In Obedience to the above Order of Congress, this Committee have enquired into the Premises, and, upon the best Information obtained, find, that the Commanders of the New England Army about the 14th. ultimo received Advice that Genl. Gage had issued Orders for a Party of Troops under his Command, to post themselves on Bunkers Hill, a Promontory just at the Entrance of the Peninsula of...
2To John Adams from William Gordon, 28 June–2 July 1783 (Adams Papers)
Should you find in this ms a deal of the caput mortuum don’t wonder, for the weather is & has been very hot for several days. The last wednesday the house opposite to the old brick was so violently hot, that in their zeal against the absentees they broke the good frame of government you had a hand in erecting. The brains were for providing that persons taken up as such, should have a trial by...
3To George Washington from William Gordon, 25 August 1779 (Washington Papers)
Your obliging letter of the 3d instant afforded me peculiar pleasure, & more especially the close of the postscript, as it furnished me with authority for the removal of prejudices, wherever I found any had been produced against your Excellency, by the idle & foolish expressions of individuals. I am not insensible of the delicate situation you have been in, between the Congress & the Army; &...
4To John Adams from William Gordon, 5 June 1777 (Adams Papers)
Your favour of April the 8th tho’ frankt was not received till the 22d of May. Tis mortifying to think that such a horrid corruption hath spread itself so rapidly thro’ the American States; and that in the first year of our existence we should have adopted so many of the Old England vices. People had a better opinion of themselves than was meet: but the time of temptation hath laid open their...
5To John Adams from William Gordon, 30 November 1782 (Adams Papers)
In answer to yours of July 2 d , sent You, Sep t 19, under cover to Mess rs D e Neufville’s by a vessel,—Buffington Master—bound from Salem to France, a very long letter, in which I wrote freely: afterwards I thought, that should French curiosity peep into it, you might possibly fail of receiving it. I keep no copies, & therefore cannot transmit a duplicate. But I told You that I neither knew...
6To George Washington from William Gordon, 18 June 1783 (Washington Papers)
Though I have not had the pleasure of an answer, owing to the multiplicity of your engagements, yet by a few lines from New York I have learnt that You was so obliging as to comply with my request. We have now attained to a certainty of peace, upon which You have my most hearty congratulations. Your name will be deservedly written with honor & respect in every history of America. May it be...
7To George Washington from William Gordon, 26 October 1780 (Washington Papers)
I congratulate your Excellency with the utmost sincerity upon the late discovery of Arnolds treachery. This is the second time, that Heaven has prevented the enemy’s ruining us by secret attempts. While the baseness & villainy of individuals, who had been greatly confided in, must tend to discourage, the special remarkable interpositions of Providence preventing the execution of their wicked...
8To Benjamin Franklin from William Gordon, 13[-15] July 1777 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I have no great inclination to write: but think it of importance that you should know the state of our affairs, whether promising or otherwise; and this conveyance may possibly bring you the earliest intelligence. Had the enemy a design of pushing thro the Jerseys to Philadelphia, they have been disappointed; and have been obliged to return from Brunswick...
9To George Washington from William Gordon, 21 August 1780 (Washington Papers)
Having received, by the Alliance the last week, a letter from Holland & another from Mr John Adams; I have thought it would be proper to communicate the same to your Excellency wherein they referred to public matters. That from Holland is dated March 27. & says—“if Mr Burke’s oeconomical plan takes place it will long support the present war. I believe the French are half afraid to trust you,...
10To Benjamin Franklin from William Gordon, 21 March 1777 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I trouble you afresh with a packet designed for our friend Dr. Price. Be pleased to peruse the letter and papers ere you forward them to him. I wished to put both parties out of conceit with Mr. Hutchinson, which I think will be effected by what is in Edes’s papers, and will be confirmed in two or three subsequent ones. Such a man ought to have no...
11To George Washington from William Gordon, 4 March 1782 (Washington Papers)
I cannot omit writing by the present safe conveyance, tho’ I have nothing in particular to communicate. Genl Lincoln will give your Excellency a fuller account of all matters of consequence in this quarter, than what I can do. I was over the other day at Col. Quincy’s. He is breaking fast; but the powers of his mind remain strong. I wish he may live to see & enjoy a happy peace; but I much...
12To George Washington from William Gordon, 2 October 1782 (Washington Papers)
I was in hopes, after reading Genl Carleton’s letter & other publications, that I should have had the opportunity of congratulating you, upon the certain prospects of a speedy & honorable peace; but at present they are uncertain. However I cannot but think, that if G. Britain gets no considerable naval advantage over our friends & allies, before winter sets in, they will seriously apply...
13To Benjamin Franklin from William Gordon, 5 May 1779 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society This may probably convey to you a painful article of intelligence, viz, the death of that great man Dr Winthrop, who expired on the 3d instant, & is to be buried on the saturday. The College, the State & the Public have sustained a great loss in his death; but the Orderings of Heaven are all right; & it is appointed unto man to die, no less than to be born....
14To George Washington from William Gordon, 2 July 1778 (Washington Papers)
I just catch a few minutes before the post goes off to acquaint you that Lord Chatham is dead—that no troops whatsoever are coming either from G.B. or Ireland—that tho’ an English fleet of 1–90 guns 9–74 & 1–64 may be sailed from St Helens, a powerful provision has been made for counteracting them when they are upon the American coast; their opposers may possibly be at the Rendezvous before...
15To George Washington from William Gordon, 12 January 1778 (Washington Papers)
I was a stranger to the subjects of the present letter when I wrote last week, or should have mentioned them considering their importance. Mr Hancock reports that your Excellency designs quitting the command of the army. I hope he has no good foundation for what he says. I should dread your doing it, did I believe it probable, for I apprehend the cause would suffer amazingly by it, & that the...
