Book Read Free

Valley Forge

Page 50

by Bob Drury


  “His presence alone”: Idzerda, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution, Vol. II, p. 11.

  Citing Washington’s “coolness”: “Hamilton to Elias Boudinot, 5 July 1778,” in Syrett, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. 1, p. 512.

  “The dust and smoke”: Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge, p. 162.

  Darkness was falling: Martin, Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier, p. 114.

  According to the most reliable: Scheer and Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats, p. 335.

  The Continentals buried: “To George Washington from Major General Philemon Dickinson, 28 June 1778,” in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 15, ed. Lengel, pp. 573–76.

  In the hours to follow: Ibid., “General Orders, 30 June 1778,” p. 590.

  Though Monmouth was perhaps less dramatically timed: “From George Washington to John Augustine Washington, 4 July 1778, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 16, ed. Hoth, pp. 25–26.

  In it he described: Ibid., “From George Washington to Henry Laurens, 1 July 1778,” pp. 2–7.

  “The passion caused by”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Philosophical_Enquiry_into_the_Origin_of_Our_Ideas_of_the_Sublime_and_Beautiful.

  ♦ EPILOGUE

  But it certainly represented: Winston Churchill, Speech at the Lord Mayor’s Luncheon, Mansion House, November 10, 1942.

  As he wrote to the Virginia statesman: “From George Washington to Brigadier General Thomas Nelson, Jr., 20 August 1778,” in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 16, ed. Hoth, pp. 340–42.

  This coheres with the historian: Wills, Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment (New York: Doubleday, 1984), p. 92.

  But it was his valedictory speech: Washington’s “Farewell Address,” September 19, 1796.

  In a letter to John Laurens: “From George Washington to John Laurens, 13 October 1780,” National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018.

  Within days he was alternately: Chernow, Washington: A Life, p. 345.

  He then wrote to the commander in chief: Ibid.

  Washington accused Lee: Ibid.

  Since throwing his lot in with: http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Our_Country_vol_2/generalc_bbe.html.

  As the Rev. William Howard Day: Cox, Come All You Brave Soldiers, p. v.

  It is thanks to Waldo’s journal: “Journal Entries of Albigence Waldo Regarding the Continental Army Moving to Valley Forge, 22 December 1777,” in Waldo, Account of the Ordeal at Valley Forge.

  “The sufferings of the Body”: Ibid.

  Regarding the signal: Martin, Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier, p. 201.

  Only a month earlier: Syrett, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. III, p. 145.

  Steuben’s “Blue Book”: “From George Washington to Major General Steuben, 26 February 1779,” in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 19, ed. Chase and Ferraro, pp. 271–73.

  Even Bodle concedes: Bodle, Valley Forge Winter, p. 248.

  “In the old days the Continentals”: Buchanan, The Road to Valley Forge, p. 307.

  George Washington, in his last official: “From George Washington to Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin, Baron [von] Steuben, 23 December 1783,” in The Papers of George Washington.

  “Acknowledging your great”: Ibid.

  Although he is most closely associated: Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge, p. 167.

  “America has joined”: John H. George and Paul Poller, They Never Said It (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).

  “We have made Italy”: Charles, L. Killinger, The History of Italy (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002), p.1.

  “With a heart filled”: https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/4765-george-washingtons-first-final-farewell.

  ♦ AFTERWORD

  Tiring of the fishing: Diary entry, July 31, 1787, in Jackson and Twohig, The Diaries of George Washington, Vol. 5, p. 179.

  Come spring he would: Bodle, Valley Forge Winter, p. 264.

  Then he spurred: Ibid., p. 265.

  INDEX

  A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.

  Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations in text.

  An italic n after a page number refers to a footnote.

