The True George Washington Part 16

Hardly had he brought order out of chaos when the army he had taken such pains to discipline began to melt away, having been by political folly recruited for short terms, and the work was to be all done over. Again and again during the war regiments which had been enlisted for short periods left him at the most critical moment. Very typical occurrences he himself tells of, when Connecticut troops could "not be prevailed upon to stay longer than their term (saving those who have enlisted for the next campaign, and mostly on furlough), and such a dirty, mercenary spirit pervades the whole, that I should not be at all surprised at any disaster that may happen," and when he described how in his retreat through New Jersey, "The militia, instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition in order to repair our losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to return. Great numbers of them have gone off; in some instances, almost by whole regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a time." Another instance of this evil occurred when "the Continental regiments from the eastern governments ... agreed to stay six weeks beyond their term of enlistment.... For this extraordinary mark of their attachment to their country, I have agreed to give them a bounty of ten dollars per man, besides their pay running on." The men took the bounty, and nearly one-half went off a few days after.

Nor was this the only evil of the policy of short enlistments. Another was that the new troops not merely were green soldiers, but were without discipline. At New York Tilghman wrote that after the battle of Brooklyn the "Eastern" soldiers were "plundering everything that comes in their way," and Washington in describing the condition said, "every Hour brings the most distressing complaints of the Ravages of our own Troops who are become infinitely more formidable to the poor Farmers and Inhabitants than the common Enemy. Horses are taken out of the Continental Teams; the Baggage of Officers and the Hospital Stores, even the Quarters of General Officers are not exempt from Rapine." At the most critical moment of the war the New Jersey militia not merely deserted, but captured and took with them nearly the whole stores of the army. As the General truly wrote, "the Dependence which the Congress have placed upon the militia, has already greatly injured, and I fear will totally ruin our cause. Being subject to no controul themselves, they introduce disorder among the troops, whom you have attempted to discipline, while the change in their living brings on sickness; this makes them Impatient to get home, which spreads universally, and introduces abominable desertions." "The collecting militia," he said elsewhere, "depends entirely upon the prospects of the day. If favorable they throng in to you; if not, they will not move."

To make matters worse, politics were allowed to play a prominent part in the selection of officers, and Washington complained that "the different States [were], without regard to the qualifications of an officer, quarrelling about the appointments, and nominating such as are not fit to be s...o...b..acks, from the attachments of this or that member of a.s.sembly."

As a result, so he wrote of New England, "their officers are generally of the lowest cla.s.s of the people; and, instead of setting a good example to their men, are leading them into every kind of mischief, one species of which is plundering the inhabitants, under the pretence of their being Tories." To this political motive he himself would not yield, and a sample of his appointments was given when a man was named "because he stands unconnected with either of these Governments; or with this, or that or tother man; for between you and me there is more in this than you can easily imagine," and he a.s.serted that "I will not have any Gentn.

introduced from family connexion, or local attachments, to the prejudice of the Service."

To misbehaving soldiers Washington showed little mercy. In his first service he had deserters and plunderers "flogged," and threatened that if he could "lay hands" on one particular culprit, "I would try the effect of 1000 lashes." At another time he had "a Gallows near 40 feet high erected (which has terrified the _rest_ exceedingly) and I am determined if I can be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or three on it, as an example to others." When he took command of the Continental army he "made a pretty good slam among such kind of officers as the Ma.s.sachusetts Government abound in since I came to this Camp, having broke one Colo, and two Captains for cowardly behavior in the action on Bunker's Hill,--two Captains for drawing more provisions and pay than they had men in their Company--and one for being absent from his Post when the Enemy appeared there and burnt a House just by it Besides these, I have at this time--one Colo., one Major, one Captn., & two subalterns under arrest for tryal--In short I spare none yet fear it will not at all do as these People seem to be too inattentive to every thing but their Interest" "I am sorry," he wrote, "to be under a Necessity of making frequent Examples among the Officers," but "as nothing can be more fatal to an Army, than Crimes of this kind, I am determined by every Motive of Reward and Punishment to prevent them in future." Even when plundering was avoided there were short commons for those who clung to the General. The commander-in-chief wrote Congress that "they have often, very often, been reduced to the necessity of Eating Salt Porke, or Beef not for a day, or a week but months together without Vegetables, or money to buy them;" and again, he complained that "the Soldiers [were forced to] eat every kind of horse food but Hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, Rye and Indn. Corn was the composition of the Meal which made their bread. As an Army they bore it, [but] accompanied by the want of Cloaths, Blankets, &c., will produce frequent desertions in all armies and so it happens with us, tho' it did not excite a mutiny." Even the horses suffered, and Washington wrote to the quartermaster-general, "Sir, my horses I am told have not had a mouthful of long or short forage for three days. They have eaten up their mangers and are now, (though wanted for immediate use,) scarcely able to stand."

