Major General Arthur St. Clair to George Washington, 16 June 1781
From Major General Arthur St. Clair
Philada June 16th 1781
Sir
Upon my Arrival at this Place I found the Assembly met, and no apparent Disposition amongst them to do any thing to forward the recruiting Service—indeed a Passage in the Presidents Message which represents the Line as in respectable Strength seemed calculated to induce them to believe it unnecessary.1 I therefore thought it my Duty to call their Attention to that Object, and wrote to the Speaker of the House upon the Occasion2 my Letter was read—the Business immediatly referred to a Committee and another appointed to bring in a Bill and from the Report of the first we had formed the most sanguine Expectations that the Line would have been filled immediatly, and the necessity of sending Militia to Virginia superseded3—but the Bill itself which Genl Irvine has enclosed to Your Excy is in a very different Spirit and indeed nothing is to be expected from it but disgusting the People.4 It is distressing to see how things go on here—a considerable part, and much the most respectable, of the Legislature are disposed to do every thing that is necessary & that Circumstances will admit—but the Majority, under some mischievous Influence, seem intent only on defeating the Designs of the Others, without regard to the general Welfare or the particular Disgrace the State incurs.
The Accounts from Virginia are vague, and uncertain but, Lord Cornwallis has a force much superior to the Marquis, and it is to be feared will prevent the Baron who is at the Fork, with about seven hd new levies & some Militia, from joining him. Tarleton and Simcoe have been detached to attack him, and tho he may escape them most probably the Stores will fall into their hands or be destroyed5—What his Ldsp designs are is hard to divine, but as yet he does not seem to intend fixing himself in that Country, as I cannot learn that he has as yet made one Post, but is moving on with his Army towards Potowmack, and ravaging the Country below Him with Detachments. I sometimes think he designs for Pennsylvania, nor is it altogether improbable, for tho he has no Force equal to a Conquest it would be a very effectual way of counteracting Your Excellency.6
General Wayne joined the Marquis on the 9th instant7—I have no Accounts from him since he left York-Town. a Letter of his of that Day came to Hand a few Days ago8—The enclosures I now transmit to your Excellency, tho I doubt not he made similar Returns to Head Quarters.9 The Deficiency has been occasioned by Desertion and sickness there now remains at the different Cantonments about one hundred Men most of whom are unfit for Duty.
Your Excellency will oblige me by marking the precise time it will be necessary for me to join the Army—I would not wish to delay it a moment, but the State of Mrs St Clairs Health who I found very ill, and still continues so, makes me desire to postpone as long as the Service will permit.10 I hope Mrs Washingtons Health is perfectly reestablished11 and request You will do me the favour to present my Compliments and am &ca.
Genl Irvine, who is very uneasy at the inactive State he is obliged to remain in, has proposed to endeavour to raise some Corps of volunteer Horse and lead them to Virgia.12 If it can be done it may be of great Service by turning the Attention of the better Class of People again to Arms I have encouraged him in it and hope it may meet with yr Excly’s Approbation.13
ADf, OHi: Arthur St. Clair Papers.
1. The Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council had delivered a message on 31 May to the state’s general assembly with this observation: “We have the satisfaction to acqua[i]nt you, that the line is again formed into respectable strength, and that a detachment under the command of General Wayne, has marched to the relief of our suffering brethern in the Southern States” (, 12:738–39; see also Anthony Wayne to GW, 26 May).
2. St. Clair had written the Pennsylvania assembly on 5 June to urge completion of enlistments (see , 1:549).
3. The assembly read St. Clair’s letter on 6 and 8 June and then designated “a committee to request a conference with his excellency the president and council thereupon, and the general officers of the Pennsylvania line now in town, and to report to the house an effectual plan for completing the said line.” On 12 June, the committee reported to the house, and on 15 June it presented a bill, which was read, debated, and ordered to be “printed for public consideration” (, pp. 659–61, 666, 668–71, quotes on 661 and 671). For the militia wanted for service in Virginia, see Samuel Huntington to GW, 3 June, n.2.
4. See William Irvine to GW, 14 June, and n.5 to that document.
5. For these operations, see Richard Henry Lee to GW, 12 June, and notes 3 and 9 to that document.
6. For Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis’s operations in Virginia, see Lafayette to GW, 28 June, and n.1 to that document.
7. Brig. Gen. Anthony Wayne’s detachment of the Pennsylvania line joined Major General Lafayette’s command in Virginia on 10 June (see Lafayette’s first letter to GW, 24 May, n.6).
8. Wayne’s letter to St. Clair has not been identified.
9. The enclosures have not been identified, but see Wayne to GW, 26 May, and n.1 to that document.
10. Phoebe Bayard St. Clair suffered from mental illness (see also St. Clair to GW, 4 July).
11. For Martha Washington’s illness, see GW to John Parke Custis, 31 May, and n.2 to that document.
12. See Irvine to GW, 14 June.