The military career of Colonel Burr was now drawing to a close. The
state of his health became alarming. His constitution was shattered.
His medical and other friends were of the opinion that he was
incapable of enduring the fatigues of another campaign. In the
judgment and talents of Dr. Eustis he reposed great confidence. That
gentleman pressed upon him, in a manner the most affectionate, the
necessity for his retiring. The sacrifice required of Burr was
inconceivably great. All his views and feelings were military. He
seemed as though he was born a soldier. He was ambitious of fame in
his profession. He had acquired a character for vigilance and
intrepidity unrivalled in the army. He was more than respected by his
brother officers, and idolized by the troops. As a man and a citizen,
he was exceedingly disliked by General Washington. Causes, unnecessary
to examine at this late period of time, had created between these
gentlemen feelings of hostility that were unconquerable, and were
never softened or mollified. Yet even General Washington, while he
considered Burr destitute of morals and of principle, respected him as
a soldier, and gave repeated evidence of entire confidence in his
gallantry, his persevering industry, his judgment, and his discretion.
At length, however, protracted disease compelled him to abandon all
those hopes of glory, nobly won in the battle-field, which had
inflamed his ardent and youthful mind; and on the 10th of March, 1779,
he tendered to the commander-in-chief his resignation.
TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
Phillipsburgh, 10th March, 1779.
Sir,
The reasons I did myself the honour to mention to your excellency in a
letter of September last still exist, and determine me to resign my
rank and command in the army.
The polite indulgence you favoured me with at that time restored
temporarily my health. At the instance of General McDOUGALL, I
accepted the command of these posts; but I find my health unequal to
the undertaking, and have acquainted him of my intentions to retire.
He has ordered an officer to relieve me before the 15th of March, on
which day I purpose to leave this command and the army.
Very respectfully,
A. BURR.
FROM GENERAL WASHINGTON.
Middlebrook, 3d April, 1779.
Sir,
I have to acknowledge your favour of the 10th ultimo. Perfectly
satisfied that no consideration save a desire to reestablish your
health could induce you to leave the service, I cannot therefore
withhold my consent. But, in giving permission to your retiring from
the army, I am not only to regret the loss of a good officer, but the
cause which makes his resignation necessary. When it is convenient to
transmit the settlement of your public accounts, it will receive my
final acceptance.
I am, &c.,
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
A few days previous to Colonel Burr's resignation of his commission,
he received from the widow of General Montgomery the following
letter:--
FROM MRS. J. MONTGOMERY.
Rhinebeck, 7th March, 1779.
SIR,
I should before this have answered your obliging letter, had not the
marriage of my eldest sister entirely taken up my time. I now return
you, sir, many thanks for your kind offers of service. The sincerity
with which they were made would have allowed me to accept them,
without fears of giving you trouble, had I not determined to run no
more risks, as I have been very unfortunate in my ventures that way.
You have awakened all my sensibility by the praises you bestow on my
unfortunate general. He was, indeed, an angel sent us for a moment.
Alas! for me, that this world was not more worthy of him--then had I
still been the happiest of women, _and his friends in stations more
equal to their own merits_. Reflections like these imbitter
continually each day as it passes. But I trust in the same merciful
Hand which has held me from sinking in my extreme calamity, that he
will still support and make me worthy of a blessed meeting hereafter.
Can you excuse, sir, the overflowing of a heart that knows not where
to stop when on a subject so interesting?
Mr. Tutard tells me you mean to quit the service. Whenever that
happens, you will doubtless have leisure to pay us a visit, which I
wish you to believe will give real pleasure to,
Sir, your obliged
J. MONTGOMERY.
FROM WILLIAM PATERSON.
The Ponds, 18th March, 1779.
MY DEAR BURR,
I came to this place yesterday in the afternoon, and regret extremely
that I did not arrive earlier in the day, as I should have received
your letter. My stay here will be uncertain. At home I must be by the
beginning of April. I should be happy in seeing you before my return,
but how to effect it is the question. If I could possibly disengage
myself from business, I would take a ride to Paramus. My best respects
await on Mrs. Prevost; and every thing you think proper to the
mistress of your affections. I am married, Burr, and happy. May you be
equally so. I cannot form a higher or a better wish. You know I should
rejoice to meet you. Tell Mrs. Prevost that I shall take it unkindly
if she does not call upon me whenever she thinks I can be of any
service to her. To oblige her will give me pleasure for her own sake,
and double pleasure for yours. This is a strange, unconnected scroll;
you have it as it comes.
