importance in their army, whose name I shall not mention in this
narrative, for certain reasons, though I have mentioned it to some of my
close friends and confidants, sent for me to his lodgings, and told
me, "That faithfulness, though in a wrong cause, had nevertheless
recommended me to Gen. Sir William Howe, who was minded to make me
a colonel of a regiment of new levies, alias tories, in the British
service; and proposed that I should go with him, and some' other
officers, to England, who would embark for that purpose in a few days,
and there be introduced to Lord G. Germaine, and probably to the King;
and that previously I should be clothed equal, to such an introduction,
and, instead of paper rags, be paid in hard guineas; after this, should
embark with Gen. Burgoyne, and assist in the reduction of the country,
which infallibly would be conquered, and, when that should be done, I
should have a large tract of land, either in the New-Hampshire grants,
or in Connecticut, it would make no odds, as the country would be
forfeited to the crown." I then replied, "That, if by faithfulness I had
recommended myself to Gen. Howe, I should be loth, by unfaithfulness,
to lose the General's good opinion; besides, that I viewed the offer
of land to be similar to that which the devil offered Jesus Christ,
To give him all the kingdoms of the world, if he would fall down and
worship him; when at the same time, the damned soul had not one foot of
land upon earth." This closed the conversation, and the gentleman turned
from me with an air of dislike, saying, that I was a bigot; upon which I
retired to my lodgings.*
Near the last of November, I was admitted to parole in New-York, with
many other American officers, and on the 22d of January, 1777, was with
them directed by the British commissary of prisoners to be quartered
on the westerly part of Long-Island, and our parol continued. During
my imprisonment there, no occurrences worth observation happened. I
obtained the means of living as well as I desired, which in a great
measure repaired my constitution, which had been greatly injured by the
severities of an inhuman captivity. I now began to feel myself composed,
expecting either an exchange, or continuance in good and honorable
treatment; but alas! my visionary expectations soon vanished. The news
of the conquest of Ticonderoga by general Burgoyne,** and the advance
of his army into the country, made the haughty Britons again feel their
importance, and with that, their insatiable thirst for cruelty.
The private prisoners at New-York, and some of the officers on parole,
felt the severity of it. Burgoyne was to them a demi-god. To him they
paid adoration: in him the tories placed their confidence, "and forgot
the Lord their God," and served Howe, Burgoyne and Knyphausen,*** "and
became vile in their own imagination, and their foolish hearts were
darkened," professing to be great politicians and relying on foreign
and merciless invaders, and with them seeking the ruin, bloodshed and
destruction of their country; "became fools," expecting with them to
share a dividend in the confiscated estates of their neighbors and
countrymen who fought for the whole country, and the religion and
liberties thereof. "Therefore, God gave them over to strong delusions,
to believe a lie, that they all might be damned."
* This conduct of Colonel Allen, though springing from duty,
ought not to be passed over without tributary praise. The
refusal of such an offer and in such circumstances, was
highly meritorious. Though the man of strict honor, and
rigid integrity, deems the plaudit of his own conscience an
ample reward for his best actions, it is a pleasing
employment, to those who witness such actions, to record
them. It is an incentive to others to 'go and do likewise.'
** In June, 1777, the British army, amounting to several
thousand men, besides Indians and Canadians, commanded by
general Burgoyne, crossed the lake and laid siege to
Ticonderoga. In a short time, the enemy gained possession of
Sugar Hill, which commanded the American lines, and general
St. Clair, with the advice of a council of war, ordered the
post to be abandoned. The retreat of the Americans was
conducted under every possible disadvantage--part of their
force embarked in batteaux and landed at Skenesborough--a
part marched by the way of Castleton; but they were obliged
to leave their heavy cannon, and on their march, lost great
part of their baggage and stores, while their rear was
harassed by the British troops. An action took place between
colonel Warner, with a body of Americans, and general
Frazer, in which the Americans were defeated, after a brave
resistance, with the loss of a valuable officer, colonel
Francis.
