Inefficient State of the Army.—Maraud of Delancey.—Death of Colonel
Greene.—Arrival of the Count de Barras.—French Naval Force
expected.—Interview of Washington and De Rochambeau at
Weathersfield.—Plan of Combined Operations.—Financial Arrangement of
Robert Morris.—Scheme to attack the Works on New York Island and
capture Delancey’s Corps.—Encampments of American and French Armies
in Westchester County.—Reconnoitering Expeditions.
While affairs were approaching a crisis in Virginia, troubles were
threatening from the North. There were rumors of invasion from Canada;
of war councils and leagues among the savage tribes; of a revival of the
territorial feuds between New York and Vermont. Such, however, was the
deplorable inefficiency of the military system, that though, according
to the resolves of Congress, there were to have been thirty-seven
thousand men under arms at the beginning of the year, Washington’s whole
force on the Hudson in the month of May did not amount to seven thousand
men, of whom little more than four thousand were effective.
He still had his head-quarters at New Windsor, just above the Highlands,
and within a few miles of West Point. Here he received intelligence that
the enemy were in force on the opposite side of the Hudson, marauding
the country on the north side of Croton River, and he ordered a hasty
advance of Connecticut troops in that direction.
The Croton River flows from east to west across Westchester County, and
formed, as it were, the barrier of the American lines. The advanced
posts of Washington’s army guarded it, and by its aid, protected the
upper country from the incursions of those foraging parties and
marauders which had desolated the neutral ground below it. The
incursions most to be guarded against were those of Colonel Delancey’s
loyalists, a horde of tories and refugees which had their stronghold in
Morrisania, and were the terror of the neighboring country. There was a
petty war continually going on between them and the American outposts,
often of a ruthless kind. Delancey’s horse and Delancey’s rangers
scoured the country and swept off forage and cattle from its fertile
valleys for the British army at New York. Hence they were sometimes
stigmatized by the opprobrious appellation of Cow Boys.
The object of their present incursion was to surprise an outpost of the
American army stationed near a fordable part of the Croton River not far
from Pine’s Bridge. The post was commanded by Colonel Christopher
Greene, of Rhode Island, the same who had successfully defended Fort
Mercer on the Delaware, when assailed by Count Donop. He was a valuable
officer, highly prized by Washington. The enterprise against his post
was something like that against the post of Young’s House; both had been
checks to the foragers of this harassed region.
Colonel Delancey, who led this foray, was successor to the unfortunate
André as adjutant-general of the British army. He conducted it secretly,
and in the night, at the head of a hundred horse and two hundred foot.
The Croton was forded at daybreak, just as the night-guard had been
withdrawn, and the farm-houses were surprised and assailed in which the
Americans were quartered. That occupied by Colonel Greene and a brother
officer, Major Flagg, was first surrounded. The major started from his
bed, and discharged his pistols from a window, but was shot through the
head, and afterwards dispatched by cuts and thrusts of the sabre.
The door of Greene’s room was burst open. He defended himself vigorously
and effectively with his sword, for he had great strength, but he was
overpowered by numbers, cut down, and barbarously mangled. A massacre
was going on in other quarters. Besides these two officers, there were
between thirty and forty killed and wounded, and several made prisoners.
It is said that Colonel Delancey was not present at the carnage, but
remained on the south side of the Croton to secure the retreat of his
party. It may be so; but the present exploit was in the spirit of others
by which he had contributed to harry this beautiful region, and made it
a “bloody ground.” No foes so ruthless had the American patriots to
encounter as their own tory countrymen in arms.
Before the troops ordered out by Washington arrived at the post, the
marauders had made a precipitate retreat. They had attempted to carry
off Greene a prisoner, but he died within three quarters of a mile of
the house. His captors, as they passed by the farm-houses, told the
inhabitants that, should there be any inquiry after the colonel, they
had left him dead at the edge of the woods.[74]
Greene was but forty-four years of age at the time of his death, and was
a model of manly strength and comeliness. A true soldier of the
Revolution, he had served at Lexington and Bunker’s Hill; followed
Arnold through the Kennebec wilderness to Quebec; fought under the walls
of that city; distinguished himself by his defense of Fort Mercer on the
Delaware, and by his kind treatment of his vanquished and wounded
antagonist, Colonel Donop. How different the treatment experienced by
him at the hands of his tory countrymen!
The commander-in-chief, we are told, heard with anguish and indignation
the tragical fate of this his faithful friend and soldier. On the
subsequent day, the corpse of Colonel Greene was brought to
head-quarters, and his funeral solemnized with military honors and
universal grief.[75]?]