I congratulate you on your return to civil life, for which (I cannot
forbear the thought) we must thank a certain lady not far from
Paramus. May I have occasion soon to thank her on another account; and
may I congratulate you both in the course of the next moon for being
in my line: I mean the married. Adieu.
I am most sincerely yours,
WILLIAM PATERSON.
FROM GENERAL McDOUGALL.
Headquarters, Peekskill, 20th March, 1779.
SIR,
My late intelligence from New-York and headquarters clearly mark the
enemy's intention to make a movement very soon. Whether it is intended
against the grand army, these posts, or New-London, time only can
determine. It is, however, our duty to be prepared. As a few days will
open up his views, _I imagine you do not think of quitting the ground
when business is to be done_. Should the enemy move up the river in
force, his thieves will be very busy below. Colonel Hammond's
regiment, on such an event, is to remain there; and one hundred rank
and file of continental troops _only_ are to keep them in countenance.
The rest, under charge of officers, to be sent up to join their corps.
You know the state of forage at this post. I wish you would make an
exertion to your left in front, to secure all you can for us; as much
as will consist with the safety of your party, and covering to the
rebels at Tarrytown. Send for Haynes and his assistant, and keep them
on the ground till they secure all that is practicable to be got from
your left. The weather has been so stormy and uncertain, the ----- are
not yet sent for. To-morrow morning it will be done. Please to attend
to the enclosed order respecting provisions. Late Learned's is moved
to West Point.
Major Hull's, of the 19th, is this moment received, and will be
attended to. I wish Captain Kearsley, Lieutenants Hunter and Lawrence,
to be sent to their regiments when Colonel Burr has finished what he
intends. They are much wanted. Note the contents of the enclosed
resolve.
Yours, very respectfully,
ALEXANDER McDOUGALL.
It has been seen that Colonel Burr, while he commanded at White
Plains, on the frontier, not only kept the adjacent country in a state
of security, but that he kept the enemy in complete check. He was
succeeded in his command by Colonel Littlefield, who was soon
captured, and the post abandoned. Major Hull, in a letter to Colonel
Burr, dated the 29th of May, 1779, says, "_The ground you so long
defended is now left to the depredations of the enemy, and our friends
in distressing circumstances_."
In the beginning of June, Sir Henry Clinton captured the forts at
Stony Point and Verplanck's Point, and threatened West Point. His
force in this direction was upwards of six thousand rank and file. The
communication between General Washington, who was in New-Jersey, and
General McDOUGALL, who was at Newburgh, was greatly embarrassed.
Bandits were placed by the British in or near the passes through the
chains of mountains leading to Sussex, for the purpose of capturing
the expresses charged with despatches. At this critical moment Colonel
Burr was on a visit to McDOUGALL, who informed him that he had made
various unsuccessful attempts to communicate with Washington, and that
his expresses had either been captured or had deserted. After
apologizing to Burr, who was no longer in active service, the general
stated the importance of the commander-in-chief's knowing the position
and movements of the enemy, as well as the state of the American army.
He then very courteously requested Burr to be the bearer of a verbal
communication to Washington on the subject. To this, notwithstanding
his ill health and the danger of the enterprise, he assented. The
mission was undertaken and succeeded. He was also charged at the same
time with _verbal_ orders from General St. Clair, of a confidential
character, to officers commanding at different posts.
_To whom it may concern_:--
Colonel Burr, being on urgent public business, is to be put across the
ferry to New-Windsor without delay. Given this second day of June,
1779.
ALEXANDER McDOUGALL, Major-general.
_To whom it may concern_:--
Colonel Burr, being on very pressing public business, every magistrate
will assist him in changing horses, and all friends of the country
will also assist him.
June 2d, 1779. ALEXANDER McDOUGALL, Major-general.
_To whom it may concern_:--
Colonel Burr, being on urgent public business, must be put across the
ferry to Fishkill landing without a moment's delay. Given at Pompton,
3d June, 1779.
ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, Major-general.
_To whom it may concern_:--
The quartermaster and commissary, at Newburgh or New-Windsor, will
receive and observe, as my orders, the verbal directions given by
Colonel Burr. Given at Pompton, 3d June, 1779.
ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, Major-general.
