Lewis Nicola

Nicolas signed a letter dated March 2, 1783.

Lewis Nicola (born 1717 in Dublin , Ireland , † August 9, 1807 in Alexandria , Virginia ) was an officer, entrepreneur, writer and member of the American Philosophical Society .

Nicola initially embarked on a career in the British Army, but emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1760 . There he pursued various entrepreneurial activities, founded his own magazine and was involved in the American Philosophical Society , of which he was appointed curator several times. Shortly after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Nicola joined the Continental Army . In June 1777, at his suggestion, the American Congress created the Invalid Corps army unit, consisting of older soldiers , which he took over and held until the end of the war.

Nicola gained broader fame through a letter from 1782 in which he recommended George Washington , then Commander in Chief of the American Army, to position himself as king at the head of the thirteen founding states of the United States  .

Life

Early years and joining the army

Lewis Nicola was born in Dublin in 1717 to a British officer. In 1740 he joined the British Army, married Christiana Doyle and was initially stationed in various Irish cities. After a brief stay in Flanders in 1745, he returned to Ireland and was promoted to the rank of major there in September 1755 .

The first decade in Philadelphia

First page of Nicolas's contribution An easy Method of preserving SUBJECTS in SPIRITS in the first volume of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society .

Eight months after the death of his first wife, he married Jane Bishop in April 1760 and emigrated to America with her - apparently because he saw no chance of further promotion in the British Army. Shortly after arriving in Philadelphia , he opened a haberdashery shop , but soon realized that the job as a merchant was not what he was looking for.

In September 1767 he opened a lending library. For an annual subscription of three dollars and a deposit of three pounds sterling , Nicolas customers were given access to a collection of two to three hundred volumes of the most varied of literature. Nicolas library was open six days a week and was obviously very busy. Just four years after it was founded, its holdings had grown to more than a thousand volumes.

Through his contact with medicine professor John Morgan , he was accepted into the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge . Founded in 1766 as part of the awakening of American national consciousness by the Stamp Act , this society was dedicated to promoting new agricultural practices and improving local produce. It was in competition with the American Philosophical Society , founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin and John Bartram , whose activities had meanwhile ceased and which - as a response to the newly formed society - has now been revived by some of its remaining members. In 1769, the two rival companies agreed on a merger, in which Nicola was directly involved as a member of the unification committee. In the following years he also took an active role in society, published articles in the journal Transactions of the American Philosophical Society and was elected several times in succession as one of three curators .

In January 1769, Nicola gave up his haberdashery shop and was the author and editor of the monthly American Magazine, or General Repository, which he founded . The American Magazine contained a mix of scientific articles, poems and news from around the world. At the same time, Nicola used the paper to publish the most important contributions of the American Philosophical Society as well as their meeting minutes, which he enclosed in an appendix to the journal. After nine issues, Nicola had to discontinue American Magazine in September 1769.

Re-entry into the army and writing activity

View of Philadelphia . Sepia drawing by Archibald Robertson, Lieutenant General Royal Engineers, November 1777.

Only a few months after the outbreak of the War of Independence called the Pennsylvania Council of Safety (dt. Security of the State of Pennsylvania ) Nicola in a committee to inspect the American defense line at Delaware . Nicolas's final return to the military was by no means foreseeable at this point. At first he tried to stay afloat financially in another way. In January 1776 he opened a pub in Philadelphia selling porters . A short time later, Nicola founded a school in which, in addition to writing, reading, arithmetic and double-entry bookkeeping, he also taught the construction of military fortifications . This employment does not seem to have been particularly profitable either, since Nicola joined the Continental Army at her own request in February 1776 .

As a barrack master , Nicola was initially responsible for housing the soldiers in Philadelphia, but in December 1776 he was appointed city ​​commander of Philadelphia. Despite various tasks, Nicola found time to write. In the treatise Treatise of Military Exercise, Calculated for the Use of Americans (Philadelphia 1776) he passed on the experiences from his time as a British officer and with Louis André de la Mamie de Clairacs L'ingenieur de Campagne, or, Field Engineer (Philadelphia 1776) and Thomas Auguste Le Roy de Grandmaisons Treatise on Military Service of Light Horse and Light Infantry (Philadelphia 1777), he translated two writings on military theory from French into English.

