It was Wednesday, July 17, 1776.
George Washington had just sent about 500 Connecticut horsemen home. British vessels were probing the Hudson, and a second letter had arrived from the enemy under a flag of truce.
Once again, a British commander addressed him as “George Washington Esquire,” not by the military rank Congress had given him.
Washington refused it.
That same day in Philadelphia, Congress formally approved his earlier refusal, declaring that Washington had acted with “a dignity becoming his station.”
Washington would not let soldiers choose which duties they would perform. He would not let Britain choose his title either.
The DX Brief
- Washington told Congress that dismissing the Connecticut Light Horse had reduced his force by about 500 men.
- He said the horsemen had refused fatigue and guard duty while claiming an exemption as troopers.
- British ships and tenders had reached Haverstraw, where four barges tried to land.
- A small militia force made the barges retreat, but the British continued sounding the river toward the Hudson Highlands.
- Washington said the ships had cut the water route between New York and Albany.
- Washington refused another letter addressed to “George Washington Esquire &ca. &ca. &ca.”
- Congress approved his earlier refusal and ordered American commanders to reject enemy messages that ignored their official rank.
- Congress ordered Col. William Smallwood’s Maryland troops toward New York as part of 2,000 reinforcements from the Flying Camp.
Washington reports the loss of 500 men
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Washington dismissed the Connecticut Light Horse after the men refused ordinary soldier duties away from their horses.
He reported the cost in a July 17 letter to John Hancock.
Washington wrote that he had discharged the horsemen and that they were “about to return Home” after they “peremptorily refused all kind of fatigue duty, or even to mount Guard, claiming an exemption, as Troopers.”
He acknowledged that their help was badly needed and “might be of Essential service in case of an Attack.” But granting their claimed exemption, he warned, “would set an Example to others and might produce many ill consequences.”
The decision reduced his reported force by “about 500” men. Washington chose a smaller army over one in which a contingent could decide which duties it would perform.
Washington’s July 17 general orders showed the same discipline problem elsewhere. A 150-man detachment ordered to Kingsbridge had left the parade three hours late, missed the tide and assembled with too few officers. Washington warned that brigade majors would answer for future failures and ordered adjutants who failed to assemble their quotas on time placed under arrest.
British barges test Haverstraw
The horsemen were leaving as the British threat moved farther up the Hudson.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, British warships and tenders had passed New York’s batteries and reached Tappan Bay.
By July 16, the vessels had reached Haverstraw Bay, about 40 miles above New York. Men in four barges tried to land, apparently seeking sheep and cattle that residents had already moved away.
A small militia force “obliged them to retreat” without the British cannon causing damage, Washington told Congress. The Americans had stopped the landing, but the ships kept probing the river.
Washington wrote that the British were “sounding the Water up towards the Highlands,” suggesting they might try to move part of the fleet toward the forts guarding the Hudson.
The ships had also “entirely cut off” the water route between New York and Albany, forcing supplies for the northern army onto slower land routes. The British were not only testing defenses. They were disrupting the line that connected Washington to the north.
Britain again refuses Washington’s rank
The military pressure did not end Washington’s dispute with the British command over his title.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Washington’s headquarters had refused a letter from Lord Richard Howe because it addressed him as “George Washington Esqr.” rather than as a general.
Another flag of truce arrived on the evening of July 16. This time, Gen. William Howe sent the letter to “George Washington Esquire &ca. &ca. &ca.”
Washington refused it “on the same principle” as the first letter.
The wording was more than a social slight. Washington held his command through Congress. Accepting official communication that treated him as a private gentleman risked accepting Britain’s refusal to recognize the authority behind the Continental Army.
Congress backs Washington’s stand
Congress addressed the first rejected letter on July 17, before it had received Washington’s report about the second.
Washington had “acted with a dignity becoming his station,” the congressional journal declared.
Congress then ordered Washington and other American commanders to accept no enemy letter or message unless it addressed them “in the characters they respectively sustain.” It also ordered the resolution published.
The dispute had become national policy. Britain could no longer decide whether American commanders held legitimate rank.
Congress also tried to replace some of the manpower Washington had lost. It ordered Col. William Smallwood to move his Maryland troops toward New York as part of the 2,000 men Washington could call from the Flying Camp.
Samuel Adams emphasized the urgency in a July 17 letter to James Warren. He wrote that there had “never was a more pressing Necessity” to send the 2,000 men and warned that Washington’s army in New York numbered less than half the British force expected to attack it.
Congress also adopted 12 rules governing its own proceedings, including a nine-colony quorum, limits on debate and requirements for motions and appointments.
Why it mattered
July 17, 1776, showed Washington enforcing authority inside and outside his army.
He accepted the loss of about 500 men rather than let one contingent choose its duties. He tracked British ships testing the Hudson and disrupting the route to Albany. Then he rejected another enemy letter that ignored his rank.
Congress backed him.
John Adams captured the larger shift in a July 17 draft letter to Joseph Ward that editors of the Adams Papers say was probably not sent: “You ask when will America take Rank as a Nation?” By then, Congress had begun answering that question through both its declarations and its conduct.
The body that had declared independence now told Britain that American commanders had to be addressed as the officers they were. Washington could not allow state troops to define the limits of his command, and Congress would not allow British generals to decide whether that command existed.
The new nation remained short of men, supplies and time. But on July 17, it drew a firmer line around the authority an army and a country would need to survive.
Tomorrow on Road to Independence
July 18, 1776: Congress read Washington’s report, opened intercepted letters from Lord Howe and continued preparing the new nation for war beyond New York.
Follow the full Road to Independence series here.