On this enterprise a most amusing incident occurred. Colonel Burr
arrived at the iron-works of the elder Townsend, in Orange county,
with a tired and worn-out horse. No other could be obtained; but,
after some detention, a half-broken mule, named _Independence_, was
procured, and the colonel mounted. But _Independence_ refused to obey
orders, and a battle ensued. The mule ran off with his rider, and
ascended a high bank, on the side of which stood a coal-house, filled
with coal through an aperture in the top. At length, _Independence_,
in the hope of clearing himself of his encumbrance, entered the
coal-house at full speed, the colonel firmly keeping his seat, and
both came down an inclined plane of coal, not less than thirty feet in
height. On reaching the ground without injury, Burr hired a man to
lead the animal a mile or two, and then again mounted him and pursued
his journey. This scene was exhibited on a hot day in the month of
June, amid a cloud of coal-dust. The anecdote Burr occasionally
repeated to his friends, and some of the younger branches of the
Townsend family.
About the first of July, 1779, Colonel Burr, then in feeble health,
visited his friends in Connecticut. He was at New-Haven when, on the
5th of July, the British landed, with 2600 men, in two divisions; one
under Governor Tryon, at East Haven, and the other under Garth, at
West Haven. At East Haven, where Tryon commanded, great excesses were
committed, and the town set on fire. Colonel Burr was at this moment
confined to his bed; but, on hearing that the enemy were advancing,
rose and proceeded to a part of the town where a number of persons had
collected. He volunteered to take command of the militia, and made an
unsuccessful attempt to rally them. At this moment he was informed
that the students had organized themselves, and were drawn up in the
college-yard. He immediately galloped to the ground, and addressed
them; appealing, in a few words, to their patriotism and love of
country; imploring them to set the example, and march out in the
defence of those rights which would, at a future day, become their
inheritance. All he asked was, that they would receive and follow him
as their leader.
The military character of Colonel Burr was known to the students. They
confided in his intrepidity, experience, and judgment. In their ranks
there was no faltering. They promptly obeyed the summons, and
volunteered. Some skirmishing soon ensued, and portions of the militia
united with them. The British, ignorant of the force that might be
presented, retired; but shortly returned, with several pieces of
artillery, when a cannonading commenced, and the boys retreated in
good order. An American historian says,--"The British entered the town
after being much galled and harassed." The slight check which they
thus received afforded an opportunity for the removal of some
valuables, and many of the women and children.
Trifling and unimportant as this skirmishing appears to have been,
Colonel Burr never referred to the incident but with exultation and
pride. Perhaps no event in his military life has he more frequently
mentioned. The confidence evinced by these young men he considered
complimentary to himself as a soldier; and usually alluded to the
circumstance as evidence of the effect which the character of an
officer would ever have upon undisciplined men, when called to command
them upon trying occasions.
The following letter, written by Colonel Platt, will close all that is
intended to be said of Colonel Burr as a soldier. More space has been
occupied with an account of his military character than would have
been thus occupied, if it was not known that he felt proud of his own
career as an officer. For history Mr. Burr entertained a great
contempt. He confided but little in its details. These prejudices were
probably strengthened by the consideration that justice, in his
opinion, had not been done to himself.
COLONEL RICHARD PLATT TO COMMODORE VALENTINE MORRIS.
New-York, January 27th, 1814.
DEAR SIR,
In reply to yours of the 20th of November last, requesting to be
informed what was the reputation and services of Colonel Burr during
the revolutionary war? I give you the following detail of facts, which
you may rely on. No man was better acquainted with him, and his
military operations, than your humble servant, who served in that war
from the 28th of June, 1775, till the evacuation of our capital on the
memorable 25th of November, 1783; having passed through the grades of
lieutenant, captain, major, major of brigade, aid-de-camp, deputy
adjutant-general, and deputy quartermaster-general; the last of which
by selection and recommendation of Generals Greene, McDOUGALL, and
Knox, in the most trying crisis of the revolution, viz., the year
1780, when the continental money ceased to pass, and there was no
other fiscal resources during that campaign but what resulted from the
creative genius of Timothy Pickering, at that crisis appointed
successor to General Greene, the second officer of the American army,
who resigned the department because there was no money in the national
coffers to carry it through the campaign, declaring that he could not,
and would not attempt it, without adequate resources, such as he
abounded in during the term of nearly three years antecedently as
quartermaster-general.
