The Life of George Washington, Vol. 2 (of 5)
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Until this claim should be admitted, General Howe rejected any partial
exchange. General Washington was immoveable in his determination to
repel it; and thus all hope of being relieved in the ordinary mode
appeared to be taken from those whom the fortune of war had placed in
the power of the enemy.
[Sidenote: Complaints made by General Washington of the treatment of
American prisoners in possession of the enemy.]
In the mean time, the sufferings of the American prisoners increased
with the increasing severity of the season. Information continued to
be received, that they suffered almost the extremity of famine.
Repeated remonstrances, made on this subject to the British general,
were answered by a denial of the fact. He continued to aver that the
same food, both in quantity and quality, was issued to the prisoners,
as to British troops when in transports, or elsewhere, not on actual
duty; and that every tenderness was extended to them, which was
compatible with the situation of his army. He yielded to the request
made by General Washington to permit a commissary to visit the jails,
and demanded passports for an agent to administer to the wants of
British prisoners.
When Mr. Boudinot, the American commissary of prisoners, who was
appointed by General Washington to visit the jails in Philadelphia,
met Mr. Ferguson, the British commissary, he was informed that General
Howe thought it unnecessary for him to come into the city, as he would
himself inspect the situation and treatment of the prisoners. There is
reason to believe that their causes of complaint, so far as respected
provisions, did not exist afterwards in the same degree as formerly;
and that the strong measures subsequently taken by congress, were
founded on facts of an earlier date.
But clothes and blankets were also necessary, and the difficulty of
furnishing them was considerable. General Howe would not permit the
purchase of those articles in Philadelphia; and they were not
attainable elsewhere.
[Sidenote: Proceedings of congress on this subject.]
To compel him to abandon this distressing restriction, and to permit
the use of paper money within the British lines, congress resolved,
that no prisoner should be exchanged until all the expenditures made
in paper for the supplies they received from the United States, should
be repaid in specie, at the rate of four shillings and sixpence for
each dollar. They afterwards determined, that from the 1st day of
February, no British commissary should be permitted to purchase any
provisions for the use of prisoners west of New Jersey, but that all
supplies for persons of that description should be furnished from
British stores.
Sir William Howe remonstrated against the last resolution with great
strength and justice, as a decree which doomed a considerable number
of prisoners, far removed into the country, to a slow and painful
death by famine; since it was impracticable to supply them immediately
from Philadelphia. The severity of this order was in some degree
mitigated by a resolution that each British commissary of prisoners
should receive provisions from the American commissary of purchases,
to be paid for in specie, according to the resolution of the 19th of
December, 1777.
About the same time, an order was hastily given by the board of war,
which produced no inconsiderable degree of embarrassment; and exposed
the Commander-in-chief to strictures not less severe than those he had
applied to the British general.
General Washington had consented that a quartermaster, with a small
escort, should come out of Philadelphia, with clothes and other
comforts for the prisoners who were in possession of the United
States. He had expressly stipulated for their security, and had given
them a passport.
{January 26.}
While they were travelling through the country, information was given
to the board of war that General Howe had refused to permit provisions
to be sent in to the American prisoners in Philadelphia by water. This
information was not correct. General Howe had only requested that
flags should not be sent up or down the river without previous
permission obtained from himself. On this information, however, the
board ordered Lieutenant Colonel Smith immediately to seize the
officers, though protected by the passport of General Washington,
their horses, carriages, and the provisions destined for the relief of
the British prisoners; and to secure them until farther orders, either
from the board or from the Commander-in-chief.
General Washington, on hearing this circumstance, despatched one of
his aids with orders for the immediate release of the persons and
property which had been confined; but the officers refused to proceed
on their journey, and returned to Philadelphia.[105]
[Footnote 105: They alleged that their horses had been
disabled, and the clothing embezzled.]
