DISCONTENTS IN THE ARMY.--FALL OF CHARLESTON.
We have cited the depreciation of the currency as a main cause of the
difficulties and distresses of the army. The troops were paid in paper
money at its nominal value. A memorial of the officers of the Jersey
line to the legislature of their State, represented the depreciation
to be so great, that four months' pay of a private soldier would not
procure for his family a single bushel of wheat; the pay of a colonel
would not purchase oats for his horse, and a common laborer or express
rider could earn four times the pay in paper of an American officer.
Congress, too, in its exigencies, being destitute of the power of
levying taxes, which vested in the State governments, devolved upon
those governments, in their separate capacities, the business of
supporting the army. This produced a great inequality in the condition
of the troops; according to the means and the degree of liberality of
their respective States. Some States furnished their troops amply not
only with clothing, but with many comforts and conveniencies; others
were more contracted in their supplies; while others left their troops
almost destitute. Some of the States, too, undertook to make good to
their troops the loss in their pay caused by the depreciation of the
currency. As this was not general it increased the inequality of
condition.
These, and other defects in the military system, were pressed by
Washington upon the attention of Congress in a letter to the
President. In consequence it was proposed in Congress to send a
committee of three of its members to head-quarters to consult with the
commander-in-chief, and, in conjunction with him, to effect such
reforms and changes in the various departments of the army as might be
deemed necessary. After a prolonged debate, a committee of three was
chosen by ballot; it consisted of General Schuyler and Messrs. John
Mathews, and Nathaniel Peabody. It was a great satisfaction to
Washington to have his old friend and coadjutor, Schuyler, near him in
this capacity, in which, he declared, no man could be more useful.
The committee, on arriving at the camp, found the disastrous state of
affairs had not been exaggerated. For five months the army had been
unpaid. Every department was destitute of money or credit; there were
rarely provisions for six days in advance; on some occasions the
troops had been for several successive days without meat; there was no
forage; the medical department had neither tea, chocolate, wine, nor
spirituous liquors of any kind.
To soothe the discontents of the army, and counteract the alarming
effects of the depreciation of the currency, Congress now adopted the
measure already observed by some of the States, and engaged to make
good to the Continental and the independent troops the difference in
the value of their pay caused by this depreciation; and that all
moneys or other articles heretofore received by them, should be
considered as advanced on account, and comprehended at their just
value in the final settlement.
At this gloomy crisis came a letter from the Marquis de Lafayette,
dated April 27th, announcing his arrival at Boston. Washington's eyes,
we are told, were suffused with tears as he read this most welcome
epistle. He would immediately have sent a troop of horse to escort the
marquis through the tory settlements between Morristown and the
Hudson, had he known the route he intended to take; the latter,
however, arrived safe at head-quarters on the 12th of May, where he
was welcomed with acclamations, for he was popular with both officers
and soldiers. Washington folded him in his arms in a truly paternal
embrace, and they were soon closeted together to talk over the state
of affairs, when Lafayette made known the result of his visit to
France. His generous efforts at court had been crowned with success,
and he brought the animating intelligence that a French fleet, under
the Chevalier de Ternay, was to put to sea early in April, bringing a
body of troops under the Count de Rochambeau, and might soon be
expected on the coast to co-operate with the American forces; this,
however, he was at liberty to make known only to Washington and
Congress. Remaining but a single day at head-quarters, he hastened on
to the seat of government, where he met the reception which his
generous enthusiasm in the cause of American independence had so fully
merited.
Within three days after the departure of the marquis from Morristown,
Washington in a letter to him, gave his idea of the plan which it
would be proper for the French fleet and army to pursue on their
arrival upon the coast. The reduction of New York he considered the
first enterprise to be attempted by the co-operating forces. The whole
effective land force of the enemy he estimated at about eight thousand
regulars and four thousand refugees, with some militia on which no
great dependence could be placed. Their naval force consisted of one
seventy-four gun ship, and three or four small frigates. In this
situation of affairs the French fleet might enter the harbor and gain
possession of it without difficulty, cut off its communications, and,
with the co-operation of the American army, oblige the city to
capitulate. He advised Lafayette, therefore, to write to the French
commanders, urging them on their arrival on the coast to proceed with
their land and naval forces with all expedition to Sandy Hook, and
there await further advices; should they learn, however, that the
expedition under Sir Henry Clinton had returned from the South to New
York, they were to proceed to Rhode Island.
