Major General Horatio Gates to George Washington, 29 April 1781
From Major General Horatio Gates
philadelphia 29th April 1781
Sir
The last Letter I had the Honour to write Your Excellency was from Berkeley in Virginia the 15th of January. I wish it was discover’d by what Artifice your Dispatches of the 8th of October—were detain’d Sixty Four days with Evident Marks of their having been open’d before they reach’d me, as I already mention’d in my last Letter; The Injuries which the public, as well as myself, may have suffered from that interception, are of Greater consequence than is Generally imagined.1
I am inform’d that my Letter of the 24th Instant to the president of Congress, entreating that Honourable Body “to protect me against Standing, though Vague accusations,” is referred to Your Excellency. I cannot believe that I shall be Doom’d to remain an Useless Officer, Stain’d with Disgracefull Imputations, unless they be supported by Legal Charges—The Precedent would point out to Our Enemies, how they ought to direct Slander to much Greater Advantage. The British Generals must be stupid indeed, if they did not avail themselves of such promising Opportunities for Obtaining Success, with a prodigious Saving of Blood, and Money.2
Since our first Exertions in this Arduous Contest to this day, your Excellency has experienced many Deficiencies in Men, and Things. To Descant on these, as far as they Affect me, would be an injudicious Recrimination. The Faults of Others can exculpate no Offender; and the Innocent stands in no need of such Resources. when I shall be pointedly charged, I will Answer, and I trust to the satisfaction of my Superiors, but I hope it will not be my unhappy Lot to continue Stigmatized until I shall have proved a Negative.
Major Thomas Pinkney one of my Aides de Camp, having been wounded in the Action near Camden, was taken, and lies a prisoner with a Fractured Leg in Charlestown. From the begining of the War, he Distinguished himself in most of the Engagements we have had with the Enemy to the Southward, and is a Major in the South Carolina Line of The Federal Army He most Earnestly requests me to Solicit his Exchange, his Life being in imminent Danger, unless he be Speedily removed.
He is a young Gentleman of Great Merit; & I am confident that if you were acquainted with Him, you would feel a Singular pleasure in conferring upon him the Favour he entreats from your Excellency. I am not insensible of the Situation of other deserving Officers, who may claim a prior Title to their exchange; but in extraordinary Cases general Rules may be dispensed with. If the requested Favour can be Granted, I shall be equally gratefull, as if I were personlly benefitted by it.3 I have the Honour to be with Great Respect Sir Your Excellencys most Obedient and most Humble Servant
Horatio Gates
ALS, DLC:GW; copy, NN: Emmet Collection. GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman docketed the ALS: “recd 9th May.”
1. See GW to Gates, 8 Oct. 1780, which Gates received on 11 Dec.; see also Gates to GW, 15 Jan. 1781.
2. Congress subsequently authorized Gates to resume active service, but he declined without an official investigation and exoneration (see Samuel Huntington to GW, 26 April, and n.3 to that document; see also , 20:521–22, and Huntington to GW, 28 May, DLC:GW).
3. In his reply to Gates on 12 May, GW explained that he could not seek an exchange for Maj. Thomas Pinckney “out of his turn, but I can … with propriety desire General Greene to interest himself in obtaining his parole” (NHi: Gates Papers).
Pinckney wrote Gates from Philadelphia on 4 Aug.: “I avail myself of the first Opportunity which has offerd since I have trod on American ground of inquiring after your Welfare and making my particular Acknowledgements for your Interposition in Favor of my Exchange, which tho’ unsuccessful equally evinced your kind Intentions.
“By the Cartel lately settled for the Southern Department my Parole is extended to any Place not within 12 Miles of a British Post, by which means tho still a Prisoner I have the Satisfaction of breathing a free Air.
“I am in hopes of setting off for Carolina in the Course of the next Winter, when if I can possibly so contrive it, I will endeavor to pay my Respects to you in Virginia” (). In his reply to Pinckney, written at his home in Berkeley County, Va., later in August, Gates observed: “I find from your Letter, that Mr Motte has acquainted you with the Application I made to General Washington, for your Exchange; I wish it had Succeeded better; but a little Time may perhaps bring things about” ().