21To George Washington from William Gordon, 19 December 1785 (Washington Papers)
I find in my minutes the following story to have been reported, the truth or error of which I wish to have ascertained, & therefore make my application to You as the proper person to establish or contradict it, viz., “When Genl Washington was at Morris Town in 1777 with the fewest men, a British officer was taken in a skirmish, who was permitted to go about upon his parole; within a few days...
22From George Washington to William Gordon, 20 April 1786 (Washington Papers)
Mr Lund Washington having expressed a wish to quit business & live in retirement & ease, I could not oppose his inclination; & his having carried these desires into effect, that kind of business which he usually transacted for me, is now thrown on my shoulders in addition to what they bore before, & has left me less time than ever for my numerous correspondences & other avocations. I mention...
23From George Washington to William Gordon, 31 August 1785 (Washington Papers)
In my absence from home on a tour up this river, to view the nature of it & to direct the improvements agreeably the Acts of Assemblies of Virginia & Maryland; the enclosed memoirs arrived here, covered by a letter, of which the following is an extract, from a member of Congress. As I am fully persuaded it is your wish to transmit to posterity a true history of the revolution, & of course you...
24From George Washington to William Gordon, 23 February 1789 (Washington Papers)
In a letter which, I had the pleasure of addressing to you lately, I mentioned my private business and numerous avocations as an apology for the concisness and irregularity that might be observable in my correspondence. I shall therefore be excused for only acknowledging the receipt of your favor dated the 28th of Octr last, and thanking you for the Maps enclosed in it. Not having been able to...
25To George Washington from William Gordon, 19 September 1785 (Washington Papers)
Have ⟨just reed⟩ your letter with the Contents written by Mr Mc⟨Henry⟩, & shall attend to your obliging hints, will be more full in my next. Was alarmed at the black seal, & find no particular mention of the occasion. Wish your Lady better health, in which Mrs Gordon would join me & in best respects to yourself, did she know of my writing. Your sincere friend & humble servant ALS , DLC:GW ....
26From George Washington to William Gordon, 10 April 1787 (Washington Papers)
I have received your favor of the 13th of July and 28th of Septr. I am pleased to hear of your safe arrival in London and of the happy meeting with your friends. I wish you success in the publication of your work and that your future establishment (which you say was not then fixed) may be agreeable to your wishes. The bill which was sent to Rhode Island had the good fortune to come back...
27To George Washington from William Gordon, 25 March 1794 (Washington Papers)
The goodness of my intention will apologize for the present letter. The purport of which, I conceive, may not be known to any American. You may possibly be under the disagreeable necessity of appointing military officers for active service in dangerous warlike undertakings. I have a great regard for Genl Otho Williams, & am under peculiar obligations to him; but if what our deceased friend...
28From George Washington to William Gordon, 25 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
However highly I might be gratified by attending to my private correspondencies, as I used to do, yet so numerous and important are the public duties which my situation calls upon me to discharge, that to do justice to one I must, in some measure, give up the other—In this case it requires not the consideration of a moment to decide. I presume, therefore, it will hardly be necessary to offer...
29To George Washington from William Gordon, 10 January 1785 (Washington Papers)
In arranging the intelligence obtained from the inspection of your papers, I found that an extract from the private letters Vol. 1st dated Oct. 22. 1779, which alluded to one of the most important events of the late war, was not so complete as I wish. It relates to the capture of Fort Washington, which I apprehend ought now to be placed in its true light, as the public cannot suffer from its...
30To George Washington from William Gordon, 28 November 1785 (Washington Papers)
My design of publishing is now in such forwardness, that I expect the proposals for the History of the American Revolution, will be circulated through the United States by the first week in January. I have given direction, that a few should be forwarded to your Excellency from New York as soon as printed. Shall think myself greatly honoured & served by your countenance. I have requested of my...
31From George Washington to William Gordon, 15 February 1778 (Washington Papers)
Since my last to you abt the end of Jany I have been favourd with your Letter of the 12th of that Month, which did not reach my hands till within these few days. The question there put, was, in some degree, solved in my last—But to be more explicit, I can assure you that no person ever heard me drop an expression that had a tendency to resignation. the same principles that led me to embark in...
32To George Washington from William Gordon, 9 April 1786 (Washington Papers)
This will probably be the last letter, you will receive from me till I have crossed the Atlantic. Should I get safe to London, through the kind orderings of Providence, shall take the first opportunity of writing to you. Expect to sail next Wednesday wind & weather permitting. Shall take your present with me, to remind me of your friendship. The honour your Excellency has done me in confiding...
33To George Washington from William Gordon, 30 August 1781 (Washington Papers)
You have been so obliging as to promise me your assistance in my designed history of the present glorious contest for liberty; & I have no doubt of your affording it. Truth & impartiality are what I aim at; & therefore am for getting the best information possible, which must be by having a recourse to original papers in the possession of those who have borne a distinguished & active part in...
