£x ICtbrta SEYMOUR DURST ~t ' 'Fort nteiiw ^m/ferda-m. oj> Je Manhatanj "When you leave, please leave this book Because it has been said "Ever thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book." Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/seventeenhundredOOIoss_0 \ V \ *' SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY- SIX. WAR OF INDEPENDENCE; A HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS. FROM THE PERIOD OF THE UNION OF THE COLONIES AGAINST THE FRENCH, TO THE INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON, THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS OF PLANS Or BATTLES, PROMINENT EVENTS, INTERESTING LOCALITIES, AND PORTRAITS Of DISTINGUISHED MEN OE THE PERIOD. BY BENSON J. LOSSING. NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED. NEW YORK: EDWARD WALKER, 114 FULTON STREET 1852. fo€> - y Printed by E. N. Grossman o XXVIII. Washington receiving his commission, ------ 164 XXIX. Battle of Bunker Hill, 170 XXX. Continental Paper Money, 1S3 XXXI. Group of Portraits — Lee — Cornwallis — Clinton, - 1--.') XXXII. Initial Letter, ls.3 XXXIII. Portraits of the committee who drafted the Declaration of Inde- pendence, ----- 196 XXXIV. Washington crossing the Delaware, ------ 212 XXXV. The " Billop House," o 17 XXXVI. Group of Portraits— Schuyler— Burgoyne— Gates, - - - - 219 XXXVII. Initial Letter, 219 XXXVIII. Encampment at Valley Forge, - ■ 230 v "i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE XXXIX. Plan of the Battles of Stillwater and Saratoga, - 238 XL. " Battle of Brandywine, 238 XLI. " Siege of Savannah, 238 XLII. " Battle of Monmouth, 238 XLIII. Surrender of Burgoyne, -------- 240 XLIV. Washington's Head-quarters at Morristovvn, - 250 XLV. Group of Portraits — La Fayette — Steuben — Jones, - - - 252 XLVI. Initial Letter, 252 XLVII. Plan of the Camp at Valley Forge, --..-.- 254 XLVIII. " Battle of White Plains, 254 XLIX. " Seat of War in South Carolina, 254 L. " Battle of Germantown, - - - - - - 254 LI. Signing of the Treaty of Alliance at Paris, ----- 270 LH. Continental Metal-Money, — first coined, ----- 277 LIII. Group of Portraits — Lincoln — Deane — Wayne, - - - - 279 LIV. Initial Letter, 279 LV. Capture of the Serapis, 296 LVI. Ruins of Ticonderoga, 301 LVII. Group of Portraits— Greene— Andr6— Arnold, - - - - 303 LVIII. Initial Letter, 303 LXIX. The " Beverly Robinson House," 316 LX. Capture of Andre, 320 LXI. Washington's Head-quarters at Tappan, ----- 326 LXII. Group of Portraits — Jay — Morgan — Sumter, ----- 327 LXIII. Initial Letter, 327 LXIV. Plan of the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill, 334 LXV. " Guilford Court-House, ------ 334 LXVI. " Operations on the Hudson, 1780, - - - - 334 LXVII. " Siege of Yorktown, 334 LXVIII. British Officer dining with Marion, 336 LXIX. Surrender of Cornwallis, - - ' 344 LXX. Moore's House at Yorktown, ------- 349 LXXI. Group of Portraits— Laurens— Mifflin— Shelburne, - - - 351 LXXII. Initial Letter, 351 LXXIII. Washington's Head-quarters at Newburgh, ----- 359 LXXIV. Group of Portraits— Washington— Hamilton— Knox, - - - 361 LXXV. Initial Letter, 361 LXXVI. Inauguration of Washington, ------- 365 LXXVII. Seals of the original thirteen States, 3G8 LXXVIII. Fac Simile of the Signatures of the Signers of the Decla- ration cf Independence, 432, 433, 434 We have felt a great degree of hesitation in bringing the following pages to the bar of public opinion, because of the able manner in which the same subject has long since been presented to the world by American and European writers. We feel conscious of the apparent presumption for one " unknown to fame," to enter the lists with those historians of the Revolution, whose position in society gave them free access to every fountain of information concerning that eventful struggle, and whose imperishable works are, and ever will be, their most enduring monuments, affording to the writers and statesmen of Europe, the most reliable sources of practical instruction in the great lessons then taught. But none caji be so great that " one cubit to his stature " may not be added. When Locke, the celebrated philosopher, was asked how he obtained such a vast amount of practical informa- tion, he replied, — " By asking questions of every man I meet, whether boor or gentleman." Thus in literature : the great aggregation of learning is but united molecules, gathered from the elaborations of the myriad of minds of successive generations ; and the most limited capacity may contribute a moiety, small though it be, to the general fund of human knowledge, and that moiety, like the widow's mite, hath value. The unreal echo, when its mysterious articulations repeat the strains we love, is a substantial contributor to our happiness ; and should this work prove, to the ears and hearts of the growing children of America, but an echo of the sweet voices of others who have chanted the heroics of the War of Independ- ence, it will serve a noble purpose, and we shall be content to have it called an echo. In the preparation of this volume the chief aim has been to give a concise, yet perfect and comprehensive, narrative of the leading events of that Revolution which dismembered the British emipre, and called another nation into existence. We neither hope nor desire to supplant other histories of the same events, for their usefulness in extending a knowledge of that conflict among our people, and exciting a corresponding degree of patriotism, lias been, and still is, incalculable. It would be neither generous nor in good taste, even to draw comparisons between this and its predecessors ; yet we may be allowed to say, that it possesses many claims to the kind regard of the public. No effort has been spared to stamp it with the character of strict truthfulness in fact and date, and to this end we have availed ourselves of every authentic source of information, both foreign and domestic, within our reach. So far as facts are concerned, we have freely appropriated to our use the fruit* of the labors of others, but in all cases we have given full credit therefor, as far as practicable. We have endeavored to study others with discrimination ; and with their various beauties and defects before us, have elaborated our own plan in the x PREFACE construction of this work, having constantly in view its design for popular use. How far its leading characteristics entitle it to a post of precedence, or even of equality, in that particular sphere of usefulness for which it is designed, we leave to the decision of a discriminating public. Of the Pictorial Embellishments of the work, it does not become us to speak, except in relation to their general character and design. They are introduced not merely for the purpose of attracting the popular eye, without reference to fitness or meaning ; they are illustrative of facts, and form a part of the record. The delineations of Interesting Localities, having Revolutionary associations clustered around them, may be relied on as correct, all of them having been drawn by the writer, either from nature, or from approved pictures. The Portraits, likewise (forty-five in number), have been carefully copied from engravings which enjoy the public approval. The same may be affirmed of the sixteen Plans of Battles. The wide scope given in the illustration of the book, and the superior manner, without regard to cost, in which every part of the mechanical work is executed, proclaim the generous liberality of the publisher, and will, doubtless, be appre- ciated by the public. The Appendix contains several State Documents of great interest to every American. They were called forth by the exigencies of the times, during the inception, progress, and consummation of the Revolution, and contain the redun- dant seed of principles that grew and flourished amid the sufferings of the patriot strugglers in that conflict. They are drawn from sources not generally accessible, and make valuable addenda to the narrative of the text. At the conclusion of the volume is an Analytical Index, alphabetically arranged, prepared with great care. It will be found of much value to those who take up the volume for reference only, as well as to the general reader. The Marginal Dates, interspersed through the book, furnish a complete chronology at every step, and disencumber the text of that prolixity which their introduction, therein, would necessarily produce. These, combined with the Running Index at the head of each page, render the search for any given fact, the work of a few moments only. This work, we repeat, has been prepared expressly for a sphere of usefulness; and the leading idea in the mind of writer and publisher has been, a desire to present to the American public, and particularly to the youth of our beloved country, a full and complete narrative of the War of Independence, avoiding unnecessary prolixity in detail ; thus furnishing a volume of intrinsic value at a cost so moderate, that the head of every family in the land may afford to spread its contents before his children, and instruct them in those lessons concerning the conflict for our " goodly heritage," which every child of the Republic should learn. How well we have succeeded in our design, let the work itself proclaim. B. J. L. New York, June, 1847. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAQM Introduction- • »*** 15 CHAPTER I. GENERAL AFFAIRS OF THE COLONIES TO THE PEACE IN 1763. The Colonies originally unconnected. First united, by national antipathy to France. Collisions in Canada and Acadia, or Nova Scotia. French settle- ments in the Western Territory. Washington's mission thither. Military expedition under Washington. Events of the campaign. Convention at Albany, and plan for a Union of the Colonies. Braddock's expedition and defeat. Sir William Johnson's exploits. Death of Dieskau. Success of the French under Montcalm. Accession of Pitt to the Premiership of England. His vigorous measures. Reduction of Louisburg. Death of General Howe. Success of General Abercrombie. Capture of Ticonder^ga and Crown Point. Capture and surrender of Quebec. Death of Wolfe and Montcalm. Eva- cuation of the Western Territory by the French. Cession of Canada to the British by the Treaty of 1763 25 to 50 CHAPTER II. EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. Causes which led to the Revolution. Oppressive acts early passed by Parlia- ment. Opposition of the people of Boston. Seizure of vessels by order of government. The Sugar Act. Accession of Grenville to the Premiership of England. Passage of the St*mp Act. Indignation of the Colonies. Dr. Franklin, Agent for the Colonies, in London. Parade of the Stamp Act in New York. Agitation in Virginia. Patrick Henry and his bold resolutions. First Colonial Congress. Declaration of Rights. Destruction of stamped paper. Sons of Liberty. Non-importation Associations. Repeal of the Stamp Act. Imposition of duties on tea, &c. Great excitement among the Colonies. Massachusetts' circular. Tumult in Boston. Investment of Bos- ton by a military force. Dissolution of Colonial Assemblies . . . 51 to 87 CHAPTER III. EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1774. Affray in Boston. The City Guard insulted. Massacre of citizens by British soldiers. Trial of Captain Preston and his men. Their defence by John Adams and Josiah Quincy. Their acquittal. Repeal of all duties except on xii . TABLE OF CONTENTS. PA BE tea. Continued dissatisfaction of the Americans. Non-importation agree- ments continued. Death of Grenville. Interception of the letters of Gover- nor Hutchinson and Lieutenant-Governor Oliver. Their transmission to America by Franklin. Excitement produced thereby. Franklin dismissed from the Post-office department of the Colonies. Opposition to royal regula - tions touching the finances of the Colonies. Recall of Governor Hutchin- son. Artful policy of the British Ministry. Enactment favorable to the East India Company. Apathy of Parliament and the friends of America therein. Effect on the Colonies, of the intelligence of the passage of the Tea Act. Arrival of vessels under its operation, laden with tea. Ports closed against them. Their return to England. Agreement of consignees not to receive the tea. Refusal of the Boston consignees to this agreement. Their appeal to the Governor for protection. Collection of a mob. The consignees and custom-house officers compelled to flee to Castle William. General meeting of the inhabitants. Perpetual guard appointed to prevent tea from being landed. Great assemblage at Faneuil Hall. Destruction of tea in Boston harbor 89 to 112 CHAPTER IV. EVENTS OF 1774. Proposition in Parliament to close the port of Boston. Debates thereon. Petition of American citizens presented by the Lord-Mayor of London. Passage of the bill. Arrival of General Gage. Closing of the port and removal of the custom-house, and appendages, to Salem. The people there refuse to accept the advantages of the measure. Patriotic kindness of the inhabitants of Marblehead to Boston merchants. Subversion of the Charter of Massachusetts. Act for sending persons capitally indicted, to another Colony, or to Britain, for trial. Distress in Boston. Fast-day in Virginia proclaimed. First Colonial Congress. Their commendation of Massa- chusetts. Addresses to the King and Ministry, and to the People of Canada. Fortification of Boston Neck. Passage of a bill for restraining the commerce of the New England Colonies. Ten thousand troops and several ships of the line ordered_to America 113 to 141 CHAPTER V. EVENTS OF 1775. Attempt of General Gage to destroy the military stores at Concord. The plan discovered, and measures taken to prevent it. Assemblage of militia at Lex- ington. Spread of the news throughout the Colonies. A general rush to arms. Twenty thousand Provincials environ the British at Boston. Decla- ration of Independence in North Carolina. The Mecklenburg Resolutions. Seizure of Ticonderoga and Crown Point by the Americans. British rein- forced by Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne. Second Continental Congress. Conditional offer of pardon. Battle of Bunker Hill. Defeat of the Ameri- cans, and death of General Warren. Proceedings in Congress. General Washington appointed Commander-in-chief of all the forces. Organization of the army at Cambridge. Flight of the Colonial royal Governors. Burn- ing of Norfolk. Siege of Quebec, and death of General Montgomery. De- feat of the Americans. Movements of General Arnold 142 to 183 TABLE OF CONTENTS. x lii PACK CHAPTER VI. EVENTS OF 1776. Siege of Boston from Dorchester Heights. British troops evacuate Boston, and with fifteen hundred families of loyalists, sail for Halifax. Entree of the American army. Defence of Boston, and march towards New York. Sir Henry Clinton joined at Cape Fear River by the squadron of Sir Peter Par- ker. The fleet with Cornwallis's troops, sail for Charleston. Charleston fortified. The siege unsuccessful. General rendezvous of the British forces at New York. Formidable preparations of England. Employment of seven- teen thousand Hessian troops. Debates in Parliament. Fifty-five thousand troops ordered to America. Call of Congress upon the Colonies to sever their allegiance to Great Britain. Virginia Resolutions. Declaration or Independence. Battle of Long Island. Battle of White Plains. Surren- der of Fort Washington to the British. Great diminution of the American forces. Retreat across New Jersey. Succession of defeats. Passage of the Delaware and Battle of Trenton. Re-animation of the American troops 184 to 217 CHAPTER VII. events or 1777. Successful stratagem of Washington. Battle of Princeton, and death of General Mercer. Rapid march of the Americans to Morristown. They overrun the whole of the northern part of New Jersey. The people of New Jersey coa- lesce with the American army. Inoculation of the whole army with the small-pox. Return of Congress to Philadelphia. Success of Silas Deane's mission to France. Franklin sent to Paris. His success in exciting the favor of the French. Expedition of La Fayette. His arrival in America. De- struction of American military stores at Peekskill and Danbury. Retreat of the British from New Jersey. Capture of Major-General Prescott. Admiral Howe sails for Philadelphia. Battle of Brandywine. Adjournment of Con- gress to Lancaster. The British army take possession of Philadelphia. Bat- tle of Germantown. Capture of the forts on the Delaware by the British. Reverses of the northern division of the American army. Kosciusko. Bat- tle of Bennington. Battle of Saratoga. Capture and surrender of Bur- goyne. A plot to place General Gates at the head of the army, defeated. Adoption by Congress of Articles of Confederation 219 to 250 CHAPTER VIII. EVENTS OF 1778. Views of Ministers and Parliament. Effect of the news of Burgoyne's defeat. Passage of Conciliatory Bills. Commissioners sent to America. Attempts at bribery. Indignation of Congress. Acknowledgment of American Inde- pendence by the Court of France. Treaty of Alliance. Arrival of a French fleet. British evacuate Philadelphia. Battle of Monmouth. Reprimand and suspension of General Lee. Attempted engagpmpnt of the English and French fleets. Destruction of shipping and stores on the New England coast. Attack on Wyoming by Butler with tories and Indians. Horrible massacre and destruction of the settlement. Retaliatory expedition. Attack on Cherry Valley. Expedition of the British against Georgia. Capture of Savannah. 251 to 277 xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. EVENTS OF 1779. Plan of the campaign. Contention of the two fleets in the West Indies. Ex- pedition against Port Royal, and defeat of the British. Outrages of the tories in Georgia. Their defeat and dispersion. Expedition under General Ash. Defeat of the Americans, and entire subjugation of Georgia. Battle of Stono Ferry. British ravages upon the coasts of the Northern States. Success of the British in Virginia and New York. Surrender of Stony Point and Verplanck's Point. Plunder of New Haven Tryon's infamous boast. Recapture of Stony Point. Capture of British at Paulus's Hook. Cruelties of the Six Nations. Battle of the Chemung. Siege of Savannah. Death of Count Pulaski. Declaration of war against Great Britain by Spain. Bloody battle on the coast of Scotland between French and English vessels. Exploits of Paul Jones. Depressed feelings of the Americans at the close of the year. Depreciation of Continental money. Great preparations by Bri- tain for the next campaign 278 to 302 CHAPTER X. events or 1780. Suspension of operations at the North. Sir Henry Clinton's expedition against Charleston. His disastrous voyage. Capture of Fort Moultrie and surrender of Charleston. British expeditions into the interior. Subjugation of South Carolina. Border skirmishes. March of General Gates to the relief of the Southern Provinces. Union of the forces of Lords Rawdon and Cornwallis. Battle of Sanders's Creek, and defeat of the Americans. Greene supersedes Yates. Surprise and dispersion of Sumter's troops. Severe measures of Cornwallis. Indignation of the people. Atrocities of American renegades. Battle of King's Mountain. Battle of Blackstock. Exploits of General Marion. Operations in New Jersey. Arrival of Admiral de Ternay, with Count de Rochambeau. Treason of Arnold. Capture of Major Andre. His trial, conviction, and execution. Declaration of war against Holland by Great Britain. Capture of Henry Laurens. Large Parliamentary votes of supplies for the ensuing campaign 302 to 326 CHAPTER XI. EVENTS or 1781. Comparison of the condition of the two armies. Threatened rebellion of the Pennsylvania troops. The mutineers march to Princeton. Attempt of Clin- ton's emissaries to bribe them. Their indignation and seizure of these agents. Their necessities relieved by Congress. Mutiny of the New Jersey troops. Its speedy suppression. Taxation and loans. Liberality of Robert Morris. Establishment of the Bank of North America. British descent upon Virginia, and destruction of Richmond. Attempt to capture Arnold. Arnold and Phillips overrun the country. Battle of the Cowpens. Retreat of the Americans. Providential interposition. Battle of Guilford Court- house. Battle of Hobkirk's Hill. Siege of Ninety-Six. British officer dining with Marion. Execution of Colonel Hayne. Battle of Eutaw Springs. Virginia overrun by Cornwallis. Junction of the allied armies. Plundering TABLE OF CONTENTS. x* PAQI expedition of Arnold in Connecticut. Murder of Colonel Ledyard, and the garrison of Fort Trumbull. Siege of Yorktown, and surrender of Comwallis. Public thanksgivings of the army and Congress 327 to 349 CHAPTER XII. EVENTS OF 17S2-'83. Vigilant efforts adopted by Washington. Closing military movements at the South. Case of Captain Huddy. Proceedings in Parliament. Arrival of Sir Guy Carleton. Preliminary negotiations for Peace. Death of Rockingham, and accession of Shelburne. Cessation of hostilities in America, and evacu- ation of cities. Alarming state of the country. A Monarchy proposed to Washington. The " Newburgh Addresses." Disbanding of the army. Washington's Farewell Address. His resignation, and retirement to Mount Vernon 350 to 360 CHAPTER XIII. EVENTS FROM 1784 TO 17S9. The powers of Congress. Fears of an open insurrection. Shay's insurrection. Convention at Annapolis to amend the Articles of Confederation. Doings of the Convention. Adoption of the Constitution by the Convention, and its ratification by the States. Organization of the government. Washington elected President of the United States. His inauguration. . . . 361 to 368 APPENDIX. Stamp Act, 369 to 376 Declaration of Rights 376 to 378 Petition to the King. 378 to 380 Memorials to Parliament 380 to 384 Propositions for a General Congress 384 to 385 Members of the First Continental Congress 385 to 386 Addresses to the People of Great Britan 386 to 392 " " " Anglo-American Colonies 392 to 401 • " " Quebec, 401 to 408 Petition to the King 408 to 412 Address to the Inhabitants of Canada 412 to 414 A declaration of Congress, setting forth the causes of the war . . . 414 to 419 Second Petition to the King 419 to 422 Address to the Assembly of Jamaica 422 to 424 " " People of Ireland 424 to 429 Declaration of Independence 429 to 435 Articles of Confederation 435 to 443 A Fragment of Polybius 443 to 446 Definitive Treaty of Peace 446 to 450 Newburgh Address, and Washington's Speech 450 to 456 Washington's Circular Letter to the Governors of the States. . . . 456 to 463 " Farewell Address to the Army 463 to 466 Dr. Franklin's Motion for Prayers in the Convention 466 to 463 Proceedings in relation to the Constitution of the United States. . . 46S to 474 Constitution of the United States 474 to 489 Analytical Index. 491 et seq. T-. INTRODUCTION. HE War of the American Revolution was emphatically a war of Principle ; a conflict of Opinion and for Power, between Despotism and Freedom ; a struggle of the patrician few ■ with the plebeian many for the mastery. Under the banner of the former, were mar- *rmr*- £i shalled the bold assumption of the divine right of kings — of sovereignty vested in one man, Dei Gratia ; the feudal pretensions and asserted prerogatives of titled aristocracy, and the blind and almost unconquerable bigotry of the governed, volun- tarily chained by their prejudices to the car of monarchy, and led captive with ease. 13 INTRODUCTION. Under the banner of the latter, were marshalled the sublime jurisprudential theories of bygone reformers ; freedom of thought, opinion and action; faith in the capacity of man for self-govern- ment ; a just appreciation of the true dignity of humanity, and the fearless assertion of the glorious principles of equality of birth, and equality in the exercise of inalienable rights, conferred impartially by our Creator. These were the moral antagonisms, whose attri- tion produced the flame of the American Revolution. < I The physical forces which these discordant principles drew up in battle array, were equally antipodal, viewed as subjects for patient endurance of hardships, and indomitable energy in the accomplish- ment of declared purposes. i The armies sent by monarchy to conquer the Colonies, were officered by men who had been reared in the halls of nobility, or the mansions of opulence ; men, who made war a profession whereby to obtain the bauble glory, — military glory — that brilliant lie that for so many ages has led mankind astray — and not as an instru- mentality for developing or maintaining principles that form the basis of human happiness. The troops which they led were mostly veteran warriors. They came from the continental battle fields ; they came from the easy conquests of the Indian Peninsula ; and the discipline of the camp was to them an easy restraint. Officers and men, all came fully panoplied for the conflict. Their " military chest" commanded the ready service of the exchequer of a wealthy and powerful people. Their superior numbers and discipline, coupled with a feeling of utter contempt for the " rebels''' they came to subdue and humble, gave them such confidence of certain and speedy success, that the thoughts of hardships to be endured, diffi- culties to encounter, a disastrous overthrow, never interposed between their vision and the glittering prize of glory to be won ; and hence no misgivings weakened their courage ; no doubts made them falter. The dynasties of the Old World wished them success ; they were confident and firm. ! The colonial army was composed of men unused to the arts of war. Its ranks were filled by farmers and artizans ; men, who had seldom heard the bray of the trumpet, or the roll of the drum, awakened into action by the behests of war. Their officers were men of comparatively small military renown. They were nurtured amid the quiet scenes of a peaceful people ; and they were called to INTRODUCTION. 2 9 the command of battalions, not specially because of their excellence as military tacticians, but because of their possession of a combina- tion of excellences as patriots ; as men of prudence and sound judgment ; men to be relied on. Officers and soldiers well knew the hardships to be endured, and the obstacles to be overcome. They well knew how limited were the resources of the country ; how few the men, how scanty the supplies to be obtained. They well knew the power and the resources of the enemy from abroad, and they had carefully numbered the inimical phalanx of royalists and " faint-hearts" in their midst. They went into the conflict fully prepared to suffer much ; yet, relying upon the justice of their cause, they felt as confident of final success as did their haughty foes. Such were the physical elements engaged in the War of the Revolution. A thirst for glory ; a blind devotion to royalty, and a mercenary spirit on one side ; and aspirations for freedom, devotion to, and faith in, Republican doctrines, and the faithful guardianship of home from the unhallowed foot-prints of tyranny on the other, were the impulses that brought the heroes of Britain, and the patriots of America, upon the field of personal combat. The struggle was long and desperate, and year after year, the balance of destiny was equipoised. Victory at length gave her palm to Republicanism, and Royalty discomfited, retired from the arena. The ways of a myste- rious Providence were made plain ; a mighty problem was solved ; a brighter morning than earth ever saw, save when angels pro- claimed, " Peace on earth, good will to men," dawned upon humanity, and the car of progress, so long inert, started upon its wondrous course. The poean of victory, chanted by the great chorus of American freemen, was echoed back from Europe by thousands upon thou- sands of hearts attuned in unison ; yet in that response were heard the trembling notes of fear and doubt. Prayer was fervent ; hope lifted high her oriflamme ; yet fear interposed its cautious counsels, and doubt whispered its dangerous suggestions in the ear of hope. Enlightened statesmen and philautliropists turned to the chronicles of the past for a parallel or a prototype on which to build a confi- dent hope of success ; and despotism and its abettors also delved therein for examples of failure and destruction, incident to such a presumptuous begetting of a nation. Both read the same lesson. 20 INTRODUCTION, one with despondency, the other with exultation. The democracy of the Greeks, and the republicanism of the Romans, appeared, as in truth they were, misnomers ; the shadows of unknown substances. Liberty, at first pure and chaste, became speedily arrayed in mere- tricious garb, and changed to libertinism ; and the tyranny of repub- lican majorities speedily assumed the most hateful features of des- potism. In a word, the ever-tangible discordance and speedy over- throw of ancient republics, and the more recently recorded destiny of Venice and Genoa, taken as criterions for judgment, furnished philanthropy with scanty hope for the success of the disenthralled Colonies ; while royalty, certain of their speedy downfall, like their predecessors, made the birth of this Republic a standing jest, and its early demise a scoffing prophecy. But there was an element of vitality in the constitution of the new Republic, unknown to its predecessors, and all important for its perpetuity. It wa6 the element of personal equality, in the posses- sion and enjoyment of social and political rights. No privileged class was recognized, no demarkation lines of caste defaced the charter of our prerogatives. The fountain of knowledge was freely unsealed to all ; the road to wealth and honor was freely opened to all. The prize of distinction was the incentive to learn and to educate ; and general intelligence was (and is now) the main pillar of the State, growing with the growth, and strengthening with the strength, of the Republic. This was wanting in all past republics, and hence their speedy decadence and annihilation. i The war of the American Revolution taught monarchs and states- men a great moral lesson, universal in its application, and valuable beyond estimate. It taught them to respect the inalienable rights of the governed, and to regard political freedom as the firmest pillar of the throne. It taught them to abandon the dangerous policy of coercing men into submission to the ministrations of palpable error, and of quieting the rebellion of intellect and sentiment by physical power. It taught them to regard as futile and impious, any attempt to stay the progress of truth, for its power is almighty ; it is the throne of the Eternal. It opened their understanding to the fact, that the legitimate source of power is the people ; and that vox populi vox Dei, cannot be denied when that voice utters the wise lessons of truth. It taught them to respect opinion ; to eschew intole- rance j to receive with caution, and view with scrutiny, the pharisai- INTRODUCTION. 21 cal teachings of creeds, whether religious or political ; and to regard the race as a unity ; children of one father ; co-heirs in the inherit- ance of those prerogatives which God alone can bestow, and which God alone can withhold. These were hard and almost incompre- hensible lessons for bigots to learn. Their minds, long clouded with the gross error of king-craft and priest-craft, were almost impervious to the light of political and religious truth, which the war of the Revolution unveiled ; and it was long after the judgment was convinced, and the intellect acknowledged the truth of the lesson, ere the heart, at whose portal stood human pride mailed in the panoply of hoary precedent, would vield its assent, and allow the spirit of human progress to enter and assume control. Yet. the lessons taught, were learned ; and the rich fruit of that glorious seed-time is now everywhere visible in the Old World. Republican institutions grow side by side with monarchy, and their branches intertwine ; and despotism proper has scarcely a foothold in Europe. There is not a code of laws, by which its empires are governed, that does not bear, in some clause, the signet of the American Revolution. Its voices reverberated amid the stupendous structures of feudal folly and feudal wrong ; their deep foundations were shaken, and they crumbled into dust. A few still remain, but they are* fast fading away, like stars of morning before the brightness of a more glorious orb ; and when the years of the first century of the New Era shall be told by the gnomon of Time, scarcely a vestige of these dark monuments will remain, to cast their shadow upon the dial. Our experiment in self-government has been fairly tried. It is no longer an experiment, but a grand demonstra- tion. May we not in sober truth, and not in a boastful spirit, claim for our Republic the meed of superiority ? Is it not to jurisprudence, what the Venus de' Medici is to art, a model of classic grace, dis- figured, it is true, by impurities cast upon it by the careless and unwise, but in form and feature, as perfect as human judgment can fashion it ? Will it not be a study for all time ; and will not the transatlantic republics yet to be chiselled from the rough stones of old systems, look to the beauteous child of the American Revolution, as a model par excellence 1 These are questions which the honest pride of every American citizen answers in the affirmative. 22 INTRODUCTION. But another question forces itself upon the mind and heart of the enlightened patriot — Shall this rich inheritance be long perpetuated, and how ? The answer is at hand. Educate every child — educate every emigrant, for " education is the cheap defence of nations."* Educate all, physically, intellectually and morally. Instruct, not only the head, but the heart ; enlighten the mind, and, by cultiva- tion, enlarge and multiply the affections. Above all, let our youth be instructed in all that appertains to the vital principles of our Republic. To appreciate the blessings they enjoy, and to create in them those patriotic emotions, which shall constitute them ardent defenders in the hour of trial, it is necessary for them to be taught the price of their goodly heritage ; the fearful cost of blood and treasure, suffering and woe, at which it was obtained. They should be led by the hand of history into every patriotic council ; upon every battle field ; through every scene of trial and hardship, of hope and despondency, of triumph and defeat, where our fathers acted and endured, so that when we " Go ring the bells and fire the guns, And fling the starry banner out — Cry Freedom ! till our little ones Send back their tiny shout ;"f our children may not, in their ignorance, ask, " What*mean ye by this service V% The duty of the historian of the Revolution, as one of the national teachers, is a difficult one, and if he truly feels the weight of the responsibility resting upon him, he will instinctively shrink from the task, or approach it with trembling misgivings, relying solely upon Omnipotent Wisdom, in the exercise of his judgment and the guidance of his pen. That same nation, whose rulers sent armies here to oppress their brethren, our fathers ; to awe them into submis- sion to a " tyrant, unfit to be the ruler of a free people," and who, by every act of injustice and cruelty which malevolence could invent, sought to enslave the infant Colonies, is still a powerful and haughty sovereignty ; yet in language, laws, religion, and commerce, is closely allied to us in bonds of mutual friendship. While patriotic indignation would prompt the historian to speak harshly of Britain, * Burke, f Whittier. % Exodus xii., 26. INTRODUCTION. 23 its rulers and people, when recording the story of the wrongs our fathers endured ; and he might justly speak in terms of unqualified condemnation of the inflictors and abettors of those wrongs, yet it is manifestly improper and unjust to excite unfriendly feelings against that same nation now. The actors in that bloody drama have passed away, and their places in court, forum and field, are filled by men who as deeply deplore and condemn those acts of George and his ministers, as we. \ Britain, though old, has been an apt scholar in learning the lesson taught by our War of Independence, and nobly are her children practising its precepts. Monarchy there is now but a dim shadow of its former self ; and, instead of using the people as an instrument of its ambition and lust, it is but an executive arm to do the bidding of the people's will. Power has changed its dwelling-place ; it has left the narrow precincts of the throne, and domiciles upon the broad domain of the intellect of the nation. Religion, too, is stooping from its lofty position upon the upper step of the throne, and with its best friends, Freedom of Opinion, and Freedom of Thought, is leaving the cathedral for the chapel, and spreading its broad mantle of Toleration alike over assenters and dissenters. Every year pro- duces a closer affiliation in thought, feeling and action, between us and our stately mother ; and the time is not far distant, when geo- graphical demarkation alone shall make us distinctive nations, for we shall meet upon the same broad platform of Human Right, and labor in the same great cause of Human Progress, without a discordant feeling to disturb our harmony. .» While the following pages shall present a faithful narrative of the War of American Independence ; while not a syllable of deserving condemnation of British tyranny and oppression shall be withheld ; while every record of patriotic action, calculated to make the heart of every American citizen glow with love for his country, and reverence for those who procured the blessed inheritance, shall be rehearsed, it shall be our aim to do this, and this only; and not, by the utterance of a single word, probe the healing wound of the last century, or sever one ligament of friendly feeling that now binds us to our English brethren. Let us rather strengthen that bond, for our alliance is noble and honorable. The object of our friendship is wcrthy thereof, for, when we cast our eyes across the Atlantic, England, radiant with learning, art, 24 INTRODUCTION. science, religion, patriotism, every element of human progress, every ingredient of social good, every constituent of true greatness, beams like Hesperus amid the lesser orbs of the Old World. Let every American heart respond to the sentiment of her own sweet poet Cowper : — " England, with all thy faults, I love thee still." THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, George cession. William Pitt, First Earl of Chat- ham. Washington, from an Early Print by Trumbull. CHAPTER I. PROPER point of departure in the delineation of the events of the War of American Inde- [ pendence, is the period when the several English colonies, planted along the Atlantic sea-board from Massachusetts to Georgia, first united for the purpose of checking the extension of French settlements and the growth of French empire upon this continent. They were prompted to this union by sentiments of true loyalty to the ~ home government, and the counsels of self- interest. Until this period each colony, established upon its own particular basis, without any special reference to its sister settle- 26 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap, l Union proposed by Colonial Governors. National jealousies. ments, felt no bond of common interest with them. In fact, the discordance of sectional feeling, in matters relating to boundaries and other differences of opinion, growing out of imperfect demarkations of territory, produced sectional jealousies and rivalries that some- times amounted to a considerable degree of animosity : yet the consciousness of a common origin and fraternity in language, and the dictates of sound judgment, so strongly developed in the Colonies, preserved them from acts of open hostility, or even the indulgence of feelings of permanent hatred. Prior to the period now under consideration, the Colonies had no thoughts of union, for any object whatever. Nicholson and other colonial Governors had, at different times, proposed a union of several of the Colonies, but the motives which gave birth to these suggestions were so manifestly mercenary that the people spurned them with disdain. They were made by men ambitious of extending the power of the crown, advancing their own aggrandizement, and of checking, in its incipient growth, the budding spirit of independ- ence, becoming so frequently manifest. They feared the expansion of this bud into the lovely flower and mature fruit, and at once sought to destroy its vitality or retard its growth. But these unwise counsels and recommendations to the crown always gave new life to languishing aspirations for freedom, and increased the odium in which the colonists, so frequently with just cause, held their appointed rulers. The union proposed by the colonial Governors, and so promptly rejected by the people, was finally accomplished through the instru- mentality of old national antipathies felt towards France, and which were remarkably strong in the less refined state of society in America. To political hatreds were added those of antagonistic religious creeds (Roman Catholic and Protestant) ; and when the arena of conflict between Great Britain and France was transferred to America the colonists were ready to bury all domestic jealousies and disloyal resolutions, and fly to arms. To understand the nature and cause of this union, it is necessary to glance at prior events, in which Britain and France were the chief actors. While the European settlements in the new world were few, and scattered over a vast wilderness, and their trade con- sisted chiefly in the traffic of trinkets for fur and game with the Indians, the respective governments of the English, French, Dutch, and Spanish settlers, paid but little regard to their rivalries. But when these settlements became extended, and their operations began to have an influence upon general commerce, national jealousies arose, which finally assumed an attitude of open hostility. chap, i.] COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 27 First settlement of Canada. First expedition«agaiiist Uuebec From the earliest settlement of the English colonies to the treaty of Paris in 1763, they were frequently harassed by skirmishes and wars with adjacent tribes of Indians, and also with other European settlers. The Indians were frequently instigated by the latter to the commission of the most dreadful acts of cruelty towards the English, and then turned every advantage gained to their own account. i The French first settled and possessed Canada/ 1 Nearly ' simultaneously with these settlements, they planted colonies in Florida, and claimed, by priority of discovery, exclusive jurisdic- tion over the whole valley of the Ohio and Mississippi. To secure this claim, they built a line of forts from Canada to Florida.* By bribes and other nefarious means of persuasion, they won over to their interest and aid several powerful tribes of Indians ; and finally arranged a systematic plan of encroachments upon the English domain. In order to prevent these encroachments, and to weaken the strength of the French, it was contemplated to conquer Canada. As early as 1629 an attempt was made to despoil France of her possessions on the banks of the St. Lawrence. During that year, Sir David Kirk equipped a small fleet, and surprised and captured Quebec, then an infant French colony, and considered of little importance. At the conclusion of peace, in 1632, Quebec was restored to France. Some years subsequent to these events, the allied tribes of Indians called the Five Nations waged a terrible war against the French in Canada ; and the English of New York gave their aid to the savages. This tended to strengthen the bitter animosities of the English and French, both here and at home ; yet the war, which consisted chiefly of skirmishes, did not receive the regular sanction of the respective governments till after the revolution of 1688,t when open hostilities were declared between the two nations. Britain now determined to strike an effectual blow at the power of France beyond the Atlantic. In 1690, the commissioners of the Colonies projected an expedi- tion against Quebec. The land forces were under the command of General Winthrop, and amounted to eight hundred and fifty men, raised chiefly from the Colonies of New England and New York. A fleet of armed ships and transports with one thousand eight hundred men, under the command of Sir William Phipps, was sent * Florida then included the whole region bordering upon the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico. t In favor of William, Prince of Orange, who was made king of England, and ruled conjointly with his queen, Mary. 28 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap. t. Queen Anne s War. Expedition against Canada. at the same time to the St. Lawrence, to co-operate with the land forces. Acadia* was subdued with very little resistance, and the fleet reached Quebec in safety ; but the expedition proved unsuc- cessful, owing to a delay of the fleet, a want of boats and provisions among the land forces, and the able defence made by the Count Frontenac. An attempt against Montreal was also unsuccessful, that post being ably defended by Des Callieres. The peace of 1897 suspended hostilities ; and, to the great discontent of the colo- nies, Acadia was restored to France. In 1701, England declared war against France, in consequence of the French government having acknowledged the son of James II. (an exile in France at the time of his father's death) as king of England^ when that government had settled the crown upon Anne, the second daughter of James, and then the reigning sovereign. Another cause of offence was the act of the French monarch in placing his grandson, Philip of Anjou, upon the throne of Spain, and thus, as England maintained, destroying the balance of power in Europe. These causes arrayed England against France and Spain in bloody conflict, known as " Queen Anne's War," and the " War of the Spanish Succession." This renewal of hostilities gave the Colonies another opportunity to meet their old enemies upon the battle-field. Two expeditions against Canada, one in 1704, the other in 1707, failed in achieving the conquest of that province ; but, in 1710, General Nicholson, with about twenty-five hundred men, raised chiefly from the colonies of New England and New York, and aided by a fleet from England, captured the garrison of Port Royal, a demanded and obtained a surrender of the place, changed its name to Annapolis, in honor of Queen Anne, and Acadia, or Nova Scotia, was perma nently annexed to the British crown. The following year, a land force under Nicholson, and a naval armament under Sir Hovenden Walker, proceeded towards Quebec, with a view of not only effecting the conquest of that city, but the subjugation of all Canada. The fleet reached the mouth of the St. Lawrence in safety, but the obstinate pride of Walker refused to listen to the advice of pilots, and, on the night of the second of Sep- tember, eight ships of the squadron were wrecked on the northern shore, near the Seven Islands. This disaster frustrated the designs of the expedition, and it was abandoned. Walker, with the remain- der of his fleet, returned to England, and the colonial troops, dis- appointed and chagrined, were marched back to Boston. They ' * Acadia comprehended the whole region now called Nova Scotia, or New Scot- land. CHAP. I.] COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 29 Treaty of Utrecht. Expedition ag&lnsl Lot lislmrH. were, however, far from being disheartened, and would, doubtless, have ultimately conquered Canada, had not the peace of Utrecht, which took place in 1713, terminated hostilities between France and Great Britain. By the terms of this treaty of peace, France retained Canada, but ceded to Great Britain the territories of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland ; and also assigned to her all claims to the sove- reignty of the Five Nations. A peace between Great Britain and France of thirty years' dura- tion succeeded the treaty of Utrecht, and during this period the Colonies enjoyed comparative repose from enemies without ; yet the spirit of independence, increased by their late demonstration of strength and importance, made them speak and act boldly against the petty tyrannies of the three successive royal governors* appointed to rule the Colonies of New England, and constant internal agitation kept the social waters in commotion. This commotion was finally allayed by concessions to the colonists, and when, in 1744, hostilities again broke out between Britain and France, the people of New England, with characteristic ardor, were ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with the mother country. This war originated in European disputes concerning the kingdom of Austria, and for a long time was confined chiefly to Great Britain and Spain ; but it finally extended to France, and, as a consequence, involved again the French and English possessions in America. By the treaty of Utrecht, France, though deprived of Nova Scotia, had retained the island of Cape Breton, and erected upon it a fortress, called Louisburg, at an expenditure of about six millions of dollars. It was supposed to be one of the strongest fortresses of modern times, yet the colonists of New England determined to besiege it, and for that purpose raised an army of four thousand men, and placed them under the command of Colonel Pepperel, as commander-in-chief, and Roger Wolcott, second in command. This expedition was sus gested and planned by Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts Bay, who justly regarded Louisburg as the key to the French possessions in America. Commodore Warren, then in command of an English fleet in the West Indies, was invited to co-operate with the Colonies, but declined to do so without orders from the home government. They therefore resolved to make the attempt alone, and, on the 30th of April, they sailed for Louisburg. At Canseau, a small island at the eastern extremity of Nova Scotia, they unexpectedly met the fleet of Warren, who had just received orders to repair to Boston, and concert measures with Shirley relative to services either in defence of the Colonies or aggressions against the French. On the • Shute, Burnett, and Belcher. 30 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap. i. Surrender of Louisburg. Effect of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. 11th of May, greatly to the surprise and alarm of the French, the armament came in sight of Louisburg, and the land forces effected a landing at Garbarus Bay. The next day a detachment of four hun- dred men marched toward the royal battery, burning the houses and stores in their progress. The French in dismay, supposing the whole army was approaching, spiked the guns and fled in confusion. The battery was immediately seized by the colonial troops, and the guns that remained serviceable were turned upon the town and against the battery upon a small island at the entrance of the harbor. Vigorous preparations for reducing the city were at once made ; and, in the meanwhile, Warren captured a seventy-four gun ship,* with five hundred and sixty men, and a large quantity of military stores, designed for the garrison. The 29th of June was agreed upon as the day for commencing a combined attack by sea and land, but on the day previous, the whole island, with the city, fort, and batteries, were surrendered. A powerful naval armament, under the Duke d'Anville, was subsequently sent, for the double purpose of recovering this grand bulwark of French power in America, and for the destruction of all the English colonies upon the coast ; but frightful storms, disease, and shipwrecks, dispersed and disheartened the fleet, and the remnant returned to France. In 1748 a treaty of peace was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, in the western part of Ger- many, between France and England, and the colonists had the mortification to see the fruits of their valor wrested from them by the restoration of Cape Breton to France, in exchange for some continental advantages. Thus the British king and his ministry, regardless of the claims of common justice, and ungrateful for the prizes won by colonial heroism, allowed a blind selfishness to guide them into a way of disadvantages greater than all the advantages gained; for they weakened the loyalty of the Colonies, and awakened a spirit of discontent, deep and permanent. The latter hesitated not to charge the home government with a desire to conciliate and main- tain the power of Louis, in order to check the spirit of Colonial independence. The French, perceiving that nothing had actually been lost to them by the late conflicts, were inspired with a desire to extend their possessions in North America. Having, at various points, been bi ought into contact with the back settlements of their powerful rival, they had been generally successful in gaining the alliance of the Indians, from whose warlike character important aid was expect- ed. They made the most active movements in New Brunswick, hoping thence to penetrate into Nova Scotia, where they would find a chap, i.] COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 31 French Claims. The Ohio Company population originally French, and still strongly attached to the country of their fathers. But the enterprises which caused the greatest inquietude took place along the Ohio and the Mississippi. The colonists had already, at different points, penetrated the barriers of the Alleghany, and began to discover the value of the country ex- tending to those mighty streams. The enemy, on the other hand, in virtue of certain voyages made in the preceding century by Mar- quette and La Salle, claimed the whole range of the Mississippi, by attaining which their settlements in Canada and at New Orleans would be formed into one continuous territory. This pretension, if referred to that peculiar law* according to which Europeans have di- vided America among themselves, seems not wholly unfounded. They had added, however, a more exorbitant claim ; that of all the streams falling into the great river ; which would have carried them to the very summit of the Alleghanies, and have hemmed in the British colonists in a manner to which they were by no means disposed to submit. The banks of the Ohio became the debateable ground on which this collision mainly took placet So preposterous and untenable appeared the claims of the French, and so confident were the British in their own right, that an asso- ciation was formed, in 1749, of London merchants, combined with Virginia planters, called the Ohio Company, with the design of settling the country on the Ohio River. They received from the crown a grant of six hundred thousand acres on that river ; but this, and like donations to other parties, could not be turned to any account with safety, while the French, aided by their Indian allies, were determined to maintain their claims. The formation of these companies, receiving the royal sanction and aid, gave just grounds to the French for apprehending the organization of a systematic plan to deprive them of their communication between Canada and Louisiana. They at once began the erection of forts south of Lake Erie, on the waters of the Ohio, which called forth the complaints of the Ohio Company, and they appealed to Virginia for protection, as the territory in dispute was included in the original charter of that Colony. These complaints, in connection with rumors that the tribes of Indians friendly to the English, alarmed for their safely, were beginning to waver in their fidelity; and that the hostile tribes, encou- raged by the French, began to exhibit symptoms of open hostility, determined Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony * " The first discovery of a river, by the subject of any nation, gives to that nation the right of possession of the whole country watered by that river and its tributaries " — Vattel. f United States (Edinburgh Cabinet Library), vol. i.,p. 319 32 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap, l Washington appointed a Commissioner to confer with the French. and his council, to send a commissioner to confer with the French commander, urge him to desist from further encroachments, and to ascertain as correctly as possible the actual state of affairs on the frontier. This commission was a delicate and hazardous one, re- quiring great discretion, a knowledge of the country, and an acquaint- ance with the Indian language and character. The execution of this important duty was entrusted to George Washington, then a youth of only twenty-one years, yet holding the rank, and performing the active services, of Major of one of the four grand military divisions of the Colony of Virginia. The combined excellences of his character had endeared him to all the subordinate officers of his command ; and when his appointment to the command of this expedition was known, there were warm hearts and willing hands in abundance ready and eager to accompany him. Fortified with written instructions, to which the great seal of the Colony was affixed, Washington departed from Williamsburg, the seat of government, on the 31st of October, 1753, and fourteen days after, with seven other men, and horses, tents, baggage, and provisions, they left Will's Creek, the extreme verge of civilisation. The distance they were obliged to travel through the forests and over the most rugged portions of the Alleghanies, was about five hundred and sixty miles; and yet so diligent and persevering was the commander, that they reached their place of destination on the 13th of December. M. de St. Pierre, the commandant of the fort, received them with great politeness, and treated Washington with all the distinction his position could claim. Washington delivered the letter of Governor Dinwiddie to him, and also communicated verbally the object of his mission. St. Pierre refused to come to any decision, — described himself as merely a military man, incompetent to decide on such an application, and expressed an opinion that the Marquis Du Quesne, the Governor of Canada, under whom he acted, was the proper person to be addressed. After two days, however, he gave Wash- ington a written answer to Governor Dinwiddie, and dismissed the conference. Washington, in the meanwhile, had not been idle. While the French officers were holding consultations and getting their reply ready, he secretly took the dimensions of the fort, and gathered such other information as he deemed useful. He had instructed his at- tendants to do the same, and thus they carried away with them information of much value. On the 16th of December he set out on his return, and after enduring many hardships, and encountering many perils from snow, fording of streams, and the Indians, he arrived safely at Williamsburg on the 16th of January following. chap, i.] COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 83 Result of the Mission. Attack on the works of the Ohio Company. The letter of St. Pierre was found to contain a reiteration of the French claims to the territory in dispute, and a positive refusal to withdraw his troops ; with an assurance that he was acting in pur- suance of the commands of the Governor-General of Canada, whose orders alone he felt bound to obey. The positive yet courteous tone of the letter, and the active pre- parations for defence making upon the Ohio, placed the French in a position no longer doubtful. Moreover, the inferior officers at a frontier post, when heated with wine, after an evening entertainment given to Major Washington, declared with an oath, their absolute intention to take full possession of the Ohio. Governor Dinwiddie felt that immediate and vigorous preparations to resist their encroach- ments were necessary, and acted accordingly. The Ohio Company sent out an armed party of thirty men to construct a fort at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, a point ob- served by Washington, and by him strongly recommended as an eligible site for a fortification. Notwithstanding the necessity was great, yet the Assembly of Virginia was slow to make provision for an army. They finally appropriated fifty thousand dollars, and Carolina sixty thousand more ; and, after considerable effort, three companies of provincial troops were raised and placed under the command of Washington (now elevated to the rank of Colonel), and marched into the disputed territory. The news soon reached the Governor that the party sent out by the Ohio Company to erect a fort had hardly begun operations before they were attacked by the French, and driven from the ground.* The enemy completed the work, and named the fort, Du Quesne. Washington pushed forward with his handful of daring men, at the same time he urgently called on the different States to contribute their quota of men and supplies for the common defence. As he approached the domain occupied by the French, he was informed by some Indians that a party of fifty men, under Jumonville, were on their march to intercept him. With a few chosen men and some Indians, he surprised them in their camp in the night, killed the commander and ten of his men, and wounded twenty-two more. 6 After erecting a small fort, which he named Fort Necessity, and being joined by some troops from New York and Carolina, Washington proceeded, with four hundred men, toward Fort Du Quesne. Learning that a large body of French and Indians, under the command of M. tie Villiers, were on their march to meet him, he returned to Fort Necessity, which was soon after attacked by the enemy, fifteen hundred strong. c They made • an obstinate resistance for ten hours, but were obliged to yield to 3 34 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap. i. Union Convention of the Colonies. Dr. Franklin's Plan. overwhelming numbers, and agreed to a capitulation, by the terms of which they were allowed to return to Virginia unmolest- ed.* Notwithstanding this defeat, the campaign was highly approved of, and the House of Burgesses of Virginia passed reso- lutions of thanks to Colonel Washington and his officers. The colonists had now begun to feel that mutual co-operation against their powerful enemy w r as absolutely necessary, especially those Colonies that were more immediately exposed to attacks. Representations of the critical state of the Colonies having been made to the government at home, it w r as recommended to call a convention of delegates from the several States, to be held at Albany, New York, to concert with each other and with the Six Nations (whose friendship they desired to conciliate), some plan for repelling the enemy. The New England States, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York, at once complied with this advice and appointed delegates, who met in convention at Albany in June, and after con- cluding a treaty with the Six Nations, on the 4th of July, 1754, the very day of the surrender of Fort Necessity, adopted a plan of gov- ernment and action, proposed by Dr. Franklin, a delegate from Penn- sylvania. Dr. Franklin was, at this time, one of the most influential men in the Colonies, and his discretion and sound judgment, exhibited in almost every matter of public interest in which he had been called to participate, had gained for him the unbounded confidence of the people of the States, as well as the government at home, which had conferred upon him the office of Postmaster-General. He was looked to as the leader in the convention, and his plan, though extremely bold, was at once adopted by a vote of all the delegates, except those from Connecticut. It proposed a general government, consisting of a President appointed by the crown, and a council chosen by the several Colonial Legislatures ; having power vested in them to levy troops, declare war, make peace, regulate trade with the Indians, levy taxes, and concert all other matters for the general safety and prosperity ; and their acts, if not disallowed by the king within three years, were to acquire the force of law. But this plan, so highly approved of in convention, met the singular fate of rejection, not only by the Colonial Legislatures when submitted to them, but by the British cabinet. The former objected to it, because it gave too much power to the President or Governor-General and his council, especially in the matter of taxation ; and the latter, because it gave too much power to the representatives of the people, and rendered America almost entirely independent.* In fact, it was ' * " The Colonial Assemblies," says Franklin, " all thought there was too much chap, i.] COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 35 Arrival of General Braddock. March toward Fort Du Quesne. looked upon in England, by sagacious minds, as an incipient step towards political independence, of which Britain was at times so jealous and alarmed ; and doubtless it had some influence in mould- ing the public mind for an affirmative on the question of submission or war, which a few years afterward they were called upon to decide. The plan of union having failed, Britain determined to carry on the war with her own troops, assisted by such aid as the Colonies might volunteer. In February, 1755, General Braddock arrived from Ireland with two regiments of troops, to co-operate with the Virginia force against the French on the Ohio. He came with the authority of command- er-in-chief of the British and colonial forces ; and at his request, the governors of five of the Colonies assembled at Alexandria, to concert the general plan of a campaign. Three expeditions were resolved upon ; one against the French at Fort du Quesne, to be led by Braddock himself ; a second against Niagara ; and a third against Crown Point, on the western shore of Lake Champlain. Washing- ton had left the army on account of a regulation, by which the colonial officers were made to take lower rank than those of the regular army ; but, at the solicitation of General Braddock, he con- sented to serve as his aide-de-camp, but as a volunteer. The expedition to be led by Braddock, was long delayed by the tardiness of the Virginia contractors to furnish the wagons necessary to transport baggage, arms and ammunition ; and in the meanwhile, an enterprise in the East was successfully carried out, under General Monckton, who sailed from Boston with ° three thousand troops, and attacked the French settlements at the head of the Bay of Fundy. Several forts were taken, the planta- tions of the French settlers were desolated, and the miserable in- habitants, refusing to swear allegiance to the British crown, were driven at the point of the bayonet, on board the British ships, and dispersed in poverty among the English Colonies. Through the influence of Dr. Franklin with the farmers of Penn- sylvania, the necessary supplies were obtained, and on the tenth of June, Braddock set out from Fort Cumberland with a force of about two thousand men. The road across the Alleghanies was so rugged, that the movement of the army was very slow ; and it was evident that the French, apprised of their approach, would have ample time to strongly fortify Fort Du Quesne, and greatly increase the garrison. prerogative in it ; and in England it was thought to have too much of the democratic in it." Thirty years after, on reviewing this plan, it was Franklin's opinion that it was near the true medium. Its basis is very nearly the same as the Constitution of v the United States. 86 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap. i. Sudden Attack, and Death of Braddock. Heroism of Washington. At the earnest request of Washington, it was determined to press forward with twelve hundred men, leaving the balance, under Colonel Dunbar, behind, to take charge of the artillery and baggage. As they approached the vicinage of the enemy, Washington desired to lead the provincials in advance, as they were much better acquainted with Indian warfare than the regular troops. But the pride and confidence in his own judgment and skill, deterred Brad- dock from listening to the advice of his aide-de-camp, and he pressed forward, regardless of the danger of surprise which he was warned against, until he arrived within nine miles of Fort Du Quesne. The garrison was understood to be quite small, and all hearts beat high with anticipation of speedy and signal victory. Early on the morning of the ninth of July, they proceeded toward the fort. A profound silence reigned in the wilderness ; no enemy was to be seen ; and having forded a small stream, they were pass- ing a woody and rough track by a path that led directly to the fort, when suddenly a most destructive fire opened upon them in front and on the right, from an invisible enemy. The van-guard fell back in confusion, and Braddock, instead of allowing his troops to rush behind the trees and into the ravines, where the enemy were con- cealed, formed them in platoons, in accordance with English disci- pline, and their bullets were wasted upon the trees and hillocks. The French and Indians kept up such an incessant fire from the ravines and trees, that a general flight of the regulars ensued. Gen- eral Braddock had three horses killed under him, and was finally mortally wounded, when the troops, seeing every mounted officer fall, except Washington, fled in, dismay. The provincial troops were rallied by their intrepid leader, and covering the retreat of the regulars, saved the army from total destruction. In this defeat, more than two-thirds of all the officers and nearly half the privates, were either killed or wounded. How tangible was the hand of Providence in the salvation of Washington's life on that day ! Cap- tains Orme and Morris, the other two aides-de-camp, were disabled by wounds, and the duty of distributing the general's orders devolved on him alone. He rode in every direction, and was a con- spicuous mark for the enemy's sharp-shooters. " By the all-power- ful dispensation of Providence," said he, in a letter to his brother, " I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation ; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped unhurt, although death was levelling my com* panions on every side of me."* • Sparks's Life of Washington (i. vol.), page 64. Boston, 1844. chap, i.] COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 37 Flight of the British to Fort Cumberland. Expedition against Crown-Point The enemy made no pursuit, as the Indians, satiated with blood, preferred to remain upon the battle-field, and the French were too few in number to venture to follow ; yet so great was the panic communicated to Colonel Dunbar's troops on hearing of the defeat, that disorder and confusion reigned ; the artillery and public stores were destroyed, no one could tell by whose orders, nor was tran- quillity restored, until they arrived safely within the walls of Fort Cumberland. Soon after, Colonel Dunbar, leaving a few troops at the fort, retired with the rest of the army to Philadelphia ; a and Washington, debilitated by sickness and fatigue, left the service and returned to Mount Vernon, followed by the blessings and esteem of the Colonies. While these events were transpiring in the West, a militia force of between five and six thousand men assembled at Albany, for an expedi- tion against the fortress of Crown Point, on the borders of Canada. The command was given to W r illiam Johnson, afterward Sir William Johnson, an Irishman of great bodily strength and energy of charac- ter, and who had acquired uncommon influence over the Indian tribes upon the Mohawk and its vicinity. In July, the troops were collected at the carrying-place between the Hudson River and Lake George, under General Lyman, the second in command, where a small fort was built, called Fort Lyman, and subsequently named Fort Edward. In the latter part of August, Johnson arrived, and learning that the enemy was erecting another fort at Ticonderoga, he resolved to push forward and reduce it before the work should be completed. But when arrived at the head of Lake George, intelli- gence reached him that Baron Dieskau, with nearly two thousand French and Indians, were on their march from Crown Point to attack Fort Edward. Johnson at once sent out a party of one thousand provincials under the command of Colonel Williams ; and two hundred Indians under the command of Hendricks, a Mohawk sachem, for the purpose of intercepting the return of the enemy. When within two miles of Fort Edward, Dieskau, at the request of his Indian allies, changed his route, and proceeded to attack the camp of Johnson. Although surprised, he gave the enemy a warm reception, and caused the Indians and militia to fall back. The French regulars maintained the contest for several hours, and John- son, being wounded, was obliged to yield the command to Lyman, his second. The French were finally repulsed with a loss of nearly one thousand men ; Dieskau himself was wounded and made piisoner. While feeling for his watch for the purpose of surrender- ing it, an English soldier, thinking he was searching for a pistol, fired upon and killed him. 38 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap. i. Erection of Forts at Oswego. Earl of Loudon Commander-in-Chief. General Johnson erected a fort at his place of encampment, and named it Fort William Henry. He was about to march toward Crown Point, when he learned that the French were strengthening that post, and greatly increasing the garrison at Ticonderoga. He therefore deemed it advisable, as the winter was approaching, to close the campaign ; and after leaving sufficient garrisons for Forts William Henry and Edward, he retired to Albany, and there dis- persed the remainder of his army to their respective provinces. a During this campaign of Johnson, Governor Shirley of Massachu- setts (upon whom devolved the command-in-chief of the British forces, on the death of Braddock) led an expedition against Niagara ; but the difficulties of the march, the delay in the concentration of troops at Oswego, as concerted, the discouragement spread by the tidings of Braddock's defeat, sickness in the camp, and desertion of Indian allies, frustrated his designs, and nearly all the forces were withdrawn. 1 Two new forts that had been commenced ' on opposite sides of the river at Oswego, were garrisoned, and the campaign terminated. Thus far, the war between France and Great Britain, carried on upon the ocean, as well as in America, had been permissory rather than declaratory, so far as the respective governments were con- cerned; but on the 17th May, 1756, war was formally declared against France by Great Britain, and within a month afterwards, the latter returned the compliment. Vigorous preparations were now made on both sides for the prosecution of the war in America. At a council of Governors held at Albany, plans similar to those adopted the preceding year, were matured and agreed upon ; and it was determined to raise from the various Colonies, twenty- one thousand men. Lord Loudon was appointed by the crown, commander-in-chief of all the forces in America ; but owing to necessary delay, General Abercrombie preceded him and took the command. Abercrombie arrived in June, but conceiving the force in readiness too small for the emergency, thought it prudent to await the arrival of the Earl of Loudon, which took place in July. But both officers seemed very inefficient, and their delays allowed the French time, not only to strengthen their own posts, but to attack those of the English. The French forces were united under Montcalm, a brave and high-spirited officer. In August, he crossed Lake Ontario with more than five thousand men, French and Indians, and with between thirty and forty pieces of cannon, attacked Fort Ontario, on the east d Aug. ii. side of the river at Oswego.** The garrison obstinately de- chap. i.J COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 39 Expedition against Kittaning. Surrender of Fort William Henry. fended it for a few hours, but finding resistance useless, they safely retired to the old fort on the west side, a when, finding a their number reduced to fourteen hundred men, and. their com- mander, Colonel Mercer, slain, they were forced to capitulate and surrender themselves prisoners of war. 6 One hundred and thirty-four pieces of cannon, with a large quantity of stores and ammunition, and several vessels in the harbor, fell into the hands of the enemy. After demolishing the forts, Montcalm returned to Canada. In August of this year, Colonel Armstrong marched with three hundred men against Kittaning, the principal town of the Indians on the Alleghany River, to avenge the bloodthirsty acts of the savages subsequent to the defeat of Braddock. Incited by the French, they had killed, or carried into captivity, more than one thousand inhabit- ants of the frontier settlements. Armstrong took them by surprise, killed their principal chiefs, destroyed their town, and carried away eleven prisoners. But few of the English suffered in this expedition. Captain Mercer, afterward the brave General Mercer who was killed at the battle of Princeton, was slightly wounded. The commander-in-chief limited the plan of the campaign of 1757, to an attempt to capture the fortress of Louisburg, and for this purpose he sailed on the 20th of June from New York, with six thousand regular troops, and on the 30th arrived at Halifax. Here he was reinforced by a naval armament under the command of Admiral Holboum, and a land force of five thousand Englishmen, but learning that a large French fleet had arrived/ and that the fort was very strongly garrisoned, he abandoned the en- ' j terprise and returned to New York.* ,' In the meanwhile Montcalm collected his forces at Ticon- deroga, marched against Fort William Henry on Lake George, besieged it, and compelled it to surrender/ The garrison ° . / Au". 9. were allowed the honorable terms of marching out with the honors of w r ar, and rejoining their countrymen ; but the treacherous Indians violated the stipulation and massacred a great number of them. It is maintained that Montcalm used all his endeavors to prevent the butchery ; but he was held responsible for the act, and there was accordingly aroused in the breast of the Colonies, a deep thirst for vengeance, that called for more vigorous measures against the enemy. It will have been perceived that hitherto disaster and disgrace had marked most of the operations against the French, especially on the part of the English officers and their troops. The political con- 40 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap. i. Character of the British Cabinet. Capture and Surrender of Louisburg tests for place, and the vacillating character of George II., now seventy years of age, prevented that vigorous and steady action of government, so necessary in times of general commotion, such as then convulsed Europe ; and the best interests of the nation were most shamefully neglected. George was surrounded, at this time, with very few really great men ; and his irascibility of temper con- trolling both his judgment and his actions, caused him to discard from office and confidence, men unto whom the people looked for proper leaders, and filled his cabinet with men, such as the Old Duke of Newcastle, who could boast of little else that was noble, except the crest of a peer of the realm. These men flocked like vultures for prey, around the old king, clamorous for place and pen- sions for themselves and heirs ; and by their influence, such men as Pitt and Temple, really the best friends of the king and his realm, were driven from posts of honor and usefulness, because they stood in the way of titled ignorance and self-sufficient stupidity. Fortunately, the utter imbecility and timidity of the cabinet, when Pitt and Temple were dismissed, was so great, that the poor old king was left without an adviser on whom he could rely. He had been taught to hate Pitt, yet in his emergency he was induced to recall him, and at once new life and vigor were infused into the government. Adverse to the military operations in Germany, he turned his attention chiefly to the American Colonies, and this attention drew from them united and efficient exertions. The Earl of Loudon was recalled, and the command-in-chief was given to General Abercrombie, much the better officer of the two. It being concerted to strike the first blow at Louisburg, the rallying point of French power in that quarter, an expedition sailed against it from Halifax in May, 1758. The naval armament, consisting of nearly forty armed vessels, was under the command of Admiral Bos- cawen, and the land forces, twelve thousand strong, under command of General Amherst. On the 2d of June, the fleet anchored in Ga- barus Bay, and landed the troops on the 8th, when the French called in their outposts and dismantled the battery. On the 12th, General Wolfe completed a battery at the North Cape, by which the island battery was silenced, three French ships burned in the harbor, and the town fortifications much injured. On the 26th of July, the city and island, together with St. Johns, surrendered by capitulation. On the 5th of July, General Abercrombie embarked on Lake George, with about fifteen thousand troops and a formidable train of artillery ; and on the following morning, landed near the head of the lake, and commenced their march through the woods towards the fort at Ticonderoga, then defended by about four thousand troops chap. i.J COLONIAL WARS— TO 17G3. 41 Death of Lord Howe. Capture of Fort I'mntcnac. under the command of the Marquis Montcalm. The English troops soon became bewildered, in consequence of their ignorance of the country ; and the centre column, commanded by Lord Howe, falling in with an advanced guard of the French,* Lord Howe i ■« i i r i o July 6. was kdled ; but after a severe contest, the enemy were re- pulsed. The death of Lord Howe, who was much beloved by all, threw the army into confusion, and they fell back to the landing- place ; but on the 8th they rallied in full force to attack the fort. After a contest of four hours and a loss of nearly two thousand men, Abercrombie was obliged to raise the siege, and retired to the head of Lake George. At the earnest solicitation of Colonel Bradstreet, an expedition of three thousand men, under that officer, was sent against Fort Frontenac, situated upon the present site of Kingston, at the outlet of Lake Ontario. He crossed the lake from Oswego,* and in two days compelled the fort to surrender. Nine armed vessels, and a large quantity of stores and goods, was a portion of the reward reaped by the gallant soldiers. Early in July, General Forbes, at the head of nine thousand men, left Philadelphia on an expedition against Fort du Quesne. The French attacked an advanced party under Major Grant, and killed three hundred men ; but on the approach of General Forbes with the main body of the army, being deserted by their Indian allies, they precipitately fled from the fort, and escaped in boats down the Ohio. c Possession was taken of the fort the next day, and c Nov. 24. in honor of Mr. Pitt, the Prime Minister, its name was changed to Pittsburg.* The Indians from the West concluded a treaty of neutrality with the English, and the campaign of the year closed with more honor and substantial benefit to the English than any preceding ones. Pitt now conceived the bold design of conquering the whole of Canada in a single campaign. The sound judgment and skill dis- played by Amherst in the siege of Louisburg, gained from Parlia- ment a vote of thanks, and he was appointed commander-in-chief of all the forces in America ; while to General Wolfe, a young officer on whom Pitt greatly relied,! and who by his bravery distinguished himself at Louisburg, was assigned the most active part in the trans- actions on the St. Lawrence. * Now the site of a flourishing city. f " The world," says Walpole, " could not expect from him more than he thought himself capable of performing. He looked on danger as the favorable moment that would call forth his talents." Of Lord Howe he also said," He was as undaunted as a rock, and also as silent; the characteristic of his whole race. He and Wolfe soon contracted a friendship like the union of cannon and gunpowder." — Memoirs of George H. a Aug. 1 42 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap, l Expedition agalast Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Niagara. As in former years, three expeditions were planned ; one under General Wolfe, who was to ascend the St. Lawrence and lay siege to Quebec ; the second under General Amherst, who was to attack Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and then by the way of Lake Cham- plain and the St. Lawrence, unite with the forces of Wolfe ; and a third, after the reduction of Niagara, was to proceed down Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence and attack Montreal. On trie 22d of July, with a little more than eleven thousand men, Amherst reached Ticonderoga and prepared for a general attack ; but the French, after partially demolishing the fort, abandoned it, and returned to Crown Point, whither they were pursued by the English. This post they also abandoned and retired to Aux Noix, a a small island in the River Sorel. Amherst at once constructed several small vessels, and with his whole army embarked in pursuit ; but in consequence of a series of heavy storms, and the lateness of the season, he returned to Crown Point and went into winter quarters. General Prideaux, who commanded the expedition against Niagara, proceeded thither by way of Oswego, and on the 6th of July, reached the fort and commenced the siege. Almost at the beginning of the attack, he was accidentally killed by the carelessness of a gunner, and the command devolved on Sir William Johnson, who, pushing operations with great vigor, effectually routed and defeated a large force which had been collected against him, 6 ' and finally compelled the garrison to surrender prisoners of j i 25 war,c ^he ca P ture an( i surrender of this important military post, effectually cut off all communication between Canada and Louisiana, and destroyed the power of the French west of Montreal. While these events were transpiring, General Wolfe was prose- cuting the most important part of the campaign on the banks of the St. Lawrence. He embarked his troops, numbering about eight thousand men, at Louisburg, and with a fleet of twenty-two ships of the line and as many frigates, under the command of Admirals Saunders and Holmes, proceeded up the St. Lawrence to the Isle of Orleans, a few miles below Quebec. The city at that time was strongly fortified in anticipation of an attack from the English ; and the French troops under Montcalm, amounting to about thirteen thousand men, occupied the city, and formed a strong camp on the north shore of the St. Lawrence. The troops under Wolfe had scarcely landed before a terrible storm blew down the river, driving several of their large ships from their anchors, making the transports run foul of each other, and swamping several boats. While in this chap, l] COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 43 Wolfe's attack on Quebec. Desperate situation of the English. confusion, the French sent seven fire-ships in the midst of the fleet, but the British sailors grappled them, towed them to the banks, and left them fast aground to burn, without injury to the English fleet. General Wolfe took possession of Point Levi, where, in de- fiance of the detachments sent against him by Montcalm, he erected batteries which afterward did great execution in the destruc- tion of the Lower Town. But the chief defences of the city were uninjured by this attack ; and on the 10th of July, he crossed the North Channel of the St. Lawrence, and encamped his whole army near the left wing of the enemy's forces, the river Montmorenci lying between them. The strong defences which nature, as with Gibraltar, afforded Quebec, together with the able fortifications of art, convinced Wolfe that batteries nearer than Point Levi must be brought to bear upon the city, before any impression could be made. But this appearing impracticable, he resolved upon a more daring scheme, and forthwith proceeded to put it into execution. He de- termined to cross the St. Lawrence and Montmorenci with different divisions at the same time, and storm the entrenchments of the French camp. On the 31st of July, the boats of the fleet filled with troops from Point Levi, and with grenadiers, under the command of General Monckton, crossed the St. Lawrence and effected a landing a short distance above the Montmorenci ; and Generals Townshend and Murray, fording that river near its mouth, hastened to their assist- ance. The French, in the meanwhile, had concentrated their artillery on the point menaced ; and, galled by their fire, the English grenadiers rushed tumultuously up towards the entrenchments, without waiting for the corps which were to sustain them and join in tli£ attack. But the grenadiers were met by a fire too terrible for the bravest of them, and they fell back in confusion, after sustaining great loss, and sought shelter behind a redoubt which the enemy had abandoned. Night approached, a heavy thunderstorm set in, and the ominous roaring of the St. Lawrence — for the mighty tide was retiring — caused Wolfe to give up the attack and withdraw his troops. The situation of the English was now critical, and indeed desperate. More than a month after this failure, Wolfe in a letter to Pitt, confessed that he was driven to the extremity a ep of calling a council of war ; and after saying that he had suffered by a fever, he adds — " I found myself so ill, and am still so weak, that I begged the General officers to consult together for the general safety. . . . We have almost the whole force of Canada to oppose us In tins situation, there is such a choice of difficulties, that I own myself at a loss how to determine. The affairs of Great Britain 44 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap. j. Wolfe's despondency. Scaling the heights of Abraham. require the most vigorous measures ; but then the courage of a hand- ful of brave men should be exerted only where there is some hope of a favorable event." When this letter reached England it excited consternation and anger. Pitt feared that he had been mistaken in his favorite general, and that the next news would be either that he had been destroyed, or had capitulated. But in the conclusion of his melancholy epistle, Wolfe had said he would do his best ; and that best turned out a miracle of war. He declared that he would rather die than be brought to a court-martial for miscarrying, and in conjunction with Admiral Saunders, he concerted a plan for scal- ing the heights of Abraham, and gaining possession of the elevated plateau at the back of Quebec, on the side where the fortifications were the weakest, as the French engineers had trusted to the preci- pices and the river beneath.* The camp at Montmorenci was broken up, and the troops and artillery were conveyed to Point Levi ; and very soon after, the fleet sailed to some distance above the city. This movement deceived Montcalm into a belief that an attack from that quarter was medi- tated. On the night of the 12th of September, the troops in boats glided silently down the river, and all the French sentinels were passed without being alarmed. They landed within a mile and a half of the city, and immediately commenced the ascension of the precipice. There was a French guard over their heads, and hearing a rustling noise, but seeing nothing, they fired at random down the declivity, while the British fired upward also at random. Terrified at so strange and unexpected an attempt, the French piquet fled, all but the captain, who was wounded and taken prisoner. The poor fellow begged the British officers to sign a certificate of his courage and fidelity, lest he should be punished for bribery, believing that Wolfe's bold enterprise would be deemed impossible without corrup- tion. When morning dawned, Wolfe with his little army, now reduced to less than five thousand men, stood upon the heights of Abraham, in bold defiance of Montcalm and his overwhelming force. The French General at first could hardly credit his own senses, so impossible did it seem for an army to ascend those dangerous cliffs. He perceived that, unless the English could be driven from their position, Quebec was lost. " I see them," said he, " where they ought not to be ; but since we must fight, I will go and crush them !" and immediately, with his whole army, he crossed the St- Charles and advanced to the attack. The English reserved their fire until the enemy were within a few yards of the front, and thea • Pictorial History of England, vol. iv., page 609. chap, i.] COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 45 Death ck Wolfe and Montcalm, and surrender of Quebec. poured in a terrible discharge, which compelled them to recoil with great confusion. But as Wolfe stood conspicuous in the front rank, cheering his men, a musket ball struck his wrist. He wrapped a handkerchief around the wounded limb, continued giving his orders, and soon put himself at the head of his grenadiers, who had fixed their bayonets for the charge, when he was hit by a ball in the upper part of the abdomen. He seemed scarcely to heed this serious wound, and was giving his orders and encouraging his men, when a musket ball struck him in the breast and brought him to the ground. General Monckton, the second in command, was danger- ously wounded by his side, and the command devolved on General Townshend. "Wolfe was immediately conveyed to the rear by his grieved men, and while the agonies of death were upon him, his mind was intently fixed upon the battle. As his life-blood ebbed fast, and his eyes grew r dim, he heard a wounded officer near him exclaim, " See how they run !" The drooping head of the hero raised, and w T ith eyes sparkling with new lustre, he eagerly inquired, 11 Who runs ?" " The French," replied the officer ; " they give w r ay in all directions." " Then," said he, " I die content ;" and after giving an order for Webb's regiment to move down to the St. Charles and secure the bridge there, in order to cut off the enemy's retreat, he expired. Montcalm received a mortal wound, and his second in command was made prisoner and conveyed on board an English ship. Five days after the battle," the city of Que- bec capitulated, and the disheartened remnant of the grand army of the French retired to Montreal. The same despatch con- veyed to England, the intelligence of the unexpected victory on the heights of Abraham, the death of Wolfe, and the surrender of Quebec. General Murray, a brave and adventurous soldier, was left to defend the half-ruined town of Quebec, and the British fleet retired to escape being frozen up in the St. Lawrence. M. Levi, who had succeeded Montcalm, spent the winter in making preparations for a desperate effort to recover all that the French had lost, and early in the spring of 1760, he took the field with a mixed body of French, Canadians, and Indians, exceeding in all, ten thousand men. He marched from Montreal, and in April, when the weather was still inclement, he appeared before Quebec. General Murray, with scarcely seven thousand men, disdaining to wait a regular siege, marched out and attacked the enemy ;* but he was defeated, lost most of the guns he had taken out with him, was nearly pn cut off in his retreat, and got back to the city with great difficulty. As the ice cleared away, Levi brought up six French frigates, and 46 . THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap. i. Capture and Surrender of Montreal. Treaty of Paris. began to form the siege by land and water. But on the 16th of May, Lord Colville, with two good frigates, outsailing the rest of the squadron, ascended the river and destroyed the French ships, under the eyes of Levi, who stood on the heights on the other side, but who presently decamped, and with such precipitation that he left his artillery and stores behind him. Nothing now remained to the French in Canada except Montreal, and that last stronghold, wherein the Marquis de Vandreuil, the Governor-general, had collected all his magazines, was soon invested by Generals Amherst and Murray, and Colonel Haviland ; and des- pairing of any succor from France, which could scarcely put a ship to sea, or spare a man from her wars in Europe, Vandreuil capitu- lated on the 8th of September. Thus were the Canadas won, and the conquest cost Great Britain but comparatively few men. This encouraged Pitt to call it a " bloodless war ;" but as he was con- quering America through Germany,* the blood spilt there was assuredly, in some measure, to be taken into the account ; and there the carnage was, and continued to be, unprecedented in modern war.f The conflict between England and France continued upon the ocean and among the West India Islands, with almost constant suc- cess to England, until 1763. On the 10th day of February of that year, a treaty of peace between the two countries was concluded and signed at Paris ; by which France surrendered to Great Britain all her possessions in North America eastward of the Mississippi River from its source to the River Iberville, and' thence through Lakes Maurepas and Ponchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico. Spain at the same time ceded to Great Britain, her possessions of East and West Florida. Thus ended the famous " Seven Years' War," which had cost a million of lives, devastated no inconsiderable part of Europe, and carried carnage into all the four quarters of the globe. England was the greatest winner, and her noblest acquisitions were in America. Here she saw, not only her domain vastly expanded, and invaluable sources of wealth opened to her avaricious desires, but she rejoiced in the loyal adhesion to her throne of nearly three millions of people, ready to pour into her lap the treasures of peace- ful industry, or to lend willing hearts and strong arms in the defence of her territory and her fame. And well would it have been for her if she had rightly appreciated this noble possession, and wisely * George II. was, by inheritance from his father, Elector of Hanover, a petty sovereignty of Germany, and to maintain his right to this domain, cost an awful sacrifice of blood and treasure. f Pictorial History of England, vol. iv., page 614. chap, l] COLONIAL WARS— TO 1763. 49 General condition of the Colonies. cemented by generous kindness the bond of union between herself and her Colonies. But an all-wise Providence had otherwise decreed ; and the strange infatuation that subsequently caused British states- men to disregard the just rights of her colonial subjects, and to kindle a flame of discontent and rebellion in the hearts of her children, was the instrumentality that produced the conception and birth of this great Republic, the pride and glory of the earth. We have thus taken a cursory view of the most prominent events that transpired during nearly a century and a half, in a struggle for empire and territory in America, by the two leading powers of Europe. Our narrative has been necessarily very brief; a little more than a general outline ; yet sufficient to develope the pro- gressive steps toward that point of self-sustaining confidence in their moral and physical resources, which distinguished the Colonies when they hurled the gauntlet of defiance at the feet of England, and proclaimed to the world the self-evident truth, that " All men were created equal ; that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights ; that among these is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- ness." At the period now under consideration, the Colonies were in a state of unexampled prosperity. In population and wealth, their increase was without a parallel in past history, nearly doubling in both in twenty years. They possessed a vast agricultural domain ; fertile, and yielding such returns to moderate labor, that none but the idle and vicious were companions of want. Those restrictions upon marriage, imposed both by law and necessity in the empires of the Old World, were here unknown, and youthful marriages were universal. This social condition, together with the influx of European emigrants, attracted hither by the freedom of the institu- tions and the easy acquirement of a competence for themselves and their children, were the springs of this rapid increase. In commerce, the progress of the Colonies was equally rapid, and excited the astonishment of Europe, and, in some degree, the jealousy of the mother country ; especially when the wings of that commerce sped to the ports of other nations. Yet the agricultural wealth which the Colonies poured into the lap of Great Britain in exchange for her fabrics, was grateful to her people, and when interest swayed her actions, she lent a helping hand in their pro- gressive career. But her avarice and ambition too often filmed her vision to her true interests ; and this political blindness led her into the monstrous error of oppressing her children ; children who regarded her with affection and reverence, and who never dreamed of leaving the paternal roof, until the unholy chastisements of a 50 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [chap. I Franklin's testimony concerning the feelings of the Colonies. parent's hand alienated their love, expelled them from the threshold, and compelled them to seek shelter and security behind the bulwarks of a righteous rebellion.* * " Q. What was the temper of America toward Great Britain before the year 17G3 ?" " A. The very best in the world. They submitted willingly to the government of the crown, and paid in their courts, obedience to acts of Parliament. Numerous as the people are in the several old provinces, they cost you nothing in forts, citadels, garrisons, or armies, to keep them in subjection. They were governed by this country, at the expense only of a little pen, ink, and paper ; they were led by a thread. They had not only a respect, but an affection for Great Britain ; for its laws, its customs and manners, and even a fondness for its fashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Natives of Britain were always treated with particu- lar regard ; to be an Old England man, was, of itself, a character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank among us. " Q. And what is their temper now ? "A. Oh, very much altered."