ARMY AT MORRISTOWN.--ARNOLD IN PHILADELPHIA.--CHARLESTON BESIEGED.
The dreary encampment at Valley Forge has become proverbial for its
hardships; yet they were scarcely more severe than those suffered by
Washington's army during the present winter, while hutted among the
heights of Morristown. The winter set in early, and was uncommonly
rigorous. The transportation of supplies was obstructed; the magazines
were exhausted, and the commissaries had neither money nor credit to
enable them to replenish them. For weeks at a time the army was on
half allowance; sometimes without meat, sometimes without bread,
sometimes without both. There was a scarcity, too, of clothing and
blankets, so that the poor soldiers were starving with cold as well as
hunger.
{Illustration: HEAD-QUARTERS, MORRISTOWN, N.J. Vol. III.}
A rigorous winter had much to do with the actual distresses of the
army, but the root of the evil lay in the derangement of the currency.
Congress had commenced the war without adequate funds, and without the
power of imposing direct taxes. To meet pressing emergencies, it had
emitted paper money, which, for a time, passed currently at par; but
sank in value as further emissions succeeded, and that already in
circulation remained unredeemed. The several States added to the evil
by emitting paper in their separate capacities: thus the country
gradually became flooded with a "continental currency," as it was
called; irredeemable, and of no intrinsic value. The consequence was a
general derangement of trade and finance. The continental currency
declined to such a degree, that forty dollars in paper were equivalent
to only one in specie. Congress attempted to put a stop to this
depreciation, by making paper money a legal tender, at its nominal
value, in the discharge of debts, however contracted. This opened the
door to knavery, and added a new feature to the evil.
The commissaries now found it difficult to purchase supplies for the
immediate wants of the army, and impossible to provide any stores in
advance. They were left destitute of funds, and the public credit was
prostrated by the accumulating debts suffered to remain uncancelled.
The changes which had taken place in the commissary department added
to this confusion. The commissary-general, instead of receiving, as
heretofore, a commission on expenditures, was to have a fixed salary
in paper currency; and his deputies were to be compensated in like
manner, without the usual allowance of rations and forage. No
competent agents could be procured on such terms; and the derangement
produced throughout the department compelled Colonel Wadsworth, the
able and upright commissary-general, to resign.
In the present emergency Washington was reluctantly compelled, by the
distresses of the army, to call upon the counties of the State for
supplies of grain and cattle, proportioned to their respective
abilities. These supplies were to be brought into the camp within a
certain time; the grain to be measured and the cattle estimated by any
two of the magistrates of the county in conjunction with the
commissary, and certificates to be given by the latter, specifying the
quantity of each and the terms of payment. Wherever a compliance with
this call was refused, the articles required were to be impressed: it
was a painful alternative, yet nothing else could save the army from
dissolution or starving. Washington charged his officers to act with
as much tenderness as possible, graduating the exaction according to
the stock of each individual, so that no family should be deprived of
what was necessary to its subsistence. To the honor of the magistrates
and the people of Jersey, Washington testifies that his requisitions
were punctually complied with, and in many counties exceeded.
As the winter advanced, the cold increased in severity. It was the
most intense ever remembered in the country. The great bay of New York
was frozen over. No supplies could come to the city by water.
Provisions grew scanty; and there was such lack of firewood that old
transports were broken up, and uninhabited wooden houses pulled down
for fuel. The safety of the city was endangered. The ships-of-war,
immovably ice-bound in its harbor, no longer gave it protection. The
insular security of the place was at an end. An army with its heaviest
artillery and baggage might cross the Hudson on the ice.
Washington was aware of the opportunity which offered itself for a
signal _coup de main_, but was not in a condition to profit by it. His
troops, hutted among the heights of Morristown, were half fed, half
clothed, and inferior in number to the garrison of New York. He was
destitute of funds necessary to fit them for the enterprise, and the
quartermaster could not furnish means of transportation.
