'I need not add to what I have already said on this subject. 'Our late supply was very seasonable, but far short of our necessities.' Lond. ed. vol. i. p. 25. Wash. Writ. Sparks, vol. iii. p. 72. This want of a Brigadier-General, mentioned by General Washington before, and several times after this letter, continued till Jan. 10th, when Colonel Frye was elect ed. Particulars relating to it will be found in, and immediately after, the General's letter to Col. Reed, Jan. 14th. GENERAL WASHINGTON TO GOVERNOR TRUMBULL. 'CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE, 8 September, 1775. 'SIR,- Upon the receipt of this you will please to give directions, that all the new levies march immediately to this camp. By a Resolution of Congress, the troops on the Continental establishment were not to be employed for the defence of the coasts, or of any particular Province, the militia being deemed competent to that service. When I directed these troops to remain in their own Province, I had some reason to expect a remove from Boston to New York, in which case they would have been able to give the enemy a more speedy opposition; but as that suspicion now appears groundless, there will be an impropriety in continuing them where they now are, considering the above Resolve.' Wash. Writ. Sparks, vol. iii. p. 83. GOVERNOR TRUMBULL to GENERAL WASHINGTON. 'September 15, 1775. 'I am surprised that mine of the 5th instant was not received, or not judged worthy of notice, as no mention is made of it. Stonington had been attacked and severely cannonaded, and by Divine Providence marvellously protected. New London and Norwich are still so menaced by the Ministerial ships and troops, that the militia cannot be thought sufficient for their security, and it is nec essary to throw up some intrenchments. We are obliged actually to raise more men for their security, and for the towns of New Haven and Lyme. I hoped some of the new levies might have been left here till these dangers were over, without injury to any of your operations. I own that it must be left to your judgment. Yet it would have given me pleasure to have been acquainted that you considered it. I thank Divine Providence and you for this early warning to great care and watchfulness, that so the Union of the Colonies may be settled on a permanent and happy basis. 'You may depend on our utmost exertions for the defence and security of the constitutional rights and liberty of the Colonies, and of our own in particular. None has shown greater forwardness, and thereby rendered itself more the object of Ministerial vengeance. 'I am, with great esteem and regard for your personal character, &c.' Ibid. p. 96, Note. GENERAL WASHINGTON to GOVERNOR TRUMBULL. 'CAMBRIDGE, 21 September, 1775. 'SIR, It gives me real concern to observe by yours of the 15th instant, that you should think it necessary to distinguish between my personal and public character, and confine your esteem to the former. Upon a reperusal of mine of the 8th instant, I cannot think it bears the construction you have put upon it; and, unless that construction was the most obvious, I should have hoped that the respect I really have for you, and which I flatter myself I had manifested, would have called for the most favorable. In the disposition of the Continental troops, I have long been sensible that it would be impossible to please, not individuals merely, but particular Provinces, whose partial necessities would occasionally call for assistance. I therefore thought myself happy, that the Congress had settled the point, and apprehended I should stand excused to all, for acting in the line, which not only appeared to me to be that of policy and propriety, but of express and positive duty. If, to the other fatigues and cares of my station, that is to be added of giving reasons for all orders, and explaining the grounds and principles on which they are formed, my personal trouble would, perhaps, be of the least concern. The public would be most affected. You may be assured, Sir, nothing was intended that might be construed into disrespect; and, at so interesting a period, nothing less ought to disturb the harmony so necessary for the happy success of our public operations. 'The omission of acknowledging, in precise terms, the receipt of your favor of the 5th instant, was purely accidental. The subject was not so new to me as to require long consideration. I had had occasion fully to deliberate upon it, in consequence of applications for troops from Cape Ann, Machias, New Hampshire, and Long Island, where the same necessity was as strongly pleaded, and, in the last two instances, the most peremptory orders were necessary to prevent the troops from being detained. I foresaw the same difficulty here. I am by no means insensible to the situation of the people on the coast. I wish I could extend protection to all; but the numerous detachments, necessary to remedy the evil, would amount to the dissolution of the army, or make the most important operations of the campaign depend upon the piratical expeditions of two or three men-of-war and transports. The spirit and zeal of the Colony of Connecticut is unquestionable; and whatever may be the hostile intentions of the menof-war, I hope their utmost efforts can do little more than alarm the coast. 'I am, with great esteem and regard for both your personal and public character, Sir, &c.' From GOVERNOR TRUMBULL'S Reply. Ibid. p. 96. 'I have no disposition to increase the weight of your burdens, which, in the multiplicity of your business, must be sufficiently heavy, nor inclination to disturb the harmony so necessary to the happy success of our public operations. I am persuaded no such difficulty will any more happen. It is unhappy, that jealousies should be excited, or disputes of any sort litigated, between any of the Colonies, to disunite them at a time, when our liberty, our property, our all is at stake. If our enemies prevail, which our disunion may occasion, our jealousies will then appear frivolous, and all our disputed claims of no value to either side.'