Among the principal men of colonial days and of Revolutionary times,
there were many whose social positions were much the same as the station
of the ordinary European aristocrat. From their ancestors the colonists
had inherited the disposition to recognize differences in rank; and men
of wealth and high position in the colonial government were regarded to
a certain extent as members of the nobility are regarded in England.
Before the Declaration of Independence, it was not even assumed in this
country that all men are born equal.
But, although there were native-born personages in the Colonies who
might well be termed aristocrats, their titles were political or
military; and an American lord was, as he would be now, something
entirely out of the common.
But in those days there was an American lord; and a very good American
he was, in spite of his being a lord. This was William Alexander, known
as Lord Stirling. He was born in New York, of Scotch parents. When he
was quite a young man, he went into military life, and served in the
British colonial army in the French War. In the campaigns in which he
served, he gained the military education which was afterwards of the
greatest advantage, not only to him, but to the country.
There was no British heir to the earldom of Stirling, a Scotch peerage;
and, as he believed that he was a direct descendant of the last Lord
Stirling, the young man went to England, and laid claim to the estate
and title. He was successful in proving his direct descent from the
earls of Stirling; but the House of Lords, who gave the final decision
in the case, would not allow his claim. Even if the law had permitted
his claim, it is not likely that the British House of Lords would have
been anxious to welcome into the peerage an American-born person.
But although he got nothing more, he really obtained his title, and he
was known then, as he is known in history, as Lord Stirling. He was a
man of wealth, and must have had a very good time in England, for he
studied well the manners and customs of the nobility; and as his own
habits and tastes were those which he observed in the great houses of
England, he here received a social education which had a great effect
upon his future career.
He was also the means of educating some of the inhabitants of Great
Britain, and the way in which he did it is shown by a little incident
which occurred when he was visiting Scotland. He was invited to dine at
the house of a gentleman, who informed his wife that an American was
coming to take dinner with them. It is to be presumed that this
announcement had about the same effect upon her as would now be
produced if an American gentleman should inform his family that a chief
from Madagascar was to dine with them.
The Scotch lady, no doubt, expected to see a copper-colored brave, in
war paint and feathers, with tomahawk, and bows and arrows, and perhaps
a few scalps hanging from his belt. Probably she had busied herself
devising a dinner which would suit a savage who was a native of that
far-away land of America, and hoped she might give him something which
would compensated him for the loss of a cannibal repast; but when she
beheld the handsome young gentleman who came into the house with her
husband, she could not repress her astonishment, and exclaimed, "Bless
my soul! The animal is white." Ignorance of foreign countries was at
that time not uncommon in Great Britain.
Although born in New York, Lord Stirling established himself in New
Jersey, and it was in connection with this State that he was afterwards
generally known. His father had owned a large tract of land at Basking
Ridge, a beautifully situated town not far from Morristown; and here
Lord Stirling built himself a stately mansion with fine gardens, and a
great park in which were herds of deer. It was built in the fashion of
the lordly country seats of England, around a courtyard paved with
flagstones, and contained grand halls and stately apartments beautifully
ornamented and furnished. The barns and outbuildings were grand, like
the mansion itself, with cupolas and gilded vanes, and altogether the
establishment was imposing and beautiful.
This young man had brought with him from England servants, butlers,
valets, hairdressers, and a great many fine horses, and carriages with
arms emblazoned upon their panels. He lived in grand state, and his
house was generally filled with guests; for the best people of the
country were glad to visit this beautiful home, where the best of
company and the freest hospitality were always to be found. The lord of
the manor was an affable and courteous gentleman, and the writers of
those days have given glowing accounts of the gracious Lady Stirling and
her charming daughter, Lady Kitty.
But notwithstanding the fact that he felt as a lord and lived as a lord,
this grand gentleman never forgot that he was not only a lord, but an
American; and when the Colonies began to assert their claim to
independence, Lord Stirling promptly showed his colors on the patriotic
side. He commanded the first body of troops raised in New Jersey in the
colonial days; and he very soon became one of the most prominent
officers in the Revolutionary army.
After he was made general, he distinguished himself at the battle of
Long Island, where he performed some daring feats. The odds were greatly
against the Americans on that occasion, and, in order to secure the
retreat of the main part of his command, Lord Stirling took four hundred
men, and made a bold attack upon a house that was occupied by the
British general, Cornwallis. During the desperate fight which followed,
in which his little force was far outnumbered by the enemy, his command
made a successful retreat, but he himself was captured, and afterwards
imprisoned on a war ship.
But he did not stay there long. Washington could not do without the
services of this man, who was not only a most earnest patriot, but an
educated and efficient soldier; and, as the Americans held several
English officers as prisoners of war, one of them was exchanged, with
the least possible delay, for Lord Stirling.
One of the earliest and most daring exploits of this brave soldier was
the capture, by an infantry force, of an armed British ship which was on
its way to Boston with stores and supplies for the English army there.
