Adopted Son

by David A Clary

  29. Laf to Governor and Council APR 10 and 17, Governor and Council to Laf, APR 8 and 12, Laf to NG, APR 17, and to Board of War, APR 22, 1781, ILA 4:15, 17–19, 27–29, 35–41, 41–42, 53–54. On MAY 24, Congress resolved to assume responsibility for repayment, and on NOV 23 ordered the Superintendent of Finance to discharge the debt. The Baltimore merchants had sold Laf’s promissory note to Dr. John Boyd, and when it fell due on JUL 1, 1783, Laf rather than Congress paid it. ILA 4:54n.

  30. Laf to GW, APR 10 and 14, 1781, ILA 4:1924, 30–32; GW to Laf, APR 11, 1781, FGW 21:445–46.

  31. Laf to Luz, APR 10, 1781, ILA 4:22–23. Laf lost his baggage to a British privateer.

  32. GW to Laf, APR 14, 1781, FGW 21:455; GW to Webster, JUL 14, 1788, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 135.

  33. FVS to Laf, APR 10 and 21, Laf to GW, APR 13, 15, 18, to NG, APR 17, to TJ, APR 21 and 25, to George Augustine Washington (Laf’s new aide and GW’s nephew), APR 21, to Luz, APR 22, to FVS, APR 25, and GW to Laf, APR 22, 1781, ILA 4:23–24, 29, 33–41, 43, 45, 46n, 48–51, 54–58, 62–64; Laf to GW, APR 13, 1781, GLW 179–80; FVS to GW, APR 15, 1781, Sparks 3:290–94.

  34. GW to Laf, APR 21 and 22 (two letters), 1781, ILA 4:52, 56–60. There was another curious exchange during this time. Laf wrote GW on APR 23, “Great happiness is derived from friendship, and I do particularly experience it in the attachement which unites me to you. But friendship has its duties, and the man that likes you the best will be the forwardest in letting you know every thing where you can be concerned. When the ennemy came to your house many Negroes deserted to them. This piece of news did not affect me much as I little value property—But you cannot conceive how unhappy I have been to hear that Mr. Lund Washington went on board the ennemy’s vessels and consented to give them provisions.” Lund was GW’s cousin and manager of Mount Vernon. GW had already heard about the incident. He told Lund it would have been “a less painful circumstance to me” if he had let the British burn the place. He sent a copy to Laf as “proof of my friendship…The freedom of your communications is an evidence to me of the sincerety of your attachment—and every fresh instance of this gives pleasure & adds to the bands which unite us in friendship.” Laf to GW, APR 23, and GW to Laf, MAY 4, 1781, ILA 4:60–61, 84–85; GW to Lund Washington, APR 30, 1781, FGW 22:14.

  35. Laf to NG, APR 28, Phillips to Laf, APR 26, 28, and 29, and Laf to Phillips, APR 30, 1781, ILA 4:66–69, 71–73; Laf to Phillips, MAY 3, 1781, Lafayette Collection, Lilly Library.

  36. Laf to NG (two letters), MAY 3, 1781, ILA 4:79–81.

  37. Laf to GW, MAY 4, 1781, ILA 4:82–84.

  38. NG to Laf, MAY 1, 1781, ILA 4:74–75.

  39. GW to Laf, MAY 5, 1781, ILA 4:86–87.

  40. Malone, Jefferson Virginian, 349–51.

  41. Laf to Weedon, MAY 3, 15, 28, and 29, to Jethro Sumner, MAY 7, to FVS, MAY 10, 17, and 29, and to TJ, MAY 28, Richard Claiborne (deputy quartermaster) to Laf, MAY 2, 3, 21, TJ to Laf, MAY 14, 29, 30, and 31, Weedon to Laf, MAY 14, 19, and 22, and JVS to Laf, MAY 28, 1781, ILA 4:75–79, 81–82, 87, 91, 98–102, 104–8, 115–16, 119, 125–26, 136–46, 151–53. See also Poirier, “Three Elements.”

  42. Laf to GW, MAY 8, and to Luz, MAY 9, 1781, ILA 4:88–91.

  43. Laf to GW, MAY 17, and to NG, MAY 18, and GW to Laf, MAY 31, 1781, ILA 4:108–14, 156n; Tower, 2:340. Laf had heard rumors of Phillips’ death, and when Arnold’s first emissaries arrived he asked them about it; they denied it. They returned the next day to admit the truth, and presented Arnold’s message. Laf told GW, “The British general cannot but perfectly know that I am not to treat of partial exchanges and that the fate of the continental prisoners must be regulated by a superior authority to that with which I am invested.” Laf to GW, MAY 17, 1781, GLW 192–93. Exchanges and paroles of prisoners were the most elaborate song and dance in eighteenth-century warfare. Neither Laf nor Arnold possessed authority in the matter until it was delegated to them.

