Volume 1 / Part 1 — PART I. LETTERS WRITTEN BEFORE HIS MISSION TO EUROPE 1773-1783. (continued 3)

Your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Richmond, December 15, 1780.

Sir,—I had the honor of writing to your Excellency on the subject of an expedition contemplated by this State, against the British post at Detroit, and of receiving your answer of October the 10th. Since the date of my letter, the face of things has so far changed, as to leave it no longer optional in us to attempt or decline the expedition, but compels us to decide in the affirmative, and to begin our preparations immediately. The army the enemy at present have in the south, the reinforcements still expected there, and their determination to direct their future exertions to that quarter, are not unknown to you. The regular force, proposed on our part to counteract those exertions, is such, either from the real or supposed inability of this State, as by no means to allow a hope that it may be effectual. It is, therefore, to be expected that the scene of war will either be within our country, or very nearly advanced to it; and that our principal dependence is to be on militia, for which reason it becomes incumbent to keep as great a proportion of our people as possible free to act in that quarter. In the meantime, a combination is forming in the westward, which, if not diverted, will call thither a principal and most valuable part of our militia. From intelligence received, we have reason to expect that a confederacy of British and Indians, to the amount of two thousand men, is formed for the purpose of spreading destruction and dismay through the whole extent of our frontier in the ensuing spring. Should this take place, we shall certainly lose in the South all aids of militia beyond the Blue Ridge, besides the inhabitants who must fall a sacrifice in the course of the savage irruptions.

There seems to be but one method of preventing this, which is, to give the western enemy employment in their own country. The regular force Colonel Clarke already has, with a proper draft from the militia beyond the Alleghany, and that of three or four of our most northern counties, will be adequate to the reduction of Fort Detroit, in the opinion of Colonel Clarke; and he assigns the most probable reasons for that opinion. We have, therefore, determined to undertake it, and commit it to his direction. Whether the expense of the enterprise shall be defrayed by the Continent or State, we will leave to be decided hereafter by Congress, in whose justice we can confide, as to the determination. In the meantime, we only ask the loan of such necessaries as, being already at Fort Pitt, will save time and an immense expense of transportation. These articles shall either be identically or specifically returned; should we prove successful, it is not improbable they may be where Congress would choose to keep them. I am, therefore, to solicit your Excellency's order to the commandant of Fort Pitt, for the articles contained in the annexed list, which shall not be called for until everything is in readiness; after which, there can be no danger of their being wanted for the post at which they are: indeed, there are few of the articles essential for the defence of the post.

I hope your Excellency will think yourself justified in lending us this aid, without awaiting the effect of an application elsewhere, as such a delay would render the undertaking abortive, by postponing it to the breaking up of the ice in the lake. Independent of the favorable effects, which a successful enterprise against Detroit must produce to the United States, in general, by keeping in quiet the frontier of the northern ones, and leaving our western militia at liberty to aid those of the South, we think the like friendly office performed by us to the States, whenever desired, and almost to the absolute exhausture of our own magazines, give well-founded hopes that we may be accommodated on this occasion. The supplies of military stores, which have been furnished by us to Fort Pitt itself, to the northern army, and, most of all, to the southern, are not altogether unknown to you. I am the more urgent for an immediate order, because Colonel Clarke awaits here your Excellency's answer by the express, though his presence in the western country, to make preparations for the expedition, is so very necessary if you enable him to undertake it. To the above, I must add a request to you to send for us to Pittsburg, persons proper to work the mortars, &c., as Colonel Clarke has none such, nor is there one in this State. They shall be in the pay of this State, from the time they leave you. Any money necessary for their journey, shall be repaid at Pittsburg, without fail, by the first of March.

At the desire of the General Assembly, I take the liberty of transmitting to you the enclosed resolution; and have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and regard, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Richmond, January 10, 1781.

Sir,—It may seem odd, considering the important events which have taken place in this State within the course of ten days, that I should not have transmitted an account of them to your Excellency; but such has been their extraordinary rapidity, and such the unremitted attention they have required from all concerned in government, that I do not recollect the portion of time which I could have taken to commit them to paper.

On the 31st of December, a letter, from a private gentleman to General Nelson, came to my hands, notifying, that in the morning of the preceding day, twenty-seven sail of vessels had entered the capes; and from the tenor of the letter, we had reason to expect, within a few hours, further intelligence; whether they were friends or foes, their force, and other circumstances. We immediately despatched General Nelson to the lower country, with powers to call on the militia in that quarter, or act otherwise as exigencies should require; but waited further intelligence, before we would call for militia from the middle or upper country. No further intelligence came until the 2d instant, when the former was confirmed; it was ascertained they had advanced up James River in Wanasqueak bay. All arrangements were immediately taken, for calling in a sufficient body of militia for opposition. In the night of the 3d, we received advice that they were at anchor opposite Jamestown; we then supposed Williamsburg to be their object. The wind, however, which had hitherto been unfavorable, shifted fair, and the tide being also in their favor, they ascended the river to Kennons' that evening, and, with the next tide, came up to Westover, having, on their way, taken possession of some works we had at Hood's, by which two or three of their vessels received some damage, but which were of necessity abandoned by the small garrison of fifty men placed there, on the enemy's landing to invest the works. Intelligence of their having quitted the station at Jamestown, from which we supposed they meant to land for Williamsburg, and of their having got in the evening to Kennons', reached us the next morning at five o'clock, and was the first indication of their meaning to penetrate towards this place or Petersburg. As the orders for drawing militia here had been given but two days, no opposition was in readiness. Every effort was therefore necessary, to withdraw the arms and other military stores, records, &c., from this place. Every effort was, accordingly, exerted to convey them to the foundry five miles, and to a laboratory six miles, above this place, till about sunset of that day, when we learned the enemy had come to an anchor at Westover that morning. We then knew that this, and not Petersburg was their object, and began to carry across the river everything remaining here, and to remove what had been transported to the foundry and laboratory to Westham, the nearest crossing, seven miles above this place, which operation was continued till they had approached very near. They marched from Westover at two o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th, and entered Richmond at one o'clock in the afternoon of the 5th. A regiment of infantry and about thirty horse continued on, without halting, to the foundry. They burnt that, the boring mill, the magazine and two other houses, and proceeded to Westham; but nothing being in their power there, they retired to Richmond. The next morning, they burned some buildings of public and private property, with what stores remained in them, destroyed a great quantity of private stores, and about twelve o'clock, retired towards Westover, where they encamped within the neck the next day.

The loss sustained is not yet accurately known. As far as I have been able to discover, it consisted, at this place, of about three hundred muskets, some soldiers' clothing to a small amount, some quarter-master's stores, of which one hundred and twenty sides of leather was the principal article, part of the artificers' tools, and three wagons. Besides which, five brass four pounders which we had sunk in the river, were discovered to them, raised and carried off. At the foundry we lost the greater part of the papers belonging to the Auditor's office, and of the books and papers of the Council office. About five or six tons of powder, as we conjecture, was thrown into the canal, of which there will be a considerable saving by re-manufacturing it. The roof of the foundry was burned, but the stacks of chimneys and furnaces not at all injured. The boring mill was consumed. Within less than forty-eight hours from the time of their landing, and nineteen from our knowing their destination, they had penetrated thirty-three miles, done the whole injury, and retired. Their numbers, from the best intelligence I have had, are about fifteen hundred infantry; and, as to their cavalry, accounts vary from fifty to one hundred and twenty; the whole commanded by the parricide Arnold. Our militia, dispersed over a large tract of country, can be called in but slowly. On the day the enemy advanced to this place, two hundred only were embodied. They were of this town and its neighborhood, and were too few to do anything. At this time they are assembled in pretty considerable numbers on the south side of James River, but are not yet brought to a point. On the north side are two or three small bodies, amounting in the whole, to about nine hundred men. The enemy were at four o'clock yesterday evening still remaining in their encampment at Westover and Berkeley neck. In the meanwhile, Baron Steuben, a zealous friend, has descended from the dignity of his proper command to direct our smallest movements. His vigilance has, in a great measure, supplied the want of force in preventing the enemy from crossing the river, which might have been very fatal. He has been assiduously employed in preparing equipments for the militia as they should assemble, pointing them to a proper object, and other offices of a good commander. Should they loiter a little longer, and he be able to have a sufficient force, I still flatter myself they will not escape with total impunity. To what place they will point their next exertions we cannot even conjecture. The whole country on the tide waters and some distance from them is equally open to similar insult. I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of respect, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Richmond, January 15, 1781.

