before me. Our smiths are engaged in making five hundred axes and some
tomahawks for General Gates. About one hundred of these will go by the
wagons now taking in their loads. As these are for the army in general,
no doubt but you will participate of them. A chest of medicine was made
up for you in Williamsburg, and by a strange kind of forgetfulness,
the vessel ordered to bring that, left it and brought the rest of the
shop. It is sent for again, and I am not without hopes will be here
in time to go by the present wagons. They will carry some ammunition
and the axes, and will make up their load with spirits. Tents, I fear,
cannot be got in this country; we have, however, sent out powers to all
the trading towns here, to take it wherever they can find it. I write
to General Gates, to try whether the duck in North Carolina cannot
be procured by the Executive of that State on Continental account;
for, surely, the whole army, as well our militia as the rest, is
Continental. The arms you have to spare may be delivered to General
Gates's order, taking and furnishing us with proper vouchers. We shall
endeavor to send our drafts armed. I cannot conceive how the arms
before sent could have got into so very bad order; they certainly went
from hence in good condition. You wish to know how far the property of
this State, in your hands, is meant to be subject to the orders of the
Commander-in-chief. Arms and military stores, we mean to be perfectly
subject to him. The provisions going from this country will be for
the whole army. If we can get any tents, they must be appropriated to
the use of our own troops. Medicine, sick stores, spirits and such
things, we expect shall be on the same footing as with the northern
army. There, you know, each State furnishes its own troops with these
articles, and, of course, has an exclusive right to what is furnished.
The money put into your hands, was meant as a particular resource for
any extra wants of our own troops, yet, in case of great distress, you
would probably not see the others suffer without communicating part of
it for their use. We debit Congress with this whole sum. There can be
nothing but what is right in your paying Major Mazaret's troops out of
it. I wish the plan you have adopted for securing a return of the arms
from the militia, may answer. I apprehend any man who has a good gun on
his shoulder, would agree to keep it, and have the worth of it deducted
out of his pay, more especially, when the receipt of the pay is at some
distance. What would you think of notifying to them, further, that a
proper certificate that they are discharged, and have _returned their
arms_, will be required before any pay is issued to them. A roll, kept
and forwarded, of those so discharged, and who have delivered up their
arms, would supply accidental losses of their certificates. We are
endeavoring to get bayonet belts made. The State quarter-master affirms
the cartouch boxes sent from this place (nine hundred and fifty-nine
in number), were all in good condition. I therefore suppose the three
hundred you received in such very bad order, must have gone from
the Continental quarter-master at Petersburg, or, perhaps, have been
pillaged, on the road, of their flaps, to mend shoes, &c. I must still
press the return of as many wagons as possible. All you will send,
shall be loaded with spirits, or something else for the army. By their
next return, we shall have a good deal of bacon collected. The enclosed
is a copy of what was reported to me, as heretofore sent by the wagons.
I am, Sir, with the greatest esteem,
Your most obedient humble servant.
TO ----.[89]
RICHMOND, August 4, 1780.
SIR,--Your several favors of July 19, 21, and 22, are now before me.
I have enquired into the state of the cartouch boxes which were sent
from our magazine. The Quartermaster assures me they were in very
good order. I must, therefore, conclude, that the 300 complained of
by General Stevens, were some sent from Petersburg by the Continental
Quartermaster, or that they were pillaged of the leather on the way,
to mend shoes, &c. We had hopes of getting 2,000 from the Board of
War, but we got only about 600, and they are said to be unfit for use.
We are engaged in making bayonet belts, which shall be forwarded, but
it is extremely difficult to procure leather. The consumption of beef
by your army will, I hope, remove the want of this article another
year. I have ordered the 500 axes you desired, with some tomahawks,
to be made. They turn out about 20 a day. About 100 will go on by the
wagons General Stevens sent us, which are now loading at this place.
These wagons will carry some ammunition and spirit. A vessel with about
3,000 stand of arms, coming down the bay for the use of your army, was
driven by privateers into Wicomico. We are endeavoring to get them
forwarded either by land or water. The want of wagons will greatly
retard them. What is to be done for tents, I know not. I am assured
that very little duck can be got in this country. Whatever there is,
however, will be produced under a commission gone out for that purpose.
The duck you speak of as being in North Carolina, cannot be procured
by that State, on Continental account, for the use of the army. I
communicated your orders to Colonel Finnie, and to Colonel Buford, and
have directed proper applications for the repairs of the bridges, &c.,
you mention. Arms are ready for Buford's, Davies's, and Gibson's men.
Gibson's men are clothed, and wait only to be paid, which will be done
within the course of a week. Clothing has been issued some time for
the others, which is making up under the superintendence of Colonel
Davies. They are utterly destitute of blankets, and I fear we shall
be unable to get any. Brent's infantry are but 30, and cannot be sent
on without bringing on disagreeable disputes about rank between his
officers and Gibson's. To silence these, the march of his men has been
countermanded. Colonel Finnie informs me, that Major Lee's infantry
has been sent back by special orders. We have ordered 243 horses to be
purchased for Colonels White and Washington. The orders to Mr. Lewis
to purchase beef in Carolina were given by the Continental Commissary,
so long ago as last winter, when it was not foreseen there would be
such a call for it in that country. Having no other means of conveying
a letter to him, I take the liberty of putting one under cover to
you, with instructions to him to discontinue his purchases in North
Carolina, and to furnish you with so much of the beef he has, as you
may think necessary. It would be expedient for you to leave in his
hands whatever quantity is not absolutely necessary for your army; as,
depending on that, no other provision has been made for the post at
Charlottesville, and you know our country so well as to foresee that
a port, at which 5,000 rations a day are issued, cannot be fed by the
purchase of the day.
We have reason to believe the French fleet arrived at Newport the 10th
ult., but it is not certain. Admiral Graves, with six sail of the line,
is certainly arrived at New York.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO MAJOR-GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, August 15, 1780.
SIR,--Your favor of August the 3d, is just now put into my hand. Those
formerly received have been duly answered, and my replies will, no
doubt, have reached you before this date. My last letter to you was by
Colonel Drayton.
I spoke fully with you on the difficulty of procuring wagons here,
when I had the pleasure of seeing you, and for that reason pressed
the sending back as many as possible. One brigade of twelve has since
returned, and is again on its way with medicine, military stores,
and spirit. Any others which come, and as fast as they come, shall
be returned to you with spirit and bacon. I have ever been informed,
that the very plentiful harvests of North Carolina, would render the
transportation of flour from this State as unnecessary as it would
be tedious, and that, in this point of view, the wagons should carry
hence only the articles before mentioned, which are equally wanting
with you. Finding that no great number of wagons is likely to return
to us, we will immediately order as many more to be bought and sent
on, as we possibly can. But, to prevent too great expectations, I must
again repeat, that I fear no great number can be got. I do assure you,
however, that neither attention nor expense shall be spared, to forward
to you every support for which we can obtain means of transportation.
You have, probably, received our order on Colonel Lewis, to deliver you
any of the beeves he may have purchased.
Tents, I fear, it is in vain to expect, because there is not in
this country stuff to make them. We have agents and commissioners in
constant pursuit of stuff, but hitherto researches have been fruitless.
Your order to Colonel Carrington shall be immediately communicated. A
hundred copies of the proclamation shall also be immediately printed
and forwarded to you. General Muhlenburg is come to this place, which
he will now make his head-quarters. I think he will be able to set
into motion, within a very few days, five hundred regulars, who are
now equipped for their march, except some blankets still wanting, but
I hope nearly procured and ready to be delivered.
I sincerely congratulate you on your successful advances on the
enemy, and wish to do everything to second your enterprises, which the
situation of this country, and the means and powers put into my hands,
enable me to do.
I am, Sir, with sincere respect and esteem,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, September 3, 1780.
SIR,--As I know the anxieties you must have felt, since the late
misfortune to the South, and our latter accounts have not been quite so
favorable as the first, I take the liberty of enclosing you a statement
of this unlucky affair, taken from letters from General Gates, General
Stevens, and Governor Nash, and, as to some circumstances, from an
officer who was in the action.[90] Another army is collecting; this
amounted, on the 23d ultimo, to between four and five thousand men,
consisting of about five hundred Maryland regulars, a few of Hamilton's
artillery, and Portersfield corps, Armand's legion, such of the
Virginia militia as had been reclaimed, and about three thousand North
Carolina militia, newly embodied. We are told they will increase these
to eight thousand. Our new recruits will rendezvous in this State
between the 10th and 25th instant. We are calling out two thousand
militia, who, I think, however, will not be got to Hillsborough till
the 25th of October. About three hundred and fifty regulars marched
from Chesterfield a week ago. Fifty march to-morrow, and there will be
one hundred or one hundred and fifty more from that post, when they
can be cleared of the hospital. This is as good a view as I can give
you of the force we are endeavoring to collect; but they are unarmed.
Almost the whole small arms seems to have been lost in the late rout.
There are here, on their way southward, three thousand stand of arms,
sent by Congress, and we have still a few in our magazine. I have
written pressingly, as the subject well deserves, to Congress, to
send immediate supplies, and to think of forming a magazine here, that
in case of another disaster, we may not be left without all means of
opposition.
I enclosed to your Excellency, some time ago, a resolution of the
Assembly, instructing us to send a quantity of tobacco to New York
for the relief of our officers there, and asking the favor of you to
obtain permission. Having received no answer, I fear my letter or your
answer has miscarried. I therefore take the liberty of repeating my
application to you.
I have the honor to be, with the most profound respect, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, September 3, 1780.
DEAR SIR,--I sincerely condole with you on our late misfortune,[91]
which sits the heavier on my mind as being produced by my own
countrymen. Instead of considering what is past, however, we are to
look forward and prepare for the future. I write General Gates and
Governor Nash as to supplies and reinforcements. Another body of
2,000 militia are ordered to you to rendezvous at Hillsborough, on
the 25th of October. They come from the middle and north counties,
beyond and adjoining the Blue Ridge. I am told, also, that a spirit
of raising volunteers is springing up. The truth of this, however, is
not certainly known, nor can its success be depended on. Governor Nash
writes me that 400 wagons were lost. An officer here, however, thinks
they are not. This, indeed, would be a heavy loss, as well as that of
the small arms. We shall exert every nerve to assist you in every way
in our power, being, as we are, without any money in the Treasury, or
any prospect of more till the Assembly meets in October.
I am with great esteem your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO THE HON. MAJOR GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, September 11, 1780.