General Arnold was at this time in Philadelphia, and his connection
with subsequent events requires a few words concerning his career,
daily becoming more perplexed. He had again petitioned Congress on the
subject of his accounts. The Board of Treasury had made a report far
short of his wishes. He had appealed, and his appeal, together with
all the documents connected with the case, was referred to a committee
of three. Old doubts and difficulties continued; there was no prospect
of a speedy settlement; he was in extremity. [In his extremity he
applied to the French minister, M. de Luzerne, a generous-spirited
man, representing the hardships of his case, the ingratitude of his
country, the hostility he had experienced from Pennsylvania, his
urgent private necessities, and implored a loan equal to the amount of
his debts, intimating that the attachment and gratitude of an American
general of his rank and influence would be of vast importance to
France in the transactions likely to arise between the two countries.
M. de Luzerne, in reply, said that the league between France and
America had for its basis a reciprocal interest and good will, and
that it could be fulfilled without intrigue or secret practices.
Arnold retired from the interview a mortified and desperate man; and
writing to General Schuyler, who was about to visit the camp as one of
the committee, expressed a wish to rejoin the army, and intimated that
as his wounds made it painful for him to ride or walk, the command of
West Point would best suit his present condition.]
In the meantime, the army with which Washington was to co-operate in
the projected attack upon New York, was so reduced by the departure of
troops whose term had expired and the tardiness in furnishing
recruits, that it did not amount quite to four thousand rank and file,
fit for duty. Among these was a prevalent discontent. Their pay was
five months in arrear; if now paid it would be in Continental
currency, without allowance for depreciation, consequently, almost
worthless for present purposes.
A long interval of scarcity and several days of actual famine, brought
matters to a crisis. On the 25th of May, in the dusk of the evening,
two regiments of the Connecticut line assembled on their parade by
beat of drum, and declared their intention to march home bag and
baggage, "or, at best, to gain subsistence at the point of the
bayonet." Every argument and expostulation was used with the
mutineers. They were reminded of their past good conduct, of the noble
objects for which they were contending, and of the future
indemnifications promised by Congress. Their answer was, that their
sufferings were too great to be allayed by promises, in which they had
little faith; they wanted present relief. It was with difficulty they
could be prevailed upon to return to their huts. Indeed, a few turned
out a second time, with their packs, and were not to be pacified.
These were arrested and confined.
In this alarming state of destitution, Washington looked round
anxiously for bread for his famishing troops. New York, Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and Maryland were what he termed his "flour country."
Virginia was sufficiently tasked to supply the South. New York, by
legislative coercion, had already given all that she could spare from
the subsistence of her inhabitants. Jersey was exhausted by the long
residence of the army. Maryland had made great exertions, and might
still do something more, and Delaware might contribute handsomely, in
proportion to her extent: but Pennsylvania was now the chief
dependence, for that State was represented to be full of flour.
Washington's letter of the 16th of December to President Reed, had
obtained temporary relief from that quarter; he now wrote to him a
second time, and still more earnestly, and sought to rouse President
Reed to extraordinary exertions. "This is a time," writes he, "to
hazard and to take a tone of energy and decision. All parties but the
disaffected will acquiesce in the necessity and give it their
support." He urges Reed to press upon the legislature of Pennsylvania
the policy of investing its executive with plenipotentiary powers. His
letter procured relief for the army from the legislature, and a
resolve empowering the president and council, during its recess, to
declare martial law, should circumstances render it expedient.
