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LIFE AND TIMES OF WASHINGTON - VOLUME 2
LIFE AND TIMES OF WASHINGTON - VOLUME 2 JOHN FREDERICK SCHROEDER AND BENSON JOHN LOSSING TABLE OF CONTENTS.
VOLUME II. PART IV. Washington Continental Commander-in-Chief.
1775-1783.
CHAP. X. Lord Howe Outgeneraled by Washington
XI. Washington Holds Howe in Check
XII. Burgoyne's Defeat and Surrender
XIII. Washington at Valley Forge
XIV. The Battle of Monmouth
XV. Washington Directs a Descent on Rhode Island
XVI. Washington Prepares to Chastise the Indians
XVII. Washington's Operations in the Northern States
XVIII. Campaign in the North--Arnold's Treason
XIX. Operations at the South
XX. Preparations for a New Campaign
XXI. The Campaign at the South
XXII. Continuation of the Campaign at the South
XXIII. Washington Captures Cornwallis
XXIV. Final Events of the Revolution
* * * * *
PART V. Washington a Private Citizen. 1783-1788.
CHAP.
I. Washington's Return to Private Life
II. Washington President of the Constitutional Convention
* * * * *
PART VI. Washington as President and in Retirement. 1789-1799.
I. Washington Elected First President of the United States
II. Washington's Inauguration and First Administration Formed
III. Measures for Establishing the Public Credit
IV. Establishment of a National Bank
V. Political Parties Developed
VI. Washington Inaugurates the System of Neutrality
VII. Washington Sends Jay to England
VIII. Washington Quells the Western Insurrection
IX. Washington Signs Jay's Treaty
X. Washington Maintains the Treaty-Making Power of the Executive
XI. Washington Retires from the Presidency
XII. Washington Appointed Lieutenant-General
XIII. Last Illness Death and Character of Washington
* * * * *
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Vol. II.
WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT
VALLEY FORGE--WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE
WASHINGTON AT TRENTON
MAJOR-GENERAL BARON STEUBEN
PHILIP SCHUYLER
HORATIO GATES
BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN
TREASON OF ARNOLD
ROBERT MORRIS
LEE'S CAVALRY SKIRMISHING AT THE BATTLE OF GUILFORD
GENERAL FRANCIS MARION
MAJOR-GENERAL NATHANAEL GREENE
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL TO HIS OFFICERS
LAFAYETTE
JOHN JAY
INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON
THE FIRST CABINET
JOHN HANCOCK
JOHN ADAMS
WASHINGTON AND FAMILY AT MOUNT VERNON
CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN MARSHALL
THOMAS JEFFERSON
HENRY LAURENS
CHAPTER X.
WASHINGTON OUT-GENERALS HOWE. 1777.
Among the many perplexing subjects which claimed the attention of
Washington during the winter (1776-1777) while he was holding his
headquarters among the hills at Morristown none gave him more
annoyance than that of the treatment of American prisoners in the hands
of the enemy. Among the civilized nations of modern times prisoners of
war are treated with humanity and principles are established on which
they are exchanged. The British officers however considered the
Americans as rebels deserving condign punishment and not entitled to
the sympathetic treatment commonly shown to the captive soldiers of
independent nations. They seem to have thought that the Americans would
never be able or would never dare to retaliate. Hence their prisoners
were most infamously treated. Against this the Americans remonstrated
and on finding their remonstrances disregarded they adopted a system
of retaliation which occasioned much unmerited suffering to
individuals. Col. Ethan Allen who had been defeated and made prisoner
in a bold but rash attempt against Montreal was put in irons and sent
to England as a traitor. In retaliation General Prescott who had been
taken at the mouth of the Sorel was put in close confinement for the
avowed purpose of subjecting him to the same fate which Colonel Allen
should suffer.
Both officers and privates prisoners to the Americans were more
rigorously confined than they would otherwise have been and that they
might not impute this to wanton harshness and cruelty they were
distinctly told that their own superiors only were to blame for any
severe treatment they might experience.