Sir,—As the dangers which threaten our western frontiers the ensuing spring, render it necessary that we should send thither Colonel Crocket's battalion, at present on guard at Fredericktown, but raised for the western service, I thought it necessary to give your Excellency previous information thereof, that other forces may be provided in time to succeed to their duties. Captain Reid's troop of horse, if necessary, may be continued a while longer on guard.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Richmond, January 15, 1781.

Sir,—I received some time ago from Major Forsyth, and afterwards from you, a requisition to furnish one half of the supplies of provision for the Convention troops, removed into Maryland. I should sooner have done myself the honor of writing to you on this subject, but that I hoped to have laid it before you more fully than could be done in writing, by a gentleman who was to pass on other public business to Philadelphia. The late events in this State having retarded his setting out, I think it my duty no longer to postpone explanation on this head.

You cannot be unapprised of the powerful armies of our enemy, at this time in this and the southern States, and that their future plan is to push their successes in the same quarter, by still larger reinforcements. The forces to be opposed to these must be proportionably great, and these forces must be fed. By whom are they to be fed? Georgia and South Carolina are annihilated, at least as to us. By the requisition to us to send provisions into Maryland, it is to be supposed that none are to come to the southern army from any State north of this; for it would seem inconsistent, that while we should be sending North, Maryland and other States beyond that, should be sending their provisions South. Upon North Carolina, then, already exhausted by the ravages of two armies, and on this State, are to depend for subsistence those bodies of men who are to oppose the greater part of the enemy's force in the United States, the subsistence of the German, and of half the British Conventioners. To take a view of this matter on the Continental requisitions of November the 4th, 1780, for specific quotas of provisions, it is observable that North Carolina and Virginia are to furnish 10,475,740 pounds of animal food, and 13,529 barrels of flour, while the States north of these will yield 25,293,810 pounds of animal food, and 106,471 barrels of flour.

If the greater part of the British armies be employed in the South, it is to be supposed that the greater part of the American force will be sent there to oppose them. But should this be the case, while the distribution of the provisions is so very unequal, would it be proper to render it still more so, by withdrawing a part of our contributions to the support of posts northward of us? It would certainly be a great convenience to us, to deliver a portion of our specifics at Fredericktown, rather than in Carolina; but I leave it to you to judge, whether this would be consistent with the general good or safety. Instead of sending aids of any kind to the northward, it seems but too certain that unless very timely and substantial assistance be received from thence, our enemies are yet far short of the ultimate term of their successes. I beg leave, therefore, to refer to you whether the specifics of Maryland, as far as shall be necessary, had not better be applied to the support of the posts within it, for which its quota is much more than sufficient, or, were it otherwise whether those of the States north of Maryland had not better be called on, than to detract anything from the resources of the southern opposition, already much too small for the encounter to which it is left. I am far from wishing to count or measure out contributions by the requisitions of Congress. Were they ever so much beyond these, I should readily strain them in aid of any one of our sister States. But while they are so far short of those calls to which they must be pointed in the first instance, it would be great misapplication to divert them to any other purpose; and I am persuaded you will think me perfectly within the line of duty, when I ask a revisal of this requisition.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, sir,

Your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Richmond, January 17, 1781.

Sir,—I do myself the honor of transmitting to your Excellency a resolution of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, entered into in consequence of the resolution of Congress of September the 6th, 1780, on the subject of the Confederation. I shall be rendered very happy if the other States of the Union, equally impressed with the necessity of that important convention, shall be willing to sacrifice equally to its completion. This single event, could it take place shortly, would overweigh every success which the enemy have hitherto obtained, and render desperate the hopes to which those successes have given birth.

I have the honor to be, with the most real esteem and respect, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE VIRGINIA DELEGATES IN CONGRESS.

Richmond, January 18, 1781.

Gentlemen,—I enclose you a Resolution of Assembly, directing your conduct as to the navigation of the Mississippi.

The loss of powder lately sustained by us (about five tons), together with the quantities sent on to the southward, have reduced our stock very low indeed. We lent to Congress, in the course of the last year (previous to our issues for the southern army), about ten tons of powder. I shall be obliged to you, to procure an order from the board of war, for any quantity from five to ten tons, to be sent us immediately from Philadelphia or Baltimore, and to enquire into and hasten, from time to time, the execution of it. The stock of cartridge-paper is nearly exhausted. I do not know whether Captain Irish, or what other officer, should apply for this. It is essential that a good stock should be forwarded, and without a moment's delay. If there be a rock on which we are to split, it is the want of muskets, bayonets and cartouch-boxes.

The occurrences, since my last to the President, are not of any magnitude. Three little rencounters have happened with the enemy. In the first, General Smallwood led on a party of two or three hundred militia, and obliged some armed vessels of the enemy to retire from a prize they had taken at Broadway's, and renewing his attack the next day with a four-pounder or two (for on the first day he had only muskets), he obliged some of their vessels to fall down from City Point to their main fleet at Westover. The enemy's loss is not known; ours was four men wounded. One of the evenings, during their encampment at Westover and Berkeley, their light horse surprised a party of about one hundred or one hundred and fifty militia at Charles City Court House, killed and wounded four, and took, as has been generally said, about seven or eight. On Baron Steuben's approach towards Hood's, they embarked at Westover; the wind which, till then, had set directly up the river from the time of their leaving Jamestown, shifted in the moment to the opposite point. Baron Steuben had not reached Hood's, by eight or ten miles, when they arrived there. They landed their whole army in the night, Arnold attending in person. Captain Clarke (of Kaskaskias) had been sent on with two hundred and forty men by Baron Steuben, and having properly disposed of them in ambuscade, gave them a deliberate fire, which killed seventeen on the spot, and wounded thirteen. They returned it in confusion by which we had three or four wounded, and our party being so small and without bayonets, were obliged to retire, on the enemy's charging with bayonets. They fell down to Cobham, whence they carried all the tobacco there (about sixty hogsheads); and the last intelligence was, that on the 16th, they were standing for New-ports-news. Baron Steuben is of opinion, they are proceeding to fix a post in some of the lower counties. Later information has given no reason to believe their force more considerable than we at first supposed. I think, since the arrival of the three transports which had been separated in a storm, they may be considered as about two thousand strong. Their naval force, according to the best intelligence, is the Charon, of forty-four guns, Commodore Symmonds, the Amphitrite, Iris, Thames, and Charlestown frigates, the Forvey, of twenty guns, two sloops of war, a privateer ship and two brigs. We have about thirty-seven hundred militia embodied, but at present they are divided into three distant encampments: one under General Weeden, at Fredericksburg, for the protection of the important works there; another under General Nelson, at and near Williamsburg; and a third under Baron Steuben, at Cabin Point. As soon as the enemy fix themselves, these will be brought to a point.

I have the honor to be, with very great respect, gentlemen, your most obedient servant.

To ——[98].

Richmond, January 21, 1781.

Sir,—Acquainted as you are with the treasons of Arnold, I need say nothing for your information, or to give you a proper sentiment of them. You will readily suppose, that it is above all things desirable to drag him from those under whose wing he is now sheltered. On his march to and from this place, I am certain it might have been done with facility by men of enterprise and firmness. I think it may still be done, though perhaps not quite so easily. Having peculiar confidence in the men from the western side of the mountains, I meant, as soon as they should come down, to get the enterprise proposed to a chosen number of them: such whose courage and whose fidelity would be above all doubt. Your perfect knowledge of those men personally, and my confidence in your discretion, induces me to ask you to pick from among them proper characters, in such numbers as you think best, to reveal to them our desire, and engage them to undertake to seize and bring off this greatest of all traitors. Whether this may be best affected by their going in as friends, and awaiting their opportunity, or otherwise, is left to themselves. The smaller the number the better, so that they be sufficient to manage him. Every necessary caution must be used on their part, to prevent a discovery of their design by the enemy, as, should they be taken, the laws of war will justify against them the most rigorous sentence. I will undertake, if they are successful in bringing him off alive, that they shall receive five thousand guineas reward among them. And to men, formed for such an enterprise, it must be a great incitement to know that their names will be recorded with glory in history, with those of Vanwert, Paulding, and Williams. The enclosed order from Baron Steuben will authorize you to call for and dispose of any force you may think necessary, to place in readiness for covering the enterprise and securing the retreat of the party. Mr. Newton, the bearer of this, and to whom its contents are communicated in confidence, will provide men of trust to go as guides. These may be associated in the enterprise or not, as you please. But let that point be previously settled, that no difficulties may arise as to the parties entitled to participate of the reward. You know how necessary profound secrecy is in this business, even if it be not undertaken.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Richmond, February 8, 1781.

