George Washington

by David O. Stewart

  28. Lafayette to Henry Laurens, 19 February 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:468–69; from Lafayette, 19 February 1778, GWP.

  29. Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 193–96; JCC 10:216–17 (2 March 1778); Henry Laurens to Lafayette, 4 March 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:512; Lender, Cabal, 130–31, 181–83.

  30. From Conway, 27 January 1778, GWP; Henry Laurens to Isaac Motte, 26 January 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:348.

  31. John Adams to Abigail Adams, 17 August 1777, AP; Philip M. Hamer, ed., The Papers of Henry Laurens, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press (1968) 1:xiv–xv; Gregory D. Massey, John Laurens and the American Revolution, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press (2000), 80; JCC 9:854 (1 November 1777); John Laurens to Henry Laurens, 1, 3, and 28 January 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor 12:231, 12:244–46, 12:370.

  32. Henry Laurens to John Lewis Gervais, 5 September 1777, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 11:498; Henry Laurens to John Laurens, 8 January 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:269.

  33. From General Horatio Gates, 23 January 1778, GWP.

  34. To General Horatio Gates, 9 February 1778, GWP; Ebenezer Crosby to Norton Quincey, 14 April 1778, in Boyle, Writings from Valley Forge, 102.

  35. From Richard Henry Lee, 20–22 November 1777, GWP; JCC 10:31–34 (8 January 1778), 10:184 (19 February 1778); W. P. Cresson, Francis Dana: A Puritan Diplomat at the Court of Catherine the Great, New York: The Dial Press (1930), 53; Nathanael Greene to General Alexander McDougall, 5 February 1778, in Showman, Greene Papers 2:275.

  36. From General Horatio Gates, 19 February 1778, GWP; to General Horatio Gates, 24 February 1778, GWP.

  37. To John Fitzgerald, 28 February 1778, GWP; Major General Thomas Conway to Henry Laurens, 22 April 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:168; JCC 10:399 (27 April 1778). In mid-May, Washington heard a report that Conway had requested that Congress reinstate him in the army. Urgently, Washington asked Gouverneur Morris, “Can this be? And if so, will it be granted?” To Gouverneur Morris, 18 May 1778, GWP. Washington wanted Conway out of the army for good. The Irishman sailed back to Europe that summer.

  38. Middlekauf, Washington’s Revolution, 176–77; from Lund Washington, 18 February 1778, GWP (George Mason does not believe the cabal existed); from Lt. Colonel John Fitzgerald, 17 March 1778, GWP.

  39. To Patrick Henry, 27 and 28 March 1778, GWP; Tench Tilghman to Robert Morris, 2 February 1778, in Boyle, Writings from the Valley Forge Encampment, 41–42. Washington also described the cabal in a letter to Landon Carter, an old friend. To Landon Carter, 30 May 1778, GWP.

  40. Henry Laurens to Isaac Motte, 26 January 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:346.

  41. To Governor William Livingston, 31 December 1777, GWP.

  34. THE SECOND ADVERSARY

  1. To William Buchanan, 7 February 1778, GWP; Bodle, Valley Forge Winter, 156; Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein, eds., The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press (1958) 3:130–31 (9–15 February 1778); from a Continental Congress Camp Committee, 11 February 1778, GWP; Thibaut, This Fatal Crisis, 162, 170; Trussell, Birthplace of an Army, 22.

  2. To William Buchanan, 7 February 1778, GWP; to George Clinton, 16 February 1778, GWP; to William Livingston, 14 February 1778, GWP; from Brigadier General James Varnum, 12 February 1778, GWP; Francis Dana to Elbridge Gerry, 16 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates 9:108; John Laurens to Henry Laurens, 17 February 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:457; to General William Smallwood, 16 February 1778, GWP; to Patrick Henry, 19 February 1778, GWP; Bodle, Valley Forge Winter, 172.

  3. Trussell, Birthplace of an Army, 28–29; Joseph B. Doyle, Frederick William von Steuben and the American Revolution, Steubenville, OH: The H. C. Cook Co. (1913), 84.

  4. Kipping, At General Howe’s Side, 1776–1778, 47; to George Clinton, 16 February 1778, GWP.

  5. To Henry Laurens, 5 January 1778, GWP.

  6. From Greene, 16 February 1778, GWP.

  7. From Greene, 15, 17, and 26 February 1778, GWP.

  8. Greene to General Knox, 26 February 1778, in Showman, Greene Papers 2:293.

  9. General Orders, 1 March 1778, GWP.

  10. To Joseph Reed, 3 March 1776, GWP.

  11. To Elbridge Gerry, 25 December 1777, GWP.

  12. Freeman 4:453; Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 13; Henry Laurens to John Laurens, 12 November 1777, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:47; Richard Henry Lee to George Wythe, 19 October 1777, in Ballagh, Lee Papers, 334; Henry Laurens to James Duane, 7 April 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:84; Henry Laurens to John Lewis Gervais, 30 December–30 January 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:225; Henry Laurens to John Rutledge, 30 January 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:376.