DEAR SIR,--Your bill for £54,712 in favor of Mallette, has been duly
honored, that for £95,288 we shall also discharge; another bill (which
being delivered back to be presented at the end of the ten days, I
cannot recollect either the name of the holder or the sum) has been
accepted. We are now without one shilling in the treasury, or a
possibility of having it recruited till the meeting of the Assembly,
which takes place on the 15th of the next month. In this condition
Mr. Duncan Ochiltree found us when he delivered your letter of the 5th
instant, and draught for £100,000 in favor of Col. Polk. The only thing
in our power, after stating to him our situation, was to assure him
that it should be paid as soon as we should be enabled to do it by the
Assembly, which I flatter myself will be as soon as they meet. Of this
I am to notify him, that he may know when to call for payment. I shall
be very glad if you can accommodate, to the same circumstances, any
other draughts you may find it necessary to make on me.
We have sent a Mr. Paton, Commissary for the State, to collect beeves
in our southern counties, and forward them to your army. He has orders
to keep up a proper correspondence with your Commissary.
I have the honor to be with the greatest esteem and respect, Sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant.
TO GENERAL EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, September 12, 1780.
SIR,--Your letters of August 27th and 30th are now before me. The
subsequent desertions of your militia have taken away the necessity of
answering the question, How they shall be armed? On the contrary, as
there must now be a surplus of arms, I am in hopes you will endeavor
to reserve them, as we have not here a sufficient number by fifteen
hundred or two thousand for the men who will march hence, if they
march in numbers equal to our expectations. I have sent expresses
into all the counties from which those militia went, requiring the
county lieutenants to exert themselves in taking them; and such is the
detestation with which they have been received, that I have heard from
many counties they were going back of themselves. You will, of course,
hold courts martial on them, and make them soldiers for eight months.
If you will be so good as to inform me, from time to time, how many you
have, we may, perhaps, get the supernumerary officers in the State to
take command of them. By the same opportunities, I desired notice to
be given to the friends of the few remaining with you, that they had
lost their clothes and blankets, and recommended that they should avail
themselves of any good opportunity to send them supplies.
We approve of your accommodating the hospital with medicines, and
the Maryland troops with spirits. They really deserve the whole, and
I wish we had means of transportation for much greater quantities,
which we have on hand and cannot convey. This article we could furnish
plentifully to you and them. What is to be done for wagons, I do not
know. We have not now one shilling in the treasury to purchase them.
We have ordered an active quarter-master to go to the westward, and
endeavor to purchase on credit, or impress a hundred wagons and teams.
But I really see no prospect of sending you additional supplies, till
the same wagons return from you, which we sent on with the last. I
informed you, in my last letter, we had ordered two thousand militia
more, to rendezvous at Hillsborough on the 25th of October. You will
judge yourself, whether, in the meantime, you can be more useful by
remaining where you are, with the few militia left and coming in, or by
returning home, where, besides again accommodating yourself after your
losses, you may also aid us in getting those men into motion, and in
pointing out such things as are within our power, and may be useful to
the service. And you will act accordingly. I am, with great friendship
and esteem, dear Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant.
TO GENERAL EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, Sept. 15th, 1780.
SIR,--I beg leave to trouble you with a private letter, on a little
matter of my own, having no acquaintance at camp, with whom I can take
that liberty. Among the wagons impressed, for the use of your militia,
were two of mine. One of these, I know is safe, having been on its
way from hence to Hillsborough, at the time of the late engagement.
The other, I have reason to believe, was on the field. A wagon master,
who says he was near it, informs me the brigade quarter-master cut out
one of my best horses, and made his escape on him, and that he saw my
wagoner loosening his own horse to come off, but the enemy's horse were
then coming up, and he knows nothing further. He was a negro man, named
Phill, lame in one arm and leg. If you will do me the favor to enquire
what has become of him, what horses are saved, and to send them to me,
I shall be much obliged to you. The horses were not public property,
as they were only impressed and not sold. Perhaps your certificate of
what is lost, may be necessary for me. The wagon master told me, that
the public money was in my wagon, a circumstance which, perhaps, may
aid your enquiries. After apologising for the trouble, I beg leave to
assure you that I am, with great sincerity,
Your friend and servant.
TO MAJOR GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, September 23, 1780.
SIR,--I have empowered Colonel Carrington to have twelve boats, scows
or batteaux, built at Taylor's Ferry, and to draw on me for the cost. I
recommended the constructing them so as to answer the transportation of
provisions along that river, as a change of position of the two armies,
may render them unnecessary at Taylor's ferry; and I am thoroughly
persuaded, that, unless we can find out some channel of transportation
by water, no supplies of bread, of any consequence, can be sent you
from this State for a long time to come. The want of wagons is a bar
insuperable, at least, in any reasonable time. I have given orders
to have Fry and Jefferson's map, and Henry's map of Virginia, sought
for and purchased. As soon as they can be got, I will forward them. I
have also written to General Washington on the subject of wintering
the French fleet in the Chesapeake. Our new levies rendezvous in
large numbers. As General Washington had constituted them into eight
battalions, and allotted none to Colonel Harrison, we think to deliver
him about four hundred drafts of another kind, who are to serve
eighteen months also. Unless Congress furnish small arms, we cannot
arm more than half the men who will go from this State. The prize you
mention of tents and blankets is very fortunate. It is absolutely out
of our power to get these articles, to any amount, in this country,
nor have we clothing for our new levies. They must, therefore, go
to you clothed as militia, till we can procure and send on supplies.
They will be as warm in their present clothing at Hillsborough, as at
Chesterfield Court House.
We have an agent, collecting all the beeves which can be got from the
counties round about Portsmouth, to send off to you. They have there
also plentiful crops of corn growing. We have instructed him to try
whether means of conveying it down into the Sounds, and up some of the
rivers of North Carolina, or by land to Meherrin river, and thence down
Chowan, and up Roanoke, cannot be rendered practicable.
I am, with every sentiment of esteem and respect, your most obedient
and most humble servant.
* * * * *
P. S. I enclose a certificate, acknowledging satisfaction for the money
furnished by Colonel Kosciusko.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, September 23, 1780.
SIR,--I yesterday forwarded to you a letter from Colonel Wood,
informing you of his situation. That post has, for some time past,
been pretty regularly supplied, and I hope will continue to be for some
time to come. A person, whose punctuality can be relied on, offers to
contract for victualling it. If we can agree on terms, and the Assembly
will strengthen our hands sufficiently, we think to adopt that method,
as the only one to be relied on with certainty. I have heard it hinted
that Colonel Wood thinks of quitting that post. I should be exceedingly
sorry, indeed, were he to do it. He has given to those under his charge
the most perfect satisfaction, and, at the same time, used all the
cautions which the nature of his charge has required. It is principally
owing to his prudence and good temper, that the late difficulties have
been passed over, almost without a murmur. Any influence which your
Excellency shall think proper to use, for retaining him in his present
situation, will promote the public good, and have a great tendency to
keep up a desirable harmony with the officers of that corps. Our new
recruits are rendezvousing very generally. Colonel Harrison was uneasy
at having none of them assigned to his corps of artillery, who have
very much distinguished themselves in the late unfortunate action,
and are reduced almost to nothing. We happened to have about four
hundred drafts, raised in the last year, and never called out and sent
on duty by their county lieutenants, whom we have collected and are
collecting. We think to deliver these to Colonel Harrison: they are
to serve eighteen months from the time of rendezvous. The numbers of
regulars and militia ordered from this State into the southern service,
are about seven thousand. I trust we may count that fifty-five hundred
will actually proceed; but we have arms for three thousand only. If,
therefore, we do not speedily receive a supply from Congress, we must
countermand a proper number of these troops. Besides this supply,
there should certainly be a magazine laid in here, to provide against a
general loss as well as daily waste. When we deliver out those now in
our magazine, we shall have sent seven thousand stand of our own into
the southern service, in the course of this summer. We are still more
destitute of clothing, tents and wagons for our troops. The southern
army suffers for provisions, which we could plentifully supply, were
it possible to find means of transportation. Despairing of this, we
directed very considerable quantities, collected on the navigable
waters, to be sent northwardly by the quarter-master. This he is now
doing; slowly, however. Unapprised what may be proposed by our allies,
to be done with their fleet in the course of the ensuing winter, I
would beg leave to intimate to you, that if it should appear to them
eligible that it should winter in the Chesapeake, they can be well
supplied with provisions, taking their necessary measures in due time.
The waters communicating with that bay furnish easy, and (in that case)
safe transportation, and their money will call forth what is denied to
ours.
I am, with all possible esteem and respect, your Excellency's most
obedient and humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, September 26, 1780.
SIR,--The enclosed copy of a letter from Lord Cornwallis[92] to Colonel
Balfour, was sent me by Governor Rutledge: lest you should not have
seen it, I do myself the pleasure of transmitting it, with a letter
from General Harrington to General Gates giving information of some
late movements of the enemy.
I was honored yesterday with your favor of the 5th instant, on the
subject of prisoners, and particularly Lieutenant Governor Hamilton.
You are not unapprised of the influence of this officer with the
Indians, his activity and embittered zeal against us. You also,
perhaps, know how precarious is our tenure of the Illinois country, and
how critical is the situation of the new counties on the Ohio. These
circumstances determined us to detain Governor Hamilton and Major Hay
within our power, when we delivered up the other prisoners. On a late
representation from the people of Kentucky, by a person sent here from
that country, and expressions of what they had reason to apprehend
from these two prisoners, in the event of their liberation, we assured
them they would not be parted with, though we were giving up our other
prisoners. Lieutenant Colonel Dabusson, aid to Baron de Kalb, lately
came here on his parole, with an offer from Lord Rawdon, to exchange
him for Hamilton. Colonel Towles is now here with a like proposition
for himself, from General Phillips, very strongly urged by the General.
These, and other overtures, do not lessen our opinion of the importance
of retaining him; and they have been, and will be, uniformly rejected.
Should the settlement, indeed, of a cartel become impracticable,
without the consent of the States to submit their separate prisoners
to its obligation, we will give up these two prisoners, as we would
anything, rather than be an obstacle to a general good. But no
other circumstance would, I believe, extract them from us. These two
gentlemen, with a Lieutenant Colonel Elligood, are the only separate
prisoners we have retained, and the last, only on his own request, and
not because we set any store by him. There is, indeed, a Lieutenant
Governor Rocheblawe of Kaskaskie, who has broken his parole, and gone
to New York, whom we must shortly trouble your Excellency to demand for
us, as soon as we can forward to you the proper documents. Since the
forty prisoners sent to Winchester, as mentioned in my letter of the
9th ultimo, about one hundred and fifty more have been sent thither,
some of them taken by us at sea, others sent on by General Gates.
The exposed and weak state of our western settlements, and the danger
to which they are subject from the northern Indians, acting under the
influence of the British post at Detroit, render it necessary for us
to keep from five to eight hundred men on duty, for their defence.