34From George Washington to William Gordon, 8 May 1784 (Washington Papers)
Every aid which can be derived from my official papers, I am willing to afford, & shall with much pleasure lay before you, whenever the latter can be unfolded with propriety. It ever has been my opinion however, that no Historian can be possessed of sufficient materials to compile a perfect history of the revolution, who has not free access to the archives of Congress—to those of the...
35From George Washington to William Gordon, 23 October 1782 (Washington Papers)
I have been honored with your favor of the 2d Instt & thank you for the extract of Mr Adams’s letter. I never was among the sanguine ones, consequently shall be less disappointed than People of that description, if our Warfare should continue—From hence (it being the opinion of some Men that our expectations have an accordance with our wishes) it may be inferred that mine are for a...
36From George Washington to William Gordon, 20 December 1784 (Washington Papers)
I am indebted to you for several letters; & am as much so for the Fish you kindly intended, as if it had actually arrived, & I was in the act of paying my respects to it at table—the chance, however, of doing this would be greater, was it at Boston, than in York-town in this State, where, I am informed it was landed at the time the Marqs de la Fayette did; who proceeded from thence to...
37To George Washington from William Gordon, 20 January 1787 (Washington Papers)
I take the opportunity of a vessel for Boston, that so I may send in the speediest way some seeds which I procured from a gentlewoman of my acquaintance at Ipswich, where I was first settled & remained thirteen years. I have likewise added some seed of the rocket double larkspur, which I saw in blow the last year, & was much pleased with on account of their beauty. I am yet unsettled, which...
38To George Washington from William Gordon, 6 September 1787 (Washington Papers)
I rejoice to find that your Lady has of late been troubled less than formerly with the bilious cholick. May She be wholly freed from it, & all prescriptions become unnecessary! Thank you for your kind wishes, they are still needful. No settlement has yet offered. I am going on with my History, & toward the latter end of next month shall begin printing. Health & strength permitting, shall...
39To George Washington from William Gordon, 16 February 1786 (Washington Papers)
Yesterday I recd from Boston the box with the shrubs. They look as well as I could expect, & am greatly obliged to you for them. How far the severe frosts may have damaged them, must be left to the approaching spring to discover. I have some thoughts of taking a number of them with me to London. Should Providence fix me in that spot or neighbourhood, shall endeavour to furnish your garden &...
40To George Washington from William Gordon, 9 January 1778 (Washington Papers)
Monsr Le Baron De Steuben beg’d that I would make him the bearer of a few letters to some of my friends. Being in Boston the last week, learning that he had the best of recommendations, had been by some means neglected so as not to meet with the civilities that might justly be expected, & that he felt strongly the disappointment of the expectations he had formed of the manners of the people in...
41From George Washington to William Gordon, 19 July 1791 (Washington Papers)
As it has ever been a rule with me to make my private concerns give way to my public duties, when both cannot be accomplished, I now find myself under the necessity, from the weight of public business, which is at this time much encreased by an absence of more than three months, [(]on a tour thro’ the southern States) of refraining to enter so fully into my private correspondencies as my...
42To George Washington from William Gordon, 7 March 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your benevolence is so well established, that no apology is needful for my introducing to your notice, my friend the Revd Mr Hickman, who prefers living in a land of real liberty to remaining in his native country, where there is little of it, though great boastings about it. Being at Cambridge the beginning of the week, a gentleman of my acquaintance, Mr Flower, who has published upon the...
43To George Washington from William Gordon, 3 April 1788 (Washington Papers)
I had proposed writing by the present opportunity, before I received your letter of Jany the 1st on tuesday last. Return you my most sincere thanks for your good wishes. The second volume will be printed off I expect by the end of the week after next. The first begins with the settlement of the several colonies, & comes down to & takes in the Lexington engagement. The second finishes with the...
44To 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; &...
45To George Washington from William Gordon, 12 September 1794 (Washington Papers)
Judging there is an advantage from knowing the particular tempers of those, with whom we have to transcrit business of the first consequence, I have taken up my pen to acquaint your Excellency with the following matters. I had an intimate friend, who was settled, as a minister, with an English Presbyterian church in Rotterdam; & who was acquainted with a teaching tutor of a prince of Wales,...
46From George Washington to William Gordon, 29 June 1777 (Washington Papers)
I am rather asham’d to be so long in debt for your favor of the 10th Ulto but a variety of matters for my consideration; and of late, the bustle, & moving condition of the Army, will, I am perswaded, sufficiently appologize for the seeming neglect. I am too far remov’d from Philadelphia, and have too much business of my own, to know, or enquire into the springs which move Congress to such...
47To 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...
48To George Washington from William Gordon, 28 March 1785 (Washington Papers)
Your obliging favours of the 8th inst. were recd on the Saturday. From them I infer not only the continuance of your friendly assistance, but that the papers are regularly received; as yet I have not missed sending, tho’ the post has at times been delayed thro’ the snows: The face of the earth is still covered with them, in these parts, a few trifling spots excepted; & should a thaw come on...
