52651Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
After GW in December 1769 secured from Governor Botetourt and the Virginia council authorization to survey, in no more than twenty parcels, 200,000 acres in the Ohio Valley for the officers and soldiers of the Virginia Regiment of 1754, he and the officers met in Fredericksburg in August 1770 to decide how they should proceed. It was agreed that GW should accompany their surveyor, William...
52652Errata (Washington Papers)
Volume 1—p. xxiv, line 33: 1949–57 is 1948–57; p. 55, n.3: Thomas Nelson (1716–1782) is Thomas Nelson (1715–1787); p. 70: letter to Richard Corbin should be dated 28 January 1754 (see Francis Corbin to GW, 7 July 1798); p. 144, n.8: Henry Van Meter (died c.1759) is Henry Van Meter (died c.1757); p. 208, n.4: n.16 is n.15; p. 219, n.13: Maudit is Mauduit; p. 284, n.7: of Hampton is of Norfolk;...
52653Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
In preparation for the writing of this letter, GW composed a list of topics which he wished to be covered in it. Those undated notes, which are printed here, apparently were then used by Joseph Reed to make a rough draft of the letter. Reed’s draft has not been found, but a draft written by him was reported to be in the possession of James Wilkinson in the early nineteenth century. The...
52654Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
The committee of conference that Congress appointed on 30 Sept. arrived at Cambridge on 15 Oct. and conducted its business between 18 and 24 October. For five days, 18–22 Oct., the committee conferred with GW and representatives of the New England governments, principally on the raising of a new army for the coming year and the revising of the articles of war but also on the current enlistment...
52655Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
The following opinions concerning the defense of Philadelphia and the Delaware River apparently were solicited by GW on or before 6 Aug. 1777, when the first one was written, although no direct evidence has been found of GW requesting the opinions, or that the matter was discussed in a formal council of war. GW used these opinions and referred to them when writing to John Hancock on the...
52656Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
The American dispositions on the east side of Brandywine Creek probably were complete by the evening of 10 Sept. (map 2). Maj. Gen. John Armstrong’s two brigades of Pennsylvania militia were stationed at Gibson’s or Pyle’s Ford, a short distance south of Chadds Ford. Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene’s division held the ground immediately east of Chadds Ford, straddling the road leading to...
52657Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
The network of spies and couriers that has come to be known as the Culper ring, on account of the code names of its spies, had its genesis in GW’s need to provide reliable intelligence to Vice Admiral d’Estaing on British naval movements at New York during the fall of 1778. Recognizing the provision of quality intelligence as a critical aspect of the new military partnership, GW sought...
52658Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Following his receipt of Congress’s official notification that Vice Admiral d’Estaing had arrived on the Georgia coast with a large French fleet, GW in the short span of the first week of October expanded and put into motion his plans for a joint campaign with the French to drive the British from New York. GW had begun contemplating an attack on the British military bastion of New York in May...
52659Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
The effectiveness of an army rests in large measure on the quality of its officers. GW recognized this truth. He held that only gentlemen should serve as officers, insisted that officers not fraternize with their men, and consistently encouraged officers to study to improve their martial skills. Major General Steuben’s military manual, which GW carefully reviewed during its creation, served as...
52660Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Since 1778, GW had relied on the Culper spy network for intelligence from inside New York City. In May 1780, the network’s spy in the city, Robert Townsend, refused to serve any longer, and his contact on Long Island, Abraham Woodhull, also one of the Culper spies, became reluctant to continue. GW accepted their withdrawal, but he kept open the possibility of reviving the network. Dissatisfied...
52661Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
German lieutenant general Wilhelm von Knyphausen temporarily commanded at New York while British general Henry Clinton directed the siege of Charleston, South Carolina. Believing that GW’s main army was weak, Knyphausen decided to launch an attack into New Jersey. In a letter written to George Germain nearly a month after his expedition, the German general explained his thinking: “Having...
52662Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
GW suspected that British commander in chief Henry Clinton would immediately launch an offensive in the Hudson River region upon returning from South Carolina with part of his army. GW’s intelligence led him to believe that Clinton’s objective would be the strategically important post of West Point. When he learned that the British commander had returned to New York City, GW ordered the...
