Washington's General (47 page)

126    “What has kept them”: Ibid., 2:60.

“I was almost thunderstruck”: Ibid., 2:66-67.

He tried a little tenderness: Ibid.

127    “O, how my heart”: Ibid., 2:83.

127    “But remember when you write to Mrs. Knox”: Ibid., 2:84.

128    “No free people”: Ibid., 2:98-99.

129    He, too, thought: Ibid., 2:103.

In the same letter: Ibid., 2:98-99.

Once again, Adams was on Greene's side: Ibid., 2:103.

He told his brother: Ibid., 2:104.

130    “A report is circulating”: Ibid., 2:109.

On July 7, Congress passed: Journals of the Continental Congress, July 7, 1777, Library of Congress.

131    What's more: McCullough,
John Adams,
195.

“I never before took hold of a pen”: PNG, 2:111-14.

132    “Phylistines are upon thee”: Ibid., 2:101.

“I can plainly see”: Ibid., 2:121.

Philadelphia, he wrote: Ibid., 2:140-41.

133    “I am in hopes”: Ibid., 2:149.

The Cries of the People

134    “good health”:
PNG,
2:149.

136    Summoning the frustrations: Ibid., 2:162-63.

136    “Here are some of the most distressing scenes”: Ibid., 2:155-56.

“dreaded the appearance”: Ibid., 2:156fn.

137    “I am exceedingly fatigued”: Ibid., 2:155-56.

139    “When I came upon the ground”: Ibid., 2:470-72.

“I expect the next action”: Ibid., 2:162-63.

140    “You, sir”: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
196-97.

He denounced Greene: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revoluntion,
226.

141    “My sweet Angel”:
PNG,
2:162-63.

“Let us move”: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
198.

142    “entertained an exalted opinion”: Ibid.

“The General does want”: Ibid.

he told his generals: Proceedings of a Council of General Officers, Sept. 23, 1777, PGW.

143    “it was prudent”: Proceedings of a Council of General Officers, Sept. 28, 1777, PGW.

144    “be in readiness”: Ibid.

147    “the enemy kept”: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
203.

147    General Wayne described the battle: Ibid., 204.

148    Gates, Rush said: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution,
238.

“Oh, Heaven!”: McCullough,
John Adams,
173.

Greene snarled:
PNG,
2:259-61.

“[The] foundation”: Ibid., 2:194-96.

149    “If the Southern Militia”: Ibid.

“I have been . . . told”: Ibid., 2:259-61.

150    “Honor and laurels”: Ibid., 2:181.

“[Close] in the Neighbourhood”: Ibid., 2:189-90.

151    “One foot farther”: Ibid., 2:194-96.

“If it is possible”: Ibid., 2:202-3.

In his reply: Ibid., 2:208.

152    “I cannot promise”: Ibid., 2:208-10.

“I shall not be disappointed”: Ibid., 2:224.

“If we retire”: Ibid., 2:225-28.

153    “However desirable”: Ibid., 2:231-36.

Low Intrigue

155    “General Mifflin”:
PNG,
2:259-61.

155    Mifflin had complained: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution,
225.

And the Adams cousins: Greene,
Life,
2:33.

He referred to Greene: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
213.

156    When Conway complained: Conway to Gates, Jan. 4, 1777, Horatio Gates Papers, N-YHS.

“My feelings”: Freeman,
George Washington,
4:591-92.

157    A certain faction:
PNG,
2: 259-71.

He told other officers:
PNG,
2:259-61.

“the greatest novice”: Ibid., 2:242-245.

“men of honor”: Ibid., 2:252-53.

“if he fell”: Ibid., 2:249-51.

158    Clark told Greene: Ibid.

Lucy Knox . . . observed: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
223.

The shuttling of his children:
PNG,
2:349-51.

159    “In the middle”: Stegeman and Stegeman,
Caty,
54.

Greene told Washington:
PNG,
2:241-42.

160    “The Quarter Master General”: Ibid., 2:259-61.

160    “No meat!”: Scheer and Rankin,
Rebels and Redcoats,
291.

161    “the situation of the Camp”:
PNG,
2:280.

“Cattle and Sheep”: Ibid., 2:281.

162    “[The] Inhabitants cry out”: Ibid., 2:285.

“by way of Example”: Ibid.

“the least neglect”: Ibid., 2:283.

His instructions: Ibid.

