by Brad Meltzer
“We have suffered prodigiously”: Nathanael Greene to Samuel Ward, 31 Dec 1775. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene, ed. Richard K. Showman (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1976), 173.
“The Small Pox is an enemy more terrible”: John Adams to Samuel Cooper, 2 July 1776. The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, 4: 357.
“If we escape the Small Pox in this camp”: GW to Joseph Reed, 15 December 1775, PGWR, 2: 551–554.
“Several persons are to be sent out”: Robert H. Harrison to James Otis, 3 December 1775, AA, 4: 168.
“By recent information from Boston”: GW to John Hancock, 4 December 1775, PGWR, 2: 483–487.
from a family friend … Bridgetown: Chernow, Washington, 24.
Having already suffered smallpox: Ibid, 24–25.
eighty-five slaves: Ibid. 98.
several dozen more slaves: Ellis, His Excellency, 41.
“Neither negroes, boys unable to bear arms”: GW, General Orders, 12 November 1775, PGWR, 2: 353–355.
“I look upon them in general”: John Thomas to John Adams, 24 October 1775, The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, 3: 230.
“it has been represented to me”: GW to John Hancock, 31 December 1775, PGWR, 2: 622–626.
between 6 and 12 percent: Chernow, Washington, 213.
“there is not a man living”: GW to Robert Morris, 12 April 1786. PGWR, 4: 15–17.
he grants freedom to his own slaves: In his will GW is only able to grant freedom to those slaves under his personal ownership; after his death, some Mount Vernon slaves remain the legal property of his wife’s family and are not freed.
“Henry Dawkins, Engraver from London”: Pennsylvania Journal, July 19, 1758.
by the name of Israel Young: In some documents from the period, Israel Young’s last name is spelled “Youngs.” In this text we use the spelling “Young” throughout, and occasionally alter the spelling in quoted sources to be consistent. The same applies for Israel’s brother Isaac.
That’s how Dawkins later remembered it: Henry Dawkins and Israel Young later provide somewhat differing accounts of how and why they began communicating while Dawkins was in jail. These discrepancies are covered in full in later chapters. Their testimony is contained in JPC, 1: 445–447.
On Dawkins’s advice: Dawkins and Young will later concur that Dawkins advised and directed Young regarding the purchase of the press. Ibid.
“pay all his debts this summer”: Charles Friend testimony before New York Provincial Congress, 10 May 1776. Ibid., 1: 437.
“No person was permitted”: Thomas Henderson testimony before New York Provincial Congress, 14 May 1776. Ibid., 445.
“There is one evil I dread”: GW to Josiah Quincy, 24 March 1776, PGWR, 3: 528–529.
“The reflection on my situation”: GW to Joseph Reed, 14 January 1776. Ibid., 87–92.
“His Excellency depends upon the Colonels”: GW, General Orders, 11 March 1775. Ibid., 448–449.
“drill’d men”: Ibid.
the Life Guards: At the time, the grammatical convention was to apply the singular construction “the Life Guard” to refer to the plural group. In this text we apply a more modern usage: the plural “the Life Guards” refers to the full group or to more than one member of the unit, and the singular “Life Guard” refers to only a single member.
ice skates across the bay in the middle of the night: Joseph Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 85.
reading military books in his parents’ bookstore: McCullough, 1776, 58.
roughly 120,000 pounds of artillery: These numbers and some other details of Knox’s trip taken from ibid., 82.
a total of more than three thousand men: Ibid., 89.
“My God, these fellows”: As reported in a letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 16 March 1775, The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, 1: 357–361.
The friend’s name is Isaac Ketcham: In some contemporaneous documents, Ketcham’s last name is spelled “Ketchum.” We use the spelling “Ketcham” throughout, and sometimes change the spelling in quoted sources to be consistent.
The three-person team is now a four-person team: The account of Ketcham’s initial involvement with Dawkins and the Young brothers, as well as details about the counterfeiters’ difficulty finding the proper paper, is provided in later testimony from Dawkins, Young, and Ketcham. JPC, 1: 443–448.
“To the inhabitants of New York”: The Sentinel, January 27, 1776.
“Intelligence Office”: Ibid.
“What in the name of Heaven”: Ibid.
