250 and Counting

Tag: correspondence

  • Preparing To Defend New York–January 7, 1775

    Cover art for January 7, 1775: Portrait of Jonathan Trumbull and his wife Faith, painted by his son John Trumbull, 1778. via New York Public Library.
    Portrait of Jonathan Trumbull and his wife Faith, painted by his son John Trumbull, 1778. via New York Public Library.

    There are many letters between George Washington and Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull. Presumably something as simple as proximity to another leader was attractive to both of them, especially in an age where letters took several days to go a hundred miles.

    We have to presume that the two men had very reliable people transporting these letters, given how much detail is in this one regarding Washington’s guesses about British troop movements and exactly what he was going to do about it. It’s certainly been the case before that correspondence has been intercepted by the British in the past, and the Postal Service hadn’t been up and running for very long by that point.

    At any rate, Washington was correct in that the British were taking a hard look at New York City (still mostly just the southern tip of Manhattan, mind you) and the palisades along the Hudson River, which was still called the North River then. Where he was likely incorrect was in the timing of that move, which may have resulted in a little complacency.

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  • Confusing–And Howe–December 25, 1775

    Cover art for December 25, 1775: A portrait of Major General Howe, artist unknown. From the book A brief history of the North Carolina troops on the Continental establishment, by: Charles Lukens Davis & Henry Hobart Bellas, published 1896.
    Cover art for December 25, 1775: A portrait of Major General Howe, artist unknown. From the book A brief history of the North Carolina troops on the Continental establishment, by: Charles Lukens Davis & Henry Hobart Bellas, published 1896.

    The Battle of Great Bridge may be over, but its effects linger on.

    Lord Dunmore, the former Royal Governor of South Carolina, communicated to General Robert Howe that he’d like to effect a prisoner exchange.

    It’s not clear whether Howe was playing hard-to-get, or playing dumb, or something else. He and Dunmore exchanged several letters over the next couple of days, and apparently didn’t end in a prisoner exchange. It did, however, end in violence. We’ll be talking about that as we get into the new year.

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  • The Noble Train Of Artillery–December 17, 1775

    Cover art for December 17, 1775: One of many, MANY images mistakenly showing the Ticonderoga artillery being transported on ox-drawn sleds. Author unknown, National Archive Collection number 111-SC-100815.
    One of many, MANY images mistakenly showing the Ticonderoga artillery being transported on ox-drawn sleds. Author unknown, National Archive Collection number 111-SC-100815.

    Colonel Henry Knox was just about ready to begin moving the Noble Train of Artillery (a phrase he coined, incidentally). He’d have everything he needed to move by the 20th or 21st of December, and then just seventeen days later, he’d be marching into Cambridge.

    As we all know, he was wrong about how long it would take. But that sort of thing happened frequently.

    What we don’t know is why he said he had the animals he needed to transport the materiel when he didn’t. And even though there are numerous images of the Noble Train of Artillery involving oxen, there weren’t any at all: everything was moved using horses.

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    On a personal note: today would have been my grandmother’s 103rd birthday. A lot of things have changed since I was born, but a lot more things changed from the time she was born. The mind boggles.

  • Ben Franklin Wants A Friend–December 12, 1775

    Cover art for December 12, 1775: Portrait of the Infante Gabriel of Spain by Anton Raphael Mengs, 1767.

    Ben Franklin and Gabriel de Borbón had corresponded with one another previously, so while the letter that is the subject of today’s episode has a very specific (and relevant) ask in it, it was also just another in a chain of correspondence between the two.

    For his part, Prince Gabriel was probably receptive to Franklin’s suggestions, but he wasn’t likely to be in a position to act on them in the way that Franklin hoped. As the fourth son of Charles III, the throne was a long way off, though he was considered the heir apparent for some time.

    When Spain provided assistance the following year, they did so because Spain and France were allies and France was providing assistance to the Americans; furthermore they had their own bone to pick with the British, so Two Birds and all that. So they sent over lots of assistance, mostly in the form of money so that the Continental Army could purchase cannons, mortars, gun carriages and other ordinance.

    It’s possible that Prince Gabriel had some influence on his father, but more likely is that Charles III was simply maintaining existing alliances.

