Continuing with remarks by SARAH LOGAN FISHER from her diary of Philadelphia in 1777 prior to the coming of the British, with her assessment of British General Sir William Howe and General George Washington.
February 7, 1777— In a low state of mind for writing, but find myself not quite easy to omit mentioning some of the visits that [have] been paid us on the sudden & unexpected departure of my dearly beloved mother…. [Mrs. William Logan died on January 30.]
February 19, 1777— Morning at home….Betsy Wall called to see me in the evening from the Jersies. She says they suffered very considerably from the Provincials. They took from them flour & pork to a large amount near £600, including some other things, & behaved with great insolence. They ordered all the flour to carried to Newtown, where they intend to fix Headquarters when they leave the Jersies, which will be as soon as Howe attempts to move, for they fly before him as they would from a ravenous lion. She also says that the English behaved with the greatest civility & ordered payment to be made for everything they took from them….
Here is a passage that drips with honey in praise of General Sir William Howe and British soldiers.
February 24, 1777— Snowed all day very steady, & blew hard at northeast….Sammy Fisher … told us … that it is supposed this heavy snow will prevent General Howe’s moving his army as soon as many people wished for. His tenderness of disposition & humane benevolence of heart is such that he will never risk the health & lives of his men to gain any conquest that he can by a little delay when the spring advances complete with ease to himself & perhaps with very little loss to his army. How amiable is his character, how fit to rule is such a man who, constantly studious of the welfare of his people, is cautious of running them into any unnecessary danger where their lives might be in a manner sported away, yet when they are called into the field of battle the spirit of ancient heroism is again revived, & we may see the noble fire of loyal Britons glow in their breasts & sparkle in their eyes, panting to subdue the rebellious spirit that is now raised against the best of kings, & anxious to show the world how happy they are under his mild & gentle government which breathes with liberty & peace.
After her paean to Howe, Sarah Fisher condemns George Washington.
February 25, 1777— Morning busy knitting…. My Tommy showed me a paper which was taken from the York newspaper containing some excellent remarks on Washington’s Proclamation*, painting in high colors his treachery & deceit, & also his wishing his people to be guilty of perjury in coming to swear allegiance to him & the states of America after they had taken solemn oaths to the King. Can there be a greater instance of a heart depraved by ambition of the lowest kind than this, an ambition that wishes to raise his own fortune by the ruin of those whose souls have too much virtue not to oppose the violent & wicked measures now carrying on….
*Washington’s Proclamation (January 25, 1777 at Morristown) provided an opportunity for those who had supported the British cause to renounce their allegiance to the King and support the Patriots.