*** Knyphausen, a Hessian general.
The 25th day of August, I was was apprehended, and, under pretext of
artful, mean and pitiful pretences, that I had infringed on my parole,
taken from a tavern, where there were more than a dozen officers present
and, in the very place where those officers and myself were directed to
be quartered, put under a strong guard and taken to New-York, where I
expected to make my defence before the commanding officer; but, contrary
to my expectations, and without the least solid pretence of justice or a
trial, was again encircled with a strong guard with fixed bayonets,
and conducted to the provost-goal in a lonely apartment, next above the
dungeon, and was denied all manner of subsistence either by purchase or
allowance. The second day I offered a guinea for a meal of victuals, but
was denied it, and the third day I offered eight Spanish milled dollars
for a like favor, but was denied, and all I could get out of the
sergeant's mouth, was that by God he would obey his orders. I now
perceived myself to be again in substantial trouble. In this condition I
formed an oblique acquaintance with a Capt. Travis, of Virginia, who
was in the dungeon below me, through a little hole which was cut with a
pen-knife, through the floor of my apartment which communicated with
the dungeon; it was a small crevice, through which I could discern but a
very small part of his face at once, when he applied it to the hole; but
from the discovery of him in the situation which we were both then in,
I could not have known him, which I found to be true by an after
acquaintance. I could nevertheless hold a conversation with him, and
soon perceived him to be a gentleman of high spirits, who had a high
sense of honor, and felt as big, as though he had been in a palace,
and had treasures of wrath in store against the British. In fine I
was charmed with the spirit of the man; he had been near or quite four
months in that dungeon, with murderers, thieves, and every species
of criminals, and all for the sole crime of unshaken fidelity to
his country; but his spirits were above dejection, and his mind
unconquerable. I engaged to do him every service in my power, and in a
few weeks afterwards, with the united petitions of the officers, in the
provost, procured his dismission from the dark mansion of fiends to the
apartments of his petitioners.
And it came to pass on the 3d day, at the going down of the sun, that I
was presented with a piece of boiled pork, and some biscuit, which the
sergeant gave me to understand, was my allowance, and I fed sweetly on
the same; but I indulged my appetite by degrees, and in a few days more,
was taken from that apartment, and conducted to the next loft or story,
where there were above twenty continental, and some militia officers, who
had been taken, and imprisoned there, besides some private gentlemen,
who had been dragged from their own homes to that filthy place by
tories. Several of every denomination mentioned, died there, some
before, and others after I was put there.
The history of the proceedings relative to, the provost only, were
particular, would swell a volume larger than this, whole narrative.
I shall therefore only notice such of the occurrences which are mostly
extraordinary.
Capt. Vandyke bore, with an uncommon fortitude, near twenty months'
confinement in this place, and in the mean time was very serviceable to
others who were confined with him. The allegation against him, as the
cause of his confinement, was very extraordinary. He was accused of
setting fire to the city of New-York, at the time the west part of it
was consumed, when it was a known fact, that he had been in the provost
a week before the fire broke out; and in like manner, frivolous were the
ostensible accusations against most of those who were there confined;
the case of two militia officers excepted, who were taken in their
attempting to escape from their parole; and probably there may be some
other instances which might justify such a confinement.
Mr. William Miller, a committee man, from West Chester county, and state
of New York, was taken from his bed in the dead of the night by his tory
neighbors, and was starved for three days and nights in an apartment of
the same gaol; add to this the denial of fire, and that in a cold season
of the year, in which time he walked day and night, to defend himself
against the frost, and when he complained of such a reprehensible
conduct, the word rebel or committee man was deemed by the enemy a
sufficient atonement for any inhumanity that they could invent or
inflict. He was a man of good natural understanding, a close and sincere
friend to the liberties of America, and endured fourteen months' cruel
imprisonment with that magnanimity of soul, which reflects honor on
himself and country.
Major Levi Wells, and Capt.. Ozias Bissel, were apprehended and taken
under guard from their parole on Long-Island, to the provost, on as
fallacious pretences as the former, and were there continued till their
exchange took place which was near five months. Their fidelity and
zealous attachment to their country's cause, which was more than
commonly conspicuous was undoubtedly the real cause of their
confinement.
Major Brinton Payne, Capt. Flahaven, and Capt. Randolph, who had at
different times distinguished themselves by their bravery, especially at
the several actions, in which they were taken, were all the provocation
they gave, for which they suffered about a year's confinement, each in
the same filthy gaol.
