the whole I should subscribe to the latter. I do not mean by this, however, to arraign the conduct of Congress; in so doing I should equally condemn my own measures, if I did not my judgment, but experience, which is the best criterion to work by, so fully, clearly, and decisively reprobates the practice of trusting to militia, that no man who regards order, regularity, and economy, or who has any regard for his own honor, character, or peace of mind, will risk them upon this issue. a REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. Eight days before this letter was written, but not until nearly two months and a half after the Declaration of Independence, Congress resolved: That 88 battalions be enlisted as soon as possible to serve during the present war, and that each State furnish their respective quotas in the following proportions, viz: As an inducement to enlist, a bounty of $20 was offered to every noncommissioned officer and soldier who would engage for the war, and to such officers and soldiers who should serve until its end a bounty in land was promised on the following scale: Congress, under this resolution, was to commission all officers, original appointments and appointments to fill vacancies being vested in the several States. In the Continental establishment of 1775 this method of selecting officers had given rise to much jealousy and discontent. It was now equally productive of mischief. Knowing that success depended largely upon the character and qualifications of his officers, Washington, then at Harlem Heights, wrote to the President of Congress, under date of October 4: Your Army, as I mentioned in my last, is on the eve of its political dissolution. True it is you have voted a large one in lieu of it, but the season is late and there is a material difference between voting battalions and raising men. In the latter there are more difficulties than Congress are aware of, which makes it my duty, as I have been informed of the prevailing sentiments of this Army, to inform them, that unless the pay of the officers, especially that of the field officers, is raised, the chief part of those that are worth retaining will leave the service at the expiration of the present term. Nor will less pay, according to my judgment, than I have taken the liberty of mentioning in the inclosed estimate, retain such officers as we could wish to have continued. The difference per month in each battalion will amount to better than £100. To this may be added the pay of the staff officers, for it is presumable they will also require an augmentation; but being few in number, the sum will not be @Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. 4, p. 116. 15836-04-2 greatly increased by them, and consequently is a matter of no great moment. But it is a matter of no small importance to make the several offices desirable. When the pay and establishment of an officer once become objects of interested attention, the sloth, negligence, and even disobedience of orders, which at this time too generally prevail, will be purged off. But while the service is viewed with indifference, while the officer conceives that he is conferring rather than receiving an obligation, there will be a total relaxation of all order and discipline, and everything will move heavily on, to the great detriment of the service, and inexpressible trouble and vexation of the general. The critical situation of our affairs at this time will justify my saying that no time is to be lost in making fruitless experiments. At Cambridge, last year, where the officers, and more than a sufficiency of them, were all upon the spot, we found it a work of such extreme difficulty to know their sentiments, each having some terms to propose, that I once despaired of getting the arrangements completed, and I do suppose that at least a hundred alterations took place before matters were finally adjusted. What must it be then under the present regulations, where the officers are to negotiate this matter with the State they come from, distant perhaps 200 or 300 miles, some of whom, without leave or license from me, set out to make personal application the moment the resolve got to their hands? What kind of officers these are I leave Congress to judge. If an officer of reputation, for none other should be applied to, is asked to stay, what answer can he give but, in the first place, that he does not know whether it is at his option to do so, no provision being made in the resolution of Congress, even recommendatory of this measure; consequently, that it rests with the State he comes from, surrounded perhaps with a variety of applications and influenced probably by local attachments, to determine whether he can be provided for or not. In the next place, if he is an officer of merit, and knows that the State he comes from is to furnish more battalions than it at present has in the service, he will scarcely, after two years' faithful seryices, think of continuing in the rank he now bears when new creations are to be made and men, nowise superior in merit, and ignorant perhaps of service, appointed over his head. A committee sent to the Army from each State may upon the spot fix things with a degree of propriety and certainty, and it is the only method I can see of bringing matters to a decision with respect to the officers of the Army. But what can be done in the meanwhile toward the arrangement in the country I know not. In the one case you run the hazard of losing your officers, in the other of encountering delay, unless some method could be devised of forwarding both