The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 1 (of 9)

During my absence, Captain Robert George, who now commands the company formerly commanded by Captain Willing, had returned from New Orleans, which greatly added to our strength. It gave great satisfaction to the inhabitants, when acquainted with the protection which was given them, the alliance with France, &c. I am impatient for the arrival of Colonel Montgomery, but have heard nothing of him lately. By your instructions to me, I find you put no confidence in General M'Intosh's taking Detroit, as you encourage me to attempt it, if possible. It had been twice in my power. Had I been able to raise only five hundred men when I first arrived in the country, or when I was at St. Vincennes, could I have secured my prisoners, and only have had three hundred good men, I should have attempted it, and since learn there could have been no doubt of success, as by some gentlemen lately from that post, we are informed that the town and country kept three days in feasting and diversions, on hearing of my success against Mr. Hamilton, and were so certain of my embracing the fair opportunity of possessing myself of that post, that the merchants and others provided many necessaries for us on our arrival; the garrison, consisting of only eighty men, not daring to stop their diversions. They are now completing a new fort, and I fear too strong for any force I shall ever be able to raise in this country. We are proud to hear Congress intends putting their forces on the frontiers, under your direction. A small army from Pittsburg, conducted with spirit, may easily take Detroit, and put an end to the Indian war. Those Indians who are active against us, are the six nations, part of the Shawnese, the Meamonies, and about half the Chesaweys, Ottawas, Jowaas, and Pottawatimas nations, bordering on the lakes. Those nations who have treated with me, have behaved since very well; to wit, the Peankishaws, Kiccapoos, Oreaottenans of the Wabash river, the Kaskias, Perrians, Mechigamies, Foxes, Socks, Opays, Illinois and Poues, nations of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Part of the Chessaweys have also treated, and are peaceable. I continually keep agents among them, to watch their motions and keep them peaceably inclined. Many of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and their confederates, are, I fear, ill disposed. It would be well if Colonel Montgomery should give them a dressing, as he comes down the Tennessee. There can be no peace expected from many nations, while the English are at Detroit. I strongly suspect they will turn their arms against the Illinois, as they will be encouraged. I shall always be on my guard, watching every opportunity to take the advantage of the enemy, and, if I am ever able to muster six or seven hundred men, I shall give them a shorter distance to come and fight me, than at this place.

There is one circumstance very distressing, that of our moneys being discredited, to all intents and purposes, by the great number of traders who come here in my absence, each outbidding the other, giving prices unknown in this country by five hundred per cent., by which the people conceived it to be of no value, and both French and Spaniards refused to take a farthing of it. Provision is three times the price it was two months past, and to be got by no other means than my own bonds, goods, or force. Several merchants are now advancing considerable sums of their own property, rather than the service should suffer, by which I am sensible they must lose greatly, unless some method is taken to raise the credit of our coin, or a fund be sent to Orleans, for the payment of the expenses of this place, which would at once reduce the price of every species of provision; money being of little service to them, unless it would pass at the ports they trade at. I mentioned to you, my drawing some bills on Mr. Pollock in New Orleans, as I had no money with me. He would accept the bills, but had not money to pay them off, though the sums were trifling; so that we have little credit to expect from that quarter. I shall take every step I possibly can, for laying up a sufficient quantity of provisions, and hope you will immediately send me an express with your instructions. Public expenses in this country, have hitherto been very low, and may still continue so, if a correspondence is fixed at New Orleans for payment of expenses in this country, or gold and silver sent. I am glad to hear of Colonel Todd's appointment. I think government has taken the only step they could have done, to make this country flourish, and be of service to them. No other regulation would have suited the people. The last account I had of Colonel Rogers, was his being in New Orleans, with six of his men. The rest he left at the Spanish Ozack, above the Natches. I shall immediately send him some provisions, as I learn he is in great want. I doubt, he will not be able to get his goods up the river except in Spanish bottoms. One regiment would be able to clear the Mississippi, and do great damage to the British interests in Florida, and, by properly conducting themselves, might perhaps gain the affection of the people, so as to raise a sufficient force to give a shock to Pensacola. Our alliance with France has entirely devoted this people to our interest. I have sent several copies of the articles to Detroit, and do not doubt but they will produce the desired effect. Your instructions I shall pay implicit regard to, and hope to conduct myself in such a manner as to do honor to my country.