At this juncture, Washington’s attention was called in another
direction. A frigate had arrived at Boston, bringing the Count de
Barras, to take command of the French naval force. He was a veteran
about sixty years of age, and had commanded D’Estaing’s vanguard, when
he forced the entrance of Newport harbor. The count brought the cheering
intelligence, that an armament of twenty ships of the line, with land
forces, was to sail, or had sailed, from France, under the Count de
Grasse for the West Indies, and that twelve of these ships were to
relieve the squadron at Newport, and might be expected on the coast of
the United States in July or August.
The Count de Rochambeau, having received dispatches from the court of
France, now requested an interview with Washington. The latter appointed
Weathersfield in Connecticut for the purpose; and met the count there on
the 22d of May, hoping to settle a definitive plan of the campaign. Both
as yet were ignorant of the arrival of Cornwallis in Virginia. The
policy of a joint expedition to relieve the Carolinas was discussed. As
the French ships in Newport were still blockaded by a superior force,
such an expedition would have to be made by land. A march to the
Southern States was long and harassing, and always attended with a great
waste of life. Such would certainly be the case at present, when it
would have to be made in the heat of summer. The difficulties and
expenses of land transportation, also, presented a formidable objection.
On the other hand, an effective blow might be struck at New York, the
garrison having been reduced one half by detachments to the South. That
important post and its dependencies might be wrested from the enemy, or,
if not, they might be obliged to recall a part of their force from the
South for their own defense.
It was determined, therefore, that the French troops should march from
Newport as soon as possible, and form a junction with the American army
on the Hudson, and that both should move down to the vicinity of New
York to make a combined attack, in which the Count de Grasse should be
invited to coöperate with his fleet and a body of land troops.
A vessel was dispatched by De Rochambeau, to inform the Count de Grasse
of this arrangement; and letters were addressed by Washington to the
executive authorities of New Jersey and the New England States, urging
them to fill up their battalions and furnish their quotas of provisions.
Notwithstanding all his exertions, however, when he mustered his forces
at Peekskill, he was mortified to find not more than five thousand
effective men. Notwithstanding, too, all the resolutions passed in the
legislatures of the various States for supplying the army, it would, at
this critical moment, have been destitute of provisions, especially
bread, had it not been for the zeal, talents, and activity of Mr. Robert
Morris, now a delegate to Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, and
recently appointed Superintendent of Finance. This patriotic and
energetic man, when public means failed, pledged his own credit in
transporting military stores and feeding the army. Throughout the
Revolution, Washington was continually baffled in the hopes caused by
the resolutions of legislative bodies, too often as little alimentary as
the east wind.
The Count de Rochambeau and the Duke de Lauzun being arrived with their
troops in Connecticut, on their way to join the American army,
Washington prepared for spirited operations; quickened by the
intelligence that a part of the garrison of New York had been detached
to forage the Jerseys. Two objects were contemplated by him: one, the
surprisal of the British works at the north end of New York Island; the
other, the capture or destruction of Delancey’s corps of refugees in
Morrisania. The attack upon the posts was to be conducted by General
Lincoln, with a detachment from the main army, which he was to bring
down by water—that on Delancey’s corps by the Duke de Lauzun with his
legion, aided by Sheldon’s dragoons, and a body of Connecticut troops.
Both operations were to be carried into effect on the 3d of July. The
duke was to march down from Ridgebury in Connecticut, for the purpose.
Everything was to be conducted with secrecy and by the way of surprisal.
Should anything occur to prevent Lincoln from attempting the works on
New York Island, he was to land his men above Spyt den Duivel Creek,
march to the high grounds in front of King’s Bridge, lie concealed there
until the duke’s attack on Delancey’s corps should be announced by
firing or other means; then to dispose of his force in such manner as to
make the enemy think it larger than it really was; thereby deterring
troops from coming over the bridge to turn Lauzun’s right, while he
prevented the escape over the bridge of Delancey’s refugees when routed
from Morrisania.
Washington, at the same time, wrote a confidential letter to Governor
Clinton, informing him of designs upon the enemy’s posts. “Should we be
happy enough to succeed,” writes he, “and be able to hold our conquest,
the advantages will be greater than can well be imagined. But I cannot
flatter myself that the enemy will permit the latter, unless I am
suddenly and considerably reinforced. I shall march down the remainder
of this army, and I have hopes that the French force will be near at
hand at the time. But I shall, notwithstanding, direct the alarm guns
and beacons to be fired in case of success; and I have to request, that
your Excellency will, upon such signals, communicate the meaning of them
to the militia, and put yourself at the head of them, and march with the
utmost expedition to King’s Bridge, bringing with you three or four
days’ provision at least.”
It was a service which would have been exactly to the humor of George
Clinton.
