To George Washington from Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, 25 November 1779
From Brigadier General Anthony Wayne
Light Infantry Camp Second River [N.J.]
25th Novr 1779
Dear General
I was honored with your favor of the 20th Instant the day before yesterday on the banks of the North River opposite Fort Washington, & must Conclude that I omitted a word or two in my letter of the 18th, but your Excellency has done me justice in supposing that I wou’d not attempt anything Capital without giving you previous notice & obtaining your permission, Indeed in this Instance we could not have effected our design but by your Excellency’s concurrence, as the boats must have been furnished by your Order, so that when I said that we had Determined to strike the Enemies Camp on the North side of Kings Bridge—I could have had no other Idea—but by your Approbation—all I regret is, that we had not adopted the Idea sooner—or that the Enemy had not waited a few days longer—for be Assured that we should have succeeded to your most Sanguine wishes.
I intend to Reconnoitre Staten Island—if anything can be Attempted there with a fair prospect of Success, I shall attend your Excellency on the Occation.
Inclosed is the Proceedings of a General Court Martial of this Corps on Patrick Obrian1—I am told that he is an old Offender in this way, whether it was from the effects of Liquor (as the Pennsa & Connecticut Troops had recd some state Stores the preceeding Evening) or from some other cause I can’t say—but two or three Soldiers belonging to these States were also Mutinous, & have been punished in a very Exampleary manner i.e. by receiving from 300 to 500 lashes ⅌ man which has made all the other boys remarkably quiet & orderly—I wish your Excellency’s Determination on Obrian—as he has been some time in Confinement.2
I did myself the honor of sending you Mr Rivingtons paper of the 20th by Capt. Jones of Baylers Dragoons, in which the Enemy seem not a little elated on their Success at Georgia—& have given a hint to Congress (which they ought to profit by) i.e. that the term for which great part of this Army is Inlisted for—is nearly expired—& that we have every thing to Apprehend from an Enterprizing Army at a Season when we shan’t be in a Condition to Oppose them,3 Indeed I believe that Mr Clinton means to take the Advantage of this Winter—otherwise he will Certainly leave this Country—but this is only the Conjecture of Your Excellency’s Most Obt & very Hum. Servt
Anty Wayne
ALS, DLC:GW; ADfS, PHi: Wayne Papers. Wayne wrote a note on the same date on the cover of the ALS: “The Commanding Officer at Stoney Point is Desired to forward this Letter to Head Quarters & to send back the Dragoon.”
1. Wayne enclosed proceedings from a brigade court-martial held at Aquakinunk, N.J., on 14 November. Maj. Thomas Posey, president of the court-martial, signed the document, which reads: “The Court being first Sworn proceeded to the trial of Patrick Obryan [Bryan] of Captain Christie’s Compy chargd with Striking Ensign [Benjamin] Brown and tearing his cloaths, Secondly for Striking & abusing Corporal Bouge of Colo. Putnams Regiment on his Post—thirdly for abusing Some officers of Colo. Putnams Regiment—Fourthly for disobedience of orders and Repeatedly making use of Insolent Language.
“The prisoner being put upon his pleads not guilty.
“Ensign Brown being Sworn deposeth and Saith that on 9th Inst. he was on business at the Commisary, hearing a noise he Stept to the door where he Saw Several officers of whom he Enquird the Cause—In the mean time he heard a noise at the guard Steping to the place found the prisoner beating the Corporal of the guard, Interpos’d in order to Suppress the Same the prisoner often telling him the deponent to let him alone alledging he would have Revenge—Having disengagd them the deponent orderd the prisoner to his Regiment who Refusd to obey—When he orderd the Corporal to take charge of him and Carry him to his Regiment—The deponent again turnd about to the officers hearing the prisoner Curse them and Swear they were not officers but a Set of damnd Yanky Bugars & if they would turn out he would flog the best bugar among them, Repeatedly ordering the best of them to turn out—I then Returnd to the prisoner took him by the arm and orderd him to his Regiment—he Refusd, upon which the deponent told the prisoner that if he persisted he Should be obligd to use measures disagreeable, The prisoner told the deponent he had better not Strike him which he attempted to do when the prisoner Wrested the Stick from The deponent then took up the Second Stick with which he Struck him Several times, He again forc’d the Second Stick from the deponent at the Same time catching him the deponent by the throat or Collar and tearing his cloaths The deponent then Struck the prisoner in the face with his fist and threw him down—The prisoner held him by the Collar pulling him down and Struck him Several times in the face … The deponent then disengagd himself from the prisoner when he rose up and put himself in a position for another Engagement Swearing he had but one life to lose and he would as Soon lose it then as at any time, The deponent then took the prisoner by the arm & brought him to his Regiment ordering a guard for his Security, during which time the prisoners language was Equally Insolent Repeatedly telling me to touch him if I dar’d.
