Circular to the Governments of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, 19 January 1776
Circular to the Governments of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire
Cambridge 19th January 1776
Gentn
The Inclosures herewith sent, convey such full accounts of the sad reverse of our affairs in Canada, as to render It unnecessary for me, in my present hurry, to add ought to the Tale.1
Your spirited Colony will, I have no doubt, be sufficiently Impressed with the expediency of a vigorous exertion to prevent the evils which otherwise2 must follow from the repulse of our Troops—It does not admit of a doubt but that General Carlton will improve this advantage to the utmost; and if he should be able to give different Current of Sentiment3 to the Canadians and Indians than those they seemed Inclind to adopt, words are unnecessary to describe the melancoly effect that will4 Inevitably follow.
I am persuaded therefore, that you will exert yourselves to the utmost, to throw in the reinforcement (by the Rout mention’d in General Schuylers Letter)5 that is now requ[i]red of your Colony, as the doing of it expeditiously may prove a matter of the utmost importance.
You will perceive by the minutes of the Council of War Inclos’d,6 that the Regiment asked of you for Canada is one of the numbr7 applied for in my Letter of the 16th Inst.8 and that the only difference with respect to the requisition, is the length of time, and place of service, as no good would result from sending Troops to Canada for a shorter period than the Continental Army is raisd for—to wit, till the first of January 1777. I am Gentn with great respect your most Obt Humble Servant
Go: Washington
Copy, in George Baylor’s writing and signed by GW, enclosed in GW to Hancock, 19 Jan. 1776, DNA:PCC, item 152; L, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s writing, addressed to Matthew Thornton, Nh-Ar; LB, Ct: Trumbull Papers; LB, DLC:GW; copy, DNA:PCC, item 169; copy, NjMoHP; Varick transcript, , addressed to the Massachusetts General Court and Matthew Thornton DLC:GW; Varick transcript, , addressed to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr DLC:GW. The copy sent to Governor Trumbull includes the following postscript: “P.S. Your favor of the 16th inst. now lays before me, but the hurry in which I am engaged at present allows no more than time for acknowledgment of it” (Ct: Trumbull Papers). The letter-book copy in DLC:GW and the Varick transcript correctly date Trumbull’s letter to GW as 15 January.
1. GW enclosed copies of Schuyler’s letter to him of 13 Jan. and its many enclosures.
2. The word “otherwise” is omitted in all copies except those in PCC and the Morristown National Historical Park.
3. The letter in the New Hampshire archives reads “to give another Current of Sentiments” as do all the other copies except those in PCC and the Morristown National Historical Park.
4. This word is “must” in all copies except those in PCC and the Morristown National Historical Park.
5. Baylor inadvertently wrote “Schuyters.” GW is referring to Schuyler’s letter to Hancock of 13 Jan. (see Schuyler to GW, that date, n.2).
7. In each letter addressed to a specific government, the exact number of regiments requested of that colony appears here: seven for Massachusetts, four for Connecticut, and two for New Hampshire.