From George Washington to the Massachusetts General Court, 29 November 1775
To the Massachusetts General Court
Cambridge 29th Novr 1775.
Gentn
The necessity of giving Furloughs to the Soldiers of the present, who Inlist into the New Army; (by way of Incouragement, & to afford opportunity of providing necessaries for themselves and Families) was so strongly Impress’d upon me, that I have consented to Fifty of a Regiment’s being absent at a time—this will be a reduction of at least 1500 Men from the strength of our Lines—to this I am to add, that, contrary to my expect⟨a⟩t⟨ions⟩ and assurances given, I now find that the Connecticut Regiments cannot be induced to stay beyond their limitted term. Such a considerable diminution of our Force at a time when so capital a change is taking place—in the face of an Enemy—Increasing in strength—cannot but be attended with extreame hazard, if some expedient is not fallen upon to supply the difficiency.
I have summon’d the General Officers to meet at Head Quarters at Eleven Oclock tomorrow to advise what is to be done in this Emergency & should be glad to be aided by a Member or two of your Court at this Consultation; as I think our Situation Critical, and delays dangerous.1
In perusing a Resolve of your Honble Body, I perceive it to be determined, that your Troops are to be paid by the Lunar (or 28 days to the) Month; from the time of their Inlisting to the First of August—upon which I cannot help observing, as my opinion, that it will throw the rest of this Army into disorder, and that, as the Continental Congress have, in explicit terms, resolved that it is the Kalender Month they mean to pay by, that the difference between the two, must be considered as a Colonial, & not a Continental charge.2 I am with great respect Gentn Yr Most Obedt H: Servt
Go: Washington
ALS, (photocopy), DNA: RG 93, Photocopies of State Records; LB, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. The council today named Joseph Palmer to a committee to meet with GW and his generals, and the next day the house of representatives added James Warren and Jerathmiel Bowers to the committee (, 330–31; , Nov. 1775–Feb. 1776 sess., 1, 3; see also copies of the General Court’s resolutions on the fourth page of the ALS and in DLC:GW).
On this date Robert Hanson Harrison wrote to Artemas Ward directing him and generals Thomas and Spencer to be in Cambridge early the next day for the conference (DLC:GW). Later this day Harrison wrote another letter to Ward: “His Excellency conceiving it necessary to have some of the Members of the General Court present to consult with, respecting the calling in the Minute men & the militia, and as they cannot conveniently be here untill Tomorrow, he desires that you & Genls Thomas & Spencer will defer coming till then, when he hopes that such measures will be adopted, that a sufficient number of men may [be] had & kept here for guarding the Lines and defeating any attempts that the Enemy may make against us. he requests that General Spencer will not suffer any more of the Connecticut Troops to go of till we are sufficiently reinforced by others, except such as are permitted agreable to General Orders. his meaning is that the Regiments must not be disbanded” (MHi: Ward Papers).
No record of the conference on 30 Nov. has been found. On 1 Dec. the committee reported to the General Court, which promptly approved the report and appointed another committee “to proportion 3008 men among the [militia] Regiments in the counties therein mentioned” (, 332; see also , 6, 7). For the militia reinforcements, see also GW to Hancock, 4 Dec., and the Massachusetts General Court to GW, 7 Dec. 1775, n.1.
2. The house of representatives resolved on 3 Nov. and the council concurred three days later “that the several Captains in each Regiment belonging to this Colony in the Continental Army, make out a Muster Roll of his Company from the day each Officer and Soldier was Inlisted to the first day of August last, And that the said Rolls be made up agreable to a Schedule accompanying this Resolve, Estimating twenty eight days to a Month agreable to the invariable usage of this Colony” (DLC:GW; see also , 212, 228, and General Orders, 25 Nov. 1775). For the Continental Congress’s resolution of 2 Oct. ordering the troops to be paid by the calendar month, see 3:272, and Hancock to GW, 3 Oct. 1775, n.2.
On 30 Nov. the General Court appointed Benjamin Lincoln, Azor Orne, and Elbridge Gerry to “be a Committee to draught a Letter to his Excellency General Washington, in answer to the last paragraph in his said Letter, shewing the reasons of this Colony’s paying their Men, by lunar Months” (DLC:GW). The house of representatives deleted from the original resolution approved by the council the words: “That it is not an Innovation, and that it is Matter of Concern to this Court, that while we are doing Justice to our Men, by complying with our Contract with them, that it should produce disorder in the Army.” No letter from the General Court to GW concerning pay by lunar months has been found, but on 5 Nov. the General Court approved sending such a letter to the colony’s delegates in the Continental Congress (, Nov. 1775–Feb. 1776 sess., 3, 15–16; , 330–31, 336). See also GW to James Otis, Sr., 6 Dec. 1775.