the country accompanied by Mr. (Gen. John) Sullivan one of the
New Hampshire delegates to the Congress, to take away the cannon
from the Fort, also. Mr. Sullivan declared that he had taken
pains to prevail upon them to return home again; and said, as
there was no certain intelligence of troops being coming to take
possession of the Castle, he would still use his utmost endeavors
to disperse them.
While the town was thus full of men a committee from them came
to me to solicit pardon or a suspension of prosecution against
the persons who took away the Gunpowder. I told them I could
not promise them any such thing; but if they dispersed and
restored the gunpowder, which I most earnestly exhorted them
to do, I said I hoped His Majesty may be thereby induced to
consider it an alleviation of the offence. They parted from me,
in all appearance, perfectly disposed to follow the advice I had
given them; and having proceeded directly to the rest of their
associates they all publickly voted ... to return home....
But, instead of dispersing, the people went to the Castle in the
night headed by Mr. Sullivan and took away sixteen pieces of
cannon, about sixty muskets and other military stores and brought
them to the out Borders of the town.
On Friday morning, the 16th, Mr. Folsom, the other delegate,
came to town that morning with a great number of armed men
who remained in Town as a guard till the flow of the tide in
the evening when the cannon were sent in Gondolas up the river
into the country and they all dispersed without having done any
personal injury to any body in the town.
[Illustration:
Copyright, Detroit Publishing Company
A DISTANT VIEW OF FORT CONSTITUTION]
On the Fourth of July, 1809, an explosion of powder took place at
Fort Constitution in which four men and three boys were killed and
a number of bystanders wounded. The cause of the explosion was the
carelessness of a sergeant with a lighted fuse, and the unlucky
hour that he chose for his celebration was a time when his colonel
(Colonel Walbach) had a number of guests to dinner. None of the
diners were injured, and a quaint contemporary account tells their
natural distress at various of the phenomena around them. “One poor
fellow,” says this account, “was carried over the roof of the house
and the upper half of his body lodged on the opposite side near the
window of the dining-room; the limb of another was driven through
a thick door over the dining-room leaving a hole in the door the
shape of the foot.”
The appearance of Fort Constitution to-day is not very warlike and
it does not play a very active part in the city’s defences. The
walls of the older part of the fort are of rough stone topped with
brick. Over the arch of the sally-port here is a date, 1808. These
walls have been partly enclosed by unfinished walls of granite of
later construction.
The martello tower, to which reference has already been had, was
constructed during the War of 1812 and was begun one Sunday morning
while two British cruisers were lying off the Isle of Shoals. Its
purpose was to prevent a landing on the beach at the south side of
the main work. An assault on that work was not attempted at the
time, but who can say that the promptness of the New Hampshiremen
in thus adding to their defences in the face of the enemy did not
have its moral value in forestalling an attack? The tower had three
embrasures.
FORTS TRUMBULL AND GRISWOLD
NEW LONDON AND GROTON, ON THE THAMES--CONNECTICUT
The sunny waters of the Thames at New London, Connecticut, present
a smiling aspect, and from the high flag-staff of trig little Fort
Trumbull the stars and stripes float gaily. Across the river on
the hill above the little town of Groton is the State reservation
containing the remains of Fort Griswold, with rough zig-zag paths
approaching the summit of the hill. Adjacent to Fort Griswold is
the stone monument which commemorates the Fort Griswold massacre.
Many sunny years will not wipe out the memory of the bloody deeds
of that violent hour.
Fort Trumbull is situated one mile from the mouth of the Thames
River and one mile and a half below the little city of New London,
with whose history it is associated. A modest work of substantial
construction, it covers only thirteen acres and is so restricted
for living space that it cannot accommodate a full garrison
within its walls. Fort Griswold is a work of far more ancient and
rougher construction. It is not garrisoned to-day and has not been
garrisoned for many years, though in the fighting days of the two
forts it was the more important of the two places.
The little village of New London is a favored watering place for
many in summer and its safe and accessible harbor has made it
desirable as a haven for the storage of summer light craft during
the winter months. These same considerations hold true of Groton
on the other side of the river. Thousands of visitors every summer
go over the historic defences of Fort Griswold or gaze upon the
equally historic site of Fort Trumbull.
