Papers of John Adams, volume 11
1781-01-02
A Vessel that left Annapolis in Virginia arrived at this port yesterday.
The English under Col. Leslie enterd the Bay and landed at Hampton, they retreated a few days after, leaving their Camp Kettles and other Baggage in Camp. Their precipitate retreat is supposed from Advices received of the Landing of a considerable Body of French Troops at George Town in South Carolina. Lord Cornwallis was also obliged to call in all his out Posts to avoid being Cut off and was confind to a small Circuit round Charles Town. We suppose these Troops formd from a detatchment from the Cape. Mention is also made of some ships being taken off Charles Town by the Squadron that transported these Troops.1
The declaration of England has created great ferment in the Commercial Line owing to the General Obstruction which in consiquence takes place on all that extensive Neutral Navigation. The Dutch will be able to employ the greatest part of their Navy to the Northward. The Southern and American Seas will be no longer a contested point 9for the House of Bourbon and we flatter ourselves to see hereby a speedy acknowledgement on the most firm Basis of the Independance of America by the whole United Powers in the World.
In late Oct. 1780 a force under the command of Gen. Alexander Leslie entered Chesapeake Bay and subsequently captured Portsmouth, Va. The purpose of the attack was to divert forces that might otherwise be used against Cornwallis, but Leslie's lack of aggressiveness diminished its impact. Then, after only a month in the field, Leslie's force reembarked in order to go to the aid of Cornwallis in the wake of Maj. Patrick Ferguson's defeat at the Battle of King's Mountain on 7 Oct. (Robert Fallaw and Marion West Stoer, “The Old Dominion Under Fire: The Chesapeake Invasion, 1779–1781,” in Ernest M. Eller, ed., Chesapeake Bay in the American Revolution, Centreville, Md., 1981, p. 453–458; vol. 10:303).
1781-01-02
Your Favor of Sepr. 20th.1 reached me at Christmas. I inclose you a Resolve but am not able to give you a Copy of what I officially wrote to cover it by Col. Palfrey and by Way of Boston.2 You will oblige me by returning a Copy of that Letter which ought to appear in the Books of the Committee for foreign Affairs, those Books being soon I hope to be placed in some regularly established Office.3
Col. Laurens being on his Way to France via Boston will be able if he sees you to communicate more in one Evening than I could in many Sheets.4 I can only say that we are now have were voted to Mr. Laurens, and would have been earlier, but from fear of embarrassing those whose Friendship we wished for.7
You will hear from your Family minutely I presume by Col. J Laurens.8
Vol. 10:164–165.
Lovell refers to Congress' resolution of 12 Dec. 1780 (
JCC
, 18:1147; for the text see Lovell's letter of 6 Jan., below). The Committee for Foreign Affairs enclosed the resolution in a letter of 12 Dec., but see Lovell's letter of 14 Dec. (vol. 10:407–408, 411–413). The copy carried by William Palfrey, American consul to France, was not received because Palfrey was lost at sea; see John Bondfield's letter of 23 June, below, and
Adams Family Correspondence
, 4:22.
Congress established the office of secretary for foreign affairs on 10 Jan. but did not 10appoint the first secretary, Robert R. Livingston, until 10 Aug. (
JCC
, 19:43–44; 21:851–852).
John Laurens, appointed in Dec. 1780 to raise a loan in France, sailed from Boston in February and reached France in early March (vol. 10:294; from Francis Dana, 14 March, below).
This is the first letter in this volume to contain encrypted passages based on the cipher that Lovell sent to JA with his letter of 4 May 1780 (vol. 9:271–272). For an explanation of the cipher and the difficulties that JA had with it, see note 2 to that letter and references there.
That Lovell's concerns about the army and its grievances had substance became clear on 3 Jan. when news reached Congress of the mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line on New Year's Day. The one artillery and ten infantry regiments of the Pennsylvania Line quartered at Morristown mutinied over lack of pay, clothing, and provisions, but most particularly over their terms of enlistment, which were for three years or the duration of the war. The troops interpreted this to mean “which ever came first” and thus their obligation to serve had lapsed on 31 Dec. 1780. A board of sergeants undertook negotiations, first with their commander, Gen. Anthony Wayne, and then with Joseph Reed, president of Pennsylvania, that resulted in an agreement on 10 Jan. that stipulated amnesty for the mutineers, the discharge of those whose service was legally up, the correction of arrearages in pay, and an adequate supply of clothing and provisions. The most detailed account of the incident is Carl Van Doren's Mutiny in January, N.Y., 1943; but see also the report of the congressional committee appointed to deal with the mutiny (
JCC
, 19:79–83) and Lovell's letters of 6 and 8 Jan., both below. For a newspaper account of the mutiny and its outcome, see the Pennsylvania Gazette of 24 January.
These were Henry Laurens' powers to raise a loan in the Netherlands, which JA was authorized to exercise in Laurens' absence by virtue of Congress' resolution of
JCC
, 15:1210; vol. 9:452–453). Lovell's reference to “those whose Friendship we wished for” is unclear, but he may mean France.
The only family letter that can be identified positively as being carried by Laurens is AA's of 28 Jan. (
Adams Family Correspondence
, 4:70–72).