The First Conspiracy

by Brad Meltzer

  PART I: The Commander

  King George … Fredericksburg: George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, and as a young child his family moved twice before settling in King George County. For more details on his earliest years see Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), 6–8, or Rupert Hughes, George Washington (New York: William Morrow and Co., 1926), 1:17–21.

  financial turmoil: As one key example, after Augustine Washington’s death the family could no longer afford college educations for the younger children, including George. Chernow, Washington, 10.

  different mother: Lawrence was the oldest surviving child borne by Augustine Washington’s first wife, Jane Butler. After Jane’s death in 1729, Augustine married his second wife, Mary Ball, and together they had six more children, of whom George Washington was the oldest. Ibid., 5–7.

  “his loving brother George Washington”: Release from Lawrence Washington, 17 June 1752. The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, ed. W. W. Abbott (Charlottesville: Univ. Press of Virginia, 1983), 1: 51–52.

  “trust reposed in me”: GW to Robert Dinwiddie, 10 June 1752, ibid., 50–51.

  “rebellion”: Joint Address by both Houses to the King, 9 February 1775, Parliamentary Papers, Consisting of a Complete Collection of King’s Speeches, Messages to Parliament, Addresses and Representations of Both Houses to the Throne (London: J. Debrett, 1797), 2: 233.

  the British and the colonists suffered heavy casualties: The colonists suffered around 90 dead or wounded total, and the British close to 250. Richard R. Beeman, Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence (New York: Basic Books, 2013), 193.

  “… to us or to our fathers”: Dr. Matthew Thornton, “Address to the Inhabitants of the Colony of New-Hampshire,” June 2 1775. Collections, Topographical, Historical and Biographical, Relating Principally to New Hampshire, ed. J. Farmer and J. B. Moore (Concord, NH: Hill & Moore, 1822), 1: 88.

  sixty-five delegates: Total number of delegates is from Beeman, Our Lives, Our Fortunes, 197.

  Only one colony, Georgia: Georgia sends one delegate, representing only part of the colony, on May 13, 1775. It will be two more months before Georgia sends a full delegation to join the Congress. Ibid; 198.

  “men are in Arms”: Joseph Hewes to Samuel Johnston, 11 May 1775, The Colonial Records of North Carolina, ed. William Saunders (Raleigh, NC: Edwards & Broughton, 1886), 9: 1247.

  “begin the World over again” Thomas Paine, The Writings of Thomas Paine, ed. Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894), 1:118.

  between Fifth and Sixth Streets: The building, now known as Independence Hall, still stands on the same block in Philadelphia. The street names haven’t changed. As a historic site and museum open to the public, Independence Hall attracts millions of visitors a year.

  “much service to us”: John Adams to Abigail Adams, 29 May 1775, The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1963), 1: 207–208.

  “among ten thousand people”: Benjamin Rush to Thomas Ruston, 29 October 1775, The Letters of Benjamin Rush, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press 1951), 1: 92.

  “gift of silence”: John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 11 Nov 1807, quoted from John A. Schutz and Douglass Adair, eds., Spur of Fame: Dialogues of John Adams and Benjamin Rush, 1805–1813 (Carmel, CA: Liberty Fund, 1966), 97–98.

  didn’t give a single speech: From Joseph Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 69.

  multiple committees … military affairs: Ibid.

  “character of an honest man”: GW to Alexander Hamilton, 28 August 1788, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Harold C. Syrett (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1962), 5: 206–208.

  “as far as I can consistently”: GW to Joseph Reed, 14 January 1776, PGWR, 3: 87–92.

  Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior: The version of the text exactly as transcribed by GW is compiled in Washington’s Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, ed. J. M. Toner (Washington, DC: W. H. Morrison, 1888).

  Rule 5 … Rule 7: Ibid., 11–12.

  “to those that are present”: Ibid., 11.

  “aggravate his misery”: Ibid., 21.

