In August, Washington was called to attend upon Congress, then sitting at Princeton. ** He left General Knox in command of the little army at Newburgh and vicinity, and, with Mrs. Washington and a portion of his military family, he made his residence at Rocky Hill, near the Millstone River, about four miles from Princeton, where he remained until November, when he joined Knox and the remnant of the Continental army at West Point, preparatory to entering the city of New York. ****
* The number of soldiers furnished for the Continental army by each state, during the war, was as follows: New Hampshire, 12,497; Massachusetts, 67,907; Rhode Island, 5,908; Connecticut, 31,939; New York, 17,781; New Jersey, 10,726; Pennsylvania, 25,678; Delaware, 2,386; Maryland, 13,912; Virginia, 26,678; North Carolina, 7,263; South Carolina, 6,417; Georgia, 2,679. Total, 231,791.
** The cause of the assembling of Congress at Princeton was the violent spirit manifested by some of the Continental troops of the Pennsylvania line. These had marched in a body (June 21), three hundred in number, surrounded the State House, where Congress was in session, and, after placing guards at the door, demanded action for redress of grievances, within the space of twenty minutes, at the peril of having an enraged soldiery let in upon them. Congress was firm; declared that body had been grossly insulted, and resolved to adjourn to Princeton, where the members assembled on the twenty-sixth. As soon as Washington was informed of this mutiny, he sent General Robert Howe, with fifteen hundred men, to quell it. He soon quieted the disturbance. Some who were found guilty on trial were pardoned by Congress.
*** This is a view of the southwest front of the mansion. The room occupied by Washington is in the second story, opening out upon the piazza. It is about eighteen feet square, and in one corner is a Franklin stove like that delineated on page 328, volume i. The situation of the house, upon an eminence an eighth of a mile eastward of the Millstone River, is very pleasant. It is now quite dilapidated; the piazza is unsafe to stand upon. The occupant, when I visited it in 1850, was Mr. James Striker Van Pelt.
**** A great portion of the officers and soldiers had been permitted during the summer to visit their homes on furlough, and on the eighteenth of October Congress virtually disbanded the Continental army, by discharging them from further service. Only a small force was retained, under a definite enlistment, until a peace establishment should be organized. These were now at West Point, under the command of General Knox. The proclamation of discharge, by Congress, was followed by Washington's farewell address to his companions in arms. He had already issued a circular letter (Newburgh, eighth of June, 1783) to the governors of all the states on the subject of disbanding the army. It was designed to be laid before the several State Legislatures. It is a document of great value, because of the soundness of its doctrines, and the weight and wisdom of its counsels. Four great points of policy constitute the chief theme of his communication, namely, an indissoluble union of the states; a sacred regard for public justice; the organization of a proper peace establishment; and a friendly intercourse among the people of the several states, by which local prejudice might be effaced. "These," he remarks, "are the pillars on which the glorious fabric of our independency and national character must be supported." No doubt this address had great influence upon the minds of the whole people, and made them yearn for that more efficient union which the Federal Constitution soon afterward secured.
British prepare to Evacuate New York.—Washington's Farewell Address to the Army.—The Evacuation.—Clinton and Knox.
On the seventh of August,1783 Sir Guy Carleton, then in chief command of the British army, received instructions to evacuate the city of New York.