Sir,—I have just received intelligence, which, though from a private hand, I believe is to be relied on, that a fleet of the enemy's ships have entered Cape Fear river, that eight of them had got over the bar, and many others were laying off; and that it was supposed to be a reinforcement to Lord Cornwallis, under the command of General Prevost. This account, which had come through another channel, is confirmed by a letter from General Parsons at Halifax, to the gentleman who forwards it to me. I thought it of sufficient importance to be communicated to your Excellency by the stationed expresses. The fatal want of arms puts it out of our power to bring a greater force into the field, than will barely suffice to restrain the adventures of the pitiful body of men they have at Portsmouth. Should any more be added to them, this country will be perfectly open to them, by land as well as water.

I have the honor to be, with all possible respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Richmond, February 12, 1781.

Sir,—The enclosed extract of a letter from Governor Nash,[99] which I received this day, being a confirmation of the intelligence I transmitted in a former letter, I take the liberty of transmitting it to your Excellency. I am informed, through a private channel on which I have considerable reliance, that the enemy had landed five hundred troops under the command of a Major Craig, who were joined by a number of disaffected; that they had penetrated forty miles; that their aim appeared to be the magazine at Kingston, from which place they were about twenty miles distant.

Baron Steuben transmits to your Excellency a letter from General Greene, by which you will learn the events which have taken place in that quarter since the defeat of Colonel Tarleton, by General Morgan. These events speak best for themselves, and no doubt will suggest what is necessary to be done to prevent the successive losses of State after State, to which the want of arms and of a regular soldiery, seem more especially to expose those in the South.

I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Richmond, February 17, 1781.

Sir,—By a letter from General Greene, dated Guilford Court House, February 10th, we are informed that Lord Cornwallis had burnt his own wagons, in order to enable himself to move with greater facility, and had pressed immediately on.[100] The prisoners taken at the Cowpens, were happily saved by the accidental rise of a water-course, which gave so much time as to withdraw them from the reach of the enemy. Lord Cornwallis had advanced to the vicinities of the Moravian towns, and was still moving on rapidly. His object was supposed to be to compel General Greene to an action, which, under the difference of force they had, would probably be ruinous to the latter. General Greene meant to retire by the way of Boyd's ferry, on the Roanoke. As yet he had lost little or no stores or baggage, but they were far from being safe. In the instant of receiving this intelligence, we ordered a reinforcement of militia to him, from the most convenient counties in which there was a hope of finding any arms. Some great event must arise from the present situation of things, which, for a long time, will determine the condition of southern affairs.

Arnold lies close in his quarters. Two days ago, I received information of the arrival of a sixty-four gun ship and two frigates in our bay, being part of the fleet of our good ally at Rhode Island. Could they get at the British fleet here, they are sufficient to destroy them; but these being drawn up into Elizabeth River, into which the sixty-four cannot enter, I apprehend they could do nothing more than block up the river. This, indeed, would reduce the enemy, as we could cut off their supplies by land; but the operation being tedious, would probably be too dangerous for the auxiliary force. Not having yet had any particular information of the designs of the French Commander, I cannot pretend to say what measures this aid will lead to.

Our proposition to the Cherokee Chiefs, to visit Congress, for the purpose of preventing or delaying a rupture with that nation, was too late. Their distresses had too much ripened their alienation from us, and the storm had gathered to a head, when Major Martin got back. It was determined to carry the war into their country, rather than await it in ours, and thus disagreeably circumstanced, the issue has been successful.

The militia of this State and North Carolina penetrated into their country, burned almost every town they had, amounting to about one thousand houses in the whole, destroyed fifty thousand bushels of grain, killed twenty-nine, and took seventeen prisoners. The latter are mostly women and children.

I enclose your Excellency the particulars as reported to me. Congress will be pleased to determine on Col. Campbell's proposition to build the fort at the confluence of the Holston and Tennessee.

I have the honor to be, &c., your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,

P. S. Since writing the above, I have received information which, though not authentic, deserves attention: that Lord Cornwallis had got to Boyd's ferry on the 14th. I am issuing orders, in consequence, to other counties, to embody and march all the men they can arm. In this fatal situation, without arms, there will be no safety for the Convention troops but in their removal, which I shall accordingly order. The prisoners of the Cowpens were at New London (Bedford Court House) on the 14th.

TO GENERAL GATES.

Richmond, February 17, 1781.

Dear General,—The situation of affairs here and in Carolina, is such as must shortly turn up important events, one way or the other. By letter from General Greene, dated Guilford Court House, February the 10th, I learn that Lord Cornwallis, rendered furious by the affair at the Cowpens and the surprise of Georgetown, had burned his own wagons, to enable himself to move with facility, had pressed on to the vicinity of the Moravian towns, and was still advancing. The prisoners, taken at the Cowpens, were saved by a hair's-breadth accident, and Greene was retreating. His force, two thousand regulars, and no militia; Cornwallis's, three thousand. General Davidson was killed in a skirmish. Arnold lies still at Portsmouth with fifteen hundred men. A French sixty-four gun ship, and two frigates of thirty-six each, arrived in our bay three days ago. They would suffice to destroy the British shipping here (a forty four frigate, and a twenty,) could they get at them. But these are withdrawn up Elizabeth river, which the sixty-four cannot enter. We have ordered about seven hundred riflemen from Washington, Montgomery and Bedford, and five hundred common militia from Pittsylvania and Henry, to reinforce General Greene; and five hundred new levies will march from Chesterfield Court House, in a few days. I have no doubt, however, that the southwestern counties will have turned out in greater numbers before our orders reach them.

I have been knocking at the door of Congress for aids of all kinds, but especially of arms, ever since the middle of summer. The speaker, Harrison, is gone to be heard on that subject. Justice, indeed, requires that we should be aided powerfully. Yet if they would repay us the arms we have lent them, we should give the enemy trouble, though abandoned to ourselves.

After repeated applications, I have obtained a warrant for your advance money, £18,000, which I have put into the hands of Mr. McAlister, to receive the money from the Treasurer, and carry it to you.

I am, with very sincere esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.

TO COLONEL CAMPBELL.

Richmond, February 17, 1781.

Sir,—I have received your several favors by Mr. Sathim, and am much pleased at the happy issue of the expedition against the Cherokees. I wish it to be used for the purpose of bringing about peace, which, under our present circumstances, is as necessary for us, as it can possibly be to them.

If you can effect this, a right should be reserved of building a fort at the confluence of Holston and Tennessee; a matter which we must refer to Congress, as it lies not within our boundary. The prisoners you have taken had better be kept for the purpose of exchanging for any of ours taken by them. Should any surplus be on hand at the conclusion of peace, they should be given up. Nancy Ward seems rather to have taken refuge with you. In this case, her inclination ought to be followed as to what is done with her.

As by our laws, the pay of militia is made the same with that of the Continental troops, and that, by a resolution of Congress, is to be in the new money of March 18th, 1780, or in old money at forty for one, I apprehend you will be paid at that rate. By a late arrangement, the Commissary is directed to have a deputy in every county. I hope that by their means the militia may henceforward be better supplied with provisions when proceeding on an expedition. The fort at Powell's Valley you will please to proceed on. We approve of the company you have raised for patrolling against the Indians and garrisoning the fort.

I am, with much respect, sir, your most obedient servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Richmond, February 26, 1781.

Sir,—I gave you information in my last letter, that General Greene had crossed the Dan, at Boyd's ferry, and that Lord Cornwallis had arrived at the opposite shore. Large reinforcements of militia having embodied both in front and rear of the enemy, he is retreating with as much rapidity as he advanced; his route is towards Hillsborough. General Greene re-crossed the Dan on the 21st, in pursuit of him. I have the pleasure to inform you, that the spirit of opposition was as universal as could have been wished for. There was no restraint on the numbers that embodied, but the want of arms.

The British at Portsmouth lie close in their lines. The French squadron keep them in by water, and since their arrival, as they put it out of the power of the enemy to cut off our retreat by sending up Nansemond river, our force has been moved down close to their lines.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect,

Your most obedient and most humble servant.

TO M. DE MARBOIS.[101]

Richmond, March 4th, 1781.

Sir,—I have been honored with your letter of Feb. 5th. Mr. Jones did put into my hands a paper containing sundry inquiries into the present state of Virginia, which he informed me was from yourself, and some of which I meant to do myself the honor of answering.