  Abercrombie, Robert, 283–85, 286

  Adams, Abigail, 78

  Adams, John, 9, 31, 36, 57, 59, 78, 286

  Gates’s friendship with, 226, 335

  GW criticized by, 78–79

  in presidential election of 1800, 348

  Adams, John Quincy, 352

  Adams, Samuel, 208, 250, 338

  Addison, Joseph, 13–14, 296

  African Americans:

  citizenship denied to, 336

  prejudice against, 153–54

  see also free blacks; slaves, slavery

  Albany, N.Y., 67, 234–35

  Allen, Ethan, 77

  American Revolution, see Revolutionary War

  André, John, 46, 47, 48, 50

  artistic talent of, 201–2

  capture and hanging of, 333, 340

  as head of British intelligence in America, 332–33

  Howe’s farewell gala organized by, 302–3

  in Philadelphia, 201–2

  Armstrong, John, 61, 126, 175

  foraging expeditions of, 133, 157

  in Germantown battle, 63–64

  in May Council of War, 293, 294–95

  in patrols east of Schuylkill, 115, 116, 121, 125

  Army Corps of Engineers, 114

  Arnold, Benedict, 8, 77, 99

  in flight to London, 333

  in Freeman’s Farm battle, 68

  Gates and, 69–70, 73

  Gates’s Canadian expedition plan derided by, 235

  in marriage to Peggy Shippen, 333

  as military commander in Philadelphia, 312, 333

  in offer to surrender West Point, 333

  in Saratoga battle, 70–71, 333

  Attucks, Crispus, 153

  Augusta, HMS, 91

  Austin, Jonathan Loring, 209

  Ayen, Jean-Louis-Paul-François de Noailles, duc d’, 29, 97

  Azeglio, Massimo d’, 353

  Bancroft, Edward, 210

  Banister, John, 300

  Barren Hill, 303–4, 315

  Barrington, William Wildman, Viscount, 257

  Basset, Anna Maria, 237

  bayonets, 45–46, 268, 345

  Beaumarchais, Pierre, 27–28, 248, 249, 250

  Biddle, Clement, 185–86

  Billingsport, N.J., 60, 61

  Bills of Conciliation, 279–80, 300, 309, 311

  Board of War, 8, 132, 142, 144, 146, 163, 192n, 197, 224, 233

  in attempt to co-opt Quartermaster Department, 225–31

  and provisioning of Valley Forge, 146–47, 161–62

  Bodle, Wayne, 11, 60, 100, 128, 180, 267, 345

  Boone, Daniel, 59

  Bordentown, N.J., 292

  Borre, Preudhomme de, 19, 21

  Boston, Mass.:

  British occupation of, 36, 77

  GW’s capture of, 7, 12, 16, 78, 267

  Boston Grenadiers (militia), 77

  Boston Massacre, 77, 153

  Boston Tea Party, 27n, 77

  Bourbon restoration, 351

  Braddock, General, 136

  Brandywine Creek, Battle of, 18–19, 20, 21–24, 33, 34, 38, 84, 101, 158, 186, 267, 291

  Brillon, Anne Louise, 208

  British Army:

  Continental Army deserters in, 165

  foraging parties of, 91, 115, 121, 122–23, 124

  Gates’s Canadian plan leaked to, 235

>   German mercenaries of, see Hessians

  and possible war with France, 257

  Broglie, Charles-François, Comte de, 28, 208

  Brooks, John, 182, 183

  Brunswickers, 7n, 67, 70

  Buchanan, John, 139, 345

  Buchanan, William, 190, 219, 222, 259

  Bucks County, Pa., 119, 184, 199, 256, 283

  Bunker Hill, Battle of, 6, 59, 77

  Burgoyne, John, 6, 8, 12, 38, 202, 209

  in Albany campaign, 67, 69, 72

  in Saratoga battle, 67, 71

  surrender of, 71, 73, 74, 79, 101, 331

  Burke, Edmund, 257, 328–29

  Burr, Aaron:

  enmity between Hamilton and, 348–49

  in presidential election of 1800, 348

  Bushnell, David, 71–72

  in plan to float mines down Delaware River, 174–75

  submarine invented by, 172–74

  Cadwalader, John, 145, 263, 274

  Conway’s duel with, 145n, 233, 333

  Caesar’s Gallic Wars, 13

  Camden, Battle of, 237, 334, 340, 345

  Camden, Charles Pratt, Earl of, 257

  Camden, N.J., 90

  Camp Committee (Valley Forge congressional delegation), 163–64, 187–94

  and February blizzard, 213

  food crisis and, 223–24, 227, 228

  Greene nominated as quartermaster general by, 227–30

  GW’s pension plan and, 223, 296

  GW’s Representation to, 188–94

  proposals of, 221, 223, 262, 263, 277, 279

  and reform of supply system, 222

  Schuyler nominated as quartermaster general by, 222, 224, 225, 227

  War Board plan to co-opt Quartermaster Department resisted by, 227–30

  Canada:

