This year I will focus on the proclamation of 1781 (for the complete text, see here). At the beginning of that year, any hope for American success in the war seemed slight. Although the Americans had won a few victories and gained an important ally in France (and the indirect support of Spain), overall the situation seemed to favor the British. As historian Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy notes:
In 1781, the chances of [British] success seemed very promising. In January, Admiral Sir George Rodney and General Sir John Vaughan had eliminated one of the major sources of supply to the Continental Army when they conquered the Dutch island of St. Eustatius. Britain was quickly closing the gap in naval strength, and since the spring of 1780, France and Spain had begun to tire of the war. (The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire, p. 247).
In addition, the British held the cities of New York, Charleston, and Savannah, and the American army in the South had suffered a humiliating defeat at Camden, South Carolina the previous summer. In fact, according, to O'Shaughnessy, "the rebellion seemed on the verge of collapse, with a depreciated currency and a bankrupt treasury dependent on subsidies from France. By May 1781, the Continental dollar had fallen in relation to the [British] pound from 125:1 to 700:1. There was widespread disaffection throughout the Continental Army over wage arrears and poor conditions" (The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of Empire, p. 247). In January of that year, that unhappiness with unpaid wages and poor living conditions led to an uprising by a large number of Continental soldiers in an event now known as the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny.
The Pennsylvania Line Mutiny began on January 1, 1781 among Pennsylvania regiments stationed near Morristown, New Jersey. Some 1,500 soldiers left their encampment in Morristown and started marching toward Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress was meeting, to seek redress of their grievances. By January 3 they had reached Princeton, New Jersey. A representative sent by the Pennsylvania state government, Joseph Reed, then met with a group of non-commissioned officers representing the mutineers and began negotiations over their demands. At the same time, the British tried to get involved. The British commander in New York City, General Sir Henry Clinton, sent operatives to the mutineers' camp in Princeton offering to meet their demands if they would defect to the British. However, as historian Michael Schellhammer tells us: "The mutineers were having none of it; they captured one operative, John Mason, and his guide, James Ogden, and held them prisoner during the negotiations." These men would ultimately be turned over to American authorities and hung as spies. Moreover, by January 8, Reed and the representatives of the mutineers had reached an agreement to resolve the soldiers' complaints. The mutiny was over.
In light of the potential danger to the American cause the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny had posed, it is perhaps not surprising that in its proclamation of 1781 Congress expressed its thanks for the fact that "a mutiny in the American Army was not only happily appeased but became in its issue a pleasing and undeniable proof of the attachment of the people to the cause of liberty since great and real grievances only made them tumultuously seek redress while the [sic] abhorred the thoughts of going over to the enemy."
The proclamation of 1781 also refers to another, even more significant event that had occurred later in the year. On October 19, British general Charles, Lord Cornwallis had surrendered his army of some 8,000 men at Yorktown, Virginia to a combined Franco-American force commanded by Generals Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau and George Washington. During the previous spring and summer, Cornwallis had been conducting a rather successful invasion of Virginia, causing havoc throughout the state. However, his superior, General Clinton in New York, had ordered Cornwallis to set up a naval base in the Chesapeake Bay region and to send some of his troops back to Clinton. In response, Cornwallis led his men to the small tobacco port of Yorktown, which they began to fortify against attack. Meanwhile, Washington and Rochambeau had been planning an attack on the British in New York. However, when Washington received news that a French fleet was sailing for the Chesapeake, it was decided that the allied army should march to Virginia and besiege Cornwallis's army. The French fleet arrived in the Chesapeake just before the arrival of a British fleet dispatched from New York. The two fleets fought an inconclusive battle on September 5. However, soon after the battle, another French fleet managed to slip into the Chesapeake, cutting off any possible escape by sea for Cornwallis's army. The combined Franco-American army arrived at Yorktown by late September and begin besieging the British. By October 17, Cornwallis was forced to send one of his officers to Washington to propose the surrender of the British forces in Yorktown.
The British defeat at Yorktown would turn out to be the beginning of the end of the war. Although King George III vowed to keep fighting, the war in America had become so unpopular in Britain that the pro-war prime minister, Lord North, was obligated to resign. His successor began negotiations to bring the war to an end. Given the importance of the Franco-American victory at Yorktown, it is somewhat surprising that the proclamation of 1781 only briefly refers to it, noting how "after the success of our allies at sea, a General of the first Rank [Lord Cornwallis], with his whole army, has been captured by the allied forces under the direction of our illustrious Commander in Chief [Washington]." Nevertheless, at the time, it was not entirely clear that the war would soon end (in fact, the official end of the war would only come in 1783). At the time the proclamation was issued, the British still had substantial forces in America and still held several important cities. Thus, it should not seem strange that the victory at Yorktown did not receive as much attention in the proclamation of 1781 as might be supposed.
Nevertheless, the fact remained that the year 1781 had ended on a much higher note for the American cause than that on which it had begun. Consequently, it is not surprising that in the proclamation of 1781 the Continental Congress urged the "several states" to "set apart 13th day of December next...as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer." In doing so, the Continental Congress was helping set a precedent for a practice followed by millions of Americans today. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Image of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, meeting place of the Continental Congress, from Wikimedia Commons