— Examination of Dr. Franklin before the British Htust of Commons, relative to the repeal of the American Stamp Act. EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. Benjamin Franklin— George Grenville— Patrick Henry. CHAPTER II. E now enter upon the consideration of a period in the history of the world, of intense interest — a period to which the annalists of the Past pointed prospectively with hopeful aspirations ; and towards which the chroniclers of the Future wiL look retrospectively with grateful bene- dictions upon their lips. It was a pe- riod dimly seen in the vista of the then future, of Plato and all succeeding political seers and sages, down to " Eutopian More ;" and it will ever be a period to which the enlightened statesman of 52 • THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1763. Principles for which the Colonists contended. the world will point the sceptic and the prophet of evil, bid him gaze upon the dawn of the New Era, and in its glorious light read the creed of faith in Human Progress, and believe in the mundane re- generation of man. Although amid the wild labyrinths of American forests, and along the stormy coasts of the Atlantic, the problem of political and social equality was patiently solved and demonstrated ; although the con- ception and birth of those mighty truths — taxation and equitable REPRESENTATION ARE INSEPARABLE GOVERNMENTS DERIVE THEIR JUST POWERS FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED that had SO long reposed in the womb of Time, were brought forth ; although these, the Romulus and Remus of a new empire, were cherished by what the Iranian refinement of Europe would have defined the Wolf of the western world, yet the beneficent effects of that event are con- fined to no particular region ; they are the birth-right of humanity — their glory is the pride of the earth. The pure and fervent Spirit of Lib- erty gave vitality to these new manifestations of truth — it stood spon- sor at their baptism in blood — it rocked their cradle even at the foot of the throne — it panoplied them for the conflicts in which they are now engaged, and it will be chief mourner at their grave when the finger of Decay shall write their epitaph. In the preceding chapter we have noted the rapid progress of the English Colonies in the attainment of every constituent of national greatness, yet loyally expending blood and treasure for the main- tenance of the power and dignity of the British crown. We have seen them rushing to the battle-field and enduring every hardship, when the home government demanded their aid, and then patiently submitting to manifest wrong from the very hand their loyalty and prowess had strengthened. But there is a point beyond which endurance becomes no longer a virtue, and to that point the Colonies were at length driven. The British king, like Rehoboam, " forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him, that stood before him ;"* and in effect said to the Colonies, " whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke : my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."! And " when the people saw that the king would not hearken unto them," they took counsel among themselves, and a shout went up from every hill and valley, city and hamlet, mountain and plain from the rock of Plymouth to the lagoons of Florida, " To your tents, Oh Israel.":): For a long period the colonists had endured, almost without a * 2 Chronicles x.,2. f Verse 11. J Verse 16. CHAP. II.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 53 Navigation Act. Writs of Assistance murmur, various acts of oppression, neglect and insult, from the supreme government ; but as they were chiefly of a character that affected them commercially, they were easily kept from open oppo sition by the example of the narrow policy of commercial nations, which at that time prevailed. And yet it is surprising that they sub- mitted patiently so long ; for they were so far separated from Europe and the influence of its society, and had been so long accustomed to act with almost unrestrained wills in matters of legislation, regarding the assumption of the " divine right of kings" as preposterous and logically untenable, that we would naturally look npon them as the readiest to repel encroachments upon their political and civil rights. As early as 1651 the enactments of parliament, in reference to the commercial policy of the Colonies (and particularly the colony of Virginia, that had at times evinced a refractory spirit), were really oppressive and unjust in the extreme. The Navigation Act adopted and put in force that year, and confirmed and extended in 1660, struck a paralysing blow at the infant commercial navy of the Colonies. It declared that no merchandise of the English plantations should be imported into England in any other than English vessels, thus bene- fiting English shipping ; and, for the benefit of English manufactur- ers, it prohibited exportation from the Colonies, and the introduction from one colony into another, of hats, and woollens of domestic manufacture ; forbade hatters to have at one time more than two apprentices ; prohibited the importation of sugar, rum, and molasses, without the payment of exorbitant duties ; forbade the erection of certain iron works, and the manufacture of steel ; and prohibited the felling of pitch and white-pine trees, not comprehended within inclo- sures.* In 1733, parliament enacted laws imposing duties upon sugar, molasses, &c. ; yet, these revenue laws were administered with so much laxity, that the payment of the duties was for many years evaded, and the statute openly violated, without incurring the serious displeasure of the home government. To a certain extent, the British monopoly of the commerce of the Colonies was nominal ; and, so long as the latter were allowed to carry on a lucrative contraband trade unmolested, they were of course disposed to regard the statute as a very harmless thing. But British cupidity at length aroused British jealousy on this point, and, in 1761, attempts were made to enforce the tariff act, by the requisition, from the colonial courts, of general search-warrants, entitled " writs of assistance." These writs authorized the officers of the king to search for articles sus- • Willson'fl United States, page 195. 54 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1763. Excitements in Boston. Grenville marie Premier. pected of having been introduced into the Colonies without the pay- ment of the required duties. The merchants generally did not dispute the right of parliament to enact these revenue laws affecting the Colonies, but they justly complained of the violent and illegal manner in which they were frequently enforced by the government servants. These oppressive measures increased, and at length became so onerous, that open resistance was resolved upon. In Boston, violent excitements prevailed ; a applications for writs were met by the bold opposition of the people, encouraged by the fearless voice of Otis, and others, who denounced these oppressions as un- worthy of a civilized nation, and especially of a nation holding the relation that Great Britain did to her Colonies. Respectful remon- strances were unnoticed by the king and his ministers, or, if noticed at all, called forth more stringent measures. The entire subservience of the Colonies, and the unqualified right of the government to legis- late for, and to tax them, was so much the universal sentiment in Great Britain, that, according to Pitt, " even the chimney sweepers on the streets talked boastingly of their subjects in America !"* The admiralty undertook the labor of enforcing the laws, in strict accord- ance with the letter, and intrusted the execution thereof to the com- manders of vessels, whose authoritative habits made them the most unfit agents for such a service, and against such a people. Vessels engaged in the contraband trade were seized and confiscated, and the colonial commerce with the West Indies was nearly annihilated. These events caused the colonists to ponder seriously ; and their minds wore opened, perhaps for the first time, to the importance of a state of Independence. By successive changes in the British ministry, George Grenville, who for some time fought shoulder to shoulder with Pitt in the par- liament, but had forsaken him to hold office under Bute, succeeded to the premiership, becoming at once First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Grenville is represented as " an honest statesman, of great political knowledge and indefatigable ap- plication ; but his mind, according to Burke, could not extend beyond the circle of official routine, and was unable to estimate the result of untried measures."! He found an empty treasury — drained by the vampire appetite of War ; and his first care was to devise means to replenish it.J The English people were seriously complaining of * Parliamentary Debates. f Murray. X The budget, of 1764 exhibited an expenditure hitherto unprecedented, having a deficiency of about three millions sterling, which was with difficulty supplied by temporary resources and by encroachments on the sinking fund. — JLdolphu&'s Ri»~ iory of England, vol. i., p. 159. chjlp. n.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 55 Proposed Stamp Tax. The bill presented and postponed. the heavy burden of taxation resting upon them, and he feared to increase its weight. Influenced by what to him appeared an unques- tionable right, he resolved to tax the American Colonies for the sup- port of the government. He knew their capacity to pay a certain revenue, he believed it right that they should pay it, and, in the face of all the hostility then manifested by the Colonies to the oppressive enactments of parliament, he introduced into the House a series of resolutions respecting new duties to be laid on foreign goods a Mardx imported by the Americans. These resolutions passed with 10> 17&L little notice, General Conway being the only member who opposed them, and on the 5th of April the bill received the royal assent. He also proposed raising a direct revenue from the Colonies in the shape of a stamp-tax, but that scheme was at the time withdrawn, with the intimation that it w r ould be again brought forward at the earliest opportunity. On the 19th of April, the king prorogued parliament, and expressed his hearty approval of the measures proposed ; deno- minated them wise regulations, calculated to augment the public revenues, to unite the interests of his most distant possessions, and to encourage and to secure their commerce with Great Britain. The country gentlemen congratulated themselves on the pleasing prospect of a diminution of the land-tax, and no class seemed aware of the mighty mischief set in motion by these measures.* On the 5th of May, Mr. Grenville proceeded to bring in an act for imposing the proposed stamp-duty, but assured the agents of the Colonies, with whom he conferred on the matter, that it was not his intention to push the measure through that session, but to give them an opportunity to reflect upon it and adopt that, or any other mode of raising the required sum of £\ 00,000. t The strange apathy which prevailed in England upon this subject, caused the adoption of the resolutions in the House of Commons with scarcely a dissent- ing voice. It w r as then postponed, at the suggestion of the mover, until the next session. But it was an inauspicious moment for the "gentle Shepherd "{ to bring forward his bold proposition for shearing the great flock on * Pictorial History of England, vol. v., p. 34. t Pitkin, vol. i., p. 163. % In the famous debate on the " Cider Bill," George Grenville contended that the money was wanted, that government did not know where to lay another tax ; and, addressing Mr. Pitt, he said, " Why does he not tell us where we can levy anotner tax ? " repeating, with emphasis, " Let him tell me where — only tell me where !" Pitt, though not much given to joking, hummed in the words of a favorite song, — " Gentle Shepherd, tell me where !" The House burst into a roar of laughter, and christened George Grenville the Gentle Shepherd. — Pictorial History of tfu Reign of George HI., vol. i., p. 34. 56 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1764. Indian Depredations. Discontent of the Colonies. this side of the Atlantic. In addition to the manifest injustice of this measure, the Colonies were suffering severely from the recent cruelties of the Indians on the frontier. On quitting Canada, the French government had not broken off all connexion with the In- dians ; and partly through the encouragements of their agents, and partly through some encroachments made by the English upon their hunting grounds, the Indian nations or tribes flew to arms with the intention of making a combined attack on all the settlements, in harvest-time. In some places their secret was betrayed, and their movement anticipated ; but they fell like a flight of locusts upon Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, plundering, burning, and destroying, till the frontiers of those three provinces were left bare and void of inhabitants. The Indians also surprised and captured several British forts in Canada, and massacred the weak and unsus- pecting garrisons they found in them. Their flying parties also intercepted and butchered detachments of troops that were marching from place to place, plundered and murdered the traders who were up the country, and cut off the communication between the interior and the sea-port towns. When attacked by small bodies of English troops, who trusted to their discipline for an easy victory, they dis- played, not only courage, but considerable military skill, which seems to prove that French officers or soldiers had been among them. They defeated Captain Dalzel near Fort Detroit, and killed that unfortunate officer ; they attacked Colonel Bogart, and forced him to abandon his baggage and the supplies he was carrying to Fort Pitt (late Fort Du Quesne) ; and, near the Falls of Niagara, they surrounded an escort and slew about eighty men and officers. For- tunately, Sir William Johnson wats able to detach the tribes of the Six Nations of Indians from the confederacy, and induce them to join the British against the other Indians. After various skirmishes and surprises, the savages submitted to conditions, or retired further into the depths of their native forests. The greater part of these calamities had befallen the Colonies in the summer and autumn of the preceding year (1763); but the recollection of them was recent, and the losses that had been sus- tained were making themselves more and more painfully felt, when the Grenville propositions arrived. Every citizen, moreover, was armed in defence of his home and his property against the Indians ; and when men have muskets in their hands, and in their hearts the certainty that their quarrel will become a general one, they are not likely to limit themselves to murmur and complaints, petitions and remonstrances. The colonists loudly proclaimed that to interrupt their trade, such as it was, with the Spanish Main, would be depriv- chap, ii.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 57 Action of the Colonial Assemblies. Franklin appointed Colonial Agent. ing them of their best resources ; that it was unreasonable for the king and parliament of Great Britain to convert themselves into guardians and protectors of the jealous, exclusive, anti-commercial system of Old Spain ; and that it was monstrously unjust for them to impose taxes upon a people who were not, and could not, be repre- sented in parliament.* In all the colonial assemblies wherein the subject was acted upon, they asserted the claim to the sole right of imposing taxes upon their fellow citizens. They maintained, that recent duties on goods had materially encroached on this right ; that if they once submitted to the right of the mother country to tax them, there was no possibility of fixing the limit to the exercise of it in relieving the British subject at home by casting the burden upon the Americans. New England passed strong resolutions of remonstrance, and forwarded earnest petitions to the king to pause ; and several of the other States, par- ticularly Virginia and New York, adopted the same course in firm but respectful language, and placed foremost in their catalogue of just causes for complaint, the violation of that fundamental principle " TAXATION AND REPRESENTATION ARE INSEPARABLE." They demonstrated that the Colonies were neither actually nor virtually represented in the British parliament ; they declared that they had hitherto supposed that the assistance which Great Britain had given them was offered from motives of humanity, and not as the price of their liberty ; and if she now wished a remuneration, she must make allowance for all the assistance she had received from the Colonies during the late war, and for the oppressive restrictions she had im- posed upon American commerce. They plainly told Great Britain, that, as for her protection, they had full confidence in their own ability to protect themselves against any foreign enemy. These remonstrances and petitions were transmitted by the Colo- nies to their agents in London, with full instructions to oppose to the utmost as far as opportunity should offer, the adoption of any and all of these oppressive measures. Pennsylvania appointed a new agent, and chose for that responsible duty, Benjamin Franklin, who at that time possessed more influence in America than any other man. A better choice could not well have been made. He was well known in England as a man of great sagacity and sound common sense, and he was almost as popular there as at home. The ability with which, on a former occasion, as agent for several of the Colonies, he had managed a difficult case before the Privy Council, gained for him the respect and confidence of ministers, and politicians of every party ; * Pictorial History of the Pveign of George III., pp. 35-6. 58 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1765. The Stamp Act submitted to Parliament. Opposition of Colonial Agents. so that when he appeared in London, with full instructions to oppose every scheme for taxing the colonies without their consent, he was consulted by Grenville ; and his opinion of the hopelessness of the Americans ever submitting to the arbitrary mode of taxation proposed by that minister, was received with great deference, and doubtless stayed for a time the execution of the plan. Notwithstanding the murmuring of the Colonies, and the strong opposition they had already manifested, when parliament was assembled early in 1765, a the king, in his opening speech, alluded to the subject of American taxation and American discon- tents ; and, regardless of the tangible portents of a gathering storm, recommended the carrying out of Grenville's scheme, and the en- forcing obedience in the Colonies. Encouraged by this recommend- ation, Mr. Grenville in February** brought his Stamp Act be- ' fore parliament ; and then attempted to conciliate the Ameri- cans through their agents, by offering to drop the proposed stamp tax, if they, on their part, would contribute about an equal sum in any other way more acceptable to themselves. To this offer, Frank- lin and the other agents replied, as they had done the previous year, that they were instructed to oppose that act, and any other that assumed as a principle, the right to tax the Colonies without their own consent. They contended that " in the course of the last me- morable contest large sums had been repeatedly voted by parliament as an indemnification to the Colonies for exertions which were allowed to be disproportionate to their means and resources ;* that the proper compensation to Britain for the expense of rearing and protecting her Colonies was the monopoly of their trade, the absolute direction and regulation of which was universally acknowledged to be inherent in the British crown."t But the king and his cabinet determined not to yield an iota of assumed right ; and the British Legislature, by its vote on the resolutions of Grenville, evinced that it either considered the right indisputable, or of little moment. Even Pitt, the professed friend of the Colonies, who had been known to harangue the house in flannels and upon crutches, in defiance of gout and fever, upon a subject of far less importance than this, was absent when the debate and vote upon the resolutions of Grenville and others took place 4 ! * In the first year of the reign of George III. the sum of one million of dollars was voted to the Colonies ; and a similar vote passed subsequently, but the money was never paid. f History of the Reign of George III., vol. i., page 36. % His excuse was, an attack of the gout, but his enemies accuse him, and with Borne show of justice, of purposely withholding his warning and potential voice, in order that his political adversaries might take the fatal step, — he not caring for the humiliation of his country, nor for the miseries to be inflicted on humanity, provided chap, n.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 59 Apathy of Parliament. Speech of Colonel Barrel Fifty-five resolutions were agreed to by the Commons and incor- porated into an act for laying nearly the same stamp-duties on the American Colonies as were payable at the time in England. Strange to say, that this measure, destined to be the entering wedge for the dismemberment of the British empire, called forth in parliament what Burke termed " the most languid debate" he ever heard. A fatal delusion, or rather a fatal ignorance of American affairs, seemed to pervade both the parliament and the cabinet. Even the intelligent Horace Walpole, who was in the House reporting everything of moment to the Earl of Hertford, devoted but a single paragraph of a few lines, to the debate that day on American affairs. Indeed, Wal- pole confessed his total ignorance of American affairs. Yet there teas a voice lifted up in defence of the colonies on that day that proved awfully prophetic — there was a mind in that Legis- lature that comprehended the magnitude of the subject before them — there was a heart that beat in unison with the strong pulsations of the oppressed ; and that voice, and mind, and heart, belonged to Colonel Barre, who had served his king in the armies of America, and who well knew the country and the people. When Charles Townshend, the most eloquent man in the Commons, in the absence of Pitt, ventured, in support of the Stamp Act, to declare that the Americans were very ungrateful, being " children planted by our care, and nourished by our indulgence," Barre indignantly burst forth ; — " They planted by your care ! No ! your oppression planted them in America — they fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated and inhospitable wilderness, exposed to all the hardships to which human nature is liable. They nourished by your indulgence ! No | they grew by your neglect of them ; your care of them was displayed, as soon as you began to care about them, in sending persons to rule over them who were the deputies of deputies of ministers — men whose behavior on many occasions has caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them — men who have been promoted to the highest seats of justice in that country, in order to escape being brought to the bar of a court of justice in their own. I have been conversant with the Americans, and I know them to be loyal indeed, but a people jealous of their liberties, and who will vindicate them if ever they should be violated ; and let my prediction of this day be remembered, that the same spirit of freedom which actuated that people at first, will accompany them still /" But this prediction, uttered with all the earnestness of truth, was unheeded, and fell upon the ears of British statesmen like the feeble intonating of distant the hostile administration were rent in pieces, and the powers of the crown thrown again at his feet. 60 . THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1765. Royal Signature to the Stamp Act. Virginia Resolutions. thunder, fearful in its character but harmless in present effect. Pe- titions presented by English merchants trading with the Colonies, as well as those from the Colonies themselves, and their agents resident in London, were treated with contempt ; and the parliament seemed to verify the ancient heathen maxim, that "whomsoever the gods decree that they will destroy, they first deprive of reason." In the House, there was only one division, and the act passed by a majority of two hundred and fifty to fifty ; and in the Lords with scarcely any oppo- sition.* » On the 22d of March the king joyfully gave his assent, and the Stamp Act — the ever memorable Stamp Act became law.t Franklin had repeatedly warned ministers and members of parlia- ment to beware how they multiplied causes for discontent in the Colonies.:): He now told them again that the Americans would never submit to the operations of the Stamp Act ; and events that immediately transpired proved the truth of his assertions. When the news reached America, it excited indignation and general alarm. Bold patriots denounced it as an iniquitous scheme to enslave the Colonies, while timid men viewed it with trembling presentiments of long years of trouble and desolation. The tone of feeling manifested in the provincial assemblies, and in primary meetings of the people, portended the gathering storm of opposition, and it was not long before it became a perfect hurricane. Virginia, which had ever been a loyal Colony, yet always jealous of her liberty, took the lead in the demonstrations of defiance, and in a series of resolutions introduced into the House of Burgesses on the 30th of May by Patrick Henry, first hurled the gauntlet at the feet of the British king.§ The first of these resolutions declared that 1 the original settlers of the Colonies brought with them and transmitted to their posterity, all the privileges, franchises, and immunities, enjoyed by the people of Great Britain. The second affirmed that these privileges, &c., had been secured to * Mr. Grenville, at a subsequent period, said, in the House of Commons, " I did propose the Stamp Act, and shall have no objections to have it christened by my name. There was only one division in the committee against it, and not a single negative in the House of Lords. It is easy to give an ex post facto judgment, but of all who acted with me in the government, I never heard any one prophecy that the measure would be opposed. After the event prophecy is very safe. The Honorable Colonel Barre did indeed say, that he knew not what anger it might cause in America." — Cavendishes Debates. t See note I., Appendix. % On the very night the Act was passed, Doctor Franklin wrote to Charles Thom- son, who was afterwards Secretary to Congress, " The Sun of Liberty is set ; the Americans must light the lamps of Industry and Economy." To which Mr. Thom- son replied, " Be assured we shall light torches of another sort," thus predicting the convulsions that would follow. . § They were drawn up on the blank leaf of an old volume of " Coke upon Little- ton."— Wirt A(-i chap, ii.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 63 Debate in the Virginia House of Burgesses. the aforesaid colonists by two royal charters granted by King James, The third asserted that taxation of the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves, was the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and without which the ancient constitution could not subsist. The fourth maintained that the people of Virginia had always enjoyed the right of being governed by their own Assembly in the article of taxes, and that this right had been constantly recog- nised by the king and people of Great Britain. The fifth resolution, in which was summed up the essentials of the preceding ones, de- clared " That the General Assembly of this Colony have the sole right and power to levy taxes and imposition upon the inhabitants of this Colony ; and that every attempt to vest such power in any other person or persons whatsoever, other than the General Assembly aforesaid, has a manifest tendency to destroy, British, as well as American, freedom." The introduction of these resolutions was like the fall of a thun- derbolt within that Assembly ; and when the first shock had subsided, many who afterwards were distinguished patriots, sprang to their feet in opposition to them ; and all the eloquence of such men as Randolph, Pendleton, Bland, Wythe, &c, was employed to crush them ; not because they were not in unison with their sentiments, but they felt them to be premature and too bold. Yet, after a stormy debate, in which the eloquence of Henry was most powerfully brought forth,* they were carried; the latter by a majority of one. The impulse here given, went through the Colonies like an electric spark — the whole country was aroused to action — timid spirits became bolder — similar resolutions were generally adopted, and the great point of resistance to British assumption of power to tax the Colonies without their consent, was everywhere established. Ex- pressions of sentiments of high regard were everywhere heard, coupled with the names of Pitt, Conway, Barre, and other members of the British House of Commons, who had boldly lifted their voices in defence of American Rights ; and the freeholders of Boston * " It was in the midst of this magnificent debate, while he was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious Act, that he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, and with the look of a god : ' Caesar had his Brutus — Charles the First his Cromwell — and George the Third' — [Treason! cried the Speaker] — treason, treason, echoed from every part of the House. It was one of those trying moments which is deci- sive of character. Henry faltered not for an instant ; but, rising to a loftier alti- tude, and fixing on the Speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished the sentence with the firmest emphasis — ' and George the Third — may profit by their example. If that be treason, make the most of it.' " — Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry. 64 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1765. Massachusetts Circular Letter, proposing a Congress. passed a formal vote of thanks to the two latter gentlemen, and ordered their portraits for Faneuil Hall. Early in 1765, the Corresponding Committee of the New York Assembly (appointed in October, 1764) proposed the holding of a Congress of Delegates from the several Colonies, in the city of New York. This proposition was repeatedly agitated, until at length the June 7 Assembly of Massachusetts addressed the following circular 65 - letter* to the Speakers of all the provincial assemblies : — i 17 " Boston, June, 1765. " Sir : The House of Representatives of this Province, in the present session of general court, have unanimously agreed to pro- pose a meeting, as soon as may be, of committees from the House of Representatives or Burgesses, of the several British Colonies on this continent, to consult together on the present circumstances of the Colonies, and the difficulties to which they are and must be re- duced by the operation of the Acts of Parliament, for levying duties and taxes on the Colonies ; and to consider of a general and united, dutiful, loyal and humble, representation of their condition to his Majesty and to the Parliament, and to implore relief. " The House of Representatives of this Province have also voted to propose that such meeting be at the city of New York, in the Province of New York, on the first Tuesday in October next, and have appointed a committee of three of their members to attend that service, with such as the other Houses of Representatives or Burgesses, in the several Colonies, may think fit to appoint to meet them ; and the Committee of the, House of Representatives of this Province, are directed to repair to the said New York, on the first Tuesday in October next, accordingly ; if, therefore, your honorable House should agree to this proposal, it would be acceptable that as early notice of it as possible might be transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of this Province." This circular was received by the several representative bodies to whom it was addressed, with tokens of unqualified approbation, and its suggestions were speedily acted upon by the appointment of dele- gates. Meanwhile, the excitement against the Stamp Act, which was to go into operation on the first of November ensuing, became universal. True, there were some men — men of sterling worth, who viewed the matter in the same light as did the British parliament, and endeavored to quiet the turbulence and discontent by appeals to loyalty ; but such men were comparatively few, and daily decreasing in numbers. Popular speakers — men of wealth, reputation, and commanding talents, were daily pouring patriotic eloquence into the csap. n.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 65 Meeting of the first Colonial Congress. ears of excited throngs in every part of the country ; at town-gather- ings and other assemblies, resolutions were adopted expressive of the strongest feelings of indignation ; and in view of the oppressive operation of the Stamp Act when practically in force, the hearts of the American people seemed to beat as one with deep pulsations of patriotic resistance. In the midst of this general popular ferment, the First Colonial Congress assembled at New York on the first Monday in October.* This being somewhat earlier than the meeting of some of the Colonial Assemblies, thereby preventing them from appointing delegates, it was agreed, by the adoption of a rule, to admit as delegates several committees of the Members of Assembly from such Colonies. Under this rule New York was represented by the corresponding committees, at whose suggestion, some months previous, Massachusetts sent forth her circular letter. Nine of the thirteen Colonies were represented ; and the Assemblies of New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, who did not send delegates, wrote that they would agree to whatever was done by the Congress. What a sublime moral spectacle was that meeting of the first Colonial Congress ! There were convened the representatives of many distinct communities — as politically distinct as were the Gre- cian Republics, yet actuated by one sentiment — the assertion of human equality — the maintenance of the glorious franchisements of freedom — positive and uncompromising resistance to wrong and oppression. " The more this subject is investigated, the more obvi- ous will become the fact, that the American Revolution was essen- tially a wider diffused, a more general impulse, enlisting not only a greater number of distinct communities, independent of each other, than had hardly ever been associated before, but that the proportion of individual, personal participation, a participation in which individual judgment was called into requisition, and individual responsibility incurred, had seldom been equalled. It was no momentary impulse — no burst of passion."* This incipient step was not the reckless leap of hot-headed fanaticism into the arena of an aimless contest, but it was the result of cool deliberation, and its object was the high- est political destiny of man. This first Congress, although so remote from the stirring scenes of the Revolution proper, may be considered the fountain spring of that convulsion — the " ovum reipublic^ —truly the egg of our republic. The Congress was organized by the election, by ballot, of Timothy • Niles's Register. 66 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1765. Doings of the Congress. Riot in Boston. Ruggles of Massachusetts, Chairman, and the appointment of John Cotton, Clerk.* It continued in session fourteen consecutive days, and adopted a Declaration of Rights ;* a Petition to the King, and a Memorial to both Houses of Parliament.! At the close of the session, all the delegates except Mr. Ruggles of Massachusetts, and Mr. Ogden of New Jersey, affixed their sig- natures of approval to the proceedings. The deputies from three of the Colonies, not having been authorized by their respective assem- blies to apply to the King and Parliament, did not sign the petition and memorial ; but subsequently all the Colonies, by the votes of their respective assemblies, approved of the measures then adopted. On the arrival of the first cargo of stamps and stamped paper, prompt and energetic action succeeded threats, and in the various cities where they were landed, popular tumults ensued. Boston seemed to be the grand centre of these convulsions. The mob formed an effigy of Mr. Oliver, the Stamp-Master, and hung it up on a tree, a and the sheriff, who was ordered to take it down, declared that the sacrifice of life would be the price of the undertaking. At evening twilight it was carried to the town house, where the government council was assembled, and in bold defiance of their authority, the mob raised three loud huzzas. They then took the effigy to the front of Oliver's house, where, after having cut off its head, they burst open his door, declaring their intention to murder him. But Mr. Oliver had escaped, and was obliged to keep a Aug. 15.. On the opening of the session the following delegates appeared with their ere- dentials and took their seats : : — From Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, James Otis, Metcalf Bowler, Eliphalet Dyer, Oliver Partridge, Henry Ward. David Rowland, Timothy Ruggles. William S. Johnson. New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Robert R. Livingston, John Dickenson, William Murdock, John Cruger, John Morton, Edward Tilghman, Philip Livingston, George Bryan. Thomas Ringgold. William Bayard, Leonard Lispenard. New Jersey, Delaware, South Carolina, Robert Ogden, Thomas McKean, Thomas Lynch, Hendrick Fisher, Caesar Rodney. Christopher Gadsden, Joseph Borden. John Rutledge. t The Declaration of Rights was penned by John Cruger, delegate from New York. He was at that time Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, and Mayor of the city of New York. The Petition to the King was written by Robert R. Livingston, also a member from New York. X See note II., Appendix. CHAI\ II.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 67 Farther Riots in Boston. Tumults in other \. laces. concealed to avoid the ire of the populace. The next morning, to save his life, lie resigned his office ; and to prevent a successor, whenever any one was named as such, a day was fixed for burning his house ; and a bonfire was lighted in front of it amid cries of " liberty and property." On the twenty-sixth of August, the mob proceeded to still greater extremities, demolishing the dwellings of the Registrar-deputy and Comptroller of the Customs, and attacking the residence of the Governor. He would doubtless have been murdered by them, had he not escaped after much persuasion by his family. The populace rushed in with furious threats of murder, and at once began the de- struction of everything that came within their reach. The Governor had a fine library, containing many important manuscripts illustrative of the early history of the Colony from its first settlement. This was not spared, but was totally destroyed. Plate, rings, money, and other valuable articles bestrewed the street the next morning, show- ing that a desire for plunder had no share in the motives that impelled the people. These acts were disgraceful in the extreme, when viewed superficially ; but when we consider the intense feeling of an uneducated mass, as were the majority of the actors in these scenes, aroused by appeal after appeal to their passions by men eminent for virtue and patriotism, we ought to view their conduct with much charitable allowance. On the morning after the proceedings at the Governor's house, the mob seemed to have fresh energy for further outrages ; and the principal inhabitants, seeing the entire city threatened with destruc- tion, proceeded to the Governor, and offered to restore order and the dominion of law, provided no penal proceedings should be held on account of the first tumult, which was directed solely against the stamps. These conditions were very humiliating to the haughty Governor, but he was forced to make a virtue of necessity, and yielded. In New York and Philadelphia similar tumults prevailed, although less violent. In the former city the people armed, attacked the fort, where the stamps were lodged, and the commander, to preserve them, placed them in the hands of the magistrates, who in their turn were obliged to yield to popular indignation, and allow the obnoxious articles to be destroyed. Although these lawless proceedings were chiefly confined to the lower class of the population, yet the more enlightened and influen- tial class of citizens were pressing forward to the same righteous goal, but in a different, a more dignified way. The Virginia resolu- tions fired the eastern leaders with renewed zeal, and in several 5 63 • THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1765. The sons of Liberty. Popular commotions. places societies were formed whose members styled themselves " Sons of Liberty." They at length formed a powerful combination throughout the Colonies. They denounced the Stamp Act as a flagrant outrage on the British constitution ; resolved to defend the liberty of the press at all hazards ; and solemnly pledged their lives, fortune and honor in defence of those who, in the exercise and main- tenance of their rights as freemen, should become the objects of British tyranny and injustice. The merchants of the sea-port towns entered into engagements with each other not to import goods from Great Britain until the Stamp Act should be repealed. Patriotic individuals and families ceased the use of foreign luxuries ; articles of domestic manufacture came into general use, and the trade with Great Britain was almost entirely suspended.* When the first of November arrived (the day on which the obnox- ious act was to go into operation), a strange spectacle was presented to the world. According to the terms of the Act, no legal business could be transacted without the use of the stamped paper ; and as the people had solemnly resolved not to use it, business was for a time entirely suspended. " The courts were closed ; marriages ceased ; vessels were delayed in the harbors ; and all the social and mercan- tile affairs of a Continent stagnated at once."t At Boston the colors of the shipping were hoisted half-mast ; the bells tolled, the shops were shut, effigies of the royalists were carried about in derision and torn in pieces. At Portsmouth the bells tolled, a coffin was made, on the lid was inscribed " Liberty, aged 145," and with unbraced drums, and minute guns, a procession followed it to the grave. At the close of an oration, the coffin was taken up, signs of life appeared in the corpse, " Liberty revived," was sub- stituted, the bells rung merrily, and joy lighted every countenance. At Philadelphia, the people spiked the guns on the ramparts of their defences ; and at New York the obnoxious act was printed with a * In 17G9, when similar agreements were entered into, Washington, alluding to the subject in a letter to a friend, remarked ; " We have already, it is said, proved the inefficiency of addresses to the throne, and remonstrances to Parliament. How far, then, their attention to our rights and privileges is to be awakened or alarmed, by starving their trade and manufactures, remains to be tried. The northern Colo- nies, it appears, are endeavoring to adopt this scheme. In my opinion it is a good one, and must be attended with salutary effects, provided it can be pretty generally carried into execution." Washington subsequently entered into such an agreement, and was scrupulous in observing it. When he sent his customary annual orders to London for goods to be used in his family, he strictly enjoined his correspondents to forward none of the enumerated articles, unless the offensive acts of Parliament should in the meantime be repealed. — Sparks's Life of Washington, pp. 109-10. t Willson, p. 199. Parade of the Stamp Act, in Xg.v York. I'. 71 chap, n.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 71 Tumults in New York and other placet. Rockingham Mini try. skull and cross-bones instead of the royal arms, and contemptuously paraded through the streets under the title of " England's Folly and America's Ruin." A tumult occurred in Newport, R. I., and seve- ral obnoxious citizens were hung in effigy. At Providence also, similar acts prevailed ; and a gazette extraordinary was published there, with the words " Vox populi, vox Dei," in large letters at its head, and underneath, " Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. — St. Paul." In Connecticut, Ingersoll, the principal Stamp officer, was ordered to relinquish his office or suffer consequences which he could very well anticipate. Similar instructions were given to the Stamp officers in New Hampshire, Maryland and Caro- lina. A paper published in Boston, called " The Constitutional Courant ; containing matters interesting to Liberty, and nowise repugnant to Loyalty," had for its frontispiece the representation of a serpent, cut into eight pieces ; on the part of the head, were the initials of New England ; and on that of the body, the initials of the other Colonies as far as South Carolina ; and over it " Join or Dje," in large letters. In Virginia, the notaries, attorneys, and justices of the peace declared that their functions had ceased ; that they were unwilling to use the stamps, and thus be instrumental in inflicting a wrong upon the people. Firm, but respectful resistance on the part of the better class of the citizens, and wild and tumultuous defiance on the part of the uneducated populace, spoke plainly the universal sentiment against the Stamp Act and its practical results, and through- out the entire domain of the English provinces this ferment was visible. In the meanwhile a change of ministry occurred, and the Marquis of Rockingham, an honorable and liberal statesman, took the place of Grenville. General Conway was one of the Cabinet, and Edmund Burke was the Premier's private secretary. Other men of liberal views were his counsellors, and a faint hope of better things under the new administration shed its light upon the Colonies, and, for a time, in a measure allayed the general excitement. But the king, doubtless really ignorant of the temper and true character of the Americans, was not easily conciliated in their favor, and hence the new ministry found it difficult to depart from the course marked out by Grenville towards the Colonies. In fact the subject still appeared too unimportant to call forth extraordinary exertions, notwithstanding the voice of popular tumult and discontent was borne to England upon every breeze from America. Parliament did not meet until the 17th of December, and then was almost immediately adjourned un- til after the Christmas holidays. In his speech, the King mentioned 72 ' THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1766. Debates in Parliament on the Stamp Act. incidentally, that something had occurred in America which might demand the serious attention of the legislature. Parliament re-assembled on the 14th of January* and the King informed the Houses that no time had been lost on the first advice of disturbance in America, to issue orders to the Govern- ors of the provinces, and to the commanders of the forces there, to use all the powers of the government in suppressing riots and tumults, and in the effectual support of British authority. When the debates upon American affairs occurred, Pitt was in his place, and nobly did he use his eloquence in defence of the Colonies, and the position they assumed on the subject of legal taxation. After expressing his re- gret that sickness compelled him to be absent when Grenville's reso- lutions were adopted, and censuring ministers for delay in giving notice of the disturbances, he proceeded to vindicate the Americans. "The Colonists," said he, "are subjects of this kingdom, equally entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind, and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen ; equally bound by its laws and equally participating in the constitution of this free country. The Americans are the sons, not the bastards of England. Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative power. Taxes are the volun- tary gift or grant of the Commons alone. .... When, therefore, in this House we give and grant, we give and grant what is our own. But in an American tax, what do we do ? We, your Majesty's Commons for Great Britain, give and grant to your Majesty, what ? our own property ? No ; we give and grant to your Majesty the property of your Majesty's Commons of America. It is an absurdity in terms." Mr. Grenville, with whom the fatal Stamp Act originated, attempt- ed to show that there was nothing wrong in the act itself, but that all the difficulty had occurred through the mismanagement of those who had succeeded him in office. He agreed with Pitt in censuring ministers for delay in noticing the disturbances in America. " They began," said he, " in July, and now we are in the middle of Janua- ry ; lately they were only occurrences, they are now grown to dis- turbances, to tumults and riots. I doubt they border on open rebel- lion ; and if the doctrines of this day be confirmed, that name will be lost in revolution." Expressing his inability to perceive the distinction attempted to be made by Mr. Pitt, he said, " When I proposed to tax America, I repeatedly asked this House if any objection would be made to the right ; but no one attempted to deny that right. Pro- tection and obedience are reciprocal. Great Britain protects Ame- rica : America is bound to yield obedience. If not, tell me when the Americans were emancipated ? When they want the protection of chap, il] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 73 Speech of Mr. Pitt. His proposition to repeal the act. this kingdom they are always ready to ask for it : that protection has always been afforded them in the most full and ample manner. The nation has run itself into an immense debt to give them protection ; and now, they are called upon to contribute a small share towards the public expense — an expense arising from themselves — they renounce your authority ; insult your officers, and break out, I might almost say, into open rebellion." Fixing his eyes intently upon Pitt, he exclaimed with great emphasis, " The seditious spirit of the Colonies owes its birth to factions in this House. Gentlemen are careless of the consequences of what they say, provided it answers the purposes of opposition" When Grenville ceased speaking, several members sprang to their feet, and among them was Pitt. There was a loud cry of " Mr. Pitt, Mr. Pitt," and all but he sat down. He immediately fell upon Grenville, and told him that since he had challenged him to the field, he would fight him on every foot of it. " The gentleman tells us," said he, " that America is obstinate, America is almost in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest." Alluding to the alleged strength of Great Britain and the weakness of America, he said, " It is true, that in a good cause, on a good ground, the force of this country could crush America to atoms ; but on this ground, on this Stamp Act, many here will think it a crying injustice, and I am one who will lift up my hands against it. In such a cause, your success would be hazardous. America, if she fall, would fall like the strong man : she would embrace the pillars of the State and pul ldown the Constitution along with her."* The orator concluded with an appeal to the House to exercise wis- dom and moderation in their dealings with America, and in the words of Prior begged them — " Be to her faults a little blind : Be to her virtues very kind." He then proposed an absolute, total, and immediate repeal of the Stamp Act ; but recommended at the same time to accompany the repeal by the strongest declaration of the sovereign authority of Great Britain over her Colonics. His views were seconded by Rockingham, Conway, Burke, and nearly all the rest of the admi- nistration ; and the petitions of the mercantile classes and others against the Stamp Act, which had been so haughtily rejected by * History, Debates, Sec, of the British Parliament, vol. iv.,pp. 292-7. 74 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1766. i , Repeal of the Stamp Act. Mr. Pitt's Declaratory Act' Grenville, were now welcomed and honored. In a short time a re- pealing bill was presented by ministers. It was at this time that the genius of Edmund Burke was first developed ; and it is asserted by Dr. Johnson that his two speeches on the repeal of the Stamp Act, " were publicly commended by Mr. Pitt, and filled the town with wonder." Pitt, Conway, Barre and. Burke, were the chief advocates of the repeal in the House of Com- mons, and Lord Camden in the House of Peers. After being six weeks in committee, the repeal bill was passed* by a large aMarchlS. ..., f , r i i r majority ot the very men who, but a tew months belore, were almost unanimous in favor of the Stamp Act.* As a sort of salvo to the national honor, the bill, pursuant to Pitt's recommendation, was accompanied by a declaratory act, which affirmed that parliament had power to bind the Colonies in all cases whatsoever. This de- claration seemed to imply the right of taxation ; and, in a great measure, destroyed the intended effect of the repeal bill. Yet, with- out this appendage to soothe and conciliate the opposite party, the repeal bill could not have received a constitutional majority ; but with this suffix, many were content to support the measure as a matter of expediency ; and the majority in both Houses was considerable — in the Commons one hundred and eight, and in the Lords, thirty-four. Thirty-three peers entered a strong protest, stating therein, that after the declaration of power and authority already made, " such a sub- mission of King, Lords and Commons, in so strange and unheard-of a contest" would amount to an entire surrender of British supremacy.! Yet it was done — the royal assent was reluctantly given, and a March 18. . r . , J . J ° ■ ' the act of repeal became law.° The passage of this act was the source of great joy both in Eng- land and America. The manufacturers, and the friends of America in London, made great demonstrations of gratification. Many houses were splendidly illuminated, and the shipping in the Thames dis- played their colors. When the news of the repeal reached America, a thrill of joy and satisfaction pervaded the whole population ; the ominous mutterings of the suppressed volcano of defiance and rebellion ceased, and everywhere were heard the plaudits of a truly grateful people. Bu- siness at once resumed its wonted activity ; the importation of British * It was during these debates that the celebrated examination of Dr. Franklin before the British Parliament took place. His celebrity as a philosopher, states- man, and man of candor, roused the attention of every mind. The galleries were crowded with spectators eager to hear so distinguished an individual speak upon a subject of so much moment. f History, Debates, &c, vol. iv., 343. chap, ii.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 75 Rejoicings in the Colonies. New causes of discontent goods was revived ; the sails of commerce were unfurled, and the whole social and political horizon became radiant with light. The House of Burgesses of Virginia voted an appropriation to erect a statue to the King ; the Assembly of Massachusetts addressed a memorial of thanks to Parliament ; public thanksgivings were held, and the furious storm that had raged for months, and threatened to uproot the British constitution, was succeeded by a profound calm which might have been permanent, had no subsequent acts of oppression excited to action the energies of a righteous resistance. But this calm was of short duration. The declaratory act, re- garded as harmless, contained the germ of other oppressions no less serious and unjust, and it was not long before the Colonies perceived the development of the bud, and they at once resorted to measures to prevent its expansion. They were soon convinced that the repeal bill was but a truce in the war upon American freedom ; and they speedily began to erect defences and prepare for another conflict. Considerable trouble arose in the adjustment of the claims of the sufferers by the late disturbances. Compensation was demanded by- General Conway in mild but firm language ; but the people, while they did not absolutely refuse to adjust these claims, were very back- ward in the liquidation of them. They were offended at the haughty manner in which, in many instances, these claims were demanded. In Massachusetts in particular, the requisitions of Governor Bernard were made so peremptorily, that the people, irritated, refused to pay, and tumult was threatened. After a long delay, the measure of compensation was agreed to by the Assembly of Massachusetts, and also of New York, but it was accompanied by a general pardon of all concerned in the riots. Another cause of discontent and alarm was a new clause in the Mutiny Act,* which the Colonies viewed as disguised taxation in the form of a relief of burden from the shoulders of the home govern- ment. The clause provided that the troops sent out from England should be furnished with quarters, beer, salt, and vinegar, at the expense of the Colonies. This tax the people could easily have paid, and it would have been but a comparatively light burden, but the same principle was involved in this as in the Stamp Act. Be- sides, the soldiers were insolent and overbearing toward the citizens ; they were known to be quartered here for the purpose of abridging and subduing the independent action of the people, and the supplies * The Mutiny Act granted power to every officer, upon obtaining a warrant from any justice, to break into any house, by day or by night, in search of deserters. This ostensible purpose was often used by unprincipled officers for the consumma- tion of designs not contemplated by the Act. 76 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1766. Dissolution of the Rockingham Ministry. Charles Townshend. demanded were to be drawn from the very men whom they came to injure and oppress. In New York, where the Act first came into operation, the Assembly refused to issue orders for its enforcement.* In other Colonies likewise, a spirit of resistance was again aroused, as strong and formidable as was evinced against the Stamp Act. In the month of July, the Rockingham ministry, which, at its formation, seemed so united and promised such beneficial results from its labors, both to England and America, as to attract the anxious scrutiny of the friends and foes of popular freedom, was suddenly dissolved, and a new one formed under the direction and control of Mr. Pitt, who, by an act of special favor of the King was elevated to the peerage, a with the title of Earl of Chatham. The King intrusted to him the absolute privilege of choosing a cabinet agreeable to his own inclinations, the result of which was to the surprise of all, a most curious medley of discordant elements, in which neither party could place confidence. " He made an ad- ministration so chequered and speckled," said Burke ; " he put together a piece of joinery so crossly indented and whimsically dove- tailed ; a cabinet so variously inlaid ; such a piece of diversified mosaic ; such a tesselatcd pavement without cement ; here a bit of black stone, and there a bit of white ; patriots and courtiers, King's friends and republicans ; whigs and tories ; treacherous friends and open enemies ; that it was indeed a very curious show, but utterly un- safe to touch, and unsure to stand on. The colleagues whom he had assorted at the same boards, stared at each other, and were obliged to ask, Sir, your name ? — Sir, you have the advantage of me — Mr. Such-a-one, I beg a thousand pardons. I venture to say it did so happen, that persons had a single office divided between them, who had never spoken to each other in their lives, until they found them- selves they knew not how, pigging together, heads and points, in the same truckle-bed. "t Indeed all parties were astonished at the want of sound judgment displayed by Pitt in the formation of his cabinet, and forebodings of evil agitated the minds of men both friendly and inimical to him. The attacks of gout, which so frequently incapa- citated him for public business, rendered it quite certain that to a great extent, the cabinet would be ruled by other minds, of less strength and necessary forecast than his own. Nor were these presentiments vain speculations. While the Earl of Chatham was confined at Hayes, his country-seat, by sickness, Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, in the absence of his Lordship, assumed to be the head of the administration, * Speech on American Taxation. f Pitkin, vol. i., p 215. chap, ii.] EVENTS FROM 17G3 TO 1770. 77 Duties levied on Glass, Paper, Painters 1 Colors, and Tea. Board of Trade coalesced with Grcnvillc, the former Premier, and father of the Stamp Act, in the production of another scheme for taxing America. Townshend introduced a bill into Parliament," imposing du- a M ties on glass, paper, painters' colors, and tea. A similar 17GT - proposition, by which the Colonies were to be taxed to the amount of four hundred thousand pounds sterling per annum, had been sub- mitted by Grenville as early as January ; but at that time, Mr. Towns- hend considered the measure impolitic, in consequence of the excited state of the Colonies. But now, impelled by inordinate vanity, he made the hopeless attempt of pleasing the most opposite parties, and pledged himself to the House to find a revenue in the Colonies sufficient to meet the wants of government. During the brief discussion of Townshend's bill, Mr. Pitt was absent, and there appeared the same apathy, the same profound ignorance of American character that was exhibited when the Stamp Act was submitted to the Legislature, and it passed rapidly through both Houses, with only here and there a voice of opposition. There were, however, a few who regarded the matter in its true light, and calculated the chances of a general insurrection in the Colonies, if anymore attempts should be made to tax them without their consent. " In the Massa- chusetts government in particular," wrote Gerard Hamilton to Mr. Colcraft, " there is an express law, by which every man is obliged to have a musket, a pound of powder and a pound of bullets always by him ; so there is nothing wanting but knapsacks (or old stock- ings, which will do as well) to equip an army for marching, and nothing more than a Sartorius or Spartacus at their head, requisite to beat your troops, and your custom-house officers, out of the country, and set your laws at defiance." Lord Shelburne warned ministers to have a care how they proceeded in the matter, and endeavored to impress Parliament with the deep consideration with which the subject should be viewed. But these notes of warning fell powerless upon prejudiced ears, — the bill received a large majority vote, and on the twenty-ninth of June the royal signature was affixed. This act was immediately succeeded by another, establishing a Board of Trade in the Colonies, independent of Colonial legislation, and creating resident Commissioners of Customs to enforce strictly the revenue laws. And still another act was passed, prohibiting the Governor, Council, and Assembly of New York from passing any legislative act for any purpose whatsoever, and totally suspending the legislative power till satisfaction should be given as to the treatment of the King's commissioners, and full obedience rendered to the pro- visions of the Mutiny Act, by furnishing the royal troops with cer- tain supplies, at the expense of the Colony. 78 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1767. Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer. Massachusetts Circular. When intelligence of the passage of these acts reached America, all the powerful elements of opposition so strongly manifested two years before when the Stamp Act received the royal sanction, were again aroused ; and to unqualified denunciations were added bold denials of any legislative authority of Parliament over the Colonies. Everywhere the voice of oratory aroused the people to action ; whilst the silent, yet powerful appeals of printed addresses scattered the seeds of rebellion within almost every household in America. Among the most powerful of these were the " Letters of a Pennsylvania Farm- er," from the pen of John Dickenson, of Philadelphia. These letters, twelve in number, were published during the summer and autumn of 1767, and their effect upon the destinies of our country is incalculable. Like the " Crisis " of Paine, they formed and controlled the will of the people, and gave efficiency to the right arm of action. The object of the letters was, to arouse the attention of the country to the illegality of British taxation, and to the necessity of adopting vigorous measures to induce the mother country to retrace her steps of op- pression. In a style of great vigor, animation and simplicity, he portrayed the unconstitutionality of the conduct of Great Britain, the imminent peril to American liberty which existed, and the fatal con- sequences of a supine acquiescence in ministerial measures, more fatal as precedents, than by the immediate calamities they were cal- culated to produce. The Farmer's Letters were read with in;cnse interest, and produced the effect not merely of enlightening the pub- lic mind, but of exciting the feelings of the people to a determination not to submit to the oppressive exactions of the mother country.* Spirited resolutions were promptly adopted by the Colonial As- semblies, denouncing the acts of Parliament in unqualified terms of disapprobation. New associations, pledged to support domestic manufactures, and to cease the use of British goods, were formed, and commerce with the mother country was almost entirely suspended. Early in January, 1768, the general Assembly of Massachusetts convened, and one of its first acts was to draw up a petition to the King, asserting in decided yet mild and courteous terms the right of not being taxed without their own consent. They then took a bolder step, one that most of all displeased the British ministry ; they addressed a circular to all the other Colonies, « embodying the same sentiments expressed in the petition to the King, and inviting the co-operation of their several respective Assemblies. As soon as intelligence of this measure reached England, Lord Hills- borough sent instructions to Bernard, then Governor of the Massa- * American Portrait Gallery, vol. iii. chap, ii.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 79 Resistance of the Massachusetts Assembly. Arrival of the Sloop Liberty. chusetts Colony, to call upon the general Assembly to rescind its resolutions, and, in case of non-compliance with the demand, to dis- solve them. But these instructions, instead of intimidating the Assembly, gave fresh grounds for complaint, and additional cause for discontent ; and in June, that body, by a vote of ninety-two to seventeen, refused to rescind,* adhered strenuously to their past proceedings, and passed resolutions denouncing these very instructions as another attempt to restrain the right of free deliberation, guaranteed by th' constitution. The Governor, finding the threat of ministers of no *vail, proceeded to dissolve the Assembly; but before the act was accomplished, that body had prepared a list of serious accusation^ against him, and a petition to the King for his removal. Counter circulars were sent by governm' nt t0 the several Colonies, warning them to beware of imitating tb- factious and rebellious con- duct of Massachusetts ; but they er^rely failed to produce the in- tended effect. On the contrary, tAe sympathies of the other Colonies were awakened for proscribed Massachusetts, and nearly all cordially approved of the proceedings ^ad in her general Assembly ; and some indignantly repelled this --fresh attempt to dictate to them and influ- ence their proceedings oy the overshadowing of government power. At Boston, the chief point of resistance to British tyranny, causes for discontent and inc^ased irritation of feeling were almost daily de- veloped. In May, tne Commissioners of Customs arrived, and at once proceeded co the execution of their duties — duties as odious in the eyes of the people as were those of the Roman tax-gatherers of Judea in the days of Claudius Caesar. Early in June" the sloop Liberty, belonging to John Han- r i ! l l ■ riv- a June 10 - cock, one of the most zealons and popular patriots of i\ew England, arrived at Boston with a cargo of Madeira wine. The Commissioners sent an excise officer on board, but the skipper con- fined him below deck, and landed the wine on the dock, without entering it at the custom house, or the use of any other formula. The officer was then released and sent ashore. The next morning the Commissioners ordered a Comptroller to seize the sloop and clap the King's broad arrow upon her. A c-owd immediately assembled at the wharf, and the Commissioners, fearing violence, made signals * The following was the answer the Tiouse sent the Governor : — " If the votes of this House are to be controlled by the direction of a minister, we have left us but a vain semblance of liberty. We hate now only to inform you that this House have voted not to rescind, and that on a division on the question, there were ninety-two yeas and seventeen nays." 80 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1767. Seizure of the Liberty. Tnmult in Boston, to the Romney man-of-war, then lying at anchor at Boston, and the captain manned his boats and sent them to assist the excise officer. Malcolm, a bold smuggler, at the head of a mob of boys and negroes, attempted to prevent the seizure of the sloop, and pelted the exciseman and the sailors with stones and dirt ; but the crews of the boats soon cut the sloop from her moorings and towed her under the guns of the Romney. The mob on shore became very violent ; attacked the houses of ftie Commissioners, beat several of the officers severely, and burned a custom house boat. The Commissioners applied to the Governor fo- protection, but he was obliged to tell them that he had no force whatever to defend them ; and they, becoming alarmed for the safety of thei: lives, fled on board the Romney, and subse- quently took quarters ]* Castle William, a fortress on an island of that name nearly three l^iles south-east from Boston, and at the entrance of the harbor. These lawless proceedings wer e strongly condemned by the Assemblies (although their feeling and sympathies were with the cause which the mob espoused), ana they even invited the govern- ment to prosecute the ringleaders. S ]C h a proceeding, however, would have had no beneficial result, for it would have been next to impossible to have found a jury to convict, SU ch was the general excitement of the people against the government officers. Governor Bernard, alarmed at these bold, tumultuous acts, and determined to uphold the authority of the British crown, right or wrong, took the greatly unwise step of introducing British troops into Boston to overawe the inhabitants and to protect the Commissioners of Customs in the discharge of their duties. At the request of the Governor,* General Gage, then Commander-in-chief of all the British forces in America, ordered two regiments, amounting to about seven hundred mer^ from Halifax, to be quartered at Boston. The first rumor of this contemplated outrage raised an extraordinary ferment, not only in Massachusetts, but throughout all the Colonies. At Bos- ton a town meeting was immediately called, and when convened, a committee was appointed,! who waited upon the Govornor to ascertain the truth of t\e report, and request him to convene the Assembly. The Governor did not deny the fact, that troops were about to be thrown into Boston, but declared that he was unable * Previously, however, to this requesl being made, and even a month or six weeks before the news of these Boston riots couid have reached London, ministers had re- solved to use force ; and Lord Hillsborough, in a secret and confidential letter, had told General Gage that it was his Majesty's pleasure that he should forthwith send from Halifax one regiment or more to Boston, to be quartered in that town-, to the civil magistrates and the officers of revenue. f James Otis, John Hancock, John Adams and Samuel Adams, chap.il] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 81 Attempts to bribe the Patriots. Convention at Boston. to comply with their request without instructions from home. The tone of the Governor was more pacific ; he was evidently alarmed. He feared the talent and popularity of several of the leaders, and attempted to gain their support, or at least to separate them from the cause they had espoused. He gave to Hancock a commission honoring him with a seat in the Council — the patriot tore up his commission in the presence of the people. He approached John Adams with an offer of the lucrative office of Advocate-General in the Court of Admiralty, but the unwavering patriot received his overtures with disdain, as an insidious attempt to corrupt his principles, and indig- nantly spurned the proffered boon. Samuel Adao^, also, was tempted by the wily functionary, but he found h> comply with their solicitation to convene the Assembly, the people determined to find a substitute therefor, by inviting the other towns to nominate deputies, and form a convention possessing m* tempore legislative powers. They made the anticipation of a w**' wi th France a plausible pretence for calling upon the people to aCt m accordance with a law of the Colony, au- thorizing each r*ie to provide himself with a musket, and the requi- site ammun* 10n - All the towns, except one, sent deputies, who assemble^ early in September. Their first act was to despatch a comn ?Atec of three to the Governor, with a petition, disclaiming any joVa of assuming any authoritative character, but professing merely to have met " in this dark and distressing time to consult and advise as to the best means of preserving peace and good order," and conclud- ed with a request again to call the Assembly. The Governor positively refused to receive the message, — would not recognise the meeting as a lawful assemblage, and on the following day wrote a letter, warning them to desist from further proceedings, and admo- nishing them to separate without delay. His admonition passed unheeded for a time, but, unlike the excited citizens, they were desirous of using pacific measures of resistance ; and they merely prepared a petition to the King, unfolding to him their grievances, but professing (as they really felt, aside from present oppressions) the most decided loyalty, and a desire to cultivate harmony with Great Britain. They also submitted an address to the people, which, in temperate language, set forth the alarming state of the country, yet earnestly inculcated submission to legal authority, and abstinence 82 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1768. Arrival of troops from Halifax. Non-importation agreements. from all acts of violence and tumult. They then quietly separated, after a session of five days. Late in September, the troops arrived, and on the first of October, under cover of the cannon of the ships, landed in Boston, with charged muskets, fixed bayonets, colors flying, drums beating, and every other military parade usual on entering the domain of an ene- my. The selectmen, or municipal authorities of Boston, perempto- rily infused to provide quarters for the soldiers, and they were obliged to encamp, part on the Common, and part in the State House, which the Governor ordered to be opened to them. This imposing military display exasperated the people to the highest pitch ; and mutual hatred, deep and abiding, was engendered between the soldiers and the lr-habitants, and " rebel " and " tyrant " were con- stantly bandied betwt^ n them. The Colonies now er.t, e red into general agreements against the importation of British goocu This was a step that developed the true patriotism of the people, Specially of the wealthier class, who were deprived of most of their lux ar i es and many of their comforts, by the act. Yet associations for this purpose became general and active in the several Colonies, under the ^nction of the Assemblies. As usual, Massachusetts took the lead, and T; r gi n i a -was the first to follow. In the House of Burgesses of the latte* Colony, Washing- ton presented a series of articles in the form of an a^ oc i a t;ion, drawn up by Mr. Mason. The House also passed several baa an( j pointed resolves, denying the authority of Parliament to impose *axes and enact laws hostile to the ancient liberties of the Colonies. Lord Botetourt, the Governor, whose sympathies were with the ColonV> s could not, however, in justice tohis position and the duty he owed to his sovereign, witness these proceedings in silence, and accord- ingly he went the next day to the Capitol, summoned the Burgesses to meet him in the council chamber, and there dissolved the Assem- bly. This exercise of official prerogative, although a virtual repri- mand, did not at all intimidate them, and they forthwith repaired in a body to a private house, and unanimously adopted the non-impor- tation agreement presented by Washington. Every member signed it, and it was then printed and sent into the country for the signatures of the people. Other Colonies followed the example. 5 * * The non-importation agreement of the people of Boston was as follows :— * " We will not send for, or import from Great Britain, either upon our own account, or upon commission, this fall, any other goods than what are already ordered for the fall supply. We will not send for or import, any kind of goods or merchandise from Great Britain, from the first of January, 1769, to the first of January, 1770, except salt, coals, fish-hooks and lines, hemp and duck, bar lead and shot, wool chap, n.] EVENTS FROM 17G3 TO 1770. 83 Proposition to take Americans to England fur trial. Parliament assembled on the 8th of November. Pitt, ill at his country-seat, and Townshend dead, the Duke of Grafton was at the head of the unpopular ministry. The speech from the throne alluded to fresh troubles in America, and denounced in strong terms the rebellious spirit which prevailed in Massachusetts Bay. The address proposed by ministers, alluded to the Americans in very harsh language, and assured the King of their determination to main- tain his relative position to the Colonies, and to preserve inviolate " the supreme authority of the Legislature of Great Britain over every part of the British empire." The address was adopted in the House of Lords without opposition ; but the Commons offered many objections, as it contained language and inferences not warranted by fact. They severely yet justly criticised the oppressive conduct of government toward America, as well as in its continental operations generally ; and it was with extreme difficulty, after much angry de- bate and mutual criminations, that it was finally adopted by . . TT L J a Jan. 1769. the lower House. 3 Early in January Parliament proceeded to the consideration of measures towards America, exceeding in rigor all that had pre- ceded. A petition from the people of Boston, couched in the most loyal and respectful language, was contemptuously rejected ; and the Lords alleged, in a series of resolutions, that the people and Legisla- ture of Massachusetts had been guilty of various illegal and treason- able acts, and that there was no probability of these crimes being properly punished in the country by native courts and juries ; and recommended, in an address to the King, that the criminals should be taken over to England, and tried by a special commission, according to a statute of 35th of Henry VIII. The resolutions and address were sent to the Commons for concurrence, but, like their predecessor, they met there with a powerful opposition. Mr. Dodswell de- nounced the measure as " unfit to remedy the disorders," and as 11 cruel to the Americans, and injurious to England." He strongly censured the Secretary of State for taking the responsibility, during the recess of Parliament, of ordering the Colonial governors to dissolve the Assemblies. Burke characterized all the preceding measures of government as rash, raw, indigested measures, which had inflamed America from cards and card wires. We will not purchase of any factor or others, any kind of goods imported from Great Britain, from January, 17(3'.), to January, 1770. We will not import, on our own account, or on commission, or purchase from any who shall import, from any other Colony in America, from January, 17G9, to January, 1770, any tea, paper, glass, or painters' colors, until the act imposing duties on those arti- cles shall be absolutely repealed." 84 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1769. Proceedings of Parliament. Speech of Pownall. one end of the country to the other. " At the desire of an exaspe- rated Governor,"* he exclaimed, " we are called upon to agree to an address advising the King to put in force against the Americans the act of Henry VIII. And why 1 Because you cannot trust the juries of that country. Sir, that word must convey horror to every feeling mind. If you have not a party among two millions of people, you must either change your plan of government, or renounce the Colonies for ever." Even Grenville, the father of the Stamp Act, strenuously opposed the measure as not only futile, but unjust to the Americans. Many others, — some who had heretofore seemed almost indifferent upon this subject, lifted up their voices against it ; yet, upon a division, the resolutions and address of the Lords were concurred in a by a majority of one hundred and fifty-five against eighty-nine. t On the eighth of February, Mr. Rose Fuller moved to recommit the address, and supported his motion by a masterly speech against the proposed measure of taking Americans to England for trial ; and in reference to the proposed tax, he asserted ; " As for the money, all that sum might be collected in London at less than half the ex- pense. "J He was warmly supported by Pownall, formerly Govern- or of Massachusetts, who, after referring to the history of the Colo- nies, the privations of the first settlers, their heroism, their virtues, their indomitable perseverance and enterprising spirit, remarked, " But now, that spirit, equally strong, and equally inflamed, has but a slight and trifling sacrifice to make ; the Americans have not a country to leave, but a country to defend ; they have not friends and relations to leave and forsake, but friends and relations to unite with and stand by, in one common union." He closed his speech with a solemn warning to ministers to stop short, retrace their steps, con- ciliate the Colonies by justice and kindness, or bear the fearful responsibility of driving loyal subjects to open rebellion. But the motion of Mr. Fuller was, upon a division, negatived by a majority of one hundred and sixty-nine against sixty-five.^ This law, how- ever, became a dead letter, and was never put into execution. On the 14th of March, a petition or remonstrance from the people of New York was offered, denying the right of Parliament to tax them in any way. Lord North, who had just begun his long and * Bernard. f Cavendish's Debates. % It has been said that when Mr. Charles Townshend's project of taxation was in agitation, the English merchants offered to pay the taxes, or an equivalent for them, rather than run the risk of provoking the Americans and losing their trade. — Pic. His. of the Reign of George III., note page 72. § Cavendish's Debates. chap, ii.] EVENTS FROxM 1763 TO 1770. 85 Dissolution of Colonial Assemblies. Governor Bernard superseded by Hutchinson. eventful career, offered a resolution (which prevailed) that the paper should not be received. Upon this, Colonel Barre arose and reminded the House, that he had predicted all that would happen on passing the Stamp Act, and he said that he could now prophesy other and inevitable evils ; and with his usual boldness and energy of manner, he plainly told ministers, that, if they persevered in their present course, the whole continent of North America would rise in arms, and those Colonies, perhaps, be lost to England for ever. The events of a few subsequent years produced a fulfilment of this pre ■ diction. These parliamentary proceedings fearfully augmented the excite- ment, indignation and alarm, which agitated the Colonies ; and the most hopeful advocate of conciliation and peaceful measures, now saw little else for the future to develope, but physical resistance. And yet those who most obstinately resisted the oppressions of the home government, still loyally refrained from a resort to arms, and tendered the olive branch of peace while strongly denouncing their oppressors. The Colonial Assemblies reiterated by resolutions, their oft-repeated political postulate, the exclusive right of the people to tax themselves, and boldly denied the right of the King to remove the offender out of the country for trial. For these, and similar resolves, the Assemblies of Virginia and North Carolina were dissolved by their respective Governors, who, like the Governor of Massachu- setts, were royal favorites. Governor Bernard demanded of the Massachusetts Assembly to provide funds for the payment of the troops quartered in Boston, but they not only refused to comply with this requisition, but would not transact business at all, while surrounded by soldiery sent to intimi- date them. They demanded the withdrawal of the troops, which the Governor objected to ; and they at once adjourned to ^ i • i i r • i ■ i-i « May, 1769. Cambridge,* where, alter passing some resolutions, which were offensive to the Governor,* the Assembly were dissolved, and their proceedings pronounced illegal, and even treasonable. The King, to testify his approbation, created Governor Bernard a Baronet, and took upon himself the whole expense of passing the patent. He was soon after succeeded in office* by Hutchin- son, his lieutenant, and returned to England, leaving behind him but few friends, and slight regrets at his departure. * They voted, " That the establishment of a standing army in this Colony in time of peace, is an invasion of natural rights ; that a standing army is not known as a part of the British Constitution ; that sending an armed force into the Colony, un- der a pretence of assisting the civil authority, is highly dangerous to the people, unprecedented and unconstitutional." 86 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1769. 1 ■ Letter of Lord Hillsborough. Recapitulation of Acts of Parliament. The effects of the non-importation agreements of the Colonies began to be severely felt by the English merchants,* and they added their respectful petitions and remonstrance to the voice of Ame- rican discontent, and urged ministers to present a bill in Parliament to repeal the obnoxious acts. Lord Hillsborough had, by direction of Lord North, previously written a circular letter to the Colonies, intimating that the duties upon glass, paper, and painters' colors, would be taken off, as contrary to the true principles of commerce — in other words, as inexpedient. But the duty would still be left upon tea, of which the Colonists complained ; and moreover, expediency and not principle being the controlling motive for the proposed re- peal, it was considered by the Americans as no concession to them whatever, in point of principle ; therefore the letter of Lord Hills- borough failed of producing any tranquillizing effect. The ocean of popular feeling had been lashed into a commotion too fearful to be calmed by such a stinted portion of oil poured upon its angry bil- lows ; and the year 1769 closed without any apparent approximation of Great Britain and her American Colonies towards reconciliation. As before stated, when the Treaty of Paris in 1763 produced peace between Great Britain and France, the American Colonies were enjoying a state of unexampled prosperity ; and loyalty to the mother country was a predominant feeling, inculcated by instruction in in- fancy, and made a fixed principle in youth and maturity. But, in an evil hour, Britain needlessly and heedlessly raised the arm of oppres- sion against her faithful children. The enactment of certain revenue laws aroused their suspicions of impending danger, for they well knew the force and the rapacity of British cupidity. The Sugar Act, re-enacted, and accompanied by a declaration on the part of Parliament of a design to tax the Colonies, engendered from amid the agitations of just alarm, a bold spirit of resistance ; and Boston first lifted up the voice of remonstrance and warning. Her remon- strance was unheard, her warning was unheeded, and a more pow- erful instrument of wrong and oppression was brought into being, — the infamous Stamp Act was framed and became a law. In this act, British tyranny, before obscured by the haze of acknowledged law and musty precedent, assumed a tangible form ; and in proportion as its true interest became developed, did the spirit of Colonial opposi- tion increase in strength and fervor, until ministers, discovering their fatal error, repealed the act. Then came the Declaratory Act, * The exports, which in 1768 had amounted to $11,890,000, of which $600,000 was in tea, had fallen in 1769 to $8,170,000, the tea being only $220,000. — Murray's U S , vol. i., p. 352. CHAP, n.] EVENTS FROM 1763 TO 1770. 87 Effect of various oppressive measures. assuming a right to levy taxes upon the Colonies, which they in turn denied. This again aroused Colonial jealousy — the Mutiny Act, and the establishment of a Board of Trade in the Colonies, awakened systematic resistance ; and the suspension of the legislative powers of the New York Assembly, until they should furnish certain supplies to the English troops, fanned the flame of open rebellion. Finally, ministers, untaught by the experience of the past, and willing rather to use the strong arm of power, instead of the more potent influence of kindness based upon justice, crowned their career of folly and wickedness by sending English mercenary troops to awe into sub- mission an injured and oppressed people. This act, so unnecessary and unjust, almost severed the last ligament of loyalty that bound the Colonies to the British throne — almost extinguished the last feeble ray of hope for a reconciliation — affiliated in a sacred commu- nity of interest the entire thirteen Colonies — and created in the hearts and minds of the American people irrepressible aspirations for Social Freedom and Political Independence. Faneuil Eall, Bctton. EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1774 Samuel Adams — Colonel Barre— Lord North. CHAPTER III. HE year 1770 dawned upon America with gloomy portents for the future. Too deeply was the principle of resistance to unjust taxation implanted in the hearts of the peo- ple to be easily eradicated ; and too surely did the past acts of the British ministry foreshadow an obstinate adherence of the home government to its broad proposition of positive and unqualified right to tax her Colonies, nolens volens, to give the people a single ray of hope that that proposition w T ould be abandoned. Hence, reconciliation seemed hardly possible — a resort 90 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1770. Patriotism of American Females. General Gage and Boston Boys. to arms seemed inevitable. True, they had been told that the duty upon several articles would be taken off; yet they clearly foresaw the evident intent of continuing it upon one or more, in order to main- tain by practice the assumed right to tax the Colonies ; and because of this, they determined to resist. Everywhere the spirit of opposi- tion was almost a living principle ; nor were patriotic sentiments and action confined to the sterner sex. The warm, impulsive nature of woman was aroused, and directed towards the execution of patriotic behests ; and even the children seemed to draw the same impress of character from the mother's breast, and boldly bearded the British Hon.* Early in February the females of Boston publicly leagued in a pledge of total abstinence from tea, as a practical execu- tion of the non-importation agreements of their fathers, husbands and a Feb 9 brothers. " We are credibly informed," says the Boston 177 °- Gazette,* 1 the leading " rebel newspaper," in the Colonics, " that upwards of one hundred ladies, at the north part of town, have, of their own free will and accord, come into, and signed an agree- ment, not to drink any tea till the Revenue Acts are repealed." At that date, the mistresses of three hundred families had subscribed to the league ; and when it was published the following week, it was accompanied by a declaration of intentions of joining the citizens at large, who had, in January, resolved unanimously, at a meeting m Faneuil Hall, " totally to abstain from the use of tea." The " Young Ladies " very soon afterwards b followed this patriotic exam- ple, and multitudes subscribed their names to a document in * While the King's troops were in Boston, an incident occurred that evinced the bold spirit of even the little boys. In the winter the boys were in the habit of building little hills of snow, and sliding down them on to the pond on the Common, for amusement. The English soldiers, to provoke them, would often beat down these hills. On one occasion, having rebuilt their hills, and finding on their return from school that they were again demolished by the soldiers, several of the boys deter- mined to wait upon the captain and complain of his soldiers. The captain made light of it, and the soldiers became more troublesome than ever. At last they called a meeting of the larger boys, and sent them to General Gage, the Commander-in- chief. He asked why so many children had called upon him. " We come, sir," said the tallest boy, " to demand satisfaction." " What !" said the General, " have your fathers been teaching you rebellion, and sent you to exhibit it here ?" " Nobody sent us, sir," replied the boy, while his eyes flashed and cheek reddened at the im- putation of rebellion, " we have never injured nor insulted your troops ; but they have trodden down our snow-hills, and broken the ice on our skating-grounds. We complained, and they called us young rebels, and told us to help ourselves if we could. We told the captain of this, and he laughed at us. Yesterday our works were destroyed the third time, and we will bear it no longer." The nobler feelings of the General's heart were awakened, and after gazing upon them in silent admira- tion for a moment, he turned to an officer by his side, and said, " The very children here draw in a love of liberty with the air they breathe. You may go, my brave boys, and be assured, if my troops trouble you again, they shall be punished." ckap. m.] EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1774. 91 Unpopularity of Importers of Tea. A Boy shot. the following terms : — " We, the daughters of those patriots who have, and do now, appear for the public interest, and in that, princi- pally regard their posterity, — as such do with pleasure engage w r ith them in denying ourselves the drinking of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan which tends to deprive the whole community of all that is valuable in life" Similar movements were made in New York and Virginia among the females ; and so cordial and universal became the opposition to the Revenue Acts, that very few persons had the hardihood to allow their love of gain to be paramount to love of country, and sell and use the proscribed article. Yet there were a few who dared to act in bold defiance of public sentiment, in the importation and sale of tea ; among whom was one Theophilus Lillie, of Boston, who was instrumental in the production of incipient steps towards a popular tumult, exceeding in violence anything pre- ceding it. He, in connexion with three or four others, continued to sell imported goods in defiance of public feeling on this point. Nor did he confine himself to the act of sale solely, but he publicly de- clared his intention to continue trade, let the non-importation associ- ations do as they pleased. This conduct very much excited the populace, and on the 22d of February they manifested their strong disapprobation by placing a rude wooden head upon a pole near Lillie's door, having upon it the names of the other importers ; and attached a wooden hand thereto, whose finger pointed directly towards the offending tradesman's premises. A mob of noisy boys soon col- lected, and by their remarks greatly irritated Lillie and his friends, among whom was a rough man named Richardson, who tried to in- duce a countryman to run his wagon against the pole and prostrate it. He was a patriot and refused ; and in Richardson's attempt to do it himself, he was pelted with dirt and stones, and driven into his house. Much exasperated, he brought out his musket, loaded with swan shot, and discharged it into the crowd, slightly wounding a lad named Christopher Gore (afterwards Governor of the Common- wealth), and mortally wounding another named Snyder. The people were furious at this outrage ; seized Richardson and an associate, named Wilmot, carried them to Faneuil Hall, had them examined, and committed them for trial.* This event produced a deep sensation throughout the country. The newspapers teemed with the accounts of the funeral of young Snyder, and he was spoken of everywhere as the first martyr to the * Richardson was, at the April assize, found guilty of murder, but the Lieutenant Governor refused to sign his death warrant, and after two years' confinement, he was pardoned by the King. 92 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1770. Funeral of the boy Snyder. Excitement against the Soldiers. cause of American Liberty.* His funeral ceremonies were attended in a manner before unexampled. His coffin, covered with inscrip- tions — " Innocence itself not safe," and similar ones — was placed under Liberty Tree. In the procession to the grave, between four and five hundred school-boys took the lead. Six of Snyder's play- fellows supported the coffin. After these came the relatives and nearly fifteen hundred of the inhabitants. The scene was one of deep and abiding impress — it was the initial life of the hecatombs subsequently sacrificed upon the altar of the Moloch of War during the struggle for American Liberty. On the second of March, a soldier passing by the rope-walk of Mr. John Grey, got into a quarrel with the workmen, and w T as severely beaten. He repaired to the barracks, and returning with several of his comrades, they in turn beat the rope-makers, and pursued them through the streets. The excitable portion of the inhabitants were soon assembled, but the next day being Saturday, and so near the Sabbath, they deferred vengeance until Monday, the fifth. Between seven and eight o'clock in the evening of the fifth, about seven hundred of them, armed with clubs and other missiles, pro- ceeded towards King (now State) street, shouting u Let us drive out these rascals ! they have no business here — drive them out !" Fresh parties with sticks and clubs reinforced them, and an attack was made in Dock Square, upon some soldiers. In the meanwhile, the fearful cry of " Fire ! fire !" echoed through the town, and the alarm bells vehemently rang out their peals of dismay and terror, as if a great conflagration was raging. The whole town presented a scene of tumult and confusion. About nine o'clock, the mob, constantly augmenting, began to tear up the stalls of the market-place in Dock Square, and prepared for an attack upon the soldiers. Two or three leading citizens used every persuasion to induce them to disperse, and had in a measure gained the respectful attention of the populace, when a tall man dressed in a scarlet cloak and with a white wig, suddenly appeared among them, and commenced a most violent harangue against the government officers and the soldiers, and concluded by a loud * The following curious communication appeared in the Boston Gazette :— " Messrs. Eddes and Gill : — The general sympathy and concern for the murder of the lad by the base and infamous Richardson, on the 23d, will be a sufficient rea- son for your notifying the public that he will be buried from his house in Frog Lane, opposite to Liberty Tree, on Monday, when all the friends of Liberty may have an opportunity of paying their last respects to the remains of this little Hero and first martyr to the noble cause, whose manly spirit (after this accident happen- ed) appeared in his discreet answers to his doctor, and thanks to the clergyman who prayed with him, and the firmness of mind he showed when lie first saw his parents, and while he underwent the greatest distress of bodily pain ; and with which he met the King of Terrors. A Mourner." chap, in.] EVF.XTS FROM 1770 TO 1774. 93 Attack upon a Sentinel. Custom-house Guard assailed. shout, " To the main guard ! to the main guard !" A hundred voices echoed the shout with fearful vehemence. The mob, by a precon- certed movement, then separated into three divisions, taking each a different road towards the quarters of the main guard. As one of the divisions was passing the custom-house, a boy came up,* and pointing to the sentinel upon duty, cried out, " That's the scoundrel who knocked me down." Instantly about twenty voices cried out, " Let us knock him down — down with the bloody- backs ! Kill him ! kill him !" The sentry loaded his gun, when they began to pelt him with snow-balls, pieces of ice and every other missile they could find ; and with oaths and insulting epithets, dared him to fire. Emboldened by his forbearance to fire, they closed upon him and attempted to drag him into the street. He ran up the steps of the custom-house and begged for admission ; but the people within were afraid to open the doors, lest the mob might rush in. He then shouted to the main guard for assistance, which was immediately rendered. Captain Preston, the officer of the day, detailed a corporal and six privates, and sent them to the relief and rescue of the sentry, and the protection of the custom-house. As they approached, they found the mob greatly increased and con- stantly augmenting in number, and they were pelted by them worse than the sentinel had been. One of the chief leaders of the mob was a mulatto of herculean size and strength, named Crispin Attucks, who was surrounded by a party of sailors, vociferously shouting, " Let us strike at the root ! Let us fall upon the nest ! The main guard ! the main guard !' The five soldiers sent to the rescue of the sentinel were assailed with every species of foul epithet — they were challenged to fire, and were taunted with the assertion that they dared not fire without the order of the civil magistrate. Meanwhile the soldiers loaded their guns and affixed their bayonets thereto ; but the increasing mob, not at all intimidated, pressed so closely upon them, that the foremost were against the points of the bayonets. The soldiers, well knowing the strictness and severity of military discipline and law, refrained from discharging their muskets without orders, stirred not a step from where they were posted, and merely used their weapons to keep off the mob. * This boy was an apprentice to a barber named Piemont, at whose shop some of the British officers were in the habit of shaving. One of them had come there some months previous to dress by the quarter, whose bill Piemont promised to allow to the boy who shaved him, if he behaved well The quarter had expired, but the money could not be got, although frequently asked for. The last application was made on that evening, and, as the boy alleged, the officer knocked him down in reply to the " dun." The sentry he pointed out as the man that abused him. — Thatcher, 94 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1770.. Attack upon the soldiers and death of three citizens. •Thoroughly emboldened by this apparent fear of the soldiers, Attucks and the sailors who were with him gave three loud cheers, pressed close upon the troops, and with clubs beat their bayonets and muskets, and cried out to the rest, " Come on ; don't be afraid of 'em, they dare not fire ; knock 'em over ; kill 'em !" Presently Attucks aimed a blow at Captain Preston, who accompanied the corporal and his guard, and who was using every endeavor to ap- pease the fury of the populace. The blow fell upon the captain's arm and knocked down the musket of one of his men, the bayonet of which was seized by the mulatto. At that moment there was a confused cry proceeding from some persons behind Captain Preston, " Why don't you fire ! why don't you fire ?" Montgomery, the pri- vate whose bayonet was seized by Attucks, and who, in the struggle, was thrown down, soon rose to his feet in possession of his gun, and immediately fired. Attucks fell dead. A few seconds after, another soldier fired, and then, at short intervals, to allow time for reloading, other five men fired one by one from left to right. Three persons were killed, five dangerously wounded, and a few more slightly.