American Aurora

by Richard N. Rosenfeld

  The British have burned Richmond! Today, Thomas Jefferson, now Governor of Virginia, writes George Washington:

  On the 31st. of December, a Letter … came to my hands notifying that in the morning of the preceding day, 27 Sail of vessels had entered the capes … [T]he 2d inst … it was ascertained they were enemies and had advanced up James river … They marched from Westover at 2 o Clock in the afternoon of the 4th. and entered Richmond at 1 o Clock in the afternoon of the 5th. A regiment of infantry and about 30 horse continued on without halting at the Foundery. They burnt that, the boring mill, the magazine, and two other houses … The next morning they burnt some buildings of public and some of private property, with what stores remained in them, destroyed a great quantity of private stores and about 12 o Clock retired to Westover where they encamped within the neck the next day. The loss sustained is not yet accurately known … Their numbers from the best intelligence I have had are about 1500 infantry and as to their cavalry accounts vary from 20 to 120, the whole commanded by the parricide [Benedict] Arnold. Our militia … can be called in slowly. On the day the enemy advanced to this place, 200 only were called in … The whole country in the tide waters and some distance from them is equally open to similar insult.1226

  Monday, January 15, 1781. Today, George Washington summarizes the nation’s needs to Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, who is preparing to leave for France:

  To me it appears evident:

  That the efforts we have been compelled to make for carrying on the war have exceeded the natural abilities of this country, and by degrees brought it to a crisis, which renders immediate and efficacious succours from abroad indispensable to its safety … The depreciation of our currency was, in the main, a necessary effect of the want of … funds; and its restoration is impossible for the same reason …

  That the patience of the army, from an almost uninterrupted series of complicated distress, is now nearly exhausted, and their discontents matured to an extremity …

  That, the people being dissatisfied with the mode of supporting the war … may weaken those sentiments which begun it …

  That, from all the foregoing considerations result: 1st, The absolute necessity of an immediate, ample, and efficacious succour of money. 2dly, The vast importance of a decided effort of the allied arms on this Continent [for] the ensuing campaign … Without the first, we may make … the period [end] to our opposition. With it, we should be in a condition to continue the war …

  That, next to a loan of money, a constant naval superiority on these coasts is the object most interesting … This superiority, (with an aid in money), would enable us to convert the war into a vigorous offensive …

  That an additional succour of troops would be extremely desirable. Besides a reinforcement of numbers, the excellence of the French troops, that perfect discipline and order in the corps already sent, which have so happily tended to improve the respect and confidence of the people for our allies … all these considerations evince the immense utility of an accession of force to the corps now here.1227

  Today, Washington also writes a letter to Benjamin Franklin, explaining Laurens’ mission:

  The present infinitely critical posture of our affairs made it essential, in the opinion of Congress, to send from hence a person who had been eye-witness to their progress and who was capable of placing them before the Court of France in a more full and striking point of light than was proper or even practicable by any written communications …

  What I have said to him, I beg leave to repeat to you, that to me nothing appears more evident than that the period [termination] of our opposition will very shortly arrive if our allies cannot afford us that effectual aid, particularly in money and in a naval superiority which are now solicited …1228

  Today, Washington also writes a letter of thanks to Benny Bache’s mother, Sarah Bache, for organizing Philadelphia’s women to sew 2,500 shirts for the army:

  Although the friendship of your Father may oblige him to see some things through too partial a Medium, Yet the indulgent manner in which he is pleased to express himself respecting me is indeed very pleasing … Mrs. Washington requests me to present her Compliments to Mr. Bache and yourself …1229

  Sunday, January 21, 1781. Today, another mutiny in the Continental army. George Washington reports:

  I have received the disagreeable intelligence that a part of the [New] Jersey Line had followed the example of that of Pennsylvania; and when the advices came away, it was expected the revolt would be general. The precise intentions of the Mutineers was not known, but their complaints and demands were similar to those of the Pennsylvanians … I have ordered as large a Detachment as we could spare from these Posts to march under Major General Howe … to compel the Mutineers to unconditional submission …1230

  Tuesday, February 6, 1781. Today, George Washington writes his representative at the Continental Congress on matters of army reorganization:

  You will have heard of the defections of the Pennsylvania line … It has ended in a temporary dissolution of the line. One half has been absolutely discharged and the remainder have been furloughed to reassemble in the beginning of April … [A] part of the Jersey line since followed their example and gave us an opportunity, after compelling all the mutineers to an unconditional surrender, to make examples of two of the most active leaders …1231

  Twelve mutineers were forced to compose the firing squad that executed two of their leaders.

