Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

THURSDAY, JANUARY 1.

1778.

At Valley Forge: "The enemy returned into Philadelphia on Sunday last, having made a considerable hay forage, which appeared to be their only intention. As they kept themselves in close order, and in just such a position that no attack could be made upon them to advantage, I could do no more than extend light parties along their front, and keep them from plundering the inhabitants and carrying off cattle and horses; which had the desired effect."Washington to the President of Congress.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 3.

At Valley Forge: "Our army are tenting themselves; they are almost worn out with fatigue, and greatly distressed for want of clothing, particularly the article of shoes and stockings. The present mode of clothing the army will always leave us without a sufficient supply. The change in the Commissary department has been a very distressing circumstance; the army has been fed from hand to mouth ever since Mr. Trumbull left it. Our operations have been greatly retarded from the situation of the Commissary department. The Quartermaster-General's department also has been in a most wretched condition. General Mifflin, who ought to have been at the head of the business, has never been with the army since it came into the State."General Greene to Jacob Greene.

Although the necessities of the army demanded a speedy change in the quartermaster's department, it was not until the 2d of March that General Greene was chosen to be the head of it. John Cox, a well-known merchant of Philadelphia, and Charles Pettit, a lawyer of New Jersey, secretary to 114

Governor Livingston at the time, were appointed assistants. The muchneeded change in the commissary department, however, did not take place until later. On the 9th of April Congress elected Jeremiah Wadsworth, of Connecticut, commissary-general, and five days later adopted a plan for the management of the department, more liberal than the original one, which had induced the first commissary-general, Colonel Joseph Trumbull, to quit the department, and in its operation had nearly destroyed the army. The good effect growing out of the appointment of General Greene and Colonel Wadsworth is particularly mentioned by Washington in a letter to the President of Congress, dated August 8, 1778.

MONDAY, JANUARY 5.

At Valley Forge: "The letter you allude to, from the Committee of Congress and Board of War, came to hand on Saturday morning; but it does not mention the regula tions adopted for removing the difficulties and failures in the commissary line. I trust they will be vigorous, or the army cannot exist. It will never answer to procure supplies of clothing or provision by coercive measures."— Washington to the President of Congress.

"The army has made good progress in hutting; but the want of tools has retarded the work. The huts are very warm and comfortable, being very good log-houses, pointed with clay, and the roof made tight with the same. The weather is now very mild, which is exceedingly favorable to our hutting; but 'tis a melancholy consideration, that hundreds of our men are unfit for duty, merely from the want of clothes and shoes."-Colonel Pickering to Mrs. Pickering, January 5.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13.

At Valley Forge: "Military operations seem to be at an end for the winter. Sir William Howe is fixed in Philadelphia, and we have, by dint of labor and exposing the troops to the utmost severity of the season rather than give up the country to the ravages of the Enemy established a post at this place, where the men are scarcely now covered in log huts, having hitherto lived in tents and such temporary shelters as they could make up. The want of clothing, added to the rigor of the season, has occasioned them to suffer such hardships as will not be credited but by those

who have been spectators."- Washington to General Robert Howe.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15.

At Valley Forge: "About the 15th of January, we had our huts nearly completed, and the men in comfortable quarters."-Diary of Joseph Clark.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 20.

At Valley Forge: "We have taken a post on the west side of the Schuylkill, about twenty miles from the city [Philadelphia], and with much pains and industry have got the troops tolerably well covered in huts."- Washington to General Arnold.

"January 20.-This morning about daylight a party of the enemy came out to our lines and had a curmige with our guards. Major Durban was wounded in the wrist; but there were two of the enemy, light horsemen, killed and one more wounded.”—Journal of Ebenezer Wild, "Proceedings Mass. Hist. Soc.," Second Series, vi. 106.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 25.

