Summer of 1776

 A Most Hectic Week for General Washington
by Mary Tsaltas-Ottomanelli

New York City during the summer of 1776 was a microcosm of the burgeoning nation, and reflected major issues occurring in other colonies. In the week leading up to the Declaration of Independence, the city had exposed a plot to assassinate General Washington and ordered the hanging of Life Guard Thomas Hickey. Simultaneously, the British military sailed into New York Harbor, a flood of citizens and Continental soldiers tore down the statue of King George III in Bowling Green, and the Declaration of Independence was read aloud for the first time.

Timeline of Events, 1776

March – The British evacuate Boston and head to Halifax, NS to restock. They are expected to arrive in New York City by the summer.

April 13 –Washington and the Continental Army arrive in New York City and begin their occupation of Manhattan.

April 18 – Washington forbids Governor Tryon to have communications while aboard the HMS Dutches-of-Gordon. Washington is suspicious of Tryon, believing he is up to something nefarious.

June 7 – Richard Henry Lee proposes what is known as the Lee Resolution to the Continental Congress, pushing for Independence from Great Britain.

June 11 – Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston are part of a committee drafting the Declaration of Independence.

The Importance of New York

The British Army, one of the world’s most powerful military forces, was sent to Boston to squash a small rebellion in March of 1776. There was no battle, no bloodshed – just a standoff against untrained colonists—and yet the British soldiers found themselves retreating by March 5. The incident became known as the Battle of Dorchester Heights and ultimately gave Washington the high ground against the British. The British Army, humiliated and angry, were looking for blood, and their forced relocation needed to put an end to the rebellion once and for all. They immediately set their sights on New York City.

In terms of geography, New York was considered the most important colony during the Revolutionary War. In a letter to George Washington in January 1776, John Adams described New York as “the Nexus of the Northern and Southern Colonies, as a Kind of Key to the whole Continent, as it is a Passage to Canada to the Great Lakes and to all the Indians Nations. No Effort to secure it ought to be omitted.”[1]

The army controlling New York essentially controlled the war. This was demonstrated by the British occupation of New York, which made it nearly impossible for Patriot supplies, troop movements, and communications to travel from northern to southern colonies.

Washington Enters New York City

By the time Washington and his army arrived in New York City, it had already become a political battlefield among its 25,000 residents. A third of the City’s population had left, some carrying their belongings on their backs and fleeing on foot. Some residents, including Samuel Fraunces, remained in the city, ready to face whatever was thrown their way.

New York City was home to a sizeable number of Patriots, but even more loyalists. In 1775, more than half the New York Chamber of Commerce were avowed Loyalists.[2] The only people who willingly entered the city were activists who delivered speeches to whoever was willing to listen or debate in taverns and coffee houses. According to one account, “The printing press still busily roll, churning out various newspapers and pamphlets.”[3] The news has never stopped reporting in New York City.

On April 13th, 1776, Washington entered Manhattan and immediately set to work at his new headquarters at No. 1 Broadway. Looking to the river, Washington grew apprehensive of the impending arrival of the British Army. He didn't know when the enemy was expected, nor what they were bringing with them, let alone how his untrained army was going to defend an island successfully.

As Washington looked over Bowling Green park, he was reminded of what he was fighting against. The bronze statue of King George III stared back at him, watching his every move with an eye of judgment.

Preparing For The British

Even before his arrival, Washington understood the struggle he was about to face. Writing to President of the Continental Congress, John Hancock, Washington pledged to “exert myself to the utmost to frustrate the designs of the Enemy.”[4] Though physical fighting did not officially start until August, plans to prepare New York City against the British began in January when Washington sent General Charles Lee to survey the city. Lee and Washington developed a plan to station troops throughout the island to secure it, but it was clear that it wouldn’t be enough to hold off the British. Washington only had enough resources and artillery to guard a small fraction of the waterways. The Continental Army was unable to set up defenses at Hell Gate, Sandy Hook, the Narrows, and Gowanus Heights, which proved to be detrimental to during the Battle of Long Island.

By June, Washington’s fear of being ill-prepared for the British played out before his eyes. Unlike Boston, there was no high ground in Manhattan, and the supplies to build proper fortifications were unavailable to the Continental Army. Working all day and night, Continental soldiers “tore up streets to create blockades, cut down trees for lumber and firewood, and build crude walls and other defensive structures.”[5] Gun emplacements were installed on Governor's Island, aimed towards the entrance to the East River, with additional cannons along the banks of the Hudson, old Fort George by the Battery, and more at the Whitehall dock on the East River. Washington was protecting himself and his troops from the enemy, but the enemy had already arrived.

