December 22, 1777 – Letter from George Washington to Henry Laurens, Begging for Better Support from Congress or “This Army Must Dissolve.”

Henry Laurens served as President of the Continental Congress from November 1, 1777 to December 9, 1778. (His oldest son, John Laurens, was an aide-de-camp to George Washington and a colonel in the Continental Army.)

*Inscription (upper left corner): Hon: Henry Laurens, / Pres: of the American Congress. / (Painted 1781. while in the Tower.) via Wikipedia

Washington corresponded regularly with Congress both to convey progress made by the Army and to make requests for items upon which the Army’s success depended; namely, food, clothes, equipment, and wages for the soldiers.

In this letter, Washington wrote to Laurens, bemoaning the lack of food provisions:

I do not know from what cause this alarming deficiency, or rather total failure of Supplies arises: But unless more vigorous exertions and better regulations take place in that line and immediately, This Army must dissolve.”

He pointed out that an Army without food cannot march or fight, averring “had a body of the Enemy crossed Schuylkill this morning, as I had reason to expect from the intelligence I received at Four oClock last night, the Divisions which I ordered to be in readiness to march & meet them could not have moved.”

He added: “It would give me infinite pleasure to afford protection to every Individual and to every Spot of Ground in the whole of the United States. Nothing is more my wish—But this is not possible with our present force.”

As usual, he added that if the Army were not adequately supplied, he could not be responsible for the [deleterious] consequences.

You can read the text of the entire letter here.

General George Washington

The next day, he sent an addendum to strengthen his case:

Full as I was in my representation of matters in the Commissary’s department yesterday, fresh and more powerful reasons oblige me to add, that I am now convinced beyond a doubt, that unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place in that line this Army must inevitably be reduced to one or other of these three things. Starve—dissolve—or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can. rest assured, Sir, this is not an exaggerated picture, and that I have abundant reason to support what I say.”

This second letter is accessible here.