would facilitate 
 the attainment of the objects of the campaign. 
 
 Washington, knowing that the force already arrived - 
 forty ships, with between 9,000 and io,v.oo troops was 
 only the vanguard of the still greater force expected to 
 arrive under Admiral Lord Howe, took immediate steps 
 to strengthen his army. He called on Congress for a rein 
 forcement from Massachusetts, to consist of five regiments 
 of regular soldiers, whose place should be supplied in Bos 
 ton by calling in militia, and for the formation of a flying 
 camp to be stationed in New Jersey, ready to act on any 
 emergency. 
 
 On the 2d of July (1776) he issued one of those general 
 orders with which he was accustomed to address the army 
 in lieu of what the French call a " military allocution/' In 
 it he called upon the soldiers to prepare for the coming 
 contest, on which their liberty and safety depended ; prom 
 ised rewards to the brave and patriotic, and threatened 
 punishment to those who should refuse or neglect to do 
 their duty.* 
 
 The contest was indeed approaching, and at this very 
 moment Congress was preparing to throw down the gaunt 
 let of defiance in good earnest. We have already noticed 
 the spirited action of the Virginia Assembly, with Wash 
 ington's own commentary on it. Since that action Con 
 gress had received from a majority of the Colonies which 
 it represented either urgent entreaties or deliberate con 
 sent and authority to the dissolution of all further political 
 connection with Great Britain. 
 
 * These general orders are characteristic of Washington's mod 
 esty and aversion to display. Napoleon and Jackson, on similar 
 occasions, had recourse to a speech. Of course it is impossible 
 for a numerous army to hear a speech, so the paper is published 
 and distributed as the General's speech. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 803 
 
 The New Hampshire spirit had found expression before 
 the middle of June, 1776, in the following document: 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY NEW 
 HAMPSHIRE IN 1776. 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JUNE II, 1776. 
 
 " Voted, That Samuel Curtis, Timothy Walker, and John 
 Dudley, Esquires, be a committee of this House to join a 
 committee of the Honorable Board, to make a draft of a 
 Declaration of this General Assembly for INDEPENDENCE 
 of the united colonies on Great Britain. 
 
 "JUNE 15, 1776. 
 
 " The committee of both houses, appointed to prepare 
 a draft setting forth the sentiments and opinion of the 
 Council and Assembly of this colony relative to the united 
 colonies setting up an independent State, make report as 
 on file which report being read and considered, 
 
 " Voted unanimously, That the report of said committee 
 be received and accepted, and that the draft by them 
 brought in be sent to our delegates at the Continental 
 Congress forthwith as the sense of the House. 
 
 " The draft made by the committee of both houses, re 
 lating to independency, and voted as the sense of this 
 House, is as follows, viz.: 
 
 " Whereas it now appears an undoubted fact, that not 
 withstanding all the dutiful petitions and decent remon 
 strances from the American colonies, and the utmost ex 
 ertions of their best friends in England on their behalf, the 
 British ministry, arbitrary and vindictive, are yet deter 
 mined to reduce by fire and sword our bleeding country 
 to their absolute obedience; and, for this purpose, in addi 
 tion to their own forces, have engaged great numbers of 
 foreign mercenaries, who may now be on their passage 
 
894 WASHINGTON. 
 
 here, accompanied by a formidable fleet to ravish and plun 
 der the sea-coast; from all which we may reasonably ex 
 pect the most dismal scenes of distress the ensuing year, 
 unless we exert ourselves by every means and precaution 
 possible; and whereas we of this colony of New Hamp 
 shire, have the example of several of the most respectable 
 of our sister colonies before us for entering upon that 
 most important step of disunion from Great Britain, and 
 declaring ourselves free and independent of the crown 
 thereof, being impelled thereto by the most violent and 
 injurious treatment; and it appearing absolutely necessary 
 in this most critical juncture of our public affairs, that the 
 Honorable the Continental Congress, who have this imj- 
 portant object under immediate consideration, should be 
 also informed of our resolutions thereon without loss of 
 time; we do hereby declare, that it is the opinion of this 
 Assembly that our delegates at the Continental Congress 
 should be instructed, and they are hereby instructed, to 
 join with the other colonies in declaring the thirteen united 
 colonies a free and independent state, solemnly pledging 
 our faith and honor, that we will on our parts support the 
 measure with our lives and fortunes, and that in conse 
 quence thereof they, the Continental Congress, on whose 
 wisdom, fidelity, and integrity we rely, may enter into and 
 form such alliances as they may judge most conducive to 
 the present safety and future advantage of these American 
 colonies; provided, the regulation of our internal police be 
 under the direction of our own Assembly. 
 " Entered according to the original. 
 "Attest, NOAH EMERY, Clr. D. Reps." 
 
 Connecticut, under Governor Jonathan Trumbull, was 
 in the very front of unhesitating, energetic, and effective 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 895 
 
 patriotism. As early as 1769 Trumbull had been chosen 
 Governor, and he was the only colonial Governor who 
 espoused the popular cause in the struggle of the Colonies 
 against the Crown. He had, in 1768, refused to take the 
 oath required, of officers of the Crown, and from that mo 
 ment he stood conspicuous as a foremost leader of colonial 
 aspiration for liberty. To Washington, when he came to 
 New England to conduct from Cambridge the operations 
 initiated at Bunker Hill, Trumbull was for counsel and 
 conduct a chief dependence. On one early occasion, at a 
 council of war, amid great uncertainties as to preparation to 
 meet an expected British attack, Washington said: "We 
 must consult Brother Jonathan." It grew to be a com 
 mon expression among the officers, and gave origin to the 
 use of " Brother Jonathan " to signify the personified coun 
 try, the typical America. In the days that tried men's 
 souls, Gov. Jonathan Trumbull was in the van of courage 
 and confidence, so much so that he got out a Declaration 
 of Independence earlier than that issued by the Continental 
 Congress. This instrument, which has not become im 
 mortal, but deserves to be so, was in the form of a procla 
 mation issued by Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, " with the ad 
 vice of the Council and at the desire of the Representatives 
 in General Court assembled," on June 18, 1776, sixteen 
 days before the better-known Declaration of Philadelphia 
 was adopted. Governor Trumbull's paper so nearly cov 
 ered the ground taken by the Philadelphia instrument that 
 when the latter arrived in Hartford, on July I2th, the Gov 
 ernor and Council declined to publish it for the reason that 
 it would be supererogatory; and the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence, for this reason, never was published in Connec 
 ticut. Dr. Charles J. Hoadley, State Librarian of Con 
 necticut, in his fifteenth and last volume of the " Colonial 
 
896 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Records of Connecticut," recently issued, publishes the 
 paper entire from a contemporary broadside.* It is as 
 follows : 
 
 " By the Honorable 
 
 "JONATHAN TRUMBULL Esq 
 
 " Governor and Commander-in-chief of the English Colony 
 of Connecticut in New England. 
 
 " A PROCLAMATION 
 
 " The Race of Mankind was made in a State of Inno 
 cence and Freedom subjected only to the Laws of God 
 the Creator, and through his rich Goodness, designed for 
 virtuous liberty and Happiness, here and for ever; and 
 when moral Evil was introduced into the World, and Man 
 had corrupted his Ways before God, Vice and Iniquity 
 came in like a Flood and Mankind became exposed, and 
 a prey to the Violence, Injustice and Oppression of one 
 another. God in great Mercy inclined his People to form 
 themselves into Society, and to set up and establish civil 
 Government for the Protection and security of their Lives 
 and Properties from the Invasion of wicked men. But 
 through Pride and ambition the Kings and Princes of 
 the World appointed by the People the Guardians of their 
 Lives and Liberties, early and almost universally degene 
 rated into Tyrants, and by Fraud or Force betrayed and 
 wrested out of their hands the very Rights and Properties 
 they were appointed to protect and defend. But a small 
 part of the Human Race maintained and enjoyed any tol 
 erable Degree of Freedom. Among those happy few, the 
 nation of Great Britain was distinguished by a Constitu 
 tion of Government wisely framed and modelled to support 
 
 * New York " Evening Post," July 4, 1890. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 897 
 
 the Dignity and Power of the Prince, for the protection of 
 the Rights of the People, and under which that Country 
 in long succession enjoyed great Tranquillity and Peace, 
 though not unattended with repeated and powerful efforts, 
 by many of its haughty Kings, to destroy the Constitu 
 tional Rights of the People, and establish arbitrary Power 
 and Dominion. In one of those convulsive struggles our 
 Forefathers, having suffered in that their native Country 
 great and variety of Injustice and Oppression, left their 
 dear Connections and Enjoyments, and fled to this then 
 inhospitable land to secure a lasting retreat from civil and 
 religious Tyranny. 
 
 " The God of Heaven favored and prospered this Under 
 taking made room for their settlement increased and 
 multiplied them to a very numerous People and inclined 
 succeeding Kings to indulge them and their children for 
 many years the unmolested Enjoyment of the Freedom and 
 Liberty they fled to inherit. But an unnatural King has 
 risen up violated his sacred Obligations and by the Ad 
 vice of Evil Counsellors attempted to wrest from us, their 
 children the Sacred Rights we justly claim and which have 
 been ratified and established by solemn Compact with, and 
 recognized by his Predecessors and Fathers, Kings of 
 Great Britain laid upon us Burdens too heavy and griev 
 ous to be borne and issued many cruel and oppressive 
 Edicts, depriving us of our natural, lawful, and most im 
 portant Rights, and subjecting us to the absolute Power 
 and Controul of himself and the British Legislature ; against 
 which we have sought Relief, by humble, earnest and duti 
 ful Complaints and Petitions: But, instead of obtaining 
 Redress our Petitions have been treated with Scorn and 
 Contempt, and fresh Injuries heaped upon us while hostile 
 armies and ships are sent to lay waste our Country. In 
 this distressing Dilemma, having no Alternative but abso- 
 57 
 
898 WASHINGTON. 
 
 lute Slavery or successful Resistance, this, and the United 
 American Colonies have been constrained by the over 
 ruling laws of Self Preservation to take up Arms for the 
 Defence of all that is sacred and dear to Freemen, and 
 make this solemn Appeal to Heaven for the Justice of their 
 Cause, and resist Force by Force. 
 
 " God Almighty has been pleased of his infinite Mercy 
 to succeed our Attempts, and give us many Instances of 
 signal Success and Deliverance. But the wrath of the 
 King is still increasing, and not content with before em 
 ploying all the Force which can be sent from his own 
 Kingdom to execute his cruel Purposes, has procured, 
 and is sending all the Mercenaries he can obtain from for 
 eign countries to assist in extirpating the Rights of 
 America, and with theirs almost all the liberty remaining 
 among Mankind. 
 
 " In this most critical and alarming situation, this and 
 all the Colonies are called upon and earnestly pressed by 
 the Honorable Congress of the American Colonies united 
 for mutual defence, to raise a large additional number of 
 their militia and able men to be furnished and equipped 
 with all possible Expedition for defence against the soon 
 expected attack and invasion of those who are our Ene 
 mies without a Cause. In cheerful compliance with which 
 request and urged by Motives the most cogent and im 
 portant that can affect the human Mind, the General As 
 sembly of this Colony have freely and unanimously agreed 
 and resolved, that upwards of Seven Thousand able and 
 effective Men be immediately raised, furnished and equip 
 ped for the great and interesting Purposes aforesaid. And 
 not desirous that any should go to a warfare at their own 
 charges (though equally interested with others) for defence 
 of the great and all-important Cause in which we are en 
 gaged, have granted large and liberal Pay and Encourage- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 899 
 
 ments to all who shall voluntarily undertake for the De 
 fence of themselves and their country as by their acts may 
 appear, I do therefore by and with the advice of the Coun 
 sel, and at the desire of the Representatives in General 
 Court assembled, issue this PROCLAMATION, and make the 
 solemn Appeal to the Virtue and public Spirit of the good 
 People of this Colony. Affairs are hastening fast to a 
 Crisis, and the approaching Campaign will in all Prob 
 ability determine forever the fate of AMERICA. If this 
 should be successful on our side, there is little to fear on 
 account of any other. Be exhorted to rise therefore to 
 superior exertions on this great Occasion, and let all that 
 are able and necessary show themselves ready in Behalf of 
 their injured and oppressed Country, and come forth to the 
 help of the Lord against the Mighty, and convince the 
 unrelenting Tyrant of Britain that they are resolved to be 
 Free. Let them step forth to defend their Wives, their 
 little Ones, their Liberty, and everything they hold sacred 
 and dear, to defend the Cause of their Country, their Re 
 ligion, and their God. Let every one to the utmost of 
 their Power lend a helping Hand, to promote and forward 
 a design on which the salvation of America now evidently 
 depends. Nor need any be dismayed: the Cause is cer 
 tainly a just and a glorious one : God is able to save us in 
 such way manner as he pleases and to humble our proud 
 Oppressors. The Cause is that of Truth and Justice; he 
 has already shown his Power in our Behalf, and for the 
 Destruction of many of our Enemies. Our Fathers trusted 
 in him and were delivered. Let us all repent and thoroughly 
 amend our Ways and turn to him, put all our Trust and 
 Confidence in him in his Name go forth, and in his 
 Name set up our Banners, and he will save us with tem 
 poral and eternal salvation. And while our Armies are 
 abroad jeoparding their lives in the high Places of the 
 
900 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Field,* let all who remain at Home, cry mightily to God 
 for the Protection of his Providence to shield and defend 
 their lives from Death, and to crown them with victory 
 and success. And in the Name of the said General As 
 sembly I do hereby earnestly recommend it to all, both 
 Ministers and People frequently to meet together for social 
 prayer to Almighty God for the outpouring of his blessed 
 Spirit upon this guilty land That he would awaken his 
 People to Righteousness and Repentance, bless our Coun 
 cils, prosper our Arms and succeed the Measures using 
 for our necessary self defence disappoint the evil and 
 cruel Devices of our Enemies preserve our precious 
 Rights and Liberties, lengthen out our Tranquility, and 
 make us a People of his Praise, and the blessed of the 
 Lord, as long as the Sun and Moon shall endure. 
 
 "And all the Ministers of the Gospel in this Colony, are 
 directed and desired, to publish this Proclamation in their 
 several churches and congregations, and to enforce the 
 Exhortations thereof, by their own pious Example and 
 public instructions. 
 
 " Given under my Hand at the Council Chamber in Hart 
 ford, the i&th day of June Anno Domini 1776. 
 
 "JONATHAN TRUMBULL." 
 
 One or two of the provincial assemblies yet refrained 
 from giving any explicit directions on this subject to their 
 representatives; the directions from Maryland were lat 
 terly unfavorable to an immediate assertion of independ- 
 
 *The use of these words is very striking, seeing that in Gov 
 ernor Trumbull's own State the monument now standing, opposite 
 New London, in honor of the victims of the massacre of Groton 
 Heights, bears most appropriately the entire verse (Judges v., 18). 
 " Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives 
 into the death in the high places of the field." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 901 
 
 ence, and those from Pennsylvania and Delaware were 
 flatly opposed to it. 
 
 But the leading partisans of independence perceived that 
 the season had arrived when this great design must be 
 either openly espoused or definitively abandoned; they 
 remarked that, in general, the main objections that were 
 still urged against it applied rather to the time than to the 
 measure itself, and they were convinced that in every one 
 of the States the majority of the people, however cred 
 ulous or desirous of a reconciliation with Britain, would 
 rather repudiate such views than retain them in opposition 
 to the declared and general policy of America. 
 
 On the 7th of June (1776), accordingly, it was formally 
 proposed in Congress by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia 
 that the American States should be declared free and in 
 dependent. This proposition induced long and animated 
 debates, and afforded scope to the largest display of wis 
 dom, genius, and eloquence in the discussion of a ques 
 tion than which none more interesting to human liberty 
 and happiness was ever before submitted to the decision 
 of a national assembly. 
 
 The American Congress, in its original composition, 
 exhibiting the citizens of a subordinate commonwealth in 
 the act of assuming into their own hands the reins of gov 
 ernment which a superior state had previously wielded 
 over them, presented a spectacle of deep and stirring in 
 terest to human nature and civilized society. Deliberating 
 now if the grand conception which it had suggested was 
 to be despondingly abandoned or resolutely fulfilled, it 
 addressed the universal sentiments of mankind with ex 
 tended interest and augmented dignity. While European 
 sovereigns were insulting and violating every sanction and 
 safeguard of national right and human liberty by the in 
 famous partition of Poland, a revolutionary principle of 
 
902 WASHINGTON. 
 
 nobler nature and vindictive destiny was developed to the 
 earnest and wondering eyes of the world in America. 
 
 A very ordinary degree of knowledge and reflection 
 may enable any person to suggest to himself the princi 
 pal arguments which must have been employed in the. 
 conduct of this solemn and important debate; but no au 
 thentic report of the actual discussion has been transmit 
 ted. John Adams, who supported the project of inde 
 pendence, and Dickinson, who opposed it, were acknowl 
 edged to have pre-eminently distinguished themselves by 
 their rhetoric and ingenuity. 
 
 Adams, it is said, forcibly maintained that a restoration 
 of union and harmony between Britain and America was 
 impossible; that military conquest alone could restore the 
 British ascendency; and that an open declaration of inde 
 pendence was imperatively required to harmonize the 
 views of the Americans, to elevate and confirm their spirits 
 in an inevitable conflict, and to enable them to obtain ef 
 fectual succor from foreign powers. Prudence and jus 
 tice alike demanded that the brave men who had taken 
 arms in defense of their country's freedom should be en 
 abled to dismiss the apprehension of fighting for a hollow 
 and precarious reconciliation and a return to the yoke of 
 dependence. 
 
 Dickinson is said to have insisted (and very plausibly, 
 it must be allowed) that an instant dissolution of the 
 American confederacy would be produced by the mere 
 act of Great Britain in withdrawing her fleets and armies 
 at the present juncture; but in maintaining, as he is also 
 reported to have done, that the same breach of federal 
 union, aggravated by an effervescence of popular spirit 
 incompatible with civil order, must ensue from the with- 
 drawment of the British troops at a later period, and after 
 a prolonged contest and the excitation of furious passion 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 903 
 
 in every part of America, he disregarded the continued 
 influence of that bond of union whose initial operation he 
 was so strongly impressed with, and undervalued the wis 
 dom and virtue which his countrymen were capable of 
 exerting for the extinction of the flames of revolutionary 
 passions. 
 
 Some members of the Congress opposed a declaration 
 of independence as unwarrantable or premature; and 
 others, for awhile, were reluctantly deterred from sup 
 porting it by the instructions of their constituents. After 
 the discussion had been protracted for nearly a month, 
 during which interval the hesitation or opposition of a 
 minority of the States was overborne, as had been fore 
 seen, by the general current of national will the meas 
 ure proposed by Lee was approved and embraced by a 
 vote almost unanimous (July 2, 1776); and a document, 
 entitled " Declaration of the Independence of the Thirteen 
 United States of North America," composed by Thomas 
 Jefferson, was subscribed (July 4, 1776) by all the mem 
 bers who were anxious to confront the danger and ac 
 complish the glory of their country. 
 
 On July ist, with probably fifty members present, the 
 delegates from New York having explained why their for 
 mal concurrence could not be then given, nine Colonies 
 voted for the resolution in committee of the whole, Penn 
 sylvania's vote failing by four negative to three affirmative ; 
 Delaware's by one to one, only two being present, and 
 South Carolina going wholly negative. On the report to 
 the House from the committee of the whole, made by Har 
 rison, action by the House was put off to the next day 
 at the request of South Carolina, presented by Rutledge. 
 July 2d, by the staying away of two who had voted nay for 
 Pennsylvania, and the arrival of a third Delaware mem 
 ber to vote aye, and the conclusion of South Carolina to 
 
904 WASHINGTON. 
 
 come round, twelve Colonies New York still unable to 
 vote, though not opposed to the result went upon the 
 record for the passage of the resolution, " That these 
 United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and 
 independent States; that they are absolved from all alle 
 giance to the British Crown, and that all political connec 
 tion between them and the State of Great Britain is, and 
 ought to be, totally dissolved." 
 
 On that ist of July, 1776, when Congress went into 
 committee of the whole " to take into consideration the 
 resolution respecting independency," Harrison of Vir 
 ginia, in the chair and John Adams had made " his 
 sudden, impetuous, unpremeditated speech," on " the jus 
 tice, the necessity, the seasonableness, and the advantages 
 of a separation from Great Britain," the reply of Dickinson 
 of Pennsylvania, justly comprehended the effect of the 
 Declaration in saying that: "A Sovereignty composed of 
 several distinct bodies of men, not subject to established 
 Constitutions and not combined together by confirmed 
 articles of union, is such a sovereignty as has ever ap 
 peared."* 
 
 John Adams wrote at the end of this great day of de 
 cision: "When I look back to 1761, and run through 
 the series of political events, the chain of causes and 
 effects, I am surprised at the suddenness as well as great 
 ness of this revolution. Britain has been filled with folly 
 and America with wisdom. It is the will of heaven that 
 the two countries should be sundered forever; it may be 
 the will of heaven that America shall suffer calamities still 
 more lasting and distresses yet more dreadful. The 2d 
 day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in 
 the history of America; to be celebrated by succeeding 
 generations as the great anniversary festival, commemo- 
 
 * Bancroft, IV, p. 437. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 905 
 
 rated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devo 
 tion to God Almighty, from one end of the continent to 
 the other, from this time forward forever more." 
 
 On July 4th no one signed except Hancock as Presi 
 dent of Congress and Thompson (who was not a delegate) 
 as secretary. Inasmuch as of the States that voted in 
 favor only a bare majority of their delegates were in favor; 
 New York and Maryland were restricted from voting in 
 favor, and Deleware and Pennsylvania were divided, it 
 was thought best to adjourn at once and report to the 
 several Colonies. Upon reassembling July I5th it was 
 found that all present were in favor of the Declaration. 
 The vote to engross on parchment and have all sign 
 passed on the I9th of July. The New York restrictions 
 had been recalled July 9th, giving thirteen New York votes. 
 It was in the resolution of July iQth, declaring " The 
 unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of 
 America in Congress assembled," that the words " United 
 States of America " were first used. The actual final 
 signing of the engrossed declaration, which had been 
 voted July 2d, and signed for official attestion July 4th, 
 took place August 2d. 
 
 " The Declaration," says Bancroft,* " was not only the 
 announcement of the birth of a people, but the establish 
 ment of a national government; a most imperfect one, 
 it is true, but still a government, in conformity with the 
 limited constitutional powers which each Colony had con 
 ferred upon its delegates in Congress. * * * The 
 management of the internal police and government was 
 carefully reserved to the separate States, which culd, each 
 for itself, enter upon the career of domestic reforms. But 
 the States were not independent one of another; the 
 United States of America, presenting themselves to man- 
 
 * IV, p. 452. 
 
906 WASHINGTON. 
 
 kind as one people, assumed powers over war, peace, 
 foreign alliances, and commerce." 
 
 And Frothingham's " Rise of the Republic " specially 
 notes how the Declaration assumed what the Constitu 
 tion of 1787 finally secured, a Nation in place of Con 
 federate Colonies. Thus he says:* " The sentiment oi 
 nationality the fresh emotion of country was inspira 
 tion and it was strength. They had a right to resist as 
 distinct communities. But they did not choose this 
 course. They strove so persistently to unite in general 
 measures of resistance, that for ten years union was the 
 key to their politics. It grew to be a conviction that a 
 common country was a necessity; and when they came to 
 act on the large scale of assuming national powers, they 
 declared their independence by a joint act. Hence they 
 became one nation. The Declaration established Union 
 as a fundamental law by the side of the old law of diversity. 
 The Declaration transformed the sentiment of nationality 
 into the fact of nationality. The Declaration announced 
 to the world the fact of The United States of America, 
 a new political sovereignty. The Declaration changed the 
 allegiance of the individual from the monarchy to the 
 United States." 
 
 No one rejoiced more cordially at the news of the 
 Declaration of Independence than Washington. He had 
 long desired it. He had long been hampered, almost 
 paralyzed, in his military operations by the anomalous con 
 dition in which he was placed as the Commander-in-Chief 
 of an army acting against a sovereign whose allegiance 
 had not been openly renounced. His action would now 
 be more free, his position completely defined. He was 
 henceforth to fight for a free and independent country. 
 
 On the pth of July, the Declaration by Washington's 
 
 * Pp. 553-557- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 907 
 
 order was read at the head of each brigade of the army, 
 and was received by the soldiers with joyous acclamations. 
 In the general order of the day he said: "The General 
 hopes that this important event will serve as a fresh in 
 centive to every officer and soldier, to act with fidelity and 
 courage, as knowing that now the peace and safety of 
 his country depend, under God, solely on the success of 
 our arms; and that he is now in the service of a State 
 possessed of sufficient power to reward his merit, and 
 advance him to the highest honors of a free country." 
 
 On the evening of the same day, a number of the people 
 of New York, in order to complete the celebration by a 
 significant token, pulled down a leaden statue of George 
 III, which had been erected on the Bowling Green in 
 1770, and broke it to pieces. The lead of which it was 
 composed was subsequently cast into bullets, " to be used 
 in the cause of independence." 
 
