“His presence alone”: Idzerda, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution, Vol. II, p. 11.
Citing Washington’s “coolness”: “Hamilton to Elias Boudinot, 5 July 1778,” in Syrett, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. 1, p. 512.
“The dust and smoke”: Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge, p. 162.
Darkness was falling: Martin, Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier, p. 114.
According to the most reliable: Scheer and Rankin, Rebels and Redcoats, p. 335.
The Continentals buried: “To George Washington from Major General Philemon Dickinson, 28 June 1778,” in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 15, ed. Lengel, pp. 573–76.
In the hours to follow: Ibid., “General Orders, 30 June 1778,” p. 590.
Though Monmouth was perhaps less dramatically timed: “From George Washington to John Augustine Washington, 4 July 1778, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 16, ed. Hoth, pp. 25–26.
In it he described: Ibid., “From George Washington to Henry Laurens, 1 July 1778,” pp. 2–7.
“The passion caused by”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Philosophical_Enquiry_into_the_Origin_of_Our_Ideas_of_the_Sublime_and_Beautiful.
♦ EPILOGUE
But it certainly represented: Winston Churchill, Speech at the Lord Mayor’s Luncheon, Mansion House, November 10, 1942.
As he wrote to the Virginia statesman: “From George Washington to Brigadier General Thomas Nelson, Jr., 20 August 1778,” in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 16, ed. Hoth, pp. 340–42.
This coheres with the historian: Wills, Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment (New York: Doubleday, 1984), p. 92.
But it was his valedictory speech: Washington’s “Farewell Address,” September 19, 1796.
In a letter to John Laurens: “From George Washington to John Laurens, 13 October 1780,” National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018.
Within days he was alternately: Chernow, Washington: A Life, p. 345.
He then wrote to the commander in chief: Ibid.
Washington accused Lee: Ibid.
Since throwing his lot in with: http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Our_Country_vol_2/generalc_bbe.html.
As the Rev. William Howard Day: Cox, Come All You Brave Soldiers, p. v.
It is thanks to Waldo’s journal: “Journal Entries of Albigence Waldo Regarding the Continental Army Moving to Valley Forge, 22 December 1777,” in Waldo, Account of the Ordeal at Valley Forge.
“The sufferings of the Body”: Ibid.
Regarding the signal: Martin, Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier, p. 201.
Only a month earlier: Syrett, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. III, p. 145.
Steuben’s “Blue Book”: “From George Washington to Major General Steuben, 26 February 1779,” in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. 19, ed. Chase and Ferraro, pp. 271–73.
Even Bodle concedes: Bodle, Valley Forge Winter, p. 248.
“In the old days the Continentals”: Buchanan, The Road to Valley Forge, p. 307.
George Washington, in his last official: “From George Washington to Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin, Baron [von] Steuben, 23 December 1783,” in The Papers of George Washington.
“Acknowledging your great”: Ibid.
Although he is most closely associated: Lockhart, The Drillmaster of Valley Forge, p. 167.
“America has joined”: John H. George and Paul Poller, They Never Said It (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).
“We have made Italy”: Charles, L. Killinger, The History of Italy (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002), p.1.
“With a heart filled”: https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/history/item/4765-george-washingtons-first-final-farewell.
♦ AFTERWORD
Tiring of the fishing: Diary entry, July 31, 1787, in Jackson and Twohig, The Diaries of George Washington, Vol. 5, p. 179.
Come spring he would: Bodle, Valley Forge Winter, p. 264.
Then he spurred: Ibid., p. 265.
INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations in text.
An italic n after a page number refers to a footnote.
