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    George Washington at “Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry”: July 4 to August 19, 1781
    George Washington at “Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry”: July 4 to August 19, 1781
    George Washington at “Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry”: July 4 to August 19, 1781
    Ebook134 pages1 hour

    George Washington at “Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry”: July 4 to August 19, 1781

    By Mary Sudman Donovan and Larry Blizard

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    About this ebook

    Gen. George Washington faced a myriad of obstacles in the summer of 1781.
    In George Washington at “Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry,” author and historian Mary Sudman Donovan explores this crucial period during the American Revolutionary War by chronicling his activities.

    In July, he moved a large contingent of the Continental army to the east bank of the Hudson River near the eastern terminus of Dobbs Ferry. There, on a large expanse known as Philipsburg, he established a joint encampment with the French army commanded by the Comte de Rochambeau, and for the first time, French and American soldiers were trained side by side. They had trouble communicating but used visual signals and universal commands.

    Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau created detailed surveys of the surrounding territory, evaluating strategies for invading the British stronghold on York (Manhattan) Island. Washington also corresponded with leaders of the Continental Congress and governors of the various states, imploring them to provide better support in the form of funds, supplies, and additional recruits.

    This day-to-day view of Washington as he devised the strategy that led to America’s victory, offers a rare insight into the mind of the man Americans chose as their commander in chief.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateAug 26, 2009
    ISBN9781440151422
    George Washington at “Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry”: July 4 to August 19, 1781
    Author

    Mary Sudman Donovan

    Mary Sudman Donovan is a historian, published author, and served as the president of the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society. She earned a doctorate in American history at Columbia University and has taught American and world history. She lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Original drawings by Larry Blizard, who earned a Master’s degree in art at East Carolina University and is the former chairman of the Art Department at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry.

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      Book preview

      George Washington at “Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry” - Mary Sudman Donovan

      Copyright © 2009, 2015 Mary Sudman Donovan.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      Original drawings by Larry Blizard

      Prepared for the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society

      12 Elm Street

      Dobbs Ferry, New York

      iUniverse

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.iuniverse.com

      844-349-9409

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

      ISBN: 978-1-4401-5141-5 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4401-5143-9 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4401-5142-2 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2009930718

      iUniverse rev. date: 02/08/2024

      Cover: George Washington

      Portrait by James Peale, after Charles Willson Peale, c. 1787-1790,

      Independence National Historical Park

      image32-Frontspiece.tif

      George Washington

      Engraving by Laugier (1839) from a painting by Léon Cogniet (1836),

      Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

      Contents

      Introduction

      Status of the War in Early 1781

      Daily Calendar—July 1781

      Daily Calendar—August 1781

      Afterword

      Endnotes

      Introduction

      By the summer of 1781, the American Revolutionary War had dragged on for seven years. However, perhaps for the first time, General George Washington felt confident that he might finally be able to devise a grand strategy that would end the exhausting war. The French, allies of the American colonies, had landed a large contingent of French soldiers in Rhode Island, and the men were making their way across New England to New York. The French fleet that had spent the winter months in the Caribbean was due to break port and sail up the Atlantic Coast. American victories in South Carolina at Kings Mountain (October 7, 1780) and Cowpens (January 17, 1781) and a strategic defeat at Guilford Court House, North Carolina (March 15, 1781) that inflicted heavy casualties on Cornwallis’s forces proved that the Continental soldiers could defeat trained British regulars.

      Washington and Rochambeau had met in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on May 21 and agreed to establish a joint encampment in Westchester County to lay plans for an attack on the British stronghold on Manhattan Island. So on July 4, 1781, Washington moved his headquarters to the area he identified as Dobbs Ferry, where they would remain until August 19, 1781.