The capture of General Lee became the occasion of embittering the
complaints on this subject and of aggravating the sufferings of the
prisoners of war. Before that event something like a cartel for the
exchange of prisoners had been established between Generals Howe and
Washington but the captivity of General Lee interrupted that
arrangement. The general as we have seen had been an officer in the
British army but having been disgusted had resigned his commission
and at the beginning of the troubles had offered his services to
Congress which were readily accepted. General Howe affected to
consider him as a deserter and ordered him into close confinement.
Washington had no prisoner of equal rank but offered six Hessian field
officers in exchange for him and required that if that offer should
not be accepted General Lee should be treated according to his rank in
the American army. General Howe replied that General Lee was a deserter
from his majesty's service and could not be considered as a prisoner
of war nor come within the conditions of the cartel. A fruitless
discussion ensued between the Commanders-in-Chief. Congress took up the
matter and resolved that General Washington be directed to inform
General Howe that should the proffered exchange of six Hessian field
officers for General Lee not be accepted and his former treatment
continued the principle of retaliation shall occasion five of the
Hessian field officers together with Lieut. Col. Archibald Campbell
or any other officers that are or shall be in possession of equivalent
in number or quality to be detained in order that the treatment which
General Lee shall receive may be exactly inflicted upon their persons.
Congress also ordered a copy of their resolution to be transmitted to
the Council of Massachusetts Bay and that they be desired to detain
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell and keep him in close custody till the
further orders of Congress and that a copy be also sent to the
committee of Congress in Philadelphia and that they be desired to
have the prisoners officers and privates lately taken properly
secured in some safe place.
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell of the Seventy-first Regiment with about
270 of his men had been made prisoner in the bay of Boston while
sailing for the harbor ignorant of the evacuation of the town by the
British. Hitherto the colonel had been civilly treated; but on
receiving the order of Congress respecting him the Council of
Massachusetts Bay instead of simply keeping him in safe custody
according to order sent him to Concord jail and lodged him in a
filthy and loathsome dungeon about twelve or thirteen feet square. He
was locked in by double bolts and expressly prohibited from entering
the prison yard on any consideration whatever. A disgusting hole
fitted up with a pair of fixed chains and from which a felon had been
removed to make room for his reception was assigned him as an inner
apartment. The attendance of a servant was denied him and no friend
was allowed to visit him.
Colonel Campbell naturally complained to Howe of such unworthy
treatment and Howe addressed Washington on the subject. The latter
immediately wrote to the Council of Massachusetts Bay and said "You
will observe that exactly the same treatment is to be shown to Colonel
Campbell and the Hessian officers that General Howe shows to General
Lee and as he is only confined to a commodious house with genteel
accommodation we have no right or reason to be more severe to Colonel
Campbell whom I wish to be immediately removed from his present
situation and put into a house where he may live comfortably."
The historian (Gordon) who wrote at the time gives a very graphic
account of the sufferings of the American prisoners in New York which
dreadful as it seems is confirmed by many contemporary authorities. He
says: "Great complaints were made of the horrid usage the Americans met
with after they were captured."
The garrison of Fort Washington surrendered by capitulation to General
Howe the 16th of November. The terms were that the fort should be
surrendered the troops be considered prisoners of war and that the
American officers should keep their baggage and sidearms. These
articles were signed and afterwards published in the New York papers.
Major Otho Holland Williams of Rawling's Rifle Regiment in doing his
duty that day unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. The
haughty deportment of the officers and the scurrility of the soldiers
of the British army he afterward said soon dispelled his hopes of
being treated with lenity. Many of the American officers were plundered
of their baggage and robbed of their sidearms hats cockades etc.
and otherwise grossly ill-treated. Williams and three companions were
on the third day put on board the Baltic-Merchant a hospital ship
then lying in the sound. The wretchedness of his situation was in some
degree alleviated by a small pittance of pork and parsnip which a good-
natured sailor spared him from his own mess. The fourth day of their
captivity Rawlings Hanson M'Intire and himself all wounded
officers were put into one common dirt-cart and dragged through the
city of New York as objects of derision reviled as rebels and treated
with the utmost contempt.