52663Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Lieutenant General Rochambeau had suggested in August that he and Rear Admiral Ternay meet GW to devise a strategy for taking New York City from the British. GW promised to meet them when it was safe to do so and directed Rochambeau to specify a location. Rochambeau chose Hartford, and GW then picked 20 Sept. for the gathering. Erroneously convinced that a fleet under French rear admiral...
52664Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Maj. John André’s sterling career as a British army officer ended abruptly because of his role in Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold’s treachery. His correspondence concerning Arnold began in May 1779 and became more frequent over subsequent months. Loyalist liaisons Joseph Stansbury and Jonathan Odell facilitated the communications between Arnold and André, usually sent in code. A lull in the letters...
52665Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Fig. 2. Engraving of Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold by H. B. Hall from a portrait by John Trumbull. Benedict Arnold’s treacherous design to allow the British to capture West Point and even GW has elicited commentary since its discovery in late September 1780. In presenting documents from GW’s involvement with this notorious incident, the editors have attempted to array all primary sources pertinent...
52666Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold recruited Joshua Hett Smith—who came from a family with significant Loyalist connections but had served as a spy for the Continental army—to assist with the consummation of his Fig. 3. The Beverly Robinson House, on the east bank of the Hudson and just downriver from West Point, played a key role in the Arnold conspiracy (see map 5). (Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American...
52667Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
The unwillingness of the French expeditionary force to leave Rhode Island to combine with the Continental army for a concerted effort to oust the British from New York City frustrated both Major General Lafayette and GW. The two men again felt frustration when logistical failures foiled an opportunity to overwhelm an enemy force on Staten Island, New York. Not wanting to see the entire...
52668Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
E ditorial N ote The Society of the Cincinnati was instituted at Fishkill-on-Hudson on 13 May 1783 when a group of army officers adopted an Institution (or constitution) based on a draft drawn up by Henry Knox the month before. On 19 June 1783 the founders of the society elected GW its president. Although GW signed the Institution, he appears to have done nothing about the society until 23...
52669Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
On 15 May 1784 the Virginia house of delegates agreed “to draw up an address to his excellency General Washington, expressive of the thanks and gratitude of the House of Delegates for his unremitted zeal and services in the cause of liberty; congratulating him on his return to his native country, and the exalted pleasures of domestic life.” A committee of nine delegates was named, and the...
52670Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
With the aid of Sir James Jay, Lady Huntingdon in 1784 developed a proposal to send out from Britain at her expense pious men and women to settle on the American frontier. There, by example and by their efforts, they would convert the Indians to Christianity and at the same time improve the conditions in which the Indians lived. Even before she developed this plan, Lady Huntingdon had sought...
52671Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
In the years immediately preceding the American Revolution, GW devoted considerable time and effort to the acquisition of large tracts of land in western Virginia and in the Ohio Valley. By 1775 he laid claim to over 37,000 acres in the West, acquired under the proclamations of 1754 and 1763 for his military services during the French and Indian War or through purchases from other veterans. In...
52672Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
General Lincoln did not complete this extended account of Shays’ Rebellion for GW until 4 Mar. 1787, a month after he had defeated and dispersed Daniel Shays’ followers at Petersham on 4 February. Hence Lincoln’s letter, to which GW responded on 23 Mar. 1787, served for GW not as a running report but as a recapitulation of developments in Massachusetts. It was primarily Henry Knox, the...
52673Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Editorial Note David Humphreys wrote GW from France on 30 Sept. 1784 about the utility of having a biography of George Washington, particularly one written by GW himself. In early 1785 Humphreys began suggesting himself as a possible biographer, to which GW agreed ( Humphreys to GW, 15 Jan. 1785 , GW to Humphreys, 25 July 1785 ). Humphreys apparently started work on the biography when he...
52674Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
[New York, 30 April 1789] By early 1789 GW reluctantly accepted the inevitability of his election as president, and as early as January he began consideration of the remarks to Congress that would serve as his first inaugural address. Evidently he requested David Humphreys, at this time in residence at Mount Vernon, to draft for him remarks that could be delivered to Congress in the event of...