* Those who were slightly injured were persons passing by or quiet spectators of the scene. The populace instantly re- treated, leaving the three killed on the ground, but soon returned to carry off the bodies. " On the people's assembling again," says Captain Preston in his written defence, " to take away the dead bodies, the soldiers, suppos- ing them coming to attack them, were making ready to fire again, which I prevented, by striking up their firelocks with my hand. Immediately after, a townsman came and told me that four or five thousand people were assembled in the next street, and had sworn to take my life, and every man's with me ; on which I judged it unsafe to remain there longer, and therefore sent the party and sen- try to the main guard, where the street is narrow and short ; then telling them off into street firings, divided and planted them at each end of the street to secure their rear, expecting an attack, as there was a constant cry of the inhabitants, ' To arms ! to arms ! turn out with your guns !' and the town drums beating to arms. I ordered my drums to beat to arms, and being soon after joined by the several companies of the twenty-ninth regiment, I formed them as a guard into street firings. The fourteenth regiment also got under arms, but remained at their barracks. I immediately sent a sergeant with a party to Colonel. Dalrymple, the commanding officer, to acquaint * Crispin Attucks, Samuel Gray and James Caldwell, were killed on the spot; Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr received mortal wounds, of which the former died the next morning, and Carr on Wednesday of the next week. chap, in.] EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1774. 95 Arrest of .Captain Preston. Appointment of a Committee of Citizens. him with every particular. Several officers going to join the regi- ment were knocked down by the mob, one very much wounded, and his sword taken from him. The Lieutenant Governor* and Colonel Dalrymple soon after met at the head of the twenty-ninth regiment, and agreed that the regiment should retire to their barracks, and the people to their houses : but I kept the piquet to strengthen the guard. It was with great difficulty that the Lieutenant Governor prevailed on the people to be quiet and retire : at last they all went off except about a hundred." This tragic scene occurred at midnight — the ground was covered with snow ; the air was clear and frosty ; and the moon, then in its fust quarter, gave but a faint phosphorescent illumination, by which the features of the people were made barely visible to each other. It was indeed a dreadful night for Boston — aye, for the whole coun- try. Foreign soldiery sent to intimidate and oppress a people strug- gling to be free — a people still loyal, and asking freedom, not at the price of political independence, but the mere concession to them of the prerogatives guaranteed by the Great Charter of England — had spilled the blood of soil-born citizens, whose only offence was a re- sistance to tyranny. This was the first convulsive throe of that earthquake power of combined moral and physical energy that finally severed the chain of slavery, and dismembered the most powerful empire of the earth. The fifth of March, 1770, was the first dawning of the day of the new political era ; and significantly may we paro- dy the words of Cassius, " Remember March, the calends of March remember !" Captain Preston was arrested and committed to prison about three o'clock that morning, and in the course of the forenoon the eight sol- diers were also arrested and committed for trial. Early in the morning the " Sons of Liberty"! began to collect in vast bodies. The Lieutenant Governor summoned a Council, and the magistrates and chief citizens met in full assembly and chose a committee of fifteen who were appointed to wait upon the Lieutenant Governor and Colo- nel Dalrymple, to express to them the sentiments of the town, that it was impossible for the soldiers and inhabitants to live in safety together, and offer their fervent prayer for the immediate removal of the former. Mr. Royal Tyler, one of the committee, assured the Go- vernor that he must not think the demands for the removal of the troops were urged merely by a set of vagabonds and rioters ; that people of the best character, men of estate, men of religion, had * Hutchinson. f This appropriate name was given to the American patriots (who afterwards assumed it) by General Conway, on the floor of the British House of Commons. 7 96 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1770. Refusal of the Governor to withdraw the troops. Boldness of Samuel Adams. made up their hearts and minds, and had formed their plan for re- moving the troops out of town by force, if they would not go volun- tarily. " The people," said he, " will come in to us from all the neighboring towns ; we shall have ten thousand men at our backs ; and your troops will probably be destroyed by the people, be it called rebellion or what it may." The Governor would not agree to accede to the demands of the people, and his answer was so unsatisfactory, that in the afternoon, seven of the first committee (viz., John Hancock, Samuel Adams, "William Molineux, William Phillips, Joseph Warren, Joshua Hen- shaw, and Samuel Pemberton) were again deputed with the follow- ing message : " It is the unanimous opinion of this meeting, that the reply made to a vote of the inhabitants presented his Honor, this morning, is by no means satisfactory ; and that nothing else will satisfy them than a total and immediate removal of the troops." Samuel Adams acted as chairman of this delegation, and discharged its duties with an ability commensurate to the occasion. Colonel Dalrymple was by the side of Hutchinson, who, at the head of the council, received them. He at first denied that he had power to grant their request. Adams plainly, in few words, proved to him that he had the power by the charter. Hutchinson then consulted with Dalrymple in a whisper, the result of which was a repetition of an offer already made, to remove one of the regiments (the four- teenth) which had had no part in the massacre. At that critical moment, Adams showed the most admirable presence of mind. Seeming not to represent, but to personify, the universal feeling, he stretched forth his arm, as if it were upheld by the strength of thou- sands, and with unhesitating promptness and dignified firmness replied, " If the Lieutenant Governor, or Colonel Dalrymple, or both together, have authority to remove one regiment, they have au- thority to remove two ; and nothing short of a total evacuation of the town, by all the regular troops, will satisfy the public mind or preserve the peace of the province." The officers, civil and military, were in reality abashed before this plain committee of a democratic assembly. They knew the imminent danger that impended : the very air was filled with the breathings of suppressed indignation. They shrunk, fortunately shrunk, from all the arrogance which they had hitherto maintained. Their reliance on a standing army faltered before the undaunted, irresistible resolution of free, unarmed citi zens.* Hutchinson again consulted his council, and they gave him their * Snow's History of Boston. chap, m.] EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1774. 97 Funeral of Attacks, Maverick, and Curr. Trial of Captain Preston and his men. unqualified advice that the troops should be sent out of the town. It was agreed that the Lieutenant Governor, his Council, and the com- manding officer, should jointly bear the responsibility of the act ; and the latter then pledged his word of honor that the demand of the town should be complied with as soon as practicable ; and on the Monday following" the troops were all removed to Castle William.* The funeral obsequies of the persons who were shot on the night of the fifth were observed on the eighth, and brought together a larger concourse of people than had ever before convened, on one occasion, in America. Attucks, the mulatto, who had no relatives, and Cald- well, who also was friendless and a stranger, were borne from Faneuil Hall ; Maverick, who was only about seventeen years old, from the house of his mother, in Union street, and Gray from the house of his brother, in Royal Exchange lane. The three hearses met in King street, in front of the custom-house, where the massacre occurred, and from thence the procession marched in a column, with platoons six deep, through the main street to the Middle burial ground, and there the four bodies were deposited in one grave. During the procession all the bells of Boston and adjacent towns tolled a solerrrn knell — a knell whose reverberations were echoed from heart to heart to the remotest settlement, and awakened in each a strong pulsation of determined resistance to British oppression and unmitigated wrong. After some delay, Captain Preston and eight soldiers were put upon their trial before Judge Lynde, for murder. John Adams, one of the leading patriots, was applied to, to undertake their defence, as their counsellor and advocate in the court. This was indeed a try- ing situation for Mr. Adams, under all the circumstances. He had taken an active part in all proceedings aiming at the removal of the troops from the town ; he had united with the militia as a private, mounting guard and patrolling the streets for the security of the lives and property of the inhabitants ; and he w r as emphatically a man of the people — a people whose feelings had been so outraged by the very men now asking his counsel and defence. Firm in his pa- triotism, and conscious of his integrity of purpose, he exhibited a manly independence, and at the hazard of losing the favor and esteem of the people, he stepped forward as the advocate of the prisoners, having for his colleague Josiah Quincy, another leading patriot, * Castle William was on Castle Island, nearly three miles south-east from Boston, and at the entrance of the harbor. It was visited by President Adams, the elder, on the 7th of December, 1799, who then changed its r\\XL,t to Fort Independence. — Willson. 98 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Acquittal of all the soldiers but two. Lord North's repealing bill. whose eloquence had frequently called forth the loudest applause within Faneuil Hall, the " Cradle of American Liberty." After a fair and impartial trial, before a Boston Jury, Captain Preston was adjudged " Not Guilty ;" and their verdict also was, that six of the soldiers were not guilty ; and that two — Montgomery, who killed Attucks, and Killroy, who was proved to have shot another man — ■ were not guilty of murder, but of manslaughter only. It was admitted on all bands that only seven guns were fired, and there being eight soldiers, there must consequently be one innocent ; and the jury chose rather to let the guilty go free, than to condemn and punish one innocent man. This trial, the advocates engaged in it, and the verdict of the jury, under all the circumstances, exhibit to the world an instance of nobleness of feeling and righteousness of purpose unparalleled in history ; and form one of those luminous points of the American Revolution which ever appear like culminat- ing stars. It is a singular coincidence that on the fifth of March, the very day on which the tumult and massacre in Boston took place, Lord ]%)rth moved for leave to bring in a bill repealing the act imposing duties upon glass, paper, and painters' colors, but still retaining the duty upon tea, for the purpose, as was alleged by the mover, of " saving the national honor " in this extraordinary concession to the Colonies. This movement on the part of the minister was impelled by a petition presented by English merchants, representing that, in consequence of the duties and taxes, the discontent of the Americans, and their combinations to prevent the importation of British goods, their trade had gone to ruin. Lord North, fearing the discontents of America might infect with a similar feeling the commercial classes of England, felt it expedient to introduce his half-and-half resolu- tions. When they were presented, they met with little favor by either party. Mr. Grenville, the parent of the Stamp Act, argued, as he had done before, that he, at least, had acted systematically ; that in imposing the stamp duties, he had reason to think that they would be paid ; that the succeeding ministry, in repealing the act, had re-affirmed the right of Parliament to tax the Colonies ; that Mr. Charles Townshend, under the next ministry, had laid his duties upon unwise and anti-commercial principles ; and that these duties had turned out far more odious to the Colonies than the Stamp Act ; that now a partial repeal would not do ; that ministers must give up the whole, the duty upon tea, as well as upon the rest, or stand by the whole. A partial repeal, he said, would do no good, nor would the Americans now rest satisfied with anything short of tht renunci- chap, m.] EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1774. 99 Debate in the British Parliament. Effect of the Repeal in the Coloniesi ation by Parliament of the right to tax them in any way, either externally or internally. He declined giving any vote. Governor Pownall proposed, as an amendment, that the repeal should be extended to all articles, as the only way of quieting the Colonies. Colonel Barre, General Conway, and others, supported this amendment. Lord Barrington and others opposed alike the original motion and the amendment, declaring their conviction that even a total repeal would fail in satisfying the Americans, and that they would never again be obedient to English laws, until reduced to submission by English arms. PownalPs amendment was rejected by a vote of two hundred and four against one hundred and forty- two ; and leave was given to bring in Lord North's bill. A subse- quent motion, to repeal the duty on tea, was lost.* Lord North's repealing bill, after encountering much opposition in both Houses, and especially in the Lords, was finally carried, and received the royal sanction on the twelfth of April. In the House of Commons a call was subsequently made a Ma L for the correspondence with the American Colonies ; a and a few days afterwards,* Mr. Burke moved eight resolutions b Ma y 9 - relating to the Colonial troubles, and censuring the plan, or rather no plan, ministers were pursuing. A sustained call for the previous question cut off all debate, and the resolutions were negatived. Similar resolutions were presented in the House of Lords, by the Duke of Richmond, so altered as to prevent the previous question ; but they too were negatived by a majority of sixty against twenty- six, and the subject was dropped for the time. When the news arrived of the passage by the British Parliament of Lord North's repealing bill, the Colonists, and particularly the Bostonians, regarded it with very little favor, considering that the retention of the duty upon tea did away with all its merits, their opposition to this, and every other species of taxation, not being be- cause of the amount, but the principle involved in it ; and this prin- ciple was as tangible in the imposition of a duty upon a single arti- cle, as if imposed upon a hundred different articles of commerce. The New Yorkers in the meanwhile had, to a great extent, violated the non-importation agreements ; and in October, at a meeting of Boston merchants, it was resolved to follow the example of New York, and import everything but tea. The Philadclphians also made similar resolves, and that strong measure of coercion, which indeed, through the mercantile interest, had brought about the repeals under consideration, was nearly suspended, much to the. chagrin and dis- * Cavendish's Debates. 100 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1770. General disaffection of the Colonies. " Liberty Poles." appointment of the leading patriots, who justly appreciated the con- cessions of Great Britain, and regarded them as simply a temporary cessation of oppression, speedily to be renewed when circumstances should seem to render it prudent and expedient. Notwithstanding this defection of New York and the partial politi- cal backsliding of some of the other provinces — notwithstanding trade with Great Britain was again revived, and tranquillity seemed to rest upon the surface of society, there was still visible a deep, resistless under-current of patriotic decision and determination that ere long disturbed the placidity of the scene ; and in every direction the surges of social commotion beat heavily and incessantly against the strong barriers of civil and military power. New York was luke- warm, but New England and Virginia had lost none of their wonted zeal. In the latter Colony, the patriots were led by Patrick Henry, the wonderful self-taught orator — the Demosthenes of America; and by Thomas Jefferson, then a young lawyer, who was not only dis- satisfied with the aristocratic character of the Constitution of the province, and the dependence of the people upon Great Britain, but was firmly imbued with a sentiment of Freedom which could brook no restraint short of Colonial independence. To them, the " Boston Massacre" was a text of power, and the popular sympathy was strongly aroused for the oppressed and abused Bostonians. Hitherto, there existed but an imperfect bond of social union between these two Colonies, owing to the great difference in their habits and pursuits ; but the atrocities of the fifth of March destroyed these antagonisms, and awakened the bitterest expressions of condemnation of the con- duct of the British troops and the British .ministry. The House of Burgesses of Virginia adopted an address to the King having the mixed character of a petition and a remonstrance, in which they expressed strong dissatisfaction with Lord North's im- perfect repeal act, and at seeing the mother country still madly pcr~ sisting in the exercise of the assumed undoubted right to tax the Colonies, as exhibited in the retention of a duty upon tea. They criticised the conduct of their Governor, Lord Botetourt, and plainly told his Majesty that no reliance could be placed upon the good will or moderation of those who were sent to rule over them and execute the laws of the home government. In every part of the Colonies men of the first standing and influence were actively engaged in correspondence, by which they kept up a continual interchange of intelligence, and promoted a constant and strong affiliation in senti- ment. In various parts of the country, the " May-poles " of former times were christened " Liberty-poles ;" travelling agents widely circulated exciting documents among the people, and accompanied chap, m.] EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1774. 101 Events on the Southern frontier. Organization of tho •• Regulators." their distribution with harangues — the Houses of Assembly that were opened, were found no less difficult to manage than they had been the preceding year, and were speedily closed by their respective Go- vernors, by prorogation — and the year 1770 drew near its close, wit- nessing a general feeling of discontent and indignation among the Colonies against the mother country. During the years 1771 and 1772, no extensive outbursts of public feeling were witnessed at the north ; but on the southern frontier of the English domain, the spirit of liberty was at work, and a bold- ness of opposition to government power, equal to the New England demonstrations, was there manifested. The tyrannical character and practices of Tryon, the Governor of North Carolina, had done much to inflame the zeal of the people in the cause of freedom ; and in proportion to their detestation of the Governor, was the boldness of the people in their measures of resistance. Tryon had pursued a course well calculated to excite the jealous alarm of a people vigi- lant, and distrustful. He had made the courts of law instruments of injustice and oppression, and the officers, both military and judicial, by whom he was surrounded and counselled, were men, in most cases, of like character with himself. So insupportable became his rule, that a large number of citizens formed a league, and a ApriI> signed articles of covenant, sealed with an oath or affirmation, I7W * whereby they bound themselves perpetually to use all just means in the regulations of public grievances and abuses of power ; to pay no more taxes until satisfied that the levying was in accordance with law and equity ; to pay no more fees to public officers than the law allowed ; to attend meetings of conference as often as necessary and convenient, for the amendment of grievous laws ; to choose suitable men for burgesses and vestrymen ; to petition the House of Assem- bly, Governor, Council, King, and Parliament, for redress of griev- ances ; to interchange opinions and intelligence, and enjoy the privi- leges guaranteed to them by the Constitution ; to contribute money for defraying the expenses of the league ; and in all cases, to sub- mit to the judgment of the majority of the body. This association of men was termed " The Regulation," or " the Regulators," and in a short time they were spread all over the western counties of the Carolinas, and were potential in keeping alive and augmenting the spirit of resistance to the oppressions of the home government through her executive agents. While the same innate love of liberty, and the same spirit of independence which actuated the intelligent patri- ots of the north, were the motive impulses of these southern free- men, yet it cannot be denied that acts were committed, under their passive sanction, highly censurable. At the same time there were 102 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1771. Tryon's Expedition against the Regulators. Execution of young Few. frequent cases of most foul injustice that might palliate, where they could not justify, the violence committed, and the prevailing ignorance of the masses, caused a powerful torrent of misrule, where their passions were aroused. " The most sober and sedate in the com- munity were united in resisting the tyranny of unjust and exorbitant, taxes ; and had been aroused to a degree of violence and opposition, difficult to manage and hard to quell. And the more restless, and turbulent, and unprincipled parts of society, equally aggrieved and more ungovernable, cast themselves in as a part of the resisting mass of the population, with little to gain but greater license for their unprincipled passions, and little to lose, could they escape confine- ment and personal punishment."* They so resisted the course of law, that the sheriffs were unable to collect a tax or levy an execu- tion, and in some counties the courts were suspended for a year. Matters had assumed such a serious aspect — so much like positive rebellion, that in the Spring of 1771, Governor Try on determined to proceed against the Regulators with an armed force. They had concentrated on the banks of the Alamance river, where, within six miles of them, the Governor's troops encamped on the fourteenth of May. After various attempts at accommodation, the Governor demanded from the Regulators unconditional submission, and gave an hour for consideration. Both parties advanced to within three hundred yards of each other. The Regulators did not expect nor intend to fight, believing that the Governor, seeing their numbers, would grant their demands. Tryon ordered them to disperse within an hour. In the meanwhile, a man by the name of Thompson, who went into the Governor's camp to negotiate, was detained a prisoner, and on his attempting to leave, Tryon seized a gun and shot him dead. This greatly exasperated the Regulators, and they fired on a flag of truce sent out by the Governor. The parties drew nearer and nearer to each other, until at length the Governor gave the word " Fire !" His men hesitated, and the Regulators dared them to fire ! " Fire !" cried the Governor, rising in his stirrups, " fire on them or on me ;" and immediately the cannon and the small arms were discharged. Nine of the Regulators, and twenty-seven of the militia were killed, and a great number on both sides wounded. Several of the Regu- lators were taken prisoners, and were most cruelly treated by the Governor. On the evening of the battle he hung an exemplary young man, named James Few,t without even the form of a trial ; * Sketches of North Carolina, p. 54 t This young man had been severely oppressed by the exactions of Colonel Fan- ning, the most odious officer in the Colony. To fill the measure of "his iniquity and of wrong to young Few, he had violated the person of his intended bride ! This drove Few to madness and rebellion. chap, in.] EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1771. 10.3 Execution of llewei and others. Duming of the Gfl and not content with this murderous act, he barbarously proceeded to the destruction of the little property which he had accumulated for his parents in their helplessness of old age ! A captain Messer was condemned to be hung the next day. His wife, hearing of his cap- tivity and intended fate, came with her oldest child, a lad about ten years of age to intercede for her husband. Her tears had no effect upon the brutal Tryon. While the preparations were making for the execution she lay upon the ground weeping, her face covered with her hands, and her weeping boy by her side. When the fatal moment, as he supposed, had arrived, the boy, stepping up to Tryon, said, "Sir, hang me, and let my father live !" "Who told you to say that?" said the Governor. " Nobody," replied the lad. " And win- do you ask that ?" said the Governor. " Because," replied the boy, " If you hang my father, my mother will die, and the children will perish !" " Well," said the Governor, really moved by the words of the lad, " your father shall not be hung to-day."* But the respite for poor Messer was brief. He, among others, was exhibited in chains to the people of the villages through which the Governor passed on his way to Hillsborough, and on the nineteenth of June, Messer, with five others, was executed near that town. For a time the people were awed by these atrocities ; but they served to plant still deeper in the hearts of Americans the seeds of hatred of the English ; and when at length the signal gun of Free- dom on the field of Lexington, proclaimed the severance of the bond of allegiance to the British crown, the people of the extreme south, eagerly and instantly swelled its reverberations with a simultaneous shout to arms ! and a declaration of political independence.! One of the most startling events of this period, was the burning of a British armed schooner, lying near Providence, Rhode Island. She was called the Gaspee, and was stationed there for the purpose of sustaining and enforcing the revenue laws. She had become odious to the people of Providence by her outrages upon vessels entering the harbor. She was accustomed to require the Providence vessels to take down their colors when they came into port, and in case of refusal, she would chase them and fire upon them. One day a packet came in and refused to make the customary obeisance to this marine Gesler. The Gaspee, as usual, gave chase, and the packet so manoeuvred that she caused the schooner to run aground. A plan was immediately concerted in Providence to destroy her. A volunteer company under Captain Whipple, and several boats with armed men proceeded to the schooner, and about two o'clock in the * Sketches of North Carolina, p. 62. f See account of the Mecklenberg Convention, p. 104 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1773, Ministerial proposition to make Governors, &c, independent of the Colonies. morning succeeded in boarding her. They seized all on board, and after sending the lieutenant commanding and crew, and most of the valuable effects ashore, they set fire to the schooner, and she was burnt with all her stores. A reward of five hundred pounds sterling was offered, and other means employed to discover the perpetrators of the act, but all in vain. A commission was also appointed to try the parties when discovered, but their services were never needed. Soon after this, news arrrived of a proposition submitted to Parlia- ment by Lord North, to make the Governors and judges of the Colo- nies quite independent of those they governed, by paying their sala- ries directly from the national treasury, instead of making them dependent therefor upon the Colonial Assemblies. This proposition was viewed with much disfavor by the Colonies, and, Massachusetts taking the lead, the various Assemblies entered their solemn protests against the proposed measure, justly arguing that these servants, dependent solely upon the crown, would be the pliant instruments of the home government, ready at all times to do the bidding of the King and his Council. The watchful jealousy of the Americans was aroused by this new scheme — their vigilance, which they had already learned to appreciate as the price of liberty, was awakened, and the system of Committees of Correspondence, which proved so powerful an agent in the work of the Revolution, was called into being. In this movement, Virginia made the first decided step. On the twelfth of March, 1773, Mr. Dabney Carr,* a young and talented member of the Virginia Assembly, proposed, in a series of resolu- tions, that a Committee of Correspondence should be appointed, and recommended other Colonies to appoint like committees, whose special duty it should be to keep each other continually informed of every movement having a bearing upon the public weal or woe.f * Mr. Carr was a young man of splendid talents, and a brother-in-law of Mr. Jefferson The plan of corresponding committees as introduced into the House of Burgesses was fixed on in a caucus at the Raleigh tavern ; consisting of Messrs. Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Dabney Carr, Thomas Jefferson, and two or three others. Mr. Jefferson was first designated to make the resolutions, but declined in favor of Mr. Carr. It is highly probable that the pro- position was set on foot by the fertile mind of Mr. Jefferson." — Arnold's Life of Patrick Henry (unpublished), p. 83. f The first committee consisted of Peyton Randolph, Robert C. Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dabney Carr, Archibald Carey, and Thomas Jefferson. So nearly simultaneous was this movement in Virginia, with a similar one in Boston, the result there of the suggestions of Samuel Adams and James Warren, that both States contend for the honor. But Virginia seems to have been the first to make a decided public stand in the matter. Some attribute the invention of this system of correspondence to Dr. Franklin. chap, in.] EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1774. 105 Committees of Correspondence. Letters of Governor Hutchinson. The effect of the active operations of these Committees of Cor- respondence, was very soon felt by a more general unanimity of action and sentiment throughout the whole Anglo- American domain. At first, these Committees were confined to the larger cities, but very speedily, every village and hamlet had its auxiliary committee, and the high moral tone evinced by the chiefs, ran through all the gradations, from the polished committees appointed by Colonial Assemblies, to the rustic, yet not the less patriotic, ones of the inte- rior towns, and through these, made its impress upon the whole people. Thus the patriot hearts of America at this crisis beat as with one pulsation, and the public mind was fully prepared to act with promptness and decision when circumstances should call for action. In the midst of this effervescence, a circumstance occurred which intensely augmented the flame of rebellion burning in the people's hearts, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the more judicious part of the community could restrain them from striking at once a decisive blow for freedom. The centre of this new commo- tion was Boston, that hot-bed of patriotism. The bad conduct of Hutchinson, the successor of Governor Bernard, had led. the Assem- bly of Massachusetts to pass various resolutions, all having the color of a determination to act independent of the British crown. They had denied the right of Parliament to legislate for the Colonies in any matters whatsoever ; they had denounced the famous Declara- tory Act of 1766 as an arbitrary and unjust assumption of legislative power without their consent ; they had charged the British ministry with designing to complete a system of slavery begun in the House of Commons, and executed by the Colonial Governors ; and they had accused Hutchinson of connivance with ministers in all the various acts of oppression in which they were concerned. Just at this moment communications from Doctor Franklin, then in England, conveyed to the Colonies alarming intelligence of the real disposition of the King, his ministers, and the Parliament, and enclosing letters addressed by Hutchinson and his deputy, Oliver, to the home gov- ernment, in which they vilified the leading patriots, advised the adoption of coercive measures, and declared that " there must be an abridgment of what are called English liberties." These letters were sent by Franklin to Mr. Cushing, the Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly, and at once the whole town was in a violent ferment, which soon spread through the province and to other Colonies. A committee was appointed to wait upon the Governor and demand his acknowledgment of his signature, which he readily did, but declared the letters to be quite private and confidential. 106 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1773. Wedderburn' s attack on Franklin. Frank lin deprived of the office of Postmaster Gener al. The Assembly then adopted a petition to the home government for the immediate removal of Hutchinson and Oliver. They charged them with betraying their trust and slandering the people under their government by false and malicious representations, and declared them enemies to the Colonies, and as such, they could not be tolerated. This petition was sent to Dr. Franklin, charged with instructions to present it in person, if possible. This was granted, and Franklin a Jan. 29, appeared before the Privy Council* with Mr. Dunning, as 1773 - counsel in the case. a Wedderburn, the Solicitor General, was in attendance, and attacked the Doctor with great severity ; accusing him of violating the nicest points of honor in clandestinely procuring private letters ; and charged him with duplicity and wily intrigue, equalled only " by the bloody African." These taunts Franklin received in silence, and without any apparent emotion, feeling conscious of the purity of his purpose and the righteous- ness of his acts.f But ministers could not forgive him for thus exposing their probable designs and the real character of Hutchin- son, their instrument ; and three days after his appearance before the Privy Council, he was dismissed from the lucrative and responsible office of Postmaster General for the Colonies, which he had held for some time. Copies of the petition and remonstrance, and also of Hutchinson's letters, were printed,, and scattered broadcast over the whole country, everywhere arousing the lukewarm to action, and awakening the half-slumbering energies of those who reposed in the false security of a hope of reconciliation. About this time a new thought upon financial matters made its advent in the brain of Lord North. On account of the pertinacity with which the Colonies adhered to the resolutions not to use lea, that article had greatly accumulated in the warehouses in England, of the East India Company,! occasioning them much loss. Desirous of aiding the Company, then become a strong arm of the empire through its conquests in India, and little foreseeing the mischief it vould lead to, the minister offered a resolution to permit them to * The Privy Council consisted of the Cabinet and thirty-five Peers. \ It is said that on returning to his lodgings that night, he took off the suit of clothes he had worn, and declared he would never wear it again until he should sign the degradation of England and the independence of America. And on the follow- ing morning he told a friend that he had never been so sensible of a good conscience before. Franklin was too honorable to divulge the name of the person from whom he received the letters of Hutchinson, and the whole subject remained in mystery* But within the last fifteen years it has been shown that they were put into Frank- lin's hands by a Dr. Williamson, without suggestion, who procured them by strata- gem from the office of the Secretary, Mr. Whateley. % They had upwards of seventeen millions of pounds in store. chap, in.] EVENTS FROM 17*70 TO 1774. 107 Lord North's Tea Bill. Arrival of the ships laden with tea. export tea to America without paying export duty. Still compara- tively blind to the real cause of quarrel between Great Britain and her American Colonics — still unable to appreciate the distinction between principle and expediency, Lord North supposed that the Colonists, thus receiving tea cheaper than the people of old England were procuring it, would be gently and almost imperceptibly manoeuvred out of the principle for which they so strongly con- tended. Strange to say, this resolution — this new measure in the unfortunate catalogue of evil ones that had driven the Americans to the confines of an open rebellion, was passed with scarcely a dis- senting voice in Parliament. And it is a singular coincidence (pa- rallel to the simultaneous action of Lord North on repeal, and the troops and civilians in the Boston Massacre, in March, 1770), that on the very day a that the minister offered his resolution re- „ March specting the exportation of tea, Carr introduced his resolu- tions in the Virginia Assembly, for organizing Committees of Cor- respondence. And while the letters of Hutchinson were kindling anew in many hearts the flame of patriotic indignation, and the people were prepared for almost any measure in support of their oft-asserted principle on the subject of taxation, many large ships heavily laden with tea, were out upon the broad Atlantic on their way to America. Intelligence of the passage of Lord North's resolutions reached the Colonies before any cargoes of tea had arrived ; and public meet- ings had been held, and the consignees threatened with violence if they should receive the tea. In Boston, the consignees, who were particular friends of Governor Hutchinson, refused to comply with the demands of the people, and applied to the Governor for protec- tion, which was promised. At length two ships* arrived at Boston, heavily laden with Nov ^ the obnoxious article.* A public meeting was immediately 1773 - called of the inhabitants of Boston and the surrounding country, and they passed resolutions similar to those which had been adopted in Philadelphia and Charleston, that the tea which came charged with a duty to be paid in America, should not be landed, but be sent back in the same bottoms. The houses of the consignees, who evinced a determination to have the tea landed, were surrounded by a mob, and the inmates were compelled to fly to Castle William for refuge. On the other hand, the Governor and his Council absolutely refused to permit the ships to depart without landing the tea, and the captains * Ship Eleanor, Captain James Bruce ; and the ship Beaver, Captain Hezekiah Coffin. iOS THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1773. Public meetings in Boston. Indications of a tumult. consequently were in a sad predicament. The people appointed a guard to patrol day and night, and prevent any of the tea being landed. The consignees sent letters from Castle William to the people, offering to store the tea till they could receive further instructions. This offer was rejected with disdain. Crowded meetings were held in Faneuil Hall and the Old South Meeting House, and the Commit- tees of Correspondence were faithfully sending information of all tint passed to the other Colonies. On the fourteenth of December, at a large meeting held in the Meeting-house, orders were sent to the captains of the vessels to return to England without delay. The Collector of the Port replied to this order that he would not give any clearance until the cargoes were discharged. The captains also stated that they had the positive orders of the Governor to remain,' and that they could not pass out of the harbor except under the guns of the fort ; and that Admiral Montague had sent two ships of war to guard the harbor entrance. On the sixteenth another crowded meeting was held in the " Old South," where one party recommended moderate measures ; but generally a rather violent spirit was manifested. Mr. Josiah Quincy, jun., spoke out boldly, and warned them that a spirit of firm patriotic decision was now necessary — that a crisis had arrived when the question of freedom or slavery for the Colonies must be settled, and intimated that the settlement must be made by a resort to arms. " The exertions of this day," said he, " will call forth events which will make a very different spirit necessary for our salvation. Who- ever supposes that shouts and hosannas will terminate the trials of the day, entertains a childish fancy. We are approaching measures which must bring on the most trying and terrible struggle this coun- try ever saw." These prophetic words were soon fulfilled. About three o'clock in the afternoon the question was put to the meeting whether they would abide by their former resolutions in respect to the tea ; and it was carried in the affirmative without one dissenting voice. They then sent a deputation to the Governor to desire him to give the ships a permit to depart. This the Governor refused, and the deputation reported to the meeting accordingly. A warm discussion ensued, in the midst of which some persons outside clad in the costume of Mohawk Indians, gave a loud war-whoop, which was immediately responded to by one of their number in the front gallery within. It was evident that some violent tumult was brew- ing, and some of the most judicious persons present moved an adjourn- ment, which was carried. It was now quite dark (six o'clock^ and as the people left the church, the disguised men started towards chap, m.] EVENTS FROM 1770 TO 1774. Ill Destruction of tea in Boston Harbor. Not permitted to be sold elsewhere. Griffin's wharf, where the two ships before mentioned, and two or three others that had arrived, were lying, shouting, " To Griffin's wharf ! Boston Harbor a tea-pot to-night !" Many of the people followed, and when the disguised party reached the wharf, they were joined by a large number of sailors and colored men, who still remembered with bitter hate, the fate of Attucks. They immedi- ately repaired on board of one of the ships, broke open the hatches, hoisted the chests of tea out, broke them in pieces and discharged their contents into the sea. The other vessels were then boarded in the same manner, and so vigorously did these men ply themselves that within the space of three hours, three hundred and forty-two chests of tea were broken up and their contents thrown into the dock. There were only fifteen or twenty men disguised as Indians, and only about one hundred and forty in all, engaged in the work of destruction. Many of them had their faces blackened for fear of discovery, it being a moonlight night ; yet a large proportion boldly engaged in the labor regardless of detection. When the work of destruction was over, they all marched in quiet procession through the town ; no disorder was attempted, and it was observed, the still- est night ensued that Boston had enjoyed for many months. This act struck the ministerial party with rage and astonishment ; while, as it seemed to be an attack upon private property, many who wished well to the public cause could not fully justify the mea- sure. Yet perhaps the laws of self-preservation might justify the deed, as the exigencies of the times required extraordinary exertions, and every other method had been tried in vain, to avoid this disagree- able alternative. Besides, it was alleged (and doubtless it was true) the people were ready to make ample compensation for all damages sustained, whenever the unconstitutional duty should be taken off, and other grievances radically redressed. But there appeared little prospect that any conciliatory advances would soon be made. The officers of government discovered themselves more vindictive than ever ; animosities daily increased, and the spirits of the people were irritated to a degree of alienation, even from their tenderest connex- ions, where they happened to differ in political opinion.* In New York and Philadelphia no person could be found that would venture to receive the tea, and the Company's ships which arrived in these ports were obliged to return to England with their cargoes. In Charleston permission was given to land it to be stored, but not for sale. It was there placed in a damp cellar, where it soon perished. * Mrs. Warren's History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, vol. i., p. 108. 112 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1773. Reflections on the Tea Riot. When the first excitement produced by these bold and revolu- tionary measures had abated, all parties concerned were desirous of placing the blame on other shoulders than their own. The Bostoni- ans attributed the extremes to which the people had gone in destroy- ing the tea, to the wilful obstinacy of the Governor, and his discovered league with the home government to oppress the Colonies. There is doubtless much truth in this allegation ; and, as a general rule, had the Colonial Governors acted with proper courtesy and conciliation of manner towards those they came to govern, there would have been far less cause for discontent. On the other hand, the Governor with truth argued, that if he had complied with every extreme demand of the people, it would have been a virtual abdica- tion of power and authority, and a real surrender of the government into the hands of the populace ; thus violating his oath to the crown, and betraying the trust reposed in him by his sovereign. This, however, was a fair argument based upon false premises, assuming that all power was of right vested in the King and Parliament, when in fact it reposed (or ought to have reposed) upon a broader basis, — the people. This truth was then imperfectly developed and seldom taught ; and the Colonial Governors, ignorant of the value of such truths, and their practical application, and taught to revere monarchy in all its manifestations from simple pomp to unmitigated tyranny, may, on the grounds of that ignorance and that tuition, be excused for many acts which, to our republican apprehension, appear quite out- rageous and unpardonable. There was much in the circumstances connected with the Boston tea commotion to admire — much to con- demn, when viewed with the superficial vision of human understand- ing. Yet who cannot see in this, as in all other movements and counter movements of Freedom and Despotism during the struggle of the Americans in the cause of Liberty, the workings of the mys- terious finger of Providence in the development of political and social truths which are now acting as a mighty lever, whose fulcrum is Intellect, in elevating the Race towards its primal sphere ? Dull indeed must be the perception that does not recognise in all these events a wonder-working Providence elaborating from partial evil, universal good ; and cold indeed must be the heart that does not, when this perception pours in its light, glow with fervid thanks- givings and praises to the Omnipotent Ruler of human destiny, who " doeth all things well." EVENTS OF 1774. John Hancock— Edmund Burke — General Conway. CHAPTER IV. ARLIAMENT opened on the thirteenth of January, at which time intelligence of the proceedings in Boston during the month previous, had not reached England ; and the King alluded very briefly to the Ame- rican Colonies, in his speech from the throne. On the seventh of March, some weeks after the news of the tea riot had reached the ears of government, the King sent a message to both Houses detailing all the late proceedings had in the New England and other Colonies, and especially the tea commotion in Boston. Accom- 114 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. The King's message to Parliament. Motion for an address to the King. panying his message were a variety of papers, consisting of letters from Governor Hutchinson, Admiral Montague, and the consignees of the tea ; the despatches of several Colonial Governors ; some of the most inflammable American manifestoes; pamphlets ; handbills, &c. After expressing his confidence in the wisdom and patriotism of Parliament, he called upon the legislature to devise means for putting a stop at once to these tumultuous proceedings in America ; for the more rigid execution of the laws, and the maintenanceiof a "just dependence of the Colonies upon the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain." In the Commons, on the receipt of the message, a motion was made for an address to the throne, " to return thanks for the message and the gracious communication of the American papers, with an assurance that they would not fail to exert every means in their power, of effectually providing for objects so important to the general welfare as maintaining a due execution of the laws, and securing the just dependence of the Colonies upon the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain." This motion, in connexion with the presentation of the message and the American papers, produced a violent excitement in the House of Commons, and made it " as hot as Faneuil Hall or the Old South Meeting House at Boston." The debate was a stormy one ; ministers and their supporters charging open rebellion upon the Colonies ; and the opposition justly condemning the ill- digested addresses that had been put forth by government, and the pledges that had been given which were never more thought of. To this retrospect, ministers opposed the plea of uselessness in sum- moning the past from oblivion, and demanded immediate action upon present information from America. They asked whether America was or was not to be any longer considered dependent on Great Britain ? how far ? in what degree ? in what manner ? They as- serted that it might be a question whether the Colonies should not be given up ; and they asked for a decision of the important question in order to allow government to take decisive measures ; for if the question should be decided in the negative, then ministers would immediately report a plan for reducing the refractory Colonies to submission to the authority of the King and Parliament. The strong national resentment felt towards the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in consequence of the late and former acts of open hostility to the home government, not only strengthened Lord North's position at the head of the cabinet, but it materially weakened the opposition in the lower House of Parliament ; and when the question on the resolution authorizing an address, and also one against acting upon retrospect matters, was taken, there was an immense majority in the crap. iv.J EVENTS OF 1774. 115 The Boston Port Bill. Ministerial reasons tor the Bill. affirmative, and the address was carried without a division. Mr. Bollan, agent for the Council of Massachusetts Bay, immediately pre- sented a petition, asking permission to lay before the House the Acta Regia of Queen Elizabeth and her successors for the security of the Colonists and the perpetual enjoyment of their liberties. The petition was received by the Commons, and it was at once ordered to lie upon the table, without any further notice being taken of it. With a firm determination to try more rigorous measures to en- force obedience from the Colonies, Lord North moved a for „ . „ 7 a March 14. leave to bring in a bill to remove the customs, courts of justice, and all government officers, from Boston to Salem. It is generally agreed that this measure was not in consonance with the mild disposition or the better judgment of Lord North ; but that he was probably goaded on by others, who reproached him for his con- cessions to the Colonies. Strange to say, this measure, fraught with so much evil (if pouring oil upon the flame of Colonial discontent and irritation, may be called an evil), like its predecessor, the Stamp Act, nearly ten years before, encountered very little opposition, and elicited scarcely any debate in the House of Commons. Considering the offence of Boston, it was thought to be very lenient. During its progress through the lower House, another petition was presented from Mr. Bollan, the agent of the Council of Massachusetts Bay, desiring to be heard against it ; but the House refused to grant the prayer of the petitioner. On the third reading, another petition was presented by the Lord Mayor of London, in the name of several natives and inhabitants of North America, who strongly insisted that it was unreasonable to deprive Boston of its trade, because some of the people had committed unlawful acts ; that the bill was harsh and unjust, and that its tendency was to alienate the affections of America from the mother country. Lord North justified the measure by asserting that Boston had ever been the centre of tumult whence all disorders in the Colonies emanated ; that it was the ringleader in every riot, and set always the example, which others only followed. To inflict a signal penalty upon that city, he thought would strike at the root of the evil ; and in justification, he quoted several parallel instances ; among others, the execution of Captain Porteus by an Edinburgh mob, in which a whole city was punished for an offence committed by a large portion of its inhabitants. It was proposed, therefore, that the port of Boston should be closed, and no goods allowed to be either shipped or landed. This restrictive measure was to remain in force till the citizens should express a due sense of their error, and make full compensation to the East India Company for the loss of their tea ; when the Crown, if it should see sufficient 116 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [Wi. Debates in Parliament. • reason, might restore its lost privileges.* Even Colonel Barre the standing advocate of America, said he approved of this measure for its moderation. Some of the supporters of the ministry used violent language towards the Americans. Mr. Hubert said it was in vain to expect any degree of reasoning from them ; they always chose tar- ring and feathering. Mr. Montague, son of Lord Sandwich, at- tributed their boldness to the tame counsels, the weak and unmanly conduct of ministers, who allowed themselves to be swayed by a faction seeking popularity by clamor. Mr. Van drew still greater attention, by declaring that the port ought to be knocked about their ears and destroyed, adding the quotation, " delenda est Carthago." Mr. Fuller proposed merely the imposition of a fine ; and Mr. Burke, who at this time commenced his series of splendid orations in favor of transatlantic liberty, denounced the scheme as essentially unjust, by confounding the innocent and guilty.f " It is wished, then," said he, "to condemn the accused without a hearing, to punish indiscriminately the innocent with the guilty ! You will thus irrevocably alienate the hearts of the Colonies from the mother coun- try. Before the adoption of so violent a measure, the principal merchants of the kingdom should at least be consulted. The bill is unjust, since it bears only upon the city of Boston, whilst it is no- torious that all America is in flames ; that the cities of Philadelphia, of New York, and all the maritime towns of the continent, have exhibited the same disobedience. You are contending for a matter which the Bostonians will not give up quietly. They cannot, by such means, be made to bow to the authority of ministers ; on the contrary, you will find their obstinacy confirmed, and their fury exasperated. The acts of resistance in their city have not been confined to the populace alone ; but men of the first rank and opu- lent fortune in the place have openly countenanced them. One city in proscription, and the rest in rebellion, can never be a reme- dial measure for general disturbances. Have you considered whether you have troops and ships sufficient to reduce the people of the whole American continent to your devotion ? It was the duty of your Governor, and not of men without arms, to suppress the tumults. If this officer has not demanded the proper assistance from the military commanders, why punish the innocent for the fault and the negligence of the officers of the crown ? The resistance is general in all parts of America ; you must therefore let it govern itself by its own internal policy, or make it subservient to all your laws, by an exertion of all the forces of the kingdom. These par- * Murray (Ed. Cab. Lib.), vol. i., p. 358. f History, Debates, &c, yoI. vii., p. 69-103. i' chap, iv.] EVENTS OF 1774. 117 Act to alter the Constitution of Massachusetts. tial counsels are well suited to irritate, not to subjugate."* Dodswell, Johnstone, Pownall, Fox,t and others, followed briefly ; but argu- ment seemed to have no effect, and the bill was agreed to without a division, and almost without debate, properly speaking. In the House of Lords, there was considerable exciting conversation on the subject, but no debate of consequence ; and on the twenty-eighth of March it was passed by an almost unanimous vote. On the thiny- first it received the royal assent, and the trade of Boston was anni- hilated pro tempore. Had ministers stopped here, reconciliation might have been effect- ed ; but while the Boston Port Bill was before the Lords, Lord North, in a committee of the whole lower House, brought in a bill " For the better regulating the government in the province r hi- i *r? » rrn ■ i n -i i r ! a March 28. of Massachusetts Bay. a Ihis bill provided for an alter- ation in the constitution of that province, as it stood upon the charter of William III., to do away with the popular elections which decided everything in that Colony ; to take the executive power out of the hands of the growing democratic party ; and to vest the nominations of the members of the Council, of the judges, and of magistrates of all kinds, including the sheriffs, in the Crown, and in some cases, in the King's Governor. Upon this bill, so manifestly hostile to American freedom, there was a warm debate. Barre and Burke opposed it with all their strength of mind and elegance of speech ; and very pertinently asked, " What can the Americans believe but that England wishes to despoil them of all liberty, of all franchises ; and, by the destruction of their charters, to reduce them to a state of the most abject slave- ry ? . . . .As the Americans are no less ardently attached to liberty than the English themselves, can it ever be hoped they will submit to such exorbitant usurpation ? to such portentous resolutions ?" Governor Pownall warned ministers that their measures would be resisted, not, perhaps, by force of arms, but the opposition of the whole people. He alluded to the powerful engine of Freedom then in motion, the Committees of Correspondence ; and predicted the commotion that the dismissal of Doctor Franklin from the Post Office would create. He assured them that when the news of these harsh measures should reach them, the corresponding commit- tees would at once be in active operation, and through them the whole people would communicate with each other. He predicted a * Otis's Botta, vol. i., p. lib. f This was Charles Fox's first appearance in Parliamentary life, and it was a singular beginning. He objected to the power vested in the British Crown to re-open the port of Boston ! His suggestion was not supported by either party. 118 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Act providing for sending criminals to England for trial. Congress and a probable resort to arms. It was opposed also by Charles Fox ; but, like the Port Bill, it was carried by an overwhelm- ing majority, — two hundred and thirty-nine against sixty-four. In the upper House it was vehemently denounced by several Lords, and among them Lord Shelburne ; but there, too, it was carried by ninety-two against twenty. Eleven Peers signed a protest, in seven long articles. On the 15th of April, Lord North crowned his acts of folly and oppression, by asking leave for the introduction of a bill, totally subversive of the noblest features in the charter of the Massachu- setts Colony. It was entitled, " A bill for the impartial administra- tion of justice in the cases of persons questioned for any acts done by them in the execution of the laws, or for the suppression of riots and tumults in the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England." It provided that, in case any person should be indicted in that pro- vince for murder, or any other capital offence, or any indictment for riot, resistance of the magistrate, or impeding the laws of revenue in the smallest degree, he might, at the option of the Governor, or, in his absence, of the Lieutenant Governor, be taken to another Colony, or transported to Great Britain, for trial, a thousand leagues from his friends, and amidst his enemies. Lord North supported his resolution with his usual ability. • " We must show the Americans," said he, " that we will no longer sit quietly under their insults ; and also that, even when roused, our measures are not cruel and vindictive, but necessary and efficacious. This is the last act I have to propose in order to^ perfect the plan ; the rest will depend on the vigilance of his Majesty's servants em- ployed there." The motion for leave to introduce the bill was violently opposed by Barre and others. He denounced the " plan " as big with misery, and pregnant with danger to the British empire. " This," said he, " is indeed the most extraordinary resolution that was ever heard in the Parliament of England. It offers new en- couragement to military insolence, already so insupportable By this law, the Americans are deprived of a right which belongs to every human creature, — that of demanding justice before a tribunal composed of impartial judges. Even Captain Preston, who, in their own city of Boston, had shed the blood of citizens, found among them a fair trial, and equitable judges." The motion for leave to bring in the bill was passed without a division, and on the twenty-first it was introduced, and gave rise to another stormy debate. Alderman Sawbridge asserted that the measure proposed was ridiculous and cruel ; that witnesses against the crown could never be brought over to England ; that the act was meant to enslave the Americans ; and chap, iv.] EVENTS OF 1774. iI9 Mr. Rose Fuller's desertion of the .Ministry. expressed the ardent hope that the Americans would not admit of the execution of any of these destructive bills, but nobly refuse them all. He said, " If they do not, they are the most abject slaves upon earth, and nothing the minister can do is base enough for them." Pownall loudly predicted a Congress, and perhaps a war. The House was quite thin when the vote was taken ; and it was carried, one hundred and twenty-seven to forty-four. In the Lords it was carried, forty- nine to twelve. Eight Peers entered a strong protest against it. Mr. Rose Fuller, who generally supported ministers, sincerely desiring reconciliation, and wishing to break the severity of the mea- sures about to be put into execution against the Colonies, moved for the repeal of the tea duty,? the immediate source of all the evil. His motion was sustained by the eloquence of Burke, but it was negatived by one hundred and eighty-two to forty- nine. On the pronunciation of the decision, Mr. Fuller made use of these remarkable words : " I will now take my leave of the whole plan ; you will commence your ruin from this day ! I am sorry to say, that not only the House has fallen into this error, but the people approve of the measure. The people, I am sorry to say, are misled. But a short time will prove the evil tendency of this bill. If ever there was a nation rushing headlong to "its ruin, it is this." It being near the close of the session, many members had retired into the country ; and when the bill was read the third time, and the vote was taken, the number was very small, although the majority was large — one hundred and twenty-seven ayes to twenty-four nays. In the Lords it passed by a majority of forty-three to twelve, and a protest was signed by only eight Peers. Thus, in rapid succession, did the British ministry introduce into Parliament strong and oppressive measures, avowedly designed as a plan to coerce the American Colonies into tame submission to the power that was daily binding heavy chains upon them. How mani- fest appears the misunderstanding of the English of the temper of their children beyond the sea ; and how futile did these measures prove when the theory was tested by practice ! Instead of awing the Americans into submission, they strengthened the strong arm of defiance, and added tenfold fervor to the zeal of patriotism ; and the "plan" adopted, instead of meeting the exigencies of the case, not only failed to secure its aim, but was the instrument of incalculable mischief to the British realm. Immediately after the decision of the questions just noticed, a bill was introduced into the House of Lords, which plainly evinced the fear of the ministry that their coercive measures would drive the Colonies to open rebellion and a resort to arms. It was a bill 120 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Change in the laws of the Province of Quebec. "•For making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec, in North America." It proposed the es- tablishment in Canada of a Legislative Council, invested with all powers, except that of levying taxes. It was provided that its members should be appointed by the Crown, and continue in author- ity during its pleasure ; that Canadian subjects, professing the Catho- lic faith, might be called to sit in the Council ; that the Catholic clergy, with the exception of the regular orders, should be secured in the enjoyment of their possessions, and of their tithes from all those who professed their religion ; that the French laws, without jury, should be re-established, preserving, however, the English laws, with trial by jury, in criminal cases. It was also added, in order to fur- nish the ministers with a larger scope for their designs, that the limits of Canada should be extended, so as to embrace the territory situated between the lakes, and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.* This was a liberal concession to the people of Canada, nearly all of whom were French, and but a small portion of them Protestants. f The nobility and clergy had frequently complained of the curtailment of their privileges, and maintained that they were better off under the old French rule previous to 1 763, than now. The measure pro- posed was well calculated to quiet all discontent in Canada, and make the people loyal. By such a result, a place would be secured in the immediate vicinity of the refractory Colonies, where troops and munitions of war might be landed, and an overwhelming force be concentrated, ready at a moment's warning to march into the ter- ritory of, and subdue, the rebellious Americans. This was doubtless the ulterior design of the ministry in offering these concessions ; and the eagle vision of Colonel Barre plainly perceived it. In the debate on the bill, he remarked, " A very extraordinary indulgence is given to the inhabitants of this province, and one calculated to gain the hearts and affections of these people. To this I cannot object if it is to be applied to good purposes ; but if you are about to raise a Popish army to serve in the Colonies, from this time all hope of peace in America will be destroyed." The bill met with violent * Soon after the introduction of this bill, Thomas and John Penn, son and grand- son of William Penn, put in a remonstrance against the boundary proposition, as it contemplated an encroachment upon their territory, they being the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, in Delaware. Burke, also, who was then the agent for New York, contended against the boundary proposition, because it encroached upon the boundary line of that Colony. t General Carleton, then Governor of Canada, asserted during his examination before Parliament, that there were then in that province only about three hundred and sixty Protestants, besides women and children ; while there were one hundred and fifty thousand Roman Catholics. chap, iv] EVENTS OF 1774. 121' Impeachment of Chief Justice Oliver. Hutchinson succeeded by Gage. opposition within and without Parliament, as it was opposed to the religious and national prejudices of the great mass of the English people. It was finally passed by a handsome majority, and on the twenty-first of June became law, by receiving the royal signature. The other laws, — the Boston Port Bill, — the subversion of the Massa- chusetts charter — and the law authorizing the transportation of criminals to Great Britain for trial, were all received with hearty approbation by the people of England. | While the British Parliament were organizing these strong mea- sures against the Americans, the latter were active in preparing an efficient barrier of defence against the effects of further legislative encroachments. As early as January, the Assembly of Massachu- setts Bay resolved that it w T as incumbent upon the judges of that Colony to determine at once, whether they would receive their sala- ries direct from the Crown, or depend therefor upon the votes of the Assembly. Chief Justice Oliver replied to these queries, that he should look to the Crown hereafter for his emoluments of office. The Assembly then resolved by a majority of ninety-six to nine, " That Peter Oliver hath, by his conduct, proved himself an enemy to the constitution of this province, and is become justly obnoxious to the good people of it ; that he ought to be removed from the office of Chief Justice ; and that a remonstrance and petition to the Governor and Council for his immediate removal be prepared." They also resolved to impeach the Chief Justice. The Governor refused to remove him, and declared the acts of the Assembly un- constitutional. This refusal of the Governor was to them presump- tive evidence that he too would receive his salary directly from the Crown, and that henceforth, if not removed, he would act perfectly independent of the Colony. Hutchinson had become so odious to the people of Massachusetts' Bay, that had not his recall accompanied the Port Bill and others, no doubt the summary vengeance of an incensed populace would have overtaken him when these oppressive measures went into operation. The Governor himself feared their resentment when he should be stripped of power and unshielded by the broad aegis of majesty, as its representative ; and, chagrined by the loss of place, and mortified by the neglect of some, he retired to a small village in the neighbor- hood of Boston and secluded himself from observation until he embarked for London on the memorable day when, by act of Parliament, the port of Boston was closed.* He was sue- aJunel ceeded in office by General Gage, who, a few days after the reception of the Port Bill, 6 landed on Long Wharf with b Ma ? 13 - part of his family and staff, and without troops. At New York, 122 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Publication of the Boston Port Bill. Fast day in Virginia. General Gage had distinguished himself by discreet and conciliatory conduct, and he was very courteously received in Boston notwithstand- ing the popular ferment that was so visible on every side. He was entertained by the magistrates and others at a public dinner, and that evening Hutchinson was burned in effigy. The next day a nume- rously attended town meeting was held, to take into consideration the Port Bill, and it was resolved, " That it is the opinion of this town, that, if the other Colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importation from, and exportation to, Great Britain, and every part of the West Indies, till the act be repealed, the same will prove the salvation of North America and her liberties ; and that the impolicy, injustice, inhumanity and cruelty of the act exceed all our powers of expression ; we therefore leave it to the just censure of others, and appeal to God and the world." A vast number of copies of the act were printed on mourning paper with black lines around it, and they were cried through the country as "the barbarous, cruel, bloody and inhuman murder." In many places the act was burnt with great solemnity in the presence of assembled multitudes. This act, so cruel and oppressive, inflamed the whole country, and everywhere awakened the most lively sympathy for Boston, the martyr city. The people of Salem, to whose town the Custom House and other offices of government were removed, generously refused to build their prosperity upon the ruins of their sister city ; and the inhabitants of Marblehead kindly offered the Bostonians the use of their harbor, wharves and warehouses, free of expense. Throughout the country public meetings were called, and from every point in the Colonies, the people of Boston received words of en- couragement, congratulation, sympathy, and unqualified approbation. The pens of the various Committees of Correspondence were active night and day, and every hill and valley, mountain and plain, from Plymouth to Georgia, was traversed by the couriers of these amanu- enses of the people's will. The House of Burgesses of Virginia was in session when the news of the Boston Port Bill arrived, and it was received with the utmost indignation. When the first burst of feeling had subsided, they resolved that the first of June (the day on which the bill was to take effect) should be observed as a " day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, devoutly to implore the Divine interposition in averting the heavy calamity which threatens destruction to our civil rights, and the evils of a civil war ; to give us one heart and one mmd, firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American rights ; and that the minds of his Majesty and his Parliament may chai\ rv.] EVENTS OF 1774. 123 Dissolution of the Virginia Assembly. husttis Assembly removed from Boston. be inspired from above with wisdom, moderation, and justice, to remove from the loyal people of America all cause of danger from a continued pursuit of measures pregnant with their ruin." This example was followed in other places, and orators in public halls and ministers of the gospel in the pulpits, pronounced dis- courses peculiarly adapted to inflame the public mind, and nerve the popular arm in its position of defiance. The expressed sympathy of Virginia for the distress of their sister Colony, was highly offensive to Lord Dunmore, the Governor, and on the following day tt o May 25. he dissolved them.* The members withdrew, and reassem- bled at the Raleigh tavern, to the number of eighty-one, and organ- ized themselves into an association and prepared an address to the people, recommending several measures which the exigencies of the times seemed to call for. Among them was a proposition for a Gene- ral Congress of deputies from all the Colonies ; and they recom- mended the Committee of Correspondence to communicate with the chief corresponding committees of other Colonies, on this vital subject. This proposition was eagerly accepted by all the provinces, and preparations were speedily made for the General Congress.! On this, as on several other occasions^ a remarkable coincidence of opinion and action between the comparatively widely separated Colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts w r as exhibited, A similar- ity of expressed thought and resolution to act, existed simultaneously between them, without a possibility of previous conference. Only six days after the resolutions of the Virginians, recommending a general Congress, were framed, a similar recommendation was made by the patriots of Massachusetts. Pursuant to the provisions of the Boston Port Bill, General Gage took measures to transfer the government offices, and the place of Assembly of the Representatives, to Salem, on the first of June. On the thirty-first of May, the General Assembly met in Boston for the last time. General Gage, by proclamation, adjourned them until the seventh of June, to meet at Salem. Before adjourning, however, they appointed two Members of the Assembly, Samuel Adams, of Boston, and Mr. Warren, of Plymouth, to act during the interim, as the exigencies of the case might require, and then quietly separated. These two, with a few other chosen spirits, met in secret conference immediately, and on the ensuing evening, several others were intro- I * His speech on the occasion was brief. " Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Bunresses : — I have in my hand a paper published by order of your House, conceived in such terms as reflect highly upon his Majesty and the Parliament of Great Britain, which makes it necessary to dissolve you, and you are dissolved accordingly." f See Appendix, Note iv. 124 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Secret meeting of Patriots. Appointment of Delegates to a general Congress. duced, when a discussion of general circumstances connected with the best interests of America, took place. On the third evening of their conference, their plans were matured and ripe for execution. Among these was a plan for a General Congress, to consult on the safety of America ; provisions made for supplying funds and muni- tions of war ; and an address to the other Colonies, inviting their co-operation in the measure of a General Congress, proposed. They also prepared resolutions exhorting the people to renounce, as far as possible, the consumption, not only of tea, but of all commodities imported from Great Britain or her Colonies. When the General Assembly met on the seventh of June, the result of the deliberations of these patriots was boldly laid before that body. The partisans of the Crown were filled with amazement at the boldness with which the paternity of these treasonable mea- sures was avowed by men in that Assembly, of the highest standing and influence ;* and the consummate ability manifested in the elabo- ration of the scheme. Determined to have a vote of the Assembly on the plan, before the matter should become known to Governor Gage, the patriots had locked the doors, and allowed neither ingress nor egress. One of the members, warmly devoted to the government interest, feigned sudden illness, and he was allowed to depart. He immediately ran to the Governor, and acquainted him with the pro- ceedings in progress. Gage immediately sent his secretary to dis- solve the Assembly by proclamation. He found the doors locked, and was refused an entrance. He then read the proclamation of dis- solution on the stairs, but it was little heeded by the patriots within, who proceeded to the adoption of their proposed plan of future action, and appointed delegates to the General Congress. Virginia held her Assembly for the appointment of delegates to Congress on the twenty-sixth of August, at Williamsburg ; Mary- land at Annapolis ; South Carolina at Charleston ; Pennsylvania at Philadelphia ; Connecticut at New London ; Rhode Island at New- port ; and before the close of August, a full representation from twelve of the Colonies was elected and furnished with credentials. No province sent less than two, nor more than seven Representatives. The committee of five appointed by the Massachusetts Assembly, at the head of which was Samuel Adams, prepared a document entitled a " Solemn League and Covenant," in which all the non-importation agreements and all resolutions against commercial intercourse with the mother country, were concentrated. All who felt an attachment to the r ♦ Hancock, Samuel Adams, Cushing, Hawley, Robert T. Payne, Greenleaf, and others of that character. chap, iv.] EVENTS OF 1774. 125 The Patriots' " Solemn League and Covenant" Distress in Boston. American cause were called upon to sign it ; and the covenanters were required to obligate themselves, in the presence of God, to cease all commerce with England, dating from the last of the ensuing month of August, until the late wicked acts of Parliament should be repealed, and the Massachusetts Colony reinstated in all its rights and privileges ; to abstain from the use of any British goods what- soever ; and to avoid all commerce or traffic with those who refused to sign the League. Finally, it was covenanted that those who refused to sign the League, should be held up to public scorn and indignation, by the publication of their names. The articles of the League were transmitted by circulars, to all the other provinces, with invitations to the inhabitants to affix their names thereto. Phi- ladelphia alone, as a city, did not accept the invitation to join in such a measure, preferring to refer the matter to the General Congress, and agreeing to execute faithfully all measures therein agreed upon. As soon as this act of the Assembly committee was known to General Gage, he issued a proclamation denouncing the League as an unlawful combination, hostile and traitorous to the Crown and Par- liament, and ordered the magistrates to apprehend and bring to trial, all guilty of signing it. But his proclamation was laughed at ; his orders were totally disregarded, and the League was everywhere subscribed to. On the first of June, at twelve o'clock at noon, the Custom-house at Boston was closed, and the port was shut against every vessel that wished to enter ; and on the fourteenth, permission to depart was refused to all that had entered before. To sustain and enforce these harsh measures, General Gage had introduced two regiments of troops into Boston, and they were encamped on the Common. These were soon reinforced by several regiments from Halifax, Quebec, New York and Ireland ; and Boston became an immense garrison. The utter prostration of all business soon produced great distress in the city ; but supplies (inadequate to their wants it is true) were sent in from all quarters, not only from the interior towns of that province, but from other Colonies also, and even from the city of London.* The fortitude of the inhabitants under this calamity was great in the extreme. The rich, deprived of their rents, were be- coming poor, and the poor, deprived of their privilege of labor, were soon distressed, and thus all classes felt the scourge of the oppressor. General Gage was warned from time to time, that the people would * The inhabitants of Georgia presented to those of Boston sixty-three barrels of rice, and one hundred and twenty-four pounds sterling in specie. The city of Lon . don subscribed thirty thousand pounds sterling for the poor of Boston. From Sco i haxie, New York, five hundred and twenty-five bushels of wheat were sent 126 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Preparations for War. Suspension of Magisterial Functions. soon resort to arms ; but, seeming to rely upon the physical strength of the battalions with which he was surrounded, he disregarded these warnings in a measure, but deemed it prudent to take precautionary steps in contravention of such action by the people. Under the shallow pretext of preventing the desertion of his soldiers, General Gage placed a strong guard upon the narrow isthmus which connects the peninsula on which Boston is situated, with the main land, known as Boston Neck. The people at once saw the real motive of this movement — to prevent the inhabitants from having free access with those of the country, and restraining them from transporting arms from the city to other places in the province. This measure justly alarmed the inhabitants, and those who were disposed to adopt con- ciliatory measures which the great majority deemed humiliating,* now plainly saw that nothing short of absolute submission to military rule would be accepted by their rulers. Persuaded that war was inevitable, the people at once commenced . arming themselves, and daily practised military tactics. On every side was heard the fife and drum, and young and old, fathers and sons, were daily engaged in martial exercises, encouraged at every step by the approbation and aid of the gentler sex. Everything bore the impress of impending War. In the meanwhile, the civil magistrates had suspended the exer- cise of their functions, as those newly appointed, had either declined acceptance, or were prevented by popular sentiment and the popular will from acting in their several offices. Nearly all of the thirty-six new counsellors who had been appointed by the Governor, either declined or were forced to resign by the unequivocal demonstrations of public disfavor which they experienced at every turn. The courts of justice were suspended ; the attorneys who had issued writs of citation were compelled to ask pardon in the public journals, and promise not to expedite others, until the laws should be revoked and the charters reestablished. The people rushed in a throng to occupy * There were a few timid persons of some significance, who were willing at this stage of the controversy to offer conciliatory measures, and they even gave some slight encouragement to General Gage and his government. One hundred and twenty merchants and others, of Boston, signed an address to General Gage, ex- pressing a willingness to pay for the tea destroyed. It is averred that some of the wealthier people of Boston endeavored to raise money to pay the East India Com- pany for the tea, but the attempt failed. There were some others who protested against the course of the Committee of Correspondence, and the action of a large por- tion of the ministers of the gospel, who, they averred, were unduly exciting the peo- ple, and urging them headlong towards ruin. But these movements were productive only of mischief. They made the Colonists more determined, and deluded the English government with the false idea that the most respectable portion of the Colonists were averse to revolution. chap. iv. J EVENTS OF 1774. 127 Fortification of Boston Neck. Reported Massacre of the people by the Soldiers. the seats of justice, that no room might be left for the judges ; when invited to withdraw, they answered that they recognised no other tribunals, and no other magistrates, but such as were established by ancient laws and usage.* General Gage, witnessing the agitation of the people, their tone of stern defiance, and their warlike preparations, at once commenced fortifying Boston Neck, and seized and removed to head-quarters all the gunpowder and other military stores that were at Charlestown, Cambridge, and some other places. This act greatly exasperated the people. From all quarters of the province the people assembled, and with arms hastened to Cambridge with a design of attacking the troops in Boston. This, however, was prevented by the influ- ence of the more prudent of the leading patriots. An event soon after occurred, which must have convinced General Gage of the unity of the people, their zeal in the cause of freedom, and their compe- tent physical force to maintain their cause. A rumor went forth* that the ships of war were cannonading Boston, and the regular troops massacreing the inhabitants without distinction of age or sex.f This news spread like wild-fire throughout Massachu- setts and Connecticut, and in less than thirty-six hours, the country was rallied for more than one hundred and seventy miles in extent. From the shores of Long Island to the green hills of Berkshire, " to arms ! to arms !" was the universal cry. Instantly, nothing was seen on all sides, but men of all ages cleansing and burnishing their arms, and furnishing themselves with provisions and warlike stores, and pre- paring for an immediate march ; gentlemen of rank and fortune exhorting and encouraging others by their advice and example. The roads were soon crowded with armed men marching for Boston with great rapidity, but without noise or tumult. No boisterous mirth or irregularity of any kind, attended their march, but silent firmness and invincible determination were portrayed in every facet Full thirty thousand men were under arms and speeding towards Boston ; nor did they halt until well assured that the report was untrue. On the twenty-third of August, the other two acts of Parliament arrived, the oppressive character of which put an end to every hope or expectation of reconciliation. The people plainly saw the mana- cles about to be placed upon them, and the violence of determined * Otis'a Botta, vol. i., p. 124. f It is thought by some that this rumor was set afloat by the patriot chiefs to let the British soldiers perceive that if tbey should venture to offer the shadow of violence, a signal to the inhabitants of the province would suffice to make them repent of it. X Hinman's Historical Collection from official Records, Files, &c, of the part sustained by Connecticut during the War of the Revolution. Hartford : 1842. 9 128 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Indignation spreading over the Colonies. Massachusetts' Provincial Congresi, resistance was doubled. The more moderate patriots, and those who had hoped almost against hope for an accommodation, now either joined the active ones, or stood in silent dismay. Many districts, which hitherto had been little more than passive followers of the more active sections, on learning this breach of their chartered rights, burst into a flame of indignation ; and Connecticut, which had always pursued a conservative course, joined the others with the greatest ardor. War was now inevitable, and all hearts were yearning for the meeting of the Congress appointed to convene at Philadelphia on the fifth of September. The people of Boston became so exasperated because of the for- tifications going on upon the isthmus, that, without coming to an open rupture with the troops, they threw every impediment in the way of their labor, burning the materials by night, sinking boats laden with bricks, and overturning the wagons that were carrying the timber. A meeting of delegates from all the neighboring towns was held at the beginning of September, in spite of the Governor's proclama- tion to the contrary. They resolved, " That no obedience was due to any part of the late acts of Parliament, which ought to be rejected as the attempt of a wicked administration : — That it should be re- commended to the collectors of taxes and all other officers, who had public moneys in their hands, to retain the same, and not to make any payment thereof until the civil government of that province should be placed upon its old foundation, or until it should be other- wise ordered by the proposed General Congress : — That the persons who had accepted seats in the Council, by virtue of a mandamus from the King, had acted in direct violation of the duty they owed to their country ; and that all of them who did not resign before the twentieth of September should be considered as obstinate and incor- rigible enemies to their country : — That the late act, establishing the Roman Catholic religion in Quebec, was dangerous in an extreme degree to the protestant religion, and to the rights and liberties of all America : — That whereas, their enemies had flattered themselves that they should make an easy prey of a numerous and brave people, from a notion that they were unacquainted with military discipline, such persons should be elected in each town as militia officers, as were judged to be of good capacity, and inflexible friends to the rights of the people, while the inhabitants of the towns should use their utmost diligence to acquaint themselves with the art of war, and for that purpose, appear under arms at least once a week : — That they were determined to act on the defensive so long as such conduct might be vindicated by reason, and the principle of self- chap, iv.] EVENTS OF 1774. 129 Provincial commotions throughout the Colonies. preservation, but no longer : — That, as it was understood to be in contemplation by the Governor to apprehend sundry persons, the people were recommended, should such arrests be made, to seize and keep every servant of the present government, until those persons so apprehended should be restored uninjured," &c. They also drew up an address to General Gage, complaining of the fortifications car- rying on at Boston Neck, and telling him, that although they had no inclination to commence hostilities, they were nevertheless determined not to submit to any of the late acts of the British Parliament. To this Gage replied, that it was his duty to preserve the peace, to pre- serve the lives of his soldiers, and to erect such works as should prevent their being surprised ; and the cannon placed in battery on Boston Neck would never be used unless to repel hostile proceed- ings.* During the latter part of July and the whole month of August, popular commotions, sometimes violent, were witnessed in all parts of the country. Alarmed at the seizure of arms and ammunition at Cambridge, the people in other places took measures to prevent a like occurrence. At Charlestown, they took possession of the maga- zine. At Portsmouth, New Hampshire, they stormed the fort,t and carried off the powder and artillery. At Newport, Rhode Island, the people did the same, and took possession of forty pieces of can- non which defended the harbor. The more southern Colonies embraced the cause with great fervor. Newbern, in North Carolina, reechoed all the declarations of Virginia. Governor Bull wrote from Charleston, South Carolina, that the spirit of resistance was violent and universal. The Assembly, he said, though summoned at ten, met at eight o'clock in the morning ; on learning which, he hastened to the place, but before he could arrive, five delegates to Congress were elected. At Wilmington, the people determined to send sup- plies to Boston, " to alleviate her distress, and induce her to maintain with prudence and firmness, the glorious cause in which she at present suffered. From Savannah, Sir James Wright wrote and complained of the " phrensy among the people," and of their lawless proceedings. Virginia, as we have already seen, took, simultane- ously with Boston, the foremost step. At a convention held at Williamsburgh, in August, they appointed delegates to the General Congress, among whom was the immortal Washington. Pennsyl- vania was firm but moderate. Governor Penn had been solicited in vain, to call an Assembly ; the people therefore met in July in con- vention, at Philadelphia, and appointed Delegates to the General * Gordon. f Fort William and Mary. 130 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774/ Appointment of Delegates to the General Congress. First idea of Independence. Congress. The meeting drew up instructions* to these delegates, expressing in strong terms their distress at the unhappy differences existing between Great Britain and her American Colonies, and their ardent desire for a reconciliation.! It was also declared that, pro- vided the mother country would renounce the rights of internal legis- lation and taxation, and consent to the liberation of Boston, they would consider it expedient to satisfy the East India Company, and to grant to his Majesty a certain annual revenue. Mr. Dickenson also wrote to Mr. Otis, and attempted to cool what he considered the intemperate zeal of the patriots of Massachusetts ; but Mr. Otis very properly replied, that Pennsylvania, bearing a much lighter burden than they, could not well appreciate their impulsive movements ; and he expressed a dread of the prevalence of lukewarmness and timidity, now in the darkest . hour of trial, which would inevitably enslave them.J New York gave the government greater support than any other Colony. The whole province was comparatively tranquil, although zeal and activity in the cause of freedom were not wanting. The Assembly refused to elect delegates to the General Congress, and they were appointed by town meetings. § * These were framed by John Dickenson, the author of " Letters of a Pennsylva- nia Farmer." f It is not easy to determine at what precise date the idea of Independence was first entertained by the principal persons in America. English writers, arguing from the conduct of the Colonists, have commonly charged them with secretly har- boring such designs at a very early period. This is not probable. The spirit and form of their institutions, it is true, led them to act frequently as an independent people, and to set up high claims in regard to their rights and privileges ; but there is no sufficient evidence to prove that any province, or any number of prominent individuals, entertained serious thoughts of separating entirely from the mother country, till very near the actual commencement of the War of the Revolution. It was the belief before the meeting of the Congress, particularly of the more cautious and moderate, that petitions to the King and Parliament, by a body of Representatives assembled from all parts of the Colonies, would be respected, and, in the end, procure redress. They, on the contrary, who, like Washington, had no confidence in the success of this measure, looked forward to the probable appeal to arms, but still without any other anticipations, than, by a resolute vindication of their rights, to effect a change in the conduct and policy of the British government, and restore the Colonies to their former condition. It was not till these petitions were rejected with a show of indifference, if not of contempt, that the eyes of all were opened to the necessity of unconditional submission, or united resistance. From that time the word independence was boldly pronounced, and soon became a familiar sound to the ears of the whole people. — Sparks's Life of Washington (i. vol.), p. 122. % Pitkin, vol. i., p. 274. § To show what unanimity of feeling and absence of party was exhibited by the people, the following extract is given : — " By duly certified polls, taken by proper persons, in seven Wards, it appears that James Duane, John Jay, Philip Livingston, Isaac Low, and John Alsop, Esqs., were elected as delegates for the city and county of New York, to attend the Con- chap, iv.] EVENTS OF 1774. 131 Meeting of Congress. Character of its Members. held at various places in the province. It will be perceived, that, notwithstanding the obstacles thrown in the way by Colonial Govern- ors and the friends of the home government, twelve of the thirteen Colonies appointed delegates to the Congress ; an assembly, for the result of the deliberations of which, all hearts beat high with hope — the patriot expectant of vigorous measures of resistance, and the lukewarm and the royalist, equally expectant of reconciliation. On the fifth of September, the General Congress met at Philadelphia. They assembled in Carpenter's Hall, Chestnut street, and organized by the apppintment of Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, President, and Charles Thomson, Secretary. There were fifty-five delegates appointed, representing twelve of the thirteen Colonies ;* and all were present at ^ the organization except those from North Carolina, who did not arrive until the fourteenth of the month. All of them were men of much local and general influence ; all well known for their ability and virtues, in their respective provinces, and many of them possessing a popularity as extensive as the Anglo-American domain. They were chiefly men of fortune, and nearly all of them landed proprietors. They had been faithful students of mankind and the history of the race ; and not one of them lacked ample know- ledge of the great principles which impelled them to form that con- vocation. And their own sound judgment and discretion, their own purity of purpose and integrity of conduct, were fortified and strength- ened by the voice of the people in popular assemblies, embodied in written instructions for the guidance of their Representatives. Such were the men to whose keeping, as instruments of Providence, the destinies of America were for the time intrusted ; and it has been well remarked, that men other than such as these — an ignorant, untaught mass like those who have formed the physical elements of other revolutionary movements, without sufficient intellect to guide and control them — could not have conceived, planned, and carried into execution, such a mighty movement, and one so fraught with gress at Philadelphia, the first day of September next, and at a meeting of the committees of several districts in the county of Westchester, the same gentlemen were appointed to represent that county ; also by a letter from Jacob Lansing, jun. , chairman in behalf of the committee for Albany, it appears that city and county had adopted the same for their delegates. By another letter it appears that the committees from the several districts in the county of Duchess, had likewise adopted the same, as delegates, to represent that county in Congress, and that committees of other towns approve of them as delegates. By a writing duly attested, it appears, the county of Suffolk, in the Colony of New York, have appointed Colonel William Floyd, to represent them in Congress." — Credentials of the Delegates from JVew York. Journal of the First Continental Congress (Folwell), September 5, 1774. x * See Appendix, Note III. 132 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Pitts Opinion of the Congress. What was expected of it. tangible marks of political wisdom, as the American Revolution. And it is no unmerited panegyric or idle boast to say that there never assembled the same number of men, who, for intellect, sound judgment, discretion, purity and disinterestedness, were superior to those fifty-five representatives of the twelve English States of North America. Pitt, the great English statesman, after reading the various documents which they put forth during the session, gave the following testimonial concerning their wisdom : ' I must declare and avow that in all my reading and study — and it has been my favorite study — I have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master states of the world — that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the General Congress at Philadelphia.' " " For a long time," says the eloquent Charles Botta, " no specta- cle had been offered to the attention of mankind, of so powerful an interest, as this of the present American Congress. It was indeed a novel thing, and, as it were, miraculous, that a nation, hitherto almost unknown to the people of Europe, or only known by the commerce it occasionally exercised in their ports, should, all at once, step forth from this state of oblivion, and, rousing as from a long slumber, should seize the reins to govern itself; that the various parts of this nation, hitherto disjointed, and almost in opposition to each other, should now be united in one body, and moved by a single will ; that their long and habitual obedience should be suddenly changed for the intrepid counsels of resistance, and of open defiance to the for- midable nation whence they derived their origin and laws."