Blood of Tyrants: George Washington & the Forging of the Presidency (55 page)

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Authors: Logan Beirne

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IV. Tribunals & Tribulations
 
1
The Army Athletic Council’s Report,
The Theory and Practice of Athletics at the Military Academy, West Point
, 1927, i; “Notable USMA Graduates,” United States Military Academy.
Chapter 21: Gentleman Johnny
vs
. Granny Gates
 
1
Joshua Hett Smith,
An Authentic Narrative of the Causes Which Led to the Death of Major André
(1808), 12.
2
Ibid., 3.
3
Ibid., 4.
4
Ibid.
5
Journals of the Continental Congress
, May 25, 1775, 2:60.
6
Manuscript of Major James Wemyss, Sparks Manuscripts in Harvard College Library.
7
Sir Henry Clinton (1775), in
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 585.
8
A report from Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton to General Sir William Howe , October 9, 1777,
Naval Documents of the American Revolution
, 10,
American Theatre: October 1, 1777–December 31, 1777
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996), 98–99.
9
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 8.
10
A report by Major General John Vaughan to Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, undated (likely October 26, 1777),
Naval Documents of the American Revolution
, 10:300, reporting the destruction of Kingston, New York.
11
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 545.
12
Robert C. Doyle,
The Enemy in Our Hands: America’s Treatment of Enemy Prisoners of War, from the Revolution to the War on Terror
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2010), 14.
13
The girl’s name was Jane McCrea. Journal of Lieutenant William Digby of the Shropshire Regiment, in
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 559.
14
Proclamation of John Burgoyne, June 23, 1777, in
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 548.
15
Journal of General Riedesel’s wife, October 1777, in
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 600.
16
John Fiske,
The American Revolution
(Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1896), 1:255.
17
While Gates did express a desire for higher rank, it is unclear how much of a role he played in the underhanded plot to oust Schuyler. The latter seems to have viewed Gates largely as a puppet of the New England congressmen. See General Philip Schuyler to Gouverneur Morris, September 7, 1777, as cited in Max M. Mintz, 
The Generals of Saratoga: John Burgoyne & Horatio Gates
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 262n9.
18
Benson John Lossing,
The Life and Times of Philip Schuyler
(1883), 1:131.
19
Fiske,
The American Revolution
, 1:254.
20
“General Philip Schuyler,” Son of the South website,
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-war/general/philip-schuyler.htm
.
21
Fiske,
The American Revolution
, 1:254.
22
Proclamation of John Burgoyne, June 23, 1777.
23
Fiske,
The American Revolution,
1:264.
24
Recollections of Captain E. Wakefield, in
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 581.
25
Major Henry Dearborn, in
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 577.
26
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 590.
27
Ebenezer Mattoon to General Philip Schuyler, October 7, 1835, in ibid., 594.
28
Major General David Wooster, Military Journal Entry, 1777, qtd. in Barry Wilson,
Benedict Arnold: A Traitor in Our Midst
(Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001).
29
Hoffman Nickerson,
The Turning Point of the Revolution, Or Burgoyne in America
(Cambridge, Mass.: Riverside Press, 1928; repr. 2006), 352.
30
Henry Beebee Carrington,
Battles of the American Revolution
(1876), 357.
31
Stanley Weintraub,
Iron Tears: America’s Battle for Freedom, Britain’s Quagmire: 1775–1783
(New York: Free Press, 2005), 202.
32
John Burgoyne to Henry Clinton, September 23, 1777, qtd. in Nickerson,
The Turning Point of the Revolution
, 343.
33
Ibid., 352.
34
The Lost War: Letters from British Officers during the American Revolution
, ed. Marion Balderston and David Syrett (New York: Horizon, 1975), 130.
Chapter 22: A Traitor Lurks
 
