American Crisis

by William M. Fowler Jr.

  36 This, of course, is speculation, but given all that Washington knew and his suspicions of “old leven,” he could have had little doubt that Gates’s staff was involved.

  37 General Order, March 11, 1783, FW, 26:208.

  38 Since the report had been delivered more than a month before and its contents were well known, the officers must have thought that this summons was a bit late.

  39 This distant attitude, of course, was precisely the behavior that had given rise to Hamilton’s criticism.

  40 GW to Jones, March 12, 1783, FW, 26:214; Washington to Hamilton, March 12, 1783, in ibid., 26:217.

  41 GW to Jones, March 12, 1783, in ibid., 26:216.

  42 Armstrong was certainly the principal author. Others may have helped, and again Gates must have been aware. See sources above as well as appendix 2, a statement by Rufus King concerning these events, in Charles R. King, ed., The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King (New York: G. P. Putnam, Sons, 1894), 1:621–22.

  43 “To the Officers of the Army,” JCC, 24:298–99.

  44 While we cannot be certain about events at Hasbrouck House, it is clear from existing evidence that the daily routine was not altered. Trumbull was certainly involved, and it is not unlikely that Knox, Brooks, and perhaps others were consulted quietly.

  45 The exact number present is uncertain; however, given Washington’s orders that all general and field officers as well as a representative from each company be present, the total number could not have been less than one hundred.

  46 I am indebted to Edward Lengel of the Washington Papers for confirming that this was the first time Washington addressed a general gathering of his officers in person.

  47 Samuel Shaw to John Eliot, undated letter, probably May or April 1783, in Josiah Quincy, ed., Journals of Samuel Shaw (Boston: Wm Crosby and H. P. Nichols, 1847), pp. 103–4.

  48 Ibid., p. 103.

  49 Quotes from Washington’s address are taken from Massachusetts Historical Society, George Washington’s Newburgh Address (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1966).

  50 I am grateful to Richard Miller, In Words and Deeds: Battle Speeches in History (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2008) for providing a historical context within which to better appreciate this speech. For the “band of brothers” quote, see General Orders, April 6, 1778, FW, 11:224; GW to Anthony Wayne, September 6, 1780, in ibid., 20:2. He also used the quote after Newburgh. “Farewell Orders to the Armies of the United States,” November 2, 1783, in ibid., 27:224.

  51 Quincy, Journals of Shaw, p. 104. Some have suggested that Washington took his spectacles out earlier to read the “Address.” This seems unlikely. The text of the Address at the Massachusetts Historical Society is in Washington’s own hand. The script is large and quite legible. The “official copy of the Address is in the hand of Jonathan Trumbull. It too is legible but in a much smaller hand. It is likely that Washington’s personal copy of the Address is the one he read, while the Jones letter, written in a smaller and less familiar hand, is the one over which he stumbled. That he had not bothered to recopy the Jones letter in larger script may indicate that he decided only at the last moment to read it to the assembled officers, fearing that his speech had not had the desired effect. I am indebted to Mike Mccurty for this observation.

  52 Schuyler to Stephen Van Rensselaer, March 17, 1783, in John Benson Lossing, Life and Times of Philip Schuyler (New York: Sheldon, 1873) 2:48.

  53 In the Knox Papers there is a lengthy paper “B. Gen Rufus Putnam examination of certain anonymous paper March [14?] 1783.” This paper appears to be a draft response to Armstrong’s Address. If so, it supports the conclusion that Washington’s response was a group effort and well planned. KP, reel 12.

  54 JCC, 24:310

  55 This too smacks of having been orchestrated. Before the Saturday meeting Putnam, apparently at Knox’s request, prepared a lengthy analysis and rebuttal to the anonymous Address. “March [14?] 1783,” KP, reel 12.

  56 JCC, 24:310–11. J. A Wright to John Webb, March 16, 1783, FW, 26:229n. From this point on, Horatio Gates fades away. The next mention of him by the commander in chief is a simple reference in a General Order, April 16, 1783, in ibid., 26:328: “In the absence of Major General Gates Major Genl Heath will take the immediate command of the Army in this cantonment.” Paul David Nelson, General Horatio Gates (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1976), pp. 276–77.

  57 Pickering to his wife, March 16, 1783, March (20?), 1783, PP, reel 1.

  58 Lossing, Life and Times of Philip Schuyler, 2:48.

  59 Knox to McDougall, March 16, 1783, KP, reel 12.

  60 Knox to Lincoln, March 16, 1783, BLP, reel 6A.

  Chapter Twelve

  1 Boston Gazette, March 24, 1783.

  2 Arthur Lee to James Warren, March 12, 1783, LMCC, 7:77; Lee to GW, March 13, 1783, in ibid., 7:80.

  3 GW to the President of Congress, March 18, 1783, FW, 26:229–32.

  4 Ibid., p. 232.

  5 JCC, 24:207. The deciding vote was cast by Eliphalet Dyer of Connecticut. A summary of this vote can be found in PRM, 7:395–96n. The vote on officers’ pay may have actually taken place before Washington’s letter was read. LMCC, 7:93n.