* To this Assembly, all hearts were turned with the deepest anxiety. It was universally felt that their acts would be the pivot on which the destinies of the Colonies must turn. It was generally believed, that the acts of such a body of men would be treated with regard by the British government, and that their appeals would be carefully listened to and respectfully heeded by ministers ; and therefore it was felt that they had the power, either to remove the evils com- plained of through the medium of conciliation, or to remove them by an appeal to arms. A desire for a reconciliation on honorable terms was wide-spread, although it cannot be doubted that there were many who secretly wished for a state of political independence ; but such a sentiment not having been avowed by the voice of public assemblies, it is a fair inference that the General Congress met with a full de termination to effect a reconciliation, if possible, with the mother * Otis's Botta, vol. i., p. 128. chap, iv.] EVENTS OF 1774. 133 European Sympathy. Patrick Henry's Prediction* country.* Looking abroad, the Congress saw that a decisive blow for independence would be popular, even among a large portion of the inhabitants of Great Britain, who sympathized with their Ame- rican brethren ; while the people, and even some of the govern- ments of continental Europe, would have rejoiced at the consumma- tion of such an act. France and Spain, the sworn enemies of the English, would gladly have contributed all that definitive treaties would allow, to produce such a result. Although political writers in Europe were beginning to be more liberal, and advocated pretty freely more popular forms of government, yet the encouragement the Americans would have received at that time from continental Europe would have been the offspring of hatred of Great Britain, rather than of good will to the cause of Human Freedom, or an affinity to the avowed principles which actuated the men then in Congress assem- bled. But the Congress was determined not to present the least foundation for a charge of rushing madly into an unnatural contest, without presenting the olive branch of peace ; and it therefore, during its whole session, directed all its functions in a channel calcu- lated to secure rights withheld and principles violated ; and that channel was a satisfactory reconciliation, honorable alike to both parties. With these sentiments, and an intense desire for their country's welfare, the Delegates commenced their labors. On the second day of the session, Congress adopted a resolution, " That the door be kept shut during the time of business, and that the members consider themselves under the strongest obligations of honor, to keep the proceedings secret, until the majority shall direct * There were some who, from the first, seemed to have a presentiment that recon- ciliation was out of the question. Among these was Patrick Henry. As early as 1773, he uttered the following prediction. Speaking of Great Britain, he said, " She will drive us to extremities; no accommodation will take place ; hostilities will soon commence ; and a desperate and bloody touch it will be." This, Mr. Wirt asserts, was said in the presence of Colonel Samuel Overton,* who at once asked Mr. Henry if he thought the Colonies sufficiently strong to oppose success- fully the fleets and armies of Great Britain ? " I will be candid with you," replied Mr. Henry ; " I doubt whether we shall be able, alone, to cope with so powerful a nation ; but," continued he, rising from his chair with great animation, " where is France ? Where is Spain ? Where is Holland ? the natural enemies of Great Britain. Where will they be all this while ? Do you suppose they will stand by, idle and indifferent spectators to the contest? Will Louis XVI. be asleep all this time? Believe me, no ! When Louis XVI. shall be satisfied by our serious opposition, and our Declaration of Independence, that all prospect of a reconcilia- tion is gone, then, and not till then, will he furnish us with arms, ammunition and clothing ; and not with them only, but he will send his fleets and armies to fight our battles for us ; he will form a treaty with us, offensive and defensive, against our unnatural mother. Spain and Holland will join the confederation ! Our independ- ence will be established ! and we shall take our stand among the nations of the earth !" How literally these predictions were soon fulfilled, the pen of History has already recorded. 134 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Various Important Acts of Congress. them to be made public." The Delegates then proceeded to consider the deplorable state of Boston and the Massachusetts Colony in general ; and addressed a letter to General Gage praying him to ter- minate hostile preparations that inflamed the people and would drive them into a war ; to repress military license, and restore a free intercourse between the city and the country. They then adopted, and ordered to be printed, a Declaration of Rights, setting forth that Parliament had of late years undertaken to tax the Colonies ; to establish an extraordinary Board of Customs ; to extend the jurisdic- tion of the court of admiralty ; to grant salaries to judges, without the concurrence of the Colonial Assemblies ; to maintain- a standing army in times of peace ; to ordain that persons charged with offences affecting the State, should be conveyed to England for trial ; to sub- vert the regulations of the government of Massachusetts Bay, respecting the prosecution of those who should be questioned for acts committed in the execution of the laws, and in opposition to tumults ; and, finally, to abolish the English laws in Canada, and to grant extraordinary favor to the Roman Catholics in that province. They pronounced the foregoing acts of Parliament impolitic, unjust, cruel, contrary to the constitution, and dangerous to, and destructive of, American rights. They stated, that this Congress had been convoked because the various Assemblies in the several provinces had been repeatedly dissolved by the Governors, and this was the only means left them to vindicate and secure their rights and liber- ties. They then enumerated their rights, such as life, liberty and property, and the rights peculiar to English subjects — participation in the legislative council ; of being tried by their Peers of the vici- nage, and also of peaceably assembling and addressing their petitions to the King. They also protested against keeping a standing army here without the consent of the Colonies, and in conclusion, recapi- tulated the various acts of Parliament which they deemed violations of these rights. During the session, Congress adopted a new non-consumption, non-importation, and non-exportation agreement, which was signed by all the members. Also an address of the several Colonies to the people of Great Britain ; a memorial to the several Anglo-American Colonies ; an address to the inhabitants of the province of Quebec, and a petition to the King.* The petition was sent to the Colonial agents then in England, with instructions to put it into the hands of the King ; and with the information that it was their determination * These important documents, embodying the sentiments and spirit of our revo- lutionary fathers, are published in full in the Appendix, Note IV. They are carefully copied from the Journals of the First Continental Congress. "chap, iv.] EVENTS OF 1774. 135 Provision for a Now Coniires*. Approbation of the Provincial Assembly. to meet again in May, of the ensuing year.* The Congress also ad- dressed letters to the Colonies of St. John's, Nova Scotia, Georgia and the Floridas, inviting their cooperation. A resolution was also adopted declaring that on the arrest of any person in America, in order to transport such person beyond the sea, for trial of offences com- mitted in America, resistance and reprisals should be made. Some of these measures were considered rather bold by a few timid spirits who hoped for a reconciliation, and they were disposed to sign a protest ; but the zealous determination of the eastern patriots pre- vented a step which would have been so inimical to the best interests of the country at that crisis. " I should advise," said Samuel Ad- ams, " persisting in our struggle for liberty, though it was revealed from heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to perish, and only one of a thousand were to survive and retain his liberty ! One such freeman must possess more virtue, and enjoy more happiness than a thousand slaves ; and let him propagate his like, and transmit to them what he hath so nobly preserved !" Having finished these various labors, they appointed the tenth of May of the following year for the convocation of another General Congress, provided the grievances of which they complained were not removed, and then adjourned.* 1 The transactions of the Congress were received with universal favor throughout the Colonies by the people at public meetings, and by the provisional authorities and regular assemblies when convened. The Pennsylvania Assembly was the first to ratify their proceedings, and appoint deputies for the next Congress. The people of Mary- land displayed great ardor, and the most influential citizens were proud in being armed for their country's defence. The militia were exercised daily, and were withdrawn from the authority of the Go- vernor and placed under that of the province. New Hampshire and Delaware followed this example ; and South Carolina acted with prompt energy in responding cordially to the proceedings of the Congress. The ardor of the people of Massachusetts and Virginia was without bounds, and warlike preparations were seen on every side. In the New England provinces, the ministers of the gospel did signal service in the good cause. Their influence was very great over their flocks, and when from their pulpits they proclaimed that the cause of freedom was the cause of heaven, the sentiment met a sympathetic response in almost every bosom. New York alone marred the general unanimity of the Colonies. In the city there was much party division, and when the act of Con- * These agents were Paul Wentworth, Benjamin Franklin, William Bolan, Arthur Lee, Thomas Life, Edmund Burke, and Charles Garth. 136 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Provi ncial Congress of Massachusetts. Origin of the names " Whig " and " Tory." gress concerning the regulation of commerce with Great Britain, was laid before them, they refused to adopt it. New York was then, as now, the chief commercial depot of America ; and this fact, connected with the great influence of the large proportion of loyal- ists* resident in the Colony, caused the non-consumption and non- importation agreement especially, to be unpalatable. In Massachusetts, another demonstration of the determined will of the people in maintaining their just rights, took place at Salem. Governor Gage had issued writs calling the General Assembly to- gether on the fifth of October, to meet at that place ; but, perceiving the firm and decided tone of the General Congress, then still in ses- sion, he thought it expedient to countermand the order, and issued a proclamation accordingly. The election, however, had taken place, and the representatives, declaring the proclamation unlawful, met at the time appointed to the number of ninety. They resolved themselves into a provincial Congress, unsanctioned, of course, by the Governor, and elected John Hancock their president. They then adjourned to Concord, where they were joined by others who were not elected, or at least were not present, at their first organization. The first measure of the Congress was to appoint a committee to wait upon Governor Gage with a remonstrance on the subject of the fortifications of the isthmus. To this the Governor replied, that no offensive hostility was contemplated in the erection of those defences, but seeing the warlike spirit, and bitter enmity of the people, he felt it his duty to be prepared for any needful defence. He pronounced their assembly illegal, and in contravention of the charter of the province. * It was at this time that the appellation of Tory was applied to the royalists, and the term WTiig assumed by the patriotsf The origin of the term Whig is vari- ously given. Bishop Burnet, in his " History of his Own Times," gives the fol- lowing explanation : " The southwest counties of Scotland have seldom corn enough to serve them round the year ; and the northern parts producing more than they need, those in the west come in the summer to buy at Leith the stores that come from the north, and from a word, whiggam, used in driving their horses, all that drove were called whiggamores, and shorter, the whiggs. Now, in that year, after the news came down of Duke Hamilton's defeat, the ministers animated their peo- ple to rise and march to Edinburgh, and then came up marching at the head of their parishes, with unheard-of fury, praying and preaching all the way as they came. The Marquis of Argyle and his party came and headed them, they being about six thousand. This was called the Whiggamore's inroad, and ever after that, all that opposed the court came, in contempt, to be called Whigg ; and from Scotland, the word was brought into England, where it is now one of our unhappy terms of dis- tinction." Subsequently all whose party bias was democratic, were called Whigs. The origin of the word Tory is not so well attested. The Irish malcontents, half robbers and half insurgents, who harassed the English in Ireland, at the period of the massacre in 1640, were the first to whom this epithet was applied. It was also applied to the court party as a term of reproach. chap, iv.] EVENTS OF 1774 137 Enrolment of " Minute Men." General Defection from the British Government On the return of the committee, the Congress adjourned to Cam- bridge, where they proceeded to elaborate a plan for the military defence of the province. They made provision for ammunition* and military stores, which were speedily collected at Concord, the de- signated depot. They also made provision for arming the whole province. Twelve thousand of the militia were enrolled under the title of minute men, who were to be ready to march to battle at a minute's warning. They sent invitations to Connecticut and Rhode Island to follow their example, and increase their number of minute men to twenty thousand, which request was promptly complied with, and its suggestions as promptly executed. Committees of Safety, of Supplies, &c, were appointed, and two military men, Jedediah Preble and Artemas Ward, who had had considerable experience in the French and Indian wars, were chosen generals of the provincial militia or other troops that might be raised. These warlike preparations alarmed the friends of government in the vicinity of Boston, and many of them fled into the city for pro- tection ; but the stringent measures of the patriots were fast crip- pling the resources and strength of Governor Gage. It was with the greatest difficulty that he could procure carpenters and masons to erect barracks Outside of the city for his troops ; and as no supplies of provisions, at all adequate to his wants, could be procured from the country, he was obliged to receive all that he needed, by sea, from distant places. In this state of things, Governor Gage became alarmed, and apprehending that the people of Boston might point his own cannon upon the fortifications against him, he caused a party of sailors to be landed by night from the ships of war in the harbor, to spike all the guns upon one of the town batteries. t When the Congress adjourned," the whole country had become thoroughly aroused, and there seemed to be no other alternative than quiet submission or a resort to arms. The execu- tive and legislative powers in the Colonies had become completely transposed. The ancient forms of government remained, but new laws were enacted, and all authority was taken from the Governors and their Councils, and vested in the provincial Assemblies. All authority on the part of government officers was terminated, and a revolution, bloodless as yet, was already effected, which many hoped might result in permanent independence, or a thorough disenthral- ment from the oppressions which had driven them to this extreme. They hoped these energetic measures would convince the British * Mills were erected for making gunpowder; manufactories were set up for making arms, and great encouragement was offered for making saltpetie. — Stedman* f Pictorial History of the Reign of George III., vol. i., p. ISO. 138 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Instructions to, and activity of, the Colonial Agents in England. government of the futility of attempting to coerce the Colonies into an abandonment of their principles so clearly understood and universally avowed, that it would apply itself in earnest to give another direction to American affairs — a direction calculated to insure, through just and liberal measures, permanent loyalty to the British crown. While these stirring scenes were transpiring in America, Doctor Franklin and the other Colonial agents in England were exceedingly active in moulding the public mind there, as far as they were able, in favor of the cause of the Colonies. Every possible means was used to give a general circulation to the addresses to the people of Great Britain, and to the King, which Congress had adopted ;* and Franklin, assisted by other friends of America (some of them Mem- bers of Parliament), traversed all the manufacturing towns of the north of England,! and by personal communications enlightened the inhabit- ants upon the great question at issue, on which subject they were kept in profound ignorance by their own countrymen, as far as with- * On the twenty-sixth of October, the day on which Congress adjourned, the following letter of instructions to the Colonial agents in England, written by Mr. Jay, was adopted by Congress : " Philadelphia, Oct. 26, 1774. " Gentlemen : — We give you the strongest proof of our reliance on your zeal and attachment to the happiness of America and the cause of liberty, when we commit the enclosed paper to your care. " We desire you will deliver the petition into the hands of his Majesty, and after it has been presented, we wish it may be made public through the press, together with the list of grievances. And as we hope for great assistance from the spirit, virtue and justice of the nation, it is our earnest desire, that the most effectual care be taken, as early as possible, to furnish the trading cities and manufacturing towns, throughout the United Kingdom, with our memorial to the people of Great Britain. "We doubt not but your good sense and discernment will lead you to avail your- selves of every assistance that may be derived from the advice and friendship of all great and good men, who may incline to aid the cause of liberty and mankind. " The gratitude of America expressed in the enclosed vote of thanks,* we desire may be conveyed to the deserving objects of it, in the manner you think will be most acceptable to them. " It is proposed, that another Congress be held on the tenth of May next, at this place ; but in the meantime, we beg the favor of you, gentlemen, to transmit to the Speakers of the several Assemblies, the earliest information of the most authentic accounts you can collect, of all such conduct and designs of ministry, or Parliament, as it may concern America to know. We are, with unfeigned esteem and regard, gentlemen," &c, &c. — Journal of Congress, 1774. f The manufacturers of these districts were chiefly dissenters, and viewing the established church somewhat in the light of an oppressor, their loyalty was quite as weak as that of any class of the population. * Resolved, That this Congress, in their own names, and in behalf of all those whom they repre- sent, do present their most grateful acknowledgments to those truly noble, honorable, and patriotic advocates of civil and religious liberty, who have so generously and powerfully, though unsuccess- fully, espoused and defended the cause of America both in and out of Parliament. chap, iv.] EVENTS OF 1774. 139 Employment of Dr. Roebuck by Ministers. Meeting of a New Parliament holding the truth was feasible. At this movement, ministers and their friends became alarmed, and at once applied themselves to the execution of measures to counteract their efforts. The celebrated Adam Smith,* in concert with Wedderburn, the Solicitor General, applied to Doctor Roebuck, an eminent physician of Birmingham, and who was very popular among the manufacturing population, earnestly urging him to follow in the wake of Franklin and others, and if possible, undo the mischief so called, which they had done. Doctor Roebuck complied with their wishes, but how far he suc- ceeded in effecting the desired result, cannot be estimated. The Parliament which had been dissolved by proclamation, and writs issued for the election of new members on the thirtieth of September, was convened on the thirtieth of November. Although the proceedings of Congress and the approval thereof of all the Colonies were not so verily certified as to be fully understood in Britain at the opening of Parliament, yet sufficient was known to cause the King in his address from the throne to speak of the Colo- nies as in a state of almost open rebellion. He declared that a dar- ing spirit of resistance and disobedience to law prevailed in Massa- chusetts Bay, and that unwarrantable attempts had been made to obstruct the commerce of the kingdom by unlawful combinations ; and assured Parliament that he had already adopted, and should con- tinue to adopt, decisive measures to accomplish the establishment of subordination in that Colony, as well as in all the others, many of which, he said, were guilty of being abettors of the revolutionists of New England. An address to the King and ministers, in the usual form, was moved, but the opposition endeavored to attach an amendment to it, asking the King to lay before Parliament all let- ters, orders and instructions, relating to American affairs, as well as all the late intelligence from the Colonies. This amendment Lord North opposed, on the ground that it placed Great Britain in the position of making the first advances towards a reconciliation, which, on account of the many acts of disobedience and violations of law of which the Colonists were guilty, it was their duty first to do. A very warm debate ensued, and the recent acts, bearing heavily upon Massachusetts Bay, were severely censured as unnecessary and cruelly unjust ; and the Premier was sarcastically reminded of the beneficial and mighty effects he had predicted from those acts, which, according to his showing, were to u humble that whole continent in the dust, without any further trouble." But the general bitterness of feeling towards America was exhibited when the vote was taken. * Author of the "Wealth of Nations." 140 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1774. Petitions and counter petitions from the Manufacturing Districts. The amendments were rejected ; and the resolution to adopt an address passed the House by a majority of two hundred and sixty- four against seventy-three. In the Lords, a similar address was moved, and similar amendments offered, which elicited a very hot debate ; and the final result was the same as in the lower House, — the amendments were rejected, and the address carried by a majority of sixty-three to thirteen. Nine Peers of the minority signed a strong protest, which concluded with the following sensible remarks ; ° Whatever may be the mischievous designs, or the inconsiderate temerity, which leads others to this desperate course, we wish to be known as persons who have ever disapproved of measures so per- nicious in their past effects and future tendencies ; and who are not in haste, without inquiry and information, to commit ourselves in decla- rations which may precipitate our country into all the calamities of a civil war." Franklin and his associates had caused strong but respectful pe- titions to be sent in from the dissenting manufacturers,* and Doctor Roebuck had also procured some ; not, however, without the em- ployment of a great deal of duplicity. The former were referred to an inactive committee, justly stigmatized by Burke a " committee of oblivion ;" whilst the counter petitions were all presented at once and acted upon. The vote in the Commons on the address and the amendment to it offered, and the unfair action in the matter of peti- tions, convinced the Americans that they had as little favor to hope for from the new Parliament, as they had received from the old. They had expected that the New Parliament, in a measure unpledged to ministers, would act with more justice and liberality towards them than the late one had done 1 , and to their convocation and labors they looked with much anxiety ; for, coming fresh from the people, and presumed to utter the sentiments of their constituents, it was hoped that those sentiments were friendly and generous. But they were disappointed. The last faint hope of reconciliation faded away, and the people of America began vigorous preparations for * Strong petitions were also sent in from London, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Glasgow, and other cities, in which they glowingly portrayed the great detriment accruing to their business from the state of American affairs, and implored Parliament to reestablish pacific relations with America. But the prayers of the merchants were as little heeded as those of the manufacturers, and the haughty contempt with which some of the petitions were rejected by the minis- terial party can only be accounted for by supposing that the loyal bearing of New York, one of the most prominent of the Colonies, gave them an encouraging hope that the other provinces were on the point of bowing submissively to the authority of the British crown. A petition in favor of the Americans from the Island of Jamaica was even rejected with disdain. CHAr. IV.] EVENTS OF 1774. 141 Position of the Colonics. open rebellion. They felt conscious of their purity of purpose, the correctness of their principles, and the unity of their hearts ; and, relying upon the assurance that " thrice armed is he who has his quarrel just," they felt competent to do battle, even with the armies and navies of haughty Britain. While they resolved to put forth in all its strength and majesty their whole manhood, they placed their firmest reliance upon that Providence which had thus far been a " cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night " to them, leading them on from bless- ing to olessing, to a state of great prosperity, marred only by the iron heel of kingly oppression. Confident that it, like that of Achilles, would prove vulnerable, they boldly bent the bow. Carpenters" Hall— Philadelphia. EVENTS OF 1775. Richard Montgomery— Israel Putnam— James Warren. CHAPTER V. j^ URING the recess of Parliament, which was prorogued early in December, far more alarming intelligence than had yet been received, reached ministers from America. Positive information concerning the proceedings of Congress, — the various able documents adopted by that body, and the decided voice of universal approval that was heard from every Colony, told ministers, in terms not to be mistaken, that America was fairly aroused, and resolved to contend, with unbroken front and un- daunted spirit, for every prerogative vouchsafed them by the British constitution. On the nineteenth of January, Parliament reassem- bled, and Lord North laid before both Houses a large mass of 10 144 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. . [1775. Earl of Chatham's proposition for an address to the King. documents received from the Colonial Governors, together with the proceedings of the American Congress in detail. On the twentieth, the Earl of Chatham (William Pitt) was in his place, quite contrary to the expectations of many, for a report had gone abroad that he had washed his hands of American affairs, and did not intend even to be in London at the opening of the session. But he was there, and opened the proceedings by proposing, " That an humble address be presented to his Majesty to desire and beseech that, in order to open the way towards a happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in America, by beginning to allay ferments and soften animosities there," and to prevent any fatal catastrophe at Boston, where the people were greatly irritated by the presence and insolence of the troops, " it might please his Majesty to immediately despatch orders to General Gage to remove the force from Boston as soon as the rigors of the season would permit." " I wish, my Lords," said he, " not to lose a day in this urgent, pressing crisis. An hour now lost may produce years of calamity. For my part, I will not desert for a single moment, the conduct of this weighty busi- ness ; unless nailed to my bed by extremity of sickness, I will give it my unremitted attention. I will knock at the door of this sleeping and confounded ministry, and will rouse them to a sense of their impending danger. When I state the importance of the Colonies to this country, and the magnitude of danger from the present plan of misadministration practised against them, I desire not to be under- stood to argue for a reciprocity of indulgence between England and America. I contend not for indulgence, but justice to America; and I shall ever contend, that the Americans owe obedience to us in a limited degree." After stating the points on which the supremacy of the mother country was justly predicated, the great orator con- tinued : " Resistance to your acts was necessary as it was just ; and your vain declarations of the omnipotence of Parliament, and your imperious doctrines of the necessity of submission, will be found equally competent to convince or to enslave your fellow-subjects in America, who feel that tyranny, whether ambitioned by an individual part of the Legislature or the bodies who compose it, is equally in- tolerable to British subjects." He then drew a picture of the condi- tion of the troops in Boston,* suffering from the inclemencies of winter, insulted by the inhabitants, wasting away with sickness and * In November of the preceding year, Viscount Barrington, the Secretary of War, advised Lord North to withdraw the troops from Boston, leaving only one regi- ment at Castle William. He gave it as his opinion that the naval force might be so employed as to reduce the Colonies to submission, without shedding a drop of Dlood chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 145 Chatham's bill for reconciliation with the Colonies. pining for action ; and finally, after alluding to the wisdom of the late Congress and the approval of their acts by the people, he exclaimed, " I trust it is obvious to your lordships that all attempts to impose servitude upon such men, to establish despotism over such a mighty continental nation, must be vain — must be fatal. We shall be forced ultimately to retract ; let us retract while we can, not when we must. .... To conclude, my Lords, if the ministers thus persevere in misadvising and misleading the King, I will not say that they can alienate the affections of his subjects from his crown ; but I will affirm, that they will make the crown not worth his wearing. I will not say that the King is betrayed, but I will pronounce that the kingdom is undone."* Chatham was supported by Shelburne, Camden, Rockingham and Richmond. On the other hand, ministers contended that to recede now from their position, after having gone so far, and that too in the face of such bold resistance, would really amount to a complete sub- mission, abdication of government, and loss of all authority. They charged Chatham with the sin of sowing the seeds of division at home and abroad, and reproved him as an abettor of malcontents. When the vote was taken on his motion, it was negatived by sixty- eight to eighteen. Chatham was not discouraged, but immediately presented a bill containing a plant for the settlement of the transatlantic troubles. It proposed to renounce the power of taxation, but to call upon Con- gress to acknowledge the supreme legislative power of Great Britain, and invite them to make a free grant of certain annual revenue, to be employed in meeting the charge on the national debt. This being effected, it proposed an immediate repeal of all the obnoxious acts. Notwithstanding the exalted origin of this bill, and the great consideration due to the opinions of the framer of it, it was treated with a great deal of coldness, and hardly obtained a superficial ex- amination of its merits. The Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary of State for America, proposed that it should lie upon the table ; but this pro- position was condemned by other members, and after a warm * This speech, which was over an hour in length, was one of the best that ever fell from the lips of the great orator. Franklin, in a letter to Earl Stanhope, de- clared concerning it, that he had " seen in the course of his life, sometimes elo- quence without wisdom, and often wisdom without eloquence ; but in the present instance, he had seen both united, and both, as he thought, in the highest degree possible." f This plan was submitted by Chatham to Franklin, before it was offered in Parliament. He stated to Franklin, that, though he had considered the American business thoroughly, in all its parts, he was not so confident of his own judgment, but that he came to set it right by his, " as men set their watches by a regulator " I4«6 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Petition of the American Agents. Lord North's coercive measures. debate, during which the Earl of Sandwich, a violent partisan of the crown, moved the " rejection of the bill now and for ever," it was negatived by a vote of sixty-one against thirty-two. Such a hurried rejection of a plan so wise and conciliatory, subsequently drew forth the bitter reproaches of Lord Camden. " Obliterate," said he, "the transaction from your records ; let not posterity know it." Out of doors, Chatham was much applauded for his plan of pacification. The corporation of the city of London passed him a vote of thanks, and a similar compliment to those colleagues who supported him. Franklin sent forth an address to the people of England, and to his own countrymen, in which he portrayed the wickedness of rejecting this plan of reconciliation, the only one that had been offered for years. On the twenty-ninth of January, Franklin, Bollan and Lee, pre- sented a petition, praying to be examined at the bar, in support of the demands of the General Congress. Their prayer was denied, on the ground that such permission would look like sanctioning the acts of the Congress, which ministers averred had met in an irregular and illegal manner. On the second of February, Lord North proposed the first of a series of measures, designed to coerce the Colonies into passive obedience to the King and Parliament. He moved in the Commons, in Committee of the Whole, for an address to the King, thanking him for the presentation of the numerous American documents, affirming that the province of Massachusetts had been, and was, in a state of rebellion, that the House was resolved never to relinquish any part of the sovereign authority ; and professing their readiness to listen to petitions and redress grievances, when the subjects were brought before them in a, dutiful and constitutional manner. They urged the King to take effectual measures for enforcing obe- dience to the laws ; and then followed the usual resolution to support him with their " lives and fortunes." When the minister introduced this motion, he intimated that a part of his plan consisted in considerably augmenting the military force in America, and in adopting measures for effectually restraining, in fact actually stopping, the commerce of New England with Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies, and the fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, until the Colonists should return to their duty. Fox moved an amendment, censuring the ministry and praying for their removal. Dunning denied the existence of rebellion, and was replied to by the eminent Thurlow. The debate was a very stormy one, and Fox's amendment was negatived by a majority of three hundred and four against one hundred and five ; and on a second cm p. v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 147 Speech of John Wilkes. Augmentation of the British Army in America. division, Lord North's motion for an address was carried by a ma- jority of two hundred and ninety-six to one hundred and six in the Commons ; and in the upper House, by eighty-seven to twenty- seven ; eighteen Peers protesting.* When the address was reported" by the committee appoint- ed to prepare it, there was another warm debate, in which the celebrated John Wilkes took a conspicuous part against the ministers. He declared that a proper resistance to wrong was revolution, not rebellion ; and that if success crowned the efforts of the Americans, they might in after time celebrate the revolution of 1775 as the English did that of 1688. " Who can tell," said he, " whether, in consequence of this very day's violent and mad address, the scab- bed may not be thrown away by them as well as by us !" Lord Cavendish moved to recommit the address for a modification of its harshness ; and other members of the opposition earnestly recom- mended mildness. But the address, as reported, was carried by a large majority ; nearly four to one. The King, in reply to the address, assured Parliament that he would take the most speedy and effectual means to secure obedience to the laws ; that he was ready to extend just and reasonable indulgence to any truly repent- ant Colony ; and concluded with an expressed wish, that the dispo- sition which he manifested, would have a good effect upon the temper and conduct of the Americans. He also sent a message to the Commons, informing them that it would be necessary to augment the naval and military forces in America, in order to enable them to act in accordance with the spirit of their address. On the reception of these documents, a violent debate arose ; and it was finally voted that two thousand additional seamen and fourteen hundred soldiers, should be sent to America. On the tenth of February, Lord North moved for leave to bring a bill into the House of Commons providing for the destruction of the entire trade of New England, t and their fisheries 4 In this proposed bill was a clause excepting in the general ban, those individuals who * Gibbon, the historian, who then had a seat in Parliament, wrote to his friend Sheffield, " We voted an address of lives and fortunes, declaring Massachusetts Bay in a state of rebellion ; more troops, but I fear not enough, go to America, to make an army of ten thousand men at Boston ; three generals, Howe, Burgoyne and Clin- ton ! In a few days we stop the ports of New England. I cannot write volumes, but I am more and more convinced that, with firmness, all may go well, yet I some- times doubt." t These severe restrictions were afterwards extended to all the other Colonies except New York and North Carolina. X About four hundred ships, two thousand fishing shallops, and twenty thousand men were, according to testimony presented to Parliament, then employed in the British Newfoundland fisheries. 148 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Presentation of various Petitions. Lord North's " conciliatory " Scheme should produce a certificate from their respective Governors, certi- fying their general good conduct and loyalty, and who should ac- knowledge the supremacy of the British Parliament. Ministers represented this measure as a just and wise punishment of the Americans for their rebellious proceedings, and only a fair retaliation of a similar course which the Congress had adopted. This measure, like the others, awakened a stormy debate, and encountered violent opposition, being pronounced, even by lukewarm men, as cruel and unjust, tyrannical and unnecessary. The motion to bring in the bill was carried by the immense majority of two hundred and sixty- one against eighty-five. In the further progress of the bill, many petitions were presented against it. Among them was one from the merchants of London, representing the great loss they must sus- tain by thus impoverishing the Colonists ;* and another was from the Quakers, in behalf of their brethren of Nantucket, who by such an act, as their chief employment was fishing, would be reduced to a state of actual famine. This latter petition was treated with great respect, and elicited much commiseration. „ ^ „ On the third reading of the bill, a an amendatory clause a March 8. .° . ' was proposed, excepting articles of food which might be brought coastwise from any port of America. This clause was rejected, and the bill was carried by a majority of one hundred and eighty-eight to fifty-eight. In the House of Lords the amendment to include all the Colonies except New York and North Carolina, was offered. It was carried by a large majority, 6 and the bill, as amended, was adopted by a vote of seventy-three lo twenty-one. t The amendment was subsequently withdrawn (a separate bill designed to have the same effect, being presented by Lord North), and on the thirtieth of March, the original bill received the royal signature. While this last bill was in transitu through the Houses, Lord North astonished all parties by a motion to introduce a bill c intended to be conciliatory, and, as he thought, perfectly- consistent with all previous declarations and acts of Parliament.}: * The people of New England were at that time indebted to the merchants of the city of London alone, nearly five millions of dollars. f Parliamentary Register (1775), pp. 6-99. X The bill or resolution was as follows : — " When the Governor, Council and Assembly, or general court of his Majesty's provinces or Cqlonies, shall propose to make provision for contributing their proportion to the common defence, to be raised under the authorities of the general court or General Assembly, and disposa- ble by Parliament ; and shall engage to make provision also for the support of the civil government and administration of justice ; it will be proper, if such proposal shall be approved by his Majesty in Parliament, and for so long as such provision CHAP. V.] EVENTS OF 1775. 149 Dilemma of the Ministers. Burke's plan for Conciliation. It proposed that when the proper authorities in any Colony should offer, besides maintaining its own civil government, to raise a certain revenue, and make it disposable by Parliament, it would be proper to forbear imposing any tax, except for the regulation of commerce. At first, both parties were dissatisfied with the resolution — the court or tory party, because of its conciliating character ; and the republi- can, or whig party, because, after all, it would abate but the single grievance of taxation complained of, that it referred all to the future decision of Parliament, and upon no point was it specific. Lord North, much to his own astonishment, found himself midway be- tween contending fires, and in a very unpleasant dilemma. But his usual skill carried him safely through, not, however, without an avowal on his part that one of his chief objects was to divide the malcontents in the colonies ; a policy of very questionable honor. Colonel Barre, ever the staunch friend of the Americans, pronounced this motive low, shameful and abominable — an attempt to dissolve that generous union which made the Americans as one man in the de- fence of the rights of British subjects ; and denounced it as a scheme to cause the Colonists to reject the proffered conciliation, and thus draw down tenfold vengeance, having the appearance of justice, on their heads. After a very stormy debate, the friends of the minister saw that the resolution was not so objectionable after all, and united, to a great extent, in its support. The proposition was adopted by a vote of two hundred and seventy-four to eighty-eight. On the twenty-second of March, Burke, who had very eloquently opposed the proposition of Lord North, presented a series of resolu- tions, proposing a complete practical concession to the Americans, of all points in dispute, and thus to " restore" as he said, "the former unsuspecting confidence of the Colonies in the mother coun- try, and give permanent satisfaction" to the English people. As might have been expected, his plan was rejected by a large vote — two hundred and seventy to seventy-eight. Five days afterwards, Mr. Hartly presented a conciliatory scheme, similar to the Earl of Chat- ham's. It was negatived without a division. Several petitions and memorials from the Colonies were offered in the upper House, but were treated with disdain. The mercantile interest of London, smarting severely under the non-intercourse acts, warmly espoused the cause of the Colonies. An address was presented to the King by the Lord Mayor, aldermen and livery of London, 4 in a April 10. i shall be made accordingly, to forbear, in respect of such province or Colony, to Levy any duty, tax, or assessment, except for the regulation of commerce, the nett produce of which shall be carried to the account of such province, Colony, or plan- tation." 150 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Procurement of Munitions of War by the people of Massachusetts. Effect of the King's Speech* which they condemned the late measures against the Ameri- cans, and pronounced their resistance justifiable. They received a stern rebuke in reply ; and his Majesty expressed astonishment that any subject should be capable of abetting and encouraging such rebellious courses. In truth, the King and the Legislature seemed madly bent on the execution of their plans to enslave the Americans ; and they shut their ears to the prayers of petitions, the respectful voice of remonstrance, and the warnings of sound reason. Whilst Parliament was thus engaged in angry debates upon vari- ous measures, nearly all of which were designed to coerce the Ame- ricans into submission, energetic and almost universal movements were making on this side of the Atlantic preparative to an appeal to arms, which was now considered inevitable. The provincial Congress of Massachusetts passed a resolution* 1 for the purchase of all the munitions of war that could be found, requisite for an army of fifteen thousand men. As these articles could be chiefly found in Boston, it was necessary to employ strategy to pro- cure them, for a guard was constantly on duty upon the isthmus. Cannon balls and muskets were carried out of the city in carts appa- rently laden with manure ; and powder, concealed in the baskets or panniers of the market-women, and cartridges in candle-boxes, were carried through the English posts. At length General Gage, by his sleepless vigilance, discovered these movements, and learning that some brass cannon and field pieces were at Salem, he sent a detach- ment of troops thither from the Castle to seize them. 6 They landed at Marblehead, but the Americans, equally vigilant, removed their ordnance before the soldiers arrived, and they were obliged to return to the Castle without securing the objects of their expedition. In the meanwhile, intelligence of the King's speech at the opening of Parliament, of the resolutions adopted by that body, declaring the inhabitants of Massachusetts rebels, and the other acts of oppression already recorded, reached America, and the sentiment, " to arms ! to arms !" thrilled every heart. Concession was out of the question, and all awaited with an anxious impatience for the sound of the war signal. The inhabitants of Boston became greatly alarmed, and many left the city privately, being in daily dread of \ outrages, for it was evident that only a very small occurrence was > necessary to produce a bloody strife between the mutually exaspe- rated people and soldiery. | Subsequently General Gage received certain information that a considerable quantity of military stores were concealed at Concord, a town about eighteen miles distant from Boston. In the night be- tween the eighteenth and nineteenth of April, he detached some chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 151 Attempt to seize the Ammunition and Stores. Battle of Lexington. grenadiers and light infantry of his army, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, with orders to proceed to Concord and destroy the depot. It is also averred that General Gage commissioned them to seize Samuel Adams and John Han- cock, two of the warmest patriots, and (to government) most obnox- ious men in the Colony. The Bostonians, learning the departure of the expedition, speedily sent a warning to Adams and Hancock to be on their guard. The Committee of Public Safety, of which Elbridge Gerry was chairman, gave orders to have the ammunition and stores distributed. Doctor Warren, one of the most active patriots in Bos- ton, sent several messengers to arouse the country. Notwithstand- ing an order of General Gage, that no citizen should leave the town, these messengers succeeded in reaching Lexington, a town on the road to Concord, and divulged the intelligence. On the eighteenth," the people flocked together, the bells were rung, and cannons were fired to give the alarm to the adjacent country. The minute-men and other militia collected in considerable num- bers ; but, unable to ascertain the true direction of the march of the British soldiers, they dispersed at night. Colonel Smith, hearing the reports of the cannon, ordered six companies of light infantry to advance towards Lexington as fast as they could run, and secure the bridges. About five o'clock on the morning of the nineteenth, they reached Lexington. The people gave the alarm, and the provincial militia in the vicinity, to the num- ber of seventy, immediately assembled upon the green near the road. Major Pitcairn, who was at the head of the English troops, at once cried out, " Disperse, rebels ! lay down your arms and disperse ! " The provincials did not obey his imperious command, upon which he sprang from the ranks, discharged a pistol, and brandishing his sword, ordered his soldiers to fire. The soldiers, with loud huzzas, ran up, and some muskets were fired, followed by a general dis- charge, which killed and wounded quite a number. The infantry were soon reinforced by the grenadiers under Smith, and the whole detachment, driving the militia before them, pushed on to Concord, distant from Lexington about four miles. Their first act was to spike two cannons, and destroy their carriages, and a number of wheels prepared for the use of the artillery. They then threw into the river and wells about five hundred pounds of bullets, and wasted a quantity of flour and provisions. While these outrages were in progress, the provincials were gathering in large numbers from various quarters, and a detachment of the infantry that had been sent to scour the country in the neighborhood of Concord, were obliged to retreat to the main body. As they entered the town, a hot skir- .152 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. British Retreat to Boston. Dawn of the New Era. mish took place, and a considerable number were killed on both sides. Finding themselves in a perilous position, the English troops began a retrograde movement towards Lexington. The whole coun- try was aroused, and wherever the intelligence of the events of the morning were divulged, the people flew to arms. When the British arrived at Lexington, they were greatly exhausted, and must have been totally destroyed by the Americans, but for the timely aid afforded them by Governor Gage. Apprehensive of what actually happened, he despatched a reinforcement of sixteen companies, with some marines and two field pieces, under the command of Lord Percy,* who arrived at Lexington just as the English troops reached there, hotly pursued by the provincials. The fresh royal troops formed a square for the protection of their fatigued companions, wherein the exhausted soldiers laid down to rest. This accomplished, they all proceeded towards Boston, keeping the two field-pieces in the rear to protect them against the provincials, who increased in number every hour, and kept up an incessant fire, front and rear, from behind stone walls and hedges. At sunset, they reached Charlestown, and the next morning entered Boston. During the day the English had sixty-five killed, one hundred and eighty wound- ed, and twenty-seven missing. The Americans had fifty killed and thirty-eight wounded.f Such was the opening scene in the first act of the bloody drama of the American Revolution. The sword was drawn, the- scabbard was indeed thrown away, as the patriot Wilkes had intimated it might be, and thenceforth reconciliation was indignantly repelled, and independence sighed for and demanded. The events of that day were fraught with the mightiest results. They were the first labor- pains that attended the birth of a nation, now still in its infancy, but powerful as a youthful Hercules. They formed the first irruption of the chrysalis of old political systems, whence speedily came forth a noble and novel creature, with eagle eye and expansive wings, destined to soar far above the creeping reptiles of monarchy and autocracy that brood amid the debris of old dynasties. They indeed formed the significant prelude to that full diapason whose thundering harmony, drawn forth by the magic touch of the Spirit of Freedom, filled the nations with wonder, and ushered in the New Era so long predicted, and so long hoped for. The affair at Lexington was highly mortifying to the pride of the British officers and soldiers, and greatly encouraging to the provincial troops and people. The former could hardly endure the thought of * Lord Percy was the eldest son of the Duke of Northumberland. f Marshall, vol. ii., pp. 257-60. chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 153 Effect of the first Conflict. Enrolment and Organization of a Provincial Army. being defeated by a " flock of Yankees," as they contemptuously called the Americans ; whilst the latter plainly discovered that the famous English troops were not invincible.* From this moment, the English government was practically convicted of the falsity of their boast of American cowardice, and convinced that the strug- gle must be long and bloody — that rebels were easier crushed by the foot of haughty Peers upon the floor of Parliament, than by the rude heel of War upon their native soil. And the Americans also learned what valor, prompted by pure patriotism, might do ; and a confidence of success in the maintenance of their rights animated every heart. At the time of the battle of Lexington, the provincial Congress of Massachusetts was in session at Watertown, ten miles distant from Boston. When the news of that event reached them, they prepared an address to the English people, giving circumstantial details of the event, and entreating them to interfere and avert the calamities that threatened the Colonies. They also proceeded to the regular organ- ization of an army in the province. They fixed the pay of officers, and passed a resolution to raise, by levy, thirteen thousand six hun- dred men, and chose Colonel Artemas Ward for their general. They also invited the other New England Colonies to furnish each a pro- portionate quota, in order to make an aggregate of thirty thousand men, to be placed under the command of General Thomas, an officer of great experience. Connecticut immediately despatched a large corps, commanded by Colonel Putnam, an old and experienced officer, who had served in both of the last Colonial wars. The other Colonies were equally prompt, and within a few days after the affair at Lexington, the thirty thousand militia were enrolled. So great and universal was the ardor of the Americans, that the generals were obliged to send many thousand volunteers back to their homes. The provincial Congress issued a large sum in paper currency, for the pay of the troops, for the redemption of which the faith of the province was pledged. * Strong efforts were made by each party to prove the other the aggressor at Lexington. The English assert that when the Americans were quietly ordered by Major Pitcairn to leave the green, they did disperse, but in so doing, fired several shots, wounding one of the men, and also Pitcairn's horse in several places. This provocation, English authors assert, caused the order of Pitcairn to fire On the other hand, it is clearly proven by numerous affidavits which were presented to Congress at its session in May following, that the attack was first made by Pitcairn, as we have stated. English authors assert, that cruelties, paralleled only by their savage neighbors, were perpetrated upon the prisoners in the hands of the provincials. But it is proven beyond cavil or doubt, that the Americans treated the prisoners with great humanity, and even sent word to General Gage that he was at liberty to send surgeons to attend the wounded in their hands. 154 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Blockade of Boston. Universal Approval of the measure by the Colonies. Preparations were immediately made to blockade Boston, and twenty thousand men put themselves in cantonments and formed a line nearly twenty miles in extent, with the left leaning on the river Mystic, and the right on the town of Roxbury, thus enclosing Bos- ton. Generals Ward, Preble,* Heath, Prescott, Putnam and Tho- mas, were the officers put in command of the blockading army. Their head-quarters was at Cambridge ; and Putnam and Thomas, the former at Cambridge, and the latter at Roxbury, took their sta- tions so on the right wing of the army, that they effectually cut off the British garrison from all communication with the adjacent coun- try, by the isthmus. On the fifth of May, the provincial Congress formally declared General Gage, by the late transactions, utterly disqualified from acting as Governor, or in any other official capacity, and that no obedience was due to him ; but, on the contrary, he was to be con- sidered an " inveterate enemy." The blockading force was continu- ally augmenting, and ammunition and artillery were daily added to their supplies. Within a few days after the formation of their extended line, they were strengthened by sixteen field-pieces, four brass guns of a small size, a few large iron cannon taken out of merchant vessels, and two or three mortars and howitzers. Such was the state of affairs in the Colonies, when Lord North's " conciliatory propositions," so called, arrived — propositions which received, as they deserved, the scorn and contempt of the Americans. The gossamer web was too thin to cover even the minutest ill mo- tive ; and instead of soothing, it exasperated the feelings of the Americans. Nothing short of absolute and unconditional concession to their righteous demands would now satisfy them, for they had learned, by sad experience, to view the British ministry as a willing instrument of oppression. The bloodshed at Lexington filled the Colonies with horror and indignation ; and the vigorous measures of New England, in besieg- ing the British troops in Boston, were universally commended. New York, which had hitherto been more loyal than any other province, now resolved to make common cause with the other Colonies, and at a meeting of the inhabitants of the city, they adopted the resolutions of the general Congress of the preceding year. They also seized the military stores, and many of the women and children were removed out of the way of danger, as vigorous preparations for war were made. r • * Preble, according to Gordon, was unable to attend on account of ill health, and Ward and Putnam were the real acting officers. chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 155 General Revolutionary Movements in all the Colonies. In New Jersey, when the news of the affair at Lexington reached them, the people took possession of the provincial treasure, out of which to pay the troops that were immediately levied. In Mary- land, the people seized all the ammunition and military stores, among which were fifteen hundred muskets. They also issued an interdict against all commerce with the British army and fleet at Boston, determined to withhold all supply of food.* In South Carolina, the rigorous acts of Parliament were received upon the same day that the battle of Lexington occurred, which called forth strong measures, and prepared their minds to engage eagerly in the general coalition which succeeded that event. When the news of the battle arrived, the inhabitants rushed to the arsenal, seized all the arms, and placed them in the hands of the soldiers in the pay of the province. A provincial Congress was convoked, and the delegates entered into a solemn league for the defence of the country. They also (as well as Massachusetts) emitted bills of credit, which the people received with alacrity. In North Carolina, Governor Martin had, in April, endeavored to prevent the assembling of a provincial Congress at Newbern ; but it did assemble, approved of the measures of the late General Congress, and passed strong resolutions of disapprobation of the conduct of the Governor. Committees of Safety were appointed, and these were called to assemble toward the close of May at Charlotte court- house, in Mecklenburg county. Between twenty and thirty of these representatives of the people met on the appointed day,t and after the business of the convention was arranged it was resolved to read the proceedings at the court-house door, in the presence of the mul- titude. Proclamation was made, and Colonel Thomas Polk read a series of resolutions, in which the people of Mecklenburg declared a dissolution of the bonds that united them to Great Britain ; pro- claimed themselves free and independent, and took measures to organize a sort of temporary provincial government.:): The resolu- * The scarcity in Boston became extreme. The garrison, as well as the inhabit- ants, were reduced to salt provisions. Many who were accustomed to live in elegant style found themselves deprived of even the necessaries of life. The Governor, apprehensive of famine, began to issue passports, particularly to women, and those whose presence was a burden rather than an aid. f While the Convention was in session the news of the battle of Lexington arrived. Tradition says that the Convention was held on the 20th. X These resolutions, embodying a Declaration of Independence, and the first adopted by any assemblage of people in America, are too important, considered in their ultimate effect, to be passed by, by giving merely the substance. Doubtless other spontaneous movements of the people at that dark and trying hour, having equally important bearings upon passing events were made, but like this, they were entirely eclipsed by the general blaze of glory that haloes the Declaration of Inde- 156 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. The Mecklenbnrg Declaration of Independence. tions were heartily approved of, and at the call of the people, they were read again and again, during the day. Copies of them were immediately forwarded to the Continental Congress then in session at Philadelphia, and also to the Provincial Congress convened in Hillsborough on the twentieth of August, but these respective bodies took no present action in the premises, deeming the declaration pre- mature, as every hope of reconciliation with the mother country had not yet departed.* pendence made by the Continental Congress of 1*776. Subjoined are the declaratory- resolutions entire, said to have been drawn up by Dr. Epliraim Brevard, chairman of a committee appointed for the purpose. These do not appear to have been pub- lished at the time, and hence there are reasonable doubts of then authenticity. " THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION " ' Resolved, 1st. That whosoever directly or indirectly abetted, or in any way, form, or manner, countenanced the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to this country, to America, and to the inherent and unalienable rights of man. " ' Resolved, 2d. That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, do hereby dissolve the political bonds which have connected us with the mother country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown, and abjure all political connexion, contract, or association with that nation, who have wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of American Patriots at Lexington. " ' Resolved, 3d. That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing association, under the control of no power, other than that of our God, and the General Govern- ment of the Congress ; — to the maintenance of which independence, we solemnly pledge to each other, our mutual cooperation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor. " ' Resolved, 4th. That as we acknowledge the existence and control of no law, nor legal office, civil or military, within this county, we do hereby ordain and adopt, as a rule of life, all, each, and every of our former laws ; wherein, nevertheless, the crown of Great Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, immunities, or authority therein. " ' Resolved, 5th. That it is further decreed, that all, each, and every military officer in this county is hereby retained in his former command and authority, he acting conformably to these regulations. And that every member present of this delegation shall henceforth be a civil officer, viz. : a Justice of the Peace, in the character of a committee man, to issue process, hear and determine all matters of controversy, according to said adopted laws ; and to preserve peace, union, and harmony in said county ; and to use every exertion to spread the love of country and fire of freedom throughout America, until a general organized government be established in this province.' " * The papers of the Convention were preserved by the Secretary, John McKnitt Alexander, till the year 1S00, when they were destroyed, with his dwelling, by fire. He had fortunately given copies to different individuals, among them General Davie, of North Carolina, which copy is now (1847) in the hands of Governor Graham, the present chief magistrate of that State. Doubts having been expressed concern- ing the truth of the alleged Mecklenburg Convention and its proceedings, the author of this work wrote to Gov. Graham, making inquiry touching his possession, and the authenticity of, the copy of those proceedings, alleged to be in his custody. chap, iv.] . EVENTS OF 1775. 157 Proceedings of tho Virginia Congress. Bpeech of Patrick Henry. On the thirty-first of May, at a meeting at Charlotte, a series of republican resolutions (which were published in the newspapers of the day) were adopted, and from that time forth, the people of the province were, de facto, free and independent. The Provincial Congress of Virginia convened in March, and, by a series of resolutions, recommended a levy of volunteer troops in each county, for the better defence of the country. This bold mea- sure was the proposition of Patrick Henry. He had long witnessed with impatience the temporizing spirit of too many of the delegates, and, as he clearly saw that a crisis had arrived, he determined to urge energetic measures. On the introduction of his resolutions, the House was filled with consternation, and like his Stamp Act resolutions ten years before, they were opposed as rash and prema- ture, by some of the best patriots. But Henry met all their objec- tions with so much ability, that the resolutions were adopted by a large majority. Referring to the gracious manner with which the King had received their petition, he exclaimed : — " Suffer not your- selves to be betrayed by a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation ? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win us back to our love ? Let us not deceive ourselves, Sir ! These are the implements of war and subjugation ; the last arguments to which Kings resort. I ask, gentlemen, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission ? Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumula- tion of armies and navies ? No, Sir, she has none. They are meant for us ; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose them ? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying argument for the last ten years We have petitioned ; we have supplicated ; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted ; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult ; our supplications have been disregarded ; and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free ; if we wish to preserve inviolate those He politely answered in the affirmative, and that they appear among the papers on that subject, published by the Legislature of the State. -158 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Speech of Patrick Henry. i-nestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending ; if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight ! I repeat it, Sir, we must fight ! An ap- peal to arms and to the God of hosts, is all that is left us. " They tell us, Sir, that we are weak — unable to cope with so for- midable an enemy. But when shall we be stronger ? Will it be next week, or next year ? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house 1 Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot ? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of Liberty and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, Sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who pre- sides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone ; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. And again, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest.* There is no retreat but in submission and slavery ! Our chains are forged ! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston ! The war is inevitable ! and let it come ! ! I repeat it, Sir, let it come ! ! ! It is vain, Sir, to extenuate the mat- ter. Gentlemen may cry peace, peace — but there is no peace ! The war is actually begun ! [The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms ! t Our brethren are already in the field ! What is it that gentlemen wish ? What would they have ? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery ? Forbid it, Almighty God ! I know not what course others may take, but as for me," he cried, with both arms extended aloft ; his brow knit ; every feature marked with the resolute purpose of his soul ; and with his voice swelled to its loudest note, " Give me Libety or give me Death ! ! !" * The boldness of Mr. Henry, and the great influence which he exerted, caused him to be presented to the British government in a bill of attainder. His name, with that of Thomas Jefferson, Peyton Randolph, John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and several others, were on that black list. f This prediction was speedily fulfilled ; for almost " the next gale from the north" conveyed the boom of the signal-gun of Freedom at Lexington chat, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 159 Effect of Henry's Speech. Expedition against Ticonderosa. He took his seat. No murmur of applause was heard. The effect was too deep. After the trance of a moment, several mem- bers started from their seats. The cry to arms seemed to quiver on every lip and gleam from every eye. Richard Henry Lee arose and supported Mr. Henry with his usual spirit and elegance, but his melody was lost amid the agitations of that ocean which the master- spirit of the storm had lifted on high. That supernatural voice still sounded in their ears, and shivered along their arteries. They heard in every pause the cry of Liberty or Death. They became impatient of speech — their souls were on fire for action.* Thus it will be perceived that the people in all parts of the Colo- nies were impressed with the idea of the inevitable occurrence of War ; and various expeditions were planned. Among these was one for seizing the important fortress of Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, the key to the northern entrance into Canada. Colonel Ethan Allen was the chief projector of this expedition, and, early in May, accompanied by Colonels Easton, Browne and Warner, and Capt. Dickenson, with a number of volunteers from Connecticut and Vermont,! they proceeded towards Castleton. About the same time Benedict Arnold, a native of Norwich, Connecticut, and Captain in the provincial army, also conceived the plan of seizing Ticonderoga, and such confidence had the Massachusetts Committee of Safety in his bravery and judgment, that they gave him the rank of Colonel, with authority to levy troops for the expedition. Having collected a sum* cient number, he proceeded, and at Castleton he overtook Allen, who, much to his surprise, had anticipated him. He immediately put himself under Allen's command, and they proceeded on their march. The officer in command at Ticonderoga, was Captain La Place, an old friend of Allen. Precautions were taken to prevent their approach being known. They arrived at night on the banks of the lake opposite Ticonderoga, and there Allen found a boy who volun- teered to be their guide across the lake and to the fort.J With only eighty-three men, they approached the fortress in the grey of the early morning, entered by the covered way, and having reached the esplanade, raised a tremendous shout, which aroused the sleeping garrison. Supposing the number of invaders to be far greater than it actually was, the soldiers were paralysed, and offered but a feeble resistance. The boy conducted Allen to the door of La Place's bed-chamber, who at that moment appeared, half dressed, and de- * Wirt. f These styled themselves " Green Mountain Boys.'* % His name was Nathan Beman. He died in December, 1S46, in Franklin county, New York, at the age of ninety years. He lived to see the Union increase from thirteen to thirty States ! and from three millions of people to twenty millions. 11 • 160 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Capture of Ticonderoga. Meeting of the second Continental Congress. manded the cause of the tumult. The rough and well-known voice of Allen bade him surrender the fort. " By what authority do you make the demand ?" asked La Place. " By the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress !" thundered Allen. The commander found it was useless to parley, and at once surrendered.* They secured one hundred and twenty pieces of twenty-four pound brass cannon, several howitzers, balls,..bombs, and ammunition. A party was immediately sent to seize the fort at Crown Point, which was easily effected, and more than a hundred pieces of artillery were secured there. They next armed a schooner, which, under the command of Colo- nel Arnold, captured a corvette of war, which the English kept anchored at St. John's, at the head of the lake. They then proceed- ed to Skeensborough (now Whitehall), and successfully stormed and captured the fort, by which they came in possession of a large quan- tity of light artillery. This series of brilliant exploits put the Americans in complete possession of the lake and the chief route to Canada ; and inspired the Colonists with the greatest joy and hope for the future. The different fortresses were garrisoned ; and leav- ing the whole under the command of Arnold, Allen returned to Con- necticut. "Whilst these exciting events were in progress at the north and east, the Second Continental Congress met at Philadel- phia, on the opening of which, delegates from twelve Colo- nies took their seats. t Peyton Randolph was, for the second time, unanimously chosen President^ and Charles Thomson, Secretary. The first subject that engaged their attention, was the reports of the transactions in the various Colonies, having a tendency to open hos- tility. W r hen they received intelligence of the operations on Lake Champlain, they were quite unprepared for such serious measures ; but believing their cause a just one, and encouraged by such a success- ful commencement, they at once resolved to put all the Colonies in a state of military defence. But before adopting any measures of this kind, they determined to make fresh appeals to the King and people * This enterprise was facilitated by Noah Phelps, a captain of Connecticut volunteers. The day before Allen's arrival, Captain Phelps disguised himself and entered the fort at Ticonderoga, in the character of a countryman wanting to be shaved. In his pretended search for the garrison barber, he observed everything critically ; discovered that the walls in part, were in a ruinous state, and that guard was kept very negligently. t On the twentieth of July, the day appointed by Congress as a fast day, that body received despatches from Georgia, announcing that that province had joined the confederation, and appointed Delegates. J On the nineteenth of May, Mr. Randolph being obliged to return home, Jcha Hancock was unanimously chosen President, to fill his place. Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga. T. 180. chap. v.J EVENTS OF 1775. 163 Preliminary Proceeding of Congress. Appointment of a Commander in-Chief. of Great Britain.* They expressed to the King their continued devotion to his person and government, and their deep regret that circumstances had in any degree weakened their attachment to the Crown. To the people they strenuously denied the charge of aiming at independence, or of having, either directly or by implication, made overtures to any foreign government. They truly represented that their acts had been wholly defensive, and that in consequence of the rejection of their petitions by ministers, and wanton acts of oppres- sion by Parliament, all they had done was justifiable. " While we revere," said they, "the memory of our gallant and virtuous ances- tors, we never can surrender these glorious privileges for which they fought, bled, and conquered ; — your fleets and armies can destroy our towns, and ravage our coasts ; these are inconsiderable objects, — things of no moment to men whose bosoms glow with the ardor of Liberty. We can retire beyond the reach of your navy, and, without any sensible diminution of the necessaries of life, enjoy a luxury, which from that period you will want, — the luxury of being free." Having adopted these declarations, the Congress proceeded to make extensive military arrangements, by mustering into service, under the title of the Continental Army, the militia of the various Colonies, and such volunteers as might be obtained. They voted to issue paper money to the amount of three millions of dollars for the pay of the army, and took measures for the establishment of pro- visional assemblies in the several Colonies. On the fifteenth of June they adopted a resolution, " That a gene- ral be appointed to command all the Continental forces raised for the defence of American Liberty." Also, " That five hundred dol- lars per month be allowed for the pay and expenses of the general." This was an exceedingly delicate matter, for several military men of much experience were already in the army then investing Boston, and General Ward was in command of all the forces of the east. The great judgment and thorough knowledge of military affairs which George Washington, of Virginia, had exhibited on many occasions ; and his commanding talents, as displayed in the Congress of 1774, had made a deep impression upon the minds of the dele- gates, most of whom were now present, and their thoughts turned upon him to receive the high trust. It was questionable, however, in what light an attempt to supersede General Ward would be viewed. This difficulty, however, was overcome by the magnani- mity of the New England delegation. John Adams proposed the adoption of the provincial troops at Boston, as a " Continental Army," * See Appendix, Nete VI. 164 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Washington appointed Commander-in-Chief. His Commission , and at the conclusion of his remarks, he expressed his intention to propose a Member of Congress from Virginia, for the office of Commander-in-chief. All present understood it to be Washington, and when the day arrived for the appointment,* he was no- minated by Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, and was unani- mously elected. On the convening of Congress the next morning, the President communicated to him officially the notice of his appointment, and he rose in his place and signified his acceptance in a brief and appropriate reply.* Four days afterwards/ he received his commission from the President of Congress,! and the members pledged themselves by a unanimous resolve, to maintain, assist and adhere to him with their lives and fortunes in the same cause.J Four Major- Generals and eight Brigadier-Generals were likewise appointed for the Continental army.§ * Washington, standing in his place, said : — " Mr. President, — Though I am truly sensible of the high honor done me, in this appointment, yet I feel great distress, from a consciousness that my abilities and military experience may not be equal to the extensive and important trust. However, as the Congress desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty, and exert every power I possess in their service, and for the support of the glorious cause. I beg they will accept my most cordial thanks for this distinguished testimony of their approbation. But lest some unlucky event should happen, unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remem- bered, by every gentleman in this room, that I, this day, declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with. As to pay, Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that, as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept the arduous employment, at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will discharge, and that is all I desire." f It was in the following words : " To George Washington, Esq. : — We, reposing special trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor, conduct, and fidelity, do, by these presents, constitute and appoint you to be general and commander-in-chief of the army of the United Colonies, and of all the forces now raised, or to be raised by them, and of all others who shall voluntarily offer their services, and join the said army for the defence of American Liberty, and for repelling every hostile inva- sion thereof; and you are hereby vested with full power and authority to act as you shall think for the good and welfare of the service. And we do hereby strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under your command, to be obedient to your orders, and diligent in the exercise of their several duties. And we do also enjoin and require you, to be careful in executing the great trust reposed in you, by causing strict discipline and order to be observed in the army, and that the soldiers be duly exercised, and provided with all convenient necessaries. And you are to regulate your conduct in every respect, by the rules and discipline of war (as here given you), and punctually to observe and follow such orders and directions, from time to time, as you shall receive from this, or a future Congress of these United Colonies, or committee of Congress. This commission is to continue in force, until revoked by this, or a future Congress. Signed, John Hancock, President." t Sparks's Life of Washington (1 vol.), p. 131. § To the former rank were chosen Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam : to the latter , Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montg< mery, David chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 167 Arrival of reinforcements from England: Occupation of Breed's II il by the Americana In the meantime, war had actually commenced in New England Towards the close of May, Generals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton, arrived at Boston, from England, with a considerable number of marines and drafts from other regiments. Several regiments from Ireland speedily followed, raising the effective force of the aMay25 . British army to upwards of ten thousand men. General Gage issued a proclamation,* calling upon the people to lay down their arms, and offering a free pardon to all, except. John Han- cock and Samuel Adams, whose political crimes were considered too flagitious to admit of forgiveness. It was evident that preparations to march the army into the coun- try were in progress by the British generals, to prevent which, the Americans strengthened their entrenchments across Boston Neck , but learning that the former had changed their plan, and were direct- ing their attention to the peninsula at Charlestown, the latter made instant provision for defeating this design. On the evening of the sixteenth of June, Colonel Prescott was ordered to take a detachment of one thousand men and form an entrenchment upon Bunker Hill, a lofty eminence which commanded the neck of the peninsula of Charlestown. Between nine and ten o'clock this force moved silently from Cambridge, passed unobserved by the British over Charlestown Neck, and by some mistake, repaired to the summit of Breed's Hill, another eminence upon that peninsula, and within cannon-shot of Boston. They immediately set to work to throw up a redoubt and entrenchments, and to place their guns in battery. They labored with so much ardor, that by daylight the fol- lowing morning the whole was sufficiently completed to afford them some shelter from the enemy's fire. So silently was all this labor performed, that neither the English troops nor the peo- ple of Boston had any intimation of it, until the fortifications were discovered, about four o'clock in the morning, by the captain of one of the ships of war in Boston harbor. . He immediately began to play upon the Americans with his cannon, the report of which aroused the army and the people, who could scarcely believe the testimony of their eyes when they beheld the seeming work of magic. General Gage saw at once, that if the Americans should succeed in finishing a strong fortification there, overlooking, as the eminence did, the whole city, they would speedily dislodge him from the Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and Natha- niel Green. To them was added Horatio Gates, as Adjutant-general, with the rank of Brigadier. Washington appointed Thomas Mifflin, of Philadelphia his aide-d-e- camp. 168 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Preparations for Battle. Burning of Charlestown, town ; and he arranged a battery of six heavy; guns upon Copp's Hill, a commanding eminence in Boston, and opened a general fire of artillery upon them, accompanied by bombs, b#t without much effect. Some of the guns of the fleet also opened upon them, but the Americans persevered in the completion of their redoubt. About noon a strong detachment from the English, three thousand in number, under the command of General Howe, was carried across the river in boats to Charlestown, with the design of storming the works. They found the fortifications so much stronger than they anticipated, that General Howe thought it prudent to wait for reinforcements. ' The right wing of the Americans rested upon the houses of Charlestown, and the part which connected with the main body was defended by the redoubt upon Breed's Hill. The centre and left wings formed themselves behind the trench which, following the declivity, descended towards Mystic River. From the extremity of the left wing to the river, they erected parallel palisades for pro- tection. The Massachusetts troops occupied Charlestown, the re- doubt and part of the trench ; those of Connecticut, under Captain Nolten, and of New Hampshire, under Colonel Starke, the rest of the trench. While the English were waiting for a reinforcement, the Americans received one under Doctor Joseph Warren, who was an active and popular patriot, and had received the appointment of Major General. General Pomeroy made his appearance at the same time, and took command of the Connecticut troops. General Putnam was the chief director of the movements, and was continually seen passing along the lines, giving orders and affording encourage- ment. While these awful preparations for combat were in progress, every hill-top, church-spire and roof, in Boston, was crowded with people, waiting with dreadful anxiety to see the battle begin. .About one o'clock, the heat of the day intense, the English forces, divided into tw r o columns, moved towards the Americans. It was arranged that the left wing under General Pigot should attack the Americans in Charlestown ; the centre should attack the redoubt ; and the right wing, consisting of light infantry, should force a passage through the palisades near the Mystic, and thus assail the Americans in flank and rear. The Americans who were stationed in Charlestown, fearing the assailants might separate them from the main body upon the hill, retreated ; and immediately an order from General Gage was put into execution — Charlestown was set on fire ! The buildings being of wood, the conflagration spread rapidly, and soon the whole village was in ashes. By this atrocious act, two thousand people chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 169 Battle of Bunker Hill. were deprived of their habitations, and a great amount of property- was destroyed. What a scene was now presented to view ! Upon a small emi- nence, defended by a feeble fortification erected in a day, stood a few brave men, marshalled from the furrows and workshops, and undisciplined in the art of war, bidding defiance to thousands of the choice troops of the most powerful nation upon the earth, which were commanded by experienced generals, and aided by a fleet of armed vessels, all ready at a signal^ to scatter their iron hail and destructive bombs, along the patriot line. At their feet, a large town was in flames, while within sight, thousands of men, women and children, the loved ones of their homes, warm friends and dependent families, were rushing, pale with anxiety and alarm, to witness the dreadful conflict. Silently and slowly the British troops advanced, while not a gun was fired by the Americans until the enemy were within about ten rods of the redoubt. Then they poured upon them such a shower of bullets,. that their ranks were soon thinned and broken, and in great confusion they retreated to the landing place. The ground was literally covered with the slain, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the British officers rallied their troops for a second attack. Finally they succeeded, and with unbroken column marched slowly up the hill. Again the Americans reserved their fire until the enemy approached very near, when they overwhelmed them a second time with a deluge of balls. The English again fled in great confusion to the shore, and for some time General Howe remained alone upon the field, every officer having fled or been killed. General Clinton, who, from Copp's Hill, had been watching these movements, seeing the destruction of Howe's troops, immediately sped to their succor. With a number of resolute officers, he crossed Charles River, rallied the troops, and a third time they ascended the hill, to make a general charge upon the Americans with fixed bayo- nets. In such an attack, the English had great advantage, for the • Americans, though plentifully supplied with muskets, had few r bayo- nets ; and after the second attack, their ammunition was nearly exhausted. All chance for a reinforcement, or a supply of ammuni- tion, was cut off by the complete sweep of the isthmus which the armed vessels had. Tiie left wing and centre of the British army attacked the redoubt, while the light infantry made a violent attack upon the palisades The assault at all' points was furious, and the resistance obstinate. When their ammunition entirely failed, the Americans defended themselves valiantly with the butt-ends of their muskets ; but , seeing 170 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Retreat of the Americans and Death of General Warren. Arrival of Washington at Cambridge, the redoubt, and a part of the trench in possession of the enemy, they at once commenced a retreat across Charlestown Neck, where they were enfiladed by the guns of the " Glasgow," an English sloop-of- war, and one or two gun boats or floating batteries. But they re- treated with a comparatively small loss, and entrenched themselves upon Prospect Hill, about two miles northwest from Breed's Hill, still maintaining the command of the entrance to Boston. It was during this retreat that tfye brave General Warren was killed. Finding the troops under his command hotly pursued by the enemy, he stood alone before the ranks, endeavoring to rally and encourage them by his own example. At that moment an English officer who knew him, borrowed a musket from one of his soldiers, and shot him dead.* In this battle, according to the official accounts, the Americans had one hundred and forty-five slain, and three hun- dred and four wounded : the English had two hundred and twenty- six killed, and eight hundred and twenty-eight wounded.f Among the British officers of distinction who were killed on the ground, were Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie, Major Pitcairn (the com- mander at Lexington), and Major Williams. Major Spendlove was mortally wounded, and died a few days after. In the beginning of July, Washington took his leave of Congress, and started for Cambridge. He arrived there on the twelfth, and found the blockading army considerably disheartened in consequence of the defeat at Bunker Hill, and their general discipline was very defective. They had been gathered suddenly from various points, and there being no positive authoritative head, insubordination to strict discipline was common. They had but little ammunition, and most of their guns were without bayonets. His first care was to properly organize and officer the army, and get a supply of ammuni- tion and stores. He soon succeeded in forming an excellent staff of brave officers, and in the establishment of a code of disciplinary laws, to which the soldiers in general paid ready obedience. On reconnoitring, Washington discovered that the main body of the British army, under General Howe, were strongly entrenching themselves upon Bunker Hill. Three floating batteries were placed in Mystic River ; a twenty gun ship in Charles River ; a strong bat- tery was erected on Copp's Hill in Boston, and very strong entrench- * The death of General Warren was greatly lamented by the Americans. He was a physician, and much beloved both in his profession and private life. He had received the commission of Major-General just three days before the battle, and was only thirty-five years of age. He rushed into this battle as a mere volunteer. He was killed almost instantly, by a ball in the head, on or near the spot where now stands Bunker Hill Monument. — Goodrich. \ Marshall, vol. ii., pp. 288-94. chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 173 Organizntion of the Continental Army. Expedition to Canada. merits were in progress upon Boston Neck. In view of these active operations, he clearly saw how dangerous it would be to follow the advice of some members of the Congress, to attack the British troops at once. Instead of that, he began strengthening his own line ; and contracting it, he kept the centre at Cambridge, under his own immediate command, placed the right wing at Roxbury, under General Ward, and the left near the Mystic, under General Lee. The British were thus completely blockaded by land, and were obliged to receive all their supplies by ships from distant ports, as the American^would not furnish them with food of any kind. Still they remained strangely inactive, and the summer and autumn passed away without any collision between the two armies, thus giving Washington ample time to organize his forces and prepare for the Spring campaign, if circumstances should demand one. General Gage was recalled , a and the chief command devolved upon ~ ° . TT x a October. (jreneral Howe. The capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, unlocked the door of entrance into Canada, and an expedition for revolutionizing that whole province was early concerted. For this purpose a body of about three thousand troops from New York and New England, were placed under the command of Generals Schuyler and Mont- gomery, who passed up Lake Champlain, and early in September appeared before St. John's, a town at the head of the lake, not far distant from Montreal, and the first British post in Canada. For the twofold purpose of preventing or committing invasion, General Carleton, the Governor of Canada, had placed nearly a thousand men in Fort St. John. In the meanwhile, hearing of the success of Allen and Arnold, General Gage had sent Brigadier-Gene- ral Prescott and a few other officers to Montreal to aid General Carleton ; and about the time the provincials appeared before the fortress, Colonel Guy Johnstone arrived there with seven hundred Indian warriors of the Five Nations, and offered their services to the Governor. But they were not accepted, and many of them soon afterwards joined the provincial army. Finding themselves opposed by so large a force, the provincials retired to, and fortified Aux Noix, an island in the lake about one hundred and fifteen miles north of Ticonderoga. As soon as the work was accomplished, General Schuyler hastened to Ticonderoga for reinforcements, but being attacked by a severe illness, the whole command devolved upon General Montgomery, a young, active, and courageous officer, and skilful military tactitian. He at once made preparations to attack Montreal, and for this purpose, opened a battery against St. John's ; but want of necessary 174 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Capture of Ethan Allen. Expedition of Arnold. • ammunition made the progress of the siege a slow one. By a sudden movement, he captured Fort Chambly,« a few- miles north of St. John's, and obtained several pieces of cannon and a large amount of powder. The intrepid Ethan Allen, who participated in these movements, offered to take one hundred and fifty picked men at night, and cap- ture Montreal. Leave was granted him, and the brave Colonel with only eighty men crossed the St. Lawrence, and before daylight approached the town. He was met by British troops and French Canadians of the place, under Major Campbell, and fcfter a severe battle, was defeated, and himself taken prisoner and sent to England in irons. Fifteen of his men were killed, and seven wounded. On the third of November, St. John's surrendered unconditionally, with upwards of five hundred regulars and one hundred Canadian volunteers. As General Carleton could not get reinforcements, and, hearing that Colonel Arnold with another American force was ap- proaching Point Levi, he embarked his men, and retreated down the St. Lawrence to stop Arnold's progress. Carleton was conveyed in a whale-boat, with muffled oars, down the river, and through Mont- gomery's rafts, on a dark night, and reached Quebec in safety. Montgomery left St. John's immediately on its surrender, leaving a small garrison for its defence, and darting across the St. Lawrence, entered Montreal without much opposition. On the thirteenth it capitulated, and leaving a small garrison there, he hastened towards Quebec, to meet the army under Arnold, which, by forced marches, through a dreary wilderness, succeeded in reaching the banks of the St. Lawrence at Point Levi, on the ninth of November.* When * This expedition of Arnold, in its conception and execution, is one of the most remarkable on record, and whatever , blemishes afterwards appeared upon his character, one thing cannot be denied — he was a man of great sagacity and boldness of character, and as brave an officer as ever commanded an army. At his own request, he was despatched to Quebec, with about eleven hundred men. The route was then a dreary desert, intersected by dense forests and swamps. Start- ing from Cambridge, the head-quarters of the army blockading Boston, he marched one hundred and thirty miles northward of that city, and embarked with his men in batteaux upon the rough and tortuous Kennebec. He was quite ignorant of the character of the stream he was ascending, it having never been surveyed. He found strong currents, craggy rocks, dangerous shoals, and numerous falls and rapids ; but nothing daunted, he pursued his toilsome journey. But Colonel Enos, his second in command, got embarrassed in the windings of the Dead River, a branch of the Kennebec, and finding it impossible to procure food for his soldiers, gave up in despair, and returned to Cambridge, with nearly one-third of the whole detachment. Finding it impossible to follow the river further, Arnold abandoned his batteaux and forced his way through forests, swamps, and broad savannahs, and for thirty-two long days, he traversed a howling wilderness, where no signs of human life met his eye.* His patriot troops suffered dreadfully from hunger and cold, yet scarcely a * This country is now the State of Maine. chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 175 Arriv;il of Montgomery and Arnold at Quebec. Siege of Quebec. Montgomery arrived, he found that he had only about four hundred effective men, his garrisons and desertions having thus reduced his army. Previous to the arrival of Montgomery, and on the day that Mon- treal capitulated, Arnold crossed the St. Lawrence, ascend- ed the heights of Abraham, at the point where the brave Wolfe scaled them, and drew up his forces upon the plain. But he found the garrison too strong for him, and he retreated to Point Aux Trembles, twenty miles above Quebec, and there awaited the arrival of Montgomery.* Had Arnold reached there a little sooner, he might have taken General Carleton and his staff prisoners, for they left it but a few hours previously. On the arrival of Montgomery,* the two forces were united, and numbered about nine hundred men. They marched upon Quebec, which was then strongly garrisoned- the forces of General Carleton having been added to those of Colonel McLean. Montgomery sent a flag and summoned the garrison to surrender. The summons was answered by firing upon the bearer of the flag. Finding a siege necessary, he opened a six gun battery within seven hundred ) T ards of the walls. c His heaviest eDeCe30# guns being twelve-pounders, they were too light to piake a breach, and, after a long and ineffectual siege, the cwo officers deter- mined upon an assault at night. This was an exceedingly dangerous enterprise, and nothing but the desperate nature of the case, like that of Wolfe, could have justified the temerity that planned it. But they must either abandon the siege, and retreat homewards, amid the rigors of a Canadian winter, or make the desperate effort. The latter was their determination. Between four and five o'clock in the morning on the thirty-first of December, in the midst of 2 heavy storm of snow, the American troops, arranged in four columns, urre put in motion. Two of them, under Majors Livingston and Brown, were to make two feigned attacks upon the upper town ; while the other two, led by Mont- murmur escaped their lips. On the third of November he reached the first Cana- dian settlement on the river Chaudiere, which ffows into the St. Lawrence nearly opposite Quebec. 