The Hickey Plot Unravels

In mid-June, John Jay began investigating a Tory plot to either capture or kill General Washington when the British fleet arrived. Even more scandalous was that the plot was headed by the Royal Governor of New York, William Tryon, and New York Mayor David Matthews. The plot, which allegedly had financial backing from the Crown, included “sabotaging military defenses and city infrastructure, as well as recruiting agents within the city to assist the British forces.”[6] The colluding occurred aboard Tryon’s 74-gun warship HMS Dutches-of-Gordon.

Although there was little evidence to prove an attempt to assassinate Washington was real, there were dozens of New Yorkers arrested for their connection to Governor Tryon, from schoolteachers to shoemakers.[7] Two arrests in particular shook Washington to his core: Thomas Hickey and Michael Lynch. His Life Guards.

John Jay led the Committee to Detect Conspiracies’ hearings at Scott’s Tavern on Wall Street on June 19th. Isaac Ketchum, a counterfeiter who was looking for immunity, named two men, Hickey and Lynch, and accused them of trying to recruit him for the British. Arrested for passing counterfeit money, the men had been bragging about their defection, and their plan to “seize and secure the bridge at Kingsbridge at the northern tip of Manhattan Island for the British.”[8]

Israel Young, another prisoner, heard Hickey and Lynch openly stating that they never fought for the American cause, adding that “there were near seven hundred men enlisted for the King.”[9]

Thomas Hickey & The Life Guards

The Life Guards were established on March 11th, 1776, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a personal security detail for General Washington. Their mission was to “protect General Washington, the army’s cash and official papers.”[10] A precursor to the secret service that protects the President of the United States today, the Life Guards were always near Washington. They carried muskets with sharpened bayonets.

If the accusations against Hickey and Lynch were valid, Washington’s life was in grave danger. After further investigation, it was discovered that more members of the Life Guard were implicated in this conspiracy: William Green, Johnson the fifer, and a private named Barnes.[11]

According to the General Orders, in their court-martial hearing, it became their word against Ketchum’s. In his testimony, Ketchum declared, “in different Conversations [Hickey] informed me that the Army was become damnably corrupted. That the [British] Fleet was soon expected, & that he & a Number of others were in a Choir to turn against the American Army when the King’s Troops should arrive, & ask’d me to be one of them.”[12]

Hickey produced no evidence to counter Ketchum’s accusation. He never denied his involvement with the Tories. His only defense was “for the Sake of cheating the Tories & getting some Money from them; & afterwards consented to have his Name sent on Board the Man of War, in order that if the Enemy should arrive & defeat the Army here, & he should be taken Prisoner, he might be safe.”[13]

In the end, the other officers were given punishments lighter than that of Sergeant Thomas Hickey. Hickey was an Irish migrant who had deserted the British Army to enlist in the Continental Army, and was likely punished as an example to others thinking of traitorous plans.[14]

Author’s note: The events leading up to what we know today as the Hickey Plot is surrounded by various lore. One popular version includes Samuel Fraunces, his fictional daughter Phoebe, and a plate of poisoned peas. There is no evidence to corroborate this story. Although General Washington frequented Fraunces’ Tavern, there has been no documentation that peas were directly served or that they were poisoned and thrown out of a window. The only evidence to support Fraunces’ claim was a validated memorial in front of a congressional committee in 1785. In his statement, Fraunces petitioned he was the person who exposed a plot to assassinate Washington. It is important to note that Fraunces sought compensation for his involvement, which possibly led him to exaggerate and inflate his involvement and factual details. However, Congress did in fact believe his story and awarded him £2,000 for his service.[15]

We know Washington was made aware of the conspiracy by Monday, June 24th. In a letter to Martha discussing the matter, he wrote, “my attention in this moment called off to the discovery…of a plot. It is impossible, as yet to developed [sic] the mystery in which it either is, or is supposed to be involved. For my part, I am who said to be the object principally aimed at in it, find myself perfectly at my ease.”[16] It is unclear if Washington truly felt at ease, or was just trying to ease Martha.