A few weeks after my confinement, on the like fallacious and
wicked pretences, was brought to the same place, from his parole
on Long-Island, Major Otho Holland Williams now a full Col. in the
continental army. In his character are united the gentleman, officer,
soldier, and friend; he walked through the prison with an air of
great disdain; said he, "Is this the treatment which gentlemen of the
continental army are to expect from the rascally British, when in their
power? Heavens forbid it!" He was continued there about five months, and
then exchanged for a British Major.
Johny Fell, Esq. now a member of Congress for the state of New-Jersey,
was taken from his own house by a gang of infamous tories, and by order
of a British General was sent to the provost, where he was continued
near one year. The stench of the gaol, which was very loathsome and
unhealthy, occasioned a hoarseness of the lungs, which proved fatal to
many who were there confined, and reduced this gentleman near to the
point of death; he was indeed given over by his friends who were about
him, and himself concluded he must die. I could not endure the thought
that so worthy a friend to America should have his life stolen from him
in such a mean, base, and scandalous manner, and that his family and
friends should be bereaved of so great and desirable a blessing, as his
further care, usefulness and example, might prove to them. I therefore
wrote a letter to George Robertson, who commanded in town, and being
touched with the most sensible feelings of humanity, which dictated
my pen to paint dying distress in such lively colors that it wrought
conviction even on the obduracy of a British General, and produced his
order to remove the now honorable John Fell, Esq. out of a gaol, to
private lodgings in town; in consequence of which he slowly recovered
his health. There is so extraordinary a circumstance which intervened
concerning this letter, that it is worth noticing.
Previous to sending it, I exhibited the same to the gentleman on whose
behalf it was written, for his approbation, and he forbid me to send it
in the most positive and explicit terms; his reason was, "That the enemy
knew, by every morning's report, the condition of all the prisoners,
mine in particular, as I have been gradually coming to my end for a
considerable time, and they very well knew it, and likewise determined
it should be accomplished, as they had served many others; that, to ask
a favor, would give the merciless enemy occasion to triumph over me
in my last moments, and therefore I will ask no favors from them, but
resign myself to my supposed fate." But the letter I sent without his
knowledge, and I confess I had but little expectations from it, yet
could not be easy till I had sent it. I may be worth a remark, that
this gentleman was an Englishman born, and from the beginning of the
revolution has invariably asserted and maintained the cause of liberty.
The British have made so extensive an improvement of the provost during
the present revolution till of late, that a very short definition will
be sufficient for the dullest apprehensions. It may be with propriety
called the British inquisition, and calculated to support their
oppressive measures and designs, by suppressing the spirit of liberty;
as also a place to confine the criminals, and most infamous wretches of
their own army, where many gentlemen of the American army, and citizens
thereof, were promiscuously confined, with every species of criminals;
but they divided into different apartments, and kept at as great a
remove as circumstances permitted; but it was nevertheless at the option
of a villainous sergeant, who had the charge of the provost, to take
any gentleman from their room, and put them into the dungeon, which was
often the case. At two different times I was taken down stairs for that
purpose, by a file of soldiers with fixed bayonets, and the sergeant
brandishing his sword at the same time, and having been brought, to the
door of the dungeon, I there flattered the vanity of the sergeant, whose
name was Keef, by which means I procured the surprising favor to return
to my companions; but some of the high mettled young gentlemen could not
bear his insolence, and determined to keep at a distance, and neither
please nor displease the villain, but none could keep clear of his
abuse; however, mild measures were the best; he did not hesitate to
call us damned rebels, and use us with the coarsest language. The Capts.
Flahaven, Randolph and Mercer, were the objects of his most flagrant
and repeated abuses, who were many times taken to the dungeon, and there
continued at his pleasure. Capt. Flahaven took cold in the dungeon, and
was in a declining state of health, but an exchange delivered him, and
in all probability saved his life. It was very mortifying to bear
with the insolence of such a vicious and ill-bred, imperious rascal.