 Three days after these proceedings, the city was thrown 
 into great alarm (July 12, 1776). Two ships from the 
 British fleet, the Phoenix, of forty guns, and the Rose, of 
 twenty, with three tenders, taking advantage of a favor 
 able breeze sailed up the bay, and were proceeding up the 
 Hudson river. They were fired upon by the batteries of 
 the city and those on the opposite Jersey shore at Paulus 
 Hook, and answered with broadsides. They passed the 
 forts with little injury, as the men on deck were protected 
 by ramparts of sandbags; while the cannonade spread 
 terror among the quiet people of the city, who were appre 
 hensive of a general attack. 
 
 The ships went up the Hudson to the Tappan sea and 
 Haverstraw bay, where the breadth of the river enabled 
 them to anchor without being molested by the firing from 
 the shore. 
 
 Washington apprehending an attack on Forts Constitu- 
 
908 WASHINGTON. 
 
 tion and Montgomery, lately erected on the Hudson river, 
 sent off expresses to General Mifflin, who commanded the 
 former, and to the New York convention, then in session 
 at White Plains, apprising them of the danger. Gen. 
 George Clinton was then in command of the militia of 
 Orange and Ulster counties. To him Washington sent off 
 another dispatch, urging him to collect a force for the 
 protection of the Highlands, a request which that active 
 officer had already more than anticipated by sending rein 
 forcements to Fort Montgomery, Fort Constitution, and 
 the Highlands. 
 
 The ships remained in the river for a period of five 
 weeks, taking soundings, observing the positions on the 
 shores, and communicating secretly with the Tories, not 
 withstanding the vigilance of the garrisons and armed 
 parties on shore, by whom their motions were watched. 
 Their real object was to make observations with a view- 
 to certain future objects of General Howe, which were 
 to cut off communication by water between Washington's 
 army and Canada, and between the city and country, as 
 well as to communicate with the Tories and encourage 
 them in measures of hostility. Before their return to the 
 fleet, one of the tenders was destroyed by a fire-shop, under 
 command of Captain Thomas, which with others, had 
 been sent up the river by Washington.* 
 
 Meantime (July 12, 1776), Lord Howe arrived at Staten 
 Island and joined his brother with a powerful fleet and 
 army. Immediately after his arrival he sent ashore a flag of 
 truce to Amboy, with a circular letter, together with a 
 declaration to several of the late royal Governors, pre 
 suming them to be still in power, acquainting them with 
 his authority as commissioner from the King, and the 
 terms proposed for reconciliation, and desiring them to 
 
 * Sparks, " Life of Washington," p. 170. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 909 
 
 publish the same as generally as possible for the informa 
 tion of the people. The declaration and letters were inter 
 cepted and forwarded to Congress by General Washing 
 ton; and ordered by them to be published in the several 
 newspapers, that the inhabitants might be informed of the 
 terms offered by Lord Howe, which were merely offers 
 of pardon and favor to individuals, or whole Colonies, 
 who would return to their allegiance and assist in " re 
 storing tranquillity," that is, desert the cause of their 
 country, and give aid and comfort to its enemies. Con 
 gress was perfectly willing to make known, as widely as 
 possible these terms, with the expectation of which the 
 court of Britain had endeavored to amuse and disarm 
 them; and that the few who were still suspended by a 
 hope founded either in the justice or moderation of the 
 British Government might be convinced that the valor 
 alone of their country was to save its liberties. 
 
 There is no reason to doubt that Lord Howe was sin 
 cerely anxious for peace. He addressed a note to Dr. 
 Franklin, to whom he was personally well known, earnestly 
 expressing his wishes that the differences between the 
 Americans and the mother country might be amicably 
 settled. Franklin in his reply courteously regretted that 
 he had crossed the Atlantic on an errand so fruitless, as 
 to expect to obtain submission from his countrymen. " It 
 is impossible," he writes, " that we should think of sub 
 mission to a government that has, with the most wanton 
 barbarity and cruelty, burnt our defenseless towns in the 
 midst of winter; excited the savages to massacre our 
 peaceful farmers, and our slaves to murder their masters; 
 and is now bringing foreign mercenaries to deluge our 
 settlements with blood. Long did I endeavor, with un 
 feigned and unwearied zeal, to persevere from breaking 
 that fine and noble china vase, the British empire; for I 
 
910 WASHINGTON. 
 
 knew that being once broken, the separate parts could 
 not retain even their share of the strength and value that 
 existed in the whole; and that a perfect reunion could 
 scarce ever be hoped for." In conclusion he says, " I 
 know your great motive in coming hither was the hope 
 of being instrumental in a reconciliation; and I believe 
 when you find that to be impossible on any terms given 
 you to propose, you will then relinquish so odious a com 
 mand and return to a more honorable private station." 
 
 Failing in these efforts, the commissioners next at 
 tempted to open a communication with Washington, whom 
 they addressed as George Washington, Esq.; but as they 
 were not prepared to acknowledge the official position 
 and station of the Commander-in-Chief, a difficulty at once 
 arose. Washington never suffered the slightest deviation 
 from exact propriety in all his public relations. The 
 commissioners, anxious to accomplish something, next 
 had recourse to an expedient by which they hoped to 
 obviate all difficulty; they changed the address of their 
 letter for the superscription following: To George Wash 
 ington, etc., etc. Adjutant-General Patterson was sent with 
 this dispatch. Being introduced to Washington, he gave 
 him in conversation the title of Excellency. The General 
 received him with great politeness, but at the same time 
 with much dignity. The adjutant expressed himself 
 greatly concerned, on behalf of his principals, on account 
 of the difficulties that had arisen about the superscription 
 of the letter, assured him (of their high regard for his 
 personal character, and that they had no intention to 
 undervalue his rank. It was hoped therefore that the 
 et ceteras, being in use between ambassadors, when they 
 were not perfectly agreed upon points of etiquette, would 
 remove all obstructions to their mutual intercourse. 
 
 Washington answered that a letter written to a person 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 911 
 
 invested with a public character should specify it, other 
 wise it could not be distinguished from a private letter; 
 that it was true the et ceteras implied everything; but it 
 was no less true that they implied anything; and that as 
 to himself, he would never consent to receive any letter, 
 relating to public affairs, that should be directed to him, 
 without a designation of his rank and office. Patterson 
 requested that this question might be waived; and turned 
 the conversation upon prisoners of war. He expatiated 
 in magnificent terms upon the goodness and clemency 
 of the King, who had chosen for negotiators Lord and 
 General Howe. He affirmed that their desire to terminate 
 the differences which had arisen between the two peoples 
 was as earnest as their powers were ample; and that he 
 hoped the General would consider this visit as the first 
 step toward it. Washington replied that he was not 
 authorized to negotiate; but that it did not appear that 
 the powers of the commissioners consisted in any more 
 than in granting pardons; that America, not having com 
 mitted any offense, asked for no forgiveness, and was only 
 defending her unquestionable rights. Patterson remarked 
 that this subject would open too vast a field of discussion. 
 He expressed his acknowledgments for the favor done 
 him, in omitting the usual ceremony of blinding his eyes 
 when passing the Americans' works. Washington invited 
 him to partake of a collation, and he was introduced to the 
 general officers. After many compliments and polite ex 
 pressions, and repeating his regrets that a strict observa 
 tion of formalities should interrupt the course of so im 
 portant an affair, he took leave of Washington and with 
 drew. This conference thus remained without result and 
 all thoughts were again turned toward hostilities. Con 
 gress were perfectly aware, on the one hand, of the shame 
 they must incur by departing from the resolution so 
 
912 WASHINGTON. 
 
 recently taken of asserting independence, and they feared 
 on the other that the propositions of England might 
 contain -some secret poison. They caused an exact relation 
 to be printed of the interview between the Commander-in- 
 Chief and the English Adjutant-General. 
 
 At this time of imminent danger, Washington had the 
 grief and mortification to learn that dissensions were 
 breaking out among the different portions of the army, 
 which threatened the most serious consequences. The 
 officers, coming from various parts of the country, were 
 jealous of each other, and openly expressed themselves in 
 terms so disrespectful as necessarily to produce a very bad 
 state of feeling toward each other, which spread also 
 among the soldiers to such an extent as to excite an appre 
 hension of actual collision between the different corps. 
 Washington foreseeing all the evils which would inevitably 
 result from such a state of things had recourse to per 
 suasion and reprimand. In a general order he thus ad 
 dressed the army: 
 
 "The General most earnestly entreats the officers and 
 soldiers to consider the consequences; that they can no 
 way assist our enemies more effectually than by making 
 divisions among ourselves; that the honor and success of 
 the army, and the safety of our bleeding country, depend 
 upon harmony and good agreement with each other; that 
 the provinces are all united to oppose the common enemy, 
 and all distinctions sunk in the name of an American. To 
 make this name honorable and to preserve the liberty of 
 our country ought to be our only emulation; and he will 
 be the best soldier and the best patriot, who contributes 
 most to this glorious work, whatsoever his station, or 
 from whatever part of the continent he may come. Let 
 all distinctions of nations, countries, and provinces be lost 
 in the generous contest, who shall behave with the most 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 913 
 
 courage against the enemy, and the most kindness and 
 good humor to each other. If there be any officers or 
 soldiers so lost to virtue and a love of their country as to 
 continue in these practices after this order, the General 
 assures them and is authorized by Congress to declare to 
 the whole army that such persons shall be severely pun 
 ished and dismissed from the service with disgrace." 
 
 This order produced a marked effect from the habitual 
 reverence ever felt for Washington by the army. But 
 the evil was never wholly eradicated. Throughout the 
 war it was deemed important to keep the troops from 
 each State together, and place them under the command 
 of general officers from their own part of the country. 
 
 The reinforcements to the British army, of whom about 
 450 had been captured by the Americans cruisers, were 
 now arriving daily from Europe; and General Howe had 
 also been joined by the troops from Charleston. His 
 strength was now estimated at 24,000 men. 
 
 To this army, alike formidable for its numbers, its dis 
 cipline, and its equipments, aided in its operations by a 
 numerous fleet, and conducted by commanders of skill 
 and experience, Washington had to oppose a force un 
 stable in its nature, incapable from its structure of receiv 
 ing discipline, and inferior to its enemy in numbers, in 
 arms, and in every military equipment. It consisted, when 
 General Howe landed on Staten Island, of 10,000 men, 
 who were much enfeebled by sickness. The diseases which 
 always afflict new troops were increased by exposure to 
 the rain and night air without tents. In consequence of 
 Washington's earnest representations to Congress, some 
 regiments stationed in the different States were ordered to 
 join him; and in addition to the requisitions of men to 
 serve until December requisitions not yet complied with 
 the neighboring militia were called into service for the 
 58 
 
914 WASHINGTON. 
 
 exigency of the moment. Yet in a letter written to Con 
 gress on the 8th of August (1776), he stated that " for the 
 several posts on New York, Long and Governor's Islands, 
 and Paulus Hook, the army consisted of only 17,225 men, 
 of whom 3,668 were sick; and that to repel an immediate 
 attack, he could count certainly on no other addition to 
 his numbers than a battalion from Maryland, under the 
 command of Colonel Smallwood."* 
 
 The army was rendered the more inadequate to its ob 
 jects by being necessarily divided for the defense of posts, 
 some of which were fifteen miles distant from others, with 
 navigable waters between them. " These things," con 
 tinued the letter, " are melancholy, but they are neverthe 
 less true. I hope for better. Under every disadvantage 
 my utmost exertions shall be employed to bring about 
 the great end we have in view; and so far as I can judge 
 from the professions and apparent dispositions of my 
 troops, I shall have their support. The superiority of the 
 enemy and the expected attack do not seem to have de 
 pressed their spirits. These considerations lead me to 
 think that though the appeal may not terminate so happily 
 as I could wish, yet the enemy will not succeed in their 
 views without considerable loss. Any advantage they may 
 gain I trust will cost them dear." 
 
 Soon after this letter the army was reinforced by Small- 
 wood's regiment and by two regiments from Pennsylvania, 
 with a body of New England and New York militia, which 
 
 * Most of the Continental troops were without uniforms. In 
 the Connecticut regiments the officers were distinguished from 
 the men only by wearing cockades in their hats. But the battalion 
 from Maryland under Colonel Smallwood, composed of young men 
 from rich families, wore an elegant uniform of scarlet and bluff, 
 which contrasted strongly with the homespun apparel of many of 
 the Eastern troops. The army had no cavalry, a deficiency which 
 was severely felt in the battle of Long Island. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 915 
 
 increased it to 27,000 men, of whom one-fourth were 
 sick. 
 
 A part of the army was stationed on Long Island under 
 the command of Major-General Sullivan, who had been 
 ordered to this point in consequence of the illness of Gen 
 eral Greene. The residue occupied different stations on 
 York Island, except two small detachments, one on Gov 
 ernor's Island, and the other at Paulus Hook, and except 
 a part of the New York militia under General Clinton, 
 who were stationed on 'the Sound, toward New Rochelle, 
 and about East and West Chester, in order to oppose any 
 sudden attempt which might be made to land above Kings- 
 bridge and cut off the communication with the country. 
 
 Expecting daily to be attacked, and believing that the 
 influence of the first battle would be extremely important, 
 Washington employed every expedient which might act 
 upon that enthusiastic love of liberty, that indignation 
 against the invaders of their country, and that native cour 
 age which were believed to animate the bosoms of his 
 soldiers, and which were relied on as substitutes for dis 
 cipline and experience. " The time," say his orders issued 
 soon after the arrival of General Howe (August 2, 1776), 
 " is now at hand which must determine whether Americans 
 are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any 
 property they can call their own; whether their houses and 
 farms are to be pillaged and destroyed and themselves 
 consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human 
 efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will 
 now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of 
 this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us 
 only the choice of a brave resistance, or the most abject 
 submission. We have therefore to resolve to conquer or 
 to die. Our own, our country's honor, call upon us for a 
 vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully 
 fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let 
 
916 WASHINGTON. 
 
 us then rely on the goodness of our cause, and the aid of 
 the Supreme Being, in whose hands the victory is, to ani 
 mate and encourage us to great and noble actions. The 
 eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and we shall 
 have their blessings and praises, if happily we are the 
 instruments of saving them from the tyranny meditated 
 against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage 
 each other and show the whole world that a freeman 
 contending for .liberty on his own ground is superior to 
 any slavish mercenary on earth."* 
 
 To the officers he recommended coolness in time of 
 action, and to the soldiers strict attention and obedience, 
 with a becoming firmness and spirit. 
 
 He assured them that any officer, soldier, or corps, 
 distinguished by any acts of extraordinary bravery, should 
 most certainly meet with notice and rewards, whilst on the 
 other hand those who should fail in the performance of 
 their duty would as certainly be exposed and punished. 
 
 Whilst preparations were making for the expected en 
 gagement, intelligence was received of the repulse of the 
 British squadron which had attacked Fort Moultrie. 
 Washington availed himself of the occasion of communi 
 cating this success to his army to add a spirit of emulation 
 to the other motives which should impel them to manly 
 exertions. "This glorious example of our troops," he 
 said, " under the like circumstances with ourselves, the 
 General hopes, will animate every officer and soldier to 
 imitate and even to outdo them, when the enemy shall 
 make the same attempt on us. With such a bright example 
 before us of what can be done by brave men fighting in 
 
 *This general order of Washington has been greatly admired, 
 and frequently published, as a remarkably fine specimen of military 
 eloquence. It is indeed fraught with the eloquence which is 
 brought forth from a strong mind by a great emergency. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 917 
 
 defense of their country, we shall be loaded with a double 
 share of shame and infamy if we do not acquit ourselves 
 with courage, and manifest a determined resolution to 
 conquer or die." 
 
 As the crisis approached his anxiety increased. En 
 deavoring to breathe into his army his own spirit, and to 
 give them his own feeling, he thus addressed them: " The 
 enemy's whole reinforcement is now arrived, so that an 
 attack must and will soon be made. The General there 
 fore again repeats his earnest request that every officer and 
 soldier will have his arms and ammunition in good order; 
 keep within his quarters and encampments as far as possi 
 ble; be ready for action at a moment's call, and when 
 called to it, remember that liberty, property, life, and honor, 
 are all at stake; that upon their courage and conduct rest 
 the hopes of their bleeding and insulted country; that 
 their wives, children, and parents, expect safety from them 
 only; and that we have every reason to believe that 
 heaven will crown with success so just a cause. 
 
 " The enemy will endeavor to intimidate by show and 
 appearance; but remember they have been repulsed on 
 various occasions by a few brave Americans; their cause 
 is bad; and if opposed with firmness and coolness on their 
 first onset, with our advantage of works and knowledge of 
 the ground, the victory is most assuredly ours. Every 
 good soldier will be silent and attentive, wait for orders, 
 and reserve his fire until he is sure of doing execution; 
 of this the officers are to be particularly careful." 
 
 He directed explicitly that any soldier who should at 
 tempt to conceal himself, or retreat without orders, should 
 instantly be shot down; and solemnly promised to notice 
 and reward those who should distinguish themselves. 
 Thus did he, by infusing those sentiments, which would 
 stimulate to the greatest individual exertion, into every 
 
918 WASHINGTON. 
 
 bosom, endeavor to compensate for the want of arms, of 
 discipline, and of numbers. 
 
 As the defense of Long Island was intimately connected 
 with that of New York, a brigade had been stationed at 
 Brooklyn, a post capable of being maintained for a con 
 siderable time. An extensive camp had been marked out 
 and fortified at the same place. Brooklyn is situated on a 
 small peninsula made by East river, the Bay, and Gowanus 
 bay. The encampment fronted the mainland of the island, 
 and the works stretched quite across the peninsula, from 
 Wallabout bay in the East river on the left, to a deep 
 marsh on a creek emptying into Gowanus bay on the 
 right. The rear was covered and defended against an 
 attack from the ships by strong batteries on Red Hook 
 and on Governor's Island, which in a great measure com 
 manded that part of the bay, and by other batteries on 
 East river, which kept open the communication with 
 York Island. In front of the camp was a range of hills 
 covered with thick woods, which extended from east to 
 west nearly the breadth of the island, and across which 
 were three different roads leading to Brooklyn Ferry. 
 These hills though steep were everywhere passable by 
 infantry. 
 
 The movements of General Howe indicating an inten 
 tion to make his first attack on Long Island, General Sulli 
 van was strongly reinforced. Early in the morning of the 
 22d of August (1776), the principal part of the British 
 army, under command of General Clinton, landed under 
 cover of the guns of the fleet, and extended from the ferry 
 at the Narrows, through Utrecht and Gravesend, to Flat- 
 lands. 
 
 Confident that an engagement must soon take place, 
 Washington made still another effort to inspire his troops 
 with the most determined courage. " The enemy," said he 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 919 
 
 in addressing them, " have now landed on Long Island, and 
 the hour is fast approaching on which the honor and suc 
 cess of this army and the safety of our bleeding country 
 depend. Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are 
 freemen, fighting for the blessings of liberty that slavery 
 will be your portion and that of your posterity, if you 
 do not acquit yourselves like men." He repeated his 
 instructions respecting their conduct in action, and con 
 cluded with the most animating and encouraging exhorta 
 tions. 
 
 Major-General Putnam was now directed to take com 
 mand at Brooklyn with a reinforcement of six regiments; 
 and he was charged most earnestly by the Commander- 
 in-Chief to be in constant readiness for an attack, and to 
 guard the woods between the two camps with his best 
 troops. This order was obeyed with great alacrity, as the 
 active and indefatigable veteran was heartily tired of his 
 monotonous life in the city. 
 
 Washington had passed the day at Brooklyn making 
 arrangements for the approaching action, and at night 
 had returned to New York. 
 
 The Hessians, under General De Heister, composed the 
 center of the British army at Flatbush; Major-General 
 Grant commanded the left wing which extended to the 
 coast, and the greater part of the British forces under 
 General Clinton, Earl Percy, and Lord Cornwallis, turned 
 short to the right and approached the opposite coast of 
 Flatlands. 
 
 The two armies were now separated from each other 
 by the range of hills already mentioned. The British 
 center at Flatbush was scarcely four miles distant from the 
 American lines at Brooklyn, and a direct road led across 
 the heights from the one to the other. Another road, 
 rather more circuitous than the first, led from Flatbush 
 
920 WASHINGTON. 
 
 by the way of Bedford, a small village on the Brooklyn 
 side of the hills. The right and left wing of the British 
 army were nearly equidistant from the American works, 
 and about five or six miles from them. The road leading 
 from the Narrows along the coast and by the way of 
 Gowanus Cove afforded the most direct route to their 
 left; and their right might either return by the way of 
 Flatbush and unite with the center, or take a more cir 
 cuitous course and enter a road leading from Jamaica to 
 Bedford. These several roads united between Bedford and 
 Brooklyn, a small distance in front of the American lines. 
 
 The direct road from Flatbush to Brooklyn was de 
 fended by a fort which the Americans had constructed in 
 the hills, and the coast and Bedford roads were guarded 
 by detachments posted on the hills within view of the 
 British camp. Light parties of volunteers were directed 
 to patrol on the road leading from Jamaica to Bedford, 
 about two miles from which near Flatbush, Colonel Miles 
 of Pennsylvania was stationed with a regiment of riflemen. 
 The convention of New York had directed a small body 
 of militia to be assembled on the high grounds near the 
 enemy, under the command of General Woodhull, for the 
 purpose of interrupting their communication with their 
 numerous friends in that neighborhood; but he was not 
 placed under the orders of the regular officer commanding 
 on the island. 
 
 About 9 at night, General Clinton silently drew off the 
 van of the British army across the country, in order to 
 seize a pass in the heights about three miles east of Bed 
 ford, on the Jamaica road.* In the morning (August 26, 
 
 * The arrangements for guarding against surprise at this point 
 were very incomplete, and the neglect to occupy it with a strong 
 force led to the most disastrous consequences. " Moat unfortu 
 nately, General Greene was seized with a violent fever about the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 921 
 
 1776), about two hours before daybreak, within half a 
 mile of the pass, his patrols fell in with and captured one 
 of the American parties which had been stationed on this 
 road. Learning, to his great surprise, from his prisoners 
 that the pass was unoccupied, General Clinton immediately 
 seized it; and on the appearance of day the whole column 
 passed the heights, and advanced into the level country 
 between them and Brooklyn. 
 
 Before Clinton had secured the passes on the road 
 from Jamaica, General Grant advanced along the coast 
 at the head of the left wing with ten pieces of cannon. As 
 his first object was to draw the attention of the Americans 
 from their left, he moved slowly, skirmishing as he ad 
 vanced with the light parties stationed on that road. 
 
 This movement was soon communicated to General 
 Putnam, who reinforced the parties which had been ad 
 vanced in front; and as General Grant continued to gain 
 ground, still stronger detachments were employed in this 
 service. About 3 in the morning, Brigadier-General 
 Lord Stirling was directed to meet the enemy, with the 
 two nearest regiments, on the road leading from the 
 Narrows. Major-General Sullivan, who commanded all 
 the troops without the lines, advanced at the head of a 
 strong detachment on the road leading directly to Flat- 
 middle of August, and the command devolved on General Putnam, 
 whose want of thorough knowledge of the ground led to the 
 Jamaica road being left without sufficient protection, and most un 
 happily afforded the British commander an opportunity of assault 
 ing the Americans in front and rear at the same time. In the 
 confusion and want of discipline which prevailed, the orders to 
 watch and guard the passes were imperfectly obeyed; and, as Wash 
 ington apprehended, the chances of success were greatly in favor 
 of the enemy." Spencer, History of the United States. 
 
923 WASHINGTON. 
 
 bush, while another detachment occupied the heights be 
 tween that place and Bedford. 
 
 About the break of day (August 27), Lord Stirling 
 reached the summit of the hills, where he was joined by the 
 troops which had been already engaged, and were retiring 
 slowly before the enemy, who almost immediately appeared 
 in sight. A warm cannonade was commenced on both 
 sides, which continued for several hours; and some sharp, 
 but not very close, skirmishing took place between the 
 infantry. Lord Stirling, being anxious only to defend the 
 pass he guarded, could not descend in force from the 
 heights; and General Grant did not wish to drive him from 
 them until that part of the plan, which had been intrusted 
 to Sir Henry Clinton, should be executed. 
 
 In the center, General De Heister, soon after daylight, 
 began to cannonade the troops under General Sullivan, 
 but did not move from his ground at Flatbush until the 
 British right had approached the left and rear of the 
 American line. In the meantime, in order the more effectu 
 ally to draw their attention from the point where the grand 
 attack was intended, the fleet was put in motion, and a 
 heavy cannonade was commenced on the battery at Red 
 Hook. 
 
 About half-past 8, the British right having then reached 
 Bedford, in the rear of Sullivan's left, General De 
 Heister ordered Colonel Donop's corps to advance to the 
 attack of the hill, following himself with the center of the 
 army. The approach of Clinton was now discovered by 
 the American left, which immediately endeavored to regain 
 the camp at Brooklyn. While retiring from the woods 
 by regiments, they encountered the front of the British. 
 