On Wednesday, June 26th, the verdict was read by Colonel Samuel Parsons:

The Court being cleared, after mature consideration, are unanimously of the opinion that the prisoner is guilty of the charge against him, and of a breach of the fifth and of the thirtieth articles of the Rules and Regulations for the government of the Continental Forces; and the court unanimously sentence and adjudge that the prisoner, Thomas Hickey, suffer death for said crimes by being hanged by the neck till he is dead.”[17]

On Thursday, June 27th, Washington met with his council of war to decide the fate of Thomas Hickey. By this time, the New York government was no longer adhering to the Crown’s laws, and deferred to General Washington, whose authority came from the Continental Congress, to decide the matter. The council was in unanimous support for Washington to uphold the death sentence.

Washington not only sentenced his former Life Guard to death, but he also used it as an opportunity to make a public statement. If the entire conspiracy was indeed real, it would be nearly impossible to pursue every single lead in the loyalist web that Governor Tryon had spun. Every hour the British got closer to Manhattan was another hour Washington’s life was at risk. Hickey’s hanging served as a message to any soldier thinking of deserting the Continental Amy, stating that General Washington would show no mercy.

The General Order from June 27th, makes a clear statement to the Continental troops:

Thomas Hickey belonging to the Generals Guard having been convicted by a General Court Martial whereof Col. Parsons was President of the crimes of “Sedition and mutiny, and also of holding a treach’rous correspondence with the enemy, for the most horrid and detestable purposes,” is sentenced to suffer death. The General approves the sentence, and orders that he be hanged to morrow at Eleven o’Clock.

All the officers and men off duty… to be under arms, on their respective parades, at Ten o’Clock to morrow morning, to march from thence to the Grounds… to attend the execution of the above sentence.

After Orders. Each of the Brigade Majors to furnish the Provost Marshal, with twenty men, from each Brigade, with good arms and bayonets, as a guard on the prisoner to and at the place of execution.[18]

A Most Public Statement

On Friday, June 28, Washington began a letter to John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress, with updates on commissions, military logistics, and provisions. Tucked into the letter is the first communication in which Washington makes a neutral and careful mention about the plot.

Congress I doubt not will have heard of the plot that was forming among many disaffected persons in this City and Government; for aiding the King’s Troops upon their arrival. The plot had been communicated to some of the Army, and part of my Guard engaged in It—Thomas Hicky one of them, has been tried and by the unanimous opinion of a Court Martial is sentenced to die, having Inlisted himself and engaged others—the Sentence by the advice of the whole Council of Genl Officers will be put in execution to day at Eleven OClock.[19]

By ten o’clock, a flood of soldiers had made their way to an open field in the outskirts of the city, near present day Grand and Chrystie Streets. Thousands of others traveled into the city after the news spread of the public execution. It is estimated the crowd totaled twenty thousand.

At eleven o’clock, Hickey was led to the gallows by eighty soldiers, but which some describe as more for show than for safety. In The First Conspiracy, Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch describe the need for the unnecessarily large detail: “A procession, so everyone watching can see the lone criminal flanked formally by several dozen armed soldiers, marching solemnly toward the gallows. It’s a final message to the crowd.”[20]

Most historians rely on the first-hand account of Hickey’s final moments from. The writings of army surgeon William Eustis. He noted, “[Hickey] appeared unaffected and obstinate to the last, except that when the Chaplain took him by the hand under the Gallows and bade him adieu, a torrent of tears flowed over his face; but with an indignant scornful air he wiped ‘em with his hand from his face, and assumed the confident look. With his last breath the fellow told the spectators, that unless General Greene was very cautious, the Design would at yet be executed on him.”[21]

And with that, Thomas Hickey, a key member of Washington’s Life Guard, became the first soldier executed for treason during the Revolutionary War.

Nearly ninety-five miles away in Philadelphia at around the same time Thomas Hickey met his fate, John Adams presented Thomas Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress for debate, edits, and a vote for approval.

The British Arrive in New York

Just as Washington extinguished one problem, another popped up. The first of British General Howe’s fleet of forty-five ships had been spotted by the Narrows.

General Henry Knox, who had taken up residence at No. 1 Broadway, described the city that morning in a letter to his brother: “the city in an uproar, the alarm guns firing, the troops repairing to their posts, and everything in the [height] of bustle. I not at liberty to attend her, as my country cries loudest.”[22]

The British had arrived en masse, with 32,000 troops and over a thousand guns.

Declare Them Free And Independent States

On July 2nd, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to officially “dissolve the connection” with Great Britain. Washington and his men were just days away from receiving the declaration they had waited months for as part of General Howe’s fleet moved through the Narrows and landed on Staten Island, a loyalist stronghold.

Washington expected a British attack at any moment. In his impassioned Orders from the day, he champions the importance of independence in his own declaration, especially with the enemy in the harbor.

