1776.
Dunmore on Gwynn's Island--Driven thence by General Lewis--
Dunmore retires from Virginia--Affairs at Boston--Canada
invaded--Howe evacuates Boston--Battles of Long Island and
White Plains--Fort Washington captured--Washington retreats--
Enemy defeated at Trenton and Princeton--Death of Mercer.
DUNMORE, pressed for provisions, burnt his entrenchments, near the
smouldering ruins of Norfolk, and sought refuge on board of his fleet.
General Charles Lee devised energetic means for curbing the disaffected
in the lower country; and his orders were carried into effect by Colonel
Woodford, whose vigor was tempered with humanity. Dunmore with his fleet
left Hampton Roads about the first of June, and entrenched himself with
five hundred men, including many runaway negroes, on Gwynn's Island, in
the Chesapeake, to the east of Matthews County, and separated from it by
a strait.[664:A]
In the evening of July the eighth, General Andrew Lewis, with Colonel
Adam Stephen, reached the camp before Gwynn's Island, and during the
night a battery was erected. Next morning the enemy's fleet lying within
range, the embrasures were unmasked, and a fire opened upon the Dunmore.
This ship, after firing a few guns, cut her cables and retreated, towed
off by boats, two batteries playing on her. She was damaged, her cabin
shattered, and some men killed. Lord Dunmore himself was wounded in the
leg by a splinter, and had his china-ware smashed about him, and
exclaimed, as was reported: "Good God, that ever I should come to this!"
The other vessels did not escape with impunity, and all retired in
confusion to a safe distance. The guns of the batteries were now turned
upon the enemy's camp, the shot crossing each other in the centre of
it, and the troops were dislodged. On the next morning Lewis, with the
aid of some canoes, captured two small armed vessels, and some of his
men landing on the island, the look-outs ran exclaiming, "the Shirt-men
are coming!" a panic seized Dunmore's men, so that they precipitately
evacuated the island, (before two hundred and fifty of the Provincials
could be landed on the island,) and the boats of the fleet, consisting
of eighty sail, took them on board. They left valuable stores behind,
and burnt some vessels. The inhabitants reported that Dunmore had
recently received a re-enforcement of one hundred and fifty tories from
Maryland, and some cattle. Part of these last fell into Lewis's hands. A
detachment was sent to protect the people on the Potomac. Numerous
half-covered graves on the island gave proof of the fatality of the
place, and the bodies of negroes were found lying unburied. The
small-pox was left as a legacy to the island. Among the graves was one
neatly done up with turf, which was supposed to cover the remains of
Lord Gosport, who had recently died. Ovens, newly erected, and a
windmill commenced, made it evident that Lord Dunmore had contemplated a
longer stay there. It was reported that he was sick. The negroes,
horses, cattle, and furniture of Mr. John Grymes, a tory, fell into
possession of the Provincials. Major Byrd, who was sick, upon their
approach was conveyed to Cherry Point in a cart, and embarked there.
Dunmore shortly afterwards, despatching the remnant of his followers to
Florida and the West Indies, retired to the North, and thence returned
to England, where he continued to exhibit himself an untiring opponent
of America. He entertained hospitably in London the Virginia refugee
loyalists Randolph, Grymes, Brockenbrough, Beverley, Wormley, Corbin,
and others. Lord Dunmore was appointed (1786) Governor of Bermuda, and
died in 1809.
On the 3d of July, 1775, Washington had assumed the command of the
American army, encamped near Boston, and had made his headquarters at
Cambridge. His first business was to organize, equip, and discipline his
force. The British army, blocked up on the land side, remained inactive
in Boston, finding itself, although strongly re-enforced, gradually
hemmed in and besieged.
In the mean time, in pursuance of the Quebec act, a Canadian force
having been marched into the colonies, and it being the manifest design
of the enemy to bring down the savages upon the frontier, a detachment
was sent to invade Canada. Marching under command of Montgomery, they
crossed Lake Champlain, and laid siege to Fort St. Johns, the key to
Canada, strengthened by Carleton, the ablest of the British generals,
and strongly garrisoned. During this siege a detachment, penetrating
further into the country, captured Fort Chamblee, between St. Johns and
Montreal. Carleton, marching to the relief of St. Johns, was met and
defeated. St. Johns, after a siege of forty-seven days, in a rigorous
season, and in a low and wet ground, where the besiegers slept on piles
of brush, covered over with weeds, to keep out of the water,
surrendered. November the thirteenth Montreal capitulated to the gallant
Irishman, General Montgomery. Arnold, accompanied by Morgan and Greene,
rubbing through exposure, hardship, and privation, made his way into
Canada by the Kennebec and Chaudiere Rivers, and was about to unite his
forces with Montgomery's. At this time it appeared as if the whole of
Canada would probably soon be reduced, and it was confidently expected
that Canadian delegates would shortly appear in congress, and complete
the union of fourteen colonies. This brilliant prospect was soon
overcast; Montgomery fell in a daring but unsuccessful attack upon
Quebec. Re-enforcements of American troops were sent to Canada, but
owing to their insufficiency in number and in discipline, the rigor of
the climate, and the energy of Carleton, the British commander, the
expedition eventually proved fruitless in effecting a conquest; and it
was found necessary to evacuate that country. While these reverses
occurred by land, it was observed with satisfaction that the colonies
abounded in materials and resources requisite for building up a naval
force; and in some of the colonies vessels were arming. Richard Henry
Lee, in a letter to Mrs. McCauley, of England, compared America on the
sea, in that year, to "Hercules in his cradle." The American navy was
indeed "nursed in the whirlwind and cradled in the storm."