This untoward event was much regretted by the Commander-in-chief. In a
letter received some time afterwards, General Howe, after expressing
his willingness that the American prisoners should be visited by
deputy commissaries, who should inspect their situation, and supply
their wants required, as the condition on which this indulgence should
be granted, "that a similar permit should be allowed to persons
appointed by him, which should be accompanied with the assurance of
General Washington, that his authority will have sufficient weight to
prevent any interruption to their progress, and any insult to their
persons." This demand was ascribed to the treatment to which officers
under the protection of his passport had already been exposed.
General Washington lamented the impediment to the exchange of
prisoners, which had hitherto appeared to be insuperable; and made
repeated, but ineffectual efforts to remove it. General Howe had
uniformly refused to proceed with any cartel, unless his right to
claim for all the diseased and infirm, whom he had liberated, should
be previously admitted.
At length, after all hope of inducing him to recede from that high
ground had been abandoned, he suddenly relinquished it of his own
accord, and acceded completely to the proposition of General
Washington for the meeting of commissioners, in order to settle
equitably the number to which he should be entitled for those he had
discharged in the preceding winter. This point being adjusted,
commissaries were mutually appointed, who were to meet on the 10th of
March, in Germantown, to arrange the details of a general cartel.
{March 4.}
The Commander-in-chief had entertained no doubt of his authority to
enter into this agreement. On the fourth of March, however, he had the
mortification to perceive in a newspaper, a resolution of congress
calling on the several states for the amounts of supplies furnished
the prisoners, that they might be adjusted according to the rule of
the 10th of December, before the exchange should take place.
On seeing this embarrassing resolution, General Washington addressed a
letter to Sir William Howe, informing him that particular
circumstances had rendered it inconvenient for the American
commissioners to attend at the time appointed, and requesting that
their meeting should be deferred from the 10th to the 21st of March.
The interval was successfully employed in obtaining a repeal of the
resolution.
It would seem probable that the dispositions of congress on the
subject of an exchange, did not correspond with those of General
Washington. From the fundamental principle of the military
establishment of the United States at its commencement, an exchange of
prisoners would necessarily strengthen the British, much more than the
American army. The war having been carried on by troops raised for
short times, aided by militia, the American prisoners, when exchanged,
returned to their homes as citizens, while those of the enemy again
took the field.
General Washington, who was governed by a policy more just, and more
permanently beneficial, addressed himself seriously to congress,
urging, as well the injury done the public faith, and his own personal
honour, by this infraction of a solemn engagement, as the cruelty and
impolicy of a system which must cut off for ever all hopes of an
exchange, and render imprisonment as lasting as the war. He
represented in strong terms the effect such a measure must have on the
troops on whom they should thereafter be compelled chiefly to rely,
and its impression on the friends of those already in captivity. These
remonstrances produced the desired effect, and the resolutions were
repealed. The commissioners met according to the second appointment;
but, on examining their powers, it appeared that those given by
General Washington were expressed to be in virtue of the authority
vested in him; while those given by Sir William Howe contained no such
declaration.
This omission produced an objection on the part of the United States;
but General Howe refused to change the language, alleging that he
designed the treaty to be of a personal nature, founded on the mutual
confidence and honour of the contracting generals; and had no
intention either to bind his government, or to extend the cartel
beyond the limits and duration of his own command.
This explanation being unsatisfactory to the American commissioners,
and General Howe persisting in his refusal to make the required
alteration in his powers, the negotiation was broken off, and this
fair prospect of terminating the distresses of numerous unfortunate
persons passed away, without effecting the good it had promised.
Some time after the failure of this negotiation for a general cartel,
Sir William Howe proposed that all prisoners actually exchangeable
should be sent in to the nearest posts, and returns made of officer
for officer of equal rank, and soldier for soldier, as far as numbers
would admit; and that if a surplus of officers, should remain, they
should be exchanged for an equivalent in privates.
[Sidenote: A partial exchange agreed to.]
On the representations of General Washington, congress acceded to this
proposition, so far as related to the exchange of officer for officer,
and soldier for soldier; but rejected the part which admitted an
equivalent in privates for a surplus of officers, because the officers
captured with Burgoyne were exchangeable within the powers of General
Howe. Under this agreement, an exchange took place to a considerable
extent; but as the Americans had lost more prisoners than they had
taken, unless the army of Burgoyne should be brought into computation,
many of their troops were still detained in captivity.
