George Washington to Fielding Lewis, 28 June 1781
To Fielding Lewis
Peaks-kill 28th June 1781.
My dear Sir,
Nothing but the hurry of business, & a mind always on the stretch on acct of the variety of matter that is constantly presented to it, could have induced me to let your letter of the 24th of April remain so long unacknowledged.1 I shall not be able to write to you so fully at this time as I could wish, but this reason shall no longer prevent me from writing at all.
I lament most sincerely, the System of policy which has been but too generally adopted in all the States to wit, that of temporary expedients; which like quack medicines are so far from removing the causes of complaint that they only serve to increase the disorder; this has, in a most remarkable manner, been the case with respect to short enlistmts; which has been the primary cause of all our misfortunes. all our expences (which may, through a thousand different channels, be traced up to this source)—and of the calamities which Virginia, the two Carolinas & Georgia now groan under.2 That there should be such wretched management in our State as you describe, is much to be regretted. that your representation of this matter is not exagerated I have every reason to believe, because my Estate bears evidence of the truth of it, as I shall be obliged to sell one part to pay taxes on the other—but this I should do with chearfulness if the taxes were equally laid, & judiciously applied.3 but flagrant partiality is enough to sower the minds of any people, and bring curses on the authors of it—a Man may err once—& he may err twice but when those who possess more than a common share of abilities persevere in a regular course of destructive policy, one is more apt to suspect their hearts than their heads—this from what I have heard may not be misapplied to a person whose name you have mentioned.4
I feel much for the present distress of Virginia; and for the many worthy persons on whom the calamities of War have been most severe; and wish my ability to serve them was equal to my wishes—but it is not—I want the means—and yet it is miserable even in contemplation to think, that such a State as Virginia should be overrun by a handful of Men—The spirit of the people is certainly departed from them—for nothing but exertion can be wanting to drive Lord Cornwallis into the Mountains, or to his Ships. Why then does it go undone? I am doing all I can to counteract the enemys plans to the Southward, but how far I shall succeed time only can discover5—the same languor, & the same policy prevails here as elsewhere; how far therefore I shall be able to collect men (& they are yet to be collected) is more than I can say—fatal experience has convinced us that to carry Troops from this quarter to the Southward is to encounter (upon the March only) the loss of one third if not half, in a land March by sickness & desertion, arising from a disinclination to serve in that part6 of the Continent.
We have nothing very interesting at this time, in this quarter except the Marching of the French Army from Rhode Island to form a junction with ours on this river which event will, probably, take place in about six days.7 I wish the girls who have lately taken Husbands all the happiness this life affords8 and very sincerely wish you a perfect recovery of your health. Mrs Washington left me on Monday last in a very low and weak state having been sick for more than a Month with a kind of Jaundice—It was uncertain whether she would proceed further than Philadelphia till our affairs in Virginia should take a more favourable turn.9 remember me in the most Affectionate manner to my Sister and the rest of the family and be assured that I am with much truth Dr Sir Yr Obedt & Affecte Ser.
Go: Washington
ALS, NjP: De Coppet Collection.
1. Lewis had written about his poor health, family news, and military and political developments in Virginia.
2. GW consistently criticized short enlistments, preferring troops enlisted for the war.
3. Responding to a request for a bank subscription, GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman wrote Robert Morris, superintendent of finance, from New Windsor on 24 June that GW “desires me to inform you candidly that desirous as he is to patronize and support the scheme, he has it not in his power to set his name to the subscription just now. He assures me that so far has the income of his Estate for several years back fallen short of his family expences and Taxes that he has lately been obliged to sell part of his real Estate to pay his taxes” (, 1:175–76). GW had considered selling his enslaved property to raise money (see his letter to Benjamin Harrison, 21 March). For GW’s 1781 tax payments, see , p. 161.
4. GW probably refers to Patrick Henry (see Lewis to GW, 24 April, and n.7 to that document).
5. GW had sent a detachment under Major General Lafayette to Virginia (see his second letter to Lafayette, 20 Feb., source note).
6. GW wrote “qart” for this word.
7. The French and American armies formed a junction on 6 July (see General Orders, 30 June, and notes 1 and 4 to that document).
8. For recent marriages in GW’s family, see Lewis to GW, 24 April, and notes 2–3 to that document.
9. Martha Washington left headquarters on 25 June for Philadelphia, where she stopped en route to Mount Vernon (see GW to Timothy Pickering, 24 June). For her illness, see GW to John Parke Custis, 31 May, and n.2 to that document.