Still, in the frozen condition of the bay and rivers, some minor blow
might be attempted, sufficient to rouse and cheer the spirits of the
people. With this view, having ascertained that the ice formed a
bridge across the strait between the Jersey shore and Staten Island,
he projected a descent upon the latter by Lord Stirling with
twenty-five hundred men, to surprise and capture a British force of
ten or twelve hundred. His lordship crossed on the night of the 14th
of January, from De Hart's Point to the island. His approach was
discovered; the troops took refuge in the works, which were too
strongly situated to be attacked; a channel remaining open through the
ice across the bay, a boat was despatched to New York for
reinforcements. The projected surprise having thus proved a complete
failure, and his own situation becoming hazardous, Lord Stirling
recrossed to the Jersey shore with a number of prisoners whom he had
captured.
By way of retort, Knyphausen, on the 25th of January, sent out two
detachments to harass the American outposts. One crossed to Paulus
Hook, and being joined by part of the garrison of that post, pushed on
to Newark, surprised and captured a company stationed there, set fire
to the academy, and returned without loss. The other detachment,
consisting of one hundred dragoons and between three and four hundred
infantry, under Lieutenant-colonel Boskirk, crossed from Staten Island
to Trembly's Point, surprised the picket-guard at Elizabethtown, and
captured two majors, two captains, and forty-two privates. This,
likewise, was effected without loss. The disgraceful part of the
expedition was the burning of the town house, a church, and a private
residence, and the plundering of the inhabitants. The church destroyed
was a Presbyterian place of worship, and its pastor, the Rev. James
Caldwell, had rendered himself an especial object of hostility to both
Briton and tory. His church had at times served as hospital to the
American soldier; or shelter to the hastily assembled militia. Its
bell was the tocsin of alarm; from its pulpit he had many a time
stirred up the patriotism of his countrymen by his ardent, eloquent,
and pathetic appeals. His popularity in the army, and among the Jersey
people, was unbounded.
Another noted maraud during Knyphausen's military sway, was in the
lower part of Westchester County, in a hilly region lying between the
British and American lines, which had been the scene of part of the
past year's campaign. In this region, about twenty miles from the
British outposts, and not far from White Plains, the Americans had
established a post of three hundred men at a stone building commonly
known as Young's house, from the name of its owner. It commanded a
road which passed from north to south down along the narrow but
fertile valley of the Sawmill River. On this road the garrison of
Young's house kept a vigilant eye, to intercept the convoys of cattle
and provisions which had been collected or plundered by the enemy, and
which passed down this valley toward New York. This post had long been
an annoyance to the enemy, but its distance from the British lines had
hitherto saved it from attack. The country now was covered with snow;
troops could be rapidly transported on sleighs; and it was determined
that Young's house should be surprised, and this rebel nest broken up.
On the evening of the 2d of February, an expedition set out for the
purpose from King's Bridge, led by Lieutenant-colonel Norton, and
consisting of four flank companies of guards, two companies of
Hessians, and a party of Yagers, all in sleighs; beside a body of
Yager cavalry, and a number of mounted Westchester refugees, with two
three-pounders. The snow being newly fallen, was deep; the sleighs
broke their way through it with difficulty. The troops at length
abandoned them and pushed forward on foot. The cannon were left behind
for the same reason. It was a weary tramp. The sun rose while they
were yet seven miles from Young's house. To surprise the post was out
of the question; still they kept on. Before they could reach the house
the country had taken the alarm, and the Westchester yeomanry had
armed themselves, and were hastening to aid the garrison. The British
light infantry and grenadiers invested the mansion; the cavalry posted
themselves on a neighboring eminence, to prevent retreat or
reinforcement, and the house was assailed. It made a brave resistance,
and was aided by some of the yeomanry stationed in an adjacent
orchard. The garrison, however, was overpowered; numbers were killed,
and ninety taken prisoners. The house was sacked and set in flames.
The most irksome duty that Washington had to perform during this
winter's encampment at Morristown, regarded General Arnold and his
military government of Philadelphia in 1778. To explain it requires a
glance back to that period.