From the cart they were set down at the door of an old wastehouse the
remains of Hampden Hall near Bridewell which because of the openness
and filthiness of the place he had a few months before refused as
barracks for his privates but now was willing to accept for himself
and friends in hopes of finding an intermission of the fatigue and
persecution they had perpetually suffered. Some provisions were issued
to the prisoners in the afternoon of that day what quantity he could
not declare but it was of the worst quality he ever till then saw
made use of. He was informed the allowance consisted of six ounces of
pork one pound of biscuit and some peas per day for each man and two
bushels and a half of sea coal per week for the officers to each
fireplace. These were admitted on parole and lived generally in
wastehouses. The privates in the coldest season of the year were
close confined in churches sugar-houses and other open buildings
(which admitted all kinds of weather) and consequently were subjected
to the severest kind of persecution that ever unfortunate captives
suffered.
Officers were insulted and often struck for attempting to afford some
of the miserable privates a small relief. In about three weeks Colonel
Williams was able to walk and was himself a witness of the sufferings
of his countrymen. He could not describe their misery. Their
constitutions were not equal to the rigor of the treatment they
received and the consequence was the death of many hundreds. The
officers were not allowed to take muster-rolls nor even to visit their
men so that it was impossible to ascertain the numbers that perished;
but from frequent reports and his own observations he verily believed
as well as had heard many officers give it as their opinion that not
less than 1500 prisoners perished in the course of a few weeks in the
city of New York and that this dreadful mortality was principally
owing to the want of provisions and extreme cold. If they computed too
largely it must be ascribed to the shocking brutal manner of treating
the dead bodies and not to any desire of exaggerating the account of
their sufferings.
When the King's commissary of prisoners intimated to some of the
American officers General Howe's intention of sending the privates home
on parole they all earnestly desired it and a paper was signed
expressing that desire; the reason for signing was they well knew the
effects of a longer confinement and the great numbers that died when
on parole justified their pretensions to that knowledge. In January
almost all the officers were sent to Long Island on parole and there
billeted on the inhabitants at $2 per week.
The filth in the churches (in consequence of fluxes) was beyond
description. Seven dead have been seen in one of them at the same time
lying among the excrements of their bodies. The British soldiers were
full of their low and insulting jokes on those occasions but less
malignant than the Tories. The provision dealt out to the prisoners was
not sufficient for the support of life and was deficient in quantity
and more so in quality. The bread was loathsome and not fit to be
eaten and was thought to have been condemned. The allowance of meat
was trifling and of the worst sort. The integrity of these suffering
prisoners was hardly credible. Hundreds submitted to death rather than
enlist in the British service which they were most generally pressed
to do. It was the opinion of the American officers that Howe perfectly
understood the condition of the private soldiers and they from thence
argued that it was exactly such as he and his council intended. After
Washington's success in the Jerseys the obduracy and malevolence of
the Royalists subsided in some measure. The surviving prisoners were
ordered to be sent out as an exchange but several of them fell down
dead in the streets while attempting to walk to the vessels.
Washington wrote to General Howe in the beginning of April: "It is a
fact not to be questioned that the usage of our prisoners while in your
possession the privates at least was such as could not be justified.
This was proclaimed by the concurrent testimony of all who came out.
Their appearance justified the assertion and melancholy experience in
the speedy death of a large part of them stamped it with infallible
certainty."
The cruel treatment of the prisoners being the subject of conversation
among some officers captured by Sir Guy Carleton General Parsons who
was of the company said "I am very glad of it." They expressed their
astonishment and desired him to explain himself. He thus addressed
them: "You have been taken by General Carleton and he has used you
with great humanity would you be inclined to fight against him?" The
answer was "No." "So" added Parsons "would it have been had the
troops taken by Howe been treated in like manner but now through this
cruelty we shall get another army."