11- had then divided the last fragment of provisions among his men, and after resting for two or three days, and procuring a scanty supply of food from the thin population, he took up his line of march along the banks of the Chaudiere, and reached Point Levi, opposite Quebec, on the ninth of November. * When Ar&old first arrived opposite Quebec, the garrison was very weak, and it •would doubtless have been obliged to surrender to him unconditionally, if he could have crossel the river immediately on his arrival. But for five days a terrible storm raged, and he could procure no boats. In the meanwhile, Colonel McLean and his brave Highlanders, who had been falling back from the Sorel, to reach the city, succeeded, and thus saved it. 1 — 176 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Death of General Montgomery. Capture of Arnold's Division. gomery and Arnold, were to make real attacks upon the lower town, upon opposite sides. Montgomery advanced along- a narrow strip of beach by the way of Cape Diamond, and passed a piquet and block, which were quickly deserted on his approach. His progress was much impeded by enormous masses of ice which the current of the river had piled up, and his men, slipping and clambering, were stretched along in a thin line, in a peculiarly exposed position. Some English sailors and Highland soldiers stood silently at the battery as the Americans approached, and when they arrived within about forty paces, a cannon loaded with grape shot, was discharged, and dealt death on every side. The brave Montgomery,* Captain McPherson, his aide-de-camp, Captain Cheeseman, an orderly-sergeant, and a private, were instantly killed, and several others were slightly wounded. Seeing their officers fall, the soldiers retreated in great confusion. In the meanwhile, Arnold had entered the town, and at the head of his men, proceeded to capture a battery of two twelve-pounders, situated in a harrow street. The artillery with one cannon upon a sledge, led the van, followed by a company of riflemen, under Cap- tain Morgan, afterwards distinguished for his brave exploits at the south. When near the battery, they received a flank fire of mus- ketry, and Arnold, severely wounded in the leg, was carried to the hospital. Morgan tooV the command, and rushing forward, secured the battery. The English and Canadians now pressed upon them from all sides, and finding ii impossible to retreat, the Americans, to the number of three hundred ^nd forty, after a contest of several hours, surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Between sixty and seventy Americans were kilie/1. Arnold, with the remnant of the army, retreated up the river, three miles above Quebec, where he received occasional reinforce- ments, and maintained his position during the winter. General Thomas, who was appointed to succeed Montgomery, arrived there * The body of Montgomery was borne off the field by Major (afterwards Colonel) Aaron Burr, who accompanied Arnold in his march through the wilderness. Burr was within six feet of his general when he fell. Montgomery was deeply lamented by all. He had distinguished himself in the French and Indian wars, had shared the toils, and hardships, and honors of Wolfe, and, when the Revolution broke out, joined the American army. He had previously purchased an estate upon the Hud- son River, in the county of Duchess, and married the daughter of Robert Living- ston, one of the leading patriots of the Revolution. His body was found in the snow, the day after the battle, and by order of General Carleton, it was buried with the honors due to an officer of his rank. Congress subsequently directed a monument to be erected to his memory ; and in 1818, at the expense of tae State of New York, his remains were placed near the monument, a basso-relievo, under the portico of St. Paul's church in thecity of New York. chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 177 Death of General Thomas. Patrick Henry and Governor Dunmore, of Virginia. early in May ; but Governor Carleton, having about that time received large reinforcements from England, marched against the Americans, and obliged them to make a hasty retreat, leaving all their stores and many of the sick in the hands of the enemy. The sick were very humanely treated, and after being well fed and clothed, were allowed a safe return home. At the mouth of the river Sorel, General Thomas was reinforced by several regiments, but was unable to maintain his position. He there died of the small-pox. The American army retreated a June 18j from post to post, and finally entirely evacuated Canada.* - 1776 - While these events were transpiring at the North, and New Eng- land was in open rebellion, the other Colonies were n a blaze, and eager to join the standard of revolt. In Virginia, a AJmpest of indig- nation was raised against Lord Dunmore, the Governor, in conse- quence of publicity having been given to so vie of his letters, con- taining language similar to those of Hutchison. This indignation was increased by various subsequent impolitic acts, and, finally, an open rupture took place. A Pro^ricial Congress having been formed, and provision made to arm && inhabitants, as in New Eng- land, the Governor unwisely considered it necessary to remove the powder of the magazine at ^illiamsburgh, on board an b April ^ English vessel of war. Tin'-* was done at night, 6 and the 1775 - next morning the people, highly indignant, demanded its immediate restitution. The Governor refused, but pledged his word and honor, that if the powder was wanted to quell a dreaded insurrection of the slaves, it should be immediately restored. But the stern sense of justice of Patrick Henry could not be satisfied with this compromise, and his keen perception of the ten- dency of events around him, decided him to prepare at once for energetic measures. He called together a company of vol- unteers, c under the command of Captain Meredith, and aroused their patriotism by his burning eloquence. They decided that the powder must be immediately restored, or its equivalent in money paid into the provincial treasury. Captain Meredith resigned his command, and Henry, placing himself at the head of the company, marched towards Williamsburgh, to present their dictum to the Governor. The news of the movement spread like wild-fire, and the popularity of the leader was so attractive, that before he reached the seat of government, nearly five thousand people had joined his standard. The royalists were dismayed, and lukewarm patriots were greatly alarmed. The family of Lord Dunmore was conveyed on board a ship of war for safety, and his residence was strongly garrisoned by marines. But the Governor saw that resistance was 178 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Burning of Norfolk by Governor Dunmore. Abdication of Colonial Governors, vain, and on the morning of the fourth of May, he caused Henry to be met, and payment to be made for the powder, to the full amount claimed by him.* Other events soon after followed, which so much excited the people against the Governor, that he deemed it prudent to abdicate the government, and take shelter with his family again, on board the Fowey man-of-war. He endeavored during the summer and autumn to regain his lost power, by attacks at different points, by small detachments from the vessel, but finding that these expedi- tions incensed without awing the people, he resolved upon bolder and more cruel measures. He authoritatively summoned all capable of bearing arr^s, and offered freedom to the slaves who should join his standard ! £y these means he collected a force sufficient to take possession of Norfolk, the principal sea-port of Virginia. The pro- vincials assembled t considerable body 6f troops to dislodge them, and succeeded in driving Lo r d Dunmore and the loyalists and blacks under his charge, back on board, the Fowey, where he was greatly annoyed by discharges of musketry <> om the houses near the water. In the meantime, the frigate LiverpoU arrived, and the Governor sent word to the provincials, that they mus, furnish provisions for the vessels, and stop firing, or he would borrhard the town. The inhabitants refused, and the Liverpool, two corvettes, and the Fowey, opened a destructive cannonade upon the town. At the same time some marines a Jan. i, landed and set fire to the house*, and, in a short time, Nor- 1776, folk was reduced to ashes/ 1 Even this atrocious act did not awe the people into submission ; and finding further attempts to regain his power useless, he sailed for the Wes«. Indies, where he left the negroes, and proceeded to join the main arm v. Governor Martin, of North Carolina, Lord William Campbell, Governor of South Carolina, and Governor Tryon, of New York, became involved in similar troubles, and respectively took refuge for safety on board English ships of war. The Governors of other Colonies, who contrived to retain their places, were obliged to do so at the expense of all power, for nowhere were the officers of the Crown allowed to exercise jurisdiction. More difficulties occurred in New York than in any otner Colony, except Massachusetts and Virginia, on account of the many royalists and timid patriots who resided there. Governor Tryon had been notified by Lord Dartmouth, that the commanders of vessels had orders to act against any city, where troops were raised, or fortifica- tions erected, as open rebels. This order Tryon took special pains to make generally known, and as New York was greatly exposed to attacks from the sea, the ardor of the revolutionists made but little * Three hundred and thirty pounds sterling. chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 179 Destruction of a Tory printer's press in New York. Proceedings of Congress. head against the loyalty of some and the fears of others. Still, a tone of defiance was observed. A Committee of Public Safety was appointed, and other measures, calculated to carry out the plans of the General Congress, were adopted. Several tumults occurred during the summer and autumn, caused by the conflicting sentiments of Whigs and Tories. The printing-press of James Rivington, a tory printer, was broken, and his type melted and cast into bullets ;* and various indignities were offered to those who sided with the government. On the other hand, the Tories did everything in their power to embarrass the movements of the revolutionary party, defeat the plans of the General Congress, and to give aid to the British ships anchored in the bay, by supplying them with provisions and other stores. Finally, in October, the General Congress perceiving an increase of defection from the American cause, in the Colony of New York, adopted a recommendation to Provincial Congresses to " arrest and secure every person in the respective Colonies, whose going at large might, in their opinion, endanger the safety of the Colonies, or the liberties of America." Governor Tryon at once saw what would be the effect of this recommendation, and fled for refuge on board the Halifax packet, lying in the harbor, from whence he kept up a constant intercourse with the royalists on shore. During the summer and autumn, the General Congress was busy in the consummation of plans to carry on the war with vigor. They considered a plan for a confederation of all the Colonies, under the title of the Thirteen United Colonies of North America ; issued bills of credit, at various times, to the amount of six millions of Spanish dollars ; adopted an address to the people of Canada ; a declaration of the causes which led to the war ; a petition to the King ; an address to the people of Great Britain, and also to the people of Ireland ;t established a Post 'Office ;J and assumed all the duties and powers of an independent government. * About noon on the third of November, a company of light horse, seventy-five in number, under Captain Sears, a member of the New York Provincial Congress, armed with muskets and bayonets, marched into the city and demolished the obnox- ious establishment. On their road back, they seized the Rev. Mr. Seabury (a cler- gyman of the Church of England), and two or three others, and carried them pri- soners to Connecticut. These high-handed measures were not justified by the intelligent Whigs — still, such was the excited state of the times, no attempt was thought prudent to be made, to punish the offenders. f See Appendix, Note VI. X Doctor Franklin, finding a reconciliation with the home government past all hope, returned to America in April, and was immediately elected a delegate to the General Congress from the Colony of Pennsylvania. He was one of the most usei'ul and active men in that body. In August he was appointed Postmaster-Gene- ral, with a salary of one thousand dollars per annum. 180 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Deplorable Condition of the Continental Army. Washington's Appeal to Congress . While the whole country was lifting high the arm of defiance, and looking to the Continental army at Cambridge for its support, gloomy forebodings for the future disturbed the mind of the commander-in-chief. The troops under him were in a distressed condition for meeting the rigors of the approaching winter, and Washington found that their destitution, coupled with the disastrous result of the conflict on Breed's Hill, would cause many to leave the army on the expiration of their term of enlistment. As none of any importance could be added to his army without the concur- rence of either the General Congress, or the Provincial Assemblies, he feared the effects of delay which large bodies always exhibit. He earnestly solicited Congress to take measures for the a Sept. 20. J .° next enlistment, and to provide comforts for the army. a On the eighteenth of October, Franklin, Lynch, and Harrison, a committee of Congress, arrrived at his head-quarters, and soon arranged matters satisfactorily. Authority was given to levy twenty-six regiments of about eight hundred men each, independently of the militia. Con- gress, however, would not consent to the enlistment of soldiers for more than a year, nor did they agree to give a bounty until the next January. It required all Washington's firmness and address to induce soldiers again to enlist, and when the period of their first enlistment expired, and new ones were made, he found his force reduced to about five thousand men. These were afterwards rein- forced ; but had an active enemy witnessed this dissolution and re-assemblage of an army, the result must have been disastrous in the extreme.* Notwithstanding the coast swarmed with American privateers,! and Congress had ordered that five ships of thirty-two guns, five of twenty-eight guns, and three of twenty-four guns, should be built * As early as the twentieth of September, he wrote thus to Congress : — " It gives me great distress to oblige me to solicit the attention of the honorable Con- gress to the state of this army, in terms which imply the slightest apprehension of being neglected. But my situation is inexpressibly distressing, to see the winter fast approacking upon a naked army ; the time of their service within a few weeks of expiring ; and no provision yet made for such important events. Added to these, the military chest is totally exhausted ; the Paymaster has not a single dollar in hand. The Commissary-General assures me he has strained his credit for the sub- sistence of the army to the utmost. The Quarter-master-General is precisely in the same situation ; and the greater part of the troops are in a state not far from mutiny upon a deduction from their stated allowance." — Washington's Letters. f The privateers captured many English vessels loaded with provisions and am- munition for the British land and naval forces on our coast ; and some of them, with unequalled skill and intrepidity, extended their expeditions to the coast of Africa, and seized the powder of the British fSrts, before the garrisons were aware of the outbreak in America. They also landed on the island of Bermuda, surprised the magazine, and carried off all the powder. chap, v.] EVENTS OF 1775. 181 •lings in Parliament. and put to sea with all possible speed, yet the people on the coast dreaded the assaults of the British navy. The distress in Boston caused descents to be made upon coast towns to procure provisions. Falmouth, in Massachusetts, refusing to give aid, was laid in ashes ; Newport was threatened with a similar fate, and indeed all the sea- ports were so entirely exposed that not the least safety was felt. These things made Washington dread extensive defection on the part of the exposed Colonists ; and, together with the mutinous spirit engendered by privations, becoming fearfully visible in the army, made his fears of a general miscarriage painful in the extreme. The disastrous campaign at the north deepened the gloom that brooded over the Colonists, and the year 1775 closed without much hope for the success of the Americans. Parliament assembled on the twenty-sixth of October, and the burden of the speech from the throne was the intelligence of events transpiring in America. Members declared their belief that the Colonists aimed at complete independence, and recommended deci- sive exertions to crush the rebellion ; the adoption of resolves to pardon the misguided of the rebels who should repent, and the appointment of commissioners, resident in America, to have discre- tionary power to grant pardons, and also indemnity to any province that should return to its allegiance. They stated that offers of aid had been received from several foreign powers, and that no reason existed for apprehending hostility or impediment, in any quarter. Ministers determined upon the most vigorous measures to put down the rebellion, so fiercely blazing in the Colonies. The late events in America had awakened a false national pride, and addresses poured in from various parts of the kingdom, expressing assurance of public support. The petition to the King, sent by Congress, was rejected by ministers as coming from an illegal body, and, as they expressed it, "consisting only of a series of empty professions, which their actions belie." The debates in both Houses of Parliament on the adoption of an address to the King, which was but an echo, in sentiment, to his speech, were very warm. Still, ministers maintained their usual majorities, although the opposition gained a few accessions to their numbers. Among them was the Duke of Grafton, who, misled, as he said, by the supposition that the measures of ministers would issue in a peaceful adjustment of difficulties, now urged a liberal course of conciliation, by repealing all the obnoxious acts passed since 1763. The cabinet, however, would not concur with him, and he resigned the seals and took a decided place in the ranks of the opposition. Severe sickness silenced the thunders of Chatham's 182 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1775. Burke's plan for conciliation. Martial Law declared in the Colonies by Parliament. eloquence upon the floor of the Senate, but Camden, Shelburne, and Richmond, nobly defended the cause of the Americans. They declared that in every instance Great Britain had been the aggressor, and that her proceedings had been unjust, oppressive, and cruel in the extreme. Wilkes, then Lord Mayor, said ministers had wrested the sceptre from the hands of his Majesty. Colonel Barre severely censured the actors in the campaign at Boston. " The British army," said he, " is a mere wen — a little excrescence on the vast continent of America ;" and he assured ministers that defeat was certain, fox characterized Lord North as the blundering pilot who had brought the vessel of State into its present difficulties ; " in one campaign he had lost a whole country." Mr. Adam charged Lord North with indolence and inaction. The minister justified that inaction on the ground that he had been deceived by events, never imagining that all America would simultaneously have arisen in arms. The address was carried in the Commons, one hundred and seventy- six to seventy-two ; in the Lords, seventy-five to thirty-two. In the House of Lords, the Duke of Richmond introduced the petition of Congress to the King ; and observing Mr. Richard Penn, from Pennsylvania,* in the house, he, with much difficulty, obtained permission that he should be examined before them. Governor Penn declared his belief that the Colonies were willing to acknowledge the legislative authority of Great Britain, and did not aim at inde- pendence ; that they would resist arbitrary taxation, and all the other obnoxious acts, so that, if no concessions were made, they would not hesitate in seeking the aid of foreign powers. The Duke then moved that the petition afforded ground for conciliation, but it was lost, by eighty-six to thirty-nine. Mr. Burke proposed a plan in the Commons, for conciliation. It included a repeal of the Boston Port Bill ; a promise not to tax America ; a general amnesty ; and the calling of a Congress, by royal authority, for the adjustment of remaining difficulties. This plan rather pleased Lord North, but he was so well assured that it would not effect its intended objects, that he would not accept it. The proposition was lost by a large majority. Lord North then introduced a bill, prohibiting all intercourse or trade with the Colonies, till they should submit, and placing the whole country under martial law. This bill included the suggestion of the King, to appoint resident commissioners, with discretionary powers, to grant pardons, and effect indemnities. The bill received * The petition was sent to England by the hand of Governor Penn, and he and Arthur Lee were instructed to procure its presentation. CHAP. V.] EVENTS OF 1775. 183 Engagement of German mercenary troops for the British Army in America. the sweeping majority in the Commons of one hundred and twelve to sixteen ; in the Lords, seventy-eight to nineteen. Having determined, by this bill, to employ fo;ce, the next neces- sary step was to procure it. Twenty-eight thousand seamen, and a land force of fifty-five thousand men, were declared to be the neces- sary number. Having only a small peace establishment at home, and unwilling to wait for volunteers, or for the return of troops from foreign stations, ministers resolved to hire soldiers of some of the German princes, and at the beginning of 1776 a treaty for that purpose was concluded with several of them. The Landgrave of Hesse- Cassel agreed to furnish twelve thousand one hundred and four men ; the Duke of Brunswick, four thousand and eighty-four ; the Prince of Hesse, six hundred and sixty-eight ; the Prince of Waldeck, six hundred and seventy ; making in all, seventeen thou- sand five hundred and twenty-six. These princes, perceiving the stern want of the British government, extorted very advantageous terms. They received seven pounds four shillings and four pence sterling for each man, besides being relieved from the burden of maintaining them. In addition to these considerations, they were to receive a certain stipend, amounting in all to one hundred and thirty- five thousand pounds sterling ; and further, England guaranteed the dominions of these princes against foreign attack. These hired mercenaries, whose employment by the British government added twofold odium to the oppressive measures about to be enforced, formed that portion of the army of Great Britain during the first years of the contest, known as the Hessians. No. 45^/ $ix%iOZ£m$* THIS BilL entitles the ,„„BeaTeT to Tececvv SIX SPANISH MILLED DOLLARS, or the Value thereof in COLD orSILVER-accardincf to a Resolution of CUN; GRES& pull&IcLl Phi- ladelphiaNov-Z' l/jr£. SIX DOLLARS ^ sWiCJi^X xi O&O I r Continental Paper Money. EVENTS OF 177C. Richard Henry Lee — Earl Cornwallis— Sir Henry Clinton. CHAPTER VI. N the twenty-ninth of February, the treaties entered into by Great Britain with the several German princes for the hire of troops, were laid before Parliament, and a motion to refer them to the Committee of Supply gave rise to a long and stormy debate. The enor- mous price paid for the services of those mer- cenaries, and the odious character of the whole transaction, viewed in the light of justice, and the spirit which should characterize Christian nations, even though hostile to each other, afforded ample theme for invective and just censure. It was 186 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1776. Debate3 in Parliament relative to the Germnn Troops. 'bad enough for English troops to be sent to slaughter their own brethren, under the plea of necessity — a necessity arising from the relation of government and the governed, which precedent had established, and which true conceptions of rights inalienable had demanded should be interrupted ; but to hire the bone and sinew, and lives of foreign troops — purchased assassins — to aid in the con- summation of the wicked deed, caused a foul stain upon the escutch- eon of Great Britaiy, which her best friends saw and deplored. The opposition in Parliament, with a sincere concern for the fair fame of their country, used every laudable endeavor to prevent the trans- action ; and when in spite of their efforts it was consummated, they indignantly cast upon it the odium it deserved. The most gloomy view was laken of the condition and prospects of the British force, for it was evident that almost total defection from government existed in the Colonies. It was represented that these German soldiers, as soon as they found the broad Atlantic rolling between them and their masters, and stood side by side with their happy brethren in America, now ardent in the cause of Liberty,* would accept land of the Colonists, sheathe the sword, and leave British troops to do the dire work which their German masters had sent them to perform. On the other hand, ministers counted largely upon the valor and military character of these Hessiana, many of whom had seen service under Frederick the Great ; and they actually asserted that such would be the terror which they would inspire, that it would only be necessary for them to show themselves, to cause the Americans to lay down their arms ! Lord North's motion for reference was carried by a majority of two hundred and forty-two to eighty-eight. When the committee reported, another warm debate ensued, and the Duke of Richmond moved not only to countermand the order for the mercenaries to proceed to America, but to sus- pend hostilities altogether. The Earl of Coventry inveighed against the employment of foreign troops to fight the battles of England, pro- nounced the war unjust, and maintained that an immediate recogni- tion of the independence of the United Colonies was preferable to war. " Look on the map of the globe," said he, " view Great Bri- tain and North America, compare their extent, consider the soil, rivers, climate, and increasing population of the latter ; nothing but the most obstinate blindness and partiality can engender a serious opinion that such a country will long continue under subjection to this. The question is not, therefore, how we shall be able to realize * It was estimated that, at the time the Revolution broke out, there were about one hundred and fifty thousand German emigrants in the American Colonies, the most of whom took sides with the patriots. chai\ vi.] EVENTS OF 1776. 187 The Earl of Coventry's sound views. The mysterious French Agent a vain, delusive scheme of dominion, but how we shall make it the interest of the Americans to continue faithful allies and warm friends Surely that can never be effected by fleets and armies. Instead of meditating conquest, and exhausting our own strength in an ineffect- ual struggle, we should wisely, abandoning wild schemes of coer- cion, avail ourselves of the only substantial benefit we can ever expect, the profits of an extensive commerce, and the strong support of a firm and friendly alliance and compact for mutual defence and assistance."* Language like this, and other expositions of the weakness and wickedness of the government, called forth the denunciations of the ministerial party ; and Lord Temple declared that rebellion abroad was encouraged by harangues in Parliament. " The next easterly wind," said he, " will carry to America every imprudent expression used in this debate." He deplored the exposition of their weakness, and said, " It is time to act, not to talk ; much should be done, little said." Richmond's motion was negatived, one hundred against thirty-two. On the fourteenth of March the Duke of Grafton proposed an address to the King, requesting that a proclamation might be issued to declare that if the Colonists should, within a reasonable time, show a willingness to treat with commissioners,! or present a peti- tion, hostilities should be suspended and their petition be received and respected. He assured the House that both France and Spain were arming ; and alarmed them by the assertion that " two French gentlemen had been to America, had conferred with Washington at his camp, and had since been to Philadelphia to confer with the Congress. "| After a long debate, the Duke's motion was lost, by * Pictorial History of the Reign of George III., vol. i., p. 2-31. f On the twentieth of November, 1775, Parliament repealed the Boston Port and other restraining bills, and enacted a general one prohibiting all trade with the Colonies. They also provided for the appointment of commissioners, who should be invested with both civil and military powers, authorized to grant pardons or fight battles. X Some time in the month of November, 1775, Congress was informed that a foreigner was in Philadelphia who was desirous of making to them a confidential communication. At first no notice was taken of it, but the intimation having been several times repeated, a committee consisting of John Jay, Dr. Franklin and Tho- mas Jefferson, was appointed to hear what he had to say. They agreed to meet him in a room in Carpenters' Hall, and at the time appointed, they found him there, an elderly, lame gentleman, and apparently a wounded French officer. He told them that the French King was greatly pleased with the exertions for liberty which the Americans were making ; that lie wished them success, and would, whenever it should be necessary, manifest more openly his friendly sentiments towards them. The committee requested to know his authority for giving these assurances. He answered only by drawing his hand across hit throat, and saying, "Gentlemen, I shall take care of my head " They then askel what demonstrations of friendship 188 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1776. Siege of Boston. Its danger of destruction by fire, a majority of ninety-one against thirty-one. One or two other similar propositions were made, but to no effect. Fox called for an inquiry into the causes of the failure of the military operations in America, but his motion for the call was lost. A motion was also made, but lost, to have a perpetual Parliament during the difficulties with the Colonists. On the twenty-third of May, his Majesty, after speaking of the state of the Colonies, expressed a hope that his rebellious subjects would yet submit, but desired legislators to be prepared for acting with great decision, if they did not submit. He then prorogued Parliament. While preparations were making in England to send out a large reinforcement of troops to join General Howe at Boston, the block- ading provincial army began vigorous preparations for besieging the city, confidently expecting to make the British force therein prison ers of war. By the middle of February, the number of regular troops under Washington, which, at the close of 1775, amounted to only about nine thousand men, was augmented to fourteen thousand. Congress, perceiving that the forces there would soon be needed for the protection of other parts of the American territory, urged Wash- ington to take decisive measures for driving the enemy from Boston. Washington proposed an immediate attack upon the city, but was overruled by the other officers in a council of war, particularly by Gates and Ward, and he resolved to occupy the heights of Dorches- ter, which completely commanded the city. The Americans erected strong batteries upon the shore at Cobb's Hill, at Lechmere's Point, at Phipp's Farm, and at Lamb's Dam, near Roxbury, for the purpose of occupying the attention of the enemy in that quarter. On the night of the second of March 'they opened a terrible fire upon the city, having a large number of bombs and heavy artillery captured at Ticonderoga. Almost incessantly the bombs fell in the city, and the garrison was constantly employed in extinguishing the flames of the houses which they had set on fire. This cannonade was kept up until the evening of the fourth, while fresh troops of militia were coming in from all quarters. On that evening, everything being prepared, the Americans, about they might expect from the King of France. " Gentlemen," answered he, " if you want arms you shall have them ; if you want ammunition you shall have it ; if you want money you shall have it." The committee observed that these were impor- tant assurances, and again desired to know by what authority they were made. " Gentlemen," said he, again drawing his hand across his throat, " I shall take care of my head ;" and this was the only answer they could obtain from him. He was seen in Philadelphia no more. — See Life of John Jay, written by his son William Jay. chap, vi.] EVENTS OF 1776. 189 Fortifications upon Dorchester Heights. Proposition of General Howe to evacuate Ikwtoh. two thousand strong, under General Thomas, proceeded in profound silence towards the heights of Dorchester. The night was a dark one, and the wind, blowing away from Boston, was favorable for their concealment, and they reached the heights unobserved. The Americans went vigorously to work, and so amazing was their ac- tivity, that by ten o'clock they completed two forts, which would afford tolerable protection ; one on the height nearest the city, the other towards Castle William. At daybreak the next morning, the British, with dread surprise, witnessed an apparition similar to that presented on Breed's Hill on the morning of the seventeenth of June in the preceding year. The first intimation they had of this movement of the provincials, was the appearance of a dangerous battery and fortifications, from whence General Thomas began to thunder at the town and ships of war. From this point, the cannon of the Americans could sweep the city and the whole harbor. This, both General Howe and the British admiral saw, and they determined to take measures to dislodge General Thomas at once. For this purpose, Lord Percy was despatched with three thousand men, who embarked in transports, with a view of proceeding up the river to the foot of Dorchester Hill. But a furious storm arose, which rendered the harbor impas- sable, and the attack was necessarily deferred. Meanwhile, Wash- ington diligently perfected measures to prevent the attack at that point, or to meet it successfully, if made. He also planned an attack upon the town at the same time, with four thousand men under the command of Generals Sullivan and Green. General Mifflin had also prepared a great number of hogsheads full of stones and sand, which he intended to roll down the heights of Dorchester, when the enemy were ascending them, and thus sweep off whole columns at once. General Howe, becoming acquainted with these various plans and preparations, came to the wise and humane conclusion that " pru- dence was the better part of valor ;" and having some time before received orders from Lord Dartmouth, one of the Secretaries of State, to evacuate Boston, and establish himself at New York, he concluded this occasion was the most favorable one to obey those orders. Accordingly a flag was sent out from the Selectmen of Boston, by order of General Howe, acquainting Wash- ington with his design to evacuate the city, and to intimate his in- tention to leave the town standing, provided he should be allowed to embark unmolested. This communication not being signed by Howe, Washington took no notice of it officially, but instructed some of his officers to intimate that the terms, if properly presented, 190 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1776. Triumphant entire of the Americans into Boston. Departure of Soldiers and Tories. would be complied with. General Howe designated the fifteenth as the day for the embarkation of the troops, and meanwhile, more than fifteen hundred tory families, dreading the just indignation of their countrymen, prepared to embark in the same vessels. During the interim, all was confusion, and lawless bands of soldiers took every opportunity to plunder the houses of the inhabitants. General Howe took strong measures to prevent these outrages, but to little purpose. The prevalence of a strong east wind delayed their departure until the seventeenth. At four in the morning, they began their embarkation, and at ten, all were on board, the number of troops being about seven thousand. The rear guard was scarcely out of the city, when, to the great joy of the inhabitants,* Washington entered it on the other side, with drums beating, colors flying, and all the display of a glorious triumph. t General Putnam, with a division of the army, had entered it the day previous. So crowded were ihe vessels with the tory emigrants and their effects, that Howe was obliged to leave behind him two hundred and fifty pieces of cannon (half of which were serviceable), four large mortars, one hundred and fifty horses, twenty-five thousand bushels of wheat, and a quan- tity of barley, oats, and other provisions, which our army then greatly needed. Through the reprehensible want of foresight of General Howe, no cruiser was left in the vicinity, to warn British ships of his departure. The consequence was, that several store-ships from England soon after unsuspectingly sailed into the harbor, and fell into the hands of the Americans.^ Shortly after that, Lieutenant- Colonel Campbell, with seven hundred men direct from Britain, sailed into the harbor and became prisoners. Washington, ignorant of the destination of General Howe, strongly suspected that he had sailed for New York, with the view of taking possession, and fortifying that city. This result he greatly dreaded, * It was indeed a joyful day for Boston. Sixteen long months they had endured hunger, cold, and every privation. The most necessary articles of food had risen to an exorbitant price. A pound of fresh fish cost twenty-three cents ; a goose two dollars ; a turkey three dollars : a duck one dollar ; hams fifty cents a pound. Vegetables were altogether wanting. A sheep cost about nine dollars ; apples eight dollars a barrel ; firewood ten dollars a cord, and finally, fuel could not be procured at all. In some instances, the pews and benches of churches were taken for fuel, and the counters of warehouses, and even houses not inhabited, were demolished for the sake of the wood. t Congress passed a vote of thanks to Washington and his army, and directed a gold medal, commemorative of the event, to be struck. % One of these ships had on board fifteen hundred barrels of gunpowder, and other munitions of war. chap, vi.] EVENTS OF 1776. 191 Much of the Continental Army to New York. Trouble in North Carolina. for he knew that through the extensive influence of the numerous loyalists there, the city would be made a stronghold for the enemy, and a powerful leaven of defection for the whole province. He acccordingly prepared to march the main body of his army thither, after placing Boston in a state of defence, and leaving a garrison under the command of General Ward. He also wrote to Brigadier- General Lord Stirling, commanding at New York, to be vigilant, and to expect a reinforcement of five battalions and several compa- nies of artillery. Under the direction of Congress, General Lee was sent with a body of troops into that province, to seize the arms of all the loyalists, and place the city in a state of defence. Lee hastily raised a body of troops in Connecticut, and by forced marches, reached the city almost before the inhabitants were generally aware of the movement. They remonstrated, but h t0 Chester, and the next day a to Philadelphia.* According to Marshall, the British force in this engage ment amounted to eighteen thousand men ; that of the Americans, to a little more than eleven thousand. The number of Americans slain is not accurately know r n, as Washington could not make a return to Congress. Howe states that there were three hundred killed, six hundred wounded, and four hundred taken prisoners.! He computes the British loss at ninety killed, four hundred and eighty wounded, and six missing. * Sparks's Life of Washington (1 vol.), pp. 231-234. Howe's Narrative, pp. 2(J-27. t Count Pulaski, a brave Polander, distinguished himself in this battle, and' was soon after raised to the rank of a Brigadier-General. La Fayette was severely wounded in the leg, and disabled from active service for two months. He would, no doubt, have been made prisoner, had not his aide-de-camp, M. Gemat, put him upon his horse and escaped. chap, vn.] EVENTS OF 1777. 229 Entrance of the British into Philadelphia. Adjournment of Congress to Lancaster. After a few days' rest, notwithstanding the disparity of numbers, Washington resolved to risk another battle, and if possible, save Philadelphia. He accordingly recrossed the Schuylkill, and ad- vanced against the enemy near Goshen, about eighteen miles west of Philadelphia. A violent rain storm, fl which injured their powder, obliged both armies to defer the battle. General Wayne, who with fifteen hundred men had been ordered to harass the enemy's rear, was surprised at night 6 near e |>; ! * Paoli, and three hundred of his troops were killed. Alarmed for the safety of his military stores and extensive maga- zines at Reading, Washington abandoned Philadelphia and took post at Pottsgrove. The next day c the British army crossed the Schuylkill ; and on the twenty-sixth entered Philadel- phia without opposition, and pushed forwards to Germantown. Congress, alarmed at the proximity of the British forces, had pre- viously adjourned to Lancaster, where they remained until General Howe left the city. A large portion of the British troops were now employed in reducing the forts on the Delaware. General Howe had previously ordered the fleet to sail around the Capes and pass up the river to cooperate with him. They ascended as far as New Castle, but were there impeded by a chevaux-de-frise, and were obliged to remain there inactive for some time. On the twenty-first of October, a detachment of Hessians, under Count Donop, crossed the Delaware, and attacked the fort at Red Bank ; but they were repulsed with a loss of about four hundred men, among whom was the commander. Soon after, a gap having been made in the chevaux-de-frise, a part of the fleet passed through, but two of the vessels got aground, and were put in much jeopardy by two or three fire-ships sent down upon them by the Americans. One of the vessels was burned, but the others, with great difficulty, escaped. On the fifteenth of November, the Americans were forced to leave the fortifications on Mud Island, and on the seventeenth, Lord Cornwallis, with a large force, marched against Red Bank, from whence the Americans at once retreated, and joined the main body of the army. The chevaux-de-frise was soon after removed, and the fleet had an unobstructed passage up the Delaware to Philadel- phia. While the British camp at Germantown was weakened by the absence of these several detachments on the Delaware, Washington resolved to attack it, and endeavor to re-obtain possession of Phila- delphia. Accordingly, about seven o'clock in the evening of the '230 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1777. Battle of Germantown. Encampment at Valley Forge. third of October, the Americans advanced in four divisions, and, after a march of fourteen miles, at day-break the next morn- ing* took the British by surprise. A battle immediately commenced, and for a time victory seemed to tender the palm to the Americans ; but finally, after a severe action, they were repulsed with great slaughter. They lost about twelve hundred men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. The British loss was not more than half that number. Soon after that, General Howe broke up his encampment at Germantown, and, with his whole force, took quarters in Philadelphia. When the Delaware was cleared, and there was a free communi- cation for the British between New York and Philadelphia, by way of that river, General Howe determined to close the campaign by an attack upon Washington, then stationed at Whitemarsh, about eleven miles northwest from the metropolis. On the night of the fourth of December, Howe marched out of Philadelphia, and took post upon Chestnut Hill, in front of the American army, now reinforced by about four thousand men from the victorious battalions of the north. Howe found Washington's position too strong to risk a general attack, and, after a few days' skirmishing, he fell back upon Phila- delphia again. Washington now anxiously sought the most favorable place for his winter-quarters. He saw that if he encamped at Lancaster, York, or Carlisle, where his army would have comfortable quarters, he would leave a large and fertile territory entirely exposed to the ene- my. He therefore resolved to make his quarters near enough to the capital to keep the British within strait bounds, and, if opportu- nity offered that seemed to promise success, to attack him in his camp. He selected a dreary, but strong position at Valley Forge, a deep hollow about twenty miles northwest from Philadelphia ; and upon the mountainous borders of this valley the whole American army encamped, during one of the most rigorous winters ever expe- rienced in this country. The American soldiers were too ill clad to admit of their passing the inclement season under tents, and Wash- ington therefore ordered that a sufficient number of huts large enough to accommodate twelve men each, should be erected, made of logs, and filled between with mortar. So intensely cold was the weather, and so exhausted were the soldiers when they commenced their march towards Valley Forge, that some were seen to drop dead under the benumbing influence of the frost ; others, without shoes, had their feet cut by the ice, and left their tracks in blood ! But the huts were soon erected, and the whole army were comfortably lodged in these barracks. Of the subsequent hardships and great chap, vn.] EVENTS OF 1777. 233 Military operations at the Xorth. Concentration of British forces. privations of this band of patriots during their encampment at Val- ley Forge, we shall again speak. We now turn our attention to the operations of the northern division of the army. While the Commander-in-chief was suffering reverses upon the banks of the Delaware, the northern army, under Generals Schuyler and Gates, was achieving glorious victories. The re- verses of the previous year had not at all dampened the ardor of the troops in that quarter, and, expecting the successes of the British in expelling the Americans from Canada at the close of 1776 would be followed up in the spring by an invasion, they had made prepara- tions for such an event. Early in the year, Governor Carleton was superseded in his command of the British forces in Canada, by General Burgoyne, a brave and experienced officer ; but the reasons for this act on the part of ministers are not known, as no censure seems ever to have been cast upon Carleton.* A plan was concerted by the ministry f by which Burgoyne, with a large force, was to penetrate the back settlements of New York, and form a junction with General Howe at the metropolis, and thus effect the plan con- templated by the British Commander-in-chief after his successful pursuit of Washington across the Jerseys at the close of the previous year. Burgoyne arrived at Quebec on the sixth of May. Between the seventeenth and twentieth of June, his forces, consisting of a large body of veterans from England, about two thousand five hundred French Canadians, and as many Hessians, to the number of seven thousand two hundred men, exclusive of a corps of artillery, assem- bled at Cumberland Point, on Lake Champlain, and on the twenty- first, he was joined by about four hundred Indians of various tribes.^ On the thirtieth, he left St. John,s for Crown Point, where he esta- blished magazines, and then proceeded to invest Ticonde- ■^ , r ■ ■ t» • a Jul >' 2 - roga. a By express orders of ministers, Burgoyne lmmedi- atelv put under arms, and secured for the British service, several tribes of Indians inhabiting the country between the Mohawk River and Lake Ontario. * General Carleton felt very much aggrieved, and at once sent his resignation of the office of Governor of Canada to ministers. Still he was obliged to remain until the arrival of his successor, and with the most honorable and patriotic spirit, he ren- dered Burgoyne all the assistance in his power in the meanwhile. Burgoyne him- self, testifies to " the assiduous and cordial manner in which the different services were forwarded by Sir Guy Carleton." — Burgoyne' s J\"arrative, quarto, p. 6. Lon- don : 1750. t It is believed that the plan was the joint invention of George III., Burgoyne, and Lord George Germaine. X Algonquins, Iroquois, Abenekies, and Ottawaa. 234 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1777. Investment of Ticonderoga. Retreat of the Americans and destruction of their Stores. At the same time that Burgoyne* marched upon Ticonderoga, Colonel St. Leger was despatched with about two thousand men mostly Canadians and Indians, by way of Oswego, against Fort Schuyler, on the Mohawk.t He was directed to conquer that fort, and then rejoin the army upon the Hudson River. Before proceeding to attack Ticonderoga, Burgoyne gave a great war-feast to the Indians, and issued a proclamation calling upon the Americans to surrender, or suffer the consequences of savage fero- city.J General St. Clair was the commander of the garrison, which consisted of about three thousand men, and perceiving the overwhelm- ing numbers of the enemy, withdrew from the fort to its immediate vicinity. He had previously fortified Mount Independence, a high hill opposite Ticonderoga, and on retiring from the fort, St. Clair contemplated fortifying Mount Defiance also ; but finding his num- bers insufficient to garrison any new works, the design was abandoned. The British lines were extended in front of the peninsula on which Ticonderoga was erected, and invested the place on the northwest, while the Hessians were posted on the opposite side of the lake, in the rear of Mount Independence. Perceiving the great advantage that would be secured by placing their artillery on the summit of Mount Defiance, the British generals at once commenced the labor of effecting this end. This was soon accomplished,* and the artillery was speedily placed in proper position for attack. Resistance on the part of the Americans seemed rash, and St. Clair determined to evacuate the works and retreat to Skeenesbo- rough. Accordingly he let his camp-fires go out, struck his tents, and amid the profound silence of the forest and the night, placed the baggage and provisions on board batteaux, and retreated. The accidental burning of a building on Mount Independence, discovered to the British the flight of the Americans, and they immediately gave chase. The batteaux, which were embarked on South River, were in a few hours overtaken and destroyed.* The main body of the army continued to retreat as the British approached, leaving behind them artillery and stores ; but they were overtaken at Hubbardton§ on the morning of the seventh, by General Fraser, who had hotly pursued them all the way, a distance of about twenty * Burgoyne had with him some of the best officers then in America. Major- General Philips, Brigadier-General Fraser, Brigadiers Powell and Hamilton, the Brunswick Major-General Reidesel, and Brigadier-General Specht. t Situated on the site of the present village of Rome. It was first called Fort Stanwix. % Pictorial History of the Reign of George III., vol. i., p. 307. § Within the limits of Vermont, and about seventeen miles southeast from Ticon- deroga. chap, vii.] EVENTS OF 1777. 235 Retreat of the Americans towards the Hudson. Murder of Miss McCrea. miles. A skirmish ensued, and the Americans were routed, with great loss, having two hundred killed, six hundred wounded, and two hundred taken prisoners. Soon after this, the remnants of the various divisions reached Fort Edward/ the head- quarters of General Schuyler. In these disastrous retreats and con- flicts, the Americans lost nearly two hundred pieces of artillery, and a large amount of provisions and stores. The British generals followed up their successes with vigor, and General Schuyler, whose force was reduced to about four thousand men, considered it prudent to evacuate Fort Edward and retreat towards the Hudson. Being well acquainted with the country, he retreated along the banks of the Hudson until he reached the islands situated at the mouth of the Mohawk, where he established his head-quarters. Here he was soon after reinforced by the New England militia under General Lincoln, and several detachments from the regular army, accompanied by the celebrated Polish General, Thaddeus Kosciusko, who in October,* 1776, had been appointed Chief-Engineer of the Continental army, with the rank of Colonel. By these reinforcements Schuyler's army w r as augmented, by the middle of August, to about fifteen thousand men. Burgoyne, having despatched General Phillips by the way of Lake George, towards Fort Edward, with the baggage and stores, proceeded in pursuit of the Americans across the country ; but Schuyler in his retreat had felled trees athwart the roads, destroyed the bridges, and thus so impeded his progress, that he did not reach Fort Edward until the thirteenth of July.* He now learned that a part of the original plan had been abandoned by Howe. Instead of marching * Burgoyne was obliged to construct forty bridges on his route, and his batteaux had to be dragged from creek to creek by oxen. During the halt of the British army at Fort Edward, an incident occurred which greatly increased the odium justly cast upon the British ministry, because of their barbarous order for Burgoyne to form an alliance with the ferocious savages of the wilderness. A young lady named McCrea, represented as beautiful and accomplished, the daughter of an American loyalist, was, just previous to the war, affianced to a young English officer named Jones. He was with Burgoyne when he reached Fort Edward, and hearing that his intended bride was in the vicinity, lie despatched a party of Indians with a letter and his horse, to bring Miss McCrea in safety to the camp, promising to reward them with a barrel of rum. The young lady unhesitatingly put herself under their protection, and set out for the British camp. On the way, two of the principal savages got into a dispute about which should present her to her lover, and receive the reward, when one of them lulled her with his tomahawk to prevent the other from receiving it ! The murderer was given up to Burgoyne, hut, as a matter of expediency, the savage's life was spared. This bloody deed awakened a feeling of horror throughout the whole country, and many warm loyalists, depre- cating the employment of these savages, abandoned the cause of the Crown and joined the Patriots. 236 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1777. Battle of Bennington. Siege* of Fort Schuyler and Death of General Herkimer. up the Hudson, and joining him, he learned that Howe had retreated to Staten Island with the view of proceeding from thence by water, to capture Philadelphia. About a week before Burgoyne reached Fort Edward, the forces of Howe were off the Capes of Delaware. Burgoyne now determined to await the arrival of St. Leger and General Phillips before commencing his march anew. Finding his supply of provisions greatly reduced, he despatched Colonel Baum, a a distinguished German officer, with between five and six hundred men, to Bennington, in Vermont, to seize upon a large quantity of stores which the Americans had collected there. This detachment was met near Bennington 6 by General Stark,* at the head of a large body of New Hampshire militia on their way to join the northern army, and a furious battle ensued. Baum was mortally wounded, and his party totally dis- persed. Learning that the Americans were gathering in large num- bers, he had previously sent to Burgoyne for reinforcements ; but Colonel Breyman, who was sent with five hundred men, did not arrive at Bennington until the battle was over. Colonel Warner, who had just arrived with a Continental regiment, attacked this detachment, and defeated it. The loss of the British in these two battles was about seven hundred men (mostly prisoners), while the American loss was less than one hundred. The intelligence of the result of the Bennington expedition, the first reverse the British had yet met with in this campaign, was a sad tale for the ear of Burgoyne ; and in verification of the apothegm, " misfortunes seldom come single," he heard about the same time of the defeat of St. Leger. It was about the first of August that St. Leger reached Fort SchuyleY, and commenced a siege. General Herkimer, hearing of the investment of the fort, at once raised the militia in the vicinity, to the number of about one thousand, and proceeded to the relief of the garrison/ Hearing of this movement, St. Leger despatched Sir John Johnson and a large body of Indians to form an ambuscade along the route which it was presumed General Herkimer would take. This plan was successful, and so sudden was the furious attack of the savages, that Herkimer, and nearly four hundred of his men, were killed * General Stark had been in the old French and Indian war, and was at Bunker Hill and Trenton. It is said that he greatly animated his troops a moment before the charge at Bennington, by shouting, with uplifted sword, " My fellow-soldiers, we conquer to-day, or Mary Stark sleeps a widow to-night !" He was the last surviving general of the Revolution, and died at Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1S22, aged ninety-four years. chap, vti.] EVENTS OF 1777. 237 British Encampment at Saratoga. Battle of Stillwater. or wounded.* About the same time, Colonel Gansevoort, com- manding the garrison, made a successful sortie from the fort. He penetrated the camp of the besiegers, killed a great many, and carried off a large supply of stores. Rumors having been received that Burgoyne's army was all cut to pieces, and that Arnold (which was true) was approaching with a considerable force, the savages, frightened, commenced deserting. St. Leger saw that a retreat was necessary, and he abandoned the siege. Arnold did not arrive at the fort until two days after the siege had been raised. Burgoyne now found difficulties fast gathering around him. He was in the midst of a vast wilderness with enemies on every side, and feeling but little reliance upon his savage allies ; his provisions were nearly exhausted, and he felt that he must soon conquer or surrender, for retreat was almost impossible. Accordingly, having collected his artillery and a supply of provisions for thirty days, he constructed a bridge of boats, and on the thirteenth and fourteenth of September, passed his whole army across the Hudson, and encamped on the heights and plains of Saratoga. The American army under General Gates, who had recently been appointed to the chief command of the northern division, moved from their encamp- ment at the mouth of the Mohawk, and pitched their tents near Stillwater, about twenty miles north of Albany, and on the west side of the Hudson. Here they were joined by about two thousand men under Arnold, making the force of the Americans about thirteen thousand strong. The two armies were now within about four miles of each other, and on the eighteenth, Burgoyne formed the British army close in front of the American left, determined to attempt the desperate effort of cutting his way through to Albany, and form a junction with the expected forces of Clinton. General Gates had erected a star redoubt, and, notwithstanding he had an inferior force, he w T as determined to resist the further pro- gress of the British southward to the utmost. At noon on the nine- teenth, he sent out about five thousand men to make an attempt to fall upon Burgoyne's rear, but discovering the strong position of General Frascr, they fell back. Being reinforced, and led on by Arnold, they attacked the right wing of the enemy, and about three o'clock a general engagement ensued, which lasted till after sunset, * The popular tradition among the people of the Mohawk Valley, concerning the death of General Herkimer, is, that being severely wounded in the leg, it was necessary to amputate it. This being done, and properly bandaged, the two sur- geons in attendance having discovered some liquor in the cellar, drank of it until they were very drunk. The bandages got loose, and the blood began to flow freely, but the surgeons were too drunk to perform their duty, and, notwithstanding the efforts of Herkimer's wife to staunch the wound, he soon bled to death. 238 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1777. Expected reinforcements from New York. Expedition of Colonel Brown. without intermission. At dark the contest ceased. The Americans retired within their redoubt, and the British reposed upon their arms on the field of battle. The loss in killed and wounded was nearly alike on both sides,* and each claimed the victory. The two armies remained near to each other, from the day of the battle, until the seventh of Octooer ; Gates strengthening his position, and Burgoyne waiting to hear from Clinton. This delay was disas- trous, for, in the meanwhile, he consumed nearly all his provisions. Howe was too much occupied with 'Washington, upon the Dela- ware, to bestow a thought upon Burgoyne. But General Clinton took the responsibility of affording aid, and informed Burgoyne that he would do what he could to effect a junction, by attacking forts Montgomery and Clinton, and others of less note, on the Hudson nearly opposite Peekskill. Relying upon this promise, Burgoyne agreed to remain in his position until the twelfth, hoping that Clin- ton would be successful, and by a rapid march, reinforce him by that time. But circumstances obliged him to move previous to that date. General Gates having been joined also by General Lincoln, with about two thousand men, and finding his forces augmenting by fresh supplies of militia, determined to attempt the recapture of Forts In- dependence, George, and Ticonderoga, and to capture or destroy the provisions of the enemy, at f various depots, and thus cut off all his com- munication with Canada. Accordingly, an expedition under Colonel Brown was sent northward, and at the north end of Lake George they captured a sloop carrying provisions to Burgoyne, and soon after some other vessels fell into their hands. They then proceeded to take possession of Mount Hope and Mount Defiance, and attacked Ticonderoga. They were repulsed, however, and proceeded in the vessels they had captured to v Diamond Island, where there was a considerable depot of provisions, but were there also repulsed. They then pushed for the shore, burned the vessels, and returned to the rear of Burgoyne's army. This partial success caused other large bodies of Americans to collect along the line of Brown's expe- dition, and completely cut off all supplies of provisions for the British from the north. The soldiers were reduced to half rations, and the Indians, finding Burgoyne would not allow them to plunder, became dissatisfied, and deserted, whole tribes at a time. Thus situated, Burgoyne found it necessary to make a movement for his own preservation. I On the seventh of October, he sent out about fifteen hundred men to forage and reconnoitre. They ad- vanced within half a mile of the left wing of the Americans, when * The loss is variously stated, from three to six hundred on each side. chap, m] EVENTS OF 1777. 239 Second Battle at Stillwater. Burgoyne's attempted retreat northward. Arnold sallied forth, attacked, and drove them back to their camp. In the meanwhile, Morgan and his riflemen stole round through the woods and opened a fire on the flank of the enemy's column, and other troops went out from the American entrenchments, and attempted to throw themselves between Burgoyne's column of fifteen hundred men, and his line, but were prevented by the grenadiers under Major Ackland. Burgoyne, however, was obliged to abandon six field-pieces which he took out with him, and retreated to his camp. The brave Gene- ral Fraser attempted to dislodge Morgan and his men, but fell mor- tally wounded ; and at this moment a general battle commenced all along the lines. From the British quarter, the Americans were repulsed, but they carried the entrenchments of the Germans, and completely routed them. About two hundred of them were taken prisoners, and several leading officers were killed, among whom was Colonel Breyman. The entire loss of the enemy was more than four hundred men ; that of the Americans about eighty. On the night after the battle, a Burgoyne retired to the 0c t 7 8 high ground a little above Stillwater, and finally, with his whole army, retreated to Saratoga, 6 and endeavored to con- tinue his retrogression to Fort Edward. He was obliged to leave behind him about three hundred sick and wounded, which were taken care of in the best manner, by General Gates. On the ninth, Burgoyne received intelligence from Sir Henry Clinton, of his operations among the lower Hudson highlands, and he was in hourly expectation of seeing an attack upon the American rear by British troops, which he doubted not were then as far north as Albany.* This expedition was one inducement for him to delay his attempted retreat towards Fort Edward. Despairing of the arrival of Clinton, he made preparations to continue his retreat north- ward, on the right bank of the Hudson, and endeavor to reach Fort George, on the southern end of the lake of that name. But he was met by strong detachments of Americans at Fishkill, a small creek a little northward of Saratoga. Finding himself unable to retreat to Fort George by the right bank of the river, he determined to abandon his artillery, place about three days' provisions in the knapsacks of his soldiers, cross the river, dash through the American lines drawn out upon the opposite side, and, by this sudden movement, make his escape to the lakes, and reach the British shipping upon them. Burgoyne, however, learned that the Americans were too strongly entrenched on the opposite side of the river, to render the success of his plans in the least probable, and he endeavored, as a last resort, * Burgoyne's Narrative, p. 16. 240 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1777, Burgoyne's offer of Capitulation. His Surrender. to tempt the Americans out from their entrenchments, and engage in battle, notwithstanding his army was greatly reduced — a mere skeleton of what it was when he invested Ticonderoga. Finding his provisions exhausted, and no chance either for battle or re- treat, he called a council of war,a at which it was decided to open negotiations with General Gates to capitulate on the most honorable terms that might be procured.* A communication was accordingly sent to General Gates,* offering to capitulate. He at once demanded the uncondi- tional surrender of Burgoyne and his army as prisoners of war. He stipulated that the British troops should be drawn up in their encampment, and there ground their arms. To this Burgoyne re- plied, that rather than submit to such terms, he would rush upon the Americans at all hazards, determined to give no quarter, and if slain, to die as brave soldiers. Unwilling to insist upon extreme measures, which might unnecessarily produce great effusion of blood, and learning that Clinton was making a successful march up the Hudson, Gates humanely and prudently proposed an honorable surrender for Burgoyne. He agreed to accept of a surrender, and to grant them the " honors of war, and a free passage to Great Bri- tain, on condition of their not serving again in North America during the contest." Considering the situation of the two armies, these terms were highly honorable to the British General, favorable to his nation, and reflected great credit upon the humanity and judgment of General Gates. The articles of capitulation were signed on the seventeenth of October, and on the afternoon of that day the British troops marched out of their encampment down to the water side, to a place called the Old Ford,t where they piled their arms at the word of command from their own officers. Several of the officers could scarcely pro- nounce the words, and many of the men wept as they grounded their arms. Gates was a man of fine feelings. He kept away from * In a letter to the Secretary of War (Lord George Germaine), Burgoyne thus describes his situation : — " A series of hard toil, incessant effort, stubborn action, until disabled in the collateral branches of the army, by the total defection of the Indians, the desertion or timidity of the Canadians and provincials, some individu- als excepted ; disappointed in the last hope of any cooperation, from other armies ; the regular troops reduced by losses from the best parts, to thirty-five hundred fighting men, not two thousand of whom were British ; only three days' provisions, upon short allowance, in store ; invested by an army of sixteen thousand men, and no appearance of retreat remaining, I called into council all the generals, field- officers, and captains commanding corps, and by their unanimous concurrence and advice, I was induced to open a treaty with Major-General Gates." t On the ruins of Fort Hardy, which was built during the French and Indian wars. Surrender of Burgoyne. P. 2*0. chap, vn.] EVENTS OF 1777. 243 Entire Dispersion of the northern British army. Narrative of the Baroness Reidesel the spot himself, and he would not suffer his own people to be wit- nesses to the sad spectacle.* Every possible courtesy was shown to the officers, and when the act of surrender was accomplished, the most friendly intercourse commenced between Generals Gates and Burgoyne.f The surrender of Burgoyne was the most important event of the year ; indeed it was one of the most important events of the whole war. There were surrendered five thousand seven hundred and ninety men, of all ranks ; which number, added to the killed, wound- ed, and prisoners, lost by the army during the preceding part of the campaign, made altogether upwards of ten thousand men. There were also surrendered to the captors, thirty-five brass field-pieces, nearly five thousand muskets, and an immense quantity of other munitions of war. Thus, within the space of a few months, a pow- erful British army was entirely broken up, and the whole country, to the confines of Canada, fell into the quiet possession of the Ameri- cans. * This is the testimony of several English and other foreign writers ; among them, Stedman, Burke, Gordon, Botta, &c. f The Baroness Reidesel, who accompanied her husband, Major-General Reidesel, during the whole of this campaign, and with Lady Ackland, endured all the priva- tions of the camp, gives, in her very interesting narrative, the following pleasing account of her first interview with the American officers : — " As soon as the con- vention was signed, my husband sent a message to me to come over to him with my children. I seated myself once more in my dear calash, and then rode through the American camp. As I passed on, I observed, and this was a great consolation to me, that no one eyed me with looks of resentment, but that they all greeted us, and even showed compassion in their countenances at the sight of a woman with, small children. I was, I confess, afraid to go over to the enemy, as it was quite a new situation to me. When I drew near the tents, a handsome man approached and met me, took my children from the calash, and hugged and kissed them, which affected me almost to tears. ' You tremble,' said he, addressing himself to me, ' be not afraid.' ' No,' I answered ; ' you seem so kind and tender to my children, it inspires me with courage.' He now led me to the tent of General Gates, where I found Generals Burgoyne and Phillips, who were on a friendly footing with the former. Burgoyne said to me, ' Never mind ; your sorrows have now an end.' I answered him, ' that I should be reprehensible to have any cares, as he had none,' and I was pleased to see him on such friendly footing with General Gates. All the generals remained to dine with General Gates. The same gentleman who received me so kindly, now came and said to me, ' you will be very much embar- rassed to eat with these gentlemen ; come with your children to my tent, where 1 will prepare for you a frugal dinner, and give it with a free will? I said, ' you are certainly a husband and a father, you have shown me so much kindness.' I now found that he was General Schuyler ! " She further states that General Schuyler invited her and also Burgoyne, to become his guests at Albany, which they accepted. They were treated with great hospitality. On the occasion Burgoyne remarked to General Schuyler, " You show me great kindness, though I have done you much injury ;" alluding to the fact that he had caused Schuyler's beautiful house to be burnt. " That was the fate of war," replied the brave man ; " let us say no more about it." 244 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1777. Gold Medal struck by order of Congress. Movement of General Clinton. ' The news of this brilliant victory caused the greatest joy through- out the whole country, and at once dispelled the gloom occasioned by the reverses upon the Delaware. The timid became bold, the tones were dismayed, and the patriots no longer doubted the final and speedy independence of the American States. Congress passed a vote of thanks* to Generals Gates; Arnold, and Lincoln, and all the troops under their command ; and also ordered a gold medal to be struck in honor of the event, " and in the name of the United States presented by the President to Major-General Gates." Intelligence of the event reached England on the third of Decem- ber, while the Parliament was in session, and it produced a powerful effect upon that body. Ministers, alarmed at the failure of their plans, endeavored to throw the blame on the commanders ; declared that everything that could be done, had been done, on their part ; that large armies had been sent, and amply supplied ;* and they claimed, that, before being condemned, they were entitled at least to a full inquiry. The opposition justified the commanders, and cast the whole blame upon the ministry. Chatham denominated the expedition " a most wild, uncombined, mad project." Fox said that ten thousand men had been destroyed by the wilful ignorance and incapacity of Lord George Germaine, the Secretary-at-War ; and on all hands, the ministers had their full share of censure. Chatham moved for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and although his motion was negatived, committees were appointed in each House for an inquiry into the state of the nation, and instructed to report at the beginning of February next ensuing. Parliament then adjourned till the twentieth of January, 1778. i General Clinton, to whom Burgoyne looked so anxiously for aid, moved from New York'wilh three thousand troops, and pro- ceeded up the Hudson . h He was left in defence of New York, the chief depot for the stores of the British army ; and its accessibility from numerous points, and the fact that Putnam, with an army of regulars and numerous bands of intrepid Connecticut militia, was hovering near, made Clinton hesitate, and delay his departure until expected reinforcements from England should arrive. It was late in September when these new recruits came, and hence it was only ten days before Burgoyne's surrender, that Clinton began his march northward. His movement then was upon his own * General Burgoyne's statement contradicts this assertion. He says, " certain parts of the expected force, nevertheless, fell short. The Canadian troops, stated in the plan at two thousand, consisted only of three companies, intended to be of one hundred men each, but in reality not amounting to more than one hundred and fifty upon the whole." — Burgoyne's Narrative, p. 7. CHAP.vn.] EVENTS OF 1777. 245 Passage of the Dunderberg and Capture of Forts Clinton and Montgomery. responsibility, for he had not received orders from General Howe of any description whatever. He placed his forces upon water craft of all kinds, and under con- voy of some ships of war, he proceeded as far as Yerplanck's Point, about forty five miles north of New York, where he landed without opposition, the small battery upon the peninsula having been aban- doned on his approach. This was a feint to deceive Putnam, then stationed at Peekskill, five miles above, and it succeeded. Put- nam, supposing it to be Clinton's intention to push on towards Albany along the eastern bank of the Hudson, drew as many troops as could possibly be spared from forts Clinton, Montgomery, and one or two other stations, and assembled about two thousand men to oppose the progress of the British General. As soon as Sir Henry Clinton perceived that his stratagem was successful, he put his plan into execution. He immediately passed two thousand of his troops over to Stony Point, on the west bank of the Hudson, leaving one thousand to guard the peninsula. Notwithstanding it was late in the afternoon, he at once commenced a march towards forts Montgomery and Clinton,* knowing their weakened state by the withdrawal of large numbers by Putnam on that day. The distance was about twelve miles, and the rugged pathway was over the pre- cipitous and almost inaccessible Dunderberg. t It was sunset before they reached the crest of this lofty mountain, yet they rushed forward, and, according to previous arrangements, attacked both forts at once. The garrisons were taken completely by surprise, for they could not believe that a regular army would ever attempt a march over the Dunderberg ; and the first intimation they had of the approach of Clinton's forces, was their actual precipitate descent of the mountain towards the fort. A desperate battle ensued, but the Americans, overpowered by numbers, were obliged to yield, and the forts fell into the hands of the British.* 1 Governor George Clinton was commanding in the fort that bore his name, and he and his brother, General James Clinton, together with a majority of the survivors, made their escape under cover of the darkness of night. The loss of the Americans was about three hundred men, among whom were Lieutenant-Colonels Livingston and Bruyn, and Majors Hamilton and Logan, who were taken prisoners. The British had about one hundred and forty killed and wounded. Among the former was the Count Gabrowski, a brave Pole, and one of General I * These forts were situated amid the Highlands nearly sixty miles above the city of New York. They were separated by Peploap's Kill, a small stream that forms the boundary line between Orange and Rockland counties t Thunder Mountain. 246 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1777. Obstructions in the River, and burning of American vessels. Destruction of Continental Village. Clinton's aides. He and Lord Rawdon led the British grenadiers to the charge at the beginning of the assault. Meanwhile, the fleet of the enemy attempted to co-operate with the troops, but a very serious obstruction in the river checked their pro- gress effectually. The Americans had constructed a chevaux-de-frise of great strength across the river, which is there about six hundred yards wide.* To make the obstruction still more complete and effi cient, a ponderous boom or iron chain was also stretched across the river by the side of the chevaux-de-frise, similar to one placed across the stream at West Point in 1778. This obstruction was prepared at an expense of about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Two frigates, two galleys, and a sloop, were placed just above the chevaux-de-frise, and under the guns of the fort. These, the Americans who escaped from the forts, set on fire, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, and they were burnt to the water's edge. That conflagration, amid the darkness of a cloudy night, presented a magnificent spectacle ; and when the fire reached the loaded guns, and at length the magazines, the scene was sublime to sight and ear, beyond all conception. The echoes of those detonations and final thunder-peals were awakened upon a hundred hills, and every crest for a moment glowed with a brilliant illumina- tion. A few miles higher up, and opposite West Point, was another strong fort, called Constitution, which the Americans, on hearing of the fall of Forts Montgomery and Clinton, abandoned, after demolishing a part of the works. Being thus in possession of the keys to the northern country, the British immediately set about removing the obstructions in the river at Forts Montgomery and Clinton.! This being accomplished, the whole fleet passed up the river, and anchored a little above West Point. All impediments being now removed, Sir James Wallace, with a flying squadron of light frigates, and General Vaughan, with a considerable number of troops, were sent up the Hudson, commissioned to mark their progress by desolation. A detachment of tories or loyalists, under Governor Tryon, was sent at the same time to destroy the flour- ishing settlement in Westchester, known as Continental Village, where the Americans had barracks for fifteen hundred men, and a large deposit of military stores. a That infamous * A short distance above the landing-place now known as " Caldwell's.** t It has been stated to the writer, second-hand from an eye-witness, that so strong was the boom that the whole force of the British fleet, sailing up abreast, was insufficient to sever it ; and that the vessels all rebounded when they struck it, greatly to the astonishment of those on board. They, however, soon contrived to sunder it. chat vil] EVENTS OF 1777. 247 Burning of Esopus. Retreat of Clinton to Ne w York- enemy of republicanism executed his cruel commission most faith- fully. The expedition that passed up the river, burned every vessel that fell in their way, and with fire and sword desolated the country, and spread death and ruin among a peaceful and innocent population They penetrated northward as far as the mouth of Kingston or Esopus Creek, and proceeded to the village of that name lying about two miles and a half west of the Hudson, where the Americans had a large quantity of stores. They cannonaded the place, and the people, without resistance, retreated. But the wanton barbarity of the troops pleaded for gratification, and the boon was cheerfully grant- ed — that beautiful village was fired in several places, and in a few short hours not a single house was left standing ! a A ' vast amount of provisions and other military stores was consumed. Not a word can be said in justification of these atrocities, for neither necessity nor utility demanded this destruction of life and property. And had the army of Clinton, after the first success in the Highlands, pushed immediately forward to the relief of Bur- goyne, instead of being engaged in these brutal expeditions, that General, with the remnant of his army, might have been enabled to retreat safely back to Canada ; and there might also have been a possibility of defeating Gates. It is probable General Clinton was unwilling to depart too far from New York and leave it compara- tively unprotected, and therefore took this method of drawing off a portion of the American troops from the north, sufficient to give Burgoyne a fair chance of success. This is the most charitable view that can be taken of those wanton acts of barbarism.* And it is worthy of note, that at the very time Vaughan was committing these wicked depredations, Burgoyne was receiving from General Gates the most honorable and generous conditions for himself and his ruined army. i Immediately after the surrender of Burgoyne, General Gates despatched quite a large number of troops to reinforce Putnam, and stay the devastating progress of Vaughan and Wallace. As soon as General Clinton heard of this movement, he ordered the immedi- ate return of the expeditions ; and having dismantled the forts, and destroyed all the places they had taken, in order to leave the river I * General Gates, on hearing of the expedition of Vaughan, wrote a severe letter to j that officer, complaining of the devastations on each bank of the Hudson, and the 1 burning of Esopus, and concluded by saying : — " Is it thus that the generals of the King expect to make converts to the royal cause ? Their cruelties operate as a contrary effect ; independence is founded upon the universal disgust of the people. The fortune of war has delivered into my hands older and abler generals than General Vaughan is reputed to be : their condition may one day become his, and then no human power can save him from the just vengeance of an offended people " 4 '248 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1777. American loss of Provisions and Stores. Articles of Confederation. open for future operations, Clinton re-embarked his men and returned to New York, having completely swept the Hudson. This expedition of Clinton was extremely disastrous to the Ame- ricans. Among the seemingly inaccessible Highlands, a vast quan- tity of provisions and stores was deposited, in supposed perfect security. These were nearly all taken or destroyed ; and a hundred pieces of artillery, fifteen or twenty thousand pounds of powder, and balls in proportion, and all the implements necessary for the daily artillery service, fell into the hands of the enemy. During the year, Congress effected several important measures, all tending towards the maintenance of the declared independence of the United States.* It has already been stated, that as early as June, 1775, Doctor Franklin proposed a confederation of the States or Colonies; and on the eleventh of June, 1776, a committee was appointed by Congress to prepare a plan of confederation. The committee reported in July following, but the report was laid upon the table, and no more was done in the premises until 1 777. During this year, the subject of a confederation was frequently discussed upon the floor of Congress, and finally, after various changes, the report of the committee of the foregoing year was adopted by that body on the fifteenth of November.* Congress then resolved as follows : — " These Articles of Confederation shall be proposed to the Legislatures of all the United States, to be con- sidered, and if approved of by them, they are advised to authorize their delegates to ratify the same in the Congress of the United States ; which being done, the same shall become conclusive."! . These Articles of Confederation were nothing more than pro- visions for a league of friendship, and for mutual aid and protection ; and so widely different were the conditions of the several Colonies or States, and so defective were the Articles of Union, that it was not until March, 1781, that Maryland, the last remaining State, ratified the agreement, and thus made the Articles ol Confederation the Constitution of the country. Through the active agency of Doctor Franklin, in conjunction with Silas Deane and Arthur Lee, who were sent out in November, 1776, as resident commissioners for the United States at the Court of Ver- sailles, a treaty of alliance and commerce was negotiated with the French government. As early as the twenty-eighth of De- cember/ these commissioners opened their business in a * For two vears the clear-headed, patriotic John Hancock, presided over the delibe- rations of tnat body, but his health requiring a relaxation from his arduous duties, he took leave of Congress on the twenty-ninth of October, 1777, and Henry Laurens was elected to succeed him. f See Appendix, Note VIII. chap, til] EVENTS OF 1777. 249 Negotiations with the Count de Vergennes. Conclusion of a Treaty with Franco private audience with the Count de Vergennes, the Prime Minister of Louis XVI. Congress could not have applied to the Court of France under more favorable auspices. The throne was filled by a prince in the flower of his age, and animated with a desire to make his reign illustrious. Count de Vergennes was not less remarkable for his extensive political knowledge, than for true greatness of mind. He had the superior wisdom to discern that there were no present advantages to be obtained by unequal terms, that would compensate for those lasting benefits that were likely to flow from a kind and generous beginning. Instead of grasping at too much, or taking any advantage of the humble situation of the invaded Colonies, he aimed at nothing more than, by kind and generous terms to a dis- tressed country, to perpetuate the separation which had already taken place between the component parts of an empire, from the union of which his sovereign had much to fear. A haughty reserve would have discouraged the Americans ; an open reception, or even a legal countenance of their deputies, might have alarmed the rulers •of Great Britain, and disposed them to a compromise with the Colo- nies', or have brought on an immediate rupture between France and England. A middle line, as preferable to either, was therefore pur- sued.* What the French government did not think it prudent to do, pri- vate enterprise accomplished ; and during the whole year, the Americans received more or less aid from France,! while the govern- ment was continually alternating between encouragement and con- demnation, according to the development of events. The reverses of 1776 sank the credit of the Americans very low, and much of the French ardor for the cause of republicanism was abated. But the battles of Trenton and Princeton, and subsequently the capture of Burgoyne, clearly foretold the ultimate success of the Americans, and the French government no longer hesitated. The Commission- ers of Congress were informed by Mr. Gerard, one of the Secretaries of the King's Council of State, that the treaty of alliance and com- merce which had been for some time under consideration, would be ratified ; " that it was decided to acknowledge the independence of the United States, and to make a treaty with them ;" and, on the sixth of February, 1778, Louis XVI. entered into treaties of amity * Ramsay's History of the American Revolution, vol. ii., pp. 62, 0.3. f On the first of December, 1777, the French ship L'Henrcux, laden with arms and munitions of war, for the United States, arrived at Portsmouth, New Hamp shire. Baron Steuben, a Prussian officer, and one of the aides-de-camp of Frede- rick the Great, came passenger in her, and tendered his services to Congress, which were accepted, and he became one of the most efficient officers in the Continental army. 250 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1777. Conditions of the Treaty of Alliance. and commerce, and of alliance, with the United States, on the footing of the most perfect equality and reciprocity. It was declared in the treaty of alliance, that if war should break out between France and England, during the existence of that with the United States, it should be made a common cause ; and that neither of the contract- ing parties should conclude either truce or peace with Great Britain, without the formal consent of the other first obtained ; and they mutually engaged not to lay down their arms " until the independence of the United States shall have been formally, or tacitly, assumed, by the treaty or treaties, that should terminate the war." Thus closed the year 1777. The future looked far brighter than it did at the close of the preceding year, and it was joyfully believed that the late successes of the American arms, and the alliance with France would terminate hostilities ere another campaign should open. ' DCLXk Washington's Head-quartsrs, at; Morrietown, H. 3. EVENTS OF 1778 Marquis de La Fayette, aged 25 — Baron Steuben— Commodore John Paul Jones CHAPTER VIII. HE American encampment at Valley Forge during the severe winter of 1777-8, presented a spectacle for which the pen of History never drew a parallel. A large army* was there concentrated, whose naked foot-prints in the snow, converging to that bleak hill-side, were often marked with blood. Absolute Destitution there held high court ; and never was the * The whole number of men in the field was eleven thousand and ninety-eight, when the encampment commenced. Of this number two thousand eight hundred and ninetv-eight were unfit for duty. — Sparks (1 vol.), p. 256. 252 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778. Sufferings of the American-i :U Valley Forge. chivalric heroism of patient, suffering more tangibly manifested than was exhibited by that patriot hand within those frail log huts that barely covered them from the falling snow, or sheltered them from the keen wintry blasts. Many were utterly without shoes or stock- ings, and nearly naked, obliged to sit night after night shivering round their fires in quest of the comforts of heat, instead of taking that needful repose which nature craves. Hunger also became a resi- dent tormentor, for the prevalence of toryism in the vicinage ; the avarice of commissaries, the lardy movements of Congress in sup- plying provisions, and the close proximity of a powerful enemy, combined to make the procurement of provisions absolutely imprac- ticable without a resort to force. But few horses were in the camp; and such was the deficiency in this respect for the ordinary, as well as extraordinary occasions of the army, that the men in many in- stances cheerfully yoked themselves to vehicles of their own con- struction, for carrying wood and provisions when procured ; while others performed the duty of pack-horses, and carried heavy burdens of fuel upon their backs.* Yet amidst all this suffering day after day, surrounded by frost and snow, patriotism was still warm and hopeful in the hearts of the soldiers, and the love of self was merged into the one great sentiment, love of country. Although a few feeble notes of discontent were heard, and symptoms of an intention to abandon the cause were visible, yet the great body of that suffer- ing phalanx were content to wait for the budding spring, and be ready to enter anew upon the fields of strife for the cause of Free- lorn. t Unprovided with materials to raise their beds from the cold ground, the dampness occasioned sickness and death to rage among them to an astonishing degree. " Indeed, nothing could surpass their suffering, except the patience and fortitude with which it was en- dured by the faithful part of the army."J Amid all this distress, in the neighborhood of a powerful British army, fearless of its num- bers and strength, and licentiousness,^ a striking proof of their * Mrs. Warren's History of the Revolution, vol. i., p. 389. f General Washington, in a letter to Congress, thus wrote : — " For some days there has been little less than famine in the camp. A part of the army have been a week without any kind of flesh, and the rest three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been, ere this, excited by their sufferings to a general mutiny and dispersion. Strong symptoms, however, of discontent have appeared in particular instances ; and nothing but the most active efforts every- where, can long avert so shocking a catastrophe." % Letter of the Committee of Congress, to Mr. Laurens, President of that body. § It is admitted, even by English writers, that General Howe and his officers, during that winter in Philadelphia, abandoned themselves to idleness and debauche- ry ; while the soldiers were left to indulge their own social habits. chap, vni.] EVENTS OF 1778. 253 American ladies in camp. Conspiracy against Washington. intrepidity in suffering was exhibited by the Americans. The Commander-in-chief, and several of the principal officers of the American army, in defiance of danger either to themselves and such tender connexions, sent for their ladies from the different States to which they belonged, to pass the remainder of the winter there.* Nothing but the inexperience of the American ladies, and their con- fidence in the judgment of their husbands, could justify this hazard to their persons, and to their feelings of delicacy.t It was an arduous task for Washington to keep together and sup- ply with provisions, that army of suffering men, and night and day his efforts were almost unceasing for their comfort and convenience. As a last resort, he compelled those who had withheld provisions to furnish them forthwith. Sheer necessity obliged him, in this in- stance, to treat the American tories with as little consideration as the English soldiery4 In the midst of these difficulties, jealous and restless minds had formed a conspiracy to tarnish the fair fame of the Commander-in-chief, to weaken the affections of the people for him, and to place the supreme command in other hands. He was attacked by anonymous letters, censuring him for his apathetic movements — his "Fabian slowness," and strongly contrasting his reverses upon the Delaware and its vicinity with the brilliant victory of Gates at the north. Most of these letters bore the signature of De Lisle, the authorship of which was never publicly known, but generally attributed to Conway, a brigadier in the army, who had been in the French service from his youth. The other chief actors in this con- spiracy, called " Conway's Cabal," were Generals Mifflin and Gates ; and it cannot be denied that several Members of Congress partook of the disaffection, doubted the ability of Washington to execute his high trust, and countenanced the scheme for his supersession. § * Mrs. Washington joined her husband at Valley Forge in February. Writing a month afterwards, to Mrs. Mercy Warren, the historian of the Revolution, she said, " The General's apartment is very small ; he has had a log cabin built to dine in, which has made our quarters much more tolerable than they were at first." — Sparks, p. 256. f Mrs. Warren, vol. i., p. 389. \ In obedience to a resolution of Congress, Washington issued a proclamation, requiring all the farmers within seventy miles of Valley Forge to thresh out one half of their grain by the first of February, and the rest by the first of March, under the penalty of having the whole seized as straw. Many farmers refused, defended their grain and cattle with muskets and rifle, and in some instances burnt what they could not defend. § Even Samuel Adams was suspected of unfriendly designs towards the Com- mander-in-chief. But there were never sufficient grounds to suppose that Mr. Adams ever harbored any disaffection towards the person of Washington ; on the contrary, he respected and esteemed his character, and loved the man. But zeal- 17 254 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778. Forged letters attributed to Washington. General Conway the actor in the cabal. Attempts were made, through persuasion, and flattery, and promised honors, to link La Fayette with them, but it proved a signal failure. The firmness with which the young patriot clung to Washington during this trial of the hero's sensitive heart, shamed the secret ene- mies and jealous rivals of that great man, and was mainly instru- mental in dissolving the cabal.* A pamphlet was also published in London, containing several reputed letters of Washington, wherein he was made to speak disparagingly of Congress, and express strong wishes for a reconciliation. This pamphlet was industriously cir- culated in America, but it had but little effect upon the public mind, other than contempt for the infamous forger. This was likewise attributed to Conway, who was a man of considerable literary talents, and was quite above mediocrity in military tactics. Like many others, the glowing promises of rank and influence, injudi- ciously made by the ardent Silas Deane, caused him great disap- pointment when he arrived and found that subordinate station was all he could command. He was appointed Inspector-General of the American forces, and yet saw no chance for preferment, except by a pathway over the ruins of the character and influence of the Great Leader, and to this path heartless ambition beckoned him. But, finding his expectations not half realized, and being generally sus- pected of an identity with De Lisle, he resigned his commission and returned to Europe.! He was succeeded in office by Baron Steuben, whose great experience under Frederick the Great eminently quali- fied him for its duties, and in a short time, he introduced a system of tactics and discipline into the army, which met with the hearty cms and ardent in his defence of his injured country, he was startled at everything that appeared to retard the operations of the war, or impede the success of the Revolution ; a revolution for which posterity is as much indebted to the talent and exertions of Mr. Adams, as to those of any one in the United States. — Mrs. Warren, vol. i., p. 393. * A new Board of War was about this time instituted, with Gates at its head. This Board, without consulting Washington, planned an expedition to Canada, and appointed La Fayette to the command, hoping thereby to win him over. By the advice of Washington, he accepted the proffered honor, and before starting for Albany he visited the Board at Yorktown, Virginia, for instructions. He met them at table, and as the wine passed round, several toasts were given. Determined to let his sentiments be known, La Fayette gave, " The Commander-in-chief of the American Armies." It was coldly received, and perceiving the true sentiments of the patriotic Frenchman, they soon after abandoned the project, and La Fayette returned to Valley Forge. I f Before leaving the country, he got into a dispute with an American officer, which led to a duel. Conway was severely, and as he thought, mortally, wounded ; and believing he should die, he wrote to Washington, expressing sorrow for his conduct, and concluded by saying, " May you long enjoy the love, veneration, and esteem of these States, whose liberties you have asserted by your virtues." chap, vm.] EVENTS OF 1T78. 255 Washington's firmness and patriotism. Proceedings in Parliament. approval of Congress and of Washington, and which, for many- years after the close of the war, was used by the States for training the militia. The unworthy efforts of the secret enemies of Washington were like a viper biting a file. They only served to increase the confi- dence and affections of the people in and for him ; and his dignified silence while the waves of opposition were beating fiercely against him — a silence warranted by his conscious integrity, and the injustice of the attack, was a more fitting rebuke than words could have administered. Though deeply wounded, yet Washington's remark- able prudence too clearly perceived that a public defence would necessarily involve the development of facts which the enemy ought not to know ; and he chose rather to suffer contumely in silence, than to endanger the cause by a self-defence. Before proceeding to a consideration of the military events of 1778, let us for a moment glance at the movements of the British Parliament. British statesmen, particularly those of the ministerial party, had, previous to the defeat of Burgoyne, deemed a speedy termination of the war an unquestionable certainty. But whe/i the news of the surrender of the whole British army of the north reached them, they were utterly confounded, and profound dejection marked the whole British realm. The pompous boasts of ministers, the confident tone of the King, and the high character of generals chosen to direct the war, had awakened the most sanguine expectations of a speedy peace, and hence the news of these reverses was as de- jecting as unexpected. Lord North was greatly alarmed, and he was obliged to listen to the thousand-tongued voice of public senti- ment in favor of measures to secure an honorable peace. Abroad, in all parts of the country, ministers were censured ; and in Parlia- ment, the opposition were more vehement than ever. In the House of Lords, the indignant eloquence of Chatham when he commented upon the employment of German troops, had a powerful effect. " You may swell," said he, "every expense, and every effort still more extravagantly ; pile and accumulate every assistance you can buy or borrow ; traffic and barter with every little, pitiful German prince, that sells and sends his subjects to the shambles of a foreign power : your efforts are for ever vain and impotent — doubly so from this mercenary aid on which you rely ; for it irritates to an incurable resentment the minds of your enemies — to overrun them with the mercenary sons of rapine and plunder ; devoting them and their possessions to the rapacity of hireling cruelty ! If I were an Ame- rican, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms — never — never — never !" 