  British reinforcements for, 258

  failed American invasion of, 45, 195

  Gates’s planned expedition of, 196–99, 225, 232–36, 273

  Caribbean, French holdings in, 298

  Carlisle, Frederick Howard, Earl of, 309–10

  Carter, Landon, 311

  Cato, a Tragedy (Addison), 13–14, 296

  Cato, Marcus Portius, 13–14

  Chadds Ford, 308

  GW’s expectation of battle at, 15

  Howe’s flanking maneuver around, 17–18

  skirmishing at, 17–18, 21–22

  Charles III, King of Spain, 150

  Charleston, S.C., 138, 157, 171, 334, 340, 343–44

  Chatham, N.J., Continental Cavalry relocated to, 262

  Chernow, Ron, 14, 40, 57, 128, 241

  Cherokees, 194, 339

  Chesapeake Bay, 8, 11, 306–7

  Chester County, Pa., 39, 45, 104, 179, 216

  Greene’s foraging expeditions in, 214–15, 218, 227–28, 242

  chevaux-de-frise, 7–8, 32, 91, 92

  Circular to the States (Washington), 204

  Clausewitz, Carl von, 47

  Clinton, George, 120, 143–44, 214, 224, 235, 242

  Clinton, Henry, xii, 67, 71, 76, 93, 203, 235, 255, 300

  in attack on Lafayette’s bivouac, 303–4

  Hudson Highlands forts captured by, 65, 67, 71, 260

  later career of, 332

  in Monmouth battle, 318, 322, 326

  named commander in chief for North America, 256, 298

  in New Jersey march, 307–8, 311, 313–20, 321, 322–29

  ordered to withdraw from Philadelphia, 259, 290, 298–99

  quarrelsomeness of, 298–99

  and revised British strategy, 258, 259

  Sandy Hook as destination of, 314, 327

  Clouds, Battle of the, 39–40

  Coercive (“Intolerable”) Acts (1774), 27n, 77

  Commissary Department, 190, 222, 295

  Common Sense (Paine), 54, 139–40

  Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels), 277n

  Conestogas, 185–86

  Constitution, U.S.:

  ratification of, 348

  slavery and, 336–37

  Constitutional Convention, 334, 347, 348

  Continental Army:

