Washington's Engineer

choosing to hazard his reputation on Works erected on a different scale, calculated for a short Duration only, has desired leave to wait on Your Excellency and Congress which I have granted him. In justice to Col. Laradiere I ought to say he appears to be a gentleman of Science and Knowledge in his Profession and disposed to render us every Service he is able to do.⁶

General Washington responded to General Parsons’s letter on March 18, announcing the appointment of General Alexander McDougall to take the command at the Highlands “to reconcile all matters and to obviate the jealousies and prejudices that whether well or ill founded, have taken place.”⁷

THE SITUATION IN THE NORTHERN DEPARTMENT

The situation in the Northern Department had been rendered difficult not only because of the differences between the commanding officer and the engineer in charge of the works but also because of the confusing and, at times, conflicting orders issued by the Continental Congress. General Gates was president of the Board of War, and some of his friends in Congress wanted him to replace Washington. Gates admired and preferred another foreign engineer, Thaddeus Kosciusko, who had come to America a year before Duportail and his companions. Congress gave him the rank of colonel on October 18, 1776.

Kosciusko had gone north with General Gates in 1777 and had been responsible for the fortifications at Saratoga. He was greatly liked by the men who served under him as well as by his superiors, and there was a distinct effort put forward by his friends in Congress to have him made brigadier general in reward for his services at Saratoga. When news of the difference between Colonel Radière and the officers on the Hudson became known in Congress, without consulting Washington, it was decided that the Polish colonel should be sent north to replace the Frenchman. The visit of the latter to camp, indicated in the permit given him by General Parsons, offered the opportunity. Congress ordered Kosciusko north as Radière arrived at Valley Forge.

General Washington hoped that General McDougall’s command of the Highlands would smooth away all difficulties. He easily persuaded Colonel Radière to return to his post and the fortification of West Point, giving him at the same time the following letter of introduction to the new commanding officer:

Head Quarters, 21st March, 1778

Sir

This will be delivered to you by Colonel de la Radiere of the Corps of Engineers who was employed to superintend the fortifications on the North River—but from some misunderstanding between him and the late commanding officer, in which he thought his own honor and the public interest were committed, he determined to renounce the work, and return to Camp. I can safely recommend him to you as a man who understands his profession, and make no doubt of his giving you satisfaction, both in projecting and executing the works required for the defence of the River.⁸

Kosciuszko, acting under orders from Congress, immediately set to work on the fortifications already begun, expecting to be made brigadier general. Then, Colonel Radière returned with express orders from General Washington, who later learned, in some unexplained way, of the double command and ordered General McDougall, “The presence of Colonel de la Radiere rendering the Services of M. Kosciousko as Engineer at Fishkill unnecessary,—you are to give him orders to join this army without loss of time.” He added the following postscript: “P.S. However desirous I am that Mr Kosciousko shd. repair to this army if he is specially employed by order of Congress or the Board of War, I wd. not wish to contravene their commands.”⁹

Congress placed General Gates in charge of the Highlands soon afterward, so that the two friends were together again. Kosciusko followed Gates to the south in 1780, and after the latter’s defeat at Camden, North Carolina, he served under General Nathanael Greene. He never came close to Washington.

General McDougall replied to Washington’s communication,

Fishkill 13th April 1778

Sir

I have lately been three days at West Point, the Fort is by this time so enclosed as to resist a sudden assault of the Enemy. But the Heights near it are such that the Fort is not tenable, if the Enemy possess them. For this reason we are obliged to make some work on them. It will require 5,000 men effectually to secure the ground near the Fort which command it. And these Objections are to almost all the Points on the River, proper to erect works to annoy the Shipping. Mr. Kosciousko is esteemed by those who have attended the work at West Point, to have had more practice than Col. Delaradiere, and his manner of treating the people more acceptable, than that of the latter; which induced Genl. Parsons and Governor Clinton to desire the former may be continued at West Point. The first has a Commission as Engineer with the rank of Colonel in October 1776—Colonel Delaradiere’s Commission I think is dated in November last,¹⁰ and disputes rank with the former, which obliges me to keep them apart; and avail the services of their assistance in the best manner I can devise. This seems to be the Idea recommended by the Board of War in consequence to a reference of Congress to them, on the Subject of Disputes relative to the construction of the works. If Your Excellency should think proper in this State of those Gentlemen, to order Mr. Kosciousko to join your army, whenever I am honored with your Commands on this Head, I shall despatch him.¹¹

GENERAL GATES COMMANDS THE ARMY OF THE NORTH

General Washington wrote to McDougall on April 22, informing him that Congress had appointed General Gates to command the Army of the North, with orders “to repair forthwith to Peekskill.” McDougall was therefore ordered to return immediately after Gates’s arrival to join the army at Valley Forge. In regard to the two colonel engineers, he wrote, “As Col^o La Radiere and Col^o Kosuisko will never agree, I think it will be best to order La