At Valley Forge: "I begin to be very apprehensive that the season will entirely pass away, before any thing material will be done for the defence of Hudson's River. You are well acquainted with the great necessity there is for having the works there finished, as soon as possible; and I most earnestly desire, that the strictest attention may be paid to every matter, which may contribute to finishing and putting them in a respectable state before the spring."- Washington to General Putnam.

As the forts and other works in the Highlands were entirely demolished by the British in October, 1777, it became necessary to decide whether they should be restored, or new places selected for that purpose. About the beginning of January the grounds were examined by General Putnam, Governor Clinton, General James Clinton, and Radière the French engineer; they all united, except Radière, in the opinion that West Point was the most eligible place to be fortified. A committee appointed by the Council

and Assembly of New York, after three days' reconnoitring, also came to the same conclusion. It was accordingly decided on the 13th of January, that the fortifications should be erected at West Point.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 27.

At Valley Forge: "I am much obliged by your polite request of my opinion and advice on the expedition to Canada and other occasions. In the present instance, as I neither know the extent of the objects in view, nor the means to be employed to effect them, it is not in my power to pass any judgment upon the subject. I can only sincerely wish, that success may attend it, both as it may advance the public good, and on account of the personal honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, for whom I have a very particular esteem and regard."- Washington to General Gates.

On January 22 Congress adopted a resolution that "an irruption be made into Canada, and that the Board of War be authorized to take every necessary measure for the execution of the business, under such general officers as Congress shall appoint." The following day the Marquis de Lafayette, Major-General Conway, and Brigadier-General Stark were elected to conduct the irruption. This proposition, which emanated from the Board of War, of which General Gates was president, was without the knowledge of the Commander-in-Chief, the appointment of Lafayette being made for the purpose of detaching him from Washington. In this, however, the conspirators were disappointed, and, finding they could not use the marquis, the expedition was abandoned.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28.

At Valley Forge: "The disagreeable picture, I have given you, of the wants and sufferings of the army, and the discontents reigning among the officers, is a just represen tation of evils equally melancholy and important; and unless effectual remedies be applied without loss of time, the most alarming and ruinous consequences are to be apprehended."- Washington to a Committee of Congress.

The above is the concluding paragraph of a lengthy paper (fifty folio pages) drawn up by the Commander-in-Chief for the use of a committee of Congress, then in camp for the purpose of consulting with him, in order to

mature a new system of arrangements for the administration of the army. Committee: Francis Dana, Joseph Reed, Nathaniel Folsom, John Harvie, Charles Carroll, and Gouverneur Morris. The paper or memoir, prepared from information communicated by the general officers, exhibits in detail the existing state of the army, the deficiencies and disorders, with their causes, and suggests such changes and improvements as were thought essential. This formed the basis of the plan adopted by the committee, who, after remaining in camp nearly three months, returned to Congress. The report, containing the result of their proceedings and the new scheme of the army, was approved.

The sessions of the committee were held at "Moore Hall," the seat of William Moore, Esq. about two and a half miles north of the Valley Forge head-quarters. The house, still standing, is the country-seat of the Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker of Philadelphia.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7.

At Valley Forge: "The present situation of the army is the most melancholy that can be conceived. Our supplies of provisions of the flesh kind for some time past have been very deficient and irregular. A prospect now opens of absolute want, such as will make it impossible to keep the army much longer from dissolution, unless the most vigorous and effectual measures be pursued to prevent it. Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland are now intirely exhausted." -Washington to Peter Colt, Purchasing Commissary in Con

necticut.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15.

At Valley Forge: "Lord Cornwallis has certainly embarked for England, but with what view is not so easy to determine. He was eyewitness a few days before his departure to a scene, not a little disgraceful to the pride of British valor, in their manœuvre to Chestnut Hill, and precipitate return, after boasting their intentions of driving us beyond the mountains."- Washington to Richard Henry Lee.

Lord Cornwallis sailed from Philadelphia for England, December 19, on private business, but returned June 6, and took part in the battle of Monmouth Court-House, June 28.

« AnteriorContinuar »