|
|
 |
 |
|
Letter to James McHenry, December
16, 1798 |
 |
|
TRANSCRIPT GLC 5319
George Washington. Autograph letter signed: Susquehanna, to
James McHenry, 1798 Dec. 16. 4 p..
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 Ser
Go: Washington
James McHenry Esqr.
Secretary of War
[Docket]
16 Decr. 1798
Gen Washington
Notes: Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, 37: 60-62.
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
