As a result, resignations were threatened which, if carried out, would affect the character of the army very deeply.

Then again, the foreigners themselves, inflated by the eagerness of our agents and by their reception at the hands of Congress, would find on joining the army that they could get no commands, chiefly because there were none to give.

They would then become dissatisfied with their rank and employment, and bitter complaints and recriminations would ensue.
All these difficulties, of course, fell most heavily upon the commander-in-chief, who was heartily disgusted with the whole business.

Washington believed from the beginning, and said over and over again in various and ever stronger terms, that this was an American war and must be fought by Americans.

In no other way, and by no other persons, did he consider that it could be carried to any success worth having.