THE NORTHERN ARMY.--BRITISH EXPEDITION TO CONNECTICUT.
We have now to enter upon a tissue of circumstances connected with the
Northern department which will be found materially to influence the
course of affairs in that quarter throughout the current year, and
ultimately to be fruitful of annoyance to Washington himself. To make
these more clear to the reader, it is necessary to revert to events in
the preceding year.
The question of command between Schuyler and Gates, when settled as we
have shown by Congress, had caused no interruption to the harmony of
intercourse between these generals. Schuyler directed the affairs of
the department with energy and activity from his head-quarters at
Albany, where they had been fixed by Congress, while Gates,
subordinate to him, commanded the post of Ticonderoga.
The disappointment of an independent command, however, still rankled
in the mind of the latter, and was kept alive by the officious
suggestions of meddling friends. In the course of the autumn, his
hopes in this respect revived. Schuyler was again disgusted with the
service. In the discharge of his various and harassing duties he had
been annoyed by sectional jealousies and ill will. His motives and
measures had been maligned. The failures in Canada had been attributed
to him, and he had repeatedly entreated Congress to order an inquiry
into the many charges made against him, "that he might not any longer
be insulted."
On the 14th of September he actually offered his resignation of his
commission as major-general, and of every other office and
appointment; still claiming a court of inquiry on his conduct, and
expressing his determination to fulfil the duties of a good citizen
and promote the weal of his native country, but in some other
capacity. The hopes of Gates, inspired by this proffered resignation,
were doomed to be overclouded. Schuyler was informed by President
Hancock "that Congress, during the present state of affairs, could not
consent to accept of his resignation; ... that they would at an early
day appoint a committee to inquire fully into his conduct, which they
trusted would establish his reputation in the opinion of all good
men."
Schuyler received the resolve of Congress with grim acquiescence, but
showed in his reply that he was but half soothed. "At this very
critical juncture," writes he, October 16, "I shall continue to act
some time longer, but Congress must prepare to put the care of this
department into other hands." He had remained at his post, therefore,
discharging the various duties of his department with his usual zeal
and activity; and Gates, at the end of the campaign, had repaired, as
we have shown, to the vicinity of Congress to attend the fluctuation
of events.
Circumstances in the course of the winter had put the worthy Schuyler
again on points of punctilio with Congress. Among some letters
intercepted by the enemy and retaken by the Americans was one from
Colonel Joseph Trumbull, the commissary-general, insinuating that
General Schuyler had secreted or suppressed a commission sent for his
brother, Colonel John Trumbull, as deputy adjutant-general. The
purport of the letter was reported to Schuyler. He spurned at the
insinuation. "If it be true that he has asserted such a thing," writes
he to the president, "I shall expect from Congress that justice which
is due to me.... Until Mr. Trumbull and I are upon a footing, I cannot
do what the laws of honor and a regard to my own reputation render
indispensably necessary. Congress can put us on a par by dismissing
one or the other from the service."
Congress failed to comply with the general's request. They added also
to his chagrin by dismissing from the service an army physician in
whose appointment he had particularly interested himself. Schuyler was
a proud-spirited man, and at times somewhat irascible. In a letter to
Congress, on the 8th of February, he observed: "As Dr. Stringer had my
recommendation to the office he has sustained, perhaps it was a
compliment due to me that I should have been advised of the reason of
his dismission." And again: "I was in hopes some notice would have
been taken of the odious suspicion contained in Mr. Commissary
Trumbull's intercepted letter. I really feel myself deeply chagrined
on the occasion. I am incapable of the meanness he suspects me of, and
I confidently expected that Congress would have done me that justice
which it was in their power to give, and which I humbly conceive they
ought to have done." This letter gave great umbrage to Congress, but
no immediate answer was made to it.