Two results were sickness and discontent. At times one-fourth of the soldiers were on the sick-list. Three times portions of the army mutinied, and nothing but Washington's influence prevented the disorder from spreading. At the end of the war, when, according to Hamilton, "the army had secretly determined not to lay down their arms until due provision and a satisfactory prospect should be offered on the subject of their pay,"

the commander-in-chief urged Congress to do them justice, writing, "the fort.i.tude--the long, & great suffering of this army is unexampled in history; but there is an end to all things & I fear we are very near to this. Which, more than probably will oblige me to stick very close to my flock this winter, & try like a careful physician, to prevent, if possible, the disorders getting to an incurable height." In this he judged rightly, for by his influence alone was the army prevented from adopting other than peaceful measures to secure itself justice.

A chief part of these difficulties the Continental Congress is directly responsible for, and the reason for their conduct is to be found largely in the circ.u.mstances of Washington's appointment to the command.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Life Mask of Washington]

When the Second Congress met, in May, 1775, the battle of Lexington had been fought, and twenty thousand minute-men were a.s.sembled about Boston.

To pay and feed such a horde was wholly beyond the ability of New England, and her delegates came to the Congress bent upon getting that body to a.s.sume the expense, or, as the Provincial Congress of Ma.s.sachusetts naively put it, "we have the greatest Confidence in the Wisdom and Ability of the Continent to support us."

The other colonies saw this in a different light. Ma.s.sachusetts, without our advice, has begun a war and embodied an army; let Ma.s.sachusetts pay her own bills, was their point of view. "I have found this Congress like the last," wrote John Adams. "When we first came together, I found a strong jealousy of us from New England, and the Ma.s.sachusettes in particular, suspicions entertained of designs of independency, an American republic, Presbyterian principles, and twenty other things. Our sentiments were heard in Congress with great caution, and seemed to make but little impression." Yet "every post brought me letters from my friends ... urging in pathetic terms the impossibility of keeping their men together without the a.s.sistance of Congress." "I was daily urging all these things, but we were embarra.s.sed with more than one difficulty, not only with the party in favor of the pet.i.tion to the King, and the party who were zealous of independence, but a third party, which was a southern party against a Northern, and a jealousy against a New England army under the command of a New England General."

Under these circ.u.mstances a political deal was resorted to, and Virginia was offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an adoption and support of the New England army, the appointment of commander-in-chief, though the offer was not made with over-good grace, and only because "we could carry nothing without conceding it." There was some dissension among the Virginia delegates as to who should receive the appointment, Washington himself recommending an old companion in arms, General Andrew Lewis, and "more than one," Adams says of the Virginia delegates, were "very cool about the appointment of Washington, and particularly Mr.

Pendleton was very clear and full against it" Washington himself said the appointment was due to "partiality of the Congress, joined to a political motive;" and, hard as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political necessity of the New England colonies which secured to Washington the place for which in the light of to-day he seems to have been created.

As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the General thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily lessened by Washington's frank criticism of the New England soldiers and officers already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England delegates and their allies were certain army measures that Washington pressed upon the attention of Congress. He urged and urged that the troops should be enlisted for the war, that promotions should be made from the army as a whole, and not from the colony- or State-line alone, and most unpopular of all, that since Continental soldiers could not otherwise be obtained, a bounty should be given to secure them, and that as compensation for their inadequate pay half-pay should be given them after the war. He eventually carried these points, but at the price of an entire alienation of the democratic party in the Congress, who wished to have the war fought with militia, to have all the officers elected annually, and to whom the very suggestion of pensions was like a red rag to a bull.

