**** Mrs. Warren's History of the Revolution, i., 389.
* November 14, 1777. Journals, iii., 395.
Hopefulness of Washington.—Conspiracy to deprive him of the chief Command.—Persons named as Malcontents.
"that men enough could be found in a condition fit to discharge the military camp duties from day to day; and for this purpose, those who were naked borrowed of those who had clothes." Unprovided with materials to raise their beds from the ground, the dampness occasioned sickness and death. "The army, indeed, was not without consolation," says Thacher, "for his excellency the commander-in-chief, whom every soldier venerates and loves, manifested a fatherly concern and fellow-feeling for their sufferings, and made every exertion in his power to remedy the evil, and to administer the much-desired relief." Yet, amid all this suffering day after day, surrounded by frost and snow (for it was a winter of great severity), patriotism was still warm and hopeful in the hearts of the soldiers, and the love of self was merged into the one holy sentiment, love of country. Although a few feeble notes of discontent were heard, * and symptoms of intentions to abandon the cause were visible, yet the great body of that suffering phalanx were content to wait for the budding spring, and be ready to enter anew upon the fields of strife in the cause of freedom. It was one of the most trying scenes in the life of Washington, but a cloud of doubt seldom darkened the serene atmosphere of his hopes. He knew that the cause was just and holy; and his faith and confidence in God as a defender and helper of right were as steady in their ministrations of vigor to his soul, as were the pulsations of his heart to his active limbs. ** In perfect reliance upon Divine aid, he moved in the midst of crushed hopes, and planned brilliant schemes for the future.
While pressed with complicated cares incident to his exalted position and the condition of the army under his command, Washington was "wounded in the house of his friends." Jealous and ambitious men were conspiring to tarnish the fair fame of the commander-inchief, to weaken the affections of the people for him, and to place the supreme military command in other hands. Among those designated at the time as the most conspicuous actors in this scheme were General Conway, a foreign officer of great pretensions, Generals Gates and Mifflin, Samuel Adams, with two or three others of the New England delegation in Congress, and one of the Virginia deputies. Whether the movement originated in personal ambition, or a sincere conviction of the necessity of making a change on account of the alleged "Fabian slowness" of Washington in his military movements, is a question of difficult solution. The measures adopted by the opponents of the chief were certainly the reverse of open, manly, generous, pure and disinterested patriotism, and deserve, as they received at the time, the unqualified reprobation of honest men. ***
* Thacher relates that a foreign officer of distinction said "that, at one time, he was walking with General Washington among the huts, when he heard many voices echoing through the open crevices between the logs, 'No pay, no clothes, no provisions, no rum!' And when a miserable wretch was seen flitting from one hut to another, his nakedness was only covered by a dirty blanket." Then that officer despaired of independence for America.
** Isaac Potts, at whose house Washington was quartered, relates that one day, while the Americans were encamped at Valley Forge, he strolled up the creek, when, not far from his dam, he heard a solemn voice. He walked quietly in the direction of it, and saw Washington's horse tied to a sapling. In a thicket near by was the beloved chief upon his knees in prayer, his cheeks suffused with tears. Like Moses at the Bush, Isaac felt that he was upon holy ground, and withdrew unobserved. He was much agitated, and, on entering the room where his wife was, he burst into tears. On her inquiring the cause, he informed her of what he had seen, and added, "If there is any one on this earth whom the Lord will listen to, it is George Washington; and I feel a presentiment that under such a commander there can be no doubt of our eventually establishing our independence, and that God in his providence has willed it so."
"Oh! who shall know the might
"But wouldst thou know his name,
Of the words he utter'd there?
Who wandered there alone?
The fate of nations there was turn'd
Go, read enroll'd in Heaven's archives,
By the fervor of his prayer."
"The prayer of Washington!"—J. L. Chester.
*** The enemies of Washington and of the country attempted to injure both, at this time, by publishing a pamphlet in London, entitled "Letters from General Washington to several of his Friends in the year 1776, &c." These letters, which contained sentiments totally at variance with the conduct of the chief, it was reported were found in a portmanteau belonging to the general, in the possession of his servant Billy, who was left behind sick at Fort Lee when the Americans evacuated it. They purported to be draughts of letters to Mrs. Washington, Mr. Lund Washington, and to Mr. Custis. They were reprinted in New York, in handbills and pamphlet form, and widely circulated. The author of these spurious letters was never publicly known. They were evidently written by a person acquainted with the affairs of Washington. Conway, who was known to have written several anonymous letters in disparagement of Washington, some of which were signed De Lisle, was suspected of the authorship when his nefarious conduct became known. These letters were reproduced, many years afterward, for the vile purposes of political chicanery. Then, for the first time, Washington publicly pronounced them a forgery.
Forged Letters.—Thomas Conway.—Character of the Congress of 1778.—Pretensions of Gates and Lee.