Note: the following is the entire text content from the interactive historic scene.

War's End: The Promises of the American Revolution

As the long war drew to a close, Americans looked forward to the freedom and prosperity they believed peace and independence would bring.

---

West Point, New York, June, 1783

---

Overview

Peace at Last
The war for independence was all but won by 1783. Soldiers and civilians alike rejoiced. The army could be disbanded; officers and enlisted men could go home. The bad news was that eight exhausting years of conflict had left the United States with an empty treasury and a staggering war debt. How would the government pay the long-overdue money it owed to the soldiers of the Continental Army, let alone the special bounties and other reenlistment incentives so liberally offered during the darkest hours of the war?

A Precarious Situation
Entire Continental regiments had mutinied over the lack of pay during the war. Now, some officers wanted to march the whole army to Philadelphia. They argued that only the threat of force would prevent Congress from abandoning its promise to provide Continental officers half pay pensions for life once the war ended. A moving address by Commander-in-Chief George Washington in March, 1783, defused this so-called Newburgh Conspiracy, but the situation remained precarious. The government shifted its attention to dispersing the angry, still unpaid rank and file.

Emergency Measures
Congress decided to furlough rather than discharge most of the army in the months leading up to the ratification of the peace treaty. Entire regiments marched to their home states under the tight control of their officers. An emergency loan enabled the government to give each soldier one month's pay in cash. Each man received the remainder of his back pay in government certificates redeemable for cash, plus interest at a future date. At General Washington's suggestion, soldiers were permitted to keep their uniforms, muskets and other army-issued equipment. Lacking decent clothing, food and other necessities, many men quickly spent what little cash they received and sold their certificates, muskets and other possessions to support themselves and their families. Only a few regiments remained under arms at West Point, New York, when Congress began formally discharging the entire army in the fall of 1783.

---

Government

A Dangerous Situation
The end of the war was in sight by 1783, and not a moment too soon. The United States treasury was empty. Congress needed to shed the costly burden of maintaining the Continental Army as soon as possible. Yet, how could Congress peaceably disband these soldiers when it lacked the means to pay them? Whole regiments had rioted and even mutinied over the lack of pay and other perceived grievances during the war. Discharging officers and enlisted men without giving them their back pay, pensions and bonuses could spark a full scale uprising.

Promises to Pay
Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris managed to negotiate a hasty cash loan that would put one month's pay in the soldiers' pockets. The remainder of their pay would be issued in government scrip that could be redeemed for cash at a later date. The government also generously allowed soldiers to keep their army-issued weapons, uniforms and equipment.

Crisis Averted
Congress decided to furlough most of the men, rather than discharge them. After all, the peace treaty had not yet been finalized. The British army still occupied New York City; the army might be needed again. Regiments marched home under military discipline, thus preventing any disgruntled, ill-disciplined soldiers from looting the countryside or marching on Congress. Once they were safely dispersed, Congress issued official discharges to these men. The few remaining regiments stationed at West Point, New York, were discharged over the summer and fall. By the winter of 1783, the army was safely disbanded, and Congress had averted a serious crisis.

---

Army

Peace?
Rumors of peace raced through the Continental Army in the spring of 1783. According to Private Thomas Foster's diary, two questions seemed to be on every soldier's lips: "when do you expect to be discharged and go home and be rid of this army"? and, "how we are to be paid off"?

An Ungrateful Nation
Despite the rumors, the year wore on with neither discharge nor pay in sight. An ungrateful nation once again turned a cold shoulder to the soldiers whose sacrifices had preserved it time and time again from disaster. Soldiers frustrated by Congress' continuing refusal to either discharge or pay them, chafed under army discipline. Anonymous letters urged officers to hold Congress to the promises it had made to pay officers half pay pensions for life once the war ended. Personal appeals by General Washington kept matters in check, but morale and relations between enlisted men and officers continued to deteriorate.

Useless Scrip
Most soldiers received furloughs instead of the long awaited and longed-for discharges. The single month of pay the Congress grudgingly paid each man fell disgracefully short of the years of back pay it owed. The government scrip the soldiers received for the remainder of their pay was of little use to those in desperate need of ready money for themselves and their families. Many men traded their certificates for goods or cash at a fraction of their face value. Some sold their muskets and other possessions.

A Bitter Betrayal
Congress discharged the army, including the few remaining Massachusetts and Connecticut regiments at West Point, New York, through the fall of 1783. The joy soldiers experienced at returning home to familiar scenes and loved ones was offset by poverty and a bitter sense of betrayal by a government and people who had failed them.

---

Rollovers

---

Related to this scene

• American Flintlock
• Bullet Mold
• Canteen
• Cartridge Box
• Declaration of Independence
• Deerfield Town Warrant
• Fife
• Flag Remnant
• Hoyt Armchair
• Liberty Pole
• Society of the Cincinnati Diploma
• Silhouette of Hugh Maxwell
• Revolutionary War Payroll
• Print of West Point

---

Observers

---

Themes

| Print | Top of Page