NOTES.
NOTE--No. I. _See Page 5._
It will not be unacceptable to the reader to peruse this first report
of a young gentleman who afterwards performed so distinguished a part
in the revolution of his country, it is therefore inserted at large.
I was commissioned and appointed by the Hon. Robert Dinwiddie, Esq.
Governor &c. of Virginia, to visit and deliver a letter to the
commandant of the French forces on the Ohio, and set out on the
intended journey on the same day: the next, I arrived at
Fredericksburg, and engaged Mr. Jacob Vanbraam to be my French
interpreter, and proceeded with him to Alexandria, where we provided
necessaries. From thence we went to Winchester, and got baggage,
horses, &c. and from thence we pursued the new road to Wills' Creek,
where we arrived the 14th November.
Here I engaged Mr. Gist to pilot us out, and also hired four others as
servitors, Barnaby Currin, and John M'Quire, Indian traders, Henry
Steward, and William Jenkins; and in company with those persons left
the inhabitants the next day.
The excessive rains and vast quantity of snow which had fallen,
prevented our reaching Mr. Frazier's, an Indian trader, at the mouth
of Turtle creek, on Monongahela river, until Thursday the 22d. We were
informed here, that expresses had been sent a few days before to the
traders down the river, to acquaint them with the French general's
death, and the return of the major part of the French army into winter
quarters.
The waters were quite impassable without swimming our horses, which
obliged us to get the loan of a canoe from Frazier, and to send
Barnaby Currin and Henry Steward down the Monongahela, with our
baggage, to meet us at the forks of Ohio, about ten miles; there, to
cross the Alleghany.
As I got down before the canoe, I spent some time in viewing the
rivers, and the land in the fork, which I think extremely well
situated for a fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers.
The land at the point is twenty, or twenty-five feet above the common
surface of the water; and a considerable bottom of flat, well timbered
land all around it very convenient for building. The rivers are each a
quarter of a mile or more across, and run here very nearly at right
angles; Alleghany, bearing northeast; and Monongahela, southeast. The
former of these two is a very rapid and swift running water, the other
deep and still, without any perceptible fall.
About two miles from this, on the southeast side of the river, at the
place where the Ohio company intended to erect a fort, lives Shingiss,
king of the Delawares. We called upon him, to invite him to council at
the Loggstown.
As I had taken a good deal of notice yesterday of the situation at the
fork, my curiosity led me to examine this more particularly, and I
think it greatly inferior, either for defence or advantages;
especially the latter. For a fort at the fork would be equally well
situated on the Ohio, and have the entire command of the Monongahela,
which runs up our settlement, and is extremely well designed for water
carriage, as it is of a deep, still nature. Besides, a fort at the
fork might be built at much less expense than at the other places.
Nature has well contrived this lower place for water defence; but the
hill whereon it must stand being about a quarter of a mile in length,
and then descending gradually on the land side, will render it
difficult and very expensive to make a sufficient fortification there.
The whole flat upon the hill must be taken in, the side next the
descent made extremely high, or else the hill itself cut away:
otherwise, the enemy may raise batteries within that distance without
being exposed to a single shot from the fort.
Shingiss attended us to the Loggstown, where we arrived between
sun-setting and dark, the twenty-fifth day after I left Williamsburg.
We travelled over some extremely good and bad land to get to this
place.
As soon as I came into town, I went to Monakatoocha (as the half king
was out at his hunting cabin on Little Beaver creek, about fifteen
miles off) and informed him by John Davidson, my Indian interpreter,
that I was sent a messenger to the French general; and was ordered to
call upon the sachems of the Six Nations to acquaint them with it. I
gave him a string of wampum and a twist of tobacco, and desired him to
send for the half king, which he promised to do by a runner in the
morning, and for other sachems. I invited him and the other great men
present, to my tent, where they stayed about an hour and returned.