  “he evades them rather than seeks them”: Charles-Louis-Victor, Prince de Broglie, Narrative by the Prince de Broglie of a visit to America, 1782, ed. Thomas Balch, trans. E. W. Balch (Philadelphia: 1877), 14.

  to secure the dying officer’s body: For more details of GW’s rescue of Braddock’s body, see Barnet Schecter, George Washington’s America: A Biography Through His Maps (New York: Walker, 2010), 56–57, and Chernow, Washington, 59–60.

  flee the room: This is how John Adams later described GW’s sudden exit from the proceedings: “Mr. Washington, who happened to sit near the door, as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual modesty darted into the Library Room.” John Adams, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield et al. (Cambridge, Mass.: 1961), 3: 322–323.

  give him a salute …“General”: Anecdote is from Chernow, Washington, 187.

  “with their lives and fortunes”: Journals of the American Congress: From 1774 to 1788 (Washington, DC: Way and Gideon, 1823), 1: 85.

  “the command I am honored with”: GW address to Continental Congress, 16 June 1775, PGWR, 1: 1–3.

  “sober, steady, & calm”: Eliphalet Dyer to Joseph Trumbull, 17 June 1775, Paul H. Smith et al., eds., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, DC: Lib. of Congress, 1976–2000), 1: 500.

  “a trust too great for my capacity”: GW to Martha Washington, 18 June 1775, PGWR, 1: 3–6.

  “the cause will suffer”: GW to Burwell Bassett, 19 June 1775. Ibid., 12–14.

  “the ruin of my reputation”: Patrick Henry originally recounted this incident to Benjamin Rush, who later shared Henry’s recollection in his own autobiography as written. Benjamin Rush, The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, ed. George W. Corner (Princeton, 1948), 113.

  “I hope the people”: John Adams to Abigail Adams, 11 June 1775. The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, 1: 215–217.

  some twenty thousand people are here: Crowd size as reported contemporaneously by the Constitutional Gazette, New York City, 29 June 1776.

  “You will doubtless have heard”: Dr. William Eustis to Dr. David Townsend, 28 June 1776, New England Historical and Genealogical Register 23, no. 1 (1869): 206–209.

  “and to ruin us”: Ibid.

  draw up his will: The actual will has been lost, but in a June 18 letter to his wife, GW revealed that he has just sent instructions to draw up his will to family friend and legal adviser Edmund Pendleton. GW to Martha Washington, 18 June 1775, PGWR, 1: 3–6.

  “bible of the British army”: Humphrey Bland’s treatise is referred to as such in many places, for example Kevin J. Hayes, George Washington: A Life in Books (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2017), 176.

  spontaneous applause: Beeman, Our Lives, Our Fortunes, 237.

  carriage known as a phaeton: Ibid.

  population of about 25,000: Exact estimates vary, but 25,000 is a common number for the city’s population in early to mid-1775, at the onset of the Revolutionary War. See for example Ira Rosenwaike, Population History of New York City (Syracuse: Syracuse Univ. Press, 1972), 14.

  Among the onlookers … Hamilton: Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (New York: Penguin Press, 2004), 66.

  “ready to receive either”: JPC, 1: 54.

  Tryon has remained a strong supporter: Most of the governors in the colonies were like Tryon, and remained loyal to England in the period leading to the war. One notable exception was Governor Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut, who became an ardent patriot and remained so throughout the revolutionary era.

  “appeared grave … and said little”: William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith, Historian of the Province of New York, ed. W. H. W. Sabine (New York:
Sabine, 1956), 1: 228.

  “much shouting in the procession”: Ibid.

  Raised in an aristocratic family: Tryon’s birthplace, date of birth, and other early details are from Paul David Nelson, William Tryon and the Course of Empire: A Life in British Imperial Service (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1990), Chapter 1.

  “your King, your country, and your laws”: William Tryon message to Great Alamance Camp, 16 May 1771. Historical Sketches of North Carolina: from 1584 to 1851. Compiled from Original Record, Official Documents, and Traditional Statements (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo and Co., 1851), 1:16.

  charged the encampment: There are varying first- and secondhand accounts of exactly how the standoff between Tryon and the Regulators escalated into bloodshed. One colorful depiction of events, citing eyewitness accounts, is found in William Edward Fitch, Some Neglected History of North Carolina, Being an Account of the Revolution of the Regulators and of the Battle of Alamance (New York: Fitch, 1914), 215–218.

  “may the Lord have mercy on your soul”: Chief Justice Martin Howard of Hillsborough, NC, 19 June 1771, Colonial Records of North Carolina, ed. William L. Saunders (Raleigh, NC: Josephus Daniels, 1886), 8: 643.

