War-Date Letter with Superb Content from General Jethro Sumner to Exasperated General Nathanael Greene

JETHRO E. SUMNER, Autograph Letter Signed, to Nathanael Greene, February 14, 1782, Warren County, North Carolina. 3 pp., 7.5" x 12.5". Expected folds; general toning; attached to paper frame; very good.

During the Revolutionary War, General Jethro Sumner commanded North Carolina troops at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in Pennsylvania and the battles of Stono Creek and Eutaw Springs in South Carolina. After the last of those battles, General Nathanael Greene placed Sumner in charge of all Continental Army troops in North Carolina late in 1781.

In this letter, written five months after the Battle of Eutaw Springs, General Sumner reports to Major General Greene about his activities in recruiting and enlisting soldiers, as the Revolutionary War wound down. He mentions traveling to see Governor Thomas Burke, recently escaped from his imprisonment by the British, and Sumner expresses his plans to return to Greene's camp.

Four months earlier, British General Lord Cornwallis had surrendered his army to General George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, Virginia. In the rest of the South, patriot forces controlled the backcountry, while British forces held the ports of Savannah (until July 1782) and Charleston (until December 1782). The Treaty of Paris officially ended the war in September 1783.

Complete Transcript
Warren Coty Feby 14th, 1782
Dr Sir,
Major McKee, who I have fixed in the district of Wilmington for rec'g & inlisting of soldiers, writes me he had inlisted and recd some more than one Hundred, and doubted not in a little time to make his number about fifty more, requesting arms might be sent for them—but as the arms &c, order'd by the Congress for this states Continental troops, have not arrivd, I was under the disagreeable necessity of order'g there march to join the Brigade that should his intelligence from Bladen, Cumberland, and Anson Counties warn him of any parties of Toryes he would do well to take his rout by way of Salisbury, where probable'y arms might be procured.
Sense Capt M. Near march'd with his party of 35 or 40, of this district, very few has been collected, from the district of Hillsborough Lieut Pearl will march about this time with about forty. Capt Wm Armstrong who was station at Salisbury. Col. Stewart informer was not their as he pass'd, how this has happen'd I am not yet able to inform you. I have order'd the officers of the first & second Regimts that are not under parole, immediately to Camp. In the meantime I am desirous that Capt Brevard now in Camp be permited to take the direction of the Soldiery of the District of Salisbury.
I am just going to see the Governor, and on my return purpose proceed'g to Camp; with care I have endeavoured to effect each part of yr Instructions. The Cloaths for overhalls made up, and the better kind, I long sense order'd on to Camp, and must be far advanced ere this towards Camp.
I am sir, yr very Obedt
Servt Jethro Sumner
Honble Genl Greene

Historical Background
Jethro Sumner began his Revolutionary War service as a major in the North Carolina militia. In April 1776, he became the colonel of the 3rd North Carolina Regiment. In 1777, he marched the regiment north to serve under George Washington. They fought in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown and spent the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. After becoming ill in 1778, Sumner returned to North Carolina to recruit additional soldiers. In January 1779, the Continental Congress commissioned Sumner as a brigadier general and ordered him to join General Benjamin Lincoln in South Carolina. In June 1779, he commanded troops at the Battle of Stono Ferry. Again because of poor health, he returned to North Carolina, tasked with finding deserters and recruiting new troops. In December 1780, Major General Nathanael Greene arrived to take command of the southern theater, and Sumner served under him in recruiting Continental soldiers in North Carolina. In the summer of 1781, he joined Greene in North Carolina with 350 new recruits, and he led troops at the Battle of Eutaw Springs in September. Following that success, Greene made Sumner commanding officer of Continental Army forces in North Carolina in 1781. Because North Carolina Governor Thomas Burke had been captured, Greene wanted Sumner to regain control of the military situation in the state. Combat between the British and Continental armies largely ceased late in 1781 in North Carolina. Sumner often failed to make reports to Greene for several months at a time because of illness.

North Carolina Governor Thomas Burke (1747-1783) had taken office in late June 1781. On September 12, Loyalist militia captured Burke and other officials in a daylight raid on Hillsborough, the temporary capital. Despite an attempt by Patriot militia to free him, the British Army imprisoned Burke on James Island near Charleston, South Carolina. Fearing assassination and suffering from terrible living conditions, Burke escaped on January 16, 1782, and returned to North Carolina and continued to serve as governor until April.

On February 2, 1782, an obviously exasperated General Greene had written to Sumner from his headquarters in St. Paul's Parish, South Carolina:
"The situation of our poor soldiers for the want of the overalls you sent to get made up, is deplorable beyond description, and distressing above bearing. When you left us I was in hopes you would have got them to camp long before this, otherwise I would have had the cloth brought on. What adds to my uneasiness, is I have not heard from you for upwards of three months, and then nothing mentioned upon the main business you went upon. Certainly you cannot be unmindful of the obligation resting upon you to afford us relief as early as possible; and that the clothing is more wanted now, than it can be by and by, as the winter is drawing to a close. I beg you will therefore forward all the overalls you have made up to the Army as fast as possible, and if you cannot get the cloth made up to send it on as it is.
"Some time ago I sent Lt Colo Stewart to the Assembly of your state to forward several pieces of business, you will please to aid it all in your power, during your stay at the Assembly. Major Dixon is much wanted at Camp.
"Please to make enquiry after a number of arms, sent into your state for our Army, which I can never hear of since. The Governor proposed to take them for the use of the militia, but I would not give my consent. Nevertheless I fear they have been appropriated to that use; and we are now in the greatest distress for the want of them. Should you learn where they are please to have them forwarded.
"When any officers are sent on with stores in charge, give them orders not to break in upon them let the necessity be ever so pressing. Captain Hall consumed almost all he had in charge, and delayed his march near as long again as he ought to. No stores will ever get to Camp if officers are allowed to consume them on the road; nor will I admit the custom be the practice what it may. There arises from the practice such a waste and abuse, as would exhaust the supplies of Europe. Captain Hall is under arrest, and will be broke if he has justice done him or the public.
"I am sir / you most obdt huml servt
"Nath Greene"

Jethro E. Sumner (1733-1785) was born in Virginia and served as a lieutenant in the Virginia Provincial forces from 1758 to 1761 during the French and Indian War. He moved to Bute County, North Carolina, where he acquired substantial property through marriage to Mary Hurst. He served as sheriff of Bute County from 1772 to 1776. During the Revolutionary War, Sumner led North Carolina troops in the Continental Army in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, but his frequent illnesses meant that he spent much of the war in North Carolina on recruiting duty. After the war, he returned to Bute County (renamed Warren County after Joseph Warren of Battle of Bunker Hill fame), where he helped create the North Carolina chapter of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783 and served as its first president. At his death two years later, he owned 20,000 acres of land and 35 slaves.

Nathanael Greene (1742-1786) was born in Rhode Island to a Quaker family. In 1770, he took charge of his family's foundry and won election to the Rhode Island General Assembly. Re-elected several times, he served until 1775. In May 1775, he was promoted from private to major general of the Rhode Island army formed in response to the siege of Boston. A month later, he received his appointment as brigadier general in the Continental Army. He served with distinction in the Revolutionary War, especially in his command in the South from October 1780 to the end of the war. Although defeated in every pitched battle which he fought against the British, Greene was successful in a war of attrition against the British army, inflicting casualties it could not replace. He forced the British to retreat to their defenses around Charleston, where he besieged them until their evacuation in December 1782. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia all gave Greene liberal grants of land for his service. He twice refused the position of Secretary of War and retired to his plantation in Georgia, where he died at the age of 43.

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