Note 454 — Chapter II
Reading edition
Percy wrote from Boston, January 7, 1776: "I take it for granted that the next campaign will be so active and, I hope, so decisive a one, that the rebels will be glad to sue for mercy. All, however, will depend on our having a sufficient force sent us out very early in the spring.... Brig. Gen. Grant directs our commander-in-chief and all his operations. Mr. Howe is, I think, the only one here in his army who does not perceive it. I wish from my soul that we may not feel the consequences." (Percy Letters.) Hutchinson was writing in January, 1776, from London: "I count the days, and absurd as it is so near the close of life, I can hardly help wishing to sleep away the time between this and spring, that I may escape the succession of unfortunate events which I am always in fear of." (P. O. Hutchinson, vol. ii.)