  camp followers of, 5

  civilian attitude toward, 42, 295–96

  creation of, 36

  deaths from disease in, 168

  dependence on militias of, 37

  desertions from, 118, 164–66

  draft for, 191–92, 223, 263

  free blacks in, 153, 154, 155, 156, 193, 263, 336–37

  French military engineers in, 7, 32, 164

  French officers in, 31–32

  GW appointed commander in chief of, 3, 36

  GW’s proposed pension system for, 190–91, 192, 223, 277, 296–97

  GW’s proposed recruiting of Native Americans for, 193, 221

  GW’s proposed reorganization of, 189, 192–93, 222

  hostility between Pennsylvania militia in, 177–78

  limits on service in, 37

  makeup of, 151–52

  in march to Valley Forge, 107–9, 112–13

  Middle Military Department of, 68n

  new recruits in, 308

  Northern Military Department of, 68

  officers’ desertions from, 165–66

  officers’ resignations from, 253

  in parade through Philadelphia, 3–5

  payment of, 185, 190, 191

  promotional system in, 192, 221

  sick and wounded of, 108, 123, 166, 167–70

  Southern Military Department of, 68n, 138

  Steuben’s impact on, 345–46

  as subservient to Congress, 37

  supply shortages of, 86–89, 93, 102, 114, 264–65

  total enlistments in, 336

  troop strength of, 58

  at Valley Forge, see Valley Forge, winter encampment at

  Continental Cavalry, 158, 176–77, 261, 262, 275, 309, 314

  in Trenton winter garrison, 158, 176–77

  Continental Congress, 4, 53, 59, 78

  advisability of winter encampment debated by, 130

  army as subservient to, 37

  Bills of Conciliation rejected by, 279–80, 300, 311

  Canadian expedition canceled by, 236

  Committee of Secret Correspondence of, 26–27

  day of “Thanksgiving and Praise” declared by, 108–9

  factfinding mission sent to Whitemarsh by, 102

  food and supplies sent to Pennsylvania interior by, 11

  French treaties ratified by, 287

  Gates’s lobbying of, 226

  GW authorized to call up state militias by, 275–76

  GW criticized by, 79, 89, 99–100, 102

  GW’s conflicts with, 8–9, 10

  GW’s dispatches to, 130–34, 328

  and GW’s request for fresh troops and supplies, 41–42

  GW’s “starve, dissolve, or disperse” letter to, 160

  Henry Laurens elected president of, 98

  Lafayette’s meetings with, 232–33

  Lee cashiered by, 335–36

  pension plan adopted by, 296–97

  and provisioning of Valley Forge, 160–62

  in relocation to York, 38

  in sluggish response to Camp Committee proposals, 279

  standing army opposed by, 35–36, 191, 223

  Steuben appointed inspector general by, 289

  Steuben commissioned by, 250–51

  Valley Forge delegation of, see Camp Committee

  and War Board’s attempted co-opting of Quartermaster Department, 225–26, 228–29

  Conway, Thomas, 147, 226, 231, 236–37, 253, 268

  braggadocio of, 142

  Cadwalader’s duel with, 145n, 233, 333

  in Gates’s Canadian expedition plan, 197, 198, 233, 273

  GW’s refusal to officially acknowledge appointment of, 144–45

  later career of, 333–34

  promotion and inspector general appointment of, 142–44, 270

  resignation from army
of, 273

  Conway Cabal, 236, 293, 333

  Conyngham, Gustavus, 206

  Cooper, Myles, 56

  Cornwallis, Charles, Lord, xii, 17, 21, 97, 98, 99, 107, 122, 314, 343

  in Germantown battle, 63, 80

  in Guilford Courthouse battle, 341

  in Monmouth battle, 317, 318

  in Philadelphia, 52–53

  in Yorktown surrender, 330, 332, 344, 347

  cotton gin, 342

  Cowpens, Battle of, 341, 345

  Cox, John, 230

  Creeks, 339

  Crisis, The, 139, 140

  Crooked Billet, Battle of, 283, 284–85, 286, 290

  Cumberland, Duke of, 256

  Custis, Daniel Parke, 237, 239

  Custis, John Parker “Jacky,” 238, 286

  Dana, Francis, 163, 188, 213

  Danton, Georges-Jacques, 350

  Day, William Howard, 337

  Deane, Elizabeth, 208

  Deane, Silas, 30, 101, 142, 286

  Arthur Lee’s conflict with, 207–8

  and French officers in Continental Army, 32

  in French treaty negotiations, 28, 205, 207, 210

  recruiting efforts by, 207–8

  and smuggling of French supplies to America, 26–28

  Steuben’s meeting with, 248–49

  Wentworth’s meeting with, 151, 203, 210, 257

  Deane, Simeon, 286

  Declaration of Independence, xi, 5, 36, 115

  Delaware, 12, 13, 14, 183, 216–17, 261, 264, 269, 277, 306, 307

  Delaware Bay, French fleet’s arrival at, 330

  Delaware militias, 140, 158

  Delaware River, 7, 39, 85

  American forts on, 58, 60, 89, 92; see also Fort Mercer; Fort Mifflin

  GW’s crossing of, 28, 324

  plan to float mines down, 171, 174–75

  Derby (Darby), Pa., 4, 10, 123, 124, 131

  Dickinson, John, 187

  disease:

  lack of knowledge about causes of, 168–69

  at Valley Forge, 123, 166, 167–68, 252

  Doan Gang, 119, 122, 177, 184, 186, 284

  Donop, Carl von, 90, 91, 93, 95

  Drayton, William Henry, 287

  Drebbel, Cornelis, 172

  Duer, William, 68

  Dunmore, Lord, 154, 156

  Duportail, Louis, 33, 37, 48, 101, 104, 114, 282

  and attack on Clinton’s march, 316

  in May Council of War, 293, 294–95

  Valley Forge camp laid out by, 118

  dysentery, 168

  Eagle, HMS, 173

  Elk River, 8

  Elkton, Md., 115

  Ellis, Joseph, 55, 110, 111, 141, 266

  Empress of Russia, 96

  Engels, Friedrich, 277n

  Estaing, Charles Henri Hector, Comte d’, 282, 316, 330

 

‹ Prev