 About the same time, the Hessians advanced from Flat- 
 bush against that part of the detachment which occupied 
 the direct road to Brooklyn. Here General Sullivan com- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 923 
 
 manded in person, but he found it difficult to keep his 
 troops together long enough to sustain the first attack. 
 The firing heard toward Bedford had disclosed the alarm 
 ing fact that the British had turned their left flank, and 
 were getting completely into their rear. Perceiving at 
 once the full danger of their situation, they sought to 
 escape it by regaining the camp with the utmost possible 
 celerity. The sudden rout of this party enabled De Heister 
 to detach a part of his force against those who were en 
 gaged near Bedford. In that quarter too the Americans 
 were broken and driven back into the woods; and the 
 front of the column led by General Clinton continuing to 
 move forward intercepted and engaged those who were 
 retreating along the direct road from Flatbush. Thus 
 attacked both in front and rear, and alternately driven 
 by the British on the Hessians and by the Hessians back 
 again on the British, a succession of skirmishes took place 
 in the woods, in the course of which some parts of corps 
 forced their way through the enemy and regained the lines 
 of Brooklyn, and several individuals saved themselves 
 under cover of the woods, but a great proportion of the 
 detachment was killed or taken. The fugitives were pur 
 sued up to the American works, and such is represented 
 to have been the ardor of the British soldiers, that it 
 required the authority of their cautious commander to 
 prevent an immediate assault. 
 
 The fire toward Brooklyn gave the first intimation to 
 the American right that the enemy had gained the rear. 
 Lord Stirling perceived the danger, and that he could only 
 escape it by retreating instantly across the creek. This 
 movement was immediately directed; and to secure it, 
 his lordship determined to attack in person a British 
 corps under Lord Cornwallis, stationed at a house rather 
 above the place at which he intended to cross the creek. 
 
924 WASHINGTON. 
 
 About 400 men of Smallwood's regiment were drawn out 
 for this purpose, and the attack was made with great 
 spirit. This small corps was brought up several times to 
 the charge, and Lord Stirling stated that he was on the 
 point of dislodging Lord Cornwallis from his post; but 
 the force in his front increasing, and General Grant also 
 advancing on his rear, the brave men he commanded were 
 no longer able to oppose the superior numbers which 
 assailed them on every quarter. Upward of 250 of Small- 
 wood's regiment were killed, and those who survived were, 
 with their general, made prisoners of war. This attempt 
 though unsuccessful gave an opportunity to a large part 
 of the detachment to save themselves by crossing the 
 creek. 
 
 The loss sustained by the American army in this battle 
 could not be accurately ascertained by either party. Num 
 bers were supposed to have been drowned in the creek, 
 or suffocated in the marsh, whose bodies were never found; 
 and exact accounts from the militia are seldom to be 
 obtained, as the list of the missing is always swelled by 
 those who return to their homes. Washington did not 
 admit it to exceed a thousand men; but in this estimate 
 he must have included only the regular troops. In a letter 
 written by Howe, the amount of prisoners is stated at 
 1,097, among whom were Major-General Sullivan, and 
 Brigadiers Lord Stirling and Woodhull, by him named 
 Udell. He computes the loss of the Americans at 3,300 
 men, but his computation is excessive. The actual loss 
 of the Americans was about 2,000, including the killed, 
 wounded, and prisoners. He supposes too that the troops 
 engaged on the heights amounted to 10,000, but they 
 could not have much exceeded half that number. His 
 own loss is stated at 21 officers, and 346 privates killed, 
 wounded, and taken. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 925 
 
 As the action became warm, Washington passed over 
 to the camp at Brooklyn, where he saw with inexpressible 
 anguish the destruction in which his best troops were 
 involved, and from which it was impossible to extricate 
 them. Should he attempt anything in their favor with 
 the men remaining within the lines, it was probable the 
 camp itself would be lost, and the whole division of his 
 army destroyed. Should he bring over the remaining 
 battalions from New York he would still be inferior in 
 point of numbers, and his whole army, perhaps the fate 
 of his country, might be staked on the issue of a single 
 battle thus inauspiciously commenced. Compelled to be 
 hold the carnage of his troops, without being able to 
 assist them, his efforts were directed to the preservation 
 of those which remained. 
 
 Believing the Americans to be much stronger than 
 they were in reality, and unwilling to commit anything to 
 hazard, General Howe made no immediate attempt to 
 force their lines. He encamped in front of them, and on 
 the 28th, at night, broke ground in form, within 600 yards 
 of a redoubt on the left. 
 
 In this critical state of things a retreat seemed unavoid 
 able; every moment was precious, since a sudden shift 
 of wind, by bringing the British fleet between Brooklyn 
 and New York, would cut off the possibility of escape. 
 It was known besides, that Clinton was threatening to send 
 part of his army across the Sound, thus menacing New 
 York. Washington called a council of war, at which it 
 was resolved to retreat with the troops at once. The hour 
 of 8 in the evening of the 2Qth of August was fixed 
 upon for the embarkation. Everything had been prepared, 
 and the troops were ready to march down, but the force 
 of the wind and ebb tide delayed them for some hours, 
 and seemed as if it would entirely frustrate the enterprise. 
 
926 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The enemy, toiling hard at the approaches, were now so 
 near that the blows of their pickaxes and instruments 
 could be distinctly heard, while the noise of these opera 
 tions deadened all sound of the American movements, 
 which were carried on in the deepest silence. About 2 
 in the morning, a thick fog settling over Long Island pre 
 vented all sight of what was going on, and the wind shift 
 ing round to the southwest, the soldiers entered the boats 
 and were rapidly transferred to the opposite shore. So 
 complete were the arrangements that almost all the artil 
 lery, with the provisions, horses, wagons, and ammunition, 
 safely crossed over to New York. Washington, who for 
 forty-eight hours had hardly been off his horse and never 
 closed his eyes, though repeatedly entreated, refused to 
 enter a boat until all the troops were embarked, and 
 crossed the river in the last boat of all.* 
 
 Washington, leaving a considerable force in the city of 
 New York, encamped with the main body on Harlem 
 Heights, at the northern end of the island; he was also 
 prepared to retreat into Westchester county, if need be. 
 The British had entire possession of Long Island ; the ships 
 of war anchored within cannon shot of the city; and Howe 
 was gradually making his arrangements to pursue the 
 dispirited and defeated American troops. 
 
 It was under no ordinary suffering of mind that Wash- 
 
 *The service of managing the boats was performed by Marble- 
 head fishermen. Otherwise the result might have been widely dif 
 ferent. " Colonel Glover, who belonged to Marblehead, was called 
 upon with the whole of his regiment fit for duty to take the com 
 mand of the vessels and flat-bottomed boats. Most of the men 
 were formerly employed in the fishery, and so peculiarly well quali 
 fied for the service. The colonel went over himself from New York 
 to give directions; and, about 7 o'clock at night, officers and men 
 went to work with a spirit and resolution peculiar to that corps." 
 Gordon's History of the American Revolution. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 927 
 
 ington addressed the President of Congress on the 2d of 
 September (1776): "Our situation is truly distressing. 
 The check our detachment sustained on the 27th ultimo 
 has dispirited too great a proportion of our troops and 
 filled their minds with apprehension and despair. The 
 militia, instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to a 
 brave and manly opposition, in order to repair our losses, 
 are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to return. Great 
 numbers of them have gone off; in some instances almost 
 by whole regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a 
 time. This circumstance of itself, independent of others, 
 when fronted by a well-appointed enemy, superior in num 
 ber to our whole collected force, would be sufficiently dis 
 agreeable; but, when their example has infected another 
 part of the army, when their want of discipline and refusal 
 of almost every kind of restraint and government have 
 produced a like conduct but too common to the whole, 
 and an entire disregard of that order and subordination 
 necessary to the well-doing of an army, and which had 
 been inculcated before as well as the nature of our mili 
 tary establishment would admit of our condition be 
 comes still more alarming; and, with the deepest concern, 
 I am obliged to confess my want of confidence in the gen 
 erality of the troops." 
 
 This unfortunate state of things induced Washington 
 again to repeat the opinion, which he had so often ex 
 pressed to Congress, that little reliance could be placed 
 on soldiers enlisted for short periods. The only means of 
 preserving the liberties of the country he considered to 
 be the enlistment of troops to serve during the whole war. 
 
 The British commanders did not seem to be in haste to 
 press the advantage they had gained by the battle of Long 
 Island. On the contrary, they considered the present a 
 favorable time for a fresh attempt at pacification. To ac- 
 
938 WASHINGTON". 
 
 compHsh this object, General Sullivan, who had been taken 
 pri&oner on Long Island, was immediately sent on parole, 
 with the following verbal message from Lord Howe to 
 Congress: "That though he could not at present treat 
 with them in that character, yet he was very desirous of 
 having a conference with some of the members, whom he 
 would consider as private gentlemen; that he, with his 
 brother, the General, had full powers to compromise the 
 dispute between Great Britain and America, upon terms 
 advantageous to both; that he wished a compact might 
 be settled, at a time when no decisive blow was struck, 
 and neither party could say it was compelled to enter into 
 such agreement; that were they disposed to treat, many 
 things which they had not yet asked might and ought to 
 be granted, and that if upon conference they found any 
 probable ground of accommodation, the authority of Con 
 gress would be afterward acknowledged to render the 
 treaty complete." 
 
 Three days after this message was received, General 
 Sullivan was requested to inform Lord Howe " that Con 
 gress, being the representatives of the free and independ 
 ent States of America, cannot with propriety send any 
 of their members to confer with his lordship in their pri 
 vate characters; but that, ever desirous of establishing 
 peace on reasonable terms, they will send a committee of 
 their body to know whether he has any authority to treat 
 with persons authorized by Congress for that purpose, on 
 behalf of America, and what that authority is, and to hear 
 such propositions as he shall think fit to make respecting 
 the same." 
 
 They elected Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and Edward 
 Rutledge their committee for this purpose. In a few days 
 they met Lord Howe on Staten Island, and were received 
 with great politeness. On their return they made a re- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 929 
 
 port of their conference, which they summed up by saying: 
 " It did not appear to your committee that his lordship's 
 commission contained any other authority than that ex 
 pressed in the act of Parliament namely, that of grant 
 ing pardons, with such exceptions as the commissioners 
 shall think proper to make, and of declaring America, or 
 any part of it, to be in the King's peace on submission; for 
 as to the power of inquiring into the state of America, 
 which his lordship mentioned to us, and of conferring and 
 consulting with any persons the commissioners might think 
 proper, and representing the result of such conversation 
 to the ministry, who, provided the Colonies would subject 
 themselves, might after all, or might not, at their pleasure, 
 make any alterations in the former instructions to gov 
 ernors, or propose in Parliament any amendment of the 
 acts complained of, we apprehended any expectation from 
 the effect of such a power would have been too uncertain 
 and precarious to be relied on by America, had she still 
 continued in her state of dependence." 
 
 Lord Howe had ended the conference on his part by 
 expressing his regard for America and the extreme pain 
 he would suffer in being obliged to distress those whom 
 he so much regarded. Dr. Franklin thanked him for his 
 regards, and assured him " that the Americans would 
 show their gratitude by endeavoring to lessen as much as 
 possible all pain he might feel on their account by exert 
 ing their utmost abilities in taking good care of them 
 selves." 
 
 The committee in every respect maintained the dignity 
 of Congress. Their conduct and sentiments were such as 
 became their character. The friends to independence re 
 joiced that nothing resulted from this interview that might 
 disunite the people. Congress, trusting to the good sense 
 of their countrymen, ordered the whole to be printed for 
 59 
 
93Q WASHINGTON. 
 
 their information. All the States would have then re 
 joiced at less beneficial terms than they obtained about 
 seven years after. But Great Britain counted on the cer 
 tainty of their absolute conquest or unconditional sub 
 mission. Her offers therefore comported so little with 
 the feelings of America that they neither caused demur 
 nor disunion among the new-formed States. 
 
 While Lord Howe's conciliatory propositions to Con 
 gress were under discussion, hostilities advanced slowly; 
 but Tory emissaries were constantly sent into the coun 
 try to detach as many of the people as possible from the 
 cause of freedom by representing the great danger in 
 curred by attempting to resist the powerful fleet and army 
 which were to carry all before them, and by offers of par 
 don and reward to all deserters. As in all political dis 
 putes, many were hesitating which party to join. The 
 system adopted by the enemy was retaliated. 
 
 While the British, by their manifestoes and declarations, 
 were endeavoring to separate those who preferred a re 
 conciliation with Great Britain from those who were 
 friends of independence, Congress, by a similar policy, was 
 attempting to detach the foreigners who had come with 
 the royal troops from the service of His Brittanic Majesty. 
 Before hostilities had commenced the following resolution 
 was adopted and circulated among those on whom it was 
 intended to operate : " Resolved, that these States will 
 receive all such foreigners who shall leave the armies of 
 His Brittanic Majesty in America, and shall choose to 
 become members of any of these States, and they shall be 
 protected in the free exercise of their respective religions, 
 and be invested with the rights, privileges, and immuni 
 ties of natives, as established by the laws of these States, 
 and moreover that this Congress will provide for every 
 such person fifty acres of unappropriated lands in some of 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 931 
 
 these States, to be held by him and his heirs as absolute 
 property." 
 
 Washington, in a letter to Congress of the 26th of Au 
 gust, refers to these offers. " The papers/' he says, " de 
 signed for the foreign troops have been put into several 
 channels in order that they might be conveyed to them; 
 and from the information I had yesterday I have reason 
 to believe many have fallen into their hands." Franklin 
 was one of the committee for carrying the resolutions into 
 effect, and one of the expedients adopted was worthy his 
 ingenuity. In a letter to General Gates* he says: "The 
 Congress being advised that there was a probability that 
 the Hessians might be induced to quit the British service 
 by offers of land, they came to two resolves for this pur 
 pose, which, being translated into German and printed, 
 are to be sent to Staten Island to be distributed, if prac 
 ticable, among that people. Some of them have tobacco 
 marks on the back, that so tobacco being put in them in 
 small quantities, as the tobacconists use, and suffered to 
 fall into the hands of these people, they might divide the 
 papers as plunder before their officers could come to the 
 knowledge of the contents and prevent their being read 
 by the men. That was the first resolve. A second has 
 since been made for the officers themselves. I am desired 
 to send some of both sorts to you that, if you find it prac 
 ticable, you may convey them among the Germans who 
 may come against you." 
 
 Our narrative has now brought us near the close of the 
 summer of 1776, a period when the position of Washington 
 was nearly the reverse of what it had been at the same 
 season of the preceding year. Then he was besieging the 
 British in Boston. Now they were endeavoring to entrap 
 him in New York. We shall presently see that his strat 
 egy was far superior to theirs. 
 
 * Sparks, " Writings of Washington," vol. IV, p. 67. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WASHINGTON CROSSES THE HUDSON. 
 
 1776. 
 
 AFTER the disastrous battle of Long Island the situ- 
 "' ation of Washington in New York was one of the 
 most trying in which he had ever been placed. He 
 was not only embarrassed by doubt as to the enemy's in 
 tentions and by the weakness, discontent, and positive 
 misconduct of the army, but by the clamors of that noisy 
 portion of the community called " the public," who were 
 incapable of estimating the difficulties of his position or 
 the motives of his conduct. 
 
 Before the British landed it was impossible to tell what 
 place would be first attacked. This made it necessary to 
 erect works for the defense of a variety of places as well 
 as of New York. Though everything was abandoned 
 when the crisis came that either the city must be relin 
 quished or the army risked for its defense, yet, from the 
 delays occasioned by the redoubts and other works, which 
 had been erected on the idea of making the defense of the 
 States a war of posts, a whole campaign was lost to the 
 British and saved to the Americans. The year began with 
 hopes that Great Britain would recede from her demands, 
 and therefore every plan of defense was on a temporary 
 system. The Declaration of Independence, which the 
 violence of Great Britain forced the Colonies to adopt in 
 July, though neither foreseen nor intended at the com 
 mencement of the year, pointed out the necessity of or- 
 
 (932) 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 933 
 
 ganizing an army, on new terms, corresponding to the 
 enlarged objects for which they had resolved to contend. 
 Congress accordingly determined some time after (Sep 
 tember 1 6, 1776) to raise eighty-eight battalions, to serve 
 during the war. Under these circumstances, to wear away 
 the campaign with as little misfortune as possible, and 
 thereby to gain time for raising a permanent army against 
 the next year, was to the Americans a matter of the last 
 importance. Though Washington abandoned those 
 works, which had engrossed much time and attention, yet 
 the advantage resulting from the delays they occasioned 
 far overbalanced the expense incurred by their erection. 
 
 The same short-sighted politicians who had before cen 
 sured Washington for his cautious conduct in not storm 
 ing the British lines at Boston renewed their clamors 
 against him for adopting this evacuating and retreating 
 system. Supported by a consciousness of his own integ 
 rity and by a full conviction that these measures were best 
 calculated for securing the independence of America, he, 
 for the good of his country, voluntarily subjected his fame 
 to be overshadowed by a temporary cloud. We now re 
 turn to the events of the tedious and difficult, though, in 
 its results, successful campaign. 
 
 The British army, now in full possession of Long Island, 
 was posted from Bedford to Hell Gate, and thus fronted 
 and threatened New York from its extreme southern 
 point to the part opposite the northern boundary of Long 
 Island, a small distance below the Heights of Harlem, 
 comprehending a space of about nine miles. 
 
 Immediately after the victory at Brooklyn expositions 
 were made by the enemy to attack New York, and a part 
 of the fleet sailed round Long Island and appeared in the 
 Sound. Two frigates passed up the East river without 
 receiving any injury from the batteries, and anchored be- 
 
934 WASHINGTON. 
 
 hind a small island, which protected them from the Ameri 
 can artillery. At the same time, the main body of the fleet 
 lay at anchor close in with Governor's Island, from which 
 the American troops had been withdrawn, ready to pass 
 up either the North or East rivers, or both, and act against 
 any part of the island. 
 
 These movements indicated a disposition not to make 
 an attack directly on New York, as had been expected, 
 but to land near Kingsbridge and take a position which 
 would cut off the communication of the American army 
 with the country. 
 
 Aware of the danger of his situation, General Washing 
 ton began to remove such stores as were not immediately 
 necessary, and called a council of war to decide whether 
 New York should be at once abandoned or longer de 
 fended. 
 
 Some of the general officers who composed the council 
 were in favor of evacuating the city at once, assigning as 
 reasons the possibility of its being speedily bombarded 
 by the fleet, the distance of the different parts of the army 
 from each other, its extremes being not less than sixteen 
 miles apart, and the advantage to be gained by concen 
 trating the army, preserving the stores and heavy artillery, 
 and depriving the enemy of the advantage of their ships. 
 Putnam and Washington himself held these views. Gen 
 eral Greene, detained from the council by sickness, in a 
 letter to Washington, dated September 5th (1776), went 
 still further and recommended the burning of the city, 
 assigning, among other reasons for this proceeding, that 
 two-thirds of the city and suburbs belonged to Tories. 
 Other members of the council were for holding the city 
 till the army was absolutely driven out. General MifBin, 
 in a letter, assigned as a reason for this opinion that the 
 acquisition of New York would give great eclat to the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 935 
 
 arms of Great Britain, afford the soldiers good quarters, 
 and furnish a safe harbor for the fleet.* 
 
 In his letter, communicating to Congress the result of 
 this council, which was against an immediate evacuation, 
 Washington manifested a conviction of the necessity of 
 that measure, though he yielded to that necessity with 
 reluctance. Speaking of the enemy, he observed: 
 
 " It is now extremely obvious from their movements, 
 from our intelligence, and from every other circumstance 
 that, having their whole army upon Long Island, except 
 about 4,000 men who remain on Staten Island, they mean 
 to inclose us in this island by taking post in our rear, 
 while their ships effectually secure the front; and thus, by 
 cutting off our communication with the country, oblige 
 us to fight them on their own terms or surrender at dis 
 cretion; or, if that shall be deemed more advisable, by a 
 brilliant stroke enieavor to cut this army to pieces and 
 secure the possession of arms and stores which they well 
 know our inability to replace. 
 
 " Having their system unfolded to us, it becomes an 
 important consideration how it could be most successfully 
 opposed. On every side there is a choice of difficulties, 
 and experience teaches us that every measure on our part 
 (however painful the reflection) must be taken with some 
 apprehension that all our troops will not do their duty. 
 
 " In deliberating upon this great question," he added, 
 " it was impossible to forget that history, our own experi 
 ence, the advice of our ablest friends in Europe, the fears 
 of the enemy, and even the declarations of Congress 
 demonstrate that on our side the war should be defensive 
 
 * It was at this time that Washington called on Colonel Knowlton 
 to find a suitable person to cross to Long Island to learn something 
 of the enemy's intentions and through him obtained the services of 
 Nathan Hale. 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 (it has ever been called a war of posts); that we should on 
 all occasions, 'avoid a general action, nor put anything to 
 the risk unless compelled by necessity, into which we 
 ought never to be drawn." 
 
 After communicating the decision which had been made 
 by the council of officers, he stated the opinion of those 
 who were in favor of an immediate evacuation with such 
 force as to confirm the belief that it remained his own. 
 
 The majority, who overruled this opinion, did not ex 
 pect to be able to defend the. city permanently, but to de 
 fer the time of losing it, in the hope of wasting so much of 
 the campaign before General Howe could obtain posses 
 sion of it as to prevent his undertaking anything further 
 until the following year. They therefore advised a middle 
 course between abandoning the town absolutely and con 
 centrating their whole strength for its defense. This was 
 to form the army into three division, one of which should 
 remain in New York, the second be stationed at Kings- 
 bridge, and the third occupy the intermediate space, so as 
 to support either extreme. The sick were to be immediately 
 removed to Orange in New Jersey. A belief that Con 
 gress was inclined to maintain New York at every hazard, 
 and a dread of the unfavorable impression which its evacu 
 ation might make on the people, seem to have had great 
 influence in producing the determination to defend the 
 place a short time longer. 
 
 This opinion was soon changed. The movements of 
 the British General indicated clearly an intention either 
 to break their line of communication or to inclose the 
 whole army in New York. His dispositions were alike 
 calculated to favor the one or the other of those objects. 
 Washington, who had continued to employ himself assid 
 uously in the removal of the military stores to a place of 
 safety, called a second council to deliberate on the further 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 937 
 
 defense of the city, which determined, by a large majority, 
 that it had become not only prudent, but absolutely neces 
 sary, to withdraw the army from New York. 
 
 In consequence of this determination Brigadier-General 
 Mercer, who commanded the flying camp on the Jersey 
 shore, was directed to move up the North river to Fort 
 Lee, the post opposite Fort Washington, and every effort 
 was used to expedite the removal of the stores. 
 
 On the morning of the I5th (September, 1776), three 
 ships-of-war proceeded up the North river as high as 
 Bloomingdale, a movement which entirely stopped the 
 further removal of stores by water. About n o'clock on 
 the same day Sir Henry Clinton, with a division of 4,000 
 men, who had embarked at the head of Newtown bay, 
 where they had lain concealed from the view of the troops 
 posted on York Island, proceeded through that bay into 
 the East river, which he crossed; and, under cover of the 
 fire of five men-of-war, landed at a place called Kipp's 
 bay, about three miles above New York. 
 
 The works thrown up to oppose a landing at this place 
 were of considerable strength and capable of being de 
 fended for some time, but the troops abandoned them 
 without waiting to be attacked and fled with precipita 
 tion. On the commencement of the cannonade, General 
 Washington ordered the brigades of Parsons and Fellowes 
 to the support of the troops posted in the lines, and rode 
 toward the scene of action. The panic of those who had 
 fled from the works was communicated to the troops or 
 dered to sustain them, and the Commander-in-Chief had 
 the extreme mortification to meet the whole party retreat 
 ing in the utmost disorder, totally regardless of the efforts 
 made by their generals to stop their disgraceful flight. 
 Whilst Washington was exerting himself to rally them a 
 small corps of the enemy appeared, and they again broke 
 
938 WASHINGTON. 
 
 and fled in confusion. Though the British in sight did 
 not exceed sixty, he could not, either by example, en 
 treaty, or authority, prevail on a superior force to stand 
 their ground and face that inconsiderable number. Such 
 dastardly conduct raised a tempest in the usually tranquil 
 mind of Washington. Having embarked in the cause 
 from the purest principles, he viewed with infinite concern 
 this shameful behavior as threatening ruin to his country; 
 and impressed with these ideas, he hazarded his person 
 for some considerable time in the rear of his own men and 
 in front of the enemy, with his horse's head toward the 
 latter, as if in expectation that by an honorable death he 
 might escape the infamy he dreaded from the dastardly 
 conduct of troops on whom he could place no dependence. 
 His aides and the confidential friends around his person, 
 by indirect violence, compelled him to retire. In conse 
 quence of their address and importunity a life was saved 
 for public service which otherwise, from a sense of honor 
 seemed to be devoted to almost certain destruction. 
 
 The troops who fled on this occasion amounted in all 
 to eight regiments. They took refuge in the encampment 
 of the main body at Harlem Plains. 
 
 In consequence of their misconduct in not resisting the 
 landing of the British, General Putnam, who held the com 
 mand in New York, was compelled to make a hasty re 
 treat from the city, losing 15 men killed and 300 taken 
 prisoners. Most of the heavy cannon and a large amount 
 of baggage, stores, and provisions fell into the hands of 
 the enemy. 
 
 Washington now drew all his forces together within the 
 lines on Harlem Heights, and fixed his headquarters at 
 Colonel Roger Morris's house, near Mount Washington, 
 ten miles from New York. 
 
