Washington's General (46 page)

  35    One prominent Rhode Islander: Lovejoy,
Rhode Island Politics and the American Revolution,
158.

“I am . . . informed”: Simister,
The Fire's Center, 43.

“I do not receive instructions”: Ibid., 44.

  36    “I am the sheriff”: Langguth,
Patriots,
167.

One of the raiders: Greene,
Life,
1:34.

“I have long feared”: Langguth,
Patriots,
169.

In the meantime: Bancroft Collection, documents relative to Rhode Island, NYPL.

  37    “I was surrounded”:
PNG,
1:38-43.

“If Coventry ever was tolerable”: Ibid., 1:44-46.

  38    The royal commission: Eyewitness accounts of the burning of the
Gaspee
are compiled in Bartlett,
Records of the Colony of Rhode Island
, 7:68-77 and 182-85.

“I should be tempted”:
PNG
, 1:51-53.

He told Sammy Ward: Ibid.

  39    The minister's talk:
PNG,
1:61.

“Priests and Levites”: Ibid., 1:57-58.

The official record: Friends' minutes, 1751-1806, RIHS.

  40    In two letters:
PNG,
1:26-28; 51-53.

  41    John Sherwood: Kimball,
The Correspondence of the Colonial Governors of Rhode Island,
2:438.

In keeping with custom: Bancroft Collection, documents relative to Rhode Island, NYPL.

A correspondent:
Newport Mercury
, Mar. 21,1774.

  42    Britain's political leaders:
PNG
, 1:64-65.

One observer described her: Stegeman and Stegeman,
Caty
, 10.

  43    The ceremony was small:
PNG
, 1:64.

  44    Greene's was among eighty signatures: Ibid., 1:67-68.

Tradition has it: This story is told in nineteenth-century biographies by William Johnson and George Washington Greene, with no firsthand evidence.

With their red coats: Kentish Guard Papers, RIHS.

  45    He immediately wrote:
PNG,
1:75-76.

  46    The bloodshed: Ibid., 1:79fn. Greene's commission: Ibid., 1:78-79.

An Uncommon Degree of Zeal

  48    They heard: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
92.

After news of the skirmishes: Ketchum,
The Winter Soldiers,
49.

  49    “The rebels”: Harvey,
A Few Bloody Noses
, 160.

  50    Greene told Thomas:
PNG,
1:80.

  51    Murray was accused: Ibid., 2:96.

In his orders: Ibid., 1:84. A soldier from Connecticut: Ibid., 1:85.

  52    His superiors testified: Greene,
Life,
1:92.

  52    “Let us in”: Chidsey,
The Siege of Boston,
64.

Appropriating money:
PNG,
1:82.

He would have been happy: Ibid., 1:82-83.

  53    He found that many captains: Ibid., 1:85.

  54    “My task is hard”: Ibid., 1:93. Despite the discipline: Ibid. While the Rhode Islanders remained: Ibid., 1:94.

While most of the troops: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
153.

Other American generals:
PNG
, 1:93.

In a letter to Jacob: Ibid.

  55    A shocked Howe wrote: Wright Jr.,
The Continental Army
, 20.

He dispatched an urgent message:
PNG,
1:86.

  56    To his brother Jacob: Ibid., 1:92.

  58    “I hope we shall be taught”: Ibid., 1:99.

  59    “Familiarity between the officers and men”: Washington to Congress, Sept. 22,1775, PGW.

A disgusted Greene:
PNG,
1:95.

  60    In a far too candid letter: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
161.

  60    The southerners were themselves puzzled: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
71.

Washington “had not had time”:
PNG
, 1:163-65.

  61    “His Excellency”: Ibid., 1:135.

  62    True, Adams wrote: Langguth,
Patriots,
309.

“Our troops are now very sickly”:
PNG,
1:105-6.

“Void [their] Exerment”: Ibid., 1:108.

  63    “Provisions bad”: Ibid., 1:105-6.

“The fears and apprehensions”: Ibid., 1:111-12.

  64    “The Author is found”: Ibid., 1:127.