In like manner, he endeavored to rouse the dormant fire of Congress,
and impart to it his own indomitable energy. "Certain I am," writes he
to a member of that body, "unless Congress speak in a more decisive
tone, unless they are vested with powers by the several States,
competent to the purposes of war, or assume them as matters of right,
and they and the States respectively act with more energy than they
have hitherto done, that our cause is lost. We can no longer drudge on
in the old way. By ill-timing the adoption of measures, by delays in
the execution of them, or by unwarrantable jealousies, we incur
enormous expenses and derive no benefit from them. One State will
comply with a requisition of Congress; another neglects to do it; a
third executes it by halves; and all differ, either in the manner, the
matter, or so much in point of time, that we are always working
up-hill; and, while such a system as the present one, or rather want
of one, prevails, we shall ever be unable to apply our strength or
resources to any advantage."
At this juncture came official intelligence from the South to connect
which with the general course of events, requires a brief notice of
the operations of Sir Henry Clinton in that quarter.
In the preceding chapter we left the British fleet under Admiral
Arbuthnot, preparing to force its way into the harbor of Charleston.
Several days elapsed before the ships were able, by taking out their
guns, provisions, and water, and availing themselves of wind and tide
to pass the bar. They did so on the 20th of March, with but slight
opposition from several galleys. Commodore Whipple, then, seeing the
vast superiority of their force, made a second retrograde move,
stationing some of his ships in Cooper River, and sinking the rest at
its mouth so as to prevent the enemy from running up that river, and
cutting off communication with the country on the east: the crews and
heavy cannon were landed to aid in the defence of the town. The
reinforcements expected from the North were not yet arrived; the
militia of the State did not appear at Governor Rutledge's command,
and other reliances were failing.
At this time the reinforcements which Sir Henry Clinton had ordered
from Savannah were marching toward the Cambayee under Brigadier-general
Patterson. On his flanks moved Major Ferguson with a corps of riflemen,
and Major Cochrane with the infantry of the British legion; two brave
and enterprising officers. It was a toilsome march, through swamps and
difficult passes. Being arrived in the neighborhood of Port Royal,
where Tarleton had succeeded, though indifferently, in remounting his
dragoons, Patterson sent orders to that officer to join him. Tarleton
hastened to obey the order. His arrival was timely. The Carolina
militia having heard that all the British horses had perished at sea,
made an attack on the front of General Patterson's force, supposing it
to be without cavalry. To their surprise, Tarleton charged them with
his dragoons, routed them, took several prisoners, and, what was more
acceptable, a number of horses.
Tarleton had soon afterwards to encounter a worthy antagonist in
Colonel William Washington, the same cavalry officer who had
distinguished himself at Trenton, and was destined to distinguish
himself still more in this Southern campaign. He is described as being
six feet in height, broad, stout and corpulent. Bold in the field,
careless in the camp; kind to his soldiers; harassing to his enemies;
gay and good-humored; with an upright heart and a generous hand, a
universal favorite. He was now at the head of a body of Continental
cavalry, consisting of his own and Bland's light-horse, and Pulaski's
hussars. A brush took place in the neighborhood of Rantoul's Bridge.
Colonel Washington had the advantage, took several prisoners, and
drove back the dragoons of the British legion, but durst not pursue
them for want of infantry.
On the 7th of April, Brigadier-general Woodford with seven hundred
Virginia troops, after a forced march of five hundred miles in thirty
days, crossed from the east side of Cooper River, by the only passage
now open, and threw himself into Charleston. It was a timely
reinforcement, and joyfully welcomed; for the garrison, when in
greatest force, amounted to little more than two thousand regulars and
one thousand North Carolina militia.
About the same time Admiral Arbuthnot, in the Roebuck, passed
Sullivan's Island, with a fresh southerly breeze, at the head of a
squadron of seven armed vessels and two transports. Colonel Pinckney
opened a heavy cannonade from the batteries of Fort Moultrie. The
ships thundered in reply, and clouds of smoke were raised, under the
cover of which they slipped by, with no greater loss than twenty-seven
men killed and wounded. A store-ship which followed the squadron ran
aground, was set on fire and abandoned, and subsequently blew up. The
ships took a position near Fort Johnston, just without the range of
the shot from the American batteries. After the passage of the ships,
Colonel Pinckney and a part of the garrison withdrew from Fort
Moultrie.