Abercrombie, Robert, 283–85, 286
Adams, Abigail, 78
Adams, John, 9, 31, 36, 57, 59, 78, 286
Gates’s friendship with, 226, 335
GW criticized by, 78–79
in presidential election of 1800, 348
Adams, John Quincy, 352
Adams, Samuel, 208, 250, 338
Addison, Joseph, 13–14, 296
African Americans:
citizenship denied to, 336
prejudice against, 153–54
see also free blacks; slaves, slavery
Albany, N.Y., 67, 234–35
Allen, Ethan, 77
American Revolution, see Revolutionary War
André, John, 46, 47, 48, 50
artistic talent of, 201–2
capture and hanging of, 333, 340
as head of British intelligence in America, 332–33
Howe’s farewell gala organized by, 302–3
in Philadelphia, 201–2
Armstrong, John, 61, 126, 175
foraging expeditions of, 133, 157
in Germantown battle, 63–64
in May Council of War, 293, 294–95
in patrols east of Schuylkill, 115, 116, 121, 125
Army Corps of Engineers, 114
Arnold, Benedict, 8, 77, 99
in flight to London, 333
in Freeman’s Farm battle, 68
Gates and, 69–70, 73
Gates’s Canadian expedition plan derided by, 235
in marriage to Peggy Shippen, 333
as military commander in Philadelphia, 312, 333
in offer to surrender West Point, 333
in Saratoga battle, 70–71, 333
Attucks, Crispus, 153
Augusta, HMS, 91
Austin, Jonathan Loring, 209
Ayen, Jean-Louis-Paul-François de Noailles, duc d’, 29, 97
Azeglio, Massimo d’, 353
Banister, John, 300
Barren Hill, 303–4, 315
Barrington, William Wildman, Viscount, 257
Basset, Anna Maria, 237
bayonets, 45–46, 268, 345
Beaumarchais, Pierre, 27–28, 248, 249, 250
Biddle, Clement, 185–86
Billingsport, N.J., 60, 61
Bills of Conciliation, 279–80, 300, 309, 311
Board of War, 8, 132, 142, 144, 146, 163, 192n, 197, 224, 233
in attempt to co-opt Quartermaster Department, 225–31
and provisioning of Valley Forge, 146–47, 161–62
Bodle, Wayne, 11, 60, 100, 128, 180, 267, 345
Boone, Daniel, 59
Bordentown, N.J., 292
Borre, Preudhomme de, 19, 21
Boston, Mass.:
British occupation of, 36, 77
GW’s capture of, 7, 12, 16, 78, 267
Boston Grenadiers (militia), 77
Boston Massacre, 77, 153
Boston Tea Party, 27n, 77
Bourbon restoration, 351
Braddock, General, 136
Brandywine Creek, Battle of, 18–19, 20, 21–24, 33, 34, 38, 84, 101, 158, 186, 267, 291
Brillon, Anne Louise, 208
British Army:
Continental Army deserters in, 165
foraging parties of, 91, 115, 121, 122–23, 124
Gates’s Canadian plan leaked to, 235
German mercenaries of, see Hessians
and possible war with France, 257
Broglie, Charles-François, Comte de, 28, 208
Brooks, John, 182, 183
Brunswickers, 7n, 67, 70
Buchanan, John, 139, 345
Buchanan, William, 190, 219, 222, 259
Bucks County, Pa., 119, 184, 199, 256, 283
Bunker Hill, Battle of, 6, 59, 77
Burgoyne, John, 6, 8, 12, 38, 202, 209
in Albany campaign, 67, 69, 72
in Saratoga battle, 67, 71
surrender of, 71, 73, 74, 79, 101, 331
Burke, Edmund, 257, 328–29
Burr, Aaron:
enmity between Hamilton and, 348–49
in presidential election of 1800, 348
Bushnell, David, 71–72
in plan to float mines down Delaware River, 174–75
submarine invented by, 172–74
Cadwalader, John, 145, 263, 274
Conway’s duel with, 145n, 233, 333
Caesar’s Gallic Wars, 13
Camden, Battle of, 237, 334, 340, 345
Camden, Charles Pratt, Earl of, 257
Camden, N.J., 90
Camp Committee (Valley Forge congressional delegation), 163–64, 187–94
and February blizzard, 213
food crisis and, 223–24, 227, 228
Greene nominated as quartermaster general by, 227–30
GW’s pension plan and, 223, 296