A part of their motive in this was unquestionably to prevent the danger of a standing army, and of allowing the commander-in-chief to become popular with the soldiers. Very early in the war Washington noted "the _jealousy_ which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and which, if reports are right, some members labor to establish." And he complained that "I see a distrust and jealousy of military power, that the commander-in-chief has not an opportunity, even by recommendation, to give the least a.s.surance of reward for the most essential services." The French minister told his government that when a committee was appointed to inst.i.tute certain army reforms, delegates in Congress "insisted on the danger of a.s.sociating the Commander-in-chief with it, whose influence, it was stated, was already too great," and when France sent money to aid the American cause, with the provision that it should be subject to the order of the General, it aroused, a writer states, "the jealousy of Congress, the members of which were not satisfied that the head of the army should possess such an agency in addition to his military power."

His enemies in the Congress took various means to lessen his influence and mortify him. Burke states that in the discussion of one question "Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted for expunging it; the four Eastern States, Virginia and Georgia for retaining it. There appeared through this whole debate a great desire, in some of the delegates from the Eastern States, and in one from New Jersey, to insult the General," and a little later the Congress pa.s.sed a "resolve which,"

according to James Lovell, "was meant to rap a Demi G--over the knuckles."

Nor was it by commission, but as well by omission, that they showed their ill feeling. John Laurens told his father that

"there is a conduct observed towards" the General "by certain great men, which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness.... The Commander in Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all that is known by Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling circ.u.mstance, for him to collect the most important intelligence piecemeal, and as they choose to give it, from gentlemen who come from York? Apart from the chagrin which he must necessarily feel at such an appearance of slight, it should be considered that in order to settle his plan of operations for the ensuing campaign, he should take into view the present state of European affairs, and Congress should not leave him in the dark."

Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian policy, and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, "I am informed that it is a matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown out against this army, for not being more active and enterprising than, in the opinion of some, they ought to have been. If the charge is just, the best way to account for it will be to refer you to the returns of our strength, and those which I can produce of the enemy, and to the enclosed abstract of the clothing now actually wanting for the army." "I can a.s.sure those gentlemen," he said, in reply to political criticism, "that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside, than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets."

The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years 1776 and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year it crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal. The story of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is known concerning its adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way it has been discovered that the New England delegates again sought the aid of the Lee faction in Virginia, and that this coalition, with the aid of such votes as they could obtain, schemed several methods which should lessen the influence of Washington, if they did not force him to resign. Separate and detached commands were created, which were made independent of the commander-in-chief, and for this purpose even a scheme which the General called "a child of folly" was undertaken. Officers notoriously inimical to Washington, yet upon whom he would be forced to rely, were promoted. A board of war made up of his enemies, with powers "in effect paramount,"

Hamilton says, "to those of the commander-in-chief," was created It is even a.s.serted that it was moved in Congress that a committee should be appointed to arrest Washington, which was defeated only by the timely arrival of a new delegate, by which the balance of power was lost to the Cabal.

Even with the collapse of the army Cabal the opposition in Congress was maintained. "I am very confident," wrote General Greene, "that there is party business going on again, and, as Mifflin is connected with it, I doubt not its being a revival of the old scheme;" again writing, "General Schuyler and others consider it a plan of Mifflin's to injure your Excellency's operations. I am now fully convinced of the reality of what I suggested to you before I came away." In 1779 John Sullivan, then a member of Congress, wrote,--

"Permit me to inform your Excellency, that the faction raised against you in 1777, is not yet destroyed. The members are waiting to collect strength, and seize some favorable moment to appear in force. I speak not from conjecture, but from certain knowledge. Their plan is to take every method of proving the danger arising from a commander, who enjoys the full and unlimited confidence of his army, and alarm the people with the prospects of imaginary evils; nay, they will endeavor to convert your virtue into arrows, with which, they will seek to wound you."