Hitherto it has been in my power to collect a few materials only, which my present occupations disable me from completing. I mean, however, shortly to be in a condition which will leave me quite at leisure to take them up, when it shall be one of my first undertakings to give you as full information as I shall be able to do on such of the subjects as are within the sphere of my acquaintance. On some of them, however, I trust Mr. Jones will engage abler hands. Those in particular which relate to the commerce of the State, a subject with which I am wholly unacquainted, and which is probably the most important in your plan.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Richmond, March 8th, 1781.

Sir,—I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from General Greene, dated High-rock Ford, February 29th (probably March the 1st), who informs me, that on the night of the 24th Colonel McCall surprised a subaltern's guard at Hart's Mill, killed eight, and wounded and took nine prisoners, and that on the 25th General Pickens and Lieutenant Colonel Lee routed a body of near three hundred Tories on the Haw river, who were in arms to join the British army, killed upwards of one hundred, and wounded most of the rest, which had a very happy effect on the disaffected in that country.

By a letter from Major Magill, an officer of this State, whom I had sent to General Greene's head-quarters for the purpose of giving us regular intelligence, dated Guilford County, March 2d, I am informed that Lord Cornwallis, on his retreat, erected the British standard at Hillsborough, that a number of disaffected under the command of Colonel Piles were resorting to it, when they were intercepted by General Pickens and Lieutenant Colonel Lee, as mentioned by General Greene, and that their commanding officer was among the slain: that Lord Cornwallis, after destroying everything he could, moved down the Haw river from Hillsborough: that General Greene was within six miles of him: that our superiority in the goodness, though not in the number of our cavalry, prevented the enemy from moving with rapidity or foraging. Having been particular in desiring Major Magill to inform me what corps of militia from this State joined General Greene, he accordingly mentioned that seven hundred under General Stevens, and four hundred from Botetourt, had actually joined him; that Colonel Campbell was to join him that day with six hundred, and that Colonel Lynch with three hundred from Bedford, was shortly expected: the last three numbers being riflemen. Besides these mentioned by Major Magill, General Lawson must, before this, have crossed Roanoke with a body of militia, the number of which has not been stated to me. Report makes them a thousand; but I suppose the number to be exaggerated. Four hundred of our new levies left Chesterfield Court House on the 25th February, and probably would cross the Roanoke about the 1st or 2d of March.

I was honored with your Excellency's letter of February the 21st, within seven days after its date. We have, accordingly, been making every preparation on our part which we are able to make. The militia proposed to co-operate, will be upwards of four thousand from this State, and one thousand or twelve hundred from Carolina, said to be under General Gregory. The enemy are, at this time, in a great measure blockaded by land, there being a force on the east side of Elizabeth river. They suffer for provisions, as they are afraid to venture far, lest the French squadron should be in the neighborhood, and come upon them. Were it possible to block up the river, a little time would suffice to reduce them by want and desertions, and would be more sure in its event than an attempt by storm. I shall be very happy to have it in my power to hand you a favorable account of these two armies in the South.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem and respect your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Richmond, March 19, 1781.

Sir,—I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a copy of a letter from General Greene, with some other intelligence received, not doubting your anxiety to know the movements in the South. I find we have deceived ourselves not a little by counting on the whole numbers of the militia which have been in motion, as if they had all remained with General Greene, when, in fact, they seem only to have visited and quitted him.

The Marquis Fayette arrived at New York on the 15th. His troops still remained at the head of the bay, till the appearance of some force which should render their passage down safe.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest esteem and respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Richmond March 21, 1781.

Sir,—The enclosed letter will inform you of the arrival of a British fleet in the Chesapeake bay.

The extreme negligence of our stationed expresses is no doubt the cause why, as yet, no authentic account has reached us of a general action, which happened on the 15th instant, about a mile and a half from Guilford Court House, between General Greene and Lord Cornwallis. Captain Singleton, an intelligent officer of Harrison's artillery, who was in the action, has this moment arrived here, and gives the general information that both parties were prepared and desirous for action; the enemy were supposed about twenty-five hundred strong, our army about four thousand. That, after a very warm and general engagement, of about an hour and a half, we retreated about a mile and a half from the field, in good order, having, as he supposed, between two and three hundred killed and wounded: the enemy between five and seven hundred killed and wounded; that we lost four pieces of artillery: that the militia, as well as regulars, behaved exceedingly well: that General Greene, he believes, would have renewed the action the next day, had it not proved rainy, and would renew it as soon as possible, as he supposes: that the whole of his troops, both regulars and militia, were in high spirits and wishing a second engagement: that the loss has fallen pretty equally on the militia and regulars: that General Stevens received a ball through the thigh. Major Anderson, of Maryland, was killed, and Captain Barrett, of Washington's cavalry; Captain Fauntleroy, of the same cavalry, was shot through the thigh, and left on the field.

Captain Singleton, having left the camp the day after the battle, does not speak from particular returns, none such having been then made. I must inform your Excellency from him, till more regular applications can reach you, that they are in extreme want of lead, cartridge paper and thread. I think it improper, however it might urge an instantaneous supply, to repeat to you his statement of the extent of their stock of these articles. In a former letter, I mentioned to you the failure of the vein of our lead mines, which has left the army here in a state of equal distress and danger.

I have the honor to be, with very high respect and esteem, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

P. S. Look-out boats have been ordered from the seaboard of the eastern shore, to apprise the Commander of the French fleet, on its approach, of the British being in the Chesapeake.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

In Council, Richmond, March 26, 1781.

Sir,—The appointment of commissioner to the war office of this State, having lately become vacant, the Executive are desirous to place Colonel William Davies, of the Virginian Continentals, in that office. This gentleman, however, declines undertaking it, unless his rank in the army, half pay for life and allowance for depreciation of pay, can be reserved to him; observing with justice, that these emoluments, distant as they are, are important to a person who has spent the most valuable part of his youth in the service of his country. As this indulgence rests in the power of Congress alone, I am induced to request it of them on behalf of the State, to whom it is very interesting that the office be properly filled, and I may say, on behalf of the Continent also, to whom the same circumstance is interesting, in proportion to its reliance upon this State for supplies to the southern war. We should not have given Congress the trouble of this application, had we found it easy to call any other to the office, who was likely to answer our wishes in the exercise of it.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Richmond, March 28, 1781.

Sir,—I forward to your Excellency, under cover with this, copies of letters received from Major General Greene and Baron Steuben, which will give you the latest account of the situation of things with us and in North Carolina.

I observe a late resolve of Congress, for furnishing a number of arms to the southern States; and I lately wrote you on the subject of ammunition and cartridge paper. How much of this State, the enemy thus reinforced, may think proper to possess themselves of, must depend on their own moderation and caution, till these supplies arrive. We had hoped to receive by the French squadron under Monsieur Destouches, eleven hundred stand of arms, which we had at Rhode Island, but were disappointed. The necessity of hurrying forward the troops intended for the southern operations, will be doubtless apparent from this letter.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Richmond, March 31, 1781.

Sir,—The letters and papers accompanying this will inform your Excellency of the arrival of a British flag vessel with clothing, refreshments, money, &c., for their prisoners, under the Convention of Saratoga. The gentlemen conducting them, have, on supposition that the prisoners, or a part of them, still remained in this State, applied to me by letters, copies of which I transmit your Excellency, for leave to allow water transportation as far as possible, and then, for themselves to attend them to the post where they are to be issued. These indulgences were usually granted them here, but the prisoners being removed, it becomes necessary to transmit the application to Congress for their direction. In the meantime, the flag will wait in James river.

Our intelligence from General Greene's camp as late as the 24th, is, that Lord Cornwallis's march of the day before had decided his route to Cross creek.

The amount of the reinforcements to the enemy, arrived at Portsmouth, is not yet known with certainty. Accounts differ from fifteen hundred to much larger numbers. We are informed they have a considerable number of horse. The affliction of the people for want of arms is great; that of ammunition is not yet known to them. An apprehension is added, that the enterprise on Portsmouth being laid aside, the troops under the Marquis Fayette will not come on. An enemy three thousand strong, not a regular in the State, nor arms to put in the hands of the militia, are, indeed, discouraging circumstances.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Richmond, April 7, 1781.

Sir,—Hearing that our arms from Rhode Island have arrived at Philadelphia, I have begged the favor of our Delegates to send them on in wagons immediately, and, for the conveyance of my letter, have taken the liberty of setting the Continental line of expresses in motion, which I hope our distress for arms will justify, though the errand be not purely Continental.

I have nothing from General Greene later than the 27th of March; our accounts from Portsmouth vary the reinforcements, which came under General Phillips, from twenty-five hundred to three thousand. Arnold's strength before, was, I think, reduced to eleven hundred. They have made no movement as yet. Their preparation of boats is considerable; whether they mean to go southwardly or up the river, no leading circumstance has yet decided.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

In Council, April 18, 1781.

