George Washington Papers
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To George Washington from Lieutenant Colonel Richard Varick, 24 October 1780

XX
From Lieutenant Colonel Richard Varick

Robinson’s House Oct. 24th 1780.

Sir

Yesterday I was honored with Your Excellency’s Favor of the 21st by Colo. Lamb.1

I am sorry to find that such cogent & just reasons render it improper, & have influenced Your Excellency to direct, that the Enquiry into my Conduct be extended no further back, than during my unhappy Connexion with the guilty Arnold. A friendly Opinion to that Effect from Colo: Harrison, had in some Measure prepared me, for a Disappointment to my ardent Wishes.

I thank Your Excellency for informing me, that Testimonials of my former Conduct, are admissible, as presumptive Evidence of my present Innocence, or the contrary; This will in Part answe[r] my Wishes; Altho’ I cannnot expect a pointed Decision from the Court, on my Conduct, prior to my being dismissed by Congress in January last.2

If possible, I do not wish to rest my Acquittal or Condemnation on my former good or bad Conduct; I hope, with some Degree of Confidence that from the Circumstantial Evidence, I shall be able to produce, I will not be much indebted to a former unimpeached Character, for my Acquittal in the present Case.

If Colo: Meade ever sent his Deposition, I fear it has miscarried. I have received the Papers alluded to in Your Excellency’s Letter, covered by one of the 19th from Colo. Harrison; That Gentleman informs me he had drafted his Deposition & if he could meet with a Magistrate, in his rout⟨e⟩ to Virginia, he would attest to it & send it to Me.3

As it may be of essential Importance to Me, to be furnished with the Testimony of one of the Gentlemen of Your Excellency’s Family, with respect to my Conduct, on and after the 25th September, & Whether the Papers taken on André were in my Hand Writing; I have by this Conveyance requested Colo. Hamilton to be so obliging as to send me his, by the first Oppertunity;4 Least those from Meade & Harrison should not reach me in Season, or not be broad enough, with respect to the Papers taken on André.5 I have the Honor to be, with the highest Sentiments of respect & Gratitude, Sir, Your Excellency’s Most Obliged & Obedt Servt

Richd Varick

ALS, DLC:GW; ALS, MH: Dearborn Collection.

1See Document XVIII.

2Varick alludes to his dismissal as deputy mustermaster general (see Document XV, and n.2).

3The letter from GW’s secretary Robert Hanson Harrison to Varick dated 19 Oct. has not been identified, but see n.5 below.

4Varick wrote GW’s aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton from Beverly Robinson’s house on this date: “I am to beg you, to be so obliging, as to send me your deposition, by the first conveyance, of what my conduct was, or appeared to be to you, from the morning of the 25th after you arrived here ’till that of the 28th Sept., when you left us. Whether any part of my conduct or language betrayed any privity of Arnold’s rascally designs agt. his country or of his flight to the enemy. God only knows that my then unsuspicious mind would not admit the idea, till Mrs. Arnold’s declaration in her phrenzy ‘That he was gone forever’ alarmed my fears & that soon after waited on his Secy., fearful to discovery but anxious that he should know my apprehensions & beg’d him to see Mrs. Arnold at her request. … I wish you, in your depn. to declare whether any & which of the papers found on André were in my handwriting. I am told one of Sheldon’s Returns is. I can very well account for it” (Hamilton Papers description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 2:488–89, ellipses in source; see also Document I, n.2 above, and Document VIII, notes 4–10, with Major John André’s Capture and Execution, 23 Sept.–7 Oct., editorial note). Hamilton wrote Varick from Preakness on 28 Oct.: “I have received several letters from you to Harrison and myself: the requisitions of which I believe have been mostly complied with. It is impossible for me to ascertain what papers have been forwarded and what remain to be forwarded, as Harrison transacted the matter before he went away and left no minute. If you will let me know particularly what are deficient I will with pleasure forward them by the first opportunity. … Harrisons & Meade’s depositions have just gone on” (Hamilton Papers description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 2:494; see also n.5 below).