  “no difficulty in ordering of it”: GW to Philip Schuyler, 25 June 1775, PGWR, 1: 36–40.

  “unexceptional”: Philip Schuyler to GW, 1 July 1775, ibid., 47–49.

  PART II: Spies in Boston

  “the most wretchedly clothed”: Benjamin Thompson, “Observations of Benjamin Thompson,” 4 November 1775, quoted from Report on the Manuscripts of Mrs. Stopford-Sackville, of Drayton House, Northhamptonshire (Hereford, UK: Hereford Times Co., 1910), 2: 14.

  “excrement about the fields”: Quoted from David McCullough, 1776 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 31.

  “Some are made of boards”: Rev. William Emerson, quoted from George E. Ellis, Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Evacuation of Boston by the British Army (Boston: Boston City Council, 1876), 146.

  “a numerous army of provincials”: GW to Samuel Washington, 20 July 1775, The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1931–1944), 37: 512.

  “licentiousness and every kind of disorder”: GW to John Hancock, 25 September 1776, PGWR, 6: 393–401.

  “Their officers are generally speaking”: GW to Lund Washington, 20 August 1775, ibid., 1: 334–340.

  “such a dirty, mercenary spirit”: GW to Joseph Reed, 28 November 1775, ibid., 2: 448–451.

  “did not utter a word for half an hour”: Gen. John Sullivan to New Hampshire Committee of Safety, 5 Aug 1775, Provincial Papers: Documents and Records Relating to the Province of New Hampshire, from 1764 to 1776, ed. Nathaniel Bouton (Nashua: Legislature of New Hampshire, 1873), 7: 572.

  New York is a city of Loyalists: See for example Paul David Nelson, William Tryon and the Course of Empire: A Life in British Imperial Service (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1990), 136.

  “I receive with satisfaction”: William Tryon’s Answer to the Address of the Mayor, Alderman, and Commonality of the City of New York, 7 July 1775, AA, 2: 1534–1535.

  “I confess my disappointment”: Ibid.

  “I am authorized to say”: Ibid.

  a mob of revolutionaries … night: For more on the raid on King’s College, including the role played by Alexander Hamilton trying to prevent violence against Myles Cooper, see Chernow, Hamilton, 63–64.

  Committee of Correspondence, etc: The complicated evolution of New York’s governing bodies during this period is summarized succinctly in Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999), 215–225.

  “It would not do to treat the New Yorkers”: Extract of a Letter from Boston, 20 August 1774, AA, 1: 724.

  “ribband to distinguish myself”: GW expense memorandum, 10 July 1775, The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1931–1944), 3: 339n83.

  this simple ribbon: The light blue ribbon GW purchased and wore during these months is still intact and on display in the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

  “His Excellency was on horseback”: James Thacher, 20 July 1775, A Military Journal During the American Revolutionary War, From 1775 to 1783 (Boston: Cotton & Barnard, 1827), 33.

  “sour and unwholesome”: GW, General Orders, 7 July 1775, PGWR, 1: 71–75.

  “It is ordered that he be discharged”: Ibid.

  “Where it has been observed and complained of”: GW, General Orders, 22 August 1775, ibid., 346.

  “the troops being continuously debauched”: GW, General Orders, 6 September 1775, ibid., 418.

  “Any officer, non-commissioned officer,”: GW, General Orders, 3 October 1775, ibid., 2: 81.

  “every private soldier will detest”: GW, General Orders, 5 July 1775, ibid., 1: 62–64.

  “the great and common cause, in which we are all engaged”: GW, General Orders, 4 July 1775, ibid., 54–58.

  when the Virginians arrive: The incident to follow is as originally related by Israel Trask, quoted here from The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence, ed. John C. Dann (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1980), 408–409.

  “white linen frocks, ruffled and fringed”: Ibid., 408.

  “and a fierce struggle commenced”: Ibid., 409.

  “With the spring of a deer”: Ibid.

  “less than fifteen minutes’ time had elapsed”: Ibid.

  “There [have] been so many great, and capital errors”: GW to Richard Henry Lee, August 29 1775, PGWR, 1: 372–376.

  “I pity our good general”: James Warren to John Adams, 3 December 1775. The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert J. Taylor (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1979) 3: 345–349.

