Washington Given Command
Historical Highlight: Washington Given Command
George Washington confides in his wife about the daunting task of commanding the ragtag Continental Army.
(“George Washington as Colonel in the Virginia Regiment,” by Charles Willson Peale, 1772. | SOURCE: Washington-Custis-Lee Collection, Washington and Lee University)
[The following highlight is the beginning of a series noting the defining actions taken by George Washington, Washington and Lee’s original benefactor and namesake, 250 years previously that month. As spring bled into summer in the year 1775, the 43-year-old Virginian planter, politician, and one-off military officer George Washington felt the rumblings of discontent up and down America’s Thirteen British Colonies. The seeds of American dissatisfaction, which had been planted over the previous decades by the British Parliament and watered by the Proclamation of 1763 forbidding western settlement, had sprouted the year prior. Protesting Parliament’s heavy-handed response to the Boston Tea Party, the Virginia House of Burgesses, of which Washington was a member representing Fairfax County, had declared “a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer,” after which Royal Governor Dunmore summarily dissolved the body. Washington had joined his fellow Burgesses in continuing to operate as an ad hoc body, supporting fellow pro-Colonial, yet not yet pro-independence, bodies in other colonies. He was instrumental in the creation and propagation of the Fairfax Resolves, which argued that, despite holding the “wish and inclination … to continue our connection with and dependence upon the British government,” the Colonies “will use every means which Heaven hath given us to prevent our becoming its slaves.” Washington firmly opposed many British policies he considered “subversive of everything I ought to hold dear and valuable.” He was one of seven men sent by Virginia to the clandestine First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, to which he rode convinced that Britain’s actions were “not only repugnant to natural right, but subversive of the law and constitution of Great Britain itself.” After reaching Congress on September 4, 1775, Washington made no secret of his military inclinations. In the words of Douglas Southall Freeman: “He had brought with him from Mount Vernon a red-and-blue uniform he had worn in the French and Indian War — the one in which Charles Willson Peale had painted him — and now he was wearing it daily, as if to signify to his fellow-Delegates that he believed the time had come to take the field.” Sooner, rather than later, Congress would put his uniform to use: this time, in the field.]
To Martha Washington
Philadelphia, June 18th 1775
My Dearest,
I am now set down to write to you on a subject which fills me with inexpressable concern—and this concern is greatly aggravated and Increased when I reflect on the uneasiness I know it will give you—It has been determined in Congress, that the whole Army raised for the defence of the American Cause shall be put under my care, and that it is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to take upon me the Command of it. You may beleive me my dear Patcy, when I assure you, in the most solemn manner, that, so far from seeking this appointment I have used every endeavour in my power to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with you and the Family, but from a consciousness of its being a trust too great for my Capacity and that I should enjoy more real happiness and felicity in one month with you, at home, than I have the most distant prospect of reaping abroad, if my stay was to be Seven times Seven years. But, as it has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this Service, I shall hope that my undertaking of it, is designd to answer some good purpose—You might, and I suppose did perceive, from the Tenor of my letters, that I was apprehensive I could not avoid this appointment, as I did not even pretend [t]o intimate when I should return—that was the case—it was utterly out of my power to refuse this appointment without exposing my Character to such censures as would have reflected dishonour upon myself, and given pain to my friends—this I am sure could not, and ought not to be pleasing to you, & must have lessend me considerably in my own esteem. I shall rely therefore, confidently, on that Providence which has heretofore preservd, & been bountiful to me, not doubting but that I shall return safe to you in the fall—I shall feel no pain from the Toil, or the danger of the Campaign—My unhappiness will flow, from the uneasiness I know you will feel at being left alone—I therefore beg of you to summon your whole fortitude & Resolution, and pass your time as agreeably as possible—nothing will give me so much sincere satisfaction as to hear this, and to hear it from your own Pen. …
As Life is always uncertain, and common prudence dictates to every Man the necessity of settling his temporal Concerns whilst it is in his power—and whilst the Mind is calm and undisturbed, I have, since I came to this place (for I had not time to do it before I left home) got Colo. Pendleton to Draft a Will for me by the directions which I gave him, which Will I now Inclose—The Provision made for you, in cas[e] of my death, will, I hope, be agreeable …
I shall add nothing more at present as I have several Letters to write, but to desire you will remember me to Milly & all Friends, and to assure you that I am with most unfeigned regard,
My dear
Patcy Yr Affecte
Go: Washington
To Martha Washington
Philadelphia June 23d 1775
My dearest,
As I am within a few Minutes of leaving this City, I could not think of departing from it without dropping you a line; especially as I do not know whether it may be in my power to write again till I get to the Camp at Boston—I go fully trusting in that Providence, which has been more bountiful to me than I deserve, & in full confidence of a happy meeting with you sometime in the Fall—I have not time to add more, as I am surrounded with Company to take leave of me—I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time or distance can change, my best love to Jack & Nelly, & regard for the rest of the Family concludes me with the utmost truth & sincerety
Yr entire
Go: Washington