American Crisis

by William M. Fowler Jr.

  36 General Order, May 22, 1782, in ibid., 279–80.

  37 GW to Nicola, May 22, 1782, in ibid., 24:272–73.

  38 http://www.amphil.org, accessed September 12, 2009.

  39 A Treatise of Military Exercise, Calculated for the Use of the Americans (Philadelphia: Styner and Cist, 1776).

  40 Ibid., title page.

  41 Richard Haggard, “The Nicola Affair: Lewis Nicola, George Washington, and American Military Discontent during the Revolutionary War,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146, no.2 (June 2002), p. 148.

  42 JCC, 8:485.

  43 Nicola to GW, May 21, 1782, GWLC.

  44 Nicola to GW, May 22, 1782, in ibid. Nicola’s previous “representation” has not been found.

  45 Memoir, May 22, 1782, in ibid.

  46 GW to Nicola, May 22, 1782, FW, 24:272–73.

  47 Nicola to GW, May 23, 24, 28, 1782, GWLC.

  48 Gordon to GW, September 24, 1788, and GW to Gordon, December 23, 1788, both in ibid.

  49 Knox to Lincoln, May 29, 1782, KP, reel 8; Gilbert to his father, June 1, 1782, in John Shy, ed., Winding Down: The Revolutionary War: Letters of Lieutenant Benjamin Gilbert of Massachusetts, 1780–1783 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989), p. 59.

  50 Letter from His Most Christian Majesty to Congress, October 22, 1781, Pennsylvania Packet, May 16, 1782.

  51 This was a greater show of respect than Congress had extended to the commander in chief.

  52 Charles Thomson provides a detailed description of the event. “Charles Thomson’s Report on the Audience with la Luzerne,” May 13, 1782, LD, 18:506–8.

  53 Theodorick Bland to St. George Tucker, May 13, 1782, in ibid., 18:505.

  54 GW to Villefranche, May 12, 1782, FW, 24:247.

  55 Thachers’s Journal, May 30, 1782.

  56 Originally, the celebration was to be Thursday May 30, but it was postponed one day. General Orders, May 28, 29, 30, 1782, General Orders of George Washington Issued at Newburgh on the Hudson, 1782–1783, ed. Edward C. Boynton (Harrison, NY: Harbor Hill Books, 1973), pp. 22–23.

  57 Thacher’s Journal, June 1, 1782; Shy, Winding Down, pp. 58–59; General Orders, May 28, 29, 30, “A Programme for Conducting the Rejoicing on Friday, the 31st of May, 1782,” in Boynton, General Orders, pp. 22–26.

  58 Thacher’s Journal, June 1, 1782.

  59 Ibid.

  60 Ibid.

  61 Heath to GW, June 21, 1782, GWLC.

  62 GW to Heath, June 22, 1782, FW, 24:370.

  63 GW to Cary, June 15, 1782, in ibid., 24:347.

  64 Lamb to General Heath, June 24, 1782, KP, reel 9.

  65 William S. Baker, Itinerary of General Washington from June 15, 1775, to December 23, 1783 (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1892), p. 266; Pennsylvania Gazette, July 17, 1782.

  66 Ibid.

  67 Ibid.

  68 Washington was fond of using this expression to describe the new nation. GW to Marquis de Chastellux, December 14, 1782, GWLC.

  69 Thacher’s Journal, July 4, 1782. A feu de joie was a running fire of guns.

  70 Irwin Polishook, Rhode Island and the Union, 1774–1795 (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1969), pp. 8–13.

  71 E. James Ferguson, The Power of the Purse: A History of American Public Finance, 1776–1790 (Chapel Hill; University of North Carolina Press, 1961), p. 152.

  72 Varnum to GW, June 12, 1782, GWLC.

  73 GW to Varnum, July 10, 1782, FW, 24:415–16. Although Washington had been away from camp for more than a week, he had responded to a variety of letters while traveling. He chose not to reply to Varnum until his return.

  74 General Order, August 7, 1782, FW, 24;487–88.

  75 GW had several spies on his payroll: see GW to Brigadier General David Forman, August 10, 1782, in ibid., 24:492–93.

  76 http://www.mishalov.com/PurpleHeart, accessed October 15, 2009.

  77 “Journal of Jean-Baptiste-Antoine De Verger,” in The American Campaigns of Rochambeau’s Army, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, trans. and ed. Howard C. Rice and Anne S. K. Brown (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972), 1:159.

  78 Ibid., 1:165.

  79 Ibid., 1:165n.

  80 Ibid., 1:166.

  81 Thacher’s Journal, September 14, 1782.

  82 Vaudreuil’s fleet originally numbered thirteen ships of the line. The Magnifique ran aground and was lost in Boston Harbor. Boston Evening Post, August 17, 1782.

