APRIL 3rd
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“We complain of the cruelty and barbarity of our enemies; but does it equal ours? They sometimes spare the property of their friends: But some amongst us, beyond expression barbarous, rob even them! Why did we assemble in arms? Was it not, in one capital point, to protect the property of our countrymen?”
GENERAL ORDERS
Head Quarters, Wilmington, 4 September 1777.*Parole Culloden. Countersigns Cumberland, Colchester.
As a full supply of hard bread cannot at present be obtained, all that now is in, or shall come to the hands of the regimental quarter masters, is to remain there, and not be distributed, but upon the most pressing exigency, and when the troops are about to march, and then not without orders from their Brigadier. In the mean time the army is to be furnished with soft bread, or flour, which the Commissaries are enjoined to supply with more punctuality than they have done. The Commander in Chief can no longer excuse the neglects in that department.
Much injury having been done to the soldiers, and some lives lost, by their being taken by their officers from the hospital too soon, and without the concurrence of the superintending physician; that practice is absolutely forbidden; and henceforward not a man is to be taken from the hospital, ‘till regularly discharged by the directing physician, in writing under his hand.
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Notwithstanding all the cautions, the earnest requests, and the positive orders of the Commander in Chief, to prevent our own army from plundering our own friends and fellow citizens, yet to his astonishment and grief, fresh complaints are made to him, that so wicked, infamous and cruel a practice is still continued, and that too in circumstances most distressing; where the wretched inhabitants, dreading the enemy’s vengeance for their adherence to our cause, have left all, and fled to us for refuge! We complain of the cruelty and barbarity of our enemies; but does it equal ours? They sometimes spare the property of their friends: But some amongst us, beyond expression barbarous, rob even them! Why did we assemble in arms? Was it not, in one capital point, to protect the property of our countrymen? And shall we to our eternal reproach, be the first to pillage and destroy? Will no motives of humanity, of zeal, interest and of honor, restrain the violence of the soldiers, or induce officers to keep so strict a watch over the ill-disposed, as effectually to prevent the execution of their evil designs, and the gratification of their savage inclinations? Or, if these powerful motives are too weak, will they pay no regard to their own safety? How many noble designs have miscarried, how many victories been lost, how many armies ruined, by an indulgence of soldiers in plundering? If officers in the least connive at such practices, the licentiousness of some soldiers will soon be without bounds: In the most critical moments, instead of attending to their duty, they will be scattered abroad, indiscriminately plundering friends and foes; and if no worse consequences ensue, many of them must infallibly fall a prey to the enemy. For these reasons, the Commander in Chief requires, that these orders be distinctly read to all the troops; and that officers of every rank, take particular pains, to convince the men, of the baseness, and fatal tendency of the practices complained of; and that their own safety depends on a contrary conduct, and an exact observance of order and discipline; at the same time the Commander in Chief most solemnly assures all, that he will have no mercy on offenders against these orders; their lives shall pay the forfeit of their crimes. Pity, under such circumstances, would be the height of cruelty.**
* Issued seven days prior to the Battle of Brandywine. The British would eventually take Philadelphia.
** excerpt
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