This is a great and perpetual expense. Could that post be reduced and
retained, it would cover all the States to the southeast of it. We have
long meditated the attempt under the direction of Colonel Clarke, but
the expense would be so great, that whenever we have wished to take
it up, the circumstance has obliged us to decline it. Two different
estimates make it amount to two millions of pounds, present money. We
could furnish the men, provisions, and every necessary, except powder,
had we the money, or could the demand from us be so far supplied from
other quarters, as to leave it in our power to apply such a sum to
that purpose; and, when once done, it would save annual expenditures
to a great amount. When I speak of furnishing the men, I mean they
should be militia, such being the popularity of Colonel Clarke, and
the confidence of the western people in him, that he could raise the
requisite number at any time. We, therefore, beg leave to refer this
matter to yourself, to determine whether such an enterprise would not
be for the general good, and if you think it would, to authorize it
at the general expense. This is become the more reasonable, if, as I
understand, the ratification of the Confederation has been rested on
our cession of a part of our western claim; a cession which (speaking
my private opinion) I verily believe will be agreed to, if the quantity
demanded is not unreasonably great. Should this proposition be approved
of, it should be immediately made known to us, as the season is now
coming on, at which some of the preparations must be made. The time of
execution, I think, should be at the time of the breaking up of the ice
in the Wabash, and before the lakes open. The interval, I am told, is
considerable.
I have the honor to be, &c., your most obedient and humble servant.
TO MAJOR-GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, October 4, 1780.
SIR,--My letter of September 23d, answered your favors received before
that date, and the present serves to acknowledge the receipt of those
of September 24th and 27th. I retain in mind, and recur, almost daily,
to your requisitions of August; we have, as yet, no prospect of more
than one hundred tents. Flour is ordered to be manufactured, as soon as
the season will render it safe; out of which, I trust, we can furnish
not only your requisition of August, but that of Congress of September
11th. The corn you desire, we could furnish when the new crops come
in, fully, if water transportation can be found; if not, we shall be
able only to send you what lies convenient to the southern boundary,
in which neighborhood the crops have been much abridged by a flood
in Roanoke. We have no rice. Rum and other spirits we can furnish
to a greater amount than you require, as soon as our wagons are in
readiness, and shall be glad to commute into that article some others
which we have not, particularly sugar, coffee and salt. The vinegar is
provided. Colonel Finnie promised to furnish to Colonel Muter, a list
of the spades, hoes, &c., which could be furnished from the Continental
stores. This list has never yet come to hand. It is believed, the
Continental stores here will fall little short of your requisition,
except in the article of axes, which our shops are proceeding on. Your
information of September 24th, as to the quality of the axes, has been
notified to the workmen, and will, I hope, have a proper effect on
those made hereafter. Application has been made to the courts, to have
the bridges put in a proper state, which they have promised to do.
We are endeavoring again to collect wagons. About twenty are nearly
finished at this place. We employed, about three weeks ago, agents to
purchase, in the western counties, a hundred wagons and teams. Till
these can be got, it will be impossible to furnish anything from this
place. I am exceedingly pleased to hear of your regulation for stopping
our wagons at Roanoke. This will put it in our power to repair and
replace them, to calculate their returns, provide loads, and will be
a great encouragement to increase their number, if possible, as their
departure hence will no longer produce the idea of a final adieu to
them.
Colonel Senf arrived here the evening before the last. He was employed
yesterday and to-day, in copying some actual and accurate surveys,
which we had had made of the country round about Portsmouth, as far
as Cape Henry to the eastward, Nansemond river to the westward, the
Dismal Swamp to the southward, and northwardly, the line of country
from Portsmouth by Hampton and York, to Williamsburg, and including
the vicinities of these three last posts. This will leave him nothing
to do, but to take drawings of particular places, and the soundings
of such waters as he thinks material. He will proceed on this business
to-morrow, with a letter to General Nelson, and powers to call for the
attendance of a proper vessel.
I suppose, that your drafts in favor of the quarter-master, if attended
with sixty days' grace, may be complied with to a certain amount. We
will certainly use our best endeavors to answer them. I have only to
desire that they may be made payable to the quarter-master alone, and
not to the bearer. This is to prevent the mortification of seeing
an unapprised individual taken in by an assignment of them, as if
they were _ready money_. Your letter to Colonel Finnie will go to
Williamsburg immediately. Those to Congress, with a copy of the papers
enclosed to me, went yesterday by express. I will take order as to the
bacon you mention. I fear there is little of it, and that not capable
of being long kept. You are surely not uninformed, that Congress
required the greater part of this article to be sent northward,
which has been done. I hope, by this time, you receive supplies of
beeves from our commissary, Mr. Eaton, who was sent, three weeks or a
month ago to exhaust of that article the counties below, and in the
neighborhood of Portsmouth; and from thence, was to proceed to the
other counties, in order, as they stood exposed to an enemy.
The arrival of the French West India fleet (which, though not
authentically communicated, seems supported by so many concurring
accounts from individuals, as to leave scarcely room for doubt), will,
I hope, prevent the enemy from carrying into effect the embarkation
they had certainly intended from New York, though they are strengthened
by the arrival of Admiral Rodney at that place, with twelve sail of the
line and four frigates, as announced by General Washington to Congress,
on the 19th ultimo. The accounts of the additional French fleet are
varied, from sixteen to nineteen ships of the line, besides frigates.
The number of the latter has never been mentioned. The extracts of
letters, which you will see in our paper of this day, are from General
Washington, President Huntington and our Delegates in Congress to
me. That from Bladensburg is from a particular acquaintance of mine,
whose credit cannot be doubted. The distress we are experiencing from
want of leather to make shoes, is great. I am sure you have thought of
preventing it in future, by the appointment of a commissary of hides,
or some other good regulation for saving and tanning the hides, which
the consumption of your army will afford.
I have the honor to be, with all possible esteem and respect, Sir, your
most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, October 15, 1780.
SIR,--I am rendered not a little anxious by the paragraph of yours
of the 7th instant, wherein you say, "It is near a month since I
received any letter from your Excellency; indeed, the receipt of most
that I have written to you remain unacknowledged." You ought, within
that time, to have received my letter of September the 3d, written
immediately on my return to this place, after a fortnight's absence;
that of September the 11th, acknowledging the receipt of yours which
covered drafts for money; that of September the 23d, on the subject of
batteaux at Taylor's ferry, wagons, maps of Virginia, wintering the
French fleet in the Chesapeake, our new levies, and provisions from
our lower counties; and that of October the 4th, in answer to yours
of September the 24th, and 27th. I begin to apprehend treachery in
some part of our chain of expresses, and beg the favor of you, in your
next, to mention whether any, and which of these letters have come to
hand. This acknowledges the receipt of yours of September the 28th, and
October the 3d, 5th, and 7th. The first of these was delivered four or
five days ago by Captain Drew. He will be permitted to return as you
desire, as we would fulfil your wishes in every point in our power,
as well as indulge the ardor of a good officer. Our militia from the
western counties, are now on their march to join you. They are fond
of the kind of service in which Colonel Morgan is generally engaged,
and are made very happy by being informed you intend to put them under
him. Such as pass by this place, take muskets in their hands. Those
from the southern counties beyond the Blue Ridge, were advised to
carry their rifles. For those who carry neither rifles nor muskets, as
well as for our eighteen months' men, we shall send on arms as soon as
wagons can be procured. In the meantime, I had hoped that there were
arms for those who should first arrive at Hillsborough, as by General
Stevens's return, dated at his departure thence, there were somewhere
between five and eight hundred muskets (I speak from memory, not having
present access to the return) belonging to this State, either in the
hands of the few militia who were there, or stored. Captain Fauntleroy,
of the cavalry, gives me hopes he shall immediately forward a very
considerable supply of accoutrements, for White's and Washington's
cavalry. He told me yesterday, he had received one hundred and thirteen
horses for that service, from us. Besides those, he had rejected
sixty odd, after we had purchased them, at £30 apiece. Nelson's two
troops were returned to me, deficient only twelve horses, since which,
ten have been sent to him by Lieutenant Armstead. I am not a little
disappointed, therefore, in the number of cavalry fit for duty, as
mentioned in the letter you enclosed me. Your request (as stated in
your letter of the 7th) that we will send no men into the field, or
even to your camp, that are not well furnished with shoes, blankets,
and every necessary for immediate service, would amount to a stoppage
of every man; as we have it not in our power to furnish them with real
necessaries completely. I hope they will be all shod. What proportion
will have blankets, I cannot say: we purchase every one which can be
found out; and now I begin to have a prospect of furnishing about half
of them with tents, as soon as they can be made and forwarded. As to
provisions, our agent, Eaton, of whom I before wrote, informs me in a
letter of the 5th instant, he shall immediately get supplies of beef
into motion, and shall send some corn by a circuitous navigation. But
till we receive our wagons from the western country, I cannot hope to
aid you in bread. I expect daily to see wagons coming in to us. The
militia were ordered to rendezvous at Hillsborough, expecting they
would thence be ordered by you into service. I send you herewith, a
copy of Henry's map of Virginia. It is a mere _cento_ of blunders. It
may serve to give you a general idea of the courses of rivers, and
positions of counties. We are endeavoring to get you a copy of Fry
and Jefferson's; but they are now very scarce. I also enclose you some
newspapers, in which you will find a detail of Arnold's apostasy and
villany.
I am, with all sentiments of sincere respect and esteem, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant.
* * * * *
P. S. Just as I was closing my letter, yours of the 9th instant was
put into my hands. I enclose, by this express, a power to Mr. Lambe,
quarter-master, to impress for a month, ten wagons from each of the
counties of Brunswick, Mecklenburg, Lunenburg, Charlotte, and Halifax,
and direct him to take your orders, whether they shall go first to you,
or come here. If the latter, we can load them with arms and spirits.
Before their month is out, I hope the hundred wagons from the westward
will have come in. We will otherwise provide a relief for these. I am
perfectly astonished at your not having yet received my letters before
mentioned. I send you a copy of that of the 4th of October, as being
most material. I learn from one of General Muhlenburg's family, that
five wagons have set out from hence, with three hundred stand of arms,
&c. However, the General writes to you himself.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, October 22, 1780.
