GEN. GREENE’S QUARTERS,

SIR:

The enclosed were written when your Express came, please to convey them as directed. Your letter I observe is dated 26, four days ago. Suppose by this Time you have had particulars of Burgoyne’s surrender. The bad weather and the high waters render it impossible to pass from one part of the camp to another. I understand by the Articles o-L- Capitulation which came to Headquarters that Burgoyne and his Army are to be sent to England. You will see my remarks on that Head in my letter to Col. Lee, which is enclosed and unsealed. No attempt has been made on the Forts since the 22d by the Hessians. Count Dunop is wounded and a Prisoner with about 200 others killed, wounded and taken besides what wounded were carried into Philadelphia, which by ye account of persons who came out, exceed that number. For twenty-four pounds have been got from the wreck and more will yet be gotten. The Army is as well as can be expected after a long continuance of cold rain. I write this at Gen. Greene’s. Shall go from hence to headquarters. If anything new there, I will either add it, or send another letter. I shall go forward [to] the forts this afternoon.

THOMAS PAINE

The American Crisis pamphlets in chronological order: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, The Crisis Extraordinary, X, XI, Subernumary Crisis I, XII, XIII and Subernumary Crisis II.

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The AMERICAN CRISIS PART IV

from Pennsylvanis Evening Post, September 13, 1777

THOSE who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. The event of yesterday was one of those kind of alarms which is just sufficient to rouse us to duty, without being of consequence enough to depress our fortitude. It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same.

Look back at the events of last winter and the present year, there you will find that the enemy’s successes always contributed to reduce them. What they have gained in ground, they paid so dearly for in numbers, that their victories have in the end amounted to defeats. We have always been masters at the last push, and always shall be while we do our duty. Howe has been once on the banks of the Delaware, and from thence driven back with loss and disgrace: and why not be again driven from the Schuylkill? His condition and ours are very different. He has every body to fight, we have only his one army to cope with, and which wastes away at every engagement; we can not only reinforce, but can redouble our numbers; he is cut off from all supplies, and must sooner or later inevitably fall into our hands.

Shall a band of ten or twelve thousand robbers, who are this day fifteen hundred or two thousand men less in strength than they were yesterday, conquer America, or subdue even a single state? The thing cannot be, unless we sit down and suffer them to do it. Another such a brush, notwithstanding we lost the ground, would, by still reducing the enemy, put them in a condition to be afterwards totally defeated.

Could our whole army have come up to the attack at one time, the consequences had probably been otherwise; but our having different parts of the Brandywine creek to guard, and the uncertainty which road to Philadelphia the enemy would attempt to take, naturally afforded them an opportunity of passing with their main body at a place where only a part of ours could be posted; for it must strike every thinking man with conviction, that it requires a much greater force to oppose an enemy in several places, than is sufficient to defeat him in any one place.

Men who are sincere in defending their freedom, will always feel concern at every circumstance which seems to make against them; it is the natural and honest consequence of all affectionate attachments, and the want of it is a vice. But the dejection lasts only for a moment; they soon rise out of it with additional vigor; the glow of hope, courage and fortitude, will, in a little time, supply the place of every inferior passion, and kindle the whole heart into heroism.

There is a mystery in the countenance of some causes, which we have not always present judgment enough to explain. It is distressing to see an enemy advancing into a country, but it is the only place in which we can beat them, and in which we have always beaten them, whenever they made the attempt. The nearer any disease approaches to a crisis, the nearer it is to a cure: Danger and deliverance make their advances together, and it is only the last push, in which one or the other takes the lead.

There are many men who will do their duty when it is not wanted; but a genuine public spirit always appears most when there is most occasion for it. Thank God! Our army, though fatigued, is yet intire. The attack made by us yesterday, was under many disadvantages, naturally arising from the uncertainty of knowing which route the enemy would take; and from that circumstance, the whole of our force could not be brought up together time enough to engage all at once. Our strength is yet reserved; and it is evident that Howe does not think himself a gainer by the affair, otherwise he would this morning have moved down and attacked general Washington.

