Important Marginalia by Founding Father James McHenry
The Moment Washington Became the Unquestioned Leader of His Country
Unrecorded Issue of Marshall's Life of Washington: The McHenry Family Set
This set of Marshall's classic and essential Life of Washington was owned by James McHenry, a Founding Father and an important aide to Washington during the American Revolution. McHenry, a signer of the Constitution, would serve as Secretary of War under both Washington and Adams. Fort McHenry, of War of 1812 fame, is named for him.
Volume 3 bears an outstanding manuscript note signed by James McHenry, relating to the Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth Court House. As an eyewitness to the battle, who was with Washington, McHenry shines light on the events of that day (June 28, 1778), providing details about a significant incident when Washington rose to the occasion as commander in chief. Indeed, it has been suggested by some writers that this was the singular moment in Washington's ascent to earning the title "Father of his Country."
In addition to the important signed manuscript note by James McHenry, this set of Marshall's Washington has the ownership signature (in vol. 1) of James McHenry's son, Daniel (who died at age 28). Daniel married Sophia Hall Ramsay, the daughter of Nathaniel Ramsay (Ramsey), whose gallantry at Monmouth is so beautifully described in the elder McHenry's handwritten note herein (see below for details). The familial connections between the McHenry and Ramsay families greatly enhance the association value of this unique set.
Unrecorded Version of Vol. 1
Interestingly, volume one of the present set appears to be an unrecorded, almost certainly preliminary version of the 1805 second printing of Marshall's Washington, with an entirely different setting of the type, but still retaining the printed marginal notes of the first impression that would be omitted from later examples dated 1805. The present vol. 1 has 500 pages in the main text section rather than the usual 460 in the recorded examples of vol. 1 with the 1805 second printing title page. Howes says the 1805 second printing is accompanied with an octavo atlas, however our set has the desirable large quarto atlas, the same issued with the 1804 first state text. The remaining volumes of the present set (vols. 2-5 and the quarto atlas) conform to the first printing paginations for those volumes. Given the matching contemporary bindings of the text volumes, it seems plausible that we have an interim state of vol. 1, issued in a very limited print run, before the updates to volumes 2-5 were completed.
Lengthy marginal note in James McHenry's hand on pages 473-74 of vol. 3:
The following note written by McHenry, who was at that time serving as aide-de-camp to General George Washington, records a pivotal moment in the Battle of Monmouth Court House and the course of the American Revolution:
I was at Gen. Washington's side, when he gave his orders to Colonels Stewart and Ramsay. General [Charles] Lee's command were retiring before the British troops, which were pressing close upon them. Gen. Washington arrived at this junction, contemplated the scene for a few moments, then called to him Col. Stewart & Col. Ramsay, when taking the latter by the hand, gentlemen, said he to them, I shall depend on your immediate exertions to check with your two regiments, the progress of the enemy till, I can form the main army. We shall check them said Col. Ramsay. These officers performed what they promised. Col. Stewart was early wounded and carried off the field. Col. Ramsay maintained the ground he had taken, till left without troops. In this situation, he engaged in single combat, with some British dragoons, nor yielded until cut down by numbers, and left for dead on the field. It may not be superfluous to add, that this important service, which arrested the progress of the British Army, and gave time to the Commander-in-Chief, to bring up and assign proper positions to the main body, was gratefully remembered. On his accession to the Presidency of the U.S. he appointed Col. Ramsay to the civil office of Marshal and afterwards to a place of more profit in the customs.
McHenry's startling annotation, which records a poignant moment during the commander in chief's quick action under fire, adds to Washington's mystique as the singular "indispensable" leader of his country.
A recent book by Mark Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone devoted to the Battle of Monmouth, Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle (2016), revisits the role of this battle in Washington's rise, placing it within a proper historical perspective:
The patriot commander in chief emerged from the Monmouth campaign with his critics cowed into silence; his potential rivals in the officer corps routed or, in the case of General Lee, actually disgraced; and his military reputation praised in terms fit for an Alexander or a Caesar. In fact, the aftermath of Monmouth saw Washington with his prestige so enhanced that, for the rest of the war he was beyond any real censure, much less any challenge to his command. It is not too much to say that the campaign confirmed the patriot commander in his status as the proverbial "man on the white horse," or in James Flexner's parlance, the "indispensable man." - Fatal Sunday, pages xv-xvi.
