The Writings of Samuel Adams Volume III Part 41

MY DEAR SIR/

Major Ba.s.s will be kind enough to deliver to you this Letter. He brought me a very friendly Message from you, for which I return you my hearty Thanks. If I had Inclination or Leisure to write a Letter of Compliment, I am sure you would not be pleasd with it.

The Times are very serious; our Affairs are in a critical Situation. The Enemy, after long promising a Visit to this City, made an Appearance last Week near the Capes of Delaware. But they have not been seen these six days past. The Hounds are in fault and have lost Scent of them. We shall hear where they engage, I dare say, before long. It belongs to the military Gentlemen to frustrate their Design. I think they could not have come here in a better time, because we were well prepared for them. General Washington had drawn his Forces into the Neighborhood of this Place, and I verily believe, the people here, divided and distracted as they are about their internal Government, would have joynd in sufficient Numbers to have given a good Account of them.

The shameful Defeat of our Forces at Ticonderoga is not more distressing to us than it is vexatious. A thorough Scrutiny into the Causes of it must and will be made. For this Purpose Schuyler and St Clair are orderd to Head Quarters. I confess I cannot at present account for it even upon the Principle of Cowardice.

There seems to me to be the evident Marks of Design. Bad as our Affairs are in that Quarter they are not desperate. Gates is gone to take the Command. He is an honest and able officer; always belovd by his Soldiers because he always shares with them in Fatigue and Danger. This has not been said of his immediate Predecessor. I hope the N England States will once more make a generous Exertion, and if they do I am deceivd if Burgoyns Prosperity does not soon prove his Ruin.

Our Intelligence from Europe is very flattering to us. The virtuous and sensible there universally wish well to our Cause.

They say we are fighting for the Liberty and Happiness of Mankind. We are at least, contending for the Liberty & Happiness of our own Country and Posterity. It is a glorious Contest. We shall succeed if we are virtuous. I am infinitely more apprehensive of the Contagion of Vice than the Power of all other Enemies. It is the Disgrace of human Nature that in most Countries the People are so debauchd, as to be utterly unable to defend or enjoy their Liberty.

Pay my respects to Coo Whipple. He promisd to write to me. I hope he will soon have Leisure to fulfill his promise. A Letter from you would oblige me much. Adieu.

_________________________________________________________________ 1Of Portsmouth, New Hampshire; member of the Continental Congress.

TO MRS. ADAMS.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

PHILADA Augt 8 1777

MY DEAR BETSY

I have lately written to you by every Opportunity and am determined to omit none for the future, till I shall have the Pleasure of seeing you, which I intend some time in the Fall. We have heard Nothing of the Enemies Fleet since this Day Week.

General Gates is gone to take the Command of the Northern Army in the Room of Schuyler . . . Gates has always been belovd by his Soldiers & I hope will restore our Affairs there; for although they are in a Situation bad enough I do not think them desperate.

He is empowerd to call on the N England Militia, who I hope will once more make a generous Effort. If they do, I am mistaken if Burgoyns present Success does not [prove his ruin.] A Change of Officers, I dare say, will give new Spirits [to] the Men. But I forget that I am writing [to] a female upon the Subject of War. I know your whole Soul is engagd in the great Cause. May Heaven prosper it! Adieu my dear,

My Respects to my Family & Friends.

TO ROGER SHERMAN.

[MS., Library of Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society; a draft is in the Lenox Library.]

PHILADA Augt 11. 1777

DEAR SIR/

I duly receivd your obliging Letter of the 11th of July. I thank you for the favor, and beg you to continue to write to me as often as your Leisure will admit of it. The Rumour you mention'd has since appeard to be a serious Fact. We have lost Ti[c]onderoga, and as far as I can yet judge, shamefully: I was going to add, vilainously; for indeed I cannot account for it, but upon the worst of Principles. The whole appears to me to carry the evident Marks of Design. But I hope & believe it will undergo the strictest Scrutiny. The People at large ought not, they will not be satisfied, until a thorough Inquiry is made into the Causes of an Event in which their Honor and Safety is so deeply interested. The only Letter receivd by Congress from St Clair, you have seen publishd under their Sanction. Schuyler has written a Series of weak & contemptible THINGS in a Stile of Despondence which alone, I think, is sufficient for the Removal of him from that Command; for if his Pen expresses the true Feelings of his Heart, it cannot be expected that the bravest Veterans would fight under such a General, admitting they had no Suspicion of Treachery. In a Letter dated the 4th Instant at Still Water, he writes in a Tone of perfect Despair. He seems to have no Confidence in his Troops, nor the States from whence Reinforcements are to be drawn. A third Part of his Continental Troops, he tells us, consists "of Boys Negroes & aged Men not fit for the Field or any other Service." "A very great Part of the Army naked--without Blanketts--ill armed and very deficient in Accoutrements: without a Prospect of Reliefe." "Many, too Many of the Officers wod be a Disgrace to the most contemptible Troops that ever was collected." The Exertions of others of them of a different Character "counteracted by the worthless." "Genl Burgoyne is bending his Course this Way. He will probably be here in Eight Days, and unless we are well reinforced" (which he does not expect) "as much farther as he pleases to go."---Was ever any poor general more mortified! But he has by this Time receivd his Quietus. Gates takes the Command there, agreeably to what you tell me is the Wish of the People; and I trust our Affairs in that Quarter will soon wear a more promising Aspect.