256 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778. Concessions of Ministers. Virtual Declaration of War against France. In the lower House, both Lords North and Germaine were assailed with equal violence, and the latter with not a little severe ridicule. Burke compared North to the " pigmy physician" who was set to watch over the health of Sancho Panza ; while Fox, by a more apt illustration, compared Lord George Germaine, the Secretary of War, and chief director of American affairs, to Doctor Sangrado, whose grand and only remedy was to bleed. " Bleeding," said he, " has been his only prescription. For two years that he has presided over American affairs, the most violent scalping, tomahawking measures have been pursued. If a people, deprived of their ancient rights, have grown tumultuous — bleed them ! If they are attacked with a spirit of insurrection — bleed them ! If their fever should rise into rebellion — bleed them ! cries this State physician : more blood : more blood : still more blood !" ■ On the seventeenth of February, Lord North produced a conciliatory plan, included in two bills, by which England virtually conceded all that had been the cause of controversy be- tween the two countries. In fact, more was offered than the Colo- nies had ever asked or desired before the Declaration of Independ- ence. The right of taxation was to be renounced ; the violated con- stitutions were to be restored; every act since 1763 was to be abrogated, except such as were manifestly beneficial to the Colonies ; and in the course of his speech in support of his plan, Lord North recommended that Congress should be treated with as a legal body. This renunciation by ministers of all their high pretensions to abso- lute sovereignty over the American Colonies, was a signal triumph for the opposition, who, for thirteen years, had battled manfully for American liberty upon the floor of Parliament. The bills passed rapidly through both Houses, and received the royal signa- i March 11. . ture.* On the seventeenth of March, Parliament was informed of the treaty between the United States and France. The British Minister at that Court was immediately recalled ; the French Ambassador in London received his passports at the same time, and thus war was virtually declared between the two countries. In the meanwhile, commissioners had been sent to America with proposals for an amicable adjustment of all difficulties. Many of the opposition now advocated the acknowledgment of American Independence ; but Chatham, with all his fervor in the cause of freedom for the Americans to the fullest extent known in the British constitution, could not brook the thought of a dismem- berment of that mighty empire, which he had been so instrumental chap, vra.] EVENTS OF 1778. 257 , • — The last speech of William Pitt in Parliament. Arrival of British Commissioners in America. in widely extending. He appeared in the Hou^e of Lords,* and taking his hand from his crutch, he raised it and ex- claimed, " I thank God that I have been enabled to come here this day to perform my duty, and to speak on a subject that has so deeply impressed my mind. I am old and infirm ; I have one foot, more than one foot, in the grave ; I am risen from my bed, to stand up in the cause of my country — perhaps never again to speak in this House.* I rejoice that the grave has not closed over me ; that I am still alive to lift up my voice against the dismemberment of this ancient and most noble monarchy. Shall this great kingdom, that has survived the Danish depredators, the Scottish invaders, and the Norman conquest ; that has stood the threatened invasion of the Spanish Armada, now fall prostrate before the house of Bourbon ? Surely, my Lords, this nation is no longer what it was ! Shall a people, that fifteen years ago were the terror of the world, now stoop so low as to tell their ancient, inveterate enemy — ' take all we have, only give us peace !' It is impossible ! In God's name, if it is absolutely necessary to declare either for peace or war, and the former cannot be preserved with honor, why is not the latter com- menced without hesitation ? I am not, I confess, well informed of the resources of this kingdom ; but I trust it has still sufficient to maintain its just rights, though I know them not. But, my Lords, any state is better than despair Let us at least make one effort ; and if we must fall, let us fall like men." The proposition to acknowledge the independence of the United States was negatived by a large majority. The British Commissioners! landed at Philadelphia about the first of June, and sent to Congress copies of their commission, the acts of Parliament in reference to their appointment, and the terms they were instructed to offer. These were referred to a committee of five, and when they reported, the President was directed to reply to the Commissioners, and inform them that the preliminaries to any negotiation with Great Britain on the subject must be the withdrawal of her fleets and armies. The Commissioners made a second, but unsuccessful attempt at negotiation, and also made public declara- tions, but these were derided. Finally, they attempted to win some * This was the last speech he ever made in that House. In the course of his address, when excited to the highest degree of eloquence, he was suddenly seized with illness of an apoplectic character, and he would have fallen to the floor had not some members caught him in their arms. The House was in great confusion : all pressed round with anxious solicitude, and the debate closed without another word. He was removed to his residence, where he expired on the eleventh of May, in the seventieth year of his age. t Earl Carlisle, Governor Johnstone, and William Eden 258 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778. Reception of the Treaty with France. Recall of General Sir William Howe. of the Members of Congress over to the British interest, by large bribes,* but they were not only foiled in this, but the effort created universal indignation. Congress at once resolved to hold no further communication ; and the Commissioners, after attempting to affect the people by addresses and proclamations, returned to England. A few weeks previous to this, the French frigate " La Sensible," arrived in Casco Bay, bearing the joyful tidings to the Americans, in an official form, of the treaty concluded between the United States and France, and also the intelligence that other European powers were favorably inclined to the Republican cause. Congress was immediately convened,! and the treaties were ratified as soon as read. Congress also issued a proclamation, embodying the various foreign documents they had received, touching the independence of America. It spoke of the treaty of commerce and alliance with France, and asserted that the Emperor of Germany, and the Kings of Spain and Prussia were determined to support the Americans ; that armies and fleets from France were preparing to come, — per- haps were on their way — to America, and that ample strength would be vouchsafed them for absolute success in the next campaign. This proclamation, and an energetic address which Congress sent forth, produced universal joy, and the people were anxious to see the next campaign open, which they fondly hoped would be a short one. They rejoiced in the prospect of seeing the Sword exchanged for the Olive-branch of Peace, and obedience to a transatlantic monarch and a partial legislature, substituted by self-sovereignty and just and equal representation. Early in the spring, General Howe requested his recall, which request was immediately granted, and on the eighteenth of May his officers gave him a great fete, as a " leave-taking." The pompous and contemptible show on that occasion, was a fit finale to the dis- graceful scenes in which Howe and his officers had borne a con- spicuous part during the winter in Philadelphia.! This fete was * The President (Henry Laurens), Joseph Reed, Francis Dana, Robert Morris, and others, were thus approached. General Reed was offered ten thousand pounds sterling and the most valuable office in the Colonies, if he would exert his abilities to promote a reconciliation. To this base proposition he replied : — " I am hot worth purchasing ; but such as I am, the King of Great Britain is not rich enough to buy me." t It was Saturday afternoon, and Congress had adjourned to ten o'clock Monday morning. The despatches were brought by Simeon Deane, brother of Silas, the American Commissioner, and the Members of Congress were called together, and the despatches opened and read. — See Journals of Congress, vol. iv., p. 255. t Stedman, a British officer under Cornwallis, says : " During the winter a very unfortunate inattention was shown to the feelings of the inhabitants, whose satis- faction should have been vigilantly consulted, both from gratitude and from inte- chap, m] EVENTS OF 1778. 259 fiir Henry Clinton called to the chief command. Grand Fete in honor of the Howes. called a Mischianza, an Italian word, signifying a medley, and is said to have exceeded in magnificence of exhibition even those of Louis XIV.* Six days after the fete a Sir William Howe took his departure, and at the same time, Sir Henry Clinton arrived from New York to assume the chief command. He was instructed by his government to evacuate Philadelphia, and concen- trate all his forces at New York, Philadelphia being deemed a disadvantageous position, being so far inland, and liable to be block- aded by the expected French fleets. He immediately set about the execution of this order, but in a very secret manner, so as to conceal from Washington, at Valley Forge, his real designs. But the vigi- lance of the American chief soon discovered the movement ; and he sent out from Valley Forge a a detachment of two thou- sand men, under General La Fayette, to cover the country between rest. They experienced many of the horrors of civil war. The soldiers insulted and plundered them : and their houses were occupied as barracks without any compensation. Some of the first families were compelled to receive into their habitations individual officers, who were even indecent enough to introduce their mistresses into the mansions of their hospitable entertainers. Gaming of every description was allowed, and officers and soldiers were debased by their vicious habits." In view of these things, Dr. Franklin remarked, that Howe had not taken Philadelphia, but Philadelphia Howe. * In the Annual (British) Register for 177S, is a minute description of this Mischianza, occupying thirteen columns, said to have been written by the unfor- tunate Major Andre, who was present on the occasion, from which we gather the following : A grand regatta on the Delaware began the entertainment, with all the bands on shore playing " God save the King." All the colors of the army were arranged in a grand avenue three hundred feet long, and lined with the King'3 troops, with two principal arches, for the two brothers (the Admiral and General), to march along in pompous procession, followed by a numerous train of attendants f with seven silken Knights of the Blended Rose, and seven more of the Burning Mountain ; and fourteen damsels dressed in the Turkish fashion ; each knight bear- ing an appropriate motto, in allusion to the damsel of his choice. After this procession followed a tilt, or tournament, in which Lord Cathcart acted the part of chief knight, his device being Cupid riding on a lion ; his motto, " Surmounted by Love ;" and the lady he professed to honor, Miss Auchmuty, of Philadelphia. This was followed by a ball, not omitting the faro table ! After this a magnificent sup- per, where there were four hundred and thirty covers, and twelve hundred dishes. Twenty-four black slaves in oriental costume, with silver collars and armlets, were ranged in two lines, and bent themselves to the earth as the General and Admiral approached the table. The evening closed with healths to the King, Queen, and royal family, and a grand flourish of trumpets. Paine, in one of the numbers of his paper called the " Crisis," gave a laughable account of this farce. Alluding to General Howe, he says, " He bounces off', with his bombs and burning hearts set upon the pillars of his triumphant arch, which at the proper time of the show, burst out with a shower of squibs and crackers, and other fire-works, to the delight and amazement of Miss Craig, Miss Chew, Miss Redman, and all the other Misses dressed out as the fair damsels of the Blended Rose, and of the Burning Mountain, for this farce of knight-errantry." How strange that such sensible men as these two commanders were, should have consented to receive such gross adulation. 260 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778. Evacuation of Philadelphia by the British. The British pursued by the Americans. the Delaware and Schuylkill, to obstruct incursions of the enemy's parties, and obtain accurate information respecting their movements. La Fayette marched to Barren Hill, towards which the British sent a large force at night, and, through the negligence or perfidy of one of La Fayette's piquet guard, he was nearly surrounded before he was aware of the approach of the enemy. He quickly perceived and executed a most skilful manoeuvre, by which he gained a ford, and marched his whole army across the Schuylkill, with the loss of only nine men. Early on the morning of the eighteenth of June, General Clinton commenced his march from Philadelphia. The news of this move- ment of the British army was received by Washington while hold- ing a council of war with his officers, to determine the numbers of the respective armies,* and the chances of success in a general engagement. In the meanwhile, General Maxwell had been ordered to cross the Delaware, and act in concert with General Dickenson, who was in command of the New Jersey militia. As soon as the British army had crossed the Delaware, a detachment under Arnold took possession of Philadelphia.! Generals LeeJ and Wayne took the road to Coryell's Ferry ; and six days afterwards the whole Ame- rican army landed upon the New Jersey shore, and marched to Hopewell, five miles from Princeton. The British army had crossed at Gloucester Point, and proceeded by the way of Haddonfield and Mount Holly, to Allentown, where, in consequence of the approxi- mation of Washington to his front, Clinton determined to keep him to the right, and took the road leading to Monmouth and Sandy Hook. He was greatly harassed all the way by Morgan's corps of six hundred riflemen hanging upon his right flank, while Generals Maxwell and Scott constantly 'galled the left and rear. At Hopewell, Washington called a council of war, to discuss the best mode of attack upon the enemy. The council was divided, Lee and others advising to avoid a general battle, but to harass the enemy upon flank and rear. Finding these dissentient councils an impedi- ment, Washington determined to act in accordance with the dictates * The number of troops at Valley Forge was about eleven thousand on the eighth of May, when a private council was held ; and the whole American force then in the field, including all the garrisons at other places, did not exceed fifteen thousand men. The British army in Philadelphia and New York amounted to nearly thirty thousand, of which nineteen thousand were in the former place. There were besides three thousand seven hundred at Rhode Island. f In consideration of his previous eminent services, and to allow him to recover from some wounds, and adjust some long accounts with Congress, Washington appointed Arnold to the tranquil post of military Governor of Philadelphia. Here was opened the first scene in the drama of his subsequent treason. X Lee had been very lately exchanged for General Prescott. chap, vm.] EVENTS OF 1778. 261 Conduct of Major-General Lee. Battle of Monmouth. of his own judgment, and at once sent forward between three and four thousand men to commence an attack, while he, with the rest of the army, remained a few miles behind, ready to support them if necessary. The command of this force was given to La Fayette and Wayne ; and General Lee, who was next in command to Wash- ington, was ordered with two additional brigades to join them. Perceiving these threatening movements of the pursuing Ameri- cans, Clinton placed his baggage train in front, and his best men in the rear, and with his army thus arranged, encamped in a strong position near Monmouth Court House at Freehold. On the morn- ing of the twenty-eighth of June, the British front began to march, intelligence of which reached Washington about five o'clock, he being distant six or seven miles. He instantly put the army in motion, and despatched the light-horse of La Fayette to make an attack. The British wheeled, and, under Clinton and Cornwallis, made a furious charge, which compelled La Fayette to fall back, much to the surprise of Lee, who was also advancing with about five thousand men. Lee at once ordered a retreat across a morass in his rear, to a stronger position ; but his troops mistaking his order, as he alleged, continued to retreat until they met the advance of the main army, under Washington, and thereby produced great confu- sion, no notice of the retreat having been given. Washington was greatly surprised and mortified at this unexpected retreat, and addressing Lee with much warmth, ordered him to rally his troops and bring them immediately into action.* Lee promptly obeyed, and the order of battle was restored in time for him to oppose a powerful check to the advance of the enemy, until the main division came up. Generals Greene and Wayne simultaneously attacked the enemy's front and left flank. The battle became general, and lasted till night. Intending to renew the contest in the morning, Washington directed the troops to lie upon their arms, while he, wrapped in his cloak, passed the night upon the battle-field. At dawn the • , n . „ a June 2a next morning, no enemy was to be seen, bir Henry Clinton having silently withdrawn his troops during the night, and followed his baggage-train to Middlebrook. His position was there so strong, * General Lee was greatly irritated by the reprimand of Washington. His haughty pride was touched ; and the next day he addressed two offensive letters to the Commander-in-chief, demanding reparation. He was soon put under arrest, charged with disobedience of orders; misbehavior before the enemy; and disrespect to the Commander-in-chief. He was found guilty of all the charges, and was sen- tenced to suspension from all command in the American army for one year. He left the service, and never returned to it. He died four years afterwards, in Phila- delphia. 262 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1773. Retreat of the British to New York. Arrival of a French fleet under D'Estaing. and so intense was the heat, and so exhausted were the Continental soldiers, that Washington deemed it expedient to abandon the pur- suit. This battle, although favorable to the Americans, was not .a decided victory ; yet Congress viewed it somewhat in that light, and passed a vote of thanks to the commander and the army. The loss of the British was considerably more than that of the Ame- ricans. Four British officers, and two hundred and forty-five privates, were left dead on the field, and were buried by the Americans. The whole loss of the enemy was nearly three hundred. The American loss was sixty-nine killed. On both sides many died of the intense heat of the weather and the fatigues of the day. After the battle of Monmouth, the British proceeded to Sandy Hook, where Lord Howe's fleet, which had come round from the Delaware, was in readiness to transport them to New York, at which place they arrived at evening of the same day on which the battle was fought. a While marching through New Jersey, Clinton's army was considerably reduced ; the loss at Monmouth being the least moiety. One hundred were taken pri- soners ; and nearly six hundred deserted to Philadelphia, where many of them had formed tender attachments during the winter. When Clinton reached New York his army had suffered a reduction of at least two thousand men. The loss of men was more serious to the British than to the Americans, for the latter could soon recruit from the militia of the country. Washington crossed the Hudson and encamped at White Plains, where he remained until November, when he retired to winter-quarters, at Middlebrook, in New Jersey. As soon as France, by treaty, had openly declared in favor of the United States, she promptly commenced the fulfilment of her agree- ment, by fitting out a fleet of twelve sail of the line, and sent them to America, under the Count D'Estaing. At the same time, the British government sent a fleet of about equal numbers, under Admi- ral Byron, to co-operate with Admiral Lord Howe, but both fleets were delayed by contrary winds, and did not reach their destination until months afterwards. The French fleet arrived first,* and proceeded immediately to the Chesapeake, expecting to find Lord Howe there, but, as we have already seen, he had pro- ceeded to New York.* D'Estaing immediately repaired to Sandy Hook, but feared to venture over the bar into New York Bay, with his large ships, and accordingly waited outside eleven days, with the hope of either encountering the inward-bound vessels of Byron, or that Howe might be hardy enough to attack him. On the twenty- * M. Gerard, French Ambassador to Congress, came with the French fleet and was landed at Sandy Hook. chap, vm.] EVENTS OF 1778. 263 Siege of Newport. Refusal of the French fleet to co-operate, and retreat of Sullivan. second of July he weighed anchor and proceeded to Rhode Island, to assist the American land forces in their efforts there to dislodge the English. General Sullivan was then in Providence with a considerable body of Continental troops, and he was soon reinforced by the militia of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Washington also sent a detachment of two brigades under La Fayette, who was soon after followed by a small force under Greene, making in all nearly ten thousand men. The British force in Rhode Island, under General Pigot, was about six thousand men, stationed principally at Newport. It was agreed to attack that place by land and water on the ninth of August, but on that very morning, Howe, with the British fleet, appeared at the entrance of the harbor. The French Admiral at once sailed out to attack Howe, who immediately put to sea, and soon both fleets were out of sight. The British at the same time abandoned some posts on the island, and Sullivan immediately crossed over and took possession of them. He then proceeded towards Newport, and on the morning a Aug 15 of the fifteenth* commenced a siege of the place. During the siege 6 D'Estaing came into the harbor. A storm had ftAug - 19 - separated the two fleets before coming to an engagement, and both were very much injured. The French Admiral sent word to Sulli- van that he could not aid him in the siege, but should proceed to Boston to repair, and to this determination he firmly held, notwith- standing the earnest entreaties of La Fayette and Greene for him to remain. Sullivan was obliged to abandon the siege and retreat at night. He was pursued by the British in the morning, and on the north end of the island a pretty severe engagement took place. The British lost in killed and wounded, two hundred and sixty men ; the Americans two hundred and eleven, of whom thirty were killed or missing. General Sullivan having received information that General Clin- ton with four thousand men was on a rapid march for Rhode Island, immediately commenced evacuating it, and in an admirable manner withdrew all his troops to the main land before the arrival of the British Commander-in-chief. General Clinton finding Newport safe, immediately returned to New York, intending to attack New London on the way, but was prevented by a storm. He detached General Grey to attack some privateering stations at Buzzard's Bay, where he destroyed seventy vessels and numerous store-houses/* After destroying much d ^ t 5 property in New Bedford and Fairhaven, he proceeded to Martha's Vineyard/ and plundered the inhabitants of about e Sept " '' 264 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778, Predatory expeditions of the British. Dissatisfaction of the Americans with the French. ten thousand sheep and three hundred oxen, with which he marched to Clinton's head-quarters at New York. This General Grey was particularly famous for these plundering expeditions. He was more noted for stealthy seizures of property, and the murder at midnight of sleeping soldiers, than for manly courage in open daylight combat. Soon after his exploits at Buzzard's Bay, he was sent by Clinton against the village of Old Tappaan, on the west side of the Hudson, where, at midnight, he surprised a body of American light-horse under Colonel Baylor, gave no quarter, cruelly massacred a large majority of the privates, and carried away the officers as prisoners. Little Egg Harbor, on the New Jersey coast, a rendezvous of a sailed American privateers, was about this time attacked by a sept. 30. detachment under Captain Ferguson. Much shipping was b Oct. 6. destroyed, and a considerable quantity of stores captured. 6 This same expedition surprised the legion under Count Pulaski, and made great slaughter, until the brave Pole came up with his cavalry, when the British retreated to their ships, and returned to New York. In September, the # storm-beaten ships of the fleet of Byron joined Lord Howe, and both fleets, at the request of the latter, were placed under the command of Admiral Gambier. Lord Howe soon after returned to England. The conduct of D'Estaing in abandoning the siege of Newport was greatly censured by the Americans, and when he arrived in Boston, his reception was very cool. A general murmur of com* plaint of the inefficient co-operation of their French allies, was uttered by the American people ; and that alliance which at the beginning of the year held out such brilliant hopes to the struggling republicans, was nearly severed. The English Commissioners took this occasion to remind the Americans that the French were a faith- less people, and might not be trusted.* But these manifestations had no lasting effect, and the dissatisfaction soon subsided.! During the summer the inhabitants on the western frontiers suf- fered greatly from the barbarities of the Indians. But those tribes which ravaged the back settlements of Virginia were speedily de- feated by Colonel Clarke, an intrepid leader of Virginia militia. , * The insulting language used towards France by the Commissioners excited the indignation of La Fayette, and he challenged Carlisle. His challenge was not accepted ; the English Commissioner retreating behind official prerogative. f The disagreement which existed between the American and French officers at Rhode Island, gave the deepest concern to Washington. In a letter to La Fayette, who had communicated the particulars, he lamented it as a misfortune, which might end in a serious injury to the public interest ; and he endeavored to assuage the rising animosity of the parties, by counsels equally creditable to his feelings as a man, and to his patriotism. — Sparks, p. 280. cuxr. vm.] EVENTS OF 1778. 265 The Valley of Wyoming. Stone's defence of Brandt. He entered their country and drove all before him until he reached the British settlements near the Mississippi. At Kaskaskias he sur- prised and captured Colonel Hamilton, the British commander there, one of the most cruel employers of the savages which the enemy possessed. This expedition put an end to most of the outrages upon the settlers at the south and west. The beautiful Vale of Wyoming, Pennsylvania, next became the theatre of a dreadful tragedy. Through this valley the Susquehanna flows, on the banks of which the inhabitants of Connecticut had planted a Colony, many years before the Revolution. It became the most populous and flourishing settlement in America, and nowhere per- haps on the face of the globe existed a community of like numbers, where so much happiness, based upon public and private virtue, ore vailed, as in the Valley of Wyoming. Industry and frugality were the great temporal characteristics of the people, and at ;he same time stern patriotism found a luxuriant nursery there. When the War of Independence broke out, Wyoming sent forth its youth, and during the struggle, it gave a thousand soldiers to battle for liberty ; and yet in the midst of that peaceful community, party spirit raised its unseemly head, and soon the animosities of whigs and ;ories became as strong there as elsewhere, separating families, and severing the dearest domestic ties. The republicans having a ma- jority, used means to restrain the action of the tories, and even ixpelled several of them from the Colony. This highly exasperated hem ; they swore revenge ; they coalesced with their savage neigh- )ors ; and, during the summer of this year, while nearly all the souths of the settlement were with the army, they resolved to wreak vengeance. Both tories and Indians lulled the inhabitants into secu- ity by earnest protestations of friendship, and thus they learned the correct state of the Colony, and caused the people to. be less on their juard. Early in July, Colonel John Butler, and a celebrated Seneca chief lamed Gi-en-gwa-toh,* suddenly appeared upon the Susquehanna with sixteen hundred men, about one fourth of whom were In- lians, and the rest tories, many of them painted so as to resemble savages. The alarmed Colonists, having a presentiment of impend- * History and song have universally connected the celebrated half-breed Mohawk :hief, Brandt, with this bloody expedition. But the late Colonel William L. Stone, in his Life of that chief, clearly shows that Brandt was not present on that tccasion. And in his " History of Wyoming," he says that he (the author) made a journey into the Seneca country, and pushed the investigation among the surviving •hiefs and warriors of the Senecas engaged in that campaign. The result was a trium- >hant acquittal of Brandt from all participation therein. — Hist, of Wyoming, p. 192 266 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1779. Terrible Massacre of the people of Wyoming. • ing danger, had written to Washington for relief, but the letter did not reach him. On the appearance of the enemy the people appointed Zebulon Butler, a cousin of the tory Colonel, to the com- mand of all the militia in the settlement, amounting, at the four different forts they had hastily erected, to about five hundred men. The tory Colonel made the latter his head-quarters, and prepared to attack Forty Fort, the principal stockade in the Valley. Into this fort women and children flocked for refuge, and many families carried their valuables there for safety. John Butler soon appeared before Forty Fort and demanded its unconditional surrender. This was refused ; and at the earnest solicitation of some of the leading men, Colonel Zebulon Butler (contrary to his own judgment, for he expected Captain Spalding with a reinforcement) led about T three hundred armed men and lads to fight the invaders. a July 3, 1778. ° It was a hot day in July," and at one o'clock, the hot- test hour of the day, the little army marched to attack the Tories and Indians. A very severe conflict ensued, and the Americans were defeated and dispersed with great slaughter. Some of the fugitive troops sought shelter with the women and children in Forty Fort; others fled to Wilkesbarre Fort, and some escaped to the mountains. Colonel JSathan Denison was in command of Forty Fort. Im- mediately after the battle, Colonel Butler sent a messenger to : Denison, ordering him to surrender the Fort. Negotiations were entered into, and it was agreed, on condition that the inhabitants should lay down their arms and not appear again in opposition to British power, that they should remain in quiet possession of their farms and other property. The Forts in the Yalley were to be given up, and the garrisons to be prisoners of war. The ar- rangements being made, the gates were opened and the victors entered. It was with difficulty that Colonel Butler kept the In- dians from plunder and bloodshed, yet he succeeded. The re- straint, however, was brief; for soon afterwards, regardless of the authority of Colonel Butler, the savages spread themselves over the Yalley, and with torch and tomahawk, spread death and deso- lation in all directions. This destruction of Wyoming made a shudder of horror run through the States, and a retaliatory step was soon taken. Gen. Sullivan with Morgan's rifle corps, and some regiments besides, rushed upon the Indian settlements, laid waste their fields, burned * iL-.. their villages, and drove them like chaff before the wind, b October. «=• > . ' far back into the wilderness . b Early the following Spring a similar expedition, under Colonel Clarke, was sent against the Cana- dian and Tory settlements west of the Alleghanies. The affrighted chap. Yin.] EVENTS OF 1778. 267 Attack of Indians and Tories upon Cherry Valley. Depredations on the southern frontier. tories eagerly swore allegiance to the United States, while the hostile savages upon the Ohio and Wabash were attacked, and their whole country desolated. It was a fearful retaliation, hardly justified even by the powerful argument presented by the scene of horrors at Wyoming. In November, 8 a band of tories, British regulars and ■r t ! • • r «r • « NOV. 11, 11 Indians, attempted a repetition of the Wyoming tragedy upon the settlement at Cherry Valley, in New York. They took the settlement by surprise, killed many of the inhabitants, and quite a number were carried into captivity, generally among the Indians at that day, a condition worse than death. The fort, containing about two hundred soldiers, was not taken, and its defensive power prevented a general slaughter of the inhabitants. These bloody Indian expeditions, and a few predatory excursions of regulars and loyalists, intent chiefly on plunder, are the sum of the closing military operations of the year in the northern and middle States. The arena of stirring events was transferred to the southern States, where, until the close of the war, the British conducted their chief offensive opera- tions. Sir Henry Clinton, with a large portion of his army, went into winter quarters in New York, and about the same time, Wash- ington encamped the Americans for the winter at various points.* At the extreme southern limits of the States, tory refugees and Indians made several predatory incursions during the summer, laying w r aste the western portion of Georgia, and cutting off the inhabitants in detail. A large body of these refugees penetrated to the fort at Sunbury, and summoned the commander, Colonel Mcintosh, to surrender the place. He gave them the Spartan answer, " Come and take it." This bold answer intimidated them, and they left the fort unmolested. Another strong party marched towards Savannah, but were constantly harassed by the militia. When they reached the Ogeechee River they found a force of two hundred patriots ready to defend the passage. Like the party that approached Sunbury, they prudently turned back, burned the village of Midway, desolated the rice-fields and other grain with fire, and carried off all the negroes, cattle, and other property of the planters. General Robert Howe, who had command of the Georgia militia and regulars, in retaliation for these incursions, which proceeded from East Florida, * Nine brigades, exclusive cf the garrison at West Point, were stationed on the west side of Hudson's River ; seven at Middlebrook, in New Jersey ; and six on the east side of the Hudson, and at West Point, as follows : one at West Point, two at Continental Village, and three in the vicinity of Danbury, in Connecticut. The artillery was at Pluckemin. A line of cantonments was thus formed around New York, from Long Island Sound to the Delaware. — Sparks, p. 2S3. 18 268 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778. British demonstration against the south. Battle of Savannah and defeat of Americans. marched a force of two thousand men into that territory with the intention of destroying St. Augustine. But he found a deadlier enemy there than British or tory soldiers, in the malaria of the fens and swamps, which carried off about one-fourth of his troops, and obliged him to make a hasty retreat. In November, General Sir H. Clinton despatched Colonel Campbell from New York a with a force of about two thou- sand men, to operate against Georgia, then the feeblest of the States. Clinton was determined to change the plan of operations entirely. Heretofore, the subjugation of the States had been attempted by approaches from the North, but the defeat of Burgoyne so completely destroyed power in that quarter, that the British Commander-in- chief determined hereafter to commence at the south, and extend conquest northward into the Middle States. b Dec. 23. Colonel Campbell arrived at Savannah late in December, 5 and six days afterwards effected a landing without much opposition, under cover of the squadron of Sir Hyde Parker. General Robert Howe was there with about six hundred Con- tinental soldiers and two hundred and fifty militia. He had a strong position, surrounded, except in front, by a morass, swamp, and river, which seemed impassable. But a negro knew of a small path through the morass, leading to the rear of the Americans, and by his guidance, a detachment of light infantry under Sir James Baird, marched to, and fell upon the rear of the Americans. Thus entrapped, they fought bravely and desperately, but were finally overcome/* Upwards of one hundred Americans were killed, four hundred and fifty-three taken prisoners, and forty-eight pieces of cannon, twenty-three mortars, the fort, the shipping in the river, and a large quantity of provisions were captured by the enemy. The remnant of the American army retreated into South 1779.' Carolina ; and Augusta, and Sunbury,* soon after falling into the hands of the British, the whole of Georgia became in possession of. the enemy. This was the only important acquisition which the British made during the campaign ; and at the close of this year, the two belligerent armies at the north occupied nearly the same relative position which they did at the close of 1776, two years before. During these operations upon land, our little navy, though still an infant in its nurse's arms, compared to that of Britain,* began to put forth its strength, in conjunctive operations with the French fleet, * Great Britain had at that time three hundred and seventy-three ships of all rates. cjlap, vm.] EVENTS OF 1778. 269 Sailing of the French and English fleets to the West Indies. Exploits of Paul Jones. which in November* sailed from 'Boston to the West Indies, for the purpose of attacking the British dependencies in that quarter. On the same day Admiral Hotham sailed from Sandy Hook, and was soon after followed by Admiral Byron,* with a determination to attack the French settlements there, be- fore D'Estaing should reach his destination. The two fleets of D'Estaing and Hotham sailed nearly parallel with each other all the way, mutually ignorant of their approximation. D'Estaing shaped his course for Martinique, and Hotham for Barbadoes. Each fleet carried out a considerable land force, and for some time the contest was carried on among the West India Islands with nearly equal suc- cess. I The American navy consisted chiefly of small armed vessels, commanded by commissioned privateersmen, and did much service about this time, not only along our coast, but among the West Indies, and on the European shores. A gallant engagement between the American ship Randolph, of thirty-six guns, commanded by Captain Biddle, of Philadelphia, and the British sixty-four gun ship Yarmouth, took place on the seventh of March of this year not far from the Bermuda Islands. The British ship was nearly disabled, when by some means fire was communicated to the magazine of the Randolph, and she blew up, destroying nearly all on board, among whom was the commander. I The most daring naval enterprises at this time, on the part of the Americans, were planned and executed by John Paul Jones, a Scotchman by birth, but an American by choice. As early as 1775, when Congress designated a number of captains and lieutenants for a naval armament on the Delaware, Jones's name appeared at the head of the list of the latter officers. He was ordered to the Alfred, of thirty guns, then at Philadelphia, and there hoisted the first Ameri- can flag raised on board a vessel in the service of the Continental Congress. He afterwards had the command of the Providence, and subsequently, in the autumn of 1777, he took command of the Ranger, of eighteen guns, and proceeded to Brest, on the coast of France, where, after much adroit negotiation, although the treaty of alliance had not been completed, he obtained a salute for the Ameri- can flag, from the commander of the French fleet. From Brest he proceeded along the coast of Great Britain, spreading consternation wherever he went. Our space will not allow us to follow him in his bold career at this time. He made descents upon various places — with a few men spiked all the cannon of two forts, first securing the sentinels ; and, but for an accident, he would have burned two hundred ships in Whitehaven, in the North of Eng 270 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778. Honorable character of Paul Jones. Letter of the French Ambassador to Lord North. land. Off Carrickfergus he had an engagement with the British sloop-of-war Drake, of twenty guns, which had been admirably fitted out for the express purpose of capturing the Ranger. After a severe action of an hour, Jones compelled her to strike her colors, and he carried her in triumph into Brest.** The day before this action, he landed upon St. Mary's Island, on the coast of Scotland, with the intention of capturing the Earl of Sel- kirk, who resided there, hoping thereby to enable Congress to obtain more equal terms in the exchange of prisoners. But his scheme was defeated by the absence of his lordship. Jones found it impos- sible to restrain his men from plunder, and they carried away all the family plate, which was afterwards restored by the noble commodore, for which he received a formal acknowledgment from Lord Selkirk.! Before closing the record of events for the year, let us take a brief glance at the action of the respective legislatures of America and Great Britain. On the part of the British Parliament, we have but little to record having a direct bearing upon our subject, in addi- tion to the notices of transactions during the early part of the year, to which we have already alluded. The alliance between the United States and France had of course given great offence to the British government, and the manner in which that alliance was made known to ministers by the French Ambassador, was considered a direct and intentional insult.J Whether it was intended to be so or not, it w T as, * He was absent from Brest about twenty-seven days, during which time he had taken two hundred prisoners ; and of one hundred and twenty-three men which were with him when he sailed, only two were left on board with him, the others having been distributed among the various prizes he had taken. f This affair has been greatly misrepresented by partial British writers. The anti- American editor of the " Civil and Military Transactions" department of the fifth volume of the Pictorial History of England, unjustly stigmatizes the noble character of Jones, by this brief notice of the event : — " He made a descent at the mouth of the Dee, near to Kirkcudbright, and plundered the house of the Earl of Selkirk. He carried off all the plate and other valuable articles."* The well-known fact is withheld, that he transmitted a communication from Brest, to the Countess Selkirk, in which he informed her that it would be his pleasure to become the purchaser of the plate when sold, and return it to her by such conveyance as she should designate. He faithfully performed this promise, though at great trouble and expense, and the plate was restored in its original condition. X De Noailles, the French Ambassador, was the uncle of La Fayette's wife, and had given that young nobleman much encouragement, when he visited him in London and opened to him his scheme for joining the American army. On the 17th of March, the Ambassador sent the following note to Lord North : — " The United States of North America, who are in full possession of independence, as pronounced by them on the fourth of July, 1776, having proposed to the King of France, to consolidate by a formal convention, the connexion begun to be established between the two nations, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed a treaty of friendship and * Page 397. chap, vnr.] EVENTS OF 1778. 273 Proceedings in the British Parliament. under the circumstances, too ironical to admit of any other construc- tion. It greatly incensed ministers, and the alliance awakened in the breasts of the people at large the slumbering spirit of ancient feuds which had so long existed between the two nations. When the notification was received in the House, Lord North moved an appro- priate address to the King. The opposition at once moved an amendment, requesting his Majesty to dismiss the ministry ! The original address was carried by a majority of two hundred and sixty- three against one hundred and thirteen. In the House of Lords the same amendment to the address was proposed, but negatived by a large majority. We have already alluded to the debates which followed, during one of which the Earl of Chatham was seized with his last illness. On the seventh of July Parliament was prorogued until November ; and the King, in his closing speech, declared that it was his uniform desire to preserve the peace of Europe ; that the faith of treaties and the law of nations had been his rule of conduct ; and, alluding to France, " Let that power," said he, " by whom this tranquillity shall be broken, answer to its subjects and to the world for all the fatal consequences of war !" When Parliament assembled on the twenty-fifth of November, the King, in his speech, proceeded directly to the conduct of France. " In a time of profound peace," said he, " without pretence of pro- vocation, or color of complaint, the Court of France hath not commerce, designed to serve as a foundation for their mutual good correspond- ence. His Majesty (the French King) being resolved to cultivate the present good understanding subsisting between France and Great Britain, by every means com- patible with his dignity and the good of his subjects, thinks it necessary to make his proceedings known to the Court of London, and to declare at the same time that the contracting parties have paid great attention not to stipulate any exclusive advantages in favor of the French nation, and that the United States have reserved the liberty of treating with every nation whatever, upon the same footing of equality and reciprocity. In making this communication to the Court of London, the King is firmly persuaded it will find new proofs of his Majesty's constant and sincere dis- position for peace, and that his Britannic Majesty, animated by the same friendly sentiments, will equally avoid everything that may alter their good harmony, and that he will particularly take effectual measures to prevent the commerce be- tween his (French) Majesty's subjects and the United States of America from being interrupted, and to cause all the usages received between commercial nations to be, in this respect, observed, and all those rules which can be said to subsist between the two Courts of France and Great Britain. In this just confidence, the under- signed Ambassador thinks it superfluous to acquaint the British Minister that the King, his master, being determined to protect effectually the lawful commerce of his subjects, and to maintain the dignity of his flag, has, in consequence, taken effectual measures in concert with the Thirteen United and Independent States of America" 274 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778. Speech of the King. Expedition against Canada. forborne to disturb the public tranquility, in violation of the faith of treaties, and the general rights of sovereigns ; at first by the clan- destine supply of arms and other aid to my revolted subjects in North America, afterwards by avowing openly their support, and entering into formal engagements with the leaders of the rebellion, and at length, by committing open hostilities and depredations on my faithful subjects, and by an actual invasion of my dominions in America and the West Indies." He alluded to the want of success in America ; the means that had been put forth to suppress the rebellion ; the complete failure of the commissioners to conclude a peace, and the evident preparations for hostilities which Spain was making. He closed his address by calling upon Parliament to put forth their utmost energies which the crisis demanded, assuring them that his cordial co-operation would always be extended, and informed them that he had called out the militia for the defence of the country. In fact, the King carefully avoided casting censure upon ministers for the late miscarriages in America, and, by implication, fixed the blame upon the commanders in that service. The address was warmly opposed in both Houses, and in the Commons, the King was charged with uttering falsehoods, — throwing " a false, unjust, and illiberal slander on the commanders in the service of the Crown ; loading them with a censure which ought to fall on ministers alone." Yet ministers were still supported by pretty large majorities in both Houses, while the war-spirit, renewed by the French alliance, was hourly increasing among the multitude without. After the reception and ratification of the treaty with France, and the rejection of the overtures and indignant dismission of the Eng- lish Commissioners, Congress, as we have before mentioned, arranged an expedition against Canada. The plan was an extensive one, and well conceived, and no doubt would have been successful, had they possessed sufficient pecuniary resources to properly sustain an army sent on an errand of conquest into an enemy's country. It was arranged that one division was to proceed against Niagara and Detroit ; another corps was to be stationed on the Mohawk River during the winter, and to be reinforced in the spring by a powerful army, when Oswego was to be seized and the navigation of Lake Ontario secured with vessels built upon its shores, as had been done by both Americans and British on Lake Champlain ; and another corps was to penetrate into Canada by the way of St. John's on the Sorel, Montreal, and Quebec. The conquest of Nova Scotia and the re-occupation of the Newfoundland fishing grounds, were includ- ed in the plan; in fact, it was designed to strip Great Britain of cHAr. vm.] EVENTS OF 1778. 275 Washington opposed to the scheme for invading Canada. La Payette*! visit to France. every foot of soil she possessed in America. Congress relied much upon French fleets and armies to assist in this enterprise.* This scheme was not officially made known to Washington until October, and then it was coupled with a request that he should for- ward it to Doctor Franklin, by La Fayette, who was about to leave for Paris. t Washington at once perceived the utter impossibility of success in such an enterprise, and his sagacious mind clearly penetrated the covert designs of the French. He at once wrote a long letter to Congress, in which he entered minutely into the subject, and showed that the plan was impracticable ; that it required resources which were not to be had ; that it would involve Congress in engagements to their ally, which it would be impossible to fulfil ; and that it was in itself so extensive and complicated, as to hold out no reasonable tope of success, even with all the requisite means of pursuing it. He warned Congress to beware how they allowed France to have power to assume dominion again in America. " France," said he, I acknowledged for some time past the most powerful monarchy in Europe by land, able now to dispute the empire of the sea with Great Britain, and, if joined with Spain, I may say certainly supe- rior ; possessed of New Orleans on our right, Canada on our left, and seconded by the numerous tribes of Indians in our rear, from one extremity to the other, a people so generally friendly to her, and whom she knows so well how to conciliate, would, it is much to be apprehended, have it in her power to give law to these States.":): The opinions of Washington had such weight with Congress, that they determined to abandon the scheme for the conquest of Canada until the evacuation of America by the British troops, which it was * It is supposed that the French officers were the earliest and most active movers in this scheme ; doubtless with the ulterior design of once again securing to France the territory she resigned by the treaty of Paris in 1763. From such motives La Fayette may not be considered as acting. He was warmly in favor of the plan, but his zeal was the offspring of patriotism and a thirst for glory. D'Estaing even published a manifesto, directed to the Canadians, reminding them of their French origin, and the happiness they had enjoyed under the rule of the Bourbons, and promised that all the ancient subjects of the French King in America, who should renounce allegiance to the British Crown, should receive protection. , f La Fayette obtained from Congress a furlough to make a short visit to France but was detained by sickness several months, and did not leave until late in autumn. He first asked permission to go and offer his services to his King in the war which he saw was inevitable in Europe, but Washington, knowing the value of his name, and feeling great affection and high esteem for him, desired that only a tem- porary leave might be granted him, and that he should retain his appointment in the American army. His wishes were cheerfully acceded to by La Fayette. t Sparks, p. 2S9. 276 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1778. Difficulties in the exchange of prisoners. Deterioration of Congress. believed would take place the ensuing spring. With this view, they shaped the plans of the next campaign, and again urged Washington to write to La Fayette, then at Boston, and to Dr. Franklin, in order to gain the co-operation of France in the conquest of Canada, after the close of the next supposed brief campaign. This pleased the Commander-in chief no better than the former unconditional plan, for he had no hopes of the departure of the British troops as early as Congress anticipated. Having secured his army in winter-quarters, Washington obtained leave from Congress to go to Philadelphia, and have a personal inter- view with members of that body. He arrived in Philadelphia on the twenty-fourth of December, and, after several discussions be- tween him and a committee of Congress, the Canada scheme was wholly laid aside as impracticable.* The exchange of prisoners was a source of much trouble to the Commander-in-chief. Although Congress ratified the convention of Saratoga, yet, for various reasons, Burgoyne and his army were not allowed to sail for England according to the terms of that conven- tion. It was finally arranged that these troops should be exchanged for American prisoners in possession of the British. But the details of this arrangement presented so many difficulties, that it gave Wash ington much vexatious trouble, and called down upon his head not d little censure from the enemy, when, in fact, the censure, if de- served, should have been laid upon Congress. There was another cause of great anxiety to Washington, which he felt more seriously at this time, than at any former period. The men of talents and influence who had taken the lead, and put forth their combined strength in raising the standard of Independence, had gradually withdrawn from Congress, till that body was left small in number, and deficient in the talent then so much needed. During the year 1778, the number of delegates present had seldom ave- raged over thirty, and sometimes it was under twenty-five. Some- times, whole States were unrepresented ; and it was seldom the case that every State had a competent number of representatives to entitle it to a vote. And never had party feuds and private jealousies been more rife in the council of the States than at this time, presenting a most alarming disunity at the very moment when undivided effort was specially needed. These internal dissensions threatened to effect the failure of the attempt of the States to gain real and acknow- ledged independence, and they filled the mind of Washington with gloomy forebodings,! not in anticipation of final defeat and ruin, for • Sparks, p. 290. f lb., pp. 285, 286. chap, vm.] EVENTS OF 1778. 277 Preparations for the spring campaign. he was still hopeful and confiding in the arm of Providence, and conscious of the justice of the cause, but he dreaded the protraction of the war, and the consequent suffering and woe. Yet, while rely- ing firmly in simple faith upon the aid of Providence, he wisely acted upon the principle of Cromwell's injunction to his men when crossing a morass to attack the royal troops at Devizes, " Trust in Providence, but keep your powder dry." He early planned exten- sive arrangements for a vigorous campaign in the spring, and fearing that the British detachments which sailed from New York in Novem- ber, and had already captured Savannah, and in a measure dispersed the American forces there, might act in the winter against South Carolina and Georgia, by order of Congress, he sent General Lin- coln to take the command of the southern department. At the same time, the four regiments of American cavalry were widely separated, for the two-fold purpose of extensive observation, and a plentiful supply of forage for the horses. One was stationed at Winchester, in Virginia ; another at Frederick, in Maryland ; a third at Lancaster, in Pennsylvania ; and a fourth at Durham, in Connecticut. Pac Simile of the first Money coined by the United State*. (The metal looks like pewter.) EVENTS OF 1779. General Benjamin Lincoln — General Anthony Wayne — Silas Deane. CHAPTER IX. ONGRESS had the valuable personal aid of Washington for about five weeks in maturing plans for the campaign of 1779. I He held daily conferences with commit- ^ tees of that body, and suggested three 4 distinct plans, with observations on the method of executing them, and the pro- bable result of each. The first plan was to dislodge the enemy from all his posts upon the sea-coast, and prevent assistance from abroad ; the second was an offensive position, by attacking Niagara, and taking possession of the port* on Lake Ontario ; and the third proposed to hold the army entirel] 280 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1779. Defensive operations agreed upon. Continental paper money. on the defensive, except some necessary expeditions against the Indians and tory settlers on the frontiers, who had committed many and cruel depredations during the preceding year, and thus, by severity of chastisement, deter them from the commission of likp ravages. It was decided to adopt the latter plan, in favor of which there was a combination of good reasons. The chief of these was, that it would be the least expensive mode of operation, and this consider- ation was a serious one at that time. Never, since* the commence- ment of the war, were the finances of the country in a worse state than at the beginning of 1779 ; and in this respect the future, from this point of view, looked gloomy indeed. Efforts had been repeat- edly made to negotiate loans in Europe ; but the political character of America was little known on that continent, and all the loans that were obtained were in comparatively small sums. The States there- fore had no other resource than to emit bills of credit, or paper money. In 1775 they issued three millions of dollars, and, becom- ing a circulating medium, these bills proved to be of great utility, being everywhere readily taken at par value. These issues were from time to time repeated, until, at the commencement of 1779, the amount had risen to over one hundred millions of dollars, and in the course of that year, it was swelled to double that amount. Taxation was not resorted to, until near the close of 1777, a when Congress ventured to make a requisition of five millions of dollars annually ; but the States faintly responded to the require- ment, and the paper money was the only pecuniary means in the power of Congress to carry on the war. The necessary consequence of such an immense issue of bills of credit, was a depreciation of the notes to about a fortieth of their nominal value, and hence there was a miserable derangement in all mercantile and money transactions. The evil was aggravated, too, by inadequate remedies. The paper, at its nominal value, was made a legal tender for all debts ; and by this measure, which Washington deeply deplored, many creditors, both public and private, were defrauded, but no permanent relief could be afford- ed, for confidence was destroyed.* As the articles furnished * Rumors having been circulated that Congress would not redeem these bills of credit, destroyed all confidence in them ; and this effect caused that body to pass a formal resolution on the twenty-ninth of December, 1778, declaring that the said report is false and derogatory to the honor of Congress. On the thirty-first of De- cember, they adopted a resolution calling upon the States to pay in a quota of six millions of dollars, for eighteen years, commencing with 1780, as a fund for sinking the loans and emissions to the thirty-first day of December, 1778. This was in chap, ix.] EVENTS OF 1779. 281 Recruiting for the spring campaign. Opening of the campaign at the south. the army, like all others, rose to an enormous nominal value, Con gress, very injudiciously, fixed a maximum price, above which the articles to be purchased, should not be received. The consequence was, that at this stipulated rate, none could be got ; and the army would assuredly have perished had not this absurd regulation been speedily rescinded.* After completing all the necessary arrangements for the campaign,! Washington took his leave of Congress, and repaired to his head- quarters at Middlebrook, in New Jersey, where he commenced the work of recruiting without delay, as the term of service for which a large number of the troops had been engaged would expire in a few weeks. But the increase of the army was slow by this process, for the dissatisfaction arising from the unequal distribution of bounties, and the enormous value which the depreciation of the currency had given to labor, made it easy for the soldier, who followed war as a profession, to obtain more money in other pursuits than the amount of bounty and pay combined.^ The belligerent operations during this year, were carried on in three separate quarters. The forces of Washington and Clinton were employed in the northern section of the Union ; the British forces sent south in November, prosecuted their plan of reducing Georgia and South Carolina, while the fleets of England and France combated among the West India Islands. As already stated, Congress despatched General Lincoln in Janu- ary to take command of some regiments raised in North Carolina, and to unite them with the remnant of the troops dispersed 1778 by Campbell at the battle of Savannah in December. He took post at Pcrrysburg,* about twenty miles from Savan- iJan - 3 - nah, on the north bank of the Savannah River, and there, with the remains of General Robert Howe's forces, formed the nucleus of an army of operation. About the same time, Colonel Campbell, emboldened by the events at Savannah, and relying upon the nume- rical strength of the loyalists in that region, undertook an expedition against Augusta, the chief town of Upper Georgia, distant about one hundred and fifty miles from the sea coast. The people were addition to fifteen millions of dollars, asked from the States, to meet the expenses of 1779.— Journals, vol. iv., pp. 742, 746. * Pitkin, vol. ii., p. 155. t The infantry of the Continental army was organized for the campaign, in eighty-eight battalions; apportioned to the several States according to the ratio hitherto assumed. There were four regiments of cavalry, and forty-nine companies of artillery.— Sparks, p. 294. % The Continental bounty was raised to two hundred dollars, besides land and clothing ; and in some instances, the bounty was even still higher. 282 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1779. Full possession of Georgia by the British. intimidated, and great numbers took the oath of allegiance to the British Crown, and joined the ranks of the- enemy. Several hundreds of tories, a large proportion of whom were men of infamous charac- ter, were collected under a Colonel Boyd, and like a swarm of voracious locusts, marched along the south-western portion of the State of North Carolina, plundering and appropriating to their own use every kind of property they could possibly carry away with them. On attempting to force their way into Georgia to join the royal troops under Campbell, they were met at Kettle Creek by a large number of whig militia of the district of Ninety-Six, under Colonel Pickens, and, after a desperate engagement, were totally routed. a Colonel Boyd was killed with about forty of his troops, and seventy of his men who were captured were tried and found guilty of treason — but five only were executed. About a month previous to this, General Prevost, with a body of British troops from East Florida, captured the fort at Sunbury, 6 the only military post in Georgia then in possession of the Americans.* Shortly after the battle at Kettle Creek, Campbell quitted the country to return to England, and Prevost was appointed to the chief command of the southern British army. Having now full possession of Georgia, which event was the extent of General Clinton's plan, Prevost determined to exceed his orders and make a demonstration upon South Carolina. He accordingly sent Major-General Gardiner with a numerous corps, against Port Royal, in South Carolina, but they were met by a considerable force under General Moultrie, and defeated, with severe loss. In order to encourage and support the tories, the British army extended their posts up the Savannah River as far as Augusta. General Lincoln fixed his encampment at Black Swamp, on the north T „, side of the Savannah River. He had been joined c by about c Jan. 31. J •' eleven hundred Carolina militia under Generals Ash and Rutherford. Lincoln's army consisted of about fourteen hundred men, making the whole American force in that quarter two thousand four hundred and twenty-eight, rank and file. Encouraged by recent success, General Lincoln sent a detachment of about fifteen hundred militia, and a few regular troops, in all, nearly two thousand men, under General Ash, across the river, for the purpose of driving back the enemy and confining them to the low and unhealthy country near the ocean. The British evacuated Augusta when the Americans approached, and General Ash followed * The garrison consisted of only two hundred men. The fort was captured at the same time when Campbell set out to execute the same mission. chap. IX.] EVENTS OF 1T79. 283 Battle oi tJnar (/'reeK. Movements of Lincoln and Prevost. the retreating garrison as far as Briar Creek, where he took post. He had not been there long before Prevost, who was posted at Hudson's Ferry, determined to attack him. So sudden were his movements, that he took General Ash completely by sur- „ tt i • 11 • i i i a March 3. prise. a tie came upon him with about nine hundred men, a large number of them tories ; and, notwithstanding it was open daylight, so panic-struck were the American militia, that they fled without firing a shot. About one hundred and fifty fell by the first fire of the enemy, and a large number were either drowned in the Savan- nah River, or were engulfed in the deep morasses that flanked its margin. The regular troops made a gallant resistance, but, aban- doned by the militia, they were compelled to retreat before over- whelming numbers. General Rutherford together with about thirty officers and two hundred men, were taken prisoners, and so com- pletely defeated were the Americans, that when General Ash rejoined Lincoln he had only about four hundred and fifty men. The Americans lost seven pieces of cannon, and all their arms and ammu- nition. This victory at Briar Creek rendered the royal troops again com- plete masters of Georgia. General Prevost immediately began the re-organization of the government in that State, and employed every means in his power to win the people over to the royal cause. But the Carolinians in the meanwhile were not idle. They were defeated but not disheartened, and vigorous measures were adopted to assem- ble the militia and inspire them with new ardor. John Rutledge, a man of extensive influence, was elected Governor of the State, and he and his council were invested with dictatorial powers ; high bounties were offered and severe penalties threatened ; regiments of horse were organized ; and so ardent became the zeal of the peo- ple, that by the middle of April, five thousand fighting men were gathered around the standard of General Lincoln. Leaving General Moultrie with about fifteen hundred men to watch the movements of Prevost, Lincoln proceeded* with the main body of his army up the left bank of the Savannah, and crossed over into Georgia, near Augusta, with the intention of marching upon the capital of the State. General Prevost, whose army had been augmented by tories, having perceived the movement of Lincoln, put himself at the head of three thousand men, English, tories and Indians, passed the Savannah 6 and its P " fearful marshes, and attacked the American camp, hoping thereby to induce Lincoln to return. Moultrie was assisted by the gallant Pulaski and his light-horse, but was soon obliged to retreat towards Charleston before a greatly superior force. Prevost, astonished at 19 284 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [P7*. Charleston summoned to surrender to the British. Retreat of the British^ his own success, resolved to turn what was intended as a mere feint to allure Lincoln back, to some account, and at once planned an attack upon Charleston. Thus, at the same time, Lincoln was pushing forward on one side of the river to capture Savannah, the capital of Georgia, and General Prevost, on the other side of the river, was hurrying forward to attack Charleston, the capital of South Carolina. As soon as Lincoln was apprised of the march of Prevost upon the capital, he detached a body of infantry mounted on horseback, towards Charleston, and hastily collecting the militia of the upper country, crossed the river with his whole force, to defend the town. Moultrie, on his retreat, destroyed all the bridges upon the route, and this so delayed the British army, that it did not reach Charleston until the eleventh of May. On the following day a Prevost summoned the town to surrender. Governor Rutledge had arrived there previously, and Count Pulaski, with his Legion, was also on the spot. Batteries had been raised on the land side of the town. The suburbs were burnt down, and a great number of can-- non were so arranged as to afford a strong defence against attacks from the interior. Governor Rutledge, in order to give Lincoln time to arrive, opened negotiations with Prevost for surrendering, and ingeniously con- trived to spend a day in the interchange of messages and answers. Perceiving the strength of the batteries, and apprehending the near approach of Lincoln, the British general wisely determined to with- draw his troops, and abandon the enterprise. He accordingly crossed the Ashley River, and proceeded to the island of St. John's, sepa- rated from the main land by an, inlet called Stono River. Leaving a strong division at Stono Ferry, Prevost retired with a part of his army towards Savannah. On the twentieth of June, Lincoln attacked the division at Stono Ferry, but, after a severe battle of an hour and twenty minutes, he was repulsed with a loss of one hundred and seventy-nine men. The British soon after established a post at Beaufort, upon the salubrious island of Port Royal, after which the main body of the army retired to Savannah. General Lincoln with his army took post at Sheldon, near Beaufort. The hot and sickly season having now commenced, both armies ceased operations, and nothing of importance was done in the south- ern department of the Union by the belligerent forces until the arrival of the French fleet 6 under Count D'Estaing. The royal .cause lost many friends during this southern. campaign, in consequence of the bad conduct of the English officers and soldiers. Their career was marked by peculiar ferocity, and the negro slaves chaf. ix.] EVENTS OF 1779. 285 Brutal conduct of the British soldiery. British expedition against Virginia. were used as instruments in the execution of their plunders and wanton destruction of property. Not satisfied with pillaging, they spared, in their brutality, neither women, nor children, nor sick. Houses were stripped of their rich furniture ; individuals robbed of their ornaments ; splendid mansions burned to the ground, and even cattle were wantonly destroyed.* The heart sickens at the recital of the wicked deeds of the British soldiery in Georgia, and makes one " hang his head and blush to call himself a man." Indeed, during the whole war, the two armies exhibited a striking contrast in this particular. While the English exhibited a ferocious spirit towards their enemies, the Americans were constantly manifesting humanity and generous forbearance. This fact is admitted by Bri- tish writers. While these various events were transpiring at the south, Virginia, New York, and the New England States, became the theatre of predatory warfare. Washington had determined to act on the defen- sive, for reasons already stated, and the English wisely resolved to confine their operations chiefly to the sea-coast. Sir George Collier had recently been appointed Commander-in-chief of the British naval forces on the American station, and on the eighth of May he entered the Chesapeake with a small squadron, having on board about eight hundred regular troops, and some Irish Volunteers, under General Mathews. The object of the expedition was to take possession of the naval station at Gosport, and to capture the military stores and [shipping at Portsmouth and Norfolk, the two chief commercial cities of Virginia. Clinton was desirous of establishing a permanent (post on the Chesapeake, from whence to make predatory incursions iinto the interior, or command the mouth of the rivers, and thus arrest the commerce of the Virginians ; but he dared not weaken his force, at New York. The only defence in possession of the Americans was Fort Nelson, on -the bank of Elizabeth River, and this pre- sented but a feeble barrier. The garrison consisted of only one hundred and fifty men, who, on the approach of the enemy, fled into a, morass in the vicinity, leaving behind them all their artillery and stores. General Mathews took up his head-quarters there, and in .the course of a few days made a terrible sweep, with fire and sword, .rf the whole neighboring coast. Public and private property was indiscriminately destroyed, and the most ferocious cruelty and devas- * The heaviest loss of property which the planters of Carolina and Georgia had o sustain was that of their slaves. Upwards of four thousand of them were carried iway, some to the English West India Islands, and others were left to perish of lunger in the woods and swamps. 286 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [mp." . Destruction of property on the Virginia coast. Capture of the forts at Verplanck's and Stony Toint. tation everywhere marked the path of the invaders. Ports- mouth and Norfolk were captured, and everything that fell in the way of the enemy was utterly destroyed. One hundred and twenty-seven vessels were taken or burned, and other property, to the value of two and a half millions of dollars, was scattered to the winds of heaven. After destroying the navy-yard at Portsmouth, with eight ships of war which they found upon the stocks, the expe- dition returned to New York, from which, altogether, they had been absent only twenty-one days. It was a Vandal-like expedition, unjustified by necessity or utility. A few days after their return to New York, Admiral Collier and General Mathews proceeded up the Hudson River with a fresh detachment of troops. They were accompanied by General Clinton, and the object of the expedition was to dislodge the Americans from Stony Point and Verplanck's Point, both of which places the latter were fortifying. The fort at Stony Point being unfinished, and affording small defence to its inmates, the Americans aban- ay ' doned it on the approach of Clinton,* without firing a gun. Clinton then formed a strong battery of heavy guns and mortars, and opened a destructive fire across the river upon Fort La Fayette, at Verplanck's Point.* In the meanwhile, a detachment invested the fort on the land side, and from the river it was battered by shots from armed galleys. Finding resistance vain, the Americans soon surrendered conditional prisoners of war. c This was a severe loss to Washington, for, between these places, he had a most convenient communication for the two wings of his army on either side of the river.t These two forts also commanded the Hudson, and secured a free, communication between the troops of New England and the central and southern portion of the confede- racy. Clinton, having left considerable garrisons at both places, and commanded the immediate completion of the fort at Stony Point, returned to New York, having lost only one man. In the early part of July, the infamous Governor Tryon was again sent into Connecticut with about two thousand six hundred men, for the express purpose of devastating the country. In such expeditions, and such alone, was Tryon employed, and generally his success was commensurate with his aspirations. With fagot in hand, and defenceless women and children fleeing before him, he was a brave soldier, and knowing his peculiar traits of greatness, General Clinton always employed him when anything particularly brutal in the way * This fort was very complete. It had palisades, a double ditch, chevaux-de-frise, abattis, and a bomb-proof chevalier, or block-house, in its centre, f The ferry was known as King's Ferry. chap, ix.] EVENTS OF 1779. 287 Predatory expedition of Tryon into Connecticut. Burning of Fairfield and Norw.ilk. of pillage and incendiarism was to be performed, sure that the high trust was safely reposed in a faithful executor. Tryon landed at East Haven, and issued a proclamation, calling . upon the people to return to their allegiance, and threatening destruc- i tion to all who should refuse to obey. As a further inducement for the inhabitants to become loyal, he commenced plundering and burning the town simultaneously with the issuing of the proclamation. i Having completed his work of destruction, he proceeded to New i Haven, but was met on the way by a band of brave young men, principally students of Yale College, under Capt. Hillhouse, but they were soon driven back, and the enemy entered the town in triumph, destroying everything that fell in their way, artillery, i ammunition, public stores, and an immense amount of private pro- perty, although the flame of the incendiary was withheld." a July 5. Proceeding immediately to Fairfield and Norwalk, he laid a j u i y 7 both those places in ashes, 6 and before applying the torch, , the soldiers were allowed to enter the houses, break open trunks, desks, closets, and other places of deposit, and rob the people of clothing, money, jewelry, and every other article which their fancy or rapacity coveted, and at the same time abused the inhabitants 1 with the foulest language. Some of the scenes enacted at Fairfield by Tryon's mercenaries, as appears by official affidavits, are almost too cruel and revolting for belief.* Having completed his work of destruction there, Tryon prepared to make a descent upon New : London, but was hastily recalled by Clinton, who was either dis- ; satisfied with his mode of warfare, or needed his services on the Hudson, where the Americans were gaining advantages. The people of Connecticut felt themselves neglected by Wash- I ington, in not affording them some protection from these predatory * Wanton outrages were committed on the inhabitants of Fairfield, who were left ' in the town, most of them of the feeble sex. Some of them, the first characters in the place, from a wish to save their property, and an indiscreet confidence in the : honor of Governor Tryon, with whom they had been personally acquainted, and who had formerly received many civilities at their houses, risked their own persons and their honor, amidst the fury of a conquering enemy, on a kind of sham pro- tection from that infamous leader. The principal ladies of Fairfield, from their ' little knowledge of the world, of the usages of armies, or the general conduct of men, where circumstances combine to render them savage, could not escape the . brutality of the soldiery by showing their protections from Governor Tryon. Their houses were rifled, their persons shamefully abused, and after the general pillage 1 and burning of everything valuable in the town, some of these miserable victims ' of sorrow were found, half distracted, in the swamps and in the fields, whither they had fled in the agonies of despair.— Mrs. Warren, vol. ii., pp. 116-7. Tryon tried to defend his character against the just odium which his base conduct brougnt upon it, and boasted of his extreme clemency in allowing a single house to remain standing upon the New England coast ! 283 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1779. Storming and re-capture of Stony Point by General Wayne. expeditions, but the prudence of the Commander-in-chief clearly perceived how unwise it would be to divide his small army while in the immediate vicinage of a powerful enemy. Besides, he was determined to recapture Stony Point and Fort La Fayette, and thus efface the desponding impression of the troops and people, engen- dered by so many reverses. For this purpose he sent General Wayne, one "of the most daring, yet prudent officers of his army, from his encampment among the Highlands at West Point, with a detachment to attack the fort at Stony Point. At the same time, General Robert Howe, with another detachment, was sent to attempt the capture of Fort La Fayette, at Verplanck's Point. The English had completed the Stony Point fort, and strongly garrisoned it. Its stores were abundant, and very formidable defensive preparations had been made. After a toilsome march of fourteen miles over high mountains and through deep morasses, Wayne arrived in sight of the fort about eight o'clock on the evening of the fifteenth of July, and, dividing his army into two columns, advanced without being perceived by the British. A vanguard of about one hundred and fifty men, noted for their skill and bravery, were put under the command of the brave Frenchman, Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury, and about half-past eleven o'clock at night, while the enemy were wrap- ped in slumber, moved upon the fort, followed by the main body, and at midnight the attack commenced. The garrison was soon under arms, and poured a destructive fire upon the advancing columns. A morass that covered the works in front, was overflowed by the tide, and presented a serious obstacle ; but neither the broad morass, nor the volleys of musketry, nor the iron hail of the artillery, nor the strong bastioned rampart, alive with brave warriors, could avert the impetuous attack of the Americans, cheered on as they were by the loud voice of Wayne, whose blade flashed at every post of danger and duty.* Before the British had fairly recovered from the first panic of surprise, the two patriot columns advancing from different points, scaled the walls and met in the centre of the fortress. The British, ignorant of the number of the Americans, immedi- ately surrendered, and before dawn a the stripes and stars floated triumphantly over the ramparts. t The number of prisoners was five hundred and forty-three. The enemy had sixty-three * General Wayne's head was severely contused by a musket ball, before reaching the ramparts, which brought him to the ground. Instantly rising upon one knee, he exclaimed, " March on ! carry me into the fort, for I will die at the head of my column !" The wound proved a comparatively slight one. t Colonel Fleury struck the British flag with his own hands, and hoisted the American standard in its place. CHAP. IX.] EVENTS OF 1779. 289 Abandonment of the Fort. Daring feat of General Putnam. killed ; the Americans fifteen killed and eighty-three wounded. Several cannons and mortars of various sizes, a large number of muskets, shells, shot, and tents, and a considerable quantity of stores, were captured. This was one of the most brilliant achieve- ments of the war. The commanding officers received the highest encomiums from Congress, and a grateful people poured out their praises upon them without stint.* At early dawn the next morning, Wayne, imitating the example of Clinton, pointed his guns upon Fort La Fayette, and opened a destructive fire. He expected General Howe with his division would be there to co-operate with him by attacking the fort on the land side, but was disappointed ; and Clinton, in the meanwhile, hearing of the attack upon Stony Point, sent a detachment up the river to dislodge the Americans. Washington had previously ordered Wayne to dismantle and abandon the fort when it should be captured, his chief object being the attainment of the ammunition and stores. Finding Fort La Fayette invulnerable to his shots across the river, Wayne, on the approach of Clinton's transports, ceased firing, and retreated back to the American camp. Clinton tried, by various manoeuvres, to draw Washington out from his mountain fastnesses ; but, failing in this, he placed a strong garrison at Stony Point, and returned to New York. The brilliant success of Wayne at Stony Point greatly embold- ened the Americans, and the British outposts which had been con- stantly harassed during the winter and spring by small detachments of the Republican army,t now suffered more than ever, and several daring achievements marked the American arms. Among them * Congress ordered three different medals to be struck, emblematical of the action, and awarded respectively to General Wayne, Colonel Fleury, and Colonel Stewart. Wayne received the most flattering notices from the eminent men, civil and military, of the country. Benjamin Rush wrote to him, saying: — " My dear Sir : — There was but one thing wanting in your late successful attack upon Stony Point to complete your happiness ; and that is, the wound you received should have affected your hearing ; for I fear you will be stunned through those organs with your own praises." f During the winter, General Putnam was placed over three brigades at Danbury, Connecticut, and it was during his stay there, that his breakneck feat of descending a precipice on horseback was performed. Being at West Greenwich one day, he was informed that the infamous Tryon, of New York, with fifteen hundred men, was marching on the place. He at once assembled about one hundred and fifty soldiers, -and planting two cannons upon a steep hill, he opened a destructive fire upon the enemy. When he saw the dragoons about to charge, he ordered his men to retreat into a swamp, while he waited until they approached very near, and then suddenly wheeling, reined his horse straight down the precipice, where there were about one hundred stone steps, and thus escaped. He then sped on to Stamford, where he found some militia, returned and chased Tryon back, and took about Mty prisoners. 290 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1779. Capture of the fort at Paulus's Hook. Defeat of Lovell's expedition upon the Penob scot. was the capture of the fort at Paulus's Hook,* by a small party under Major Lee, a brave young Virginian. Washington instructed him not to attempt to retain it, after capturing it, but to retreat back to camp as speedily as possible. Before daylight on the morning of the nineteenth of July, Lee, with about three hundred Virginians and dismounted dragoons, reached the fort and took the garrison by surprise. Thirty of the enemy were killed, and one hundred and sixty were taken prisoners. The American loss in killed and wound- ed was about a dozen. Pursuant to instructions, Lee immediately retreated without spiking a gun or demolishing a rampart, and, with his prisoners, arrived safely within the American lines. In June, a flotilla of thirty-seven sail, carrying three thousand troops, was sent from Boston against a British station upon the Penobscot River, which had been planted there to prevent an incur- sion of the New Englanders into Nova Scotia. General Lovell commanded the expedition, but on landing* he found the a July 25. . \ . . . . , • , . , , works too strong to be carried without the aid promised by Gates. Before its arrival, Sir George Collier, who had recently devastated the coast of Virginia, appeared in the river with a squad- ron from New York. Lovell immediately re-embarked his troops and made a show of resistance, but finding the enemy pressing upon him with superior force, he pushed for shore, abandoned his vessels, and escaped. The flotilla was utterly destroyed, and the soldiers and sailors were obliged to find their way back by land through a most dreary wilderness, enduring extreme hardship and suffering, and many perished in the woods. The condition of affairs in the southern States, already recorded, claimed and received the earnest attention of Congress, and Wash- ington considered it necessary 1 to send thither a part of his little army, although the whole, and more, were needed for the defence of the northern section of the Union. D'Estaing, who was carrying on offensive operations against the British in the West Indies, was solicited to proceed immediately to the American coast, to assist in the labors of the fall campaign. The French commander had just defeated the English Admiral, Byron, and being thus almost master of the seas in that quarter, and having an ally at hand t to annoy his * Now Jersey city, opposite the south end of New York. t Early in the year, a transaction took place in Europe, which promised at its inception to be of signal service to the Americans, not so much by direct aid, but in crippling the power of Great Britain. Spain, after hesitating a Jong time, and being anxious to recover Gibraltar, Jamaica, and the two Floridas, which Britain had wrested from her, at last determined to join the confederacy with France, and on the twelfth of April concluded with her, for that purpose, a secret treaty of CHAP. IX.] EVENTS OF 1779. 291 Sudden arrival of D'Estaing. AtUirk upon Savannah. enemy, he at once accepted the invitation, and early in September, arrived upon the coast of Georgia.* He arrived at Savannah unexpectedly, with twenty ships of the line, bearing about six thousand land troops, and captured by sur- prise, a fifty gun ship and three frigates. General Prevost, having his army divided into detachments along the frontier, was not pre- pared for an attack, but so promptly were his orders for a general rendezvous obeyed, that before the French forces could land and form a junction with Lincoln, the British were nearly all concen- trated at Savannah, the head-quarters of the General. On the 16th of September, D'Estaing appeared before the town with his whole force, and demanded its immediate surrender, which Prevost refused, having just been reinforced by Colonel Maitland. The officers of the allied armies, finding the place too strong to storm, after consul- tation, determined upon a siege, and for that purpose brought up the heavy artillery from the fleet. On the twenty-third of September they broke ground, but made very little progress before the first of October, when D'Estaing expressed his determination to leave the coast with his fleet, for more secure winter quarters ! He proposed, however, to assist in storming the place before departing. This was agreed to, and on the ninth of October the assault commenced upon the enemy's works by a detachment of four thousand five hundred men, French and American, who advanced through a marshy hollow to within fifty yards of the walls. They pressed forward with great vigor, crossed the ditch, mounted the parapet, and planted the American flag upon the ramparts. But in this exposed state the severe fire of the enemy caused them to fall back, with great loss, peace. She had repeatedly offered to mediate, but Britain steadily refused, because the acknowledgment of the actual independence of the United States was a condi- tion. On the sixteenth of June, D'Almadovar, the Spanish Ambassador, left Lon- don, after leaving a note containing a statement of grievances, and issuing a manifesto with eighty-six counts, declaring the necessity of reducing the maritime power of Great Britain. Letters of marque and open war followed the publication of these documents. As stated in the text, the Americans exulted over this event, believing that the power of Britain to carry on the war here would be greatly weak- ened by the combination. "But," says Murray, "she roused herself, however, mightily to resist this new aggression; voluntary aids were poured in both by indi- vidual and public bodies ; and she showed herself able, not only to contend with the united navies of the Bourbons, but even to bring again into jeopardy the Independ- ence of her revolted Colonies." — Edinburgh Cab. Lib., vol. ii., p. Gl. * As soon as Sir Henry Clinton was informed of the arrival of D'Estaing upon our coast, he supposed that he would proceed northward, and, with Washington, make a combined attack on New York. This idea alarmed him, and he at once ordered the evacuation of Rhode Island, where six thousand men were stationed, and drew the troops to New York. Stony Point, and Verplanck's Point, were evacuated on the thirty-first of October, and the garrisons taken to the city. 292 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1779. Abandonment of the siege of Savannah. Departure of Clinton for Savannah. j . ■ ■ . after a furious contest of an hour. During the height of the assault, the brave Pole, Count Pulaski, at the head of two hundred light- horse, charged at full speed and attempted to penetrate into the town and attack the British rear. Being at the head of his squadron, he received a bullet wound which proved mortal, and his men, seeing their chief fall,* wheeled and retreated in great confusion. About the same time Colonel Maitland issued forth with a mixed corps of grenadiers and marines, charged the broken columns of the besiegers, and drove them back into the hollow by which they approached the walls. D'Estaing, anxious to sail before the autumnal storms should come on, refused to join Lincoln in a second attack upon the city, and consequently the siege was raised and the allied forces retreated, — the Americans across the Savannah into Carolina, and the French on board of their vessels.! Sir Henry Clinton, informed of the success of the British arms at the south, determined to make that region his most important field of operations for the future, and planned the campaign of 1780 upon an extensive scale. He was more induced to make such arrange- ments because he had just received some reinforcements from Great Britain. Accordingly, leaving Knyphausen, with troops sufficient to defend New York against Washington, Clinton sailed 4 a Dec. 26. ° . for Savannah, under convoy of Admiral Arbulhnot, with about seven thousand troops, where he arrived after a most tempest- uous voyage of nearly a month, losing some of his vessels by wreck, and all his horses, and at once began active preparations for the spring campaign. During the summer of this year, an expedition under General Sullivan was sent against the Indian tribes called the Six Nations, upon the upper sources of the Susquehanna, who, with the exception of the Oneidas, incited by British agents, had for some time carried 5 j l 2i on a sort °^ g uer ^^ a warfare against the border settlements. Sullivan, with about three thousand troops, left Wyoming* and proceeded up the Susquehanna to Tioga Point, where e Aug. 22. j ie wag j j ne( } c ky General James Clinton, from the banks * The name of Pulaski, like that of Kosciusko, is dear to every American, because he was a lover of freedom, and, for the same reason, both are revered by every true son of Poland. He seemed to feel intensely the sentiment, " Where Liberty dwells there is my country." When Stanislaus, King of Poland, heard of his death, he exclaimed, " Pulaski ! always valiant, but always foe to Kings !" Stanislaus had felt that bitter truth to his sorrow. There is a fine monument at Savannah erected to the memory of Pulaski and General Greene. f The French encountered severe storms, and arrived at Brest in a greatly shat- tered condition. D'Estaing was one of the victims of the guillotine during the " Reign of Terror." chap, ix.] EVENTS OF 1779. 293 Sullivan's expedition against the Indians. Exploits of John Paul Jones. of the Mohawk, with about sixteen hundred men, making his effective force nearly five thousand. At Elmira, in Chemung county, Sullivan found a party of Indians and tories about a thousand in number (eight hundred savages and two hundred whites), under the command of Brandt, Butler, and others, wfco were at the massacre of Wyoming the preceding year. They were strongly fortified, but Sullivan at once attacked them, a and, after a desperate resistance, the savages retreated back into the wilderness. Determined to chastise them severely, the Americans pursued them into the very heart of their country, and during the month of September, they desolated the whole domain to the Genesee River. They burned forty Indian villages, laid waste corn-fields, gardens, fruit trees, and every other vestige of cultiva- tion left behind by the flying Indians and tories, destroying more than one hundred and fifty thousand bushels of corn. This expedi- tion was a cruel one, and was hardly justifiable by any rule of right ; yet it presented one of those stern necessities — an evil of great mag- nitude, requiring a severe remedy to avert serious consequences — which the exigencies of the times called forth. It greatly intimidated the Indians, and for a time the frontier settlements had repose. While the opposing armies in America, and the French and English fleets on that coast and in the West Indies, were alternately victori- ous and unsuccessful, our infant navy won new laurels upon the coasts of the British Islands, under the guidance of the intrepid Paul Jones. During the summer, the American Commissioners at Paris, aided by the French government, fitted out a squadron,* the com- mand of which w r as given to Jones. In July, lie sailed from L'Ori- ent, in the Bon Homme Richard, accompanied by his squadron, and made directly for the western coast of Ireland. He first appeared off Kerry, and from thence sailed round the north of Scotland, and appeared off the port of Leith. There, in sight of the inhabitants, he captured several vessels, and was preparing to lay the town under contribution when a heavy storm arose and caused him to abandon his design. He then directed his course towards Flam- borough Head, and when near there, he fell in just at eve- , „ M ° . b Sept. 23. ning* with a merchant fleet returning from the Baltic under convoy of the Serapis, of forty-four guns, and the Countess of Scar- borough, of twenty guns. Jones, who had been engaged during the day in chasing and destroying one or two vessels, immediately pre- * The squadron consisted of the Bon Homme Richard, of forty guns, the Alliance, of thirty-six guns, the Pallas, a French frigate, of thirty-two guns, hired by the American Commissioners, and two smaller vessels. 294 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1779. Paul Jones's Attack on a British convoy. pared for an attack upon this convoy. About seven o'clock in the evening the battle began, and so near was the scene of action to the shore, that the heights in the vicinity were crowded with people to witness the dreadful scene. The conflict that ensued has scarcely a parallel in history, and was one of the most brilliant actions among the many for which the War of Independence is distinguished. Commodore Jones himself gave the following graphic description of the battle : — " The battle being thus begun, was continued with unremitting fury. Every method was practised on both sides to gain an advan- tage, and rake each other ; and I must confess that the enemy's ship, being much more manageable than the Bon Homme Richard, gained thereby several times an advantageous situation, in spite of my best endeavors to prevent it. As I had to deal with an enemy of greatly superior force, I was under the necessity of closing with him, to pre- vent the advantage he had over me in point of manoeuvre. It was my intention to lay the Bon Homme Richard athwart the enemy's bow ; but as that operation required great dexterity in the manage- ment of both sails and helm, and some of our braces being shot away, it did not exactly succeed to my wish. The enemy's bow- sprit, however, came over the Bon Homme Richard's poop, by the mizen-mast, and I made both ships fast together in that situation, which, by the action of the wind on the enemy's sails, forced her stern close to the Bon Homme Richard's bow, so that the ships lay square alongside of each other, the yards being all entangled, and the cannon of each ship touching the opponents. When this position took place it was eight o'clock, previous to which the Bon Homme Richard had received sundry eighteen-pound shots below the water, and leaked very much. My battery of twelve-pounders, on which I had placed my chief dependance, being commanded by Lieutenant Dale and Colonel Weibert, and manned principally with American seamen and French volunteers, was entirely silenced and abandoned. As to the six old eighteen-pounders that formed the battery of the lower gun-deck, they did no service whatever, except firing eight shots in all. Two out of three of them burst at the first fire, and killed almost all the men who were stationed to manage them. Be- fore this time, too, Colonel de Chamillard, who commanded a party of twenty soldiers on the poop, had abandoned that station, after having lost some of his men. I had now only two pieces of cannon (nine-pounders) on the quarter-deck, that were not silenced, and not one of the heavier cannon was fired during the rest of the action. The purser, M. Mease, who commanded the guns on the quarter- deck, being dangerously wounded in the head, I was obliged to fill chap, ix.] EVENTS OF 1779. 