* Ibid. p. 98. Note. GENERAL WASHINGTON to the PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE, 21 September, 1775. ‹ SIR, - The mode in which the present army has been collected has occasioned some difficulty, in procuring the subscription of both officers and soldiers to the Continental articles of war. Their principal objection has been, that it might subject them to a longer service than that for which they engaged under their several Provincial establishments. It is in vain to attempt to reason away the prejudices of a whole army, often instilled, and in this instance, at least, encouraged, by the officers, from private and narrow views. I have therefore forborne pressing them; more especially as the restraints, necessary for the establishment of essential discipline and subordination, indisposed their minds to every change, and made it both duty and policy to introduce as little novelty as possible. With the present army, I fear such a subscription is impracticable; but the difficulty will cease with this army. The Connecticut and Rhode Island troops stand engaged to the 1st of December only; and none longer than the 1st of January. 'A dissolution of the present army, therefore, will take place, unless some early provision is made against such an event. In the Continental establishment no provision has been made for the pay of artificers, distinct from that of the common soldiers; whereas, under the Provincial such as found their own tools were allowed one shilling per diem advance, and particular artisans The pay of the artillery, also, now differs from that of the more. * After that occasion, which apparently excited some inclination to distinguish personal from public character, Governor Trumbull's efficient coöperation was unfailing during the war, and harmony in the public views of those two UNFALTERING PATRIOTS, was constant to the close of the Governor's life, August, 1785. Province; the men have less, the officers more; and for some ranks, no provision is made, as the Congress will please to observe by the list which I have the honor to enclose. These particulars, though seemingly inconsiderable, are the source of much complaint and dissatisfaction, which I endeavor to compose in the best manner I am able. 'By the returns of the rifle companies, and that battalion, they appear to exceed their establishment very considerably. I doubt my authority to pay these extra men without the direction of the Congress; but it would be deemed a great hardship wholly to refuse them, as they have been encouraged to come. 'The necessities of the troops having required pay, I directed that those of the Massachusetts should receive for one month, upon their being mustered, and returning a proper roll; but a claim was immediately made for pay by lunar months; and several regiments have declined taking up their warrants on this account. As this practice was entirely new to me, though said to be warranted by former usage here, the matter now waits the determination of the honorable Congress. I find, in Connecticut and Rhode Island, this point was settled by calendar months; in Massachusetts, though mentioned in the Congress, it was left undetermined; which is also the case of New Hampshire. For the better regulation of duty, I found it necessary to settle the rank of the officers, and to number the regiments; and, as I had not received the commands of the Congress on the subject, and the exigence of the service forbade any farther delay, the general officers were considered as having no regiments; an alteration, which, I understand, is not pleasing to some of them, but appeared to me and others to be proper, when it was considered, that, by this means, the whole army is put upon one footing, and all particular attachments are dissolved. 'It gives me great pain to be obliged to solicit the attention of the honorable Congress to the state of this army, in terms which imply the slightest apprehension of being neglected. But my situation is inexpressibly distressing, to see the winter fast approaching upon a naked army, the time of their service within a few weeks of expiring, and no provision yet made for such important events.' Lond. ed. vol. i. p. 28. * SAME to BRIgadier-General Joseph Spencer. HEAD-QUARTERS, 26 September, 1775. SIR,-I have perused and considered a petition, or rather a remonstrance, directed to you, and signed by several captains and subalterns. * The decent representation of officers, or even of common sol diers, through the channel of their Colonel, or other superior officers, I shall always encourage and attend to; but I must declare my disapprobation of this mode of associating and combining, as subversive of all subordination, discipline and order. 'In an army so young as ours, the claims arising from real service are very few, and the accidental circumstance of obtaining a commission a month or two sooner can with no reasonable person claim any superior regard, or make such a scrutiny of any consequence. This army is supported by the whole Continent; the establishment is entirely new. 'All Provincial customs, therefore, which are ent Provinces, must be laid out of the question. has established and which pays this army, has judge, who shall command in it. different in differThe power, which alone the right to * * To put it into any other hands would be a high breach of my trust, and would give birth to such factions and cabals, as must soon end in the dissolution of the army and the ruin of our country.' GENERAL WASHINGTON to the PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 'CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE, 5 October, 1775. SIR,I was honored with your favor of the 26th ultimo, late the night before last; and a meeting of the general officers having called upon a business, I took the opportunity of laying before them those parts of yours, which respect the continuance and new modeling of the army, the fuel, clothing, and other preparations for the ensuing winter. They have taken two or three days to consider; and, as soon as I am possessed of their opinions, I shall lose no time in transmitting the result, not only on the above subjects, but the number of troops necessary to be kept up. I have also directed the Commissarygeneral and the Quartermaster-general to prepare estimates of the expense of their departments for a certain given number of men, from which a judgment may be made, when the number of men to be kept in pay is determined; all which I shall do myself the honor to lay before Congress, as soon as they are ready. 'As I shall reserve all further remarks upon the state of the army till my next, I shall now beg leave to request the determination of Congress, as to the property and disposal of such vessels and cargoes as are designed for the supply of the enemy, and may fall into our hands. There has been an event of this kind at Portsmouth, in which I have directed the cargo to be brought hither for the use of the army, reserving the settlement of any claims of capture to the decision of Congress. "As there are many unfortunate individuals whose property has been confiscated by the enemy, I would humbly suggest to the |