Council of Safety to the General Committee of Tryon County, 22 July 1777
Council of Safety to the General Committee of Tryon County
[Kingston] July 22, 1777.
Gentlemen
We have received your letter1 and several others from different parts of your county, and are no less affected by the dangers than the fears of the people of Tryon.
It is with the utmost concern that we hear of the universal panic, despair and despondency which prevails through your county. We flattered ourselves that the approach of the enemy would have animated and not depressed their spirits. What reason is there to expect that Heaven will help those who refuse to help themselves, or that Providence will grant liberty to those who want courage to defend it? Are the great duties they owe to themselves, their country and posterity so soon forgot? Let not the history of the present glorious contest declare to future generations that the people of your county, after making the highest professions of zeal for the American cause, fled at the first appearance of danger and behaved like women. This unmanly conduct gives us great concern; we feel too much for you honour and reputation not to be uneasy.
Instead of supplicating the protection of your enemies, meet them with arms in your hands; make good your professions, and let not your attachment to freedom be manifested only in your words.
We could scarcely have believed, that a man among you would have thought of protections (as they are falsely called) from the enemy. Of what advantage have they been to the deluded wretches who accepted them in Jersey, New-York, Westchester and Long island? After being seduced from their duty to their country, they were plundered, robbed, cast into prison, treated as slaves, and abused in a manner almost too savage and cruel to be related. We ought to profit by the woful experience of others, and not, with our eyes open, run to destruction; nor imagine you will remain unsupported in the hour of trial. We consider you as part of the State, and as equally entitled, with other counties to the aid of the whole. We have dispatched one of our members to Head-Quarters, with directions to make known your situation to His Excellency General Washington, and to request his aid to protect and support you.2
We further desire and resolve that your militia be divided into three parts; and that one-third part be immediately embodied for your defence, and relieved at convenient periods. We also recommend it to Genl. Herkimer3 and you to be careful in putting them under the command of proper officers. The muster rolls on being properly authenticated and produced, shall be immediately paid off. Let all differences among you cease; let the only contention be, who shall be foremost in defending his country; banish unmanly fears; acquit yourselves like men, and with firm confidence trust the event to that almighty and benevolent Being, who hath commanded you to hold fast the liberty with which he hath made you free, and who is able as well as willing, to support you in performing his orders. It is not in our power to send you the money you require, without being furnished with the accounts it is intended to discharge. A Council of Safety cannot charge sums of money on a county; the Legislature alone can do such acts; besides we doubt the propriety of burdening your county with all that expense, and are not certain but it will be imposed on the Continent or the State at large. We will, nevertheless, pay off the public debts in every part of the State, and are a little surprised that a particular statement of your demands has not been transmitted to us. As to the pay rolls you mention, they ought to be drawn agreeably to the enclosed form, and proven by the oath of the officer.
We also recommend to you, without delay, to apprehend the most dangerous among the disaffected, to send them to Albany, and from thence here. Let not the fear of Brandt4 deter you from this.
It will also be highly proper, immediately on the approach of the enemy, to drive in all the cattle and carriages from the frontier.
With respect to all such as voluntarily supply the enemy with provisions, you ought immediately to deprive them of the means of doing it. Nor would it be proper to leave large herds of cattle in places from whence they may, without difficulty be taken by the enemy.
General Schuyler informs us that he has sent you part of a regiment from Albany. You expected more assistance from him than was in his power to afford. We have authorized Colonel Harper to raise two hundred rangers; and we hope he will meet with all the aid and encouragement in your power to give him.5 If you can only prevail on your people to exert their own strength, all will be well.
On the return of the gentlemen sent to Head-Quarters, you shall be informed of the success of the application to General Washington. And let us again beseech and entreat you, for the honour and reputation as well as safety of this State, to behave like men. We are, gentlemen, Your most obet. Humble servt.
By order
To the Chairman of the General Com. of Tryon County
Printed: , 1: 1009–10. On 22 July 1777, JJ presented his draft of this letter to the Council of Safety, which then amended and approved it. Excerpts from the document were printed in , 1: 71–73; , 1: 152–53. From the dissolution of the New York Provincial Convention in May till the meeting of the legislature in September 1777, state executive authority was in the hands of the Council of Safety, composed of a number of the convention’s members, including JJ, who was almost constantly occupied with council business. The council’s proceedings indicate that JJ drafted much of its correspondence at this time. , 1: 77; , 1: 152.
1. On 21 July the Council of Safety received a letter from the Committee of Tryon (now Montgomery) County dated 18 July warning of the likelihood of invasion by the British, Loyalists, and Indians; complaining of a lack of state assistance; and stating that the morale of the militia was so low that desertions were expected. This letter was referred to a committee consisting of JJ, Robert R. Livingston, and Jeremiah Platt. , 1: 1006–7; 2: 518. See also JJ to Gouverneur Morris, 21 July 1777, above.
2. Robert R. Livingston was sent to confer with Washington. See also the council’s letter, drafted by JJ, to Gouverneur Morris, approved on 22 July. , 1: 1008–9, 1010.
3. Wealthy German-American Mohawk Valley landowner Nicholas Herkimer (c. 1728–77) was a brigadier general of the New York militia. He was mortally wounded on 6 Aug. 1777 by British, Mohawk, and Loyalist forces at the battle of Oriskany while marching with a Tryon County militia unit attempting to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix by British forces under Barry St. Leger.
4. Mohawk leader Joseph Brant (c. 1742–1807). Herkimer had met with Brant at the end of June in a vain attempt to persuade him to remain neutral. , 1: 996–97.
5. Colonel John Harper of Harpersfield, bearer of letters from Tryon County, testified before the Council of Safety on 16 July. He was authorized to raise 200 rangers on 17 July. , 1: 996–97, 1001–2, 1004. For further complaints about the inadequacies of the state’s measures, and for additional efforts up to the time of the battle at Oriskany to provide for the defense of the Mohawk Valley while simultaneously responding to the fall of Fort Ticonderoga and the southward march of Burgoyne’s army, see, for example, , 1: 1010–11, 1016–19, 1022, 1023, 1024–26, 1032–34, 1036–39.