APPENDIX G.
NOTES OF LEE’S COURT-MARTIAL.
The Court met July 1, 1778, at the house of Mr. Voorhees, New Brunswick, N.J.
The charges were as follows:
First—For disobedience of orders, in not attacking the enemy on the twenty-eighth of June, agreeably to repeated instructions.
Second—For misbehavior before the enemy on the same day, by making an unnecessary, disorderly, and shameful retreat.
Third—For disrespect to the Commander-in-Chief, in two letters dated the first of July and the twenty-eighth of June.
GENERAL LEE PLEAD “NOT GUILTY.”
On the twelfth of August, the Court found him to be guilty under all the charges, and sentenced him to be “suspended from any command in the Armies of the United States of America, for the term of twelve months.”
Forty-two witnesses were examined. (See page 235 of text, for their unanimity in vindication of Washington from use of any language not proper, in his rebuke of Lee at the time of his retreat.)
The following are the letters that concluded with Lee’s demand for a court-martial:
FIRST LETTER.
Sir: From the knowledge I have of your Excellency’s character, I must conclude that nothing but misinformation of some very stupid, or misrepresentation of some very wicked, person, could have occasioned your having made use of so very singular expressions as you did on my coming up to the ground where you had taken post; they implied that I was guilty either of disobedience of orders, of want of conduct, or want of courage; your Excellency will therefore infinitely oblige me by letting me know on which of these three articles you ground your charge, that I may prepare for my justification, which, I have the happiness to be confident, I can do to the army, to the Congress, to America, and to the world in general. Your Excellency must give me leave to observe that neither yourself nor those about your person could, from your situation, be in the least judges of the merits or demerits of our manœuvres; and, to speak with a becoming pride, I can assert, that to these manœuvres, the success of the day was entirely owing. I can boldly say, that had we remained on the first ground, or had we advanced, or had the retreat been conducted in a manner different from what it was, this whole army and the interests of America would have risked being sacrificed. I ever had, and hope ever shall have, the greatest respect and veneration for General Washington; I think him endowed with many great and good qualities; but in this instance, I must pronounce that he has been guilty of an act of cruel injustice towards a man who certainly has some pretentions to the regard of every servant of this country; and, I think, Sir, I have a right to demand reparation for the injury committed, and, unless I can obtain it, I must, in justice to myself, when this campaign is closed (which I believe will close the war), retire from a service at the head of which is placed a man capable of offering such injuries; but, at the same time, in justice to you, I must repeat, that I from my soul believe, that it was not a motion of your own breast, but instigated by some of those dirty earwigs who will forever insinuate themselves near persons in high office; for I really am convinced, that when General Washington acts for himself no man in his army will have reason to complain of injustice or indecorum.
SECOND LETTER.
Sir: I beg your Excellency’s pardon for the inaccuracy in mis-dating my letter. You cannot afford me greater pleasure than in giving me the opportunity of showing to America the sufficiency of her respective servants. I trust that the temporary power of office, and the tinsel dignity attending it, will not be able, by all the mists they can raise, to obfuscate the bright rays of truth; in the meantime, your Excellency can have no objection to my retiring from the army.
WASHINGTON’S LETTER IN REPLY.
Sir: I received your letter (dated through mistake, the 1st of July), expressed, as I conceive, in terms highly improper. I am not conscious of having made use of any very singular expressions at the time of my meeting you, as you intimate. What I recollect to have said was dictated by duty and warranted by the occasion. As soon as circumstances will permit, you shall have an opportunity either of justifying yourself to the army, to Congress, to America, and to the world in general, or of convincing them that you were guilty of a breach of orders, and of misbehavior before the enemy on the 28th inst., in not attacking them as you had been directed, and in making an unnecessary, disorderly, and shameful retreat.
After the reading of the foregoing letters by the Judge-Advocate, General Lee requested the following letter to be also read:
Sir: Since I had the honor of addressing my letter by Colonel Fitzgerald to your Excellency, I have reflected on both your situation and mine, and beg leave to observe, that it will be for our mutual convenience that a Court of Inquiry should be immediately ordered: but I could wish it might be a court-martial, for if the affair is drawn into length, it may be difficult to collect the necessary evidences, and perhaps might bring on a paper war betwixt the adherents to both parties, which may occasion some disagreeable feuds on the continent, for all are not my friends, nor all your admirers. I must entreat, therefore, for your love of justice, that you will immediately exhibit your charge, and that on the first halt, I may be brought to a trial; and am, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
The date of the assembling of the court-martial shows that Washington acted promptly.