by Logan Beirne
10 Francis Josiah Hudleston, Warriors in Undress (1926), 90.
11 Benson J. Lossing, The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution (1866), 611.
12 Marvin Olasky, The American Leadership Tradition (New York: Free Press, 2000), 9.
13 Ibid. This verse was directed at Howe’s inactivity while he was in Philadelphia.
14 George Washington to Fielding Lewis, July 6, 1780, in The Writings of George Washington, 154, 157.
15 Thomas Paine, The Crisis, December 23, 1776.
16 Washington to Lund Washington, September 30, 1776, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 6:440–43.
17 Washington to Samuel Washington, December 18, 1776, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:370.
18 Charles Lee to Joseph Reed, November 24, 1776, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:237n1.
19 Charles Lee to Horatio Gates, December 13, 1776, in American Archives, Fifth Series, 3:1201.
20 Washington to Colonel Reed, 1776, qtd. in George F. Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats: The American Revolution Through the Eyes of Those Who Fought and Lived It (Cleveland: World Publishing, 1957), 204.
21 Qtd. in Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington (2004), 96.
22 Washington to Lund Washington, September 30, 1776.
Chapter 17: Reevaluation
1 McCullough, 1776, 268.
2 Papers of the Continental Congress, no. 36, IV, folio 241, Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
3 McCullough, 1776, 255.
4 Journal of Sergeant William Young, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 8 (1884), 255.
5 Journals of the Continental Congress, 6:1022.
6 Washington to Hancock, December 12, 1776.
7 Benjamin Harrison V, qtd. in Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State, Writers’ Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Maryland (1940), 208.
8 Journals of the Continental Congress, December 12, 1776, 6:1027.
9 His tone remained polite and mostly humble, but there certainly was an authoritative shift.
10 Circular to the New England States, February 6, 1777, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 8:257.
11 Washington to John Hancock, December 20, 1776, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:381.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., 381–86
15 Ibid., 382.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Greene was likely complicit in the disastrous Battle of Fort Washington.
19 Nathanael Greene to Washington, in George Washington Green, Life of Nathanael Greene (1871), 1:346.
20 General Greene to John Hancock, the President of Congress, December 21, 1776, in The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, 1:370, 372. Emphasis added.
21 Journals of the Continental Congress, 6:1045–46.
22 Ibid., 1047.
23 Jared Sparks, The Life of George Washington (Boston, 1839), 208.
24 “The Continental Congress Grants Washington Greater Powers, December 27, 1776,” The American Revolution, 1763–1783, Library of Congress.
25 Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Political Works of Marcus Tullius Cicero: Comprising His Treatise on the Commonwealth; and His Treatise on the Laws, ed. Francis Barham, Esq. (London, 1841–42), 1:237.
26 Glenn A. Phelps, George Washington and American Constitutionalism (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993), 38.
27 John Adams to Abigail Adams, April 6, 1777, as qtd. in Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, 144.
28 Washington to the Executive Committee of the Continental Congress, January 1, 1777, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:500.
Chapter 18: Victory or Death
1 Qtd. in McCullough, 1776, 251.
2 Benjamin Rush and Henry J. Williams, A memorial containing travels through life or sundry incidents in the life of Dr. Benjamin Rush (1905), 94.
3 Washington to John Hancock, December 5, 1776, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:262.
4 General Grant to Johaan Gottlieb Rall, December 21, 1776, in The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 507.
5 Bruce Chadwick, The First American Army: The Untold Story of George Washington and the Men Behind America’s First Fight for Freedom (Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks, 2005), 142.
6 Ibid.
7 Chernow, Washington: A Life, 30.
8 Chadwick, The First American Army, 142.
9 Ibid., 143.
10 Ibid., 144.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid., 146.
13 Ibid.
14 Qtd. in Nathaniel Hervey, The Memory of Washington (Boston: James Munroe & Co., 1852), 130.
15 McCullough, 1776, 283.
16 John Adams to Abigail Adams, April 6, 1777. John Adams disagreed with this rumor, writing to his wife that this notion “was without foundation, for as his hands were never tied, so they were not untied.”
17 Chernow, Washington: A Life, 278.
18 Chadwick, The First American Army, 149.
19 Washington to the Executive Committee of the Continental Congress, January 1, 1777, in The Papers of Geroge Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:500.
20 William Tudor to Della Jarvis, December 24, 1776, qtd. in McCullough, 1776, 271.
21 John Hancock to Washington, January 1, 1777, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:506.
22 Chernow, Washington: A Life, 416.
23 Private John Howland, as qtd. in Fischer, Washington’s Crossing , 300.
24 Ibid.
25 Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, 300.
26 Gerald M. Carbone, “Battle of Princeton Exacts a Heavy Toll,” Nathanael Greene, Image Library, Warwick Historical Society, 31.