  6 For a discussion of the issue, see PRM, 7:579–82n. The officers were to be paid “in money, or securities on interest at six per cent per annum.” The value of the “securities” depended upon the ability of Congress to pay. JCC, March 22, 1783. Washington gave his own analysis of the situation. Washington to Bland, April 4, 1783, FW, 26:285–91.

  7 JCC, 11:502; William H. Glasson, Federal Military Pensions in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1918), p. 43.

  8 JCC, 24:242.

  9 Quoted in Janet Dempsey, Washington’s Last Cantonment (Monroe, NY: Library Research Associates, 1990), p. 262.

  10 Diary of William Smith, April 18, 1783, NYPL. I consulted both the manuscript diary (microfilm) as well as Historical Memoir from 26 August 1778 to November 1783 of William Smith, ed. W. H. W. Sabine (New York: Arno Press, 1971).

  11 GW to the General Officers of the Army, April 17, 1783, FW, 26:328–29.

  12 Dempsey, Washington’s Last Cantonment, p. 162. Washington to President of Congress, April 18, 1783, FW, 26:330–34.

  13 Edward C. Boynton, General Orders of General Washington (Harrison: Harbor Hill Books, 1973), pp. 78–80.

  14 Several accounts of this occasion survive. None mention the presence of Washington.

  15 Diary of Henry Sewall, April 19, 1783, MHS; John Armstrong to Gates, April 22, 1783, HGP, reel 13; Heath Memoirs, April 19, 1783. The Complete Works of William Billings, ed. H. N. S. Nathan and Richard Crawford (Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1977), 2:244–55.

  16 Armstrong to Gates, April 22, 1783, HGP, reel 13.

  17 For soldiers’ views, see Benjamin Gilbert to Father, June 6, 1783, in John Shy, ed., Winding Down: The Revolutionary Letters of Lieutenant Benjamin Gilbert of Massachusetts, 1780–1783 (Ann Arbor; University of Michigan Press, 1989) pp. 106–7; Gilbert to Charles Bruce, June 10, 1783, in ibid., pp.107–8.

  18 GW to Hamilton, April 22, 1783, FW, 26:351.

  19 JCC, May 26, 1783.

  20 Carleton to GW, April 6, 1783, DAR, 19:384.

  21 Diary of William Smith, April 19, 1783, NYPL.

  22 Ibid.

  23 New York Gazette, September 29, 1783.

  24 Carleton to Chevalier de Lavallette, April 16, 1783, CPNAC.

  25 Carleton to Luzerne, March 19, 1783, in ibid. For a recent examination of prisoner of war treatment in the American Revolution, see Edwin C. Burrows, Forgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War (New York: Basic Books, 2008).

  26 Benjamin Lincoln denied that the Americans were preventing British prisoners from returning. With carefully chosen words he told Carleton “no prisoner is detained who wishes to return.” Lincoln to Carleton, May 26, 1783, CPNAC.

  27 Clinton to Benson, April
8, 1783, PPGC, 8:134–35.

  28 Benson to Clinton April 17, 1783, in ibid., 8:141.

  29 Ibid.

  30 Ibid.

  31 Ibid., p. 143.

  32 Ibid., p. 144.

  33 Livingston to Lafayette, May 1, 1783, in Stanley J. Idzerda, ed., Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977), 5:128.

  34 Scott to Clinton, April 19, 1783, PPGC, 8:148. Earlier Carleton himself had acknowledged that many Americans doubted his intent to depart. Carleton to Townshend, January 18, 1783, DAR, 19:366.

  35 Thomas Townshend to Carleton, February 16, 1783, DAR, 21:156.

  36 GW to Carleton, April 21, 1783, FW, 26:347.

  37 Sabine, Memoirs, p. 584.

  38 Carleton to GW, April 24, 1783, GWLC.

  39 Christopher Ward, The War of the Revolution (New York: Macmillan, 1952), p. 617. Paul David Nelson, Sir Charles Grey, First Earl Grey (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996), pp. 41–46, 67–69.

  40 A Journal of the Proceedings of H. M. S. Perseverance, ADM 51: Admiralty: Captains’ Logs (1169–1853), British National Archives.

  41 Smith later recounted the events of the meeting in his diary entry of May 9, 1983, NYPL. He refers to the smaller vessel as Greyhound. It was more likely Viper. J. J. Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy (New York: Augustus Kelley, 1969), 1:244.