295 Desperate fighl between the Hon Homme Richard and ^erapis. his place, and with great difficulty rallied a few men and shifted over one of the lee quarter-deck guns, so that we afterwards played three pieces of nine-pounders upon the enemy. The tops alone seconded the fire of this little battery, and held out bravely during the whole of the action, especially the maintop, where Lieutenant Stack com- manded. I directed the fire of one of the three cannons against the mainmast, with double-headed shot, while the other two were ex- ceedingly well served, with grape and canister-shot, to silence the enemy's musketry and clear her decks, which was at last effected. The enemy were, as I have since understood, on the instant of call- ing for quarter, when the cowardice or treachery of three of my under-ofncers induced them to call to the enemy. The English commodore asked me if I demanded quarter, and I having answered him in the most determined negative, they renewed the battle with double fury. They were unable to stand the deck ; but the fire of their cannon, especially the lower battery, which was entirely formed of ten-pounders, was incessant ; both ships were set on fire in various places, and the scene was dreadful beyond the reach of lan- guage. To account for the timidity of my three under-ofncers — I mean the gunner, the carpenter, and the master-at-arms — I must observe, that the first two were slightly wounded, and, as the ship had received various shots under water, and one of the pumps being shot away, the carpenter expressed his fears that she would sink, and the other two concluded that she was sinking, which occasioned the gunner to run aft on the poop, without my knowledge, to strike the colors. Fortunately for me, a cannon-ball had done that before, by carrying away the ensign-staff; he was therefore reduced to the necessity of sinking, as he supposed, or of calling for quarter, and he preferred the latter. " All this time the Bon Homme Richard had sustained the action alone, and the enemy, though much superior in force, would have been very glad to have got clear, as appears by their own acknow- ledgments, and by their having let go an anchor the instant that I laid them on board, by which means they would have escaped, had I not made them well fast to the Bon Homme Richard. " At last, at half-past nine o'clock, the Alliance appeared, and I now thought the battle at an end ; but, to my utter astonishment, he discharged a broadside full into the stern of the Bon Homme Rich- ard. We called to him for God's sake to forbear firing into the Bon Homme Richard ; yet they passed along the off side of the ship, and continued firing. There was no possibility of his mistaking the Bon Homme Richard for the enemy's ship, there being the most essential difference in their appearance and construction. Besides, it 296 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1779. Capture of the Sera pis and Countess of Scarborough. Jones honored by France and the U. States was then full moonlight, and the sides of the Bon Homme Richard were all black, while the sides of the prize were all yellow. Yet, for the greater security, I showed the signal of our reconnaissance, by putting out three lanterns, one at the head, another at the stern, and the third in the middle, in a horizontal line. Every tongue cried that he was firing into the wrong ship, but nothing availed ; he passed round, firing into the Bon Homme Richard's head, stern, and broadside, and by one of his volleys killed several of my best men, and mortally wounded a good officer on the forecastle. My situation was really deplorable ; the Bon Homme Richard received various shots under water from the Alliance ; the leak gained on the pumps, and the fire increased much on board both ships. Some officers persuaded me to strike, of whose courage and good sense I entertain a high opinion. My treacherous master-at-arms let loose all my prisoners without my knowledge, and my prospects became gloomy indeed. I would not, however, give up the point. The enemy's mainmast began to shake, their firing decreased fast, ours rather increased, and the British colors were struck at half an hour past ten o'clock." The Countess of Scarborough was also taken by the Pallas, but the merchantmen escaped. Jones sailed for Holland with his prizes, and anchored off the Texel on the third of October. The value of the prizes taken during his short cruise of less than three months, was estimated at upwards of a quarter of a million of dollars. The French government publicly gave him thanks, and Louis XVI. con- ferred upon him the Order of Merit. Congress also honored him with a vote of thanks, and by their order a gold medal was struck to commemorate the victory over the Serapis. Thus ended the warlike operations of the year 1779. The main division of the American army of the north went into winter-quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, under the immediate personal command of Washington, and strong detachments were stationed at West Point and other posts on the Hudson, and the cavalry were cantoned in Connecticut. The manifest designs of Clinton against the south, and the defeat of the Americans at Savannah, induced the Commander-in-chief to send a reinforcement to General Lincoln's army ; and before the middle of December two of the North Caro- lina regiments and the whole of the Virginia line marched to the south, leaving the main army in quite a weak condition. The scarcity of provisions, and the depreciated value of the continental money, soon threatened a total dissolution of the army. The soldiers were put upon allowance before the close of January, and finally, to prevent the catastrophe of a general rebellion, incited by starvation, chap, ix.] EVENTS OF 1779. 299 Election by Congress of Ministers to Great Britain and Spain. The French Alliance. Washington was obliged to resort to measures similar to those adopted during the winter of 1778, at Valley Forge,* and thus he managed to keep his little army together. On the twenty-seventh of September, Congress proceeded to elect a minister to negotiate a treaty of peace and also of commerce, with Great Britain, hoping by that means to conclude the war and establish the independence of the States through the instrumentality of diplomacy, rather than shed more blood. John Adams was elected to this important office, and immediately proceeded to enter upon its duties. t John Jay was elected the same day minister to Spain, for general negotiations and for the special purpose of con- cluding some definite adjustment of boundaries between the Spanish possessions and the States of the confederacy. Mr. Jay did not reach Spain until March, 1780. In November, M. Gerard, the French Minister to the United States, was succeeded by the Cheva- lier Luzerne, a man of great influence, and highly esteemed by both governments. I The prospects of the American cause at the close of this year were as gloomy as at any previous period of the war. The alliance with France, upon which so much hope had rested, proved exceed- ingly inefficient, and it is quite doubtful whether, up to the time in question, that alliance was not detrimental rather than useful. It is true, the diversion of the English navy from our coast by the fleet of D'Estaing, and the necessity experienced by the British government to keep a respectable land force in the West Indies, and also a force sufficient at home to repel a threatened invasion of the combined armies of France and Spain, greatly crippled her power, and prevented that vigorous prosecution of the war here which greater numbers would have effected. But this negative aid was doubtless balanced by the apathy of the Americans an apathy arising from a too great reliance upon French fleets and armies, and a belief that the belligerent position of Spain and Hol- land towards England, would coerce the latter into negotiations for peace. In addition to these causes for apprehending the loss to the Americans of that independence they had so boldly asserted, was the more formidable one of internal dissension and want of harmony in the councils of our infant nation, having their origin in the hydra * He demanded from each county in New Jersey, a certain quantity of meat and flour to be brought into camp within six days. Unlike the inhabitants of Pennsylva- nia, the people of New Jerse\ very cheerfully complied with the demand, notwith- standing they had been heavily taxed on former occasions. i f Owing to local feelings, there were several ballotings for this office on the twenty-sixth, the members being equally divided in their choice between Mr- Adams and Mr. Jav. 20 300 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1779. Recall of Silas Deane. Difficulties with Thomas Paine. of party spirit, whose pestiferous breath has ever been, and ever will be, a mephitic influence, paralysing, if not utterly destroying, the energies of every enterprise over which it is diffused. And worse than all, so far as the good opinion and the hoped-for aid of Europe was concerned, our diplomatic agents abroad had been engaged in personal disputes, which finally created parties at home and led to measures that alarmed every true friend of the cause. Some of these foreign agents were recalled, among whom was the ardent but injudicious Silas Deane, who was charged with having exceeded his powers in engaging French officers to go to the United States, with promises of rank and pay, which could not be redeemed ; and in other respects his conduct was censured. Deane, as soon as he arrived, requested Congress to appoint a commissioner to inquire into his conduct, but thinking there was unnecessary delay in com- plying with his request, he published an inflammatory address to the people of the United States, in which he poured out the vials of his wrath upon the heads of all his opponents, some of whom were among the most distinguished men in the country, charging them with selfishness, chicanery, and personal ambition. Thomas Paine, who was then the Secretary of Congress for Foreign Affairs, and one of the most ardent defenders of American freedom, wrote a caustic reply to Deane in one of his papers signed " Common Sense," in which he unhesitatingly accused him of fraudulent attempts, while in Europe, to enrich himself by means of his agency ; and pointed to the fact that a sum of money sent to America from Louis XVI. before the consummation of the Treaty of Alliance, appeared in Deane's account as a loan, when, as Paine asserted, it was a free gift from that monarch. The papers in Paine's possession, as For- eign Secretary, gave him every facility for information, and this facility he indiscreetly used by copying from diplomatic documents in his office. The French Minister to Congress, Gerard, knowing these charges to come from the pen of Paine, memorialized that body upon the subject, and defended his sovereign against the serious charge of having given aid to the revolted Colonies of a power with which he was then in alliance. Through the influence of Gerard and the political enemies of Paine, the Secretary was cited to appear as a delinquent at the bar of Congress, where he at once acknow- ledged the authorship of the article. As soon as he .withdrew, resolutions for his dismissal from office, on the ground of an abuse of trust and confidence, in publishing extracts from secret corres- pondence in his possession, were offered, but before any were adopted, Paine sent in his resignation, disgusted at the temporizing and factious spirit which he saw daily increasing around him. CHAP. IX.] EVENTS OF 1779. 301 President Laurens's Letter. Its effect upon the people. The ferment of the public mind was greatly augmented at this time by the publication, in a New York newspaper,* of an extract from a letter alleged to have been written by Mr. Laurens, the President of Congress, to Governor Huiston, of Georgia, which letter had been seized among other papers of the Governor by the enemy during their invasion of that State. This letter accused a large portion of the delegates in Congress of being devoid of integrity and patriotism, and spoke of the times as remarkable for corruption. Notwithstanding there was some truth in these allega- tions, in particular instances, yet, as a body, the American Congress still maintained its high character for integrity and patriotism, obscured, it must be confessed, by rancorous party spirit. The letter ascribed to Laurens was considered a forgery, and yet it had a powerful effect upon the people, and, combined with other causes alluded to, made every true patriot tremble for his country's inde- pendence. These things caused Washington a great deal of anxiety, and his hopeful spirit at times almost gave way to despondency. He saw a powerful enemy putting forth new energies ; an ally comparatively inefficient ; the public treasury empty ; the circulating medium of his country almost worthless ; his army discontented with low fare and slow pay, and on the verge of mutiny ; and Congress, the strong right arm of power on which rested the dearest interests of the country, convulsed and paralysed by dissensions within. In view of these dark shadows upon the landscape, where long ere this he had hoped to see nothing but sunny smiles, he was forced to declare that " friends and foes were combining to pull down the fabric they had been raising at the expense of so much time, blood, and treasure."! * " Rivington's Royal Gazette," the printing establishment of which was de- stroyed in 1775, by a party of Connecticut militia under Captain Isaac Sears, called " King Sears." It was re-established in 1776, when the British took possession of, the city. f Washington's Letters. Buina of Ticonderog*. EVENTS OF 1780. Nathaniel Greene — Benedict Arnold— Jchn Andre, CHAPTER X Bions, bring IR HENRY CLINTON, as we have before observed, departed from New York at the close of December, under convoy of several ships of the line, commanded by Admiral Arbuthnot, and proceeded with between seven and eight thousand troops, to make an attack upon the more defenceless States of the south. He also took with him an immense amount of military stores and provi determined to prosecute the war with so much vigor as to it to a close during the projected campaign. He was pretty 304 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1780. 8ir Henry Clinton's disastrous voyage. Preparations for besieging Charleston. well informed of the financial embarrassments of the Americans ; of the party dissensions in Congress, and the greatly impoverished state of the country ; and he relied almost as much upon the silent destruc- tiveness of these causes to insure his success, as upon his arms. The fleet with Clinton's army had not proceeded far from Sandy Hook, when it was overtaken by a terrible storm and driven far from its course. Some of the transports were captured by American privateers, others were lost, and all were damaged to some extent. A vessel containing all the heavy ordnance for the siege of Charles- ton, was lost, and nearly all of the horses belonging to the artillery and cavalry perished. It was the last of January before Clinton reached Savannah, when he immediately began to repair his losses, and to endeavor, if possible, to obtain recruits and horses for his cavalry, from among the tory population.* On the tenth of Febru- ary, he departed from Savannah for the siege of Charleston. Gene- ral Lincoln, who was at Charleston, anticipating this expedition from the north, had employed the time in making preparations for a vigorous defence. He had with him about two thousand regulars, one thousand militia, and a large body of armed citizens. With this force within the city, and the sure expectation of preventing the British from passing the bar at the entrance between Sullivan's and Long Island, Lincoln prepared for a successful defence. I On the eleventh of February, Sir Henry Clinton took possession of some of the islands south of the city, where he remained more tj^ui a month, when he crossed the Ashley River with the advance of his army, and, on the first of April, commenced the erection of batteries within eight hundred yards of the American works. They consisted of a chain of redoubts, lines, and batteries, across the penin- sula from the Ashley to the Cooper Rivers, upon which were mounted eighty cannons and mortars. In front of this was a canal filled with water, and before the canal were two rows of abattis and a picketed ditch.f In addition to these defences, the Americans had a flotilla within the harbor, consisting of nine frigates (one a French vessel) and several galleys. * Disaffection to the American cause, and an adhesion to the Crown, were daily increasing at the south. The protraction of the war and consequent misery, and the succession of defeats experienced by the Americans, made the people sigh for ! peace. Governor Rutledge had been invested with dictatorial powers, and when Clinton approached he called out the militia, but the response was feeble. He then commanded all having property in the city, who were on the muster-roll, to join the garrison immediately, or suffer the penalty of confiscation. But even this rigorous measure did not have the desired effect, and the garrison, when attacked, did not number five thousand men, including regulars, militia, and seamen. |; f These defences were constructed under the superintendence of a French engu neer named Laumay. chap, x.] EVENTS OF 1780. 305 Lincoln summoned to surrender. Battles at Monk's Corner and upon the Santee River. On the ninth of April, Admiral Arbuthnot, favored by a strong southerly wind and a high tide, passed Fort Moultrie with little opposition, and anchored his fleet in the harbor within cannon-shot of the town. On his approach the American flotilla abandoned its station and proceeded to the city. The British batteries being at the same time prepared to open a fire upon the town, General Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot then jointly sent a summons to General Lincoln to surrender.* The latter promptly refused, when a destructive fire from the ships and batteries was opened upon the town. In the meanwhile, the Americans had assembled a corps at Monk's Corner, on the upper part of Cooper River, and about thirty miles from Charleston, where they received recruits and also provisions for the city. From this point they determined, when a sufficient force should be collected, to invest the besiegers in the rear, and thus bring them within the range of two fires. This corps was under the command of General Huger, and Clinton observed his movements with some alarm. He at once ceased his attack upon the city and. despatched a detachment of fourteen hundred men, commanded by Colonel Webster, accompanied by Colonels Tarleton and Ferguson, all men distinguished for valor, to attack the Republi- cans at Monk's Corner. They arrived about three o'clock in the morning, and took the Americans completely by surprise. They were instantly routed, and all were slain who did not seek safety in flight. General Huger, and Colonels Washington and Jamieson,* were among those who escaped by throwing themselves into a morass. The British captured four hundred horses and a large quantity of provisions and other military stores. Cornwallis having taken the command on the left bank of the river, the enemy swept the whole country along that side, to Charleston, and thus the city became completely invested, and supplies of men and provisions were effectually cut off. Soon after the surprise of the garrison at Monk's Corner, Tarle- ton, by a circuitous route, came stealthily upon an American corps upon the Santee River, and so sudden was his movement, that the Americans, who had their horses all saddled, had not time to mount, and were completely dispersed. About this time, Sir Henry Clinton received a reinforcement of three thousand men ; and seeing resistance comparatively useless, Lincoln proposed measures to secure his little army from destruc- * The commanding officers into whose hands Andre" was subsequently delivered after his arrest. 306 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1780: Surrender of Lincoln and the whole American army of the South. tion ; but the principal inhabitants, remembering the brutality of the British on lik'-, occasions elsewhere, prevailed upon him to only offer terms of capitulation favorable to the people, and on condition that the garrison should be allowed to serve again in the American army. This proposition Clinton rejected, and the siege steadily progressed. On the sixth of May Fort Moultrie surrendered, and all the outposts successively fell. The broken, remnant of the American cavalry, which had been collected by Colonel White, were again dispersed by Tarleton, and the be- sieged saw nothing but destruction before them. The enemy had been advancing for two days, and the third parallel which Clinton had formed, being completed, preparations were made for a general assault. To spare the people of the town all the horrors of an assault and storm, General Lincoln concluded to surrendera a May 12. upon the conditions offered by Clinton at first.* Pursuant to these terms, the garrison piled their arms, and a division of the British army under General Leslie, took possession of Charleston. The loss of the British in killed and wounded, was two hundred and sixty-eight, and of the Americans two hundred and fifty-four. The number of American prisoners was about six thousand, including about one thousand American and French seamen. There were a great number of officers, and this made an imposing appearance in the report of the British commander. The Deputy Governor and half of the Members of the Council of the province, seven generals, a commodore, nine colonels, fourteen lieutenant-colonels, fifteen majors, eighty-four captains, eighty-four lieutenants, and thirty-two second lieutenants and ensigns, were among the prisoners taken. Nearly four hundred pieces of ordnance were captured, and all' the naval force in the vicinity was either seized or destroyed. Never was there a triumph and defeat more complete, or which seemed more to assure the reunion to Britain of at least a large portion of her revolted Colonies. With very small exceptions, the whole military force of the Americans stationed in the southern States, including all its means and implements of war, was at once captured. A great proportion of the inhabitants, partly through fear, and partly from honest sentiment, testified their satisfaction, while * The garrison were allowed some ©f the honors of war. They were to march out and deposit their arms between the canal and their lines ; but the drums were not to play a British march, nor were the colors to be reversed ; the regular troops and seamen keeping their baggage, were to remain prisoners of war ; the militia were to return home as prisoners on parole : the citizens of all descriptions were also to be considered as prisoners on parole, but their property was to be respected; and the officers of the army and navy were to retain their servants, swords, pistola, and baggage. chap, x.] EVENTS OF 1780. 307 Rigorous measures of Clinton. His departure for New York. the patriots and the lukewarm gave a silent acquiescence. There was scarcely a soldier in South Carolina or Georgia, who was not either a prisoner on parole, or in arms for the Crown.* Clinton had been secretly assured that he would receive ample support from the tories as soon as he should reach the State, and confident that his victory would confirm the wavering and intimidate a multitude of the less valiant republicans, he at once set about establishing a royal government there again. He published a pro- clamation, promising to the people a renewal of all their former privileges, with the addition that they should not be taxed, unless by their own consent. He soon after issued another, absolving the militia from their paroles, and earnestly exhorting them to join with the other citizens in support of the British cause. In the meanwhile, he determined to have entire possession of the State, and for this purpose, before the ardor of victory should cool, he sent out three detachments to take possession of important posts. One expedition seized the post of Ninety-Six ; another scoured the country bordering on the Savannah River ; a third, under Cornwallis, passed the Santee, and captured Georgetown, about six miles north- east from Charleston. A body of about four hundred patriots, under Colonel Buford, who were retreating towards North Carolina, were pursued and overtaken by Colonel Tarleton, who gave no quarter, and they were nearly all cut to pieces.! a These expeditions proving successful ; the capital of the State in his pos- session ; the people flocking to his standard from all quarters ; and the whole State comparatively quiet, Clinton left Cornwallis in com- mand of about four thousand troops, to maintain, and if possible, extend, his conquests, and on the fifth of June sailed for New York. Sir Henry Clinton had no sooner departed, than bands with intre- pid leaders, began to collect in various parts of the State, particu- larly on the frontiers, and by a sort of guerilla warfare, greatly annoyed the British troops. Colonel Sumter was the most distin- guished of these partisan leaders, and gave the British a great deal of trouble. Although repulsed in an attack which he made upon them at Rocky Mount, 6 yet he was not disheartened, and b Jul ^ soon after surprised and completely routed a large body of British regulars and tories at a place called Hanging Rock. c c Aug - 6 - This event gave the republicans great joy, and restored their confi- dence, while the loyalists again began to tremble with fear. * Murray, vol. ii., p. 69. t After that, when any furious engagement took place, of a brutal character, it was called Tarleton's quarters 308 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1780, March of General Gates to the South. Battle of Sander's Creek, and Death of De Kalb. Early in the Spring, Washington had perceived the necessity of a much stronger force in the Carolinas, and he made arrangements for the march of troops from Maryland and Delaware, and called out the militia of Virginia and North Carolina. These forces were placed under the command of the Baron de Kalb, an eminent Ger- man officer ; but General Gates was soon after placed by Congress in command of the whole southern army, and began his journey thitherward in March. His progress was a very tardy one, owing to a want of money and military stores and provisions, and it was the beginning of August before he reached Camden, about one hundred and ten miles north-west from Charleston. He had with him about four thousand men, chiefly militia, and encamped at Clermont, about thirteen miles from Camden. Lord Rawdon, who was in command of a division of the British army in that quarter, concentrated his forces at the former place. Gates determined to push offensive operations vigorously, hoping to cause Lord Rawdon to fall back upon Charleston, but that General, as soon as he received tidings of the approach of the Americans, gave notice to Cornwallis, who was at Charleston, and he immediately hastened to join him. On the night of the fifteenth of August, both armies moved for an attack, each ignorant of the other's design. The two vanguards met near Sander's Creek, and commenced firing in the dark. But both presently halted, formed into line, ceased firing, and awaited daylight to commence again. At early dawn a general engagement commenced* between the two armies, and the first terrible onset of the enemy's regulars upon the raw militia, decided the fate of the battle. The British charged with fixed bayonets, and soon put the Virginia and Carolina militia to flight. The Maryland and Dela- ware regiments fought more bravely, and for a while seemed to give assurance of victory, compelling the enemy several times to retire. At length the whole force of the enemy was directed towards these two corps, and a tremendous shower of bullets was poured incessantly into their ranks. Cornwallis attacked them at the same time with fixed bayonets, which compelled them to give way, and as they broke, Colonel Tarleton's cavalry charged upon them and dispersed them with great slaughter. Baron de Kalb, while exerting himself with great bravery to prevent the loss of the battle, received eleven wounds, and soon after expired.* In this engagement about five hundred of the British were killed and wounded. It is impossible * On the fourteenth of October, Congress resolved to erect a monument to his memory in Annapolis. chap, x.] EVENTS OF 1780. 309 Battle of the Wateree. Rigorous measures of Cornwallis. to estimate the loss of the Americans in killed, wounded, and prison- ers, as no returns of the militia were made after the action. British authors state the loss at about two thousand, while the Americans make it only one thousand. General Gates retreated to Charlotte and from thence to Hillsborough, with the remnant of his forces. On the everting before the battle of Sander's Creek, a Colo- nel Sumter, who had been sent against a post of the enemy on the Wateree, made a successful attack, and captured about forty wagons and one hundred prisoners. While Sumter was on his way to join Gates, Colonel Tarleton with his cavalry rode into h A n w< sloop-of-war Vulture, and the next morning arrived opposite Fort Clinton, 6 about six miles below West Point. b Sept2 °- After some delay, Arnold communicated with Andre and Robin- son by means of an American tory named Joshua Smith. They landed at night and met Arnold at the water's edge. Andre covered his uniform with a surtout, but Arnold, fearing a discovery, took him to the house of Robinson, within the American lines, much against the feelings and wishes of the young officer, who, though zealous in the enterprise, was too honorable to become a spy. All the plans were laid before Andre, and it was agreed to surrender the forts on the twenty-fifth.:): By a given signal, the British transports ' * This mansion is still standing. It is situated a short distance below West Point, on the east side of the Hudson, upon a fertile strip of table-land lying be- tween the river and a part of the lofty range of the eastern highlands. To the patriotism and good taste of the proprietor we are indebted for its excellent pre- servation in the style of its original construction, the wasting effects of time having rendered external repairs necessary. The interior presents its original appearance, and upon the wainscot over the mantel in a bed-room, may still be seen the knife- carvings of the names of Revolutionary officers who were quartered there. Lieu- tenant Thomas Arden, a graduate of West Point, is the present proprietor of the mansion, and to his excellent lady the writer is indebted for many polite attentions while on a brief visit there for the purpose of making the sketch of the building delineated opposite page 316. f Washington intended to leave on the seventeenth, but was detained, and did not depart until the twentieth. X Andre had also conceived the bold design of capturing Washington and his staff, who would be at Arnold's head-quarters on the same day, on their return from Hartford. 320 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [nso. Departure of Andre for New York. His Arrest near Tnrrytown. were to sail up the Hudson with a large number of men ; and at the same time Arnold, under various pretences, was to withdraw most of the troops from the forts, and so distribute them in the ravines in the vicinity, as to render them quite weak in case of attack, and make the surrender, or the apparent necessity for it, much speedier. Andre started immediately to return to New York to give the signal to Clinton, but on attempting to go on board the Vulture, he found that she had removed some miles below, to get out of reach of an American cannon that had commenced firing upon her from the shore. The men in the boat refused to go down to the Vulture, and Andre returned to Arnold. He exchanged his military suit for citizen's dress, provided by Smith, and, accompanied by him, set out upon the perilous journey by land to New York, each being fur- nished with a passport to " go to the lines at White Plains, or lower, if the bearer thought proper ; he being on public business." They traversed the American posts unmolested, crossed the Hudson twice, and upon the border of the neutral ground, Smith bade Andre adieu. The latter, believing all danger past, spurred on towards New York- with great speed. When near Tarrytown a man armed with a musket suddenly leaped from a clump of bushes by the road side, and seizing the reins of his bridle, exclaimed, " Where are you bound ?" At the same time, two other militia-men, forming part of a volunteer patrol, came up. Andre, mistaking them for British soldiers, did not show them his passport, but inquired of them where they belonged. They deceived him by the reply " to below" (mean- ing New York) ; and he remarked, " And so do I ; I am an English officer," he continued, " on urgent business, and I do not wish to be longer detained." " You belong to our enemies," they exclaimed, " and we arrest you !" They immediately searched him, and found in his boots, where they had been placed for safety, Arnold's despatch- es, plans, &c, which were evidences that their prisoner was a spy. Andre was paralysed for a moment with astonishment, and offered them his horse, his purse, his watch, and large rewards from the British government, if they would let him go. But their stern patri- otism was inflexible, and he was carried before Colonel Jamieson, who was in command of the outposts.* The confidence of that * The captors of Andre were named John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart. Congress, on hearing of the event, immediately passed a resolution commendatory of their patriotic conduct; and in testimony whereof, they ordered that each should be paid two hundred dollars annually ; that a silver medal should be presented to each, having on one side a shield with " Fidelity" inscribed upon it, and on the other side the motto, " Vincit amor patrice," and that the Com- mander-in-chief should present them with the thanks of Congress. chap, x.] EVENTS OF 1780. 323 Arnold's escape on learning Andre's capture. Trial and execution of Andr*. officer in the patriotism of Arnold, made him so unsuspecting, that he wrote to the traitor apprising him that Anderson, the a s 03 bearer of his passport, had been arrested. a While at breakfast/ Arnold received the startling intelligence. He * Sept ' ^ concealed his emotion, and retired to reflect on what course to adopt. He hoped still to effect his purpose before Washington's return, but while thus musing, two American officers arrived, announcing that the Commander-in-chief was near, and would soon be with him. Suppressing his feelings, he told the two officers he wished to go and meet the General alone ; and hastening to the apartment of his wife, he exclaimed, " All is discovered ; Andre is a prisoner ; the Commander-in-chief will soon know everything ; burn all my papers ; I fly to New York !" He embraced her and their infant, rushed from the apartment, mounted the horse of one of the officers, and fled towards the Hudson, where he had a barge ready manned. He threw himself into it, and in a short time was alongside the Vulture.* Washington was utterly confounded when he learned what had transpired, and repairing immediately to West Point, instituted dili- gent inquiries concerning the extent of the treason. The result was a conviction that Arnold had no accomplices among the Americans. After privately consulting Congress, Washington instituted a court- martial at Tappan to try Andre, and appointed General Greene President ; the result of which was a report to the Commander-in- chief that " Major Andre ought to be considered as a spy from the enemy, and tkat, agreeably to the law and usage of nations, he ought to suffer death." Washington and his officers would gladly have saved the life of that excellent and accomplished young man, but necessity required a rigorous enforcement of penalties. Sir Henry Clinton did all in his power to save him. Arnold wrote a letter, threatening terrible retribution if Andre's life should be taken, and a plan was concerted by the American officersf to seize Arnold, the real culprit, and then pardon Andre. But these efforts failed, and on the second of October he was hanged at Tappan. He earnestly requested that he might be shot, and thus meet the more honorable death of a soldier, and Washington was willing to comply with his desire. But he was overruled by his officers, and the unfortunate i 1 * From the Vulture, Arnold wrote to Washington, justifying his conduct, and imploring his protection for his wife and child. This protection was tenderly extended, and she was safely conducted to New York. f Champe, an American Serjeant-Major of intrepid^character, was intrusted with the conduct of the enterprise. He left the American camp and appeared in New York as a deserter. He there found accomplices, and soon they laid plans for abducting the traitor. But unforeseen circumstances thwarted their designs, and Champe returned safely to the American lines. 324 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1780. EriiWh detestation of Arnold Expedition against Fort George, on Long Island young soldier* suffered the ignominious death of a spy. He was universally lamented, both by the English and the Americans, and mingled expressions of tender regard for the victim, and execrations against the traitor, were heard on every side.t Arnold, indeed, escaped detection and death, but his fate was far worse than that of Andre. Doomed to perpetual banishment from his native country ; stung with remorse ; loaded w r ith execrations, even from the lips of those unto whom he had bartered his fame for gold, he led a miserable existence, to the torments of which death was truly a blessing to be coveted. He obtained only a portion of his stipulated reward ; was taunted with being the author of an abortive treason, in the conception and partial execution of which he stood alone,| an d transmitted to his children an " abject name of hateful celebrity." The British army detested him, and manifested much repugnance to serve with him, and the common soldiers on guard, who were bound to respect his rank,§ and salute him, gene- rally whispered as he passed, " There goes the traitor Arnold !" Very little of importance was done by either army during the remainder of the year. General Leslie, with about three thousand British troops, ravaged the coast of the Chesapeake during the month of October, and captured several vessels and a considerable quantity of tobacco ; and on the part of the Americans, a small expedition was undertaken in November, by Major Tallmadge, who crossed the Sound to Long Island with eighty men, and leaving twenty to guard the boats, made a circuitous march to Fort George and captured it. He had but one man wounded. He took two officers and fifty-five privates prisoners. The two armies went into winter-quarters in nearly the same position in which they did the year before. * He was not quite thirty years of age. f Andre was not only a brave soldier, but an accomplished scholar. He began life in the peaceful calling of a merchant, but an unfortunate attachment induced him to quit his profession and his country. He obtained a commission in a regi- ment destined for America, where his bravery, abilities, and accomplishments, soon raised him to distinction. The lady of his love, the beautiful and accomplished Honora Sneyd, the bosom friend of Anne Seward, became the second wife of that man of many wives, R. L. Edgeworth, Esq., the father (by his first wife) of Miss Edgeworth, the admirable novelist; but she died of consumption on the thirtieth of April, 17S0, five months and two days before the execution of Andre, who appears to have been ignorant of the sad event. Andre excelled in music and painting. As a poet, he was above the mediocrity of his day. — Pic. His. of the Reign of George III., vol. i., p. 436. t Arnold was the only American officer who forsook the cause of Independence and turned his sword against his country. § He held a commission as Brigadier in the British army. chap, x.] EVENTS OF 1780. 325 Exchange of prisoners. Washington's earnest appeal. Minister to Holland. Towards the close of the year an agreement was finally settled for a general exchange of prisoners. General Phillips of the British army, who had been a prisoner ever since the surrender of Burgoyne, and General Lincoln, of the American army, who surrendered at Charleston, were exchanged ■ but, owing to some disagreement in terms, the privates of Burgoyne 's army were kept prisoners until the close of the war. Washington earnestly pressed Congress for more troops and for enlistments during the war. In fact, knowing how slow w r as the increment of his force by voluntary enlistments, he suggested con- scriptions, or something similar. He truly represented that unless something of the kind was done, they would soon behold the morti- fying spectacle of the American cause wholly upheld by foreign troops. He referred to the recuperative energies of Great Britain, represented the termination of the war as still distant, and ex- pressed his belief that nothing but the apparent infatuation of the British commander at various times had saved the cause of Inde- pendence from utter ruin. His appeal had some effect upon Con- gress, and they issued orders for enlistments during the war, and voted that all officers should have half-pay for life. During the autumn, Holland, which had long been favorable to the Americans,- cast off its disguise, and came out boldly an open enemy to Great Britain. This event, and the formation of the Armed Neutrality,* gave the Americans great hopes, amid all their distresses and reverses, and they looked with confidence for a termi- nation of the war early in the ensuing year, when the French troops already here, and others that were expected, should be put in opera- tion. Henry Laurens, the late President of Congress, was appointed Minister to Holland, for the purpose of effecting commercial treaties, making a loan, and negotiating for an acknowledgment on the part of the States-General of the Independence of the United States. The Minister embarked at Philadelphia, carrying with him papers con- ferring extraordinary discretionary powers upon him, but the vessel in which he sailed was captured by two British frigates. Laurens * The confederacy, so called, of the northern European powers against England, was commenced by the Empress Catharine, of Russia, in L780. This continued until near the close of 17S1. Again in the year 1800, the confederacy was renew- ed, and treaties entered into to cause their flags to be respected by the belligerent powers. But the doctrine that neutral flags protect neutral bottoms was not regarded as orthodox by England, and Nelson and Parker destroyed the fleet of Denmark before Copenhagen, on the 2d of April, 1S01. In consequence, that power was obliged to secede from the alliance, and soon after, the Armed Neutral- ity was dissolved. 326 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1780. Capture of Ex-President Laurens while on his way to Holland. cast the box containing his papers into the sea, but it was recovered, and instantly forwarded to the British government, together with Mr. Laurens, who, after an examination, was committed to the tower on a charge of high treason. As soon as the British government dis- covered that Holland was encouraging American privateers, and had actually commenced the negotiation of a treaty with Congress, they declared war against that power, and thus, at the close of 1780, England was involved in hostilities with the three most powerful nations of Europe. In proportion as necessity for strength increased, England seemed to put forth new and vigorous exertions. Parlia- ment voted large supplies of money and men for the United Service,* and extensive preparations were made for the ensuing campaign in America. * Ninety-one thousand men was named as the naval force for the year 1781. Washington's Head-quarters at Tappan. EVENTS OF 1781. John Jay— General Thomas Sumter— General Daniel Morgan. CHAPTER XI. HE balance of Destiny seemea to be equi- poised at the beginning of 1781, and to human judgment success appeared as likely to crown the efforts of the oppressor as those of the oppressed. The independence of the States seemed as remote as ever, and the prospect of ultimate triumph was gloomy indeed. The condition of the army was deplorable, and the heroism of suffering was manifest in all its intensity upon every side. The contrast, too, which the enemy presented, brought out the poverty and the patriot- ism of the Republican army in bolder relief. While the former 328 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1781. Revolt of the Pennsylvania tioops. Their treatment of British emissaries. possessed every comfort in abundance, being fed and clothed by a wealthy and powerful mother, the latter were enduring intense suf- fering from want of clothing, and provisions, and pay for their ser- vices. So pressing became these wants at last, that active mutiny pervaded the American army, and an event transpired which filled the country with alarm. On the first of January the whole Pennsylvania line, stationed at Morristown, consisting of about thirteen hundred troops, paraded under arms, refused further obedience to orders, and declared their intention to march to Philadelphia and demand from Congress a redress of grievances.* They marched in a body towards Prince- ton with six field-pieces, but through the prudent management of General Wayne,t they were not only restrained from acts of violence on their march, but were brought to a parley and induced to listen to terms of compromise. "Washington, on hearing of the revolt, recom- mended Wayne not to use force, for their number was too formida- ble and their complaints too just to risk the hazard of such a step. He advised Wayne to get from them a written statement of their grievances, and promised to present them candidly to Congress and the Assembly of Pennsylvania. This course had its intended effect, and a deputation from Congress met them at Princeton, and induced them to agree to a compromise, by which their immediate necessi- ties were relieved, and provision made for their future pay. The revolters exhibited a spirit worthy of the soldiers of the War of Independence, for when their grievances were only in part redressed, they cheerfully returned to duty, and indignantly repulsed the imputa- tion of a design to go over to the enemy. t * They complained, with truth, that their pay was in arrears; that they were obliged to receive it in depreciated currency, and that they were detained beyond their time of enlistment. f In an attempt to compel them to desist, a captain was killed, and several others were wounded. General Wayne presented his pistols as if about to fire on them. With their bayonets at his breast they exclaimed : " We love and respect you ; but if you fire you are a dead man. We are not going to the enemy; on the contrary, were they now to come out, you should see us fight under your orders with as much alacrity as ever ; but we will no longer be amused ; we are determined on obtaining what is our just due." X On hearing of this mutiny, Sir Henry Clinton sent some emissaries from his camp at New York, with a proposition to their leaders to join him, and making promises of ample remuneration to all the mutineers in case they accepted the pro- posals. But the base proposition was indignantly spurned. One of the leaders addressed the soldiers and said, " See, comrades, he takes us to be traitors ! Let us show him that America has no truer friends than we." They immediately seized the emissaries and delivered them up to Wayne, who caused them to be tried, and they were executed as spies. The mutineers being offered a reward for appre- hending the spies, nobly refused it, saying that necessity had forced them_to demand chap. x:.J EVENTS OF 1781. 329 Financial operations of Robert Morris. Expedition of Arnold against Virginia. A similar revolt was undertaken by the New Jersey troops a few days after, but through the vigilant preparations for such an event by Washington, it was speedily crushed. Two of the ringleaders were tried and executed, and by these summary proceedings the spirit of mutiny was subdued. These events aroused the people and Congress to more vigorous action, and efforts hitherto unprecedented to raise money and supply the wants of the army were put forth. Taxes were imposed and cheerfully acquiesced in ; a Commissioner was sent to Europe to ne- gotiate loans of money and obtain military supplies ;* and, during the year, the Bank of North America was established, under the super- vision of Robert Morris, a wealthy merchant of Philadelphia, to whose superintendence Congress had recently intrusted the Treasu- ry. There can be little doubt that it was principally owing to the financial operations of this distinguished patriot that the American army was not disbanded by its own act, and that Congress was enabled to commence offensive operations on the opening of the spring campaign for this year. He assumed the collection of taxes and the supply of the army with flour, and used his ample private fortune and his personal credit, without stint, to sustain the govern- ment. Arnold began the work of his royal purchaser early in January of this year. He was despatched to Virginia with a corps of about sixteen hundred men, tories and English, and a number of armed vessels, for the purpose of desolating the country. He entered Hampton Roads on the first of January, and ascending the James River, reached Richmond on the fifth, where he destroyed all the public stores in the vicinity, and private property to a large amount. Jefferson, then Governor of the State, called upon the militia to defend Richmond, but they so tardily obeyed the summons, that he was obliged to leave the city to its fate.t It was about one half justice from Congress, but they desired no reward for doing their duty to their bleeding country." * Spain had loaned only fourteen thousand dollars, when nearly half a million was the amount asked, and France seemed to feel that she had done quite enough in sending her fleets and armies to America. Colonel John Laurens, son of the ex-President, was, in this extremity, sent on a special commission to France, and, contrary to usual etiquette, he presented his memorial in person to the King. He succeeded in obtaining a subsidy of six millions livres ($1,200,000), with a further sum by way of loan, and guarantee for a Dutch loan of five millions guilders ($2,000,000). This was intimated as being the very last pecuniary aid that could be granted. — Sparks' s Diplomatic Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 190. f Jefferson, after causing some of the public stores to be removed into the coun- try, fled from the city at evening, with his Council and Secretaries, 330 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1781. Attempt to capture Arnold and his array. Destruction of property on the James River. _ destroyed by the traitor's torch. Arnold encamped at Ports- mouth,* where he was joined by reinforcements that swelled his number to about two thousand. Washington now conceived the design of capturing Arnold with all his army, by investing them by sea and land. He desired Des- touches, who succeeded Ternay in the command of the French fleet, to send an armament to the Chesapeake to co-operate with La Fay- ette, whom he intended to despatch with a competent force to main- tain the investment by land. But the French Admiral sent 6 only a sixty-four gun-ship and two frigates, which being incompetent for the occasion, returned to Newport. After a per- sonal conference between Washington and the French officers, it was agreed to send about eleven hundred of De Rochambeau's troops, under the command of the Baron de Viomenil, escorted by the whole of the French fleet. Destouches sailed on the eighth of March, and on the sixteenth he was met by Admiral Arbuthnot, who immediately attacked him. After a battle of more than an hour, the French fleet bore away and returned to Newport. Thus Arnold escaped from the danger of falling into the hands of his countrymen.* Clinton, still having in view a diversion in favor of the army of the „ ^ „„ south, sent thither General Phillips,! with about two thou- c March 26. ' . . r ' sand five hundred men, who joined Arnold at Portsmouth. 6 Phillips took the command, overran the whole country between the James and York rivers, seized the large town of Petersburg!], 4 * also Chester Court-house, and other places, and destroyed a great quantity of shipping and stores. They then proceeded towards Richmond to complete its destruction, but on arriving at Manchester, on the opposite side of the James River, they found that La Fayette had entered Richmond the preceding evening, where his regular force was joined by about two thousand militia and some dragoons. Phillips and Arnold, after burning the stores and a great quantity of tobacco at Manchester, retired to Bermuda Hundred, and soon after- wards re-embarked their troops and proceeded down the river, when Cornwallis, who was at Wilmington, gave them notice that he was about marching into Virginia. They then returned to Petersburgh to await his arrival from the Carolinas. As this movement was subsequent to othex important ones at the south, we will now turn our attention to operations in that quarter. * It is related that a militia officer whom Arnold held as a prisoner at Portsmouth, was asked by the traitor what the Americans would do if they should catch him? He answered, " They would cut off your leg wounded while fighting for your coun- try, and bury it with the honors of war, and then hang the rest of you !" f Phillips was_among the officers captured at Saratoga, chap, xi.] EVENTS OF 1781. 331 Operations at the South. Battle of the Cowpens. As already stated in the preceding chapter, General Gates was superseded by General Greene, after the disastrous conflict at Cam- den. Greene established his head-quarters at Charlotte, where he collected his whole force, amounting to only about two thousand men. Notwithstanding this extreme feebleness in numbers, he despatched General Morgan to the western frontier of South Caro- lina, where the British and tories were committing great devastations, to arrest their operations. On the eleventh of January, General Leslie, with about fifteen hundred men, joined Cornwallis, and they prepared to march imme- diately into North Carolina, and press forward into Virginia. But Cornwallis was unwilling to allow Morgan to remain in his rear, and sent Tarleton to dislodge, and if possible, completely break up his forces — " to push him to the utmost." Colonel Washington, a nephew of the Commander-in-chief, was with Morgan, and they had a pretty large force of cavalry and riflemen, but the superior numbers of Tarleton obliged them at first to retreat. Tarleton hotly pursued them, and on reaching a place called the Cowpens, about three miles from the division line between North and South Carolina, Morgan wheeled and gave battle. a The first furious onset of the enemy caused the Americans to yield, and at the same time a party of the Republican regulars were dispersed and pur- sued by British cavalry under Ogilvie. Morgan rallied his men, and in one general charge upon the British lines they dispersed the enemy in every direction. Tarleton's squadron of cavalry had not yet encountered the Americans, and seeing the panic of the British militia and the impetuous advance of the former they fled with the greatest precipitation. Quarter being promised to the enemy, a large number surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Colonel Washington pursued Tarleton several miles and slightly wounded him, but, with the most of his cavalry, he reached the camp of Cornwallis in safety. In this battle, the South Carolina militia under Colonel Pickens showed great bravery, as well as a body of infantry under Colonel Howard. They proved that Tarleton's legion was not invincible. The British had ten commissioned officers and one hundred and twenty-nine privates killed, and twenty-nine officers and two hundred privates wounded. The Americans lost twelve men killed and sixty wounded. The Republicans took five hundred pri- soners and a large quantity of arms and ammunition.* This battle, * Eight hundred stand of arms, one hundred dragoon horses, thirty-five baggage- wagons, and two standards, fell into their hands. Two brass cannons which were taken from Burgoyne and captured by Cornwallis, at Camden, again became the 22 332 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1781. Morgan's retreat across the Catawba. Arrival of Greene, and retreat' to the Yadkin. it has been justly remarked, proved, in the end, nearly as disastrous to Cornwallis as the battle of Bennington did to Burgoyne. As soon as Cornwallis heard of the defeat of Tarleton, and the attendant disasters at the Cowpens, he determined to take the field in person, and having been reinforced by Leslie, he felt confident that he could soon subdue the whole country south of Virginia. His first effort was to surprise Morgan and recapture the prisoners whom he had sent on towards Charlotte ville, in Virginia ; and accordingly he destroyed all his heavy baggage, crossed the Catawba River* and endeavored by rapid marches, to inter- cept his (Morgan's) retreat towards the head-quarters of Greene. But Morgan was as vigilant as he was brave, and by well-executed and rapid marches, he succeeded in reaching the fords of the Catawba* b about two hours before the vanguard of the enemy appeared in sight. It was quite dark when Cornwallis reached the bank of the river, and feeling very confident that he could easily overtake the flying Americans in the morning, he halted there for the night. Before morning, a heavy rain which had oc- curred in the mountains above, so swelled the stream that it was impossible to cross it without boats, and these, the Americans had been careful to take on the opposite side. Morgan hurried the British prisoners forward, and commenced preparations to defend the passage of the fords and keep Cornwallis at bay until General Greene should arrive. Much to his surprise and pleasure, Greene made his appearance two days afterwards, 6 and took the command, having left the main division of his army opposite Cheraw, upon the banks of the Little Pedee, about ten miles south from the North Carolina line. ( As soon as the waters subsided, Cornwallis commenced fording the stream/ which he effected, notwithstanding the opposition of the Carolina militia, who were ordered to guard the ford. General Davidson, their commander, was killed, and finding resistance dangerous, Greene, with the whole American force, re- treated towards the Yadkin. He reached that river on the evening of the second of February, and during that night and the next morn- ing, succeeded in crossing it, with all his army, upon " flats." Gene- ral O'Hara, at the head of the British van, pressed so closely upon him that he captured a few baggage-wagons which the Americans property of the Americans. Congress honored General Morgan with a gold medal ; and medals of silver were presented to Colonels Washington and Howard, a sword to Colonel Pickens, and a Brevet-Major's commission to Edward Giles, Morgan's aide-de-camp. * At Cowan's Ford, thirty miles north from the boundary of South Carolina. CHAP. XI.] EVENTS OF 1781. 333 Greene's retreat across the Dan. Cornwallis's return to Hillsborough. were unable to take over before he arrived. Again Cornwallis , not doubting his ability to overtake Greene in the morning, halted for the night, but before dawn the rain poured down in torrents, and the Yadkin was filled to the brim, and rendered entirely unfordable ! Still the British commander was not disheartened, and, marching ten miles up the river, where he found a fordable place, he crossed over and commenced a rapid pursuit of the Americans, determined to compel them to fight before they could get reinforcements from Virginia. On the seventh of February, Greene reached Guilford Court- house, where he was joined by the other division of his army under Huger and Williams.* As about five hundred of the American army were militia, while all of the British were regulars, Greene was unwilling to hazard a battle, and therefore continued his retreat towards Irwin's Ferry, upon the river Dan, on the southern boundary of Virginia, about seventy miles from Guilford. So close again was the pursuit of Conrwallis, that Greene's rear had scarcely touched the northern banks of the Dan when the enemy's van reached the southern bank.* The river was not forda- ble at the time, and the Americans, having taken all the boats across, had, for the third time, during this remarkable retreat, a deep river placed between them and the pursuing enemy ! So tangible was the hand of Providence in this, that it was regarded throughout the whole country as a mark of special favor to the American cause, and in no small degree strengthened the hopes of the Republicans.! Cornwallis, having thought it impossible for Greene to escape across the Dan into Virginia, was greatly disappointed, and gave up the pursuit. He returned to Hillsborough, in North Carolina, where he raised the royal standard and endeavored to rally around it the tories of the south, and also to win over the lukewarm republicans. Greene, in the meanwhile, reposed himself and his weary army in the rich valleys of Halifax in Virginia, in the midst of sympathizing patriots. As soon as Greene was rested and had received reinforcements, * His whole force now consisted of about twenty-three hundred men. Cornwalli* had about twenty-five hundred men with him. f Both armies suffered greatly from the inclemency of the weather, during this retreat of nearly two hundred miles. The enemy, however, was well clothed and fed, while the Americans were nearly destitute of clothing and shoes, yet during this retreat not a single man deserted. This fact is well established by official reports, yet a late British writer* has asserted that " the militia had nearly all deserted Greene" when he reached the Dan. * See Pic. His. of the Reign of Geo. m., vol. i., p. 438. 334 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1781. Greene's return into North Carolina. Battle of Guilford Court-house. which swelled his army to about four thousand four hundred men, he determined to recross the Dan into North Carolina, and commence offensive operations. Being informed that Tarleton was in the district between the Haw and Deep rivers, inciting the tories to join the royal standard, he sent Lieutenant-Colonel Lee with a body of militia and cavalry, to oppose his movements. Lee crossed the Dan on the twenty-first of February, and by a well-executed stratagem* succeeded in destroying, capturing, and dispersing nearly four hun- dred tories who were on their way to join Tarleton. General Greene, with the main division of his army, crossed the Dan a Feb. 22. J the next day, a and pushed on to Guilford Court-house, within ten miles of the enemy's camp. He reached there on the fifteenth of March, and drawing his army up in three lines, awaited the attack of Cornwallis, who, on the very day of his arri- val, 6 marched against him. The enemy approached in three lines, the Hessians on the right, the English in the centre, and a brigade, composed chiefly of tories, on the left. The battle was desperately fought for about an hour and a half, when Greene ordered a retreat. Both sides claimed the victory, t but if the loss of men is the criterion for determining, the triumph surely belonged to the Americans. They lost about four hundred regulars and mili- tia ; the British lost nearly six hundred in killed, wounded, and missing. Great skill and bravery were exhibited on both sides, and, considered in all its features, this conflict, for courage and skilful manoeuvring, was equal to any during the war. Notwithstanding his claim of victory, Cornwallis retreated towards "Wilmington, closely pursued by General Greene. At Ramsay's Mills, on the Deep River, Greene halted, and while Cornwallis con- tinued to retreat towards Wilmington, he turned southward with the intention of driving from South Carolina the division of the British * Colonel Pyle was in command of the tory recruits, and he sent forward three of their number to find out Tarleton's camp. Lee's legion were dressed very much like that of Tarleton, and the young tories, meeting them, mistook them for the British troops. Lee took advantage of this mistake, and immediately sent word to Pickens, who was in command of riflemen in the rear, to keep out of sight in the woods, until they should receive a given signal. The young men addressed Lee as Tarleton, which name he at once assumed, and sent word to Pyle " to draw out his forces on the side of the road, so as to give convenient room for his troops to take the right position." Pyle expressed himself " happy to comply with the wishes of Colonel Tarleton," and accordingly, with smiling countenance, Lee and his legion defiled in front of the tories. When arrived at a proper position, a signal was given for the riflemen to appear, and all fell upon the hapless tories with great fury, and routed them with dreadful slaughter. f Three days after the battle, Cornwallis issued a proclamation, boasting of vic- tory, calling upon all good citizens to join his standard, and offering pardon to all " rebels " who should lay down their arms. chap, xi.] EVENTS OF 1781. 335 Battle of Hobkirk's Hill. Capture of several British forts. army there, under the command of Lord Rawdon. On his march thitherward, many of the borderers who composed the chief bulk of Greene's militia, left and returned to their homes ; and when he approached the vicinage of the British army, his force, though small, consisted almost entirely of regulars. Early in April, Greene arrived at a place called Hobkirk's Hill, about a mile from Rawdon's encampment at Camden. He establish- ed his head-quarters there, but was soon after attacked* by ^ the British commander, and another desperate battle en- sued. For a long time, the result was doubtful. Greene, anticipat- ing victory, sent a detachment to cut off the expected retreat of Rawdon, but a regiment from Maryland becoming confused by a furious charge of the enemy, disconcerted the others, and soon the rout of the Americans became general. But Greene so far restored order that he retreated with deliberation, and succeeded in carrying off six English officers prisoners. He retired with his army to Rugely's Mills, where, after some days, Rawdon, who had received a reinforcement of four hundred men (whom Marion had endeavored in vain to intercept), attempted to surprise him at night. Greene retreated to Saunder's Creek, where Rawdon made an in- effectual effort to dislodge him, and who, after burning the jail, mills, private houses, and some of his own stores, evacuated Cam- den,* and retreated south of the Santee River. During the march of Greene to Hobkirk's Hill, he despatched Colonel Lee with his legion to join General Marion on the Santee, for the purpose of operating against a chain of British forts esta- blished along the Santee and the Congaree, the most important of which was Fort Watson on Wright's Bluff. Marion and Lee, although provided with nothing but muskets and rifles,* closely invested that fort. c After a resistance of eight days, the garrison was obliged to yield, and one hundred and four- teen men surrendered themselves prisoners of war. d Seve- • ral other British posts fell in rapid succession before the victorious Americans. Orangeburgh surrendered to Sumter on the eleventh of May ; Fort Motte to Marion and Lee on the twelfth ; the post at Nelson's Ferry was evacuated on the fourteenth by the British ; Fort Granby capitulated to Lee on the fifteenth ; and on the twenty- * The method employed by the besiegers in their attack upon the several forts, was a novel one. As they were armed with only muskets and rifles, they erected towers which overlooked the forts, and thence picked off the enemy in detail. At •the siege of Augusta two of those towers were erected within thirty feet of the parapet of the fort. From there, the American riflemen, with deadly aim, shot the enemy, whenever a man dared to show himself. 336 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [mi. giege of Ninety-Six. British officer dining w'th Marion. first, a detachment of Lee's Legion under Captain Rudolph, reduced the fort at Silver Bluffs. Early in June, Lee and Pickens, having united their forces, penetrated into Georgia, and attacked Fort Corn- wallis, at Augusta. The garrison, after a stout resistance, surrendered, and over three hundred men became prisoners of war. The Americans lost during the siege about forty men. Marion, in the meanwhile, closely invested Georgetown,* and the garrison, learning the downfall of the other posts in the vicinity, evacuated the town.* The British were now con- fined to the three posts, — Ninety-six, Eutaw Springs, and Charleston. "While these occurrences were transpiring in Georgia, Greene marched against the strong fortress of Ninety-six, in which Lieu- tenant-Colonel Cruger, with about five hundred men, was advan- tageously posted. He kept up a siege for nearly a month, when, on learning the approach of Lord Rawdon with about two thousand troops, he determined to storm the place. He began the assault with great vigor, c but was obliged to raise the siege, and on the nineteenth, he retreated across the Saluda. His loss was about one hundred and fifty men. On this occasion Kosciusko, the Polish general, particularly distinguished himself, and enhanced, if possible, the high esteem in which he was held by Washington and his officers. Rawdon supposed Greene had retreated out of South Carolina, * Marion, by his daring and almost always successful exploits, became the terror of the enemy at the south, particularly of the tories. For a long time he encamped upon Snow's Island, a small spot of terra firma in a morass at the confluence of Lynch's Creek and the Pedee. There, assisted by natural defences, he made his impregnable fortress, and with his daryig little band sallied forth as occasion offered, to harass the superior foe, to cut off his convoys, or to break up, before they could well embody, the gathering and undisciplined tories. It was while encamped there towards the close of the preceding year, that an event occurred which, insignificant in itself, is peculiarly illustrative of the heroism displayed by the Americans at that period, under the greatest privations. A young British officer was sent from the post at Georgetown, to Marion's swamp encampment, to effect an exchange of pri- soners. He had never seen Marion, and w r as greatly astonished at finding such a noted man so diminutive in size, especially when compared to the British generals then in the field, whose average weight, it is asserted, was more than 200 pounds. Having finished their business, the young officer prepared to depart, but was invited by Marion to stop and dine. The invitation was accepted, and the entertainment was served up on pieces of bark. It consisted entirely of roasted potatoes, of which the General ate heartily, and requested his guest to do the same, adding, " hunger is the best sauce." " But, surely, General," said the astonished officer, " this cannot be your ordinary fare ?" " Indeed, sir, it is," he replied, " and we are fortunate, on this occasion, entertaining company, to have more than our usual allowance." It is said that the young officer, on returning to his post, threw up hi3 commission, declaring that men who could contentedly endure such privations, were not to be subdued.— See Simms's Life of Marion, pp. 168-180. British Officer invited to Line trtth Ulrica. P. 338. CHAP. XI.] EVENTS OF 1781. 339 Battle of Eutaw Springs. Execution of Colonel Hayne. and divided his forces, fixing a detachment upon the Congaree ; but he was soon undeceived by the sudden attack of Lee upon a fora- ging party, within a mile of the British camp. About forty of Rawdon's cavalry were captured. Rawdon retreated to Orange- burgh and summoned Cruger to join him with the garrison of Ninety- six, which junction was effected, although much delayed by the attempts of Greene to prevent it. At Orangeburgh Rawdon received reinforcements from Charleston under Colonel Stewart, and Greene, unable to withstand the combined armies, retired to the . , . a July lo, high hills of the Santee, a where his troops would avoid the prevailing sickness of the season in the low countries. He en- deavored, by sending out detachments under Marion, Sumter, and Lee, to draw Rawdon from his position. They effectually inter- rupted the communication between Charleston and the British camp, on discovering which, the enemy evacuated all their posts north of the Santee and Congaree, and retired to Eutaw Springs, about fifty miles from Charleston.* Greene pursued them, and being b s t 7# joined by Marion, 6 resolved to attack them at once. The next day c the Americans, numbering about two c sept. 8. thousand, moved to the attack. An advance guard of the British were compelled to fall back, and soon the battle became general. The contest lasted nearly four hours, and great bravery was exhibited on both sides. Colonel Campbell, who with Colonel Williams, was leading on the Maryland and Virginia regiments, was mortally wounded. Learning that the British were dispersing, he, like Wolfe at Quebec under similar circumstances, exclaimed, * Lord Rawdon here resigned his command to Colonel Stewart, and soon after- wards returned to England. While he was at Charleston, a scene of cruelty occurred, which, it is said, he tried in vain to prevent. When Charleston surren- dered to the British, it was stipulated that the citizens should be allowed to remain quiet, and not be called upon to take up arms for the crown. This contract was soon violated, and they were summoned to join the royal standard. Among them was Colonel Isaac Hayne, a man greatly beloved, and at that time living upon his plantation near the city. He was required to subscribe to an allegiance to the British crown and an agreement to bear arms in its support, or return to Charles- ton. To the last clause he objected, but being told that it would not be required of him, and anxious to be at home on account of his dying wife, he subscribed. But when, contrary to assurances, he was called upon to take up arms, he joined the Americans, and was soon after taken prisoner by the British. He was conducted to Colonel Balfour, the commandant of Charleston, who, after a mock trial, sentenced him to be hung. Many British and loyalist residents, with Governor Bull at their head, together with all the ladies of Charleston, petitioned for his life. His little children, whose mother had just been laid in the grave, implored their father's life upon their knees before Balfour, but all in vain. Lord Rawdon's interposition is doubtful : at any rate, he gave his sanction to the execution, and, under the plea of, justice, the excellent Colonel Hayne was deprived of his life. 340 THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. [1781. Close of the War in South Carolina. Expedition of Cornwallis into Virginia. "•Then I die contented!" and immediately expired. The British were vigorously pursued by Lee, and upwards of five hundred were taken prisoners. Greene drew off his troops and retreated to the place of his encampment, upon the high hills of the Santee, and Stewart, during the night, retired to Monk's Corner. The loss of the British in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was upwards of eleven hundred ; that of the Americans over five hundred, of which number there were sixty officers. With the battle of Eutaw ended the campaign in South Carolina for the year — in fact no further hostilities occurred there during the war, and the British abandoned the open country and retired to Charleston. There was a great change in the circumstances of the two armies in this quarter at the close of the year ; the British at the beginning of the campaign being in the possession of South Carolina and Georgia, but now occupying only the ports of Charles- ton and Savannah. We will now resume our narrative of events in Virginia. Cornwallis, late in April, left Wilmington, and marching northward, formed a junction with the forces of Phillips* and Arnold at Peters- ,, ™ burs;.' 1 He tried to bring La Fayette (then in command of a May 20. ° ° J v about three thousand troops for the defence of Virginia) into an engagement, but failing in this he proceeded to overrun the country and spread desolation with fire and sword. One expedition under Tarleton penetrated to Charlottesville, took several members of the Virginia Assembly prisoners, and came very near capturing Governor Jefferson. Cornwallis, in the meantime, attempted to capture American stores at Albemarle Old Court-house, while La Fayette was effecting a junction with General Wayne with a reinforcement of eight hundred* men of the Pennsylvania line, but was foiled by the active vigilance of the Marquis, who, after a rapid march, succeeded in encamping between his stores and the British lines.f The latter then retired to Richmond, and after cap- turing that place and Williamsburg, prepared to proceed to the sea- coast, pursuant to an order just received from Sir Henry Clinton, who, apprehending an attack from the combined American and French forces under Washington and Rochambeau, wished to have Cornwallis in a position to reinforce him if necessary. While * General Phillips died a few days before his arrival. f In consideration of the great military skill displayed by La Fayette during this campaign in Virginia, his King commanded the French Minister of War to express to the Marquis his approbation, and assure him that he should be raised to the rank of a Field Marshal of France, as soon as the American war should terminate. chap, xi.] EVENTS OF 1781. 341 British encampment at Yorktown. Junction of the American ami French armies on the Hudson. proceeding from Williamsburg to Portsmouth he was a Ju]y G attacked by La Fayette, a whose force now numbered about four thousand men. Wayne led the vanguard, and supposing the body of the British army had crossed the James River, he pushed boldly forward to attack the loitering rear. He was greatly sur- prised to find the whole army there ; but he instantly conceived the best mode of extricating himself to be a sudden attack before retreating. He executed the feat with admirable success, and Cornwallis, probably suspecting an ambush, did not pursue him, but crossed the river and proceeded to Portsmouth.* Not b l pleased with Portsmouth as a place of residence for his army, he soon moved on to Yorktown, on the south side of the York River, and immediately commenced fortifying it. c Glou- Au more can we offer ? But we forbear to trouble you with a tedious detail of the various and fruitless offers and applications we have repeatedly made, not for pensions, for wealth, or for honors, but for the humble boon of being permitted to possess the fruits of honest industry, and to enjoy the degree of liberty to which God and the constitution have given us an undoubted right. Blessed with an indissoluble union, with a variety of internal re- sources, and with a firm reliance on the justice of the supreme Dis- poser of all human events, we have no doubt of rising superior to all the machinations of evil and abandoned ministers. We already antici- pate the golden period when liberty, with all the gentle arts of peace and humanity, shall establish her mild dominion in this western world, and erect eternal monuments to the memory of those virtuous patriots and martyrs who shall have fought and bled and suffered in her cause. Accept our most grateful acknowledgments for the friendly dis- position you have always shown towards us. We know that you are not without your grievances. We sympathize with you in your distress, and are pleased to find that the design of subjugating us has persuaded administration to dispense to Ireland some vagrant rays of ministerial sunshine. Even the tender mercies of govern- ment have long been cruel to you. In the rich pastures of Ireland many hungry parricides have fed, and grown strong to labor in its destruction. We hope the patient abiding of the meek may not always be forgotten ; and God grant that the iniquitous schemes of extirpating liberty from the British empire may be soon defeated. But we should be wanting to ourselves — we should be perfidious to posterity — we should be unworthy that ancestry from which we derive our descent, should we submit with folded arms to military butchery and depredation, to gratify the lordly ambition, or sate the avarice of a British ministry. In defence of our persons and proper- ties, under actual violation, we have taken up arms ; when that violence shall be removed, and hostilities cease on the part of the aggressors, they shall cease on our part also. For the achievement of this happy event, we confide in the good offices of our fellow subjects beyond the Atlantic. Of their friendly dispositions we do not yet despond ; aware, as they must be, that they have nothing more to expect from the same common enemy than the humble favor of being last devoured. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE JULY 4th, 1776. THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED. When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the sepa rate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident ; that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalien- able rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the go- verned ; that, whenever any form of government becomes destruc- tive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, mdeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes ; and, accordingly, all expe- rience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the pre- sent king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an abso- lute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world : — He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and neces- sary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained ; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature — a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 430 APPENDIX. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, un- comfortable, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise — the state remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states — for that purpose obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, re- fusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, with- out the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws — giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states ; For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world ; For imposing taxes on us without our consent ; For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury ; For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences ; For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instru- ment for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies ; For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments ; For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves in- vested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his pro- tection and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burni our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people, i He is at this time transoorting large armies of foreign mercenaries DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE— 1TO. 431 to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endea- vored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruc- tion of all ages, sexes, and conditions. In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts, by their legis- lature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acqui- esce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends. We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare" that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved from all alle- giance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dis- solved ; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish com- merce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed • and signed by the following members : — SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 'U3? SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 435 IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, JULY 4, 1776. The following: list of members of the continental Congress, who signed the Declara- tion of Independence (although the names are included in the general list of that Congress, from 1774 to 1788), is given separately, for the purpose of showing the places and dates of their birth, and the time of their respective deaths, for con- ' venient reference. NAMES OF THE SIGNERS. BORN AT DELEGATED FROM DIED Adams, John Braintree, Mass., ]9 Oct. 1735 Massachusetts, 4 July, 1826 Adams, Samuel . Boston, " 27 Sep. 1722 Massachusetts, 2 Oct., 1803 Bartlett, Josiah . Amesbury, " in Nov. 1729 New Hampshire, 19 May, 1795 Braxton, Carter . Newington, Va., 10 Sep. 1736 Virginia, 10 Oct., 1797 Carroll, Cha's, of Car'lton Annapolis, Md., 20 Sep. 1737 Maryland, 14 Nov., 1832 Chase, Samuel Somerset co., Md., 17 Apr. 1741 Maryland, 19 June, 1811 Clark, Abraham . Ehzabetht'n, N. J. 15 Feb. 172G New Jersey, — Sept., 1794 Clymer, George . Philadelphia, Penn., in 1739 Pennsylvania, 23 Jan., 1813 E fiery, William . Newport, R. I., 22 Dec. 1727 R. I. <5c Prov. PI., 15 Feb., 1820 Floyd, William . Suffolk co., N. Y., 17 Dec. 1734 New York, 4 Aug., 1821 Franklin, Benjamin . Boston, Mass.. 17 Jan. 1706 Pennsylvania, 17 April, 1790 Gerry, Elbridge . Marblehead, Mass., 17 Jul. 1744 Massachusetts, 23 Nov., 1814 Gwinnet, Button . England, in 1732 Georgia, 27 May, 1777 Hall, Lyman Hancock, John r'rt-r.v* ■;« i ->t Wednesday in March, 17^9, and the provision in the constitution, that " no state shall make any law impairing the obligation of contracts," does not extend to a state law enacted before that day, and operating upon rights of property vesting before that time. — Owings vs. Speed, 5 Whedton, 420, 421. An act of a state legislature, which discharges a debtor from ail liability for debts con- tracted previous to his discharge, on his surrendering his property for the benefit of his creditors, is a law impairing " the obligations of contracts," within the meaning ol the con- stitution of the United States, so far as it attempts to discharge the contract ; and it makes no difference in such a case, that the suit was brought In a state court of the state of which both the parties were citizens where tho contract was made, and the discharge obtained. 480 APPENDIX. No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws : and the net' produce of all duties and im- posts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject tc the revision and control of the Congress. No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of ton- nage, keep troops, or ships-of-war in time of peace, enter into any agree- ment or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. ARTICLE II. Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years,* and, together with the vice-president, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows : Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct,! a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress : but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. [{The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two per- sons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with them- selves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each ; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the senate. The president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representa- tives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person hav- ing the greatest number of votes shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the house of representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for president ; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said house shall in like manner choose the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of and where they continued to reside until the suit was brought. — Farmers and Mechanics' Bank vs. Smith, 6 Wheaton, 131. The act of New York, passed on the 3d of April, 1811 (which not only liberates the per- son of the debtor, but discharges him from all liability for any debt contracted previous to his discharge, on his surrendering his property in the manner it prescribes), so far as it at- tempts to discharge the contract, is a law impairing the obligation of contracts within the meaning of the constitution of the United States, and is not a good plea in bar of an action brought upon such contract. — Sturgess vs. Crowninshield, 4 Wheaton, 122, 197. Statutes of limitation and usury laws, unless retroactive in their effect, do not impair the obligation of contracts, and are constitutional. — Id., 206. A state bankrupt or insolvent law (which not only liberates the person of the debtor, but discharges him from all liability for the debt), so far as it attempts to discharge the con- tract, is repugnant to the constitution of the United States, and it makes no difference in the application of this principle, whether the law was passed before or after the debt was contracted.— McMillan vs. McNeill, 4 Wheaton, 209. The charter granted by the British crown to the trustees of Dartmouth college, in New Hampshire, in the year 1769, is a contract within the meaning of that clause of the consti- tution of the United States (art. i., sect. 10) which declares, that no state shall make any law impairing the obligations of contracts. The charter was not dissolved by the revolu- tion. — College vs. Woodard, 4 Wheaton, 518. An act. of the state legislature of New Hampshire, altering the charter of Dartmouth col- lege in a material respect, without the consent of the corporation, is an act impairing the obligation of the charter, and is unconstitutional and void— Id., 518. * See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 12. t See laws United States, vol. ii. ; chap. 109. % Vide amendments, art. xiL CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 481 all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the president, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the vice-president. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the senate shall choose from them by ballot the vice-president.*] The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors,! and the day on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be the same throughout the United States. J No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president ; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States. In case of the removal of the president from office, or of his death, resig- nation, $ or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the vice-president, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the president and vice-president, declaring what officer shall then act as president, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a president shall be elected. || The president shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compen- ' sation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the follow- ing oath or affirmation : — " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States." Section 2. The president shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States jlf he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive depart- ments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur ; and he shall nominate, and by and w r ith the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other officers of the United States, whose ap- pointments are not herein otherwise provided for and which shall be es- • This clause is annulled. See amendments, art. xii. j See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 104, sect. 1. J See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 2. § See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 104, sect. 11. || See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 9 ; and vol. iii., chap. 403. IT The act of the state of Pennsylvania, of the 2Sth March, 1814 (providing, sect. 21, that the officers and privates of the militia of that state neglecting or refusing to serve when called into actual service, in pursuance of any order or requisition of the president of the United States, shall be liable to the penalties defined in the act of Congress of 28th Febru- ary, 1795, chap. 277, or to any penalty which may have been prescribed since the date of that act, or which may hereafter be prescribed by any law of the United States, and also providing for the trial of such delinquents by a state court-martial, and that a list of the delinquents fined by such court should be furnished to the marshal of the United States, &c. ; and also to the comptroller of the treasury of the United States, in order that the fur- ther proceedings directed to be had thereon by the laws of the United States might be com- Sleted), is not repugnant to the constitutiou and laws of the United States. — Houston v» toore t b Wheaton, 1, 12. 482 APPENDIX. tablished by law : but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. The president shall have power to till up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate, by granting commissions which shall ex- pire at the end of their next session. Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress informa- tion of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extra- ordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper ; he shall re- ceive ambassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States. Section 4. The president, vice-president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment, for, and con- viction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. ARTICLE III. Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.* The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. t Section 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority ; — to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls ; — to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; — to controversies to which the United States shall be a party ; — to controversies between two or more states ; — between a state and citizens of another state ; — between citizens of different states,! — between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects^ In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.|| • Congress may constitutionally impose upon the judges of the supreme court of the Uni- ted States the burden of holding circuit courts. — Stuart vs. Laird, 1 Cranch, 299. f See laws of the United States, vol. ii., chap. 20. A citizen of the District of Columbia is not a citizen of a state within the meaning of the constitution of the United States. — Hepburn et at vs. Ellzey, 2 Cranch, 445. § The supreme court of the United States has not power to issue a mandamus to a secre- tary of state of the United States, it being an exercise of original jurisdiction not warranted by the constitution, notwithstanding the act of Congress.— Marbury vs. Madison, 1 Cranch, 137. See a restriction of thjs provision. — Amendments, art. xi. || The appellate jurisdiction of the supreme court of the United States extends to a final judgment or decree in any suit in the highest court of law, or equity of a state, where is drawn in question the validity of a treaty, &c. — Martin vs. Hunter's lessee, 1 Wheaton, 304. Such judgment, &c„ may be re-examined by writ of error, in the same manner as if ren- dered in a circuit court. — Id. If the cause has been once remanded before, and the state court decline or refuse to carry Vol 1—2 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 483 The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed ; but when not committed within any state, the trial into effect the mandate of the supreme court thereon, this court will proceed to a final de- cision of the same, and award execution thereon. Quere. — Whether this court has authority to issue a mandamus to the state court to en- force a former judgment 7 — Id., 362. If the validity or construction of a treaty of the United States is drawn in question, and the decision is against its validity, or the title specially set up by either party under the treaty, this court has jurisdiction to ascertain that title, and determine its legal validity, and is not confined to the abstract construction of the treaty itself. — Id., 362. Quere. — Whether the courts of the United Slates have jurisdiction of offences at common law against the United States ? — United States vs. Coolidge, 1 Wheaton, Alb. The courts of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction of all seizures made on land or water for a breach of the laws of the United States, and any intervention of a state au- thority, which by taking the thing seized out of the hands of the United States' officer, might obstruct the exercise of this jurisdiction, is illegal. — Slocum vs. Mayberry et al, 2 Wheaton, 1,9. In such a case the court of the United States have cognizance of the seizure, may enforce a redelivery of the thing by attachment or other summary process. — Id., 9. The question under such a seizure, whether a forfeiture has been actually incurred, be- longs exclusively to the courts of the United States, and it depends upon the final decree of such courts, whether the seizure is to be deemed rightful or tortuous. — Id., 9, 10. If the seizing officer refuse to institute proceedings to ascertain the forfeiture, the district court may, on application of the aggrieved party, compel the officer to proceed to adjudica- tion, or to abandon the seizure. — Id., 10. The jurisdiction of the circuit court of the United States extends to a case between citi- zens of Kentucky, claiming lands exceeding the value of five hundred dollars, under differ- ent grants, the one issued by the state of Kentucky, and the other by the state of Virginia, upon warrants issued by Virginia, and locations founded thereon, prior to the separation of Kentucky from Virginia. It is the grant which passes the legal title to the land, and if the controversy is founded upon the conflicting grants of different states, the judicial power of the courts "of the United States extends to the case, whatever may have been the equitable title of the parties prior to the grant. — Colson et al vs. Lewis, 2 Wheaton, 377. Under the judiciary of 17S9, chap. 20. sect. 25, giving appellate jurisdiction to the supreme court of the United States, from the final judgment or decree of the highest court of law or equity of a state, in certain cases the writ of error may be directed to any court in which the record and judgment on which it is to act may be found ; and if the record has been re- mitted by the highest court, &.c, to another court of the state, it may be brought by the Writ of error from that court. — Gelston vs. Hoyt, 3 Wheaton, 246, 303. The remedies in the courts of the United States at common law and in equity are to be, not according to the practice of state courts, but according to the principles of common law and equity as defined in England. This doctrine reconciled with the decisions of the courts of Tennessee, permitting an equitable title to be asserted in an action at law. — Robinson vs. Campbell, 3 Wheaton, 221. Remedies in respect to real property, are to be pursued according to the lex loci rei sitae. —Id., 219. The courts of the United States have excluswe cognizance of questions of forfeiture upon all seizures made under the laws of the United States, and it is not competent for a state court to entertain or decide such question of forfeiture. If a sentence of condemnatiou be definitively pronounced by the proper court of the United States, it is conclusive that a for- feiture is incurred ; if a sentence of acquittal, it is equally conclusive against the forfeiture, and in either case the question can not be again litigated in any common law for ever. — Gel- ston vs. Hoy', 3 Wheaton, 246, 311. Where a seizure is made for a supposed forfeiture under a law of the United States, no action of trespass lies in any common-law tribunal, until a final decree is pronounced upon the proceeding in rem to enforce such forfeiture : for it depends upon the final decreee of the court proceeding in rem, whether such seizure is to be deemed rightful or tortuous, and the action ; if brought before such decree is made, is brought too soon. — Id., 313. If a suit be brought against the seizing officer for the supposed trespass while the suit for the forfeiture is depending, the fact of such pending may be pleaded in abatement, or as a temporary bar of the action. If after a decree of condemnation, then that fact may be pleaded as a bar : if after an acquittal with a certificate of reasonable cause of seizure, then that may be pleaded as a bar. if after an acquittal without such certificate, then the officer is without any justification for the seizure, and it is definitively settled to be a tortuous act. If to an action of trespass in a state court for a seizure, the seizing officer plead the fact of forfeiture in his defence withont averring a lis pendens, or a condemnation, or an acquittal, with a certificate of reasonable cause of seizure, the plea is bad: for it attempts to put in issue the question of forfeiture in a state court. — Id., 314. Supposing that the third article of the constitution of the United States which declares, that " the judicial power shall extend to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction" 484 APPENDIX. shall be at such place or piaces as the Congress may by law have di- rected.* Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in vested in the United States exclusive jurisdiction of all such cases, and that a murder com« mitted in the waters of a state where the tide ebbs and flows, is a case of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; y$t Congress have not, in the 8th section of the act of 1790, chap. 9, " for the punishment of certain crimps against the United States,'' so exercised this power, as to confer on the courts of the United States jurisdiction over such murder.— United Slates vs. Bevans, 3 Wheaton, 336, 3S7. Quere.