163    Confronted with evidence: Ibid., 2:286-87.

“I sent on to Camp”: Ibid., 2:288-89.

164    “The troops are getting naked”: Ibid., 2:293-94.

165    As he later told Washington: Thayer,
Nathanael Greene,
227.

He told Knox:
PNG,
2:307.

“All of you”: Ibid., 2:376. Besides, the job: Ibid., 2:293-94.

166    He confessed: Ibid., 2:326.

167    “Money becomes more”: Ibid., 2:227.

“I have spent”: Ibid., 2:300-4.

168    “General Conway is”: Ibid., 2:422-23.

170    Greene and his two capable deputies: Ibid., 2:324-25.

171    “In forming your magazines”: Ibid., 2:327-38.

171    A “large Sum of Money”: Ibid., 2:330-31.

172    Nathanael promised: Ibid., 2:404-5.

“To git our goods”: Ibid., 2:401-2.

“family secrets”: Ibid., 2:349-50.

“I am At A Loos”: Ibid., 2:338-42.

173    “I Fear Billy”: Ibid.

174    “Mrs. Knox”: Ibid., 2:443-44.

“It has been”: Ibid., 2:470-73.

175    “I must confess”: Ibid., 2:446-47.

176    “Delightful”: Boatner,
Encyclopedia of the American Revolution,
722.

177    “We have suffered”:
PNG,
2:449-52.

“It Wounds My Feelings”

178    “It would be agreeable”:
PNG,
2:317.

180    “You express”: Ibid., 2:459-60.

When several days had passed Ibid., 2:461-63.

181    “Your Excellency has made me”: Ibid.

182    “I can, and do assure you”: Ibid., 2:464.

183    “[In] justice”: Washington to Congress, Aug. 3, 1778, PGW.

184    “You are the most happy man”:
PNG,
2:466-67.

“I am ... as busy”: Ibid., 2:478.

185    The Frenchman was eager: Ibid., 2:477fn.

A victory in Rhode Island: Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution,
325.

187    “I am sorry”: Greene,
Life,
2:114-15.

188    “This movement”: Commager and Morris,
The Spirit of Seventy-six,
718-19.

Greene, too, was furious:
PNG,
2:491-92.

“The Garrison is important”: Ibid., 2:480-82.

189    The fleet's retreat: Ibid., 2:487-89.

American arms . . . would prevail: Ibid., 2:490fn.

190    Greene was “sensible”: Ibid., 2:491fn.

Washington, who readily agreed: Ibid., 2:505-6.

“I beg you”: Ibid.

Choose three hundred experienced troops: Ibid., 2:493-96.

191    “We . . . put the enemy”: Ibid., 2:499-502.

192    “To behold our fellows”: Ibid., 2:506.

He wrote another discreet letter: Ibid., 2:526.

192    The Americans were relieved: Ibid., 2:530.

It was exhausting: Ibid., 2:523.

“My appointment is flattering”: Ibid., 2:529-30.

193    “all the tender feelings”: Ibid., 1:303-4.

“I am [persuaded]”: Ibid., 2:529-30.

When he heard complaints: Ibid., 2:546-47.

194    “This is a [malevolent] age”: Ibid., 2:539-40.

A transfer: Ibid., 2:529-30.

195    He desperately wanted her to come: Ibid., 3:66.

“this pleasure”: Ibid.

“I [dined] yesterday”: Ibid.

196    “He is a fine, hardy fellow”: Ibid., 3:122-23.

“His Excellency”: Ibid., 3:353-54.

It hurt him: Ibid., 4:321-24.

197    He told John Hancock: Ibid., 3:121-22.

“They are [always] beginning”: Ibid., 3:235.

“We had the most splendid entertainments”: Ibid.

“dined at one table”: Ibid., 3:233.

198    “To scourge the Indians”: Ibid., 3:144-45.

He had predicted: Ibid., 2:546-54.

199    “I have desired Congress”: Ibid., 3:425-28.

“I am sorry”: Ibid., 3:428-29.

200    “[It] would be for your advantage”: Ibid., 4:130-31.

“Mrs. Greene is on her way Home”: Ibid., 4:165-67.

The march to a new camp: Ibid., 4:125.

“O, This War!”

203    “[It] is my wish”:
PNG,
3:403.

204    The patriot-merchant Robert Morris: Morris to Deane, June 9, 1777, Barnabas Deane Papers, N-YHS.

205    did he not have “the same right”:
PNG,
4:265.

