The life of George Washington, commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America, throughout the war which established their independence; and first president of the United States

Front matter

LIFE

OF

COMMANDER IN CHIEF

Chapter I

Of George Washington's birth, family, and education. Of his mission to the French commandant on the Ohio, in 1753. His military operations as an officer of Virginia, from 1754 to 1758, and his subsequent employments to the commencement of the American revolution, page 1

Chapter II

Retrospect of the origin of the American revolutionary war. Of George Washington as member of Congress, in 1774 and 1775. As Commander in Chief of the armies of the United Colonies in 1775 and 1776, and his opei'ations near Boston, in these years, - - - p. 25

Chapter III. Campaign Of 177g

Of the operations of General Washington in New York and New Jersey. The battle on Long Island. The retreat from York Island and through Jersey. The battles of Trenton and Princeton, - - p. 42

CHAPTER IV. *r CAMPAIGN OF 1777

Of the operations of General Washington in N< Jersey and PennsyL vania, in the campaign of 1777 The battles of Brandy wine and Germantown. Washington is advised by the Rev. Jacob Duche, to give up the contest. The distresses of the American army. Its winter quarters in Valley Forge. Gen. Washington is assailed by the clamours of discontented individuals and public bodies, and by the designs of a faction to supersede him in his office as Commander in Chief, p. 7-3

Chapter V. Campaign Of 1778

General Washington prepares for the campaign of 1778. Surprises the British, and defeats them at Monmouth. Arrests General Lee.

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Calms the irritation excited by the departure of the French fleet from Rhode Island to Boston. Dissuades from an invasion of Canada, p. 102

Chapter VI. Campaign Of 1779

The distresses of the American army. Gen. Washington calms the uneasiness in the Jersey line. Finds great difficulty in supporting his troops and concentrating their force. Makes a disposition of them with a view to the security of West Point. Directs an expedition against the Six Nations of Indians, and for the reduction of Stony Point Paules Hook taken. A French fleet, expected to the northward, arrives on the coast of Georgia. Washington, unequal to offensive operations, retires into winter quarters, ----- p. 124

Chapter VII. Campaign Of 1t80

Gen. Washington directs an expedition against Staten Island. Gives an opinion against risking an army for the defence of Charleston, S C. Finds great difficulty in supporting his army. Kniphausen invades Jersey, hut is prevented from injuring the American stores. Marquis de la Fayette arrives, and gives assurances that a French fleet and army might soon be expected on the American coast. Knergetic measures of co-operation resolved upon, but so languidly executed, that Washington predicts the necessity of a more efficient system of national government A French fleet and army arrives, and a combined operation against New York is resolved upon, but the arrival of a superior British fleet deranges the whole plan, p. 141

Chapter VIII. Campaign Of 1781

The Pennsylvania line mutinies. The Jersey troops follow their example, but are quelled by decisive measures. Gen. Washington commences a military journal, detailing the wants and distresses of his army. Is invited to the defence of his native state, Virginia, but declines. Reprimands the manager of his private estate for furnishing the enemy with supplies, to prevent the destruction of his property. Extinguishes the incipient flames of a civil war, respecting the independence of the state of Vermont Plans a combined operation agaiust the British, and deputes Lieut. Col. John Laurens to solicit

CONTENTS. Vll

the co-operation of the French. The combined forces of both nations rendezvous in the Chesapeak, and take lord Cornwallis and his arm)' prisoners of war. Washington returns to the -vicinity of New York, and urges the necessity of preparing for a new campaign) - - p. 160

CHAPTER IX. 1782 and 1783

Prospects of peace. Languor of the states. Discontents of the army. Gen. Washington prevents the adoption of rash measures. Some new levies in Pennsylvania mutiny, and are quelled. Washington recommends measures for the preservation of independence, peace, liberty, and happiness. Dismisses his army. Enters New York. Takes leave of his officers. Settles his accounts. Repairs to Annapolis. Resigns his commission. Retires to Mount Vernon, and resumes his agricultural pursuits, - -------p. 190

