In the present emergency Congress turned to raw troops. On the 28th of July it recommended to the executive council of Pennsylvania "to call out 4,000 militia in addition to those already called forth." August 24, but three weeks before the battle of the Brandywine, it "urgently recommended to the State of Maryland to immediately call out not less than 2,000 select militia to repel the invasion of the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware." To this end Congress also requested Pennsylvania to strengthen the Army with 4,000 and Delaware with 1,000 militia, while eight counties, near Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, were asked to contribute one-third of their strength. Notwithstanding these urgent calls, when the critical moment arrived only one small brigade of militia was present with the Army, and this body, from its position on the left, took no part in the action. On the 4th of October, the battle fought at Germantown, with indecisive results, ended active operations for the year so far as the troops under Washington were concerned. A council of war, called by him on the 29th of October, estimated the entire British army in Philadelphia at 10,000 men, the American force consisting of 8,313 Continentals and 2,717 militia. In the north the campaign was made memorable by the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga on the 17th of October with 5,791 men, all that remained of an invading army of nearly 10,000. The number of troops, Continental and militia, which took part in the investment and capture of Burgoyne's army, was a little over 17,000, the total force present for duty being 13,200, of which 9,090 were Continentals and the rest militia. Instead of the usual dispersion, could this force have been transferred to Pennsylvania might not an investment of Howe in Philadelphia have spared us five more weary years of war? The value of a trained officer in command of raw troops was illus trated during this campaign by the victory of the militia at Bennington, under the command of the veteran, General Stark. The remaining operations during 1777, mainly consisted in British descents on the New England coast and in the taking of Forts Clinton and Montgomery in the Highlands. These posts, however, were immediately abandoned by the enemy. The following table," compiled by the Secretary of War from the actual returns of the Army, shows the quotas required by Congress from the different States to fill up the 88 battalions voted in Septem ber, 1776, and the additional battalions created on the 27th of December, 1776, as well as the number of troops furnished by the different States during the year. a American State Papers, vol. XII, p. 15. d By resolution of July 15, 1776, Georgia was authorized to raise, in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, two regiments of infantry and two companies of artillery, their terms of service ending in 1777. e Part State troops. The conjectural estimate of militia employed in addition to the above troops in 1777 was: New Hampshire and Vermont, for two months.. Massachusetts, for two months. Connecticut, for two months. New York, for six months... New Jersey, for two months South Carolina, for eight months Rhode Island, for six months.. Total Grand total, 1777.. The table shows that the number of men raised for the Continental Army was less than one-half of the quota, while the total number of troops fell short of the number furnished in 1776 by 20,931. 66 This decline in military strength must be attributed to the system of enlistments rather than to any want of determination to carry on the war. To stimulate recruiting, Congress on the 14th of April recommended that each State legislature enact laws exempting from actual service any two of the militia who should, within the time limited by such laws, furnish one able-bodied recruit to serve in any battalion of the Continental Army for three years or during the war; said exemption to continue during the term of enlistment, the recruit to have the Continental bounty and other allowances." It is also recommended "that State legislatures enact laws compelling all such persons as are by laws exempted from bearing arms or performing military duties, other than such as are specified in the foregoing resolution, to furnish such number of able-bodied soldiers as said legislatures shall deem a proper equivalent for such exemption; such soldiers to be entitled to the Continental bounty and other allowances over and above such gratuities as they may receive from those who procure them to enlist." While the Government was not yet prepared to recommend a draft, the above resolution was a step toward it, inasmuch as it proposed that certain individuals (not States) should be compelled to furnish a certain number of soldiers, the expense of additional bounty falling upon the individuals. TERRITORIAL RECRUITMENT. Another step in recruiting was taken on the 31st of July, when Congress recommended "the executive authorities of the United States to divide their respective States into districts and to appoint a proper person in each district to fill up the regiments; the recruiting officer to give bonds and to be allowed in full for all trouble and expense eight dollars for each able-bodied recruit who shall enlist for three years or during the war, and also to be allowed in full for all expense five dollars for the arrest of every deserter." a It also recommended that the legislative authorities should designate in their respective States convenient places of rendezvous for recruits and deserters, such places being reported to Washington so that he could send officers to receive the men. This division of States into districts and establishment of rendezvous or depots, had some analogy to the territorial distribution and recruitment of troops now adopted by every European nation. BOUNTY. The evil of bounties increased during the campaign of 1777. Early in the year delegates from the New England States, which met for consultation in regard to their joint interests at Providence, recommended that the States represented should add a bounty of thirtythree and one-third dollars to the Continental bounty of $20, already authorized for the 88 battalions created in 1776. Massachusetts and New Hampshire doubled this extra bounty making a total of eightysix and two-thirds dollars for each recruit. Thus within a year the bounty had become more than twentyfold greater. This increase at once put a stop to re-enlistments in the old regiments, as the men naturally went home to secure the State bounty, and would not take the smaller sum offered by Congress. Further than this, the large State bounties shook the allegiance of the soldier to his colors. Desertions became so numerous that Washington on the 6th of April issued a proclamation, in which he said: Whereas many soldiers, lately enlisted in the Continental Army, not content with the generous bounties and encouragements granted to them by Congress, but influenced by a base regard to their interests, have reenlisted with, and received bounties from, other officers and then deserted, * I have thought proper to issue this my proclamation offering a free pardon to all tarily surrender themselves to any officer of the Continental Army or join their respective corps before the 15th day of May next. * * * a Journal of Congress, vol. II, p. 211. * * who shall