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PROPERTY OF A MARYLAND COLLECTOR
GREENE, Nathaneal (1742-1786), General, Continental Army. Autograph letter signed ("N. Greene"), to unidentified, Head Quarters, Baconbridge, 25 April 1782. 4 pages, 4to, foxed, water staining along edges, edges repaired.
細節
GREENE, Nathaneal (1742-1786), General, Continental Army. Autograph letter signed ("N. Greene"), to unidentified, Head Quarters, Baconbridge, 25 April 1782. 4 pages, 4to, foxed, water staining along edges, edges repaired.
"I AM TIRED OF THE WAR; AND MOST DEVOUTLY WISH FOR AN END OF IT. HOWEVER I DO NOT MEAN SHORT OF INDEPENDENCE"
"RATHER THAN SUBMIT TO ANYTHING SHORT OF THAT LET US WAGE WAR FOR LIFE." A weary, at times embittered, but nevertheless resolute General Greene sends this letter in the hands of Mr. Izard, and "from him you can learn our situation more fully than I can describe it. But if I was to tell you it was tolerable or in any respect agreeable my feelings would contradict my language. I can assure you the case is quite otherwise. Never was an Army in a more deplorable situation, naked, without pay, spirits or any thing to comfort the men. They are also badly fed and but indifferently covered. With an army in this condition opposed to every superior force and obliged to lay near the enemy, you may well suppose I think our prospects not the most eligible." He doubts that people in Virginia or further north appreciate the situation. They seem to think that "nothing is too difficult for us to encounter. This persuasion will injure them and ruin me..." He marvels at the destruction wrecked in his theatre of operations: "This country has been ravaged little less than Saxony last war..." The Americans all looked to the arrival of a French fleet, but Greene is not optimistic on that score.
"We have no prospect of peace. The British tyrant is still relentless." He laments the lack of energetic actions by the States to secure independence--"how languid!"--and gives vent to his war weariness: "For want of more vigor and unanimity in our measures I am tired of the war; and most devoutly wish for an end of it. However I do not mean short of Independence nor in one condition dishonorable. Rather than submit to anything short of that let us wage war for life..."
"I AM TIRED OF THE WAR; AND MOST DEVOUTLY WISH FOR AN END OF IT. HOWEVER I DO NOT MEAN SHORT OF INDEPENDENCE"
"RATHER THAN SUBMIT TO ANYTHING SHORT OF THAT LET US WAGE WAR FOR LIFE." A weary, at times embittered, but nevertheless resolute General Greene sends this letter in the hands of Mr. Izard, and "from him you can learn our situation more fully than I can describe it. But if I was to tell you it was tolerable or in any respect agreeable my feelings would contradict my language. I can assure you the case is quite otherwise. Never was an Army in a more deplorable situation, naked, without pay, spirits or any thing to comfort the men. They are also badly fed and but indifferently covered. With an army in this condition opposed to every superior force and obliged to lay near the enemy, you may well suppose I think our prospects not the most eligible." He doubts that people in Virginia or further north appreciate the situation. They seem to think that "nothing is too difficult for us to encounter. This persuasion will injure them and ruin me..." He marvels at the destruction wrecked in his theatre of operations: "This country has been ravaged little less than Saxony last war..." The Americans all looked to the arrival of a French fleet, but Greene is not optimistic on that score.
"We have no prospect of peace. The British tyrant is still relentless." He laments the lack of energetic actions by the States to secure independence--"how languid!"--and gives vent to his war weariness: "For want of more vigor and unanimity in our measures I am tired of the war; and most devoutly wish for an end of it. However I do not mean short of Independence nor in one condition dishonorable. Rather than submit to anything short of that let us wage war for life..."