The enemy had by this time completed his first parallel, and the town
being almost entirely invested by sea and land, received a joint
summons from the British general and admiral to surrender. "Sixty days
have passed," writes Lincoln in reply, "since it has been known that
your intentions against this town were hostile, in which, time has
been afforded to abandon it, but duty and inclination point to the
propriety of supporting it to the last extremity."
The British batteries were now opened. The siege was carried on
deliberately by regular parallels, and on a scale of magnitude
scarcely warranted by the moderate strength of the place. A great
object with the besieged was to keep open the channel of communication
with the country by the Cooper River, the last that remained by which
they could receive reinforcements and supplies, or could retreat if
necessary. For this purpose, Governor Rutledge, leaving the town in
the care of Lieutenant-governor Gadsden, and one half of the executive
council, set off with the other half, and endeavored to rouse the
militia between the Cooper and Santee Rivers. His success was
extremely limited. Two militia posts were established by him; one
between these rivers, the other at a ferry on the Santee; some regular
troops, also, had been detached by Lincoln to throw up works about
nine miles above the town, on the Wando, a branch of Cooper River, and
at Lempriere's Point; and Brigadier-general Huger,{1} with a force of
militia and Continental cavalry, including those of Colonel William
Washington, was stationed at Monk's Corner, about thirty miles above
Charleston, to guard the passes at the head waters of Cooper River.
{Footnote 1: Pronounced Hugee--of French Huguenot descent.}
Sir Henry Clinton, when proceeding with his second parallel, detached
Lieutenant-colonel Webster with fourteen hundred men to break up these
posts. The most distant one was that of Huger's cavalry at Monk's
Corner. The surprisal of this was entrusted to Tarleton, who, with his
dragoons was in Webster's advanced guard. He was to be seconded by
Major Patrick Ferguson with his riflemen. Ferguson was a fit associate
for Tarleton, in hardy, scrambling, partisan enterprise: equally
intrepid and determined, but cooler and more open to impulses of
humanity.
On the evening of the 13th of April, Tarleton moved with the van
towards Monk's Corner. A night march had been judged the most
advisable. It was made in profound silence and by unfrequented roads.
A few dollars gained the services of a negro as a guide. The surprisal
of General Huger's camp was complete. Several officers and men who
attempted to defend themselves were killed or wounded. General Huger,
Colonel Washington, with many others, officers and men, escaped in the
darkness to the neighboring swamps. One hundred officers, dragoons and
hussars were taken, with about four hundred horses and near fifty
wagons, laden with arms, clothing, and ammunition. Biggins Bridge on
Cooper River was likewise secured, and the way opened for Colonel
Webster to advance nearly to the head of the passes, in such a manner
as to shut up Charleston entirely.
The American cavalry had gradually re-assembled on the north of the
Santee, under Colonel White of New Jersey, where they were joined by
some militia infantry, and by Colonel William Washington, with such of
his dragoons as had escaped at Monk's Corner. Cornwallis had committed
the country between Cooper and Wando Rivers to Tarleton's charge, with
orders to be continually on the move with the cavalry and infantry of
the legion; to watch over the landing-places; obtain intelligence from
the town, the Santee River and the back country, and to burn such
stores as might fall into his hands rather than risk their being
retaken by the enemy. Hearing of the fortuitous assemblage of American
troops, Tarleton came suddenly upon them by surprise at Laneau's
Ferry. It was one of his bloody exploits. Five officers and thirty-six
men were killed and wounded, and seven officers and six dragoons
taken, with horses, arms and equipments. Colonels White, Washington
and Jamieson, with other officers and men, threw themselves in the
river and escaped by swimming; while some who followed their example,
perished.
The arrival of a reinforcement of three thousand men from New York
enabled Sir Henry Clinton to throw a powerful detachment under Lord
Cornwallis, to the east of Cooper River, to complete the investment of
the town and cut off all retreat. Fort Moultrie surrendered. The
batteries of the third parallel were opened upon the town. This fire
was kept up for two days. The besiegers crossed the canal; pushed a
double sap to the inside of the abatis, and prepared to make an
assault by sea and land. All hopes of successful defence were at an
end. The works were in ruins; the guns almost all dismounted; the
garrison exhausted with fatigue, the provisions nearly consumed. The
inhabitants, dreading the horrors of an assault, joined in a petition
to General Lincoln and prevailed upon him to offer a surrender on
terms which had already been offered and rejected. These terms were
still granted, and the capitulation was signed on the 12th of May. The
garrison were allowed some of the honors of war.