Hamilton swore a deposition at Preakness on 31 Oct. “that from all the circumstances of the behaviour of Richard Varick, Esqr., on the late occasion of the desertion of Major General Arnold, so far as the said Alex. Hamilton was witness to them, he was fully persauded of the innocence of the said Richard Varick Esqr. in the treasonable proceedings of the said Arnold” (Hamilton Papers description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 2:495–96). Hamilton’s deposition does not appear in Hart, Varick Court.

5Harrison and GW’s aide-de-camp Richard Kidder Meade, then traveling to Virginia for personal reasons, both supplied depositions for Varick sworn on 21 Oct. (see also Harrison to Hamilton, 27 Oct., in Hamilton Papers description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 2:490–92).

Harrison’s deposition reads: “Colonel Richard Varick having solicited his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief for a Court of Inquiry to examine into his conduct, on account of his being in, and one of, the late Major-General Arnold’s family when he fled to the enemy on the 25th of September last, and having requested me to attend the Court in order to testify in what light his conduct appeared to me when the discovery was made of Mr. Arnold’s escape, and the corespondence he had been carrying on with the enemy, which occasioned it—or to give my deposition, in case circumstances would not permit me to attend—I do make oath on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God (circumstances not permitting me to attend the Court of Inquiry) that I was at Robinson’s House in the Highlands, on the 25th of September, with his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, when he received information of the capture of Major André, Adjutant-General to the British Army, and the papers which had been found upon him, and of Mr. Arnold’s having gone down the river; that Colonel Varick and Major Franks were there at the time, and from every circumstance in their conduct and deportment, both before the Commander-in-Chief received the information of these events, as well as after, it appeared to me that they were entirely ignorant both of the treacherous correspondence Mr. Arnold had been carrying on with the enemy, and his intentions to escape. Every circumstance that I saw led me to believe they were not privy to either, and their air, their manner, the whole tenor of their behavior appeared to me strongly to characterize their innocence” (Hart, Varick Court description begins Albert Bushnell Hart, ed. The Varick Court of Inquiry to Investigate the Implication of Colonel Varick (Arnold’s Private Secretary) in the Arnold Treason. Boston, 1907. description ends , 113–15).

Meade’s deposition reads: “Colonel Varick having requested the Commander-in-Chief to grant him a Court for the purpose of inquiring into his conduct, as it might be imagined to be connected with General Arnold’s traitorous designs, and desiring me to attend the Court, and not being able to comply with his request, I do swear on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God that I arrived at Robinson’s House some time in the afternoon on the day of Arnold’s flight, and shortly after was informed that he had gone to the enemy. The Commander-in-Chief desired both Colonel Varick and Major Franks (two gentlemen of General Arnold’s family) to consider themselves under arrest. They voluntarily delivered me the keys of their chests, which they afterwards had occasionally. Both these gentlemen repeatedly expressed their anxiety to have me search their chests, which I was as much opposed to, from a conviction founded on their behavior, that they were entirely free from any knowledge of Arnold’s treacherous designs. At length, and after Major Franks’s departure, who accompanied Mrs. Arnold to Philadelphia, Colonel Varick urged the examination of his chests so pressingly that I yielded to his solicitations, but still without the most distant suspicion of making any discovery unfavorable to this gentleman. I could not, consistent with my feelings, make so minute a search as he seemed to wish and as I would have made under other circumstances; but I must declare in justice to Colonel Varick, that from his behavior and from the view which I took of his papers, there was not in my opinion the least room to suspect his fidelity” (Hart, Varick Court description begins Albert Bushnell Hart, ed. The Varick Court of Inquiry to Investigate the Implication of Colonel Varick (Arnold’s Private Secretary) in the Arnold Treason. Boston, 1907. description ends , 115–17).

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