This vessel, which was called the "Blue Mountain Valley," had met with
rough weather, and, having been badly damaged, was lying off Sandy Hook,
waiting for assistance from two British men-of-war then in New York
Harbor.
But Lord Stirling, who was stationed not far from the coast, and to whom
the situation of the vessel became known, determined that, if possible,
he would get to this valuable storeship before the enemy's men-of-war
could reach her. So, with a number of the regular soldiers under his
command, and some volunteers from the neighborhood, he put out to sea in
some small craft, one of them a pilot boat. The English vessel had for
her defense six guns, and was what is called an armed transport, but
Stirling's men carried only ordinary muskets. However, they boldly
attacked the vessel, and bearing down upon her as if she had been a
column of infantry, in spite of the cannon and guns of the crew,
captured her.
As soon as this victory had been won, Lord Stirling had all sails set;
and the "Blue Mountain Valley" waited no longer for the men-of-war to
come to her assistance, but sailed away for Perth Amboy, which was in
possession of the Americans. Here she was found to be a most valuable
prize, although Lord Stirling was sorry, as he afterwards stated when he
made his report to Congress, that her cargo was not arms, instead of
coal and provisions.
Lord Stirling fought well in the battles of New Jersey. At Monmouth he
especially distinguished himself by the way in which he managed the
artillery which was under his command; and it is said that the enemy
were amazed to find batteries so splendidly handled in the ranks of the
Americans, who were not supposed by most British officers to be
possessed of great military ability, although the erroneousness of this
supposition was gradually impressed upon their minds as the war went on.
Our nobleman, however, had given another proof of his ability to adapt
himself to military circumstances. When Washington and his army were
wintered at Morristown, there was an evident desire among the British
commanders to attack him at that place, and there was constant danger of
an advance from the forces about New York. Lord Stirling was with the
troops under General Greene, defending the principal approaches to
Morristown on the east, and he very often had fights and skirmishes with
British detachments sent out to reconnoiter the country, or to break
into the American lines.
At one time a very large force, led by Clinton, advanced towards
Morristown; and this was believed to be a serious and determined attempt
to attack Washington, whose army was in a pretty bad plight, and not at
all prepared to fight large bodies of well-appointed troops. Lord
Stirling, with the other officers of the regular army, aided by forces
of militiamen greatly excited by atrocities which had been committed by
the British troops in the neighborhood, made a determined stand in the
region of the "Short Hills," and a battle was fought near Springfield.
Although the American forces were not able to defeat the British, they
so harassed them, placing themselves in all the passes through which it
was necessary to advance, that at last the Redcoats gave up the attempt
to reach Morristown, and retired to Elizabeth.
Throughout the war, this gentleman with the grand house, the park, the
deer, the splendid carriages, the butlers, and the hairdressers, fought
as earnestly and as patriotically as if he had been a sturdy farmer who
had left his cornfield for the battlefield, with an old blunderbuss over
his shoulder. Not only was he a good soldier, but he was a trustworthy
friend to the cause of the Colonies and to General Washington; and it is
said that it was through his means that the conspiracy among some of the
officers of the army against General Washington, of whom they were
jealous, was discovered and broken up.
Officers of the army were frequently quartered at his house at Basking
Ridge, where they found most delightful company; and in every way our
American lord did what he could for the cause and the people who were
defending it. His title was generally recognized; and Washington, who
was very particular in regard to matters of rank and social propriety,
always called him "my lord." He was said to be a fine-looking man; in
fact, he and Washington were of more imposing and dignified appearance
than any other officers of the American army.
Of course, as he was a very notable person among the Continental
officers, the British were very anxious to capture him. In 1781, when he
was in command of the Northern Department at Albany, this design of the
enemy came very near being carried out, but was frustrated by the
faithful services of one of those good women who were continually
turning up in colonial history. A servant girl in the family of a house
near Albany, where Lord Stirling was staying, had been visiting her
parents during the day, and had there heard a plot of the Tories of the
neighborhood to capture Lord Stirling. Being of a patriotic disposition,
she told her mistress of the plot as soon as she got home; and when in
the night a large body of the enemy came to the house, they were met
with a surprise.
Lord Stirling had not gone out of town without taking with him a guard
of dragoons; and these men, instead of being quartered at a distance, as
the Tories evidently supposed they would be, had all been brought into
the house; and when the attack was made in the night, the bullets and
pistol balls which whizzed and whistled from that ordinarily peaceful
mansion astonished the Tories, who fled.
But although Lord Stirling did so much for American independence, he did
not live to enjoy the fruits of it, for he died in Albany, while still
in command of the Northern Department. After his death, the estate at
Basking Ridge was sold, and payment for it was made in Continental
money, which afterwards became of almost no value; so that for this fine
property, it might be said, his family received nothing but a pile of
badly printed paper. The mansion and the deer park and the emblazoned
carriages are gone and forgotten; but the brave soldier, who gave up all
the pleasures of a lordly position for his country, will live in
history.