  Sunday, February 11, 1781. Today, Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, accompanied by Thomas Paine, sets sail from Boston for France aboard the frigate Alliance, Captain John Barry.1232 Tom Paine:

  Nothing was done in the campaigns of 1778, 1779, 1780 in the part where George Washington commanded, except the taking of Stony Point by General Wayne. The Southern States in the meantime were overrun by the enemy. They were afterwards recovered …

  In all this General Washington had no share. The Fabian system of war, followed by him, began now to unfold itself with all its evils; but what is Fabian war without Fabian means to support it? The finances of Congress, depending wholly on emissions of paper money, were exhausted. Its credit was gone. The Continental Treasury was not able to pay the expense of a brigade of wagons to transport the necessary stores to the army, and yet the sole object, the establishment of the Revolution, was a thing of remote distance. The time I am now speaking of is in the latter end of the year 1780.

  In this situation of things, it was found not only expedient, but absolutely necessary for Congress to state the whole case to its ally … Colonel John Laurens was sent to France as an envoy extraordinary on this occasion, and by private agreement between him and me I accompanied him. We sailed from Boston in the Alliance frigate, February 11, 1781.1233

  Tuesday, February 13, 1781. Today, in France, Ben Franklin petitions French Foreign Minister Vergennes for additional aid:

  [T]he following is a paragraph of a letter from General Washington, which I ought not to keep back from your Excellency, viz. “[O]ur present situation makes one of two things essential to us; a peace or the most vigorous aid of our allies …” [F]or effectual friendship and for the aid so necessary in the present conjuncture, we can rely on France alone and in the continuance of the King’s goodness towards us.

  I am grown old. I feel myself much enfeebled by my late long illness, and it is probable I shall not long have any more concern in these affairs. I therefore take this occasion to express my opinion to your Excellency that the present juncture is critical …1234

  Monday, February 19, 1781. Today, French Foreign Minister Vergennes writes French Minister Luzerne in Philadelphia:

  I have no doubt that … [John Adams] is a zealous patriot … but his character and turn of mind are essentially opposed to what is proper in political intercourse; he is, and will be, a negotiator as embarrassing for his superiors as for those who have affairs to negotiate with him. I am so convinced of this as to foresee with a certain pain Mr. Adams taking a part in
the negotiations for peace. I have already observed this to you in previous dispatches and repeat it now, so that you may see, if you are not able to have him replaced, have him at least given a colleague capable of restraining him.1235

  Thursday, March 1, 1781. Today, the United States have finally ratified Articles of Confederation. By the terms of the Articles, the Continental Congress will continue to make national decisions:

  Article V … [D]elegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature of each state shall direct …

  In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, each state shall have one vote …

  Articles IX … The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war … nor enter into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof … nor borrow money … nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy unless nine [of the thirteen] states assent to the same …1236

  These Articles of Confederation do not reflect Ben Franklin’s plan. They do not provide for direct popular election of delegates by small voting districts of equal population size. They don’t provide for state representation in proportion to population. Delegates “appointed … as the legislature of each state shall direct” are those that state senates (the “interests of property”) will allow.

  Under these Articles, the national government will continue ineffective, lacking the ability to tax, draft soldiers, or compel state compliance with its legislation. Continental currency is worthless. The Continental Congress will stop printing money this month.1237

  Friday, March 9, 1781. Today, from France, French Foreign Minister Vergennes writes the French minister in Philadelphia:

  I confess to you that, whatever good opinion I may entertain of the patriotism of John Adams, I see him, with regret, entrusted with so difficult and so delicate a duty as that of pacification, on account of his pedantry, stubbornness and self-importance, which will give rise to a thousand vexations to the despair of his co-negotiators.1238

  Today, on his mission to get more French aid, Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, accompanied by Thomas Paine, arrives at the French port of L’Orient.1239

  Monday, March 12, 1781. John Laurens will not reach Versailles until later in the month.1240 In the meantime, Ben Franklin has acted on his own and today reports the results to the president of Congress:

  I had the honor or receiving … your Excellency’s letter, together with … a copy of [the instructions] to Colonel Laurens … I immediately drew a memorial, enforcing as strongly as I could the requests that are contained in that letter … Mr. Laurens not arriving, I wrote again and pressed strongly for a decision on the subject …

  Upon this, I received a note, appointing [last] Saturday for a meeting with the [French Foreign] minister which I attended punctually. He assured me of the King’s good will to the United States; remarking, however, that, being on the spot, I must be sensible of the great expense France was actually engaged in and the difficulty of providing for it … but that … his Majesty had resolved to grant them the sum of six millions not as a loan but as a free gift …1241

  Thursday, March 15, 1781. Today, at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse at Guilford, North Carolina, British General Charles Cornwallis prevails over America’s Southern Army, which General Nathanael Greene has rebuilt, primarily from state militias, following Horatio Gates’ ignominious defeat last August at the battle of Camden, South Carolina. Although, in today’s battle, North Carolina militiamen occupy the front lines only briefly and abandon the field after firing just two volleys, Greene’s men inflict many casualties on the British.1242 After this battle, Nathanael Greene will lead his army south into South Carolina, and General Cornwallis will lead his British army deeper into North Carolina and then back to Virginia.

