INCIDENTS OF THE CAMP.--ARNOLD BEFORE QUEBEC.
The forming even of the skeleton of an army under the new regulations,
had been a work of infinite difficulty; to fill it up was still more
difficult. The first burst of revolutionary zeal had passed away;
enthusiasm had been chilled by the inaction and monotony of a long
encampment; an encampment, moreover, destitute of those comforts
which, in experienced warfare, are provided by a well-regulated
commissariat. The troops had suffered privations of every kind, want
of fuel, clothing, provisions. They looked forward with dismay to the
rigors of winter, and longed for their rustic homes and their family
firesides.
[The Connecticut troops, whose time was expiring, were urged to remain
until December 10th, when their place would be supplied by new levies.
They refused, and withdrew on the 1st, thereby greatly weakening the
lines. This conduct excited great indignation, and the homeward-bound
warriors met with a reception on their arrival at home which prompted
many to return again to camp.]
On the very day after the departure homeward of these troops, and
while it was feared their example would be contagious, a long,
lumbering train of wagons, laden with ordnance and military stores,
and decorated with flags, came wheeling into the camp escorted by
continental troops and country militia. They were part of the cargo of
a large brigantine laden with munitions of war, captured and sent in
to Cape Ann by the schooner Lee, Captain Manly, one of the cruisers
sent out by Washington. Beside the ordnance captured, there were two
thousand stand of arms, one hundred thousand flints, thirty thousand
round shot, and thirty-two tons of musket balls.
It was a cheering incident, and was eagerly turned to account. Among
the ordnance was a huge brass mortar of a new construction, weighing
near three thousand pounds. It was considered a glorious trophy, and
there was a resolve to christen it. Mifflin, Washington's secretary,
suggested the name. The mortar was fixed in a bed; old Putnam mounted
it, dashed on it a bottle of rum, and gave it the name of "Congress."
With Washington, this transient gleam of nautical success was soon
overshadowed by the conduct of the cruisers he had sent to the St.
Lawrence. Failing to intercept the brigantines, the objects of their
cruise, they landed on the Island of St. Johns, plundered the house of
the governor and several private dwellings, and brought off three of
the principal inhabitants prisoners; one of whom, Mr. Callbeck, was
president of the council, and acted as governor. These gentlemen made
a memorial to Washington of this scandalous maraud. He instantly
ordered the restoration of the effects which had been pillaged.
Shortly after the foregoing occurrence, information was received of
the indignities which had been heaped upon Colonel Ethan Allen, [who
was loaded with chains and thrown into prison,] when captured at
Montreal by General Prescott, who himself was now a prisoner in the
hands of the Americans. It touched Washington on a point on which he
was most sensitive and tenacious, the treatment of American officers
when captured.
[A correspondence ensued between Washington and General Howe, in which
the former threatened as retaliation to inflict upon General Prescott
the same treatment and fate which Colonel Allen should experience. In
reply, Howe asserted that his command did not extend to Canada and
that he had no knowledge of Allen or his fate. General Carleton, he
assumed, would not in this case forfeit his past pretensions to
decency and humanity. The measure of retaliation threatened by
Washington was actually meted out by Congress on the arrival of
General Prescott in Philadelphia. He was ordered into close
confinement in jail, though not put in irons; but subsequently, on
account of his health, he was released.]
At the time of this correspondence with Howe, Washington was earnestly
occupied preparing works for the bombardment of Boston, should that
measure be resolved upon by Congress. General Putnam, in the preceding
month, had taken possession in the night of Cobble Hill without
molestation from the enemy, though a commanding eminence; and in two
days had constructed a work, which, from its strength, was named
Putnam's impregnable fortress. He was now engaged on another work on
Lechmere Point, to be connected with the works at Cobble Hill by a
bridge thrown across Willis's Creek, and a covered way. Lechmere Point
is immediately opposite the north part of Boston; and the Scarborough
ship-of-war was anchored near it. Putnam availed himself of a dark and
foggy day (Dec. 17), to commence operations, and broke ground with
four hundred men, at ten o'clock in the morning, on a hill at the
Point. "The mist," says a contemporary account, "was so great as to
prevent the enemy from discovering what he was about until near twelve
o'clock, when it cleared up, and opened to their view our whole party
at the Point, and another at the causeway throwing a bridge over the
creek. The Scarborough, anchored off the Point, poured in a broadside.