  “Could I have forseen,…”: GW to Joseph Reed, 28 November 1775, PGWR, 2: 448–451.

  “You have no doubt heard of a most horrid conspiracy”: Extract of a Letter From a Gentleman in New York to his Friend in Hartford, 27 June 1776, AA, 6: 1101.

  “stop at nothing”: Ibid.

  “All our important men were to be seized”: Ibid.

  “From the weight of the persons”: Ibid.

  Wenwood: Some sources for the story, including GW himself, spell the last name “Wainwood.” For example GW to John Hancock, 5 October 1775, PGWR, 2: 98–103.

  “Wenwood’s butter biscuits”: As advertised by Wenwood himself in the local newspaper, the Newport Mercury. Quoted from John Bakeless, Turncoats, Traitors, and Heroes: Espionage in the American Revolution (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998), 12.

  three British officials: According to GW, the three officials are “Capt. Wallace,” “Mr. Dudley,” and “George Rome.” GW to John Hancock, 5 October 1775, PGWR, 2: 98–103.

  “I much wonder you never sent what you promised”: Quoted from Bakeless, 14.

  sitting on the horse just behind the large general: Ibid., 9–10.

  “For a long time, she was proof”: GW to John Hancock, 5 October 1775, PGWR, 2: 98–103.

  “at length she was brought to a Confession”: Ibid.

  “Upon his first examination”: Ibid.

  report on the status: The deciphered letter is Benjamin Church to John Fleming, 23 July 1775, ibid., 103–106. It contains some inaccuracies regarding troop numbers and supplies, which Church later claims represent his attempt to fool the British about the strength of the Continental army.

  “wicked and detestable … breach of trust”: Session of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 3 November 1775, AA, 3: 1497.

  “I can honestly appeal to Heaven … infamy”: Benjamin Church to GW, 3 October 1775, PGWR, 2: 85–87.

  the council unanimously agree: Council of War, 3–4 October 1775, ibid., 82–85.

  To this day: See for exa
mple Encyclopedia of Women in American History, eds. Joyce Appleby, Eileen K. Cheng, Joanne L. Goodwin (New York: Routledge, 2015), 106.

  Benjamin Franklin’s own son: For a biography of William Franklin, see Sheila L. Skemp, William Franklin: Son of a Patriot, Servant of a King (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).

  avoid capture by either side: Some of Robert Rodgers’s exploits in both wars are related in his own collected letters and journals. Journals of Major Robert Rodgers, Franklin B. Hough, ed. (Albany: Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1883).

  some experience with intelligence gathering: GW’s early introduction to intelligence gathering during the French and Indian War is documented in Kenneth A. Daigler, Spies, Patriots, and Traitors: American Intelligence in the Revolutionary War (Washington, DC: Georgetown Univ. Press, 2014), Chapter 1.

  one of Washington’s first big expenditures: See Bakeless, Turncoats, Traitors, and Heroes, 89.

  there are more spies around him: Ibid., 84.

  “Resolved: That it be recommended”: AA, 3: 1891.

  “The Continental Congress have recommended it”: William Tryon to Whitehead Hicks, 13 October 1775, ibid., 1052.

  “The Members of the Corporation”: Whitehead Hicks to William Tryon, 14 October 1775, ibid., 1052–1053.

  “As they have not authorized you”: William Tryon to Whitehead Hicks, 14 October 1775, ibid., 1053.

  “be assured that Mr. Tryon is most assiduously”: “The Intelligencer” to John Adams, 16 October 1775, The Adams Papers, The Papers of John Adams, 3: 205–208.

  much more focused on kidnapping: From John Adam’s notes on the Continental Congress, 6 October 1775. The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 192–210.

  “the friendly and respectful terms”: Whitehead Hicks to William Tryon, 18 October 1775, AA, 3: 1053.

  at the home of William Axtell: Burrows and Wallace, Gotham, 226.

  “Finding your letter of yesterday insufficient”: William Tryon to Whitehead Hicks, 19 October 1775, Ibid., 1054.

  Duchess of Gordon: In colonial documents from the period, the spelling “Dutchess” is often used for this ship. We’ve opted to use the proper British spelling “Duchess” throughout, and in some cases have changed the spelling in quoted original sources to remain consistent.