In pursuance of the plan, Lincoln left the camp near Peekskill on the
1st, with eight hundred men, and artillery, and proceeded to Teller’s
Point, where they were embarked in boats with muffled oars, and rowed
silently at night down the Tappan Sea, that region of mystery and secret
enterprise. At daylight they kept concealed under the land. The Duke de
Lauzun was supposed, at the same time, to be on the way from
Connecticut. Washington, at three o’clock on the morning of the 2d, left
his tents standing at Peekskill, and commenced his march with his main
force, without baggage; making a brief halt at Croton Bridge, about nine
miles from Peekskill, another at the Sleepy Hollow Church, near
Tarrytown, where he halted until dusk, and completed the rest of his
march in the night, to Valentine’s Hill, four miles above King’s Bridge,
where he arrived about sunrise. There he posted himself to cover the
detached troops, and improve any advantages that might be gained by
them.
Lincoln, on the morning of the 2d, had left his flotilla concealed under
the eastern shore, and crossed to Fort Lee to reconnoiter Fort
Washington from the cliffs on the opposite side of the Hudson. To his
surprise and chagrin, he discovered a British force encamped on the
north end of New York Island, and a ship-of-war anchored in the river.
In fact, the troops which had been detached into the Jerseys, had
returned, and the enemy were on the alert; the surprisal of the forts,
therefore, was out of the question.
Lincoln’s thoughts now were to aid the Duke de Lauzun’s part of the
scheme, as he had been instructed. Before daylight of the 3d, he landed
his troops above Spytden Duivel Creek, and took possession of the high
ground on the north of Harlem River, where Fort Independence once stood.
Here he was discovered by a foraging party of the enemy, fifteen hundred
strong, who had sallied out at daybreak to scour the country. An
irregular skirmish ensued. The firing was heard by the Duke de Lauzun,
who was just arrived with his troops at East Chester, fatigued by a long
and forced march in sultry weather. Finding the country alarmed, and all
hope of surprising Delancey’s corps at an end, he hastened to the
support of Lincoln. Washington also advanced with his troops from
Valentine’s Hill. The British, perceiving their danger, retreated to
their boats on the east side of Harlem River, and crossed over to New
York Island. A trifling loss in killed and wounded had been sustained on
each side, and Lincoln had made a few prisoners.
Being disappointed in both objects, Washington did not care to fatigue
his troops any more, but suffered them to remain on their arms, and
spent a good part of the day reconnoitering the enemy’s works. In the
afternoon he retired to Valentine’s Hill, and the next day marched to
Dobbs Ferry, where he was joined by the Count de Rochambeau on the 6th
of July. The two armies now encamped; the American in two lines, resting
on the Hudson at Dobbs Ferry, where it was covered by batteries, and
extending eastward toward the Neperan or Sawmill River; the French in a
single line on the hills further east, reaching to the Bronx River. The
beautiful valley of the Neperan intervened between the encampments. It
was a lovely country for a summer encampment—breezy hills commanding
wide prospects, umbrageous valleys watered by bright pastoral streams,
the Bronx, the Spraine, and the Neperan, and abounding with
never-failing springs. The French encampment made a gallant display
along the Greenburgh hills. Some of the officers, young men of rank, to
whom this was all a service of romance, took a pride in decorating their
tents, and forming little gardens in their vicinity. “We have a charming
position among rocks and under magnificent tulip-trees;” writes one of
them, the Count Dumas. General Washington was an object of their
enthusiasm. He visited the tents they had so gayly embellished; for,
with all his gravity, he was fond of the company of young men. They were
apprised of his coming, and set out on their camp-tables plans of the
battle of Trenton, of West Point, and other scenes connected with the
war. The greatest harmony prevailed between the armies. The two
commanders had their respective head-quarters in farm-houses, and
occasionally, on festive occasions, long tables were spread in the
adjacent barns, which were converted into banqueting halls. The young
French officers gained the good graces of the country belles, though
little acquainted with their language. Their encampment was particularly
gay, and it was the boast of an old lady of the neighborhood many years
after the war, that she had danced at head-quarters when a girl with the
celebrated Marshal Berthier, at that time one of the aides-de-camp of
the Count de Rochambeau.[76]
The two armies thus encamped for three or four weeks. In the mean time
letters urged Washington’s presence in Virginia. Richard Henry Lee
advised that he should come with two or three thousand good troops, and
be clothed with dictatorial powers. “There is nothing, I think, more
certain,” writes Lee, “than that your personal call would bring into
immediate exertion the force and the resources of this State and the
neighboring ones, which, directed as they would be, will effectually
disappoint and baffle the deep-laid schemes of the enemy.”
“I am fully persuaded, and upon good military principles,” writes
Washington in reply, “that the measures I have adopted will give more
effectual and speedy relief to the State of Virginia, than my marching
thither, with dictatorial powers, at the head of every man I could draw
from hence without leaving the important posts on the North River quite
defenseless, and these States open to devastation and ruin. My present
plan of operation, which I have been preparing with all the zeal and
activity in my power, will, I am morally certain with proper support,
produce one of two things, either the fall of New York, or a withdrawal
of the troops from Virginia, excepting a garrison at Portsmouth, at
which place I have no doubt of the enemy’s intention of establishing a
permanent post.”