About this time the office of adjutant-general, which had remained
vacant ever since the resignation of Colonel Reed, to the great
detriment of the service, especially now when a new army was to be
formed, was offered to General Gates, who had formerly filled it with
ability; and President Hancock informed him, by letter, of the earnest
desire of Congress that he should resume it, retaining his present
rank and pay. Gates almost resented the proposal. He had a higher
object in view. A letter from Schuyler to Congress had informed that
body that he should set out for Philadelphia about the 21st of March,
and should immediately on his arrival require the promised inquiry
into his conduct. Gates, of course, was acquainted with this
circumstance. He knew Schuyler had given offence to Congress; he knew
that he had been offended on his own part, and had repeatedly talked
of resigning. He had active friends in Congress ready to push his
interests. On the 15th of March the letter of General Schuyler of the
3d of February, which had given such offence, was brought before the
House, and it was resolved that his suggestion concerning the
dismission of Dr. Stringer was highly derogatory to the honor of
Congress, and that it was expected his letters in future would be
written in a style suitable to the dignity of the representative body
of these free and independent States and to his own character as their
officer. His expressions, too, respecting the intercepted letter, that
he had expected Congress would have done him all the justice in their
power, were pronounced, "to say the least, ill-advised and highly
indecent."
While Schuyler was thus in partial eclipse, the House proceeded to
appoint a general officer for the Northern department, of which he had
stated it to be in need. On the 25th of March, Gates received the
following note from President Hancock: "I have it in charge to direct
that you repair to Ticonderoga immediately and take command of the
army stationed in that department." Gates obeyed with alacrity. Again
the vision of an independent command floated before his mind, and he
was on his way to Albany at the time that Schuyler, ignorant of this
new arrangement, was journeying to Philadelphia. He arrived in the
second week in April, and found himself superseded in effect by
General Gates in the Northern department. He enclosed to the committee
of Albany the recent resolutions of Congress, passed before his
arrival. "By these," writes he, "you will readily perceive that I
shall not return a general. Under what influence it has been brought
about I am not at liberty now to mention. On my return to Albany I
shall give the committee the fullest information."
Taking his seat in Congress as a delegate from New York, he demanded
the promised investigation of his conduct during the time he had held
a command in the army. It was his intention, when the scrutiny had
taken place, to resign his commission and retire from the service. On
the 18th a committee of inquiry was appointed, as at his request,
composed of a member from each State. In the meantime, as second
major-general of the United States (Lee being the first), he held
active command at Philadelphia, forming a camp on the western side of
the Delaware, completing the works on Fort Island, throwing up works
on Red Bank, and accelerating the despatch of troops and provisions to
the commander-in-chief. During his sojourn at Philadelphia, also, he
contributed essentially to re-organize the commissary department;
digesting rules for its regulation, which were mainly adopted by
Congress.
The fame of the American struggle for independence was bringing
foreign officers as candidates for admission into the patriot army,
and causing great embarrassment to the commander-in-chief. Congress
determined that no foreign officers should receive commissions who
were not well acquainted with the English language and did not bring
strong testimonials of their abilities. Still there was embarrassment.
Some came with brevet commissions from the French government, and had
been assured by Mr. Deane, American commissioner at Paris, that they
would have the same rank in the American army. This would put them
above American officers of merit and hard service, whose commissions
were of more recent date. One Monsieur Ducoudray, on the strength of
an agreement with Mr. Deane, expected to have the rank of
major-general and to be put at the head of the artillery. Washington
deprecated the idea of intrusting a department on which the very
salvation of the army might depend to a foreigner, who had no other
tie to bind him to the interests of the country than honor.
Among the foreign candidates for appointments was one Colonel Conway,
a native of Ireland, but who, according to his own account, had been
thirty years in the service of France, and claimed to be a chevalier
of the order of St. Louis, of which he wore the decoration. Mr. Deane
had recommended him to Washington as an officer of merit, and had
written to Congress that he considered him well qualified for the
office of adjutant or brigadier-general. Colonel Conway pushed for
that of brigadier-general. It had been conferred some time before by
Congress on two French officers, De Fermois and Deborre, who, he had
observed, had been inferior to him in the French service, and it would
be mortifying now to hold rank below them. Conway accordingly received
the rank of brigadier-general, of which he subsequently proved himself
unworthy. He was boastful and presumptuous, and became noted for his
intrigues and for a despicable cabal against the commander-in-chief,
which went by his name, and of which we shall have to speak hereafter.
A candidate of a different stamp had presented himself in the
preceding year, the gallant, generous-spirited, Thaddeus Kosciuszko.