 While he was occupying this position Washington paid 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 939 
 
 much attention to the fortifying of his line by redoubts and 
 intrenchments. In his rounds for the personal inspection 
 of the works he observed some which were constructed 
 with an unusual degree of science and skill, and on in 
 quiring for the engineer who had planned them he was 
 introduced to Alexander Hamilton, then a captain of artil 
 lery. Washington at once entered into conversation with 
 this talented young officer, invited him to his marquee, and 
 then and there commenced a lifelong friendship, the re 
 sults of which were not less important to the country than 
 to themselves. 
 
 " When the Americans were withdrawn from the city," 
 says Gordon, " and no prospect of action remained, the 
 British generals repaired to the house of Mr. Robert Mur 
 ray, a gentleman of the Quaker persuasion. The lady 
 of the house being at home entertained them most civilly 
 with what served for, or was, cakes and wine. They were 
 well pleased with the entertainment and tarried there near 
 two hours or more, Governor Tryon seasoning the repast 
 at times by joking Mrs. Murray about her American 
 friends, for she was known to be a steady advocate for 
 the liberties of the country. Meanwhile the Hessians and 
 British, except a strong corps which marched down the 
 road to take possession of the city, remained upon their 
 arms inactive, which gave General Putnam the oppor 
 tunity of escaping. Nothing could have been easier how 
 ever than to have prevented it. A good body of troops, 
 with two field pieces, in about twenty minutes, more or 
 less, could have taken such a position as would neces 
 sarily have cut off Putnam's retreat. Colonel Grayson 
 repeatedly said, speaking humorously, ' Mrs. Murray 
 saved the American army/ " 
 
 The royal troops, on entering the city, were warmly 
 received by the Tories. The state of feeling existing be- 
 
940 WASHINGTON. 
 
 tween the two hostile parties was fearfully exemplified by 
 means of an accident that occurred a few nights after the 
 occupation. This was a fire, which broke out in the dead 
 of the night of September 2ist (1776), and owing to the 
 drouth of the season and a strong south wind increased 
 with alarming rapidity. Upward of 1,000 buildings, Trin 
 ity Church among the number, were consumecl, and but 
 for the exertions of the soldiers and sailors the whole city 
 would probably have been destroyed. In the excited state 
 of party feeling it was said that the " Sons of Liberty " 
 were the incendiaries, with a view to drive out the army, 
 and several suspected persons were hurled into the blazing 
 buildings by the British soldiers. 
 
 Having taken possession of New York, General Howe 
 stationed a few troops in the town, and with the main 
 body of his army encamped near the American lines. His 
 right was at Keren's Hook, on the East river, and his left 
 reached the North river near Bloomingdale, so that his 
 encampment extended quite across the island, which is, 
 in this place, scarcely two miles wide, and both his flanks 
 were covered by his ships. 
 
 The strongest point of the American lines was at Kings- 
 bridge, both sides of which had been carefully fortified. 
 M'Gowan's Pass and Morris's Heights were also occu 
 pied in considerable force and rendered capable of being 
 defended against superior numbers. A strong detach 
 ment was posted in an intrenched camp on the Heights 
 of Harlem, within about a mile and a half of the British 
 lines. This position of the armies favored the views of 
 Washington. He wished to habituate his soldiers, by a 
 series of successful skirmishes, to meet the enemy in the 
 field. 
 
 Opportunities to make the experiments he wished were 
 soon afforded. The day after the retreat from New York 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 941 
 
 the British appeared in considerable force in the plains 
 between the two camps, and Washington immediately rode 
 to his advanced posts, in order to make in person such 
 arrangements as this movement might require. Soon 
 after his arrival Colonel Knowlton, who, at the 
 head of a corps of rangers, had been skirmishing with 
 this party, came in and stated their numbers on conjecture 
 at about 300 men, the main body being concealed in a 
 wood. 
 
 Washington ordered Colonel Knowlton with his rang 
 ers and Major Leitch with three companies of the Third 
 Virginia regiment, which had joined the army only the 
 preceding day, to gain their rear, while he amused them 
 with the appearance of making dispositions to attack their 
 front. 
 
 This plan succeeded. The British ran eagerly down a 
 hill in order to possess themselves of some fences and 
 bushes, which presented an advantageous position against 
 the party expected in front; and a firing commenced, but 
 at too great a distance to do any execution. In the mean 
 time Colonel Knowlton, not being precisely acquainted 
 with their new position, made his attack rather on their 
 flank than rear, and a warm action ensued. 
 
 In a short time Major Leitch, who had led the detach 
 ment with great intrepidity, was brought off the ground 
 mortally wounded, having received three balls through 
 his body, and soon afterward the gallant Colonel Knowl 
 ton also fell. Not discouraged by the loss of their field 
 officers, the captains maintained their ground and con 
 tinued the action with great animation. The British were 
 reinforced, and Washington ordered some detachments 
 from the adjacent regiments of New England and Mary 
 land to the support of the Americans. Thus reinforced, 
 they made a gallant charge, drove the enemy out of the 
 
943 WASHINGTON. 
 
 wood into the plain, and were pressing him still further, 
 when Washington, content with the present advantage, 
 called back his troops to their intrenchments. 
 
 In this sharp conflict (September 16, 1776) the loss of 
 the Americans in killed and wounded did not exceed 
 fifty men. The British lost more than double that num 
 ber. But the real importance of the affair was derived 
 from its operation on the spirits of the whole army. It 
 was the first success they had obtained during this cam 
 paign, and its influence was very discernible. To give it 
 the more effect, Washington, in his orders, publicly 
 thanked the troops who had first advanced on the enemy 
 and the others who had so resolutely supported them. 
 He contrasted their conduct with that which had been 
 exhibited the day before, and the result, he said, evidenced 
 what might be done where officers and soldiers would 
 exert themselves. Once more therefore he called upon 
 them so to act as not to disgrace the noble cause in which 
 they were engaged. He appointed a successor to " the 
 gallant and brave Colonel Knowlton, who would," he 
 said, " have been an honor to any country, and who had 
 fallen gloriously, fighting at his post." 
 
 In this active part of the campaign, when the utmost 
 stretch of every faculty was required to watch and counter 
 act the plans of a skillful and powerful enemy, the effects 
 of the original errors committed by Congress in its mili 
 tary establishment were beginning to be so seriously felt 
 as to compel the Commander-in-Chief to devote a portion 
 of his time and attention to the complete removal of the 
 causes which produced them. 
 
 The situation was becoming extremely critical. The 
 almost entire dissolution of the existing army, by the ex 
 piration of the time for which the greater number of the 
 troops had been engaged, was fast approaching. No steps 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 943 
 
 had been taken to recruit the new regiments which Con- 
 gress had resolved to raise for the ensuing campaign, and 
 there was much reason to apprehend that in the actual 
 state of things the terms offered would not hold forth 
 sufficient inducements to fill them. 
 
 With so unpromising a prospect before him, Washing 
 ton found himself pressed by an army permanent in its 
 establishment, supplied with every requisite of war, for 
 midable for its discipline and the experience of its leaders, 
 and superior to him in numbers. These circumstances, 
 and the impressions they created, will be best exhibited 
 by an extract from a letter written at the time to Congress. 
 It is in these words: " From the hours allotted to sleep I 
 will borrow a few moments to convey my thoughts on 
 sundry important matters to Congress. I shall offer them 
 with that sincerity which ought to characterize a man of 
 candor, and with the freedom which may be used in giving 
 useful information, without incurring the imputation of 
 presumption. 
 
 " We are now, as it were, upon the eve of another disso 
 lution of our army. The remembrance of the difficulties 
 which happened upon that occasion last year, the conse 
 quences which might have followed the change if proper 
 advantages had been taken by the enemy, added to a 
 knowledge of the present temper and disposition of the 
 troops, reflect but a very gloomy prospect upon the ap 
 pearance of things now, and satisfy me, beyond the pos 
 sibility of doubt, that unless some speedy and effectual 
 measures are adopted by Congress our cause will be lost. 
 
 " It is in vain to expect that any, or more than a trifling 
 part of this army, will engage again in the service, on the 
 encouragement offered by Congress. When men find 
 that their townsmen and companions are receiving twenty, 
 thirty, and more dollars, for a few months' service (which 
 
944: WASHINGTON. 
 
 is truly the case), this cannot be expected without using 
 compulsion; and to force them into the service would 
 answer no valuable purpose. When men are irritated and 
 their passions inflamed they fly hastily and cheerfully to 
 arms, but after the first emotions are over, to expect 
 among such people as compose the bulk of an army that 
 they are influenced by any other motives than those of 
 interest is to look for what never did, and, I fear, never 
 will, happen; the Congress will deceive themselves there 
 fore if they expect it. 
 
 "A soldier, reasoned with upon the goodness of the 
 cause he is engaged in, and the inestimable rights he is 
 contending for, hears you with patience and acknowledges 
 the truth of your observations, but adds that it is of no 
 more consequence to him than to others. The officer 
 makes you the same reply, with this further remark, that 
 his pay will not support him, and he cannot ruin himself 
 and family to serve his country, when every member of 
 the community is equally benefited and interested by his 
 labors. The few therefore who act upon principles of dis 
 interestedness are, comparatively speaking, no more than 
 a drop in the ocean. It becomes evidently clear then that 
 as this contest is not likely to become the work of a day; 
 as the war must be carried on systematically; and to do 
 it you must have good officers, there is, in my judgment, 
 no other possible means to obtain them but by establish 
 ing your army upon a permanent footing and giving your 
 officers good pay. This will induce gentlemen and men 
 of character to engage, and, until the bulk of your officers 
 are composed of such persons as are actuated by princi 
 ples of honor and a spirit of enterprise, you have little 
 to expect from them. They ought to have such allow 
 ances as will enable them to live like and support the char 
 acter of gentlemen, and not be driven by a scanty pittance 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 945 
 
 to the low and dirty arts which many of them practice, to 
 filch the public of more than the difference of pay would 
 amount to upon an ample allowance. Besides, something 
 is due to the man who puts his life in your hands, hazards 
 his health, and forsakes the sweets of domestic enjoy 
 ments. Why a captain in the Continental service should 
 receive no more than five shilling currency per day for 
 performing the same duties that an officer of the same 
 rank in the British service receives ten shillings sterling 
 for I never could conceive, especially when the latter is 
 provided with every necessary he requires, upon the best 
 terms, and the former can scarcely procure them at any 
 rate. There is nothing that gives a man consequence and 
 renders him fit for command like a support that renders 
 him independent of everybody but the State he serves. 
 
 " With respect to the men, nothing but a good bounty 
 can obtain them upon a permanent establishment, and for 
 no shorter time than the continuance of the war ought 
 they to be engaged, as facts incontestably prove that the 
 difficulty and cost of enlistments increase with time. When 
 the army was first raised at Cambridge, I am persuaded 
 the men might have been got without a bounty for the 
 war;* after that they began to see that the contest was not 
 likely to end so speedily as was imagined, and to feel their 
 consequence, by remarking that to get their militia, in 
 the course of the last year, many towns were induced to 
 
 *We have already had occasion to remark that Congress and the 
 people were extremely jealous of military power, and this was the 
 reason for refusing to make long enlistments. They were afraid of 
 a standing army. The example of Cromwell, displacing the Long 
 Parliament, was comparatively recent ; and the members of Congress 
 were well read in British history. Washington asked Congress for 
 a permanent army during the siege of Boston, but could not obtain 
 it. They were at last forced, by dire necessity, into enlistments to 
 last during the war. 
 60 
 
946 WASHINGTON. 
 
 give them a bounty. Foreseeing the evils resulting from 
 this, and the destructive consequences which would un 
 avoidably follow short enlistments, I took the liberty, in 
 a long letter (date not now recollected, as my letter-book 
 is not here), to recommend the enlistments for and during 
 the war, assigning such reasons for it as experience has 
 since convinced me were well founded. At that time $20 
 would, I am persuaded, have engaged the men for this 
 term; but it will not do to look back and if the present 
 opportunity is slipped I am persuaded that twelve months 
 more will increase our difficulties fourfold. I shall there 
 fore take the liberty of giving it as my opinion that a good 
 bounty be immediately offered, aided by the proffer of at 
 least loo or 150 acres of land, and a suit of clothes and a 
 blanket to each noncommissioned officer and soldier, as I 
 have good authority for saying that however high the 
 men's pay may appear, it is barely sufficient, in the present 
 scarcity and dearness of all kinds of goods, to keep them 
 in clothes, much less to afford support to their families. 
 If this encouragement then is given to the men, and such 
 pay allowed to the officers as will induce gentlemen of lib 
 eral character and liberal sentiments to engage, and proper 
 care and caution be used in the nomination (having more 
 regard to the characters of persons than the number of 
 men they can enlist), we should, in a little time, have an 
 army able to cope with any that can be opposed to it, as 
 there are excellent materials to form one out of; but whilst 
 the only merit an officer possesses is -his ability to raise 
 men, whilst those men consider and treat him as an equal, 
 and, in the character of an officer, regard him no more 
 than a broomstick, being mixed together as one common 
 herd, no order nor discipline can prevail, nor will the offi- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 947 
 
 cer ever meet with that respect which is essentially neces 
 sary to due subordination.* 
 
 " To place any dependence upon militia is assuredly 
 resting upon a broken staff. Men just dragged from the 
 tender scenes of domestic life, unaccustomed to the din 
 of arms, totally unacquainted with every kind of military 
 skill, which, being followed by a want of confidence in 
 themselves, when opposed to troops regularly trained, 
 disciplined, and appointed superior in knowledge and 
 superior in arms makes them timid and ready to fly from 
 their own shadows. Besides, the sudden change in their 
 manner of living, particularly in their lodging, brings on 
 sickness in many, impatience in all, and such an uncon 
 querable desire of returning to their respective homes that 
 it not only produces shameful and scandalous desertions 
 among themselves, but infuses the like spirit into others. 
 Again, men accustomed to unbounded freedom and no 
 control cannot brook the restraint which is indispensably 
 necessary to the good order and government of an army; 
 without which, licentiousness and every kind of disorder 
 triumphantly reign. To bring men to a proper degree of 
 subordination is not the work of a day, a month, or a year; 
 and, unhappily for us and the cause we are engaged in, the 
 little discipline I have been laboring to establish in the 
 army under my immediate command is in a manner done 
 away by having such a mixture of troops as have been 
 called together within these few months. "f 
 
 * In the recent disgraceful affair, on the landing of the British at 
 Kipp's bay, the officers had set the example of running away. 
 Washington's vivid recollection of this scene must have influenced 
 him in the above remarks. 
 
 t Remarks similar to these and almost in the same language, 
 with respect to the feelings of the militia, occur in a letter of 
 General Greene's, written about the same time. Both letters sug 
 gest to the reader's mind a host of appalling difficulties surround 
 ing Washington and embarrassing the operations of all the leading 
 officers of the army. 
 
948 WASHINGTON. 
 
 The frequent remonstrances of Washington, the opin 
 ions of all military men, and the severe but correcting hand 
 of experience had at length produced some effect on the 
 government of the Union; and soon after the defeat on 
 Long Island Congress had directed the committee com 
 posing the board of war to prepare a plan of operations 
 for the next campaign. Their report proposed a perma 
 nent army, to be enlisted for the war, and to be raised by 
 the several States, in proportion to their ability. A bounty 
 of $20 was offered to each recruit, and small portions of 
 land to every officer and soldier. 
 
 The resolutions adopting this report were received by 
 Washington soon after the transmission of the foregoing 
 letter. Believing the inducements they held forth for the 
 completion of the army to be still insufficient, he, in his 
 letter acknowledging the receipt of them, urged, in the 
 most serious terms, the necessity of raising the pay of the 
 officers and the bounty offered to recruits: 
 
 " Give me leave to say, sir," he observed, " I say it with 
 due deference and respect (and my knowledge of the facts, 
 added to the importance of the cause and the stake I hold 
 it in must justify the freedom), that your affairs are in a 
 more unpromising way than you seem to apprehend. 
 
 " Your army, as mentioned in my last, is upon the eve 
 of political dissolution. True it is, you have voted a larger 
 one in lieu of it, but the season is late and there is a ma 
 terial difference between voting battalions and raising 
 men. In the latter there are more difficulties than Con 
 gress seem aware of, which makes it my duty (as I have 
 been informed of the prevailing sentiments of this army) 
 to inform them that unless the pay of the officers (especi 
 ally that of the field officers) is raised, the chief part of 
 those that are worth retaining will leave the service at the 
 expiration of the present term; as the soldiers will also if 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 949 
 
 some greater encouragement is not offered them than $20 
 and 100 acres of land." 
 
 After urging in strong terms the necessity of a more 
 liberal compensation to the army, and stating that the 
 British were actually raising a regiment with a bounty of 
 10 sterling for each recruit, he added: 
 
 " When the pay and establishment of an officer once 
 become objects of interested attention, the sloth, negli 
 gence, and even disobedience of orders, which at this time 
 but too generally prevail, will be purged off; but while 
 the service is viewed with indifference, while the officer 
 conceives that he is rather conferring than receiving an 
 obligation, there will be a total relaxation of all order and 
 discipline, and everything will move heavily on, to the 
 great detriment of the service and inexpressible trouble 
 and vexation of the General. 
 
 " The critical situation of our affairs at this time will 
 justify my saying that no time is to be lost in making fruit 
 less experiments. An unavailing trial of a month, to get 
 an army upon the terms proposed, may render it impracti 
 cable to do it at all and prove fatal to our cause, as I am 
 not sure whether any rubs in the way of our enlistments, 
 or unfavorable turn in our affairs, may not prove the 
 means of the enemy's recruiting men faster than we do." 
 
 After stating at large the confusion and delay, insepa 
 rable from the circumstance that the appointments for the 
 new army were to be made by the States, the letter pro 
 ceeds : 
 
 " Upon the present plan I plainly foresee an interven 
 tion of time between the old and new army, which must 
 be filled with militia, if to be had, with whom no man who 
 has any regard for his own reputation can undertake to 
 be answerable for consequences. I shall also be mistaken 
 in my conjectures if we do not lose the most valuable offi- 
 
950 WASHINGTON. 
 
 cers in this army under the present mode of appointing 
 them; consequently, if we have an army at all, it will be 
 composed of materials not only entirely raw, but, if un 
 common pains are not taken, entirely unfit ; and I see such 
 a distrust and jealousy of military power that the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief has not an opportunity, even by recom 
 mendation, to give the least assurances of reward for the 
 most essential services. 
 
 " In a word, such a cloud of perplexing circumstances 
 appears before me, without one flattering hope, that I am 
 thoroughly convinced, unless the most vigorous and de 
 cisive exertions are immediately adopted to remedy these 
 evils, the certain and absolute loss of our liberties will be 
 the inevitable consequence, as one unhappy stroke will 
 throw a powerful weight into the scale against us and 
 enable General Howe to recruit his army as fast as we 
 shall ours; numbers being disposed and many actually 
 doing so already. Some of the most probable remedies, 
 and such as experience has brought to my more intimate 
 knowledge, I have taken the liberty to point out; the rest 
 I beg leave to submit to the consideration of Congress. 
 
 " I ask pardon for taking up so much of their time with 
 my opinions, but I should betray that trust which they 
 and my country have reposed in me were I to be silent 
 upon matters so extremely interesting." 
 
 On receiving this very serious letter, Congress passed 
 resolutions conforming to many of its suggestions. The 
 pay of the officers was raised and a suit of clothes allowed 
 annually to each soldier. The Legislatures of the States 
 having troops in the Continental service, either at New 
 York, Ticonderoga, or New Jersey, were requested to 
 depute committees to those places, in order to officer the 
 regiments on the new establishment; and it was recom- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 951 
 
 mended to the committees to consult Washington on the 
 subject of appointments. 
 
 These measures afforded much gratification to Wash 
 ington. He was also greatly relieved by effecting an ex 
 change of prisoners with General Howe, in which those 
 captured in Canada were included. Among the officers 
 restored to the army by this exchange were Lord Stirling 
 and Capt. Daniel Morgan, who had served at the siege of 
 Quebec with Arnold and Montgomery. Washington 
 recommended Morgan to Congress for the command of a 
 regiment of riflemen about to be raised, an appointment 
 which was made with signal advantage to the service. 
 
 Washington now learned that the Tories were forming 
 military organizations to aid the enemy. Oliver De Lan- 
 cey, a conspicuous man in New York, was actually ap 
 pointed brigadier-general by Lord Howe, with authority 
 to raise a brigade, and he was offering liberal pay for 
 soldiers, and commissions to those who would bring in a 
 given number of recruits. Robert Rogers, of New Hamp 
 shire, who had served with credit in the French War, and 
 who had since served the enemy as a spy in Canada, been 
 arrested, and afterward liberated on promise of good be 
 havior, was also enlisting a regiment of Tories. He had 
 obtained a colonel's commission, and his regiment was 
 to be called the Queen's Rangers. This man was one of 
 the most infamous traitors in the British service, and the 
 Americans, both officers and men, were especially desirous 
 to capture and punish him. 
 
 The armies did not long retain their position on York 
 Island. General Howe was sensible of the strength of the 
 American camp and was not disposed to force it. His 
 plan was to compel Washington to abandon it or to give 
 battle in a situation in which a defeat must be attended 
 with the total destruction of his army. With this view, 
 
952 WASHINGTON. 
 
 after throwing up intrenchments on McGowan's Hill for 
 the protection of New York, he determined to gain the 
 rear of the American camp by the New England road, 
 and also to possess himself of the North river above Kings- 
 bridge. To assure himself of the practicability of acquir 
 ing the command of the river, three frigates, the Phoenix, 
 Roebuck, and Tartar, passed up it under the fire from 
 Fort Washington, and from the opposite post on the Jer 
 sey shore, afterward called Fort Lee, without sustaining 
 any injury from the batteries or being impeded by the 
 chevaux-de-frise which had been sunk in the channel be 
 tween those forts, under the direction of General Putnam. 
 
 This point being ascertained, he embarked a great part 
 of his army on board flat-bottomed boats and, passing 
 through Hell Gate into the Sound, landed at Frog's Neck, 
 about nine miles from the camp on the Heights of Harlem. 
 
 In consequence of this movement, Washington strength 
 ened the post at Kingsbridge and detached some regi 
 ments to West Chester for the purpose of skirmishing with 
 the enemy, so soon as" he should march from the ground 
 he occupied. The road from Frog's Point to Kingsbridge 
 leads through a strong country, intersected by numerous 
 stone fences, so as to render it difficult to move artillery, 
 or even infantry, in compact columns, except along the 
 main road, which had been broken up in several places. 
 Washington therefore entertained sanguine hopes of the 
 event should a direct attack be made on his camp. 
 
 General Howe, if we may believe his own account, con 
 tinued some days waiting for his artillery, military stores, 
 and reinforcements from Staten Island, which were de 
 tained by unfavorable winds. The Americans however at 
 tributed his delay to the destruction of the causeway lead 
 ing from his position to the mainland, and the menacing 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 953 
 
 attitude of the American batteries, and the detachments 
 from Washington's army, by whom he was inclosed. 
 
 In the meantime the propriety of removing the Ameri 
 can army from its present situation was submitted to a 
 council of general officers. After much investigation, it 
 was declared to be impracticable, without a change of 
 position, to keep up their communication with the country 
 and avoid being compelled to fight under great disadvan 
 tages or to surrender themselves prisoners of war. Gen 
 eral Lee, who had just arrived from the south, and whose 
 experience as well as late success gave great weight to his 
 opinions, urged the necessity of this movement with much 
 earnestness.* It was, at the same time, determined to 
 hold Fort Washington and to defend it as long as possible. 
 A resolution of Congress of the nth of October, desiring 
 General Washington, by every art and expense, to ob 
 struct, if possible, the navigation of the river, contributed 
 not inconsiderately to this determination. 
 
 In pursuance of this opinion of the military council, 
 Washington began moving the army up the North river, 
 so as to extend its front, or left, toward the White Plains, 
 beyond the British right, and thus keep open its com 
 munication with the country. The right, or rear division, 
 remained a few days longer about Kingsbridge, under the 
 command of General Lee, for the security of the heavy 
 baggage and military stores, which, in consequence of the 
 difficulty of obtaining wagons, could be but slowly re 
 moved. 
 
 General Howe, checked at Frog's Neck, abandoned that 
 
 *Lee was always overrated till he fell into the enemy's hands. 
 The success of the Americans in repelling the enemy's attack on 
 Charleston was due to Moultrie and the brave fellows who defended 
 the Palmetto fort, and not at all to Lee. who was in favor of 
 abandoning the fort as a means of defense, but was fortunately 
 overruled by the opinions of the other officers. 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 post, and atter uniting his forces at Pell's Point, moved 
 forward his whole army, except four brigades destined for 
 the defense of New York, through Pelham Manor toward 
 New Rochelle. Some skirmishes took place on the march 
 with a part of Glover's brigade, in which the conduct of 
 the Americans was mentioned with satisfaction by the 
 Commander-in-Chief; and, as Howe took post at New 
 Rochelle, Washington occupied the heights between that 
 place and the North river. 
 
 At New Rochelle the British army was joined by the 
 second division of Germans, under the command of Gen 
 eral Knyphausen, and by an incomplete regiment of cav 
 alry from Ireland, some of whom had been captured on 
 their passage. Both armies now marched toward the 
 White Plains, a piece of ground already occupied by a de 
 tachment of militia. The main body of the American 
 troops formed a long line of intrenched camps, extending 
 from twelve to thirteen miles, on the different heights 
 from Valentine's Hill, near Kingsbridge, to the White 
 Plains, fronting the British line of march, and the Bronx, 
 which divided the two armies. The motions of General 
 Howe were anxiously watched, not only for the purposes 
 of security and of avoiding a general action, but in order 
 to seize any occasion which might present itself of engag 
 ing his outposts with advantage. 
 