Chapter X

General Washington, on retiring from public life, devotes himself to agricultural pursuits. Favours inland navigation. Declines offered emoluments from it. Urges an alteration of the fundamental rules of the society of the Cincinnati. Regrets the defects of the federal system, and recommends a revisal of it. Is appointed a member of the continental convention for that purpose, which, after hesitation, he accepts. Is chosen president thereof. Is solicited to accept the presidency of the United States. Writes sundry letters expressive of the conflict in his mind, between duty and inclination. Answers applicants for offices. His reluctance to enter on public life, - p. 244

CHAPTER XL

Washington elected president. On his way to the seat of government at New York, receives the most flattering marks of respect. Addresses Congress. The situation of the United States in their foreign and domestic relations, at the inauguration of Washington. Fills up public offices solely with a view to t tie public good- Proposes a treaty to the Creek Indians, which is at first rejected. Col. Willct induces the heads of the nation to come to New York, to treat there. The North Western Indians refuse a treaty, but after defeating Generals Harmar and Sinclair, they are defeated by Gen Wayne. They then submit, and agree to treat. A new system is introduced for meliorating their condition, p. 273

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Chapter XII

General Washington attends to the foreign relations of the United Stales Negotiates with Spain Difficulties in the way. The free navigation of the Missisippi is granted by a treaty made with Major Pinckney. Negotiations with Britain. Difficulties in the way. War probable. Mr. Jay's mission. His treaty with Great Britain. Opposition thereto. Is ratified. Washington refuses papers to House of Representatives British posts in the United States evacuated. Negotiations with France. Genet's arrival. Assumes illegal powers, in violation of the neutrality of the United States. Is flattered by the people, but opposed by the executive. Is recalled. General Pinckney sent as public minister to adjust disputes with France. Is not received. Washington declines a re-election, and addresses the people. His last address to the national legislature. Recommends a navy, a military academy, ami other public institutions, ----- p. 300

Chapter XIII

Washington rejoices at the prospect of retiring. Writes to the Secretary of State, denying the authenticity of letters said to be from him to J P. Custis and Lund Washington, in 1776 Pays respect to his successor, Mr. John Adams. Review of Washington's administration. He retires to Mount Vernon. Resumes agricultural pursuits. Hears with regret the aggression of the French republic. Corresponds on the subject of his taking the command of an army to oppose the French. Is appointed Lieutenant General. His commission is sent to him by the Secretary of War. His letter to president Adams on the receipt thereof. Directs the organization of the proposed army. Three Envoys Extraordinary sent to France, who adjust all disputes with Bonaparte, after the overthrow of the Directory. Gen. A\ r ashington dies. Is honoured by Congress, and by the citizens. His character, p. 363

LIFE

CHAPTER I. Of George Washington's birth, family, and education Of his mission to

the French commandant on the Ohio in 175.3 wis military operations

as an officer of Virginia, from 1754 to 1758, and his subsequent employments to the commencement of the American Revolution.

1 he ancestors of Geqrge Washington were among the first settlers of the oldest British colony in America. He was the third in descent from John Washington, an English gentleman, who, about the middle of the 17th. century, emigrated from the north of England, and settled in Westmoreland county, Virginia. In the place where he had fixed himself, his great grandson, the subject of the following history, was born on the 22d. of February, 1732. His immediate ancestor was Augustine Washington, who died when his son George was only ten years old. The education of the young orphan, of course, devolved on his mother, who added one to the many examples of virtuous matrons, who, devoting themselves to the care of their children, have trained them up to be distinguished citizens. In one instance her fears, combining with her affection, prevented a measure, which, if persevered in, would have given a direction to the talents and views of her son, very different from that which laid the foundation of his fame. George Washington, when only fifteen years old, solicited and obtained the place of a midshipman in the British navy ; but his ardent zeal to serve his country, then at war with France and Spain, was, on the interference of his mother, for the present suspended, and for ever diverted from the sea service. She lived to see him acquire higher honours than he ever could have obtained as a naval officer ; nor did she depart this life till he was elevated to the first offices, both civil and military, in the gift of his country. She was, nevertheless, from the influence of long established habits, so far from being partial to the American revolution, that she often regretted the side her son had taken in the controversy between her king and her country.

