American Aurora

by Richard N. Rosenfeld

  M. de Vergennes, who appears very much offended, told me yesterday that he would enter into no further discussions with Mr. Adams, nor answer any more of his letters … [Mr. Adams] says the ideas of this Court and those of the people in America are so totally different that it is impossible for any Minister to please both … But … I cannot imagine that he mistakes the sentiments of a few for a general opinion …1202

  John Adams will write:

  Dr. Franklin’s “reluctance” upon this occasion, I believe, was not implicitly believed by congress, if it was by any individual member of that sagacious body. Sure I am that I have never given the smallest credit to it. The majority … saw, as I have always seen, that it was Dr. Franklin’s heart’s desire to avail himself of these means and this opportunity to strike Mr. Adams out of existence as a public minister, and get himself into his place …

  I now leave your readers to judge whether the Doctor had sufficient reason to complain to congress against me for officially intermeddling in his department and this from ennui and idleness … This affair of the currency was no more in his department than it was in mine … I had as good a right to answer [the Count] as the Doctor had. It is true I did not show my letters to the Doctor. I was not desired by the Count to consult with him. I had no doubt upon the subject. From a year’s residence with him, in 1778 and 1779, in the same family, I knew his extreme indolence and dissipation, and consequently, that I might call upon him half a dozen times and not find him at home; and if I found him, it might be a week before I could get his opinion, and perhaps never …

  “He thinks that America has been too free in expressions of gratitude to France; for that she is more obliged to us than we to her.” I cannot, or at least will not deny this accusation, for it was my opinion at that time, has been ever since, and is so now …1203

  Saturday, August 12, 1780. Today, in Geneva, Switzerland, Benny Bache turns eleven years old. Living under the tutelage of Gabriel Louis Galissard de Marignac (a regent of the college and academy of Geneva), Benny attends school from half past seven in the morning to seven in the evening, six days a week. As a New Year’s greeting to his grandfather at the beginning of this year, Benny wrote,

  I am aware of all the kindness that you have for me. I promise you, my dear papa, that I will always hold the memory of it in my heart … I feel how I am responsible to you and how I must do things on my part to make me worthy of all the attentions that you have given me.1204

  CHAPTER NINE

  VICTORY

  [B]elieve me, it was not to the exertions of America that we owe the Reduction of this modern Hannibal. Nor shall we always have it in our power to Command the aid of 37 [French] sail of the Line and 8,000 [French] Auxiliary veterans—Our Allies have learned that, on this Occasion, our regular troops were not more equal to one half their Land force … [O]ur means & numbers were far inadequate …

  AMERICAN MAJOR GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE,

  YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA1205

  Wednesday, August 16, 1780. At two this morning at Camden, South Carolina, Britain’s two-thousand-man Southern Army, led by British General Charles Cornwallis, surprises and completely demolishes America’s four-thousand-man Southern Army, led by American General Horatio Gates (“the hero of Saratoga”). In this disastrous encounter, the American army suffers two thousand casualties, and Gates abandons his reputation, his military career, and America’s Southern Army by ignominiously fleeing in the midst of battle, on the army’s fastest horse and with a personal guard of six, to Hillsborough, North Carolina. As Alexander Hamilton asked,

  Was there ever an instance of a General running away, as Gates has done, from his whole army? and was there ever so precipitous a flight? One hundred and eighty miles in three days and a half. It does admirable credit to the activity of a man at his time of life. But it disgraces the General and the soldiers …1206

  At this Battle of Camden, Baron Johann de Kalb of the French army, who accompanied the Marquis de Lafayette to America and volunteered without pay for the American cause, dies of multiple musket balls and a sabre wound to his head.1207

  Thursday, August 17, 1780. The failure in recruitment for the Continental army has jeopardized the possibility of a Franco-American operation this year. Today, George Washington writes the Committee of Co-operation:

  We are now arrived at the middle of August … [O]ur operations must commence in less than a month from this, or it will absolutely be too late …

  I am sorry to add that we have every reason to apprehend we shall not be in a condition at all to undertake any thing decisive. The completion of our Continental batalions … has been uniformly and justly held up as the basis of offensive operations. How far we have fallen short of this …1208

  There will be no Franco-American operation until next year.