      This book by the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society will give readers a glimpse of a significant period in the war for American independence, the time General George Washington spent at Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry. It is important to note that the geographical area covered is much larger than the present village borders of Dobbs Ferry. The farmhouse that Washington occupied was located in present-day Hartsdale. Overall, the encampment is generally known as the Philipsburg encampment, Philipsburg (modern-day Greenburgh) being the colonial town that encompassed most of the geographical area covered. The American troops were camped in areas that include present-day villages of Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, and Hartsdale. The French troops were camped in the Edgemont, Hartsdale, and White Plains area. However, since Washington wrote most of his correspondence from Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry, Dobbs Ferry citizens proudly claim this period as a significant part of their national heritage.

      The events and people mentioned herein are seen through the eyes of General George Washington himself. Most of the information comes from Vol. 22 and Vol. 23 of The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799, volumes that are available online from the Electronic Text Center of the University of Virginia Library. The letters and orders offer a detailed account of the busy life of the Continental army commander, the careful balance he had to maintain between supplications to colonial governors and the Continental Congress, orders and discipline of the army itself, and negotiations with the French army and navy. Unless otherwise indicated, the Notes refer to letters contained in this source.¹

      Several officers assisted Washington as aide-de-camps during this period. Tench Tilghman from Maryland had been on Washington’s staff since 1776 and a large percentage of the letters and orders issued during this period are in his handwriting. David Humphreys, from Connecticut, had joined the group in June 1780. Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., son of Connecticut’s governor, became Washington’s secretary in June1781. To entice him to take the job, Washington wrote, The pay is $100 a month; the rations those of a Lieut.-Colonel in the army. No perquisites appertain to the office. The Secretary lives as I do, is at little expense while he is in my family, or while absent on my business, and is in the highest confidence and estimation from the nature of his office. Humphreys accepted and served until the war’s end. Three other aide-de-camp appointments were made that summer: David Cobb of Massachusetts (June 15, 1781), Peregrine Fitzhugh of Virginia (July 2, 1781), and William Stephens Smith of New York (July 6, 1781).²

      Image1-TenchTilghman.tif

      Tench Tilghman

      Henry Bryan Hall Etching,

      Emmet Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints

      and Photographs, The New York Public Library,

      Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

      Image2DavidHumphreys.tif

      David Humphreys

      Benson J. Lossing, The Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution, 1851,

      Vol. I, Chapter XVIII

      image3-JonathanTrumbull%2cJr..tif

      Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.

      Reproduction of a painting by John Trumbull,

      The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

      These men made up the staff of Washington’s headquarters during the Philipsburg encampment, and documents in the handwriting of each are identified in the manuscript collection. In this book, the letters and orders are quoted directly as written by Washington and these aides without identifying words we might consider misspelled today. In identifying places, current place names are inserted in parentheses after the name in the original source. Throughout the book, places are identified as they were in Washington’s writings (e.g., the North River is used for today’s Hudson River, and York Island identifies what we know today as Manhattan Island).

      The author of this book is Mary Sudman Donovan, who lives in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and is president of the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society. She earned a PhD in American History at Columbia University and taught American and World History at Hunter College, City University of New York and at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is the author of several books, including Will the Dust Praise You: Spiritual Responses to 9/11 and A Different Call: Women’s Ministries in the Episcopal Church, 1850–1920. Her interest in the history of the American Revolution began when she and three friends researched and wrote a book titled The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook that featured cooks from the colonial period and historical information about their lives. One of the cooks she profiled was Betty Washington Lewis, George Washington’s sister. The correspondence between George and his sister enticed her with a glimpse of the many facets of the personality of the central character of this study.

      Larry Blizard, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, created original drawings for this publication. Mr. Blizard dedicates his efforts to the memory of his ancestor, Major Nathan Goodale, an eight-year veteran of the Continental army and an officer of the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, one of the units stationed in Dobbs Ferry during the period covered in this publication.

      The portrait by James Peale used on the cover of this book is an apt icon of the revolutionary struggle. The two uniformed men behind George Washington are the artist James Peale and his brother Charles Willson Peale, both of whom served with Washington’s army at various times and indicated their respect for their commander in the numerous portraits of him that they painted. One of the uniformed soldiers

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