One of the little-known but crucial events of the American War for Independence happened as the conflict seemed to be coming to an end. This post discusses the man who would fight a king but also make a king - Louis Nicola.
Early Life - Soldier and Civil Servant of the King
Lewis Nicola was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1717, as the son of a British army officer and the grandson of Huguenot refugees. Although little is known about his upbringing, Nicola’s family apparently gave him a solid secondary education. Like many Irish, he joined the British army and spent nearly thirty years fighting for his king. His family purchased him a commission as an ensign in the British army in January 1740. He married his first wife, Christiana Doyle, on September 19 of that year. During the early 1740s, Nicola was stationed in various Irish cities, including Galway, MannorHamilton, Londonderry, Dublin, and Cork. After a brief tour of duty in Flanders during the intense fighting in the spring and summer of 1745, Nicola returned to Ireland, joining the garrison at Charles Fort near Kinsale, and eventually earning a promotion to the rank of fort major in early September 1755. For the twenty-one years following his return to Ireland in 1745, Kinsale was his home. He became involved in civic service and developed an interest in scientific inquiry. Nicola married his second wife, Jane Bishop, on April 18, 1760, eight months after the death of Christiana Nicola.
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| Nicola served in Flanders in 1745 |
An Immigrant to the New World
When he did not receive a expected inheritance, Nicola moved to America in 1766, settling in Philadelphia and opening a dry goods store on Second Street. Not content to be just a shopkeeper, Nicola became a prominent figure in the growing world of publishing. In 1767, he established a library, and by December 1769, he moved it to Spruce Street in the more fashionable Society Hill. He renamed his establishment the “General Circulating Library.” A believer in the broad enlightenment of the people, Nicola continued to publish several magazines focused on scientific information and inquiry. Nicola also helped establish the American Philosophical Society in 1769 and became the publisher of its annual report, Transactions.
Nicola temporarily relocated his family to Easton, where he also held public roles, and in 1774, he was appointed Justice of the Peace in Northampton County (essentially the county judge). As tensions with Great Britain increased and conflict appeared unavoidable, he returned to Philadelphia and resumed his focus on military affairs. Leveraging his experience in the British Army, he published A Treatise of Military Exerciser, Calculated for the Use of the Americans, in 1776, which was a very timely publication. This work, created at the request of the colonels of the five battalions of Pennsylvania militia from Philadelphia, aimed to include “every Thing that is supposed can be of Use to” the colonists and exclude “such Manoevres, as are only for Shew and Parade.”
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| Nicola's Invalid Corps garrisoned Trenton |
Nicola was fluent in French and translated several French military texts. In 1776, Nicola was appointed Barracks Master of Philadelphia and commander of the city guards. During the British occupation of Philadelphia, Nicola published a map for use if the Americans moved against his adopted town. His experience leading old men and boys as commander in Philadelphia led him to ask Congress to consider an idea he had for better garrisoning—using wounded veterans.
On June 20, 1777, the Continental Congress, recognizing the validity of Nicola’s arguments, established an Invalid Corps consisting of eight companies and nearly one thousand men, “to be employed in garrisons, and for guards in cities and other places, where magazines or arsenals, or hospitals are placed; as also to serve as a military school for young gentlemen, prior to their being appointed to marching and other military arts." Essentially, this marked the beginning of a rudimentary military academy.
Nicola was appointed Colonel in the Continental Army and commander of the Invalid Corps. Nicola and the Invalid Corps performed many valuable services during the American Revolution. For most of the war, the corps was stationed in Philadelphia. When General William Howe’s British army advanced toward the American capital in the fall of 1777, Nicola moved his family and the Invalid Corps elsewhere. They relocated to Bristol, then Fort Mifflin, and finally to Trenton. Nicola planned several operations against British outposts, but once both sides settled into winter quarters, the corps was redeployed to Easton and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to guard hospitals and military stores in those towns.
Like the rest of the Continental Army, the Invalid Corps faced great hardships during the winter of 1777–78. After a brief stay at Valley Forge in spring 1778, the Invalid Corps returned to Philadelphia on June 19, just after the British withdrew from the city. Over the next three years, the corps was mainly stationed in Philadelphia, with a period in Boston. Besides garrison duties, Nicola directed the corps to interrogate prisoners and deserters and sent intelligence reports to Washington. The intellectually active Nicola also proposed several schemes to Congress, including forming a partisan force, implementing new army regulations, and using the Invalids in recruiting.
