Congress voted that Washington should appoint a new commander, and the New England delegates visited him to urge the selection of Gates.

This task Washington refused to perform, alleging as a reason that the northern department had always been considered a separate command, and that he had never done more than advise.

These reasons do not look very weighty or very strong, and it is not quite clear what the underlying motive was.

Washington never shrank from responsibility, and he knew very well that he could pick out the best man more unerringly than Congress.

But he also saw that Congress favored Gates, whom he would not have chosen, and he therefore probably felt that it was more important to have some one whom New England believed in and approved than a better soldier who would have been unwelcome to her representatives.