On This Day In 1776

This entry is part 2 of 32 in the series ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE

It was Thursday, June 27, 1776. One day before Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration reached Congress, George Washington approved the death sentence for Thomas Hickey, a member of his Life Guard, also known as the Commander-in-Chief’s Guard.

In Philadelphia, delegates handled the military business of the Revolution. In New York, Washington dealt with betrayal tied to the unit created to protect him.

Hickey was not a random soldier. The Life Guard existed to protect Washington, the army’s cash, and official papers. That made the case personal at a dangerous moment. British forces were moving toward New York, and Loyalist networks were already stirring around the city.

The DX Brief

Jefferson’s revised draft of the Declaration had not reached Congress on June 27, 1776.
Washington approved the death sentence for Thomas Hickey, a member of his Life Guard.
Hickey had been tied to the unit created to protect Washington, army cash, and official papers.
Hickey was an Irish migrant who had deserted the British Army and reenlisted in the Continental Army.
Congress spent the day on military business involving Canada, New York, riflemen, cannon, troop needs, and money.

Washington’s Life Guard

Washington created the Life Guard on March 11, 1776, while he commanded from Cambridge during the siege of Boston. He ordered commanding officers to select four men from each regiment to form his personal guard, according to Mount Vernon.

Washington wanted men known for “sobriety, honesty and good behavior.” He wanted them between 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 10 inches, “handsomely and well made,” and “clean and spruce.”

The unit’s mission was direct: “to protect General Washington, the army’s cash and official papers.”

Its official name was “His Excellency’s Guard,” or the “General’s Guard.” Soldiers called it “The Life Guards,” “The Washington Life Guards,” or “Washington’s Body Guard.”

The motto was “Conquer or Die.”

In modern terms, the unit was closer to a wartime protective detail than an ordinary guard assignment. That is why Hickey’s case carried so much weight. The alleged plot did not reach some distant corner of the army. It reached the unit created to guard Washington himself.

Hickey And The Plot

Thomas Hickey was an Irish migrant who had deserted from the British Army and reenlisted in the Continental Army, according to Mount Vernon. He later became tied to Washington’s Life Guard.

That matters because the Life Guard functioned like an early protective detail for Washington. Its members stayed close to the commander in chief and carried muskets with sharpened bayonets.

Within two months of the unit’s formation, the Hickey case involved several enlisted men from Washington’s Life Guard.

Mount Vernon notes that New York Tories had formed a secret organization that was suspected of plotting against the Continental Army and possibly targeting Washington.

The investigation soon reached the Life Guard, including Private Thomas Hickey.

The allegation was not vague.

According to the June 27 general orders, Isaac Ketchum testified at Hickey’s court-martial that Hickey told him “the Army was become damnably corrupted,” that the British fleet was expected soon, and that Hickey and others were in “a Choir to turn against the American Army when the King’s Troops should arrive.”

Ketchum also said Hickey asked him “to be one of them.”

Hickey’s defense did not deny contact with the Tories. He claimed he did it to cheat them out of money and protect himself if the British defeated the Americans.

A court-martial convicted him on June 26.

Washington Orders The Gallows

Washington approved the sentence the next day.

His June 27 general orders said Hickey, “belonging to the Generals Guard,” had committed “Sedition and mutiny” and held “a treach’rous correspondence with the enemy, for the most horrid and detestable purposes.”

Washington ordered him “hanged to morrow at Eleven oClock.”

The order also turned the execution into a public warning.

Washington ordered off-duty officers and men from the brigades of Heath, Spencer, Lord Stirling, and Scott to assemble the next morning and attend the execution. He also ordered each brigade major to provide 20 armed men to guard Hickey on the way to the gallows.

That is the key point.

Washington did not handle Hickey quietly. He wanted the army to see what would happen to a soldier accused of treacherous contact with the enemy while British forces moved toward New York.

The next morning, Hickey would become the first member of the Continental Army executed after a court-martial.

Congress Works The War List

While Washington dealt with Hickey in New York, Congress worked through military business in Philadelphia.

The Journals of the Continental Congress for June 27 show delegates referred Colonel Brown’s petition to the committee investigating the “miscarriages in Canada.”

They also sent William Holton’s petition to the Board of War and Ordnance.

Letters “from the southward” arrived by express and went to the Board of War and Ordnance.

Congress also took up Gov. Jonathan Trumbull’s letter about the cannon left at New London. After some debate, lawmakers postponed the matter and asked for details about the cannon’s number, size, bore, and weight.

Canada, cannon, petitions, and southern reports filled the congressional record that day. Jefferson’s draft still had not reached Congress, but the war already demanded attention.

Riflemen And A German Battalion

Congress also moved to raise more troops.

After the Board of War and Ordnance reported on a letter from Washington, Congress approved six additional companies of riflemen. Four would come from Virginia, and two would come from Maryland. Those companies would join the three rifle companies already in New York.

Congress also directed Washington to send a complete list of army vacancies and the names of officers he recommended to fill them.

Then lawmakers turned to the German battalion.

Congress approved four German companies in Pennsylvania and four in Maryland. It also ordered $5,000 sent to each colony to help raise them.

The colonies were moving toward independence, but they still had to build an army to defend themselves.

New York Pushes Back

The military appointments created tension.

New York delegates wrote to the New York Provincial Congress to explain why Congress had made officer appointments affecting troops connected to New York.

They admitted the move went against ordinary practice and could appear to infringe on the colony’s rights.

But the Canadian crisis had created pressure.

The delegates said supporters of the appointments argued there was a “pressing occasion and necessity of dispatch.”

The dispute showed the challenge in real time. The colonies were nearing independence, but Congress was still learning how to act as the government of a single country.

One Day Before The Draft Arrived

The National Park Service says Jefferson’s revised draft reached Congress on June 28, 1776.

That timing gives June 27 its weight.

One day before the Declaration entered the room, Congress dealt with troops, cannon, money, and military appointments while Washington approved the sentence that would send a Life Guard to the gallows.

Why It Mattered

June 27, 1776, shows the road to independence without the clean edges.

Washington was preparing New York for the British, while Congress worked through the military problems that could decide whether independence would survive beyond the page.

Hickey mattered because of where he had served. He had been tied to the Life Guard, the unit closest to Washington’s personal security.

For Washington, the danger was not only offshore or outside the city.

It had reached inside the ranks.

One day later, Jefferson’s draft would finally reach Congress.

But on June 27, the Revolution still looked unfinished.

Tomorrow On Road To Independence

June 28, 1776: Jefferson’s draft finally reached Congress. That same day, Hickey went to the gallows, and British warships attacked Charleston. Tomorrow, we look at the day the Declaration was introduced in Congress, as the war erupted on multiple fronts.

Read yesterday’s installment: Adams Saw The Cost Of Independence.