THE WRITINGS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON; BEING HIS CORRESPONDENCE, ADDRESSES, MESSAGES, AND OTHER PAPERS, OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE, SELECTED AND PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS; WITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, NOTES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS. BY JARED SPARKS. VOLUME II. HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET, NEW YORK. •KF14908 HARVARD UNIVERSITY Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, by JARED SPARKS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. PART FIRST; COMPRISING OFFICIAL LETTERS RELATING TO THE FRENCH WAR AND PRIVATE LETTERS BEFORE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST PART. In the method, which has been adopted for the present publication, the First Part consists of letters and papers written before the American Revolution. They relate chiefly to the French War, in which Washington was actively engaged for five years. During a large portion of that time he was commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces, and his correspondence in that capacity, both as furnishing historical materials and manifesting the characteristics and resources of his own mind, is curious and valuable. The importance attached to this correspondence by himself may be understood from the fact, that, many years after the letters were written, he revised the first drafts, and caused them to be carefully recorded in volumes. They have been preserved in this condition. Several of the originals still exist in his own handwriting. The same letter-books also contain military orders and reports of courts-martial, with connecting and explanatory remarks, which appear to have been added at a later date. These records form a complete narrative of the events in which Washington was concerned, from the time he joined General Braddock till he retired from the army. |