But Washington could not be forced into a resignation, ill-treat and slight him as they would, and at no time were they strong enough to vote him out of office. For once a Congressional "deal" between New England and Virginia did not succeed, and as Washington himself wrote, "I have a good deal of reason to believe that the machination of this junto will recoil on their own heads, and be a means of bringing some matters to light which by getting me out of the way, some of them thought to conceal," In this he was right, for the re-elections of both Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee were put in danger, and for some time they were discredited even in their own colonies. "I have happily had," Washington said to a correspondent, "but few differences with those with whom I have had the honor of being connected in the service. With whom, and of what nature these have been, you know. I bore much for the sake of peace and the public good"

As is well known, Washington served without pay during his eight years of command, and, as he said, "fifty thousand pounds would not induce me again to undergo what I have done." No wonder he declared "that the G.o.d of armies may incline the hearts of my American brethren to support the present contest, and bestow sufficient abilities on me to bring it to a speedy and happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet retirement, and the full enjoyment of that peace and happiness, which will accompany a domestic life, is the first wish and most fervent prayer of my soul."

The day finally came when his work was finished, and he could be, as he phrased it, "translated into a private citizen." Marshall describes the scene as follows: "At noon, the princ.i.p.al officers of the army a.s.sembled at Frances' tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling a gla.s.s, he turned to them and said, 'With a heart full of love and grat.i.tude, I now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.' Having drunk, he added, 'I cannot come to each of you to take my leave; but shall be obliged to you, if each of you will come and take me by the hand.' General Knox, being nearest, turned to him. Incapable of utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and embraced him. In the same affectionate manner he took leave of each succeeding officer. In every eye was the tear of dignified sensibility, and not a word was articulated to interrupt the majestic silence, and the tenderness of the scene. Leaving the room, he pa.s.sed through the corps of light infantry, and walked to Whitehall, where a barge waited to convey him to Powles-hook. The whole company followed in mute and solemn procession, with dejected countenance ... Having entered the barge, he turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a silent adieu."

XII

CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER

Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by receiving in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the appointment of official surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of which, according to Boucher, was about fifty pounds Virginia currency a year. The office was certainly not a very fat berth, for it required the holder to live in a frontier county, to travel at times, as Washington in his journal noted, over "ye worst Road that ever was trod by Man or Beast," to sometimes lie on straw, which once "catch'd a Fire," and we "was luckily Preserved by one of our Mens waking," sometimes under a tent, which occasionally "was Carried quite of[f] with ye Wind and" we "was obliged to Lie ye Latter part of ye night without covering," and at other times driven from under the tent by smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington described to a friend by writing,--

"[Since] October Last I have not sleep'd above three Nights or four in a bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the fire upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had with Man Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts & happy's he that gets the Birth nearest the fire there's nothing would make it pa.s.s of tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every Day that the Weather will permit my going out and some time Six Pistoles the coldness of the Weather will not allow my making a long stay as the Lodging is rather too cold for the time of Year. I have never had my Cloths of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except the few Nights I have lay'n in Frederick Town."

In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming adjutant of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a salary of one hundred pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This in turn led up to his military appointment in 1754, which he held almost continuously till 1759, when he resigned from the service.

Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of Burgesses, or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and this position had been held by Washington's great-grandfather, father, and elder brother. It was only natural, therefore, that in becoming the head of the family George should desire the position. As early as 1755, while on the frontier, he wrote to his brother in charge of Mount Vernon inquiring about the election to be held in the county, and asking him to "come at Colo Fairfax's intentions, and let me know whether he purposes to offer himself as a candidate." "If he does not, I should be glad to take a poll, if I thought my chance tolerably good." His friend Carlyle, Washington wrote, had "mentioned it to me in Williamsburg in a bantering way," and he begged his brother to "discover Major Carlyle's real sentiments on this head," as also those of the other prominent men of the county, and especially of the clergymen. "_Sound_ their pulse," he wrote, "with an air of indifference and unconcern ... without disclosing much of _mine_." "If they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and things should be drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg their a.s.sistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor some other, I would have the affair entirely dropped." Apparently the county magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the county.

In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in which Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered himself as a candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he had saved Winchester and the surrounding country from being overrun by the Indians, he was not popular. Not merely was he held responsible for the ma.s.sacres of outlying inhabitants, whom it was impossible to protect, but in this very defence he had given cause for ill-feeling. He himself confessed that he had several times "strained the law,"--he had been forced to impress the horses and wagons of the district, and had in other ways so angered some of the people that they had threatened "to blow out my brains." But he had been guilty of a far worse crime still in a political sense.