  13. Henry Laurens to John Rutledge, 11 March 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:543; James Lovell to Joseph Whipple, 6 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates 8:41; Henry Laurens to John Rutledge, 30 January 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:376; Henry Laurens to James Duane, 7 April 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:84.

  14. JCC 9:860 (4 November 1777); JCC 9:872 (6 November 1777); JCC 9:865–68 (5 November 1777); JCC 9:878 (6 November 1777); JCC 9:988–1001 (3 December 1777).

  15. Calvin C. Jillson and Rick K. Wilson, Congressional Dynamics: Structure, Coordination, and Choice in the First American Congress, 1774–1789, Stanford: Stanford University Press (1994), 91–92, 94–95, 101.

  16. Jillson and Wilson, Congressional Dynamics, 66; Richard Henry Lee to Arthur Lee, 19 May 1778, in Ballagh, Letters of Richard Henry Lee, 408.

  17. Merrill Jensen, The Articles of Confederation, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press (1940), 190; Freeman 4:554; JCC 9:887, 895–96 (11 and 12 November 1777); “Circular to the States,” 28 November 1777, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:104–5.

  18. From Elbridge Gerry, 13 January 1778, GWP; JCC 10:40–41 (10 January 1778). The official announcement to Washington came from Laurens the next day. From Henry Laurens, 14 January 1778, GWP.

  19. Lender, Cabal, 144; Rossman, Thomas Mifflin, 122; JCC 10:65–67 (20 January 1778); Bodle, The Valley Forge Winter, 144; James Lovell to Sam Adams, 20 January 1778, in Letters of Delegates; Henry Laurens to Marquis de Lafayette, 22 January 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:327. The committee members who had served in the military were Joseph Reed of Pennsylvania and Nathaniel Folsom of New Hampshire; Washington’s friends were Charles Carroll of Maryland, John Harvie of Virginia, and Gouverneur Morris of New York.

  20. Cresson, Francis Dana, 11, 20, 33, 46; John Adams to Abigail Adams, 26 October 1777, in Letters of Delegates.

  21. Lengel, General George Washington, 275; Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 169–70; from Brigadier General James Varnum, 3 January 1778, GWP; from General Henry Knox, 3 January 1778, GWP; to a Continental Congress Camp Committee, 29 January 1778, GWP.

  22. Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 163; Committee at camp, Minutes of Proceedings, 31 January 1778, 7 February 1778, 14 February 1778, 20 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates; Committee in Camp to Henry Laurens, 5 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates 9:23–25; JCC 10:200 (26 February 1778).

  23. Francis Dana to Elbridge Gerry, 16 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates.

  24. James Lovell to John Adams, 8 December 1777, in Letters of Delegates.

  25. Gouverneur Morris to John Jay, 2 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates; Committee in Camp to Henry Laurens, 12 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates; Gouverneur Morris to George Clinton, 17 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates; Henry Laurens to Francis Dana; 20 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates.

  26. Committee in Camp to Henry Laurens, 6 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates.

  27. JCC 10:236–7 (9 March
1778) and 10:248–52 (13 March 1778); Francis Dana to Elbridge Gerry, 29 January 1778, in Letters of Delegates.

  28. Bodle, Valley Forge Winter, 148; Lender and Stone, Fatal Sunday, 70–71; Thibaut, The Fatal Crisis, 192–93.

  29. Erna Risch, Supplying Washington’s Army, Washington, DC: Center of Military History (1981), 42.

  30. Committee in Camp to Henry Laurens, 25 February 1778, in Letters of Delegates; Henry Laurens to Francis Dana, 3 March 1778, in Letters of Delegates; JCC 10:210–11 (2 March 1778); Lender, Cabal, 183–84.

  31. From Greene, 24 April 1779, GWP; Greene to Henry Knox, 26 February 1778, in Showman, Greene Papers 2:294; Nathanael Greene to William Greene, 7 March 1778, in Letters of Delegates; Thibaut, The Fatal Crisis, 198; Trussell, Birthplace of an Army, 23.

  32. Cresson, Francis Dana, 52.

  33. JCC 10:199–200 (26 February 1778); from Henry Laurens, 1 March 1778, GWP; from Henry Knox, 4 February 1778, GWP (Massachusetts legislature unwilling to adopt conscription); from George Read, 2 March 1778, GWP (Delaware assembly rejected conscription); 11 March 1778, from Lund Washington, GWP; from Lt. Colonel John Fitzgerald, 17 March 1778, GWP; from Brigadier General George Weedon, 30 March 1778, GWP.

