KF14908

HARVARD

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, by JARED SPARKS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE SECOND PART.

THIS division of the work is intended to embrace the period of the American Revolution, and to include such of the letters and other writings of Washington, as have been selected for publication, from the time he was appointed Commander-in-chief of the army, till he resigned his commission at the end of the war. Whether regarded as to the variety, extent, and dignity of the topics on which they treat, as authentic materials for history, or as illustrating the character and acts of the great American patriot, these papers possess an extraordinary value and interest. They not only present an entire view of the operations in which Washington was engaged, as the military chieftain of the war of independence, through every stage of the contest, but they incidentally exhibit the internal condition and resources of the country, the spirit of the people, the policy, aims, and doings of the Continental Congress, and the origin and progress of the new forms of civil government, which were set up by the States and by smaller communities, as circumstances required, and to which the people, and even Washington at the head of his armies, rendered implicit obedience.

Two complete copies of Washington's revolutionary correspondence have been preserved at Mount Vernon. The first consists of the original files, which he always kept with him for reference and use in camp and in his campaigns; the second is a literal transcript from these originals, recorded in forty-four large volumes, in which all the letters are classified and arranged according to their subjects and dates. This transcript was executed under his own direction near the close of the war, by secretaries employed for the purpose, who wrote a fair and handsome hand, and on whose fidelity he could rely. Even the dimensions of the volumes, the quality of the paper, and the style of binding, were prescribed by himself. Each parcel in the files is designated by a letter of the alphabet, and each paper in the parcel is numbered. By the aid of corresponding marks in the margin of the letter-books, a sure and speedy reference may be had to any original paper in the whole series. A brief sketch of the plan, as drawn out by Washington, and a few explanatory remarks, will show at the same time the principles of the arrangement, and the varied subjects of his correspondence.

1. Under the first great division were classed letters to the Congress of the United States; to Committees of Congress; to the Board of War and Ordnance; to American Ministers Plenipotentiary at Foreign Courts; to individual Members of Congress in their Public Characters.

As he received his appointment, commission, instructions, and all his powers from Congress, it was necessary, that his intercourse with that body should be full, constant, and of the most confidential kind. In the first place, the army was new, undisciplined, unprovided; very few of the members of Congress were military men, or possessed any knowledge of military affairs either

practical or theoretical; the burden of organizing and disciplining the army was at once thrown upon the Commander-in-chief. But all the arrangements of this sort, the rules and regulations, and every contemplated change, were to be approved by Congress before they could take effect; and Congress reserved wholly to themselves the appointment of the general officers. Thus it was not only the duty of Washington to obey instructions and execute orders, but he was obliged to suggest what these orders should be, and wait till his suggestions were passed into resolves by the Congress. This was frequently a source of delay and embarrassment; it was a heavy and perpetual tax upon the forethought and reflection of the Commander-in-chief, and made him virtually the head and soul of the whole military system, although a jealousy of their civil rights, and a fear of the tendency of warlike ambition, induced the members of Congress to keep a salutary check in their own hands. The condition of the army and an account of all the principal occurrences were communicated at stated times to Congress, doubtful cases were referred to their decision, and returns forwarded respecting the departments of the commissaries, quartermasters, and other officers engaged in providing for the wants of the army, and regulating its internal economy. The intimate and peculiar relations, thus subsisting between Congress and the army, gave rise to a correspondence, which, although it necessarily ran into details, was nevertheless of great importance. For similar purposes he kept up an intercourse by letter with Committees of Congress, the Board of War, and individual members. By these means his views were always presented to that assembly, and guided them in their deliberations and resolves. 2. Letters to Provincial Congresses, Conventions, and Committees of Safety; to Governors, Presidents,