  44. Laf to GW, MAY 14, and GW to Laf, MAY 31, 1781, ILA 4:130–31, 153–56.

  45. Laf to AW, MAY 15, to NG, MAY 18, and AW to Laf, MAY 19 and 20, 1781, ILA 4:102–3, 110–15, 116–17; Laf to GW, MAY 18, 1781, GLW 193–95.

  46. Tucker, Mad Anthony, 192–93; Nelson, Anthony Wayne, 133–34; Denny, Military Journal, 34; Ketchum, Victory, 153–55.

  47. Laf to DM, MAY 21, and TJ to DM, JUN 2, 1781, ILA 4:117–18, 119n; Callahan, Daniel Morgan, 249–50; Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan, 161–62.

  48. Laf to Luz, MAY 22, 1781, ILA 4:120–21.

  49. Laf to Noailles, MAY 22, 1781, ILA 4:121–25.

  50. NG to Laf, MAY 23, and Laf to NG, MAY 24, 1781, ILA 4:126–29; Laf to AH, MAY 23, 1781, SAH 2:643–44.

  51. Laf to GW, MAY 24, 1781, ILA 4:130–31.

  52. GW to Laf, MAY 31, 1781, ILA 4:153–54.

  53. GW to Laf, JUN 4, 1781, ILA 4:168.

  54. Cornwallis to Clinton, MAY 26, 1781, Tower 2:238. Clinton wrote Lord George Germain, secretary of state for the colonies, on June 9, saying that Cornwallis had written that “the boy could not escape him.” Cornwallis sent his first letter to Laf the same day, passing on the text of the cartel on prisoner exchanges. It was much more courteous than anything Phillips or Arnold had sent. Cornwallis to Laf, MAY 26, 1781, ILA 4:134–36.

  55. Laf to AW, MAY 29, and to FVS, MAY 31, FVS to Laf, MAY 30, and Wayne to Laf, MAY 31 and JUN 1, 1781, ILA 4:141–42, 147–48, 150–51, 156–57; Palmer, General von Steuben, 273–82.

  56. Weedon to Laf, JUN 1, 17 and 20, Laf to James Wood, JUN 3, to DM, JUN 12, to Weedon, JUN 16 and 21, to Thomas Sim Lee, JUN 25, and to Nelson, JUN 26 and July 1, Claiborne to Laf, JUN 13, to Thomas Pickering, JUN 14, and to Virginia Assembly, JUN 18, and Pickering to Claiborne, JUL 1, 1781, ILA 4:158, 160–61, 161n, 176, 180–81, 181n, 189–91, 201–2, 205, 210, 214, 228–31; Eckenrode, Revolution, 246–49. Throughout the campaign, Laf and Cornwallis continued their gentlemanly messages about prisoners. Cornwallis to Laf, JUN 4 and 28, Laf to Cornwallis JUN 20, and Laf to Captain Ewell, JUN 30, 1781, ILA 4:167–68, 196–97, 218–19, 221–22. On JUN 30 Laf appointed Charles Ewell as commissary of prisoners, also telling him to look after seven state legislators captured by Tarleton at Charlottesville.

  57. Laf to AW, JUN 2, to FVS and to NG, both JUN 3, 1781, ILA 4:160–65; Malone, Jefferson Virginian, 356–58; Gottschalk, Lafayette and Close, 237–43.

  58. FVS to Laf, JUN 3, 1781, ILA 4:166–67.

  59. Laf to GW, JUN 3, and FVS to Laf, MAY 28 and JUN 5, 1781, ILA 4:139, 165–55, 170–71, 170n; Rankin, War in Virginia, 41–43, 66, 73–74; Boatner, 874–75. Simcoe found some canoes and sent men over to burn the stores.

  60. Laf to JVS, JUN 13, to Luz, JUN 16, to NG, JUN 18, 20, and 21, and to GW, JUN 18, 1781, ILA 4:179–80, 182–83, 185–88, 191–95, 197–200, 202–4.

  61. CIG 1:185–94.

  62. GW to Laf, JUL 13, Laf to JVS, JUN 22, JUL 23 and 25, AUG 6, and 13, and OCT 26, and to Nelson, OCT 31, and NG to FVS, SEP 17, 1781, ILA 4:206–7, 247–48, 272–73, 276–77, 301–2, 320–21, 432–35; Palmer, General von Steuben, 286–87. FVS told the legislature that he would “be forced to expose the dastardliness of the government, the absurdity of the laws and the pusillanimity of those who should have executed them.”