I am, with the greatest respect, your humble servant,G. R. Clarke.

P. S. I understand there is a considerable quantity of cannon ball at Pittsburg. We are much in want of four and six pound ball. I hope you will immediately order some down.

In Council, June 18, 1779.

The board proceeded to the consideration of the letters of Colonel Clarke, and other papers relating to Henry Hamilton, Esq., who has acted for some years past as Lieutenant Governor of the settlement at and about Detroit, and commandant of the British garrison there, under Sir Guy Carleton, as Governor-in-chief; Philip Dejean justice of the peace for Detroit, and William Lamothe, captain of volunteers, prisoners of war, taken in the county of Illinois.

They find, that Governor Hamilton has executed the task of inciting the Indians to perpetrate their accustomed cruelties on the citizens of the United States, without distinction of age, sex, or condition, with an eagerness and avidity which evince, that the general nature of his charge harmonized with his particular disposition. They should have been satisfied, from the other testimony adduced, that these enormities were committed by savages acting under his commission; but the number of proclamations which, at different times, were left in houses, the inhabitants of which were killed or carried away by the Indians, one of which proclamations is in possession of the board, under the hand and seal of Governor Hamilton, puts this fact beyond a doubt. At the time of his captivity, it appears, he had sent considerable bodies of Indians against the frontier settlements of these States, and had actually appointed a great council of Indians, to meet him at Tennessee, to concert the operations of this present campaign. They find that his treatment of our citizens and soldiers, taken and carried within the limits of his command, has been cruel and inhuman; that in the case of John Dodge, a citizen of these States, which has been particularly stated to this board, he loaded him with irons, threw him into a dungeon, without bedding, without straw, without fire, in the dead of winter and severe climate of Detroit; that, in that state, he wasted him with incessant expectations of death: that when the rigors of his situation had brought him so low, that death seemed likely to withdraw him from their power, he was taken out and somewhat attended to, until a little mended, and before he had recovered ability to walk, was again returned to his dungeon, in which a hole was cut, seven inches square only, for the admission of air, and the same load of irons again put on him: that appearing, a second time, in imminent danger of being lost to them, he was again taken from his dungeon, in which he had lain from January till June, with the intermission of a few weeks only, before mentioned. That Governor Hamilton gave standing rewards for scalps, but offered none for prisoners, which induced the Indians, after making their captives carry their baggage into the neighborhood of the fort, there to put them to death, and carry in their scalps to the Governor, who welcomed their return and success by a discharge of cannon. That when a prisoner, brought alive, and destined to death by the Indians, the fire already kindled, and himself bound to the stake, was dexterously withdrawn, and secreted from them by the humanity of a fellow prisoner, a large reward was offered for the discovery of the victim, which having tempted a servant to betray his concealment, the present prisoner Dejean, being sent with a party of soldiers, surrounded the house, took and threw into jail the unhappy victim and his deliverer, where the former soon expired under the perpetual assurances of Dejean, that he was to be again restored into the hands of the savages; and the latter, when enlarged, was bitterly reprimanded by Governor Hamilton.

It appears to them, that the prisoner Dejean was on all occasions the willing and cordial instrument of Governor Hamilton, acting both as judge and keeper of the jails, and instigating and urging him, by malicious insinuations and untruths, to increase, rather than relax his severities, heightening the cruelty of his orders by his manner of executing them; offering at one time a reward to one man to be hangman for another, threatening his life on refusal, and taking from his prisoners the little property their opportunities enabled them to acquire.

