It was Friday, July 26, 1776.
George Washington warned his soldiers that abusing the country people who carried food into New York could turn a discipline problem into a health crisis.
Complaints said some soldiers had mistreated people coming to market. Washington forbade the conduct and ordered officers to stop it. Vegetables were not a luxury for the army.
“The health of the Soldiers much depends upon supplies of Vegetables,” his General Orders stated.
Washington then described what would happen if troops drove the sellers away and broke up the market.
“The healthy will soon be sick, and the sick must perish for want of Necessaries,” he warned.
While Washington protected the army’s food supply, Congress took a public step in the struggle over what the war meant. Six days after British emissary Lt. Col. James Patterson met Washington under a flag of truce, Congress ordered the substance of their conference published.
The record showed Britain still approached Americans as rebels who could receive pardons. Washington answered that people who had committed no fault needed none.
Independence had to survive in two places at once: in the public argument over the legitimacy of the new nation and in the markets feeding the soldiers defending it.
The DX Brief
- Washington forbade soldiers from mistreating “Country People” who came to market in New York.
- He said the army’s health depended on vegetables and warned that driving sellers away could make healthy troops sick and leave the sick to perish.
- Washington scheduled a court-martial for Ensign Bryant, who stood accused of sending soldiers to remove old iron and other materials from ships being fitted for public use.
- He ordered guards posted at Harrison’s Brewery and along the shoreline.
- Congress ordered Washington’s July 20 conference with British Adjutant General James Patterson published.
- The conference record showed Washington rejected a letter that omitted his public rank and said Americans who had committed no fault wanted no pardon.
- Congress continued debating the Articles of Confederation but did not finish.
- Congress elected three commissioners to settle accounts in the northern department and authorized $2,000 for Dr. William Shippen.
- Washington told Brig. Gen. George Clinton that no time or expense should be spared in strengthening the Hudson defenses.
Washington protects the market
Washington’s July 26 orders said complaints had been made that soldiers “ill treat the Country People, who come to Market.” He “most possitively” prohibited that behavior and told officers to prevent it.
“Good Policy as well as Justice” required giving the sellers every possible encouragement, Washington wrote. The reason reached beyond fair treatment. The army needed their food.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Washington had already allowed regiments to convert one-quarter of their meat ration into cash to buy vegetables. Four days later, he warned troops not to destroy the civilian market on which that policy depended.
Washington told offenders to consider what would happen during the summer if they drove the country people away and broke up the market. Healthy soldiers would become sick. Soldiers who were already ill could die without the supplies they needed.
“No favour will be shewn to any offenders hereafter,” the order stated.
The rest of the orders showed how closely food, discipline and military preparation ran together. Washington directed a general court-martial to sit the next day for Ensign Bryant, who stood accused of “sending some Soldiers to take away old Iron, and other Materials, from the Ships now fitting for public use.” The court later acquitted Bryant on July 31.
He also ordered a guard of one subaltern, one sergeant, one corporal and 24 privates mounted each evening at Harrison’s Brewery, with sentries posted from the air furnace along the shore. New York’s waterfront, ships, materials and markets all required protection before the main British attack had begun.
Congress publishes the no-pardon answer
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Patterson met Washington on July 20 after two British letters had failed to recognize him as commander in chief.
The official memorandum recorded that Patterson addressed Washington as “Excellency” throughout the meeting. He nevertheless placed the disputed letter on the table with the address “George Washington, &c. &c. &c.”
Washington replied that the added abbreviations “implied everything, and they also implied anything.” A letter involving his public station had to identify that station, he said, and he declined it.
Patterson then described the king’s appointment of Lord Richard Howe and Gen. William Howe as commissioners with broad powers to seek an accommodation. Washington answered that Congress had not authorized him to negotiate on that subject. From what the Americans had seen, the Howes could offer pardons.
“Those who had committed no fault wanted no pardon,” the memorandum recorded Washington saying. Americans were “only defending what we deemed our indisputable right.”
The two men also discussed prisoners, including Ethan Allen, British Gen. Richard Prescott and American officers held in Boston. Patterson said he could accept an earlier proposal to exchange former New York official Philip Skene for Massachusetts patriot James Lovell, but Washington said he needed Congress’ direction because the British had previously rejected the offer.
On July 26, the congressional record stated: “Resolved, That the substance of the conference between General Washington and Adjutant General Patterson, as transmitted by General Washington, be published.”
The Pennsylvania Gazette carried the account July 31 with the closing line, “Made public by order of Congress.” By ordering publication, Congress turned a private conference into a public rebuttal of Britain’s claim that pardons could settle the war.
Congress keeps building the union
Congress also returned to the Articles of Confederation. Delegates met as a committee of the whole, made further progress and again failed to reach a conclusion. They scheduled the next session for Monday.
The same congressional record showed the government handling the accounts and medical costs of a spreading war. Delegates elected James Milligan, John Carter and John Wells as commissioners to settle accounts in the northern department. They also authorized a $2,000 order for Dr. William Shippen, who remained accountable for the money.
Congress then postponed the other matters before it and adjourned until July 29. John Hancock later told Washington that “The exceeding warm Season” and Congress’ constant attention to business during the previous week had produced the break.
The country had declared independence, but the structure connecting its states remained unfinished. Congress was publishing diplomatic records, settling military accounts and funding medical work while still debating the government that would hold those responsibilities together.
Washington tells Clinton there is no time to lose
Washington also wrote Brig. Gen. George Clinton on July 26 about the defenses in the Hudson Highlands.
“Time is not to be lost, or Expence regarded,” Washington wrote, because no one knew how soon the British might try to pass the forts. He told Clinton to put the position in the “best Posture of Defence.”
Washington acknowledged that Clinton’s proposed fire rafts were not the best design, but said they might be the best that could be built quickly. He suggested taking cables and anchors from idle river vessels and obtaining saltpeter from manufacturers in the countryside.
He had sent Lt. Thomas Machin, an engineer and artillery officer, to lay out and oversee the works. Washington also urged the officers at the site to occupy a hill that overlooked the fort if they judged it necessary.
The objective was to keep British vessels below the forts, deny them supplies and intelligence and prevent attacks on residents along the shores. The same commander who protected sellers at the New York market was trying to protect the “distress’d Peasantry” along the Hudson.
Why it mattered
July 26 showed Washington fighting two threats at once: British power and the indiscipline that could destroy his army from within.
His market order was not merely about vegetables. Soldiers who abused civilian sellers risked cutting off one of New York’s essential supply lines, driving residents against the Continental cause and weakening the army before the British attack. Protecting civilians and preserving military strength had become the same mission.
Congress’ decision to publish Washington’s conference with James Patterson carried a different kind of force. Washington had rejected the premise that Americans needed royal pardons, and Congress now wanted the public to hear that answer. Independence was no longer a bargaining position awaiting better terms from Britain.
At the same time, Washington pressed work on the Hudson defenses because British control of the river could divide New England from the other states.
On July 26, the fight for independence depended on more than winning a battle. The Americans had to feed their soldiers, discipline their ranks, defend their territory and convince the public that they were no longer rebels seeking forgiveness.
Tomorrow on Road to Independence
July 27, 1776: Washington reported eight more ships approaching New York, said the Flying Camp had only a little more than 3,000 men and prepared galleys and fire ships to strike British vessels upriver, while his General Orders warned officers not to neglect fatigue duty.
Follow the full Road to Independence series here.
Provided by Dallas Express