Gentlemen of the city and country, it is in your power, by a spirited improvement of the present circumstance, to turn it to a real advantage. Howe is now weaker than before, and every shot will contribute to reduce him. You are more immediately interested than any other part of the continent; your all is at stake; it is not so with the general cause; you are devoted by the enemy to plunder and destruction: It is the encouragement which Howe, the chief of plunderers, has promised his army. Thus circumstanced, you may save yourselves by a manly resistance, but you can have no hope in any other conduct. I never yet knew our brave gen. or any part of the army, officers or men, out of heart, and I have seen them in circumstances a thousand times more trying than the present. It is only those that are not in action, that feel languor and heaviness, and the best way to rub it off is to turn out, and make sure work of it.

Our army must undoubtedly feel fatigue, and want a reinforcement of rest, though not of valour. Our own interest and happiness call upon us to give them every support in our power, and make the burden of the day, on which the safety of this city depends, as light as possible. Remember, gentlemen, that we have forces both to the northward and southward of Philadelphia, and if the enemy be but stopt till those can arrive, this city will be saved, and the enemy finally routed. You have too much at stake to hesitate. You ought not to think an hour upon the matter, but to spring to action at once. Other states have been invaded, have likewise driven off the invaders. Now our time and turn is come, and perhaps the finishing stroke is reserved for us. When we look back on the dangers we have been saved from, and reflect on the success we have been blessed with, it would be sinful either to be idle or to despair.

I close this paper with a short address to gen. Howe. You, sir, are only lingering out the period that shall bring with it your defeat. You have yet scarce began upon the war, and the further you enter, the faster will your troubles thicken. What you now enjoy is only a respite from ruin; an invitation to destruction; something that will lead on to our deliverance at your expense. We know the cause which we are engaged in, and though a passionate fondness for it may make us grieve at every injury which threatens it, yet, when the moment of concern is over, the determination to duty returns. We are not moved by the gloomy smile of a worthless king, but by the ardent glow of generous patriotism. We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in. In such a case we are sure that we are right; and we leave to you the despairing reflection of being the tool of a miserable tyrant.

COMMON SENSE.

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 12, at noon.

PHILADELPHIA,

SIR:

A very sudden opportunity offers of sending you the newspapers, from which you will collect the situation of our Affairs. The enemy finding their attempt of marching through the Jersies to this city impracticable, have retreated to Staten Island seemingly discontented and dispirited and quite at a loss what step next to pursue. Our army is now well recruited and formidable. Our militia in the several States ready at a day’s notice to turn out and support the army when occasion requires; and though we cannot, in the course of a campaign, expect everything in the several parts of the continent to go just as we wish it; yet the general face of our affairs assures us of final success.

In the papers of June 18th and 25 and July 2d you will find General Washington and Arnold’s letters of the enemy’s movement in, and retreat from the Jersies. We are under some apprehensions for Ticonderoga, as we find the enemy are unexpectedly come into that quarter. The Congress have several times had it in contemplation to remove the garrison from that place, as by experience we find that men shut up in forts are not of so much use as in the field, especially in the highlands, where every hill is a natural fortification.

I am Sir, Your Obedient Humble Servant,

THOMAS PAINE.

Images from the American Philosophical Society.

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Addressed: The Honble: Benjn Franklin LLD

Commissioner from Congress at Paris

Philadelphia

July 9th. 1777

My Dear Sir

The dispatches being made up yesterday I herewith inclose you the papers of last night and this morning. General Howe, by every preparation, is about leaving N. York as he has already retreated from the Army which it was his business to conquer, it is impossible to say what may be his next movement, some suppose the North River to effect a junction with Burgoyne. But there are, I think, too many reasons against this Project; one of which is, that as they have no other army than this, they are obliged to make use of it as an Army of Observation on the motions of the French and Spaniards in the West Indies, and for that reason will, If they have any desention, keep it somewhere about the Coast: another objection against the North River is, the leaving our Army and a River of near 150 Miles in their rear, which Circumstances render the safe return of their fleet a matter of great doubt, and any considerable damage done to them in that Quarter would be like wounding an Eagle in the Wing. Mr. Gross in his English Antiquities mentions fire Arrows being used for disabling or destroyed fleets but the Extract, which I have seen, gives me no description how the Machine was constructed by which they were thrown. He says Sir Richard Hawkins did incredible damage to the whole Squadron of Spanish Men of War on the Coast of Peru, and that admiral Watson in the East Indies last War used them in an engagement with Mons. D Ache, with great Success.