SIR,--I have this morning received certain information of the arrival
of a hostile fleet in our bay, of about sixty sail. The debarkation of
some light horse, in the neighborhood of Portsmouth, seems to indicate
that as the first scene of action. We are endeavoring to collect as
large a body to oppose them as we can arm; this will be lamentably
inadequate, if the enemy be in any force. It is mortifying to suppose
that a people, able and zealous to contend with their enemy, should
be reduced to fold their arms for want of the means of defence. Yet
no resources, that we know of, insure us against this event. It has
become necessary to divert to this new object, a considerable part
of the aids we had destined for General Gates. We are still, however,
sensible of the necessity of supporting him, and have left that part
of the country nearest him uncalled on, at present, that they may
reinforce him as soon as arms can be received. We have called to the
command of our forces Generals Weeden and Muhlenburg, of the line, and
Nelson and Stevens of the militia. You will be pleased to make to these
such additions as you may think proper. As to the aids of men, I ask
for none, knowing that if the late detachment of the enemy shall have
left it safe for you to spare aids of that kind, you will not await my
application. Of the troops we shall raise, there is not a single man
who ever saw the face of an enemy. Whether the Convention troops will
be removed or not, is yet undetermined. This must depend on the force
of the enemy, and the aspect of their movements.
I have the honor to be your Excellency's most obedient humble servant.
TO MAJOR GENERAL GATES.
IN COUNCIL, Oct. 22d, 1780.
SIR,--The letters which accompany this will inform you of the arrival
of a large fleet of the enemy within our capes, and that they have
begun their debarkation.[93] We are taking measures to collect a body
to oppose them, for which purpose it seems necessary to retain such
regulars, volunteers and militia as have not yet gone on to you. We
have left the counties of Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Halifax, and all
above them on the south side of James river, uncalled on, that they
may be in readiness to reinforce you as soon as arms can be procured.
I am in hopes the eighteen months' men and western militia, who will
have joined you with the volunteers from Washington and Montgomery,
as proposed by Col. Preston, and the eighteen months' militia, will
be a useful reinforcement to you, and shall continue to divide our
attention, both as to men and provisions, between the army in your
front and that which is posting itself within our own country.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant.
* * * * *
P. S. Col. Carrington is arrived since writing the above, and says you
want thirty horses to move your artillery. They shall be immediately
sent to you.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, October 25, 1780.
SIR,--I take the liberty of enclosing to you letters from Governor
Hamilton, for New York. On some representations received by Colonel
Towles, that an indulgence to Governor Hamilton and his companions to
go to New York, on parole, would produce the happiest effect on the
situation of our officers in Long Island, we have given him, Major Hay,
and some of the same party at Winchester, leave to go there on parole.
The two former go by water, the latter by land.
By this express I hand on, from General Gates to Congress, intelligence
of the capture of Augusta, in Georgia, with considerable quantities
of goods; and information, which carries a fair appearance, of the
taking of Georgetown, in South Carolina, by a party of ours, and that
an army of six thousand French and Spaniards had landed at Sunbury.
This is the more credible, as Cornwallis retreated from Charlotte on
the 12th instant, with great marks of precipitation. Since my last to
you, informing you of an enemy's fleet, they have landed eight hundred
men in the neighborhood of Portsmouth, and some more on the bay side
of Princess Anne. One thousand infantry landed at New-ports-news, on
the morning of the 23d, and immediately took possession of Hampton. The
horse were proceeding up the road. Such a corps as Major Lee's would
be of infinite service to us. Next to a naval force, horse seems to be
most capable of protecting a country so intersected by waters.
I am, with the most sincere esteem, your Excellency's most obedient and
most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, October 26, 1780.
SIR,--The Executive of this State think it expedient, under our
present circumstances, that the prisoners of war under the Convention
of Saratoga, be removed from their present situation. It will be
impossible, as long as they remain with us, to prevent the hostile
army from being reinforced by numerous desertions from this corps; and
this expectation may be one among the probable causes of this movement
of the enemy. Should, moreover, a rescue of them be attempted, the
extensive disaffection which has of late been discovered, and the
almost total want of arms in the hands of our good people, render
the success of such an enterprise by no means desperate. The fear of
this, and the dangerous convulsions to which such an attempt would
expose us, divert the attention of a very considerable part of our
militia from an opposition to an invading enemy. An order has been,
therefore, this day issued to Colonel Wood, to take immediate measures
for their removal; and every aid has been, and will be given him, for
transporting, guarding, and subsisting them on the road, which our
powers can accomplish. Notice hereof is sent to his Excellency Governor
Lee, on whose part, I doubt not, necessary preparations will be made.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem and respect, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, October 28, 1780.
SIR,--Your letters of the 14th, 20th and 21st have come to hand, and
your despatches to Congress have been regularly forwarded. I shall
attend to the caveat against Mr. Ochiltree's bill. Your letter to
Colonel Senf remains still in my hands, as it did not come till the
enemy had taken possession of the ground, on which I knew him to have
been, and I have since no certain information where a letter might
surely find him. My proposition as to your bills in favor of the
quarter-master, referred to yours of September 27th. I have notified to
the Continental quarter-master, your advance of nine hundred dollars
to Cooper. As yet, we have received no wagons. I wish Mr. Lambe may
have supplied you. Should those from the western quarter not come in,
we will authorize him or some other, to procure a relief, in time,
for those first impressed. We are upon the eve of a new arrangement as
to our commissary's and quarter-master's departments, as the want of
money, introducing its substitute force, requires the establishment of
a different kind of system.
Since my first information to you of the arrival of an enemy, they have
landed about eight hundred men near Portsmouth, some on the bay side of
Princess Anne, one thousand at Hampton, and still retained considerable
part on board their ships. Those at Hampton, after committing horrid
depredations, have again retired to their ships, which, on the evening
of the 26th, were strung along the road from New-ports-news, to the
mouth of Nansemond, which seems to indicate an intention of coming
up James river. Our information is, that they have from four to five
thousand men, commanded by General Leslie, and that they have come
under convoy of one forty-gun ship, and some frigates (how many has
never been said), commanded by Commodore Rodney. Would it not be worth
while to send out a swift boat from some of the inlets of Carolina,
to notify the French Admiral that his enemies are in a net, if he has
leisure to close the mouth of it? Generals Muhlenburg and Nelson are
assembling a force to be ready for them, and General Weeden has come
to this place, where he is at present employed in some arrangements.
We have ordered the removal of the Saratoga prisoners, that we may have
our hands clear for these new guests.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, November 3, 1780.
SIR,--Since I had the honor of writing to your Excellency, on the 25th
ultimo, the enemy have withdrawn their forces from the North of James
River, and have taken post at Portsmouth, which, we learn, they are
fortifying. Their highest post is Suffolk, where there is a very narrow
and defensible pass between Nansemond river and the Dismal Swamp,
which covers the country below, from being entered by us. More accurate
information of their force, than we at first had, gives us reason to
suppose them to be from twenty-five hundred to three thousand strong,
of which between sixty and seventy are cavalry. They are commanded by
General Leslie, and were convoyed by the Romulus, of forty guns, the
Blonde, of thirty-two guns, the Delight sloop, of sixteen, a twenty-gun
ship of John Goodwick's, and two row gallies, commanded by Commodore
Grayton. We are not assured, as yet, that they have landed their whole
force. Indeed, they give out themselves, that after drawing the force
of this State to Suffolk, they mean to go to Baltimore. Their movements
had induced me to think they came with an expectation of meeting with
Lord Cornwallis in this country, that his precipitate retreat has left
them without a concerted object, and that they were waiting further
orders. Information of this morning says, that being informed of
Lord Cornwallis's retreat, and a public paper having been procured by
them, wherein were printed the several despatches which brought this
intelligence from General Gates, they unladed a vessel and sent her off
to Charleston immediately. The fate of this army of theirs hangs on a
very slender naval force, indeed.
The want of barracks at fort Frederick, as represented by Colonel
Wood, the difficulty of getting wagons sufficient to move the whole
Convention troops, and the state of uneasiness in which the regiment
of guards is, have induced me to think it would be better to move
these troops in two divisions; and as the whole danger of desertion
to the enemy, and correspondence with the disaffected in our southern
counties, is from the British only, (for from the Germans we have no
apprehensions on either head,) we have advised Colonel Wood to move
on the British in the first division, and to leave the Germans in
their present situation, to form a second division, when barracks may
be erected at fort Frederick. By these means, the British may march
immediately under the guard of Colonel Crochet's battalion, while
Colonel Taylor's regiment of guards remains with the Germans. I cannot
suppose this will be deemed such a separation as is provided against
by the Convention, nor that their officers will wish to have the whole
troops crowded into barracks, probably not sufficient for half of them.
Should they, however, insist on their being kept together, I suppose it
would be the opinion that the second division should follow the first
as soon as possible, and that their being exposed, in that case, to
a want of covering, would be justly imputable to themselves only. The
delay of the second division, will lessen the distress for provisions,
which may, perhaps, take place on their first going to the new post,
before matters are properly arranged.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, November 10, 1780.
SIR,--I inclose your Excellency a copy of an intercepted letter from
Major General Leslie, to Lord Cornwallis.[94] It was taken from a
person endeavoring to pass through the country from Portsmouth towards
Carolina. When apprehended, and a proposal made to search him, he
readily consented to be searched, but, at the same time, was observed
to put his hand into his pocket and carry something towards his mouth,
as if it were a quid of tobacco; it was examined, and found to be a
letter, of which the inclosed is a copy, written on silk paper, rolled
up in gold-beater's skin, and nicely tied at each end, so as not to be
larger than a goose-quill. As this is the first authentic disclosure
of their purpose in coming here, and may serve to found, with somewhat
more of certainty, conjectures respecting their future movements, while
their disappointment in not meeting with Lord Cornwallis may occasion
new plans at New York, I thought it worthy of communication to your
Excellency.
Some deserters were taken yesterday, said to be of the British
Convention troops, who have found means to get to the enemy at
Portsmouth, and were seventy or eighty miles on their way back to the
barracks, when they were taken. They were passing under the guise of
deserters from Portsmouth.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem and respect, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO ----[95].
RICHMOND, November 10, 1780.
SIR,--Your favor of the 3d instant, enclosing Colonel Preston's letter,
came to hand on the 8th. The proposals mentioned in the Colonel's
letter, for sending volunteers to you, were accepted, and put, as was
necessary, into such precise form as that all parties might know what
they had a right to expect. In doing this, two circumstances happened
to interfere with what had been expected. We required that they should
be subject to your orders, and those of such other officer as you
should place them under: this was to enable you to make use of them
in constituting the corps you had proposed under General Morgan; 2,
that there should be two companies of rifles only to each battalion:
this was the advice of General Morgan in a conversation with me. We
have since dispensed with the last of these conditions, and allowed
every man to carry his rifle, as we found that absolutely necessary
to induce them to go. Colonel Skiller, of Boletourt, writes me he has
150 engaged, and we shall endeavor to prevail upon Colonel Campbell to
raise another corps, in which, if he undertakes it, I trust he will
succeed. I am much at a loss what should be done as to the prisoners
taken at King's Mountain. I do not think Montgomery Courthouse good
place, because it is very disaffected. It is too near their own
country, and would admit their co-operation in any enterprize on our
lead mines, which are about eight miles from thence. I have taken
measures for continuing their march under a guard northwardly, and
in the meantime for receiving instructions from Congress where to
terminate their journey. The British Convention troops will proceed
immediately to Fort Frederick in Maryland. The Germans will remain
in Albemarle till accommodations can be provided for them in the same
place. From them we have no apprehensions of desertion to the enemy.