  63. AW to Laf, JUN 4, 6, and 7, Laf to AW, JUN 7, NG to Laf, JUN 9, Tarleton to Cornwallis, JUN 13, 1781, ILA 4:169, 171–75, 178–79, 183; Memoirs quoted Unger, Lafayette, 145. Regarding “bush fighting,” see the comment of John Jacob Ulrich Rivardi: “Some would rather bush fight (as they call it) in case of a war, and the fact is, I fancy, that they had rather not fight at all.” Rivardi to HK, JUL 20, 1794, quoted Clary, Fortress, 22–23. He wrote from Norfolk.

  64. Laf to JVS, JUN 15, and to Luz, JUN 16, 1781, ILA 4:185–88.

  65. Laf to NG, JUN 21, 1781, ILA 4:202–4.

  66. Laf to Luz, and to Weedon, both JUN 16, to AW, JUN 21, 22, 25, and 26, to FVS, JUN 22, to NG, JUN 27, and to Nelson, JUN 28, AW to Laf, JUN 22 and 25, and NG to Laf, JUN 23, 1781, ILA 4:189, 205–9, 211–12, 2
15, 216–18.

  67. GW to Laf, JUN 29, 1781, ILA 119, 121.

  68. Laf to GW, JUN 28, 1781, GLW 203–4.

  69. Laf to AW, JUN 30, to Nelson, JUL 1, and to NG, JUL 4, 1781, ILA 4:222–23, 228–34.

  70. Laf to Charles Dabney, JUL 7, and to NG, JUL 8, 1781, ILA 4:235–38, 238n; AW to GW, JUL 8, 1781, quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette and Close, 266; Nelson, Anthony Wayne, 134–37; Boatner, 451–53. Only a few hundred men under Simcoe had crossed the river before AW approached.

  71. Laf, General Orders, JUL 8, and Laf to Nelson, JUL 10, 1781, ILA 4:240, 242–43. As for “a near-run thing,” that was a common description of a closely fought action for generations of British commanders, many of whom were fans of horse racing. The Duke of Wellington called the Battle of Waterloo (1815) “the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.”

  72. Higginbotham, War, 374–75; Ketchum, Victory, 184–86; Gottschalk, Lafayette and Close, 268–71, Chaplain l’Abbe Claude Robin quoted 271. Laf and most historians believe that Laf convinced Cornwallis that his detachment was larger than it actually was. That worked for a while. Just after Green Spring, however, the British commander accurately put the marquis’ strength at about 2,000. Cornwallis to Clinton, JUL 8, 1781, quoted ILA 239n.

  73. Laf to GW, JUL 8, 1781, ILA 4:239.

  74. Laf to Noailles, JUL 9, 1781, ILA 4:240–41.

  Chapter Twelve

  1. Ver to Laf, MAY 11, 1781, ILA 4:92–93. On JL in France, see Massey, John Laurens, 173–90.

  2. BF to Laf, MAY 14, 1781, LBF 35:64–66.

  3. Castries to Laf, MAY 25, 1781, ILA 4:132–34.

  4. Probably Cromot du Bourg, quoted Freeman, George Washington, 5:286.

  5. Flexner, George Washington American, 427–31; Ketchum, Victory, 135–42; Freeman, George Washington 5:296n; Higginbotham, War, 388n.

  6. Roc to de Grasse, JUN 11, 1781, Tower 2:399.

  7. Ketchum, Victory, 142–43.

  8. Flexner, George Washington American, 434. French army uniforms were all white, except for colored lapel facings that distinguished regiments.

  9. Baron Ludwig von Closen quoted ibid., 434–35.

  10. GWD 2:241; Flexner, George Washington American, 436–37; Ketchum, Victory.

  11. GW to Laf, JUL 13, 1781, ILA 4:247–48.

  12. Laf to GW, JUL 20, 1781, ILA 4:255–57.

  13. Laf to GW, JUL 20 (second of three), 1781, ILA 4:257–59.

  14. Laf to GW, JUL 20 (third of three), 1781, ILA 4:259–61.

  15. Laf to GW, JUL 26, and to George Weedon, JUL 27, 1781, ILA 4:210–11, 280–81.

  16. Laf to GW, JUL 30, 1781, ILA 4:286–87.

  17. Laf to GW, JUL 31, 1781, ILA 4:290–91; Laf to GW, AUG 1, 1781, GLW 214.

  18. GW to Laf, JUL 30, 1781, ILA 4:288–90. GW’s “public” letters of the same date, answering Laf’s of JUL 8 and 20, are in FGW 22:431–32.