27 Sergeant Joseph White, as qtd. in Fischer, Washington’s Crossing , 307.
28 Cornwallis, as qtd. in Carbone, “Battle of Princeton Exacts a Heavy Toll.”
29 Chernow, Washington: A Life, 280.
30 Ibid.
31 An unnamed American soldier, qtd. in Carbone, “Battle of Princeton Exacts a Heavy Toll.”
32 Qtd. in McCollough, 1776, 289.
33 Ibid.
34 Washington to John Augustine Washington, July 18, 1755, in The Writings of George Washington, 1:152.
35 Captain Olney, qtd. in Carbone, “Battle of Princeton Exacts a Heavy Toll.”
36 Qtd. in Richard M. Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers: The Battles for Trenton and Princeton (New York: Macmillan, 1999), 308.
37 Chernow, Washington: A Life, 282.
38 Washington to John Hancock, January 5, 1777, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:529n10.
39 Chernow, Washington: A Life, 284.
Chapter 19: Idolatry
1 As cited in Chernow, Washington: A Life, 283.
2 James Thomas Flexner, George Washington in the American Revolution, 1775–1783 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1968), 189.
3 Journals of the Continental Congress, March 24, 1777, 7:197.
4 At the Battle of Monmouth in 1778.
5 Washington to John Armstrong, May 18, 1779, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 20:518.
6 Washington to Governor Jonathan Trumbull, May 11, 1777, in ibid., 9:392.
7 Washington to John Augustine Washington, May 12, 1779, in ibid., 20:460.
8 Washington to Joseph Jones, May 31, 1780, in The Writings of George Washington, 18:453.
9 Ibid.
10 Washington to Henry Laurens, November 11, 1778, in The Papers of George Washington, 18:94.
11 Washington to John Jay, December 13, 1778, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 18:405; H. L. Landers, The Virginia Campaign and the Blockade and Siege of Yorktown, 1781 (1931), 50.
12 Washington to Henry Laurens, November 11, 1778, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War
Series, 18:94–112.
13 “Proclamation concerning Persons Swearing British Allegiance,” January 25, 1777, in ibid., 8:152–53.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Abraham Clark to John Hart, February 8, 1777, in Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789, ed. Paul H. Smith et al. (Library of Congress, 1976–2000), 6:241.
17 Journals of the Continental Congress, 7:165–66.
18 Glenn A. Phelps, George Washington and American Constitutionalism (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993), 39–40.
19 Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington (2004), 101.
20 Nathanael Greene to Washington, March 24, 1777, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:627.
21 Ellis, His Excellency, 101.
22 John Adams to Abigail Adams, March 7, 1777, in Adams Family Correspondence, ed. L. H. Butterfield et al. (Boston, 1963–2011), 2:169.
23 John Marshall, The Life of George Washington, ed. Robert Faulkner and Paul Carrese (1838; Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000), 84.
Chapter 20: Dictator Perpetuo
1 Sir William Howe to Lord George Germain, April 22, 1777, in Documents of the American Revolution, ed. K. G. Davis (1972–1981), 14:65.
2 John Adams, Diary Entry, September 15, 1777, in Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield et al. (1961), 2:262.
3 Marshall, The Life of George Washington, 152.
4 Ibid.
5 Chernow, Washington: A Life, 302.
6 General Orders, August 23, 1777, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 11:51.
7 Marquis de Lafayette, August 23, 1777, as qtd. in Carl G. Karsch, “Washington’s Army Marches Past the Hall,” Carpenters’ Hall website, Independence Hall Association, UShistory.org.
8 To look more professional, Washington likewise ordered that “the multitude of women in particular, especially those who are pregnant,” be left behind. General Orders, August 4, 1777, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 10:496.
9 George Washington Greene, The Life of Nathanael Greene (New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1867), 1:478.
10 John Adams, Diary Entry, September 21, 1777, in Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 2:265.
11 George Washington to Henry Laurens, October 3, 1778, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 17:238.
12 Washington Irving, Life of George Washington, 3:210.
13 John Adams to Abigail Adams, October 26, 1777, in Adams Family Correspondence, 2:360–61. Adams was referring specifically to Horatio Gates leading the victory at the Battle of Saratoga rather than Washington.
14 Paper presented by the Legislature of the State of New York to the Continental Congress, February 1781, in The Writings of George Washington, ed. Jared Sparks (1833–37), 7:442n. The Jared Sparks edition contains many known errors and misrepresentations, but this language is included here since it is not unique in descriptions of Washington’s powers. For example, Richard Lee wrote to James Lovell, Theodorick Bland, and Joseph Jones of Washington’s “dictatorial powers.” The Writings of George Washington (ed. Fitzpatrick), 22:383n. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court likewise wrote that Washington had “possessed almost dictatorial powers.” Address from the Judge of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, 2:85n1.
15 Ibid.
16 Washington to William Shippen, Jr., January 27, 1777, qtd. in Glenn A. Phelps, George Washington and American Constitutionalism (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993), 39.
17 Circular to the States, May 4, 1782, in The Writings of George Washington, 24:236.
18 Phelps, George Washington and American Constitutionalism, 39.
19 Washington to William Livingston, April 15, 1778, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 14:525.
20 Washington to William Livingston, April 11, 1778, in ibid., 14:477.
21 For example, Congress again granted dictatorial powers as they fled Philadelphia on September 17, 1777, but it was to last for only sixty days.