In the minority of George Washington, the means of education in America were scanty ; his was thereiore very little extended beyond what is

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

common, except in mathematics. Knowledge of* this kind contributes more perhaps than any other to strengthen the mind. In his case it was doubly useful ; for, in the early part of his life, it laid the foundation of his fortune, by qualifying him for the office of a practical surveyor, at a time when good land was of easy attainment ; and its intimate connection with the military art, enabled him at a later period to judge more correctly of the proper means of defending his country, when he was called upon to preside over its armies.

Of the first nineteen years of George Washington's life, little is known. His talents being more solid than showy, were not sufficiently developed for public notice, by the comparatively unimportint events of that early period. His cotemporaries have generally reported, that in his youth he was grave, silent, and thoughtful ; diligent and methodical in business, dignified in his appearance, and strictly honourable in all his deportment ; but they have not been able to gratify the public curiosity with any striking anecdotes. His patrimonial estate was small, but that little was managed with prudence and increased by industry. In the gayest period of his life, he was a stranger to dissipation and riot. That he had established a solid reputation, even in his juvenile years, may be fairly presumed from the following circumstances.

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At the age of nineteen he was appointed one of the adjutants general of Virginia, with the rank of major. When he was barely twenty one, he was employed by the government of his native colony, in an enterprise which required the prudence of age as well as the vigour of youth.

The French, as the first European discoverers of the river Mississippi, claimed all that immense region whose waters run into that river. In pursuance of this claim, in the year 1753, they took possession of a tract of country supposed to be within the chartered limits of Virginia, and were proceeding to erect a chain of posts from the lakes of Canada to the river Ohio, in subserviency to their grand scheme of connecting Canada with Louisiana, and limiting the English colonies to the east of the Alleghany mountains. Mr. Dinwiddie, then governor of Virginia, despatched Washington with a letter to the Freneh commandant on the Ohio, remonstrating against the prosecution of these designs, as hostile to the rights of his Britannic majesty. The young envoy was also instructed to penetrate the designs of the French ; to conciliate the affection of the native tribes ; and to procure useful intelligence. In the discharge of this trust, he set out on the 15th. of November, from Will's Creek, then an extreme frontier settlement, and pursued his course through a vast extent of unexplored wilderness, amidst rains and snows, and over rivers of very difficult passage, and among tribes of Indians, several of whom, from previous attentions of the French, were hostile to the English. When his horses were incompetent, he proceeded on foot with a gun in his hand and a pack on his back. He observed every thing with the eye of a soldier, and particularly designated the forks of the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers, the spot where Fort Duquesne was afterward built, and where Pittsburgh now stands, as an advantageous position for a fortress. Here he secured the affections of some neighbouring Indians, and engaged them to accompany him. With them he ascended the Alleghany river and French Creek, to a fort on the river le Boeuf, one of its western branches. He there found Mons. Le Gardeur de St. Pierre, the commandant on the Ohio, and delivered to him Dinwiddie's letter ; and receiving his answer, returned with it to Williamsburg on the seventy eighth day after he had received his appointment. The patience and firmness displayed on this occasion by Washington, added to his judicious treatment of the Indians, both merited and obtained a large share of applause. A journal of the whole was published, and inspired the public with high ideas of the energies both of his body and mind.

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The French were too intent on their favourite project of extending their empire in America, to be diverted from it by the remonstrances of a colonial governor. The answer brought by Washington was such as induced the assembly of Virginia, to raise a regiment of three hundred men, to defend their frontiers and maintain the right claimed in behalf of Great Britain over the disputed territory. Of this Mr. Fry was appointed colonel, and George Washington, lieutenant colonel. The latter advanced with two companies of this regiment early in April, as far as the Great Meadows, where he was informed by some friendly Indians, that the French were erecting fortifications in the fork between the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers ; and also, that a detachment was on its march from that place toward the Great Meadows. War had not been yet formally declared between France and England, but as neither was disposed to recede from their claims to the lands on the Ohio, it was deemed inevitable, and on the point of commencing. Several circumstances were supposed to indicate an hostile intention on the part of the advancing French detachment. Washington, under the guidance of some friendly Indians, in a dark rainy night surprised their encampment, and, after firing once, rushed in and surrounded them. The commanding oliicer, Mr.