Remonstrances against him were preferred to the commander of the town,
but no relief could be obtained, for his superiors were undoubtedly well
pleased with his abusive conduct to the gentlemen, under the severities
of his power; and remonstrating against his infernal conduct, only
served to confirm him in authority; and for this reason I never made any
remonstrances on the subject, but only stroked him, for I knew that he
was but a cat's paw in the hands of the British officers, and that, if
he should use us well, he would immediately be put out of that trust,
and a worse man appointed to succeed him; but there was no need of
making any new appointment; for Cunningham, their provost marshall, and
Keef, his deputy, were as great rascals as their army could boast of,
except one Joshua Loring, an infamous tory, who was commissionary of
prisoners; nor can any of these be supposed to be equally criminal with
Gen. Sir William Howe and his associates, who prescribed and directed
the murders and cruelties, which were by them perpetrated. This Loring
is a monster!--There is not his like in human shape. He exhibits a
smiling countenance, seems to wear a phiz of humanity, but has been
instrumentally capable of the most consummate acts of wickedness, which
were first projected by an abandoned British council clothed with the
authority of a Howe, murdering premeditatedly, in cold blood, near or
quite two thousand helpless prisoners, and that in the most clandestine,
mean and shameful manner, at New-York. He is the most mean spirited,
cowardly, deceitful, and destructive animal in God's creation below,
and legions of infernal devils, with all their tremendous horrors, are
impatiently ready to receive Howe and him, with all their detestable
accomplices, into the most exquisite agonies of the hottest regions of
hell fire.*
* The publishers would suppress sortie of the language and
expressions Col. Allen occasionally makes use of, but
presuming the reader to make all reasonable allowance, both
for the style and the matter, it was thought most eligible
to give the narrative in the very dress furnished by the
author.
The 6th day of July, 1777, Gen. St. Clair, and the army under his
command, evacuated Ticonderoga, and retreated with the main body through
Hubbardton into Castleton, which was but six miles distant, when his
rear-guard, commanded by Col. Seth Warner, was attacked at Hubbarton by
a body of the enemy of about two thousand, commanded by General Fraser.
Warner's command consisted of his own and two other regiments, viz.
Francis's and Hale's, and some scattering and enfeebled soldiers. His
whole number, according to information, was near or quite one thousand;
part of which were Green Mountain Boys, about seven hundred out of the
whole he brought into action. The enemy advanced boldly, and the two
bodies formed within about sixty yards of each other. Col. Warner having
formed his own regiment, and that of Col. Francis's did not wait for the
enemy, but gave them a heavy fire from his whole line, and they returned
it with great bravery. It was by this time dangerous for those of both
parties, who were not prepared for the world to come; but Colonel Hale
being apprised of the danger, never brought his regiment to the charge,
but left Warner and Francis to stand the blowing of it, and fled, but
luckily fell in with an inconsiderable number of the enemy, and to his
eternal shame, surrendered himself a prisoner.
The conflict was very bloody. Col. Francis fell in the same, but Col.
Warner, and the officers under his command, as also the soldiery,
behaved with great resolution. The enemy broke, and gave way on the
right and left, but formed again, and renewed the attack; in the
mean time the British grenadiers, in the center of the enemy's line,
maintained the ground, and finally carried it with the point of the
bayonet, and Warner retreated with reluctance. Our loss was about thirty
men killed, and that of the enemy amounting to three hundred killed,
including a Major Grant. The enemy's loss I learnt from the confession
of their own officers, when a prisoner with them. I heard them likewise
complain, that the Green Mountain Boys took sight. The next movement of
the enemy, of any material consequence, was their investing Bennington,*
with a design to demolish it, and subject its Mountaineers, to which
they had a great aversion, with one hundred and fifty chosen men,
including tories, with the highest expectation of success, and having
chosen an eminence of strong ground, fortified it with slight breast
works, and two pieces of cannon; but the government of the young state
of Vermont, being previously jealous of such an attempt of the enemy,
and in due time had procured a number of brave militia from the
government of the state of New-Hampshire, who, together with the militia
of the north part of Berkshire county, and state of Massachusetts, and
the Green Mountain Boys, constituted a body of desperadoes, under the
command of the intrepid general Stark, who in number were about equal
to the enemy. Colonel Herrick, who commanded the Green Mountain Rangers,
and who was second in command, being thoroughly acquainted with the
ground where the enemy had fortified, proposed to attack them in their
works upon all parts, at the same time. This plan being adopted by
the general and his council of war, the little militia brigade of
undisciplined heroes, with their long brown firelocks, the the best
security of a free people, without either cannon or bayonets, was, on
the 16th day of August, led on to the attack by their bold commanders,
in the face of the enemy's dreadful fire, and to the astonishment of the
world, and burlesque of discipline, carried every part of their lines in
less than one quarter of an hour after the attack became general,
took their cannon, killed and captivated more than two-thirds of their
number, which immortalized general Stark, and made Bennington famous to
posterity.
