inattentive, while you, were bewildered with trifles. You will recollect, I dare say, that more than once, I expressed to you my opinion of the expediency of committing the Details of the Department to the execution of others; and to bestow your thoughts and attention to the more important Duties of it; which, in the scenes we were contemplating, were alone sufficient to occupy the time, and all the consideration of the Secretary. I went no farther then, nor should I have renewed the subject now, had not the delay in issuing the Commissions, and commencing the Recruiting service, excited general reprobation, and blame, though, as I have observed before, no one knows where, with precision, to fix it; generally however, it is attributed to the want of system, and exertion in the Department of War. To apprise you of this, is my motive for this communication. I prefaced the sentiments of this letter with a request, that they might be considered as proceeding from a private man to his friend. No one would be struck more forcibly than myself, with the impropriety of such a letter from the Commander in chief of the Army of the U. States to the Secretary of War. If they are received in good part, the end is obtained. If otherwise, my motives, and the purity of my intentions, is the best apology I can offer for the liberty I have taken. In either case however, be assured of this truth, that with very great esteem and regard, I remain &c.25 *To MAJOR GENERAL ALEXANDER HAMILTON Mount Vernon, March 25, 1799. Dear Sir: Your letter of the 14th. instant with its enclosures, came to hand by the last Post. 23 25 From the McHenry Photostats in the Library of Congress. 1799] COMPATRIOTS IN ARMS 165 In the present State of the Army (or more properly the Embryo of one, for I do not perceive from any thing that has come to my knowledge that we are likely to move beyond this) and until the Augmented force shall have been Recruited, Assembled and in the Field, the residence of the Paymaster Genl (I did not know there was one until your letter announced it) will be found most eligable at the Seat of General Government; and you will please to give such Orders respecting it, as you shall think proper, as I am unwilling to issue any. Under this Cover, you will find a letter which I have just received from Colo. Hamtramck, with a short acknowledgment of its receipt; which you will be so good as to forward with your dispatches for the Western Army. With very great esteem and regd. etc.26 *To LIEUTENANT COLONEL JOHN FRANCIS HAMTRAMCK 27 Mount Vernon, March 25, 1799. Sir: Your polite and flattering letter of the 28th. of January, dated at Fort Wayne, has just got to my hands. For the favourable sentiments you have been pleased to express for me, I pray you to accept my grateful thanks. If any thing besides a duty, which I think every good Citizen owes his Country when its rights are invaded, and everything dear to it is threatned, could console me for quitting the peaceful scenes on which I had entered with avidity, it would be the meeting again in the Field of Mars of so many of my Compatriots in Arms, with whom I had toiled through more than a Seven years War; and for whose aid and exertions, I was so "From the Hamilton Papers in the Library of Congress. "Of the First U. S. Infantry. much indebted. Among this number I certainly shall place Colo. Hamtramck. The particular care of all matters, which relate to the Western Army, and Posts in that Region, is Committed to Majr. General Hamilton, to whom all Returns, Reports &ca. are to be made. With esteem and regard etc. *To JULIUS DANDRIDGE Mount Vernon, March 25, 1799. Dear Sir: The enclosed came under cover to me a few days. ago, and not knowing into whose hands better to place it then yours, I forward it to you accordingly. The doing so, furnishes an opportunity of condoling with you, and the other friends of Mr. John Dandridge, on his death; an event I sincerely regretted. From the Superscription, I know the enclosed letter is from your brother Bartholomew; who, no doubt, has therein, informed of his present situation; should I be mistaken however, in this conjecture, he is now Secretary to our Minister (Mr King) in London; a Post as honourable, as it may ultimately prove advantageous to him on his passage through life. The family at this place are all well, and offer you there best wishes. With esteem etc. *To MAJOR GENERAL [N. Y.P.L.] CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY Mount Vernon, March 31, 1799. My dear Sir: Your favour of the 8th. instt. from Charleston has been duly received, and it gave us the pleasure of hearing that you, Mrs. and Miss Pinckney, had arrived in good health 1799] VALUE OF DISCIPLINE 167 at that place. The first few days of January excepted, you could not have been more favoured in the Weather than all the remainder of that month, and until the middle of Febry afforded. Although your Report of the arrangement for South Carolina and Georgia; your Reconnoitre of the Seaboard to St. Mary's; and visit of the Posts on the Indian Frontier of the latter State; will be made to the Department of War, I should be glad nevertheless to know the result of them: for although I do not mean to Act in the present State of our Military concerns, yet it is my wish, to be regularly informed of the real situation of them; that I may not have every thing to learn, if the exigencies of our affairs should require my attendance in the Field. To have been informed of the arrangemts made by you, with General (now Governor) Davie,28 would have been satisfactory also. I am disposed to believe (from circumstances which had just got to my knowledge before I left the helm of Government) that the Garrisons on the Frontier of Georgia required a strict Inspection; not only for the purpose of restoring due subordination, but for the correction of other misdemeanors in Officers. Your determination therefore to look closely into these matters, and to establish strict Discipline is highly proper, and will certainly be supported. An Army cannot be governed without; for no mistake in him, who commands it is greater, or more fatal to its existence, and the welfare of its Country, than Lax Discipline. Nor is it the right road to true and permanent popularity. Civility is due to, but obedience is required from, all its members; these accompanied with strict justice, and a proper attention to army rights and Wants, will secure love and respect, while one indulgence begets an application "Of North Carolina. for another, and another, until order is lost in disorder and contempt brings up the Rear. I shall be very glad to see Brigadr General Washington on his rout to Princeton; but he will find but little to do (in the Military line) in this State. To what cause to attribute the delay, I know not, but the fact is, that not an Officer (that I have heard of) has received his Commission; nor one, who has had, any Orders to Recruit. The enthusiasm of last Summer and Autumn, was suffered to evaporate for want of these. The dreary months of Winter, which (for want of employment in that class of men who usually become Soldiers) bring on idleness and dissipation, is now succeeded by the opening of Spring, when labourers are in demand by the husbandmen, and other avocations, and has passed away also. In a word, all is a mistery to me. I have very little more knowledge of the Captains in the Virginia line, as arranged by us at Philadelphia, than what was derived from the source of information then laid before us. I have no hesitation however, in mentioning the name of a Gentleman (conditionally) to whom under my present view of them; I should give a decided preference. It is Presley Thornton, Son of one of the most respectable Gentlemen (now deceased, of the same name) in this State. He is thirty, or thereabouts; amiable in his character, He was a British Officer during our Revolution, but would not fight against his Country and therefore went to Gibraltar and was in Garrison there during its Siege by the Spaniards where, it is said, he distinguished himself by his gallant behaviour. The condition I alluded to, and which I annex to this recommendation, is, that if I shd. want him myself, and circumstances in the combinations I should have to make in the choice |