The enemy from Boston threw shells. The garrison at Cobble Hill
returned fire. Our men were obliged to decamp from the Point, but the
work was resumed by the brave old general at night."
On the next morning, General Heath was detached with a party of men to
carry on the work which Putnam had commenced. It was to consist of two
redoubts, on one of which was to be a mortar battery. There was, as
yet, a deficiency of ordnance; but the prize mortar was to be mounted
which Putnam had recently christened, "The Congress." For several days
the labor at the works was continued; the redoubts were thrown up, and
a covered way was constructed leading down to the bridge. All this was
done notwithstanding the continual fire of the enemy. Putnam
anticipated great effects from this work, and especially from his
grand mortar. Shells there were in abundance for a bombardment; the
only thing wanting was a supply of powder.
Amid the various concerns of the war, and the multiplied perplexities
of the camp, the thoughts of Washington continually reverted to his
home on the banks of the Potomac. A constant correspondence was kept
up between him and his agent, Mr. Lund Washington, who had charge of
his various estates. The general gave clear and minute directions as
to their management, and the agent rendered as clear and minute
returns of everything that had been done in consequence. According to
recent accounts, Mount Vernon had been considered in danger. Lord
Dunmore was exercising martial law in the Ancient Dominion, and it was
feared that the favorite abode of the "rebel commander-in-chief" would
be marked out for hostility, and that the enemy might land from their
ships in the Potomac and lay it waste. Washington's brother, John
Augustine, had entreated Mrs. Washington to leave it. The people of
Loudoun had advised her to seek refuge beyond the Blue Ridge, and had
offered to send a guard to escort her. She had declined the offer, not
considering herself in danger. Lund Washington was equally free from
apprehensions on the subject. Though alive to everything concerning
Mount Vernon, Washington agreed with them in deeming it in no present
danger of molestation by the enemy. Still he felt for the loneliness
of Mrs. Washington's situation, heightened as it must be by anxiety on
his own account. He wrote to her, therefore, by express, in November,
inviting her to join him at the camp. He at the same time wrote to
Lund Washington, engaging his continued services as an agent. This
person, though bearing the same name, and probably of the same stock,
does not appear to have been in any near degree of relationship.
Mrs. Washington came on with her own carriage and horses, accompanied
by her son, Mr. Custis, and his wife. Escorts and guards of honor
attended her from place to place, and she was detained some time at
Philadelphia by the devoted attention of the inhabitants. Her arrival
at Cambridge was a glad event in the army.
[Mrs. Washington presided at head-quarters with dignity and
affability. Some questions of ceremony had arisen, and jealousies had
been excited in reference to invitations to head-quarters. The
presence of Mrs. Washington relieved the general from numerous
perplexities of this character. After her arrival the camp assumed a
more convivial tone than before, and parties became common.]
While giving these familiar scenes and occurrences we are tempted to
subjoin one furnished from the manuscript memoir of an eye witness. A
large party of Virginia riflemen, who had recently arrived in camp,
were strolling about Cambridge, and viewing the collegiate buildings,
now turned into barracks. Their half-Indian equipments, and fringed
and ruffled hunting garbs, provoked the merriment of some troops from
Marblehead, chiefly fishermen and sailors, who thought nothing equal
to the round jacket and trowsers. A bantering ensued between them.
There was snow upon the ground, and snowballs began to fly when jokes
were wanting. The parties waxed warm with the contest. They closed,
and came to blows; both sides were reinforced, and in a little while
at least a thousand were at fisticuffs, and there was a tumult in the
camp worthy of the days of Homer. "At this juncture," writes our
informant, "Washington made his appearance, whether by accident or
design, I never knew. I saw none of his aides with him; his black
servant was just behind him mounted. He threw the bridle of his own
horse into his servant's hands, sprang from his seat, rushed into the
thickest of the melée, seized two tall brawny riflemen by the throat,
keeping them at arm's-length, talking to and shaking them."
As they were from his own province, he may have felt peculiarly
responsible for their good conduct; they were engaged, too, in one of
those sectional brawls which were his especial abhorrence; his
reprimand must, therefore, have been a vehement one. He was commanding
in his serenest moments, but irresistible in his bursts of
indignation. On the present occasion, we are told, his appearance and
strong-handed rebuke put an instant end to the tumult. The combatants
dispersed in all directions, and in less than three minutes none
remained on the ground but the two he had collared.