* The Americans had collected a quantity of stores at
Bennington; to destroy which as well as to animate the
royalists and intimidate the patriots, general Burgoyne
detached colonel Baum, with five hundred men and one hundred
Indians. Colonel Breytnan was sent to reinforce him, but did
not arrive in time. On the 16th of August, general Stark,
with about eight hundred brave militia men attacked colonel
Baum, in his entrenched camp about six miles from
Bennington, and killed or took prisoners nearly the whole
detachment. The next day colonel Breyman was attacked and
defeated. In these actions, the Americans took about seven
hundred prisoners, and these successes served to revive the
spirits of the people. This success however was in part
counterbalanced by the advantages gained on the Mohawk by
colonel St. Leger; but this officer, attacking fort Stanwix,
was repelled, and obliged to abandon the attempt.
Among the enemy's slain was found colonel Baum, their commander, a
colonel Pfester, who headed an infamous gang of tories, and a large part
of his command; and among the prisoners was major Meibome, their second
in command, a number of British and Hessian officers, surgeons, &c.
and more than one hundred of the aforementioned Pfester's command. The
prisoners being collected together, were sent to the meeting-house in
the town, by a strong guard, and Gen. Stark not imagining any present
danger, the militia scattered from him to rest and refresh themselves;
in this situation he was on a sudden attacked by a reinforcement of one
thousand and one hundred of the enemy, commanded by a governer Skene,
with two field pieces. They advanced in regular order, and kept up an
incessant fire, especially from their field pieces, and the remaining
militia retreating slowly before them, disputed the ground inch by inch.
The enemy were heard to halloo to them, saying, stop Yankees! In the
meantime, Col. Warner, with about one hundred and thirty men of his
regiment, who were not in the first action, arrived and attacked the
enemy with great fury, being determined to have ample on account of the
quarrel at Hubbardton, which brought them to a stand, and soon after
general Stark and colonel Herrick, brought on more of the scattered
militia, and the action became general; in a few minutes the enemy were
forced from their cannon, gave way on all parts and fled, and the shouts
of victory were a second time proclaimed in favor of the militia. The
enemy's loss in killed and prisoners, in these two actions, amounted to
more than one thousand and two hundred men, and our loss did not exceed
fifty men. This was a bitter stroke to the enemy, but their pride would
not permit them to hesitate but that they could vanish the country,
and as a specimen of their arrogancy, I shall insert general Burgoyne's
proclamation:--
By John Burgoyne, Esq. Lieutenant-General of his Majesty's armies in
America, Colonel of the Queen's regiment of light dragoons, Governor of
Fort William in North-Britain, one of the Representatives of the Commons
of Great Britain, in Parliament, and commanding an army and fleet
employed on an expedition from Canada, &c. &c. &c.
The forces entrusted to my command are designed to act in concert and
upon a common principle, with the numerous armies and fleets which
already display in every quarter of America, the power, the justice,
and, when properly sought, the mercy of the King.
"The cause, in which the British arms are thus exerted, applies to the
most affecting interests of the human heart; and the military servants
of the crown, at first called forth for the sole purpose of restoring
the rights of the constitution, now combine with love of their country,
and duty to their sovereign, the other extensive incitements which
spring from a due sense of the general privileges of mankind. To the
eyes and ears of the temperate part of the public, and to the breasts of
suffering thousands in the provinces, be the melancholy appeal, whether
the present unnatural rebellion has not been made a foundation for the
completest system of tyranny that ever God, in his displeasure, suffered
for a time to be exercised over a froward and stubborn generation.