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| The Invalid Corps garrisoned Fort Mifflin |
The Nicola Letter
On June 13, 1781, in response to Washington’s request of May 27, Congress authorized the concentration of the corps at West Point, New York. The Invalids spent much of their time at West Point's outposts, such as Fishkill. Nicola faced many challenges regarding pay and feeding his men. He successfully defended himself against a court-martial based on charges from a discontented captain. The poor quality of the invalids and a shortage of officers and men only worsened his situation. He had to deal with numerous cases of misconduct.
Nicola himself faced financial difficulties throughout the war and, like many other officers, was unhappy with Congress's treatment of officers and men concerning supply, rations, and pay. Widespread disgruntlement simmered even as the new nation approached independence. With all of his experiences—both good and bad—since joining the Continental Army, Nicola, ever a man of letters and ideas, wrote a letter to Washington on May 22, 1782, from Fishkill, New York, outlining his grievances over the army’s poor treatment by Congress.
Nicola wrote:
"...From several conversations, I have had with officers, & some I have
overheard among soldiers, I believe it is generally intended not to separate
after the peace ’till all grievances are redressed, engagements &
promises fulfilled . . . God forbid we should ever think of involving
that country we have, under your conduct & auspices, rescued from
oppression, into a new scene of blood & confusion; but it cannot be
expected we should forego claims on which our future subsistence &
that of our families depend."
Washington was well aware of all this, but Nicola's second theme stunned and angered him. Nicola stated bluntly that, unlike many of his American contemporaries, he was not a “violent admirer of a republican form of government.” He then discussed the histories of earlier republics like Venice, Genoa, and Holland, explaining why “their lustre” had “been of short duration.” This, in Nicola’s view, also applied to the United States. None of these had been able to govern themselves effectively. Regarding the Continental Congress, Nicola asked, “has it not evidently appeared that during the course of this war we have never been able to draw forth all the internal resources we are possessed of, and oppose or attack the enemy with our real vigour?”
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| Mount Guillian - near Fishkill |
Nicola went on to argue for a limited constitutional monarchy similar to Britain's. That caused a strong reaction from Washington. The tone of Washington's reply to Nicola that same day shows he not only disapproved of Nicola’s “scheme” but was also deeply offended by it.
After expressing his “great surprise & astonishment,” Washington wrote that “no occurrence in the course of the war, has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the Army as you have expressed.” Furthermore, Washington was “at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address which to me seems big with
the greatest mischiefs that can befall my Country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself,” Washington continued, “you could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable.”
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| The Continental Army encampments around West Point - 1782 |
While he admitted to the problems facing the army and promised to do everything in his power “in a constitutional way” to address them, Washington urged Nicola that if he had “any regard for your Country, concern for yourself or posterity—or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your Mind & never communicate, as from yourself, or anyone else, a sentiment of the like nature.”
Finally, as an obvious but rarely used safety precaution, Washington had two of his aides-de-camp, David Humphreys and Jonathan Trumbull, attest that the copy of the letter he kept for his files was an exact duplicate of the one he had sent to Nicola. Nicola was hurt by the rebuff and immediately apologized at great length, writing that he was “extremely unhappy that the liberty I have taken should be so highly disagreeable to your Excellency . . . nothing has ever affected me so much as your reproof.”
Several letters followed as Nicola tried to justify his actions. No written response from Washington ever arrived, or if it did, no record exists.
Apres l' Affaire
And curiously, Nicola's relationship with the commander in chief remained as it was before the letters. He continued to command the Invalid Corps and played the normal role of a Continental officer. Washington never shunned or further censured him. In fact, Washington supported Nicola's objections when Congress moved to disband the Invalid Corps in the spring of 1783. Nicola returned to Philadelphia and provided administrative service through the end of the war, retiring as a Brevetted Brigadier General. After the war, he held a position as manager of the city's workhouse and became active in the Society of the Cincinnati.
Nicola remained involved in military affairs as the inspector of the city's militia through the 1790s, when he retired and moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where he died in 1807. Although Nicola's proposal to Washington was controversial, it should not overshadow a life of distinguished service in both peace and war. Many desired a monarch, and many believed that monarch should be George Washington.
Nicola's letters and the responses (and lack thereof) ironically strengthened the case for Washington as one of the few men in history to reject a chance at monarchy—a move that led none other than George the Third to call him the man of the century. We prefer to call him the essential man. In a way, Washington and the new nation may owe a debt to Nicola for his "modest proposal." Instead of a king, the Nicola Affair helped to reinforce George Washington's commitment to a government of men, not monarchs.
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| Washington's response to Nicola sealed his reputation as the indispensable man of the republic |