— Whether courts of common law have concurrent jurisdiction with the admiralty over murder committed in bays, &c, which are enclosed parts of the sea ? — Id., 387. The grant to the United States in the constitution of all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, does not extend to a cession of the waters in which those cases may arise, or of general jurisdiction over the same. Congress may pass all laws which are necessary for giving the most complete effect to the exercise of the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction granted to the government of the Union ; but the general jurisdiction over the place subject to this grant, adheres to the territory as a portion of territory not yet given away, and the residuary powers of legislation still remain in the state. — Id. ,3^9. The supreme court of the United States has constitutionally appellate jurisdiction under the judiciary act of 1789, chap. 20, sect. 25, from the final judgment or decree of the highest court of law or equity of a state having jurisdiction of the subject matter of the suit, where is drawn in question the validity of a treaty or statute of, or an authority exercised under, the United States, and the decision is against their validity : or where is drawn in question the validity of a statute of, or an authority exercised under any state, on the ground of their being repugnant t o the constitution, treaties, or laws of the United States, and the decision is in favor of such their validity : or of the constitution, or of a treaty, or statute of, or com- mission held under the United States, and the decision is against the title, right, privilege, or exemption, specially set up or claimed by either party under such clause of the constitu- tion, treatj', statute, or commission. — Cohens vs. Virginia, 6 Wheaton, 264, 375. It is no objection to the exercise of this appellate jurisdiction, that one of the parties is a state, and the* other a citizen of that state. — Id. The circuit courts of the Union have chancery jurisdiction in every state : they have the same chancery powers, and the same rules of decision in equity cases, in all the states.— United States vs. Howland, 4 Wheaton, 10S, 115. Resolutions of the legislature of Virginia of 1810, upon the proposition from Pennsylvania to amend the constitution, so as to provide an impartial tribunal to decide disputes be- tween the state and federal judiciaries. — Note to Cohens vs. Virginia. Notes 6 Wheaton, 358. Where a cause is brought to this court by writ of error, or appeal from the highest court of law, or equity of a state, under the 25th section of the judiciary act of 1789, chap. 20, upon the ground that the validity of a statute of the United States was drawn in question, and that the decision of the state court was against its validity, &c. or that the validity of the statute of a state was drawn in question as repugnant to the constitution of the United States, and the decision was in favor of its validity, it must appear from the record, that the act of Congress, or the constitutionality of the state law, was drawn in question. — Miller vs. Nicholls, 4 Wheaton, 311, 315. But it is not required that the record should in terms state a misconstruction of the act of Congress, or that it was drawn into questiom It is sufficient to give this court jurisdic- tion of the cause, that the record should show that an act of Congress was applicable to the case.— I/., 315. The supreme court of the United States has no jurisdiction under the 25th section of the judiciary act of 1789, chap. 20, unless the judgment or decree of the state court be a final judgment or decree. A judgment reversing that of an inferior court, and awarding a venire facias de novo, is not a final judgment. — Houston vs. Moore, 3 Wheaton, 433. By the compact of 1802, settling the boundary line between Virginia and Tennessee, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, it is declared that all claims and titles to land derived from Virginia, or North Carolina, or Tennessee, which have fallen into the respective states, shall remain as secure to the owners thereof, as if derived from the government within whose boundary they have fallen, and shall not be prejudiced or affected by the establishment of the line. Where the titles of both the plaintiff and defendant in ejectment were derived under grant from Virginia to lands which fell within the limits of Tennessee, it was held that a prior settlement right thereto, which would in equity give the party a title, could not be asserted as a sufficient title in an action of ejectment brought in the circuit court of Ten- nessee. — Robinson vs. Campbell, 3 Wheaton, 212. Although the state courts of Tennessee have decided that, under their statutes (declaring an elder grant founded on a junior entry to be void), a junior patent, founded on a prior en- try, shall prevail at law against a senior patent founded on a junior entry, this doctrine has never been extended beyond cases within the express provision of the statute of Tennessee, and could not apply to titles deriving all their validity from the laws of Virginia, and con- firmed by the compact between the two states. — Id., 212. * See amendments, art. vi. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 485 levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of Mood, or forfeiture ex- cept during the life of the person attainted.* ARTICLE IV. Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the pub- lic acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. f And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.^ Section 2. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. Section 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this Union ; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state ; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States ; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state. Section 4. The United States shall guaranty to every state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion ; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature can not be convened) against domestic violence. ARTICLE V. The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it neces- sary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a conven- tion for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this constitution, when ratified by the legis- latures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be pro- posed by the Congress ; provided that no amendment which may be made • See laws of the United States, vol. ii., chap. 36. f A judgment of a state court has the same credit, validity, and effect, in every other court within the United States, which it had in the court where it was rendered : and whatever pleas would be good to a suit thereon in such state, and none others can be pleaded in aDy other court within the United States.— Hampton vs. McConnell, 3 Wheaton, 234. The record of a judgment in one slate is conclusive evidence in another, although it ap- pears that the suit in which it was rendered, was commenced by an attachment of property the defendant having afterward appeared and taken defence.— jSlayhew vs. Thacher, 6 Wheat ton, 129. % See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 3S; and vol. hi., chap. 409. 486 APPENDIX. prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any man- ner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first arti- cle ; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate.* ARTICLE VI. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this constitution, as under the confederation. This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, un« der the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ,f and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the con stitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.^ The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this constitution ;§ but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualiiication to any office or public trust under the United States. ARTICLE VII. The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the same. Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names. Go. Washington, President, and deputy from Virginia, NEW HAMPSHIRE. John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman. MASSACHUSETTS. Nathaniel Gokham. Rufus King. CONNECTICUT. William Samuel Johnson Rocer Sherman. NEW YORK. Alexander Hamilton. NEW JERSEY. William Livingston, David Brearley, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton. Attest : PENNSYLVANIA. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jarf.d Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouyerneur Morris. DELAWARE. George Reed, Gunning Bedford, jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom. MARYLAND. James M'Henry, Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer, Daniel Carroll. William Jackson, Secretary. * See ante art. i., sect. 3, clause 1. f An act of Congress repugnant to the constitution can not become a law.— Marburv vs. Madison, 1 Cranch, 176. t The courts of the United States are bound to take notice of the constitution.— Marburv vs. Madison, 1 Cranch, 178. A contemporary exposition of the constitution, practised and acquiesced under for a period ot years, fixes its construction.— Stuart vs. Laird, 1 Cranch, 299. lhe government of the Union, though limited in its powers, is supreme within its sphere ot action and its laws, when made in nursuance of the constitution, form the supreme law of the land.— McCullock vs. State of Maryland, 4 Wheaton, 405. § See laws of the United States, vol. ii., chap. 1. VIRGINIA. John Blair, James Madison, jr. NORTH CAROLINA. William Blount, Richard Dobhs Staight, Hugh Williamson. SOUTH CAROLINA, John Rutledge, Charles C. Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler. GEORGIA. William Few, Abraham Baldwin. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 487 AMENDMENTS* TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, RATIFIED ACCORDING TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE FOREGOING CONSTI- TUTION. Article the first. Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peacea- bly to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Article the second. A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. Article the third. No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in a time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. Article the fourth. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon prob- able cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Article the fifth. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, with- out just compensation. Article the sixth. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall en- joy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his fa- vor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence. Article the seventh. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.f Article the eighth. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor exces- sive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments mllicted. * Congress, at its first session, begun and held in the city of New York, on Wednesday, the 4th of March, 17b9, proposed to the legislatures of the several states twelve amend- ments to the constitution, ten of which, only, were adopted. f The act of assembly of Maryland, of 1793, chap. 30, incorporating the bank of Colum- bia, and giving to the corporation a summary process by execution in the nature of an at- tachment against its debtois who have, by an express consent in writing, made the bonds, bills, or notes, by them drawn or endorsed, negotiable at the bank, is not repugnant to the constitution of the United States or of Maryland. — Bank of Columbia vs. Okely, 4 Whcaton. 236, 249. But the last provision in the act of incorporation, which gives this summary process to the bank, is no part of its corporate franchise acd nay be repealed or altered at pleasure by the legislative will.— Id. 245. 488' APPENDIX. Article the ninth. The enumeration in the constitution, of certain rights', shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Article the tenth. The powers not delegated to the United States, by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.* Article the eleventh.! The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state. Article the twelfth .| The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for president and vice-president, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as vice-president, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as vice-president, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of l x government of the United States, directed to the president of the senau, ,^ — the president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representa- tives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted ; — the person having the greatest number of votes for president, shall be the pres- ident, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors ap- pointed ; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons hav- ing the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as president, the house of representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representaiion from each state having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two * The powers granted to Congress are not exclusive of similar powers existing in the states, unless where the constitution has expressly in terms given an exclusive power to Congress, or the exercise of a like power is prohibited to the states, or there is a direct re- pugnancy or incompatibility in the exercise of it by the states. — Houston vs. Moore, 5 When- ton, 1, 12. The example of the first class is to be found in the exclusive legislation delegated to Con- gress over places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be for forts, arsenals, dockyards, &c. Of the second class, the prohibition of a state to coin money or emit bills of credit. Of the third class, the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and the delegation of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. — Id., 49. In all other classes of cases, the states retain concurrent authority with Congress. — Id. 49. But in cases of concurrent authority, where the laws of the states and the Union are in direct and manifest collision on the same subject, those of the Union being the supreme law of the land are of paramount authority, and the state laws so far, and so lar only as such incompatibility exists, must necessarily yield. — Id., 49. There is nothing in the constitution of the United States similar to the articles of confed- eration, which excludes incidental or implied powers. — McCulloch vs. iSta'.e of Maryland, 4 Wheaton, 406. If the end be legitimate, and within the scope of the constitution, all the means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, and which are not prohibited, may con- stitutionally be employed to carry it into effect. — Id., 421. The act of Congress of 4th I\lay, 1812, entitled, " An act further to amend the charter of the city of Washington, : ' which provides (sect. 6) that the corporation of the city shall be empowered for certain purposes and under certain restrictions, to authorize the drawing of lotteries, does not extend to authorize the corporation to force the sale of the tickets in such lottery in states where such sale may be prohibited by the state laws. — Cohens vs. Virginia 6 Wheaton. 264, 375. t This amendment was proposed at the first session of the third Congress. See ante art. iii., sect. 2, clause 1. X Proposed at the first session of the eighth Congress. See ante art. ii., sect. 1, clause 3, Annulled by this amendment. § See laws of the United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 5, CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 439 hirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the house of representatives shall not choose a presi dent whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the vice-president shall act as president, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the president. The person having- the greatest number of votes as vice- president, shall be the vice-president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the senate shall choose the vice- president ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of pres- ident shall be eligible to that of vice-president of 'the United States. Note.— Another amendment was proposed as article xiii., at the second session of the eleventh Congress, but not having been ratified bv a sufficient number of states, has not yet become valid as a part of the constitution of theTnited States. It is erroneously given as a part of the constitution, in page 74, vol i., laws of the United States. I have examined and compared the foregoing print of the Constitution of the United States, ami the amendments»thereto, for the National Calendar of 1828, with the rolls in this office, and rind it a faithful and literal copy of the Miid Constitution and amendments, in the text and punctuation thereof. It appears that ihe first ten amendments, which were proposed at the first session of the first Congress of the United States, were finally ratified by the constitu- tional number ot States, on the 15th day of December, 1791 ; that the eleventh amendment, which was proposed at the first session of the third Congress, was declared in a message from the President of the United States to both houses of Congress, dated 8th January, have been adopted by three-fourths, the constitutional number of States; and that the twelfth amendment, which was proposed at the first session of the eighth Congress, was adopted by three-fourths, the constitutional number of States, in the year one thousand eight hundred and four, according to a public notice thereof, by the Secretary of State, under date the -25th of September, of the same year. Daniel Brent, Chief Clerk. Department of State, Washington, 25th Feb., 1828. %* For history of the formation of the constitution, the declaration of independence, and the articles of confederation, see vol. ii., end of the messages. DEPARTURE OF THE FRENCH ARMY FROM AMERICA. We omitted to mention in the proper place, the departure of Rochambeau and his troops from America. They remained in Virginia until the summer of 1782, when they joined Washington and his army on the Hudson. Active hostilities having ceased, and Savannah and Charleston having been evacuated by the British, Rochambeau, complying with the instructions of his government, em- barked his troops from Boston, early in December, for St. Domingo, under M. de Vandreuil. Himself .and many officers and their respective staffs, returned to the Chesapeake, whence they embarked for France. As we have before noticed, the order and discipline of the French army was remarkable, and during their final march, they received congratulatory addresses at almost every place. At Philadelphia, a deputation of Quakers waited upon Rochambeau, and one of them, as orator, said : " General, it is not on account of thy military qualities that we make thee this visit — those we hold in little esteem ; but thou art the friend of mankind, and thy army conducts itself with the utmost order and discipline. It is this which induces us to render thee our respects." 32 ANALYTICAL INDEX Abercrombie, General, preceded Lord Loudon, 3S ; appointed Commander- in-Chief, 40 Acadia, its locality ; subdued by the English, restored to France, 28 Act of British Parliament, the first, for taxing the Colonies, proposed in 1764, 55 ; Stamp, proposed, 55 ; passed, GO ; re- pealed, 74 ; Mutiny, oppressive clause in, resisted by the Colonies, 75 ; A new one, for taxing the Colonies proposed by Townshend and passed (17G7), 77; Establishing a Board of Trade in the Colonies, passed, ib. ; Prohibiting New York Assembly from passing laws, ib. ; Shutting up the port of Boston, 117 ; Altering charter of Massachusetts, ib. ; Providing for sending criminals to Eng- land for trial, US Adams, John, declines office under Gov. Bernard, 81 ; defends the cause of Capt. Preston and other soldiers | before the court at Boston, 97 ; ap- pointed Minister to Great Britain, 299 ; Commissioner to negotiate for peace, 354 Adams, Samuel, rejects the offers of Governors Bernard and Hutchinson, 81 ; demands and obtains from the Governor the removal of British troops from Boston, 96 Administration, British ; changes in (1763), 54; (1765), 71; (1766), 76; (176S), S3, (1770), 98; (17S3), 353, 354 Allen, Ethan, plans an expedition against Ticonderoga, 159 ; captures that fortress, Crown Point, and Skenesborodgh, 159-60 ; attempts to take Montreal, 174 ; is defeated, taken prisoner, and sent to England in irons, ib. Amherst, General, at Ticonderoga, pur- sues the French ; returns to Crown Point, 42 Andri, Major John (Adjutant-General of the British army), negotiates with Gen. Arnold for the surrender of West Point, 316 ; his interview with Arnold, 319; is arrested on his re- turn to New York, 320 ; tried, and executed as a spy, 323 ; his unhappy fate lamented, 324 ; notice of his early life and character, ib. Armed JVeutrality , confederacy so called, formed, 325 ; parties to, and contin- uation of, ib. Army, American, organized by Provin- cial Congress of Massachusetts, 153; Continental organized by Congress, 163 ; Washington appointed Com- mander in chief, 164 ; other Gene- rals appointed, ib. ; number and condition of, at New York, 200, 208 ; destitute condition of, in New Jer- sey, 221 ; small pox at Morristown, 222 ; inoculation of the troops, ib. ; march from Morristown, 224 ; in- creased number of, ib. ; in full pos- session of New Jersey, 225. (See Continental Army.) Army, British, dispersed to their homes, 38 ; British troops introduced into Boston, 80 ; augmentation of, iri America, 147, 167, 183; German troops employed, 1S3 ; arrival of, at New York, 200; number and condi- tion of, ib. ; land on Long Island, 202 ; enter city of New York, 206 ; pass up the East River, 207 ; number and condition of, 208 ; pursue the Americans across New Jersey, 209 ; v.uious operations of, 211, 212, 220, 2-21, 222, 223, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230 ; number of, embarked at New York for Philadelphia, 225; Northern Division of, under General Burgoyne, account of operations, 233 to 210; entire surrender and disper- sion of, 243; division under Howe at Philadelphia, conduct of, in that city, 259, 260 ; Gen. Howe succeed- ed in command by Sir Henry Clin- ton, 259 : evacuate Philadelphia, 260 ; pursued by Americans, ib. ; 492 ANALYTICAL INDEX. Army, British — number of, in 1778, 260 ; after battle of Monmouth, British retreat to New York, greatly reduced in num- bers, 262 ; defence of Rhode Island, 263 ; conquest of Georgia, 268 ; sta- tions of, in 1779, 281 ; operations at the South, ib. ; brutal conduct of the soldiers, 285; expedition against Virginia, ib. ; defence of Savannah, 292 ; operations at the South, 304 ; siege and capture of Charleston and the American army under Gen. Lin- coln, 305, 306 ; operations of, at the South, in 1780, 307-311; in 1781, 331-340 ; surrender of, at Yorktown, 344 ; situation of, at the close of the campaign of 1781, 347 ; evacuate the cities held by them in the United States, 356 Army, French, arrive in the United States (at Newport), 313 ; number of, ib. ; go into winter quarters, 314 ; join the Americans, ib. ; march for Virginia, 342 ; action of, at York- town, 343 ; canton at Williams- burg, 347 ; return to France, 489 Arnold, Benedict, appointed Colonel in the Provincial Army by Massachu- setts, 159 ; proceeds against Ticon- deroga, ib. ; co-operates with Ethan Allen in the capture of Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Skenesborough, 159, 160 ; captures an English cor- vette on Lake Champlain, 160 ; com- mands an expedition to Canada, 174 ; arrives on the St. Lawrence, ib. ; ascends the heights of Abraham, 175 ; is joined by Montgomery, ib. ; they march upon Quebec, ib. ; Ar- nold enters the town and takes a battery, 176 ; is wounded, and re- treats with his men, ib. ; maintains his position near Quebec, ib. ; American army evacuate Canada, 177 ; appointed Brigadier General, 213; commands a squadron on Lake Champlain, ib. ; fights a naval battle on the Lake, is defeated, and burns his vessels, 215, 216 ; commands American troops at Ridgefield,Conn., 223 ; his gallant exploits and fight with the English troops under Tryon, ib. ; Congress presents him with ahorse, ib. ; takes command of troops on the Delaware, 224 ; joins the northern army under Gen. Gates, 237 ; leads a detachment of the army at the battle of Stillwater, ib ; his gallant conduct in the second battle, 239 ; is included in the vote of thanks by Congress, 244 ; com- mands a detachment of the army, and takes possession of Philadelphia, 260 ; Washington appoints him mili- tary governor of Philadelphia, ib. ; his operations in Philadelphia, 314 ; Arnold, Benedict — his marriage and extravagance, ib. ; charges against him laid before Con- gress, and referred to a court of inquiry, 315 ; his sentence, repri- mand, and disaffection, ib. ; his schemes to retrieve his fortunes, ib. ; Washington appoints him command- er at West Point, 316 ; forms a plan to betray his country, by delivering t^at fortress to the British, ib. ; opens negotiations with Sir Henry Clinton, ib. ; his interview and con- ference with Major Andre\ 319; es- capes on hearing of the arrest of Andre, 323 ; unsuccessful attempt to capture him at New York, ib. ; appointed Brig. Gen. in the British Army, 324 ; his expedition against Virginia, 329 ; failure of attempt to capture him and his army in Vir- ginia, 330 ; is joined by Gen. Phillips with reinforcement, ib. ; overruns the country, destroys much pro- perty, and returns to Petersburg, ib. ; his forces joined by those of Cornwallis, 340 ; is sent by Sir H. Clinton on an expedition to Con- necticut, burns New London, cap- tures the forts, and returns to New York, 343 Associations formed in the Colonies, against the Stamp Act, 68 ; against importing British goods, 68, 78 ; to encourage Domestic manufactures, 68, 78 B. Barre, Col., opposes the Stamp Act, 59; his portrait, with Conway's, ordered in Boston, 64 ; predicts the loss of the Colonies to Great Britain (in »1769), 85; advocates repeal of tea duty, 99 ; opposes bills against Mas- sachusetts, 117, 118; his censure of Lord North, 149 Barton, Col., captures Gen. Prescott, 226 ; Congress presents him with a sword, ib. Battle on the plains of Abraham, 44; of Lexington, 151 ; effect of, 153 ; of Bunker Hill, 169; of Long Island, 202; at Harlem heights, 207; of White Plains, 208 ; of Fort Wash- ington, ib. ; of Trenton, 211, 212; of Princeton, 220 ; of Ridgefield, 223 ; naval, on Lake Champlain, 215; at Springfield and Somerset, New Jer- sey, 221 ; of Brandywine, 227 ; of Paoli, 229; of Germantown, 229; at Red Bank, 229 ; of Whitemarsh, 230 ; of Hubbardton, 234 ; of Bennington, 236 ; of the Mohawk, ib. ; of Fort Schuyler, 182, 237 ; battle of Still- water, 237 ; second battle of Still- water, 239; battle of Monmouth, 261 ; of Rhode Island, 263 ; of Sa- ANALYTICAL INDEX. 493 Battle— vannah, 268; of Port Royal, 2S2; of Briar Creek, 2S3 ; of Stony Point, 2SS; attack on Savannah, 291 ; of Monks' Corner, 305 ; at Santce River, ib. ; siege and capture of Charleston and Lincoln's army, 305, 300; bat- tles of Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock 307 ; of Sanders's Creek and death of De Kalb, 308 ; of the Wa- teree, 309 ; of Broad River, 311 ; of Blackstock, ib. ; of Springfield, N. J., 313; of the Cowpens, 331; of Guilford, C. H., 334; of Hob- kirk's Hill, near Camden, 335; of Eutaw Springs, 339 ; of Yorktown, 343 Bernard, Governor, dissolves the Massa- chusetts Assembly, 79 ; his removal by the King petitioned for, 79 ; in- troduces British troops into Boston, SO ; refuses to convene the Assembly, 81 ; demands of the Assembly funds to pay British troops, 85 ; his de- mand refused, ib. ; dissolves the As- sembly, ib. ; is created a Baronet by the King, ib. ; returns to England and is succeeded by Hutchinson, ib Board of War, instituted, 254; Gen. Gates placed at the head, ib. ; plan an expedition to Canada, ib. Boston, freeholders of, pass votes of thanks to Barre and Conway for their opposition to the Stamp Act, 63, 64 ; mob and riots on account of the Stamp Act, at, 66 ; further pro- ceedings at, 68 ; people oppose the payment of duties, 79 ; British troops introduced, SO ; town meeting called in consequence, ib. ; petition of peo- ple of, rejected in Parliament, S3 ; opposition of the people to revenue acts, 91 ; a boy named Snyder shot in an affair respecting importation of tea, ib. ; funeral of the boy Sny- der (called the first martyr to the cause of American Liberty), 92 ; massacre of citizens by British troops, ib. ; arrest of Capt. Preston, 95 ; is acquitted, 98 ; funeral of the citizens killed, 97 ; troops removed from, ib. ; arrival of cargoes of tea at, 107 ; public meetings and excite- ment, 108; destruction of tea in the harbor, 111; port bill, passed, 115, 117; Lord North's remarks on the people of, 115; port bill, how re- ceived in the Colonies, 122 ; troops introduced into, by Gen. Gage, 125 ; port closed and consequent distress, ib. ; fortifications at the Neck com- menced by Gen. Gage, 127 ; block- ade of, 154 ; siege of, by Americans, 18S ; evacuation of, by the British and Tories, 190 Boundaries of the U. S. fixed by the Treaty of 17S3, 355 Braddock, General, arrives from Ire- land — his authority — his expedition against the French — his death, 35 Brandy wine, Battle of, 227 Breed's Hill occupied and fortified by Americans, 167 British Commissioners (appointed in 177S), arrive in Philadelphia and make proposals for peace which are rejected by Congress, 257 ; offer bribes to members of Congress, pub- lish addresses to the people, without effect and return to England, 258 British Cabinet, changes in, viz. Gren- ville, premier, 54 ; Rockingham, pre- mier, 71 ; Pitt, Earl of Chatham, forms a Cabinet, 76; Duke of Grafton, head of ministry, 83 ; Lord North, minister, 98 ; resigns, 353 ; Rock- ingham, Premier, 354 ; dies, ib. ; Lord Shelburne, premier, ib. Laws respecting Colonies, 53 ; Naviga- tion Act, ib. Manufactures, Americans resolve not to import, 68, 78, 82, 83 ; manufac- turers and others petition Parlia- ment in favor of Colonies, 140 Parliament, ignorant of American cha- racter, 59, 77 ; authority of, to bind the Colonies asserted, on repeal of Stamp Act, 74 ; denied in America, 78 ; proceedings in, against Colonies, 83 ; right of, to tax Colonies, denied by the people of New York, 84 ; re- fuse to repeal the tea duty, 99 ; ac- tion of, on Boston tea riot, 114; debates on Boston port bill, 115; passage of same, 117; action of, on American affairs in 1774, 140, 145; refuse to receive the petition of Congress, 146 ; proceedings in (1775), 181 ; debates in 1776, on em- ploying Germans, 186 ; vote large supplies for the army and issue let- ters of marque, 222 ; effect of Bur- goyne's surrender on, 244 ; Commit- tee appointed to inquire into the state of the nation, ib. ; proceedings in, 255 ; last speech and death of the Earl of Chatham, 257; war with France takes place in consequence of the alliance between France and America, 256 ; ministers make con- cessions in favor of America, ib. ; Commissioners sent to America with proposals for peace, ib. ; American Independence advocated by the od position, ib. ; proceedings in, on reception of notice of the French treaty with America, 273 ? reception of the news of the disasters in Ame- rica (17bl), violent debates and cen- sure of minister, 3 18 Bunker Hill, battle of, 169 Burgoyne, Gen., arrives at Boston with the British army, 167 ; supersedes Gov. Carleton in command of the 49* ANALYTICAL INDEX. Burgoyne, General — forces in Canada, 233; plan of- his operations, ib. ; forces under his command, ib. ; list of generals in his army, 234 ; gives a war-feast to the Indians and issues proclamation to the Americans, 234 ; captures Ti- conderoga, ib. ; pursues the Ameri- cans to Fort Edward, 23 1, 235; dif- ficulties encountered in his march, 235 ; sends a detachment to Benning- ton, which is defeated by the Ameri- cans under General Stark, 236 ; he crosses the Hudson river, and en- camps on the heights of Saratoga, 237 ; his army is attacked by the Americans, ib. ; distressing situation of his troops, ib.; after a second bat- tle he retreats a few miles to the north, 239; has his retreat to Fort Edward cut off, and is compelled to surrender, with his army, to the Americans under Gen. Gates, 210; his letter to Lord George Germaine, ib.; his army retained in America as prisoners until the close of the war, 32-'). Burke, Edmund, in the Rockingham cabinet, 71 ; advocates a repeal of the Stamp Act, 74 ; describes the Chat- ham cabinet, 76 ; denounces the mea- sures of government against the colo- nies, 83 ; moves resolutions against measures of ministers, 90 ; opposes Massachusetts bill, 117 ; sustains proposition to repeal the Tea duty, 119; opposes the Canada bill, 120; offers a plan of conciliation which is rejected by Parliament, 149 ; pro- poses another plan of conciliation, 1S2 ; his sarcasm on Lord North. Burr, Aaron, accompanies Arnold in his expedition to Canada, 176; bears the body of Gen. Montgomery from the field before Quebec, ib. C. Camden, S. C, battle near, at Sanders's Creek, and defeat of Gen. Gates, 303 ; battle near, at Hobkirk's Hill, 335 Canada, English propose to wrest it from the French, 27 ; expeditions against it in 1704 and 1707, 23 ; its subjugation by the British, 46; libe- ral concessions to the people of, 120 ; religious division of the population (note), ib.; expedition to, 173; an- other expedition planned, 254 ; de- tails of the plan stated, 274 ; French aid expected, 275; designs of the French exposed by Washington, in a letter to Congress, opposing the en- terprise, ib. ; scheme abandoned by Congress, ib. Cape Breton, retained by France— its fortifications, 29 ; restored to France, 30 ; surrenders to the English, 40. Carhton, Sir Guy, governor of Canada, 173 ; his operations for defence of the province, ib.; retreats down the St. Lawrence to Quebec, 174; nar- row escape of, from Arnold's troops, 175; receives reinforcements and defeats the Americans, 177 ; is super- seded by Gen. Burgoyne, 233 ; suc- ceeds Sir Henry Clinton in command of the British forces in America, and arrives at New York, 353 Carr, Dabney, of Virginia, proposes to appoint committees of correspond- ence in the Colonies, 104 Champe, Sergeant, his unsuccessful at- tempt to abduct the traitor Arnold, 323 Chatnplain Lake, operations on, 173, 215; battle on, 215, 216 Charleston, S. C , summoned to surren- der by Gen. Prescott, 234 ; British troops withdraw from the siege, ib.; siege and capture of, by Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot, 305, 306 ; British take possession of, 306 Charlestown (Mass.), burned by the British, 163 Chatham, Earl of , William Pitt created, 76 ; cabinet formed by him, ib.; pro- poses an address to the King to re- move the tz-oops from Boston, 1 14 ; his remarks on the subject, ib.; pre- sents a bill for settlement of the colo- nial troubles, which is rejected, 1 15; submits his plan to Franklin, ib.; his remarks on employing German troops, 222 ; his remarks on the de- feat of Burgoyne's expedition, 211 ; moves for a cessation of hostilities, ib.; his remarks on American affairs, 255 ; his last speech in the House > of Lords (being against the acknow- ledgment of American independ- ence), 257 ; his death, ib. Cherry Valley, attack upon, by Tories and Indians, 267 Clergy of New England zealous in the cause of Independence, 135 Clinton, Gen., Sir Henry, arrives at Boston with the army, 167 ; is at the Battle of Bunker Hill, 169; arrives off the coast of Carolina, 192 ; attacks Fort Moultrie, near Charleston, and is defeated, ib. ; joins Howe at New York, 193; is left by Howe in de- fence of New York, 244 ; promises to attempt a junction with Burgoyne, who anxiously waits for him, 233 : moves from New York up the Hud- son, ten days before the surrender of Burgoyne, 244 ; captures Forts Mont- gomery and Clinton, 245 ; leads the British grenadiers to the assault, 246 ; dismantles the forts and returns to New York, 247 ; succeeds General Howe in command of the British ANALYTICAL INDEX. 495 Clinton, General, Sir Henry— army, 259 ; evacuates Philadelphia, 2G0 ; pursued by Washington, ib. ; fights the Americans at Monmouth, 261 ; retreats to New York, marches lor Rhode Island, 263 ; re- turns to New York, after detaching Gen. Grey on a predatory expedition, ib. ; changes the plan of operations, and sends a detachment to the south, 26S ; success of the expedition to Georgia, ib. ; captures Forts at Ver- planck's and Stony Point, 2S6 ; ap- prehensive of an attack on New York, he orders an evacuation of Rhode Island, Stony Point, and Ver- plank's Point, and concentrates his forces at New York, 291 ; leaves Gen. Knyphausen in command at New York, and departs with an army for Savannah, 292, 303 ; disasters of the voyage, 304 ; recruits at Savan- nah, ib. ; besieges Charleston, ib. ; attacks the town from the ships and batteries., 305 ; receives a large re- inforcement, ib. ; Gen. Lincoln and the American army surrender as prisoners of war, and the British take possession of Charleston, 306; receives assistance from the tories, issues a proclamation to the people, and re-establishes the royal govern- ment in South Carolina, 307 ; leaves Cornwallis in command and returns to New York, ib. ; accompanies Gen. Knyphausen on an expedition into New Jersey, and defeats the Ameri- cans under Greene, 313 ; negotiates with Gen. Arnold for the surrender of West Point, 316; endeavors to save Major Andre, after his capture, 323 ; sends emissaries to the leaders of the revolted American troops, but his offers are rejected, 328; sends troops to Virginia, under Gen'ls Ar- nold and Phillips, 330 ; his instruc- tions to Lord Cornwallis, 340; re- ceives reinforcements at New York, 342 ; sends Arnold on an expedition to Connecticut, ib. ; fatal effects of his (Clinton's) tardy movements on the British cause in America, 347 ; sails for Virginia with large rein- forcements for Cornwallis, but is too late, and returns to New York, ib. ; is succeeded in command by Sir Guy Carleton, 353 Cockade, adopted by Americans in com- pliment to the French, 312 Colonial Assemblies declare by resolu- tion the exclusive right of the peo- ple to tax themselves, S5 ; deny the right of the King to remove offend- ers to England for trial, ib. ; dis- solved by the Governors, ib. Colonies, concessions to them, 29 ; pros- perity of, 49 ; public feeling in (1770), Colonies — 89; sympathy of, with Boston and Massachusetts, 122, 127; popular commotions in, 129; public feeling in, after Battle of Lexington, 154 Commissioner, sent by Virginia to confer with the French — delicacy of his duties, 32. Committee of Correspondence, appoint- ed in New York (1764), 64 Committee of Correspondence, recom- mended in Virginia (1773), 104; in- vention of, claimed by Massachusetts, ib. ; attributed to Dr. Franklin, ib. ; beneficial effects of, 105 Confederation, articles of, considered by Congress, 179; adopted, 246 ; revisal of, recommended by Congress, 362 Congress of Commissioners, at Albany, in 1754, 34 ; adopt a plan of general government, rejected by Great Bri- tain and Colonies, 34 At New York, in 1765, proposed by Committee of N. Y. Assembly, 64 ; invited by circular of Massachusetts Assembly, ib. Meeting of first Colonial (Oct., 1765), 65 ; list of Delegates, 66 ; proceed- ings of, ib. First Continental, at Philadelphia (1774), recommended by Virginia, 123; by Massachusetts, 124; dele- gates appointed, ib. ; meeting of de- legates, 131 : their character and proceedings, 131, 134; Pitt's opinion of, 132; provide for a new Congress and adjourn, 135 (see appendix) Second Continental, meet at Philadel- phia, 1775, 160; their proceedings, ib. ; organize a continental army, 103; issue paper money, 163-179; consider a plan for confederation, 179 ; appoint a committee to prepare Declaration of Independence, 195; same, adopted and signed by mem- bers, 196; appoint a committee of conference to meet Lord Howe, 204; unsuccessful result, 205; adjourn to Baltimore, 210 ; adjourn from Phila- delphia to Lancaster, 229 ; adopt ar- ticles of confederation, 24S; ratifies treaty with France, 25s ; issue a pro- clamation respecting the French treaty, 25S ; arrange an expedition against Canada, 254, 274 ; scheme opposed by Washington, 275 ; con- ference with Washington on the subject, and abandonment of the en- terprise, 276 ; dissensions and neg- lect of attendance of members, ib. ; deficiency of talent (in 177S), ib. ; elect ministers to Europe, 299 ; recall Silas Deane, 300 ; members accused of a want of patriotism and integrity in a letter alleged to have been written by their president, Mr. Lau- rens, and published by Rivington, 496 ANALYTICAL INDEX. Congress; Second Continental — 301 ; party spirit and dissensions in, 299, 305 ; reception of the news of the victory at Yorktown, 347 ; mem- bers offer up thanks at Church, and appoint a day for public thanks- giving throughout the Union, 347 ; ratify the treaty of peace, 355 ; im- potency of the confederation, 362; pass resolutions recommending a convention to revise the articles of confederation, 362 Congress, Provincial, formed in Massa- chusetts, 12S; measures adopted by, ib.; formed in other Colonies, 137, 155 Connecticut, people of, oppose Stamp Act, 71 ; sustains Massachusetts with an army, 153; British expedition to, under Tryon, 222 ; Danbury burnt, 223; Tryon's second expedition, 2S6 ; Fairfield and Norwalk burnt, and property at New Haven de- stroyed, 2b 7 Conspiracy, to supersede Washington, 253 ; of General Arnold, with Sir Henry Clinton, to surrender forts at West Point, 314. Constitution, formation and adoption of, 363 ; organization of the govern- ment, 364 Continental Army, proposed by John Adams, organized by Congress, 163; Washington appointed Commander- in-chief, 164 ; other generals ap- pointed, ib ; deplorable condition of, ISO ; reinforced and organized, ib. ; enter Boston, 190; march to New York, 191 ; number of at New York, 200 ; exploits of, at Trenton, 212; at Princeton, 220; destitute condition of, 221 ; encamp at Mor- ristown, ib. ; small-pox breaks out among the troops, 222 ; inoculation checks its progress, ib ; march from Morristown to Middlebrook, N. J., 224 ; increased number of, ib. ; in full possession of New Jersey, 225 ; march to Germantown, Penn., and thence to Brandy wine, Del., where an action with the British takes place, 227 ; number of, engaged at Brandywine, 228; retreat to Phila- delphia, ib. ; abandon Philadelphia, and take post at Pottsgrove, 229 ; attack the British at Germantown, ib. ; go into winter-quarters at Valley Forge, 230; their extreme hardships and suffering, 230, 252; operations of the northern division, 233 ; successful termination of the campaign by the capture of Bur- goyne and his army, 240 ; number of troops at Valley Forge, and in the field, 251, 260; march to New Jersey in pursuit of the British army, 260 ; attack that army under Generate Clinton and Cornwallis, at Continental Army — Monmouth Court-House, 261; se- vere contest and retreat of the Bri- tish army to New York, 261, 262 ; Americans cross the Hudson and encamp at White Plains, 262; go into winter-quarters at Middlebrook, N. J., ib. ; a detachment of, besiege the town of Newport, R. I., 263; various encampments of in winter- quarters, 267 ; recruiting service and bounties, 2S1 ; opening of campaign of 1779 at the south, ib. ; operations and movements of General Lincoln, 2S2, 2S3, 2S4, 291,293 ; storming of Stony Point by Wayne, 2S8 ; Sulli- van's expedition against the Indians, 292 ; termination of the campaign of 1779, 296; main division of the army go into winter-quarters at Mor- ristown, ib. ; other stations, ib. ; reinforcements sent to General Lin- coln's army at the south, ib. ; scar- city of provisions in the main army, ib. ; supplies demanded and obtain- ed from New Jersey, 299 ; opera- tions at the south, 305 to 311 ; surrender of General Lincoln's army, at Charleston, 306 ; defeat of Gene- ral Gates in Carolina, 308 ; General Gates superseded in command by General Greene, 311 ; distress of, at the north, under Washington, 311 ; affair at Springfield, N. J., 313; number of, in the campaign of 1780, ib. ; revolt of Pennsylvania and New Jersey lines quelled, 328, 329 ; mu- tineers reject the offers of Sir Henry Clinton, 328; operations at the south, 331 to 340; junction of the army at the north with the French army, 341 ; march of the combined armies to Virginia, 342 ; reinforce- ment sent to General Greene, and the main body of the American ar- my returns to New Jersey, 347; disbanded on the conclusion of peace, 355 ; discontent of the soldiers, 356 ; Newburgh Address to, 357 ; prudence and influence of Washington, 358 Continental Money ; first issue of, 163 ; repeated issues of, 280 ; specimen of bills, 183 ; great depreciation of in value, 280 ; efforts of Congress to sustain the credit of, ib. » Convention, held at Albany; adopt a plan of government, its plan reject- ed by the Colonies and the Crown, 34 ; to form a constitution, 362 ; pro- ceedings of, 363 Council of Governor of province, at Al- bany, 38 Conway, General, opposes the Stamp Act, 63 ; his portrait ordered for Faneuil Hall, 64 ; member of the Rockingham Cabinet, 71 ; advocates repeal of Tea Duties, 99 ; moves for ANALYTICAL INDEX. 497 Conway, General — an address to the king in favor of peace, 353 Conway, General (Brigadier in the Con- tinental army), his conspiracy with Gates and Mifflin against Washing- ton, 253; Inspector-General of the army, 254 ; writes Washington, and expresses regret for his conduct, ib. ; resigns his commission and returns to Europe, 254 Cornwallis, Lord, arrives on the coast of North Carolina, with a squadron and troops, 191 ; commands part of the army at battle of Long Island, 202 ; leads a British army, and crosses the Hudson River, 20S ; attacks and carries Fort Lee, ib. ; pursues the American army across New Jersey to Trenton, 209 ; out-generalled by Washington, falls back upon New Brunswick, 220, 221 ; surprises Gen. Lincoln at Boundbrook, N. J., 222 ; defeats Lord Stirling, 225 ; defeats Gen. Sullivan at Brandy wine, 228 ; takes the American fort at Red Bank on the Delaware, 229 ; at the battle of Monmouth, 261 ; commands part of the army of the South, and takes Georgetown, South Carolina, 307 ; Clinton returns to New York, and leaves Cornwallis to succeed him in command at the South, 307 ; joins Lord Rawdon, on the approach of the American army under Gen. Gates, and they engage the latter at Sanders's Creek, 30S ; orders a charge with fixed bayonets, and de- feats the Americans, with great slaughter, ib. ; sends Col. Ferguson with a body of loyalists to sweep the country to Virginia, 309 ; adopts rigorous measures to coerce the in- habitants to submit, ib. ; pushes on tt Salisbury, but, on the defeat of Ferguson, falls back, is taken sick, and the British troops under Raw- don retire to Camden, 310 ; informs Generals Phillips and Arnold, from Wilmington, N. C, that he is about marching to Virginia, 330 ; previous to the above, he is joined by Gen. Leslie with a reinforcement in South Carolina, 331 ; sends Tarleton to attack Morgan, and the former is defeated at the battle ot the Cow- pens, 331 ; takes the field in person, and marches in pursuit of Morgan, 332 ; follows the American army, commanded by Greene, to the bor- ders of Virginia, and gives up the pursuit, 333 ; meets Greene on the return of the Americans into North Carolina, and engages him at Guil- ford court-house, 334 ; the victory claimed by both sides, and the British retire towards Wilmington — issues a proclamation calling upon citizens Cornwallis, Lord — to join his standard, 331 ; marches from Wilmington northward, and joins the forces of Phillips and Ar- nold at Petersburg, Virginia, 340 ; operations in Virginia, 340, 341 ; en- camps at, and fortifies, Yorktown, 341 ; force in Virginia under his command, ib. ; is besieged at York- town, by the combined American and French armies, 343 ; attempts to retreat, but a storm prevents, and he surrenders to the allied armies, 344 Customs, Commissioners of, created by act of Parliament, 77 ; arrival of, in the Colonies, 79 ; their proceedings in Boston, ib. ; opposed by the peo- ple, and flee, SO Banbury, Conn., burnt by British troop9 under Gov. Try on, 223 DAnville, Duke, sent to America with a fleet — his fleet dispersed — return to France, 30. Deane, Silas, American agent in France, 216; his success there, ib. ; is ap- pointed commissioner, with Frank- lin and Arthur Lee, ib. ; recalled in consequence of charges against him, 300 ; returns and publishes a defence of his conduct, ib. Declaration of Independence, mentioned by Patrick Henry in 1773, 133; for- mally adopted at Mecklenburg, N. Carolina, in May, 1775, 155; com- mittee of Congress appointed to pre- pare one, 195 ; adopted and signed by Congress, 196; received by the people with enthusiasm, ib.; read to the Continental Army, 199 D'Estaing, Count, arrives with a French fleet on the American coast, 262 ; proceeds from the Chesapeake to Sandy Hook, and thence to Rhode Island, 262, 263 ; sails to attack the British fleet under Lord Howe, but a storm prevents an engagement, 263 ; refuses to co-operate with the Ame- rican army in the siege of Newport, R. I., and sails to Boston, to repair, ib.; is censured by the Americans, 264 ; defeats the English admiral Byron in the West Indies, and ar- rives on the coast of Georgia, 291 ; captures a squadron of four British ships, ib. ; lands his forces and as- sists Gen. Lincoln and the Ameri- cans in storming Savannah, ib.; they are repulsed, and the French retire on board of the fleet, 292 ; encoun- ters severe storms and returns to France, ib. ; his death, ib. De Grasse, Count, commands the French fleet in America, 342 ; informs Washington of his movements, ib. ; enters the Chesapeake, 343 ; assists 498 ANALYTICAL INDEX. De Grasse, Count — at the siege of Yorktown, 344 ; sails for the West Indies, 347 De Kalh, Baron, commands a body of American troops, and is killed at the battle of Sanders's Creek, 308 Dickinson, John, writes "Farmers' Let- ters," 78 ; draws up instructions to Pennsylvania delegates, 130 Dieskau, Baron, his march against Fort Edward— his death, 37 Dunmorc, Lord, governor of Virginia, his conduct excites the people against him, 177; his affair with Patrick Henry, ib. ; abdicates the Government, 178; attempts to re- gain his power, offers freedom to sla\ • s and destroys Norfolk, ib. ; sails for the West Indies, and joins the main army, ib. Dwight, Timothy, D.D., of Connecticut, his early views in favor of independ- ence, 193; his prophetic views of the future progress of America, in 1775, 194 English Colonies, their independent character, rivalries between them, 25 ; propositions for their union, their first union against the French, 26 ; difficulties with other settle- ments, and with the Indians, 27 ; ne- glected by the home government, 30 ; their critical state, :; 1 ; against Nia- gara, its result, 3S ; against Indians at Kittaning, j9 ; against Louisburg, 40 ; their condition, 49. Esopus, burnt by the British under Gen. Vaugh-n, 2 17 Exchange of Prisoners, general, in 1780, 325 ' Expedition, of the French along the Ohio and Mississippi, 31 ; against French settlements in Nova Scotia, under General Braddock against Fort du Quesne, 36 ; against Cro'wn Point and Ticonderoga, 37 ; against Fort Frontenac, its capture by the English, against du Quesne, 41 ; against Quebec, against Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Niagara, 42 F. Fairfield and Norwalk, burned by Go- vernor Tryon, 287 Farmers' Letters, written by John Dick- inson, 78 Finances, American, unfavorable condi- tion of, in 1779, 2S0 ; negotiations in Europe, ib. ; depreciation of Con- tinental money, ib. ; successful ope- rations to raise funds in Europe and America, in 1781, 329 Flag, American, adopted, 196 Fox, Charles James, opposes Boston port bill, 117 ; opposes Massachusetts Fox, Charles James • bill, 118 ; moves a censure of min- isters, 146 ; censures ministers for the mismanagement of American af- fairs and loss of Burgoyne's army, 2 1 1 ; his sarcasms on ministers, 256 France, Silas Deane sent by Congress to as American agent, 216; obtains important aid, ib. ; three commis- sioners appointed by Congress, ib. ; treaty of alliance and commerce with, negotiated, 248 ; aid received by the United States from, 219 ; happy ef- fects of the capture of Burgoyne on the French government, ib. ; effects of the treaty of alliance on public opinion in America, 250 ; war be- tween France and England, 256 ; treaty of alliance with, ratified by Congress, 258 ; sends a fleet of twelve sail of the line to America, 262; concludes a treaty with Spain, 290 ; doubtful effects of the alliance with, on American affairs, 299; aids the American cause with funds and troops, 312; fleet and army of, ar- rive in United States, 313 * Frank/in, Doctor, member of the Alba- ny convention, his plan and its cha racter, 34 ; examination of, before British House of Commons, 50 ; ap- pointed agent to England by Penn- sylvania, 57 ; consulted by British ministers, 58 ; opposes the stamp act, 5S,,60; his letter to Charles Thomson referred to, 60 ; invention of committees of correspondence in the Colonies attributed to, 104 ; sends to Massachusetts Assembly the letters of Hutchinson and Oli- ver, 105; presents petition of Mas- sachusetts Assembly for removal of Hutchinson and Oliver before the Privy Council, 106 ; dismissed from the office of Colonial Postmaster General, ib. ; his efforts to influence the people of England in favor of the Colonies, 138 ; procures petitions to Parliament from English people in favor of Colonies, 140 ; returns to America, 179 ; is elected a delegate to Congress from Pennsylvania, ib. ; appointed Postmaster General, ib. ; appointed one of the committee to conl'er with Lord Howe, 204 ; his conversations with Lord Howe and sister, 205 ; appointed commis- sioner to negotiate a treaty of peace, 354 Fraser, General, defeats the Americans at Hubbardton, 234 ; is killed at the battle of Stillwater, 239 French, first settled in Canada, soon af- ter in Florida, claimed jurisdiction on the Ohio and Mississippi, built a chain of forts from Canada to Flori- da, bribed th* Indians, 27 ; deter- ANALYTICAL INDEX. 499 French — mine to extend their American em- pire, alliance with the Indians, their active movements in Nova Scotia, 30; claim the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, claim disputed by the English, erect forts south of Lake Erie, 31 ; deserted by their Indian allies at Fort du Quesne, flight down the Ohio, 41 ; abandon Ticonderoga, power destroyed west of Montreal, 42 ; piquet guard cap- tain captured, 44 ; attempt to reco- ver Quebec, ships destroyed by Col- ville, Montreal the only possession left them in Canada, 46 ; influence over the Indians continued, 56 ; ne- gotiations and treaty with the Unit- ed States, 249; ship with munitions of war arrives in the United States, ib. ; fleet under Count D'Estaing ar- rives on the coast, 262 ; French and American officers disagree at Rhode Island, 204 ; dissatisfaction of the Americans with their French allies, ib. ; ambassador in England (De Noailles), his ironical letter to Lord North, 270 ; fleet and army under D'Estaing assist in the attack on Sa- vannah, 291 ; are repulsed and re- turn to France, 292 (see D'Estaing) ; alliance with the United States, doubtful effects of, 290 ; minister to the United States, M. Gerard, ar- rives, 2G2 ; succeeded by M. Lu- zerne, 299 ;' French fleet and army in aid of America announced by La Fayette to be on the way, 312 ; fleet with army arrive in United States, 313 ; army, second division of, des- tined for America, blockaded at Brest by an English fleet and non- arrival of, 313 ; Admiral Ternay dies at Newport, ib. ; army goes into winter quarters, 314 ; fleet sail to Virginia, are attacked by the British Admiral, and return to Newport, 330; fleet under Count de Grasse sail from the West Indies for the Chesapeake, 342 ; army form a junc- tion on the Hudson river and inarch to Virginia, ib. ; fleet under De Grasse arrives in the Chesapeake and lands additional troops, 3 13 ; operations of the combined armies, ib. ; surrender of York town, 344; fleet sail for the West Indies, and the army are cantoned at Williams- burgh, 317 ; return to France. French agent, a mysterious one in Ame- rica, 177.1, 187 Fuller, Mr., opposes ministerial mea- sures respecting the Colonies, 116, 119; moves for repeal of the tea duty, 119 ; deserts the ministerial side, and predicts ruinous results from Lord North's measures, ib. G. Gage, General, commands the British forces in America, SO ; orders troops to Boston, ib. ; anecdote of, 90; suc- ceeds Hutchinson as Governor of M issachusetts, 121 ; dissolves Gene- ral Assembly, 124 ; denounces the League of patriots, 125 ; introduces troops into Boston, ib. ; fortifies Boston Neck, 127 ; sends troops to seize military stores at Concord, 150 ; Provincial Congress of Massachusetts declare him disqualified to act as Governor, 154 ; issues a proclamation offering pardon, &c., 107; directs operations at Battle of Bunker Hill, ib. ; orders the burning of Charles- town, L6S ; recalled and succeeded by Howe, 173 Gaspee, British revenue schooner, burn- ed near Providence, R. L, 103 Gates, Horatio, appointed Brigadier- General and Commander of the Ame- rican forces in Canada, 215; joins General Washington on the Dela- ware, 216 ; appointed to the com- mand of the northern army, 237 ; is joined by Generals Arnold and Lin- coln, 237, 238 ; his various operations against Burgoyne, 237, 238, 239 ; re- ceives offer of capitulation from Bur- goyne, and agrees to accept of a sur- render of his army — his delicacy and humanity towards the defeated troops, 243 ; receives the thanks of Congress for himself and army, and a gold medal presented to him by their order, 214 ; his Letter to Ge- neral Vaughan, 247 ; sends troops to reinforce General Putnam, ib. ; is • concerned in a scheme to supersede Washington, 254 ; placed at the head of the Board of War, ib. ; appointed by Congress commander of the army at the South, 30S ; engages the Bri- tish army at Sanders's Creek, is de- feated with great slaughter, and re- treats to Charlotte, and thence to Hillsboro', N. C, 30S, 309; incurs reproaches, and a court of inquiry is appointed respecting him, 311; is superseded in command by General Greene, ib. Georgia falls into the hands of the Bri- tish. German troops employed by England, L83 ; Debates in Parliament thereon, 186 ; Emigrants in America, ib. Germantown, battle of, 229 Gibbon (Historian), member of the House of Commons, 147 ; his remarks on American affairs, ib. Governors, the royal colonial — their ty- rannies, 29; their troubles with the people, and final expulsion or abduc- tion, 17^ Grafton, Duke of, head of the ministry, 500 ANALYTICAL INDEX. Grafton, JDuke of— 83 ; urges conciliation with the colo- nies, 181 ; resigns his seat in the cabinet, and acts with the opposi- tion, ib. ; motion for conciliating the Colonies, 1S7. Greene, JVathaniel, appointed Brigadier- General by Congress, 167 ; at first commands at Long Island, but fall- ing sick, is there succeeded by Sul- livan, 202 ; commands a division of the army at the battle of Trenton, 211 ; his gallantry at the battle of Brandywine, 228 ; at the battle of Monmouth, 261 ; commands part of the expedition to Rhode Island, 2G3 ; Washington appoints him to super- sede General Gates in the command of the Southern Army, 311; at- tacked by Knyphausen, and defeat- ed, in New Jersey, 313; presides at the Court-Martial in the case of Major Andre, 323 ; detaches General Morgan to check the British, 331 ; joins Morgan, and retreats before Cornwallis, 332 ; is reinforced at Guilford Court-house, and continues his retreat into Virginia, 333 ; re- ceives reinforcements and returns into North Carolina, 334; engages the British under Cornwallis at Guilford Court-house, ib. ; pursues Cornwallis towards Wilmington, 334 ; is attacked by Lord Rawdon at Hobkirk's Hill, near Camden, 335 ; capture of several British forts, ib. ; besieges Fort Ninety-Six, but is compelled to raise the siege, and retreats across the Saluda River, ib. ; attacks the British at Eutaw Springs, and defeats them, 339 ; close of the campaign in South Caro- lina, 340 ; reinforced by a detach- ment under General St. Clair, 347 ; sends Wayne with a part of the army into Georgia, 352 Grenville, George, premier, 54 ; pro- poses to tax the Colonies, 55 ; intro- duces the Stamp Act, 58 ; his views on taxation of the Colonies, 72 ; op- poses the measures against the Colo- nies in 1769, 84 ; opposes Lord North's proposal to retain the duties on Tea, 98 Grey, General, detached by Sir Henry Clinton on a predatory expedition in New England, 263 ; his exploits on several of these expeditions, 264 H. Hale, Nathan, his enterprise, capture, and death, 206 Hancock, John, declines a British com- mission, 81 ; his sloop Liberty seiz- ed, 79 ; appointed President of Con- gress, 160 Haynei Colonel, taken prisoner by the Hayne, Colonel — British, tried, and executed at Charleston, S. C, 339 Henry, Patrick, opposes the Stamp Act, 60 ; resolutions and speech of, 60- 63 ; his predictions respecting the contest with Great Britain and inde- pendence of the Colonies, 133 ; vigo- rous measures proposed by, 157 ; speech in Provincial Congress, ib. ; proscribed by the British Govern- ment, ib. ; originates the phrase " Liberty or Death," 157; his affair with Lord Dunmore, 178 Herkimer, General, his defeat and death, 236 Hessian troops employed by England, 183; capture of, at Trenton, 212; cruelty and outrages of, 221 ; re- pulsed at Red Bank, 229 Holland takes sides with the Americans against Great Britain, in 17s0, 325; Henry Laurens appointed minister to, ib. ; Great Britain declares war against, 326 Howe, Robert, General, commands a body of American troops in an ex- pedition against Florida, 267; sick- ness of his troops and their retreat, 268 ; defeated at Savannah (after a desperate contest), by the British under Campbell and Baird, ib. ; com- mands the post at West Point, 316. Howe, General Sir William, arrives at Boston with an army, 167 ; commands British troops at Battle of Bunker Hill, 168; succeeds Gen. Gage in command, 173 ; proposes to evacuate Boston, 189; evacuates Boston and sails with the troops for Halifax, 190; arrives off Sandy Hook with an army, 199 ; takes possession of Staten Island, ib. ; lands on Long Island, 201 ; defeats the Americans, 203 ; is knighted by the King, ib. ; pre- pares to drive the American army from the city of New York, 205; takes possession of the city, 206 ; or- ganizes a temporary government, and marches in pursuit of the Ame- ricans, 207 ; his indecision as to the course to adopt, 209 ; yields to the counsel of Lord Cornwallis, ib. ; is- sues a joint proclamation with his brother, Lord Howe, offering pardon to Americans, 210 ; his plans for the campaign of 1777, 222; various op- erations of, ib. ; moves from New York to New Brunswick, 224 ; man- oeuvres and stratagem of, 225 ; retires to Staten Island and evacuates New Jersey, 225 ; embarks his troops for Philadelphia, via the Chesapeake, ib. ; leaves his troops at Elk River, marches, and defeats the Americans on the Brandywine, 227; enters Philadelphia, 229; pushes forward ANALYTICAL INDEX. 501 Howe, General Sir William — to Germantown, where he is attack- ed by Washington and defeats him, 229; after another action at White- marsh, unimportant in its result, he goes into winter-quarters at Phila- delphia, 230; recalled by his own request, 258 ; fete given him by his officers at Philadelphia on taking leave, called the Mischianza, 259 ; departs for England, and is succeed- ed by Sir H. Clinton, ib. Howe, Admiral Lord, arrives at Staten Island, in the capacity of British Commissioner, 200 ; his amiable character, 199 ; his circular letters to Americans, 200 ; letters to Gen- eral Washington, 201 ; his second at- tempt at pacification, 204; meets Committee of Congress, ib. ; result of the conference, 205 ; his conver- sation with Dr. Franklin, ib. ; sails from the Delaware to Sandy Hook, and transports Sir H. Clinton's troops to New York, 262 ; sails to Newport, R. I., where he meets the French fleet under Count D'Estaing, 263; both fleets put to sea, but a storm pre- vents an engagement, ib. ; is joined by Admiral Byron's Fleet, 264 ; Ad- miral Gambier takes the command, and Lord Howe returns to England, ib. Hutchinson, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, succeeds Bernard as Governor, 85 ; at first refuses but af- terwards consents to the removal of British troops from Boston, 96 ; his letters to the British government sent by Dr. Franklin to Massachu- setts Assembly, 105 ; acknowledges the letters to be genuine but confi- dential, ib.«$ Assembly petitions for his removal, 106 ; refuses to remove Chief Justice Oliver, 121 ; retires, and is succeeded by General Gage, 121 I. Independence, first dawning of, in Ame- rica, 54 ; ideas of, in the Colonies suggested by measures of the British Government S6 ; gradual approaches to, 130; first idea of, uncertain as to time, 130; declaration of, mentioned by Patrick Henry, in 1773, 133 ; De- claration of, at Mecklenburg, N. C , in May, 1775, 155; ideas of, among . "the people of America, 193; Dr. D wight's early views in favor of, 193 ; action by the Continental Con- gress in favor of, 195 ; committee appointed to prepare Declaration, ib. ; adoption and signing of the Declaration, 196 ; acknowledgment of advocated in the British Parlia- ment (in 177S), 256 Indians, the war of the Five Nations against the French aided by the English, 27 ; their outrages on the frontiers, their butcheries at F<>rt Wm. Henry, 39; hostilities with the British Colonies, 56 ; under French influence, ib. ; Six Nations of, join the British, ib.; Southern, instigated against Americans by British agents, 216; various tribes of, join General Burgoyne's army, 233 ; murder of Miss McCrea, 235 ; allies of General Burgoyne desert the service, 23S; barbarities of, on Western frontiers, 264 ; massacre of the people of Wyo- ming, 26, 266 ; their settlements laid waste by the Americans, 266 ; attack and massacre of Cherry Valley, 267 ; depredations on the Southern fron- tier, ib. ; on the Susquehanna, chas- tised bv General Sullivan and their villages destroyed, 292, 293 Jay, John, draws up letter of Instructions to the Colonial agents in England, 138 ; appointed Minister to Spain, 299 ; commissioner to negotiate for peace, 354 Jefferson, Thomas, a member of the Vir- ginia Legislature and a leader of the patriots, 100; member of Continen- tal Congress and one of a committee to draft a Declaration of Indepen- dence, 195 ; same drawn by him adopted, 190; his narrow escape from capture by the British, while Governor of Virginia, 329 ; appoint- ed Commissioner to Europe to nego- tiate for peace, 354 Johnson, Sir John, with a large body of Indians defeats General Herkimer, 236 Johnson, Sir William, leads an expedi- tion against Crownpoint and Ticon- deroga, 37 ; erects Fort Wm. Hen- ry, 38 Jones, Paul, exploits of, 269 ; commands a squadron fitted out by the Ameri- can Commissioners in France, 293; attacks a British convoy, 294 ; cap- tures two British ships after a des- perate battle, 295, 296 ; receives the thanks of Congress and a gold medal, also the order of merit from the French king, 296 K. King George III ; his character and his counsellors, 39 ; recommends taxa- tion of the Colonies, 58 ; his speech on American affairs (1766), 72 ; his message on Boston tea-riot, 113 ; his speech declaring the Colonies in a state of rebellion, 139; effect of the speech in the Colonies, 150 ; his statue destroyed in New York, 196 ; 502 ANALYTICAL INDEX. King George III— his speech on the alliance between France and America, 273 Knyphausen, General, left by Sir Henry Clinton in command of tbe British forces at New York, 292 ; detaches a large body of troops under General Mathews, on an incursion into New Jersey, 313 ; joins Mathews with Sir Henry Clinton, and additional troops, ib. ; attacks and defeats General Greene, burns Springfield, and re- turns to New York, ib. Kosciusko (Polish General) appointed Chief Engineer of the Continental army, 235; accompanies the Northern army at Saratoga, ib. ; distinguished in the Southern campaign, 3J0 Ladies, American, patriotism of, 90 ; in camp at Valley Forge, 253 ; daugh- ters of loyalists at the Mischianza, Philadelphia, 259 ; Of Fairfield, Connecticut, outrages on, by Governor Try on, 2S7 ; patriotism and exertions of, 312 La Fayette, Marquis, offers his services to Congress; is accepted and ap- pointed Major-General in the Conti- nental army, 227 ; meets Washington in Philadelphia, and becomes a member of his military family, 227 ; is wounded at the battle of Brandy- wine, 226 , his fidelity to Washing- ton, 254 ; commands a detachment of the army in Pennsylvania, 200 ; his skilful manoeuvre when attacked, ib. ; leads the advance troops at tiie battle of Monmouth, 20 1 ; commands a detachment sent to Rhode Island, 203 ; challenges Earl Carlisle, one of the British Commissioners, for insulting language used towards France, 264 ; makes a visit to France, 275 ; success of his mission, and return to America, 312 ; receives the thanks of Congress, ih. ; des- patched by Washington to Virginia, 330 ; his skilful manceuvres against the British, 310, 341 Laurens, Henry, President of Congress ; publication, in Rivington's Royal Gazette, of a letter alleged to have been written by him, but supposed to have been forged, and intercepted by the enemy, 301 ; effects of, on the public mind, ib. ; appointed Minister to Holland, and captured by the British, 325 ; released on bail, and afterwards exchanged for General Burgoyne, 318 Laurens, John, appointed Special Com- missioner to France ; obtains finan- cial aid for the United States, 329 ; is killed in an action in South Caro- lina, 352 Lee, Charles, General, military opera- tions of, at New York, 191 ; repairs to South Carolina, and defends Charlestown, 192 ; commands part of the army at White Plains, 209 ; ordered to New Jersey, 210 ; is sur- prised and taken prisoner, ib. ; Bri- tish refuse to exchange him, 226 ; exchanged for General Prescoft, and commands a detachment of the army, 260 ; his conduct at the battle . of Monmouth, 261 ; quarrels with Washington, and addresses him two offensive letters, ib. ; arrested, tried, and suspended from command, ib. ; leaves the service, and dies at Phi- ladelphia, ib. Lee, Major (afterwards Colonel), cap- tures fort at Paulus Hook, 29U ; ex- ploit and stratagem with Colonel Pyle in North Carolina, 334 ; join9 General Marion and captures several forts, 335 Letter of St. Pierre; its tone, 33 ; Of Lord Hillsborough to the Colo- nies, 86 Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer, 78 ; Of Hutchinson and Oliver, exposed by Franklin, 105; Of instructions to colonial agents in England, from Congress, 1 Of Admiral Howe, 200, 201 Letter of General Putnam to Governor Tryon, relative to a spy taken by the Americans, 226 Lexington, Battle of, 151 ; effects of, on the people of the Colonies, 153, 154, 155 Liberty, Sons of, societies so-called form- ed in the Colonies, 68 Liberty, Sloop, seized at Boston, 79 ; Poles erected in the Colonies, 100 " Liberty or Death," patriotic phrase 'originated with Patrick Henry, 158 Lincoln, General, surprised by Lord Cornwallis, at Boundbrook, New Jersey, and retreats, 222 ; joins Ge- neral Gates at Saratoga, 238 ; is in- cluded in the vote of thanks by Congress, 2 11 ; takes command of the army at the South, 2S1 ; encamps on the Savannah River, 282; strength of his army in April, 1779, 283 ; marches to attack Savannah, ib. ; ap- prised of the march of General Pre- vost, with the British army, he moves toward Charleston, attacks a division at Stono Ferry, and is re- pulsed, 284; prepares for defence of Charleston, 304; refuses to sur- render to the British fleet and army, and they open a destructive fire upon the town, 305 ; the British prepare for an assault, and the American General and army surrender prison- ers of war, 306 ; exchanged for Ge- neral Phillips, 325 ANALYTICAL INDEX 503 London, City of, takes sides with the Colonies, 149; petitions the king in their favor, ib. ; rebuked by the king, ib. Long Island, landing of British troops at, 201 ; battle of, 202 ; defeat of the Americans, 203 ; retreat of the Con- tinental army, ib. ; destruction of British vessels and stores at Sag Harbor, by Colonel Meisjs, 221 ; Ma- jor Tallmadge's expedition against Fort George, 324 Loudon, Lord, appointed British Com- mander-in-Chief in America, 38 ; re- called, 41 Louisburg, its cost — English expedition against it — flight of the French from it — its surrender, 29 ; English at- tempt to capture it, 39 LovelVs expedition to the Penobscot defeated by the British under Sir George Collier, 290 Loyalists, see Tories M. McCrea,Miss, murder of, by Indians, 235. Marion, General, a partisan leader, wounded at the siege of Charleston, 310 ; performs signai services in the campaigns at the South, ib. ; joined by Lee ; they capture Fort Watson, Fort Motto, and Fort Granby, 335 ; Georgetown, 336 ; exploits and an- ecdotes of, ib. Massachusetts, Colonial Assembly of, in- - vite a congress at New York in 1765, 64 ; take a bold stand against acts of Parliament respecting taxa- tion, 78 ; assembly dissolved by the Governor, 79 ; provincial convention formed, 81 ; people and Legislature declared guilty of treasonable acts, by Parliament, 83 ; charter altered by act of Parliament, 117 ; action of General Assembly, 123, 121; secret conference of Members, 123 ; re- commend a general Congress, 124 ; appoint delegates and are dis- by the Governor, ib. ; " Solemn League and Covenant*' adopted, ib ; denounced by Gener-al Gaiie, 125; state of public feeling in 177 1, 126; people prepare for war, 116; pro- vincial Congress formed, 128 ; their resolutions, ib. ; Assembly resolve themselves into a provincial Con- gress, 136; enrol militia as minute men, 137 ; resolve to purchase muni- tions of war, 150 ; address the Eng- lish people on the battle of Lex- ington, 153 ; organize an army, ib. ; issue paper money, ib. Mecklenburg, Declaration of Independ- ence at, May, 1775, 155. Meigs, Colonel, gallant expedition of, to Long Island, 224 ; Congress presents him with a sword, ib. Mercer, General, killed at the battle of Princeton, 220. Mi /titters from France to the United States, 262, 299. Ministers to Great Britain and Spain appointed by Congress, 299 ; to Holland, 325. Minute men enrolled inJ\~ew England, 137. Mischianza, entertainment given to General Howe and Admiral Howe, at Philadelphia, on taking leave, description of, 259. Monmouth, battle of, 261. Montcalm, commander of the French force in Canada— crosses Lake Erie with 5000 men— captures fort On- tario at Oswego — returns to Cana- da—collects his force at Ticondero- ga— captures fort William Henry, 39 ; defends Ticonderoga— siege raised, 41 ; prepares to attack the British, 44 ; his death at Quebec, 45. Montgomery, General, commands expe- dition to Canada, 173; captures fort Chambly, 174 ; St. John's, ib. ; Mon- treal, ib. ; joins Arnold and attacks Quebec, 176 ; is killed, and his army defeated, ib. Montreal, defended by De Callieres, 28 ; surrendered to the English, 46 ; taken by the Americans under Mont- gomery, 171 Morgan, General, defeats the British at the Cowpens, 331 ; receives a medal from Congress, 332 Morris, Robert, treasurer of the United States — his important financial ope- rations and patriotic services. Morristown, JVeto Jersey, Continental troops encamp at, 221, 2'J6 Mutiny of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops, in 1781, quelled by Washington and Wayne, 32*>, 32'J N. S\~aval battle, on Lake Champlain, 215 JYavy, American, commencement of, 189; condition and operations of, 268, 269 ; action between the Ameri- can ship Randolph and British ship Yarmouth, and destruction of the former, 269 ; operations of Paul Jones, ib. ; notice of various opera- tions, JVavy, British, strength of, in 177- . I - JYeic Haven {Conn.), entered by the British under Tryon, 287 ; after va- rious outrages the enemy retire, without burning the town, ib. JV\ ;/• Jersey, patriotic proceedings of the people, 155; overrun by British troops, 208 ; by the American army, 221 ; evacuated by the British, 225 JVew London 'Conn.), attack of, intend- ed by Sir Henry Clinton, prevented by a storm, 263; again threatened 504 ANALYTICAL INDEX. JVtto London,— by Governor Trvon, but saved by bis recall, 2S7 ; burned by Arnold, 342 Newport (R. /), siege of, by the Ame- ricans, 263 ; abandonment of the siege and retreat of General Sulli- van, 263 JVew York, committee of the Assembly of, propose a Colonial Congress in 1765, 64 ; violent opposition to the Stamp Act by the people, mobs and riots, 67, 70 ; Assembly refuse to enforce Mutiny Act, 76 ; prohibited by Act of Parliament from passing laws, until obedient to the Mutiny Act, 77 ; people of, send remon- strance to Parliament against taxa- tion, 84; violate non-importation agreements, 99; tea not permitted to be landed, 111 ; Assembly refuse to appoint delegates to the Congress of 1774, 130; delegates appointed by town-meetings, ib. ; refuses to adopt the resolution of Congress re- specting commerce, 135; makes common cause with the Colonies after the battle .of Lexington, 151; many of the people royalists, 178 ; Tryon, royal Governor, ib. ; Riving- ton's (tory) press destroyed, 179; Continental army under Washington arrive at, 191 ; statue of George III. destroyed, 196 ; evacuated by the American army, 206 ; British army takes possession, ib. ; great fire de- stroys about one-third of city, 207 JVon- Importation Agreements, adopted, OS, 78, 82 ; effects of, in England, 86 North Carolina, early movements in against British authority, 101 ; or- ganization of the Regulators, ib. ; action of the Regulators with British troops in 1771, 102 ; movements of the people in 1775, 155; Provincial Congress convened, ib. ; Committees of Safety appointed, ib. ; Independ- ence declared at Mecklenburg, ib ; military operations in, 191 ; cam- paign in 17S0, 81, 331 to 310 JVorth, Lord, proposes to reject the New York remonstrance, 84 ; moves in Parliament for repeal of duties in part, retaining the tax on tea, 98 ; proposes to make Governors and Judges of the Colonies independent of the people, 104; offers a resolu- tion in Parliament permitting the export of tea to America free of export duty, 106 ; other measures proposed by him, 115, 117, 118; proposes further coercive measures, 146, 147, 182 ; introduces a concilia- tory plan, 148 ; makes concessions in favor of America, 256 ; moves an Address to the King on the treaty between France and America, 273 ; resigns after the battle of Yorktown, and other disasters in America, 353 Worwalk {Conn.), burned by Governor Tryon, 287 Ohio Company, its character, grant from the crown, French jealousy of it, appeal to Virginia for protection, 31 : send around men to erect a fort, se- cure aid from Virginia and Carolina, their fort destroyed, 33 Oliver, Andrew, stamp-master at Boston, attacked by a mob, and burnt in effi- gy, 66 ; resigns his office, 67 ; his letters exposed by Doctor Franklin, 105 ; Assembly of Massachusetts pe- tition for his removal, as Lieutenant Governor, 106 Oliver, Peter, Chief Justice of Massa- chusetts (brother of Andrew), re- plies to the queries of the Assembly, who demand his removal from office, 121 ; the Governor refuses to re- move him, and the Assembly resolve to impeach the Chief Justice, ib. Otis, James, member of the Congress of 1765, 66 ; one of a committee to wait on Governor Bernard, SO Paine, Thomas, Secretary of Congress for Foreign Affairs, 300 : makes charges against Silas Deane, ib. • cited to appear at the bar of Con- gress, ib. , resigns his cffice, ib. Paoli, battie of, 229 Paper money issued by Massachusetts Provincial Congress, 153 ; by Conti- nental Congress, 163, 280 ; depreci- ation of, 280 Parker, Admiral, arrives off the coast of Carolina, 191 ; his unsuccessful at- tack on the fort near Charleston, , 192 ; takes Rhode Island, 212 Party names applied in the Colonies, 136 ; spirit in the Continental Con- gress, 299 Paulus' Hook, fort at, captured by Americans under Major Lee of Vir- ginia, 290 Peace, of 1697, between England and France, 28 ; of Utrecht and its terms, thirty years between Eng- land and France, 29 ; treaty of Aix- la-Chapelle, 30; treaty of Paris, 46; people of England anxious for, in 1782, 353 ; preliminary negotiations for a general peace in Europe and America, 354; treaty of, signed and ratified, 355 Peekskill, capture of military stores at, 222 Penn, William, heirs of, protest against the Canada boundary bill, 120 Pennsylvania Convention appoints dele- gates to Congress with instructions (1774), 129 Penobscot, failure of General Lovell's expedition to, 290 ANALYTICAL INDEX. 505 Philadelphia, citizens of, oppose Stamp Act, 67, 68 ; Tea not permitted to be landed, 111; British army under Gen. Howe take possession of, 229 ; conduct of British troops at, 259, 260; departure of Gen. Howe, and fete given him by his officers, 259; Sir Henry Clinton takes command, ib. : British army evacuate the city, 260; American at my under General Arnold take possession, ib. Phillips, Ge7i., taken prisoner at the surrender of Burgoyne, exchanged for Gen. Lincoln, 325 ; sent by Clin- ton to join Arnold in Virginia, 330 ; their joint operations, ib. ; his death at Petersburg, 340 Pitt, William, made Prime Minister, 40 ; contemplates the conquest of Canada — assigns an active part to Wolfe, 41 ; his course on the Stamp act, 53 ; takes the part of the Ame- ricans, 72 ; replies to Grenville, 73 ; proposes a repeal of the Stamp act, ib. ; created Earl of Chatham, 76, curious cabinet formed by him, ib. ; (See Chatham) Predatory expeditions of the British, 246, 247, 263, 285, 286 Prescott, Colonel, commands Americans at Bunker's Hill, 167 Prescott, Major- General, of the British army, captured at Rhode Island, by Col. Barton, 226 ; exchanged for General Lee, 260 Prevost, General, commands the British army at the South, 282 ; his various operations, 282, 283 ; re-organizes the government of Georgia, ib. ; at- tacks and defeats General Moultrie, ib. ; plans an attack upon Charles- ton, 284 ; summons the town to sur- render, ib. ; withdraws his troops, and moves towards Savannah, ib. ; successfully defends Savannah against an attack by the Americans and French, 291 Princeton, battle of, 220 Privateers, American, enterprise and umbers of, 180 : successful exploits , ISO, 269 / rivateers, British, authorized against Americans by " Letters of Marque," issued by act of Parliament, 222 Providence, R. I., people of, destroy the British revenue-schooner Gaspee, 103 Provincial Convention formed in Massa- chusetts, 81 Congress formed in same colony, 128 Congresses and assemblies of the colo- nies approve of the proceedings of Congress of 1774, 135 Congress of Massachusetts enrol mili- tia, 137 ; invite other colonies to join them, ib. Congresses and assemblies formed thoughout the colonies, 137 99 Pulaski, Count, distinguished in the bat- tle of Brandywine, and made a briga- dier-general, 22S ; acts with General Moultrie at the South, 283, 284; killed while charging a British force at the attack on Savannah, 292 ; con- gress erect a monument to his memo- ry at Savannah, 292 Putnam, Israel, commands a corps of Connecticut troops, 153 ; appointed major-general in the Continental army, 164 ; one of the commanders at Bunker's Hill, 168; at the battle of Long Island, 201 ; at the retreat from New York, 206; takes com- mand at Philadelphia, 210; stationed on the highlands of Hudson River, 226 ; a spy (Lieut. Palmer, of the British army) taken in his camp, and executed by his order, ib.; his letteir to Gov. Tryon on the subject, ib.; commands troops at Danbury, Conn., 269 ; his daring feat at West Green- wich, ib. Quebec, expedition against, 1629— cap- tured — its restoration to France — second English expedition against it, 27; defended by Frontenac — third English expedition against it — its failure, 28; strongly fortified, 42; surrendered to the English, 45 ; change in laws for the government of, 120; attacked by Montgomery and Arnold, 175 ; successfully de- fended by the garrison, 176 Quincy, Josiah, his remarks at the Bos- ton town-meeting, 1773, 108 R. Randolph, American Frigate (Captain Biddle), engages the British ship Yarmouth, and is destroyed, 269 Rawdon, Lord, commands a division of the British army at the South, 308; is joined by Cornwallis, and they defeat Gen. Gates at Sanders's Creek, ib.; engages Gen. Greene, near Cam- den, 335 ; burns Camden, and re- treats to the South, ib. ; raises the siege of Ninety-Six, 336 ; retires to Eutaw Springs, resigns his command to Col. Stewart, and returns to Eng- land, 339 Red Bank (on the Delaware) Fort at- tacked by the Hessians, who are re- pulsed by the Americans, 229 ; Lord Cornwallis marches against it, and the Americans retreat, ib. Refugees, see Tories Regulators, origin and organization of, in North Carolina, 101 ; action with Tryon's toops, 1771, 102 Reidesel, Baroness, her account of the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne, 243 Revolt of part of the Continental army quelled, 328, 329 506 ANALYTICAL INDEX. Revolution in the Colonies assumes a distinct form in 1774, 137; further movements in 1775, 156; conclusion of, 367 Revolutionary Writers, 368 Rhode Island, people of, burn the British revenue-schooner Gaspee, 103 ; Bri- tish take possession of the islands of Rhode Island, Conanicut, and Pru- dence, 212 ; siege of Newport by the Americans, 263 ; battle of, ib. ; eva- cuated bv the British, 291 Ridgefield, battle of, 222 Rivington, James (King's Printer), his press destroyed by Americans under Capt. Sears, 179; his press re-esta- blished, 301 ; publishes a letter al- leged to have been written by Mr. Laurens, President of Congress, charging members with corruption, 301 Rochambeau, Count de, commander of the French army, arrives at New- port, 31 3r, meets Washington in con- ference at Hartford, 314; they pro- ceed in company to Virginia, 342 ; siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis, 343,344; the Count re- ceives a special vote of thanks from Congress, 344; returns to France, 489 Rockingham, Marquis of, premier, 71 ; cabinet dissolved, 76; premier again in 1782, 353 ; dies, and is succeeded by Shelburne, 354 Roebuck, Dr., employed by British ministers to counteract Dr. Franklin, 139 ; procures petitions from the people in favor of ministers, 140 Royalists, see Tories Sag Harbor, L.I., destruction of British vessels and stores at, by Colonel Meigs, 224 St. Leger, Colonel, sends an expedition against Fort Schuyler on the Mo- hawk, 234 ; his defeat and final re- treat, 236, 237 Savannah, battle of, and defeat of the Americans, 268 ; is taken by the British troops under Colonel Camp- bell, 268; attacked by the French and Americans, and successfully de- fended by General Prevost, 291 Schuyler, General, commands the north- ern army, 215 ; commands the forces to oppose General Burgoyne, 235; evacuates Fort Edward, and retreats towards the Hudson, ib. ; his army increased, ib. ; is succeeded in the chief command by General Gates, 237 ; his humanity and kind treat- ment of the British prisoners, 243 Schuyler, Fort, siege of, by Colonei St. Leger, 236; gallant defence of, by Colonel Gansevoort, and retreat of St. Leger, 23^ Sears, Captain Isaac, destroys Riving- ton's printing press at New York, 179 ; seizes Rev. Mr. Seabury and other clergymen of the Church of England, ib. Slaves, great numbers captured by the British, 285, 341 Smith, Adam, endeavors to counteract Doctor Franklin's movements in England, 139 Sons of Liberty, origin of Societies of, 68 ; name given to Patriots by Colo- nel Barre, 95 South Carolina, effect of the battle of Lexington and acts of Parliament on the people, 155; vigorous measures adopted by, ib. ; Provincial Congress convoked, ib. ; Bills of credit emit- ted, ib. ; campaign in 1780-81, 331 to 340. See Charleston, Clinton, Cornwallis, and Greene. Spain joins France against England, 290 ; her pecuniary aid to the U. S., 329 Springfield, JV. J, battle at, 313 ; burned by the British, ib. Stamp Act, proposed by Grenville, 55 ; opposed by Colonel Barre, 59; pas- sage of, 60 ; reception of, in America, ib. ; mobs and riots on account of, 66, 67; discussion on, in Parliament, 72, 73, 74 ; repealed 74 ; rejoicings on account of repeal in England and America, ib. Stark, General, defeats the British under Colonel Baum, at Bennington, 236 Steuben, Baron, arrives in the U. S., and tenders his services to Congress, 249 ; succeeds General Conway, as In- spector-General, and introduces a system of tactics and discipline into the army, 254 Stirling, General Lord, commands , part of the American Troops on Long Island, 202 ; gallantry of his com- mand in that battle, ib ; is defeated and taken prisoner, 203 ; at the bat- tle of Trenton, 211 ; is defeated by Cornwallis, near Middlebrook, 225 ; joins Putnam on the Hudson river, 226 ; attempts an attack upon Staten Island, but is compelled to retreat, 311 Stony Point, Fort at, taken by the Bri- tish, 286; stormed and recaptured by the Americans under Wayne, 288 ; abandoned by Wayne, and again gar- risoned by the British, 289 ; evacu- ated by the British, 291 Sullivan, John, appointed Brigadier- General, 167; commands a division of the army on Long Island, 202 ; is defeated and taken prisoner at the battle of L. I., 202, 203; is parolled, and sent by Lord Howe with a mes- sage to Congress, 204 ; is exchanged, and succeeds General Charles Lee in command, 210 ; at the battle of Trea- ANALYTICAL INDEX. 507 Sullivan, John — ton, 211; is ordered to cross the Hud- son, and encamp near Peekskill, 226 ; commands the right wing of the army at the battle of Brandywine, 22S ; is attacked by Cornwallis, and compelled to retreat, ib. : his expe- dition against the British troops at Rhode Island, 263 ; battle of Rhode Island, ib. ; his admirable retreat, ib. ; commands an expedition against the hostile Indians on the Susque- hannah, 292 ; burns their villages,and compels them to retreat to the wil- derness, 293 Sumter, Colonel, a partisan leader at the South, attacks the British regulars and tories at Rocky Mount, and is repulsed, 307 ; defeats them at Hang- ing Rock, ib. ; after a successful at- tack on the Wateree, he is defeated by Colonel Tarleton, 309; created Brigadier-General, collects a band of volunteers, and again harasses the British army, 310; defeats Major Wemvs at Broad River, and Colonel Tarleton at Blackstock, 311 Tallmage, Major, his gallant enter- prise against Fort George ; on Long Island, 324 Tarleton, Col., defeats and cuts to pieces a body of Americans in Caro- lina, 307 ; charges and disperses American troops with great slaugh- ter, at Sanders's Creek, 30S ; his ope- rations checked by Marion, 310 ; defeated by Morgan at the Cowpens, pursued by Colonel W. Washington, 331 Taxes, on the colonies, proposed by Grenville, 55 ; right of imposing asserted by colonies, 57 ; recommen- ded by George III.,5S; Stamp act passed, 00 ; repealed, 74; new law proposed and passed, 77 ; resisted by the colonies, 78 Tea, Duties on, imposed by Parliament, 77 ; retained in 1769, 86 ; exports of, to the Colonies from England, 86 ; importers of, unpopular, 91 ; parlia- ment refuse to repeal duty on, 99 ; export duty on shipments to Ame- rica, removed, 107 ; arrival of cargoes at Boston, ib. ; people of Boston resolve that it shall not be landed, ib. ; destruction of, in Boston har- Dor, 110; not permitted to be sold elsewhere, 111 Txconderoga, strengthened by the French, 3S ; attacked by Abercrom- bie, 40 ; expedition against, planned, 159 ; taken by Allen and Arnold, ib. ; invested and taken by General Burgoyne, 234 ; attacked by the Americans, who are repulsed, 238 Townshend, Charles, supports the Stamp act, 59 ; Chancellor of Exchequer in the Earl of Chatham's Cabinet, 76 ; proposes a new scheme for taxing the colonies, which is carried in Parliament, 77 ; death of, 83 Tories, or royalists, conduct of, 199; their loyalty checked by the conduct of British and Hessian troops, 221 ; a detachment of, under Gov. Tryon, destroy Continental village West- chester, with barracks and military stores, 246 ; operations of (with Indian allies) in the valley of Wyo- ming, 265; also at Cherry Valley, 267 ; depredations on the Southern frontier, ib. ; great numbers of, join the British army at the South, 2S2 ; increasing number of, in 1780 at the South, 304 Tory, appellation of, to the colonial roy- alists, 136, origin of the term, ib.; families leave Boston with Gen. Howe, 190 Treason of Arnold, 314 Treaty, of neutrality with the Indians, 41 ; of Paris, its conditions, 46 ; of alliance between France and Ame- rica, 248 ; between France and Spain, 290 ; of peace, between U. S. and Great Britain, signed and rati- fied, 355 Trenton, battle of, 211, 212; reception of Washington at, 364 Troops, British, land near Quebec, 42; cross the St. Lawrence, their critical situation, 43 ; glide down the St. Lawrence, ascend the heights of Abraham, 44 ; British arrive in Boston, 80 ; additional, sent from England, 147, 167, 183 ; German or Hessians employed, 183 ; British evacuate Boston, 190; arrive off Sandy Hook, 199 ; land on Long Island, 202; enter city of New York, 206 ; (see Army) Tryon, Governor of JV. Carolina, his tyrannical character and practices, 101 ; leads his troops against the Regulators, 102 ; his cruelty towards prisoners, ib. Tryon, Governor of New York, opera- tions of, 178 ; his plan to take Washington prisoner, 199 ; takea refuge in the ship Asia, 222 ; com- mands an expedition to Connecticut, ib,; burns Danbury, 223; attacked by Americans under Wooster and Arnold, and retreats, ib. ; destroys Continental village, 246 ; his second predatory expedition to Connecticut, 286 ; burns Fairfield and Norwalk, 287 U. United States^ name adopted by Co*; «ress, 196 508 ANALYTICAL INDEX. Valley Forge, encampment of Ame- ricans at, 230 ; sufferings of the army at, 251,252; number encamped at, 251 ; march of the army from, 259, 260 Vergennes, Count de, Prime minister of France, negotiates a treaty of alliance with the United States, 249 ; his talents and character, ib. VerplanWs Point, Fort La Fayette at, captured by the British, 2S6 ; unsuc- cessfully attacked by Wayne, 289 ; evacuated by the British, 29 L Virginia, opposes the stamp act, 60, 71 ; sympathizes with Massachusetts, 100; House of Burgesses petition the King, ib. ; recommend committees of correspondence, adopting resolu- tions of Dabney Carr, 104 ; effect of the Boston port bill on public mind in, 122; fast day appointed by Bur- gesses, ib. ; Assembly dissolved by Lord Dunmore, 123 ; members or- ganize an association, ib. ; recom- mend a general Congress, ib. ; Pro- vincial Congress convened, 157; re- commends a volunteer corps, ib. speech of Patrick Henry, ib. ; British expedition against, 258 W. Walpole, Horace, indifferent on Ameri- can affairs, 59. War, declared between France and Eng- land, 27; declared by England against France — Queen Anne's, 28 ; between England and France — its origin, 29 ; formally declared be- tween England and France — vigorous preparations, 38 ; end of the "seven years," 48 ; preparations for, in the Colonies in 1774, 126 ; commences in earnest, 153 ; between France and England, 256 ; between Spain and England, 290; between Holland and England, 326 ; conclusion, and ge- neral peace, 354. Warren, Commodore, joins the expe- dition against Louisburg, 29. Warren, Joseph, appointed Major Ge- neral, 168 ; killed at battle of Bunker Hill, 170. Washington, George, appointed a com- missioner to confer with the French ; his youth and character ; expedition to the French forts ; his reception by M. de St. Pierre; bearer of a letter to the Governor of Virginia; his return to Williamsburgh, 32 ; his interview with French officers; made Colonel; placed in command of troops ; leads them against the French and Indians ; events and re- sults of his expedition, 33 ; enters the army under Braddock, 35; his bravery and preservation at Brad- [ Washington, George — dock's defeat, 36 ; leaves the service, 37; approves of the non-importation agreement, ^S ; member of the Vir- ginia House of Burgesses, 82 ; pre- sents non-importation resolutions, ib. ; appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army, 164; his speech on the occasion, ib. ; copy of his commission, ib. ; joins the con- tinental army, 170; introduces dis- cipline and organization, ib. ; ap- peals to Congress on the state of the army, 180; reorganizes the army, ib. ; accepts Gen. Howe's terms of proposal to quit Boston, 189; enters Boston with the Continental army, 190 ; marches the army to New York, 191 ; plot to capture him discovered and broken up, 199 ; his reception of the letters of Lord Howe, 201 ; his army defeated on Long Island ; re- treats to New York, 203 ; withdraws the troop9 from the city, 206 ; directs various movements of the army, 207 ; retires to the heights near White Plains, 208; his army de- feated at White Plains, ib. ; crosses the Hudson river with his army, and retreats through New Jersey before the British army, ib. ; crosses the Delaware with the troops to Penn- sylvania, 209 ; his firmness under de- feat and disaster, 210; appointed Military Dictator by Congress, 211; crosses the Delaware and captures a body of Hessians at Trenton, 211, 212 ; successful stratagem of, and battle of Princeton, 220 ; retreats to Morristown, where he establishes his head-quarters, 221; overruns New Jersey with his troops, ib. ; in- oculates his army for the small pox, 222 ; breaks up his encampment at Morristown and marches to Middle- brook, near the British head-quar- ters, at New Brunswick, 224 ; avoids an action with Gen. Howe, 225 ; is left in quiet possession of New Jer- sey, ib. ; is perplexed about the des- tination of the British army and fleet, 225, 226 ; marches to German- town, near Philadelphia, ib. ; con- fers with Congress, 227 ; meets La Fayette, who becomes a member of his military family, ib. ; marches to the Brandywine, and meets the British army, ib. ; is defeated, and retreats to Philadelphia, 228 ; re- solves to risk another battle, but a storm prevents, 229 ; abandons Phi- ladelphia to the British army, ib ; attacks the British camp at German- town, and is defeated, after a severe action, 229, 230; is attacked at Whitemarsh by Gen. Howe (who, after a few skirmishes, falls back ANALYTICAL INDEX. 500 Washington, George— upon Philadelphia), 230 ; goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, ib. ; his letter to Congress relative to the sufferings of the army, 252 ; is join- ed by Mrs. Washington at Valley Forge, 253 ; conspiracy formed against him, and an attempt made to supersede him, ib. ; forged letters attributed to him, 254 ; his firmness and prudence on the occasion, 255 ; retains the confidence of the people, ib. ; sends La Fayette with a de- tachment to watch the movements of the enemy, 260 ; marches the army from Valley Forge (on receiv- ing intelligence of the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British), and crosses to New Jersey, ib. ; deter- mines to pursue the British army and attack them, ib. ; engages them at Monmouth Court House, 201 ; reprimands Gen. Lee for his con- duct in that battle, ib. ; passes the night upon the battle field, intending to renew the contest in the morning, but finds the British had retreated, • 261, 262; receives the thanks of Congress, 262; crosses the Hudson to White Plains, and in November goes into winter-quarters at Middle- brook, New Jersey, ib. ; sends troops against the hostile Indians on the Susquehannah, 2G6 ; opposes the scheme for invading Canada, 275 ; warns Congress against the designs of France, ib. ; confers with Con- gress on the subject, and induces them to abandon the scheme, 276 ; his anxiety respecting dissensions in Congress, ib. ; prepares for the next campaign, and sends General Lin- coln to take command at the south, 277 ; confers with Congress on plans for the campaign of 1779, 279; sends General Wayne to attack Stony Point, 2S9 ; orders Major Lee to attempt the capture of the British fort at Paulus's Hook, 290; goes into winter-quarters at Morris- town, 296 ; sends a reinforcement to General Lincoln at the south, ib.; demands and obtains a supply of provisions for his army from the people of New Jersey, 299 ; sends a large force to the Carolinas, 308 ; appoints General Greene to super- sede General Gates in command of the southern army, 311 ; expresses to Congress great confidence in Ge- neral Greene, ib. ; receives commis- sions of Lieutenant General and Vice Admiral from Louis XVI., 312 ; sends a detachment from Mor- ristown, under General Greene, to meet the British army in New Jer- sey, 313; meditates an attack upon Washington George — New York, ib. ; meets Rochambeau (French General), at Hartford, Con- necticut, 314 ; Andre's design for capturing him and his staff", 319; discovery of the treason of Arnold, 323 ; conduct of Washington on that occasion, ib. ; appeals to Congress for more troops and longer enlist- ments, 325; failure of his attempt to capture Arnold in Virginia, 330 ; holds a conference with the French officers in Connecticut, and forms a junction of the American and French armies on the Hudson, 341 ; pre- pares to attack New York, ib. ; ad- vances to a position near the city, but changes his plan, and the com- bined armies march for Virginia, 342; precedes the army with De Rochambeau, and arrives at La Fayette's head-quarters at Williams- burg, ib. ; receives the surrender of Cornwallis and the British army at Yorktown, 344; endeavors, in vain, to induce Count De Grasse to aid in the reduction of Charleston, 347 ; adopts vigilant measures for the campaign of 1782; establishes his head-quarters at Newburg, New- York, 352 ; his humane conduct in the case of Captain Asgill, ib. ; dis- content of the army after the con- clusion of peace, and a monarchy proposed to Washington, 356 ; his reply and rebuke, ib. ; his prudence and influence induce the soldiers to disband quietly, 357; his farewell address to the army, 358 ; resigns to Congress his commission as Com- mander in Chief, 359 ; elected a delegate to the Convention to form a Constitution for the United States, and chosen President of that body, 363; elected President of the United States, 364 ; his progress to New York, ib. ; his inauguration, 367. Washington, Colonel W, commands a body of cavalry under General Mor- gan, 331 ; defeats and pursues Colo- nel Tarleton at the battle of the Covvpens, 331 ; is presented with a medal by Congress, 332. Wayne, General, his gallantry a£ *ae battle of Brandywine, 228', is sur- prised and defeated at Paoli, 229; commands a division of the army on marching from Valley Forge, 260; leads the attack at the battle of Monmouth, 261; storms and cap- tures Stony Point fort, 288 ; receives the thanks of Congress and a medal, 2S9 ; letter to him from Doctor Rush, ib. ; joins La Fayette in Vir- ginia, 340; his skilful attack on the British, and retreat, 341 ; is sent by General Greene into Georgia, and 510 ANALYTICAL INDEX. Wayne, General— defeats the British in several actions, 352. West Point, fortress at, strength and im- portance of, 316 ; General Arnold appointed to the command of, ib. ; negotiations of Arnold with Sir Henry Clinton to surrender to the British, ib. ; failure of the scheme, 320. Wliig, party name of, applied to patriots, 136 ; origin of the name, ib. Wilkes, John, takes part in favor of the Colonies, 147. Wolfe, General, at the siege of Louis- burg, 40; his campaign on the St. Lawrence, 42 ; takes possession of Point Levi; erects batteries; be- sieges Quebec and resolves on an as- sault; his desponding letter to Pitt, Wolfe, General — 43; effect of his letter; determines to scale the Heights of Abraham, 44; his death at Quebec, 45. Wooster, General, commands the Ame- rican troops in Fairfield county, Connecticut, 223 ; is killed at the battle of Ridgefield, ib. Wyoming Valley, massacre of the peo- ple of, by Tories and Indians, 265. Y. Yorktown, Cornwallis and the British army encamp at, and fortify, 341 ; invested by the combined American and French armies, 343 ; surrender of Cornwallis, 344; Congress re- solves to erect a marble column at, ib. fs