  19. Laf to Allen Jones, JUL 10, to Nelson, JUL 12, to AW, JUL 15, 21, 23, and 25, to Thomas Burke (governor of North Carolina), JUL 16, to DM, JUL 16 and 17, to NG, JUL 23, to FVS, JUL 15, NG to Laf, JUL 22, AW to Laf, JUL 22 and 24, James Barron to Laf, JUL 31, 1781, ILA 4:241–44, 248–51, 251n, 253, 263–64, 266–70, 274–78, 292, 293n; Laf to GW, JUL 26, 1781, GLW 211; Boatner, 1089.

  20. Laf to GW, AUG 1, 1781, GLW 214; Laf to Thomas Sim Lee, and to GW, both AUG 6, 1781, ILA 4:298–300.

  21. Laf to Nelson, JUL 12, 13, 21, 22, and 29 (two letters), and AUG 7, to Thomas Tucker, JUL 19, to FVS, JUL 23, to William Davis, JUL 27, to Thomas Sim Lee, JUL 30, to AW, AUG 4, FVS to Laf, JUL 13 and AUG 6, Thomas Burke to Laf, JUL 16, Nelson to Laf, JUL 28 and 29, and AUG 3, AW to Laf, AUG 9 and 10, James McHenry to Nelson, AUG 8, 1781, ILA 4:243–45, 246, 254, 254n, 261–62, 264–66, 272–73, 278–86, 293–94, 296, 301–2, 307–8, 309, 311; Nelson, Anthony Wayne, 138–40. On AUG 9, AW provided Laf a return of all articles seized because they were “in danger of being all embezzled or destroyed, added to the distressed condition our people were in for want of shoes & overalls.”

  22. Laf to Cornwallis, JUL 19, to Nelson, JUL 23, to British Officer in Charge of the American Prisoners, JUL 25, and to GW, JUL 31, and Cornwallis to Laf, JUL 24, 1781, ILA 4:253–54, 254n, 271, 276, 290–91. When militia captured by the British were exchanged, Laf dumped the burden of their care onto the state.

  23. Laf to GW, AUG 6, 1781, ILA 4:299–300.

  24. Laf to GW, AUG 11, 1781, ILA 4:311–12.

  25. Laf to Nelson, AUG 12, 16, 20, 26, 29, and 30, to FVS, AUG 13, to DM, AUG 15, to Weedon, AUG 15, to NG, AUG 25, Robert Andrews (quotation) to Weedon, SEP 26, William Davies to Laf, AUG 15, Thomas Burke to Laf, AUG 30, and David Jameson to Laf, AUG 31, 1781, ILA 4:314–15, 315n, 320–21, 323–29, 331–32, 336–37, 352–56, 361, 365–66, 369–73, 379.

  26. Laf to Luz, AUG 14, to HK, AUG 18, to Adr, to Maurepas, and to prince de Poix, all AUG 24, 1781, ILA 4:321–22, 332–33, 342–49. These letters mostly bragged about himself. The one to Adr, the first in many months, said, “The vanity with which you credit me has perhaps been gratified by the grand role I have been compelled to play…. It was not rational to entrust such a command to me,” on account of his youth. That was a common theme. He told Maurepas that “you must have been frightened by the dangerous role entrusted to my youth. Five hundred miles from any other corps and without any resources whatsoever, I have been chosen to oppose the plans of St. James and the fortune of Lord Cornwallis.”

  27. GW to Laf, AUG 15, 1781, ILA 4:329–30.

  28. Parker to Laf, AUG 19, 1781, ILA 4:334, 336.

  29. Laf to AW, AUG 22 and 25, and to John Taylor, AUG 31, 1781, ILA 4:341, 359–60, 377.

  30. Laf to GW, AUG 21, 1781, ILA 4:337–39.

  31. GW to Laf, AUG 21, 1781, ILA 4:340.

  32. Laf to GW, AUG 24 and 25, 1781, ILA 4:349–51, 356–59.

  33. Wiencek, Imperfect God, 252–53; Quarles, Negro, 194–95. Information about James is fragmentary. His emancipation is discussed below.

  34. GW to Laf, AUG 27, 1781, ILA 4:364–65.

  35. Ketchum, Victory, 204.

  36. De Grasse to Laf, and marquis de Saint-Simon-Montbléru to Laf, both AUG 30, 1781, ILA 4:373–76.

  37. Laf to AW, AUG 31, and AW to Laf, AUG 31, 1781, ILA 4:378, 380; AW quoted Tower 2:431; Nelson, Anthony Wayne, 142–43.