David Mathews: In some contemporaneous documents and papers, “Mathews” is spelled “Matthews.” In this text we always use the correct spelling “Mathews,” and occasionally alter the spelling in quoted sources to be consistent.
“low in estimation as a lawyer”: Thomas Jones, History of New York During the Revolutionary War, ed. Edward Floyd De Lancey (New York: N-YHS, 1879), 2: 121.
“villain”: This term and the embezzlement accusation are attributed to Mathews’s contemporary Peter Dubois. Quoted from Ruma Chopra, Unnatural Rebellion: Loyalists in New York during the Revolution (Charlottesville: Univ. of Virginia Press, 2011), 153–154.
three out of the four major gunsmiths: Tryon bragged about his coercion of New York gunsmiths for the British in a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth on 8 December 1775. The letter is compiled in John Romeyn Brodhead, ed., Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; Procured in Holland, England and France (Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co., 1857), 8: 647.
“have it inserted in the several Gazettes”: William Tryon to David Mathews, 16 March 1775, AA, 5: 248.
“prejudice, delusion, and faction”: William Tryon address to the inhabitants of New York, 16 March 1775. Ibid., 248–249
“It is in the clemency” … “timely and dutiful submission”: Ibid.
Around nightfall, the mob: Details of this incident, including the placard, 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), 141.
Loyalists … cower in their homes: Ibid.
“My feeling on this occasion”: Ibid.
“carry’d death in their faces”: Quoted from Burke Davis, George Washington and the American Revolution (New York: Random House, 1975), 74.
PART 3: A Bloody Summer
“The Hudson naturally presented itself”: Henry Clinton, The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of his Campaigns, 1775–1782, ed. William B. Wilcox (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1954), xiv–xvi.
“a kind of key to the whole continent”: John Adams to George Washington, 6 January 1776, PGWR, 3: 36–38.
“The consequences of the enemy’s possessing”: Charles Lee to GW, 5 January 1776, The Lee Papers (New York: New-York Historical Society, 1871), 1: 234.
“entirely under the Government of Tryon”: GW to Joseph Reed, 31 January 1776, PGWR, 3: 225–229.
“apples, mutton, and Loyalists”: Quoted from Henry Belcher, The First American Civil War (London: Macmillan and Co., 1911), 2: 110.
“Knowing it to be of the last importance … posture of defence”: GW to Lord Stirling 10 January 1776, PGWR, 3: 63–64.
“There is good reason to believe that Tryon”: GW to Charles Lee, 30 January 1776. Ibid., 221–222.
“Boiling Water”: Quoted from Barnet Schecter, Battle of New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution (New York: Walker, 2002), 67.
“in flagrante delicto”: Quoted from John Richard Alden, General Charles Lee: Traitor or Patriot? (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1951), 94.
“Lee says he will send word”: Pennsylvania Evening Post, 6 February 1776. Quoted from Frank Moore, Diary of the Revolution: A Centennial Volume Embracing The Current Events in Our Country’s History From 1775 to 1781 (Hartford, CT: J.B. Burr, 1876), 202.
“What to do with the city”: Charles L
ee to GW, 19 February 1776, PGWR, 3: 339–441.
some three hundred cannons … were “spiked”: Thomas Fleming, 1776: Year of Illusions (Edison, NJ: Castle Books, 1996), 135.
A body called the City Watch: Ibid.
In response … alleged ringleaders: Alexander Clarence Flick, Loyalism in New York During the American Revolution (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1901), 90.
“tendered the oath … place of security”: Isaac Sears to Charles Lee, 7 March 1776. Quoted from Thomas Field, The Battle of Long Island, with Connected Preceding Events, and the Subsequent American Retreat (Brooklyn: Long Island Historical Society, 1869), 49n2.
“to stop all provisions from the city”: Charles Lee to GW, 29 February 1776, PGWR, 3: 389–393.
“The propensity or rather rage”: Ibid.
“I have received intelligence that Mr. Tryon”: Charles Lee to President of the New York Provincial Congress, 16 February 1776, The Lee Papers, 1: 301.
“he will not intrigue, cabal”: Ibid.
known more commonly as Lord Stirling: Although Gen. William Alexander’s claim to royal Scottish ancestry was dubious, he insisted on the title “Lord Stirling” throughout his life in the colonies. The title stuck during his military career, and most army documents and correspondence refer to him as “Gen. Stirling” or “Lord Stirling.” Therefore in this text, we almost always use the name “Stirling” or “Lord Stirling” to refer to Alexander.