  42 Journal of Perseverance, British National Archives.

  43 Smith, Diary, May 9, 1783, NYPL. As chief of intelligence, Beckwith was the successor to the unfortunate Major John Andre.

  44 Smith, Diary, May 9, 1783, NYPL.

  45 Sabine, Memoirs, p. 585; Isabelle K. Savell, Wine and Bitters (New City, NY: Historical Society of Rockland County, 1975), pp. 5–56.

  46 Sabine, Memoirs, p. 585.

  47 Ibid., pp. 585–87.

  48 Ibid., p. 585.

  49 Ibid.

  50 Ibid., p. 586.

  51 Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the American Revolution (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), pp. 163–67.

  52 Proclamation by His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton,” June 30, 1779, in Royal Gazette, July 28, 1779. This proclamation is frequently referred to as the Philipsburg Proclamation.

  53 PPGC, 8:166; Sabine, Memoirs, p. 586.

  54 General Order, April 15, 1783, CPNAC.

  55 Carleton was true to his word and did keep a list. “Book of Negroes, April 23–November 30,” CPNAC; see also http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/documents/official/book_of_negroes.htm.

  56 Washington to Daniel Parker, April 28, 1783, FW, 26:364.

  57 “Substance of a Conference Between General Washington and Sir Guy Carleton,” May 6, 1783, in ibid., 26:404.

  58 GW to Harrison, May 6, 1783, in ibid., 26:401.

  59 Carleton gave the order to withdraw from Westchester County on May 12, 1783. Carleton to Clinton, May 12, 1783, PPGC, 8:176.

  60 Carleton to Clinton May 13, 1783, in ibid., 8:176.

  61 GW to Commissioners, May 8, 1783, FW, 26:412–14.

  62 Smith, Diary, May 9, 1783, NYPL.

  63 Some have suggested that the nickname “Black Sam” belonged to an African American. Evidence is lacking. I am grateful to Suzanne Prabucki, curator of Fraunces Tavern, for this information. Located at the corner of Broad and Pearl streets, the tavern was a favorite resort of British officers. Sabine, Memoirs, p. 271.

  64 GW to President of Congress, May 8, 1783, FW, 26:411.

  65 GW to Carleton, May 6, 1783, in ibid., 26:408–9; Clinton to Carleton, May 7, 1783, PPGC, 5:165–68.

  66 Journal of Perseverance, May 8, 1783.

  67 Sabine, Memoir, p. 588.

  68 GW to President of Congress, May 8, 1783, FW, 26:411; Smith, Diary, May 9, 1783, NYPL.

  69 Carleton at first wanted to provide an immediate answer, but Smith persuaded him to wait. Although the loyalists generally liked Carleton, they suspected that he, like other British officers, might be inclined to give the Americans concessions at loyalist expense. Smith wanted more time to properly consider the response to the letters. Smith, Diary, May 9, 1783, NYPL.

  70 Despite legitimate suspicion that Carleton was feigning illness to avoid the meeting, the general seems to have been actually ill. Colonel William Bayard to Major John Beckwith, May 9, 1783, CPNAC; Washington to President of Congress, May 8, 1783, FW, 26:411.

  71 GW to Carleton, May 6, 1783, FW, 26:408–9.

  72 Clinton to Carleton, May 7, 1783, PPGC, 8:165–68.

  73 GW to Benson, Smith, and Parker, May 8, 1783, FW, 26:412–14; Sabine, Memoir, p. 588. Smith later married John Adams’s daughter Abigail.

  74 Sabine, Memoirs, p. 589.

  75 Lord North to Carleton, April 19, 1783, DAR, 19:391. Also contributing to the decision was the fact that Grey was reluctant to take command. Guide To British Headquarters Papers, CPNAC, 4:v.

  76 Sabine, Memoirs, p. 591.

  77 Digby to Townshend, May 23, 1783, DAR, 19:396.

  78 GW to Lafayette, May 10, 1783, FW, 26:421.

  79 Knox to Washington, May 14, 1783, KP, reel 12.

  80 Armstrong to Gates, May 9, 1783, HGP, reel 13. C. Edward Skeen, John Armstrong, Jr. 1758–1843: A Biography (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1981), p. 19.

  81 Christopher Richmond to Gates, May 29, 1783, HGP, reel 13.

  82 GW to Knox, May 14, 1783, FW, 26:430.

  83 Dempsey, Washington’s Last Cantonment, p. 195.

  84 GW to Lieutenant Colonel William Smith, May 15, 1783, FW, 26:433–35; Frank Grizzard, George! A Guide to All Things Washington (Buena Vista, VA: Mariner, 2005), p. 103.