1
James Thomas Flexner,
The Traitor and the Spy: Benedict Arnold and John André
(New York: Harcourt Brace, 1953).
2
Captain Benedict Arnold’s Connecticut Company’s Proclamation, April 24, 1775, qtd. in James Kirby Martin,
Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered
(New York: New York University Press, 1997), 63.
3
Jim Murphy,
The Real Benedict Arnold
(New York: Clarion Books, 2007), 165.
4
Don Higginbotham,
The War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practices, 1763–1789
(1978; Northeastern University Press, 1983), 246.
5
Elias Boudinot,
Historical Recollections of American Events During the Revolutionary War, from his original manuscript
(Philadelphia: Bourquin, 1984), 78.
6
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 708.
7
Philander D. Chase, “Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben,”
American National Biography
(February 2000).
8
Ibid.
9
William Cullen Bryant and Sydney Howard Gay,
Scribner’s Popular History of the United States
(1879), 597.
10
Qtd. in Walter Harold Wilkin,
Some British Soldiers in America
(London: Hugh Rees, Ltd., 1914), 258.
11
Testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Harrison, in
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 712.
12
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 708.
13
Joseph Plumb Martin,
A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier
(New York: Signet Classics, 2001), 91–95.
14
Ibid.
15
Wilkin,
Some British Soldiers in America
, 260.
16
Ibid.
17
The Spirit of Seventy-Six
, 710. This was a court-martial.
18
Francis Vinton Greene,
The Revolutionary War and the Military Policy of the United States
(1911), 148.
19
Qtd. from Colonel Laurens (aide to Washington), in Charles Lee and Edward Langworthy,
The Life and Memoirs of the Late Major General Lee
(1813), 49.
20
The History of Dueling in America
, PBS Special Feature,
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/duel/sfeature/dueling.html
.
21
Chernow,
Washington: A Life
, 346.
22
Benson John Lossing, “General Charles Lee: Traitor of the American Revolution,” in
Our Country: Household History for All Readers
, 2 (1877).
23
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 16.
24
Flexner,
The Traitor and the Spy
, 226.
25
Ibid., 234.
26
Major Henry Lee, “Capture of Major André,”
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
4 (1880), 61.
27
Flexner,
The Traitor and the Spy
, 230.
28
Martin,
Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero,
443.
29
John Talbot,
History of North America
(1820), 1:338. This was a court-martial.
30
Lee, “Capture of Major André.”
31
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 16.
32
Ibid.
33
Murphy,
The Real Benedict Arnold
, 191.
34
Ibid.
35
Washington to Joseph Reed, May 28, 1780, in
The Writings of George Washington
, 18:436.
36
Isaac Q. Leake,
Memoir of the Life and Times of General John Lamb
(1857), 379.
Chapter 23: Treason of the Blackest Dye
 
1
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 10.
2
Polish General Tadeusz Kościuszko.
3
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 10.
4
Thacher,
Military Journal of the American Revolution
, 215.
5
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 10.
6
Diary of Tobias Lear, Private Secretary to Washington, October 23, 1786.
7
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 10.
8
Orders of Nathanael Greene, September 26, 1780, qtd. in
The Diary of the American Revolution
, ed. Frank Moore (New York: Washington Square Press, 1967), 2:323.
9
Benedict Arnold to John André, July 15, 1780, qtd. in Alex Storozynski,
The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution
(New York: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s, 2009), 85–92. The modern comparison comes from the MeasuringWorth Project’s average earning index. Many thanks to Samuel H. Williamson for his help on this point. Estimates vary widely, but this is just meant to provide an estimate for the modern reader.
10
Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, October 15, 1780, in
The Papers of Alexander Hamilton
, ed. Harold C. Syrett et al. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961–1987), 2:467.
11
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 20.
12
Frank Bertangue Green,
The History of Rockland County
(1889), 94.
13
Winthrop Sargent,
The Life and Career of Major John André
(Boston, 1861), 8.
14
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 9.
15
Flexner,
The Traitor and the Spy
, 26.
16
Letter from John André, October 19, 1769.
17
Flexner,
The Traitor and the Spy
, 26.
18
Smith,
An Authentic Narrative
, 21.
19
Anna Seward, “Monody on Major Andre” (1817).
20
Richard Lovell Edgeworth,
Memoirs of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Esq.
(1821), 1:109.
21
Flexner,
The Traitor and the Spy
, 25.
22
Ibid., 28.
23
Sargent,
The Life and Career of Major John André
, 39.
24
John Davison Lawson, ed.,
American State Trials
(1916), 6:465.
25
“Major John Andre,” Revolutionary War 1777: People, Independence Hall Association,
UShistory.org
.
26
Orders of Nathanael Greene, September 26, 1780.
27
Benedict Arnold to George Clinton, Governor of New York, August 22, 1780, George Washington Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
28
Jim Murphy,
The Real Benedict Arnold
(New York: Clarion Books, 2007), 202.
29
Benedict Arnold to George Clinton, Governor of New York, August 22, 1780.
30
“Obstructed the Hudson,”
New York Times
, February 16, 1895.
31
Robert McConnell Hatch,
Major John André: A Gallant in Spy’s Clothing
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986), 236.
32
Sargent,
The Life and Career of Major John André
, 280.
33
Major Henry Lee, “Capture of Major André,”
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
 4 (1880), 64.

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