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LOT #42027 |
Starting Bid: $20,000
George Washington Letter Signed...
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Description
Washington Warns Rhode Island's Recruiting Policy Is "fraught with every Evil" - State Troops Must Not Undermine the Common Cause
George Washington Letter Signed ("Go: Washington").
Two pages on a single leaf, 8 1/8 x 13 inches; "Morris
Town"; February 2, 1777."To me, the Contradistinctions which they are setting up, appear to be fraught with every Evil, manifestly injurious to the Common Cause, and an indirect Breach of the Union..."
Washington writes to the Governor of Rhode Island, Nicholas Cooke, protesting the raising of higher-paid colonial troops and warning of their injurious effects on the Continental Army. In full:
"Sir,
In a Letter which I did myself the honour of writing to you on the 20th ulto I could not help expressing my Sentiments of the Impropriety (as it appeared to me) of raising Troops on a Colonial Establishment, and thereby setting up a kind of separate Interest, before your Quota for the Continental Army was completed.
At the time of my writing that Letter, I was unacquainted with the terms on which these Colonial Regiments were to be raised. I little thought that the pay of these Men was to be greater than of those in the Continental Service - I foresaw indeed inconveniences enough without this, but the baneful Influence of advanced Pay and Bounty already begins to shew itself in numberless Instances, and the poisonous Effects of them have reached this Army -
I do not know in what light the Adoption of these Measures may appear to your State; To me, the Contradistinctions which they are setting up, appear to be fraught with every Evil, manifestly injurious to the Common Cause, and an indirect Breach of the Union - My duty therefore as Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States compels me (however disagreeable the task) to remonstrate against such mode of proceeding (unless coercive Measures are used to bring forth your quota of Continental Troops) and to add, that if the defence of any particular State in the governing Object of its Policy, it can be no Recommendation to me, or Inducement to Congress to bestno any extraordinary attention to the defence of such State.
You will do me the Justice to perceive, Sir, that I am grounding my Complaint upon an Information That the Continental and Colonial Officers are recruiting indiscriminately; The first at Forty Shillings, the other at Three pounds pr month; The former for hard and dangerous Service, far distant from home perhaps, the latter for easy and Secure duty at, or near, their firesides -
If my Information is wrong, and you are pursuing coercive or vigorous Measures to complete the Continental Regiments required of your State in a Short time, my Remonstrate drops of Course, and I have to ask you to pardon for the trouble I have given you: If right, the Error of the Policy is too obvious to need further animadversion upon it; Sufficient it is to me, to warn you of the Danger, and urge the Completion of the Regiments for Continental Service. The United States have a just Claim upon you for these Men, and will have but too good Cause to complain if They are deprived of them by your Attempts to raise others -
The Importance of the Subject will apologize for the Freedom & Candour of my Sentiments, especially when I assure you that with very great Esteem and Regard I have the Honour to be,
Sir,
Yr most Obd. Hble Ser.
Go: Washington."
With the army struggling to fill its ranks, individual states had begun raising troops on their own terms, offering higher pay and local service to attract enlistments. What may have appeared a practical solution at the state level threatened, in Washington's view, to unravel the larger design.
Continental and state forces were now competing for the same men, but on unequal terms. Those who enlisted in the Continental Army faced longer service and greater danger, often far from home, while state-raised troops were offered better pay for easier, local duty. The result, Washington warns, is not merely inconvenience, but distortion, an incentive structure that weakened the army upon which the entire cause depended.
The language he employs is unusually forceful. These measures, he writes, are "fraught with every Evil" and amount to an "indirect Breach of the Union." If each state privileged its own defense over the common cause, the collective effort could not hold. Washington sought to enforce coherence between the states' practices, so that the war might be fought by a unified enterprise rather than a collection of local interests.
Washington tempers his warning with courtesy, allowing for the possibility that his information is incorrect, but the underlying message is unmistakable. The Continental Army must come first. Without it, there is no shared war-only separate struggles, and the risk of failure in all.
Condition: Fine. Flattened folds and minor toning, with just a few minor spots of soiling. Minor separation to the two lower folds at the outer right margin, as well at an intersection in the lower margin; all expertly reinforced with Japanese tissue.
References: "From George Washington to Nicholas Cooke, 2 February 1777," Founders Online, National Archives. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 8 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia).
Auction Info
2026 June 19 The John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature® Auction #6331 (go to Auction Home page)
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June
19th
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19th
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