GW’s Representation to, 188–94
proposals of, 221, 223, 262, 263, 277, 279
and reform of supply system, 222
Schuyler nominated as quartermaster general by, 222, 224, 225, 227
War Board plan to co-opt Quartermaster Department resisted by, 227–30
Canada:
British reinforcements for, 258
failed American invasion of, 45, 195
Gates’s planned expedition of, 196–99, 225, 232–36, 273
Caribbean, French holdings in, 298
Carlisle, Frederick Howard, Earl of, 309–10
Carter, Landon, 311
Cato, a Tragedy (Addison), 13–14, 296
Cato, Marcus Portius, 13–14
Chadds Ford, 308
GW’s expectation of battle at, 15
Howe’s flanking maneuver around, 17–18
skirmishing at, 17–18, 21–22
Charles III, King of Spain, 150
Charleston, S.C., 138, 157, 171, 334, 340, 343–44
Chatham, N.J., Continental Cavalry relocated to, 262
Chernow, Ron, 14, 40, 57, 128, 241
Cherokees, 194, 339
Chesapeake Bay, 8, 11, 306–7
Chester County, Pa., 39, 45, 104, 179, 216
Greene’s foraging expeditions in, 214–15, 218, 227–28, 242
chevaux-de-frise, 7–8, 32, 91, 92
Circular to the States (Washington), 204
Clausewitz, Carl von, 47
Clinton, George, 120, 143–44, 214, 224, 235, 242
Clinton, Henry, xii, 67, 71, 76, 93, 203, 235, 255, 300
in attack on Lafayette’s bivouac, 303–4
Hudson Highlands forts captured by, 65, 67, 71, 260
later career of, 332
in Monmouth battle, 318, 322, 326
named commander in chief for North America, 256, 298
in New Jersey march, 307–8, 311, 313–20, 321, 322–29
ordered to withdraw from Philadelphia, 259, 290, 298–99
quarrelsomeness of, 298–99
and revised British strategy, 258, 259
Sandy Hook as destination of, 314, 327
Clouds, Battle of the, 39–40
Coercive (“Intolerable”) Acts (1774), 27n, 77
Commissary Department, 190, 222, 295
Common Sense (Paine), 54, 139–40
Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels), 277n
Conestogas, 185–86
Constitution, U.S.:
ratification of, 348
slavery and, 336–37
Constitutional Convention, 334, 347, 348
Continental Army:
camp followers of, 5
civilian attitude toward, 42, 295–96
creation of, 36
deaths from disease in, 168
dependence on militias of, 37
desertions from, 118, 164–66
draft for, 191–92, 223, 263
free blacks in, 153, 154, 155, 156, 193, 263, 336–37
French military engineers in, 7, 32, 164
French officers in, 31–32
GW appointed commander in chief of, 3, 36
GW’s proposed pension system for, 190–91, 192, 223, 277, 296–97
GW’s proposed recruiting of Native Americans for, 193, 221
GW’s proposed reorganization of, 189, 192–93, 222
hostility between Pennsylvania militia in, 177–78
limits on service in, 37
makeup of, 151–52
in march to Valley Forge, 107–9, 112–13
Middle Military Department of, 68n
new recruits in, 308
Northern Military Department of, 68
officers’ desertions from, 165–66
officers’ resignations from, 253
in parade through Philadelphia, 3–5
payment of, 185, 190, 191
promotional system in, 192, 221
sick and wounded of, 108, 123, 166, 167–70
Southern Military Department of, 68n, 138
Steuben’s impact on, 345–46
as subservient to Congress, 37
supply shortages of, 86–89, 93, 102, 114, 264–65
total enlistments in, 336
troop strength of, 58
at Valley Forge, see Valley Forge, winter encampment at
Continental Cavalry, 158, 176–77, 261, 262, 275, 309, 314
in Trenton winter garrison, 158, 176–77
Continental Congress, 4, 53, 59, 78
advisability of winter encampment debated by, 130
army as subservient to, 37
Bills of Conciliation rejected by, 279–80, 300, 311