Jumonv'lle, was killed, one person escaped, and all the rest immediately surrendered. Soon after this affair, Col. Fry died, and the command of the regiment devolved on Washington, who speedily collected the whole at the Great Meadows. Two independent companies of regulars, one from New York, and one from South Carolina, shortly after arrived at the same place. Col. Washington was now at the head of nearly four hundred men. A stockade, afterward called Fort Necessity, was erected at the Great Meadows, in which a small force w 7 as left, and the main body advanced with a view of dislodging the French from Fort Duquesne, which they had recently erected, at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers. They had not proceeded more than thirteen miles, when they were informed by friendly Indians, " That the French, as numerous as pigeons in the woods, were advancing in an hostile manner toward the English settlements, and also, that Fort Duquesne had been recently and strongly reinforced." In this critical situation, a council of war unanimously recommended a retreat to the Great Meadows, which was effected without delay, and every exertion made to render Fort Necessity tenable. Before the works intended for that purpose were completed, Mons. de Villier, with a consido THE LIFE OF

crable force, attacked the fort. The assailants were covered by trees and high grass. The Americansreceivedthem with great resolution, and fought some within the stockade, and others in the surrounding ditch. Washington continued the whole day on the outside of the fort, and conducted the defence with the greatest coolness and intrepidity. The engagement lasted from ten in the morning till night, when the French commander demanded a parley, and offered terms of capitulation. His first and second proposals were rejected ; and Washington would accept of none short of the following honourable ones, which were mutually agreed upon in the course of the night. " The fort to be surrendered on condition that the garrison should march out with the honours of war, and be permitted to retain their arms and baggage, and to march unmolested into the inhabited parts of Virginia." The legislature of Virginia, impressed with a high sense of the bravery and good conduct of their troops, though compelled to surrender the fort, voted their thanks to Col. Washington and the officers under his command, and they also gave three hundred pistoles to be distributed among the soldiers engaged in this action, but made no arrangements for renewing offensive operations in the remainder of the

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

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year 1754. When the season for action was over, the regiment was reduced to independent companies, and Washington resigned his command.

The controversy about the Ohio lands, which began in Virginia, was taken up very seriously by Great Britain, and two British regiments were sent to America to support the claims of his Britannic majesty. They arrived early in 1755, and were commanded by Gen. Braddock. That officer, being informed of the talents of George Washington, invited him to serve the campaign as a volunteer aid de camp. The invitation was cheerfully accepted, and Washington joined Gen. Braddock near Alexandria, and proceeded with him to Will's Creek, afterward called Fort Cumberland. Here the army was detained till the 12th. of June, waiting for waggons, horses, and provisions. Washington had early recommended the use of pack horses, instead of waggons, for conveying the baggage of the army. The propriety of this advice soon became apparent, and a considerable change was made in conformity to it. The army had not advanced much more than ten miles trom Fort Cumberland, when Washington was seized with a violent fever, but nevertheless continued with the army, being conveyed in a covered waggon, after he had refused to stay behind, though so much exhausted as to be unable to ride on horseback. He advised the general to leave his heavy artillery and baggage behind, and to advance rapidly to Fort Duquesne, with a select body of troops, a few necessary stores, and some pieces of light artillery. Hopes were indulged that by this expeditious movement, Fort Duquesne might be reached in its present weak state, with a force sufficient to reduce it, before expected reinforcements should arrive. General Braddock approved the scheme, and submitted it to the consideration of a council held at the Little Meadows, which recommended that the commander in chief should advance as rapidly as possible with twelve hundred select men, and that Col. Dunbar should remain behind with the remainder of the troops and the heavy baggage. This advanced corps commenced its march with only thirty carriages, but did not proceed with the rapidity that was expected. They frequently halted to level the road, and to build bridges over inconsiderable brooks. They consumed four days in passing over the first nineteen miles from the Little Meadows. At this place, the physicians declared that Col. Washington's life would be endangered by advancing with the army. He was therefore ordered by Gen. Braddock to stay behind with a small guard till Dunbar should arrive with the rear of the army. As soon as his strength