volun With the increase of bounties the impossibility of filling the army by voluntary enlistment became more and more apparent, and before the end of the year Massachusetts and Virginia set the example of drafting. Washington commended this measure to the President of Pennsylvania as the only sure method of raising Continental troops. MILITARY ADVENTURERS. During this year Washington was greatly annoyed and perplexed by the large number of foreigners who sought commissions in our service. On the 20th of February he addressed the President of Congress as follows: I have often mentioned to you the distress I am every now and then laid under by the application of French officers for commissions in our service. This evil, if I may call it so, is a growing one, for, from what I learn, they are coming in swarms from old France and the islands. There will, therefore, be a necessity of providing for them or discountenancing them. To do the first is difficult, and the last disagreeable and perhaps impolitic if they are men of merit, and it is impossible to distinguish them from mere adventurers, of whom I am convinced there is the greater number. They seldom bring more than a commission and passport, which we know may belong to a bad as well as a good officer. Their ignorance of our language and their inability to recruit men are insurmountable obstacles to their being ingrafted into our Continental battalions, for our officers, who have raised their men and have served through the war upon pay that has hitherto not borne their expenses, would be disgusted if foreigners were put over their heads, and I assure you that few or none of these gentlemen look lower than field officers' commissions. To give them all brevets, by which they have rank and draw pay without doing any service, is saddling the continent with a vast expense, and to form them into corps would be only establishing corps of officers, for, as I said before, they can not possibly raise any men. Šome general mode of disposing of them must be adopted, for it is ungenerous to keep them in suspense and at great charge to themselves, but I am at a loss how to point out this mode. Suppose they were told in general that no man could obtain a commission except he could raise a number of men in proportion to his rank. This would effectually stop the mouths of common appliers and would leave us at liberty to make provision for gentlemen of undoubted military character and merit who would be very useful to us as soon as they acquired our language. If you approve of this or can think of any better method, be pleased to inform me as soon as you possibly can, for if I had a decisive answer to give them it would not only save me much trouble but much time which I am now obliged to bestow in hearing their different pretensions to merit and their expectations thereupon.a May 17, he wrote a similar letter to Richard Henry Lee, but qualified in respect to artillery and engineer officers as follows: * * * My ideas, in this representation, do not extend to artillery officers and engineers. The first of these will be useful if they do not break in upon the arrangement of that corps already established by order of Congress; the second are absolutely necessary and not to be had here. The objections urged by Washington did not apply to foreign officers as individuals, but to a class of military adventurers, who by a natural law flock in time of war to countries which, for want of military organization, find themselves in need of educated officers. This happened at the outbreak of the Revolution, and again in 1861. Although the services of Lafayette, De Kalb, Kosciusko, Pulaski, Steuben, Du Portail, and others, were of very great benefit during the former war, it is well known that Pulaski's appointment to command the cavalry gave rise to such murmurings among our officers that he was forced to give it up, though afterwards authorized to raise a special corps. a Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. 4, p. 328. DICTATORIAL POWERS AGAIN GRANTED TO WASHINGTON. At the critical moment when the enemy was advancing upon Philadelphia, after the battle of the Brandy wine, Congress was a second time compelled to intrust Washington with dictatorial powers. The resolution, passed on the 17th of September, just before its adjournment to Lancaster and York, reads as follows: Resolved, That General Washington be authorized and directed to suspend all officers who misbehave, and to fill up all vacancies in the American Army, under the rank of brigadiers, until the pleasure of Congress shall be communicated; to take, wherever he may be, all such provisions and other articles as may be necessary for the comfortable subsistence of the Army under his command, paying or giving certificates for the same; to remove and secure, for the benefit of the owners, all goods and effects, which may be serviceable to the enemy: Provided, That the powers hereby vested shall be exercised only in such parts of these States as may be within the circumference of seventy miles of the headquarters of the American Army; and shall continue in force for the space of sixty days, unless sooner revoked by Congress. a ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. The war, which hitherto had been carried on under the authority assumed by the Second Continental Congress, was now to be prosecuted by a Confederacy of the States. The Articles of Confederation, which went into effect in July, 1778, and remained in force until the adoption of our present Constitution, necessitated certain changes of military policy, as will appear from the subjoined extracts: ARTICLE 1. The style of this Confederacy shall be "The United States of America." ARTICLE 2. Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled. ARTICLE 3. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever. ARTICLE 5. For the more convenient management of the general interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed, in such manner as the legisla ture of each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November in every year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead for the remainder of the year. * * * In determining questions in the United States, in Congress assembled, each State shall have one vote. * * * * * ARTICLE 6. * No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any State, except such number only as shall be deemed necessary by the United States, in Congress assembled, for the defense of such State or its trade; nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of peace, except such number only as in the judgment of the United States, in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the defense of such State; but every State shall always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutered, and shall provide and have constantly ready for use, in public stores, a due number of fieldpieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp equipage. No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, unless such State be actually invaded by enemies or shall have received certain advice of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such State and the danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay till the United States, in Congress assembled, can be consulted; nor shall any State grant a Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. 5, p. 65. |