“Q: was he drunk or Sober?
“A. by the deponent I do not think he was drunk. …
“The Prisoner Says in his defence that Ensign Brown orderd him home, and he the prisoner told Ensign Brown he would go home at the Same time Saiying he would obey Ensn Brown as Soon as any officer.
“The court are of opinion after maturely Considering the charges Exhibited against the prisoner Together with the testimony for & against him that he is guilty of a breach of the Second Section and fifth article of the articles of war, And do Sentance him the prisoner to Suffer death two thirds of the majority Concuring therein” (DLC:GW). The fifth article of the second section of the articles of war reads: “Any officer or soldier who shall strike his superior officer, or draw, or shall lift up any weapon, or offer any violence against him, being in the execution of his office, on any pretence whatsoever, or shall disobey any lawful command of his superior officer, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall, according to the nature of his offence, be inflicted upon him by the sentence of a court-martial” ( 5:790).
Patrick Bryan served as a private in the 3d Pennsylvania Regiment from at least 1777. He can be found on the muster rolls for Capt. James Chrystie’s company as late as April 1780 (see 5th ser., 2:959).
2. GW replied to Wayne on 27 November.
3. Capt. Cadwallader Jones of the 3d Continental Dragoons brought The Royal Gazette (New York) for 20 November. That newspaper carried several accounts detailing the American and French defeat at Savannah on 9 Oct. and an undated commentary from “Vindex” titled “To the REBEL CONGRESS.” Vindex’s remarks read: “O! YE many headed monsters of the west, pregnant with ‘treason, stratagem and spoils?’ What is now the result of all your subtile sordid machinations against true liberty and the true religion of your fathers. …
“Damn’d in your hopes, damn’d in your fame in this life, what have you to expect in that to come? …
“Credulity itself is sick of listening to your fictions, and the people are no longer to be satisfied with ‘a shew of liberty which yet they neer must taste of,’ they now know in spite of your industry to conceal their situation and lead them hoodwinked to their ruin, in spite of those airs of triumph, security and prosperity grimly assumed by the Congress, that the New England army has been disgraced and their fleet ruined at PENOBSCOT,—that the united force of France and of all the rebels in the Southern Provinces has been defeated with great slaughter in GEORGIA;—that the Indians, notwithstanding the mighty deeds of Sullivan, have seized upon FORT STANWIX, the important key into Pennsylvania, Jersey, and New York, and have it now in their choice in what province they will begin to retaliate a few of those cruelties exercised lately upon their women and old men, by laying waste the provinces and thereby co-operating with the consumption and ravages of the rebel army to hasten the famine already at hand. They know too that the currency is descending without remedy below all value; that bank notes at two-pence each (thirty paper dollars for one of silver) a ridicule, that they who attempt to support its credit, can have only in view to avail themselves of the credulity of the ignorant in order to profit in time by some transactions in bartering it for real property, that whenever it totally loses credit no earthly means (and heaven does not seem inclined to work miracles for them) remains to the Congress of keeping an army together, of forming magazines, providing stores and subsistence, keeping up armed craft for the defence of their rivers or carrying on any of the other necessary preparations even for defensive war, nor of rewarding their supporters and transferring the property of individuals at pleasure into the hands of their minions in exchange for waste paper. They know that the Irish and other emigrants from Europe, whom those heroes by proxy have ensnared into their service in order to fight their battles, and who have been the very prop and stamina of their armies are now exhausted, and no future prospect, had they even money, of recruiting the forces, at a time too when the term of service of the men that now compose the regiments is ready to expire. They know too that that army is extremely discontented and kept together by means and precautions which cannot be practised in the presence of an enterprizing enemy. They know also, (for they feel it most heavily in experience) that the only mode of subsisting that army, now in their power, is to scatter it over different districts, and force from the unwilling farmers their grain and cattle, consequently, that whenever the season shall arrive in which it will be forced to assemble by the offensive operations against it, it must learn to live upon air, as the troops will have other employment than to canton themselves over the country, and snatch the bread from the hungry mouths of the repining inhabitants.”