Papers of John Adams, volume 5
1777-08-12
I see by the Papers, our Assembly is called, and conclude it is now Sitting.
The Letters we receive from G. Schuyler, are enough to frighten any Body who does not know him.1
G
Burgoigne is treading dangerous Ground, and proper Exertions will ruin him. These I hope will not be wanting.
I rejoice to see such a Spirit arise upon the Loss of Ti. and such determined Calls for Inquiry. The Facts must be Stated from the Returns and other Evidence, and the innocent will be I hope acquitted—the guilty meet their Deserts. I see no Medium, I confess, between an honourable Acquittal and capital Punishment.
What is become of Howe? The Jersies are very happy, relieved from an heavy Burthen. What Fears were propagated in Boston last January, that the Jersies were lost. Not a single Village, has revolted.
We have Still Accounts of part of Howes Fleet, coasting between the Capes of Delaware and those of Cheasapeak. What this Mans design is, cannot be conjectured. It is very deep or very Shallow.
Washington has been here with a noble Army, very obedient, and orderly.2
Our News from France, is agreable.3 Trade, Friendship Assistance underhand, and Loans of Money, for the present—other Things by and by. I am &c.
Two letters from Schuyler, one to Washington dated 1 Aug. and one to Hancock of 4 Aug., were read in the congress on 7 and 11 Aug., respectively. The pessimism of both is marked. The general described an “unaccountable panic” among troops on the march whenever a few Indians shot at them from the woods. He ex-274pected Burgoyne readily to reach Albany unless reinforcements in considerable numbers were furnished and doubted that they would be. He complained that the Massachusetts militia in departing had depleted Col. Seth Warner's forces, and he expected others to leave in a few days. Of his 4,000 Continental men, one-third were Negroes, boys, and old men, and many of the officers were a disgrace to even such contemptible troops (
JCC
, 8:621, 628; PCC, No. 152, IV, f. 447–448; No. 153, III, f. 230–232).
Washington's army began arriving in Philadelphia in the night of 31 July, ready to defend the city against invasion. The British fleet had arrived in Delaware Bay (JA to AA, 1 Aug.,
Adams Family Correspondence
, 2:297).
In letters and accompanying documents from the Commissioners, 12 March to 26 May (Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev.
, 2:283–327; Burnett, ed., Letters of Members
, 2:436).
1777-08-15
Resolved that a Copy of that Part of Coll Richardson's Letter1 which relates to Thomas Cockayne and George Walton and Thos Lightfoot2 of Sussex County in the State of Delaware be transmitted to Governor President McInlay,3 and that the Governor
Presidt he be desired forthwith to take order for the Apprehension and Confinement of the said Cockayne and Walton, and Lightfoot and that Coll Richardson be ordered to afford every assistance in his Power to Governor President McInlay and the officers whom he shall employ in this necessary Service.4
Resolved that Peter and Burton Robinson be remanded to the Delaware State, whenever Governor Presidt McInlay shall order or request it.5
Col. William Richardson of the 5th Maryland Regiment had been ordered from his state into Delaware as a result of the congress' receiving information about disaffection in Delaware's Sussex co. In a letter of 9 Aug. to the Board of War, Richardson reported that one of his officers had seized a sloop from New York with papers on board revealing correspondence between men unfriendly to the United States setting forth an apparent intention to distribute 199 allegedly counterfeit Continental bills of the $30 denomination. Among the seized papers were letters from a Thomas Robinson to his brother Burton, mentioning another brother Peter, and to George Walton, Thomas' sentiments being plainly anti-American. There was also a letter from Walter Franklin of New York to his agent Thomas Cockayne, both men Quakers, instructing the agent to purchase lands from one George Adams. Cockayne was seized with the counterfeit bills in his possession. Although nothing in Franklin's letter suggests that the bills were fraudulent, the fact that they were all of one denomination may have aroused suspicion. According to Richardson, Thomas Lightfoot received and furnished the bills to Cockayne. Richardson, believing that Peter and Burton Robinson could get no proper trial in tory-infected Sussex co., packed the two men off to the congress for its disposition of them (
JCC
, 8:528–531; PCC, No. 78, XIX, f. 143–160).
“And Thomas Lightfoot” was inserted above the line in a hand unknown to the editors. The same hand substituted in both resolutions the term “president” for “governor.”
President John McKinly had been chosen by the General Assembly in Feb. 1777 (John A. Munroe, Federalist Delaware, 1775–1815, New Brunswick, N.J., 1954, p. 91).
Preceding this resolution in the Journals is one that called for sending Richardson's letter to the Executive Council of Pennsylvania and suggesting that the council have Lightfoot arrested. In response, the council pointed out that Lightfoot was not a resident of Pennsylvania (
JCC
, 8:643;
Penna. Colonial Records
, 11:269). It is likely that Lightfoot's name was written into JA's draft when the response of the council became known; it acted on the day the congress passed its resolutions—15 Aug.
Preceding this resolution in the Journals is one drafted by Samuel Chase which would have remanded the Robinsons to Delaware at once. When it failed to pass, JA's resolution was offered as a substitute. Another resolution noting the prevalence of tories in Sussex co. and permitting the trial of such persons in any other county failed to pass (PCC, No. 147, I, f. 346;
JCC
, 8:643–644).