The erection of two forts was begun in 1775 by the citizens of New
London and Groton, one on the west side of the Thames which was
designated in the correspondence of the time as a “block-house
with embrasures,” and the other, a more pretentious work, on the
east side of the river and designated at once “Fort Trumbull.” In
1776 Washington directed General Knox to examine the harbor of New
London. This gentleman carried out his commission in workmanlike
fashion and reported that the harbor was a safe and well-protected
retreat for vessels in any wind that blew. The harbor is three
miles long and seldom encumbered with ice.
[Illustration: Fort Griswold, Groton
Fort Trumbull, New London
HISTORIC POINTS ON THE THAMES RIVER, CONN.]
In that same year Captain Shapley was ordered to take command
of Fort Trumbull, and Colonel William Ledyard of Fort Griswold
on Groton Hill. Later, Ledyard was placed in command of the two
positions. In 1777 he revised, strengthened and enlarged Fort
Trumbull, and in 1778 performed this same work upon Fort Griswold.
Under his direction, in 1779, strong works were thrown up on Town
Hill, New London. Finally, in 1780, the assembly of New London
ordered his accounts paid.
The successful operations of the Continental forces in Virginia
in 1781 caused Sir Henry Clinton to cast about for some means of
distracting his opponents and of recalling Washington from the
South, preferably by some deed of enterprise in the North. He fixed
on New London as the scene of operations, as he had heard that
there were many stores in the little town, and as the leader of the
expedition he picked out Benedict Arnold, the traitor, who had just
returned from scenes of pillage on the James River, Virginia. The
choice of Arnold may have appealed to some saturnine sense of humor
in Clinton, as Connecticut, it may be remembered, was Arnold’s
native State and New London not far from the scenes of his boyhood.
The little works at New London and Groton, despite the
conscientious efforts of Colonel Ledyard, were not positions of
much consequence. Fort Trumbull, we are told, was merely a strong
breastwork of three sides, and open in the rear, mounting eighteen
12-pound guns and three 6-pound guns. Its garrison numbered
twenty-three men. Fort Griswold was somewhat more formidable, being
“an oblong square with bastions at opposite angles, its longest
side fronting the river in a northwest and southeast direction, its
walls of stone 10 or 12 feet high on the lower side and surrounded
by a ditch; in the wall pickets projected over for 12 feet; above,
a parapet with embrasures and within a platform for cannon, with a
step to mount to shoot over the parapet with small arms.”
In addition to these,--the main defences--there was the little
work on the summit of Town Hill, New London, which mounted six
small-bore guns and which had become known by the airy title of
“Fort Nonsense.”
It being manifestly impossible to hold Fort Trumbull with a force
of twenty-three men, the Americans, on the approach of Arnold
and the British, took all of their forces and placed them in
Fort Griswold. At its best the garrison of this point was not as
numerous as the attacking body and it was made up of untrained
militia gathered at the moment’s call.
The result of the battle, when battle was finally given, was a
foregone conclusion. The British soldiery landed September 6,
1781, and advanced in force. The plucky American garrison tried
desperately to hold back the onslaught, fighting most of the men
in sight of their own homes, but without effect. After a sharp
engagement the fort was taken and the conclusion of the combat was
a signal to Arnold’s forces for an indiscriminate slaughter of the
Americans, many of whom had thrown down their arms. Of the 160 men
making up the garrison all but 40 were killed or wounded, and the
vast majority of them after resistance had ceased. The wounded,
contemporary testimony asserts, were placed in carts under Arnold’s
direction and dumped over the edge of the hill here which is very
steep.
The British then entered Groton and New London and set them on
fire. Arnold finally led his forces back to New York.
To commemorate the gallant defence of Fort Griswold and the
terrible scenes which it had witnessed, the State of Connecticut
began the erection of a monument on Groton Heights in 1830 and
carried the shaft to the height of 127 feet. At this height the
monument rested until 1881, when it was carried eight feet higher.