It appears that the prisoner Lamothe was a captain of the volunteer scalping parties of Indians and whites, who went, from time to time, under general orders to spare neither men, women, nor children. From this detail of circumstances, which arose in a few cases only, coming accidentally to the knowledge of the board, they think themselves authorized by fair deduction, to presume what would be the horrid history of the sufferings of the many who have expired under their miseries, (which, therefore, will remain forever untold,) or, who have escaped from them, and are yet too remote and too much dispersed, to bring together their well-founded accusations against the prisoners.

They have seen that the conduct of the British officers, civil and military, has in the whole course of this war been savage, and unprecedented among civilized nations; that our officers taken by them, have been confined in crowded jails, loathsome dungeons and prison ships, loaded with irons, supplied often with no food, generally with too little for the sustenance of nature, and that little sometimes unsound and unwholesome, whereby such numbers have perished, that captivity and death have with them been almost synonymous; that they have been transported beyond seas, where their fate is out of the reach of our inquiry, have been compelled to take arms against their country, and by a refinement in cruelty, to become murderers of their own brethren.

Their prisoners with us have, on the other hand, been treated with humanity and moderation; they have been fed, on all occasions, with wholesome and plentiful food, suffered to go at large within extensive tracts of country, treated with liberal hospitality, permitted to live in the families of our citizens, to labor for themselves, to acquire and enjoy profits, and finally to participate of the principal benefits of society, privileged from all burdens.

Reviewing this contrast, which cannot be denied by our enemies themselves, in a single point, and which has now been kept up during four years of unremitting war, a term long enough to produce well-founded despair that our moderation may ever lead them to the practice of humanity; called on by that justice we owe to those who are fighting the battles of our country, to deal out, at length, miseries to their enemies, measure for measure, and to distress the feelings of mankind by exhibiting to them spectacles of severe retaliation, where we had long and vainly endeavored to introduce an emulation in kindness; happily possessed, by the fortune of war, of some of those very individuals who, having distinguished themselves personally in this line of cruel conduct, are fit subjects to begin on, with the work of retaliation; this board has resolved to advise the Governor, that the said Henry Hamilton, Philip Dejean and William Lamothe, prisoners of war, be put in irons, confined in the dungeons of the public jail, debarred the use of pen, ink and paper, and excluded all converse, except with their keeper. And the Governor orders accordingly.

Arch: Blair, C. C.

85

In Council, September 29th, 1779.

The board having been, at no time, unmindful of the circumstances attending the confinement of Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe and Philip Dejean, which the personal cruelties of those men, as well as the general conduct of the enemy, had constrained them to advise: wishing, and willing to expect, that their sufferings may lead them to the practice of humanity, should any future turn of fortune, in their favor, submit to their discretion the fate of their fellow-creatures; that it may prove an admonition to others, meditating like cruelties, not to rely for impunity in any circumstances of distance or present security; and that it may induce the enemy to reflect, what must be the painful consequences, should a continuation of the same conduct on their part, impel us again to severities, while such multiplied subjects of retaliation are within our power: sensible that no impression can be made on the event of the war, by wreaking vengeance on miserable captives; that the great cause which has animated the two nations against each other, is not to be decided by unmanly cruelties on wretches, who have bowed their necks to the power of the victor, but by the exercise of honorable valor in the field: earnestly hoping that the enemy, viewing the subject in the same light, will be content to abide the event of that mode of decision, and spare us the pain of a second departure from kindness to our captives: confident that commiseration to our prisoners is the only possible motive to which can be candidly ascribed, in the present actual circumstances of the war, the advice we are now about to give; the board does advise the Governor to send Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe and Philip Dejean, to Hanover courthouse, there to remain at large, within certain reasonable limits, taking the parole in the usual manner. The Governor orders accordingly.

Arch: Blair, C. C.

Ordered, that Major John Hay be sent, also, under parole, to the same place.

Arch: Blair, C. C.

86

In Council, October 8th, 1779.

The Governor is advised to take proper and effectual measures for knowing, from time to time, the situation and treatment of our prisoners by the enemy, and to extend to theirs, with us, a like treatment, in every circumstance; and, also, to order to a proper station, the prison ship fitted up on recommendation from Congress, for the reception and confinement of such prisoners of war as shall be sent to it.