 While the British army lay at New Rochelle the posi 
 tion of a corps of American loyalists, commanded by that 
 infamous traitor, Colonel Rogers, was supposed to fur 
 nish such an occasion. He was advanced further east 
 ward, to Mamaroneck, on the Sound, where he was be 
 lieved to be covered by the other troops. An attempt 
 was made to surprise him in the night by a detachment 
 which should pass between him and the main body of the 
 British army, and, by a coup de main, bear off his whole 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 955 
 
 corps. Rogers was surprised and about sixty of his regi 
 ment killed and taken, the traitor himself escaping cap 
 ture.* The loss of the Americans was only two killed and 
 eight or ten wounded; among the latter was Major Green, 
 of Virginia, a brave officer, who led the detachment, and 
 who received a ball through his body. 
 
 Not long afterward a regiment of Pennsylvania riflemen, 
 under Colonel Hand, engaged an equal number of Hes 
 sian chasseurs, with some advantage. 
 
 The caution of the English General was increased by 
 these evidences of enterprise in his adversary. His object 
 seems to have been to avoid skirmishes and to bring on a 
 general action, if that could be effected under favorable 
 circumstances; if not, he calculated on nearly all the ad 
 vantages of a victory from the approaching dissolution of 
 the American army. He proceeded therefore slowly. 
 His march was in close order, his encampments compact 
 and well guarded with artillery, and the utmost circum 
 spection was used to leave no vulnerable point. 
 
 As the sick and baggage reached a place of safety, 
 Washington gradually drew in his outposts and took pos 
 session of the heights on the east side of the Bronx, front 
 ing the head of the British columns, at the distance of 
 seven or eight miles from them. Here he was soon joined 
 by Lee, who, after securing the sick and the baggage, had, 
 with considerable address, brought up the rear division of 
 the army, an operation the more difficult as the deficiency 
 of teams was such that a large portion of the labor usually 
 performed by horses or oxen devolved on men. 
 
 Washington was encamped on high broken ground, 
 with his right flank on the Bronx. This stream meandered 
 so as also to cover the front of his right wing, which ex 
 tended along the road leading toward New Rochelle, as 
 
 * Rogers, says Irving, skulked off in the dark at the first fire. He 
 was too old a partisan to be easily entrapped. 
 
956 WASHINGTON. 
 
 far as the brow of the hill where his center was posted. 
 His left, which formed almost a right angle with his center, 
 and was nearly parallel to his right, extending along the 
 hills northward, so as to keep possession of the command 
 ing ground and secure a retreat, should it be necessary, to 
 a still stronger position in his rear.* 
 
 * Gordon gives the following anecdotes of this period of the war : 
 General Lee while at White Plains lodged in a small house close 
 in with the road, by which General Washington had to pass when 
 out reconnoitering. Returning witrr his officers they called in and 
 took dinner. They were no sooner gone than Lee told his aids, 
 " You must look me out another place for I shall have Washington 
 and all his puppies continually calling on me, and they will eat me 
 up." The next day Lee seeing Washington out upon the like busi 
 ness, and supposing that he should have another visit, ordered his 
 servant to write with chalk upon the door, no victuals dressed here 
 to-day. When the company approached and saw the writing, they 
 pushed off with much good humor for their own table, without 
 resenting the habitual oddity of the man. 
 
 It happened that a garden of a widow woman, which lay between 
 the two camps, was robbed at night. Her son, a mere boy, and 
 little of his age, asked leave for finding out and securing the pilferer 
 in case he should return; which being granted, he concealed himself 
 with a gun among the weeds. A British grenadier, a strapping High 
 lander, came and filled his large bag ; when he had it on his shoulder, 
 the boy left his covert, came softly behind him, cocked his gun, and 
 called out to the fellow,' " You are my prisoner ; if you attempt to 
 throw your bag down I will shoot you dead; go forward in that 
 road." The boy kept close to him, threatened, and was always pre 
 pared to execute his threatening. Thus the boy drove him into the 
 American camp, where he was secured. When the grenadier was 
 at liberty to throw down his bag and saw who had made him prisoner 
 he was horribly mortified, and exclaimed, "A British grenadier made 
 prisoner by such a d d brat, by such a d d brat ! " The American 
 officers were highly entertained with the adventure, made a collec 
 tion for the boy, and gave him some pounds. He returned fully 
 satisfied with the losses his mother had sustained. The soldier had 
 side arms, but they were of no use, as he could not get rid of his 
 bag. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 957 
 
 On the right of the army and on the west side of the 
 Bronx, about one mile from camp, on a road leading from 
 the North river, was a hill, of which General M'Dougal 
 was ordered to take possession, for the purpose of cover 
 ing the right flank. His detachment consisted of about 
 1,600 men, principally militia, and his communication with 
 the main army was open, that part of the Bronx being 
 passable without difficulty. 
 
 Intrenchments were thrown up to strengthen the lines. 
 
 General Howe, having made arrangements to attack 
 Washington in his camp, advanced early in the morning 
 (October 25, 1776) in two columns, the right commanded 
 by Sir Henry Clinton and the left by General Knyphausen; 
 and, about 10, his van appeared in full view, on which a 
 cannonade commenced without much execution on either 
 side. 
 
 The British right formed behind a rising ground, about 
 a mile in front of the American camp, and extending from 
 the road leading from Mamaroneck toward the Bronx, 
 stood opposed to the American center. 
 
 On viewing Washington's situation Howe, who accom 
 panied Knyphausen, determined to carry the hill occupied 
 by M'Dougal, as preliminary to an attack on the center 
 and right of the American camp. He therefore directed 
 Colonel Rahl, with a brigade of Hessians, to cross~the 
 Bronx and make a circuit so as to turn M'Dougal's right 
 flank, while Brigadier-General Leslie, with a strong corps 
 of British and Hessian troops, should attack him in front. 
 
 When Rahl had gained his position the detachment 
 commanded by Leslie also crossed the Bronx and com 
 menced a vigorous attack. The militia in the front line 
 immediately fled, but the regulars maintained their ground 
 with great gallantry. Colonel Smallwood's regiment of 
 Marvland and Colonel Reitzimer's of New York advanced 
 
958 WASHINGTON. 
 
 boldly toward the foot of the hill to meet Leslie, but, after 
 a sharp encounter, were overpowered by numbers and 
 compelled to retreat. 
 
 General Leslie then attacked the remaining part of 
 M'Dougal forces, who were soon driven from the hill, but 
 kept up for some time an irregular fire from the stone 
 walls about the scene of action. General Putnam, with 
 Beal's brigade, was ordered to support them, but not 
 having arrived till the hill was lost, the attempt to regain 
 it was deemed unadvisable, and^the troops retreated to the 
 main army. 
 
 In this animated engagement, commonly called the bat 
 tle of White Plains, the loss was supposed to be nearly 
 equal. That of the Americans was between 300 and 400 
 in killed, wounded, and taken. Colonel Smallwood was 
 among the wounded. 
 
 Washington continued in his lines, expecting an assault. 
 But a considerable part of the day having been exhausted 
 in gaining the hill which had been occupied by M'Dougal, 
 the meditated attempt on his intrenchments was postponed 
 until the next morning, and the British army lay on their 
 arms the following night, in order of battle, on the ground 
 taken during the day. 
 
 This interval was employed by Washington in strength 
 ening his works, removing his sick and baggage, and pre 
 paring for the expected attack by adapting the arrange 
 ment of his troops to the existing state of things. His 
 left maintained its position, but his right was drawn back 
 to stronger ground. Perceiving this, and being unwilling 
 further offensive operations until Lord Percy should ar 
 rive with four battalions from New York and two from 
 Mamaroneck. This reinforcement was received on the 
 evening of the 3Oth, and preparations were then made to 
 force the American intrenchments the next morning. In 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 959 
 
 the night and during the early part of the succeeding day 
 a violent rain still further postponed the assault. 
 
 Having now removed his provisions and heavy baggage 
 to much stronger ground, and apprehending that the 
 British general, whose left wing extended along the height 
 taken from M'Dougal to his rear, might turn his camp 
 and occupy the strong ground to which he designed to 
 retreat should an attempt on his lines prove successful, 
 Washington changed his position in the night and with 
 drew to the Heights of North Castle, about five miles from 
 the White Plains. 
 
 Deeming this position too strong to be attempted with 
 prudence, General Howe determined to change his plan 
 of operations and to give a new direction to his efforts. 
 
 While Forts Washington and Lee were held by the 
 Americans, his movements were checked and New York 
 insecure. With a view to the acquisition of these posts, 
 he directed General Knyphausen to take possession of 
 Kingsbridge, which was defended by a small party of 
 Americans placed in Fort Independence. On his approach 
 this party retreated to Fort Washington, and Knyphausen 
 encamped between that place and Kingsbridge. 
 
 In the meantime General Howe retired slowly down the 
 North river. His designs were immediately penetrated 
 by Washington, who perceived the necessity of passing 
 a part of his army into Jersey, but was restrained from 
 immediately leaving the strong ground he occupied by 
 the apprehension that his adversary might in that event 
 return suddenly and gain his rear. A council of war was 
 called which determined unanimously that should Gen 
 eral Howe continue his march toward New York all the 
 troops raised on the west side of the Hudson should 
 cross that river, to be afterward followed by those raised 
 
960 WASHINGTON. 
 
 in the eastern part of the continent, leaving 3,000 men 
 for the defense of the Highlands about the North river. 
 
 In a letter to Congress, communicating this movement 
 of the British army and this determination of the council, 
 the General said : "I cannot indulge the idea that General 
 Howe, supposing him to be going to New York, means 
 to close the campaign and to sit down without attempting 
 something more. I think it highly probable and almost 
 certain that he will make a descent with part of his troops 
 into the Jerseys, and as soon as I am satisfied that the 
 present manoeuvre is real and not a feint I shall use all the 
 means in my power to forward a part of our force to 
 counteract his designs. I expect the enemy will bend their 
 force against Fort Washington and invest it immediately. 
 From some advices it is an object that will attract their 
 earliest attention." 
 
 He also addressed a letter to the Governor of New 
 Jersey expressing a decided opinion that General Howe 
 would not content himself with investing Fort Washington, 
 but would invade the Jerseys, and urging him to put the 
 militia in the best possible condition to reinforce the army, 
 and to take the place of the new levies, who could not, he 
 suggested, be depended on to continue in service one day 
 longer than the 1st of December, the time for which they 
 engaged. 
 
 Immediate intelligence of this movement was likewise 
 given to General Greene, who commanded in the Jerseys, 
 and his attention was particularly pointed to Fort Wash 
 ington. 
 
 As the British army approached Kingsbridge three ships 
 of war passed up the North river, notwithstanding the fire 
 from Forts Washington and Lee, and notwithstanding the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 961 
 
 additional obstructions which had been placed in the 
 channel. 
 
 On being informed of this another letter was addressed 
 to General Greene stating that this fact was so plain a 
 proof of the inefficacy of all the obstructions thrown in 
 the river as to justify a change in the dispositions which 
 had been made. " If," continued the letter, " we cannot 
 prevent vessels from passing up, and the enemy are pos 
 sessed of the surrounding country, what valuable purpose 
 can it answer to attempt to hold a post from which the 
 expected benefit cannot be derived? I am therefore in 
 clined to think it will not be prudent to hazard the men 
 and stores at Mount Washington; but, as you are on the 
 spot, I leave it to you to give such orders respecting the 
 evacuation of the place as you may think most advisable, 
 and so far revoke the orders given to Colonel Magaw to 
 defend it to the last." 
 
 Measures were now taken to cross the North river with 
 the troops which had been raised on its western side, and 
 Washington determined to accompany that division of the 
 army. The eastern regiments remained on the eastern side 
 of the river, under the command of Lee, with orders to 
 join the Commander-in-Chief should the British army cross 
 the Hudson. 
 
 After visiting the posts about Peekskill, and making 
 all the arrangements in his power for their defense, Wash 
 ington passed the North river in the rear of the troops 
 designed to act in the Jerseys, and proceeded to the 
 quarters of General Greene near Fort Lee. 
 
 From too great a confidence in the strength of Fort 
 Washington and a conviction of its importance General 
 Greene had not withdrawn its garrison under the dis 
 cretionary orders he had received, but still indulged a hope 
 61 
 
963 WASHINGTON. 
 
 that the post might be maintained, or, should its situation 
 become desperate, that means might be found to trans-' 
 port the troops across the river to the Jersey shore, which 
 was defended by Fort Lee. 
 
 Mount Washington is a high piece of rocky ground near 
 the North river, very difficult of ascent, especially toward 
 the north or Kingsbridge. The fort was capable of con 
 taining about 1,000 men, but the lines and outworks, which 
 were chiefly on the southern side toward New York, were 
 drawn quite across the island. The ground was naturally 
 strong, the approaches difficult, and the fortifications, 
 though not sufficient to resist heavy artillery, were be 
 lieved to be in a condition to resist any attempt to carry 
 them by storm. The garrison consisted of troops, some 
 of whom were among the best in the American army, and 
 the command had been given to Colonel Magaw, a brave 
 and intelligent officer in whom great confidence was placed. 
 
 General Howe, after retiring from the White Plains, en 
 camped at a small distance from Kingsbridge, on the 
 Heights of Fordham, and having made the necessary prep 
 arations for an assault summoned the garrison to sur 
 render, on pain of being put to the sword. Colonel Magaw 
 replied that he should defend the place to the last extrem 
 ity, and communicated the summons to General Greene 
 at Fort Lee, who transmitted it to the Comander-in-Chief, 
 then at Hackensack. He immediately rode to Fort Lee, 
 and, though it was late in the night, was proceeding to 
 Fort Washington where he expected to find Generals Put 
 nam and Greene, when, in crossing the river, he met those 
 officers returning from a visit to that fort. They reported 
 that the garrison was in high spirits and would make a 
 good defense, on which he returned with them to Fort Lee. 
 
 Early next morning Colonel Magaw posted his troops 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 963 
 
 partly on a commanding hill north of the fort, partly in 
 the outermost of the lines drawn across the island on the 
 south of the fort, and partly between those lines on the 
 woody and rocky heights fronting Harlem river, where 
 the ground being extremely difficult of ascent the works 
 were not closed. Colonel Rawlings, of Maryland, com 
 manded on the hill toward Kingsbridge; Colonel Cadwal- 
 ader, of Pennsylvania, in the lines, and Colonel Magaw 
 himself continued in the fort. 
 
 The strength of the place had not deterred the British 
 general from resolving to carry it by storm, and on re 
 ceiving the answer of Colonel Magaw arrangements were 
 made for a vigorous attack next day. About 10 the assail 
 ants appeared before the works and moved to the assault 
 in four different quarters. Their first division, consisting 
 of Hessians and Waldeckers, amounting to about 5,000 
 men, under the command of General Knyphausen, ad 
 vanced on the north side of the fort against the hill oc 
 cupied by Colonel Rawlings, who received them with great 
 gallantry. The second, on the east, consisting of the 
 British light infantry and guards, was led by Brigadier- 
 General Matthews, supported by Lord Cornwallis, at the 
 head of the grenadiers and the Thirty-third regiment. 
 These troops crossed Harlem river in boats, under cover 
 of the artillery planted in the works which had been erected 
 on the opposite side of the river, and landed within the 
 third line of defense which crossed the island. The third 
 division was conducted by Lieutenant-Colonel Stirling, 
 who passed the river higher up; and the fourth by Lord 
 Percy, accompanied by General Howe in person. This 
 division was to attack the lines in front on the south side. 
 
 The attacks on the north and south by General Knyp 
 hausen and Lord Percy were made about the same instant 
 
9<u WASHINGTON. 
 
 on Colonels Rawlings and Cadwalader, who maintained 
 their ground for a considerable time ; but while Colonel 
 Cadwalader was engaged in the first line against Lord 
 Percy the second and third divisions, which crossed Har 
 lem river, made good their landing and dispersed the troops 
 fronting that river, as well as a detachment sent by Colonel 
 Cadwalader to support them. These being overpowered 
 and the British advancing between the fort and the lines 
 it became necessary to abandon them. In retreating to the 
 fort, some of the men were intercepted by the division 
 under Colonel Stirling and made prisoners. 
 
 The resistance on the north was of longer duration. 
 Rawlings maintained his ground with firmness, and his 
 riflemen did vast execution. A three-gun battery also 
 played on Knyphausen with great effect. At length the 
 Hessian columns gained the summit of the hill, after which 
 Colonel Rawlings, who perceived the danger which threat 
 ened his rear, retreated under the guns of the fort. 
 
 Having carried the lines and all the strong ground ad 
 joining them the British general again summoned Colonel 
 Magaw to surrender. While the capitulation was in a 
 course of arrangement a Captain Gooch boldly ventured 
 to cross over from Fort Lee with a letter from General 
 Washington to Colonel Magaw, acquainting him that if 
 he could hold out till night the garrison 'should be taken 
 off. He delivered the letter, pushed through the fire of the 
 enemy, preferring that danger to being made a prisoner 
 and escaped unhurt. Washington could view several parts 
 of the attack, and when he saw his men bayoneted and in 
 that way killed while begging quarter, he cried with the 
 tenderness of a child and exclaimed at the barbarity that 
 was practised. His heart had not been steeled by plung 
 ing into acts of cruelty. When General Lee read the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 965 
 
 letter sent by express, giving an account of Fort Wash 
 ington's being taken, resentment and vexation led him, un 
 feeling as he was in common, to weep plentifully. He 
 wrote on the I9th to the Commander-in-Chief : " Oh! Gen 
 eral, why would you be overpersuaded by men of inferior 
 judgment to your own? It was a cursed affair." He had 
 exclaimed before, upon hearing that the defense of it was 
 to be risked, " Then we are undone."* 
 
 When Colonel Magaw received Washington's communi 
 cation requesting him to hold out till evening, he had pro 
 ceeded too far to retreat, and it is probable the place could 
 not have resisted an assault from so formidable a force as 
 threatened it. The greatest difficulties had been overcome ; 
 the fort was too small to contain all the men, and their 
 ammunition was nearly exhausted. Under these circum 
 stances the garrison became prisoners of war. 
 
 The loss on this occasion was the greatest the Ameri 
 cans had ever sustained. The garrison was stated by 
 Washington at about 2,000 men. Yet, in a report pub 
 lished as from Howe, the number of prisoners is said to 
 be 2,600, exclusive of officers. Either Howe must have 
 included in his report persons who were not soldiers or 
 Washington must have comprehended the regulars only in 
 his letter. The last conjecture is most probably correct. 
 The loss of the assailants, according to Mr. Stedman,f 
 amounted to 800 men. This loss fell heaviest on the 
 Germans. 
 
 On the surrender of Fort Washington it was deter 
 mined to evacuate Fort Lee; and a removal of the stores 
 was immediately commenced. Before this operation could 
 be completed a detachment commanded by Lord Corn- 
 
 * Gordon, " History of the American Revolution." 
 
 t A British writer, author of the " History of the American War." 
 
966 WASHINGTON. 
 
 wallis, amounting to about 6,000 men, crossed the North 
 river below Dobbs Ferry and endeavored by a rapid march 
 to inclose the garrison between the North and Hacken- 
 sack rivers. An immediate retreat from that narrow neck 
 of land had become indispensable and was with difficulty 
 effected. All the heavy cannon at Fort Lee, except two 
 twelve-pounders, with a considerable quantity of provisions 
 and military stores, including 300 tents, were lost. 
 
 Before following Washington in his retreat through 
 " the Jerseys " we will notice some events which had trans 
 pired in the north during his recent operations on the 
 eastern shore of the Hudson. 
 
 In our account of the invasion of Canada by Mont 
 gomery and Arnold we brought the narrative up to the 
 point where that country was evacuated by the Americans 
 in June, 1776. They still occupied Crown Point and 
 Ticonderoga. They also had command of Lake Cham- 
 plain, and Sir Guy Carleton, the British Commander-in- 
 Chief in Canada, deemed it prudent to wrest it from them 
 before he advanced further. To effect this he must build 
 a fleet, which required time and labor. Meantime General 
 Gates was ordered to take command of the northern army, 
 which was to be reinforced with 6,000 militia. 
 
 In characterizing the recent attempt to conquer Canada 
 Marshall makes the following very judicious remarks : It 
 was a bold, and at one period, promised to be a successful 
 effort to annex that extensive province to the united 
 Colonies. The dispositions of the Canadians favored the 
 measure, and had Quebec fallen there is reason to believe 
 the colony would have entered cordially into the Union. 
 Had a few incidents turned out fortunately, had Arnold 
 been able to reach Quebec a few days sooner, or to cross 
 the St. Lawrence on his first arrival or had the gallant 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 967 
 
 Montgomery not fallen in the assault of the 3ist Decem 
 ber, it is probable the expedition would have been crowned 
 with complete success. But the radical causes of failure, 
 putting fortune out of the question, were to be found in 
 the lateness of the season when the troops were assembled, 
 in a defect of the preparations necessary for such a' ser 
 vice, and still more in the shortness of the time for which 
 the men were enlisted. Had the expedition been success 
 ful the practicability of maintaining the country is much 
 to be doubted. Whilst General Montgomery lay before 
 Quebec and expected to obtain possession of the place he 
 extended his views to its preservation. His plan required 
 a permanent army of 10,000 men, strong fortifications at 
 Jacques Cartier and the rapids of Richelieu, and armed 
 vessels in the river above the last place. With this army 
 and these precautions, he thought the country might be 
 defended, but not with an inferior force. , 
 
 It seems, therefore, to have been an enterprise requiring 
 means beyond the ability of Congress, and the strength 
 exhausted on it would have been more judiciously em 
 ployed in securing the command of the Lakes George and 
 Champlain and the fortified towns upon them. 
 
 While General Carleton was making preparations to 
 enter the lakes General Schuyler was using his utmost 
 exertions to retain the command of them. But so great 
 was the difficulty of procuring workmen and materials 
 that he found it impossible to equip a fleet which would 
 be equal to the exigency. It consisted of only fifteen small 
 vessels, the largest of which was a schooner mounting 
 twelve guns, carrying six and four-pound balls. The com 
 mand of this squadron, at the instance of Washington, 
 was given to General Arnold. 
 
 General Carleton evinced great activity and enterprise 
 
9 68 WASHINGTON. 
 
 in preparing a fleet to encounter that of Arnold on Lake 
 Champlain, Thirty vessels were required to give a de 
 cided superiority on those waters, the access to which by 
 the Sorel was impracticable to ships, and most difficult and 
 laborious to boats on account of numerous shallows, falls, 
 and rapids. 
 
 The framework of some vessels was sent for to Eng 
 land, but this required time. Carleton therefore sent de 
 tachments from the King's ships stationed at Quebec, with 
 volunteers from the transports and a corps of artillery in 
 all about 700 men to fell timber and to occupy a favor 
 able post on the shore of Lake Champlain. The keel and 
 floor timbers of the Inflexible, a ship of 300 tons, which 
 had been laid at Quebec, were taken to pieces, carried over 
 to St. John's, and laid down again at a corner of the lake 
 where a little dock yard was improvised; thirty long-boats, 
 many large batteaux or flat-bottomed boats and a gondola 
 of thirty tons were carried up to the spot, partly by land 
 and partly by being dragged up the shoals and rapids of 
 the river Sorel at an extraordinary expense of human labor. 
 
 Lieutenant Schanck, an officer who possessed great 
 mechanical ingenuity, superintended the works at the dock 
 yard, where timber which had been growing in the forest 
 in the morning, was turned into part of a ship before night. 
 
 In twenty-eight days from the relaying her keel the 
 Inflexible was launched, rigged, armed with eighteen 
 twelve-pounders, and equipped for service; two schooners, 
 the Maria and Carleton, were put together with equal 
 rapidity, and the flotilla was completed by the Loyal Con 
 vert gondola, the Thunder, a kind of flat-bottomed raft 
 carrying twelve heavy guns and two howitzers, and twenty- 
 four boats armed each with a field-piece or carriage-gun. 
 The whole thing seemed like magic! In a few weeks the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 9G9 
 
 British, from not having a single boat, had a force suffi 
 cient to sweep the Lakes Champlain and George from end 
 to end. 
 
 This formidable fleet, having on board General Carleton 
 himself, and navigated by 700 prime seamen, under the 
 command of Captain Pringle, proceeded immediately in 
 quest of Arnold, who was advantageously posted between 
 the Island of Valicour and the western main.* 
 
 Notwithstanding the disparity of force a warm action 
 ensued. A wind, unfavorable to the British, kept the In 
 flexible and some other large vessels at too great a dis 
 tance to render any service. This circumstance enabled 
 Arnold to keep up the engagement until night, when Cap 
 tain Pringle discontinued it, and anchored his whole fleet 
 in a line, as near the vessels of his adversary as was practi 
 cable. In this engagement the best schooner belonging 
 to the American flotilla was burnt, and a gondola was sunk. 
 