Lender and Stone quote another McHenry manuscript, which elaborates on our annotation:
The enemy, who were advancing rapidly, elated by our retreat, were to be checked - the most advantageous ground to be seized - The main body of the army to be formed - The enemy's intentions and dispositions to be discovered. - and a new plan of attack to be concerted - and all this too in the smallest interval of time - But it is in these moments of a battle that the genius of a general is displayed, when a very inconsiderable weight determines whether it shall be a victory of a defeat.
...I do not think, for my part, the general ever in one day displayed more military powers, or acquired more real reputation. He gave a new turn to the action. He retrieved what had been lost. He was always in danger - examining the enemies manoeuvres - exhorting the troops - and directing the operation of his plans. He unfolded surprising abilities, which produced uncommon effects - James McHenry quoted in Fatal Sunday, pages 291-292 & 296-297.
Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens, who both fought at Monmouth and were of course devoted to their commander in chief, would work assiduously to shape a favorable picture of Washington's actions in the battle, all but silencing Washington's critics. The consensus is clear: Washington's quick response at Monmouth did wonders for the cause of American independence, uplifting the morale of American forces at a critical point. McHenry's first-hand recollection of Washington's interaction with Stewart and Ramsey enhances the historical record with an almost forgotten detail of the commander in chief's leadership at a crucial instant during the Revolutionary War.
Battle of Monmouth
Fought on June 28, 1778 near what is now Freehold, New Jersey, the Battle of Monmouth was highly significant in establishing Washington's unassailable position as the leader of his country.
The Continental Army aimed to strike the British rear guard during their withdrawal to New York but faced significant challenges. Washington, valuing the experience of his second in command, gave no specific instructions to his second in command, General Charles Lee, but he clearly expected him to engage the British at least partially.
Lee's forces blundered into the prepared positions of British General Cornwallis, resulting in disarray and retreat. As Washington advanced to support the vanguard, he encountered retreating soldiers and erupted in frustration. According to Private Joseph Plumb Martin, Washington exclaimed, "Damn him," referring to Lee. Washington demanded, "I desire to know the meaning of this disorder and confusion!" Lee, taken aback, responded, "The American troops would not stand the British bayonets," to which Washington retorted, "You damned poltroon. You never tried them!" (More than one eyewitness, including Lafayette and General Charles Scott, recalled extremely colorful language coming from the commander in chief).
Washington then switched to rally mode upon learning the British were close behind. He instructed General Anthony Wayne to hold off the British, or rather more specifically, instructed Ramsey and Stewart to check them, as described in the present manuscript by McHenry. Washington was then able to ride across the battlefield to steady and reorganize his troops, bolstering the soldiers’ morale during a two-hour artillery duel.
Washington was omnipresent, fortifying positions and encouraging his men, even narrowly escaping injury himself when a cannonball splattered him with mud. Despite the inconclusive outcome, the Continental Army's improved performance and professionalism were evident, and Washington's leadership during the battle was widely lauded. This battle did much to cement his reputation, leading Congress to honor him, thus contributing greatly to his legacy as the "Father of His Country." This was the last major action Washington would command until Yorktown.
McHenry's annotation in the present example of Marshall's classic biography of Washington, provides further evidence of this crucial bit of history through a description of the emotive scene when Washington called in colonels Walter Stewart (the "Irish Beauty") and Nathaniel Ramsey, to undertake the unenviable task of checking the British advance after Charles Lee's initial retreat, thus allowing Washington to rally the remainder of his troops. Both Stewart and Ramsey were seriously wounded, the latter being left for dead and then taken prisoner. Washington's quick action in the face of Lee's cowardly retreat, showcasing brilliant and unflinching qualities as a commander in the field, raise this battle into a special place within the Washingtonian patheon.
The striking difference in the two American generals' [Washington vs. Lee] was not lost on anybody, least of those who, like McHenry, witnessed it. Washington's bravery brought inspiration to the men who felt humiliated by Lee's conduct - Karen E. Robbins, James McHenry: Forgotten Federalist, p. 43.
