MARAUDS IN THE JERSEYS.--THE FRENCH FLEET AT NEWPORT.
A handbill published by the British authorities in New York reached
Washington's camp on the 1st of June, and made known the surrender of
Charleston. [With this intelligence came reports of a large fleet
entering Sandy Hook, which was supposed to be the return of Sir Henry
with the whole or part of his force.] The report proved to be
erroneous, but on the 6th of June came a new alarm. The enemy, it was
said, were actually landing in force at Elizabethtown Point, to carry
fire and sword into the Jerseys! It was even so. Knyphausen, through
spies and emissaries, had received exaggerated accounts of the recent
outbreak in Washington's camp and of the general discontent among the
people of New Jersey, and was persuaded that a sudden show of military
protection, following up the news of the capture of Charleston, would
produce a general desertion among Washington's troops, and rally back
the inhabitants of the Jerseys to their allegiance to the crown.
In this belief he projected a descent into the Jerseys with about five
thousand men, and some light artillery, who were to cross in divisions
in the night of the 5th of June from Staten Island to Elizabethtown
Point. The first division, led by Brigadier-general Sterling, actually
landed before dawn of the 6th, and advanced as silently as possible.
The heavy and measured tramp of the troops, however, caught the ear of
an American sentinel stationed at a fork where the roads from the old
and new point joined. He challenged the dimly descried mass as it
approached, and receiving no answer, fired into it. That shot wounded
General Sterling in the thigh, and ultimately proved mortal. The
wounded general was carried back, and Knyphausen took his place.
This delayed the march until sunrise, and gave time for the troops of
the Jersey line, under Colonel Elias Dayton, stationed in
Elizabethtown, to assemble. They were too weak in numbers, however, to
withstand the enemy, but retreated in good order, skirmishing
occasionally. Signal guns and signal fires were rousing the country.
The militia and yeomanry armed themselves with such weapons as were at
hand, and hastened to their alarm posts. The enemy took the old road,
by what was called Galloping Hill, towards the village of Connecticut
Farms; fired upon from behind walls and thickets by the hasty levies
of the country.
At Connecticut Farms, the retreating troops under Dayton fell in with
the Jersey brigade, under General Maxwell, and a few militia joining
them, the Americans were enabled to make some stand, and even to hold
the enemy in check. The latter, however, brought up several field
pieces, and being reinforced by a second division which had crossed
from Staten Island some time after the first, compelled the Americans
again to retreat. Some of the enemy, exasperated at the unexpected
opposition they had met with throughout their march, and pretending
that the inhabitants of this village had fired upon them from their
windows, began to pillage and set fire to the houses.{1}
{Footnote 1: [The wife of the Rev. James Caldwell, already alluded to,
was in the village at the time, and while sitting on the side of a
bed, holding a child by the hand, a musket was discharged in at the
window, and the ball striking her in the breast, she fell dead on the
floor.]}
In the meantime Knyphausen was pressing on with his main force towards
Morristown. The booming of alarm guns had roused the country; every
valley was pouring out its yeomanry. Two thousand were said to be
already in arms below the mountains. Within half a mile of
Springfield, Knyphausen halted to reconnoitre. That village, through
which passes the road to Springfield, had been made the American
rallying-point. It stands at the foot of what are called the Short
Hills, on the west side of Rahway River, which runs in front of it. On
the bank of the river, General Maxwell's Jersey brigade and the
militia of the neighborhood were drawn up to dispute the passage.
Washington had arrived and taken his position that afternoon, prepared
to withstand an encounter though not to seek one. All night his camp
fires lighted up the Short Hills, and he remained on the alert
expecting to be assailed in the morning; but in the morning no enemy
was to be seen. Knyphausen had experienced enough to convince him that
he had been completely misinformed as to the disposition of the Jersey
people and of the army. Disappointed as to the main objects of his
enterprise, he had retreated under cover of the night.