The British army at Boston, admonished by the scenes of Lexington,
Concord, and Bunker's Hill, and finding their position more and more
restricted by Washington's lines of fortification, remained in gloomy
inaction until March, 1776, when Sir William Howe, who had succeeded
General Gage, evacuated that city, and sailed with the troops and many
unhappy tory refugees to Halifax.
The American army proceeded to New York. Early in July, 1776, Sir
William Howe with his army landed on Staten Island. The commander of the
fleet was Lord Howe, brother of Sir William, and these two were
constituted commissioners for restoring peace. In the battle of Long
Island, which occurred on the twenty-seventh of August, the American
army, inferior in number, and without cavalry, fought confusedly and
badly, and was defeated with heavy loss, variously estimated. Among the
prisoners was Major-General Sullivan. The enemy's loss was by no means
inconsiderable. From the commencement of the battle on the morning of
the twenty-seventh till the morning of the twenty-ninth, Washington
never slept, and was almost incessantly on horseback. The disastrous
result of this action cast a gloom over the cause of independence,
elated disaffection, and damped the ardor of the American troops. The
militia in large numbers quit the camp and went home; and Washington was
obliged to confess his "want of confidence in the generality of the
troops." He urged upon congress the necessity of a permanent army. On
the fifteenth of September he was compelled to evacuate New York, with
the loss of his heavy artillery and a large part of his stores, and
General Howe took possession of the city.
In a skirmish on Haerlem Heights, a detachment of the third Virginia
regiment, which had arrived on the preceding day, formed the advanced
party in the attack, and Major Leitch, while intrepidly leading them on,
fell mortally wounded.
In accordance with Washington's solicitation congress made arrangements
to put the army on a better footing. To obviate the movements of the
enemy he moved his forces up the Hudson River. On the twenty-fifth of
October the battle of White Plains took place, warmly contested, with
equal loss, and without decisive result. In November Fort Washington, on
the Hudson, was stormed by the British, and the garrison, consisting of
twenty-six hundred men, were made prisoners. Washington is said to have
shed tears on occasion of this disaster. The enemy's loss was eight
hundred. Early in December Washington, finding his army sadly reduced,
retreated across Jersey. They were pursued by a British army, numerous,
well-appointed, and victorious. At this conjuncture Major-General Lee
was surprised and made prisoner--as is now believed--by collusion with
the enemy.[668:A] The reanimated spirit of disaffection rendered the
American cause still more hopeless. December the twentieth, Washington's
army on the west bank of the Delaware, augmented by re-enforcements,
amounted to seven thousand effectives; but in a few days all of them,
except about fifteen hundred men, were to be discharged upon the
expiration of the term of enlistment. Washington became convinced that
some bold enterprise was necessary to rekindle the patriotic spirit, and
listening to the advice of those about him, resolved to strike at the
posts of the enemy, who had retired securely into winter quarters.
Crossing the Delaware, a few miles above Trenton, in a night of extreme
cold, amid floating ice, he early on the morning of the twenty-six
surprised there a body of Hessians, and made one thousand prisoners.
Lieutenant Monroe, afterwards president, was wounded in this affair.
Lieutenant-Colonel Baylor, of Virginia, aid of the commander-in-chief,
carrying the intelligence of this success to congress, was presented
with a horse caparisoned for service, and was recommended for promotion.
Near Princeton another corps was routed with heavy loss; but the joy of
the Americans was mingled with grief for the loss of General Mercer.
Hugh Mercer, a native of Scotland, having been graduated in the medical
profession, was present, in the capacity of assistant surgeon, at the
battle of Flodden, on the side of the vanquished. Escaping, he came to
America, and settled at Fredericksburg, in Virginia, where he married,
and successfully pursued his profession. During the French and Indian
war of 1755 he was a captain under Washington. In an engagement, being
wounded in the wrist by a musket ball, separated from his comrades, and
faint with loss of blood, he was closely pursued by the savage foe,
whose war-whoop rang through the surrounding forests. Concealing himself
in the hollow trunk of a giant tree, he narrowly escaped. After a
journey of more than one hundred miles through an untrodden wilderness,
and supporting life on roots and the body of a rattlesnake, he finally
reached Fort Cumberland. For his gallant conduct the City of
Philadelphia presented him an honorary medal. In 1775 he was in command
of three regiments of minute-men, and in 1776 a colonel of the Virginia
troops, and rendered important services in drilling and organizing the
new levies. In quelling a mutiny in a company of riflemen called,
ironically, "Gibson's Lambs," at Williamsburg, whom he disarmed, he
displayed that intrepidity and decision for which he was so
distinguished. During the same year, being made a brigadier-general in
the continental army, he exhibited signal courage and energy throughout
a disastrous campaign. On the 3d day of January, 1777, this excellent
officer, leading the van of Washington's army, encountered, about
sunrise, near Princeton, three British regiments, and while rallying his
troops his horse was shot from under him, and he fell dangerously
wounded, and died shortly afterwards in a small house near the scene of
the encounter. He was attended by Major George Lewis, a nephew of
General Washington, who had sent him to perform that duty, and by Dr.
Rush.
The death of General Mercer forms the subject of a picture long familiar
to the students of the college of New Jersey. He lies buried in Christ
Church, Philadelphia.
FOOTNOTES:
[664:A] There is a tradition that Pocahontas, in swimming across the
Pyanketank, was near being drowned, and was rescued by one of the
colonists, who received from her, or her father, this island as a
reward.
[668:A] George H. Moore, Esq., librarian of the New York Historical
Society, is preparing an interesting memoir on the subject of General
Lee's treasonable conduct.