To John Jay from Alexander McDougall, 20 March 1776
From Alexander McDougall
Newyork 20th March 1776
Dear Sir,
I received your favor of the 13th, and am greatly pleased with the resolution of Congress interdicting the military to impose Tests,1 General ^Lee^ sent Col Sears on that extraordinary business without consulting the Convention, as he was near departing and the Colony is so much Suspected they Judged it best to pass the matter over; but I am perswaded it will be the last instance of their pasivity on a point of so much importance to the Liberty of a freeman. The inclosure you sent Me was no answer to my Letter. It was only the regulations for the Government of the Navy.
I want the Pay Establishment and the description of the Continental Colours, And I beg you once more to send them to me.2 The man of war’s tender is either gone or goeing to egg-Harbour to intercept our amunition. It is some time since I put my thoughts together, for the Security of that place, which were Communicated to our Delegates by the Committee of Safety.3 For Gods sake attend to the securing that Port. I see the want of Government, in many instances. I fear Liberty is in danger from the Licentiouness of the people on the one Hand, and the army on the other. The former feel their own Liberty in the extreme, and we are too ^fond^ from our Zeal to encourage the latter, for the advancement of the Public Safety, to connive at many undue exertions of their Power, which may in the end be fatal to us. For ought we know we are but in the begining of a long war. God save our Poor Country.
Your convention are Virtuous, but they want wisdom and knowledge as a Body. They are adjourned to the first monday in may, Subject to be called by the Committee of Safety.4 Governor Tryon is not Idle. The works for our defence, are carrying ^on^ with tolerable dispatch, our Citizens are more alert at them, than the Soldiers. Altho my Lord Sterling is a much Younger Field officer than I am, I find he is appointed a Brigadier General.5 I wish to know if you can inform me, on what principle this partiality took place. Rank is a matter of no moment to me when it is unacompanied with marks of disgrace. But when it is, every man of Sensibility must be affected with it. Conscious that I had not merited any mark of Contempt from Congress, and that my Lord Stirling had done nothing to intitle him to being promoted over others, I ascribed this appointment of Congress to a design to give Jersey their due weight in the Army; as they had raised three Battalions; and Under the influence
of this opinion, I told him when his promotion was announced at head Quarters, I would give him all, the Assistance in my Power. Indeed my dear Sir, as the Enemy has been momently expected, for some time, and I was not in the field last Year, I had determined, if Congress had put one of my Serjants over me to Serve this Campaign. But I find a determination to Submit, to persons being advanced over me, will not be sufficient to retain me in the army.
I must submit to take rank in the Continental army after all the ^Field^ officers, who have been appointed Eight months after me. The Congress have dated the Commissions of the Field officers of our four Regiments the 8th march, those of the officers who have not been promoted as well as those who have. The Consequence of which is, that Col Clinton now the Second in Command before Quebec will be commanded by every Colonel in chief who, go from Pena, Jersey & Connecticut ^& were appointed long after him^; and Lieut Col Cortlandt of the fourth, last Year & continued in that Regiment, will be commanded by three field officers of our four Regiments whom he commanded ^the^ last Year.6 This arangement can never advance the Service of any Country. Altho I had not the Honorable part of the Service last Year I was a slave to the Service and submitted to many drudgeries which I cannot do for the future. If the Congress mean those four regiments or the old ^Field^ officers are to take rank in the Continental army from the 8th March and not from their first Commissions, I consider ^it^ as a genteel way of saying we dont want your Services. I do not consider my appointment as a favor, because courts only proceed on the principle of favor in their appointments, but the representatives of a free people upon a very different one. And however willing I am to Serve the Country even under ^the^ disadvantages I first mentioned, I will ^not^ serve the Angel Gabriel on terms dishonorable to my reputation. I must therefore beg you to get the Sense of Congress, on the Question whether the Field officers in ^the^ New-York ^department,^ are to take rank in the army according to the dates of their first Commissions, for their respective offices, or according to the dates of their commissions renewed.