On the 17th of June the fleet from the South actually arrived in the
bay of New York, and Sir Henry Clinton landed his troops on Staten
Island, but almost immediately re-embarked them; as if meditating an
expedition up the river. Fearing for the safety of West Point,
Washington set off on the 21st June, with the main body of his troops,
towards Pompton; while General Greene, with Maxwell and Stark's
brigades, Lee's dragoons and the militia of the neighborhood, remained
encamped on the Short Hills, to cover the country and protect the
stores at Morristown.
Washington's movements were slow and wary, unwilling to be far from
Greene until better informed of the designs of the enemy. At Rockaway
Bridge, about eleven miles beyond Morristown, he received word on the
23d that the enemy were advancing from Elizabethtown against
Springfield. Supposing the military depot at Morristown to be their
ultimate object, he detached a brigade to the assistance of Greene,
and fell back five or six miles, so as to be in supporting distance of
him.
The re-embarkation of the troops at Staten Island had, in fact, been a
stratagem of Sir Henry Clinton to divert the attention of Washington,
and enable Knyphausen to carry out the enterprise which had hitherto
hung fire. No sooner did the latter ascertain that the American
commander-in-chief had moved off with his main force towards the
Highlands, than he sallied from Elizabethtown, five thousand strong,
with a large body of cavalry, and fifteen or twenty pieces of
artillery; hoping not merely to destroy the public stores at
Morristown, but to get possession of those difficult hills and defiles
among which Washington's army had been so securely posted, and which
constituted the strength of that part of the country.
It was early on the morning of the 23d that Knyphausen pushed forward
toward Springfield. Beside the main road which passes directly through
the village toward Morristown, there is another north of it, called
the Vauxhall road, crossing several small streams, the confluence of
which forms the Rahway. These two roads unite beyond the village in
the principal pass of the Short Hills. The enemy's troops advanced
rapidly in two compact columns, the right one by the Vauxhall road,
the other by the main or direct road. General Greene was stationed
among the Short Hills, about a mile above the town. His troops were
distributed at various posts, for there were many passes to guard.
At five o'clock in the morning, signal-guns gave notice of the
approach of the enemy. The drums beat to arms throughout the camp. The
troops were hastily called in from their posts among the mountain
passes, and preparations were made to defend the village. Major Lee,
with his dragoons and a picket-guard, was posted on the Vauxhall road
to check the right column of the enemy in its advance. Colonel Dayton,
with his regiment of New Jersey militia, was to check the left column
on the main road. Colonel Angel of Rhode Island, with about two
hundred picked men, and a piece of artillery, was to defend a bridge
over the Rahway, a little west of the town. Colonel Shreve, stationed
with his regiment at a second bridge over a branch of the Rahway, east
of the town, was to cover, if necessary, the retreat of Colonel Angel.
Those parts of Maxwell and Stark's brigades which were not thus
detached were drawn up on high grounds in the rear of the town, having
the militia on their flanks.
There was some sharp fighting at a bridge on the Vauxhall road, where
Major Lee with his dragoons and picket-guard held the right column at
bay; a part of the column, however, forded the stream above the
bridge, gained a commanding position, and obliged Lee to retire. The
left column met with similar opposition from Dayton and his Jersey
regiment. The severest fighting of the day was at the bridge over the
Rahway. For upwards of half an hour Colonel Angel defended it with his
handful of men against a vastly superior force. One-fourth of his men
were either killed or disabled: the loss of the enemy was still more
severe. Angel was at length compelled to retire. He did so in good
order, carrying off his wounded, and making his way through the
village to the bridge beyond it. Here his retreat was bravely covered
by Colonel Shreve, but he too was obliged to give way before the
overwhelming force of the enemy, and join the brigades of Maxwell and
Stark upon the hill.
General Greene, finding his front too much extended for his small
force, and that he was in danger of being outflanked on the left by
the column pressing forward on the Vauxhall road, took post with his
main body on the first range of hills, where the roads were brought
near to a point and passed between him and the height occupied by
Stark and Maxwell. He then threw out a detachment which checked the
further advance of the right column of the enemy along the Vauxhall
road, and secured that pass through the Short Hills. Feeling himself
now strongly posted, he awaited with confidence the expected attempt
of the enemy to gain the height. No such attempt was made. The
resistance already experienced, especially at the bridge, and the
sight of militia gathering from various points, dampened the ardor of
the hostile commander. He saw that, should he persist in pushing for
Morristown, he would have to fight his way through a country abounding
with difficult passes, every one of which would be obstinately
disputed; and that the enterprise, even if successful, might cost too
much, beside taking him too far from New York, at a time when a French
armament might be expected.