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

would permit, he joined the advanced detachment, and immediately entered on the duties of his office. On the next day, July 9th. a dreadful scene took place. When Braddock had crossed the Monongahela, and was only a few miles from Fort Duquesne, and was pressing forward without any apprehension of danger, he was attacked in an open road, thick set with grass. An invisible enemy, consisting of French and Indians, commenced a heavy and well directed fire on his uncovered troops. The van fell back on the main body, and the whole was thrown into disorder. Marksmen levelled their pieces particularly at officers, and others on horseback. In a short time, Washington was the only aid de camp left alive and not wounded. On him, therefore, devolved the whole duty of carrying the general's orders. He was of course obliged to be constantly in motion, traversing the field of battle on horseback in all directions. He had two horses shot under him, and four bullets passed through his coat, but he escaped unhurt, though every other officer on horseback was either killed or wounded. Providence preserved him for further and greater services. Throughout the whole of the carnage and confusion of this fatal day, Washington displayed the greatest coolness and the most perfect self possession. Braddock was undismayed amidst a shower of bullets, and by his countenance and example, encouraged his men to stand their ground ; but valour was useless, and discipline only offered surer marks to the destructive aim of unseen marksmen. Unacquainted with the Indian mode of fighting, Braddock neither advanced upon nor retreated from the assailants, but very injudiciously endeavoured to form his broken troops on the ground where they were first attacked, and where they were exposed uncovered to the incessant galling fire of a sheltered enemy. He had been cautioned of the danger to which he was exposed, and was advised to advance the provincials in front of his troops, to scour the woods and detect ambuscades, but he disregarded the salutary recommendation. The action lasted near three hours, jn the course of which the general had three horses shot under him, and finally received a wound, of which he died in a few days in the camp of Dunbar, to which he had been brought by Col. Washington and others. On the fall of Braddock, his troops gave way in all directions, and could not be rallied till they had crossed the Monongahcla. The Indians, allured by plunder, did not pursue with vigour. The vanquished regulars soon fell back to Dunbar's camp, from which, after destroying such of their stores as could be spared, they retired to Philadelphia. The officers in the Brit-

GEORGE WASHINGTON. Io

ish regiments displayed the greatest bravery. Their whole number was eighty five, and sixty four of them were killed or wounded. The common soldiers were so disconcerted by the unusual mode of attack, that they soon broke, and could not be rallied. The three Virginia companies in the engagement behaved very differently, and fought like men till there were scarcely thirty men left alive in the whole. This reverse of fortune rather added to, than took from, the reputation of Washington. His countrymen extolled his conduct, and generally said and believed, that if he had been commander, the disasters of the day would have been avoided.

Intelligence of Braddock's defeat, and that Col. Dunbar had withdrawn all the regular forces from Virginia, arrived while the assembly of that colony was in session. Impressed with the necessity of protecting their exposed frontier settlements, they determined to raise a regiment of sixteen companies. The command of this was given to Washington. So great was the public confidence in the soundness of his judgment, that he was authorized to name the field officers. His commission also designated him as commander in chief of all the forces raised, or to be raised, in Virginia.

In execution of the duties of his new office, Washington, after giving the necessary orders for

•14 the recruiting- service, visited the frontiers. He found many posts, but few soldiers. Of these the best disposition was made. While on his way to Williamsburg to arrange a plan of operations with the lieutenant governor, he was overtaken by an express below Fredericksburg, with information that the back settlements were broken up by parties of French and Indians, who were murdering and capturing men, women, and children, burning their houses, and destroying their crops, and that the few troops stationed on the frontiers, unable to protect the country, had retreated to small stockade forts. Washington altered his course from Williamsburg to Winchester, and endeavoured to collect a force for the defence of the country. But this was impossible. The inhabitants, instead of assembling in arms, and facing the invaders, fled before them, and extended the general panic. While the attention of individuals was engrossed by their families and private concerns, the general safety was neglected. The alarm became universal, and the utmost confusion prevailed. Before any adequate force was collected to repel the assailants, they had safely crossed the Alleghany mountains, after having done an immensity of mischief. Irruptions of this kind were repeatedly made into the frontier settlements of Virginia, in the 'years 1756, 1757, and 1758-