  38. Laf to GW (two letters), SEP 1, 1781, GLW 225–27.

  39. GW to Laf, SEP 1 and 2 (quotations), 1781, ILA 4:383, 386–87.

  40. GW to Laf, SEP 7, 1781, ILA 4:390.

  41. Laf to GW (two letters), SEP 8, 1781, GLW 228–32. ILA 4:392–94 dates the second letter to the ninth, GLW to the eighth, making the one quoted the second of the day. I think GLW is correct. Laf to GW, SEP 10, 1781, GLW 232, repeated much of this. On supplies, see AW to Laf, SEP 2, Nelson to Laf, SEP 15, Laf to Nelson, SEP 4, 6, and 11, to Thomas Burke, SEP 6, to Luz, SEP 8, William Davies to Laf, SEP 7, and to Anthony Walton White, SEP 12, and Benjamin Harrison to GW, SEP 23, 1781, ILA 4:386–92, 398–401, 403. Laf told GW that he sent twenty letters a day on supplies, and received an equal number. Prisoner exchanges also continued. Cornwallis to Laf, SEP 15, and Laf to Cornwallis, SEP 25, 1781, ILA 4:400–1, 404.

  42. Ketchum, Victory, 186–87; Mahan, Influence, 388–90; Boatner, 1237–9.

  43. GW to Laf, SEP 10, 1781, ILA 4:397. See also Flexner, George Washington American, 445–47; Ketchum, Victory, 181–84; Wickwire, Cornwallis, 354–88.

  44. AW to Laf, SEP 11, 1781, ILA 4:399.

  45. Quoted Scheer and Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats, 476.

  46. Tower 2:447; Observations by the comte de Grasse during his conference with the marquis de Lafayette, SEP 26, 1781, and Laf to GW and to Luz, both SEP 30, 1781, ILA 4:405–10; Flexner, George Washington American, 448–51; Ketchum, Victory, 209–13.

  47. Flexner, George Washington American, 451–52; Boatner, 1239, 1248. On the Siege of Yorktown, see Ketchum, Victory; Davis, Campaign; Walker, Engineers; Rankin, War; Clary, Fortress, 9–12 and citations; Higginbotham, War, 380–81; and Wickwire, Cornwallis
, 354–88.

  48. Laf to GW, SEP 30, 1781, ILA 4:411–12, 412n; Wright, Continental Army, 169–70.

  49. Clary, Fortress, 10; Martin, Narrative, 198. Gouvion, an expert topographer, had plotted and mapped the routes of march from New York.

  50. Laf to Luz (quotation), OCT 3, and to NG, OCT 6, 1781, ILA 4:413–14, 415n. On prisoners, see Laf to Cornwallis, OCT 3, 1781, ILA 4:412–13.

  51. Martin, Narrative, 198–99.

  52. Ibid., 199–200.

  53. In Chinard, George Washington as French, 54n. Chastellux also said of Knox, “One cannot too much admire the intelligence and activity, with which he collected from all quarters, transported, disembarked and conveyed to the batteries the train destined for the siege, and which consisted of more than thirty pieces of cannon and mortars of a large bore.” The French were absolutely amazed to find complete mastery of artillery in an American.

  54. Laf to Luz, OCT 12, 1781, ILA 4:417–18.

  55. Chevalier de Villebresme quoted ILA 422n. Laf said in his memoirs that his words were, “We are young soldiers and have only one way in these cases. That is to unload our muskets and march right in with our bayonets.” Quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette and Close, 319–22.

  56. Flexner, Young Hamilton, 358–60; McDonald, Alexander Hamilton, 24–25.

  57. Martin, Narrative, 202–3; AH to Laf, OCT 15, and Laf to Luz, OCT 16, 1781, ILA 4:418–21; Laf to GW, OCT 16, 1781, GLW 235–36; Flexner, Young Hamilton, 361–65.

  58. Figures are from Boatner, 1245. For years a story circulated that Laf, with GW’s approval, had ordered AH to “put to death all those of the enemy who should happen to be taken in the redoubt.” AH flatly denied it. AH to editor of Evening Post, in Morris, Alexander Hamilton and Founding, 65.

  59. Laf to Luz, OCT 16, 1781, ILA 4:420–21; GWD 2:267–68; Boatner, 1245–46; Flexner, George Washington American, 457.

  60. Lieutenant Ebenezer Denny quoted Scheer and Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats, 490. The account of the surrender follows Scheer and Rankin, 490–95; Ketchum, Victory, 138–57; Flexner, George Washington American, 459–64; Martin, Narrative, 206–8; and Boatner, 1246–48.