22 Journals of the Continental Congress, 14:566–69.
23 Washington to Henry Laurens, August 20, 1780, in The Writings of George Washington, 19:402n52.
24 John Jay to Washington, May 10, 1779, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 20:426.
25 Articles of Confederation (1781), art. IX. See also, Bennet N. Hollander, “The President and Congress—Operational Control of the Armed Forces,” Military Law Review 27 (1965): 50, noting that the “colonists shared a deep fear of the development under the new government of a military branch unchecked by the legislature and susceptible to use by an arbitrary executive power.”
26 Although, as discussed, Washington did infringe upon this power at times.
27 Enemy treatment is detailed in Part II.
28 Washington to the New York Convention, December 16, 1776, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 7:356.
29 Circular to the States, May 4, 1782, in The Writings of George Washington, 24:237.
30 The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, ed. Jonathan Elliot (1836), 3:79.
31 Ibid.
32 Henry Cabot Lodge, George Washington (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1898), 170.
IV. Tribunals & Tribulations
1 The Army Athletic Council’s Report, The Theory and Practice of Athletics at the Military Academy, West Point, 1927, i; “Notable USMA Graduates,” United States Military Academy.
Chapter 21: Gentleman Johnny vs. Granny Gates
1 Joshua Hett Smith, An Authentic Narrative of the Causes Which Led to the Death of Major André (1808), 12.
2 Ibid., 3.
3 Ibid., 4.
4 Ibid.
5 Journals of the Continental Congress, May 25, 1775, 2:60.
6 Manuscript of Major James Wemyss, Sparks Manuscripts in Harvard College Library.
7 Sir Henry Clinton (1775), in The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 585.
8 A report from Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton to General Sir William Howe , October 9, 1777, Naval Documents of the American Revolution, 10, American Theatre: October 1, 1777–December 31, 1777 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996), 98–99.
9 Smith, An Authentic Narrative, 8.
10 A report by Major General John Vaughan to Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, undated (likely October 26, 1777), Naval Documents of the American Revolution, 10:300, reporting the destruction of Kingston, New York.
11 The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 545.
12 Robert C. Doyle, The Enemy in Our Hands: America’s Treatment of Enemy Prisoners of War, from the Revolution to the War on Terror (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2010), 14.
13 The girl’s name was Jane McCrea. Journal of Lieutenant William Digby of the Shropshire Regiment, in The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 559.
14 Proclamation of John Burgoyne, June 23, 1777, in The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 548.
15 Journal of General Riedesel’s wife, October 1777, in The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 600.
16 John Fiske, The American Revolution (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1896), 1:255.
17 While Gates did express a desire for higher rank, it is unclear how much of a role he played in the underhanded plot to oust Schuyler. The latter seems to have viewed Gates largely as a puppet of the New England congressmen. See General Philip Schuyler to Gouverneur Morris, September 7, 1777, as cited in Max M. Mintz, The Generals of Saratoga: John Burgoyne & Horatio Gates (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 262n9.
18 Benson John Lossing, The Life and Times of Philip Schuyler (1883), 1:131.
19 Fiske, The American Revolution, 1:254.
20 “General Philip Schuyler,” Son of the South website, http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-war/general/philip-schuyler.htm.
21 Fiske, The American Revolution, 1:254.
22 Proclamation of
John Burgoyne, June 23, 1777.
23 Fiske, The American Revolution, 1:264.
24 Recollections of Captain E. Wakefield, in The Spirit of Seventy-Six , 581.
25 Major Henry Dearborn, in The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 577.
26 The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 590.
27 Ebenezer Mattoon to General Philip Schuyler, October 7, 1835, in ibid., 594.
28 Major General David Wooster, Military Journal Entry, 1777, qtd. in Barry Wilson, Benedict Arnold: A Traitor in Our Midst (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001).
29 Hoffman Nickerson, The Turning Point of the Revolution, Or Burgoyne in America (Cambridge, Mass.: Riverside Press, 1928; repr. 2006), 352.
30 Henry Beebee Carrington, Battles of the American Revolution (1876), 357.
31 Stanley Weintraub, Iron Tears: America’s Battle for Freedom, Britain’s Quagmire: 1775–1783 (New York: Free Press, 2005), 202.
32 John Burgoyne to Henry Clinton, September 23, 1777, qtd. in Nickerson, The Turning Point of the Revolution, 343.
33 Ibid., 352.
34 The Lost War: Letters from British Officers during the American Revolution, ed. Marion Balderston and David Syrett (New York: Horizon, 1975), 130.
Chapter 22: A Traitor Lurks
1 James Thomas Flexner, The Traitor and the Spy: Benedict Arnold and John André (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1953).
2 Captain Benedict Arnold’s Connecticut Company’s Proclamation, April 24, 1775, qtd. in James Kirby Martin, Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered (New York: New York University Press, 1997), 63.
3 Jim Murphy, The Real Benedict Arnold (New York: Clarion Books, 2007), 165.
4 Don Higginbotham, The War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practices, 1763–1789 (1978; Northeastern University Press, 1983), 246.
5 Elias Boudinot, Historical Recollections of American Events During the Revolutionary War, from his original manuscript (Philadelphia: Bourquin, 1984), 78.
