General Anthony Wayne, Continuing to Fight Skirmishes in South Carolina, Writes Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris, Wondering Whether Peace and Independence Are Now Really Coming, or Whether the US Would Be Prepared for a Potential Renewed British Invasion

In the minds of many people the British surrender at Yorktown in October 1781 would bring the Revolutionary War to a close. However, the war was not over. New York, Charleston and Savannah were still occupied by the enemy. Physical possession and control of territory would be important in any peace negotiations. In consequence, Major General Nathanael Greene, Commander of the Southern Department, sent Brigadier General Anthony Wayne to Georgia to oust the British from Savannah. Wayne arrived in Georgia in early January 1782. In June Wayne intercepted a large force of Creek Indians attempting to relieve the British in Savannah. Creek Chief Emistesigo, leader of the tribe, was killed, and the British resistance collapsed. The formal surrender of Savannah took place on July 11, 1782, but many British troops there shipped out to Charleston, South Carolina.

Greene feared that the arrival in Charleston of the enemy troops would give the garrison there a military advantage over his forces. Greene ordered Wayne to return to Charleston as soon as the surrender was final. Wayne left Georgia for the Charleston area on August 9. This was almost a year after Yorktown, so the conflict was still ongoing in the eyes of Wayne and many others. In South Carolina, Wayne found skirmishing was still a regular feature of life, with a number taking place in September 1782. Yet at that same time, Wayne saw Congress in a measure on August 7 reducing the army and retiring some officers, a sure sign of confidence the war was coming to a close.

Peace negotiations had begun in Paris in April 1782, when Wayne was in Georgia, and continued through the summer. That same month America’s French ally saw its fleet under Admiral de Grasse defeated by the British, in a battle in the Caribbean that restored British naval mastery in the area. But by late summer rumors of peace were everywhere, even as the war was continuing. So could peace be relied upon? Might the naval victory over de Grasse encourage the British to continue the war after all? And could the British be trusted, or were these rumors of peace a subterfuge or trick? Wayne, representing the feelings of many Patriots, was not so sure, and he wrote Robert Morris, the Superintendent of Finance for the Continental Congress, who he believed more than any other man would have a sense of the actual situation and reliability of the rumors.

The comte de Grasse was in command of the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781. It led directly to the British surrender at Yorktown and helped gain the rebels’ victory. After this action, de Grasse returned with his fleet to the Caribbean. In 1782 British Admiral Rodney decisively defeated and captured Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes.

Autograph letter signed, four pages, Drayton Hall, 12 Miles from Charleston [South Carolina], 2nd Sepr. 1782, to Morris. “I took the liberty of addressing several letters to you during the last Campaign without being favored with a single line in return, which I must attribute to that constant succession of business in which you are necessarily engaged, or to the miscarriage of letters, that but too frequently find their way into the hands of the enemy, who open them without ceremony, but the contents never communicated, except through the channel of newspapers, and that only when the subject matter militates against us. So much by way of Apology in your favor, and now for a few Queries on which I wish your Opinion. Were the overtures of peace and an offer of Independence to America by the British Ministry antecedent, or subsequent to the receipt of the particulars of the Advantages gained over the Count De Grasse? If Subsequent, may not the War be procrastinated? 2nd, as the withdrawal of the British troops from America appears to be a determined Maneuver, will not that event have a tendency to lull the United States into security; in that case, have we nothing to apprehend from a second visit should the British be successful in other quarters? These may be Ideal apprehensions, but I candidly confess to you, that I feel them very forcibly; nor has the resolve of Congress of the 7th Ultimo alleviated those apprehensions; however good more time can alone determine whether I am right or wrong. It’s with inexpressible pain and anxiety that I see our little army mouldering away to a handful by the baneful effects of short enlistments, and the fatal fevers natural to this inhospitable climate.”

Wayne was interrupted from completing the letter by a fever, perhaps malaria, that afflicted half the American army, and by the time he takes the letter up again, much news has come in about the peace. He resumes: “29th Septs. 1782. My pen was wrested from me by a sudden and Dangerous fever before I had finished my letter of the 2nd Instant and it is not more than twenty four hours since I have been able to resume it. I fondly flatter myself, that I am nearly clear of that disorder which I really dread ten thousand times more, than I do a Musket or a Cannon ball. Our Worthy General is also just recovering from a very violent attack of that same Caitiff fever which has already more than Decimated this army; as this will be delivered by an officer, I have ventured to Inclose a return of the Pennsylvania line, the scale fit for action will show you our real situation better than words can paint it.

“While I am writing several persons this morning from Charleston announce the arrival of the transports from New York to take off the garrison etc. The evacuation of that place will certainly take place in the course of three weeks. But if we are to give any credit to London papers of the 13th July in which are the speeches of Mr. Fox, Lord Shelburne, and the King, they have not yet given up America; should they meet with a disaster, independence will be acknowledged—if they are fortunate it will not; may Britain therefore prove the offspring of fortune’s eldest daughter is the wish of your most Obedient and very Humble Servant, Anthy. Wayne.”

Wayne did not have long to wait for his answer. The British troops evacuated Charleston on December 14, 1782, just six weeks after he wrote this letter, so all then saw that the victorious end to the Revolutionary War was at hand. Only New York was then left occupied. Wayne and other concerned Patriots could relax, and indeed rejoice. In 1783 the peace treaty was signed, and at the end of that year British troops left New York.