The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army—Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect—We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our own Country’s Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world—Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions—The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.[23]

On July 4th, Continental Congress approved the final draft of the Declaration of Independence, which severed the connection between the American colonies and Great Britain and declared war on the British Empire.

Washington Receives Word

On July 9th, Washington received his regular correspondence from John Hancock. However, the letter that day contained the news everyone had waited for with bated breath. The cover letter of the documents reads, “the Congress have judged it necessary to dissolve the Connection between Great Britain and the American Colonies, and to declare them free & independent States; as you will perceive by the enclosed Declaration, which I am directed to transmit to you, and to request you will have it proclaimed at the Head of the Army in the Way, you shall think most proper.”[24]

Immediately, Washington called for the Continental troops to gather at the City Commons at six o’clock in the evening where he announced that “The Honorable the Continental Congress, impelled by the dictates of duty, policy and necessity, having been pleased to dissolve the Connection which subsisted between this Country, and Great Britain, and to declare the United Colonies of North America, free and independent STATES.”[25]

For the first time, the Continental Army heard the now-famous preamble of the Constitution:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

After hearing this, both Washington and the Continental Army had something concrete to fight for. No more were the days of defensive skirmishes against the British, like at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Continental Army was now officially at war, and they were on the offensive. They were fighting a war for their independence.

As news of the Declaration of Independence spread across the city, Manhattan journalist and printer John Holt printed 500 copies of the Declaration on broadsides and distributed them throughout the city. He urged readers “to separate it from the rest of the paper and fix it up, in open view, in their houses.”[26]

Many of the surviving copies suggest that readers did just that, hung the Declaration, which now sport tears in their corners. One of Holt’s prints was put up for auction in 2017 with an estimated value of $500,000 to a million dollars.[27]

King George Meets His Fate

After receiving “three Huzaas from the Troops,” soldiers joined a large group of civilians and together they marched down Broadway with ropes and bars to tear down the statue of King George III in Bowling Green.[28] 

The statue was first installed in April 1770 by the New York General Assembly after the repeal of the Stamp Act. The traditional toasting to the King’s health was long dead. Now a relic of their past, the mob hacked off the sovereign’s head, severed the nose, clipped the laurels that wreathed the head, and mounted what remained of the head on a spike outside a tavern in Lower Manhattan.[29] The head was intended to be propped on a spike at Fort Washington, in the same manner as criminals were displayed, but it mysteriously went missing and has not been seen since.

The equestrian statue, made of lead and gilded in gold, was no easy feat to tear down. It was reported that “only a strenuous effort with crowbars and ropes could budge the two-ton monument.” [30] Afterwards, fragments of the statue were taken to a foundry in Litchfield, Connecticut, and melted down into 42,008 bullets.

Author’s note: The same fence that surrounded the statue in 1776 still remains at Bowling Green park. If you touch the tops of the fence you can feel the rough edges where the golden crowns were hastily cut off.

Tearing down the statue was accepted as a “proper” form of political involvement. During the 1760s and 1770s, tar and feathering, burning effigies, and tea parties were often held by Patriot groups, like the Sons of Liberty, to protest the British government’s infringements of colonists’ rights. Rioting was a tool of resistance for Patriots. However, General Washington did not agree with this sentiment as he detested the destruction of property.

The General Order from July 10th notes that “’Tho the General doubts not the persons, who pulled down and mutilated the Statue, in the Broadway, last night, were actuated by Zeal in the public cause; yet it has so much the appearance of riot and want of order, in the Army, that he disapproves the manner, and directs that in future these things shall be avoided by the Soldiery, and left to be executed by proper authority.”[31] Although one can’t help but imagine that, after spending weeks unable to escape the looming presence of King George’s statue, Washington probably didn’t mind its removal.

The Summer of 1776

The New York campaign came to blows on August 27th at the Battle of Long Island, the first major battle of the Revolutionary War, and a major defeat for the American forces. Facing 20,000 well-trained British soldiers was Washington’s first test as general. He lead his team of 10,000 ragtag soldiers into battle against one of the most powerful military forces in the world. With an estimated 2,000 losses, Washington’s defeat marked the beginning of the end of the American occupation in New York, as the Continental Army retreated and fought battles as they headed north and out of the city.

Joseph Ellis coined the phrase “New York’s revolutionary summer,” which embodies one of the most hectic periods in our nation’s history. It almost reads like an episode out of a daytime soap opera – conspiracy, sabotage, a standoff with an enemy, the destruction of property, and a declaration that inspired thousands to put their lives on the line for freedom.