  83 Pickering to Joseph Orne, August 18, 1782, Octavius Pickering, The Life of Timothy Pickering (Boston: Little, Brown, 1867), 1:369.

  84 Rochambeau sailed to France via Providence. Providence Gazette, November 23, 1782. Verger, Journal, 1:170.

  85 Ibid.

  86 Pickering’s reconnaissance was done during a particularly dry season. Although the site offered ample timber, he failed to notice that a good portion of the area was low ground. Fall and spring rains accompanied by melting snow would create problems. Conversation with Mike McGurty at Newburgh, April 16, 2010.

  87 GW to Greene, October 17, 1782, FW, 25:267.

  88 GW to Lincoln, October 2, 1782, in ibid., 25:282.

  89 See, for example, Knox to Lincoln, July 15, 1782, KP, reel 9; Knox to John Lowell, October 8, 1782, KP, reel 10.

  90 Gates to Morris, April (?), 1782, HGP, reel 13. This was a draft, and it is not certain that it was actually sent.

  91 William Clagdon (?) to Gates, June 1, 1782, in ibid.; Gates to Morris, June 14, 1782, PRM, 5:409–10.

  92 Morris to Gates, May 31, 1782, PRM, 5:301–2.

  93 LD, 19:66n.

  94 William Clagdon to Gates, April 13, 1782, HGP, reel 13.

  95 JCC, 23:465.

  96 Gates to GW, August 17, 1782, GWLC.

  97 GW to Gates, August 27, 1782, FW, 25:68.

  98 Gates to Elizabeth Gates, October 6, 1782, HGP, reel 13; seniority of command, JCC, 2:97.

  99 Gates to Elizabeth Gates, October 6, 1782, HGP, reel 13.

  100 Gates to Morris, October 25, 1782, in ibid.

  101 Pickering to wife, October 31, 1782, PP, reel 4.

  102 General Orders, October 28, 1782, FW, 25:303.

  103 Quoted in Janet Dempsey, Washington’s Last Cantonment (Monroe, NY: Library Research Associates, 1990), p. 46.

  104 Knox to John Lowell, October 6, 1782, KP, reel 10.

  Chapter Seven

  1 Paul H. Smith, “Sir Guy Carleton: Peace Negotiations, and the Evacuation of New York,” Canadian Historical Review 50 (1969), p. 245.

  2 Morgann to Shelburne, August 17, 1782, SPCL.

  3 Ibid.

  4 Shelburne to Carleton, June 5, 1782, CPNAC.

  5 State of army under General Carleton, July 1, 1782, and B. G. John Campbell to Carleton, August 17, 1782, both in ibid.

  6 Carleton to Townsend, October 29, 1782, DAR, 19:344.

  7 For examples of intelligence reports from the field, see: “Intelligence Gentleman in Philadelphia to one in New York,” October 16, 1782; “Information given by Mr. Cobb …,” January 5, 1783; “Intelligence,” January 8, 1783 “Intelligence by Mr. Lewis of South Kingston, Rhode Island …,” January 11, 1783; “Intelligence by Joshua Mills and Thomas Burn,” January 13, 1783; all in CPNAC.

  8 Charles Moore, The Northwest Under Three Flags. (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1900), p. 307.

  9 Warrant, July 19, 1782, CPNAC.

  10 For a long analysis of the political situation in Philadelphia, see Captain William Armstrong to Sir Guy Carleton, April 1, 1783, Calendar of Manuscripts in the Royal Institution, 4:1–7.

  11 Intelligence report, January 1783, CPNAC.

  12 Thomas Townshend to Carleton, August 14, 1782, DAR, 19:316. Charles Grey had previously served in America under General Sir William Howe. During the Philadelphia campaign (1777) he earned the nickname “No Flint Grey” when he ordered his men to remove the flints from their muskets so that no untoward shot would announce their presence. He was also accused of condoning atrocities against American troops at the so-c
alled Paoli Massacre. Although unfounded, the charges stuck. The surprise is that the ministry would send him back to America at a time when making peace was more important than war. Paul David Nelson, Sir Charles Grey, First Lord Grey (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996), pp. 42–47, 64.

  13 Paul H. Smith, “The American Loyalists: Notes on Their Organization and Numerical Strength,” William and Mary Quarterly, Third series, 25 (1968), pp. 268–70.

  14 Morgann to Shelburne, September 11, 1782, SPCL.

  15 Quoted in Wallace Brown, The Good Americans: The Loyalists in the American Revolution (New York: Morrow, 1969), p.172.

  16 Shelburne to Carleton, June 5, 1782, CPNAC; Shelburne to Carleton, February 18, 22, 1782, CPNAC.

  17 Shelburne speaking in House of Lords, Fifteenth Parliament of Great Britain, Third Session (February 17, 1783), p. 70. Also quoted in Scots Magazine 45 (1783), p. 31.

