In June 1783, three companies of Pennsylvania Continental troops and another of artillery were stationed in the capital for its defense. Washington later identified the majority of them as “Recruits and Soldiers of a day, who have not born the heat and burden of War, and who can have in reality very few hardships to complain of.” Most were in the service for only five months at most and had seen no more arduous assignments than guarding prisoners of war. But among them were a number of veterans from the Pennsylvania Line who participated in the 1781 mutiny. They shared mutual discontentment, as none had received any pay since December and they seemed to sense danger in the government’s proposals of furlough. Also, on their way to the capital by ship was another detachment of Pennsylvania Line troops from the Southern army, probably including men who had been disciplined in 1781. Secretary of War Benjamin Lincoln recognized the potential danger if these troops joined the disgruntled members of the local garrison. An officer was dispatched to halt the vessel, but was unsuccessful.
The stage in Philadelphia was now set for a larger military revolt. Rumors of the furlough were confirmed by passing troops of the Maryland Line, fresh from Newburgh, on their way home. Washington’s amendment to the furlough was not received or relayed. The increased number of troops in the capital, fueled with news of the recent officer protests in Newburgh, certainly encouraged the garrison’s malcontented members to take bold and unprecedented measures. They did on June 13 as Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair, commander of Continental troops in Pennsylvania, was about to issue orders conforming to Washington’s furlough instructions. The Philadelphia garrison’s sergeants gathered and conveyed their men’s grievances “in a very turbulent and indecent style” to Congress through the Secretary of War. These noncommissioned officers refused to accept their discharge until they and their men received their overdue pay. Madison wrote that they “painted the hardships which they had suffered in the defense of their country & the duty of their Country to reward them, demanding a satisfactory answer the afternoon on which it was sent in, with a threat of otherwise taking such measures as would right themselves.” The government took little notice of this “mutinous memorial from the Sergeants,” and the matter was referred back to Lincoln and St. Clair. The two men took “prudent & soothing measures” which Madison believed “obviated the embarrassment.”