Some British were taken yesterday, who are said to have been with
the enemy, and were returning to the barracks. Two or three days ago,
a British emissary from Portsmouth was taken endeavoring to proceed
towards Carolina. On a proposal to search him, they observed him to
put his hand in his pocket and put something to his mouth like a quid
of tobacco. On examination it was found to be a letter, of which the
enclosed is a copy, written on silk paper, rolled up in gold beater's
skin, and nicely tied at each end, the whole not larger than a
goose-quill. By this you will find our conjectures verified, that they
expected to meet with Lord Cornwallis in the neighborhood at least of
this county, and are disappointed and without an object. Can you not
take measures for finding out the other messenger to Lord Cornwallis,
who went by land? The force we shall now immediately have together,
authorizes me to assure you, you need not apprehend their penetrating
any distance southwardly. I only lament that this measure should have
intercepted our reinforcements to you. We have left all the counties
south of James River, and nearer to Hillsborough than Portsmouth,
uncalled on, that they may be ready to go to the aid of our Southern
friends whenever arms can be procured.
I am, with the greatest esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and
most humble servant.
TO EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, November 10, 1780.
SIR,--Your two letters of October 24th and October -- have been
duly received. I have been informed that the beeves which have been
collected in Princess Anne and Norfolk, to be sent southwardly, were
the first things which fell into the hands of the enemy. We received
notice of this invasion a few hours after you left this place, and
despatched a letter to recall you, which we expected would have found
you in Petersburg. However, you had gone on, and as there should be a
general officer with the men from this State in the Southern service,
and we have here three general officers, we have not repeated our call
for your assistance. The force called on to oppose the enemy, is as
yet in a most chaotic state, consisting of fragments of three months'
militia, eight months' men, eighteen months' men, volunteers, and new
militia.
Were it possible to arm men, we would send on substantial
reinforcements to you, notwithstanding the presence of the enemy with
us; but the prospect of arms with us is very bad indeed. I have never
received a line from Mr. Lambe as to his success in pressing wagons.
None have yet come in from the westward. The Executive were so far from
allowing the eight months' men to enlist into the Volunteer Corps,
as you say, they pretend they were expressly excluded from it in the
several propositions we made for raising volunteers. Nothing of moment
has happened here since the arrival of the enemy. General Muhlenburg is
at Stoaner's Mills, at the head of Pagan Creek, with our main force.
General Nelson is on the north side of James River with another body.
General Weeden is gone to join the one or the other. A British emissary
was taken two or three days ago with a letter from General Leslie to
Lord Cornwallis, informing him he was at Portsmouth, but could not
learn where his Lordship was; that he had sent one letter to him to
Charlestown by water, another by land, and waited his orders. Cannot
measures be taken to apprehend the messenger who went by land?
I am, with the greatest esteem, Sir, your most humble servant.
TO GENERAL GATES.[96]
RICHMOND, November 19, 1780.
SIR,--The vessel which had been sent by General Leslie to Charlestown,
as we supposed, returned about the 12th instant. The enemy began
to embark soon after from Portsmouth, and in the night of the 15th,
completed the embarkation of their whole force. On the morning of the
16th, some of our people entered Portsmouth. They had left their works
unfinished and undestroyed. Great numbers of negroes, who had gone
over to them, were left, either for the want of ship-room or through
choice. They had not moved from Elizabeth river at 11 o'clock a. m. of
the 16th. They gave out that they intended to go up James River; but
the precipitate abandoning of works on receipt of some communication or
other from Charlestown, was not likely to be for the purpose of coming
up James River. I received this intelligence by express from General
Muhlenburg yesterday morning. As the enemy's situation was such as
to give reason to expect every moment a movement in some direction, I
delayed sending off notice to you, in hopes that that movement would
point out their destination. But no such information being yet come
to hand, I think it proper no longer to delay communicating to you so
much.
Since writing so far, your favor of the 8th instant comes to hand,
accompanied by one from General Stevens at Hillsborough of the 10th--a
strange derangement, indeed, our riders have got into, to be nine days
coming from Hillsborough. I shall be very happy if the departure of
the enemy, which I hourly expect to be confirmed, shall leave us at
liberty to send you a substantial reinforcement. The men, being now
in the field, may be marched directly southwardly. What may be its
precise amount, I cannot say, till I get from General Muhlenburg a
return of the eighteen months' men, the eight months' men, and militia,
who had been stopped here on their way to the southward, and from
General Lawson a return of the volunteers he has engaged to go to the
southward.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, November 26, 1780.
SIR,--I have been honored with your Excellency's letter of the 8th
instant. Having found it impracticable to move, suddenly, the whole
Convention troops, British and German, and it being represented that
there could not, immediately, be covering provided for them all at
Fort Frederick, we concluded to march off the British first, from whom
was the principal danger of desertion, and to permit the Germans, who
show little disposition to join the enemy, to remain in their present
quarters till something further be done. The British, accordingly,
marched the 20th instant. They cross the Blue Ridge at Rock Fish Gap,
and proceed along that valley. I am to apprise your Excellency, that
the officers of every rank, both British and German, but particularly
the former, have purchased within this State some of the finest
horses in it. You will be pleased to determine, whether it be proper
that they carry them within their lines. I believe the Convention of
Saratoga entitles them to keep the horses they then had. But I presume
none of the line, below the rank of field officers, had a horse.
Considering the British will be now at Fort Frederick, and the Germans
in Albemarle, Alexandria seems to be the most central point to which
there is navigation. Would it not, therefore, be better that the flag
vessel, solicited by General Phillips, should go to that place? It
is about equally distant from the two posts. The roads to Albemarle
are good. I know not how those are which lead to Fort Frederick. Your
letter referring me to General Green, for the mode of constructing
light portable boats, unfortunately did not come to hand till he had
left us. We had before determined to have something done in that way,
and as they are still unexecuted, we should be greatly obliged by any
draughts or hints, which could be given by any person within the reach
of your Excellency.
I received advice, that on the 22d instant, the enemy's fleet got all
under way, and were standing towards the capes: as it still remained
undecided whether they would leave the bay or turn up it, I waited the
next stage of information, that you might so far be enabled to judge
of their destination. This I hourly expected, but it did not come till
this evening, when I am informed they all got out to sea in the night
of the 22d. What course they steered afterwards, is not known. I must
do their General and Commander the justice to say, that in every case
to which their attention and influence could reach, as far as I have
been well informed, their conduct was such as does them the greatest
honor. In the few instances of wanton and unnecessary devastation, they
punished the aggressors.
I have the honor to be,
Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant.
TO EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, November 26, 1780.
SIR,--The enemy, which lately invaded us, left our capes in the night
of the 22d instant. What course they steered afterwards, is not known.
Another fleet of transports, under the command of Admiral Rodney, fell
down to the Hook on the 11th instant. As this, as well as the fleet,
which lately left us, is destined for Charleston, we shall march from
their present encampment all the forces who are so equipped as that
they can proceed to distant service. With them, will go on between
three and four hundred tents belonging to this State. Three hundred
more are on the road from Philadelphia, and as many to follow. As
Baron Steuben remains here to organize our forces, I shall be obliged,
by special returns of the eighteen months' men, eight months' men,
and three months' Militia, which have or shall come unto you as
frequently as convenient. The Assembly being now met, will shortly,
I hope, furnish us with money, so that we may be once more able to
send supplies to the southward. We have collected here, at length, by
impress principles, about thirty wagons, which have been delivered to
the Continental Quarter-Master, to be sent on with stores to Taylor's
Ferry.
I am, with great esteem, sir,
Your most obedient humble servant.
TO LT. JOHN LOUIS DE UNGER.[97]
RICHMOND, November 30th, 1780.
SIR,--The letter which covers this, being of a public nature, I
wished to acknowledge separately the many things personally obliging
to me, expressed in your two letters. The very small amusement which
it has been in my power to furnish, in order to lighten some of your
heavy hours, by no means merited the acknowledgment you make. Their
impression must be ascribed to your extreme sensibility rather than to
their own weight. My wishes for your happiness give me participation
in your joy at being exchanged, sensibly, however, alloyed by a
presentiment of the loss I shall sustain, when I shall again be
permitted to withdraw to that scene of quiet retirement, abstracted
from which I know no happiness in this world. Your line of life must
have given you attachments to objects of a very different nature.
When the course of events shall have removed you to distant scenes
of action, where laurels, not tarnished with the blood of my country,
may be gathered, I shall urge sincere prayers for your obtaining every
honor and preferment which may gladden the heart of a soldier. On the
other hand, should your fondness for philosophy resume its merited
ascendancy, is it impossible to hope that this unexplored country may
tempt your residence by holding out materials wherewith to build a
fame, founded on the happiness and not the calamities of human nature?
Be this as it may, whether philosopher or soldier, I wish you many
felicities, and assure you that I am, with great personal esteem, Sir,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, December 15, 1780.
SIR,--I had the honor of writing to your Excellency on the subject of
an expedition contemplated by this State, against the British post at
Detroit, and of receiving your answer of October the 10th. Since the
date of my letter, the face of things has so far changed, as to leave
it no longer optional in us to attempt or decline the expedition, but
compels us to decide in the affirmative, and to begin our preparations
immediately. The army the enemy at present have in the south, the
reinforcements still expected there, and their determination to direct
their future exertions to that quarter, are not unknown to you. The
regular force, proposed on our part to counteract those exertions, is
such, either from the real or supposed inability of this State, as by
no means to allow a hope that it may be effectual. It is, therefore,
to be expected that the scene of war will either be within our country,
or very nearly advanced to it; and that our principal dependence is to
be on militia, for which reason it becomes incumbent to keep as great
a proportion of our people as possible free to act in that quarter.
In the meantime, a combination is forming in the westward, which, if
not diverted, will call thither a principal and most valuable part of
our militia. From intelligence received, we have reason to expect that
a confederacy of British and Indians, to the amount of two thousand
men, is formed for the purpose of spreading destruction and dismay
through the whole extent of our frontier in the ensuing spring. Should
this take place, we shall certainly lose in the South all aids of
militia beyond the Blue Ridge, besides the inhabitants who must fall a
sacrifice in the course of the savage irruptions.
