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Correspondence of the American Revolution: Being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of His Taking Command of the Army to the End of His Presidency, Vol. 1
Contents:
U.S. History
From Major-General Lee.
Williamsburg, 5 April, 1776.
MY DEAR GENERAL,
I most sincerely congratulate you, I congratulate the public, on the great and glorious event, your possession of Boston. It will be a most bright page in the annals of America, and a most abominable black one in those of the beldam Britain. Go on, my dear General; crown yourself with glory, and establish the liberties and lustre of your country on a foundation more permanent than the Capitol Rock.
My situation is just as I expected. I am afraid that I shall make a shabby figure, without any real demerits of my own. I am like a dog in a dancing-school. I know not where to turn myself, where to fix myself. The circumstances of the country, intersected by navigable rivers, the uncertainty of the enemy’s designs and motions, who can fly in an instant to any spot with their canvas wings, throw me, or would throw Julius Cæsar, into this inevitable dilemma. I may possibly be in the North, when, as Richard says, I should serve my sovereign in the West. I can only act from surmise, and have a very good chance of surmising wrong.
I am sorry to grate your ears with a truth; but must at all events assure you that the Provincial Congress of New York are angels of decision, when compared with your countrymen, the Committee of Safety assembled at Williamsburg. Page, Lee, Mercer, and Payne are indeed exceptions; but from Pendleton, Bland, the Treasurer, and Company,—libera nos, Domine!
I shall not trouble you with a detail of the army, ordnance, stores; but compendiously say, that the regiments in general are very complete in numbers, the men (those that I have seen) fine, but a most horrid deficiency of arms, no intrenching tools, no guns (although the Province is pretty well stocked) for service. Had I only eight eighteen-pounders, I would immediately, at all events, take post on Craney Island, by which measure I should drive out the enemy, and exclude them from the finest and most advantageous port in America. I have ordered, with this view, the artificers to work night and day. If I succeed, I shall come in for a sprig of laurels.
This essential measure might have been effected long ago, but the same apathy and oblique squinting towards what the milk-and-water people call reconciliation, the prodigious flattering prospect opened by the appointment of Commissioners, were strong arguments against the expense of gun-carriages and intrenching tools.
But this is not all. They have distributed their troops in so ingenious a manner as to render every active offensive operation impossible. An equal number of their battalions are stationed on the different necks. They say, very acutely, that, as the expense is equal, the security ought to be equal. I cannot help persuading myself, that their object will be to take possession of Williamsburg, not only from its tempting advantageous situation, commanding, in great measure, two fine rivers, and a country abundant in all the necessaries for an army; but the possession of the Capital would give an air of dignity and decided superiority to their arms, which, in this slave country, where dominion is founded on opinion, is a circumstance of the utmost importance. Perhaps I may be mistaken, but, as the surmise is not irrational, I have called three regiments down the country.
You will excuse, my dear General, the blots and scratches of this letter, for the post is just going out. By the next, I will inform you of the steps we have taken for the security of this place. I have been desired to recommend Colonel Grayson as a man of extraordinary merit. He sets out soon to make application to the Congress for an establishment. If we have, as we must, a Continental Hospital in the Southern Department, Dr. McClary, I suppose, will be the man to direct it. I need not mention his qualifications, they are so well known. I beg you will make somebody write to me from time to time.
Indeed, I think I may modestly insist on Mr. Palfrey’s pen being employed often in this service. Adieu, dear General.
Yours, most respectfully and sincerely,
CHARLES LEE.
Contents:
Chicago: Charles Lee, "From Major-General Lee.," Correspondence of the American Revolution: Being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of His Taking Command of the Army to the End of His Presidency, Vol. 1 in Correspondence of the American Revolution: Being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of His Taking Command of the Army to the End of His Presidency, ed. Jared Sparks (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1853), 182–185. Original Sources, accessed October 3, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=GX5FEQC6VRW7NPL.
MLA: Lee, Charles. "From Major-General Lee." Correspondence of the American Revolution: Being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of His Taking Command of the Army to the End of His Presidency, Vol. 1, in Correspondence of the American Revolution: Being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of His Taking Command of the Army to the End of His Presidency, edited by Jared Sparks, Vol. 1, Freeport, NY, Books for Libraries Press, 1853, pp. 182–185. Original Sources. 3 Oct. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=GX5FEQC6VRW7NPL.
Harvard: Lee, C, 'From Major-General Lee.' in Correspondence of the American Revolution: Being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of His Taking Command of the Army to the End of His Presidency, Vol. 1. cited in 1853, Correspondence of the American Revolution: Being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of His Taking Command of the Army to the End of His Presidency, ed. , Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, NY, pp.182–185. Original Sources, retrieved 3 October 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=GX5FEQC6VRW7NPL.
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