Within two or three days after this letter was written, Washington
crossed the river at Dobbs Ferry, accompanied by the Count de
Rochambeau, General de Beville, and General Duportail, to reconnoiter
the British posts on the north end of New York Island. They were
escorted by one hundred and fifty of the New Jersey troops, and spent
the day on the Jersey heights ascertaining the exact position of the
enemy on the opposite shore. Their next movement was to reconnoiter the
enemy’s posts at King’s Bridge and on the east side of New York Island,
and to cut off, if possible, such of Delancey’s corps as should be found
without the British lines. Five thousand troops, French and American,
led by the Count de Chastellux and General Lincoln, were to protect this
reconnoissance, and menace the enemy’s posts. Everything was prepared in
secrecy. On the 21st of July, at eight o’clock in the evening, the
troops began their march in separate columns; part down the Hudson River
road; part down the Sawmill River valley: part by the East Chester road.
Scammel’s light infantry advanced through the fields to waylay the
roads, stop all communication, and prevent intelligence getting to the
enemy. Sheldon’s cavalry, with the Connecticut troops, were to scour
Throg’s Neck. Sheldon’s infantry and Lauzun’s lancers were to do the
same with the refugee region of Morrisania.
The whole detachment arrived at King’s Bridge about daylight, and formed
on the height back of Fort Independence. The enemy’s forts on New York
Island did not appear to have the least intelligence of what was going
on, nor to be aware that hostile troops were upon the heights opposite
until the latter displayed themselves in full array, their arms flashing
in the morning sunshine, and their banners, American and French,
unfolded to the breeze.
While the enemy was thus held in check, Washington and De Rochambeau,
accompanied by engineers and by their staffs, set out under the escort
of a troop of dragoons to reconnoiter the enemy’s position and works
from every point of view. It was a wide reconnoissance, extending across
the country outside of the British lines from the Hudson to the Sound.
The whole was done slowly and scientifically, exact notes and diagrams
being made of everything that might be of importance in future
operations. As the “cortege” moved slowly along, or paused to make
observation, it was cannonaded from the distant works, or from the armed
vessels stationed on the neighboring waters, but without injuring it or
quickening its movements.
According to De Rochambeau’s account, the two reconnoitering generals
were at one time in an awkward and hazardous predicament. They had
passed, he said, to an island separated by an arm of the sea from the
enemy’s post on Long Island, and the engineers were employed in making
scientific observations, regardless of the firing of small vessels
stationed in the Sound. During this time, the two generals, exhausted by
fatigue and summer heat, slept under shelter of a hedge. De Rochambeau
was the first to awake, and was startled at observing the state of the
tide, which, during their slumber, had been rapidly rising. Awakening
Washington and calling his attention to it, they hastened to the
causeway by which they had crossed from the mainland. It was covered
with water. Two small boats were brought, in which they embarked with
the saddles and bridles of their horses. Two American dragoons then
returned in the boats to the shore of the Island, where the horses
remained under care of their comrades. Two of the horses, which were
good swimmers, were held by the bridle and guided across; the rest were
driven into the water by the smack of the whip, and followed their
leaders; the boats then brought over the rest of the party. De
Rochambeau admired this maneuver as a specimen of American tactics in
the management of wild horses; but he thought it lucky that the enemy
knew nothing of their embarrassment, which lasted nearly an hour,
otherwise they might literally have been caught napping.
While the enemy’s works had been thoroughly reconnoitered, light troops
and lancers had performed their duty in scouring the neighborhood. The
refugee posts which had desolated the country were broken up. Most of
the refugees, Washington says, had fled and hid themselves in secret
places; some got over by stealth to the adjacent islands, and to the
enemy’s shipping, and a few were caught. Having effected the purposes of
their expedition, the two generals set off with their troops, on the
23d, for their encampment, where they arrived about midnight.
The immediate effect of this threatening movement of Washington, appears
in a letter of Sir Henry Clinton to Cornwallis, dated July 26th,
requesting him to order three regiments to New York from Carolina. “I
shall probably want them as well as the troops you may be able to spare
me from the Chesapeake for such offensive or defensive operations as may
offer in this quarter.”[77]
And Washington writes to Lafayette a few days subsequently: “I think we
have already effected one part of the plan of the campaign settled at
Weathersfield, that is, giving a substantial relief to the Southern
States, by obliging the enemy to recall a considerable part of their
force from thence. Our views must now be turned towards endeavoring to
expel them totally from those States, if we find ourselves incompetent
to the siege of New York.”
We will now give the reader a view of affairs in Virginia, and show how
they were ultimately affected by these military maneuvers and
demonstrations in the neighborhood of King’s Bridge.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]