  Sunday, August 20, 1780. Today, George Washington writes the Continental Congress:

  To me it will appear miraculous if our affairs can maintain themselves much longer in their present train. If either the temper or the resources of the Country will not admit of an alteration, we may expect soon to be reduced to the humiliating condition of seeing the cause of America, in America, upheld by foreign Arms. The generosity of our Allies has a claim to all our confidence and all our gratitude, but it is neither for the honor of America, nor for the interest of the common cause, to leave the work entirely to them.1209

  Tuesday, September 12, 1780. Today, George Washington writes the commander of France’s fleet in the West Indies:

  The situation of America at this time is critical. The Government without finances; its paper credit sunk, and no expedients it can adopt [are] capable of retrieving it … [British General Sir Henry] Clinton, with an army of ten thousand regular troops … [is] in possession of [New York] one of our capital towns, and a large part of the State to which it belongs … [and] a fleet, superior to that of our allies, not only to protect him against any attempts of ours, but to facilitate those he may project against us. [British General] Lord Cornwallis, with seven or eight thousand men, [is] in complete possession of two States, Georgia and South Carolina; a third, North Carolina, by recent misfortunes at his mercy …

  By a Letter lately received from General [Horatio] Gates, we learn that, on the 16th of last month, attempting to penetrate and regain the State of South Carolina, he met with a total defeat near Camden [South Carolina], and the remainder dispersed, with the loss of all their cannon and baggage …

  I write to you with that confidence and candor which ought to subsist between allies and between military men … To propose at this time a plan of precise cooperation would be fruitless …1210

  Friday, September 15, 1780. Today, George Washington writes the Continental Congress:

  I have the honor to inform Congress that to-morrow I set out for Hartford to have an interview on the 20th with the [French General] Count De Rochambeau and the [French Admiral] Chevalier De Ternay.1211

  Friday, September 22, 1780. Today, George Washington concludes two days of talks at Hartford, Connecticut, with French General Rochambeau and French Admiral de Ternay. The Marquis de Lafayette has acted as interpreter. Washington memorializes his position, including:

  1st. That there can be no decisive enterprise … without a constant naval superiority.

  2d. That of all the enterprises which may be undertaken, the most important and decisive is the reduction of New York …1212

  Tuesday, September 26, 1780. Another of Washington’s generals has failed him. Today, George Washington reports the bad news from his headquarters, across the North (Hudson) River from West Point:

  I arrived here yesterday, on my return from an interview with the French General and Admiral and have been witness to a scene of treason as shocking as it was unexpected. General [Benedict] Arnold, from every circumstance, had entered into a plot for sacrificing West Point. He had an interview with Major André, the British Adjutant-General, last Week … By an extraordinary concurrence of incidents, André was taken
on his return with several papers in Arnolds handwriting that proved the treason. The latter unluckily got notice of it before I did, went immediately down the river … and proceeded to [British headquarters in] New York.1213

  Monday, October 2, 1780. Today, from Paris, Benjamin Franklin writes the U.S. Minister to Spain, John Jay:

  At length I got over a Reluctance that was almost invincible and made another Application to the [French] Government here for more Money … I have now the Pleasure to acquaint you that my Memorial was received in the kindest and most friendly Manner, & tho’ the Court here is not without its Embarrassments on Account of Money, I was told to make myself easy, for that I should be assisted with what was necessary …

  I being much pleased with the generous behavior just experienced, I presented another Paper, proposing … that the Congress might furnish their Army in America with Provisions in Part of Payment for the Sum lent us. This Proposition I was told was well taken; but, it being considered that the States having the Enemy in their Country and obliged to make great expenses for the Present Campaign, the furnishing so much Provisions as the French Army might need might straiten and be inconvenient to the Congress, his Majesty did not at this time think it right to accept the offer. You will not wonder at my loving this good prince. He will win the Hearts of all America.1214

  Sunday, October 8, 1780. Today, Benjamin Franklin belatedly breaks the bad news to John Adams:

  I ought to acquaint you, a governo, as the merchants say, that M. le Comte de Vergennes, having taken much amiss some passages in your letters to him, sent the whole correspondence to me, requesting that I would transmit it to Congress. I was myself sorry to see those passages. If they were the effects merely of inadvertence and you did not on reflection approve of them, perhaps you may think it proper to write something for effacing the impressions made by them. I do not presume to advise you, but mention it only for your consideration.1215

  Monday, October 30, 1780. Today, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette (now commanding six battalions of light infantry in advance of the main army) exchange letters. The Marquis de Lafayette writes Washington:

  Any enterprise will please the people of this Country, [and] show them that … we have men who do not Lay still … The French Court have often Complain’d to me of the inactivity of that American Army who Before the Alliance had distinquish’d themselves [at Saratoga] By theyr spirit of enterprise. They have often told me, your friends Leave us now to fight theyr Battles and do no more Risk themselves. It is moreover of the greatest political importance to let them know that on our side we were Ready to Cooperate … [I]f any thing may engage the ministry to give us the ask’d for support, it will be our proving to the nation on our side we had been Ready … I well know the Court of Versailles, and was I to go to them, I would think it very impolitical to go there unless we had done something.1216

  George Washington answers:

  It is impossible, my Dear Marquis, to desire, more ardently than I do to terminate the campaign by some happy stroke; but we must consult our means rather than our wishes and not endeavour to better our affairs by attempting things, which for want of success may make them worse. We are to lament that there has been a misapprehension of our circumstances in Europe; but, to endeavour to recover our reputation, we should take care that we do not injure it more …1217

  George Washington hasn’t fought a battle in two and a half years.