At the time of entering upon this command, Arnold's accounts with
government were yet unsettled; the committee appointed by Congress at
his own request to examine them having considered some of his charges
dubious and others exorbitant. The command of Philadelphia at this
time was a delicate and difficult one, and required to be exercised
with extreme circumspection. The boundaries between the powers vested
in the military commander and those inherent in the State government
were ill defined. Disaffection to the American cause prevailed both
among the permanent and casual residents, and required to be held in
check with firmness but toleration. By a resolve of Congress, no
goods, wares, or merchandise were to be removed, transferred, or sold,
until the ownership of them could be ascertained by a joint committee
of Congress and of the Council of Pennsylvania; any public stores
belonging to the enemy were to be seized and converted to the use of
the army. Washington, in his letter of instructions left it to
Arnold's discretion to adopt such measures as should appear to him
most effectual and least offensive in executing this resolve of
Congress; in which he was to be aided by an assistant
quartermaster-general, subject to his directions.
One of Arnold's first measures was to issue a proclamation enforcing
the resolve of Congress. In so doing, he was countenanced by leading
personages of Philadelphia, and the proclamation was drafted by
General Joseph Reed. The measure excited great dissatisfaction, and
circumstances attending the enforcement of it gave rise to scandal.
Former instances of a mercenary spirit made Arnold liable to
suspicions, and it was alleged that, while by the proclamation he shut
up the stores and shops so that even the officers of the army could
not procure necessary articles of merchandise, he was privately making
large purchases for his own enrichment.
His style of living gave point to this scandal. He occupied one of the
finest houses in the city; set up a splendid establishment; had his
carriage and four horses and a train of domestics; gave expensive
entertainments, and indulged in a luxury and parade which were
condemned as little befitting a republican general. Ostentatious
prodigality, in fact, was Arnold's besetting sin. In the exercise of
his military functions he had become involved in disputes with the
president (Wharton) and executive council of Pennsylvania, and by his
conduct, which was deemed arbitrary and arrogant, had drawn upon
himself the hostility of that body, which became stern and unsparing
censors of his conduct.
He had not been many weeks in Philadelphia before he became attached
to one of its reigning belles, Miss Margaret Shippen, daughter of Mr.
Edward Shippen, in after years chief justice of Pennsylvania. Her
family were not considered well affected to the American cause; the
young lady herself, during the occupation of the city by the enemy,
had been a "toast" among the British officers. Party feeling at that
time ran high in Philadelphia on local subjects connected with the
charge of the State government. Arnold's connection with the Shippen
family increased his disfavor with the president and executive
council, who were whigs to a man.
In the beginning of December, General Reed became president of the
executive council of Pennsylvania, and under his administration the
ripening hostility to Arnold was brought to a crisis. His public
conduct [during Arnold's absence at Washington's camp on the Raritan]
was discussed in the executive council of Pennsylvania, and it was
resolved unanimously, that the course of his military command in the
city had been in many respects oppressive, unworthy of his rank and
station, and highly discouraging to the liberties and interests of
America, and disrespectful to the supreme executive authority of the
State. As he was an officer of the United States, the complaints and
grievances of Pennsylvania were set forth by the executive council in
eight charges, and forwarded to Congress, accompanied by documents,
and a letter from President Reed.
Information of these facts, with a printed copy of the charges,
reached Arnold at Washington's camp. On the following day he issued an
address to the public, recalling his faithful services of nearly four
years, and inveighing against the proceedings of the president and
council; who, not content with injuring him in a cruel and
unprecedented manner with Congress, had ordered copies of their
charges to be printed and dispersed throughout the several States, for
the purpose of prejudicing the public mind against him, while the
matter was yet in suspense. In conclusion, Arnold informed the public
that he had requested Congress to direct a court-martial to inquire
into his conduct, and trusted his countrymen would suspend their
judgment in the matter, until he should have an opportunity of being
heard.