There seems to be but one method of preventing this, which is, to
give the western enemy employment in their own country. The regular
force Colonel Clarke already has, with a proper draft from the militia
beyond the Alleghany, and that of three or four of our most northern
counties, will be adequate to the reduction of Fort Detroit, in the
opinion of Colonel Clarke; and he assigns the most probable reasons
for that opinion. We have, therefore, determined to undertake it, and
commit it to his direction. Whether the expense of the enterprise
shall be defrayed by the Continent or State, we will leave to be
decided hereafter by Congress, in whose justice we can confide, as
to the determination. In the meantime, we only ask the loan of such
necessaries as, being already at Fort Pitt, will save time and an
immense expense of transportation. These articles shall either be
identically or specifically returned; should we prove successful, it is
not improbable they may be where Congress would choose to keep them. I
am, therefore, to solicit your Excellency's order to the commandant of
Fort Pitt, for the articles contained in the annexed list, which shall
not be called for until everything is in readiness; after which, there
can be no danger of their being wanted for the post at which they are:
indeed, there are few of the articles essential for the defence of the
post.
I hope your Excellency will think yourself justified in lending us
this aid, without awaiting the effect of an application elsewhere, as
such a delay would render the undertaking abortive, by postponing it
to the breaking up of the ice in the lake. Independent of the favorable
effects, which a successful enterprise against Detroit must produce to
the United States, in general, by keeping in quiet the frontier of the
northern ones, and leaving our western militia at liberty to aid those
of the South, we think the like friendly office performed by us to the
States, whenever desired, and almost to the absolute exhausture of our
own magazines, give well-founded hopes that we may be accommodated
on this occasion. The supplies of military stores, which have been
furnished by us to Fort Pitt itself, to the northern army, and, most of
all, to the southern, are not altogether unknown to you. I am the more
urgent for an immediate order, because Colonel Clarke awaits here your
Excellency's answer by the express, though his presence in the western
country, to make preparations for the expedition, is so very necessary
if you enable him to undertake it. To the above, I must add a request
to you to send for us to Pittsburg, persons proper to work the mortars,
&c., as Colonel Clarke has none such, nor is there one in this State.
They shall be in the pay of this State, from the time they leave you.
Any money necessary for their journey, shall be repaid at Pittsburg,
without fail, by the first of March.
At the desire of the General Assembly, I take the liberty of
transmitting to you the enclosed resolution; and have the honor to
be, with the most perfect esteem and regard, your Excellency's most
obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, January 10, 1781.
SIR,--It may seem odd, considering the important events which have
taken place in this State within the course of ten days, that I
should not have transmitted an account of them to your Excellency; but
such has been their extraordinary rapidity, and such the unremitted
attention they have required from all concerned in government, that I
do not recollect the portion of time which I could have taken to commit
them to paper.
On the 31st of December, a letter, from a private gentleman to General
Nelson, came to my hands, notifying, that in the morning of the
preceding day, twenty-seven sail of vessels had entered the capes; and
from the tenor of the letter, we had reason to expect, within a few
hours, further intelligence; whether they were friends or foes, their
force, and other circumstances. We immediately despatched General
Nelson to the lower country, with powers to call on the militia in
that quarter, or act otherwise as exigencies should require; but waited
further intelligence, before we would call for militia from the middle
or upper country. No further intelligence came until the 2d instant,
when the former was confirmed; it was ascertained they had advanced
up James River in Wanasqueak bay. All arrangements were immediately
taken, for calling in a sufficient body of militia for opposition.
In the night of the 3d, we received advice that they were at anchor
opposite Jamestown; we then supposed Williamsburg to be their object.
The wind, however, which had hitherto been unfavorable, shifted fair,
and the tide being also in their favor, they ascended the river to
Kennons' that evening, and, with the next tide, came up to Westover,
having, on their way, taken possession of some works we had at Hood's,
by which two or three of their vessels received some damage, but which
were of necessity abandoned by the small garrison of fifty men placed
there, on the enemy's landing to invest the works. Intelligence of
their having quitted the station at Jamestown, from which we supposed
they meant to land for Williamsburg, and of their having got in the
evening to Kennons', reached us the next morning at five o'clock, and
was the first indication of their meaning to penetrate towards this
place or Petersburg. As the orders for drawing militia here had been
given but two days, no opposition was in readiness. Every effort was
therefore necessary, to withdraw the arms and other military stores,
records, &c., from this place. Every effort was, accordingly, exerted
to convey them to the foundry five miles, and to a laboratory six
miles, above this place, till about sunset of that day, when we learned
the enemy had come to an anchor at Westover that morning. We then knew
that this, and not Petersburg was their object, and began to carry
across the river everything remaining here, and to remove what had
been transported to the foundry and laboratory to Westham, the nearest
crossing, seven miles above this place, which operation was continued
till they had approached very near. They marched from Westover at
two o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th, and entered Richmond at one
o'clock in the afternoon of the 5th. A regiment of infantry and about
thirty horse continued on, without halting, to the foundry. They burnt
that, the boring mill, the magazine and two other houses, and proceeded
to Westham; but nothing being in their power there, they retired to
Richmond. The next morning, they burned some buildings of public and
private property, with what stores remained in them, destroyed a great
quantity of private stores, and about twelve o'clock, retired towards
Westover, where they encamped within the neck the next day.
The loss sustained is not yet accurately known. As far as I have
been able to discover, it consisted, at this place, of about three
hundred muskets, some soldiers' clothing to a small amount, some
quarter-master's stores, of which one hundred and twenty sides of
leather was the principal article, part of the artificers' tools, and
three wagons. Besides which, five brass four pounders which we had
sunk in the river, were discovered to them, raised and carried off. At
the foundry we lost the greater part of the papers belonging to the
Auditor's office, and of the books and papers of the Council office.
About five or six tons of powder, as we conjecture, was thrown into the
canal, of which there will be a considerable saving by re-manufacturing
it. The roof of the foundry was burned, but the stacks of chimneys and
furnaces not at all injured. The boring mill was consumed. Within less
than forty-eight hours from the time of their landing, and nineteen
from our knowing their destination, they had penetrated thirty-three
miles, done the whole injury, and retired. Their numbers, from the best
intelligence I have had, are about fifteen hundred infantry; and, as
to their cavalry, accounts vary from fifty to one hundred and twenty;
the whole commanded by the parricide Arnold. Our militia, dispersed
over a large tract of country, can be called in but slowly. On the
day the enemy advanced to this place, two hundred only were embodied.
They were of this town and its neighborhood, and were too few to
do anything. At this time they are assembled in pretty considerable
numbers on the south side of James River, but are not yet brought to a
point. On the north side are two or three small bodies, amounting in
the whole, to about nine hundred men. The enemy were at four o'clock
yesterday evening still remaining in their encampment at Westover and
Berkeley neck. In the meanwhile, Baron Steuben, a zealous friend, has
descended from the dignity of his proper command to direct our smallest
movements. His vigilance has, in a great measure, supplied the want
of force in preventing the enemy from crossing the river, which might
have been very fatal. He has been assiduously employed in preparing
equipments for the militia as they should assemble, pointing them to
a proper object, and other offices of a good commander. Should they
loiter a little longer, and he be able to have a sufficient force, I
still flatter myself they will not escape with total impunity. To what
place they will point their next exertions we cannot even conjecture.
The whole country on the tide waters and some distance from them is
equally open to similar insult. I have the honor to be, with every
sentiment of respect, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble
servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, January 15, 1781.
SIR,--As the dangers which threaten our western frontiers the ensuing
spring, render it necessary that we should send thither Colonel
Crocket's battalion, at present on guard at Fredericktown, but raised
for the western service, I thought it necessary to give your Excellency
previous information thereof, that other forces may be provided in
time to succeed to their duties. Captain Reid's troop of horse, if
necessary, may be continued a while longer on guard.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excellency's
most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, January 15, 1781.
SIR,--I received some time ago from Major Forsyth, and afterwards from
you, a requisition to furnish one half of the supplies of provision for
the Convention troops, removed into Maryland. I should sooner have done
myself the honor of writing to you on this subject, but that I hoped to
have laid it before you more fully than could be done in writing, by a
gentleman who was to pass on other public business to Philadelphia. The
late events in this State having retarded his setting out, I think it
my duty no longer to postpone explanation on this head.
You cannot be unapprised of the powerful armies of our enemy, at
this time in this and the southern States, and that their future
plan is to push their successes in the same quarter, by still
larger reinforcements. The forces to be opposed to these must be
proportionably great, and these forces must be fed. By whom are they
to be fed? Georgia and South Carolina are annihilated, at least as to
us. By the requisition to us to send provisions into Maryland, it is to
be supposed that none are to come to the southern army from any State
north of this; for it would seem inconsistent, that while we should be
sending North, Maryland and other States beyond that, should be sending
their provisions South. Upon North Carolina, then, already exhausted
by the ravages of two armies, and on this State, are to depend for
subsistence those bodies of men who are to oppose the greater part of
the enemy's force in the United States, the subsistence of the German,
and of half the British Conventioners. To take a view of this matter
on the Continental requisitions of November the 4th, 1780, for specific
quotas of provisions, it is observable that North Carolina and Virginia
are to furnish 10,475,740 pounds of animal food, and 13,529 barrels of
flour, while the States north of these will yield 25,293,810 pounds of
animal food, and 106,471 barrels of flour.
If the greater part of the British armies be employed in the South,
it is to be supposed that the greater part of the American force will
be sent there to oppose them. But should this be the case, while the
distribution of the provisions is so very unequal, would it be proper
to render it still more so, by withdrawing a part of our contributions
to the support of posts northward of us? It would certainly be a
great convenience to us, to deliver a portion of our specifics at
Fredericktown, rather than in Carolina; but I leave it to you to judge,
whether this would be consistent with the general good or safety.
Instead of sending aids of any kind to the northward, it seems but too
certain that unless very timely and substantial assistance be received
from thence, our enemies are yet far short of the ultimate term of
their successes. I beg leave, therefore, to refer to you whether the
specifics of Maryland, as far as shall be necessary, had not better be
applied to the support of the posts within it, for which its quota is
much more than sufficient, or, were it otherwise whether those of the
States north of Maryland had not better be called on, than to detract
anything from the resources of the southern opposition, already much
too small for the encounter to which it is left. I am far from wishing
to count or measure out contributions by the requisitions of Congress.
Were they ever so much beyond these, I should readily strain them in
aid of any one of our sister States. But while they are so far short
of those calls to which they must be pointed in the first instance, it
would be great misapplication to divert them to any other purpose; and
I am persuaded you will think me perfectly within the line of duty,
when I ask a revisal of this requisition.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, sir,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, January 17, 1781.