Nicola as the founder and commander of the Invalid Corps

The Invalid Corps under Nicola in the first years of the war

Detail from Nicolas Plan of the English Lines Near Philadelphia 1777 . Nicola drew the map shortly after the British left in 1778. The detail shows Redoute No. 1.

In June 1777, at Nicolas's suggestion , the American Continental Congress created the Invalid Corps, a new army unit consisting of older former soldiers, which initially consisted of just under 1,000 soldiers divided into eight companies . This force, under Nicolas' command, was initially stationed in Philadelphia, but had to leave the city in the autumn of 1777 after the advance of the British army under General William Howe .

On September 25, 1777, the Invalid Corps reached Fort Mifflin . In the face of a large number of cases of illness, for lack of provisions and not least to let as few soldiers as possible fall into the hands of the British, Nicola and his officers decided to move on to Trenton , New Jersey . Once there, Nicolas Troop intervened actively in the war for the first time by securing the goods of a ship lying near Bordentown on the Delaware from the British. The Invalid Corps then moved to winter quarters at Easton and Bethlehem in Pennsylvania , where - like the rest of the Continental Army - it suffered from the harsh winter of 1777/78. After a brief stay at Valley Forge camp in the spring of 1778, the Invalid Corps under Nicola returned to Philadelphia, where it arrived on June 19, shortly after the city was evacuated by the British.

The years up to 1782

In the next few years of the war, Nicolas Invalid Corps was stationed mainly in Philadelphia and Boston . Nicola used the time, among other things, to send a number of suggestions for improvement to the Congress (including: A Scheme for a Partisan Corps and Judicious remarks on a proposed Reformation in the Army ), as well as to collect and pass on information from British and Hessian deserters. He also strengthened his force by recruiting more soldiers from the Philadelphia area.

The precarious financial situation that Nicola faced in the years before the start of the American Revolution continued during the war. In 1779, Nicola asked for an increase in his wages, explaining that he did not have enough money to dress like an officer. In August 1781, Nicola complained to George Washington that the poor pay was poor enough to feed him and his officers. When the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, the executive power of the state of Pennsylvania, finally dissolved the office of city commander of Philadelphia, Nicola asked Robert Morris , the then head of the American finance department, for a settlement amount. Morris replied evasively that he wanted to take on the matter, but could not make any promises given the poor state finances.

Correspondence with Washington: the Newburgh letter

The Newburgh letter (detail). Letter from Lewis Nicola, Fishkill, New York, to George Washington, Newburgh , New York, dated May 22, 1787. A transcription of the letter and Washington's reply can be found in the English version of Wikisource .

On May 22, 1782, Nicola wrote what is now known as the Newburgh letter to George Washington, named after his army headquarters in Newburgh , New York . At this point the Battle of Yorktown had been just six months. In it, the allied French and American troops had won a clear victory against the British army under General Cornwallis and captured more than 8,000 soldiers. George Washington, meanwhile, was not convinced that the victory at Yorktown also meant the end of the Revolutionary War. He argued that even after the capture of Cornwallis' army, the British still had strong forces on American soil and that it was therefore necessary to keep the Continental Army ready for action until an official peace agreement was reached. But with such proposals, Washington revived the concerns of previous critics from the ranks of the Continental Congress, where the term "standing army" brought back memories of Julius Caesar's Roman legions and Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army and the specter of a military dictatorship in their heads. In previous years, George Washington had been accused of artificially prolonging the war in order to maintain his quasi-monarchical leadership as the army commander. And his well-known disdain for the militia troops played further arguments into the hands of his critics. They argued that militias are republican and therefore harmless, whereas a standing army is monarchical and poses a potential security risk.

In the first part of his letter, Nicola addresses the financial needs of the Continental Congress . These financial problems had painful effects not only for Nicola, but also for many other soldiers in the Continental Army: most of them were waiting for outstanding pay and many had been without pay for months - some for years. The reason for this lay in the Confederation Articles of 1781, which allowed the Continental Congress to raise an army in times of war, but not to raise its own taxes. The right to collect taxes was reserved for the individual member states and they were either unable or unwilling to pay the costs of the confederation. From the point of view of Nicolas, the weakness of the republics manifested itself in this grievance, from which he concluded

... if the advantages of a mixed constitution are emphasized and duly taken into account, such a constitution is easily introduced ...

... when the benefits of a mixed government are pointed out and duly considered, such will be readily adopted ...