The Hon. William Smith learning how the British used the prisoners
and concluding it would operate to that end by enraging the Americans
applied to the committee of New York State for leave to go into the
city and remonstrate with the British upon such cruel treatment which
he doubted not but that he should put a stop to. The committee
however either from knowing what effect the cruelties would have in
strengthening the opposition to Britain or from jealousies of his
being in some other way of disservice to the American cause or from
these united would not grant his request.
Washington at the beginning of 1777 determined to have the army
inoculated for the smallpox which had made fearful ravages in the
ranks. It was carried forward as secretly and carefully as possible
and the hospital physicians in Philadelphia were ordered at the same
time to inoculate all the soldiers who passed through that city on
their way to join the army. The same precautions were taken in the
other military stations and thus the army was relieved from an evil
which would have materially interfered with the success of the ensuing
campaign. The example of the soldiery proved a signal benefit to the
entire population the practice of inoculation became general and by
little and little this fatal malady disappeared almost entirely.
In the hope that something might be effected at New York Washington
ordered General Heath who was in command in the Highlands to move
down towards the city with a considerable force. Heath did so and in a
rather grandiloquent summons called upon Fort Independence to
surrender. The enemy however stood their ground and Heath after a
few days retreated having done nothing and exposed himself to
ridicule for not having followed up his words with suitable deeds.
While Washington was actively employed in the Jerseys in asserting the
independence of America Congress could not afford him much assistance
but that body was active in promoting the same cause by its enactments
and recommendations. Hitherto the Colonies had been united by no bond
but that of their common danger and common love of liberty. Congress
resolved to render the terms of their union more definite to ascertain
the rights and duties of the several Colonies and their mutual
obligations toward each other. A committee was appointed to sketch the
principles of the union or confederation.
This committee presented a report in thirteen Articles of Confederation
and perpetual Union between the States and proposed that instead of
calling themselves the United Colonies as they had hitherto done they
should assume the name of the United States of America; that each State
should retain its sovereignty freedom and independence and every
power jurisdiction and right which is not by the confederation
expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled; that
they enter into a firm league for mutual defense; that the free
inhabitants of any of the States shall be entitled to the privileges
and immunities of free citizens in any other State; that any traitor or
great delinquent fleeing from one State and found in another shall be
delivered up to the State having jurisdiction of his offense; that full
faith and credit shall be given in each of the States to the records
acts and judicial proceedings of every other State; that delegates
shall be annually chosen in such manner as the legislature of each
State shall direct to meet in Congress on the first Monday of
November with power to each State to recall its delegates or any of
them at any time within the year and to send others in their stead;
that no State shall be represented in Congress by less than two or more
than seven members and no person shall be a delegate for more than
three out of six years nor shall any delegate hold a place of
emolument under the United States; that each State shall maintain its
own delegates; that in Congress each State shall have only one vote;
that freedom of speech shall be enjoyed by the members and that they
shall be free from arrest except for treason felony or breach of the
peace; that no State without the consent of Congress shall receive
any ambassador or enter into any treaty with any foreign power; that
no person holding any office in any of the United States shall receive
any present office or title from any foreign State and that neither
Congress nor any of the States shall grant any titles of nobility; that
no two or more of the States shall enter into any confederation
whatever without the consent of Congress; that no State shall impose
any duties which may interfere with treaties made by Congress; that in
time of peace no vessels of war or military force shall be kept up in
any of the States but by the authority of Congress but every State
shall have a well-regulated and disciplined militia; that no State
unless invaded shall engage in war without the consent of Congress
nor shall they grant letters of marque or reprisal till after a
declaration of war by Congress; that colonels and inferior officers
shall be appointed by the Legislature of each State for its own troops;
that the expenses of war shall be defrayed out of a common treasury
supplied by the several States according to the value of the land in
each; that taxes shall be imposed and levied by authority and direction
of the several States within the time prescribed by Congress; that
Congress has the sole and exclusive right of deciding on peace and war
of sending and receiving ambassadors and entering into treaties; that
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Unpublished Work 