“all male inhabitants”: Quoted from Judith L. Van Buskirk, Generous Enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), 16.
two thousand to the Duchess of Gordon: AA, 4: 1103.
had a meeting with the Governor: Examination of John Craig, 12 March 1776. Ibid., 4: 978.
“to rig out a sloop”: Ibid.
“went on board … the Duchess of Gordon”: Ibid.
“Attorneys General Kempe and Skinner”: Ibid.
“By some prisoners taken into custody”: Lord Stirling to John Hancock, 16 March 1776, AA, 5: 248.
“extreme hurry” … “great speed”: Quoted from McCullough, 1776, 116.
His party makes stops: These and more of GW’s stops along route are documented in William Baker, The Itinerary of George Washington (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1892), 36.
from his newly formed Life Guards: Referred to as his “personal guard” for this trip in Chernow, Washington, 229.
“a third or more”: See for example Chopra, Unnatural Rebellion, 46.
On the morning of April 19, 1776: The date and subsequent details of Ketcham’s trip are from Ketcham’s own testimony before the New York Provincial Congress, 14–15 May 1776, JPC, 1: 444–445.
Brunswick Landing … Levi Lott: Ibid., 444.
Lott did give Ketcham a very small sample: Ibid., 445.
describes only as a “Dutchman”: Ibid., 444.
“Though he at first intended to obtain paper”: Ibid., 445.
“a continuance of the intercourse”: GW to the New York Committee of Safety, 17 April 1776, PGWR, 3: 77–79.
“relying upon your zeal and attachment”: Ibid.
“the ship in which Governor Tryon resides”: Session of the New York Committee of Safety, 18 April 1776, JPC, 1: 412.
“Resolved and Ordered, that no inhabitant of this colony”: Ibid.
Constitutional Gazette … New-York Journal: See source notes for “Proclamation on Intercourse with British Warships, 29 April 1776,” Founders Online, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-04-02-0132
“for the purposes of giving intelligence”: GW, Proclamation on Intercourse with British Warships, 29 April 1776, PGWR, 4: 164–165.
“To the end that such evil”: Ibid.
“I do hereby will and require”: Ibid.
estate called Mortier’s … Charlton and Varick Streets: Property location is as described in Abraham Mortier’s will, found in Abstract of Wills on File in the Surrogate’s Office, City of New York (New York: New-York Historical Society, 1900), 8: 285.
official housekeeper, Mary Smith: Mary Smith’s term as housekeeper began in early April 1776, at roughly the time GW relocated to Mortier’s. Nancy K. Loane, “General Washington’s Housekeeper,” Tredyffrin Easttown History Quarterly 43, (Summer 2006) no. 3, 84.
manage … expenses: Ibid., 85.
Two stand at the back: Harry M. Ward, George Washington’s Enforcers: Policing the Continental Army (Carbondale: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 2006), 61.
barricade the door, and take positions: Ibid.
“any orders delivered by Caleb Gibbs”: GW, General Orders, 16 May 1776, PGWR, 4: 310–311
rechristened the boat: Seth Harding to Jonathan Trumbull, 20 May 1776. Quoted from Carlos E. Godfrey, The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard (Washington, DC: Stevenson Smith Co., 1904), 20.
“We have all the reason…”: John Hancock to GW, 25 March 1776. PGWR, 3: 532–533.
somewhere close to seventeen thousand: McCullough, 1776, 131.
“I fear for you”: Quoted from Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999), 228.
“complete garrison town”: Quoted from Van Buskirk, Generous Enemies, 14.
“terror and confusion”: Ibid.
“Troops are daily coming in”: Quoted from George F. Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin, Rebels & Redcoats: The American Revolution Through the Eyes of Those Who Fought and Lived It (New York: World Pub. Co., 1957), 143.
“Oh the houses in New York”: Quoted from Van Buskirk, Generous Enemies, 15.
“many houses taken up”: GW, General Orders, 17 April 1776, PGWR, 4: 75.
“To expect … the same service”: GW to John Hancock, 9 February 1776. Ibid., 3: 274–277.