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  • Homesickness Sets In–December 2, 1775

    Cover art for December 2, 1775: Portrait of Joseph Hewes, 1775. Author unknown; now hanging at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Greensboro, NC

    All of the men who were part of the Second Continental Congress were serious men who had businesses of their own back at home. So spending so much time in Philadelphia had to have been taxing on them, especially since the days were so long. Of course many of them were going to be homesick. Read the letters between John and Abigail Adams as an excellent example.

    And remember: to go home to, say, Boston could take about a week in 1775. So they’d be away for two weeks at a minimum, and that’s entirely traveling time. Taking care of whatever they needed to only added to the absence.

    We do know that many of them did go home from time to time, but they were obliged to return and continue the business of running a country while simultaneously ducking interference from the British.

    Joseph Hewes’ letter to Samuel Johnston has a special poignancy about it.

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  • Sam Adams on Armies–October 31, 1775

    Cover art for October 31, 1775: Samuel Adams, ca. 1772 by John Singleton Copley

    Sam Adams was a patriot in his own right, oftentimes supporting his second cousin John. The two of them were often able to work together closely. What’s more, they were an efficient team, with Sam Adams being the fiery agitator and organizer, and John Adams acting in the more measured and sophisticated role, playing the political diplomat.

    But Sam also had his own ideas about how things should be organized. When he heard that the Massachusetts Assembly was considering putting together military groups, he applauded the idea, but he was also worried that having each colony create an army, then putting them all under the control of a single entity, might be dangerous in the long run. He expressed these fears in a letter to Eldridge Gerry, written on October 29 and delivered to Gerry today.

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  • Saltpeter, John–October 21, 1775

    Cover art for October 21, 1775: Portrait of John Adams by Benjamin Blyth, 1766

    The Second Continental Congress was having a busy week, with the worries about the trade embargo going on, and whether ships from other nations could get in/out safely.

    And John Adams was worried, too–worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demand for gunpowder for the soldiers. One of the components of gunpowder is saltpeter, and while it isn’t hard to make, it’s certainly easier to let someone else make it and then pay them for their efforts. Fortunately, help arrived in the form of a “recipe” for saltpeter published in a local newspaper.

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  • October 1, 1775: The Adams Family Letters

    Cover art for October 1, 1775: Page 1 of the letter Abigail Adams sent to John on this date. (Blurred to keep the MHS off our tails.)

    We have two fun events for you today: first up, North Carolina reaches an important deadline it had set back in August.

    Then, by sheer coincidence, John and Abigail Adams each wrote a letter to the other. Of course, they wrote to one another quite frequently, so this probably happened more often than you’d think. But remember also that any news they received was probably two weeks old by the time the letter landed in their hands.

    I will close today’s notes with an amusing anecdote that John Adams used to close his letter. He wrote:

    A few days ago, in Company with Dr. Zubly, somebody said, there was nobody on our side but the Almighty. The Dr. who is a Native of Switzerland, and speaks but broken English, quickly replied “Dat is enough.—Dat is enough,” and turning to me, says he, it puts me in mind of a fellow who once said, The Catholicks have on their side the Pope, and the K[ing] of France and the K. of Spain, and the K. of Sardinia, and the K. of Poland and the Emperor of Germany &c. &c. &c. But as to them poor Devils the Protestants, they have nothing on their side but God Almighty.

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  • August 29, 1775: From One Virginian To Another

    George Washington was a very good general and a disciplined soldier, but the fact that his men weren’t…well, that worried him a lot.

    He had a huge number of soldiers with him at Cambridge for the Siege of Boston. But since the British were so bottled up in the city, there weren’t many things for them to do other than patrol and keep an eye open for any possible moves the British made.

    Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whom you ask), Washington was typically forthcoming with this information and he’d tell it to anyone relevant. In today’s case, his concerns fell on someone who was actually paying attention.

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  • August 19, 1775: Washington Hates the Rumor Mill

    Cover art for August 19, 1775: Interior of the British prison ship Jersey. Artist: Edward Bookhout, engraved by Felix Darley, created 1855 but meant to represent conditions during the Revolution.

    In 1681, John Dryden said in his poem “Absalom and Achitophel”:

    Beware the fury of the patient man.

    I hear ya, Dryden, because that’s how I operate.

    And apparently George Washington operated the same way, because he initially took the high road, assuming that rumors about how American prisoners were being treated were just that, and giving General Gage the benefit of the doubt.

    But when the rumors began that Washington was mistreating his prisoners…oh, that didn’t sit well with the General at all.

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