[256] Washington to Major-General Lee, Dec. 1, 1776; _ib._, V, 62.

[257] General Greene to Governor Cooke, Dec. 4, 1776; _ib._, footnote to 62.

[258] Washington to President of Congress, Dec. 12, 1776; _Writings_: Ford, v, 84.

[259] Washington to President of Congress, Dec. 24, 1776; _ib._, 129-30.

While Washington was desperately badly off, he exaggerates somewhat in this despondent report, as Mr. Ford's footnote (_ib._, 130) shows.

[260] Washington to President of Congress, Nov. 11, 1776; _ib._, 19.

[261] Washington to John Augustine Washington, Nov. 19, 1776; _Writings_: Ford, v, 38-39.

[262] Washington to President of Congress, Sept. 8, 1776; _ib._, iv, 397.

[263] Washington to John Augustine Washington, Sept. 22, 1776; _ib._, 429.

[264] Washington to Lund Washington, Sept. 30, 1776; _Writings_: Ford, iv, 457-59.

[265] Washington to John Augustine Washington, Feb. 24, 1777; _ib._, v, 252. The militia officers were elected "without respect either to service or experience." (Chastellux, 235.)

[266] Kapp, 115.

[267] _The Crisis_: Paine; _Writings_: Conway, i, 175.

[268] Marshall (1st ed.), iii, 66.

[269] The militia were worse than wasteful and unmanageable; they deserted by companies. (Hatch, 72-73.)

[270] Washington to Wharton, Oct. 17, 1777: _Writings_: Ford, vi, 118-19.

[271] _Ib._

[272] Washington to John Augustine Washington, Oct. 18, 1777; _ib._, 126-29.

[273] Livingston to Washington, Aug. 12, 1776; _Cor. Rev._: Sparks, i, 275.

[274] Lee to Washington, Nov. 12, 1776; _ib._, 305.

[275] Sullivan to Washington, March 7, 1777; _ib._, 353-54.

[276] Schuyler to Washington, Sept. 9. 1776; _ib._, 287.

[277] Smith to McHenry, Dec. 10, 1778; Steiner, 21.

[278] Chastellux, 44; and see Moore's _Diary_, i, 399-400; and _infra_, chap. IV.

[279] Washington to Livingston, Dec. 31, 1777; _Writings_: Ford, vi, 272.

[280] Washington to President of Congress, Dec. 23, 1777; _ib._, 260; and see _ib._, 267.

[281] _Pa. Mag. Hist. and Biog._, 1890-91 (2d Series), vi, 79. Most faces among the patriot troops were pitted with this plague. Washington was deeply pockmarked. He had the smallpox in the Barbadoes when he was nineteen years old. (Sparks, 15.)

[282] Weedon, Jan. 6, 1778, 183.

[283] Hatch, 135; and Kapp, 109.

[284] _Proc._, Ma.s.s. Hist. Soc. (2d Series), vi, 93.

[285] _Ib._ Entries of desertions and savage punishment are frequent in Wild's _Diary_; see p. 135 as an example. Also see Moore's _Diary_, i, 405.

[286] Weedon, 14.

[287] _Ib._, Sept. 3, 1777, 30.

[288] _Ib._, Sept. 15, 1777, 52. And see Sept. 6, p. 36, where officers as well as privates are ordered "instantly Shot" if they are "so far lost to all Shame as basely to quit their posts without orders, or shall skulk from Danger or offer to retreat before orders."

[289] Livingston to Webb, May 28, 1781; _Writings_: Ford, ix, footnote to 267.

[290] One reason for the chaotic state of the army was the lack of trained officers and the ignorance of the majority of common soldiers in regard to the simplest elements of drill or discipline. Many of the bearers of commissions knew little more than the men; and of such untrained officers there was an overabundance. (Hatch, 13-15.) To Baron von Steuben's training of privates as well as officers is due the chief credit for remedying this all but fatal defect. (Kapp, 126-35; also _infra_, chap. IV.)

[291] For statement of conditions in the American army throughout the war see Hatch; also, Bolton.

[292] The States were childishly jealous of one another. Their different laws on the subject of rank alone caused unbelievable confusion. (Hatch, 13-16. And see Watson, 64, for local feeling, and inefficiency caused by the organization of the army into State lines.)

[293] Hatch says that Connecticut provided most bountifully for her men.

(Hatch, 87.) But Chastellux found the Pennsylvania line the best equipped; each Pennsylvania regiment had even a band of music.

(Chastellux, 65.)

[294] "The only garment they possess is a blanket elegantly twined about them. You may judge, sir, how much this apparel graces their appearance in parade." (Inspector Fleury to Von Steuben, May 13, 1778; as quoted in Hatch, 87.)

[295] Diary of Joseph Clark; _Proceedings_, N.J. Hist. Soc. (1st Series), vii, 104. The States would give no revenue to the general Government and the officers thought the country would go to pieces.

(Hatch, 154.)

[296] Heitman, 285.

[297] Binney, in Dillon, iii, 284.

[298] Washington to Committee of Congress, July 19, 1777; _Writings_: Ford, v, 495.

[299] Washington to President of Congress, Aug. 23, 1777; _Writings_: Ford, vi, 50; also see Marshall (1st ed.), iii, 126.

[300] Marshall (1st ed.), iii, 126.

[301] _Ib._, 127.

[302] On this subject see Waldo's poem, _Hist. Mag._, vii, 274; and Clark's Diary, _Proc._, N.J. Hist. Soc., vii, 102.

[303] Weedon, Aug. 23, 1777, 19.