Bibliography

Chernow, R. (2010). Washington, A Life. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Daigler, K. A. (2015). Spies, Patriots, and Traitors: American Intelligence in the Revolutionary War. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Ellis, J. J. (2013). Revolutionary Summer, the Birth of American Independence. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Fischer, D. H. (2005). Liberty and Freedom, A Visual Freedom of America's Founding Ideas. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Gilje, P. (1987). The Road to Mobocracy: Popular Disorder in New York City, 1763-1834. Chapel Hill; London: University of North Carolina Press

Grueber, I. (1972). The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press

Kahn, E. M. (2017, October 5). Newly Discovered Copy of Declaration of Independence Will be Auctioned. New York Times.

McBurney, C. M. (2016). Abductions in the American Revolution: Attempts to Kidnap George Washington, Benedict Arnold and other Military and Civilian Leaders. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company

Marks, A. (1981). The Statue of King George III in New York and the Iconology of Regicide. American Art Journal, 13(3), 61-82.

Metlzer, B., & Mensch, J. (2018). The First Conspiracy, the Secret Plot to Kill George Washington. New York, NY: Flatiron Books.

Rafalko, F. J. (2004, October 4). A Counterintelligence Reader. Retrieved from <https://fas.org/irp/ops/ci/docs/index.html>The American Revolution and the Post-Revolutionary Era: A Historical Legacy

Taylor, A. (2016). American Revolutions, A Continental History, 1750-1804. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

Footnotes

[1] “To George Washington from John Adams, 6 January 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0023. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 36–38.]

[2] 1776, p. 118

[3] The First Conspiracy, p. 128

[4] “From George Washington to John Hancock, 1 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-04-02-0006. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 4, 1 April 1776 – 15 June 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991, pp. 6–7.]

[5] The First Conspiracy, p. 142

[6] Spies, Patriots, and Traitors, p. 115

[7] The only evidence that can point to an assassination attempt happened any years after the war. Mayor Mathews petitioned the Royal Commission in London for compensation as a Loyalist. In his claim he stated “He had formed a plan for the taking of Mr. Washington and his guard prisoners, but which was effected by an unfortunate discovery that was made.” He is most likely referring to Hickey or Lynch. (Abductions in the American Revolution, p. 16)

[8] Abductions in the American Revolution, p. 16

[9] American Revolution and the Post-Revolutionary Era: A Historical Legacy

[10] “Life Guards”, Mount Vernon Digital Encyclopedia

[11] The First Conspiracy, p. 258

[12] “General Orders, 27 June 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0073. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 5, 16 June 1776 – 12 August 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 112–113.]

[13] Ibid

[14] Samuel Blachley Webb, an aide-de-camp to Washington, noted in his journal on June 22nd 1776 of conspiracy: “To our great astonishment we found five or more of the General’s Life Guard to be accomplices in this wicked plan; which was, at the proper time, to assassinate the person of his Excellency & other General Officers, blow up the magazine and spike the cannon. It was to be put in execution as soon as the enemy’s fleet appeared.” The First Conspiracy, p. 265

[15] Early American Taverns, Kym Rice; Memorial of Samuel Fraunces," March 5, 1785, "Memorials Addressed to Congress, 1775-88," Papers of the Continental Congress, Record Group 360, M.247, Reel 49, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

[16] Washington, G. (1889). The Writings of George Washington (Vol. IV (1776)) (W. C. Ford, Ed.) p. 106

[17] The First Conspiracy, p. 299

[18] General Order, 27 June 1776

[19] “From George Washington to John Hancock, 28 June 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0089. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 5, 16 June 1776 – 12 August 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 132–136.]

[20] The First Conspiracy, p. 306

[21] The First Conspiracy, p. 307

[22] 1776, p. 134

[23] “General Orders, 2 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0117. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 5, 16 June 1776 – 12 August 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 179–182.]

[24] “To George Washington from John Hancock, 6 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0153. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 5, 16 June 1776 – 12 August 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 219–221.]

[25] “General Orders, 9 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0176. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 5, 16 June 1776 – 12 August 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 245–247.]

[26] Liberty and Freedom, p. 123

[27] “Newly Discovered Copy of Declaration of Independence Will be Auctioned,” New York Times.

[28] Revolutionary Summer p. 86

[29] 1776, p. 137

[30] Revolutionary Summer, p. 86

[31] “General Orders, 10 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0185. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 5, 16 June 1776 – 12 August 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 256–257.]

[32] War of American Independence, Higginbotham pg. 119