Sir,—I was honored, yesterday with your Excellency's favor enclosing the resolutions of Congress of the 8th instant, for removing stores and provisions from the counties of Accomack and Northampton. We have there no military stores, except a few muskets in the hands of the militia. There are some collections of forage and provisions belonging to the Continent, and some to the State, and the country there, generally, furnishes an abundance of forage. But such is the present condition of Chesapeake Bay that we cannot even get an advice boat across it with any certainty, much less adventure on transportation. Should, however, any interval happen, in which these articles may be withdrawn, we shall certainly avail ourselves of it, and bring thence whatever we can.

If I have been rightly informed, the horses there are by no means such, as that the enemy could apply them to the purposes of cavalry. Some large enough for the draught may, perhaps, be found, but of these not many.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Richmond, April 23, 1781.

Sir,—On the 18th instant, the enemy came from Portsmouth up James river, in considerable force, though their numbers are not yet precisely known to us. They landed at Burwell's ferry, below Williamsburg, and also a short distance above the mouth of Chickahomony. This latter circumstance obliged Colonel Innis, who commanded a body of militia, stationed on that side the river to cover the country from depredation, to retire upwards, lest he should be placed between their two bodies. One of these entered Williamsburg on the 20th, and the other proceeded to a ship-yard we had on Chickahomony. What injury they did there, I am not yet informed. I take for granted, they have burned an unfinished twenty-gun ship we had there. Such of the stores, belonging to the yard as were movable, had been carried some miles higher up the river. Two small gallies also retired up the river. Whether by this, either the stores or gallies were saved, is yet unknown. I am just informed, from a private hand, that they left Williamsburg early yesterday morning. If this sudden departure was not in consequence of some circumstance of alarm unknown to us, their expedition to Williamsburg has been unaccountable. There were no public stores at that place, but those which were necessary for the daily subsistence of the men there. Where they mean to descend next, the event alone can determine. Besides harassing our militia with this kind of war, the taking them from their farms at the interesting season of planting their corn, will have an unfortunate effect on the crop of the ensuing year.

I have heard nothing certain of General Greene since the 6th instant, except that his head-quarters were on Little river on the 11th.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect and esteem, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Richmond, May 9, 1781.

Sir,—Since the last letter which I had the honor of addressing to your Excellency, the military movements in this State, except a very late one, have scarcely merited communication.

The enemy, after leaving Williamsburg, came directly up James river and landed at City Point, being the point of land on the southern point of the confluence of Appomattox and James rivers. They marched up to Petersburg, where they were received by Baron Steuben, with a body of militia somewhat under one thousand, who, though the enemy were two thousand and three hundred strong, disputed the ground very handsomely two hours, during which time the enemy gained only one mile, and that by inches. Our troops were then ordered to retire over a bridge, which they did in perfectly good order. Our loss was between sixty and seventy, killed, wounded, and taken. The enemy's is unknown, but it must be equal to ours; for their own honor they must confess this, as they broke twice and run like sheep, till supported by fresh troops. An inferiority in number obliged our force to withdraw about twelve miles upwards, till more militia should be assembled. The enemy burned all the tobacco in the warehouses at Petersburg and its neighborhood. They afterwards proceeded to Osborne's, where they did the same, and also destroyed the residue of the public armed vessels, and several of private property, and then came to Manchester, which is on the hill opposite this place.

By this time, Major General Marquis Fayette having been advised of our danger, had, by forced marches, got here with his detachment of Continental troops; and reinforcements of militia having also come in, the enemy, finding we were able to meet them on equal footing, thought proper to burn the warehouses and tobacco at Manchester, and retire to Warwick, where they did the same. Ill armed and untried militia, who never before saw the face of an enemy, have, at times, during the course of this war, given occasions of exultation to our enemies, but they afforded us, while at Warwick, a little satisfaction in the same way. Six or eight hundred of their picked men of light infantry, with General Arnold at their head, having crossed the river from Warwick, fled from a patrole of sixteen horse, every man into his boat as he could, some pushing North, some South, as their fears drove them. Their whole force then proceeded to the Hundred, being the point of land within the confluence of the two rivers, embarked, and fell down the river. Their foremost vessels had got below Burwell's ferry on the 6th instant, when, on the arrival of a boat from Portsmouth, and a signal given, the whole crowded sail up the river again with a fair wind and tide, and came to anchor at Brandon; there six days' provision was dealt out to every man; they landed, and had orders to march an hour before day the next morning. We have not yet heard which way they went, or whether they have gone, but having, about the same time, received authentic information that Lord Cornwallis had, on the 1st instant, advanced from Wilmington half way to Halifax, we have no doubt, putting all circumstances together, that these two armies are forming a junction.

We are strengthening our hands with militia, as far as arms, either public or private, can be collected, but cannot arm a force which may face the combined armies of the enemy. It will, therefore, be of very great importance that General Wayne's forces be pressed on with the utmost despatch. Arms and a naval force, however, are what must ultimately save us. This movement of our enemies we consider as most perilous in its consequences.

Our latest advices from General Greene were of the 26th ult., when he was lying before Camden, the works and garrison of which were much stronger than he had expected to find them.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your Excellency's most obedient humble servant.

TO THE VIRGINIA DELEGATES IN CONGRESS.

In Council, May 10, 1781.

Gentlemen,—A small affair has taken place between the British commanding officer in this State, General Phillips, and the Executive, of which, as he may endeavor to get rid of it through the medium of Congress, I think it necessary previously to apprise you.

General Scott obtained permission from the Commandant at Charleston, for vessels with necessary supplies to go from hence to them, but instead of sending the original, sent only a copy of the permission taken by his brigade major. I applied to General Phillips to supply this omission by furnishing a passport for the vessel. Having just before taken great offence at a threat of retaliation in the treatment of prisoners, he enclosed his answer to my letter under this address, "To Thomas Jefferson, Esq., American Governor of Virginia." I paused on receiving the letter, and for some time would not open it; however, when the miserable condition of our brethren in Charleston occurred to me, I could not determine that they should be left without the necessaries of life, while a punctilio should be discussing between the British General and myself; and, knowing that I had an opportunity of returning the compliment to Mr. Phillips in a case perfectly corresponding, I opened the letter.

Very shortly after, I received, as I expected, the permission of the board of war, for the British flag vessel then in Hampton Roads with clothing and refreshments, to proceed to Alexandria. I enclosed and addressed it, "To William Phillips, Esq., commanding the British forces in the Commonwealth of Virginia." Personally knowing Phillips to be the proudest man of the proudest nation on earth, I well know he will not open this letter; but having occasion, at the same time, to write to Captain Gerlach, the flag-master, I informed him that the Convention troops in this State should perish for want of necessaries, before any should be carried to them through this State, till General Phillips either swallowed this pill of retaliation, or made an apology for his rudeness. And in this, should the matter come ultimately to Congress, we hope for their support.

He has the less right to insist on the expedition of his flag, because his letter, instead of enclosing a passport to expedite ours, contained only an evasion of the application, by saying he had referred it to Sir Henry Clinton, and in the meantime, he has come up the river, and taken the vessel with her loading, which we had chartered and prepared to send to Charleston, and which wanted nothing but the passport to enable her to depart.

I would further observe to you, that this gentleman's letters to the Baron Steuben first, and afterwards to the Marquis Fayette, have been in a style so intolerably insolent and haughty, that both these gentlemen have been obliged to inform him, that if he thinks proper to address them again in the same spirit, all intercourse shall be discontinued.

I am, with great respect and esteem, Gentlemen,

Your most obedient servant.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Charlottesville, May 28,1781.