  18 Shelburne to Commissioners for restoring Peace (Secret), July 8, 1782, DAR, 21:89.

  19 The orders for evacuation did not include St. Augustine. Carleton to Leslie, May 27, 1782, CPNAC.

  20 This was the opinion of several subordinate officers. Captain William Feilding to Lord Denbigh, June 12, 1782, in Marion Balderston and David Syrett, eds., The Lost War: Letters from British Officers During the American Revolution (New York: Horizon Press, 1975), p. 215. Whether the Americans would have actually attacked seems unlikely; nonetheless, as a cautious commander Carleton had to assume the worst. Clinton left elaborate plans to defend New York. “Plan to Defend New York,” May 29, 1782, CPNAC.

  21 David Syrett, Shipping and the American War, 1775–83 (London: Athlone Press, 1970), p. 17.

  22 Ibid., p. 23.

  23 Digby to Shelburne, September 13, 1782, DAR, 19:331.

  24 Carleton to Shelburne, May 14, 1782, in ibid., 21:75; Syrett, Shipping, p. 236.

  25 “State of Army Under Sir Guy Carleton,” July 1, 1782, CPNAC.

  26 The actual number eventually did reach over thirty thousand. See “Return of Loyalists Leaving New York,” November 29, 1783, DAR, 21:225–26.

  27 Wright to Carleton, July 6, 1782, CPNAC.

  28 Leslie to Sir Henry Clinton, March 27, 1782, in ibid.

  29 Captain William Feilding to Lord Denbigh, June 13, 1782, in Balderston and Syrett, The Lost War, p. 215.

  30 For Carleton’s relationship with Smith, see L. F. S. Upton, The Loyal Whig: William Smith of New York and Quebec (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969), passim. Carleton arranged for Smith to receive payment for his services as chief justice and later secured the post of chief justice of Lower Canada (Quebec) for his friend.

  31 Thomas Jones, History of New York During the Revolutionary War (New York: New York Historical Society, 1879), 2:262.

  32 Canada, then consisting of present-day Quebec and Ontario, was under the command of Frederick Haldimand, who, while technically subordinate to Carleton, did all he could to assert his own independence. Shelburne to Haldimand, April 22, 1782, DAR, 19:285; Haldimand to Shelburne, July 17, 1782, in ibid., 19:313; Haldimand to Carleton, July 29, 1782, in ibid., 19:327; John O. Dendy, “Frederick Haldimand and the Defence of Canada, 1778–1784” (Ph.D. diss., Duke University, 1972), pp. 230–31.

  33 Eventually, loyalists would settle in other provinces as well, but Nova Scotia took the vast majority. See “Return of Loyalists Leaving New York,” DAR, 21:225–26.

  34 Maya Jasanoff, Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (New York: Knopf, 2011), pp. 147–75.

  35 Quoted in Viola F. Barnes, “Francis Legge, Governor of Loyalist Nova Scotia, 1773–1776,” New England Quarterly 4, no. 3 (1931), p. 445.

  36 “Francis Legge,” DCB online.

  37 Carleton to Hamond, September 23, 1782, DAR, 19:336.

  38 Theodore O. Barck, New York City During the War for Independence (reprint, Port Washington, NY: I. J. Friedman, 1966), p. 210; James S. MacDonald, Memoir of Governor John Parr (Halifax: Nova Scotia Historical Society, 1909), 14:49–57.

  39 MacDonald, Memoir of Governor John Parr, p. 54.

  40 Carleton to Leslie, May 23, 1782, CPNAC.

  41 David Lee Russell, The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies (reprint, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1978), p. 316.

  42 General Modecai Gist to Greene, August 27, 1782, PNG, 11:579–82.

  43 James Thomas Flexner, The Young Hamilton, A Biography (Boston: Little, Brown, 1978), pp. 241, 255, 316.

  44 GW to Greene, October 18, 1782, FW, 25:271; Christopher Ward, The War of the Revolution (New York: Macmillan, 1952), 2:840–42.

  45 Washington to Greene, October 18, 1782, FW, 25:271.

  46 Russell, The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies, p. 316.

  47 Wayne to Greene, December 13, 1782, PNG, 12:290.

  48 Ibid., pp. 290–92; Greene to Elias Boudinot, December 19, 1782, PNG, 12:301–4.

  49 Contrary to Carleton’s instructions, some British soldiers also carried away eight church bells from St. Michaels. A soon as he learned of the theft, Carleton demanded that the bells be returned. General Orders, January 28, 1783, CPNAC.

  50 Russell, The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies, p. 317. Despite the fact that they had eagerly sought and accepted aid from Indian allies in the Carolinas and Georgia, in all of their plans for evacuation and later compensation the British made no attempt to assist these native loyalists.