On the 16th of February, Arnold's appeal to Congress was referred to
the committee which had under consideration the letter of President
Reed and its accompanying documents, and it was charged to make a
report with all convenient despatch. Arnold, in the course of January,
had obtained permission from Washington to resign the command of
Philadelphia, but deferred to act upon it, until the charges against
him should be examined. About the middle of March, the committee
brought in a report exculpating him from all criminality in the
matters charged against him. As soon as the report was brought in, he
considered his name vindicated, and resigned.
Whatever exultation he may have felt was short-lived. Congress did not
call up and act upon the report, as, in justice to him, they should
have done, whether to sanction it or not; but referred the subject
anew to a joint committee of their body and the assembly and council
of Pennsylvania. The report of the joint committee brought up animated
discussions in Congress. Several resolutions recommended by the
committee were merely of a formal nature, and intended to soothe the
wounded sensibilities of Pennsylvania; these were passed without
dissent; but it was contended that certain charges advanced by the
executive council of that State were only cognizable by a
court-martial, and, after a warm debate, it was resolved (April 3d,)
by a large majority, that the commander-in-chief should appoint such a
court for the consideration of them.
Arnold inveighed bitterly against the injustice of subjecting him to a
trial before a military tribunal for alleged offences of which he had
been acquitted by the committee of Congress. He was sacrificed, he
said, to avoid a breach with Pennsylvania. In a letter to Washington,
he charged it all to the hostility of President Reed, who, he
affirmed, had by his address kept the affair in suspense for two
months, and at last obtained the resolution of Congress directing the
court-martial. He urged Washington to appoint a speedy day for the
trial, that he might not linger under the odium of an unjust public
accusation.
It was doubtless soothing to his irritated pride, that the woman on
whom he had placed his affections remained true to him; for his
marriage with Miss Shippen took place just five days after the
mortifying vote of Congress.
Washington sympathized with Arnold's impatience, and appointed the 1st
of May for the trial, but it was repeatedly postponed; first, at the
request of the Pennsylvania council, to allow time for the arrival of
witnesses from the South; afterwards, in consequence of threatening
movements of the enemy, which obliged every officer to be at his post.
Arnold, in the meantime, continued to reside at Philadelphia, holding
his commission in the army, but filling no public office; getting
deeper and deeper in debt, and becoming more and more unpopular. For
months, he remained in this anxious and irritated state. At length,
when the campaign was over, and the army had gone into
winter-quarters, the long-delayed court-martial was assembled at
Morristown. Of the eight charges originally advanced against Arnold by
the Pennsylvania council, four only came under cognizance of the
court. Of two of these he was entirely acquitted. The remaining two
were:
_First_. That while in the camp at Valley Forge, he, without the
knowledge of the commander-in-chief, or the sanction of the State
government, had granted a written permission for a vessel belonging to
disaffected persons to proceed from the port of Philadelphia, then in
possession of the enemy, to any port of the United States.
_Second_. That, availing himself of his official authority, he had
appropriated the public wagons of Pennsylvania, when called forth on a
special emergency, to the transportation of private property, and that
of persons who voluntarily remained with the enemy, and were deemed
disaffected to the interests and independence of America.
In regard to the first of these charges, Arnold alleged that the
person who applied for the protection of the vessel, had taken the
oath of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania required by the laws;
and that the intentions of that person and his associates with regard
to the vessel and cargo appeared to be upright. In regard to the
second charge, while it was proved that under his authority public
wagons had been so used, it was allowed in extenuation that they had
been employed at private expense, and without any design to defraud
the public or impede the military service. In regard to both charges,
nothing fraudulent on the part of Arnold was proved, but the
transactions involved in the first were pronounced irregular, and
contrary to one of the articles of war; and in the second, imprudent
and reprehensible, considering the high station occupied by the
general at the time, and the court sentenced him to be reprimanded by
the commander-in-chief. The sentence was confirmed by Congress on the
12th of February (1780).
