Volume 17 of the Revolutionary War Series opens with Washington moving his army north from White Plains, New York, into new positions that ran from West Point to Danbury, Connecticut. His purpose in doing so was threefold: to protect his army, to protect the strategically important Hudson highlands, and to shore up the equally vital French fleet anchored at Boston. His new headquarters, located near Fredericksburg, New York, about seventy miles north of New York City, was one of the most obscure of the Revolutionary War. Nevertheless, Washington remained as busy with important tasks during...

Volume 18 of the Revolutionary War Series covers the period 1 November 1778 through 14 January 1779. It begins with George Washington at Fredericksburg, New York, watching New York City for signs that the British were about to evacuate North America. The British had very different intentions, however, dispatching the first of several amphibious expeditions to invade and conquer the Deep South. Congress meanwhile mulled plans for the formation of a Franco-American army and the invasion of Canada. Washington worked hard to quash these plans, which he considered both impractical and...

During the last four months of 1793, the period documented by volume 14 of the Presidential Series, George Washington and his administration remained chiefly involved with maintaining the neutrality of the United States. The activities of French privateers in American waters required the administration to respond to requests from state governors for guidance about implementing the neutrality policy and to complaints from British minister George Hammond about seizures of British ships. As a result, the administration had to decide on the extent of America's territorial waters. Another...

Volume 15 documents the period from 1 January through 30 April 1794, a time when Washington continued to focus his efforts as president on preventing the United States from becoming entangled in the continuing war between France and Great Britain. Of particular concern was French and British interference with American shipping, despite claims of neutral rights by the United States. Congress reacted to this problem in late March by declaring a thirty-day embargo on all ships and vessels in American ports, and the Washington administration enforced this resolution, as well as a series of...

Volume 20 of the Revolutionary War Series covers 8 April to 31 May 1779. As it begins, Washington is gathering intelligence in preparation for a summer expedition against the Iroquois Confederacy. After considering various intelligence reports compiled with the help of scouts and spies, he issued comprehensive orders to the expedition's commander, Major General John Sullivan, laying out his plan of campaign. At the same time, Washington viewed with concern the worsening situation in the south, where the British had captured Savannah, Georgia, and were pressuring Charleston, South...