In addition to the foregoing, by way of elucidation, it is to be
understood by you, that so early as from the latter part of the year
1776, I was always attached to a commanding general; and, in
consequence, my knowledge of the officers and their merits was more
general than that of almost any other in service. My operations were
upon the extended scale, from the remotest parts of Canada, wherever
the American standard had waved, to the splendid theatre of Yorktown,
when and where I was adjutant-general to the chosen troops of the
northern army.
At the commencement of the revolution, Colonel Burr, then about
eighteen years of age, at the first sound of the trump of war (as if
bred in the camp of the great Frederick, whose maxim was "to hold his
army always in readiness to break a lance with, or throw a dart
against, any assailant"), quit his professional studies, and rushed to
the camp of General Washington, at Cambridge, as a volunteer from
which he went with Colonel Arnold on his daring enterprise against
Quebec, through the wilds of Canada (which vied with Hannibal's march
over the Alps), during which toilsome and hazardous march he attracted
the attention and admiration of his commander so much, that he
(Arnold) sent him alone to meet and hurry down General Montgomery's
army from Montreal to his assistance; and recommended him to that
general, who appointed him an aid-de-camp, in which capacity he acted
during the winter, till the fatal assault on Quebec, in which that
gallant general, his aid McPherson, and Captain Cheeseman, commanding
the forlorn hope, fell. He afterwards continued as aid to Arnold, the
survivor in command.
Here I must begin to draw some of the outlines of his genius and
valour, which, like those of the British immortal, Wolf, who, at the
age of twenty-four, and only major of the 20th regiment, serving on
the continent, gave such specimens of genius and talents as to evince
his being destined for command.
At the perilous moment of Montgomery's death, when dismay and
consternation universally prevailed, and the column halted, he
animated the troops, and made many efforts to lead them on; and
stimulated them to enter the lower town; and might have succeeded, but
for the positive orders of Colonel Donald Campbell, the commanding
officer, for the troops to retreat. Had his plan been carried into
effect, it might have saved Arnold's division from capture, which had,
after our retreat, to contend with all the British force instead of a
part. On this occasion I commanded the first company in the first
New-York regiment, at the head of Montgomery's column, so that I speak
from ocular demonstration.
The next campaign, 1776, Colonel Burr was appointed aid-de-camp to
Major-general Putnam, second in command under General Washington at
New-York; and from my knowledge of that general's qualities and the
colonel's, I am very certain that the latter directed all the
movements and operations of the former.
In January, 1777, the continental establishment for the war commenced.
Then Colonel Burr was appointed by General Washington a
lieutenant-colonel in Malcolm's regiment, in which he continued to
serve until April, 1779, when the ill state of his health obliged him
to retire from active service, to the regret of General McDOUGALL,
commanding the department, and that of the commander-in-chief, who
offered to give him a furlough for any length of time, and to get
permission from the British general in New-York for him to go to
Bermuda for his health. This item will show his value in the
estimation of Generals Washington and McDOUGALL.
During the campaign of 1777, Malcolm's regiment was with the main
army, and commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Burr. For discipline, order,
and system, it was not surpassed by any in the service; and could his
(the lieutenant-colonel's) and Wolfe's orderly-books be produced, they
would be very similar in point of military policy and instructions,
and fit models for all regiments.
This regiment was also but led at the Valley Forge in 1777 and winter
of 1778, under General Washington, and composed part of his army at
the battle of Monmouth on the 28th of June, 1778, and continued with
it till the close of the campaign of that year, at which time it was
placed in garrison at West Point by General Gates; but, upon General
McDOUGALL's assuming the command of the posts in the highlands in
December, Malcolm's, Spencer's, and Patten's regiments were together
ordered to Haverstraw. The three colonels were permitted to go home
for the winter on furlough, and Lieutenant-colonel Burr had the
command of the whole brigade, at a very important advanced post.
At this period General McDOUGALL ordered a detachment of about three
hundred troops, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Littlefield,
of the Massachusetts line, to guard the lines in Westchester county,
then extending from Tarrytown to White Plains, and from thence to
Mamaroneck or Sawpits, which last extension was guarded by Connecticut
troops from Major-general Putnam's division.
In this situation of affairs a very singular occurrence presented,
viz., that neither Lieutenant-colonel Littlefield, nor any other of
his grade, in the two entire brigades of Massachusetts troops
composing the garrison of West Point, from which the lines were to be
relieved, was competent, in the general's estimation, to give security
to the army above and the lines of those below; and, in consequence,
he was compelled to call Colonel Burr from his station at Haverstraw
to the more important command of the lines in Westchester, in which
measure, unprecedented as it was, the officers acquiesced without a
murmur, from a conviction of its expediency. At this time I was doing
the duty of adjutant-general to General McDougall.