Before the brigade detached by Washington arrived at the scene of
action, therefore, the enemy had retreated. Previous to their retreat
they wreaked upon Springfield the same vengeance they had inflicted on
Connecticut Farms. The whole village, excepting four houses, was
reduced to ashes. Their second retreat was equally ignoble with their
first. They were pursued and harassed the whole way to Elizabethtown
by light scouting parties and by the militia and yeomanry of the
country, exasperated by the sight of the burning village. Lee, too,
came upon their rear-guard with his dragoons; captured a quantity of
stores abandoned by them in the hurry of retreat, and made prisoners
of several refugees. It was sunset when the enemy reached
Elizabethtown. During the night they passed over to Staten Island by
their bridge of boats. By six o'clock in the morning all had crossed,
and the bridge had been removed--and the State of New Jersey, so long
harassed by the campaignings of either army was finally evacuated by
the enemy.
Apprehensive that the next move of the enemy would be up the Hudson,
Washington resumed his measures for the security of West Point; moving
towards the Highlands in the latter part of June. Circumstances soon
convinced him that the enemy had no present intention of attacking
that fortress, but merely menaced him at various points to retard his
operations, and oblige him to call out the militia; thereby
interrupting agriculture, distressing the country, and rendering his
cause unpopular. Having, therefore, caused the military stores in the
Jerseys to be removed to more remote and secure places, he
countermanded by letter the militia which were marching to camp from
Connecticut and Massachusetts.
He now exerted himself to the utmost to procure from the different
State Legislatures their quotas and supplies for the regular army. The
desired relief, however, had to be effected through the ramifications
of general and State governments and their committees. The operations
were tardy and unproductive. Liberal contributions were made by
individuals; a bank was established by the inhabitants of Philadelphia
to facilitate the supplies of the army, and an association of ladies
of that city raised by subscription between seven and eight thousand
dollars which were put at the disposition of Washington.
The capture of General Lincoln at Charleston had left the Southern
department without a commander-in-chief. As there were likely to be
important military operations in that quarter, Washington had intended
to recommend General Greene for the appointment. He was an officer on
whose abilities, discretion, and disinterested patriotism he had the
fullest reliance, and whom he had always found thoroughly disposed to
act in unison with him in his general plan of carrying on the war.
Congress, however, with unbecoming precipitancy, gave that important
command to General Gates (June 13th), without waiting to consult
Washington's views or wishes.
On the 10th of July a French fleet, under the Chevalier de Ternay,
arrived at Newport, in Rhode Island. It was composed of seven
ships-of-the-line, two frigates and two bombs, and convoyed transports
on board of which were upwards of five thousand troops. This was the
first division of the forces promised by France, of which Lafayette
had spoken. The second division had been detained at Brest for want of
transports, but might soon be expected. The Count de Rochambeau,
Lieutenant-general of the royal armies, was commander-in-chief of this
auxiliary force. He was a veteran, fifty-five years of age, who had
early distinguished himself, when colonel of the regiment of Auvergne,
and had gained laurels in various battles. Another officer of rank and
distinction in this force, was Major-general the Marquis de
Chastellux, a friend and relative of Lafayette, but much his senior,
being now forty-six years of age. He was not only a soldier, but a man
of letters, and one familiar with courts as well as camps.
The instructions of the French ministry to the Count de Rochambeau
placed him entirely under the command of General Washington. The
French troops were to be considered as auxiliaries, and as such were
to take the left of the American troops, and, in all cases of
ceremony, to yield them the preference. This considerate arrangement
was intended to prevent the recurrence of those questions of rank and
etiquette which had heretofore disturbed the combined service.