On the face of the shaft is a tablet which bears the following
inscription:
This monument was erected under the patronage of the State of
Connecticut, A.D. 1830 and in the 55th year of the independence
of the United States, in memory of the brave patriots who fell
in the massacre at Fort Griswold on this spot on the 6th of
September, A.D. 1781, when the British under the command of the
traitor Benedict Arnold burnt the towns of New London and Groton
and spread desolation and woe throughout this region.
Various spots in the little grounds of the fort have been marked
with tablets. The grounds are carefully maintained and are open to
visitors at all times.
Though no effort was ever made to rebuild Fort Griswold, a like
fate did not befall Fort Trumbull. At the outbreak of the War
of 1812 the embankments of Fort Trumbull were nothing but green
mounds. A formal work was commenced, leaving the old block-house
inside the new lines. During this war the fort was often threatened
but never attacked.
An anecdote which shows the spirit of the locality is retailed by
Lossing:[1]
When the British squadron which drove Decatur into the harbor of
New London in 1813 menaced the town with bombardment the military
force that manned the forts were deficient in flannel for cannon
cartridges. All that could be found in New London was sent to the
forts and a Mr. Latham, a neighbor of Mrs. Anna Bailey’s, came
to her at Groton seeking for more. She started out and collected
all the petticoats of little children that she could find in
town. “This is not half enough,” said Mr. Latham on her return.
“You shall have mine too,” said Mrs. Bailey as she cut with her
scissors the string that fastened it, and taking it off gave it
to Latham. He was satisfied, and, hastening to Fort Trumbull,
that patriotic contribution was soon made into cartridges. “It
was a heavy new one but I did not care for that,” said the
old lady while her eyes sparkled. “All I wanted was to see it
go through the Englishmen’s insides.” Some of Decatur’s men
declared that it was a shame to cut that petticoat into cartridge
patterns; they would rather see it fluttering at the mast-head of
the _United States_ or the _Macedonia_ as an ensign under which
to fight upon the broad ocean.
The present Fort Trumbull was begun in 1839 on the foundations of
its two predecessors and finished at a cost of $250,000. Part of
the old block-house of the first Fort Trumbull is still preserved
in the confines of the present fort.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Lossing, vol. i, p. 617.
FORT MIFFLIN
ON THE DELAWARE--PHILADELPHIA
A visit to Fort Mifflin, Mud Island, on the Delaware River,
Pennsylvania, to-day reveals a star-shaped fort of familiar pattern
and of most substantial construction. It has the distinction of
being within the corporate limits of one of the largest cities on
the continent of North America,--Philadelphia,--yet a more deserted
or forlorn looking spot it would be hard to imagine. Without
benefit of policemen or any of the familiar marks of a great city,
it might well serve in a “movie” for an ancient stronghold in a
desert waste and may have been discovered by some enterprising
movie manufacturer before these words are in print. Not always
quiet, however, Fort Mifflin was the scene of one of the heaviest
cannonadings of the War of Independence, when it sturdily held off
the combined English naval and land forces until its own walls were
reduced to powder.
The ground on which the Fort Mifflin of to-day stands was deeded
to the Federal government by the State of Pennsylvania in 1795,
and the present works were commenced in 1798. As the strategic
advantage and the ease of fortification of the point had been amply
demonstrated during the Revolution, a large and strong fortress was
built and garrisoned until changing conditions of warfare caused
its importance to be a thing of the past and its garrison to be
withdrawn in 1853. During the Civil War the fort was garrisoned by
a volunteer regiment and served as a detention place for prisoners
taken during that conflict, but this structure saw no service in
this war and, indeed, has never fired a shot in anger. After the
Civil War the place was deserted, though the government has ever
since kept a care-taker there. The government land reservation
includes over three hundred acres. In other parts of the island are
more modern government stations, but in these we have no present
interest.