He was a Pole, of an ancient and noble family of Lithuania, and had
been educated for the profession of arms at the military school at
Warsaw, and subsequently in France. Disappointed in a love affair with
a beautiful lady of rank with whom he had attempted to elope, he had
emigrated to this country, and came provided with a letter of
introduction from Dr. Franklin to Washington.
"What do you seek here?" inquired the commander-in-chief. "To fight
for American independence." "What can you do?" "Try me."
Washington was pleased with the curt yet comprehensive reply and with
his chivalrous air and spirit, and at once received him into his
family as an aide-de-camp. Congress shortly afterwards appointed him
an engineer, with the rank of colonel. He proved a valuable officer
throughout the Revolution, and won an honorable and lasting name in
our country.
Questions of rank among his generals were, as we have repeatedly
shown, perpetual sources of perplexity to Washington, and too often
caused by what the sarcastic Lee termed "the stumblings of Congress;"
such was the case at present. In recent army promotions, Congress had
advanced Stirling, Mifflin, St. Clair, Stephen and Lincoln to the rank
of major-general, while Arnold, their senior in service, and
distinguished by so many brilliant exploits, was passed over and left
to remain a brigadier. Washington was surprised at not seeing his name
on the list, but supposing it might have been omitted through mistake,
he wrote to Arnold, who was at Providence in Rhode Island, advising
him not to take any hasty step in consequence, but to allow time for
recollection, promising his own endeavors to remedy any error that
might have been made. He wrote also to Henry Lee in Congress,
inquiring whether the omission was owing to accident or design.
Arnold was, in truth, deeply wounded by the omission, but intimated
that he should avoid any hasty step and should remain at his post
until he could leave it without any damage to the public interest. The
principle upon which Congress had proceeded in their recent promotions
was explained to Washington. The number of general officers promoted
from each State was proportioned to the number of men furnished by it.
Connecticut (Arnold's State) had already two major-generals, which was
its full share. An opportunity occurred before long for Arnold again
to signalize himself.
The amount of stores destroyed at Peekskill had fallen far short of
General Howe's expectations. Something more must be done to cripple
the Americans before the opening of the campaign. Accordingly another
expedition was set on foot against a still larger deposit at Danbury,
within the borders of Connecticut, and between twenty and thirty miles
from Peekskill. Ex-governor Tryon, recently commissioned major-general
of provincials, conducted it, accompanied by Brigadier-general Agnew
and Sir William Erskine. He had a force two thousand strong, and made
his appearance on the Sound in the latter part of April with a fleet
of twenty-six sail. On the 25th, towards evening, he landed his troops
on the beach at the foot of Canepo Hill, near the mouth of the
Saugatuck River, and set off for Danbury, about twenty-three miles
distant. They were in a patriotic neighborhood. General Silliman, of
the Connecticut militia, who resided at Fairfield, a few miles
distant, sent out expresses to rouse the country. It so happened that
General Arnold was at New Haven, between twenty and thirty miles off,
on his way to Philadelphia for the purpose of settling his accounts.
At the alarm of a British inroad he forgot his injuries and
irritation, mounted his horse, and accompanied by General Wooster
hastened to join General Silliman. As they spurred forward every farm
house sent out its warrior, until upwards of a hundred were pressing
on with them, full of the fighting spirit. Lieutenant Oswald, Arnold's
secretary in the Canada campaign, was at this time at New Haven
enlisting men for Lamb's regiment of artillery. He, too, heard the
note of alarm, and mustering his recruits marched off with three
field-pieces for the scene of action.
In the meanwhile the British, marching all night with short haltings,
reached Danbury about two o'clock in the afternoon of the 26th. There
were but fifty Continental soldiers and one hundred militia in the
place. These retreated, as did most of the inhabitants, excepting such
as remained to take care of the sick and aged. Four men, intoxicated,
as it was said, fired upon the troops from the windows of a large
house. The soldiers rushed in, drove them into the cellar, set fire to
the house, and left them to perish in the flames. There was a great
quantity of stores of all kinds in the village, and no vehicles to
convey them to the ships. The work of destruction commenced. The
soldiers made free with the liquors found in abundance; and throughout
the greater part of the night there was revel, drunkenness, blasphemy,
and devastation. Tryon, full of anxiety, and aware that the country
was rising, ordered a retreat before daylight, setting fire to the
magazines to complete the destruction of the stores. The flames spread
to the other edifices, and almost the whole village was soon in a
blaze.