at the same instant. Upon the present plan I plainly foresee an intervention of time between the old and new armies, which must be filled up with militia, if to be had, with whom no man who has any regard for his own reputation can undertake to be answerable for consequences. I shall also be mistaken in my conjectures if we do not lose the most valuable officers in this Army under the present mode of appointing them; consequently, if we have an army at all, it will be composed of materials not only entirely raw, but, if uncommon pains are not taken, entirely unfit; and I see such a distrust and jealousy of my military power that the Commander in Chief has not an opportunity, even by recommendation, to give the least assurances of reward for the most essential services, a If, in the days of the Revolution, an officer's promotion could not be urged even by a Washington, it is worthy of remark that with certain State governors, during the late War of the Rebellion, the combined recommendations of division, corps, and army commanders were powerless to influence the advancement of officers of known skill and ability. Congress anticipated the suggestion that committees be sent to the Army by the different States, and much of the dissatisfaction that existed among the officers was thus allayed. The views of the Commander in Chief as to the military policy of Congress received the cordial support of all of his higher officers. On the 28th of October General Greene, next to Washington the most distinguished commander of the Revolution, wrote to a friend as follows: I apprehend the several retreats that have lately taken place begin to make you think all is lost. Don't be frightened; our cause is not yet in a desperate state. The a Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. 4, pp. 131–134. policy of Congress has been the most absurd and ridiculous imaginable, pouring in militiamen who come and go every month. A military force established upon such principles defeats itself. People coming from home with all the tender feelings of domestic life are not sufficiently fortified with natural courage to stand the shocking scenes of war. To march over dead men, to hear without concern the groans of the wounded-I say few men can stand such scenes unless steeled by habit or fortified by military pride. There must be a good army established; men engaged for the war; a proper corps of officers; and then, after a proper time to discipline the men, everything is to be expected. The Congress goes upon a penurious plan. The present pay of the officers will not support them, and it is generally determined by the best officers to quit the service unless a more adequate provision is made for their support. The present establishment is not thought reputable. The Congress has never furnished the men voted by near one-half, certainly by above a third. Had we had numbers we need not have retreated from Long Island or New York. But the extent of ground to guard rendered the retreat necessary; otherwise the army would have been ruined by detachments. The enemy never could have driven us from Long Island and New York if our rear had been secured. We must have an army to meet the enemy everywhere; to act offensively as well as defensively. Our soldiers are as good as ever were, and were the officers half as good as the men they would beat any army on the globe of equal numbers.a Anxious to promote the welfare and reputation of the troops of his native State, Greene wrote to Governor Cooke, on the 11th of October: His Excellency General Washington will transmit you a list of officers to constitute the two new regiments to be raised by your State. The most of those officers are gentlemen whose conduct has been approved by those under whom they have served. The success of the cause, the defeat of the enemy, the honor of the State, and the reputation of the army altogether depend upon the establishing a good core, or corps, of officers. My little experience has fully convinced me that without more attention is paid by the different States in the appointment of the officers, the troops never will answer their expectations. I am sensible that America has as good material to form an army as any State in the world, but without a good set of officers the troops will be little better than a lawless banditti, or an ungovernable mob. * * * The Americans possess as much natural bravery as any people upon earth, but habit must form the soldier. The remaining military events of the year can be quickly told. Upon the advance of the enemy, Washington, for want of good troops, retreated to White Plains, where on the 29th of October he offered battle. Declining this, the British fell back on New York and took Fort Washington on the 16th of November with 2,000 prisoners. They then transferred the scene of operations to New Jersey, forcing Washington with some 5,000 men to cross the Delaware into Pennsylvania. as he was powerless to make even a show of resistance while the militia and other troops of the flying camp were disbanding. This retreat was followed on the 26th of December by the brilliant surprise of the Hessians at Trenton, where Washington, with a force of 2,400, took over 900 prisoners without losing a man. A week later the battle of Princeton ended the campaign, the British losing over 400 in killed, wounded, and prisoners. A large British detachment which went to the South under Clinton and Cornwallis got back in time to take part in the operations about New York, after being handsomely repulsed at Savannah in an attack on Fort Moultrie, on the 