lphia at
the beginning of October, accompanied by the secretary of war, whose
department was left in charge of Hamilton, the secretary of the
treasury. Just before he left, the president received a letter from the
venerable Morgan, written at Winchester on the twenty-fourth of
September. "I am sorry to understand," wrote the brave old rifleman,
"the difficulty experienced in the state of Pennsylvania to raise the
quota of men to suppress that horrid insurrection on their frontiers.[70]
The state of Virginia seems to be unanimous and determined to suppress
it; and it is my opinion that we shall, in a very few days, have men
enough to do that business. For my part, I wish I was at Morgantown at
this time with two thousand men, which would be as many as I could ask,
with what would join me at this place, to bring these people to
order.... I wish an accommodation may not be patched up with these
rioters, under an apprehension of not getting troops to suppress them.
Virginia could, and would, furnish an army sufficient for that
purpose.... I don't wish to spill the blood of a citizen; but I wish to
march against these people, to show them our determination to bring them
to order, and to support the laws. I took the liberty to write you this,
lest your intelligence might not be so good, or that this might throw
some light, or be of some service."

This letter, from his old companion-in-arms, was only one of many of
similar tone that Washington received at that time. Coming from such an
esteemed veteran (with whom was the president's favorite nephew,
Lawrence Lewis, as aid-de-camp), it was peculiarly grateful to
Washington, and he responded in earnest tone, from Carlisle, on the
eighth of October. "Although I regret the occasion," he said, "which has
called you into the field, I rejoice to hear you are there, and because
it is probable I may meet you at Fort Cumberland, whither I shall
proceed as soon as I see the troops at this rendezvous in condition to
advance. At that place, or at Bedford, my ulterior resolution must be
taken, either to advance with the troops into the insurgent counties of
this state, or to return to Philadelphia, for the purpose of meeting
Congress, the third of next month. Imperious circumstances alone can
justify my absence from the seat of government whilst Congress is in
session; but if these, from the disposition of the people in the
refractory counties and the state of the information I expect to r