According to the best observations I could make, Mr. Gift's new
settlement (which we passed by) bears about west northwest seventy
miles from Wills' creek; Shanapins, or the forks, north by west, or
north northwest about fifty miles from that; and from thence to the
Loggstown, the course is nearly west about eighteen or twenty miles:
so that the whole distance, as we went and computed it, is, at least,
one hundred and thirty-five or one hundred and forty miles from our
back inhabitants.
25th. Came to town, four of ten Frenchmen, who had deserted from a
company at the Kuskuskas, which lies at the mouth of this river. I got
the following account from them. They were sent from New Orleans with
a hundred men, and eight canoe loads of provisions, to this place,
where they expected to have met the same number of men, from the forts
on this side of lake Erie, to convoy them and the stores up, who were
not arrived when they ran off.
I inquired into the situation of the French on the Mississippi, their
numbers, and what forts they had built. They informed me, that there
were four small forts between New Orleans and the Black Islands,
garrisoned with about thirty or forty men, and a few small pieces in
each. That at New Orleans, which is near the mouth of the Mississippi,
there are thirty-five companies of forty men each, with a pretty
strong fort mounting eight carriage guns; and at the Black Islands
there are several companies and a fort with six guns. The Black
Islands are about a hundred and thirty leagues above the mouth of the
Ohio, which is about three hundred and fifty above New Orleans. They
also acquainted me, that there was a small pallisadoed fort on the
Ohio, at the mouth of the Obaish, about sixty leagues from the
Mississippi. The Obaish heads near the west end of lake Erie, and
affords the communication between the French on the Mississippi and
those on the lakes. These deserters came up from the lower Shannoah
town with one Brown, an Indian trader, and were going to Philadelphia.
About three o'clock this evening the half king came to town. I went up
and invited him with Davidson, privately, to my tent; and desired him
to relate some of the particulars of his journey to the French
commandant, and of his reception there; also, to give me an account of
the ways and distance. He told me, that the nearest and levelest way
was now impassable, by reason of many large miry savannas; that we
must be obliged to go by Venango, and should not get to the near fort
in less than five or six nights sleep, good travelling. When he went
to the fort, he said he was received in a very stern manner by the
late commander, who asked him very abruptly, what he had come about,
and to declare his business: which he said he did in the following
speech:
"Fathers, I am come to tell you your own speeches; what your own
mouths have declared. Fathers, you, in former days, set a silver basin
before us, wherein there was the leg of a beaver, and desired all the
nations to come and eat of it, to eat in peace and plenty, and not to
be churlish to one another: and that if any such person should be
found to be a disturber, I here lay down by the edge of the dish a
rod, which you must scourge them with; and if your father should get
foolish, in my old days, I desire you may use it upon me as well as
others.
"Now, fathers, it is you who are the disturbers in this land, by
coming and building your towns; and taking it away unknown to us, and
by force.
"Fathers, we kindled a fire a long time ago, at a place called
Montreal, where we desired you to stay, and not to come and intrude
upon our land. I now desire you may despatch to that place; for be it
known to you, fathers, that this is our land and not yours.
"Fathers, I desire you may hear me in civilness; if not, we must
handle that rod which was laid down for the use of the obstreperous.
If you had come in a peaceable manner, like our brothers the English,
we would not have been against your trading with us, as they do; but
to come, fathers, and build houses upon our land, and to take it by
force, is what we can not submit to.
"Fathers, both you and the English are white, we live in a country
between; therefore, the land belongs to neither one nor the other. But
the great Being above allowed it to be a place of residence for us;
so, fathers, I desire you to withdraw, as I have done our brothers the
English; for I will keep you at arm's length. I lay this down as a
trial for both, to see which will have the greatest regard to it, and
that side we will stand by, and make equal sharers with us. Our
brothers, the English, have heard this, and I come now to tell it to
you; for I am not afraid to discharge you off this land." This he said
was the substance of what he spoke to the general, who made this
reply.
