Revolutionary War Series – serie

Volume 3 covers the final months of the siege of Boston. It opens with General Washington proclaiming the commencement of the remodeled Continental army on New Year's Day 1776 and closes at the end of March as he prepares to depart for New York in the wake of the British evacuation of Boston.Washington's correspondence and orders for this period reveal an uncompromising attitude toward reconciliation with Britain and a single-minded determination to engage the enemy forces in Boston before the end of the winter. Washington's bold proposal to attack Boston across the frozen back bay in the middle of February was rejected as too risky by a council of war, but the council did approve occupying the strategic Dorchester Heights overlooking the city and harbor. During the last weeks of February and the first days of March, Washington devoted himself to mobilizing artillery and gunpowder for a massive cannonade of Boston and assembling materials for portable fortifications to be erected on the frozen soil of Dorchester Heights. The successful execution of this operation on the night of 4 March failedto provoke General William Howe into assaulting the American lines and thereby open the way to counterattack on the city as Washington hoped it would. It did, however, compel the British to withdraw from Boston in haste a few days later, giving Washington and his army a spirit of confidence with which to embark on the New York campaign. The volume also includes a number of documents relating to Washington's private affairs in Virginia, the most important of which are eight letters from his Mount Vernon manager Lund Washington.

Volume Four of the ""Revolutionary War Series"" completes the documentary record of Washington's first year as commander in chief of the Continental army. It opens with this final preparations to leave Cambridge following the successful siege of Boston and concludes with news that General William Howe's British army was soon to arrive at New York, an event which would mark the beginning of the New York campaign. In the interim between campaigns, Washington established his headquarters as New York and began wrestling with the perplexing problems of defending the strategically important corridor between New York and Canada formed by the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. In addition to Washington's activities as commander in chief of the Continental army, the volume includes documents and notes concerning the medal that Congress awarded him for the liberation of Boston, Washington's efforts to terminate his long and successful administration of the Custis estate, and details of his travels from Cambridge to New York and between New York and Philadelphia. As in earlier volumes of the ""Revolutionary War Series"", Washington's writings show him to be unwavering in his advocacy of American independence and in his commitment to the subordination of the military to civil authority.

Covers the preliminary phase of the New York campaign, the period when the stage was set for Washington's greatest challenge yet as commander-in-chief of the Continental army. The importance of Washington's inseparable roles as military commander and political leader is demonstrated.

Documents Washington's decisions and actions during the heart of the New York campaign, from late summer to early fall 1776, when his opponent, General William Howe, took the offensive and outmanoeuvred the American forces in and around New York City by amphibious landings.

This collection of papers chronicles George Washington's first winter at Morristown. Situated in the hills of north central New Jersey, Morristown offered protection against the British army headquartered in New York yet enabled Washington to annoy the principal enemy outposts.

This volume covers the spring of 1777, a period when George Washington was obliged to spend much of his time pleading with the state authorities to fill their recruiting quotas and with officers to bring in the men whom they had enlisted. He was further hampered by a high desertion rate.

Volume 13 of the ""Revolutionary War Series"" documents a crucial portion of the winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, when the fate of Washington's army hung in the balance. It begins with Washington's soldiers hard at work erecting huts and preparing for the next campaign.

Volume 15 of the ""Revolutionary War Series"" documents a period that includes the Continental Army's last weeks at Valley Forge, the British evacuation of Philadelphia, and the Battle of Monmouth Court House. The volume begins with George Washington's army at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, celebrating the new alliance between the United States and France. Washington joined in the festivities but did not become complacent, and as the celebrations ended he redirected his attention to winning the war. Over the next few weeks Steuben drilled the soldiers incessantly while Washington and Congress conducted a much-needed overhaul of the army's structure and administration. The benefits of the training became apparent on the evening of 19 May, when a large detachment under Major General Lafayette deftly evaded an attempted British entrapment at Barren Hill, Pennsylvania. Yet Washington had little time to ponder his troops' new efficiency and discipline. The British evacuation of Philadelphia began on the morning of 18 June, as General Henry Clinton's army crossed the Delaware River and marched east-northeast across New Jersey toward a rendezvous with British transport ships at Sandy Hook. The Continentals at first pursued at a respectful distance, but on 24 June Washington overrode the objections of some of his general officers and sent forward a detachment of 5,600 men under Major General Charles Lee to seek opportunities for attack. That opportunity came at Monmouth Court House on 28 June, in the midst of a brutal heat wave that claimed the lives of dozens of soldiers on both sides. Lee's attack at first caught the British by surprise, but General Cornwallis formed up his troops for a counterattack and easily drove Lee's detachment from the field. Washington meanwhile hurried forward with the remainder of his army and encountered Lee and his fleeing troops a short distance west of Monmouth Court House. Berating the dejected Lee for failing to follow orders, Washington stopped the retreat and formed a new line of defense. The remainder of the battle consisted of a series of closely fought encounters as Cornwallis attempted and failed to dislodge the Americans from their positions. That night the British withdrew east with the rest of Clinton's army, marching to Sandy Hook and thence sailing to New York, leaving Washington and his army in possession of the battlefield. Clinton considered the battle a successful delaying action; Washington, with equal certainty, declared it a glorious American victory.