The invasion of Canada still shared the anxious thoughts of
Washington. His last accounts of the movements of Arnold, left him at
Point Levi, opposite to Quebec. It was his intention to cross the
river immediately. At Point Levi, however, he was brought to a stand;
not a boat was to be found there. Letters to Generals Schuyler and
Montgomery had been carried by his faithless messengers, to Caramhé,
the lieutenant-governor, who, had caused all the boats of Point Levi
to be either removed or destroyed.
Arnold was not a man to be disheartened by difficulties. With great
exertions he procured about forty birch canoes, but stormy winds
arose, and for some days the river was too boisterous for such frail
craft. In the meantime the garrison at Quebec was gaining strength.
The veteran Maclean arrived down the river with his corps of Royal
Highland Emigrants, and threw himself into the place. The Lizard
frigate, the Hornet sloop-of-war, and two armed schooners were
stationed in the river, and guard-boats patrolled at night.
On the 13th of November, Arnold received intelligence that Montgomery
had captured St. Johns. He was instantly roused to emulation. His men,
too, were inspirited by the news. The wind had abated: he determined
to cross the river that very night. At a late hour in the evening he
embarked with the first division. By four o'clock in the morning a
large part of his force had crossed without being perceived, and
landed about a mile and a half above Cape Diamond, at Wolfe's Cove, so
called from being the landing-place of that gallant commander. Just
then a guard-boat, belonging to the Lizard, came slowly along shore
and discovered them. They hailed it, and ordered it to land. Not
complying, it was fired into and three men were killed. The boat
instantly pulled for the frigate, giving vociferous alarm.
Without waiting the arrival of the residue of his men, for whom the
canoes had been despatched, Arnold led those who had landed to the
foot of the cragged defile, once scaled by the intrepid Wolfe, and
scrambled up it in all haste. By daylight he had planted his daring
flag on the far-famed Heights of Abraham. Here the main difficulty
stared him in the face. A strong line of walls and bastions traversed
the promontory from one of its precipitous sides to the other;
enclosing the upper and lower towns. On the right, the great bastion
of Cape Diamond crowned the rocky height of that name. On the left was
the bastion of La Potasse, close by the gate of St. Johns, opening
upon the barracks.
A council of war was now held. Arnold, who had some knowledge of the
place, was for dashing forward at once and storming the gate of St.
Johns. Had they done so, they might have been successful. The gate was
open and unguarded. Through some blunder and delay, a message from the
commander of the Lizard to the lieutenant-governor had not yet been
delivered, and no alarm had reached the fortress. The formidable
aspect of the place, however, awed Arnold's associates. Cautious
counsel is often fatal to a daring enterprise. While the counsel of
war deliberated, the favorable moment passed away. The
lieutenant-governor received the tardy message. He hastily assembled
the merchants, officers of militia, and captains of merchant vessels.
All promised to stand by him, and the walls looking upon the heights
were soon manned by the military. Arnold paraded his men within a
hundred yards of the walls, and caused them to give three hearty
cheers; hoping to excite a revolt in the place, or to provoke the
scanty garrison to a sally. There was some firing on the part of the
Americans, but merely as an additional taunt; they were too far off
for their musketry to have effect. A large cannon on the ramparts was
brought to bear on them, and a few shots obliged the Americans to
retire and encamp.
In the evening Arnold sent a flag, demanding in the name of the United
Colonies the surrender of the place. Some of the disaffected and the
faint-hearted were inclined to open the gates, but were held in check
by the mastiff loyalty of Maclean. The inhabitants gradually recovered
from their alarm, and armed themselves to defend their property. The
sailors and marines proved a valuable addition to the garrison, which
now really meditated a sortie. Arnold received information of all this
from friends within the walls; he heard about the same time of the
capture of Montreal, and that General Carleton, having escaped from
that place, was on his way down to Quebec. He thought at present,
therefore, to draw off on the 19th to _Point aux Trembles_ (Aspen-tree
Point), twenty miles above Quebec, there to await the arrival of
General Montgomery with troops and artillery. As his little army
wended its way along the high bank of the river towards its destined
encampment, a vessel passed below, which had just touched at Point aux
Trembles. On board of it was General Carleton, hurrying on to Quebec.