These generally consisted of a considerable num. bet' of French and Indians, who were detached from Fort Duquesne. It was their usual pratice on their approaching the settlements, to divide into small parties, and avoiding the forts, to attack solitary families in the night, as well as the day. The savages, accustomed to live in the woods, found little difficulty in concealing themselves till their fatal blow was struck. Sundry unimportant skirmishes took place, with various results, but the number killed on both sides was inconsiderable, when compared with the mischief done, and the many who were put to death, otherwise than in battle. The invaders could seldom be brought to a regular engagement. Honourable war was not in their contemplation. Plunder, devastation, and murder, were their objects. The assemblage of a respectable force to oppose them, was their signal for retreating. Irruptions of this kind were so frequent for three years following Braddock's defeat, that in Pennsylvania, the frontier settlers were driven back as far as Carlisle, and in Maryland, to Fredericktown, and in Virginia, to the Blue Ridge.

The distresses of the inhabitants exceeded all description. If they went into stockade forts, they suffered from the want of provisions ; were often surrounded, and sometimes cut off. By fleeing,

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they abandoned the conveniences of home, and the means of support. If they continued on their farms, they lay down every night under apprehensions of being murdered before morning. But this was not the worst. Captivity and torture were frequently their portion. To all these evils, women, aged persons, and children, were equally liable with men in arms ; for savages make no distinction. Extermination is their object. To Washington the inhabitants looked for that protection he had not the means of giving. In a letter to the governor, he observed, " the supplicating tears of the women, and moving petitions of the men, melt me with such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butehering enemy, provided that would contribute to the people's ease." Virginia presented a frontier of three hundred and sixty miles, exposed to these incursions. Hard was the lot of Washington, to whom was intrusted the defence of these extensive settlements without means adequate to the purpose. The regiment voted by the assembly was never filled. Its actual number was oftener below than above seven hundred men. The militia afforded a very feeble aid, on which little reliance could be placed. They were slow in collecting, and when collected, soon began to hanker alter home ; and while in camp, could not submit to that discipline, without which an army is a mob. The militia laws were very defective. Cowardice in time of action, and sleeping while on duty, though crimes of the most destructive nature, were very inadequately punished by the civil code under which they took the field.

Desertion and mutiny, for some considerable time, subjected the offenders to nothing more than slight penalties. Washington was incessant in his representations to the governor and to the assembly, that no reliance could be placed on the militia, under existing regulations, and that the inconsiderable number, inlisted for regular service, together with the plans proposed for the security of the frontiers, were altogether inadequate. He not only pointed out the defect of the systems which had been adopted, but submitted to the consideration of those in power, such measures as he thought best, and particularly recommended, in case offensive operations were not adopted, that twenty two forts, extending in a line of three hundred and sixty miles, should be immediately erected and garrisoned by two thousand men, in constant pay and service ; but on all occasions gave a decided preference to the reduction of Fort Duquesne, as the only radical remedy for the evils to which the frontier settlements were exposed. Propositions to this effect were made and urged by him in 1756 and 1757 ; both to the government of Virginia, and the commanders in chief of the British forces in America ; but a shortsighted policy in the first, and a preference given by the last to a vigorous prosecution of the war in the northern colonies, prevented their acceptance. To his inexpressible joy, the project obtained, in the year 1758, the complete approbation of Gen. Forbes, who was charged with the defence of the middle and southern colonies. This being resolved upon, the movements of the army were directed to that point. Part of the force destined for this expedition was at Philadelphia ; part at Ray's Town ; and part dispersed on the frontiers of Virginia. To bring all together, was a work of time and difficulty. Washington urged the necessity of an early campaign ; but such delays took place that he. did not receive orders to assemble his regiment at Winchester, till the 24th. of May ; nor to proceed from thence to Fort Cumberland, till the 24th. of June ; nor to proceed to Ray's Town, till the 21st. September. The main body did not commence their march from Ray's Town, till the 2d. of October, and it was as late as the 25th. of November when they reached Fort Duquesne. These -delays were extremely mortifying to Washington, and threatened to render the campaign abortive. He urged the necessity of ex-