 In the night Arnold attempted to escape to Ticonderoga, 
 and the next morning was out of sight, but being imme 
 diately pursued was overtaken about noon and brought 
 to action a few leagues short of Crown Point. He kept 
 up a warm engagement for about two hours, during which 
 the vessels that were most ahead escaped to Ticonderoga. 
 Two galleys and five gondolas, which remained, made a 
 desperate resistance. At length one of them struck, after 
 which Arnold ran the remaining vessels on shore, and blew 
 
 * An English writer says: "Sir Guy Carleton himself embarked 
 with the squadron the strangest squadron that ever English 
 seamen had seen. Captain Pringle was Commodore, with his 
 pennant on the Inflexible; and among those young officers who 
 were appointed to the Carleton schooner was one who was des 
 tined to become one of the most distinguished of British naval 
 commanders, this was Edward Pellew, then a midshipman, after 
 ward Admiral Viscount Exmouth. 
 
970 WASHINGTON. 
 
 them up, having first saved his men, though great efforts 
 were made to take them. 
 
 On the approach of the British army a small detachment, 
 which had occupied Crown Point as an outpost, evacuated 
 the place and retired to Ticonderoga, which Schuyler de 
 termined to defend to the last extremity. 
 
 General Carleton took possession of Crown Point* and 
 advanced a part of his fleet into Lake George within view 
 of Ticonderoga. His army also approached that place, as 
 if designing to invest it, but after reconnoitering the works, 
 and observing the steady countenance of the garrison, he 
 thought it too late to lay siege to the fortress. Re-em 
 barking his army he returned to Canada, where he placed 
 it in winter quarters, making the Isle aux Noix his most 
 advanced post. 
 
 In the next chapter we return to Washington with the 
 remnant of his army at Hackensack. 
 
 * During Carleton's stay at Crown Point, young Pellew nearly 
 succeeded in capturing Arnold. That General, having ventured 
 upon the lake in a boat, was observed, and chased so closely by 
 the midshipman, that, when he reached the shore and escaped, 
 he left his stock and buckle in the boat behind him. " This," says 
 the biographer of Exmouth, " is still preserved by Mr. Pellew's 
 elder brother, to whom Arnold's son, not many years ago, con 
 firmed the particulars of his father's escape." Ostler, " Life of 
 Admiral Viscount Exmouth." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S MASTERLY RETREAT THROUGH THE 
 
 JERSEYS. 
 
 1776. 
 
 WE left Washington at Hackensack, having just 
 witnessed the capture of Forts Washington and 
 Lee. In a letter to his brother, John Augustine 
 Washington, dated Hackensack, November 19, 1776, we 
 find his commentary on the recent disaster and a vivid 
 account of his difficult position in one of the darkest periods 
 of the Revolutionary War. " This is a most unfortunate 
 affair," he writes, " and has given me great mortification, 
 as we have lost not only 2,000 men that were there, but 
 a good deal of artillery, and some of the best arms we 
 had. And what adds to my mortification is that this post, 
 after the last ships went past it, was held contrary to my 
 wishes and opinions, as I conceived it to be a hazardous 
 one; but it having been determined on by a full council of 
 general officers, and a resolution of Congress having been 
 received strongly expressive of their desire that the chan 
 nel of the river, which we had been laboring to stop for a 
 long time at that place, might be obstructed if possible, 
 and knowing that this could not be done unless there 
 were batteries to protect the obstruction, I did not care to 
 give an absolute order for withdrawing the garrison till 
 I could get round and see the situation of things, and then 
 it became too late, as the fort was invested. Upon the 
 passing of the last ships I had given it as my opinion to 
 
972 WASHINGTON. 
 
 General Greene, under whose care it was, that it would 
 be best to evacuate the place; but as the order was dis 
 cretionary, and his opinion differed from mine, it unhap 
 pily was delayed too long to my great grief, as I think 
 General Howe, considering his army and ours, would 
 have but a poor tale to tell without it, and would have 
 found it difficult, unless some southern expedition may 
 prove successful, to reconcile the people of England to the 
 conquest of a few pitiful islands, none of which were de 
 fensible, considering the great number of their ships and 
 the power they have by sea to surround and render them 
 unapproachable. 
 
 " It is a matter of great grief and surprise to me to find 
 the different States so slow and inattentive to that essential 
 business of levying their quotas of men. In ten days 
 from this date, there will not be above 2,000 men, if that 
 number, of the fixed established regiments on this side 
 of Hudson river to oppose Howe's whole army, and very 
 little more on the other to secure the eastern Colonies, and 
 the important passes through the Highlands to Albany 
 and the country about the lakes. In short, it is impossible 
 for me, in the compass of a letter, to give you any idea 
 of our situation, of my difficulties, and of the constant 
 perplexities and mortifications I meet with, derived from 
 the unhappy policy of short enlistments, and delaying them 
 too long. Last fall, or winter, before the army which was 
 then to be raised was set about, I represented in clear 
 and explicit terms the evils which would arise from short 
 enlistments, the expenses which must attend the raising 
 an army every year, the futility of such an army when 
 raised, and if I had spoken with a prophetic spirit I could 
 not have foretold the evils with more accuracy than I did. 
 All the year since I have been pressing Congress to delay 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 973 
 
 no time in engaging men upon such terms as would in 
 sure success, telling them that the longer it was delayed 
 the more difficult it would prove. But the measure was 
 not commenced till it was too late to be effected, and then 
 in such a manner as to bid adieu to every hope of getting 
 an army from which any services are to be expected; the 
 different States, without regard to the qualifications of an 
 officer, quarreling about the appointments and nominating 
 such as are not fit to be shoeblacks, from the local attach 
 ments of this or that member of assembly. 
 
 " I am wearied almost to death with the retrograde 
 motion of things, and I solemnly protest that a pecuniary 
 reward of 20,000 a year would not induce me to undergo 
 what I do, and after all perhaps to lose my character, as 
 it is impossible, under such a variety of distressing cir 
 cumstances, to conduct matters agreeably to public ex 
 pectation, or even to the expectation of those who employ 
 me, as they will not make proper allowances for the diffi 
 culties their own errors have occasioned." 
 
 After crossing the Hackensack Washington posted his 
 troops along the western bank of that river but was unable 
 to dispute its passage. At the head of about 3,000 effect 
 ives, exposed, without tents, in an inclement season, he 
 was in a level country without a single intrenching tool, 
 among people far from being zealous in the American 
 cause. In other respects this situation was dangerous. 
 The Passaic, in his rear, after running several miles nearly 
 parallel to the Hackensack, unites with that river below 
 the ground occupied by the Americans, who were conse 
 quently still exposed to the hazard of being inclosed be 
 tween two rivers. 
 
 This gloomy state of things was not brightened by the 
 prospect before him. In casting his eyes around no cheer- 
 
974 WASHINGTON. 
 
 ing object presented itself. No confidence could be placed 
 on receiving reinforcements from any quarter. But in no 
 situation could Washington despond. His exertions to 
 collect an army and to impede the progress of his enemy 
 were perseveringly continued. Understanding that Sir 
 Guy Carleton no longer threatened Ticonderoga he di 
 rected General Schuyler to hasten the troops of Pennsyl 
 vania and Jersey to his assistance, and ordered Lee to 
 cross the North river and be in readiness to join him should 
 the enemy continue the campaign. But, under the in 
 fluence of the same fatal cause which had acted elsewhere, 
 these armies, too, were melting away and would soon be 
 almost totally dissolved. General Mercer, who com 
 manded a part of the flying camp stationed about Bergen, 
 was also called in, but these troops had engaged to serve 
 only till the ist of December, and like the other six months' 
 men had already abandoned the army in great numbers. 
 No hope existed of retaining the remnant after they should 
 possess a legal right to be discharged, and there was not 
 much probability of supplying their places with other 
 militia. To New England he looked with anxious hope, 
 and his requisitions on those States received prompt at 
 tention. Six thousand militia from Massachusetts and a 
 considerable body from Connecticut were ordered to his 
 assistance, but some delay in assembling them was un 
 avoidable, and their march was arrested by the appearance 
 of the enemy in their immediate neighborhood. 
 
 Three thousand men, conducted by Sir Henry Clinton, 
 who were embarked on board a fleet commanded by Sir 
 Peter Parker, sailed late in November from New York, 
 and without much opposition took possession of Newport. 
 This invasion excited serious alarm in Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut, and these States retained for their own de- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 975 
 
 fense the militia who had been embodied at the instance 
 of the Commander-in-Chief.* 
 
 Not intending to maintain his present position Wash 
 ington had placed some regiments along the Hackensack 
 to afford the semblance of defending its passage until his 
 stores could be removed, and with the residue of the 
 troops crossed the Passaic and took post at Newark. Soon 
 after he had marched Major-General Vaughan appeared 
 before the new bridge over the Hackensack. The Ameri 
 can detachment which had been left in the rear, being un 
 able to defend it, broke it down, and retired before him 
 over the Passaic. 
 
 Having entered the open country Washington deter 
 mined to halt a few days on the south side of this river, 
 make some show of resistance, and endeavor to collect 
 such a force as would keep up the semblance of an army. 
 His letters, not having produced such exertions as the 
 public exigencies required, he deputed General Mifflin to 
 the government of Pennsylvania, and Colonel Reed, his 
 adjutant-general, to the government of New Jersey, with 
 orders to represent the real situation of the army, and the 
 
 * This loss was a very serious one, as well from the situation of 
 the province, as because the American squadron, under Commo 
 dore Hopkins, was compelled to withdraw as far up the Provi 
 dence river as it was practicable, and to continue there blocked 
 up and useless for a long time. Two pieces of cannon fell into 
 the hands of the enemy, but they made few prisoners. The con 
 quest of Rhode Island was of great utility for their ulterior opera 
 tions. From this province they could harass Massachusetts; and 
 the reinforcements that General Lincoln had assembled with the 
 intention of conducting them to the army of Washington, were 
 detained in that province to observe General Clinton, and prevent 
 him -from disturbing its tranquillity. Even Connecticut shared the 
 alarm, and retained the reinforcements it was upon the point of 
 sending. 
 
97G WASHINGTON. 
 
 certainty that, without great reinforcements, Philadelphia 
 must fall into the hands of the enemy and the State of 
 Jersey be overrun. 
 
 While thus endeavoring to strengthen himself with 
 militia, he pressed Lee to hasten his march, and cautioned 
 him to keep high enough up the country to avoid the 
 enemy, who, having got possession of the mail containing 
 one of his late letters, would certainly endeavor to pre 
 vent the junction of the two armies. 
 
 This perilous state of things was rendered still more 
 critical by indications of an insurrection in the county of 
 Monmouth, in Jersey, where great numbers favored the 
 royal cause. In other places, too, a hostile temper was 
 displayed, and an indisposition to further resistance began 
 to be manifested throughout that State. These appear 
 ances obliged him to make detachments from the militia 
 of his army to overawe the disaffected of Monmouth, who 
 were on the point of assembling in force. 
 
 When Washington retreated to Newark, says Gordon, 
 his whole force consisted of not more than 3,500 men. He 
 considered the cause in the greatest danger, and said to 
 Colonel Reed: "Should we retreat to the back parts of 
 Pennsylvania will the Pennsylvanians support us?" The 
 Colonel answered : " If the lower counties are subdued 
 and give up the back counties will do the same." The 
 General passed his hand over his throat and said : " My 
 neck does not feel as though it was made for a halter. 
 We must retire to Augusta county, in Virginia. Numbers 
 will be obliged to repair to us for safety, and we must try 
 what we can do in carrying on a predatory war, and if over 
 powered we must cross the Alleghany mountains." This 
 indomitable spirit this immovable constancy of Wash 
 ington this determination to hold out till not an inch 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 977 
 
 of ground should be left to stand upon in the whole con 
 tinent, strongly reminds us of the determination of the 
 celebrated Prince of Orange, in the same circumstances, 
 " to die in the last ditch." 
 
 As the British army crossed the Passaic Washington 
 abandoned his position behind that river, and the day Lord 
 Cornwallis entered Newark he retreated to Brunswick, a 
 small village on the Raritan. 
 
 At this place the levies drawn from Maryland and Jersey 
 to compose the flying camp became entitled to their dis 
 charge. No remonstrances could detain them, and he sus 
 tained the mortification of seeing his feeble army still 
 more enfeebled by being entirely abandoned by these 
 troops in the face of an advancing enemy. The Pennsyl 
 vania militia belonging to the flying camp were engaged 
 to serve till the ist of January. So many of them deserted 
 that it was deemed necessary to place guards on the roads 
 and ferries over the Delaware, to apprehend and send them 
 back to camp. The Governor of New Jersey was again 
 pressed. for assistance, but it was not in his power to fur 
 nish the aid required. The well-affected part of the lower 
 country was overawed by the British army, and the militia 
 of Morris and Sussex came out slowly and reluctantly. 
 
 While at Brunswick attempts were made to retard the 
 advance of the British army by movements indicating an 
 intention to act on the offensive, but this feint was unavail 
 ing. Lord Cornwallis continued to press forward, and as 
 his advanced guards showed themselves on the opposite 
 side of the bridge General Washington evacuated the town 
 and marched through Princeton to Trenton. Directions 
 had already been given to collect all the boats on the 
 Delaware from Philadelphia upwards for seventy miles, in 
 the hope that the progress of the enemy might be stopped 
 62 
 
978 WASHINGTON. 
 
 at this river, and that in the meantime reinforcements 
 might arrive which would enable him to dispute its passage. 
 
 Having with great labor transported the few remaining 
 military stores and baggage over the Delaware Washing 
 ton determined to remain as long as possible on the north 
 ern banks of that river. 
 
 The army which was thus pressed slowly through the 
 Jerseys was aided by no other cavalry than a small corps 
 of badly-mounted Connecticut militia, commanded by 
 Major Sheldon, and was almost equally destitute of artil 
 lery. Its numbers at no time during the retreat exceeded 
 4,000 men, and on reaching the Delaware were reduced to 
 less than 3,000, of whom not quite 1,000 were militia of 
 New Jersey. Even among the Continental troops there 
 were many whose term of service was about to expire. 
 
 Its defectiveness of numbers did not constitute its only 
 weakness. The regulars were badly armed, worse clad, and 
 almost destitute of tents, blankets, or utensils for dressing 
 their food. They were composed chiefly of the garrison 
 of Fort Lee, and had been obliged to evacuate that place 
 with too much precipitation to bring with them even those 
 few articles of comfort and accommodation with which 
 they had been furnished. Washington found himself at the 
 head of this small band of soldiers, dispirited by their losses 
 and fatigues, retreating almost naked and barefooted, in 
 the cold of November and December (1776), before a nu 
 merous, well-appointed, and victorious army, through a de 
 sponding country, much more disposed to obtain safety 
 by submission than to seek it by a manly resistance. 
 
 In this crisis of American affairs a proclamation was 
 issued by Lord and General Howe, as commissioners ap 
 pointed on the part of the Crown for restoring peace to 
 America, commanding all persons assembled in arms 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 979 
 
 against his majesty's government to disband and return 
 to their homes, and all civil officers to desist from their 
 treasonable practices and relinquish their usurped author 
 ity. A full pardon was offered to every person who would, 
 within sixty days, appear before certain civil or military 
 officers of the Crown, claim the benefit of that proclama 
 tion, and testify his obedience to the laws by subscribing a 
 declaration of his submission to the royal authority. 
 Copies of it were dispersed through the country, after 
 which numbers flocked in daily to make their peace and 
 obtain protection. The contrast between the splendid ap 
 pearance of the pursuing army, and that of the ragged 
 Americans who were flying before them, could not fail to 
 nourish the general opinion that the contest was approach 
 ing its termination. 
 
 Among the many valuable traits in the character of 
 Washington was that unyielding firmness of mind which 
 resisted these accumulated circumstances of depression, 
 and supported him under them. Undismayed by the dan 
 gers which surrounded him he did not for an instant relax 
 his exertions, nor omit any thing which could obstruct the 
 progress of the enemy or improve his own condition. He 
 did not appear to despair of the public safety, but struggled 
 against adverse fortune with the hope of yet vanquishing 
 the difficulties which surrounded him, and constantly 
 showed himself to his harassed and enfeebled army, with 
 a serene, unembarrassed countenance, betraying no fears 
 in himself and invigorating and inspiring with confidence 
 the bosoms of others. To this unconquerable firmness, to 
 this perfect self-possession under the most desperate cir 
 cumstances, is America, in a great degree, indebted for her 
 independence.* 
 
 * Marshall, " Life of Washington." 
 
980 WASHINGTON. 
 
 After removing his baggage and stores over the Dela 
 ware, and sending his sick to Philadelphia (December 6, 
 1776), Washington, finding that Lord Cornwallis still con 
 tinued in Brunswick, detached 1,200 men to Princeton, in 
 the hope that this appearance of advancing on the British 
 might not only retard their progress, but cover a part of 
 the country and reanimate the people of Jersey. 
 
 Some portion of this short respite from laborious service 
 was devoted to the predominant wish of his heart prepa 
 rations for the next campaign by impressing on Con 
 gress a conviction of the real causes of the present 
 calamitous state of things. The abandonment of the army 
 by whole regiments of the flying camp, in the face of an 
 advancing and superior enemy, and the impracticability 
 of calling out the militia of Jersey and Pennsylvania in 
 sufficient force to prevent Lord Cornwallis from overrun 
 ning the first State, or restrain him from entering the last, 
 had it not been saved by other causes, were practical les 
 sons on the subjects of enlistments for a short time, and 
 a reliance on militia, which no prejudice could disregard, 
 and which could -not fail to add great weight to the re 
 monstrances formerly made to Congress by Washington, 
 which were now repeated. 
 
 The exertions of General Mifflin to raise the militia of 
 Pennsylvania, though unavailing in the country, were suc 
 cessful in Philadelphia. A large proportion of the inhabi 
 tants of that city capable of bearing arms had associated 
 for the general defense; and on this occasion 1,500 of them 
 marched to Trenton, to which place a German battalion 
 was also ordered by Congress. On the arrival of these 
 troops Washington commenced his march to Princeton, 
 but was stopped by the intelligence that Lord Cornwallis, 
 having received large reinforcements, was advancing rap- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 981 
 
 idly from Brunswick by different routes and endeavoring 
 to gain his rear. 
 
 On receiving this intelligence he crossed the Dela 
 ware and posted his army in such a manner as to guard 
 the fords. As his rear passed the river the van of the 
 British army appeared in sight. The main body took post 
 at Trenton, and detachments were placed both above and 
 below, while small parties, without interruption from the 
 people of the country, reconnoitered the Delaware for a 
 considerable distance. From Bordentown, below Trenton, 
 the course of the river turns westward and forms an acute 
 angle with its course from Philadelphia to that place; so 
 that Lord Cornwallis might cross a considerable distance 
 above, and be not much, if any, further from that city 
 than the American army. 
 
 The British general made some unsuccessful attempts 
 to seize a number of boats guarded by Lord Stirling about 
 Coryell's Ferry,* and in order to facilitate his movements 
 
 * Cornwallis was generally rapid enough in his movements when 
 acting on his own responsibility; but on this occasion the slow 
 and cautious habits of his superior, General Howe, seem to have 
 infected him. He should Rave overtaken Washington before he 
 reached the Delaware. At this time, if we may believe Gordon, a 
 very slight circumstance saved the American army. He says 
 that Lord Cornwallis, who halted with the rear division within 
 six miles of Trenton, intended sending over a body of men very 
 early the next morning, near two miles below Coryell's Ferry, 
 and got the troops in readiness and the artillery prepared to 
 cover the landing; for in that place it was only four-and-twenty 
 rods to a spit of sand on the Pennsylvania side, on which a suffi 
 cient number were to have landed, and then to have marched up 
 to Coryell's Ferry, and to have taken the boats that had been 
 collected there by the Americans and left under a guard of only 
 ten men; with them it was meant to carry over the main body. 
 In the vicinity of this place a large sunken Durham boat (which 
 came down three days before, laden with flour, and which could 
 
982 WASHINGTON. 
 
 down the river, on the Jersey shore, repaired the bridges 
 below Trenton, which had been broken down by order of 
 Washington. He then advanced a strong detachment to 
 Bordentown, giving indications of an intention to cross 
 the Delaware at the same time above and below, and either 
 to march in two columns to Philadelphia or completely to 
 envelop the American army in the angle of the river. To 
 counteract this plan Washington stationed a few galleys to 
 watch the movements of his enemy below and aid in re 
 pelling any effort to pass over to the Pennsylvania shore, 
 and made such a disposition of his little army as to guard 
 against any attempt to force a passage above, which he 
 believed to be the real design. 
 
 Having made his arrangements he waited anxiously for 
 reinforcements, and in the meantime sent daily parties over 
 
 carry one hundred men), lay concealed under a bank. This had 
 been discovered and taken away by Mr. Mersereau, so that the 
 British were disappointed in their expectation of finding it. They 
 hailed one Thomson, a Quaker, who lived on the other side of the 
 Delaware, and inquired what was become of the boat, and were 
 answered it was carried off. They continued reconnoitering up 
 and down the river until 10 o'clock, but finding no boats, returned 
 to Pennytown (Pennington). Men had been employed in time for 
 taking off all the boats from the Jersey side of the Delaware, but 
 Mr. Mersereau's attention would not admit of his confiding wholly 
 in their care and prudence. He therefore went up the river to 
 examine whether all the boats were really carried off or destroyed; 
 upon discovering the above-mentioned sunken one, which had 
 escaped the observation of the men, and inquiring of a person in 
 the neighborhood concerning her, he was told that she was an 
 old one and good for nothing, but, not relying upon the informa 
 tion, he found her to be new, had the water bailed out, and sent 
 her off. The importance of this affair to the Americans prevents 
 the relation of it from being trifling. Had Lord Cormvallis 
 crossed into Pennsylvania as he proposed, the consequence would 
 probably have been fatal to the Americans. 
 
LIPE AND TIMES. 983 
 
 the river to harass the enemy and to observe his 
 situation. 
 
 The utmost exertions were made by government to 
 raise the militia. In the hope that a respectable body of 
 Continental troops would aid these exertions Washington 
 had directed Gates, with the regulars of the northern 
 army, and Heath, with those at Peekskill, to march to 
 his assistance. 
 
 Although General Lee had been repeatedly urged to 
 join the Commander-in-Chief he proceeded slowly in the 
 execution of these orders, manifesting a strong disposition 
 to retain his separate command, and rather to hang on 
 and threaten the rear of the British army than to 
 strengthen that in its front.* With this view he proposed 
 establishing himself at Morristown. On receiving a letter 
 from Washington disapproving this proposition, and urg 
 ing him to hasten his march, Lee still avowed a preference 
 for his own plan and proceeded reluctantly toward the 
 Delaware. While passing through Morris county, at the 
 distance of twenty miles from the British encampment, he, 
 very incautiously, quartered under a slight guard in a house 
 about three miles from his army. Information of this cir 
 cumstance was given by a countryman to Colonel Har- 
 court, at that time detached with a body of cavalry to 
 watch his movements, who immediately formed and exe 
 cuted the design of seizing him. Early in the morning of 
 the 1 2th of December (1776) this officer reached Lee's 
 quarters, who received no intimation of his danger until 
 the house was surrounded and he found himself a prisoner. 
 He was carried off in triumph to the British army where 
 he was, for some time, treated as a deserter from the 
 British service. 
 
 * Lee's real object was to have the credit of driving the British 
 out of "the Jerseys;" and to contrast this success with Washing 
 ton's retreat, for " ulterior purposes." 
 
984 WASHINGTON. 
 
 This misfortune made a serious impression on all 
 America. The confidence originally placed in General Lee 
 had been increased by his success in the southern depart 
 ment, and by a belief that his opinions, during the military 
 operations in New York, had contributed to the adoption 
 of those judicious movements which had, in some measure, 
 defeated the plans of General Howe in that quarter. It 
 was also believed that he had dissented from the resolu 
 tion of the council of war for maintaining Forts Wash 
 ington and Lee. No officer, except the Commander-in- 
 Chief, possessed at that time in so eminent a degree the 
 confidence of the army or of the country, and his loss was 
 almost universally bewailed as one of the greatest calami 
 ties which had befallen the American arms. It was re 
 gretted by no person more than by Washington himself. 
 He respected the merit of that eccentric veteran and sin 
 cerely lamented his captivity. The British were greatly 
 elated at Lee's capture, esteeming it equal to a victory, 
 and declaring that they taken the palladium of America. 
 
 General Sullivan who, on the 4th of September, had been 
 exchanged for General Prescott, and on whom the com 
 mand of that division devolved after the capture of Lee, 
 promptly obeyed the orders which had been directed to 
 that officer, and crossing the Delaware at Philipsburg 
 joined the Commander-in-Chief. On the same day Gen 
 eral Gates arrived with a few northern troops. By these 
 and other reinforcements the army was augmented to about 
 7,000 effective men. 
 
 Congress on the I2th of December, the same day that 
 Lee was captured, removed its sittings to Baltimore, where 
 they waited anxiously but firmly the progress of affairs. 
 
 The attempts of the British general to get possession 
 of boats for the transportation of his army over the Dela- 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 985 
 
 ware having failed, he gave indications of an intention to 
 close the campaign and to retire into winter quarters. 
 About 4,000 men were cantoned on the Delaware at 
 Trenton, Bordentown, the White Horse, and Mount Holly, 
 and the remaining part of the army of Jersey was dis 
 tributed from that river to the Hackensack. Strong corps 
 were posted at Princeton, Brunswick, and Elizabethtown. 
 
