Signer of the Declaration of Independence Samuel Huntington Fears Disunity at Home Will Harm European Alliances and Announces the Arrival of D’Estaing Off the Coast of South Carolina

An unpublished letter, written to his brother, for generations in a private collection

 

“I am much concerned at the spirit of detraction and personal altercation with which the newspapers teem; from the best judgments I can form it is the effect of a few imprudent or ill designing persons, which are prompted by party feelings and various other motives not the most honorable. I fear however it may tend to mislead some persons and above all lessen our National Esteem in Europe. Tho I hope the sensible in these states will not be deceived.”

Samuel Huntington was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, served as president of the Continental Congress, and was the third governor of Connecticut, serving for ten years, until his death in 1796. Henry Knox served with distinction during the American Revolution, heading the Continental Army artillery, charged with Washington’s famous crossing of the Delaware River, and the successful completion of that mission earned him the promotion to brigadier general. He was one of the founding members of the Society of the Cincinnati and was the nation’s first Secretary of War.

With the British base in New York serving as a launching point for embarkations north toward Canada and south toward the Carolinas or the Caribbean, the Continental Army, plus Congress and General Washington, were keen to develop intelligence that would indicate the destination of the British fleets. In this case, they were tracking movements of Hessians hired by the British.

The fight for European recognition and resources was an important one for the colonists. In 1779, the French were fresh to the war, and Spain did not declare war against England until 1779. The Dutch gave unofficial recognition. Maintaining the image of success and unity was important to keep Europeans on the colonial side and put more pressure on the British at home.

The first French mass of force to arrive were those of Admiral Comte D’Estaing, whose first gambit against the British in late 1778 in Newport was not successful.

In the meantime, British military planners decided to embark on a southern strategy with the support of Loyalists in the South. Their first step was to gain control of the southern ports of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. An expedition in December 1778 took Savannah with modest resistance from ineffective militia and Continental Army defenses.

By June 1779 the combined army and militia forces guarding Charleston numbered between 5,000 and 7,000 men. General Benjamin Lincoln, commanding those forces, knew that he could not recapture Savannah without naval assistance; for this he turned to the French. French Admiral the Comte d’Estaing spent the first part of 1779 in the Caribbean, where his fleet and a British fleet monitored each other’s movements. On September 3, a few French ships arrived at Charleston with news that d’Estaing was sailing for Georgia with twenty-five ships of the line and 4,000 French troops. Lincoln and the French emissaries agreed on a plan of attack on Savannah, and Lincoln left Charleston with over 2,000 men on September 11. This would ultimately be unsuccessful, with the siege called off on September 17.

Huntington served in the Congress in the years 1776 and again 1778–1781. When John Jay left to become minister to the Kingdom of Spain, Huntington was elected to succeed him as President of the Continental Congress on September 28, 1779, 4 days before the writing of this letter.

Autograph letter signed, Philadelphia, September 24, 1779, to his brother Benjamin Huntington in Norwich, with integral address panel. “Sir, Since my last nothing very remarkable hath occurred here. I have this moment received an account that 300 hessians who lately embarked at N. York are captured and now coming up to this city. If this be true, I hope we shall make a discovery from them of the destination of the whole embarkation, which was three regiments that sailed with them.

“We have intelligence that farther embarkations are now taking place at New York, with various conjectures concerning their destination which perhaps time alone will discover. Some say they are bound to Hallifax, some say West Indies, others Georgia, S. Carolina or Virginia and it may be some part of New England. We send Intelligence every way.

“I am much concerned at the spirit of detraction and personal altercation with which the newspapers teem; from the best judgments I can form it is the effect of a few imprudent or ill designing persons, which are prompted by party feelings and various other motives not the most honorable. I fear however it may tend to mislead some persons and above all lessen our National Esteem in Europe. Tho I hope the sensible in these states will not be deceived.

“P.s. This moment an express arrived from Charleston, S. Carolina [first] in sixteen days and brings certain advice that Count D’Estaing is arrived on that coast.”

An extraordinary rarity from the dawn of his presidency of the Continental Congress, with outstanding content about the Revolution. It is also an unpublished letter, written to his brother, and was for generations in a private collection.