While these scenes had been transacted at Danbury, the Connecticut
yeomanry had been gathering. Fairfield and the adjacent counties had
poured out their minute men. General Silliman had advanced at the head
of five hundred. Generals Wooster and Arnold joined him with their
chance followers, as did a few more militia. A heavy rain retarded
their march; it was near midnight when they reached Bethel, within
four miles of Danbury. Here they halted to take a little repose and
put their arms in order, rendered almost unserviceable by the rain.
They were now about six hundred strong. Wooster took the command, as
first major-general of the militia of the State. Though in the
sixty-eighth year of his age he was full of ardor, with almost
youthful fire and daring. At dawn of day Wooster detached Arnold with
four hundred men to push across the country and take post at
Ridgefield, by which the British must pass; while he with two hundred
remained to hang on and harass them in flank and rear.
The British began their retreat early in the morning, conducting it in
regular style with flanking parties and a rear-guard well furnished
with artillery. As soon as they had passed his position, Wooster
attacked the rear-guard with great spirit and effect; there was sharp
skirmishing until within two miles of Ridgefield, when, as the veteran
was cheering on his men who began to waver, a musket ball brought him
down from his horse and finished his gallant career. On his fall his
men retreated in disorder.
The delay which his attack had occasioned to the enemy had given
Arnold time to throw up a kind of breastwork or barricade across the
road at the north end of Ridgefield, where he took his stand with his
little force now increased to about five hundred men. About eleven
o'clock the enemy advanced in column, with artillery and flanking
parties. They were kept at bay for a time, and received several
volleys from the barricade, until it was outflanked and carried.
Arnold ordered a retreat, and was bringing off the rear guard when his
horse was shot under him and came down upon his knees. Arnold remained
seated in the saddle, with one foot entangled in the stirrups. A tory
soldier seeing his plight, rushed towards him with fixed bayonet. He
had just time to draw a pistol from the holster. "You're my prisoner,"
cried the tory. "Not yet!" exclaimed Arnold, and shot him dead. Then
extricating his foot from the stirrup, he threw himself into the
thickets of a neighboring swamp, and escaped unharmed by the bullets
that whistled after him and joined his retreating troops.
General Tryon intrenched for the night in Ridgefield, his troops
having suffered greatly in their harassed retreat. The next morning,
after having set fire to four houses he continued his march for the
ships. The militia hung on the rear of the enemy as soon as they were
in motion. Arnold was again in the field with his rallied forces,
strengthened by Lieutenant-colonel Oswald with two companies of Lamb's
artillery regiment and three field-pieces. With these he again posted
himself on the enemy's route. Difficulties and annoyances had
multiplied upon the latter at every step. When they came in sight of
the position where Arnold was waiting for them, they changed their
route, wheeled to the left, and made for a ford of Saugatuck River.
Arnold hastened to cross the bridge and take them in flank, but they
were too quick for him. Colonel Lamb had now reached the scene of
action, as had about two hundred volunteers. Leaving to Oswald the
charge of the artillery, he put himself at the head of the volunteers
and led them up to Arnold's assistance. The enemy finding themselves
hard pressed, pushed for Canepo Hill. They reached it in the evening
without a round of ammunition in their cartridge-boxes. As they were
now within cannon shot of their ships, the Americans ceased the
pursuit.
In this inroad the enemy destroyed a considerable amount of military
stores, and seventeen hundred tents prepared for the use of
Washington's army in the ensuing campaign. The loss of General Wooster
was deeply deplored. As to Arnold, his gallantry in this affair gained
him fresh laurels, and Congress, to remedy their late error, promoted
him to the rank of major-general. Still this promotion did not restore
him to his proper position. He was at the bottom of the list of
major-generals, with four officers above him, his juniors in service.
As an additional balm to his wounded pride, Congress a few days
afterwards voted that a horse, properly caparisoned, should be
presented to him in their name as a token of their approbation of his
gallant conduct in the late action.