Arch: Blair, C. C.

87

General de Riedesel, who commanded the Hessian troops, was among the prisoners removed to Albemarle, in 1779, after the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga. Mr. Jefferson did everything in his power to render the situation of these prisoners comfortable, and the educated and refined officers were often his guests. Among the number was General de Riedesel, who seems to have entertained a grateful sense of the kindness extended to him. The example of Mr. Jefferson was followed by most of the wealthy gentlemen of the surrounding country; the officers, both English and German, have borne testimony to the polite and hospitable attentions which they received in Virginia.—Ed.

88

The following memorandum is inserted in the MS. at the close of this letter.

FEMALE CONTRIBUTIONS, IN AID OF THE WAR, PROBABLY IN 1780

Mrs. Sarah Cary, of Scotchtown, a watch-chain, cost £7 sterling.

Mrs. – Ambler, five gold rings.

Mrs. Rebecca Ambler, three gold rings.

Mrs. – Nicholas, a diamond drop.

Mrs. Griffin, of Dover, ten half joes.

Mrs. Gilmer, five guineas.

Mrs. Anne Ramsay (for Fairfax), one half joe, three guineas, three pistereens, one bit.

Do. for do. paper money, bundle No. 1, twenty thousand dollars, No. 2, twenty-seven thousand dollars, No. 3, fifteen thousand dollars, No. 4, thirteen thousand five hundred and eighteen dollars and one-third.

Mrs. Lewis (for Albermarle), £1559 8s. paper money.

Mrs. Weldon, £39 18s. new, instead of £1600, old paper money.

Mrs. Blackburn (for Prince William), seven thousand five hundred and six dollars, paper money.

Mrs. Randolph, the younger, of Chatsworth, eight hundred dollars.

Mrs. Fitzhugh and others, £558.

89

This letter has no direction, but was probably addressed to General Gates, then commanding the Southern army. It was written by Mr. Jefferson in his character of Governor of Virginia, to which office he was elected on the 1st of June, 1779.—Ed.

90

The circumstances of the defeat of General Gates's army, near Camden, in August, 1780, being of historical notoriety, this statement is omitted.

91

Battle of Camden, August 16th, 1780.

92

TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL NISBET BALFOUR, COMMANDER AT NINETY-SIX

I have the happiness to inform you, that on Wednesday the 16th instant, I totally defeated General Gates's army. One thousand were killed and wounded, about eight hundred taken prisoners. We are in possession of eight pieces of brass cannon, all they had in the field, all their ammunition wagons, a great number of arms, and one hundred and thirty baggage wagons; in short, there never was a more complete victory. I have written to Lieutenant Colonel Turnbull, whom I sent to join Major Johnson on Little river, to push on after General Sumpter to the Waxhaws, whose detachment is the only collected force of rebels in all this country. Colonel Tarleton is in pursuit of Sumpter. Our loss is about three hundred killed and wound, chiefly of the thirty-third regiment and volunteers, of Ireland. I have given orders that all the inhabitants of this province, who have subscribed and taken part in this revolt, should be punished with the greatest rigor; also, that those who will not turn out, may be imprisoned, and their whole property taken from them, and destroyed. I have also ordered that satisfaction should be made for their estates, to those who have been injured and oppressed by them. I have ordered, in the most positive manner, that every militia man who has borne arms with us and afterwards joined the enemy, shall be immediately hanged. I desire you will take the most rigorous measures to punish the rebels in the district in which you command, and that you will obey, in the strictest manner, the directions I have given in this letter, relative to the inhabitants of this country.

Cornwallis.

August, 1780.

93

About the 22d of Oct. 1780, a British fleet made its appearance in the Chesapeake, having on board some three thousand troops, under the command of General Leslie. Different detachments were landed near Portsmouth, Hampton, and on the bay-side of Princess Anne. The whole force was subsequently collected at Portsmouth; but Leslie, probably disappointed in his expectation of forming a juncture with Cornwallis, suddenly re-embarked for South Carolina. On the 29th of the following December, Arnold made his appearance, with twenty-seven sail of vessels, within the Virginian capes, and commenced his invasion. On 26th of March, 1781, he was superseded in his command by General Phillips, who joined him at Portsmouth with some two thousand troops.—Ed.

