But a good many of his difficulties were due to bad
officers. He had himself the reverence for gentility, the belief
in an ordered grading of society, characteristic of his class in
that age. In Virginia the relation of master and servant was well
understood and the tone of authority was readily accepted. In New
England conceptions of equality were more advanced. The extent to
which the people would brook the despotism of military command
was uncertain. From the first some of the volunteers had elected
their officers. The result was that intriguing demagogues were
sometimes chosen. The Massachusetts troops, wrote a Connecticut
captain, not free, perhaps, from local jealousy, were "commanded
by a most despicable set of officers." At Bunker Hill officers of
this type shirked the fight and their men, left without leaders,
joined in the panicky retreat of that day. Other officers sent
away soldiers to work on their farms while at the same time they
drew for them public pay. At a later time Washington wrote to a
friend wise counsel about the choice of officers. "Take none but
gentlemen; let no local attachment influence you; do not suffer
your good nature to say Yes when you ought to say No. Remember
that it is a public, not a private cause.
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