Newburgh Addresses were two unsigned letters circulated among officers at the Continental Army's winter quarters in Newburgh, New York, after the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781. Both expressed the suspicion of many officers that the Congress would not settle their financial claims before demobilization. The first letter even urged direct action—an appeal from "the justice to the fears of government." Gen. George Washington, who was present in camp, denounced the call for direct action and urged patience and confidence in the good faith of Congress. Resolutions approving his counsel and reprobating the addresses were adopted. Maj. John Armstrong Jr., a young soldier on Gen. Horatio Gates's staff, later admitted to authorship of the letters.
Bibliography
Carp, E. Wayne. To Starve the Army at Pleasure. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
Royster, Charles. A Revolutionary People at War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979.