  34. JCC 10:285–87 (26 March 1778), 10:290 (27 March 1778), 10:282 (28 March 1778), 10:300–301 (1 April 1778), 10:302 (2 April 1778), 10:357–59 (16 April 1778), 10:362–63 (17 April 1778), 10:373–74 (21 April 1778), 10:394 (26 April 1778; Sunday session), 10:398 (27 April 1778); Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 226–27; Jillson and Wilson, Congressional Dynamics, 197–98; Henry Laurens to James Duane, 7 April 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:82; Henry Laurens, “Notes on half-pay,” 17–21 April 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:138.

  35. To Henry Laurens, 10 April 1778, GWP; JCC 11:495–96 (13 May 1778); Jillson and Wilson, Congressional Dynamics, 213–19; Brown and Peckham, Dearborn Journals, 121 (19 May 1778); Bodle, Valley Forge Winter, 228; General Orders, 18 May 1778, GWP; to Henry Laurens, 18 May 1778, GWP. When the army was disbanded in 1783, officers were allowed to reduce (or “commute”) to a lump sum their right to seven years at half-pay, then they were given paper “certificates” for the lump sum; most officers sold those certificates at deep discounts over the next seven years, until the new Congress under the Constitution finally funded the nation’s war debts as proposed by then-President Washington and his secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton. David Head, A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, The Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution, New York: Pegasus Books (2019), 210–11; chapters 43 and 44, infra.

  36. Greene to William Greene, 7 March 1778, in Showman, Greene Papers 2:301; Albigence Waldo Diary, in Dorson, American Rebels, 26 December 1777, 215; Moré de Pontgibaud, Memoirs, in Chinard, George Washington as the French Knew Him, 28.

  35. THE THIRD ADVERSARY

  1. Peter S. DuPonceau, “Autobiographical Letters of Peter S. DuPonceau,” PMHB 40:172 (1916); Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 207; Lockhart, The Drill Master of Valley Forge, 8–45. Noting direct evidence of Steuben’s homosexuality from his military service in Europe, several scholars have concluded that his close male relationships with younger American officers were sexually intimate. William Benemann, Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships, New York: Routledge (2012), 95–105; Randy Shilts, Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military, New York: St. Martin’s Griffin (2005), 7– 11.

  2. Lockhart, The Drill Master of Valley Forge, 64–66; to Henry Laurens, 27 February 1778, GWP; John Laurens to Henry Laurens, 9 March 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:532; Joseph H. Jones, ed., The Life of Ashbel Green, New York: Robert Carter and Brothers (1849), 109; Lockhart, Drill Master of Valley Forge, 89.

  3. Baron von Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, Exeter, NH: Henry Ranlet (1794).

  4. General Orders, 17 March 1778, GWP; Trussell, Birthplace of an Army, 58–61; “Circular to Brigade Commanders,” 19 March 1778, GWP; General Orders, 28 March 1778, GWP.

  5. John MacAuley Palmer, General Von Steuben, New Haven: Yale University Press (1937), 157. John Laurens found the acting Inspector General was “not so much a systematist as to be averse from adapting established forms to stubborn circumstances.” John Laurens to Henry Laurens, 28 February 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:483.

  6. Lockhart, Drill Master of Valley Forge, 90, 96, 100–2; Thomas Ewing, ed., The Military Journal of George Ewing, Soldier of Valley Forge, Yonkers: Thomas Ewing (1928), 34 (7 April 1778); Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 213, 219–20; Martin, Memoir of a Revolutionary Soldier, 67; General Orders, 22 March 1778, GWP; Lender and Stone, Fatal Sunday, 66.

  7. Lengel, General George Washington, 282; Alexander Scammell to General John Sullivan, 8 April 1778, in William F. Goodwin, “Colonel Alexander Scammell and his Letters,” The Historical Magazine (September 1870), 142–43.

  8. Von Steuben, Regulations, 72, 74.

  9. “Autobiographical Letters of Peter S. Deponceau,” 40:15. Steuben referred to the attendees at the dinner as his “sans-culottes,” anticipating by more than a decade the use of that term in the French Revolution.

  10. Lockhart, Drill Master of Valley Forge, 110; to Henry Laurens, 30 April 1778, GWP; General Orders, 4 May 1778, GWP. Many European officers at Valley Forge had the same mastery over formal drill that Steuben did, but only Steuben had the flair and humility to instruct the Americans effectively.

  11. Richard Peters to Timothy Pickering, 9 June 1778, quoted in Lockhart, Drill Master of Valley Forge, 128; to Baron von Steuben to Henry Laurens, 15 May 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:307.

