Yours most sincerely,
Ant’y Wayne.
To supervise better the defenses of the Hudson River, Washington moved his headquarters to West Point, in July, 1779, where he remained until November of that year, occupying “Moore’s House,” a structure that stood in Washington valley near the shore of the Hudson, a short distance from the northeast corner of the present cemetery. It was built by John Moore prior to 1749, and called by all the people in the vicinity “Moore’s Folly” on account of its pretentiousness.
General Clinton tried to draw Washington out into the open country for a campaign, but the American Commander was too astute and Clinton dared not attack the Revolutionary forces at bay at West Point because of the dangers of a campaign in the Highlands.
Spurred on by Washington’s presence and by his orders, Kosciusko and the troops completed Fort Putnam and Redoubts Webb and Wyllys in the summer. This work necessitated for fatigue duty each day 2500 men, a large percentage of the garrison. Even at this early period, West Point was the Mecca for distinguished Americans and foreigners. Nearly every Revolutionary commander visited the Post at one time or another during the war, and while Washington was here, Count de Luzerne, the French minister, was his guest.
Before Washington left the Post in late November, the troops in the Highlands were distributed to their winter stations. Little money was available to equip properly the soldiers but they struggled on bearing their burdens and hardships that we of today might be free. That they were not fighting for the present alone, without a thought as to those who would come after them, is revealed to us by an entry in a diary of General Heath who was then in command of all the troops and Posts on the Hudson:
25th Nov. 1779. The troops were moving to their different places of cantonment; many of the soldiers (as fine men as ever stood in shoes) were marched barefooted over the hard frozen ground, and with an astonishing patience.
Remember these things, ye Americans in future times!
In the spring of 1780, Washington sent Baron Steuben to West Point to drill the troops, for he feared an attack by the British. This accomplished officer, a Major-General in the American Army, had seen seven campaigns in the service of Frederick the Great, so that he brought to his task a ripe experience. With Prussian thoroughness he commenced drilling both the old soldiers and recruits of the command, with the result that by summer he was able to write to Washington that he had formed a corps of light infantry “that I dare flatter myself will be the admiration of our allies as much as the terror of our enemies.”
Notwithstanding the patriotic work of the officers and men of the Army, Washington was aware that America as well as Great Britain was getting tired of the war. “There never has been a stage of the war,” he said, “in which dissatisfaction has been so general and so alarming.” Governor Reed of Pennsylvania said in August, 1780: “It is obvious that the bulk of the people are weary of the war.”
The stage was therefore set for the most dramatic event of the Revolution, the treason of Benedict Arnold. Had Arnold succeeded at this period of the Revolution, the hour of darkness and depression, in selling West Point to the British, we would probably still be English colonies. The loss of the Post would have shaken the morale of the American commanders, not to speak of the paralysis of any movement upon which Washington’s army might have been engaged at that particular time.
For more than a year previous to his assumption of the command of West Point, Arnold had been hatching nefarious schemes to betray the Americans. He needed money badly, due to his extravagances while in Philadelphia. His conduct had not been entirely satisfactory while in that city and open resentment was expressed on account of his preference for the British faction, but because of his military capacity he was held in high esteem by Washington. His abilities led Washington to offer him the command of the left wing of the army then in the field, but he pleaded that he was unfit for field duty by reason of the wound that he had received at Saratoga, and requested the command of West Point. His desires were respected and on August 5, 1780, he assumed command of his new post with headquarters at the Robinson House.[4]