The old fortification is surrounded by a deep moat over which
are bridges leading to its three sally-ports. Only one of these
entrances is open now. Passing through the thick walls of this
entrance, one finds one’s self facing a large parade ground, which
is surrounded by quaint, old-fashioned structures--the barracks and
officers’ quarters of a by-gone day. On the south of the parade
is a very charming little Georgian chapel, through whose broken
window-panes pour in damp winds.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO FORT MIFFLIN, PHILADELPHIA]
In the casemates of the old fort were confined Morgan’s men
during the Civil War. It is a dark and dismal trip to the damp
rooms in which these men were confined, as one goes through
narrow subterranean corridors beneath the thick walls of the
fort. One comes to a large cavernous chamber lighted from above
by a single narrow slit. At one end of this chamber is an open
fire-place. On the walls are scribbled numerous names and messages
from Morgan’s men. It might perhaps be an interesting matter to
copy down these names and messages, if one had the patience and
time to do so, but hardly a task within the province of this
chapter. May be the room was cheerful enough in the days of its use
with the big fire-place containing a roaring fire, but it is dismal
now, in all conscience!
From the walls of Fort Mifflin there is a fine view of the Delaware
River. Natives of the neighborhood say that the marshes round about
yield fine gunning during the season. Directly across the Delaware
from Fort Mifflin--the river being about a mile wide, here--are
the remains of Fort Mercer and the outworks which made up this
strong little post in the days of the Revolution. Fort Mercer
and its earthworks are preserved by the nation, forming a public
reservation which annually receives many visitors.
The ancient Whitall house--a two-story building of red brick--still
stands at Fort Mercer, reminding one of the intrepid old lady
who occupied it during the battle. Old Mrs. Whitall was urged to
flee from the house but refused, saying, “God’s arm is strong and
will protect me; I may do good by staying.” She was left alone
in the house and, while the battle was raging and cannon-balls
were driving like sleet against her dwelling, calmly plied her
spinning-wheel. At length a twelve-pound ball from a vessel in
the river, grazing the American flag-staff (a walnut tree), at
the fort, passed at the north gable through a heavy brick wall,
perforated a partition at the head of the stairs, crossed a
recess, and lodged in another partition near where the old lady
was sitting. Conceiving Divine protection a little more certain
elsewhere after this manifestation of the power of gunpowder, the
old lady gathered up her spinning implements and with a step as
agile as youth retreated to the cellar, where, not to be pushed out
of her house by any circumstance, she continued her spinning as
industriously as before. When the wounded and dying were brought to
her house to be cared for, she went industriously at the work of
succor, not caring whether she tended friend or foe. She scolded
the Hessians vigorously for coming to this country on a work of
butchery, and at the same time ministered to their sufferings.
The third American redoubt lay farther down the river at
Billingsport.
It will be recalled that Howe, with his English regulars and
Hessians, spent the winter of 1776-77 in New York with occasional
forays from that point. In July, 1777, after a trial of wits with
Washington in northern New Jersey, he embarked his troops and set
sail to the south. Washington’s uneasiness as to the whereabouts of
his foe was set at rest after three weeks by hearing of the landing
of Howe at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. There then ensued the
battle of the Brandywine and that series of skirmishes which ended
in Howe’s taking possession of Philadelphia, then the capital of
the country, with the removal of the American official papers to
York.
To secure his position and keep his lines open in Philadelphia,
however, it was necessary for Howe to take the American positions
at Billingsport, at Fort Mercer and at Fort Mifflin. The works at
Billingsport fell quickly before a surprise attack, and it now
remained to take Mifflin and Mercer.
The garrison at Mercer consisted of two Rhode Island regiments
under Colonel Christopher Greene. At Mifflin there was about the
same number of the Maryland line under Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel
Smith. The American fleet in the river consisted chiefly of galleys
and floating batteries, and was anchored off the present League
Island. It was under the command of Commodore Hazlewood.
Count Donop, with 1200 picked Hessians, was sent by Howe to take
Fort Mercer. On the morning of October 24, he appeared before the
little fort. Though the Americans had only 400 men with fourteen
cannon they were not dismayed but stood to their arms. The battle
commenced at four o’clock in the afternoon and raged with great
fierceness. It resulted in the repulse of the assailants and the
death of their commander, Count Donop, to whom a monument has been
erected at Fort Mercer Park.
The firing of the first gun against Fort Mercer was the signal for
the British fleet to open upon Fort Mifflin. A heavy cannonade
continued until the British were obliged to draw off. A hot shot
struck one of their large ships, the _Augusta_, and this vessel
burned to the water’s edge.