  65    “So far as regards the Preservation of the Army from cold”: Washington to Congress, Sept. 21, 1775, PGW.

  66    Then, Greene would contend:
PNG,
1:194.

  67    Henry Knox: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene
, 67.

In October 1775:
PNG,
1:140.

  68    “I would make it Treason”: Ibid., 1:140-41.

“This is no time”: Ibid., 1:171.

  68    He urged Ward and Congress: Ibid., 1:177.

  69    Of Franklin, Greene wrote: Ibid., 1:135-36.

  70    “I fear the Colony”: Ibid., 1:160.

He told his brother Jacob: Ibid., 1:158.

  71    If they did: Moses Brown's diary, RIHS; also published in
Rhode Island History
, vol. 15, no. 4, October 1956.

“Our suffering”:
PNG
, 1:173.

Only now were the Americans learning: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
253-54.

  72    “We never have been so weak”:
PNG
, 1:174.

His general orders: General orders, Jan. 1, 1776, PGW.

  73    “We have just experienced”:
PNG
, 1:178.

“It is no time”: Ibid.

  74    “[Playing cards] brings on a Habit of Drinking”: Ibid., 1:180.

“I am as yellow as saffron”: Ibid., 1:193.

  76    “draw Beer for the Troops”: Ibid., 1:208.

The Dark Part of Night

  77    New York, he wrote:
PNG,
1:177.

  78    “If any should be base enough”: Ibid., 1:205.

He forbade his soldiers: Ibid.

  79    Greene dutifully dispatched word to his troops: Ibid., 1:206.

Greene's troops: Ibid., 1:208.

  80    Even if the British: Lee to Washington, Feb. 19, 1776, Lee,
Papers of Charles Lee
, 1:308-10.

After all, he noted: Lee to Washington, Mar. 3, 1776, ibid., 1:343-44.

  81    They should do so “softly”:
PNG
, 1:220.

Local residents complained: Ibid., 1:212.

“Complaints Having Been made”: Ibid., 1:215.

Greene was not one: Ibid., 1:212.

  82    Knox condemned: Scheer and Rankin,
Rebels and Redcoats
, 143.

“Tis nobly done”:
PNG,
1:213.

  84    Henry Knox told Lucy: Stegeman and Stegeman,
Caty
, 34.

  85    Greene said that Adams's policy:
PNG
, 1:225.

Adams replied: Ibid., 1:239.

“As I have no desire”: Ibid., 1:216.

At one point, Greene accused Adams, and Congress: Ibid., 1:256.

  86    “I spied”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution
, 95.

  87    “Vegetables . . . would be much more wholesome”:
PNG
, 1:252.

“all Filth”: Ibid., 1:267-68.

Washington said he hoped: Freeman,
George Washington
, 4:133.

  88    He told Adams:
PNG
, 1:255-56.

“[It] is impossible”: Ibid., 1:263.

  89    Greene's complaints: Ibid., 1:264.

Still, the British waited: Langguth,
Patriots, 377.

“The fair nymphs”: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six
, 413-14.

  90    “Great humanity should be exercised”:
PNG
, 1:283.

They would soon “feel my Resentment”: Ibid., 1:287-88.

Soon after writing to Washington: Ibid., 1:288.

Within two days: Livingston to Washington, Aug. 17, 1776, PGW.

  91    Greene sought to reassure his commander: Blodget to Washington, Aug. 18, 1776, ibid.

  92    “Gracious God!”:
PNG,
1:291-92.

  92    “I give it”: Ibid., 1:294-96.

  93    “This in my judgment”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution
, 119.

  94    Their performance so embarrassed Washington:
PNG
, 1:300.

  95    As Greene noted: Ibid.

  96    Washington's secretary wrote: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
112.

“Providence, or some good honest fellow”: Langguth,
Patriots
, 397.

“I apprehend the several retreats”:
PNG,
1:303-4.

“The policy of Congress”: Ibid.