  51 John Sullivan, Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians in 1779 (Albany: New York Secretary of State, 1885), p. 101.

  52 Haldimand to Townshend, February 14, 1783, DAR, 21:155.

  53 Haldimand to Lord North, June 2, 1782, in ibid., 19:404. Haldimand to Thomas Townshend, October 23, 1782, in ibid., 19:339.

  54 Maclean to Haldimand, May 18, 1782, in ibid., 20:172.

  55 North to Haldimand, August 8, 1783, in ibid., 19:426.

  56 The Creek were actually a collection of several tribes but considered themselves a single people.

  57 Spain joined the war in 1779 as an ally of France.

  58 Browne to Carleton, April 28, 1783, CPNAC.

  59 Jonathan Williams to (?), September 23, 1782, BPL 1188.

  60 Digby to Carleton, October 18, 1782, CPNAC.

  61 Feilding to Denbigh, August 10, 1782, in Balderston and Syrett, The Lost War, p. 219; Carleton to Haldimand, August 25, 1782, CPNAC.

  62 Shelburne’s expression, Shelburne to Carleton, June 5, 1782, CPNAC.

  63 Robertson to Amherst, Milton Klein and Ronald W. Howard, eds., The Twilight of British Rule in Revolutionary America: The Letterbook of General James Robertson (Cooperstown: New York State Historical Association, 1983), p. 233.

  64 Richard B. Morris, The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), p. 294. The actual wording of the letter: “The principal points in contemplation were the allowance of independence to America upon Great Britain’s being restored to the situation she was placed in by the treaty of 1763 and that a proper person should be sent to make a similar communication to M. de Vergernnes.” Shelburne to Carleton and Digby, June 5, 1782, DAR, 21:78.

  65 George III’s “Warrant for Richard Oswald’s First Commission for Negotiating Peace,” July 25, 1782, RDC, 5:613; Morris, Peacemakers, pp. 295–96.

  66 Adams to Jay, August 10, 1782, in John Adams, Papers of John Adams, ed. Gregg Lint et al. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006), 13:227. Volume 12 of this series focuses on Adams’s diplomatic negotiation at The Hague.

  67 Quoted in Morris, Peacemakers, p. 302.

  68 JCC, 20:649.

  69 In the original this passage was in capital letters. Jay to Morris, October 13, 1782, PJJ, 2:393.

  70 Jay explains his position in a very long letter/report to Robert R. Livingston, November 17, 1782, in ibid., 2:366–452. He recounts his conversation with Oswald on pp. 380–84.

  71 Morris, Peacemakers, p. 14.

  72 Quoted
in ibid., p. 300; Jay was in the class of 1764. Vardill took his degree in 1766. Catalogue of Columbia College New York (New York: E. B. Clayton, 1836), p. 21.

  73 Morris, Peacemakers, p. 300.

  74 Quoted in ibid., p. 310.

  75 Quoted in ibid., p. 338.

  76 Samuel Flagg Bemis, “Canada and the Peace Settlement of 1782–83,” Canadian Historical Review 14 (1933), p. 276. Bemis makes the point that while the language was changed to give the appearance of recognition of American independence, some members of the cabinet took the view that such was not the case. Ibid., p. 277, 277n.

  77 “Articles Agreed to Between the American and British Commissioners,” October 8, 1782, in Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 5:805–8.

  78 Morris, Peacemakers, pp. 346–48. Had these boundary lines held in the final treaty, the United States would include today a portion of the province of New Brunswick as well as the southern part of Ontario province. Americans would have conceivably lost northern Michigan and the upper portion of Wisconsin.

  79 Shelburne to Oswald, October 21, 1782, in Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice, Life of William, Earl of Shelburne (London: Macmillan Company, 1876), 3:283–86.

  80 John Brooke, The House of Commons, 1754–1790 (London: Oxford University Press, 1964), p. 303. Shelburne to Alleyne Fitzherbert, October 21, 1782, Fitzmaurice, Life of William Earl of Shelburne, 3:287.

  81 Morris, Peacemakers, p. 361.

  82 J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth Century America (New York: Penguin, 1986), p. 264.

  83 Jay to Peter Van Schaak, September 17, 1782, PJJ, 2:344.

  84 Since the states already ignored Congress in so many ways, it is hard to imagine that this body would have much influence over them in these matters.

  85 http://avalon.law.yale.edu18th_century/prel1782.asp, accessed September 20, 2009. Appended to the treaty was a secret article that stipulated that should Great Britain have possession of West Florida (it had been taken previously by the Spanish), the border would be adjusted to favor the United States. Laurens had been released from the Tower of London in January 1782.

  86 Vergennes to Luzerne, December 19, 1782, in Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 6:151.