Philada
11 July 1781.
A 20-page survey of the southern campaign recounting Lord Cornwallis' peregrinations from the Battle of Camden, August 16, 1780, to his encampment at Willimsburg in late June 1781.(1)
"Lord Cornwallis by his travels through the Southern States must have gained some knowledge of the disposition of the Americans and what little foundation there is for those idle reports and surmises with which the nation of Great Britain has been so long amused and deceived, that the bulk of the people were in favour of Britain and that the opposition and the war is upheld and supported by a faction: In his long marches from Charles town to Camden, from Camden to Dan, from Dan through the whole extent of Carolina to Wilmington, from Wilmington to Richmond and from Richmond to the foot of the blue ridge and thence down again to Williamsburg and the sea coast, a route of upwards of eleven hundred miles, what accession of force did he gain? What supplies or assistance did he receive except from those immediately in his power and who was under the terror of his army? Who was it but the armed yeomanry of the Country that opposed his march and so often forced him to measure back his steps with such speed? And yet at this time the people were in a great degree in a state of nature, being free from all restraints of government. In South Carolina a civil government was wholly suspended, North Carolina was in such confusion and tumult by the sudden invasion, that government had no time to exert itself and the people were left to act from the immediate impulses of their own minds. The case was the same in Virginia when the Assembly retired from Richmond to Charlotteville and from thence across the mountain to Augusta. And yet as fast as the people could arm themselves they repaired to the continental standard and joining the few continental troops in the field voluntarily and bravely exposed their lives in defence of their rights and liberties and could a sufficient number of arms have been procured and put into the hands of the volunteer militia, his lordship would have sooner been convinced to his Cost of the rediculous absurdity of such assertions.
"There is another instance which ought not to be omitted and which demonstrates in the clearest manner what a deed rooted and national hatred of Britain possesses the minds of the people. I mentioned in my last the great embarrassments of our finances. During the time of those great exertions already mentioned the public treasury was in a manner empty, The Army unpaid and ill supplied with provisions and in a manner naked for want of cloaths. When the troops under Genl Washington were separated and sent into their winter cantonments, some british deserters that had been inlisted in the Pensylvania line took advantage of the uneasiness occasioned for want of money, cloaths and provisions and some complaints among those troops on account of the terms of enlistment and incited them to a mutiny and open revolt. The news of this revolt quickly reached New York and Clinton from a fond hope of turning it to his advantage immediately dispatched two emissaries to the mutineers with large offers of reward if they would come over to him, and even proceeded so far as to march with a body of troops to the west end of Staten Island with a view to facilitate a junction with him if they accepted his offer or to support them in case they should be attacked by the troops of the other States. But so deep rooted was their aversion to the british that they immediately seized his emissaries and kept them closely confined declaring at the same time that though they were driven by wrongs and distresses to the present measures they looked for redress from no other quarter than from the State to which they belonged and that in case Clinton advanced to take advantage of their seeming defection from the cause they would instantly put themselves under the command of their officers and convince him that their attachment to the cause was the same it ever was. And to give farther force to their declarations they advanced from Princetown to Trenton and delivered up the emissaries who were executed as spies.
"I should now give you some account of our internal affairs but I imagine you are pretty well tired with this minute detail of military transactions and know you will receive from others whose duty it is information on some arrangements late taken I shall therefore spare you.
"Enclosed is an official letter from the Secretary of Congress informing you that Mr Huntington having on account of his ill state of health been obliged to apply for leave of absence and to quit the chair, Congress proceeded to the election of another President and their choice has fallen on Mr McKean.(2) "You have also a cypher (3) which you may use either in your public dispatches or with your friend the Secretary who presents his most respectful compliments to Mrs Jay and begs your acceptance of the same."(4)
RC (NNC: Jay Papers). In Thomson's hand, though not signed. The manuscript of the August 9 continuation, abstracted below from NYHS Collections, 11 (1878): 54-61, has not been found.
1 This letter was published in NYHS Collections, 11 (1878): 41-61, from a Thomson file copy which varies in a number of minor details from this RC
2 See Thomson to the States, July 10, 1781.
3 For this enclosure, a nomenclator employing arabic numerals for code equivalents, and some of the difficulties Jay experienced in the use of it, see Jay, Papers (Morris), 1:664, 2:114, 118, 151.
4 For the continuation of this letter, see Thomson to Jay, August 9, 1781.
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