Sir,—I make no doubt you will have heard, before this shall have the honor of being presented to your Excellency, of the junction of Lord Cornwallis with the force at Petersburg under Arnold, who had succeeded to the command on the death of Major-general Phillips. I am now advised that they have evacuated Petersburg, joined at Westover a reinforcement of two thousand men just arrived from New York, crossed James river, and on the 26th instant, were three miles advanced on their way towards Richmond; at which place, Major-General the Marquis Fayette lay with three thousand men, regulars and militia: these being the whole number we could arm, until the arrival of the eleven hundred arms from Rhode Island, which are, about this time, at the place where our public stores are deposited. The whole force of the enemy within this State, from the best intelligence I have been able to get, is, I think, about seven thousand men, infantry and cavalry, including, also, the small garrison left at Portsmouth. A number of privateers, which are constantly ravaging the shores of our rivers, prevent us from receiving any aid from the counties lying on navigable waters; and powerful operations meditated against our western frontier, by a joint force of British and Indian savages, have, as your Excellency before knew, obliged us to embody between two and three thousand men in that quarter. Your Excellency will judge from this state of things, and from what you know of our country, what it may probably suffer during the present campaign. Should the enemy be able to produce no opportunity of annihilating the Marquis's army, a small proportion of their force may yet restrain his movements effectually while the greater part are employed, in detachment, to waste an unarmed country, and lead the minds of the people to acquiesce under those events which they see no human power prepared to ward off. We are too far removed from the other scenes of war to say, whether the main force of the enemy be within this State. But I suppose they cannot anywhere spare so great an army for the operations of the field. Were it possible for this circumstance to justify in your Excellency a determination to lend us your personal aid, it is evident, from the universal voice, that the presence of their beloved countryman, whose talents have so long been successfully employed in establishing the freedom of kindred States, to whose person they have still flattered themselves they retained some right, and have ever looked up, as their dernier resort in distress, would restore full confidence of salvation to our citizens, and would render them equal to whatever is not impossible. I cannot undertake to foresee and obviate the difficulties which lie in the way of such a resolution. The whole subject is before you, of which I see only detached parts; and your judgment will be formed on a view of the whole. Should the danger of this State and its consequence to the Union, be such, as to render it best for the whole that you should repair to its assistance, the difficulty would then be, how to keep men out of the field. I have undertaken to hint this matter to your Excellency, not only on my own sense of its importance to us, but at the solicitations of many members of weight in our legislature, which has not yet assembled to speak their own desires.

A few days will bring to me that relief which the constitution has prepared for those oppressed with the labors of my office, and a long declared resolution of relinquishing it to abler hands, has prepared my way for retirement to a private station: still, as an individual, I should feel the comfortable effects of your presence, and have (what I thought could not have been) an additional motive for that gratitude, esteem, and respect, with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient humble servant.

TO THE MARQUIS LA FAYETTE.

Monticello, August 4, 1781.

Sir,—I am much obliged by the trouble you took in forwarding to me the letter of his Excellency, the President of Congress. It found me in Bedford, an hundred miles southward of this, where I was confined till within these few days, by an unfortunate fall from my horse. This has occasioned the delay of the answer which I now take the liberty of enclosing to you, as the confidential channel of conveyance, pointed out by the President.

I thank you also for your kind sentiments and friendly offer on the occasion, which, that I cannot avail myself of, has given me more mortification than almost any occurrence of my life. I lose an opportunity, the only one I ever had, and perhaps ever shall have, of combining public service with private gratification. Of seeing countries whose improvements in science, in arts, and in civilization, it has been my fortune to admire at a distance, but never to see, and at the same time of lending some aid to a cause, which has been handed on from its first organization to its present stage, by every effort of which my poor faculties were capable. These, however, have not been such as to give satisfaction to some of my countrymen, and it has become necessary for me to remain in the State till a later period in the present year, than is consistent with an acceptance of what has been offered me.[102] Declining higher objects, therefore, my only one must be to show that suggestion and fact are different things, and that public misfortune may be produced as well by public poverty and private disobedience to the laws, as by the misconduct of public servants.[103] The independence of private life under the protection of republican laws will, I hope, yield me the happiness from which no slave is so remote as the minister of a commonwealth. From motives of private esteem as well as public gratitude, I shall pray it to be your lot in every line of life, as no one can with more truth subscribe himself with the highest regard and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO EDMUND RANDOLPH, ESQ.

Monticello, September 16, 1781.

Dear Sir,—I have received your letter of the 7th instant. That, mentioned to have been sent by the preceding post, has not come to hand, nor two others, which Mrs. Randolph informs me you wrote before you left Virginia, nor indeed any others, should you have been so kind as to have written any others. When I received the first letter from the President of Congress, enclosing their resolution, and mentioning the necessity of an expeditious departure, my determination to attend at the next session of the Assembly offered a ready and insuperable obstacle to my accepting of that appointment, and left me under no necessity of deliberating with myself whether, that objection being removed, any other considerations might prevent my undertaking it. I find there are many, and must, therefore, decline it altogether. Were it possible for me to determine again to enter into public business, there is no appointment whatever which would have been so agreeable to me. But I have taken my final leave of everything of that nature. I have retired to my farm, my family and books, from which I think nothing will evermore separate me. A desire to leave public office, with a reputation not more blotted than it has deserved, will oblige me to emerge at the next session of our Assembly, and perhaps to accept of a seat in it. But as I go with a single object, I shall withdraw when that shall be accomplished. I should have thought that North Carolina, rescued from the hands of Britain, Georgia and almost the whole of South Carolina recovered, would have been sufficiently humiliating to induce them to treat with us. If this will not do, I hope the stroke is now hanging over them which will satisfy them that their views of Southern conquests are likely to be as visionary as those of Northern. I think it impossible Lord Cornwallis should escape. Mrs. Randolph will be able to give you all the news on this subject, as soon as you shall be able to release her from others. I am, with much esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.

TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Monticello, October 28th, 1781.

Sir,—I hope it will not be unacceptable to your Excellency to receive the congratulations of a private individual on your return to your native country, and, above all things, on the important success which has attended it.[104] Great as this has been, however, it can scarcely add to the affection with which we have looked up to you. And if, in the minds of any, the motives of gratitude to our good allies were not sufficiently apparent, the part they have borne in this action must amply evince them. Notwithstanding the state of perpetual decrepitude to which I am unfortunately reduced, I should certainly have done myself the honor of paying my respects to you personally; but I apprehend these visits, which are meant by us as marks of our attachment to you, must interfere with the regulations of a camp, and be particularly inconvenient to one whose time is too precious to be wasted in ceremony.

I beg you to believe me among the sincerest of those who subscribe themselves, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO GENERAL GATES

Richmond, December 14th, 1781.

Dear Sir,—I have received your friendly letters of August 2d and November 15th, and some of the gentlemen to whom you wished them to be communicated not being here, I have taken the liberty of handing them to some others, so as to answer the spirit of your wish. It seems likely to end, as I ever expected it would, in a final acknowledgment that good dispositions and arrangements will not do without a certain degree of bravery and discipline in those who are to carry them into execution. This, the men whom you commanded, or the greater part of them at least, unfortunately wanted on that particular occasion.

I have not a doubt but that, on a fair enquiry, the returning justice of your countrymen will remind them of Saratoga, and induce them to recognize your merits. My future plan of life scarcely admits a hope of my having the pleasure of seeing you at your seat; yet I assuredly shall do it should it ever lie within my power, and am assured that Mrs. Jefferson will join me in sincere thanks for your kind sentiments and invitation, and in expressions of equal esteem for Mrs. Gates and yourself, and in a certain hope that, should any circumstance lead you within our reach, you will make us happy by your company at Monticello. We have no news to communicate. That the Assembly does little, does not come under that description.

I am, with very sincere esteem, dear sir, your friend and servant.

TO JAMES MADISON.

Monticello, March 24th, 1782.

Dear Sir,—I have received from you two several favors, on the subject of the designs against the territorial rights of Virginia.[105] I never before could comprehend on what principle our rights to the western country could be denied, which would not, at the same time, subvert the right of all the States to the whole of their territory. What objections may be founded on the charter of New York, I cannot say, having never seen that charter, nor been able to get a copy of it in this country. I had thought to have seized the first leisure on my return from the last Assembly, to have considered and stated our rights, and to have communicated to our delegates, or perhaps to the public, so much as I could trace, and expected to have derived some assistance from ancient MSS., which I have been able to collect. These, with my other papers and books, however, had been removed to Augusta to be out of danger from the enemy, and have not yet been brought back. The ground on which I now find the question to be bottomed is so unknown to me that it is out of my power to say anything on the subject. Should it be practicable for me to procure a copy of the charter of New York, I shall probably think on it, and would cheerfully communicate to you whatever could occur to me worth your notice. But this will probably be much too late to be of any service before Congress, who doubtless will decide, ere long, on the subject. I sincerely wish their decision may tend to the preservation of peace. If I am not totally deceived in the determination of this country, the decision of Congress, if unfavorable, will not close the question. I suppose some people on the western waters, who are ambitious to be Governors, &c., will urge a separation by authority of Congress. But the bulk of the people westward are already thrown into great ferment by the report of what is proposed, to which I think they will not submit. This separation is unacceptable to us in form only, and not in substance. On the contrary, I may safely say it is desired by the eastern part of our country whenever their western brethren shall think themselves able to stand alone. In the meantime, on the petition of the western counties, a plan is digesting for rendering their access to government more easy. I trouble you with the enclosed to Mons. Marbois. I had the pleasure of hearing that your father and family were all well yesterday, by your brother, who is about to study the law in my neighborhood. I shall always be glad to hear from you, and, if it be possible for me, retired from public business, to find anything worth your notice, I shall communicate it with great pleasure.

