Conway Cabal: A Drunken Tavern Leak, a Board of War and a Duel in the Mouth

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Thomas Conway, an Irish born officer educated in France and recruited by diplomat Silas Deane, arrived at George Washington's camp in Morristown, New Jersey, in the spring of 1777 and was made a brigadier general. He fought well at Brandywine and Germantown, but Washington lost both battles and the British took Philadelphia, sending Congress fleeing to York, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile Horatio Gates collected the glory for Saratoga. When Conway lobbied for promotion to major general that October, Washington warned Congress against it, and the episode notes that Conway openly wanted the rank mainly to advance his career back in the French army.

In November 1777, Gates's aide James Wilkinson got drunk at a tavern in Reading, Pennsylvania, and repeated the contents of a letter in which Conway mocked Washington's weak leadership. Lord Stirling passed the news to Washington, who sent Conway a single icy sentence. The so called cabal turned out to be a loose network of critics including Benjamin Rush, Thomas Mifflin and, as the hosts describe it, John Adams. Congress built a Board of War with Gates as president and made Conway inspector general, but the alliance collapsed once the leak was exposed. Conway resigned in April 1778, and on July 4, 1778, Washington loyalist John Cadwalader shot him in the mouth in a duel.

• Gates sent his Saratoga victory dispatch straight to Congress instead of through Washington, a glaring breach of the chain of command.
• Gates stalled Alexander Hamilton's request for troop reinforcements and then tried to hand over his weakest brigades.
• Wilkinson later challenged Gates himself to a duel over the embarrassment.
• Believing he was dying, Conway dictated a letter of apology to Washington, who simply filed it away.
• Conway survived the wound, returned to France in disgrace, and no faction seriously tried to replace Washington again.