Washington, in general orders, congratulated the army on the arrival
of this timely and generous succor, which he hailed as a new tie
between France and America; anticipating that the only contention
between the two armies would be to excel each other in good offices,
and in the display of every military virtue. The American cockade had
hitherto been black, that of the French was white; he recommended to
his officers a cockade of black and white intermingled in compliment
to their allies, and as a symbol of friendship and union.
His joy at this important reinforcement was dashed by the mortifying
reflection that he was still unprovided with the troops and military
means requisite for the combined operations meditated. Still he took
upon himself the responsibility of immediate action, and forthwith
despatched Lafayette to have an interview with the French commanders,
explain the circumstances of the case, and concert plans for the
proposed attack upon New York. The arrival, however, of the British
Admiral, Graves, at New York, on the 13th of July, with six
ships-of-the-line, gave the enemy such a superiority of naval force
that the design on New York was postponed until the second French
division should make its appearance, or a squadron under the Count de
Guichen, which was expected from the West Indies.
In the meantime, Sir Henry Clinton, who had information of all the
plans and movements of the allies, determined to forestall the
meditated attack upon New York, by beating up the French quarters on
Rhode Island. This he was to do in person at the head of six thousand
men, aided by Admiral Arbuthnot with his fleet. Sir Henry accordingly
proceeded with his troops to Throg's Neck on the Sound; there to
embark on board of transports which Arbuthnot was to provide. No
sooner did Washington learn that so large a force had left New York,
than he crossed the Hudson to Peekskill, and prepared to move towards
King's Bridge, with the main body of his troops, which had recently
been reinforced. His intention was, either to oblige Sir Henry to
abandon his project against Rhode Island, or to strike a blow at New
York during his absence.
The expedition of Sir Henry was delayed by the tardy arrival of
transports. In the meantime he heard of the sudden move of Washington,
and learned, moreover, that the position of the French at Newport had
been strengthened by the militia from the neighboring country. These
tidings disconcerted his plans. He left Admiral Arbuthnot to proceed
with his squadron to Newport, blockade the French fleet, and endeavor
to intercept the second division, supposed to be on its way, while he
with his troops hastened back to New York. In consequence of their
return, Washington again withdrew his forces to the west side of the
Hudson; first establishing a post and throwing up small works at
Dobbs' Ferry, about ten miles above King's Bridge.
Arnold now received the important command which he had so earnestly
coveted. It included the fortress at West Point and the posts from
Fishkill to King's Ferry, together with the corps of infantry and
cavalry advanced toward the enemy's line on the east side of the
river. Washington took post at Orangetown or Tappan, on the borders of
the Jerseys, and opposite to Dobbs' Ferry, to be at hand for any
attempt upon New York. The execution of this cherished design,
however, was again postponed by intelligence that the second division
of the French reinforcements was blockaded in the harbor of Brest by
the British: Washington still had hopes that it might be carried into
effect by the aid of the squadron of the Count de Guichen from the
West Indies; or of a fleet from Cadiz.
At this juncture, a derangement took place in the
quartermaster-general's department, of which General Greene was the
head. The reorganization of this department had long been in
agitation. A system had been digested by Washington, Schuyler and
Greene, adapted, as they thought, to the actual situation of the
country. Greene had offered, should it be adopted, to continue in the
discharge of the duties of the department, without any extra emolument
other than would cover the expenses of his family. Congress devised a
different scheme. He considered it incapable of execution, and likely
to be attended with calamitous and disgraceful results; he, therefore,
tendered his resignation. The tone and manner assumed by General
Greene in offering his resignation, were deeply offensive to Congress.
His resignation was promptly accepted, and Colonel Pickering appointed
to succeed him. The commissariat was equally in a state of
derangement. "At this very juncture," writes Washington (Aug. 20th),
"I am reduced to the painful alternative, either of dismissing a part
of the militia now assembling, or of letting them come forward to
starve; which it will be extremely difficult for the troops already
in the field to avoid.... Every day's experience proves more and more
that the present mode of supplies is the most uncertain, expensive and
injurious that could be devised. It is impossible for us to form any
calculations of what we are to expect, and consequently to concert any
plans for future execution." The anxiety of Washington at this moment
of embarrassment was heightened by the receipt of disastrous
intelligence from the South.