  Tuesday, March 20, 1781. Today, from Paris, Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens writes the Continental Congress:

  Upon my arrival here I found that the letter of Congress to his Most Christian Majesty of the 22nd of November, 1780, had been delivered by our Minister Plenipotentiary [Dr. Franklin]; that he had proceeded to negotiate the succors solicited by Congress …1243

  Lieutenant Colonel Laurens will, nonetheless, explain America’s plight to the Count de Vergennes. John Laurens:

  I endeavored to represent … [t]hat … the immense pecuniary resources of Great Britain and her constant naval superiority were advantages too decisive to be counterbalanced by any interior exertions on the part of the United States … that [America’s] aggravated calamities … began now to produce dangerous uneasinesses and discontents … that … the succor solicited was … indispensable.1244

  Tuesday, March 27, 1781. Today, George Washington writes Virginia that he has no troops to spare:

  By the expiration of the times of service of the old troops, by the discharge of the Levies engaged for the Campaign only, and by the unfortunate dissolution of the Pennsylvania line, I was left … with a Garrison barely sufficient for the security of West Point …

  In my late tour to the Eastward, I found the accounts I had received of the progress of recruiting … much exaggerated …

  You will readily perceive, from the foregoing state, that there is little probability of adding to the force already ordered to the southward …1245

  Monday, April 9, 1781. Today, from his camp at New Windsor, George Washington writes his emissary, Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, in Paris:

  [B]e assured, my dear Laurens, that day does not follow night more certainly than it brings with it some additional proof of the impracticability of carrying on the war without the Aids you were directed to sollicit. As an honest and candid man, as a man whose all depends on the final and happy termination of the present contest, I assert this. While I give it decisively as my opinion, that, without a foreign loan, our present force (which is but the remnant of an Army) cannot be kept together this campaign, much less will it be encreased and in readiness for another …

  We are at this hour suspended … [W]e cannot transport the provisions from the States in which they are Assessed to the Army, because we cannot pay the Teamsters who will no longer work for Certificates. It is equally certain that our Troops are approaching fast to nakedness, and that we having nothing to cloath them with. That our Hospitals are without medicines … That all our public works are at a stand … [B]ut why need I run into the detail, when it may be declared in a word, that we are at the end of our tether, and that now or never our deliverance must come.1246

  Thursday, April 12, 1781. Today, Benjamin Franklin answers William Carmichael’s report that John Adams and others have disparaged Franklin in Congress:

  I thank you very much for your friendly hints of the Operations of my Enemies, and of the means I might use to defeat them. Having in view at present no other Point to gain but that of Rest, I do not take their Malice so much amiss … [Certain enemies] are open, and so far, honourable Enemies; the Adams, if Enemies, are more covered. I never did any of them the least injury and can conceive no other Source of the Malice but Envy … Those who feel Pain at seeing others enjoy Pleasure and unhappy because others are happy, must daily meet with so many Causes of Torment, that I conceive them to be already in a State of Damnation …1247

  Thursday, April 19, 1781. Today, from Paris, French Foreign Minister Vergennes writes his minister in Philadelphia:

  The letter that Congress wrote Mr. Adams concerning his correspondence with me only dealt with the issue of when this minister should communicate his commission to the court at London … I would have preferred Congress … to establish a rule for him not to permit himself the smallest departure from the advice of the King; this is the only way to contain Mr. Adams and to make us the masters of his conduct. I beg you to make this point to the president of Congress, to do everything you can to make him see the justice of it, and to have him engage the Congress to send supplementary instructions to Mr. Adams …1248

  Monday, April 23, 1781. Today, the Marquis de Lafayette w
rites George Washington that the slaves at Mount Vernon are volunteering to fight with the British:

  When the enemy came to your house, many negroes were ready to join him … [Y]ou cannot conceive how unhappy I was to learn that M. Lund Washington went on board the enemy battleships and consented to give them provisions.1249

  Monday, April 30, 1781. Today, from his camp at New Windsor, New York, George Washington writes his estate manager Lund Washington (a distant cousin) at Mount Vernon:

  [T]hat which gives me the most concern is that you should go on board the enemys Vessels and furnish them with refreshments … You ought to have considered yourself as my representative and should have reflected on the bad example of communicating with the enemy …

  I … believe that your desire to preserve my property and rescue the buildings from impending danger were your governing motives. But to go on board their Vessels; carry them refreshments; commune with a parcel of plundering Scoundrels, and request a favor by asking the surrender of my Negroes, was exceedingly ill judged …1250

  British General Charles Cornwallis will have two thousand American Negro slaves on the British side at Yorktown. Many of George Washington’s slaves will join the British to fight George Washington.1251

  Friday, May 11, 1781. Today, French Foreign Minister Vergennes writes the French minister in Philadelphia that Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens is tactless and offensive:

  We flatter ourselves especially, Monsieur, that Congress will not only not share but will condemn high-handedly the discontent that distinguishes M. Laurens, and that it will seek to inspire in this officer a few of the facts of our customs and some of the considerations which are due to the ministers of a great power; he has made several demands, not only with unfit importunity, but even employing threats.1252