 To intimidate the people and thereby impede the recruit 
 ing service was believed to be no inconsiderable induce 
 ment with General Howe for covering so large a portion 
 of Jersey. To counteract these views Washington ordered 
 three of the regiments from Peekskill to halt at Morris- 
 town, and to unite with about 800 militia assembled at 
 that place under Colonel Ford. General Maxwell was 
 sent to take command of these troops, with orders to watch 
 the motions of the enemy, to harass him in his marches, 
 to give intelligence of all his movements, to keep up the 
 spirits of the militia, and to prevent the inhabitants from 
 going within the British lines and taking protection. 
 
 The short interval between this cantonment of the British 
 troops and the recommencement of active operations was 
 employed by Washington in repeating the representations 
 he had so often made to Congress respecting preparations 
 for the ensuing campaign. 
 
 General Howe, as an English writer remarks, has been 
 severely censured for not pressing the pursuit of the 
 Americans with more activity and overwhelming Wash 
 ington before he found refuge behind the Delaware. 
 Probably however the censure is not quite just, although 
 it may be regarded as certain that the delay of the British 
 force proved the salvation of the American army. Howe's 
 conduct was marked by cool prudence rather than by dar 
 ing enterprise or unwary impetuosity. He was on the 
 
986 WASHINGTON. 
 
 whole as successful as any other British general during 
 the war, and he exposed himself to none of those disasters 
 which fell upon others of his compeers. 
 
 But, however this may be, it is undoubtedly true that 
 Washington gave evidence of superior generalship in this 
 retreat through the Jerseys, and not only superior qualities 
 as a Commander-in-Chief, but also of possessing the higher 
 and nobler endowments of the most exalted patriotism. 
 Painful, indeed, is it to see what trials and perplexities 
 and humiliations waited upon his every step, and how his 
 soul was racked with the cares and burdens laid upon him. 
 But trials are not sent without design. Washington was 
 formed of that material which is purified and strengthened 
 by trial. -Bravely did he endure, profoundly learned and 
 wise did he become by endurance, and no man of his day 
 ever attained such vast influence as he did by the irre 
 fragable proofs which he exhibited of the purity, integrity, 
 and decision of his character and conduct.* 
 
 * Spencer, " History of the United States." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TRENTON AND PRINCETON. 
 
 1776, 1777. 
 
 WHEN Washington, by his late masterly retreat 
 through the Jerseys, had completely baffled his 
 powerful enemy and saved his army from de 
 struction he had still a most discouraging prospect before 
 him. It was indeed one of the gloomiest periods of his 
 whole life. The campaign, notwithstanding its brilliant 
 displays of courageous daring and unflinching fortitude in 
 the Commander-in-Chief, as well as many of the officers 
 and men, had been an almost uninterrupted series of dis 
 asters and retreats. The enemy, since the evacuation of 
 Boston, had already not only gained possession of Staten 
 Island, Long Island, the city of New York, a portion of 
 the State of Rhode Island, and nearly the whole of the 
 Jerseys, but they were menacing Philadelphia with a force 
 perfectly adequate for seizing it, if they had been sensible 
 of their own power and the weakness of the American 
 army. 
 
 That army, in fact, was on the verge of dissolution, and 
 was only saved by the boldness, decision, and unceasing 
 activity of Washington. The pernicious system of short 
 enlistments, sickness, bad pay, and continual discourage 
 ments, had reduced it to the mere shadow of an army. The 
 country too was discouraged and desponding. The proc 
 lamation of the Howes, offering pardon and protection to 
 
988 WASHINGTON. 
 
 all who would accept them, had already drawn many men 
 of influence and wealth in the Jerseys to the standard of 
 the King, while others took the oath of allegiance and re 
 mained at their homes. The sixty days allowed for ac 
 cepting the offer of the Howes had nearly expired and a 
 still greater defection was imminent. It was a dark and 
 trying hour for the true patriot. 
 
 But " Washington stood firm." He must have known 
 that all depended on him. His calmness and full reliance 
 on the justice of the cause- and the goodness of his Maker 
 never deserted him. He felt that his duty required him to 
 put forth all his resources of intellect and strength of will 
 to direct the ship through this perilous storm. For the 
 present emergency Congress, at a distance from the center 
 of action, was powerless to save. The time was come 
 when he must save the country by his own wonderful de 
 cision of character. This is apparent from the following 
 letter to Congress, dated December 20, 1776: 
 
 " I have waited with much impatience to know the deter 
 mination of Congress on the propositions, made some time 
 in October last, for augmenting our corps of artillery, and 
 establishing a corps of engineers. The time is now come 
 when the first cannot be delayed without the greatest in 
 jury to the safety of these States; and, therefore, under 
 the resolution of Congress bearing date the i2th inst. (De 
 cember, 1776), at the repeated instances of Colonel Knox, 
 and by the pressing advice of all the general officers now 
 here, I have ventured to order three battalions of artillery 
 to be immediately recruited. These are two less than 
 Colonel Knox recommends, as you will see by his plan in 
 closed, but then this scheme comprehends all the United 
 States, whereas some of the States have corps already es 
 tablished, and these three battalions are indispensably 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 989 
 
 necessary for the operations in this quarter, including the 
 northern department. 
 
 " The pay of our artillerists bearing no proportion to 
 that in the English or French service, the murmuring and 
 dissatisfaction thereby occasioned, the absolute impossibil 
 ity, as I am told, of getting them upon the old terms, and 
 the unavoidable necessity of obtaining them at all events, 
 have induced me, also by advice, to promise officers and 
 men that their pay shall be augmented 25 per cent., or 
 their engagements shall become null and void. This may 
 appear to Congress premature and unwarrantable. But, 
 sir, if they view our situation in the light it strikes their 
 officers, they will be convinced of the utility of the measure, 
 and that the execution could not be delayed till after their 
 meeting at Baltimore. In short, the present exigency of 
 our affairs will not admit of delay, either in council or the 
 field, for well convinced I am, that, if the enemy go into 
 quarters at all it will be for a short season. But I rather 
 think the design of General Howe is to possess himself 
 of Philadelphia this winter, if possible, and in truth I do 
 not see what is to prevent him, as ten days more will put 
 an end to the existence of our army. That one great point 
 is to keep us as much harassed as possible, with a view to 
 injure the recruiting service, and hinder a collection of 
 stores and other necessaries for the next campaign, I am 
 as clear in, as I am of my own existence. If, therefore, in 
 the short interval in which we have to provide for and 
 make these great and arduous preparations, every matter, 
 that in its nature is self-evident, is to be referred to Con 
 gress, at the distance of a hundred and thirty or forty 
 miles, so much time must necessarily elapse as to defeat 
 the end in view. 
 
 " It may be said that this is an application for powers 
 
990 WASHINGTON. 
 
 that are too dangerous to be intrusted. I can only add 
 that desperate diseases require desperate remedies, and I 
 with truth declare that I have no lust after power, but I 
 wish with as much fervency as any man upon this wide- 
 extended continent for an opportunity of turning the sword 
 into the ploughshare. But my feelings, as an officer and 
 a man, have been such as to force me to say that no person 
 ever had a greater choice of difficulties to contend with 
 than I have. It is needless to add that short enlistments 
 and a mistaken dependence upon militia have been the 
 origin of all our misfortunes, and the great accumulation 
 of our debt. We find, sir, that the enemy are daily gather 
 ing strength from the disaffected. This strength, like a 
 snow-ball by rolling will increase, unless some means can 
 be devised to check effectually the progress of the enemy's 
 arms. Militia may possibly do it for a little while, but in 
 a little while also, and the militia of those States which 
 have been frequently called upon will not turn out at all, 
 or if they do it will be with so much reluctance and sloth 
 as to amount to the same thing. Instance New Jersey! 
 Witness Pennsylvania! Could anything but the river 
 Delaware have saved Philadelphia! Can anything (the 
 exigency of the case indeed may justify it) be more destruc 
 tive to the recruiting service than giving $10 bounty for six 
 weeks' service of the militia, who come in, you cannot tell 
 how; go, you cannot tell when, and act, you cannot tell 
 where; consume your provisions, exhaust your stores, and 
 leave you at last at a critical moment? 
 
 :< These, sir, are the men I am to depend upon ten days 
 hence, this is the basis on which your cause will and must 
 forever depend till you get a large standing army suffi 
 cient of itself to oppose the enemy. I therefore beg leave 
 to give it as my humble opinion that eighty-eight battalions 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 991 
 
 are by no means equal to the opposition you are to make, 
 and that a moment's time is not to be lost in raising a 
 greater number, not less, in my opinion and the opinion of 
 my officers, than no. It may be urged that it will be 
 found difficult enough to complete the first number. This 
 may be true, and yet the officers of no battalions will re 
 cruit many more men than those of eighty-eight. In my 
 judgment this is not a time to stand upon expense, our 
 funds are not the only object of consideration. The State 
 of New York have added one battalion (I wish they had 
 made it two) to their quota. If any good officers will offer 
 to raise men upon Continental pay and establishment in 
 this quarter I shall encourage them to do so and regiment 
 them when they have done it. If Congress disapprove of 
 this proceeding they will please to signify it as I mearr it 
 for the best. It may be thought that I am/ going a good 
 deal out of the line of my duty to adopt these measures 
 or to advise thus freely. A character to lose, an estate 
 to forfeit, the inestimable blessings of liberty at stake, and 
 a life devoted must be my excuse." 
 
 This letter demonstrated to Congress the extreme peril 
 of the country and the sole means of deliverance. Jealous 
 as they had hitherto been of military power they no longer 
 hesitated to place it in the hands of Washington, and on 
 the 27th of December (1776) they passed the following act: 
 
 :< The Congress, having maturely considered the present 
 crisis, and having perfect reliance on the wisdom, vigor, 
 and uprightness of General Washington, do hereby 
 Resolve, That General Washington shall be, and he is 
 hereby, vested with full, ample, and complete powers to 
 raise and collect together in the most speedy and effectual 
 manner, from any or all of these United States, sixteen 
 battalions of infantry in addition to those already voted 
 
992 WASHINGTON. 
 
 by Congress; to appoint officers for the said battalions 
 of infantry; to raise, officer, and equip 3,000 light horse, 
 three regiments of artillery, and a corps of engineers, and 
 to establish their pay; to apply to any of the States for 
 such aid of the militia as he shall judge necessary; to form 
 such magazines of provisions, and in such places as he shall 
 think proper; to displace and appoint all officers under the 
 rank of brigadier-general, and to fill up all vacancies in 
 every other department in the American armies; to take, 
 wherever he may be, whatever he may want for the use 
 of the army, if the inhabitants will not sell it, allowing a 
 reasonable price for the same; to arrest and confine per 
 sons who refuse to take the Continental currency, or are 
 otherwise disaffected to the American cause ; and re 
 turn to the States of which they are citizens, their names, 
 and the nature of their offenses, together with the wit 
 nesses to prove them; and, That the foregoing powers be 
 vested in General Washington, for and during the term of 
 six months from the date hereof, unless sooner determined 
 by Congress." 
 
 In acknowledging the resolves of Congress Washington 
 assured that body that all his faculties should be employed 
 to direct properly the powers they had been pleased to 
 vest him with, to advance those objects, and those only, 
 which had given rise to so honorable a mark of distinction. 
 " If my exertions," he said, " should not be attended with 
 the desired success, I trust the failure will be imputed to 
 the true cause the peculiarly distressed situation of our 
 affairs, and the difficulties I have to combat rather than 
 to a want of zeal for my country, and the closest attention 
 to her interests, to promote which has ever been my 
 study." 
 
 The powers conferred by the resolve of Congress were 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 993 
 
 truly dictatorial. But never before, nor since, did dictator 
 use such powers with such wisdom, moderation, and for 
 bearance. Before this act had received the sanction of 
 Congress, however, events had taken place which gave 
 new life and energy to the friends of liberty. 
 
 When Washington (says Gordon) retreated with a hand 
 ful of men across the Delaware he trembled for the fate of 
 America, which nothing but the infatuation of the enemy 
 could have saved.* Though they missed the boats, with 
 which they expected to follow him immediately into Pennsyl 
 vania, yet Trenton and the neighborhood could have supplied 
 them with materials which industry might have soon con 
 structed into sufficient conveniences for the transportation 
 of the troops over a smooth river, and of no great extent 
 in some places. But they were put into cantonments for 
 the present, forming an extensive chain from Brunswick 
 to the Delaware, and down the banks of the Delaware for 
 several miles, so as to compose a front at the end of the 
 line which looked over to Philadelphia.! Mr. Mersereau 
 was employed by the American general to gain intelligence 
 and provided a simple youth, J whose apparent defective- 
 ness in abilities prevented all suspicion, but whose fidelity 
 and attention, with the capacities he possessed, constituted 
 him an excellent spy; he passed from place to place, mixed 
 
 * The General's words in his own letter. 
 
 f Marshall, speaking of the importance to Washington of obtain 
 ing secret intelligence of the plans of Cornwallis, states that at 
 that critical moment, Mr. Robert Morris raised on his private 
 credit, in Philadelphia, 56500 in specie, which he transmitted to 
 the Commander-in-Chief, who employed it in procuring informa 
 tion not otherwise to have been obtained. " Life of Washington," 
 vol. I, p. 130. 
 
 $ After having been employed some time in similar services, 
 the enemy grew suspicious of him, and upon that, without proof, 
 put him into prison, where he was starved to death, 
 
 63 
 
994 WASHINGTON. 
 
 with the soldiers, and, having performed his business, re 
 turned with an account where they were cantoned, and 
 in what numbers. General Fermoy was appointed to re 
 ceive and communicate the information to the Commander- 
 in Chief ; upon the receipt of it he cried out : " Now is our 
 time to clip their wings while they are so spread." But 
 before an attempt could be made with a desirable prospect 
 of success Washington was almost ready to despair while 
 he contemplated the probable state of his own troops within 
 the compass of ten days. _ He could not count upon those 
 whose time expired the ist of January, and expected that 
 as soon as the ice was formed the enemy would pass the 
 Delaware. He found his numbers on inquiry less than 
 he had any conception of, and while he communicated the 
 fact, thus charged his confidant, Colonel Reed : " For 
 heaven's sake keep this to yourself, as the discovery of it 
 may prove fatal to us." 
 
 Colonel Reed wrote the next day from Bristol, Decem 
 ber 21 (1776), and proposed to the General the making of 
 a diversion, or something more, at or about Trenton, and 
 proceeded to say: "If we could possess ourselves again 
 of New Jersey, or any considerable part, the effect would 
 be greater than if we had not left it. Allow me to hope 
 that you will consult your own good judgment and spirit, 
 and let not the goodness of your heart subject you to the 
 influence of the opinions of men in every respect your in 
 feriors. Something must be attempted before the sixty 
 days expire which the commissioners have allowed for 
 however many affect to despise it, it is evident a very 
 serious attention is paid to it; and I am confident, that 
 unless some more favorable appearance attends our arms 
 and cause before that time, a very great number of the 
 militia officers here will follow the example of Jersey, and 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 995 
 
 take benefit from it. Our cause is desperate and hopeless 
 if we do not strike some stroke. Our affairs are hastening 
 apace to ruin if we do not retrieve them by some happy 
 event. Delay with us is near equal to a total defeat. We 
 must not suffer ourselves to be lulled into security and 
 inactivity because the enemy does not cross the river. The 
 love of my country, a wife and four children in the enemy's 
 hands, the respect and attachment I have to you, the ruin 
 and poverty that must attend me and thousands of others, 
 will plead my excuse for so much freedom." 
 
 Notwithstanding the great inferiority of his force, when 
 Washington received this letter, he had already formed 
 the daring plan of attacking all the British posts on the 
 Delaware at the same instant. If successful in all, or any 
 of these attacks, he hoped not only to wipe off the impres 
 sion made by his losses and by his retreat, but also to re 
 lieve Philadelphia from immediate danger, and to compel 
 his adversary to compress himself in such a manner as no 
 longer to cover the Jerseys. 
 
 The positions taken to guard the river were equally well 
 adapted to offensive operations. 
 
 The regulars were posted above Trenton from Yardley's 
 up to Coryell's Ferry. The Pennsylvania flying camp and 
 Jersey militia, under the command of General Irvine, ex 
 tended from Yardley's to the ferry opposite Bordentown, 
 and General Cadwalader with the Pennsylvania militia lay 
 still lower down the river. 
 
 Writing to Colonel Reed on the 23d of December, Wash 
 ington says: "Necessity, dire necessity will nay, must 
 justify any attempt. Prepare, and in concert with Griffin, 
 attack as many posts as you possibly can with a prospect 
 of success. I have now ample testimony of the enemy's 
 intentions to attack Philadelphia as soon as the ice will 
 
996 WASHINGTON. 
 
 afford the means of conveyance. Our men are to be pro 
 vided with three days' provisions, ready cooked, with which 
 and their blankets they are to march. One hour before 
 day is the time fixed upon for our attempt on Trenton. If 
 we are successful, which heaven grant ! and other circum 
 stances favor, we may push on. I shall direct every ferry 
 and ford to be well guarded, and not a soul suffered to 
 pass without an officer's going down with the permit." 
 
 In the plan of attack which had been digested, it was 
 proposed to cross in the night at M'Konkey's Ferry, about 
 nine miles above Trenton, to march down in two divisions, 
 the one taking the river road, and the other the Penning- 
 ton road, both which lead into the town; the first toward 
 that part of the western side which approaches the river, 
 and last toward the north. This part of the plan was to be 
 executed by Washington in person, at the head of about 
 2,400 Continental troops. It was thought practicable to 
 pass them over the river by 12, and to reach the point of 
 destination by 5 in the morning of the next day, when 
 the attack was to be made. General Irvine was directed 
 to cross at the Trenton Ferry, and to secure the bridge be 
 low the town in order to prevent the escape of the enemy 
 by that road. General Cadwalader was to pass over at 
 Dunk's Ferry and carry the post at Mount Holly. It 
 had been in contemplation to unite the troops employed 
 in fortifying Philadelphia. to those at Bristol, and to place 
 the whole under General Putnam, but such indications 
 were given in that city of an insurrection in favor of the 
 royal cause that this part of the plan was abandoned. The 
 cold on the night of the 25th was very severe. Snow, 
 mingled with hail and rain, fell in great quantities, and so 
 much ice was made in the river that, with every possible 
 exertion, the division conducted by the General in person 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 997 
 
 could not effect its passage until 3, nor commence its 
 march down the river till nearly 4. As the distance to 
 Trenton by either road is nearly the same, orders were 
 given to attack at the instant of arrival, and after driving 
 in the outguards to press rapidly after them into the town 
 and prevent the main body from forming. 
 
 Trenton was held by a detachment of 1,500 Hessians 
 and a troop of British light horse, the whole under the 
 command of Colonel Rahl,* a Hessian veteran, who (says 
 Gordon, in his lively description of the affair), " had re 
 ceived information of an intended attack, and that the 25th, 
 at night, is thought to be the time fixed upon. His men 
 are paraded and his picket is looking out for it. Captain 
 Washington,! commanding a scouting party of about fifty 
 foot soldiers, has been in the Jerseys about three days with 
 out effecting any exploit. He therefore concludes upon 
 marching toward Trenton ; advances and attacks the picket. 
 He exchanges a few shots and then retreats. As he is 
 making for the Delaware, on his return to Pennsylvania, 
 he meets with General Washington's troops (December 26, 
 1776). Conjecturing their design he is distressed with an 
 apprehension that by the attack he has alarmed the enemy 
 and put them on their guard. The enemy, on the other 
 hand, conclude from it after awhile, that this is all the at 
 tack which is intended, and so retire to their quarters and 
 become secure; many get drunk." 
 
 While the enemy was thus lulled into security General 
 Washington, who accompanied the upper column, arriv 
 ing at the outpost on that road precisely at 8, drove it in, 
 and in three minutes heard the fire from the column under 
 
 *This name is spelt by some writers Rail, and by others Rawle. 
 t William A. Washington, afterward distinguished as a colonel 
 of cavalry. 
 
998 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Sullivan, which had taken the river road. The picket 
 guard attempted to keep up a fire while retreating but 
 was pursued with such ardor as to be unable to make a 
 stand. Colonel Rahl paraded his men and met the assail 
 ants. In the commencement of the action he was mortally 
 wounded, upon which the troops, in apparent confusion, 
 attempted to gain the road to Princeton. General Wash 
 ington threw a detachment into their front while he ad 
 vanced rapidly on them in person. Finding themselves 
 surrounded and their artillery already seized they laid down 
 their arms and surrendered themselves prisoners of war. 
 About twenty of the enemy were killed and about 1,000 
 made prisoners. Six field pieces and 1,000 stand of small- 
 arms were also taken. On the part of the Americans two 
 privates were killed, two frozen to death, and three or four 
 privates wounded. Captain Washington, who had returned 
 to the scene of action with General Washington's column, 
 and Lieutenant Monroe (afterward President of the United 
 States), were both wounded in capturing the enemy's 
 artillery. 
 
 Unfortunately the ice rendered it impracticable for Gen 
 eral Irvine to execute that part of the plan which was al 
 lotted to him. With his utmost efforts he was unable to 
 cross the river, and the road toward Bordentown remained 
 open. About 500 men, among whom was a troop of cav 
 alry, stationed in the lower end of Trenton, availed them 
 selves of this circumstance, and crossing the bridge in the 
 commencement of the action escaped down the river. The 
 same cause prevented General Cadwalader from attacking 
 the post at Mount Holly. With -great difficulty a part of 
 his infantry passed the river, but returned on its being 
 found absolutely impracticable to cross with the artillery. 
 
 Although this plan failed in so many of its parts, the 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 909 
 
 success attending that which was conducted by Washing 
 ton in person was followed by the happiest effects. 
 
 Had it been practicable for the divisions under Generals 
 Irvine and Cadwalader to cross the river, it was intended 
 to proceed from Trenton to the posts at and about Borden- 
 town, to sweep the British from the banks of the Dela 
 ware, and to maintain a position in the Jerseys. But rind 
 ing that those parts of the plan had failed, and supposing 
 the British to remain in force below, while a strong corps 
 was posted at Princeton, Washington thought it unadvis- 
 able to hazard the loss of the very important advantage 
 already gained, by attempting to increase it, and recrossed 
 the river with his prisoners and military stores.* Lieu 
 tenant-Colonel Baylor, his aide-de-camp, who carried the 
 intelligence of this success to Congress, was presented 
 with a horse completely caparisoned for service, and 
 recommended to the command of a regiment of cavalry. 
 
 Nothing could surpass the astonishment of Howe at 
 this unexpected display of vigor on the part of Washing 
 ton. His condition and that of his country had been 
 thought desperate. He had been deserted by all the troops 
 having a legal right to leave him, and to render his situa 
 tion completely ruinous nearly two-thirds of the Con 
 tinental soldiers still remaining with him would be entitled 
 to their discharge on the 1st day of January (1777). There 
 appeared to be no probability of prevailing on them to con 
 tinue longer in the service, and the recruiting business was 
 absolutely at an end. The spirits of a large proportion 
 of the people were sunk to the lowest point of depression. 
 
 * Before the Hessian prisoners were actually marched through 
 the streets of Philadelphia, the Tories in that city affected to 
 doubt the reality of any victory having been obtained by Wash 
 ington. Probably no procession in Philadelphia was ever attended 
 with so much effect as this of the Hessian prisoners. 
 
1000 WASHINGTON. 
 
 New Jersey appeared to be completely subdued, and some 
 of the best judges of the public sentiment were of opinion 
 that immense numbers in Pennsylvania also were deter 
 mined not to permit the sixty days allowed in the procla 
 mation of the Howes to elapse, without availing themselves 
 of the pardon it proffered. Instead of offensive operations 
 the total dispersion of the small remnant of the American 
 army was to be expected, since it would be rendered too 
 feeble by the discharge of those engaged only until the last 
 day of December, to attempt any longer the defense of 
 the Delaware, which would by that time, in all probability, 
 be passable on the ice. While every appearance supported 
 these opinions, and Howe, without being sanguine, might 
 well consider the war as approaching its termination, this 
 bold and fortunate enterprise announced to him that he 
 was contending with an adversary who could never cease 
 to be formidable while the possibility of resistance re 
 mained. Finding the conquest of America more distant 
 than had been supposed, he determined, in the depth of 
 winter, to recommence active operations, and Lord Corn- 
 wallis, who had retired to New York with the intention of 
 embarking for Europe, suspended his departure and re 
 turned to the Jerseys in great force for the purpose of re 
 gaining the ground which had been lost. 
 
 Meanwhile Count Donop, who commanded the troops 
 below Trenton, on hearing the disaster which had befallen 
 Colonel Rahl, retreated by the road leading to Amboy and 
 joined General Leslie at Princeton. The next day Gen 
 eral Cadwalader crossed the Delaware with orders to 
 harass the enemy, but to put nothing to hazard until he 
 should be joined by the Continental battalions, who were 
 allowed a day or two of repose after the fatigues of the 
 enterprise against Trenton. General Mifflin joined General 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 1001 
 
 Irvine with about 1,500 Pennsylvania militia and those 
 troops also crossed the river. 
 
 Finding himself once more at the head of a force with 
 which it seemed practicable to act offensively Washington 
 determined to employ the winter in endeavoring to recover 
 Jersey. 
 