The loss of the British in the siege was seventy-six killed and one
hundred and eighty-nine wounded; that of the Americans nearly the
same. The prisoners taken by the enemy, exclusive of the sailors,
amounted to five thousand, six hundred and eighteen men; comprising
every male adult in the city. The Continental troops did not exceed
two thousand, five hundred of whom were in the hospital; the rest were
citizens and militia.
Sir Henry Clinton considered the fall of Charleston decisive of the
fate of South Carolina. To complete the subjugation of the country, he
planned three expeditions into the interior; one, under
Lieutenant-colonel Brown, was to move up the Savannah River to
Augusta, on the borders of Georgia; another, under Lieutenant-colonel
Cruger, was to proceed up the southwest side of the Santee River to
the district of Ninety-Six,{2} a fertile and salubrious region,
between the Savannah and the Saluda rivers: while a third, under
Cornwallis, was to cross the Santee, march up the northeast bank, and
strike at a corps of troops under Colonel Buford, which were
retreating to North Carolina with artillery and a number of wagons,
laden with arms, ammunition and clothing.
{Footnote 2: So called in early times from being ninety-six miles from
the principal town of the Cherokee nation.}
Colonel Buford, in fact, had arrived too late for the relief of
Charleston, and was now making a retrograde move; he had come on with
three hundred and eighty troops of the Virginia line, and two field
pieces, and had been joined by Colonel Washington with a few of his
cavalry that had survived the surprisal by Tarleton. As Buford was
moving with celerity, and had the advantage of distance, Cornwallis
detached Tarleton in pursuit of him, with one hundred and seventy
dragoons, a hundred mounted infantry, and a three-pounder. The bold
partisan pushed forward with his usual ardor and rapidity, and coming
upon Buford's rear-guard captured a sergeant and four dragoons. Buford
hastily drew up his men in order of battle, in an open wood, on the
right of the road. His artillery and wagons, which were in the advance
escorted by part of his infantry, were ordered to continue on their
march.
There appears to have been some confusion on the part of the
Americans, and they had an impetuous foe to deal with. Before they
were well prepared for action they were attacked in front and on both
flanks by cavalry and mounted infantry. The American battalion was
broken; most of the men threw down their arms and begged for quarter,
but were cut down without mercy. One hundred and thirteen were slain
on the spot, and one hundred and fifty so mangled and maimed that they
could not be removed. Colonel Buford and a few of the cavalry escaped,
as did about a hundred of the infantry, who were with the baggage in
the advance. Fifty prisoners were all that were in a condition to be
carried off by Tarleton as trophies of this butchery.
The two other detachments which had been sent out by Clinton, met with
nothing but submission. The people in general, considering resistance
hopeless, accepted the proffered protection, and conformed to its
humiliating terms. Sir Henry now persuaded himself that South Carolina
was subdued, and proceeded to station garrisons in various parts to
maintain it in subjection. In the fullness of his confidence, he
issued a proclamation on the 3d of June, discharging all the military
prisoners from their paroles after the 20th of the month, excepting
those captured in Fort Moultrie and Charleston. All thus released from
their parole were reinstated in the rights and duties of British
subjects. All were to be ready to take up arms at a moment's notice.
Those who had families were to form a militia for home defence. Those
who had none were to serve with the royal forces. All who should
neglect to return to their allegiance, or should refuse to take up
arms against the independence of their country, were to be considered
as rebels and treated accordingly.
Having struck a blow, which, as he conceived, was to insure the
subjugation of the South, Sir Henry embarked for New York on the 5th
of June with a part of his forces, leaving the residue under the
command of Lord Cornwallis who was to carry the war into North
Carolina and thence into Virginia.