I am with sincere esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.

JAMES MONROE TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.

Richmond, 11th of May, 1782.

Dear Sir,—As I so lately wrote you by Mr. Short, and have since daily expected to see you here, I did not propose writing to you till after I should have that pleasure; but as I begin to fear you will not abate that firmness and decision which you have frequently shown in the service of your country, even upon this occasion, and as I have had an opportunity since I last wrote of being better informed of the sentiments of those whom I know you put the greatest value on, I think it my duty to make you acquainted therewith. It is publicly said here, that the people of your country informed you that they had frequently elected you in times of less difficulty and danger than the present to please you; but that now they had called you forth into public office to serve themselves. This is a language which has been often used in my presence; and you will readily conceive that, as it furnishes those who argue on the fundamental maxims of a Republican government with ample field for declamation, the conclusion has always been, that you should not decline the service of your country. The present is generally conceived to be an important era, which, of course, makes your attendance particularly necessary. And as I have taken the liberty to give you the public opinion and desire upon this occasion, and as I am warmly interested in whatever concerns the public interest or has relation to you, it will be necessary to add, it is earnestly the desire of, dear Sir,

Your sincere friend and obedient servant.

TO COLONEL JAMES MONROE.

Monticello, May 20th, 1782.

Dear Sir,—I have been gratified with your two favors of the 6th and 11th inst. It gives me pleasure that your county has been wise enough to enlist your talent into their service. I am much obliged by the kind wishes you express of seeing me also in Richmond, and am always mortified when anything is expected from me which I cannot fulfill, and more especially if it relate to the public service. Before I ventured to declare to my countrymen my determination to retire from public employment, I examined well my heart to know whether it were thoroughly cured of every principle of political ambition, whether no lurking particle remained which might leave me uneasy, when reduced within the limits of mere private life. I became satisfied that every fibre of that passion was thoroughly eradicated. I examined also, in other views, my right to withdraw. I considered that I had been thirteen years engaged in public service—that, during that time, I had so totally abandoned all attention to my private affairs as to permit them to run into great disorder and ruin—that I had now a family advanced to years which require my attention and instruction—that, to these, was added the hopeful offspring of a deceased friend, whose memory must be forever dear to me, and who have no other reliance for being rendered useful to themselves or their country—that by a constant sacrifice of time, labor, parental and friendly duties, I had, so far from gaining the affection of my countrymen, which was the only reward I ever asked or could have felt, even lost the small estimation I had before possessed.

That, however I might have comforted myself under the disapprobation of the well-meaning but uninformed people, yet, that of their representatives was a shock on which I had not calculated. That this, indeed, had been followed by an exculpatory declaration. But, in the meantime, I had been suspected in the eyes of the world, without the least hint then or afterwards being made public, which might restrain them from supposing that I stood arraigned for treason of the heart, and not merely weakness of the mind; and I felt that these injuries, for such they have been since acknowledged, had inflicted a wound on my spirit which will only be cured by the all-healing grave. If reason and inclination unite in justifying my retirement, the laws of my country are equally in favor of it. Whether the State may command the political services of all its members to an indefinite extent, or, if these be among the rights never wholly ceded to the public power, is a question which I do not find expressly decided in England. Obiter dictums on the subject I have indeed met with, but the complexion of the times in which these have dropped would generally answer them. Besides that, this species of authority is not acknowledged in our possession.

In this country, however, since the present government has been established, the point has been settled by uniform, pointed and multiplied precedents. Offices of every kind, and given by every power, have been daily and hourly declined and resigned from the Declaration of Independence to this moment. The General Assembly has accepted these without discrimination of office, and without ever questioning them in point of right. If the difference between the office of a delegate and any other could ever have been supposed, yet in the case of Mr. Thompson Mason, who declined the office of delegate, and was permitted so to do by the House, that supposition has been proved to be groundless. But, indeed, no such distinction of offices can be admitted. Reason, and the opinions of the lawyers, putting all on a footing as to this question, and so giving to the delegate the aid of all the precedents of the refusal of other offices. The law then does not warrant the assumption of such a power by the State over its members. For if it does, where is that law? nor yet does reason. For though I will admit that this does subject every individual, if called on, to an equal tour of political duty, yet it can never go so far as to submit to it his whole existence. If we are made in some degree for others, yet, in a greater, are we made for ourselves. It were contrary to feeling, and indeed ridiculous to suppose that a man had less rights in himself than one of his neighbors, or indeed all of them put together. This would be slavery, and not that liberty which the bill of rights has made inviolable, and for the preservation of which our government has been charged. Nothing could so completely divest us of that liberty as the establishment of the opinion, that the State has a perpetual right to the services of all its members. This, to men of certain ways of thinking, would be to annihilate the blessings of existence, and to contradict the Giver of life, who gave it for happiness and not for wretchedness. And certainly, to such it were better that they had never been born. However, with these, I may think public service and private misery inseparably linked together, I have not the vanity to count myself among those whom the State would think worth oppressing with perpetual service. I have received a sufficient memento to the contrary. I am persuaded that, having hitherto dedicated to them the whole of the active and useful part of my life, I shall be permitted to pass the rest in mental quiet. I hope, too, that I did not mistake modes any more than the matter of right when I preferred a simple act of renunciation, to the taking sanctuary under those disqualifications (provided by the law for other purposes indeed but) affording asylum also for rest to the wearied. I dare say you did not expect by the few words you dropped on the right of renunciation to expose yourself to the fatigue of so long a letter, but I wished you to see that, if I had done wrong, I had been betrayed by a semblance of right at least. I take the liberty of enclosing to you a letter for General Chattellux, for which you will readily find means of conveyance. But I mean to give you more trouble with the one to Pelham, who lives in the neighborhood of Manchester, and to ask the favor of you to send it by your servant—express—which I am in hopes may be done without absenting him from your person, but during those hours in which you will be engaged in the house. I am anxious that it should be received immediately. * * * * * * It will give me great pleasure to see you here whenever you can favor us with your company. You will find me still busy, but in lighter occupations. But in these and all others you will find me to retain a due sense of your friendship, and to be, with sincere esteem, dear Sir,

Your most obedient and most humble servant.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

Chesterfield, November 26, 1782.

Sir,—I received yesterday the letter with which you have been pleased to honor me, enclosing the resolution of Congress of the 12th instant, renewing my appointment as one of their ministers plenipotentiary for negotiating a peace—and beg leave, through you, to return my sincere thanks to that august body, for the confidence they are pleased to repose in me, and to tender the same to yourself for the obliging manner in which you have notified it.[106] I will employ in this arduous charge, with diligence and integrity, the best of my poor talents, which I am conscious are far short of what it requires. This, I hope, will ensure to me from Congress a kind construction of all my transactions. And it gives me no small pleasure, that my communications will pass through the hands of a gentleman with whom I have acted in the earlier stages of this contest, and whose candor and discernment I had the good fortune then to approve and esteem. Your letter finds me at a distance from home, attending my family under inoculation. This will add to the delay which the arrangements of my particular affairs would necessarily occasion. I shall lose no moment, however, in preparing for my departure, and shall hope to pay my respects to Congress and yourself at sometime between the 20th and the last of December.

I have the honor to be, with very great esteem and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.

TO THE CHEVALIER DE CHATTELLUX.

Amphill, November 26, 1782.

Dear Sir,—I received your friendly letters of —— and June 30th, but the latter not till the 17th of October. It found me a little emerging from the stupor of mind which had rendered me as dead to the world as was she whose loss occasioned it.[107] Your letter recalled to my memory that there were persons still living of much value to me. If you should have thought me remiss in not testifying to you sooner, how deeply I had been impressed with your worth in the little time I had the happiness of being with you, you will, I am sure, ascribe it to its true cause, the state of dreadful suspense in which I have been kept all the summer, and the catastrophe which closed it.