52675Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Under the terms of the Residence Act, GW was directed to select the site for the permanent seat of the federal government on the Potomac and to appoint commissioners to superintend the planning of the Federal City and the construction of the necessary federal buildings. Before he arrived in Philadelphia on 27 Nov. 1790, GW apparently had decided on the location of the federal district and...
52676Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
The bill to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States had not yet been presented to GW for his signature when he solicited and received the opinion of the attorney general on its constitutionality. After receiving Randolph’s opinion, GW solicited the views of the secretary of state. Both Randolph and Jefferson had prepared written opinions arguing that the bank bill was...
52677Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
GW began considering the schedule and route of his intended Southern Tour at least as early as the fall of 1790. William Blount, governor of the Southwest Territory, who visited Mount Vernon in September 1790, reported to his brother John Gray Blount in a letter of 20 Sept. 1790 that GW planned to tour the South in March, April, and May 1791, adding that the president would “proceed by the...
52678Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
GW’s nomination on 22 Dec. 1791 of Thomas Pinckney, Gouverneur Morris, and William Short as ministers at London, Paris, and The Hague, respectively, occasioned significant Senate debates that ultimately involved the meaning of the “advice and consent” provision of the Constitution and the extent of presidential authority over foreign affairs. Early in his first administration the president had...
52679Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
On 16 Jan. 1792 the U.S. House of Representatives began considering GW’s message of 11 Jan. and the two reports it covered. These reports from Henry Knox presented the case for a new military campaign to subdue the hostile Indian nations on the northwest frontier and pacify the region. To carry out this plan the administration proposed to increase the army from two regiments to five. Although...
52680Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
Congress’s presentation of “An Act for an apportionment of Representatives among the several States according to the first enumeration” to Washington for his approbation on 26 Mar. 1792 set the scene for the first presidential veto in U.S. history. Recognizing the controversial nature of the bill, which increased the U.S. House of Representatives to 120 members, gave the size of each state’s...
52681Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
I Alexander Hamilton’s Outline for GW’s Annual Address to Congress, November 1793 II Edmund Randolph’s List of Topics to be Communicated to Congress, November 1793 III GW’s Notes on the Annual Address to Congress, November 1793 IV Edmund Randolph’s Draft for GW’s Annual Address to Congress, November 1793 V Henry Knox’s Draft for GW’s Annual Address to Congress, c.19 November 1793 VI Alexander...
52682From George Washington to William Pearce (Washington Papers)
[This letter was misdated in the volume and will be included in Presidential Series 17 .]
52683GW’s Farewell Address: Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
In the preparation of his farewell address to the American people, GW, as he often did for important documents, sought the assistance of others he thought were superior in literary ability. When he had considered resignation in 1792, he turned to James Madison. In 1796 his primary collaborator was Alexander Hamilton. The starting point for the 1796 address was Madison’s earlier draft. By...
52684Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
After making his decision to retire from office at the conclusion of his second term as president, GW had delivered his Farewell Address to the country via the newspapers, ensuring a wide distribution for his parting advice to the nation. GW’s Farewell Address greatly affected all segments of American society. Reactions in the form of letters and addresses, overwhelmingly favorable, poured in...
52685Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
GW’s Farewell Address, published on 19 Sept. 1796, officially announced his decision not to seek re-election to the U.S. presidency. In his final days in office, which ended on 3 March 1797, GW compared himself to a “wearied traveller.” This sentiment likely was occasioned by the events of the last half of GW’s second term, during which he faced heavy opposition to, and slow implementation of,...
52686Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney spent six weeks in Philadelphia in November and December 1798, formulating their recommendations to the president for raising and incorporating the twelve additional regiments for which Congress had provided in July 1798 in the “Act to augment the Army of the United States, and for other purposes.” Although there were many...
52687Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
[9 July 1799] George Washington prepared his will alone, without, as he attested, any “professional character” being “consulted” or having “any Agency in the draught.” He dated the will, the work of many “leisure hours,” the “ninth day of July” in 1799, probably the date that he finished making the final copy. And he put his name at the bottom of all but one of its twenty-nine pages. Six...