It was on this new and interesting theatre of war that the confidence
and affections of the officers and soldiers (who now became permanent
on the lines, instead of being relieved every two or three weeks as
before), as well as of the inhabitants, all before unknown to Colonel
Burr, were inspired with confidence by a system of consummate skill,
astonishing vigilance, and extreme activity, which, in like manner,
made such an impression on the enemy, that after an unsuccessful
attack on one of his advanced posts, he never made any other attack on
our lines during the winter.
His humanity, and constant regard to the security of the property and
persons of the inhabitants from injury and insult, were not less
conspicuous than his military skill, &c. No man was insulted or
disturbed. The health of the troops was perfect. Not a desertion
during the whole period of his command, nor a man made prisoner,
although the colonel was constantly making prisoners.
A country, which for three years before had been a scene of robbery,
cruelty, and murder, became at once the abode of security and peace.
Though his powers were despotic, they were exercised only for the
peace, the security, and the protection of the surrounding country and
its inhabitants.
In the winter of 1779, the latter part of it, Major Hull, an excellent
officer, then in the Massachusetts line, was sent down as second to
Colonel Burr, who, after having become familiarized to his system,
succeeded him for a short time in command, about the last of April, at
which time Colonel Burr's health would not permit him to continue in
command; but the major was soon compelled to fall back many miles, so
as to be within supporting distance of the army at the highlands.
The severity of the service, and the ardent and increasing activity
with which he had devoted himself to his country's cause, for more
than four years, having materially impaired his health, he was
compelled to leave the post and retire from active service. It was two
years before he regained his health.
Major Hull has ever since borne uniformly the most honourable
testimony of the exalted talents of his commander, by declaring his
gratitude for being placed under an officer whose system of duty was
different from that of all other commanders under whom he had served.
Having thus exhibited the colonel's line of march, and his operations
in service, I must now present him in contrast with his equals in
rank, and his superiors in command.
In September, 1777, the enemy came out on both sides of the Hudson
simultaneously, in considerable force, say from 2 to 3000 men. On the
east side (at Peekskill) was a major-general of our army, with an
effective force of about 2000 men. The enemy advanced, and our general
retired without engaging them. Our barracks and storehouses, and the
whole village of Peekskill, were sacked and burnt, and the country
pillaged.
On the west side, at the mouth of the Clove, near Suffren's, was
Colonel Burr, commanding Malcolm's regiment, about three hundred and
fifty men. On the first alarm he marched to find the enemy, and on the
same night attacked and took their picket-guard, rallied the country,
and made such show of war, that the enemy retreated the next morning,
leaving behind him the cattle, horses, and sheep he had plundered.
The year following, Lieutenant-colonel Thompson was sent to command on
the same lines in Westchester by General Heath, and he was surprised
at nine or ten o'clock in the day, and made prisoner, with a great
part of his detachment.
Again, in the succeeding winter, Colonel Greene, of the Rhode Island
line, with his own and another Rhode Island regiment, who was a very
distinguished officer, and had with these two regiments, in the year
1777, defeated the Hessian grenadiers under Count Donop, at Red Banks,
on the Delaware, who was mortally wounded and taken prisoner,
commanded on the lines in Westchester; there receded to Pine's bridge,
and in this position Colonel Greene's troops were also surprised after
breakfast and dispersed, the colonel himself and Major Flagg killed,
and many soldiers made prisoners, besides killed and wounded.
On the west side of the Hudson, in the year 1780, General Wayne, the
hero of Stony Point, with a large command and field artillery, made an
attack on a block-house nearly opposite to Dobbs's ferry, defended by
cowboys, and was repulsed with loss; whereas Colonel Burr burnt and
destroyed one of a similar kind, in the winter of 1779, near
Delancey's mills, with a very few men, and without any loss on his
part, besides capturing the garrison.
Here, my good friend commodore, I must drop the curtain till I see you
in Albany, which will be on the first week in February, where I can
and will convince you that he is the only man in America (that is, the
United States) who is fit to be a lieutenant-general; and let you and
I, and all the American people, look out for Mr. Madison's
lieutenant-general in contrast.
I am your friend,
RICHARD PLATT.