Philada Decemr. 20. 1776
My dear sir,
An officer (German by birth) who has served in Russia & Hanover several campaigns called upon me a few hours ago, and after producing certificates &c that he now holds a captains commission under the Empress of Russia gave me the following information in confidence. He says that he is personally acquainted with many of the Hessian Officers & privates now in How's Army - that as they serve for pay only, he thinks the bounty, pay & cloathing offered by Congress so much above what they now enjoy that if they were properly tendered to them they would serve us with more chearfulness than the king of Britain. He offers to go in person into How's army at the risk of his life, and is sanguine eno' to think he could immediately bring off 200 recruits with him. He demands continental money only to pay the bounties. If he fails, he will return the money. He very justly objected to taking gold or silver as it might be useful to them in How's camp. I submit these hints to your consideration. I am bound to inform you that the Captain (who from his certificates is a Baron) appears very modest, and possesses the manners & address of a gentleman. He added in the course of our conversation that we had many warm friends in Russia, & that a majority of the nation expressed a dislike at the tho'ts of being employed to fight against us. He thinks there is no probability of any troops being procured from that quarter next Summer. If you think the above scheme practicable, please to mention it in congress. I am at a loss what to advise in the affair. At any rate communicate your opinion or the determination of congress to Mr. Philip Boehm in Philada. who will communicate it to the Baron. If he is encouraged he will wait upon Congress & receive his instructions from them.1
We are much blamed by the whigs and ridiculed by the tories for leaving Philada so suddenly. All the back counties of Philada are in Motion. Several hundreds of the miltia join Gen Washington daily.2 Mr Galloway & three of the Allen family have received absolution at Trenton. Gen Putnam sent a guard to apprehend Mr Dick - n yesterday; you will soon hear of the cause of it.3 He has escaped. I refer you to Mr Saml Purviance for particulars. I have a thousand things to say to you. Vigor, firmness & decisive measures are more necessary than ever. Dispute less & do more in congress or we are undone. Compts to your brother & the worthy members of the weekly club. I am on my way to Bristol, being summoned to attend the Philada Militia for a few weeks.4 Yours sincerely,
Benja Rush
Receiver's copy, American Philosophical Society.
1 There is no record indicating that Congress responded to this offer.
2 The three following sentences were omitted from previously published versions of this letter. Lee's grandson deleted them when he published his grandfather's correspondence in 1825, and Peter Force subsequently reprinted the younger Lee's text. See Richard H. Lee, Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee , 2 vols. (Philadelphia: H. C. Carey and I. Lea, 1825), 2:159 - 60; and Am. Archives, 5th ser. 3:1308.
3 Rush somewhat clarified this reference to the threatened arrest of John Dickinson in a letter to Lee the next day when he explained that Gen. Israel Putnam had threatened to confine persons who refused to accept Continental money in payment of debt. Dickinson had come under suspicion because his letter of December 14 to his brother, Gen. Philemon Dickinson, advising against receiving Continental paper money, had been intercepted by the Pennsylvania Council of Safety and made public. For the letter and Dickinson's personal explanation of the episode, see Charles J. Stille, The Life and Times of John Dickinson, 1732 - 1808 (1891; reprint ed., New York: Burt Franklin, 1969), pp. 400 - 406. See also Am. Archives, 5th ser. 3:1254 - 55; and Rush to Richard Henry Lee, December 21, 1776.
4 After the adjournment of Congress on December 12, Rush had arranged for his family's safety with a relative in Maryland and volunteered to serve with Gen. John Cadwalader's brigade of Philadelphia Associators in the defense of the city. He subsequently tended the troops engaged in the Trenton-Princeton campaign until mid-January and did not go to Baltimore until January 23 or 24.
During the interval Rush wrote several letters to Lee - at least six between January 6 and 15 in addition to this letter and those of December 21, 25, and 30 printed below - sending intelligence and giving advice on what must be done to preserve America from ruin. See Rush, Letters (Butterfield), 1:124 - 30; and PMHB, 78 (January 1954): 15 - 18.
Years later Rush described his activities during this period at considerable length in his autobiography. See Benjamin Rush, The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, ed. George W. Corner (Princeton: Published for the American Philosophical Society by Princeton University Press, 1948), pp. 124 - 30.