  85 Lieutenant Colonel Smith to GW, May 20, 1783, FW, 26:434n.

  86 Mayeur to GW, March 2, 1783, GWLC.

  87 GW to Smith, May 15, 1783, FW, 26:434.

  88 Mayeur attended the general several times. See Mayeur to GW, July 1, 1783, July 16, 1783, GWLC; GW to Mayeur, July 16, 1783, FW, 27:67–68.

  89 Madison to Edmund Randolph, May 13, 1783, LD, 20:248.

  90 GW to Smith, May 21, 1783, FW, 26:449–50.

  91 GW to Smith, May 15, 1783, in ibid., 26:435; GW to John Pintard, May 21, 1783, in ibid., 26:448; GW to Smith, May 21, 1783, in ibid., 26:449–50; GW to John Searle & Company, May 21, 1783, in ibid., 26:450–51; GW to Parker, June 18, 1783, in ibid., 27:20–21.

  92 Marcus Hunemorder, The Society of the Cincinnati: Conspiracy and Distrust in Early America (New York: Berghahn Books, 2006), p. 14. That St. Louis was chosen as patron may be derived from the French Order of St. Louis (Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint Louis) founded by Louis XIV in 1693. Several French officers who served in America were members of the order.

  93 Society of the Cincinnati Web site, http://www.societyofthecincinnati.org, accessed July 25, 2009.

  94 For development of this thesis, see Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, “The Founding Fathers: Young Men of the Revolution,” Political Science Quarterly 76, no.1 (June 1961), pp. 181–216.

  95 Christopher Richmond to Gates, May 29, 1783, HGP, reel 13.

  96 Conrad Wright, The Transformation of Charity in Post Revolutionary New England (Boston: Northeastern University, 1992), pp. 13–47.

  97 Osgood to Adams, December 14, 1783, LMCC, 7:416.

  98 Aedanus Burke, Considerations on the Society of the Cincinnati (Hartford: Basil Webster, 1783), p. 4; Hunemorder, The Society of the Cincinnati, pp. 25–30.

  Chapter Thirteen

  1 General Orders, June 2, 1783, FW, 26:463–65. General Nathanael Greene furloughed the remnants of his army as well. Since the British had evacuated the South, his challenges were far simpler than those facing Washington. Benjamin Lincoln to Greene, May 28, 1783, PNG, 13:13–15, Greene to President of Congress Elias Boudinot, October 7, 1783, in ibid., 13:137.

  2 Gilbert to Father, June 6, 1783, in Winding Down: The Revolutionary War Letters of Lieutenant Benjamin Gilbert, 1780–1783, ed. by John Shy (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989), p. 106.

  3 Charles H
. Lesser, ed., The Sinews of Independence: Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental Army (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), pp. 250–54.

  4 Pickering to wife, June 5, 1783, and Pickering to Samuel Hodgdon, June 7, 1783, both PP, reel 34.

  5 “Circular Letter to the States,” June 8, 1783, FW, 26:483–96. Washington had sent several circular letters since 1777. His previous letters, however, had usually confined themselves to urging states to send forth supplies and soldiers.

  6 See, for example, Connecticut Courant, September 9, 1783; Vermont Gazette, July 31, 1783; and Salem Gazette, July 24, 1783. This document, and Washington’s “Farewell Address” delivered at the end of his presidency, may be his two greatest state papers.

  7 Randolph to Madison, June 28, 1783, FW, 26:491n.

  8 Howell to Nicholas Brown, July 30, 1783, LD, 20:484.

  9 Stewart to Gates, June 20, 1783, HGP, reel 13; Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison, July 27, 1783, LD, 20:466n.

  10 Stephen Higginson to Samuel Adams, May 20, 1783, LD, 20:260, 266.

  11 Boudinot to Governors, June 3, 1783, in ibid., 20:298.

  12 Izard to Arthur Middleton, May 30, 1783, in ibid., 20:287. Armstrong’s role in the mutiny is clouded. He may have conspired with the leaders, seeing a second Newburgh. The evidence is suggestive but inconclusive. Mary A. Y. Gallagher, “Reinterpreting the ‘Very Trifling Mutiny’ at Philadelphia in June 1783,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 119, nos. 1–2 (January–April 1995), p. 34. See also a curious reference to Armstrong in William Clagon to Horatio Gates, June 23, 1783, HGP, reel 13.

  13 James Madison’s Notes of Debates, June 21, 1783, LD, 20:351.

  14 The memory of the Congress’s flight because local authorities neglected to protect the members would be remembered in the new republic when the District of Columbia was created to be governed directly by Congress.

  15 Armstrong to Gates, June (?), 1783, HGP, reel 13.

  16 Instructions to Major General Robert Howe, June 25, 1783, FW, 27:35–36.

  17 Benjamin Hawkins to Governor of North Carolina, June 24, 1783, LMCC, 7:199.