SIR,--I do myself the honor of transmitting to your Excellency a
resolution of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, entered into
in consequence of the resolution of Congress of September the 6th,
1780, on the subject of the Confederation. I shall be rendered very
happy if the other States of the Union, equally impressed with the
necessity of that important convention, shall be willing to sacrifice
equally to its completion. This single event, could it take place
shortly, would overweigh every success which the enemy have hitherto
obtained, and render desperate the hopes to which those successes have
given birth.
I have the honor to be, with the most real esteem and respect, your
Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE VIRGINIA DELEGATES IN CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, January 18, 1781.
GENTLEMEN,--I enclose you a Resolution of Assembly, directing your
conduct as to the navigation of the Mississippi.
The loss of powder lately sustained by us (about five tons), together
with the quantities sent on to the southward, have reduced our stock
very low indeed. We lent to Congress, in the course of the last
year (previous to our issues for the southern army), about ten tons
of powder. I shall be obliged to you, to procure an order from the
board of war, for any quantity from five to ten tons, to be sent
us immediately from Philadelphia or Baltimore, and to enquire into
and hasten, from time to time, the execution of it. The stock of
cartridge-paper is nearly exhausted. I do not know whether Captain
Irish, or what other officer, should apply for this. It is essential
that a good stock should be forwarded, and without a moment's delay.
If there be a rock on which we are to split, it is the want of muskets,
bayonets and cartouch-boxes.
The occurrences, since my last to the President, are not of any
magnitude. Three little rencounters have happened with the enemy. In
the first, General Smallwood led on a party of two or three hundred
militia, and obliged some armed vessels of the enemy to retire from
a prize they had taken at Broadway's, and renewing his attack the
next day with a four-pounder or two (for on the first day he had only
muskets), he obliged some of their vessels to fall down from City Point
to their main fleet at Westover. The enemy's loss is not known; ours
was four men wounded. One of the evenings, during their encampment at
Westover and Berkeley, their light horse surprised a party of about
one hundred or one hundred and fifty militia at Charles City Court
House, killed and wounded four, and took, as has been generally said,
about seven or eight. On Baron Steuben's approach towards Hood's, they
embarked at Westover; the wind which, till then, had set directly up
the river from the time of their leaving Jamestown, shifted in the
moment to the opposite point. Baron Steuben had not reached Hood's,
by eight or ten miles, when they arrived there. They landed their
whole army in the night, Arnold attending in person. Captain Clarke
(of Kaskaskias) had been sent on with two hundred and forty men by
Baron Steuben, and having properly disposed of them in ambuscade,
gave them a deliberate fire, which killed seventeen on the spot, and
wounded thirteen. They returned it in confusion by which we had three
or four wounded, and our party being so small and without bayonets,
were obliged to retire, on the enemy's charging with bayonets. They
fell down to Cobham, whence they carried all the tobacco there (about
sixty hogsheads); and the last intelligence was, that on the 16th,
they were standing for New-ports-news. Baron Steuben is of opinion,
they are proceeding to fix a post in some of the lower counties.
Later information has given no reason to believe their force more
considerable than we at first supposed. I think, since the arrival of
the three transports which had been separated in a storm, they may be
considered as about two thousand strong. Their naval force, according
to the best intelligence, is the Charon, of forty-four guns, Commodore
Symmonds, the Amphitrite, Iris, Thames, and Charlestown frigates, the
Forvey, of twenty guns, two sloops of war, a privateer ship and two
brigs. We have about thirty-seven hundred militia embodied, but at
present they are divided into three distant encampments: one under
General Weeden, at Fredericksburg, for the protection of the important
works there; another under General Nelson, at and near Williamsburg;
and a third under Baron Steuben, at Cabin Point. As soon as the enemy
fix themselves, these will be brought to a point.
I have the honor to be, with very great respect, gentlemen, your most
obedient servant.
TO ----[98].
RICHMOND, January 21, 1781.
SIR,--Acquainted as you are with the treasons of Arnold, I need say
nothing for your information, or to give you a proper sentiment of
them. You will readily suppose, that it is above all things desirable
to drag him from those under whose wing he is now sheltered. On his
march to and from this place, I am certain it might have been done with
facility by men of enterprise and firmness. I think it may still be
done, though perhaps not quite so easily. Having peculiar confidence
in the men from the western side of the mountains, I meant, as soon
as they should come down, to get the enterprise proposed to a chosen
number of them: such whose courage and whose fidelity would be above
all doubt. Your perfect knowledge of those men personally, and my
confidence in your discretion, induces me to ask you to pick from among
them proper characters, in such numbers as you think best, to reveal
to them our desire, and engage them to undertake to seize and bring
off this greatest of all traitors. Whether this may be best affected
by their going in as friends, and awaiting their opportunity, or
otherwise, is left to themselves. The smaller the number the better,
so that they be sufficient to manage him. Every necessary caution
must be used on their part, to prevent a discovery of their design
by the enemy, as, should they be taken, the laws of war will justify
against them the most rigorous sentence. I will undertake, if they are
successful in bringing him off alive, that they shall receive five
thousand guineas reward among them. And to men, formed for such an
enterprise, it must be a great incitement to know that their names will
be recorded with glory in history, with those of Vanwert, Paulding, and
Williams. The enclosed order from Baron Steuben will authorize you to
call for and dispose of any force you may think necessary, to place in
readiness for covering the enterprise and securing the retreat of the
party. Mr. Newton, the bearer of this, and to whom its contents are
communicated in confidence, will provide men of trust to go as guides.
These may be associated in the enterprise or not, as you please. But
let that point be previously settled, that no difficulties may arise
as to the parties entitled to participate of the reward. You know
how necessary profound secrecy is in this business, even if it be not
undertaken.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, February 8, 1781.
SIR,--I have just received intelligence, which, though from a private
hand, I believe is to be relied on, that a fleet of the enemy's ships
have entered Cape Fear river, that eight of them had got over the
bar, and many others were laying off; and that it was supposed to be a
reinforcement to Lord Cornwallis, under the command of General Prevost.
This account, which had come through another channel, is confirmed by a
letter from General Parsons at Halifax, to the gentleman who forwards
it to me. I thought it of sufficient importance to be communicated to
your Excellency by the stationed expresses. The fatal want of arms puts
it out of our power to bring a greater force into the field, than will
barely suffice to restrain the adventures of the pitiful body of men
they have at Portsmouth. Should any more be added to them, this country
will be perfectly open to them, by land as well as water.
I have the honor to be, with all possible respect, your Excellency's
most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, February 12, 1781.
SIR,--The enclosed extract of a letter from Governor Nash,[99] which
I received this day, being a confirmation of the intelligence I
transmitted in a former letter, I take the liberty of transmitting it
to your Excellency. I am informed, through a private channel on which
I have considerable reliance, that the enemy had landed five hundred
troops under the command of a Major Craig, who were joined by a number
of disaffected; that they had penetrated forty miles; that their aim
appeared to be the magazine at Kingston, from which place they were
about twenty miles distant.
Baron Steuben transmits to your Excellency a letter from General
Greene, by which you will learn the events which have taken place in
that quarter since the defeat of Colonel Tarleton, by General Morgan.
These events speak best for themselves, and no doubt will suggest what
is necessary to be done to prevent the successive losses of State after
State, to which the want of arms and of a regular soldiery, seem more
especially to expose those in the South.
I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of respect, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, February 17, 1781.
SIR,--By a letter from General Greene, dated Guilford Court House,
February 10th, we are informed that Lord Cornwallis had burnt his own
wagons, in order to enable himself to move with greater facility, and
had pressed immediately on.[100] The prisoners taken at the Cowpens,
were happily saved by the accidental rise of a water-course, which gave
so much time as to withdraw them from the reach of the enemy. Lord
Cornwallis had advanced to the vicinities of the Moravian towns, and
was still moving on rapidly. His object was supposed to be to compel
General Greene to an action, which, under the difference of force they
had, would probably be ruinous to the latter. General Greene meant to
retire by the way of Boyd's ferry, on the Roanoke. As yet he had lost
little or no stores or baggage, but they were far from being safe. In
the instant of receiving this intelligence, we ordered a reinforcement
of militia to him, from the most convenient counties in which there
was a hope of finding any arms. Some great event must arise from the
present situation of things, which, for a long time, will determine the
condition of southern affairs.
Arnold lies close in his quarters. Two days ago, I received information
of the arrival of a sixty-four gun ship and two frigates in our bay,
being part of the fleet of our good ally at Rhode Island. Could they
get at the British fleet here, they are sufficient to destroy them; but
these being drawn up into Elizabeth River, into which the sixty-four
cannot enter, I apprehend they could do nothing more than block up
the river. This, indeed, would reduce the enemy, as we could cut off
their supplies by land; but the operation being tedious, would probably
be too dangerous for the auxiliary force. Not having yet had any
particular information of the designs of the French Commander, I cannot
pretend to say what measures this aid will lead to.
Our proposition to the Cherokee Chiefs, to visit Congress, for the
purpose of preventing or delaying a rupture with that nation, was too
late. Their distresses had too much ripened their alienation from us,
and the storm had gathered to a head, when Major Martin got back. It
was determined to carry the war into their country, rather than await
it in ours, and thus disagreeably circumstanced, the issue has been
successful.
The militia of this State and North Carolina penetrated into their
country, burned almost every town they had, amounting to about one
thousand houses in the whole, destroyed fifty thousand bushels of
grain, killed twenty-nine, and took seventeen prisoners. The latter are
mostly women and children.
I enclose your Excellency the particulars as reported to me. Congress
will be pleased to determine on Col. Campbell's proposition to build
the fort at the confluence of the Holston and Tennessee.
I have the honor to be, &c., your Excellency's most obedient humble
servant,
* * * * *
P. S. Since writing the above, I have received information which,
though not authentic, deserves attention: that Lord Cornwallis had
got to Boyd's ferry on the 14th. I am issuing orders, in consequence,
to other counties, to embody and march all the men they can arm. In
this fatal situation, without arms, there will be no safety for the
Convention troops but in their removal, which I shall accordingly
order. The prisoners of the Cowpens were at New London (Bedford Court
House) on the 14th.
TO GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, February 17, 1781.
DEAR GENERAL,--The situation of affairs here and in Carolina, is such
as must shortly turn up important events, one way or the other. By
letter from General Greene, dated Guilford Court House, February the
10th, I learn that Lord Cornwallis, rendered furious by the affair
at the Cowpens and the surprise of Georgetown, had burned his own
wagons, to enable himself to move with facility, had pressed on to the
vicinity of the Moravian towns, and was still advancing. The prisoners,
taken at the Cowpens, were saved by a hair's-breadth accident, and
Greene was retreating. His force, two thousand regulars, and no
militia; Cornwallis's, three thousand. General Davidson was killed in
a skirmish. Arnold lies still at Portsmouth with fifteen hundred men.