28th of June. In Canada, at the beginning of May, the American troops in front of Quebec numbered but 1,900 men, of whom 900 were sick with the a Greene's Life of General Greene, vol. 1, pp. 222, 223. smallpox. Attacked by a superior force they began their retreat ou the 6th of that month, evacuating Montreal in June, and arriving at Crown Point in July. Thence they fell back on Ticonderoga, being without supplies and provisions. Carleton followed as far as Crown Point, and on the 3d of November returned to Canada and went into winter quarters. TROOPS EMPLOYED IN 1776. The following table," submitted to Congress by the Secretary of War in 1790, shows the number of troops furnished by the States during the year 1776: a In the table as published-American State Papers, Vol. XII, p. 15-there is an error in addition in the total of the left-hand column and another in the aggregate of militia and Continentals for Maryland. These have been corrected here, assuming that the quotas of individual States are correctly given. Conjectural estimate of militia employed in addition to the above. The table does not show that the 46,901 men were on the Continental establishment, but as the 26,060 militia were called out for six months, and the conjectural militia for periods varying from four to eight months, the average army maintained during the whole year may be reckoned at between 40,000 to 50,000 men. The highest estimate of the British numbers opposed to this large force does not exceed 34,000, yet the only offensive operations we were strong enough to undertake were in the vicinity of Boston, at Trenton, and at Princeton. The disparity between the resources employed and the results obtained is another proof of the wastefulness of a policy based on the employment of raw troops. During this year several resolutions were passed showing that Congress was alive to the importance of enlisting men only "for the war," but upon representations that the uncertainty as to its duration was deterring enlistments, Congress so modified the resolution of September 16, as to permit men to enlist for "three years" or for "during the war," the former to have but $20 bounty, the latter to have $20 and 100 acres of land. November 21, Congress authorized the States to enlist men for "three years," but expressed the opinion that the service would be benefited by enlistments "during the war." BOUNTY. The bounty system was a child of the Revolution, called into being when the colonies denied Congress the power of compelling enlistments. It grew steadily during the long struggle for independence, only to reach its full maturity in our late civil war. During the year 1776 Washington frequently recommended the granting of bounties. In a letter of his to the President of Congress, dated September 24, the following passages occur: With respect to the men, nothing but a good bounty can obtain them upon a permanent establishment, and for no shorter time than the continuance of the war ought they to be engaged, as facts incontestably prove that the difficulty and cost of enlistment increase with time. When the Army was first raised at Cambridge, I am persuaded the men might have been got without a bounty for the war. After this they began to see that the contest was not likely to end so speedily as was imagined, and to feel their consequence by remarking, that, to get in their militia in the course of the last year, many towns were induced to give them a bounty. Foreseeing the evils resulting from this and the destructive consequences which unavoidably would follow short enlistments, I took the liberty in a long letter to recommend the enlistments for and during the war, assigning such reasons for it as experience has since convinced me were well founded. At that time $20 would, I am persuaded, have engaged the men for this term. But it will not do to look back; and if the present opportunity is slipped I am persuaded that twelve months more will increase our difficulties fourfold. I shall therefore take the freedom of giving it as my opinion that a good bounty should be immediately offered, aided by the proffer of at least a hundred or a hundred and fifty acres of land and a suit of clothes and blanket to each noncommissioned officer and soldier; as I have good authority for saying that, however high the men's pay may appear, it is barely sufficient, in the present scarcity and dearness of all kinds of goods, to keep them in clothes, much less afford support to their families." On the 19th of January Congress, in order to expedite the raising of troops for Canada, advised the colonies to give a bounty of six dol lars and two-thirds to every man who would present himself "properly clothed for service, and having a good firelock with bayonet and other accouterments," and "four dollars to men without like arms and accouterments." June 26, Congress resolved: "That a bounty of ten dollars be given to every noncommissioned officer and soldier who would enlist to serve for the term of three years. 66 To secure equalization," which must inevitably follow when once the bounty system has been inaugurated, Congress resolved, July 16, to apply the resolution of June 26 to all men in the Continental Army, and all others who will enlist for three years after expiration of the present term of enlistment." Having increased the bounty two fold between January and June, Congress more than doubled it again by its resolution of September 16, creating the 88 battalions, which promised a bounty of $20 and 100 a Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. 4, p. 112. |