  12. From Henry Laurens, 18 April 1778, GWP.

  13. From Duportail, 20 April 1778, GWP; “Washington’s Thoughts Upon a Plan of Operation for Campaign 1778,” 26–29 April 1778, GWP; “From Council of War,” 9 May 1778, GWP.

  14. Taylor, American Revolutions, 189; Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 242–45.

  15. To John Bannister, 21 April 1778, GWP; to Henry Laurens, 30 April 1778, GWP.

  16. General Orders, 17 December 1777, GWP; James Lovell to William Whipple, 8 December 1777, in Letters of Delegates; Greene to Miss Susanna Livingston, 11 November 1777, in Showman, Greene Papers 2:195; Nathanael Greene to Jacob Greene, 3 January 1778, in Showman, Greene Papers 2:244; Richard Henry Lee to Patrick Henry, 24 November 1777, in Ballagh, Letters of Richard Henry Lee, 360; De Kalb to Henry Laurens, 7 January 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:269; to General Thomas Nelson Jr., 10 December 1777, GWP.

  17. JCC 11:417 (2 May 1778); JCC 11:457 (4 May 1778); William C. Allen to Theodore Foster, 3 May 1778, in Boyle, Writings from Valley Forge, 129; The Military Journal of George Ewing, 47 (4 May 1778).

  18. Admiralty Board to Admiral Richard Howe, 22 March 1778, quoted in Piers Mackesy, The War for America, 1775–1783, Cambridge: Harvard University Press (1964), 186.

  19. Lender and Stone, Fatal Sunday, 4; Lengel, General George Washington, 284, 286; William B. Willcox, ed., Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of his Campaigns, 1775–1782, Hamden, CT: Archon Books (1971), xvii; Willcox, Portrait of a General, 222–225; O’Shaughnessy, The Men Who Lost America, 214.

  20. General Orders, 5 May 1778, GWP; John Laurens to Henry Laurens, 7 May 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:264–65; Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 249–53.

  21. To Robert Morris, 25 May 1778, GWP; to Landon Carter, 30 May 1778, GWP; William Bradford, Jr. to Rachel Bradford Boudinot, 14 May 1778, in Ford, Washington and the Theatre, 26; Henry Laurens to Baron von Steuben, 11 May 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:290.

  22. Burgoyne, Johann Conrad Döhla, 73–74 (17 May 1778); Major John Andre to unknown person, 23 May 1778, in Commager and Morris, The Spirit of ’Seventy-Six, 657–58.

  23. Burgoyne, Johann Conrad Döhla, 73 (17
May 1778); Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 273.

  24. Richard Henry Lee to Thomas Jefferson, 16 June 1778, in Ballagh, Letters of Richard Henry Lee, 412; from Carlisle Commission to Henry Laurens, 9 June 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:424–27; to William Eden, 15 June 1778, GWP. One of the British commissioners had a connection to Washington: His brother had been royal governor of Maryland, a friend of the American commander in chief and His host during several prewar visits to Annapolis.

  25. Henry Laurens to Horatio Gates, 13 June 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:451; Henry Laurens to George Johnstone, 14 June 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:455; Henry Laurens to Carlisle Commission, 17 June 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 13:471; Henry Laurens to Earl of Carlisle and other British Commissioners, 17 June 1778, in Commager and Morris, The Spirit of ’Seventy-Six, 698; Lord Carlisle to Lady Carlisle, 21 July 1778, in Commager and Morris, The Spirit of ’Seventy-Six, 701 (21 July 1778); JCC 11:614 (17 June 1778); Memoir of Lieut. Colonel Tench Tilghman, Albany: J. Munsell (1876), 168 (letter to father, 31 May 1778).

  26. To Bryan Fairfax, 1 March 1778, GWP.

  27. Fleming, Washington’s Secret War, 276.

  28. John Laurens to Henry Laurens, 9 March 1778, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:532; John Laurens to Henry Laurens, 23 December 1777, in Chesnutt and Taylor, Laurens Papers 12:87; to John Bannister, 21 April 1778, GWP.

  36. VICTORY, HE SAID

  1. Tench Tilghman to father, 31 May 1778, in Tilghman, Memoir, 168; Tustin, Captain Johann Ewald’s Diary of the American War, 130 (22 May 1778); Willcox, Portrait of a General, 226–27; Willcox, Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative, 86; Bodle, The Valley Forge Winter, 231.

  2. Lender and Stone, Fatal Sunday, 17–51.

  3. O’Shaughnessy, The Men Who Lost America, 210–12, 221; Lender and Stone, Fatal Sunday, 69; Thibaut, This Fatal Crisis, 238; Moré de Pontgibaud, Memoirs, in Chinard, George Washington as the French Knew Him, 28.