94

TO LORD CORNWALLISPortsmouth, Virginia, November 4th, 1780.

My Lord,—I have been here near a week, establishing a post. I wrote to you to Charleston, and by another messenger, by land. I cannot hear, for a certainty, where you are: I wait your orders. The bearer is to be handsomely rewarded, if he brings me any note or mark from your Lordship.

A. L.

95

Probably addressed to General Gates.

96

After the battle of Camden—August 16th, 1780—Congress removed General Gates from the command of the Southern army, and placed General Green at its head. In December, 1780, he assumed the command.

97

One of the Convention prisoners, in Albemarle.

98

This letter has no address, but it was probably to General Muhlenburg.

99

Governor of North Carolina.

100

General Greene, after taking command of the Southern army, divided his force, and sent one division of it, under General Morgan, to the western part of South Carolina. Cornwallis, who was now nearly prepared to invade North Carolina, unwilling to leave Morgan in his rear, sent Tarleton in pursuit of him. The two detachments met on the 17th of January, 1781, when the battle of Cowpens was fought, and Tarleton defeated. Cornwallis, after the defeat of Tarleton, abandoned the invasion of North Carolina for the present, and started in pursuit of Morgan. Greene, suspecting his intention, hastened to join Morgan, and, after a fatiguing march, effected a junction at Guilford Court House. During this march he was closely pursued by Cornwallis, who, as stated in the above letter, "burnt his own wagons in order to enable himself to move with greater facility." After this junction at Guilford Court House, Greene crossed the Dan, into Virginia—again narrowly escaping the pursuit of Cornwallis, who now retired to Hillsborough, where, erecting the royal standard, he issued his proclamation, inviting the loyalists to join him, and sent Tarleton with a detachment to support a body of them collected between the Havre and Deep Rivers. Greene, having despatched Generals Pickens and Lee to watch the movements of Tarleton, and having been reinforced in Virginia, now returned into North Carolina, and fought the battle of Guilford Court House on the 8th of March, 1781.—Ed.

101

M. de Marbois was attached to the French Legation in Philadelphia.—Ed.

102

On the 15th of June, 1781, Mr. Jefferson was appointed, with Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Laurens, Minister Plenipotentiary for negotiating peace, then expected to be effected through the mediation of the Empress of Russia—Ed.

103

In 1781, the depredations of the enemy, and the public and private losses which they occasioned, produced the ordinary effect of complaint against those who had charge of the public defence, and especially against Mr. Jefferson (the Governor of Virginia). A popular clamor was excited against him, and, under the impulses of the moment, Mr. George Nicholas, a member from Albermarle, moved his impeachment.

The charges were, 1. That he had not, as soon as advised by General Washington of the meditated invasion, put the country in a state of preparation and defence; 2. That during the invasion, he did not use the means of resistance which were at his command; 3. That he too much consulted his personal safety, when Arnold first entered Richmond, by which others were dispirited and discouraged; 4. That he ignominiously fled from Monticello to the neighboring mountain on Tarleton's approach to Charlottesville; and 5. That he abandoned the office of Governor as soon as it became one of difficulty and danger.

Mr. Jefferson has been long since acquitted of these charges by the almost unanimous voice of his countrymen.—Ed.

104

The battle of Yorktown.

105

The title of Virginia to the Northwestern territory was controverted, as early as 1779, by some of the other States, upon the ground that all lands, the title of which had originally been in the crown and had never been alienated, were the common property of the Confederation, by right of conquest—the revolution having transferred the title from the British sovereign to the Confederation. This view was resisted by Virginia in an able remonstrance to Congress in October, 1779. The question, however, never came to an issue; for Virginia, moved by a patriotic impulse, and ready to sacrifice her individual interest to the general good, made a voluntary cession of the whole territory to the Confederation.