...Washington's good manners overcame his good sense, and he gave Lee the command on the grounds of obvious seniority... Out of deference to Lee's military experience, Washington gave him no specific instructions, but he clearly was expecting at least a partial engagement...Charles Lee... blundered into Cornwallis's waiting stinger, causing them to reel backward... the troops were more confused and disoriented than afraid...As Washington moved forward in support of the vanguard, he began to encounter soldiers going the other way... until men near Private Joseph Plumb Martin heard him erupt: "Damn Him." The subject of his damnation became immediately apparent when he encountered Lee. "I desire to know the meaning of this disorder and confusion!" "Sir! Sir!" Lee sputtered back in amazement before offering: "The American troops would not stand the British bayonets." GW would have not of it. "You damned poltroon. You never tried them!" Further profanities followed, according to Virginian Charles Scott, before Washington sent Lee to the rear with Hamilton to keep an eye on him. Just then a rider appeared with the news that the British were about fifteen minutes behind, and GW snapped from rage into rally mode. He told Anothony Wayne to hold off the British, while he wrote off aboard his big white charger to steady and reorganize the troops. His presence was magnetic...A two-hour artillery duel ensued... Meanwhile GW was everywhere, buttressing positions, encouraging the troops, and having life-threatening experiences, including a brush with a cannonball that sputtered him in the face with mud, but, as ever, without injury.... - Robert L. O'Connell, Revolutionary: George Washington at War, pages 211-212.
For an early reference to this very set of Marshall, including the McHenry annotation, see W. F. Brand's A Sketch of the Life and Character of Nathaniel Ramsay, Lieut.-Col. Commandant of the Third Regiment of the Maryland Line (1885):
Host bibliographic record for boundwith item barcode 89072962384 - Google Books
Typographical Importance
Mashall's Life of Washington is notable in typographical history for being printed using a progenitor of what is known as the Monticello typeface, one of the most enduring American typefaces ever designed. This typeface came from America's first successful type foundry, established in 1796 by Archibald Binny and James Ronaldson. Caleb P. Wayne, the printer of Marshall's book, thus put to good use a decidedly American type, just as printers in America were transitioning away from English designs.
P. J. Conkwright of the Princeton University Press described the type used for John Marshall's Life of Washington in a festschrift honoring Nils Larson, head of the Letter Drawing Department at Mergenthaler Company:
This was the beginning of the second series of type Archibald Binny had cut. The punches and matrices for most of the sizes in his earlier series had been cut in, and brought with him from, Scotland. This was not a distinguished face, but he and James Ronaldson had managed to stay on their feet with it until the No. 1 series, the transitional roman well known as the first type he cut in America, got under way. This was from 1800 onwards. The No. 1 is a distinguished type in many ways, and is the one that Griffith, Nils Larson and I were concerned with. It was undoubtedly greatly influenced by the Martin-Bulmer design, which was showing its influence everywhere. But Binny & Ronaldson's No. 1 was more than a Bulmer copy.
Thomas Jefferson and James Ronaldson discussed typefaces and printing in their correspondence, perhaps explaining the modern name for the typeface.
As an aside, it is interesting to note that John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson were cousins. They were second cousins once removed, sharing a great-grandfather, Thomas Randolph of Turkey Island. Despite their family connection, they often had opposing views, especially in terms of political philosophy and the direction of the United States government. Marshall, as Chief Justice, was a strong proponent of federalism and a powerful judiciary, while Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, advocated for states' rights and a more limited federal government.
Provenance
James McHenry (1753-1816), with his autograph signature in vol. 3. His name also appears in the printed subscriber's list in the atlas volume.
Daniel William McHenry (1786-1814), his son. Manuscript signature in vol. 1.
By report, to James McHenry Boyd, James McHenry's grandson.
Rarity
While Marshall's Life of Washington appears on the market with some regularity, the present set is a thing apart. The stellar provenance of a Founding Father with an important Revolutionary War-related annotation makes it a unique treasure. Moreover, the present set has an unrecorded state of Volume One, apparently overlooked by the standard bibliographical authorities.