This week in Revolutionary War History, let’s discuss what was going on 250 years ago in and around the colonial Province of Massachusetts Bay. The best way to figure out what was going on was to read Washington’s papers and General Orders of the time period, as there was daily correspondence and orders put out to his officers and troops. Still, Washington’s focus is on organizing and funding the newly formed Continental Army, with himself recently being granted the position Commander in Chief by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
On July 22, Washington issues his General Orders for the day with a focus on dividing up the army into divisions and brigades. The army had been divided into three divisions, each made up of two brigades. In tandem with this, his General Orders for the following day had focused on uniforms and a way to differentiate these new divisions.
On July 24, Washington’s orders state he is “expressly forbidding all Officers and Soldiers, from quitting their Guard before they are regularly relieved.” To ward against those leaving their posts and the ever-present threat of low morale and desertion. At this time, John Handcock sits as President of the Continental Congress and is in constant talks with the Commander. Hancock responds to each of Washington’s concerns one-at-a-time, and assures Washington supplies are on the way, as well as saying the congress is working on mustering funds. In support of Washington’s plan to mark troops with colored cloth, Hancock recommends, “It is agreed that tow cloth will be most proper for hunting shirts, & of this the Congress are informed a sufficient quantity may be obtained in Rhode island and Connecticut. It is expected you will give orders for purchasing there the quantity necessary.”
In the next few days, still worrying over funding, Washington states it is worrying some soldiers are re- or double- enlisting to accrue multiple bonuses. For this, he threatens Court Martial.
Finally, we have action from the other side. Following the sending of his General Orders, Washington sends warning to Rhode Island Deputy Governor Nicholas Cooke. The general states he has witnessed “three Men of War and Nine Transports” departing Boston and heading “E.S.E” or east-southeast. He warns the state representative to prepare the coast for assault. He would also warn Hancock and the congress of this development. It was at this time Washington appointed John Trumbull Jr. his esquire. Trunbull was the son of Connecticut’s Governor at the time.
Washington would write to his younger brother, John Augustine Washington on July 27, again stating his (general) liking of New England. He would say the land is “a great deal of delightful country, covered with grass (although the Season has been dry) in a very different manner to what our Lands in Virginia are. I found a mixed multitude of People here, under very little discipline, order, or Government.”
With the siege underway and the general still struggling to get a grip on his troops and information regarding such, his General Orders for July 28 are short and targeting. By name, he calls out the surgeons of 5 regiments, demanding they send him information on solider health status, saying they have “neglected to deliver in the returns of the sick of their respective regiments.”
At this time, he is coming down hard on punishments following military trials: lashes for thievery. At the same time, Washington has received information from a Boston grocery, John Carnes, and the possibility of smuggling information out of the city. His web of spies grows, though he is in constant worry of where the detachment of British ships and troops is going. Rhode Island? New York?
This Week In Revolutionary History…
By Sam Bishop