Colonel George Washington to George William Fairfax, England

v2:865

Philadelphia, May 31, 1775.

DEAR SIR: Before this letter will come to hand, you must undoubtedly have received an account of the engagement in the Massachusetts-Bay, between the Ministerial Troops (for we do not, nor can we yet prevail upon ourselves to call them the King' s Troops) and the Provincials of that Government. But as you may not have heard how that affair began, I enclose you the several affidavits which were taken after the action.

General Gage acknowledges that the detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Smith was sent out to destroy private property; or, in other words, to destroy a magazine, which self-preservation obliged the inhabitants to establish. And he also confesses, in effect at least, that his men made a very precipitate retreat from Concord, notwithstanding the re-enforcement under Lord Percy; the last of which may serve to convince Lord Sandwich, and others of the same sentiment, that the Americans will fight for their liberties and property, however pusillanimous in his Lordship' s eyes they may appear in other respects.

From the best accounts I have been able to collect of that affair, indeed from every one, I believe the fact, stripped of all colouring, to be plainly this: that if the retreat had not been as precipitate as it was, (and God knows it could not well have been more so,) the Ministerial Troops must have surrendered or been totally cut off; for they had not arrived in Charlestown, under cover of their ships, half an hour, before a powerful body of men from Marblehead and Salem was at their heels, and must, if they had happened to be up one hour sooner, inevitably have intercepted their retreat to Charlestown. Unhappy it is, though, to reflect that a brother' s sword has been sheathed in a brother' s breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with blood, or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?

I am, with sincere regard and affectionate compliments to Mrs˙ Fairfax, dear Sir, yours, &c.