The following is an installment of “On This Day,” a series celebrating America’s 250th anniversary by following the actions of Gen. George Washington, the Continental Congress, and the men and women whose bravery and sacrifice led up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Feb. 9, 1776
Gen. George Washington’s anxiety runs deep. The general fears that he is running out of time, so much so that he pens three separate letters to John Hancock, the president of the Second Continental Congress. All of Washington’s letters address the issue that he fears undermines the revolutionary cause the most.
In his first letter, Washington warns Hancock that he is short on enlistments. The shortage has already cost America dearly, contributing to the death of Maj. Gen. Richard Montgomery in Quebec on Dec. 31, 1775.
In his second letter, Washington says that the shortage of enlistments threatens to undo the Continental Army camped outside of Boston, just as surely as it undid the Americans at the battle of Quebec, where another valued general, Benedict Arnold, was severely injured. Washington pushes Hancock to force Congress to pay bounties to keep men in arms longer — no matter the cost.
ON THIS DAY: CHARLES LEE’S TURN AGAINST WASHINGTON
The real danger, Washington writes, isn’t merely the cost of furnishing men. Rather, it is nothing less than the collapse of the Army itself.
“If Congress should differ from me in Sentiment upon this point, I have only to beg, that they will do me the justice to believe, that I have nothing more in view than what to me appears necessary, to advance the publick Weal, although in the first Instance it will be attended with a capitol expence—And, that I have the honour to be with all due deference & respect theirs, and Your Most & Obedient & faithful Hble Servt Go: Washington.”