Before that event, my scheme of life had been determined. I had folded myself in the arms of retirement, and rested all prospects of future happiness on domestic and literary objects. A single event wiped away all my plans, and left me a blank which I had not the spirits to fill up. In this state of mind an appointment from Congress found me, requiring me to cross the Atlantic. And that temptation might be added to duty, I was informed, at the same time, from his Excellency the Chevalier de Luzerne, that a vessel of force would be sailing about the middle of December in which you would be passing to France. I accepted the appointment, and my only object now is, to so hasten over those obstacles which would retard my departure, as to be ready to join you in your voyage—fondly measuring your affection by my own, and presuming your consent. It is not certain that I can, by any exertion, be in Philadelphia by the middle of December—the contrary is most probable. But hoping it will not be much later, and counting on those procrastinations which usually attend the departure of vessels of size, I have hopes of being with you in time. This will give me full leisure to learn the result of your observations on the natural bridge, to communicate to you my answers to the enquiries of Monsieur de Marbois, to receive edification from you on these and other subjects of science; considering chess, too, as a matter of science. Should I be able to get out in tolerable time, and any extraordinary delays attend the sailing of the vessel, I shall certainly do myself the honor of waiting on his Excellency the Count de Rochambeau, at his head-quarters, and assuring him in person of my high respect and esteem for him—an object of which I have never lost sight. To yourself, I am unable to express the warmth of those sentiments of friendship and attachment with which I have the honour to be, dear Sir,

Your most obedient and most humble servant.

TO MR. STEPTOE.

November 26, 1782.

Dear Sir,—I received in August your favor, wherein you give me hopes of being able to procure for me some of the big bones. I should be unfaithful to my own feeling, were I not to express to you how much I am obliged by your attention to the requests I made you on that subject. A specimen of each of the several species of bones now to be found, is to me the most desirable objects in natural history. And there is no expense of package or of safe transportation which I will not gladly reimburse, to procure them safely. Elk horns of very extraordinary size, or anything else uncommon, would be very acceptable. You will hear of my going to Europe, but my trip there will be short. I mention this, lest you should hesitate forwarding any curiosities to me. New London in Bedford, Staunton in Augusta, or Frederick County, are places from whence I can surely get them. Any observations of your own on the subject of the big bones or their history, or on anything else in the western country, will come acceptably to me, because I know you see the works of nature in the great and not merely in detail. Descriptions of animals, vegetables, minerals, or other curious things; notes as to the Indians' information of the country between the Mississippi and waters of the South Sea, &c., &c., will strike your mind as worthy being communicated. I wish you had more time to pay attention to them. I perceive by your letter, you are not unapprized that your services to your country have not made due impression on every mind. That you have enemies, you must not doubt, when you reflect that you have made yourself eminent. If you meant to escape malice, you should have confined yourself within the sleepy line of regular duty. When you transgressed this, and enterprised deeds which will hand down your name with honor to future times, you made yourself a mark for envy and malice to shoot at. Of these there is enough, you know, both in and out of office. I was not a little surprised, however, to find one person hostile to you, as far as he has personal courage to show hostility to any man. Who he is, you will probably have heard, or may know him by this description—as being all tongue without either head or heart. In the variety of his crooked schemes, however, his interest may probably veer about, so as to put it in your power to be useful to him. In which case, he certainly will be your friend again, if you want him. That you may long continue a fit object for his enmity, and for that of every person of his complexion in the State, which I know can only be by your continuing to do good to your country and to acquire honor to yourself, is the earnest prayer of one who subscribes himself, with great truth and sincerity, dear Sir,

Your friend and servant.

TO JAMES MADISON.

Amphill, in Chesterfield, November 26th, 1782.

Dear Sir,—Your favor by Colonel Basset is not yet come to hand. The intimation through the attorney, I received the day before Colonel Bland's arrival, by whom I am honored with yours of the 14th inst. It finds me at this place attending my family under inoculation. This will of course retard those arrangements of my domestic affairs, which will of themselves take time and cannot be made but at home. I shall lose no time, however, in preparing for my departure. And from the calculation I am at present enabled to make, I suppose I cannot be in Philadelphia before the 20th of December, and that possibly it may be the last of that month. Some days I must certainly pass there, as I could not propose to jump into the midst of a negotiation without a single article of previous information. From these data, you will be enabled to judge of the chance of availing myself of his Excellency, the Chevalier de Luzerne's, kind offers, to whom I beg you to present my thanks for his friendly attention, and let him know I shall use my best endeavors to be in time for the departure of his frigate. No circumstances of a private nature could induce me to hasten over the several obstacles to my departure more unremitting than the hope of having the Chevalier de Chattellux as a companion in my voyage. A previous acquaintance with his worth and abilities, had impressed me with an affection for him which, under the then prospect of never seeing him again, was perhaps imprudent.

I am with very sincere esteem, dear Sir, your very affectionate friend, and humble servant.

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Philadelphia, January 22d, 1783.

Sir,—Having lately received a call from Congress to pass the Atlantic in the character of their minister for negotiating peace, I cannot leave the continent without separating myself for a moment from the general gratitude of my country, to offer my individual tribute to your Excellency for all you have suffered and all you have effected for us. Were I to indulge myself in those warm effusions which this subject forever prompts, they would wear an appearance of adulation very foreign to my nature; for such is become the prostitution of language that sincerity has no longer distinct terms in which to express her own truths. Should you give me occasion, during the short mission on which I go, to render you any service beyond the water, I shall, for a proof of my gratitude, appeal from language to the zeal with which I shall embrace it. The negotiations to which I am joined may perhaps be protracted beyond our present expectations, in which case, though I know you must receive much better intelligence from the gentlemen whose residence there has brought them into a more intimate acquaintance with the characters and views of the European courts, yet I shall certainly presume to add my mite, should it only serve to convince you of the warmth of those sentiments of respect and esteem with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE, MINISTER OF FRANCE.

Baltimore, February 7th, 1783.

Sir,—The Chevalier de Ville Brun was so kind as to communicate to me yesterday your Excellency's letter to him of January, together with the intelligence therein referred to. I feel myself bound to return you my thanks, for your orders to the Guadeloupe frigate to receive me, if I should think a passage should be hazarded under present circumstances. According to this information (which is the most worthy of credit of any we have received here), it would seem that our capture would be unavoidable were we to go out now. This, therefore, is a risk to which I cannot think of exposing his Majesty's vessel and subjects; however I might be disposed to encounter personal hazards, from my anxiety to execute, with all the promptitude in my power, a service which has been assigned to me. I shall therefore wait with patience the arrival of the moment when the Chevalier de Ville Brun shall be of opinion that the one or the other of the vessels may venture out without any greater risk than he shall think proportioned to her proper object, independently of mine. It has been suggested to me this evening, that perhaps their safe departure might be greatly forwarded by their falling down to York, or Hampton, there to be ready at a moment's warning, to avail themselves of those favorable circumstances which the present season sometimes offers.

But of this, yourself will be the proper judge. I cannot close my letter without expressing to you my obligations to the Chevalier de Ville Brun for the particular attention he has shown to my accommodation on board his ship. The apartments he has had constructed for me are ample and commodious, and his politeness and deportment as an officer are an agreeable presage of everything that shall depend on him. I have delivered to him the two large packets you were pleased to put into my hands, and he will dispose of them according to your orders.

I have the honor to be, with the highest sentiments of esteem, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Baltimore, February 7, 1783.

Sir,—I arrived here on the 30th of the last month, and had a short interview the same evening with the Chevalier de Ville Brun, commander of the Ramilies. There appeared at that time little apprehension but that we might sail in a few days, but we were not very particular in our conference, as we expected to see each other again. The severity of the cold, however, which commenced that night, obliged the Chevalier de Ville Brun to fall twelve miles below this place, and excluded all correspondence with him till yesterday, when I found means to get through the ice on board his ship. He then communicated to me, by direction of his Excellency, the minister of France, intelligence as to the number and force of the cruisers now actually watching the capes of the Chesapeake. I must acknowledge that the appearances are such as to render a capture certain were we to hazard it. The minister was pleased at the same time to submit the Guadeloupe to my wishes, if I chose to adventure. I take the liberty of troubling you with a copy of my letter to him on that subject. I should certainly be disposed to run very considerable risks myself to effect my passage; but should think it an unfortunate introduction to an ally, who has already done so much for us, were I to add to his losses and disbursements that of a valuable ship and crew. I wish that the present delay offered some period less distant than the lassitude of an avaricious enemy to watch for prey. Perhaps you may be able to put me on some more expeditious mode of passage than the one under which I am acquiescing at present. I shall be much pleased to adopt any such which may come recommended from you, without regard to personal risk or trouble. In the meantime, any intelligence which you can collect and will be pleased to give me as to the state of our coast, will be of utility in determining whether and when we shall depart hence.