A French sixty-four gun ship, and two frigates of thirty-six each,
arrived in our bay three days ago. They would suffice to destroy the
British shipping here (a forty four frigate, and a twenty,) could they
get at them. But these are withdrawn up Elizabeth river, which the
sixty-four cannot enter. We have ordered about seven hundred riflemen
from Washington, Montgomery and Bedford, and five hundred common
militia from Pittsylvania and Henry, to reinforce General Greene; and
five hundred new levies will march from Chesterfield Court House, in a
few days. I have no doubt, however, that the southwestern counties will
have turned out in greater numbers before our orders reach them.
I have been knocking at the door of Congress for aids of all kinds,
but especially of arms, ever since the middle of summer. The speaker,
Harrison, is gone to be heard on that subject. Justice, indeed,
requires that we should be aided powerfully. Yet if they would repay
us the arms we have lent them, we should give the enemy trouble, though
abandoned to ourselves.
After repeated applications, I have obtained a warrant for your advance
money, £18,000, which I have put into the hands of Mr. McAlister, to
receive the money from the Treasurer, and carry it to you.
I am, with very sincere esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO COLONEL CAMPBELL.
RICHMOND, February 17, 1781.
SIR,--I have received your several favors by Mr. Sathim, and am much
pleased at the happy issue of the expedition against the Cherokees.
I wish it to be used for the purpose of bringing about peace, which,
under our present circumstances, is as necessary for us, as it can
possibly be to them.
If you can effect this, a right should be reserved of building a fort
at the confluence of Holston and Tennessee; a matter which we must
refer to Congress, as it lies not within our boundary. The prisoners
you have taken had better be kept for the purpose of exchanging for any
of ours taken by them. Should any surplus be on hand at the conclusion
of peace, they should be given up. Nancy Ward seems rather to have
taken refuge with you. In this case, her inclination ought to be
followed as to what is done with her.
As by our laws, the pay of militia is made the same with that of the
Continental troops, and that, by a resolution of Congress, is to be in
the new money of March 18th, 1780, or in old money at forty for one,
I apprehend you will be paid at that rate. By a late arrangement, the
Commissary is directed to have a deputy in every county. I hope that
by their means the militia may henceforward be better supplied with
provisions when proceeding on an expedition. The fort at Powell's
Valley you will please to proceed on. We approve of the company you
have raised for patrolling against the Indians and garrisoning the
fort.
I am, with much respect, sir, your most obedient servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, February 26, 1781.
SIR,--I gave you information in my last letter, that General Greene had
crossed the Dan, at Boyd's ferry, and that Lord Cornwallis had arrived
at the opposite shore. Large reinforcements of militia having embodied
both in front and rear of the enemy, he is retreating with as much
rapidity as he advanced; his route is towards Hillsborough. General
Greene re-crossed the Dan on the 21st, in pursuit of him. I have the
pleasure to inform you, that the spirit of opposition was as universal
as could have been wished for. There was no restraint on the numbers
that embodied, but the want of arms.
The British at Portsmouth lie close in their lines. The French squadron
keep them in by water, and since their arrival, as they put it out of
the power of the enemy to cut off our retreat by sending up Nansemond
river, our force has been moved down close to their lines.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO M. DE MARBOIS.[101]
RICHMOND, March 4th, 1781.
SIR,--I have been honored with your letter of Feb. 5th. Mr. Jones did
put into my hands a paper containing sundry inquiries into the present
state of Virginia, which he informed me was from yourself, and some of
which I meant to do myself the honor of answering.
Hitherto it has been in my power to collect a few materials only, which
my present occupations disable me from completing. I mean, however,
shortly to be in a condition which will leave me quite at leisure to
take them up, when it shall be one of my first undertakings to give you
as full information as I shall be able to do on such of the subjects
as are within the sphere of my acquaintance. On some of them, however,
I trust Mr. Jones will engage abler hands. Those in particular which
relate to the commerce of the State, a subject with which I am wholly
unacquainted, and which is probably the most important in your plan.
* * * * *
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, March 8th, 1781.
SIR,--I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from General Greene,
dated High-rock Ford, February 29th (probably March the 1st), who
informs me, that on the night of the 24th Colonel McCall surprised a
subaltern's guard at Hart's Mill, killed eight, and wounded and took
nine prisoners, and that on the 25th General Pickens and Lieutenant
Colonel Lee routed a body of near three hundred Tories on the Haw
river, who were in arms to join the British army, killed upwards of one
hundred, and wounded most of the rest, which had a very happy effect on
the disaffected in that country.
By a letter from Major Magill, an officer of this State, whom I had
sent to General Greene's head-quarters for the purpose of giving us
regular intelligence, dated Guilford County, March 2d, I am informed
that Lord Cornwallis, on his retreat, erected the British standard at
Hillsborough, that a number of disaffected under the command of Colonel
Piles were resorting to it, when they were intercepted by General
Pickens and Lieutenant Colonel Lee, as mentioned by General Greene,
and that their commanding officer was among the slain: that Lord
Cornwallis, after destroying everything he could, moved down the Haw
river from Hillsborough: that General Greene was within six miles of
him: that our superiority in the goodness, though not in the number of
our cavalry, prevented the enemy from moving with rapidity or foraging.
Having been particular in desiring Major Magill to inform me what
corps of militia from this State joined General Greene, he accordingly
mentioned that seven hundred under General Stevens, and four hundred
from Botetourt, had actually joined him; that Colonel Campbell was to
join him that day with six hundred, and that Colonel Lynch with three
hundred from Bedford, was shortly expected: the last three numbers
being riflemen. Besides these mentioned by Major Magill, General
Lawson must, before this, have crossed Roanoke with a body of militia,
the number of which has not been stated to me. Report makes them a
thousand; but I suppose the number to be exaggerated. Four hundred of
our new levies left Chesterfield Court House on the 25th February, and
probably would cross the Roanoke about the 1st or 2d of March.
I was honored with your Excellency's letter of February the 21st,
within seven days after its date. We have, accordingly, been making
every preparation on our part which we are able to make. The militia
proposed to co-operate, will be upwards of four thousand from this
State, and one thousand or twelve hundred from Carolina, said to be
under General Gregory. The enemy are, at this time, in a great measure
blockaded by land, there being a force on the east side of Elizabeth
river. They suffer for provisions, as they are afraid to venture far,
lest the French squadron should be in the neighborhood, and come upon
them. Were it possible to block up the river, a little time would
suffice to reduce them by want and desertions, and would be more sure
in its event than an attempt by storm. I shall be very happy to have it
in my power to hand you a favorable account of these two armies in the
South.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem and respect your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, March 19, 1781.
SIR,--I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a copy of a
letter from General Greene, with some other intelligence received, not
doubting your anxiety to know the movements in the South. I find we
have deceived ourselves not a little by counting on the whole numbers
of the militia which have been in motion, as if they had all remained
with General Greene, when, in fact, they seem only to have visited and
quitted him.
The Marquis Fayette arrived at New York on the 15th. His troops still
remained at the head of the bay, till the appearance of some force
which should render their passage down safe.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest esteem and
respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND March 21, 1781.
SIR,--The enclosed letter will inform you of the arrival of a British
fleet in the Chesapeake bay.
The extreme negligence of our stationed expresses is no doubt the
cause why, as yet, no authentic account has reached us of a general
action, which happened on the 15th instant, about a mile and a half
from Guilford Court House, between General Greene and Lord Cornwallis.
Captain Singleton, an intelligent officer of Harrison's artillery, who
was in the action, has this moment arrived here, and gives the general
information that both parties were prepared and desirous for action;
the enemy were supposed about twenty-five hundred strong, our army
about four thousand. That, after a very warm and general engagement,
of about an hour and a half, we retreated about a mile and a half from
the field, in good order, having, as he supposed, between two and three
hundred killed and wounded: the enemy between five and seven hundred
killed and wounded; that we lost four pieces of artillery: that the
militia, as well as regulars, behaved exceedingly well: that General
Greene, he believes, would have renewed the action the next day, had
it not proved rainy, and would renew it as soon as possible, as he
supposes: that the whole of his troops, both regulars and militia,
were in high spirits and wishing a second engagement: that the loss
has fallen pretty equally on the militia and regulars: that General
Stevens received a ball through the thigh. Major Anderson, of Maryland,
was killed, and Captain Barrett, of Washington's cavalry; Captain
Fauntleroy, of the same cavalry, was shot through the thigh, and left
on the field.
Captain Singleton, having left the camp the day after the battle, does
not speak from particular returns, none such having been then made. I
must inform your Excellency from him, till more regular applications
can reach you, that they are in _extreme want_ of lead, cartridge paper
and thread. I think it improper, however it might urge an instantaneous
supply, to repeat to you his statement of the extent of their stock of
these articles. In a former letter, I mentioned to you the failure of
the vein of our lead mines, which has left the army here in a state of
equal distress and danger.
I have the honor to be, with very high respect and esteem, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
* * * * *
P. S. Look-out boats have been ordered from the seaboard of the eastern
shore, to apprise the Commander of the French fleet, on its approach,
of the British being in the Chesapeake.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
In Council, RICHMOND, March 26, 1781.
SIR,--The appointment of commissioner to the war office of this
State, having lately become vacant, the Executive are desirous to
place Colonel William Davies, of the Virginian Continentals, in that
office. This gentleman, however, declines undertaking it, unless his
rank in the army, half pay for life and allowance for depreciation
of pay, can be reserved to him; observing with justice, that these
emoluments, distant as they are, are important to a person who has
spent the most valuable part of his youth in the service of his
country. As this indulgence rests in the power of Congress alone, I
am induced to request it of them on behalf of the State, to whom it
is very interesting that the office be properly filled, and I may
say, on behalf of the Continent also, to whom the same circumstance is
interesting, in proportion to its reliance upon this State for supplies
to the southern war. We should not have given Congress the trouble of
this application, had we found it easy to call any other to the office,
who was likely to answer our wishes in the exercise of it.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, March 28, 1781.
SIR,--I forward to your Excellency, under cover with this, copies of
letters received from Major General Greene and Baron Steuben, which
will give you the latest account of the situation of things with us and
in North Carolina.
I observe a late resolve of Congress, for furnishing a number of
arms to the southern States; and I lately wrote you on the subject of
ammunition and cartridge paper. How much of this State, the enemy thus
reinforced, may think proper to possess themselves of, must depend on
their own moderation and caution, till these supplies arrive. We had
hoped to receive by the French squadron under Monsieur Destouches,
eleven hundred stand of arms, which we had at Rhode Island, but were
disappointed. The necessity of hurrying forward the troops intended for
the southern operations, will be doubtless apparent from this letter.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excellency's
most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, March 31, 1781.