The reprimand adjudged by the court-martial was administered by
Washington with consummate delicacy. The following were his words:
"Our profession is the chastest of all; even the shadow of a fault
tarnishes the lustre of our finest achievements. The least
inadvertence may rob us of the public favor, so hard to be acquired. I
reprehend you for having forgotten, that, in proportion as you had
rendered yourself formidable to our enemies, you should have been
guarded and temperate in your deportment towards your fellow-citizens.
Exhibit anew those noble qualities which have placed you on the list
of our most valued commanders. I will myself furnish you, as far as it
may be in my power, with opportunities of regaining the esteem of your
country."
A reprimand so mild and considerate accompanied by such high eulogiums
and generous promises, might have had a favorable effect upon Arnold,
had he been in a different frame of mind; but he had persuaded himself
that the court would incline in his favor and acquit him altogether;
and he resented deeply a sentence, which he protested against as
unmerited. His resentment was aggravated by delays in the settlement
of his accounts, as he depended upon the sums he claimed as due to him
for the payment of debts by which he was harassed.
In the month of March we find him intent on a new and adventurous
project. He had proposed to the Board of Admiralty an expedition
requiring several ships-of-war and three or four hundred land troops,
offering to take command of it should it be carried into effect, as
his wounds still disabled him from duty on land. Washington, who knew
his abilities in either service was disposed to favor his proposition,
but the scheme fell through from the impossibility of sparing the
requisite number of men from the army. On the failure of the project,
he requested and obtained from Washington leave of absence from the
army for the summer, there being, he said, little prospect of an
active campaign, and his wounds unfitting him for the field.
The return of spring brought little alleviation to the sufferings of
the army at Morristown. All means of supplying its wants or recruiting
its ranks were paralyzed by the continued depreciation of the
currency. While Washington saw his forces gradually diminishing, his
solicitude was intensely excited for the safety of the Southern
States. The reader will recall the departure from New York, in the
latter part of December, of the fleet of Admiral Arbuthnot with the
army of Sir Henry Clinton, destined for the subjugation of South
Carolina.
The voyage proved long and tempestuous. The ships were dispersed.
Several fell into the hands of the Americans. One ordnance vessel
foundered. Most of the artillery horses, and all those of the cavalry
perished. The scattered ships rejoined each other about the end of
January, at Tybee Bay on Savannah River; where those that had
sustained damage were repaired as speedily as possible. The loss of
the cavalry horses was especially felt by Sir Henry. There was a corps
of two hundred and fifty dragoons, on which he depended greatly in the
kind of guerilla warfare he was likely to pursue in a country of
forests and morasses. Lieutenant-colonel Banastre Tarleton, who
commanded them, was one of those dogs of war which Sir Henry was
prepared to let slip on emergencies, to scour and maraud the country.
This "bold dragoon," so noted in Southern warfare, was about
twenty-six years of age, of a swarthy complexion, with small, black,
piercing eyes. He is described as being rather below the middle size,
square-built and strong, "with large muscular legs." Landing from the
fleet, perfectly dismounted, he repaired with his dragoons, in some of
the quartermasters' boats to Port Royal Island, on the seaboard of
South Carolina, "to collect at that place, from friends or enemies, by
money or by force, all the horses belonging to the islands in the
neighborhood."
In the meantime, the transports having on board a great part of the
army, sailed under convoy on the 10th of February from Savannah to
North Edisto Sound, where the troops disembarked on the 11th, on St.
John's Island, about thirty miles below Charleston. Thence, Sir Henry
Clinton set out for the banks of Ashley River opposite to the city,
while a part of the fleet proceeded round by sea, for the purpose of
blockading the harbor. The advance of Sir Henry was slow and cautious.
Much time was consumed by him in fortifying intermediate ports, to
keep up a secure communication with the fleet. He ordered from
Savannah all the troops that could be spared, and wrote to Knyphausen,
at New York, for reinforcements from that place.