206    “The military reason”: Ibid., 4:358-60.

“Many times I was almost ready”: Ibid., 4:321-24.

207    “How tenderly would I nurse you”: Ibid.

“I therefore laid down my pen”: Ibid., 4:342-45.

“Methinks you can”: Ibid.

“I strongly recommend”: Ibid.

“I wish to hear”: Ibid.

208    “I am exceeding unhappy”: Ibid., 4:464-65.

210    “Some people in this neighbourhood”: Ibid., 5:179.

211    In a petition: Nathanael Greene Papers, series 3, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.

Greene sensed that yet another crisis:
PNG,
5:187-88.

“We are at this time”: Ibid., 5:181-83.

212    He concluded that the law was against him: Ibid., 5:192-93.

“I regret that the Inhabitants”: Ibid., 5:197-98.

On December 19: Ibid., 5:187-88.

213    “They receive us with coldness”: Ibid., 5:209-10.

“Our Army is without Meat or Bread”: Ibid., 5:230-31.

“The Army is upon the eve of disbanding”: Ibid., 5:243-44.

214    If the roads were not clogged: Ibid., 5:236.

“Such weather as we have had”: Ibid., 5:252-53.

215    He proposed
Clinton:
Ibid., 5:257-59.

216    Not surprisingly, Greene's friend and aide Charles Pettit: Ibid., 5:339-41.

He sent a teasing letter: Ibid., 5:367.

“The business of my Department”: Ibid., 5:429-30.

216    “Their conduct”: Ibid.

He told Washington: Ibid., 5:471.

He mentioned to Greene: Ibid., 5:479-80.

217    With a nod to his friend Thomas Paine: Ibid., 5:491-92.

His presence in the capital: Ibid., 5:503-4.

During a private debate: Ibid., 5:594fn.

“I feel my self . . . soured”: Ibid., 5:532-33.

218    “I have been among the great at Philadelphia”: Ibid., 5:520-21.

“Truth and righteousness”: Ibid., 5:517-18.

219    “Our distress”: Ibid., 5:582-83.

“Let go of my hand”: Stegeman and Stegeman,
Caty,
76.

220    Greene confided to the governor of Rhode Island:
PNG,
5:582-83.

221    “Society,” he explained to Caty: Ibid., 6:14.

223    The spy, Greene observed: Ibid., 6:31.

“Their object:” Ibid.

“The Enemy are out”: Ibid., 6:32.

224    “The Militia to our aid”: Ibid., 6:33.

“Being thus advantageously posted”: Ibid., 6:37.

224    In his general orders: Ibid., 6:41.

225    He warned Congress: Washington to Joseph Jones, May 31, 1780, PGW.

In a letter dated July 26:
PNG
, 6:155-57.

226    Joseph Jones, a member of Congress: Ibid., 6:154fn.

Henry Laurens asked: Ibid.

Wearily, the commander in chief: Thayer,
Nathannel Greene,
276.

227    “The . . . plunder”:
PNG,
6:233-34.

“There is so much wickedness and villiany”: Ibid., 6:212-13.

“We are starving”: Ibid., 6:268.

228    “In my absence”: Ibid., 6:289-90.

“I will venture”: Ibid., 6:304-5.

At nine o'clock: Greene's orderly book, July 30-Oct. 8, 1780, NYPL.

229    “Arnold has fled to the Enemy”:
PNG,
6:312.

The discovery of Arnold's treason: Ibid., 6:319-20.

He broke the news: Ibid., 6:314.

On October 1, the tribunal found: Greene's orderly
book, July 30-Oct. 8, 1780, NYPL.

230    André, he said: Bobrick,
Angel in the Whirlwind,
419.

“I think I am giving you a general”: Washington to Mathews, Oct. 23, 1780, PGW.

“The Prospect Is Dismal”

232    “I see but little prospect”:
PNG,
6:447-49.

“I [entirely] approve”: Ibid., 6:469-71.

233    If the British defeated Greene: Lee,
The Revolutionary War Memoirs of General Henry Lee,
247.

234 “I believe the views”:
PNG,
6:488-89.

“Congress can furnish no money”: Ibid., 6:447-48.

235    “[If] there is not public spirit enough”: Ibid.

Cornwallis told his superiors: Morrill,
Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution,
112.