Volume 18 of the ""Revolutionary War"" series covers the period 1 November 1778 through 14 January 1779. It begins with George Washington at Fredericksburg, New York, watching New York City for signs that the British were about to evacuate North America. The British had very different intentions, however, dispatching the first of several amphibious expeditions to invade and conquer the Deep South. Congress meanwhile mulled plans for the formation of a Franco-American army and the invasion of Canada. Washington worked hard to quash these plans, which he considered both impractical and dangerous. On 11 November, he wrote a long letter to Congress laying out the military reasons why the invasion could never succeed.Three days later, he wrote another, private letter to the President of Congress, warning that a French army in Canada might attempt to reestablish France's North American empire, transforming allies into oppressors. While Congress reconsidered and ultimately scrapped its plans, Washington oversaw the transfer of the captive Convention Army from Boston to Charlottesville, Virginia; planned for the dispersal of his own army to winter cantonments across New Jersey; and rode to Philadelphia in late December to open crucial discussions with Congress about the reorganization of the Continental Army and American strategy for the 1779 campaign.

Bad weather plagued Gen. George Washington's army during its winter encampment near Morristown, N.J., far into the spring of 1780. Finances caused further woes. Commissaries lacked both cash and credit to obtain provisions, and food shortages meant restless troops. Only vigorous exertions b largely anonymous supply officers kept Washington's army intact. Recognizing these grave financial needs, Congress passed reform legislation in March, but any benefit from the new system lay in the future. Washington tried to be optimistic as he tackled present challenges. Numerous officer resignations worried the general, who felt the loss of such experienced men undercut the army's effectiveness. Sensitive about morale, he pursued negotiations for a general prisoner exchange. Talks broke down quickly, however, because British negotiators acted only on local military authority rather than on the authority of the king. To Washington, that approach failed to recognize the legitimacy of the United States as a nation. Armed conflict as well as administrative perplexities occupied Washington's thoughts. At no point could he escape the reality that soldiers fought, soldiers died, and survivors - both comrades and loved ones - grieved. Raids into the patrol areas generally east of Morristown caused significant casualties on 22 March and 16 April. A larger confrontation unfolded around Charleston, S.C., where a British expedition from New York City encircled the city and its defenders under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln. Washington sent additional reinforcements and encouraged the beleaguered Lincoln, but Charleston's surrender on 12 May eventually came as no surprise. Washington hoped for better things from a congressional ""Committee at Headquarters,"" appointed to deal directly with the principal army officers to solve vexing supply questions. Such an approach promised some good after previous verbal sniping. Additionally, Major General Lafayette returned to the United States from France to announce the coming of a French expeditionary army. The king wanted this force to serve under Washington. The possibilities for this allied command undoubtedly excited the general, who openly recently had extended himself to pay proper respect to French minister La Luzerne during that official's visit to Morristown. Army responsibilities left Washington little opportunity to address his personal business, but he doted over a carriage purchase and offered the usual futile financial advice to his stepson John Parke Custis. Legal engagements undertaken years earlier for George William Fairfax and George Mercer provoked headaches. Despite Washington's conscientious efforts, these entanglements persisted until after the war. Washington never quailed form a personal or public obligation. Very much the realist, he knew that his army faced steep odds. Determined to overcome al obstacles, he strode ahead, fully aware that he shouldered the heaviest burdens of the revolutionary cause.