Alluding to the person of Washington, Nicola went on to write that it was probably beyond dispute that

... us the same abilities which have led us to victory and glory under difficulties apparently insurmountable by human strength [and] which deserve and have gained the general respect and admiration of an army, very likely lead us [also] on the more even paths of peace and could steer.

... the same abilities which have lead us, through difficulties apparently insurmountable by human power, to victory and glory, those qualities that have merited and obtained the universal esteem and veneration of an army, would be most likely to conduct and direct us in the smoother paths of peace.

Since the two terms "tyranny" and "monarchy" are so close to one another in the minds of many people, another term must first be found for the head of the newly founded state,

... but once all other things are settled, I believe it will be easy to find good reasons for accepting the title "King", which I believe would have some significant advantages.

... but if all other things were once adjusted I believe strong argument might be produced for admitting the title of king, which I conceive would be attended with some material advantages.

Washington was well aware of the fears of those who feared he might soar to become an "American Cromwell". In his reply from the same day he gave Nicola a very clear answer: "No incident in the course of the war has triggered more painful feelings in me than your news that such ideas are circulating in the army as you have expressed them". He could not believe, Washington went on, "which part of my behavior could have given rise to a request that seems to me like the greatest calamity that can hit my country" and "You could not have found a person who is more repugnant about your plans ". The file copy of his reply to Nicola had Washington certified as an exact copy by two of his aides-de-camps , David Humphreys and Jonathan Trumbull - a precaution he otherwise rarely used.

Nicola reacted contrite to the harsh rejection of his commander in chief. On May 23, he replied to Washington that he was "extremely unhappy that the freedom I have taken is so repulsive to Your Excellency [...] Nothing has ever struck me more than your reprimand." he asked Washington to evaluate any mistake of which he might be guilty "more as weakness of judgment than as depravity of heart."

Washington's replies to this and two other letters of apology from Nicolas of May 24 and 28, 1782 have not survived. However, Nicola and Washington soon found their relationship with one another back to normal.

The dissolution of the Invalid Corps and Nicolas' promotion to Brigadier General

Continental Army soldiers . Drawing of a French officer who took part in the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

In December 1782, Nicola complained to Washington that General Benjamin Lincoln had recommended the disbandment of the Invalid Corps because it was in poor condition and cost more than good. Nicola, on the other hand, argued that apart from combat missions and long marches, no other regiment had served any longer. Against Washington's recommendation, the dissolution of the Invalid Corps was ordered by the Continental Congress in May 1783. Between June and August, Nicola made her way back to Philadelphia. There he was hired two months after the official peace agreement by the Peace of Paris as a representative for the handling of all affairs concerning his regiment. On November 27, 1793 he was raised to the rank of brigadier general . At the beginning of June 1784 the Congress finally hired him for a period of four and a half months to issue certificates for his former members of the regiment.

Nicolas life after the war and last years

During his time in Philadelphia, Nicola joined the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati , a hereditary association of officers from the War of Independence and their descendants that still exists today. In the mid-1780s he tried unsuccessfully to establish a stagecoach connection between Philadelphia and Reading , Pennsylvania. After that, he planned to run an inn. For financial reasons he finally took over the management of the Philadelphia workhouse in December 1788 .

In 1793 Nicola was appointed inspector of the Philadelphia city militia brigade - a position he held until August 1798. During the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 he finally returned to his previous position as barrack master and city commander of Philadelphia.

As in the time before the war, Nicola was also active in his later years in the American Philosophical Society , of which he was again appointed curator. In addition, he was active as a writer. Influenced by the writings of the theologian Joseph Priestley , who was critical of the church , he published a pamphlet in 1791 with the title The Divinity of Jesus Christ Considered, From Scripture evidences , in which he came to the conclusion that the divinity of Jesus Christ cannot be derived from the Bible.

After a chance visit to a shop selling tents, among other things, Nicola sent a letter to President Washington in September 1794, in which he made a proposal for a new tent construction.

In 1798 he retired from all public office and moved to Alexandria , Virginia, to live near one of his daughters. At his death in August 1807, the value of his personal belongings, excluding his watch, seal, bed, and linens, was valued at forty-five dollars. Aware that his fortune was unlikely to be enough for a funeral, he had previously decreed that the missing amount would be contributed by the Pennsylvania Society of Cincinnati .

reception

Nicola is best known today for his letter of May 1782 to George Washington, the Newburgh letter . Washington's biographers and general works on the American Revolution introduce him mostly as a marginal figure in history in order to underline Washington's strictly republican stance.

