Brief guide to manuscripts collections| William L. Clements Library The University of Michigan George Germain Papers |
George Sackville spent his early years in Ireland where his father was Lord Lieutenant. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he received his first army commission in an Irish regiment. In 1740 he exchanged for an English regiment, serving with distinction in the War of the Austrian Succession. Intelligent, talented, ambitious, Sackville was gaining prominence in both the army and the House of Commons when, in 1758, he was made commander in chief of the British force in Germany under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. His army career ended abruptly in disgrace with a court martial for failure to follow orders at the battle of Minden. Dismissed from the service, Sackville spent the next 16 years rebuilding his parliamentary career.
By 1775, now using the name Germain, he was in favor with the North ministry. His tough attitude toward the colonies led to his appointment as first lord of trade and secretary of state for America. He took office confident that vigorous British action combined with Loyalist support would insure victory. Even after Yorktown he urged continuing the war and refused to accept American independence. During the war Germain's quarrelsomeness had alienated the British commanders in chief, George III, and the cabinet; it substantially impaired his leadership of the war both in America and England. Germain was forced to resign in 1782 and left public life.
Political and military correspondence of Lord George Sackville, afterwards Germain.
The most important part of the collection is the official correspondence when Germain was secretary of state for America during the Revolutionary War. Because Germain virtually directed the British war effort, all important dispatches came to his office. He was in constant, direct communication with the commanders in chief in America and their immediate subordinates, as well as with the naval commanders. Of great interest is a volume containing copies of 246 secret dispatches sent by Germain, 1775-1782. There is full correspondence with the British governors in Nova Scotia, Florida, and the West Indies, with Governor Henry Hamilton at Detroit, and with the Carlisle peace commissioners. The collection includes important correspondence relating to America from Germain's confidants, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Thompson and Sir John Irwin. As American secretary, Germain had a voluminous correspondence with ministers and officials in England, particularly Secretaries of State Lord Suffolk and Lord Stormont, Undersecretary William Eden, and Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn. The American material includes 24 manuscript maps.
The collection also contains some correspondence relating to Germain's earlier army career. There are ten letters written by him to his father while serving in the War of the Austrian Succession. Although the Clements Library does not have the Minden papers, there is material relating to the Seven Years' War: it includes letters written and received by Germain in Germany, 1759, and important letters to Germain from Amherst and Wolfe in America. There is one interesting item not directly related to Germain's career: a handsomely bound letterbook containing copies of correspondence between Benjamin Franklin, Governor Thomas Pownall, and Reverentd Samuel Cooper of Boston, 1769-1774.
Purchased, 1937
The Historical Manuscripts Commission calendared the Germain Papers, but approximately one third of the Clements Library collection is not included in its Report on the Manuscripts of Mrs. Stopford-Sackville, of Drayton House, Northamtonshire, 2 vols. (London, 1904, 1910).
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