Delivering the Mail

Written communication i.e. letters, documents, newspapers, etc., was not nearly as common in early colonial times as it would become in later generations. First of all, literacy. A large percentage of people could not read or write. Secondly, transmitting letters, documents, newspapers, etc., was dependent on an occasional wagon going in the general direction, but primarily on a trustworthy and expert rider on a fast horse.

Then came the common sense genius of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), who at 31 was appointed Postmaster of Philadelphia. The pay was minuscule, but there were fringe benefits, particularly the franking privilege: he did not have to pay for his own postage. As a printer and newspaper publisher, this was a huge savings, particularly as his popular Gazette became widely subscribed throughout the colonies. 

He was so successful in Philadelphia, that the British government appointed him Postmaster General of the thirteen colonies – a position he held for two decades.

By the early 1770s, as those thirteen colonies were grousing and grumbling and laying the seeds for their eventual independence, appointing Dr. Franklin (by then a world renowned polymath, i.e. genius of all trades) as Postmaster General of the Colonies was a no-brainer. 

He inspected the postal routes in the cities and towns, and engaged the most reliable men to serve as local postmasters, a position of honor and responsibility. Most of them were tavern-keepers whose places of business were along well-traveled routes. They came in frequent contact with the increasing number of citizens en route “elsewhere,” and who would be happy to carry a small packet to a town or village along the way, whether it was North (toward New England) or South (toward Georgia). 

Ol’ Ben also sent postal riders out at night, which cut the delivery service from New York to Philadelphia to about two days. It was practically miraculous. 

George Washington, Correspondent

George Washington, both as gentleman planter and General, was an assiduous correspondent. For more than a decade, the proprietor of Mount Vernon corresponded with his “factor,” or agent, in London, conducting the sale of his farm produce and purchasing the worldly goods needed by Mr. and Mrs. W. And both Washingtons maintained a frequent exchange of letters with family members and friends throughout Virginia. 

Once GW became General of the Continental Army, the correspondence was practically unending, demanding the services of several staff officers and aides for copying and filing, and a few (such as Alexander Hamilton) who could compose/draft complete letters for the General. 

He wrote frequently to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, along with several Virginia officials, regarding army matters whether it was in Boston or New York or elsewhere. GW also wrote to several representatives individually, particularly those members of special committees who oversaw specific aspects of the army: finances, recruitment, casualties, housing/feeding/equipping the soldiers plus a jeremiad of his own grousing about everything the army lacked, including discipline. He was always candid in his observations. This was official business.

Then there were strategy/orders letters to his sub-commanders dispatched in various locations. And exchanges with Governors and prominent citizens of sister Colonies. More official business.

Then there was Mount Vernon business. The estate was never far from GW’s heart and mind, and regular letters to his cousin Lund Washington, his plantation manager, are filled with instructions regarding the crops, the fields, the weather, the servants, the tenants… No detail was overlooked. 

There was also voluminous correspondence with his brothers, nephews, his stepson Jack Custis, his in-laws (with whom he had strong ties), his neighbors and personal friends. 

And few packets going to Mt. Vernon failed to include his private letters to Martha, his “dearest.”

But no matter the sender or the addressee, mail delivery during Colonial times was arduous – despite the skilled rider and fast horse. And Dr. Franklin’s inventive mind.

Purloining the Packet

In late September 1776, while GW was regrouping his ragtag force in White Plains, NY after a mega-evacuation from Brooklyn Heights, a packet of his correspondence was waylaid. The dispatch rider was careless when he stopped at a public house/post office in Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia, but in a district that numbered a large number of Tories – those loyal to the British Crown.

Whether by design or plain negligence, the messenger opened his bundle, extracted a particular letter that required forwarding, and stepped outside for a few minutes, leaving the satchel of correspondence on the table. According to John Hancock, who informed GW by fast rider that very day, “…the whole of his Letters were carried off & no person could give any account of them…he [the messenger] is here without a single Letter.”

Hancock, Congress and George Washington feared the worst.

Understandably, the irresponsible dispatch rider was imprisoned. The innkeeper was removed from his office of postmaster. The bartender was questioned at length. And, as expected, the stolen packet found its way to British headquarters, where General Howe and his staff found a treasure trove of “interesting” information, particularly regarding GW’s low estimation of his troops, lack of funds, discord between the “Eastern and Southern Colonists,” and his usual litany of disappointments.

Honor Among Generals

About a month after the purloined packet incident, George Washington received a letter from General Howe himself. His fears were confirmed. The British had indeed come into possession of his correspondence. But this particular letter included his unopened letter to Martha Washington, along with a personal note from the British general, stating “I am happy to return it without the least Attempt being made to discover any Part of the Contents.”

They did things that way then.

Sources:

Fraser, Flora – The Washingtons: George and Martha “Join’d by Friendship, Crown’d by Love” – Alfred A. Knopf, 2015

Middlekauff, Robert – Washington’s Revolution: The Making of America’s First Leader – Alfred A. Knopf, 2015

Padover, Saul K. (ed.) – The Washington Papers – Easton Press (reprint), 1985

https://www.history.com/news/us-post-office-benjamin-franklin

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/william-howe