I have made a draft of a Bow, something on the Plan of the Steel Cross by which will throw an Iron Arrow across the Delaware. I purpose, enclosing the fire in a bulb near the Top. I have shewn it to Mr. Rittenhouse who joins me in getting one made for experiment.

(DRAWING OMITTED)

General Howe will probably give an Air to this retreat from the Jersies by saying that he endeavored in vain to bring General Washington to a General Action. If this reason be admitted it proves the Impossibility of his ever Conquering. The fact, however, is this. General Washington does not immediately Command much more than half the Army, and could General Howe with his whole force bring General Washington to an Action with little more than half he would have done it. But whenever the latter collects his whole force together, either to receive or attack General Howe, he leaves the field to him.

In my former I informed you of my being appointed Secretary to the Committee for foreign Affairs, and requested you to send me the Reviews, Gentlemans and Universal Magazines and Parliamentary Registers for 74. 75. 76 and that I would account for them to Mr. Beach. Lest that letter should miscarry I renew my request in this, with any such other Pieces as you may be so kind as to favor me with. I intend towards the latter End of the Year to send for your approbation the plan on which I intend to conduct the History of this Revolution.

I am Dear Sir with every wish for your health and happiness Your Obliged Humble Servant

T P-n

Please to present my best respects to Your worthy Colleagues.

Images from the American Philosophical Society

From the original letter at the American Philosophical Society

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My Dear Sir

Soon after your Absence from this City we began to have a little Military News stirring. On the 11th Inst. Govr. Mifflin by direction from Genl Washington acquainted the Inhabitants at a meeting in the State House yard that from the late preparations of the Enemy their intentions were for this City, His address was received with as much spirit as it was delivered and the meeting unanimously resolved to turn out agreeable to the Militia Law on the 13th. at night Genls Howe and Cornwallis moved to Somerset 8 miles from Brunswick and on the 19th at night retreated again to Brunswick. On the morning of the 22d they evacuated the last mentioned place and retreated to Amboy.

I am at a loss to account for Genl Howe’s movements on any other than the following — His short march from Brunswick to Somerset afforded him an opportunity of trying the disposition of the States of N Jersey and Pennsylvania as to the turning out of the Militia which was very necessary for him to be acquainted with before he ventured too far into the country — it was like moving the previous Question, and the issue was against him for the Militia of both States took the alarm Instantly it then became necessary for him to make a retreat to Amboy and a feint if necessary over to Staten Island, in order that the Militia, which his first march had raised, might be dismissed, and the 3000 men from Genl Putnam countermanded — both these events have happened and last Thursday g. Howe left Amboy and made his appearance again in the country — He is I believe too weak to hope for a decisive Victory and is trying to win it as a game, besides which, as this is their only Army, they are obliged to preserve it as an army of Observation on the motions of the French and Spaniards in the W Indies.

I sincerely regret your absence, both on account of your private friendship and your Public Service; and I have the pleasure if I may call it such for I wish the occasion had not happened of hearing many others in the same opinion. A man that sets out upon a public bottom must always expect to be privately undermined in some quarter or other. I have often remarked that those who are benefited by the public service of another without feeling themselves rivaled will always be the friends of merit, but those who are benefited by being rivaled, will from envy, ever be its enemies — and thus by tracing a received affront to its true cause and reflecting philosophically thereon, a person may often draw very agreeable consolation therefrom.

We have had nothing stirring of news for three weeks past. When the enemy marched from Amboy they endeavored to surprise the division under Lord Sterling. We lost two if not three pieces of artillery. No other material loss.

I am Dear Sir, your affectionate humble servant,

T. PAINE.