The destructive expeditions against the American depots of military
stores, were retaliated in kind by Colonel Meigs, a spirited officer
who had accompanied Arnold in his expedition through the wilderness
against Quebec. Having received intelligence that the British
commissaries had collected a great amount of grain, forage, and other
supplies at Sag Harbor, a small port in the deep bay which forks the
east end of Long Island, he crossed the Sound on the 23d of May from
Guilford in Connecticut, with about one hundred and seventy men in
whale-boats convoyed by two armed sloops; landed on the island near
Southold; carried the boats a distance of fifteen miles across the
north fork of the bay, launched them into the latter, crossed it,
landed within four miles of Sag Harbor, and before daybreak carried
the place, which was guarded by a company of foot. A furious fire of
round and grape shot was opened upon the Americans from an armed
schooner, anchored about one hundred and fifty yards from shore, and
stout defence was made by the crews of a dozen brigs and sloops lying
at the wharf to take in freight; but Meigs succeeded in burning these
vessels, destroying everything on shore, and carrying off ninety
prisoners; among whom were the officers of the company of foot, the
commissaries, and the captains of most of the small vessels.
Washington was so highly pleased with the spirit and success of this
enterprise, that he publicly returned thanks to Colonel Meigs and the
officers and men engaged in it.
[The committee of inquiry on General Schuyler's conduct had now made
their report to Congress, in which they placed the character of that
officer higher than ever as an able and active commander and a zealous
and disinterested patriot. Schuyler made a memorial to Congress
explaining away or apologizing for the expressions in his letter of
the 4th of February which had given offence to the House, which was so
far satisfactory that Congress informed him that their sentiments
concerning him were now the same as those entertained before the
reception of his objectionable letter. Some warm discussions now
ensued in Congress relative to the northern command, in which it was
stated that General Gates misapprehended his position, and that in
sending him to Ticonderoga it was not the intention of Congress to
give him the same command formerly held by Schuyler. The friends of
Gates, on the other hand, pronounced it an absurdity that an officer
holding so important a post as Ticonderoga should be under the order
of another a hundred miles distant. The discussion terminated by
declaring Ticonderoga, Fort Stanwix, and their defenders to be the
Northern department, over which Schuyler was to have supreme command.]
Schuyler was received with open arms at Albany on the 3d of June. "I
had the satisfaction," writes he, "to experience the finest feelings
which my country expressed on my arrival and re-appointment. The day
after my arrival, the whole county committee did me the honor, in
form, to congratulate me." Gates was still in Albany, delaying to
proceed with General Fermois to Ticonderoga until the garrison should
be sufficiently strengthened. Although the resolve of Congress did but
define his position, which had been misunderstood, he persisted in
considering himself degraded, declined serving under General Schuyler,
who would have given him the post at Ticonderoga in his absence, and
obtaining permission to leave the department, set out on the 9th for
Philadelphia to demand redress of Congress.
General St. Clair was sent to take command of the troops at
Ticonderoga, accompanied by General De Fermois. As the whole force in
the Northern department would not be sufficient to command the
extensive works there on both sides of the lake, St. Clair was
instructed to bestow his first attention in fortifying Mount
Independence on the east side, Schuyler considering it much the most
defensible, and that it might be made capable of sustaining a long and
vigorous siege. It would be imprudent, he thought, to station the
greater part of the forces at Fort Ticonderoga, as, should the enemy
be able to invest it, and cut off the communication with the country
on the east side, it might experience a disaster similar to that at
Fort Washington.
While Schuyler was thus providing for the security of Ticonderoga,
Gates was wending his way to Philadelphia, his bosom swelling with
imaginary wrongs. He arrived there on the 18th. The next day at noon,
Mr. Roger Sherman, an Eastern delegate, informed Congress that General
Gates was waiting at the door and wished admittance. Gates was
accordingly ushered in, took his seat, and proceeded to give some news
concerning the Indians; he then opened upon the real object of his
visit, stating in a flurried and disjointed manner how that some time
in March he had been appointed to a command in the Northern
department, but that a few days ago, without having given any cause of
offence, without accusation, without trial, without hearing, without
notice, he had received a resolution by which he was, in a most
disgraceful manner, superseded in his command. Here his irritated
feelings got the better of his judgment, and he indulged in angry
reproaches of Congress. His conduct was pronounced disrespectful, and
it was moved and seconded that he be requested to withdraw. It was
then determined that he should not again be admitted on the floor; but
should be informed that Congress were ready and willing to hear, by
way of memorial, any grievances of which he might have to complain.