General Lincoln [now in command at Charleston] took advantage of this
slowness on the part of his assailant, to extend and strengthen the
works. Charleston stands at the end of an isthmus formed by the Ashley
and Cooper Rivers. Beyond the main works on the land side he cut a
canal, from one to the other of the swamps which border these rivers.
In advance of the canal were two rows of abatis and a double picketed
ditch. Within the canal, and between it and the main works, were
strong redoubts and batteries, to open a flanking fire on any
approaching column, while an inclosed hornwork of masonry formed a
kind of citadel. A squadron commanded by Commodore Whipple, and
composed of nine vessels of war of various sizes, the largest mounting
forty-four guns, was to co-operate with Forts Moultrie and Johnston,
and the various batteries in defence of the harbor. They were to lie
before the bar so as to command the entrance of it. Great reliance
also was placed on the bar itself, which it was thought no
ship-of-the-line could pass.
Governor Rutledge, a man eminent for talents, patriotism, firmness and
decision, was clothed with dictatorial powers during the present
crisis; he called out the militia of the State, and it was supposed
they would duly obey the call. Large reinforcements of troops also
were expected from the North. Under all these circumstances, General
Lincoln yielded to the entreaties of the inhabitants, and, instead of
remaining with his army in the open country, as he had intended, shut
himself up with them in the place for its defence, leaving merely his
cavalry and two hundred light troops outside, who were to hover about
the enemy and prevent small parties from marauding.
It was not until the 12th of March that Sir Henry Clinton effected his
tardy approach, and took up a position on Charleston Neck, a few miles
above the town. Admiral Arbuthnot soon showed an intention of
introducing his ships into the harbor; barricading their waists,
anchoring them in a situation where they might take advantage of the
first favorable spring-tide, and fixing buoys on the bar for their
guidance. Commodore Whipple had by this time ascertained by sounding,
that a wrong idea had prevailed of the depth of water in the harbor,
and that his ships could not anchor nearer than within three miles of
the bar, so that it would be impossible for him to defend the passage
of it. He quitted his station within it, therefore, after having
destroyed a part of the enemy's buoys, and took a position where his
ships might be abreast, and form a cross-fire with the batteries of
Fort Moultrie, where Colonel Pinckney commanded.
Washington was informed of these facts, by letters from his former
aide-de-camp, Colonel Laurens, who was in Charleston at the time. The
information caused anxious forebodings. "The impracticability of
defending the bar, I fear, amounts to the loss of the town and
garrison," writes he in reply. His solicitude for the safety of the
South was increased, by heaving of the embarkation at New York of two
thousand five hundred British and Hessian troops, under Lord Rawdon,
reinforcements for Sir Henry Clinton. It seemed evident the enemy
intended to push their operations with vigor at the South; perhaps, to
make it the principal theatre of the war.
Gladly would Washington have hastened to the South in person, but at
this moment his utmost vigilance was required to keep watch upon New
York and maintain the security of the Hudson, the vital part of the
confederacy. The weak state of the American means of warfare in both
quarters, presented a choice of difficulties. The South needed
support. Could the North give it without exposing itself to ruin,
since the enemy, by means of their ships, could suddenly unite their
forces, and fall upon any point that they might consider weak? Such
were the perplexities to which he was continually subjected, in having
with scanty means to provide for the security of a vast extent of
country, and with land forces merely, to contend with an amphibious
enemy.
Looking, however, as usual, to the good of the whole Union, he
determined to leave something at hazard in the Middle States, where
the country was internally so strong, and yield further succor to the
Southern States, which had not equal military advantages. With the
consent of Congress, therefore, he put the Maryland line under
marching orders, together with the Delaware regiment, which acted with
it, and the first regiment of artillery. The Baron De Kalb, now at the
head of the Maryland division, was instructed to conduct this
detachment with all haste to the aid of General Lincoln. He might not
arrive in time to prevent the fall of Charleston, but he might assist
to arrest the progress of the enemy and save the Carolinas.