Papers of John Adams, volume 3
1775-06-10
I have written a few Lines to Dr Warren to whom I refer you.1
It is of vast Importance that the officers of our Army should be impressed with the absolute Necessity of Cleanliness, to preserve the Health of their Men. Cleanness, is one of the three Cardinal Virtues of a soldier, as Activity and Sobriety are the other two. They should be encouraged to go into Water frequently, to keep their Linnen washed and their Beds clean, and should be continually exercised in the manual and Maneuvres.
General Lee, has an opinion of Burgoine, Clinton and How. Burgoine he says is very active and enterprizing—fond of surprizes and Night Attacks and Alarms,2 he entreats me, to inculcate a most unremitted Vigilance. To guard against Surprizes, especially in the Night.
We have a most miraculous Militia in this City, brought into existence, out of Nothing since the Battle of Lexington.
Measures are taken here and at New York to procure Powder. But We must be Sparing of that Article. The Supineness of the Colonies hitherto concerning it, amazes me.
Genl. Lee and Major Gates are very fond of a Project of procuring Pikes and Pike men.3 I hope We shall send you some Rifle Men. They shoot with great Exactness, at amazing Distances.
They are casting Pateraras, and making Amuzettes4 in this City, and preparing for War, with an alacrity, which does them Honor.
Not found.
Generals William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne arrived in Boston on 25 May (French, First Year
, p. 168). Charles Lee had served under Burgoyne in 1762 during a British expedition to Portugal and at the time of this letter was still on friendly terms with him. Lee, in fact, carried on a brief exchange of letters with Burgoyne after his arrival in Boston. Each sought to persuade the other of the correctness 23of the side on which he was fighting (Alden, General Charles Lee
, p. 21–22, 84–87).
DAB
). On 17 June 1775 Gates was appointed adjutant general with the rank of brigadier general (
JCC
, 2:97).
Trained pikemen were seen as an answer to British bayonets at a time when gunpowder was scarce and needed to be conserved. Franklin designed a pike for Pennsylvania's Committee of Safety (Carl Van Doren, Benjamin Franklin, N.Y., 1938, p. 533).
Peteraras (a variation of pedrero) were small guns originally designed for discharging stones and later, shot, and for firing salutes. Amusettes were light field cannon sometimes used in mountain warfare (
OED
).
1775-06-11
Mr. Gadsden of South Carolina whose Fame you must have heard, was in his younger Years, an officer, on board the Navy, and is well acquainted with the Fleet.2 He has Several Times taken Pains to convince me that this Fleet is not so formidable to America, as we fear. He Says, We can easily take their sloops, Schooners, and Cutters, on board of whom are all their best Seamen, and with these We can easily take their large ships, on board of whom are all their impress'd and discontented Men. He thinks, the Men would not fight on board the large ships with their fellow subjects, but would certainly kill their own officers. He says it is a different Thing, to fight the French or Spaniards from what it is to fight british Americans—in one case, if taken Prisoners they must lie in Prison for Years, in the other obtain their Liberty and Happiness.
He thinks it of great Importance that Some Experiments should be made on the Cutters. He is confident that We may get a Fleet of our own, at a cheap Rate, and this Would give great Spirits to this Continent, as well as little Spirits to the Ministry.
JA undoubtedly wrote this letter between 1 June, when he had letters delivered to him by Benjamin Church, who had carried to Philadelphia a letter from the Provincial Congress, and 10 June, when Church left Philadelphia to return to Watertown (
Adams Family Correspondence
, 1:208, 213). Church arrived back in Watertown by 17 or 18 June. James Warren, who was chairman of a committee on armed vessels whose report “was ordered to subside” on 20 June, wrote JA on 11 July that he had seen JA's letter to Gerry and added that “haveing proposed in Congress Just such a project . . . borrowed the Letter to support it” but without success (Mass. Provincial Congress, Jours., p. 353, 361; Warren to JA, 11 July, below).
Gadsden's naval experience consisted of two years as a purser on board a British naval vessel (F. A. Porcher, “Memoir of Gen. Christopher Gadsden,” S.C. Hist. Soc., Colls., 4 [1887]: 1).