細節
WASHINGTON, GEORGE, President. Letter signed ("Go:Washington") as Commander-in-Chief, Continental Army, to an unidentified officer [Colonel Israel Shreve], Head Quarters, Morristown [New Jersey], 8 January 1780. 4 pages, folio, 312 x 190mm. (12 3/8 x 7 1/2 inches), the ink faded but readable, slight fold separations, pages 2 and 3 strengthened with a transparent layer of fine Japanese tissue paper.
A SECOND VALLEY FORGE? WASHINGTON AUTHORIZES THE SEIZURE OF PROVISIONS FROM CIVILIANS "FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE ARMY ON WHOM THEIR SAFETY DEPENDS," IF IT CAN BE DONE WITH A DUE "REVERENCE FOR THEIR RIGHTS"
A circular letter sent to a number of officers of the Continental Army by General Washington, in the midst of a shortage of supplies which rivaled the disastrous winter encampment at Valley Forge. Here, he furnishes confidential instructions for requisitioning essential food from the local inhabitants, authorizing outright seizure if voluntary requisitions fail: "The present distresses of the Army with which you are well acquainted, have determined me to call upon the respective Counties...for a proportion of Grain and Cattle according to the ability of each. For this purpose I have addressed the Magistrates...This mode I have preferred as the one least inconvenient to the inhabitants; but in case the requisition should not be complied with, we must then raise the supplies ourselves in the best manner we can...
"I have pitched upon you to superintend the execution of this measure in the County of Burlington...You will proceed there with all dispatch, and, calling upon the Justices, will deliver them the inclosed address [see Fitzpatrick 17:362-364 for text], enforcing it with a more particular detail of the sufferings of the troops...You will at the same time delicately let them know, that you are instructed, in case they do not take up the Business immediately, to begin to impress [seize] the Articles called for [grain and beef cattle], throughout the County. You will press for an immediate answer...
"If it be a compliance, you will concert them with them, a proper place for the reception of the Articles; and the time of delivery, which for the whole is to be in eight days after the application...[T]he Owners...are to chuse whether they will receive the present market price, or the market price at time of payment...In case of refusal you will begin to impress till you make up the quantity required. This you will do with as much tenderness as possible to the inhabitants...having regard...that no family may be deprived of its necessary subsistence. Milch Cows are not to be included in the impress...
"I have reposed this trust in you from a perfect confidence in your prudence, zeal and respect for the Rights of Citizens. While your measures are adapted to the emergency. I am persuaded you will not forget, that as we are compelled by necessity to take the property of Citizens for the support of the Army on whom their safety depends, we should be careful to manifest that we have a reverence for their rights..."
The Continental Army, quartered in Morristown for the winter of 1779-1780, had only crude log cabins to shelter them from the record cold and food supplies ran desparately low. "The winter quarters became an ordeal of almost unbelievable suffering...The commissariat again broke down and the 10,000 to 12,000 troops at Morristown faced death from cold and starvation..." (Boatner, p. 747). Published (from Washington's letterbook copy) in Fitzpatrick, 17:780-781 (where Shreve is noted among recipients of Washington's instructions).
A SECOND VALLEY FORGE? WASHINGTON AUTHORIZES THE SEIZURE OF PROVISIONS FROM CIVILIANS "FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE ARMY ON WHOM THEIR SAFETY DEPENDS," IF IT CAN BE DONE WITH A DUE "REVERENCE FOR THEIR RIGHTS"
A circular letter sent to a number of officers of the Continental Army by General Washington, in the midst of a shortage of supplies which rivaled the disastrous winter encampment at Valley Forge. Here, he furnishes confidential instructions for requisitioning essential food from the local inhabitants, authorizing outright seizure if voluntary requisitions fail: "The present distresses of the Army with which you are well acquainted, have determined me to call upon the respective Counties...for a proportion of Grain and Cattle according to the ability of each. For this purpose I have addressed the Magistrates...This mode I have preferred as the one least inconvenient to the inhabitants; but in case the requisition should not be complied with, we must then raise the supplies ourselves in the best manner we can...
"I have pitched upon you to superintend the execution of this measure in the County of Burlington...You will proceed there with all dispatch, and, calling upon the Justices, will deliver them the inclosed address [see Fitzpatrick 17:362-364 for text], enforcing it with a more particular detail of the sufferings of the troops...You will at the same time delicately let them know, that you are instructed, in case they do not take up the Business immediately, to begin to impress [seize] the Articles called for [grain and beef cattle], throughout the County. You will press for an immediate answer...
"If it be a compliance, you will concert them with them, a proper place for the reception of the Articles; and the time of delivery, which for the whole is to be in eight days after the application...[T]he Owners...are to chuse whether they will receive the present market price, or the market price at time of payment...In case of refusal you will begin to impress till you make up the quantity required. This you will do with as much tenderness as possible to the inhabitants...having regard...that no family may be deprived of its necessary subsistence. Milch Cows are not to be included in the impress...
"I have reposed this trust in you from a perfect confidence in your prudence, zeal and respect for the Rights of Citizens. While your measures are adapted to the emergency. I am persuaded you will not forget, that as we are compelled by necessity to take the property of Citizens for the support of the Army on whom their safety depends, we should be careful to manifest that we have a reverence for their rights..."
The Continental Army, quartered in Morristown for the winter of 1779-1780, had only crude log cabins to shelter them from the record cold and food supplies ran desparately low. "The winter quarters became an ordeal of almost unbelievable suffering...The commissariat again broke down and the 10,000 to 12,000 troops at Morristown faced death from cold and starvation..." (Boatner, p. 747). Published (from Washington's letterbook copy) in Fitzpatrick, 17:780-781 (where Shreve is noted among recipients of Washington's instructions).