  Wednesday, November 22, 1780. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:

  On the report of a committee, Congress agreed to the following letter and representation to his most Christian Majesty [of France] …

  GREAT, FAITHFUL, AND MOST BELOVED FRIEND AND ALLY,

  [W]e ought not to conceal from your Majesty the embarrassments which have attended our national affairs …

  A naval superiority in the American seas having enabled the enemy in the midst of last winter to divide their army and extend the war to the southern states, Charles Town [South Carolina] was subdued …

  The acquisition of Charles Town, with the advantages gained in Georgia … encouraged the British commander in that quarter to penetrate through South Carolina into the interiour parts of North Carolina …

  To divert the reinforcements destined for those states, they are now executing an enterprise against the seacoast of Virginia …

  At a time when we feel ourselves strongly impressed by the weight of past obligations, it is with the utmost reluctance that we yield to the emergency of our affairs in requesting additional favors … From a full investigation of our circumstances, it is manifest that, in aid of our utmost exertions, a foreign loan … will be indispensably necessary …1218

  Monday, December 4, 1780. Today, on reports of a complaint lodged against Franklin in Congress, Foreign Minister Vergennes writes French Minister Luzerne in Philadelphia:

  I have too good an opinion of the intelligence and wisdom of the members of Congress and of all true patriots to suppose that they will allow themselves to be led astray … As to Dr. Franklin, his conduct leaves nothing for Congress to desire. It is as zealous and patriotic as it is wise and circumspect, and you may affirm with assurance … that the method he pursues is much more efficacious than it would be if he were to assume a tone of importunity in multiplying his demands, and above all in supporting them by menaces, to which we should neither give credence nor value, and which would only tend to render him personally disagreeable …

  Furthermore, … upon the first request of their minister, we have promised him a million of livres to put him in a condition to meet the demands made on him from this time till the end of the year …1219

  Friday, December 8, 1780. Washington is desperate. Someone must detail his needs to France. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:

  Resolved, That a minister be appointed to proceed to the Court of Versailles for the special purpose of soliciting the aids requested by Congress, and forwarding them to America without loss of time.

  Ordered, That Monday next be assigned for electing the said minister.1220

  Sunday, December 10, 1780. Today, from his camp at New Windsor, New York (north of West Point along the North [Hudson] River), George Washington writes New York political leader Gouverneur Morris:

  [R]elative to an enterprize against the enemy in News York … Where are the men? Where are the provisions? Where the cloaths, the everything necessary to warrant the attempt … ? Our numbers … were diminished in the Field so soon as the weather set in cold; near 2000 Men on account of cloaths which I had not to give … [W]e have neither money nor credit adequate to the purchase of a few boards for Doors to our Log huts … [W]e cannot dispatch an Officer or common Express upon the most urgent occasion for want of the means of support … I have not been able to obtain a farthing of public money for the support of my Table for near two Months …1221

  Monday, December 11, 1780. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:

  Congress proceeded to the election of a minister agreeably to the order of the 8th, and the ballots being taken, Colonel John Laurens was unanimously elected.1222

  Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, an aide-de-camp of General Washington and son of Henry Laurens, the former president of the Continental Congress, will leave for Paris to request additional funds.

  Monday, January 1, 1781. New Year’s Day. Today, about 2,400 men (approximately one fourth) of the Continental army turn a New Year’s celebration into a mutiny.1223 From his camp at New Windsor, New York, George Washington reports:

  On the night of the Ist instant, a mutiny was excited by the Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of the Pennsylvania Line which soon became so universal as to defy all opposition. In attempting to quell this tumult in the first instance, some Officers were killed, others wounded, and the lives of several common Soldiers lost. Deaf to the arguments, entreaties, and utmost efforts of all their Officers to stop them, the Men moved off from Morris Town, the pla
ce of their Cantonment, with their Arms and six pieces of Artillery: and from Accounts just received by Genl. Wayne’s Aid De Camp, they were still in a body on their March to Philadelphia to demand a redress of their grievances. At what point this defection will stop, or how extensive it may prove, God only knows; at present the Troops at the important Posts in this vicinity remain quiet, not being acquainted with this unhappy and alarming affair; but how long they will continue so cannot be ascertained …

  The aggravated calamities and distresses that have resulted from the total want of pay for nearly twelve Months, the want of cloathin … and not unfrequently the want of provisions, are beyond description …1224

  Wednesday, January 10, 1781. Congress does not want John Adams to alienate America’s French ally. Today, President of the Continental Congress Samuel Huntington writes a warning to John Adams:

  Congress consider your correspondence with the Count de Vergennes on the subject of communicating your plenipotentiary powers to the ministry of Great Britain as flowing from your zeal and assiduity in the service of your country; but I am directed to inform you that the opinion given to you by that minister [Vergennes], relative to the time and circumstances proper for communicating your powers and entering upon the execution of them, is well founded.1225