Washington, George (1732-1799) to James McHenry
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05319 Author/Creator: Washington, George (1732-1799) Place Written: Susquehanna River Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 16 December 1798 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 24.7 x 19.8 cm. Order a Copy
States he is stuck on the Susquehanna River because of low tide and bad winds. Takes the opportunity to discuss administration of the Provisional Army. Says War Department should only communicate with a concentrated military leadership, or else it will get bogged down in details. Says he is not the best person to contact about day to day military affairs because he will not personally lead the army unless an actual military engagement seems likely. He wants McHenry to communicate with General Thomas Pinckney, the commander in the south and with General Alexander Hamilton in the north. General James Wilkinson should command the armies in the west and report directly to Hamilton, but if Hamilton is detained, McHenry should work directly with Wilkinson. Hamilton will lead recruitment efforts and have the ability to call either Pinckney or Wilkinson to his aid.
Notes: Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, 37: 60-62.
Signer of the U.S. Constitution.
Susquehanna 16 December 1798
Sir,
Being detained on the East bank of this River by Northwesterly winds & consequent low tides, I shall devote some of the moments of my detention in writing to you on an important subject.
In a conversation had with you in Philadelphia, you discovered the very just opinion that for the proper & successful direction of our military affairs, it was essential that it should be as far as possible concentrated in one, or a few principal Officers, with whom alone the head of the War Department should communicate. Any other plan would doubtless contravene the ideas of military propriety, and would involve you in an impracticable detail, producing necessarily confusion and imbecility in the [inserted: System.] You seemed also desirous that I should express to you some ideas of the proper arrangement. Close application to other matters with which you charged me whilst I was in Philadelphia, and my extreme impatience (on account of the season & weather) to leave it, must be my apology for not doing this sooner.
[2] You know the ground, Sir, on which I accepted the command of the Army; and that it is a part of my plan to decline the occupations of the Office unless, and until my presence in the field should be required for actual operations, or other imperious circumstances might require my assistance. Persevering in this plan, I cannot undertake to assume a direct agency, incompatible therewith: and a halfway acting, might be more inconvenient than totally declining it. The other General Officers will, I am persuaded, execute with alacrity any service to which they may be destined. In this assurance, I take the liberty to advise you to adopt the following plan.
Let the charge and direction of our Military Affairs in the three most southern States be entrusted to General Pinckney. If indeed it will not derange him too much, to take immediately, a more northerly position, and more convenient for the purpose, let Virginia be added, and his position be in it; leaving So. Carolina and Georgia to the care of Brigadier General Washington, subject to the orders of the former; through whom, all the Military concerns of these States should pass to the War Office. General Hamilton may be charged with Superintending, under your direction, all the Troops and Posts [3] which shall not be confided to General Pinckney; including the Army under General Wilkenson. His proximity to the Seat [inserted: of] Governmt. will render this not inconvenient. The Official letters of the Commander of the Western Army may pass open through your hands, to enable you to give immediate orders in cases which may be too urgent to wait for the Agency of General Hamilton.
The Companies to be recruited, according to the plan laid before me in the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, should be subjected to the direction of Major General Pinkney, because they compose a part of the Regimts which are to be raised in the three Southern States; but the present force in Tennessee must be excluded therefrom, otherwise an [strikeout] interference with the Command of Brigadr. Wilkenson, and the mode of his communication on with the Department of War, would follow, and confusion result from it.
It will be useful that the whole of the Recruiting Service should be under one direction, and this properly appertains to the Office of Inspector General. He will of course be authorised to call to his aid the other General Officers.
On this plan there will be two [4] principal Organs, through whom all our Military Affairs will be transacted with your Department. This will serve to unite and simplify the objects of your attention and will enable you to devote it principally to the considering & maturing of general Plans and to [inserted: an] effectual Superintendence of their execution on a large Scale. With respect & esteem I have the honor to be
Sir
Your Most Obedt. Hble Servt.
Go: Washington
James McHenry Esqr.
Secretary of War
[Docket]
16 Decr. 1798
Gen Washington
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