Revolutionary War 250

“—great and extensive works were resolved upon and We have scarcely sufficient numbers to mark out the ground, much less to throw up the works—in short I know not what to make of this apathy on so important a subject.”

“—the Committee of Three who were here to confer with me agreed it was necessary that five thoushand Men shoud be in the place—They left us, and no notice has been taken of the affair since—

“The Men of War and Mr Tryon will return to their old stations at the wharfs and the first Regements who arrive from England will take quiet possession of the Town and Long Island—I have written letters till I am tird on the subject to the Congress, but have receiv’d no answer—

“The Congress have as yet not taken the least step for the security of this place—the instant I leave it, I conclude the Provincial Congress and Inhabitants in general will relapse into their former Histerics.

Founders Online: Major General Charles Lee to George Washington, 29 February 1776 Major General Charles Lee to George Washington, 29 February 1776

29 FEBRUARY 1776, NEW YORK: In something of a hint of things to come, Charles Lee’s report to George Washington blames other authorities for the lack of progress in fortifying New York and credits his own presence as keeping everything from falling apart: founders.archives.gov/documents/Wa...

Kemble, a New Yorker, is a career redcoat officer and the deputy adjutant general of the redcoat army in Boston. He is the brother of Margaret Gage, wife of Thomas Gage.

Stephen Kemble

29 FEBRUARY 1776, BOSTON: “Deserters say [the Continental Army] intend to fix their Battery for Shells, and to Bombard the Town from Dorchester,” Stephen Kemble records, “but as yet no signs of their Works.”

Benjamin Harrison V

“This was an indolent, luxurious, heavy Gentleman, of no Use in Congress or Committees, but a great Embarrassment to both.”

“But there were about [Washington’s] head Quarters some [officers] who were as weak and wavering as our Members and the General himself had chosen for his private confidential Correspondent a Member from Virginia, [Benjamin] Harrison, who was still counted among the cold Party.

“They set it in Operation with great Zeal and Activity. It was indeed a very airy Phantom, and ought not to have been sent Us by the General who should only have referred Lord Drummond to Congress.

These delegates, after conferring with him, asked Washington to pass a letter from them to General Howe in Boston, but Washington instead sent it to the whole Continental Congress, saying he could only forward it to Howe with Congress’s formal authorization.)

(Lord Drummond is a British nobleman who had presented himself to several Continental Congress delegates as an unofficial envoy from the imperial government.

“Our Opponents were not less vigilant in seizing on every excuse for delay. The Letter from Lord Drummond, which seemed to derive Importance from the transmission of it, by General Washington, was a fine Engine to play cold Water on the fire of Independence.”

“We therefore could do nothing but keep our Eyes fixed on the great Objects of free Trade, new Governments and Independence of the United States: and seize every Opening Opportunity of advancing Step by Step in our progress.

“There was however still a Majority of Members who were either determined against all Measures preparatory to Independence, or yet too timorous and wavering to venture on any decisive Steps.

(Adams actually misdates these debates in his autobiography; they occurred on February 29. But as 29 February 1776 does not have a two hundred fiftieth anniversary, we’ll take advantage of his mistake.)

Founders Online: [Wednesday Feb. 28. 1776.] [Wednesday Feb. 28. 1776.]

28 FEBRUARY 1776, PHILADELPHIA: “Postponement was the Object of our Antagonists”: John Adams records the “frivolous importance of the Business transacted” at the Continental Congress, a ploy by the anti-independence faction to postpone matters of substance. founders.archives.gov/documents/Ad...

Fielding Lewis, painted by John Wollaston

Henry’s resignation thus removes the source of controversy: Fielding Lewis will write to George Washington, “Colo. Henry has resigned his Commisn which I beleive most people are well pleased with as his acquaintance in the Military service was little.”

He was appointed colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment chiefly in recognition of his political and oratorical leadership of the Patriot movement in Virginia, but other Virginian officers and politicians have written to each other of his unfitness for command due to his inexperience.

Henry thus resigns because the Continental Congress has not given him a grand enough rank; but there are many in Virginia who believe the rank of colonel was already too grand for him.

Though he gives no reason for refusing the commission, the editors of the Washington Papers believe “it is almost certain that he resigned because Congress did not make him a general and give him command of the Continental forces in Virginia.”

Since Henry has been colonel of the regiment during the entire period it has been under Virginian control, this effectively constitutes his resignation.

28 FEBRUARY 1776, WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA: Patrick Henry informs the Virginia committee of safety that he is refusing to accept his Continental Army commission as colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment, which is being transferred from the control of Virginia to the Continental Army.

Declared guilty in absentia of high treason by the State of Maryland, in 1782 Alexander will leave for England, where he will live the remaining twenty-three years of his life.

But rather than sign the Declaration of Independence in a few months, he will resign from Congress. In August 1777, when Sir William Howe’s army lands in Maryland, he will accompany Howe for the British invasion of Pennsylvania.

“The latter I have often repudiated both in publick & private, but am now almost convinced the Measure is right & can be justified by Necessity.” Alexander is a member of the Continental Congress’s Secret Committee, a vital tool for the colonial war effort.

“The Influence of a Scotch Junto now disgraces the British Throne,” Alexander writes to the Maryland council of safety. “With me every Idea of Reconciliation is precluded by the Conduct of G. Britain, & the only Alternitave, absolute Slavery, or Independancy.

27 FEBRUARY 1776, PHILADELPHIA: Maryland congressional delegate Robert Alexander is just one of many who is saying for the first time that he’s in favor of independence, but what makes him remarkable is that he will soon spend the rest of the war as a committed Loyalist:

“In a few moments the whole Regiment would have been moving to the expected scene of blood, but were countermanded by order from Genrl Spencer informing it was a false alarm. The men got out of the rain and mud as fast as they could and all was peace again.”

“The Coll. sent the alarm to his Captins in every quarter to parade before his house immediately for an attack. … Every face looked serious but determined and the thing was real to us.