Three major themes dominate George Washington’s correspondence in volume 27 of the Revolutionary War Series: the arrival of a French expeditionary army and navy, the urgent need to prepare the Continental army for a joint Franco-American offensive to take New York City, and the cultivation of Washington’s relationship with Lieutenant General Rochambeau, the commander of the French army. Urgency and vigor typified Washington’s planning throughout, as he raised new Continental troops, obtained militia reinforcements, increased Stocks of ammunition, gathered wagons and horses, and recognized that he and Rochambeau possessed similar views on campaign plans and other matters—a development that would ultimately prove essential to victory at Yorktown and the successful conclusion of the war.

In late August 1780, Gen. George Washington was buoyed by expectations that French reinforcements would participate in an attack on New York City and that a southern army was poised to advance through South Carolina and possibly regain Charleston. News soon reached him that a key division was delayed in France and that units under Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates had been scattered near Camden, S.C. In response to these crises, Washington dismissed northern militia to conserve supplies, directed additional forces to the southern department, and selected Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene to replace Gates. In a dramatic turn of events, Washington learned of the defection of Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold - who had plotted with British adjutant general John André to betray West Point - and, acting decisively, concentrated his troops and rebuffed British appeals to spare the captured André (who was hanged as a spy), ensuring the rescue of the Post & Garrison of West point from Arnolds villainous perfidy.

In volume 29 of the Revolutionary War Series, problems and frustrations dominate the final nine weeks of 1780 for Gen. George Washington—particularly the failure to strike a meaningful blow against the British headquartered in New York City and its environs. He abruptly canceled implementation of his own complex plan to assault the forts on northern Manhattan in late November, focusing instead on maintaining his troops through the winter’s chronic shortages of provisions.Unlike previous winter encampments, Washington separated his command to avoid undue pressure on any one place for food and forage, as well as to protect strategic points. The distressing situation in the southern department was also a concern, as Major General Nathanael Greene traveled to take command of the shattered army and relayed discouraging reports on the lack of immediate assistance in the form of troops or supplies. Washington, who assured his anxious subordinate in a private letter written on 13 Dec. that "the great public" was not "so unreasonable as to expect impossibilities," did all he could to put men and material at Greene’s disposal and shared the ominous news that a British expedition had sailed from New York in late December. Washington and Major General Lafayette, who sought additional support from his French countrymen and from increasingly sympathetic European countries, both realized that overzealousness in diplomacy could be counterproductive. Meanwhile, a new congressional establishment of the Continental army adopted in October and promulgated in the general orders for 1 Nov. buoyed Washington’s optimism, and he welcomed Martha Washington’s arrival at his winter headquarters and penned a rare joke involving Greene’s son approaching his first birthday in a letter to that general’s wife, Catharine. Throughout these tumultuous times, rather than become unpleasant and brittle, Washington demonstrated emotional and mental balance, attributes essential to the eventual success of the revolutionary cause.

This volume 30 of the Revolutionary War series opens in January 1781 with a mutiny in the Continental army’s Pennsylvania regiments, presenting Gen. George Washington with one of the most formidable crises of the war. Although a negotiated settlement resolved the problem, he feared the implications for discipline in the rest of the army. Washington’s concerns were well founded, as news reached him that the New Jersey troops had followed suit. He sent a detachment of New England troops to put down the rebellion. In the meantime, a coastal storm that damaged British ships offered Washington an opportunity to defeat and capture Benedict Arnold, now in command of British and Loyalist troops in Virginia. The subsequent joint naval and land offensive with the French shifted the main theater of war from New York to the southern states, foreshadowing the coming campaign of Yorktown.

In March 1781, General Washington anticipated a campaign to drive the British from New York City, but difficulties mandating enlistments and outfitting recruits forestalled this opportunity. Meanwhile, a storm damaged British ships and provided an opening for the French to sail from Newport to the Chesapeake Bay to help trap British forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold in Virginia. To Washington's disappointment, however, the British fleet recovered in time to fight the French at the Battle of Cape Henry, prompting Captain Destouches to withdraw and leaving the British to control the bay. Undeterred, Washington encouraged major generals Nathanael Greene and Baron von Steuben in the southern states, where Continental forces bloodied the British at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. His mounting personal frustrations regarding Mount Vernon and his mother's efforts to secure financial relief from the Virginia legislature were lightened by Martha Washington's presence at the winter encampment.