 With this view he ordered General Heath to leave a 
 small detachment at Peekskill, and with the main body of 
 the New England militia to enter Jersey and approach the 
 British cantonments on that side. General Maxwell was 
 ordered, with all the militia he could collect, to harass 
 their flank and rear, and to attack their outposts on every 
 favorable occasion, while the Continental troops, led by 
 himself, recrossed the Delaware and took post at Trenton. 
 On the last day of December the regulars of New England 
 were entitled to a discharge. With great difficulty and a 
 bounty of $10 many of them were induced to renew their 
 engagements for six weeks. 
 
 The British were now (1777) collected in force at Prince 
 ton under Lord Cornwallis, and appearances confirmed 
 the intelligence, secretly obtained, that he intended to at 
 tack the American army. 
 
 Generals Mifflin and Cadwalader, who lay at Borden- 
 town and Crosswix, with 3,600 militia, were therefore or 
 dered to join the Commander-in-Chief, whose whole ef 
 fective force, with this addition, did not exceed 5,000 men. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis advanced upon him the next morning, 
 and about 4 in the afternoon the van of the British army 
 reached Trenton. On its approach General Washington 
 retired across the Assumpinck, a creek which runs through 
 the town. The British attempted to cross the creek at 
 several places, but rinding all the fords guarded, they de 
 sisted from the attempt and kindled their fires. The 
 
100 3 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Americans kindled their fires likewise, and a cannonade 
 was kept up on both sides till dark. 
 
 The situation of General Washington was again ex 
 tremely critical. Should he maintain his position he would 
 certainly be attacked next morning by a force so very su 
 perior as to render the destruction of his little army inevi 
 table. Should he attempt to retreat over the Delaware 
 the passage of that river had been rendered so difficult by 
 a few mild and foggy days which had softened the ice that 
 a total defeat would be hazarded. In any event the Jer 
 seys would once more be entirely in possession of the 
 enemy, the public mind again be depressed, recruiting dis 
 couraged, and Philadelphia a second time in the grasp 
 of General Howe. 
 
 In this embarrassing state of things he formed the bold 
 design of abandoning the Delaware, and marching by a 
 circuitous route along the left flank of the British army, 
 into its rear, at Princeton, where its strength could not 
 be great, and after beating the troops at that place to move 
 rapidly to Brunswick, where the baggage and principal 
 magazines of the army lay under a weak guard. He in 
 dulged the hope that this manoeuvre would call the atten 
 tion of the British general to his own defense. Should 
 Lord Cornwallis, contrary to every reasonable calculation, 
 proceed to Philadelphia, nothing worse could happen in 
 that quarter than must happen should the American army 
 be driven before him, and some compensation for that 
 calamity would be obtained by expelling the enemy com 
 pletely from Jersey and cutting up in detail all his parties 
 in that State. 
 
 Gordon's account of what followed the resolution of 
 Washington to march to Trenton, as well as of the de 
 liberations in both camps is, as usual, lively and dramatic: 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 1003 
 
 " Sir William Erskine, according to report, advises Lord 
 Cornwallis to an immediate attack, saying: ' Otherwise 
 Washington, if any general, will make a move to the left 
 of your army; if your lordship does not attack, throw a 
 large body of troops on the road to your left/ The attack 
 is put off till the morning. 'His lordship might act upon 
 what is said to be a military principle, that the strongest 
 army ought not to attack toward night. Meanwhile Wash 
 ington calls a council of war. It is known that they are 
 to be attacked the next day by the whole collected force 
 of the enemy. The matter of debate is, ' Shall we march 
 down on the Jersey side and cross the Delaware over 
 against Philadelphia, or shall we fight? ' Both are thought 
 to be too hazardous. On this General Washington says: 
 ' What think you of a circuitous march to Princeton? ' 
 It is approved and concluded upon. Providence favors 
 the manoeuvre. The weather having been for two days 
 warm, moist, and foggy, the ground is become quite soft, 
 and the roads to be passed so deep, that it will be ex 
 tremely difficult, if practicable, to get on with the cattle, 
 carriages, and artillery. But while the council is sitting, 
 the wind suddenly changes to the northwest, and it freezes 
 so hard, that by the time the troops are ready to move, 
 they pass on as though upon a solid pavement. Such 
 freezings frequently happen in the depth of winter upon 
 the wind's coming suddenly about to the northwest. This 
 sudden change of weather gives a plausible pretext for 
 that line of fires which Washington causes to be kindled 
 soon after dark in the front of his army, and by which he 
 conceals himself from the notice of the enemy, and in 
 duces them to believe he is still upon the ground, waiting 
 for them till morning. The stratagem is rendered the more 
 complete by an order given to the men who are intrusted 
 
1004 WASHINGTON. 
 
 with the business to keep up the fires in full blaze till 
 break of day. While the fires are burning the baggage 
 and three pieces of ordnance are sent off to Burlington for 
 security, and with the design that if the enemy follow it 
 the Americans may take advantage of their so doing. The 
 troops march about I o'clock with great silence and order, 
 and crossing Sanpink creek,* proceed toward and arrive 
 near Princeton a little before daybreak. 
 
 The three British regiments are marching down to 
 Trenton on another road about a quarter of a mile dis 
 tant. The center of the Americans, consisting of the 
 Philadelphia militia, under General Mercer, advances to 
 attack them. Colonel Mawhood considers it only as a 
 flying party attempting to interrupt his march, and ap 
 proaches with his Seventeenth regiment so near before 
 he fires that the color of their buttons is discerned. He 
 repulses the assailants with great spirit and they give way 
 in confusion ; officers and men seem seized with a panic 
 which spreads fast and indicates an approaching defeat. 
 
 Washington perceives the disorder and penetrates the 
 fatal consequence of being vanquished. The present mo 
 ment requires an exertion to ward off the danger, however 
 hazardous to his own person. He advances instantly, en 
 courages his troops to make a stand, places himself be 
 tween them and the British, distant from each other about 
 thirty yards, reins his horse's head toward the front of 
 the enemy, and boldly faces them while they discharge 
 their pieces; their fire is immediately returned by the 
 Americans, without their adverting to the position of the 
 general, who is providentially preserved from being injured 
 either by foe or friend. 
 
 * Assumpinck creek, spelt variously by different writers. Spark 
 spells it Assanpink. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 1005 
 
 The scale is turned and Colonel Mawhood soon finds 
 that he is attacked on all sides by a superior force and that 
 he is cut off from the rest of the brigade. He discovers 
 also by the continued distant firing that the Fifty-fifth is 
 not in better circumstances. His regiment, having used 
 their bayonets with too much severity on the party put to 
 flight by them in the beginning, now pay for it in pro 
 portion; near sixty are killed upon the spot, besides the 
 wounded. But the colonel and a number force their way 
 through and pursue their march to Maidenhead. The 
 Fifty-fifth regiment being hard pressed, and finding it im 
 possible to continue its march, makes good its retreat and 
 returns by the way of Hillsborough to Brunswick. The 
 Fortieth is but little engaged; those of the men who es 
 cape retire by another road to the same place. 
 
 It was proposed to make a forced march to Brunswick, 
 where was the baggage of the whole British army and 
 General Lee, but the men having been without either rest, 
 rum, or provisions for two days and two nights were un 
 equal to the task. It was then debated whether to file off 
 to Cranberry in order to cross the Delaware and secure 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 General Knox* urged their marching to Morristown, 
 and informed the Commander-in-Chief that when he 
 passed through that part of the country he observed that 
 it was a good position. He also remarked that they should 
 be upon the flank of the enemy and might easily change 
 their situation if requisite. By his earnest importunity 
 he prevailed and the measure was adopted. 
 
 General Greene was with the main body, which was ad 
 vanced, and had entered the Morristown road without 
 
 * Knox was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general on the 
 day after the battle of Trenton. 
 
1006 WASHINGTON. 
 
 having been made acquainted with the determination. 
 Just as that was concluded upon the enemy were firing 
 upon the rear of the Americans. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis had been waked by the sound of the 
 American cannon at Princeton, and finding himself out 
 generaled, and apprehensive for his stores and baggage, 
 had posted back with the utmost expedition. The army 
 under General Washington marched on to Pluckemin, 
 in their way to Morristown, pulling up the bridges as they 
 proceeded thereby to incommode the enemy and secure 
 themselves. By the time they got there the men were so 
 excessively fatigued that a fresh and resolute body of 500 
 might have demolished the whole. Numbers lay down 
 in the woods and fell asleep, without regarding the coldness 
 of the weather. The royal army was still under such alarm 
 ing impressions that it continued its march from Trenton 
 to Brunswick, thirty miles, without halting 1 longer at least 
 than was necessary to make the bridges over, Stony brook 
 and Millstone passable." 
 
 In the battle of Princeton rather more than 100 of 
 the British were killed in the field and near 300 were taken 
 prisoners. The loss of the Americans was considerably 
 less,* but in their number was included General Mercer, 
 an officer of extraordinary merit, who had served with 
 Washington in his early campaigns in Virginia, and was 
 greatly esteemed and beloved by him. Mercer fell in the 
 first charge against Mawhood which was repelled, and in 
 which the bayonet was so mercilessly used, as above no 
 ticed in our quotation from Gordon. Mercer, himself, 
 after being dismounted and knocked down with the butt 
 of a musket, was repeatedly bayoneted and left for dead 
 on the field. After the battle was over he was found by 
 
 t Washington in a letter says thirty privates were killed. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 1007 
 
 his aide-de-camp, Major Armstrong, and conveyed to the 
 house of Mr. Clark, where he expired on the I2th of Jan 
 uary (1777), in the fifty-sixth year of his age. His remains 
 were subsequently removed to Philadelphia and buried 
 with military honors in the grounds of Christ Church. A 
 monument was voted to his memory by Congress, which 
 was never erected, but recently the citizens of Philadel 
 phia had his remains removed to Laurel Hill Cemetery, 
 with great funeral pomp, and placed beneath a splendid 
 marble monument raised by subscription among them 
 selves. 
 
 Besides General Mercer the Americans lost at Princeton, 
 Colonels Haslet and Potter, Captain Neal of the artillery, 
 and Captain Fleming, who commanded the First Virginia 
 regiment, and four or five other valuable officers. 
 " Colonel Haslet had distinguished himself by his bravery 
 and good conduct in the battles of Rhode Island and 
 Chatterton's Hill, and in several hazardous enterprises."* 
 
 The bold, judicious, and unexpected attacks made at 
 Trenton and Princeton, had a much more extensive in 
 fluence than would be supposed from a mere estimate of 
 the killed and taken. They saved Philadelphia for the 
 winter, recovered the State of Jersey, and, which was of 
 still more importance, revived the drooping spirits of the 
 people and gave a perceptible impulse to the recruiting 
 service throughout the United States. 
 
 The utmost efforts were now directed to the creation 
 of an army for the ensuing campaign, as the only solid 
 basis on which the hopes of the patriot could rest. Dur 
 ing the retreat through the Jerseys, and while the ex 
 pectation prevailed that no effectual resistance could be 
 made to the British armies, some spirited men indeed were 
 
 * Sparks, "Writings of Washington;" "Life of Washington." 
 
100 g WASHINGTON. 
 
 animated to greater and more determined exertions, but 
 this state of things produced a very different effect on the 
 great mass which can alone furnish the solid force of 
 armies. In the middle States especially the panic of dis 
 trust was perceived. Doubts concerning the issue of the 
 contest became extensive, and the recruiting -service pro 
 ceeded so heavily and slowly as to excite the most anxious 
 solicitude for the future. 
 
 The affairs of Trenton and Princeton were, however, 
 magnified into great victories, and were believed by the 
 body of the people to evidence the superiority of their 
 army and of their general. The opinion that they were 
 engaged in a hopeless contest yielded to a confidence that 
 proper exertions would insure ultimate success. 
 
 This change of opinion was accompanied with an es 
 sential change of conduct, and although the regiments re 
 quired by Congress were not completed they were made 
 much stronger than was believed to be possible before 
 this happy revolution in the aspect of public affairs. 
 
 The firmness of Congress throughout the gloomy and 
 trying period which intervened between the loss of Fort 
 Washington and the battle of Princeton, gives the mem 
 bers of that time a just claim to the admiration of the 
 world, and to the gratitude of every American. Undis 
 mayed by impending dangers they did not, for an in 
 stant, admit the idea of surrendering the independence 
 they had declared, and purchasing peace by returning to 
 their colonial position. As the British army advanced 
 through Jersey, and the consequent insecurity of Phila 
 delphia rendered an adjournment from that place a neces 
 sary measure of precaution, their exertions seemed to in 
 crease with their difficulties. They sought to remove the 
 despondence which was seizing and paralyzing the public 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 1009 
 
 mind by an address to the States in which every argu 
 ment was suggested wjn'ch could rouse them to vigorous 
 action. They made the most strenuous efforts to animate 
 the militia and impel them to the field by the agency of 
 those whose popular eloquence best fitted them for such a 
 service. 
 
 The magnanimous conduct of Congress was favorably 
 contrasted in the public mind with that of the represen 
 tatives of royalty, and those who acted under their author 
 ity, in the colonies. We have already repeatedly noticed 
 the proclamation of the Howes, promising pardon and pro 
 tection to those who would desert the standard of their 
 country. These promises were anything but faithfully 
 observed. 
 
 When the royal army entered the Jerseys, says Gordon, 
 the inhabitants pretty generally remained in their houses, 
 and many thousands received printed protections, signed 
 by order of General Howe. But neither the proclamation 
 of the commissioners, nor protections, saved the people 
 from plunder any more than from insult. Their property 
 was taken or destroyed without distinction of persons. 
 They showed their protections; Hessians could not read 
 them, and would not understand them; and the British 
 soldiers thought they had as good a right to a share of 
 booty as the Hessians. 
 
 The Loyalists were plundered even at New York. Gen 
 eral De Heister may be pronounced the arch-plunderer. 
 He offered the house he lived in at New York at public 
 sale, though the property of a very loyal subject, who 
 had voluntarily and hospitably accommodated him with it. 
 The. goods of others, suffering restraint or imprisonment 
 among the Americans, were sold by auction. The carriages 
 of gentlemen of the first rank were seized, their arms de- 
 64 
 
1010 WASHINGTON. 
 
 faced, and the plunderer's arms blazoned in their place; 
 and this, too, by British officers. 
 
 Discontents and murmurs increased every hour at the 
 licentious ravages of the soldiery, both British and for 
 eigners, who, at this period of the war, were shamefully 
 permitted, with unrelenting hand, to pillage friend and foe 
 in the Jerseys. Neither age, nor sex, was spared. Infants, 
 children, old men and women, were left in their shirts, 
 without a blanket to cover them, under the inclemency of 
 winter. Every kind of furniture was destroyed and burnt ; 
 windows and doors were broken to pieces; in short, the 
 houses were left uninhabitable, and the people without 
 provisions; for every horse, cow, ox, and fowl was carried 
 off. 
 
 Depredations and abuses were committed by that part 
 of the army which was stationed at or near Pennytown.* 
 Sixteen young women fled to the woods to avoid the bru 
 tality of the soldiers where they were seized and carried 
 off. One father was murdered for attempting to defend 
 his daughter's honor. Other brutalities towards women, 
 recorded by contemporary writers, are too gross for 
 recital. 
 
 These enormities, though too frequently practiced in a 
 time of war by the military, unless restrained by the se 
 verest discipline, so exasperated the people of the Jerseys 
 that they flew to arms immediately upon the army's hur 
 rying from Trenton, and forming themselves into parties 
 they waylaid their enemies and cut them off as they had 
 opportunity. The militia collected. The Americans in a 
 few days overran the Jerseys. The enemy was forced from 
 Woodbridge. General Maxwell surprised Elizabeth- 
 town, and took near one hundred prisoners, with a quan- 
 
 * Pennington. 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 10"H 
 
 tity of baggage. Newark was abandoned. The royal 
 troops were confined to the narrow compass of Brunswick 
 and Amboy, both holding an open communication with 
 New York by water. They could not even stir out to for 
 age but in large parties, which seldom returned without 
 loss. General Dickinson,* with about 400 militia arid 50 
 Pennsylvania riflemen, defeated, near Somerset court 
 house, on Millstone river, January 2Oth (1777), a foraging 
 party of the enemy of equal number; and took 40 wag 
 ons, upwards of 100 horses, besides sheep and cattle which 
 they had collected. They retreated with such precipitation 
 that he could make only nine prisoners; but they were 
 observed to carry off many dead and wounded in light 
 wagons. The General's behavior reflected the highest 
 honor upon him, for, though his troops were all raw, he 
 led them through the river middle deep, and gave the 
 enemy so severe a charge that, although supported by 
 three field pieces, they gave way and left their convoy. 
 
 But among all the officers who were engaged in watching 
 and harassing the British with a view to their expulsion 
 from the Jerseys, none rendered more important service 
 than the veteran General Putnam. He had been at Wash 
 ington's side during the whole of the retreat through the 
 Jerseys, and had been appointed to the command at Phila 
 delphia, on their arrival there, where he was presently em 
 ployed in superintending a line of redoubts above the; city, 
 extending from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, to resist 
 any approach of the enemy to the city by land. When the 
 recent offensive operations in Jersey had taken place he 
 
 * This brave and able officer, Gen. Philemon Dickinson, was 
 brother to the celebrated John Dickinson, author of the " Farm 
 er's Letters." General Dickinson was afterward a Senator of the 
 United States. 
 
1012 WASHINGTON. 
 
 had been left in the city by Washington to quell an antici 
 pated insurrection of the Tories. 
 
 General Putnam, says Peabody,* had, therefore, no share 
 in the victory at Trenton, nor in that of Princeton, by 
 which it was succeeded. 
 
 So great was the effect of these enterprises on the enemy 
 that Washington began to entertain the hope of driving 
 them beyond the limits of New Jersey. On the 5th of Janu 
 ary (17/7) he ordered General Putnam to march with the 
 troops under his command to_Crosswick, a few miles south 
 east of Trenton using the utmost precaution to guard 
 against surprise, and laboring to create an impression that 
 his force was twice as great as it actually was. The object 
 of the Commander-in-Chief was partially accomplished by 
 the concentration of the British forces at New Brunswick 
 and Amboy and General Putnam was soon after ordered 
 to take post at Princeton, where he passed the remainder 
 of the winter. This position was scarcely fifteen miles 
 from the enemy's camp at New Brunswick, but the troops 
 of Putnam at no time exceeded a few hundred, and were 
 once fewer in number than the miles of frontier he was ex 
 pected to guard. 
 
 Captain Macpherson, a Scotch officer of the Seventeenth 
 British regiment, had received in the battle of Princeton 
 a severe wound which was thought likely to prove fatal. 
 When General Putnam reached that place he found that 
 it had been deemed inexpedient to provide medical aid and 
 other comforts for one who was likely to require them 
 for so short a period, but by his orders the captain was at 
 tended with the utmost care and at length recovered. He 
 was warm in the expression of his gratitude, and one day 
 when Putnam, in reply to his inquiries, assured him that 
 
 * Life of General Putnam, in Sparks' "American Biography." 
 
LIFE AND TIMES. 1013 
 
 he was a Yankee, averred that he had not believed it 
 possible for any human being but a Scotchman to be so 
 kind and generous. 
 
 Indeed the benevolence of the general was one day put 
 to somewhat of a delicate test. The patient, when his 
 recovery was considered doubtful, solicited that a friend 
 in the British army at New Brunswick might be permitted 
 to come and aid him in the preparation of his will. Full 
 sorely perplexed was General Putnam by his desire on the 
 one hand to gratify the wishes of his prisoner, and a 
 natural reluctance on the other to permit the enemy to 
 spy out the nakedness of his camp. His good nature at 
 length prevailed, but not at the expense of his discretion, 
 and a flag of truce was dispatched with orders not to 
 return with the captain's friend until after dark. 
 
 By the time of his arrival the lights were displayed in 
 all the apartments of College Hall and in all the vacant 
 houses in the town; the army, which then consisted of 
 fifty effective men, was marched about with remarkable 
 celerity, sometimes in close column, and sometimes in de 
 tachments, with unusual pomp and circumstance, around 
 the quarters of the captain. It was subsequently ascer 
 tained, as we are assured by Colonel Humphreys, that the 
 force of Putnam was computed by the framer of the will, 
 on his return to the British camp, to consist, at the lowest 
 estimate, of 5,000 men. 
 
 During his command at Princeton General Putnam was 
 employed, with activity and much success, in affording 
 protection to the persons in his neighborhood who re 
 mained faithful to the American cause. They were ex 
 posed to great danger from the violent incursions of the 
 Loyalists; and constant vigilance was required in order to 
 guard against the depredations of the latter. Through 
 
1014 WASHINGTON. 
 
 the whole winter there raged a war of skirmishes. On 
 the 1 7th of February (1777), Colonel Nielson, with a party 
 of 150 militia, was sent by General Putnam to surprise a 
 small corps of Loyalists, who were fortifying themselves 
 at Lawrence's Neck. They were of the corps of Cort- 
 landt Skinner, of New Jersey, a brigadier-general of pro 
 vincials in the British service. We know not how to relate 
 the result of this affair more briefly than it is given in the 
 following extract from a letter addressed by Putnam to 
 the Council of Safety of Pennsylvania on the day after 
 it occurred: 
 
 " Yesterday evening Colonel Nielson, with a hundred 
 and fifty men at Lawrence's Neck, attacked sixty men of 
 Cortlandt Skinner's brigade, commanded by the enemy's 
 renowned land pilot, Richard Stockton, and took the 
 whole prisoners, among them the major, a captain, and 
 three subalterns, with seventy stand of arms. Fifty of the 
 Bedford, Pa., riflemen behaved like veterans." 
 
 On another occasion he detached Major Smith with a 
 few riflemen against a foraging party of the enemy, and 
 followed him with the rest of his forces; but before he 
 came up, the party had been captured by the riflemen. 
 These and other similar incidents may appear individually 
 as of little moment; but before the close of the winter, 
 General Putnam had thus taken nearly a thousand pris 
 oners, and had accomplished the more important object 
 of keeping the disaffected in continual awe. 
 
 In their operations for completely reclaiming the in 
 habitants of the Jerseys from their recent disaffection to 
 the cause of liberty, Washington, Putnam, and the other 
 American commanders were greatly aided by the atroci 
 ties of the British and Hessian troops against the unof 
 fending people. 
 
LIFE 'AND TIMES. 1015 
 
 The whole country was now become hostile to the 
 British army. Sufferers of all parties rose as one man to 
 revenge their personal injuries and particular oppressions, 
 and were the most bitter and determined enemies. They 
 who were incapable of bearing arms acted as spies and 
 kept a continual watch, so that not the slightest motion 
 could be made by the Royalists without its being discov 
 ered before it could produce the intended effect. 
 
 This hostile spirit was encouraged by a proclamation of 
 Washington (January 25, 1777), which commanded every 
 person having subscribed the declaration of fidelity to 
 Great Britain, taken the oaths of allegiance, and accepted 
 protections and certificates from the commissioners, to 
 deliver up the same and take the oath of allegiance to the 
 United States of America. It granted, however, full lib 
 erty to such as should prefer the interest and protection 
 of Great Britain to the freedom and happiness of their 
 country forthwith to withdraw themselves and their fami 
 lies within the enemy's lines. But it declared that all who 
 neglected or refused to comply with the order within thirty 
 days from the date would be deemed adherents to the 
 King of Great Britain, and treated as common enemies to 
 the American States. 
 
 Washington sent forth this proclamation (January 25, 
 1777) from his headquarters at Morristown, situated 
 among hills of difficult access, where he had a fine country 
 in his rear from which he could easily draw supplies, and 
 was able to retreat across the Delaware if needful. Giv 
 ing his troops little repose, he overran both East and West 
 Jersey, spread his army over the Raritan, and penetrated 
 into the county of Essex, where he made himself master 
 of the coast opposite Staten Island. With a greatly in 
 ferior army, by judicious movements, he wrested from the 
 British almost all their conquests in tHe Jerseys. Bruns- 
 
1016 WASHINGTON. 
 
 wick and Amboy were the only posts which remained in 
 their hands, and even in these they were not a little har 
 assed and straightened. The American detachments were 
 in a state of unwearied activity, frequently surprising and 
 cutting off the British advanced guards, keeping them in 
 constant alarm, and melting down their numbers by a 
 desultory and destructive warfare. 
 
 Meantime the victories at Trenton and Princeton, fol 
 lowed by the expulsion of the enemy from nearly every 
 part of New Jersey, had added greatly to Washington's 
 fame. Achievements so astonishing, says Botha, acquired 
 an immense glory for the captain-general of the United 
 States. All nations were surprised by the glory of the 
 Americans; all equally admired and applauded the pru 
 dence, the constancy, and the noble intrepidity of General 
 Washington. A unanimous voice pronounced him the 
 savior of his country ; all extolled him as equal to the most 
 celebrated commanders of antiquity; all proclaimed him 
 the Fabius of America. His name was in the mouth of 
 all; he was celebrated by the pens of the most distin 
 guished writers. The most illustrious personages of 
 Europe lavished upon him their praises and their con 
 gratulations. The American general, therefore, wanted 
 neither a cause full of grandeur to defend, nor occasion 
 for the acquisition of glory, nor genius to avail himself of 
 it, nor the renown due to his triumphs, nor an entire 
 generation of men perfectly well disposed to render him 
 homage. 
 
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