The Enemies Ships, upwards Of 200 sail, after having been out of Sight six Days, were discoverd on Thursday last, off Sinapuxint 15 Leagues from the Capes of Delaware Steering towards Chesapeake Bay.

Your Friends here are well, except Colo Williams, who has been confined a few days, but is growing better. I have a thousand things to say to you, but must defer it to other Opportunities, & conclude in Haste, with friendly Regards to your Family, very affectionately yours,

TO JAMES WARREN.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

PHILADA Augt 12 1777

MY DEAR SIR

The inclosd is an attested Copy of Genl Schuylers Letter to the President of the Congress. It needs no Comment. How far the Ma.s.sachusetts state deserves the Strictures therein made, you can tell. I send it to you for the Perusal of the Members of your Honbl House. If they have sent into the Army, Boys Negroes & Men too aged to be fit for any Service they will lay their Hands upon their Mouths. If not, I hope some decent but keen Pen will vindicate them from that & other Aspersions. This, like all his other Letters, is written in such a desponding Stile, that it is no Wonder if Soldiers decline fighting under him, though they may be under no Apprehension of Treachery. But he has by this time receivd his Quietus, at least till he can give a good Account of his Conduct. Gates has gone to take the Command, and our Affairs in that Ouarter, I dare say will soon wear another Face.

The Enemies Fleet have been again seen 200 sail off Sinipunxint 15 Leagues South of the Capes of Delaware. I think I have now a just Demand upon you for a Letter. I shall be disappointed if I do not receive one by the next Post. Adieu my Friend.

TO WILLIAM HEATH.1

[MS., Library of Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society; the text has recently been printed in Collections of Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society, 7th ser., vol. iv., p. 140.]

PHILADE Augt 13th 1777

MY DEAR SIR,

The Surrender of Tyconderoga has deeply wounded our Cause. The Grounds of it must be thoroughly inquired into. The People at large have a Right to demand it. They do demand it and Congress have orderd an Inquiry to be made. This Matter must be conducted with Impartiality. The Troops orderd for the Defence of that Post were chiefly from New England. It is said there was a great Deficiency in Numbers--and General Schuyler tells us that a third Part of the Army there were Boys Negroes and aged Men not fit for the Field or indeed any other Service, that a great Part of them were naked, without Blanketts, ill armed & very deficient in Accoutrements. Such is the Picture he draws. I wish to know as soon as possible, how many Men actually marchd for that place from N E, & particularly from Ma.s.sachusetts Bay. What Quant.i.ty of Cloathing was sent for them & under whose Care; and how they were furnishd with Arms & Accoutrements. In short I am desirous of being informd by you as minutely as possible, of the part taken by Muster Masters Quartermasters Cloathiers & their Agents and all other Persons employed in making and providing for the Army in the Northern Department, as far as it has properly fallen under your Notice & Direction. Excuse me for giving you this Trouble & be a.s.sured that I am very cordially,

your Friend,

_________________________________________________________________ 1Major General in the continental army.

TO MRS. ADAMS.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

PHILADA Augt 8 1777

MY DEAR BETSY

I was favord with yours of the 2d of this Month by yesterdays Post. I am much obligd to you for writing to me so often, and hope you will not omit any future opportunity. [One] or another of my Boston Friends write to me by every Post, [so] that I think I should be informd if any extraordinary Accident should happen to my Family, but I am never so well satisfied as when I receive one from you. I am in continual Anxiety for your Safety, but am happy in committing you to the Protection of all gracious Heaven.

May He be your Refuge in every Time of Distress! I had before heard that the Enemies Fleet was seen off Cape Ann. We had an Account of it [by] an Express from General Heath, who contradicted it the [same] Day by another Express. Indeed I did not give Credit to . . . . News for the British Ships were seen off the Maryland Sh.o.r.e on the first of August, the very day on which they were reported to have been seen off Cape Ann. Having the Command of the Sea, they have it in their Power to give frequent Alarms to our Seaport Towns. We have not heard of them since, and it is the opinion of some that they are gone to South Carolina, but as it is altogether uncertain where they will go, it is prudent to be ready to receive them in every Place. It is a Question with me whether they have any Plan upon which they can depend themselves. I pray G.o.d that [their] Councils may be confounded.

I earnestly hope with you, my Dear, that our . . . . Life is not always to live at this Distance from each [other] but that we shall see the happy Day when Tyranny [shall] be subdued and the Liberty of our Country shall be settled upon a permanent Foundation. If this is not to be accomplishd in our Day, May we hereafter meet our virtuous Friends in that blessd Region, where the wicked shall cease from troubling.

My Love to my dear Daughter, Sister Polly & the rest of my Family & Friends. Tell my Servants I thank them for their kind Remembrance of me. I am, my dear,

ever yours,

I have sent the Letter to Capt M. inclosd in one to Dr F.