  97    There was, he wrote, “a great change”: Tretler, “The Making of a Revolutionary,” 249.

“exhibit a Spectacle”:
PNG,
1:311-12.

  98    “Here is a gentleman”: Dann,
The Revolution Remembered
, 118-19.

100    Although he had told Greene:
PNG
, 1:339-40.

“If we cannot prevent vessels passing up”: Ibid., 1:342-43.

“I cannot conceive”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution
, 147.

100    Still, Washington hesitated: Scheer and Rankin,
Rebels and Redcoats
, 200.

Lee boldly asserted:
PNG
, 1:341.

“I cannot help”: Lee to Reed, Nov. 16, 1776, Lee,
Papers of Charles Lee
, 2:283-84.

101    They found themselves:
PNG,
1:352.

102    In it, he did not spare Greene: Washington to Congress, Nov. 16, 1776, PGW.

“Oh, General”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution
, 152.

103    He claimed that other officers accused Greene: Lee to Washington, Nov. 19, 1776, Lee,
Papers of Charles Lee
, 2:286-88.

“I feel mad”:
PNG,
1:321-22.

“what is said”: Ibid.

104    Washington later estimated: Washington to Congress, Nov. 19,1776, PGW.

105    “We retreated to Hackensack”:
PNG,
1:362.

“Our people”: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
496-97.

the American army “is broken”: Ibid.

“Entre nous”: Langguth,
Patriots,
404

106    “These are the times”: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
505.

106    “Fortune seems to frown”:
PNG,
1:368-69.

a painting of a rising sun: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
131. The anecdote is not verified by any firsthand testimony.

Victory or Death

108    “I hope to give the Enimy”:
PNG,
1:375.

109    he noted with “satisfaction”: Ibid., 1:376.

The general, Greene told Caty: Ibid., 1:368.

Showing off his self-taught erudition: Ibid., 1:372.

110    “one of the severest” storms: Ibid., 2:4.

112    “This is an important period”: Ibid., 1:377.

113    “Should we get possession of the Jerseys”: Ibid.

One soldier recalled: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
519.

“My brave fellows”: Ibid.

“God Almighty”:
PNG,
2:4.

114    “This is the greatest evidence”: Ibid.

“[We] have great reason”: Ibid., 2:3.

115 “Push on, boys”: Greene,
Life,
1:298.

115    “It appeared to me”: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
148.

116    “This line of conduct”:
PNG,
1:374-75.

“The day ... is our own”: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution,
185.

117    “Great credit is due”:
PNG,
2:3-4.

“The achievements of Washington and his little band”: Leckie,
George Washington's War,
333.

118    “I am exceeding happy”:
PNG,
2:7.

He was installed in the home: Greene,
Life,
1:306.

“I am unhappy”:
PNG,
2:6-7.

119    Furious civilians: Ibid., 2:4-5.

There, he told Washington: Ibid., 2:24-25.

120    In mid-February: Ibid., 2:26-27.

A loyalist judge: Scheer and Rankin,
Rebels and Redcoats,
222.

“This ... is the State of the War”:
PNG,
2:56-57.

According to a letter: Craig to Wayne, Feb. 16, 1777, Bancroft Collection, Wayne Papers, NYPL.

121    “not so much for the annoyance of the Enemy”:
PNG,
2:56-57.

121    Congress passed a resolution: Greene,
Life,
1:336.

“Could I accomplish”: Ibid., 1:337.

“There is not a state”:
PNG,
2:10.

122    “I am sensible”: Ibid., 2:29.

In his reply: Ibid., 2:37.

Greene told Adams: Ibid., 2:31.

123    Adams countered: Ibid., 2:40.

Washington explained to Congress: Greene,
Life,
1:338-39.

Washington told him:
PNG,
2:44-45.

“There is so much deliberation”: Ibid., 2:46-48.

124    Several weeks later: Ibid., 2:87-88.

He was alarmed to find them “insufficient”: Ibid.

When he returned: Ibid., 2:50.

He felt duty-bound: Ibid., 2:54-55.

125    “It is to be regretted”: Ibid., 2:59-60.