In May 1781, talks with Lieutenant General Rochambeau enlivened Gen. George Washington’s spirits with prospects of active operations against the British forces holding New York City. Having convinced the French that New York City should be their objective unless developments were to shift the emphasis southward, Washington resumed appeals for recruits and supplies as American troops camped along the lower Hudson River awaited the arrival of Rochambeau’s expeditionary force from Rhode Island. Puzzling news came from Major General Lafayette in Virginia, however, where the British under Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis had withdrawn toward the coast after having driven far into the northwestern uplands. What they did not know was that captured mail had alerted British Gen. Henry Clinton to allied intentions, and Cornwallis was taking a position to reinforce the British forces in New York City. Washington attempted a coordinated attack on British fortifications guarding northern Manhattan as French troops joined his army, and though the maneuver fizzled, it allowed a junction of the armies closer to New York City than originally planned. Politics in Virginia and domestic concerns back home also demanded Washington’s attention during this time, as Martha Washington fell ill and returned home to Mount Vernon.

The junction on 6 July of Lieutenant General Rochambeau and his French army with Continental troops outside New York City brightened Gen. George Washington’s spirits. He finally could commence operations against the British stronghold. The promise of a powerful French naval squadron under Lieutenant General de Grasse arriving off the American coast increased Washington’s optimism and drove him to renew demands on state officials to supply Continental army recruits, militia, and provisions. Failure to comply embarrassed Washington and required awkward explanations to the French allies.Developments in the southern states offered other opportunities. Major General Lafayette, who commanded in Virginia, shadowed the withdrawal of Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis and his British army toward the Chesapeake Bay and deployed his troops to contain the enemy once they took post at Yorktown. Learning that de Grasse would sail to the Chesapeake Bay abruptly changed Washington’s thinking. Rather than besiege New York City, he would seize the initiative and move the bulk of his force to Virginia. The allies could shift attention to Charleston if the British escaped Yorktown, but the likelihood was a concentration at the latter location.The entire French army and part of the Continental army began their march south on 19 August. Already working with astounding energy and stamina, Washington displayed extraordinary physical and intellectual capacity over the next weeks. A feint toward Staten Island, N.Y., baffled Gen. Henry Clinton and kept the British from launching a disruptive flank attack. The logistical complexities of the allied movement can be seen on the map that accompanies the “Narrative Chronology” following Washington’s letter to Rochambeau on 17 August.Washington began the campaign by speaking confidently of how Providence’s “common blessing” would lead to an allied victory. Holding strategic and tactical advantages, he could glimpse the ultimate success of the revolutionary cause.

The British surrender at Yorktown on 19 Oct. was a glorious moment for the allied forces under the command of Gen. George Washington and French lieutenant generals Rochambeau and de Grasse. Yet anxieties accompanied each stage of the allied operations, and subordinates noticed Washington's distress. Following a failure of a British relief force to arrive from New York, Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis finally requested surrender negotiations, and a testy exchange with Washington preceded the discussions that resulted in articles of capitulation. The end of the siege of Yorktown accelerated efforts to gather enslaved laborers who had fled to the British and return them to their owners. Disease had killed many already. Harshly treated, the survivors did not feel the joy that swept across the United States as news of the British surrender spread. For Washington, the joy of victory soon was tempered when his stepson, John Parke Custis, died from fever on 5 November. Comforting Martha Washington at Mount Vernon delayed his leaving for Philadelphia to consult with Congress, where more needed to be done to achieve independence and secure the revolutionary cause.

Celebrations of victory over the British quickly yielded to business as Gen. George Washington traveled to Philadelphia and became immersed in painstaking policy discussions with members of Congress and the heads of the new executive structure of the central government. Washington saw signs of public lethargy grounded in a belief that the victory at Yorktown had ended the conflict. He urged preparations for continued aggressive operations, as Virginia leaders seethed with anger upon being pushed for additional recruits, money, and other resources. In their view, they had already given enough during the Yorktown campaign. With a relatively quiet military situation in both the northern and southern departments, as well as overseas, Washington found time for correspondence regarding land interests and ongoing issues at Mount Vernon, including the recovery of another planter’s enslaved laborers believed to have escaped on departing French ships. He hoped that the war would end soon, but he acted on the premise that much hard work and sacrifice remained for the United States to win its independence. He stood ready to lead all who would follow in the struggle for the final success of the revolutionary cause.