I wish no arguments to be used that may have most distant relation to me. I wish the General tendency, and expedincy of the principle only to be considered. If they shall Judge it necessary for from any reasons, which I cannot be acquainted with, to adhere to ^the last^ dates of the Commissions as the rule of rank, I doubt not but the Colony will put it in my power to Serve them Consistent with my Honor. Whatever may be the determination of Congress; ^whether favorable or unfavorable to my Sentiments^ I shall take the Necessary
care of the Regiment; ^& till a Colonel in Chief is appointed if unfavorable,^ and Continue in the City as long as any friend to the Country will dare to show his face in it. I am in great Haste, Your affectionate Humble Servt
Alexr. McDougall
Col John Jay.
ALS, NNC (EJ: 6925). Endorsed.
1. See above, JJ to McDougall, 13 Mar. 1776.
2. While the pay scales for naval officers and sailors were entered on the as part of the “Rules for the Regulation of the Navy,” they were omitted from the published rules that JJ forwarded to McDougall on 13 Mar. , 3: 378–87; , no. 14582. For the response, see JJ to McDougall, 23 Mar. 1776, below.
3. Many cargoes of gunpowder and other munitions imported in 1775 and 1776 landed at Egg Harbor, New Jersey, a longtime smuggling and later a privateering port convenient to Philadelphia. On 22 Jan. 1776 the New York Committee of Safety wrote the province’s delegates in Congress to urge the construction of a redoubt at Egg Harbor. , 1: 261.
4. The New York Provincial Congress adjourned 16 Mar. 1776 and resumed sessions on 8 May. A Committee of Safety was appointed to sit during this adjournment. , 1: 368, 435.
5. On 7 Nov. 1775, William Alexander (Lord Stirling), a New Yorker who settled in New Jersey in 1762, was commissioned a colonel in the 1st New Jersey Regiment, four months after McDougall was appointed colonel of the 1st New York. When Congress elected general officers on 1 Mar. 1776, Alexander was appointed a brigadier general. , 4: 181.
6. On 19 Jan. 1776 the Continental Congress voted to raise four battalions in New York and asked that the provincial congress submit lists of proposed field officers, “at least two for each command,” from which a final selection could be made. The New York Congress prepared these slates, offering eight candidates for the four colonelcies, lieutenant colonelcies, and majorities. The lists of nominees, together with “a state of the former regiments” raised in the province in June 1775, were sent to the New York delegates in Philadelphia on 28 Feb. 1776. The appointments made by the Continental Congress from these lists on 8 Mar. caused much discontent among the New York officers who had served in the four New York regiments of 1775.
McDougall, James Clinton (1736–1812), the brother of Congressman George Clinton, and Philip Van Cortlandt (1749–1831) were recommended for appointments as colonels in the New York Congress’s lists of 28 Feb. McDougall was named colonel of the new 1st New York Battalion, the same rank he had held in the 1st New York Regiment of 1775. Clinton, a colonel in the 3rd New York Regiment of 1775, was named colonel of the new 2nd New York Battalion. Since his commission in the 2nd New York was dated 8 Mar. 1776, Clinton was considered junior to colonels in the various battalions raised by Congress in other provinces in late 1775 and early 1776. Van Cortlandt, a lieutenant colonel in the 4th New York Regiment of 1775, was given the same rank in the new 4th New York Battalion in 1776. However, under the rules of seniority in the Continental army, Van Cortlandt was considered junior not only to men of higher rank, but also to men with the same rank whose names were entered in the prior to the day of his commission. Thus, by the resolutions of 8 Mar. 1776, Van Cortlandt was junior to Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Van Weissenfels of the new 3rd New York Battalion, a captain in the 1775 establishment; to Colonel Cornelius Wynkoop of the new 4th New York Battalion, a major in the 3rd New York Regiment of 1775; to Lieutenant Colonel Herman Zedwitz of the new 1st New York Battalion, who had served as a major in the 1st New York in 1775; and to Lieutenant Colonel Henry Beekman Livingston of the new 2nd New York Battalion, a captain in the old 4th New York Regiment. 4: 69, 190; 1: 62, 328; Cal. of Hist. Mss., 1: 105, 117; 2: 41, 45.