“We expect a very bloody summer”: GW to John Augustine Washington, 4 May 1776. Ibid., 4: 411–414.
“I lament much that this movement”: Henry Clinton to William Tryon, 11 February 1776, Henry Clinton Papers, William Clements Library, University of Michigan, 13:40.
“At length a doubt arose”: Extract of a Letter to a Gentleman in London, 2 March 1776, AA, 5: 44.
transport to England: Ibid.
farmers and townsfolk will agree: There are many examples of Tryon’s recruiting in the region, some to be highlighted later in the story. One example not otherwise discussed in these pages involves reports from White Plains, NY, of residents making visits to Tryon’s ship, and shortly afterward joining an underground network of some seven hundred local Loyalists prepared to raise arms for the British when their fleet arrives. See deposition of John Thomas to White Plains Committee of Safety, 12 July 1776, CHM, 1: 421.
“short, thick man” … white coat: For example, examination of James Mason, 20 June 1776, CHM, 1: 344.
“Gilbert Forbes, of the City of New York”: Session of the New York Committee of Safety, 22 March 1776, JPC, 1: 381.
soldiers are sent door-to-door: From Schecter, Battle of New York, 91.
“burr-millstone maker”: A burr-millstone maker was a specialized stonemason who forged the millstones for a gristmill, using a type of rock called burrstone.
In this conversation, Mr. Webb tells Forbes: Examination of Gilbert Forbes, 29 June 1776, CHM, 1: 372.
stash of nine rifles: Ibid.
“young man who lived with James Rivington”: Ibid.
eleven “smooth narrow-bored guns”: Ibid.
“Governor Tryon will give him”: Ibid.
three guineas in 1776: Conversion calculated according to Eric W. Nye, Pounds Sterling to Dollars: Historical Conversion of Currency, http://www.uwyo.edu/numimage/currency.htm.
mysterious woman named “Mrs. Beck”: CHM, 1: 372.
He will ensure: Ibid.
he himself will soon be visiting the Duchess of Gordon: This timeline of Mathews’s meeting with Forbes is based on Forbes’s later description. Mathews himself will recount a different order of events, in which he met Forbes on
ly after he had already acquired the latter’s payment from the Duchess of Gordon. For reasons to be explored in later chapters, we favor Forbes’s account over Mathews’s.
“Every brutal gratification”: Quoted from McCullough, 1776, 125.
one drink seller … twice as many: Statistics regarding alcohol consumption taken from Benjamin L. Carp, Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2007), 63-64.
6.7 gallons per year per person: Ibid., 63. Our calculations for “shots per day” assume that children under sixteen were not rum drinkers, and that men drank more than women.
demanded higher-proof alcohol: Ibid., 64.
“disgust the sensible”: Pseudonym “Alcanor,” writing in the New-York Chronicle, 3 July 1769.
“the suppression of these houses”: Quoted from Carp, Rebels Rising, 68.
“quarreling, fighting, gaming”: Ibid., 69.
attempted rape, assault, rioting: Ibid., 68.
“a bowl or two of grog”: Isaac Bangs, Journal of Lieutenant Isaac Bangs, April 1, 1776, to July 29, 1776 (Cambridge, MA: John Wilson and Son, 1890), 54.
“the gin shops and other houses”: Quoted from Marvin Kitman, George Washington’s Expense Account (New York: Grove Press, 1970), 194.
“General Washington is very solicitous”: Thomas Mifflin to New York Committee of Safety, 15 April 1776, JPC, 1: 408.
“If any soldier shall be found disguised with liquor”: Quoted from Kitman, George Washington’s Expense Account, 194.
has uncovered a scheme by which: Fairfield Committee of Inspection to GW, 14 May 1776, PGWR, 4: 298–300.
“The circumstances attending this affair”: Ibid.
“root out or secure … truly commendable”: GW to Jonathan Sturges. Ibid., 321.
an attempt to locate and arrest … is not successful: Seth Harding to Jonathan Trumbull, 15 May 1776, Naval Documents of the American Revolution, William James Morgan, ed. (Washington, DC: U.S. Navy Department, 1970), 5: 104–105.
“By the enclosed you will discover”: King’s District Committee of Correspondence to GW, 13 May 1776, PGWR, 4: 290–291.
“Believe it the plan is as deep as Hell”: Ibid.