49To 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...
50To George Washington from William Gordon, 31 August 1797 (Washington Papers)
I have enjoyed peculiar pleasure in looking over Fenno’s Gazettes from last Sepr to June 14th 1797: for I have noticed how respectfully & cordially the several States, in their legislative bodies, cities, towns, societies, & united citizens of different denominations, have acknowledged the benefit of your presidency, during the eight years you was at the head of the American Government: & have...
51To 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,...
52To George Washington from William Gordon, 24 September 1788 (Washington Papers)
I send under cover to Mr Hazard, that so it should not be known at the Coffee house, that I correspond with your Excellency; & pray you not only to have any direction to me written in some other hand than your own, but the letter sealed with the seal of another. When you write again, introduce the Key in some sentence when it may appear natural, with a stroke underneath it. The reason of the...
53To George Washington from William Gordon, 28 September 1786 (Washington Papers)
It is with concern I learn, that the old leaven, which brought on the late American troubles, still exists in the present ministry; & that so many falsehoods are propagated to keep up an unfriendly disposition toward the United States, & no more pains taken to contradict them. Among other reports it is said, that the settlement at Kentucky is made up wholly of the scum & refuse of the...
54To George Washington from William Gordon, 29 April 1795 (Washington Papers)
Your ardent, persevering, & disinterested patriotism, from the commencement of the American difficulties; & through the various changes that have occurred, from your being chosen Augt 5. 1774 one of the Virginia delegates down to the present day; assure me, that you will approve of my good intentions to promote & perpetuate the welfare of the United States, though you should think me mistaken...
55To 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...
56To George Washington from William Gordon, 25 January 1798 (Washington Papers)
Your friendly letter of 15th Ocr last was highly acceptable, but before I enter upon a particular answer I mean to transcribe one of our friend Monsr La Fayette’s dated two days before. Upon hearing He was safe in the neighbourhood of Hamburgh I wrote to him on the 9th of Novr to which he answered from Lehmkhul near Ploin, as follows “My dear Sir With heart-felt satisfaction I have received...
57To 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...
58To George Washington from William Gordon, 12 April 1792 (Washington Papers)
Though I rejoice whenever I receive a letter from You, & think myself highly honored by it; yet I would by no means call off your attention from the important business of the United States. Your excellency’s safe return from the southern tour was matter of thankfulness, especially considering the danger you was once in upon the water. Not considering the distance & other circumstances, I...
59To 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...
60To 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...
61To 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,...
62To George Washington from William Gordon, 16 February 1789 (Washington Papers)
Ringwood in Hampshire (97 miles from London) My Dear Sir Feby 16. 1789 I have at length finished that arduous undertaking, in which I have been engaged for many past years. I shall have peculiar pleasure in learning that it meets with your Excellency’s approbation; & that you are not disappointed in that reliance you exercised on my honor & prudence, when you admitted me to a free inspection...
63To 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...
64To 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...
65To George Washington from William Gordon, 20 February 1790 (Washington Papers)
Though I anticipated the pleasure of hearing you would be chosen President; yet it was confirmed & increased by the actual news of an event, which expressed the gratitude & wisdom of the United States, in conferring their executive power & confidence on the person, who had never deceived nor abused it—no; not when he was tempted to it. The knowledge of this remains to be known by them in some...
66To 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,...
67From George Washington to William Gordon, 8 March 1785 (Washington Papers)
Since my last to you, I have been favored with several of your letters, which should not have remained so long unacknowledged, had I not been a good deal pressed by matters which could not well be delayed, & because I found a difficulty in complying with your request respecting the profiles—the latter is not in my power to do now, satisfactorily. Some imperfect miniature cuts I send you under...
68From George Washington to William Gordon, 15 October 1797 (Washington Papers)
Your favour of the 20th of Feb: has been received, and I am indebted to you for many other unacknowledged letters. The truth is, I soon found after entering upon the duties of my late public station, that private correspondencies did not accord with official duties; and being determined to perform the latter to the best of my abilities, I early relinquished the former, when business was not...
69To George Washington from William Gordon, 13 August 1783 (Washington Papers)
Your obliging letter of the 8th ulto was duly received. We have been earnestly waiting for the definitive treaty, but as yet have had no authentic account of it. However looking upon it as certain & at hand, have determined with the permission of Heaven setting off for the Jerseys next monday fortnight. Mrs Gordon accompanying me in the chaise will oblige us for the sake of better roads & a...
70To George Washington from William Gordon, 16 January 1796 (Washington Papers)
This will be presented to You, as I hope, by the nephew of Mrs Gordon, Mr Oliver Field; who from right principles emigrates from Great Britain, that he may become a citizen of the United States, & secure to himself, & family & posterity, those sacred & civil rights, that he cannot enjoy in his native country. He prefers the American Constitution to all others: & from conviction of its being...