Virginia elections were based on liquor, and Washington had written to the governor, representing "the great nuisance the number of tippling houses in Winchester are to the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the utmost care and vigilance, are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly drunk and unfit for service," and he wished that "the new commission for this county may have the intended effect," for "the number of tippling houses kept here is a great grievance." As already noted, the Virginia regiment was accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of that accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his men when they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even closed by force one tavern which was especially culpable. "Were it not too tedious," he wrote the governor, "I cou'd give your Honor such instances of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers, as wou'd astonish any person."

The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as he offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the leadership of one Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in Winchester for at least one hundred years, united to oppose him. Against the would-be burgess they set up one Captain Thomas Swearingen, whom Washington later described as "a man of great weight among the meaner cla.s.s of people, and supposed by them to possess extensive knowledge." As a result, the poll showed Swearingen elected by two hundred and seventy votes, and Washington defeated with but forty ballots.

This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the young candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took a leaf from his enemy's book, and fought them with their own weapons. The friendly aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as also that of Gabriel Jones, a man of much local force and popularity. Scarcely less important were the sinews of war employed, told of in the following detailed account. A law at that time stood on the Virginia statutes forbidding all treating or giving of what were called "ticklers" to the voters, and declaring illegal all elections which were thus influenced.

None the less, the voters of Frederick enjoyed at Washington's charge--

40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn 7 0 0 15 gallons of Wine @ 10/ pr. galn 7 10 0 Dinner for your Friends 3 0 0 13-1/2 gallons of Wine @ 10/ 6 15 3-1/2 pts. of Brandy @ 1/3 4 4-1/2 13 Galls. Beer @ 1/3 16 3 8 qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6 0 12 0 Punch 3 9 30 gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall 1 0 1 hhd & 1 Barrell of Punch, consisting of 26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/ 6 10 0 12 lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6 18 9 3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr. gall 3 9 10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each 1 5 0 9 half pints of rum @ 7-1/2 d. each 5 7-1/2 1 pint of wine 1 6

After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that "I hope no Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were alike treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with too sparing a hand." It is hardly necessary to say that such methods reversed the former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten votes, and Swearingen received forty-five. What is more, so far from now threatening to blow out his brains, there was "a general applause and huzzaing for Colonel Washington."

From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a burgess. Once again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in 1765, he stood for Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he received two hundred and eight votes, his colleague getting but one hundred and forty-eight, and in the election of 1768 he received one hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague only one hundred and forty-two.

Washington spent between forty and seventy-five pounds at each of these elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the night he was chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted in his ledger are, "54 gallons of Strong Beer," "52 Do. of Ale," "1.0.0. to Mr. John Muir for his fiddler," and "For cakes at the Election 7.11.1."

The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee to draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester. He was very regular in his attendance; and though he took little part in the proceedings, yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that when the time came to elect deputies to the First Congress he stood third in order among the seven appointed to attend that body, and a year later, in the delegation to the Continental Congress, he stood second, Peyton Randolph receiving one more vote only, and all the other delegates less.

This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than to those qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, "I served with General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before the revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders to the great points, knowing that the little ones would follow of themselves."

Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an order of the a.s.sembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its thanks to Colonel Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the distinguished military services which he had rendered to the country. As soon as he took his seat in the House, the Speaker performed this duty in such glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him. Washington rose to express his acknowledgments for the honor, but was so disconcerted as to be unable to articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and faltered for a moment, when the Speaker relieved him from his embarra.s.sment by saying, "Sit down, Mr.

Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and that surpa.s.ses the power of any language that I possess."

This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that Congress should "appoint a General," and added, "I had no hesitation to declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important command, and that was a gentleman whose skill and experience as an officer, whose independent fortune, great talents, and excellent universal character, would command the approbation of all America, and unite the cordial exertions of all the Colonies better than any other person in the Union," he relates that "Mr. Washington who happened to sit near the door, as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual modesty, darted into the library-room."