[Illustration: THE MOAT IN WINTER, FORT MIFFLIN, PHILADELPHIA]
For a season the Americans held undisputed possession of their
section of the Delaware, but then the British returned the
charge with increased force. Fort Mifflin was made the centre
of attack. Batteries were posted upon Province Island,--now a
part of the mainland directly off Mud Island on which the little
fort stood,--and on this side the fort was not finished. A large
floating battery was also brought up the river within forty yards
of one angle of the fort. Altogether the British had fourteen
strong batteries, in addition to four 64-gun and two 40-gun ships.
The engagement opened on the 10th of November and continued for six
consecutive days without interruption. In the course of the last
day more than a thousand discharges of cannon were made against the
little fort on Mud Island. By this time there was little left of
its walls and no single chance of the garrison holding out longer.
The officer in command escaped to Fort Mercer with the remnants of
his force. It is said that the British were preparing to draw away
from Fort Mifflin and had made up their minds to give up the
siege, but information from a deserter caused them to keep on for
the few days necessary to reduce the weakened stronghold.
So strong a force was now sent against Fort Mercer that Colonel
Greene was obliged to evacuate that post, leaving behind some guns
and ammunition with military stores.
The American fleet sought safety in flight up the Delaware. One
brig and two sloops escaped to Burlington. Seventeen other vessels,
unable to escape, were abandoned by their crews and burned at
Gloucester, just across from the Philadelphia of to-day.
The Delaware River and Philadelphia were now in the hands of Howe.
For a long winter he was to lie inactive while Washington took up
position at Valley Forge and spent that historic winter with his
men of which so much has been written. Instead of working for the
future the British spent their time in balls and the Meschianza.
Let Americans of to-day be thankful that they found Philadelphia
manners and Philadelphia belles so altogether delightful!
FORT McHENRY
BALTIMORE
The spot whereon the flag-staff stood which bore the stars and
stripes that fervid morning upon which Francis Scott Key arose, saw
that our flag was still there and jotted down the national anthem
on the back of an envelope before going down to breakfast, still
conspires with a large and lusty successor of this first staff to
keep Old Glory flying in the heavens. The immediate surroundings,
the harbor outlook, the busy city now sending its clamor over
the point on which the old fort stands, all have changed in the
years, but the part of the fort from which the banner of the new
republic was sent forth so many years ago has undergone little
transformation. A triangle of ground pointing toward open water,
and a bare staff, these have little that Time can work wizardry
with. The simple focus of Key’s inspiration has not been lost in
the years, but the rest of the picture which roused his songster’s
mood is only to be brought back by effort of imagination.
[Illustration: A View from an Aeroplane
The Guard-House
FORT McHENRY, BALTIMORE, MD.]
Fort McHenry is now a public park, the last federal trooper having
been drawn out of the reservation in the fall of 1913. As such
it has been beautified by the City of Baltimore, if the placing
of benches in convenient spots, the sodding of terraces, and
the cleaning of walks are to be considered in the nature of
beautification; and it is occasionally used by Baltimoreans as a
place of airing. Situated on a point of land separating the two
parts of Baltimore’s heart-shaped harbor, it gives charming views
of the city. Gazing straight ahead from the walls of old Fort
McHenry, one can see far down the river (very wide here) into the
distance where the river joins the Chesapeake Bay. In the blue of
the horizon can be faintly discerned the low squatty outline of the
little hexagon of stone built by General Robert E. Lee before the
Civil War and known as Fort Carroll.
To the right hand, from this vantage point on the water side
of Fort McHenry’s parapets, lies Spring Garden, the larger but
the less busy part of Baltimore’s water-front. To the left is
the entrance to “the harbor,” as it is affectionately called by
Baltimoreans, with entire disregard for that magnificent half-moon
of water of more recent development which we have already descried
to the right.
The various points of historic interest in the fort and its
grounds are marked with tablets and appropriate memorials, this
work having been done in recent years by the city, by the Maryland
chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and by various
public-spirited bodies of the municipality.