To George Washington from Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, 8 January 1781
From Brigadier General Anthony Wayne
Prince Town [N.J.] 8th Jany 1781.
Dear General
Your favor of the 3rd with a poscript dated the 4th at 7. OClock A.M. by Major Fishbourn came to hand last evening, the manner in which your Excellency has been pleased to Approve of the Conduct of the Officers in General, and ours in particular, Affords a Sensation which words can not express.
It would have afforded us Infinate pleasure, had fortune put it into our power to Inform you that this Alarming affair was happily terminated.
We are fully of Opinion that a total Dissolution of the Pennsa Line—or an Order to Disband the Whole, is more Advisable, than to Admit the Unreasonable Claims of these Mutineers, or even to Adopt the terms herewith sent,1 which you’l find rejected upon their part,2 they have been stimulated to this, by the Inclosed Overtures from the Enemy,3 which came into our hands in the following manner Vizt.
About 4 OClock yesterday morning We were waked by two sergts who produced a letter from the Enemy, Inclosed in a small piece of tea lead4—they also brought under Guard two Caitiffs; who undertook to deliver it to the Leaders of the Mal-Contents; One of these Culprits, says he is a Sergt in ODells new raised Corps & was promissed a Considerable reward on bringing back an Answer,5 the Soldiery in General Affect to spurn at the Idea of turning Arnolds (as they express it)—We have used every Address to Inflame their minds against Wretches—who would dare to I[n]sult them by Imagining them traitors—for had they thought them Virtuous they would not have carried those Overtures.
they hold them in Mort Main6 & should they yet agree to Govr Reeds terms—will probably Sacrifice them as a peace Offering to their Country, on the Contrary they will be spared & Rewarded[.] however their Conduct on the last Occasion, thus far appears favorable, could we prevail upon them to execute thes⟨e⟩ people as Spies—it would effectually shut the Door against farther Negociation with the Enemy—but whilst they continue to hold them alive, it gives us ground to wish ourselves and the Line in the Vicinity of Trent Town, Notwithstanding any Assurances they continue to give us of Opposing the Enemy at every expense of blood under our Conduct, should they Land & Attempt to Advance in the Jersey. We have the Honor to be with every Sentiment of Esteem Your Excellency’s Most Obt & very Huml. Serts
Anty Wayne
N.B. Genl Irvine is Just arriv’d & now with us—the Enemy have not given over all hopes of succeding with our people—an other letter of the Same tenor with the Copy you have Inclosed came to hand today. 7. OClock P.M.
The troops have this moment agreed to move for Trent town agreeable to Govr Reeds proposiels—& to bring the two Caitiffs along as prisoners.
ALS, DLC:GW; ADf, PHi: Wayne Papers; copy (photostat), NN. GW’s aide-de-camp David Humphreys docketed the ALS: “No Ansr given—Vide Letter to Genl St Clair. Janry 12. 1781.” Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair evidently enclosed the ALS with his letter to GW of 9 Jan., which has not been found (see GW to St. Clair, 12 Jan.).
1. The enclosed proposals offered to the mutineers by Joseph Reed, president of the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, and council member James Potter, dated at Princeton on 7 Jan., read: “His Excellency Joseph Reed Esqr. Governor & the honorable Brigadier Genl Potter of the Supreme Executive Council of the State of Pennsa having heard the Complaints of the Soldiers, as represented by the Serjeants, informs them that they are fully authorised to redress reasonable Grievances & they have the fullest disposition to make them as easy and happy as Possible for which end they propose.
“1st: That no Non Commissioned officer or Soldier shall be detained beyond the time for wch he freely & Voluntarily engaged, but where they appear to have been in any respect compelled to enter or sign, such Instruments to be deemed void & the Soldier discharged.
“2d, To settle who are, or are not bound to stay, three Persons to be appointed by the President & Council, who are to examine into the Terms of enlistment, when the original Inlistments, cannot be found, the Soldiers Oaths to be admited to prove the time & Terms of Inlistment, and the Soldier to be discharged upon his Oath of the Conditions of Inlistment.
“3dly: When[e]ver any Soldier has inlisted for three Years or during the War, he is to be discharged unless he shall appear afterwards to have reinlisted voluntary & freely—the Gratuity of 100 dollars given by Congress, not to be reckoned as a bounty, or any Man to be detained in Consequence of receiving that Gratuity, The Commissioners to be appointed by the President & Council to adjust any difficulties which may arise on this Article also.
“4th: The auditors to attend as soon as possible to settle the depreciations with the Soldiers & give them Certificates—Their Arrearages of Pay to be made up as soon as Circumstances will admit.
“5th A Pair of Shoes, overhalls & Shirts will be delivered out to each Soldier, in a few days as they are already purchased & ready to be sent forward, whenever the Line, shall be settled.
“Those who are discharged to receive the above Articles at Trenton producing the Generals discharge. The Governor hopes that no Soldier of the Pennsa line will brake his Bargin or go from the Contract made wth the Public & they may depend upon it that the utmost Care will be taken to furnish them with every necessary fitting for a Soldier—The Governor will recommend to the State to take some favourable Notice of those who engaged for the War.
“The Commissioners will attend at Trenton when the Clothing & the Stores will be immediately brought & the Regiments to be settled with in their order.
“A Field officer of each Regiment to attend during the Settlement of his Regiment, pursuant to Genl Waynes Order of the 2d Instant.
“No Man to be brought to any Tryal or Censure for what has happened on or since New-Years day, but all Matter⟨s⟩ to be buried in Oblivion” (DLC:GW). For Reed’s meeting with mutineers, see Continental Congress Committee on the Pennsylvania Line to GW, 7 Jan., n.1.
2. The mutineers’ committee of sergeants was not favorable to the proposals, but the soldiers at large agreed to them (see the postscript to this letter, and Wayne to GW, 11 Jan.).
3. The enclosed document, in addition to conveying the British proposals to the mutineers, included correspondence between Wayne and the committee of sergeants on a provision of new clothing for the Pennsylvania troops (see DLC:GW; see also n.4 below).
4. For the proposals from the British to the mutineers, see Continental Congress Committee on the Pennsylvania Line to GW, 7 Jan., n.2. Tea-lead is “an alloy used for lining tea-chests” (). Wrapping the document in tea-lead would have made it weatherproof, in addition to helping disguise the document.
5. John Mason (d. 1781), a Loyalist of Orange County, N.Y., one of the emissaries from the British, was a raider and freebooter who had once been involved in a plot to capture New Jersey governor William Livingston (see Livingston to William Livingston, Jr., 24 June 1779, in , 3:123–25). At the time of his recruitment as an emissary to the mutineers, Mason had just been released from the New York City provost jail (where he and his wife had been confined for thievery) to serve as a sergeant in Lt. Col. William Odell’s Loyal American Rangers destined for service in the West Indies (see , 87–93).
James Ogden (d. 1781), the other emissary and Mason’s guide to the encampment of the Pennsylvania mutineers, is largely unknown beyond his name (see , 116).
6. Wayne’s meaning is not clear, but the legal term Mortmain, derived from the Latin words mortua manus—dead hand, refers to “The condition of lands or tenements held inalienably by an ecclesiastical or other corporation” (). In a letter to the Continental Congress Committee on the Pennsylvania Line of this date, Reed explained that the mutineers kept Mason and his fellow emissary “in close prison” (, 2:326–27).