"Now, my child, I have heard your speech: you spoke first, but it is
my time to speak now. Where is my wampum that you took away, with the
marks of towns in it? This wampum I do not know, which you have
discharged me off the land with: but you need not put yourself to the
trouble of speaking, for I will not hear you. I am not afraid of flies
or musquitoes, for Indians are such as those: I tell you down that
river I will go, and build upon it, according to my command. If the
river was blocked up, I have forces sufficient to burst it open, and
tread under my feet all that stand in opposition, together with their
alliances; for my force is as the sand upon the sea shore: therefore
here is your wampum; I sling it at you. Child, you talk foolish; you
say this land belongs to you, but there is not the black of my nail
yours. I saw that land sooner than you did, before the Shannoahs and
you were at war; Lead was the man who went down and took possession of
that river. It is my land, and I will have it, let who will stand up
for, or say against it. I will buy and sell with the English
(mockingly). If people will be ruled by me, they may expect kindness,
but not else."
The half king told me he had inquired of the general after two
Englishmen, who were made prisoners, and received this answer:
"Child, you think it a very great hardship that I made prisoners of
those two people at Venango. Don't you concern yourself with it: we
took and carried them to Canada, to get intelligence of what the
English were doing in Virginia."
He informed me that they had built two forts, one on lake Erie, and
another on French creek, near a small lake, about fifteen miles
asunder, and a large wagon road between. They are both built after the
same model, but different in size: that on the lake the largest. He
gave me a plan of them of his own drawing.
The Indians inquired very particularly after their brothers in
Carolina gaol.
They also asked what sort of a boy it was who was taken from the south
branch; for they were told by some Indians, that a party of French
Indians had carried a white boy by Kuskuska town, towards the lakes.
26th. We met in council at the long house about nine o'clock, when I
spoke to them as follows:
"Brothers, I have called you together in council, by order of your
brother the governor of Virginia, to acquaint you, that I am sent with
all possible despatch, to visit and deliver a letter to the French
commandant, of very great importance to your brothers the English; and
I dare say to you, their friends and allies.
"I was desired, brothers, by your brother the governor to call upon
you, the sachems of the nations, to inform you of it, and to ask your
advice and assistance to proceed the nearest and best road to the
French. You see, brothers, I have gotten thus far on my journey.
"His honour likewise desired me to apply to you for some of your young
men to conduct and provide provisions for us on our way; and be a
safeguard against those French Indians who have taken up the hatchet
against us. I have spoken thus particularly to you, brothers, because
his honour our governor treats you as good friends and allies, and
holds you in great esteem. To confirm what I have said, I give you
this string of wampum."
After they had considered for some time on the above discourse, the
half king got up and spoke.
"Now, my brother, in regard to what my brother the governor had
desired of me, I return you this answer.
"I rely upon you as a brother ought to do, as you say we are brothers,
and one people. We shall put heart in hand and speak to our fathers,
the French, concerning the speech they made to me; and you may depend
that we will endeavour to be your guard.
"Brother, as you have asked my advice, I hope you will be ruled by it,
and stay until I can provide a company to go with you. The French
speech belt is not here; I have it to go for to my hunting cabin.
Likewise, the people whom I have ordered in are not yet come, and can
not until the third night from this; until which time, brother, I must
beg you to stay.
"I intend to send the guard of Mingos, Shannoahs, and Delawares, that
our brothers may see the love and loyalty we bear them."
As I had orders to make all possible despatch, and waiting here was
very contrary to my inclination, I thanked him in the most suitable
manner I could; and told him that my business required the greatest
expedition, and would not admit of that delay. He was not well pleased
that I should offer to go before the time he had appointed, and told
me, that he could not consent to our going without a guard, for fear
some accident should befall us, and draw a reflection upon him.
Besides, said he, this is a matter of no small moment, and must not be
entered into without due consideration; for I intend to deliver up the
French speech belt, and make the Shannoahs and Delawares do the same.
And accordingly he gave orders to king Shingiss, who was present, to
attend on Wednesday night with the wampum; and two men of their nation
to be in readiness to set out with us next morning. As I found it was
impossible to get off without affronting them in the most egregious
manner, I consented to stay.