Canadian expedition canceled by, 236
Committee of Secret Correspondence of, 26–27
day of “Thanksgiving and Praise” declared by, 108–9
factfinding mission sent to Whitemarsh by, 102
food and supplies sent to Pennsylvania interior by, 11
French treaties ratified by, 287
Gates’s lobbying of, 226
GW authorized to call up state militias by, 275–76
GW criticized by, 79, 89, 99–100, 102
GW’s conflicts with, 8–9, 10
GW’s dispatches to, 130–34, 328
and GW’s request for fresh troops and supplies, 41–42
GW’s “starve, dissolve, or disperse” letter to, 160
Henry Laurens elected president of, 98
Lafayette’s meetings with, 232–33
Lee cashiered by, 335–36
pension plan adopted by, 296–97
and provisioning of Valley Forge, 160–62
in relocation to York, 38
in sluggish response to Camp Committee proposals, 279
standing army opposed by, 35–36, 191, 223
Steuben appointed inspector general by, 289
Steuben commissioned by, 250–51
Valley Forge delegation of, see Camp Committee
and War Board’s attempted co-opting of Quartermaster Department, 225–26, 228–29
Conway, Thomas, 147, 226, 231, 236–37, 253, 268
braggadocio of, 142
Cadwalader’s duel with, 145n, 233, 333
in Gates’s Canadian expedition plan, 197, 198, 233, 273
GW’s refusal to officially acknowledge appointment of, 144–45
later career of, 333–34
promotion and inspector general appointment of, 142–44, 270
resignation from army
of, 273
Conway Cabal, 236, 293, 333
Conyngham, Gustavus, 206
Cooper, Myles, 56
Cornwallis, Charles, Lord, xii, 17, 21, 97, 98, 99, 107, 122, 314, 343
in Germantown battle, 63, 80
in Guilford Courthouse battle, 341
in Monmouth battle, 317, 318
in Philadelphia, 52–53
in Yorktown surrender, 330, 332, 344, 347
cotton gin, 342
Cowpens, Battle of, 341, 345
Cox, John, 230
Creeks, 339
Crisis, The, 139, 140
Crooked Billet, Battle of, 283, 284–85, 286, 290
Cumberland, Duke of, 256
Custis, Daniel Parke, 237, 239
Custis, John Parker “Jacky,” 238, 286
Dana, Francis, 163, 188, 213
Danton, Georges-Jacques, 350
Day, William Howard, 337
Deane, Elizabeth, 208
Deane, Silas, 30, 101, 142, 286
Arthur Lee’s conflict with, 207–8
and French officers in Continental Army, 32
in French treaty negotiations, 28, 205, 207, 210
recruiting efforts by, 207–8
and smuggling of French supplies to America, 26–28
Steuben’s meeting with, 248–49
Wentworth’s meeting with, 151, 203, 210, 257
Deane, Simeon, 286
Declaration of Independence, xi, 5, 36, 115
Delaware, 12, 13, 14, 183, 216–17, 261, 264, 269, 277, 306, 307
Delaware Bay, French fleet’s arrival at, 330
Delaware militias, 140, 158
Delaware River, 7, 39, 85
American forts on, 58, 60, 89, 92; see also Fort Mercer; Fort Mifflin
GW’s crossing of, 28, 324
plan to float mines down, 171, 174–75
Derby (Darby), Pa., 4, 10, 123, 124, 131
Dickinson, John, 187
disease:
lack of knowledge about causes of, 168–69
at Valley Forge, 123, 166, 167–68, 252
Doan Gang, 119, 122, 177, 184, 186, 284
Donop, Carl von, 90, 91, 93, 95
Drayton, William Henry, 287
Drebbel, Cornelis, 172
Duer, William, 68
Dunmore, Lord, 154, 156
Duportail, Louis, 33, 37, 48, 101, 104, 114, 282
and attack on Clinton’s march, 316
in May Council of War, 293, 294–95
Valley Forge camp laid out by, 118
dysentery, 168
Eagle, HMS, 173
Elk River, 8
Elkton, Md., 115
Ellis, Joseph, 55, 110, 111, 141, 266
Empress of Russia, 96
Engels, Friedrich, 277n
Estaing, Charles Henri Hector, Comte d’, 282, 316, 330