16To John Adams from William Gordon, 8 May 1779 (Adams Papers)
We are just returned from visiting your good Lady at Braintree, where I had a complaint exhibited against me for not writing to you, which I mean to answer totidem verbis. But before I proceed further must mention, in brief, that news which will be the most important and agreeable of all you will meet with in the letter, viz, that Mrs. Adams and children are well and as chearful as can be...
17To George Washington from William Gordon, 15 April 1778 (Washington Papers)
When you have perused the enclosed, pray you to put it under cover & forward it to Genl Gates. Should not Genl Burgoyne have practised bribery & corruption, he might propose the question from what he had seen heard & observed while at Cambridge: but the question reminded me of what was wrote you the 12th of Jany. Some things I have heard since have tended to corroborate my suspicion. I have...
18To Alexander Hamilton from William Gordon, 23 September 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
Tho from the expressions & innuendos in yours of the 5th instant which I received from Col Henly the last tuesday, I cannot apprehend myself treated with due respect, yet I shall not be thereby drove either to reply with asperity, or to quit my own plan of conduct. Said one of the greatest soldiers of the age in which he lived, “The business of a general is not to fight but to overcome.” When...
19To George Washington from William Gordon, 27 June 1781 (Washington Papers)
In the midst of important business the following anecdote will probably give you some pleasure, with a little pain for the disappointment you have met with in missing the Saddle . A gentleman who served his time with one of my people when I was at London, J. Harvey Pierce, a physician, writes me from Nantz last Feby 12. where He is in his way to America from an attachment to our cause—"I dined...
20To George Washington from William Gordon, 8 January 1778 (Washington Papers)
The cares & fatigues of the campaign are, I hope, so far over, as to admit of your perusing the following lines without interruption, & of writing me an answer however short, as I am desirous of knowing the state of your Excellency’s health, after all the many hardships & difficulties you have been called to pass through. I have been told that they have worn you greatly, but I flatter myself...
21To Benjamin Franklin from William Gordon, 13 May 1778 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Historical Society of Pennsylvania I must first of all congratulate and thank you, for and upon the treaties. We have not had them yet from Congress, but have learnt their contents in general, and approve of them. As a native of GB I could have wished that my countrymen had been wise in time, and had known in their day the things that made for their peace and happiness; but heaven means...
22To George Washington from William Gordon, 10 May 1777 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from William Gordon, 10 May 1777. GW wrote Gordon on 29 June : “I am rather asham’d to be so long in debt for your favor of the 10th Ulto.”
23To George Washington from William Gordon, 23 July 1778 (Washington Papers)
It’s with great pleasure I congratulate you upon our late success, on a double account—the advantage it is of to the Continent—& the honour it reflects upon your Excellency. I hope this happy beginning will, thro’ the blessing of heaven, be productive of so glorious a campaign as to admit your changing the toils & hazards of the field for the repose & safety of domestic happiness. I shall...
24To George Washington from William Gordon, 26 February 1783 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of Ocr the 23d I was honored with in due season: but having nothing special about which to write, & being sensible how many & great your engagements were, I delayed till somewhat of importance might offer. Now is the happy moment: for though we have received no official accounts announcing the Peace, yet the information is so particular & hath the appearance of such authenticity,...
25To George Washington from William Gordon, 19–20 June 1776 (Washington Papers)
I am desirous of writing, tho’ without a flow of spirits. The reason of the last is not any disagreeable news to be transmitted from this neighbourhood; but an apprehension that the crisis is hastening which will deprive me of some valuable friends, nobly falling in the cause of the Continent, & what is more of Liberty. Heaven grant that their number may be small; & that they may be such as...
26To Benjamin Franklin from William Gordon, 13 August[–15 September 1777] (Franklin Papers)
ALS : British Library Your duplicate of May 1st has been recd. Am obliged to you for sending the letter to London by a safe hand, and for your kind offer with respect to any future packits. Have taken the allowed liberty of accompanying this with a few sermons. Would have Mr. Sowden’s wait till an opportunity may offer of sending it on without any great expence, or he may think that the sermon...
27To George Washington from William Gordon, 2–5 March 1778 (Washington Papers)
I wrote you by the Baron De Steuben, & by an express that went from Genl Heath. In the last I mentioned Mr Hancock. Do not find out in any way whatsoever, that he hath concerned himself at all about the late subject of conversation: & expect from circumstances that the scheme of changing is dropt, from observing that the voice of the public is against it. There were a few hints also upon the...
28To George Washington from William Gordon, 22 July 1780 (Washington Papers)
I take this method of introducing to your Excellency Lt Coll Weld (generally pronounced Wells) one of my parishioners, a gentleman, on whose prudence activity courage & zeal for the public good, I apprehend, you may rely without danger of disappointment. On the 5th of March 1776 at night he was honoured with a particular service at the lines next to Boston neck, & had the thanks of Genls Ward...
29To John Adams from William Gordon, 25 October 1775 (Adams Papers)
I begin upon a half sheet, as a quarter may possibly not hold what I have to write, but should I comprehend the whole within that compass, shall dock your allowance, the times demanding the utmost frugality as well as courage. Pray how many more burnings of towns are we to be abused with by the British Barbarians, ere the long suffering of the Congress is concluded, and every manly exertion of...
30To George Washington from William Gordon, 14 August 1777 (Washington Papers)
I embraced the first opportunity of sending you an anniversary sermon, this day fortnight, but had no time to accompany it with a few lines. I took the liberty of covering a few to some other gentlemen. Do the like now, praying you to accept of half a score to dispose of among your Suite, which has been so changed that I have not the pleasure of knowing them. Should be obliged to Mr Pickering,...