The American historian John Richard Alden, for example, sees Washington's harsh rejection of Nicolas' ideas as the "death of the monarchical idea in the United States and the complete triumph of the representative system of government". Allen Boudreau and Alexander Bleimann rate Washington’s reaction as one of the most important milestones on the road to becoming a republic since the declaration of independence in 1776.

Only Robert F. Haggard, one of Nicolas' two modern biographers and assistant editor of the publication project The Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia , which has been running since 1968 , doubts the current interpretation of the process from spring 1782. He denies that the sources indicate that Nicola offered the crown directly to Washington, but has so far been the only one with this interpretation.

literature

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• Letter from Lewis Nicolas to George Washington, May 22, 1787 , in: George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741–1799, Series 4, General Correspondence, 1697–1799 (grayscale scans), transcribed in the English edition of Wikisource .

Representations

• Whitfield J. Bell: Colonel Lewis Nicola: Advocate of Monarchy, 1782 , Philadelphia 1983.
• Robert F. Haggard: The Nicola Affair: Lewis Nicola, George Washington, and American Military Discontent during the Revolutionary War , in: Proceedings of the American philosophical society 146, 2 (2002), available online as a PDF document.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "with practically no prospects for advancements", here quoted from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 144.
2. ^ Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 144.
3. ↑ In the list of curators, Nicola is listed as curator for the years 1769, 1779, 1781, 1782, 1783–1785. Laws and Regulations of the American Philosophical Society ... together with a Charter of the Society, and a list of its Officers and Councilors , Philadelphia 1886, p. 37.
4. ↑ "by the depreciation of the paper currency & exorbitant rise of goods the pay is not sufficient to cloth him as an officer", Letter from Nicolas to the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council of April 7, 1779, here quoted from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , P. 155.
5. ↑ Nicolas to George Washington, letter of August 14, 1781, here after Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 155.
6. ^ Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 156.
7. ↑ For this and the following cf. Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington , New York 2004, ISBN 1-4000-4031-0 , section “Extended Epilogue”, here after the Kindle edition, Locations 2437ff.
8. ↑ Quoted here from the transcription of the letter in the English edition of Wikisource .
9. ↑ Quoted here from the transcription of the letter in the English edition of Wikisource .
10. ↑ Quoted here from the transcription of the letter in the English edition of Wikisource .
11. ↑ See Ellis, His Excellency (as above), Locations 2463ff.
12. ↑ "no occurrence in the course of the War, has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the Army as you have expressed.", Here quoted from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 158.
13. ↑ "what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my Country.", Here quoted from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 158.
14. ↑ "You could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable.", Quoted here from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 158.
15. ^ Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 158.
16. ↑ "extremely unhappy that the liberty I have taken should be so highly disagreable to your Excellency [...] nothing has ever affected me so much as your reproof", quoted here from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 158f.
17. ↑ "More to weakness of judgment than corruptness of heart.", Here quoted from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 159.
18. ^ Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 160.
19. ↑ In a letter from Lincoln to John Hanson , President of the Continental Congress, dated October 29, 1782, Lincoln justified his recommendation by stating that the "miserable state in which the Regiment now is the very great expence which attends its being kept up and the very little services received from it ". Nicola forwarded the quote to Washington in a letter dated December 2, 1782. Quoted here from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 160.
20. ^ "That, fighting & long marches excepted, no regiment has done more duty". Letter from Nicolas to Washington dated December 2, 1782, quoted here from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 160.
21. ^ Websites of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati.
22. ^ Letter from Nicolas to Washington of September 20, 1794, cf. Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 168.
23. ^ "Any deficiency I presume the Cincinaty society will make good", Bell, Colonel Lewis Nicola , p. 8, here cited from Haggard, The Nicola Affair , p. 169.
24. ^ "[Washington's refusal] signifies the death of the monarchical idea in the United States and the total triumph of representative government.", John Richard Alden, The American Revolution, 1775–1783 , New York 1954, p. 267.
25. ↑ "[Washington's rebuke] constituted the mightiest blow struck for the formation of our republic since the Declaration of Independence." Allen Boudreau / Alexander lead man George Washington in New York , Orel, Nebraska, 1987, p.15.

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on December 22, 2009 in this version .